Living on the Edge

Great Scrappin' Gallery

I was hopping around on my friend, Jeni's, blog.  She is an amazing artist, photographer, friend and mama.  If you want to discover some cool and wild ideas, check out her blog, Paper Piecing.

But if you are ever in Twin Falls there is a great scrapbook store called Scrappin' Girlfriends.  Love the name!  I really love their website. It's gorgeous!  And if you are looking for some creative scrapbooking ideas, go to their gallery and view the many items they have--neatly organized by category--I love that part too!

 

Their site header is inspiring all on its own!   The ideas are rolling...now I just need the time to do something!

Knit One, Pearl Two....by George, She's Got It!

The Knitting gene is in our family.  There's no denying it.  But sometimes I think it's a bit recessive and doesn't like to announce itself till it's good and ready.  I remember my Grammy knitting and I'm sure her mother did before her.  My mother inherited the skill big time!

I grew up amid balls of yarn, stitch holders between the couch cushions, and oodles of baby sweaters in all shades and colors.  I probably learned how to count by sorting the needles by size.  I can remember playing with them and organizing and reorganizing them by size, type and color, when I was a kid.  (Hmmm...me organizing something? I was wacky that way even when I was young).

So I learned to knit.  Mom tried showing me over and over again.  I never got past a simple scarf.  Maybe with some Pearls thrown in by accident of course.  BUT...after college I moved to Wyoming.  I worked at a really cool place called the Teton Science School.  Lots of bison, moose and antelopes...but no t.v. reception of any sort.  The closest video store was a 25 minute drive (in good weather).  One of my best friends there loved to knit and watch movies! 

So once or twice a week, as our schedules permitted (our social calendars were pretty limited being 25 minutes from town!) we would get together and knit.  It started with the two of us, then the group grew to almost every female that worked at the school!  Not that we didn't invite the guys, renting chick flicks assured that we could be testosterone free for the evening.

Well, seeing the awesome stuff my friend made, I didn't want to knit yet another scarf!  So I went into town and purchased a relatively easy (so the woman told me in the knit shop) sweater pattern.  Now not to make my life too simple for my first sweater, I couldn't find the yarn I wanted so I got two different yarns.  I knitted them together to make a thicker sweater...Wyoming tends to be a bit chilly you know. 

So each night, when I wasn't otherwise engaged, I worked on my first sweater.  I had my handy dandy knitting friend to decipher all the *p2,k3, slip double flip, p3, k274, repeat* knitting code in the pattern.  And it worked!  I made my first sweater!  I still have it too...18 years later!  Well, you can't expect me to give it away...cuz I'm sentimental that way. 

So that started it.  I've been hooked ever since and only occasionally need to call mom to translate a knitting direction.  The past few years have been busy so I haven't done much knitting.  Life gets in the way of sitting and relaxing during the evenings.  Plus, by the time I sit down in the evening...I'm too tired to tired to do it.  But my girls grew up watching me as well as their Grammy knitting.

So here it is, Spring Break, and this week someone else decided to take up the needles.  Now granted I've tried to teach her a couple times, her Grammy has tried to get her started a couple times, but the recessive gene finally kicked in this week.

Q is knitting!

She just sat down after her shower the other night and decided it was time.  That knitting urge can be strong.  Heck she got me thinking about picking up the needles the other night!

Careful...this is the look of "mom, haven't you taken enough pictures of me knitting yet?  Gosh I've been doing it forever you know" (yeah, two whole days!)

You go girl!  Look at how much you've done!  You'll be making a sweater before you know it!

FREE fun computer fonts

So one of my many weaknesses is collecting fonts for my computer.  Not that I have used all the ones I have mind you, but they are there....dozens of them.  I won't even admit to counting them! 

Holiday ones, script ones, fancy ones, simple ones, picture ones, true type ones, big fonts, little fonts, fat ones, thin ones...it doesn't matter.  I collect them...there is sure to be a purpose for each and every one of them at some point.

Right now you can get a WHOLE LOTTA free ones form ScrapnFonts.

Go to the Scrap-n-Gal's blog and click on this logo and you will get directed right to the site.  But hurry!  The offer could end at any time.

So start downloading and have some fun with the next project you need to make.  They are especially useful if you don't like your own handwriting in your scrapbooks.

The New Header

Yes, I made my new header!  I used my Adobe Photoshop to do it.  I'm still learning the tricks.  I took a class about 5 years ago...but didn't actually have the program yet.  Now that I have the program, I just play around with things like my header and banner ads for my website and photos I take.

I'm not to the point of being able to create a new one every month like some of the bloggers I see.  But I like this one. For those of you who want to create your own...the size is: 850 x 288 pixels

This is the old one:

So which one do you like better?

This is the site where I found the cute swirly things in the corner:

www.scrapbookscrapbook.com/

They used to charge for their stuff, but now it is free.

Creating Keepsakes

Creating Keepsakes Newsletter 

If you don't subscribe to it, you may want to give it a try.  It is full of cool ideas, new tools and tricks, and free resources for all your scrapbooking, card making and even gift giving.  I personally belong to a few different newsletters (actually a rediculous amount due to my website- SpokaneMama.com) but this is one of the ones I subscribe to for fun!  And a tip for those of you new at getting newsletters....create a separate email account just for them!  Otherwise your inbox will be so overwhelmed you will miss the important emails!

Here's something free I downloaded yesterday.  Not sure what I will do with it...but the wheels are already turning.

Retro Granny project

I was perusing through the Joann's ad the other day (as I was cleaning off the scarey piles on my desk).  Not that I needed to buy anything...but it's always worth a look for ideas at the very least.

But when I came across this photo...I was stupefied...Were they serious?  This looks like a cross between a sweater I had as a child in the 70's (the buttons gave it away) and those knitted or crocheted tissue box and toilet paper covers. 

Did you have one of the ones that was a barbie skirt?  You know the one where Barbie stands in the middle of the t.p. roll and her skirt covers the roll.

I think I could think of something better to do with my yarn remnants!  And I certainly wouldn't buy any yarn just so I could make one!!!

Thank You Cards with Cricut

I got a couple new font cartridges for my Cricut machine...so since it was Christmas...I decided to play with them.  What else should you make after Christmas but Thank You cards!  So here are a few I made...(plus one get well card for a sick friend).

The front of this one:

The inside:

and one get well card:

My Retreat Weekend

Well I just spent a glorious weekend doing what every mom dreams of...time away to be pampered and to pursue ones hobbies.  It was a No-free weekend!  No cooking, no laundry, no dishes, nobody to drive to anything, no deadlines, just nobody telling you NO! 

I cut, ate, cropped, ate, glued, napped, ate, laughed, stayed up late, went to bed early and even took a nap!  As always, I took some time to enjoy the beautiful surroundings.  Lake Coeur d'Alene is simply spectacular.  Although you are about 15 minutes out of town, it feels like hours!

Here is the some shots of the amazing sunrise Sunday morning:

This was at 5:30 in the morning.  Don't ask why I was up then...but I was.  I'm glad too, because this was just an awesome way to start my day!  Much better than letting the dogs out and waking up my 11 year old...which is what I would have been doing on a normal weekday morning!

I was glad I could get my camera to capture that amazing purple in the clouds and the orange creeping up from the mountains.  It only got better!

I love that shade of blue that starts to peek through the sunrises colors. You can almost see the clouds moving.  The sun is almost up now...

This final one is at about 10:15. The sun is up, but ducking in and out between the clouds rolling in over the lake.  It almost looks like I used the black and white setting.  The sunlight hitting the water looks so brilliant. Quite a contradiction from the dark sky, don't you think?

A quick birthday card

Here's a quick little card I made for Q's friend last week.  I had to take a picture since I only made one.  Hopefully I'll have time to make a few more this weekend....I'm actually not home right now, I'm away on a weekend scrapbooking retreat!!  3 days of scrapping heaven!  Yes, please be jealous...it's ok.  I only feel slightly guilty about being gone.  Then I make the 10th or 12th page and I forget about the guilt!

A Creative Moment

Ever since one of my sisters-in-law introduced me to scrapbooking and stamping, I've been hooked.  I love creating things.  I've been drawing since I was a little girl and now it's fun to watch my daughters' art skills develop.  One of the reasons I love scrapbooking and cardmaking is playing with the colors.  I love mixing them and matching them.  Textures, colors, layers....the combinations are endless!  My girls have developed an eye for it as well.

But woe is me, there is never enough time to just sit and play with my papers.  There's always somewhere to be, something to type up, dinner to make and so on...

Actually I should say, there's never a normal time to sit and do it.  This morning at 6:50 a.m. I sat down and threw this card together.  The idea has been in my head for a bit!  What do you think?