September LOTM, Memories of You

This layout contains pictures. :-)
This layout was suppose to be pet themed. Not sure if it qualifies as there really isn't much "pet themed" on it. Still, I think it works. I also think that it works for heritage, family etc. The BG Vagabond papers are a more masculine inspired collection and even though Zephyr was a girl, I don't think she would have minded.
There is a little bit of stamping, a little stitching, a but of crackle paint, a few buttons and a some die cuts.
The group meets at 11am Thursday Sept. 12th. Bring you Basic Tools as well as your ink blending tool. I used Black Soot Distress Ink but Walnut Stain or Vintage Photo would work as well.

August LOTM - Celebrate

Taking photographs of a white layout has its challenges but I think you get the idea.I used papers from a summer My Mind's Eye collection, the name I can't think of at the moment.
I think this layout will work for a number of summer festivities and it would be easy to place 3-6 photos with journalling on it. The party owl is coloured using Spectrum Noir markers and I have used  a variety of stamps and dies, even my old Coluzzle! I still love this tool.

September's layout is waiting on paint to dry. Hopefully I will get those pictures up later today if I don't have issues with lighting I know, I know, If I had the layout done sooner, I could have taken pictures in the daylight.

Zephyr

This is my Zephyr. We adopted her in the summer of 1999 as a kitten hoping that she would be a good companion to our other cat Wasabi. Wasabi had other ideas. Unfortunately they never became buddies but agreed to live mostly agreeably together with us. We had 13 love filled years together.

Several months ago Zephyr was diagnosed with a kidney condition. She had lost a fair amount of weight but treatment seemed to be working and she gained some of it back. What we did not know is that she actually had cancer. This week she became very ill and could keep no food down. A trip to the vets and some tests and x-rays revealed she had a large tumor. Needless to say John and I were devastated as further treatment would not likely have a positive result. John and I decided to bring her home to spend one last day with us. Yesterday we took her back to the vets and said goodbye.
Zephyr will be missed enormously. John and I loved her big time and I am pretty sure she loved us too.

Oh Canada, July LOTM

Sometimes my ideas just require cardstock. I had this very graphic concept for this months class that required crisp clean lines. The inspiration was taken from a t-shirt I purchased from Michael's for Canada Day (with coupon of course). I loved the impact of the red and white on black and ran with it. Of course, since it was for Canada Day, I had this crazy song from 1967 running through my head and it would not leave me alone so I used it too. That is why students will have lots to die cut this time around. LOL

Ladies bring your Xyron and your booger squares and your ruler, we have lots to cut out. I will bring both of my BigShots so that should help move things along.

As you can see, there is a wee bit of stamping and I used the Distress markers to colour my beaver a bit.

I will also have a mini album for everyone to work on if they are waiting their turn for the alphas and die cutter. Hopefully I will get pics of that up later today.

Bring your basic tools, adhesive including foam pop ups and a the above mentioned items.
Class is at 7PM Wednesday July 11th.at Margaret's house.
$25 for both projects.

One last thing, I have been meaning to post pics of my neat and tidy craft room but I just have not gotten to it yet. I have taken a picture of my cat Zephyr in what she thinks is her cart. At least now she can be close to me while I am crafting without her being on top of my work.

Mission Accomplished!

I stuck to my guns and got her done. It feels good to finally see the floor and the tables and to greatly reduce the clutter factor in my scraproom. I promise to take pictures and post them. Yes, I still have too much stuff but I am going to work may way through it. I may even find more stuff to purge. My intent is not to buy new stuff until I have used up a good portion of what I have. Having said that I have created my wish list for new Sizzix dies but they don't ship until September and I am going to have this amazing burst of creative energy and create a ton of stuff between now and then. I think with my new whole food plant based diet I am going to find a ton of energy because I will have slept more and will not be dragged down by all that crap food I have been eating.  So far I have cut out beef and pork, reduced my chicken by half, cut out most dairy and have eaten more vegetarian meals. John is on board too so that makes it easier. I think by the end of ths week I will have cut out the chicken and fish too. I will let you know how it goes.

OK, time to create.  See you back here tomorrow with that Canada Day layout.

What are you doing this Holiday weekend?

Do you have one of those chores that seems to never have an end in site? For me it has been my scraproom. I don't know why but the more I work on it the less I seem to have accomplished. The problem is I have too much stuff. There it is, I have said it. I have too much stuff. My husband John came to this conclusion long before I did but has been surprisingly quiet and patient about it. To be honest, my stash extends outside of my craft room. Yes Joyce I hear you, in reality it is in every room of the house. LOL I would take pictures but it is too embarrassing.
This week I finally made head way. I edited tons of stuff that I will be putting up for sale soon. I have found homes for what I want to keep and I have almost found my table tops and my floor. Today I hope that the final push will get me a clean and uncluttered room. I may need to do a wee bit more editing and I still need to find and hang a couple of these little shelf storage things (I know they are in the room somewhere, I must have another black hole as I have been searching for them all week). The goal is to be able to find everything I want to use quickly and easily and create something DAILY.  I need to do this to make a dent in the stash and to, let's face it, justify the time and energy I have put into accumulating it and storing it. Never mind the expenditure. My goal is to refrain from shopping as much as possible. I know that is not good for the economy in the short term but eventually with some of the money I save, I can do a little home repair or buy that new sofa. I just don't need more magazines, adult impulse items from that nasty old M's, more paper (unless it is Halloween as I only have enough for this lifetime), and I definitely don't need more buttons or flowers. Maybe when all the clutter is cleared I will challenge myself to use some of those buttons and flowers on a project and see just how many I can use. Feel like playing along? Pick a couple of overstocked items in your stash and find a project where you can use them up.

Now what am I doing this weekend? Sunday Joyce is coming over. Mostly to play but I think partly to inspect my work. She has been pushing me all week to get it done. I want to surprise her by actually having it done so we can easily get to creating, watching movies (I want her to watch the Forks Over Knives DVD) and eat some vegan concoction I have yet to decide on. My goal is to get my Canada Day layout finished and up on the blog by end of day Monday.

Wow, that was a big long rant. OK, time to stop procrastinating. I can hear the clanking of dishes which means John is working and I am sitting in front of the computer rattling on.
Hope everyone has a great Canada Day weekend.

June's Layout of the month...

Vacation Destination. Whether the beach for you is someplace tropical or a walk along Toronto's boardwalk, this layout will work for you. I designed it to host 3 - 4x6 photos and 1 4x4. I had little white "photos" on the layout but they bothered me so I took them off. Interfered with my page elements. :-)

The layout itself is very simple but all the elements may be a bit fussy but not complicated. It is mostly stamping, some of which gets cut out. Nothing is difficult and for those new to the group, don't freak out. We will get you through it.

One of the best things about this layout for me is that I got to use stamps that I have not used for many years along with some new ones and some faves.
Students are asked to bring their basic tool kit including adhesives and foam pop dots.
All other stamps, dies, inks etc will be provided.
Those interested are asked to confirm you spot with me if you have not done so already.
Class is Wednesday June 6th at 10AM at Margaret's house. Cost is $25