Christmas in July

Somewhere around the mid ‘80’s I began having Christmas in July celebrations. My motivation was two-fold—first, I have always loved any excuse to play Christmas music, haul out some decorations, and read the second chapter of Luke. And secondly, I was trying to find a way to celebrate Christmas with friends and family that became too spread out around December 25th.

During the past seven years that Sir Henry and I have been together we have greatly relaxed our Christmas visitation standards. We make efforts to visit more during the year, we seem to have less vacation time to travel around the holidays, and after moving 1000+ miles away from everyone, we don’t feel as much pressure to visit at a specific time either.



Elf Duties
Christmas is so grand for me, no matter where I spend it, and I have not let go of my desire to show friends and family that they are treasured during that special season. So these days I still have Christmas in July by getting to work on my “elf duties” such as making handmade gifts, cards, and preparations for the annual, “Home for the Holidays—Trailer Park Style” event right here in West Palm Beach. Seriously, you don’t think all those flamingos are going to make their own hats do you?

As I’ve mentioned previously, Facebook™ has become a real jolt of delight in my world since it is allowing me to reconnect with people that I didn’t think I’d ever hear from again. It’s also brought me closer to the “everyday lives” of other friends and family members that I do see more frequently. One of my favorite things to do with Facebook connections is share some memories I have from that person’s impact in my life and I love it when they do the same. In the past few months four different people from four different decades in my life have commented on owning a Christmas ornament I made for them. They still hang them on the tree every year and were thinking of me every time they did so. Talk about feeling cherished, those sentiments are so very dear to me.

Thus inspired, this year’s elf duties have begun with making Christmas ornaments to give as gifts. Still embarking upon my journey to clear the studio before I bring in new items, I rummaged around recently for ornament ideas within the framework of my current inventory.



Ornaments from Crystals
I’m starting with beaded crystal ornaments. These can be tree ornaments or they can hang from a window sill or be wired into planters and other decorations too. My sweet sister-in-law Kim gave me a great bag full of chandelier crystals about three years ago and I’m using them as the ornament base. Fortunately for me, she gave me a ton of these jewels so I’ve used them for wedding decorations and home décor for a while now and still haven’t run out.

Pictured here are the first three ornaments I’ve finished. The crystals were strung with E-beads, metal beads, and other shiny baubles. There is no pattern or reason to the designs, I’m just sitting in the living room near my darling husband and stringing away. Hint: The metal beads come from charm bracelets I bought at the dollar store and opened to re-use the beads and charms on other projects.

I plan on adding some silk ribbons and perhaps even some curled wire embellishments before these are ready as gifts. If I manage my time wisely, I’ll also make a little tag or gift card to complement each one.







Also pictured are a couple of the chandelier crystals already hanging on windows in my home. You can get a peek at my handmade tie dye fabric curtains too. Aren’t they fun? I love my life.

This year, Christmas in July is extra special for two other reasons:
1. My delightful niece Katie is expecting the delivery of her “first-born child” any day now.
2. My amazing Mother has invited me to participate in her Christmas in July charity sale going on this weekend in her Richmond, VA community.

Enjoy the season, no matter what the season and create something to give away today.

Regular Features

Surf stops—web sites I’ve visited recently:
The Swell Life Blog-I ended up here on a link from www.Craftser.org her latest entry is a list of other cool links that are fun to surf around but I went there to check out some Christmas ornaments she made with photos last year which can be seen here http://swelldesigner.blogspot.com/2008/12/oldies-but-goodies.html

The CHA Craft Super Show site- http://www.craftsupershow.com/eweb/StartPage.aspx CHA show in Orlando this summer is offering lots of opportunities for consumer crafters to get involved including a world record attempt for the largest scrapbook crop ever…Wish I could go, but it’s the weekend of my first wedding anniversary and I’d rather be with my dear Sir Henry.

Touch of color—what color(s) influenced me— Brown and red. I worked on a gift bag for my Mom and Daddy that was printed in those colors and I had fun creating a matching tag. I had forgotten how comfortable I am with brown and red.



Most played song- “Santa Claus is coming to town” performed by Bruce Springsteen and the E. Street band.

Studio progress: I spent about 20 minutes clearing and reviewing this week. It’s something.

In the kitchen— Sir Henry’s grilled Bison Burgers made from some meat given to us by neighbors. He hand pressed patties from the meat seasoned with McCormick’s streak grill seasoning and Tastefully Simple’s Onion seasoning.

Austerity Plan progress ($15.00 per month for art supplies and tools): My sweet God-daughter Brittany accompanied me on a trip to Michael’s special 20% off entire purchase sale. I hadn’t spent any money from the craft budget for three months so I allowed myself the entire $45.00 for adhesives, inks and refills, and some fun sale items like rub-ons for my grandson album and a Love rubber stamp. My big extravagance was one of those swirly things marketed toward kids. It works great for making alcohol ink backgrounds too and it was reduced and then discounted again so I got a $16.00 item for $8.00.

My opinion and where it may lead: Stop fretting over misplaced items and release them to your higher power.

I can get very frustrated when my clutter seems to swallow up random items like my wrist brace, my sun glasses, my black Staz-on™ ink refill, etc. I read somewhere to just start an “MIA list” and post each item that is missing on the list. Look at it once a day, say a prayer for it, and let go. It’s amazing what will resurface, just this week I found a diamond ring that I thought was lost forever. Guess where I found it? It was in the box with my Christmas jewelry that I got out to wear for Christmas in July!

"Have a little faith...

there’s magic in the night. You ain’t a beauty but hey, you’re alright….and that’s alright with me.”
--Bruce Springsteen, Thunder Road

This has to be one of my all time favorite quotes. It’s like permission for all the “not media perfect” girls to feel as desirable as Mary who “like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays.”

Today, I don’t just apply those words to myself but I apply them to my creative endeavors too. Not everything has to be absolutely “media perfect.” If you get a photo you’re not crazy about you can adjust it in your software or layer a sheer covering like vellum over it or make it small as an accent or make it large as a blurry background or crop out a tiny area that you like…and that’s just with photos. Celebrate the moment with your creativity. Celebrate all the human imperfections that make the world interesting and transfer that celebration to your art.

My camera’s battery was on its last leg when we went downtown for the July 4th celebration this year. It might snap one picture and then it needed to rest for 5-8 minutes before another photo could be attempted. Just trying to turn the flash off for fireworks shots sent it into a blinking nothingness that wouldn’t allow the view screen to work.

I didn’t ever try to download those July 4th photos until today and even then, it was just to empty the camera before taking it out again. But just tooling around in PhotoShop™ for a few moments and I had a fun little photo. I finished it off with another favorite quote from one of my favorite movies.

Enjoy, relax and have a little faith.


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Surf stops—web sites I’ve visited recently:

Embellished Dreams-Heidi Blankenship’s blog—This was one of the launch preview blogs for Spellbinder’s newest line of dies. They are called pendants and are really intracite dies that layer and layer and well, they’re almost too cool to describe…. Heidi is a member of Spellbinders’ Design Team and the team for Just Rite Stamps. All her blog entries are well photographed with lots of details.

Shameless Plug http://www.nachattin.com/gallerydigital.html —I added a new digital gallery to my web site recently. I hadn’t realized how many digital designs I had completed until I started adding them to the site. I still consider myself quite a novice, but I’m enjoying the process.

Touch of color—what color(s) influenced me— Navy blue and lime green. I went thrift store shopping with Sir Henry last weekend and I kept being drawn to these colors.

Most played song- That would be Thunder Road by Bruuuuuuce Springsteen-- weren’t you paying attention earlier?

Studio progress: Zip, nada, nothing, sigh…..I

In the kitchen— Party in Your Pasta Salad meal—great idea for busy day dinners and hot summer nights:
1 box Kraft bacon ranch pasta salad mix prepared as directed
Add about ½ to 2/3 pound of pre-grilled or cooked chicken tenders, cut veggies in bright colors like sweet red and yellow peppers, carrots, peas, broccoli, and cherry tomatoes.
Supplement with more mayonnaise and ranch seasoning or dressing as needed.
Add additional flavor with McCormick’s salad seasoning, more bacon bits, salt, pepper, and sprinkles of flax seeds.
Serve on a salad plate over a bed of mixed greens alongside slices of sharp cheddar cheese, wheat crackers, and seedless grapes.
Yields 6-8 servings

Austerity Plan progress ($15.00 per month for art supplies and tools): Once again, I have been too busy to shop for supplies and I haven’t started any projects this week either. I do have a list now so I’ll probably report some spending soon.

My opinion and where it may lead: When you have heart concerns, it’s heart disease. When you have kidney issues, it’s kidney disease. When you have a mental imbalance—it should be brain disease. Regardless of what you call it, health insurance coverage should be just that—coverage.
And while I’m at it—things like periodontal disease and eye sight that has to be corrected for the purposes of functioning every day should also be a health issue covered by fair and equitable health coverage for everyone in this country. Hey, the topic does say opinon….

Gift Certificate Giving—Father’s Day Style

Man-gifts are always tougher for me, even when they are going to the man of my dreams. This year the dog-children and I got gift certificates for Sir Henry and then my parents got him one that needed "dolling up" as well.

Inspired by a tutorial from my friends at Split Coast Stampers, http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/pizzabox/ I created a mini-pizza box and made tags for each of the gift items. It worked up fast and fabulous which was a good thing since I had to do it all before he woke up on Sunday.

I used Heidi Grace™ double sided print card stock for the tags and WorldWin ColorMates™ cardstock for the box. The top of the box was a layered decoration created separately and then secured to the box after completion. The palm tree is colored using water color pencils with a vellum overlay for additional softness. Stamps by Making Memories™ and Stamp Affair™ were used as tools on this project.

Perhaps because my card stock was a lighter weight than the sample or because I assembled it in such a hurry, the lid would not quite stay down. I just tied a closure with twine to add a finishing touch.

My best laid plans are to keep this idea in mind for gift cards and other small gifts throughout the year. Even though the tin gift card boxes available at craft stores only cost a dollar, they aren’t always laying around when you remember it’s time to give a gift.

Check out other great interpretations of this template in the Split Coast Stamper’s Gallery-- http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=17290

Ideas:

Make your own gift cards and certificates for items like: Two hours of alone time, doing laundry for a busy friend, delivering a homemade meal on a weeknight, babysitting, research, resume writing, addressing invitations, etc.

Hide clues in the box that direct the reciepient to the location of larger and harder to wrap gifts.

Fill with candies for party favors or small treats at the office, gym, or classroom.

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Surf stops—web sites I’ve visited recently:EK Success hosts a relatively new community online with great options for project posting--http://www.spottedcanary.com/

Touch of color—what color(s) influenced me--Boy colors—brown, green, rust, with yellow

Most played song- “Simple Love Like This” by Allison Kraus. We set the Ipod™ for all Allison during Sir Henry’s Father’s Day dinner. This one song was the one he walked down the aisle to during our wedding so it got special recognition.

Studio progress--The only possible thing I did to assist in the process this week, and yes I know I’m stretching it, was to set aside a great carrier box to pack full of the stuff I really am going to let go of as soon as I get going more on that…..

In the kitchen— We have family night every week. Sir Henry and I give a standing invitation to his 27 year old son and my 21 year old God-daughter to attend this time around the table. We say Grace, we eat, we talk about our lives. Last week I served one of my “fall back” recipes that is worth repeating.
Step One: Purchase a pork roast on sale at grocery store
Step Two: Gather other ingredients: bottle of honey BB! Sauce (store brand works great), one sweet onion peeled and cut in half, and (optional) some MoJo™ brand or other general grill seasoning
Step Three: Dump it all in a crock pot on high for 3 hours and low for another 2-4 hours
Step Four: Slice or shred with a fork (it’s that tender)
Step Five: Serve with coleslaw on sandwich buns

Austerity Plan progress ($15.00 per month for art supplies and tools)--At least if I’m not up to speed in the clearing department I can say I haven’t spent any more money---not even on books, classes, or digital goodies. I am getting low on some adhesives and inks though so it won’t be too long before I list a receipt.

My opinion and where it may lead-- Being kind to yourself makes you stronger. Stop finding your flaws, there’s plenty other people who can do that for you. Instead, take care of yourself and seek out people, activities, and simple moments that allow you to refresh and renew.
I start work this week for Anton Aesthetics Academy where I’ll be doing marketing and recruiting. Did you know that almost all spa training facilities offer services to customers at a lower fee than standard spas? If you’re local to the West Palm Beach area-- call for an appointment and treat yourself to a “frugal luxury.” If you’re tempted by the idea of a career as a spa professional, email me today to learn more about working in this elegant and rewarding field.

After arriving home with 100+ photos I immediately began digital scrapping. These are from shots of my niece and her fiancé at their new little home on the lake. Next Henry took off to see our grandson so here’s a quickie of sweet Sam too.

There were no posts while I was traveling because I didn’t want to lug my ancient lap top around and I thought I could use other computers as I traveled. I did get a few moments on other computers, but I didn’t do more than post status on Facebook and return a few emails. After all, what are vacations for if not to get away?

Now that I’m home I’ve already done some digital scrapping and I created three traditional pages yesterday along with four cards last week during my recovery time from my journey. I mailed the cards without scanning, so those are lost to the wind, but I’ll scan the layouts soon. The layouts are nothing fancy, I'm just trying to finish the majority of our wedding book before our first anniversary-wry smile.

My last post before I left was about making handmade journals. I didn’t want to post any of the party decorations I was working on because I hated to give away the surprise. Naturally, I didn’t take too many pictures of those either…sigh. What I did was create some fun digital designs and then layered them onto cardstock, stands, and sticks to make 3-D décor for Katie’s shower.

Pictured here are some the original designs along with a shot of the balloon bouquet I made. Her theme was tie dye and we all dyed white baby things at the shower. I narrowed the field a little and made the decorations with a Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds kit downloaded free from http://www.digiscrapaddicts.com/

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Surf stops—web sites I’ve visited recently:

www.hulu.com – Great safe site to watch TV shows and movies. I watched four seasons of “Rescue Me” in May and June and now I have a new favorite TV show.
http://candyscraps.typepad.com/scrappylinks/ -Feed your addiction with great links to cool sites, new products, and freebies every week.

Touch of color—what color(s) influenced me— I found some color combinations that are hot for weddings this year. I worked with one I liked on digital and traditional scrapping: deep burgundy and orange.

Most played song- Learning to Live on Love by Mike Cross. I couldn’t find a snippet on online, but you can hear some other samples from this gifted artist on his web site http://www.mikecross.com/discs.asp

Studio progress: Ashamed to say, it’s a wreck after getting Kate’s shower ready and then coming home with an irresistible urge to create cards and pages. I’ve done 4 cards and 3 traditional scrapbook pages since I got home. It’s on the list this week…

In the kitchen— inspired by the cheesy chowder from one our favorite Ashland restaurants since 1979 when I first landed at Randolph-Macon College—the Smokey Pig. http://www.thesmokeypig.com/ I created my own version.Essentially, sauté onions in chicken broth, add more broth and frozen soup veggie mix plus extra frozen corn and boil for 5 minutes before lowering heat and adding cheddar cheese soup and/or Ragu cheesy sauce or Velveeta. Season as desired, I added all-purpose Greek seasoning and something new to us called MoJo seasoning. Just comment on the blog if you want specific measurements.

Austerity Plan--- progress ($15.00 per month for art supplies and tools): Haven’t spent a penny in this direction so far in June. My opinion and where it may lead: Although it took a lot out of me to drive 2500 miles across six states—I’d do it again in a heartbeat (or at least after a week’s rest) to be with my loved ones. Mamma always said, “Family is family,” and I totally appreciate that.

My opinion and where it may lead: Although it took a lot out of me to drive 2500 miles across six states—I’d do it again in a heartbeat (or at least after a week’s rest) to be with my loved ones. Mamma always said, “Family is family,” and I totally appreciate that.

Journal for a Cause and Digi Bonanza

Journals—celebrating and promoting journals is one of my greatest passions. Today is a great day to start a journal or add an entry. It’s an even better day to decorate a journal that will start a young person on the path of journaling. Click here to view my latest web page about making journals. http://www.nachattin.com/articlejournals.html


Create a Journal to Share
My fifteen year old friend Kelsey Salerno has made a request that we should all consider filling. She wants to collect handmade journals to give out at summer camps for kids who have lost a loved one to cancer.

Keeping a journal was a big part of the healing process for Kelsey when she lost her Grandfather and now she wants to share that with others. Kelsey also volunteers at Gilda’s House and works with cancer patients there. I created the journals shown above at her request for someone she works with there. Click to enlarge the photos for viewing.

Kelsey may have some additional information online and I’ll keep you posted on the process. Although she currently lives in New York, some of the West Palm Beach residents might remember her and her Mom, Mel Salerno, from the Paperie store here. Mel and her business partner Jodi owned and ran that fabulous store.

Email Kelsey at Kelseysproject@yahoo.com to get the address for mailing your completed journals.

Digital Grandson Layouts
My step-daughter is doing a great job of keeping us in the loop with photographs of our growing grandson. Here’s three layouts I made last week about his first haircut. See links under Surf Stops for details on how I got the free kit to make these. Click layouts to enlarge.

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Surf stops—web sites I’ve visited recently:
Digi Scrap Addicts http://digiscrapaddicts.com is having this cool contest for digital kit designers. Every week they have a theme and elimination as they get down to the final winner—reality show style. The kits from all the contests are available for FREE download. If you ever wanted to get a great collection of digital scrap tools, this is your moment! http://digiscrapaddicts.com/products/index.php?cat=555 is the link and you need only look down at the bottom to find previous week entries. You have to register, but it is way worth it.

Week three theme is kits inspired by Beatle’s songs. I just love them all….

A kit from week two called Project365 was used for the Sam’s haircut pages…

The Freebie Queen has links to all kinds of wacky free stuff, deals, and delights: http://freebiequeen.blogspot.com/

Touch of color—what color(s) influenced me— Yellow again, but this time with lime green

Most played song- The Taters! http://www.thetaters.com/index.html If you live in the Richmond, VA area and have the chance to see this band live—don’t hesitate. Our favorite venue for them is Ashland Tea & Coffee where they’ll be May 30th. You can see their schedule and click on stream to hear some song clips here: http://www.thetaters.com/tater_music.htm

Studio progress: Well, it’s been on my mind a lot. –sheepish grin-

In the kitchen— Bubba Burgers! http://www.bubbafoods.com/ I never thought I’d prefer a frozen burger over home-prepared, but wow, these are great burgers. Pull one out of the box, note how they’re shaped like the state of Texas, and throw it on the grill. They are the perfect summer cookout fare.

Austerity Plan progress ($15.00 per month for art supplies and tools): I’m still enjoying “shopping” in my own studio and rediscovering my own supplies and tools. I haven’t set food in a craft store in over six weeks yet I’m creating regularly. I was tempted by an envelope deal at a local discount supply place, but after carrying them around in the store for 15 minutes—I walked out with nothing.

My opinion and where it may lead: We saw the newest Star Trek movie last weekend and I can’t remember having that much fun at a theater in years. It was a brilliant combination of today’s actors and the characters of my youth. So far, the only place this opinion has led me is to Burger King to buy the kid's meal so I could get the toy ship Enterprise that says “Red Alert” when you push the sides together.

Happy Memorial Day!

Spring means

Camping

For the last few months I could not get the idea of a camping trip off my mind. My family used to camp every year in a little travel trailer all over Virginia. We even hauled that thing to the World’s Fair in Canada once. I have such vivid and happy memories of camping.

From age seven to age thirteen I went to sleep away camp every summer where I slept in canvas sided huts, swam, paddled canoes, sang, ate all kinds of strange foods I would otherwise never touch and, of course, my favorite arts and crafts time…smile. As an adult I camped with various husbands, friends, and family members and never tired of the experiences.

Sir Henry and I have had a charmed life together, but before last weekend, we had never been camping. I couldn’t stand going a moment longer without camping so when my dogs asked what I wanted for Mother’s Day—I got a weekend at the KOA in Lake Okeechobee. Those dogs are just so thoughtful; they even made sure they could come along for the fun.

We rented a little hut with a bed, a porch swing, and, because it is Florida, an air conditioner. It was like camping in hard sided tent with AC. We loved it! The campground had all kinds of amenities and special events. I had an ice cream sundae as an appetizer for dinner Saturday night and we went to an all you can eat pancake breakfast by the pool on Mother’s Day.

Mother's Day
Before we left I enjoyed making Mother’s Day crafts with my neighbor kids. I had to hold them in my house to prevent early gifting (smile). Plus we made their Mom a white chocolate cheesecake with strawberry garnish.

New Card Gallery
There’s nothing like crafting with kids to get you excited about making things. I’ve been on such a creative binge since February. The Destination Heartfelt Art has really inspired me to get things out of the studio and into the hands of my loved ones. I put up a gallery http://www.nachattin.com/Gallerymain.htmlof 55 new cards I’ve put together since mid-February. I hadn’t even realized it was that many.

Playing with Pink
Repurposing and recycling have become my standard in the studio. Yesterday I decorated a little pink box that Smashbox™ make-up came in to create a fun birthday card for my 8 year old neighbor.

Happy Spring everyone!

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Surf stops—web sites I’ve visited recently:

1. Smilebox—Created a fun slideshow to be delivered to my Mom and a copy for my brother on Mother’s Day while we were out camping. Edit HTML and post code into the body….

Make a Smilebox slideshow

2. Cooks.com- Dirt Cake Recipe for 8-year-old’s birthday http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,196,150160-224197,00.html This cake is the most fun dessert on the planet. I put gummy worms in the top, flowers, and made a customized sign for the birthday girl. Too fun.

Touch of color—what color(s) influenced me— yellow, sunny yellow.

Most played song: “Mercedes Benz" by Janis Joplin, sung by a woman at the campground so well that I‘d swear Janis was still with us.

Studio progress: Emptied some stuff for projects you’ll see soon, not a lot of clearing. (abashed shrug)

In the kitchen: Camping food! We used the Coleman stove exclusively for cooking dinner. The first night we had stuffed chicken breasts with salads and the second night Kielbasa stir fry with salads.

That old standard, the five cup, salad recipe, is perfect for camping:

1 cup sour cream, 1 cup mandrian oranges, 1 cup pineapple, 1 cup mini-marshmellows, 1 cup cocconut--all mixed up. You really can use more or less of any ingredient and throw in other stuff if it sounds good to you.

Oh, it was goooooood.

Austerity Plan progress-($15.00 per month for art supplies and tools): No art related purchases this week and sent out several recycled items from a converted nut can (for camping cookies) to a card made from a Smashbox™ make-up box and a vase from an old Pringles™ can to hold a bouquet of balloons.

My opinion and where it may lead: Getting away, just for a weekend camping trip, is healthy for the body and soul. Even if I need more “recovery time” afterwards, I don’t ever want to stop going on adventures.

Getting back to the kNACk of it

Greetings blog fans and welcome to the newly formatted Artful Tourist blog.

As a result of my Destination Heartfelt Art program which I began in February, I am already enjoying a renewed vigor for all things creative. Chances are that getting over a year of wedding planning, wedding recovery, and holiday projects contributed to this fresh approach as well.
I’m refocusing my efforts on writing for the industry and beyond again. In pursuit of this goal I am doing a lot more research and creative projects.

The impact on my blog will be more regular features, a return to many of the concepts some loyal readers may remember from my subscription newsletter, “Get the kNACk,” and more links to my own articles and artwork published elsewhere in print and online.

I will continue the effort to post weekly and continue to be kind to myself if I don’t meet that goal. I anticipate the artwork on the blog to be more limited as my creations are submitted to publishers for consideration. I may also be posting calls for ideas, links, resources, and subjects as I continue my research.

Before you go quoting my previous posts and giving me a hard time about my resolution not to let the industry influence my choices, keep in mind that I still hold fast to that decision. The way I see it, my ideas for spending less, using what you have, and creating for the joy of it are hot topics. I am approaching this freelance, which means I will not be constrained by a particular manufacturer, publisher, or market trend. I’m just putting it out there and letting the Universe take care of the rest.

Project Notes: Artsy Mother’s Day
The card shown this week was created to send to my step-daughter as she celebrates Mother’s Day with her first born son, Sam. It was created entirely from the scrap pile and my current inventory. The brad bar, for lack of a better term, came from a store where I was teaching in 2005 and was made by Karen Foster™. The red background piece is from the Club Scrap™ Egyptian collection and I love how it fit beautifully as a matte for the design.






New! Regular Features

Surf stops—web sites I’ve visited recently:


1. Crafsters.org had a button contest and loved the entries: http://www.craftster.org/blog/?p=1220

2. For your information a cost comparison between the ATG adhesive and Tombow: http://thescrapbeach.blogspot.com/2009/05/whats-so-great-about-atg.html

3. Upscale paper art doll book called Fantastiques: http://www.ctpub.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=1219


Touch of color—what color(s) influenced me—black, gray, and white for an artsy mother’s day card

Most played song-from my head, IPod, or car: “Comin’ Back to the Bayou” theme song from canceled TV show called K*ville performed by Dr. John http://www.fox.com/music/?show_id=kville&clip_id=k_ville_longform_fullversion

Studio progress: This week I did the shuffle--not exactly productive but not inaction either. Emptied some additional tiny drawers, moved some items into what I hope is their new home. Used up some older items that had been hanging around waiting to be transformed.

In the kitchen—a great meal, recipe, or idea: Sir Henry bought me this cool thing from Pampered Chef™ that loads your own oil into a sprayer and eliminates the need for costly cans of oil spray. See a video review here: http://www.expotv.com/Pampered-Chef-Oil-Sprayer/2d-5VR

Austerity Plan progress ($15.00 per month for art supplies and tools): Spent $5.00 on new fonts during the CK retirement sale. I finally got my distressed typewriter font back that matches two of my rubber stamp sets. It was lost during a migration almost a year ago and floats somewhere in the ether still.

My opinion and where it may lead:
Stacey Julian’s “Simple Scrapbooks” and Rebecca Sower’s “Scrapbooking Life’s Little Pleasures are the two Creating Keepsake books that had the most influence on my adventures into the hobby. At the time of their publication, they were like light bulbs flashing repeatedly on each page. Action step: Since I can’t bear to throw either one away I’ll review them this month and let them inspire me anew.