2Peas Blogger Challenge

Sarah posted a few questions, so I'll tackle the non-scrapbooking topic:

Have you ever been to the opera? Did you like it? What did you see? Would you like to see more?
As Elaine commented on her friend Jerry Seinfeld, who had never been to the opera before: "You know, it is so sad, all your knowledge of high culture comes from Bugs Bunny cartoons."
Yup, that's me. Never been to the opera, probably never will..."Overture, curtains, lights..this is it, we'll hit the heights. And oh, what heights will hit! On with the show, this is it!"

Family Tags and another Blogger Challenge

A few weeks ago, I was introduced to Crafttvweekly.com, a site with lots of instructional videos on scrapbooking, cardmaking, and other paper crafts. One of the projects was an origami tag holder, so I tried my hand at it. I finally finished the actual tags to go inside it; now that I have a Crop-A-Dile tool to set large eyelets and punch holes...what a great tool!

Each tag has a photo of my "family"; daughter, hubby, two cats and our dog. I inked the edges of the tags and papers, attached a Prima flower to each and threaded some fibres through the eyelets. I also Xyron'd a ghost letter of each member's name and attached them on top of the tags. What a fun little project; and now I can carry my loved ones with me wherever I go!


So now I can answer Melissa's Blogger Challenge:

What is your favorite embellishment to use lately on your layouts? maybe buttons, flowers, brads? Eyelets! Now that I am having so much fun with my new Crop-A-Dile!

In My Life

It seems I get some of my best ideas in the middle of the night. While listening to Beatles music late last evening, I came across one of my favorites; "In My Life"... it's a song I remember from the 60's when I was quite young. Just listening to it brings back wonderful memories of my childhood. So it was easy to build a page around the song (literally); I printed the lyrics on transparancy, and surrounded it with a collage of mini-photos of my family, friends and me from 1960 to 2006. Some are mounted on foam to raise them up and give the page some depth. The background paper is Junkitz "Hip Hop Squares". I was up till 1:30 am printing the photos so I could make the page at cropping night tonight. It's simple, but it doesn't need anything else. The LSS owner suggested I hang this one up to enjoy... I just may do that.



In My Life

There are places I remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends
I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more

- The Beatles, 1965

For an interesting article on this song, go to BBC RAdio 2.

2Peas Thursday Bloggers Challenge

Sarah posted the following today at 2Peas:

Scrapbooking topic: How do you print your photos? What gives you the best results? Even had any really bad prints? Ever had a service lose your order/film?

Non-Scrapbooking Topic: Tell us what you are good at. What do you excell at? Do you enjoy it? How did you get good at it? Do other people know you are good at this thing?

Hmmm...okay, for the first question: I now print ALL my photos on my new Epson printer at home (which I got this past Christmas from hubby and daughter). It is wonderful! I can re-size and crop any of my digital photos and even add text right on them... then I print on white cardstock and I am all ready to crop! I used to use Walmart's Photo center. I think the money I've saved on developing has more than made up for the printer price... and it sure is less of a hassle to have the prints when I want them, instead of having to drive to the mall to pick them up. I also LOVE the way it lets me print beautiful LARGE photos...really dramatic!

Now for the second question: What am I good at. Well, I love to draw or do anything artistic. My dad taught me at a very early age how to paint. This blog is basically my venue to show what I have done, either in scrapbooking, painting, drawing, sculpting or in cross stitch. My artwork has also been on display in a few cities in the US when I spoke at conventions on sculpting.

I am also good with computers, which I basically am self-taught in. (More on that on my other blog, Stale Coffee). Do others know about this? I guess so...I get paid to provide computer support at two local hospitals.

My Little Starbucks Book

After watching Ana on Fiskar's.com do a demonstration on how to make a mini scrapbook out of a Starbucks sleeve, I wanted to try this myself. Daughter and I love our local Starbucks, so I filled my book with photos from our many visits.
I made 6 pages in all, using Basic Grey paper (glued back to back and on the inside of the covers, front and back). Brown Bobbin ribbon holds the pages in place, three lengths holding each set of pages. The Starbucks logo "charm" hanging from the binding ribbon on the front is actually a photo I printed on Shrinky-Dink paper, cut out, punched a hole in it and I then shrunk it using my new embossing heat gun. I also set the colors on the piece with some Krylon spray.I also made a Shrinky-Dink of one of our favorite summer drinks, the Tangerine Juice Blend Frappachino and glued it to the front cover.
A few fibers, clips and a self-adhesive tab at the top finished it off! Now I can carry my mini-book whereever I want!