Talk, Talk, Talk

Girls just like to talk.  I don't know why.  We just do.  I went out for a girlfriend's birthday celebration last night.  It was so fun to catch up with everyone.  We are all so busy these days that we don't just sit and visit as much as we used to.  The poor waitress had to wait forever for us to finish chatting to take our orders.  The poor staff had to wait for us to stop talking so they could close it down for the night.  And still we chatted in the doorway, prolonging that moment we had to get in our cars and leave for the evening.  And I'm guessing the girls that carpooled stayed and chatted in their cars just a little bit longer!  So good to have girlfriends.

I made a card for the birthday girl.  I modeled it after a May Flaum idea from one of her classes.  I think it was Camp Scrap. I wanted it to be festive and sparkly and fun.  Although it is more sparkly in real life, I wish I had used some paper with gold foil or some gold washi tape to add just a little more zip.  But the card was made with love (and inky fingers - as the stamp on the back says!) and conveyed my heartfelt birthday wishes - so it is all good!

Hope you get to talk, talk, talk with a friend today!

Leslie

Memories

I took time to remember my grade school art teacher today.  She lost her husband recently and so I made her a sympathy card.  I've thought of her off and on over the years.  She influenced me and my love of memory keeping.  She didn't know that making me yearbook editor during my middle school years would start me on the path to becoming an obsessed scrapbooker.  She didn't know that introducing me to watercolors and art concepts would grow into making me a crafty card maker with a room full of art supplies. It makes me wonder if I've influenced someone's path, without even realizing it.  Makes one think.

I used some Tim Holtz distress paints in blues and silver for the background and filled in with some distress ink on top.  After stitching the edge down I added some embellishments with gold accents and then tied it all together with some gold stamping on the background.

Hope you have time to reflect on some memories today!

Leslie

It's amazing

It's amazing how if you get out of the habit of doing something, it is very hard to get back on track!  This applies for everything from crafting (and blogging) to dieting, exercising, reading, organizing - you name it!  It takes dedication to be consistent.

I was crafting and blogging everyday for a while there and then I didn't do it for one day.  And then two. And then ten.  Whoa.  Happens fast.  Kind of like how my dieting is going. Or not.  Well, I guess the lesson is to just get back after it!

A cold front is coming through here and gift markets are popping up everywhere.  I'm thinking Christmas!  Here are some cards I made using a Jennifer McGuire (www.JenniferMcGuireInk.com) inspired technique.

I took a 6X6 stencil (I think it was the Crafters Workshop) and taped a small portion of it in a triangle shape - hence the Christmas tree image) and used various green (and red) Tim Holtz Distress Inks to make the trees.  Then I used another stencil (a Tim Holtz one) to make the "snow" with texture paste and glitter - so cute in real life! I used the stars from, yep, you guessed it, Tim Holtz.  (The man is a genius in the crafting world!) Finally, I stamped and embossed the sentiment and used pop dots to secure it to the card and provide a little extra dimension.  So fun to make and easy to duplicate - yet still have variety.

Hope you get back to good habits today!

Leslie

Hello There

Hello There.  There hasn't been much crafting and blogging going on here.  There has been lots of visiting (Mom's here), shopping, Dunkin Donuts trips (their pumpkin donut really is yummy), and a bit of organizing.  The weather has completely changed this week and we are no longer ridiculously hot, but have beautiful, crisp fall weather instead! Time to get outside and get walking again.

Here is a card I made using white embossing powder and Tim Holtz distress inks.  The sentiment is a silver embossing powder (Ranger) and really shines in real life.  I added a few pearl drops which compliment the damask stamp.  It was super easy to create and is pretty effective.  I think I will be making many versions of this card!

With the change in the weather and a few holiday gift markets going on, I'm thinking about the holidays coming!  I'm looking forward to making some gifts and Christmas cards, and tags and maybe a calendar and also... well you get the idea!

Happy crafting!

Leslie

A case of all or nothing

So I seem to go in spurts these days… from crafting to laundry and everything in between.  I'm usually pretty balanced and steady, but lately I have been in kind of a binge or nothing type of mood.  When I read, I read the whole book or I don't read at all.  I either do laundry as a crazy all day event or I procrastinate it until it's a huge pile taking over the laundry room.  It is the same with crafting.  I'm either scrapbooking and card making all of the time or doing nothing!  I guess I am having trouble pacing myself.  It's hard to find that balance where everything is still under control but pushing all of the boundaries!

Speaking of balanced, I thought this layout was nicely balanced.  How's that for a great transition!  So many happy memories from this trip.

Hope you can find some balance in your life!

Leslie

A whirlwind

So it has been kind of a whirlwind around here... and I think the house might reflect this crazy amount of activity as well.  I attended my first ever online "live" event - there were scrapbooking lessons and interactions with teachers all day for the TrueScrap event.  It was fun to try and watch the videos, listen to the commentary and text messages in a chat room all at the same time.  And I thought I was going to be crafting during the lessons.  haha!  Definitely not something I could attempt.  As it was, I had to miss a lot of the classes dealing with real time activity here.  Fortunately, the classes are all archived forever, so I can go back and re-watch and pause as much as I want. Phew.

I left the scrap event to pick up Mom at the airport.  It will be fun to visit with her over the next few weeks.  And did I mention it was homecoming this weekend as well?  So my son, who is a Junior in High School, was involved in getting a mum for his date (it's a Texas thing - and it is BIG), a new suit (at the last minute), a new shirt (at the last, last minute), pictures, dinner, dance and so on!  It was very exciting and a fun, but tiring event.  He fell asleep very early on Sunday night.


Here is a camping layout I made using a ScrapRoom kit and some stickers from my stash. Believe it or not, I am using things from my stash.  Of course, I could create from now until the end of time and I'd still have left overs!

I do most of my journaling by hand (instead of the computer) because I like having my handwriting in the scrapbook as part of my story and as a memory for my kids.  There is nothing quite like a person's individual handwriting!

Hope you can get crafty today!

Leslie

Getting ready

I am looking forward to a scrapbook "weekend" of sorts... I am signed up for the online True Scrap event - scrapbooking classes and tutorials on line, but "live" with other scrapbookers.  I think I am ready to upload and share content and chat with people on line... I've come a long way since I started my blog in August!

I have no idea how industry leaders and teachers like Jennifer McGuire, May Flaum and Noell Hyman and Laine Ehman are so consistent in their content and postings!  It takes so much time - not only to craft, but to take the pictures, crop and edit (which I admit I don't do very much of that), write the post and upload the images.

Here is a layout I completed earlier.

I used a kit from The Scrap Room for this one... plus added in some embellishments from my stash.  

Hope you get some crafty time this weekend!

Leslie