Updates Coming Soon!

Updates are coming soon!  I had to take a break when I became ill (I'm on much better heart medication now and doing so much better) and then when I began to mend my children's activities took a change of direction, we moved, and all of my crafting supplies and inventory went into storage then many were available for purchase inside my parents' store.

But my parents are getting ready to retire, so now I'm working on going through it all, finding crafting space in my new home and storage shelving for the items for sale!  Soon I will have a list of the goodies I have for sale and keep it in a permanent page on this blog but also will begin to offer them for sale on Ebay or Etsy, I believe.  I'm up on the Northshore in Massachusetts now and still have some kits in large enough quantities for workshops in your home as well as plenty of page-kits in different themes but using the same cutting diagrams/layouts as well as the ability to create book projects in different themes but the same dimensions/instructions!

Club Scrap: Sonoma 3/10 - Metallic Grape; Apothecary 8/09 - Dark Grey, Light Grey, Wine; Musical Interlude 12/05 - Borders & Backgrounds UM Stamps, Club Stamp UM Stamps; Retreat 2008 All The World's a Stage - Digital Kit Stamps; India Ink Pad;
Ranger: Adirondack Alcohol Inks - Caramel, Copper Mixative, Cranberry, Latte, Mushroom, Raisin, Wild Plum; Polished Stone Technique;
Krylon: Metallic Leafing Pen - Red, Silver;
Offray: Ribbon;
Cropadile;
Glossy Cardstock;

It's hard to see in the scan but the alcohol inked front panels are stamped with the Musical Interlude sheet music as is the gray insert... the interior panel with all of the info was inked up, then printed with both the text and a background digistamp showing a theatre seating chart.

The big thing that's been occupying our time is that my twins have become actresses! They've each performed roles in 4-5 professional theatre productions (North Shore Music Theatre's Gypsy and The King & I, American Repertory Theater's Wild Swans, Salem Theatre Company & Marblehead Little Theatre's Ragtime, Huntington Theatre Company's A Future Perfect, and Underground Railway Theatre & Central Square Theatre's Brundibar & But the Giraffe!) and have been venturing into film and commercial work! They played supporting roles as best friends of the main character children in Infinitely Polar Bear which was one of the highest, if not highest, selling films at this year's Sundance Film Festival! And Uatchet is currently appearing on television in Connecticut in an advertisement for Greenwich Hospital! You can follow their acting careers at their official acting pages http://facebook.com/UatchetJ & http://facebook.com/NekhebetJ!

Christmas in July! 9 Layouts and a Sale!

I was secretly saving these recent layouts to post in July as a Christmas in July post...


Club Scrap: PSL Scramble 2008 - ALSB #25; A Study In Red 1/08 - Black Plain, Grey Print, Red Print, Black Tag, Dark Red Tag, Mini Brads;


Club Scrap: Musical Interlude - 12/05 Maroon Print, Ivory Print; Poetic 9/03 - 8.5x11 Green Print;
Scrapbook Takeout: Celebrations 11/07 - Basic Grey Undressed Chipboard Holiday, Prima Poinsettias & Stars Mix, Heidi Swapp Cargo Ribbon;

Part of my birthday party tradition was that the overnight guests went over to Salem for the ice cream smorgasbord and took photos with Santa at the little mall there!


Apple Barrel: Acrylic Paints - Black;
Club Scrap: A Study in Red 1/08 - Plain Black; A Very Groovy Christmas 2007 - Red Print, Stencil; Salsa 11/03 - White Plain;
Provo Craft: Cuttlebug - 3x3 Funky Circles Frame;
Ranger: Adirondack Paint Dabbers - Clover, Lettuce, Silver;
Scrapbook Takeout: Celebrations 11/07 - Basic Grey Undressed Chipboard Holiday;
Zig: Millenium - Pure Black;


Club Scrap: Retreat 2007 - ALSB & Fibers; Poetic - 9/03 Brown Print; Work Bench 8/05 - Green Embossed Plain; Rhapsody 3/07 - Rust Plain; Bridges 2/08 - Brown Tag, Stickers;
Scrapbook Takeout: Harvest Feast 10/07 - 7 Gypsies Zanzibar Brad;
Zig: Chocolate Memory Writer;

For my 9th birthday, all the girls stayed overnight after decorating a float and the next morning we donned traditional clothing from all over the world to ride on a Unicef float sponsored by my parents' store!


Club Scrap: PSL Scramble ALSB 2008 #5; A Study in Red 1/08 - Red Plain; Be Still 9/07 - Brown Plain, Brown Tag, Title Strip; Culinary 3/04 - Olive 8.5x11 Print, Evergreen 12/03 - Handmade Green Plain;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink - Ginger;

Each year, my daughters' Brownie troop creates a themed holiday wreath to donate within town. This year their gingerbread cookie wreaths went to the Senior Center!


Apple Barrel: Acrylic Paints - Black;
Club Scrap: Bridges 2/08 - Stonewash Plain; A Study in Red 1/08 - Plain Black; Culinary 3/04 - Olive Plain; Poetic 9/02 - Creative Imaginations Tagwear Rub Ons; Art Deco 9/02 - Plum 8.5x11 Print, Architecture Overlay Stencil;
Ranger: Inkssentials - White Pen;
Scrapbook Takeout: Adventures in Altering 8/07 - Chipboard Numbers;
Zig: Millenium - Pure Black;


Club Scrap: A Study in Red 1/08 - CS02, CS07, Fibr05, Xtra36; Sparkle 12/07 - CS09;
Adobe Photoshop: Drop Shadows; Blending Mode - Multiply; Altered Hues & Levels; Inverted Colors;
Scan of my Sofa Fabric;






Club Scrap: PSL Scramble 2008 - ALSB #3 and 4; Hannukah 2006 - Sky Print; Varsity 6/05 - Blue Plain; Evergreen 12/03 - Green 8.5x11 Print, Stickers, Plum Plain;
Ranger: Adirondack Dye Ink Pad - Denim;

Mini Badge Book

I love the idea of creating Mini Badge Books! These books are the perfect size for carrying in your purse and have ID badge holders acting as page protectors! This quick little book is just one way to fill a Mini Brag Book!






Supplies Used, all from Club Scrap:

• Stratosphere 4/07 - Dark Blue, Fucshia, Green, & Light Blue papers;
• Refresh 2/07 - Sr Light Green 12x12 Print, Dark Blue, Dark Green, & Light Blue papers; CSt UM Stamps; Club Scrap DigiDeluxe Kit;
• Fizz 1/07 - Borders & Backgrounds UM Stamps; CSt Crazy About Fizz UM Stamps;
• Ivory Elegance 12/06 - Dark Brown paper;
• Farmer's Market 10/06 - Club Scrap DigiGoodies Kit;
• Wheel & Sprocket 8/06 - Borders & Backgrounds UM Stamps;
• Surf's Up! 7/06 - Salmon Hibiscus Print;
• Collections 6/06 - Saddle Brown paper;
• Nature's Wonders 5/06 - Mango paper;
• Musical Interlude 12/05 - Maroon paper;
• The Written Word 11/05 - Medium Blackberry paper;
• Down to Earth 4/05 - Brown paper;
• Textiles & Notions 9/04 - Sr Rule Stamp; CSt Ironing Board Grid Stamp; Stewart Superior Palette Ink Pad in Noir Black;
• Ranger Adirondack Ink Pads in Bottle, Ginger, Lettuce, Purple Twilight, Red Pepper, & Watermelon;
• Ranger Archival Ink Pad in Cobalt;

Working With Children... What Keeps Me Busy!

The start of March is filled with children's projects that keep this mother very busy! First, we finished up my son's Pinewood Derby Car, without any scrap-supplies! Then we moved onwards to making Japanese Stab Bound Books with 1st Graders in my daughters' classroom... And now, we're hard at work finishing up mini chocolates to give in thanks to our Girl Scout Cookie Customers!

These lovely books were all made by 1st Graders! I used my handy, dandy Club Scrap POPs, some jewelry cord from Walmart, and some bargain-bin ribbon to set up small kits for the kids to choose from. I had already prescored the covers and the thicker pages with my ScorIt, using Club Scrap Cardstock, copy paper, envelopes, paper bags, and lined paper as the pages. The kids pressed all the folds with a bone folder and then stacked and clamped the pages together while I made the holes. My daughters helped me show the binding technique and each child bound their own!

Clockwise, from the top left, the papers used are: Wild Wild West 10/05 Terra Cotta with paper bag pages; Fossils 8/04 Kraft Print with a miniature lined notebook inside; Musical Interlude 12/05 Ochre with manila envelope pocket-pages; Retro 9/06 Dark Raspberry; Science 9/05 Amethyst with Chocolate Shoppe 2/05 pages; Let Me Count the Ways 2/06 Dark Cherry with lined paper pages; County Fair 7/04 Red; Wheel & Sprocket 8/06 Purple with lined paper pages; Surf's Up! 7/06 Light Green with copy paper pages;

Today, the girls are hard at work making a pair of miniature chocolates for approximately 70 families who ordered Girl Scout Cookies through us! (They sold 226 boxes in just 3 days, with Mimi helping out with 50 of those boxes through her friends!) Each family will get a pretty little tag that lists their order and thanks them, along with one Caramel deLites (aka Samoas) flavored chocolate and one Thin Mints flavored chocolate! I have to say that they are beyond delicious!

The Caramel deLites include a milk chocolate shell then a small dollop of caramel. On top of that are some toasted coconut shreds and crushed GS Shortbread cookies! Then they are sealed with another coating of milk chocolate, et voila! The Thin Mints are made from a thick layer of mint flavored dark chocolate, a thin layer of dark green colored white chocolate, and a final layer which mixes milk chocolate and crushed chocolate cookies! (Make sure that you seek out the harder style cookies for that!)

The girls started singing my praises when they tasted the chocolate! "Oh, Mommy, you have such great ideas! You make the yummiest chocolate recipes!" I had to blame it on the delicious flavors of the Girl Scout Cookies that we just copied!

We promise to share more photos later! There will be at least 19 books that are part of the classroom contribution to our school's auction! Plus we'll have photos of the wrapped chocolates and the Thank You tags! Stay tuned!