My Scene: Rushed, No Photos, Away from Home.

Hey! It's Brook with our weekly installment of "Behind The Scenes Wednesdays".

For the past two months, my scrapbooking scene has been at my parents house where me and my family are living because of a flood at our home. It's not easy trying to get creative away from my usual routine and organized (well, kind of organized) supplies at home. It's also tough having to clean up my mess from the dining room table every night, but I've made it work. I love to have my Amy Butler (I think K&Co) bag filled with my mosy-often used tools beside me. And working on a large self-healing cutting mat makes it easy to lift everything off the table at the same time if I need to move my work-in-progress to another table.

below: my temporary scrap space on the dining room table


So, come behind the scenes with me... welcome to the chaos! LOL.

This month, I flipped through the papers & goodies in the November kit with such excitement (Oh man, wait until you see it!!!!)... until I sadly realized that I didn't have any photos on my laptop that would go with it. I have tons of GREAT photos at my house in my desktop computer (buried beneath boxes). But, since I don't have access to them I had to really use my creativity to make some photos work. A tip on that: turn any photo to B&W and it will match. Even if the photo is taken in June and the papers have fall leaves on them. ;) haha.

I've also been really busy lately with the work going on in my house so I waited until the last minute to start scrapping for the DT gallery. Talk about stressful! So I came up with a quick plan. I set up a photo shoot with the kids in the back yard and at the local playground. Then, after loading the photos, I opened up Photoshop on my computer and worked out my layouts and journaling in the program digitally. If you have any experience with digital scrapbooking, or if you own a copy of Photoshop, try this!

As you can see below, my photos were laid out in a 12x12, 300 dpi .jpg document which I then uploaded via internet and had printed at Costco. They were ready 1 hour after I uploaded them! Love Costco. Muah, muah, XOXO. Then, once I got my giant prints I cut them up and started scrapping right away. It was a little more work up front, but in the end it saved me a ton of time!

below: one of the 12x12 inch .jpg files I prepared and then the pile of photos after cutting them.




below: working on a 2-page layout with my B&W impromptu photo shoot photos and pre-typed journaling (also on photo paper).



below: a closer look at the embellies you will find in the November kit... tumble of ribbon and jar of brads are from my own stash

Makin' Somethin' Out of Nothin'

Hey ladies! It's Behind the Scenes Wednesday and I am here to let you in on where I find inspiration. Well these days, I am a happy, happy girl when I can take ordinary paper and make it into a fabulous embellishment. As soon as I get a peek at my Mosh Posh kit, my gears begin to slip into overdrive. These days, I do not plan my layouts, choose my pictures, or create a title first...I begin with thinking about what I can or want to make. I inspect the paper, think about the colors, and the patterns, and this is when I can envision what goodies I can piece together. For instance, I see orange...pumpkins, I see red...apples, etc. See what I mean? And from there, the layout usually falls into place. The October kit, Smarty Pants, proved to hold true for my little obsession. Almost every layout I completed had a homemade embellishment adorning it. Take a look...




Like I said, the October kit was just perfect for some of the layouts I needed to complete. And it also fulfilled my need to create my homemade embellies. Hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful Fall weather. Happy Wednesday!

Mom's Got a Latte Do Today

God Bless my extremely limited Photoshop Abilities. I know how to do 2 things with that program. Resize layouts/crop em and click the brightness-tabby-thingy. Schweet. Cuz it's desperately overcast and Fall-y up in here. SO, these pix aren't perfect, but you should be able to get the jist for a little bit of inspo.

Welcome to this week's installment of Behind the Scenes Wednesday. I wish I could blame the randomness of this post on a Starbucks overload, but it's all me today. I would like to share some things that are inspiring me today and also my love of lists with you. I loove notebooks. Cute little notebooks with which to write lists or sketch or record the funny things my kids' say. Seeing as I'm a busy mom of five, I am certainly "behind" in my scrapbooks. I'm finally ok with that. One way to combat the forgetting some silly little ditty that Reagan says, is to keep track of these ramblings in notebooks. I have them all over, in my diaperbag, on my bedside table, and even in my daily planner (think the now defunct Creative Planner from Memory Dock). Whenever the mood strikes me, I right down a quote, a sketch or even a blog and/or scrap page title. Just remember to wait til you get to a red light. Just sayin.

I also have notebooks just for Mosh Posh. See below. Love this little beauty I picked up at Barnes and Noble's. It's their exclusive Vera Bradley Cupcake line (mmm, for so many reasons). Just added some Thickers to the cover. I include all things Mosh Posh in here. Kit contents, sketches, add-ons, themes, etc, etc.

This love of notebooks thing of mine is not a new thing. Below you'll find an altered notebook I made for the Mosh Posh Gallery last year. I even altered the pen. It's gotta look cute for all my stuff. Beside it, you'll see the journal I used to record my notes from the start of my labor with the twins up through the month they spent in the hospital through their first few months at home. This notebook is proving invaluable as I scrap these times. Those days were nothing but a scary blur, BUT I have my notes to put a story with the pictures. It may not have started as a pretty story, but it's story that needs to be told nonetheless.



I sense a cuteness theme going on here. I found some cute free printables for the many lists I have to get me through my harried days. You can find them here: and here: One is no longer available as a freebie, but I found a super cute replacement!!

Now, onto the randomness. This is what is left over from my recent scrappy projects. Rather than putting it all away, I'm going to make something. Anybody else in? Wanna make something with your scraps? I'm planning on getting something done within the week. How bout you?

This pile o goodness is just some product I've pulled cuz I want to use it. And that old book from Patrick's Grandma's hose?!? Yumm-o. I'm scrappin them too.

Oh yeah, and one last thing. This mini I made earlier in the year, I'm finishing it up. Anybody else wanna finish something with me this week? Would love to hear. Alright, off to pull my twinnies off of Momma's Diet Coke...

The Secret To My Creativity...

I would fall over in a huge big puddle of nothingness if I didn't have caffeine. And cookies. But mainly caffeine.

It is actually extremely dangerous for me to have any liquid around where I am working, but I like to live dangerously. I once killed a perfectly good laptop with a glass of apple juice. I lived to tell the tale, the laptop did not.

I also absolutely require snacks while scrapbooking. Crumbs are really just embellishments, right? Alright, I am a little bit more careful than that, but I definitely think that snacks play a vital role in my creativity. Caffeine, snacks and Grey's Anatomy on DVD. In that order.

What do you snack on while scrapping?

(Oh, and you can find the Praline Cookie recipe here... happy snacking, um, scrapping!)

It's all about INSPIRATION

Hiya, it's Brook with our weekly dose of "Behind the Scenes".

Here's where I give you a little peek into how I create. Today I'd like to share how I find my inspiration for my layouts and photography. It's always important to me to have a constant stream of inspiration, otherwise I get scrapper's block. Big time. So, here's my 3 favorite sources of creative juice:

1. Clothing!!! Oh, my kiddos clothes are so adorable. They're colorful and they have such fun patterns and cutesy characters on them. I also get some inspiration from my own clothes & bags. The lace trims and trendy colors are such a source of ideas. Look at the hottest scrapbooking products. Look at the trendy clothes. It's all connected. Owls here, owls there. Also, because we're wearing clothes in the photos I take (thank God! LOL.), using them as a source of inspiration is a no-brainer. Here's a couple yummy photos to hopefully inspire you:


Can't you just see these cute Gymboree clothes inspiring a scrapbook page?

PS: A tip for using clothes as inspiration: Don't always be concerned about everyone in all your photos being matchy-matchy! The more color, the better. Also, don't think that your papers & embellies have to perfectly match the colors of the clothing in the photos. Using a photo with colors that complement (but not match) will help the subject pop off the page. For example, if the photo is of your daughter in a yellow dress, try using shades of purple in the layout! The same goes with green/red, and orange/blue. I'll go into color combinations in more detail in a future post...

2. Art!!!! Are you an art enthusiast? If so, you will find loads of inspiration looking at contemporary and postmodern art. A walk through the local art galleries or to an art festival is a fun way to catch the creative bug. I happen to love painting! I am a color junkie. Take this painting by Vincent Van Gogh...

I can totally tell that he would have made a GREAT scrapbooker. Can you just see those stars cut from Bazzil and the haze around them from a twist of yellow tulle stapled on? Maybe some stickles here or there? A Sassafras feltie thrown in there for good luck??? Also, just a quick spin through Etsy will bring up dozens of "pearls"... a treasure-trove of inspiration to right click and save away in that folder labeled "AWESOME STUFF: INSPO".

3. Music! Oh man, music can be such a rich source of ideas, emotions, memories... you name it. Music is the bomb-diggity of inspiration. The kind of inspiration that comes from within. Have you ever walked through a Disney theme park? Ever notice the music that's playing wherever you go? It's music that keeps our internal dialogue going and our thoughts become alive. My imagination kicks in when I'm listening to a song with lyrics or a sound that touches me. Or I'm remembering the last time I heard that song... when I was a kid... when I rode the school bus to school in the front seat right by the sweet bus driver (Mrs. Brown) and it came on the radio... when she turned the volume louder and started singing it in her rich vibratto... and when I got hit by a spit ball on the back of my neck right as the chorus started. Ah, music. Pure inspiration. Here's one of my all-time most inspirational songs:

"Together" by William Shatner on YouTube.

For the rest of my life, whenever I hear this song I will think of my oldest child, Benjamin, when he was just beginning to dance. Every time he heard this song he would dance. Mmmm... beautiful memories. Memories that deserve a place in one of my scrapbooks.


Which reminds me... remember last week when I mentioned Journaling Prompts? Don't forget your journaling. Don't forget to scrap the Misc. Memories that don't have a photo to match!

Happy Wednesday!!!

PSS: Check it out, Mosh Posh and our September kit layouts were featured on the Sassafras Lass Blog:Sassafras Blog. How cool is that?

After the Creative Storm!

Happy Wednesday Mosh Posh fans! It is "Behind the Scenes Wednesday," and I cannot even believe I am about to reveal what I am going to reveal. So as you know....wait do you know? THE DESIGN TEAM GALLERY IS UP!!!!! It is fabulous and you can check it out HERE. Anyhoo, I have to be organized. With 4 kiddos, a husband (the equivalent of 3 more kids), teaching school, and just plain life, I have to plan ahead. But.....there is one area that I just let loose, and that is scrapbooking. I just start with a little inspiration and before you know it, there are piles of paper here, a jar of buttons there, and ribbon around my neck...I just love it. However, in the end, it is a tad embarrassing. So here you go ladies...I am letting you all in on my "creative storm"!!!!

TaaaaaaDaaaaa!!!

Goodness gracious! That is terrible. Like I said the gallery went up last night and my scrapbook space was atrocious. What can I say that is the way I roll. Lets do a little recap.

1. That is my desk...a mess. I usually have piles ALL around my 12 X 12 layout. I always spend a ton of time looking here and there because of my many glorious piles...sigh...
2. Yeah...that pink box is full of my completed layouts. I have a phobia. I love to scrapbook, but I am not so good at putting my layouts in albums.
3. My paint basket...organized by...nothing.
4. My three jars of buttons, scrap ribbon, and velvet flowers. The pink merry-go-round can (?) is my most scrappy prized possession. I keep my pens, adhesive, distresser, glue, scissors, etc. in it...LOVE IT!
5. Shelves stuffed with magazines, brads and eyelets, and my sewing machine.
6. Cropper hoppers of patterned paper and unused kits.
7. Baskets of Thickers, more adhesive, and pictures to be scrapped.
8. The big picture...messy! (Did ya see that hot pink IPOD? Caaaa-ute!)

Pretty messy huh? But as your eyes scroll across my creative mess, you can focus on the one organized mecca...my calendar. I have a calendar just for my scrappy projects. I put all of my due dates for my design teams, challenges and contests I want to participate in, and just scrappy things that I am looking forward to (i.e. Mosh Posh kit reveal)!
There ya have it! Any advice? If so let me know...as you can see, I can sure use some tips. Hope you are enjoying the September kit! See ya soon.

A Whole New Look at Butter

Happy Hump Day, Ladies!!! Jenny checking in today enjoying the sunny sunshine after yesterday's First Day of School rainout AND here to bring you this week's installment of Behind the Scenes Wednesday. I want to share with you some things that inspire me to want to scrapbook til all hours of the morning.

I don't know about you... but, there are two things I spend way too much $$$$ on: childrens' clothing and scrappy stuff. Now, what in the world could those 2 things possibly have in common?!? Well, I see scrapbook pages when I look at my kids' clothing, especially my girls'. See here? This cute line from Gymboree is called Rockstar Academy and I bought a pile of it to send Julia off to First grade in style this Fall. Take careful note of the hearts all in rows and the hearts with the argyle stitching, as well. I see this showing up in this month's Mosh Posh gallery. I haven't decided if I'm going for spray ink with hand stitching or patterned papers with machine stitching. But, it will be there on the 15th! (hint, hint).

Alrighty, so what the heck was that silly "butter" reference?!? Well, for the last several months, I've been a big fan of the color yellow. Yellow is so NOT a Jenny color, but alas, I dig it. Specifically, the color of butter. I talked about yellow back in June and you can see it in the card up top. Back then I like the butter mixed with robin's egg blue and cherry. Then, among came my 8 year old's new school clothes. Gymboree mixed my beloved butter with grey (think September's mp grey Lullaby Thickers) and a blue-grey. See here...

Me likey... Here's June's color inspo, still love this one, too:

Some pages I've done this summer also show that cool yellow color and one even has the grey. See here...

Hope you enjoyed a peek inside my little brain and how it works. Stay tuned for the argyle layout and also the butter/grey combination showing up in the DT gallery real soon. Thanks for stopping today.

*************Congrats to The Grissoms Page. You won Estee's button drawing. Please email her at EsteeLynn(at)gmail(dot)com and your butter, er buttons (ha ha) will be on their way!

Buttons, Buttons, So Many Buttons! (+ a Giveaway)

Welcome to Wednesday! Wednesday will be our Behind The Scenes day on the Mosh Posh blog. Today I want to talk about buttons. I have a lot of buttons. A lot is probably an understatement. As you can see I have buttons in a fish bowl, a cigar box and a ridiculous amount of bowls. There is a method to my madness, I promise.

The buttons that I use the most frequently (plus use for math lessons for Breuklyn, ha!) are in the Ziploc plastic container. It has a lid that I can twist on so my buttons can be portable, if necessary. The buttons in the bowls are from recent projects. Before I start working on a project, I pull out the colors that I am going to be working with. Once I am done I will organize them back into the smaller jars.

A lot of my buttons are from my grandmother. I love to pull out a pile of faded, scuffed ivory buttons. It reminds me of being a child sitting in the floor while Nan ironed my grandfather's dress shirts. She would ask me to find a specific button so that she could sew the extra onto his shirt. He was forever losing buttons it seemed.

How do you store your buttons? I would love to hear some new ideas! Leave a comment here with your ideas and I will choose one winner who will receive 100 of my favorite buttons! You have until Wednesday, September 9 to leave a comment. Have a great Wednesday!