Things I've done Recently

I think it's about time I went to Disney again. Would you believe I live this close to Disney World and I haven't been since 1998? That really is silly! I went to Disney more often when I lived in Montreal!

Anyhow the picture shows the front of a mini album that I designed from scratch, cutting the chipboard and painting it and glittering it and coating it and zuttering it and adding ribbons. We are hoping to get it done a little later this year or early in 2009. If you would like, you can click on it to see a much larger version.

Back on the subject of scrapbooks, I've also changed the look of my in home scrapbook display for when people come over to crop. I've refurbished 5 bookshelves using pegboard that I bought and had cut to size at Lowes. I attached the pegboard which is much more solid than the original backboards used to the backs of the bookshelsves. I then used 2nd hand 12x12 trays that I got from a friend and put as many as I could bellow the fixed bookshelf. The most I was able to put in is 28. If you want some trays please just get in touch with me.

Another Class and Ramblings

Usually I start by writing in my blog and then I choose the pictures. For the fun of it today, I decided to start with pictures and then write about them and then pick a title. The pictures are of a 6"x12" 22 page book that I am doing as a class at Scraptopia on the 27th. The covers are made of raw Prima embossed chipboard that I cut in half and then painted with different layers and types of paint amontst other things. This picture was taken before I added the ribbons and handed the project over to be displayed in the store.

The secong picture actually whose 4 usable pages, since there is an acrylic sheet in there embelished with stickles. I really had a lot of fun making this and I do hope that I get a few more people in my class. I'm supposed to go to Nassau from the 17th till the 21st, but I haven't heard from Keshia since the hurricanes went through there and I am more than a little worried about her. I hope that all is well at her end!


A few weeks ago I had a sleep study done and being a very light sleeper I was sure that I would never be able to sleep with all the electrodes and tape and other bothersome things that they hook up on you. Surprisingly I fell asleep almost right away and had a typical night. Meaning that I woke up about 15 minuts after falling asleep and roughly another 4 or 5 times after that that I was aware of. I think that the reason I was able to falla sleep is that the room was big and airy and I had a nice comfy queen size bed to speel on as you can see in the picture and that there is so much stuff hooked up to you that you are on sensory overload and your mind just wants to shut it all out! I was told that there were anomalies, but seeing as I was going on a crusie, tomorrow is when I will finally get the results of both the CAT scan and the sleep study! I would give a lot for blissful, uninterupted and refreshing sleep, so here is hoping that they can/will do something to help with that!

The Winning August Commentator is...

As the sun was setting it dawned on me! Oh my gosh I forgot to post the August winner!!!! So here it is the winner is.... drum roll please....

Kenda!!!!! You have won!!! What you have won is a surprise so you'll just have to wait till you get it. I have appointments for the next 3 days, but I hope that I can put something in the mail to you sometime this week! I'll let you tell the nice people who visit this blog what you've won when you get it! Congrats!

For the record, I will be changing the nature of how people become eligible to "win a prize" starting in January. But meanwhile, keep your comments coming. It only takes one comment to win, but the more comments you put in the more likely you are to win and your name will be entered to win the grand commentator prize as many times as you have commented since the blog began. The prize will be a wonderful present and sent out to the grand prize winner just in time for Christmas!!! Won't that be fun!!!

Cruising with Gustav

We had a great cruise! The weather from our departure from Tampa until the following Saturday was hot and sunny! Rick unfortunately had to work for the first few days, but I met people, went ashore, took pictures, scrapbooked my favorites, and journalled my experience.

As you can see above, we did encounter the bands from Gustav on our return trip. In fact as soon as the ship left Cozumel the Friday around 5:30 pm, the engines went up to 18 and then 23 knots. That is awfully fast especially during the dinner hour. It was obvious that we were speeding to outrun Hurricane Gustav. The pictures above were taken on Saturday evening. The seas were choppy and there were some significant wind gusts.

Obviously, I enjoyed them, though I must tell you that I was unaware that Rick was taking continuous pictures. I was waiting for him to take a picture and wondering why he was taking so long. I hope that the people that are cruising this week are kept as safe as we were by our Captain.

Oh and since I said I would share, here are some pictures of Cozumel.

Awww... My 1st Blog Award

My blog was given the "I Love Your Blog Award" by Teresa, that wonderfully talented lady who makes those awesome purses! Thanks sweetie, it's my very first blog award and that makes it very special!

The rules...

1. The winner can put the "I :heart: your blog" logo on their blog. Isn't it cute! :))


2. Link the person you received your award from.


3. Nominate other blogs.


4. Put links of those blogs on yours.


5. Leave a message on the blogs of the girls or boys you’ve nominated.

Here are the blogs I would like to nominate:

• Savannah's Journal by her Super Mami and Papi. An inspiration to all and the biggest reason I got into supporting charity crops
• Lynne's Blog - Lots of fun, recipe's and crafting info.
• The Scrapbook Cottage in Nassau
  

A Proud Mama

I'm not sure where to start. Perhaps with the picture I got minutes ago from Mexico. Not everyone knows that my son, Shaun, was born with a cleft lip and palate. It is not something that defines him, but rather something that has been part of making him the person he is. And I am so very proud of the adult he has become!

Shaun, who is the Creative Director at Royall Media, went down to Oaxaca, Mexico with the owner, Will. Will decided that it was time for his growing advertising company to give back and chose Share. With camera in hand, they went with the Share medical team to work on children needing cleft lip and palate repairs.

That is Shaun on the left! They were allowed to scrub in and help out. Amazing! I'd give a lot right this minute to find out exactly how Shaun felt when this picture was taken. What an experience for both these young men who first met when they were part of Stetson University's Digital Arts program!

Obviously what they are doing is close to my heart as well. It is never easy to find out that your baby is going to need multiple surgeries. When you first hear about what your baby is going to have to face, your heart drops, your eyes fill and you wish that you could go back in time and change... what? You don't know what you did, what you could have done differently. The doctors still don't know why this craniofacial deformity occurs so they really can't tell you what you could have done differently.

All you know is that it is, what it is. You need to make the best of it. You have to make the best of it. You need to be strong for the little one that you have just seen rushed to the NICU. You need to be strong every time that you have to place your infant, toddler, child, teenager in the hands of the surgeons and their medical team. You need to smile as they are taken away and hold your sobs until your baby is out of sight and can no longer hear your heart breaking as you wait the inteminable hours and minutes until he or she is placed in your arms again. And so my heart is full of many things tonight. Pride for what my son and his friend are doing in Mexico and incredible empathy for the mothers and fathers that are placing their children in the hands of the surgical team that is helping change their children's lives for the better.

Stop and live the moment!

Before I go off on another subject, I thought that I would share my cards for this month's RCS Christmas Card Challenge (CCC). I need to post this and make sure that my friends on RCS get to see them so that they can count for August!

I'm not sure who said this, I picked this up somewhere as the quote of the day and was going to copy and paste but I'm on the MAC and did it wrong then closed the website, so I'm probably mangling it, but here goes!

Rather than always pursuing happiness, from time to time take a moment and live your happiness!

So often I get all caught up in attaining something and forget to stop to appreciate the steps I've taken, the things I've learned, the people that I've met along the way! It's far to easy to forget what is really important.

I've done a lot of stuff this week. I put in for the Scrapbook Circle Design team, worked on the March 2009 scrapbook cruise that I'm organizing, put together some scrapbook supplies to take with me on a crusie I'm going on shortly, had a couple of fun days hanging with Janie. We had a great time going to see Mma Mia. It really is quite good! I've knit the back and am finishing off the front of a sweater Im making as a Christmas present. All my Christmas presents need to come from my existing stash of craft items, so I have to get started right now!

I have a Saturday crop organized at my house scheduled for September 6th. I found out that there were anomalies in my sleep study, but I won't know exactly what the problem is until September 10th when I go back to see the doctor. I finally got Crystal's prize out to her and Janie picked hers up on Thursday. I'm so glad that you both enjoyed your winnings!

It has been a pretty good week and I'm thankful!

I'm so far Behind!

It has been a rather strange and difficult month of August. DH is home and I've had a number of tests and proceedures. The whole thing has had me scraping some, but not posting as I should have. LOL that is a constant in my life these days being behind in my plog posts.

So first, let me announce the winner for July, which is none other than my buddy Janie! Congrats Janie, you can come and pick up your winnings next week as soon as you get the chance!

Also I still need to send off Crystal's package and I will do that on Monday. I'm behind on that too! I've completed my Christmas cards for August, completed two class projects for the scrapbook store the cover of my 12x6 album is shown above, completed a 20 page 8x8 album to give to a friend for her birthday tomorrow so I haven't been completely inactive. I've also redone the mini-shop in my living room, which took me a lot of time.

I'm waiting on the results of the sleep study that I did on Monday. I guess given that the technician rushed into the room thinking that my nose sensor was off when it wasn't isn't a good sign. I'm also waiting for the result of a biopsy taken during the colonoscopy I endured on Thursday, but I was told not to worry about it that it didn't look like anything serious. So I hope you'll forgive me, I've had a little on my mind!

So as you can see, I owe you guys a lot of pictures.

The Fellowship of Scrapbookers

Over the years, I've been involved in a lot of different things from team sports at the varsity level (volleyball, basketball and ice hockey) to crafts (knitting, painting, teddy bear making, card making and scrapbooking amongst others). All the crafts still inhabit my world, they come and go, get incorporated into each other and get put away again to be rolled out againwhen the urge or need presents itself. Scrapbooking however has been a constant since I first became an acid free addict earlier this century! (My doesn't that sound weird, earlier this century, HaHa!)

I've wondered about the reason, as I seem to wonder about a lot of what goes on around me and there is no doubt that the reason I love scrapbooking is not just because it can make my family members really happy when I make them a gift, but mainly because of the people that I encounter doing this craft. There is a quality amongst the scrapbookers that I have met over the years. An openess to share with others a little of who they are and what their lives are like. There is the communication of ideas, experiences that transcends the daily yet also embrasses the smaller things that are the glue that makes up a day, a relationship. There is the excitement of sharing a new tool or a new place to shop also known as the fine art of enabling friends and foe alike. Perhaps it is the ability to look a life's moments as precious that makes scrapbookers such magic people. All I know is that my life is far richer for meeting these people and that even if I were bored with the craft, I would continue to scrapbook, simply for the wonderful joy its enthusiasts have brought into my life.

Another Fun Crop

Yesterday I brought all, well, OK, some of my for sale scrapbook supplies and went off to a charitable Crop at the Nativity Church in Brandon. Three of my regular "scrapbook buddies" were there, Janie, Sharon and Lisa. And my buddy Becky was organizing it. Becky is a very special lady who has a big heart and helps hundreds of people raise funds for charitable causes, through a yahoo group for charitable crop organizers. I also met up with a lady that I had spoken to and was thrilled to meet, Lisa C and another lovely lady that I had met before, Cheryl. Lisa C sells jewelry and Cheryl Southern Living home decorations. The usual CM, Stampin'Up and CTMH were also represented.

The day went by really fast, mainly because I got to spend it with such nice people. Michelle the co-organizer, all the lovely croppers most of whom I got to speak with and learn a little about. A very enthusiastic first time shopper, Rebecca, who I am sure will make her mom very happy! You see Rebecca's mom, who was not present, really wanted her daughter to start scrapbooking and I could tell that Rebecca was really getting excited about this wonderful craft by the end of the crop. I also met people that were already members of the Scrapbook Buddies and who I hope will become a regular part of our off campus activities!

I did a clear card make and take, showing people some of the techniques used in putting together those clear acrylic albums that are so popular right now. I also promised people that I would put together a couple of classes, one on a little mini album that is strictly made of cardstock and one of the cascading word books, which many people are attracted to, but are a little intimidated by when they take them home. AS luck would have it, I didn't get a chance to take pictures, so here is hoping that if someone reading this did, they will email some to me to share with you!

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!