Another One Bites the Dust...

An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in...A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.

Happy New Year to All!

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

This Fall a friend of mine, that knows how much I enjoy old photos gave me this one of his aunt as a child. The detail of her coat, hat and shoes are amazing. I knew I wanted to use this picture in a Christmas card. While it doesn't scream Christmas...it does look very winter-y. After a few attempts of trying to make the photo work...and not liking what I was coming up with, I went looking for some inspiration...and found it in a 2008 Somerset. Frieda Oxenham had a wonderful design that I semi-scrap swiped.
The background of the card is 7Gypsies "Venice-Canal" patterned paper . "Black Soot" Distress ink for the stamp and the edges of the card. I highlighted the stamp design with the "magic pen" (gotta love the the magic pen). A glittery shear aqua ribbon runs down the side...and aqua lace across the bottom, along with the word "Merry". A large white lace snowflake (which started out life as a daisy) is covered in "Star Dust" Stickels and embellished with a rhinestone star. All topped off with a sprig of Holly on the hat.

The message inside the card reads...

"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas".

I hope you do just that!

Celebrate the Season

My Tucson Sister asked me what I wanted for Christmas this year...
I always answer the same..."a trip to Hawaii."
"No really what do you want?"
"Okay...if not a trip to Hawaii, I want you to make me a Christmas Card..." TS made me this beautiful card. The poinsettia is made from folded pieces of a deep red mulberry paper with flakes of gold. The leaves are folded pieces of dark green mulberry paper that have a scalloped edge...mounted on cream color card stock.The message in side the card reads: Celebrate the Season.
Very cool!

Holiday Stress

Tis the season...candy is made and placed in tins to pass out, parties have been attended, the house is semi-decorated, tree is trimmed, gifts are packed up and shipped off, Christmas cards are made and mailed, shopping is done...can you say "Holiday Stress"!
Now I told you that story to tell you this story...
As I was rushing past the sun room on my way to the next seasonal chore, I spotted the cat napping. Not a cat nap mind you...but a curl up in the sunshine to get warm, with not a care in the world nap. Didn't this cat know that Christmas was only a few days away, and there was "stuff" to do!?!

I sat down on the stool and proceeded to chastise her on all the reasons that nobody has time to be napping in the middle of the day this time of year...she could care less. I'm sure she was secretly laughing a me...I would never admit it to her...but I was really envious of her nap in the sunshine...what a way to spend a day!

PS...for all of you that have asked why I haven't blogged more often...please re-read the first paragraph!

Paris, Ostriches and Clark Gable

New York has the life size fiberglass Cows...San Francisco has the over size fiberglass Hearts and Chandler Arizona has 6 1/2 foot Ostriches. Why Ostriches...because back in the early 1900s women wore big fashionable hats loaded with Ostrich feathers. The founder of Chandler...Dr. A.J. Chandler raised Ostriches...so we have decorated 6 1/2 foot Ostriches placed here and there in Historic downtown Chandler.
When mom was here last weekend to took a field trip downtown to see the decorated Ostrich in the lobby of the famous San Marcos Resort. This Ostrich was decorated by Ann, one of the very creative students in the Heritage Scrapbook class I teach at Mystic Paper, and Diane, an artist friend of hers.
The Ostrich was title "Clark Gable on the Golf Course". All dressed up in golf shoes, plus fours (old style golf pants), golf club and a bow tie. And as a matter of fact Clark Gable did visit the San Marcos Resort and no doubt played a round or two of golf there.

From there mom and I took a short walk down the block from the resort to "The Art on Boston" an art gallery...on Boston Street.
Lisa, another very creative student in my class, had made decorations for a "Paris" Christmas Tree displayed at the gallery. The tree is part of the local merchants "World of Trees" contest. Lisa had some glittery frames she embellished with red Dresden trim, and inserted a image of Marie Antoinette to hang on the tree. She also made red, white and blue die cut Eiffel Tower ornaments decorated with Sticklers.

Mom and I each took a ballot and voted for the "Paris Tree".

Art Deco Birthday Card

I can't remember where I found this image. I don't think she is a flapper. But the dress and head piece are the "Art Deco" look. Maybe 1920's or 30's. I thought she would look great on a card.
I played around with different back grounds. She didn't look quite right until I found this Basic Gray paper..."Marrakesh". The aqua and black work so well together. I covered her dress with black Stickels...some rhinestones on her shoes and center of her belt (is that a belt?)

She does look pretty good on a card. Now the question is... is that a shadow under her arms or...?

Fairys, a Bathing Beauty and Birthdays

One of my favorite Blogs is Graphics Fairy. If you haven't discovered Karen's wonderful images, you don't know what you are missing! Karen shares at least one new image a day. She has a site full of treasures she has found, fixed, edited and improved.
I discovered this fun image of a vintage bathing beauty on Karen's site a while ago.

When I was making cards this Summer for all the "Fall" birthdays, I printed off the photo, cut around the image, added some patterned paper, lots of Stickels,

a vintage postcard, a few rhinestones...

and created a "By the Sea" collage card. All the cards have been sent out to friends and family with "Fall" birthdays, so I'm finally able to post these.

Cards, Banners and Magic Pens

Have you ever heard of a "magic pen". It has probably been out for ever, and I have just discovered it. Jennifer added a "magic pen" to each of the Mystic Paper Design Team kits...it is wonderful! It's a Sakura brand Gelly Roll pen...Clear Star...it's just like a magic wand full of fairy dust.
I used it to out line every image on the vintage post cards for my Design Team project. The easy choice was to make Christmas card. Along with the "magic pen" I embellished the cards with red, green and crystal Stickels.

The cards were fun to make...but I needed more of a challenge. What to do with all the postcards. I thought about my designer friend Melissa... she creates these amazing banners. Maybe I could make a Christmas Banner...I have never made a banner before...how do I even start a banner? Having no clue as to what I was doing...I made a banner.

Once again ever image was embellished with the "magic pen" and Stickels...

Remember the bag of berries from the shopping spree at Savers?

Those got used too...

When I turned the Christmas Banner into Jennifer, I got a "that's stinkin' cute"...

which everyone that plays at Mystic knows that's high praise indeed.

And talk about "great minds running in the same gutter"...Sheri's design team project was a banner too...it's wonderful! Jenna's design team was a unique twist for Christmas...very impressive. I haven't seen Holly's or Surina's projects yet, but I'm sure they are great.

With the design team project turned in, I can now get started designing this years Christmas cards...

I still have a few weeks don't I?

Savers Shopping Spree

I went in to Savers the other day. I only went in for one item...a blue table cloth. I wasn't going to wander up and down the aisles checking out all the treasures...I was only going in for a blue table cloth...Okay a blue table cloth and a pillow...
That happened to be the day they had tons of "cool junk"...and a 20% discount. Every where I looked were wonderful items, with all kinds of design possibilities!

Before I even got up to the check out counter I had come up with a half dozen ways to alter this Styrofoam head. Just looking at it you are coming up with some ideas too...I'm right aren't I?

I have no idea what this was meant to be...but for 69 cents, minus the 20%...

once I snipped the lace off the pillow thingy...I have all this great lace and a couple of ribbon flowers.

I must have pick up and put back the plastic bag of Christmas berries 3 or 4 times. I was sure I had some at home. Besides what was I going to do with a

Bag 'O Christmas Berries?

AH HA! I have a Mystic Paper Design Team project due the end of the week...

a CHRISTMAS PROJECT!

One Last Bit of Halloween...

I know that Halloween was last week...all the jack-o-lanterns are packed way...we are now thinking about the next holiday... Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years.
But I have one last bit of Halloween to share...

I received this fun Halloween card from"The Great Pumpkin".
The wonderful spider web is created with Stickels...

the spider is a decorative paper clip...the patterned background is multiple black spider webs...

THANK YOU GREAT PUMPKIN...for such a enchanting card!

Vintage Post Cards

This season's Mystic Paper Design Team all got together for a meet and greet in the downstairs class room at Mystic. It was fun to meet all the designers. Design Team kits were passed out...always a good thing! The day before the meeting, Jennifer and I went through the shop and picked out paper, ribbon and embellishments for each designer. We all will be creating a project of our choice with Christmas paper. My kit had flower ribbon, Crystal Stickels (one of my favorites!), a gorgeous shade of red card stock and... a huge sheet of Cavallini "Holiday Postcard" paper. I love vintage post cards...but what am I going to do with a whole sheet if them?

There are all kinds of different Santa post cards...

With Santa Claus dressed in his famous red suit with fur trim...

This Santa must not have got the memo about NO SMOKING...

Some of the post cards on the sheet are of snowmen...

Snowmen are fun... except this one...I don't know, he looks like he should be part of a Christmas project of Mike's at Jack and Cat Curio..spooky!

There are 25 vintage post cards on a sheet...does this mean I have to design 25 projects? You know how fast Sheri is. She probably has her project finished and turned in already...of course it will be very cute!

This will be the first project for the new design team members, Holly, Jenna and Surina. It will be fun to see what wonderful designs they create.

Visitor to the Garden

We had a visitor in our garden. It wasn't the neighbor cat that naps under the orange tree.
It wasn't the birds, that get fed daily...and are great entertainment for our house cat.

Our visitor was a little brown bunny...

He (or she...we didn't check) stayed long enought for a photo op... and a snack.

Then left...the same way he/she came in.

An Award!

I received an Award!

Thank you so much Patti from "Patti's Art"for this "Kreativ Blogger" award!
Patti is a very talented artist in Essex UK. She does wonderful mix media designs, and has a great eye for color.

The award comes with rules...of course:
1 Thank the person who gave you the award...Thank you Patti!
2 Copy the logo and place it in your blog.
3 Link the person who nominated you.
4 Name 7 things about yourself that no one would really know.
5 Nominate 7 "Kreative Bloggers".
6 Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate
7 Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know your nominated them.

The 7 things about myself that someone may or may not know about me are...

1 My favorite breakfast beverage is Pepsi.
2 I'm a big fan of "Brit Coms".
3 I hate to cook!
4 I am semi-ambidextrous.
5 The radio stations in my car are set to the "oldies".
6 I'm pretty good at trivia games
7 My favorite "Paradise Bakery" cookie is Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Chippers.

The 7 bloggers I'm passing the award along to are:
Sandy at Her Vintage Stage
Lisa at House of Hullabaloo
Sheri at Little Black Scrap Cat
Becky at Whymsical Musings
Val at Flippinpest Crafty Roll
Lindsey at Keep on Scrapin
Tanya at Life is full of Pretty Things

These are all wonderful designers with great blogs...enjoy!

You don't have to rake a marigold!

Autumn has come to Arizona. In the mountains the Aspen leaves are turning beautiful shades of yellow and gold. There is a chill in the air and snow on the San Francisco Peaks. But wait...don't I live in the desert? How do I know about the Aspen trees and the snow? A Flagstaff weather update from Mom...
We do have Fall here in the Valley of the Sun, you just have to have lived here long enough to know the signs. After spending all Summer cooped up in the air conditioned house we are now able to open all the windows and doors to let in a cool breeze. We can take a stroll in the garden in the middle or the afternoon and not feel like we are going to get heat stroke. This is the time of year the flowers that survived the desert heat show off their colors.

My DH took wonderful care of these marigolds all summer long. The bushes have dozens of yellow and gold blossoms and buds ready to bloom. This is our Autumn show of color. The best part...we don't have to rake leaves!

Great Grandma taught the ABCs

Aren't these lithograph printed paper on wooden blocks cool? They belong to
my Great-Grandmother when she taught at rural one room school house.
My grandfather played with them as a child. Mom says she remembers playing
with the blocks at the old family farm, when she was a little kid.
That is a lot of family history. Last year an appraiser from Antique Road Show came through Flagstaff to the "Home Show". Mom took the blocks down to have them dated...1870 to 1880!


My Heritage Scrapbooking Workshop is on Saturday the 10th of October.
Bring a project to work on and we will meet you in the downstairs class room
at Mystic Paper at 4:30 to 6:30...Give Mystic a call to sign up.

It's all about the Glitz!

It was all about the glitz at the Friday night Heritage Scrapbook Workshop. I designed a few "demos" using Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist and talked about how to incorporate the mist onto heritage pages. In my effort to show that you aren't stuck with colors like tan, ivory and brown when creating heritage layouts, I went way out of the "box" and used PURPLE!
This is such a fun "vampy" photo, it was just the image to use with glimmer mist.
The back ground patterned paper was sprayed with "Coffee Shop" and "Creame de Rouge". The lace got a spritz on the "Coffee Shop" too.

A couple of white, Dollar Store silk flowers, were disassembled and misted with "Creme de Rouge". When dry, the color was stunning. The flower was reassembled, with a 7 Gypsies brad in the center. Smaller paper flowers from Prima were sprayed too. The bottom flower is the "Coffee Shop" and the top was the "Creme de Rouge"... Same glimmer mist color but a totally different effect on the paper Prima flowers. The flowers were layered using Ultimate Glue. I added a healthy dab of the same glue to the center of the flower and loaded it up with purple beads. The glue dries clear so all you see is the shimmering beads.

Sometimes you just need to play!

Last night at the Heritage Scrapbooking Workshop, Mary asked if I would like her to take pictures of the class...That would have been nice, but I forgot my camera! The nights I do remember the camera...I forget to take pictures. I really must get my act together. All the ladies are working on different types of Heritage projects and are encouraging each other along the way. Ann has amazing family stories, ephemera and photos which she is using to design some impressive layouts. Mary is working on a book honoring her mother-in-law, who was a poet. It is fun to see the wonderful pages they have created. We were joined by Cynthia, whose mother made a marvelous scrapbook back in the 1950s. It has been well loved and the cover is coming apart, so Cynthia is "remaking" the book.
During the class I taught different ways on how to use "Transparencies". I had a photo left over from the demo I designed for the class. With the extra photo I decided to play!
I printed a photo of Grandma Mabel at age 3 on clear adhesive film (transparency with an adhesive back), I love this stuff! You don't have to worry about how you are going to adhere the image to your project. Where do I get it you ask...Mystic Paper of course! I placed the transparency on a patterned paper that looked like an old letter. At that point I pulled out all my boxes of lace and fabric. Most of them got a "bath" in tea to give them an aged look. When they dried, I started layering.

From there I dumped out the jar of old jewelery and I found some pieces that if you squint...might look vintage. For a pop of color I added a few posies.

It turned out kind of cool...I will have to play more often!

OBTW:

If you feel like you missed out on all the fun last night...I have another Heritage Workshop this Friday the 25 of September- 4:30 to 6:30. You can sign up for the class by calling Mystic Paper.

Another OBTW:
Congratulations to the Mystic Paper new Design Team. Holly, Jenna and Surina. All very talented ladies. You can see their 12x12 entries on the Mystic blog site. Every team needs a captain...and Mystic Paper has asked me to be the Design Team captain. I'm looking forward to working with the new team. I have some very big shoes to fill...Sheri was an awesome DTC.