Pretty Little Things

By now, you are probably familiar with my motto--"easily distracted by bright, shiny objects"--well this past week was a testament to that fact.  Over the weekend, I went antiquing with a good friend whom I don't get to see often enough.  The bulk of the items i purchased were--you got it--bright and shiny!! Two beautiful little curio boxes--one of textured glass and the other pewter, and over twenty crystal chandelier prisms (with flat backs to be collaged and turned into ornaments).

Then on Monday morning, Mother Nature offered me some of her shinies--beautiful frost crystals on my car window-

ahhhh---shiiiiiny---

Monday Musings

The weekend completely slipped by me with barely a moment to tend to this week's musings. But Mother Nature obviously had things well planned out and sent a nice ice storm to keep me in the house this Monday morning. My car doors are completely frozen shut and I just don't have the desire or energy to fight to get them open. I figure if Mother Nature froze them shut, she can thaw them open again. Even if I could get into the car, I'm not sure how good an idea navigating frozen streets would be....Mother Nature says, "Just go in late." 


I can do that.

So week 3 of the Club Scrap PSL wound down last night at 8pm, and I am proud to say I am still meeting my goals! This week saw 1 traditional page, 2 cards and three digi pages complete!

Weren't they just too cute? 

My cards weren't at all what I had planned from the start. I really wanted to do birthday cards, but my lack of CS birthday stamps did not jive with that...maybe todays challenge will be more cooperative--

My first digi page for the week was just too fun! What started out as me planning to make a box of mac and cheese turned into a fabulous casserole of homemade mac & cheese and a layout to honor it!

and lastly is another two-page digi layout from the holiday party.

I guess I should go see what I can do about my car at this point....I'm going to try to squeeze in some art for Michelle Ward's Street Team challenge of the month and maybe post that later tonight...if not, then I will see you here next weekend!

A week of happy arting to all!

Maria

PSL Week 2 and a Fresh Look

I must say, even though the week goes by quickly, the weekend is gone in the blink of an eye! It was a relaxing one though--albeit expensive because my car needed new pads and rotors--boo. While i was car-less most of Saturday, I rearranged half of Studio Wonderland and organized and reorganized all sorts of things. Maybe this warm weather has me thinking spring cleaning already....I also took down the Valentine's decor and started in on the St. Patty's. I really don't have anything except the things i just bought, but i think that is a fine excuse to make some! 


Which brings me to the fresh new look for my Musings--i bought cute little sparkley hats with the intent of turning them into ornaments for my Everything Tree. Alas--the Wonderland Muses thought they would look better on their cute little heads...and once all dressed up, they insisted on photos. One must cater to one's muses....to keep them happy and inspirational, they now hail to all in Blogland from my banner--"Slainte!" i hear them call!


I did manage to fulfill my personal PSL goals for the week--today....this week's challenge was "art medium." I met the challenge with two of the easier items from the "suggested" list: embossing powder and Stickles (something like glitter glue. adds bling--what's not to like??)


my traditional layout took me all week to do, but I am happy with it. This is one of my nephews when he was little--already at home in front of the camera!

To meet my card goal, i loosely interpreted "card" to create a themed series of items to eventually be included in a moon tome. 

And finally, my digital layouts this week are the first two I will be doing of my new-found entertainment--MONSTER TRUCKS---oooooh yeah!!

Did I mention I'm planning to do all of 2011 digital?? 

Alrighty fair viewers, I hope your weekend was terrific, your week will be quick and painless and I will see you here next weekend.....

Slainte!! (say "it's a lawn chair" really fast and you've got it!)

Maria

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