Today my order came from QVC! What a dear little thing the Slice machine is. It took me a couple of tries to learn exactly how much or how little of the adhesive to use on the glass mat, but when I did understand the adhesive held well. I am posing a shot of the storage cabinet as well as the tool holding pouch and memory card storing pouch. Now I am in business as far as cutting images out and will only purchase memory cards as needed. In the long run I hope I save money by not having to purchase alphabet letters nearly as often.
Blogs I Read
Books I Am Reading
Eliot Coleman: Four-Season Harvest: Organic Vegetables from Your Home Garden All Year Long
Excellent book with guidelines on how to raise fresh vegetables and salad greens year round, even in winter months with minimum effort and protection.
Photo Albums
Fun with 'Stickles'
Happy Valentines’ Day!! My holiday sugar cookies are still waiting to be baked in the freezer, but they will be just as good when I do get a chance to bake them...and take photos for scrapbooking!
Took a big plunge and submitted 5 summer themed layouts to ‘Creating Keepsakes’ magazine today, Sunday February 15th. A request post for submissions was at their website and I decided to try. Secretly I dream of being published in that magazine as it is the ‘industry standard’, but if I don’t it isn’t the end of the world; I really scrapbook for my own pleasure in the process of creation and telling stories.
Did make it to the Monday night Stockbridge crop this week. It has been difficult to do so since Gretchen has had an evening class this quarter. She doesn’t get out of class until 9:30 -10:00 pm and I really dislike imposing on Mother to fetch her while I am at the crop, so I have only attended sporadically this quarter. Met two new ladies there, Darby & Susan. Marsha invited them to come when they came to the ‘Paper Source’ store that Marsha works in located in the Virginia-Highland area in Atlanta. Darby is a Registered Nurse too, so Beth & she were able to swap ‘war stories’ while we all scrapped. Very nice ladies, I hope they become regulars.
Marsha loaned me a bottle of her crystal ‘Stickles’ to try out. The latest challenge class in the ‘Product Pizzazz’ class I am taking at “Get It Scrapped” online encouraged us to add glitter or sparkle to a layout. I dreaded trying to embellish sections of a cutout flower with glue and then sprinkle glitter on it...messy to say the least. I appreciated Marsha allowing me to try the Stickles before I invested in a bottle of my own and they are splendid! So easy to control the flow of medium and it really adds a special touch to your layout. You can’t really see how sparkly the layout is, but just the touch of glitter on small areas of the decorative elements I cut out certainly enhances my work. P.S. Mind the fussy ribbon border with embellishments...another challenge from the class I am taking. I am learning so many new ways to use all the beautiful embellishments I buy more effectively. The technique is called 'clustering'. Just love it!!
Journaling on the Layout Reads:
I don't remember how Gill found my Blog, but she & I have been corresponding for two years now. She lives in a lovely small English town called Ilkley in West Yorkshire. The photos shown here are of Gill in her garden & back entrance of her home. The post card shares local points of interest. The church is the one Gill attends. It is mainly Victorian: however the towers are 14th century. 'Cow & Calf' rocks are a famous local spot which overlooks Ilkley proper. Each fall Gill & her husband travel to America on Holiday & she always posts Mother & I a parcel full of local treats for us to treasure. I hope that sometime I will get to meet Gill in 'real life'. Photos from 2008
Page Map Entry
This layout did double duty...I entered a Page Maps Contest/Challenge and fullfilled the first assignment in "Product Pizzazz" taught by Doris Sander at Debbie Hodge's website "Get It Scrapped". I always feel I do some of my best work while taking a class there. Thanks for looking!
Journaling Reads:
A solitary moment by the fire;
Counted thread embroidery;
Olivia sleeping nearby;
Cups of hot chocolate
While listening to the winds blow.
January 2nd...
Another cloudy day...we have certainly had our share of late. But any rain we can get in this area is so welcomed in an attempt to end the drought of the last few years and refill our reservoirs. Gretchen worked at the Hospital her usual shift today, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
I worked on a scrapbook layout using some of the photos Chrissy, my daughter-in-law, was kind enough to email me of Trudy, her dog, participating in a graduation competition from Agility classes they attended. I usually begin a scrapbook layout by selecting a design map for photo placement of a layout I find from a magazine, online class or someone else’s arrangement that inspires me. I do wish however, that more layouts used the standard 4 x 6 photos that most of us print our photos in. Anyway, I had to crop, resize and print at home the photos to do my layout. I was pleased with how the layout turned out. I am trying to create layouts using brighter colors as I love the brighter colors as opposed to the ‘traditional’ darker colors I worked with in my art several years ago.
Taking my daily photos and recording my information in a small daily planner in hopes of being one of the lucky people to get a Project 365 kit. I also received an order this evening I had placed with C-Line Company of assorted style page protectors just in case I did not get a kit and because I see so many scrappers using different page protectors in their work. Scrapbooking is a modern art form which I have embraced probably too much.
I Can't Find Anything When I Need It...Must Organize!
I took a short drive to Fayetteville today to buy cat food supplies and check out the craft stores as well. I needed some white cardstock to use in my ‘30 Days Hath September’ album I am creating whilst taking Stacy Julian’s class at Big Picture Scrapbooking. I also picked up several inexpensive divided boxes for organizing my embellishments. I re-purposed a pair of rolling carts with drawers and labeled them with color categories; Red & Pink; Yellow & Orange; Green; Blue; Violet; Metallic’s; Black & White and Brown color families. If my collection grows too much I can further divided Red & Pink into individual drawer systems.
Why I did not long ago organize my small embellishments by color categories I do not know...as I am creating a page and need brads, buttons or other items I always think to myself, “I need something blue...or I need something green”. This will make my selection process much easier that having to look through all the buttons for green buttons or the drawer originally set aside for brads for a specific color brad. It will probably encourage me to think about combining products in different ways that I might not have considered it items where in broader categories. I just did not know how much ‘stuff’ I had till I began this reorganization process; needless to say it will take some time to plow through all I own. (Note to self: Use some of this stuff up before buying more!!)
On my way back from Fayetteville I made a quick stop at Wally World for a few things. By the time I got home I was very tired and lazily popped a frozen Red Baron Deluxe Pizza into the oven for our supper.
Big Wig Bash Crop...Part Two
In continuation of the fun online Big Wig Bash crop, another one of the Make & Take projects was an embellished pocket. I chose some of my brightly colored Cosmo Cricket papers from a Kit of the Month put out by Zany Zinnia. It was a quick and easy project. I had done a layout using this same group of papers sharing the story about our Monday night crop get together, all that remained to finish was the journaling...I thought it would be perfect to use this delightful pocket to record my thoughts on. So I got 2 for the price of 1 in doing this element.
The ‘Summer Highlight Layout’ challenge was a bit of an undertaking; but I was pleased with the results! This Make & Take comprised a 3 month calendar of activities and supporting photos during this time frame. I certainly am giving my home printer a work out by producing these ‘need it now’ and in a special size photos. Quite honestly, I am happier with the quality photos I print at home as opposed to other photo processing services.
In the 22nd hour of the crop, a question was asked ‘Who made the first wigs?’ I was the first with the correct answer...the Egyptians; and won a Krafter’s Purse from Stone Creek Creations. I picked lime green as my color of choice...I seem to have a thing for lime green lately. It will be a neat compact item to carry a lot of supplies to crops in. I was thrilled to win a prize although I really wanted to win a place in either Cathy Zielske’s upcoming ‘Design Your Life’ class or a spot in Stacy Julian’s ‘Library of Memories’ class. It will take some creative financing for me to fund these two classes, but they should be well worth the expenditure.
Big Wig Bash Online Scrapbooking Crop Part One
I have been taking an online scrapbooking class at Big Picture Scrapbooking, co-owned by past founding editor of Simple Scrapbooks magazine, Stacy Julian. Big Picture Scrapbooking sponsored a completely free 30 hour online crop organized by Key Lime Crops, a new online service for offering theme crop ideas. The crop began Friday, August 22nd 3 pm ESDT and ended Saturday evening 8 pm ESDT.
Every hour a new challenge or contest was opened up on the boards and everyone rushed to see what was in that area to do. Previously from Monday until Friday we had access to daily uploads of mini-classes called ‘Make & Takes’ where we were issued a challenge or mini project to complete and post in a special online photo gallery for viewing and commentary.
During the actual crop we might some hour play a game similar to ‘Let’s Make a Deal’ and have to answer a question to have a chance to choose one of three doors for gag or good prizes. Other hours we were challenged to create layouts based on that particular hour’s requirements. After frantically attempting to try to keep up with the hourly challenges, I surrendered and just downloaded the challenge to attempt at my leisure in the future. It was too nerve wracking...about the time you would get some design idea in progress, another one would be issued. I came to the conclusion that no one was really expected to complete every challenge. Then I only had to check in at the top of the hour to see whether a contest was in progress and participate or download the challenge to do later.
It was a fun filled 30 hours! Scrapbookers from all over the globe participated...New Zealand, England, South America and Australia. It was strange as a group in the States might be going to bed while someone on the other side of the world was fresh and ready to jump back in.
I did several of the ‘Make & Take’ classes earlier in the week and enjoyed them very much. The first mini class was called “Product Playground”. We were issued a challenge to use 5 things on our layout; something soft, stickers, a sparkly element, paper with a decorative edge and an office type supply. This is my resulting layout. I used ribbon, word stickers, orange rhinestones, graph style paper with a decorative edge and a ticket stub from an office supply store. I would have never chosen these elements to mix on a layout without the challenge! What fun!
The second challenge was “Sunny Summer Photo Cards”. We made a folded card comprised of a photo of our summer activities and a meaningful quote to us. I used an old photo of my daughter when she was about 7 years old playing in the surf at Daytona Beach. I think it turned out lovely!
The third piece I created was challenged as “Summer Layout Recipe”, a preset design layout, suggested theme and embellishments. It was a July 4th layout; I substituted Memorial Day photos of me placing my American flag on display at the Cottage. My design was not as heavily embellished as the sample, but I felt I added enough to make it pleasing.
'Have More Fun' Class Photo Album Scrapbooking
This is an example of what Stacy Julian calls “Photo Album Scrapbooking”. That was our challenge for this past week in her ‘Have More Fun’ online class. We were supposed to create two small albums, but I feel a great accomplishment just beginning on one.
This album is something I have wanted to create for a long time. For many years I have had some resentment living in Griffin. Our county is not a wealthy county in the state and entertainment, shopping and cultural opportunities are minimum here. I have to drive to Atlanta for needlework, scrapbooking and other venues I am interested in. Now I am working hard on loving Griffin ‘warts and all’ as I am fond of saying and relishing the uniqueness of this smaller town.
This mini album is the beginning of documenting historical and everyday buildings and places in my town. I know I will learn to love more things about Griffin by educating myself on its’ roots.
Debbie Hodge's Class Assignment: Your Childhood Memories
It took some doing for me to narrow summer memories down to just one aspect. I can truly see an entire album containing nothing but my memories. Thanks Debbie for this class...I honestly think each class gets better and better. And these are the memories worth saving and sharing!
Materials Used: Kraft Cardstock: Unknown; Blue & Orange Cardstock: Bazzill; Small orange floral: My Mind’s Eye; Stripe, Large Floral, Journaling & Bird Die Cuts: Sassafras Lass; Orange Staples: Making Memories; Buttons: Bazzill; Brown Alphabet Stickers from Becky Higgins’ School Years: The Expansion Kit, Kit of the Month July 2008.
Journaling Below:
Because Mother worked one to two jobs on a regular basis, summer school breaks were difficult for her to find proper child care when our budget was so small routinely. Thankfully my Mother’s parents were willing to take in two waifs to care for in those summertime months.
My Grandfather farmed and my Grandmother worked in a variety of dress factories over the years, so most of our care during the morning hours came from my dear Grandfather. While my sister and I remained snuggled in our beds Mama arose, cooked their breakfast and Papa took her to work. Papa had already been up before dawn to plow or do other farming chores before the sun became too hot. Usually by the time Debbie, my sister, and I were up and about we could hear the tractor rumbling back to the barn area and knew Papa was through working till later in the day.
He would cook our breakfast, home smoked sausage or bacon from their own pigs, eggs fresh from their hens, perhaps eggs that Debbie and I had gathered the day before. And there were always a few biscuits left from Mama’s baking earlier that morning. They didn’t have a cow for milk, but I remember walking down a dusty unpaved road to the neighbor’s to buy a lard bucket of fresh milk for 25 cents and carefully carrying it back so as not to spill any.
After breakfast Debbie and I would play around the ‘whittling tree’. This was a huge oak near the side of the road where Papa would sit, watch us play and whittle with his razor sharp pocket knife thin curling tendrils of cedar wood. The pile of fragrant shavings grew day by day. On occasion Papa would give me a dollar and Debbie and I would walk down the road to a country store and buy his pack of Salem cigarettes and there was always a bit left over for penny candy. Bazooka bubble gum with the comic inside, Banana Kisses five to a pack and two packs for a penny or sometimes a Dr. Pepper in a bottle, ice cold with a pack of Spanish Peanuts poured into the soda. Oh, what simple happy memories!
I would design houses in the dirt round the base of that tree, drawing out the floor plans with a stick and furnishing it with acorn cap dishes and rock settees. Sometimes the mailman would bring a parcel from Mother in the post and how much fun it was to rip into the box and find a new Little Lulu comic book, a set of tiny glass dishes, soap liquid for blowing bubbles or other forgotten treasures that made the day so special. In the heat of the day Papa would encourage us to lie down for a nap and I remember waking with a sweaty neck just in time to jump in the truck and ride to pick Mama up from work. These memories are so precious to me and isn’t it wonderful that I can relive them over and over again by just going there in my mind!
