Surprise! I have one more Bella Blvd. layout to share as part of the design team there, after all! Just a few days after I turned in my last blog assignment, design team coordinator Laura Vegas emailed and asked if I could do one more page for Bella's October newsletter. My very first Bella assignment was actually for the 2011 October newsletter, and taking the assignment had a very "full circle" feel to it.

Just like that 2011 assignment, I was once again asked to participate in "Challenge on the Blvd." with the challenge of making a layout using four photos, a variety of Bella's buttons, and the new Thankful collection. Note: The challenge was incorrectly identified in the version of the newsletter that I downloaded- not sure if it's been fixed or not.

Four photos is sometimes a bit of a stretch for me since I like my photos to come together to form a block or row, but with this particular set I had mixed sizes that didn't fit that neatly together. The variety of colors, patterns, stickers, and accessories in the Thankful collection made this page easy to embellish, though, and it came together fairly quickly. And the buttons? I used lots of those in a row across the top of the page- quick, easy, and adds a lot of punch!

You can download a free copy of the Bella Buzz newsletter here- it's always packed full of great inspiration and fun challenges.

And now my term at Bella really is officially over!

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Supplies (click on images for product links):

InLinkz.com

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project life 2012 | week 35

I felt like playing with lots of fun patterns and color for this week's Project Life spread, so I broke out my Echo Park Everyday Eclectic 6x6 pad, a new booklet of Simple Stories Snap sayings cards, and some embellishments from Amy Tan's Sketchbook line (along with a few other bits and baubles) and got to work!

I'll admit right up front, cutting into that Everday Eclectic pad was hard! I just love the mix of chevrons and doilies and camera prints and woodgrains, and I had to keep reminding myself that it was all going to have a much better chance of actually being seen if it was in my album rather than in my scrap room. It also helped that I'd recently read how Ashli Oliver completely used up her full-size Everyday Eclectic collection, making the most of it by spreading it through all of her albums- so inspiring!

There are quite a few more "filler" cards here than I normally use. For some reason I thought I'd printed two or three more full 4x6 photos than I actually had, so I was a bit short on stuff to put in the pockets. No matter! It all worked out pretty well in the end.

I spent a good deal of time on Friday and over the weekend cleaning and organizing my scrap room. I won't be rearranging it again this year (I love how it's set up now!) as I have in the past, but I finally had time to stop and realize just how much stuff is here that I want to use! Things that I truly like and will use but just haven't made time to put on my pages yet. I'm going to be talking more about this later in the week, but for now I'll just say this- 2013 is going to be the Year of Stashbusting around here!

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Supplies:

InLinkz.com

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geek girl | november 4, 2012

Just a note for new-ish subscribers- the weekly Geek Girl post is usually not nearly this long! It's just been a big week for us here in the fandom. If you're here just for the scrappy stuff, you'll find that here Monday-Friday, but the weekends get a bit crazy in a fun way. :)

 

Image Credit

And to think that last Sunday as I was posting Geek Girl, I thought to myself that this week was going to be a light one as far as news went- maybe a new Star Wars Angry Birds video or two, perhaps some book news, but it didn't look like anything huge was on the horizon. And then the week actually happened- the week that the internets asploded with the news that Disney has acquired Lucasfilm for the hefty sum of $4.05 billion.

4.05 billion, people!

I've never really reported the geeky news here on my Sunday posts- instead, my goal is always to link you up to what's hot and happening in the world of sci-fi (and mostly the Star Wars side of sci-fi, at that) in a more manageable "casual fan" type format (because, let's face it, I'm still just a casual fan, too). With that in mind, I've rounded up lots of links related to this surprising acquisition and separated them into news, reaction, and speculation categories in addition to this week's picks, just in case you want to read about the purchase and what it means for the future of Star Wars in a little more depth.

On the news front:

• Lightsaber Rattling republished the original acquisition press release in its entirety.
• Knights Archive, Club Jade, Roqoo Depot, EU Cantina, and Big Shiny Robot all ran news articles carrying portions or all of the press release along with their own original reporting
• Perhaps the biggest announcement to come out of this from a fan perspective is the news that Episodes 7, 8, and 9 are pretty much a done deal. Lightsaber Rattling reported on this original announcement, while Club Jade, Big Shiny Robot, and TheForce.net all reported that sources were saying that the new movies would be original works and not based on the existing novels.
• Club Jade does a great job (as always!) of rounding up news from lots of different sources.
• It's perhaps not quite news, but it looks fairly certain that the Clone Wars animated series will be moving from Cartoon Network to Disney XD after the current season has ended- at least according to the Hollywood Reporter.

You can also hear the news straight from Lucas himself in the video below.

There have been lots of different reactions to the news, of course, including:

• Knights' Archive has rounded up reactions from some of the Star Wars notables, and has also posted two reaction articles here and here.
• Roqoo Depot likewise posted two articles with reactions to the big announcement.
• JediNet carries the news and reaction in the same article.
• Timothy Zahn weighs in with his thoughts on the new films at Inside Movies. Club Jade also carried similar content.

And of course we can't have such a huge announcement without at least some speculation (wild or otherwise) going on!

• Club Jade theorizes about how Disney's (remember, they own Marvel comics, too) acquisition of Lucasfilm will impact the current publishing contract that the franchise has with Dark Horse Comics. CJers are actually fairly vocal in their speculations, also posting articles about how the purchase might mean the end of Star Wars Happy Meals at McDonalds, and also a lengthy treatise on whether or not the Star Wars EU might survive the new movies.
• EU Cantina also has some theories on how the new movies might affect the Expanded Universe.
• Lightsaber Rattling speculates on all kinds of impacts the acquisition might have on a variety of Star Wars properties.
• Big Shiny Robot has jumped right on board with the new films with articles discussing the pros and cons of various choices for directing the movies and composing the score.
• JediNet lists 10 things they hope do or don't happen in Episode VII. 

I'm sure there's going to be a lot more news on this as the Lucasfilm transitions under Disney's umbrella, and I'll be sure to keep you updated about anything exciting.

And, hey, I also have the usual selection of geekiness for you this week!

 

From the top left:

• Of course the news about the Big Event is already making it's way into fandom, including these images of Disney-fied scenes from Star Wars.
• Black Milk (the company that brought us last year's C-3P0 and R2-D2 swimsuits) has unveiled a new collection now expanded to include dresses and leggings.
• Cupcakes Take the Cake posted an adorable set of Doctor Who cupcakes.
• Nail polish powerhouse (is there such a thing as a nail polish powerhouse?) OPI released a new collection themed after the latest James Bond flick, Skyfall. 
• A few weeks ago I posted a fantastic mad scientist party for grown-ups, and this week Hostess With The Mostess has a version for kids, too!
• Check out how one fan dressed up her cat for Halloween...as one of the My Little Ponies!
• Believe it or not, you can actually play Tetris on this amazing Halloween pumpkin featured at Bit Rebels. 
• And speaking of Bit Rebels, they've posted a list of top-secret Disney/Star Wars movies that are in the works. ;)
• The set of Harry Potter themed cupcakes rounds out the picks for this week.

But wait, there's more! In the midst of all the Disney/Lucasfilm hoopla, Rovio has quietly released four more teaser videos for Angry Birds Star Wars, due out this week.





So, maybe next week we'll have that quiet week?

MTFBWY!