The Amy Doodle Of It All . . .

A Transformed Space!

Well, we did it! My bofriend and I tackled the space and were able to oganize my studio, and increase my space by at least 30% ! I'm on my way to adapting the "Photo Freedom" program for myself. I'm using the whole program for the most part and adapting a few minor things, and over all I'm thrilled with the results and I can't wait to start scrapbooking! Here are a couple of before and after shots . . .

Organized at last! I can't wait to start sorting and putting things away. I know it sounds crazy but I actually love organizing! It's so relaxing, and when it's all over you have this space that makes being creative easy and inspiring.

I hope my studio inspires you to carve out a little space of your own :)

Photo Freedom

I'm so excited!!! My boyfriend is coming over this Friday, and we are going to pull apart my scrapbook studio and organize it! I need to get organized, but one of the reasons why I'm doing this is to implement the new Photo Freedom concept, by Stacy Julian. I can't wait to go through my photo's and change my set up so that I can have a library of pictures that I can scrapbook from inspiration rather than chronological. I think the idea of taking my extra photo's and square punching out the people in those photos, and then giving each one of them their own mini drawer is so awesome! I can't count how many times I need just a small picture for a layout, or even just one more photo to fill the space. I can't wait to get punching! I am a emotional person. I perceive my world through how it effects me emotionally. It's hard for me to be logical, so the idea of scrapbooking through inspiration and emotion really excites me! I'll post on Monday and let you know how my studio is coming along  :)

AUTISM CHARITY

If you've read my bio you will recognize that I have children with special needs. Their needs range from Autism, Bi-Polar, sensory intergration disorder, and much more. When My first son was diagnosed with Autism in 1994 the statistics were 1 in 1500, and now the statistics are 1 in 150. We need to pull together and fight for these kids. With all my heart I desire there to be more research, and information done for the field of Autism, but that requires money. You can help by purchasing a digital kit through AUTISM SPEAKS. The Digital Scrapbooking Community has come together to help raise money for all that suffer from Autism. The collaboration was a result of 39 designers each contributing to create this gorgeous and custom digital scrapbooking kit! The kit includes over 300 pieces of backgrounds, elements, ribbons, bows, flowers and more! Included is also some beautiful word art & poetry about autism. Weather it's through donation, telling a friend, or prayer, please help anyway that you can. My sons and I will be forever grateful :)

Inspiration

When it comes to my art, I love being inspired! I get inspired by everyday things like clothing, plates, rugs, home decor and lots of other everyday things! I really love surfing the Internet for inspiration as well, and I thought I would share some sites that I love. There is this children's decor site that has lots of art for children's rooms that inspires color combinations for my art and scrapbooking. The paintings

are so vibrant and colorful that you can use them to create a layout! *Try picking your favorite piece of artwork and then choose 4 colors from it, and use them as your color palette for a page.* 

I also love to look at cakes!  I know it sounds completely NUTS! But if you look at professionally done cakes they have all sorts of beautiful color and pattern combinations. My two very favorite cake sites are Charm city cakes (NOTE: the site has a couple of cakes that are a little risque') and Colette's cakes. * Try picking a cake with lots of pattern and texture, and use that as an inspiration to combine many patterns on your next page*   You can look at just about everything in your world as inspiration! Remember to be fearless, and that you can create anything!

Check out these wonderful pages!

I know I am probably biased, but I think these are truely awesome pages my daughter did with the pregnancy line! She really used the product in a way that's fun and imaginative. I really can't wait for it to be released, so I can see how all of you talented artists out there will use it. Here a few of my girls pages  :)

I love the way she used the belly sticker!

Beautiful clean lines, and she really made this page all about the picture and the journaling :)

I love how colorful this layout is because at that time we were all excited! Labor was happing and we couldn't wait for our grand-daughter to get here!

This layout by far is my favorite! She used different stickers from different sets, and really used them to convey all the emotion she was going through. Our little Ayla came by way of C-Section and we thank God she was happy healthly baby! Way to go My beautiful girl! Your so talented and your bonus Mom could not be more proud of you!

Pregnancy Calendar

I created a pregnancy calnedar using my new line! I thought it would be fun to create something fast and easy that could be a great gift, and a wonderful way to track your pregnancy. And when it's all over you can take it apart and put it in an album! If you click on the picture you can see a closer look at how I used the rub-ons to make a patterned paper for the cover. You'll also see how I mis-spelled calendar  :)  But that's ok, that's part of what makes it mine! It features what a terrible speller I am!!! Don't worry scrapbookers, when I create my lines I have them spell checked just in case!!!!!!

To see more of the calendar, check out the photo album I created for it . . . .

I'm Buried!

Oh my goodness! I have had so much happen in the last month, I have not been able to get to my blog. I have almost finished my next line "I'm Adopting", and then I'll start on some new stuff. I'm also getting ready to teach at big picture scrapbooking. I'm beyond excited about this! I have such a passion for teaching women and helping them to carve out a little piece of time for themselves. Ever woman deserve's to spoil herself a little :) I went to Creative Imagination Headquarters were I was interviewed and filmed for a pregnancy calendar make-n-take. I was totally buggin', but Sonia came to my rescue and helped me feel really at ease! She treated it like we were just talking, no big deal, and it totally helped!  Can I just put a plug in for the people at CI . . . They are a fantastic, friendly, intelligent, and talented bunch of people. I enjoyed my time visiting and learning with them so much! I can't wait to go back!!!!

OK . . .now that I'm back to my reality, I have to figure out how to juggle my life :)                                       I recently had to pull my children from school, so now I am Homeschooling them. I am learning to juggle homeschooling a 2nd grader, 3rd grader, and a 8th/9th grader while creating classes to teach, developing new lines, creating items to promote my new line, oh ya and that whole laundry, dishes, cleaning, 3 meals a day thing!!!  Does it sound like I'm complaining? I swear I'm not . . . Just dancing briefly around complaining :)

I love my life and would want it no other way! :)