Day 3 but it is really Day 4! Ha!

Yes I am still behind a day. I thought that I would catch up today but Christmas shopping took up most of my day and evening I did manage to accomplish making this tag without the cut'n dry felt that it called for. Refer to Tim's blog to get all the imformation. http://www.timholtz.typepad.com/ I just used a piece of felt on top of a thin foam board and it worked okay. I think I overdid it with the perfect pearls. It is on a bit thick and it is hard to read my stamp on parts of the tag but all in all it came out better than I thought it would...Maybe tomorrow I can manage to get 2 tags done and be on the right day!

Day 2

Yes , I am behind but will catch up tomorrow....Here is my day 2 of the 12 Tags of Christmas! Be sure to go to http://www.timholtz.typepad.com/ to follow along and give it a try yourself! Tim sure has some neat ideas and creates all kinds of inspiration!!!!!

12 Tags of Christmas

I am going to try and do the 12 Tags of Christmas with Tim Hotlz. http://www.timholtz.typepad.com/ He sure does come up with some neat techniques and I love to try them all. He asks that you go to his blog to learn these techniques instead of me posting how I made this tag. This was a lot of fun to make and I love looking at other people's creations!

Great Idea thanks to a scrappin' friend!

Well my weekend scrap is over and it went super fast as usual. I am making a shower 12 x 12 scrapbook for my son and his new wife for a Christmas gift. I had so many photos and I hated not to use them all. Especially of her opening all her gifts and the tables of all the guests that attended. It would make the book way too thick if I did layouts of all of those photos. My friend that I go to the scrapbooking weekends with gave me the idea of making a book within the book! You make a cover bigger than the 4 x 6 pictures that you are putting in the mini book. I made my covers 5 x 7. I made my "present" cover using DS because you can stretch the image to the size that you need. I am sure anyone could do that in The CricutCraft Room that is now available to everyone at http://www.cricut.com/craftroom/default.html. You glue the back of the back cover to the page using glue dots for extra strength. Place the entire page into the page protector then using an exacto knife carefully make a slice through the page protector between the hinges and score line where the pages will be bent. ( score the pages approximately 1/4 to 1/2 inch from the left side of the mini book, hinge side.) Carefully place your hand within the page protector and bend back the pages in the mini book and slide them outside of the page protector through the slit that you had cut so that the book lays on top of the protector. This way many more pictures can be viewed on this one 12 x 12 page!

Cropping Weekend

I am off on another cropping weekend. I needed to make my Mother a birthday card so I got right to it. I found these clear stickers that I burnished onto the card I think it turned out pretty! We are celebrating Sunday after I get home from this crop.

Halloween Fun!

I decided to make my grown up kids some Halloween treats again this year. I made my cookie towers again but filled them with two mini loaves of home made pumpkin bread. I couldn't shut the top like a milk carton because the mini loaves were a bit too tall so I just made an adjustment and used adhesive to close it. I used the window cut outs by attaching them as tags after stamping Happy Halloween all over the tags. I mixed the tag paper up with one of the other cookie tower cut outs just for different paper fun. I cut out two different pumpkin boxes using Happy Hauntings cartridge. I filled the pumpkin box with some small candy bars. I made them all different cards at the last weekend crop that I attended. I used alcohol inks on glossy paper to create the background colors. I love this technique! I stamped with archival ink to sit it on top of the background. I just have to get them off in the mail tomorrow morning!

Halloween Card

My husband and I went to our friend's halloween party. I decided to take her some pumpkin bread and whipped up a Halloween card for them. I used alcohol inks to create the background on glossy paper and cut out Tim Holtz's die cut candle sticks and spider out of metal. Ii then ran them through my cuttlebug using distressed sticks folder. I then put alcohol ink right on the metal die cuts to get a more pronounced color. The metal spider was on the inside and I forgot to ask my girlfriend to take a picture of that. I stamped the spider on top of the background using archiver ink. I then used distress stickles on the candlesticks. I painted distress picket fence crackle paint on the candles. It looks great but I did notice that it easily chips off of the metal. I popped it up using pop dots. I forgot to take a picture of it at all and just had my friend take one with her phone and send it to me so this is all I have to show!

Coasters

So, I am feeling a bit better from my surgery. I am still on a walker for one more week and not allowed to put any pressure on my left leg. It has been very difficult but I felt good enough to hop into my scrap room and make some coasters that I had bought at Archivers by Maya Road. I needed to do something to break up the monotony of my day! I used Tim Holtz's distress inks and applicators to ink them. The coffee itself was either Walnut Stain or Brushed Corduroy. The blue is Broken China, orange is Dried Marigold, green is Peeled Paint, red is Aged Mahogany, and orange is Mustard Seed. I then sprayed each coaster with some perfect pearls that I had made in my mini misters. I like the top blue one having an embossed coffee swirl. I was a bit disappointed in discovering that the others did not have this embossing on them. They make a cute gift for a teacher of friend.

MIA

Hello fellow scrap bloggers! I know I have been MIA from scrapping and posting. I have had surgery! I had my sacroilliac joint fused with three pins. I didn't think it would take this much out of me! Whew! I am on a walker for 3 weeks! Yikes! That is a long time. I am not allowed to put enough pressure on my left leg that would break an egg!!!! It has really been a challenge. I did not feel well enough to even want to scrap anything the last week and a half but I find I am feeling a bit better and actually got myself in my scrap room chair. I thought I would make some coffee cup coasters with some distress inks but I realized after struggling to my chair that my distress inks were a whole 5 feet away in the closet and that was just too far and difficult for me to get them out. Instead I just packed my gypsy into my bag that I carry along with the walker and headed to the stairs. (Oh, I have to use a crutch to get up and down the stairs) I have one crutch upstairs with a walker and one crutch downstairs and a walker. That way I don't have to struggle carrying a walker up and down the steps. I planted myself on the loveseat where I have been living all day/night and updated my gypsy as well as linked a new cartridge that my girlfriend had given to me for my birthday gift. I do want you to know that I did my surgery around my weekend crops! I guess after 3 weeks the doctor will let me fly and I can lift and do whatever I please after that! I have a crop in Sugarcreek, Ohio the very next weekend. I sure hope that I can carry all my heavy cropping bags into the hotel for the weekend. I did this surgery because for the past 7 years I have suffered from sciatica pain down my backside to my mid back thigh area. I had tried everything from chiropractors to muscle relaxers to back injections. I finally got sent to the "God of back surgeons" in our area. He thought right away that it was the sacroilliac joint. (this is the joint where the pelvis (Illiac bone) meets the spine(sacrum)) As of right now I do not have the sciatic pain down my back thigh! It is hard to tell because I have a lot of surgical pain and inflammation from the surgery. I couldn't sit or lay down without constant gnawing deep pain before. So now maybe I will be a lot more comfortable while scrapping!!! Woo Hoo!!!! Maybe I will be more productive!!!! One could only hope!!!

My Son's Wedding

What a whirl wind this last few weeks have been! We frantically got the main bathroom completed on the Wednesday before the wedding for our family and guests. The weather called for 70% chance of showers on Saturday but we had sunny and hot weather! It may have rained a bit during the reception but we never noticed. Since the reception was an earlier one, 4:00-7:00 pm we decided to have an after pool party at our home and the weather was cooperative then as well! The hot and humid weather allowed for some great pool volleyball games! Just when you think everything will fall apart it all comes together. The ceremony was beautiful! We picked 1000 zinnias at a friend of my son's farm Friday morning to make centerpieces, corsages, boutonnieres and the wedding parties' bouquets! My oldest daughter played the flute with a pianist before the ceremony and the recessional song. We all walked down the aisle to a violin piece. My favor boxes added color to the tables. I had made 353 and they had put out table seatings for 352!!!! Whew! Just made it! My picture board that was at the shower was displayed on the gift table. I added a "Just Married" car made from the Sweethearts cartridge to the board. Maybe now I can get back to some crafting! I know I need to make some thank you cards for some very helpful friends!!!!




My three daughters and soon to be daughter-in-law (on left) cutting flowers the day before the wedding.

The colors of these zinnias were beautiful!!!!!!




My Boxes!




The centerpieces!

My son and I before we left for the church.

The Mother/Son dance.

My husband, Larry, and I.

The happy couple, Danielle and Andrew!

Bathroom Remodel

I know that I have been non-blogging but lots has taken place. First was a remodeling of our main bathroom, then my son's wedding, next the master bathroom. Here are the before, during and after pictures of the main bathroom. I am happy with how it turned out. They are going to replace my faucets to free standing instead of pedestals as I had ordered but they are on back order. These got me through the wedding since we had family home with guests. My summer has just been flying by!!!!!!!!!!!!





BEFORE!!!!



STRIPPED DOWN!

AFTER!!!! QUITE A TRANSFORMATION!!!!!