Great American Scrapbook Convention, Chantilly, VA

Every June, the Great American Scrapbook Convention comes to Chantilly, VA, a 15 minute drive from my house. For the past few years, I have been fortunate enough to have had my daughter Jess with me. But now she is an Ensign in the Coast Guard and they are out sailing the high seas so I was flying solo today (and still managed to drop way too much money).

I checked out the classes going on and there are a LOT! I have never taken one there but noticed a few that looked tempting. Down the first aisle, I saw a Sizzix Outlet store called Scrapperz Outlet that had a great assortment of dies at amazing prices, even the new pop-up ones by Karen Burniston, so if you are going, definitely stop by there. I dropped in the Melissa Frances booth to say hi but Melissa was teaching class. I chatted with her daughters for a bit, who are lovely and look just like their mom! Bought a very cool (and only $4!) 4" x 6" album made from MDF? Her display with the tiny crystal chandeliers, as always, was beautiful.I also spent a good bit of time in Accent Scrapbooking which carries some very interesting products, including a lot of acrylic albums and shapes. This product offers a lot of possibilities...

I noticed there were quite a few more booths selling deeply discounted merchandise. A sad comment on the state of our economy... but I'll admit I did my best to help them out. Just doing my part. There were also 2 wire grid racks for paper which each hold 30 stacks which I purchased because up till now I have been using milk crates. They hold a lot of paper but are heavy and you have to look through the entire bin to find the one piece you are looking for. Part of the problem is they started out in color order but, over time, have become unruly. Now to find room for them- they do stack on top of each other which is good.

And when I got home, I received a preview of my product which will be coming out at the summer CHA show- it's so exciting! What a fun day. I am so blessed to be able to work doing what I love. Thanks Hayward :-)

Gift boxes for tiny hand sanitizers

It's a sickness... I often try to figure out why I have this obsession with boxes. Is it that the boxes are a symbol for my deep seated yet unfulfilled desire for organization? Or is it just because they are so darn cute? I prefer to think it is the latter. Tonight I went to the mall with Mary because she wanted to get some sneakers. I needed to price a new washer. So we separated and agreed to meet at the shoe store. After hanging out out the shoe store for a while, I remembered she said she was going to Dick's first. So I wandered down to see if I could find her there. As I was going down the escalator, I saw her on the other side. For some reason, I turned around and attempted to run up three (moving) escalator steps in my flip-flops. Something went terribly wrong and I found myself with a cut toe, bruised other foot and a hole in my favorite black capris sitting on a step going down. Oh and also, I was humiliated. I had dropped my bag and an off duty Dick's employee who was 5 steps behind me handed it to me in disbelief. I wanted to say, "What? You have never done something totally ridiculous and idiotic in your life? Just wait honey..." To give Maryanne credit, she did acknowledge me (OK, she was laughing her head off) and we sailed out of Dick's. By then I was laughing too. The blood coming out of my toe and all over my flip-flops was another matter. So we stopped in a Bath & Body Works where she suggested I buy some hand sanitizer and wipe off the cut. That's when I saw these adorable little bottles. I'm going to a lunch tomorrow with some friends and thought, "Everyone should have one of these with them at all times just in case..." and purchased one for each friend (and myself!). As we all know, presentation is everything! So I took some scrap matboard, a couple of stamps and ink, ribbon and plastic rubber bands and fashioned some tiny gift boxes for them. I measured the bottle and calculated how big I wanted the box. Then I stamped the matboard, scored the sides, and trimmed off the edges. I punched holes on both sides of the box and threaded ribbon through and knotted it inside for the handle. And that's it! I didn't even glue these as I usually would (it's now 3:30 AM for heaven's sake!) but instead used the plastic bands to hold all the sides together. Now I need a trip to the mall for black capris...

SING! Psalm 100

I was honored to be asked to create a piece of art for our choir to give as a gift to a visiting muscian who is doing a workshop for us. I love this uplifting quote from Psalm 100. I had an idea of how I wanted to lay it out and of course waited till the last minute (there were other last minute things with more imminent deadlines before this! And do admit I am a procrastinator but sometimes people actually do wait till the last second to order something... and I can't even get mad at them because I do the same thing...) ANYway, I was happy because the artwork came together pretty well and I was breezing along- matting went well- I liked the colors, they matched OK, went to frame it and the problems began. I wanted to use this cool antique frame- have been doing that a lot lately- save them for the "special jobs". I started cleaning this glass and found two scratches! And of course it's a weird non-standard size frame and I have no idea where my glass cutter is to do a new one. However, when when I went back to my frame room area and poked around- lo and behold- I found another frame within 1/4" of the other one! With a little shimming, we were back in business! The lesson is...everything takes longer than you think it will... so don't wait till the last minute! I am saying this for myself mainly. And any of my children who happen to see this. :-) And for those who do things ahead of time (and you know who you are) I hate you. I mean, congrats on planning ahead.... but I'm sure my life is much more exciting than yours.

Wedding Card Box

My very good friend's son is getting married on Saturday and was in need of a box to hold the cards. Originally, I was going to kind of copy the cake but as things happened, this is what emerged. I used my Logan mat cutter to cut and score the box. It measures 10" x 10" x 8"- hopefully they will receive a full box of cards and good wishes. I will post the gift I made for them after the wedding. I love the subtle texture of the embossed matboard. They seem like a fairly contempory style couple so I didn't add a lot to it but PA did say there is a monogram on the cake. It should be a fun party- weddings are always fun when you are a guest! Still have orders and a major project due tomorrow night but I must sleep! The storms were crazy last night plus too much diet Coke :-( Still haven't finished the matted project I did with Pam- have to do the paying jobs first!

My little buddy has gone

I am so sad. We made the exchange last night and I cried for about half the trip home. Thought I was doing OK till I saw the front porch with her little rocker sitting next to mine... But I did have an excellent night's sleep. Life returns to reality and work... In other news, I have 3 projects appearing in the August issue of Crafts 'n Things! So that was pretty exciting to see. Now I am finishing off orders for the Coast Guard Academy Parents' Club and the Army Officer's Wives' Club of the Greater Washington Area, assorted matted graduation announcements and wedding presents. Pam came over yesterday and we did a project together- it came out really cute and she was so excited about giving this to her friend. Will post tomorrow. I have been adding some features and fiddling around with this blog but it's slow going. Had some excellent suggestions from my friend Patty's daughter Caitlin who married an English guy and lives and works in England. She writes such a fun blog- check it out. Thanks Cait! You are so kind...

Weed or flower? It's all how you look at it...

Time is flying by... this is our last week with Trinity and it has been so much fun to have her here with us. I never really understood what people meant when they said "It's so much more fun to be a grandparent" but now I can see why. When mine were little (and there were four fairly close in age), it seemed most of the time was spent with maintenance- feeding, changing, baths, school, driving, sports and activities- that there didn't seem to be time to just ENJOY them. But this has been a month full of enjoyment. She really is a delight, not that I am biased in any way... So, at night, after I kiss her angelic little cheek, I come down here to my really messy, fun studio and see what trouble I can get into. I had sent proposals for what I KNOW is a really cool idea for a book in to two different publishers and was rejected by both (nicely, but still...). I'm not giving up yet... Also put myself out there with an idea for a regular feature in a craft magazine, so who knows... All they can say is no :-) The good news is the new product is coming along beautifully and can't wait to be able to tell you all about it! Today I planted. $168 worth of flowers from Lowes have been sitting in the back yard for a week and a half but it has been either raining or buggy or humid. Today was cloudy, about 74 and perfect. Trinity and I suited up- on went the gloves, bug stuff, comfy clothes and ponytails- and went out for a few hours to put them in. And now I think why did I wait. It was really fun. Of course I need a lot more... In front of Giant every year, there's a lady who sets up a flower stand and I usually visit her a couple of times. Now I have waited so long it's buy one, get one free! So tomorrow Trinity and I will hit her stand and see what's left. I think my favorite flower is the tuberous begonia- they flower continually and require minimal maintenance- what's not to love? The photo above is something I saw on the way down the driveway to get the mail- have no idea what it is but love all the wacky strands popping out everywhere...

Royalties baby!

There was a great surprise waiting for me in the mailbox the other day- a royalty check from Logan! Right when I had kind of put the whole book writing experience out of my mind... On Sunday, Trinity, Maryanne and I were on our way to Lowe's to buy some flowers. I called Dawn and put Trinity on speaker. While they were talking, Chris beeped Dawn. Somehow she hooked up a 3 way call so that she, Chris and Trinity all got to talk together on their 6th anniversary between Iraq, Cape Cod and VA! Forgot to put in a plug for this great fabric store I went to the other day. It's called Web Fabrics located in Purcellville, VA. It's quite large, is very well organized and carries all the latest stuff... very fun to see. It almost makes me want to sew more. Pretty funny because my machine is a 1951 Singer that only does a straight stitch. But it's about my speed. Tomorrow we are headed out to plant the flowers. Trinity can't wait. My back can...