This is Random

Ran . dom -adjective Having no specific pattern, purpose, or objective

I'm constantly amazed at the things you can find on the internet. During an afternoon of blog posting, leaving comments and praise on message boards and the blogs of my peeps, I stumbled across a random word generator site. Just for fun I began clicking the 'new word' tab and I was intriqued by the randomness of each word that was displayed. Each word generated was totally unrelated to the previous word. And, I noticed that when a new word would appear in the creamy yellow box it conjured up a thought or a memory in my head.

What a perfect prompt for a journaling challenge! So, your challenge this week is to go to the website, here, and scrap the word that is randomly generated for you and use it in the title on your page! And, it doesn't matter if you have to click the new word button a few times until you are compelled to scrap a word. Just relax and enjoy this fun way to prompt you to tell your story.

Here's my page for my randomly generated word:

What Happened to My Organization.

Journaling reads: For as long as I can remember I've loved to organize things. For me, there's real joy and satisfaction seeing everything clean, lined up, and in order. Craig expected the things in our home to be organized and although he wasn't too good at getting it that way, he was exceptional at keeping it that way. It was how we lived and that was fine with me.

Whenever there is change or stress in my life I feel compelled to clean and organize everything. It's my way of being in control. After Craig died, I spent months organizing every nook and crannie, desperately needing to regain command of my life and surroundings, and moving in to a new house helped me to do that.

I've lived here for 2 years now and slowly I've become less compulsive, less organized. It concerns me, but not enough to motivate me to action. What has changed? Am I adapting? Feeling less stress? More relaxed?

Are You Swamped With 'Stuff' Too?

You might have noticed that nothing's been happening here for a couple of weeks ... and we have noticed that you, our loyal followers, have also been missing for a couple of weeks.
This might have made me & Colette sad ... but we are big girls now, with grown up stuff to do & we understand that life sometimes gets in the way for us all.
So here's the plan:
We have absolutely NO intention of closing down this blog - we love it & if it's fun, well - you don't throw it away, do you? But we are going to take a loooooong break to deal with all the other stuff going on in our lives. I might post something occasionally if I have a li'l journaling prompt to throw out to you guys ... but there won't be any challenges & we might be silent until after the holiday season.
But we will be back in the new year - refreshed & ready to go ... put us in your readers to be sure you don't miss the announcement for when we are coming back (we haven't got a date just now) & in the meantime, just so as you don't miss telling your stories ... check out Jessica Spragues fab, free class - all the deets are here!!!

More About Aubree

I asked Aubree a whole bunch of questions too - and these are the bits that she chose to share with us:

Tell us a bit about yourself :
I am married with 3 beautiful children, a 7 year old son and 5 and 3 year old girls. My real job is taking care of the kids but for 40 hours a week, I moonlight as a hedge fund portfolio manager.

How long have you been crafting?

I started scrapping about 2 1/2 years ago. I never thought of myself as a creative person but a friend convinced me to try it out....now I am obsessed! I have taken over our extra bedroom and now have my own scrap space. My kids and I sit in there and scrap almost every day. They may just cut up paper and glue it to other scraps but in their minds and mine, we "scrap" together.

Top Journaling Tip? I struggle with journaling which is why I love this blog. It truely challenges me to write more about each event or memory that I scrap. I know my children will appreciate my work more when they can read the story behind the page.

Visit Aubree's Blog!!

Thanks for sharing with us Aubree! How great is it that you & your kids 'scrap' together? You sure are building happy memories with them ... & maybe one day when they are scrapping with their kids, they'll be telling the story of how they used to scrap with Mom!

Challenge #6 - Putting Down Roots

Another Challenge - & a brand new PenPal! We are pleased to welcome Aubree as our newest PPOTW; our winner from Challenge #3. Aubree sent us this beautiful mini book to illustrate her challenge ... which is a great reminder that you don't have to do a layout. So whether you choose to scrap your entry, create a mini book just like Aubree did, or maybe just get the words down ... in a journal, blog post or a file on your computer - we want to hear about it! So this is what Aubree had to say about Challenge #6:I thought it would be nice for everyone to create something to honor their heritage. It can be journaling about your parents, a layout about your ethnic background and customs, or even a project highlighting your family tree. I personally scrapbook for my children. I want them to have something to see how they have grown over the years and remember the fun times that we shared, but also to learn about their roots.
About 5 years ago, my husband's aunt researched their family tree. I used this information and stories that she remembers to create a mini album.

The journaling reads: Frank Greenspun and Molly Rothman were married on March 18,1928 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Frank was the youngest of seven children. He was born to Israel and Hannah on May 28, 1899. While he was born in the United States, Frank's parents had both immigrated from Russia. Molly Rothman was born in Russia on October 12, 1900. Molly's father, Abraham, immigrated from Karmonetz, Russia. He arrived at Ellis Island on October 22, 1905. His wife and child (Molly) must have joined him in the States at a later date as no records can be found of them traveling with him.

Frank and Molly had two children, Marilyn (b:01.18.29) and Bertram (b:10.29.33). They resided Northeast Philadelphia until late in their life. Frank died of Parkinson's disease in September of 1983. Molly passed on August 30, 1987.

So however you choose to do the challenge ... don't forget to e-mail your entry to us & maybe you will be our next PenPal!

More About Chantele - part 2!

So we are back with Chantele ... & a whole bunch more questions!!

Current fave technique?
I love stamping diamonds on my pages. I also love distressing and making things shabby and grungy.

Top Journaling Tip?
Just do it! So many people don't journal on their pages. I am guilty of it sometimes myself. If you don't record those memories how will anyone know the stories that they tell.

Fave Manufacturers/Ranges
Ranger, Making Memories, May Arts, American Crafts, Prima, and of course, Scrapbook Obsessions. ;)

Who would you most like to do a page/card for?

Martha Stewart. Yeah, who would have guessed? LOL!

Any other interesting info you'd like to share?

My other favorite hobby is motorcycling. I have ridden my bike over 20,000 miles just in the last year and a half.

Visit Chantele's blog & check out more of her fab layouts on the ScrapbookObsessions.com message board gallery.

More About Chantele

Well it's been a li'l quiet around here this past couple weeks, so lets spend some time getting to know Chantele a li'l bit better. I asked her a whole bunch of questions & this is what she told me:

Tell us a bit about yourself :

My name is Chantele Jacobs. I have been married to my best friend since 1993. We have three boys ages 19, 17, & 13. I am the co-founder of Scrapbook Obsessions (http://www.scrapbookobsessions.com), a monthly Scrapbook Kit company.

How long have you been crafting?

I've been crafting ever since I was a child. My mother is a very crafty lady and as a young child I learned how to do counted cross stitch, painting, etc. My mother is also the one that got me hooked on scrapbooking in the early 90's.

What is your favorite craft? (Scrapbooking? Cardmaking? Etc)
My favorite craft would definitely be Scrapbooking. It is a creative outlet for me and a great way to display my family photos.

How did you start?
My mother kept buying me scrapbook supplies as gifts for my birthday, Christmas, etc. I actually had no desire to use them so I stored them all on the top shelf of my armoire. It wasn't until 2-3 years of collecting all the supplies she gave me that I actually sat down and used them for the first time. Now I'm hooked. LOL!

Describe your craft space?We recently moved into a larger home and I did not have the furniture to fill the formal living room so I turned it to my scrapbook room instead. I lucked out and was able to pick up some Pottery Barn shelving units for practically no money at all and they have become my favorite storage of all time. They hold soooo much stuff and what is really great is that with my supplies actually visible, I tend to use them more than those that are stuck in a drawer out of sight.

Wow! I *need* a room like that one! Thanks for sharing with us Chantele ... & if you want to know about Chantele's fave techniques, manufacturers & more ... come by later for the next exciting instalment! LOL.
Have you entered Chantele's challenge yet? Be quick, you only have until Midnight!! E-mail us!!!

Aubree's Challenge #5 Entry

Apologies to Aubree, who sent her entry to me ages ago - I won't bore y'all with the details ... lets just say I've been MIA. Anyway - I'm loving this colour scheme right now ... & the simplicity of this page - just fab! Thanks for playing along again Aubree!
The journaling reads:

N: Mommy, when I move into my own house, will you come over to babysit sometimes?
M: Sure honey to babysit your kids?
N: No mommy to babysit me!
M: (laugh) You do know when you have your own house, you won't need a babysitter anymore, right?
N: Oh...

The layout was made using BG Granola line and an MME tag.

There's still time to enter your page, project, blog or journal entry - c'mon ... e-mail me!