Bad blogger but looking to October

I've been a bad blogger!

but you see ... I went here ...

with this wonderful girl ... to see that crazy guy ...

dear brother & dear sil

... and have been trying to get my garden weeded with tons of help from mom and dad ...

... even turned 50 ... I'll say it! ... I'll even wear a badge! ...

... and just have been trying to get things DONE ...

But October won't get away from me ... because Doris had the brilliant idea to do an October daily ... and got others to join in the fun ...

... wouldn't an October daily be fun?! ...

... my hats off to you all who do a December daily ... but that month gives me hives as it is ...

... we've got a little group chatting about it on the JBS message board ...

... and check out the sneak peeks of the October Mercantile Kit ...

... full reveal coming ... it's lovely ...

thanks for visiting!

Yes, I met Dina! and good discoveries ...

Hopped the train and navigated the subway last weekend to one of  Dina Wakley's classes in NYC.


Yes ... I saw THIS book in person.  Yes ... she is an incredible artist.  Yes ... she is a wonderful teacher. And Yes ... her son CJ is such a cutie!


Dina taught a technique and mini book that amazed.  The stamping technique was so cool and interesting that even dh paid attention when I tried to explain it to him later.  Now that's BIG.


If you have a chance to take a class from Dina - do it!  She's such a great teacher - you can even find a bunch of her online classes as Get It Scrapped.  I took this one, and it changed the way I look at scrapbooking and crafting!


Have you seen this shop?  Oh my - I placed and order the other day and it came very quickly, wrapped to the gills.  The wrapping was so pretty, I almost didn't unwrap it!  So lovely really, and I guess a very fitting name: InspireLovely .  Beautiful, unique stuff!


I had planned to go to Brimfield a couple weekends ago.  I wanted to go the the Antique textile event before the big show.  Unfortunately my lovely life challenge got in the way this time.  But dear mom, upon hearing what type of goodies I was missing, came in to show me her stash of textile goodies.  And like a good mom, let me take whatever I wanted home:

Oh don't you just love those vintage buttons!


And another good discovery ... i organized my unorganized photos .... the ones that were filling up a drawer because i thought i was going to scrap them, but didn't ... or printed doubles of just in case ... and found a bunch of enlargements ... i can't even remember why I had so many:

and  i'm inspired to scrap these enlargements before the photos get totally ruined ... but to scrap them simply ... so the photo is center stage ...


I leave you with a few images from the project I was working on with the vintage postcard sheet from the Jenni Bowlin Studio Mercantile September Antiquarian kit.


We had a great day at the beach this summer where our dog Shiner became a *star* in our eyes.  I just HAD to document this day.  The layout is 6x12 and a pocket on the layout holds a mini album:

The mini was made from the vintage postcard sheet in the JBS Mercantile September Antiquarian add-on:

Fold it up a certain way (and it's already perforated!) ...

to make the sweetest little book complete with a journaled tag and painted birds and banners and paint splatters ...

have a creative day!

I Fell in Love With a German ...

NO  NOT HIM!

I fell in love with a German foil embellishment silly!

... the one I worked with till the wee hours of the night ...

... the beautiful German Foil Doves from the Mercantile Antiquarian kit ... here's one of the detail shots ...

... yes, this is LOVE folks ... there's even a German Foil buckle in the kit!

I was first  introduced to German Foil when I took a Big Picture Class from Jenni Bowlin ...

Jenni is a MASTER at using German Foil in her layouts ... and it frequently makes its way into her kits and for sale at the Mercantile shop.

I'm not a real technique-y scrapper, but I tried painting on them last night and boy did they take to paint wonderfully.  Here is an in progress photo:

 ... they look awesomely cool in person ... and great flying around in their mini book ... 

The paint I used was Jenni Bowlin Malted Milk and Speckled Egg Dabbers.  The Speckled Egg is new and I think one of my favorite colors ever.  And it's easy easy to paint on German Foil with Dabbers.  A heavy touch to cover more and a light touch just to get at the embossed areas.

The whole thing will hopefully be photographed soon and the new Mercantile gallery will be up Saturday.  You'll love what the design team has been doing!

have a great day!

Good Stuff!

I'm just in love with the vintage goodies in this month's Mercantile Antiquarian Add-on.

I'm using the 12"x16" vintage railroad postcard sheet for a very cool mini album.  Here it is in its beginning stages - splattered with Soap Powder paint.

And this mini album fits perfectly in the vintage hat check envelope in the same kit.

So much fun.  Using vintage items in your projects brings you back to scrapbooking roots, doesn't it?

And working on another layout at the same time, using a mix from all three kits: the papercrafting, artisan, and antiquarian:

Kits just make scrapbooking so much fun!  Updates the the gallery are coming Saturday - this was such a beautiful kit - the main papercrafting kit is sold out - but the add-ons are still available.  If you don't want to miss out next month, become a subscriber!

The next good thing ...  have you seen the latest class at Master Scrapbook Design: Design Play.  I'm so glad I'm taking this - the material posted so far is GREAT.  I'm going to really practice the theory explained in this class.  Great teachers, great examples, and it goes on all month.  It's like being back in school for a really, really, really fun class!

Thanks for stopping by!

Surviving the Empty Nest

brush by Rhonna Farrer, nest by the Sparrow family

With both boys in college now, things are different.  I went grocery shopping yesterday to refill our frig after the hurricane, and I was stumped. How much milk?  Deli meat?  Do I really have to make dinner tonight?  But that's just part of it.  I guess you can get wrapped up in what you miss by having them gone.  But then it becomes more about you and not so much about their new adventures and opportunities. 

So instead, I'm wrapping  my brain around happy thoughts. Actually, I've been preparing for this day for a looong looong time.  I knew it would be hard, so I tried to get myself ready so I wouldn't fall into a hole of shock and despair!  Seeing changes in your life as opportunities helps focus on the positive.  And really, isn't this stage of life just full of positives for everyone?  I think so.  

So I drew up a set of goals on Evernote covering all aspects of my life: scrapbooking, home, work, health ... you name it. Big plans for sure.  And I read them last night, ready to put them on paper, in sort of a ceremonial way to say "AND THIS SHALL BE DONE!"  And then promptly dosed off ... sitting up ...

My list is exhausting.   So I'm revising my plan.  

My scrapbooking plans for Surviving the Empty Nest from now until December are:

1.  Try to lift some scrappy goddesses out there.  Can their magical talents rub off on me?

2.  Try to beat the pants off of Doris and Briana one month and make MORE layouts with my Jenni Bowlin kits than they do. (but is this humanly possible?)

3.  Learn something new each week that will help use my lovely computer for my scrapbooking.  I'll even share it here.  

the end.

My original list is still on Evernote, but I'm not even tempted to open the page.

I think I'm going to survive!

circa: ages ago

It's Like a Hurricane Around Here ...

... well, ya' ... and in more ways than one ...

Hurricane Irene hit the east coast pretty bad - and we're in survival mode ... getting back to our pioneer roots!  I'm lucky today to grab a computer at the library for a quick post ...

and like a hurricane we've sent ds#1 off to college - just hours before it hit - and now are packing by daylight to get ds#2 off tonight ... exciting times for sure!

yes ... the empty nest has arrived ... but I have big plans for that ... and tell me ... is there really such a thing as an empty nest these days?  i think not!  but more on that later ...  when i can post properly with photos and such ...

like a good little cub scout i was prepared for the hurricane and even prepared as much as I could to make one of my favorite projects using the new September Mercantile kit by candlelight ...

I love it ... and I was able to give it to ds#2 before he goes away today ... my sweetie ...

you can see it ... and all the other amazing projects in the Mercantile gallery right here!