And the end is near!

Well, it's about time for me to update you all.  

The house has been sold, for the second time!  But we are past the point of no return and I am mentally moving one to the new life I have been looking forward to for a year! I am moving LABOR DAY weekend and hope to get some basic organization done very quickly.  I want to hit the ground running with my scrapbooking. In my head, I have a plan on how to get the apartment put together. I have some projects already in mind to make a beautiful space for me to live and create in.  I am going to be posting a lot more here, and I am going to be doing a lot more creative scrapbooking once I get semi settled  

I kind of feel like it it the week between Christmas and New Year's day the way my mind is going.  I am planning.  I am trying to put together the list of specials I am going to offer at my daily  job (anyone need a facial??) and a plan on how to offer classes for my scrapbooking friends over the next few months.  I am excited to have the time and the place to offer more creative time to my customers.  

There is SO MUCH fun stuff in our new catalogs.  I have 2 very specific classes that I am going to offer and I am so excited about them.  But, I am not spilling the beans here, I am going to announce them once I get some dates locked in.  We are going to rock it this year!  I'm also getting our schedule worked out for our CLUB paper pack list and fun things that we will be doing this year.  

Right now, I am working on the kitchen table, trying to make some creative time without having all my creative 'stuff' accessible. It is interesting to only have a small amount of papers and accents to work with.  I am anxious to be able to actually sit down and scrap what I feel like scrapping not just what I have within reach.  

This week, I finished up the FLORENCE workshop, and I am so excited to get together with my friends to put this pretty kit together.  It is always such a blessing for me to get together with my friends once a month and spend the whole day visiting and being creative.  And, although I didn't think I would like the cards, I really do like them!  I was going to sell my stamp and thin cuts right away after CLUB, but I think I'm keeping this one and I am going to make many more cards with them.  

I have had the pleasure of spending a lot of time with my beautiful grand daughter!  It is the most amazing thing, being a grandmother.  She is bringing love and JOY into my life at a time that I am appreciating it so much.  And having a daughter-in-love is an experience that I am also so thankful for.  She is adding a new element to my life that I can only compare to what I thought having a daughter would be like. Without the challenge of raising her.  LOL  So, as I end today's post, I want to share my thankfulness for the good things in my life.  God has blessed me in so many ways and I am thankful to have you, my friends along with all the other JOYS I experience on a daily basis.  

SCRAP ON!  c

NATIONAL SCRAPBOOKING DAY

This is the day I look forward to all year long.  Not only is it NATIONAL SCRAPBOOKING DAY  the first Saturday of every May, but it is the day I get to spend celebration my birthday with my scrapping friends.  I always go with a Mexican theme, since my birthday in on Cinco De Mayo!  This year, we had Margarita place markers!  What fun.  I used one of the NEW  stamp sets from the SEASONAL EXPRESSIONS 2!

Isn't that little piñata stinkin' cute!?!  

I love when all the girls show up and we are all in chatting and creating mode!

Cindy even came with her BLUE AND PURPLE HAIR!!   Love it!

And a NEW SCRAPPER joined us.  Missy is making something special for her hubby for their FIRST anniversary!  I love when people realize how important it is to document their lives!  

And so, another NATIONAL SCRAPBOOKING DAY comes to an end!  But we all had a great time, got some memories recorded, got some stories recorded and made some more!  

LOVE THESE GIRLS!  Cant wait till next time!  

Keep on scrappin'  - connie

SPRING cards!! HAPPY EASTER!

HAPPY EASTER! 

I love this time of year.  The air smells so good and the fresh snow is so wet and heavy.  It is full of moisture and new life for the earth to grow and renew!  I feel very energized and optimistic in the spring.  And, the knowledge that my family will be all together for a wonderful meal later this week (HAM!  my favorite!!) is an added bonus!  

I wish I had some of these cards in the mail already!  But there is a chance they will go out today.  We'll see how motivated I am after the tax work is done for the day. (NO!!  I'm not done yet.  :-(  )

Anyway, these are so cute!!  And, I am not someone who particularly likes to color images, but the WATER COLORING of these cards was fun and quick!  

 I did use the PENELOPE paper workshop for the design of these cards.  But replaced the paper, of course, with the KALEIDOSCOPE paper.  I couldn't make up my mind on some of them, which paper I wanted to use, so I used the front AND the back of the cut paper.  

 I think it worked rather well.  I love these cute little fox!  And I LOVE the WATERCOLOR splatter technique on the card.  

I should point out that I have not embellished these cards with any PLAYFUL PUFFIES or other embellishments.  I ran out of the PLAYFUL PUFFIES and didn't get enough to do a second set of cards!  Bad Connie!!  I am planning on going through my stash and adding a little something to all the cards later.  

 This frog may be my favorite out of the whole stamp set.  

Notice the MINI STAPLES in the banners.  Such a nice extra layer of detail! 

And using the SPRING CRITTER THIN CUTS made the cards super easy!  

The stamp set is #C1638  SPRING CRITTERS.  

As much as I thought I would teach this and then sell the thin cuts and stamp set, I believe I am going to keep it.  I like it way more than I thought I would.  

So, Spring has Sprung!  Now on to some creative time.  I hope you all get to play today!  Connie

Spring is Here!

Well, Good Morning my friends.  Our little Spring storm hit last night and I woke up to snow.  Not that I am surprised, I do watch the news now and then, and this storm is all they've talked about for 2 days.  Panic about closing schools is big news you know.  I guess if I still had kids in school I would be more sympathetic, but for now, I think this is just a small spring storm.  I hope we get the big one we need for the moisture before summer hits.

On to scrap booking!  I am sorry I didn't get these pictures up quite as fast as I thought I would.  Light issues.  But, this morning I took all the pictures I hope you need.  Lets start with the CTMH kit, PENELOPE....

These are the ones you all printed your instructions for.  I didn't change anything from the exact CTMH design.  They are such fun and bright pages!  I can't wait to get some pictures of my grand daughter on them.  I think Somehow I got them out of order.  This one, with the blue base page is PAGE 2. 

This is PAGE 1.  I love that it is simple but so unique with the POCKET LIFE cards as decor and journaling spots.  

And PAGE 3.  

All the the little ephemora really make these pages pop! And the small details you don't notice right away add another layer of interest. The MINI STAPLES that hold down the clouds and the WASHI TAPE in the corners.  Too Fun!

And now on to the KALEIDOSCOPE paper pack!  It was very interesting to use the PENELOPE instructions and make the KALEIDOSCOPE paper work with it.  Not having the POCKET LIFE cards was one challenge.  I used the scraps I had left to make mine for this kit.  The other interesting thing was making the ephemera work, since the theme was totally different in the KALEIDOSCOPE kit.

So ... here you go.  My version of the KALEIDOSCOPE paper pack!  

 PAGE 1 . 

You'll notice that I made my POCKET LIFE card from the BOKA paper in the kit and the journaling spot is made with the PURPLE CROSS B&T paper.  The accent ephemera has a totally different feel, don't you think?  I think this page is more for an older child, teenager maybe, and the PENELOPE with it's bright colors for the little kiddos.  

 PAGE 2. 

 I really love the colors on these pages!  Personally, I'm not crazy about the GEM theme, but that is just me.  My sister went crazy for this theme!  LOL I may have to scrap about her on these pages!  

 Check out the PEACE SYMBOL.  From my era boys and girls!  I think it will be around forever!

PAGE 3

I LOVE the new PIXIE card stock!  I think BRIGHT pink is the only bright color I really like!  Most of the colors I love are more muted.  But this one ... BAM!  Love it!

 The only thing I didn't have that I wish I would have was the SILVER FOIL TAPE. I forgot to order some for me.  I think it really would have added some punch to these pages and if you are finishing your pages, I suggest you use the SILVER FOIL TAPE with these pages instead of the WASHI TAPE that I did.  (Ewww ... pretty sure that is a grammatical error! ) 

So, it seems I have added enough images that my blog carrier is done for today!  LOL  I will add the cards tomorrow!

I hope you all have a great day and get a chance to play today!  Connie

Real life

February 22

Good morning.  I know, I know.  I missed a post.  Well, I thought that my time was mine now that my children were grown and on their own.  No one really warned me about the grandchild thing.  Miss Z is not feeling well and my DIL is starting a new job, so grandma is on duty for a couple  days until everyone is feeling better.  Right now, she is napping, so I am trying to get a bit of office stuff done.  Letters need to be written, blog needs to be updated, checkbooks need balancing and bills need to be paid.  And ..... Go!

She is so sweet (and still) when she is sleeping.  Once she gets up though ... the busiest little person I have ever seen.  She is crawling and cruising furniture.  Everything goes in her mouth!  So grandma must watch her every minute!  LOL  I am so blessed that I get to do this.   

I have slipped on my enthusiasm for crafting every day this month.  I was doing so good!! And then, I guess real life intrudes.  I have come home from work tired and un motivated and that makes it hard for me to get back in my scrapbooking room.  Does this happen to you?  I think it helped when I was on top of my calendar and goals for the week.  That is the next step today.  Get the calendar out and plan the rest of the week.  Make some goals.  Get them done!  

I'm very excited to be taking a bit of a mini class with my photography club this weekend.  We are going to be touring and learning from a portrait studio.  Making pictures of people is my favorite type of photography, so I am excited to soak up a bit of knowledge.  When I took a weekend workshop this fall, I had so much fun and learned so much.  I want to continue to move forward with this.  

February 26

The heart is committed, it's just the world that thinks I shouldn't do this!  I start a post and life interferes.  Oh well, we move on and continue to the goal, isn't that how it is done?  Maybe this is like Yoga, it's a 'practice' not a 'thing'.  LOL

So, this week.  I have finally painted the upstairs bathroom and the flooring people should be here in the morning to get the new lino in there and carpet in G's bedroom.  Big steps forward in moving on with life.  I am pleased to see things happening finally.  There is light at the end of the tunnel.  I know that I can survive this, especially with the support of such wonderful friends.  Thank you all so much for being there for me!  It is my heart!  

I got to babysit Miss Z Monday night instead of prepping the bathroom for paint.  I thought it was a good trade (wink wink!) She was so much fun!  And, I got to see the little Irish temper come out. She was not happy when I wouldn't let her climb my stairs.   She yelled at me quite loudly for a long time.  Funny, it didn't change my mind, but it was sure entertaining. 

I've got the CLUB orders in for CTMH and I am excited to get the new papers we will be working on!  I think they are going to knock our socks off when we see them in person.  I'll be spending some time this week looking for pictures to scrap on them.  I don't know that I have many with the KALEIDOSCOPE colors, but maybe I'll have time to set some up!  

And, now that I have finally finished all of the Christmas lay outs, I will have time to play!  

 I was still using up the WHITE PINES paper pack and ideas.  I added the holly CRICUT cuts to all of the pages I did.  And Made more embellishments with the CRICUT in the form of the beads and tag cuts.  I thought they turned out cute!

 I'm not sure how well you can see it, but I accented the beads with a white pen to give it dimension.  This little step makes all the difference. My favorite white pen - the SAKURA GELLY ROLL. Mine is really old and I don't bring it out much, but it works like a champ when I do!

The last 2 pages of Christmas, I promise!  LOL 

So glad to have Christmas in the bag!  It really makes me feel caught up, even though I am no where near caught up with all my scrapbooking, at least my Christmas pages are all caught up.  Now to catch up the in between!  See you next week .... connie

February Retreat Update!

Good morning all!  As you can see, I missed a week writing on the blog.  Not the plan for this year, and I have to tell you, I almost talked myself out of writing today.  I have plenty of excuses.  'my phone isn't working, I can't take any current pictures', 'I don't have much to say today', 'I am feeling pretty blah - do I really want to share THAT?'  But, my commitment this year was to write on my blog, to show up, so, that is what I am going to do.

I know you are dying to know why I didn't write last week!  LOL  Well, let me tell you, getting ready for my SPRING RETREAT  takes a bit of time.  Combine that with a week of work and hanging with my D-I-L and grand daughter, and time really gets away from me.

Confession time.  I only manage to inventory my stamps and get them scanned before retreats.  I don't know why I feel the need to add this stress to my life just before retreat, but I always do.  I think right now I have about 90% of my stamps scanned and on my computer.  That is good.  I still have several out in WORKSHOP bags and I have several in my storage unit. So, I am not totally on it like I would like to be, but moving forward, and that is the goal for this year.  Keep moving forward.  Starting with my next order, I plan to scan every stamp before I use it or put it away.  Maybe I can stay current that way.  Such a big project!  But, now that I know how to do it with my MAC, which was a learning curve for this PC user, I should be able to do it every month!

RETREAT!  What a great time - every time!  This time was exceptional!  We had a very small group which made it much more intimate and calm.  I think all of us got a lot done, and enjoyed the fellowship of other scrappers and the wonderful setting of STORM MOUNTAIN.

What amazing talent I have coming to my retreats!  These ladies totally rock!  Beautiful pages and cards came out of Storm mountain this weekend.

Personally, my goals were to finish Christmas 2015, November 2015,  and January 2016 for me and for each of my boys.  I think I got all of that done.  I also wanted to do the WORKSHOP YOUR WAY for my Club this month.  I did get that done.  (LOVE IT by the way - think the new workshops ROCK!)  I wanted to get the Constant Campaign Card gifts done - didn't.  Didn't even start them.  Not sure why.  Did get my planner all caught up.  Not the plans for this week, but the decorating for last month and all the pictures in it.  When I have my phone back and can take some pictures with it, I will share.  And, I wanted to get miss Z's 1st year albums caught up for me, Gary, her mom and dad, and her other grandparents.  A total of 4 albums I am making almost exactly the same for each of us.  I know it might be silly, but I wanted her other grandparents to have one since they don't live here, and it just kind of grew from there.  ( some one shoot me please!  LOL)   Any way, I didn't touch her album.  That must be a project for my next retreat!

I slept this time at Storm Mountain.  A new experience for me!  The C-pap I got in Oct.  has made such a difference in my life it is amazing! Not being sleep deprived is such a new experience!  Usually I get about 6 hours all weekend.  I think I slept 6 hours each night.  I know I felt much more rested, more energetic, and less stressed.  A big benefit for me and the girls who have to work next to me.

I am already looking forward to the next retreat I host in October!  I am putting some plans in place and jotting down ideas for fun gifts and goodies.  If you have any in put on what you would like to see at retreat - give a shout!  I'd love to hear from you.

Well, that's probably enough rambling from me today.  LOL   I should get going so I can work on my taxes.  I really don't like this time of year!  Another area I need to learn to stay caught up on!  ;-)

See you soon - keep playing' - connie

I'm still here!

Despite the odds, in spite of the way my day and my thinking went, I am still here.  My grand daughter spent the night last night.  An event that I really enjoy, but it totally wipes me out!  She is nine months old, so sleeping isn't really her thing yet.  And sleeping someplace other than her own home is even more challenging.  Last night, I got 4, frequently interrupted, hours of sleep.  And then, had the handy man here most of the day working on getting some things done on the house.  So, planning the week really didn't happen too much today, although the planner did get a little decoration.  And, until this evening, I had no idea what I was going to share with you.  Truly, I don't know if anyone even reads this thing, but I keep hoping that my voice will get out there.

So, on with the sharing!  My house continues to move forward.  I know it might not sound like much to you all, but I have 2 new storm doors and 5 new interior doors, and they are all installed!!  It is a huge change to the way the house feels. The lighter wood, doors that closed, or stay open just makes the house feel ... better.  It's amazing the little things that bug a person.  Some of them, I don't even thing we are really aware of.
So, this is my downstairs hallway.  3 New doors and new paint.  It is a great start!

The picture below is so blurry!  I am sorry.  I just wanted you to see how pretty and clean the hallway looks.  The doors used to be the same color as the frames.  YUCK!  Now it seems so much more open and airy.  I love it.  I had no idea when I was letting my teen age boys 'decorate their space' that I would have to replace the doors because of the stickers (and holes I found under posters) that they had 'decorated' with.  It just didn't occur to me.  stupid stupid stupid!  I really think teenagers should come with instructions and warning labels!  Thank God they outgrow that and become amazing adults! 

Since this is a blog about scrapbooking, maybe I should touch on that just a little bit before I get off this thing and go to bed.  I would like to share why I love the Close to my Heart WORKSHOPS ON THE GO and I'm sure I will love the new WORKSHOPS YOUR WAY.  They are such a great starting point for my pages!  

My goal this weekend was to scrap CHRISTMAS 2015 and get it in the books.  Not just my scrapbook, but my boys' albums too.  Well, the best laid plans, as they say.  I did get the basic layout done for my pages and I have a loose plan for the boys' pages.  I started by following the workshop page instructions for the WHITE PINES WSOTG.  I still need to get one picture printed, but the rest - 4X6 and smaller- I print as I go at home when I'm not ahead of my game.  And now, I've used all the embellishments, touched them, bonded with them and become familiar with them. That will make them easier for me to reach for as I'm doing the rest of my pages.  (Sometimes I am embellishment challenged!) 

After making the workshop pages, I start laying out the rest of my pictures and making a plan to get them all in my book. I usually go with a pretty basic layout like the one below.  It doesn't look like much now, but, I am going to add a bunch of CRICUT cuts and embellishments, and it is going to blend seamlessly with the previous pages (WSOTG).  I had hoped to only do 4 pages at the most, but, no self control.  And , it's my happy book, so I can have a 6 if I want I guess.  LOL

I'm still using the WHITE PINES paper from the workshop as I plan the rest of my pages. But, I'm spreading it around in small bits so I can get the other 3 boys pages done too.  Wills book will probably have 2 pages (POCKET LIFE style) and James and Tori will each have 1 page scrapbooked.  It's not that they can't have as many pictures as Will and me, I just don't think they really want 47 pictures of the grand baby like her dad and I do.  Ha ha.  So, in the end, I am going to be using the same paper pack, the same embellishments, pretty much the same CRICUT cuts, and I am going to be making at least 10 pages!  And my jumping point is the workshop layout! I love that my creativity sparks from the workshop pages!  

For tonight, I have the layouts sketched for my book (see yellow sticky notes!). Pages are started to be put together, and pictures are printed for everyone elses pages.  (see below!) I am hoping that Tuesday night I can get all the CRICUT cutting done (I will be designing on the go on my iPad in CRICUT DESIGN SPACE) and then get the pages all assembled and glued down either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning.  You will know how I do, because I will be chatting with you here on Wednesday!  

But, for tonight ... I am about to drop, so I am off to bed!  Happy Scrappin' Y'all!   connie