Julie Ann Shahin's Inspiration For Generation C

From the Dare Blog:

Dare 61!!

Photo of the day is a big thing right now so we thought we ought to rock out with it too.

Make a page with a photo from TODAY! If you make the page tomorrow make sure you use a photo you take tomorrow! Photo of the day with a page of the day. You like?

Good!

Layout credits:
Papers: Tracy Ann Robinson Peek-A-Boo Collection: various kits
Journaling Tag: Jen Wilson Designs Journaling Hot Spots
Star: Christine Smith
Photo borders: Holly McCaig
Alpha: Sydney Nuckles Delight @ scrapgirls
Paper clip: Valerie Randall @ scrapgirls
Font: Pea Cammi-Pea
Template: not sure - maybe Misty Cato (I will hunt it down and post when I get the answer)

You could say I've been busy. We have a sponsor at the Everyday Digital blog - Jill D-Zines. I made the following layout with her Slightly Shabby kit. Journaling tag by Jen Wilson, Inked edge by Jan Crowley.























Thanks for looking! Have a marvelous weekend.

Yes, I'm still alive. :) I had a great week - my husband and I spent the past week on vacation in the Thousand Islands region of NY.

I had never been so I really enjoyed the getaway. I did make it to the fourth and final round of the Effer's Last Scrapper Standing - and even though I didn't win the support has been amazing. You all rock I hope you know that!

I am sharing with you some images for my 7gypsies purse album/nature journal that I created for SBO. You can view all the pages in the last image. Watch it carefully as the pages will rotate on a five-second delay.

Had enough circle action lately? You have to check out my entry for Last Scrapper Standing Round 3.

Wish me luck!

I will NEVER forget where I came from or who I am. I will NEVER stop believing in my talents, that I serve a purpose. I will NEVER go without practicing spirituality in my life, for without guidance I am lost. I will NEVER allow someone to convince me that I am not worthy. I will NEVER harden my heart to the point that children, the future of this world, are not a priority. I will NEVER sing in public- unable to carry a tune, also because I leave the singing up to my musician husband. I will NEVER stop learning, creating, and sharing. I get so much joy out of all of it. I will NEVER forget that abundance is not about money, but about love and goodwill. I will NEVER deny myself my true feelings, for in processing all of my feelings, I know true happiness - not just true sadness and despair. I will NEVER give up on my marriage, I strongly believe in the bond that we share. I will NEVER live without a grateful heart, as Oprah says "a grateful heart is always happy." I will NEVER let someone else define who I am, because I am my own person.

Credits:
Background paper: braggadocio.org Fonts: French Script, Dirty Bakers Dozen Black swirls: my own Other swirl brushes: pootato.org

Thanks for looking and thanks Effers for the inspiration!

The Effers (link above) have posted a dare: Real Women_____________

My layout is "Real women speak their minds." I think it's time women who speak out should be admired, and not labeled bitchy or petty.

For this layout, I posterized a self-portrait. Used digital elements from Lyndsey Deeds (Pistachio Cherries), from Designer Digitals (Aqua Dreams), from Angie Briggs (doodles), from pootato.org. Fonts are from Lyndsey Deeds Pistachio Cherries, Hurricane, and Jersey.

Here is the first installment of Style Saturday - a Scrapbookeronline Feature! I gave 3 scrappers an assignment inspired by the Coach pillows (topleft). Here are there creations: from left to right - Beth P., myself, Kim Baker, & Kim Dupree.


About my layout titled: National Follow Your Bliss Day - it was inspired by Effer Dare #10
What holiday would you create if given the opportunity?

For the longest time, I've subscribed to the belief that I'd take joy over happiness any day. What is happiness? It's just a fleeting thing. Joy is substantial...it is being. Bliss includes joy - and requires a certain freedom of spirit. I'm reading a very interesting book titled Joy by Osho

I guess it's more of a New Age way of thinking. A quote from Osho's book, "Now is the only time and here is the only space. And then suddenly the whole sky drops into you. This is bliss. This is real happiness."

Be sure to check here next week for another installment of Style Saturday with 3 new designers!

This layout (click to see larger image) was inspired by the Weekend Challenge at www.scrapbookeronline.com as well as the Effer Dare #9

I thought this photo would be perfect for this subject. The sunrise speaks to me of hope. I often think of my darkest hour as a moment alone in a tiny apartment near downtown Cleveland...not the best neighborhood with a loud drunk living above me. I remember sitting on the floor, reading prayers from Marianne Williamson's Illuminata: A Return to Prayer.

I could only hope that my prayers to lift my depression would be answered. It's odd that the moment was not in fact my darkest hour to be sure, it was the hour following. It was the hour were I started to feel hope, just like the sun starting to rise. For in my darkest hour, I was truly convinced if I died in this city surrounded by my relatives, no one would find me for days. I believed I was abandoned.

This hour that I speak of, in my tiny apartment, was a moment where I could only hope that there be light at the end of the tunnel. Looking back, if I could speak to the girl I was then (almost a decade ago), I'd tell her she was on the right path. That she just needs to hang on...to know that she is about to cross the bridge to serenity. That this too shall pass.