Busy, productive weekend

Taking advantage of one of my last free weekends...soccer will soon be starting up for the spring season.

Yesterday morning busy running errands and doing some grocery shopping. While out and about I stopped in at a crop that Paperwings was vending at (formerly the Scrapbook Cafe). Nora brought my DT kit with her so I was able to pick it up...just a 5 minute drive as opposed to a 40 minute drive! Happy to say I got some fun new product from Bella Blvd & some trims from Websters Pages to work with...stay tuned for those projects in an upcoming post.

I was able to finish up all my projects for Coordinates Collections this weekend! Now just have to write my "blurbs" and send off the emails. I was able to get 3 layouts done and a card! Here's a peek at one of the layouts...


Lots of "fussy-cutting" on this one for sure!

So after I finished up my projects from the kit I started working on the canvas page Jamie sent me. If you were fortunate enough to get the "Charmed" kit before it sold out you will be getting a canvas album page with your kit...it doesn't come with the "Cherished" kit :sorry: (It is roughly 6 1/2 x 7" and is a refill page for one of Donna Downey's canvas albums) There are so many different things you can do with this...Lisa mentions a few ideas in her kit preview videos)

Here's my canvas with the first layer of color misted on it...

Then the much talked about iron on (gosh I love this tree!)....

If you noticed the background color looks a bit different, that's because I misted my page with water and let dry before applying the iron on. Oh, do you see that little snail? He was stamped on to the page with black Stazon ink.

Well that's all I'm going to show you for now.

I believe we are again shooting for the 5th of March as preview day on the Coordinates Collections site.

Happy Hump Day!

Ahhh...the middle of the week...only 2 more days until the weekend. On a weather note...I just maybe home again tomorrow or possibly sent home early??? Snow is suppose to begin sometime after midnight tonight. Along with the snow we will be having hurricane force winds again and to think soccer starts next week! It's going to be a snowy, cold, muddy mess...can't wait :wink:

Anyway haven't really completed any projects this week....instead I've been doing a lot of this lately....



I found that I've been putting my ideas on little slips of paper while waiting in the car or on my lunch hour sometimes. The blue slip is from the other week...it's the idea I sketched out for my "SnowDay" layout a few posts ago. I just pulled the a couple of these out of my wallet...hoping to get to work on the "white" one next. Got to get the rest of my March projects done and I'm hoping to get to the Cyber Crop at Coordinates Collections this weekend. Again it was a late month for the DT getting their kits so I believe we are shooting for the 5th of March. I'm hoping to get it all done by the 1st. Fingers crossed.

Where did the weekend go?

It seemed like I was just giving thanks for it being Friday and here it is Sunday night already!

Had a pretty busy weekend planned...lot's on the "to do list" and had a fundraiser for the U14 girls soccer team on Saturday night (they are playing in Spain this summer)...was nice to get out and have a fun night with the adults.

On Thursday I received the "Cherished" kit from Coordinates Collections in the mail. With this kit we are trying something new...it doesn't have an alpha!


After polling the members we decided that we would drop an alpha from a kit once in a while in order to put more "product" in the kit. This kit has a fabulous vintagey/victorian feel to it. Loads of new product from Prima, Scribble Scrabble & Jenni Bowlin to name a few. I am not a "vintagey" type scrapper so this is really making me step out of my box. However with a little bit of thought I think I can make it work for any type of layout. I managed to get one layout done this weekend and I am "chewing" on another idea or two.

Here's a little peek at what I got done...


This is a look at several layered scrolls. The top scroll is actually a Donna Downey iron-on which I picked up in the CC store. I ironed it onto a piece of pattern paper from the kit and then cut it out. The two other scrolls are cut from the same doublesided pattern paper.

Stay tuned for more later...off to do another load of laundry!

Put the "playing" to work...

So today I put some of this past weeks playing to work. It felt really good to get "creative" on my layout today. Look at this detail...

Now first off I'd like to apologize for the lighting...still working on what type of lights I want to have in the scraproom and most of the time I take my shots outside or in natural light (that wasn't happening today). Anyway used some handstitching and embossing powders. Nothing really new, but not things I do on a regular basis. Though I had so much fun with the handstitching and like the look it gave my layout...you may see it more often.

I never like the look of my swirls when I draw them free-hand...so I cheated today. I used a digital brush (this is from the Chick Pea Swirls set by Rhonna Farrer...available at 2ps) It was close to what I had in mind, so I printed it on plain paper in the size I wanted. I added an additional "swirl" on the end with a pencil. I cut the paper into a smaller size to fit on my layout, positioned it where I wanted to stitch and pierced holes along the lines that I wanted to stitch.
After removing the paper I began stitching with embroidery floss.

The snowflakes I printed out from my computer onto the back of the pattern paper, then cut by hand. I lightly outlined the edges with pen to give more definition, then coated all over with several coats of clear embossing powder, then I added some silver embossing powder...allowing some of the clear areas to show.

Here is the final result..


Supplies used:
Jillibean Soup: pattern paper "sesame oil" from the Egg Drop Soup Collection, journaling & number sprouts, alphabeans, & those fabulous corrugated alphas.
white cardstock
clear & silver embossing powder
embroidery floss & brown pen.

So that's what I accomplished this afternoon. Tomorrow it's back to the paying job :wink:

Recharging

Yes, I've been absent from my blog and really not spending much time on the computer this week (insert gasp/look of shock). Instead I've been recharging/playing. How you may ask??? Well the recent series of snowstorms has kept me close to home and I decided to finish reading the book I started on the plane trip home from California. It was good...it was set in a Welsh Village approx 1950's...once I got into the way the Welsh "speak" it was a good read..."The Earth Hums in B flat"
I haven't read in so long probably due to the fact I needed glasses :wink:

When I felt like being creative I just played. Not really working on a project...just playing with products & techniques that I want to incorporate into future projects.

Here's a little look at something I was playing with earlier this week...



I got these 2 color samples at CHA (Tattered Angels Glimmer Mists) and had picked up these tree stencils a few months ago. I wanted to get a feel for the colors and try out the stencils. Now that I played I have a little scrap of paper with an idea all sketched out. Just have to wait for a few things to come in the mail :wink: Speaking of little scraps of paper I've sketched out a few ideas for some layouts...now I just need to get them done.

I really enjoyed "playing" with some of my supplies this week. I feel creatively "recharged" and ready to dive into some new projects. I think tomorrow may be the day!

Enjoy your Valentine's Day with those that you care about and maybe you can indulge in a decadent piece or two of chocolate!

brrr...it's cold out

It may be cold, but there was sunshine! No more snow until Tuesday.

I couldn't believe these icicles outside my window this afternoon! Some are 2-3ft in length! To get this picture I actually threw open the window and leaned out...this picture really doesn't do it justice. It took me nearly 45 minutes to clean off my car this morning, so we didn't make it to church. Fritz spent close to half the day outside enjoying the snow...it was truly a beautiful day( a bit cold though)

Yesterday was a different story...it was just plain nasty. We did end up losing power for about 45 minutes...we fared much better than most people. A few pictures from yesterday (Dan remembered to take some pictures for me while on patrol)...


This is 20th Street approaching the boardwalk/beach. (Love the water spot on the lens :wink:)

This is 14th & the boardwalk looking out at the Fishing Pier...no that's not the moon, it's a snowflake.

This is 11th & boardwalk facing north.

So I did have time to scrap with the BG layout kit we got a CHA. The original projects are designed by Layle Koncar. I really didn't deviate much since the product supplied was very limited.

This is a layout in memory of "Riley" whom we lost just last week. It is using the papers from the Max & Whiskers line.

This layout uses papers from the Kioshi line. It is mainly pastels mixed with a rich dark brown.

Well that's all I have for now. Need to go back and proof this...I'm trying to type and watch the Super Bowl. This post has taken twice as long as it should.

Kids are excited school is on a 2 hour delay tomorrow.

A blizzard???!!!!

Blizzard= sustained winds at 35+mph, visibility less than 1/4 mile, and these conditions continue for 3 or more hours....yep that's what we've got. It's been snowing since about 5pm last night and is expected to move out between 6-10pm tonight. We have sustained winds at 35-40mph and gusts around 50mph. Right now we have somewhere between 12-18inches on the ground. Here's a look out my scraproom window... The arrow is pointing to the mailbox...the post is almost completely buried in the snow. I'm sure after the plows come through we will be digging it out too. There are trees and wires down all over the place. Our lights have flickered on and off several times already this morning. (Figured I'd hop on now and post before I totally lose power) Poor Dan is working daywork in Ocean City today. The island is really suffering from these winds combined with the wet snow. Just talked to him and there are a lot of roads that can't even be plowed due to the electric lines and poles which are lying across them. The electric company says they won't even respond until the winds have diminished. Even the police dept's. backup generator has failed...they are awaiting a new generator to be delivered by the County Emergency Management Office. (From a scrapping/curiosity stand point I did send him to work this morning with my point & shoot camera)

Speaking of scrapping...it's a perfect day for that. At CHA Basic Grey gave out a retailers layout kit (which was great for us when we were trying to match papers for upcoming kits) in the kit they supplied pieces of the new papers, some stickers, and layout instructions. You pretty much have to follow their instructions completely because they only gave you a few full sheets of paper...most are just half sheets.

Here I pulled all the papers from the "Max & Whiskers" line...

The papers are double-sided. The one sided is very "themey"/pet specific (very cute for your pet layouts) but the other sides are non-themey patterns. Love the colors in this line...nice teal blue, browns, orange, red, and yellow. (Masculine/autumn colors). Right now I am doing the layout that is pet specific...just printed out a picture before the power fails me. Hopefully I can get a few more done over the weekend and will be sharing later.

Stay tuned for some storm pictures later too. Tomorrow is suppose to be cold & sunny...I suppose we will all be out shoveling snow.

February already???

Well that month just flew by!

Not much to say after my long winded post yesterday. It's still lonely. I find myself looking around the house wondering where he is. Twice yesterday I almost asked the kids or Dan where the dog was and a few times as I heard icicles/snow falling off the roof on to the deck, I stopped what I was doing and headed toward the door thinking it was the dog trying to come inside.

As promised I have a few projects to share from the Heart kit at Coordinates Collections. This was such a fun kit and it had SO much yummy Pink Paislee "Cupid" in the kit and the addons in the store.

Here's the decor item I made...

it just hangs from a pretty sheer pink ribbon. Right now it is hanging from a door handle in the house. Notice the 4 cut flowers=4 family members. It's hard to see but I also used pink stickles in the centers of the circles on the heart.

Here's a layout...


The rest of my projects are all uploaded to my gallery over at Coordinates Collections.

Well that's all for now...Happy February!