Happy Birthday, America!

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

Remember to thank all the soldiers today too!

Until next time . . .

~Connie

It's been too long!

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

I've Got MORE Mail

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

Welcoming Love

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!

A freebie for you!

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

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 . . .

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 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

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

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.

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 . . .

Almost Christmas!

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!