craftysuz creating everyday

I'm In RE-ME Mode

2012-01-17T14:05:00.000-05:00

I was reading a book by Mary McDonough (she played Erin on the Walton's TV show) called Lessons from the Mountain. As a fan of the show... lately in reruns even more than when the show first ran... I was interested in this book not only because of the show but also because Mary has dealt with auto-immune illnesses. She writes very honestly & authentic sharing the good along with the bad. The chapters that she writes about the pain, fatigue & isolation really hit home with me at the same time being such an encouragement. We are all learning and growing from those in our lives & the "mountains" we must deal with and they all make us who we are at this point in life. Mary is now a life coach & activist (speaking before congress about the dangers of silicone breast implants) in addition to acting and I loved her term "RE-ME". That is what I am doing this year - no I don't have control over everything in my life but I can choose how I deal with it & make each day the best it can be.

Along the same lines I decided to do Body Restoration the current course from Brave Girls Melody & Kathy - you can get all the details here. Soul Restoration I was life changing for me to learn to be kinder to myself & set boundaries. I have suffered from negative body image forever so I'm on a journey to accept who I am & be the best I can be inside & out.

I will be having some new mini book kits coming out at EMI Scrapbooking.... Some of my prior ones are available at the online Etsy store here.

Kit available that are pre-cut & bagged by the page with detailed photos:

Teresa Collins line filled with lots of fabric & interactive pages

Fully completed mini albums (these were the samples that was photographed)

December mini using Fancy Pants papers & diecuts

Family using Crate Paper

(this is one of my favorites I've created... lots of Unity Stamp Co journaling spots)

There are also several others available in the online store. Go check it out the really are a deal and jam packed full of goodies.

I'm so looking forward to the first weekend in March (2nd & 3rd)... why... because Teresa Collins is coming to teach again at an EMI Scrapbooking sponsored event. There will be 3 different classes taught & if you have never taken a class from Teresa I have to say they are absolutely incredible! The kits are PACKED full of goodies valued at well over the price of the class. Teresa is such an inspiring teacher. She not only shares how to make the project in the kit but also lots of tips, techniques, and antidotes... she has such a fun personality & such a fun, honest & authentic person with creativity just oozing from her. I feel like it spills off on me as I'm sitting in class lol. If you are local to Atlanta or want to come for the weekend (we will be staying at the Holiday Inn so join us for the creative fun). All the details are here there are a few spots left.

Last but not least I wanted to share with you a giveaway that a "Paperclipping" friend (we used to chat while watching Noell Hyman host her live online Paperclipping Live show on Tuesdays). Lorrie Jonas is very creative & I wish I could paint like she does..... Visit her blogs here for all the details of the giveaway. There are some Spellbinders dies & a great art stamp so I know you will want to enter.

Well I'm off to do some creating... Hope you have a great day & do something creative.

Happy New Year & OLW

2012-01-02T12:12:00.000-05:00

Happy 2012!

I love the promise of the new year. Even though I'm not one to make a bunch of resolutions, since I feel they set me up for failure, there is just something fresh and full of possibilities on January 1st. This year I'm trying to be easier on myself. It seems I fall into the trap of always nurturing, comforting, and just plain being kind to others while beating myself up for little things. So I'm making a conscious decision to treat myself as I treat others.

Each year I pick a word, inspired by Ali Edwards One Little Word, for me it's quite a process thinking about what really applies to my life now & will help make the subtle changes for the new year to be who I want to be. I usually don't commit until the very last moment right before midnight lol yep it takes that much thought for me... it's important. This little idea can make a big difference.

This year I've chosen AUTHENTIC.

To me it applies to being who I am and embracing the good, bad & everything in between. "I am what I am and that's all that I am".... no I'm not Popeye the sailor man but it applies lol.

I have the best kids (they are grown men but will forever be my boys). They bought me a new laptop for Christmas - similar to the one in picture. No more little netbook that I actually played World of Warcraft on and did Photoshop for a while before the new Windows came out & the updates slowed it way down (my conspiracy theory of MS making the older computers so slow that you cave in and buy a new one). I am loving it even if it isn't an apple. I have the sweetest sons they are so thoughtful & take such good care of their mom!

I have been downloading some of my favorite fonts from Kevin & Amanda's blog on the new computer. I like the casual handwritten look & use them all the time.

I went to the movies to see Sherlock Holmes 2 A Game of Shadows Saturday with my mom & sister. The movie was really good & it was fun just us "girls" we don't do that enough. Robert Downey Jr. is always so funny & Jude Law plays so well with him. They really are the perfect pair. The Studio Movie Grill had comfy seats, tables, full menu, & bar - my son Andrew goes there all the time but this was my first time. Yummy home style popcorn with real butter (though I didn't use it I was being good even if a little spilled out of the cup in the basket). The ticket & food prices were actually cheaper than the mall AMC theaters so we will be going back again.

On the scrapbook creative front I'm working on some new mini albums for EMI Scrapbooking. I can't thank Susan enough for allowing me to design for her - she is so good to me. They will be available in the coming weeks. If you are local to Atlanta be sure to stop on in - she has a great selection of all the new lines from our favorite companies.

Hope you have a great day & take time to be creative

2 Mini Kits at EMI

2011-11-11T11:49:00.000-05:00

Here are 2 mini books that I designed and pre cut kits are available for sale at EMI Scrapbooking.

First is a 8x8 Halloween mini using last years Teresa Collins Spooktacular line (her stuff never goes out of style - I still adore the kitchen & family one she did years ago). It's got a classic look & filled with canvas & other fabric

The other is perfect for all the random photos that we take of little ones.... using some sweet My Mind's Eye papers & diecuts

Speaking of EMI they are hosting a super crop tomorrow at the Holiday Inn in Cumming GA from 10 am to 10 pm. There will be make and takes & lots of prizes. Last CHA we had all the "celebrity" scrapbook industry people sign a tag to attach to some goodies from them (some names are Teresa Collins of course lol, Jenni Bowlin, & Tim Holtz to name just a few). There are still a few spots open so it's not too late to sign up and join in the fun. Call the store at 770-888-2417 see you there!

Favorite Product Lines & more Mini Kits for sale

2011-10-09T16:37:00.000-04:00

It's the time of the year when we have so many fantastic new lines to create with. I have a hard time limiting myself as so many are "calling my name"....

I am totally crazy about the Studio Calico Mr Huey spray inks. I love them so much! For me they are more versatile than Glimmer Mist since I have guys in my life glitter isn't very masculine in their opinion at least... shhh don't tell them I sneak shimmer goodness on their pages every once in a while. But Mr. Huey's allow me to use spray ink on all my projects.

My favorite of all is the opaque white it's perfect for misting then journaling over

I love the colors of Studio Calico's Memoir line... the perfect blue, some golden yellow & cream are catching my eye right now & of course look great with kraft paper

and everyone knows how I am about my die cut ledger paper (or any ledger paper for that matter & SC never lets me down since they include one in most of the lines)

They also have die cut geometric full sheets that can be used on a project or even saved and used as an inexpensive stencil

Another company I was very surprised I would like as much as I do. When Susan from EMI Scrapbooking forwarded me a link with a sneak peak of Simple Stories I like it because it had lots of journaling & title cards but they showed it in the individual plastic pockets which I think is great for others but not really my style. So when I saw it in person I was very excited about all the possibilities. The lines are very well thought out & make great mini albums.

I loved the soft colors of their baby line that can easily be used for either a boy or girl. It's a very budget friendly company but they sure don't skimp on quality or style

Look at all those tiny type style letters on that sheet - it was a must have

Super cute images to embellish & add style

Here's a mini kit I made using it that is for sale at EMI Scrapbooking online and in store here

I'M back.... My blog has been MIA

2011-08-15T11:56:00.000-04:00

I know a lot of you noticed (even before I did since I was on vacation in Destin FL) that my blog was MIA. I had thought my son had paid the Go Daddy bill (since he owes me money each month for cell phones it's how we trade off) but even after forwarding 2 notices my normally super responsible son picks this moment to act more like his younger brother & forget to pay it.....

Well someone bought my domain name. His name is Anthony & he lives in England. He was very cooperative in allowing me to purchase it back (making a tidy profit without gouging me TOO badly). But the big problems came with trying to get all his forwarding codes out of the Go Daddy sight and put mine in to send people to my blog. It was so easy when I attached the domain to the blog in the first place I remember 2 clicks and it did it for me. Not so easy undoing his forwarding for someone like me though. Anthony was sweet in responding to my emails and trying to walk me thru how to tech articles (which sounded like gibberish to my mind). Topping it off I only had internet if I went to the club house during their business hours (they shut it off when they weren't open) it was a slow connection to boot and the changes I would make on go daddy would take over an hour to show up so the back and forth was making me even more crazy). My Mom learned fast not to push my buttons when I'm having computer problems lol.... sorry Mom for snapping.

I couldn't even make my blog a free blog again at that point because either I'm not tech savvy enough (most likely that answer) or it was in an endless limbo. Regardless if I didn't get the domain back I read I would loose everything from the past 2 yrs and have to repost. Not an option so that's why I bought it back.

Andrew was my savior last night logging into email, blogger, go daddy in multi tabs and copy/pasting codes, website names, and who knows what else but I AM BACK!!!!!

Lesson learned that even only I will pay for domain in the future to make sure it's done.

The vacation was AMAZING. I'm so thankful to have spent time with both of my parents alone and to top it off in such a beautiful place. Destin Florida is so wonderful.

Sun is not my friend with lupus it makes me burn even worse than normal with my Casper the Ghost skin. I loved walking on the beach early in the morning watching the sun rise & water sparkle. The lighting was amazing on the water & I would come back each day with a camera full to capacity of photos.

The sea birds were so unafraid of people and would walk along with me at the waters edge.

We were only supposed to stay a week then Mom got the ok from Dad's cousin to stay a second week. Only problem was Dad had to go back to home so Mom & I stayed without a car (that was interesting NOT... why is it when you can't do something the desire to do it becomes almost overwhelming lol I needed more groceries for sure and was ready to ride on the little 3 wheel scooter Mom gets around on down there). One night we were raiding what was in the pantry for dinner and came up with generic mac & cheese (without butter since we ran out) and Van de Camps Chunk Light Tuna (WARNING NEVER BUY THIS IT LOOKS LIKE THE LOWEST QUALITY CAT FOOD YOU HAVE EVER SEEN) once prepared & mixed together it almost looked hairy because the tuna was just mush (not even one chunk of put together fish like you usually see) and the taste was so disgusting we were tasting it for hours even after brushing teeth & mouth wash lol.

Destin has very little restaurant delivery places. Wednesday I was so desperate I found a mom & pop type pizza place with good reviews. It was OK (better than the only other choice which was Domino Pizza yuck) and the chinese place had horrible reviews so we stayed clear of that one. You would think that such a busy tourist place with every restaurant known to man would have delivery..... I would love to open up a business down there delivering food.... make good money & be able to live the good life in paradise.

Thankfully my son Andrew came to pick us up and was able to stay 1-1/2 days (too bad his job is so busy since he loved the beach .... but we'll be going back). Andrew arrived at night with Chick fil A in hand (they were the best sandwiches EVER)

Sunday morning before leaving Andrew & I walked the beach at sunrise

Pelicans diving for food

Well that's all for now blogger photo loader is acting wonky

I have lots of mini book kits to create & cleaning to do (my guys left me quite a mess being gone so long) so I have to nudge the dogs off my feet (they are literally sleeping on them) & leave the computer to get busy.

EMI Scrapbooking is getting in all the newest & best product lines with several shipments a week being delivered by our trusty "Mr. Brown" aka UPS guy. So if you are local make a trip up there and you sure will not leave empty handed. If you aren't local Susan sells all the latest & greatest on her online ebay store & ships world wide quick as lightening. Check it out here.

CHA Summer 2011

2011-07-31T05:31:00.000-04:00

CHA was great! Lots of fantastic new products coming out.... EMI Scrapbooking will be filled to the gills with gorgeous goodies.

The show was much smaller than in past years... literally most of the companies downsized their booths & some (Basic Grey) didn't even participate in the show. I hope that it's just companies spending their money wisely and not a bigger decline in the industry itself.

My video skills were sorely lacking & looking at the booths that I did shoot I think you would get motion sickness if I posted them. So I'm practicing for next time.... In the mean time Amy Coon posted some great videos of the show & you can view them at the Paperlife blog.

As for photos... Susan the owner of EMI Scrapbooking really enjoys taking pictures of all the new products and samples in each booth. I think final count was over 2000 for the 3 day show. She has posted some on the blog already & promised to give each of us in the group CDs with all the images.

Now for a few highlights. *(I have to say it was impossible to pick a favorite because I loved so many of them)*

Jenni Bowlin has always been a favorite of mine. I LOVE her Bingo cards & embellishments. She knocked it out of the park this time with LOADS of new embellishments & DOUBLE SIDED thicker paper!

This is some of the embellishments & samples for the halloween line

Her booth is gorgeous with so many creative ways to store things & display

I adore Stephanie Howell & loved seeing her sample creations... yep they are even better in person.

Jenni is THE NICEST person & spent lots of time with us while we were in the booth. I can't wait to create with these products....

Pink Paislee's booth was one of those that was much smaller than prior shows. The lines they introduced included the final House of 3 Halloween & they expanded on the Mistables with Tattered Angels.

Nantucket was my favorite & it is a beautiful beach line.

I can't wait to take photos at the beach for a mini book & layouts using Nantucket.

Keep checking the EMI Blog for more photos & I'll post more of my favorites.

Off To CHA.....

2011-07-17T13:55:00.000-04:00

The EMI Scrapbooking girls are off to Chicago to see all the new products & order the best for the store. We'll be posting lots of photos on the store blog. I'm taking along my new flip cam & hoping to post some youtube videos too.... keep your fingers crossed lol.

Studio Calico Travel Mini Kit

2011-07-17T13:49:00.000-04:00

Studio Calico lines always have a touch of fun & funky added. This line was filled with paper that had lots of images to fussy cut for embellishments.

Sorry didn't have time to edit the photos.... so I hope you don't get a crick in your neck lol... it's just the first cover page.

This limited edition kit is available at EMI Scrapbooking online & in the store.

Crate Mini Album Kits

2011-07-17T13:40:00.000-04:00

Crate Paper is another stand out company. I love the vintage look & the way each paper has depth & interest. This line came with the super useful alphabet stickers and a sheet of paper that was filled with different tags ready to be cut out.

Sorry for the blurry photos I didn't check them before giving Susan @ EMI Scrapbooking the kit. She will have much better photos on the blog & of course included in each kit.

Teresa Collins Notations Sample

2011-07-17T13:33:00.001-04:00

I loved the box of goodies that is Teresa Collins Notations It comes with a binder, lots of diecut paper & oodles of tags & diecut embellishments. This is a sample I made for EMI Scrapbooking store to show customers what's included......

Teresa continues to be my favorite designer of scrapbook products.... I can't wait to see what's new this week in Chicago at CHA

Travel Mini Kit

2011-07-17T13:23:00.000-04:00

I LOVED Basic Grey's Wanderer line when it came out last year. The colors, images, patterns.... I guess everything about it just spoke to me.

For a travel album I always have lots of "stuff:" like tickets, maps, brochures, postcards, etc that I like to include so I used manilla envelopes as pages to give me plenty of room to stash.

This is a limited edition kit & will so be available at EMI SCRAPBOOKING online & in the store

More Mini Kits....

2011-05-25T13:25:00.000-04:00

I wanted to share a couple more sneak peaks of mini kits that I made for EMI Scrapbooking.

The first is made using Teresa Collin's pretty line called "Posh". I love the pink & black color combo i's so girly. I added lots of "chunky" elements to this one it's perfect for any woman/girl in your life.

I've been making quite a few mini's that are bound lately. Here's one using My Mind's Eye goodies....

Finally I changed up the size of this mini.... tall & thin like a notebook....but not lacking space to show off what happened in the school year..... Studio Calico never fails to inspire me with the funky style of their lines.....

Mini Book Kits

2011-05-13T16:59:00.000-04:00

Here are a couple of kits I have designed that are for sale at EMI Scrapbooking. They are available to be shipped worldwide if you are interested.

The "My Sweet Life" is created with lots of Webster's Pages Spring Market & a bit of Jenni Bowlin Be Our Guest. There is LOADS of fabric in this one (canvas, embellished denim, silk, lace, cotton, ribbons, etc) I even used my new Melody Ross Chip Art Alpha to make a faux leather element for the titlework. As you can see there is plenty of room for full size photos & lots of journaling in this 8x8 inch chipboard book. I think this is my favorite so far..... (until the next one designed lol). As with all the kits I design I fill them with lots of details because that is the way I make the ones for personal use.

It's harder to find fantastic looking lines for the older guys in our families. I LOVED the Stella Rose Hattie release by My Mind's Eye! For "My Boy" I created an accordion spine. The pullout tags make a fun interactive detail & perfect place for lots of journaling.

"Dearest Mother" is another kit using My Mind's Eye Stella Rose this time using the Hazel line. There are lots of pages in this one and it would be a special gift if you put in photos over the years. I love the whimsy and style of Unity Stamps & I have included quite a few in this book.

Finally "Little One" is another My Mind's Eye Stella Rose mini this time using Gertie. It's filled with different size pages, tags, tabs, ribbon, & pull outs.

Remember all EMI Scrapbooking kits are all inclusive pre-cut & packaged by page with a color photo of each so it's easy to assemble. All you need is adhesive & some ink if you like to distress edges. For further information click here.

Creating.....

2011-04-12T22:18:00.000-04:00

I've so been neglecting my poor blog. Well thankfully I have been inspired to create I just need to get back to making posting photos a priority again & making it a habit.

I love Teresa Collins and her paper lines. Not only are they beautiful & very well thought out design wise but they are also really economical. I have said it before but I love how she gives us an entire sheet of jouranling spots that can be cut out for just the price of a piece of patterned paper. I've noticed that a lot of companies are also doing this (Cosmo Cricket, Echo Park, & Fancy Pants to name a few). The diecut punch out sheet of different elements and folders adds so much pipizazz to any page or mini album - these too are very budget friendly.

Susan at Emi Scrapbooking always carries all the Teresa Collins lines... Look at the TC section of the store!

Even a tree decorated with Teresa Collins embellishments!

Teresa Collins lines also make super fast mini albums that are loaded with style and interactive elements. I'm not a fast creator so I shocked even myself with creating this sports mini album & kitting 6 in a day. That's a record for me! This kit using Sports II is for sale on the EMI Scrapbooking Store Etsy site here

I like a chunky mini with lots of stuff sticking out the sides & top

Here are a few of the 12 chipboard pages (not including the insert cards)

I challenged myself to use Teresa's "On the Edge " boy line in a non-masculine way for a store sample. I often hear that "I like that line but only have girls...." so I wanted to show the versalitility. The colors of this paper matched our sofa that Maddy was sitting on. Adding some decorative border punches, bling & a bit of toille gives a feminine touch.

One last Teresa Collins line project was a banner I made for our fireplace this Christmas that is now on display at EMI.

Another mini album that has been re-kitted since it sold out is made with Pink Paislee Old School line (love the distressed vintage theme & colors of this one.

This is the way that our kits are packaged. Everything is precut & packaged individually by page complete with color photos for ease of assembly.

Here's a couple of the pages in the album.

(I love that pocket stamp by Unity Stamps)

Making Memories Jet'adore was a big seller & is a beautiful Valentine's line. Here's a huge album made with Teresa Collins for Zutter 9x9 fiber board cover. Lots of pockets, fabric, tags, & pages for your photos and journaling about your honey. The cover even has a porcelain knob! It's for sale here.

Several of the pages

Finally one of my favorite mini album kits I made.... using Graphic 45 "Once Upon a Time" line. I love the beautiful soft colors & fairy tale theme (Peter Rabbit is one of my favorite books - I'd love to travel to England to see Beatrix Potter's home site). Did you see the movie "Miss Potter" - I just loved it!

I die cut hinges & painted them to look like old metal. The "door" opens to reveal titlework.

You can see all the pretty colors & elements

Lots of spots for photos & journaling. Unexpected tags hanging from rings.

Well I guess I've shared enough. I will be dropping off a couple sample pages & 4 new mini album kits (using lines from My Mind's Eye, Webster's Pages & Jenni Bowlin) at EMI tomorrow so I'll share the photos in a day or two. These are some of my favorites so far packed with lots of fabric in addition to the beautiful papers. I hope you will like them as much as I do. Susan will be putting them up for sale soon. Can't wait to pick up all the new goodies that have come in (Pink Paislee, Girl's Paperie, Melody Ross, Cosmo Cricket, Fancy Pants & Teresa Collins). I'm still working on mini kits using Studio Calico Elementary & Basic Grey Wanderer.Wonder what new lines she will give me to create kits with next? I can't wait.

Here's a sneak peek of "My Boy" mini album made using My Mind's Eye Stella Rose. I adore the colors & can't wait to use more of it for my grown "boys". This one has a spine made by accordian folding a sheet of cardstock. Something different - I liked the way it turned out

Hope you have a great Wednesday & remember to do something creative....

Creating

2011-02-19T15:20:00.000-05:00

The Brave Girls Club Soul Restoration I is winding down - it's been an amazing journey of accepting the past & finding out about what truly brings me joy. This class is also filled with lots of creative techniques which were a bonus & could easily be in a stand alone class - thank you Melody & Kathy for sharing your wisdom gained from your heart breaking trials of life. It's been life changing. Integrating the creative part of the course really helps to make the lessons learned concrete in my heart & soul as I worked thru my past issues, weakness & unhealthy relationships. I'm so thankful that Lori gave me the class & looking forward to part 2 in June.

I've been designing mini album kits for EMI Scrapbooking (my LSS in Cumming GA). Here is a photo of the cover of one I made using Pink Paislee Old School. It has lots of tabs, foldouts, and interactive pages. Check the blog for a slideshow of all the pages here.

I've completed 3 others & working on 4 more! It brings me joy to have my creative mojo back again. I also am working on 3 layouts samples of the new Teresa Collins lines for EMI. Her products are so amazing and well thought out for ease of designing. I can't wait to take her classes in a couple weeks. Teresa is a fantastic teacher & her kits are filled with so much product that there is always plenty left overs to create with in addition to the class. There are still a couple spots left if you live in the Atlanta area call Susan at 770-888-2417 or email emiscrapbooking@aol.com.

Have a great weekend... hope you are having the beautiful weather we are here (finally warm & sunny)... and don't forget to take some time for yourself to get creative.

Being Creative Restoring My Soul

2011-01-31T11:08:00.000-05:00

Happy Monday,

It's been a while since I felt that way... I'm doing so much better since taking this time for myself & working thru things with the help of Brave Girls Soul Restoration online course (already halfway thru the 6 week class). Melody Ross is a fantastic teacher - making tough topics easy to understand in a highly visual way. This is no boring self help class - incorporating the creative aspect really makes a huge difference. There are many videos filled with artsy techniques for painting, texture, Mod Podge, etc.

I told my son that "I feel like the truths are now Mod Podged it into my heart, mind and soul".

Here's a page I created during the class

I am already looking forward to part 2 of Soul Restoration in June. Melody & Kathy will be offering part 1 again in April -I encourage you to sign up - it is a great investment in YOU. All details here.

My son & I went to Ikea on Saturday just to look around. We love their storage/organizing items. Fueling up for the walk thru the showroom by eating lunch of their meatballs & mashed potatoes. Yum.

While looking for some cooking utincels I stumbled upon these cake decorating templates that I thought would be great to use with texture mediums, spray inks or paint. At only $0.99 it's worth the shot.

I'll play around with them & post a review for you soon.

Thanks so much for visiting & hope you have a blessed week.

I Owe YOU an Explaination....

2011-01-11T13:48:00.000-05:00

I need to explain why I've vanished off the face off the blogging universe. (I'm not going to go back and reread. or I may not post... so hope it makes sense)

The last year was a rough one for me/my family (sister & mom's illnesses) & the who knew that doing the challenges with Rhonna Farrer for change & thankfulness would throw me for a loop. I love visiting all your blogs & so many other ones on the web seeing all the amazing creations. Taking time for my body to be down doing nothing make everything even worse. I like to keep busy even while watching TV I usually have knitting or scrapbook page going. I have so many ideas & things I want to do but my body was fighting me tooth and nail with extreme fatigue, pain & other symptoms. This really pooked me off. I felt extremely depressed. But even something simple was just too much. This was compounded by feeling guilty & that I was a failure for "allowing" myself to become depressed. This just made things worse since no one allows themselves to become depressed it just doesn't work that way.

I try to not share a lot of "life" things on the blog sticking mostly to crafting. I have always been torn by this since I love so many blogs that effortlessly do both in such a brutally honest way. Stephanie Howell is a shining example of this. But her life has so many funny moments with the escapades of her "chicks" to balance out the hard things in life. I'm at a different stage in life with family & my life just isn't that interesting lol.. The bad things in life seemed to be piling up on me with numerous health issues & I didn't want to turn it into a downer or pity party for me.

As a Christian I feel the pressure to be positive & "salt & light" during those trials. I'm always amazed by those people that can just shine during the worst things in life - I think that is God shining thru them with His strength. You know the people I'm talking about... at a funeral they can get up and talk about a loved one during the service so eloquently or go through cancer treatments never missing church until they are in hospice. I only felt my own weakness & not His strength in me and was questioning why. I'm naturally a person that pulls away when sick - I hate being a burden or showing I'm sick. So with so much of this year being sick and not able to do what I want it seems I was isolated more often than not.

October was a hard month health wise - pain & sickness can really wear you down. Simply accepting the challenge to choose 1 thing to change in my life & focusing on what I was thankful for in November mushroomed that lack of strength. I felt a tremendous pressure along with emotional issues being brought to the surface at a time when my body needed to heal. Then I just "ran away" hiding out from you. The days turned into weeks and every day I thought about what to do about the blog & those of you who are so sweet to encourage me in my hobby. Then getting back to the blog became a burden that I thought about often I wanted to come back but didn't know how to... It really hung over me & could bring me to tears.

After many tears, prayers & reassessing... I'm just going to be honest - not try to hide what's happening to me anymore. I think that is when I'm willing to share that is when God can give me that miraculous strength. This is still going to be a creative blog but I'm not going to hide things: in hopes of getting on a design team, not wanting seem a selfish "I" "ME" person, or a gloomy downer. Stephanie Howell was again a catalyst for tweaking my thoughts on this. I think her honest sharing is a way God can get thru my fat head and work on my heart.

So here goes

First I want to say how sorry I am for just leaving things. So many of you have been so sweet to encourage me by leaving sweet comments on my posts & even missing me while I've been gone sending emails. Thanks so much for your thoughts and concerns they were bright points in the darkness of depression.

I'm going to come clean about my illnesses... I've shared briefly that I've dealt with breast cancer & the treatment of that has been complicated by other disabling illnesses that I've had for years. I have rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, sjogren's syndrome, fibromyalgia & crohns disease - yep I'm an auto immune nightmare. The symptoms have a tendency to cycle and build. When I'm good I'm good & when I'm bad I'm bad not a lot of in between since I consider any good day as one that I can get up & do things. The medicines help but as the years have gone on & the costs of those meds gone up I am not always able to take them as prescribed so if you don't take them they don't help. Not taking them really makes the doctor office visit costs go up since I'm there more often & it takes more medicine to calm down the symptoms. It's a sad reality of so many people today who have insurance but still can't afford all the co-payments/out of pocket expenses when I'm forced to take 20+ different medicines a month just to maintain. I try to weigh the side effects before taking them because I was never an Rx person - I'd rather do herbal/holistic treatments but I had no choice. The breast cancer on top of that really was a lot to handle. Lupus has given me lots of kidney problems so even just simple anesthesia can cause my kidneys to "freak out" and stop working properly. I will never be able to be on the list for a transplant and have been close to dialysis several times (which I want to avoid of course) so that made treatment tricky to say the least. This is all out of my control but I can choose how to deal with it.

With all that I'm still so thankful for all that I CAN DO on those good days and for my family & friends. So much of life (with or without illness) is about choices. I choose to be thankful for what I have & make the most of each & every day that I am given. I am slowly recovering both physically and emotionally - feeling stronger every day. There is a lightness streaming into the darkness that I was closed in. I really pray for people who struggle with depression as it's such a misunderstood thing & so debilitating. I have had periods of it thru my life but am thankful for always being able to come out of it. Depression really sucks the life out out of a person robbing them of all joy, interests and more.

One of the ways I'm going to recover is taking is Brave Girls Soul Restoration online class. (now that I have gotten some help for the depression this class for change shouldn't throw me into a deeper depression as the challenge I was doing with Rhonna before the holidays)

My friend Lori gave me the tuition & I'm so thankful for her friendship, love, support, and encouragement. It starts today at 11:11 am pst & I'm so ready for a change/restoration. The women that come back from the Brave Girls Camp have that lightness, shine, and joy so since I will probably never be able to attend the physical camp I'm thankful to be a part of the next best thing. Melody Ross is incredible at combining art with life changes. I'm excited to incorporate creativity in an effort to get over the things in my past & be the best person I can be now even with all the things on my plate that I have no choice but deal with. I know when I create for me it can de-stress from the pressures of life and I just love it.

I'm still designing mini album kits & display pages for EMI Scrapbooking ( my local scrapbook store)& thank you Susan for being such a great friend & so patient with me. You're the best! The creativity has been a lifeline to me and really saved me from feeling so useless. It's such a blessing.

Thanks again to each of you & I hope this helps you understand why I left the blog unattended.

Thankful for... creative outlets

2010-11-15T19:14:00.000-05:00

I remember as a child wanting to be an artist but couldn't draw at all. I don't know why I didn't think of other forms of art but for whatever reason that thought stuck with me. So I gravitated to crafts - they gave me a chance to be creative & I've tried just about every one out there lol Some of my favorites are scrapbooking (of course), & all other paper crafts, knitting, quilting, jewelry making, and working with clay. Working with my hands is an instant de-stresser. I love the entire creative process whatever I am working on. I still don't think of myself as an artist but I'm branching out into more artsy ways to be creative. I guess it's age but I feel I can try anything & if I like it that is good enough for me.

Here's a mini album kit sample I designed for EMI Scrapbooking Store. The kit is selling well. It's filled with lots of stitching & stamping. I loved making this one (even with the inches of glitter lol)

Home Sweet Home - My Mind's Eye Lost & Found paper

Blogger grrrr...

2010-11-12T14:35:00.000-05:00

I staged my week of thankful posts because I was trying to be on the ball and for some reason none of them posted....so I'll put them all in one post today to catch up so I'm not flooding email followers mailboxes with multi posts.

Tuesday - Thankful for you my followers & readers...

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I haven't met many of you but it really is a blessing when you leave me a comment or word of encouragement. They really seem to come at just the right time. I hope that I am giving you some inspiration even though I've not been the best blogger this year. You know life sometimes gets in the way & I am bad about feeling like what I have to share isn't as good as what others are blogging about and health/pain really can fuel that. So accept this BIG THANK YOU to each of you.

Wednesday - Thankful for old family photos especially those of my Grami...

they really have the power to transport you back to another time. Remembering those who may no longer be with us is bitter sweet (as the years go on more sweet than bitter) but all part of life. We can learn from the past. Looking at this photo of my friend Lori & I with my Grami really takes me back to a day of sight seeing in Baltimore and Washington DC during a visit a year after moving away.

I am reminded of how much I miss my grandmother and how much she meant to me. I was named after her & we were so close - sometimes it seemed we shared the same heart as she would know what was going on with me before she could pull it out of me. We liked the same things - she taught me everything that I think is good about me. She was an amazing cook - she had the smallest kitchen (couldn't even have the refrigerator in there) yet she managed to make such elaborate from scratch meals. She taught me to make bread, cavatelles, pitzells, nut rolls, cabbage rolls, spaghetti & meatballs, thanksgiving stuffing & so many other dishes (all of which I've tweaked a bit - she even said they were better & started making them that way). She loved "junking" & finding second hand treasures. So creative - at age 55 she started painting - storing her brushes in a cleaned Pringles can. Taught me it's never too late to do what you love & to follow your heart. Loved BINGO and would always go wherever it was played - Catholic church always had one going on. Love the beach and traveling. Taught me how to grow flowers & how much joy playing in the dirt could bring. She was a prayer warrior & close to the Lord. Was a letter writer - showered me with cards & notes that I treasure today. I love seeing her handwriting & often put it in layouts today. I could go on and on about her...she was so sweet, caring & gentle natured.

She lived with Alzheimers for many years before passing (such a horrible disease). Even with that she always had a smile for people & loved music. When I would see her I could catch a glimpse of her - like she would bubble to the top for just a moment then the disease took back over. I pray they find a cure for that very soon - as it really cruel & so hard for the family.

Thursday - Thankful for the sunshine
It is amazing how just standing out there in the sun can change your spirits. I can feel it in my bones. I love sitting out back in the garden with my breakfast watching the dogs rough house playing and running just soaking in the sun rays. My dream one day will be to live near the beach so I can walk in the sunshine each morning with my feet in the sand. That would be heaven on earth.

Friday - Thankful for Brave Girls Truths

I've been visiting the Brave Girls blog for a while now & wanting to go to one of their retreats. It always seems sold out & the women who attend seem transformed and so happy when they return. It reminded me of when my friends and I went to Bible camp when we were in jr. high. Melody & Kathy share truths each day on the blog and they really have the capacity to touch hearts. They are so honest and truly brave in sharing such personal things. Thanks to them for these posts that touch my heart. I'm saving to take the 6 week class in January - a gift to me in the new year. They are giving away 10 spots so head over to the blog & leave as many comments as you want.

Hope you have a fantastic weekend and are able to do something creative

Thankful for... the pain is better

2010-11-08T15:20:00.000-05:00

This weekend was a total loss. I had a severe migraine caused from nerves in my spine for over 2 days. Laying in bed with ice on my head/back& taking medicine to ease it enough & praying to just sleep it off. Since it comes from my back the typical medicines for migraines don't help much even though I get all the typical symptoms (aura, pain, nausea, light/sound sensitivity) but as of this morning I was feeling much better - I'm just not going to look up since it still seems a bit dicey and could flare up again at any moment. But when you go thru things like that it sure makes you thankful when that pain is eased/gone.

I'm thankful for... scrappy friends

2010-11-06T02:42:00.000-04:00

This is an obsessive hobby that invades every part of your life. We start to look at everything differently & non scrappers find us more than a bit strange. I only have a few IRL friends anymore so it was nice to find so many online. We encourage each other by giving a little "praise" on a layout, comment on a blog post, empathize with not having the right red cardstock (even when we have 20 different shades of red), oh and ah over the latest new "it" product or run out on a mad hunt when we hear about a great sale at Tuesday Morning or Big Lots. It really boosts me up. I've been doubly blessed to have gotten to meet some of my online friends in person at CHA & they are all so sweet.

I'm so thankful for... sleep number bed?

2010-11-05T14:43:00.000-04:00

(no that's not us lol I snagged from Select Comfort site)

This may seem trivial but I really am thankful to have a comfy bed to sleep in. I have a bad back & really struggled to sleep for several hours straight without being woke up in pain. The Sleep Number Bed really has been a blessing for me. I can not only adjust the support (independently customizable on each side) but I also can elevate my head/feet to get in just the right position. It was a bit expensive but after researching how long they last then the bed seemed comparable in price to a standard one. I'm so thankful for a good nights sleep because it sets the stage for a great day...

What are you thankful for today?

Thankful for such a great friend

2010-11-04T12:02:00.000-04:00

Friends are a blessing... but longtime friends who really know you are a double blessing. I am so thankful that I have one of those longtime friends.

I met Lori halfway through 4th grade when she moved and transferred to my elementary school. We were instant best friends & almost 38 years later (gasp - did I say that) she is still my BFF. 2 goof balls that were not in the popular crowd but we had each other (& as the years went on our small group of girlfriends) that helped make the daily trials of school life OK.

We'd spend hours on the phone calling each other the second we got up in the morning or as soon as I knew she had enough time to walk home from school. Our parents were understanding with a roll of the eyes. We felt at home in each others homes - I loved having dinner at her house since her mom was a great cook & always had dessert after dinner (I still think of her when eating pound cake & chocolate ice cream). She had the stay at home mom with the perfect house & my mom had started working & even before wasn't always the neatest place with the clutter of all of dad's antique "finds" at auctions or yard sales. We'd hang out in her basement which had the sweet smell of her dad's pipe tobacco - playing our records on an old "suitcase" style record player. She had a sofa bed down there & when I spent the night we'd crash down there for privacy. She loved coming to my house since we had all the new "stuff" - video games, component stereo system, yellow black & white tv in my room, dogs, hamsters, gerbils, fish (we are both critter lovers but her mom wouldn't let her have a dog - she had hermit crabs), & a phone in my room to get into trouble calling people.

Lori was amazing... she's the best potato peeler lol she had too help cook dinner each night but she taught me how to use a peeler - I just knew how to use a knife thanks to my Gram, organizer (with the cleanest uncluttered pretty purple room around), talented piano player (I took lessons but my grandfather's talent skipped a generation to Andrew), so tall, pretty with long blond hair (taking Barbizon modeling at the department store), music we loved (Elton John, Partridge Family & Jackson Browne were favorites - though we had so many) & her hippie style (which I still lean towards today).. We walked everywhere - going to Greetings & Readings several times a week (Hallmark/book store) for our magazines (Tiger Beat, 17, Cream), cards to send to my Grandparents in Pittsburgh, & special order books (like the Bernie Taupin - Elton John's songwriter - that we had to have - the photos were very racy I can't believe now we were allowed to buy it lol)... I babysat the little girl next door so I had :"lots" of spending money.

Now it's great having someone that knows you so well and that you can share ANYTHING with without fear of judgement has kept me sane. I don't have to worry about putting on airs for her or pretending - being real with her allows that honesty to actually heal the way life beats us down. We share so many of the same interests & laugh at the same goofy things.

Even though we don't live in the same state anymore thanks to unlimited long distance we can stay in touch making a "date" every other week to talk for hours about everything clicking around on Farmville while chatting (I give her tips how to do the new things, post things for her to snag right then, or make more money) & praying for each other. I always start my prayer with how thankful I am for this friendship. These talks are like therapy & I feel so much better afterwards. Lori is like family & I can't imagine life without her. Thanks for being my friend.

Thankful for my critters

2010-11-03T02:56:00.000-04:00

So much of my day is spent at home but I'm not alone thanks to our pets. We have both dogs & cats. They really enrich my life with their unconditional love & wanting to always be close by my side... Sometimes that can be a bit much when my "posse" of 2 dogs & 3 cats come into our small bathroom with me - talk about close quarters.

And the dogs remind me of when my boys were young when they start "rough housing" playing when I'm on the phone - doing their loud growly play tugging on a toy or a sock that Charley happened to not put in the hamper (when they are stretched out you would think he would learn... not my sloppy guy).

They were all rescued except for show cat DJ a.k.a. "pom pom kitty" (nick name came from his obsession with playing with pom poms from the craft store) pictured above - he's a ragdoll. The rescues we adopted seem so thankful for a loving home - sometimes I wonder what they have been thru when looking in their eyes.

I've always been a animal person & can't imagine how empty life would be without them in our home... sure I have to deal with "tumbleweeds" of fur causing me to run the vac more often & hairballs hacked up on the carpet (miss my old house with no carpet when I'm rubbing & scrubbing) but the love they give me makes up for it in so many ways.

Thankful for our freedom to vote.

2010-11-02T11:22:00.000-04:00

Today is election day & it brings to mind so many things about our country. We have so many liberties and freedoms yet so often we take them for granted. It's so sad to hear that we have such a low voter turn out compared to other countries.

I have many memories of my parents taking us to vote with them as a child standing in the booth & seeing democracy in action. I guess it was their example that I looked forward to registering to vote at the age of 18. I tried to pass that on to my boys taking them to the booth with me.

They looked forward to getting that little "I'm a Georgia voter" sticker with the Georgia peach logo on it. It may be silly but I wear mine all day too - not really for pride in myself but my country and maybe it's just as a silent reminder to others I might come across during the day...

We've had lively discussions leading up to election day about the issues - learning from each other's perspectives.. I hope you exercise your privileged to vote today. Look at it as a thank you to all those in the military who are out there serving the country & giving us that privilege.

Surprise Toot

2010-11-01T13:33:00.000-04:00

Don't fall out of your chairs I'm updating my blog AGAIN TODAY... no I'm not going to be one of those people who blog multi times a day - most times you're lucky if I share a couple times a week.... but I had to toot about this.

I was going thru the email attached to my blog & deleting things. I opened an email from Scrapbook Trends to read about the new Cricut Magazine when what do I see huge staring at me but my sister dressed as a bee - they put my layout that was in the October issue in the spotlight of their email! It sure brought a smile to my face.

BUZZ-WORTHY HALLOWEEN LAYOUT

find more great ideas in Scrapbook Trends Magazine »

BOO NOT BUZZ by Suz Gray Patterned paper, rub ons (dotted line, stamp): Pink Paislee; Stickpin: Maya Road; Ribbon: Making Memories (thick), May Arts (thin); Thread: Coats & Clark; String: Craft supply; Letter stickers: American Crafts (foam), Jenni Bowlin Studio (round); Pearl flourishes: Prima; Bingo card: Jenni Bowlin Studio; Pen: American Crafts; Scalloped circle punch: Martha Stewart Crafts.

thanks for letting me share - have a great day

Journaling Challenges

2010-11-01T12:13:00.000-04:00

Thanksgiving and the holidays are fast approaching and it's easy to get caught up in all the "hoopla" that goes along with it, I'm usually guilty of not taking time to appreciate the everyday & take time for myself, I stumbled on 2 daily challenges that I was interested in focusing on.

The first one Scarlet Namvong challenged us to focus on the things we are thankful for this month. When I take the time to look at what I am thankful for no matter how bad things get I seem to feel differently about things because I can clearly see how trivial the bad is & the good far outweighs the bad.

I like how Scarlet leaves it open how elaborate each person wants to get with the challenge. I will be making an altered book journal for mine so it will be something I can encourage myself with if I get down.

Here's what Scarlet wrote on her blog about joining in.

how you can participate :: 

write a sentence, tell a story, take a photo...

blog it, tweet it, facebook it, journal it, scrapbook it...
share your gratitude daily or summarize it weekly...

The second challenge is...

Rhonna Farrer is hosting a 21 day challenge coaching us to make or break a habit. She is an absolute delight and full of energy. I'm looking forward to reading her blog posts & watching the Wednesday live show for inspiration to achieve this. Focusing on a specific thing makes it do-able. Here's the details from her blog...

1. Choose 1 habit you want to make or break in the 21 days.

*we'll end on Thanksgiving Day here in the U.S.*

2. Choose an art journal of some kind. old book, notebook, scrapbook, sketch book...something!

OR you can make the little book out of the NEW House of 3 21 Challenge kit. There's a tiny book that you can make 5x 2.5. I love it. I've found that sometimes you don't have the time to do a full blown art journal, but you do need 5 min. of creative time....a small canvas is much more do-able at times. But, you may choose to have a larger book..whatever inspires you!

3. Meet back here on Friday, November 5th for your daily motivational coaching! I'll have art from the kit plus quotes, motivation & a kick in the can for you! *and me*. LOL.

*note: this week's Wednesday Web Show will be an intro to The {21} Challenge. I'll share some of my past journals with you, my experiences & my tips for your successful 21 day journey!

Scrappers Give Back

2010-11-01T11:42:00.000-04:00

I stumbled upon a post one day when I was lost in blog land (you know when you start clicking on links and favorites from one blog to another) about creating mini book pages for kids in the hospital. I knew that was something I wanted to participate in.

The 2nd annual Scrappers Give Thanks project has a goal of assembling 2000 participant-created 4×6 pages into 100 ten page (double-sided) mini albums to be delivered to 10 children’s hospitals across the country. Submitted pages should be scrapbook-style mini artworks containing positive words, happy images, jokes etc. and may be in digital or tangible formats.

Specifications

The Scrappers Give Thanks mini albums will be assembled with 4×6 page protectors and o-rings. To ensure a consistent look and feel, participants must adhere to the following specifications:

Single-sided 4×6 pages
Vertical orientation only (4″ wide by 6″ tall)
Include age-appropriate positive messages and/or images
No glitter, embellishments greater than 1/4″ thick or copyrighted images

I think this will be a blessing to the kids & brighten their day in a little way. I hope you join & help us reach the goal of 2000 pages.

Paperclipping September Challenge Winner

2010-10-25T23:27:00.000-04:00

I wanted to congratulate the winner of the Paperclipping Challenge last month... Angie Ladeau & share her beautiful serene nature layout she created for our challenge.

This is what Angie had so say about her layout:

I am experimenting with layouts that have less “stuff” on them and more photos and words. I love the idea of a big photo used as a background to draw the viewer immediately into the action of this story. It seems to say, “Let’s go explore!” As we entered the field that evening the sun was just starting to set and the light was waning fast. I loved the texture of the mushrooms and saw my daughter walking out of the frame as I crouched down to capture its remarkable texture. Again, the photo says, “Hey, wait for me!”
My second goal with this layout was to make it look like I printed the photos on canvas, then laid it out on some cardstock, added the butterfly and took a picture of it. I played a lot with the placement of objects and the painting on the edges of the background photo to create a frame. Although I was trying to keep it simple, I couldn’t help but try to see how a visual triangle would fit in. As I added the finishing touches to the title I realized that the buttons, the butterfly, and the scripted text in the title create a visual triangle, directing the viewer into the story. I just love this design stuff!!
{Melissa Bennett buttons and background papers from “Autumn Memories” (TDF21; thedailydigi.com)}

What the judges had to say:

Our goal is to identify the layouts that do a great job telling the story. Angie accomplished that with this page. The haziness she gave her photo adds to the almost surreal beauty. Light from the sunset burns through the haze to catch your attention. It emphasize the horizon and places you immediately into the narrative. The child at the front of the background (main) photo adds to the feeling that you’re included in this experience. A part of it. Both she and the diagonal horizon line give a sense of movement to the page and photo.

We love that she chose to journal directly onto the photo so that she could use it as the backdrop of the entire page, enveloping you in her story. The handwritten font lends to a personal feel — that this photo isn’t just a mystery photographer’s nice shot; this was Angie’s personal experience. The title is subtle, so it doesn’t distract from the beauty of the picture.

And Angie was right. There is no need for a third yellow accent to create a visual triangle. She had already created a triangular shape with her title and the other elements. Her restraint keeps the focus on the best story-telling element of this layout — the photo.

Find Angie Ladeau

You can find her in our community, The Crop Circle. She also has a blog.

It's Monday... Already

2010-10-25T23:14:00.000-04:00

The weekends sure aren't long enough. It was beautiful weather this weekend (a tad hot but I'm not complaining... much - I'm just ready for some cooler fall weather it shouldn't be in the mid 80's). We got some much needed rain today & looks like it will continue for a couple days.

In honor of halloween coming up I thought I would share a layout (which I thought I already posted here but I guess it was just in the Paperclipping forum for the monthly challenge. If you haven't already submitted your page you've got until midnight pacific time on the 31st. Click here for all the details - all are welcome.

This is my son (on left he looks a bit too good as a girl scary lol) and his friend. At 21 he still loves to dress up each halloween.

Enabling...

2010-10-17T18:47:00.000-04:00

I thought I would share a few things I'm loving right now...

I used my survey taking rewards last week to purchase SCAL for my Cricut Expression. I have to say I can't believe I waited this long to jump on this bandwagon.... The program is really easy to use yet can do so much. There are a lot of free svg files out there and it gives me so many more images without buying cartridges all the time. It's on sale for $59 right now

Another thing that I resisted buying for a long time was an ATG gun. With arthritis in my hands I didn't think I would like how big it was. I HAVE LITERALLY TRIED ALL THE SMALL RUNNERS AVAILABLE. When I could no longer get my Kokuyo dot rollers I was on a search for an adhesive I really liked & with all the layouts/cards I make it had to be affordable too. I do like the American Crafts runner but at $5 it can get a bit pricey & I don't know if it will longterm last on my projects. So when Michaels started carrying the pink breast cancer model that with a coupon was less than $17 with adhesive I couldn't resist trying it. I have to say the weight and size don't bother me since it's so easy to pull the trigger & apply. This model only uses the quarter inch tape which is what I like anyway. I am a believer & an ATG girl now..

Speaking of adhesive my favorite liquid adhesive right now is Crafter's Pick The Ultimate. It's a very versatile glue & dries fast, strong, and clear. I am using it all the time on my mini albums. It even holds metal securely so I don't have to get out the Glossy Accents/Diamond Glaze and dries clearer/less shiny than those making it more invisible. A little goes a long way.

Pink Paislee products are always a favorite of mine... I love all 4 of the lines they released recently. Parisian Anthology designed by the House of 3 is so elegant & innovative. I love the subtle resist print that makes it perfect for inking and spritzing. These tickets are so versatile & affordable.

Unity Stamp Company has a new website. They have been growing by leaps & bounds and no have a website that can keep up with them. It's absolutely fantastic. I love that I can create a wish list & everything is so easy to find now. You all know how much I love my Kit of the Month...

Another paper line that I have been using up every last scrap of is Crate's Restoration. I love the colors & texture.

Helmar Adhesive is hosting a great blog hop this weekend filled with loads of inspiration. Start on there blog here.

Hope you had a relaxing weekend.

TGIF

2010-10-15T11:03:00.000-04:00

This has been a week... thank goodness it's finally Friday.

I've been really busy moving stuff around in the house... the moving of the scrap room has turned into moving a bunch of rooms around. I used to always move furniture around myself when the boys were young. The running joke in our house was that when my hubby was out of town for work he would tread lightly as he entered the house since he never knew if I had moved something into his path (yes it was from experience where he almost broke a toe on an ottoman as I created a "conversation area"). These days I can't move the big stuff without help but that's what I have grown sons for right lol. The trouble with that is that I have to wait on "their time" instead of when I get that moving around hair up my you know what.

I thought I would share a layout using some cute My Mind's Eye goodies.

This is an 8x8 layout. I love Debbie Tehrani's style & she always does that size.

I'm having an Ippity Stamp Sale click the tab above or here.

Hope you have a fantastic weekend - it's getting cooler here again so I can't wait to do something outdoor in the faller air.

Inspiration

2010-10-06T23:14:00.000-04:00

I'm loving so many of the lines that have been recently released. Yep I am so one of those people who is inspired by products almost as much as I am the photos and stories I want to scrap.

I thought I would share a page that I made recently - my friend Lori & her cat Koko using some Basic Grey

Thanks for visiting.

Winner

2010-10-05T11:08:00.003-04:00

The winner of the weekend giveaway is

True Random Number GeneratorMin: Max: Result:1Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Robin said...

Happy World Cardmaking Day!
I just returned home from getting together with a few friends to make some cards! My favorite card was when someone showed us how to use used dryer sheets on your cards .. way cute!
I've seen a couple of the giveaways that you mentioned, nothing else yet .. but I plan to keep looking!

October 2, 2010 3:40 PM

Congrats Robin - email me your snail mail address to sgray110 at gmail dot com

========================================================

Thanks to everyone who left a comment & visited.

Hope you are having beautiful weather in your area. Here in Georgia fall is the best time of the year. Except for the ragweed (which is really bad this year( & yellow jackets (the bug not the college team - so don't get your panties in a wad those of you who love GA Tech - the bugs seem to know they aren't long for the world & want to take anyone down with them who gets in their paths) it would be perfect... but you can't have everything. We get cool nights and days in the 60's or 70's which after tis super hot summer is so welcome. I love to watch the dogs first thing in the morning go out and that chill in air causes them to tuck the tail & just be a bit more frisky running around the yard.

It's also the time for festivals. Every weekend there is something fun to do close by the house. We went to the Lawrenceville Rockin' Rib Festival on Saturday. It was the first time we attended this one but thought it was worth checking out since there was live music, good food, & very close to the house. Charley rushed me and I forgot the camera so thank goodness for the iphone.

The music was a Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young cover band & they were very good.

I love that the old town of Lawrenceville has live music on the lawns outside the old courthouse.

While enjoying the mellow music out of the corner of our eye we both saw at the same time this crazy guy who was dancing like a maniac.

We were dying laughing. Come to find out he was recording HIMSELF....

Here are some You Tube links of him dancing to some of the other bands later in the day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa9Et_5vbLI

Looks like he even got on the stage with this band

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeStTa6YxYo

We were pleasantly surprised you could buy beer (if you stayed on 2 of the 4 blocked off streets surrounding the courthouse square?)

$4 a little cup was a bit high but that didn't stop you know who

I seemed to have the kiss of death for every line I stood in....

First Rita's to get an italian ice... they were out of everything after a 10 minute wait

Then how about a funnel cake.... waited another 10 minutes only to get within 2 people of front of the line and something happened to their power....

So we walked around a bit & saw Hawaiian ice & I stood in line yet again...

20 minutes later I got this

Finally! A delicious & refreshing cherry delight...

I think I enjoyed it even more because I finally got something to eat.

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Well that's all for today... have a great day.

Happy World Card Making Day & a Giveaway!

2010-10-02T13:35:00.002-04:00

So what are you up to today? It's a beautiful Saturday here with lots of festivals going on. I have 2 bags full of mini album kits that need to go to the LSS for sale & I'm not able to drive (dang medicine)... so sweet talking hubby to come along for a "puttsing" day where we don't get much accomplished by enjoy ourselves.

Happy World Card Making Day! There's lots going on the web today in honor of this event.

Unity Stamps is giving away their Kit of the Month for a YEAR.

Moxie is giving away a boat load of Hero Arts stamps to 2 lucky winners... I'm going to be one (positive thinking) so which one of you will be the second : ).

Hero Arts has some goodies for those who accept the challenge.

Papercrafts has a huge grand prize - enter by sending in a card.

Operation Write Home (organization that sends cards to our deployed service members) has Kimber McGray's (one of THE sweetest people in the world) book to a lucky winner.

Studio Calico has lots of their goodies to a few lucky winners.

Jennifer McGuire has Tim Holtz Sizzix dies (love those edges)

That's all I've found so far...

I wanted to offer a giveaway too. Open to international readers too - I couldn't exclude since it's "WORLD" card making day

I've misplaced my camera cord (yes again) so no photo of the prize so I'm finding pictures online (overcoming obstacles)

Includes: 4 Retired Quickutz Halloween dies (they work in any die cutting machine),

(couldn't find the 4th online but it's a cute one)

card makers 6x6 paper assortment,

Ippity Stamp A Bit of Burlap,

and some surprise goodies *trust me they are good goodies*.

Enter by midnight est Monday, October 4th, 2010

Leave me a comment telling me what you're doing today & if you've found any WCMD giveaways I haven't listed do share....

Do you love those little gems that we all use to decorate your pages & cards? I always run out or don't have the right color... my friend Lesley did a video on how to create your own gems so we never have that problem again.... check it out here.

Also I posted the Paperclipping Monthly Challenge yesterday. I hope you join us here.

Same photo two different layouts....

2010-09-30T12:57:00.000-04:00

I just can't believe it's almost October & *gasp* the holidays are right around the corner.....

A friend sent me a picture message of a Halloween layout that is in the October Scrapbook Trends. (sorry poor quality I'll have to get another when I see her magazine). I'll get my copy when they return my layout. It's one of the best scrapping magazines out there - such beautiful big photos of all the projects let you really see all the details.

But I used the same photo of my sister for a EMI Scrapbooking LSS design team layout recently.... I love the whimsy of My Mind's Eye Boo To You & it fit this photo of Karen even though she is an adult when Halloween comes she is a child at heart.

I'm busy today making mini album kits for sale & designing a new one. I love creative days when I make a mess with my supplies and have so much fun.

Today is the last day to enter your work in the Paperclipping Monthly Challenge. The winner is in the spotlight on 3 websites (internationally read Paperclipping, Lesley a.k.a Hungry Heffy, & here on my blog). I was a past winner before becoming a judge & boy did it increase the traffic on my blog so if that is your goal it's a great prize. We don't offer tangible prizes due to international limits and laws but I know I just like a bit of love & an acknowledgement. Go here to enter you work. I'm working on the topics for October as we speak.

Enabling alert... Unity Stamp Co is having a great last big sale & freebies with orders today in honor of moving to a bigger and better website in the coming weeks. Go give the current website a workout lol... you will not want to miss these scrapbook sets. Also chat it up at the SCS message board thread here & maybe win some great stamps & do the blog hop for inspiration/prizes it starts here... I'm hoping my homeschool books sell on ebay so I can buy some....

Have a great day & thanks for visiting/reading

Hugs, Suz

What's with Blogger or is it my computer?

2010-09-16T13:35:00.000-04:00

Blogger has been giving me grief the last 2 days trying to post... is it just me? I did see another friend say on Facebook she was having trouble too... anyway here I try again

I went to my LSS yesterday to drop off my mini kits for sale & to help with some make and takes for Scrap Pink on Saturday. One of my medicines was not making me the sharpest tack on the block & my hubby kept calling & bothering me with nonsense (doesn't he know that I'm in my shan-gri- la when I'm up at EMI? Well I had the kiss of death with tools yesterday... first I jammed up a circle punch (not my fault). Then I was using a long full alpha quickutz die in a Big Shot (I'm a Cuttlebug gal so not used to that tool) & dummy me while messing with all the "pages" to sandwich in forgot to put an extra cover plate on top... yep you guessed it I warped the die big time! I was so embarrassed & was full expecting Susan to kick me out right then and there - those things are so pricey so I tried to bend it back as best I could....

While I was there Basic Grey Wander came in. It is just fabulous! I love this line so much. See the slideshow here. I never do it but I bought the entire paper pack. You should see the doily paper.

I love them when they are an entire sheet of loveliness but this one his even better with so many different strips of lacy color. It's a must buy multi for my stash for sure.

Well off to do Unity Hip Hop & hang out a bit in the Unity forum for chatting & maybe winning some new rubbery goodies.....

Have a great day

Winner & More

2010-09-13T14:05:00.000-04:00

First off without delay.... The winner of the Ippity stamps is #22

patty w said...

You do lovely work ! Love the sisters page alot !
Just now getting here, it kept saying service unavailable earlier !
signing up to follow ..
patty 2832

Well Patty I guess it was lucky that the service was unavailable earlier since it made you the winner lol. Send me your snail mail address at sgray110 at gmail dot com & I'll get your stamps out right away.

Thanks so much to EVERYONE who left such sweet comments over the weekend. It sure was a great hop with so much inspiration that I'm dying to get to my table and start creating. I really enjoyed visiting all of your blogs - Fiskateers rock creativity.

Next I thought I would share some things I'm excited about in the scrappy world....

If you haven't already I hope you will join us for the Paperclipping.com Monthly Challenge. Winner will be spotlighted in the internationally read newsletter that Noell publishes. See all details in the community forum here.

I love all things Teresa Collins - she is one of the sweetest people in the world. She is going to be interviewed on Sudie TV tonight. If you don't know Sudie she is a Fiskateer who has a weekly live web scrapbooking show. See details here & tune in at 9:30 pm eastern time to hear what's going on with Teresa.

Who doesn't love Prima.... I saw a post about a Prima Idea Book & had to share. They are having a giveaway on their blog for a copy. Check it out here.

And finally I wanted to a sneak peak of the School Time mini album I designed & kits will be sold at EMI Scrapbooking in Cumming GA or order & will be shipped to you. Crate Paper knocked it out of the park with all their lines that are available. I loved this School Spirit line. Thanks Susan for the opportunity to create for you. I love your store, you are such a great friend & have a wonderful family. (sorry gushing but it's true)

That's it for today... thanks for stopping by & remember do something creative.

Fiskateers Orange Blog Hop

2010-09-10T01:17:00.003-04:00

Welcome to our weekend blog hop. If you've come to my blog from Fiskateer Marianne then have been hopping along with us. But I'm sure you will like to start from the beginning so head on over to the Fiskateers blog. Take your time thru the weekend & visit all the blogs. There are some amazing projects showcased on them. I'm sure you will be bookmarking or following many blogs along the hop to come back again and again. Thanks to Debby Lewis for organizing the hop. So have you been inspired so far. There are so many creative gals in the Fiskateers group. I've met so many great people in the Fiskateers group.

For those of you who don't know me... My name is Suz Gray & I'm known on the web as "craftysuz". I got that name at age 8 because I would ask for craft kits from the Sears Catalog at Christmas & was always making something. I'm Fiskateer number 6135. I'm a longtime scrapbooker. I have many albums created before there was an industry. I love anything paper and have enjoyed evolving; developing my style. I also love to make cards & enjoy sending some of them to Operation Write Home which is an organization that supplies blank handmade cards to our deployed military. Making cards has caused me to have a "stamp addiction". To fund my "habit" I sell {ippity} by Unity Stamps here. All of them are on sale with free shipping.

Sorry for the quality of the photos my so took my DSLR to work so I was stuck with the little old point & shoot at the my LSS & I wasn't used to the lighting there so there are some shadows.

This is new Fancy Pants Lilac House. I use my micro point Fiskars scissors to fussy cut images from paper & of course my Fiskars Trimmer.. I'm always using the decorative border punches (I can't believe I didn't use them on any of these pages lol).

No girly layout is complete without some Prima Flowers.

I like stamping on inexpensive canvas from the fabric store.

Echo Park Paper is a new scrapbook company that is stirring up quite the buzz right now. Here's a page about my best friend Lori & her kitty using their products.

I love the bright colors & banner

The last page I would like to share is a heritage page using an old photo of my grandmother. She loved fashion. The new My Mind's Eye is just gorgeous & oh so elegant. It was perfect for this page.

The flower was made with vintage 1920's hand dyed silk ribbon that I've been saving for just the right story to tell. It's a perfect match for the MME papers..

**** Woops I forgot to post my giveaway when I was working on this at 1 AM lol... leave a comment & I'll use random number generator to pick a winner. Prize is Ippity stamp set A Little Buggy MSRP $18. Comments posted prior to 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, September 12th will be in the drawing. Follow me & leave another comment for an extra chance.. All comments made before 11 am will auto get 2 entries since I lost my mind and didn't have this posted lol

Well I've kept you long enough. I hope you will come back & visit again. Now off you go to Jennifer Priest's blog. She has some beautiful inspiration for you.

Thanks so much for hopping along with us. Have a wonderful weekend & remember to do something creative....

EMI Scrapbooking Grand Opening Saturday

2010-08-13T17:19:00.000-04:00

I'm so happy to share with you the grand reopening of my favorite LSS is tomorrow. If you are in the Atlanta area come to EMI Scrapbooking in Cumming GA for shopping, cropping & a day of fun. Yesterday all the new releases from My Mind's Eye came in (all 8 heavy boxes) - they outdid themselves with the embellishments this time. (you've got to read about the UPS fiasco yesterday on the store blog here complete with photos lol... but we got the boxes and everything loaded on the shelves last night)

Echo Park Sweet Summertime & Life is Good are in stock.

Bella Blvd is shipped & on the way.

Teresa Collins, Cosmo Cricket & Fancy Pants will ship any day

So many other companies will be coming in within the next month or so .... Crate, Lily Bee, Pink Paislee, Girls Paperie, Jillibean Soup, Studio Calico, Prima, Tim Holtz, Bo Bunny, Webster's Pages, G45, and more.

Summer CHA really had so many great product line releases & Susan is a pro at ordering everything to keep us happy.

There's a fantastic sandwich shop across the street from the store named Deckers that I will be eating at each time I'm up that way. The new owner was super friendly & shared how they only use fresh ingredients. The chicken & rice soup & chocolate chip cookie I had was just fantastic (just like home made) and excellent sweet tea.

July's Paperclipping Monthly Challenge Winner Spotlight

2010-08-13T16:55:00.000-04:00

We are getting so many great entries for the Paperclipping Monthly Challenges. Thanks everyone for supporting us & getting involved again.

For July we had over 30 entries & so many great ones (check them out here)... this page just made me say WOW and litterally stop and stare. Congratulations to Jamie Leija who submitted this page we chose to highlight this month! She submitted a response to challenge topic #1: Altered Backgrounds

So many things to love abuot this page... color, misting, all that journaling scattered around... not to mention how creative the cut up photo design is.

Here is Jamie's creative thought process

Jamie’s Explanation:

I was very inspired by the colors of the photo, the yellow in my sweater, the blue in my mama’s shirt and that so bright green in the plant behind us. I have these favorite masks that I use over and over again, but the thing is, they aren’t actually masks. Prima makes these great felt stems, that are beautiful in their own right, but just screamed mask to me the moment I saw them. I arranged them on my background paper and hit them with green, yellow and blue Maya Mist and outlined a few of the edges to give them dimension. The title of this layout is actually from a song lyric of Taylor Swift’s. I’d already decided to use that photo of me and Mama when I realized that this song would be a great way to journal about us, this day and our propensity for giggling.

Journaling reads: “We were in Rome, touring the Papal Residence, soaking up the gorgeous Italian sun, and were just taking a break from all the walking we’d been doing. I have no idea why we were laughing. Who knows with the two of us! We’re always giggling about something or other, which is why this is my favorite photo of the two of us. What a wonderful day to remember and what equally wonderful memories of so many seemingly small moments with my Mama.”

“I love you for giving me your [Asian] eyes. For staying back and watching me shine. I didn’t know if you knew. So I’m taking this chance to say…that I had the best day, with you, today.“

What the judges had to say:

It was the colors that first grabbed our attention — bright and bold, more heavily sprayed toward the bottom of the page, emphasizing the colors Jamie loves in her picture. On a closer look, here is what we found…

•Repetition, Continuity, Contrast
The grid design is unexpected on such a playfully themed layout, but it works well and is balanced by the plants and mists used for the altered background. We like that there is continuity in the repeating grid pattern, from the two different pieces of patterned paper, to the grid of patterned papers plus the photo itself. While it seems scary to cut that picture like that, the faces fit nicely into their own squares and she actually highlighted them this way.

She chose a good mix of patterns to group together: organics, geometrics, solids (or almost solid), loose patterns and tight patterns.

•Sections, Lines, Titles
A great element on the page is the zig-zag strip of paper that not only anchors the grid but also creates a line at the third mark and a separate space for the title. And the title — the title work is fabulous with its mix of size and colors.

•Balance
Jamie has balance around the entire page: a visual triangle of black text (three spots) and a visual triangle of butterflies that add dimension. She also balanced an artsy organic look (splashes of color mist with plant-like masks) with a bit of linear design (the grids and title-work).

•VIsual Mood-Expression
Overall it creates a happy, carefree feel balanced with stability. We think that’s pretty great visual story-telling, considering the story she revealed through her journaling.

Find Jamie Leiha

You can find her in the Paperclipping community, The Crop Circle. She also has a blog.

Join us for the August Challenges here for your chance to be in the spotlight on the Paperclipping website, Lesley's blog & her on my blog.

August Monthly Challenge

Want to join in on a challenge? Every month we issue a challenge based on recent tutorials and discussions. Anyone can participate. We choose one layout from the submissions to highlight here! Give it a try! Here is the August forum thread to join in.

Unity Friends with Flair

2010-08-06T10:26:00.002-04:00

It's been a while since I participated in a FWF hop as a stop. I love to hop because I am always so inspired by others but lately I've been a bit post challenged.

Here is a card I made with Samantha Walker's Encompassed Grace Unity Stamps. These were on my wish list since I knew they would be perfect for the shabby chic cards I love to make for sale but I was on the fence about if I would really get the stamping milage of using them on layouts since I do have only guys in the family. Since winning them on a Hip Hop Thursday they have been one of the most inked stamps (second only to Donna Downey by Unity - swoon). So add this set to your must haves and tell your LSS to carry these because you can't purchase them direct from Unity.

Thanks for stopping by & I'm sure you want to do the hop from the beginning at the Unity Blog. There you will find an entire list of participants & remember one of the blogs will have a special avatar & that blog will be giving away 50 Unity Stamps to a lucky commenter so get hopping.

I am having a big sale on all my in stock Ippity stamps see the tab above or click here.... as always I offer free USA/APO shipping & discount international to reflect the free amount.

A quote since Angela & the Unity gals are all about quotes (love the stamps that incorporate them)...

Only your real friends will tell you when your face is dirty. ~Sicilian Proverb (a favorite of my grandma)

Have a great day & do something creative.

CHA here I come

2010-07-25T10:28:00.000-04:00

I had resolved myself to not going to summer CHA this time and had loaded my phone with reminders for all the online Prima classes next week and 2peas to still feel a part of things.....

I got a call from my LSS owner YESTERDAY asking me if I would like to go along since someone cancelled. A few minutes of begging and pleading with hubby and I'm going to Chicago! I'm beyond excited since it's so unexpected. I even get to take the sold out Teresa Collins/Paperlife class & see the new stamp machine in action and her new product lines before CHA.

Can't wait to see all my online friends, beautiful samples, and all the new products... but most of hanging out on a road trip with the EMI gals. They are so fun.

I'll have lots to post on the blog now. Well I am out the door....

IPPITY STAMP Sale

2010-07-21T09:56:00.000-04:00

All my in stock Ippity Stamps are on sale now to clear out what is left & make room for the to die for new releases next month. Click here to shop now... remember I ship free to USA/APO & give allowance for international shipping.

I've been so neglecting my poor blog... I'm so sorry. Our house is still a construction zone with the master bath and sunroom slowly being remodeled. Chaos just seems to suck the creativity out of me... I like organization and everything being just so. To top it off the pages/mini books I've been working on are all about my sons... and you all know that gives them "power of veto" when they don't want current things shared about them... oh how I miss having little ones with no say so lol. I've also been trying to submit to CK and other card magazines which means no sharing that project online prior - why aren't they easy like the Trends? So if they don't get picked up I'll have quite a few to share with you.

Also my sister is finally home from the hospital - wow almost a month was unbelievable. She's recovering at our parents house. Thanks so much everyone who sent her hand made cards - y'all are awesome and I can't tell you how much it encouraged her. Thank you thank you thank you!

Well gotta run I promise to post something tomorrow

Card Frenzy for Everything Scrapp'n'

2010-07-13T23:16:00.000-04:00

Well I guess you've heard the news that Everything Scrapp'n' is going out of business. Heather needs to focus on family & can't give the business the attention it needs. So everything is on sale right now - head on over for the best selections as there is still lots of the latest/greatest new products left.

I have been making lots of cards lately so that is what I will be sharing with you....
Note not all of the supplies are in stock at ES anymore.

My sister has been in the hospital for almost 3 weeks so she has been getting quite a few of these cards.

She wanted a funny card & I've been crazy about turquoise/green/orange color combo lately...

Distressed Inks are a favorite supply since you can do so much with them....

They make it so easy to get the antiqued look to plain inexpensive white cardstock

I always here scrapbookers say that they can't make cards because they don't have stamps... well using the tag paper from Pink Paislee you can easily make a quick card without any stamps.

I'm totally obsessed with these paper "yo-yo's" right now. They are super easy to make by according folding a strip of paper then gluing down to a circle. I love the subtle stripe by Echo Park in the Sweet Summertime line. It matched well with the Pink Paislee line.

More Echo Park Sweet Summertime... It's such a fun line.

I cut out the strip of circles which reminded me of the gum balls in the stamp.

More paper "yo-yo's" I hesitated to post this one since it's a bit of disaster....

I cut out circles from the Echo Park patterned paper & covered them with Diamond Glaze. Being the impatient gal that I am they were dry to the touch but when I turned them over to add adhesive the glazing cracked so I'll be making them again (that's why they aren't adhered down) and how in the world did I stamp the sentiment wonky when I was using the Stamp-a-ma-jig? Leave it to me....

I know it isn't Valentines Day but these paper doilies were hanging above my desk calling to me to do something with them. They came from the Dollar Tree so I figured I could play around with them without feeling wasteful..... I think it would be a great anniversary card.

I just used liquid glue and adhered it to red cardstock then cut out around the edges & trimmed the extra part of doily in the card crease which I added a ribbon to disguise.

I cut the center part of the doily out of a second heart & adhered it to white cardstock then stamped my images & sentiment and inked edges. I attached it to the card with pop dot adhesive.

Another super simple card with a doily on it.

The more I look at it the more I think it needs a sentiment on the front doesn't it?

Thanks so much for visiting today. Don't forget to check out the going out of business sale at Everything Scrapp'n'. I know there is still lots of good supplies still in stock so get to shopping by clicking here.

Everything Scrapp'n' Monthly Challenge & Design Team work

2010-06-28T00:34:00.001-04:00

It's challenge day at Everything Scrapp'n'... I hope you will join us for a fun challenge with a super duper prize (Pink Paislee - Starlight paper & Tattered Angels Marshmallow Glimmer Mist.

Click here for all the details.

Here is my layout for the challenge (which is to use Red, White & Blue in a non 4th of July way).

I love anything Pink Paislee & have had a lot of fun working with the Starlight line. It's great for layouts about my guys - so I'll be going back for more since good masculine lines are hard to come by.

I made my own distressed letters inspired by the Pink Paislee ones that were the wrong color for this page.

The sticker sheet for this line is filled with borders, journaling spots & embellishments. They add a touch of shimmer to them but not too much that it distracts in any way for those who aren't glitterers

Supplies: Paper (Pink Paislee - Starlight Bright, Pink Paislee - Starlight Dazzle, Pink Paislee - Starlight Glow, Pink Paislee - Starlight Shine, Pink Paislee - Starlight Spark); Stickers (Pink Paislee - Starlight Sticker Embellishments); Punches (Stampin' Up, McGill, & Marvy); Diecut Letters (Making Memories Slice); Spinner & Brad (Tim Holtz); Ribbon (Offray); Clip (Paper Studio); Thread (Coats & Clarks); Twine (Making Memories); Stickles (Ranger - Antique Linen Distressed); Buttons (stash); Alpha Stickers (Cosmo Cricket - Tiny Alpha Cream); Adhesive (Diamond Glaze, Tombow & Glue Arts)

I love ledger paper for my backgrounds, journaling, ANYWHERE goes. This is a great one to add several pieces to my stash.

Pink Paislee - Starlight Shine

I also made a couple cards.

The first is made from scraps of the layout above. I just love that subtle flourish on the background paper.

Supplies: Cardstock (Paper Resources); Paper (Pink Paislee - Starlight Bright , Pink Paislee - Starlight - Glow, Pink Paislee - Starlight Shine, & Pink Paislee - Starlight Spark); Ribbon (Offray); Punch (Stampin' Up); Diecut (Making Memories Slice); Brads (Heidi Swapp); Stamp (Ippity Stamps - Fall for You & Unity Stamp KOTM); Markers (Copic); Ink (Hybrid)

My second card mixes October Afternoon (another one of those companies that makes my heart sing) with the Pink Paislee & some Webster's Pages scraps... I should have named this post scrapping with my favorite companies lol

I've been wearing out the Tim Holtz Bird & Cage Die by Sizzix lately.

Supplies: Cardstock (Bazzill); Paper (October Afternoon - Thrift Shop Good Junk, October Afternoon - Thrift Shop Collectors Item, Pink Paislee - Office Lingo & Webster's Pages); Die Cut (Sizzix - Tim Holtz); Stamps (Unity Stamp KOTM & My Sentiments Exactly); Ink (Ranger - Tim Holtz Distress Ink Broken China & Tattered Rose & Hybrid); Ribbon (Vintage hand dyed stash);

This is the paper with the music on the back. For my card I used about an 8th of the sheet - there are many different songs. It's a must have for your stash so stock up.

October Afternoon - Thrift Shop Good Junk

Well hope you have a fantastic day & make sure you enter to win those great prizes at the ES blog.

Paperclipping Festival

2010-06-18T12:26:00.000-04:00

If you've been reading my blog for more than a week then you know I love Paperclipping (*no eye rolling please lol*) so I will not bore you with my bragging on Noell... too much.

Being a member has really helped me to refine my style & understand why a page "works". The tips & techniques aren't limiting by saying do this or that but just general principles & tips that can be applied to any project. I feel like I have been thru design bootcamp after watching all the episodes. The most miraculous thing happened... I credit Paperclipping with speeding up a slow poke scrapper since I now have confidence in my design element choices I no longer agonize over them & even enjoy the process more. No I'm still not a speed demon but I can have an idea in my mind & not pull out tons of product to audition it. I even look at my supplies in a different way since I know I can change them up with paint, ink, or even how little/much I use them in a project. Since becoming a member my creativity has been sparked like never before. With so many LSS closing down & we just don't have the opportunity to take classes like we did in the past Paperclipping is really filling the void for so many of us by educating us & creating a community of scrapbookers.

As far as deign I could credit half a dozen episodes for this page (Designing with Lines, Hand Made Embellishments, Flexible Template, Visual Triangle, etc) but I want to highlight some videos you might not think of at Paperclipping. For this particular layout I also used the techniques learned in the episode about Working with Levels in Photoshop & Fix Bad Photo Lighting to salvage not so good photos & make them shine.

While at CHA summer last year the day we left I was able to go to the Disney animal park. I had never been there & love zoos so I knew I would like this. The safari ride goes by pretty fast so it was look to the left... look to the right & the heads of the people sitting near you were in the way so I held up my camera & clicked not knowing what I would get. I was in the shade of the tram & it was a super sunny day so the lighting on my photos were horrible. I didn't know a lot about Photoshop other than auto fix which just wasn't cutting it so these photos went unprinted. After watching the videos I was able to play around with the levels, lighting & shadows to make them photos worthy of being printed & scrapped.

Don't you love that camera stamp by Unity Stamp Co... retro fun

The lighting on this photo isn't as good but I know some of you like to read journaling & it was a cloudy day so I had to flash.

Design Team work for Everything Scrapp'n' online Scrapbook Store

Supplies: Cardstock (Bazzill); Paper (Pink Paislee - Starlight Glow, Pink Paislee - Starlight Shine, Pink Paislee - Starlight Spark, Pink Paislee - Starlight Bright, Pink Paislee - Starlight Dazzle, October Afternoon - Thrift Shop One of a Kind); Sticker Letters (Cosmo Cricket - Tiny Type Cream); Diecut Letters (Making Memories Slice); Punch (EK Success); Journaling Spots (Little Yellow Bicycle Journaling Tablet & K and Company); Ticket (Pink Paislee - Starlight Diecut Sheet); Stamp (Unity Stamp Co); Markers (Copics); Rub Ons (Heidi Grace); Brads (Heidi Swapp)

So if you aren't already a member I hope you will become one. Check out Paperclipping here.
It's an investment in your creativity.

There's still time to enter the Paperclipping Monthly Challenges winner's work & a short interview is spotlighted on the Paperclipping site, Lesley Oman's blog & here on my blog.

And don't forget to join Noell for the live shows on Tuesdays at 9:30 pm EST here.

Guest Blogging

2010-06-16T00:52:00.000-04:00

I'm guest blogger over at the Everything Scrapp'n' store blog today sharing my latest projects.

Hop over there to check them out.

Heads Up... don't miss this free class

2010-06-14T10:23:00.000-04:00

I know I already posted today & no I'm not suddenly turning into a multi-poster (y'all are lucky if I post at all lately it seems).

I was reading thru my emails & came across one from Jessica Sprague. The site is celebrating their 3 year anniversary (wow sure doesn't seem that long). They offer really great classes filled with helpful tips and goodies. I even made an entire journaling prompt book during one of them (they provided all the pages all I did was print & embellish - it had to have been over 50 pages). I know you are going to enjoy this FREE class.

Just last week I purchased some items from the store. The "kits of paper" were terific and not flat feeling in any way & the embellishments once printed didn't look home made in any way.

Since I am trying to incorporate more hybrid items into my scrapbooking this is perfect timing & I'm excited to take this class.

For more details click here.

Chaos & Mess

2010-06-14T01:09:00.000-04:00

I know it's Everything Scrapp'n' design team day. But, I don't have anything to share today I will be posting on Wednesday. Instead Teresa is inspiring us. So go check the store blog for details. (Heads up I saw another shipment of Glimmer Mist in the store yesterday... including the new Heidi Swapp colors - hurry over I know they will not last long).

Ok now to catch you up on what's been going on.....

My life has been extra chaotic since buying a foreclosed house we are smack dab in the middle of major home remodeling. Yes I've been taking photos of the bad along with the good so I can remember the process on scrapbook pages. It will make me appreciate the finished product more in the end since I can see on a page all the sweat & work that went into it.

We knew the tile in the bathrooms were nearing the end of usefulness (not to mention they were ugly). But we had hoped it would last the year & not be a huge undertaking... That would have been true if the appraiser didn't ask the bank to repair or we wouldn't be able to buy the house. Well they did some cosmetic things & the way they did it made everything worse...

So now this is my master bathroom

yes I can see the downstairs thru that hole since we are taking it down to the rafters & pulling down a bit of ceiling in the family room. It is overwhelming to think about but I keep saying it will be great when it is done.... like a new house.

The construction isn't just confined to the master bath, the hall bath shares that wall & the floor in there is also rotted which is causing the toilet to leak in there. Which I closed & placed an X of blue painters tape so no one uses it. The tub/shower in there is the only place we can shower right now. But to go to the bathroom it means going down a flight & a half of stairs... that is going to get old in the middle of the night lol. I'm going to Lowes today to buy some fast set mud to lay tile & put that toilet back in.

On top of that y'all know about the sunroom that the contractors are not taking my calls & I wrote certified letter demanding them to stand behind their work. So all that conflict has been stressing me out.

I took out some of that stress on the weeds in the yard. Pulling them out gave me a sense of control over something in my life. Does that sound crazy?

Then Andrew decided to paint the concrete floor in his apartment area of the house (hi-jacking my cameras in the process in an area that can't be walked on until Monday night). Usually Andrew is a mega procrastinator but this time he jumped right in the day he thought about it buying the supplies but without making sure everything needed was out of the "dead zones" where we can't walk. I guess I'm proud of him for tackling it... I guess watching HGTV for hours is paying off lol

I've been helping doing the light stuff while hubby & son are doing the heavy stuff. It's so exhausting, dirty, depressing, overwhelming & expensive......

So this is my life right now... I have to smile while shaking my head... it'll get better

I'm Going Hybrid...

2010-06-09T23:45:00.000-04:00

I have tried digi layouts in the past & wasn't thrilled. But today is a new day. I don't have to do all digi but just use digital elements. It doesn't hurt that I can find high quality products out there....

There are still pros & cons to it...

I LIKE:
Image can be used over & over
Customize for my project by changing the color or size
Very economical & "Green"

I love the idea of being able to scrapbook anywhere. There is no mess to clean up. If I don't like the color of something I can change it with a couple clicks then everything will match perfectly. Designing a project is super easy. No more cutting a piece of paper wrong. I love the undo button. There really are some great companies out there & even if I don't print the paper it is easy to make my own embellishments.

CONS
Quality of many of the image designs available

Recently digital images have come a long way. There are still many out there that don't have the depth of color and pattern on the "papers" that is what I am drawn to in a piece of pattered paper. My Photoshop skills are OK (could be better... could be worse) so I guess I need to be working on this. I usually don't even type my journaling (unless it's a long story) so I guess it's just that I need to get into the habit of using the computer for scrapbooking. The bottom line is... I just LOVE the traditional scrapbooking products & making the mess.

Hybrid Scrapbooking allows me to take the best of both worlds & still make my paper mess while creating. I will be printing more elements for my pages to save money, personalize them & still do pages my way. That's the great thing about scrapbooking - no rules... do it your way. We change, evolve & learn new things that is all part of creativity. I sure wouldn't want to be doing the same thing the same way 3 years from now - change keeps it fresh.

Here is a page I made with a digi element from House of 3. Thanks Heidi Swapp for helping me make a fun quick page.

I am participating in the summer challenge there to do 3 pages a week for a total of 50 pages completed by the end of summer. They are encouraging us to create pages that are more simple & less time consuming. I'm a slow poke scrapper but this one actually was finished within 35 minutes. I think a lot of my problem is dragging out lots of supplies to audition them before committing & making a decision. I am trying to resolve to trust my first instincts more & just go with things. Every page doesn't have to be a well thought out masterpiece to be a great page... right?

So killing 2 birds with one stone I combined this with the Ippity Stamps weekly challenge to use some fabric on a project.

Everything is better with Ippity...

I used this set of Ippity Stamps (on sale this week on my selling page above or here)

Don't forget to enter the giveaways over at The Paperlife this week for my spotlight. There are some great prizes up for grabs. Click here to leave a comment.

Prize Update with Photos

2010-06-08T20:21:00.000-04:00

Lots of prizes up for grabs.

We'll have 4 winners........

Prize #1

Paperclipping Premium Membership

($55 Value)

Winner will receive 6 month membership & have access to the huge archives of Paperclipping video tutorials.

Courtesy of Noell Hyman owner of Paperclipping.com

Prize #2

Unity Stamp Company Prize Pack

$75+/- Value

I believe these are available only in retail stores

Courtesy of Angela Magnuson owner of Unity Stamp Co.

Prize #3

2 sets of Ippity Stamps & Goodies Kit

2 great sets of Ippity Stamps & a huge kit filled with supplies for creating (including 2 mini albums, tons of embellishments, 50 sheets of 6x6 designer paper, 3 magazines, adhesive, ink, Prima Journaling Paper & lots of journaling spots)

Courtesy of ME

Prize #4

$10 Gift certificate to Everything Scrapp'n' Online Scrapbook Store

Courtesy of Heather Turner owner of Everything Scrapp'n'

To enter leave a comment over at The Paperlife post here.

All in stock Ippity Stamps are on sale this week in honor of my spotlight.

Click here - shop early for best selection.

I'm in the Spotlight....

2010-06-08T13:34:00.000-04:00

I am so tickled to be in the spotlight over at The Paperlife website this week. I was so nervous about the podcast part because I'm so shy & hate the sound of my voice when it's recorded. But when it comes to scrapbooking I'm not so shy & will try anything... once. I don't even remember most of what I said so I hope I didn't embarass myself & I tend to go on & on or get off topic so hope I didn't lol.

I really love listening to Amy each week since she has such a wide variety of papercrafters that are interviewed. Amy is great at bringing out the best in each of them & making them shine. Talking to her was like talking with a friend. So she set me at ease & reeled me in when I was "chasing rabits" as they say in the south.

I have some fantastic prizes that my friends have allowed me to give away. I'll post photos tomorrow since I'm out & about today. Blogger was causing me grief last night & not only did it not post what I staged but it corrupted it & will not allow it to post this moring when I just clicked post? grrrrr what's up with that? I'll just be a name dropper..... Premium Membership from Noell Hyman at Paperclipping, a HUGE stamp prize from Angela at Unity Stamps (even new Donna Downey ones drool), a gift certificate from Heather at Everything Scrapp'n' (she has Glimmer Mist y'all) and from me 2 sets of Ippity Stamps that I'm selling now & a kit of goodies to make mini albums/cards/scrapbook pages.

I know you will want to enter for these prizes so head on over to The Paperlife & leave me a comment here & listen to the podcast.

Paperclipping Monthly Challenge is UP

2010-06-01T19:02:00.000-04:00

We need your help....

The challenges are posted at the Paperclipping form. Lesley (hungryheffy) is offering a giveaway to you for helping get the word out.... Here is her post

Are you ready to have a bit of fun?! Then hop on over to the paperclipping forum, the crop circle. I am really excited to be hostingthis months challenge, and the challenge topics give a great variety so that even those of you which are a little pushed for time could easily be able to enter a quick layout.

There are SEvEN topics to choose from, and you only need to touch upon one of them to enter your creation into the challenge! AwEsoME!!

The challenge is open from 1st June to 30th June giving plenty of time to create something wonderful to share with us.

AND you can enter up to three times in each month!!!

The winner will be showcased by Noell from www.paperclipping.com,a huge honour, and a fantastic way to get your name out in to the world of crafting. The winner will also be showcased here on Hungry Heffy Crafts, and on one of the other judge’s websites, Crafty Suz.

So check out the challenge by going to this post, and you can even see a few examples that i have put up to inspire all you crafty peeps out there.

Get crafting….get paperclipping!!

And don’t forget to tell all your friends to join in too!! ♥

And because I am feeling generous….

A little something to make it interesting……

Anyone who posts the following into Twitter or Facebook, or on their Blog will be entered into a little drawing to win a mystery prize from me, which includes brads, flowers and a stamp! :0) Drawing will take place on 6th june, and I may even hold more drawings after that for extra stuff!! International entries welcome! ♥

One rule, make sure you leave a comment on Lesley's blog here with a link to your post.

[Copy & Paste into Twitter / facebook etc]

Join us for Paperclipping’s monthly scrapbook challenge. Check it out here –> http://bit.ly/csLugG

ANd aBoVE, aLL ReMemBeR tO HavE LoTS oF FuN!!

♥

Thanks so much in advance for tweeting/FB this!

The Winners Are.....

2010-06-01T08:54:00.002-04:00

Wasn't that an inspirational blog hop? With my busy weekend I had to hop in bits but I think that gave me the time to really read the posts & gaze at the variety of talented cardmakers.

Thanks so much for all the great comments & follows. It really means a lot.

As a thank you to everyone who visited & left a comment during the blog hop. I'm offering 15% off all {ippity} orders over $20. Remember I always offer free USA/APO shipping. Just type OWH HOP in the comments & I will refund 15% of your Paypal payment back to you. Shop HERE.

Winners selected by: Random Integer Generator

The winner of the Lucky Me Mini Album Kit

courtesy of Susan Moore - Owner of EMI Scrapbooking Store in Cumming, Georgia. She also has an online Etsy store called creativekits4u where she sells these kits to customers all over the world. This kit features Little Yellow Bicycle Lucky Me papers. MSRP $22.

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2010-06-01 12:27:35 UTC

Paula said...

Oh my gosh, what great cards. I love how you incorporated the lined notebook paper. Thanks for sharing the story of your personal heroes with us too. Wonderful post!

May 29, 2010 5:00 PM

and

The winner of the {ippity} Stamps sets courtesy of me is:

Here are your random numbers:

Timestamp: 2010-06-01 12:33:37 UTC

2 Worlds said...

Thats a good cause thanks for the giveaway Suz

May 29, 2010 12:39 PM

Congrats Paula & Jana!

Please shoot me an email with your snail mail address (sgray110 at gmail dot com) & I'll get your prizes out to you.

Operation Write Home Memorial Day Blog Hop

2010-05-29T09:38:00.007-04:00

My name is Suz Gray. I love all things paper & am known on the web as "craftysuz". Welcome to my stop on the Operation Write Home Memorial Day Blog Hop. This is my 2nd year participating in this hop & wow has it grown. Have you been enjoying the hop? If you are one of my regular readers or just stumbled onto me I'm sure you will want to start from the beginning to see all the beautiful cards, be moved by touching stories, learn some new cardmaking & stamping techniques. You can even enter to win some prizes along the way too. The OWH Stars & Stamps blog is the beginning... find it here. It starts at 10 am EST on Saturday & goes thru 6 pm EST on Monday.

The reason I support OWH is because it is a great way to use something I love to do to make it easier for our troops to stay in touch with their loved ones at home. I feel like every card I make is a little thank you for the huge sacrifice they make for us. I love the OWH blog posts where soldiers share what this organization means to them and their families.

We've had quite a few members of our family serve our country over the years. Currently my cousin has a daughter & son serving in Afghanistan & Iraq. I pray for Kayla & Vinnie's safety as they serve in dangerous places.

Spc. Vincent Hoover, a tanker with 1st Bn, 72nd Armor Regiment was awarded the silver star last October for his valor & quick actions when a grenade was thrown into his vehicle. He threw it back out & all the lives in vehicle were saved. See story here & here. Our family is so proud of him!

Thank you to each service person & their families who sacrifice so much to serve our country. On this Memorial Day I ask that you join me in saying a prayer for those families who have given the ultimate sacrifice of a loved one that they are comforted by the heroic way they lived & blessed by memories along with those who are currently in harms way.

===================

Now to share some cards. I made a couple keeping with the Red, White & Blue - Missing You card theme requested by OWH.

For this card I used a Cuttlebug dry embossing folder to create the dotted texture on the kraft cardstock.

Supplies: Cardstock (Bazzill & Bo Bunny); Paper (Pink Paislee & Making Memories); Punch (Stampin' Up); Die Cut (Nestabilities); Ink (Palette); String (Making Memories); Stamps (Ipppity Stamps & Unity Stamps); Trim (Wrights); Dry Embossing (Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Folder)

For this card I stamped on the plain navy background with Versamark ink & a flourish stamps by Ippity to give a subtle watermark look to the paper - in person it looks great and added a lot of interest. I like to cut out stamped images like the butterfly here.

Supplies: Paper (Creative Imaginations, K&Company, & The Paper Studio); Stamps (Unity Stamps & Ippity Stamps); Bling (Paper Reflections); Ribbon (Michaels' Dollar Bin); Ink (Palette & Versamark); Die Cut (Making Memories Slice - Think Pink)

I also did a photo tutorial showing how to make the layered watercolor flowers in the next two cards. If you would like to see the tutorial please go to the next post. I did this so people who didn't wouldn't have to scroll thru all those photos & instructions.

This flower is stamped multiple times then cut apart. I used foam dimensional adhesive to add depth. I dressed up an office supply tag with layers of stamping & distress ink.

Supplies: Cardstock (Bazzill & Watercolor Paper); Paint (Grumbacher); Ink (Palette & Ranger Tim Holtz); Stamps (Ippity Stamps & Hero Arts); Die Cut (Nestabilities); Ribbon (American Crafts); Tag (Staples)

This card uses the same flower & watercolor painting but it is just a flat image. The paint shading helps to give depth. I stamped the leaves on canvas fabric for interest.

Supplies: Cardstock (Bazzill & Watercolor Paper); Paint (Grumbacher); Ink (Palette & Colorbox); Stamps (Ippity Stamps & Unity Stamps); Twine (Making Memories); Canvas (Joann's); Dry Embossing (Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Folder)

===================

To thank you for stopping by... I have some prizes to offer you.

One winner will receive this "Lucky Me" mini album kit courtesy of Susan Moore - Owner of EMI Scrapbooking Store in Cumming, Georgia. She also has an online Etsy store called creativekits4u where she sells these kits to customers all over the world. This kit features Little Yellow Bicycle Lucky Me papers. MSRP $22.

I sell Ippity Stamps (see tab at top of the page or click here for Memorial Day sale prices) so I am offering these 2 sets to one winner.

Leave a comment for your chance to win - sorry but open only to USA residents only due to shipping costs. (make sure you leave an email address or way to get in touch with you). Comments close at 6 pm EST on Monday & winner will be drawn by random number generator soon after that.

===================

Now head on over to the next stop on the blog hop. Sharon has some pretty cards to share with you.