Whooosh

Whoosh... that was me speeding by as I try to complete different things. Yup, I know, I've neglected my buddies and my blog. I didn't intend to, it just happened! I even had a nice lady email me and ask if everything was OK. So yes, things are relatively OK, though things have been a little tough health wise for my DH and I've had an infection of the salivary glands. On the positive side, I am now in touch with most of my immediate family on facebook, though I haven't posted much there. I guess I need to figure out what to do with it. I didn't realize that it had a chat function and my poor brother kept on trying to get my attention and I wasn't around. So I guess you need to do something to make sure that people know that you are away, LOL!

I've taken pictures of a lot of my recent projects and ideas but today, I'd like to share with you the work of a friend of mine. While Teresa is an excellent scrapbooker, and I do mean excellent, she sews absolutely awesome purses and totes. I currently have 4 in my possession, but 3 are earmarked as Christmas gifts.

What is really neat about her totes is that all the ones I've gotten so far have at least 6 pockets either on the outside as does the I'm Feeling Scrappy tote or on the inside as do the two purses and the totes. You can see more of Teresa's work on her blog at and feel free to email her at Teresa616@aol.com if you want more information.

Well July is already coming to a close and I guess it's time to announce the prize for this month. But I won't, this one will be a complete surprise to the person who wins it. In fact, I probably won't announce it till the person gets her prize and I'll let them tell you what they got! How's that for feeling mysterious!

As for next month, I'm going to challenge you to do something and take a picture of it. You'll have till the 15th to get it done and you'll be asked to email me the picture. I'll then post the winning picture and what the person won. How's that for a twist? Well tata for now and ... whoosh... I'm off again!

Growing Children

As moms we are the gardeners of our children's lives. First we grow them under our hearts, unaware they will soon steal the very heart that is nurturing them. Then we learn that they are growing within and we automatically start rubbing our tummies and talking to them lovingly.

It is the rare mom who really doesn't give her child unconditional love. It is even more rare for a child not to get totally attached to their mom no matter how good a mom she is. Our child isn't the only one that grows, we grow too. Our children teach us patience, diplomacy and kindness at a level we did not posses before. We learn through them, to look at the world in a different way. We teach them to become responsible and independent all the while learning to let them go. If we have done a good job, they leave the nest that we have feathered for them joyfully, with optimism and ready to take on the world. We smile as we pack their things, wave and smile with tears running down our faces as the vehicle turns into the street and collapse into a sobbing mess as soon as they are out of site. We are so happy for them yet just as scared as we were those first few nights, when we slipped into the nursery to make sure that they were still breathing. Life has now placed us in a supporting role, yet in our hearts, they remain our children forever. In our minds we still want to catch them when they fall, kiss their knee when they scape it and protect them from harm. Now as they grow outside the nest, we have to learn to let them make their decisions and support them whatever the decision to the best of our ability. We must do everything we can to love the people they love and add them to our families.

Can you tell, I saw my son this Sunday and I am so proud of him, my heart is signing! His life is everything that any mom could hope for, and his long time girlfriend is wonderful. However, when his car and mine turn in opposite directions, I still miss him... alot!

I want to dedicate this post to all the moms out there, especially those who have children living in harms way, and in particular to my loving friend Kenda, whose eldest son is currently serving his country far away from home.

Does Crafting Enhance Your Life?

I was wondering today if my crafts reflect how I am as much as who I am. What about you? Do you craft more or less when you are healthy or sick? Do you craft less when you are depressed or happy? If you do a number of crafts, which craft is more likely to draw your attention when you feel upbeart or sad? Bottom line do your moods affect your crafting and does your crafting affect how you are feeling?

If you need to justify the worthyniess of having a hobby, you might want to send the person you are trying to convince to healthy living.com. Here you can read about the benefits of having a hobby that matches your needs and situation and why a good hobby helps you live a balanced life. The entry even suggests how to go about finding a hobby that suits your life and enhances it. “Many women feel guilty taking time for themselves, but for happiness and good health, you need an inspiring purpose,” says Andrea Pennington, an integrative medicine physician and wellness coach. “A good hobby makes you lose all sense of time and self, liberating you from the every­day.” In fact, research shows that a hobby can help you cope with work-related stress by providing a different kind of challenge and letting you disen­gage—and so recuperate—from work."

Personally I believe that in a society where we are increasingly insular, women in particular need to be proactive in finding ways to create their own circle, where they can find fellowship, friendship and in some way recreate the close family and community support of yesteryears. Because I am by nature shy about approaching strangers, you can imagine that moving 5 times in 10 years has been rather difficult for me. Prior to 2002, because I was a busy working mom, the workplace was always the avenue for new friendships. Having lived through the reorganization and move of one employer and the death of a well known multi-national employer I have come to realize that friendships that exist completely in the workplace often do not translate once employment is severed. The larger the lost employer is and the smaller the available pool of new available jobs, the more likely people are to drift away and find new jobs in new communities. While not all work related friendships will collapse, the larger the number of people forced to move away or compete for new jobs, the more likely that they will focus on their new circumstances and on re balancing their personal lives.

In some ways having close online friends that share your hobby or passion, in my case my friends at rec.crafts.scrapbooks, can help smooth out the problem. For one thing they can move with you and your computer, for another, if you are lucky one of them will live in your new hometown and be there to help support you and offer an instant "real life" friend.

In 2004 when my husband and I moved out of state, having my good online friends Kenda and later Deb living in the same city was a true blessing. I could not have felt more welcome or happier to live near them. Although we do not communicate as often as we did, they have become friends for life and no matter when they might call me or ask for my help or support, I will always do everything I can to be there for them. However, in reviewing this period in my life, I realize that I had unfair expectations of my online now new real life friends. Without thinking it out, I somehow expected, that they would meet all my social needs. Women are by nature social creatures and we NEED to be needed, to be surrounded by other women. We need for our own sanity to bounce ideas and problems off our friends. I should have realized that my online friends already have full lives when i rolled into town and that it was my responsibility to build my own social circle. I'm afraid that I was a needy friend partly because knowing that our stay was temporary, I did not go out of my way to make new friends of my own. It was a lesson well learned and hopefully Kenda and Deb didn't feel the pressure I exerted on them too severely.

Thankfully in this time in world history where we are less likely to have a ready made community, the internet and pursuing our hobbies through small hobby stores such as scrapbook stores and knitting store help us create a different type of social circle with like minded people. When I moved away from Kenda and Deb, I realized that I would have to find some way to overcome my shyness of strangers and create a way to meet and make friends that had common interests. I had started to come to the realization that I need face to face interaction to feel balanced. As Kenda, Deb, Marie-Laurence or Janie can tell you, to me a good hug from a close buddy will do more to lift my mood when I am down then I am sure 100 hours of therapy would. Through a scrapbook show where I was selling scrapbook products and by creating my own Scrapbook Buddies meet up group, I found some wonderful friends that I can meet with face to face and scrapbook and share life with. Has the young retiree that I am reached a level at which I am no longer lonely during the day? Not quite yet, but I am getting closer.

All that to say, I appreciate and love all my friends, both online and real life. And I can't wait to see and give a big real life hug to some of my online friends who will be on the Scrapbook Cruise that I am organizing out of Tampa in March of 2009! Well it's time to get back to the "real" world.

Have a truly, wonderful day!

Decorating Tin Boxes without paper

I thought I would share with you a class I am teaching on the 26th. I really wanted to decorate some tins that were just the right size to put in cards. Frankly, I'm pretty sure that I am going to give/sell the originals, well at least the Holiday one, since I really have a whole lot more Christmas cards than will fit in this box. It might be something nice to Ebay complete with some hand made cards.

The boxes are "painted" or a better work would be "inked" with alcohol inks. The process is fun, dries quickly and although the ink may scratch a little, you can choose, as I did with the pink and green one on the left to add a coat of modge podge to make the tin more scratch resistant. In this case, I even added some walnut ink to the modge podge to tone down the color a little. I'd never heard of this eing done, though I am sure that someone else must have. The results to say the least are interesting!

The Holiday tin was not modge podge. My biggest challenge is to come up with dividers for each of the boxes by next week. This will be an unusual class in that I have staggered the start times so that I can spend some one on one time with each student during the inking process. For that reason, at this point the class is limited to 4 people. I sure hope that they will each get here on time so that they can get their full 30 minutes to work on the inking!

If more people let me know that they are interested, I'll just do another class!

July Christmas Cards

As you may of may not know, thanks to a dear friend of mine, Lynne and her 2008 monthly Christmas card challenge, I am making my holiday cards ahead of time this year. In the past years I've waited till the very last minute and often never got them all out. Even with the challenge, I seem to wait till the last or second to last day before I get anything done. Not that I'm a procrastinator in all the areas of my life, it is just that the things that have shorter turn around times are normally what I focus on first.

So it is a bit of a surprise that the Christmas cards for this month's challenge are one of the first things I did this month. I actually made 10 different ones 6 of which are here below. All but one of the 10 were made using pink cardstock, which is a bit of a departure from my usual. The background paper is from a K&Co Pepermint matstack and all the 3-D sayings are from Anna Griffin!

The June Winner is...

Well the 4th has come and gone and there seemed to be a lot fewer fireworks in our area. Fortunately, the good Lord is doing His thing right now and there is a whole lot of booming going on outside. Tampa is well known for its thunderstorms and lightening strikes. Hopefully the power won't go out and I can finish this post!

It's been a shall I way interesting weekend around here. My DH decided that we needed to clean the garage out and move things around in the storage units. I must say that my sweetie worked his derriere off and that I did a very little bit as well. Given that I had another of those head colds/sinus colds last week, my contributions was to say the least minimal, which makes me all the prouder of all the work he's done. Since it was 90's DH got himself a cute hat to safeguard from a sunburn!

We haven't finished the job yet, but we are making some headway! Let's hope he can get his portion completed tomorrow while I tidy up the house a little! I also completed my cards for this months RCS Christmas card challenge which I'll scan and upload tomorrow as well as having finally finished my nephew's first scrapbook which I have to scan tomorrow so that I can finally get it off in the mail accompanied by a birthday present for my niece, Lindsay.

As for the winner for June, Sandy, if you'll send me a note to say which of the kits you want with your address, I'll get it and a couple of small surprises in the mail early next week. Congratulations and please don't stop posting comments!

July is a Month of National Holidays

Four countries have influenced my life, and all 4 have their national holidays during the month of July!

First comes the country of my birth, Canada, with its July 1st Canada Day celebrations.

Next my adopted country, the United States, celebrates its birthday on July 4th. To mark this occasion, I created a small waterfall acrylic book, which you will see below.

Following is France, on July 14th. My paternal grandfather was from France.

Finally Belgium celebrates its National holiday on July 21st. My parents and even my sister were born in Belgium as were both maternal grandparents and my paternal grandmother.

So to the countries that have contributed to making me the mixed breed that I am, I wish you all a very Happy Birthday!

So here is the July 4th album:

Boxer Step Book

What an interesting and lets be honest hot day! The weather was really warm outside and the AC at the place where we were cropping just could not keep up, and that despite the guy coming over at least twice to try and make things better!

I decided to do a book for a local scrapbook friend Debi, who is very involved with Boxer Rescue. I wanted to scrap something a little different so I thought I'd make a little boxer book and offer it to her to put in their upcoming auction.

I must admit I had fun and it only took ,e about 3-4 consecutive hours to put it together. I just love the Boxer Jolees and the paper that is currently available is absolutely amazing!

I hope that you enjoy it!

CCC for June Completed

In case you don't know, the online group that I belong to is having an ongoing Christmas card challenge or CCC. Every month we must complete some Christmas/Holiday cards. Tonight I decided to go to the weekend crop. I knew I wasn't going to stay overnight as they are all sleeping together in the same room on air mattresses. I'm afraid that A. I wouldn't be able to sleep and I suspect that many people will not be able to sleep either and B. with my new knee I'm not so good about getting up off the floor. Oh and C, I don't like having to go look for the little girls room 2-3 times during the night while trying to step over everyone. Anyhow, back to the cards!

I stayed for about 2 hours and between catching up with Janie, her daughter Lisa and Teresa, I got 6 cards completed. They are made with Anna Griffin 3-D Christmas stickers. Bazzil white and red cardstock, red metalic paper, I'm not sure who from and some stips of gold metalic stickers. I also used white and gold pens to create some of the swirls, dots, etc.

Hope you like them! Tomorrow I'm back at the crop by 10AM for a cupcake album class, followed by all day cropping and then back home, once I feel tired, so I can try to get a good nights sleep and go in again on Sunday for a few hours! There are some very awesome scrappers in this group of ladies, and some very interesting ladies indeed!

This Months Posting Winner will get...

First let me just say that I've slowed down the slide show of my Bahamas book. I hope that will enable you to actually see the pictures before they blow bubbles, LOL!

Secondly,I've sat here deciding what to give my June Blog winner. And I've decided that the winner will get their choice of one of the following complete mini album kits. Please click on the picture to see a bigger image!

Home Kit;

The Circle Kit;

Heart Kit; or

The Flower Kit.

Each includes everything you need, the chipboard album, ring, pre-cut flower, colored chipboard die cut sheet, 6x6 papers and a matching rubon sheet and matching ribbon.

More From the Bahamas

As promised here is my book from the Bahamas.

One of the things that is truly special in the Bahamas is the Bahamians. They are a kind, free spirited, jovial people at least nearly all those I met were. Despite the fact that they drive on a different side of the road, speak with a cadense unique to them, have a Queen and a Prime Minister and not a President, they are not so very different from Americans and have even more in common with Canadians. But their sunny Island smile is very special and something that lights up almost every moment of your stay in beautiful Nassau.

Thanks again Keshia for having me.

Back Home Again

You know how it is, you love to go on a holiday and then you love to come home! My trip to the Bahamas was wonderful, but I missed my DH and my DS.

I did find out a few things! There are may may ways to eat conch and I tried at least a few of them. Bahamians are totally crazy drivers! Not only do they drive on the wrong side of the road, they often do it in American cars, so they are also driving in the wrong side of the car! Local restaurants there don't often bother to debone the meat! Watch out for bones in everything from soup to curried mutton. By the way for those who don't know, mutton according to the Mirriam-Webster dictionary is defined as follows:

Middle English motoun, mutton, sheep, from Anglo-French mutun ram, sheep, mutton, of Celtic origin; akin to Old Irish molt wether

Date: 13th century

: the flesh of a mature sheep used for food

Mutton tastes really good, especially if the fat is removed.

Keshia and her husband Michael were on the same flight as I was from Nassau to Ft. Lauderdale. Since almost everything sold in the Bahamas is imported, my friends were on a shopping trip to bring back tables and chairs for The Scrapbook Cottage's scrapbook class/scraproom. Can you believe that it is cheaper for them to pay for return tickets to the the US, shop there and ship things back than to order the same items online and have them shipped? Unbelievable!

I am also hoping that Keshia had a chance to go to CKC Ft. Lauderdale and will let us know, via her blog, how she found it! As big or smaller than last year?

I've been settling back in, enjoying being with my DH, watching Disney movies, from the Parent Trap to Santa Clause 3 to Ratatouille. I went out too, it was nice to be able to hop in the car and just go where I wanted. Strange the things one can miss!

I did complete a small We R Memory Keepers 2 ring album while in the Bahamas to put my trip pictures. I'll try to complete it tomorrow and share. I also worked on a 4th of July acrylic album today, which I'm also hoping to finish tomorrow!

So what have my friends been up to, I wonder!

Message From the Bahamas!

Keshia is getting quite the kick, having me try Bahamian food! Here I am making a total mess of things trying to eat a Bahamian mango. I had to go and floss afterwards, the mango was so fibrous. But the taste, mmmmm very flavourful! After spending the early morning of Monday puttering around the house ,we spent some time at the store.

Keshia's small but beautifully put together store is sure to be a hit with the growing scrapbook community in the Bahamas!

Lunch found us at the Petite Café where we had the boiler plate and mutton in curry. We visited a fabric store that had a lot in common with the smaller JoAnn’s stores we have in the US, in that it had a craft area, a very small scrapbook area and the like. After stopping in a mini mall to pick up a catalog for ready to embroider shirts etc, we went back to the SB Cottage.

Dana, Keshia's daughter, and I had a great time working on a new sign for her bedroom door, and generally enjoyed ourselves cutting out letters and adding stickes glitter to just about everything.

After leaving the Cottage we took Michael to his meeting and spent some time driving around the island. Anyone that has been to the Bahamas and Nassau in particular, knows how beautiful the island is and how amazingly clear the water is. You can see the bottom clearly even where the water is really deel. I even saw a submerged submarine on the crossing from Florida to the Nassau. I though I was seeing things until the guys behind me started talking about the submarine too!

There are apparently a number of caves near the beaches of the Bahamas. We did visiting the openings of one cave that is just a few feet from the main street next to the beach and is left open for anyone to see. And if you're asking yourselves if I went down in one the answer is a resounding NO! Not only do I not like small claustrophobic places under the earth, but these are inhabited by Bahamian bats, which I had no strong desire to meet!

I was pretty tired by the time we got back to the house and retired early. What a great first day!

In the Bahamas

Well friends I made it to the Bahamas and what fun it has been already! I had an authentic Bahamian dinner last night at the home of Keshia's friends and then we drove around a while. I have visited the Bahamas before, but only for a few hours at a time off a ship. Even so, I recognized some places that my DS and I walkd around at and even the restaurant where he and I had conch fritters, yum, yum. BTW homemade conch fritters were on the menu last night and I ate a bunch and would have eaten more except that there was also crab n rice and BBQ ribs, yummy to MC's tummy!

I've finally gotten to see The Scrapbook Cottge which is right on the corner of Deveau and Dondeswell Streets. The store is so cute! It isn't big but what an awesome job of space planning went into it! Now I want to buy just about everything in it! Keshia can be very proud of herself, she has done a fantastic job of setting up the first scrapbook store in the Bahamas!

As for me, I am thrilled. How many times do we get to see a scrapbook store, pristeen, fully stocked with nothing but the latest and greatest and totally untouched! The perfect reflection of the owner's vision? I have no doubt that she will be a success and I can honestly tell you all that it is worth a look see when you stop in the Bahamas! Frankly, I can see why she is dying to open and share it. But for now it's going to have to be all about me, LOL as I am going to have a hard time NOT shopping!

I can't post pictures today, but will have some I hope to post tomorrow, sine I now know what the setup is here in her office. Well off I go to take pictures of the store and make a list of items I want to buy for a special present I have in mind for a small friend of mine!