Inspired by Riesling

It's been an odd day:  weather wise and friendship wise (not a big deal, but my paths crossed with Neg. Nellie and I swear she's on Happy Pills!  She just seemed so non-negative.  What's up with that?  And if any locals see this,  since I didn't see YOU today,  you aren't the Negative Nelly)....so at dinner I suggested we open a bottle of wine...and afterwards, I found myself here in the craft shack.  Slightly buzzed and had a moment of inspiration.

I grabbed some card bases (the scalloped part) that I bought last summer with every intention of using for something and grabbed a packet of CTMH paper that I can't stand (Paper Garden:  way too bright and busy for my style of SBing).  and decided to make some note cards.

I owe a bunch of people some sort of thinking of you card and figured I'd crank out these cards and gasp...write them a letter instead of sending them a card.  

so, in less than an hour, I've made 12 of these cards.  All slightly different since the embellishment sticker is from a K&Co. sticker sheet with no two alike.  But, I'm proud to say I used up all the scalloped base card stock that I had AND most of the lavender ribbon and all of that ugly patterned purple paper. 

Hmmm...maybe wine is the key lost mojo after all?  

Catching up on challenges

SS Sketch Challenge wk 11.  The inspiration was from a "Blueprints" layout.  I love how the colors always come together when I'm working on beach photos.  Sadly, being here all land locked, I don't get many chances to do beach layouts...but there you have it.  

I wish the journaling was a little clearer.  The older gentleman in these photos is not my dad but rather my hubby's college mentor.  "The Colonel" has been a part of Dom's life since Dom was in college and they so enjoy each other's visits.  

This is week 12 on the SS sketch challenge.  The inspiration was from something from Donna Downey.  I'm not familiar with her work/style but hey...it worked for the photos I had.  I think the intention was for more open space where I used patterned paper and placed a journaling block.  But, hey, I just don't care for that much "dead space".  

The title is rather hard to see but it reads "Happiness is spending a week at the HILTON."  Yes, folks this was our timeshare that we exchanged for last year.  OhLaLa indeed...made it hard to come home to my humble abode.  That's my dad with the boys.  He came and spent a couple nights with us at the condo.

I didn't accomplish as much as I'd hoped to but more than I did last weekend.  I quit early in favor of cleaning up the basement and tending to a few domestic details.  Maybe since the boys are on Spring Break/Track off (yes, I know...again...how does any learning go on?  I wonder that myself) I might get to do a bit during the week.  

Off to watch a movie with the family....see you next weekend (if not sooner)

Pics from last weekend

I realized that I never uploaded pictures of my finished banner or cards. Not much time spent in the craft room today, we'll see how the rest of the afternoon unfolds.

Here's the Happy Easter banner...


Middle




The R is backwards intentionally.


Here's the collection of cards that I finished.

Weekend plans: 28-29 March

How did we manage to get to the end of March this fast?

YIKES!

Today I'm spending it doing mom/scout parent things.  But tomorrow, I'm eager to get in the craft room and play.  I've got on layout set out and ideas for two more.  YEAH ME, my mojo has returned.

I did manage to make some invitations for an Easter luncheon that we're hosting.  Normally, I just e-vite or call but I was feeling crafty and had some paper that I didn't see myself ever using in a layout so I made 4 invitations.  I forgot to take a photo but they turned out really cute and very high end looking.  And, didn't cost me a dime because I used all my stash to make them.

Ok, so the Things are hollering at me to take them sledding.  Since Spring snow lasts for such a short time, I"d best head off and do the mom thing.  

But tomorrow?  I'm claiming it for MYSELF!  

Silence in the craft room

Well, I think that this is the first weekend since we've started our challenge that I have not crafted on the weekend.  Yeah, I've missed a couple weekends due to travel or visitors.  But this weekend, I had no such excuse...just no mojo.

I'm trying hard to convince myself that I've got seasonal allergy issues brewing...but as the weekend progresses, I'm thinking I might have caught Hubby's "man cold".  

So, check back next weekend...hopefully this is just a temporary loss of mojo...but today?  All that sounds good is a cup of tea and curling up watching mindless t.v. or reading a book.   Even surfing the 'net doesn't sound interesting.

Hope everyone else has had a more productive weekend than me.  And if you haven't, then you have my sympathies...it's a bummer when the time is there but the interest is absent.  

Weekend plans: March 21-22

Ahh the weekend has finally arrived!

Last night I started working on a Happy Easter Banner - I'll share pics when I'm done. I wanted to use bigger eggs but didn't have a template and there's no ink for the printer. :( So I'm using the CM CSS special edition egg shape and I'll mat them.

I'm hoping for some quality crafting time today, I have a brunch/social with my sorority and after that no set plans. Maybe I'll make a fun(?) housekeeping binder - to store my schedule and all the hints and tips. :) I need to make a stock pile of cards - I'm tired of making them at the last minute. And I need to finish our March Challenge - using stamps and a new to me stamping technique. Hmmm sounds like it fits making cards, LOL!

Sounds like Martha has some plans with her boys, not sure if she'll have crafting time today?

Have a great weekend and if your weather is warm get out and enjoy it.

SS Sketch Challenge #11

I am one of *those* doggie Mommas. We gave our dog a birthday party when he turned two. I found the cutest paw print hats and had to train him to wear it.

These are the pictures of the training. Buddie gets embarrassed - funniest thing to watch. Anyway, he buried his nose & face under his pillow. He finally came out when we told him he could have a frosty paws (doggie ice cream) treat later.

See ya, 'O7

YES!  I knew I was getting close to the end of the photos for 2007, but this morning when I pulled out my book of photos to be worked on, I realized I was closer than I had thought.  So while I stalked SS for this week's scrapbook challenge, I decided to just jump in and finish up these lingering layouts.  For inspiration on the Fall Humbug, I used an idea from Simple Scrapbooks (Mar/Apr. 09, pg 42).  I liked the way they'd used very similar photos to tell a story.  I try not to use duplicate type photos in a layout but sometimes it's important to convey the right "thought" so this sketch worked well for what I had in mind. 

For the others, I think I had my Best of Becky Higgins book nearby but can't really say I used a sketch.  I did for the Santa's Village, because that was for the SS sketch challenge wk. 9.  But the rest, I just sort of threw things together.

Yeah, yeah...I'll shut up and just show you what I"ve done.

It's 12:30ish local time...and I"m still in my jammies.  I best call it a wrap and go back to my usual mom/wife responsibilities.  But, I"m leaving a happy scrapper...having found time for some crafty pursuits....and that is always a good thing indeed!  

WWYD: All caught up...

Ah, something I only dream about...being caught up in my scrapbooks.

But, really, if I continue on this pace, the reality of being caught up on the family stuff, is a very real possibility.

So, as Karen pondered this in her comments on another entry, I thought I'd open it up for others to chime in.

Please, under the comments, share with us what you'd do if you found yourself all caught up on your own stuff?

For me, I'd take on some sort of service project.  Maybe work with Make a Wish to make an album for a family that got to take a Wish adventure.  I'd also do some work for friends.    I've done that many of times before when I'm not feeling inspired/motivated to work on my own stuff...I offer to make pages for others, or more often, make a small gift album for someone who enjoys my talents.  If you don't like scrapbooking and have openly shared your "eh, whatever" feelings, don't expect to ever get a martha creation.  I'd rather learn a new hobby than spend time on a project for someone who doesn't "get it" in the first place.  

So, come on ladies...comment away...what would you do IF...

TGIF

Yeah, the weekend is here.  Even as a SAHM, I so look forward to the weekends.  Things are usually quieter and I find time for more crafty pursuits, less concerned about household responsibilities.

So, anyways, it's been a long week (scout drama taking up way more time than it should.  Sheesh...) and having been out of town last weekend, I'm MORE.THAN.READY. to get crafty.

As for my plans, I'm hoping to finish up a layout I'd started 2 weekends ago.  I need to also take a look at the SS sketch challenge and see where I am on that.  And then, I'd like to work on making some cards.  My friend's hubby turns 50 and I need to make him a bday card...any ideas?  I have such a hard time with "guy" cards.  Except for my guy:  as long as it has a motorcycle on it, you are good to go.  

I could ramble some more, but instead, I"ll stop now...head off and clean off my work space so that first thing tomorrow morning I can start creating!  :)

Weekend Plans 7 - 8 Mar

My thoughts and prayers are with Martha this weekend as she bought a weekend get away package to go to AZ and see her uncle. I hope that she's able to get some great pics to remember the weekend.

This is our weekend to relax and hang out at home. I've accomplished a lot around the house today and most importantly made time to reorganzie part of my scrapping area. I am so happy to walk down the stairs and see the open area by my scrap space and I can't wait to make a lot of great pages there. I'm hoping tomorrow has a little more sun so I can take some pictures.

Otherwise my scrapping priority was to make the SS sketch challenge #10 which I accomplished tonight.


LHS


RHS


Tomorrow I need to make some cards to give to my sorority sisters and work on the taxes (yuck!).

Have a great weekend everyone!

March Mini Challenge

MARCH: Stamp It!
Pull out at least two of your stamp sets that have never been used and use them. It's a wide open challenge...you can stamp a card, or stamp on a scrapbook page. Or, if you didn't quite get around to last month's challenge, you can stamp on your altered project. As always, share with us your creation.

What, you don't have any unused stamp sets? Trust me, I've got plenty to share...
~ Martha

Mar: Try a new to you stamping technique.
I'm got some to share too....
~ Karen

The one and only

layout that will get done today is here.

For the SS Sketch challenge, wk 9.  From Best of Becky Higgins, page?...somewhere in the back of the book.

I'm trying to simplify the  family album and while I took loads and loads of pictures of Halloween '07 fun, I decided to limit myself to just this layout and one layout of us going to the Pumpkin Patch (because we go to the same place year after year and I enjoy seeing how the boys change year after year in the same setting).

This was harder than I thought to decide which photos make the cut.  But, now that I'm done, it was very energizing to take the "non used photos" and pitch 'em.