Studio 64 Chicago

I'm Having a Giveaway!

2011-11-12T14:16:00.000-06:00

Come read all about it on my other blog: CC's digital designs

Hope to see you there!

~Connie

One Hell of a Week . . .

2011-02-05T10:13:00.001-06:00

If you haven't heard already, we had a massive blizzard here that started the afternoon of February 1st. It's been one thing after another trying to shovel out and getting hubby to and from work. The kids were off school for 2 days, but they did have to go back yesterday. As usual, I am trying to play catch-up over here. Seems I did miss a day or 2 of taking shots since I've been trying to go in order (although I know we don't have to do that). I do have tons of pictures of piles and piles of snow . . . though I will not post that many to bore you. Anyway . . . starting with

January 27th - Body Parts

I don't think this one needs an explanation . . .

January 28th - Bold

I'm an M & M junkie . . . I buy a bag or 2 for whatever the season and/or occasion may be.

January 29th - Bread

Any sandwich I make for lunch is always made with this bread! Love it!

January 30th - Breakfast

Coffe and cereal . . . gotta start the morning off right!

January 31st - Broken

I missed this day . . . although I'm sure I could have found something broken around the house. I think I had my mind on the coming snow storm cause that's all everyone was taking about and has been talking about around here for the past week.

February 1st - Burgundy

With all the talk of snow storms and blizzards, while getting groceries and supplies, my hubby decided that a bouquet of flowers would help cheer things up around here for the next couple of days. This bouquet was pretty unusual as I've never seen a flower like this one! Fit perfectly with the theme too!

February 2nd - Busy

The snow finally stopped around 11:00 am. Since hubby had to play fireman this day, it was left up to me and the boys to make our way through all the snow. Here we're making our way through the gangway . . . with the drifts it was probably about 2-1/2 feet high in this area.

February 3rd - Calm

Here's the sun setting after a couple of gruelling days of digging out!

Finally, I did a scrapbook layout showing off our historial blizzard of 2011 . . .

Journaling reads:

The Blizzard of 2011 started just about 2:20 pm on Tuesday, February 1st.
It didn’t stop snowing until Wednesday morning around 11:00 am.
With the wind blowing so much and so hard . . . there were drifts everywhere you looked!
Johnny had to play fireman so he was up at 4:00 am trying to dig his way out. Sam had no school Wednesday and they’ve called it off for Thursday too.
Sure seems like some great snow for sledding or skiing. Looks like we’ll be going to the hill tomorrow!

That's about all for now.

Until next time . . . stay warm and safe, everyone!

~Connie

Black & White Image and so on

2011-01-26T19:38:00.000-06:00

Well . . . so much for being caught up. The time does fly having to keep up to date here that's for sure! So on to the photos . . .
Black & White Image -January 22nd

Here's a little statute that hangs out on my mantel . . . he seems very bored in his world so shooting him for the Black & White Image suited him well.

Bliss - January 23rd

My MIL gave me this huge bar of chocolate for my birthday and I am savoring it. Dark chocolate (or any chocolate for that matter) puts me in a state of bliss!

Bloom - January 24th

Part of a bouquet of flowers sitting on the kitchen table.

Blue - January 25th

The day was pretty much cloudy and gray all day long . . . although when I went to pick up the little guy from school, the sun happen to come out and there were bits and pieces of blue sky peeking out. This one was taken with the camera on my Blackberry.

Blurred - January 26th

This is a stained glass lamp in my living room . . . funny how it took about 3 shots before I could get the image to blur. While going through all the other images and uploading them today, I noticed quite a few photographs that I did not try to blur but came out blurred anyway . . . Go figure!

Until next time . . . Happy Picture Taking!

~Connie

Trying to catch up . . . once again

2011-01-21T19:39:00.000-06:00

Starting with January 15th - Barren

Just thought that the tree and abandoned playground looked pretty barren . . .

January 16th - Bathtime

Since there are no little ones in the house anymore, I decided to shoot a photo of my bath toiletries instead.

January 17th - Bed Time

Here's the stack of books at my bedside . . . just in case I can't get to sleep (usually not a problem though).

January 18th - Beneath . . . (the surface)

This I thought was kind of funny . . . the little guy asked for more pencils for school so I gave them to him but told him he'd have to sharpen them. I heard the sharpener going for quite a bit before he started saying something and then I heard the sharpener some more. Turns out they forgot the lead in this pencil . . .

January 19th - Best Friend

Hubby . . . getting ready to head off to work.

January 20th - Beverage

My favorite soda . . . and it's gotta be Canada Dry!

and finally . . .

January 21st - Black

This is a vase I've had for a long, long time. I currently use it as a trash can under my desk.

Looks like I'm all caught up now. I gotta remember to get here more often!

Until next time . . .

~Connie

Asymmetrical, etc.

2011-01-14T19:25:00.000-06:00

The past couple of days were a bit challenging . . .

January 11th - Asymmetrical

This is my new Wacom Intuos 4 tablet that I got for my birthday. Lovin' it!

January 12th - Athletic

The elderly woman across the street was trying to shovel her walkway the other day. When my hubby saw this, he decided to go out and do it for her instead. Here he is showing off his athleticism!

January 13th - Autumn

Since most of my autumn decor was put away when I decorated for Christmas, it was a challenge finding something appropriate for this one. I did manage to round up this silk sunflower stem though. Love those colors!

January 14th - Barns

This one I would have to say was THE most challenging though. Since we're in the city and I don't really have time to be traveling on school/work days, finding a barn was impossible . . . or so I thought! Here's a garage in a shape that reminds me of a barn. Who knows . . . maybe when it was built it really was used as a barn??

Until next time . . . Happy Picture Taking!

~Connie

Amaze . . . and onward

2011-01-11T19:47:00.000-06:00

OK . . . once again I am running behind in posting, but I do have some photos to show you!

Amaze - January 5th

after struggling the past 2 years in school, it looks like the little guy is doing much better now. His Progress Report came home today and it was amazing! (Horrible that I've got that shadow in there. Will try to avoid that next time!)

Animal - January 6th

it was a bitter cold day so I guess none of the critters wanted to come out today. I waited all day keeping my eye out for a squirrel or two, but none ever showed. When I knew I only had about 20 minutes of sunlight left, I took a snap of this owl who sits in my garden bed.

Aqua - January 7th

The coloring just wasn't working out for me on this one. This gem is a really pretty aqua in person that is. I must of taken 20 shots with different backdrops and lighting and just could get the coloring like it should be.

Architecture - January 8th

This is the celing of the church we attend. The minute I entered this church some 8 years ago, I thought it was fascinating! It's a very modern church . . . for a Catholic church that is. This photo was taken with my Blackberry.

Arranged - January 9th

Thought that dinner arranged nicely in my bowl fit perfectly for this theme.

Art - January 10th

Here's a painting that I did back in 2006 and one of my faves. It sits above the fireplace in the family room.

Hope you enjoyed your visit. Can't wait to see more of what you all have come up with too!

Until next time,

~Connie

Abstract, etc.

2011-01-05T17:58:00.000-06:00

Getting a little bit of a late start posting here, but I have been taking photos!

Abstract - January 1st

it's part of an accordian that my Father-in-Law brought to the party today . . .

Action Shot - January 2nd

my younger son . . . showing me his basketball moves . . .

Airborne - January 3rd

just one of the many jets that pass over the house daily. (there are actually 4 flight paths that they use)

and Alive - January 4th

. . . my potted Rosemary. It was in the garden during the summer and I brought it in the house when the weather got bad. I'm amazed that it's still alive! Smells really good too!

Until next time. . . Happy Picture Taking!

~Connie

Recent photographs

2010-12-11T11:38:00.000-06:00

In the coming year, I decided to turn this blog into my Project 365 spot. I recently joined Elements Village and they are launching a Project 365 for 2011. I first started working on a Project 365 back in April of 2009. I also began 2010 and was going strong taking photos until I decided to open my digi scrapbook shop at DID. Since then taking photos kind of got put on the backburnner. With the past 2 year attempts, I have yet to complete a full year of 365 photos.

I'm looking forward to getting back to taking a photo a day and hope you come back soon to see the photos I take in the coming year.

Here are some recent shots that I really like . . .

Taken November 11th on a walk through the neighborhood . . .

Taken November 12th outside my front window . . .

and this one taken on December 4th in my backyard during our first snowfall of the season . . .

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy and prosperous New Year!

See you all again soon!

~Connie

Speed Scrap - TONIGHT @ 9 PM EST

2010-09-29T19:07:00.000-05:00

For any one who might be interested . . . I am hosting a Speed Scrap at DID. Here are the details:

Come stop by . . . you could win my newest kit, Art Nouveau, just for creating a layout and uploading it!

Hope to see you soon at Designs in Digital - http://www.designsindigital.com/!

~Connie

Speed Scrap - TONIGHT - 9 pm ET

2010-08-25T08:11:00.000-05:00

Come join me over in the chat room at Designs in Digital for a Speed Scrap tonight. Everyone who uploads a layout and posts to the gallery within 24 hours is a winner!

Everyone who participates will receive this add-on pack:

Be the FIRST to upload and you could win this page kit . . . FREE!

Hope to see you there!

~Connie

New Blog . . .

2010-08-01T13:13:00.000-05:00

Please come check out my NEW blog: CC's digital designs There are lots of new and fun things happening! I have another new kit in the store and am hosting the All About Me Challenge over at Designs in Digital. You can get my latest kit for free! Check out all the details at my new blog!

Hope to see you there!

~Connie

Grand Opening & a Sale!

2010-07-21T07:35:00.000-05:00

I'm really excited! I've been busy, Busy, BUSY! Please come join me for the Grand Opening of my store at Designs in Digital

Hope to see you there!

Until next time . . . Happy Scrapping!

~Connie

Where did the week go?

2010-07-12T20:18:00.001-05:00

I've been busy creating my monthly SNL kit. And . . . seeing that it is July . . . there's always the Christmas in July festivities over at DSP. I made a bow (always good to practice those!) and a background paper for that as well. I've also been working on another kit of my own. I found a color palette that I really like . . .

Isn't it pretty?? It definitely has a very bright and summery feel to it and inspires me to create something in bloom!

Speaking of blooms . . . there's lots of things going on in my garden as well.

The mini sunflowers are ready to bloom . . .

and the bee balm and coneflowers are just bursting with color . . .

and even more White Swan coneflowers in another part of the garden are looking great too!

I'm off for now and looking to possibly finish the kit that I am working on . . .

Until next time . . . Happy Creating!

~Connie

Happy Birthday, America!

2010-07-04T07:52:00.000-05:00

Have a safe and Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Remember to thank all the soldiers today too!

Until next time . . .

~Connie

Announcement: Giveaway Winner!

2010-07-02T21:20:00.000-05:00

It's been a long day here as we went to the Cubs game today and were sitting in the hot sun all afternoon. The Cubbies did horrible (they lost 12-0) but it was a lot of fun going to the park, taking in the atmosphere, and because this was my younger son's first Cub game . . . it was memorable anyway.

With that being said . . . I need to call it a day, but first I promised to announce the winner of my giveaway. There were only 3 contenders so I put them in a bowl . . .

and I asked my little guy to pick one and open it up . . .

And the winner is . . .

Lisa from Sweet as Sugar Cookies! Lisa, I will email you so I can get your mailing address and send off your prize. I hope you enjoy this beautiful beaded necklace!

I want to thank all who participated and hope you will come back again and visit real soon!

Until next time, Happy Creating!

~Connie

Goodies package from Pat has arrived!

2010-06-30T19:18:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited! My package of goodies from Pat Winter's giveaway arrived today! There's just such a wonderful assortment of ribbons, beads and fabric. I hope to be able to put my new supplies to good use soon.

Thank you so much Pat . . . everything in this little care package is gorgeous!

When I found out that I won this, I wanted to hunt up the crazy quilt blocks that I knew I had stored in a box in the corner of my studio. I found them today and took some photographs. Mind you . . . there are only 2 blocks and they are not even finished. I think I wasn't really sure where else to go with them at the time, so maybe now I will be encouraged to finish them!

Here's the first block . . .

and details from this block include . . .

a spray of roses . . .

and a feather!

And the second block . . .

a spray of tiny flower buds . . .

you can see that I've outlined the key, but have not filled it in yet . . . and finally . . .

my favorite . . . the owl!

Hope you like what you see and have a chance to enter my giveaway as well . . .

Until next time . . . Happy Creating!

~Connie

There's still time . . .

2010-06-29T16:10:00.002-05:00

to enter my giveaway! You can find the link to that post by clicking on the picture at the top righthand sidebar. I'm so excited that I won Pat's giveaway and am axiously awaiting my package of goodies from her! I will definitely take some photos and post about that as soon as it gets here.

Thanks for stopping by and hope to be back again soon!

~Connie

Anyone interested in my Giveaway?!

2010-06-26T09:17:00.001-05:00

Thought I would of had more responses by now! If you want a chance to win my lovely handmade beaded necklace, click here to leave a comment and enter! If you blog about my giveaway on your own blog, I'll add your name again for a second chance to win. . . just leave a link to your blog post in your comment so that I know.

Hope you like my offering!

Good Luck to all who enter and Thanks for stopping by!

~Connie

Beginning of Summer Giveaways!!

2010-06-24T10:51:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure if you've seen the gorgeous giveaway that Pat Winter is having! Please visit Pat Winter Gatherings blog for a chance to win her awesome giveaway! Good luck to you . . . and to me too.

Since this happens to be my 100th post, I am also having a giveaway of my own! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and a way that I can get in touch with you if you win! (Please leave your email if you don't have a blog) For a second chance to win become a follower, if you're not already, and I will enter your name twice. (Please let me know if you are a NEW follower) I will be announcing the winner on Friday, July 2nd sometime before 10PM CST.

So with out further ado . . . what I have for you you is a lovely beaded necklace! It's light and sparkly and I think it's the perfect accessory to wear to any summer party! (The photos do not do this necklace justice) The beads are clear lined silver and the clasp is a lock and key. Hope you like it and good luck to you all!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Until next time . . . Happy Summer Days and Nights!

~Connie

Garden Journal

2010-06-14T22:44:00.000-05:00

It's been raining off and on for the past 4 or 5 days here so I haven't had much time to get anything done in the garden. I was able to work on and put together the Garden Journal that I've been wanting to do since last year. I'm really happy with the results too!

I had a 3 ring binder that I bought last year along with dividers and page protectors for the main pages. I used 6 x 9 envelopes and punched holes in them to put all the packets of seeds that I have. I also wrote the name of the seeds on that particular envelope so that they would be easier to find. I divided the binder and used separate envelopes for the different types of seeds . . . annuals, perennials, herbs, vegetables, etc.

I found this website called Homestead Garden that has templates to print for the main pages. After printing the main template, I then reinserted the pages into the printer and took a number of the many garden and flower photos that I have, set the opacity to about 25 or 30 percent and printed a background on the pages. I then was able to write any particulars and information on the page and soon my journal is chock full of terrific information and hopes and dreams for my garden! I'm really happy to have started this and it was a fun way to pass the time.

This morning I had a bit of a surprise while taking my stroll in the garden . . .

At first I thought that it was a slug, but upon closer look and consulting with hubby, we decided that it was a snail!! That's the first time I've seen one in my garden . . .

Until next time, Happy Gardening and Creating!

~Connie

The Champs!!!

2010-06-10T10:18:00.000-05:00

WOW! What an unbelievable game the Chicago Blackhawks had last night! Philly put up such a good fight and gave us a run for the money, but this is just so exciting and a tremendous boost for the city! I had my doubts when the game was tied late in the 3rd period and going into OT, but Edzo called it at the beginning of the series saying that the Hawks would win in 6 and he was right on the money! I think everyone was stunned at Patrick Kane's game winning goal. I saw him shoot the puck and was waiting for it to come out the other side and hit the boards. And when I started asking my hubby where the puck was . . . he was screaming GOAL! GOAL! IT'S A GOAL!

The neighborhood here was pumped as well . . . people were blowing off fireworks and we were screaming at the top of our lungs and shouting at the TV. It was truly an awesome feeling!

Watching the Blackhawks these past 2 years has been a lot of fun and thanks to them for all their hard work for an awesome, memorable year!

Hmmmm . . . let's see . . . I've seen the Bears, Bulls, White Sox and Blackhawks win championships . . . the only one left would be the Cubs . . . wonder when that will be??????

Until next time . . .

~Connie

Another sign and more blooms

2010-06-02T18:44:00.000-05:00

I did manage to finish the other sign I was making . . . this time the color scheme is mauve, brown, cream and green.

I just need to find a place to hang it! Maybe in the front garden this time. I'll have to see and get hubby to help with that.

Here's a few other things that are now blooming in the garden as well . . .

This clematis is doing well and has been for a couple of years now. The white Henryi clematis didn't survive so I have to be on the look out for another. I have one other purple clematis that is supposed to be the same as the one shown above, but it looks more red and is no where near as big as this one.

The delphiniums are just starting to open as well . . .

And here's what the pink climbing rose looks like fully opened. Definitely more pink and what I was looking for!

Hope to be back again soon!

~Connie

Oh! How my garden grows . . .

2010-06-01T14:02:00.000-05:00

Summer has made it's presence known and it shows throughout the garden. The weather has been hot and muggy with lots of sunshine. Yesterday was rainy for a bit, but all in all we have nothing to complain about here. Things are really taking off in the garden . . .

The Snow in Summer is in bloom and looks just beautiful!

. . . and the pink Oriental Poppy that I started from seed last year and moved to a new location last fall made a come back as well. It has about 5 or 6 buds total this year where as last year it had only 2 flowers. The first flower has opened and I can't wait to see the rest . . .

My pink climbing rose is looking good as well. I was afraid that it would get the black spot as it wasn't looking good last fall so I treated it with Bayer Advance for roses and it's doing great! I think it's called Eden . . . the flowers open up as white with a hint of pink on the edges and as they mature they turn more pink . . .

I still have some other pictures to upload and organize so I'll have more from the garden again soon! I've also been working on another sign to hang up in the garden as well and should have that done later today. Hope to be back again soon.

Until then . . . Happy Gardening!

~Connie

Finally warming up outside

2010-05-20T19:17:00.000-05:00

and trying to get back to normal around here. The birthday party for my son was a big success although the weather could have been a little warmer . . . still everyone had a great time.

Now that the weather has warmed up this week, I once again have been spending time in the garden. The fountain is finally up and running and the wisteria is in bloom and smells just heavenly!

I even started my herb garden! I've got rosemary, oregano, thyme, basil and tarragon . . . just to name a few . . .

I was feeling creative and made a sign for the garden too . . . I started with a scrap piece of wood and base coated it with gesso. I then glued a layer of some tissue paper that had a pretty rose floral motif to it (it's kind of hard to see it from this photo) along with a crumpled piece of paper that says "5c per bunch" that I generated and printed through Photoshop. I then penciled the outline of the "HERBS" lettering and painted that in with 2 coats of green. I painted the edges with a dark brown and then stenciled a few vines around the inner edges in a sandy colored acrylic paint. I dry brushed some areas with the sandy color acrylic paint and inked the inner edges with brown. Copper wire attached to some cup hooks and some rafia tied in a bow and I'm all set. I just love the way it turned out! It's still drying and probably could use a coat or 2 of sealant on it. I'll hang it up tomorrow since it's starting to rain right now and complete my herb garden theme.

Until next time . . . enjoy and Happy Creating!

~Connie

I’ve been a terrible blogger lately . . .

2010-05-12T18:54:00.000-05:00

Been spending most of my time in the garden, doing a lot of cleaning around the house and driving back and forth to baseball practices and games. The new storm door is up and so is the new vinyl fence! The house is spic and span and we’re ready for a party!

My older son is turning 21 so we decided to throw him a party and invited the whole family. We haven’t done one of those for quite a number of years so we thought that being a significant one, he deserved it. He’s been studying really hard and will be done with finals tomorrow. I’m sure he’s looking forward to start his summer vacation too!

I haven’t done much creating of late. I did my monthly SNL kit that was a bit of a challenge for me this time. The theme is Art Journaling and the color palette was beautiful, but I seemed to have a hard time thinking of things to put in the kit and putting elements together. All in all, I think it turned out pretty cute!

I bought some new little decorative bird houses at Michael’s that I found in the $1 bin. I did manage to prime them but I have to pick a day to paint them. It seems my color scheme in the garden is turning more towards yellow, white and blue with touches of red here and there. I have a red Astilbe which is just starting to send up some shoots, but the red clematis didn’t make it through the winter. The red chrysanthemum I bought a couple of years ago has sent up new shoots so now I have about 5 of those. I’ll probably also sow some red Nicotina.

My white azalea started to bloom this past week too and looks beautiful!

I’m sure I’ll post more pictures of the garden in the weeks to come.

It’s Blackhawks fever over here at my house! With Chicago’s 5-1 victory over Vancouver last night . . . . we’re advancing to the final 4 and anxiously awaiting word on when the series against San Jose will start.

Hope to be back again soon.

Until then . . . Go Blackhawks! (and Happy Gardening and Creating too!)

Still in the garden . . .

2010-04-25T13:27:00.001-05:00

and enjoying my time there! Bought some impatiens to fill in some areas at the front of the border. They are a pretty mix of white, pale pink, pale lilac and a deep pink.

Anemone are popping up all over the garden right now as well. I moved clumps here and there and even to the front garden last fall and they look fabulous! I just love these little white flowers!

The Snow Maiden Iris are looking good too!

It's been raining off and on these past couple of days so I've been in the mood to read more as my creative spark seems to be limited to figuring out what else I want to plant and do in the garden. I started Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy the other day and am hoping to read some more today.

Hope to be back again soon!

~Connie

In the garden . . .

2010-04-17T19:22:00.000-05:00

I've been spending most of my time this past week in the garden. Dividing plants that I didn't take care of in the fall, moving things around here or there and scrutinizing what goodies are coming up where. I try to mark most of the perennials and bulbs, but sometimes the markers get faded or they get moved from trying to clear debris in the flowerbed. LOL. Makes me laugh . . . hubby and I go for a stroll in the garden every morning trying to decipher what plant this is or what plant that is . . . and looking for open space so we can plant some annuals or something new. We've got quite a bit going on with the grape hyacinths in full bloom already . . .

and Tete a Tete daffodils . . .

I even found some white hyacinths at Home Depot. They just smelled so good!!

All in all things are looking really great so far. Hubby even agreed to get some phlox as well . . . said he really liked the blue in this one . . .

I'm certainly looking forward to spending more time out in the garden and can't wait until the new privacy fence is up! Hopefully, it will be up later this month or early in May.

I was having some bad luck with a certain lilac bush that I purchased a couple of years back so I had to purchase another. I'm happy to say that this new one did survive the winter and came back this year. It's still too young to produce any flowers though. I had a lilac at the other house and it just filled the yard with a wonderful fragrance all through Spring. As I was coming home today and parking the car in the garage, my neighbor gave me cuttings from his lilac. He happened to be out cutting some for his daughter's birthday and decided to give me some as well. What a sweetie! I've always thought it was unusual that half of the bush has white flowers and the other half has purple . . . and they smell so good too!

Hope you're all enjoying Spring and taking advantage of the beautiful weather. It's such a wonderfully promising time of the year! Maybe that's why both my boys were born in the Spring . . .

Well then . . . until next time . . . Happy Gardening and Happy Creating!

~Connie

Polish tragedy

2010-04-12T19:17:00.001-05:00

It was Saturday afternoon when we decided to head to Target 'cause the little one needed a new pair of gym shoes. As we were driving through the neighborhood, Polish flags started appearing on cars as they zoomed by us. Upon further exam . . . we noticed that houses were also displaying the flags. My hubby asked me if it was Polish Constitution Day. I told him I thought I was in a couple of weeks. Looking further still and on the way back from Target . . . we noticed more and more flags up, but then I noticed . . . black ribbons . . . I told my hubby . . . something's wrong . . . something's happened. We turned the radio on and when we got home, turned on the news. Tragedy . . . plane crash . . . many top officials dead . . .

At first it was hard to believe, I wasn't really comprehending everything completely. I watched all the news and read all that I could about this tragedy and then I realized . . . I know that word . . . Katyn . . . and then it hit me . . . I knew exactly what they are talking about. The statuary at the cemetary. I was at the cemetary just last fall, visiting my mother and brought my camera this time . . . I needed to take a picture of the new sculpture at the entrance of the cemetary . . . it was just so mesmerizing . . .

It's just really hard to describe the mood of the neighborhood and surrounding area here. On my block alone there are 8 - 10 Polish flags flying.

We happened to pass by the cemetary today and there is a sea of candles and flowers at the base of the Katyn Memorial sculpture. Cars were lined up all along the cemetary road and people were starting to gather again.

My prayers are with Poland at this time.

It's been too long!

2010-04-06T19:09:00.005-05:00

I can't believe how time is flying! Been terribly busy with work being done on the house over here . . . and the little guy starting baseball. We had to have our chimney fixed and since the masons were gonna be here already, we had them redo the front of the house as well. That really wasn't fun with 4 or so hours of them grinding all the old mortar out, but the results are fantastic. Now we're getting estimates for a new fence and the storm door in the front is really rickety so we've been looking into that as well. It's been raining the past couple of days now so the fields are too wet for the kids to get any practice in. They'll probably resume again on Friday.

Hope you all had a Happy Easter! Ours started with watching The Ten Commandments on Saturday evening . . . one of those classics that I remember watching every Easter as a kid myself. We went to a wonderful mass Easter morning and then over to my in-laws for dinner. The day seemed to fly by, but the weather was just perfect!

I was able to finish my SNL kit for April . . . berry blossoms is the theme and overlays are the focus. Here's a preview of my kit . . .

I was having so much fun with the overlays and the tutorials that I came across that I made some other digital art with some of my own landscape and cityscape photographs. Here's what I came up with . . .

I'm supposed to be designing the redress of the SNL site this month and hope to get that done in the next couple of days. I still have some more cleaning in the garden to finish as well.

There's daffodils and magnolias and hyacinths starting to bloom throughout the neighborhood right now! I really need to start getting pictures of all those before they're gone. Enjoy Spring wherever you may be! Hope to be back again soon!

~Connie

SNL's Birthday Bonus Bash

2010-03-21T22:05:00.000-05:00

I spent today making a kit for the kickoff of the Sensational Six Birthday Bash over at DSP. During our regular SNL chat on Saturday, March 27th at 9:00 pm EST, we will be giving away kits and bonuses galore! So if you're interested in digital scrapbooking or just want to add to your stash . . . stop by and join the fun. You will have to be a member of DSP in order to get these goodies though. (There is a link to DSP at the right on the sidebar) Hope to see you there!

Here's what I came up with . . .

Happy digi-scrapping everyone!

~Connie

First day of Spring??

2010-03-20T09:04:00.000-05:00

The calendar may say that it is officially the first day of Spring, but I don't think Mother Nature got the message . . . at least not here in Chicago. Yesterday, hubby and I spent some time raking up the grass and pulling out the last bit of dead vegetation in the front garden. Last night I captured this beautiful sunset out my front window . . .

This morning . . . this is what we woke up to!

We were warned about this, but I was praying that it would be mostly rain. As I'm writing this, it seems to be coming down even more and it's pretty windy as well. Hopefully this won't last too long and we can get back to being out in the garden again.

Last night, while reading through the blogs I'm following, I caught a video on how to make a crocheted necklace. I just grabbed the first set of supplies that I could find and here's what I came up with . . .

I think it turned out cute. It's very light-weight and I love the colors! Julia from Vintage with Laces posted the necklace she made with a link to the video on her blog. This is definitely an easy project to do and didn't take much time either.

I'm thinking of pinks and greens for the next one . . .

Until next time . . . Happy Creating!

~Connie

Arriving from Singapore!

2010-03-18T20:56:00.000-05:00

I got my OWOH prize of my tatted name from Ellen at Singtatter's Corner!

What lovely variegated colors she used . . . they're pinks and browns. Thank you Ellen! It is beautiful. She also included some darling little tatted daisy flowers and several stamps from Singapore. What terrific ephemera to add to my collection as well!

Been pretty busy with everyday stuff around here . . . the little guy had a birthday on Tuesday and I've been running around like crazy from store to store and playing chauffeur today. I just got finished sewing patches on a leather vest for one of my hubby's friends and I think it's time to call it a day.

We've been having terrific weather here, but they say we might be in for some snow this weekend. Hopefully it won't be too much and will be mostly rain instead.

Once again the week has flown by . . . hope to be back again soon!

~Connie

Time flies . . .

2010-03-12T21:14:00.000-06:00

when you've been spring cleaning. WOW! It's been a week since I last posted. Been busy, Busy, BUSY. Seems like I haven't got anything done yet I've been too exhausted to stay up to even look at this computer screen. I was making headway in cleaning, sorting and throwing things out in my studio but today I was in there . . . and it STILL looks like a disaster. Everyday stuff has kept me busy that I haven't really created anything either, but the weather has been warmer this week and the sun's been out more often and the days are getting longer! YAY!

After this weekend, (even though baseball will be starting for the little guy) I should be back on track. The little guy also has a history project due on Monday and he's been very busy writing those reports while I get his photos together and cut all the paper for matting the photos and a time line and titles, etc. It's really alot of work and if I didn't help him . . . he'd never get it done. It's coming together nicely though . . .

I just hope this is the last project the teachers have planned for this school year! On a fun note . . . the kids were having a 50's day at school today and I thought he looked so adorable this morning that I just had to take his picture . . .

What a cool kid! Brings back some fun fond memories for me too when we would be able to do that for school!

I was able to coffee stain some fabrics and papers today . . . I just haven't taken a picture of that yet. I hope to use some of those to finish my dragonfly wall hanging . . . which is still sitting on my work table. I really hope to be able to finish it soon.

Have a terrific weekend, everyone!

~Connie

In the mail today . . .

2010-03-06T16:36:00.000-06:00

I received my OWOH prize of the crow that Jennifer Conway made . . .

Isn't he adorable?! I just love that glitter tophat too! Thank you, Jennifer!

Been busy trying to come up with papers and elements for my SNL kit for this month. It was a little tough, but once I made the colors more pastel . . . the ideas started to flow. I think I'm done with it . . . just tweeking a few things here and there and then I should be ready to move on to my next creative endeavor. Anyway . . . here's a preview of the kit . . .

Hope to be back again soon . . . spring fever has kind of hit me and I've been trying to clean out and organize my studio since I haven't been able to locate the supplies that I know that I have but just can't seem to find . . . LOL . . . I'm sure alot of you know what I mean!!

Until next time!

~Connie

Digital ATCs

2010-02-28T21:59:00.000-06:00

I started my day lazily since we went to church yesterday afternoon. Had some running around to do and ended up at Michaels. I found these flower fairy decoupage sheets that were really cute. I decided to scan them into the computer and created some new DATCs with them.

These are always fun and kind of addicting to do. There's still some more that I'd like to do and then I'll probably print them up along with a backing for them. If you'd like me to send you one . . . let me know. You can access my email by clicking on my complete profile. Send me your snail mail address and I'll get it out as soon as I can.

We'll . . . I'm off for now!

~Connie

I love the postman . . .

2010-02-25T19:53:00.000-06:00

especially when he brings me goodies and not bills! Arriving today was this lovely cross-stitched Unicorn by Evalina from this and that.

I can tell it was stitched with loving care because you can tell what the image is even from the back! Now I will have fun looking for fabrics to finish it . . . I think I will make it into a wall hanging.

I'm off for now . . . it's been an exhausting day. Running back and forth from the oral surgeon, gettting RX's filled and helping the little one with school work too.

A good night's rest is what I'm looking forward to.

Until next time . . . happy creating!

~Connie

I've Got MORE Mail

2010-02-24T18:20:00.000-06:00

In the post today . . . cards by Gemma!

What lovely note cards these are! I know you can't see it in the picture, but there a touches of glitter in the center of each flower. Thank you Gemma!

It's been pretty busy and a little hectic here the last couple of days . . . and it snowed again today (mostly flurries, but still . . . Ugh!)

There was a little booklet we got at mass on Ash Wednesday with ideas and things we could do during Lent and to prepare for the coming of Easter. One of the things was to prepare a spot in your home as an alter for the Bible and to do daily readings and reflections. I made this runner for my credenza with some of those purple fabrics I got last week. I did a simple applique design with gray silk and the purple fabric used as the backing. The ends are edged with a simple beaded border (can't see that in this picture though). All in all, I think it turned out pretty nice!

I had planned on spending tomorrow in my studio, but it looks like my older son is going to need a wisdom tooth extracted so I'll be spending my day at the oral surgeon. Hopefully, I will be able to get some time in to create some art and work on the little dragonfly wall hanging I was planning on finishing.

Hope to be back again sometime tomorrow!

~Connie

I've Got Mail

2010-02-18T18:53:00.000-06:00

Yay! My first arrivals came in the mail today . . . didn't expect them this soon!

Earrings by Cat from Chatty Cat's

OK so it's only the one ear . . . it's the best I could do taking the photo all by myself. I absolutely love them and they happen to go great with the outfit I was wearing today too!

Also, arriving today . . . bracelet by Xanna from Xanna's Jewelry Box

Again . . . not such a great picture but totally beautiful IRL!

Just wanted to let you all see and say THANK YOU again to Cat and Xanna! Both pieces ROCK!

I'm off to go play with some new fabrics I purchased yesterday . . . sssshhhhhhhh . . . don't tell hubby!

They were just to gorgeous to pass up!

Until next time . . . Happy Creating!

~Connie

OWOH prizes that I won!

2010-02-16T18:57:00.002-06:00

I'm so excited not only about what I was giving away, but about the fabulous prizes that I've won through this event. Right now, I am feeling so overwhelmed with joy!

I've won the following:

a set of notecards entitled Poppies and Sunflowers from Gemmas Daybook
a collaged, beeswax coated crow from Jennifer Conway mixed media artist
a pair of exotic dance earrings from Chatty Cat's
a beautiful bracelet from Xanna's Jewelry Box
a set of notecards featuring photographs taken by Lenore from eat write create
a beautiful cross-stitched Unicorn by EvalinaMaria from this and that
a lovely tatted creation of my name from Singtatter's Corner

I patiently await their arrival and will post pictures as they are received!! In the meantime, please visit their blogs and see all the other fabulous things they have created!

ALL!

Until next time . . .

~Connie

Announcing . . . the OWOH Winners!

2010-02-15T10:45:00.000-06:00

I just want to thank EVERYONE who entered my drawing and came to visit me. I never imagined the fantastic responses that I got . . . 325 comments total! I had so much fun visiting and meeting everyone through this wonderous event! Thanks again to Lisa for hosting this event . . . looks like she put alot of time and hard work into putting it all together and I for one want her to know that I appreicate all that she's done.

That being said . . . I used the Random.org generator and came up with the following 2 participants as the winners:

First was #120 - Jade Perez of New Age Dolls
Second was #171 - Clarissa of Glass Girl Studios

I will email each of you shortly . . . Jade will have first pick of which bag she would like.

Thanks again to all of you for your interest in my blog and giveaway. I look forward to seeing what everyone is creating throughout the coming year!

Have a fabulous day!

Welcoming Love

2010-02-11T08:19:00.000-06:00

I tried to dress up my blog for Valentines but was having a problem with Photobucket or Blogger . . . not sure which one . . . so I figured I'd just post these pictures of some of the decorations I have in my home instead.

I made the wreath a couple of years ago and the banner is hanging in my studio . . .

Happy Valentines Everyone and Have a Wonderful Day!

Blog hopping

2010-02-09T14:20:00.000-06:00

I'm having so much fun blog hopping and seeing so many creative, talented artists all because of OWOH. I see something on one site and I'll remember a scarf that I knitted . . . or those soaps I tried to make . . . or that cross stitch project that's been on hold for who remembers how long now. But I also have in the back of my mind that CED's theme this month is home and maybe I should be concentrating on cleaning and organizing my home.

I started the day trying to organize my craft/studio space and just when I think I'm making progress, I remember that I need to wash the bed sheets and sweep the floors of all those dust bunnines and vacuum in the living room. So the organizing of my "studio" space gets put on the back burner. Then I look at the time and realize I've got to go pick up the little one from school soon. When I get home, I'll have to start to think about what I'm gonna make for dinner. I guess I should just wait 'til the morning to start back in the "studio" again.

I did come across 2 things that I would like to finish though . . .

The first is a doll that I made using the beginner's pattern in Creative Cloth Doll Making by Patti Medaris Culea. She sits on a shelf high above me all the time in my studio and I really don't pay much attention to her. She's pretty much done except for the fact that her clothing needs to be sewn down as she's got pins all over her keeping it in place right now. I call her my Earth doll and this is what she looks like . . .

I wasn't pleased with the way her hands turned out so maybe that's why I just never finished her. I did go to all the trouble of cutting up the fabric and lace to make up her garment that I really should just take 1/2 an hour of so and tack it down.

The other was a little art quilt that I started a while back. The base is a left over quilt block that I started stamping and painting on as an experiment with some of the techniques I read about in Quilting Arts Magazine. I just didn't get very far and never finished it as well. This is what I have so far . . .

I think this is what I'm going to finish as my CED challenge this month and incorporate the "home" theme into it. Well . . . it's just about time to go get the little one . . .

Hopefully I'll have more time for blog hopping again this evening . . . or maybe I'll summon up the energy to work on and finish one of the projects above.

Hope you're all enjoying OWOH! I know I am!

Until next time . . .

So much going on!

2010-02-04T08:02:00.000-06:00

I managed to finish my monthly SNL kit last night . . . think it turned out pretty cute!

The theme was whimsical valentine with a beautiful color palette. Doodles were the focus for this month . . . which even though I have a Bamboo, I'm still not completely comfortable using it. I'm so glad I got this kit done!

Now I can move on to much more pressing things . . . like painting and CED2010 and visiting all those blogs I haven't yet got to! Gosh . . . so much to do!!

If you're looking for One World One Heart . . . it's the post after this one. I guess I need to start thinking about adding an additional giveaway . . . hmmmmm . . . what should it be??

Will be back again soon!

One World One Heart 2010

2010-01-29T15:29:00.001-06:00

I've seen this around the web and wasn't really sure what it was all about . . . have you?

Well . . . it sounded like such a wonderful idea that I decided to join the fun and "hop on the magic carpet" too. All you have to do is leave a comment on this post by midnight, February 14, 2010, indicating your email address for a chance to win. Please be sure to include an email address so that I can contact you if you do in fact win. One winner will chosen using random.org based on the number of entries. I will be announcing the winner by noon on February 15th!

What's the prize you ask? Well . . . it will be this lovely handmade purse . . .

I made it out of an olive textured upholstery fabric and it is lined with a simple black cotton fabric. Braided trim is used for the handles and the loop closure along with an oversized black shank button.

UPDATE: February 5th, I have added a second giveaway . . .

This bag is done very similar to the green bag except with a soft gold chenille fabric and a round button this time. This one is more of a night time bag. I will give the first winner their choice of bag.

Good luck to all and thanks for stopping by!

I look forward to hearing for you!

A "happy" accident

2010-01-28T20:36:00.000-06:00

I was able to play with paint today . . . unlike the other day, I wasn't planning on it, but was able to get a couple of hours time by myself.

I started with a 12" x 12" sheet of linen acrylic paper and just started using up the paint that was stored in my palette from last week's painting session. I started light with the yellows and then added brown to the edge and spritzed alcohol here and there to "move" the paint. Then I used green paint over a stencil and had to let it dry for a bit. I scraped in some white lines with an old credit card and also scraped off the edges to get other areas of white. Finally, I took a charcoal pencil and traced some of the lines from the stencil. Here's what I got:

After dinner, I decided that I would try to work some more on this. At one point I put some leaf green paint and Jacquard Lumiere in pearl white on my palette paper and took the brayer to it and put that on the painting as well. Then I decided that I wanted to stamp some leaf images with the pearl white paint, but it didn't show up very well on the painting. Instead, out of frustration, I started stamping the pallette and it looked so cool that I took a picture of that instead. Here's what my "happy" accident looks like:

I'm gonna let this dry and tomorrow will see about adhering it with gel medium to the painting as another layer and continue working on it. Hopefully, I'll have something more and interesting to show you again tomorrow.

Until then . . . enjoy!

A different take

2010-01-26T23:38:00.000-06:00

on the body theme for me today. I started the day off all excited because I'd have more time to myself today and would be able to paint. I got my morning paper after dropping the little guy off at school and decided that I'd have my oatmeal and read the paper before heading into my "studio" to paint.

That's when things started going wrong. I was reaching to the top shelf to get the measuring cup when it slipped out of my hand and hit the bottom shelf that housed my everday dishes. CRASH! . . . shattered pieces of two dinner plates were all over the place. Klutzy me! I figured it was just that I'd had too much coffee and needed something more in my stomach . . . but I couldn't make my breakfast until I cleaned up all the mess.

After cleaning it up and having a full stomach, I was finally ready to get on with my day. I decided that I should go to the mall real quick and pick out some new dinnerware since having only 2 dinner plates in a family of 4 was not going to cut it. I spent my morning going from store to store . . . Kohl's . . . Carsons . . . Bed, Bath & Beyond . . . Target . . . Kmart . . . and finally back to Carsons again to check out the opened box of dinnerware that I liked to see if it was intacted. I managed to get a good deal on the set of 6 place settings that also included certain serving dishes, salt and pepper shakers and a cream and sugar bowl. The sign said it was $49.99, but when the girl rang it up the total was $41.00! Even better! I was in the car and on my way home when I realized that once again I was starving . . . it was lunch time. When I finally did get home and lugged that heavy box in from the garage, I was exhausted! . . . 11:30 am and I was feeling so tired.

So I made and ate my lunch and started to unpack the box. Since I had to clean all of these new dishes, I had to first clean the dirty ones that I had left from breakfast so I started washing, rinsing and drying . . . . and washing, rinsing and drying . . . and here's what my new place settings look like . . .

I really love the basketweave design so I can dress them up with napkins, glassware and place mats in any color and/or design that I like. After all that washing, rinsing and drying . . . it was time to pick up the little one from school and yet again . . . I was feeling tired! But the bitter cold winter air woke me up temporarily when going out to pick him up.

I did manage to do some sketching earlier this evening . . . although I really would have liked to get out the paint. I was looking through the book The Creative Artist A Fine Artist's Guide to Expanding Your Creativity by Nita Leland and love the exercises she's got throughout the book. It just gets the mind going . . . anyway . . . here's one of my sketch pages . . .

Kind of sums up my day perfectly. I just wish I didn't feel so tired all the time!

Until next time . . . Happy Creating!

A freebie for you!

2010-01-22T17:07:00.000-06:00

I know it has been a while, but yes, I do have a freebie available for download.

Hope you like it!

Please be sure to let me know what you think and forward any jpgs of your LO's to me. There is a TOU included with the zip file so please be sure to read it.

You can download the kit by clicking here: Studio64_MyValentineKit.zip

Taking in the sites

2010-01-20T21:45:00.002-06:00

January18th
Originally uploaded by MrsC_64
I have been creating these past couple of days, just not posting like I should. We went to the Art Institute on Monday. Hubby and I had a great time, but the little guy got tired and bored pretty quickly. Can't wait to be able to go back again!

I have been working on a new scrapbook kit and I hope to be done with it tomorrow.

Until next time . . .

I'm so excited!

2010-01-15T18:12:00.005-06:00

The new design at the SNL site is up and running. I think it turned out beautiful! This was my first time doing the re-dress and am so happy with the way it turned out! Take a look . . . SNL Scrappers

I was able to do some more painting today as well. I started with a new sketch and watercolor paper this time and I'm happier with the results so far . . .

Will work again on this some more tomorrow.

Painting today

2010-01-14T22:47:00.007-06:00

I was able to block in the colors on the "body" painting that I'm working on for the CED2010 January challenge. I had to do some reading about color mixing for skin tones first however, and still need to do some more reading and experimenting with the paint. Here's what I have done so far . . .

The background looks much greener here than it really is (my photography skills aren't all that great) but I figure if the pictures are not blurry, it's good enough for me. In actuality, the background is more of a muted green. I really like the way the draping is coming along! After looking at it more and more, the right arm just isn't right and she looks a little squat and chubby. I'll have to work on this more . . .

It's has been a little hectic around here these past couple of days. I voluteered to do the site re-dress for SNL which I did on Tuesday and am awaiting to see the results. This is the first time I've done it and I'm really excited and anxious at the same time! As soon as it's up and running, I will post a link to it from here.

Hope to be back soon with more creative projects and happenings.

Until then . . . Happy Creating!

Today is my birthday

2010-01-10T20:46:00.014-06:00

For the past 2 years, I've received a free scrapbook kit from DSP . . . which is a really nice gesture and very much appreciated! As my way of thanking them, I create a LO using the kit and do an "all about me" page. Here's the page I did today . . .

If you want to see and read the complete details of "46 Things About Me", click on the photo and it will take you to my gallery at DSP.

I've had a wonderful day except for the fact that the Blackhawks lost. :( My hubby made breakfast for me . . . I got a dozen beautiful red roses . . . I got to relax and do some scrapbooking . . . I had a wonderful salmon dinner . . . I had chocolate birthday cake and got a bottle of my favorite perfume, Coco Chanel Mademoiselle, and also a Blackhawks sweatshirt!

All in all, it was a wonderful day! Hope to be back tomorrow with something more on my CED2010 project.

Finished my SNL kit

2010-01-08T21:24:00.008-06:00

I'm really happy I decided to make this kit. I've been so disappointed these past couple of months because of all the problems I had with that demo of CS4 and the limitations I encounter in PSE5. I'm really glad I stuck with this one though. It's called I Remember Grandma. I remember going over to my grandmother's house when I was a little girl and she would let me play in her bedroom. On her dresser she had a silver tray with tons of perfume bottles and all kinds of jewelry. When I got older, she would let me put on her make-up too. I remember those as happy times . . . just being a kid! Anyway . . . here's my latest SNL kit . . .

I'm hoping to get something more done on my CED2010 project and be able to do some painting this weekend.

Hope to be back soon to show you more of my creative endeavors!

In the mean time . . . HAPPY CREATING!

Color Pencil Sketch

2010-01-06T22:16:00.025-06:00

Here's my latest on the "body" theme for CED2010. I decided to go with this magazine clip first of all because my hubby said that the girl looked alot like me and my body. I cut it out of a magazine quite a while ago and always intended on doing something with it so when I heard of the theme for this month, I knew this was the picture I would be using. The other reason is that I have back issues and have since I was 22 years old when I had my first bout with a "slipped" disc. Since then, I've had several episodes of sciatica and recently had a displace rib. So my doctor says I need to do exercises to help strengthen my back muscles.

For this sketch, I decided to try colored pencils to get a feel more for the colors . . .

I think it looks pretty good! Next time, I will try my hand with the acrylics on this new linen paper by Strathmore I found at Michaels last week.

On another creative note . . . I have been trying to work on my new SNL kit . . . I have the papers done (which I'm really happy with), but seem to be struggling with the elements right now. I was trying my hand at making pearls again and seem to be running into a problem with some of the effects in PSE 5. Here's what I've done so far . . .

Well, I'm off again for now . . . hope to be back soon with another creation!

It's Official . . . the holidays are over

2010-01-04T20:36:00.025-06:00

Yesterday was such an exhausting day . . . we had my hubby's family Christmas party and didn't get home until 10:30 pm and the little guy started back at school today. Everyone's been pretty tired and cranky here today. I did managed to get most of the inside decorations taken down and now it's just a matter of getting all that stuff back into the boxes and then stored away. The tree is no more . . . well sort of . . . hubby decided that he would keep the tree for a bit longer so he propped it up in a snow bank in the back yard.

I'm sure with one good windy day it will toppel over anyway.

I was able to take some photographs of some of the collections . . . here's all but one of the nativity sets that I have . . .

Starting the left . . . the tallest is my latest find and that's the one I've been using under the big tree in the living room . . . the ceramic one, hubby found and liked so I put it on the window sill in the kitchen. The glass one was a present from my grandmother and I've had it for many years now . . . probably a good 15 years. I use that one under the smaller tree that we put up in the family room. The one on the right is a Precious Moments version that I bought maybe 10 years ago. I was using it under the main tree for quite a number of years. I've been wanting to use it outside so that I could have a nativity scene outdoors too, but I'm afraid someone might take off with it . . . and I don't have a proper stable for it either.

There is one other nativity scene that I have but it's packed away in a box that we didn't even open this year. It's one that my mother gave to me and was used when I was a little girl so I know it's atleast 40 years old and very fragile by now.

Well . . . I'm gonna go for now and try to create something since I haven't had time yet today to create. I just have to decide wether I should continue with my SNL kit or try drawing some more for that new painting I'll be doing for the CED 2010!

Until next time . . .

My Word for the Year

2010-01-02T22:33:00.005-06:00

So, yesterday I mentioned that I would be doing the exercises to find out what my word of the year would be. Well, I have done them and feel confident that I have found mine! I know this was the word for me because it was the basis of everything that I felt was hindering me from doing certain creative projects. I realized that everything negative that I have been feeling and what keeps me from wanting and having the energy to pursue a more creative life is not feeling healthful.

Since I quit smoking 5 years ago, I have struggled and put on a few more pounds than I care to admit. There was a time that I was exercising by walking or riding the bike and I was even doing Pilates and yoga as well. I got fustrated because I felt that instead of losing weight . . . which the scale told me that I wasn't . . . I was bulking up instead. When I look at pictures of me just 2 short years ago, I definitely looked slimmer even though the scale didn't say so. Right now I have no exercise routine at all and it sure doesn't help that the weather outside is so cold!

Sure . . . there are also those excuses of all the things I need to do on a daily basis and all the people who rely on me to help them out and do certain chores around the house, but when I struggle to keep my eyes open and feel tired all the time, it's tough to summon up the energy for anything but just getting through the day. It's a bad cycle that I need to break so I can have the energy I need and feel like I want to create something.

So my word for the year is healthful. Everything I eat, drink and do, will be to benefit my physical and mental health. I know I can do this! I know I will feel much better and have more energy when I do so!

As far as creating today, I did manage to make some background papers for my SNL kit and I was able to do some sketching. This is just a preliminary sketch for the painting I'm going to be doing for the "body" theme for this month's CED2010 challenge . . .

For a first sketch . . . I don't think it's all that bad.

Well, it's getting late so I'm off for now . . .

'Til tomorrow . . .

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T23:23:00.014-06:00

OK . . . so I mentioned that I'll be taking part in the Creative Everyday 2010 Challenge and have found this interesting tool for finding your word of the year. Leah mentioned it and has a link on the site for a free download from Christine Kane. I've downloaded and printed it out and will be settling down for the night to read and write and find out just exactly what my word of the year will be!

We had some more Christmas shopping to do today. There's the family party for my husband's side of the family on Sunday so tomorrow I'll be wrapping and baking again and hopefully have some time for creating as well.

I'll show you what I have done so far on the painting I've been working on . . .

I'm really happy with the sky! The building needs work and so does the foreground. Hopefully, I'll be able to get some more done tomorrow. I already have something else rolling around in my head as the theme for CED2010 for January is "body" . . . but I really would like to finish this before I start on anything new!

I just might also be working on an SNL kit as well . . . I was thinking that I might put making kits on the back-burner for a while . . . but I really like the theme and colors for January's kit so I think I might have to find time for that as well. This is the color swatch we have to work with . . .

They really are some pretty colors that I don't think I'll be able to resist!

Well . . . I'm off for now . . .

Hope to be back tomorrow!

My favorite Christmas present

2009-12-30T20:17:00.014-06:00

My hubby gave me a figurine for Christmas that is just SO precious! It's called Brothers (Forging a bond that lasts a lifetime) and is a Susan Lordi design for Willow Tree. It prefectly represents our two boys and I have it sitting on my desk!

It's just so adorable that I had to share.

We had a bit of a mishap with the computer recently so some of my photos needed to be reinstalled from a backup drive and I still need to reorganized them. Seems I have doubles of certain ones that I already renamed and placed in certain folders . . . so now I have to figure out just exactly which photos are which so it may take some time to reorganize them. I had other pictures of Christmas decorations to share with you, but was only able to find this one so far . . .

Since I'll be taking the decorations down pretty soon I guess I'll just retake photos of all the collections we have . . . Santas . . . angels . . . nutcrackers . . . nativity scenes . . . that is if I remember before I end up putting them all away!

Well, I'm off for now . . . I'm trying my hand at a painting and have been working on it for a couple of days now. I have been taking pictures as I go along so you'll be able to see the progression.

Hope to be back soon!

Until then . . . HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

Getting into the Holiday Spirit

2009-12-09T12:05:00.013-06:00

I started off slow with my holiday decorating as I do every year being that we have a December birthday here, but things are beginning to look alot like Christmas!

I'm trying to stay with my gold, white and green theme . . . so I decided to revamped the wreath I've been using these past couple of years by adding white flowers and glittery gold leaf bunches and came up with this . . .

Since that just wasn't enough and seeing that most of my neighbors have some type of decorations up outside already, I decided that I should start with the new decorative lamp post we found at Home Depot . . . then we added a lighted garland and the big red bow I found at Party City. Next we got to the snowflake lights and put those on the railings. Hubby decided that maybe he'll look at the angel we bought a couple of years back, but neglected to put out last year. I found the silly penguin we've had for several years now and since he was still working, I put him out as well.

Now things are really starting to come together, but still . . . I think we need more lights! Here's what it looks like so far . . .

I guess I'll wait to see what it looks like once I get the tree up and decorated before I decide whether to put anything else outside . . . although the weather may end up making up my mind for me. The next morning I woke up to this . . .

Yep! Our very first snow of the season! It's beginning to look alot like Christmas . . . everywhere you go . . .

Well . . . gotta go for now . . . I decided to make my own Christmas cards this year so I've got some cutting and pasting to do. Be back soon so I can show you all how those Christmas cards came out! Until then, enjoy this wonderful time of the year whereever you may be!

Give Thanks Page Kit

2009-11-24T14:41:00.005-06:00

I finally finished!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

You can download the kit by clicking here: Studio64_GiveThanksKit.zip

Lone Rose

2009-11-20T19:11:00.006-06:00

I know I promised a freebie and I should be done with it tomorrow. I had a little surprise in the garden that I couldn't resist. Here it is almost December and I have one lonely rose blooming! I've notice a number of different rose bushes in bloom throughout the neighborhood too. Quite rare for this time of the year. Anyway, I decided to cut it and have it in a vase on my desk.

What a pleasant surprise!

Hope to be back tomorrow . . .

Beautiful weather

2009-11-14T08:49:00.008-06:00

Last month we decided to take advantage of the terrific weather one Sunday and took a ride downtown to Millenium Park. We took the Nikon camera with us and took many pictures, but I also tried taking some pictures with my new Blackberry Tour. I was going through the photos and just realized what a little gem of a photo I took of my son in front of Cloud Gate.

Since the weather has been terrific these past 2 weeks, I've been busy in the garden as well. I did manage to plant some alliums and was able to divide and move some of the perennials. The yards look pretty bare right now, but I figure I'll have a nice jump start in the spring when planting season comes back around!

On another note, I am working on a new freebie kit for anyone who might be interested. Since this is the month of giving thanks, I guess you know what the kit will be about. Hope to have that done in the next couple of days.

Until then . . . enjoy the great outdoors wherever you may be!

Spook-tac-u-lar Fun!

2009-10-25T17:14:00.005-05:00

Here's a little something I just finished . . . hope you like it!

Happy Haunting Everyone!

You can download the kit by clicking here: Studio64_SpookyHallowKit.zip

Ups and downs . . .

2009-10-16T13:37:00.023-05:00

The past few weeks have been pretty crazy around here! First, I sent away for a trial copy of Adobe CS4 and installed it on my computer. I was so happy and giddy with all the new features and that Illustrator was right at my finger tips now. That lasted a whole 2 days before things started going really wrong with my computer . . . the third day after I installed the programs, my computer wouldn't start without going through this whole deal about repairing and restoring my system. When it finally did get it back up and running . . . CS4 and all of the programs were gone! I tried to reinstall and could not get any the components installed again so I finally gave up and did a clean up of all the programs.

I'm still awaiting to hear back from Adobe on this matter. I'm very disappointed and disheartened by this whole experience! I can't believe with my new souped-up computer that I could have so many problems with installing software. I've never had anything like this happen to me in all the years I've been using a computer. I've heard all the horrors stories, but this is the first time, I've ever had to completely uninstalled a program because of what it was doing to my computer. It's down right depressing to think that I might not be able to use the programs I've been dreaming of having for such a long time now. I'm hoping there's a fix out there somewhere!

On the bright side, I got a new phone . . . it's this awesome Blackberry Tour! This is the nicest phone I've ever had and it has so many cool features too. It's a PDA and a phone all in one!

I love my new phone!

Then, the very same day I got my new phone, I also learned some more disheartening news . . . we needed a new furnace. So $4400 and 2 days later . . . we now have a new furnace.

After all these ups and downs, I decided that I needed a break so I took a drive down to the lake. I remember going there just to sit and watch the waves crash against the rocks and to admire the skyline. Since I don't live that close to the lake anymore, it was a bit of a long drive, but still a nice change of pace. Although it was a pretty cold day and the winds were really strong . . . all in all, I enjoyed the fresh air and brisk walk. At the very least, I was able to clear my head!

I'm hoping this is the last of these ups and downs for a little while and that hopefully, I'll be able to get back to creating something . . . or better yet, finishing all these other projects I've got going on over here.

Hope to be back soon with some better news!

My latest freebie!

2009-09-26T22:08:00.007-05:00

Finally! I was getting a little worried 'cuz it took me quite a while to finish this one. I'm really happy with it though! Hope you all like it!

Please let me know what you think and be sure to send along any jpgs of your layouts!

You can download the kit here: Studio64_FrenchCafePageKit.zip

Until next time . . . enjoy!

Back to school . . .

2009-09-18T16:17:00.007-05:00

OK, now that the kids are back at school and all that supplies, clothes, doctor appointments, etc. have been taken care of, I'm hoping to have more time to create. I did manage to create another kit for the SNL'rs. There's bonuses that are given out for the monthly challenges and they're always looking for donations from the members. I think it came out pretty cool! Here's a preview of it . . .

I used part of the color swatch that came in second place for this month's challenge but used black to anchor it.

I'm on the hunt for color swatches once again. When I find one to inspire me, I'll be creating a freebie for you folks here. If you have any requests or suggestions, please leave me a comment and I'll try to accommodate you.

Hope to be back again soon.

Layout using my September SNL kit

2009-09-05T07:33:00.006-05:00

I'm so happy with the way my new SNL kit came out. The theme is grunge and the focus was cardboard. After I finished the kit, I knew exactly what photo I wanted to use for a layout. This is my younger son a couple of years back . . .

I'm hoping to be back soon with more freebies, etc., although the next week is gonna be kind of hectic with school starting on Tuesday and all.

Until next time . . .

Blue Green Freebie Paper Pack

2009-08-30T20:20:00.006-05:00

As promised, here's another paper pack for your digital scrapbooking needs . . .

It can be downloaded here: Studio64_BlueGreen PaperPack.zip

Hope you like these papers! Remember, if you create a LO using any of my kits or papers, please be sure to send me a copy of the jpg. My email address is included in the TOU text document included in the download. I would love to see your creations!

Until next time . . .

Another Freebie Paper Pack

2009-08-28T19:39:00.005-05:00

I'm glad to see so many of you enjoying the papers and mini kit! Here's another paper pack for your digital scrapbooking needs . . .

You can down load it here: Studio64_PinkPurple PaperPack.zip

I will be back again soon with the blue pack . . . until then . . . Happy Scrapping and Enjoy!

Freebie Mini Kit

2009-08-27T20:49:00.005-05:00

As I was going through folders on my computer to hunt down more papers, I happened upon this kit that I started but just never finished. I guess I really wasn't sure where I was going with it so it's just a mini kit with 4 papers and 4 elements. Hope you like them anyway!

You can download it here: Studio64_Ladybug Kit.zip

I'm still putting together more of those paper packs and will be back with those soon!

Free Paper Pack

2009-08-25T18:35:00.009-05:00

From time to time, I experiment with new techniques for background papers. I've accumulated quite a few miscellaneous papers and thought I would share them with you here. This pack consists of mostly yellow and green papers . . .

You can download it here: Studio64_YellowGreen PaperPack.zip

I should be back shortly with another pack or maybe even 2 packs as I have a number of other papers in pinks, purples and blues.

Until then . . . enjoy!

Patterns for Photoshop Elements

2009-08-13T07:39:00.014-05:00

Sometimes when I'm bored and just want to play with the filters and plugins in Photoshop, I end up with some really neat stuff!

I've been creating tiles with Xaos' Terrazzo 2 plugin and have come up with quite a number of repeatable tile patterns that I just don't always use. So, I decided that it was time to share them with whoever wants them and whoever enjoys playing around with patterns and textures.

I became a member of deviantART this week and have uploaded the following 3 pattern files for Elements over there.

If you are interested and would like to download these files, please click on the link to the right for My deviantART Gallery under My Other Websites. Or you can click here http://studio64-chicago.deviantart.com/gallery/

I hope you enjoy and them and will be back again soon!

Scatter-brained, easily bored or just busy?

2009-08-05T14:37:00.011-05:00

I can't decide which I am. I've been so busy lately that I just don't know where it all starts or ends anymore. I've got several projects going on and only 1 has been completed . . . and that was the last one I started! That being said . . . I got my SNL 53 kit done this AM. I have so many more ideas in the folder yet I decided and settled on these papers and elements:

This was a really fun kit to make and as I said . . . there are many more ideas swirling around in my head, but I really want to continue on with the other projects I've got going as well.

As I mentioned, I feel so scatter-brained . . . it all started when I realized that Michael's doesn't sell the Jacquard fabric paints I wanted to continue on with the art quilt project and had to find a day to go out to Dick Blick. Seems they're the only local store that sells them and I didn't want to have to wait if I ordered them online. Anyway, when I got to the Dick Blick store . . . my mind started racing! With all those art materials, and books and canvas, I just couldn't help but feel the urge to paint, Paint, PAINT!

So instead of continuing with my already "in progress" art quilt and when I came across a roadside vendor who had these lovely sunflowers, I just had to stop and get some. As soon I was at home arranging the flowers, I was setting up a photo shoot and took tons of pictures. I then began sketching in the sketchbook and getting more ideas down. I was really surprised at the sketch I did . . . considering I hadn't done any real sketching for quite some time now. I came up with this . . .

From there I decided to pull out some water color paper and blocked in some color and still, my art quilt was hanging on the design wall just waiting to see what should be done next. But instead, I continued with the sunflowers and blocked-in some color on a 9 X 12 sheet of water color paper and not sure how it was coming out, I decided to get some input and suggestions from the people over at Wet Canvas. We decided that the background was too busy and the coloring of the background just wasn't quite right.

So I was at it again! This time, I went bigger and decided to sketch on an 18 X 24 sheet of water color paper and blocked in the color and here's where I stand . . .

That's how my past 2 weeks or so have gone and I have only 1 real thing to show for it. So now I have to decide whether to continue on with this sunflower project or jump back into the art quilt project. Then again . . . there's my digital scrapbook layouts that I've been neglecting . . . and those weeds accumulating in the garden . . . not to mention all the housework that's been on the back burner too!

Oh well, it will all get done sooner or later.

Trying an Art Quilt

2009-07-23T19:00:00.020-05:00

OK . . . so I finally decided to try my hand at an art quilt. I saw the premier issue of Art Quilting Studio magazine on the news stand and have been inspired. Although I still get Quilting Arts magazine every other month and keep telling myself to try some of the techniques . . . I finally started. So far, I did a preliminary sketch in PS and here's what I've come up with . . .

After deciding on a finished size of approximately 40" X 55" and doing the sketch I was pleased with the general idea of where I wanted to go with this. Next, I painted the world on a smaller piece of fabric and figured I could applique it in position at a later time and here's what it looks like . . .

Next, I decided that I should start on the angel and made her wings using water soluble stabilizer and layers of tulle with glitter, snips of fabric and angeline fibers sandwiched in between. After that, I painted her face and body parts on a piece of fabric that would serve as the main background. I figure I could applique her dress on after the background has been decided on. I think the angel's face and wings look great so far . . .

So now I think I have to decide on what to do about the main background and am thinking that I would start with a deep blue at the top and make a gradation into light blue and then to gold at the very bottom. I'm still pondering that idea for now though. I have picked out some fabric for the column piece and should start working on that soon as well.

All in all, I like the way it's coming along and hopefully will seen some real results soon. I'll write again of my progress as soon as I can and have more pictures to show.

Until then . . .

Keeping busy in the garden

2009-07-22T19:02:00.014-05:00

I'm still doing alot of work in the garden. I found a climbing rose called "Eden" and I immediately fell in love. I just had to have it!

I decided to dig out the "Henryi" clematis in the front yard since giving it some Miracle Gro a couple of weeks ago didn't do much good. When I dug it up I realized that the Ostrich ferns were choking it even though I thought I had cleared them out of the area. So I decided to take all of the ferns out and basically start from scratch in that area. I put the black heavier trellis there and am hoping this rose will do well there.

I also bought an arbor to help screen the alley and anyone trying to look in the yard. Although my hubby had his doubts and wondered where it was gonna go . . . I think is looks great! I didn't have to even move any plants as the wisteria was in the perfect spot already. All I had to do was redirect it from over the garage windows to over and through the arbor.

All American Page Kit Freebie!

2009-07-11T19:57:00.007-05:00

I finished it! I think it turned out really great . . . hope you like it as well!

This kit contains the following:

1 American flag paper
1 Declaration of Independence paper
1 dark blue Lincoln paper
1 dark blue with white stars circular frame
1 American flag chipboard element
1 Declaration of Independence journaling note
1 complete upper case Patriotic alpha set
1 red rope element
1 red rope bow element
1 Red, White & Blue word art element
1 red, white & blue glitter stars element
1 red, white & blue fireworks element
1 star in circle with red ribbon element
1 USA flagged chipboard word art element

You can download this kit here:

Studio64_AllAmericanPageKit.zip

Making progress

2009-07-10T21:22:00.010-05:00

I did get the SNL Christmas in July challenge done today. It will be put together with all the other contributors backgrounds and elements. All those goodies will be given away on Saturday, July 25th at 10:00 pm DSP time during our weekly chat. I will say it was a challenge as I am not big on even thinking of anything Christmas until after Thanksgiving. But given that the colors were blues with silver and white, I found it somewhat easier.

Anyway here is a preview of my backgrounds and elements:

Don't forget to be there on July 25th at 10:00 pm DSP time to get a link for this and other goodies made by the generous gals over at SNL!

I've also been working on something to give away here as well . . . it's not quite finished yet though! I will say that it does have Red, White and Blue in it!

Hope to be back with that real soon.

A new look!

2009-07-08T17:23:00.003-05:00

I've been wanting to do this for quite some time now.

I spent the day researching and figuring out how to change the background on my blog. I think I figured it out! This one that you now see is my second attempt. In the first, the elements were way too big and running off the page. I hope this looks better to all of you . . . it looks great to me from my monitor at least!

Anyway, Nicole has a great tutorial on her blog on how to do this which was a tremendous help! So glad I figured this out and now all I want to do is create more!

I do have the Christmas in July PTP for SNL to do and I have been working on another freebie for those who visit here as well. Looks like I've got quite a bit to get accomplished in the next week or so.

Until then . . .

WOW! My SNL kit is done!

2009-07-02T23:32:00.008-05:00

I can't believe I finished my SNL kit for this month already! I guess it helped that the winning colors were a give away. Anyway, here's a preview that I just had to post . . . I think it came out really cute! The fairy is darling, the magic tree is too and the moon is terrific . . . if I do say so myself.

I'm gonna wait 'til tomorrow to upload . . . just in case I think of something that is missing or that I could have done better. Besides . . . it's a little scary being the first one to post . . . so if someone else beats me to it I guess that's OK.

Be back again soon!

In a Patriotic Mood

2009-07-01T21:43:00.014-05:00

In keeping with the upcoming holiday . . . I thought I would post my interpretation of the Red, White and Blue!

These are all pictures of flowers from my garden! When we moved into this house, there was nothing but grass and a few small evergreen shrubs in the front yard. There was a small vegetable garden that had not been used in years and was over grown with weeds.

I started this garden with the intention of keeping with the red, white and blue color scheme. I do have a bit of yellow though and blue usually includes the purples as well. All in all the garden is coming along nicely and just keeps getting better with each year.

Happy 4th of July, everyone!

Until next time . . .

Summer is officially here

2009-06-27T21:47:00.011-05:00

and I've been spending lots of time in the garden . . . weeding and planting and moving things around. We also went to Morton Arboretum recently.

It was a hot and sticky day and being that it was our first time there . . . we weren't sure how things worked and how the park is laid out. We ended up exploring only about 1/3 of the grounds so we'll definitely have to plan another day to go back again! It's a wonderful place and they have really great gardens for kids to explore. There was this pond in one part of the childrens' garden where I manage to get this awesome picture of some waterlilies . . .

We also went through a maze garden and in the middle they had an open tree house where I managed to take this picture . . .

Even though it was really hot, we did manage to hike one of the trails and along the way we encountered this little guy . . .

All in all it was a really fun day! I collected a small bunch of several different pinecones that I happened to find on the ground throughout the day . . .

I hope to be going back again and explore some more real soon!

Morning Glory Kit freebie!

2009-06-17T22:19:00.006-05:00

It's been awhile . . . but I managed to finish a freebie kit today! I really like the way this one turned out! Hope you enjoy it too.

This kit contains the following:

1 blue pattern paper
1 green flower pattern paper
1 ivory paper with green blossoms
1 green and blue squares paper
1 green textured frame
1 dark blue ribbon
1 dark blue bow
1 blue gem and silver star bling element
1 trellis element
1 morning glory vine element
1 blue gem, silver star and leave hanging charm element
1 stitched paper patches element

A Terms of Use is included with the download . . . please be sure to read it over prior to uploading any layouts to the web or submitting any layout for publication to a magazine. Thanks!

The kit can be downloaded here . . .
Morning Glory Kit.zip

Gardening galore

2009-06-01T11:03:00.007-05:00

I've spent the better part of the past week in the garden and have been taking lots of pictures! I started a new garden blog over at Dave's Garden so that I can keep track of what's going on, what I have and what I'd like to do in my garden. I've been having lots of fun and am also extremeley sore from all the digging and yard work that I have been doing. Since rain is expect the next couple of days, I'll get some rest so that I can plant the new flower bed! I took this picutre of the Pink Oriental Poppy that managed to survive and bloomed yesterday! I looks awesome!

Now that it's the start of a new month, the new SNL challenge will be out so I will have to find some time and pull myself away from the garden for a while. The theme is butterfly garden and the colors are really pretty so I'm sure I'll be able to put a kit together being that I'm really into this gardening mood lately.

I'll put a link to my new garden blog and Dave's Garden website in the side bar for anyone who might be interested. Hope to be back soon! In the meantime, Happy Digi-Scrapping and Gardening!

What a busy month it's been . . .

2009-05-26T17:55:00.014-05:00

with Sam's First Communion, Mother's Day, the Spring Band Concert, Ian's birthday and lots of things breaking down and needing repair. And at last . . . I've got my patio furniture too! I'm so happy with the beautiful set we found. Here's a sneak peek at what it looks like . . .

So I've been pretty busy in the garden as well. We moved the fountain closer to the patio so we could hear the water more and even planted a River Birch! I'm expanding the flower beds as well . . . so my whole body is pretty sore from all the digging, tilling and moving of rocks, etc. The garden is really looking great though! Here's a photo of the white iris I planted a couple of years ago . . .

I'm not sure if you can see it . . . but the reflection in the globe looks really cool and if you look hard enough, you can probably even see me all the way in the background with the camera. Those are just some of the photographs I've taken for the Project 365 scrapbook challenge that I haven't been able to scrap just yet.

It's been crazy busy around here

2009-05-08T22:57:00.006-05:00

I've been working on my monthly SNL kit and also needed something else for the special chat on the 23rd. I've made 2 kits in the past week . . . well . . . 1 whole new one and 1 that I reworked the elements and papers on for the chat freebie. The color scheme was for a heritage kit from the Designer Finder Contest way back in November or December. Anyway, if you are a member of DSP and come to the chat on May 23rd (10:00 pm DSP time) you'll get a link for the following kit:

I really like the way this one turned out! Hope to see all you DSP'rs on the 23rd!

In the mean time, I need to catch up on some pages and my Project 365 layouts that I've neglected for the past week. I've taken the pictures . . . just need to scrap them!

Another Digital Scrapbooking Freebie for you

2009-04-29T19:30:00.009-05:00

I still haven't finished the ladybug and daisy kit, but I have made this new kit. It's called Blue Bird's Nest. I really like the fun colors!

This kit is made at 200 dpi and contains the following:
1 brown flower pattern paper
1 blue hanging flower paper
1 green grid paper
1 brown chicken wire element
1 blue bracket frame
1 brown ribbon
1 brown bow
1 blue bird
1 nest with eggs element
1 branch with leaves element
1 green vellum tag element
1 white flower cluster

You can download it here: Blue Bird's Nest.zip

Enjoy!

Earth Day

2009-04-22T19:41:00.009-05:00

I did my part for the Earth Mosaic and uploaded a picture. I actually took quite a few pictures today and made the new avatar that you see for my profile pic. I thought it came out kind of interesting. Anyway, here's the pic I decided on and uploaded for the Earth Mosaic project . . .

I figure it should definitely have some greenery in it and I like that the hens and chicks look great even in the winter here. Many more things are coming up in the garden right now as well. The grape hyacinths have appeared . . . the anemones have little buds all over them and the clematis and alliums are also coming up strong.

And, if you're interested in the Earth Mosaic project . . . here's the link . . . http://earthmosaic.org/index.html

Here we go again

2009-04-19T19:36:00.005-05:00

I'm trying to clean up my computer so I can concentrate on creating new kits. I've decided to make available another kit that I made for the designer finder contest. I liked the kit . . . hope you do too!

Here's the download link . . .

August Sunset Kit.zip

Another freebie for you!

2009-04-19T13:43:00.006-05:00

I decided to make my Mardi Gras Kit available for download here as well. This is the kit I made for the SNL Fab Five Birthday Bash and gave away at the chat. Hope you enjoy . . .

Download it here:

MrsC_SNLFFB_MardiGrasKit.zip

Another freebie for you!

2009-03-28T19:19:00.006-05:00

I just finished this cute kit for you:

The papers and elements are 200 ppi and the kit contains the following:

1 light yellow tiled paper
1 light green paper
1 yellow gingham paper
1 black linen paper
1 bee element
1 "Bzzzzz” word art element
1 drops of honey element
1 black ribbon with brown stitches
1 sunflower
1 yellow gem circular frame
1 bee hive element
1 crown element

It is available for download here:

HoneyBeeKit.zip

Hope you like it! I had a lot of fun creating it and am in the process of finishing up another kit along these same lines . . . featuring ladybugs and daisies. I hope to have that one available soon as well.

In the meantime . . . enjoy this one!

Oh well . . . I'm out of the DET Contest

2009-03-15T20:05:00.008-05:00

There were some really awesome LO in the gallery. Mine wasn't one of them . . . I guess I can always try next time. I did finish my March SNL kit and have been playing around with it some more. The colors reminded me of Mardi Gras so I've been making some elements along those lines. Hopefully, I'll have a freebie to post here soon.

Meanwhile, I managed to get a copy of Moonlight on DVD! I was completely enthralled when I realized that I never even seen the very first episode! Since I've been catching it on the SciFi channel, my interest in the show has grown once again. I really wish they would continue this series, but I guess it was just because of the writer's strike or something and they needed fill space. Mick St. John is definitely my favorite vamp!!

I'm managing to create more LO too. Even before the DET Contest, I decided that I needed more practice anyway. Here's my latest . . .

Anyway, I'm off to relax and take in some more episodes of Moonlight! Woo! Hoo!

I'm so excited . . .

2009-03-09T19:22:00.010-05:00

I made it to Round 2 of the DET Contest! You can see a copy of my LO by clicking on My DSP Gallery link to the right. It was a really fun kit to work with. The deadline for entries is once again Thursday night . . . and we'll have to wait I think until Saturday night (probably really late once again) to find out the results. I'm a bit more nervous this round although I really like the LO I came up with. But, no matter what happens . . . I'll have yet another LO added to my gallery! I've been telling myself that I really should do more LOs anyway and here I am! I definitely see an improvement and a style (I hope) of my own!

Anyway, I also need to finish my SNL kit for this month. The background papers and bow still need some work. And I'm not sure what to do with the gems, but all in all, I think it's looking pretty good! Here's a preview . . .

So, I'm off to do some more creating . . . IF I can concentrate! I think the contest is distracting me much more this time around!

Lots of things happening here

2009-03-01T23:07:00.006-06:00

I'm so excited! I submitted a color swatch (first time) for this month's SNL kit and it won! The theme is wildflowers so I picked colors of spring green and hyacinth purples and daffodil yellows. Here's the color swatch:

Aren't they beautiful?! I can't wait to see what the other SNL'ers create!

I've also entered the DET Contest at DSP and submitted my LO already. I can't upload a copy of it here yet but if you check out my DSP Gallery link to the right you'll find it there. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. Now, I just have to wait until about 11:00 pm on March 5th to find out if I can continue on to the next round. I'll let you know!

I'm off for now to see what else I can come up with for this month's SNL kit!

A new blog banner

2009-02-24T19:01:00.010-06:00

The new banner is an assemblage of my February kit for SNL at DSP. I wasn't too sure about the colors when I first saw them as orange is not one of my favorite colors. I did manage to use all the colors in the swatch. This was the first kit I made using PSE. There are certain things that I need to find work arounds for . . . (like not having layer masks!) so its alot different than working with CS2. It took me a long time to figure them out and now that I don't have them, I feel lost!!!

The frame (which looks like tarnished gold to me) was made using certain colors in combination with the render clouds filter and by layering with different blending modes. I really like the way it turned out! I think the rose quartz gems could still use a little more texture or veining in them but I was pretty happy with the way they turned out. I'll continue to try and tweak them as I figure out more on making gems, etc.

This is the preview as shown in the gallery at DSP (just in case and for when I change the banner again)

I also added a slideshow of my LO's in the side bar. I've been trying to step it up and create more LO's. Since it's good practice, I make a LO with my own SNL kit but also with the other SNLer's kits. Since I still had not used some of the kits I purchase from the DSP store I've used them as well and even bought another couple of kits from there as well.

Now if I could just figure out what's going on and why I can't add another animated GIF??? Anyway, I'm off for now, hopefully I'll be able to put together another freebie soon as well.

P.S. I also just entered the DET Contest at DSP . . . so now I have to step it up on the LOs!

Finally . . . a freebie for you!

2009-02-12T22:52:00.008-06:00

I know I've been promising a freebie kit and here it is!

This kit contains the following:

1 pink tile paper
1 pink plaid paper
1 pink silk paper
1 light pink silk paper
1 pink folded ribbon
1 pink flower
1 embossed heart vellum note paper
1 white eyelet
1 love stamp
1 “with Love” word art
1 chipboard bracket
1 pearl necklace frame

and here is the link for the download

with Love kit.zip

Once upon a time . . .

2009-02-05T21:16:00.007-06:00

This is a LO I did for the monthly Showcase Challenge at DSP for SNL. The elements used are from 15 different SNL'rs and I think I have a total of 18 elements.

Recently, I was able to get a copy of this photo. Mom had it framed and it sat on a side table at the condo along with another photo of Mom (at the age of 3 or 4) with her sisters. I was able to get a copy from my cousin of both photos. The original photo is full length and shows Buki's veil puddling all around in front of them. I cropped the photo for this LO so you could see their faces. The bouquet is huge and truly amazing as well! Rose is still supposed to get back to me on the exact date of their wedding so I'll update the LO when I get that info.

I also obtained a few other older photos and hope to be able to create LO's with those soon. In the mean time, I'm still trying to put together another freebie kit as well. I was just really excited about this LO and how it turned out that I had to post it here too!

The good news and the bad news . . .

2009-01-28T18:57:00.006-06:00

Well . . . I have my new computer and it's awesome! I've been very careful about the files that I'm transferring and trying to stay organized with tagging photographs, etc. with Elements Organizer. Unfortunatley, I still haven't found the original disk for CS2 and I think I'm gonna have to give it up. I'll either try to get another one off of eBay or I'll bite the bullet and go straight to CS4. There is one other program (Photo Impact Pro) that I was looking at, but I still haven't made a final decision just yet. For now I'm gonna use Elements to see what I can create in the way of papers and elements. Hopefully I can catch up on doing more pages to add to my gallery as well. I should have another kit available for download very soon and maybe even a mini-kit as well.

I've also been day-dreaming about what to do in my garden this year. The paper whites are blooming right now and their scent just fills the living room. Needless to say, I've got the planting bug already. I've been thinking about starting a Garden Journal (a binder with photos and clippings from the magazines that I have) and I even bought about 10 packets of seeds today . . . lavendar, dill, larkspur, morning glory and zinnia . . . just to name a few. I can't wait! I think I'm gonna go get a grow light tomorrow and set up my indoor greenhouse once again. I had one at the old house and had quite a few surprises and success with starting seeds then so I definitely want to try again!

Anyway, here's a picture of the paper whites . . .

Time sure is flying!

2009-01-11T19:42:00.027-06:00

Wow! It's 2009 already! The holidays were a blast and I hate to see them end, but it's back to reality for now with Sam back at school and lots of snow and freezing temps on the way. I've been so busy that my head is spinning. I've been trying to get together pictures and info for setting up my Etsy shop and still have much work to do and info to gather. It's really hard to come up with a price for some of the items so I've been reading up alot on the Etsy site and trying to get tips on pricing, etc. There's quite a variety of items that I have so it's taking more time and thought than initially anticipated.

I've also been trying to put together my SNL kit for January and I'm almost done. Here's a preview . . .

Hubby and I decided that we're going to get a new computer here so I have to start backing up files and transferring stuff. So for now that's gonna be taking up most of my time in the next week or so. I just hope I'll be able to find the original program disk for PS CS2. I've been searching for 2 days now and can find the disks for all the plug-ins and other goodies from all the books and extras I purchased, but the original program disk is no where in sight. I'll be really sad if I can't find it and not sure what I'll do or what program to use for creating elements and such for scrapbooking. I still have hope that I will find the disk though.

Well . . . I'm off for now and hope to be back soon!

Almost Christmas!

2008-12-22T07:53:00.007-06:00

WOW, I can't believe I haven't checked here in a month. I've been busy cleaning, redecorating and decorating for Christmas this whole month. I'll be spending the next couple of days putting the finishing touches on decorations and picking up around the house. But my favorite part of the next couple of days will be cooking! Ham and chicken, potato salad and baked mostaccioli are just some of the things that are on the menu. Mushroom tarts and rouquefort swirls for appetizers and plenty of wine and drink. I may even make a punch too.

I haven't taken that many pictures yet but I took this one that I really like! It's definitely beginning to look alot like Christmas! It's super cold here and we're expecting more snow today as well. I don't really mind the snow, but when the wind blows and it's -35 degrees, it's really tough.

Well, hopefully after this rush of partying and holiday happenings, I'll be able to get back to some digi scrapping!

First Freebie Kit . . .

2008-11-22T17:37:00.016-06:00

OK . . . I have the file uploaded now and we're going to see if this works. First I should tell you that the kit is created in 200 ppi and the download size is about 16MB. If this is too large and/or you're having a problem downloading the file, please let me know by leaving a comment. There will be a Terms of Use text file included indicating how the kit can be used . . . please be sure to read it over before using any of the papers or elements in the kit. Here's a preview of the kit:

It's called Little Boy Blue and contains the following papers and elements:

1 blue/brown plaid paper

1 blue grunge paper

1 blue colored pencil paper

1 light blue paper

1 "sons" word art element

1 leather knotted cord

1 knotted plaid ribbon

1 wood frame

1 riveted "boys will be boys" button

1 rivet corner overlay

1 blue sticky note

1 dark blue straight stitch element

You can download it here: LittleBoyBlueKit.zip

Studio 64 Chicago

I'm Having a Giveaway!

One Hell of a Week . . .

Black & White Image and so on

Trying to catch up . . . once again

Asymmetrical, etc.

Amaze . . . and onward

Abstract, etc.

Recent photographs

Speed Scrap - TONIGHT @ 9 PM EST

Speed Scrap - TONIGHT - 9 pm ET

New Blog . . .

Grand Opening & a Sale!

Where did the week go?

Happy Birthday, America!

Announcement: Giveaway Winner!

Goodies package from Pat has arrived!

There's still time . . .

Anyone interested in my Giveaway?!

Beginning of Summer Giveaways!!

Garden Journal

The Champs!!!

Another sign and more blooms

Oh! How my garden grows . . .

Finally warming up outside

I’ve been a terrible blogger lately . . .

Still in the garden . . .

In the garden . . .

Polish tragedy

It's been too long!

SNL's Birthday Bonus Bash

First day of Spring??

Arriving from Singapore!

Time flies . . .

In the mail today . . .

More Goodies from the Postman

Digital ATCs

I love the postman . . .

I've Got MORE Mail

I've Got Mail

OWOH prizes that I won!

Announcing . . . the OWOH Winners!

Welcoming Love

Blog hopping

So much going on!

One World One Heart 2010

A "happy" accident

A different take

A freebie for you!

Taking in the sites

I'm so excited!

Painting today

Today is my birthday

Finished my SNL kit

Color Pencil Sketch

It's Official . . . the holidays are over

My Word for the Year

Happy New Year!

My favorite Christmas present

Getting into the Holiday Spirit

Give Thanks Page Kit

Lone Rose

Beautiful weather

Spook-tac-u-lar Fun!

Ups and downs . . .

My latest freebie!

Back to school . . .

Layout using my September SNL kit

Blue Green Freebie Paper Pack

Another Freebie Paper Pack

Freebie Mini Kit

Free Paper Pack

Patterns for Photoshop Elements

Scatter-brained, easily bored or just busy?

Trying an Art Quilt

Keeping busy in the garden

All American Page Kit Freebie!

Making progress

A new look!

WOW! My SNL kit is done!