what did i get myself into?

if you know me, you know that although i'm not officially diagnosed with ADHD, i have all the major symptoms. i should be asleep as it's 11:30 pm (well, technically only 10:30 since daylight savings kicked in this morning), but i made the mistake of chugging down a caramel macchiato (i tried it non-fat - yuck) at around 9 pm... needless to say, this, coupled with my pre-disposed hyperactivity, leaves me WIRED! i was in my comfy, warm bed, emma wrapped up in my arms, watching my dvr'ed shows and realized, hey, the kids are asleep, i can scrapbook!

...so as a newbie scrapbooker, i've always known in the back of my head my first couple of projects are going to be scraplifted. believe me, i've tried to do one on my own, but they (in my mind) always turned out horrible. i actually did attempt scrapbooking back in 1999 (remember that jen?). i think i was decent -- i was more of the "put the picture, add photo corners, then journal" type of scrapper. i then decided it was "too expensive" and quit altogether. so ten (yes, TEN) years later (thank you again, jen), i decide i need to organize about 5 years worth of memories...what better way to do it, right?! of course, when i decide to get into this hobby it is now a major enterprise - conventions, guest designers, blogs, magazines, clubs, forums, you name it! i think nette described it as a "cult". guess what? I'M IN A CULT!

...(adhd)...

so i start with a small goal: i will scrap a page (yes one page) from my dad's birthday dinner. easy right? it's something current, a have a few pictures, and it's easily attainable.

did i say easy? first of all, i don't even have the pictures. thank god i only shot 5 that night. i don't like the way pictures come out on my printer, so i just went ahead & ordered them from costco (it'll do and they'll be in tomorrow at 11). then i start surfing the web looking for inspiration...and now i'm ALL RILED UP - i want to add paint, buttons, rip strips, stamps, ribbon, and anything and everything cute and adorable to this ONE page. in addition, i'm so damn determined to do something "original" i'm about to give myself a heart attack. it's a little bit of a challenge, too, because i wanted to make the page a bit more masculine (for my dad) and a bunch of stuff i have is very cutesy.

i literally had to calm myself down: ok rowena, this is one page. take it easy...no need to hoard, no need to go out & buy (even) more stuff, WORK WITH WHAT YOU HAVE (do you fellow scrappers feel me?). i recently picked up the 'fountain square' kit from studio calico and i've had it sitting here for awhile - aha! i should just use it! so i go onto the galleries and found one i liked. i REALLY liked it. in fact, i liked it so much i STOLE it (scraplifted sounds too minor in this case). i stared at the page for so long my computer went to screensaver! i want to say i changed some things up, but except for the pictures, i really didn't. there is one aspect to the page that is different-one of the squares i used is smaller, but that's only because i don't know how to measure and i'm new to the "paper cutter" phenomenon. i'll post it here when i'm done so you can tell me how well i did -- but if you want to see it, you can probably find it on the studio calico site! why am i embarrassed? i'm new, everyone does it, right? i feel like i cheated. well, like i said, i've got about 5 years worth of pictures i can do on my 'own'! sigh...

does anyone know how to "distress" a page?