A Bit of Scrappin'

Introducting the Quick & Easy Card Making Kit

2009-11-09T08:56:00.000-08:00

Hi Stampeders!

I hope everyone had a great weekend :-)
The first Quick & Easy Card Making Kit is now available for purchase. I've enjoyed designing this kit with the beautiful colors in the Holiday Lounge Designer Series Paper (DSP). I have made this kit at an "easy" skill level so everyone can participate in making these cards and gift tags. All the supplies contained in this kit are pre-cut for your convenience.

Dasher looks great in Taken with Teal Classic ink too!

It is getting to be that time of year when daily schedules seem to get jammed packed with extra "to-do's". I have designed this kit with that in mind......Quick & Easy.

You will receive all the supplies (minus stamp and ink) needed to complete SIX 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" greeting cards and FOUR bonus gift tags.

What else do I need? Refer to the list at the bottom of this post for any other supplies you may need. If you don't need anything else just buy this kit and you can wow your friends and loved ones for the holidays! You can shop here if you would like to purchase the featured stamp Dasher or any other Stampin' Up! products.

You can an also use this card kit to create your own designs using other stamps and inks that you already have on hand. The choice is yours! Use your creativity :-)

With this kit you will also receive pre-printed step-by-step instructions (including over 30 photos) to assist you in completing these cute cards and tags.

Don't have enough time to assemble them but would still like to send cards with that homemade look? I am also offering this kit already assembled for $20.00. This includes SIX fully completed Dasher image cards and all the bling, SIX Whisper White envelopes and FOUR completed gift tags stamped with To: and From: in the center circle.

Card Kit Price is just $15 (plus envelopes)

Pre-Assembled Card Kit Price is just $20 (plus envelopes)

The Card Kit ($15) Includes:

6 Pieces of scored and pre-folded 4 1/4” x 5 1/2” Whisper White Cardstock
6 Pieces of 4" x 5 ½” pre-embossed Taken with Teal Cardstock
6 Pieces of 1-1/4" x 5-1/8" DSP (Pattern Shown)
6 Pieces of 2-3/4" x 2-3/4" Whisper White Cardstock (including scallop edge)
6 Pieces of 2-7/8" x 2-7/8" Tempting Turquoise Cardstock (including attached Stampin' Dimensionals)
6 Pieces of 3/8" x 6" Sand satin ribbon
6 - 3mm clear rhinestones
6 – Whisper White Envelopes
4 pieces Kraft CS: 2⅜” x 4” die cut scallop tag for base
4 pieces DP (in patterns shown): 2 ⅜” x 4” die cut scallop tag
4 pieces DP (in pattern shown): ½” x 4”
2 pieces Taken with Teal CS for circle mat: 1 ¾”scallop
2 pieces Whisper White CS for circle mat: 1 ¾” scallop
2 pieces Sahara Sand CS for image (To/From stamp or handwritten sentiment): 1 ⅜” circle
2 pieces Whisper White CS for image (To/From stamp or handwritten sentiment): 1 ⅜” circle
4 pieces White satin ribbon: ¼” x 8”
Step by Step Instructions to complete 6 cards + 4 gift tags

Your kit will be delivered directly to your door in a USPS flat rate shipping box for $4.95 (US orders)

Additional products you will need to complete cards as shown:

Sahara Sand Classic Ink Pad ($5.95) or Taken with Teal Classic Ink Pad ($5.95)
Dasher Stamp ($8.95)
SNAIL Adhesive ($6.95) or Glue Stick ($3.95)
Paper Snips ($9.95)

Happy Halloween Everyone!

2009-10-31T08:18:00.000-07:00

We had a very spooky "devil's night" last night. It was cold, rainy and very windy....gusts around 50 mph. I thought I would share my cute treats for tonight. I made 220 of these little treats and stapled assorted candybars onto the back. I used some of my rustic twine to tie a bow. I love all the funny images on the front. I hope the kids will too.

Have a fun and safe night tonight everyone and enjoy your extra hour of sleep on Sunday for anyone that has been on Daylight Savings time.....I sure will :-)

Spooky Tree

2009-10-12T07:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday To All!

I wanted to share this fun card with you. This stamp reminds me of the book I used to read to my children The Spooky Old Tree with the Berenstain Bears.

I used the watercolor paper from Stampin' Up!. I really love this paper. It is 140 lb. 100% cotton. I used the "Rich Regals" classic inks in the following colors: Night of Navy, Brocade Blue and Elegant Eggplant. I applied the colors with a watercolor technique blending from the top to the bottom. I let it dry and then embossed this crazy spooky tree. The image has a hidden face in the trunk so I used a Stampin' Write marker in Going Gray to subtly enhance the face. I also used some silver brads in the corners and black glitter to accent the edges.

The inside is just sstamped with Basic Black classic ink and then I added clear rhinestone brads in the text for the look of eyes.

I'm going to send this card to my Aunt who lives in the lower part of Upper Michigan. She lives alone and I'm sure she'd appreciate a fun card for Halloween.

Have a great day,

Darlene

Scrapbook Room Re-Do Part 6

2009-10-08T14:42:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!

I took some time today to finally apply the Butterflies and Definition wall vinyl that I purchased from Stampin' Up!'s Decor Accents line. I thought the nice dark brown vinyl would complete the look for my scrapbook room a.k.a. my "Creation Station" since it is a pretty small room.

In this picture I cut out all the butterflies and taped them in the location I chose with some painters tape. I then made registration marks lightly on the wall with a pencil for each individual image.

There are 23 butterflies total. Each individual image was then removed and the following process was followed.

Rub the grid side of the image with the applicator too. This causes the image to transfer onto the sticky part of the paper. I always rub from the inside out toward the edges.

Carefully peel back the grid paper SLOWLY to reveal the image.

Apply the image to the wall with the applicator using the registration marks made on the wall previously. Press down from the center toward the outer edges keeping the image smooth.

Slowly peel back the top paper revealing the final image. Rub the vinyl image lightly with your finger to make sure it is thoroughly pressed onto the wall.

Use a white eraser to remove the pencil marks from placement.

This is the final image. It looks very nice in person. Just the right touch for decoration on this special craft space of mine. LOVE IT!!!

I'll be posting some Halloween cards within the next few days. Check back for some Spooky ideas :-)

Darlene

Happy Wednesday

2009-09-02T14:47:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone!
I finally receive my starter kit from Stampin'Up! Way to cool of goodies in this box! I can't wait to start making cards and lots of other creations with their products. I've always enjoyed their stamps but now they have many other great products to offer. Below is the new Holiday mini-catalog. This catalog has a cute Build-A-Bear stamp set and awesome die cuts. It includes a boy and girl bear....click on the link below! I think you will love some of the projects.

http://www.stampinup.com/us/documents/Holiday09_US.pdf

I love the fact that Stampin' Up! offers online ordering now. Customers can order for the full price or use a demonstrator (hopefully me :-).... Darlene Plotinski) and get a discount. I also just started a stamping blog just for stamping projects. I have the link posted in my sidebar if anyone is interested.

I have also just finished taking a tour of the gardens in my backyard. The final flowers are blooming and I HAD to take a few pics. I hope to post the pics tomorrow or Friday. They are absolutely beautiful!

Til later.........
Darlene

Scrapbookroom Re-Do - Part 5 Cabinetry

2009-08-28T05:01:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone!

It's been a pretty busy place around here. My hubby and I have been working very hard assembling our oak cabinets for the scrapbook room. We used a beautiful warm stain with a satin urethane for the final finish. They will be installed against the east wall between the window. I will be able to store alot of my stamping goodies. I just became a Stampin' Up! demonstrator so I'm sure I'll have more supplies to store in the near future. I should be getting my starter kit maybe today so that is VERY exciting. I'll blog more about this later and give you info on my stamping website and business website too.

I did a few different layouts for this wall from my original sketch since I really need drawer space more than open storage. I ended up deciding on 11 drawers and 3 cabinet storage areas. That should work perfect for my use! This is not a very large room so the wall dimension is quite small.

These are the hardware pulls I chose. I am using the knob styled for the cabinet drawers and the other handle for all drawers. They are a pretty aged bronze finish. I found them at Lowe's and they were on clearance for $2.97 each. They will go really well with the warm feel of the room.

I have to sand the finish one more time and then put a final coat of finish on yet. Tom will install the hardware and then we should be ready to install them against the wall. We plan on putting a plywood countertop with oak veneer over both sets of cabinets since I will be having storage shelves mounted above them and then a black marble or granite slab set a few inches lower for my work area. I won't be using the area over the cabinets for a work area. I found it quite helpful to do a trial work area before I decided what I needed. I used my ironing board adjusted to the proper work area level sitting with my desk chair to make sure I felt comfortable working right in front of the window and having cabinetry to my left and right. It was perfect! Love the light from the window and love the availability of the storage on either side. I'll post more pictures when we install the cabinets so you can see exactly what I am referring to.

Well off to work!

Darlene

Spider Card

2009-08-11T12:48:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday!

Whew has it gotten warm and muggy here in Michigan. We have had a pretty nice cool summer until now. I guess it's better than the ice and snow LOL!

I made a Halloween card today. I decided to make a window for my sentiment to show through. I also have not purchased any halloween patterned papers as of yet so I just made my own spider print with black archival ink and my spider stamp.

I altered my 3D origami flower design and used it for the spider body. I think he's pretty cute!
I also used my glue pen and drew on his head and body. He's pretty glitzy with that black glitter.

This is the inside. I added a bit more hand stamped spider patterned paper complimenting the front.

My peek a boo sentiment through a strip of transparency.

I hope you like him.....see you back here soon.

Darlene

A Mini-Vacation and stamps, stamps and more stamps!

2009-08-03T14:19:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone!

I just returned from visiting my son and our grandchildren in St. Louis, Missouri. They were just a joy to watch playing together. It's hard to believe how fast they grow!

I went to a local stamp show this past Saturday and had a great time. I took my time slowly wandering from vendor to vendor. They have some awesome new products out but I decided to control myself and only by a few stamps for Halloween.

I played around today with my new cat stamp. I love to use my chalks to shade and bring a realistic look to my stamped images.

I decided to make a set of Happy Halloween gift tags to sell on Etsy. I think they came out pretty cute!

The black paper that I matted the cat image on has specks of metallic imbedded in the paper pulp. Pretty cool when it's in the light.

This is the inside. I just stamped the sentiment with black archival ink and added the rhinestone for the "O".

Well that's it for now. Thanks for looking......I'll be back with some more goodies soon :-)

Darlene

A Creating Day

2009-07-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

Hi there!

I hope you have all been doing well!

I spent a few day in the woods at our cabin getting some "quiet time" and now I'm back and doing some paper crafting today.

I felt like getting down and dirty with the glitter. That stuff is always flying everywhere but I just LOVE it! My dogs even had some glitz on their back when I finished these flowers today.

These are my flowers that I named SPARKLERS for obvious reasons. I used two shades of blue on this first set and then a really pretty lavendar in the next picture. Just love them!

I also made a flower card this afternoon.

Each layer I decided to do something different on for a nice layered effect. The bottom layer was stamped with black ink and then I added clear iridescent glitter here and there on the petals. I hand cut around each petal too. The next petal layer I used my sizzix die for the patterned paper shape and then glued that on black and cut around it. The center was printed (as well as the stem) from printable stamps I bought on The Cutting Cafe'. I used my metallic gel pens and made a few accents and then glittered the center flower with a complimentary turquoise glitter. I glued each layer with 3D glue dots. I decided to also get out the sewing machine and do a nice thread border. It was fun to sew on paper!

I thought the ribbons at the bottom added a nice finishing touch to this card.

I think I'll start dinner and relax for the night. I wish you all a nice enjoyable weekend and I'll see you next week!

A Beary Cute Birthday Card

2009-07-11T15:11:00.000-07:00

Hi all!
It's pretty warm here today so I decided to stay inside and crank up the air conditioning and create a card.

This is my bear birthday card from the stamps I shared with you on an earlier post. The image is hand chalked and I added some maroon glitter to all the hearts. I also added Glossy Accents to the eyes and nose so they would shine. The bear is layered with a few colors of cardstock and I used 3D glue dots to add some dimension.

I stamped an additional 2 wings and again glittered the hearts and attached them over the original stamped image. I had to have the bear look like the wings were fluttering!

This is the inside. I just die cut some hearts to accent the front design and then inked the sentiment.

I added an iridescent gold organza ribbon for the bottom to finish the front off. I wanted the image to take center stage on this card.

I hope you like it....

Enjoy your weekend :-)

Darlene

A Catch-UP Blog Post for Today

2009-07-08T15:04:00.001-07:00

Hi everyone.....I hope you are all well and enjoying your week.

I've been playing catch-up here with many different projects. It seems like as soon as I finish and cross off one "to-do" item I add 4 more. The list keeps growing!

I did finish the gourd birdhouse I was planning. I love how it turned out. It has that nice "natural" look. I will be making a green, blue and orange one pretty much the same as this berry colored one soon.

I listed this house on Etsy today. I've been letting Etsy go more than I wanted. I need to start listing some more items soon. Before you know it fall will be upon us and that is when Etsy customers start purchasing. All the sellers need to have their inventory listed and ready to go. Things go FAST in the fall.

This is a close up of the beads I hand sewed on to the thatched roof. I wanted a nice simple touch and I think this is perfect.

Onto the rugs..... it took 3 days and 3 separate packages to finally get our rugs but the wait was worth it. They are incredibly gorgeous and thick! I love walking in the bare feet on these rugs. It's so soothing.

Here is a picture of one of the areas. I really like the hand cut beveled edges to the design.

This is a larger shot of the pattern. The burgundy is so rich.....LOVE IT!

It was also bath time for two little stinky doggies this week. They have so much fun in the yard but they were getting a little dirty with the sand and stain from the privacy fence. Sadie is our Brittany and she is in the tub with me. She was the first victim. Gretchen, our German Shorthaired Pointer, was right by her side giving her moral support! When Sadie was done Gretchen jumped right in and waited for me to lather her up. GSP's just LOVE water!

For some reason this week was a strange "nature" week in our yard. I had gone in the master bedroom to put away laundry when I heard this strange rustling on the deck attached outside our doorwall in the room. We have a copper bird feeder hanging there and I had just assumed the rustling was just a few birds feeding. My husband and I had just made a run to Costco to get more bird food earlier that morning but hadn't filled any of our feeders yet. This rustling continued and started to sound very dramatic so I looked around the side edge of the deck and found this horrible sight....yes a little sparrow who had completely forced his head between the copper metal edge (squirrel proof feeder) and could not get back out. He was reaching for a little seed way inside. Poor little guy!

I ran and got my husband who slowly pried the prongs of the copper surround gently away from his little neck. It was just awful to see this little guy so scared. I pet his back during the "surgery" and once my husband Tom got the surround out of the plastic feeder tub the bird layed on his side with it around his neck. I honestly thought that the bird has struggled so hard that his little neck had broken but Tom said "I don't think so. He'll be ok". As soon as he said that the sparrow pulled his head out and off he flew. He left so fast I couldn't even get a picture. Hmmm.....I wonder if he'll come back and feed here again or if he's done with this feeder and going to a neighbors for a safer dinner!

This guy here is just a really cool moth that landed on our deck light. I had to take a picture of him. His black and white colors were just beautiful. He stayed on this light from dawn til dusk the same day and then off he flew. Pretty cool moth!

Well I think I'm all caught up now. I'm off to make dinner and then tomorrow I'm starting some cards.

Enjoy your night all!

Darlene

Some Gardening Fun for this Morning

2009-06-29T07:58:00.001-07:00

Well it's been a few days since I've blogged. We are continually building and staining here in our garage and yard but I took some time out to smell the roses or petunias in this case. I purchased these boy and girl planters a few years ago and had decorated them as a bride and groom for my daughters wedding. We had the rehersal dinner in the back yard and I wanted a fun little garden accent for everyone to enjoy. This year I planted the boy with a corkscrew plant. It has a very unusal growth habit and it looks like crazy spikey hair! Sometimes I plant the girl with a light color dried grass and when it gets long it looks like flowing blonde hair.

I am getting excited for my UPS delivery today. My husband and I purchased some beautiful room size rugs ..... one large for the livingroom and 2 long runners. It should add some color and design to my off white carpet. The carpets look like art work for the floor in my opinion.....can't wait!!!!

I'll be working on a gourd birdhouse this afternoon and hope to post a pic of that soon. I decided to add a thatched roof on this one and it's looking pretty cute so far. I'm using my new gourd ink dye in Berry....looks so rich and cozy for those birdies :-)

Everyone take care and I'll be back shortly...
Darlene

A New Card for Today

2009-06-19T12:10:00.000-07:00

Hi again everyone....

I sat down this afternoon and created this card. I wanted something soft but still with a feminine flair. I really like the blue!

I stamped the front sentiment with black archival ink and used my turquoise embroidery floss through the holes of my mini green buttons for the dots of the "i's". I used 3D glue dots to make the sentiment pop off the card front. I layered 3 papers and then added a nice turquoise grosgrain ribbon.

For the floral accent I used a pretty iridescent sequin flower layered under a bright green (looks a bit drab in this shot) felt flower, a silver metal embellishment and another green button with turquoise embroidery floss.

The inside sentiment is nice and simple for a birthday wish. It's also stamped in black archival ink as well as the little "handmade" image on the back of the card.

TFL all and enjoy your evening!

Darlene

YMBD Contest for this Summer

2009-06-15T17:39:00.000-07:00

Hi all you scrappers and stampers!

I thought I'd take a break from my fence construction to post the 2 layouta I have completed for YMBD's 92 Days of Summer Contest.

This is the sketch inspiration for Week 2 (June 8-14). I just love this design.

This is the two page layout that I completed. It's about our need for PRIVACY hence the fence theme :-) I used lots of goodies on this layout. I made my own chipboard flowers with my Big Kick, stamped a design with Rangers Distress Ink in Vintage Photo. I added small twine bows with a small button for the center. A few photo mat corner details and embellishing with ink and a nice simple title that I also used my Big Kick alpa die cuts for. I used the YMBD inspiration suggestion to paint on my picture and I just love how it looks. The center pic is of one of our dogs who fell asleep on the top of the wood pile while we were making a panel in the garage. Awwwww.... she was soooo tired.

A closeup of my chipboard flower creations....

I used my stash for this great metal embellishment. It's all about summer you know!

Another closer view of the title and ivory acrylic paint edging for the center photo.

I added some journaling complimenting the shape of the paper border.

All my small pics across the layout are pictures of our building permit, my hubby loading wood in the parking lot at Lowe's, stained 4x4's drying on saw horses, a wet stained panel, the corner template design on the fence panel and finally my hubby leveling and installing the first panel at the back corner of our yard.

This is the sketch inspiration for Week 1 (June 1-7).

I decided to make this layout about all my June blooming flowers in my gardens and containers.
I just love all the pretty colors.

I tore and distressed some of the paper edges and then used a few inks to add some color. I just love that turquoise grosgrain ribbon accent.

I journaled at the bottom of the circle.

I used a 3D glue dot to add dimension to my Bloom with Abandon circle here.

TFL everyone. I'll be back soon for more layouts and interesting events.

Enjoy !!!!

Darlene

A Week in Review.......My Thoughts

2009-06-13T10:49:00.000-07:00

Well our wonderful Red Wings didn't win last night but I honestly think they weren't hungry enough. They always play wonderful but they didn't seem to have their hearts in it. Maybe that's just what I saw though. I believe the Penguins played an incredibly awesome game and they truly deserve the Stanley Cup. If we had won of course I would have been proud but I must say that I would have felt true sadness for the Penguins since they seems to care so much more. Maybe the Wings need to take a rest for a few years in the playoffs and then when they earn the honor of playing in the Finals again they will again be the Red Wings I've come to know and love and be enthusiastic and focused. They are great guys and I hate to see anyone ever loose. Congratulations Penguins!!!! Job well done.

I wanted to share a sweet picture of the little yearling we had visit our salt lick this past weekend at our house in Kalkaska, Michigan. This little one was just precious to watch.....so innocent but then also so observant and smart. We love our vacation home in the woods. Nature is everywhere and who could ask for more!

I have alot to accomplish today and tomorrow. Cleaning and all those usual chores plus a light bit of gardening, fertilizing and the ongoing privacy fence construction. We went to the store to buy the 4"x4" post and then began the construction. We already have the other lumber for the fence. We have to make the 8' panels in one piece because we are installing the fence right inside the lot line on one of our neighbors sides. They aren't the best folks to talk with about installing a fence and expecting them to be positive and supportive so we need to do the best we can to solve the situation....that's by putting it inside the already existing chain link fence that is there now. Those panels are quite heavy but after we make and install 11 of them we can construct the rest of the fence the usual way. I am staining the neighbors side of the panels before we install and then I can stain our inside all at once.

This is a picture of a partially made panel. We are going to round the corners slightly (hence the white templates in the corner) and then attach them to the 4" x 4" posts. It should look very neat and clean and give us the privacy we so badly need. I've decided 6 foot privacy fences make awesome neighbors!

Enjoy your weekend.... I'm off the make more fence panels with Tom.

Darlene

A Great Blog to Visit

2009-06-09T14:23:00.001-07:00

Wow I found some awesome blog candy available for everyone worldwide. Hop onto this site http://martinescrafts.wordpress.com/ and enjoy all the wonderful ideas Martine has to share with you. Don't forget to make a comment. I think we all want these goodies to play with.

I plan on posting more tomorrow. My hubby and I just started constructing out privacy fence in the yard so I'll get back on with some updates and of course some scrappin!

Keep crafting everyone....
and GO WINGS!!!!!!

Darlene :-)

A Fun Packed Weekend

2009-06-07T11:12:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I hope you are all enjoying your family and this weekend. My hubby and I were upnorth this weekend taking care of our home up there. We had grass a foot long!!! YIKES We usually get up there (after a long harsh winter) in the first week of April. I like to start feeding our little hummingbirds but we didn't make it up that early this year. There was way too much going on this spring. Everything is all back to normal and wow was it wonderful to have peace and quiet and birds chirping. We just love it there.

Now that I'm home I'm catching up on everything here now. I have two new wooden stamps I purchased that I am looking forward to playing with asap. First I need to do a scrapbook layout for YMBD. They are having an awesome 92 Days of Summer contest. The concept is to take 1 picture a day for the next 13 weeks. Each week they give you tips and a great sketch to use all 7 pics for each week. Wow it will be great to get pics printed and scrapped. I'm lovin' this idea and I don't even care about the great prizes that are being given away.

Isn't this little guy adorable?

See you later stampers and scrappers!

Darlene

A Father's Day Creation

2009-06-01T17:03:00.000-07:00

Today's been a bit busy with grocery shopping, laundry etc. but I managed to finish this fun Father's Day card. I am really happy with the color combination. It looks very masculine but in a classy way. A great card for a corporate Dad!

I just love the patterned paper from DCWV Glitter Stack with the touch of silver glitter. I had to find a way to add some zip to this "guy" card without making it girlie so this is what I designed.

I added the silver metallic wax to the edge of the inner text circle to keep with the masculine look.

This is on the inside. Just simple but I just LOVE the mirror paper here!

Here's a closer look at the shimmer I was referring to.

TFL................Happy creating everyone!

Darlene

A Cupcake Birthday Card

2009-05-31T09:04:00.001-07:00

I finally had the opportunity to sit down and make a card today. WooHoo!

I used some patterned paper from DCWV glitter line for the scalloped background and then embellished the cupcake design with ink, chalk, glitter (of course) and a nice felt flower for the top. I added a few clear rhinestones and used the white opague inkssentials pen for the dot work.

The cupcake is hand cut out and mounted on thin foam tape for dimension. I just love the designs from The Cutting Cafe'. They have an awesome choice for printable stamping.

I used my corner rounder on the bottom edges to compliment the round circles in the design.

This is a close up of the chalking and glitter.

I love using this pen. It flows so smoothly and never skips!

I just used embossing glitter for a simple "Happy Birthday" sentiment on the inside.

I'm going to try to finish a couple Father's Day cards and do a bit of gardening today.

Enjoy your Sunday and for all those Michigander's out there.....GO WINGS!!!!

Darlene

Organizing my Wooden Stamps

2009-05-27T07:24:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I've been pretty busy here getting my stamps organized. I took my lighted Curio cabinet that has a mirror in the back and glass shelves in it and brought it into my scrapbook room. I decided to organize my wooden stamps by size and display them in the cabinet. I used the bottom area to display my mini books. It works perfect for now but if I make more I'll need to put them in a basket instead.

It makes the room very cozy when it's evening and the lights on the cabinet are turned on. I'm loving this room!

I've also been making some cards and trying to veggie and flower gardens tended to so there doesn't seem to be enought time to blog right now. I'll give it my best and add some pics of my new projects soon.

Darlene

Giving the Raspberry!

2009-05-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

This is a video of our grandson Eli and our daughter Heather playing together in April 2009. He was just learning to talk and interact with people. My how fast they grow! I just had to share this because it is just precious. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did :-)

Darlene

I'm Back :-)

2009-05-20T11:35:00.000-07:00

Wow it seems like it's been forever since I've posted. I was trying to decide on a replacement digital camera. I found one I like so I'm back!

My hubby and I have been busy making our garden fence. We have to keep out those dogs or we won't be eating any wonderful tomatoes this summer. We created a picket pattern and then cut each board out individually. These are a couple pics of the fence unstained.

We will be re-staining our two decks this summer (it truly needs it with these harsh Michigan winters) so we decided to use the same cedar color as our exhisiting decks on this new garden fence. It's a very nice rich color. I just love how it came out. Now I can begin the planting :-)

I also told you I would post a pic of the card I painted when I had a camera.

Here it is.....

I used black embossing powder for the "happy birthday"and acrylic paint for the daisy flower design.

I also put a strip of white paper on the inside bottom of the card that I had embossed with my Big Kick. It came out very pretty!

Enjoy your week!

Darlene

New Digital Camera Needed

2009-04-23T06:40:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!
Well it is sad to say but my digital camera is no longer working. It has been repaired once in the past and since I can get more mega pixels, etc. now for a cheaper price than fixing this 4 year old camera I am off to some stores to shop around.

Unfortunately I will not be able to post any pics of my hand painted cards until I purchase a new camera. Hopefully I will find something suitable within the next few days.

Keep checking back .....

Darlene

Doing a few creative things lately

2009-04-17T07:19:00.001-07:00

I just realized that I've been a bit behind in my posting. I honestly have been working hard in our back yard. My husband and I have been building a beautiful picket fence for our vegetable garden and we have begun designing a privacy fence too. We are in need of replacing our basic yard fence and we decided some privacy would be nice.

I managed to make a few of these butterflies this week. These are great on cards and scrapbook layouts. I hand emboss them and hand chalk the colors. Of course I have to add some bling so they have some very classy bodies!

I also just completed a hand painted design for a birthday card. I used the bright papers and the design consists of white daisies with yellow centers. They look very pretty. I'll post the final card soon. Off to the yard for another long day of setting posts and cutting wood.

Take care everyone,

Darlene

FUN Visit with Eli

2009-03-30T09:54:00.001-07:00

Tom and I enjoyed a great visit with our grandson Eli last weekend! We had a busy day on Saturday with Todd, Karli, Eli and Heather visiting for the day. We also had two crazy dogs getting involved in all the fun (especially with Eli's toys). Todd and Karli had a wedding to go to so we had Eli over night Saturday.

He had a nice bath (Heather helped and got as wet as Eli) and then snuggled in his blanket while Tom and I read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish to him. He fell asleep in my arms so off to bed he went.

This photo was taken on Sunday morning right before he was being picked up by mom and dad for another busy day of fun. He's just a cutie!

We miss you little one!

The Attack of the .....Evil Dinner Fork

2009-03-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

Oh Boy....let me start out this blog post with a little background on my wonderful a.k.a. dangerous (to himself) hubby Tom.

Most of my family and friends know how many times I say the sentence "Hmm....Tom hasn't left a trail of blood for me lately. He's due!"

My husband has had 911 called because his breathing stopped after his shoulder surgery, has almost passed out while on the roof leaning over telling me of his intent (I used the mother tone at that time and told him to lay on his back and pass out THAT way because I wasn't able to catch him), has fallen down, and also up, the stairs and injured his shoulder (weeks of physical therapy), had a 2 3/4" gash in his arm requiring 20 stitches, walked directly into the safety gate across the doorway and made an immediate lunge forward almost hitting his forhead into the wall in front of him (Flamingo knee position), almost biffing it directly into our plate glass window with scissors in his hand because he was avoiding the dog at his feet, need I go on....I think you all have the picture. He's a very dangerous man to HIMSELF. I've also come home from work in previous years to trails of blood on the floor. You learn very quickly to not be too reactive when you have this type of character in your life. You never know what you are going to find at the end of the trail. He also makes a great subject for pictures and humor on those "remember when" family stories" moments.

Well to get to the point of this post. My wonderful guy decided to make dinner for me Sunday night because I was on the phone with my son driving back to Missouri and I was helping him pass some road time. We were having a nice conversation when I said to him "hold on...Tom was that an injury walk I just saw?" I had been sitting in my bedroom by the doorwall just chilling out but I could see directly down the hall leading toward the main livingroom and kitchen. Tom's answer was "Well I'm not sure, it might be". I asked him if he needed me to get off the phone and assist him and he said no he was doing just fine. My son heard it all going on and said "Mom you might want to go in the bathroom and check on him. You know how Tom is and he might have actually hurt himself. He won't say anything until it's all taken care of". I asked Tom the question again and he admitted that he poked himself. I then asked for greater detail expecting the hear he was using a sharp knife to trim the chicken breasts he was cooking. I even said "Did you cut your self with a knife?" His reply was very disturbing and I truly didn't believe him. Let me inform all of you that my hubby is quite a jokester so you never really know the truth. Tom stated "No, it was a fork." I said "Yeah right!" He then said "No really, I stuck a fork in my finger." He again said he didn't need any help until I heard him talking to himself from the bathroom complaining about the bandaid wrappers....yes plural ....WRAPPERS. When Tom uses the plural form of a word in this type of situation I am already thinking Emergency Room.

I told my son I better go and off to the bathroom I went. NOT to my surprise did I find a sink full of let me gently said "red colored water" with a large collection of kleenex wrapped around his finger (that WAS NOT really stopping the bleeding very well). It finally stopped after I told him to sit down and hold his hand up high while I prepared the bandage. I asked him for the whole story and this is was he told me.

He had started to cook the chicken breasts in the pan (sprayed PAM so they wouldn't stick) but it was getting a bit dry and he thought he would add some butter. Well the butter was in the freezer. He unwrapped a frozen quarter stick and instead of cutting a chunk off on the cutting board and taking it to the pan he decided to use the pan as a prop and use the fork to pop a small chunk off into the pan. He said his instincts told him not to do it but he did it anyway. Well needless to say, he's a strong guy and the butter isn't THAT frozen and he used all his might and the butter broke off pretty easily and the fork when into his finger. I honestly can't imagine a dull normal dinner fork impailing a finger. The worst part is that it didn't just go in.... it went in one side of his index finger and out under the the tip of the nail of that same finger. Just the fact that the fork tine gets a bit wider in size is what stopped it so you get the picture. WOW. I can't believe it was only one tine too....usually Tom would do at least two for effect!

To make this long story as short as possible he's all bandaged and recuperating with a nice black and blue finger tip. He just got feeling back in it this morning.

My goodness.....there's no lack of excitement in this house LOL!

Have a SAFE week everyone!
Darlene

Scrapbook Room Re-Do Part 4

2009-03-16T08:10:00.000-07:00

Tom finished installing all the molding/trim and I have filled the nail holes, sanded and painted them. It really sets off the colors I chose for the room. I painted the trim a "satin" finish which is the same color as the flat ceiling paint. It brings the whole room together. It's hard to see the exact color but the beige is a nice warm tone.

We added the register cover and vacuumed all the dust. We're very happy with how it looks so far. We now need to install the doors and then we will design the wall unit. This should be fun to decide exactly what we want and make it to our plans.

Sadie just relaxed once the vacuuming was done! She's a BIG help....NOT!

I also took a little time to create these fun 3D Origami flowers. I did some sanding and stamping on these so they could be used on more masculine scrapbook pages or cards. I really like making these!

See you in the near future.

An Awesome Day in Michigan

2009-03-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

Wow were we blessed with beautiful sun and a gorgeous blue sky all day today. We watched the sunrise and enjoyed how it hit the decorator pillow on our spider back chair in the livingroom. You couldn't have asked for a prettier sight this morning. These aren't the best pics....I'm still saving pennies for an SLR camera so these will have to do for now.

I also had made some homemade veggie soup. I decided to hold back on adding any meat and go strickly veggies only. WOW it was so good just to have something basic once in a while. I set the table and put croutons and parmesan cheese out for toppings. I told my hubby Tom to go ahead and add the goodies and I would add mine after. Here is the results of our soup adventures.

The beginning of the "soup pot". I put onions, garlic, fresh mushrooms, cauliflower, broccoli, zucchini, swiss chard, spinach, carrots, celery, sweet red and yellow peppers and seasonings along with the chicken broth.

Almost done.... nice a basic. We loved it!

My boring place setting.....

and then Tom's creation....

He said you MUST have a smiley face at all times. LOL

Enjoy your weekend everyone....

Darlene

Today was a day of PLAY

2009-03-12T17:09:00.000-07:00

We decided that our fur babies have destroyed almost every toy they own so Tom and I went on a small shopping trip for new dog toys. It's very hard to find something that Gretchen can't chew through. She's a very gentle dog but has very strong jaws and doesn't realize her strength. This is their first "Flying Squirrel" in the AFTER stage and the new one we bought today. Hmmm.....I wonder how long it will take until we have another after stage!?!

She loves to play tug of war with our other dog Sadie and also her parents! I'm just not strong enough to tug with her very long so I'm very glad Tom is here to assist. She sometimes pulls him off balance and he is a very strong guy.

After taking this pic I can see that I will be staining the deck this spring LOL! Winter in Michigan is the pits sometimes. It sure takes its' toll with outside maintenance.

Here are a few pics of our day today. It was still a bit chilly out but the girls are willing to play outside in anything. I should say the girl (singular) because our Brittany Sadie seems to be a bit lazy lately. She's more interested in observing the playground instead of participating on it.

They also got a new duck tuggie and a super strong Kong. Gretchen seems to really like the duck. Sadie hasn't decided if it's worth the effort yet or not.

Thanks for checking in.....have a super week and I'll be back with a scrapbook room update in a couple of days. The molding is almost painted!!!! YAY

Darlene

The Wood Floor - Part 3

2009-03-04T10:31:00.001-08:00

We have been working very hard on installing our Brazilian Cherry wood floor in the scrapbook room. It's been very easy to do as long as you don't have two dogs coming to visit every 5 minutes and helping. Seems like we have alot of canine supervisors lately. I was able to capture a couple of pictures of one of the biggest interruptions during this project!!!! By the way...I really am helping :-)

To back up a bit....

We had a beautiful oak hardwood floor in this room but it was just awfully worn out. This home was built in 1967 and even though it has been updated throughout most of the living area this floor hasn't been touched since then. Tom and I enjoyed alot of discussion and decided that it would be faster, less expensive and also less messy if we layed down a new floor rather than renting 2 sanders (1 large and 1 edger), restaining and finishing the existing floor. Now that the project is done I think we made the right decision!

We purchased 7 boxes of flooring going by the graph on the floor package and to our wonderful surprise we are able to return 2 boxes. This manufacturer was very generous with their square footage estimates. We will get approximately $85 back so we can go buy the door and floor moldings and not spend any extra money.

The process of each row went quite quickly.

The floor is now done and we just LOVE it. Tom is putting in the transition strip to go from our hall carpet to the new wood floor and then we can begin installing the molding.

Everything is coming together just as I visualized it to be. How exciting!

I'll post more updates on the molding and installation of new closet and entrance doors. We will then move onto designing the wall shelving unit. That will take a bit to finish I'm sure.

Scrapbook Room Re-Do

2009-02-23T07:10:00.000-08:00

Part 2

I have been working pretty hard on this scrapbook room. I had an old wallpaper border that of course decided to NOT be strippable like advertised. So I spent a few hours with my Paper Tiger tool, wallpaper stripper and some elbow grease. I finished removing all the old paper and then washed the entire room with a cleaner and degreaser. Finally I had clean walls!

I decided to paint the ceiling a nice tan color. I have always had white ceilings in my home so I took a deep breath and painted it a color. Wow to I love it! What a new look for such a warm cozy room. It brought out the dark metal in my ceiling fixture (that is what I was hoping for) and it will coordinate well with the new dark wood floor. This has been such an exciting project for me. I can see each little piece of my vision coming to fruition a step at a time.

I had fun doing the wallpaper too! Every time I do a remodeling project in this house I talk out loud to myself about the builder (and not in a good way!). I can't believe that from the ceiling to the floor on a corner of the room was off by 1". Of course I would not have ever noticed that if I hadn't decided to wallpaper and needed a plumb line for the first piece. Wow what a surprise. With the wallpaper choice being a subtle stripe behind the damask print I would have really been in trouble if I had cheated on the first piece and didn't use a plumb line. The room would have looked like it was in a fun house instead. Now it's nice and straight. It looks wonderful and I am very happy with the results so far.

The final piece.............yippee!

I love the texture on this damask print.

Another close up pic.

The flooring is the next step. We had success with finding our flooring today and opted for a nice Brazillian Cherry. I can't wait to get started putting it in with my hubby.

More updates on the floor soon :-)

Darlene

My Surprise!

2009-02-16T09:01:00.000-08:00

My wonderful husband surprised me with a beautiful bouquet of roses last Thursday. I was having an awful day and he called me from the cell to see how I was doing. I told him that I was managing but.....was feeling a bit lousy. He came home with these beauties! What a sweetheart he is. It sure cheered me up and they are just as gorgeous today as they were Thursday. The scent is unbelievable!

Thanks honey!! I love you so much (and when I don't get the flowers too).

I hope you all had a great Valentine's Day with your loved ones.

I'm off to continue painting the scrapbook room. Pretty soon it will be wallpaper time. I just LOVE this paper and I can't wait to see it on the wall.

Take care and have a great week!

A Beautiful Day

2009-02-09T05:04:00.000-08:00

We've had a huge thaw over the weekend. The snow actually melted in front of our eyes! My husband and I spent most of Saturday picking up sticks and debris in the yard. We had done our fall clean up but we had a big wind one day and a large snow fall right after so we weren't able to clean up the last of the fall sticks and leaves that landed in our yard from the wind. I know there is green grass!!!! It's been nice to actually see it peek out from under this snow.

I've been getting a ton of flower and seed catalogs this year. Many more than I have ever received before! I enjoy looking at them at this time of year because I know spring will eventually come. Having a break in the temperature really helps the soul. Nice warm breezes (high 40's and 50's HAHA) give me a rejuveniated feel that I need during January and February.

Our dogs are absolutely loving this weather also. They have been harassing the squirrels and watching all the birds fly. I think they get the winter blahs too. This afternoon I am taking them for a nice walk around the neighborhood. I'm sure they will enjoy it very much.

Yesterday my husband and I gave them a nice bath since it warmed up a bit. Gretchen has Baby Powder puppy shampoo and Sadie and Vanilla scent. Geez...do you believe that? It's like the pet companies know I am a sucker for nice smelling shampoo. They just loved their baths and they ran around the house like crazy girls rolling and rubbing. After they played a bit they were pretty well dry so we snuggled them up in their favorite fleece blankets for a long after noon nap.

A Wonderful Visit

2009-02-02T14:57:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful visit with our grandaughter Jada last week. She's growing up so fast we can't believe it. It seems like she was just born yesterday! We miss alot of special times with her because she lives so far away but we are very thankful for these times when we are given them.

She was introduced to our new puppy. She's a pretty big dog for 7 months old. Jada already knows Sadie so she was quite comfortable with her and she and the pup became buddies immediately. She told us that Sadie was soft like a pillow and Gretchen was very hard like a rock so she named then "Pillow" and "Rock".

Grandma and Jada watching the dogs play in the yard from our deck.

She spent quite a bit of time outside enjoying the Michigan snowfall. She packed buckets full of snow and broke off ice pieces for the dogs to fetch.

Hey I said for the DOGS to fetch not for you to test first!!!!

We miss her very much. She will be moving to Korea soon and we aren't sure when we will be able to visit her next. :-(

Spring Fever ALREADY!

2009-01-21T04:37:00.000-08:00

Oh my I can't believe that I am tired of winter already! I honestly shouldn't be since I usually feel that "cabin fever" in January and February every year. Here in Michigan we have been hit almost daily with accumulations of ice and snow and the temperature has been pretty wicked. Always single digits during the day and below zero at night. The other day we actually had a temperature in the 20's and it seemed like a heat wave :-)

I make sure I'm outside in the back yard many times during the day playing with the dogs. That really helps to enjoy what nature has blessed us with. It's beautiful and sparkley and just down right pretty as long as you aren't shoveling or driving in it.

I am definately waiting patiently for Spring and Summer when my gardens show off all their colors. These are a few pics of flowers that I have been looking at to get me out of my slump. I thought a nice bright pic or two would be appreciated by you too!

ENJOY

Ahhh my Stargazer Lilies! (sniff) I can still smell their beautiful fragrance. I am definately looking forward to these beautifes growing again this year! I was given this plant when I retired from my job. This is quite the perennial gift that keeps on giving Awesome plant!

The Phlox grows in my moonlight garden area. I have only white plants there with a pretty white and copper bird feeder.

I also have large amounts of sunflowers germinate yearly..... NONE of which I plant! The birds always drop large quantities of the seeds from the feeders when flying over the back garden. We had a lovely display last summer and the summer before. I even did a scrapbook layout a couple years ago about them. It's funny to see how my style of scrapbooking has changed only in 2 years. I'm now so into the embellisments I can't figure out when to stop adding them LOL! This LO seems so basic and plain now.

TFL

Darlene

Christmas with Eli

2009-01-13T05:16:00.000-08:00

I finally took an opportunity to go through some of the photos my husband and I were able to take on Christmas day this past year. I ran across these cute ones of our grandson Elijah.

I started to remember how much fun it was when I was a child to wait for Santa to come and bring presents for our family. I always tried to hear if Rudolph landed on my roof and if Santa was in the livingroom under the tree. The imagination is a wonderful thing.

As each year passed and I had a family of my own that same tradition was passed on. My children Todd and Heather both enjoyed the mystery of Santa, setting up the manger and all the animals that went along with the nativity set, decorating the tree and of course the sugar cookies! Then as they got older they tried to find where their presents were hidden!!!! Those sneaky little devils! I remember Todd telling me one morning (when he was quite young) that he had actually heard Santa on the roof on Christmas Eve. We still talk about it now even though he has his own children to experience Christmas with. Heather had told me that they actually found some of their presents one year, opened them and retaped them. It ruined the mystery so much that they stopped looking for gifts after that. Of course I always added that large orange in the toe of their stockings just to hear them complain LOL! For some reason they really disliked how much room it took up and replaced a spot for another gift hmmmm......they miss those oranges now. I know they do :-)

We had a nice visit with our grandson Eli this past Christmas. He now lives in Missouri so we don't see him as often as we would like. This is his 2nd Christmas. He was a newborn last year so we really didn't celebrate the opening of presents like we did this Christmas.

I just love the innocence and wonder in childrens' eyes when they experience this holiday. I'm so glad Eli has been part of this great tradition of Santa, presents and the fun of Christmas morning.

Eli and dad playing with his first set of Big Boy blocks.

Try to stay young at heart everyone. Time flies!

Darlene

A Full Weekend

2009-01-12T04:47:00.000-08:00

My husband and I decided to make a one day trip to our house in the upper part of lower Michigan. We feed the deer up there and it was about time to make another trip with goodies to eat. This past fall we had delivered a few loads of sugar beets so now it is time for some yummy 3rd cut alfalfa hay.

We woke up early this past Saturday morning, packed some water for the dogs, and headed to the feed store to load up on hay. My husband and the man at the store managed to jam 19 bales of hay in the bed of our truck. Unbelievable how much that bed holds!

There was a snowfall predicted for our area which is the opposite of what we are used to when we travel upnorth. We usually leave our home here and hit a bit storm on the way up there but not this time.

There is alot of snow upnorth. They started getting hit with storms on Nov. 15th and it really hasn't melted in between much. We had at least 2 feet in our driveway so we knew we weren't even trying to pull in there .... 4 wheel drive or not. We didn't want to take the time to plow it out first since we weren't staying the weekend.

My husband Tom decided he would make ump-teen trips in 2 feet of soft snow and carry hay bales. I felt so bad for him because I couldn't help. They are just too heavy for me. I had suggested bringing a tarp so we could drag a few at a time but he insisted on carrying them himself and have me rest. What a nice guy he is :-) Once Tom made a few trips with some hay he had packed the snow down so it felt like 1 foot he said instead of two!

Sadie had decided to take it easy on this trip and relax LOL! She is usually running around like a crazy girl but I guess she was tired this time.

It didn't take long before she got nice and warm in her blanket and took a snooze.
I think these eyelids are getting a bit heavy....

Gretchen, on the other hand, was having a blast in the snow and a big help to Tom....NOT!

She loved climbing up the mountain of snow to watch Tom and wait for his return.

Tom got all the hay set up at the back of our fenced yard and we were ready to go when my cousing Mel stopped by to say HI. He invited us down the road to his house for a drink or two. We decided to take a break before heading back home. We sat and talked, had a few drinks and talked some more. Three hours later (and dark now) we started our trek back home. We knew there was a winter storm hitting our area at home but we honestly weren't sure how much was accumulating. We definately found out as we got closer south. The expressway finally became totally snowcovered and slippery. You couldn't see any lanes and there were vehicles and emergency vehicles off the road and all over the sides of the road. It was a long trip home but we made it! Tired and hungry we unpacked and crashed for the night.

On Sunday we chilled most of the day. Tom said he actually was feeling his age after carrying all that weight and I was achy from doggie day care responsibilities on the trip. I did alot of walking with the dogs and playing and then of course they think they are lap sized dogs (even though they aren't )so my hips were feeling the extra weight. Of course we had to shovel our driveway and decks here Sunday morning. Whew....lots of work this weekend.

All is normal today but more snow is predicted soon and some really bone-chilling temps coming up in a couple of days.

Keep warm everyone!
Darlene

A Few More Organizational Goodies

2009-01-09T08:14:00.001-08:00

I added a few more labels to my roller organizer yesterday. I have a couple extra drawers. It is nice to have a backup in case I still need to seperate some items later. I'm sure once this room is totally completed I will make a few small adjustments with where I have things placed but mostly everything will be perfect the way it is for how I work when I scrap and craft.

I've been working on my wall unit sketch for the East wall of the scrapbook room. It will be made out of hardwood and stained walnut to compliment the dark damask wallpaper accent wall I will have. I want the melon wall color to show through so I am not putting a back on the shelving units. They will be secured to the black countertop however. We sure don't need to worry about too much weight toppling any shelves down!

I have a nice window located approximately in the center of the wall so I will totally fill the wall with shelves and a nice work space for everything I think I need.

This is my rough ( really rough LOL) sketch of the wall unit. It will run completely to the ceiling so that I get the maximum storage.

A few accent items like plants placed here and there should give it a nice comfy touch. Of course my tiffany lamps and some copper containers will be placed throughout too.

TFL....off to strip more border :-). I took yesterday off!

Darlene

Scrapbook Room Re-Do - The Closet... continued

2009-01-07T08:40:00.000-08:00

I've been working most of this past weekend setting up all the supplies into the closet. It feels very good to actually know where everything is now. This was a big accomplishment for me to achive. It's been haunting me for years.

This is where I store the Sizzix and die cuts.

My glitter and embossing powder area. This area will grow because you can never have enough glitter! haha

My camera, tripod and scrapbook albums are stored on this side shelf.

My little shipping supply area for Etsy sales.

I store all my stamp pads, rub ons, bling, stickers, etc. in individually labeled containers here.

I'm just beginning a ribbon collection so I am storing those in clear glass jars for the time being.

I'll post a few more pics of the closet when it is totally completed. As stated before I still have some paper organizers and magazine organizers to purchase and it will be pretty well done.

I've now moved onto the wallpaper border. Hmmm...........funny how my strippable border paper turned out to be NOT strippable. I'm preparing to get out the elbow grease and start stripping wallpaper now! Geezzzz.......this was supposed to be an easy room to redecorate!

I'll be back soon with a reason for a manicure I'm sure!

TFL......Darlene

Scrapbook Room Re-Do

2009-01-03T12:34:00.000-08:00

Part 1 - The Closet

I headed off to Lowes with my wonderful husband a few days ago to get all the supplies for the closet. I had done a sketch of how I wanted to place each shelf and mounting rail/bracket. I then made a list of all the supplies necessary (including hardward) and off we went.

No matter what store we go into we always seem to have a large quantity of customers end up in the same aisle as we are in shopping for the same items. As funny as it is this happened again at Lowe's. The closet organizer aisle was totally empty when we arrived and within 5 minutes there were 5-6 shoppers coming down the aisle with their lists! More came a few minutes later and we had a total of 12 people waiting for the employee to cut their wire shelving. Luckily we were first to ask so we had our large shelving cut and we were able to then move onto all the little parts like, screws and brackets.

We were also very lucky get all all the supplies for 10% off! We didn't know there was a sale and it was close to the last day too. We had compared both Rubbermaid and Closet Maid and decided on the Rubbermaid brand just because we like the installation better and then, to our surprise, the sale too....woo hoo! Our supplies totaled $160.00 and off we were to unload the goodies into the house.

We began ...well I should say Tom began, the installation of the top mounting rail and uprights. We got lucky hitting a few 2x4's but mostly installed anchors throughout. We all know how heavy scrapbook supplies can get :-)

These are three views of the finished closet. It's mighty small (65" wide, 23" deep and 8 feet high). As mentioned in an earlier post I will be making wooden stained shelves for each side of my window above my work desk. These areas are where I will put my pretty baskets, copper containers and holiday wooden stamps. It will be a more decor based storage than the closet. I will get alot of storage out of this little closet area. I have spent 2 fullndays going through my whole stash. I will post those pics sometime next week. I'm very happy how much room I now have.

Top and right hand side view

Top and left hand side view

Partial front view

I have everything placed in and on the shelves now but I am still looking for some 12x12 paper/cardstock organizers and also 1 magazine file to finish the total project. I really feel like I have accomplished alot this holiday time and I found some scrapbook goodies I even forgot I had! I think we all know what "out of sight, out of mind" means.

Well I'm off to rest for a bit and then begin the rest of the room. Please check back for updates and ideas. I hope some of my experiences will help you with ideas to design your scrapbook room and organizer it too.

Darlene

High Winds in our Area

2008-12-29T05:03:00.000-08:00

I woke up around 2:30 a.m. Sunday morning hearing super loud winds beating at the south west corner of our home. I had a small thought run through my head..."Hmmm....I did clip the straps that hold down the spa cover didn't I?" I then confirmed that I had by re-tracing my steps. Whew...I was satisfied. Yep everything is secure, no problem.

Boy was I wrong! The winds kept blowing, sometimes the gusts were 60 mph. We finally got up around 7:00 a.m. since the dogs needed to go potty. When I opened the doorwall blinds I found NO spa cover and NO outside light fixture! Hmmm....I knew what had happened but I didn't know where they were. I couldn't see them at all. We later found them in our yard. I can't imagine how this 100 lb. spa cover looked as it was flying through the sky completely sheering off our outside light fixture during the process. I honestly am thanking our lucky stars that it didn't pull down our electric and phone wires since it some how flew right by all of them on it's way to the ground. I really thought the light would have been in a million pieces but just a small crack in the glass and a large chunk of metal is missing by the connection.

The clips and straps that just tore away.

This is our temporary solution to the problem so we can still keep the heat in the spa during the winter weather. Too funny!

Today will be filled with an insurance claim and price checking. I thought I'd write about this crazy weekend ride my husband and I took because it was a crazy day and quite funny when you think back on it. It could have been so much worse but still I hate to have to pay deductible and repurchase what we already had. UGH!

Have a great day!
Darlene

The Painting has begun...

2008-12-27T06:02:00.001-08:00

Now that Christmas is over and we have returned from visiting our son and grandson in Missouri it's time to get back to working on the scrapbook room. I had already made a trip to Home Depot to mix paint a few weeks ago and painted the closet. I am off to Lowe's this weekend to get all my closet organizer goodies so I can begin putting some items away before I get to the room painting.

This pretty melon color will go great with all the ideas I have in store for this room. I want to accent areas with copper items also. There may be a need to go antiquing! I am going to build two wooden wall storage units for each side of the desk area/counter by the window. These units will store all the pretty ribbons, buttons, boxes and wicker baskets filled with goodies. The closet will contain mostly other craft items and books I have collected over the years such as embroidery thread, acrylic paints and yarns. I drew a rough sketch for the closet organizer considering that we will be selling our home in a few years and this closet may be used for a child's room. This way I can add small 16" shelving units in certain areas for my current storage needs but they can be moved or removed for small children's clothing for a new owner. I hope this proves to be a smart move.

I now will removing all the border paper around the perimeter of the room, prep it and start painting the ceiling and walls. I chose a light ivory for the ceiling as to keep a warm cozy feel. I also plan on two long accent lights aiming down onto my work area from over head something like this pic however I want to go with a pretty blue globe color instead of white my accent color.

This is a pic of the room as it is now, empty and horribly boring! I would imagine ANYTHING I do to it would be an improvment LOL.

Well I'm off to the store for a few purchases and then onto more wallpaper stripping.

Darlene

A little Holiday Cheer

2008-12-23T07:31:00.000-08:00

....very little I may add. Due to the puppy a.k.a the "Gretchen-ator" we are not decorating for Christmas this year and I really miss it. I have a few discrete simple items placed around so she won't notice!

I always need to have the cinnamon pine cones somewhere during this time of year. I decided a glass vase was the best option instead of the wicker baskets I usually have them in. Gretchen doesn't even care that these are out. She also doesn't care about this cute little angel I just received from my friend Irene last week. We went to Johnny Carino's for a nice long lunch and she surprised me with it. She's a very nice lady and we worked together for many years before we retired. We usually get together once a month or so to catch up on all the latest news.

These are Gretchen and Sadie's poochie bells that I made. My husband and I were at JoAnn fabrics a couple days ago trying to use up my awesome 15% off your total bill including sale and clearance items. We ran across sets of these jingle bells in the Christmas aisle. We purchased 2 sets, 1 for our home here and one for the house in the woods. They love to ring the bells when they need to go potty and it really helps me to know someone need to go out if I'm in the other end of the house. They only cost $2 for 8 and they are quite large. Pretty shiny too since you can see me and the camera in the reflection LOL!

The next storm has begun here so it's time to sit back and see what mother nature is sending us today! Have a wonderful Christmas everyone and stay warm and safe. Enjoy your family times and take alot of pics!

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Darlene

Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

2008-12-23T06:10:00.001-08:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

A Blistery Bitter Cold Day

2008-12-15T14:27:00.000-08:00

Woah, I didn't expect it to be this bone chillin' today. We are in the single digits due to the wind chill and we had rain yesterday. Who'd a thunk!!!

I had a very small quiet time today, and let me say VERY SMALL. This 60 lb. puppy doesn't like so see me craft at all. Nope, no painting, scrappin' or even organizing my goodies. She loves to play so sometimes I have to wait until she naps to get any creating done. Gee you would think she was a child and not a dog!

I did get to play a bit with my new mirror cardstock from Club Scrap. I really like how heavy this paper is and I love how reflective too.

A few embossed holiday sentiments....these will be fun to do a few LO's with.

I had a few sheets of Basic Grey's Figgy line left from last year so I made these flowers.

Of course I was in a snowy mood because of this crazy weather so I also made a set of snowflakes.

Stay warm everyone if you are in a chilly climate!

One more card for 2008

2008-12-12T11:24:00.000-08:00

I designed one more acrylic card for Christmas this year. I die cut the circle for the front of the card and embossed the words "joy" with an acrylic stamp. Added a few holly leaves, red rhinestones and some gold glitter for some bling. I also added background paper that I had embossed with my "Merry Christmas" texture plate.

TFL!

Acrylic Christmas Card for 2008

2008-12-11T11:04:00.001-08:00

I love the new look of the acrylic cards so I decided to attempt using acrylic for this years' Christmas card. I cut a transparency to size using my Fiskar's cutter and then the score wheel for the fold line.

The mirror paper is embossed with a Sizzix embossing plate in a snowflake pattern and is attached to the front of the card. I die cut the snowflakes and then embellished them with crystal glitter and crystal stickles.

The "Happy Holidays!" is stamped with black Stazon ink on the front of the acrylic. The snowman paper was attached to the front from the underside so it would show through. I just love the Basic Grey Figgy line from last year!

The mirror paper is from Club Scrap. This is the first time I have used it and I love how easy it shows the embossing and reflection. It is truly like a real mirror!

For the inside sentiment I just diecur a circle and again used the black Stazon ink with an acrylic stamp....added a blue satin bow with a mini glue dot and it was complete.

This is the inside of the front top cover. I added some contrasting patterned paper from the same Basic Grey line and embossed some white cardstock for a textured effect throughout the cover.

TFL!

A Fun Packed Saturday Night

2008-12-08T05:25:00.000-08:00

We all had a blast this past Saturday night. Heather and I planned a trip to our local apple orchard Erwins Orchards in South Lyon. This is only their 2nd year for this light display and they did an wonderful job. Lots and lots of colors and it was very different to go through an apple orchard with decorated trees. Very unique idea! Here is the website if you live around South Lyon, Michigan and are interested in a visit http://erwinorchards.com/elf.html. They put alot of work and expense to entertain all of us. Thank you so much Erinwin's!!!!

When we first arrived we were greeted by two snow plows clearing the parking lot. Of course Heather and I picked a night that was very wintery. We had snow all day and then just very pretty flurries during our visit to the light festival. It was very windy and pretty cold so we wore layers and layers of clothing, our down coats, boots and a snuggy blanket for the wagon ride.

The first lighted sign we saw after the entrance was this "elf" sign so I asked Tom to stand behind it. Somehow it just fit his personality!

We headed up the sidewalk to pay for our admission tickets (VERY reasonable at $5 for a fun night and a 25 minutes wagon ride through the orchards) when we came upon THUNDER the reindeer. He was just adorable and very happy to be in the cold windy snow! We asked the elves how old he was and they said he was 6. They said most reindeer only live to be around 8 years old.We entered this wonderfully decorated pole barn where the admission stand was set up. They had picnic tables and hay bales set up everywhere as well as a nice patio heater and gorgeous christmas lights. We stopped for a bit to get warm and took these pics.

Heather and Reon

Tom and Me

Reon and Tom at Santa's entrance

We then headed off to another building to get some of those great "pumpkin" donuts and hot chocolate. Yum...they were great! Some had carmel glaze and some had sprinkles.

Erwins did a wonderful job decorating this building also! Much to our surprise we even had a chance to talk with Mr. and Mrs. Clause. They were just adorable! Santa even offered to take a pic of all of us. Here are a few pics of the decor inside. It was very pretty and cozy and of course the donuts made the smell even better.

We hopped on the wagon and off through the orchards. We weren't able to get many pictures of the lights because the wagon was quite bouncy. Here is a pic of the Land of the Dinosaurs.

After our night outside was done we headed back to Heather and Reon's home and played a little Wii. She made us some great hot Frappuccino with mini marshmallows.....

Ummmm Ummmmm GOOD!

As my husband always says....A FUN TIME WAS HAD BY ALL!!!!

Enjoy the simple things in life!

2008-12-03T06:07:00.000-08:00

or "Stop to smell the roses." ...that's what we've all heard from our parents for years. This morning I was enjoying a wonderful hot cup of coffee that my hubby made for me, sitting on the couch sharing conversation, when I looked out the East window in the livingroom and saw this beautiful sight. I wanted to share it with you. I kept snapping shots because every time I blinked the view changed until (within 4 minutes) it was totally gone and just blue sky with white clouds. I hope you get views like this on special mornings in your life as we did today.

Yesterday our "little" (I say that sarcastically!) 5 month old puppy Gretchen was doing her usual romping and playing in the yard with her Brittany sister Sadie. They were in and out most of the day enjoying the snow and all the sticks they could find! I went in the kitchen to make a cup of tea and peeked out to keep an eye on them. They are just like little toddlers always getting into trouble so I never know what is next!!!! To my surprise I caught a movement out of the right corner of my eye through the diningroom doorwall and this is what I saw....
Since when did this little adorable puppy decide she can climb up on our covered patio table like it was a platform for viewing the local neighborhood? From the look on her face she wasn't even ashamed of herself either! I grabbed the camera and snapped this pic. Hmmm........I may have a behavior problem here LOL! I had to turn my face so she wouldn't see me laugh (just like you do with your kids) because I honestly couldn't believe my eyes. I told her I'd come outside and help her down because I thought she couldn't get down. Yeah right! Just like a little gazelle she gracefully popped down to the deck floor and frolicked off into the snow. I hid around the corner to see if she would do it again because she has needed help (or at least we thought she did) getting up on our bed to snuggle in the early evening. Of course she did! She hopped back up with absolutely no effort and was again very proud of herself. What a little stinker we have! Who would have thought that our bird possessed dog Sadie would have better behavior than this German Shorthaired Pointer! Now I have two crazy bird dogs. I don't think I'll be bored anytime soon. Enjoy your day everyone!

LOVE LOVE LOVE these!

2008-12-02T07:14:00.001-08:00

Now that the Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone......

(we had a WONDERFUL time visiting with our little grandson Eli and combining his first birthday party with turkey day)

it is now time to stick my nose to the grindstone and work continually on this scrapbook room. I have just finished the deconstruction.

WHAT A MESS! I tore down all the moldings from inside the closet and spackled, sanded, respackled, sanded....repeat until it is ready for paint. I put two coats of a moisture barrier on the ceiling of the closet to keep all the insulation dry up there. I had already put 2 coats on the room ceiling when it was a bedroom and wasn't crazy enough to try to even touch that closet disaster.

Let me tell you the history of this closet!!!! First of all this home was new when I was 12 years old. We moved here (my parents, grandmother and me) from Detroit in 1967. Yes...that makes me 53 years old now :-) Wow has time flown. My father retired and moved upnorth to his home in the woods (mom had previous passed away from brain cancer) and I purchased the home back from him. Actually my first husband and I had purchased the home. Then after 25 years of marriage that came to an end, we divorced and I repurchased it again to keep it in the family. I am now remarried to an awesome man named Tom and he has helped me redo this whole house and make it a home me so it feels like a new place for us. Only good memories now ;-) The work he does is just beautiful. I'll have to post some pics of the decks he has put on our home and then he dropped an awesome spa on top for a relaxation spot. He's a super duper guy!!!! With children coming back home from college, or just back home back and then back again, with and without grandchildren accompanying them, this "guest" bedroom has seen many visitors. It actually was my bedroom at 12 years old. You can imagine the accumulation of goodies that closet has had. I found material and patterns for suits that I never made LOL! Funny thing is that I still love the pattern and the material but not enough to come out of retirement and wear suits and heels again....nope no way !!!!

I took one entire day and emptied that entire horrid closet. It was a step back in time to say the least but here it is when I was done...ugly, empty and very small but I have BIG plans for this area.
I am now in the process of putting on 2 coats of paint and the storage shelves. I will take a pic of that when it is complete. I will continue moving onto the room with paint and wallpaper next. It's been fun actually seeing some progress.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I know I'm a bit behind the times and most of you have all the fancy electronic cutters (I'm sooo envious) but I still just have the Sizzix BigKick and love it. I know there is a Pazzles in my future though LOL! I was cruising around the Joann fabrics website a couple weeks ago and found Sizzix's storage boxes on sale for a pretty good price. For those of you who don't know about them they are not cardboard but heavy duty wood covered in a nice linen fabric. They come in 3 colors....I chose the beige because the room is going to be dark walnut with warm pumpkin colored walls. I love the plastic dividers inside to keep each die seperated. Pretty cool design and I just LOVE THESE, hence the title to this post.

TFL...have a super week.

The "girls" and their 1st snow

2008-11-18T06:38:00.000-08:00

Here in Michigan you never know what the weather will be! We woke up the other day and had at least 1" of packable snow on the ground. The dogs just loved it. We have a 4 year old Brittany named Sadie and a 5 month old German Shorthaired Pointer puppy named Gretchen.I couldn't get them to come in the house. They played for hours chasing their "jug". They have the cutest toys but choose to play with an old plastic jug! Who would have guessed ;-o.

Scrapbook Room Update:

I've really been working hard on my scrapbook room this week. It took about 3 hours to completely clean out the closet. It was a craft room for many years after my son moved his bedroom to the downstairs bedroom. I kept collecting more and more craft goodies and that's BEFORE scrapbooking became so popular. I have drawn a diagram of what I have in my mind for closet organizing and then also a diagram for shelving units for the wall area in the room over my work top. I will be painting soon and I can't wait to see this room finally become an organized pretty space that I want to go into and be creative. I'll post pics every once in a while so you can see how it develops. I'm always multi-tasking so this room will probably take me a couple months with holidays coming up. A little work here and there will always get me to the goal eventually.

Have a great week!

Jada Layout

2008-11-11T11:05:00.000-08:00

I did this layout of my grandaughter Jada for a challenge on YMBD. We took a trip to the Detroit zoo (Jada, Aunt Heather, Grandpa Tom and Grandma Darlene). There was this beautiful metal butterfly chair right outside the butterfly house so of course we had a perfect background for a picture. Jada couldn't wait to just hop on up and pretend she was this graceful, beautiful butterfly!

On YMBD the challenge was to use "texture" on a LO. Here's link to the actual challenge

http://yourmemoriesbydesign.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1802

Give it a try!!!!

I used grungeboard for the butterflies and inked them and blinged them with Ranger distress inks, glitter and rhinestones. I even stamped a butterfly on a transparency for a different texture.

I added a bit of blue Stickles to the patterned paper and also stamped a butterfly cardstock and bentd it for dimension. I added some thin silver wire and ribbon to the Lo and picture corners and glued alot of beads for the flower centers. MORE texture :-}

A little foam leaf or two and...

It was done! I really like the blues and greens together.

TFL!!!! Have a super day :-}

Santa Baby

2008-11-08T09:22:00.000-08:00

Here's a little glimpse of someone that everyone is at least aware of at this upcoming holiday season. This is a picture of some details on HIS hat. I'm sure that eye will also give it away and of course the title of this post. I'll be posting more pictures on Monday.

Enjoy your weekend with family and friends!

A GREAT recipe

2008-11-03T07:46:00.000-08:00

My husband and I agreed last night to set the alarm for 4:30 a.m. We weren't sure how long the voting lines would be since Michigan is a swing state. We showered, had our coffee and headed off to our precinct. We arrived at 6:15 a.m. with no lines outside. A few people were lined up inside the building and everyone was cheery and very polite. We were number 16 and 17 and our experience was the best we have ever had. I don't know if that means we were super early or if that means that the voters figured it would be a mad house early so they are going tonight. Anyway....

and now I can play with all my scrappin' goodies and paint the WHOLE day...woohoo!

I have felt like making some peanut butter cookies too and I remembered that I did this LO a few years ago. I'd like to share this recipe with you....it was a favorite of mine as a little girl.

I scanned the original recipe (with my mother's writing on it) so I had a memory of her too! I always have a hot cup of tea with these cookies in my English bone china cup and saucer. I hope you like the recipe. You may want to make a double batch!

Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup Crisco
1/2 cup Jif creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 cup sifted all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Cream shortening and peanut butter together until light; add sugars gradually and blend well. Beat in vanilla and egg. Sift flour with soda and salt and blend into the first mixture. Shape dough into small ball and place approximately 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten the top of each dough ball with the tines of a fork dipped in sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for approximately 10 minutes. Makes 4 dozen.

Note: To keep cookies crisp store in a loosely covered container. If they absorb moisture from the air you can crisp them again in a 300 degree oven for 5 minutes.

ENJOY!!!!

Some of my favorites!

2008-11-03T06:59:00.001-08:00

I started going through some of my fall decorations and thought I would share them with you. I just adore this ceramic pumpkin. This was a great find when my husband and I stopped at a Cracker Barrel restaurant on the way down to North Carolina. I've had it for about 5 years. We were traveling south to visit my son who at that time had been in the Marines (just returning from his first tour in Iraq. He had 2 tours total.) They had such wonderful choices of these pumpkins I couldn't refuse to buy a set of 3. One was a quaint teapot and also a smaller version of this large pumpkin. I love them because I can put them out in Sept. and leave them for all to enjoy until Dec. 1st without anyone getting tired of them.

I also enjoy this wonderful pinecone wreath that I have displayed in my bathroom. The walls are a warm gold and it compliments the border paper so well. There are touches of maroon and green in the border also. This wreath didn't come with the dried ivory glitter baby's breath. I had a package of that left over from my wedding favors so I just spent an afternoon hot gluing it to the center. I like how the light hits it from the side and it glitters just perfectly!

TFL!

Finished my Turkey Gourd

2008-10-30T07:23:00.000-07:00

I just love this silly turkey! I had a great time painting him. He will make a great home decor item for the fall or Thanksgiving holiday. If you are interested in more pics just go to http://www.gourdsgaloreandmore.blogspot.com/ to see the details.

I'm off to do some scrapbooking and hopefully will get a few layouts done today :-)

TFL!

Bountiful End-of-the-Year Harvest!

2008-10-22T05:26:00.000-07:00

WOW I certainly was blessed with a wonderful amount of tomatoes this year. My kitchen is overflowing with green, yellow and ruby red tomatoes!!! I'm so thankful to have them. Now the fun begins with washing, blanching, peeling, and canning these little goodies. I just love to make chili and spaghetti sauce with home grown tomatoes, not to mention how great they taste on a salad compared to store bought.

It's a crisp and cool day here in Michigan so I decided to start the canning process. I also make a wonderful recipe that I have inherited from my grandmother. Now we probably would consider this recipe a mild SALSA but in the olden days it was titled "Chili Sauce". It's a nice mild flavor but it has some great spices in it that just blend together so wonderfully. Boy does it make the house smell GREAT.

Have a great day everyone....off to the kitchen :-)

Darlene

Cat Layout

2008-10-20T05:53:00.000-07:00

I loved this sketch! I had purchased this Bazzil tag a while back and couldn't decide what I wanted to do with it. On the YMBD site there are Sketch Challenges http://yourmemoriesbydesign.ca/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1399
and this worked great with my tag. These photos are of my son's cat Newman. We took care of him over the summer while our son was relocating to another state. He's a very funny kitty and he had some wonderful expressions so I had to do a LO!

TFL

It's BOO-tiful because it's finished!

2008-10-14T04:54:00.000-07:00

As promised...here are the final steps to completing this Halloween altered item. Thanks to The Paper Store for their original design.

The beginning steps for this project are listed in the previous blog posting :-)

Step 6: I made my own fence out of chipboard. You can also buy this fence at a local craft store if you so choose. The fence slats measure 3/8" wide by 2 1/4" tall. I just made a pattern and traced 12 slats for the front and cut them out individually. Wrap pieces of thin wire around each slat for desired effect. You can also make some slats a bit crooked for a spooky look if you prefer.

Step 7: Paint the front of each fence set (4 slats per set) and let dry. I only did one coat because I wanted to distress it and make it look old.
Step 8: I also added a bit of silver/blue metallic wax to certain areas of the fence for an aged look.
Step 9: Use your sandpaper and distress some areas so it looks weathered.
This is the final result.
Step 10: Glue your chipboard letters spelling BOO onto a patterned paper of your choice. Let dry, cut out and distress the edges with sandpaper and Vintage Photo Distress Ink by Ranger.

Step 11: Choose a scroll or flourish stamp and stamp areas of each letter with black ink.

Step 12: Cut raffia and ribbon to size (leave enough to tie a knot at each end when dry). Put glue across the BACK center line of the front 3 pieces of cardstock. Press down and then apply glue to the remaining pieces of cardstock and attach. You are basically sandwiching the raffia/ribbon between those cardstock pieces. Leave about 1/2" in between each square. Weight down with a cool iron or other heavy object and let dry.

The final arrangement should look like this. Just a reminder.....remember if you have the center pattern reversed as I did then make sure you have kept the same arrangement when you glue.

Step 13: Once your "sandwich" has totally dried, sand the edges a bit to give it a rustic look. I also tore a few top layers of the chipboard to really grunge it up. Glue your fence and any embellishments you have made onto each of the 3 sections of the FRONT of this project. I made a small pumpkin by embossing and chalking some color onto the origial stamped image. I glued him onto the center section.

The final project looks like this....

This is what I did with the back center section....

This is a closeup of the left panel.

I hope you enjoy making one of these for your home. I plan on changing the look for the Christmas holiday too. I think this can be a very versatile little project. Use it for baby, pets, birthdays or even add a few more panels to spell out a longer word.

Have a great day!

Halloween Home Decor Project

2008-10-12T15:06:00.000-07:00

I decided to finally sit down and do a little home decor project for this Halloween season. I'm long overdue to get my creative juices flowing. I should be finished with the entire project tomorrow and I will post ALL the steps I used. Here's a peek at my start...

Step 1: Gather all your supplies. I used the following supplies for this project:

6 pieces of chipboard ( cut into 2 1/2" x 3 1/2")
White acrylic paint
Assorted stamps (Halloween theme and scrolls/flourishes)
Embossing Ink and black embossing powder
Heat Tool
Ranger Distress Ink - Vintage Photo, Frayed Burlap, Tea Dye
Pigment Ink- Black
Archival Ink - Black
14" pieces of raffia
14" piece of 3/8" black satin ribbon
Blending tool - Tim Holtz
Thin silver wire
Chipboard Letters apprpxomately 2-2 1/2" tall (1 B, 2 O's)
Pumpkin Brass Stencil
Embossing styllus and chalk
Scissors
White Picket Fence available at craft stores
(I used chipboard strips I cut and twistied wire around each picket then painted it white)
Sandpaper for distressing
Piece of brown cardstock (scrap)
Piece of scrapbook paper to cover chipboard letters
Metallic wax
Tacky Glue

Step 2: Paint the six chipboard squares with white acrylic paint. I left a few thick edges for effect.

All six chipboard pieces should look like this when dry.

Step 3: Use the blending tool and ink the edges of all the pieces with Vintage Photo ink and touches of Frayed Burlap and Tea Dye. Vary the depth of the color (some areas heavy some a bit lighter). I like to move from the outside in toward the piece instead of reverse. You get a softer look that way.

Step 4: Stamp an image on each edge of each painted and inked piece with the Vintage Photo ink. I alternated the direction of the image for the center pieces. Please refer to the last photo.

Step 5: Add a few Halloween "scary" stamps on upper edges and upper corners of a few squares with black ink. Use your creativity!

Final steps will be posted early this week :-)

Darlene

My 3-Day Slideshow

2008-10-06T12:13:00.000-07:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Pretty Fall view

2008-10-06T05:10:00.001-07:00

Since fall is my favorite season and I just completed the Michigan Breast Cancer 3-day walk I wanted to share this pretty photo with you. We had so many nice views along the 3 days of our walk that it is hard to pick a favorite photo. Some scenes were funny and some were just down right all about fall. This one made me happy as I ventured to finish my 20.3 miles for this day. Enjoy!

WOOHOO

2008-10-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

I did it! I accomplished my goal of walking an entire 60 miles without the help of a sweep van or sag bus. I can't believe how difficult it was at times but also how much one can overcome the mental and physical exhaustion for a good cause. This is a picture at the closing ceremony where we hold up one shoe to honor the breast cancer survivors.

I plan on making a slide show of all the wonderful pics I took along this 3 day journey. Of course I have alot of great ideas for scrapbooking this topic. I need to get caught up a bit on my sleep (still have a busy little puppy keeping me awake) and then I will be doing the scrappin!

TFL eveyone...

Darlene

Prepared for tomorrow

2008-09-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

I have packed all my gear for this weekend and to my surprise my gear only weighed in at 29 lbs. We were allowed 35 lbs. so I am happy that I am under. Needless to say I only packed the necessary items (no makeup except lip gloss and mascara) like soap, shampoo, toothpaste and of course clothes for all temps and types of weather. We are planning on decorating our tent to see if we can win the prize so I have a few decorations too! I'll share some pics of what we did when I return. I've never slept in a sleeping bag so we will see how I do with that. We were told to pack an air mattress for comfort so I'm all set with that. I have some nice warm comfy clothes for night time and a down vest to keep cozy. Lights out will be at 9:00 p.m. and I honestly think after 20 miles per day I will be ready to sleep each night at that time!!!!

We will be taking lots of pics of our team Quest for the Chest. Wish us luck please :-)

Darlene

My Remembrance Ribbons

2008-09-23T16:49:00.000-07:00

I spent most of my day making remembrance ribbons for all my sponsors who asked me to honor cancer victims and survivors close to their heart. I took a large white ribbon and stamped on each name. I then took another smaller ribbon in different colors to signify the cancer type. I've decided to honor all forms of cancer. We definately need a cure for this disease. I am tying these ribbons onto my credentials and wear them around my next for the 3 days of walking. I will post pictures next week so you can see how they look.

Updates after I recover from this weekend!

Only 1 week away....

2008-09-18T10:31:00.001-07:00

Well everyone....next weekend is the Breast Cancer 3-day walk for me. I've been training for months to get ready for this event. I have found myself discouraged, encouraged, excited, anxious, critical, and then motivated almost all in one day. Wow it's a very emotional experience to do something like this. Participating in this is very important to me so I don't want to disappoint myself nor any of my supporters. I truly want to make it through all 60 miles but I decided not to push myself if I feel pain. I want to cross that finish line next Sunday and know I did my very best.

I just received my credentials in the mail a couple days ago so I decided to decorate it a bit. Gee do you think I'll ever get over putting bling on everything?!?!?! I have also been packing and organizing my walking outfits. I will get all my last minute items tomorrow night and pack EVERYTHING in my duffel bag ...not touching them until the morning of the 26th. We are preparing for any type of weather since Michigan can be cold and warm all in the same day in September. I have no intentions of being cold at night. I have great snuggies packed and the sleeping bag will keep me very warm.

I hope to make one or two more posts before I leave. Thank you for taking the time to read about my journey. I should have wonderful pics to post after the event.

:-) Darlene

Having fun creating these...

2008-09-11T09:14:00.001-07:00

Since the weather has turned a bit chilly the last few days here in Michigan I decided to make some additions to the Etsy shop and also for ME as well! I am hoping to participate in the weekend crop at YMBD's blog. I have some 2007 Halloween pics that I would love to do a layout with and also some pics of our grandson and granddaughter. Let's see if I can actually accomplish a layout or two.

I hand stamp these bats onto heavy cardstock and emboss with black embossing powder. I love the texture on these. I would like to use them on my Halloween cards this year.

I can do alot with these journaling blocks. I would love to make an acrylic album with a Halloween theme.

Well off to create a few flowers too. Of course I HAVE to have flowers when I scrapbook!!!

TFL :-)

Stained Glass Pumpkin

2008-09-04T05:26:00.000-07:00

WooHoo.....I found this awesome pumpkin light to use as an accent to my scrapbook room. It matches my accent lamps perfectly. I just love the warm fall colors so this was a great find! Now I just need to finish the room so I can enjoy an organized space that I can create in that will also be warm and cozy during these upcoming chilly days and nights.

I haven't done too many scrapbook layouts or projects lately because I have been painting a scarecrow gourd. Here's a peek.....he's almost done. I've decided to name him patches and he will be listed for sale on my etsy shop soon. If you'd like to see the process of making this scarecrow you can check out my business blog at http://www.gourdsgaloreandmore.blogspot.com/. I have a few more pieces of raffia to glue into all the drilled holes and he's finished and ready to be listed for sale.

Pumpkins with Crackle Paint

2008-09-03T16:03:00.001-07:00

I just finished making some sets of pumpkins out of Ranger's grungeboard. I added the crackle paint and inked the happy little faces in black. I really like how rustic this guy looks. I am making other pumpkin shapes so now I just need to make a few layouts to use them on! These would look great on an acrylic album or altered item like a box. I can't wait to make more.

Shopping with the Girls

2008-08-29T05:08:00.000-07:00

My hubby and I took an evening and made a trip to Pet Smart with the doggies. Gretchen, the new pup, has outgrown her collar already! She gained 6 lbs. last week....she's going to be a BIG ONE. Our 3 year old Brittany Sadie has never been in the store before so we made it a point to socialize both of them. I couldn't have done it without my hubby Tom though. Sadie was soooo excited about all the smells of other doggies, bones, food, etc. and Gretchen just was being an active puppy. Thank goodness for strong leashes!!! We are teaching the pup to sit and stay so she did quite well with those commands. Sadie settled down once she realized where she was and everything was ok and would still be there so no need to rush through the store. We had alot of people coming up a petting both of them. Some were older couples reminising about having a Brittany and how much they loved that breed. Needless to say that lack of attention wasn't an issue that night.

We decided on a purple collar for Gretchen. I'm sure she will go through about 3 more until she is full grown. We couldn't find the type of collar we wanted for Sadie though. We wanted her to have a double-sewn one but she wears a 16" and the double-sewn start at 18". We'll need to shop around for just the right one for big sister:-)

Once finished with the collar decision we moved over to the shampoo department. We picked out a puppy shampoo (of course Baby Powder scent....how funny is that?!?) and a nice oatmeal shampoo (French Vanilla scent) for Sadie. Tonight is bath night and tomorrow morning is Gretchen's first vet visit. I'm sure there will some funny bath pics to post shortly!

Well off to some chores and hopefully some Etsy shop listings later today.

Sadie and her toy aisle.

Gretchen picking out her purple collar!

She seems to like these little snacks ALOT!

Finally ...I did a layout!

2008-08-22T05:10:00.000-07:00

I went to a stamping convention with my daughter last weekend and we enjoyed alot of vendor demos. At one booth there was a great Make and Take for $1. My daughter Heather made a beautiful card with this Black Magic paper. It's by Core'dinations and it's great! It comes in packages of 20 colors with either pastel or jewel tones. Of course I had to purchase this. You take sandpaper and rough up the "black" side of this 80 lb. canvas textured paper and the colored core shows through. I used just the basic tan for my layout below but I can see tons of uses for all these colors in the near future!

I was able to do this layout of our new German Shorthaired Pointer (GSP) puppy yesterday between playing and naps. Her "biting" stage is slowly stopping a day at a time so it is taking a large amount of time to train her. I decided that the training was a priority instead of the scrapping if I wanted a nice doggie. My supplies ARE calling my name but I think doggie manners are more important right now. Every day I am finding a bit more time to do some "crafty" things though.

On this layout of "Gretchen" I stamped the butterfly embellies onto white vellum with a white StazOn ink pad, cut them out and added some bling on the largest one. I also used lots of Basic Grey white rub-ons. For the swirl design by the flowers I used my clear stamp swirls v:1 by the awesome Rhonna Farrer. Of course there isn't a good white stamp pad ink to make a bright and clear image over such a dark paper so I did a light image and then hand painted the swirls with my white paint and a liner brush. It was fun to do!

The flowers are made by stamping my design on plain Grungeboard (by Tim Holtz) with a black StazOn inkpad, coloring them with some metallic pearl wax and cutting them out by hand. I curled the edges a tiny bit for dimension and the curl stayed! How cool :-) I really like how they came out so I will be adding them to my Etsy shop in the near future.

I added a few white accents with the Ranger white Inkessentials pen. Love this pen!!!!
Well I'm off for more GSP care.... LOL and hopefully I will be scrappin' more in the near future.

Eeyore

2008-08-14T05:01:00.000-07:00

I made this Eeyore for our grandaughter Jada. We've been having a blast on the phone by having her guess what her surprise package is! She keeps thinking it's a giraffe or dog. We keep giving her clues and she makes a new guess.....so far she hasn't guessed a donkey yet. Oh well, the game will be over this afternoon when she receives her large box with Eeyore in it. I'm sure she will have a wonderful time playing with this. She misses her Miss Purrdy alot so I made this to replace it. Miss Purrdy was a pretty girl cat that we bought her when we went to the "Build A Bear" store 2 years ago. She and her daddy named her "Miss Purrdy". She took it back to Hawaii with her and it was never seen again so now she will keep Eeyore at daddy's home so she always has him available to play with. She has been crying about Miss Purrdy many times while visiting this summer. I wanted to make her feel special and loved so I replaced her kitty with Eeyore. I think he'll be a big hit!

Front View

What a face!
Side View...he's a big guy!

Well now that the crocheting is done I will continue on with my gourd project. I am painting a scarecrow for the fall.

Aging

2008-08-06T06:38:00.001-07:00

I did this layout titled Time LINES a while back. I wanted to somehow archive the aging process of my husband and me. I wanted it to look complimentary and pretty as well. This is the design I came up with. I used the Heidi Swapp clock transparency and lined it with this pretty patterned paper. I felt the sepia tones created the right look for what I was trying to achive. I don't do too many two page layouts either.

Left side

Right side

A closeup of the "hands of time"

The journaling reads:

Tom & Darlene

Our 50's

The wrinkles and lines are beginning to form. Some of our wrinkles are from worry and stress over the years but mostly they are from smiling and laughing with our loved ones. It will be interesting to see our yearly changes. I plan on chroniciling our aging every 10 years. I bet scrapbooking will also revolutionize!!!

TFL!!!!

:-) Darlene

Please support Darlene's Breast Cancer 3-day Walk @ http://08.the3day.org/goto/DarlenePlotinski
Take a peek at our shop @ http://www.ggam.etsy.com/

Sunflowers

2008-07-31T05:28:00.000-07:00

I ran across this layout that I did last year while organizing my files on my PC. I had fun doing this one. The birds dropped tons of sunflower seeds at the back of my yard while feeding at the feeders. When they all came into bloom they looked like a group of little heads all popping up. I mentioned to my husband that they just need faces and they'd come to life. I had decided to do a layout about it and this is what I created....silly but so true LOL!

My Scrapbook Room

2008-07-24T07:16:00.000-07:00

Well things have finally settled down at home so I am able to concentrate on this messy room I call my "craft room"! All adult children and grandchildren are either moved or vacationing and happy as clams. We'll have our new puppy next weekend but that shouldn't interfere with my re-decorating mission for this scrapbook room.

I've decided to use my tiffany lamps as the main item of interest for color and texture. I want the feel of the room to be warm and rich. It has a beautiful east window exposure so the warm sunrise compliments these orange tones. I will be laying a new wood floor and complimenting the room with a dark molding. I have a beautiful walnut roll top desk that I will be putting in the room also so I want the trim the same color. I had been thinking about white for a nice contrast but the rest of the rooms in my home have white moldings. I want this room to feel like a little get-away spot. The wallpaper I chose has rich shades of browns with a gray brushed suede damask print. I will be only doing an accent wall with this wallpaper. My room isn't large enough for wallpapering throughout. It would be way too busy if I did all the walls.

My ideas for wall decor keep changing but I definately want to make it unique. I'm thinking about some shadow boxes or nice rich frames for some of my special layouts. I also want a few shelves so I can display my rubber stamps for the holidays and some mini albums. I think I will add a few wicker baskets for more texture and the closet will definately be organized. More updates to follow.

Enjoy your day!
Darlene

Tiffany Lamp (there are 2 of these)

I've decided on a warm burnt orange paint in a mat finish for the walls.

I love these accent candle votives. They have an irredescent mirror finish and coordinate with a large hurricane with the same finish. They are gorgeous in any light be it day or night.

BARK Mini-book

2008-07-22T08:08:00.000-07:00

I just love this little doggie book. I did it a while back when I decided to try an online class. I bought the kit and then added my own twist. It's about our Brittany Sadie. I had fun taking the pics for this and her coloring really compliments the parterned paper and ribbons. We will be getting another puppy in just two short weeks so I will need to make something similar for the pup. I would love to try a clear album so maybe this is the time to do so.

Thanks for taking a peek....
Darlene

We picked our Puppy this weekend

2008-07-21T05:02:00.001-07:00

We were scheduled to go to the breeders home @ 8:30 a.m. Saturday morning. It was an exciting trip for both me and my DH. I think I was like a little child finally getting to Christmas morning. I had this breed of dog as a child. Since I have no brothers or sisters it was like this German Shorthaired Pointer was a surrogate brother to me. We were pals for years. I have always wanted another one but they are very energetic so I waited until I could dedicate every minute of every day to training and care. We have a Brittany named Sadie so these two breeds will mesh together very well. My DH said it was my decision and he would support whatever pup I chose. I chose the little girl with the orange collar since she was sweet and cuddly like our Brittany. We named her Gretchen and will be able to pick our new little puppy up on August 2nd. They litter is 5 weeks old right now. There are 3 pups left from an 8 pup litter. The breeder said she has never had pups left but times are pretty tough for everyone financially now so she sure understands. If you would like to check out the breeders website the link is as follows: http://www.colonialfarmsgsp.com/.

My Breast Cancer 3-Day Layouts

2008-07-18T05:34:00.000-07:00

The first LO is about the committment I made to walk the 3-Day in September. My journaling is about focusing on that committment.

This second LO is about when I bought my first pair of shoes for this training. They were pretty expensive but my feet are worth it to avoid blisters. I have since bought the second pair of shoes required for this walk. Now I'm all set to go!

Please feel free to check out my progress at the link located on the right side of this blog. I need all the encouragement I can get...the training is very intense now. The weekends we all are training approximately 13 miles on Saturday and 9 on Sunday. Tuesdays and Thursdays are slightly less miles. These miles will continue to increase until the 3-Day walk.

Stamps, Stamps and MORE Stamps....

2008-07-17T05:52:00.001-07:00

Happy Thursday everyone!
As I previously mentioned....my stamp order arrived. I am beside myself looking at all these different manufacturers of clear stamps. I can't wait to get the creative juices flowing! Thank you JoAnn fabrics for your awesome 40% online discount offer. I couldn't have purchased all these wonderful stamps with flowers, letters, holidays and tags without a little savings offer. I'm looking forward to the one set that has a reverse stamp set included. You stamp one pattern and then reverse the stamp and stamp over with another color. Pretty cool concept!

Handmade Card

2008-07-16T07:47:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful surprise we were presented with last night when we went to say goodbye to our grandaughter Jada. She had taken the time to make this adorable Thank You card for us. She told us she had a great time at the zoo and wanted to give us this surprise. She explained that the inside had special things picked out just for each of us. I love all the bling she used. Just our style! Grandma's side is on the left and Grandpa's is on the right. She further explained that Grandpa was given the googily eyes because he is a "silly" guy! How cute is that?!?!? She is a very artistic little girl....looks like a future design team member LOL!

Another tidbit of info....I just received a shipment of clear stamps. I can't wait to open the box and see all the goodies. I'll share the fun new additions soon.

TFL and have a super day!

Fun @ the ZOO

2008-07-15T04:43:00.000-07:00

3 Generations

Grandpa and Jada

Our family had a blast at the Detroit Zoo yesterday. My DH and I went with our daughter and grandaughter and had a super time. We have alot of great pics to choose from for scrapbooking. I can't wait to start a layout or two. Our grandaughter travels tomorrow to stay with her daddy for the summer. He just moved to Missouri and has a beautiful new 3 bedroom townhouse. He's very excited to have his daughter with him and share his new home. They will work hard, along with Auntie Heather, to set up her room and make it home.

TFL
Darlene

Monochromatic LO

2008-06-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

This is a little flower I sell in my etsy shop. It's hand embossed and then hand chalked for a soft look. I just love them!

I've been participating in a member challenge on the website Scrapwords for quite some time now. I pick a new color every month for everyone to get their creativity flowing. June's color is pink so this is the layout that I did. I just posted the July color and I chose "clear". I have always wanted to do something with an acrylic album or something clear besides a ghost letter here or there so this should challenge me quite a bit.

Check out Scrapwords forum under Member Challenges and look at all the monthly colors. Everyone has awesome ideas for mono layouts! Great job everyone.

Have a super day!

A Fun Contest

2008-05-08T10:47:00.000-07:00

I just began a new fun contest on the Scrapperie site. It's called the Gauntlet. It should be alot of fun seeing who stays and who goes each week. I feel like it's the scrapbookers American IDOL! These ladies do awesome layouts so I don't think I will be in the running too long but it's great to see what the challenges are each week.

I am going to the Michigan Mega Meet with my daughter Friday. I can't wait. I loved going last year and she has never been. We can take in all to goodies and try to control our spending. Yeah right!!! I want it all LOL.

Thank You Notecard

2008-04-08T10:10:00.000-07:00

I just designed this notecard to use as a thank you card for anyone who has graciously donated to my Breast Cancer 3-Day personal page. I'm really happy with how it turned out. I have never painted with ink on paper before so I tried a touch on the leaves. I think it made the flower image pop out. I also used a glue dot to apply the clear acrylic flower over the stamped image to give it some dimension. I have really enjoyed making these clear flowers for my Etsy shop.

Thanks for taking a peek today. I am currently working on a peach monochromatic layout for http://www.scrapwords.com/. They have some great ideas on this site!

Darlene

Crazy Michigan Weather

2008-03-28T05:48:00.000-07:00

We have had another snow fall here last night. Luckily I've been doing most of my walking indoors on the treadmill. We got a few inches of the white fluff again and it makes it very hard to walk in the neighborhood....it's pretty slippery. I walked outdoors last Tuesday in very windy conditions and going up those hills, against the 35 mph. wind, was a killer!!! I figure it's important that I experience all weather conditions just in case September weather isn't going to be sunny and warm :-) I'm glad I'm doing all my stretches. If I don't stretch I think I would feel this training more than I am. I'm very out of shape. My leg muscles feel a bit tender but nothing to complain about! I have to say I feel much better moving around and doing something positive and important and I benefit also. Hopefully I will firm up and loose some weight too. That would be wonderful! LOL

Attended my first Meeting

2008-03-18T14:14:00.000-07:00

My daughter and I have decided to participate in Michigan's Breast Cancer 3-day. We went to our first Getting Started meeting this past weekend. It sure was a wonderful opportunity to meet get people who have been affected by this disease.

I have just begun my training program. I walk on my treadmill routinely and do my stretches as suggested. I still have a long way to go to be ready to walk 60 miles but I know I can do it. I want to do anything I can to help eliviate this disease for my grandchildren and future generations. I decided to do a scrapbook page. I titled it Focus on the Journey. I used stamping techniques and some of my own flowers that I have designed (ggam.etsy.com). The journaling reads: I have just committed to participate in the Breast Cancer 3-Day in Michigan on Sept. 26-28, 2008. I am slowly beginning my training so that I will achieve my goal to cross the finish line after 60 miles of walker. I'm taking it 1 step @ a time! What a wonderful feeling it is to be sharing this same goal with hundreds of dedicated women and men.

Thank you for looking and have a great week everyone!

A Winter Layout

2008-03-10T06:20:00.000-07:00

I went to a scrapbook weekend with my daughter Heather at the end of February and completed a few projects. This layout was done because my wonderful husband Tom surprised me with an Eddie Bauer down coat to keep me warm. I wasn't expecting such a great gift and he knew I was always cold. I freeze when we go upnorth to our cabin in the woods in Michigan. I am forever warm now that I have this coat. I also wanted to experiment with the new flocking colors that are available. I used white and also glitter on some of the chipboard elements on this page. I hope you like :-)

I just love mini books!

2008-02-26T06:54:00.000-08:00

I have so much fun making these mini books. What I like the most about them is that you can use up all your little paper scraps and embellishments along with any miscellaneous pictures and still keep a theme going. I came up with this idea because my husband Tom is such a silly guy and he always makes me laugh. Laughing makes me happy so I thought I would share a little happiness with you today. I hope you enjoy! TFL