Quick Last Post of 2010

I'm at home - safe and warm - working on projects and waiting for the new year to begin. January's calendar is already starting to fill up! I hear fireworks from outside already and it's only 8pm. I am  hopeful that 2011 will bring better health for the family. 4 out of 6 GrandGirls have had either broken bones or sprains recently and we won't even go into what's been up with me.
Looking toward the future: opening my Etsy Shop, finishing the re-do in my Studio, finishing MOST of the projects in the works to clear brain and physical room for more ideas, traveling and wishing I could go to CHA!

Vagabond Die Cut Machine!

Tuesday my Vagabond finally arrived! Waiting was very hard and I didn't think I was going to get it before Christmas. I was thrilled when Scott from Bluemoon Scrapbooking called Friday to say it shipped!!

Here's the box - isn't it fun?

And here's the Vagabond just out of the box! You know, this little guy is very heavy! I allowed myself to play for a couple of hours (I know, I know, it's a Christmas present - but could YOU wait???)

I want to make Tim Holtz's 12 Tags - but have to finish some priorities first. I just HAD to try out the V! I am so excited! This is my first die cut machine and what a treasure! I can't wait to REALLY use it. I cut the cage and bird from grungeboard and painted the cage with silver acrylic paint. The bird is per Tim's instructions for Tag #3.

I got excited again when I saw this blog post! I dropped everything to make some! Here's what I have so far - I want to make a bunch more later. My sizing is different (see the pic below) and I didn't have any crystals so - out came the V and I cut keys from grungeboard and painted them silver. Used Tim's Fragments Charms for the hanging parts. Also used Tissue Tape instead of old book page to cover the staples.

My longest strip was 8 inches and my strips are 1 inch wide. I also used double-sided cardstock instead of paper. Here's closeups on the keys.

Oh my! Such fun! I can see lots of these ornaments in my future...must buy more grungeboard.....

December Daily/Journal Your Christmas Album 2010 Start

Last year, (2009) I started Ali Edward's December Daily. I did really well until the 16th and then things got out of control around here and I lost the track. I did manage to take photos (although not as many as I wish I would have) and still journal on the computer (not as well as I would have liked to) but alas, did not finish the album. I plan to finish it - eventually.
This year, I decided to try again with December Daily and also do Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas Class!

Here is my cover all done! The word Christmas was removed from an ornament that also had the word Merry. The flowers are from Prima. I added a Tim Holtz brad to each one and put C. Red Stickles inside of it. Came out really cool cause the rim of the brad still shows! I am using Bo Bunny's Noel Collection as my foundation papers, along with some of their stickers and other embellishments. I am grunging up the album with Tim Holtz products. After gluing the papers to the chipboard pages of the Mini Edgy Album from Bo Bunny, I sanded all the edges and then added Distress Ink - Tea Dye. In the photo below, you can see an un-inked portion.

I intermingled the chipboard pages with the two-sided Noel papers (also Distress Inked).

 This is the foundation for my album!

This first day of December has been very, very busy for me. I was out until 1:30 and then cleaned the living in preparation for the Christmas Tree and decorations while waiting for the plumber to arrive. We had a broken water pipe from the freeze over the weekend. Didn't discover the leak until Monday night! Luckily it was outside the concrete foundation and easily fixed. We now have water again! It's amazing how much you take for granted something so basic to us all until you are without it.
Parts of this blog post will go into my Album for today. The month is starting off with a BANG!