Fun Weekend!

WOW!  I had a really fun weekend staying home this week!!  I received and invite to join an online crop and while I was a little skeptical how it would all work out I really had a lot of fun interacting with crafters from all over the world!  This is the invite I received! 

 I was more then happy to participate but unsure how it would work.  I logged into the chat room but unfortunately no one was there at the times I tried to "chat" so I did the next best thing and just chatted on the Facebook posts! 

The first challenge was a BINGO Challenge - Sheree said using the following picture choose a line and use those products on a page/project life weekly spread/ card or OTP project... the line can go up/down, across or diagonal its up to you to choose...

Okay this couldn't be too hard now could it...I chose tags, buttons, one photo, and 3 pattern papers!

Do do you think I nailed it with this page?  When the tags are put back in the pocket it is only one photo!  I put pictures of Chuck and I on one of the tags and then the lemon paper on the back of it...really cool looking!  Unfortunately being an over achiever I couldn't just leave it at a one page spread I made a second 12x12 page to match it!

a view of the tags!

I was really impressed how these pages turned out considering I had no idea what products or prompts I was going to be given to complete them.  I really love the bright crisp colors of the purple, green and yellow!  I think I will have to reformulate what colors I associate with summer now!

Okay!  Challenge one done!  On to challenge #2!  Kerri is a friend I met on line a while back just because we love paper crafting.  This is her challenge..its a colour challenge DARK BLUE LIGHT BLUE AND RED...  Kerri said it didn't matter what you made just use the colors...so I made a card!

This is some of my most favorite print papers.  Close to My Heart from several years ago!  I am down to one 12x12" sheet and a few scraps.  I think I am going to cry.  I love dark blue, light blue and red together and don't think of them as 4th of July colors.  

Next on the agenda was a stash game where Sheree called off an item every so often and we were to gather it all up and take a picture of it to post when we got it done....

Done!  Day One over and done and the only thing left to do was more scrapping and talking in the Chat room!  Never could get logged in or nobody was there so I just kept on doing what I was doing!

Day Two

Didn't get out of bed till late...about 24 hours after the initial post of the challenge...sounds horrible doesn't it but remember the 17 hour time difference...{giggles}

The first challenge by Sarah was to create something out of your scrap or stash and use the letters to define what you did.  Well now SCRAP or STASH?  Interesting...SCRAP it is!  I had never much of anything with the Project Life cards and papers (but I bought the stuff to do so) so I decided since people were posting a lot of Project Life I would try to do something too...harder then I thought! I probably should have taken the classes when the store offered them!  My word was S-mouch spray C-ards (Project Life) R-hinestones A-utocollants (stickers) P-rima flowers. Again an over achiever...did 3 12x12 pages.

Heather and her friends Jennifer and Wayne ran in the 5K Color Me RAD run in Oklahoma City on 8/23/2015 so when I woke up she and Jennifer had posted several pictures on Facebook so I snapped them up and used them to make these layouts using the photographs. 

Color was really hard to get on these photographs and I apologize for it!  I had a hard time photographing them because of the shine from the acetate sheets when the light got to bright so...I am taking what I can get!
I guess that the way these turned out are okay but I doubt I will every buy anymore Project Life cards because either the sheets didn't have slots going in the directions I wanted them to go or the cards weren't oriented or turned the way I wanted or were too big or too small!!



A favorite picture of Heather was the one in the third layout, upper left corner....

my beautiful daughter Heather!  I am so proud of her and her achievements

Second Challenge of the day was a layout/sketch challenge by Tanya.  Tanya has started a challenge page on Facebook called Little Shop of Sketches where each week she will have a new layout for us to try.  Sounds like fun to me.  Anyway here was the sketch she gave us to follow...

Doesn't look too hard so I gave it a go...

The paper is from KC&Co that I have had for a hundred years at least...remember those old blocks of paper you could by from the hobby craft stores.  Well I got to digging through this stack and found the old ceiling tile paper and for some reason my mind jumped to this photo and this layout was born!

I didn't ever see a prompt about the BINGO game today so after this last layout was done I just logged off and went to watch TV!  I had a great time cropping and having fun 'chatting' with the group online today.  I look forward to doing this again!

#8 Calendar Tags...April Showers

I joined a swap on Creativeblock-Stampers Anonymous(a Yahoo group) this year to create calendars made from #8 manilla shipping tags.  The group is a restricted to using primarily Stampers Anonymous stamps on the projects and shares what we make.  While this can be a little restricting it promotes sales and use of the Stampers Anon stamps and products.  I own quite a few sets of stamps by SA in the Tim Holtz and Dylusions ranges and started buying them because they are so well cut and I like the subject matter of the stamps...  I have been in a good number of swaps on this group and love the work and interaction with many of the artists in the group.  Check it out...

This swap was for 12 like tags and you got to choose the month that you wanted to make.  I got to the game a little late in signing up and the month of April was the only month left but I think I did fairly well with what I came up with....

Now you probably don't need an enlarged view of one tag to get the gist of the project but if you have old eyes like mine you probably need it to see the sparkles in the hair, the buttons I covered with Glossy Accents, and the details of the little things I did to the tag...I used mainly Ranger inks and Dylusions to create these tags.   Dylusions (c) is an group of awesome products designed and created by Dyan Reaveley who owns a teaching studio and store in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, UK.  To say Dyan is eclectic would be missing the boat by a few minutes.  IMHO she is to funky art as Tim Holtz is to grunge.  Her products are bright and quirky and a lot of fun to use and create with.  Dyan has a mental illness that she brings out in most posts because she wants people to know that it is an illness not a limiter to arts.

The details...

I used a stamp set by Dylusions called Ruby Rainbow...don't you just love that name... to stamp the image on a white #8 shipping tag with Archival Black ink.  I used Distress Ink Markers Barn Red, Vintage Photo, Scattered Straw and Stormy Sky to color most of the girls clothing and umbrella.  The skin and eyes are done with Spectrum Noir alcohol makers,  Sharpie Fine Marker in black, Signo Uniball White pen for highlights.  The back ground was distressed in Stormy Sky and water spritzed to give image of rain.  The vine was then stamped on in Mowed Lawn and flowers are made using Liquid Pearls.  I used Stickles Red glitter glue to make the hair beads and Glossy accent to pop the buttons up.  Ribbon is Stampin Up!

I decided to name this tag April Showers...appropriate don't you think!

Pennsic Wars XLIV 2015

Checking in for what seems to be my monthly posting recently.  This time I have a good excuse....well a more reasonable reason why I didn't blog...I didn't have internet access!  I was gone to war...Pennsic Wars to be precise.  I went screaming and kicking last year but this year I was a very willing participant in the camp.  It is a medieval reenactment/submersion that everyone dresses up in period and lives a more primitive life for two weeks.  Watch this video or click the Pennsic Wars link to learn more.

Click here to go to Pennsic Wars video on Vimeo

 A few pictures of me and fellow campers...
 Here is a "freeze frame" of our camp!  The McGuire's Marauders encampment is in the lower middle part of this frame.  See the big white tent at 6pm?  That's our big tent...my sleeping tent is straight back next to the road.  It is just a regular tent not a period canvas but it is where I lived for 2 weeks!

Pennsic is its own town for two weeks out of every year with a postoffice and zip code, shopping center, food court etc.  It is huge...there were about 11, 500 people there this year.

Heather and Michael's massive tent!  18'x18ft'!

Heather and Sara working on my tent!

Our tents set up...blue roof and the canvas with the green dags.

Getting ready to put up the BFT! 

There is a lot of communal work that has to be done in order to make the camp livable.  Everyone has chores that is capable of doing them and chores are fitted to people who have handicaps or disabilities.  

Wood is delivered and line was formed to stack it!

Big tent up and a fire in the pit.  Our open air shower...made a bit of a concern for some when the drones where

Some photos from around Pennsic!

 Pennsic University is a real and true school.  There are classes in cooking, sewing, jewelry making, brewing beer and mead, weaving, knitting etc....  To appreciate PU check out this class schedule...

Heather going/coming from classes she taught at Pennsic University. 

Heather teaching her class in making Largesse to give away.

Bethany took a class on henna body painting and got Heather to help her decorate her hands.

I made a ring and a pendant in Heathers class...

First wire work I have ever done and I really enjoyed the class.

I also took a class in gluten free Medieval cookery that I enjoyed.  Lots of good info was obtained about grainless medieval cooking.

I celebrated my 63rd birthday at Pennsic this year.  A group of us got together and went to Red Lobster to celebrate...what could be better then a couple drinks and some crab!!

Michael, Heather, Bethany, and Sara

Julie to my right...

Michele to the left

I had a wonderful time!






Some random pictures...

The ice cream truck was a favorite location

A group of us went for ice cream and I got a picture of the crown on this counts head!!!  Yes it is silicone roosters!

Julie at the food court

The dragon lighting up the sky!

Beautiful Sunsets

Heather, Julie and I on an outing into town.  A nice stranger took a pic for us!

 The street urchins out and about.  These 3 are selling the Pennsic Independent news paper...."a dollar tweny five" others make ice runs and sell ice to the overheated masses.

Hope you enjoyed visiting my page and the memories I am sharing.  Promise to get back on the crafting wagon soon!