Prayer Card

Long time, no speak. We're still rocking and rolling here on Northampton. Getting ready to go to Cayman Islands next week for work. Tough. I know. With the first of the year, been making lots of TO DO lists and checking off quite a few items. Finished a prayer card for my aunt. This is the front of it with St. Francis prayer. And this is the back of it - its more elaborate than usual. I use pages from a child's board book for these. My favorite prayer is St. Teresa. Sometimes I seem to forget the second line: May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. Exactly.

I've sticking with my avoidance of Mike's and HL although I had one slip and fall right after Christmas. $68. Yep. Good stuff but still... All on sale - I used the coupon on a 99 cent item.

I did go to one of my favorite junk places - MAM or Memorial Assistance Ministries. They have good stuff at cheap prices. Found two large glass knobs (4") for $1 each and two boxes of embroidery thread for $5 and $3. And two jars of buttons $1 each. I love that I have some grandma's stash and that it will be put to good use. I'll bet she likes it too. Oh and on Sunday we made a major find after breakfast at the Egg & I. (it's on Memorial and a fantastic breakfast place). We stopped in at an old antique mall that's pretty much empty and found some nice oak cabinets but all too expensive. At the second mall (at Wilcrest) we found one of my China doll vases - yes - amazing, I know. $3. These vases are rare, and mean nothing to anyone else - they're just sentimental to me because I got my first one from a co-worker 30 years ago. I was a puppy and she was retiring and it just brings back great memories.

What I haven't been doing is practicing with my camera and it shows. I wish I could commit to Karen's 52 weeks of photos but no can do. My lighting is dark and dull and way off even with the ISO 800 - I need to look at my notes. And practice.

I did clean up my scrap room and emptied not one but TWO tables of kits and stuff from Silver Bella. Felt really good. Picked up two pretty white boxes with a gift card at Container store. Yum-o.

So what's your one word for 2009? I have been contemplating mine for several days now and I vacillate between bloom and finish. I never seem to finish projects and I'd like to spend this year focusing on that. I'd also like to find/fulfill my potential with creating - I couldn't find the right word for it so I gravitated toward bloom. I'll decide by the 15th, how's that?

Chi Town

Sniffle sniffle. Yep, its started again. But what can you expect when you take your body from 5 degrees to 70 degrees in one day. Our Chicago trip turned out GREAT on both sides. Our sailor looks amazing and is loving the Navy and getting all kinds of awards. Yes, I will brag. She won a marksmanship ribbon and she's an E2. She leaves for Pensacola to become an ABF - aviation boatswain fuels - she'll be pumping gas into jets. How exciting (yes, and dangerous but we're ignoring that part right now). She will see the world and for a talented mechanical girl, this will be great for her. We had a nice day and a fun visit and even made a little video for my hubby and the rest of the family. It was fun to hear all about her day and the people in her division and what she's liked so far. (firefighting school). And then the REAL fun started...

On Friday FIVE of the best peeps in Chicago braved the elements to go to Hannah's and Paper Source and partake in a yummy meal at the Lake House. Total fun with Cathy, Nan, Shelley, Jeanne (my roomie) and Kathleen (soon to be mama). Hannah's is a great craft store in Antioch, not fancy and lots of good stuff to choose from - sewing, beading, general crafts and of course, our fav - scrapbooking. Good Tim Holtz selection. And who doesn't love a good Paper Source. Expensive yes, but great envelopes and its interesting to see what they have going on as far as colors and styles. It was such a fun time to compare notes and jabber about what we made for Christmas or Silver Bella. I told Jeanne she is so lucky to have a great group of people around her and that they get together often. Note to self - make better effort to get together with my local peeps. The weather was so interesting and amazing. I spent an hour at 4 am watching a pick up truck try to get out of a snow drift (from my hotel window). The snow is gorgeous, especially out in the burbs where we were. It wasn't really cold to me at all - I found it refreshing. Of course, I only went from hotel to taxi so its not like I was out in it. But we did walk through the Navy RTC to pick up Rachel and it really wasn't that bad, with coat, scarf and gloves.

But like everyone else, I'm happy to close the chapter on Christmas and look ahead to 2009. 2008 was a great year with alot of good things happening. My hubby is home and life is going back to normal - a new good normal and I can't complain. Nope. Not for one minute. Bring it on.

Merry Christmas

I should be packing (lots of heavy layered clothing) for Chicago right now but instead I'm rambling down the Super Highway, playing here and there. Google Reader. Ebay. Facebook. It hasn't been all play - there's been some hard work. I found a library card catalog. For someone else. Dammit. No, not really - it was an excellent score in Omaha and Ms. Foofala herself picked it up. It was such a find... $65! There's another one in Portland and Stockton, CA. I'll keep googling "craigslist library card catalog" and hopefully one will show up in Texas somewhere. This photo isn't Theresa's cabinet, I found it while searching - don't you just love it. It belongs to this lady. What a great display!

I finished reading The Shack and it was such a great book. I loved it - mostly because of where I am in my life right now. It is such a great spiritual reminder. I want to read the second half again. I'm sure we'll have alot of time in the airport tomorrow - I plan on bringing lots of reading material. Nancy and I are going to Great Lakes to see Rachel. She's finishing up basic training for the Navy and it is also her birthday - she's a Christmas baby. I sure wouldn't do it for many people... I'd love to stay home. I finally ditched the idea that I was going to drive in that snowy, icy weather so we're taking taxis - what a relief. Until Friday, when my roomie, Jeanne and some of the CE gang are meeting me at their LSS, Hannahs. We're also going into Highland Park to see Paper Source. Love that store - have only been to the one in Beverly Hills - so this will be good fun. If I don't freeze my buns off. Unfortunately, the weather is suppose to turn nasty on Friday - icy sleet but we're hoping no. I can hope. I wouldn't blame them one bit if they wanted to stay in for the day... I would - to scrapbook.

One thing I have to say about Christmas this year. My husband loves Christmas time and all the gift buying - that man enjoys every moment of it. He's taught me alot about generosity and gift giving. I'm very lucky. It has been nice this year though doing it alot simpler and I think most everyone is doing that. Buying one or two meaningful gifts. My present was the Cricut Expression. I can't wait to use it and make this. I had plans to make some of my gifts - I hope next year I'll be better with that. It feels good though knowing that we'll start 2009 without a pile of credit card debt from Christmas. I also put the kabash on scrapbook buying. My motto is - if I'm not going to use it in the next two weeks, I don't buy it. No more rambling trips to HL or Mikes picking up $35 worth of stuff.

In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with lots of time to enjoy family and presents and some time to sit still and be in His presence. Good Night.

You're In the Navy Now

Lots of random stuff swarming around in my mind. I am almost well from the cold crud - gosh its taken a long time to leave! What's that saying - fish and family stink after three days??? Well, we can add flu to that... ~ Have you seen the new version of Picasa 3? It is Google's free software for photo editing and storage? I swear by it, especially for uploading photos after an event to share. I've played with the new choices for collage - lots of fun! ~

Rachel's graduation from Navy basic training is January 2nd in freezing Chicago! I am so INCREDIBLY proud of her beyond words. She sounds so happy and focused - it is the best possible choice for her. We will definitely be there to see her graduate. This is a pic of her at her last graduation 2 years ago. The good news about Chicago is that a whole slew of my peeps live there: Jeanne, Cathy, Nan, Melissa and Kathleen! I am hoping to get together with them and maybe even see their LSS, Hannahs!

The next picture is a beautiful journal made by Carol Wingert that I picked up at the Silver Bella Vendor Faire for my friend, Laurel. Laurel, Cindy and I LOVE Carol Wingert projects, especially her white books. Right now Laurel is the high bidder on Karen Russell's blog for a spot in her online photography class - lucky lucky girl! (We all learned so much in Karen's one day photography class - I can't recommend it enough!) Karen is donating the money to a charity of Laurel's choice. A great win/win situation for everyone. We all missed Laurel's birthday party last month because we were sick so we need to plan a makeup session soon.

I'm late for work... Here's to a great Friday and weekend!

In a Van Down by the River*

*This is no motivational speech, just a private joke. It's Sunday and I am sick as a dog with the flu. Okay, it might just be a cold with a sore throat but that doesn't sound as dramatic as the pain I feel, so let's just call it flu, please. And I'm hot. I saw this train coming all week and there was nothing much to do so I jumped on board today. Oh well.

I can't possibly catch up all that has happened in the past week, but here is a short recap. Silver Bella was fun and inspiring and interesting. I learned some new stuff and I totally loved the opening dinner when we all stitched a small bird on a pillow ornament. It was a brilliant classic idea and the sight of 200 women stitching was magical. Honestly. I took interesting classes and met really neat people and came home with a suitcase that still is loaded and laying on the floor. I want to play with all my stuff but I think I'll just go get back in bed. Maybe tomorrow. I promise to post photos soon. This is one of Charlotte Lyons' Prada Schmada bags - oooooh so cute, I fell in love with it. And I got a kit at vendor night! Yipee. This is Second Chance, the antique store near the hotel. Really fun and amazing and stuffed with junk. My kind of place - good prices too. I loved Omaha - the downtown area is really nice.

Madonna was great - she really put on a great show and danced like a maniac but also showed a softer side. I am glad I went. She did a routine with jump ropes - double dutch and individual and you know, you can't fake that kind of stuff - she was non-stop amazing. I noticed in some of the photos the next day she had a bandage on her knee.

I want to make a shout out to the coolest birthday girl ever, Laurel, who celebrated her birthday this weekend. I am sorry to miss the show but I know we'll get together soon and party like rockstars.

I got a postcard from my niece, Rachel who is in Navy basic training in Great Lakes, IL where it is freezing ass cold. I am sooooo proud of her and she is doing great. I think of her every morning and can't wait to go to her graduation in December.

And finally, I found Jacki's great blog in South Africa a while back when I saw this post. This week she posted about a local HOUSTON project - too crazy, huh. The Holocaust Museum Houston is collecting 1.5 million handmade butterflies to represent the lives of innocent children taken in the Holocaust. The exhibition will be shown in Spring 2012 - I think I can make that deadline. So now I'm searching for just the right die for my Cuttlebug so I can get started. I hope you will consider supporting the project also.

Photography 101 ala Karen Russell

Here is anover rave post. I spent Friday and Saturday taking classes from Karen Russell and all I can do is say OH WOW. Super amazing. My photography has taken a 180 degree turn and what I learned was off the charts. I am so thrilled because I never understood all that stuff - aperture, f-stop, shutter speed, light. She walks you through it and I GOT IT! I'm not saying my photos aren't blurry but I now have the tools to practice practice practice so that I can have clean photos. I was like a giddy child inside during the entire class - it just made a world of difference. If you get a chance to take the class- do what you have to get there and and DO IT! It was my first KR experience and there is something so down-to-earth and real about her. Probably what I love the most is that she genuinely wants to share and has no qualms about it - if that makes you a better photographer or scrapbooker. She's not one of these copyright fools. You know the kind - that post all kinds of warnings on their blogs about written permission and copyright. Please. You didn't invent this. Okay, sorry, off soapbox - back to class. Her online class has a 200 person waiting list and once I've practiced more I may sign up for it but I picked up way more information to work with now... Anyway, I played around a little bit yesterday and took some photos of the dogs (Junior in photo). They really aren't keen on getting their photos taken (I don't know if its the beep or the shutter noise). This one is close to right but not quite there. I'm just so happy that I learned how to use the lens that I bought (and she recommended). It was a great class and a great day because all kinds of friends were there. Ronda & Penny (pictured - without permission!), Sandy and Karen, Laurel and Cindy and Josiane and Cari. On Friday I got to hang out with Sandy and take Karen's scrapbooking classes. The first class was an album of 10 Reasons. I hadn't prepared my list so it was mostly walking through the pages. The second class really rocked - interactive pages - with lots of add ons to a scrapbook page - a great way to add a ton of photos to an album or page. Really great ideas and ways to add pics - loved that class. Lots of great product given. It was great fun to spend two days with a great scrapbooker and photographer. So unassuming and enjoyable to be around. We did make it over to By Design and Novel Approach. I went nuts at By Design over all the Webster's Pages product - a new (to me) design that I am crazy about. Up close they are just gorgeous. Novel Approach is putting itself back together and looks good - they had a little more of WP to add. Now, it's back to work... and a plane ride on Thursday for Silver Bella! Yikes.

Fixing to - it's a Texas Thang

Life is fixing to get crazy, but that’s okay, it’s a good kind of crazy. We have our customer appreciation party tonight at work which is a very nice cocktail party. I’ve always enjoyed a good party – the meeting and greeting part and this has a long tradition that most people look forward to and it kicks off the holiday party season. So I say, bring it on.

Urban Market was last Sunday and the new location was a hit. Buyers swooped in early and by noon the crowd had thinned out quite a bit. I found several goodies: a tiny red footstool (for display), a beautiful gold hand mirror that I’m thinking of using as the base for an accordion album and a large wooden – well, all I can think of calling it was a spatula, but its like 15 x 25” with a handle. I love it. Oh and trims – lots of trims, five for a dollar, most of them about a foot. They will be great for projects. Ronda found a gym basket for $15 and Sandy Hoho found a nice round end table. Along with the popularity, pricing has gone up but I guess that is to be expected. Ronda has made me promise that I’ll go to Marburger in the spring… it starts March 31. It's so much fun to roam a market with scrapbook friends who love to junk and collaborate with great ideas.

I'm totally enjoying making Janet Hopkins junk binders. The real thrill is searching for books to use at resale shops and Half Price Books. I love the challenge of finding great titles, at cheap prices and made a great score yesterday. Its a book called The Expected One and has beautiful Madonna and angels on the cover and (get this) fleur de lis pattern on the inside. I don't even think I'm going to cover it with paper - just use gel medium. Just like any project, its best to run through it once and make all your mistakes... I sliced through too hard on my first book, but no worries, it had a crappy title! I've only started on the basics and haven't assembled the inside yet but found a few goodies at the office supply store to add. I'm going to use it for Ali Edward's Dec Daily album. I hope to get it put together on Sunday.

Why Sunday? Because Friday and Saturday I'll be at the Junkie taking Karen Russell classes including her famed 9 hour Photography class. Yippeee. I am sooo siked. Since I've gotten my Canon 30D I have only played with it so I'm looking forward to learning it inside and out. I will also have time to stop by By Design and Novel Approach while I'm on the south side. AND a day off of work, what's not to love! After reading the posts on All Things Tim Yahoo board, I'm looking forward to getting the Grungeboard tabbed album and Basic Grey's eclectic album. I'm thinking the dark chocolate will be yummy too.

I've been totally enjoying my Cuttlebug. I've never owned a die cut machine and used it so this is novel for me. I've been cutting felt circles like this for Christmas and I about flipped when Jeanne turned me on to Spellbinder's Nestabilities. OMW, and in scallops too. They're on sale 30% at HL this week. I also picked up Ali E's latest book this week (yes, I used a coupon) and one of my favorite ideas was a mini album about the books you read. Too cool. One day (somewhere in the far far future) I will make one of those...

A year ago I lost my sister to cancer and so its been grim the past few weeks. But I'm coming out of it and the creativity has been flying. But its a little bit like how I do my house organizing. I'm here there and everywhere and its never done in a straight line but rather from room to room. At the end it all gets done but in the middle its chaos. Organized chaos but still chaos.

Next week will be my first Silver Bella - I'm getting so excited to learn new things, meet new people and see Omaha and experience some cold weather (yes, we're paying Reliant for a/c right now). In the meantime, I need to get to that job that supports this passion. Oh and I almost forgot, I scored Carol Wingert's white album - I didn't make the same mistake twice and wait too long to order. It's beautiful! Can't wait to assemble it later this month.

Like I mentioned earlier, what I'm grateful for the most this week is getting some time either in person or on the phone to visit with scrapbook friends and sharing new projects, supplies or ideas. I don't take it for granted for a second. It is good to be back in the light.