and the great Viewmaster trend rages on

WOW!  I've been BUSY.  I'm not kidding.  Usually, when you hear someone say they've been 'just TOO busy,' they go on to tell you about how they went to work all week and to a movie and washed their car then HAD to get caught up on their favorite TV shows all weekend, so they didn't 'have time' to do such and such... 

To those people, I always want to say:  "THAT'S NOT BUSY!!!  THAT'S RELAXING!" 

My fabulous scrappy friend, Darla, has been saying that I've been burning it on both ends.  No, Darla, I've actually been burning all the ends, not just two.  Ha!

So what have I been doing?  Working on a show, helping with a new play festival, working working working- and dealing with a truck that decided it just doesn't think it needs to retain its brake fluid.  Truck, meet fence.

But the show has closed, the play festival picked its winner, and the truck is sitting proudly next to the fence it killed.  I'm not kidding.  The truck asked me to have the fence mounted, so it can hang in the den.

One my one free evening last week, I knew I NEEDED to relax and clear my mind with some scrappy therapy.   A lovely Studio Calico community member, ShannaNoel, inspired me with a layout by another member, JustNick, called HELLO TODAY. 

As I was at that moment of wanting to scrap but not knowing where I wanted to start,  I decided to scraplift it for a creative jumpstart. 

When I began digging through one of my big boxes of embellishment stash, the 'viewfinder' die cut from BasicGrey's HELLO collection's package of 'Photo Frames,' jumped out at me.

BasicGrey's sexxxy acetate die-cut from the HELLO collection.

I studied it for a long time, trying to determine its fate.  I know, I shouldn't hoard these things- I buy them to USE, right?  But it's just too freakin' cool!  The plasticky look and transparent wonder of it all-  well, I couldn't use it- I planned on having it peeking out from behind something, so I couldn't justify its use.  Yeah, that's a big crazy, but I'm not above being crazy. 

Then I remembered:  I have the PICTURE WHEEL die from Tim Holtz!   I grabbed a sheet of acetate, grabbed the die and my BigKick and cranked it out. 

The only problem now?  I have a perfectly clear and shiny thing next to the classy matte beauty of BasicGrey's inspiration piece.  Oh!  Sandpaper!   With the help of Mr. Holtz's sanding block, my dreams of unlimited acetate 'picture wheels' became reality.

Sure, it doesn't have the printing that BasicGrey's piece has- even though I considered using some rub-ons and rubber stamps to finish the counterfeiting action, but in this moment of just wanting it peeking out from behind part of my layout, this is perfect!  It even has the same translucent matte feeling.  After french kissing my discovery for a few, I continued on with my page.

I'd been wanting to scrap this favorite photo for quite a time.  It's a pic that I took backstage while working on the show, "PRESLEY TWEED: ONE NIGHT ONLY FOR TWO NIGHTS," back in October.

The long strip behind the photo and title is cut from a 12x12 printed transparency.  Over a year ago, I bought a 25-pack of these movie-film transparencies at a Tuesday Morning for a 1.99.  They remained unopened until this night.  Don't you love that feeling of 'I KNEW that one day that would come in handy!'?  I do and I don't.  It's exciting, but then it validates my hoarding desires. 

I made the layout using mostly BasicGrey.  Since I bought at least one of every item in BasicGrey's exclusive JoAnn lines, Hello, Hey There, and Hey Boy, I thought I should try to use some of it up!

For the big word of the title, 'backstage,' I used my beloved BILLIONAIRE cartridge (What a font that little critter gots!) and the Cricut CraftRoom to weld the letters together-  I also cut the starburst shape while 'experimenting' a bit.  It was cut from some bright manila cardstock, but I liked the shape enough to color it with Spiced Marmalade and Rusty Hinge Distress Inks and added it to the layout.

That's it for now- I've gotta go stand by the mailbox and wait for my SILHOUETTE CAMEO to arrive, thanks to the good people at Massdrop.com.   Did you follow my advice and buy one of your own?  I know a couple of you did, as I heard from you- but if you didn't get a chance, go over there and 'request' the buy again- who knows, they might hear your pleas! 

-kory k