April Showers bring...April Flowers!

Welcome!  Thanks for stopping by!  I've been loving spring, even though it's pretty much rained non-stop all month, and watching my plants come back to life!

This week the Daffodils decided to grace us with their cheery beautiful sweet smelling selves!  I never knew they had a scent until last year when I was talking with someone and they told me they loved the smell of them.  I had assumed they were a lot like the hybrid roses - nothing but color.  How wrong was I!  I also learned that Lily of the Valley has a lovely scent!  I haven't seen those this year, not yet, anyway.

My miniature tulips are up as well.  They don't get any taller than six or seven inches and they have pointed petals instead of rounded.  They remind me of fire and they come up year after year but never spread.

The Grape Hyacinths have poked their little purple heads out of the ground too.  I'm not so crazy about these guys because of the foliage but I guess I'm going to keep them.  I separated a lot of them last year and moved them around because they're supposed to spread, but I really haven't seen that happen and I've had them for years.

Last but not least, I have my blue flowers.  I have no idea what they are.  I bought the bulbs two years ago and never wrote the name down anywhere.  I think they are the cutest little flowers, they're no taller than a couple of inches, very low-lying, and when the flower is spent it folds towards the ground and created a new bulb.  If anyone knows what they are please let me know! 

I hope you enjoyed a little part of my gardens.  I'll be posting more and possibly some video as well.  I really do enjoy working in them and seeing new flowers and vegetables make their way into my world.

Thanks for stopping by!  I'd love to hear what you're doing in your garden.  As always, I love each and every one of your comments!

Spring Storms

It's that time of year and it's what is happening tonight.  Lightning and thunder, no rain yet.  I just love these nights, but I'd love them better if Bella wasn't so scared of them.  Right now she's wedged herself under my chair and is panting so loudly it's a little distracting.

The air turned warm today, and I finally admitted to myself, and others, that I killed most of my seedlings by setting them out too early.  After I got home from work I set about making things right by starting the re-plant.  I planted more broccoli, more red cabbage, more eggplant, more flowers, and most important - more tomatoes.  Just the name of them makes me smile.  Costoluto.  Say it - Costoluto.  Don't they sound awesome?  I'm hoping I have time to start them and get them going because I hate buying my starter plants unless they're herbs.  I start most of those myself too, but I have a hard time with starting Rosemary and Sage.

Ah, the rain has started and with a fury.  I just ran upstairs and the rain was coming in.  Luckily the bed's not soaked!  It just means there's no nice breeze in the house now.

Easter was great with the kids.  Hannah helped me make the green bean casserole and Gaige washed the dishes after dinner.  He loves cleaning!  I think this was their first real Easter too.  I hid a couple eggs out back and when they came over we watched them find them.  Next year I'm going to hide a ton of them!

My panic attacks are back and in full swing again, due to problems at work.  Besides medication, that I haven't touched yet, I'm thinking I need to get crafting - a lot more than I am now.  Crafting, mainly scrapbooking, will set me free!

I know I didn't have a project to display, and I'm sorry if you're disappointed, but I didn't have anything like that to share so I decided to share me.  Hopefully another project will appear soon, so stay tuned and thanks for stopping by!  You're always welcome here.

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Scrapping Day

I called into work today.  I was up this morning at 3am, wide awake but knowing I should sleep.  I don't know why it's always 3am.  It reminds me of that song by Matchbox 20.  Check it out here: 

 http://youtu.be/C-Naa1HXeDQ

So I thought I'd rest because I didn't get back to sleep until 6:30 and then it was just restless tossing and turning.  After I showered I was drawn to my craft room, the mess that it is, and started to scrap.  I figured that since I was home I might as well create.  I've been trying to finish my 2010 album and I'm soooooo close!  I just need a couple more page holders, which means a trip to Joann Fabrics is on the horizon.

Here's what I got done:

 I love this one because Gaige kept asking to put this car together after Christmas and he was so happy when Derrick worked on it with him!  I decided to make the frames and glue them to the photo, then added the brads that looked like screws.  I mounted all the photos with foam squares to make them stand out.  I used the CJ Journaling font for my own journaling, and I brushed the edges of the journaling circle with a blue pigment stamping pad.

 I added a little bling on this one.

 I love the Christmas cards that come with photos and I always scrap them!

My fave pic is in the middle.  I just love it!

So I was pretty busy.  Now I'm starting to scrap the children's album so they'll have something to show their friends.  Up until now I'm pretty sure they don't even have their own photo albums because they are super excited about getting their own book.

That's it for today!  Thanks for stopping by, and as always, you crafty folks are my best critics so share your ideas and if you like something then please let me know!

Nature

Just thought I'd share this with you.  I stopped on the way home from work the other day to check it out.  The starkness of the trees sticking out of the water caught me off guard and I just had to get a shot.  I hope you enjoy!

Creating an Album with Unibind

Welcome back! I love it that you're here, and that you're checking out my page!

In September of 2010 I won a Unibind Photobook Creator (http://www.facebook.com/#!/PhotobookCreator ) in an on-line contest.  I was so excited! First to win something and then realizing that I won a real quality product!  After I won it I had to finish a challenge, which I did, and post it on-line for the world to vote in, which they did.  I didn't win more but that was ok.  Winning once was too cool anyway!  The thing is, I had the product but it sat.  And sat.  I was worried about what to do with it.  Would I mess it up?  I had received three books to bind with the Creator and I didn't want to mess it up.

And then inspiration hit!  I was in an old office that was being ripped apart.  There was some old, er... vintage, wall paper on the wall, and whala! the light bulb in my head went off.  I ripped off a good sized chunk, rolled it up, and brought it home.  There it sat, for a month at least, until I decided to see what I had.  It wasn't in the greatest shape, but I cleaned it up- both sides and layed it out to dry.

Once it was dry I measured out what I needed and then tried to find the areas that weren't ripped or faded out.  Once that was done I cut what I needed and set the rest of the paper aside.  At this point I have to say that I received some great advice from my friend Ken Oliver at http://kensworldinprogress.blogspot.com/ .  I wasn't sure how to put the paper on and Ken suggested I use a wash made of Aleene's Tacky Glue and water and to use material for the spine.  He suggested using material because eventually the wallpaper would crack and give out.  It was a great idea!

After gluing on the wallpaper it was time for a trip to Joann Fabrics.  I brought my book with me to test out the materials against the colors.  I brought home two cotton quilting squares. 

At this point I want to ask you a question - have you ever been in the material section of a store and just about coughed your lungs out?  I'm not allergic to anything that I know of but I thought I was going to die!  As soon as I got to the scrapping stuff I was fine!

Once I finally made my fabric choice I decided I had better sew the edges so it looked finished.  I did a spine and two squares for the inside of the album.  I used my grandmother's sewing machine.  Isn't it beautiful?  She picked it up at a yard sale and sewed everything with it, including pillow cases, which I still have a few of.  She never taught me to sew and you can definitely see that in these photos!

Once all the material was ready I started gluing it into the album.  I used the Aleene's Tacky Glue full strength and tacked it on.  It worked beautifully! 

Once everything was dry I cut some heritage paper that will hold some great old photos when I'm done.

So what do you think?  Pretty good for a first time, right?  I have to say it came out really good and very much like I had visualized.  As always, your comments are welcome and I love them so comment a lot!  

Oh yeah, what happened to the leftover wallpaper, you might ask.  Well, I kept it all.  Some of the pictures on the wallpaper I cut out and some of the paper I might use to make some vintage flowers and maybe an embellishment for the front of this baby.

Happy Scrapping friends!  Thanks for dropping by!

If you like crafting don't forget to take a visit to see Ken's projects at http://kensworldinprogress.blogspot.com/ !

Great Contest!

Hey friends!

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