Merry Christmas - Happy New Year

Well, Christmas is over and I'm preparing for my next carpel tunnel surgery on my right hand next week.  Let me tell you, it couldn't come any sooner.  The holidays and craft making were at times tough to get through with the pain but I was able to complete all the projects I wanted.

The one I was most proud of, I alluded to in an earlier post. Now that I have given the gifts, I can tell you what I did.  My father passed away in early November. Though all of his grandchildren are fairly well grown now (the "baby" is 16 1/2) I wanted to give my children something to remember him by so, I went and asked my mom for four of my fathers flannel shirts (something he always wore!). She gave them to me and I made pillows out of them (1 for each of my children - see above). They were very easy to make and looked so cute when done.

I told my sisters what I had done, and they wanted me to make one for each of their children....so, I ended up making one for everyone (my 4 kids, 2 nephews and a niece and one each for my sisters). I did not manage to get one made for me, but I have a shirt just waiting for a pillow form. :) Below is a shot of the kids with theirs.

I also was able to complete another project that I've had on my mind for years, but was unable to translate to paper. I made a cookbook for each one of my children that contained recipes that we make often in the family.  The big debate was whether to make the book myself or use a pre-made book and add our own recipes. I finally decided to stop reinventing the wheel and just use a pre-made book with blank cards to add our own recipes to it.  I personalized the recipe cards with paper, stickers, rub-ons etc., and on select recipes included pictures of the item that we had made in the past.

Another item I did was a wedding scrapbook for my son and his new wife. I struggled with the look of the book because their wedding really didn't have a "theme" so I didn't have a clear direction of the way the book should have went. I realize that it was a wedding and that should have been the theme but, it was really a different, very laid back wedding and it was difficult to document. I think they were appreciative of it though.

Another project/gift that I worked on (but didn't get pictures of..ugg) was a collection of greeting cards for my grandmother.  She likes to receive homemade cards and even wanted to make her own Christmas cards this year so, I thought she might like to receive a collection of them to send out.  I made several Happy Birthday, Thinking of You, Get Well and Thank You cards. I also included a couple Sympathy cards. I must have done something right because she complained I didn't include a graduation card (my cousin recently graduated from college)! Guess what I'll be making this afternoon!

Number 1 daughter and I also spent quite an amount of time (and money) at Archivers this season and managed to do a couple of their make-and-takes. I wanted to incorporate the Ho-Ho-Ho and Christmas tree tag into a card but never got the chance to do that.

 I still have the thought I might make a few New Years cards for a few friends. I still didn't manage to make any Christmas cards this year. I really need to put that on my schedule for the summer.  Maybe in 2012!  I'll make sure to get pictures of them before mailing them. I might even try to remember to take a camera to grandma's to get pictures of the cards I made (for historic purposes).

Well, that's all I have for right now. I'm sitting in my scrapbook room appreciating how very clean it is. This is something it has not been since Thanksgiving! Also, need to turn my attention to Valentines Day and make something for Daughter 2 and 3's boyfriends.

'til later.  Dee

Card Making

Spent the better portion of the weekend making cards. I am giving my grandmother an assortment of homemade cards (birthday, sympathy, get well) for Christmas because she likes them so much. So far, I have 3 birthday, 2 sympathy and, 3 get well cards. I still want to complete a couple Thinking of You and a couple blank notecards. I'll post all of them when the assortment is complete.

I also made a card for my sister-in-law who is celebrating her 50 birthday today. Her husband and children arranged for a "card shower". I used my McGill paper blossoms punch for poinsettia's. Unfortunately, I will have to hand deliver the card as I don't want the flowers to be crushed in transport. (Sorry about the fuzziness.)

Something old and something new

Made some more cards tonight.  Needed to do a couple of thank-you's for people that sent flowers for my dads funeral and a notecard for someone at work who received a new position. Found this paper by Authentique is called Bloom from their Gathering collection. I am absolutely in love with the pattern.  I purchased some Bazzill card stock that matched it and made a whole collection of cards.

The "new" part of my creating was flower arranging.  I had to make 2 matching arrangements. Watched a video by Becky Higgins on making a flower arrangement and went out to Michaels. I don't think they turned out too terrible and they look great against the bright green.

Life gets away from you

Well, looking forward to getting back to normal next week.  Seems like the past several weeks have been anything but normal.  In the past 7 weeks, I've only worked 10 days and only 5 straight at one time. But, that's all changing tomorrow.  Children 3 & 4 moved back to school today following Thanksgiving Break, husband will be at work and things will be nice and quiet. Which is good because with Christmas coming, I have some projects to do. I actually worked on one yesterday for all the kids, but can't tell you about it yet, #1 daughter checks out the blog every now and then and I want it to be a surprise Christmas morning. We did visit Archivers last week and made the 2 make-and-takes. They're actually tags, but I may incorporate into cards, not sure yet.

I also spent some time making Thanksgiving cards that I sent to family and friends.

I still need to get the scrapbook I made for my dad copied for my sisters. And I want to post a few pages from that as well.

Still alive and kicking (sort of)

I'm still here, and still creating but have had a rough last 4 weeks.  I had my carpel tunnel surgery done on the 17th. Things went well, so well, that I have scheduled to have the next hand done in January -- can't wait! It makes scrapbooking a little easier which was helpful because on Tuesday, #1 daughter and I had to put an entire scrapbook together from scratch.  My father passed away this past Sunday. It was something we had known was coming, he was in a lot of pain and the last few days were pretty bad. We were actually sitting around him that previous Friday evening looking at pictures and every now and then, I would come across one of him I wanted to scrapbook so I hid them so my mom wouldn't see me taking them. (She doesn't like to give pictures away.) So when he did pass a couple of days later I began to plan what I wanted to do.  I took all the pictures I wanted to use and copied them (so the originals would stay intact) and began planning pages.  Number #1 daughter was so helpful with the book - I know I couldn't have done it without her.  Once it was complete we took it to the funeral home and displayed it for everyone to see.  I'm actually thinking about taking it to Archivers and having the pages copied and made into a book for each one of my sisters for Christmas. When I get the copies, I'll share a few.

Don't you just hate it......

Been recuperating from carpel tunnel surgery this week and just made it out to the scrapbook room today. Was getting all crafty making the Martha Stewart rosette pumpkin and my Color Box chalk in creamy brown tore! I only had three layers cut and edged! And, the store I purchased the chalk from went out of business about 6 months ago.  Called around and found it at a new scrapbook store about an hour from my house. So, tomorrow I will drive an hour to purchase a $1.99 chalk pad.

On a good note, I have all the other layers cut and scored (yuk!) and ready to edge and assemble.  I'll post when I'm done - hope it turns out as cute as the sample in the store.

My digital camera

I've owned a digital camera for about ten years, it has registered over 5600 pictures taken.  I take a lot of pictures.  I love the ease of the digital camera but must admit, using a digital camera was the downfall for my scrapbooking.  Without having to print the pictures to see them, I don't develop very many and therefore, when I go to scrapbook unless it is for a specific event or person, I don't have a plethora of pictures stacked anywhere.  When I have the actual pictures in my hands, I can plan layouts and such with them.  I also digitally store my pictures on Shutterfly.  Which brings me to a happy note. Twice in the last month, I have qualified for 50 free prints from Shutterfly.  I just placed my second order and they were shipped last night.  That gives me 100 pictures to organize and to begin thinking about scrapbook layouts. 

I've been working on a few Halloween cards lately.  I'm having surgery mid-October and am not to sure what my mobility will be so I want to get a jump on things.  I'm hoping to make a few Thanksgiving cards this weekend. Here are a few of the Halloween cards I made.

I also made a Get Well card for someone at work who had major surgery.

Hopefully I'll post some Thanksgiving cards after this weekend. 

New Year...new roommate

Daughter #3 moved off to college late last month so that meant new memo boards for her and her roommate.  Just finished them earlier this week for the roommates birthday.

This is the roommates board.  Her bedding is a light green with white stripes so I went a little girly with hers.  Not sure if it is a good fit, she's a lacrosse player but I liked the look of the light green and pink.

#3 Daughter is into black and white and damask prints (that is what her bedding is) so I went with a black and white theme but added raspberry fleur de lis' to it. I also blinged it out with a rhinestone monogram and shimmery ribbon!

I've also been making Halloween cards, once I finish all of them, I'll post.

I'm a collector

Yep, I collect things, all types of things. Now, this is not to say I am a hoarder.  I think I know the difference between trash and memorabilia. (Just don't ask my husband.)  I collect ticket stubs, appointment cards, magazine articles, recipes, web site addresses, grocery receipts (I think this goes back to my rebate days), cards from all the flowers my husband (of 29 years) has sent me, corks, buttons, every card that my husband or four children have given me.  I use to save wrapping paper but decided that was silly (??).  I even collect scrapbook paper...

I am a self-confessed paper junkie.  I see something I like and I buy it.  I have an entire collection of papers for children layouts but, my youngest is 18!  I see it and think "Oh that would make a great lay-out for" (insert any event in the world, I have a paper or embellishment that could cover it). I also collect embellishments for much the same reason. I'll see something and think "hey I could do a lay-out of this (insert event: birthday, vacation, zoo, etc)  and add this (any variety of embellishment I happen to be holding) with that paper (that I have at home) and have a cute layout".  But then I'll think about using that embellishment or that paper and think "Wait! What if I want to use it for something else?" so I will buy all new paper, etc for a layout I don't necessarily know of.

But I digress; I collect. So when K&Company came out with the Smash Book I though my dreams had come true. Well I didn't exactly think that, but I did think "now I have a place for all that crap I store in my calendar". And that it what I am doing. When I see a website that I want to visit, I write it in my Smash book. When I see a creative idea I like, I put it in my Smash book.  When I think of a cute scrapbook page idea, I sketch it in my Smash book. My calendar is a little thinner and my purse is no longer full of ticket stubs, receipts, etc. that use to accumulate there.  I was reading about how to use the Smash book and many are using it as a chronological type scrapbook, I stressed myself out trying to figure out how I wanted to use it and decided just to use it and not worry about an end product. So far...so good.

Below is a picture of 2 pages I have in my Smash book with ideas for my sons' upcoming wedding.

I bought the "black" Smash book. I can't quite remember why but, I remember that I either wanted the black, red or pink one.  And being a collector, I also bought the large rubber bands that you keep around the Smash book so nothing falls out, the cute little packet of Smash tabs, Smash stickies, Smash pockets, and not one but 2 Smash pads. I even bought the rubber stamp but have a hard time wanting to carry it around with me. Yeah I collect. I'm sure there's a support group for this sort of thing but, until I start creating paths in my home with my "collections" we're not going to worry about it.

So much to catch up on

I have so many projects that I have been working on...I've actually been creating all summer long.  Its' really been a card making summer for me.  Number 1 daughter and I took the Make It Mini workshop at Archievers. Loved all the techniques we used and learned...but not sure where I would use some of the cards.

After this class I was really inspired to create so went to my scrapbook room with the intent of creating Thanksgiving cards....got frustrated that I couldn't find my fall/Thanksgiving paper that I created some St. Patrick Day cards instead!

Then kept on creating...I made a "Thinking About You" and a "Happy Birthday" card:

Then I have 2 recent graduates that are becoming teachers and will be teaching for the first time this fall and so I made them each a card to encourage them.

And last but not least, I have a niece who is expecting a baby next month and I threw a baby shower for her and just had to purchase the Cricut 3 Birds on Parade cartridge to use since her last name is Bird!

I've several other projects but ended up mailing them out and THEN remembering to take pictures. :(  No problem, now that No. 2 and 3 daughters have moved to college, and No. 1 daughter is working and going for her second degree...I will have plenty of time to work on things.

My next project I want to tackle is memo boards for daughter No. 3 and her roommate.  Didn't have time to do them before and the roommate has a birthday in a few weeks.  Also want to get Thanksgiving cards done (found the paper a few days ago) because I am having carpel tunnel surgery on my left hand mid-October and won't be able to do anything for a few weeks.  Should also add Christmas cards to the list.  Maybe I'll get them done in time to mail for Christmas! One can only hope! Oh, also want to blog again soon....just discovered the Smash Book! OMG.....

Hello

I know..It's been quite awhile since I've posted...but I'm still alive and kicking.  Did a 2 month stretch of part-time employment for a local home improvement store (40 hours a week!) that turned out not so much part-time.  After 8 weeks, my seasonal status expired and (thank God) I was no longer scheduled.  I have slowly been returning to normal, I traveled to New Orleans in late June and had a fabulous 4th of July. I am now back to school (only 20 hrs a week), so my schedule is straightening itself out.

I have plans to make a Shutterfly book of the 4th of July and then turn my efforts to scrapping graduation, graduation parties, summer traveling, etc.  But right now, my only creative thing I've done has been a shelf for all of my wooden rubber stamps.  I purchased some lumber and had it cut at the store I was working at and the first week I was off, put it together. It's not exactly straight but, it got the job done as you can see in the picture below.  Sorry for the angle, I was using the photobooth option on my laptop.  I still need to organize my silicone stamps into a binder or something.

Well, I have a few birthday cards I need to make and a scrapbook room to clean and organize.  Until then...

Working Away

My work at the university ended about a week ago and I have been so busy! I found part-time employment for the summer (yeah! money will still come in) and I have been crafting like crazy. I finished the party invites for #4's graduation.

I also completed a shutterfly book of our spring break trip to San Francisco - it should be in before her party.  Also did a 7 Gypsies artist tray for her dance pictures. When time permits, I'll do a full out book but with the party just a few weeks away and me starting a new job, the tray will have to suffice.

I'll be hitting the scrapbook room every chance I get over the next week. I want to have her book as up-to-date as possible before her party. I'll update as I go. Have a good one!

Mothers Day

Believe it or not, I actually got my cards made for my mother and grandmother a week ahead of time! That's big for me. It's usually the night before and I'm in the craft room stressing over what to do. I'll have to post pictures later, I was waiting for the liquid embossing product to dry.  I am also going to be finishing up a little booklet I am making for #4 to use for all the senior pictures she has been receiving (fingers crossed) hopefully tonight.

**Update* Here are the pictures of the cards I made and yes, I was able to finish the booklet I made for #4 to keep senior pictures in. Pictures below.

Here's the card I did for my mom.

Here's the card for my grandmother.

This is the cover to the book I made for my daughter. It is a 6x6 book spiral bound. There are 11 pages inside, enough to hold 22 senior pictures.

This is a view of the inside of the book. She took the book to school and will have everyone who gave her a picture sign the book.

Sisters Frame

Finally was able to get a picture of the 7 Gypsies artist tray frame that I did for my sisters for Christmas (albeit, the picture is a little off center) just glad to have a clear picture of it.

Card making

Well, I did actually get to make a couple of cards this past weekend and then tonight made a couple more.

This is the card I made for Gage's 2nd birthday - his party was Mickey Mouse themed.

 A friend at work is having a birthday - dropping this in interoffice mail tomorrow.

Want to send this to my Aunt. She was in the hospital for surgery and was discharged today.

Sending this to a friend who is under going chemotherapy.

Still playing catch up

Got home from work today with a tall order.  I want to make several cards this weekend.  I need a Thinking of You, Happy 2nd Birthday, Congratulations and a Get Well card. Before I get started, I photographed a few of the pages I recently completed.  They came out pretty well even though I am not happy with the Wave Rave for #4's freshmen homecoming.  They decorated the gym by throwing paint all over drop cloths (like a rave party) so I though I would mimic that on a page by using glitter glue.... :( not happy but I need to finish her book so I will continue to work on other pages and if there is enough time before her party to redo the page, I will.  Enjoy!

Washington DC, March 2010

Wave Rave - Freshmen Year Homecoming

Columbus Zoo 93-10

My how time flies!

I was shocked when I opened my blog to see it had been November when I last posted. How was that possible??? I knew I had been working on things, I have several pages at home that need photographed and posted.

I recently discovered paper flower making! I spend hours creating all these pretty little flowers. I'm not sure what I am going to do with them all but I love the different varieties you can make. I've included some below.  I made sweet williams, pansies, roses, lilies and even a hydrangea bloom.

I have also made several new cards, a thinking of you, a birthday and a thank you card. The thank you card is already in the mail to a sweet man (#3's Godfather) who saw us out to lunch and paid for our meal when he left the restaurant.

One of the pages that I recently completed was for a ball player at the university I work for.  Jim had an amazing feat in one of the last games of the season.  He scored 7 points in 7 seconds! I was really happy for him so I created a page and framed it for him.

#1 daughter and I attended a scrapbook convention in Columbus last weekend and I got to try several make and takes.  Funny enough, I have been searching for instructions on how to make this one particular paper basket and low and behold it was one of the make and takes so we both made one. I think I am going to make a downsized one for Easter. We usually have several colleges students over for dinner and I like to send them home with something. One of the make and takes was for a fabric flower. I really thought it was cute but the stress on my wrists and fingers may prevent me from making any more. It required a needle and thread and by the time I made just one flower, my hands were numb.

As May quickly approaches, I know I am going to be swamped with projects. #4 will be graduating high school this year (the last one!) and I am finishing up her book. She and I recently took a trip to San Francisco for spring break and I am going to do a shutterfly book for her of that trip. I will also be making her graduation announcements very soon and getting them out in the mail. I also am really going to try and get my Christmas cards made this summer and possibly a Thanksgiving card to send out to close family and friends.  I bought all the supplies last fall for Christmas cards and ran out of time trying to get them done. Since I don't work during the summer I am hoping to get them done early. I have also been wanting to make a cookbook for my children and niece as a Christmas present and still haven't gotten that done. Which reminded me that I did an artists paint tray project for my two sisters for Christmas and I forgot to post it. I will get a picture of one of them and post it soon.

I realize as I write this blog I do so as if I am speaking to someone out there in cyber space. But in all actuality, I am probably the only one who reads this as I do not publicize the blog and I really do this so I have a record of everything I make because many of the items that I create, I give away. Until next time....