It's Official . . . the holidays are over

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

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!

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

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

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

I finally finished!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

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

Lone Rose

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

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!

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 . . .

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!

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 . . .

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

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

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

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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!

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

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!

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!

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

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

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!

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

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 . . .

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

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!