XMAS GIFT BAGS AND ORIGAMI BOXES.....

LUV MAKING THESE!......so simple and cute...bags are made from one sheet of paper and only took a few minutes to put together....the origami boxes themselves are also made from a single sheet of paper and then I made little lids for them.....I first saw these boxes on jennings644 youtube....Jim the Gentlemancrafter must have also seen her video as he too tried his hand at making one.....

All together now I have made 7 boxes and 8 bags....enough for now...besides I can easily whip up a few extra if need be...

Now, if I could just get motivated (creative juices aren't flowing yet) and make some Xmas cards!....

MOTHER'S DIARY....

Finally found a closure that seemed to fit....a nice little padlock and key set....because of the size of the album, it was difficult to find something the right length as well as danity enough to fit in with the overall theme of the album ( I didn't want to use chain or a belt), so I just tied some crinkle ribbon through the padlock to an eyelet on the back of the album....

There are a couple of blank pages where I can keep adding important and/or memorable events in Mom's life.....

Here are just a few of the 24 pages of the album....

B O O !.......

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

TRIBUTE TO MOTHER......

Finally finished my album dedicated to my mother's life....a few highlights/special moments through the years....I say "finished" but as my mother is still with me (thankfully) it is still an open book....since I just used a basic ribbon binding, new pages can easily be added for special moments during the coming years....I still need to find a nice closure for it as I want it to look like a diary with a pretty key lock....so far I haven't come across one that has seemed appropriate but I am sure I will eventually find something as special as she is....I will be posting pix over the next week or so.....

BAD BLOGGER!.....

OMG....it has been forever since I wrote anything.....now I realize that summer will be the hardest time of year to do so!.....spent another great week in Vegas a couple of weeks ago....went with my daughter to attend a trade show dealing with pet grooming techniques, supplies, toolage, etc....busy every day attending seminars, evenings filled with Cirque du Soleil, Pat Benatar and a couple of other performances....surprisingly only put down $25 to gamble and that was it....seriously too busy or too tired at the end of the day to do anything else but get some sleep....

I've also been working any opportunity I get on a mini (not so mini anymore) of my mother's life....I am using 12 of the frame chipboard pieces that thescrapbeach had for sale as the pages of the mini and have used mostly the Ladies's Diary paper collection...seemed to take forever to collect all of the pix and to write up all of the information, especially the time before I was able to remember anything about her life....and this I had to gather from various sources as this is a surprise and so I couldn't exactly ask her outright.....it is almost finished and I hope to put up some pix soon.....I am very excited about how it has turned out and so hope that she loves it!.....

Then, of course, my favorite crafty artists have all been coming out with new projects - all of which I MUST do!.....I do know, however, that it just will not be possible!...and then I will have to try and choose which ones I really like the most as I cannot possibly have or make 7 to 10 of each of halloween, Xmas, Thanksgiving, etc. minis!.....

I am sure you have the same dilemma!.....happy crafting....

THEY FINALLY ARRIVED!.....

OMG - back in March I believe I took part in a tag swap with several hundred of the fab. ladies/gents that watch Laura's (followingthepapertrail) ustream shows.....Laura sent mine by "Priority Mail" on June 25th and I just got them today.....three weeks from Washington to Alberta.....wonder how long snail mail would have taken.....

Since I took part in two themes (shabby chic and grunge), I received back 16 tags (eight from each theme)....I am saddened to say that of the 16, only four are from ladies/gents whose names or id's I recognize...and one where there was no name/id at all written on the tag.....I will keep my eye out on chat in the event that the ones I do not recognize happen to log in.....

Awesome work ladies/gents and thank you....hopefully there will be another swap in the works in the not too distant future.....

MY EVER EXPANDING CRAFT AREA!.....

No matter how large of an area you have, your "stuff" will always expand to fit that space...how true, especially where scrapping supplies/tools are concerned....can I even remember when I didn't have scrapping supplies?....what did I put in the space it now occupies?.....I moved into my current home 8 yrs. ago and developed part of the walkout level into my scrapping area....since then it has expanded into my office/library...even so, I find myself gravitating to the open area of my home (kitchen/family room) and scrapping there, covering every table and counterspace that I can find!....I prefer to work out in the open, close to my necessities (like tv, fridge, view of the fields and mountains from my window as my backyard backs onto a greenspace with an unobstructed view).....I do not like scrapping in a room with 4 walls no matter the size of the windows!......when I am in the middle of a project (who am I kidding, there are usually many going on at any one time) putting everything back in its place in either of the two rooms devoted to those items is a royal pain.....normally, not an issue if everything is left out, but when company comes I am scrambling to put my home back in order......

To solve this dilemma, I have been searching for a "unit" on castors with enough work space and storage for those common items used when scrapping, yet not a unit so large that it cannot go through doorways....then I could move it back into the craft room (with all the mess on it instead of my counters) when the need arises...

A microwave or kitchen cart might have been the answer but most didn't have castors or the prices were ridiculous....I finally found a nice little computer cart ($20)...it had castors and a couple of shelves for storage....the downside, the work surface was small and not quite the right height for standing and working on (which is what I like to do)....I also wanted more wider shelves...so I got out my saw, wood, drill, etc. and attached a raised platform 4x3 on the top of the unit (now making an additional shelf/storage space) and installed a couple more wide shelves in the area where computer towers or other large equipment would have gone....these shelves now hold larger items like my scor pal and trimmer; and 13x13x3 plastic boxes with lids where I can put all the papers/embellies etc. for each ongoing project....it works like a dream; holds everything I need to work on and rolls back to the craft room out of site!.....where there is a will, there is a way......

CITY BACK TO NORMAL ONCE AGAIN.....

The 100th anniversay celebration of the Calgary Stampede finished up last night after running for 10 days.....for those 10 days even our "suited" folks don western garb (boots, hats, shirts, even some chaps) and the city becomes a cowtown once again with rodeos, midways and cowboy music everywhere you go.....although I live in a small town just a vew minutes drive from Calgary, I am fortunate that I do have an unobstructed view of the fireworks as they light up the skies over Calgary!....the fireworks happen every night around 10:30 to 11 depending on when the grandstand show ends, as that is where they actually set the fireworks off.....I was born in Calgary and as far back as I can remember, most evenings the skies would open up and we would have a thunder/lightening storm during the whole of the Stampede...this year the parade went off without a hitch in 30C weather and I recall only one day where we actually had a bit of rain.....the thunder storms (when they do come) pass quickly however and everyone resumes whooping it up....every day here has been in the high 20's or low 30's (unusual for us) and although it was great weather for the Stampede, most of us do not have air conditioned homes so it has been a bit brutal.....today we are back to nice balmy mid 20's type weather....that I can handle!.....so long little dogies til next year!....

IT ARRIVED......YAY....

Just received an email from Margaret Ann that the crock pot card arrived....hope she enjoys making the pulled pork....here are the pix...

   

ONLY IN CANADA EH!......

Last Friday, while chatting it up with one of my scrapping online friends (Margaret Ann) during a ustream show, she asked if anyone had a good recipe for pulled pork....and it just so happened that my daughter was making it on Sunday for father's day.....I told M-A that we just used a pulled pork seasoning packet made especially for slow cookers and it was delicious!.....sadly, only in Canada you say!...lol...so I offered to send her some to try.....I couldn't just send it like that, so of course I had to dress the pkg. up a bit.....in a following post I will attach pix of the finished "card".....have to wait until she gets it so as not to spoil it....

WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE....

WOW....it has been a month since I last posted!...must mean I have been super busy creating projects!...hahaha....that is what I would have loved to be doing all this time, but as we all know, "life interruptus" has a way of getting involved....however, I have completed my version of a vintage camera (Laura's creation at followingthepapertrail) and am loving it....so many of the projects that my mentors are creating these days are quite works of architectural beauty and design....I make them more for my own satisfaction that I can actually re-create these wonders and have them set up as show and conversation pieces....for myself, I tend to not use them as mini albums for pictures....even just the thought of people constant handling of these creations as they check out the albums inside, might possibly freak me out!....

Here is the vintage camera....side and back views

 

LOST WAGES......

Some pix of our few days in Vegas this past week....

My daughter and brother trying to pass the time since the plane was late leaving for Vegas....

The casino floor at Bally's....

  

View of Caesar's Palace from our room....

  

South view of Las Vegas Boulevard.....

Mom trying her luck with the BIG slot....

Looks like Paris you say....nope...but it is the Eiffel Tower at the Paris Hotel in Vegas.....

me and the King sharing a special moment at Madame Tussaud's.....

Although we all had a great time, it was still great to be back home!

KEYS FOR ARTS STORAGE UNIT.....

Got my door knobs and so another project is finally done!...YAY!.....Kathy (paperphenomenon), who designed the unit, left the middle section open, but I decided that I liked the look of a couple of shelves in this space.....I also added three little sections on the top shelf.......the bottom drawer was part of a mini album, but I turned it into a divided drawer....the side sections hold pullout pocket minis for pix or for storage of embossing folders, metal dies, whatever.....all in all I like it....I used Bo Bunny's Weekend Market paper....

I DID IT!........

First of all I have to apologize to my friend, Solucky,  who wanted to watch me put these bellows together and she was going to bring her camera!....YIKES....but my kit arrived and I was just too excited to wait....besides, I think the thought of her filming the whole process put me in a state of panic....I am proud to say that I didn't even do a test run first....besides, if I did screw up with the paper in the kit, heaven knows I have tons of other papers I could use....so here they are....did them in only an hour last night (while watching hockey) and looking pretty good if I do say so...now for the rest of the camera, which will have to wait for a week as Vegas is beckoning....

PATTING MYSELF ON THE BACK.....

Well I have just been a scrapbooking fool lately....have two more projects almost done!....finishing up the Keys for Art Storage Unit (designed by Kathy from paperphenomenon) - just need to find some door pulls I like and it will be done.....then I have the tea caddy (designed by Kathryn from thescrapbeach) all put together....it still needs to be dressed up a bit with some embellies which I have ordered from scrapadabadoo and the package is on its way!....pix to come.....

BELLOWS!....

OMG....Laura from followingthepapertrail showed us how to make the bellows for her camera kit last night on her ustream channel....now I did purchase this kit, again, not for housing a mini album, but for an interesting show piece and perhaps to prove to myself I could actually make it....however, after watching her put this together so quickly, I am not so sure it will turn out half as nice....she is quick and ingenious I must say!.....never fear however, for I promised my friend Solucky that I would attempt this and in front of her no less!....am I nuts....perhaps....but should be fun....

OLDE CURIOUSITY SHOPPE....

WHEW!.....finally finished my curio cabinet!....YAY!....now I can strike it off my ever growing list of craft projects.....this design was created by Laura from followingthepapertrail.blogspot.com...I altered it slightly to use up some of my own stash of goodies....and originally Laura made a mini album to fit in the bottom drawer of the cabinet, but since I just wanted it as a show piece I changed it up a bit and put in two smaller drawers.....these drawers would be just the thing for me to keep other miniatures or embellies for use on other projects......a couple of weeks ago my mother and I took a little road trip (abt. 2.5 hrs. each way) to seek out a shop that sold miniatures....I also found an online store and my pkg. finally arrived yesterday allowing me to add the finishing touches.....LUV it!.....

UNFINISHED PROJECTS ARE PILING UP!.....

Just started looking at my extremely disorganized craft room (it was all nice and neat a month or so ago) and realized just how many "on-going" projects I have as yet unfinished!....got scared and ran out of the room!.....but seriously, I am sure I would get these completed without any problems if only my crafting mentors (Laura, Kathryn, Kathy, Jim - to name a few) would quit being so creative that everything they design I want to make!.....I get so excited and eager to start their new inspirations, that their previous "new" ones which once had excited me, now get put on the back burner....hmmm....perhaps I should set up another craft room just to house all my "in progress" creations....that would unclutter my original craft room making searching for items (that I am sure I have) easier, as well as keeping it nice and tidy when unexpected visitors drop in....the door to my "in progress" room will remain closed under lock and key for my eyes only!......

FOLLOWERS!....

OMG - my first follower!....YAY....thank you solucky....guess now I am an official "blogger"!....oh no...wait a second....now that means I am going to have to think of some fun and neat stuff to blog....ooops!....

SKYPE....

I have heard of skype before (and even my elderly aunt knows how to use it) but I have never tried it nor attempted to install it.....that is until a couple of days ago.....my cuz in Ontario and I chat or email several times a year, but emailing to me is like leaving a message on the answering machine....just way to impersonal!....so about a week ago my cuz told me she had installed skype and it would be a great way for us to chat.....and it is!....plus it was so simple!......we had our very first "session" a couple of days ago and it was great....so much nicer to see her smiling face and hear her voice.....

FRIDAY THE 13TH - YIKES!

Actually despite the date, today is a glorious one....sun is shining (and is usually up now when I am), birds are chirping, robins have returned (YAY), buds are starting to sprout....how could this possibly be a "bad" day......

SHABBY CHIC TAG SWAP - continued

Well I did make and send off all 16 tags, but however I did not finish the tag for the grunge that I was to keep for myself...will do so at a later date.....so cannot display it here...suffice to say it was fabulous!...lol....however, here is the one I did make for myself based on a shabby chic theme.....

FINISHED SHABBY CHIC DRAWERS/TAGS

Finally finished the shabby drawers!...think they turned out pretty great too....the pattern was courtesy of Laura at followingthepapertrail.blogspot.com which was basically a horizontal drawer unit with a middle section separating the two drawers....this was to be used to store a mini album with the drawers being used to store tags.....a made a few slight changes to the original by making the drawers vertical rather than horizontal with deeper drawer sides to enable me to use it for other scrapping materials rather than storing tags....also I eliminated the middle section for housing a mini album.....think a few more of these will be gracing my scrapbook room!...luv it!

    

EASTER HANGOVER....

Hope everyone had a great Easter weekend....I spent most of Saturday getting the house in order for Sunday's dinner guests and am not really sure why I bother to polish the floors and windex all of my glass tables, etc., for once the twins arrive everywhere you look there is evidence of tiny little fingers and noses!....baby art!.....but what fun they had.....in the past they have spent most of the time "touching" all of grandmas treasures...YIKES....and you can hear the constant "no" and "don't touch" being expressed by everyone present....this time (now that they are 2) they were more interested in just having fun, playing with their toys and running around chasing the dogs (who couldn't figure out what was going on and often opted to be on someone's lap to escape)....the door to the deck was a revolving one and thank goodness it was a nice warm and sunny day.....everyone enjoyed dinner (at least they said they did....lol) and now peace and quiet has returned....once more the house is back in order, the floors are shiny...the tables are spotless...but something is missing....hehe....the laughter of the babes was all worth it!...grandma can't wait til their next visit!....

TAG SWAP and FEDEX.....

Well Easter is almost upon us...spring has sprung finally too....although last night we did get a bit of a dump of snow...but at this time of year it is almost gone as fast as it falls....thank goodness....

I do not usually take part in swaps....partly because I just don't see where I would find the time...I already have so many scrappin projects on the go that just never seem to get finished....however, that being said, I did join a recent one hosted by Laura from followingthepapertrail....the tag swap goes with the shabby drawers project she has created and the tag swap would help in filling the drawers....so I jumped in and agreed to do two sets of tags; one being shabby chic and the other grunge.....we had to make 9 tags of each theme, keeping one for ourselves and sending off the other 8 to Laura for distribution; and in return we would get 8 different ones back from others who participated....sounded like fun and I have to admit I did enjoy making the tags and think they turned out pretty good....(pix to follow)....since I had to send them to the U.S. by a certain date, I quickly dropped them off at fedex a couple of days ago to ensure they would arrive in time....fortunately today I decided to track the pkg. to see how it was doing....good thing for it was still sitting at my depot because of a "shipment exception"....when I called it was because I hadn't indicated Cdn. dollars beside the $1.00 value of the shipment!....frankly there is very little difference between $1.00 Cdn. and $1.00 U.S.....certainly not enough to hold up a shipment!....my fingers are crossed that my pkg. will arrive in time!

DECISIONS, DECISIONS.....

In creating my "back in time" album, I used at least two different paper packs and still there were not enough "different" papers that co-ordinated in order to ensure there were no duplicate pages.....in future I think I will make smaller albums....need so much paper considering there are 12 "units" and each one of them uses at least 10 different papers!....I have also purchased individual sheets that I thought might match somewhat....but there are only so many black/caramel/cocoa/cream type papers out there....I already had plenty of black/white papers in my stash whose patterns would go beautifully with the theme, but the white was just too stark....I must have tried more than 20 different inks, sprays, etc. to try and touch up the white to blend better....almost gave up....then EUREKA I finally found two that blended great.....now at least I can use up some of these papers in my stash and stop buying more pads or individual sheets, especially when I only want a little piece from them!

A TRIP BACK IN TIME......

In 2009 I took a trip to France for two reasons:  the first one (and my original reason for going) was to visit a few of the towns/villages where my ancestors on my grandfather's side were born and lived out their lives.  The second reason came along after when my daughter discovered that I was planning this trip and we decided that a week in Paris would also be great fun....she met me there after I finished my ``journey into the past``....I took several hundred pictures of this trip, which til now have pretty much had a place on my computer.....now that I am so much more into scrapbooking mini albums, I decided to devote an album to this trip.....since my creativity definitely needs a jumpstart, I combined two of Laura's mini album patterns (followingthepapertrail.blogspot.com) and made a few alterations to better suit the pix that I planned on putting in the album....OMG....first was deciding which pix NOT to include!....that was difficult to say the least....then, before I could put any pix in I had to choose the right paper to co-ordinate with the theme of the pix....that was and is still another hurdle....I am slowly making my way though and have attached a couple of pix of some of the ``almost`` finished pages......WOOHOO.....and then there is still all the journalling to do......my ``journey into the past`` mini album is also turning out to be a ``journey`` in itself.....

First is the front, partially opened, and back of the envelope page.....
 

 

 

next is the front and back of the paper bag page....  

and lastly, the front, pullout and back of the cardstock page.....

 



HAPPY BIRTHDAY VEGA AND FELIX....

Well today is my twin grandbabies 2nd birthday!...HIP HIP HOORAY!!!....cannot believe how quickly the time has gone....they are just such a joy and I am very fortunate to be able to look after them three days a week, watching them grow, learning new things, and being able to develop a very close bond with them that not all grandparents are lucky enough to be able to do....Happy Birthday my sweethearts!....with much love, Grandma   xxoo

Retirement.....ahhhhh the life....

Well, now that I am officialy retired I am hoping to put all of my crafting supplies/tools to good use....but where to start!...I have so many projects/kits waiting to be opened and others in a semi-finished state!...also, quite number of chores/renovations to finish around the house and yard this year as well, that keep getting pushed back due to other commitments.....but, in the meantime, I will enjoy a few weeks of basically doing NOTHING and savour these initial moments of retirement....then I will just take one day and one project at a time and enjoy every minute of it!

CHA Goodies

So excited about some of the new items being showcased....several of the creative wizards that I follow have been sending out little bits of information and pictures to whet my appetite...cannot wait til their return and see what they will have up their sleeves on how to incorporate these goodies into their creations!

CHA Withdrawal

Well the last of my crafting gurus will have her show tonight, then they are all off to CHA - no classes for about a week!...what will I do!...

The good news, however, is that each and every one of them will be streaming and/or tweeting their comments and reactions (hopefully with pix) of what is new for the coming season....I will be glued to my computer for the next week hoping for little snippets of info.

Bad news is that probably almost all of the products will not be available for several months to those of us waiting with great anticipation for the goodies to hit the stores....alas....

My First Post! - Finally - YAY!

For some time I have wanted to start my own blog, especially after seeing and hearing about other crafters who have done so, and quite successfully too.....so I finally got up the nerve many, many months ago now and since this is the first thing I have written since doing so, perhaps I was a little too eager/hasty to get started.....for the life of me I just never seem to find the time to post anything!.....but perhaps it is not how often you post anyway....

Although I love scrapbooking, it seems that I need a little push in the right direction to get me started....my creativity seems to flow once others have instilled an idea or spark.....there are so many great creative/artistic people out there in the scrapbooking world and I love watching their designs come to life and following step-by-step through their thought processes...new techniques and new tools/gadgets make my mouth water!