December Daily 2012

Well I finally did it. I have wanted to do a December Daily album for the last couple of years but never made it happen. As a friend of mine said "I struggle with the daily part of December Daily". So true. So each time I failed miserably but oh not this year! I will conquer this beast.

My best friend and I spent the day together in my workroom putting together our albums. Having them all ready is a big plus. All I need to do it take a picture, jot down a story and move on. I don't have a photo printer at home (hello Santa!) so I am going to print them out at CVS once a week...no biggy.

My album doesn't have a lot of room for journalling so what I did was created a This Week page where I can sum up the week. Each picture will have some kind of words to describe what was going on at the time.

This is my cover page

Here is day one. (Yes mom I know Advent did not technically start on December 1st this year!)

The advent calendar is a Kerri Bradford design Christmas Countdown.  This is what it looks like all together.

The frame I purchased at The Christmas Tree Shop for about $5.00 I think. Took the glass etc out and my DH took some dowels, painted them black and drilled holes into the sides of the frame and tadah!
I have each little box hanging using Ikea Deka hooks. My husband has a sweet tooth so each one if filled with a tiny piece of chocolate.

Day two is still in the camera but I will try and catch up later today. Who knows...I may actually post here every day! Don't get your hopes up :)

I did tell you I steal ideas right?

I know I have told you this before but just in case you don't remember...I hardly ever come up with my own ideas! There I said it. I feel so much better now. You see I have a lot of blogs I read where I get ideas and don't get me started on Pinterest! Holy cow that site can suck up all your free time. So I see things I like and I copy them. Isn't that why people post them? I wish I had an ounce of the ability to come up with my own ideas but I struggle with conception.

So to continue with my affliction I saw this little number the other day on the Silhouette blog from A Little Hut and I had to make it! When someone already invented the wheel who am I to say I could do better right?

Putting together the actual cage takes some patience if you don't have teeny tiny fingers so just take it slow. I used 1/8" Scor-Tape on the scored edges then pieced it together....again with a bit of frustration but in the end it was just fine.

The ghosts I cut with my Silhouette. I took the ghost shape in the Silhouette software and removed the eyes and mouth so I had just an outline. Cut this out of my favorite American Craft black cardstock...stuff cuts like buttah! Then I cut the original ghost shapes that included the eyes and mouths out of white cardstock. Glittered the white piece then glued it to the black cardstock. Easy peasy.

The Boo banner was cut using Claudine Hellmuth sticky-back canvas. I printed out the letters B O O and ran the sheet through my printer then cut them out. The banner is just run through my sewing machine to create the string. If you have never used this sticky-back canvas you must! The things you can do with this is endless.

Other than that just some other little pieces cut and attached. The spider is from a recent Kerri Bradford All Hallows Eve kit I
                                                               purchased. He is glittered also.

Once it was all together I put a battery operated tea light in the cage. It is so cute lit up at night.

Halloween decor is in full swing in our house. Why I don't know, we don't get any trick or treaters and lord knows my husband is not into holiday decor so I do it for me!

Do you decorate for Halloween?

A scrapbook page

I have been in a scrapbook funk lately. I have been so busy making cards and all sorts of other projects but have not made a page in a very long time. I started the page below of me and my grandmother a few weeks ago. I had purchased specific papers that I thought would work but as a lot of scrapbookers know it doesn't always work out the way you thought in the end.

So, I started all over with new paper and a whole new sketch in mind. In fact this is the first page after all these years of scrapbooking that I can actually say I did completely on my own without copying someone elses page or sketch. I don't know how it happened but I just started with my base paper and a 6x6 pack and just started laying things on the paper. I used my Silhouette to cut the bird flourish, the leaves and the scallop strip. Good old fashion Stampin Up scallop and circle punch were used for the flower. I used word strips for my journalling. I have always wanted to use that technique and wasn't sure it would fit this type of page but I am happy with it.

The last thing I did was the title. At first I had your basic frame with the title in it....hated it, changed it then changed it again. Finally I just let it sit for a while. Then I remembered my See and Stamp Transparent Stamp sets and thought what the heck it can't hurt! Ended up really liking it. It isn't really a focal point but I like that. In the end this page made me step out of the box from what I usually do and I have to say it was fun.

The picture is terrible! No matter where or how or what I did I could not get a good picture of this page. I wish I had a bigger scanner....or better photography skills!

Over the years I have changed my scrapbooking style going from hand torn paper and brads (oh the horror!) to hybrid pages and now using my Silhouette. I am really enjoying using the Silhouette. It lets me add dimension to a page without buttons and bows and the dreaded eyelets!

Last but not least you may be asking...Jane who? Where has she been? She has been busy and found no time to blog. I had the best of intentions really I did. But I have made a promise to myself...and you the 2 followers of my blog...that I will attempt to post once a week at least. Deal?...deal.

Nice to talk to you again.

Nice rack you have there

So I have this rack. Well a couple of racks on the wall in my craft room. They were built by me and I think complete genius. But...I needed another one because this genius didn't make the last one big enough.  I thought "I will only need it to hold these 3 punches". Yeah right.
So now I made a new one just to hold my nice Ikea jars that will hold bits of ribbon and other colorful things that don't have a regular place to be. The shelf (or rack) is built but there it sits....waiting for paint. Paint that existed when I made the other shelves (or racks) but paint that cannot be found now. Somewhere on the paint can designated shelves (not racks) in the garage was THIS can of paint but not there now.
These shelves (or racks) are white but not just plain white..they are kind of off white but not beige...just not pure white. And as the shelf (or rack) is small I don't want to go to the hardware store and buy a whole quart when I need about 4 maybe 8 oz.'s!

*sigh*

So there sits my shelf (or rack) and my poor Ikea jars just waiting to sit on their new shelf (or rack). Oh don't be fooled by the primer coat of white on there. That is not what I was going for!

Anyone have a bit of left over white but not pure white but not beige paint I can borrow?

Holy Smokes what have you done now?

OK I know it has been an awful long time since I posted and I promise to do better. I know, I know I have promised this before but I have a good excuse. Well good is not really the right word as my excuse is work. Yes that 8-5 thing that pays the bills. It is killing me lately leaving little time for any fun.

And that brings me to the title of our little post. I JUST APPLIED FOR A DESIGN TEAM POSITION for Oozak. What the heck am I thinking? I have no business doing this. I am not good enough. I never think I am good enough. I don't have enough time to post on my blog or barely feed the cat. What am I thinking?

Wait....what if? What if I am good enough. What if they actually picked me? What if I could do this?

What do you think?

I change my mind

My One Little Word http://www.bigpictureclasses.com/onelittleword.php better wasn't working for me. I just didn't feel it. Better seemed so harsh. Like that school gym teacher who would yell at you when you couldn't do the damn chin ups! Like my 4-H leader who would have a fit if my sewing wasn't perfect. Although I have to say my sewing is near perfect...chin ups are still the impossible dream.

Where was I? Oh yeah, I am changing my One Little Word.  I decided to go with my first choice. Change. Although I specifically did not want the word change because it scares the crap out of me. Change can be bad...really bad. Change to me means crap just happened. But I am going to bite the bullet and embrace this word for all it is worth. I can do this. What is the worse that could happen? Will I be unable to deal with the changes any more than if I had never picked this word? I doubt it. I will deal with whatever life throws at me as I always have with grace, dignity and a whole lot of wine.

Bring it on change....bring it on!

What word?

Today is January 7th and so far my One Little Word has gotten very little attention. I almost forgot what it was the other day. One Little Word? Oh yeah....b-e-t-t-e-r.

Apparently better is not something I am able to be. Maybe I am expecting too much. After all how can this word expect me to change my whole life! Who does it think it is? Make me try to be better...better than what? Better than I was last year? Better than the year before?  Better cook, cleaner, better sewer...wait no...nobody is a better sewer...sorry everyone but I was taught by the best! I will not rest until my seams are perfectly straight and finished just so! But I digress....b-e-t-t-e-r.

What would I like to change? Here it goes:

I want more patience
Want to be more flexible...AND NO NOT AS IN YOGA!
More time for me. Not being selfish here...just that sometimes it really needs to be all about Jane.
Healthier...not that I have any health problems just want to be...healthy..although to be healthy would require Jane to move more and Jane doesn't like to move much. Sorry about the 3rd person reference.

Move more? Really?

Baby steps Jane...baby steps....it's only January.

One Little Word

I am committing to Ali Edwards Big Picture Classes One Little Word this year. My word? OK since you asked. My word is better. It took me a while to come up with this word. I had to think long and hard about what I wanted this year. No resolutions per say but changes -- little changes -- things that would make my life better. See there it is -- better.

The definition of the word is 'greater, of superior quality, in a more appropriate or acceptable way, to a greater degree, more completely or thoroughly, morally superior, more virtuous, improved health'.
OK now I can't guarantee the morally superior or more virtuous but the rest I am all up on!

My plan is to come out of 2012 with a better feeling of self.

This is only a once a month commitment and will try to post as I go along. Maybe this will even help me become a better blogger! See the word is cropping up everywhere.

Here's to 2012. You never know what the year will bring.