OMG! I'm back! I'm back! I'm back!

I've rediscovered my love of scrapbooking and I'm bursting at the seams with excitement! I know it's been a while since I've posted anything, and I will totally go back and fill in the empty spots with some back logged postings, but I was in a precarious situation that required a bit of
eggshell walking.

You see, I felt the nigglings of my mojo and for fear of scaring it away, I just ignored it; allowing it to sidle up closer to me, day by day. I didn't blog about it..heck, I didn't blog about anything at all for fear something would slip out and alert my mojo to the fact that I was still looking for it. So I stayed silent and then I rediscovered my Xara software.

Xara rocks! It's a 3D animation program that lets me make blinkies. So I started making blinkies for some of the ladies at Scrapbooking Supply Store.This is where it got tricky. I made their blinkies from mini layouts that I pieced together using .jpg images of different manufacturer's papers. So I was doing little digi scrapping but my mojo thought I was making stupid blinkies! Aren't I clever?

Anyway, when I got better at making them, I extended my reach back to Scrapitude (only the best for my girls... and all of that) where I honed my abilities. Last week, I sat down at my desk to do some blinkies and I felt my mojo siddle up next to me. In a flash I grabbed that slippery snot and wrestled with it until it agreed to come back home! I immediately grabbed the layout that had been sitting on my desk (still in the beginning stages) and tore into it! The end result?

This layout of Jenn that I absolutely adore!
I started it in June and stopped after my head got broken.

After 2 months of whining and crying about scrapbooking, of course my first layout would be in homage of one of the ladies that helped me find my way to the end of my tunnel!

So there she is... and I don't care what she says, she's friggin gorgeous... and a dorkfish to boot!


Anyway, so me and my mojo were in talks after that. There was a lot of things to hash out and she was pretty darned ademant about her demands in return for her return.

• 1. No submissions. I promised not to submit for anything, contest, design teams, mags, nothing. I would just scrap for myself and my family.
• 2. There would be no uploading of anything that took more than a day to complete. If my focus wasn't completely pure and free of the desire to please others, I wouln't share it.
• 3. I can't shop for new stuff until I've gone through and used all of my unused stuff at least once!
• 4. No goals. No deadlines (there is an exception to this... I'll explain in another entry). No quests for approval. No trolling for comments.
• 5. If after sitting at my desk for 30minute, I don't feel like scrapping, then I walk away or do something else! No more forcing myself to do something when I don't feel like it! If the inspiration isn't there, or if my mojo is taking a nap, I need to respect that and wait for her to wake up!

So those are the terms that I've agreed to. And you know what? I love them! I feel free! My mojo and I have been cuddles up and enjoying each other's company ever since! I know that I've made the right choice for me and my 2 newest layouts are proof of that!

Here is one that I completed on Friday... and it took... get this 3 hours ( I was watching my daughter and the kittens while trying to piece together the photos for the effect I wanted to achieve). It's the result of an Ad challenge that I've been wanting to do for a while now:

First Halloween

I have been holding on to these pictures for 2 years! I'm pathetic aren't I? I was afraid to mess them up... but not anymore! They are MY pictures... and as long as I worked from my heart, I couldn't mess them up!

I love this layout and I can't wait to do more with the tons of other pictures that I've been saving for a special page!

THEN, last night, amidst a lot of chaos, I found a sketch online (thank you Lenise) that I liked and I came up with this one:

SWING

I took these pictures of Jo during a playground trip and I just love them. I love her smile and her love of life (even if she is grouchy like her momma).

I even doodled a bit on the darned thing! I love this layout just as much as the others and I didn't once ask myself whether I was using things that were outdated or if such and such would like it.
I didn't care and I love the feeling of that freedom!

I tell you what! I can't see what, if anything I will produce tonight!

Am I back 100% I don't know, but I do know that I'm excited! I'm also grateful to all of the women who helped me and encouraged me to take my time. The amount of thanks that I owe to Kimmy (the ultimate big sister) is unfathomable! This woman allowed me to step back and relocate myself ('cause if you're lost, how the hell can your mojo find you if you can't find you?) and well, I just love that woman to pieces!! I am so blessed to be in the company of these women and my one wish for every scrapbooker in the world (except the ones I don't like, hee hee!) is that the all have the opportunity to have a Kimmy, a Jenn, A Carol (with and without the "e"), a Maddy, a Jaks, a Sally, a Becs, a Jaine, a Jane, and an army of countless 'Tudes in their corner cheering them on (but they can't have mine and I WILL kick any ass that tries to infringe on my support squad! consider yourself warned!). I love you guys!