hustle.

I decided to change my work routine a couple of weeks ago. I no longer stay up until I can no longer keep my eyelids open. Instead I wake up early to work. So far it seems to be working for me. But I still feel like I need more time. That has been the biggest drawback of not having an office where I can work quietly and efficiently. It's not fair to my son to see his mom tapping away on the her laptop or zipping around the house cutting and printing and packaging. I choose to work only when he is sleeping and when he is on a play date with his cousins. Still, it's just not enough time. This is something I didn't plan for when I left my old job. Am I complaining? No, it's just my reality and somewhat of a good problem.

I often refer to what I do for pay as "hustling". Gotta make that paper booboo although the work I do know doesn't nearly bring home the income I use to make. Don't get it twisted...I'm not rolling in the dough here. So what exactly do I do you ask? Well, I'm photographer for one. I average 2-3 sessions per month which doesn't seem like a lot but when you factor in editing time with the other work I do, it gets overwhelming especially when there's a couple hundred photos to look through in addition to my own personal photography.

I screen print. I design rubber stamps for my personal shop that also houses said screen prints. I scrapbook, still designing for Studio Calico + Paislee Press. I also do other work for Studio Calico including some design and coordinating the digital shop. I started doing product photography for Studio Calico. I do random design jobs locally. Invites, business cards, etc. I'm collaborating with friend on a new shop. Hopefully I'll be able to give some detail on that soon.

I try to blog. I thought I could turn this into a daily type blog full of inspiration and tutorials. Yeah, obvi that's sort of a fail which leads me to this post by Note To Self. ( I stumbled upon this through Pugly Pixel) Great post, especially if you're like me and feel as though you've gotten lost in your blog and the blogging world as a whole. Not going to lie. I get a wee bit jealous when I read various blogs and see how well designed they are and  all the constant updates. That's why I don't actually read blogs that often. I hate that feeling. Plus it takes time away from what I should be doing. On the flip side of the jealousy is the motivation and inspiration. I don't want to  make this to be a negative thing. I often feel rejuvenated when I read a blog I enjoy.

But what about my own blog and brand? It pisses me off that it's still half done and that I still don't have a permanent logo design. Other projects and work have taken precedence over my own personal projects and work. This is where I'm at a loss. I know I'm trying to do too much. My brand is scattered and lacks focus. This is a huge goal for me in the next year. As much as I would like to get this taken care of now, it's just not possible with the looming holidays and birthdays and everything else in between.

Why all this deep personal insight on a Friday morning? Well, it's just what I'm feeling as of late.....actually it's always on my mind. I use to pour my heart out here or actually my old Typepad address. After Tyler was born and Life.Love.Paper become more, things changed. Or is it that blogging world has changed? Is it more about ads and daily updates rather than personal thoughts? Man, it's got to be a fine balance. Kudos to all those successful bloggers out there. It's hard work and I don't think they get enough credit for that. Guess I'll just leave all of that up to them. Sparadic updates on random crap works for me for the time being. :)

Happy Friday. XOT

Hello

It's 6:30 am on Sunday morning. What? Who gets up this early on Sunday? Well my husband for one. He's been working Sundays for several years now which at times sucks but hey, it's life and he's keeping it real. Love that man. So when I heard him getting ready, I thought I would wake up myself to get some things done before the other guy got up who is by the way, POOPED from last night birthday festivities. I sometimes find myself out of place in social settings. Tyler forces me out of my comfort zone so now when we're invited to numerous kid's birthday parties, I of course go. Mainly for him and cake but mostly for him. As he zips through every square inch of my friend's home and makes new friends, I'm left to converse with the other mommies. Oh the exciting things we talk about as moms. We had a thorough discussion on whose kid napped the least that day. Tyler always gets the "omg, how old is he? he's huge!". I really enjoyed myself though, even after a couple of meltdowns. What's nice about being with other moms of young kids is that they get the "meltdown".  I just look at the other moms and we shrug and smile in unison as we try to calm our kids down from whatever has gotten them upset.

Lot's of new things on the horizon. I know I say that a lot, probably prematurely sometimes. But there are really new things going on and if you follow me on Instagram, you got a tiny peek of one of those exciting things. I know, I'm being really cryptic and it's been hard not to reveal the full story but it'll happen in the next week. :)

I'm also working on my last stamp design for the upcoming Life.Love.Paper shop. Not only will there be new stamps but a sort of holiday collection. No, not a kit...just something to enhance whatever project you're planning on doing for the holidays. There will be several screen printed items as well as an exclusive stamp. These are things that inspire me most around the holidays. Snowy trees, twinkle lights. This will also happen in the upcoming week. If you're a newsletter subscriber, you'll be the first to know.

Other exciting news is Liz's big move over to The Lily Pad. She debuted her first collection there last week called Is It Friday Yet? Loved all the digital elements in this kit.

 

Well, I think I need to put a fresh pot of coffee on. I'm going to need it. Happy Sunday! XOT

Create your transparencies

Happy Wednesday yo! The sun is finally out after weeks and weeks of rain, gray clouds, fog and snow. Yes, snow. It was gone within a few days but still, snow in September? Not cool.This marks the "get my sh*t together for the long winter" rush. I'm out and about trying to find the perfect jacket and boots when really I should be getting my snow tires on. My priorities seem to be off at times people, I'm fully aware of this. At least I've got the kiddo's winter gear, that was simple. They make such cute stuff for little people.

Besides moaning and groaning about the upcoming winter, I've been busy with projects and deadlines. You know, the yoush. (how the eff do you spell that? short for usual) I've got a cool tutorial on the Studio Calico blog today. I work a lot with transparencies since I use them to burn my screens for printing. I made a batch of these years ago for a Dare swap and never thought twice about making them for my Project Life album until I started messing around the SC digital brush stamps. They're fun to create and trust me, they get addicting. My advice to you is to fill up that sheet as much as possible because they're not cheap. They run about $60-$80 for a pack at my local office supply store up here. I found a great source online through Amazon because I use them so often. You can find them here. Of course you may not need 100 of them but still, you can't beat the cost.

Hey look, an actual PL page! And you thought it was a myth. Ha! (Girl print by Jamaicamakes & Gold amp on chipboard by Life.Love.Paper)

My PL is boring compared to what I see out there and I'm totally fine with that. I lost site of what this project was suppose to be about and now I've simplified it even further. I just grab a precut card, staple a journal spot, sometimes date it and insert it in a pocket. Done. Then I print photos at the end of the week and insert those. I'm not going to worry about exact dates or completing full weeks. I'm still pondering on doing this for 2013. If I do, it'll definitely be smaller. I'm not into this huge 12x12 binder. I need something more portable like the new SC Handbook.

Well, I've got some finger painting to do with the little man. XOT

5th times a charm

It took me five tries to finally get this carmel sauce right and honestly, it still wasn't perfect. The final batch still has some sugar crystals and I could have let it cook for a minute or 2 longer to get more of a rich amber color. I tried 2 separate recipes 2 times each, both MAJOR FAILS. Oy.

1st attempt with this recipe and a big lesson learned. DON'T WALK AWAY FROM THE KITCHEN AND FORGET YOU'RE MAKING CARMEL SAUCE. What a mess. 2nd attempt with this recipe. Lesson learned? DON'T STIR THE SUGAR. I ended up with rock candy. 3rd attempt, same recipe above. Apparently lesson wasn't learned because I got impatient and stirred again. Don't ask. 4th attempt, first recipe. I f!$&king burnt it again. !@($$&#($*(!!! Jeff proceeded to ask why I just didn't go out and buy a jar of carmel sauce if I was craving it that bad. That comment was followed by an evil glare. He didn't say another word. 5th attempt, this recipe but added butter and vanilla. Success! I didn't walk away. I didn't stir. But I was too afraid I would burn it again so I was premature in adding the cream and butter. Still had an excellent flavor though. Delish over my favorite vanilla ice cream. The second day I used it as an apple dip. Victory is mine!

XOT

Last Day

Only 1 more day to register for 1000 Words: Capture More. I just created several templates to help printing photos easier at home and a few printable pdfs of some fun things. Also, don't forget there will be a private message board so we can all share our photos, thoughts and questions. Hope to see you there October 1st. XOT

Make it Work + October SC Layouts

Roller Rink was really fun to play with this month. I think I finished 3 layouts the first day I opened the kit. That's pretty good for me. My 2 favorite layouts contain cut designs that I thought were really cool this month. The Stencil Tags + For Like Ever. The Curious Chevron is cool too but I messed up the layout I had used that design on. Maybe I'll be able to rescue it in the future. You know when you go to mist and you think you're aiming it the right way and ends up spraying in a total different direction. Yeah, that's what happened with that layout. I kept misting thinking I could fix it but ended up looking like a hot mess.

I've had a couple requests to bring back the Make It Work feature here. It's something I do every month with my layouts anyway. I'll just have to remember to photograph the process to show how exactly I made it work. This installment is all about those leftover strips of paper you get when you cut your 12x12 down to 8.5 x 11. I get lot's of those since I only scrapbook in that size. I usually stash them and or cut them up. A lot of times I make quick little cards or tags to adhere to birthday gifts. That's what I've done below.

Simple. I created these after my layouts were completed. I'm seeing all these great pieces and embellishments from my add ons and thinking I need to use these. Otherwise they'll go in a box and I won't think about them again. Here are some other cards I created with the "leftovers".

My favorite card was created by inking a repeating pattern with the "Seriously, everything will be ok" stamp. It really looks like a letterpress card up close.

Here's a list of supplies I used this month: Roller Rink Main Kit Add on #1 Add on #2 Add on #3 Add on # For Like Ever cut design Stencil Tag cut design Printable #1 Printable #2 XOT

1000 Words

Hey guys!

We're nearing the end of sign ups for the 1000 Words class! So much information and inspiration on photography will be provided in this class not to mention some freebies like printable pdf's and digital brushes. There will also be a few give aways for students as well like rubber stamps from Life.Love.Paper. The Studio Calico blog is giving away 1 spot in the class. After submitting your comment there, hop over to each teacher and contributer listed for a chance to win a $10 gift code to use towards the purchase of the class.

Post your comment below and tell me what your photographing right now. If you're not, then you should definitely be signing up for this class! :)

 

Still trying to get the blog updated. It's driving me a little mad and if I could afford to pay someone to do this, I would. But alas, I'm attempting to learn a little about css code and I have zero desire to. I'm sure it'll come together eventually. I wanted to have it all cleaned up before the next shop update but I'm anxious to release this I LOVE FALL download. ETA should be sometime tomorrow. :)

Photography sidenote: I played with a 24-70 this weekend. A photographer friend lent it to me for a couple of sessions that were suppose to happen this weekend. Unfortunately with the bad weather, they were rescheduled. So I took it out back while the man and boy raked the leaves. I had shot with a 24-70 awhile ago for a wedding and liked the results but I didn't really get a chance to "play" and experiment. One reservation I had with this lens was the bokeh factor. I love an out of focus background. That's why I mostly stick to primes. The above shot was taken with the 24-70 and it's currently one of my faves. And now I'm wanting one of my own of course. I'm even thinking about selling my 80 1.8 and Lensbaby. If you're interested in either, you can email me at lifelovepaper@gmail.com.

XOT

Girl Loves Friday & Fall

Love the idea of pairing a black maxi dress with neutral wrap. Just not sure if I can pull it off like a 6 foot model//Dipping fall leaves in wax....genius!

And something exciting (for me at least). A new Life.Love.Paper digital screen print release. Total labor of love...hand illustrated leaves, notebook paper and woodgrain with a a hint of texture to give that screen print feel. All the things I love the most. Just putting the final touches on them and will have them up for sale this weekend. If you're a subscriber to my newsletter, you'll be the first to know when it's released.

Happy Friday! XOT

Continued Construction

Still trying to get things updated around here. Please excuse the mess. :)

On another note, I got some pretty mail last week that I forgot to show. It's a new "paper kit" called Olive Box. I wasn't really sure what to expect but with the introductory price of $15 I thought why not. I subscribe to her Retail Recipes newsletter. Pretty informative and motivating if you're an entrepenuer looking to have your goods in a retail setting. I don't know all the details about the creator but she does own a stationary store in NYC so I knew there would be some pretty paper items included.

The box is beautifully packaged and I was delighted to see items from the Rifle Co. Seeing my name handwritten on a card was a nice touch as well.

 

I personally opted to not subscribe to this paper lovers kit. The cost isn't in my budget at the moment which makes me sad. That said, these would make great gifts. I have a few people in mind who would love to receive a box of pretty stationary and unique finds.

xot

 

Workspace.

Man, I love these moments. Things sort of came in focus for me over the weekend. Not all but a lot. And I got so much done creatively and when I say done, I mean I didn't run into a whole lot of walls which has been my biggest enemy this past month. Ideas flowed, pens sketched, hands got dirty. Why can't it be this way all the time? XOT

(Fox print // Sass&Peril)

Where'd ya go?

My love for blogging. Totally lost. I can't even begin to tell you how much I hate that. I remember when it all started. I would write about the most mundane, random bullshit and I was happy with that. At least I have Instagram. Currents has totally gone, hasn't it? I do still jot it down in my journal and sketchbooks. But I haven't shared in awhile so here we go.

time: 9:05 pm location: couch (or as Kristi would put it, "couchin it") drinking: water eating: nothing but I'm jonesing for a bowl of ice cream watching: Louie (love.this.show.) feeling: apprehensive loving: my arse planted on this couch (I don't think I ever sit while the boy is up. I'm even scrapping and making standing up now. He keeps me on my toes people., it's no joke) thinking: so many things to do and make, so little time making: just completed a special project for a special project wanting: to be somewhere else (I desperately want to get out of the state for awhile but how do you travel with a toddler?!?!) needing: see above

And because it's Friday, gotta throw in some girl loves.

I'm so inspired by this, not only for the pretty typography but the overall message.

That's all. Happy Friday- XOT

a few fair photos.

The outcome of Tyler's second annual fair visit didn't play out as I envisioned. I now know what my son is like without his afternoon nap and it's not pleasant. There were fun parts here and there but the overall day was on the cusp of being a disaster. Mommy learned her lesson on not planning well enough and skipping nap time. I only snapped a total of 4 photos with my digital + about the same with my iPhone. Part of me was bummed but it was nice just being in the moment with Tyler and Jeff.

Highlights of the day? First merry go round ride and the boy's utter excitement around the farm animals. I'm talking the funniest exaggerated laugh. I need to get that on video.

Did you see Studio Calico's October class?

I'm pretty excited about it. We are working on some amazing things for this class. If you have a passion for photography + scrapbooking and are looking for some insight and inspiration in your daily picture-taking, this is the class for you. Aspiring photographer? All six teachers will offer critique on at least one photo you upload. Are you a blogger looking to take better photos? Well you're in luck. We'll be covering that too. There's a lot more and more to come. Don't regret not signing up. It's going to be a good one.

xot

Open

Hey guys! In case you missed the newsletter, the Life.Love.Paper shop is now open. I have very few stamps left but I'm reordering today so they'll be ready to ship next week! I'll  be adding some new prints and photography next week as well. :)

I also gave my new subscribers a sweet deal and now I'm passing it off to you! Just enter HELLOFALL and received 10% off your order with a $10 purchase. This deal is only good through August 31st!

xot.