Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Gratitude Journal



As I mentioned in yesterday's post, here's a pic of one of the pages in my Gratitude Journal / Memory Log.  I did this to experiment with some scrapbooking techniques I've been wanting to try.  It felt a little safer and less intimidating doing that experimentation on a small page format and something that was for my eyes only.  I know Staci always laughs at me when I say this, but somehow a 12x12 page just seems to scary.  I can handle a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card front just fine and even this 5x7 doesn't scare me.  But put a 12x12 in front or me and I just freeze.  Weird, huh?!  Better get over it soon as I've got lots of pictures to scrap and lots of memories and stories to capture.

3 days and counting :-)

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Brad-itudes



This was my first "stash busting" item submitted to my Gal Pals for review, suggestions and "what-were-you-thinking!" giggles.  Here's some of the great suggestions:
  • Separate the words from the corresponding face - an "Ah-Ha moment for sure! Can't believe I never thought of that!  Geez Julie, you really can color outside the lines if you want to!  There are no paper crafting police!
  • Use the faces as centers to flowers or in place of a letter "O"
  • Use the words as part of your journaling

I've been keeping a Memory Log / Gratitude Journal in my DayTimer - just experimenting with other forms of memory keeping.  Some of the pages I treat like little scrapbook pages (I'll post one of those tomorrow) and some I just doodle on.  So I decided to use one of the Brad-itudes as part of the journal.  I kind of like the splash it gives the page - don't you?


P.S.  Forgot to mention yesterday that I posted a new page on the blog that holds our shared stamp sets and who has what.  Here's the link.  You can get to it from the left-hand side of the page under the "Stamps and Tools to Share" section, the link labeled "Shared Stamps - Who Has What".

Monday, March 24, 2014

Getting Ready



This is a scrapbook page I did a few years ago.  It's the title page to what is our Travel Album. I stole the title from one of my favorite Dr. Seuss books.  

It seemed fitting to revisit this page as we spent a good portion of the weekend planning and list-making for our upcoming trip to Hawaii.  

Hope you all had a good weekend too.  

(More on the Harold and the Purple Crayon theme of this page to come. . . )

Thursday, March 20, 2014

The Opposite of Messy



Yesterday's post was all about being messy.  So to balance things out for the week I thought I'd share a Pinterest board I stumbled on that's all about clean craft rooms.  After looking through the pictures I think you'll agree the board's title is just perfect -- Craft Room Envy!!!

By the way. . .did you know there's a Gal Pal's Pinterest board??  Hope you'll be a Follower!  I've got lots yet to post but it's a start.


Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Messy but Fun!



Good Morning Gal Pals!  Great seeing you yesterday - so much fun!  

Since Val and I got a little messy yesterday - she with her sprays and me with my glue stick - I thought I'd post a few of the pictures from the Mixed Media class we took together a couple of months ago.  It too was messy but so much fun.  Above is my finished "piece of art" :-)

The woman who taught the class is an art teacher from the Bitterroot (Sadly, I can't remember her name right now).  She was a great teacher - so encouraging, urging us to just jump in and make a mess.  Loved that! Here she is preparing our paint palettes.


You can see from this next picture what a mess our work table was.


And here's a picture of Val before she got messy.  Bet you wish you had that apron on last night, huh?!  Or rather a vinyl table cloth!  I'm secretly kind of glad you left your mark on the South Conference Room!  I hope it stays there forever ;-)


And finally here's some pictures of the instructor's mixed media work.  I can only hope that someday I might be able to produce something as beautiful as some of these.









Monday, March 17, 2014

Happy St. Patrick's Day



Luck of the Irish to you Gal Pals!  Are you wearing green today?

Isn't this quote/graphic cute?  Found it on the PaperCrafts MoxieFab blog.  If I can figure out how to reduce it down to a normal card size, I think I might use it as a quick and easy card front for next year -- (too late to send cards to the family this year).

And who knows, maybe my little leprechaun friend will make a bunch of copies and tape them on my teammates' office doors with hopes of bringing out plenty of Irish smiles today ;-)

Friday, March 14, 2014

Thank God It's Friday!!



I don't know about you but this is kind of how I feel.  What a week!  Sure am looking forward to a little R&R and more specifically a little time in my craft room.

Made this card for my Dad for his birthday.

And then made this version for my uncle, his twin, aka "Daddy Bill".  


I kind of messed up on his - or should I say my Copic marker messed up - it dumped ink all over as I was coloring the recliner.  So I did a little trimming and "presto!, magic!" a creative deviation was born.  Can't really decide which version I like??  How 'bout you?

Have a great weekend Gal Pals.  See you back here next week.

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Hearts Come Home



My Honey-Bunny is coming home tonight - YEA!!!

Thought I'd share the birthday card I made him back in December.  It looks a little busy here (maybe it was in real life too??)  I tried to do more layering and textures than I normally do and use up some of the metal embellishments in my stash.  Also wanted to use the heritage 6x6 paper pack I bought a long time ago because it reminds me of all the genealogy work he does.

Getting near the end of week.  Hope you enjoyed the beautiful day yesterday.  Maybe we'll have another today?  Let's hope!


Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Sympathy Card




This post is for Mona. . .

Remember when we were splitting up the stamp sets and talking about how the "Serene Silhouettes" set is really great for sympathy cards?  Well I saw this one on Splitcoast this morning while looking through the Clean and Simple Card Challenge gallery from last week and thought I'd share it here in case you missed it.

Not only do I love that stamp set, I love how it looks with a neutral color palette.  Plus I'm sure you have a "scrap" of ribbon that you could use and some brads in your "stash".  More "busting" to be done! :-)

Looks like we might be drying out a little today - thankfully!  Have a good one!  See ya' back here soon.

Monday, March 10, 2014

100+ days is WAY too long



Happy Monday Gal Pals!  Hope you had a good weekend.  

Can't believe it's been over a 100 days since I've posted anything.  Guess I just needed a blogging break.  But there's been a few things I've found out on the Inter-Google over the last few weeks that make me say. . ."I need to share that with my Gal Pals!".  Plus truth be told it makes me feel close to you when I write to you before heading off to work :-)

So here's a little something I found while surfing and sipping coffee this morning.  It's in the theme of Stash Busting - using leftover patterned paper, ribbon and embellies for gift wrapping. Kind of cute, huh?

Stay dry today.  See you back here soon!