The time has come, the Walrus said...

173 emails awaited me... that is actually not too bad considering I had not checked them since mid-March (the 14th to be exact). On my never-ending-laundry-list-of-things-undone is to reorganize my email subscriptions. I subscribe to an abundance of crafting blogs. They're my inspiration... in my dreams, this blog will be what theirs already is.

I've had this blog for several years. Last year I invested in creating the design for it (about $150) with every intention of utilizing it more often - at least once a week was my goal. Along with working on my creative endeavors once a week, then photographing them, then posting them here and bragging incessantly of how my unique creations came to be so that my many readers (currently 1 and that would be me) can be so inspired as I am inspired by those I read...

oh, ~sigh~ I'm still not there yet!

On the positive side, my creativity hasn't stopped, and I'm quite good @ capturing it, but I'm terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE at displaying it.

And, apparently, terrible, just terrible, about keeping up with those that inspire me.

Currently, I've reduced the 173 to 119... and I'm fearful I'll just need to delete the rest and start a-fresh this week. Which, by the way, TODAY, Easter Sunday, is an EXCELLENT day to renew oneself with positivity and re-establish some goals. Thanks to some inspiring words from the great and fantastic John Schuerholz, I am in a mind frame of renewal and recommitment and optimism and hope. I may have lost my way - uh, lost my New Years Resolutions focus - but I haven't given up actually achieving all my goals. So, today I'm recommitting myself to this blog, to this part of my life - the creative side of me - and I'm getting back in the saddle (office chair), taking the reigns (laptop) and stepping out on Faith. Cannot think of a better day to come up with this decision.

self imposed restrictions

Read a blog today - wish I could reference which one! Someday I'm gonna get good @ this blogging thing - about "self imposed restrictions." I think the idea was that if we focused our efforts within parameters & guidelines, we could possibly produced the results we wanted. My mind immediately went to cards & scrapping.

I do have some, what I now recognize as, self-imposed guidelines, but sometimes I forget! It won't be until I'm done with my project that I'll say, "ooooh, you were supposed to..." very frustrating! So this year, as part of my resolutions - which include challenging myself to do 1 scrap page a week AND to make any cards I need (not buy them!) - I am imposing my (now recognized as) "self imposed guidelines" into my resolutions (which, needless to say, I've failed both already!). I realize it's not easy to change overnight so I'm not giving up on me just yet. Trying to find my mojo and totally blaming a wonderful 2-week break over the holidays for my inability to get back on track yet, here @ the end of January (almost).

BUT moving forward, I intend to follow these guidelines:

• use an inspiration but not copy
• include something handwritten
• have at least 1 hand-drawn element
• use what I have - do not buy anymore!*

* oh, yeah - another resolution already broken! ~sigh~

Baby Shower Blues

So, here we are in the THICK of the Christmas season & one of my neighbors decides to have a baby in January! Meaning, the neighborhood gathered to throw her a grand ol' baby shower TODAY. With 12 days of Christmas to go.

Now, in all honesty, I'm not complaining. It didn't dawn on me the timing was bad until I went to log my weekly shopping spree totals in the budget worksheet. I get to her receipt and realize, "this is not a Christmas gift..." and the light bulb goes off! Who the heck would plan a baby shower in mid-December?

Despite my consideration of their inconsideration, it was a great turnout, I'm happy to say - and I'm so glad I went. Although getting "there" took entirely too much effort.

By "there" I mean: clothes woes, wrapping issues and.... dare I say it?... CARD catastrophes!

Yes, that's plural. Catastrophes. Third time's a charm.

Wanted to wear jeans, ended up in slacks. Assumed I had baby wrapping paper, but didn't. Found some folded up and in the bottom of a bin - it was just enough for what I needed, but ugh. The cards... well, this is most troubling because I have MULTIPLE stamps, PILES of cardstock, INK galore and IDEAS by the file cabinet full. But when it came down to it, I had nothing. My first idea flopped because I don't have a scalloped oval punch. WTH? How did that happen? My alternative to that didn't work out because my cardstock wasn't a close enough match to my ink. My next option didn't work out with the first run but I pulled it together w/the second. And I ended up with something special, unique and quite adorable, if I do say so myself, and depressed. Yeah, you're reading that right. I was depressed at the end of the day.

I have all this stuff and can't put it together. My workspace is out-of-whack and I'm over-cluttered. The solution is on the horizon but the economy prevents us from actually acting on any renovations just yet. Meanwhile my atelier, and my creativity, sit & collect dust.

It's depressing. :(

Aaaahhh... where do I begin?

Early October marked a major change in my lifestyle - nothing drastic, but definitely major. My world, as I had been running it, stopped. I had to put the brakes on & re-evaluate how things were being managed and it's been a slow process of getting back in gear. We're not there yet. As a family we're still struggling to find the balance. I haven't hit the craft room in months and I miss it! I think about this blog everyday but finding the time to focus has been difficult. The holidays are approaching and yes, that's definitely time consuming but I'm hoping by the new year, I'll have a plan of action so that I don't have to give up ALL of me in order to have our family in a good place. Priorities...

a murder of crows

I have been hunting high & low looking for a crow stamp, but coming up empty. :( I've checked online, I've searched row after row of stamps at the craft stores... The other day I found a Dawn Houser with 4 birds on a branch. They look like cardinals to me but what do I know. I contemplated buying it, but changed my mind. They weren't right... not scraggly enough, not sinister at all. So I walked away.


Then, I wandered into another store yesterday and found the same stamp. It still didn't work for me, but I thought, MAYBE, if I sketch thru it a bit, MAYBE I could make them look like crows? Elongate the beaks, shaggy up the feathers, scratch out the tail... Well, I bought it and I tried.

I'm not sure if I pulled it off, tho...





Do these look like crows to you???

Ta-Da!!!!

Announcing... the newly remodeled & renovated "ADD ink" blog!!! A Dawnie Jae design via Veronica @ VK Design Co., heehee. :)

I'm a happy girl... now I've got to put all this hard work to use, right? Right! I've said this a gazillion times but I'm saying it again anyway: I'm going to start scrapping & stamping regularly.

There. I said it. Well, wrote it. Now I have to do it.

anticipation...

So excited!!! I'm getting a new blog look and CANNOT wait to see it! Hopefully it will motivate me to post more, right? Yeah, right.