Catching Up

Well, we here in South Dakota persevere.  With the beautiful weather the weekend AFTER the storm, you would never know we had 31" of snow.  But, all over town the sound of chain saws was the music and huge stacks of branches were the pictures.  Hubby and youngest son worked on our yard and went and helped my sis by cutting as much damage off of here huge old tree as they could. Don't they look like hard workers?

Meanwhile, I met some of my students for lunch before we did the picture frame class.  We went to HuHot for the first time.  YUMMY!  We really had fun.  And, we had a server who didn't mind getting into the spirit of things by photo bombing!!  :)

 And , then it was time to get serious and make some awesome frames to give as gifts or hang in our homes.  I am always amazed at the diversity of my friends.  One did a frame as an engagement gift, One did a frame of her boys camping....

 Another was a surprise for her hubby depicting the Sturgis Rally this year!  

 A family trip to Florida and Disney for another,

 And finally, a series of family vacation memories.  What a fun we to display them in your home!  

I'm still 2 weeks behind in Blog posts, so don't be surprised if you hear from me soon.  I am enjoying a semi-normal schedule at work for a while, so I am getting back into my house work/ scrapping/ 2nd job routine.  

I hope you all enjoy the pictures and visit.  I know I enjoy getting it all down.  

See you soon, 

Connie

Retreat week!

Well, you all know that we were snowed out o the retreat that I was going to host a few weeks ago, but did you know I planned on attending a second retreat this month?  I can't say my hubby is thrilled with me, but he does spoil me and doesn't put up to much of a fuss about the retreats in the fall.

I actually only attend 3 a year, and I host 2 of them, so they are a bit of work.  This one is awesome because I am actually working on my family albums and not fussing about how everyone is doing and watching clocks and worrying if people are having a good time.  Not that I mind that at all, I still enjoy my retreats, but this is a bit more relaxing!

So, one of the reasons I am excited about this retreat, is that I am going to be working on my 2012 album, which I have decided I am going to do BECKY HIGGINS PROJECT LIFE style.  I am hoping to get the whole year done in one weekend.  (scary huh?) But, I think I may be able to do it.  And, this is the pile of stuff I am taking to the retreat.  Yes!!  this is all.  I know right??  Not the huge car load I usually have.   Oh, I am taking my CRICUT and my GYPSY too, but that is it!  So, wish me luck and I will send you updates from the CROP!

Have a super weekend !  I know I will - Connie

Fall retreat in South Dakota

So, I have had these pictures loaded for about a week and a half, but they make me so sad, I have had trouble getting the post written.  I was so excited to go to out retreat at STORM MOUNTAIN this year.  I was organized, I had a plan, I started packing about 2 weeks in advance, and piles of things to load into my car appeared in the living room starting the Monday of retreat.

By Thursday night, this is what I was looking at piled up by the front door.  I knew the weather man was predicting bad storms, but he is always wrong.  They ALWAYS go south of us!  We ARE going to scrap book this weekend!  AT STORM MOUNTAIN!  And, I believed that, right up to 11:00 AM Friday morning, when I watched someone go into the ditch on the way home from Walmart.  :(

By Friday afternoon, this is what we were dealing with.  And it was still coming down in droves. The leaves, still on the trees and not yet turning their beautiful fall colors, were holding all of the snow up in the trees.

And by early evening on Friday, we were hearing branches breaking all over the neighborhood.  Power had been flickering in and out all day, and by 6:00 PM.....it was over.  No electricity for us.

My son's little project truck has a broken windshield.  And the tree damage on the property is unreal!

Thankfully, the tree that landed on the shed didn't do any damage, but I was worried, with very little storage in the house, this is where I keep my extra stuff.

The last blessing for us of course, was the fact that I picked up firewood on an impulse Friday morning.  We haven't used this fireplace in 10 years because we aren't home long enough (usually!) But it sure kept us warm this storm.  

So, during the storm, I read 3 books, made 6 cards for a customer of mine  (oooh!  I should take pictures of those!), and hung out with my hubby and son.  

I wonder if this might be the beginning of  a weather trend here, it has been the weirdest year for us.  I am going to remain prepared just in case.  Firewood ready!  Flashlights a plenty!  And batteries galore for when the next storm hits.  In the man time, I have put away my retreat bags and and plan on doing those projects at home, sometime between now and Christmas.  And, I am packing up for my next retreat at the end of the month.  I am working on a new project at that retreat!  I am going to give pocket scrap booking a try.  I'll let you know how it goes.    C

Getting ready

So, it's Sunday morning and I thought I would give you a glimpse into my day.  I slept in, I LOVE Sundays for that!!  Woke up knowing that I was making waffles for breakfast and got moving!  Started dish water
(didn't get dishes done last night because I want to Les Miserables with my sis!) and heated up the waffle iron.  Before I got to far into my multitasking, I had sliced my thumb open and gone through 2 sets of band-aides.  Not a great way to start the day, but I must persevere!  I have much to accomplish!  Look at these Boxes!!

These are only 2 of the 4 that I need to get packaged out for the girls going to the retreat this weekend!  Many many fun things in here!!  Can 't wait for you all to get to Storm Mountain!

The only side effect of boxes is those darn pillows!  I have bags and bags of them.  Usually, I donate my bags and boxes to the Black Hills Area Decorative Artists.  They use them to ship memory boxes to hospitals all over the world.  It is such a great program.  If you don't know what the memory box program is, please go check it out here!  (oooh!  I've never added a link like that before!  That was fun!)

So, right now, I have this one bag of pillows, but I'm sure by Wednesday I will have at least one more.  I'm so glad they get recycled.  And, hopefully by the end of today, I will be able to find my living room again!  ;)

Connie

Welcome to STUDIO J

So Excited to share some STUDIO J pages with you today.  These are the first ones I have created and I am THRILLED!  I am a total paper scrapper, but it was fun to step out of my box and these came together SO QUICKLY!

I created a St. Patrick's Day layout first.  I had to do it twice, because I learned how to change the papers, and I really was unhappy with one of the B&T papers I had used.  Once I figured out how to do that, I was thrilled with the layout, but I don't have permission to share the people's pictures, so, I will just keep that one private.  

I think I only spend a couple hours on ALL FOUR of these layouts.  I am thrilled to have the pages done for my bonus child, Tori.  I have a book started for him, but get so few pictures.  I think these are almost all of the pictures I have for 2013. That's OK, he's a grown up, but I still want him to have a book.  

I LOVE the details on these pages.  It is so fun to play with the elements and know that you aren't committed until you say "order these pages"  You can change and change and change everything until you are completely happy - or crazy and have to step away.  Either way, you have pages created!

Buttons, Brads, Bingo cards under pictures, and stickers.  What more could a girl want?

And access to a bunch of old AND NEW papers through STUDIO J.  

Won't you come play with me??  c

Creating again!!

An acquaintance of ours from the local HOG chapter retired from his job as a motorcycle mechanic last week.  I had to work, but Gary went to the party and needed a retirement card to take.  I have a bunch of cards on hand, always, but not retirement cards.  I also knew I had this great motorcycle stamp from 'the other company' that I wanted to use.  None of the papers are CTMH either!  Ha ha.  I really rebelled this time!  The papers are a REFLECTIONS pad from Micheal's, the watch stamps are from CTMH as is the 'Congratulations' stamp on the edge.  The brushed pewter brads are CTMH also.

I used an EKSuccess punch on the edge of the Kraft card from CTMH.  I thought it gave the card more texture and interest.  The layout is from our ORIGINALS design book.  Having that really makes a difference for me.  I am not a card maker by choice, it comes with being a consultant for me.  I am definitely more comfortable scrap booking. But, give me one of our design books, and I can do some amazing cards if I do say so myself.  I love being able to use my scrapping supplies for multiple purposes, more bang for my buck you know!  lol

When I get an opportunity to make a card for something or someone specific, and it all falls together so well, I really do love it!  This was fun to make, and reminded me that I need to make cards more often.  

Hope you are creating this week!  C

DOTTY and DREAM POP reborn

So, here I am again, posting months after my last blog. I don't know why this is so hard for me.  as much as I talk, you'd think I would be able to hammer these posts out in a heart beat.  Oh well, I guess we'll just see you when I see you.  I am continuing to try and make time to post here.

This month my club members couldn't do the BUZZ and BUMBLE paper pack like we had planned (I don't want to talk about it!) so, we resurrected the last two NSD special papers and made pages and cards with them. We'll start with the fun, pastel, summery DOTTY paper pack.

Now, before we go much further, I have to add a disclaimer.  I LOVE PINTEREST!!  and I stalk it and CASe (copy and steal) from PINTEREST all the time.  This is one of those instances.  I didn't design this page.  I found it, and the cards, on PINTEREST and CASed them.  I guessed at the dimensions and put the pages together so they would look like the pages I fell in love with.  If you want to see the original designer, please refer to my PINTEREST/CTMH.

So, now that that is out of the way, on to the pages!

Isn't this a great page?  I love the banners in the left hand corner, all the bright colors on the KRAFT CS. and the double layering of the pictures on the left page appeals to me too. I don't have my journaling in there yet, I'm not sure which boys album this is going to end up in, but I think I am going to put my journaling on the right hand page below the 3 pictures on the top.

I love this card.  It is a design from the MAKE IT FROM YOUR HEART design book by CTMH.  I use this design book so often.  I don't care what papers you use, you just can't go wrong when you pull your design from one of CTMH's design books.  The inspiration for this was also found on PINTEREST, but the design is #19 from the MIFYH book.

Isn't this card great?  I love the new M sized 'THANK YOU' stamp!  and I think that this design really sets it off well.  I used double sided paper for my card base, the inside is a pale grey dotty pattern.

Again, PINTEREST inspired.  I was going to use a different pattern, but this is so simple and fun.  I love the banners and the one brad.  Oh!  I just realized that the brad is supposed to have a bow tied around it with BAKERS TWINE.  Some one dropped the ball!  (**blush**)

And here are the same designs only with the DREAM POP paper pack.  the only difference is the third card.  I repeated the #1 design and changed the sentiment.  I really enjoyed working with these 2 papers and I am thrilled to have more pages done for the 2009 album.  I am really hoping to get close to caught up soon so I can concentrate on making some fun mini albums and trying some different scrapping techniques.  Well, that is it for now.  I will be adding some catch up pages soon.  But, today, it's time to shower and get ready to go out on the bike.  What a gorgeous day!!  Hope you enjoy these last days of summer!  C