Inspiration Elevator Challenge- Scrapping loss

This week's Inspiration Elevator theme- surviving loss really speaks to me.

As scrapbookers, journalists in our own lives, image creators via social media, we often forgo
getting real for keeping things light and positive.
There's something to be said for that, after all, those who love you already know your trials.

But talking publicly about what's really happening in your life is also a fantastic means for catharsis. And for finding out how you really feel.
Sometimes the most important stories are the saddest.
Those are the stories that show personal heroism and tenacity- true character.

Journaling, photographing, getting creative with talking about the hard times helps me immensely.
The main benefit is in helping me work out how I truly feel.
It keeps the negative inner talk to a minimum and helps me gain perspective.
Most importantly, it makes those little moments most precious.

As usual, I worked on this late at night so my lighting for the photo is way off- my apologies.
My page is about my marriage. Lately our communication has been fraught with negativity.
I wonder about the nature of our bond, is it strong enough to withstand all the external frustration we feel in our current economic and housing situation?
 Am I doing all I can to keep it strong? Could I lose the central relationship in my life?
That second questions scares me because I've always thought my marriage was strong.
I waited a very long time and made sure I was emotionally ready for the marathon.
My page isn't about loss.
It's about the fear losing something precious engenders.
I realized love doesn't change in a relationship but it can take second place over ever changing challenges if you let it.
I won't let it. And I made a page to remind myself.

Our main purpose here at IE is to challenge ourselves, each other and YOU to take the creative process to the next level;  to inspire growth and change in our scrapbooking beyond the mundane.
You can catch us on Facebook  and share your creations there; we'd love to see how we have inspired you!

This month we are thrilled to welcome back as a guest designer with our team, the artistic and genteel, Scarlett Salomone. Her creative works are as lovely as she is!

This month's challenge is issued by the talented Wendi Robinson. Her first time to issue a challenge for IE and it's a great one! Here is her challenge in her own words:

LOSS... One thing we as scrapbookers do is post about lots of happy things, wonderful moments, things that make us smile, and things we want to remember. Too many times we avoid scrapping the not so memorable, or sad times. Most of us have experienced a loss of some kind, whether is be a loved one- sometimes it's expected, sometimes the loss comes too soon and unexpected. Other times we lose a pet, a job, feel like we've failed at a situation, or loss of a friendship. This time, let's scrap those harder moments that come into our lives. Scrap about a LOSS of some kind.

Wendi Robinson

Katherine Sutton

Lisa Moen

Ann Jobes

Guest Designer: Scarlett Salamone

Wonderful challenge Wendi!
Swing by the blogs and see what the other designers have done to represent their personal challenges and triumphs.

I hope you are inspired and take a swing at the challenge for yourself.
Remember- little moments matter

Guess which pre-schooler is mine?

Inspiration Elevator Challenge- Letter to your Teen Self.

Hello happy people!!!

I've been sooo busy avoiding any and all crafty pursuits. My mojo is gone fishing for the moment.

This latest Inspiration Elevator challenge freed me up a bit.

I started thinking about what I would write, how to make it relevant to my life today and to my primary audience (always Miss Lola) when suddenly the page's design mattered less.

This is a good thing as I usually get so wound up making an "original" design, my story (the whole point of making a page) takes a back seat.

AHA!!!! Here is how the page appears when I link up to my Flickr! 

You can also see everything else in my Flickr account... excuse me as I learn the internet.. again.

Here I'm using an iPod Touch and the AfterLight app to shoot and retouch my pages.
Blogger seems to be compressing the files and rendering them incorrectly.
You can try clicking on it to get a clear look- my apologies.
I started off with the 2 A Flair For Buttons flair and a Crate Paper background.
I didn't want the page to look like one of my usual scrapbook projects so I resisted
adding a photo at first but I have a bunch of these under exposed Instax Mini shots
lying around- each of those prints costs a dollar so you better believe I'm using them all!

Basically the text reads- don't sweat the failures- you get one thing right and it's the most important thing of all. 

I was talking to a past and even MORE resistant version of me so I get pretty stark in my words.

If you think I'm overly pessimistic and broody at 40 you would have LOVED me at 16.

The teen years are hard for everyone, your moral values and ideals are mostly set in place but you fall all over yourself either trying to prove you are independent and grown up or running away from doing so.

So without getting bogged down in the details (which my teen ear would have rejected anyway) I decided to give my past self some comfort. I'm not the walking error machine I was convinced I was. 

I was -am- pretty freaking great at figuring things out.

I'm almost ready to give up the hunt for perfect design and just keep doing this in all my other pages.
Scrapbooking has gotten too complicated.

And now a word from our sponsor:

You may recall that the purpose of this challenge group is to take our scrapbooking to the next level, to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and extend ourselves. You can view all of the challenges at our Inspiration Elevator Blog, here. 

Our challenge this month was posed by the very talented Ann Jobes. Here's how she expressed this month's challenge:

My daughter subscribes to Dance Spirit magazine and I sometimes browse through it, too. One of my favourite monthly features is an article that features a different dancer each month, some photos of that dancer, and a description of their current work, and (the best part!) a letter. The theme is a Letter to My Teenage Self. The content ranges, depending on the dancer and his/her experience, morals, ideals, etc. So this month's assignment is to write a letter to your teenage self. You can take any approach you'd like to this - scrapbook page, art journal page, canvas. However the prompt inspires you. And your content is of course up to you, as well. Some topics might be: what would you try to teach yourself? Or, what would you counsel yourself to do or not do? This does not have to be a page about regrets. It could be about congratulating yourself on something you did right that has contributed to who you've become today. 

Here is a photo of a recent magazine feature, if it inspires you:

Please visit the other Inspiration Elevator designers' blogs and see how they solved Ann's challenge:

Ann Jobes 

Laura Whitaker

Lisa Moen

Cathy Harper

Joanne Burton

Jodi Wilton

Michelle Hernandez

We would LOVE to see you take up Ann's challenge this month, so if you do, please share it at our linkup on the Inspiration Elevator blog.

Get writing mi gente!

Pumpkin picking madness.

Root Canal!!! A Punky Scraps Christmas page

To explain this admittedly SCARY page:

Shattered- an unChristmas page
MATERIALS: Lily Bee Memorandum paper and alpha stickers, American Crafts sunrise Thickers, Studio Calico wood asterisks, green striped washi tape from Giftwrap So Pretty on Etsy, Crafter's Worskshop template, Maya Road mists Green apple and Lime Metallic, MIster Huey in Schoolhouse

Growing up, my Dad was constantly admonishing me to BRUSH YOUR TEETH!!! YOU DON'T WANT A ROOT CANAL!!
According to Dad, root canals are the most awful thing ever. I took him at his word and brushed, flossed and rinsed away regularly.
My dentists always said "You've got BEAUTIFUL teeth!" ...
But I ended up needing a root canal anyway.
Not 1 but TWO- the second one a complete surprise.
A deep cavity was discovered under a filling that had come loose- no evidence showed in the xray- the dentist found it after digging away and finding a "soft spot" that just kept growing.
Excruciating!

So I'm preoccupied with my mouth right now. And with a second torture session scheduled for late December it's enough to completely distract me from the joy of the holiday.
But I won't let it!!!
December Daily photo not yet entered into my book:

Day 8- 65 degrees!!!! Brooklyn Bridge Park is awesome.
I love my custom made "scarf"!

Day 9: Wrapping the door and hanging the wreath.
Watch for my punchinella wreath project over at Gauche Alchemy on the 12th!

I loved this month's Punky Scraps sketch.

I think perhaps you'll want to mosey on over and check out the more bright and cheerful pages on the blog. PUNKY SCRAPS
The page should also use one of the following:

* corrugated cardboard*

*stamping*

*paint*

*misting*

*stars* 

*ribbon*

Get creative people! And keep those December Daily albums going!!!

Day 7- I know she looks uber bored but she really loved visiting the
empty lot turned Christmas Tree wonderland.

MuChOs SmOoChEs!
Michelle