Off for a mini-break...

I will be back Wednesday. DS and I are off on a mini-break!
smiles,
christi

Katherine at 31 weeks...

I was in the middle of an ultrasound today and imagine my surprise when the technician froze the frame and this is what came up! Look at my little girl...

I had no idea that my ob clinic had a machine that could even do this. She and I are both doing really well, but she is getting big. They estimate her to already be 4.1 lbs with 9 weeks still to grow. Aackkkk! That's a bit scary. She is also already head down. Because she is measuring big, I get to go back in 4-5 weeks where they will do another ultrasound just to check on her.

smiles,
christi

Rusty Pickle- Old McDonald

Today is upload day for half the DT over at the Cropper's Cottage. This month we received the Rusty Pickle Old McDonald papers and I admit that I was truly stumped on how to use them at first, but I got inspired when I pulled out Ben's old albums (he grew up on a farm.)

For this first layout, the journaling says, "Ben at the age of 8, taking care of his cow for show. I love the look of concentration on his face. As he says now...this was serious business. Notice also his moccasins...he made them himself. September, 1971

In the file folder is a copy of the newspaper clipping that shows he placed 2nd with his cow.


For this second layout, Ben is about 3 or 4 and just the cutest little thing. The journaling says: "Muddy, Ben's grandmother, staged this photo for a newspaper competition. She wanted to show off how cute this little guy was. So she set him up in a corner field with a stick and his grandfather's kerchief to make it look like he was running away."


For this final layout, when I saw this wonderful camouflage paper, I knew that it was absolutely perfect for Jacob. This layout is a lift from Heidi Swapp's newest book and the layout includes a lot of her product also. The journaling says: "This photo is so Jacob- as he is today. I was taking some photos of him reading and he finally gave in and looked at me. I love this kid so much and I want to always remember the way that he looks today. March 27, 2007"


All these fun new Rusty Pickle products can be found over at the Cropper's Cottage Store.smiles,
Christi

Altered states...

Well, over the weekend I went on a little altering phase.

The first thing I altered was this file accordian. First, let me explain the Design Collective. This is a group of 13 uber-talented UK designers who have gotten together to create 4 classes a month. You can join for 10 pounds/month (that equals about $20.) They are just getting started with the first month starting in April. I am so excited because these gals are some seriously inspirational designers. They have a forum and a blog. Right now the forum is open to anyone, but starting (I think this is the right date) March 30th, it will only be open to those that have the monthly membership.

But the classes will go out 4 times a month as pdfs so all of the designers have come up with fun designs/methods to store the pdfs (all of these creations are simply stunning...go check out the gallery!) I created a accordian file folder loosely based upon AmberJane's creation. Here is my version using one of the My Mind's Eye Front Porch Collections.


Way back in January, one of the challenges that I started was the weekly altered cards challenge being hosted by Emily Falconbridge. After a great ambitious start, I fell a bit behind and have slowly been playing catch-up. Here are my 5 latest cards:
The themes in the order that they are posted is
~My symbol...I chose fleur de lis because I love all things French.
~My love...DH
~I miss...some of my body woes with being pregnant
~Things that inspire me... a list of places that I look for creative inspiration
~My initial

I also altered a band-aid tin to hold all of my cards. This is using another line of the My Mind's Eye Front Porch Collection and a bit of Heidi bling....


Finally, I have one last little discovery to show you. If you have been following my blog at all, you may have noticed that I love to use bits of notebook paper. I absolutely love the look that the spiral binding adds to a page. The downside to this is that it is not a very good idea for the life of your scrapbooking because notebook paper is not acid free. Well, yesterday I was cruising my long list of blogs that I like to visit and I came across this post over at Christine's blog. OMG!!! Stampin Up makes a punch that makes that edge. Let me just tell you this...I am definitely ordering that baby so be on the lookout for this effect on upcoming layouts!!! Definitely one of those...Duh! Why didn't someone think of this before!!!

smiles,
Christi

My latest layouts...

I have had a creative surge lately. Today I will share some of my latest layouts. Tomorrow I will be posting a few items that I have been altering.

Over at the Cropper's Cottage, Angie posts 6 monthly challenges. One of these is a sketch that she has drawn. This layout is using Angie's sketch for this month. These are some more photos from our vacation in 2001. I can't believe that I haven't scrapped these photos before!


This weekend I was playing just for the sake of playing and these 2 layouts are a result from that. This first one is using some the new gorgeous Daisy D's papers, the new Fancy Pants journaling card and some photos from our trip to Bath when we lived in England.


When we lived in England, I had a purple powder room. Someday I will have one again and when I do, I will frame up this layout for wall art.


I hope that you managed to create some fun goodies over the weekend!!!
smiles,
christi

Learning to Crochet...

Like I said in Wednesday's post, I taught myself to crochet while I was resting. It's something that I have been wanting to do for ages (either crochet or knit, but I decided that I wasn't smart enough to handle the two needles for knitting! LOL!). The main reason that I wanted to learn is because of baby hats...I love them and need them all, but that gets rather expensive so this works for me...a ball of yarn is MUCH cheaper than shopping at Janie & Jack who makes the cutest baby hats around!!!

My starting point was these two books:

The book on the left is awesome for projects!! They are laid out to build your skills so if you follow the book, then you slowly learn everything that you need to know about crocheting. It was $24.99 at Michael's. Where it is not so good is on the actual clear stitching instructions which is where Crocheting for Dummies comes in. Great stitch instructions in this one!!! And even better, Barnes & Noble is offering a $5 rebate this month on all their Dummies books so this $19.95 book ended up costing me somewhere around $12.

This is my first failed project:

I, being the impatient person that I am, have yet to do a gauge check (although EVERYTHING you read says this is very important!) This was supposed to originally be the baby hat you see in the next photo, but it is about 1/2 the size it should be to fit even a baby's head. So the backup plan for my first piece of crochet is that I am going to use a bit of that fabric above it to make a flap and this little pouch will work great as a pouch to carry my crochet needles in.

This was my second project:

A baby hat for Katherine for her first winter. Later I am supposed to learn how to make crocheted flowers so I will probably add one of those to the cuff to make it a bit more girly. DH loves winter hats with tassels so he was very happy with this...and so am I!

My third project was a technique success, but I don't like the varigated yarn look on this, but DS loves to organize things so he has claimed this as his own...

This fourth project was much harder than it should be. I could not for the life of me figure out how to do the stitch around the metal frame (the book instructions were WAY off on this!!!), but I found a quick tutorial online which made it super easy and fast.

This will be a mobile for Katherine's room. Obviously it is still a work in progress, but I will post photos when I finish with it. BTW, the butterfly garland came from the easter section of Target for $7. I plan on cutting them apart and adding them to the rings and flowers.

My final project that I have done so far is this scarf...

It still needs to be blocked and have the fringe added to it, but since it has been in the 70's and 80's for the last couple of weeks, there doesn't seem to be much urgency in doing that.

That is what I have done so far. I have my next 3 projects planned. My next task to learn are granny squares, but I haven't quite figured them out yet. Then I think it is time for another hat. Yippee!!!
smiles,
christi

Funny thing about blogging...

Ya know, the funny thing about blogging is that the longer you don't do it, the harder it is to come back and catch up. I am sorry for my absense, but I do have a valid excuse. The day of my last entry I started having some pains...I just thought that the baby was in the wrong position and taking it out on me, but I finally realized Saturday night that those pains were coming at regular intervals...uh oh!!!

I finally went to the hospital Sunday morning (in a bit of a panic because DH was out of town, I was only 28 weeks pregnant and definitely having contractions 5 minutes apart.) The good news is that yes, I was having contractions, but it was only because of a bladder infection...not actual labor. The bad news is that they lasted another 2 days...ugh!! 4 days of contractions is something that I never want to go through again!!! I only had 10 hours with DS...and I am very happy to do that again. So I took it easy for a good week there trying to relax on the couch and not upset the balance (sitting at the computer or my scrap space would bring them on again.)

But I am all good again. Katherine is just as active as ever so she is none the worse for wear and I am finally starting to get back into my routine which finally includes some blogging.

So what did I do while spending a week on the couch??? I learned how to crochet!! So fun and relaxing!!! I have made several projects and will be taking photos over the next few days so that you can see.

In the meantime, here are a couple of cj's that I have managed to get done over the last couple of weeks. This first one is a quote themed one...
left side:


right side:


Then this one has a musical theme:


I promise to be back soon with more to share. I cleaned my scraproom yesterday so I am hoping to get something accomplished in there today!!!
smiles,
christi

Good Friday Morning!!

Good morning!!! Did you know that spring is really coming? I had confirmation yesterday when I parked by this tree...


I was lucky that I had my camera with me. We are doing photo challenges over at the Cottage and yesterday's theme was "Little Things". I was hoping to find inspiration as I was out running errands and I did! Yay!

I also did a whole lot of sketching and planning for my upcoming projects so I am hoping to get started on some of those today although I was up til 3:00 am finishing the newest Susan Elizabeth Philips book so I am not sure how productive I will be today. I am foreseeing some naps in my future for today...
smiles,
christi

Wow! A productive day!!

Yesterday was so productive for me. I actually got 4 layouts completed. All of the layouts that I did were in response to various Cottage challenges so that makes it really easy to be productive. I love doing challenges!!


This is my layout for the March Scraplift Linda Peterson challenge.
The journaling says, "This is Junior's position of choice when he is sitting with Ben. Totally relaxed, totally exposed, Totally Spoiled."
Supplies used:
*Bazzill Peacock
*Junkitz Laguna Guy papers
*Heidi Swapp Chipboard letters
*Li'l Davis Journaling stamp


This is the layout that I did for Angie's March color challenge. I never would have put all these papers together if not for this color challenge, but I think that it works.
Lots of Misc. Supplies:
*Rhonna Farrer paper (base)
*MM Anthology papers (blue & green)
*Fancy Pants papers (pink & brown)
*Li'l Davis stamps
*Junkitz flower
*Heidi Swapp Journaling Spot
*Heidi Swapp silhouette Words


I am slowly, but surely getting these challenges done. This is the day 8 challenge from the J. Waters/CK fast & fabulous article. The approach for this one was to layer 3 horizontal photos down the side of the layout. This is also my photo from yesterdays photo challenge (cherished possession.)

The journaling reads "When Junior wants to play, he goes to this rug. He flings himself on it, scoots it across the floor, and will even fold it up so that he can shove his mice into the folds and hunt them. He loves this rug so much. He comes running when he hears one of us straightening it. I don't know what we'll do when we move to a house without wood floors. But for now this is his play place."
Supplies used:
*chatterbox paper (blue background)
*Foofala paper (right border)
*Scenic Route paper (top border)
*Heidi Swapp Chipboard letters and journaling spots
*Basic Grey Wholly Cow rub-ons


This is a layout using my photo from the day 2 challenge and it is also using tons of MM product so it works for Angie's March Challenges too.
The journaling says: "One of the funnest things about expecting a baby girl is looking at this closet full of girly, frilly clothes. So much fun!"
Supplies used:
*Fancy Pants paper (blue background)
*MM Anthology papers (all the rest)
*MM Anthology Velvet brads
*MM Anthology Metal Alphabet
*MM Anthology Metal Tab (which is silver...it just scanned really funky!)
*Heidi Swapp oval Bling
*Prima flower

smiles,
christi

Long time, no post...

Wow! How has a week already passed by since the last time I blogged?!? So sorry about that. I have been here and working, but unfortunately, I don't seem to be using my time to it's best advantage so I feel like I am running a bit behind (but what else is new?!? LOL!)


I continue to work on the Jamie Waters/CK article challenge. This was approach 6 which was to use 2 4x6 photos separated by the title. I print my own photos so I don't usually have 4x6 photos around, but I found these on the recent reorganization of my scraproom. They are photos from our 2001 summer vacation. Jacob is so little! Most of the supplies on here are Scenic Route.


This is the layout that I did using the day 7 prompt from the CK challenges. This prompt was to use a horizontal and a vertical photo and to use word stickers between them. The photos are of two of the barns from the Duke Homestead.
Supplies used:
*Prima Aurora papers**
*Li'l Davis letters**
*Heidi Swapp letters**
*K&Co. word stickers

I have also created the artwork for an article since we last "spoke", but obviously I can't share that yet.

Finally, just a bit of a creative update. I have been crocheting. I will share more in the next couple of days as I have two projects that are just hours away from completion. It's so much fun and relaxing, but I definitely can see a bit of an addiction growing to this!! It is even managing to keep me off of the computer which is unheard of!!
smiles,
christi

Day 4 & 5 of the CK/J. Waters Challenge...

This is the layout that I did for day 4 of the J. Waters prompt which was to use white cardstock as a canvas and add everything to your patterned paper. The journaling says: "Whenever my family gets together, you can count on one thing- GAMES will be involved! We all have our favorites, but mom and I definitely prefer SCRABBLE."
Supplies used:
*Scenic Route papers
*Daisy D's die cut tags***
*Heidi Swapp Oval Bling***
*Autumn Leaves ledger stamp
*Chatterbox ribbon***
*swirl stamp
*Heidi Swapp deco tape***
***from the Cottage***


Today's approach from J. Waters was to separate two vertical pictures using strips of pp. I love J. Waters' style, but after several days of semi-emulating it, I had to play with some serious patterned paper.

These photos are from this year's Valentine's Day. The journaling says, "My wonderful husband! Jacob's birthday is Feb. 11th and my mom always tries to come and visit for his special day. That means that she is usually still with us for Valentine's Day. Not only does Ben bring me flowers for this day of love, but he always remembers to bring my mom a bouquet too. Isn't he the greatest!"

This layout has a lot of misc. supplies on it and most of them are really old (meaning I have had them around for ages.)


smiles,
christi

Weekend Work...

I feel like I didn't get anything done, but I guess in retrospect, I actually did. Unfortunately, I just didn't make much of a dent in my list of things to get done (which is getting rather LONG!)

I continued working over the weekend on my daily layouts using the Jamie Waters prompts from the March CK and finishing up the Basic Grey Color Me Silly layouts for the LSS.

This first layout is using prompt #3 from the J. Waters article which was to use a pp photo mat on top of a neutral background.

The journaling says:
"At 25 weeks, I am feeling pretty good. I can definitely tell that I am older this time around, but your dad and brother are great about letting me nap whenever and wherever. You are an active little one...much more so than your brother ever was. I can feel you doing somersaults daily.

Your Nana took this photo. She and your Papa were here for Jacob's 12th birthday, but we took advantage of the rare time together and did some serious baby shopping. I hope that you and I are as close as I am to my mom.

We look forward to your arrival- just don't make it too early."
Supplies used:
*Chartreuse Dream Retro Echo Primrose Proper paper
*Chartreuse Dream Retro Echo Bubbles
*Chartreuse Dream Retro Echo Buckles
*Chartreuse Dream Retro Echo Corners
*Maya Road Velvet Rickrack- cream

This second layout is using the Basic Grey Color Me Silly paper for the LSS. This paper simply screams freestyle to me so I tried to create a layout more along those lines and was inspired a bit by CD Mukosky to add a bit of my own doodling. I am not too sure about it...
Supplies used:
*Basic Grey Color Me Silly
*Basic Grey Undressed monograms
*Bazzill


And this final layout, I REALLY struggled with... I worked literally the whole day on Saturday on it and it simply is not that complex of a layout. LOL! These papers are just so bright that I have a really hard time making them look good...definitely not my style. Everything on this layout is Basic Grey besides the Bazzill cardstock.


My list of TO DO items is still a mile long so I am back to work in my scraproom. I hope that you are finding time to create this week.
smiles,
christi

Jamie Water's Fast & Fabulous Article...

Over on the Cottage, we have all been really inspired by the March, 2007 edition of Creating Keepsakes. The Jamie Water's Fast & Fabulous article is particularily inspiring so starting yesterday, we are doing a layout a day following her 10 approaches. You can see the article online here: Fast & Fabulous Article.

Here are my first two day's layouts:

This is the layout that I did using Jamie Water's #1 approach...three large circles. The photo is from a magnificent castle ruin that we explored while we were in England.
Supplies used:
*Basic Grey Color Me Silly
*Bazzill**
*Heidi Swapp word stamp**
*Basic Grey Undressed Chipboard
**available from the Cottage Store**


This is one of my favorite layouts from the CK/Jamie Waters article so I pretty much did a direct scraplift.
Supplies used:
*Prima Aurora Radiance paper***
*Heidi Swapp Icee Frame bling***
*Heidi Swapp Chipboard Alpha- newsprint crimson***
*Daisy D's Family Die-cuts (romance collection)***
*Technique Tuesday Irony stamp***
*7 Gypsies tabs
*Autumn Leaves ledger stamp
***Available from the Cottage***

I also played catch-up with Emily F's card challenge. I finished 2 of them yesterday, but have another 2 to do today so I will hopefully be uploading them later.

Once again I find myself alone in the house as the guys have gone camping with the Scouts so today is my day to create. I hope to get tons done today so keep an eye on this space!

smiles,
christi

So far....

Well I have only gotten one project completed, but I have lots planned in my head. LOL! Here is the layout that I did yesterday...

Journaling says: This is one of my most prized possessions....Great Aunt Christine's treadle sewing machine. I never knew her, but this helps me feel connected to my namesake & totally in touch with my family legacy of crafting.
Supplies used:
*Heidi Grace Wildflowers Decor Stripe
*Heidi Grace Wildflowers Trim
*Heidi Grace Wildflowers Plastic Tabs
*Heidi Grace Bouquet Rub-ons
*Li'l Davis Journaling stamps
*Bohemia Backyard Rub-ons
*Junkitz Long Bradz
*Bazzill
*Making Memories paint (custom mixed color)

Almost everything used is available from the Cottage and the Heidi Grace products are half price!

And for those of you that are curious...here is how I look right now. I will be at 26 weeks tomorrow and I have an OB appt. this afternoon. I have a feeling that we may be in trouble with this little one...she is WAY more active than Jacob ever was and he keeps us running!! LOL!

smiles,
Christi

I'm BACK!!!

Hey everyone!!! My mom flew out this afternoon and while that makes me VERY sad...I am happy to be back in the blog world. My mom and I had the best visit!! We easily played 30 rounds of Scrabble, the baby room is well on it's way to being fully stocked, we ate (I say we, but it was mostly me) several pounds of chocolate, shipped 9 boxes of my cleared out scrap stuff to her house to spread between friends and family, and even managed to do some damage at a scrapbook store. It was a fabulous week and she plans to come back in the middle of May to be here when the baby is born. YAY!!!

But because all that I have done is play the last week and a half, I am seriously behind on my creating which means I will be living in my scraproom for the next few days...be ready for the onslaught of art (I hope!)

For now, I do have a couple of pieces to show you. These are my DT projects for the Cropper's Cottage this month. We were sponsored by Prima with their GORGEOUS new line of papers. The only way that I can truly express how much I love this line is this...when I got my DT kit in, I immediately got online and ordered 3 more sheets of each paper pattern. Yes, it is truly that gorgeous and elegant. The Cottage still has it in stock if you like what you see too! :)

This is a photo that I took on our vacation this last year. The quote says, "If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere." ~Frank A. Clark
The quote was printed onto Bazzill using my computer/printer.
Supplies used:
*Prima Aurora Collection Clearwater
*Prima Aurora Collection Majestic Garden
*Prima Aurora Morningsong
*Prima Essentials Collection Aurora
*Prima Sweet N Sassy Tweener (tiny blue flowers)
*Prima Sweet N Sassy Princess (tiny green flowers)
*Bazzill Java & Parakeet


Just a very simple layout of my niece, Mia. This is some of the gorgeous Prima Aramanth Collection- Without End paper and it was super-simple to cut out this big circle and make it the design feature on the page.
Supplies used:
*Prima - Line Without End Aramanth paper
*Prima - Line Without End Azure paper
*Prima - Whispers flowers
*Bazzill Nutmeg
*Heidi Swapp Chipboard letters


I will be back with more artwork soon and hope to catch up on all your blogs in the morning!!!
smiles,
christi

Absentia....

I am still here, but I am not. My mom is in town so we are having fun playing scrabble, playing in my scraproom, and shopping for baby stuff. I am only online this morning because it is 4:00 am and my pregnancy insomnia is in full-swing!

Over the weekend was Jacob's birthday so both of my parents came in and we had a whirlwind celebration. Unfortunately, my dad has to work so he headed back on Sunday, but mom is here for another week! Yippee!!

So, obviously, Jacob had a great birthday. He is 12!?!? How did my little boy get so old? And funnily enough, he is growing like a weed too. We put a mark on the doorframe just 2 weeks ago trying to measure him for the Scout backpacking trip and on a whim, I put him back up against it this weekend...he has grown 1/2 an inch in just 2 weeks!?!

He is such a great kid, but I have to tell you...there is something about his birthday...he is never sick except the week of his birthday...
every.
year.
What is up with that??!!! This year we were lucky that it was just a cold (one year we had the fun of spending his birthday evening in the ER), but now it seems that both Ben and I get to share in the joy. I am just hoping that my parents don't get it.

Needless to say, I am desperately behind on my challenges, but that is okay...I am having fun! But because I hate to do a blog post without some sort of art, here is an old layout...


I hope that everyone is doing well! I will be playing serious catch-up with everyone and everything next week...I promise!
smiles,
christi

Lackadaisical weekend...

Well, as it turns out, it was good that I was so productive on Thursday because I was wiped out and hormonal the rest of the weekend and didn't get a thing done. UGH! This is the one thing that I hate about pregnancy...I can handle the being tired (although I really don't like it), but I hate the hormones and what it does to my mental stability. LOL!

But yesterday was a new day and I did get a couple of layouts done. This first one was for the PubCalls birthday contest sponsored by the Cropper's Cottage.

For this challenge, you had to use either red or pink on the layout and include a heart.


Then while I was over on the PubCalls blog, I noticed that they were doing a sketch challenge so I had to try it to. I didn't enter this in the contest, but I had fun interpretting the sketch for my Charleston photos.


I have lots on my to do/create list right now, but I also have tons to do around here. Jacob's birthday is this weekend and my parents are coming into town to celebrate on Friday so first on my list should probably be to pick him up some presents and I think that I will be doing that this morning. That and I have to pick up some sleepwear to cover my ever-growing baby belly since I am going to have houseguests. Hopefully, I will still be able to find time to create today!!! This is when I miss my late afternoon pots of coffee that enable me to stay up until all hours of the night!

smiles,
christi

Cybercropping & 28 Days...

Well, yesterday was a fun day! I spent the whole day creating. It was the first day of the cybercrop over at the Cropper's Cottage. Yesterday's theme was "Old School Tools" and there was a new layout challenge posted every 2 hours. I didn't get them all done, but I am happy with what I did get done. Some pretty easy/simple layouts, but a ton accomplished for the day.

Yesterday was also the first day for Gretchen's 28 Days class over at Big Picture Scrapbooking. This class has a new class project for each day. Yesterday's assignment was to make a journal for notetaking/sketching/ideas. Here is mine. It's very similar to Gretchen's class example except for I got to play with my new Li'l Davis stamps. I really love the overall look of it.


This layout is of my niece in her Jungle Baby diaper cover. Gotta love that look on her face!! The challenge for this layout was to use punches.


This layout is of my son at the drying barn at the Duke Homestead. The challenge here was to use shaped templates.


This very simple layout is from Mt. Vernon. The challenge was to use the corner rounder. I love this effect for a fun look and I forget to use it.


Finally, the last challenge that I completed for the day was to use deco scissors and that is what I did here...


Today's challenges are all centered around Football Lingo and look really fun! I hope that I find some time to create using them in between errands and cleaning house. Feel free to come and join us...anyone is welcome. The hotlink at the beginning of this paragraph will take you directly to today's challenges.

smiles,
Christi

I have talked about Sally Jean Alexander and her gorgeous book, Pretty Little Things before. But Sunday's Cabinet of Curiosities prompt has brought her to the forefront of my inspiration again. The theme for this fourth prompt was Wonder. Basically, it was what art/ist or thing inspires awe and wonder within you as an artist. I adore looking at other's art and being inspired by it and there are a LOT of artists that inspire me daily, but for this prompt, Sally Jean was entirely the inspiration. I scraplifted her style...I even used some of the clipart from her book to create my layout.

The journaling reads:
W O N D E R
Artists in general fill me with awe and wonder!
I love to examine their process and technique,
and to use it as inspiration for my own art.
Sally Jean Alexander is one my new favorite artists.
Her collage work is amazing esp. when you consider
the small scale in which she works.
I try to emulate her style and hope to one day learn
her technique for jewelry-making.
Until then I will just have to settle for that kind
of beauty on paper and sit back and admire her through her book.


This second layout is one that I did yesterday using a sketch that Angie did over at the Cottage for our February Challenges. The original sketch was for a double layout, but I converted it to a single. I was so excited to use these gorgeous new Prima papers. They are part of our DT stuff for February and are simply breathtaking!!! All the photos are from the day that we spent in Old Salem last April.


And speaking of the Cropper's Cottage and challenges. Starting tomorrow and running through the weekend, we are having a SuperBowl Cybercrop full of challenges. It promises to be a lot of fun and very inspiring. I am extra excited about this one because I am not the one in charge which means that I simply get to sit back and play. I hope to get tons done!!! So come on over and join us and if you come as a result of reading about it here, be sure to let us know because I earn a 2-point conversion for that. :)

smiles,
christi

Exploring new avenues...

I have been in a funk the last couple of days. I am feeling unsettled. I feel the need to explore a new creative venture, but at this point I am not sure what that is. I want to make an impact with my life and I think that I can do this creatively, just not sure what I need/want to do. But something is coming...I promise.

Part of the funk has come from my struggle to do this challenge for the Cabinet of Curiosities. Challenge #3 was to do a page reflecting your dreams. Throughout my childhood/teenage years I had several different dreams...to be a nurse (just like Cherry Ames in the novels), to be an architect, etc. The one thing that has remained a constant throughout my life has been my love for books and if I were truly to be honest, my real dream is to write. Write what? I am not sure. At this point in my life, I would think that it would have something to do with crafts and my love for them and to a certain extent I am doing that. No, I am not writing books, but I am writing for the magazines, but that just doesn't seem like enough. So for all this rambling, I am really not saying much...I just feel the need to do more...so watch this space and I will let you know when I come up with a solution for my restlessness.

On to other creative things. I finally have finished Challenge 3 for The Cabinet of Curiosities hosted by Kari (artsymama) and Bonnie. Like I said, this was a REAL struggle for me. I have been actually working on this layout for 2 days and putting real thought into it for at least another 3 more, but it is finally done and I can get to work on Challenge #4 (Wonder) that is already up. I don't want to fall behind on this project.


I also got the chance today to work on Sketch #17 from the Pencil Lines gals (although this week the sketch was done by the talented Miss Elsie Flannigan.) Loved this sketch for it's ability to accomodate so many photos. Super fun and easy.


That's it for now. For those of you that don't know, the Craft & Hobby Show is happening this week and I will be posting my top 10 picks within the next day or so. Fun, fun stuff!!!
smiles,
christi