From Chaos Comes Happiness

Oh, my friends . . . I love creating something new. And now that I have finally finished organizing my studio space in our home, I was eager to get in there and get my hands on a new project. This one . . . is AWESOME (if I do say so myself), and I can't wait to share it with you. Have I told you how much I love Instagram? If you are a Facebook friend of mine, you already have a pretty good idea how much I love it based on the photos I share. If you aren't familiar with it,  Instagram  "is an online photo-sharing and social networking service that enables its users to take a picture, apply a digital filter to it, and share it on a variety of social networking services, including its own and other leading sites such as Facebook or Twitter." (source: Wikipedia) Aside from all of that (and please know I am not affiliated with Instagram) I absolutely love how the program conforms your photo to a square shape, and offers a variety of different camera filters a...

Back in 2009, I did a " December Daily " scrapbook for our family. It wasn't my idea (although, I would just LOVE to take the credit for it)! Scrapbook extraordinaire, Ali Edwards , came up with the concept years ago. In 2009, I jumped on the wagon and joined along . . . for I felt life was passing me by way to quickly and wanted something to stop and capture (in my humble opinion) the most magical month in the year for our family. December. I love that I can pull out that book from 2009, and see exactly what I was doing . . . today. Like, taking our family Christmas card photo . . . I love that I can look and see the photos of my girls and remember their winter coats that year, or see how the curls on their sweet heads curved around the edges of their hats just so . . . Oh, December of 2009 was a wonderful month. I did it again, in 2010.   Our dearest friends, Kathleen and Maggie, came over for dinner on December 9th, 2010. It was a great night. I r...

I spent the day in the cellar yesterday. The Scrapbook Cellar, that is. A day with three of my dearest creative souls.  The three people who I can't hide from. The three people I can't cover things up for, and who can see right through me.  I hate that.  ;) Actually, I love that. Because I can't sugar-coat anything for them. They see right through it. They call my bluff. They get me. Sometimes a person just wants to be "got", you know?  I usually leave the cellar having learned a number of lessons. Yesterday was no different.  The biggest lesson I learned?  I have issues. No, I'm kidding. I mean, I'm not kidding that I have issues. I think we determined that I definitely have issues. And I really am my own worst enemy. What I am kidding about, though, is that that wasn't the biggest lesson I learned.  The biggest lesson I learned was that I must stop listening to that voice inside of me telling me YOU CAN'T and I must start listen...

Have you ever heard of a Smash Book? If you are a scrapbooker or art journal person, you may have. If you are not one of those types, you may not have. I am a scrapbooker . . . but had no idea what a Smash Book was. That is, until my dear friend Peggy brought hers to our Scrapbook Cellar gathering last month. She introduced us all to her cool little composition journal, and the conversation went something like this: PK :  Here is my Smash book. Me : Your what? PK : My Smash Book. Me : Like, smash, what? PK : Smash . . . things. You know. Like, stuff. Me : What? PK : See . . . I will put stuff in here. Junk. Things I don't want to lose, but don't know what to do with. Me : Huh? PK : Smash. Me : I don't get it. PK : Google it. CE (our friend, Cindi, who just entered the conversation and saw was PK was holding): Oh, a Smash Book! Cool! Me : Huh? CE : Google it. LT (my sister, Laura, who is right there with me): I don't get it. So, I googled it. ...

The days have been cold, wet, gray and so so gloomy lately. I think the winter blues have settled into this otherwise cheery head of mine. It's oh-so cold, and I can't seem to get warm enough. Could I be fighting something????? Oh, pray tell, NO! Now is NOT the week to come down with something . . . PG returns home on Wednesday (wahoooo!!!). . . and with his return, I'm sure the sunshine will follow. Then Friday night, I am heading out for some creative rejuvenating with these lovely ladies . . . Aren't they gorgeous? My Scrapbook Cellar Girls . . . we haven't been together since early December, and we are gathering on Friday evening (for laughter and tears, of course, because there are always a few tears shed each gathering! But those are "good" tears. You know, the healing kind.) I  NEED  to create . . . and can't WAIT!!! What about you? What do you do to fill your soul? I'd love to know . . .

Is it too soon? I know what you're going to tell me . . . you're going to say, "HELL YES, LEANNE!!!" But, my friends. I'm in the mood. For twinkling lights and bells ringing (no, I'm not talking about Marti Gras). For Bing Crosby and David Bowie. For ornaments and nut crackers. For candy canes and fruitcake (blah). Yes, I need a little Christmas. Right this very minute. I've been thinking about the holiday because I'm starting to work on my "December Daily 2010" album. You might remember the project I did last year (the 2009 album). Simply put, it's a daily collection of memories and activities during the the Holiday month. You can look back at my posts from last year here and here . The idea originated from Scrapbook guru Ali Edwards (one of my many idols. Link to her site with Q&A about the project by clicking on her name.) Here are a few shots of my book from last year: This album has be...

Greetings dear friends! I do hope this post finds you well and and ready to welcome the weekend with open arms. I've got some housekeeping to do here today . . . so please allow me to update you on some exciting things: If you are in need of a story about life, love and photos today, please  tap on over to Leslie's blog at  " {Words of Me} Project " where I have a guest post appearing. There you will learn of another wacky habit of mine, and perhaps come up with a fun photo opportunity in your own life. Thanks, Les, for letting me share in the BLISS of your blog! If you have ever wondered about digital scrapbooking and how that whole thing works, I encourage you to take a look at my dear friend (Cindi) and her blog at "So, That's Why!" where she has spent some time writing a number of informative posts this week on the whole Digital Scrapbooking thing. I am not a digital scrapbooker ... but with Cindi's help, I might just look into it. Whil...

I just had to share with you a little book I am working on . . . if you are NOT a scrapbooker, please don't give up on me (or scrapbooking) yet. I've got the easy-peasiest way to gather your memories from this summer, and quickly journal about your adventures. . . why not CREATE a Summer 2010 book? Too bothersome? Too much work? Too crafty? Too expensive? Too . . . too . . . challenging? I used to think so, too. I started scrapbooking when my oldest daughter, Katie, was 6 months old. For the past 6 years, I have gone to the crops (cult-like gatherings of crafty ladies with glue and ribbon), I have purchased the papers, embellishments, and rolling luggage bags. I've developed the THOUSANDS of photos (I'm not kidding). And while I still regularly meet with some dear friends for a night of scrapbooking - it truly has become more of a spiritual and soul-enriching gathering than a "scrapbooking" sort of thing. You see, this summer - something changed. I want to...

Just a really quick update for you ... I just returned from a fanTAStic creative night with my dear friends and snapped a couple photos to share the wonderful art done this evening! You might remember my friend Leslie from {Words of Me Project} threw a challenge out there to us in blogland to come up with three words that mean something to you, and create some sort of art with those words. Some of us this evening did just that . . . Cindi's Words: Reach, Heal, Possible Peggy's Words: Serenity, Gratitude, and I never got the 3rd word from her - uh, oh! Laura decided to continue working on her New Mexico vacation album - it's so gorgeous and stylish. I love it! And me, well . . . I had a vision. I love when I have visions. It's like a light bulb goes on in my brain and I know exactly what I want to do, and I won't stop until it is done. My vision for this challenge started with a canvas and some mountains . . . then, I worked on a little bit of the sky . . . nex...

My Creative Focus for today: Write. Create. Be. Happy Friday, friends! And thank you so much to all of you who supported my post at Laugh Out Loud yesterday! Seriously, that was one of the most thrilling things for me - I'm a blog dork, I'm sorry! And having something I have written appear on someone else's blog was just - awesome. Now, on to my next adventure. The Scrapbook Cellar!!! Did I ever tell you about the Scrapbook Cellar ? You might believe, with all my previous mentioning of it, that it is a store where I probably go to scrapbook. Well, that is only partially right. It is a place where I go to scrapbook ... but it's not a store. It's actually my sister, Laura's, basement. Yes, affectionately called, "The Scrapbook Cellar". And there I gather once a month (when possible) with three of my closest friends - my sister, my friend Peggy , and my friend Cindi .  It is the best time a girl like me could have. Seriously . ...

One of the things I am most enjoying about blogland (in addition to the many new friends I am making from all over the country), is the inspiration I feel after a few short minutes spent with a creative blog. And let's face it . . . there are thousands of absolutely BRILLIANT and creative people out there. Luckily, I reap the benefits from so many of them, for I visit their sites like a dried up sponge and stay until I've soaked up as much creative juices as possible. I feel refreshed and energized after seeing what others are doing in their days. I feel motivated and strong. I feel like . . . ME. Not the me who is tired and overworked, not the me who has a pile of laundry and an empty gallon of milk in the fridge. I feel like the ME I want to be deep down. I feel like the ME I always thought I would be. And I believe . . . in ME. Ah, now there's a whole therapy session in there somewhere - but we'll save that for another day. There are two specific blogs that have been...

Hi. My name is Leanne. And I am "Multi-Creatively Challenged." You see, I've been having an AWESOME WEEK doing some really creative things . . . and in doing so, I discovered a pretty big revelation about myself that I wanted to share with you. You see, I can not "Multi-Create" (another one of those 'Leanne Invented' concepts.) I seem to throw myself 110% into a project (this week = scrapbooking), and then I can't create anything else (this week = No inspiring and interesting Blog posts). So, while it bums me out that I loose my writing mind, I know that you (my faithful blog reader) will stand by and wait for me to come up with something inspiring to tell you about. Won't you? Oh, I do hope so. Since I have nothing inspiring to write about . . . I thought I'd share with you a couple of the things I've been scrapbooking. First, a really cute Winter Wonderland mini-album. I can't take credit for ANY of it (it's a BoBunny kit that ...