Scrappin on the Sly...Memoirs of a sneaky scrapper

June 13, 2007

WOW!! Where has the year gone??

Here it is nearly the middle of June and I really and truly don't know where the year has gone! I am going to be really really busy the next few weeks. I turn the big whoppin 30 this coming Sunday which also happens to be Daddy's Day...My baby girl Daleigh will be here in less than three weeks and I get more excited every day....I also have two new apartment complexes opening in between (cross your fingers and hope opening isn't delayed any further LOL) BUSY, BUSY, BUSY, but that's just the way I like it!!

I've been told that I get to pick out my birthday present this year, (30 must be too old for suprises lol) which I have decided will be a new digital camera. I mean, I figured it was the logical choice and all, me being a scrapbooker and with a baby on the way..now who would say no to the decision for a new digital camera? To be honest..it's been quite some time since I've bought a digital camera. Just so you can get an idea, my last digital was the Sony Mavica which took the 3.5 inch floppys for storage. Yep...stone age! I'm usually a film junkie armed with my trusty Nikon, but I know that soon, diapers and formula will take the place of film and photo developing charges.

So I set out to do a little research on the new digital cameras. Wow the choices out there...It's like picking out a pair of underwear in Victoria's Secret...so many choices..so little time. I stood there at the counter...jaw open in amazement! Megapixels, shutter lag, optical zoom...yes I'm familiar with all of the terms, but still, there were just so many choices, and colors even. If I decide on this model, ooooh I can get it in Red...my favorite color! LOL I was a bit disappointed that the more budget friendly cameras didn't have the large optical zoom option that I love, but at the same time, with 7+ MP...I guess who needs that 10X+ optical zoom? I've done research till I can't stand to look at user reviews any more.. My birthday is in four days and I've still to make up my mind...(not an unusual thing for me I might add) so I'm looking for suggestions...Have a camera you just can not live without?? Let me know. I'd trust everyone here at flair, you all being fellow scrappers and camera junkies, before I would take the word of someone posting a review on a site. I NEED YOUR HELP PICKING OUT MY PRESENT!!!

posted by downadirtroad @ Jun 13, 2007 | 3 comments | |

January 12, 2007

A Brand New Year

I can hardly believe that 2007 has made it here already. Time really does fly by and contrary to the popular phrase, it happens whether you're having fun or not!

This year will bring so many new things for me. New scrapbook pages, new scrapbooking friends, and a new member of the family. I'm still reeling at how my life is going to completely change. But I am ready!!! I think??? LOL

In a valiant attempt to become more productive in my scrapbooking hobby, I've decided to accept a couple of the scrapbook challenges that have been posted here on the site. I've chosen the "Postcard Challenge" and the "All About Me Challenge".

I'm all psyched about the Postcard Challenge as I love to take photos of my beloved rural Oklahoma and I also have photos of my trip out west to a business conference in Vegas this past summer. So I have plenty of photos to choose from.

Then there's the All About Me Challenge. I've chosen this challenge, although I am hesitant. A scrapbook page all about yourself is like bearing your soul to everyone. It's taking a chance and in letting people in on "the real you". In this age of high tech communication, the computer has allowed people to be whomever they please online. You could take on a completely different persona as soon as your fingers touch the keyboard, and not a single person would know. Some can escape to a world where everyone is friendly and all is right with the world. No one has to know that I always drop food on myself when I'm eating or that I have a pile of shoes a foot high at the bottom of the stairs at home. An honest scrapbook page all about me might let someone in on my faults, my imperfections. I have accepted this challenge nonetheless. So be prepared to know downadirtroad for what I really am. ***HUMAN*** I'm just an everyday person whose imperfections all lend a hand in creating who I really am.

If there is anyone who is hesitant to take the All About Me Challenge, I urge you to take a look at yourself. Dig deep. Let everyone know that you are yourself and all the things that make you who you are aren't necessarily perfect or even proper at times. LOL Take pride in who you are, and who you have become. You might even learn something about yourself, something that you can come to accept and even appreciate.

posted by downadirtroad @ Jan 12, 2007 | 2 comments | |

November 15, 2006

Been busy and have news!

Life has gotten in the way, and it has been some time since I have been able to blog, or to create even a single scrapbook page. I've had tons of work piling on my desk, Mid-terms were literally kicking me in the posterior, and I haven't really been feeling the best as of late.

Last week the family started its usual discussions on who's bringing what to Thanksgiving dinner. My house was to be the chosen location for the celebration and while I said, "Sure...no problem", in my head I was thinking...Great! Something else to do!

It's true, I've been told a thousand times. I do it to myself, and every person who has uttered the comment is correct. They say I should be happy JUST working, or I should JUST go to school, or I should JUST not take on so much at home, but I've never been the type of person who can tackle only one thing at a time. I've always been juggling tasks. I suppose in all honesty, I like to be stressed. I like to have more on my plate than I think I can possibly handle. I have found that I work better under pressure and so I suppose unconsiously, I try my best to keep myself on a tight schedule. So as I'm running around like the scatterbrain that I have made myself into, I've got a thousand things popping into my head.... I've got to find the tablecloth! What about extra seating? I don't have television..How am I going to entertain everyone? I wonder what disaster will strike this year? Thinking about everything is just utterly exhausing. And I mean literally exhausting.

Then I start thinking about how I've been feeling. Just generally not up to par, completely exhausted, and kind of a constant state of nauseated. And that's when it hit me!

So off to the store I go. I live in an extremely small town, and although I'm six months shy of 30 years old, it's still a bit embarassing to see the lady who used to read story books to you in Kindergarten standing right next to you when you are trying to pick out the best pregnancy test. I make my choice, ask to pay for it at the pharmacy counter, and I even ask for it to be double bagged, cause I mean, after all, it's my business.

Honestly, I don't know how I made the 15 mile drive back home. I don't remember any of it. I was so caught up in the "what ifs" that I must have been on auto-pilot.

I unwrap the test, follow all the instructions, and oh yeah, you guessed it, POSITIVE! I'm happy, and excited, and scared all at the same time..........

posted by downadirtroad @ Nov 15, 2006 | 2 comments | |

October 27, 2006

Here to stay?

Now for most who know me already know this, and for those who don't, I'm going to let you in on a little secret...It takes A LOT to hold my interest. I get bored very easily and then I'm off to the next exciting thing. You know how it is...you think of one thing, and it leads to another, and then to another, and then another. Well, that is what is like in "a day in the life of Tisha", especially in the world of hobbies and crafting.

I come from a very crafty, talented, and resourceful family. My mother taught me to crochet when I was about 7 years old. I crocheted, and crocheted, and crocheted, until I lost interest and then it was off down the road of crafting discovery. I then took up mop doll making, but that didn't last long. That segued into plastic canvas where I quickly learned that my limitations to square lines didn't "mesh" well with my creative nature. (no pun intended) In high school, I was drawn to art. I took a tour through painting in the various mediums...acrylics, oils, watercolors. I dabbled in charcoal, pencil drawings, and pastels. I spent hours cleaning ceramics and dry brushing until perfection, but alas, that did not hold my interest either.

It was at summer camp during my last year of high school that I discovered Photography. Yes, I had always loved to take pictures, but I never really realized how much I liked the feeling of a camera in my hands. It was then that my instructor gave me black and white film, a manual camera, and the whole wide world. I came back day after day developing roll after roll of pictures. It was then I realized that I had been taking pictures all along. I realized that I saw most everything as a picture, even when I didn't have a camera in my hands. Photography is the one hobby that I haven't lost interest in over the years, and scrapbooking just seemed like the logical follow through. I have hundreds of photos, all just waiting to be scrapped.

I've been scrapbooking for well over a year now, and I have yet to lose interest. Every new page is a new creation. There are new techniques to learn, new photos to add, new styles to try…the possibilities are endless. Digital scrapbooking was just another door that was opened for me in the scrapbooking world. I couldn't be happier that I finally answered that door after my Mother stood knocking on it for so long. (OK Mom, just this once, I'm admitting you were right!)

Will I lose interest in scrapbooking in the future? Will I be off to the next exciting thing that catches my eye..(ooooh shiny!) No, I don't believe I will. I don't want to be someone who...years down the road, can't recall the story behind the photo that someone is looking at, or that I have left this world leaving behind a box of pictures for someone to sort through with no stories to go with them. There are many things that come and go, but the memories of our life...those we hold on to and cherish forever.

posted by downadirtroad @ Oct 27, 2006 | 3 comments | |

October 23, 2006

Scrapbook of the Week!!! WOW

OH MY GOODNESS!!! I am so excited to have been voted scrapbook of the week! Thanks everyone who voted. I sincerely appreciate it. To be honest with you, the page that won was created in pieces on breaks at work. Five minutes here....three minutes there, it all adds up really. I'm hoping to be able to find the time to put another couple of pages together in the next couple of weeks. I chip away at it, but sometimes it feels like I never get anywhere.

posted by downadirtroad @ Oct 23, 2006 | 2 comments | |

October 9, 2006

Scrapping in leisure

Wow, what a weekend! Somedays it's a wonderful thing to have a public service career, namely each day that is a government holiday! This short break from my hectic life provided me with something that I rarely ever get....the time to just sit down and scrap without having to sneak it in.

I wandered around the house this morning after all the chores were completed, breakfast had been cooked, homework tackled, and all the animals were fed...I felt, well, a little strange. I had a few free moments, but what was I to do...HMMMMMM. Hello!!! It's scrap time!

I do have to admit, it felt strange. Sitting down at my computer at home, not worrying about who was coming around my desk, or looking over my shoulder. I almost couldn't pull things together to scrap in leisure at home. It just felt too awkward. Finally I thought, I need to start a new project so that I can feel at least pressured enought to effectively scrap in my given "style".

So I began baking some brownies hoping that running between checking thier progress and scrapping would give me just the pressure boost I needed. Well, I did manage to complete a page. Not my best I believe, but completed. Maybe I'll just stick to what I do best.

posted by downadirtroad @ Oct 9, 2006 | 5 comments | |

October 5, 2006

Look out digital scrapbooking....here I come!

Hello, my name is LaTisha, Housing Manager and Grant Administrator by day, college student by night, and Secret Scrapbooker every minute I can find in between. I scrap on the sly. The very first digital scrapbook page I ever made was on the laptop while in class. I have to sneak in scrapbooking wherever I can find the time, so it's best to just not give me the opportunity!

Really, I LOVE scrapbooking, I do! Finding the time to scrapbook...well, that's another story. As we all know too well, somedays life is filled more with the things we loathe to do, rather than the things we love to do and time is a rare thing. My life is no different.

I began traditional scrapbooking nearly two years ago. Thousands of sheets of paper, a stack of ink pads, boxes of stamps, containers of brads and eyelets, yards and yards of fibers, hundreds of die cuts, and an overflowing amoire later, I still have yet to finish a complete album. I was drawn to traditional scrapbooking because I am naturally drawn to most anything creative. I love the feeling of the textured papers at my fingertips, a gluestick and dots make me feel like I'm a kid in art class again, and I adore the idea of someone being able to sit down with my scrapbook and flip through the pages of my life. But then I got to thinking... When am I ever going to find time to do this? OK, so I do manage to squander a few minutes here and there, I'm usually away from home when this happens, so I have to tote along this wheeled monster full of scrapbook supplies just in order to make a single page? OK, reality check!

My mother was drawn to digital scrapbooking from the start. She's my computer guru and anything she can put on a hard drive she instantly falls in love with. So while I was out fondling papers at the scrapbook store and collecting supplies, she was downloading graphics and learning how to create her own. She tried in vain several times to lure me to "paperless" scrapbooking, with no success. Finally I gave in and here I am.

Honestly, I couldn't be more excited. While my days and nights have not gotten any less busy, in the few minutes I have, I can sneak and scrap. I'm never more than a few seconds away from a computer either at work, at school, or at home. So, armed with my trusty flash drive, I have everything I need right at my fingertips at a moments notice and I become dangerous! We're a match made in heaven digital srapbooking and myself. I think I might have found a new love, but just don't tell my boyfriend! LOL

posted by downadirtroad @ Oct 5, 2006 | 5 comments | |