her lifetime

this year has been marked by many important events in my daughter's life. she went to sleep-away camp for the first time. she rode horses. she wrote her first play. she was a student of the month at her school. she turned 10.

and today as i spent time remembering the horror, and the grief of this day 10 years ago, i can't help also feeling that my daughter's life is irrevocably tied to 2001, as are all of the children born that year. they will always be "the 2001 children", the children born in a year of grief and anger, heroism and pride. and for every annual milestone they pass, our country will be marking a solemn anniversary. their lives forever shadowed by our grief and our memory.

when osama bin laden was killed, my husband and i drank a quiet toast that night. our daughter asked why we were celebrating. who was this man whose death we were drinking to. my answer was this. that this man hated our country with such vicious passion that he lashed out at us and tried to destroy us. that the united states had spent her lifetime trying to find him.

her lifetime spent looking for a terrorist. her lifetime spent fighting in countries she can't pronounce. her lifetime spent looking backwards at the new york skyline the way it used to look, and at traveling the way it used to be. and i can't help but feel that her lifetime will always be marked by that pivotal morning, on september 11, when hatred changed our world.

well, that's unexpected...

hello gypsies, evidently i'm teaching a class...

 i didn't actually plan this. i actually planned to teach a minibook class - "pretty little things". i was expecting beachiness and crispy clean blues and greys.

then i took the "cabinet of wonders" into the store - it's my august design team project. the next day 4 people had already asked when the class was going to be. i was so flattered! so i thought "well let's not get too excited, let's wait and see". one week and thirteen interested people later and i'm now making the cabinet a class.

so beachiness has been replaced with cobwebs, mummies, and skeletons - oh my!

my little summer minibook has been left in the dust - only one person signed up and i suspect it's my mother. but i can't say i'm too sorry - i do love halloween. and it did give me a bit of a rock star buzz when i heard so many ghouls wanted to hang out with me and get their spook thing on.

so if you're in the san jose area, and want to get your spook on, reserve your grave site...
"halloween cabinet of wonders" class
Sat Oct 8 ~ 11:00-3:00
$90
scrapbook island - 408-978-8900

joyous layout

hello gypsyies!
this past saturday was authentique's first official challenge. the team was presented with a layout sketch and turned loose. visit the authentique blog to see the whole team's answer to the challenge. and you can join the fun too! enter your own answer to the sketch challenge by wed. sept 14th.

but first things first - the sketch!

i couldn't take it as-is, so i turned it 90 deg. just to be different. i chose to use the "splendid" collection - a beautiful group of pinks, blues and yellows in muted and distressed textures. these wouldn't be my first "go-to" colors, but they are truly inspiring!

then i went to work. instead of creating a title, i decided to use the banner space for an all-paper element, starting with paper quilling and smooshie flowers. i'd never quilled before, but i recently was inspired by some truly fabulous work and decided to give it a twirl.

the paper really lends itself to quilling - i didn't even need an actual quilling tool. i simply curled it around the handle of my paper piercer and got beautiful results - the paper curled and spiraled, yet maintained shape when i uncurled and shaped it.

once the stems were done i turned my attention to the smooshie flowers. this is a special technique of mine and again, the heavy quality of the paper really lends itself to this technique. the flowers are made by literally balling up and then reforming the die-cut flower layers. once dried, i touched the petal edges with distress ink and gold stickle for added charm. die-cut daisies make excellent leaves by the way!

in the sketch, there was a section for journaling. i decided to use that area for a typographical element instead. using "diction" stickers, i cut and shaped an area of words, removing some and rearranging others.

i really loved the effect of random words here, and the little peek-a-boos of paper behind them.

so i really enjoyed working with the paper this time around and hope you've been inspired to try new tricks! this week i'll be doing my first "tech[nique] of the week" which involves authentique's "glowing", chipboard, and my favorite lucky number...

materials:
"splendid" paper collection, "diction" and "petite type squares"
"walnut stain" distress ink- ranger
"gold" stickles
"glue & seal" - ranger

do not fear the minibook...

or should we...

a gypsy commented on my "pretty little things" minibook post and said that she had always been afraid of minibooks. i found this intriguing... what could she be afraid of exactly... paper cuts? pointy objects hidden in the pockets?

but then i started to think about it and she's right! minibooks are frightening! sure they look small and innocent, sitting there on the shelf all pretty and proud. but how do you start one, and once started how do you know when to stop!? what if you just keep making page after page until the minibook becomes the size of a phone book? then again no one uses those but they keep showing up on our doorsteps so maybe we should be afraid of them instead.

and then i thought maybe the scary part is, what do you do with a minibook when it's done? i have to admit i have a small army of minibooks in my crafty corner. they're beautiful, and quirky, and so perfect by themselves that i've never actually put anything in them. now i wonder if this makes them angry... like one day i'm going to look over at the crafty corner and the minibooks will all have set themselves out on my table...neatly arranged...like a crop circle...or that scary "blair witch" symbol. a silent paper protest to being made but never used.

i think i need to sleep with my light on...and with a craft knife...

cabinet of wonders

halloween is coming and it's one of my most inspirational seasons. i can never get enough of vintage rhymes, eclectic keepsakes and random spooOOOookiness.

so what better way to celebrate than to combine my scrapbook island team project box o' joy - containing authentique's "glowing" papers how's that for serendipity - with tim holtz's configurations. the result?
a cabinet of wonders.

each tiny box is a vignette, a story all its own. and each  one features a special technique or discovery inspired by the "spirit" of someone special. can you find them all? tortured block letters, wrappings and rappings, edgar allan poe, potions and quotations, and trappings of woe?

hold on to your coffins gypsies, and away we shall go...

rattling and groaning and scratching at the door...

{i love happy accidents. when i took the heat gun to the 13 to save some time, it bubbled and blistered instead. love this look and i'll to do it on purpose next time.}

haven't we met in the graveyard before?
{the quote on the door is George Bernard Shaw's and as soon as i read it, i knew i needed a project with a skeleton, and a closet. i love how random elements can come together.}

dead man's hand will slowly creep...
{ghastly vapors (made from a not so ghastly cotton ball) pour from the glass bottle. the leering witch is stamped on acrylic and lit by "candlelight". the hand from the grave is a "shaker" box with dirt, bones and gravestone sealed behind a piece of acrylic - cut from the sheet that comes with the configuration.}

skeletons scratching while you sleep... 
the mummy is created by layering cheese cloth over one of the idea-ology "creepy dolls". i was inspired to make something of both "creepy dolls" after doing tim's classes. they just have so much potential! can you spot the smaller doll in disguise? and just to go outside the box, i created a hanging graveyard along with a tavern-inspired black cat to hang at the door.}

you've made it to the end of the road, but you're not out of the woods yet.  
next week i'm starting a new  feature - "technique of the week" - and you get to help choose what the first 'nique will be. choose one of these spookiliscious objects from the cabinet of wonders , post your choice as a comment by 8/28, and the one with the most votes wins!


1) wrapped up mummy
2) witchy votive
3) tortured letter blocks
4) door #13

ok, it's authentique!

yes, it's true. the gypsy is authentic, and authentique!

a couple of weeks ago i held my breath, answered the questions, and submitted myself to authentique for their new design team. AND I MADE THE TEAM!

so not only am i exorcising the ghosts of playgrounds past, when i was never picked for the team, i am creating new and interesting projects with authentique's paper.

so stay tuned for plenty of bad puns, but great work, as i embark on my newest adventure - official paper company design team member.

and it wouldn't be very gypsy of me to not give a very special and heartfelt thanks to laurie at scrapbook island in san jose, ca. i've gone from dedicated customer to a member of her store design team. because of laurie's belief in me and support, i was able to get the courage to try something bigger. i will always remember that i started because of her. thanks laurie!

i have a creative hangover...

so i spent this weekend totally immersed in the world of tim holtz - and it was fab-u-lous. but now my head hurts. really there's only so much extra space in there anyway, and i spent all weekend filling that space with things like bees-waxing, tissue-taping, and how to creatively express myself all over the place.

the local store - scrapbook island - has been waiting for 5 years for tim to come. (i was stunned to learn that tim's store waiting list is SEVEN YEARS LONG - hopefully stores stay in business long enough for him to get to them). and it's like having a twilight premier - hundreds of screaming women waiting to see one guy with spiky hair and a cool "look".

this was my first experience with this kind of crowd and i learned some important things:

1. scrapbookies are crazy. they drive for hours to stand in line for hours to spend hours in the presence of a guy who shows everyone how to get dirty and feel good about it.

2. scrapbookies are just darn mean. if they think you are getting something they are not like a better seat, better place in line, the last pink ink pad, whatever. just watch your back around them 'cause they're a rough crowd.

look kids - my "new word of the week":

scrapbookie (n) - someone who is obsessed with scrapbooking and proud of it. think "treckie" with inky fingers and a penchant for anything to do with immortalizing their memories. willing to travel long distances and pay huge amounts of money to play with paper, scissors and glue.

some things i learned about myself this weekend:

1. i must resist the urge to grin like an idiot while lurking near tim - tim's a nice guy and all but this just creeps him out

2. i must resist the urge to elbow best friend out of the way to get an autograph, or the better seat, or the better embellishment - just distract her instead with a quick "ooh look over there, tim's doing something" then go for it while she's trying to figure out how to copy tim.

3. i must resist the urge to buy every tim product and hide it so the hubby won't find it right away - the hubby may not notice the stuff, but might just notice the negative balance in the bank account and want to know why i'm spending money on another man.

it's the day after my scrapbookie creatively enlivening weekend and i'm hungover. my head hurts, i can't remember what i did all weekend, and i'm out of cash. it's awesome