with one eye open

It's been a while

2011-08-29T12:22:00.000-04:00

Have you found Pinterest http://pinterest.com/ yet? I love this place. I no longer have a mile long list of favorites listed on my computer. I can actually see them all in one place and stalk every one Else's favorites.

I am sitting here this morning with a DOZEN things to do .... not doing any of them. Watching Ellen, and playing on Pinterest.

I was shopping this weekend and saw all of the Halloween goodies in the stores. When my children were small I decorated for every holiday big or small. My daughters favorite holiday is Halloween.

When I logged on Pinterest this morning I saw a full page of Halloween ideas. Wow I can not believe it is that time already.

Check out these cute cup cakes they are on the Better Homes and Gardens web site.

Wouldn't this be fun to do with a group of friends and see how every ones monsters turn out.

I may actually have to make some of these for the Holiday they are soo cute!!

http://www.bhg.com/halloween/parties/monster-cupcakes-for-halloween/

I have lots of new things to tell you about. I just have to take the time to post it all and share it with you. I hope you all had a fun summer.

In two weeks I will have lots of time to tell you about it. My job is being eliminated and I will be unemployed.

I have projects in Somerset Memories, Green Crafts, Scrapbooking and Beyond to share to show you.

I have really been lazy as far as my crafting projects lately. I am just starting to become a little more motivated. I am starting to get involved again. Just not quite sure where my mojo went these last few months. Too much life taking over my time lately.

I have been on a major clean our and reorganize bing though. Some of my closets look a little better.

What have you been doing this summer?
Have a great week.- Gayle

Really Reasonable Ribbon

2011-04-20T01:16:00.000-04:00

This month I had the honor of being the guest designer for Really Reasonable Ribbon's online store. Later tomorrow I will be posting the rest of my projects on their blog featuring Helmar products. My projects were created using their Baker's twine, and gingham assortment. They have a wonderful collection of 12 Baker's Twine with a total of 60 yards for only $9.49.

For the holidays I created some Easter decorations and have included a vintage image for you to use. I enjoy saving old postcards and collecting vintage images, so i incorportated them in to several of these projects.

I used empty glass bottles from the kitchen that had been washed and dried. I used the Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive Runner to adhere the image to the glass bottle. To finish off the bottle I tied the Bakers twine around the neck of the bottle with a small tag.

I will be posting the rest of the projects from Really Reasonable Ribbon on the Really Reasonalble Blog on April 23.

I have more projects using recycled bottles as well as some scrapbook projects to show you.
Thanks for dropping by have a great week!
Gayle

April 20th 1984 my last baby was born

2011-04-20T00:55:00.000-04:00

Here she is the Queen Bee it's her birthday week.
April 20, 1984 at 3:42 am- Baptist Hospital in Kendall, Florida

Meghan Alanna Martin
8 pounds 6 ounces
blue eyes
dark brown hair

This is her first birthday in our home in the Redlands near Homestead , Fl. She celebrated with mom, dad and with the brothers . The girl is more interested in her chicken leg than the birthday cake.

Meghan attended Beginnings Preschool in Boynton Beach, Florida.

Happy Birthday baby hope your have a wonderful birthday week!

Love you,
mom

Somerset Memories Spring 2011-Bicycle Book

2011-03-22T01:03:00.000-04:00

Spring has officially arrived in Florida, The flowers are in full bloom and are just beautiful. I spent two days taking photos of the trees in my front field. The flowers were gorgeous and the bumble bees were heavy flying in and out of the tree limbs and flowers.

I have some projects to share with you that are in the latest Spring 2011 Somerset Memories magazine. My projects that are actually from a couple of years ago. This is what the magazine looks like if you look for it on the news stands.

One of the items if a project called the Bicycle Book. It was created as a flag book which is a very easy book to assemble. You start with an accordion fold as your binding and add cards to the folds which allow it to flip back and forth. It is a really fun way to put together your own book when you are using lots of photos.

The photos in this book are of my brother teaching his two children and my niece how to ride a bicycle one week end while they were at Flagler Beach. After the many trips running up and down the block with 3 small children I figured that event needed it's own book. So here you have the bicycle book created with Helmar450 and Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive Runner.

One of the scrapbook pages published is a baby photo of my brother standing at my mother's clothes line in our back yard. The back ground is hand painted with Luminarte paints and the leaf design is drawn on the paper. The page is assembled with Helmar 450 and Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive Runner.

1992 Flash Back

2011-03-15T22:59:00.001-04:00

This morning I called my mom to see what she was doing and she said she was sorting
through old letters. My sister and her family are coming to visit her next week. The children usually use the back bed room/ craft room/ my dad's office in my parents house as their bedroom. The last time I was at my parents house they were remodeling one of their other rooms. The back bed room of their housing had quite a bit of the stuff store in it from the other room. It virtually was a maze of boxes and stuff waiting to be returned to the other room.

I asked my mom how the clean up and put away was going after the remodel. She started telling me that she was sorting and organizing. My mom just had a minor surgery last week, so I new she was limited in the amount of work that she could do. I told her I would come over and help since I was off from work today.
.

My mom said that I did not need to come over and work at her house. I told her she must be kidding. You are sorting and we need to be in serious warp mode clean up at this point. You have a house full of company coming in one week. I want to make sure she has all of her energy reserved to shop with my sister when she arrives.

All is well at my mom's after a day of clean up. We still have time for the heavy cleaning next weekend!

As she was sorting though she gave me this post card that my 8 year old daughter sent to my father in 1992.

My mom, son, daughter and I were visiting my sister and her husband in Ridge wood , New Jersey. This was my children's first trip to New York City, so we made all of the usual tourist trips and visits. We usually traveled by train in to the city and used taxi's to get around to the different locations we wnted to visit.

My daughter sent a Statue of Liberty post card to my dad who she calls Papa.

Note the spelling of his name on the card!

We visited the Statue of Liberty, The Empire State Building, and The World Trade Center among other things. In case you need help ciphering her english!

Last year she graduated from the University of Florida with an Bachelors in English. This year she will graduate with a Master's in Epidemiology.

I am sure she will find dozens or typo's in my post ( she usually asks if I use spell check).

I love this post card and even more that my parents have it almost 20 years later.

We visited New Jersey several times to see my sister and cousins. But we always had to go in to the city while were were there.

My daughter and husband recently visited New York city and attended some plays. We loved to go to a matinee and an evening show almost every day.

I am glad she still enjoys the theatre. Last week her husband purchased tickets to take her to see Wicked in Orlando for their second anniversary. She loved it so much she has convinced me that my husband and I should go see it before it ends this month.

Have a great week!

Gayle

Random Act of Kindness Week Feb 14-20, 2011

2011-02-12T21:24:00.001-05:00

This week is RAK week or Random Act of Kindness week. I hope you will join in this week or any week with your own RAK.
Some quick ideas
Pick your receiver or be totally random with your kindness

Send a card or small gift in the mail- every one loves mail
Leave a small gift, encouraging word, poem or quote for some one
Leave beautiful photos or pictures for people to see
Do a small favor for some one but do not tell them
Use your own imagination it does not have to cost anything to be kind

Random Acts of kindness blog.

The first challenge is a really easy one
Kindness Idea of the Day
Be Generous With Compliments

You’ve probably experienced what it feels like when someone else says something nice to you or compliments you. Even a very simple compliment can brighten your day, and make you feel better about yourself.

For 7 days you are to take take Extreme Kindness Challenges.
You can also follow them on facebook Facebook Random acts of kindness.

So here is my gift to you. It has been very gloomy and grey weather here in Florida. It seems that every Monday for the last month it has rained all day. In an effort to bring some color to my life I purchase flowers for my self every week from Publix. They have a huge collection of flowers that are 3 bundles for $12. Finally on Tuesday the sun peeked out for a few hours in the afternoon.

Here are some photos that I took in my back yard with a few short rays of sunshine from Florida. I then played with the photos in Photoshop using some actions and textures. This is the original photo and below is the photo that I played with in Photoshop.

Added an action and a blur to this photo. This is a $3 bundle of flowers and some pine needles from a tree in my front yard.

This photo is a bunch of Tulips that are in an antique Blue Ball jar. Love this photo!

Added a linen texture over this photo and then erased the
texture over the tulips.

Have a great week!

Next week I am taking photos on Monday and Tuesday, so I will update you with new photos later in the week.

Gayle

Sew Somerset Publication

2010-12-14T00:47:00.000-05:00

I received my copy of Sew Somerset in the mail and the cover is beautiful. Somerset frequently has you vote on your favorite cover and this one is very colorful, bright and inviting. The art work in the magazine in inspiring cover to cover. You should pick up a copy and look at all of the wonderful inspiration in the magazine. My closest friend Lucy has a beautiful book in the magazine and you can see the complete book on her blog
Lucy's Crafty Life.

I have two page in the magazine one of the page is my Maternal Grandmother. The page is called Pearl ( actually that was her name). She was one of 14 children, ironically my father is an only child and he was adopted. I have fond memories of visiting her brothers and sister, my aunts and uncles in rural Georgia when I was a child. The excitement of the day was seeing how high we could make the porch swing go as we visited each house. We usually had to endure my parents telling us to quite swinging so hard. One of us would actually run and push the other one in the swing out over the huge purple azaleas that surrounded the house.

Most of the houses also had porch rockers since there were screen porches all the way around the house.

So after all of that babbeling ....
Here is my grandmother PEARL in her wedding dress. This actually is a page that I put together several years ago. I was not crazy about this paper when it came in the kit so I inked and painted the paper to alter it just slightly. The colors were very monochromatic and I wanted a little more color on the page. The papers are from FISKAR. I was a design team member for Scrap Muse and the paper came in their monthly kit. Some times it pays to stretch your creativity.

The bottom page was for a challenge on Websters Inspire Me and the challenge was to use some of their embellishments. I actually did not have a lot of the product left so I cut the pieces I had apart and sewed on the page and added the pieces in to the page.

The bottom page has a photo that is from about 3o years ago. We were on vacation in North Carolina with my parents. My mom is in the foreground and my older son is playing in the creek. This page is a little different form my usual style and I was surprised when it was selected for publication.

Thanks for looking!

I hope you are having a great holiday season. Take time to enjoy you self!

Gayle

Welcome to Helmar's Huge Holiday Hop!

2010-12-05T01:59:00.004-05:00

Welcome To My Blog!

There are no snow flakes falling here in FLORIDA but it is beginning to feel like Christmas. Welcome to the Helmar USA/ Australia HUGE Holiday HOP!

I am anxious to see all of the wonderful projects that the ladies have put together this time to share with each of you. Be sure and register on each site for more opportunities to win some great prizes.

You are currently at My site Gayle Martin jgwm.blogspot.com. I will give you direction at the bottom of the page on how to go to the next blog on the Helmar Huge Holiday Hop. So relax look around and follow the directions at the bottom when you are ready to move on

Along with that you should have a great understanding of all of the fabulous products that Helmar has to offer you for all of your crafting needs. They great part is you can win some of those great products and try them out for your self. It is truly a wonderful thing to be able to used the right product for your projects and not just used what you have on hand.

I have been on a jewelry making spree and decided to share some easy techniques with you to make your own flowers. They can be adapted to used on jewelry, hair bows, barrettes, head bands, pins, bracelets, package decorations or what ever your little heart desires.

I have been using old silk clothing that I pick up at my local Goodwill or salvage centers. Some are made from ribbons, Duiponi silk fabric, or sheer organza. You can adapt the project to use what you have on hand. This is a great project for a beginning sewing project.

This is a sample of some of the ribbons and fabrics I used

These are samples of silk fabric and old silk clothing that have been used. This is an excellent beginning project for young children to learn to sew on and can even be used as a large group project.

I purchased old skirts, dresses etc from salvage, and washed them. I then tore them in to strips about 1 inch wide by 6 inches long. ( You can vary the sizes and create different width flowers) I have added sewn a running stitch down one side of the fabric. So that you can more easily see it I used a heavy white thread on the sample in the photo. When you create your flower you will need to use a matching thread. Create a running stitch down the side and sheer the fabric tight to create a circle. ( you are pushing the gathered fabric down the gathering thread towards the knot.) You can then sew the ends together and make sure you stitch it tight so it will not pull apart. You want the gathering to remain tight together to form the flower. you will be glueing this edge together I will instructions later. The outer edge will be frayed so it will give you a soft feathery edge for your flower.

With the wired ribbon cut your length of ribbon and then pull the wire from each end just a little. This will allow you to have some thing to hold on to as you work. Bend the wire ends under so that you will not pull out the other side as you work. Tighten the ribbon down as you pull the wire out of the end until it starts to create a circle. You may be able to see what I am talking about in the photo at the left. the red ribbon is wired. You can pull the wire out of the other side of the ribbon when you finish making you flower.

I used Helmar Fray Stop on the center of the flower to secure all of the loose edges and prevent the raw edges fron fraying in the center.

You can use any embellish t in the center with of the flower that you like. I have used round or flat buttons, beads and jewels and adhered them. The easiest way to attach them is by using Helmar Gemstone Glue.

My favorite adhesive is Helmar 450 Quick Dry when attaching all of the other elements and pieces to the jewerly.

While I used Helmar Fray Stop on the middle seam and left the outer edge frayed to create a feathery look for the flower.

Below are other example of ways I have used the basic shape in other projects. I have incorporated some other flower designs in some of the pieces that I will show you how to make at a later time.

I have used this same ribbon and fabric design in several other projects. Take a look at them an incorportate them in your own projects.

If you are ready to move to Next blog in the Helmar Huge Holiday Hop-this is the link that you will need to follow to get there. Aymee Gandy

If you need to go Back to the previous blog follow this link to get there.
Alicia Barry

If you did not start at the beginning of the Helmar Huge Holiday Hop go back to Helmar USA and begin there. Folloow this link to start at the beginning HelmarUSA/Australia you will be able to see all of the projects and great prizes.

Thank you for visiting with us this weekend. I hope you have a wonderful holiday season!

Gayle Martin

Helmar USA Design Team

That's My MOM!

2010-12-03T22:46:00.000-05:00

My dad called to let me know my mom had been taken to the hospital.

She was receiving and injection for her rheumatoid arthritis and started having complications so they took her to the hospital.

Today they did an upper GI because it sound like there may be some complications from the medications they are giving her.

When I was visiting her tonight in the hospital I told she may have to cut back on her Cokes and hot sauce to reduce the pain and burning.
My dad laughing say "On no that is not going to be possible." We both laughed because the Cokes are a ever so slight possibility, but the hot sauce is definitely an impossibility.

This is a woman that does not use a lot of salt or seasoning on her food. But loves her peppers, hot sauces, Tabasco,black pepper, etc .

Hopefully they are letting her go home tomorrow.

These are 7 of her 12 grandchildren the other 5 are boys!
Have a great weekend.

Helmar Blog Hop

2010-12-03T00:18:00.000-05:00

The Helmar Blog Hop is this Sunday December 5, 2010 . So mark you calendars and join us. This this is the list of participants that will be featuring some wonderful projects to inspire you. There will also be some fabulous prizes along the way, so mark you calendars and join us.

You will be starting with the Helmar Blog right here-> Helmar USA and each site will direct you to the next site.

Helmar USA Design Team Blog http://helmarusa.typepad.com/

Tracy Weinzapfel www.tracywburgos.typepad.com

Preferred Vendor – Nikki Sivils, Scrapbooker LLC www.nikkisdoghouse.blogspot.com

Laura Achilles http://lauraachilles1.wordpress.com/

Shelly Hein-Simmons http://reelgirlsanimalhouse.blogspot.com/

Amy Teets http://amyteetsdesigns.blogspot.com/

Guest Designer – Tammy Tutterow http://tammytutterow.typepad.com/

Alicia Barry http://leishasblog.blogspot.com/

Gayle Martin http://jgwm.blogspot.com/

Aymee Gandy http://www.southernbellescrapper.blogspot.com/

Erika Taylor http://taylordconcepts.blogspot.com/

Preferred Vendor – Unity Stamp Co. www.theunitystampco.blogspot.com/

Cathy La Hay http://behindthesceneswithcathy.blogspot.com/

Pamela Young http://pamelasworldofscrap.blogspot.com/

Jessica Morales (KinderStampO) http://www.kinderstampo.com/

Lolly Chessie (LollyChops) http://www.lollychops.com/

Tina McDonald http://tinamcd-mysanity.blogspot.com/

Leeann Pearce http://thepaintbrushgoesspottie.blogspot.com/

Stayce DeWid http://staycedewid.typepad.com/

Guest Designer – Marion Smith http://apieceofcraft.blogspot.com/

Michelle Wallace http://www.theartofscrapbooking.blogspot.com/

Nicole Pomeroy http://nmpomeroy.blogspot.com/

Sarah Moore http://sarahmoore-thescrapjunkie.blogspot.com/

Sherry Mendoza http://sherryscreations.typepad.com/sherrys-creations/

Becky Teichmiller http://www.beckyteich.blogspot.com/

Preferred Vendor – www.ellesstudio.blogspot.com

Jing-Jing Nickel http://thislittleartofmine.blogspot.com/

Lydell Quin http://www.lydellquin.blogspot.com/

Helmar USA Design Team Blog http://helmarusa.typepad.com/

We hope to see you this Sunday!

Gayle

Urban Swank Blog Hop

2010-11-20T03:18:00.000-05:00

Welcome to My Blog- and The Urban Swank Blog Hop this weekend. I am glad you came by to visit .
Be sure and visit Urban Swank's Face Book page they are giving away prizes this weekend this is the link: Urban Swank Facebook.

The entire team is playing along this week end soplease be sure and look for all of the great projects along the way.

Becky Teichmiller

Erika Taylord

Rachel Theall

Virginia Wong

Marci Knecht

Pauline Dirrig

Simona Gughi

Gayle Martin

Michelle Van Etten

Candra George

Urban Swank

For my project I started with White Washed paper and cut out the beautiful details from the Urban Lily Sushi Stripes collection. This link will take you to the paper collection .

The soft cocoa's corals, and tans compliment the sepia colors of the photos perfectly,

You are currently at the blog of Gayle Martin

To get to the next blog you will need to follow this link to the blog of Michelle Van Etten -Just follow this link-Trendyscrapper and you will be on your way.

Have a great Pre Holiday weekend.

Gayle

Holiday Cards and Gifts with ShutterFly

2010-11-15T22:30:00.000-05:00

Most of you know that I love taking photos it supports my other hobbies.

I am always taking photos of some one...... I love to take Photos. Tomorrow I am going over to my brother's house and find some children to photograph. They have been gone for a few days and I want to see how much they have grown. Good excuse that should work what do you thing. They are still at the age that they like to have their picture taken That should be fairly easy there are six children 16 thru 2 years of age.

Next week my daughter, Son in law and Son will be here for the Holidays. More photos!!! My daughter wants her Christmas card photos taken.

Which brings me to this post.

Holiday Cards

Shutterfly has a huge assortment of holiday card to choose from. Some are beautiful holiday cards and other can be simply a photo with chosen words.

Isn't this simply adorable, this gives me worderful ideas for my photos.

Visit the Shutter fly web site to see all of the choice of holiday cards.

Shutterfly Card- Starlight-Joy

Do you have a child that is away at college or maybe they just want to send their own holiday card. Better yet maybe your favorite pets needs to send out their holiday wish list to the family. This is a wonderful design for that single photo.

The also have lots of Holiday design choices to compliment you beautiful photos.

Holiday Calendars

They have a huge selection of Holiday calendars and I love the options you can add to you calendar.

Besides using your photos you can personalalize all of you birthdays and special dates, you can see all of the options and choices on their web site. Just use this link below.

Shutterfly- Calendars

Looking for that perfect gift for the Grandparents- Photo Books

For all of you Scrapbookers this gift is the best ever. I usually scrapbook and give away most of my pages to the family members. Last year my daugher photographed some of my pages I was giving away. She them created a book of the images for me to keep.. You may choose to use your pages to create a book for your other family members.

Shutterfly- Photo Books

Shutter Fly has some amazing deals going on right now as well as free shipping on select

items. Visit their web site today and be amazed how easy it is to put together some beautiful gifts.

So Maybe Mom Was Right

2010-11-12T00:22:00.001-05:00

My daughter and some of her friends far and wide have a blog called......

So Maybe Mom Was Right

What it is about -Women from different backgrounds and lifestyles come together weekly with thoughts on cooking, fitness, and managing a healthy lifestyle.

My daughter is the person that writes the weekly fitness articles. No she did not get that trait from me. But I got an email today asking me to help publicize their blog. So I am happy to help them out when ever I can.

They are hosting a giveaway from an amazing website called CSN Stores. CSN Stores has over 200 stores where you can find everything from bathroom shelving to fantastic fitness equipment to cookware!

This is a great opportunity to get a new product to build your home gym or find something useful to make all those healthy recipes!

To Enter:

1. Leave a comment telling them what you would buy with a giftcard from CSN Stores

For Extra Entries:

*Become a public follower of So Maybe Mom Was Right (+1 entry)

*Like So Maybe Mom Was Right on Facebook (+1 entry)

*Share info about the giveaway on Facebook or twitter and leave a comment with the link (+1 entry)

*Blog about the giveaway and leave a comment with the link (+2 entries)

-please leave a separate comment for each entry, with links if necessary

-this giveaway is open to U.S. and Canadian residents only

-entry deadline: Thursday, November 18th at 4pm EST

Follow this link to their blog for all of the information and to leave your posts.

So Maybe Mom Was Right

Thanks for supporting them and good luck!

November 10, 1951

2010-11-11T00:17:00.001-05:00

My mom grew up in Lloyd, Florida and moved to Jacksonville, Florida after graduation. She lived with her Aunt Janie while working at the telephone company.

My dad moved to Jacksonville from Georgia where he had lived with his mother. He worked at the cigar factory in Jacksonville, Fl and then for Luzianne tea company.

They got married on November 10, 1951 and moved to Lake City, Florida.

Congratulations Mom and Dad on 59 years !!! I love you.

.

Sunday Drive as a Family Tradition

2010-11-08T22:55:00.001-05:00

As a kid every Sunday we went on a family drive in the afternoon. Some time we actually went some where... like Jacksonville, Fl and went shopping at Zayre's ( one of the only stores that was open on Sunday). Other times we just drove around in the country and looked at farm, Maybe a trip to the river we have plenty to visit there is the Santa Fe River, Ichetucknee Springs and the Suwanee River. It usually ended up with us stopping to get ice cream at the drug store by the end of the day.

On this particular Samantha, Roxy were visiting Tutta and Pappa so I went a picked them up for the day. I took a lot of photos of Roxy on this day and these are some of the photos.

We spotted this field, have climbed over a fence and are taking photos among the flowers on this bright sunny day. Then out of the clear blue comes a summer rain and we a getting standing in the middle of an open field. The girls start laughing hysterically because we will clearly be drenched before we reach the car.

Roxy is my brother's third child and he told me last night he was very close to her as a young child because her mother was working as a teacher when she was a baby. To know Roxy is to truly see she is her father's child. Their personalities are very similar.

Love you,

Roxy

Best Friends featuring Helmar Adhesives, Shimmerz Paints and Crate Paper

2010-10-23T23:27:00.000-04:00

Oct.21,2010

Best Friends featuring Crate Paper, Helmar Adhesives and Shimmerz Paints.

This is a photo of my oldest son with his dog Mikey. The solid paper was spritzed with Shimmerz Vibez in Fiery Fiesta one of the new Vibez color
released by Shimmerz Paints.

The Crate Paper decorative design paper was attached with Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive Runner a product that lives up to it's name. When you are scrapbooking or working on a project that you want to put together in a hurry this is your go to product.

The chip board embellishments and tags are attached with Helmar Zap Dots. Zap Dots come in a variety of shapes and sizes to fit every scrapbooking and craft need.

They are available in Black, White and Clear

And can be purchased from http://www.scrap-tastic.com/

Thank for stopping by, hope you have a great week!

Gayle Martin

Helmar Design Team USA

Shimmerz Design Team

Free on line course- Art, Heart and Healing

2010-10-21T10:26:00.000-04:00

Hello every one my friend Lucy told me about this really cool Free course being offered on line from Willowing. Follow this link to check out her blog and Ning site. Then all you have to do is go to the site and sign up for the FREE classes. It starts October 18 but I am sure that you can catch up using the videos she has posted now for your to start. The classes run for 4 weeks. So get over there and check it out.

The first class if posted and is two videos that you can view at your leisure.

Time to pull out the art supplies and have some fun!

The Girls Photo Shoot in Lake City

2010-10-20T00:00:00.001-04:00

My daughter came for an over night visit on Sunday and her college friend Alli came to visit her family as well. They met at the University of Florida 6 years ago and have been friends ever since. Alli had since graduated and Lives and works in Flagler.

While they were in college Alli's father was stationed in Japan for 8 years, he has since retired from the Military. What a small world it really is. I would never have imagined that her family would retire in Lake City.

So Alli and Meghan met in Lake City and I took photo of the two of them while they both were here. My only problem was they decided that we were taking photos at 9:30 in the morning.

First thing is I am not a morning person and I do not like to take photo of people mid morning. Unfortunately they both had to leave by lunch time so you take what you can get. Can you say harsh Florida lights and extreme shadows on faces.

I think this is where they are telling each other to take a serious photo.... and then the laughing begins and goes on and on.

I continue to take photo and Meghan tell Alli that these are the photos that Mom will use in her scrapbooks. You are so right here they are.

But I love this photo I am not sure which one is my favorite yet, but for now I really like this one!

Welcome to the Helmar Halloween Howler Hop!

2010-10-17T01:00:00.075-04:00

Welcome to the Helmar Halloween Howler Hop!

You have made it to Lucky # 8 blog and you are almost half way thru the Blog hop. Helmar has put together some wonderful prizes so be sure and visit all of the blogs to increase you chances of winning some of the gifts up for grabs.

You can see all of the great prizes on the Helmar USA blog as well as read about all of the wonderful product that Helmar has to work with.

I have created a Halloween wall decoration using a photo of my son than when he was a small boy.

I had two sheets of the same Halloween paper. I cut and tore around the major element on the sheet of paper.

When attaching them to the page I created dimension by raising element of the design with Helmar Zap Dots and Helmar Liquid Scrap Dots.

I sprayed the back of the cut outs with Helmar V2 Vellum Adhesive
to smoothly adhere all of the edges of the cut outs to the page.

This is the feature product from Helmar it will provide a seamless adhesion with vellum. Spray the back of your surface and allow it to set for a few minute until tacky . The you can glue the surface down with ease. The miracle product is Helmar V2 Vellum Adhesive.

The majority of the work on the project was assembled with Helmar 450 Quick Dry and Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive Runner.

When putting together ideas for the gift bags I looked for vintage Halloween images to use as the decoration for the tags. I down loaded these Halloween images for free from this site Vintage Halloween Images, they also have various other holiday themes.

The bags are lunch bags spritzed with acrylic, and Shimmerz paints then tied with jute strings. I printed the tags and hi lighted them with Stickles paints. I trimmed the tags and them sprayed the backs of each printed card with Helmar V2 Vellum Adhesive before attaching it to the vellum tag. You can then punch a hole in the corner and tie the tag on your gift bag.

I have displayed a selection of tag ideas that you can use for party invitations, Halloween cards or goodies bags.

These are a sample of the completed bags that I put together for Halloween treats.

You are now ready to proceed to your next Halloween stop. Just follow the link below if you started at the Helmar USA. Blog. If you did not start at Helmar follow the link back and visit all of the teams blogs to see their wonderful project.

Have a great Halloween.

Follow this link to
http://tanisharenee.blogspot.com/

Don't forget Lots of great prizes for visiting all of the Helmar USA design team blogs!

Gayle Martin
Helmar USA Design Team

The Helmar Halloween Howler Blog Hop is Coming!!!

2010-10-16T13:47:00.001-04:00

The Helmar Halloween Howler Hop is just days away and there are lots of prizes to win so mark you calendar for October 17, 2010.
You've heard of the spooky Halloween Howler Hop that the Design Team at Helmar is brewing up. Now if the amazing inspiration wasn't enough to get you to stop by, what about a look at all the GHOULISH GIFTS you might just win.
We've got lots of prize packages to giveaway just by playing along with our Helmar Facebook Page happenings on October 17th. Here's a look. Helmar USA Blog

Check back on the 17th for all of the details!

Somerset Memories Autumn 2010

2010-10-08T20:05:00.000-04:00

Last week my copy of Somerset Memories Autumn 2010 arrived. This semi annual publication is full of wonderful ideas to record your memories and life time events. What every your favorite medium you are sure to find inspiration to motivate you to start your

next project.

With the holiday season fast approaching why not think about some personalized gifts for your family you still have plenty of time to work on them. If that is not in your plans you could try some small personalized tags for your holiday sweetness and goodie bags. I will be putting together some items later this month and I will post the items for you to see.

All of my project in Somerset Memories Autumn 2010 feature Shimmerz Paints and Helmar Adhesive. Somerset Memories should be in all of your favorite stores this week like Joann's. Michael's, and Barnes and Nobles. If you can not find the publication at your favorite store you can order directly from Stampington Studios this is a link to their site. You will also be able to see a sample of some of the other wonderful articles in the magazine this publication. There are lots of paint projects to inspire you to pull out your Shimmerz and get to work on some new projects or Holiday Gifts. Maybe get out side this weekend pull something from nature, use it as a mask or creative ideas and spritz and paint your heart our!

Reach for the Stars was created by attached pieces of scrapbook paper to a sheet of cardboard. I then applied molding paste on top of that. Once it had dried I painted over the top with a watered down Gesso wash. For the vibrant color I used Shimmerz Pearls in Carrot Top, Peas Be Mine, Luscious Lilac, This Spuds 4 U, Green with Envy - You can check out all of the beautiful colors of Shimmerz Pearlz right here on the web site.

Both of these projects feature Helmar Adhesives-Helmar Adhesives- Helmar 450 Quick Dry, Helmar Gemstone Glue, Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive Runner and Helmar Zap Dots-

Live The Life You Have Imagined

is another page that was created on cardboard with molding paste added to the top. I applied the paste over the top of burlap, assorted laces and designs. This would allow me to hi light the textures of the page with Shimmerz Paints. The laces and papers on the page are also painted with Shimmerz Paints.

Shimmerz Paints- Shimmerz in Concrete, Treasured Hymn and Baby's Breath
Shimmerz Pearls in Grammie Berry, Expresso, Blue in to Town.I also used Shimmerz Spritz in Plum Pudding on the laces that are on the top of the page. molding

Self Portrait Then and Now
The first photo is my dad taking a self portrait of he and my mom, the second one is of them last year at my daughter's wedding.

The two boxes are actually attached and are recycled cigar box lids. The flowers are rolled Dupioni Silk that I spritzed with Shimmerz paints after I rolled them. I have since been working on Jewelry and figured out it the fabric remains much softer if you paint if before you create the flower.

For this project I used Shimmerz Spritzers Paint in Treasured Hymn, Baby's Breath and Concrete.

Thanks for stopping by have a great fall week end.- Gayle

Have a great weekend!

Gayle Martin

Shimmerz Design Team

.

america crafts dear lizzy & helmar adhesives layout contest

2010-09-26T00:07:00.000-04:00

It's not too late to win some great prizes from Helmar and American Crafts this months.

It's a double header this month sketch fans and this contest is for you scrappers! Who doesn't love American Crafts Dear Lizzy, paired up with some great adhesive products from Helmar. Included in this prize package is Dear Lizzy paper and fabric papers, chip shapes and alphas, felt and chip embies, ribbons, and a great assortment of Helmar adhsives. Check out these great prizes Page Maps Prize package.

To enter this contest, create a layout based on this sketch Page Maps Sketch—any size, any orientation, any way you want to interpret it—using any products you would like. The contest starts today and ends at midnight, Sunday, September 26th (MST). This contest is open to US residents only or anyone with a US shipping address.

Since this blog is getting hit so hard with shoe spammers, I am going close comments and ask everyone to enter by emailing their entry to contest@pagemaps.com. PLEASE include your name and address in the body of your email, and type "layout contest" in the subject line. You can either attach an image of your entry or send a link to your blog/image.

A big thanks to American Crafts and Helmar for sponsoring this contest. :)

This layout contest will be the last one on this blog as we transition over to a new location at the end of the month.

Good luck everyone!

Becky

Old Things are New Again!

2010-09-01T22:39:00.000-04:00

While visiting Ohio this year my niece had me taking Senior photos of her around the area. My sister had a plan for me to photograph her in her Cheerleading, Lacrosse and various other uniforms. My niece had other plans for her photos. You will eventually see that my niece she won with her plans.

This was a totally unplanned stop at an old run down garage in the middle of no where. With in 2 minutes no exaggeration .... A neighbor pulled up in an old Cadillac to ask what we were doing ..... we explain that we are taking photos ( which he can clearly see). There was a sign posted on the door around on the other side of the building that said Neighbors are Watching. What are the chances.... we figured we would snap a few quick shots and be gone. He actually was very nice once he saw that we were not going to vandalize anything.

We took our photos and left!

Any way this page was lots of fun creating and Jenni Bowlin /jbs mercantile products reflect my nieces Bohemian style.

The first thing that I did was splash Black acrylic spray paint on the page, be sure and do this out side. Yes I was out side at 2 am splashing paint on card stock with my dogs barking in the back ground. Spray paint dries much quicker in about 5 minutes in paper. Once this dried I added Shimmerz Paints Spritz in Concrete and Licorice to add some depth to the paint. The Shimmerz paint really added depth to the page and makes the paint look as if it is moving off the page. The flower in the right corner is a hand made flower that is punched out of cardboard and painted with Shimmerz. I used a combination of Shimmerz Vibez Jeni B Blue and Blue Jeans to achieve the depth of color on this flower.

I attached the fabric, gold mesh, and lace to the card with to the page with Helmar Premium Craft Glue. The photo was attached to the lace with Helmar450 Quick Dry and I then added the small elements around the photo and the top of the page.

The Buttons are JB Rhinestone Buttonsand are self adhesive and so easy to use, the paper collection is the Red/ Black Line II. The entire group of paper is just wonderful to work with check them out on Jenni's site above.

The Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive Runner is perfect for attaching the Jenni Bowlin Calendar Cards to the page and the scallop punched Red Black Line paper for the edges of the page. I cut out one of the Jenni Bowlin Coupon tags from a sheet of her paper ( also included in the Red Black Line). This allowed me to created the small embellishment at the top of the page and in the cluster of flowers to the right. There is also a full tag at the bottom of the page so that you can see what it looks like before I cut it apart. The entire page is a print of this coupon.

I have so many cute photos from this afternoon with Michaela. I think I will be scrap booking her photos for quite some time.

Have a great week!

Gayle

Helmar USA Design Team

Shimmerz Design Team

Need Inspirations this month to get busy? Check out Blue Moon Scrapbooking.com

2010-07-25T22:11:00.000-04:00

Blue Moon Scrapbooking has some great challenges this month and you still have time to play along. They are giving away 6 prize packages for you to win and there are so great gifts to be won. You need to go take a look because you still have 5 days to put some thing together and play along.

We have 6 count 'em 6 giveaways for you to Win!

First the prizes ... then the details:

1 winner for the best mini book., altered item, best card, best layout, 1 winner for entering all 5 contests and a random winner.

Rules:

1. You have to have something BLUE in your entry. If we can't see the blue item in your photo very well, make sure to mention it when you upload your entry.

2. Spread the word about our contest and post our Car Badge around town with a link to the BlueMoonBlog or store!

You can pull the car logo right from this blog.

3. Be a BlueMoon Blog Follower

4. For the Random contest only, you must have shopped at BlueMoonScrapbooking in the past, or at least before this contest ends. We will confirm with your address upon notification of winning.

Contest runs from July1st thru July 31st. 2010.

Each category is listed in our gallery so you an upload right away.

This is a best of in each category -the Design Team and Scott and I will choose their

favorites -we'll see who wins!

You can win more than 1 giveaway.

You can enter each contest up to 3 times.

The artwork cannot be entered on another site's challenge or sketch.

Open to all US and International Scrappers. Free shipping to US residents -international

would have some shipping charges.
Post your entry anytime before July 31st in the BlueMoonGallery. Upload a 4x6 with 72 resolution - this works best. If you're having issues uploading it's usually because the image is too big/large a file. Resize it and you're off to the races. If you are still having problems just email lisa@bluemoonscrapbooking.com.

The winners will be choosen the week of August 1st

Ok Ladies so get busy and win some free stuff.

Pink Paislee, Shimmerz Paint and Hambly Studio

2010-07-25T21:54:00.001-04:00

I have looked at this photo of my husband for a long time and finally decided to scrap it with the
Pink Paislee collection from our preferred partner. I wanted to create a party them so I created a banner with pom pom using the Pink Paislee papers. I also incorporated the Hambly Screen Prints transparency with the green elephants in the design.The two base Pink Paislee papers are attached with Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive Runner and then I stitched around the page. The Transparency is attached with Helmar V2 Vellum Adhesive. I have to say ..... This product is new to me and I love how it works. It is a must have if you use vellum on you projects. The banner is built on a piece of cord called rat tail and the banner elements are attached withHelmar 450 Quick Dry Adhesive. The photo was placed on top of the transparency using the same Helmar Quick Dry Adhesive.

Another wonderful feature with Helmar adhesives are the screw top lids. No more looking for the lids for the bottle when you have completed your project. I have actually had bottle caps snap off during travel and I ended up with a huge mess of spilled glue in my bag. Talk to you next week!

Gayle Martin
jgwm.blogspot.com

Lily Bee - Play all Day

2010-07-09T21:57:00.001-04:00

Working with HelmarHelmar Adhesives and their preferred partners could not be better. I have an entire collection of adhesives at my finger tips and a beautiful diverse array of prodcuts to play with. I love our preferred opartners and the gifts they give us to work with.

This weeks vendor as you know by now is Lily Bee Lily Bee . I am a girls that needs intense color and these papers just vibrate and inspire your senses You can see the entire collection here Hello Sunshine.

The colors in the Lily Bee collections are colorful and FUN and it was a pleasure putting this page together. I have had the photo of my nieces and nephew for a couple of years but have never scrapped it despite the fact that I loooove the photo. They had been playing out side all day with me following them around taking photos. Just your typical play all day on the farm tyoe of day. Swinging on a rope swing,swimming, climbing and dragging your feet thru the Florida sugar sand. You probably can not tell from this view but they are little dirt monsters at this point of the day. We were getting ready to go inside for the day when they all layed down on the concrete driveway. Think they were all exhaused.

To put this page together I first stitched 4 long stitches of cotton thread around the perimeter of the page.

I added a little Shimmerz Spritz paints on the corners of the page. I used after midnight and Concrete.

I then cut the blue and yellow pieces of Lily Bee paper Lily Bee to size and glued it down with Helmar Quick fix adhesive runner. The yellow rectangular paper has bobbin stitching around the out side of the page and were adhered with Helmar Quick Fix adhesive runner Helmar Adhesive explained. The top photo is mounted on cardboard and then attached with Helmar Zap dots and the embellishments used a combination of Zap Dots, and craft Glue to adhere everything on the paper.

The variety of patterns and colors in the papers made them very easy so easy to put together or a page. Be sure and go to the Lily Bee web site and check out their new collections .

New collections from Lily Bee.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend. Take lots of fun pictures and record memories.

DON'T forget to enter our contest to win some great prizes from Helmar. You still have a few days to get your submission in.

Helmar "Flips" for Videos!............GIVEAWAY!

2010-06-10T00:55:00.002-04:00

Ok Video friends this is the contest for you. I hope you all play along because there are some great prizes.

Helmar "Flips" for Videos!............GIVEAWAY!

http://helmarusa.typepad.com/blog/2010/06/helmar-flips-video.html

You have seen our designers and Donna Downey use our products in videos........It is time for you to be the star of the show and show us what are doing with Helmar adhesives & art mediums. We are looking for the best promotional video using Helmar products. This can include a special technique, a unique project, new ways to use our adhesives/art mediums or anything that comes to mind. Share your YouTube or Vimeo video on your blog and send a direct link to info@helmarusa.com. Every entry must include "Helmar" in the video title.

We will share your videos with our Facebook fans and on our Blog. The Helmar USA Design team members will select the top five videos and YOU will vote on your favorite. So make sure to subscribe to our blog and Fan "Helmar" on Facebook to watch for video up-dates.

Check out these Fabulous Helmar prizes including a Pink Flip Video!!!!

First Prize:

Flip Video (pretty pink/white one), Helmar prize Pack, and one month as a Guest Helmar Design Team Member

Second Prize (2 Winners):

Helmar Prize Pack

We will share your ideas on our Helmar USA Design Team Blog and Facebook for all our fans to see. It is time to share your creativity so flip on those video cameras! Sorry Design Team members are not eligible to win.

http://helmarusa.typepad.com/blog/2010/06/helmar-flips-video.html

Crazy Rainy Day Photo Shoot

2010-06-08T01:03:00.002-04:00

I love my camera and I love taking photos of everything especially my family.

My nieces were staying with my mom and dad for the weekend so I told her I would pick them up after lunch and do something with them. When I got there they were prepared for me to take their pictures. I have been on the look out for unusual places to take photos. I like interesting textural back grounds and had seen a couple of old buildings on my way to town.

When I got there they had some ideas of their own so we took off for our afternoon adventure. Samantha had on a Beatles t shirt so she wanted to to find a field of flowers to take photographs. We live in an area that has wild flowers along the sides of the highways and they are just beautiful. Once you are out in the country side it is common to see entire fields of flowers.

We finally found one that we wanted to take photos in and found the perfect place to take photos of the girls. We had been playing around for about 10 minutes when out of the blue it started to rain very hard.

Needless to say we all were soaked by the time we got back in to the car.

After about 10 minutes the rain passed so we continued to take photos and I think we got some really cute and fun photos.

I have posted a few of the photos that we took that day. My sister called and told me that she wants me to take Senior photos of my niece when they are here in July. Apparently Senior photos in Ohio are $1000 a session. I am excited to take her photos and have already started looking for the perfect places and props for her photos. If you have any ideas of suggestions of great ideas let me know.

Sew Somerset Summer 2010 from Stampington Studios

2010-05-26T00:42:00.001-04:00

My artist copy of Sew Somerset Summer 2010 arrived today and should be on the news stands June1.

Wow it is seriously a beautiful magazine and is packed with inspiration. Beth the new editor at Sew Somerset has really put together a wonderful collection of projects and articles in this edition. This is a bi yearly publication filled with creative altered projects that incorporate sewing.

The entire magazine is like a feast for your eyes and the variety of projects in this publication covers a huge range of mediums.

I am going to post some of the photos from the magazine so that my daughter can see The Wedding pages that I had published. Fascinating You was actually one of two pages that I created for a Pink Paislee contest.The challenge was to use their products and incorporate the name of one of their paper lines as the title. I did not have a lot of left over products and my local scrapbook store had none of the products. I cut the floral designs from the paper to create embellishments on the page and then added french knots to the center of the flowers. The stems and swirls are chain stitches.

My scanner did not capture the colors very well on each of the pages. The papers on this page are from K and Company and the colors are vivid and beautiful in person.

3709 is a few shots from my daughters wedding, the middle photo has a Hambly transparency over the photo. The paper collection is Graphic 45 the black dot paper is flocked. I think I bought it from Hobby Lobby.

The numbers are aluminum that I crackle painted and attached to the page.

I hope you have a great week. I am so excited my Helmar design package will be arriving on Thursday. I received an email that the package weighed 18 pounds. It is loaded with goodies from all of the preferred vendors.. Eva from the design team sent me an IM on Skype and showed me everything in the box. Wow what a stash!!

Stay tuned we will see what is in the package on Thursday!

Couture Cardstock and Prima Marketing- I won!!!

2010-05-02T22:54:00.000-04:00

Last week Couture Cardstock and Prima Marketing had a give away on the Couture Card stock blog.

http://www.couturecardstock.com/blog/primacouture-winner-2/

http://prima.typepad.com/

Their challenge was to create a collection of cardstock from the Couture collection that you liked and then give it a name. My collection was called Give Me Color!!!

I entered last week and tonight I received an email from my friend Lucy letting me know that I had won.

I went to the Couture Cardstock web site and this is the blog post.

Prima/Couture Winner!

Are you ready to find out who one our Prima/Couture Giveaway? Ok, drumroll please…
The winner is Gayle Martin

The collection that she created is titled “Give Me Color” and includes these papers:

1. Legend

2. Fire Light

3. Rosy Cheeks

4. Harvest Basket

5. Charcoal

6. New Leaf

7. Frog Prince

8. Quest

9. Day at Sea

10. Lagoon

11. Pick Up Line

12. Enticing

These papers are vibrant summer colors and amazingly BEAUTIFUL!

The prize package contains Prima product and a huge selection of Couture Cardstock.

I can not wait to get my hands on these wonderful products and play.

Thank you for the wonderful prizes.
This prize pack includes:This is the list of goodies that I won!!

2 Sheets each of: 12×12 (Total of 46 Sheets)

Marlene

Olivia

Katherine

Versailles

Eiffel Tower

Foot Print

Ticket Booth

Drizzle

Lineal

White Linen

Sugar Cookie

Tuilleres

Meadow

Oregano

Old Rake

Porcelain

Blushing

Midnight

Black Pearl

Cumberbun

Dusty Rose

Devotion

2 Sheets each of 8.5×11 (Total of 4 Sheets)

One Sheet Wonder

Detail Blending Paper

Prima Product ( 1 package each)

Camilla Flamenco flowers

Voila Felt Ribbons

Lilliput Roses in Marshmallow

Fiesta Flowers in Water Lilty

Say it in Pearls

Innoscence Collection Flowers

Andorra Gray Flowers

De Vines Felt Stems

Calcutta Mini

Donna Downey Foam Stamp

Be sure and go to their blogs and look at all of their new products.

Eyes of Blue

2010-04-27T02:05:00.001-04:00

For the thrid Color Room challenge I created this page using the color pallet lime green, periwinkle, and turquoise. Now if you know me at all or you have seen my work I am just not a pastel sort of girl. If I use pastels I usually add black, brown or grey some where in the mix. I just can not help it! I love strong color. Which is not to say that I live with strong colors in my house or even wear strong colors. I love black! I have tons of clothes in black. I would have black hair if my physical coloring allowed it. But any way....... there goes that gap brain off on a tangent.

So these pages were created for The Color Room challenge #3 http://thecolorroom.ning.com/
For these challenges I used some of the prodcuts that I won in January from Creative Imaginations. I was selected to be the guest Designer for the month of April.

The first page I used some of the new Luminart mica to color the cardboard behind the photo. Photo is of my daughter who had her 26th birthday last week. She said at work they all tried guessing her age and the guesses ranged from 21-24. I told her one day she would be happy for that blessing!

The paper is Basic Grey, Websters and October Afternoon. K and Co, Lux Design, with a Creative Imaginations rub on and a little Hambly thrown in. The black is Prima cut from a feltie. I painted the cardboard with Luminarte Mica's for an intense color. My daughter is the baby of the family and the only one married. She and her husband are both still in college. She came by tovist tonight and I forgot how much I miss having her around.

This is my niece Michaela and I am so proud of her and her sister they are the first athletic woman in our family.
I would be surprised if Michaela is 5' tall, but who am I to talk I am only 5'1" tall. Any way she plays Lacrosse, coaches Lacrosse for younger children, is a cheerleader and a gymnist. Her talents amaze me.

But let me tell you about this tag. I used Creative Imaginations foils in Blues and Helmar adhesives to create it.

For this page I created the tag using Creative Imaginations and Helmar products. The blue dots on the tag are Helmar Zap Dots that I pressed Creative Imaginations shades of blue foils in to the glue dots. The edges of the tag are self adhesive dry wall tape that I ran a Helmar permament adhesive runner over. I then pressed multiple colors of Creative Imaginations blue foil in to the glue. For the Maya Road Bird house I coated the entire cage with the Helmar permament adhesive runner and then pressed the copper foil in to the the bird cage making sure to cover the sides of the cage. This was a really fun project and added a fun embellishment to the scrapbook page.

Stay tuned as I get more adventerous with the foils.

Helmar USA Design Team

2010-04-26T12:01:00.002-04:00

Last Tuesday April 20th was my daughters birthday so my niece ( who's birthday is Wednesday) my mom and I met her in Gainesville for the day. We had a great day shopping eating and having fun. About 11:30 I checked my email and saw that Tracy form Helmar emaile and said she had been trying to reach me. I emailed back and told her " I am still up if you are" Give me a few I am on the phone with my sister.

In about 10 minutes she called me and let me kn0w she had selected me to be on the Helmarhttp://www.helmarusa.typepad.com/ design team. WOOOOO HOOOO I love their products and I use a ton of it. Becky Teichmiller at http://www.scrap-tastic.com/ first sent me samples of their product to use and I fell in love with the products. Tracy let me know that in May she would be sending out a box with Helmar products and design team products from supporting vendors. I am so excited to be able to work with Helmar and their arts and crafts products.

These are their preferred partners-Preferred Partners
They have such a diverse range of products to play with.

Bella Blvd™
Clearsnap

Cosmo Cricket

Buzz and Bloom

Creative Impressions Inc

Elle's Studio

Fancy Pants Designs

Hambly Screen Prints

Jillibean Soup
Kiki Art

Lily Bee Design
Maya Road
MyStampBox

Paper Trunk

Pink Paislee

Nikki Sivils Scrapbooker

Punky Sprouts
Purple Cows, Inc.
The Robins Nest

Upsy Daisy Designs

Check this out.

450 Stainless Adhesive tube

Acid Free - Neutral pH glue
Antique Acrylic Sealer Jar

Clear Acrylic Sealer Jar

Clear Gum

Crackle Medium- You know I Love my crackle finish
Craft & Hobby PVA Glue
Craft Glue
Crystal Kote Fixative spray
Crystal Kote Gloss spray
Crystal Kote Matt spray
Crystal Kote Picture Varnish Gloss spray
Crystal Kote Picture Varnish Matt spray
Crystal Kote Re-touch spray
Crystal Kote Sealer
Decoupage & Craft paste jar
Fabric Glue (solvent-based) Fabric Stiffener & Draping Liquid
Foam glue
Gemstone Glue
Kid's School Glue
Liquid Scrap Dots
Master Brush Strokes Jar
Metal Tube Squeezer
Quick Fix Adhesive Runners Paint/Glue Spreader
Remove Cleaner Spray
Silicone Adhesive Sealant tube Spray Adhesive
Super Strength Aliphatic PVA Wood Glue
Super-Tac EVA
Tacky Craft glue
Tiger Grip
Tradesman's Professional PVA Woodworking glue
V2 Vellum Adhesive
Wash'n Wear fabric glue

Ok I am offically in Heaven.

I can not wait to show you all of these products!

Gayle

So here is the offical announcement from Tracy
Congratulations Every one!!!

April 26, 2010

Announcing the 2010 Helmar USA, Design Team!!!

Thank you everyone who applied for the Helmar USA Design Team. We were amazed at the talent and the selection process was a tough one!

We are proud to announce our 2010 Helmar USA Design Team:

•Tracy Weinzapfel

•Becky Teichmiller

•Laura Achilles

•Marci Knecht

•Cristal Hobbs

•Shelly Hein-Simmons

•Erika Taylor

•Aymee Gandy

•Pamela Young

•Eva Dobilas

•Tanisha Long

•Karen Maldonado

•Tina McDonald

•Cathy Le Hay

•Gayle Martin

We are also happy to announce our Helmar Guest Designers:

•May – Amy Teets

•June - Jamie Cripps

•July - Kathy Northrup

•August - Ellen Sosnoski

•September - Jing-Jing Nickel

•October - Julie Walton

•December - Lynda Lindley

Helmar USA, Inc. welcomes and congratulates our designers and guest designers! We are excited to share their creations in 2010!

Thank you!

Tracy Weinzapfel

President, Helmar USA, Inc.

Creative Imaginations- April Guest Designer

2010-04-14T01:16:00.000-04:00

In December I posted projects in the Creative Imaginations gallery and was selected to be the guest designer for them. I received a package of goodies from CI and some of their fabulous wood veneers and Foils. Cheryl posted some of my projects on the CI blog.http://creativeimaginations.typepad.com/ for inspiration Monday and will add others through out the month. The collections of papers they sent for me to work with were perfect.

Yesterday I went to my friend Lucy's house and we played around with some fun techniques using the foils. I had used small amounts of the foils on a couple of my projects but really wanted to see all of the possibilities. I told Cheryl that I am playing now on tags and will eventually combine them in to a book.

This is the Christine Adolph Mon Ami Collection.http://creativeimaginations.typepad.com/ The colors are just this beautiful in person.

This paper is from the Christine Adolph Felicity Line and Marah Johnson. The rich colors and designs in her collections are like a work of art.

After that I still have the beautiful woods to work with. Tooooo many ideas in my head right now and I need to pick just a couple. So many decisions????

Somerset Memories Spring 2010

2010-04-07T01:42:00.003-04:00

Wow and Thank You Somerset Memories. I have been published numerous times by Somerset Memories and their sister publications. The lasted Somerset Memories magazine was simply amazing. I feel so very honored and my family is all over the magazine in numerous articles and layouts.

To top it off several of my friends and other talented artist are featured in the magazine, which is
Lucy Edson
Bethany Kartchner
Natalie Kalbach
Stacy Cohen
Dena Coe

I have 3 featured articles, a photo spotlight and numerous other projects in the magazine. All I can say is Thank You, Thank You Somerset for appreciating my work. They have my work on 14 pages in the magazine. I am so honored.

Here a few glimpses of some of the work you have never seen.

What's Cookin

This is a book I created for an altered art club I belonged to a couple of years ago.

Through out the book there are pages about my childhood with my brother.

Meghan and Allen was created for an challenge

I will share more later!

Scrapbooking and Beyond Spring 2010

2010-04-07T01:41:00.000-04:00

Have you seen the new Scrapbooking and Beyond magazine in the stores. I have two articles in the magazine that I wanted to share with you.

The first page Emma ( Lucy's little girl). I took photos at a mutual friends wedding and caught Emma sitting on the concrete and dirt in her beautiful white dress.

The papers are Webster's and the page was painted with Luminarte paint.

The second page is my sister's youngest daughter and all that I could think of when I saw this photo was her blue eyes.

Thanks for looking at my work. Working with Scrapbooking and Beyond has been a wonderful experience. They have already requested numerous other projects from me that will be published in their bi monthly publication.

LoVe is EVERYTHING!

2010-03-28T18:56:00.001-04:00

Altering Paper with Shimmerz Paints

I love layering paints and then removing some of the layers in spots just to see what sort of textures that you can create with multiple paints. For this project I started with a sheet of Webster's papers and white washed over the design with watered down white gesso. I then painted a very light design of flowers, leaves and vines in the left corners. The combination of Shimmerz colors I used are ( Hottie Pink, Coffee, and Mossy Stone)

http://www.shimmerz.com/retail-shimmerz-shop.php the colors were all painted directly from the jars. paints

The photo was matted on a piece of cardboard that had been spritzed with Shimmerz Ruby.
The matted photo was then placed on top of a piece of water color paper.
The get the color combination on the water color paper I first spritzed the paper with Shimmerz Spritz- Ruby and Caribbean Sunset. Let the paper dry completely before you start layering the Shimmerz paints. Determine your photo placement on the paper and pencil in a line, so that you will know where to add the paints. There is really no need to paint the entire paper is you photo will be covering the paper. I used a combination of Shimmerz Jilted Jade, Mossy Stone, Silver Bells as my second paint step. Basically just use a light touch and randomly brush the colors over the paper. Do not worry too much about the placement because the next step will change all of the design.
Once you have the Shimmerz paint on the paper your will spritz the entire painted area with Shimmerz Baby's Breath and Concrete you want the paper to be wet. The next step is to sprinkle regular Morton salt on top of the painted area and leave it over night to dry. Apply the salt heavy in some areas and light in other for a mottled effect. When the entire piece is completely you can brush the salt off of the paper with a dry paint brush.

The fabric roses were a very light baby pink so I spritzed them with Ruby to darken the pink color. I used wired ribbon for the orange flowers on the page.
Thanks for looking and have fun with you paints!- Gayle

The Fun things in LIFE!

2010-03-28T00:05:00.000-04:00

Lately I have been feeling like my age is catching up with me. I am tired and it is difficult to find a body part that is not sore or achy. I decided it was time to waste some money on a doctor and see it any thing is going to fall off in the near future. My first stop was the yearly Mammogram.

My mom and I went for our annual Mammograms a couple of weeks ago. We had a 3:15 appointment in Gainesville which is about 45 minutes form her house. I told her I would be at her house around 12 and I arrived just as she was getting home from an errand. She of course had to have lunch and get read ( which means coordinating her Michaels and Joann's coupons). We decided to drive her car and as we are getting off the interstate in Gainesville I look at her clock. I rarely wear my watch on days that I am not working. Oh my gosh.... it is 2:45 so we decide we may as well head to the dr for our 3:15 appointment.

You will love this...
When we get in the office the receptionist comment to me.
" Wow you ladies are really early, but we love early patients."
I look at the clock on the wall in the office and it is 2:00.... that is when I realized the clock in her car had never been adjusted in the fall for day light saving time.

We do our usual shopping, lunch etc. and head home.
When we walk in My dad says did you girls have Fun?

I decided to give him a full blow by blow of the procedured for a mammogram. I equate the machines to his wood working tools so that he can have a full visual picture of the procedure. You should know that my dad is 79 years old. As I am giving him this visual, I am being my usual sarcastic self and laughing.
My mom chimes in with

OK, Lean in to the machine,,, place your right hand here... as the two plates are clamping down ( I compared it to a plexiglass wood press in his garage). Ok now relax so that we can get all of the tissue under your arm. Ok ready ,,, I am taking the shot so don't breath or move. Like we are going to go deep breathing exercises or run away with the machine attached.

Everything was fine they will see us in another year!

My mom with my brothers jacket on and her energetic granddaughters at Christmas.
Have a good week

Jeni Boisvert: Pop Quiz | Shimmerz Paints

2010-03-05T01:17:00.002-05:00

Shimmerz Paints PoP Quiz

....this is not a contest....but it won't be graded either, ;) I just love how Shimmerz Paint Products blend so beautifully together so I used each of their 5 products on a different flower....{Vibez, Pearlz, Spritz, Shimmerz, and Blingz}....can you put them in the right order? It's a little tricky, (click on the photo to enlarge) but if you are addicted to Shimmerz like I am, you can see it.....;) I'll post the answers in a couple days."

Go to the Shimmerz web site and post your answers.
http://shimmerzpaints.blogspot.com/

Excerpts from a Dog’s Daily Diary from If Johnna had a Blog

2010-02-11T01:38:00.001-05:00

Happened on this blog and felt this lady had been visiting my house. We have 6 dogs

Excerpts from a Dog’s Daily Diary:

8:00 am – Dog food! My favorite thing!

9:30 am – A truck ride! My favorite thing!

9:40 am – A walk in the park! My favorite thing!

10:30 am – Got rubbed and petted! My favorite thing!

12:00 pm – food! My favorite thing!

1:00 pm – Played in the yard! My favorite thing!

3:00 pm – Wagged my tail! My favorite thing!

5:00 pm – Milk bones! My favorite thing!

7:00 pm – Got to play ball! My favorite thing!

8:00 pm – Wow! Watched TV with the people! My favorite thing!

11:00 pm – Sleeping on the bed! My favorite thing!

Excerpts from a Cat’s Daily Diary:

Day 683 of my captivity:

My captors continue to taunt me with bizarre little dangling objects.They dine lavishly on fresh meat, while the other inmates and I are fed hash or some sort of dry nuggets.

Although I make my contempt for the rations perfectly clear, I nevertheless must eat something in order to keep up my strength.

The only thing that keeps me going is my dream of escape. In an attempt to disgust them, I once again vomit on the floor.
Today I decapitated a mouse and dropped its headless body at their feet. I had hoped this would strike fear into their hearts, since it clearly demonstrates what I am capable of. However, they merely made condescending comments about what a “good little hunter” I am. The audacity!

There was some sort of assembly of their accomplices tonight. I was placed in solitary confinement for the duration of the event. However, I could hear the noises and smell the food. I overheard that my confinement was due to the power of “allergies.” I must learn what this means, and how to use it to my advantage.

Today I was almost successful in an attempt to assassinate one of my tormentors by weaving around his feet as he was walking. I must try this again tomorrow– but at the top of the stairs.

I am convinced that the other prisoners here are flunkies and snitches. The dog receives special privileges. He is regularly released — and seems to be more than willing to return. He is obviously retarded!

The bird has got to be an informant. I observe him communicate with the guards regularly. I am certain that he reports my every move. My captors have arranged protective custody for him in an elevated cell, so he is safe…for now…

So this This is my life with Animals...
My husbands dogs- Cheech and Chong
My daughters dogs ( she moved out dogs moved home)- Cledus, Eady and Ally
My son dog (he moved out dog moved home)- Bogey
My other sons cat- Squirt and Bird Kenny

Tuesday was my day off and one of the dogs ( Probably Ally) pulled a garbage bags out of the can and over the fence. Then it became a full canine affair to string the contents of the day over the entire yard. Leaving evidence for me in every concievable areas. By 8:30 am ... Mission accomplished chew everything in to tiny little jiblets.They were all so proud that they each had their own yogurt cups and water bottles for toys. Only the best TOYS for our animals. They actually think water bottles are the ultimate toy!!

The cat as usual over ate and rewarded me by reminding ME to tell his father that he was feeding him too much.

And last but certainly not least.

I let the bird out of his cage to fly around a little, so when I opened the door he flew on to the top of the exterior door. I called my son to get him down for me.

I look up to see him reaching for him with a yard stick as he flys off in to the pine trees at 5:30 pm on a 35degree night. We look for him off and on Super Bowl night..... knowing fully well that he is not coming home until he ( Kenny the Conure) is good and ready.

Kenny has a grand time flying around and return home around 4 pm the next day.

I need a Photo of Me so I need your vote!!

2010-02-09T02:55:00.000-05:00

Ok I know this will come as a shock since I am the only one in the world that feels this way.

I hate my photos... no matter how my I take or have taken I Hate them all. Shocked as you may be to hear this I am not young, tiny and cute any more.

I am only 5'1" tall and that does not even qualify for petite ( 5'2"- 5'6"). So now that I am too short for my weight, like how I put that I need help!

I went to my friends house the other day and had her take photos of me so that I could send a photo of me to CI. Not the best time for photos..... 2 pm in the after noon Fl sun only accentuates my constant dark circles. But... we hoped for the best and she took about 100 photos so I could possibly decide on 1 photo.

So give me your opinion on these two photos until I find something I like better. I have progressed since my original non photo, to the one of me holding my nephew ( not a face shot).

Does any one else have this issues with posting photos of yoru self. Maybe I should have to post a photo a month because any photo is a good photo!???! Are there any photographers out there that can help me with a new photo?

Ok so I have plenty of great hair and crystal blue eyes.

Thanks for checking in and have a great week! - Gayle

Damian need a new photo for his Face Book page!

2010-02-06T21:12:00.000-05:00

These are photos of my youngest son Damian they are over 30 years apart and those Doritos are still around this house. Some things never change!

I love taking photos and my husband keeps telling me my photos are hidden by my scrapbooking.
My one goal this year is to take more photos.

One thing that has not changed in my live is my love of photography. When I was young and living in Orlando with two small children I got my art fix at Crealde Art Center in Winter Park, Florida. In exchange for classes and the use of their dark room I went in 3 times a week and mixed huge containers of the photography chemical. It was absolutely worth the time because my children and I got to take some fabulous classes for free. I met some very creative people.

So this year I hope to focus more on my photography, which has been a constant hobby in my life.

Facebook | Cheryl Eaton Mezzetti

2010-02-05T12:10:00.000-05:00

Facebook Cheryl Eaton Mezzetti: "The two best times to keep your mouth shut is when you are swimming and when you are angry'. ~anonymous"

Butterfly Rain Forest at the Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida

2010-02-05T01:10:00.000-05:00

My husband and I went to visit the Butterlyfly Rain Forest in Gainesville on sunday. I was a little cool and the butterflies were not as active as they could have been. I am told that they like 60 degree or warmer weather.

We were actually able to watch them release butterflies at two different times through out the day. That actually have a full hatching lab at the university and you can see the larve at various stages before they hatch.

If you are ever near Gainesville of live near the University it is a great place to visit. The also have a Florida natural museum at the same site.

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/butterflies/

It has been reallky cold this winter and some of the plants are not loving the weather, but it was a beautiful day!!

This addition to the Florida Museum is dedicated to research and education about butterflies, moths and global biodiversity. The Butterfly Rainforest is a four-story, outdoor screened enclosure with waterfalls, a walking trail, lush subtropical and tropical plants and hundreds of live butterflies. Learn More...

I am working on some altered art pieces for submission to magazines and I hope to incorporate some of the animals and foliage that I took many pictures of.

Creative Imaginations Sketch Jan Sketch winner

2010-02-05T00:31:00.002-05:00

I have been sick this week with a headache, but this has been a lucky week. I will share more later!

I found out that I won the Jan sketch at
Creative Imaginations!~!!
LOve winning free things to play with!!

Yeah!!!!

This is Creative Imaginations blog if you want to play along with their February Sketch check it out here.

Is used the Narrative collection and mixed it up a little. The photo is of me and my brother. I love the new Martha Stewart punches.

http://creativeimaginations.typepad.com/creative_imaginations_blo/http://creativeimaginations.typepad.com/creative_imaginations_blo/

February 04, 2010
January sketch winner!
You girls really rocked the sketches, by far it was the hardest decision for everyone to pick one...we loved them all! We were amazed at the talent that each of you shared, it made the selection of one winner difficult. We want to thank you and ask that you keep sharing your work with us, you may find that we feature you on one of our Inspiration Mondays!

Our January sketch winner is Gayle Martin with her beautiful layout called, As I remember it. Gayle shared the inspiration for her layout "This is a photo of my brother and me on Valentines Day. I used two different Narratives paper for this page. For the back ground I painted Luminarte paints on the back side of Creative Imaginations paper. I then layered the patterned paper on top of the painted white paper. I also used Luminarte paints as a spritz on the narratives paper collection and the flower embellishment."

Gayle will be receiving a prize package from Creative Imaginations and joining our design team in March.We are looking forward to seeing more of her work!
We will be posting the February sketch tomorrow on our blog for another fun sketch month!

Shimmerz Vibez Goodness

2010-02-03T00:41:00.008-05:00

Walking on the Wild Side created with Shimmerz Vibez new colors- Jeni B Blu and Before Dawn.

First I spritzed the Making Memories passpot paper with the above two colors. I then sprayed the paper over lay with a combination of Jeni B Blue and Before Dawn . I actually randomly sprayed one on top of the other. Next I painted in the clouds with Shimmerz Blingz-Hi Ho Silver using sa small paint brush. This color comes in a jar and the paint has quite a bit of texture to it.

Together is Shimmerz paints at their best
First I gesso the canvas and added reqular acrylic paints as a base. I then used drywall tape ( the mesh type and pressed Spackling thru the mesh to create a testure on the canvas. Next i added some tissue paper and elements for visual interest. I then layered Shimmers Blingz color on the canvas and once they were dry I got busy adding my favorite new products.
Shimmerz Vibez for intense color
I used Jeni B Blue, RazzleDazzle Berry, Sunset Strip and Before Dawn
Some of the paints were spritzed on the canvas. Other colors were painted on directly from the bottle witha paint brush and last but not least I opened the bottle and used the spray plunger to dribble paints over the canvas. I have ordered all of the other colors in the Vibez line because as you can see I like paint and I love color.

What I like about Shimmerz paint is the clean up easily with water. No going to work with hands of many colors.

Introducing Shimmerz VIBEZ!!!

2010-02-02T12:12:00.005-05:00

Introducing VIBEZ....16 Vibrant Colors with intense Shimmer and Shine!!! Watch our announcemnet below and share it with your friends! We are giving away a FULL Collection Set of Vibez Miniz to one lucky blog reader that makes a purchase from our site today! Set contains all 16 colors!

and because we are soooo excited about VIBEZ we are giving you more chances to win...be sure to drop by the Ed team blogs and leave them a comment. They are each giving away a free bottle of Vibez today!!!

Jeni Boisvert

Lori Renn

Lucy Edson

Bethany Kartchner

We can't Wait to hear what you think about Vibez!!!!!

.

Creative Imaginations Sketch Challenge

2010-02-01T01:17:00.001-05:00

I was visiting the Creative Imaginations web site and blog and saw that they had a sketch challenge forJanuary. This is a photo of my brother and me on my dad's car. This is in our front yard on St John's street in Lake City.

My mom made this dress for me for Valentines day. The dress was a sheer red with white dots. I think it was dotted swiss. I will have to remember to ask my mom about it. Those shoes had to be polished with white shoe polish.

I think I was about 5 years old in this photo, my brother is 14 months younger than me.

My sister and I always comment of the bangs that my mom cut for us. My mom said the style was to wear them very short. We always ask if crooked was also the style?

The scrapbook papers are Creative Imagination and the back ground and top papers are painted with Luminart paints.

Today my husband and I went to the Butterfly Gardens and The Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida. Now I have 90 photos to edit.

http://creativeimaginations.typepad.com/creative_imaginations_blo/page/3/ .
I pulled together some of their papers from my stash and posted this on their web site today.

Living in Lake City doesn't exactly offer you lots of opportunity to buy scrapbook products. We have two scrapbook stores that I buy as much as I can from. I want to make sure they stay in business, but I also shop on line to buy the most current products. This is a GREAT TIME of the year .... you can see all of the new prodcut lines that are coming out.

Urban Lily and Shimmerz Pearlz paints

2010-01-17T20:23:00.001-05:00

My first project for Urban Swank is a wall hanging for my mom. For this project" She Loves her 7 girls" I glued Urban Lily paper... from entitled Sushi the every day collection. The paper is glued on to a 12 x 12 canvas board and then I lightly distressed the paper with watered down white gesso.

This is the original paper

You can find the paper product for this project here.
http://www.scrap-tastic.com/pages/shopping_detail.cfm?productID=1288
To accent this beautiful collection I add some of the flowers from the Sushi Dot and Linen collection with the blues to the page. I tried to tie in the blues from the chipboard and paper flowers by adding some paints to
the canvas.

To create texture and visual dimention on the paper I placed dry wall tape over the canvas and spritzed Shimmerz paints over the page. The colors of paint filtered thru the tape to create the mesh effect on the paper. Once this was completed I added some of the new collection of Shimmerz Pearls paints in Ballet Slipper and Grey Flannel. I accented the white flowers with blue mist and accented the center of the flower by adding Shimmerz Pearls in Grey Flannel. This allowed me to coordinate the Number It chipboard is from the Urban Lily collection as well. You can purchase the Urban Lily collections here.
http://www.scrap-tastic.com
All papers are from the Urban Lily collection
Sushi Dot
Sushi
Number it chipboard from Urban Lily
Shimmerz Paints
Blingz and Spritz
Pearlz

Untitled Small Clip board

My Mom has 11 grandchildren and she is putting together her new craft room. I am creating small projects using photos of her grandchildren and this is one of the projects that I created using the Urban Lily collections of papers.

For this small project I cut out some of the elements from the Urban Lily Lulliloo collection. I used Lalo and Lu Lu for this page. I cut a square piece of the dot paper and layered it over the clip board. I then cut out the La lo paper detail and mounted it on cardboard to add dimension. The paint around the edge of the board is Shimmerz Pearls in Ballet Slipper and Grey Flannel. The flower is painted with creamy Shimmerz pearlz in Morning Mist paint.

http://www.scrap-tastic.com/pages/shopping_detail.cfm?productID=3230

| Shimmerz Paints/ Bethany Kartchner Tutorial

2010-01-11T23:24:00.002-05:00

Shimmerz is making a really fun and exciting announcement this week, and some new and amazing colors have something to do with it. Check back soon to find out the exciting news!!!

http://www.shimmerzpaints.com/

Today Bethany put up her new tutorial using Shimmers paints and creative ideas. Check out Bethany's wonderful tutorial on her blog using Shimmerz paints. Her finished project is ssooooo cute. Just look at her Grubby Little Angel.

Take a look and then you have to go to her blog here http://creativeruminations.blogspot.com/ . Next your need to head over to theShimmerz blog and watch her Educational video using Shimmerz products. She takes you throught the process step by step.
http://shimmerzpaintsed.blogspot.com/2010/01/combining-fabric-and-paper-into-paper.html

I received my box of paints today and this is going to be so much fun. I will take a photo tomorrow and show you all of my new goodies!!!

Mick....The Birthday Girl is 17

2009-12-31T01:19:00.004-05:00

Happy Birthday Michaela,

I can hardly believe you are 17. I can remember the day you were born!!
Thanks to Mike she is an athletic person, because she definitely did not inherit those traits from her mother or me.

Mick is a varsity cheerleader, gymnast, and la cross player.The girl has no fear!!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Merry Christmas Every One

2009-12-26T00:38:00.002-05:00

The entire family was able to get togther for dinner today and we took time for a few fun shots.

While taking photos with the granddaughters, my mother got cold. Some one brought her a bomber jacket with a fur collar to wear. So here are some fun girly photos of the granddaughters and their grandmother Tutta.

Sassafrass Lass Featured projects

2009-12-08T21:38:00.008-05:00

Thank you Sassafrass Lass for featuring My two projects on your blog!!

I love playing with Sassafrass products they give you such freedom to express the chidhood spirit.

Check out the Sassafrass site they have so many create ideas to share with you every week.

Want to win free papers from Urban Swank???

2009-12-02T00:52:00.004-05:00

Becky at Urban Swank is giving away free scrapbook paper. These are the details...
So follow the directions below and good luck!!!

Tuesday, November 24, 2009 she posted the following
Who Wants Paper?

As promised, I am giving away PAPER!!!! Now, let's see what hoops should you have to jump through for these??? hmmmm..... thinking..... send me a video of you jumping through hoops - LOL, NO, but wouldn't that be funny? Thinking more..... ok, all you need to do is post a link to the Urban Swank Blog at any forum or your blog letting all of your friends know about this give away! Leave me a comment with a link showing me the post and you are entered!

The winner will be selected randomly and will receive papers from the following collections: Lulliloo, Blink, Just Add Color, Mooch, Happy Everything, California, Oh So Merry, Everyday Lily! I'll throw in a few extra papers too and make it an even 50!

December 15th is the deadline! The winner will be announced shortly after.

Sorry, only people living in the US, Canada and South America can enter.

If you have questions make sure you include your e-mail addy

Here's just a glimpse of all the papers one lucky person will be getting. Check out all the details here if you want to win :)

My Boy's- Li';l Monsters/ Websters and Sasafrass Lass Paper Lines

2009-11-27T03:13:00.003-05:00

I love both of these paper lines and they are a stark contrast in styles, so I am not quite sure how I ended up combining the two. Usually it boils down to the papers are on my counter and my mind is on a wild tangent at 3 am in the morning.

My sons are now much older they were 18 months a part and quite a challenge at this age. The oldest was very independent and loved to explore, take things apart and figure out how they worked. The youngest was in to climbing, bicycle riding, physical activity.

I have always been in to photography and when I was younger I took photography classes in Winter Park, Florida. I was able to get free photography classes and unlimited use of the photo lab. The deal was I went in twice weekly to mixed the photo chemicals for the labs. It was a great deal and I gain great experience . On top of that I wonderful photos of my children. This is one of the photos I took. My sons are now 30 years old. Neither are married and their are no grand children, one is still in school. The were both home for Thanksgiving! My daughter was in Alabama with her husbands family!!

I am up at this hour waiting to buy a Black Friday deal on line that is supposed to be available at 3am. So far it has not happened...... May have to hit the store at 4 am for my daughter it if it does not work by then. Not sure it is worth it but it is only one item, so I will give it a shot.

Have a great week end!

So far all of my holiday shopping has been on line and the deals have been great. Coupons galore out there!!!

Urban Swank Design Team

2009-11-22T01:51:00.003-05:00

It's offical I'm on the Urban Swank Design team the are the exclusive distributor for Urban Lily products throughout the US, Canada and South America.

Thank you Becky Teichmiller- Swanky Gurls DT Coordinator for noticing my work. I am so excitied to me working with all of the other talented team members.

Just one moment in time- MY Love

2009-11-21T01:16:00.003-05:00

I love the new Prima papers and flowers. I rolled up the edges of the paper and added some velvet under the edge. The photo just a moment in time.

This is just one of the many pages that I am giving my daughter and her husband.

Look at My New Dress- Graphic 45 paper

2009-11-19T11:47:00.004-05:00

Papers on both of these pages are from Graphic 45 collections. I also mixed Luminarte Pigment paints in to misters to create the back grounds.

I would love t have some of the new paints on the market, but I have a big colletion of Luminarte paints so for now I use them. They have a beautiful range of colors.

I shave been looking at getting some of the new Shimmers paints!! The colors are amazing and they blend well. i like that they can be used on any surface.

This is a photo of my mother in laws two sister, they look like they are saying look at my new dress. I think this is the cutest picture. They lived in Missouri and the family is of German decent. The page is for a Graphic 45 challenge.

This photo is of my daughter and her then fiance Allen while they were in Orlando for engagement photos.

Busy week ahead at work.
Hope I get some time to play Meghan, Allen and I are going to do a photo shoot this week end for holiday cards.

Last post that was supposed to be a saved draft...

They are back will be posted later.
Off to work I go!!

Second Hand Lions

2009-11-09T12:06:00.000-05:00

Watched this movie with my husband last night ... Or should I say I watched the entire movie and he watched part of it. There was football on tv to bewatched.

It was a great movie probably a little slow for my husband.

Loved this quote by Robert Duvall from the movie.
He had advice for the teen age boys.

“Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most. That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this, that love... true love never dies. You remember that, boy. You remember that. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.”

Graphic 45 Christmas - Baby Eddie

2009-11-01T01:29:00.000-04:00

This a baby photo of my husbands father with his mother. I noticed the wreath in the back of the truck and felt it would be perfect to use with the new Graphic 45 papers.

I spritzed the paper with Luminart paints and rolled the edges.

Pencil Lines Challenge- TRICKS WITH A TREAT

2009-10-26T03:00:00.000-04:00

This is the skectch for this week

and this is my take on the sketch

This is my page for the Pencil Lines sketch.
I started with kraft paper for this page and I love the finished product. The only challenge was photographing the kraft paper. I think that the paper does not photograph very well. The flowers are pink foil from candy for the Tricks with a Treat!
Thank you Pencil Lines for allowing us to join you this week.

Pencil Lines Collaborative with The Next Step Challenge Blog

2009-10-26T02:55:00.000-04:00

This week, The Next Step designers teamed up with the Pencil Lines designers to fill you with loads of Tricks with Treats inspiration. Pencil Lines is a blog all about using sketches to expand your artistic horizons, get you outside your box, and lift you out of scrappers block and to help you get more layouts done. It is about thinking outside your normal processes to create something wonderful.

Each of us worked with this sketch by the talented Anna Bowkis while incorporating this month's theme: Tricks with Treats.
Pencil Lines Design Team

Anna Bowkis
Ania Lexander
Carina Lindolm
Michelle Filo
Sue Deacon
Tracie Hudson
Yuko Motoyama

The Next Step Design Team

Lucy Edson
Gayle Martin
Bethany Kartchner
Tricia Peever
Jamie Dougherty

We'd like to thank the Pencil Lines team for working with us this month! Pencil Lines posts a new sketch along with the beautiful work of the awesome design team every Sunday. Be sure to check them out!

Also, don't forget that our RAK this month is a copy of Sherry Steveson's newest book, The Scrapbook Embellishment Handbook. All you need to do is make a project using the Tricks for Treats Theme and leave us a link on any post in October.

Happy Creating!

Tricks with Treats on The Next Step Challenge

2009-10-07T00:33:00.000-04:00

Since October is a time that is filled with sugar and sweets, our theme this month is

TRICKS WITH TREATS

Visit the Next Step Challenge

http://thenextstepchallenge.blogspot.com/2009/10/tricks-with-treats-on-scrapstreet.html

Our challenge, should you choose to accept it...is to make a project using treats of some kind. This can be actual candy, candy packaging, faux candy, whatever your creative brain comes up with as long as it is sweet.

The Next Step designers each worked with this theme for a really sweet article in October's ScrapStreet.

You can read all about us here. Stacey Michaud did a great job. You've got to check it out!

Breast Cancer Awareness Month- Free RAK from Amy Tara

2009-10-05T07:24:00.000-04:00

A friend emailed me and asked me to help her spread the word that it is Breast Cancer awareness month. Amy Tara has a great RAK ( Random Act Of Kindness/ free stuff) up for grabs that you could win, just for listening to her.

I read her request and support her cause completely. This is something that effects everyone in one way or another. Breast Cancer affects men and women of all ages.

Yesterday my husband is watching football and there is a report about the players wearing pink shoes in support of Breast Cancer Awareness month. While watching the game we notice a few of the player are wearing Pink (Pepto Bismol Pink) shoes on the field in support of the cause. My husband asks " Why do you think the rest are not wearing the pink shoes?" Neither of us could come up with a reason??? What do you think?

A few of the players did have the pink ribbon emblem on their foot ball pants.

This is Amy Tara's blog

I will let you read her story and see her goals for us. I hope that you will get involved.

A brief story about my Mammogram journey.

I have had mammograms for a few years now. Honestly... do not like them, hated my first exam, but they are a part of life that is necessary.

About two years ago I went for my routine exam and about 10 days later I received a call to schedule a second exam. I scheduled the exam and again waited for the results that took another 10 day. I am elated that there were not issues, just scar tissue. I was surprised to find that insurance does not cover the second exam.

This year my mom convinced me to go with her to her doctor. Dr. Arlene M. Weinshelbaum's office schedules the appointment, provides the mammogram and reads the results before you leave her office. You walk away having all of the results and information that you need. I received my results with no issues, but they let my mom know that they needed to take a second scan. I am happy to report shehad the second scaN, waited for the results and there were no issues for her.

Take care of your self!! Schedule your exam today...... and go to the appointment.

Now.... go to Amy Tara's site read her story and everyone wins.

Have a wonderful fall day, this is my favorite time of the year.

I love this story -Read This!!!

2009-09-30T00:53:00.000-04:00

I read this on Rebecca Sower's blog. check this out....interesting thinking when it comes to time...i wish there were more hours in my day....but i working on spending time with my golf balls creating being one of them...

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar...and the beer.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. Then he asked the class again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with unanimous "yes."

The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now," said the professor, as the laughter subsided. " I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things--your family, your children, your health, your friends, your favorite passions--things that if everyting else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. "The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else--the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first, " he continued, "there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Spend time with those you love. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Spend time with old friends. Play another 18. There will be time to clean the house and fix the disposal."

"Take care of the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand."

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented. The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of beers."

Have a good day taking care of your golf balls.

It will give you something to think about.

Somerset Memories- Fall issue and the funny thing that happened!!!

2009-09-23T01:48:00.000-04:00

It finally came ....
I have been checking the mail the last few days looking for the new Somerset Memories Fall edition. Monday it finally arrived in my mail box.

I have two articles in the magazine. One is an article called "Chunky Layering" featuring my work with the wonderful Donna Salazar. I am so thrilled to be featured with her wonderful work.

Check out her blog here

I have a tendency to put lots of things on my pages as well as paints, sewing, fabric. Basically how ever I feel about the page or moment is going to be reflected in the design of the page. My friend Lucy and I have often talked about our pages and altered art. I realize that most scrapbook companies do not embrace my style of scrap booking. I have actually attempted to work on simpler pages with a more clean design. Looking thru a magazine I will find a simple layout out that I like with an abundance of white space. I will adapt the page to my design and stop when I have completed the look. But... more often than not I will come back and add painting, stamping or something to the page. While I love the look of the simpler look it is just not my design.

I tell you all of this because I am so grateful that some one appreciate my style. It feels even better to know that I did not have to adapt or conform to an established trend to be recognized. Thank you Stampington for seeing the individuality of our expressions and publishing them for others to see.

And now the funny thing that happened....
I handed the new Somerset Memories magazine to my husband Monday night when he got home. I had tagged each of the pages that had my work to make it easier for him. On page 87 he started laughing when he saw the photo of him as a boy with his mother(Martin 1957). They were in California just before boarding a ship for Guam where his father was stationed with the Air Force.

I have had numerous projects and pages published in the past, but never any pages with my immediate family.

This time there is another article about a wedding that my daughter was in as well an individual page about her.

My oldest son is pictured as a Young boy with his grandfather who is leading his on a pony. This page was actually put together about 4 years ago and my style has changed a little since then, but I love the photo. My husband's comment when he saw the photo of my oldest son was " Look at the Pocket Protector" in Papa's pocket.

My son piped up and said that is not a pocket protector that was his eye glass case.
This photo is over 20 years old and he remembered that eye glass case.

My daughter called last night and asked where she and her friend Ashley could get the magazine. My son told her to bring her copy next time she comes to visit and he will give her an autograph.

And then there is my baby boy on the page titled Blue Blanket. When he was about 18 years old my husband asked when I was going to stop refer to him as my baby? My response.... probably never. Yes he is in the magazine as well. He is the baby sucking his thumb holding his blue blanket. The page is titled Blue Blanket and the photo is mounted on quilt batting. My two sons were thumb suckers and blanket draggers. As they got older their blankets kept shrinking as I cut them smaller and smaller. Fortunately they both stopped sucking their thumbs at about 18 months. I on the other hand was about 10 years old before I quit. LOL

Thanks for reading all of this and sharing in my excitement once again!

Check out the Prima Product Picks

2009-09-15T01:22:00.000-04:00

Prima Product Picks!
Ready for something FUN?

Something REALLY, REALLY Fun?

Prima has chosen some of their very favorite products, and put them together in a fantastic little ensemble below...what we want to do is to introduce you to a few of them...

and, THEN, get you involved!

Visiting the Prima Blog and saw their new Prima Product picks! Wow I love all of the new neutral products. I can see an entire project using these pieces, they are just gorgeous. Check them out on their blog!
http://prima.typepad.com/

Working with Vellum from Webster's

2009-09-09T01:26:00.000-04:00

Both of these pages are from my daughter's wedding in February.

A Crazy Pair is on vellum paper from Webster's, This is my sister's daughter and my daughter. This is one of my favorite photos that was taken just after the ceremony.
I had a little difficulty photographing it but I love the page. I rolled Hambly overlays to make the bright pink flowers. The bird cages are cut outs from a Hambly transparency.

The Delight page is may daughter opening gifts from her brides maid just before the wedding. The expression on her face is priceless. I wonder what her brides maid got her??? I spritzed this page with Tatter Angels spray.

From Housework is Evil it must be stopped!!

2009-09-08T08:08:00.000-04:00

Found this site on Facebook call Housework is evil it must be stopped.

My sister and I have discussed this before. She wanted to know where I got the clean gene. Discussion insued... my mother got offended...

Mom she is the one that pointed it out

Come to think of it... One of my mothers sister lacked that gene as well. It is not her fault!!!

I can actually remember as a child going to my Aunt Betty's house for a week in the summer and I would immediately start cleaning her house. In all fairness she worked at night full time and her kids liked to sleep.... On the plus side she spent lots of time with us we always had FUN. I think we had tuna sandwiches for lunch every day that we were at her house.

My Sister and Me-

She-
1)thinks house work is a waste of time
2)Is very organized and is a planner
3)Cleans her scraproom every day after she finished or before she starts a new project

Me-
1) Like things clean....(trying to break this habit)
2) NOT organized, want to be but it is just not in me. What plan, very impulsive!
3) Cleans the house before I scrap at the end of the week,
Scraproom....If it is not layered with 2 or 3 projects I can not create. If it is too clean, there is no disorganized mind to work with. I've tried organized it just does not. Some of my best projects are from the junk that is on my work space.

So which one are you?

Pearl is was my grandmother on her wedding day

2009-09-07T20:32:00.000-04:00

This is a photo of my maternal grand mother on her wedding day. She married you and lost 2 babies before adopting my father, he was her only child. His father died when he was four years old.

I used the New Webster's paper abd bits of an older collection. I added some Graphic 45,Hambly, hand made flowers.I love to collect vintage laces, ribbons, fabrics, embroidered itmes and more. I used some old very wide lace topped with some older Prima lace.

TFL

Somerset Memories Autumn 2009- My Work is published

2009-08-24T20:50:00.000-04:00

This is a look at the article and ideas from the early release of the Somerset Memories Autumn 2009. I have several works being published in this magazine as well as an article. I love this group of publications they contiune to reinforce my creativity and welcome my projects. This is an early look at the articles that will be in this upcoming magazine. You can check out the full release of their magazine at this link.

http://www.stampington.com/html/sm_autumn09.html

Scrapbooking.com- July Article

2009-08-13T08:24:00.000-04:00

Have some of catching up to do this has been a busy time at work for me along with life challenges. But there have been some exciting things going on with my scrapbooking and altered art work.

First of all I have another tutorial and article published in Scrapbooking.com, thank you Jami for continuing to recognize me. This is the link to her monthly on line publication.

This is an older article that I wrote for Scrapbooking.com showing how to use sketches to design pages. Jami asked me to focus on showing how to build layers on a page. Their publication has some great tutorials showing steps to create beautiful scrap book pages.

Hope every one is having a great summer!

Last week my ac went out in the middle of the night, I suffered thru. The next day was my day of from work and when it started hitting 85 degrees I was visiting friends and shopping. The repair main was not coming until the next day. Later that evening when it was a cool muggy 75 degrees, was complaining. My husband and son commented it was like camping. Only they had tv, video and bathrooms. yeah right!!! I am way past those days, spent many years camping with my children and never in Florida. I do not like to be hot and I don't like bugs.I am going to mom and dad's house. 70 degree ac, comfy bed, clean sheets, no screeching bird at 8 am or 5 dogs barking. Get out of my way. I work where it is 35 degrees every day and rarey am I cold. I do not do hot any more unless it involves a pool or beach.

Living in 2009- From Larissa

2009-08-13T08:21:00.000-04:00

I got this today and just thought it would be cool to share it with you girls. It´s fun!

YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2009 when...

1. You accidentally enter your password on the microwave.

2 You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.

3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of 3.

4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.

5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.

6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.

7 Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen.

8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.

10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee.

11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )

12 You're reading this and nodding and laughing.

13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.

14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.

15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list

AND NOW YOU ARE LAUGHING at yourself.

What I like about you- Scrapping the Music #94

2009-07-20T00:29:00.000-04:00

This is for The Next Step Challenge Blog sewing on paper. The topic this week is sewing with out a machine on your pages. This page has a combination of both techniques.

Scrapping the Music - #92 Our Beautiful Story

2009-07-06T01:54:00.000-04:00

I love the weekly challenge Scrapping the Music.

This week I scrapped my niece with her new baby brother. I used a combination of a couple of lines of Graphic 45 paper.

This is another page using Graphic 45 papers I white washed the back ground paper, added spackling compound to the paper and stitched around the photo!

Scrapping the Music - #91

2009-06-28T23:48:00.000-04:00

Page Maps- Contest

2009-06-28T23:27:00.000-04:00

This is a page that I worked on for Page Maps contest this week. There is a little glare on the photo, so I will have to try and retake this page. Problem is this is Florida and it is so darn sunny, glare on glossy photos are a problem. I guess I should have used matte paper for this one.

Christmas morning at my brother house 11 eggs hatched and there were baby chicks running all over the place. I love almost every photo I took that day, they are so cute. My brother has 6 children so there are lots of photos.

Create My Keepsakes- July Designer challenge

2009-06-28T23:07:00.000-04:00

CMK has monthly challenges and I decided to play along this month.

I love this photo it is my nieces and nephew at Flagler Beach last summer. I am looking forward to my sister and her family coming to Florida in July.

I love seeing them and I always get some great opportunities to take photos!!!

Yeah new photos.

On the next step we talked this past month about altering old paper. The paper under the photo is some old K and Company that I doodles all over. Most of the rest of the paper is the opposite side of some patterned paper that I bought and never used.

I am person that usually works well under pressure... most of the time! I completed my layout last week end and planned to photograph my lay outs some time this week. The problems for me is this thing called work that keeps getting in my way. Staying up late, really late scrapping and playing, sleeping until the last minute before I have to get ready for work.

Sooo the photo did not happen until today. For some reason I can not access the gallery to post the photo and it has been that way for the entire week. I submitted a request for help since I do not have sufficient privileges to access. I am sure it is something I have done to screw things up.

So I am posting my layout here.

Pink Paislee contest submissions

2009-06-15T19:53:00.000-04:00

Create My Keepsake has a Pink Paislee contest on their site. I created two pages for the challenge, the idea was to use the name of one of the paper lines in the title. If your are the winner for the category you win a collection of the particular named line of paper.

I have some of their products, but who doe not need more. I like working with challenges since they usually limit your options, but force you to get creative with their products.

Fascinating You is a mixture of 2-3 Pink Paislee lines. I cut the red flowers out and raised them with pop dots. Next I embroidered the stem and vines with #12 cotton thread that I got at the quilt store. I really like how the flowers swwm to flow with the lines of the photo. This photo is my daughter and husband on their wedding day.

Enchant is a mixture of a couple other Pink Paislee lines Office Lingo is th emain paper. I printed the defenition of enchant on the pink dotted paper. I cut out the other embellishments for the papers.

Rework REInvent,REdesign- The Next Step Challenge Blog

2009-06-10T23:33:00.000-04:00

This month I started showing some of the ways that you can alter the paper stash you currently have. Each week we will update with a diffent challenge to alter that stash that makes you say- What was I thinking when I bought that paper.

My techniques focus on using pain, rub ons and stitching to alter your paper. Check out the blog to see more fun ways to change your current products.

with one eye open

It's been a while

Really Reasonable Ribbon

April 20th 1984 my last baby was born

Somerset Memories Spring 2011-Bicycle Book

1992 Flash Back

Random Act of Kindness Week Feb 14-20, 2011

Sew Somerset Publication

Welcome to Helmar's Huge Holiday Hop!

That's My MOM!

Helmar Blog Hop

Urban Swank Blog Hop

Holiday Cards and Gifts with ShutterFly

So Maybe Mom Was Right

November 10, 1951

Sunday Drive as a Family Tradition

Best Friends featuring Helmar Adhesives, Shimmerz Paints and Crate Paper

Free on line course- Art, Heart and Healing

The Girls Photo Shoot in Lake City

Welcome to the Helmar Halloween Howler Hop!

The Helmar Halloween Howler Blog Hop is Coming!!!

Somerset Memories Autumn 2010

america crafts dear lizzy & helmar adhesives layout contest

Old Things are New Again!

Need Inspirations this month to get busy? Check out Blue Moon Scrapbooking.com

Pink Paislee, Shimmerz Paint and Hambly Studio

Lily Bee - Play all Day

Helmar "Flips" for Videos!............GIVEAWAY!

Crazy Rainy Day Photo Shoot

Sew Somerset Summer 2010 from Stampington Studios

Couture Cardstock and Prima Marketing- I won!!!

Eyes of Blue

Helmar USA Design Team

Creative Imaginations- April Guest Designer

Somerset Memories Spring 2010

Scrapbooking and Beyond Spring 2010

LoVe is EVERYTHING!

The Fun things in LIFE!

Jeni Boisvert: Pop Quiz | Shimmerz Paints

Excerpts from a Dog’s Daily Diary from If Johnna had a Blog

I need a Photo of Me so I need your vote!!

Damian need a new photo for his Face Book page!

Facebook | Cheryl Eaton Mezzetti

Butterfly Rain Forest at the Museum of Natural History in Gainesville, Florida

Creative Imaginations Sketch Jan Sketch winner

Shimmerz Vibez Goodness

Introducing Shimmerz VIBEZ!!!

Creative Imaginations Sketch Challenge

Urban Lily and Shimmerz Pearlz paints

| Shimmerz Paints/ Bethany Kartchner Tutorial

*******Mick....The Birthday Girl is 17*******

Merry Christmas Every One

Sassafrass Lass Featured projects

Want to win free papers from Urban Swank???

My Boy's- Li';l Monsters/ Websters and Sasafrass Lass Paper Lines

Urban Swank Design Team

Just one moment in time- MY Love

Look at My New Dress- Graphic 45 paper

Second Hand Lions

Graphic 45 Christmas - Baby Eddie

Pencil Lines Challenge- TRICKS WITH A TREAT

Pencil Lines Collaborative with The Next Step Challenge Blog

Tricks with Treats on The Next Step Challenge

Breast Cancer Awareness Month- Free RAK from Amy Tara

I love this story -Read This!!!

Somerset Memories- Fall issue and the funny thing that happened!!!

Check out the Prima Product Picks

Working with Vellum from Webster's

From Housework is Evil it must be stopped!!

Pearl is was my grandmother on her wedding day

Somerset Memories Autumn 2009- My Work is published

Scrapbooking.com- July Article

Living in 2009- From Larissa

What I like about you- Scrapping the Music #94

Scrapping the Music - #92 Our Beautiful Story

Scrapping the Music - #91

Page Maps- Contest

Create My Keepsakes- July Designer challenge

Pink Paislee contest submissions

Rework REInvent,REdesign- The Next Step Challenge Blog

Mick....The Birthday Girl is 17