Altered Clipboard + Inspiration

Okay, I AM just a scrapbooker, but I guess I must admit to playing around a bit with “altered art,” although I still cannot think of anything I do as “art.” I was intrigued by a fellow ATT member’s altered clipboard and decided to try something similar.

Inspired by a book we are studying in our small group, The Me I Want to Be by John Ortberg, I have come to love the word “flourish.” Ortberg says that “flourishing means moving toward God’s best version of you” and he contrasts flourishing with languishing (none of us wants to do that!). I love the passage in Psalm 92:12-13: “The righteous will flourish like a palm tree….they will flourish in the courts of our God.” So, that was the “theme thought” I had in mind as I bought the $1.99 wooden clipboard and pulled some ideas out of the air.

I removed the metal clamp and primed the front of the clipboard with gesso. After it dried, needing a break from my fall and holiday project colors, I just started grabbing some Distress Ink pads that fit my mood that day (Broken China, Dusty Concord, Wild Honey and Faded Jeans). I just inked as the fancy hit me. After it dried, I pulled out some stamps that fit my thoughts and created a “stamp collage,” using Archival Black Ink for all the stamping.

I cut my theme word, FLOURISH, from cereal box, using the Storybook font, with the Cricut. I then cut the very same letters from a beautiful paper from Tim’s Lost and Found Paper Stash (found one that fit the ink colors I had chosen) and glued them to the cereal box letters. Then I covered all the letters with Clear Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint, let dry, and then inked edges with Black Soot. I adhered them to the clipboard with Glossy Accents.

I had fun with the little embellies I attached through the hole in the metal clamp. I had two items to color with Alcohol Inks: the little chain (it was attached to a box of chipboard letters I bought about 4 years ago, and it was light green) and the large pearl bauble (from Tim). I mixed Wild Plum and Denim inks in a little zip-loc bag, to get just the shade of purple I wanted (to match the Dusty Concord distress ink).

I used Cricut Craft Room to weld the letters for the word GROW and then cut from grungeboard (yes, I use the Cricut to cut grungeboard). I then inked it with Dusty Concord, inked the edges with Black Soot, and covered it all with Clear Rock Candy Crackle Paint. I added another little bauble I had in my findings. I glued on a flower in keeping with the theme of flourishing and growing.

My little white mini-legal pads that I love to use will fit just right, and I will be taking the clipboard with me to small group tonight!

Valentine Tag for Scrapbook

Inspired by a project created by Shelly Hickox, I made a tag to use on the scrapbook page I will put together, with the photos posted earlier in “Cupcakes with Tory.” The Festive Berries Distress Ink exactly matches our frosting color!

I used a Cuttlebug folder to emboss the manila tag. Then I inked it lightly with Festive Berries Distress Ink. The cupid and heart are from Tim’s mini Love Struck set.

My least favorite thing to work with is glitter, and I should’ve stuck to my guns on that one. Not only is it a huge mess, but it never photographs nicely. I used Martha Stewart yellow gold glitter on the cupid, and on the heart I used her crystal coarse glitter.

The flourishes are cut from grunge paper, using Tim’s mini flourish die (love this one). Two of them I painted with the black paint dabber, and the other I painted with the Red Pepper dabber. I sanded them lightly after painting.

The trim at the bottom is colored with Festive Berries, and the ribbon at the top with Black Soot (both were originally white). I used music tissue paper and tissue tape behind the cupid. I sprayed the entire tag lightly with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls mist and then inked the edges of the tag with Black Soot.

The paper from Tim’s seasonal stash (behind the tag) will become the background paper on the scrapbook page. The sheet music is from my library (used many times through the years to play for weddings).

I am quite enjoying creating my own detailed embellishments for some of my scrapbook pages.

Second Smash Journal

Just bought a second journal, this one to use primarily for saving ideas for projects. I grunged it up a bit.

Tag for Opening Page of 2012 Scrapbook

This tag was inspired by a beautiful New Year’s tag shared by Anita Houston.

Starting with a #8 manila tag, I sprayed it with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist, Glacier (have had on hand for years but never used). After drying, I inked with Iced Spruce and Broken China distress inks. I stamped a few of Tim Holtz’s clocks and then heat embossed with white powder. I found some old transparencies for laser printers (from my teaching days) and printed a scanned copy of my music for “Auld Lang Syne” onto the transparency and adhered with staples. The sentiment is from one of Tim’s stamp sets. The border is cut with the Vintage Lace die on metal tape. The “ribbon” is twill tape, inked with Iced Spruce. I finished off with some metal embellishments and flourishes from my ever-growing supply of TH goodies.

Since most of my tags make their way onto scrapbook pages, I must be careful about being too “dimensional.” I think this one will work just fine!

Celebrating Mother’s 84th Birthday

Tomorrow Mother will be 84! What a wonderful role model she is, for her daughters and granddaughters and great granddaughters!

Today Russell and I made the trip (just 1 1/2 hours) to take her to lunch (Red Lobster) and then to do some Wal Mart shopping.

Happy 84th Birthday, Mother!!

Scrapbooks Caught Up!! Yay!!

I scrapbook everything, and I take lots of pictures. So it’s necessary that I stay caught up, or I may never see the light of day. As of today, I finished 2011: two full Creative Memories 12x12’s and one 12x12 of our vacation. As an aside, I also have mostly filled my first Smash Journal—and my Prayer Journal is bulging this year as well! I was running a bit behind as of December, having joined the craze of learning and using Tim Holtz techniques (I even completed the 12 Tags of Christmas!!).

It’s a good feeling to be caught up! – Well, actually, I have three pictures ready for go for 2012, and the new CM albums should arrive tomorrow!

Timeless Memories Scrapbook Layout

Left side of 2-page 12x12 layout

Right side of 2-page 12x12 layout

As threatened, I finally completed the two-page layout using my Christmas pictures of singing around the piano, and incorporating a photo from 1980. I LOVE the pages, but it is SO frustrating to try to capture the “real” look in photographs! I have a great camera, but I just can’t capture the real thing. For example, the black behind the tag and the old photo is tissue paper (that happened to come in some packaging in the mail that day)—and the colors of the photos on the left side are not true, (they are much brighter in life), but changing those with editing software makes the background paper (Tim Holtz tissue paper) not a true color. Oh, well, the main purpose of the layout is NOT to take pictures of the layout!

For both pages, I first adhered plain white cardstock to my Creative Memories page (I use the spargo pages). Then I spread Studio matte glue all over the cardstock and scrunched up the music tissue paper. After stacking books on it as it dried, I then spread Picket Fence Stickles over the entire page. I gathered some tulle behind the old photo, giving it a rather “airy” look (in real-life).

This is much more “dimensional” than most of my pages—otherwise, I would never get an entire year in two 12x12’s, and that’s my goal this year.

Supper for a Snow Day

My husband no longer has to get up at 4:30 a.m. to check the roads to decide if we can have school or not, because of snow. I no longer anxiously await his decision, because it could mean a day off for the kids and me. (He is a retired school superintendent, and I am a retired teacher.) However, when a snow comes, and I know the area schools are having a “snow day,” I still move into the same old way of thinking—need to have some soup or chili—and homemade bread if possible!

Tonight’s supper:

Hearty Winter Soup (Italian Chowder) and Homemade Sourdough Bread

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Recipe:

Italian Chowder

1 pound cut up and cooked Italian sausage ( I like Johnsonville Mild)

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium green pepper, seeded and chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

1 cup chopped celery

2 - 14 ½ ounce cans black-eyed peas (do not drain)

1 - 14 ½ ounce can petite diced tomatoes

16 oz chicken broth (or 1 can)

1/2 tsp Tabasco Sauce

1 T balsamic vinegar

2 t basil

3/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

Cook sausage in large skillet. No need to drain unless very juicy. Set aside. In Dutch Oven,  sauté raw vegetables in olive oil until tender. Add remaining ingredients and sausage to vegetables. Simmer for 30 minutes.

Hearty, delicious soup. Goes great with homemade sourdough bread.

1980 to 2011-Timeless Memories

Preparing to scrapbook the Christmas pictures, I was working with a photo of my two “children” singing around the piano (Mom playing) during our Christmas time here. I was reminded of all the many years they sang together for church (Mom playing) as they were growing up. I found a photo from 1980 (Mark was almost 10; Sharida was 8). They were actually practicing, at home, to sing at church that Sunday morning (May 19).

I juxtaposed the pictures, just for nostalgia’s sake. I will use both these photos on the scrapbook page, too!

“Hark” Tag for Scrapbook Page

I am in a holding pattern for scrapping my Christmas pictures, because I ordered the prints from Snapfish, and once again, the order is lost somewhere and not in my hands, after 12 days. Ugh!

But I have been working on a tag to use on one of the layouts, once the prints do arrive. I finished the tag today. It is based on one of this year’s 12 Tags of Christmas (Tim Holtz). The challenge for a scrapbook page will be to “smoosh” the tissue paper flower!

Cupcakes with Tory

I have two granddaughters. They are the sweetest and most beautiful girls on earth. Seriously. One of my granddaughters (Alyssa) lives several hours away, so I am not able to spend as much time with her as I would like. My other granddaughter (Tory) lives close to me, and I enjoy getting to spend time with her.

 

Tory is very thoughtful, sensitive, sincere, caring, loving, and not afraid to show love for her family. She is always tuned in to how I am feeling, and is just a blessing and a joy to be around. One evening recently, we made some cupcakes for Grandad and Tory’s brother Conner. Using a Valentine theme, we made white cupcakes, with some dark pink frosting and some white frosting. I decorated the first one, but mine looked rather droopy. It’s the one on the far end :-(

Then Tory took over and somehow was already a pro. She gave me some tips, and I got better at it, with her help!

Grandad and Conner’s chess game ended just in time for dessert, but I have a feeling they would’ve been happy to “pause” the game anyway!

My grandchildren top my list of “life’s greatest blessings.”

Scrapbook Layout-Alyssa’s Christmas Madrigal

Left side of 12x12 two-page Layout

Right side of 12x12 two-page Layout

Since the setting of the Christmas Madrigal was Medieval England, the vintage style seemed very natural for this layout (not that “vintage” and “medieval” are the same, but closer than contemporary and medieval!). I used paper from Tim’s Lost and Found stash, and it was handy to have a 6x6 portion of the music page to put onto a tag. I love the Christmas lamppost, and it was fun to incorporate it into this project.

There are more and larger pictures from the event in an earlier post, but I wanted to post this layout as a part of my journey to incorporate more creativity (via vintage techniques, for one thing) into my pages.

Our beautiful granddaughter Alyssa is the STAR of this layout! Can’t believe she is a senior, and this was her last Madrigal!

Scrapbook Layout-Conner’s Christmas Concert

 

12x12 2-Page Layout, Left Page

12x12 2-Page Layout, Right Page
 

Inspired by Tag #2 of this year’s 12 Tags of Christmas, this layout provided the opportunity to experiment with bringing in “tag” elements and techniques onto a scrapbook layout. I used some of the beautiful music paper in the Tim Holtz Christmas Memories Kraft Resist Stash. Challenging it is, to get 7 photos on a two-page layout, and still leave room for some embellishments.

The photos for this layout are included in an earlier blog post. We are so proud of Conner, as he is in the top audition choir at his large high school, as a sophomore!

An Old Book, an Old Friend

Feeling in a particularly nostalgic mood one day recently (as is the case more often as time passes), I was remembering my favorite book as a child. It was the first time I remember falling in love with a book. I always loved books (still do) and can remember the thrill of learning to read (from the Dick and Jane books) in the first grade (I did not go to kindergarten—who needs it!). But I didn’t fall in love with a book until I was in the 4th or 5th grade (I know the timeframe, because it was in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, and those were my two grades when we lived there). The year would have been 1956 or 1957. I checked it out from the library at school, of course.

For YEARS after that, any time I was asked to list “favorite book,” I wrote, Lassie Come Home by Eric Knight. Sometimes I wonder if reading this book may be partially responsible for my love of dogs.         

I decided to see if I could find the book as I remembered it. There were actually several on eBay, and I was the only bidder on this one. I see the copyright was 1940 by the John C. Winston Company. On the flyleaf, eight printings are listed, the last in May 1942. I believe it has been reprinted many times since then.

Looking forward to reading it again, although I know it will evoke lots of emotions.

Last Day of 2011—Extended Family Time

We celebrated my extended family Christmas with my mother and siblings/spouses. It’s always fun to get together to celebrate the birth of Christ. An important family tradition to all of us is that we read the Christmas Story from Luke 2 and intersperse the carols in relevant places throughout the story. (In fact, we observe this same tradition with OUR own children, and they with theirs.) We have been doing this for at least 50 years. Daddy always read the story, before he passed away in 1988. Since then, my brother reads it. The special touch this year was that he read it from Daddy’s Bible (now appropriately in my brother’s possession).

                     My brother Keith and wife Michele

  My sister Janene and husband David (who is my husband’s brother)

 

My Honey and Me

 

Sibs with Mother 

Great way to end 2011! Happy New Year!

A Heritage of Bird Hunting (Scrapbook Page)

 
Having completed the 12 Tags of Christmas as my introduction to the Tim Holtz technique, I was determined to implement some of the vintage techniques into my scrapbook pages, as this is the primary “crafting” that I do.

I used the Tattered Leaves die and alcohol inks on kraft glassine for the leaves. When I saw Tim's idea of printing a photo on the glassine paper, I knew how I wanted to bring that element into this scrapbook page, as my old photo of Daddy with Pooch came to mind. The photo was very faded, so first I edited it to make it a more intense black and white photo. Obviously, due to the nature of the kraft glassine paper, the photo does not show up as well as it does in person. I am pleased with the effect and love the whole vintage idea of displaying a photo of my dad with his bird dog as an embellishment to the modern-day picture of my son with his bird dog.

Christmas at Our House

What a wonderful time of being together to celebrate Christ’s birth. Here are a few pics of our time together.

   

Son Mark and his wife Kristy, Tory & Conner

Daughter Sharida and her husband James, Alyssa and Dawson

Sharida and Mark singing while Mom plays—like old times!

..add in the grandkids—musically mega-talented, all—a perfect mix!

Head of the Home reads the Christmas Story, before we share the gifts, a symbol of our love for one another.

Holly Wreaths

Part of our family traditions include special snacks and meals. I always try to make recipes that I know are “favorites” of each of our children (I know which ones, because years ago, when they were still at home, we voted on what snacks to make every Christmas season). Our daughter’s favorite sweet snack has always been “Holly Wreaths.” I made them this morning. I first made them in 1977, for Sharida to take to serve to her kindergarten class, for her December birthday!

December 2011

December 1977

Ready for Christmas

 

Christmas is coming to our house—tomorrow! Kids and grandkids expected tomorrow evening. We will all be together until mid-afternoon on Saturday. Can’t wait!!

12 Tags of Christmas – Day 10

Whew! I did it! When I first started with the 12 Tags, I really did not intend to do all 12. The more I did, the more I wanted to do, until I finally realized it was imperative that I finish the task. It has been very challenging but fun, and I have learned so much, and have a new appreciation for the vintage technique, as it appeals to the “feel” I have always had for relishing the wonderful things of times past.

I “winged it” on the embellishments at the bottom, as I am also learning to find things around the house that I can use to enhance a tag.

The facet ornaments that I created using suggestions from Tim did not turn out as vibrant as his, and it could be because I “made do” with heavy duty aluminum foil rather than purchasing the metal tape. Still, they are fine.

Next year, I need to get the tags done within the 12 days. Finishing up this last one has been a challenge, as our Christmas is tomorrow evening and Saturday, and things are a-flurry here with last-minute wrapping, baking and cooking.

I think there is something fundamental here, in my joy in creating these tags—it has been fun to do something with my hands, to actually create something enjoyable and lasting (I hope), as I think about the real reason why I love this season so much—the celebration of the birth of Christ, He who is the reason for the joy in my heart—in this season, and all the year round.

Merry Christmas!

12 Tags of Christmas – Day 11

I used glossy card stock on all the parts of this tag. Alcohol inks provided the colors for the holly leaves/berries/branch (Meadow, Lettuce, Red Pepper). I inked the edges with Walnut Stain. The branch was especially fun, because I didn’t have a brown alcohol ink, so I used the Butterscotch and after it dried, I inked over it with Walnut Stain. The tag itself is a combination of several of the blue distress pads. The snowflakes on the blue background were created with water splatters. The ribbon was white; I stained it with the Festive Berries distress ink pad.

Star Musical Performances—Shameless Braggings of a Mamo

Last week we attended two concerts. On Thursday evening our grandson Conner performed in his high school’s Winter Concert. He is a sophomore and in the top audition choir at his school (A Capella Choir) as well as the select ensemble group from out of that choir (Up Tempo).

  Tenor Section of Up Tempo

Up Tempo  A Capella Choir

Kristy – Conner – Tory – Mark (our son)

with Grandad and Mamo

On Friday evening we attended the Christmas Madrigal Celebration at Alyssa’s high school. The production included five choirs. Alyssa, a senior, is in three of them (all audition choirs): Women’s Choir, Chorale, and Varsity Singers. It was a huge production, with 25 musical pieces. Alyssa sang on 20 of them, so my camera (with telephoto lens) was very busy!

 

Alyssa wore a head mic during the first half of the production, as she had two solos and a drama part.

  James – Dawson – Alyssa – Sharida (our daughter)

with Mamo and Dawson and Grandad