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.

A Taste Asia

I must have been in the mood for Lo Mein and Spring Rolls. This is another birthday card with a bit of an Asian look. The background is a dark chocolate brown cardstock with a wide red ribbon running along the left side. I used a credit card (the kind that comes in junk mail) and covered it with this gorgeous red Asian print. I have had this paper forever...it came from Memory Lane, which hasn't existed for a while. The ladies have moved on to other creative endeavors. The "Happy Birthday" is a strip of vellum run through a label maker, then matted with gold tissue paper.
I still have a few more birthday cards to create, I'll keep you posted.

Another OBLW:
I will be teaching a Heritage Scrapbook Workshop this Saturday the 19th of September - 3:30 to 5:30. Bring a project to work on and join us downstairs at Mystic Paper. You say you can't make it that day, but you really want to join in the fun...no problem...There will be another Workshop Friday the 25th of September -
4:30 to 6:30. Give Mystic Paper a call and sign up.