They say good things come to those who wait. So, finally the waiting is over. And I hope this paper was worth the wait. At the risk of sounding completely full of myself, I love this paper. It's got all sorts of color going on. Here's a preview:

If you want it, you can download it here. And if you do, tell me what you had for lunch today. (Ok, I stole that question from one of my fave blogs, Journal Revolution, who asked the same question recently.) For those of you with inquiring minds, I had a bowl of Oat Cluster Cheerios Crunch cereal. YUM!

So while I sit here and try to take my mind off of the surgery my Grandpa will have today or tomorrow (still not sure yet when it will be because he needs more transfusions first), I thought I'd do a little blogging.

Recently, my pal Melinda (she of the incredibly creative hybrid projects!) was blogging about finding some of her old toys as they were unpacking things in her mom's new house. She specifically mentioned her Sunshine Family dolls, and I used to have those too. I also had Barbies and Dawn Dolls (which had the coolest clothes). I was never lucky enough to have anything super cool for my Barbies, like the townhouse (which was huge), the boat, the camper, the car... I had two Barbie dolls and some clothes for them. If I wanted to start thinking abodes, I had to get creative.

I was never size-ist with my dolls. The Sunshine Family, Barbie, and the Dawn Dolls (which are all different sizes) could and did live in the same neighborhood and on the same street. I would create entire "homes" or the equivalent of a studio apartment inside of a cardboard box, complete with cardboard furniture with cushions I'd constructed out of cut up trash bags stuffed with kleenex that I then taped shut, or that I made out of fabric scraps I'd not-so-beautifully hand-stitched. Fabric scraps could also turn into blankets, rugs, curtains... as did paper towels. I may not have had the townhouse, but what I created was just as cool to me. I'd make similar set-ups for the Dawn Dolls and the Sunshine Family, the latter of which came with some stuff for the babies (high chair, cradle). I have some recollection of a Sunshine Family house, but if there was one, it hasn't been found among my old toys. It could have been a friend who had a house for them... I don't recall...

As I said, Barbie(s), Dawn Dolls, and the Sunshine Family lived in the same neighborhood, and even in my young mind, they were quite different. The Sunshine Family, perhaps purely because of their rather old-fashioned clothes were the Cleaver family... buttoned-down and family-oriented, squeaky-clean... (or maybe not... I already had been given the birds and bees talk at that point, so I do recall sending the parents in the Sunshine Family to bed together without clothes on to do what they would do because "when the Mommy and Daddy love each other" blah blah blah... and I would make them kiss each other...). It was all very tame, really, but I also didn't have them sleeping in separate beds like "I Love Lucy."

On the flip side, I always imagined my two Barbies and my Dawn Dolls would be wearing their cool boots and work-friendly mini dresses to cool jobs a la the "Mary Tyler Moore Show" (insert spin and beret toss here). Never had any Ken dolls. As I said, I wasn't size-ist, so both Barbies and the Dawn Dolls would sometimes date my brother's Action Jackson, GI Joe, or Stretch Armstrong dolls. It was never serious, and in retrospect there was probably a whole lot of "friends with benefits" and/or "booty call" going on because sometimes GI Joe or one of the other guy dolls would sleep in the same bed as Barbie. Even though they were just dating and weren't married. Hmmmm... Maybe Barbie and the Dawn Dolls were more "Sex And The City" than "Mary Tyler Moore Show." I just didn't know it then.

The two Barbies and the Dawn Dolls were all friends and they would go to parties together and SOMETIMES the Sunshine Family would have parties and invite Barbie(s) and the Dawn Dolls. Sometimes the Sunshine Family parents and Grandparents would go out and Barbie might babysit the Sunshine Family babies. I remember having a vivid imagination with all of this and having story lines about what everybody was doing.

What does this have to do with scrapbooking? Stick with me here for a moment... I'll come to that. As I remembered my creativity with making houses and furniture and living quarters for the aforementioned dolls, I was, in retrospect, pretty impressed with what I actually came up with. I recently went shopping for Barbies for my friend's daughter... and was FLOORED at all of the STUFF you can get for Barbies these days. And I wondered to myself if kids today are just as creative as we were if they get all of the accessories and the house and way more stuff than was available when I was young, or if giving them everything makes them less creative. Maybe it channels their creativity elsewhere.

With scrapbooking, I started paper scrapping in 1999. There wasn't much in the way of supplies out there. The first paper scrapbook I did was pretty basic, but I realized recently that I used what I did have access to VERY creatively when I put that book together... With the sheer volume now of scrapping STUFF and supplies and "things already made so you don't have to," I wonder if scrappers now are less creative because of it, or, like I said earlier with the toys, if that latent creativity is just channeled elsewhere?

I don't know the answers here. Just something I wanted to share with you guys... see what you thought.

And finally, today's freebie. It's another salted watercolor paper... I just love how soothing the colors are in this one:

You can download it here. And if you do, tell me if you used to play with Barbies and what your memory is of them!

Ok, I've been back since Monday night... I am such a freakin' slacker. Seriously, I could have come back to put a freebie up here as early as, well, ok, WEDNESDAY because it took me all day Tuesday to play catch-up. But did I? No. I'm not apologizing. Not making excuses. Just sayin'... And I've been hanging out at that little place called Facebook the past two nights... doing heaven only knows what with my time... bad habit to have gotten into, but dang, that place is FUN with all caps!

So, I'll get to the freebie eventually, but first I'm going to wax on (wax off) about various and sundry other things kicking around in this brain I inhabit. Maybe I will number my topics. For some reason, that helps me stay more organized and get everything in...

1) My Grandpa... is pretty much status quo. No better, no worse. He was thrilled to see us and even my brother came to visit too, so I think that helped his spirits a lot. He's still in the hospital. Have talked to him a few times on the phone since I got home. Your continued positive thoughts are prayers in his general direction are much-appreciated. We got to have a little birthday party in his room and he even got to have a sliver of cake. I was so happy to be able to spend that time with him AND to be able to see my entire immediate family on my birthday, which pretty much never happens anymore since we're all scattered geographically. Which actually brings me to topic #2...

2) My birthday. The big 4-0. I don't know what the hype is all about, frankly. I still feel 26, and they (whoever they are) say you're only as old as you feel, so I guess that makes me 26. (Which is interesting, considering I've been married 15 years... I guess I got married really young then, huh?) So my birthday was actually really nice. Watched football with Mike and my Dad, spent a few hours at the hospital with my Grandpa, got to see my brother, had cake, presents... all good stuff. My husband, in his never-ending creativity and pre-planning finesse got me some totally cool stuff which I must share with you now... (these are just the top two of things he got -- he always seems to get me way more stuff than he should...)

He scored this book for me, which is huge since it's only available overseas and with the cost of shipping is quite pricey:

And then, while I was off talking to the drummer backstage at the Crowded House show back in August (y'know, the night I MET NEIL FINN!), Mike had Neil sign this CD single for me... how cool is this?

I was pretty floored, to say the least! I had no clue he'd done it. It now happily resides on the shelf in my office so that I may admire Neil's signature on a regular basis. And the fact that he wrote my name. On the single for my favorite song of all time by anyone. (Freaky fan much? Nah, not moi!)

3) Designing -- gosh, I have to get back into it. I was feeling most creative when my other computer was down and the addictive Facebook has since reeled me into its evil (ok, not really evil, but definitely time-wasting) but oh-so-fun clutches. I will get back to it, perhaps as soon as this weekend.

4) Freebie -- today's freebie is one that was supposed to go out last week... better late than never, right? It's this groovy brown swirly designs with just the tiniest hints of blue in it. Here's what it looks like:

You can download it here. If you do, please leave me a comment and tell me what you are doing this weekend!!!!

Hey there!

It's a gray, rainy day here. Hope you are having better weather in your neck of the woods. I'm checking in with the second freebie paper in my series this week... Yeah, I know, it's my birthday and I'm giving away the gifts...

Today's paper is a blue and green extravaganza... I like how it almost looks like salted watercolors... Here's a wee preview:

You can grab it here. And if you do, please tell me what your favorite birthday memory is. Mine would be my 17th birthday when my best friend at the time planned a surprise party for me that was a total and complete surprise. So awesome! I had no inkling, which made it so great.

Ok, I made a decision over the weekend do freebies this week leading up to my birthday (which is Sunday). So here is the first of the series. I made some watercolor art papers that all sort of work together. Today's is blue:

Like it? You can download it here. If you do, please leave a comment! Thanks! Hope everyone had a groovy weekend!