Tears on a Thursday

I am so sorry to post this. I have tears running down my face.

But this is so why we scrapbook. I am sorry if it makes you cry too.

http://www.tacmovie.com/

This movie hit home. Tomorrow, I'm off to go to Lake Placid with my son on a field trip. It scares me to be away from work with so much going on. But I have to go because they are only little once. And I am tucking away the blackberry and will focus on those hours.

Little Valentine's Day Treats

I like to send little treats to my niece and nephews so around Christmas time I spotted these cool metal tins. I had thought I'd send them something then in them, but then I decided to save them for Valentine's Day.

It IS one of my favorite holidays. I'm a sucker for hearts and roses, what can I say.

Just a few little home made tags using some sparkle gold letters!

One more closeup! Love that lolly pop with the cool little filled in hearts!

Valentine's Day Cards

Just a few shots of some cards I dreamed up for Valentine's Day. Photo taking has never been easier these days. I took this photo in five minutes. Granted it was freezing cold outside...which tended to make the photo shoot go VERY quick!  But I asked them nicely to put on a nice outfit so I could take a photo. Insert hot pink dress and roses for Lexi and we were set! 

Making the cards wasn't all that bad either. Early Sat. am a small person arrived upstairs and threatened to raid my supplies for hand made Valentine's Day Cards. She stated quite firmly in fact that we had all the supplies we needed and did not need to make a shopping trip.

Of course, she was right. Randomly we have enough pink card stock, stickers, and envelopes to get her set up to make all the cards she needed for her entire class. After she left, I took stock in the items I had left and decided to make my own cards.

I challenged myself to use up an older sheet of Stampin' Up paper, a sheet of kraft, and some green leaves I had in my stash.

I was inspired to make these soft silky blooms after spotting a roll of this creamy soft silk ribbon my SIL sent me in a recent package.

I also found a better way to get the edges of my ribbon to curl. I used a candle to slowly melt them. Also, outlined my flower using a sharpie so got that black edge I like a lot.

Here is a close up of the clear front I made that slides off the card itself with the flower. I think it's a lot of fun and gives the card movement.

Lots of fun to make and a huge thanks to my kids for the awesome photo and to my daughter for challenging me to look within my stash for good stuff!

Linking this up to A Diamond in the Stuff, lots of GREAT items in her linking party!

Lessology's Paper Flower Challenge Better Late than Never!

Oh rolled flowers, how I love you!

So pretty!

When I was pawing through some stuff in the closet I came across these very bare black frames that I found in the sale bin ages ago at Michaels. I had been looking for something fun to make involving these black silhouettes I had of my kids years ago.

WAAAAAAAAYYYYYY back in Preschool, both kids had the same teacher who made the same lovely project for me. An 11 by 17 laminated silhouette of both kids. They were so large, they weren't something I had room to hang, so I made a smaller version for myself by taking a photo, cropping it and cutting out a new silhouette.

Here is the very unglamorous before photo. See the glare? Somehow in the moving Lexi's frame got a small crack. Plus, I thought they were very boring and plain to my standards these days.

I channeled my INNER JulieTuckerWolek and decided to participate in the LESSology Challenge. Reuse these old frames and make into something new and lovely! Of course, I should have posted this SUNDAY since the challenge has since ended, but hey, I'm down with that. I LOVE my new frames!

Here are some close up shots of Lexi's Frame. First step was to remove the plexi glass which was much easier than I figured. That gave me extra depth for flower placement.

I opted to modge podge down the silhouette part and even added some spatter in various places. And embossing with a Tim Holtz stamp accented little lace doilies from Irini! Lexi's got lots of glitter!

 And here is Luke's frame. Less glitter, but some pretty shimmer leaves that were recycled from an envelope from Karen from Australia.

I was planning on writing a tutorial for these flowers, but I think I will post this project in two parts.

So, please check my next post for a tie dye paper rose tutorial!

Tie Dye Paper Flower Tutorial Part Two

For the first part of this post, please go to this link.

For the base of your flower, I'd start here with Julie's tutorial. She has a great video you can watch that is very straight forward. And also, my photos show the flower base made from a cutter. I have a Silhouette that I bought the cutting file for. Her method can be used by anyone with glue and scissors!

Now, for the tie dye part! Here is how I inked up regular old blue card stock.


























You can then twist these up using Julie's method on her finger. I use a thin paint brush sometimes. Once they are rolled, I use hot glue to secure them in place. Just be aware that you're working with something that is hot and cools quickly. Julie shows how you can twist her flowers as they dry a bit slower with her glue which is nice since you don't really have that option with hot glue.

Then, either spritz these blooms with regular old rubbing alcohol you'd get from the drug store or apply via an eye dropper or bottle with a tip. Any method you can use to get this ink to "run" and mix together.

They are really a fancy outcome for something that is really not all that difficult. You have a bit of time to wait while they dry. After drying, I added a bit of modge podge at the tips of them with a brush and sprinkled some really large sized glitter.

Like Julie says in her video, these are mostly for OTP (Off The Page) Applications due to their depth. I have used one on a card before, but one I was handing to the person minus the envelope.

And, there you have it!

Thanks Miss Julie for loaning me your video!

1st Winter Concert for Sketchabilities and Scrap for Help Challenges

For some reason I felt like I hadn't scrapped in MONTHS this weekend and I still had a rather large portion of January's Scraptastic Kit to use up. It was lovely in blues and yellows but due to the orange nature of the large bloom in Lexi's hair, I opted to switch out yellow and go with Orange. Plus, I have February's Kit calling me with it's Valentine's Day colors and lovely blooms....

I had been planning on playing along with this awesome sketch out on Sketchabilites and had recently gotten a few shots at Lexi's first concert.

This concert was a BIG DEAL around the Pratt household. A note had arrived home several weeks in advance requesting a white top, black pants, with accents of blue and orange, perhaps a scarf?

I was at a loss on the orange and the blue until I remembered the orange flower I pinned on Lexi's witch hat. Of course the white shirt and pants were purchased special because white isn't exactly Lexi's normal color. She tends to be more of the lime green variety worn with boot leg jeans. So, no black pants either.

Although, I would have been happier if she would have worn one of the MANY dresses in her closet.

So, we get to the concert, sit through orchestra (little people with violins? Oh my!) and then the chorus is up. Now I know most of the songs already since she is constantly HUMMING or singing.

I scan across the many little people to find mine and she is super easy to spot with the orange flower. Rock on! Then I notice that most of the little girls are wearing dresses in various shades of whatever. And I am trying not to be peeved.

Being newish to this area I didn't realize that a note from the school means do as you wish.

I might have said in my outdoor voice, HEY PRATT WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT? SERIOUSLY? WHAT WAS THE POINT OF THAT NOTE ABOUT WHITE SHIRT AND BLACK PANTS?

I only realized I might have said that loudly when a few Moms in front of me turned around and laughed. Not in a mean way more in a I HEAR YA SISTER kind of way.

SIGH.

Anyhow, back to my page. My title is a bit of a poke at the program which listed the event as the Spring Concert. I am sure it was a typo because we have at least two more months of winter regardless of what the groundhog down in PA says. He is a bit of a nutter as far as I am concerned anyhow. For the record he saw his shadow, meaning only 6 more weeks of winter. He needs to come to the North Country where we like to prolong the snow and the ice. I am callin' it 8 more weeks with a possible snow storm on top of the blooming daffodils at the end as a last hurrah.

I also wanted to play along with the Scrap for Help challenge for Feb. by including a surgical bandage on my page. Love how gauze looks with a quick bit of ink from an inkpad and adding some rubbing alcohol to get the colors to flow!!!


Also, used a bit of the backing off some flowers as part of their requirement is a recycled object. Do you see it tucked in there next to a ticket from Irini? She also sent me that awesome black and brown doily! Love them AND that beautiful flower that is from the Feb. Scraptastic Kit and made by Petaloo!

Here is a little close up of my banner which was made easy by the paper in my kit, which already HAD a banner, just needed me to cut it out a bit. Loving that Farm House Collection by October Afternoon!

Happy Monday, thanks for stopping by and I hope you're wandering around humming a happy tune! For those of you stopping in from parts other than America, you are free to make fun of us for asking a groundhog for weather predictions. In fact, I welcome it!!!

Trimming my pot

I meant to post these photos yesterday, but the day got away from me.

Like anything else crafty, when you get into clay, the hours melt away and before you know it, THE MAN is texting you saying, where you at? Evidently it was somehow late and I didn't even know it!

The Clay Goddess has her clay stuff in the basement where you cannot see outside. Which is awesome since I didn't even know it was getting dark! Hence, less guilt that way.

Alright, these photos are terrible! Serves me right for not bringing a camera!!!

I meant to show you how I was trimming the bottom of my little pot here. But, forgot the camera.

Mine, just in case you got confused by the lovely item in the back is the smaller item in the front! ;-)

I think it's a coffee mug now that I have given it a handle.

I randomly had decided earlier this week to see if you could make a clay flower the same way you might make a paper one.

Not too shabby for my second flower. The first went back into the scraps to become something else.

Not sure how lovely it will be to have something this large on a coffee mug, but I sure did have fun!

Pop back later in the week and I'll show you how to make this tie dye flower out of paper. I've been rolling flowers this past week which inspired me to make one out of clay!

Sunday Story: Wetonia Downs by Bruce Mero

Just found a new blog the other day to link up my Dad's stories with. It's called From High in the Sky and features a story the first Sunday of every month!

         A gusting wind shook the fall leaves from the trees and the cold air was a flurry of oranges, reds and yellows. The canopy was quickly yielding to the cloud-streaked sky. Bending branches swayed and shuddered.  Already some were bare. Everywhere, everything was in motion, driven by a vocal, northerly wind. Leaf piles lifted, flew and swirled, then resettled into the calmer corners of the farmyard. Goldenrod stems bowed, their dried flower-tops shattering one another as they twisted and quivered and then tumbled into the air with Milkweed silks and seed shafts from Joe-pye and Purple Aster. Dust devils of feathers and hay whirled in the chicken yard. A barn door swung and flapped. The noise, the wind and the motion spooked the horses nervously pacing the paddock. Dust swirled in circles around their feet as they fretted.

          Brother-in-law Dick spoke calming words as he approached the wooden fence of the paddock.  He patted the face of one of the horses leaning over the fence.  A second horse came over the fence and nipped gently at Dick’s green coat sleeve until it also had his face patted. “They’re a little jumpy today,” he said. “Must be the change in seasons they sense. It won’t be too long before they’ll be cooped-up for the winter. A good run will do ‘em good.”

          Dick slid the rickety door on its rollers and the three of us entered the barn. The barn had been used for decades to house dairy cows. Though it had been five years since the last cow spent time here, the barn was still sharp with the odor of cow manure. The smell of fresh hay was also in the air as the coming winter’s hay bales had only recently been put into the upstairs mow. The barn was tidy, the ancient whitewash on the columns and beams had been swept clean and kept that way since the departure of the cows. Stalls for the horses had replaced the milking stanchions on part of one side of the cavernous room. Stanchions lined the opposite side. Saddles and other paraphernalia for horses were neatly arranged on one side of the room that Dick called the tack room.

          The horses crowded into a single stall closest to the door, and three heads curiously peered over the top board to see what was going on.  Gretchen approached them and put her hand out to pat one. The horse lunged at the outstretched hand and attempted to bite it. Dick slapped it hard as a punishment. Its ears went back and the animal snorted. A second slap and the other two horses turned and retreated to the paddock. The offending horse snorted again, shook its head and glared at Gretchen out of one eye.  Not wishing a confrontation, Gretchen turned and started to move away.  The horse struck. It grabbed Gretchen’s hair that lay in a long braid on her back, snapped its head and threw her to the floor. The horse then bolted the stall and ran to the far side of the paddock. Stunned, Gretchen stood up, brushed herself off and felt the back of her head to see if her hair was still attached. She was unhurt. Surprised, but not hurt. Dick ran into the paddock and made an attempt to punish the horse, but was only able to chase it around and not get close enough to be a physical threat. Returning to the barn, he asked about injuries, apologized profusely and shook a fist at the unrepentant horse. 

          “That’s Sir Rah, my wife’s horse,” he explained. “He’s the oldest. He’s cocky and has my wife's temperament. Somehow he feels threatened by you guys and took it out on the first thing he could. Unfortunately, Gretch, you were first. It’d be best to watch out for him while you’re here.  He may not be done.”

          At that point, prudence should have dictated that we suspend plans for a horse ride, but Dick reassured us that the other horses were gentle, and that he would ride Sir Rah and keep him restrained. Dick persisted and we consented.

          Gretchen was to ride Eleana, a chestnut colored Morgan. She and Sir Rah had wed a couple of years ago and produced a foal. She was due again in the spring.

          I was to ride Jerry. Jerry was a retired racehorse, steel gray with no tail. He appeared to be a tired, old swayback. He had been spared the dog food factory after he left the race circuit and been given to Dick as payment for some artwork. He seemed to be a gentle horse to Dick, he was passive in the pasture and got along well with the other horses, so he agreed to take him. Jerry hadn’t been ridden since his move to the farm, but Dick had put a saddle on him several times and Jerry hadn’t complained. Nor did he this time. Even Sir Rah behaved when it came time to be saddled, though Gretchen and I kept well away while that was happening. Dick led all three horses out of the barn and partially closed the door to keep it from flapping in the wind.

          We walked the horses slowly down the to the end of the drive and onto the dirt road. Dick was in front, then Gretchen, then me. Jerry was fine.  He walked with his head lowered and kept up with the others without any encouragement on my part. 

          After a couple of minutes on the dirt road, Dick prodded Sir Rah into a trot and Gretchen and I did the same to our horses. The three of us trotted a mile or so to the crest of a hill, where we all stopped to admire the view. We were at the end of a long valley. The valley sides were a beautiful patchwork of farm fields and woods. The colors were magnificent against the darkened sky. Dotted about were old farmsteads. In the valley bottom was a creek and a small settlement of houses and a whitewashed church. Dick said that this was Wetona. The tiny village had once been a bustling farm town with a famous horse-racing track. Not much was happening there now. From where we sat, Wetona was as pretty as a postcard.

          As we gazed, the wind came up and a cold chill went down the center of my spine. I hunkered down into my coat. A gust rattled the Maple tree beside us and a blizzard of orange leaves rain down upon us. Sir Rah spooked and stood on his back feet. His front hoofs hit the ground with a loud clap, apparently like the sound of a starter's pistol to Jerry's ears because Jerry bolted. I had been inattentive, gazing at the valley and hadn’t noticed that Jerry had pointed his nose toward the farm and was now heading home at breakneck speed. His initial charge threw me off the saddle and back onto his rump. My feet were still on the stirrups, but I had dropped the reins with Jerry’s initial jump and grabbed at the saddle-horn and held on with both hands. Jerry was at full speed. Racehorse speed. I felt myself slipping off his rump, his stub of tail was in my crotch. I pulled myself up a couple of inches with the saddle-horn and squeezed his belly as tightly as I could with my legs. That caused him to go faster. I squeezed tighter and Jerry went faster. The faster he went, the tighter I squeezed to stay on. That only seemed to make him go faster. He made the turn at the farm drive and I pitched onto his right side. My left foot slipped out of the stirrup. I was going to fall off and die, I thought. I thrust my weight onto my right foot, pushed hard on the stirrup and squared myself on Jerry’s rump. I looked up just in time to realize that the horse was headed for the barn and the door on the barn was open only a couple of feet, not wide enough for Jerry to get through, I didn’t think, and certainly not Jerry with me on his back. I ducked and closed my eyes. The horse hit the door opening dead center and at full speed. This was the finish line. Jerry’s shoulders splintered the rickety boards on both sides of the opening and my knees did the same. Once inside the barn, Jerry skidded on the concrete and came to an immediate stop. I did not. My momentum carried me back onto the saddle, through the saddle-horn and onto Jerry’s neck, about mid-mane. I came to rest eye-to-eye with my mount, my arms hugging his neck. My right foot was still in the stirrup. I swung my left leg over and fell off of the horse. I was shaking so bad that I couldn’t stand up. Jerry nonchalantly grazed on a bale of hay. 

          Outside I could hear Dick and Gretchen ride up and they rushed into the barn to see if I was still alive. Once satisfied that I’d not broken anything except the boards on the side of the door, I stood up, slapped Jerry on the rump and thanked him for the ride. On the shaky walk back to the farmhouse, Dick exclaimed “Holy crap, man, that horse had all four hoofs off the ground a couple of times.”

          I knew that. I glared back at Sir Rah. I somehow felt that he was responsible for spooking Jerry and for my wild ride.

          Don't care much for horses any more.

Silhouette Advent Calendar

 I have to admit. This project nearly did me in.

It had such great promise when I spotted it out on the Silhouette blog shortly after Thanksgiving. It was a great price with all these little cutting files you can reuse for various holidays and gifts.

Little did I know that making little boxes isn't something I am good at.

The spray painting wasn't all that bad. It started off as white. And I of course wanted black.

I think that starting with the wrong glue kinda got me off on the wrong foot. Cutting the boxes wasn't all that bad either although it ate up large pieces of pretty paper. Towards the end I started using any paper that was pretty and the right colors and not necessarily Christmas like.

Turns out for me, the right glue is hot glue.

I was trying to use regular adhesive, but when subjected to small people removing lids to get to candy, it didn't work one bit.

Don't even ASK about the star and how that turned out. I found that on my counter in three pieces. Not ripped mind you, but not going back together no way no how. Avoided redoing the star to avoid further damage to my self esteem.

So, finished out Dec. by just placing candy in the little slots and promising myself to finish the project in January.

My mojo came back a bit when I came up with the idea of distressing my black spray paint a bit with sand paper.

I was further cheered up by finding these little itty bitty glittery letters at Walmart for a $1. Yippee for Stickos! (too bad I didn't notice they only had one #2, so had to beg my Sis In Law Jennifer to buy out her Walmart of stickers once I hit the higher numbers, so my cheap fix turned less cheap quickly!)

Came up with the idea for my numbers using a punch with two different circles to make them all similar. I thought that would help pull the whole thing together.

Do you see a trend here?

I love my Silhouette, but making little itty bitty cut outs on it were going to stress me to the max.

These boxes clearly needed little numbers in my brain. Although, I have spotted various other versions of this using much larger numbers as an accent.

I have also seen these boxes using only one line of product which makes them look nicely matching.

I was going for a bit vintage here with my paper choices and when I got these lovely glass ornaments from Chelsea, I was going to include them as well to display them.

I decided I would hide envelopes behind them and write activities in them next year. See the little clear envelope below?

Here is a close up of my largest box which I found in my stash that FITS for Day 25 and is super soft velvet!

Do you love that neato hand made flower on it from Irini? Yeah, me too!

Now the only addition I might make is if I find larger sized numbers in GOLD from Stickos for the front of Box 25. (hint hint Jennifer!!!)

So glad it's done, happy I did it, but I think next time I won't try to take on something like this AT CHRISTMAS!! I mean, what was I thinking!!

However, now is a great time to make one of these if it's winter where you live. If you are clever, make it something neutral where you can change out just a few items for the holiday and enjoy displaying it longer. If you are bad at little boxes, I would honestly use the easier version of making the pull out drawers. #15 and #20 are those and they were super easy to fold and glue. Plus, they are flush mounted so you don't have to tweak them to make the box look pretty.

If you want to display ornaments in the box like I did, glue dots work great for keeping them still.

And, I'm not being a hater, but those blog posts where they were takin' up this purchase? Pretty please next time throw me a couple hints on how to pull it together better. Nothing worse than UFOs in my book! That stands for UnFinished Projects!

Newness Around The Place

BEFORE

When we moved, I was happy with most everything furniture related in my house except a really old little cupboard we had brought with us. It wasn't intended for any prominent spot in the house actually but by virtue of being the only little cabinet type thing we had that would work in this little weird spot in the kitchen, it lived out in the open. At one point a dog chased a cat on top of it causing the entire thing to topple over, chipping the knobs, and causing a rather massive repair job with screws by THE MAN.

He was outside fixing it to avoid the drama of a wife who was seriously annoyed since it involved a plant that was tipped over and a rather large mess. Been looking for a replacement piece since.

At a craft fair before Christmas I spotted this very lovely little dry sink made by a local guy who owns a company called The Grumpy Bear. For the record, this dude somewhat resembles the name of his company but he was surrounded by twittering women so we'll give him a break.

I admired his furniture, took measurements and then brought it home via my cell phone and imagined it in place. THE MAN being very wise said of course, if you want it, get it. He was hoping to avoid any future repairs since there is only so much wood glue and screws can do to ward off a flying cat.

Since it was during the Christmas rush, I had a bit of a wait ahead of me.

AFTER

I could have taken one he had premade but of course, I had to have something different than everyone else.

Here is a close up of the knobs I gave him to use in place of shaker pegs. I had bought them for my old cabinet, but really, they weren't going to help make it look much better since it was falling apart.

Also, there is a nice close up of the new candle sticks I found at Odd Ball's Emporium in Potsdam the other day. They match my new mirror from North Country Neighbor nicely! And yes, Better Homes and Garden candles from Walmart, thank you for spotting them.

See, told you I was going to introduce you to my new mirror! HI!!!

Oh funny! I crack myself up.

And, I knew it! You were going to ask if my binoculars are part of my decorations!!! See, THE MAN likes to grab them in a big hurry to see what big deer is eating his meadow on any given day so they must be out and handy. Not like candle sticks that really do no one any good unless of course the lights go out and you can't find a flashlight...but then there is also finding a match at the same time...

And, a little piece of scrappy Art that I got sent to me from LISA at You Made Me Ink! My favorite lunch pastime is stopping in at our local flea markets with my VISA!!!! Thanks Lisa!

THE MAN scrapbook page for Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge

I am in a LOT of hot water for this page.

A LOT.

Like rolling his eye balls and snorting....

So, the challenge up today at Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge is:

Just in time for Valentine’s Day next month – your first love – a real boy or girl, try to include a  memento from that time with them, or download an image or something from that era from the Internet if you wish. A pop or movie star crush can be substituted for a real live crush if you are too shy to tell us how it really was!!!

I considered doing a deep dive in the huge tote I have full of old school stuff to see if I could find that Valentine's Day card from Gene Platt who moved and used to sit next to me in third grade but all the Christmas stuff was in front of it plus, I wasn't really sure if still existed....and THEN there is the page I could do on that boy I had that HUGE CRUSH on in High School and I code named Manifest Destiny after studying American History. Of course, the only people on this planet who would know the guy I am referring to is my Mom, THE MAN, and also the girl I used to sit with on the bus in the wee hours of the morning. 

Lets just say for the record, it's like that country song Garth Brooks sings....Unanswered Prayers...I'm good with not being Mrs. Manifest Destiny. And there might have been a couple of other boys...but none all that significant...

That leaves THE MAN. 

We starting going out on the Sports Bus our senior year of High School.

Yes, who would have thought I would have put up with him 'til now!!!!

I am only saying that since he snorted at my page. And used some words that crushed my very soul. He said it was CHEESY. 

Grrrr!

He may have been referring to what he wrote on the back of the photo I had scanned in. So, here is a close up shot so you can be the judge of all that. Hopefully you can read it. Evidently 21 year old scanned in pen doesn't turn out that hot. 

It is ALSO possible he was protesting my use of his senior year photo. Isn't he just adorable?

I was also glad to find a use for my old letter jacket my parents delivered recently after a closet purge. I was like um....thanks? It needs to be dry cleaned in the worst way. 

After taking a photo, I printed it out on some nice creamy paper with lots of texture and after fading it up a bit on the edges. Here is the original photo.

And, all the beautiful paper lace doilies? They are from Julie, a scrappy friend of mine who randomly mailed me a little package full AND poked out all the little holes! I love my die cutter, but poking out the holes in something like that is the worst!

Oh and please play along will you? I'd love to wander over and check out your pages. I PROMISE I won't call them cheesy either like THE MAN! He had better have BIG PLANS for making it up to me on Valentine's Day, which is also our anniversary.

Better Homes and Gardens, watch out!

Are you kidding me? For a big chunk of this year I was thinking I started blogging in Feb. of 2011. Which would mean of course that anniversary is rolling around and I should come up with something meaningful.

So, came up with a few ideas of what to write while taking a shower this morning. I do all my best thinking in the shower, seriously. My intent was to repost my first post and write up a few things I learned the hard way while playing in the big sandbox that is the international scrapbooking blogging community.

I looked up my first post on my blog just now and got all whoooah nelly on it when I realized I stared blogging Dec. 8th 2010.

I mean, seriously?

How did that happen. Who starts blogging in Dec. just before Christmas?

I am going to repost my first blogged about scrap page the way I would now. BIGGER for one thing. And I may just make fun of the fact that we went to a party at my old college where they have a Quidditch Team like in Harry Potter minus the flying of course. We never had any organized sports when I was there involving broomsticks or dressing up with make up. I can't for the LIFE of me decide whether that is a good thing or bad thing....

However, they did have excellent hot chocolate at this event they invited the public to AND a fireplace with comfy chairs AND taught the kids a few basics for playing Quidditch, so I may just not poke too much fun. I met Hagrid who not only is a ginormous college kid with a real beard majoring in Geology but also detests the same Anthro teacher I did when I was there.  In short, he rocks. Although, like I said, he's not short.

OK:  So a few important things I did wrong on my first post.

I didn't write a darn thing except write about how "we" are working on embossing. I have NO idea who I was referring to. Must have been me since I don't recall doing this page with anyone else.


Don't be afraid to write. It's your blog. If I don't want to read it and just want to skim the photos? That is my prerogative. But, if you don't have anything to read and I want to read, I will be disappointed. Some evenings when I am looking at blogs on my couch, I don't read, I just skim. If it's something I want to really get into, I subscribe via e-mail to those bloggers and enjoy the whole post at my leisure when I have more than one brain cell firing.

Good & large photos are a must. I don't necessarily think my photo above is all that. And, taking a photo of letters coated in silver embossing powder is difficult, but you can still get a close up or two to show off your embellishments....I just cropped this one in Picassa real quick to show you. I'd go deep diving to get this page and take a cool side shot but I am not sure where it's at. Some scrapbook somewhere.

Plan for 2012 is a better bookcase where my scrapbooks are sequential and easy to get my hands on....but I digress...

Rules stink, but you must read them. Color challenges are made for playing along with matching colors, sketches are meant to be followed, and when they say please use this for our challenge they mean it. I have done at least one page this past year where I went to link up to the contest or challenge and realized I failed miserably by not reading the rules. Once I skipped using the SKETCH at Once Upon a.....Sketch. So, it's in the title and I missed the point. Moving too fast, too caught up in creating. Now, me, I don't care. For me, it's all about the page. However, I will say if I linked up and my page was drastically different, I likely would get thrown out of the challenge, plus I'd feel like I was lying a bit. What I did do was fess up and say hey thanks for making this challenge, I did half of it and appreciate all the hard work the blog owner & design teams put into the challenge, their pages, and this blog. Please don't include mine in the challenge however as I know I didn't follow the rules.

Be Polite.  Did you see above where I said INTERNATIONAL? Polite is a nice translation for everything in any country. Yes, I am a native New Yorker writing that. For those of you reading this from parts elsewhere, I guess due to the fact we have this huge city in our State people tend to call us rude. Now, I have been to New York City and didn't think anyone was rude. I may be biased. However, my point was leaving awesome comments, linking back, and pinning people are all great compliments to give and polite.

And my second to last point is: all about community. How many times have you stood in the line at the store and a fresh magazine with a stunning cover jumped into your hand and suddenly you are $5 poorer and ready for a nice snuggle on the couch with your new paper friend?  Currently I get two Better Homes and Gardens publications coming to my mailbox. They usually collect dust while my tablet is used night after night to stalk fellow bloggers. For me, it's all about community. Better Homes and Garden articles are written to make you feel like you can do their easy peasy projects. And that is a good thing. 'Cause if people weren't buying stickers in mass quantities and pretty cardstock, well, we wouldn't have so much great variety.

I myself yearn for more. I like to relate to whomever I am following, the good and the bad. Not too much bad unless you can make it funny. I want to see complicated too! I mean, how am I going to try a new technique that might involve eighteen steps with embossing powers if I don't see it somewhere. Or at least be happy somewhere somebody is using embossing powder, even if it's not me.

And my last point:  Content. The nice part about today is that you are able to subscribe to your own content. Meaning pretty much whatever you are into, there is a blog for that. Or discussion group, etc. If you are blogging you are providing content, just like the $5 Better Homes and Garden magazine you may grab on your way out of the store. (with the minor difference that yours is free)

I like to think of my blog as my very own itty bitty publication. Now, it is possible SOME of the people who stalk me are related to me...hi Dad!  However, I like to think maybe a few of you aren't and might just come here for a quick read because somehow I might be interesting. Or amusing...or maybe you stop in 'cause I am writing about you again!!! :-)


And on that note, someone gave me an award the other day. PitterAndGlink such a fun blog and great for stalking. I started following her when she posted a lamp project that I linked back to. And here is what she says about this award:

From what I read on these ladies' blogs, liebster is a German word that means "dearest," "beloved," or "favorite."  This award is given to blogs that have less than two hundred followers.  The purpose of it is to show your appreciation for other bloggers and to encourage them.  If you are chosen to receive this award, you are supposed to link back to the person who gave it to you and then choose three to five other bloggers to receive the award.

The part that has me stumped is picking JUST 5 Blogs. Or Blobs as I just mistakenly wrote. I think I need to think on it. I may have used up very last brain cell for today writing all that stuff earlier. Anyhow, leave me a comment if you'd like to have this award....and......


Happy Belated Blog-o-versary to me!