A little fall floral action...

Not that I really believe that anyone ever reads this blog - especially given the infrequency of my postings, but even if someone is out there in the stratosphere reading this, you should start reading this post with the knowledge that my Pap-pap owned a flower shop.  It was one of my havens as a child.
Today, while I was perusing through Micheal's, I came across a fall silk flower sale and Pap-pap came into my brain.  You see, I've been wanting a fall colored arrangement for my dining room table for a couple of years now, but I'm too cheap to pay what they want for pre-arranged pieces that aren't truly what I wanted anyway.  With this in mind, I spent $6 on flowers and $1.20 on a bead stick (I already had florist block, the bucket, and tons of ribbon at home).  I'm rather pleased with the results - especially given that it has to be at least 25 years since I last played with flower arranging (my Pap-Pap died when I was in the 6th grade).
If anyone reads this, let me know what you think...  I'm now debating making the winter arrangement, so we'll see.  This blog may become multi-craft here pretty quickly!! (Hopefully translating to my posting more frequently!)

This first picture is just of my supplies in making the arrangement...  For some reason, I felt compelled to take a pic of that, and now compelled to share it here!

This would be the final product  :-)  Happy dining table for me!

My project of the past year - finale!

Sooo...  With a few more strokes of the brush, a LOT of clean-up, and felt-tipping the bottom of all of my furniture, I was able to begin re-assembly...  The only challenge that I ran into with this was my complete inexperience with all things electrical prior to the start of this project...  BUT, I did manage to install the two lighting fixtures - one in the bar and one over the dining room table.  Overall, I am really proud of the results.  I have to say that I love the finished product.  It definitely makes the house more "mine" and THAT is a feeling to enjoy  :-)  SO, here are the finished pics:

First off I'll show you the newly finished bar room.  LOVED the tone of this orange color...  And with it being such a small room, I decided that the ceiling needed to be the same color as the walls... Still haven't found window trimming for this room yet (I am open to any good suggestions!), but overall love the warm feeling and the ability to incorporate Nana's wash stand into the room - converted into a little wine bar, of course!

And here is the light fixture that I installed...  Even though it's a little room, I wanted to have lights that I could focus around the room.  Eventually I will finish refinishing a hoosier cabinet that I got from a friend, and it will move into the bar to store all my bar glassware.  Then the spotlights can sit on my butterfly canvas (shown below), the wine rack, and the refinished hoosier...  Motivation to make sure that I refinish it well  :-)

Now, onto the family room / dining room combination.  This room is about 14 x 22 feet, so it always just felt mammoth before.  Now I've been able to divide it a little without shrinking the room...
The first pic I took while sitting on the love seat at the far end of the room, looking back toward the dining room.  

 This one is from the kitchen entry into the dining room, looking back toward the bar... Another piece of Nana's furniture (ironically, rescued from a barn many moons ago), now sits under the window.  Eilis has finally ranked a "toy basket" under the light in the family room.  Not that she has yet been trained to put her toys away, but she knows where they went when they disappear on her, so that's a start that I can live with!

 This is where the loveseat and couch come together.  I don't personally like overhead lighting too much, so I use a lot of lamps...  And the 10 outlets around this back room make that VERY feasible...

Another shot of the dining room area...  Complete with a crate of CD's that I borrowed from a friend & a wine rack that this same friend's family was getting rid of, now re-purposed into a plant stand for a spider plant that my supervisor at work was convinced was dead...  Guess what...  It's quite happy in its new home  :-)

Finally, a closer picture of the dining room light fixture.  This was a bit of a bear to install, because I had to figure out how to shorten the chain without mangling what was left behind.  It took a few iterations before I got it right, but thankfully the chain was about 8 feet long and I only needed about 16 inches of it  :-)  In the back, you can see the shelf that I found at Target for my new microwave stand.  Got the matched horizontal one for my television.  There are a lot of different wood tones and faux wood tones in the room, but I think it ends up feeling cozy. 

Did I mention that getting rid of the old ceiling tile & installing the drywall has also helped out on heating in this room- double bonus!!  Overall, I am SOOO happy to have this project done and my rooms reclaimed.  Anybody up for a celebration?!

My project of the past year... Part 2

In my defense...  This WAS written within a week of the last posting...  But I apparently saved it instead of POSTING it...  Lesson learned  :-)  Not that I believe that ANYONE was on the edge of their seat awaiting this post...  So here you are...  Your reward for your patience  :-)

Now that all of the demolition was done and some basic fixes completed...  It was time to start putting the room back together - YAY!!!  With the help of several guys - Kenny (and Kyan), Ryan, Kevin, and Bobby- and the rental of a drywall lift, all of the ceiling was installed over the course of 2 separate days (2 weekends- in the middle of which is when Nana fell again - another long story)...  This was the new ceiling in its first rendition (and don't you just LOVE my sheet "curtain" to protect my kitchen from too much ick getting through):

After the guys helped me to get the drywall up, it was my time to have a little fun mudding and smoothing it out to make it a workable ceiling...  With the help of a nice long bench lent to me by a friend's uncle (you can see the bench in the pic above - HIGHLY recommend one if you have any work to do on a ceiling - SO much easier!!)  SO, after several hours of mudding, sanding, and repeating, this was the next series of pics (and yes, the sheet curtain became a tarp for this portion of the project):

I do just have to say here that when you have a high degree of stress in your life, this process can be strangely comforting and soothing.  I may have to keep this in mind later in life  :-)
Then came the prime coat... The main room was primed just in white...  Had to take the pic half way through the first prime coat, or I would have had no sunlight to use for it  :-)

The small bar room (it's only a 6.6 feet by 8 feet room) was primed in grey because I had a SPECIAL idea in mind here...

Then, with the threat of having to get this all finished YESTERDAY because it was looking like I would have to clean out Nana's apartment and move her into supported living...  I got a VERY special visit from 2 dear friends - who actually live in Chicago and had just closed the campground that Jim and his wife own about 5 hours away from me...  Jim and Mike traveled down in the middle of the week to help me get the flooring installed- baseboards and all- and to get as much painting done as humanly possible all in the course of less than 2 days...  Here are the action shots:

And one more with a teaser of the flooring and the color of the bar  :-)  Then you'll have to wait until next week for the grand reveal - the finished room!!!  :-)  SO, here's my teaser...

Next week I'll post the finished room pics... See you then!

My project of the past year...

OK...  So I admittedly vanished...  Again.  And I have the pics to explain why!!  In July of 2011, it became rather emergent that I take on what was to be a somewhat minor renovation project - my cats had ruined the carpet in a room in my house & the ceiling tile was not enough of an insulative barrier... SO, I decided to take it out. I was so excited to get things started that I forgot to take ANY pics until the furniture was all out of the room and half the carpeting gone!

Then there came the inspector general...

 

 All rolled up and ready for the trash...

And treating the floors - hydrogen peroxide wash then baking soda odor absorbent (trust me, it works!)

And then came the ceiling...

 

All the way to the insulation - YAY!!!  Uhhh...  Wait...  What was THIS:

What it translated to was my somewhat minor renovation became a LOT more complicated  :-(
SO..  Suddenly I was going to get a little course in wiring 101 and the safe and unsafe practices of the people who last worked on my house...  Let's suffice to say that it got messy:

The bottom layer of insulation came down, wiring came out, insulation went back UP, holes got intentionally punched into my walls, and wiring got replaced. WHEW!!   (Tired yet??) Several gentlemen from my church were wonderful in getting the wiring issue resolved - absolutely no way I could have done that myself!!

SO, since we were done with all of the DEstruction, it was time (in late September, early October by then) to begin reCONstruction..  That'll be another post later this week  :-)  And you can hold me to that one!!!
Talk to you then!!

I am returning, from A LOT of things :-)

Just wanted to drop a quick post and let anyone who might still be out there know that I am, indeed, still alive.  This past year has been a doozy for me with relearning how to balance everything in my life.  Those of you who know me personally know the details, & the rest of you just need to know that I'm not one to advertise  :-)  Just suffice to say that life had gotten so FAR out of balance that I had felt like I was drowning.  I now have my life preserver securely in place & am enjoying the new ride of life.  This isn't to say that everything is enjoyable or easy, just that I feel sooo much more capable of taking care of what needs to be done.
This also means that I haven't been in my scrap cave a whole lot this past year.  As a matter of fact, one of the joys that I'm looking forward to is redoing a room in my house to create a new workshop / creative cave space - when it's all done my space will be a HEAVENLY 14x18 foot space!!  First job is to refloor my first floor back room - then I can start on the basement creative space.  It'll be busy, but I'll take pictures & post those.  Once all of that mess is finished, THEN I can get back to my love of papercrafting & will start posting for that again.  It's been over a year already, so I don't think anyone will mind the continued crafty hiatus!!  I'll get the home improvement pics posted, though.  It'll be fun  :-)
Hope that everyone is enjoying good weather, wonderful friends, and delicious food!!  Thank-you to all of our veterans for all that you have done so that we can all have the blessings that we do in our lives.  May you never be taken for granted.

Another Scripture Swap!

This time, the swap featured the "Veranda" paper pack...  BUT, I decided to make my own paper, keeping with the Veranda colors.

The left side of the page is done using a "sueding" technique of sponging the Creme Brulee ink onto the Creme Brulee CS (I used a piece of paper along the side to mask of the solid line.).  Then, using the "Damask Tiles" stamp set, I stamped four identical tiles onto each of the remaining corners of the un-sueded portion of the page.  I used a smaller tile and stamped it onto Juniper CS four times, then used a punch to get the squares.  One of the four squares was then cut in half diagonally in order to make the photo corners.  The other three squares (and the verse) were all mounted onto Cocoa CS.  The verse is printed on my computer, using the RGB codes to help it to match with my layout. 

Hope that you like it!  I know that I enjoyed the results of the swap - it is SOOO nice to see ideas from other scrappers!
Have a great night!

Bella is good!

Anyone who knows and loves all things stamping has likely heard of the "Stampin Bella's"  They are SUCH a cute little line of stamps featuring "Bella" and her "Fella" in a variety of hobbies and activities...  WELL, I have begun a Bella collection and decided to marry Bella to some CTMH paper.  Here's the end result:

I stamped the Bella image - called "Spa Bella" - once on the White Daisy CS, and once onto the purple printed B&T from the retired "Paper Garden" pack.  Using microtip scissors, I cut out the towel, robe, and slippers from the Bella on the B&T, then ran them through the Xyron to make stickers.  Finally, I placed the now printed Bella image over top of the plain stamped image.  NOT the easiest way of coloring in an image, but I really wanted her to have a floral robe, etc.  :-)  The striped paper is also from the "Paper Garden" pack, and the CS are petal (with edges sanded) and blush.  All in all, a simple card, but you HAVE TO HAVE the microtip scissors to cut out the itsy-bitsy pieces like the towel and slippers!

Now...  She looks happy with her drink, so I think I'll take up her suggestion  :-)  Have a wonderful night!

It's not easy being green...

OK, so I confess...  I am addicted to the color green...  Almost anything is better if it's green (OK - people and meat are two exceptions to this rule, even *I* can acknowledge that!)...  SO, when the chance came up to join in a swap that celebrated the color green, you guessed it, I jumped RIGHT into it...  Two spots, but I only have one finished so far (who knows, maybe that random stamped sheet will make a re-appearance!)
:-)

Here is my first entry:

Using the CTMH "With Love" stamp set, I stamped out the fun little flowers and stems in topiary ink onto citrus leaf cardstock.  Then, I took a piece of white daisy CS and stamped the vase in topiary ink, then cut it out and put it through the Xyron sticker maker and adhered it to the citrus leaf...  Grab the trusty Gelly Roll white gel pen and colored in the tips of the flowers, then added a white brad to ground each flower.  A little white organza ribbon (which is a little shimmery, not that you can really tell that here), and a sentiment from the "Say It in Style" set, and wa-la...  A celebration of green to let someone special know that I am "thinking of you..."

Random Stamping Extravaganza!

OK, so I decided to join a swap featuring the "random stamping" technique... This is NOT a technique that I specialize in, so I thought that it would be a good way to push myself to step out of the safe little box of stamping 1-2 images and into the zone of making my own paper with stamps...  I will NOT confess to the number of tries that I made before coming up with a random stamped design that I actually liked, but I will confess that I am now addicted to the process...  There is something indescribable about knowing that you can make "just the right paper" in "just the right colors" for ANY need...  Hehehe... I may have created a monster within myself after all  :-)

SO, design number one borders on the whimsical!  For this, I used the  CTMH "TLC" stamp set to make the random stamped paper.  Colors are White Daisy, Goldrush, Hollyhock, and Sunny Yellow.  The sun is an outline stamp, so I used my trusty marker (goldrush - using the brush tip and not writing tip) to fill in the blank.  The strip of actual B&T paper comes from the "Tinkering" paper pack.  The sentiment is also from the TLC stamp set - which, I must admit, is SUCH a cute set to play with!!!

My second entry for the swap moves back away from whimsy and into more floral-esque...  For this entry, I used my CTMH "One of a Kind" stamp set.  Colors are Vineyard Berry, Hollyhock, and Blush.  The CS are White Daisy,Vineyard Berry and Blush, and the ribbon is Vineyard Berry. The sentiment comes from the "Say It In Style" stamp set.

The flower that is singled out is done by stamping first onto the blush ink pad, then rolling the edge of the stamp in the vineyard berry ink, finally stamping onto the paper.  When using this technique, be cautious to ALWAYS stamp the image onto a lighter color ink and roll onto the darker, otherwise you'll end up transfering the dark ink onto the lighter stamp pad!  The crystal in the center is one of the "clear sparkles"

I had no more entries needed for the random stamp swap (I only had two spaces), but the bug was not yet out of my system...  Knowing that I have a swap upcoming that focuses on the color green (go figure, I'd sign up for a GREEN swap!?!?!)...  I decided to try my hand at a third random stamping set...  Here is the final sheet of paper...  NO CLUE what I'll make from it, but when I do, I'll post that, too!

Stamp sets involved in making this lovely sheet are as follows (all are CTMH): Connections, Endless Love, and Cottage Floral.  The inks are Citrus Leaf and Clover Meadow...  To be continued as to the fate of this paper!

Felicity swap (entry #2)

For my second entry into the Felicity "All About Me" swap, my title was "If I could turn back time..." I decided this time to play with the sorbet and desert sand combo, adding in a little bamboo for some fun.

Here is a picture of the completed layout:

The first page leaves a LOT of room for either some pictures or journaling... I still haven't decided what I would do "if I could turn back time," so in designing the swap, I decided that I needed to have room to choose :-)

The scallop on the left edge is actually made by taking the guard off of my corner rounder and punching along the edge of some desert sand cardstock... Simple :-)

The little glass dots were a TON of fun to make... I bought a bag (which I *think* amounted to a pound) of clear glass baubles from Pat Catans for something ridiculously cheap (around $6)... THEN, take a SMALL amount of the glass baubles and place them into a *disposable* cup with a few drops (you can always add more, but can't take away!) of Adirondak ink - I used the latte color for my purposes... Stir with a popscicle stick (or something else that is disposable), and let dry on wax paper. Wa-la REALLY cheap drops of color for the page!

The flowers are all stamped in sorbet ink and mounted on dimensional elements - a retired floral design. I inked the DE in either sorbet (the larger one) or bamboo (the smaller ones) and edged all of them with desert sand ink

The right page:
Can I just tell you how much of a time I had with trying to get the title shaped the way that I wanted it?!?! I printed the words from the computer and eventually had the bright idea to print a bracket on its side, then use that as a guide to cut out the bottom to the shape that I wanted it to be... inked the edges with desert sand to try to hide any imperfections from having hand cut the shape. :-)

The flowers on the right mimicked the same design as the large flower on the left. The lower right-hand flower was layered with a sorbet and a desert sand flower (both then cut out and mounted on the DE)... Just the one layer just didn't seem like it did the job.

When it was all said and done, I was happy with the end results! Hope that you enjoyed the layouts!

Holy Cow has it been a while!!!

I was talking to a friend recently and mentionned that I had a blog... Then I remembered that while I have had EVERY intention of posting to said blog, life has been happening at such a rapid pace that blogging has been my last thought before bed, but not a step that I manage to take during my waking hours....

SO, hopefully this week I can catch you all up on some of the projects that I have been working on since September (that is, those that I have remembered to take pictures of before sending off!)

The first one that I will share is from an "All About Me" swap that I participated in with other CTMH consultants. For so many of us (myself included), it is terribly easy to scrapbook about everything and everyone around us, but we forget that we (or, shall I say *I*) am an integral part of the life that we / I live... I can't forget to scrap about who *I* am and the journey that I take through this amazing life... SO, a group of us were assigned titles to help us to reflect on the things that are important to us, the meaning of our name, etc... My two titles were "Things that people say about me..." and "If I could turn back time..."

Since Blogger has a limit on the amount of picture space per post, I will post the "If I could turn back time" post later...

All paper and stamps for this swap used the "Felicity" pack that was on special for CTMH either late last year or early this year (you KNOW it's been a while when I can't remember when the special was!!)

Here is a shot of the two pages together (do you like Stickle alley as it watches over my worktable?!)...



Here is a closer shot of the titling. The "Some people say..." was actually printed off of my computer. The swirl and bird are both from the Felicity stamp set. The bird is sitting up on some foam squares to give her a little dimension. The autumn terracotta paper is actually textured CS that I sanded to give it a little more character. The other colors are bamboo and desert sand CS.

Page 2 leaves a little room for the actual things that people say... I liked the idea of the birds doing the talking, so I used the little bird image from Felicity, then decorated the bottom corner to reflect the bird from the title... All the birds are on foam squares.

A closer view of the little birds... TOO cute :-)

And the bottom corner image from the right page.


Not a "complicated" layout, but it was fun to put together - you might say that it's a layout for the birds :-)

Just so peaceful

Continuing on my trek through the project pictures that I have stored, I encountered photos of one of my favorite layouts in the kittens' scrapbook. My little girl (OK, so she's the bigger one, but she's still my little girl), just looks so peaceful and sweet when she's asleep, so, being the scrapbooker that I am, I grab my camera and take pictures of her bliss... Here's the layout!

I used the Caprice paper pack - one that I had not been fond of until I started to play with it! Now, its charm and versatility have me sold :-)

The picture of Angel sprawled over the back of the couch is actually an interactive picture. I took one of the storage sheets of six 4x6 pictures and cut it in half, then cut my page protector where I wanted the interactive photos to go... Wha-la, what was the space for one photo now can hold FIVE pictures!! Talk about a space saver!

The letters are cut on a Cricut using the "Jasmine" cartridge. Then I took clear Stickles and went over the letters for the shimmery, dream-like effect.

There you have it! Another kitty lay-out!