Twice in one day

I mentioned earlier that I made a card that I didn't like. I took it apart and threw it away. Got some housework done and decided to try again. This one looks nothing like the first one I made or the example I copied. I tried to create a card that I had seen on Michelle Zindorf''s website. Not quite, but at least good enough to post on my website. This reminds me of a "doily" that belonged to my mother-in-law. Oh well, I have more housework and book work to do so I am signing off for now. Thanks for checking in.

Leslie

Saturday already?

Where did the time go? I don't have anything to share today as the card I was working on was so bad I threw the photos in the recycle bin. I thought maybe it would look better in the photos than what was sitting there on my desk, nope! I'll try again later. I have some work I need to get caught up on first.
Later
Leslie

an extra tidbit today

You know, I check twenty to thirty blogs a day and some people haven't posted since January. I hope that I get busy enough that I don't have time to post on a daily basis, but amost a month. I am about ready to take them out of my favorites. I haven't figured out how to set up to follow blogs yet. Anyone have any ideas and want to clue me in?

The real reason I am posting twice in one day is to post another card, it's really just a remake. Someone suggested that I use black cardstock for my card since I had used black for the sentiment. Since I was changing it anyway I figured I could take off the green cardstock that wasn't Clover Meadow. What do you think? Can you see a difference?

Thanks for tuning in and leave a comment.

Leslie

Tuesday's post - Done at last

I have finally completed my son's layout. It feels good to have that behind me. I guess I have been stressing about it.

I have a meeting in the morning and then I will hopefully help a friend with her computer program so I thought I would post tonight. I may not have a chance to do it tomorrow. After many different attempts I decided on the paper packet from CTMH "It's a Guy Thing". I have used that paper quite a bit. I guess it is one of my favorites.

One of Alec's nicknames is Dude so I had to include that and he likes saying "Sweet" about things so I used that on my journaling spot. The journaling spot is tucked under the photo of the cake. It is raised on pop dots. He liked that. The pages are reversed here. The 16 indeed is the left and the other is the right. The upper corner of the right page looks like it has brads going around the circle, but they are actually hole punches with liquid glass. "Indeed" is another favorite word of Alec's. The sixteen is also raised on pop dots. Alec is the handsome dude in the red jacket. I will start teasing him about his curls pretty soon and he'll ask me to take him for a haircut. He has beautiful hair, but hates the curls. Believe it or not when he was little his curls were golden blonde. We went in for his first hair cut and a lady I knew was talking to me and looked over at Alec and said, "Leslie, she is so precious", I laughed and said,"That's why we are here - SHE is a boy!"

It is getting late and I want to look fresh for my meeting in the morning so I will say good night. Wish me luck as I am going for a job interview with a staffing company. I had to take some tests online. I think I did pretty well. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Thanks for tuning in.

Leslie

Monday Monday

Still working on Son's layout so I am posting my daughter's "The Dress" layout.

First of all let me tell you about the design. Sherri Tozzi is a director with Close To My Heart and my upline's upline. Sherri is truly a gifted artist who designs the neatest layouts and other creative things. Sherri designed this layout for a Stamp Camp, that is where ladies who are in her downline get together and put together her creations. I have been to about 4 of her stamp camps now and look forward to them with great anticipation. Besides it gives me an opportunity to visit with my sister, Christine, in Orlando. At stamp camp we put together this layout and the rules were put your photos on it, take pictures of the completed project and post on our website. If 5 or more ladies do this Sherri will have a drawing for a free stamp camp. The contest ends on Saturday and three ladies have posted their layouts so far.

My two-page layout is about my daughter, Ashley's, search for THE dress for her wedding. The wedding was November 30, 2008 and the layout is about my favorite times in 2008. We tried a few shops here in Jax, but no luck so we went to Boca Raton. Ash had found some dresses she wanted to try on so we packed our bags for a road trip. Fortunately one of my 5 sisters lives in Delray Beach so we had a place to stay. We went in to Boca Bridal, a shop on Federal Highway and had a wonderful morning. Ash had a list of dresses she wanted to try on. Mind you, Ash is a size ZERO minus and is 5'7". Nothing like her mother who is 5'2". Maggie at Boca Bridal was very helpful. The owner really enjoyed seeing Ashley trying on his dresses and kept bringing dresses to her and asking her to try them on so he could see what they looked like.

We took lots of photos and then headed to Town Center in Boca to Saks Fifth Avenue. We saw a few dresses there, but nothing said, "I'm the one".

We came home and waited for Alfred Angelos to open in town and got THE dress. Size zero and then taken in. The dress has a beautiful snowflake in pearls, crystals and silver thread which had to be removed and replaced for the alterations. I am in awe of the seamstress's ability. She did a fantastic job.

The bride was beautiful as you can see. We had a lot of fun shopping and taking photos, then getting hair and make up done on THE day. Finally, the wedding. The only thing traditional about the wedding was the dress. Ash & Alan didn't want fussy and stuffy, they wanted a party for friends and family. They are both big movie buffs so there were alot of references to movies throughout. Ash's engagement ring is a wide gold band with a Superman emblem engraved in it. Their wedding rings are inscribed "Density" from the movie Back to the Future. The cake topper was the Question from the latest Batman movie and Supergirl. The bridesmaids entered to the Star Wars theme. Charlie, Ash & I entered to the theme from The Princess Bride.

A man I used to work for also likes the movie The Princess Bride and was willing to do the wedding scene from the movie. People were in hysterics he did such a great job.

Thebrass band also goes to university that Ash and Alan attend and being friends, the evening of music was their gift.

My sisters gift was to cater the wedding and did a fantastic job. Alan's parents provided the linens, arch, and other decorations.

All in all it was great and here is the beginning of Ash & Alan's photo album.

Again, thanks for tuning in. Until next time.

Leslie

Remake of Lucky

Here is the remake.
I just didn't like that big one that I made yesterday morning so I made a smaller version. Used a different heart, actually the back of a heart from a stamp set, I think it was Soul Mates, but not positive. That is one of the neat things about Close To My Heart clear stamps. They are made of acrylic and you can see through them and a lot of them you can use either side. Especially a shape like a heart. Then I used a masking technique to give the solid heart some texture. I used the front of another stamp and white daisy pigment ink (Pigment ink is very thick and goopy and takes forever to dry, usually) There is a trick to pigment ink. Sponge it on to your stamp. Yup yup, that is the trick. it dries immediately. You know about the masking technique, right? I just took a piece of sticky note paper, traced my clover, cut out the center of it, and then stamped the hearts with a stamp that had a background, swirly type design. Don't look too closely. Then I used my brad buddy which is really just a piece of plastic canvas and made all my dots. Close To My Heart markers have a fine point and a brush tip and match all 60 colors of their inks and papers. I used a white gel pen from my LSS for all the white dots.

Anyway, that is probably all I will do with St. Patrick's Day. Not a big holiday, just fun. The "wearin' of the green".

I plan to work on my son's layout later today. We'll see how that works out. If not, tomorrow I will post the layout from Stamp Camp of my daughter's hunt for THE dress. Everything about that is beautiful. The layout that our director designed and my daughter and all the fun times that we had.

Thanks for tuning in.

Leslie

Blarney and the luck of the Irish

I am still struggling with my son's layout so I have decided to put it on the back burner for another day and try my "Luck" at a card.

My children love the fact that they are Irish. They don't have the real Irish look about them though. My father-in-law used to tell us it was because of the Spanish Armada that wrecked off the coast of Ireland and that is where the Black Irish came into being. Black meaning VERY dark hair and VERY dark eyes. If you look hard enough the Internet will corroborate that tale. Of course, if you look hard enough the Internet will tell you anything you want it to. Anyway, Dad and Mom went to Ireland several times. They looked up relatives and went visiting. Staying with relatives gave them the chance to see the everyday life of Ireland and not just the tourist attractions. Dad got to go to the pub and tell stories which was one of the things he did so very well -tell stories that is. My husband's parents were two of the most wonderful people on this earth. Dad lived to be 98 and Mom was 90 when they died - five weeks apart. They were married for over 60 years and obviously didn't want to be apart for long. They were very loving and giving people. I counted Mom as my closest friend and miss her greatly. I love telling the children about their grandparents and how much their grandparents loved them. When my oldest got married in November my brother-in-law and sister-in-law gave Ash Mom's wedding ring for a wedding present. She is the one most like her grandmother in looks. I want to keep their memories of their grandparents alive for them. My sister-in-law says she will send me the photos that Mom and Dad gathered over the years so I can put together albums.

I saw this design on Split Coast Stampers by Sleepy in Seattle and thought I'd try my hand at it. You may notice ALL the different Greens used on my card only because I didn't realize until too late that the two I thought were the same weren't. Not my best work but I was kind of in a hurry.

Thought hubby was getting up early to go to breakfast, but he had other ideas - like sleeping in. I can't blame him, he works sometimes 12 to 20 hour days. Seriously. It has been that way all our married life.

I might try this card again. If I do I will share it here. Check back won't you?
Thanks for tuning in.
Leslie

Back to the drawing board

I thought for sure I would have my son's 16th birthday layout finished yesterday, but nope, not yet. I had all the papers cut, I was using a layout from CTMH's Imagine, one of our How-To books, and the paper packet that he picked out which was Stardust, one of our most current sets and I could not put it together. I tried, I really did, but the paper just did not speak to me.

I won't have time to work on it today as I am going to help a friend with her business. She is a property manager and we have worked together for about 10 years now off and on. I will be learning a new software program and trying to unlock the issues with her set up. I am looking forward to the challenge.

Her boss doesn't realize what he is getting - having me come in to help out. It is a shame he can't afford me. I could use the work and he could benefit from my experience and expertise.

That being said, I am hoping I haven't disappointed anyone. I will see if I have anything left in me after a challenging day on the job and see if I can work on this layout this evening.

Thanks for tuning in.

Leslie

The search continues

Hello everyone.
I have completed my morning job search. I may have mentioned before that I have clicked on every job search engine on the internet only to have my email be inundated with SPAM!!!! I get betweeo 80 to 100 spams an hour. I have had to open a new email account for personal email. This gives me 5 email accounts. I will be glad when this job search is over in more ways than one. I really don't like staying home. I like being productive and contributing to the household accounts so we can pay our bills. The thought of loosing our home looms out there if I don't get work. The thought of not being able to pay our bills is not a nice thought.

I do like being able to scrap though. I got some photos printed yesterday for a loyout for my son's 16th birthday. He picked out the paper I am going to use. The last layout I did for his book he was quite pleased with and shared it with several of his friends. I hope I can do his 16th birthday justice. When I think 16 I think "Sweet 16", that's just because I am a girl and have celebrated my sweet 16 and I have two girls who celebrated their Sweet 16, what do you do for a boy?

I will post my results later.

A New Day is Dawning. . .

Good morning world.

I finished another project the other day and finally got photos to post. This project comes from the latest Stamp Camp I attended in Orlando. I belong to a group of ladies called the Legacy Leaders. We are consultants for Close To My Heart under the directorship of Sherri Tozzi. A very neat lady and a wonderful artist. She puts so much detail into all her work. I hope that after many years of scrapping adding detail to my artwork will come naturally to me also. This latest project is a CTMH My Creations Cube. The photos show all sides of the cube/box. I personally think that the cube is a useless piece of artwork so I made mine into a box instead. There are several little journaling blocks that can be pulled out, journaled and then tucked back into place.

I have all sorts of work to get done today. I am challenging myself to get it done this morning so I can play in my scrap room this afternoon. I got a few nice photos of my son's 16th birthday gathering so I want to put those in his scrapbook. We'll see how it goes.

Thanks for tuning in and remember to leave a comment.

Cards & Holder original design by Vicki Wizniuk

Vicki is a fellow scrapper and CTMH consultant from Canada. She posted a beautiful set of cards and the holder to go along with the cards. I thought they were beautiful and had to try my hand at it. There are nine photos.

This paper is from Close To My Heart, it is one of our New Spring line called Unforgettable. Five new paper packs come out three times a year with stickers "called Stickease made from cardstock" plus corresponding stamp sets and lots of ideas of how to use all the products together.

Enjoy and remember to leave a comment.

Thanks

job hunting

Phew, job hunting is an exhausting proposition. I cannot be sure that I have completed all the steps involved in online applications. I click on a new screen and one pops up only to find that it isn't the right screen and takes me off on a tangent I didn't want to go on. Then after filling out that one and possibly going somewhere else I close that screen and see the one I meant to go to sitting there waiting for me to complete filling it out. AAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!.
Dear Lord, Please help me find the job that I am meant to have. Amen.
I hope you all will pray this prayer for me as well. I know it is out there. The Lord has taken me to this place I just don't know if I am supposed to have patience, do what I am doing or am I missing something. How do you ever know.

I am scrappin' a set of cards with the holder. I got most of it completed yesterday between going shopping with my daughter and helping her fix dinner and getting my own house in order. I will take photos and post later today I hope.

Hubby went to work today. He is not feeling much better but the work doesn't get done by itself if he isn't there. All his work is on deadlines. He is a dental technician - for those that haven't heard of that before he makes crowns and bridges. Some people think of them as caps. The work is completed by 4 people in the lab. Some of the work is done before he gets it and the final work is done by his boss. A very exacting job. They are artists that work on someone else's canvass.

I will post again later.

Thanks for tuning in.

All that is close to my heart. . .

I love mornings before anyone else is awake. The house is quiet. I can drink my coffee and relax before the noise starts. I read, play on the computer, check my email, check out other scrapper's blogs. I thought I would post some photos of what/who else is close to my heart, besides my cards and scrappin' stuff. My family is close to my heart. I have been married for 33 years and have 3 children, 5 sisters and a son-in-law. I have a brother-in-law that I have known since I was about 10 or 11. I have always thought of him as my big brother.


The only photo of the family I can find right now is one from the wedding. My oldest daughter got married this past November to her best friend. This is husband Charlie, Me, daughter Ash, Son-in-law Alan, daughter Casey and son Alec

Here is a photo of 4 of my sisters and brother-in-law. Little sister couldn't make it to the wedding. My sister's gift to the bride and groom was to cater the wedding and what a beautiful job they did. I am blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.

Thanks for tuning in. Remember to leave a comment. I haven't figured out how to get a view counter attached to my blog yet so I don't know if anyone is reading it yet.

Valentine's Day 2009

Ahhhhh, that wonderful - horrible holiday. My hubby is sick with a cold. I have a pot of chicken cooking. He had chicken & rice soup for breakfast.

Valentine's Day is a great excuse for making cards and other things, like small boxes for chocolates. I made some and then forgot to unpack them to give to my friends. I am sure they don't mind, who needs chocolate anyway, right? I made them at my sister's house. I like to go visit her and spend the weekend "playing".

Here is the card I made hubby last year. Not my best work. Let's see which one should I give him this year? I don't think it matters as he probably won't take notice the way he is feeling.

This one turned out pretty well, I think. It involved a lot of cutting. I didn't realize how much until a friend wanted to duplicate it. I hope her husband likes it. I guess I should have put cards in the mail to my girls, but wasn't thinking. I guess I am pretty self absorbed right now, what with not having a job. Kind of an all consuming thought process.

Oh well, here is to day two of my blogging.

Happy Valentine's Day

First day as a blogger

Today is the first day of the rest of my life - the saying goes.

I don't know much about blogging and thought I would try it out.

I am an unemployed bookkeeper at the moment. I am also an independent consultant for Close To My Heart - a scrapbooking company. About 15 years ago I had made one page for a scrapbook and was so unexcited about it I figured it wasn't for me. Then I went to a Close To My Heart gathering and fell in love. That very night I signed up to be a consultant and have been having fun every since. I don't have a MyCTMH website yet, but when I start making money at it and have a good client base I will invest in one. For the time being I use my upline's website for purchasing our clearance specials. You can check out her website it is www.fayemckee.myctmh.com. Email me if you are interested in purchasing anything from Close To My Heart at pandascrapper@gmail.com

My passion is scrapbooking and cardmaking. I love sharing my cards and layouts with the world and love receiving comments.

Looks like I can add photos. Here are a few cards I made using Close To My Heart products.