April Storyteller & Colds

It's almost April and there's still snow on the ground, my allergies are in full swing- I can literally feel the pollen coating my body- and we're all getting over a nasty cold. My hubby brought home germs from the hospital. He has bronchitis and I suspect my kid's lingering cough may be a mild case of it, too. I got off easy with non-chest cold. This is not the best way to start spring. It also might be my personal hell.

James the cat doesn't like any of this. Snow and muddy ground ruin walks. Sick moms nursing her family back to health while doing chores and creating pages don't have time for play. He pretty much hates me until I get out the cat treats. Yet, he does love my kid.



The Page: I made this page with the April Storyteller by Just Jaimee. This month departs a little from Jaimee's normal color story- it's warm, analogous color mixed with cork, black and whites. It's color expertly constrained with Jaimee's signature graphic, playful style. I played the color scheme by using a warm, golden processed photo.

I'd originally intended to use three photos on this page- a series. I decided it against it when I realized each photo made me think of a different story. This one is cozy and comforting... it's really about the bond these two share. I created a feeling of cozy warmth by using a bracket foundation, clustering, color, and a lot soft and smooth textures.

The Story: James was a godsend at the peak of my kiddo's cold. The last time my kid was sick, there was shrill, terrible, tear inducing screams of agony that made high tail it to ER at 11pm. (thanks, Autism)  Right before the screaming started (because we can see it coming from a mile away), this happened. James comforted him in a way that was acceptable to the kiddo's sensory system. James, who is not a lap cat at all, knew what his boy needed.

James is a special cat and he was rewarded.


Back to the kit... I love it. I've made a few more pages with it that I can't share yet. As much as PSE speed and limitations drive me crazy, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of Jaimee's styles. This month includes a vellum style- YIPEE!! I adore the alphas and am happy that there is both a serif and sans serif. There's so much good stuff that you should probably just pick up the whole collection. If you subscribe to her newsletter (scroll the bottom of the main page), you can pick it up for a sweet price.

Jaimee created a FREE magazine full of inspiration, tips and tricks to go along with April Storyteller!

All about him and kinda about me

Since last Saturday, things have been scary and wonderful and hectic. If you're just here for eye candy, might I suggest scrolling down now? I ramble.

The hubby ended up in the hospital last week with severe pacreatitis. They weren't able to find a cause for the pancreatitis, which means there wasn't much in the form of treatment. I didn't think much of it at the time, but when your pancreas is the size of a pumpkin and you can't fix what is causing, most of the time you die.

While my hubby waited for a room in the surgical unit to open up, Grandmommy took my kid for a haircut and some beyblades while Daddy was in the ER. Grandaddy went to Verizon and got me a cell phone. In the Arick family, you deal with a crisis by doing something. It doesn't have to be relevant to the crisis. You just get busy being busy because once a Marine always a Marine.

As suddenly as it started, it stopped. He just got better. His bad numbers started getting better. It takes most people who survive an attack like this weeks to get to stage where the pancreatitis recovery can continue at home. For my hubby it was 4 days. When he sets his mind to something, it gets done. I believe the word "miraculous" was thrown around by the doctor and nurses. I think I used the word "stubborn".

And my kid. He really stepped up and pitched in. He was amazing. It was one the few times he was open to hugs and snuggles. And he got to sleep in our bed. Of course, now that the crisis is over he is able to express that built up anxiety freely.

In the middle of all this, it snowed 6 inches. Normally my hubby would take care of storm prep and shoveling. I was on my own. Thankfully when the snow stopped, some kids came by offering to shovel for a few bucks. As a bonus, they cleaned to snow off my car.

Because all this, my meticulously planned month that was all ready busy, went to hell. All I have to say is thank goodness for my Cozi calendar. I've still managed to do the important stuff... including not letting the house go completely to pot and making sure everyone has clean underwear... and squeeze in some time to decompress. The calendar has a journaling section, which I used keep track of our adventure with pacreatitis for later scrapping.

I managed to knock out the journaling challenge at MSA after my hubby came home. You should check it out. This will give you an idea of the topic:



Another page I made this week with photos after getting his hair haircut, taken when he returned to the ER to see daddy. The page is not about any of that, but rather his personality summed up with a quote:



I LOVE the paper. When I painted, I used to create backgrounds like this on canvas simply because I loved the feel of a wide, loaded brush making sweeping strokes. The look was always awesome, too. This kit is the newest collab with Just Jaimee and Studio Basic. You can pick it up HERE.

That's enough outta me for now.

Vintage Bingo Cards & Coffee & Scrapbooking Ideas

I am thrilled to announce that I'm now part of the Jenni Bowlin Studio Digital creative team!! I fell in love with JBS paper products after getting to know the paper design team. The products are just so unique and innovative. The opportunity to work with that digitally was simply irresistible.

I couldn't believe that I was able to get this photo of heart shaped snow. I always admire nature-made heart photos, but have never captured one until now. This page came together easily.

Since the bingo card is such a strong element, I kept the embellishing simple and added the bulk of my texture and dimension with pattern paper instead. The blacks establish a diagonal flow and the red pulls you to the photos and title. I use the blues in varying tints to pull the blue out of the roof tile and it softens the blacks. The pink edge fills out the block without detracting from the reds purpose. I cut the word 'HEART' out of the letters on bingo card toppers.


The Vintage Bingo Cards & Gold Crowns are on sale today. The rest of things on the page are all JBS Digital, with the exception of the fonts.



Up on the GIS blog today is a great article about coffee and tea stories,. I really love this kit by Just Jaimee and Amanda Yi Designs. I also really love coffee. Perfect fit for this page and the article.

I really, really wanted to use the clothespins on my page. At first I thought I'd make a hanging on a clothesline sorta composition. Turns out I couldn't make it work, but it's a good thing. The story is about morning coffee, coming down the stairs being led by that wonderful aroma. This funky block conveys movement better than a faux hanging clothesline. And I was still able to work in the clothespins.



Coffee plays such a big role in my daily life and I have plenty of pages that pay homage to it. None of them tell this particular story. Combined, I'm sure my coffee pages give insight into who I am and what my life is like. You can read more about my approach, like why I used the colors and embellishments I did, HERE along with more ideas and tips for scrapping about coffee and tea.

I heart watercolors & lots more

Yes. It's true. I love them. In the physical world back when I painted, no medium frustrated me more than watercolor. I just couldn't get the stuff to do what I wanted it to do. Oil and acrylic yes. Watercolor no. (I did love watercolor paper because I loved the texture)

In the digital world I absolutely love watercolor and this week I worked with digital watercolor almost exclusively. It made me happy! Plus, Jaimee included a piece of actual watercolor paper with her brushes. Heaven.

When I created this page, it was snowing outside... a lot. In March. (and we STILL have snow on the ground) I think I wished too hard for a snowy winter. This is what it looked like outside.

I went the complete opposite direction with my layout, opting for sunshine and warmth.

I masked the photo, then used a water color brush set on white brush in the parts of the photo. The great thing about a mask is that you can just brush in black to fix mistakes. It doesn't hurt the original photo at all. You can also slip an already colored brush between your photo layers and the actual mask layer for some fun effects. I did that in the bottom portion of this page to add a touch of color to the foliage without having to increase the opacity of that portion of the mask.

To enhance the watercolor feel, I used the layer blend properties to pull the underlying layer (in this case the paper) into the photo.

I also did a page for My Scrapbook Art's Featured Designer, Jacque Larsen. Jacque does a lot of watercolor in her work meaning there was no technical savvy needed to create this page.



I love that this documents pre-iPad life. And it's hard to believe my kid was ever that small. Also, Spongebob PJs!! Super cute!!

In other news, I am completely losing at Calvinball. It's still lots of fun and my only regret is that real life keeps getting in the way of me enjoying it more. This is my life currently:

The great thing about being on Creative Teams is that I can justify scrapping when life gets incredibly busy. It's these times when I need the outlet the most. That's exactly why I'm thrilled to be losing at Calvinball: Because it means I'm playing.

Calvinball Anyone?

Have you ever heard of Calvinball? I hadn't until the other day when Doris Sander suggested it as a challenge over at Get It Scrapped. It's a challenge going on during March where the rules change, smack talking is a must, and you are encourage to get social and scrap everything. Join us for the fun and possible insanity. Also, there's a live crop you can get a point for joining today. Hope to see you there!