Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Cards and things, and Happy New Year
I actively participate in 4 message boards - I started with three, because I needed to have 3 boards to post to for the Clear Scraps DT, then found the fourth when they were doing an awesome sketch-challenge based crop.
I "met" Stacey online after CHA-W last year, when I linked to her blog for talking about Clear Scraps. She asked me to come over to All Moments Remembered for Scrap Chat Hour, and I have been there ever since. I was lucky enough to meet Stacey IRL last summer at CHA in Chicago. Now she has expanded to have a brick and mortar store, which I so wish I could visit, but fear of flying and an {icky} work schedule prevents it. Stacey and Heather got me started into kit clubs too, by putting together some fabulous monthly kits {which they have unfortunately had to discontinue due to manufacturer shipping problems}. Our latest obsession at AMR is ATCs.. and we have swaps going all the time about anything - pets, favorite drinks, technique, holiday, etc. I have so much fun designing these little cards.
Then I found Scrap Attack Scrapbooking - which is a challenge heavy board, with flowers {or charms} that you can earn for the things you create based on the challenges. It is a very fun place to be, even if I don't have many of the charms completed yet. But if I need inspiration, I can always come here, because the challenges are up forever. Lauri is super-awesome, and has just started a new monthly kit - which makes me very happy! {And CHECK OUT that January kit! OMG - I am IN LOVE! I wanted these papers every since I saw the release from Fancy pants - And Lauri adds the most wonderful metallic prism papers.. yummy!} She is in the process of starting a 2009 goals challenge - I'm hoping it will keep me on track to getting more things done for myself, and not just for the DT. {If you were wondering, my goal is 10 pages a month (120/year), 5 cards a month (60 cards), and 1-2 mini albums a month (12-24) - seems like a lot, but if I can stay on top of it, it should be just fine!}
The third board I joined was Savvy N Sassy - they have a ribbon kit club, which appeals to me because I am a bona fide Ribbon Junkie. Some of their kits are made to match paper lines {they had a Basic Grey Sugared-inspired kit that I REALLY wanted, but it was sold out ;( }Unfortunately, they are in Canada, which is a pain for shipping sometimes, but someday I'll have some of these kits. I have done a couple of smaller atc swaps here too.
The most recent board I joined is Serendipity Scrapbooks. {Love the name.. wanted to name the Shetland flock Serendipity, but it was already taken} I found Serendipity via someone at SNS, and joined when they were doing their sketch based online crop. Fabulous! I love using sketches.. especially if I am tired and don't want to try to think up a design on my own - it is so nice to have a starting point. SS also has daily challenges {which i did really well at for about 2 weeks} and a team challenge, which gives points for every thing you have created - whether for a Serendipity challenge or not {I even got points for the Christmas tree I altered for Abby!} The first time I played it, my partner and I won.. haven't done so well since then. I have a tons of cards I'm not going to get uploaded by tonight, so I don't think we will have done well this time around.. and my partner musy have been busy, because she has not been able to post much at all. I have not decided if I'm going to continue with it or not - though my goals for SAS are high enough, I may. {incidentally, the partners change every month, so you don't always play with the same person.}
This Christmas I received cards from friends at all four boards - and I must say - the talent on these four boards is simply amazing. I will treasure them, and learn from them, and scraplift them, and keep them in my little card box. Thank you to everyone who sent me a card.
Another challenge I am going to do this year is Ali's One Little Word challenge.. after making the post to Ali's blog this morning, I have decided my word will be CHANGE. There are going to be a lot of changes going on in my life - some of them good, some of them not. Some expected, some unanticipated. Some chosen, and some unavoidable. So it seems to be the right word to choose.
The third challenge I am going to work on is the 365 (a photo a day). Today is the last day to join, as it starts tomorrow. There is a Flickr group for support and posting HERE. While I don't know that i will be able to scrap everyday, I know I will be able to take pictures every day {because I do that already!} The challenge will be in getting the photos posted every day.
I hope everyone has a Happy New Year. Good luck with changing the things you want to change, and keeping the things you want to keep. I wish you the best for creativity and life, and hope you learn something new every day.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas everyone.
{Cool photo, huh? check out http://www.santasgoodlist.org/capture-the-magic}
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Happy Christmas Eve
Last week I sent packages out to a couple of friends - one was a secret santa package for Jingle, who I greatly admire, and who I know has a thing for cupcakes. So when I saw, in Hobby Lobby, before the names were chosen, a whole set of kitchen pieces that were cupcakes, I hoped I would get her name, because I wanted to send one to her. So I was really happy when I was given her name. Most of the pieces, unfortunate were not really practical to ship, but there was a little cupcake dish that would be perfect. The frosting comes off and the rest is a nice little dish to hold things. Then, of course things snowballed from there. She is going to post about it later, so when she does, I'll put the link here.
The second package was done kind of as a last minute thing, and was for Abby, who is somebody I like very much, and have gotten to know pretty well as a Late Nite Girl on AMR. {especially since we were doing a lot of trades on the PIF thread!} Anyway, Abby posted a layout she wanted to scraplift about a pink Christmas tree. And I thought, how cool would it be to send her one. {Do you know how hard it is to find a pink Christmas tree??} I looked everywhere. Found one at Hobby Lobby, but it was a goofy looking metal thing and I didn't want to send it. So I thought I could make one. Had an idea about making a feather tree from the paper mache trees I had bought {intended to be used for entries for the Pink Paislee Design Team search.. that never happened} - and was even in line with the feather boas and stuff, and I looked up and saw this really cute little silver tree. Yeah. Not pink. But ... I can paint it! yeah! so I got out of line, picked up the tree, walked to the back and threw the boas back on their hooks and went to the paint aisle. {Do you think they had metallic pink paint?} But i found something that would work, took it home, and about fumigated myself while painting it {I even did it outside... unfortunately, it was just windy enough that i STILL ended up with paint on my hands.} Then I had to wait til the odor was gone enough to seal it into a box. {Didn't want her to pass out when she opened it after all!} In the meantime, made a little star for it. Took forever to find a box it would fit in to ship - ended up taking one from a different Christmas tree. {eh, I've got totes LOL}. Put it in my car.. well between weather and work it took me 3 days to get both packages to the post office. Got them sent out finally - and I have been so worried it would not get there on time. Because to me.. if you are giving a Christmas tree as a Christmas present.. it really needs to be there BEFORE Christmas. When I checked the tracking number yesterday, there was still nothing updated. Luckily, it arrived today.. and HERE is Abby's post about that. So that made me pretty happy.
And the things I am thankful for?
I am thankful that my 8 year old DD still believes in Santa - and I am thankful that, even though 12 year old DS doesn't... he is willing to play along.
I am thankful to have a home - even if it is an old drafty one. {I'll be even more thankful when my brother fixes the back door and the electricity, so it is both a warmer and less expensive house, and I can move back into my scraproom}
I am thankful that my family is healthy.. there have been many friends with many health problems this year... luckily we are not included with that.
I am very thankful for my mom, without whom most of what I do would not be possible.
So if you're reading this, and I don't have a chance to post anything tomorrow.. I hope you will have a good Christmas. I'm not sure it'll happen here {with 12 people in my house, including DH}.
Have a good one.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
blog candy
http://lifeaslou.blogsome.com/2008/12/20/christmas-mini-album-pages-6-7-plus-150-give-a-way/
And check out the pages to the mini album too :)
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
And the winner is.....
Please email me your contact information (to scrappinjewlz@yahoo.com)
If I have not heard from you in a week's time, I will pick another person.
Friday, December 12, 2008
100th post RAK {updated}
So I want to do a RAK, but one that's a little different {since I am also making an effort to destash my supplies}. I think of it as a Progressive RAK - for every commentor to this post, I will add one item to the RAK. (Duplicate comments will not earn extra items). Items will include rolls or pieces of ribbons, brads, eyelets, diecuts, duplicate stamps, stickers, things like that. Maybe paper, haven't decided yet, because that may make it harder to ship (lol). If there are a ton of posters I reserve the right to split it up and send out more than one. Most items will br brand new.. I am a pack rat that likes to buy things in multiples of two, and I can't resist a sale, but there is a limit to what I can actually use, so I thought I'd pass it on to someone else.
I'll start the box with a little cloth organizer (the mini ones) and a package of Basic Grey chipboard numbers. {I'll post a picture when I get home tonight}. It's a neat little tote, but something I just haven't used, and it doesn't fit on my desk anymore.
{ Wow - 42 responses already! I think I will leave this open until Sunday night, at midnight central time. Then I can get it all packaged on monday, and sent out on Tuesday. }
Thursday, December 11, 2008
11 random things, Tim's tags, and cousins
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
oh my gosh!
I haven't posted for the last couple of days, so here are the tags for the last few days.
Day 8 {metallic crackle paint! yummy!}
Day 9 {Love the painting and how the inked greenery resists the paints!}
Day 10 {there is so much i love about this tag! The crown, the embossing and perfect pearls on the reindeer, the alpha stamp, and the snap as the flower center - genius!}
Make sure to check out Tim's blog for all the instructions, as well as links to where you can find the products he used if you don't have them.
Another very exciting thing that happened today - since my son spent the night with his uncle and cousins, Mom, Rhi, and I went to town for Christmas shopping and a girls day out. While we were eating lunch, I asked Rhi if she wanted to get her ears pierced. We have been talking about it a lot since her 8th birthday, in October, and a few weeks ago, almost managed to get it done, but she chickened out at the last minute. Today she said she wanted to go, so off we went to the mall. Once we reached Clare's she started to change her mind again, but after looking around the store at the earrings, she decided to have it done. {Once she saw that there was a teddy bear to be held, she was fine with it} She chose the October birthstone posts, which are a pretty pink color, and did so well! With kids, they actually pierce both ears at the same time, which is awesome. {Otherwise there would be a lot of kids out there with only one earring!} And I was so proud of her - she didn't even cry. And by the time we got to the next store, she had already forgotten about them. So here are a couple of pics of her with her new earrings.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Oh my goodness!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
a class/blog giveaway, and more tags
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Blog award
Nicole
Kelli
Jessica
Harley
Tim's Second tag, and some other stamps
Juniper branch
My favorite - the umbrella man. I have a tag from CHA that Tim made that has the umbrella man on it.
The Raven
Monday, December 1, 2008
Reindeer Roundup and 12 Tags of Christmas
Monday, November 24, 2008
A sad day
My son came up to me today and said he found Rachel near the lemon tree in the kitchen. She was acting strange, and when I took a look at her, she was breathing hard and very uncomfortable. So I took her into work for xrays. There was large growth in her belly. Pretty uncommon for a young cat.
We made the decision to put her to sleep, because I was NOT going to have her suffer and starve to death. DD is taking it very hard - though she seems better since telling her Rachel will be sitting on Grandpa's lap. We stopped by the grocery store and picked up flowers for her.
Rachel was one of the best cats I have ever had. She let DD pick her up at any time, and would lay there just like a little rag doll. Very sweet disposition. One of the loudest purr boxes i have every heard. She will definitely be missed out here...
Friday, November 21, 2008
I won something! and some atc sneaks
My friend Tracy (who is on the Clear Scraps DT) had RAK from Sakura... and I won!
Makes me happy, I love their pens!!
Here's what the RAK was for.. http://tracywburgos.typepad.com/treasure_the_momentlove_l/2008/11/giveaway-time.html
Here are sneaks of the atcs I have done lately.. I am loving these little pieces of art!!
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Blog Candy
Check out Carlz Cardz to find out how you can win some awesome blog candy, including Copic markers. She also has some VERY cute cards on her blog!
Another spot for blog candy.. Linda Albrecht's blog.. She has made some LOVELY little snow people, leave a comment and you might win one!
Friday, November 14, 2008
Free classes...
Free seasonal classes over at Bad Girls!
This is a fairly new place for me, but oh, my gosh, their stuff is amazing!
Monday, November 3, 2008
I've been tagged!
I was tagged by OBXPatti- check out her blog - she has a cool Halloween treat recipe on there...
The rules:
... link your tagger and list these rules on your blog. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
So... 7 things about me..
1. I love Ben and Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk ice cream. It's not as good as their Totally Nuts (From the ben and Jerry's website - "Totally Nuts - A beautiful butter almond ice cream chock full of roasted hazelnut praline pecans and white fudge-coated almonds. This crunchy creation was nuttin' but kernels of cracklin' sweet magic. Its demise was an event nut lovers found tragic.")
2. I have a Hemingway cat... His name is Felix, and he has 7 toes on each front paw, and 5 on the back (cats normally have 5 on the front and 4 on the back)
3. My name was supposed to be Juliet. The nurse at the hospital where I was born made a mistake and left off the t. Which I, for one, am rather happy about!!
4. I went to school with a girl who's dad went to school with Harrison Ford. They went to school at the school that was used for the Breakfast Club movie.
5. I am addicted to alphabet stamps. The last time I counted, I had 75 sets. THAT was 6 months ago. I am also addicted to those little studio G stamps.. wish I had a Michael's or an A/C Moore, because that is where most of them are released.
6. I saw Jason Michael Carroll in concert, was almost trampled by the crowd when he jumped off the stage about 10 feet away from me.. and touched his hand not once, but TWICE during the show. It was awesome. My daughter was with me at the time (he held her hand too!) and she loves him just as much as I do.
7. I wrote a letter to Piers Anthony in 1983 with an idea for a pun.. and it was published in one of his books (One of the Xanth novels). Not only that, he sent me a letter back, especially, he said, because I told him he didn't have to. {Yes, I still have it}.
I'm going to tag...
1. Abby/ScRaPbOoKfReNzY
2. Jennifer/simplyamom3
3. Kelly/born2scrap
4. TanishaRenee
5. Wendi/wendipooh13
6. Marilyn/melonscraps
7. Cathy Schellenberg
Saturday, November 1, 2008
Disappointment
I also found out a few days ago that AMR will be discontinuing the kits. Not because they were unpopular, but because they have been having a ton of problems getting product from the manufacturers and Stacey and Heather did not feel they were able to provide the service they wanted. VERY disappointing, but totally understandable. There will be two more kits.. November and December..
I have a couple of photos to post from last night Trick or Treating, and a few projects, but that I will have to do from home.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Oh, and look at this!
Thanks Wendi!
This is the layout I did for the third week of the Stuck?! CT call. I have been setting this picture aside for a long time, wanting the perfect papers and embellies for it.. and it finally just all came together. This is one of my favorite pictures of Patrick.. I love the motion of it (darn I miss that Minolta camera!!)
This is the first time I have used the fragments (by Tim) that I bought at the crop last December.. definitely will be needing more of those.. they are SO cool!
Papers and the square eyelet are from We R Memory Keepers. Grungeboard and fragments from Tim. The rubon (on the blue fragment) is from Basic Grey. I believe the orange metal piece is AMM. The chipboard (summertime) is Lil Davis. The metal star is Karen Foster. The yellow star button is Debbie Mumm. Inks from Stazon and CTMH. Paint is from Plaid. The dimensional happy embellishement is DCWV. Stamp used for the journal box is Stampabilities.
The title letters are grungeboard, painted with orange ink (that I mixed myself, since I didn't have any), then inked with StazOn. I also sanded the top lightly to make the stazon not so bright.
This layout was also an exercise in frugality... the center piece and the dotted circle are from the same piece of paper! I also cut a circular piece out from the base page to use under the fragments. I only used 2 pieces of paper for this layout!
Dancing dogs
My mom sent me the link to this video.. it is someone that she knows through the net, and through a group that has some of the most wonderful dogs in the world. Bluecroft My Blue Heaven (Chandi) is a non-registered border collie, a working collie, and was rescued from a shelter. Tina and Chandi are amazing - just watch the video, and you will see what I mean. Everytime I see this, it brings tears to my eyes. And it makes me miss Holly that much more..
This is their routine from 2007
Monday, October 20, 2008
And the winner is.....
Teresa said...
Love these great Fall ATC's! Your giveaway will bring many smiles to whomever wins it, I'm sure! My favorite tradition was going to Aunt Bessie's to trick or treat - we always had to make our way through her awesome spook alley to find the pot of treats back in the back of her house ... she was always the "witch" in the neighborhood, even into her 80's. Still brings a smile to my face. :)
October 19, 2008 9:45 AM
Congratulations Teresa, I hope YOU will be smiling too!!
Please send me your address (you can email it to scrappinjewlz@yahoo.com) so I can get your goodies out to you!
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Letters to Scrap By
The second challenge was B = Black - use a black background for your layout.
I did this one twice, because I loved the challenge, and I was having so much fun at the crop last weekend.
Well, I found out yesterday that I won the B challenge! hooray! I won a gift certificate to the Scrap Attack store, which just rocks. Lauri has the mystery boxes again, and the GC will make it a lot easier to get one! (and this time she has embellishment boxes, including Basic Grey!!)
Here are my layouts...
This one i also used the Stuck?! sketch for. I love those sketches. Still have to get my week 3 challenge done.. that's my plan for tomorrow.
Don't forget to go to http://www.cropscene.com/ to register, and to vote. If you don't have a LSS that is participating, you can sign up with mine (Scrappin' It!)
Saturday, October 18, 2008
Halloween blog party, fall atcs, and a RAK
These are some fall atc's I made. They didn't turn out quite what I had expected, but I still think they are pretty cool!
And now for the RAK - a halloween mini album with Making Memories dimensional stickers, wordfetti, mini sticker tags, and some ribbons. In order to play, post a comment with your favorite halloween tradition, by Sunday night at midnight CST. I will choose a random winner via random.org.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Blog award
Here are the award rules:
1. The winner can put the logo on her blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girl's you nominated.
Here are my awardees:
1. Kelliannie - Awesome cardmaker and stamp designer (miss you Kelli!) I met Kelli on AMR
2. Irene Tan - Oh. My. Goodness. Talk about FABULOUS work! I am SO happy to be on the Clear Scraps DT with this girl!
3. Tracy B. - Another Clear Scraps DT gal - fabulously funny, and awesome scrapper. {And you have to ask her about her boots}
4. Alecia - I met Alecia at Scrap Attack Scrapbooking. I love her pages, her rolos, and her sketches. She has inspired me to make some 6x12 pages for the albums that I have had for many years and never used.
5. Wendi - Also met Wendi at SAS - she has posted some awesome challenges, makes some really great pages, and is super nice to boot.
6. Judge Drea - I do not know how she does everything she does. And STILL has time to win a posting war on AMR, and create pages at the same time! nubs, I'm telling you!
7. JessicaMae - I love Jessica's work! She is one of the most creative ladies I know, and is always coming up with something new, or some found thing to make a new project with. {She inspired me to make my acrylic Mason jar album earlier this year}
Some other goodies...
Websters pages giveaway - I do love these papers.. I first received some in a kit from AMR. Can't wait to get my hands on some more!
Fancy Pants blog giveaway I am SO in love with these new Arctic Chill papers!! oh my! They are just wonderful! I think they would look fabulous on an acrylic album!
Went to a Bingo night by a couple of CTMH consultants.. wonderful projects. And a lucky night.. each bingo game was played to three winners... and I won something {organdy ribbons sets} for each game! And my friend Kim who went with me, won for two! How awesome is that?? Also picked up some older stamp sets, a chocolate ink pad, and a white daisy reinker, and all for a discount.. always nice when that happens!
OH and don't forget to vote!!! www.cropscene.com/voting
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Halloween blog party
Vanessa at A Fanciful Twist is hostessing a blog party this weekend, on the 18th, which is going to be SO much fun! I'm going to play as well, and will be posting a project and a RAK (probably late on the 17th, since I have to work on the 18th!)
Make sure to check out her site, as well as the other blogs that will be participating. Lots of awesome goodness going on this weekend! I can't wait!
I have a lot of other things to post about to, but gosh, sometimes finding the time to get everything done that I need to is just crazy!
Please make sure to go to CropScene and vote! If you do not have a LSS that is participating, you can always sign up with mine ;) (Scrappin' It, in Quincy IL)