Bittersweet Goodbye

I have just handed in my resignation from the amazing sketch site, Sketches in Thyme, design team.  I have been on over 23 design teams over the past 17 years and this is my last.  I loved working with the sketches and the very talented women on the team.  We have been having a few health issues and I've decided to focus on our health, our family and our friends.  This is not my last blog post or last layout but this is my last layout for Sketches in Thyme. 

Play Day

Between my honey and my doctor appointments this week, I managed to do exactly ONE layout and pretty proud I even got that one done.  I did stock pile some ideas and, now that I can print multi pics on one sheet of photo paper and playing with the new app a lot. 

I combined  papers from Stamperia and Craft Box (see previous posts for links, please) to do a layout for these four photos focusing on the cathedral's architecture. 

And, browsing through Coastal Living's July/Aug 2018 issue, I came across "Fresh Ideas for Beach Houses"...and fell in love with the color combos.  How great are these for summer layouts?

Double dog dare you to do a layout in these colors and put a link to yours in the comments section.  I'm thinking there might just be a little prize involved. 

Day Late but have some goodies to share

I have been in mourning ever since I got my new laptop.  It is Windows 10 and, while that was not the reason for mourning, Google dropping my beloved Picasa is.  My son jokingly called it Adobe Photo Shop for the Techno Impaired.  I could load my pics, size them, enhance them, print them out in groups and burn cds.  I was in love and yes, I am pretty techno impaired.

Now Google has Google photos and I have been printing one pic at a time as it does not yet have a way to print more than one on a piece of photo paper, no matter what the size! 

At the crop last weekend, a woman (who is a heroine to me now) gave me a downloadable app called Photo Sheet.  I simply open the program and Google Photos and drag the pictures I want onto Photo Sheet, then print out however many I want on a page (allowing for size).  Color me one very happy camper!

The second bit was a bit harder.  I did a google search and came up with several sites that recommended how to burn a cd on the computer I have (Lenovo Ideapad 110) and with Windows 10 and Google Photo.  I ended up going with Cyberlink burner program.  It is complicated as I have to download the photos one by one and then drag them to the burner.  This will have to do until I find an easier way.  Since I took close to 1,000 photos on our river cruise, if you don't hear from me for a while, I am burning a cd for one of the couples we met and are exchanging cds of our photos.

If you have a better (make that easier) cd burner program, please let me know here!  I will be eternally grateful and will install you in the Techno Hall of Fame.    Til next Monday...

Back from a crop

And I have some layouts to share.  My friend, Eileen, and I traveled south to Ft. Myers to attend a crop put on by my friend, Janet Dachuk, owner of Scrapbooks, Etc.  We stayed at the new Drury Hotel and we've already signed up for the Oct. crop.  Both the hotel (price included breakfast buffet and dinner buffet plus 3 drinks at happy hour) and the crop were lots of fun and we met some really nice gals too.

This first layout is of the town square in a little mountain top village in Sicily.  The papers echoed the colors and the tiles in the town square.  These papers and those I used for the other layouts  are from Craft Box (UK) 's The Other Side paper line and Stamperia's Time is an Illusion line that Janet D (see above) will be ordering from along with Ciao Bella papers. 

 When I posted this one, I realized I left the "n" out of Glockenspiel.  Off to make repairs.

The side of this one reads "Another Big Castle"

Finally, I want to show off my photograph we had blown up and printed onto canvas.  I had found an old confessional type window in one of our salvage shops here in town and brought it home.  I cleaned it up and did some minor repairs but not too much.  I wanted it to retain that old look.  This is the end result.  I took the photo in Italy several years ago.    See you next Monday and ,as always, thank you for looking!

Memorial Day Monday

I've been thinking about the young men I knew in high school and college to went off to Viet Nam and never came home.  This is what Memorial Day is about...honoring those who gave all for us .

I did get some scrapping done in the past few days.  My order from Craft Box in England came in and, after petting the papers, I found a photo of our river cruise and went to work.  This photo is from the top of Melk Abbey, one of the most beautiful stops on our trip.  We bought some of the brandy that the monks make and are waiting for a special occasion to break open one of our two bottles.

Without further ado...followed by a couple of how tos.

I wanted the top right to be a bit lighter but did not have a stencil I wanted to use (and I have a slew of stencils believe me).  So, I used a piece of nylon netting that was a bag for bath sponges.  I held it in place on my magnetic board with magnets and used Brilliance in white to achieve the results above.

I found the perfect metal bow and handle for the photo but both were too gold.  I altered them as well.

Until next Monday, have a great week.

Posting on Mondays only starting on Memorial Day

I have decided to only blog on Mondays from Memorial day on.  It is summery here in Florida and, besides several upcoming dr. appts and swim dates with our Grands, I've decided to share any and all new/layouts once a week. 

NOW, so excited.  My order from Craft Box arrived yesterday.  Because we were not home, I had to wait for the delivery today.  The old adage that good things are worth waiting for is so true...these papers are beyond gorgeous.  I have a lunch date with several of our women's group, The Women Who Do Lunch bunch, tomorrow but Friday and Sat. are all mine to play. 

.

I'm going to dig out my collection of tattered lace from old doilys and handkerchiefs and some ivory ribbons for these beauties.  I am thinking also of doing a couple of small mini albums...that lady's head is to die for. 

I completed one (yes, only one) layout when I had the Women Who...over for lunch and artsy fartsy day.  But I can add another to the list of layouts I have completed lately. 

This last one is from a sketch at Sketches in Thyme.  The first is my own.

See you on Memorial Day if not before. 

Brand Spankin' New x 2

I am not sure how I even came upon this site, The Craft Box, but I could just see my money slipping out of my wallet the more I looked at the site.  The company has just come out with their very first branded paper line and, I fell in love, of course.  I ordered the entire collection and am waiting with excitement for my order to arrive.  The company is based in England and does have international shipping.  Mine came to about 9.00, which is not too bad at all. 

Will post a layout when I get my hands on these papers.

My layout using a sketch for Sketches in Thyme is up on the blog today.  This layout uses the gorgeous papers from Stamperia.  These papers are made in Italy and this is just one of the beautiful lines.  The interesting detail that this company makes is the images on rice paper.  Waiting to use my stash on something special. 

So, two new companies for one blog post.  Enjoy.   Love, from your friendly enabler, me

Paper of the Day

49th. and Market.  This is one of my few new favorites that IS manufactured in the U.S.  It is crisp, excellent quality papers with matched embellishments and, of course, coordinated stamps.  I love the vintage feel to the papers and, living in Fl., I especially love the nautical releases.  I've been hording my papers but will scrap with them soon.

I am one of those people who worries that once I find a company I love, they won't be around.  Thus, I buy buy buy and  then am in fear of using it all up.  You can tell this from how long I held on to the last 2 sheets I had of Basic Gray...see yesterday's post.

Here are  a couple of places you can pick up your 49th and Market papers.

Scrapbook Warehouse

 Rubber Buggy, USA therubberbuggy.com

My Rusty Crown, USA myrustycrown.com

Scrapbook.com  (https://www.scrapbook.com/store/fam-tg-87339.html?cmp=facebook-ads&kw=fam-tg-87339)  direct link to 49th and Market.


Enjoy...I'm off to play.

Bittersweet!

Yesterday, I used up my very two last sheets of Basic Grey papers.  I had been hording them for a long time.  While I am happy with the use to which I put them, I am still sad.  So many great paper companies have bit the dust.

Today's featured paper company is Pion.  I discovered this one, hunting for more papers from Maja Designs.  Pion is made in Sweden and I first fell in love with the seaside collection and then with the rest.  I used their handy store finder and it led me to Rubber Buggy and Funkie Junkie which have become my favorite go to online stores.  No paper shows today...but do yourself a favor and check these out for yourself.

(usual disclaimer:  I don't work for, design for, or get any special deals from any of these companies).

The Case of the Disappearing Blog Post

I had a blog post yesterday and it has "gone with the Schwin" to quote from a Muppet Movie.  So here is some Deja Vous all over again...If it pops back up, so be it.

I have been on a hiatus with both my blog and my scrapping.  Other than scrapping at retreats and crops and once a month for Sketches in Thyme, I have done nada, zero, zilch.  The last 7 weeks, I have been battling with shingles and its mean step sister, PHN (damaged nerve endings).  I think I have turned the corner with both the hike my mojo took and the shingles as the pain appears to be retreating and my scrapping at home has increased (anything above zero is an increase, right?).

I did a few challenges for National Scrapbook Day on line and then just kept going.  Here are a few.  Some are very simple and some are a bit more.  Have to start somewhere, right?

I have two more done but they are for my May 14 and June 14 th posts at Sketches in Thyme.

Back to scrapping and a continuation of my new favorite papers.  Tune in tomorrow.

Papers, papers and more papers.

Long ago and far away,  paper companies in the U.S. were innovative, gorgeous and made on quality paper stock.  We had the market cornered with papers that we cutting edge.  Now, most of the papers companies have been bought by one large company and others have succumbed  to copying the same lines in different colors and way too cutsey designs.  While these are perfect for scrapping my grand kids, they are not all I scrap. 

So, I went hunting...and the first company I found that had such pretty and different papers was Maja Designs.  I put in an order at Rubber Buggy and then a second and even a third once I had my first order.  The paper is high quality, the colors soft and so pretty and the designs are gorgeous.  These are just two of the paper lines I fell in love with:  Summer Crush and Life by the Sea. 

Check out the links and see these papers for yourself.  Fall in love like I did.  These papers also come in 12x12.

(disclaimer:  I do not work for or design for Rubber Buggy.  I do, however, spend  lot of money there as they have new and fresh paper lines from European companies such as this.)