Thanksgiving whirlwind

We headed south to Louisiana this Thanksgiving.  It was such a whirlwind trip.  We left Tuesday morning for the long, long 13 hour drive and arrived late that night.

Wednesday was spent helping my mother-in-law, who just moved, do some unpacking, decorating and shopping for her new house.  We finished the evening with a quick visit to my mom's house and then crashed at my brother-in-law's house.  (I could keep this up and you'd quickly realize that we never stayed in one place more than several hours. In hindsight, it was way too crazy.  I feel like we got to see everyone, but spent very little quality time with anyone.)

Thursday before lunch, several of us went through loads of stuff in my mother-in-law's garage to decide what to keep and what to donate.

And around 11 am I realized I had mashed potatoes, macaroni and cheese and green bean casserole to prepare, all before 1:30! Yikes! With a few extra hands shredding cheese and peeling potatoes, I got it done.

Emily's place cards looked beautiful on the table the grandchildren set for us.

 

G.G with the children at their table.

It was a beautiful, especially delicious spread and a testament to collaborative efforts!

Next on the agenda, was a family photo.  All of the children and grandchildren hadn't been together in quite a few years, so a group family photo was in order.  I also took several photos of the grandchildren with G.G. Then each family individually. This obviously too a while. ;)  The out-takes are pretty funny, but here's the best.

Then it was off to my mother's to visit with my grandparents and cousins, whom I hadn't seen in a few years.

We finished off Thursday night at McDonald's.  Strange, I know, but it was the only place open late on Thanksgiving to meet up with one of my best friends and her family.  She was not too far down the road visiting family near Baton Rouge, and so were we.  Gosh we miss them!!
Here are the boys!

And the girls, with proof we actually spent an hour at McDonald's on Thanksgiving evening. lol

It was a very full and very blessed day.  I am so thankful for my family and friends.

I'll share the rest of the weekend tomorrow!

Christmas flowers

Today, I'm sharing another layout featuring the new Christmas Sleigh and Joyful Peace Collections. They truly are such great holiday papers.  My Christmas albums are always in need of some new and exciting papers to keep them looking fresh and fun.

As different as the collections seem, they actually compliment each other well. Here's the layout I created using both.

A few simple techniques really give this layout some fabulous dimension.  First, I used a decorative edge punch and then accordion folded the stripe paper.  This created a nice horizontal element to the circle die cut paper, from the Christmas Sleigh Collection.

To adhere the accordion piece, I used Zip Dry liquid glue on the seams that rested on the background paper.  The circle border that is on top was cut from a paper in the Joyful Peace Collection.

My "poinsettias" are flowers I die cut from the foil paper, also from Joyful Peace. I used a very thin dowel to wrap the flower petals inward, working my way around the flower.

The weight of the foil paper makes it hold it's shape very well. Layer the flowers with pop dots and you have a great dimensional flower.

A few other things to note, the glittered toppers for the trees (cut from one of the Christmas Sleigh papers) and the center of the flowers were all the extra little bits that come with most chipboard letters.  The chipboard piece behind the "wonder" sticker is also a chipboard letter, an "O".

Supplies: Patterned papers: GCD Studios (Christmas Sleigh and Joyful Peace); Stickers Letters: Studio Calico and American Crafts, Thickers
Bling frame: Making Memories ; Glittered chipboard: Pink Paisley (pieces from an alphabet set) ; Punch: EK Success ; Stamp: Studio Calico and Autumn Leaves ; Sticker: 7Gypsies ;  Ticket: Vintage from Studio Calico ; Die Cut: Making Memories Slice

Hope your holidays are wonderful and filled with many precious memories!
Leslie

A gift of jewelry is always wonderful

The design team's theme assignment this month was to create something we would give as a gift.  Having made several pieces of jewelry now for my projects, I knew I wanted to make another necklace.  Can you tell I love to wear and make jewelry?

I wanted to create something in the gray/silver family this time around since it is everywhere in fashion this winter and here's what I created.

Now for the step by step process.  I started by spraying my chipboard pieces with Silver Plated Metallic Mist from Maya Mists.

With the pieces still wet from the mist, I stamped my flower pattern with the GCD Studios Vintage Flower Chipboard Stamp. 

I then inked the edges and lightly inked the top to bring out the detail.  I followed this step with VersaMark Ink and heated Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel to coat the top.  (I've used Liquid Glass in the past and that is much less messy.)

I adhered black rhinestones and punched the chipboard with a Crop-a-dile. I used jump rings to attach the chipboard flowers to the other beads I picked out and beaded it all together.  The necklace can either be worn long or draped around the neck twice.

To wrap my gift, I found a nice brown box in my craft closet, added a paper ribbon using the Joyful Peace Collection and a large chipboard flower as a topper.

I finished it off with a simple paper bow.  I cut 7 strips of paper, about 6 inches long and looped them in half and glued the loop closed.  I punched each in the center with a hole punch and gathered them together with a brad.

Supplies: Patterned Paper: Joyful Peace Collection, GCD Studios.  Chipboard Shape: GCD Studios-large flowers, Brad: GCD Studios Melody Ross Artsy Urban Collection, Stamp: Studio Calico, Punch: EK Success, Paint: Folk Art

I think this is a nice gift don't you?  Now which lucky family member will find this under the Christmas Tree?
Leslie

Finally, layouts to share

Remember that beautifully clean slate I showed last week? It didn't last very long.  And that is a very good thing because it means I did some creating!

I started simple. A two pager with photos from our trip to Chicago a few Thanksgivings ago.

 

 Here are close ups of the two pages.

I also went to a crop at my church last Friday night and assembled 3 pages.  I've only been able to put the finishing touches on this one so far.

I didn't have time to print photos before the crop so looked for photos from back-log of ones I already had printed. Combine those photos with a few Studio Calico kits I haven't used yet and I was ready for the crop.  I hope to wrap up the other two pages this weekend.

Start with a Clean Slate

I've actually had some time to scrapbook yesterday! Shocking I know!  I was very, very happy when earlier in the week I was finally able to really clean my table. No piles, no paper, no scraps, no more glue or glitter, just a perfectly blank canvas, so completely inspiring.

Needless to say, it's not in this state now, but it was definitely a photo worthy moment!

The blue dog? A Crafting Tale.

Remember this witch jack-o-lantern we made for Halloween?

To make the witch hair, I sprayed blue Maya Mist on some yellow yarn we had in the craft closet.  I took the yarn outside, laying it on some newspaper, I sprayed all sides with the mist. Happy with how it looked I went back in the house.  I had totally forgotten that Tucker was outside and how windy it was.

Not long after I had walked away the "hair" started rolling around the yard. Obviously that was too much for Tucker to ignore so he scooped it up and ran off with it.  The freshly sprayed mist was not dry yet and we had a blue dog!!

(Doesn't he look guilty?)

It was too cold outside to hose him off, so we had to resort to the old dunk the feet and head technique.  In keeping with the season, we said he was learning to bob for apples (without apples) while we dunked his head in the soapy water. LOL

Crazy, Crazy dog!

Emily has been home from school sick with a stomach bug.  She's on the mend today, so she's been in my studio crafting. She's working on Thanksgiving place cards inspired by the ones from Paper Source catalog.

She decided to make the pumpkins for the kids and wheat bundles for the adults. I'm just glad we'll be able to use the Martha Stewart Fringe scissors I bought recently. ;)

timing is everything

Last week I squeezed out 30 minutes from our hectic schedules to get some fall portraits of Miles and Emily.  So glad I did.  If I would have waited, or let them talk me out of it, I'd be taking photos with nearly bare trees and in almost freezing temperatures.  (Has the temperature dropped where you are?)

I started with Emily.  We drove around the corner to my favorite and kind of secret spot in the neighborhood with some great fall color.  The only problem, they've now built a house in front of the spot. So technically this spot will be someone's back yard, definitely a bummer.  It hasn't sold yet, so I figure it's still fair game, right?

I think these are the first portraits in a long time, like several years, where she's given me a smile with teeth.  I've gotten loads of nice photos of her smiling with a sweet, little grin.  So very proud of her for giving me a (more real) smile without any prodding.

(I am holding back the very best shots, because I give those to the grandparents for Christmas each year.  I do wish I would have suggested a warmer colored outfit.  Oh, well.)

On his photos, I'm thankful that Miles let me fix his hair. He's into this comb the hair forward thing that I just don't like, ugh, teenagers.

But the absolute best was when I had Miles put Emily on his back.  Their true smiles came out and the sincere affection for one another was evident.

Just warms my heart!!  But my personal favorite is this one below.  Emily, who is always giving her brother a hard time, kept trying to give him a little smooch! Too funny!

It's always a bit of an ordeal to get them to sit for portraits, get the right location, the right light, a relaxed composition, etc. but I'm always thankful for the shots I get no matter how imperfect they are. (And they can't stand cookie cutter school portraits, so once I remind them that I'm the photographer, they oblige.) These photos are further proof, any photo is worth the effort.  A time captured, remembered and cherished.

Scenes from Halloween

We started our Halloween festivities with pumpkin carving.  It's always quite the family affair.  We each do at least a little bit of carving and scooping.  The kids have definitely taken more of an active roll the older they get.

Emily even carved her cat design completely by herself.  Miles did most of his witch jack-o-lantern but we didn't have a plan for the mouth when we first started, so I finished it.  For the third pumpkin I wanted a traditional looking face, one like the jack-o-lanterns that floated in the great hall at Hogwarts. (There was an article and photo in the paper recently with unofficial recipes from Hogwarts.)

I did remember to snap a few photos of the jack-o-lanterns when we returned from Trick or Treating.

Emily wanted to be Harry Potter this year for Halloween, which was fine by me since we already had the Gryffindor robe from her Hermione costume last year.  We just need to find a suitable wig and the glasses.

She was quite happy with her costume.  She was even more excited when several sets of teenagers told her she looked really cool and two girls even hugged her because she was Harry Potter! lol

Miles passed out candy in between watching the Saints football game with Richard. :)

Monday, we brought most of Emily's candy to a dentist in town who buys your candy by the pound and then sends it to the troops.  We used the $2 to buy raffle tickets for prizes and help defer the cost of shipping.  It was definitely a win, win deal for us!!

Faux Wooden Frames from simple chipboard

Today I’m going to show you how to make faux wooden accents from chipboard.  The look of wood is perfect for adding warmth to all your fall pages.  I love how it feels like I was able to bring the woods right onto my page.

The basic supplies needed for this project:  Small Frames Chip Art from GCD Studios, acrylic paint in a rich orange and cream, a few paint brushes, a non-stick surface like the Craft Matte from Ranger and Maya Mist (Brown and Sunflower Yellow).

Start by painting one of your chipboard pieces the burnt orange color (I used Monarch by Making Memories) and the other two cream (Sand Sable by Americana).  Be sure to get all the edges of the chipboard as well.

Once dry, spray mist on the non-stick matte and paint on the mist.  The best tool for this is a really worn out brush, one that you may not have washed properly after using. ;)

It’s best to work in one direction, like the grain found on wood. This first “wooden frame” mimics cedar.  Simply, dry brush brown ink that has been sprayed on the matte over cream frame.

The second frame looks like oak.  Brush yellow mist over cream and let dry. Follow up with dry brushing brown mist over the yellow.

The last frame looks like maple.  Repeat dry brushing the brown ink over the burnt orange painted frame. Here they are together in order from right to left; maple, cedar, oak)

I finished off the oak and maple with a quick spray of Krylon Satin finish spray.  I left the cedar unfinished because cedar wood often has a “raw” look to it.

Here are a few close up photos of the faux wood finishes. 

All patterned papers by GCD Studios, Joyful Peace and Ella Blue Collections.
Other supplies used:  Alpha Stickers by Making Memories, Punches by EK Success (acorn, leaf and label punch), Making Memories Slice using the Vintage Findings design card, and Stamps by Studio Calico (October) and Stamp Craft (leaf).

Be sure to subscribe to the GCD Studios Monthly newsletter for some helpful tips on assembling this style of scrapbook page.

Hope you can add some "wooden" embellishments to your next project!

I'll be back tomorrow with a recap of our Halloween fun!