31 Favorites

Summer's nearly over (we do have 10 more official days).  I know it has been forever since I've blogged (sorry).  I've got a number of projects underway - the most recent is my "31 Favorites of Summer" - a play on the Baskin Robbins 31 flavors. 

One of my favorites (besides ice cream) are the singing tree frogs that fill my pond,

And the beautiful monarch butterflies in my flower garden,

And a full moon rising over the backyard.

3 of my 31....

More from the Florida Keys

The weather has been perfect, so there hasn't been much down time for my art.  I put more finishing touches on my watercolor of my backporch view.  I'll up load it when I'm completely finished. I also started a Flamingo drawing.  Here's what I have so far.

This one will have a lot of detail and I'm hoping I will have time to finish it when I get home (wishful thinking!!)  We're heading back to day, although I have to be back in Miami on Tuesday for business, but there will be no time for much of anything on that trip. Maybe I can tuck my flamingo family in my suitcase and work on it at night.  We'll see!!

Florida Keys

Just a quick watercolor from Cudjoe Key.  I sat today in a cute little adirondock chair overlooking our bay in our back yard.  It was hot, but the rum and mango juice helped....I just love spring break!!

Willow Roses

Spring is in the air - even though it is rainy and dreary, I can smell it in the rain, hear in the trees and see tiny signs of it everywhere.  So yesterday, I started working my class for April since I will be traveling over the next few weeks, wanting to get ahead for once!  I was initially leaning towards the FiFi/Fido lines with its spring palette of colors, but I just wasn't feeling it, if you know what I mean.  I just got those papers in this week and I haven't had a chance to think about it, walk around the table and look at them to come up with ideas for what I want to do with them.  I have had the Willow papers in for a while and I knew immediately at some point in this new teaching adventure, I wanted to take a different twist with them.  They were designed for family heirloom photos, which is fine and I am sure I will take that challenge on as well, but I was drawn to the ivory, rose, black and gray papers more so than the blues, so I went with it and, voila', my Willow-Roses design.  No Anna Griffin designer influence here - all me.

It's a two page layout featuring box-pleats on both pages and a lot of cutting with a craft knife (too many small details for scissors).  I even added a filet-style mat on the main page.  Tres' cool!  I was thinking "Mother's Day" when I designed it, which always makes me think of my grandmother who passed away from breast cancer.  So my teaching fees on this class will be donated to breast cancer research this time.

No dates yet for this class..Maybe the Sunday before Easter, otherwise with will be May 1.  Stay tuned.

Anna Griffin Classes at Scrapbooks-Plus!

I've had a long enough hiatus from teaching so I am starting a series of Anna Griffin classes at Scrapbooks Plus in Chantilly! With brand new lines that are fresh and funky yet still elegant and vintage, there's a whole lot of neat new designs on the way.  I'm pretty excited since I haven't taught since last May and I am really enjoying some of the design ideas from the crafty artists at Anna Griffin.  The Anna Griffin designs inspire my interpretation of the first page of the layout while I design the second complimentary page.

This first class is entitled "Carmen - Cool Flamingo"  It's the first of two layouts using the Carmen papers that I plan to teach.  In this first class, I used playful honeycomb, geometric and floral patterns reflecting a vibrant, south-of-the-border style. I selected the cooler combination of pink and greens complemented by shimmery gold foil. Featuring colorful hues popular in 1930's South America, there is an accordion fan (made by hand of course) that was used as a backdrop for a perfectly framed photo with a vintage flamingo diecut. The second page features gold edges and a large journaling block with retro stamps and flowers.  I'm scheduling this class for Sunday, March 27, 10am – 12:30pm. And as always, I will donate my teaching fees to a worthy cause, this time to one of my employees who was recently diagnosed with a very aggressive brain cancer. 

In the next few months, we'll use the spring-themed papers of the Fifi and Fido, some family pages from the Willow line and create a warm and sunny second Carmen layout.  I might just switch things up in the summer to a couple of lines from last year including Cecile and Calisto (which are just perfect for weddings and vacations at the shore).  Exciting stuff!!

New Years in Florida

Its been a while...that's how it goes with blogging I suppose, especially when you have four boys to keep track of and a company to run!

We spent the week after Christmas and New Years in Jupiter, Florida.  I put together a quick spiral bound book using a packet of double-sided K&Company card stock, a number of coordinating embellishments and silk flowers and butterflies I bought on sale at Michael's.

The pages were simple in design with most of the focus on the photos and the journaling.

There are about thirty pages in the book - too many to post them all, but it was a fun, simple project that I was able to do at the kitchen table while my guys were watching the NFL playoffs in the family room.

Enjoy!

In the Christmas Spirit

This week, I picked up the Anna Griffin Holiday Traditions Paper Pack along with a packet of dimensional stickers and was overrun with a bad case of Christmas Spirit.  This never happens to me this early in the year (Usually it is Christmas Eve before I realize that it is Christmas already!).  So I went on-line and picked up some great layout ideas.  This first one is a near 100% scraplift from Scrapbook.com.  I had made these fans once before and just had to make them again.

Now to find a perfect vintage family picture to place on the layout.

This next layout is half scraplift and half original.  The left page was inspired by an Anna Griffin design.  The complimentary right page is my own, with my glittered three-dimensional peppermint lamp posts.

The whole thing was just too fun to create.  I know it is early for Christmas Spirit, but maybe it will motivate me to at least start my shopping.  I'd love to do these as a class (I was thinking about a "paper pack" class.  Purchase the paper pack and I'd spend a few hours showing everyone how to make both layouts and a few cards.) But not sure if I will have the time - or if there would be interest since you need the paper pack (and that's a lot of papers to purchase for just two layouts!)

But here's to early Christmas spirit...hopefully it will motivate you, too!

Lingering Days of Autumn

Another beautiful autumn afternoon today inspired this Autumn layout from my recent drive along Skyline.  Again, I used leftovers from Basic Grey's Indian Summer line.  The rays of afternoon sunlight and the leaves of my burning bush are a beautiful backdrop for this simplistic design.

Autumn in the Mountains

There is nothing more serene than an autumn drive in the Virginia mountains.  I took the day off on Friday and headed out onto Skyline drive with the kids  - my hubbie decided to join us for the first time this year.  The air was chilly - at 43 degrees is was a whole lot colder than we expected!  But the sky was clear and the sun shining.  Here's a quick layout I put together using last year's Indian Summer line from Basic Grey. Nothing fancy - just using the scraps I had left over from a couple of projects last year.  There was this little bird sticker leftover from the Elements Stickers pack that I gave new tail feathers.  I just love how the tail feathers transform an otherwise plain pink bird in too an awesome peacock!

A Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday we took Zach, Nicky and a friend to Pumpkinville, just outside of Leesburg.  It was a beautiful day!  I took a ton of pictures but this one was especially nice of the three of them searching for the perfect pumpkin.  As I am determined to use the papers and supplies I have been hoarding for the past few years, I put this layout together using last year's Little Yellow Bicycle line "Autumn Bliss" and two new Sissix Dies I bought last weekend on sale at Joann.

I used a craft knife to cut into the paper deisgn to create an overlay. Most of the embellishments, including those really cute leaf brads, are from the Autumn Bliss line of papers.

If I don't use a product line that I buy right away, it seems to sit on a shelf forever and becomes forgotten. Rediscovering this line again was such a pleasant surprise!

Where has the summer gone?

Just as quickly as it came, summer has seemed to vanish into fall.  My ninety-one days are gone - and then some!  But what a busy, memory filled summer it has been.  Lots of work and travel  -  I have been so busy that in fact I have had little time to craft, and scrap!

My big project this summer that seemed to undermine everything else was the redesign of the landscape in our back yard.  Seems I have had constuction workers and Virginia red clay around all summer! But the results are stunning!

I designed and then had built a patio, two new decks, an outdoor living room under a pergola, a summer kitchen complete with refrigerator and an enormous grill with an oven, and a hot tub.  Before we had a very small brick patio off a wooden deck with ugly railings.  I had the railings removed along with all the pressure treated wood and designed new wrap around steps to open the back deck to the back yard.  We replaced the gray and splintered wood new Treks "wood"  - cool to your feet and you never have to refinish it.

The old patio was maybe 200 sq ft and had grass growing in between the brick.  I ripped it all out and built a new 1400 sq ft patio with a 2 ft retaining wall to keep the run-off from the back yard in my basement.  The new patio is made with the "flagstone" pavers.  They are three inches thick with 6 inches of gravel and rock dust under them and polymeric sand betweeen them - I dare a weed to grow in between them!

And don't you just love that kitchen!  I have a new margarita mixer out there as well - and you know that will go to good use.

This is the construction of the "hot tub deck".  It is finished now, but I haven't taken pictures of the completed deck.

And I built a firepit for these cool autumn nights that are on their way.

Here's my hubbie grilling - you can thee the pergola off to the right.  I just had it painted white and I bought some really nice wicker furniture and a propane patio heater for it.  Hopefully if it ever stops raining, we can sit out under the stars this fall.

Now that I have been bitten by the "landscape bug" we have added a second "upper" patio with an in-gound pool.  Of course it will be November before the final phase is complete, but at least for now the bulk of the designing is finished.  Next Spring I may add a couple of walkways and put in a few new gardens since all the ones by the house had to be removed for the constuction...but that will be next year...

Anyway, I have been back in my "studio" working on a project for my nieces wedding and finishing up my "91 days of Summer" album, although I won't have 91 layouts - that is for sure.  I did manage to take a ton of pictures, and have a number of layouts (simple ones I might add) completed.

I will take some photos of and share soon....

Ninety One Days of Summer

My boys are out of school for the summer.  They get exactly 13 weeks for summer vacation.  This year, we decided that each of them would journal everyday throughout the break to keep track of what they did. (It also keeps their writing skills from degenerating over the long break!).  So I thought what a great idea for me, too - a small scrapbook page for each of the 91 days until they go back to school.  Anyone want to play along?  Day One was baseball games, Day Two was football tryouts, and Day Three was gardening and cleaning the pond. (Don't you love my little croaking friend?).,

I'll take a photograph, journal a half page or so and make a simple 8 1/2 " x  11"  page to to keep it all together.  That's the plan any way!

Hope your summer is off to a terrific start - we have 12+ weeks to go!!

Enjoy!!

A May Day Basket

Last month, I participated in my very first swap hosted by Kari Ramstrom. The idea of this swap was to create and exchange May Day Baskets with your swap partner who was randomly selected by Kari.   The baskets were to be sent in time for a May 1 arrival. For my swap partner, I put togther this very artful basket using purples, beige and creams.
Contents included this very cool handmade "calypso" soap and local grown cinnamon I bought while in the Virgin Islands, along with a hand made bunny, a lilac candle (my favorite scent!), a big "H" (for my swap partner's first initial), a small "dragonfly" watercolor bowl, a journal, some Starburst jelly beans, and a mini album that I made.

I made this friendship album using Basic Grey's Kioshi papers and a Rusty Pickle chipboard flower album.

I was really pysched about this album because it turned out even better than I thought it would.  I loved the way the purple ink looked over the ivory painted edges of the chipboard.  I really hope my swap partner enjoys putting her own photos in it...and speaking of which....

if you were wondering, my swap partner never reciprocated...no basket, no email, no acknowledgement of the basket I sent, no reply to my email inquiring if everything was alright with her.  At first I was concerned that something terrible may have happened to her, but I noticed that she has been active on her blog, so at least I know she's okay.I guess life gets in the way sometimes, and even though we have the best intentions when we commit to something, life finds a way of taking over our plans. I hope she enjoys her May Day gift as much as I enjoyed creating it!

Garden Delights

My mother's clematis is absolutely gorgeous this year.

I don't think I have ever seen it with so many blooms!

And the peonies from my grandmother's home place that I transplanted along our driveway are as fragrant and as beautiful as ever.

I love these old fashioned ones.  They smell so much nicer than the new hybrid ones that I have mixed them with.

And look what has made a nest in the Rhododendrons under our dining room window! 

The cardinals are back after a two year hiatus when a hawk took their nest.  This nest seems to be a little less conspicuous so hopefully we'll have little babies soon!

I love my garden in bloom!

Artful Spring

Today I am home from work, sick with the croup bug my boys brought home last week.  It started on Wednesday, and progressively has gotten worse as the week went on.  I was able to teach my Turtle Dreams class on Saturday, but I think that is what pushed me over the edge. I have been confined to my room for three days since, but at least today I feel like actuallty doing something!

Although I haven't blogged in a while, I have been very busy creating lots of projects for lots of causes this spring.  First, I had to get my auction donations ready for my kid's school annual fundraiser.  I made two rocking chairs and five photo journals.  The rocking chairs featured papers from Anna Griffin's Isabelle line.

I also made a number of my favorite photo journals, similar in style to the class I taught on Saturday. (by the way, all of my fees from that class were donated to Sea Turtle Survival programs).  It is the same design as my Beach Comber project from last summer, but instead of the teal colors for the Creative Imaginations line, I used the coral papers. 

Here are a few of the pages from the project.

I am hopeful that I will be over all this sickness and can get back to work and back into my scrapbook room.  I have too many unfinished projects as well as too many ideas  in my head to get started on before summer!

Blossoms

Spring has sprung in Washington DC. My hubbie and I took the boys to the Tidal Basin on Good Friday to see the beautiful showing of the cherry blossoms.

It was a gorgeous day, and a bit crowded, but we got there early and left  the city before the crowds became too maddening.

I have already started a book using Basic Grey's Kioshi papers, Prima cherry blossoms and the chop sticks I kept from lunch at the Cherry Blossom festival.

Stay tuned!

New Photo Journal Class in May - Turtle Dreams

It's a go!  I will be teaching a class at Scrapbooks-Plus on how to make this very special "Turtle Journal".  Class is scheduled for Saturday May 15 from 10am til 4pm. The journal includes 4 signatures and holds over 50 photos.  For the front cover you will get a reproduction of my turtle watercolor and a gilded shell that I brought back from the BVI.  Inside are more than a dozen pages, pockets and tags for photo and memories,.

 You'll receive flocked yellow letters to personalize your book any way you'd like. 

I've included some very cute ephemra that I brought back with me to make some very cool pages like these beautiful hibiscus stamps and a card-map of the Carribean islands that can be used as a mat for a photo or for journaling.

We'll stitch some flowers and also hand make this very cool cloth fish that will cover a plastic CD case that will hold two CDs of movies or pictures from your trip.

Trust me - there is a CD case behind this that opens up within the book.

This is one of my favorite pages.  I found this shell on the beach - you'll have to replace it with one of your own since I only found one!

I am pricing the class at $50.  Again, I will be donating all my instructor fees to a good cause - this time it is the Carribean Conservation Corporation - which is 100% dedicated to the protection of Sea Turtles.  What better cause for a Turtle Journal!