A neat craft site, a little life, and more to come

Oh... I've been absent again, haven't I?   Well... here's the deal:  work is a nightmare right now, I've been busy creating up a storm in the craft room (pics to come, I promise)  taking Christy Tomlinson's Art Journal workshop, busy trying to get a plan in my head for opening an online craft fair, and struggling with some real life big nasties.  I live in Louisiana as most of you know, and here at the end of the May it is already in the high nineties... and my central unit went KerPlunkKerPlooey and no way no how not even if I sold everything I own can I afford to replace that unit.  so I'm struggling with the heat, my partner who is busy being all "End of the world Drama Queen" about it, and my little boy who is prone to horrible heat rashes anyway...   Yeah... life, not so much fun right now.   But I'm nursing this really hot spark in my heart right now about making books and began work today on a mixed media Art Journal that is going to challenge my skills, tug at my creativity and make me work a little harder than I usually do when I am creating.  I'm totally into this project.   I've been reading articles from Fav Crafts.com about the business of crafting and also just getting some neat crafting ideas...  lots of fun projects I can do with my preschooler, who on a daily basis asks "Mama, can we make art today?  Can we huh, huh,huh?"   Yeah... for all the moments I'm a horrible mother, there's things like that that just make me know that the things I'm not doing the way I want are balanced by the things that I am getting spot on.   I'm planning on the mother of all yard sales in the next few weeks, possibly as soon as this weekend depending upon how the rest of life shakes out this week and then I'll hopefully make a little more time to get here, get some art posted and give you a little more Planet Kaere.   Some very intersting thoughs in my head these days, mostly circling the question "How bright would you shine if no one told you you couldn't?" 

Make something beautiful with your heart and your hands.
Kaere

Hope you had some fun and a winner!

Hey y'all... hope you enjoyed National Scrapbooking Day, whether at an LSS, scrapbook.com or some other online scrap venue.  I had a great day playing along at both scrapbook.com and big picture scrapbooking, though i did have a bit of a mishap in the midle of the day...  while opening my ATG gun to try to realign the tape, My thumb slipped and I cracked my fingernail about half an inch down separating the nail from the skin.... the nail is still holding on, I didn't get blood everywhere, and I can mostly still use my thumb but it was pretty surprising and incredibly painful.  I made a few layouts, a great card for my brother and his wife who share a birthday, got some organizing and cleaning done...  and generally had a good time playing around in my stash.  Funny, that the week long challenge over at scrapbook.com is also a "planet you" challenge...  must be something in the water...

Thanks for the comments and I hope that even if you didn't get a chance to get your project posted here, you did spend sometime with Planet You.  
Of the eligible posts,  the random winner is KatsKrops...
I'll be contacting you for a mailing address to get your package off this week.

Make something beautiful with your heart and your hands,
Kaere

National Scrapbooking Day Challenge and Giveaway

Somtimes, It might be easy to forget that I am a scrapbooker, too... I spend a lot of time here with my other crafts, and with life in general (or specific) and I'll be honest, it's been awhile since I made a scrapbooking page.   But I love National Scrapbooking day, and usually spend my day doing the challenges over at Scrapbook.com.   I've learned a lot from the ladies there, and enjoy the comraderie that the hourly challenges provide.  I've done a small giveaway for the last few years myself, usually just a "leave me a comment to be entered" but because I have this IDEA in my head these days, this year,  I have a challenge:  Create something about Planet You.  There's a few reasons behind this, the first being I'm just plain interested in getting to see how you see you : ) but also as scrapbookers, we are usually the missing piece in our projects... we are the photographers, and the archivers and we don't show up in our own work.   If you're new to my blog, let me explain abit about the "Planet You" concept.  I have a place I call Planet Kaere-- it's where I live, in my heart, in my mind.  It's the way I see the world, the filter through which I see you, the rest of the world.   You can read a few posts back to get an idea of what I mean... 
You can make a mini album, a standard lay out, a piece of mixed media art, a journal page... When you are finished, post a link to your project in the comments section.  Winner will be chosen at random.  I'll add the prize package pictures and contents list to this post-- bear with me as I get organized for that part of this : )  I just wanted to give you some extra time to get working on this challenge. 
So looking forward to seeing Planet You!
 You May Post up until 9:00 a.m. Sunday May 8th (I go to bed too early to cut it off today  : )  )
Prize pack includes:
piggy tales epoxy stickers,
12 sheets coordinating pattern paper
Suzy's Zoo Baby Stickers
2 mini chipboard albums (me and my big ideas)
Martha Stewart corner loops punch
assorted stickers and cardstock embellishments.

(more may be added if I get more cleaned up and sorted! : ) )