New Approach - Design Boards

I decided to do something very different to promote my classes for the new year - design boards! It did draw a lot of interest in the shop so I guess it did what I wanted it to. I will do this again!
I used some Tim Holtz products as well as actual weaving and cards. It took quite a while to find the black photo corners! I knew they were in here SOMEwhere.
I used plastic packaging to make a re-usable banner area. I just have to open the little door and change the text page. Easy!
When it's not in the shop - it can hang on the wall or sit on a shelf as artwork! Fun.

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!

Quilt Top Done!

I took a quilt class yesterday. The class is a Christmas Gift from my Mom. I haven't quilted in a few years so I'm rusty - ie a little slow. The class was fun! And today, I took an hour and finished sewing the blocks together. There is one more step before the top is really done - that is some hand-stitching. I'll explain that later.
I am not the most accurate with a sewing machine as I prefer to hand stitch, but time required the machine. I also prefer to hand quilt, so it will be a while before the wall quilt is that - a wall quilt! I think I may go ahead and hang it in the living room for the season anyway.
It was a very enjoyable day and was fun meeting the other ladies! Oh - my little Janome sewing machine didn't know what happened - it was actually being used!

BJ's Album - My First Mini

This was my first Mini! I made it for my oldest son for Christmas 2009. I kept the flowers and female decor down to a minimum since it was for him - even though all the Grands are girls! He loved it!
I used a stripped children's board book as the base and covered all the pages with mostly papers from K & Company. Some Prima flowers and Bling. Lots of pockets so he can add photos if he wishes. And some mini-mini books in pockets. I tried to pretty much fill it with photos I had taken that he had not seen!
I thought it was about time I put this album on the blog - after a year! Sometimes it takes me a while to get around to it.... See the rest of the album in my Flickr here.

Scrapbook page - MardiGras-Oct 2007

Getting in the mood for Halloween by scrapbooking the last time I got costumed up! Bought a great digital kit from scrapbookgraphics. Lots of elements and papers and Quick pages, too. The kit is called "Impressions of Fright".
It's been a while since I did any scrapbook pages at all so hopefully this will get me back into the swing of things. There are several vacations waiting in the wings.
I had a great time putting that hat together and the little kids just loved it! I don't know if I'll dress up this year yet. Still thinking on it. Been so busy I haven't even decorated yet!

Yarn Crawl 2010

I picked up the tote bags and passports for the Hill Country Yarn Crawl this morning while at knitting! It starts Friday and the bus tour is on Sunday. This is the 4th year and I finally get to go again. I went the first year but missed the next 2 'cause we went on our long vacations at the "wrong time". This year, vacation isn't until the 15th (Davis Mountains - yippeee!)

I made these two I.D. tags for our tote bags. Oh - by "we" I mean Mom and me. The Hubby would NOT go with me. !!! The tags in the photo are sitting on my favorite Clapotis wrap - the one with several colorways of Noro Silk Garden. Several members of the knitting group are making Clapotis and I kind of want to make a fourth one, but I don't have time. Too many projects already in the works. Fighting Startitis!

I punched the tags out of some Tim Holtz stock - it has Bingo cards on the other side. I used a bunch of tiny scraps left-over from last years' artwork. I plan to tie them onto our tote bags with yarn. The tote bags are all folded into these cute little pouches! And this is what the "passport" looks like. Isn't it pretty? A lot of work went into the layout - it has maps to the shoppes and hours they're open and everything. I am impressed!

This is going to be a fun trip! Hopefully not too much yarn will follow me home......

Studio-Ikea Shelf

Studio Peak! This is an IKEA shelf I recently installed above the pegboard that sits on a side counter. It holds MOST of my Prima flowers! I haven't finished putting the flowers in the Starbucks Frappuccino bottles (holding star box up). I am really not sure I WANT to put flowers in them - it might be hard to get them out!

Don't you love the color of the walls? It's so cozy-feeling. It's kind of a mauve/rose color. Hard to describe. The color shows a little pinker than it is on my monitor. I like Victorian colors and styles. The room was white but I just could not handle white walls again! I just went to Lowe's, picked the color and went for it all in one day. I do love it! We've been here 8 years now and I still do.

Clapotis Came Out To Play

Wheee!! The weather was chilly this morning so when I went to knitting, my favorite wrap got to go too! This was my first Clapotis (I made 3 total so far) and I used multiple colorways of Silk Garden (Noro). I love this wrap! People keep wanting to buy it - no way!

I also wore my green "Pucker" top, my skinny green scarf AND my sock earrings! After knitting I ran some errands and some dude (read hippie-type-white-beard-santa-claus-looking-dude) started talking to me about the earrings. That's a nice memory for the first nice Fall day! Fun!

There were some other compliments as I went along. Makes you feel good when people notice things you do. I had a Sonic burger and ONION RINGS for a late lunch and then went back to work in the Studio. Making some nice progress! More about that later.