live, love, laugh, create

Sunshine albums for children update

First, I want to thank everyone for their emails volunteering to help Angie and I with our album drive. Anyone who requested the directions for the 1 hour mini album should expect them in their emails sometime over the weekend. There was a couple of questions people asked that I hope I can answer here:

1. What size/shape should the albums be? Albums should be no smaller than 4"x4" and no larger than 8"x8". The shape of the album is totally up to you. I altered a 6" round Maya Rd album and 2 5"x7" 7gypsies albums as well as creating 4 of the 1 hour mini albums.

2. When are the albums due?  The album are due to either me or Angie by November 25th. This will allow us to be sure we have an even number of albums to distribute to each hospital. We are hoping to deliver the albums by december 1st.

 3. What age group should the album target? I divided my albums into preschool, school age and teen then into boy and girl categories too. You may choose the age in which you would like to create an album for.

4. Where should I send my completed album?  Depending on where you live, your album can be mailed to either me or Angie. If you live  east of the Mississippi river we ask that you send your album to me. If you live west of the Mississippi river we ask that you send your album to Angie. Please contact us when you have completed your album and we will send you our addresses.

Considerations when making your Sunshine Album

Think about 3 things when creating your album: quality, durability, and simplicity. The focus of these albums is to enable the children to document their experiences through photos and journaling. When thinking about embellishments remember the age group you are creating for. You may also want to include stickers for the children to further decorate their albums. Please utilize your stash and don't feel you need to spend money on a lavish project. These albums should come from your heart and not your wallet. Most of all, please don't stress over this project. If it is nearing the deadline and you need an extra day or two please email us and let us know. The hospitals are aware that this is a volunteer project and are very grateful for your efforts. Angie and I are so happy for the turnout of volunteers for our project. We're really looking forward to seeing all of your albums!

Thanks for stopping by!

Projects to share

I had a very productive weekend at the crop. It was also good to see people who I haven't seen since early September. My main focus was to get started on the Sunshine Albums for Children. I had some help from some fellow scrappers and a great donation of scrappy goodies from Angelia Wiggington.

 

Here they are in a pile. We were able to make 20 albums in assorted themes, shapes and sizes. I want to give special thanks to Lori, Michelle, Debbie, Nancy, Kim and Ruth. The albums are awesome and will be appreciated by the children who receive them. Here's a little sampling of what they created

   

 

 

Aren't they great?? Find out how you can help in the album drive here.

I also made some time to do a couple of things for myself. I had received a couple of unfinished houses from a friend Lorrie in the Pub on 2peas. She altered hers in the Halloween theme so I followed suit.

I altered them with papers and chipboard stickers from Imaginisce and the picket fence came from Joli's. I cut out the windows and doors myself with a craft knife.

I also made some Christmas cards. Well, I assembled some Christmas cards from a Basic Grey kit. I totally forgot to pick some cardstock, stamps and ink for making cards. They were really quick to assemble. This was last year's cards made with the Figgy Pudding line. This year's is even better. I'll be working on those soon.

The only down side to these cards is there is no envelopes for them and they are oddly sized. I'll probably use them as tags on some gifts. This year's Wassail line cards have an envelope for each card. (yea!)

Lisa Pace is having a tutorial on her blog for the month of November. You can read about it and register here.  Check it out when you get a chance!

Have you been over to visit Noell Hyman atPaperclipping lately? She always has great stuff going on there. Stop over and say hi!

We're in the middle of painting here and getting ready for the holidays. The Christmas season is truly my favorite time of the year, minus the cold weather. I'd like a white Christmas for sure, but after that it can get to 70 degrees for all I care. I'm thinking, making lists and trying to make decisions. I don't make many scrappy gifts, but the ones I do make are always thoughtful and are always appreciated. I want to get everything ready earlier this year too. I hate the stress of last minute preparations (although I do work well under pressure). So I have a mantra for the holidays: "do it early and keep it simple". Now let's see how I'm doing on or about December 15th!

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Scrapbooking & food

They go hand in hand, right? I know I've read a lot of threads on message boards that have to do with what people eat while they are scrapping, or a favorite crock pot meal or a meal for a holiday dinner or celebration. CK has a new book coming out  called PC Gormet.It offers recipes and projects from well known crafters in the industry.  You will not only get great recipes but also some fabulous creative inspiration. What could be better?

You can preorder it here and check out this great recipe for cheesy garlic drop biscuits by Alisa Bangerter. Wouldn't they go great with a nice juicy roast or steak? 

Cheesy Garlic Drop Biscuits

2 c flour

2 tbsp granulated sugar

4tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 c butter or margarine

1 1/2 c grated cheddar cheese

1 1/4 c milk

chopped chives (optional)

Mix together dry ingredients. Cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture is fine. Add cheese and mix well. Add milk and stir until moistened. Drop spoonfuls onto greased baking sheet. Sprinkle with chopped dried or fresh chives if desired. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

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I'm outta here!

I'm heading to a weekend crop in Danbury and leaving Bob to deal with the living room floor and painting. Good luck Hon! Love ya!

On My list of projects for the weekend:

1. Sunshine Albums for children. This is my main focus. I have enough supplies packed to make 4-6 albums and have brought my bind-it-all and extra chipboard for anyone else who wants to make one. See this post for details on how you can volunteer to make an album.

2. Halloween decorations. My friend Lorrie on 2peas sent me 2 really cool unfinshed houses to alter. She altered hers in spirit of Halloween. I'll be a copy cat and do the same!

3. Christmas decorations. I bought some unfinished shapes at my LSS by Making Memories and have been working on them off and on for a couple of crops now. It's time to finish them in time for this year's Christmas season!

4. Christmas cards. I have been a cheater for 3 years now and have bought cards. It's time to get back into the groove of stamping.

5. Maya Rd's "Home for the Holidays" contest. I have to alter a Maya Rd house for a chance to win some MR goodies. Should be lots of fun!

Gotta run and pack my suitcase.

Thanks for stopping by!

What is the definition of a "Bad Blogger"?

Seriously, cuz I've been super busy and have not had a moment to myself  between work, paint samples, emptying the livingroom and sleeping....and I didn't sleep late on my day off either,which is one of my most favorite things to do. I feel better when I go to other people's blogs and they haven't  posted in 3 months. I feel less guilty for skipping a week.

I do want to give  a link to check out though. It's the blog of a really creative and genuine gal named Stephanie Howell. She designs for Prima and Cocoa Daisy and has the most awesome taste in antiques I have ever seen! She has 2 important video clips on her blog about her husband Jimmy's unit Viper Company. They are in Afghanistan on a very dangerous mission. Whether you are for the war or against it is not the issue here. We all need to remember that we have to support our troops and pray for their safe return. Their job is  harder than any that we may ever have. We take for granted that we can take vacations and use sick days for a break from work. Jimmy and his men can't. Please  join Stephanie in her daily prayers for their safe return.

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Totally stoked and totally flattered

I found a message on my cell phone today that totally made my day. I was driving home from work-yes, one-handed and listening to my messages-when I heard the Phone Chick tell me that there was a message received on October 9th at 9:33 AM. Ok, that was a week ago and what's wrong with this damn phone that I paid $100 for???  The message was from the wedding photographer who loaned me his camera a couple of Sundays ago at the wedding reception. You can read about it here. The message said that my pictures were "amazing" and I took some "beautiful shots" and he was "so impressed" with what I had done. The photos were sent to the studio and some of my photos will be given to the bride (Danielle) as proofs to view!! How cool is that? All I really wanted was to hear some critique and get a few pointers from a pro! So again I want to thank Robert ( I know his name now!) for the incredible opportunity and for the wonderful phone message that was so flattering to hear and made me so happy after a really long day at work.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunshine albums for children

Last year I participated in a really great program run by a fellow Pea Angie Smith. I met Angie through 2peasinabucket.com. The Sunshine Albums Project is a wonderful opportunity to create an album for a child who is in the hospital facing illness. Many of the children in hospitals are there for cancer treatment. The albums are a way for the children and their families to document their journeys to wellness.

This year my hospital is one of the recipients of the albums. For those of you who don't know, I work at the Maria Fareri Childrens Hospital in Valhalla, NY. I am an OR nurse there. It is truly a remarkable place with an incredible and dedicated staff. We are also the only Level 1 pediatric trauma center in the region.

The second hospital that will receive albums is the Cardinal Glennon Childrens Hospital in St.Louis, Mo.

The albums should be no smaller than 4"x4" and no larger than 8"x8". Please remember these key words when making your albums-quality, simplicity and durability. It is important that they are appealing and positive, easy to add pictures and journaling to and strong enough to last. Embellies should be stuck down so they are not a choking risk.  Last year I made a simple fold over album with a set of instructions from Chatterbox.

 

It's actually called the "one hour mini  album". It uses 2 sheets of 12"x12" cardstock as the base of the album. So simple! I made 6 to contribute last year. If you want the instructions you can email me and I'll get them to you right away.

I also used different patterned papers for different ages. That may be a consideration for some when thinking about what type of album you want to create. You can easily break up your album themes like I did into preschool, school age and teen.

The deadline for having albums to Angie and me is November 25,2008. We will be keeping track of the number and type of albums we receive so that we have an equal disribution between both of the hospitals. Angie will be accepting albums from volunteers that live west of the Mississippi River and I will be accepting albums from volunteers east of the Mississippi River. If you have any questions please feel free to email me or Angie. My email is linked at the top of my blog. Angie's email is dasmith2@wowway.com. We're looking forward to seeing what you create!

Thanks for stopping by!

25 years ago today

 

I married the man who became my best friend. Life is truly like a rollercoaster. We have had our share of ups and downs just like everyone else. In retrospect, the ups outweigh the downs for sure. It's been a busy 25 years filled with births, diapers, ER visits, bills, toilet training, renovations, dogs, cats, soccer, baseball, horses, Halloween costumes, bills, legos, parakeets, football,  camping, fishing, Disney World, highschool graduations, bills,overtime,  first bicycles, fish, college graduations, Barbie dolls, 9/11,  prostate cancer surgery, flat tires, job changes, one bathroom, first cars, bills, and love and loss. Did I mention bills? The most amazing thing in all of this is the fact that he willingly joined me for the ride-hopped on, hung on and hasn't gotten off yet. I love him for that. Happy 25th Anniversary Bob. I'm so happy you joined me for the ride.

October Unkit

This month's Unkit offers a special treat. It's been hand picked by my friend Noell Hyman of Paperclipping! It is truly a unique and eclectic mix of patterned papers and elements that are sure to go well in your pages and projects. I put several things on my wishlist, especially the chipboard album! There is also a coupon code. Stop over at Unkit'sblog and check it out when you get a chance!

Thanks for stopping by!

Projects to share and a wedding photo

I spent  the weekend 2 weekends ago at my LSS for a Scrap Pink fundraiser. For those of you who don't know, it's a fundraiser for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. It was a good and productive weekend for sure. I finished 2 mini books, started a third and created a blog banner which I hope to have up here tonight.

Here's 2 mini books I made for my sister. They are complete so all she needs to do is add pictures to them.

The acrylic album is part of a kit from Fancy Pants and the papers and embellies are Berry Sweet from K & Co. The binder rings are from 7gypsies.

The chipboard album is by Bo Bunny and the paper and embellies are from Cosmo Cricket's Dutch Girl. I inked the edges of the book and the photo mats inside with a light brown chalk ink. All of the ribbons I had in my stash. I like the simplicity of both of these books. I like it even more that I got them both done in about 3 hours!

Someone had asked to see pictures from the wedding we went to on Saturday. I can only show you pictures from my own camera and not that fabulous camera I was allowed to use for most of the reception. So please excuse the shortcomings of my kit lens and I hope you don't mind that it's a raw photo. I haven't had time to edit at all.

Congrats to Brian and Danielle! Best of luck for a long and happy life together!

Thanks for stopping by!