That Unmistakable Moment

You know the one.  The one when you realize that summer has officially arrived and that you can let loose and relax.  Yeah.  It happened for me at this very moment.  We have no pool.  We have a heat wave and therefore it was time to be resourceful.  We dumped out the toys, filled buckets with water and everyone had their very own personal swimming pool.  Summer is here.  Enjoy it while it lasts!

Stella enjoying her personal pool

Wait...in front of the camera?

I have been taking this class by Kara Haupt and her prompts over the last couple of days have been inspirational to me.  It's not just about getting to know my camera and my inner artists, but for me, this class is about getting to know myself.  Not an easy thing to do.  For so long now, I have been a mom, a wife, an Air Force dependant.  Somewhere in all of this clutter, sits the girl I used to be - or the girl I am, I suppose.  I find myself defining who I am by the other people around me and what my day consists of (which is poopy diapers and laundry in case you were wondering), and I have lost me. 

My first task was to take a self portrait. Now, if any of you are the photogs behind the camera, you know that we don't do so well in front of the camera.  Yeah...that was a challenge.  Not only did I have to get over my insecurities of not looking like a magazine cover, I also had to figure out how to be photographed without making stupid faces that were my version of a thick candy coating.  I am who I am and I expect to figure it out, or at least begin, this summer.  We'll see.  In an effort to show you the silliness that ensued in my quest for a self portrait - I share with you these "epic" oopses.  I hope you enjoy them!

And the one I finally decided on as my "real" self portrait...

Summer Time! Summer Time! Sum, Sum, Summer Time!

It's officially summer time in our house and I felt like making a page to celebrate.  Yes, I know summer doesn't actually start until the 21st of June, but when the pool comes out - it's summer right? 

For this page, I machine stitched a crazy border on a piece of plain white card stock.  Then, I used pool blue acrylic paint, an old paint brush, and some paper towels to make a smudgy mess up in the corner.  I tore the edges of the pictures to make them just as messy as everything else and then hunted for some embellishments.  I ended up using some Recollections dimensional stickers, Sassafras Lass layered blossoms, Prima flowers with Glimmer Mist, and some random buttons.  I made my own feltie by stitching a big yellow button to some felt circles and then adhered it to a recycled layered blossom.  I also stamped with white acrylic paint on a piece of left over fabric and used it in the corner as my date. 

Overall, this project took about an hour - mostly the sewing and finding just the right embellishments.  That reminds me - I need to clean the scrap room!