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Please come on over to http://thegalblog.blogspot.com/ and check out my posting about my banner using MME, Maya Road, and Gecko Galz products.  Thanks!

Boo Who?????????????????????????????

It's October - my favorite month!   I did this layout for Scrapgal - mostly MMe with a little Pink Paislee(my favorite alphas) and a little Hambly (my favorite transparencies).  The incredible photo strips are from a vintage album that I got at the used book store - I have no idea who these people are, but I have decided that they are my ancestors - don't you just love the hats?!?!

Hope you had a great weekend and have a super week - I will be back on Tuesday with a Halloween banner - please check it out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The colors of Fall?????

I am busy at my easel this morning but just wanted to say hello and to let you know that I have a posting on the http://thegalblog.blogspot.com/ today so if you get a chance to stop, please do.

ttfn
Chris

The 2 P's - Prima and Pumpkins

I created this layout based on the Prima September BAP sketch so of course, it is totally Prima. I was going to tackle this one before month's end but this weekend has been the Scrapgal Crop and one of the challenges was to do a "case study" of another layout and lift it - I chose Jamie's wonderful example for the Prima Sept BAP (Jamie Dougherty - she used to be on the Scrapgal DT and now is on the Prima DT  - she is an incredibly talented designer). Come over to Scrapgal and join in the fun - you have until Monday night at midnight to enter the challenges and we have some super prizes and lots of great inspiration!

With all of the autumn and Halloween projects going on in my studio, is it any wonder that I painted some pumpkins and squashes. Speaking of, my DH read on one of his news sites that the pumpkin crop this year will be much smaller than normal due to weather issues, and that fresh pumpkins and canned pumpkin will be much more expensive. He is usually spot on with his economic information (just like the fact that coffee would increase and it definitely has) so I put canned pumpkin on my grocery list this week - our store didn't have any. Then yesterday when I was running errands, I stopped at a different chain and was able to get  3 cans - they only had 4 so I left one for someone else.

The budget is going pretty well except for the car repairs on both cars last week. Groceries were $61 this week. Yesterday I stopped at Goodwill (I am looking for a food processor -Dan read an article in the New York Times about food processors and some of the things you can do with them so I decided to look for a used one - (I have a small one that I use for chopping etc) - none yesterday but I did happen to find a wonderful wood table top easel (complete with brushes, palette, and acrylic paints) for $15 (they go for $50 or more) and a brand new topsy turvey tomato planter for $5. We are just ready to start our fall vegetable garden so this was perfect.
This past week has been super busy - I was able to get all the blocks pieced for the Fat Quarterly quilt along, knitted on my Ravelry triangle shawl knit along,  took my painting to the Art Museum to be in an exhibit, added yoga to my exercise routine, painted 3 small paintings and about 1/3 of a larger piece, read The Rebellion of Jane Clarke by Sally Gunning (very very good!), and also did most of the usual stuff. I feel exhausted just reading the last sentence!! I get somewhat lethargic in the heat of the summer and as it begins to cool (a bit!), my energy comes back gang busters - also, it is amazing how much you can accomplish when you don't go shopping except for necessities - I was just thinking yesterday how long it had been since I had been inside Target, Michaels, or even most of my thrift shop haunts. Using up what I already have is really empowering me to be more creative.

Hope you are having a wonderful Sunday.

Tuesday will be Mabon, the autumnal equinox.

We plan to celebrate with a good dinner and carrot cupcakes,

and give a prayer of thanks for our blessed lives.

Thanks for reading

ttfn

Chris

Some fall lovin' and a Crop tonight

Mabon  (the Equinox) is next Tuesday and everything here still pretty much looks like summer but I am in a fall state of mind. I created this layout last week for the Scrapgal tag contest - you know, someone does a layout and then tag, you're it, and you have to do a scraplift of their layout - and oh yeah, did I mention that there was a time limit - I was on a great team so of course, we won. LOL!!!! Yay Chi-O's!!!!

This paper is MME So Sophie as is the title card, the flowers are Prima Madrigal, and the leaf charms and leaves are from Michaels. The photo is of North Carolina - sigh - so beautiful!

Don't forget to sign up at Scrapgal and then join us for the Crop tonight and tomorrow night - lots of fun challenges and some great prizes including several Scrapgal gift cards and some other cool RAKs. I am giving away a Ranger RAK so come on over and join the fun!!!!

Thanks for reading and hope you have a super day - I will be back on Sunday with a new painting (maybe more) and some other fun stuff!

Chris

Scrapgal blog hop and a little poetry

 Good morning! It's a busy day today - Scrapgal blog hop and the newest These are a few of my favorite things challenges so let's get started....

If you've just visited Cassie's blog and are here for the Scrap Gal Fall Haul Blog Hop, you're in the right place! But if you came here through your Reader, be sure to hop on over to the http://thegalblog.blogspot.com/ to get started. 

But I digress......................

the latest challenge at http://whatisyourfavething.blogspot.com/ is up and it is "What is your favorite poem?"
I have always loved Emily Dickinson's poetry and one of my favorites is her verse about Hope

I used some wonderful Melissa Frances patterned paper (from Scrapgal) for my background, the vintage images and buttons are all from Gecko Galz, the feathered wing is a Christmas ornament from Marshall's bought after the holidays last year, and the poem is torn from an old book.  And you know that I couldn't stop myself from adding a few bits of torn fabric and laces from my collection. Hope you come over and see the rest of the DT layouts and then show us your favorite poem.


..........and now back to our regularly scheduled programming......................
 
  You should have arrived at my blog from Cassie's blog and you are now going to Donna's blog. Be sure to finish at the Galblog for a prize!

For more fun, games, challenges and prizes be sure to join us this weekend at the Scrap Gal Fall Haul Crop!  on the Scrapgal forum

I look forward to seeing you there. 
ttfn
Chris

Some spooky sneaks

Lots of activity in the studio

I have also been painting, sewing, and knitting - a busy and happy month!

A little update on the budget:

Groceries this week $61 (fresh veggies and fruit, orange juice, bread, French rolls, pork chops, chuck roast, potatoes, onions, carrots, tea, cream cheese (I plan to bake carrot cupcakes & frost with cream cheese frosting), spaghetti sauce, tomato soup, 2 waters, eggs

Liquor store $68(8 bottles of wine)

New battery for Dan's car $98 (this was not totally a surprise as he was starting to have some trouble with starting the car)

Motor for my back passenger window $49 (totally a surprise - the window just started to drop and would not go up - Dan pulled it to the top and we taped it - this expense is just for the motor - it will get installed next week)

Refill my go phone $27

We will have to see how the rest of the month plays out

Sometime this next week I will receive my DT voucher from Scrapgal and I am trying to figure out what to purchase with it so I don't have to spend any extra - with all the new lines, etc., this will be difficult!

I was able to get Mockingjay (the conclusion of the Hunger Games trilogy) yesterday!
EDITED NOTE:
I finished Mockingjay this morning and it is excellent - if you haven't read the Hunger Games trilogy, I highly recommend it!

Just a note that we will be having a Scrapgal bloghop on Wed, Sept 15, and then a Crop on the 17th and 18th - lots of fun challenges and prizes!!!!!!!!!!!!

thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!

A few peeks around my studio

A little triangle knitting

cutting out fabric for a new quilt - lots of fun colors - turquoise, orange, yellow, tan, and lime green

lots of watercolor practice

We will be having a Scrapgal blog hop next week and a Fall Haul crop - lots of fun projects, games and challenges - I might just give a few peeks this coming week

I am also co-chairman of the October Scrapgal contests so I am busy, busy, busy creating Halloween projects - so love working with the MME Haunted flocked papers and the G45 Halloween in Wonderland papers.

I have also been reading some new books - Three Stations by Martin Cruz Smith and Faithful Place by Tana French - both very good.  I look forward to getting Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins once the library gets it.  Are you reading anything fun or interesting right now? I would love to know.

 Hope your week is going well!

Yet another fabric flower tutorial

If you get a chance, please check out my tutorial on the the Galblog today - it is on how to make the fabric flowers on this layout (these flowers are very similar to the fabric Prima Madrigal flowers).

Lots of busy and happy things happening in my studio over the weekend - I will try to post some sneak peeks tomorrow - Have a great Tuesday and thanks for stopping by!

A new month

So you thought it was the beginning of September when it was really October Afternoon (manu of the month at Scrapgal) - I love the quaint charm of the thrift shop collection and used it in the above layout. The little line of girls was cut from an old book on sewing and the flower is a layered one -  Making memories paper pink flower for the base, gathered pale pink crepe paper for the next layer, and a yo yo made by Kimmie at Whimsical Twist (thanks Kimmie) for a topper.

As I said in an earlier post, I plan to keep super busy in September and NOT buy anything but necessities. This is the morning of day 3 and I have started off well :
Day 1 -Dan dentist - $183 for cleaning and xrays (yearly exam)
Day 2 - weekly groceries $60 (whole chicken, spare ribs, beef shank, bacon(on sale), bologna(on sale), bread, eggs, mayo(on sale), refried beans, pickle relish, romaine, tomatoes, green pepper, cucumber, radishes, green beans, cantaloupe, bananas, and 2 big jugs of water (our water is very chlorinated so it is pretty nasty to drink)
  gas for Dan's car - $32
  weed & bug killer for yard - $15
This morning Dan is working at the golf course and I will be working at the used book store today so no chances to spend any money.
I also got new bedroom curtains made for our bedroom - when we moved back into our house after the repairs from the hurricane, I had purchased some white Pottery Barn linen and cotton curtains on ebay for my studio - I ended up with 6 curtains rather just the 4 I needed so I put the extra ones away. I washed the ones that were hanging in my studio and they came out so lovely (even though it said dry clean only) and then cut and sewed the 3rd set to fit the windows in our bedroom - fortunately the curtains were 63 long and both of our windows are short - it was tight but I measured and cut very carefully and now they are hanging in the bedroom and look great - and I spent $0!!!! I will give the previous bedroom curtains to a thrift shop - they were a closeout at Lowe's and marked way down so that's why I had bought them - 5 years is long enough!

When I took the watercolor class several weeks ago, the teacher recommended a special book for us to read about the theory of painting by Richard Schmid (probably one of the best US or even world painters alive today). Unfortunately the book was written in 1999 and is out of print so - it is ridiculously expensive on amazon and ebay - $70 for paperback and $150 for HB - I took a chance and requested it from our library through interlibrary loan - and they got it for me - I picked it up yesterday and started reading it last night - it is brilliant and just so inspiring - I want to compliment our library for their fabulous service. Right now is a very difficult time for libraries in the US - so many cuts, and ours is doing the best it can despite the budget issues. Both the used book store and the gift shop in which I volunteer(work) benefit the library here (I also serve as secretary on the Board of the Friends of the Indian River County library which runs both stores) - I am so glad that I can help out as I truly believe that libraries are very important to the future of our society.

Let's see, what else have I done......I have also been painting everyday and exercising - I am going to step up the exercising a bit now that it is a little cooler (LOL!) and probably do more yoga also.

This long weekend will be quiet here - Dan will cut lawn and practice and play golf. I will paint, scrap, knit, cook, exercise, and read - and of course, there is lots of baseball, college football, and Nascar - did I mention that I am married to a sports junkie?!  I feel bad for the people who live in NC and on up the Atlantic Coast - I so hope the hurricane stays out at sea.  We were hit dead on by Hurricane Frances on Labor day weekend in 2004 and then by Jeanne exactly 3 weeks later. And then of course, several years later, watching Katrina on television and praying for the people who lived there and suffered through such devastation and then such mismanagement.

Thanks for reading - this ended up being a long post.

Hope your weekend will be wonderful - full of  happy times, yummy food, and good company!!!!!!!

ttfn
Chris

c'est la vie

It's time for the new challenge at These are a few of my favorite things and this time is What's your favorite scrapbooking manufacturer????  This one was so so easy peasy for me - it's Prima!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and coincidentally the manu of the month for August at Scrapgal was Prima so I have been in flower heaven all this month. Be sure to check out the wonderful DT layouts at http://whatisyourfavething.blogspot.com/ (such a fabulously talented group of designers - they always amaze me with their layouts as do all of the wonderful submissions we receive for the challenges!!!!! We are such a fortunate group - and add to that - we have Julie as our boss - how lucky can we get!!!!!!!) and if you get a chance, check out my post today at the http://thegalblog.blogspot.com/ about how I made this layout (hint - I used packaging for the bay window!)

Hope your have a super day and thanks for reading
ttfn
Chris

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

Hello there on this wonderful Sunday! We had quite a bit of rain last night and today - much needed rain! I have been very very busy this past week painting bits and pieces - playing with ideas, practicing things, and drawing - not sure what will develop from all of this play but it's making me very happy. I have a painting that will be in an exhibition at the Vero Beach Art Museum this month (not pictured here) so things are going well.

August is almost over and September is ready to happen - I changed out some of the decor in my house this morning as I was cleaning - changing the wall quilts, candles, and accents. We will be doing some exterior and interior painting once hurricane season is over and it begins to cool off. I want to change our bedroom curtains and got a brilliant idea today to alter some Pottery Barn linen/cotton curtains that I bought in 2005 when we moved back into our house after the hurricanes and reparation. I bought the curtains on ebay for my studio but the auction had 6 curtains and I only needed 4 so I just put the other 2 away. As they are much too long for our bedroom windows, I can cut them apart and come up with the 2 pairs that I need for our bedroom - a project for this week.
I have decided to do a NOT BUYING IT month during Sept so I have figured out several projects to keep busy with so I don't spend any money. I have joined a quilt-a-long on Fat Quarterly (begins 9/6 with the cutting out instructions) so I went shopping in my stash and selected these fabrics to use

Yellows, oranges, peaches, turquoises, grays - I think it will be a fun quilt - very spring-y!
I have also joined a Triangle knitalong on http://www.ravelry.com/ - it's in the Jane Thornley forum and she is offering a RAK of 3 patterns for those who finish by 9/30. I saw some shawl/shrugs at Anthropologie when I was in Jacksonville that were mixes of very subtle grays, mauves, and blues so I found some yarns in my stash that would work. I think this will look really cool with jeans and a white tee.

As you can see, I have cast on and the triangle is growing..........
And if that isn't enough, Scrapgal will be having an online crop Sept 17th and 18th, plus I need to get some Halloween DT layouts and projects ready for the October contest that Keke and I are running - lots to do!!

Thanks for reading and I hope you are having a great day!
ttfn
Chris

B I N G O

The summer is passing quickly and soon it will be September - the earth is moving on its axis and already we can see a difference in the angle and intensity of the light (don't get me wrong though - it is still brutally hot!) This morning when I awoke at about 6am, I looked out our bedroom window to the east and saw Orion in all of his glory. We are going through a drought period now but one positive to that is being able to see the stars so clearly. Orion is my favorite constellation - I always feel good when I can see him up there in the sky guarding over me.
And now for something totally different - BINGO tonight at http://www.scrapgal.com/ - it will be at 10om edt but you need to have a sign on set up and also to have selected your bingo words from the list on the forum and pm'd them to whoever is the official Bingoer (probably Cassie or Kelly, but I know that the instructions are in the forum). I will be drinking tea to stay awake long enough to join in the fun so be sure to check it out - it's lots of fun and also we will be having a Fall Haul crop on Sept 17th and 18th - lots of great challenges, games, and prizes!!!!!!!
This week I attended a 3day watercolor workshop with Pat Weaver, a national watercolor artist and teacher. It was so incredibly inspiring - I learned how much I have to learn - it was a little depressing by the end of the 2nd day but after some positive results on Wed, I came away feeling renewed and committed to my pursuit of art. Yesterday afternoon I spent a couple of hours drawing cats, and then last night I had the strangest dream - at one point in the dream, my cat Hana was making friends with what looked like a stockier version of her but when the animal trotted over to me, I realized that it was a dog that had been trimmed to look like a cat - WOOOOOOOOOOO - maybe I should cut back on drawing cats! LOL!!!!!!!
Thanks for reading and have a super day - I will be back on the weekend with some photos of things that I have been working on.
ttfn
Chris

Prima vista

It's August 1 and that means a new manufacturer of the month at Scrapgal - can you guess this month's manu???? One of my favorites - Prima!  I took this photo at Epcot in the Marrakesh Restaurant (by the way, I will have a posting on the Galblog Tues 8/3 about this layout - hint hint!) - the patterned paper is Flights of Fancy and this photo just seemed to be perfect - I cut apart some of the Prima flowers to create my own chandeliers.

This paper is Pastiche - I put puddles of very wet watercolor paint in the middle and used a short straw to blow the paint outward - this is a really fun thing to do and is actually a technique that some Chinese watercolorists use quite a bit - they are so skilled at this technique that they can create animals and flowers with their blowings. The photo was taken when we lived in the Bahamas - have I mentioned how much I love the ocean and the beach?! LOL! These flowers are actually vintage velvet - a lucky find. The brass piece is packaging from something unknown - it just looked cool to me and I just had to save it - I actually had a couple of these and used one once before on a layout.

Hope you come over and check out the other Prima layouts by the DT and also check out the new members of the DT who were announced today on the Galblog!

Thanks for reading and see you soon

I love poppies and patchwork

 

Poppies - watercolor

Just a quick layout - don't you love the faux patchwork of this The Girls' Paperie patterned paper?

Can you believe that July is almost over? I went over to Sarasota this past weekend to visit my son and had a lovely time - lots of great food, fun talk, and (hopefully) good photos. One of the LSS over there had gone out of business but at the other one, they were having a 20% off pre-CHA sale so I was able to get some wonderful Prima papers and flowers that I had not seen before. I also was able to get tiny attacher refills (I love my tiny attacher!!) and some wonderful colored laces. Yay!

Then, when I got home, I had a lovely little package from Kimmie (whimsicaltwist) and a 3M atg gun that Chez sent to me. On Monday I received a fantastic treasure trove of laces and trims from Cassie so all in all, I have lots of new toys!!!!!!! I also had bought a really funky pink fabric flower necklace at Old navy on final discount - it looks very similar to the new Prima ones! Yay! I also got to go to B&N and Borders and got some inspiring books and magazines. (Note: I live in a small town and we don't have B&N, Borders, Old Navy or very many of the stores that most cities have - we have a small Target, a small Michaels, a Walmart, and some other small versions of stores like Best Buy, etc so going to Sarasota is a shopping paradise for me.)

Hope all is well with you and thanks for reading,
ttfn
Chris

I have been a bad blogger

I have been a pretty bad blogger lately as life just keeps getting in the way. Hopefully the main thing that is stressing me out will be resolved by the middle of next week - but I have to admit that I have been fighting the stress by knitting quite a bit - see above photo of my Knit a Beach wrap - free-range knitting all the way with a crazy mix of yarns and stitches

I was knitting along with a group on http://www.ravelry.com/ - it is in the Jane Thornley forum and called Summer traveling wrap KAL (knit along)   If you go to ravelry, my username is kalaiton.

I just realized that it is the 21st and I never posted my July ScrapGal DT layouts - the manu of the month is Ki memories so be sure to post your Ki Memories layouts in the thread on ScrapGal - you can win a gift certificate to ScrapGal.  Also the final date for entries in the ScrapGal DT search is July25!!!!!!!

I showed this layout on the Galblog and explained how to machine stitch chipboard alphas

Check out the glitzy tooth on this layout! It was too funky not to use!

Hope all is well with you and yours, and thanks so much for reading my blog. I have finished several more paintings and hope to get them posted in the next few days.

2 Little Birds

Please check out the galblog today and see a fun ribbon technique.

Blue and white - the colors of summer

 Today I posted on the Galblog with some ideas for cool summer decorating, especially with this fantastic 7gypsies printers tray. Please hop over and check it out!

http://thegalblog.blogspot.com/2010/07/blue-and-white-colors-of-summer.html

See you soon with some new things that I have been creating!
Chris

Favorite toy - I just can't pick just one & a GIVEAWAY

Our newest challenge at http://whatisyourfavething.blogspot.com/ and this time we would love to know your favorite toy - in your childhood, now, or even your DH's or child's favorite toy. Show us your stuff!!!!! I did 2 layouts because I couldn't decide on just one toy - I always loved my tricycle and later bicycle - riding with the wind blowing in my face just spelled freedom in my mind!!!! Getting away and riding just for the sheer joy of riding! And once I was out of sight of my house, always with no hands! (Hambly paper, May arts ribbon, Prima canvas word, Cosmo Cricket journaling card, October afternoon alphas, vintage fabrics and buttons)
But then - in the winter when I couldn't go outside and ride, it was all about dolls

I did this quilted fabric wall hanging - I printed the photo on fabric and used mostly vintage (with a few Amy Butler) scraps and laces to make this. The top word is from Prima but I actually embroidered the word Dolls.

The canvas heart is by Canvas Corp - just love their products and Jenn sells them on ScrapGal - I sewed selvedges on the heart and added 2 small jewelry hearts.
I have been extra busy lately - painting, knitting, selling stuff on ebay, and just trying to get caught up in general. I am really trying to make my crafting and painting self-sustainable so I am buying very little stuff, and crafting a lot with what I have - it's amazing how much stuff I have collected over the years. I will be taking 2 watercolor classes (one is a national teacher!) this summer and am really excited about that - so I have to sell lots of stuff on ebay to pay for the classes!
Sometimes I wonder how much other people spend on scrapping supplies - or knitting supplies - or art supplies - or fabric.   How much do you spend on supplies per month - per year?  I would like to know if you subscribe to kit clubs (which ones?) or buy at LSS or Michaels or ?  Do you take classes - online or in person? Please leave me a comment letting me know whatever you feel comfortable with and I will do a drawing on Sunday morning 6/20 for a RAK - one of my aprons and some crafting goodies for whichever craft you specify - scrapping, beading, or sewing/quilting.  I would love to hear from you!
Thanks for reading and have a super week!
ttfn
Chris

Remembering good times

I know that lots of scrappers pretty much scrap as they go along with life - taking pix of their everyday life and then soon after scrapping those photos.  I have quite a few photos of our life prior B.S. (before scrapbooking) and really enjoy scrapping those photos as they bring back such wonderful memories - thoughts of places we visited, friends we made, jokes we laughed about, games we played, dances we danced, all those wonderful little bits of life that are stored in our little gray cells but can be triggered in an instant by a photo or song.  I did the above layout yesterday afternoon for the ScrapGal merry-go-round contest - you do a scraplift of the person on the list in front of you and then the next person lifts your layout - it's quite fascinating to see how the layouts evolve. I haven't scrapped for about a week so yesterday was a catch up day - doing lots of DT stuff - I did 6 layouts in one afternoon - totally amazing for me!!!!!! I knew in the morning that my turn for the merry-go-round was up as I had seen Judean's layout on the thread but I just didn't know what to scrap - so I started working on the Top 10 challenge for the month - 10 things you must have in a vacation - and of course, for me it starts with sea, sand, sun - and then I knew what to scrap for the merry-go-round - I pulled out some old photos of the Bahamas and so many memories flooded back.

Here is the June top 10 layout. I had saved the Coastline wine bottle label from a bottle that we drank last week (Deana, it's great wine!)  I knew the label would be perfect on a layout.
Thanks for reading and hope you are having a super week.  If you haven't linked your favorite shoes layout to These Are a Few of my Favorite Things, be sure to get it done in the next couple of days - we have 28 prizes to give away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Lots to do today - a new session of painting classes starts this afternoon!
ttfn
Chris