My Redecorated Craftroom

A few weeks ago I repainted daughter's old green and purple bedroom; since she moved to a larger room downstairs last winter, I set this one up as a scrapbook / craft / art space. Now it finally looks more like it. New shelves, painted accessories, baskets and desk organizers were also added.

I love working in there; with, of course, a cat or three to around to keep me company.

More images can be found over at 2Peas here in a slideshow format.

Mpressed With Marsha

A blog I have become a fan of recently not ony has inspired me with the blogger's wonderful artistic creations, but also with her flair for beautiful decor.

A post I especially loved at Marsha's Mpressions detailed renovations to her scrapbook room with rustic vintage pieces, including hanging a vintage printer's drawer on the wall to store wooden stamps.

So on our upcoming trip to the US, I made it a point to hit at least one antique shop to see what I could find to add to MY scrapbook room. Little did I know that minutes after walking into The Old Albertville Creamery in Albertville, Minnesota, I would look down to find the EXACT SAME PRINTER'S DRAWER!

I couldn't believe my luck. So now it hangs in my room, which has yet to be repainted... but at least I now can display my collection of wooden rubber stamps too!

Thank you Marsha!

Happy Halloween!

Every Halloween we carve a few real pumpkins to set on our doorstep. I illuminate them with electric lights so we don't have to worry about candles and the kids love them.

Oh, and I LOVE toasting the pumpkin seeds too.

But for the past few years, I've also done foam ones so we can keep them to reuse year to year. Hey, if I am going to spend hours on these suckers, I want to keep them longer than 1 day.

From 2006: I did this Jack Sparrow pumpkin from my own design. I'm posting it especially for Jay 'cause she's a Johnny Depp freak er, FAN like me (okay even MORE than me, if that's possible):


Okay, maybe it's for moi as well....

Last year I did another Jack.

Jack Skellington, that is. This one I am posting for my niece, Ashley... cause we are both Nightmare Before Christmas lovers:

Now if youll excuse me, I have to figure out what the hell I am going to do this year. I have no idea yet.

Good thing I took tomorrow off as a vacation day...

Inspired by Mika

If you're a reader of my other blog Stale Coffee, you'll see a post about a new artist I have come to love by the name of Mika. His first CD is great, and it actually inspired me to do the layout about my vintage Spirograph toy:


Ah, the good old days of 60's psychedelia....

3 Cards and a Layout

It's been a few weeks since daughter and I have been to cropping night, so yesterday we returned to our favorite scrapbooking store and got some projects done. I was able to get three simple cards finished; 2 birthday cards (the same), and an anniversary card. I love the new papers they had, as well as some nice "Springy" metal embellishements. I hand-painted the flower on the anniversary card metal tag to match the paper.

Birthday card

Anniversary card

I also finsihed a very simple page about the evolution of my painting an oil portrait of Ted Neeley. Called the "Evolution of (a) Man" I hand-painted the title and used some great Basic Grey paper that was just perfect. Bazzil cardstock and silver eyelets finished off this simple page.

Lotsa croppin'

Since daughter was on Spring Break, I took two days off work. One of those afternoons (and evening) we spent at our local scrapbooking store cropping. In over 5 hours, I got a lot done!



Just a simple page with Bazzil cardstock, Karen Foster paper and a few brads. (Our backyard March 17th)
Believe it or not, this was our First Day of Spring -- Snow, ice AND rain!

Productive Croppin'

I was on fire tonight... two layouts AND a card finished. And another 2 page layout nearly done. All in less than four hours at our local scrapbooking store. It was great to get some pages finally completed; it's been awhile!

A couple of nice closeups of Casey our terrier cross. She'll be 10 this year! Basic Grey paper, Heidi Swapp letters. One photo is raised with foam squares, both are mounted on black Bazzil cardstock.

Dakotah playing with my pot pourri table decor...she really does think I placed these balls there just for her enjoyment. Basic Grey paper, chipboard letters painted and sanded, brads distressed with ink, chipboard tag with kitty brad and fibers.

A thank you card to my online friend for showing Ted Neeley my painting of him. "Superstar" logo stamped on Bazzil cardstock and raised with foam squares. Karen Foster patterned paper over Bazzil cardstock. Heavy brass "Thank You" plate adhered at bottom.

Inside of card. Ribbon with gold cross, more Karen Foster paper. She likes purple, and I thought the "stars" on purple paper was most appropriate for "Superstar!" Hope she likes it!

Mini Album

Instead of just making a thank you card to Ted Neeley, I decided to make him a mini-scrapbook album. Inside I wanted to add photos of him with daughter and I, some images from the show, and samples of how he has inspired me and how much he is admired. The book measures 4 inches square.

Here is the cover, make from heavy book board covered in a white "suede" paper. Inside is 12 pages of white Bazzil cardstock, edged in gold ink. The cover has a gold-stamped image of angels (the Superstar logo) stamped on cardstock, raised on a solid piece of foam and glued in place. The binding has a gold star dangling from it as well. The book is bound with a gold wired ribbon.

Pages one and two include an inked envelope decorated with ribbon, a brad and star. Inside is a personal note backed with gold cardstock. The pages are stamped with fillagree and "blessing" stamps. Gold eyelets are threaded with gold cord as well. The image of Ted is from the current Superstar production.

Pages two and three are thank yous for autographs, both from 1994 and 2007. On the left is a photo of my original soundtrack album he signed tucked into a pocket, and on the opposite page, held on with a hinge are copies of the autographed programs he gave us.

Upon opening the hinge, the autographed program from 1994 is revealed with both Ted and Carl Anderson's autographs.

Photos of my coordinated scrapbook layouts (now hanging on my wall) from 1994 and 2007.

Photos of our meetings with Ted in January of this year.

Artwork and a file folder inked with gold with more artwork and a note tucked inside.

Last pages. The photo of Ted singing "Gethsemane" (my favorite song in the opera) framed with a photo mount which was covered in a metal sheet. A gold cross, ribbon and brad also decorate it. The final page has a personal message to Ted (which I blurred out here for privacy) wrapped with ribbon and the underlying page is stamped with gold fillagree too.

What fun this was... my first mini-book made from scratch. It's now on it's way to him. I hope he likes it!

Scrapbook pages then and now

Since I had the great opportunity to see Jesus Christ Superstar for the second time (the first was in 1994, then again last month), I decided my scrapbook pages documenting these two events should match. Because they also housed my autographs from the stars, I didn't want to file them away in an album where I couldn't enjoy them. This is something I haven't done before; acutally mounting my scrapbook pages on the wall:


Along with my signed Jesus Christ Superstar album, here are the four pages that I completed. I redid my 1994 pages so they match this year's event:




And here are 2007's pages (last one is just showing the booklet open):





I found five frames at Micheal's specifically designed for record albums for only $8 each.. these worked great to fit both the album and the scrapbook pages!

Calm and Curiosity

I don't know why, but it seems to me that layouts of our furry friends are so much easier than other layouts I struggle to complete.... is it because they are so photogenic? Entertaining? Or are they simply doing what I would dearly love to do: take time to relax, napping whenever the mood hits, perhaps staring out into the unknown with wonder...

Whatever it is, here are two more layouts of our cats, Dakotah and Sheba; doing what cats do best, I guess.

Custom artwork for my new office...

In a few weeks, I'll be moving to a brand new office (literally brand new floor constructed just for our program), so I wanted to create something special for the wall. After a trip to Michael's last week where I picked up a 16 X 20 black frame for just $8, I decided I wanted to do a collage of scrapbooking papers and photos.

I used various Basic Grey papers and inked all the edges. On top of this, I printed off some of my favorite photos of my daughter, hubby and fuzzballs. Each one is matted in Bazzil Raven cardstock. It's kind of hard to see in the photo, but some are also mounted on foam to raise them up for varying heights in the collage.

I can hardly wait to hang this in my brand new office!

2Peas Monday Challenge

If you became a scrapbooker-for-hire, who would you want to work for and scrap their life story? Why? This can be a distant relative, friend, celebrity, or historical figure...living or not.

Oh, I am SO glad my husband hasn't figured out this whole blogging thing... actually, he hasn't got a clue about the Internet OR computers. Mwuahahah! Now I can safely state the obvious answer to the above question without his knowledge:

Mr. Johnny Depp

Actually, I realize I haven't been all that discreet so he may in fact have an inkling of my secret crush ... I mean, really, other than playing Pirates multiple times over on DVD, trying to watch any Depp movie that may come on television, or nearly killing myself running to the TV when I hear his name mentioned.... well, he MAY in fact not be too surprised at my answer.

I mean the man has so many great stories to tell...(Mr. Depp silly, not my husband) I think it would make for one amazing album.

But that's not what's important. No, no, no.

The important thing is that I would actually get to meet him (again, Mr. Depp, NOT my husband).

Now THAT'S what's important here.

Gad, now I have to hone my skills to Supreme-Master Scrapbooker® and somehow get the word out to France of my availability for hire.

My first Mini-album

A few days ago, I had an idea for a mini-book and completed it last night... Instead of lugging a heavy 12 X 12 album around, I wanted a little book I could take to work or anywhere I wanted that held miniature versions of some of my favorite layouts. Since I already had many of these pages photographed, all I had to do was resize them to 300 dpi and 3 inches square and print them out.

Measuring 5 X 5 inches, the chipboard front and back are covered in Basic Grey "Black Tie" paper, and I used my new Crop-A-Dile to punch holes and set eyelets for the three jump rings. I painted a chipboard letter "M" black (M for "Maureen") and set a pewter flower brad into it. Another two matching brads hold the ribbon in place on the front cover. Inside are thirty 4 X 4 inch pages of some of my favorite scrapbook pages, and I embellished each one with something that matched the layout; either a real piece of the same ribbon, the same brad, flower or other trinket. I even had a spare "Dead Man's Chest" key for my mini-Pirates page!




This project was a lot of fun, and I am sure it won't be the last mini book I do!

Who's To Blame?

Today I was asked to provide the weekend's blogging challenges...so for the first one, I asked:

"Who's to Blame?"
Write about how you first got "hooked" on scrapbooking. Was there a friend, family member, local hobby shop or just the good ol' lure of the Internet that introduced you to this obsessive, wallet-draining, wonderful, time-hogging, albeit important hobby?

Easy answer: my daughter. Yup, I can definitely pin the "blame" on her....I can even remember that cold day in February, 2005. She came home from school raving about a girlfriend's "scrapbook" and asked if we can look into starting our own.

Now, I will admit, much to the horror of my fellow 2Peas ... years ago I had a negative impression of scrapbooking. But that was only because it conflicted with my then-current hobby of collecting Star Wars toys. "Huh?" you ask? Well, a local second-hand toy shop where I used to score great deals on collectibles was owned by a husband and wife. The hubby was interested in toys, but the wife was into a new fad (or so I thought at the time) called 'SCRAPBOOKING'. Soon the hubby was losing his war of store supremacy; the vintage toys were disappearing, and more and more square footage was being overrun by albums, paper and stickers.

"Who the heck would go to all that time, trouble and expense?" I thought. (Okay, I said it VERY loud, but as usual, no one listened to me). But I was just mad that my precious toys were being squeezed out. Sadly, it wasn't long before the store shut down completely, and I blamed "scrapbooking" as the reason.

Fast-forward to February 2005. Like a good mother, I take daughter to Michael's ... and drool over the, yes, you guessed it....albums, paper and stickers...

The rest is history; I was hooked from the start and now my scrapbooking collection is nearing the size of my Star Wars collection....yes, I AM that obsessed. There is no hope. Heaven help me if scrapbooking is replaced by yet another hobby that devours me completely.

"I KNOW you're not thrilled about it Luke,
but I STILL need a picture of Vader for my family scrapbook!"

Croppin again

Two more layouts I completed at cropping night tonight. I just love taking photos of Dakotah, she is so photogenic. I am especially enjoying getting different points of view; getting down on the floor and up close (as in the "Pounce" page).



Layouts of the pets seem so easy to make... Basic Grey paper, Bazzil cardstock, chipboard letters and a few embellishments are all I used, but I may add some ribbons to the "Playtime" layout. (Dakotah playing under my dining room table runner -- see my Stale Coffee blog for a video of this event).

Why We Scrapbook

As with everything, as humans we tend to forget the "big picture" when we get obsessed over something. Case in point - scrapbooking. When daughter asked me to start this hobby last year (her friends had introduced it to her), I was instantly hooked. I loved the idea of making something "artful" out of my family photos and sharing the experience with my daughter...who will someday be the owner of said albums. As we progressed thru our photos, the focus turned from "what was important" to what "looked good". Photos that weren't "perfect" were set aside for more artsy, well composed shots. Choices of paper, ribbon and embellishments were agonized over but journalling the event was all but forgotten.

No more. This post at 2Peas in a Bucket changed all that. It reminded me once again of WHY I scrapbook. I don't think generations from now will care if my paper was Basic Grey, or that the brads didn't EXACTLY match the cardstock; they will want to know the STORY behind the photos... the event. The lives behind the pictures.

We all need to have a kick in the rear and remember what is truely important about this hobby.

A Gift In The Mail

Wow! What a nice surprise... check out all the goodies that arrived in my mailbox! Thanks to fellow Pea "Teatimetamera", I'll be playing with all this great stuff for awhile. On 2Peas in a Bucket, she put out a request for someone to make her some blinkies for a few challenges she participates in. I love to do these, so I made her three; a Disney one, a Color Challenge one and a PeaLift blinkie.

This was her thank you...


Thank you, Teatimetamera - you were more than generous!!! My daughter and I already are drooling over the awesome ribbon, eyelets, tags, stamps, rub-ons, flowers and everything. Can't wait to use them!!!

...and Dakotah likes them too.

Family Tags and another Blogger Challenge

A few weeks ago, I was introduced to Crafttvweekly.com, a site with lots of instructional videos on scrapbooking, cardmaking, and other paper crafts. One of the projects was an origami tag holder, so I tried my hand at it. I finally finished the actual tags to go inside it; now that I have a Crop-A-Dile tool to set large eyelets and punch holes...what a great tool!

Each tag has a photo of my "family"; daughter, hubby, two cats and our dog. I inked the edges of the tags and papers, attached a Prima flower to each and threaded some fibres through the eyelets. I also Xyron'd a ghost letter of each member's name and attached them on top of the tags. What a fun little project; and now I can carry my loved ones with me wherever I go!


So now I can answer Melissa's Blogger Challenge:

What is your favorite embellishment to use lately on your layouts? maybe buttons, flowers, brads? Eyelets! Now that I am having so much fun with my new Crop-A-Dile!