Gingerbread Time of Year!

Cottage by the Sea

This year’s gingerbread house competition subject was “Cottage/Camp”.  I decided to recreate the first beach house that I stayed in.  Of course it doesn’t look exactly like the real one, but it’s close and I love it.  It’s not very Christmas-y but it has a bit of charm.

I sketched the house first, then figured out how I needed to lay it out and how big it could be to pack the most pow and also, to be sturdy enough to withstand driving it from point A to point B.  One I figured it out I had my boyfriend secure a base, cut it to size and drill a hole in the bottom so I could snake a light up through.

I made my gingerbread from a recipe that I’ve used for a couple years now.  It makes a good strong cookie.  I got the recipe from a gingerbread house workshop I attended.  If you are at all leary about building your own house, but you want to do it, I suggest an afternoon (or morning!) workshop.  Check your local Chamber of Commerce to see if there is one.  If not, suggest they schedule one.  Someone in your community is an expert.

I cut out the windows and doors and used Jolly ranchers (hammered in a plastic bag) the last four minutes of baking time to create a colorful façade.  I set the house up a little bit higher than level using a pan of rice crispy treats.  I made them without butter so they would be harder and hold the weight of the house.  I covered the sides of the house before I put them up – because it’s easier to do siding that way.  Then I ran the knife across it to look like wood planks.

The sand is ground up rice crispies and brown sugar stuck to icing.  The ocean is hard candy.  I pulled it out of the cookie sheet just before it was totally cooled.  It gave it a look of movement – which was totally unexpected, but totally welcomed!

I hope you like it!  Comments & questions are always welcomed – and encouraged.  Remember – it’s not too late to make your own gingerbread house!

Dresser Re-do

     I’m so bad about posting what I do!  Here is a little project I worked on in the dead of winter.  It was for my mom for Christmas, but she goes away, so I had it ready for her when she came home in April.  Yes, it took me a while to get to it.  Meh.  I’m a procrastinator.    

     I picked up this dresser at a yard sale last August.  For free.  Yes, I love that rock bottom price.  No haggling.  Friends of ours were moving their mother closer to where they lived and they told us to take what we wanted.  Well, I’ve wanted to paint a piece of furniture for some time now, so we took it!  Once I got it home life of course happened, so it sat in the living room collecting dust for months!

     After we got it all sanded (my boyfriend did this part) we went shopping for the perfect color.  We got this one at Lowe’s.  I love the beach house feel of it.  We had wooden drawer pulls at home so they got sanded up a bit too.

     I did two coats of paint.  It took weeks for it to dry.  It was the primer & paint all at once.  I like it. It gave good coverage.  It just stayed tacky for a bit.  The pulls I painted white, and I was going to finger paint teal and coral swirls on them, but alas, that didn’t look good.  Instead, I looked around my studio and thought “What can I paint on these pulls?” and then I grabbed the stack of DCWV Hey Sailor paper.  Between that and the nautical stuff I have laying around I was able to create some nifty pulls!

     My mother loved it.  It took her a couple weeks before she decided how she was going to use it, but now it has its own place and it is loved.

     Remember – comments are always welcome and so appreciated.  You have no idea!

Saying Goodbye...

Cal’s office visit is not going well.  He appears to have a tumor on his jaw and we are going to have to make a decision – whether to operate or to let him go.  I always pray that my animals will go in their sleep but it never works out that way. 

Cal has always been thorny to me, with a rose thrown in here and there.  And those roses were so precious!  He’d let me hold him and cuddle him for a brief time before he would turn on me with his claws and teeth. 

I know what I would tell someone in my position.  Let him go, before pain cripples him and the quality of his life is shit.  But how do you tell a doctor to stop the heart of a soul you’ve been connected to for twelve years?  I did this eleven years ago for Jack when he was in the midst of losing his faculties.  It wasn’t an easy decision then and it’s not now.  I always wondered afterwards if I should have waited.  If he wanted me to wait. 

Cal can’t go outside now.  He’s falling over when he jumps and is having trouble walking on any surface that isn’t flat.  He knows something is going on.  Last night before I went to bed he was resting in the dog kennel.  He loves a soft surface.  This wasn’t soft by any means.  I kneeled down and called him to me and he got up and walked to me.  Another thing he doesn’t do if he’s chilling.  I picked him up and carried him upstairs and put him on the bed.  He walked over to Derrick and laid down on him for a minute then went to his blanket and snuggled with that.  This morning he got up on the bed with me and laid on my chest while I pet him.  I got up late because I didn’t want to stop.  That’s not his normal with me. 

In my head I’m hoping that the vet says it’s a very simple and cheap procedure and that he’ll be fine, so do the surgery and take him home.  In my heart I know that time is fleeting and I hope that even though we had our differences, and our personalities clashed, that I loved him and love him, still.

I know this is not a crafty post, but I will eventually scrap this and I want it here.

Painting

     This past week has been a flurry of painting.  

The ones on the wall are not mine.  The theme was clouds.

     I was involved with a murder mystery that included art - pointillism paintings to be exact.  I have had no experience with this form of art so I was on my own.  Thank God the artist was portrayed as not all that great at his craft.  I have spent several evenings this past week popping out paintings.  I'm not exactly super proud of them (somewhat proud, I am!).  I've discovered a new respect for pointillism artists.  It is a tedious art form and they must have the patience of saints as they create.  Plus, they use the tiniest dots.  I did not. As you can see.  

     I did one painting before I realized that it was supposed to be pointillism.  I really love the sky.  It's not finished, but I wanted to show it to you now, just in case I ruin it later.

"Ponyless Prairie"

     I'm not sure if I'll continue with my painting.  I may for awhile, to see if I can do more, do better.  Paints and brushes are expensive though, and I've already discovered that wiping stray bristles off a wet canvas causes blemishes on your art.  Ugh!  I need some guidance!

     Enjoy, and as always, comments are greatly appreciated!

Chipboard Book

Helloooooo!  So here I am and I thought I would share this really cool little book that I made out of chipboard and craft paper.  I have wanted to make one of these for a while.  I actually started one about a year ago with homemade page holders and pockets but I became discouraged because the projects I watched on www.youtube.com  were so awesome!  Lol – so I stepped back and tried my own thing. 

I laid out the outside of the book in 5 pieces.  I made the spine large enough to hold a black binding comb that I recycled from work.  One end was broken, so I cut it down and voila!   I had something to hold my pages in place.

I then covered the chipboard with black cardstock, leaving about a quarter-inch between the individual pieces of board so they would bend.  Just watch the videos here:   https://www.youtube.com/user/mysistersscrapper

 – They are amazing.  Ginger is so talented! 

I used DCWV Travel paper stack.  I used the solid colors as my pages and the printed for the front, back, inside and spine.  I also used some of the paper as embellishments, fussy cutting them, and then gluing it onto chipboard. 

The flowers on the front I made from the DCWV flower stack.  I like the way they look.  I even put a little center pearl in one. 

I made this little album for the postcards that I’ve received from www.postcrossing.com .  I love receiving postcards from different countries, hearing about other peoples’ lives, and seeing the (mostly) beautiful stamps.

I hope you enjoy, and comments are always appreciated!

May Scrap-A-Holic Challenge

Finally!  I finished my page for the DCWV May Scrap-A-Holic Challenge!  I really wanted to do the card as well, and maybe I’ll have time this weekend to do that.  I don’t know.  The weekend is pretty full.  Here’s the lineup:

Friday:  Pick up kids, bake something for the Village bake sale tomorrow (benefits the local historical society)

Saturday:  Village wide yard sales, put garden in, cemetery, work on 4H projects, possibly kayak

Sunday:  4H projects if we didn’t get them done on Saturday, dinner, bring kids home

I may be able to make the card while the kids do their projects, if I’m not helping too much.  Maybe it will distract me from hovering… lol!

I hope you like my attempt at this challenge!

Have a great weekend!

The Challenge!

My answer to the challenge!

Products used:

Alphalicious Cricut cartridge, DCWV Hey Sailor Stack, Inkadinkado, Martha Stewart crab punch, Memento ink

It's Been a While...

Gads!  It’s been awhile!  I feel like I’m always writing that.  It’s not like I haven’t done anything.  I’ve got pages and pages done for my 2015 scrapbook.  I’ve even had company in my studio – yes, that’s right, my boyfriend has been hanging out working on a project of his own.  I’ll post it once he finally gets it the way he wants it.

Here’s how it goes in my studio (a spare bedroom that allows me to craft when the kids are not around).  I explained to D last night before we went up to work.  There is no yelling or loud outbursts of frustration.  You can be frustrated, just not loudly.  He says to me that he’s never done that, and I tell him that I know, but if he does he has to go.  I say all this with a smile, but I do mean it.  He gets frustrated easily with this art stuff.

So I was planning on getting to the DCWV May Scrap-a-Holic Challenge started last night but I had an unfinished page on my bench so I finished that one instead.  Then tonight I was planning on working on the challenge, but we’ve been invited to brainstorm on a play we are supposed to be putting on next month and that absolutely needs to be done.  So now I have no idea when I’m going to fit this in because I want to play!  I had a vision for my page!

Maybe tonight if we get back from dinner at a decent time.  We’ll see… In the meantime, I’m dreaming of my pages.

Easter 2015

     Ack!  I haven’t posted and I have been meaning to!  I’ve not sat idly by, praying my 2015 scrapbook pages get done.  I have been actively working on them, every time I get a chance!  This page I finished a couple weeks ago.  I’ve finished others but I haven’t taken photos of them yet.  I’m looking for a better way than standing on a chair and twisting not to get a shadow.  

     You know what I’m talking about.

     I love the colors in this page – just very springy and Easter-y.  And the subjects, well, one cannot help but love them.

Happy late Easter everyone!

Prison Break!

Last night I worked on my “Prison Break” scrapbook.  I haven’t done anything with it for a while and it has been languishing on my kitchen table for a couple of months.  Not good – especially since the table is café style and no one else can use it while there are stacks of scrapbook paper and newspapers and glue sticks all over it.  Right now I’m up to 47 pages, front and back.  All of it newspaper articles.  I’m not sure if I can download newscasts about it.  If I can, I may burn them to a disk and include them too.  My hope is that Ron Howard or Tom Hanks will want to do a movie and will come to me and ask to use the data I’ve put together.  They will woo me with gifts and dinners and kind words and lots of $$$, and I will be gracious enough to hand it over.  Yes, my dreams are grand, but there are good people in them! 

I’m not sure how I’m going to bind all of this either.  Will I put it in a regular scrapbook binder, or a 3-ring, or maybe a comb? 

***

Wow!  Wrote that about six months ago!  Anyone else behind in their projects?  Just me????  Well, last night I did take out my Prison Break scrapbook and the few newspaper articles I had left and got to work. 

I didn’t make this fancy for a reason.  It was a prison break, not a party.  I added a few stickers – tongue in cheek, if you will, about travel and camping.  To be fair, it’s very hard to find prison stickers.  If there are any out there please send them to me! 

Honestly, even though it was a county away I was afraid.  We made sure the doors were locked, that the animals were inside, that there was a weapon close by in case of a confrontation.  Thank God we never had to meet one of these guys.

I think I will have to outline my “Breaking Out” letters on the front to make them stand out more, but other than that I’m happy with the finished project.  Now I can back to scrapping everyday life in 2015!

Have you ever made an entire scrapbook out of an event that happened in the public eye?  Why did you do it?  How did you scrap it?  Did you share it with anyone?

April Stack-A-Holic Challenge

It’s April and it’s also time for the Scrap-A-Holic Challenge from DCWV.  I realize it looks as though I’m only working on these challenges now, but they are my kick-start.  I’m also working on something very special which I will show to you soon – just not today.

As you may know from previous posts, I am a year behind on my scrapbooking.  For the April challenge, I have scrapbooked my mother’s birthday from a year ago, yesterday.  I’m hoping her birthday this year will get scrapped sooner! 

I used the Scripts and Music Notes paper stack from DCWV as the background.  I love this paper!  It’s so dreamy and soft and feminine.  Perfect for my mother’s birthday. 

I also used my Creative Memories Border Punch system to create a notebook effect on the side of the page and my Suburbia Cricut cartridge to make the tea cup and lettering.  When I think of mom, I think of tea.  That’s her go-to drink.  She used to take it with one sweet-n-low but now she’s switched to a teaspoon of sugar, and milk.  I propped the teacup on foam squares to give the page dimension, although you can’t see it here.  I also gave it a little bling with some glitter glue.  I love that stuff!

Did you see my flowers?  I used the leftovers from cutting my border and made them into stems and leaves!  So cute and a great way to use scraps! (Scraps? Scrapbooking?  It's a win!)

I have an extra pad of the DCWV Scripts and Music Notes paper that I will be giving away in the future.  Please follow my blog so you’ll know when that will be happening.

Postcards!

Recently I was turned on to a site that promotes international communication.  It’s called Postcrossing, and it encourages people to send postcards to strangers.  They give you names and addresses after you set up a profile.  Once a postcard you send is received, then you become eligible to receive one from someone.  I love this idea!  I love receiving mail through the post office, I love pictures, and I love the idea of connecting with others from different cultures. 

I signed up in January, went out and purchased a couple of postcards and started sending.  You can send as many, or as few, as you would like.  I’ve sent out six so far with one getting ready to go today. 

The one I’m sending out today is going to a girl in Germany who wouldn’t mind getting a homemade card.  Some people specify that they want specific cards – art, places, history, dogs, cats, etc.  This girl likes food and recipes.  It gave me an idea.

I went to the local craft store to see if I could get a postcard stamp.  Alas, no luck.  I ended up ordering a set of Tim Holtz postcard stamps.  

They seemed the most versatile.  The others I saw didn’t appeal to me, but I always try to keep an open mind.  The stamps were delivered to me yesterday, so last night I set out to work.  The only food photo I found was of the birthday cake I made a few years ago for Gaige.  

I trimmed the edges a little and set it on a 4”x6” piece of cardstock that I had salvaged from an old report.  I glued it on with Aileen's Tacky Glue.  I really want this photo to stay on during shipping.  I stamped the back and let it dry and now it’s ready for an address and note!

I really am excited about sending it out.  I hope she likes it.  What I truly want is to have a pen pal.  I had one when I was a kid.  She was from Japan and we sent letters all the time until we were in our late teens.  I don’t know why we stopped.  Perhaps it was boys and dating.  I know in my case that was probably it.  I wish I knew what happened to her.  I miss learning about someone else’s culture through private letters.  It’s one thing to read Wikipedia.  It’s another to read it in someone else’s handwriting about their very own experience.

I hope you like the postcard and the idea of it.  It’s a pretty simple project, but one that can give you a lot of satisfaction and could definitely brighten another’s day.

Syrup Time!

Several weeks ago I completed several surveys through DCWV and received a lovely paper stack from them!  What a surprise when they contacted me!  Thank you so much DCWV!  

I received the Luxe Lodge stack about a week after being notified and at first I thought to myself “How am I going to use this?”  Well, I had just started scrapbooking again, after a self-imposed hiatus (because I have no room in my house) and as I was going through my photos I came across the Maple Syrup Weekend photos from 2015. 

Here is a sampling of the different papers:

This is my favorite

Ok, as you can see, I love plaid...

        We do MSW every year with the kids and it’s so much fun because we get to taste NEW maple syrup and maple candy, smell the sap being boiled into liquid happiness, pet the alpacas, and ride through the countryside and woods in a wagon drawn by beautiful draft horses.  We always look forward to it, and we always say we’re going to try a different place the next year, but then we end up back there with the animals.  We love them.  Every time I see the alpacas I want to get a couple.  Unfortunately, living in the village put a stop to that.  Maybe someday…

So anyway, I took some liberties with the March challenge.  The main one being that I used two photos instead of one.  Most of the pages I create have two or more photos on them – I like to get as many memories in there as my scrapbooks have taken the place of my photo albums.  I used the birch tree paper as the main background page as it gives one the feeling of riding through the woods.  

I used the pine cone paper as my photo mat and my title words.  I love the pine cone paper!  

One of the circles under the photo matting is DCWV burlap paper from the 6” stack.  I love the texture!  It also lends itself to the outdoorsyness (NOT a word but using it anyway) of the photos and paper.

My Cricut was useful for the letters and the arrows for the forest signs.  I traced around them to make them stand out a little more and then added some directions for fun.

I had a really great time doing this challenge.  It’s been awhile since I have even tried, though I wanted to, and it just seems to me that I need to make time for what I want to do.  Even if it’s just a half hour a couple times a week.  Being among my paper and crafting supplies was therapeutic.