My favorite things

Come and say hello!

Over on The Little Red Suitcase!! I am back and with a great interview feature Michelle Sanders.  So head on over and see, plus we have a great prize!!!

 

One pet peeve......

Rub ons that don't rub on!  Ahhhhhhhhhhh, I could pull my hair when this happens.  I was working on a layout, it was coming along nicely and then I decide to add on some rub ons.  And what has happened this  time and many times before, they only transfer partly, and I am not using any cheap ones.  Oh it makes me mad!!

 
 

Another things I am having problems with is the whole process of taken pictures of my layouts, HELP!!  We hardly have any natural light in my house and outside is just snow snow snow, what should I do??  build some sort of light box or something?  

I signed up for Kelley Purkey's class "Beginnings".  This will be the first online class I take, and I am looking forward to it.  I need a little inspiration, and I dig Kelley's style.  That class starts soon(not sure of the exact date)  My mind is on Fl mode which will be happening at the end of March, so it feels like I cannot get out of that mind frame.I am also interested in Shimelle's new class, "Something from almost nothing".  This one sounds right up my alley, its for those of us with the big stash of supplies and who need that push to start using it all up.

Last week I totally purged my supplies and sent out not one BUT two big boxes busting at the seams with supplies to a charity called In My shoes.  They will use the supplies to make life books with children and young adults.  So if you have piles of stuff you are not using and need somewhere to send them to, I highly recommend this charity.

Ok back to that class(the Shimelle one), I want to start using what I have.  Its fun getting new things but to me its kinda of stressful when you have all of this new stuff and its not getting used.  I like the idea of using it, and then looking around and seeing that I am running out of supplies and need more. No more of this overwhelming crap I tell you.  My space is small enough that I have, why be over run with paper and supplies??

Now I must be off to think up ideas for a surprise birthday present for a good friend.  I am thinking something collage like and along the lines of Alice in wonderland, possibly a quote from the original story.

:)

Some pink thread!

So continuing on with that sewing machine thing, after awhile I got a tad tired of using just white thread.  I took a walk to our general store(what, do we live in the 1800's?) and I got three new spools of some good quality thread for my machine.  Lets see, I got a very light pretty robin egg blue, a light turquoise and a very bright pink.  Those were the ones my eyes were drawn to right away out of all of them.  That evening I started a new baby page for Cecilia's book and since I used a lot of neutral baby colors, I really wanted to add a pop of pink, since she is a little girl(princess dresses and all)  That is when I re-threaded my machine with the pink.

But first lets go back, way before the sewing machine thing.  For a past Creative Type challenge I made the first page for CC's book, and to tell you the truth, I despised it.

Ok, well lets see,  first of all, even though those pictures are really precious, they are way to dark.  The background kills me, I love polka dots but the colors on this one screamed pepto.  We used the masking technique which I love, but I was not 100% happy at all with how the lettering looked.  Overall, I just wanted to do a new first page for her book.

And there you have it, I like this page much better.  I used the Making Memories vintage finds Baby kit and also some Basic Grey nooks and pantry paper. And if you look close enough, I used that bright pink to sew all around the edges.  

I think that sometimes I feel bad looking at an old layout and consider making a new one to replace it.  I cannot say I feel the same anymore.    

Now back to my rainy/snowy cold day:)

One forgotten.

Going through some pictures, I came across an image of a layout I did last month. It was my first adventure in the world of embossing.  I used UTEE(ultra thick embossing power) on the frame on the layout after I covered it with some patterned paper.  It looks like enamel, and I loved that look, I just need some more practice though.  I also did some embossing of those nesting dolls, I just bought that stamp set(in honor of Danielle, my Georgia peach,lol)  and I used my Versa mark pad on on my stamps,stamped away and then poured some white embossing powder on them and embossed away. 




Well I am off to work on another page for CC's book.

The sewing machine has come out of hiding.

I think I about conquered my fear of using the sewing machine, ok maybe not fear, but I was intimidated.   This past weekend my mom gave me a quick run through, and I have to say, its not hard at all.  My sewing machine is pretty basic, and easy to use, I was able to re-thread it myself today like 3 times!!!  I am rather happy about  that.  So I was really amped up to start sewing on some of my layouts with it and today I did exactly that.

 

Its yet another page for Cecilia's book I am working on.  The title just says "Little steps one by one" because the image is of CC practicing her walking with her dad.

I also made this for the Studio Calico challenge that is going on this week over on their blog. It is all about using those odd scraps that you keep because you feel that you will use them one day, in some sort of project.  Well mine was Vellum, I have kept it thinking I will use it, and well I have had the same sheet for like 2 years!!!! It was time to use it or lose it, and I used it.  I took one of my border punches and used the positive and negative of the punch and sewed them on in layers.  Also, I have hoarded paper doily after paper doily, and I have been incorporating them in my layouts a lot lately.  

I do believe that I will be bringing that sewing machine out more often:)

A family of picture takers.

This past weekend I spent some time over my parents and the plan was to learn my sewing machine(at least some more) and scan some of my childhood photos.  It started off as an innocent task and  then 10 led to twenty and then thirty and so on and so on.  At one point I hit the mother load, picture after childhood picture, I had to scan them all, they all had to become mine as well.  The joys of technology help make protecting, saving and sharing all of these old photos so very easy.  

Ideas have been swirling in my head, projects that would include copies of most of these, so many memories.  Of course my mom was not so keen on me not taking any of the pictures home, well the hard copies, I had to assure her that I was only taking the copies that I was placing on a disc.  I have come to realize that I am not the only one in my family that loves to take pictures, capture moments to tell stories, to create with!  I may not have children or even be married, but I have taken some great trips, met some awesome people and been to some fun holidays and parties, all of these I have captured on film or digital.But right now I am in love with all of this pictures of me as a child, so many things I have forgotten but have remembered once again just by looking at them

For example:

Dressing up as Raggedy Ann for Halloween 1984.

These very crazy, very bold curtains in our living room!

Playing in the sandbox in our back yard. Thinking I could really dig to China.

Family vacations in our version of the "family truckster" This picture so reminds me of Vacation with Chevy Chase.

MY most favorite house to visit, my Aunt and Uncles in upstate NY, which was known and the Cannon Hole.  The adventures we had there!

Spending hours swimming in our pool, and my grandpa!

My childhood friend Kevin, we still can't get over that we are thirty(well he is almost there)

Birthday parties at the Ground Round!  They had that big screen tv that played cartoons the whole time you ate, and fresh popped pop corn:)

Many many dance recital costumes, about 11 years worth.

All three of us being young and living at home.

There are so many!!  I can pretty much go on and on, and then there are the ones of family members, especially my mom and dad of before I was born.

I will forever take pictures, this much I know.

Candy hearts day.

Well happy Valentines day!!!!!!  I have to admit that I am not with my boyfriend to celebrate the day, we are both at different locations, but when I get home I will give him his metal mail box full of candy and treats.  For now I am at my parents, just really relaxing, learning my sewing machine and spending some time scanning some old childhood photos so that I can get them printed and create with them.

To me, this is a great Valentines day:)  I am also currently shopping for some more Glimmer mist, I told you I am addicted!!!  I seem to lean towards the blues, there is just something about a glimmered blue that steals my heart.In some other news, I have decided to get The Little Red Suitcase up and running again, as my boyfriend would put it, I am raising it from the grave.  I understand that it has been out of commission for awhile and a lot of people have stopped following it, but hopefully over time my little blog will grab people's attention and help to inspire them. I loved putting together the features, but at the time I happened to be going through a big transition period.  So we will be back, and hopefully better then ever.  I am looking to have tutorials, Q & A with artist and crafters and definitely more scrap bookers(since I am so passionate about scrap booking)  This is something I will be working on this next week off.

In lew of a day full of love, I thought it only fitting to share some lovely things that have caught my eye while keeping warm under a blanket and holding a cup of coffee:)  Enjoy!

*Wow Wall*

Lovely wall decals, now if only my boyfriend will let me put this on the wall!

*Dashing Etc.*

A felted flower, I love the 3 dimensional going on on this hanging:)

*Dear Lizzy*

Love how she decorated this room for Valentines day, very magical, just like pretty much everything she does.

*MayaLee Photography*

Simple yet adorable photograph.

*CuteAbility*

Very charming necklace, love the pink and green.

*Jonathan Adler*

Great his and her mugs, Jonathan Adler has a wonderful sense of style.

*Soma Venus*

Very clever mini book idea, I especially love these King of Hearts ones for Valentines day.

Well have a wonderful day filled with old love movies, candy hearts and maybe a nice fire crackling away!

My hands are a pretty shade of turquoise.

Ok, so for awhile I admired glimmer mists and people who used them.  Then I went on to buy 1, then 2 and so on and so on leaving me with a grand total of 6!  Then I had those 6 sitting on my desk for a long while until I started to finally crack and use them.  Last night I was watching Heidi Swapp on her live Wed. night USTREAM show and she was going over glimmer mist, and the day before that it was Paperclipping live and Noelle was going over glimmer mist, all of this glimmer misting has pushed me over the edge and now my hands are a magical glimmering rainbow.

Last night though I was really inspired by Heidi's Valentine book she made using paper doilies and glimmer mist, it was just gorgeous and so inspiring.

*Above images are Heidi Swapp's of her Valentine book*

So all of this doily glimmer misting really inspired me to make a layout using the techniques she used!  I love how it came out, and I can only imagine all of the other ways I can do it and use it in my layouts and other projects.

Pardon the lighting once again, the picture of CC and her dad seems a bit washed out, but in reality it is not.  I am slowly moving forward with this little girl's scrapbook of her and her father.  It feels awesome to keep on adding pages, but adding pages that I love feels even better.  I just want it to turn out very special.

In this layout I used some Frozen lake glimmer mist, Marshmallow glimmer mist and Frost glimmer mist.  Behind the image is an embossed stamped image, it helps to ground the photo to the doily in my opinion(and the doily is attached to white cardstock).  I am quite proud of myself with the usage of  my embossing and heat gun lately, when I first bought it I figured that it would be yet another tool I would not use.  Well those little butterflies are embossed, and I just love how it looks like enamel. I am quite proud of myself:)

Ok, I am off to try and scrub my hands once again, I look like a smurf!

Claiming some space.

So about almost two years ago I moved in with my boyfriend.  We share the place with his mother, she lives on the lower part of our apartment, we have the upstairs. There are two pretty decent size rooms, one is our bedroom and the other is our studio.  Now you see, my boyfriend collects both vintage action figures and comic books, more so action figures then comic books and they swallow up every single piece of free wall space and shelf space. 

What I have longed for is just one of those rooms to be "our" room, particularly our bedroom, the place we seem to relax in most.  After much discussion and some bickering, I got my way, well in the long run it will be for the both of us.  Slowly but surely I am seeing white walls and cleared off book shelves.  The walls will now be home to new art work and the shelves will be home to our collectibles such as framed pictures of family and friends, books, etc.  As soon as I was told that this would happen, I went on a hunt over on Etsy, mostly looking for fun and interesting posters and prints.  I thought it would be fun to share with you my finds:)

lajlaj

Hen N Chicks

Claudia Varosio

Jens Skelley

Lake Illustration

Blu Lima

Cricket Press

And that's just the beginning!

The post where I explain myself.

So here I have this new blog sitting all alone here in cyber space, and everyday that I do not post to it I feel guilty, very guilty.  Well after a glass of some good red wine, I have decided, now is the time.  Its hard for me to think of things to post, I am stuck in this weird place where the holidays just finished and I get caught up in browsing other people's blogs that I never then have time to post something on mine.  But what can I say, its like a snowball effect, one blog leads to another and another and well you get the point:)

First of all, there is a new prompt over on The Creative Type!  This one is about using embellishments with type on them or some how incorporated into them.  Once again, I am still working on my friend's scrapbook and so I used this prompt to add another page to it.

I used some pages from an old hard cover book to make some very simple round flowers with buttons in the middle and aside from that, I think I kept it rather simple to keep the focus on the beautiful picture.  I have a thing for those butterflies, I used them in my last layout as well and I believe they are from K & co, I must find more for back up.  I was never a big butterfly fan, but for some reason I am finding myself drawn to the chipboard butterfly pieces(especially those butterfly stickers from K & co)

Aside from working on layouts one at a time, we have been planning our Disney trip!  Next month we will be flying off to Florida for 4 days of Disney fun. My friend of twenty years lives down there and she will finally be meeting Will, my boyfriend of 3 years.  It really is going to be a great time.

I am also planning a trip to CKC in Manchester New Hampshire.  I have never been to a CKC(Creating Keepsakes convention) but it looks like fun.  There is shopping and tons of classes and just the whole getting away thing sounds good to me.

Well off to bed for now, hope to be back tomorrow after laundry!