WOW

I can't believe that is has been this long since my last post...Life has been busy...we celebrated my husbands birthday...went to Florida...School started...Cuba got sick...Cuba and I had the Swine Flu...H1N1 sounds much better...only to find out that he can't go to school this fall and I have another strand of FLU...and celebrated my sons birthdays.

So much has happened, but I have managed to create a few items and scrapbooked some. I will post pictures soon...

For now I am going outside to enjoy the nice weather and go to the Pumpkin Patch if I can stop coughing!...

Enjoy today and I will see you soon.

A wonderful Blessing

I can't believe that it has been so long since I last posted...I have been busy with LIFE...my wonderful husband and 3 lovely children!!

Yesterday, I was reminded of a car accident that happened many many years ago...when I was in Middle School when a car plowed into the back of my mothers car as she was taking me to school. Yesterday we were sitting at a light when a car ran the red light and almost plowed into the side of me on the passenger side. The car was traveling at least 55 miles per hour as she ran the red light. Thankfully my mother noticed the car and noticed that the car was not slowing down. Her motherly instincts took over and she waited for the car to pass. The lady in the other car was clueless of what had just happened.

This morning while sitting in church the reality of what took place yesterday finally hit me. When I think of what could have happened or where my family could have been this morning...I am truly thankful and blessed.

I thank God for my mother and allowing me to see another day and spend it with my family worshipping Him!

My FIRST Jewelry Piece

I created this necklace using UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel), empty locket, different Hearts and beads.

The hardest thing was adding the UTEE because as you set it with your heat gun, the powder tends to blow around. You have to be VERY CAREFUL because it gets hot QUICKLY.

*Use Tweezers!!!!

The second piece I created I used my Melting Pot. I heated the UTEE in the Melting Pot and used a Spoon to add the melted UTEE to the locket and that worked WONDERFULLY. Just be careful because it was very hot and had to level it off each time I added a layer of UTEE to it.

ABC's of Salvation

I love FAITHBOOKING!!!

What is FAITHBOOKING??? There are several definitions for FAITHBOOKING , but it is SIMPLY incorporating your FAITH throughout you SCRAPBOOKS. A few meanings may include:

A means to express our FAITH

A journey of your FAITH

To record the life lessons that God teaches US

Scripture, thoughts, prayers, blessings, memories, letters, and stories are combined with our photographs to remember our personal and spiritual journey with the Lord.

I started FAITHBOOKING because we are commanded to. Throughout the Bible, we are commanded to remember. Remember the praise worthy deeds of the Lord. Psalm 78:4 We are also told to teach. Teach them to your children...Dt. 4:9 Teach them the right way to live...1 Kings 8:36 There are many more scripture verses that tell us to remember and teach. What better way to remember and to teach then with FAITHBOOKING! Remember and teach through your journaling and scripture verses then enhance with photos and embellishments.

For Father's Day, I made...YES another mini album and...YES it is acrylic

The chipboard letters spell Papa. After I added the letters to the album, I realized that I should that used a heavier grade of chipboard because the letters bend easily. This is the picture of the book before I reinforced the letters and painted them. My father LOVED his album and he cried when I gave it to him. I created a lot of pockets in this book to tuck tags behind. This is an ABC of Salvation album. I pulled scripture out of the Bible for each letter of the alphabet and tried to capture a scripture for each picture, event and activity.

Happy Mother's Day

Here is the I made this book for my Mother-in-law for Mother's Day...I hope she likes it. I have fallen in LOVE with making mini ACRYLIC albums. The biggest challenge for me is trying to include all of my pictures...the only solution I have found is making FOLD OUT pages/tags for several pages.

Another favorite of mine is using LACE PAPER because it can serve as a double page if you choose to let the other side of the paper show through, which is what I did for this book. I LOVE the way the white shows through on the other side.

I LOVE how you can see the Lace on several different pages by cutting the mats smaller for the following pages.

This mini album has over FIFTY (50) pictures inside!!

A Life of Lessons Learned

Today...This Month...This Year...Life Lessons...Lessons Learned

Webster defines Friendship as The State of Being Friends...what does this really mean...?
Webster defines Friends as One Attached to Another by Affection or Esteem (Acquaintance)

I could go on and on...about friends or friendship, but as I began my research of the Meaning of Friends or Friendship...the one path that it did not lead me to was DISAPPOINTMENT which is the state or emotion of being disappointed...

I would think by now being the age that I am that this would not hurt or feel the same time after time...but it DOES! People say that they are your friends, but I believe that we are living in a time where people don't know the TRUE MEANING of FRIENDSHIP or what it MEANS to be FRIENDS...a time that YOUR WORD means nothing or where a FIRM HANDSHAKE was just as LEGALLY BINDING as a WRITTEN or VERBAL contract in a COURT of LAW...

I have a very diverse family and the thing that irritates family members is the same thing that we admire in each other...which is the ability to be HONEST with each other...NOT say one thing and mean something totally different...

TODAY I am reminded of my uncle who died when I was in college...whom I loved very much...I can still HEAR his WORDS in my ear...YOU DON'T HAVE ANY _ _ _ _ FRIENDS...I use to not believe it, but little did I know that his WORDS of WISDOM that were meant for my cousins would one day be meant for ME! He would say that the TRUE TEST of FRIENDSHIP comes when YOU need something and you look around and...YOU are standing ALONE!

George and Martha

I forgot introduce you to George and Martha...I met them the same weekend of the Great American Scrapbook Convention when we stayed at the Embassy Suites...They are BEAUTIFUL...

Pictures at LAST

Here are the pictures of the acrylic mini album that I finished during the Great American Scrapbook Convention while we locked in our hotel SUITE...

I used Alcohol Ink on the cover of this book. The
trick for me was to plan my pages before I actually glued anything down. After I finished with the cover, I used Blending solution to create a circle so that you could see her face.

I decided to use paint and cardstock to decorate the letters and then I used Liquid Pearls, Flowers that were left over from a Fiskars border punch and Gemstones.

In is book there are many pockets so that I could tuck in tags for her ABC Book that I am putting up for here for when she is older. I usually let the children see their books when I finish them, but I like to keep some and put up for them when they are older.

This picture is a fold out of the page that I added because I had more pictures than pages and wanted to include them.

What I LOVE most about Acrylic Albums is that if you plan it just right, you can use your paper for several layouts...meaning if you cover one sheet of the album and then reduce the size going forward. In this album you can see the first three pages.

What's next...?

I can't believe that it has been a week since I last blogged. I do not know where the time has gone...oh wait, YES i do...I went to a store this past week and while shopping the manager went by pushing one load and pulling another load of boxes stacked at least 7 feet tall...and guess what?...they fell and hit me in my HEAD...it hurt really bad. Thank GOD my mother was with me and was able to fill out the incident report. I ended up going to the doctor the next day because my HEAD would NOT stop hurting. My HEAD is BRUISED and has a BUMP on it.

The medicine that the doctor prescribed is a really good drug...it KNOCKED me OUT...I guess that is why I haven't blogged...I have been in the bed. The other interesting thing is that I dropped me car off at the shop a week ago Thursday...Thank GOD for my warranty. They had to tear down the engine...8 days later it is ready for me to pick up, but when I get there...it's not there...the CAR is not there. The run around trying to find it and finally realizes that they forgot to pick it up from the other shop...now I have to wait until Monday.

OK...now I know you are thinking enough is enough...well not quite...I went to go to the store today and my husbands car makes this LOUD noise and sounds like it wants to cut off...that wouldn't be so bad, but I am supposed to teach tomorrow and now I have no transportation...

OK...now that is really enough...hopefully I can create something this week since I am stuck in the house...or at least until I get my car back. I did take pictures of the projects that I completed, now I just have to upload them...

This has been the longest, but shortest week for me. I have no idea where all the time went. I will try to post pictures of my projects that I completed last weekend.

I gave my dad his album and he cried...he really liked it!! I can't wait for you to see it. Besides trying to get back in the swing of things...I have started exercising again...I went to the doctor and I have to shed 25 POUNDS!!!!! I started trying to walk a MILE a day and yesterday I walked 1/2 mile and i JOGGED .75 Miles!!!! who knew I could job again...the doctors told me not to because of the ARTHRITIS in my knees, but I felt really good. My parents came to visit for the 4th and this morning my mother walked 2MILES with me...I was really tired after that and had to take a 2HOUR NAP!!!!

Please pray that I can continue this exercise program and for good health. I weighed a few minutes ago and I have lost 5POUNDS!!!!!!!!

Home at last

We had an awesome time scrapbooking in our SUITE!!! It is worth going again just to get away for a few days. The only negative thing about the weekend is that we actually went to the Expo center and were disappointed.

I had gone a few years back with my girlfriend Jen from http://www.alteredegotoo.blogspot.com/ and had a very good time taking classes and visiting the vendors. This year it seemed as if there were not as many vendors, there were not many new products and the deals were just OK, nothing to jump UP and DOWN about. I think we stayed for about 2 hours and then called it quits and headed back to our SUITE where we locked ourselves in never to be seen again until Sunday when it was time to check out.

It has taken me this long to catch up on sleep and return to normal...what ever that means. Now I have to go unpack my car and put my STUFF away. I will post pictures of the projects that I completed soon.

Great American Scrapbooking Convention

I am so excited to finally arrive at our hotel...it seems like this has been the longest week and it is only Wednesday. We planned to leave between 10 & 11, which actually means 11 & 12 by the time we pack the car and get on the road...

The drive was really pleasant because we thought we would not run in to any traffic...WRONG!!! We were in stop and go traffic for about 2 hours which is tha amount of time it was supposed to take to get to the hotel...it is 10:40 and we are finally checked in and have begun to set up in our...SUITE!

We decided to do something different this year. We decided to get a room and set our scrapbook STUFF in our suite so that we can CROP around the CLOCK. I am getting ready to finish setting up and go take a NAP so that I can CROP til I DROP!!!

Alcohol Inks

I have been working on my Scrapbook NOOK and finally cleared off my desk to play for a little while with Alcohol Ink. I have been SHOPPING in my STASH...i can't believe how much STUFF I have!

I pulled out my Adirondak Alcohol Inks by Tim Holtz and Glossy (white and black) Paper. My favorite colors are

Wild Plum
Lettuce
Butterscotch
Stream


I LOVE these colors and have found a way to use these colors everytime!

I like adding the mixatives to my colors for INTERESTING effects. My favorite ones are Pearl and Silver. I love using these two mixatives when working with the Black Glossy Paper.

I found that the best effect for me comes from first applying the fixative and then follow up with the colors, otherwise it looks very dull...just my opinion. Please let me know if you have experienced something totally different.

I think I had the most fun on this layout because I played with my favorite color PINK!

I used the Adirondak Ink colors
Raisin
Wild Plum
Raspberry
I used the BLENDING solution to create the little bubbles that you see. I poured little drops of the solution directly on the paper and then pounced gently to blend the colors.

I used White Glossy Paper on this layout. The ink colors used on this layout are

Denim
Bottle
Stream

After playing with the colors, I added the Pearl Mixative for a water effect. I cut the paper and used punches to create embellishments for this layout.

I used Black Glossy Paper on this layout. The mixative on this layout is silver and the Adirondack Alcohol Ink colors are

Terra Cotta
Rust
Lettuce
Butterscotch

I used a pouncing motion with the colors and played with the combination of colors on the applicator. Once I had enough color, I applied the Pearl Mixative and this is the result...

My First Altered Canvas

Here it is as promised. I had so much fun playing with different art mediums. This is a picture that my 2 youngest took in preschool. I had no idea what I was going to do when I first started. The most difficult part was choosing the pictures.

To prepare the canvas, I first lightly sanded the canvas. Then I painted the canvas with Tim Holtz Adirondack Espresso paint dabber and Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink Pad. I used large and small bubble wrap with Goldens Naphthol Red Medium to get the circle effects.

I was able to achieve depth using Goldens Soft Gel Gloss and a round screen. (If you try it, you have to wait a while for it to dry) I found it best to let it air dry for about 20-30 minutes before manipulating it. After it dried I sprayed it with Glimmer Myst.

This is long over due!

I have so many friends that blog daily and they keep asking me to start a blog...so here it is! I have no idea what I am doing or if I will have the time to keep this up, but I am going to give it a try.

Things have been really busy around here with my husband working from home...I can't get anything done. Summer is here and school is out, so trying to keep the children busy is a job in itself.

At the beginning of the year, I took on the challenge to scrapbook or create something every day if only to take a picture a day...sad to say...I have not kept up with the challenge. I finally have a NEW scrapbook NOOK, so hopefully I can try again. I am still in the process of setting up my nook and will post pictures soon. I am so excited and can't wait for it to be complete, but setting it up is another JOB all by itself.

Stay tuned...for pictures of my scrapbook NOOK and my Altered Canvas