Preview Pics . . .

Ok, here are some pics of samples I made with the kit I've been working on. Man, this takes forever! lol! But then again, I rarely find the easy way to do anything! ALL PICTURES ARE CLICKABLE SO YOU CAN ENLARGE AND SEE MORE DETAIL.

With that said, I'm learning that people vary in their definition of "kit". To me, KIT means a bunch of stuff that I can do lots with at a great price. But to others it means a package that can be opened, put together, and finished in a snap. Soooo . . . here's the plan.  There will be at least TWO kits I'll be doing each month.

First: The Whole Kit and KaBoodle (congrats on the name, Terri!) will be a package I put together that is just that, a bunch of stuff! I'll do some samples with it to give you ideas but no precutting, measurements, etc.

Second: Kreative Kits (congrats on the name, Joette) will be PAGE kits that you can quickly put together with very little cutting. Hopefully these will be more than once a month but who knows! I may get distracted with other projects and only get one done! lol

SOOOOOO . . . 

This is me! In the layout on the right is the little diaper shirt I'm wearing in the picture on the left!  The journaling tells the story but it really is the shirt my grandmother made 50 years ago! Amazing, huh?

This is me, also! My piano teacher in elementary school was Polly Runnels. She never did just plain old recitals. She had productions! Of course I hated it then. But now have fond memories of them.




More pics coming!  And Joette and Terri, please email me your snail mail address so I can get a prize out to you! And Wanda, I may still use your name suggestion. Got an idea brewing with it! Sounds painful, huh?

Card Makers check this out!

If you are a card maker, check out Kristina's blog. She does video turtorials every week for her beautiful cards. Her style is clean and neat with an elegant look that I just adore! You won't be disappointed!

http://www.kwernerdesign.com/blog

I'm done!

I finally finished all the samples from my first kit! So since it's after 3:00am I think I'll take pictures and post them tomorrow . . . oh, later today, that is.

Got my first sample layout done with the new kit! Got any old photos lying around that you need to scrapbook? This kit is perfect for that! And yes, pictures coming soon! Now back to creating more samples . . .

Good morning - oh, wait. It isn't morning . . .

Woke up this morning with a migraine. YUK! But had to get on here and see what other suggestions had come in for a name my montly kits.

Ok these are the suggestions so far:
Kreative Kits
The Whole Kit and Kaboodle
Matildy's Blessings

Any others?
I worked on putting the papers and embellishments together yesterday. Paper and ribbon and fun, oh my! Can we say vintage meets family fun? That's the only hint for now!

Keep those suggestions coming! And remember, there's a prize envolved!

Ellen Hutson

Hey, if you haven't checked out her site, you should! She has awesome tutorials and projects! Go to the "classroom" page and look at the 12 Days of Christmas things they just finished. Great stuff! You can get to it by clicking on "the CLASSroom" on the right side of my blog.

Kit of the month ideas . . .

So far I have "Kreative Kits" from Joette. Anyone else have ideas? This is cute. I like it.

So how about this. Everyone who comes up with a catchy title will have their name entered into a drawing for a happy from me. Any other takers? Oh, and you must post the idea here. So, Beth, a text or phone call won't get you in the drawing. (heehee! You know I love you!)

Working on kits . . .

Getting ideas together. This is gonna be fun! More to come soon!

Helloooooooo . . .

Hi and hope everyone is having a great day! I'm feeling a little better today so about to head up to my scraproom to get busy on my FIRST EVER MONTHLY KIT! Yippee!

So yesterday, since I was absolutely miserable, I sat in my scraproom and sorted and organized my ribbon. Decided I might need a 12 step program for my addiction! lol! It took me all day! I did stop to watch football with hubby. And I was sick. So I'm using that as my excuse for it to take so long! Of course, I haven't even started on my Christmas ribbon that is still out all over the room AND I haven't even unpacked all the stuff my friend Beth and I bought Sat on our clearance shopping spree!

Oh, dear. Now I"m going to need to add more drawers to the ribbon storage . . . dum de dum dum dum . . .

Sunday morning blahs . . .

I am not supposed to be here on the computer. I'm supposed to be at church enjoying my wonderful hubby's worship leading. But no. I'm here with a stuffy nose, sore throat, feel like my head is going to explode, apparently caught the crud blahs. UGH! Oh, well, guess I couldn't avoid it forever! Wouldn't want to feel left out, now would I?

At any rate, tomorrow I start working on kits. Still need a name! Any suggestions???

New Pics

These are journals I made for presents for family members. They make great personalized gifts and are really quite simple to make.

This is one I made for my nephew. I wanted it to be masculine. The paper I used has a look that resembles leather. On the inside I used vintage looking postcard paper. I made the closure with some yarn and a door knob embellishment. The letter is grungeboard colored with pigment markers.

This one I made for my neice. The colors are bad in the picture but she said her favorite colors are pink, green, black, and orange. Nice that I just happened to have paper with those exact colors! The K is grungeboard that I embossed with orange then coated with paper glaze. This embossing powder is different from other that I have used and gives a sort of distressed look.

This one I made for my son's girlfriend. Her favorite colors are blue and green. I did the L just like the K only I added paper glaze to give it a shine.


This one was for my daughter, who got married in Oct. The purple paper and ribbon are from her wedding invitations. So this one was fun for me. The B is the same as the L, grungeboard colored with pigment pens and then paper glaze applied. So here's a word of advice when using paper glaze. Don't wait until the night before you have to have it completed to use it! I was doing this is about 3 am on Christmas Eve for the gift giving at my mom's that night! That's why the B looks white. It isn't a glare. It just hasn't cured! So when using it, don't worry if that happens. It will eventually clear up - sometimes long after it hardens to the touch. When completely cured it creates a hard acrylic finish that is really amazing!

This is a new take on a "gift" card! My son asked for money for Christmas so this is what I came up with. It isn't original but I can't remember where I saw the idea. (So if it was you, please forgive me for not giving you credit! And feel free to post your original here!)  The inside of the card tells you to slide the two largest Christmas trees off their paper clip 'trunks' for a surprise. You can see in one of the pictures that the trees have a small lip that is folded back to hold the money and to give a 3-d look to them. I tacked the paper clips on at the top with some quilting thread to hold them in place. The trees are embellished with stickles and flocking.

Hope you enjoyed looking at these. And feel free to ask any questions!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Well, I'm finally home and it's finally here! The new decade! Beginning this month, I plan to have some really fun goodies for my scrapbook friends!  And I need your help! I need all of you to pass the word for me. And start posting here! So here are the things I am planning and need your help with!

1. Kit of the Month:  I'm working next week on getting a January Kit of the Month together.  My plan is to have a page kit each month. What I need from you is some catchy name ideas. "Kit of the Month" just sounds so, well, ordinary! So put your creative thinking caps on and make suggestions!

2. Challenge of the Month:  This requires you to pull out all that stuff you're hoarding and make something! Heehee! But it will also require you to take pictures and upload them here! The bonus is that there will be prizes! Yep, you heard right, PRIZES!!! So, check back each day to see what's going on with that. I hope to have this up by Monday.  So . . . uploading your pictures of your beautiful creations isn't required to play along . . . but . . . then you won't be entered in a drawing for fun prizes either! We're going to start off small. So no stress! Ha! As the entries increase, so will the prizes. So pass the word, scrappers! Who doesn't love free stuff!

Down the road, I also plan to have card making kits. But there are only so many hours in the day, ya know? Oh, so many ideas, so little time!

Hope this decade is one of great blessings for you and your family! And lots of creative fun along the way!

Yikes!

So last night I put on a pair of jeans I hadn't worn since before Christmas. Yikes! They're really tight! How can that happen in just a week or two? UGH!!! Ok. So now to avoid the cookies and candy and pies and all this other stuff! My mother-in-law arrived here in Ohio yesterday with her car loaded with goodies. I guess since she didn't have any of the kids or grandkids at her house in PA, she spent all her time baking! Oh, boy. So I'll start my chant: I will not gain any more weight! I will not gain any more weight! I will not gain any more weight!

And starting Jan. 2nd, my new chant will be: I will lose weight! I will lose weight! I will lose weight!

Ok, off to eat more junk . . . dum de dum dum . . .

We made it!

We made the trip to Ohio in 16 1/2 hours (not the planned 14 hours but close!). So now we are in northeast Ohio and it's snowing like crazy! My sweet 2 year old granddaughter keeps wanting to go outside. So we go out for a few minutes and come back in to warm up. But she wants to go right back out. It's too cute!

So far I've learned a couple of things since we left Mississippi yesterday:
1. If I had half the determination to stay away from food that a 2 year old can have to keep from going to sleep, I'd never have to diet.
2. In the time it takes one grammy to put on a pair of pants, a 2 year old can inspect everything on the bathroom counter, empty out a suitcase, and throw Dora in the toilet! Amazing!

But I'm having great fun enjoying her. (And, yes, Brittney I'm making sure she eats healthy food.) Of course, she also has to eat a few of great grandma's cookies, too.

Anyway, I have pictures to post of some journals I made for Christmas presents but since my sis-in-law doesn't have wireless, I haven't managed to get my laptop hooked up to her internet yet. So that may have to wait till I get back home.

Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas!

Our family

This is a little blurry but getting this many people still at one time is no small feat! On the left is our oldest daughter, Andrea, her husband, Paul and their son, Gavin. Then me in the front. Behind me are Liz and Lee, our oldest son and his girlfriend. To the right of me is our daughter, Brittney and her little girl, Jolie, her husband, Aaron is behind her. On the right in front is our youngest, Crystal and behind her, my husband, Richard. We're missing our middle child (and youngest son), Nathan and his wife, Candace. Maybe next year we can get them all there! 

 

Brittney, Jolie, and Aaron

Liz and Lee

Paul, Gavin, and Andrea

It's here!

Wow, what a great evening with family, presents, and tons of food! We had a wonderful time at my parent's house eating chili and lots of other goodies! Then the chaos begins - opening presents! Four of our children were there, our oldest, Andrea and her husband and their son, Gavin; our oldest son, Lee and his girlfriend; our daughter, Brittney and her husband and their daughter, Jolie; and our youngest, Crystal. And that's just our kids! Then there was my brother and his wife and five kids. And my sister and her husband were there, also. PLUS Mom and Dad. That's LOTS of people in one room opening presents at one time! What fun! It was awesome. There is nothing sweeter in the world than having a sweet little grandson and granddaughter give you hugs and kisses and say, "Meh Ki-mah!" (That's Jolie's translation for "merry Christmas". Gavin's is definitely more clear, but just as sweet!)

So, hope you all have a blessed holiday. I know many of us are struggling with economic difficulty. But I know that no matter what happens, my Lord is still on His throne and still interceding for me with the Father. I can come boldly before Him and make my petitions, my difficulties, my challenges, my sorrows, my needs known. And He listens. And He loves. And He answers! God bless and Merry Christmas!

2 Days to Christmas!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! We had a really busy day Sunday with the childrens' musical at church in the morning, Jolie's birthday party Sun afternoon (my adorable granddaughter) and the adult program Sun night at church! Mon. I ran errands and bought the last of the Christmas groceries and a few little happies. Tue. I did laundry and started cooking for Christmas and went to my dear friend, Beth's house to visit with her family for a while. So today is my marathon day! I'm wrapping everything and finishing a couple of little projects for my kiddos and finishing the baking. I'm always running around like a crazy woman on Christmas Eve trying to finish everything. (No comments, please!) So I've purposefully planned to NOT  be busy Thursday. We'll see what happens! LOL!

Yikes! It's almost here!

Wow, Christmas is only a week away! Baking and shopping and planning! Oh, my! And I'm also planning for January kits and pages and cards - oh, I'm tired now!

So anyway, if you are interested in giving any input to what you would love to see in a card, page, or album kit, let me know! Looking for ideas - to go with all those other ideas that are keeping me awake at night! Heehee!

So, anyway . . . here's a card I have in my etsy shop. It's from a Martha Stewart kit. These turn out absolutely beautiful! But just a word about the kits - the pictures don't always match up with what comes in them. (I think it was the bird kits that didn't match.) So if you are anal and your project has to match the picture - don't buy these card kits! Just sayin' . . .

CRAZY DAY!

Wow! What a busy, crazy day! But, with the exception of the one gift that didn't come in, lamb gifts are all bought, bagged, tagged, and delivered!  Woohoo! So tomorrow is full of getting orders filled and baking sweet granddaughter's birthday cake for party on Sunday. She will be terrific two!  And she wants a Mickey Mouse cake! Well, her mom wants her to have a Mickey Mouse cake. Guess that qualifies!

But for now, gotta get some shut eye! Toodles!

To-do-list!

Baby it's cold outside! And I have managed to sit here till almost noon on the computer! AAHHHHH! I have too much to do to be sitting here.

Ok, so here is my to-do list for today:

• Laundry done! (if you consider one load started and one load in dryer 'done') lol!
• Work on orders I have to fill by this weekend - half done!
  
• Pick up my parents when they get back in town - didn't have to do (woohoo!)
• List more in etsy shop - done!
• Figure out what I still need to buy for Christmas - too depressing. Definitely not done!
• More laundry (does it ever end?)
• Get Christmas cards done (why do always procrastinate on this one?)
• Figure out how I'm going to deliver all the lamb gifts to the Wingard home while my car is still in the shop! (ugh) - DONE!!!

Ok. So getting off of here and getting after this list!

Etsy shop

Hey, I finally have some items listed in my Etsy shop! I'll be listing more over the next few days!
Check it out!  http://www.etsy.com/shop/matildyjanedesigns

Today was a great day at the Belhaven Market. Then hubby, youngest dear daughter, and I went to a Christmas party. Los Papis played featuring the most awesome keyboard player ever - my sweet hubby! It was an interesting night. Elvis, Michael Jackson, and Jesus all in the same room! Elvis, also known as Shea Arender, was the host of this party. Michael, also known as Emilio (?not sure of spelling), was a guest. And Jesus is the really cool bongo player with Los Papis. Now, to bed so I can wake up in time to get to church in the morning!

Mini Journals

Pics of some mini journals I altered this week.

Betty's Gourmet Delights by BettysGourmetDelight on Etsy

Betty's Gourmet Delights by BettysGourmetDelight on Etsy: "BettysGourmetDelight.etsy.com"

The best homemade pepper jelly I've ever had! YUM!!! And my daughter LOVES her salsa!

12 tags

I'm loving these Tim Holtz tags!  And learning some new techniques, too!  Can't wait to try them!

Christmas Tree Book

This is the little Christmas tree book I made last week.  Had fits trying to get these pics uploaded!  As usual, the pics are all clickable if you want a larger view! Thanks for looking!

Santa Hat book

This is the little Santa Hat book I made this week.  All of the brims and the ball at the end of the hat are covered in white felt. I added bells to some pages and each page has a different ribbon or fiber around the brim and the ball. Really turned out cute!  The pictures are all clickable for a bigger view!

Market This Sat!

Hey! I will be at the market this Sat from 8:00-2:00. Come see me! I have a couple of really cute new shaped books. Haven't gotten the pics made yet but plan to get them done and post them tomorrow. One is a Santa hat shape. The other is a Christmas tree shape. Would love feedback when I get the pics posted!

Here is the link to the market bulletin with all the vendors that will be there!  It's gonna be packed!
http://www.greaterbelhaven.com/themarket/WhatsFresh_000.php