Easter vs. Christmas

The calendar says March but in the land of magazine pub calls it's Fall and the holidays again - starting with Back to School and Halloween then head long into Christmas. The only thing not disturbing about trying to get back in the holiday spirit in March, is the fact that the actual fall/winter holidays and the draining of my checking account are still a long way off. Whew! Anyway, I missed all these calls last year, but this time, I'm ready. Even though I'm itching for the warm spring days and all things bright & sunny, I will dive into the depths of orange, black, red and green again. On top of the priority list is the 12 Days of Cookies album. Pictures are printed, album purchased...ready to roll on that. But first I have to work with this:

my Scrapper's Cove supplies for the month, which are all about Easter. Working with Three Bugs this month. Cute stuff. Although I'm not loving the chicks, etc. I do like that each paper is double sided and has a pretty cool pattern that could be used for non-Easter/Spring related projects. When a product is versitile like that it makes me happy. I have to get cranking on that stuff asap - it is due by the weekend.

Last month I submitted work for four design teams. Four! All for manufacturers I'd be honored to work with. I am, however, keeping my expectations very low since I'm fairly new to this whole publishing/design team thing and I have no idea what these big manufacturers are looking for. I wanted to have the experience under my belt, so there, did that. As a result, I feel like a layout-making-machine. I needed a break from the 12 x 12 world so yesterday I visited the non-scrapbooking area of the local AC Moore. I picked up some chipboard boxes and a shadowbox frame.
Ever since I saw this article in Martha Stewart Living, about Darcy Miller's "scrapboxes," I've been dying to make some, particularly one with my daughter's first pair of ballet shoes.  Aren't these outstanding?

I love the simplicity and graphic quality of these boxes. And what an impact a whole wall of these would make! Well, this is waaaaay different in comparison but, inspired by Darcy, here's what I made today:

Here's a close up of the inside:

Total opposite of Darcy's clean modern, style (which I love) but my audience is a 6 year old girl who is very girly. After putting this one together, which only took a couple of hours, I realize I could easily become addicted to making these things. Already, the possibilities are swirling around in my brain: Disney boxes with misc. stuff from the parks that always make the albums too thick, articles of the kids clothing that I saved that are just sitting in boxes in the attic, the ancient & mismatched collection of  tarnished silverware that once belonged to my Grandmother and was recently given to me by my mom. I better start writing this stuff down in my sketchbook!