It Would Be Monday Again

Funny how that happens. Mondays seem to come all too quickly. Not that I'm complaining. I actually don't mind Mondays. That is as long as they are nice to me. When they decide to behave in true "Monday like" fashion and create drama for me all day long...well, then I don't like them so much. And given that my boss returns from a week long vacation today, I'm expecting a bit of office stress. He will want to be apprised of all the happenings during his absence. I can't actually say,

"Well, you see, I spent the entire week catching up with my favorite blog friends and otherwise surfing the net in search of some scrapping inspiration because as of late, my scrappy mojo is avoiding me. Since you weren't here to keep me on task, I decided to take a mini-vacation into crafting cyber-space."

I'm thinking that would be the wrong response to his anticipated questions. Honestly,I worked like a mad woman and completed many projects while he was away and I plan to support my image of a very dutiful and competent employee and rush to him with the results as soon as he walks in the door. Maybe, if I'm really lucky, he be his usual self and not even care to ask.

Several posts back I did a give away with this Close To My Heart kit.




Random.org chose Jocelyn as the recipient. She and I have discussed challenging each other to help us think outside our usual scrapping box. Since we both owned the kit, we thought what better way to start our challenges than with these products. We were to complete a layout and a card.

Before I reveal my creations, let me state, with emphasis, that I wasn't kidding when I said I've lost my scrapping mojo. I attended a crop Friday night with some old friends and I walked away with nothing other than an addition to my laugh lines. I had a great time socially, but the creative juices just were not flowing. And obviously, my photography skills are on hiatus as well. These photos are quite crappy. I couldn't take these this morning when we had ample sunshine, I had to wait until this afternoon when we had overcast skies. See, even my timing is off. Ehhh. What's a girl gonna do.





Even though this isn't one of my favorite layouts design-wise, I LOVE the pictures. My grandmother (on the right) suffered from dementia the last few years she was alive. She had always been such a spunky lady and it was extremely hard to watch the loss of her mental faculties eat away at her existence. But something about my cousin (actually my dad's first cousin), Aileene, seemed to bring her back into this reality if only for a few moments. This picture was taken at one of the last family reunions she was able to attend. Watching my grandmother's show of affection for Aileene was such a sweet moment. I'm so glad I was able to capture it on film.



Creating this card was the real challenge for me. I never ever make cards. Don't know why. I have the requisite basket of scraps and any other supply known to man, but I just don't go there. I admit it was fun playing on a smaller playground. I think I will have to try this again soon. One thing, though, it took me forever to create this. I will blame it in part on my creative block as well as the fact that the smaller format kind of threw me off. Hopefully next time it won't take me as long to make the transition.

I'm so excited to see what Jocelyn created. You can see her take on this challenge HERE. Be sure to give her a little blog love today. We all can use some TLC on Mondays!

That's all I've got for now. Here's hoping your Monday treats you well and as always, thanks for making my day by sharing a little bit of it.