We have a WEEEEENER!

Sorry for the slight delay, everyone--recovering from a short illness bout + unpacking and repacking about five times in the same week. Ugh.

The random.org number was 6, and the Elle's Studio winner is....... Christina!

Christina said...

Fun giveaway-I've been wanting to try out some Elle's products!!

Christina, shoot me an email at keshet.starr@gmail.com!

Hope you all had a great weekend and can't wait to sneak back in here real soon with some scrappy and life posts!

Elle's Studio Spotlight--and a Giveaway!

Thanks for all of your sweet comments on my last post--it's always a little daunting putting raw emotions out on the blogosphere, but your equally heartfelt comments back make it so worthwhile. So thank you again, so much:)

Today, I'm the Spotlight DT gal over at the Elle's Studio blog!

Here's a little sneaky-peeky at the layout I created for today's post:


And to spice things up, I'm giving away my three favorite Elle's Studio items! They are the Pieces of Life note tags, Owl Love You Forever Scalloped circle tags, and Handmade Layers Date/Place strips!

Simple leave a comment on this post and I'll pick a winner on Friday! (And if you want to have mercy on me, please leave contact info as well:))

Pop over to the Elle's Studio blog for another chance to win!

Happy Wednesday, y'all!

A day of mourning

Warning: a bit of a heavy post ahead.

I love to write about Jewish holidays and events on this blog--it helps remind ME what the essence of the holiday is, and I love that it gives you all insight into a world that can be hard to understand from the outside.

Today is the saddest day of the year in Judaism. It's the day that the Holy Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed thousands of years ago, and it's also the day when we mourn all of the tragedies that have happened to the Jewish people since then. We call it Tisha B'av. We fast and we don't shower and we sit on the floor. It's a hard day, but an important one.

When you think about it, there's this thread of tragedy and intensity in the world that we (or at least I) mostly ignore. You hear about a sudden death or an awful tragedy and while you're shaken for a moment, you go on with your life, worrying about what to make for dinner and if your shoes clash with your top. Tisha B'Av is a day to see the unseeable, to take the unbearable and force yourself to stare it in the face. It's a day when we realize this beautiful world is also a place of unspeakable darkness sometimes.

But what's the point of all this depressing sadness? According to the rabbis, there are two kinds of sadness--the kind that cripples you, and the kind that motivates you. I try to use this day to widen my perspective, to realize there are bigger things going on in the world than me and my concerns. I'm in a world filled with too much darkness, and it's my job to create as much light as I possibly can.

So today, I'm thinking of the Fogel family of Itamar, Leiby Kletzky, Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg, the boys killed in the Mercaz Harav shooting, the victims of 9-11, and all of the people who were killed in the Holocaust, including many of my family members. I'm thinking of a girl my grandmother once told me about, who was so desperate to escape the horrifying reality of Auschwitz that she kept her head in a novel, all the way to the gas chambers. And I'm also thinking of all the work there is to be done, and all of the opportunities for good I can seize as long as I look outside of myself.

Creative Journey on with me!

Happy Monday! I hope this Monday finds you well and happy and looking forward to a good week! (And if not, Friday isn't THAT far away, right?)

Today, the Creative Journey series is continuing with a fascinating story shared by Laura Craigie!


Laura is one talented lady, and I loved what she shared about her experience in the industry:

I really got into scapbooking when I got pregnant with my first son in 2004. My mom had attended a beginner’s class at the LSS, and I decided to give that a go too. I knew right away that I loved it, but also knew that I wanted to do it differently than the basic way they taught. So I sought out ideas on the net. I stumbled across many sites, but always came back to Two Peas in a Bucket as my “home” for all things scrapbooking. It was there I discovered the Pub board and added the task of becoming published and making a big Design Team to my ever evolving and growing life list (Aka Bucket list, but I’m not a fan of that name.. lol). I really wanted to see my kids in a magazine! We are also a smaller one income family and I do not have a large budget for craft supplies, so the idea of designing for a company for product sounded like a dream come true.

In the beginning I tried out for so many things, and would get so incredibly discouraged. I ate quite a bit of consolation chocolate those days... ;)

Now with the bonus of hindsight I can see that my work was just not up to par. I gave up submitting for publication, but eventually I did land a kit club design team which really helped me to grow. It was doing that when I really started to dabble in card making. The smaller canvas just seemed so much easier to work with for me, and on the advice of a friend I tried submitting again, this time with cards. My first month I got 4 cards picked up! I was so incredibly shocked, and delighted. I kept at it, was getting published monthly, and soon was making cards almost exclusively.

Making cards has opened many doors for me, the biggest are that I now design cards for both Cosmo Cricket, and Two Peas in a Bucket. I want to note that with Cosmo Cricket I was short listed the year before I made their team and was quite disappointed. So I made it my mission to better my work over the next year, and to get published with their product so when their next call rolled around I had more to show. It worked, as I made the team that next year, and 2 yrs later I am still designing for them. I think working hard for what you want is imperative in life in general, but definitely applies itself to this industry too.

Laura is spot-on about the working hard part. And the "consolation chocolate"--not that I have experience with that or anything:)

Laura also shared some advice with us:

I guess this is the part where I should offer some sage advice or something... ;) Which sadly I don’t have, but I can tell you what I think works for me.

I don’t create for calls, I just can’t get inspired by that… I just make what I love and if it fits, great! If not, I just don’t submit. I think it also helps to know the magazines a bit too and what they are looking for. I know personally I tend to get more “love” from one mag. than another so I don’t spend as much time submitting to the other anymore. Another odd publishing thing is that the projects you really love will sometimes get passed for something you might not have even bothered submitting. Even after a few years at the game I can never tell what will get picked up and what will not. It makes me scratch my head and laugh sometimes, so really, try not to take it personally

Photography is really important… Whenever you can, shoot in natural light, I photograph my projects on a kitchen table with lots of window light from multiple angles. Every image gets a quick edit in photoshop where I adjust the color balance, brighten, crop, resize, and sharpen. If you don’t have photoshop, you can do all of this for free by using a program like Picnik.

Even though I can sometimes be terrible at updating it, I think maintaining a blog is a good idea, you never know who might stumble upon it! Truth be told, I’ve had work requested a few times that I never even submitted, but was seen on my blog. It does happen :) Also, if you have a favorite manufacturer let them know you are out there. If they have a Flickr gallery, Facebook page, blog challenges, etc, submit to it! It can’t hurt.

Lastly, I’m pretty much an open book if anyone has any questions, let me know. I’m certainly no expert, but if I can help anyone with anything I would love to!

Thanks, Laura! I've asked her questions in the past, and she really is as sweet and helpful as she sounds:)

Here's one of Laura's classically stunning cards:

I live in beautiful B.C. Canada with my Husband (Andrew), and I am a stay at home mom to our three boys Isaiah (6), Griffin (4), and Everett (8months). When not paper crafting I love to sew, read, write, and just spend time with my boys. I'm addicted to Pride and Prejudice (movies and book), Pinterest, Bubble Tea, and chocolate covered gummy bears. Or heck, anything covered in chocolate, except black licorice. That's just gross. I have been published in CARDS magazine, Scrapbook Trends, Paper Crafts, Scrapbooks & Cards, and Scrapbooks Etc. I currently design for Cosmo Cricket and Two Peas in a Bucket.

Well, thanks for joining me for another edition of the blog series! A question for you--is there something you'd like to see in this blog series and haven't seen yet?

Scrappy...Friday!

Well, I really should be eating lunch right now, but I'm a little full from sampling the cinnamon buns I made this morning:) Which just goes to show you the blessing/curse of twitter: thanks to Jenni's photos of her cinnamon buns earlier this week, I couldn't help but whip up my own batch!

So instead of eating nourishing food, I bring you a new layout!

I created this for Donna Jannuzzi's Stretch your Sketches series on the Ella blog! Check out the blog regularly to see more sketches and interpretations!

Here's the original sketch:

And here's what I did with it:

I switched out several of the photos for patterned paper blocks, and added little embellishments. Papers + embellishments are from the Lawn Party Studio Calico kit! The photos are from an impomptu dance party I staged with S and my sister, Riki, in order to practice my shutter speed skills:) As you can see, they were very enthusiastic participants!

I hope you're all having a wonderful, happy Friday! I'm running off to finish my 12,465 item long to do list (as is the case on all Fridays--luckily one of the items is "buy donuts"! Ha!)

And since I'm always looking for more dessert ideas (May that continue for the rest of my life--amen.) can YOU tell me your favorite dessert?

(Oh, and PS--make sure to come here on Wednesday for a fabulous giveaway!)

WCS August gallery--no photos!

The August gallery is up at Write.Click.Scrapbook, and the theme was a bit of a toughie--no photos!

I kind of "cheated" and used this house shaped packaging from Crate Paper's Neighborhood trim as a focal point instead of a photo.

For this layout, I wrote about my experience of moving around and looking for home.

If you can't read the journaling, it says this: As a kid, I lived in Israel, Hong Kong, Hawaii and Ohio. As an adult, in Michigan, Philly, and New Jersey. After growing up all over the place, I badly want to put down roots in one spot and stay there. Which puts a lot of pressure on the "where to live” decision!

We’re hoping Elizabeth will be “home” for the long run.

And if you check the layout in the gallery, you can also learn Fun Facts about me and the rest of the WCS team!

Make sure you stop by the gallery and see what everyone has created!

Question--Where is home for YOU? Is it a temporary spot, or a long-term home for you?

The Creative Journey continues!

Happy Monday, everyone! Thanks for coming back to read more about creative journeys with me. Today's guest is the funny and talented Christa Pastenbaugh! I loved reading what she had to say.

I started actual scrapbooking (i.e. beyond collages!) when I was invited to my first Creative Memories party back in 1998. I went as a way to get to know fellow Marine Corps wives, and I'm so glad I did! I scrapbooked off and on until I had Ella (baby #2) and bought Cathy Zielske’s first book, Clean and Simple. After that, I was a changed scrapper!

I joined a kit club and saw what the designers were doing with the product and was very intrigued. I loved how they looked at paper and embellishments a little differently and I wanted to venture down that road as well. It was around that time that I began subscribing to scrapbook magazines as well and looked, really looked at what was being published. So, after many, many, many submissions over many, many months, and many, many, many rejections I finally got a layout picked up in November 2009, with of all magazines--Scrapbooks, Etc! I couldn’t believe it. That seemed to get the ball rolling and I started getting submission requests regularly from Scrapbook Trends, Creating Keepsakes and more from Scrapbooks, Etc. too. And I am forever grateful for each and every one of those.

Even after getting work published on a semi-regular basis, I still go through “dry” spells if you will. For example, I’m in one right now. I have had less than a handful of requests over the last few months, but that’s how things go in this industry I think. Things ebb and flow, but I don’t stop submitting. One of the difficult pieces for me is that I’m not technique-y and often fall into the trap of thinking that I have nothing to offer. I always have to remind myself that I have my stories to offer and if that isn’t enough, then so be it. I create for me and this is just a nice side effect from it!

Christa also had some great advice for people who are trying to submit:

I don’t feel like I’m one who is overly qualified to give advice on getting published and making a name for yourself in the industry, but here goes. Keep submitting. I know, people hear this all the time, but you never know exactly what the editors are looking for at any given time for an article. Layouts I think are great go without ever getting picked up, while others that I nearly don’t submit sometimes do get picked up--you just never know! I also submit the same layout several times because what might not work for one article, may work for one another month.

And submit a lot. When a call is for a subject area where I have several layouts that fit then I submit them all. That can mean 3-5 for one specific call.

I don’t make layouts for a call unless it is a subject/event I would scrap anyway. It takes the fun out of it! A lot of times calls get the ball rolling for me. For example, since I’m not an event scrapper holiday photos sit forever, but when a call comes out then I dig them out because I do want them documented and this is the kick in the hiney I need!

I feel like my niche is journaling and scrapbooking the out of the ordinary. I tell the story behind the photos and use lots of journaling on my pages. I also try to look at photos outside of what is physically going on in them. I go with my gut and scrap how I feel about them.

Here's a layout that shows off Christa's beautiful style: (And if I can editorialize, I absolutely adore Christa's use of color. You have to check out the layouts on her blog!)

I currently LIVE in the DC suburbs in Northern Virginia. I've been married to my college sweetheart for 13 years who keeps us moving with his career in the Marine Corps. We have lived on each coast several times with more moves in sight! We have 2 beautiful and drama filled daughters, Maya and Ella. I work part time as a school social worker in a large high school and I absolutely love it! I can't imagine doing anything else, but also love that it's part time!

My style has definitely evolved over the years and my main focus is and always has been the story behind the photos. I love to focus on what isn't seen in the photos, including our personalities and quirks. I love to journal and like to make space to get as much in as possible!

I currently design for Pebbles, Inc., Creative Memories, Ormolu and Write.Click.Scrapbook. I have been published in Creating Keepsakes, Scrapbooks, Etc., Scrapbook Trends, Scrapbook and Cards Today and several idea boohttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=3891972351431603536ks. I am grateful for all that comes my way!

I chose this layout to feature not because I love the design (which I do), but because of the story behind it. I’m a story girl and this one is one I’m so glad I documented. My husband and I got engaged at the Capitol Building in Washington, DC and it holds a special place for us. I created this for the sketch class at Two Peas in a Bucket and I love the large photo from the sketch and thought the photo of the Capitol was perfect. I want my girls to know this story about us and how we came to be our family!

Thank you, Christa! Learn more about her on her beautiful blog, right here:)

And a question for you--what have YOU found to be the most helpful advice for getting into the scrapbook industry?