House of 3, Claudine, Harry Potter, and me

Good time was had by me this week 'cause I have been creating.  I spent time with paper.  I LOVE paper.   All sorts of paper.  The more the merrier.

I finished the Purse project that I showed last week by completing the mini version.

Basic Grey is by far my favorite paper company.  I used to collect all their paper lines but then they started releasing 2-4 lines each season and I gave up.  Now they have a billion add-on products like buttons, felt stickers, brads, rub-ons, ribbon…

I have decided that I can love more than one paper company and though I always go back to Basic Grey,  I just discovered Webster's Pages, Graphic 45, Pink Paislee, and House of 3.  

I found Webster's Papers at a scrapbook show.  Their lines have a vintage flair with soft colors and pretty designs.  Graphic 45's esthetic is very vintage and very busy.  They have a new line called Halloween in Wonderland which I love for the name alone.  House of 3 is a mega meeting of Heidi Swapp, Rhonna Ferrer, and Janet Hopkins.  Each is a "rock star" in the scrapbook world and the coming together of the 3 is nirvana, for me and a bunch of others if their weekly blog show participation is any indication.

House of 3 has a lot of digital products and I admit I am a little too green to get much out of digital crafting right now but I hope to figure it out before this generation is moot and the next big thing hits.  I have to make time to learn Photoshop Elements.  Lucky for me the House of 3 products often include PDF files and I do know how to print those!  House of 3 and Pink Paislee  have come together to produce a just announched joint line called Parisian Anthology.  The line includes actual paper, flowers, and cool jewels as well as digital products.  The entire line is BEAUTIFUL and Rhonna made jewelry from the jewels and flowers intended for scrapbooking and card making.  How cool is that?

Speaking of House of 3, yesterday I made their "Once in Lifetime" mini scrapbook.  This kit came with the stickers, jewels, ribbon, and the die cuts all ready to go.  It only took one night and I really did exactly what the directions said, except where I messed up and did the opposite of what was called for.  Yeah, I have trouble reading and following directions sometimes.  Usually I like to add my own flair to projects but this was a very simple project and I wanted to see her techniques rather than make something unique.

 I spent the rest of my time this week catching up on my Claudine Hellmuth Class.  Claudine put out a big supply list before the class started and I got everything, with the exception of her signature "Extra Time" which I had trouble finding.  Because it was so rare,  I figured "how often could she use it right?"  I decided to roll the dice and see if I really needed it.  I think it is safe to say it is, if not Claudine's favorite product,  than it is one of her favorite products because she uses it all the time.  Extra Time- as you probably surmised from the name, gives one extra time before the paint dries.  It thins the paint out making it a glaze and allowing more working time to manipulate the paint.  Unfortunately my gamble didn't pay off and I needed it for the second week project.  I had to scramble to find it and wait for it to ship.  Ding Dong rang the postwoman and handed me a small box.  Ah, I finally got Extra Time and was able to sit down, catch up, and dazzle myself with my beautiful work

So now I have everything I need:
Paint? check
Brushes? check
Canvas? check
Extra Time? check
2 inch circle punch? NO
Large rub-on? NO
Perfect piece of scrapbook paper to match project? Maybe
Photocopies? NO
Photocopier? NO
hmmm this isn't going so well.
 While Claudine provided a nice piece of artwork to use as the background of the project, I needed a photocopy not an inkjet print.  Ugh, Kinko's is a good 20 minute drive and here I am wearing my scanky-ready-for-paint shirt, my iPod is playing NPR's "Wait Wait.." Podcast, my water glass is refilled with ice, I'm ready to create!  I don't want to get in the car and go photocopy one paper.  In the end I found a photocopy in my stash, used an actual dictionary page rather than the provided artwork, used my 1-inch circle punch, and found a rub-on I liked.  Princess Serindipity waved her wand in my direction because in the end I really like mine better than Claudines.

What a mess my house has become as I neglected it in order to create.  My subconscious raises her head off the pillow and asks "Create what? Chaos? Cause it's a mess in here" Oh shut up.

Chase has hit the Lego Harry Potter Wii game hard this week and he almost has it beat. As in 100% complete.  We found a map on-line that some game-crazy fan posted of the entire Hogwarts world and somehow I managed to figure out how to get to the hidden places.  The biggest problem I have is I enjoy playing.  Of the 3 Lego series we play (Indiana Jones 1 and 2 and Star Wars), HP is the most fun, has the fewest really frustrating parts (driving all the vehicles through the goal posts almost drove me insane in Indiana Jones 2), and appeals to my OCD side.   I like the Lego games because each portion has a completion point.  Once you find everything, collect all the characters, gold bricks, shields, and owl posts you are done.  I get to wrap it all up nice and neat.  My OCD loves this.  The problem is, while Chase has 1,333,456,655 points (this is an actual total as of 2:30 today, not an exaggeration), I still feel the need to pick up every single coin and break every single object.  He has enough money to buy everything in Lego Harry Potter and Lego Indiana Jones 1 and Indiana Jones 2 and Star Wars the series, and yet I still pick up Every. Single. Coin.  I break everything breakable and I yell at Chase to pick up all his coins.  Seriously!?!  Even more pathetic- I walk around the actual Legos on the actual floor, the actual iPod earbuds on the actual couch, and the actual magazine Leaning Tower of Lazy on the actual coffee table.  OK, maybe I need help?  I think I must have been a queen in a former life cause I know I wasn't the housekeeper!

 Later's Baby.