Week 1 of PSL--Stencils

This week just flew by! Busy at work--busy at home--busy in my mind...


This week was the first challenge in Club Scrap's Pro Scrapbooker's League that I joined for the second time with my good friend Lori. My goal for this time around is to get at least one item for each team (traditional layouts, digital layouts and cards) that I am on.  I think it is reasonable to attempt to complete three items each week in addition to everything else I have going on.  And i did succeed in my goal with one layout, one digi and TWO cards. Yey!  The first challenge was to use stencils:

2-page layout of my sister's wedding in 1978:

and my digi layout from my work holiday party...i just love the photo!

Also this week, I met up with my bead group for the first time in almost two years!  I had a wonderful time with Becky and all the bead peeps, and completed 2011 project #6--a set of ten knitting stitch markers for my friend Gayle.

So all in all, quite the productive week, I'd say!

A lovely week to all of you! See you next weekend!

Maria

Snowmageddon '11

As you may have heard, the big story around here is the great blizzard of '11.  I don't know what the "official" count of inches was, but there was a steady 2-2 1/2 feet in my driveway--with 3-4' drifts all over...Places of employment closed early on Tuesday and stayed closed on Wednesday.  As for the groundhog, he said he was snowed in and would see us in six weeks!

If all i had to do was look at it, i would be quite happy--it was a beautiful site. At 8am no one else was out yet. All was white and quiet. Snow was still falling....

and then reality set in....

The drifts formed around the cars so they were in snow-holes...

aahh--the deck---somewhere under the mountain on the left is a really big grill....

 In retrospect, this season's investment should have been a snow blower. What was I thinking?? 

Alas--with the serious lack of mechanical means by which to relocate said snow--it was time to grab the shovel and get to it. Now take into consideration that I am all of 5' tall and then observe the snow(that is NOT a drift) directly behind me. Do the math...

What a lovely path to the door...it's almost tall enough to be a stand-in for a hedge maze....and look! There's my good friend the shovel!

Suffice to say, I have had my fill of snow for this season...yet every time I look out the window or step outside...I'll be damned if it isn't snowing AGAIN.  I'm convinced there will still be giant snow piles everywhere until at least the end of June. Maybe it will be hot enough by then to melt them down finally...

Well, you all have a lovely week in blog-land--and think of me while I keep a-shovelin'.

--Maria

As promised....

posts two weekends in a row! I'm on a roll ;) So as I enjoy (not really) spicy leftovers from my lunch, I'll share with you a few of the projects I was able to complete before I got sidetracked with playing musical rooms in the house...

The first one technically was completed in the waning days of 2010...but close enough, right?

For the peeps at work, I made little desk calendars with tear off pages.  The image you see on them is from a photo I took of a very old metal ad sign that my boss has in her office.  

For my lovely friend, Becky, I made a rustic Baby Jesus to accompany the shepherd she already had.  Being that it is a special and spiritual piece, i used a bit of bark and some dried rose stems that I had been saving for "just the right thing." Mary will be the next installment....

And the last project I will share this week is a mini album of the beautiful Abigail Grace. I was able to use several sheets of cardstock and some coordinating accents from my stash...which is a good thing since i have so much "stash."

I am signing up tomorrow for Club Scrap's Pro Scrapbooker's League (PSL), so there is sure to be layouts, cards and digi layouts to share in the coming weeks!.

Have a lovely week! See you next weekend!

Maria

Just a short post and then back to schlepping my studio up the stairs....

So my blogging goal for this year is to have a new post every weekend. I don't have much time during the evenings so I am hoping that I will at least be able to catch everyone up on the week's artsies come Saturday or Sunday.  Or when life gets in the way (like it is this weekend and likely next weekend while we play musical rooms in the house again), I hope to at least pop in and say "Hello!"

I have been trying to squeeze creativity into every spare moment, and have even finished several projects already that I hope to share with you soon!  In the pipeline are a lovely mix of projects for sewing, crocheting and scrapbooking and in my head are many for some fiber art and collage projects! Always something going on!

I hope you all had a great weekend--unfortunately I have captured a cold for my very own and feel quite like crud. :p

Time to bring up a few more things before passing out for the night...

Until next weekend!
Cheers!
Maria

6months on--6 months off

So, when last we met, I was befuddled by the rapid passing of the first half of 2010. And lo--we are now beginning 2011.  Happy New Year to all! I hope the last 6 months and your holidays brought you much joy.  I won't go into mine--suffice to say, I am glad they are over and I am looking forward to making the most of this coming year.

B-Bye June

EDIT: ok, so the pic doesnt EXACTLY look like me :D lol! What to you expect from a pic taken in a car with a cell phone??? So far, my g/f didn't even recognize it as me and my friend thought it was my daughter because the face is too round---lol! oh well, i was there--i vouch for myself that it is me--looks better than my drivers license and my work id....lol

**********

Can you believe half the year is gone already?

 --looks under the bed--under piles of papers--inside the closet--under the cat---

Where did it go?????????

Well. I had the rare pleasure, this last morning of the first half of the year, to have art time before going to work!  I have not been able to do that in YEARS!! But today we were up early and i turned the laptop on for something else and found myself in photoshop elements creating!!

I've been in need of a new avatar for my various social networks and had recently taken some funky photos of myself (where else but in the car with my phone! LOL!)--in about a half an hour, I arrived at this:

Filters and layers and blurs-OH MY!

I've also printed it out to add to one of my art journals.  I'm seriously thinking this year's Holiday cards may involve digital art printed out...and I am planning some Christmas in July projects!!

the wheels are spinning.....

Hope Notes

I think it is a beautiful thing how word gets around blogland (when it is a good word anyway ;) ).  While catching up on some of my favorite blogs, I came across an oportunity to commit a wonderful act of kindness.  Won't you join me in making some Hope Notes ?

some quotes to maybe use inside:

Hope sees the invisible, feels the intangible and achieves the impossible. --Anon

All human wisdom is summed up in two words - wait and hope.  --Alexander Dumas

Hope is the companion of power, and mother of success; for who so hopes strongly has within him(her) the gift of miracles. ~Samuel Smiles

When the world says, "Give up," hope whispers, "Try it one more time. ~Anon

Expect to have hope rekindled. Expect your prayers to be answered in wondrous ways. The dry seasons in life do not last. The spring rains will come again ~ Sarah Ban Breathnach

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without the words and never stops at all. ~ Emily Dickenson

And some beautiful examples.