It's A Great Weekend to HOP!

Good Morning! It's Friday and the start of a great weekend. I am participating in not one, but two blog hops this weekend. Both of the fabulous blogs I design for decided to host hops and both are offering incredible prizes. Today I start off with Practical Scrappers. You can read through the information below and then check out my somewhat unconventional "Project Life" project at the end.

Hello and welcome to the PRACTICAL SCRAPPERS and SCRAPTOWN LADY Blog Hop!  We thought it would be fun to combine forces and share projects with you that have our design teams’ takes on one of the hottest scrapbooking trends around:  Project Life. 

Whether you are a “Project Lifer,” are interested in Project Life, or just want to find out ways to use all those fantastic Project Life types of products and ideas on your own projects, we have a hop FULL of inspiration and creativity! 

We’ve got a fabulous prize, too - a $25 gift certificate to Scraptown Lady’s shop, which is stocked with awesome scrapbooking supplies!  What do you have to do to be entered in the drawing?  It’s easy! 

1.      Be a follower of Practical Scrappers; and

2.      Be a follower of Scraptown Lady; and

3.      Visit all the blogs, starting with Practical Scrappers and ending with Scraptown Lady, and leave a comment at each blog along the way.  

We will be hopping until Sunday, June 30^th, at 11:59 p.m. CST.  The grand prize winner will be announced on Tuesday, July 2^nd! 

If you get lost along the way, just check the complete list below to get you hopping in the right direction:

Practical Scrappers: http://www.practicalscrappers.com/

Christine Freet Meyer: http://scrappingwithchristine.blogspot.com/

Erin Morehouse-Kislingbury: http://girlpaperscissors.blogspot.com/

Charissa Miller:  http://www.akihasmommascraps.com/

Nicole Laha: http://www.shezigzags.blogspot.com/

Claude Campeau: http://www.imzadi481.blogspot.ca/

Lanette Erickson: http://stacksofscraps.blogspot.com/

Malika Kelly: http://www.malikakelly.blogspot.com/

Danielle de Konink: http://picsandcheesecake.blogspot.nl/

Lisa Peeples: http://www.snappinandscrappin.blogspot.com/  THIS IS ME :)

Mary Pat Siehl: http://siehledwithakiss.blogspot.com/

Wendi Robinson: http://scrappydayinparadise.blogspot.com/

Julie Comeau: http://lepetitmondedeglamotte.blogspot.ca/

Kim Ryden: http://www.rydenkim.blogspot.com/

Ruth Bonser: http://scrapmachine.com/

Krissy Clark McKee: http://krissyclarkmckee.blogspot.com/

Marcia Dehn-Nix: http://onescrapatatime-bymumsie.blogspot.com/

Cathy Harper: http://www.alteredplayground.blogspot.com

Rhonda Van Ginkel: http://snapwhiz.blogspot.com/

Scraptown Lady:  http://scrap-town-lady.blogspot.com/

If we have inspired you so much that you “need” to do a little shopping now, SCRAPTOWN LADY is offering 20% off all orders during the hop!  The sale runs from now ‘til midnight Monday.  Enter “code20” to receive your discount.

Now, I have to ask you to give me a little room here. Several years ago when Project Life and a picture a day really took off I jumped on the bandwagon with my scrappy buddy and was gung ho to delve into this new world of scrapping. I was going to do it in addition to my regular scrapping because I couldn't give up the creativity a blank sheet invites. Well I made it to almost the end of January when I realized this just wasn't for me. I don't like to quit and I hate feeling like I failed on something, but the whole thing felt more like a chore than fun for me. I loved the concept of getting more everyday memories in and letting go of the event based scrapping, I just had to do it differently. In the last couple of years I have begun to scrap more freely. I scrap out of order sometimes (HUGE for me!) and I have been better at capturing personalities, everyday stuff, the stories etc. This year I  was really pulled into the one word stuff and decided that would be my "project life" for the year. I wanted to document me, the ins and outs of something I can personally work on and document for me and for my family. So while this is a little out of the box and not traditional project life, this is my project life...documenting the real story of us.

My One Word is Connect. Through the year I have been working on opening myself up, connecting with those around me, with myself, with my family in a way that I've needed to with all the change that has happened in our life recently. I recently pulled out a book that I have read each time I have moved, After the Boxes Are Unpacked by Susan Miller. This was a life changing book for me after my first move and has been a good reminder and has helped to pull me up and forward each time since. While reading it this time I realized that in order for me to connect to our new home and life I need to bloom where I am planted. I can't stay hidden in the dirt letting life pass me by and still think I'm going to make the connections I so need right now. I have to grow and bloom and let others see who I really am. This got me headed in a direction I have NEVER gone until now... Mixed media canvas painting. I dived in and this is what I came up with.

There it is. My first attempt at working with a canvas and I am pleased with how it turned out. This will be hanging in my scrap room as a reminder for me to open up and let my true self show.

I added some depth and dimension by painting one of my chevron embossing folders and using it as a stamp. The letters didn't quite stick out enough so I cut them several times on my Cricut and layered them so they didn't just blend into the canvas. The same was done with the leaves.

Don't you just love these Enamel Dots from My Mind's Eye? I knew they would make a perfect stem. I used the Echo Park Here and Now line for the flower petals and love the beautiful, happy colors.

Thanks for joining me on this long post. I hope that I have helped you see that even though I'm a Project Life failure I can still use the concept of it in a way that better suits me and allows me to do what it was meant for... tell my everyday story better. I know there are others who are like me.  You want to jump on the bandwagon, you want to like the traditional project life but it just isn't you. Find freedom in taking the concept and making it work for you.

Please don't forget to join me for my second hop tomorrow with S.W.A.T. I am offering up my own little prize to celebrate the fun of hopping. I am going to combine all comments that I get from both hops and choose a winner who will receive a 6x6 paper pad and some yummy embellishments to go with it. Thanks for hopping.

One more note, if you would like to follow my blog or if you currently do through Google Reader I would love for you to sign up to follow through bloglovin. The button is on the left side of my blog. Most of you may know that Google Reader will be no more after July 1st and I have chosen to move to bloglovin. You can also follow by email or networked blogs.

Lisa