Excited doesn't even come close to describing it...

In September, 1994, a dream of mine came true. Jesus Christ Superstar had come to town and I had tickets to see, in person, the two stars of the movie I adored since I was a teenager. Ted Neeley and Carl Anderson gave hubby and I goosebumps as we sat in that darkened concert hall, mesmerized by all the talent before us. After the show I couldn't believe my luck in being able to meet the two stars and getting their autographs and a couple of hugs. Ted was a real sweetheart and spoke to me for a long time, even missing his ride back to his hotel room (it was after 1 am) to talk about the show with me. I was literally in heaven that night.

Fast forward to today. I couldn't believe my luck to get two FREE tickets to the "Farewell Tour" of Jesus Christ Superstar next week. This time, I am taking daughter, who was only two when they last came to town. Unfortunately, dear Carl passed on a few years ago, but it will be amazing, I know, to see Ted Neeley once more. I fell in love with this man years ago on the big screen, and even though he is over sixty now, and I am nearing 50, I feel like a teenager again.

Thank you D. You don't know how thrilled you have made us.

Scrabook pages from the 1994 show I re-did tonight ... tickets (that hinge up to reveal journalling on the other side) and newspaper clippings on a white and gold page.

Ted and Carl's autographs on my program in 1994. I couldn't believe my luck in finding the stamp below that perfectly matches the JCS logo! I used it to stamp (in gold) the background sheets of gold-bordered paper.

Trying a brand new hobby

At Halloween, I made a Pirates of the Caribbean pumpkin and entered it in an online contest at KeepToTheCode.com... and was thrilled to learn I had won first prize! Well, just before Christmas, my prize arrived in the mail; a Jolly Roger model ship kit. I have never in my life put a model together before, so while I'm on vacation, I've been trying my hand at it.After a few days and 115 parts assembled so far, here's the two decks. The next step is the actual painting and assembly of the hull, attaching to the decks....step 4 of 16!!! Yikes! I can't imagine how the heck I'm going to rig this thing; but it sure is a lot of fun. I'm distressing / painting the parts as I go, and I think I'll give it a spray of dullcoat at the end to take the paint / glue shine off. Yeah, note the glass of wine; I have been getting so obsessed into this project, I even worked on it on New Year's Eve (while watching Dead Man's Chest, no less).

Christmas Crafts

Even with the chaos of the season, I try to do SOMETHING "crafty" each year, especially if I am hosting either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day dinner. In the past I have cross-stitched placecards and created a tiny "forest" of Christmas trees for the table.This year, since I am having dinner on the 24th, I made reindeer placecard holders - inspired by some metal reindeer from Chapter's catalog - unfortunately they were sold out :( so I made our own:
As well, I am making gift tags this year. Each one will have a tiny wooden reindeer (can you see that reindeers are my favorite theme?) attached that can be used next year to decorate the recipient's tree. I bought the "raw" wooden reindeer at our scrapbooking store. Hubby drilled holes in them for their hangers, and I stained, sanded and varnished each one (each step shown below).

Lots of fun to do, especially while watching some seasonal movie favorites!

Cards for 2006

This year, I made two styles of Christmas cards. One version is for friends and family, the second, a specific design especially for my Star Wars buddies.

Here's the family version (which were made in October, but I can finally unveil here as they are now in the mail). I tried a brand new technique with this one, using markers to "paint" the rubber stamp thereby getting multi-colored images. I also used non-Christmas paper which was double-sided:



Here's the inside (click for a larger view):


Here's a card I just thought up and made yesterday. I did a Star Wars "snowglobe" using two sheets of plastic page protectors sandwiching some fake snow inside...they can be really shaken up!





I hope everyone enjoys them as much as I did making them!

Calm and Curiosity

I don't know why, but it seems to me that layouts of our furry friends are so much easier than other layouts I struggle to complete.... is it because they are so photogenic? Entertaining? Or are they simply doing what I would dearly love to do: take time to relax, napping whenever the mood hits, perhaps staring out into the unknown with wonder...

Whatever it is, here are two more layouts of our cats, Dakotah and Sheba; doing what cats do best, I guess.