T'is the season

T'is the season to be jolly.  That's what the song says, and I firmly believe.  But some days it's harder than others.  It's been pretty busy at work and I've been pretty jolly there...but then I get home and I'm pooped.  It's hard to be jolly when you're pooped.  Ask a mall santa.  I've been dressing in holiday apparel every day of December.  It's tacky, I know, but it brings me joy.  It makes me feel jolly.  Until I get home...to a bunch of Ebenezers.  It's hard to be jolly with an Ebenezer about.  How can I be such a "Christmas Person" and yet spawn Ebenezers? Well, I guess they aren't really Ebenezers, they just take it down a few notches.  If I pay attention, I can see the little things they do that show their Christmas spirit.

On the first day of Christmas, my daughter brought to me a candy cane in a cup of cocoa.

On the second day of Christmas, my oldest son asked for two small presents and a candy cane in a cup of cocoa.

On the third day of Christmas, my youngest son donated three silver dimes, asked for two small presents and a candy cane in a cup of cocoa.

On the fourth day of Christmas, my darling spouse gave me four chocolate kisses, donated three silver dimes, asked for two small presents and a candy cane in a cup of cocoa.

On the fifth day of Christmas, my daughter brought home five hungry friends, four chocolate kisses, donated three silver dimes, asked for two small presents and a candy cane in a cup of cocoa.

On the sixth day of Christmas, my oldest son called me with six gift ideas, brought home five hungry friends, four chocolate kisses, donated three silver dimes, asked for two small presents and a candy cane in a cup of cocoa.

On the seventh day of Christmas, my youngest son gave me seven sticky gumballs, six gift ideas, brought home five hungry friends, four chocolate kisses, donated three silver dimes, asked for two small presents and a candy cane in a cup of cocoa.

On the eighth day of Christmas, my loving spouse showed me eight funny videos, seven sticky gumballs, six gift ideas, brought home five hungry friends, four chocolate kisses, donated three silver dimes, asked for two small presents and a candy cane in a cup of cocoa.

On the ninth day of Christmas, my daughter picked nine angel tree tags, showed me eight funny videos, seven sticky gumballs, six gift ideas, brought home five hungry friends, four chocolate kisses, donated three silver dimes, asked for two small presents and a candy cane in a cup of cocoa.

On the tenth day of Christmas, my oldest son hung ten ornaments, picked nine angel tree tags, showed me eight funny videos, seven sticky gumballs, six gift ideas, brought home five hungry friends, four chocolate kisses, donated three silver dimes, asked for two small presents and a candy cane in a cup of cocoa.

On the eleventh day of Christmas, my youngest son sang eleven Christmas carols, hung ten ornaments, picked nine angel tree tags, showed me eight funny videos, seven sticky gumballs, six gift ideas, brought home five hungry friends, four chocolate kisses, donated three silver dimes, asked for two small presents and a candy cane in a cup of cocoa.

On the twelfth day of Christmas, my family showed me quiet Christmas joy, sang eleven Christmas carols, hung ten ornaments, picked nine angel tree tags, showed me eight funny videos, seven sticky gumballs, six gift ideas, brought home five hungry friends, four chocolate kisses, donated three silver dimes, asked for two small presents and a candy cane in a cup of cocoa.

Wishing you all the Peace, Joy and Love this season brings in all the big and little ways it appears.

Where has the time gone?!

I know it's been a long time since I last posted...but when I looked at the date of the last post, I was shocked that it's been nearly 6 months!  I wish I had a good excuse, like I ate the wicked witch's poison apple and have been waiting for Prince Charming to wake me with a kiss...but alas and alak, no such luck.  I've just plain run out of hours in a day to do everything I want to do!  Does that happen to anyone else?  Please, oh, please tell me so!

I know how it started, the lapse in posts.  Does that count?  So, here I have a blog about scrapbooking, and I post pictures of the projects that I am working on and share techniques.  What I haven't posted and was pretty successful in keeping a secret was a scrapbook project I had been working on for 2 years.  You see, 2 years ago I went on a "girlfriends' Weekend" trip (5 days, really) with my best friends.  We went to Maine in October and had an amazing time.  I took almost 400 pictures, and they took nearly the same.  When we all flew back to our respective homes all over the country, I asked them for dvds of their pictures.  They obliged and sent me theirs and I had the "brilliant idea" of creating a scrapbook album for each of them.

No, not a little chipboard album...not even an 8x8 album.  No, I decided to make 12x12 albums for all 5 (five, cinco, cinq, cinque, fem, funf, piec, bost, viisli - yes FIVE!) of us.  However, I did concede to make all five of them identical, making 5 page ones at the same time, and so on..

Yea, I know, I haven't gotten to the "excuse" part yet.

So, in July or so, we started planning our semi annual "Girlfriends' Weekend" and settled on October again.  3 months to finish the books...since I wanted to give the girls their books when we all gathered.  Did I mention I didn't tell anyone I was making the books, I wanted them to be a surprise?  I still had a ton to do!  So weekend, after weekend (because I work fulltime outside of the home), I buried myself in my scrapbook room and worked on the books till the wee hours of the morning.  As a result, I was blowing off posting on the blog, because I didn't want to share the pictures of the pages before the girls got to be surprised.  Well, I gave them all their albums and they were, indeed, surprised and loved them.  :-)

That explains July through October...apparently I pricked my finger at the beginning of November and fell under the same spell as Sleeping Beauty, sleeping through the whole month!

Then... my son (15 years old) signed me up to make a couple of blank scrapbook albums (thankfully only 8x8) to auction off at a Silent Auction for his Chorus program next week.  So, I've spent every waking, non-working moment of the last week creating a Music-themed Album and a Wildcats Album (school mascot is a Wildcat).  I turned these in this afternoon.  We'll see how they do at auction.  Some people just don't have an appreciation of the work that goes into scrapbooking, so it's an "iffy" venture.

So, I thought, before some other project hits me ('tis the season, you know) I would throw a post up on the ol' blog.  And while I spent most of this post telling about these (5) albums of Maine that I made, I think I'll post a different layout and chat about it briefly, and save Maine for a series of devoted posts.  Because you know, it's the holidays, and I'll have lots of free time on my hands... ha ha ha, ho ho ho!

Since it is the holidays, and the holidays are about gathering together and creating memories that last a lifetime, I'll share a recent layout I did of a set of pictures my family took about 10 years ago, while we were having some  good Old Fashion' Family Fun.  I think I even used the family pose in or Xmas cards that year.

The photo op was an old time set up with costumes from the 1920's and the photos were developed in sepia tone.  I had been holding on to them until some papers inspired me.  Finally inspiration struck and it was a combination of papers and embellishments.  It was nothing I went out and bought for this layout, just a bunch of stuff I had acquired over time.  Bits of this, and some of that and with a dash of creativity.  

I wanted to pay homage to the Twenties, remembering the depression and how folks made due with what they had.  My mother's family created beautiful dresses for the little girls of the family, using flour sacks, which often had a print of some sort in the fabric.  They made quilts salvaging scraps of old clothes that were too worn to wear.  The quilts were amazing works of art and filled with memories. My mother would sit on my bed, picking out quilted petals of the flowers and tell me, "oh, I loved that blouse", or "that was my favorite dress".

So in nodding my head to past generations, I used scraps for the flowers, and combed through my stash, finding odd bits of lace and buttons, ribbons and thread as well as odd assortments of embellishments that came in sets that had been abandoned after I used what I bought the set for.

I made the flowers.  I was inspired by some calico flowers at my local scrapbook store, "Scrappy Boutique", but the colors didn't go.  So, I decided to make my own out of scraps I already had.  I didn't use a die, just cut some (imperfect) descending circles by hand out of 4 different fabrics (for each flower, cutting some with scalloped edges.  I used a thread and needle and a button in the center of each flower.  I also made one little ribbon rosette, threading the needle along one edge of the ribbon and gathering it tight, until I liked the look of it, then sewed it closed.  I centered that one with a pearl embellishment.  I did some stitching, adding details to the word "family" (which was created using Thickers) and a little "xo" in the bottom right corner, as well as used the punched-out holes of the border punch used on the bottom-most piece of paper, as stitching guides.

I love the eclectic look of how it all came together.  It kind of reminds me of going through the old trunks in my grandmother's basement and finding all the treasures that lay hidden between the folds of dress up clothes (old bridesmaids dresses) and tucked in the corners of the bottom of the trunks.

Lesson Learned:  keep everything because you just never know when it will be the "perfect thing" to add to a page!

I hope you have forgiven my latent posting and will continue to follow me.  I have so much more in store!  Until the next post...go crop yourself!

Up to the Challenge

I have been so inspired by The Color Room challenges lately.  I missed a couple of weeks because of vacation, but came back this week and found a challenge made just for me!  This week the challenge is to use  light and dark pink, light and dark brown in a layout. I love pink and brown together (think Neapolitan ice cream!).


I sorted through my stash of papers and embellishments, flowers and inks, put my creative cap on and went to work.


I decided to use a picture of my daughter, when she had her First Communion about 10 years ago.  I love this picture of her, she looks like such an angel in it.  Next I searched my Cricut cartridges for a frame design and found on on my Sentimental cartridge.  I cut the frame out of a pale pink designed paper and the shadow out of a darker pick paper.  I cropped the photo a bit and used the dark pink paper to create a narrow mat for the photo.  I used a Creative Memories corner punch with a simple "nipple" design to crop the corners.


Next I had a white chipboard frame a bit bigger that the frame.  First I misted it with Glimmer Mist "Sand", but it was the wrong tone.  So I then misted with "Vanilla Breeze", but that still wasn't right.  I looked through my tings and found some Shimmerz Pearls in "Ballet Slipper" pink that a friend gave me.  It is a very thick paint and I thought that by itself, it would be too baby pink.  So, I took a little bit and put it in a small container and watered it down, making a pink wash.  I washed it over the "sand" and "vanilla breeze" and it came out perfect!  Next I used some of the chestnut ink to antique the edges of the chipboard frame.


I placed the Cricut frame slightly to the right of center and set the chipboard frame around it.  Then, the fun began!  In my stash I had a K&Co packet that had a piece of vellum with a brown floral garland on it.  I cut 1/4 of it off and place the 3/4 piece under the photo frame and over the chipboard frame to the left, an place the 1/4 piece likewise to the right.


As a base to the floral arrangement I was planning to add, I chose some Maya Road chipboard flourishes I had laying around.   covered them in some dark brown scraps and affixed them to the lower right corner of the now pink chipboard frame.


I had a stem of tiny dark pink silk roses (from the floral department), so I popped off the buds and clipped off the plastic shaft that held them to the stem.  I placed them here and there, sporadically, tapering off to a single bud at each end of the arrangement.  Next I clipped some of the leaves from the rose stem and placed those.  I also had a stem of small pink "cherry blossom" flowers.  I used those to accent the dark pink, centering them with pale pink brads.  It was looking pretty, but not quite complete.


Next I dug out some pink pearl swirls from Basic Grey and embellished here and there until it pleased my eye.  It was still missing something, so I took some antique-looking lace I had and cut bits off and tucked them behind the flowers.


I was going for an antique, opulent look and still hadn't quite achieved it.  I searched my stash again and found some brown hat pins, so I added those.  I decided the layout needed more darker brown, so I selected a small flourish stamp and used it sparingly, but it added to the over all desired affect.  I added pink rhinestones to the base of each flourish too.  To carry on the pink rhinestones, I added them around the chipboard frame too.  I also found a pink/brown chipboard set in my supplies that was mostly used, but had some small paisley pieces, so I used them to further accent the stamped flourishes.


I sat back and looked, but it still needed something else.  Nothing in my stash seemed quite right and then it dawned on me.  Since this is a First Communion layout, a cross would set it off - but a small one so it didn't overpower the layout.  I didn't have anything like that so off to Hobby Lobby I went.  I found a small antique style, bronze cross in the jewelry aisle.  I picked up some pink organdy ribbon while I was there too.  I tied a piece of the ribbon through the part of the cross that was destined to loop it to a necklace.  I placed the cross to the right of the photo, snuggling it in between roses.


I added snips of the pink organdy ribbon amidst the flowers to finish it off, and was quite pleased with the result.  :-)


However, the left side of the layout needed balancing.  I used a dark pink dragonfly from K&Co over the brown vellum flowers, and used some of the pink pearl flourishes to create a trail.


The layout also needed a title...one that fit in the space I had!  That meant it had to be short words!  "Bless Me" seemed appropriate. I used Thicker letters in the "Mirror Mirror" font that I just so happened to have in a Rose color.  Love it when things just work out!


All in all I am very pleased with the result of this challenge!

The final result: Bless Me

Detail of the floral arrangement and cross

Detail, including the title

I encourage anyone who needs a little challenge to inspire their creativity to checkout The Color Room!  I have included their Blinkie to the left to help you navigate your way there.  In the meantime...go crop yourself!

Spreading My Wings

Have you ever had an idea bouncing around in your head, but didn't give it much thought until someone else did it first?  That's me.  I gave a passing thought to wondering how the techniques and tools I use in scrapbooking could carry over to into other realms of my crafting world.  I often see things in stores and think, "I could do that!", look at the price and think again, "Really?  I could do that - for alot less!" so I pass it up.  I promptly forget that fabulous idea... until I see someone else has done exactly what I thought!

Summertime and Sunkist Kisses

Happy Summer!  The skies are blue, the sun is bright and the temperatures are skyrocketing!  Oh! And here, in Florida, that means afternoon thunderstorms start rolling in to drench everything!  The other day when I left the office for lunch and walked into the parking lot I raised my face up to the sky to soak in the rays... and I felt a little like an iguana basking in the heat!  But I digress...

Apparently I'm not the only one feeling the warmth of the summer sun.  The folks over at The Color Room released Palette #62 labeled the Sun Room.  The palette was three shades of orange (light, medium and dark), plus white.  To me they were the colors of a sunkist afternoon.  Then I remembered I had this cute picture of my teenage daughter during her "strawberry blonde phase" and making a "kissy-face" and *BOOM* I was inspired.

Boy, oh, Boy!

Boy, oh, Boy, it's been a long time since I posted!  Try as I might, time just keeps on slipping away (that old song..."Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin' into the future..." comes to mind).  I've noticed, the older I get, the faster time seems to go...except when I'm at work.  Then time seems to stand still!  LOL

I've been trying to come up with a theme for this post, and with the last couple of photos I've cropped, I think I've found it.  I have 2 sons and 1 daughter.  I love cropping pictures of my daughter, particularly when she was a little girl.  I can go are feminine, floral, flourish and really bling out on those layouts.  Where I get stumped, is with masculine layouts for the boys.  They cringe when they see flowers or bling on their layouts...apparently floral accents and rhinestones aren't "butch".   LOL

'Bout Time!

Yes, yes... I know!  It's about time I put up a new post!  While my mind is always dreaming up new layouts for my scrapbooking endeavors, unfortunately Father Time doesn't always cooperate!  The one thing I have found by creating this blog and branching out into creating sketches is that following a sketch, saves a ton of time!  If I plan out what I am going to do, before I sit down with my heaps of paper, boxes of embellishments, rolls of ribbons and everything other thing that finds its way into my scrapbooking doman as some piece of inspiration, I find I am more focused on the task at hand.

To that end, I have created another sketch.  It is relatively simple, but oh! the things you can do with simplicity!

Getting Sketchy

Recently I played with MS Publisher and decided to try my hand at a computer generated sketch.  It's been a while since I created a sketch, which I usually do by hand, first in pencil, then I trace with a sharpie when I like it.  Working on Publisher was pretty good and saved a lot of erasing.   I used basic shapes and filled them with textures to mimic paper designs.  I searched clipart for flourishes and that was a bit more challenging, but when I found what I liked, I changed the color to black and white for the sketch.  Following is the resulting sketch, Sketch #3.

Shimmer and Glimmer, Baby!

At last!  My Glimmer Mist tutorial!!  It's long - because I just couldn't stop talking about the glories of Glimmer Mist!  I hope it was worth the wait!

One of my favorite things to use in scrapbooking is Glimmer Mist.  Glimmer Mist is a water based, non-toxic, acid-free paint in a mist bottle with the added attribute of a glimmer substance that adds a beautiful shimmer to everything it touches.

Glimmer Mist is made by Tattered Angels and available online (scrapbook.com carries a fine variety of colors).  You might also find it in your local scrapbook shops.  A similiar paint can also be made using various shimmery powders (found in the scrapbook section of your shops) and mixed with water in a mister tube.  Personally, I prefer Glimmer Mist.  Glimmer Mist comes in a wide variety of colors and Tattered Angels also offers certain seasonal colors  for a limited time.  (No, I am not associated with this product or company, I'm just a big fan!)

Best Laid Plans

It is said, “The best-laid plans of mice and (wo)men often go awry”.  No matter how carefully a project is planned, something may still go wrong with it.  

Well, that’s how my cropping and blog posting have gone the last couple weeks!  I am trying to pull together a tutorial on Glimmer Mist for you all and I keep thinking of things to show you, then my camera battery died and needed re-charging, so the whole project got put on hold.  In the meantime, life happened and I was pulled away to join in… rather willingly, I admit!

So, what do you do to satisfy your creativity when you can’t crop?  When I am not cropping, my mind has a little hamster in it, running the creative treadmill and as it thinks of things, it files them away for future reference.  Sometimes those creative files are well ordered and easily retrieved, other times I have little slips of thoughts that occurred to me, but I can’t remember what it was I was going to do with them!  I start looking at ordinary things and thinking, "How can I use that idea or object in a layout?".  Or, I’ll see some paper or embellishment or technique that strikes me as inspirational and I’ll get it and tuck it away until I can sit down and play again.

Time for a QUICKIE!

Just a quickie to tell you about more great giveaways!! Please visit the Creating Keepsakes blog and leave a comment.

A Stitch in Time

As promised,  I am posting a tutorial on stitching.  I love this technique because it adds something special to your layout and you do not have to have sewing skills to accomplish it!  Do not be intimidated by sewing - it is sew easy!  And most of all - it is way cheaper than those papers on the market with sewing already on them!

Doing the Butterfly

Hello!  Next in the series "Jumping in the Pool" is "Doing the Butterfly".  I've created another sketch and put together 3 layouts following the sketch on different rotations.  I titled this blog "Doing the Butterfly" because upon reviewing the layouts - they all had a butterfly tucked in somewhere!

Time for a QUICKIE



Prima Botanicals giveaway!


Hey All: 

Here's a Quickie Post!

Just saw that Prima Marketing Flowers is having a giveaway of a their Botanicals kit on Facebook!  Go out to Facebook and "Like" Prima Marketing Flowers, and follow the prompts to enter the contest!  Good Luck! 

Jumping in the Pool

Well, today it is 80 degrees in Florida.  Such a lovely pre-spring day!  I know many of you are snowed in, but let this blog carry you away to a warmer climate!  Today we are going to begin a series called "Jumping in the Pool".

For first time and new croppers, I remember how anxious I was to just do something, to make a page, to show something for the money I've invested in scrapbook supplies and tools.  So, today we are going to jump in!  I have created the following layout and will share with you the step-by-step directions on how to put it together.  It really is very simple, so don't be intimidated if you're just beginning!

Baby Steps

Baby Steps… Yep I am going to try this blogging thing one baby step at a time.  Kind of like scrapbooking.  One doesn’t create a fabulous layout on the first try.  It takes some inspiration, some vision, a bit of creativity and a lot of faith that those bits and pieces of paper and ribbon, thread and paint, flowers and bling; and whatever else can be stuck to a paper will fit themselves together like a beautiful puzzle and in the end you will have something to be proud of.  Likewise, I am hoping I can craft my thoughts and words together in a way that bespeaks my passion for scrapbooking.  I’m gonna get my crop on!!!