It's All About The Journey

Never Say Never

Last week QVC had a scrapbooking Today's Special Value on. I love when they do that and so far I have purchased everyone of their Scrapbooking  TSV's. This Scrapbooking kit not only offered every thing from the 12x12 and 8x8 albums to the embellishments and every thing in between but it also offered Scrapbook Essentials digital software. As far as Digital scrapbooking goes I have said many times that I would never go digital as far as scrapping my pages. Guess what I did last night? :)

 

Okay, I know this is very simple looking but it was my very first page. :)I am still learning more on how to do digital scrapbooking. But with the knowledge that I have right now I could make an entire scrapbook within 2 hours!  In the program that I received I had 259 background papers to choose from and lot of embellishmets but of course not every thing that came in it is my style. So I will need to buy more stuff eventually. The papers and embellishments are from S.E.I  and I purchased the wonderful Mirage designs. The software is from Fotofusion.

 

Here is my second attempt at making a page. Still quite simple. However, when I scrapbook the original way of scrapbooking I still keep it simple. Well, maybe I add more embellishments and journaling. :) Anyway, both of these were printed out  in the size of 8X8 using white card-stock and an Epsom printer. They look awesome in person and now all I have to do is trim the white card-stock away from them and slip them in to one of my 8x8 scrapbooks. I will be making a duplicate of every page that I make so that I can have a book to give to Molly and one to Darcy. Don't get me wrong. I am not giving up scrapbooking the original way. No way!  But I am having lots of fun doing it the digital way too. 

I Am A "Gluer".

I officially became one of the "Gluers" for  UHU Glue early last week. I am looking forward to making more projects, cards and scrapbook pages using their awesome glue products. The UHU glue that I have used so far has been great! Lucky me for having a few stores in my area who also carry UHU glue. :) I hope that you will visit their bog frequently and check out the projects being made bythe Gluers and the products that UHU has to offer.

I have had a very busy week this week so please forgive me if I am chatting too much.  I finally made my very first apple pie. Thank you, Dottie for sending me the recipe. :)  I'm not sure which night it was that I made it but it came out tasting so delicious that both Wayne and I ate it all! Yes, I am still gaining weight.UGH! I have a few photos to show you. Try not to laugh too hard. Okay?

This is what it looked like before I put it into the oven. A you can see I did not do a very good job at making the top of the pie crust look very pretty.

It does not look too bad after it was baked.  But I am glad that I was not making it for company. :)

Wayne and I could not wait to dig in. Of course it was still very hot so this is what it looked like on our plates. Ha-ha. I had a lot of fun making my very first apple pie and will be making another one soon. But I have got to learn how to make the top crust fluted better so that it looks pretty. By the way I now consider baking a craft. :)

If your short on time then you may want to step away from your computer. :)  I have a few more things that I would like to chat about.

This past Thursday I went to a card making class at Stamping Memories.  We made some lovelyy Kinkade cards and I hope to get them posted up on my bolg tomorrow. It was so wonderful to be out stamping with other women. I do not take many classes any more but I think that I will be in the future. As a matter of fact last month I signed up for a scrapbook class at Scrappin'Soul Sisters this coming Tuesday. I will be making a book to put photos in of Wayne and I at York Beach Maine. Do any of you go classes often? I love stamping and paper crafting but I like it even more when I am with other women who like it as much as I do. We always seem to have a good time. 

Okay just one more thing. Yesterday I went to a Tupperware party. The reason that I am even bringing this up is because it is the first one that I have been to in at least 20 years! I had a blast! There were about14 of us there and all of the women were such fun. So I bought some Tupperware and I booked a party! I have not had a party of any kind in my home in at least 2o years. Okay so this was not craft related but I had such a good time so I wanted to share it with all of you.

I hope that you had as good a weekend as I have had so far. Back to doing more laundry and cooking for me.  Happy Sunday. Smile. :)

A Vintage Soap Gift Set

On September 16th I took an on-line class at Cornish Heriatge Farms. It was a class teaching how to turn an every day bar of soap into a  Christmas vintage looking soap by using stamps. This class was  a real eye opener for me. I never would have though to use a bar of soap unwrapped and stamping pn it and making a gift to give someone. It was an awesome on-line class.  I would have posted my soap set sooner but it took me a week to find the exact way that I wanted to make my set so that I could give it to someone in my family for Christmas.  I shopped around and found every thing that I wanted! Just the way that I had it pictured in my head. Okay here are some photos.

   

Here is a close up of the soap. After I added the design  to the soap by using  a craft glue I then added  Paraffin Wax on top of the stamped image. I put the soap into a small clear cellophane bag and tied it closed using  a piece of cloth. Making the soap look the way that it does took all of 15 minutes. Now that is very easy! It was deciding how I wanted to present my gift and finding the items to do so that took the longest.

 

My idea was to include only candles. One that has a scent and can be burned. The other is a candle that uses a battery and can be used in the tin wash tub for decoration purposes only. I like the latter idea better. I lined the inside of the tin washtub with a primitive dish towel that I purchased at my local Primitive store. When I turn the light off the candle flickers and looks so pretty.

 

Here is the entire look as it sits on a vanity in my bathroom. I will be  making one of these sets for  myself but because my bathroom is done in all white with pewter fixtures I will be on a hint for a pewter mini wash tub. :) There are so many different ways to package this set. Instead of putting in candles I could have added a small bottle of body lotion and a facial scrub pad. Even though the soap has been decorated by using a vintage stamp I could have used a red, white or any color wash tub. Well you get the idea.  Thanks Julie for the awesome soap idea and the class.

Here is what I used to make the soap.

~Stamps: Winter Vintage Signage from Cornish Heritage Farms.

~ Card-stock: White

~ Inks:  Red Pepper and Espresso Adirondack inks.

~ Dove white moisturizing cram soap bar.

~ Paraffin wax.

~Tools: Ranger melting pot.

The class that I took can be found here.  I hope that  you will give it a try. Because of the classes that CHF has been offering I have made 3 different Christmas gifts so far. All 3 of them will be duplictated for the girls in my family. I also took another class decorating a gift bag.  I did not have the designer papers that I wanted to use. When I decorate the gift bag I will be sure to post it.

I hope that all of you are enjoying the cooldays and even cooler evenings like I have been. After running a few errands today I went for a lovely walk. The temperature was only 60 degrees but it feltgreat! The one thing that I have noticed is that it does not smell like the fall yet. I love the smell of fall when the air has a fresh crisp smell to it. It will be here soon enough. Tonight when I got home I baked my very first apple pie. I hope to be able to share some pictures with all of you. I must say that even though it smells good the crust looks a little funny. :) Speaking of pie, Wayne just walked in the door and I'm sure that He will want a slice of it.  Have a fantastic rest of the week. Smile. :)

Smile

It has been a very long time since I have posted two days in a row. But I have a simple card to share so I thought that I would post it tonight.

Last week while I was at Stamping Memories visiting Bette and Betty and doing a little shopping I had a very nice conversation with Bette that would not leave my mind. I wont share all of it with you because it would take me too long to type and too long for you to read. But what Bette shared with me was how she sends cards to her grandchildren every two weeks or so. After talking about why she sends cards frequently it made me think about how I used to send cards to my grandchildren but haven't since the last holiday or birthday.

So tonight I made cards for two of my granddaughters who I'm sure will love getting them and I know that it will make them smile.  I just want them to know that I am thinking of them and that I love them.

   I do not own a lot of cute stamps that children might like but I thought this one was sweet. It is from the Stampin'UP! A Flower For All Seasons stamp set. I colored this image using my Copic markers. The ladybug however is colored using KOH-I-NOOR color pencils and Gamsol. Using a red Copic made it difficult to see the teeny tiny black spots n the ladybug. I used Always Artichoke and Whisper White card-stock also from Stampin UP! The designer paper is from the Patterns pack from SU. I love this package of paper and I wish that SU would make more of them in the 6X6 size. The sentiment "Smile" and the buttons are also from SU.  I used UHU twist and glue to adhere my buttons. I purchased the ribbon from Stamping Memories.  I used the Marvy Uchida square punches. As you can see my card is very simple. But the point is for me to keep it simple so that I will be able to send cards to my granddaughters more frequently.

It was such a lovely day here in NH. I do believe that the fall weather is here to stay for awhile. It was a great day to take a walk but I elected to stay indoors today. I'm sure that I will be back out tomorrow walking though. :) I do have to get to the store to buy some ingredients so that I cam make my very first apple pie. But for now I think that I will cut up some stamps and work on my other blog. I hope to be posting a couple of photos of A Muse stamps that I will be selling.

I hope that all of you have a wonderful Tuesday. Smile. :)