Another Week, Another Page

I'm still keeping my challenge to do a page a week.  Whew!! Didn't think I'd get it done but I did. (Well, I got to do my journaling.)  I added a photo corner to meet Challenge #49 - Make Your Own Photo Corner from the 52 Scrapbooking Challenges.  

This is of my grandson & I going blackberry picking. 

On the way to the Berry Farm I asked Grayson if he was going to eat any of the berries as we picked them. His reply was "No Nana, they're dirty."  I showed him which berries to pick and I'm eating as I'm picking.  Grayson is watching me real close, he picks a berry and then tells me "I try this one, Nana."  And then I hear "Mmmm, they're good."  After that every time Grayson picked a berry he'd say  "Nana, I try this one."  After about half hour later, Grayson tells me we're done.  I had about 20 berries in our bucket - they were ones I picked.  I figured out that we were done picking berries because Grayson tummy was full.  My plan was to pick berries and make jam.  My trip didn't work out the way I'd planned but that's ok, I had a great time with my grandson.

I am so excited!!

I decided to do some experimenting with inks and copic markers.  I wanted to see what options I had besides using stamps & ink.  Here's what I found -- Sharpie permanent pens don't run when using with Copic Markers.  I have the Marker Holders from Amy Chomas so I'm able to use Sharpies in my Cricut.  They work great!!  This opens up a whole new arena of options -- I can "draw" my die cuts and color them in using my Copics. 

My second experiment was to see how my printer ink works with Copics.  I have a HP Photosmart printer.  I printed a word using an open font that could be colored in -- the ink didn't smear.  Now I really have more options with using the markers.  I can download Clipart and color in. Since I'm not much of a stamper - I have mostly background stamps because I do scrapbooking not cards this is really great.  I don't have the patience for cards but so admire those who do. Some of the cards I've seen are just "Wow!!".

Now I got a lot of possibilities for how to use my markers.  Yeah!! I got the last batch of Copic Markers from A Cherry On Top.  They have a large selection of Copic Sketch Markers for only $5.24 and free shipping.  I've not been able to beat that.

Meeting My Challenge

I went to a crop yesterday and got some stuff done.  Okay, I didn't get as much done as I wanted but I did have fun.  I got to catch up with friends I've not seen in awhile, see what everyone else was creating and I found out where to get some cool page kits.  I've always wanted to try page kits but didn't know about the quality and most I found were pricey.  One of the women was doing page kits from "Out on a Limb Scrapbooking".  The kits used good quality paper, fabulous die cuts, priced $6 to $7 per kit and new kits are added daily.  What's great is I can make alterations & add embellishments to make my own.  Needless to say, I've already ordered a couple of kits.

My daughter has been talking about doing scrapbooking but insists she doesn't have time -- two young children, going to school, husband & house to keep.  I told her about the page kits and now she's planning on using the kits and start doing now.  I'm tickled because that means she and I have something to spend time together doing. 

I didn't do a page last week - was as really busy but that's okay life happens.  I made up for it this week while at the crop. I was trying to figure out what I could use as a way to motivate myself to keep up with a weekly challenge and I found it.  I bought the book 52 Scrapbooking Challenges by Elsie Flannigan several years ago but have never really done anything with it.  I decided that now is the time but I'm not going to do them in any order, just what strikes me at the moment.  So here are the first two challenges I have completed --

This does happen to be Week #1 Challenge - Work Those Words.  The challenge is to do journaling on strips of cardstock or paper.  So I decided to do a simple layout of my granddaughter describing some of her personality.  I added a couple of die cuts of butterflies from my Cricut Cartridge New Arrival and just added glitter glue in turquoise to match.  I used paper that I've had in my stash.  That's another challenge I have with myself is to use what I have in my stash before buying.  Good luck to me on that. Lol.

This Challenge is Week #5 -- Embellish a Floral Accent.  The challenge is to take a flower accent and add something to it.  My flower is a Die Cut from Cricut Accent Essentials.  I used Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks in Wild Plum, Stream and Silver and created the coloring.  The flower just had a flat look so I used Copic Marker B05 Process Blue to outline the edges and the flower gain ed a more dimensional appearance. Then I took a pink button and tied center with floss in turquoise. 

I'm quite pleased with how my pages turned out.  Using the book 52 Scrapbooking Challenges has certainly got my creativity flowing.  My scrapbooking style is still "Clean" but that is what works for me. 

I think my next project will be one of these --
Challenge #2 -- Focus on One Photo 
Challenge #3 - Customize a Ribbon Border
Challenge # 4 -- Make My Own: Chipboard Accents

My mind is already getting in gear to get started. Gotta go now & start scrapping.

Another Page Done

I've been thinking I need to have a goal or a challenge so I can keep motivated and do the projects I want to accomplish.  I could get snowed in for a month and still not get everything I have done but I would be closer than I am now. I decided that I'm going to challenge myself to do one page a week for one month.  I know that doesn't sound like a lot but I've got to start somewhere.  I usually get really excited and decide I'm going to "do this and do that", make a list a mile long and then get overwhelmed. What happens then is I only get one or two things done and quit.  I was told a long time ago that anyone can eat an elephant - one bite at a time.  My "elephant" is my projects so my "one bite at a time" is a page a week.  So here's the first page of my challenge. 

The older boy is by brother who is now grown with 3 boys of his own and the younger is my son who is now 29.  I'm somewhat behind on my pages.  What did I say about getting snowed in?  A long ago co-worker who I'd shown the pictures to after I developed them gave me the idea for the title.  When she saw the pictures, she made the comment "The boys look like they required presoaking."  When starting this page I remembered the comment and decided that would be my title. 

I used red and blue Co'ordination Vintage Collection cardstock and tan cardstock I had in my stash.  I distressed the mattings and inked the edges with Tim Holtz Distress Ink Fired Brick. What I did do that I've never done before was the brads.  I didn't have brads the color I wanted and I didn't want to go shopping for any since I'd end up buying more than just brads and take time away from my scrapbooking.  I remembered watching a video (I just love YouTube -- thank you to everyone who does wonderful demos - because of you I try more cool stuff.) about using Tim Holtz Alcohol Inks to dye metal. Alcohol Inks is another phase I'm in right now along with Copic Markers.  I took plain silver brads in the sizes I wanted and used the alcohol inks to dye them the colors I wanted. Now I'm really hooked.  I used Denim and Red Pepper and my brads turned out perfect. 

My scrapbook style is simple which is a good thing since I'm going to work on getting a page a week done. Now I've just got to decide on what to treat myself with when I meet my goal. That's one I'll have to think about.

Copic Markers

Last weekend I attended a Basic Copic Marker Class. I've been reading and watching videos about them for a long time but didn't know if I wanted to get "into" the markers. I'm not really into stamping, mostly because I'm not good at coloring.  I've tried stamping and used other markers but didn't get a good effect.  Color pencils worked pretty good for me. But I wanted to give Copic Markers a try for a different look so I went to a class.  Of course I fell in love with them!! I can't wait to take another class.  Here's my first project -- a birthday card for my grandson, Grayson. 

I only used two each of the blue, yellow and red colors for the balloons and gifts for blending - I colored the whole area with the lighter color then shadowed portions with the darker color. I used =  BG02 New Blue & BG05 Holiday Blue, Y15 Cadmium Yellow & Y17 Golden Yellow,  R35 Coral & R37 Camine. Start small then work larger, right?.  I really like the great way they blended, no streaks or "lines" where the darker color is. The saying is from the book "Ultimate Guide to Card Sayings".  It's a very basic card but a three year old won't care. I think I'll be using stamping and coloring more often on my scrapbook pages. I told my children the second portion of my life insurance is in my craft room. Now that I'm starting into the Copic Marker phase, that is even more true. Lol.

Catattidue -- My Girl

After several years I've finally been able to do a page of my cat that I had to put to sleep because she was ill from old age.  Squirt was 16 when I lost her. I had her since she was 6 weeks old. Or should I say she had me cause we all know that cats pick their people and she picked me.  Squirt would sleep beneath the covers tucked up under my chin. She loved popcorn and brussel sprouts. Squirt was somewhat overweight and when I would tease and call  her "Fat Cat" she would give me a look that said "Fat is where it's at." Squirt would let you know what she was thinking just with a look. She's been gone now just over 3 years but I still miss her a lot -- she always wanted to be with me.  I miss my constant companion.

Sunflower Quilt -- Finished!!

It's been a busy month for me so I've not gotten as much done as I'd like as quickly as I'd have liked. But that's how life is. But t this morning I got some creative inspiration and set to work.  So here's one of my projects I got done today.

Glimmer Mist

   Hurricane Irene has passed with no further problems. So today I did my errands and had to stop by the local scrapbook store. I'm behind on the "new stuff" curve and am just starting to play with Glimmer Mist. I'm working on scraping a 4th of July page and wanted to try something different. I saw an idea on Cricut website for the Word Collage cartridge and wanted to give a try. 

http://www.cricut.com/thursday/lookbookcart.aspx?Book=wordcollage 

   However, I wasn't very successful. What the picture showed was a flag background with chalked letters for 4th of July. I tried different ways to create a stencil - I used poster board then vinyl and just didn't work. The size I was trying to do may have a lot to do with that. I'll have to do some searching online to see how others manage this trick. I wanted the "negative" so I could chalk the words onto a background I made using Glimmer Mist.

   What I did instead was make my background with Glimmer Mist -- Red Velvet, Snow Queen and Bell Bottom Jeans. I sprayed onto white cardstock I had in my stash. I had gotten CRI-Kits Gel Pen Holder & Pens and decided to give them a try. Wow!! They worked great. I'll be using them on more of my projects. I did get all the colors available. 

   I think this looks pretty good considering it's not what I was trying to do. Sometimes what I end up with works better than what I was trying to create. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to keep trying to do the stencil idea.  I'm trying to decide if I'm going to do a 8 x 8 mini album or just a two page layout but I'll post my project when I'm finished.

What a Week!!

   This has been a hectic week. First an earthquake on Tuesday afternoon & lots of clean up when I got home from work. Then we had another smaller quake/aftershock on Wednesday night around 1am that woke me up.  And if that's not the highlight of the week, a hurricane hits today.  I've only lost electric once today. Sad to say that messed up the bread I was baking.  But all is not lost. I've used the day of being inside to do fun stuff.  
  
   I've been wanting to try cutting fabric with my Cricut. I made pj bottoms for the grandson that had trains on them and decided to make a tshirt with a train on it to match. I went on You Tube and watched a couple of videos (thanks to all who have posted their "how to") but even with that I had trouble. But I'm not one to give up easy so I kept trying.  Here's my results - I used Boys Will Be Boys for the train and calico fabric I had in my stash.

  I didn't think that the train showed up very good since the outline wasn't defined so I decided to put a blanket stitch around the train.



  I had some trouble with the fabric not cutting well and raveling. I used Wonder Under but a lightweight type. I'm going to try again with a heaver weight & see how that works.  I've got a Robot tshirt to make.

My Pages

I've been slowly working on my older pictures and getting them scrapped. I got a set of Perfect Pearls awhile ago and decided to give them a try.  I used the Perfect Medium and stamped hearts on the pink across the top. I then used Berry Twist Perfect Pearls - I wanted to create my own "pattern paper".  I think it turned out pretty good.  I also used Doodlebug glitter to give the LOVE stamp some glitz.  The cardstock and embellishments are some I had in my stash.  I used my Cricut to cut the green tag under the LOVE circle at the top of the page. You can't read my journaling - I used a pink sparkle gel pen. I wrote the quote "You're everything I never knew I always wanted." I had planned this page out a long time ago - I tend to scraplift or use sketches I find on-line a lot. Thank you to everyone who posts their sketches & ideas - you make my life so much easier. I have noticed my "style" of scrapbooking could be called basic but that seems to work for me. Although Kenny & I are no longer together,  he was in my life for over two years and a part of who I am now.  I wanted to celebrate that. I'm finding scrapbooking is a great way to heal.

Making Cake Balls

 

My daughter, grandson & me making cake balls -- an idea I found on Bakerella website. Great Site!! As you can see, my grandson is enjoying the fruits of his labor.  Of course our didn't look as pretty as Bakerella's but they sure did taste good. We will definitely be making these again!!

Sitching My Sunflower Quilt

I've begun to stitch my quilt. I've not gotten it done yet - I work on stitching a couple times a week. The hard part is not missing a spot to tie a knot. I have to keep going over quilt to make sure I don't miss a spot.

Sunflower Quilt --

I've had this quilt top done for a long time. I didn't have a place where I could lay it out and pin for quilting until last weekend - you probably can see pins in the picture. It's a twin size Lover's Knot Quilt in a Day by Eleanor Burns. My quilt did take longer than a day to make. This is the project I'm working on this week.  I'm going to use cotton floss and tie the quilt. Then I plan to machine quilt the borders and add the binding. I do have to get more fabric to make the binding with - I didn't get enough but since the backing is cotton classic from JoAnn's I should have no problem finding more - I hope.

Buttons & Bow Quilt --

I started this quilt a couple of weeks ago. The quilt top went really quick, got that done in one evening. Its 72" x 81", I guess that's close to a twin size . The problem I'm having right now is finding buttons. Each quilt block get a 1-3/8" button sewn in the center with ribbon. I'm having trouble finding the buttons in that size in the colors of the quilt. If anyone has ideas where I can find plain, plastic buttons in rainbow colors, please let me know. I'm using a bright pink for the backing, I've got that prewashed and ready to stitch to get the width. I can lay out and pin but can't quilt until find the buttons. I'm thinking of using flannel instead of batting to give my quilt a lighter weight. I've done that before with table runners and worked well.  The pattern is from Fons & Porter Love of Quilting Nov/Dec 2006. I'm planning on giving this to my granddaughter - it'll be awhile before she'll use it.  She's only 8 month old and still in a crib. I know I'll have to make a version in primary colors next for my grandson. It's so hard having grandbabies. LOL.

Here's the picture from the magazine to show you what I mean about the buttons & bows. The pattern uses  chenille but I made mine from calico so it wouldn't be as heavy (and to use up some of my stash.)





Getting Started --

This year I've had a major change in my life. The Lord blessed me with a new job which I love. I usually work 40+ hours a week and do commute about two hours one way. God also blessed me with a company truck or I wouldn't be able to afford to go to work. Lol.  I spend my commute time listening to my iPod (music and audiobooks) and coming up with new projects to do.  Seems there are always more projects - sewing, quilting , cross stitch, crochet, knitting, scrapbooking than time to do them. I decided to start a blog to help me get my projects done. Documenting my progress (I hope I will get some comments) will keep me on track.

Several years ago I realized that I had an over abundance of UFOs (UnFinished Objects). I know there is no-one else out there that has that issue.  I decided to organize my sewing/craft room and figure out what I had started. I put my projects into large ziplock bags along with the notions that were needed. I made a numbered list of the projects and put an index card into each ziplock bag with project number, what pattern used and what the project needed in order to be finish. I challenged myself not to start another project until my list was cleared. My system worked really good for me and I got almost all of the UFOs finished. Every time I crossed a project off my list I got a real sense of accomplishment. 
 
I've continued to use this system of keeping track of my projects by changing the list from  UFOs to Projects To Do. When I start a project, I highlight it in pink. This way I know what I'm working on at a glance. I keep telling myself that I will only have one project going at a time but I never seem to be able to keep to that.  I put all the items needed for that project in a ziplock bag with the index card. The index card has the pattern information, anything I need to get to make the project and I attach a swatch of fabric in case I need to do any matching.When I go shopping, I just grab the index card and get what I need. I store my ziplock bags of  "projects to do" in a bookcase for easy access.  Now I just grab a project bag and get started.
 
Getting my system started did take some time but getting organized does take time and work. I'm glad I did it. I got so many projects finished. I have more time to work on new projects and don't spend as much time hunting for what I need or want to do. Which brings me to why I'm starting this blog -- to keep me motivated by sharing the projects I'm working on. My project list is very long. I plan to post my progress a couple of times a week. So I hope that I when I post, you'll let me know what you think.