bringing the mojo back

I'm going to be pretty candid here.

Packing up my life, leaving the house and a job I loved, and leaving my immediate family wasn't as easy as I thought it'd be.

{shock, right?}

The avenue that released the most stress pre-move was right here in craft land. The Lair was my 'home away from home' (even though it was in my basement), my little escape from the world. Oddly enough, through this transition, creating is the one thing that hasn't come back to me as easily.
At all.
Monthly projects due turned into mandatory assignments {gasp!! homework!!}, and what used to be done in pleasure is now done as work.

I think my body realized that I needed a bit of an escape for a few weeks more than mind did, but I'm glad I took it. That's why teachers get Summer breaks...why lifeguards get rest periods...why Sunday School teachers get Monday through Saturday: refuel, recharge, and go back at it with a renewed passion.

This week's challenge

So I'm back at it! I found a great little challenge blog called The Play Date Cafe. It's fun. They give you a color scheme, you make the project! Guidelines without strict parameters = LOVE! I'm tipping my toes back into the rivers of crafting, and it feels ggggggood.

This card expresses exactly what I've been feeling in the last few months. Sometimes it's too much to ask of someone to go above and beyond.
Sometimes you have to just be.

And that's ok.




Materials used in this post:
Hollo's Cardstock
Sweet Baby Pickles - Soft Blue 12x12
Wright's Seam Binding
Hambly Screen Prints
Basic Grey - Green at hear- micro mono stickers
Basic Grey - Wisteria - alphabet stickers
Tim Holtz Tissue Tape - symphony
Ribbon - Target
Floss
Glue Dots - ultra thin and mini

Cowboy

I've always heard that weather this time of year can be crazy, but Friday was taking that to the extreme!! You've probably seen on the news where the storm that passed through Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio last Friday was a whopper, and that's an understatement!
Businesses closed early on Friday afternoon (mine included!), people hurried home to hunker down and brace for whatever was to come. Our family was truly blessed, and even the rain that we experienced was nothing more than a passing storm. Just 4 or 5 miles away, people experienced golf ball to grapefuit sized hail and significant damage, and several tornadoes caused entire cities to be leveled throughout our state.
We are definetely counting ourselves as blessed, and are praying for the families who have been forever changed by this storm.

Cowboy

This is another page from my trip to Mimi's Getaway. I love scrapping with a group, because there's always a toy there that I don't have, and it's a great way to use new products! One of the ladies was nice enough to let me borrow the Paper Doily Sizzlits Die from Stampin' Up!, and they turned out beautifully! I paired the doily die with a masculine print from the Old School line from Pink Paislee. Even with adding a rhinestone brad from Stampin' Up! to the doilies, the page still has a great, masculine look.

Supplies Used:

• Basic Grey Curio Upholstery
• Pink Paislee Old School
• Sizzlits Die Paper Doily
• Stampin' Up! Rhinestone Brads
• Stampin' Write Chocolate Chip
• Making Memories Canvas Letters
• Twine
• Assorted Glue Dots