live . craft . learn

creative therapy : my dream home

i long, as does every human being, to be at home wherever i find myself. - maya angelou

this weeks catalyst and the maya angelou quote i chose was perfect for me. perfect for where i am in life right now. perfect because for the last year of my life i lost myself. lost myself in ways that i didn't realize until a few weeks ago. i centered my life around something that shouldn't have become more important than my family, than my children, than the life that i lead, right here in this house that i live in. and yet, even though i know better i lost parts of me and i lost sight of the most important things to me.

when i was younger, before having my littles. before i fell in love with mike. i thought my dream home was huge. a wrap around porch. lots of pretty things inside. decorated and perfect. like a magazine. but it isn't. my dream home isn't filled with things and objects that i purchased at target or pottery barn. it's filled with laughter. it's filled with love and trust and support. it's filled with tears and struggles and lessons learned. it's filled with 2 children who love me because i am their mama and they need no other reason. it's filled with a man who has been by my side for 9 years. a man who knows who i am at the core of my soft heart. a man who will put up with my silliness and sometimes crazy expectations because he knows that eventually i see the truth, and i am not afraid to change my path when i am unhappy or when i am wrong. it is filled with my friends who trust me and can be trusted, because they see me, the real me and they ask for nothing more because it is always enough.

so this house. my dream house. it is being built on a daily basis. it gets tattered and worn. it needs strength and support. it receives laughter and love. it spills tears and sadness. but it is real. it is mine. it is everything to me. it is perfect and i will never, ever, leave it untended again.

happy wednesday.
xo

love market friday

urban prairie magazine : refueled finding maddie's self portrait on her new camera new vintage treasures for a new vintage project kit thursday night audible wars with jayney

back to {my} basics

i spent last night rocking out to this girl's tunes and making this shadowbox for a dear friend. it just felt good to get my hands dirty and create something with the things that i love the most. back to my basics, the things i always gravitate towards, the old, the forgotten and the recycled vintage ephemera i shop for at thrift stores and flea markets. i used vintage buttons pierced with brads {ala my leesa peesa} and chenille fabric to trim the frame and i've been saving that vintage little girl place card for quite a while.

the sides of the shadowbox {ikea} were created by raiding my scrap bin and decoupaging with gesso and gel medium; i just tore the scrap pieces i chose and layered them haphazardly on the wood with gel medium and then coated it all with gesso. nothing scientific, but it gives the sides a sweet & worn white-washed quality.

and, the interior. i adore the interior. that pink paislee background paper is to die for, and i used my beautiful october afternoon butterfly silhouette stamps on the vintage date book which was repurposed from an older project that i just wasn't feeling anymore.

the basics. my basics. that is what i'm excited to start exploring. learning what i like. learning what i love to use. learning how i love to use it. experimenting and discovering myself in this craft. that's something i haven't really done in quite a long time.

also, just found out that silver bella registration opens up on monday. eeks!! cannot wait to be back at that glittery event. new teachers, including the soldering goddess sally jean {double eeks!} who alone will make the entire event so worthwhile for me. are you going??

happy thursday.
xo

*smiles*

saturday at pmp was amazing. seriously! i taught two classes to a room filled with some of the most amazing women ever. it was relaxed and carefree and when the classes were all over i sat down and laughed and cropped until almost midnight-thirty. of course i had a hell of a late night drive back home {1.5 hours} but i would {& will!} do it again....

half of the girls in the process of making ...

this is a peek at the vintage embellishment bar i had available during my mini book class. the girls could go up and choose whatever extra little bits of vintage embellishments they wanted to add to make the project reflect them and their story.

some of the goods in the mini book kit. lovely jbs, maya road and lots of vintage bits.

i realized i took exactly 8 pictures and only of one side of the room. what's with that?? lol

this is my sweet friend marie's hands playing with the vintage filled goodie bag i gave everyone who signed up for both classes. she had surgery a few weeks ago and i was SO happy to see her... and hear her little chirping hiccups.

i've got just a couple kits from both classes still left and thought i'd offer them up here before they go into my etsy shop. never mind they're here now, it's probably easier this way. :)

also, i know some of you have pictures with me from the sis event and i would adore a copy. if you do, can you please email them to me? kl[at!]k8tykat[dot!]com. thank you!

happy monday!
xo

oh and ps : i saw miss suzy cropping too. but shhh... don't tell anyone. it'll be our little secret. ;)

it felt good ...

last night to spend a few hours making things. completely inspired by gigi's class last weekend {which was brilliant!} i took this old vintage book and made a sewn page mountain. to be filled with the everyday thoughts that i write down and always have floating around on itty bitty strips of paper. to hold the daily inspirations that i cut out of magazines. to hold whatever my heart and my creativity desires. bound together, it will be a collection of new beginnings.

happy thursday.
xo

it was just perfect

yesterday was a perfect day. the kiddos and i stayed in our jammies for "lazy friday" as maddie bean has started calling them. something i'm really appreciating right now, these friday mornings when we're all here, me, ben, maddie. i'm usually scrapping or doing chores or we're playing games. this will be our last year like this, next year it'll be and my little boyfriend while the girl is in school, and although i am looking forward to having him to myself for a bit, i'm going to miss our pony loving girl. sigh. it happens too fast, this growing up thing.

in the afternoon the kiddos headed off to nonnas and then i had the house to myself. *sigh x2*. seriously, i covet those hours i get, covet them. i headed over to sistv and played in angie's round robin. SO MUCH FUN! seriously, i don't think i've had this much fun scrapping in months.

and of course the hambly dt call was finally announced and i am so honored to be the dt coordinator. i adore allison, she's become such an amazing friend and she is so talented. and the product is just luscious and being such a supporter of all things handmade it just makes me so proud to be part of such an amazing company.

we're taking the littles to see kung-fu panda this afternoon... cannot wait!

happy saturday!
xoxo

poser

someone sent me this pic of stacey and i passing out the hambly at the saturday night layout classes at scrap etc ... and unfortunately i can't remember who {sorry!}. do you see all those transparencies and rubons? *swoon*

and, because i'm under a mountain of hambly at the moment, kitting for my sisiversary class i thought i would put up a random shot. cause i'm silly. and cause i can't at the moment think of anything else to post.

happy wednesday!
xo

de creatie : gdt june : sneak peek

some sneak peeks of work i did for my spot as the de creatie gdt for june. so excited to do this because i adore marcia, who i met for the first time irl at w-cha, but had chatted with quite a bit on sis. kit goes on sale tomorrow at 10am i believe. tons of really cute papers and the most wonderful stamp sheet ever!

these are the first two of a dozen i want to make with it all. i'll show you all the full size tomorrow... after the kit goes live.

happy friday!
xoxo

i love these two

just been playing a bit over at scrapblog. me and the littles at the preschool mothers day tea.

vi scrapper

so a few months ago vibeke contacted me and asked if i was interested in doing an interview for the amazing norwegian scrap magazine vi scrapper. of course i said yes, after i closed my mouth from the shock. and although i know the answers i answered i can't read the article, but i hear from mari that a translation is coming... right??!? ;D

i sent in about 10 layouts and they used all of my favorites, including two that i created for october afternoon for winter cha. see... there's becky & becca & gi & me hanging out in omaha on silver bella weekend.

and my two littles. maddies layout "i would" was created for my mmm submission last year. it still hurts a little knowing i don't have that layout, but at least it's here, and that makes me happy.

and my favorite cup of coffe, a soy flat latte.

thanks vibeke. it was a pleasure doing this!

*sigh*

i love norway.
xoxo