Pile o' Rocks

What does a girl ask for as a birthday gift when she doesn't really need anything? I mean really, h0w many scrapbooking and art supplies - clothes - jewelry does a woman need? What I really wanted - and felt I needed - was a dump truck full of nice flat rocks to start my raised gardens with. I need a place to put my plants - and why not just do it right the first time?? So, my husband had 8 yards of rocks delivered on Saturday for my birthday. Probably the weirdest gift I've ever asked for, but hey - it's my birthday and I'll cry if I want to, right??
This is a picture of my son and niece - they are so cute together. She is 3 months older than him, and they have always looked so much a like. When they were younger many people thought they were twins. Both have blue eyes, light hair, fair skin.

The last picture is the turtle we saw at our house today. She was hiding under the cool dirt as the sun was pretty hot.

Well, that's it for now. Off to work on some assignments for EK Success.

TTFN.

Roughing it with the Men!

I made this Fancy Pants Designer Trading card for Kelley at Scrapbooks and Beyond. Inside the bookplate is a fabric lady, fussy cut from her background and glued down to the card. I then added the Heidi Swapp bookplate, stitched it down with red thread and added several coats od Glossy Accents to make it look like she was encased in epoxy. It looks much better in person. I love they way the Glossy Accents makes the silk flower a little translucent and you can see the vintage book page behind. The title of the chapter was "Roughing it with the Men" which totally tickled my fancy. The flowers are from Prima, and I think they are silk. LOVE them and lovin' me those Fancy Pants DTC's....

Summer Solstice

In the northern hemisphere, the longest day of the year (near June 22) when the Sun is farthest north. In the southern hemisphere, winter and summer solstices are exchanged. The summer solstice marks the first day of the season of summer. The declination of the Sun on the (northern) summer solstice is known as the tropic of cancer (23° 27'). ..... Yup. I'm a crab, born under the tropic of Cancer. On Monday I will officially be over the hill....well not really cause I still kinda feel like I'm on the crest of the hill.....with many many many years to come before I get to being over the hill.... they do say that 40 is the new 20.... I made the oversized ATC from the Fancy Pants Designer trading cards and is the one I talked about the other day that I sent to my friend Nat. You can check out her blog to see the backside! She is on the ScrapMuse Design Team and always sends her projects and articles just right, and totally rockin', love that! I used some scraps from an assignment I did for the Winter Issue for Natalie (diffferent Natalie) at Creative TECHniques magazine and whipped this up. Here are my projects from the June ScrapMuse kit. I just love these love, Elsie papers. I added the image digitally since I never got around to printing one to put there. It's not an old picture from high school like I wanted, but it'll do. When our stuff gets out of storage (if ever....) I've got a picture in mind that was taken of me in the art room that will be perfect for this page.

Flowers from my Garden and turtles too!

My flowers are looking so beautiful, it's hard for me not to get them moved down to their new home...the beds will be ready soon I hope. I am such a weirdo, I asked my husband for a truck load of rocks for my birthday so I can get started on all the rock things I want to make. I have set aside two spots in the front of my house for the tiger lillies, peonies, valerium, day lillies, white and purple irises and probably 200 daffodil bulbs that need to be transplanted. I plan on having a tiered bed in the front - with a walk down the center. I am so anxious to get that started!! Right now they at my old house, neglected since I left them in 2002 to move to Washington. We rented our house out for a while and then sold it to my brother. He lives in NM and none of his tenants take care of the grounds either. It's pretty sad, a lot of things have died off already because they were delicate and crowded out. It makes me sad, I am the only one that goes over there and looks at them. I have my little V

mow the lawn in the fenced in part of the yard....he likes being around the flowers too, and he pulls up the pesky ferns for me. Plus he catches lots of bugs and studies them....

Anyway, just how old do you think my peonies are? You'll never guess unless I"ve told you....they came from my grandmother's flower beds - and she got them from her Mother. Can you believe that. They are so tangible - so alive - and women that are a part of my history enjoyed their frangrant beautifulness. I love it. The hot pink and white ones came from my Memere. The light pink ones with the funny centers are some funky breed I picked out of a catalog. LOVE them too. We had a little, well several little visitors today. 4 snapping turtle mama's looking for a place to lay their eggs. They are very funny little creatures, but they are MAKING HOLES IN MY NEWLY PLANTED GRASS and that doesn't make me happy!! Oh well, they'll be gone before we know it and the raccoons will be digging up the holes to eat the eggs.....the circle of life!!

Fancy Pants Designer Trading Cards

I love these little gems....so fast and easy to make something fun. I made this one in particular for my LSS, note the GEMS in my Big Valentine's eyes..... ha ha ha. He got a big kick out of this tonight....haven't heard him laugh that much in a long time. The card I used is the one that has this printed on the back:

"Life's Memories play over and over like beautiful music from my soul."

I've made several large Designer trading cards lately, one went to Germany to be with my Friend Nat (maybe she'll scan and post it on her blog so I can link to it) and one went to my lovely friend Vicki Chrisman, the picture below is from her blog.

The one shown above came from Cosmo Cricket I think, I suffer from CRS lately (can't remember shit). I think it's the stress gnawing away at my brain cells. Anywho, I made another one for Kelley, the owner of Scrapbooks & Beyond to display in the store and for HER after. I used the same lady I think that I used for Vic and Nat's. THANKS Fancy Pants (Jodi) I love these things!! I'll try to take a picture of the one I made for the store the next time I go in....which will probably be tomorrow when I drop the rest of my projects off to her!

Beginner Sewing on Paper, June 26th

Just wanted to share the class sample for my latest class at Scrapbooks & Beyond. I had lots of fun figuring out the transparencies.....and the swirls.....LOVE them. Sorry about the crooked image, I was feeling a bit on the lazy side and didn't feel like scanning and stitching this together on the 'puter. Here's the class description: Join Catherine Scanlon, author or Sewing on Paper as she demonstrates how to do some basic hand and machine stitching on a 12 x 12 scrapbook page. We'll use the sewing machine to attach a transparency, and learn basic tips for sewing on paper. Learn to tie french knots to attach things to your page and learn to use the templates and tools for hand stitching - AND you'll leave with a completed scrapbook page. Tuesday, June 26th from 6:15 to 8:15. Cost: $16.00

Art from the Heart

I am excited BEYOND belief to share my latest big project with you. I got the word last week from Martingale & Company that my new book, Art from the Heart Mixed Media Collage will be on the shelves at a book or craft store near you on November 19th!! Check out the cover - which contains two of my favorite projects from the book - Inez loved Her and Speciman #50. I also need to thank Ana Ventura for her amazing editing and endless patience with me....and Jo Packham and Sara Toliver from Kidara, thank you! I am not sure the book is available for pre-order on Amazon - but as soon as it is I'll be sure to share that information with you!

the Protected Lady Slipper!

Over the last couple of days I've discovered several (a total of 6 I think) pink and ONE white lady slipper growing in our family compound (i mean neighborhood, ha) . We've always known they were protected - but that never really stopped me from picking them as a kid. (shame on me, but I was just a kid....picking pretty flowers for my Mom....I didn't really know what protected meant at the time!!)

I haven't seen ANY of these beauties in the neighborhood in a long time, and I certainly never thought to take pictures of them either. I love these flowers, LOVE LOVE LOVE them. I think because it means summer is almost here. The bottom picture is a plant called a bunchberry, I think. After it blooms it gets some funky berries. Don't eat 'em if you see 'em.

If you see any of these lovelies in your neighborhood - remember they are a disappearing natural wonder - so don't pick them.

Learn more about the Lady Slipper from WikiPedia: Lady Slippers is a term used to describe the orchids in the subfamily Cypripedioidea, which includes the genera Cypripedium, Mexipedium, Paphiopedilum, Phragmipedium and Selenipedium, distinguished by their slipper-shaped pouches (modified labellums), which function by trapping insects so that they are forced to climb up past the staminode, behind which they collect or deposit pollinia. This subfamily has been considered by some (Rasmussen, 1985) to be a family Cypripediaceae, separate from the Orchidaceae. Lady's slipper orchid (Cypripedium calceolus) The subfamily Cypripedioideae is monophyletic and consists of five genera. Their common features are two fertile diandrous (that is, with two perfect stamens) anthers, a shield-shaped staminode and a saccate (sac-shaped) lip.

June ScrapMuse Kit!

Here it is, the Love Elsie ScrapMuse kit. It's adorable. It's lovely. It's yummy and all that yumminess you can imagine! I made a nice layout about my love of art that began in high school, but I can't share yet. SORRY, really - really I am {not}!! I'm teaching a private lesson at Scrapbooks & Beyond today. My little class from last week and the spinner organizer from a couple of weeks ago. Have a fab day everyone. Maybe I'll post some pictures of the egg toss last night that I participated in at the Scout Meeting last night. Fun, lots of fun!!

My NEW laptop desk!

I mentioned my new laptop desk a couple of days ago - the one I got for 2 bucks at my brother's yard sale....well here it is. It's actually a child's desk but it will be perfect for my boudoir chair I plan on having in my studio. After I add some castors to the bottom - this little gem will perfect for my 17" HP. I can store my date book and my mouse pad nicely inside - easy to reach yet out of sight when not in use.... and there's even a spot for a pencil so it won't roll off....life is GRAND I tell ya! This has so many layers of stuff. First I painted it with regular acrylic paint to hide the nasty graffiti, then I glued down so fabulous tissue paper I picked up at Barnes and Noble ages ago. Then it was crackle, crackle, crackle and MORE crackle. When I was satisfied with that I added some acrylic paint and brown ink from Ranger to make it look a bit older than it is. I am toying with painting the legs turquoise to match the Making Memories paint dabbed on the top....what do you think?? To finish things off I sealed it with several coats of inferior (Krylon rocks) imitation Triple Thick Clear Glaze. Why didn't I get Krylon you ask? Because I was in a hurry, had a 40% off coupon to Jo Anns and that's that.... ;-) BTW, just wanted to mention that I always take pictures of my feet. For whatever reason - I love to do that especially when I have a fresh manicure or new shoes....Today - well I just wanted to stand on my desk... ha! That's my excuse for today... ha! Tell me what you think about painting the legs to match the turqouise. Remember, my studio is painted a totally different color of blue... and, I am feeling like I can't spell today so please accept my apologies in advance!! TTFN, gotta run down to the bus stop and get the Little V.

Pablo Picasso

Pablo once said.... "I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it." ditto!

Project for Scrapbooks & Beyond

Last week Kelley gave me my monthly package to make fun stuff for to display at the store to help sell the products she gets in stock. If the customers can see a project using the goods it usually helps them come up with ideas of their own. Inside was this funky wooden clock she picked up at Christmas Tree store, super cheap and in sad shape - I immediatley thought it had potential. A little pink paint, several layers of that yummy crackle I talked about a couple of days ago and turquoise paint embedded in the cracks - some fancy schmancy numbers from Basic Grey and Triple Thick Glaze, add my beloved Basic Grey paper in the center and I think I've got a beautiful thing to hang in my "room" when it comes back from being on display at Scrapbooks & Beyond. It doesn't appear to keep time for crap - even though I invested in new clock works, but I love to look at it, so I guess that's all that matters.... right? In other news, please don't fall off your chair because I posted two times in one day.....ha. Seriously, sorry about the lighting on those pictures....I just couldn't wait until tomorrow to take the pictures and post it for you then. I just am so in love with the way this clock looks. I just looked back to admire it, and it appears to be on time now that I tightened things up a little with a wrench or whatever that thing is called. Anywho, looks like we {might} close next week. Even though we aren't happy, things have got to move forward. My class at Absolutely Everything this Saturday has been re-scheduled. Kinda relieved - even though I have everything ready to go. I've had such a hard time wrapping my brain around anything that I feel much better about not making an utter fool of myself in front of 20 women anxious to learn about Sewing on Paper. I will say I am excited as Kate invited me to go down and play at the store with some new products in stock. She said I should go before school got out - so I hope to get down there next week. Kate is such a cool woman - and so creative and fun. Totally looking forward to hanging out down there (and maybe a little shopping too!) Anywho.....................TTFN.....

New class posted at Scrapbooks & Beyond!

I've got another class at Scrapbooks and Beyond this month. I'll post the sample as soon as I get down there to get the products to make it! Sign up while space is available - I think we have room for 8 or 10 in this one. Beginner Sewing on Paper: Tuesday, June 26th from 6:15 to 8:15. Cost: $16 Join the author or Sewing on Paper as she demonstrates how to do some basic hand and machine stitching on a 12 x 12 scrapbook page. We'll use the sewing machine to attach a transparency, and learn basic tips for sewing on paper. Learn to tie french knots to attach silk flowers and learn to use the templates and tools for hand stitching - AND you'll leave with a completed scrapbook page. Instructor: Catherine Matthews-Scanlon

Crackle Glaze

I've had quite a few people ask me what I use for Crackle Glaze on my projects....and I've got to admit - that I've used the craft store products in the past and they have sucked big time. Mixed results - sometimes fantastic sometimes AWFUL results even if the process was the same. After putting so much effort into a piece of art, getting mixed results is somewhat frustrating. But what could a girl do anywhoo?? Well, I guess I should shop at the hardware store more often, LOL. I saw this product at Lowe's during my frequent trips for painting supplies, I kept putting off buying it, probably because I didn't want to bring ANOTHER THING INTO THIS HOUSE to take up more space that we don't have to take up!! I've gotta tell ya, NO MORE WILL I be worried about mixed crackle results on my projects or where to put the dang container for that matter ! Fret no more people The American Tradition faux Porcelain Crackle Glaze from Lowe's Hardware store ROCKS my world. I promise, if you like crackle you'll like this stuff! I was so excited I had to share - and my project is not even completely dry yet. I bought a wooden school desk from my brother at their yardsale on Saturday ($2.00 and made of maple) but the top was a little iffy at best (lots of bad words written in marker ..) so I covered it with a piece of fancy schmancy tissue paper that looks like a vintage world map - and now I'm in the process of making it look like very old and worn leather with the crackle glaze and lots of other fun chemicals that have no compromising odor....lol.. I promise to share pictures when it's done. Hopefully before the end of the week! I'm in a better mood, we finally had our appointment today...that's really all I can say about that. But making art always makes my heart happy - even if my guts are in a knot like they have been. I also had coffee with two very nice ladies this morning, kindred spirits I think. Thanks Leslie and Hannah - I had a great time! Hope you had fun at Ikea.

Sewing on Paper......

The class tonight was great, lots of fun and the ladies were all so talented....I really enjoyed myself. It was nice. We all had a good laugh when I passed the old etiquette book to Wende and asked her to pick a page or two and rip them out, she thought it was sacrilage - come to find out - she's a librarian!! You can see the look on her face on the picture above that she wasn't to happy to be ripping out the pages! LOL. It's all good Wende, all good! I saved all those books, REALLY I did ;-) I would have loved to have her read to us for the entire class, she has a very soothing and lovely voice.... I am sure she's a wonderful librarian. You can also see what an awesome stitcher she is, she just about finished her project and it turned out lovely!

The one above is of Leslie stitching her heart out....she was making a funny face.....the one below is Hannah...two very fun ladies that I am happy to have met.....can't wait to have coffee on Monday!

THANKS Michelle, Kasey, Leslie, Hannah and Wende for coming to my class, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

Memorial Day Parade (better late than never!)

Ian and I marched with the Cub Scouts in the Memorial Day parade. It was the perfect weather - not to hot - not to cold - and not rainy. I enjoyed the 2+ mile walk from the High School down and across the big bridge and to the town next door. I saw so many people that I have not seen for years - it was nice to smile that HEY, I know you - how the heck are you smile -haven't seen you in years - you look great - OMG your son is ONLY 7 - he's almost as tall as you - just a thirty 30 second exchange, but meaningful non-the-less.............and move on to the next step.

I painted the mudroom after that. Yup, couldn't resist in choosing a color that would allow the dirt to blend in....LOL.

In other news, still feeling not so optimistic about moving into our house any time soon. Even though it feels like we are talking to the right guy - I think there is ONLY so much he can do to help us. He wants to. He's trying to. We need him to......but we still have a lawyer on retainer to keep them on track.

TTFN, teaching at the local scrapbook store tonight.

There is GOOD in this world!

I've talked about Bernie Berlin and her quest to help the animals that can't save themselves from the people that neglect, abuse and abandon them. My little Valentine raised money over the winter to give to Bernie for her rescue by selling the Godiva chocolate he got in his Christmas stocking.....it was an idea he came up with on his own, and well...since you may not know, Bernie needs OUR help. You can read about the details on Claudine Hellmuth's Blog...please do what you can and if you can't help monetarily you can help by adding the 6 Degree's badge to your blog or website! PS. The adorable artwork was designed by Claudine Hellmuth!! THANKS Claudine for letting me post it here! I've hinted to my husband that he could order some custom art from you for my birthday ;-) PSS! Thank you BERNIE for your devotion to the animals. I wish there were more people in the world like you dedicated to doing good things to help this world we live in!! YOU Rock!

Thank you Friend!

Once again the power of a friend has touched me and made my heart feel so much better. My good friend and very talented artist Vicki Chrisman mentioned me on her blog, not just a casual mention.....but she said I was the most inspiring scrapbooker....thank you dearest, sweet friend....you totally switched my day for me! The issues of the day remain the same, but my heart is a bit lighter....
So, who inspires me the most? I must say that the woman that most inspired me when I first started scrapbooking my memories was Rebecca Sower....and she still inspires me... she inspires THE WORLD.....but, there is another artist that totally BLOWS my mind and drops my jaw when I see her art that deserves mention. She is on the ScrapMuse Design Team, and her lovely name is Lana Rappette. THANKS Lana for all the cool things you do to inspire me! Now, you're it! xox. Plus, her journaling is very touching and often times I get teary when I read her words, like on this page "Just Ask" that she has in her ScrapMuse gallery!

How do you Stay Optimistic?

When life seems to throw curve balls at you left and right (ha - that sounds funny) what do you do to stay optimistic and believe that good will prevail over evil? I am struggling with this issue, as I always do. It's hard not to let the turkeys get me down ! Today I just feel like succumbing to these turkeys and sign on the dotted line so I can get on with my life an move in our house. Is it so wrong for a company to be honorable these days and do the right thing, the thing that they promised? Is it so wrong to ask for what was rightfully promised to us? Is it wrong to ask for a home that is free from defect? These are my struggles today. I have no art to share with you as I have visions of snakes in my head anyway!

I had to SHARE this!

I told you about my Engineering book I picked up right? Well, check out what I did with it. Of course, I love it so much I haven't torn any of the pages out....but I did scan something - and then an hour later came up with this from Photoshop 7!

Soooooo Happy!

I have to tell you how happy I am to FINALLY get to an Etsy vintage wallpaper package BEFORE they are all sold out. I have been reading this lovely blog Art Tea Life for quite some time and just love how she stitches things together and practically everything she does. So this morning I was pretty happy to find that she posted some vintage wallpaper packages for sale in her ESTY shop. Yahoo, thank you Sandy!!

In other news, Congratulations to Carol Banks for winning the Sewing on Paper book I donated a while back for the Fund Raiser to help Jen Gallacher and her son. Carol, expect your book SOON and I hope you like it!! The fund raiser RAISED OVER $12,000 to help the Gallacher family with their brave fight to help their son. Wow. The power of people amazes me and I am honored that I could be a part of that wonderful thing! Sadly, Jen's son lost his fight with Colin Cancer. Kudos to Tania Willis for taking this project on.

Have a great Monday everyone!

He Didn't like this Picture!

I didn't feel like printing out a picture so I found one from the "I forbid you to use it in public pile" LOL. Enjoy! It's been a long day of errands and running around. This is another layout from the May ScrapMuse kit!

Catch UP time!

Sorry it's been so long, all I can say is we've been LOVING having Joe around full-time instead of just every other weekend or whenever he could come home from RI.

• The retirement ceremony was awesome! So many letters of appreciation from so many IMPORTANT people. (John McCain, Arnold Schwarzanegger, President Bush, Bill and Hilary Clinton, the Gov. of Maine John Baldacci, Former President Bush....and that's all I can remember at the moment.) Ian was made an Honorary Firefighter - and I got a certificate of appreciation too! It was wonderful - and now on to our life OUTSIDE the military. So many uncertainties, so many possibilities - so exciting! Here's a picture of Ian receiving his honorary Firefighter shirt!

• I was sick with some kinda stomach bug / dizzy head yesterday - laid out on the couch most of the day. The good thing was I got several naps in and relaxed most of the day.
• Took the Dog for her Heartworm/Lyme Disease and other spring shots. Good News, she doesn't have Lyme or Heartworm....ya. But, I have to put that chemical stuff FrontLine on her and that grosses me out. I made Joe do it....HA!
• I finished the ScrapMuse Newsletter for May. Wow, we used to have a NL that was 8 to 10 pages and I could breeze right through it. Now we're doing 15 to 17 pages JAM PACKED full of layouts, articles and inspiration. It takes me at least 5 hours to get it JUST right. Designing that kind of stuff still makes me happy.
• I also whipped up a fun little layout for ScrapMuse with my Kit. If you have any questions, I 'll be happy to answer them! I have another one just waiting for me to print a picture and put it on. I loved the Crate paper in this kit! LOVED it!

Bernie Berlin talked about Ian on her blog the other day! It's the post from May 13th! Thanks Bernie. That made Ian so happy!

I've got classes scheduled at Absolutely Everything for June and July. Both great fun.....hope you can make it...

Well, that's about it. I keep promising to be a better blogger...but life is so busy....

Absolutely EVERYTHING!

I'll be teaching this perpetual picture frame at AE on June 9th. It's a beginner Sewing on Paper class - and the advanced class will be in August..... Anyhoo, this has a canvas base, uses Crate Paper, Heidi Swapp flowers, Bazzill (love love them) buttons and a page protector. The page protector is left open on one side so you could slide a photo, calender, to-do list or whatever makes your heart flutter inside.

It was fun to make......

On another Martha note. Page 106 in her book "The Martha Stewart Cookbook" has an awesome banana bread recipe. If you don't have sour cream......try this is EXCELLANT! Whip up 1/2 cup of small curd cottage cheese in a blender and use as a subsititution!! OMG, awesome!

Well, we're off for the next couple of days for the Big V's retirement from the Navy.....wahoo!

Martha or MomPlait..... you decide!

I've become very domesticated in the last couple of years! And, most recently - even more so... and I can tell you why. Everywhere I read - people have cancer, stomach ailments, diabetes, heart troubles, skin issues....and I've decided that my Little V needs the absolute BEST start in life that I can possibly give him. How are you going to do that you ask??

• Well, first we watched Fast Food Nation, right after New Year. We don't eat at McD's any more, well I don't but the Big V and the Little V love it. I think they sneak it sometimes.....but I may be wrong. Who knows?? ya, mom KNOWS everything kiddo!
• I have also implemented a NO PLASTIC in the microwave rule. It gives to many chemicals off, and where do they go?
• I've been making my own jams, jellies, relishes, tomato sauces and the like. We don't buy muffins at the local Stop and Rob anymore - I try to make them when I can. Other than that, we don't eat them.
• I discovered an awesome recipe in Martha Stewart's little food mag. for Granola Bars....I made some revisions to make it more the way we like it, but YUMMMM.
• I try to avoid products with corn syrup, maltodextrin (corn syrup solids) and other fake sugar stuff. AND absolutely no artificial sugar subsititutes.....except stevia!
• We don't drink soda!! If we want the fizz, we reach for sparkling water.
• I make my own instant oatmeal. Easy peasy Lemon Squeezy!! Let me know if you want the recipe.
• And the best thing I discovered.....how to make my own yogurt with NO CORN SYRUP. Another EASY thing. Little V calls it MomPlait (because it has the texture of yoplait) Big V calls me Martha. I love Martha. I think MomPlait is cute. You decide!

To make your own MomPlait you'll need:

32 oz. Dannon All Natural Nonfat Plain Yogurt, fine metal strainer, cheesecloth, 2 teaspoons of REAL vanilla, 1 package of stevia, 1/4 cup home made fruit preserves - or to taste!

To do it: Place metal strainer in a bowl large enough to allow the liquid to drain from the yogurt. Place a large piece of cheesecloth in strainer and plop the yogurt in the center. Fold the cheesecloth over the top of the yogurt and place in the refrigerator either over night or for several hours. When strained, scrape the yogurt into a bowl, add the vanilla, stevia and fruit preserves and blend. (You can use a food processor at this point - but it makes to many dirty dishes....and I'm kinda a non-dish washing kinda gal.) When completely mixed measure out 1/2 cup portions and store in small containers in the refrigerator.

We've made blackberry and strawberry from jelly I made last year. Next up is Apple using some apple butter I made in the fall....YUM. Let me know if you like it. I might send it to Martha :-)

A Beautiful DAY!

The Little V is growing up. I can hardly believe that he's all grown-up at almost 8! Today he made his First Holy Communion/Confirmation. It was a nice ceremony at the church (LOOOOOOOOOONG). He wore a suit (and my was he HANDSOME) and Gams was his Sponser. It was lovely. Joe was bored (I think it's because he doesn't know the songs ;-) after church we all went to lunch at 99. The lunch was good. It felt nice to dress up and look civilized for a change! He asked me to take this picture and look up to the peak of the church and have him and Jesus in the picture! So sweet. I was also very happy, in the almost 9 years that I have been with the Big V I have ZERO pictures of us together with nice smiles! I love this picture - one because he has a nice smile - two because my skin looks GREAT and I think I look really YOUNG, like no where near or close to 41 - and three - GOOD hair day! That's a reason for anyone to smile I tell ya!! Happy National Scrapbook Day everyone! Off to chat at ScrapMuse for a while crocodile!

My Spinner Class!

I'll be teaching this fun spinner class on May something (ha ha can't remember). It'll be so much fun using manly man tools to get this tres cool organizer done. If you don't have time to take the class, I'm taking orders for them. This is the medium one - just one tier - and a 12" base. The price for it will be $25.00. The small one will have an 8" base and will be 17.50. The large, which has a 14" base and has two tiers will be $40.00. And, if I ship it to you shipping will be extra. The fun thing is I will make it custom for you. Your choice of color and paper (or no paper just ALL color) to match your scrap room or other items in it! Leave me a comment with your email address and I'll get in touch with you. If you want to take the class, contact Kelley at Scrapbooks & Beyond. 729-0203.

Sewing on Paper (and everything else).....

I've been busy, or did I already use that as an excuse last week? ha! Well, this time busy not only with the same ol' same ol from last week but also with some FUN stuff that I totally love! {it's help take my mind off of all the crap....} Preparing class samples for two classes I will be teaching at Scrapbooks and Beyond in Topsham. The first class is Sewing on Paper (and everything else) - go figure huh? LOL. I've had a lot of fun preparing this sample today, it's ALmost complete. I just need to change the white birdie out. I got a bunch in the mail from my cutie friend Vic but seem to have misplaced them somewhere in the mess I am in. She, the wonderful friend that she is has agreed to send me some more! THANKS Vic, you are amazing!! The birdies are from an Accucut Die that she has....lovin' those dies! Anyway, on to the good stuff......the unveiling of the class....wanna see? huh? huh? The other sample is an organizer that I saw on-line made and designed by Amy. It's the cool spinning rack. Anywho, if you don't have time to take the class I am taking orders for them so email me or post a comment and we can strike up a deal or something mutually agreable to each of us!