layouts

Here are a few layouts using my October and November Cocoa Daisy kits. Had fun with them. Only used a few other accents I already had in my stash...I'm enjoying getting these kits because it is simplifying things for me and allowing me to just create.

Balcony Garden: mostly the Nov kit. The tag and clip with the birds is from Making Memories Vintage Findings. The journaling rubon I've had in my stash forever and finally found a layout to use it on. I love the pearl brads and the pretty ribbon in the kit for Nov.

A Night Out: Used some pieces from the Sept kit on this layout as well. Kept it kind of simple cause I had so many pictures I wanted to use. Hand lettered "RENT" because I didn't have the right alphas to use.


OCS: above are page 1 and 2 of a two-page layout I did. I had purchased the paper awhile ago knowing I wanted to use it for these photos. I only used some ribbon and a postcard stamp from the kits on these layouts. Alphas, words and the postcard chipboard were from my stash.

Summer Sweater: This is my favorite layout I did. It was also the first I did. I tried to challenge my use of color. I have always loved bright blue and red. Used the October kit. The fashion motifs were perfect! Used some accents from other kits.

Free Spirit: This was the last layout I did. Very simple. I only used paper from the kit and the "Free Spirit" rubon is one I've had forever and wanted the perfect place to use it and this worked.

Off to enjoy the day. It's been a busy week and weekend so I just want to lay low and relax today...

Happy Sunday!

great days

summer girl's night at my place

Yesterday was a great day! Started off with a few hours at the beach. Only bummer was that there have been so few beach days I'm still getting roasted on any little spot I miss with sunblock! That's fair Irishness for you.

In the afternoon I got a surprise phone call from Cary. He's doing good and it was so nice to have a longer phone call from him. Then last night I hosted Girl's Night last night. A monthly get-together with my high school girlfriends. It was so fun! I love doing stuff like that and hadn't been able to since my last hosting because of the apartment issues we had. I love cooking and home stuff and having people over and never do. BBQ pulled pork sandwhiches, baked "fried" chicken, potato salad, Greek pasta salad and homemade blueberry pie. It was great!

This morning I sat by the pool for awhile and talked to a few friends and Cary's dad. I never talk on the phone that much but it was nice to feel connected. Tonight I plan on going to my knitting circle and getting some help with my shawl that has a mistake in it. Then my brother is coming over for dinner and DVD watching.

Tomorrow is my last official day of vacation and it has been a nice relaxed one. I hope that I can hold onto some of this positive energy as I start off my work week. So often I get caught up in the stressfull nature of my work and I don't like what it has done to me. I want to hold on to what is important and get rid of the rest of the "baggage."

Happy Sunday!

1st layout in 5 months

Materials: Cosmo Cricket patterned paper, DCWV cardstock & patterned papers from thier stacks, Fancy Pants chipboard shapes, Creative Cafe journaling tag, Collage Press journal card (cut to fit the circle and bracket chipboard shapes), Heidi Swapp chipboard alphas, Carolee's Creations dimensional "laugh" flower sticker, Colorbox Chalk in Dark Peony, Fuschia Sharpie, Black pen, Rhinestones, unknown source black rub-on letters.

Here it is! I don't love it, but I do love that I got to make it! I used a lot of my new goodies and some old favorites like rhinestones. Last night was actually another Girl's Night. We had our fundraiser. I forgot how fun glazing pottery can be! When I was in high school I took a clay class and my first job as an Art Therapist I worked in a studio that focused on clay. I love the sculpture aspect. But glazing a peice and working on a design is so fun. I have decided it. My dream business.

Handmade by You: it will be a place where people can come and glaze a peice of pottery and make a handmade card to go with it. Make your own gift if you will.

-or-

Creativity Studio: a place for all ages where they can come and create. Cards, collage, canvases, glazed pottery...keep it simple. Girl's Nights Out, Birthday Party. It could be a studio based art therapy program crossed with a Paint-Your-Own Pottery feel. Similar to my other idea - just expand on the materials while still keeping it simple. Maybe have little designated areas for 4-5 types of creations. Canvas, pottery glazing (Instead of the clay sculpture part I would just do the glazing aspect), cardmaking, and maybe a fourth...hmmm....

Well...back to my real world...

Today I am going to spend some time in the morning trying to get the 2nd sleeve started of the baby sweater. I now have a deadline. May 30th is the shower. Uh Oh! I still need to block it and piece it together and knit the edging and sew on buttons. All of which I have never done. And I am going to Maine with Cary next weekend to visit his friends/family and will probably have no time for knitting!

So tonight at my LYS's knitting circle I will be doing more knitting -less talking :)

Happy Sunday!

saturday

Wingaersheek Beach, Gloucester, MA - April 2009

This has been an up & down week. I have been so busy with pre-graduation/end-of-the-semester stuff. Haven't been home many nights this week. Cary got bad news this week that we are trying to figure out. He is being laid-off as of next week. Fortunately he has some good pay coming this summer while he is at OCS for National Guard but that also makes it hard to be looking for a job. I hope something works out for him. He works so hard.

As for other news...I spend the day with friends for a yard sale to benefit the Relay-for-Life here in town. It was a good day outside. Got some knitting done on a baby sweater for a co-worker. After I had lunch after with friends...a good ole' Gloucester Haddock sandwich...hmmm. After I went shopping because I needed to find something inexpensive to wear to the college graduation and my sister's upcoming graduation. Found a few things and splurged on two pairs of shoes. I feel guilty about those. But they are very cute and really weren't that expensive. Picked up a few groceries at Trader Joe's and now I'm relaxing and taking a break.

Exhausted.

Happy Saturday!

simplicity and ivory soap

I've always associated memories with scents. Yesterday I was brought back to Sunday night baths as a kid after getting all dirty playing outside in the yard. The scent of Ivory soap. What a flashback. I loved it. Reminded me of making mudpies, playing in the woods in the yard, riding bikes, boat rides, laying in the grass, climbing the pine tree in the front yard, or the apple tree. Simpler times. The label on the soap even read...

"Simplicity is the essence of happiness."

Upon looking closer I found that each bar of soap in the pack has a different "simple" statement.

The next bar reads...

"The road to a friend's house is never long, and the directions are simple."

How nice! A wonderful reminder of my "one little word" this year...

SIMPLICITY.

stop. slow down. be present.

An empty beach

Today was such a busy, rushed day. I rushed through a busy day at work. Rushed to get home and cook a quick supper before Cary went off to work. Rushed.

I needed to stop. Breathe. I told myself I would do that today.

So after he left I took a walk down the boulevard. It was so cold with the wind off the water. Refreshing though. I sat on a quiet rock for few minutes. Then exercised with the rest of my walk. Saw people walking their dogs. A Husky playing catch along the water edge. Saw boats coming in. The tide washing in on the rocks. People walking after thier days. Cars going by. The sun getting lower. The wind getting colder.

It helped me to slow down even by walking quickly in the wind.

Noticing things around me. Feeling present. Prioritizing what is important. Wishing I hadn't rushed through cooking supper and didn't really just enjoy the little time I had to spend with Cary. Wishing I had not been so frantic to get "things done."

I will do better tomorrow...

Easter

tulips on my kitchen table

Sending everyone wishes for a Happy Easter. Spent some nice time with Cary and my family today. After Cary went off to work and my Dad was driving my brother back to college - I spent time with my mom and sister and watched Slumdog Millionare. Makes you feel grateful for what you have watching that movie.

Thinking of what is important.

I'm feeling nostalgic today.

Memories of childhood, Easter dresses, playing outside, first warm days of Spring. I think I have been feeling so crummy about situations lately and trying desparately to feel grateful...then guilty when the junk consumes me.

But today I feel grateful.

Grateful for the nice childhood I had and the place I can still go back to. Home. Here's my random memories of this time of year as a kid...

• Easter dresses and white patent leather shoes...that most importantly had to make noise when I walked...a nice grown-up clicking sound on the wood floor.
• Making mudpies for dad in my playhouse...pine-needles, water from the brook and sawdust from Dad's work made the best recipes.
• Walks to the mill.
• Marathon Monday at Aunt Esta's House on Windemere Road. Every year. Every year of Mom's childhood too. Patriot's Day just isnt' the same without that long ride to Newton to watch the runners and see the Aunts.
• Raking leaves.
• One day I remember it wasn't warm enough yet. Mom and Dad were raking leaves outside and I found the shopping bag with some new Spring/Summer clothes for me and I put them on and went outside. I wasn't supposed too...and it really wasn't warm enough. But they were so pretty and new! I'm still like that...
• Bike rides with Rachel (my cousin and childhood best friend), playing in the brook, running around the house, picking daisies.
• Lilacs.
• Taking a long bike ride with Rachel from Grammy's to the local farmstand to buy a plant...rode all the way back and planted our single Impatient in the shade garden near Grammy's window. Our attempt at competing with Grandfather's amazing garden!

Wow. Time flies. What are your favorite childhood memories of this time of year?

Happy Easter and Happy Sunday!

simplicity

Got myself this necklace at a store near my work this week. A treat. "Simplify" was my "one little word" for 2009. Plus the idea of the dandelion fluff...making wishes...letting them go...important messages for me/us to hold on to.

Looking forward to some fun and relaxation today. This has been a very up-down, stressful work week. Fortunately I have today, "Good Friday" off. And we are celebrating Cary's birthday since he had to work on his real birthday and birthday weekend last week. Probably going to lunch and a movie.

Also hoping we can stop at Trader Joe's. I really want an Easter Lily and some tulips. Really want to brighten up the apartment. I am cautiously optimistic that we are nearing the end of our apartment nightmare. Still living with the bags but I will decorate around them!

I've also gotten a lot done on my first knitted sweater! It is going faster than I thought it would. Having such fun with it. Spent some time at my LYS Tuesday for a "free knit night" and actually got a lot done on it. I am loving going to those knit nights. Fun, laughing, learning from some talented knitters. It is an hour and a half of escape for me. I love it.

Well...later I'll try and post a picture of the gigantic Easter basket Cary put together for my family. So thoughtful! It was all his idea and he bought the stuff and put it together while I was at work yesterday. Loads of coffee, candy, teas, crackers, ...stuff for each person in my family. He was like a little kid all proud of his work!

Well...off to check out some of my favorite blogs.

Happy Friday!

thinking optimistically spring

1. focus on the earliest signs of spring, 2. Signs of Spring, 3. Signs of Spring!, 4. 春の予感／sign of spring, 5. Dainty Tea Cups, 6. Tulips in Vase, 7. Hello Batman, Robin Calling!, 8. Clover, 9. Easter Cupcakes

The sun coming in the window is making me think Spring today.

I had a wonderful day yesterday. Tried to leave the "junk" behind me and just enjoy the day. Today I'm feeling more cautiously optimistic. I think the extermination issue might be greatly improved. I hesitate to say it's "behind me" though. It is a little difficult to determine when it is definately gone. The exterminator comes for a follow up treatment this wednesday. We still have all our stuff bagged....

Therefore...I still haven't done any scrapping or cardmaking. Boo!

I have been knitting though! A lot. It's easy to just pull out the one project and work. Easier than digging through bags of scrapbook stuff that is hard to find. I can't wait to have it all settled into my desk again.

Today or tomorrow I might go to Best Buy and check out the camera I'm eyeing. I am hesitating to buy it yet. It's a lot of money. Plus I want to try my old camera with my sister's USB cord and see if that is the issue. But....I really love the new camera I'm eyeing....

Well...off to do a little knitting. Will spend some time with Cary before he goes off to work. Then I'm visiting my parent's, getting a few things at the grocery store and going to a knitting group at my LYS for a bit.

Happy Sunday!

magnet

untitled: another painting/collage I worked on this a.m. It's a work in progress.

Today is my Dad's birthday! We will be taking him out for dinner at the Cheescake Factory tonight. Yeah!

Today is also my last day of vacation. Sort of. Still have a another week until school starts. But it's back to my regular job tomorrow.

And...I guiltily slept in today. Much later than usual. 9:30am. I was awoken by my cell phone ringing.

Didn't recognize the number.

I am a magnet. Or more specifically...my car is a magnet.

For anyone who has been reading my blog for the past few months, in November my car was hit and -$4000, two weeks and the most aggrivating experiences with two insurace companies later- it was finally fixed.

Fast forward to today at 9:30 am.

It snowed saturday night. I carefully backed into a parking space that afternoon to wait out the snow. I didn't leave the apartment yesterday but could see my car from the window. This a.m. the Apartment Leasing Office informed me that Sunday afternoon the plow driver clipped my driver side mirror.

So I rushed to shower, dry my hair and check out the damage.

My mirror is pulvarized. Peices of black plastic all over.

I filled out an incident report in the office. The plow co. wants to pay for the damage and the leasing office is coordinating this effort. I called Honda and they ordered the part and can fix it since it doesn't involve body work. $220 plus $37 for a rental on Wednesday so I can get to work while they work on the car. Good Lord!

I am working on simplifying. Not worrying about the unimportant. At this point I just have to laugh! Of ALL the cars in this apartment complex he hits my little unassuming car. This is the 3rd time in almost 5 years it's been hit. Twice while parked and once by the guy who "didn't see" me pulling a u-turn.

And it only has 2 more payments on it. It will be a completely new car at this rate!

Anyhow...to switch gears....here are a few cards I made last night. I stumbled across Kristina Werner's blog and was inspired by some of her cardmaking videos. My cards are loosely based on some of her ideas...

This one is layers of patterned paper (the bird was on a peice of patterned paper) distressed and attached to thecard. Stamped "Hello Friend" and embossed (Hero Arts) then I tied on the ribbon. The card is a deckle-edged card.

This one I used my Memory Box tree stamp and went over it with two different tiny heart stamps in red and pink ink. Inked the edges and layered it on pink paper. Layered ribbon and bright pink striped patterned paper. Stamped "Love always" (Hero Arts) in red ink.

This one I layered some two sided patterned paper I've had in my scrap box literally for years. Also added some embossed paper that's been in my stash for years. Stamped the little coffee cup and embossed. Used my circle punch to cut it out. Stamped "Just saying hello" (Hero Arts) on purple patterned paper. Attached the greeting and coffee cup circle with pop dots. Tied a peice of ribbon on.

Also..I can't wait to see what is coming from Week #2 of Emily Falconbridge's project
52 Q.

Happy Monday.