I did a layout... It's About ME! (*gasp*) - (AKA:It'sFinally "Tomorrow", and I Promised my "DUH!" moment)

Howdy there! If you've come here today because I promised you something yesterday, then you're in luck, because I followed through! You came back to the right place, because I'm here! with lots of little goodies/nuggets to find.

I've slacked a lot in the scrapbooking department. I never scrapbook about myself. I mean NEVER. I don't really want to see pictures of myself. I don't really have that many pictures of myself... Like most of you, I'm the one with the camera (or the phone) out and I slink away when others have one out and/or put on a fake smiley over-exaggerated face or sometimes a funny face. Whatever the reason, I'm going to totally rationalize it, so you'll never win because I'm the one who always wins here the pics just don't get out there.

Let me give you just a tad of background... Many of you may have seen my post from yesterday. In that post, I was supposed to make a card. A "technique" card. An emboss-resist technique card. We were even given four (4... Count them... 1, 2, 3... 4!) different links to watch videos of people making... you guessed it! CARDS! Did I make one... Nope... Well, not at first anyway... Somehow, someway, I missed that key word. CARD. And so... I made a layout. New Year... New Me... Stepping out of my box/comfort zone... "Shheeee... I'll make a layout about ME! and my Journey... that I actually planned for and was going to start on January 4th, 2016." layout. Yep. I did. I worked hard on it.

I had issues with PicStitch (an app on my phone). I would choose 9 photos and then begin placing them. Placed the first one yay, me!... And *whoosh!* when I clicked back to place the next one... or edited one, ALL. of. the. other. pictures. were. gone. And I kept trying... You know how apps get, right? They have lots of teeny-tiny little gremlin bugs within them that are laughing at you every flippin' time something wrong happens until finally... you get it right. And finally, I got it right... or as close as I was going to get it.

If you look closely, you'll see... in each little box, I've added text or a drawing. I'm so proud of myself. (*pats "self" on back*) This is me. Untouched. Unfiltered. RAW. Okay... not that dramatic, and I didn't shoot in RAW, sorry if you photo-peeps mistook that... About my journey hopefully this one will stick and I'll actually finish it because I did invest money in myself... and the beginning of a scrapbook about myself. My children do deserve to know or remember more about me not that I haven't told them all of this stuff a thousand times or more, but one day... when I'm unable to tell the stories any more, there will be stories in my personal about me! scrapbook, for them to either read to me in my demented state... let's face it, we all might be there some day or to read and share it with other family members one day. (We all should do this... keep family histories alive!)

Anyway... I wanted them to see that each of us try things. And we have to work for what we want. And work... HARD!

And so... I began a layout to go with it. Working steadily... diligently... playing with Photoshop Elements because you just know the dang pic won't print in the right size without things getting cut off here and there, I know... I tried. It took me 3 printings to finally put it through Photoshop and resize the dang thing and getting it printed. Sorry... totally flaked on taking a screen shot of that. I know you were totally waiting to see a screen shot of Photoshop, huh? Yep. Thought so...

Since I was beginning my journey, what better paper to use than something similar to a notebook page, right? Right!

And if you read yesterday's post, you should hopefully remember we were doing the emboss-resist technique...

And then... I stamped the "2016" and "New Year New Me" stamps in clear embossing ink:

And sprinkled clear embossing powder ALL OVER IT!

And it came out like this kinds dingy and gross-looking and definitely not clear-looking...

That's what you get for using a pad that looks like this: (Clean your stamps as you go, people!) Yes... that's all kind of ink and glitter and... who the heck even knows!!??!!

I sponged one of my favorite Distress Inks all over it... Not so hot...

So, I tried spraying a mist of water on it...

No help.

And I moved on... to another sheet of paper. Don't fret! I did not waste that paper... I now use it as a mat for whatever I'm pouring embossing powder over... it still curves and funnels beautifully!!!

But in the meantime... SQUIRREL!!! Did I ever tell you I have just a touch of ADHD? Hmmm... well, combine that with a little OCD, and... you've got... ME! I was getting fed up with trying to find inks because you know that since the holidays and all came directly after the handy dandy hubs completed the new craftroom and I haven't had time to organize it... STILL! Doing all this resist stuff requires INK. And so... in the midst of all this layout-making, I built this cart it was so hard, I still feel like I'm sweating from the workout, moved this whole big box of inks into the cart, and totally felt better. Breathe...

Back to my layout-making... and this time since the last stamp pad obviously had residual ink from uncleaned stamps, I went with the "tinted" dries-clear embossing ink, which looked like THIS:

yeah I know... looks much worse than the first stamp pad, but I was willing to try. Guess I'm going to have to go SHOPPING for some new embossing ink pads, huh. What a... BUMMER! Ha!
and stamped the same two stamps on the new paper...

and applied my heat-embossing tool to it, then used bright sunshine-y yellow on it to make it more positive and hopeful.

Wasn't quite happy with it... so I misted it with water. After misting it with water, it tore just a tad which is totally what I'd intended but not intended to do. You follow me? Me neither! Notebooks need to look worn-ish, right?

On some YouTuber's video, somewhere... someone had said to mist the bottom as well as the top, so that it dries more evenly and doesn't curl. Well... you see how that all worked out...

On to my next stamp... "I CAN" because I can! Because I really truly can! because I'm really trying to have faith in myself that this time is the time and I will succeed because... Did you guess it? I CAN! I brushed it with some green is for "GO!", don't you know? watercolor markers (see the beading on top of the embossing?),

and brushed it off with a wipe.

I did a bit of doodling and some writing... and called it a day! YAY! ME!!!

complete finished layout... (please note... AHEAD OF SCHEDULE!)

And then... I went to post it for the Card Technique Challenge. remember... if you're following this, for some oddball reason, I hadn't been seeing/reading the CARD word As I was reading the pasting job of the "write-up" because some of us don't use the write-ups word for word and we tweak them as we see fit, the word "CARD" kept jumping out at me!!!! Whole. E. Shhhhh... ute! No flippin' way! I was WAY ahead of the game for once and had to start all. over. again. (See yesterday's post to see what I ended up doing as a last-minute card. I actually think it turned out pretty well. And then... of course I think... Otherwise I wouldn't be alive, right? Right.

By the way... In case you missed it... the above paragraph was my totally "DUH!" moment...
----------------------------------------------------

The back story behind the layout?

Full honesty here, folks. No jokes. Some of us have struggled most of our lives with weight. Whether we're too heavy (like me) or too light (like lots of other people). If you happen to have never had to deal with either of these problems, in ANY extreme, please consider yourself very lucky. Have a heart, since there's no way you could possibly understand, and do not judge.

So... in my goal to be healthier (this started WAY before "New Year Resolution" stuff...), I committed to a 90-Day Shred Challenge. I have a friend who kinda talked me into it... who is an "It Works!" distributor. I've watched her shrink and be much healthier. And I know her... so, I've actually been watching it work for her. I'd already cut way back on my portion sizes, added more salads, but down (pretty much cut out) my beloved Coca-Cola, and upped my consumption of water. On my own, I'd already lost 10 pounds. But I had (still have) a lot more to go. Enter my friend, who offered me support and just to try the 90-day challenge... I said yes.

I'm here, 5 days after the challenge started. I have not added exercise yet, but yet... I'm down 4 more pounds, feeling fully satisfied, and not craving a thing! Yay me! and just so you know... writing all this about myself and doing a layout of ME is a complete challenge on it's own. Had to up my game and step out of the "self" box.

Please feel free to share your struggle(s), challenge(s) and even your own "DUH!" moment(s) in the comment section. I'd love to hear from you and get to know YOU a little better, too!