A long time ...

.. wow its been a long time since I've posted anything. Hope I remember how .... I just don't know where the time goes!!

While spending a few days at CHA the end of January, I had a chance to take a class at Prima with Anna Dabrowski from Poland. Had a blast ... she has a very interesting style.

Here's a small, very simplistic, copy of her concept ...

Happy Holidays!

Hope everyone had a very nice Thanksgiving!

Its been so long since I posted anything ... spent about 3 months recovering from "the flood" ... but life is back to normal now ... and as awful as it was in the midst of "the mess" .... my home is prettier than ever. A blessing in disguise ... a mandatory remodel ... but its very nice!

This is one of the first projects I made when I finally had a chance to set back down in my room.

I now have an off white 2x3 travertine brick kitchen backsplash and I couldn't have a plain tissue box setting against it ... so I made this cover ... pearl metal with my favorite mold from 10SS, a little black paint and a touch of "gems" and its ready to go ...

Christmas decorations went up this past weekend ....

Don't blink .... that day will be here in a flash!

Very slow progress ...

I have to admit that clutter is something that makes me a little crazy ... so after a month of living like this .....
.. I've certainly had my moments of insanity! But I pick up the pieces and get back to doing whatever I can to help with any part of this process. The photo above is/was my studio .. the only place I found sanity, but now that the painters have started, there's not too much going in there anymore. They're doing the slow tedious stuff first, so I'm hoping over the next couple days they'll pick up some speed. I can't wait to show you the "after" photos!

And this is the family room ... isn't it lovely! This shows slow progress ... damaged drywall and insulation are being replaced today ... one step ahead of the painters!

This is the living room ... funny thing ... what I miss the most is just having a chair to sit in for a moments rest!
Well back to shuffling stuff to keep out of the painters way!

Happy Day!

A little sidetracked ....

... just as I was settling into the summer, staying out of the heat and spending more time in my studio, catching up on the abundance of projects that have been begging to be worked on .... I got a little sidetracked ...

NOT by choice ...

July 24, my husband came downstairs around 1 am and stepped into 5" of water covering our entire downstairs floor ... he hollered up to me .... who was still in a deep sleep ..... there's water on the floor ....

oh, really???

Being in the insurance business, we knew just who to call, and Service Master was at our door at 3 am with a crew of workers, blowers, dehumidifiers, and water removal equipment .....

They sucked up the water, removed the baseboards, put the necessary holes in the walls and left us to dry out ....

5 days and lots of heat later .... the blowers and dehumidifiers left ... only to find out that the water had corroded the motherboard on the furnace that controlled the A/C unit ... no wonder it was so hot in the house .... 100 degrees one day with 80% humidity ... pretty bad when its cooler outside than in!!

And this is my pretty kitchen after the blowers left and the hardwood was torn up .... thank goodness we were able to remove the plastic after a few days ...

Good bye beautiful hardwood ......

I'm very thankful that my art studio is upstairs and came through this event untouched ... well, until I have to pack it up for the remodel ...

I'm thankful for Farmers Insurance, who has been fabulous through this, and everyone who has reached out to help us .... I just keep looking forward to a couple (or 3) months down the road when we are whole again ...

The moral of this story is ... know where your main water shut off valve is at all times!!

Stay dry .....

A quickie ....

... card ... made from some cute new stamps that I found at Frenzy Stamper last week.

Hope everyone is staying cool!

Back to basics .....

I've had a real urge lately to start again ... back to the basics .... use up old product ... rekindle favorite old techniques .... scrapbook some of the many memories I've been making over the last few years.

I'm tiring of some of the things I've been doing ... and find myself longing to go back to a 12 x 12 pallet .... where each page brings such a satisfaction .... I've been looking through many of my old scrapbooks .... remembering how much I enjoyed the entire process ....

This is the first double spread, 12 x 12 layout I've done in a very long time ...... and it really got me thinking ..... back to the basics.


Have a wonderful week ....

I promised ....

... so I must follow through.

I was reminded this weekend by an old friend, that it had been a very long time since I posted anything on my blog .... and I had to ask "well, how do you know" ... and she said "because I check it every day" ..... soooo, now that I know someone is actually reading it .... I promised I would post an update ..... thank you, Jennifer! Thats was just the push I needed to get back into it!

And the timing was perfect to have something to share!

I got to experience the Creative Escape preview days this past thursday evening, all day Friday and part of Saturday.

We're sworn to secrecy about everything we saw and heard .... but I will say this ..... IF you are on the fence about signing up to go to the last Creative Escape ..... go ahead and sign up. This will be my fourth year of assisting at the event, and I can say that I enjoyed the classes this time around more than any of my other years! Good projects ... useable projects!

Just before finishing up on Saturday, Bazzil sponsored a door prize .... a drawing .... and here goes my brain .... oh, I don't like drawings, I'm just so unlucky with drawings ... i never win drawings ..... oh, how I wish I could win this drawing ... forget about it, finish your project .... oh, I know that box is full of Bazzil goodness ..... oh, I wish ...... and then I hear ... I don't know how to pronounce her last name, its sharon .... and her eyes go to me .... ME?? Me .... I won??? No way!!!!

Yes, way!! I was one happy girl!

and that box was full ......

of lots of Bazzil goodness .....

Thank you to Bazzil for the special box of goodies ... and the opportunity to work at Creative Escape.

I'll miss it next year .... but you shouldn't miss it THIS year!

I've got all kinds of things to catch up on this blog with .... keep reading Jennifer .... I'll try to be better!!