Natalie's World - her view

Wow talk about creative confidence. Natalie was shooting pictures with my camera today and dang, some of these came out pretty good.
I was cracking up when I saw this close up of her face, you can tell she is smiling, just didn't quite get the full face. But, that is what is too cool about it. ~CRAZY EYES~
Here are a few more. The world from Natalie's point of view.

Glad she found this sticker, I need to take it to our 15 year high school reunion next year and stick it on someone's back. Remember this Anne?

Pretty good lighting and framing of the subject in this one. Eh?

See her feet??

She took a few of her toys, put them on her lap, and took pictures of them...and her. So darn cute!

Note: none of these images have been 'photoshopped.' These are all the raw creations of the great Natalie-poo.

Are you Creatively Confident?

This is something I ponder. Ali Edwards, who I really admire, has a newsletter that comes out and in this latest issue, she talks about Creative Confidence. It helped me a lot to read this and try to let go of my walls that block me from being creative sometimes. I always want this to be perfect and that to be in the right place too. But sometimes, I just need to create. Natalie and I do projects and she gets to a point where she says...I'm done. I think....umm the top of the paper is entirely blank and she randomly placed all of the lil photos at the bottom. Then I step back and think, wow that does look great actually. She knows when she is done with something and she says, 'I'm done' with so much confidence, I need to learn from this.

I was thinking that it was a creative block-type thing going on, but it is actually moreso the push to do something bigger and better each time. Ali talks about this feeling too. If you did something and you liked it, then why not repeat it...?

The one question I do have for her is: Can design be learned? I sorta think that if you can draw, you can draw and if you can't well..you just can't. I often meet people that are 'designers' in one way or another, and they just exude a unique style, presence and aura about them. I want to get there with my creativity, but not sure how. I have some of Jim Krause's books and try to learn as much as I can about design, but is it something that you either have...or you don't?

Ok, I'm Done!

Things to ponder....

Clearance - Pairs Well With Spare Change
I saw this at Starbucks this morning and thought it was a cool little quote. Often they feature a new drink like the Pumpkin Spice Latte and they always say, "pairs well with the pumpkin scone" or whatever the treat may be. So kinda cute.


Love Is My Religion
This is the name of the new Ziggy Marley CD, but it has been in my head for a few days. I think that Love is really all we are and all we need. In the end, it is all about Love.

"You Are A StoovieLovieLove!!" -Natalie
Ok, Natalie what is a StoovieLovieLove? (pronunciation:in LovieLove the 'o's say Oh) She won't tell me....She says it is from a show, but I can't figure it out yet. She sure thinks it is funny too when she says it. I do too. One day it will makes sense, it always does.

Those are my things to ponder for the day. Thanks for reading. :)

Dream Dream Dream

Ok, call me crazy, but the new CRV sure looks good. I love to go to the honda website because you can build and price your own car. I added everything I would want, the spoiler, the fog lights, and the sunroof visor. I like to drive with the sunroof open, but it makes a lot of noise. The sunroof visor pushes the air UP. Kinda cool. So, maybe one day....trade in the Esca? trade in my car? who knows what the future holds....

One thing I love to do is dream about things to come. I am always excited about the future and wonder about what tomorrow will bring. I often feel like I am waiting....waiting for things to happen and I am trying to learn (not doing well as you can see the yearning for this car above) to live in the moment with what I have. Why do we all want stuff? Stuff is really overrated, but for some reason, it helps. It brings about the excitement of something new. That is my thought anyway. So today is today and tomorrow is the unknown.

Did you hear about the Scrapbooker of the Year? Can you believe it? You gotta read the press release, she won TONS of stuff including a two-year agreement to represent Creating Keepsakes at upcoming events. Interesting. Seems good, I am happy for her. Just a little indifferent about contests. We scrap for your families and lives. I don't really think competition is good in this industry. But for CD, I bet it is great.

I'm Back

Well, today I was able to sit down and make something great, I call it "Our family is..." Lately I have had a bit of creative block and haven't really sat down to create. Today, although, I did. Check it out.

Ok, so you know that my dream job is to take photos of products, right? I had fun taking these pics and posing my project. Inspiration? Where does it come from? Well, this morning, I was completely amazed at this Doodlebug ad in my new CK magazine. I swear I was staring at it for at least 10 minutes. It is completely made of paper, except the fork.:) So I decided to sit down and be creative, and it sure is a stress reliever for me too. I ordered a ton of these heart tins from Oriental Trading and they had matching inserts too. They are sturdy and cheap too. I am hoping one day Natalie can do these as a project for her b-day partie or I can teach a class with Twig soon. Who knows, leaving life up to the stars these days taking it day by day.

This is one side, this is the other. You can click on the photos to see a bigger photo.

Pretty good eh? I am going to start taking pic of the things I do too. Tiny projects like this are great for me, I feel great when I am done because I accomplished something today, in a few hours. Natalie made one too, but she is not done yet. She would rather go outside and help dada wash the cars. Well, one day she will be able to scrapbook with me, I can't wait!
Have a great weekend and relax and enjoy the cooler weather that is upon us.

Pumpkin Patch Trip

Wow, life just keeps getting better and better. We went to the Pumpkin Patch today with Natalie's class and she LOVED it.

She got to see some animals, run through a hay maze, pick some corn, and pick her pumpkin for Halloween. I asked her how she wanted to decorate her pumpkin and she said she wants it to be pink with a silly face, so that must mean that we are painting the pumpkins this year. We got a good one for a silly face too.



Here is a pic of her class too...jadyn is on the far right side, she was a little grumpy today, Sean said.
Totally excited about Halloween this year, it is going to be great!

What a Week!

Well, it sure was an interesting week last week. Natalie got sick, then I got sick, then Tony got sick. This was a bad virus that got everyone in my family one way or another. We are all better now and just trying to re-coop.
We are totally excited that we are going to see Disney on Ice Nov 4th at Arco. It is going to be cool, Sean's family coming too, Natalie loves to hang out with her cousins. So this is the next big thing to look forward to. I'll defintately post pics when we get back. Usually all the kids dress up in their princess dresses and disney stuff for the show. Hey, good use of the Halloween costume again! Me like that!
Life is good, just trying to get back into the swing of things. Sold my desktop, returned my 19' monitor, so we have a little money this month, but unfortunately it is gone, bills bills bills.