She's off...

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One does not discover new lands without consenting to lose sight of the shore for a very long time." Andre Gide

I started this blog just over 2 years ago. Through it I have met some wonderful people and have had the opportunity to inspire others, to teach them and to help motivate them to create. I am however finding that I am not going where I wanted with this, with my work and with my art. I find keeping this blog frustrating, hard and a gloomy chore. That is most defiantly not what I want. So after listening to my inner voices for months now I have made the decision to stop posting here. Those voices tap me on the shoulder daily and tell me to dream bigger so that is exactly what I am doing. I have so much energy and inspiration but I am finding it all overwhelming. I need to acknowledge those voices and do what will make me happy and make me fall in love with my work again. Working from home has been anything but easy, I’m so so so grateful that I get to be at home but I need to refocus and get back on the right path. Will this be the end of this blog / business all together? Truthfully I don’t know but I think so, I do know though, that it feels right. I have my personal blog where you can still follow me, still find inspiration but it will be because I want to post and not because I feel I have to. I will be leaving this blog open to read because of the archives, perhaps that will change I’m not too sure. I do know that I have so many ideas and projects in my head that it feels as though it may burst and most of those ideas have nothing to do with scrapbooking. I feel I turned this blog solely into that- a scrapbooking blog and I don’t want that. I want to create, to try new things and to share all of them with you. So with that my friends I am off. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you to all my readers, your kind words and support have been greatly appreciated. Please pop on over to An Extraordinary Ordinary Life and see what I’m up to. Any work & creating that I do will be there for you, not to mention random stories that might just make you giggle or inspire you to try something new or discover something new. You can still email me- nkwolansky@hotmail.com; I will still be doing custom work, designing kits & teaching classes. I won’t be too far away, I just won’t be here.
Love, love, love,
Nadine

The deepest secret is that life is not a process of discovery, but a process of creation. You are not discovering yourself but creating yourself anew. Seek, therefore, not to find out who you are, seek to determine what you want to be” – Neale Donald Walsch

Rainy Days

Hello Friends! I've been MIA doing a bunch of DIY projects around my place and planning new ones to try. When you can't afford new furniture sometimes a trip to Ikea for inspiration and a fresh coat of paint can transform your current pieces into fabulous new furniture. When I'm done my current project I'll post it up on my personal blog. For now I'll share a couple layouts I did for Treasured Memories and Riff Raff. I also have a new kit to sell at Treasured Memories- a baby album kit, one each for boy & girl. This is not a class and will only be sold as kits. I'll put pics up up my demo when I have them edited. I also have couple of my current favorite inspirational quotes posted here.
Have a great week!

Isn't this fabulous ribbon from Webster's Pages FABULOUS!!!! I bought it in every color! I really want to sew it onto a t-shirt.

Riff Raff compass.

Technique

Accordian ribbon, check it out here.

Hello Monday, Hello Sunshine

This is how I spent my weekend! It was marvelous! Being outside however cuts back on creative time, but taking a little time off is good for the soul. It re-energizes you, allows new ideas to form and most definitely lifts the spirit!
I did sit down one afternoon last week and plan out my classes for the next 6 months, the biggest chunk being my Christmas classes! I know- Christmas! I am due to have this fabulous baby at the beginning of November and that is also when I start teaching all my Christmas classes! Yikes! So I am planning ahead.... probably for the first time EVER! I have even started buying Christmas product! Crazy! I am so excited and have so many great ideas to share with you! Can't wait! I also came up with my 12 Days of Christmas projects for 2010! You can go the right hand menu Archives and click on December 2008 and December 2009 to see what I did for the last 2 years, just scroll through the December posts to see them all.
My inspiration for today can be found here but I also am really enjoying this quote...

Don't ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who come alive.
-Howard Thurman

Have a wonderful week!

image taken from here

I love handmade flowers and I wanted to share a "how to" video with you that I found on Rhonna Farrer's fabulous blog! All the information can be found at my technique blog.

Hello! Check out my canvas class for June, all the details are here. If you can't make it to the class I will be making kits and prepping the canvas' myself for those. Lucky you, but the down side- You won't get to learn all my fancy tricks for coloring the canvas. There's always a perk for coming to hang out with me... I mean other than my fabulous company ;-) hee hee.

I'm also sharing my latest layout for Twisted Sketches, the sketch and the other ladies layouts can be found here. The twist was "handmade" so I whipped up a couple flowers from last Tuesday's Show & Tell. Anam over at Twisted Sketches has also started a design team for cards, she provides a sketch for a card just like she does for the layout! So fabulous! I have such a hard time with cards and this is the perfect kick start I need. Go to the Twisted Sketches blog and check it out!

What's inspiring me now can be found over here. I will also be putting up a technique this week as I totally flaked out and forgot to do it on Thursday. Oops.

Have a great week friends!

xoxo

Good Morning and welcome to May! This past weekend was National Scrapbook Day and while I didn't actually scrapbook for myself I got to hang out with a fantastic group of ladies that were. I hope that you were able to find time this weekend to do something for yourself, be it scrapbooking or not. I was at Treasured Memories on Saturday running make n' takes for the croppers, tons of fun and tons of laughs, although I think most of those laughs were at me... shrug!

Just a reminder that tomorrow night at Treasured Memories from 6-8pm is Show and Tell and we will be making these fabulous flowers inspired by the lovely Elizabeth Kartchner. If you're local come drop by.

I'll also be at the store on Saturday teaching this Spring Wreath class, there are spots available so come hang out with me for the morning. It'll be good times. If you can't make the class time there are also kits to purchase. All the details can be found here.

Be sure to head over to the Inspiration blog to check out a wonderful & talented friend of mine! Have a fantastic Monday, I'll be back on Thursday with another technique!

xoxo

Congratulations

Hello Monday! The sun is shining here and the birds are singing outside my window! How can you not love a Monday that starts like that! I have two winners today that I want to give huge Congrats to! The winner of the draw for all the Glitz Design product is Cheryl who said "My inspiration definitely comes from 3 sources. First being my 3 munchkins!!! Each with their own unique personality and insight to this wonderful and crazy world we live in. Second my desire to pass on my view of our life to them and their children.... and lastly none of this inspiration could happen without creative and delightful people like you and Scrapperlicious aka Irene Tan. Your work gives me a start... and a push when I've run out of ideas" and the winner of the Making Memories apron and brackets mask from Heidi Swapp goes to Kim who said "My children inspire me…I love to scrap memories for and of them growing up….. "
Thanks to everyone who entered and for the many nice things you had to say!
Head on over to the Inspiration blog for what's inspiring me these days!
Have a great week everyone!

Staples & A Mess!

Check out today's technique here, it's all about staples.

Ever feel like you're the only one who's creative space is a place where you'd go for punishment if you did something wrong? Well, you're not! I never understand how it gets like this but I'm taking a big garbage bag in there today and I am giving it a proper spring cleaning! Wish me luck! If I'm not back here on Monday perhaps someone should send out a search party!

There's still time to enter my give away, go here for the details!

Also, check out my personal blog to see my big project ;-)

Hello Fabulous!

Good Morning Friends! This past weekend our weather was in the mid 20's and it was wonderful. Sunshine- I love you! What does this mean? That we want to be outside every chance we get and that means no scrapbooking! It does however give you an opportunity to take photos to scrapbook during our long cold winter here in fabulous Canada! Always an upside! So don't fret if you think you're getting behind, get outside, enjoy the sunshine! You'll catch up later! (famous last words).
I wanted to say thanks to everyone who has already bought one of my demos, I have sold half of them and I know they're all going to fabulous homes! Remember, if the photo is still up, you can still get it! Also, don't forget about my giveaway here, you have one more week to enter.
Today's inspiration is all about art journals! A fun, new creative outlet that you can take with you outside and on your travels! See, we can still get our creative fix even if we're not scrapbooking! Check out my post over at the Inspiration blog. Enjoy!
Have a wonderful week!

Demo Sale & Giveaways

Demo Sale!

I have been going through my baskets of books & projects and couldn't believe how many I had accumulated over the years. So I decided to have a scrapbook garage sale here for the next couple of weeks. It's a no fuss, first come, first serve deal. I have posted pictures, the cost and some basic info about the projects. If you want to purchase one of them, email me and we'll make payment and delivery arrangements. If the project needs to be shipped, shipping charges will also apply (shipping on these is usually between $8-$12). I have attached an "email me" link under each project or you can use the email link on the side menu, you will need to specify in your subject line which project you want. I will remove the project once it is purchased.

Also, as I promised earlier you can head over to the Inspiration blog to enter a couple of giveaways I have to make up for being MIA. I will confess that I have been working on a pretty big project that has had me fairly preoccupied. More details on that later.

Good to be back friends! Mwah!

Vintage Book Box- $25
Email Me

Accordion Envelope Mini - $15

5 envelopes / pockets, 7 Gypsies & MME pattern papers
Email Me

Love themed Envelope Accordion Mini- $10
(3 pockets/ envelopes, Pink Paisley papers)
Email Me




December Magic Acrylic Mini- $15
Kaiser Krafts pattern papers, Hambly pages & Riff Raff
Email Me




Noel Acrylic mini- $15
Basic Grey pattern papers, Hambly pages & Riff Raff
Email Me



Joy to the World Acrylic mini- $15
Little Yellow Bicycle pattern papers, Hambly & Riff Raff
Email Me


Mother Chipboard mini- $15

Custom Riff Raff chipboard album, Basic Grey pattern papers, Hambly & Riff Raff shapes
Email Me

Update...

Chantel was able to get product for 20 more calendars for tomorrow nights Show & Tell! 40 spots! That is so fantastic! See you there!

Behind...

I am behind. Behind in work, behind in life- I really don't think there is anything wrong with serving Cheerios for supper? With that being said, I'm taking some time off the blogging world to catch up. I'll have projects & layouts to share when I get back. Have a great week friends!

If you are local you should check out the newest adventure over at Treasured Memories- their Show & Tell blog. You can find it here. What is it? Make n' takes! Free! Awesomeness!
It all begins this Tuesday from 6-8pm, there are only 20 spots available and the interest has been high! This is what you'll be making. Fabulous!

Hello March 1st

March first! Yowzas! Easter will be here before you know it, spring will bring all things green and beautiful! I love it! New beginnings, fresh environments, Spring cleaning- I'm already feeling the urge to purge and clean. I love that feeling because it inspires me, gets my creative energy flowing! I have been working on more classes, projects and layouts. Here is my latest class at Treasured Memories, an altered grunge board project inspired from Tim Holtz's new book A Compendium of Curiosities available in stores this month (hopefully).

You can get all the details here.

Here are some of my layouts from Treasured Memories March Kit of the Month. You can see the rest on my other blog- All of Me

Get your weekly inspiration here, it's all about Easter! Image source.

Hello Monday

I hope everyone had a fabulous weekend! I had a beautiful & productive weekend. I channeled my inner Martha Stewart and baked up a storm, worked on a few more classes, submitted a few more layouts for publication (keeping my fingers crossed) and stared on a coupe of canvases. All this while indulging in a "For Rent" marathon on HGTV.

This is my sharing layout for you. I made it using a sketch from the My Minds Eye blog. I LOVE how it turned out! I also love, love, love my new Martha Stewart butterfly punch. I have seen it used on so many layouts and had to have one, definitely a fabulous purchase!

I had dropped off a Valentine themed explosion box for display at Treasured Memories and had received a bunch of class requests so I made one just for that. This class and all it's details can be found here. I used the newest papers from Little Yellow Bicycle- Lucky Me, it holds 21 photos and is fabulous for the pictures of those in your life that you're lucky to have! I spoke with Chantel this morning and there are only 3 spots left! Hope to see you there!

Be sure to check out your weekly inspiration here.

Have a wonderful week friends!

Coffee Filter Flowers

Come over and check out this Thursday's Technique!

Your Weekly Inspiration

I should have a few layouts to share with you.... I don't! Boo! I haven't been doing much of anything just for myself lately, which means I am not sticking to my commitment of one layout a week for me. Ugg! I did make the layout below for Twisted Sketches (see sketch here) it will have to do for now. I promise more to look at next week! Promises! Promises! ;-)

For your weekly inspiration you can check out my canvas creation and 'How To" here. Enjoy!

Have a great week, I'll be seeing you on Thursday for a new technique!

{xo} Nadine

Holiday

For those of you who have today off for this holiday- Happy Family Day! Have a wonderful day! I will be taking today off and I'll be back tomorrow with your inspiration for the week!
{xo} Nadine

XOXO Inspiration

For a little Valentine inspiration go here.

{xo} Nadine

Paper Flowers

Check out this Thursday's technique over at the Inspiration blog.