Catalyst Eight

Catalyst Eight

May 4, 2008, 4:09 pm
Filed under: catalyst

 

As always, thank you to all of our visitors and all the encouraging comments you left for us. For those of you who did, thank you for playing along with us. We will do a drawing for the RAK and announce the name mid-week. And if you didn’t join us before, we hope you do this time.

 

Ok! I Here’s catalyst number eight:

 

What is your guilty pleasure and why does it make you feel guilty?

 

We’re very excited to have Lain Ehmann as this week’s Guest Designer.

 

The first time I stumbled upon Lain’s blog was almost a year ago. I immediately got hooked on her positive attitude and radiant personality. Lain is on the Creative Team for Simple Scrapbooks and has recently taught the Layout a Day(LOAD) class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. She also regularly teaches at Creative Keepsakes conventions. If you’ve never seen Lain’s art, make sure to go to her blog where you can read about knitting, scrapbooking, sewing, and so much more! Also, if you’re not already subscribed, you must check out the ScrapHappy podcast. I’ve been listening to it for months and I love it. It even has its own book club!

 

 

 

Lain’s art with this catalyst is below and you can click it to see the larger version.

 

 

 

Journaling Reads:

The truth: Let’s face it – I don’t really NEED the latest and greatest in technology – but I want it. Bad. Whether it’s a thinner laptop, a larger monitor, or a cooler cell phone, I see it and I can’t rest until I make the little beauty mine! I’ve spent hundreds of dollars “upgrading” my gizmos. And I feel guilty. Why? Because I don’t have the patience to read the manuals and learn how to use ’em!

 

Thank you so much Lain; we’re truly honored.

 

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Here are some interpretations of the catalyst from members of our team. Click on the photos to see the bigger versions.

Vivian:

 

Vivian Says:

Thinking about my guilty pleasures brought up only one thing really. In general I am very happy with what I stand for and who I am and find it really easy to enjoy what I enjoy without feeling guilty. But chocolate? I could seriously overeat on that stuff. And I do. On a regular basis. Today this quote found it’s way into my inbox: “Chocolate is the answer. No matter what the question was.” That’s me. Totally.

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Brenda:

Brenda Says:

My most guilty pleasure is shopping!  I LOVE to shop!  Shopping makes me Happy!  I don’t need anything.  And I know that, yet I still find myself out and about …in the stores,at estate sales.the farmers market.  My husband says I’m gonna nickel and dime out family right into the poor house……….but that won’t happen because I have enough “stuff” I can sell if I need to.  We have a teenage daughter that has caught my disease-so now there are two of us!  Besides spending too much money, my husband really hates to drive my car……my license plate reads  “LVSHOPN”! 

 

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Anita:

Journaling Reads:

I have an extreme addiction to buying shoes for my 4 year old.  Size 10 to be exact.  Lucky for her.  I love all kinds of shoes.  Flip flops, sandals, tennis shoes, I’m not picky.  They are just so stinkin’ cute! 

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Kris:

Kris Says:

Food. Not all foods, but certain food places really are my guilty pleasure. Not that I have an unhealthy relationship with it, although my weight scale might beg to differ; its just that I had no willpower when it comes to driving by a Chipotle. I rationalize the purchase to myself by saying ‘oh, its all natural; rice, beans, meat, veggies, dairy. Can’t go wrong there!!’ And lately my teen has hooked me on Starbucks Chai Tea Lattes. At $4.50 a pop those really ARE a guilty pleasure! In this piece I’ve used parts from my latest food run. And, although you can not tell, I spilled my latte on the piece today and decided just to dry it and leave it. So the piece is actually INFUSED with my guilty pleasure. Smells good too! 

 

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Karen:

 

Journaling Reads:

I spent the last week thinking about my guilty pleasures and kept coming up empty over and over again. I have lots of things that I shouldn’t be doing but somehow I just don’t feel guilty about any of them.

 

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Becky:

 

Journaling Reads:

DIET COKE

I love soda, but especially Diet Coke. I crave it and I try really hard not to buy it, but once in a while it’s just time for a Diet Coke!

 

TV

Favorites- American Idol, CNN, Good Morning America, Court TV, The Bachelor, Dancing With The Stars, and Grey’s Anatomy.

 

COFFEE

I love me some coffee! Got Have it! Any time of the day works for me!

 

COMPUTER

My home away from home. I have a lot of close friends online. I chat on yahoo, I read message boards, I love at galleries. I do my banking and bill paying online. I share pics with my family and I blog. I couldn’t live without my computer!

 

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Karan:

Journaling Says:

My guilty pleasure is reading romantic novels. I LOVE them. I haven’t read them in a while because I have been so busy lately. I go through phases now. On my last vacation, I sat by the pool and on the beach and read 5 books in a week. I love escaping from my life into a really sweet book. I prefer historical romance novels, especially time travel ones, like Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series.

 

I feel guilty about it for a few reasons… One is I am using up time that I could be more productive. Secondly, I feel kinda embarrassed holding a book with a picture of a woman swooning in some hunky guys arms. I used to read them because they were the only romance I had in my life. I was married to some very UNROMANTIC men… It makes me sad, how little romance there is in the world. I always wanted a guy who would buy me flowers, and treat me like the most beautiful woman in the world. Someone who would sweep me up in some whirlwind courtship and take me to exotic places with him. My uncle used to tell my husband not to let me read them because “They give women BAD ideas, like you have to talk nice to them, and buy flowers and crap like that.” I think it is more that people today are not taught to be romantic. To do the sweet little things for one another that are romantic. It is easy to fall in a rut of a marriage, and let the romance die.

 

This time, I have a husband who does all those things for me. He is incredibly romantic. He sings to me, and dances me around the kitchen. He buys me little cards and gifts just because. He takes me to beautiful places and exposes me to new cultures around the world. He loves me unconditionally, and has shown me over and over that I am the one for him. I guess now that I have more romance in my life, I don’t need to read about it so much. Maybe now is the time for me to actually write my own romance novel.

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Now it’s your turn: show us your therapeutic art around “what’s your guilty pleasure and why does it make you feel guilty?” Give it a try. Embrace the healing power of art. It can be any form of art as long as it speaks to you. Leave us comments with your work and we will send a RAK to a random participant. You’ll have to link your work by Sunday night, May 11th, midnight PST to qualify for the RAK.

For our RAK for catalyst #8, My Scrapbook Nook is very generously donating a May kit to one participant. This kit is full of awesome goodies and here are a few of the items you will receive:

 

 

 

Remember, this is not a competition. If your art makes you feel even a bit better at the end, you’ve won.

 

Until next week, enjoy each and every moment.

 

 

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