Love & Helping Hands

A smidge behind on showing some Project 52 photos, but you'll forgive, right? ^_^

Week 6 involved a project for Brother Bill's Helping Hand, a non-profit organization that helps those in need in their area of the city (including a food pantry, low-cost medical services, employment services, and much more).

Our team at work volunteered there last November, mostly helping with the food pantry, but also with some things for their upcoming Christmas celebration.

We definitely wanted to do something for them again, so this time, we decided to help out with the "birthday bags." About once a quarter, Brother Bill's has the children from the are come in and pick out a birthday bag so they can celebrate their upcoming birthday. Bags have party supplies in a theme, including a cake mix and frosting. While items like this might seem commonplace to us, for many of these children, getting something like this is a luxury, as their families can barely afford food for their birthdays, much less extras like cake and party supplies.

So our team decided to get together and do two bags, one each for a boy and girl.

As you can see, we had fun picking out these cool themes: Pirate and Rock Star.

Week 7 had Valentine's Day in it, so how could this week's photo NOT be about that, right? I decided to finally break in the Silhouette Cameo that Brian got me for Christmas. It's this nifty cutting machine that can cut anything from paper to fabric to vinyl and lots in between. It's like my only little person die-cut machine!

Since so many people give candy for VDay, I decided to go a slightly different route, and took an idea I found via Pinterest, for decorated soda bottles, and made it my own.

Aren't they cute? The paper hearts were cut with the Cameo, and I used my ribbon punch to make holes to thread the ribbon through on each side of the hearts. Then just added some twine and a fun straw.

But, of course, you can't have the day without a card, and this is where my machine really did some hard work! I downloaded a card template from the Silhouette store and this came out:

I just added some of the same paper to the backing. Isn't it cute? Looks like I worked so hard on it! Some of the gals at work even thought I actually cut that all out by hand. Hah! As if.

So, that's my Heart Day! (Oh, and Brian got me Season 2 of Downton Abbey—I already had 1 & 3, so now my set is complete!)

How about yours? Was it a good one?

I'm Gonna Be Published!

But, maybe not quite as you think. ^_^

No, not my sad little novel which is still collecting the proverbial dust while it waits for a heavy edit. No, my fanfic hasn't been picked up to join the ranks of "canon" in your local bookstore.

I'm actually getting some of my digital scrapbook layouts published. Yep. All those crafty magazines, with oodles and oodles of inspiration usually come because of people like me.

So, how did this all come about? As part of my requirement for being on the Design Team at PeppermintCreative, I'm supposed to submit layouts for publication. I've been doing this for a little while now, and had not heard anything back. Partly is because I'm shy about submitting stuff, so I don't usually send much.

But, it looks like things finally paid off!

I am getting not one, not two, but three layouts published in ScrapStreet magazine. I think they're mostly online, but that's okay. Gotta start somewhere, right? So, they only told me it would be in the coming months, so I'll let you know exactly when.

And since I'll have to remove my layouts from galleries online, I thought I'd share them here.

Enjoy!

I think the favorite of those is the last one. The first two were made using templates (which, yes, is allowed), but that last one was ALL me. Literally! *LOL*

So, yay me!

Day 24 - Something I've Learned

I've learned the art of digital scrapbooking. I would even like to say that I'm good at it, though I think I'm still finding my style, as I like to try different things. I think that's validated by having been asked to be on the design team for PeppermintCreative.com. I picked up many scrapbook things over the years, but never really did anything with it, and then discovered digital. I fell in love. It's a great creative outlet, and also a way to preserve memories.

You can see a progression of my abilities, with some before and afters.

Digital Scrapbooking

THEN: This was done in June 2007, one of my first layouts (LOs) after I discovered this craft.

NOW: This is one of my most recent LOs, and I chose the earlier one because it and this one have a similar subject matter -- my cats!

Hybrid Crafts

(the use of digital and traditional scrapbooking items)

THEN: One of the first hybrid things I did, a birthday card.

NOW: Apples and oranges from this and the "then" craft, but I'm now willing to step out of the box and do other things besides cards (which I still love to do).

So, this is ONE thing I've learned out of the many, many, many things I've learned in my 35 years on this earth. How about you?

Latest Digital Scrapbook Projects

So, I know I haven't been blogging like I said I would, so I WILL rectify that next month, as I commit to engage in NaBloPoMo for November. I will be mostly done with my Halloween costume (say what? I'll explain more later), and my Project 365 should be dwindling down. Yay!!!

But, I have noticed that while I have posted many pictures, I haven't posted much on the digital scrapbooking scene, even though I HAVE done more of it, since I'm a design team member at PeppermintCreative.com.

So, I thought I would share some of my recent digital scrapbook projects. You can always go and see all of them by going here or following the Flickr badge on right there.

Enjoy!

Silhouette

One of my favorite bloggers, The Thrifty Decor Chick, is running a contest on her blog.

The prize? A Silhouette SD. What is that, you ask? It's a digital cutting tool for personal use.

The cool thing about this cutting tool (because there are several on the market like it, like the famous Cricut), is that you can use your own fonts and images as well as those found online (freebies, their store, other stores). You don't have to buy separate cartridges. I love all the things it can do. Basically, it's like a printer that cuts instead of prints. Can you imagine all the cool, crafty things I could do with it?! *dreamy sigh*

So, if you'd like to try and win one, then head on over to her site. Her contest is way cooler than mine was. ^_^ But then again, she has a bajillion more readers than I do.

Mother's Day

[Card I made for my MIL, on request from Brian.]

[Gift to my mom for today, with a handmade card which I will one day reveal.]

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there. I know of many new moms, and it seems to be challenging, so kudos to you for taking that challenge.

I am constantly awed by my mother, and how she not only has 5 children, but she moved them back and forth between countries several times. She has had to sacrifice a lot to care of her family, and for that I am more grateful than I can ever imagine.

At this time, my heart is especially mindful of those who have lost their mothers.

Remember your mothers and tell them that you love them!

I'm a Mint Chick!

For those of you that didn't see my announcement on Facebook, I thought I would put it here as well.

I am officially a Design Team member for PeppermintCreative.com -- a digital scrapbooking supplies site! I have been a member of Miss Mint's forum for several years now, and use many of her digital scrapbooking supplies to do my digital layouts and hybrid projects. Being invited to join her design team has been a dream come true for me, as I not only love her stuff, but she and the other members of her team are personable and really nice. I feel like I really know them!

So, what does being part of a design team mean? Basically, in exchange for free Peppermint Creative (PC) products, I am asked to design at least 4 projects a month using PC products exclusively, and also promote the site's products by posting my projects in other online galleries (I'm almost done creating and updating those, and will post them soon in my links -- but all my projects are always available through my Flickr site). I am VERY excited!

So, here I am, debuting my first projects as an official design team member of Peppermint Creative (check out my bio on the About page of the site, and my gallery there):

Happy Birthday Brian!

Today, my adoring husband Brian is having a birthday. He is 28 years young!

And the card above is one I made for him. Isn't it cute?!

I made him Strawberry Cheesecake pancakes for breakfast, and tonight we're splurging at Genghis Grill (although, hello, we have a coupon for buy one get one, hah!) and then ... to go see Phantom of the Opera. Apparently, it's the last time the Broadway touring show will be here, as soon it will stop touring. Sad. But ... glad we are able to go see it one last time. (Or, really, I should say, I see it one last time, because Brian has never seen the stage version, just the movie. Ooo ... he doesn't know what he's missing!)

Valentine's Day 2010

Happy Heart Day!

Brian and I don't normally go to too much trouble for Valentine's Day, and we try to keep it low key. Tonight we are having a steak dinner, with twice-baked potatoes, Caesar salad, rolls, and, for dessert, white chocolate cheesecake that I made from scratch. (Haven't tasted it yet, so hope it's okay. ^_^)

Brian also brought home some flowers for me last night. And some candy to share.

Earlier in the week I got all into the day with some hybrid crafts, and here are the fruits of my labors.

These last two items were for Brian. One is the card I made for him (I stole the idea from a Papyrus card), and the other is just a little "gift" I made him. ^_^

DigiScrap: Pretty Blue Eyes

It's been quite awhile since I've done a digital scrapbook page. I was challenged at one of the digiscrap forums I visit to do one. So ... here we are. It's a little simple, but good to get back into the creative groove.

(Just so you know, I didn't necessarily lose interest, but if you recall, my external USB HD crashed, and while the data was recoverable, it got transferred to Brian's computer -- long story. SO, I haven't really had access to all of my digiscrap stuff. Oh, yeah, and my printer had sorta died. I am getting a new one soon. Yay!)

Handmade Gifts Completed!

So, remember way back when I had that little pay-it-forward crafty contest, where if you commented, then I would send you something handmade and then you had to do this on your blog?

Well, quite a bit ago I posted what I made for Christine, and now I can finally post what I made for Reva and Manda! (Sorry gals, that it took so long!)

For Reva, a pair of fabric headbands, thanks to a free pattern by Heather Bailey! These actually came together so easily, that in the same afternoon I was able to make a couple for me. Tee-hee! (Click on them to take you to the larger image in Flickr.)

Reva's Red Headbands:

And mine:

And then, I made some notecards for Amanda, but ... I'm a goober and forgot to take a picture of the final product! Duh! Anyway, here's a pic from my 365 of me about to start making them, so you get a sort of idea. ^_^

And now I am done! Phew! Hope you gals enjoyed them! I might do something like this again in the future ... but I need to get all my other projects done first! ^_^

First Post of 2010

Happy New Year!

So, sure, a little late, but ... better late than never.

Quick recap of Christmas and the New Year:

Christmas Eve began with snow ... coming down. Last time it snowed in Texas for Christmas was ...80-some-odd years ago. We carefully made our way to my Mom's (she's only about 15-20 minutes away), and while it wasn't the best drive, it was okay. HOWEVER, coming back home was another matter. The roads were pretty bad, and not a sand truck in sight. I only skidded a little here and there, but after about 40 minutes we were home safe and sound. Christmas Eve at my parents was fun (and not so crazy as in the past). And, just to note, but the stuffed animal I gave my sister was a big hit. She loved it!

Christmas day, most of the snow had melted by the afternoon, and we made our way to Brian's family. We had a nice time there as well, but cut the evening short so we could be home before the bridges decided to be icy. We were fine.

Cut to New Year's Eve, and we decided to stay in. In the past we've done Murder Mystery Dinners, but they're a lot of work, and besides, Brian had to work, even though it didn't really interfere with celebrating the new year. (You know, I discovered upon thinking of what to do for that night, that not a single person invited us to their place, or to do something with them. Sad, huh?)

For New Year's Day I roasted half a leg of lamb. First time, and YUM-o! It was good! Hopefully one day soon we can catch it on sale again (because that's really how I can afford it).

AND, as for goals, or resolutions, or whatevers ... well, I heard recently that we shouldn't focus on the past, and move on to the future. But also remember today. Or something like that.

Last year wasn't our best year. My freelancing didn't really go anywhere. I had a few things here and there, but nothing to write home about. However, toward the end of the year I had two more interviews, one for an agency, and one for actual freelancing at a book publisher in a nearby town.

Also toward the end of the year, Brian decided to go back to school this Spring (2010) and began the process. Come to find out he not only had to re-apply, but he also owed the school a lot of money (because his last loan hadn't gone through the last semester he was there). AND, since it had been awhile, it had gone to collections. Ugh, mess! Anyway, there was a lot of back and forth between us, the collections agency, and the school ... and while we tried to get some sort of deal, apparently schools and money, well ... they want everything. (He had to pay it all for them to release his transcripts.)

So now we know why we didn't end up buying the house over a year ago -- because the money we WERE going to put down, well, part of it needs to go for Brian's schooling.

However, as of today, some good news: Brian's account with the school has been cleared, he is now free of that debt, and he can now return to school.

AND, second, I actually got a call, TODAY, from the publisher for me to do some freelance work! Yay!

I hope to continue working harder this year to make this come to fruition. Because, I'm afraid that I can probably only give myself about another 6 months with this (to really try and make it work) before our money situation will need some serious addressing (and also given the fact that if Brian can go back to school full time, and only work part time, maybe, then he could be done sooner, and that would be a relief). SO ... we'll see how things work out.

I know I usually don't write so many personal things in this new blog, given that when I did it in my old blog I would sometimes get some nasty "anonymous" comments, but I felt that it was something that needed posting, so you could know what was going on.

So, as I began this with a note about not focusing on the past, we are going to focus on the future: Brian is going to go back to school (only part time for now, so he can get used to it again), and I am going to continue this freelancing thing (for now).

While sometimes I do wonder why things happen as they do, or why my life isn't going in the direction I wish it would, or how come other people have the things I want ... I know that the Lord has a plan for me. Goodness but I wish it would move a little quicker, though! But, as much patience as I have learned so far, I suppose I have much yet to learn.

And so, while I don't have resolutions, per se, I do have some things I want to accomplish this year. First is that I told Brian that I will not buy anymore "craft" items until I finish the current craft I'm working on (unless, of course, it's something I need to finish said craft). I have several projects that need to be worked on! I know. Laugh if you want. Second, is that I'd like to be a better friend. (I have a lot of thought behind this, but I think it wouldn't make sense if I typed it all out.) I just want to try to put as much as I can into a friendship and hopefully receive the same in kind (because, really, isn't that what good friendships are about? Some give and take? or maybe that's where my flaw lies). Lastly, I recommit myself to trying to build this little freelance business, but also open myself to available opportunities to be led where the Lord wants me to be.

But, don't fret, my artsy-craftsy self shall not be abandoned. And, to tide you over until my next project, here is a handmade Christmas gift I made for my Mother-in-Law and stepFather-in-Law. My MIL really liked it.

Oh, and for those of you that didn't know, I am doing a Project 365 this year -- documenting my life with a picture a day for an entire year. I am uploading these each day to my Flickr page, and about once a week I will post thumbnails here.

Hope everyone's year is a great one!

Christmas Gift Craft Projects

In my previous post, I showed step 1 on the way to making a gift for my sister. Since she doesn't get online, I feel safe to post and share with you.

Here's the completed, stuffed cat:

Since this was in homage to their cat that just passed away, I thought to try my hand at an altered frame, and put in an old picture of the now-deceased cat. And this is how THAT turned out:

(The "j" stands for Jabberwocky -- the cat's name.)

These have now been boxed, wrapped, bowed and tagged. Hah! Except for waiting for dry time on the frame, I think it's actually a pretty easy project (as long as you have the necessary tools, which includes the frame, paint, a light sandpaper, and scrapbook paper and elements).

I’m an Artsy-Craftsy Lemming!

I couldn’t help myself. My (new) friend Kristine (who, btw, does awesome cards and scrapbook stuff) recently posted how she found some lovely paper on sale at Aaron Brothers. And from the pic she showed, I knew I had to go check it out. Do I NEED more paper? No, but at these prices, I couldn’t NOT look, right? But, I knew I couldn’t just look. I had to touch. AND I had to buy. So this is what I got! (And yes, I couldn’t resist some of the same paper. It was too pretty!)

(L to R: Silver Bamboo Leaf; Cranberry Flocked Circle; Gold & Turquoise Paisley)

Because it's cloudy today and the lighting in my apartment is awful, I had to use the flash, but at least it picked up the silver accents in the leaves, the glitter on the flocking and the gold against the turquoise. (Oh, and this is 25"x25" paper -- large!) I also bought a package of assorted flower embellishments. And it all cost about $10. Not bad.

I haven't been to Aaron Brothers in a long time -- they specialize in frames and framing, but apparently they've ventured a lot more into art supplies and the paper crafter. Very neat. (And they had way too many cute frames. But I reframed, er, refrained. ^_^) So, thanks to Kristine for the heads up. I love the paper!

(BTW, I am trying out Live Writer, as it can give some cool photo effects. What do you think? The actual typing tool takes a little bit to figure out how to format correctly. It’s a little clunky. It shouldn’t be hard, you’d think, or maybe it’s just me. No, I don’t think it’s me. ^_^)

DigiScrap: State Fair of Texas (from the archive)

(Having some issues getting my digiscrap stuff back to my 'puter, I decided to post an old layout -- created a little over a year ago.)

With it being October, and the slight chill of fall in the air, and Halloween approaching, I thought I would share an LO I did of me at the State Fair of Texas, back in '04 (wow, it's been that long?). The picture of me with the cat makeup is actually a funny story. My company had taken us to the Fair (and we were small, so there were only a few of us), and we came across these French gals that were with some troupe, that were doing makeup ... on kids. There were some cats, lions, tigers, butterflies, and other magically glitterful creations, and ... my coworkers dared me to get my face done. Uh, hello! Cool! So, there I am, standing in line, with kids and their parents. I was not the only adult to have it done, but probably one of the few. And, the gals were kind enough to work around my glasses (which, maybe spoiled the effect a little, but...). I LOVED the way it turned out, and when we met some of my other coworkers later (who hadn't been with us), they certainly had some laughs. But I think secretly the had to be jealous. This was definitely NOT an amateur makeup job. What I especially love about this LO is the tinted pic in the background of the ferris wheel. You know, I have technically never been on that one. Maybe one day (the lines are usually really long, and it's kinda expensive, though).

DigiScrap: 4th of July

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Detailed Views

I am no longer part of the Activities Committee at church (and also no longer doing several other things as well). I am now just the Primary (childrens' Sunday School organization) Secretary.

However, as my last activity, I was part of the July 4th Breakfast that we did. I did not take all of these pictures, but I did put the layout together. I put a small and larger picture, as both layouts are meant to come together as one. And, this was my last layout for the committee as well. Hopefully the next person can do something fun as well (although, it's really more for a history than anything else, as I don't think any of these got actually displayed on any bulletin boards).

However, I will be doing some for the Primary. Coming soon for them is the Pioneer Day activity we did.

Hybrid and Thrifty Craft: Pear Art Wall Decor

So, remember the 5x7 black, distressed frame I found at Goodwill for a couple of dollars?

Well, I decided to try my hand at some wall decor, using pears -- an idea I got from the Thrifty Decor Chick, who got HER idea from The Happy Homebody. (I also thought I could make the color scheme work with the colors in my kitchen.)

Luckily, I didn't have to distress the frame (not that I needed to, but it lends some charm) and then had to search for some fake pears. Not all fake pears are created equal! Some have this sand core that is impossible to cut through. Yikes! But, my second attempt proved better.

So, after some time promised with showing you my thrifty finds re-worked, we have:

The before...

And, after...

Cute, huh? Something you could easily find at some little home decor place for like, what $15-20? (Altogether this was less than about $5.)

Now, you're wondering how this craft could possibly be considered hybrid? WELL, the paper I used to put behind the pear was digital scrapbook paper (from Shabby Princess' "Damask and Dots" kit) printed on matte photo paper. Hah!

Hopefully the weather will cool down some soon and I can get to some of my other projects, which involve spray painting.