Noodle Soup

Bringing creativity and fun to the table

In case you missed it, I was a guest last week on Paperclipping Roundtable, chatting about creativity and what tricks we use to get into the creative zone. I adore Noell, Izzy, Nancy, Ana, and all the Roundtable regulars, so I was thrilled to have the opportunity to chat with them on the show.

After Noell mentioned my 2007 Simple Scrapbooks Funnest Scrapbooker Ever title, I decided to dig up my entry. It used to be archived on the Simple Scrapbooks website, but since their untimely demise, I thought I'd post part of it here for posterity. And to satisfy anyone's curiosity about exactly what I will do for a sash, a bottle of bubbles, a barrel of monkeys, and a gift certificate for scrapbooking supplies. ;)

The requirements were a 100-word essay, a photo of me in a costume, a funny layout, and three layouts using prompts from Simple’s Scrapbook Play special issue.

My 100 word essay:

Who puts the fun in FUNctioning on six hours of sleep and a Starbucks Venti Iced Mocha? I do! Snapping pictures faster than a fleeting moment, one step ahead of my preschooler’s latest “loco”motive, able to embarrass tall teenagers with a single radio sing-along. I should be crowned The Funnest Scrapbooker Ever because I savor the vibrancy of my crazy life and record the defining moments with flair. Page challenge? I’m in! New product? My enthusiasm can’t be beat! Wear a silly costume? Why not! Throw me whatever you’ve got, Life. I’m armed with the greatest superpower of all – FUN!

Photo of me in costume:

(Which inspired our Christmas card that year)

 

One of the layouts I submitted:

So there’s a little taste of the crazy...oops, I mean fun...for you!

 

Hybrid journaling cards

Just a super-quickie post today to share a stylish & economical journaling card idea.

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased this Echo Park digital recipe card set from JessicaSprague.com. I am not a digital scrapbooker, but I adore the Echo Park style, and I enjoy printing digi products and using them hybrid-style on my paper projects.

I printed these on regular, cheap-o white cardstock from a big box craft store and they came out great. They have a subtle grid print as the background, perfect for keeping my writing straight. I think they'll look fab on a scrapbook page, or alternating with 4x6 pics in a photo album scrapbook. And best of all, I can print as many as I need, in just the styles I want.

 

Sidebar: if you haven't checked out One Buck Wednesdays at JessicaSprague.com, you're missing out on some screamin' deals!

How the supermoon shined a light on the evolution of my scrapbooking habits

Did you catch the supermoon Satuday night? Everyone was talking about it…it was the first time in a whole bunch of years that the moon has been this close to the earth. It was really bright, although not quite as big as I expected from my vantage point. I’m glad I can say I saw it – I’m all about jumping on once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. But I did not take a single photo. I thought about it for about half a second, and then I thought, nah.

Scrapbooker Tami of 5 years ago would have taken photos. Probably a whole lot of them.

What has changed?

I have taken the time (thanks in part to to Library of Memories) to get to know what types of photos and stories make the most meaningful pages for me. I have determined which pages and projects are worth my limited discretionary time.  And I can say with 98.2% certainty that I’m not going to feel inspired to create a scrapbook page about the supermoon.  Should I decide I do want to include a moon photo on a page (say, for instance, a highlight page of cool things that occurred in 2011), I know  the wonders of the internet make it possible to find one better than I could take, like this one:

photo: http://www.gondolagreg.com/2011/03/supermoon.html

Meanwhile, I saved myself a bunch of time by not having to upload and sort through a slew of moon photos. They won't be taking up space on my hard drive, or in my storage binders of prints. And most importantly, I saw the supermoon with a sense of presence and appreciation...not just through the lens of a camera.

I kind of feel like I've missed some stuff over the years, because I spent so much time behind a camera trying to get that "perfect shot" instead of enjoying the moments. What I've discovered about myself is that my memory is better than my photography skills. It just about always captures a moment I was present in better than my camera captures one I was half-present in. I can pair a poignant memory with a less-than-perfect shot, or a completely unrelated photo, or a google image if necessary.

The path of my memory-keeping habits changed course just a bit, orbiting a bit closer to what I consider realistic for me, and that is a particularly bright realization.

One Hit Wonders

My top 5 favorite One Hit Wonders of the 80s:

1. Red Rockers - China (1983)

 

2. Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come on, Eileen (1983)

 

3. The Church - Under the Milky Way (1988)

 

4. When in Rome - The Promise (1988)

 

5. Modern English - I Melt With You (1989)

It's a wonder I survived my childhood...

We continue our Week o' Wonder with the bread of my childhood:

My kids have never had white bread. Seriously. I've been strictly whole wheat for as long as I've been a mom. This was literally the ONLY kind of bread we ate when I was a kid, and my kids have no idea what bologna or PB&J on squishy white bread tastes like when eaten warm from a vinyl lunchbox. (Answer: disgusting!)

Crazy. Adding this to my list of "then and now" things I want to scrapbook about.

Week of Wonder

In honor of (belatedly) announcing that WONDER is my word for 2011, I have spontaneously decided to host a Week of Wonder here on the blog. 

Since choosing my word in January, the theme of wonder seems to keep finding me wherever I go (hello, law of attraction!). So stay tuned for a week's worth of daily-ish posts relating to the topic of wonder. I'm making this up as I go...I wonder how it will turn out. 

To kick things off, here's a little video from the recent TED conference in Long Beach, CA. The theme this year was "The Rediscovery of Wonder", which I think is a pretty cool premise. Just click on the image below to go to the video clip. And then, if you're so inclined, tell me what you're wondering today.

 

Wonder

I finally splurged and purchased a necklace from Lisa Leonard to signify my "one little word" for the year. I have been playing along quietly for the past couple of years, not really posting much about it, not enrolled in Ali's class (though I hear it's great!), not obligating myself to create any sort of project or make it more difficult than it needs to be. Just seeing where my word of the year takes me. So far, my previous choices (realize in 2009 and perspective in 2010) have served me well, and I felt like I wanted a token to commemorate my word this year.

After all the prep time I spent immersed in curiosity research for my Just Curious class, it made sense to allow the word WONDER to guide and set the tone for 2011.

wonder

/noun/ a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable

/verb/ 1. desire or be curious to know something; 2. feel admiration and amazement; marvel

Wonder, as in remembering to ask, "I wonder what if..." and always being open to learning new things. Wonder, as in marveling at everyday moments with surprise and admiration. Wonder, as in the remarkable superpowers of "momming" and creativity I possess. ;)

Creativity begins in wonder. --Jeffrey Davis

#Winning!

The lucky winner of the True Scrap basic admission, drawn at random from my little green bucket o' fun is...

 

Congratulations, Laura! Stay tuned for details from Lain. :)

Even if you're not Laura, there's still some #winning to go around...every person who signs up for the premium replay version of True Scrap using this link by midnight tonight (March 11), will be treated to my Just Curious workshop as a bonus. If you've been thinking about signing up for either one (or both), you should take advantage of this limited time opportunity to get two awesome sources of inspiration and fun for the same price!

Journaling should be fun!

Please enjoy a very special guest post today by journaling aficionado Lain Ehmann.

Hello, creative-types!

I am very honored that Tami invited me to post on her blog. Last time she left me in charge, she came back to find Fruit Roll-Ups stuck to the ceiling and a poster of Justin Bieber on her bedroom wall. Whoops.

Anyway, I wanted to talk a bit today about journaling. Wait! Before you all rush for the exits, let me assure you of a few things.

First, I believe that scrapbooking – including journaling! – should be fun.

Second, I may give away some good stuff if you stick around ‘til the end of the post.

There, now that we have the bribery out of the way, let’s continue.

The biggest hangup most scrapbookers have with journaling is that they make it too complicated. I’m a big believer in simple scrapboooking and that includes journaling. Our brain circuits are already overloaded with stuff like how to update our Facebook pages, our PayPal passwords, and where we left the TV remote. We don’t need MORE things to complicate our lives.

Here are three ways I keep journaling simple:

1. I let other people do it for me. What are kids for if not to create the journaling on our scrapbook pages?? Hmmm???? Make ‘em journal or they don’t get dinner. Simple. ;)
2. I copy it. Song lyrics, quotes, lines from books… you name it, it’s fair game. Why recreate the wheel when someone else more talented (say, Miley Cyrus) has done it for you?
3. I do the fill-in-the-blanks thing. I love quizzes. I mark up every copy of Cosmo within reach at the nail place while I’m getting my pedicure. I mean, I NEED to know if I’m sassy, sexy, or snore-producing in the bedroom. Doesn’t everyone?
   
   Anyway. Back to scrapbooking. Here’s a layout I created based on a fun little quiz I wrote for myself. It took me only seconds to complete the journaling, and the rest of the page followed easily.
   
     
   You see how easy that is? I would journal every day if all I had to do is fill in the blanks. And to make it even easier on you, I’ve created a special download of that self-same quiz for YOU. All you have to do is come over here and download the Word document. Print it on cardstock, fill in your answers, and Voila! You’re golden. Now don’t say I never did anything for you!

 

Now for the other good stuff. As you may know, Tami and I are teaching at the super-cool True Scrap event April 7-9. Tami’s talking all about inspiration, and me? Well, I’m going to treat you to more journaling! How exciting is that! Never fear, I promise it will be just as entertaining as this blog post – maybe even more so. :)

For a chance to score your very own free basic admission to True Scrap (a $97 value), all you need to do is help spread the word by sharing this specific affiliate link to the True Scrap website: http://bit.ly/g5DpEF. Leave a comment on this post linking to your True Scrap shout-out on Twitter and/or Facebook -- each one is worth one entry. A winner will be chosen at random on Friday, March 11. (Can't delay gratification? No worries! If the winner is already registered for True Scrap, the basic admission fee will be refunded).

But wait…that’s not all!

If you purchase the premium, “full replays” option of True Scrap through a link in this post between March 7 and March 11, Tami will buy you a seat in her Just Curious workshop at Big Picture Classes!

That’s four weeks of Tami-style inspiration and curiosity cultivation in addition to your premium True Scrap content! Simply include the words "Just Curious" in the PayPal comment section when you click through a link in this post to register for the full replay option of True Scrap between March 7 – 11, and Tami will hook you up.

I hope you’ll come visit us at True Scrap. You’ll love it. I promise.

 

 

About Lain:

Lain is a fast-talking, fast-scrapping human dynamo with three kids, tons of ideas, and more books than she could ever read in this lifetime. The author of several books on scrapbooking, including “Snippets: Mostly True Tales from the Lighter Side of Scrapbooking” and “20 Simple Secrets of Happy Scrapbookers” (co-authored with Stacy Julian), Lain loves sharing her philosophy of guilt-free, simple scrapbooking.

Lain blogs at Layout A Day, and hosts a membership site, ScrapHappy.

Call me if you need to borrow a cup of improv

I am usually a pretty decent cook, but every once in a while, a recipe goes south. Way south. This was the case Friday night.

I was all set to make a broccoli-goat cheese strudel for dinner, a hybrid of three different recipes found online. I was off to a great start with the filling and feeling downright gourmet, but when I tried to work with the phyllo dough...well, let's just say I either got a bad batch, or I am seriously phyllo dough challenged. Possibly both. I followed all the directions and tips I had read, but it was just falling apart like crazy and turning into a big, unsalvageable mess.

It was too late to order a pizza on a Friday night and still eat at a decent hour, and besides, the filling looked REALLY yummy. So I improvised. I thawed some frozen rolls, fired up the panini grill, and invented "Vegeterranean Paninis". (A clever title for the improv meal is half the battle in selling it to a family that has heard a lot of clanging and swearing coming from the kitchen!)

And, as is often the case with my crazy kitchen improvisations, another family favorite was born.

You'll have to wait until next time I make it for a photo, but until then, here's the low-down:

(all ingredients are from Trader Joe's, except the garlic, which I buy in a huge jar already minced, from Costco)

1 bag organic broccoli

1 T. butter

2 cloves minced garlic

1 leek, sliced

1/2 jar roasted red peppers, chopped

1/2 c. raw almonds (Put in a plastic baggie & smash with a rolling pin while thinking about all the things that annoy you, until they're finely chopped. Or you can use a food processor, but my way is more therapeutic.)

3/4 c. shredded cheddar

1 (5 oz.) log of goat cheese, crumbled

Rolls (I used the seeded rolls from the frozen section at TJ's)

Dijon mustard (optional)

 

Melt the butter in a skillet and add the garlic and leek. Saute for a few minutes, until it just starts to brown. Meanwhile, chop up the broccoli a bit, and steam for 2-3 minutes, just long enough to soften it a little, but not make it mushy. Throw the broccoli & the leek mixture in a big bowl, add everything except the rolls & mustard, and mix.

Heat up your panini grill, slice your rolls in half, and load 'em up with the filling. You can spread the rolls with a thin layer of dijon first, if you're so inclined, for an extra little flavor kick. Grill 'em up & enjoy!  I served them with Trader Joe's Organic Baked Beans. 

This concoction made a total of 7 sandwiches.

(Because my blog posts seem naked without a picture, here's a gratuitous photo of broccoli by sk8geek)