Started a new scrapbook page

I decided it's time for me to start doing some of the

scrapbook pages I've been wanting to do. The thing that

has been holding me back is that I don't have that many 

"good" photos. I took pictures back when we had 24 or 36 to the roll

and we got what we got. I didn't know if I cut off anyone's head until

I got the photos back from being processed. I would have to pay for those shots

that were blurry or off center. I have never taken any classes on how to take 

photos or had a really good camera, and with 3 kids we sometimes had to 

wait a long time before we got the photos developed.

I really envy the families today who can instantly see that Cousin George's head

was cut off and then take the photo over.

Any way, I have chosen a few to do some pages to get me started. (After all

I have some 30 years of photos to sort through!)

I chose about 10 and will concentrate on those and then when I get those done,

I'll choose 10 more. So in about 10 years I might be finished.

So for my first I chose two photos of my sons that I took at 

Strawberry Pond, located at a local park near us. They were

still young enough, in elementary school,

 to handle mom telling them where to stand and to let me take 

quite a few shots of them. These are two that I really liked, though

I wish the shadows weren't on their faces.

The paper is some I've had for years and only have these two pieces

left. So I can't cut them up until I know for sure what I'm going to

do for the layout. I love these colors together, they go great with 

Anthony's sweater. 

I've only been able to cut out some circles today, and will try to make some "stripes" tomorrow. 

It is still a work in progress, and I'm trying to figure out if I have any elements I can use in the layouts.

I don't want to buy anything.

The letters for the names have only been cut out in white card stock to give me an idea of the size of 

letters I want to use. I have a feeling that Anthony's name will be in the dark blue, but haven't decided

what color Daniels name will be. I'm partial to the dark brown but we will see.

I was so excited to get this far on the project today I was almost late for work.

And I really don't want to go to work tomorrow, I'd much rather stay home and finish this up! LOL!!!!

So maybe it won't take me 10 years to finish up my scrap booking all the photos I have.

I'll try to post my progress tomorrow night. 

Easter basket

Today I worked on making this Easter basket. I just love it!

I don't have any Easter grass to put in it yet, will have to pick some up.

It is small, just the perfect size for some candy and a couple

of decorated eggs.

Now all I need is some little people to make these for!

The paper is really pretty, I didn't want to cut into it. I have

one more sheet of this, wish I had bought 10 sheets of this paper! :)

Today was a really beautiful day, wish we had days like this everyday!

Hope you got to enjoy it too!

Later,

Mary Jane

:)

Still here!

Well, I'm still here. Haven't been too busy

 but I guess I was too busy to update 

the blog. 

I have been working on the Recipe book and 

I've finished it except for adding

more recipes.

 I've added a few,

but still have more to print out.

I did a video of the book for my mom and sister, using my phone.

One thing I learned is that I'm terrible at doing videos! LOL!!!

I had a great time doing the book though and hope to do more books soon.

Watching the YouTube videos have helped me learn some new (to me) 

techniques. One I saw recently was an easel card. 

I decided to try it, using the twisted easel card method.

This is what I came up with. I love it!

I had to do parts of it over twice cause of ink smears, wrong color choices and

badly cut papers. LOL!!! 

Thank goodness I don't make a living doing this! It takes me forever to get

a card made and ready to go.

Most paper craft blogs list where the papers and 

all the stuff came from. Mine just came from my 

"stash". I don't know any company names for most of

the stuff. 

I do know I used the Cricut  cartridge "Country Life".

One of my favorite cartridges, though I haven't used

it too much. I'm still a beginner at this! 

I only got my Cricut in January.

I think the butterfly punch I used is a Martha Stewart punch.

Ready to see what else I can make!
Later,
Mary Jane
:)

Time flies when you are having fun!

I haven't been doing very much quilting lately. Can hardly get to 

the sewing machine! LOL!

My sewing room is a mess with all the stuff I've been using to make

 cards for next Christmas

and I've started making my first album for recipes.

It's very slow going for me as 

I really don't know what I'm doing.

I'm watching a lot of videos on line,

learning lots of techniques and watching in

amazement at some of the things people are 

making.

Anyway, this is what I've made so far.

These pages have been greatly influenced by searching lots of images

on Google. 

Don't have a clue how I'll do the next one, but I'm having lots of fun

working on this.

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone has a wonderful and joyful

Christmas with their families and friends!

Christmas decorations

Today we got a lot of snow, at least 6-8 inches. 

Joe had to snow blow the driveway twice today, 

after shoveling snow all day at work!

I went out to shop a little this morning and 

really enjoyed it since there were very few people

in the stores. LOL!!

I finished up the tree this morning and rearranged the 

furniture a little. It'll do for the Christmas season, I don't 

think we could live with it this way for too long.

The last few years I have been using red and white as the 

colors for the tree. Lots of red balls, white snowflakes, clear glass birds,

white birds and a couple of silver balls. I bought a couple of 

Hallmark ornaments last year and added a few this year. I'm planning

to add a few each year from now on. I love their ornaments but

they are expensive, so a few a year are all I'm going to do.

Skittles thinks I've made him a bed under the tree.

I guess that is his Christmas present.......

Snow

First snowfall in December, and thank goodness the weather

man says we won't be getting too much. 

I'm trying to put up the Christmas decorations but I'm not in the mood yet

and I feel like I'm coming down with a cold or something. I think I'll curl up with Skittles and read some blogs or read a book. In between naps of course! :)

Thanksgiving

What a day!

First we (or Joe did) got up early to get the bird in the oven by 7am.

Then we went out to breakfast with friends.

Came home and finished up dinner preparations to serve dinner at 12:30.

Joe kept checking the turkey.

He made Liz's favorite.

The table was set.

We even used the salt cellars that my mom gave me.

Turkey was checked again.

Yeah! It's done!

Candles were lit.

Shrimp was served.

Liz was happy.

Anthony was happy.

Waving hi to family not with us today.

Hi, everyone! :)

Sorry Joe, you got cut out in editing!!!!

Pies were served...

on new dishes.

Skittles even got into the Thanksgiving mode.

He ate some turkey and then took a nap.

Anthony and Liz had to leave early to go to another

Thanksgiving gathering.

So we (Joe) finished up the cleaning and then we ( I ) dozed in the chair.

I have the best husband!

Thanks, Joe!

Hope everyone had as good a day as I had!

:)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm still learning to make cards

I have been spending a lot of time on the computer looking at some of the cards that are being made. 

So many of them are way beyond my abilities! 

I'm starting to think that next year I may get myself a 

Cricket Expressions machine but for now I'm just going to plug along with what I have. 

I needed a birthday card for someone near and dear and I heard she loves all the bird designs that are so popular now. 

I must admit that I love the bird designs also! :) 

I bought a bird on a branch lamp for my new dresser and today I bought a straw owl. 

He's so cute!!

I found a card I liked in a gallery and was trying to figure out how I could emulate the artists design and style. 

So I dug out a few supplies that I had and set to work. 

I had the bird stamp and went from there. 

I didn't want the rest of the stamped images I used to stand out too much so I used one of the distress stamp pads I have, by Tim Holtz.

 I don't remember what color offhand. 

Then I had to use the edger punch and messed up the first one I punched out.

 Talk about complicated figuring out how to get the punched scroll edge just the right distance from the edge of the music! LOL! 

Finally I got it the way I wanted it. 

Then I had to find paper to use for the background with the flowers I had, which is not too many. Choices were limited but I was quite happy with this ugly peach color flower. 

It goes great with the color on the music page and the card stock background I chose from my stash. Now it is no longer ugly.

 I did rip out the center bead that they used and added one of the many buttons I got from my mom. 

Thanks, mom! :)

 I happened to have a small amount of the yarn/string which was a perfect fit for this card!

 After I put the card together I decided that it needed one more element, the brads in the upper corner. 

So I had to carefully pry up the edge and measure out where I wanted to put the brads.

 Finally, done! 

And I love it.

 In fact, I love it so much I'm going to try to make one for me and put it in a frame! 

But the funny thing is that it really doesn't look like the card I was using as inspiration!

 It has a bird, music and a flower but that is about it.

 So I guess this is my own. 

:)