"As for admiration, it was always very welcome when it came, but she did not depend on it." (Northanger Abbey)

Ok, two posts in one day... After not posting forever, I know, I know. BUT I just got my picture from ILAA, and I HAD to share... I am sure that I'll scrap this one day soon, but in the meantime, get a load of Melanie's LOOK here... She was LOVING David Archuleta. He was amazing. He was absolutely as sweet as he seemed on TV during last year's American Idol, and he was SO nice to all the fans. His meet and greet was so much fun too!



I had done the meet and greet with the New Kids on the Block earlier this year, and they were great to meet, especially since I had loved them for so long. But there were SO many women and SO many crazy women, that things got a little out of hand. (That's me with the hat next to Joey Mac... Yeah, all I kept thinking was "my hat is actually TOUCHING Joey's hat... I could say NOTHING to him when we kinda were supposed to talk, lol!)












Not so with Archie! He sang TWO songs to us in the acoustic set, and was just so GENUINE. And then we went up for our meet and greet, where Melanie was starstruck... And THEN he answered fan questions and sang another song acapella for us!! It was so worth it... We promised him that we wouldn't post clips from his song set online, so I won't include those, but a picture speaks a thousand words, and this one is definitely worth its weight in gold! David definitely secured a room full of ardent fans that night!!

"It sometimes happens that a woman is handsomer at 29 than she was ten years before" (Persuassion)

I'm actually re-reading Persuasion again this month... then on to Northanger Abbey to join my students in their summer reading. Then the dreaded Virginia Woolf. :) But I digress....

I have an obsession with Graphic 45 papers, and some of my favorite projects showcase their lovely ladies... SO I thought I'd share some of my favorite "ladies" projects, especially since I BELIEVE Graphic 45 is soon to release a new line at the summer CHA!

(This one was actually an ATC for a challenge on If the Shoe fits!!)

Come scrap with us!!!

Come Crop with Us

Three of 365 Cards...

I've been SO sick all week, and I've had NO energy to craft at all... Today was my first day back at the table, and even though I had tons of ideas circulating to try and get all seven challenges done for Cosmo Cricket week at 365 Cards, it didn't quite work out the way I planned... Here's what I DID manage to complete though...

Day 107 - So Girly (Make a feminine card with the word "Girl" in it)

I definitely have to announce that the stamp is an original made by my girl Kristy... I was HOPING she'd get this card with her stamp in it before I posted this, but I don't think she got it yet! :) SO, if you're reading this K, SURPRISE... :) And check the mail Monday!!!


Day 109 Color Scheme -- Use green, yellow, orange, brown, and aqua to create a feminine card.























Day 112-Everlasting Love -Create a Wedding Card with the word Love

"Oh! that arch eye of yours! - It sees through every thing." (Northanger Abbey)

Today's card challenge is my second attempt at a sketch on Dream Girls. The first attempt will make an appearance next month when my DT position is "unveiled." :) (Still way excited over that, btw...). Here's a look at my take on the DG sketch... (Prerequisites were to have a stamped image, a diecut, and to incorporate the sketch).









Oh, and I'm in the middle of re-reading Northanger Abbey, so please bear with me... I'm sure there will be a few more quotes from there coming! :)

This card was a last minute gift for a neighbor who had a baby... Using the Mojo Monday sketch #91 may I add! :)

"if you will give me leave, I will drink the wine myself." (Sense and Sensibility)

What do you do when you have a mental picture of something and your hands just do not let you create it?

Today I felt a bit uninspired when I finally sat down at my dining/craft table to create... So I decided to start with an easy peasy card to get the juices flowing so I could then be ready to move onto a more difficult layout.

Right.

I decided to play with the card challenge over at 365 Cards. Stupid song. :) Most of the entries featured rainbows, so I, of course, couldn't make ANOTHER rainbow and make life easy... I decided to focus on the part of the song that said "The lovers, the dreamers, and me." I had the perfect stamps from Crafty Secrets in mind, and I figured I'd be done in a half hour to move on to bigger things.

Right.

Three hours, a bottle of sangria, two color concepts, and three alcohol inked transparancies later, this is what I came up with:





















(Note, NO alcohol inks on the darned card!) :) But the easy peasy part was correct... After a trip over to Mojo Mondays, I was able to use their sketch and finish the darned card up in about ten minutes.


The OTHER picture in my head that just didn't work will really have to be revisited one day... Just not today. I have been DYING to use my "You had me at Merlot" stamp on a card since it arrived from Crafty Secrets, but somehow the picture in my head isn't what I've got here... yet. :)












And this one had LOTS of details... I inked with masks, glimmermisted, stamped, stickled, matted... geez, you'd think the card would SHINE. :)































Ah, ya gotta love the Crafty Secrets stamps... :) WELL, the sangria was good... Note, two cards, no layout tonight... For something that was supposed to ease me into a more complicated project, this sure was time consuming! :) Tomorrow's another day...

"I entirely agree with you in the main as to the propriety of doing everything one could by way of providing for a child" (Mansfield Park)

As I research the quotes for my posts, I am starting to get SO psyched for the next school year... And this one isn't even done yet!! I posted my summer reading assignments for my seniors, and I can't wait to get back into the classroom... A little birdie told me that some of the girls were already asking about me and what I would be like as a teacher (I taught at this same high school about two years ago; next year's students were freshmen when I was teaching sophomores and juniors). But getting back into the literature is so much FUN.... Makes me want to go back and read more Austen and Bronte... :) Oooh Wuthering Heights!! I'm going to have to dig that out again...

My students' summer reading lists include A Handmaid's Tale, The Screwtape Letters, Wuthering Heights, Northanger Abbey, and The Portrait of Dorian Gray. Oh, and Mrs. Dalloway too! :) Gee, they're going to LOVE me.... :)

MY reading list is a bit... different! :) I just finished My Sister's Keeper (because I refused to see the movie without first reading the book!) and I really really really want to go back and re-read Twilight... I have Great Expectations sitting there waiting to be read because one of the other teachers somehow thought that Dickins represented a multicultural author... Yeah, I didn't quite get that... Which reminds me, I have GOT to try and revise my sophomores' summer reading before they finish their finals... Oh geez, I hope they didn't finish already!! Ok, goodnight bloggers, gotta go google the school and see when the last day of exams is (was??)...


Onto the Art

Being Godparents is relatively new for us... Although technically I'm just Matthew's Godmother, Andrew has TOTALLY taken it upon himself to be the penultimate Godfather... In this layout, Matthew was but an itty bitty thing still, and already a handful... :) This one was done based on a sketch from 52 Sketches.

"One subject only engaged the ladies till coffee came in" (Sense and Sensibility)

My love of Austen... My love of coffee... My love of satire... My love of card making... My love of a cup of coffee while reading Austen. My love of scrapping... My love of a cup of coffee while crafting...



My satirical coffee invitation card? (The inside reads "Coffee")


















My slovenly art. :) Hey, if Austen says an artist is not slovenly, then this is NORMAL...

So Lisa Howard posted this ABCs list earlier today, and as much as I avoid these by email, on my blog it's a whole different story! Here goes:

A - Age: 32
B - Bed size: Queen
C - Chore you hate: ALL chores
D - Dog's name: Lucky. But he lives far, far away (yay!)
E - Essential start your day item: Coffee. A triple shot please.
F - Favorite color: Pink
G - Gold or Silver: Gold
H - Height: 5'5
I - Instruments you play(ed): Violin
J - Job title: English Teacher as of September; Currently a Freelance Editor
K - Kid(s): Melanie (5)
L - Living arrangements: Married, sharing the Queen sized bed.
M - Mom's name: Diana (mix up the letters and you get MY name!!)
N - Nicknames: Dee, Nina, Mom, Ma.... Ma.... Ma.... MAAAAAA
O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: Never
P - Pet Peeve: Incorrect grammar and misuse of homophones such as their, they're or there...or you're and your... or than and then...
Q - Quote from a movie: "I had an adrenaline rush. It's very common. You can Google it" - Twilight
R - Right or left handed: Right
S - Siblings: Older brother John, Younger brothers, Richie and Chris. Younger sisters Ashley and Serina.
T - Time you wake up: Ugh... 7:30... 7:45.... 8:00
U- Underwear: LMAO... When I HAVE to...
V - Vegetable you dislike: ALL veggies... Why isn't chocolate considered a vegetable? Then at least I'd like ONE...
W - Ways you drink your coffee: Hot or cold, never black, usually bitter and medium toned, just like me.
X-rays you've had: When I fractured my ankle... Do sonograms count?
Y - Yummy food you make: Mmmm. I am a good cook most times... :) I rock at white rice and red beans... And tostones. And I can bake a mean cupcake...
Z - Zoo favorite: The exit sign.

"It is happy for you that you possess the talent of flattering with delicacy" (Pride and Prejudice)

Thus begins my very first blog post! I ask that viewers bear with me as I plod through the art of blogging, and as I begin to share my own art with the proverbial world.

My two favorite authors to teach have got to be Emily Dickinson and Jane Austen. My American Lit students know that I literally drill Emily into their heads for almost an entire quarter... My Brit Lit students know that I have a VERY special place in my heart for all things Jane Austen. Northanger Abbey has GOT to be my number two favorite book ever... second only to Pride & Prejudice of course! :)

I digress... I was going to title this blog after my favorite Dickinson poem "Much Madness is Divinest Sense" because duh, I'm a nut job but it makes all the sense to ME... BUT a good friend of mine (check out Jill's blog!) has titled her journal on CafeMom after that same poem (could there really be TWO such nut jobs in this world??), and Austen offers so many amusing options as well... :)

Onto the art...
I've been working super hard to complete ALL my July challenges for the blog in which I am now officially a Design Team member... As much as I'd LOVE to show them off right now, the position is under wraps until the July announcement...so stay tuned!! :) That being said, I can't reveal the stuff I've worked on for THAT site, but I can show some of my lesser projects that I've played with in between...







This one was for a quote challenge on CafeMom, using words from Mark Twain himself in a layout:










Close up of the quote...





Well bloggers, that's it for today... Time to hit the sack. It only took me six hours to get this up and running! :)