Sunday, April 29, 2012

Hopping Mad and a SMASH Page!

Here's a page I made for this month's Scrap the Girls sketch challenge.  I love how it turned out, but it took me entirely too long to make, so I've decided I need to scrap faster and more efficiently.  How I'm going to manage that feat remains a mystery, however, so if you have any tips, by all means, send them my way!

Here's the sketch I was inspired by:

I flipped the sketch and centred everything to fit my pics, and also upsized it to 12x12.  Then I added a bunch of stuff, like these flowers:

 And some clouds:
 Probably the best part of making this page was getting to play with some new products, like brand new paper from My Mind's Eye and Basic Grey, and the tissue tape from Tim Holtz.  Fun fun!

And here's a SMASH page that's been in the works for quite some time.  I decided to SMASH my favorite music of the moment, so first I had to identify my fave songs, then google the bands, choose photos, and print them out.  And then I just wrote away!  The washi tape you see is stuff I made with Sook Wang tape, tissue paper, and background stamps.


 Kind of a plain page, not much for embellishment, but gives a glimpse into my taste right now.  I started off SMASHing the way it's supposed to be done, but lately I've been overthinking it, and same as the scrapping, it's taking way too long.  Come on, Roxy, get it done before the memories are gone, eh?

And now you've reached the second edition of Roxy's Rambles.  Feel free to skip this bit, but please leave a comment after the beep, heehee!

  • Who takes care of car maintenance in your household?  Before I met Jason, my dad took on that responsibility, and he kept my car spic and span, and even tried to teach me a thing or two i.e. I know how to locate the dipstick and fill my windshield washer fluid.  (I also know how to pay for gas at the pump - laugh if you must, but I know for a fact there are people out there who don't, for example, my mom!)  Other than that, though, I'm pretty clueless.  Therefore, it's been a very stressful two weeks for me in that I had to bring our vehicle in FOUR TIMES for various things!!!  With a TODDLER in tow!  It's a new vehicle, too, so I'm really hoping we didn't get a lemon...  Anyway, I survived, and hopefully don't have to go back...EVER!
  • My kids got their report cards a week ago, and I was pleasantly surprised with Nolan's - he made the Honour Roll!  Of course, he was upset that he didn't get straight A's like the other boys in his class - what?!  First of all, hardly anybody got straight A's in my class, and certainly not the boys!  And second, getting on the Honour Roll is awesome, especially for someone who struggles every day not to get in trouble!  It took a while, but I think I convinced him that I am extremely proud of him.
  • Ailis did great as well, but that was to be expected.  She also performed a poem at the Festival of the Arts with two other girls from her class.  It took a lot of courage to stand up in front of a crowd, and they were up first, too!  They did very well!!!
  • Jason passed his Registered Professional Forester exam, so he can officially call himself a forester now.
  • Brenna fell in a mud puddle yesterday, and Hunter continues to chew toys and generally drive me bonkers.
  • Have you ever tried to comment on someone's blog, and the word verification thingey comes up, asking you to prove that you're not a robot, and you realize you must be a robot because you can't read the damn letters?  Happens to me all the time!
  • Something happened the other day that's had me very discouraged.  I was at Strong Start (a free playgroup they have at the school) with Brenna when an autistic girl started to have a bit of a meltdown.  Brenna stared at her for a bit, but since she's used to chaos from being born into it, it didn't phase her too much and she went back to playing with the train set.  I couldn't help but notice, however, the looks of disgust on the other mothers' faces, and that's what has got me so bummed out.  These other two mothers are people I don't know well, but they seem like nice people - well put together, outgoing, they volunteer for the PAC...  In short, people I thought I might like to get to know better.  But once I saw how they glared at that little girl with their lips curled up, and how they quickly packed up their kids to bring them elsewhere to play, it changed my opinion of them 180 degrees!  I've had those looks directed my way so many times in the past, but for some reason it just really got my goat this time.  This little girl is nonverbal, so all she was doing was expressing herself in the only way she can, and it wasn't even that bad - her caregiver was able to redirect her and get her playing again in what I thought was a reasonable amount of time.  It really surprised me to see these other moms displaying no tolerance whatsoever, but it is also kind of freeing to realize that I don't want to be friends with people like them.  How do you choose your friends?  Has your opinion of someone changed completely by witnessing how they treat others?
Well, I hope you enjoyed my post today!  I haven't tried out this new version of blogger yet, so hopefully posting this works!


10 comments:

  1. Oh I love your take on the sketch...simply brilliant! :)

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  2. I love your layout. I especially LOVE that you chose such awesome angry shots of Brenna! As much as we all want to remember the good time and the smiles, these are the layouts they will pee themselves laughing at later on in life. I consider that a job well done!
    And about the Moms at your Strong Start ... what can one say about such insensitivity except that it must be nice to have such a perfect life and a perfect child that never throws a tantrum over being forced to do something they don't want to do. I would bet that when I only had one kid (maybe two) I might have done something similar. I was pretty naive about the different challenges parents face and about the different temperments kids can show. But, 3 kids later and I can honestly say I probably would have had a similar reaction. "Is my kid okay? Is my kid bothered? Is that child hurt or just angry? Okay, all is well, carry on then." The world would be such a better place if we were all more tolerant! Keep fighting the good fight!!
    (just scrolled up to remind myself what I wanted to say)
    Car maintenance ... what a laugh! Greg firmly believes in doing the recommended oil changes/maintenance check ups as prescribed by the dealership and in all other cases call BCAA. LOL!! I think I may know more about cars that he does and I think I know about as much as you! In fact, I think I may know more about just about anything that remotely requires one to use a tool of some sort .. that isn't a pen that is! Sigh. It's my own personal cross to bear!!
    Congrats seem to be warranted all around! good job family!! We also got report cards. Marley is WAY above grade level for reading and writing and has apparently been participating in a Math Club started by her teacher for those of the class (her and 4 of her friends) who need the challenge of Grade 3 and 4 math!!!! News to us!! Paige on the other hand is just where she is supposed to be and to be honest, we couldn't be happier. She's not shown any anxiety issues and in fact is pretty popular with her class. She's been working diligently on her speech issues and is showing real progress. And while her reading is a struggle, it's right on target so we know it will come eventually. You can't have two parents who read as voraciously as we do and not eventually figure out how to read!!

    Anyway, I've really go to go to bed. Loved catching up on your blog - sorry it's been awhile!
    Hugs from the Wet Coast! (it's pouring right now. Hope it stops before morning. Nothing worse than walking the kid to school in the pouring rain! You'd think I'd be used to it by now ... but I'm not. It always sucks!)

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  3. wow Roxy, I came from the smash group on Facebook and instead have been blown away by your scrapbook page! its amazing!!!!! also love your smashing too :)

    im gonna pin your page for inspiration if you don't mind xxxxx

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  4. Hi Roxy, brilliant layout! Oh, I so remember that face, I even get trantrums now when I turn the tv off, and mine are 11 and 7!!!

    It's fab to see you over the smash group on fb, and I love your smashbook pages, just brilliant!!!

    I so know what you mean about over thinking a page layout or smasbook page, I'm the same, less think and more sticking and smashing I say, lol!


    Hope you get your car problems sorted out, gosh, we're forever spending out, arn't we, when we could be all that lovley lolly for stash !!!

    Congrats to your children, they are doing great!!! Well done to Nolan, and tell him, I've never known anyone to get straight As. His award is simply amazing, well done Nolan!!!!

    BTW, someone suggested taking the word verification off my blog the other day, I didn't even know you could do that. Went into setting and managed to do it, horray! Hopefully it's a bit easier for people to comment now.

    Looking forward to seeing ooooodles more Roxy!

    Hugs Suzie xxxx :)

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  5. Hi Roxy

    So glad you joined us on our FB Smash page, great to see you popping up there as well as on my blog now :)

    Love love love your scrapbook page, and I think that every minute you invested in it is totally worth it, it's a beautiful layout, despite the grumpy pics!!! Not sure why you need to rush or be quicker when you are producing such lovely layouts! Quality, not quantity I say ...

    Fabulous smashing going on here too! I too am glad that we are now smashing together like we journal at Christmas together too :) Songs/music! Fab idea, have added it to my list too, hope you don't mind!

    Well done to your whole gang! Seems you all have reasons to be proud of yourselves and each other!

    Hugs - Carole xxx

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  6. Lovely work as usual.. Take care and see you this week end..

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  7. Thanks for joining in at STG. Love your page, those lollipop flowers look so cool!!

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  8. Fantastic page! Love the clouds and raindrops. Perfect for you photo. :)

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  9. So, here I am playing catch up!!! Life has gotten in the way of my fun!!!! Sorry I have been MIA!!
    I absolutely love the layout of Brenna, the best part has to be those pics!!!! They are FAB U LOUS!! Your smash page is a great idea!! I have my smash book out ready to go but I haven't been in my scraproom for a bit ):
    I love your rambles Rox so keep them coming!! My hubby is a mechanic so he takes care of the vehicles, I have to say he has been slacking a bit lately ): He just gets sick of it I guess. It's like me not wanting to do homework with my own kids when I get home. I do but I don't really feel like it.
    Great news about Nolan's report card!!! It's so nice to see them be succesful (: and Ailis getting up in front of people!!
    I laughed out loud when I read your thing about word verification!! Too many times I have had to try again!! I can't stand it ):
    It' awful when people don't pu themselves in someone else's position before they judge!!! Especially when it comes to kids ): I know there are things I haven't understood about people until I have went through it but to make faces and move away because a child is upset!!?? It's too bad. I guess it saved you wasting your time with them though.

    Hugs!!!

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  10. Hi Roxy! I love your smash book page. I am curious to ask though- you say that you tried to smash the way it is meant to be done, but decided to give it your twist. How are we meant to be smashing? I never found much about it when I started and I would be interested to see if I am doing it right haha...

    After reading your comments I am going to have a look on facebook for the smash group.

    Have a great day!

    Mel

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