The New Year is Fast Approaching!!!

I have been very busy with work, and the Holidays!!! We celebrated A Beautiful White Christmas at Home with our Family. It doesn't get much better than that!!

I have a quick share!!! A Cute little Owl Calendar that is FREE to Print for 2011!!! I couldn't resist making a desk version! The drawings are so cute, and you can choose the one you want for each month before printing out!! There are also two sizes of the Calendar to choose from!!! Here is a quick link to the website.....

http://www.myowlbarn.com/p/owl-lover-2011-calendar.html

2011 is only a couple days away, but there is still time to put this little Calendar together in an hour or so!!! I used my bind it all and covered recycled chip board for the covers, I also used an edge punch for the inside covers. The outside is plain.  Here is my finished little Calendar.....

I finished a Journal for my Husband last night. We are both going to journal our year this year. My husbands' is made from an inexpensive compostion notebook. The covers are scrapped inside and out, I added some ink to the paper edges to give it a slight grunged effect. It is pretty simple. The front cover has gaffer tape to the left near the spine, some strips cut from Recollections paper (flowers at the top, and the dice, also the State of Mind license plate, and the numeral strip. The license plate and the two small dice are on raised chipboard, as is the closure. The photo doesn't give it much depth. The closure was made with circles mounted on chipboard and attached with a brad. The butchers twine was inked and tied once around the brad on the back, it is just looped around the front cover to close. Simple to do and adds a little vintage feel to it. I blurred out the dedication on the inside cover for privacy...I left the back cover pretty plain...I for one like the black stripes and think they add to the masculine and vintage feel I was going for.

I will be designing my Journal in the next few days, I have collected lots of stuff to add to it, and have already made some of the signatures to sew into it!!! It will be more of a Junque Journal or Remains of the Day Journal.....right up my Pack Rat Alley!!!

Patti

A Place for Everything and Everything in Its' Place....

Well, that is the plan anyway!! I purchased these shelves to organize my scrapbook papers. There are two exactly like this photo. They came out of a Scrapbook Paper store.

I am hoping to get everything in view so that I know what I have to use. There is room for 120 different papers. Some I will organize by pattern by paper company, then probably colors or theme. I haven't gotten that far yet.
I have to first clean and sort to make room for the shelves. I have two workrooms, but cannot get in either one to actually work. They just house all my stuff.
Wish me luck and if I manage to accomplish this task, I will share before and after photos...

Halloween Tag!!

I created this Halloween Tag for the Simon Says Stamp Challenge Blog hop this week. It is the first blog hop I have participated in and it was so much fun!! If you haven't seen it, there is still time to check it out and participate, it is open until September 15th!!

I created my collage tag from my stash hoard...The orange tag is made from a double sided paper by Deja Views. The black and white graphic paper is by DCWV. Of course all the edges were distressed using Tim Holtz distress inks in Brushed Corduroy and Black Soot. Background of the cage is the backside of the Deja View paper, distressed with Tim Holtz Tea Dye. Edgar and the Crows are collaged along with the top floral paper and the body, mind & soul sentiment. The bird cage is of course the Tim Holtz Alterations die from Sizzix. Happy Halloween embellishment was stained with Adirondack butterscotch alcohol ink. The chain, lock and key charms are from the Explorer line by Traditions. They were attached through the eyelet and then glued down with glossy accents. Edgar's eyes are creepy green glass beads to give him his hypnotising glare. I added a small circle at the top in black used my crop-a -dile and inserted some sheer black ribbon for the tie...Hope you Enjoy!!

Notes From the Voodoo Cafe: I Want to be Your Flying Pig!

If you aren't familiar with Rice (Rhymes with Lisa) you should visit her blog, she is a free spirit who isn't afraid to speak her mind!

Just click this link to go there.......
Notes From the Voodoo Cafe: I Want to be Your Flying Pig!


This post struck a particular chord with me...especially at this time in my life. It is all about letting go of stereotypes, stepford wives clubs, the Martha Stewart Syndrome and being who you are. Not stifling the creative you and not worrying about what others think....living your life to its fullest!!

Sometimes we let others dictate what is expected of us.  We follow like sheep stifling our own inner calling. Women are so programmed from birth to be the ones to...tend to everyone elses needs and ignore their own. We all need to realize we are deserving of living our life to its fullest and listening to that inner voice. I have listened to mine all my life, I am very lucky to be married to someone who accepts me for who I am. I have comformed in some ways to what society "expects", but when I am in my home, I am truly me...and I am free to be me.

I have always lived the philosophy that you can do anything you set your mind to. That is how I was raised and that is how I raised my kids. That philosophy has afforded me many great experiences that otherwise would have never come to light. If you truly believe it, if you know it in your heart, if you eat it, breathe it, sleep it....It will happen for you. You must want something bad enough, put it out there in the universe, and be diligent about it...let it be your daily mantra...all things are possible unto You...

If you'd care to discuss it further, just clear a spot at the kitchen table and I'll pour you a glass of tea.

No excuses just keepin' it real!!

Beautiful Day!!

Oh, what a Great Day this has been!! My husband and I played hookie from work and had an adventure. We went to a neighboring town for a Wonderful Chinese Dinner and then hit a couple of shops. It was so much fun!! He emailed me at work and said he was game if I was. He didn't have to ask me twice!!  Our work has been very slow lately, so it was easy to take the Afternoon Off!! We had such a great day, we laughed, talked and laughed some more!! It is so nice to be able to share your life with someone who is so easy to talk to and have a great time with!! I am so lucky to have him for my partner in Life!! He is truly my other half!!

I am seeing signs of Fall everywhere, the birds are flocking, the crops are drying and there are even hints of falling leaves. I am hoping for a repeat of last years colorful display. It lasted for several weeks, and is just something I never get tired of seeing!! Especially with a crisp blue sky for the background!! Nature doesn't get any more beautiful than that!!

This is a photo taken by my Husband last Fall.

He sent it to me at work!!!

I told you I was Lucky!!

Tag Swap and Picnik

OOOOOHHH!! I got my Tags from my first tag swap. They are soooo awesome!! I created a page in my Junque Journal using 2 of them. The reason for no post yesterday!! I was busy creating pages for the journal. It was time well spent!! I had a great time playing. I will share some pages soon.

Glad the weekend is finally here! I plan to scrap all day tomorrow, and stay in the air conditioning. Definitely too hot to think about doing much outdoors.

I found a new (to Me) online picture site  http://www.picnik.com/.  It is an awesome place to play!! There are so many tools to use for editing and adding to your photos, all for free!! I will be going there often I am sure. Try it out, like I said it is free. You can upload photos from your computer or from online storage sites. Give it a try...

I made this and am thinking of tweaking it for my blog banner.

No Time For Crafting..

I have had no time for crafting the last few days. So there are no new pages of my Junque Journal. I have however managed to save a few items that I find interesting to incorporate into it!! Today I got a cookie sack from the Subway, because I had lunch there. I also snagged a couple of really cool stamps from the mail at work. One is Seabiscuit, and the other is Kathryn Hepburn in (black and white), a really awesome stamp!! I can't wait to do something with them!! I have the Tim Holtz film strip stamp and will probably incorporate it somehow with the Kathryn Hepburn stamp!! I don't know about the horse stamp yet, but something will come to me I am sure!!
I received my new Pink ATG Gun in the mail today along with extra adhesive rolls. I had pre ordered it from Custom Crops online. I have read mixed reviews about the pink gun, and am hoping it turns out to be a good one. Part of the proceeds from the sale go to the Susan G. Komen foundation, I think that is a good thing.  I also got a set of Alphabet stamps from Hero Arts that I purchased on Ebay. They are pretty nice. They are semi aged I would say, they have purposely missing parts in the letters. I think I will like them a lot for my journaling. Can't wait to use them!! When time permits....HMMMMMM wonder if I would be missed at work tomorrow??????????????

Anticipation

I am waiting for my first tag swap package to arrive! I participated in the August Tag Swap
at withagrin.blogspot.com. The tags are amazing, Stephanie posted a YouTube video on her blog of all the participants tags!! I can't wait!!!

I have been working on a " Junque Journal or Remains Of The Day Journal" as some call it. I have created several pages out of recycled envelopes, everyday scraps and ephemera I have saved. I am really liking it so far!

I posted my first You Tube video this week!! The video is a show and tell of a book I made for my Grandaughter. I was a little nervous, but for a first video I won't beat myself up too much! My YouTube channel is kipperdsnacks.