Calendar 2011

Don't you love when you complete a project, that feeling of accomplishment and just enjoyment of the whole creative process? I finished up my calendar for 2011 and wanted to share the last few months with you!
I had left off a few postings back on the beginnings of August. Of course, August represents Summer and sunshine, so yellow and bright, bright was the theme...

                            I used my Slice machine to create the numbers using a very cheery summer paper!
September, of course, harkens in Fall and I felt the usual autumnal colors of oranges, browns, etc....
(don't you just love the word "autumnal"? I do!) but also I used metallic golds and silvers and bronzes...

October was a lot of fun!

We have the start of our Holidays and I wanted to reflect that...

Isn't my Halloween decoration cute?

I got the directions from ever-so-cute Elizabeth at Creative Breathing!

Next of course is beautiful November and a season of Thanks...

I decided to deconstruct the page and use the actual calendar outline as my guide to cut squares and

re-construct the page back together again. I liked it!

The gorgeous autumnal paper set and glitter leaves from Michaels craft store really zinged it up!

For December, I broke the rules!

I had purchased a while back a peek-a-boo window cartridge for my Sizzix and I really had a vision of it becoming my month for a countdown calendar...

So I abandoned the idea of representing the actual amount of days in December and which days they correspond to and went with a countdown calendar instead!

I mean it is all about getting to the 25th when it's December anyways, right?!

I added vintage holiday cuties behind the windows...

Fun!

Now I promised my daughter I'd finish up her curtains I began for her, like, maybe six months ago!

She's a little impatient! Ha!

Have a great week!

A Miracle Indeed this Pink Saturday!

There ARE angels among us, and one of them is KELEE KATILLAC.  What strikes me about Kelee is she’s not an angel just because, but because she chooses to be. That makes her extra beautiful in my eyes!
Today here on PINK SATURDAY is  extra special as Kelee shares her wonderful gift of love and healing over at her blog as she created a healing space for a "sister of her heart” Colette Gauthier…
Please visit her today to read this inspiring story and to raise money for charity AND you can win great prizes too!
On this pink Saturday we are sharing INSPIRING stories! I instantly thought of the book series
“Chicken Soup for the Soul” and was drawn to the Chicken Soup book “Chicken Soup for the Unsinkable Soul,” PERFECT for this celebration of life and of Colette!
This poem us for YOU, Colette….
                                                            ODE TO THE CHAMPIONS
                                                                 Who are these people --
                                                                 These doers of deeds,
                                                                 These dreamers of dreams
                                                                 Who make us believe?                                                                             Who are these people
                                                                 Who still win the day --
                                                                 When the odds are against them
                                                                 And strength fades away?                                                                  These people are champions,
                                                                 For they never give in.
                                                                 A heart beats within them
                                                                 That is destined to win.                                                                  They follow their dreams
                                                                 Though the journey seems far,
                                                                 From the top of a mountain
                                                                 They reach out to a star.                                                                 And when they have touched it --
                                                                When their journey is done --
                                                                They give to us hope
                                                                From the victories they won.                                                                    So here’s to the champions --
                                                                   To all their great deeds.
                                                                    They follow their hearts
                                                                   And become winners indeed.
                                                                                                                            Tom Krause
      And just a little bit more inspiration via “Chicken Soup”….
                                           YOU CAN BEAT THE ODDS AND BE A WINNER, TOO
                                                    BURY HIM IN THE SNOWS OF VALLEY FORGE,
                                                         AND YOU HAVE A GEORGE WASHINGTON.
                                                                     
                                                          RAISE HIM IN ABJECT POVERTY AND
                                                            YOU HAVE AN ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
                                                         SUBJECT HIM TO BITTER RELIGIOUS
                                                                PREJUDICE, AND YOU HAVE A
                                                                                     DISRAELI.
                                                        SPIT ON HIM AND CRUCIFY HIM, AND
                                                                     YOU HAVE JESUS CHRIST.

                                                        LABEL HIM "TOO STUPID TO LEARN,"
                                                         AND YOU HAVE A THOMAS EDISON.
                                                        TELL HER SHE'S TOO OLD TO START
                                                         PAINTING AT 80, AND YOU HAVE A
                                                                     GRANDMA MOSES.
                                                      HAVE HIM OR HER BORN BLACK IN A
                                                               SOCIETY FILLED WITH RACIAL
                                                        DISCRIMINATION, AND YOU HAVE A
                                                BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, HARRIET TUBMAN,
                                      MARION ANDERSON, GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER
                                                              OR MARTIN  LUTHER KING JR.
                                                          MAKE HIM THE FIFTH CHILD TO
                                                     SURVIVE IN A POOR ITALIAN FAMILY
                                                     OF 18 CHILDREN, AND YOU HAVE AN
                                                                          ENRICO CARUSO.
                                                          AFFLICT HIM WITH PERIODS OF
                                                     DEPRESSION SO SEVERE THAT HE CUT
                                                        OFF HIS OWN EAR, AND YOU HAVE A
                                                                  VINCENT VAN GOGH.
                                                             TELL HER IN THE LATE 1800s AND
                                                            EARLY 1900s THAT ONLY MEN CAN
                                                               BE SCIENTISTS, AND YOU HAVE A
                                                                                 MADAM CURIE,
                                                    WHO EVENTUALLY WON  TWO NOBEL PRIZES --
                                            ONE FOR  PHYSICS AND THE OTHER FOR CHEMISTRY.
                                                              TELL A YOUNG BOY WHO LOVED TO
                                                         SKETCH AND DRAW THAT HE HAS NO
                                                    TALENT, AND YOU HAVE A WALT DISNEY.
                                                      TAKE A CRIPPLED CHILD WHOSE ONLY
                                                               HOME HE EVER KNEW WAS AN
                                                 ORPHANAGE, AND YOU HAVE A JAMES E. WEST
                                                                       WHO BECAME THE FIRST
                                              CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA.
                                                              MAKE HIM A SECOND FIDDLE IN AN
                                                                      OBSCURE SOUTH AMERICAN
                                                                 ORCHESTRA, AND YOU HAVE A
                                                                                    TOSCANINI.

                                                                                                                                            Abagail Van Buren

Movin' on through the months!

Hi Friends! I had shared the beginnings of my calendar a couple posts ago and had ended with the thoughts of what March would look like and I thought I'd share my ongoing progress as I march through the months of the year for my new craft room calendar for 2011!
So I had been sharing the March to me is, of course, green! Then I realized how much I LOVE green (!!!) many, many shades of green, so that is where my inspiration came from for lovely March...

April (showers of course bring May flowers) so April is drizzly, unshaped, free flowing, so layering this effect came to life on my calendar....

May (flowers!) have arrived, right?! I went to my flower image files and created a puzzle collage effect and thought fresh, bright, growing!

June is of course the kick start for summer and I'm not sure why this idea came to me, but I was remembering a tween store in the mall that my daughter used to love and how I had admired their "tissue paper" wallpaper and I thought Yes! Plus a bit of glitter and birds just worked for me!

July gave me a chance to use the cuts-like-butter felt I just purchased from Joggles and am keeping on the backburner for my next projects, and the marina flags effect just was the right choice for July, don't you think so too?

Well, now we're up to the current month we're in right now, August... I had some cute (if I do say so myself!) gathered crepe paper I had in my long ago and far away Etsy shop way back, and I'm so glad it didn't sell, because it's setting up just perfectly for the beginnings of my vision for August!

I hope you've enjoyed my calendar pages! It's a great, easy-going project, you should make your own too!

Pink Saturday: Vintage Beauty

I need to remember today, Friday, in 2016. That is when on August 4th my driver’s license will expire. Why? So that I can renew BEFORE it expires online and not have to do what I did today…

Go to the dreaded local driver’s license bureau and wait in a line, first outside, then on one side of the room inside and then on the other line on the other side of the room for THREE hours in order to renew my DL!! A poor lady I chatted with said she had went at 7:15 a.m. and the line was out the door, down the sidewalk, around the corner and oh, out to the main road! So she went home and came back at 10 a.m. which is when I went too, and it was only to the first corner in front of the building, so I was LUCKY!

Anyhoo, that’s NOT what my vintage PINK SATURDAY is about! Ha,ha! But I’m seriously one who believes that if you have to suffer through days like this, that you deserve to TREAT yourself well doing something you LOVE after you finally escape!

So I went to McKinney, TX, to their historic downtown and went to antique shops, a sweet gelato shop, and a store I love with German glass glitter and a smorgasbord of utter beauties at Smitten!

In the antique store I found one of my weaknesses….

                        Vintage papers, magazines, in this case, an April 1923 French magazine!

                                                             The stress began melting away!    

I opened it up very carefully to see the various stories, ads and this beautiful page…

                                                A little pattern for the everyday seamstress…

                                                                            and a bonus…

                                                       directions to make an organza flower for your jacket!

          Also lovely were the local announcements of marriages, and bragging rights too I’m sure!

                I decided to drive up and down the local historical  neighborhood streets

                               to gaze at the beautiful Victorian style homes in McKinney

                                        and like any dreamer, I noted my favorite and looked it up online

                                              later in the evening.

I think that the gorgeous lady on the front of the magazine would have been right at home in this 1895 beauty…

                          I know I was drooling when I saw the front foyer…

                                   there are just not enough adjectives to describe homes like these…

                                       It looks as if there is an original fireplace in every room!

                                                       the floors, the windows, the built in originals

                                                   You’re ready to purchase, just as I am, aren’t you?!

                                                   Here’s the best, the kitchen and the bathroom is updated…

                                                                    Just one more peek….

                               ant the whole scoop? Here’s the listing  RIGHT HERE

                                     After drooling and considering a big move :>)

                             Please visit my Pink Saturday friend PEGGY AT PEGGY'S MIXED UP ART

                       I love her header on her blog! I can tell she’s a fun, creative blogger just from that!

Matthew Mead Christmas!

I, like you, LOVE Christmas and all of the magazines that go with it! :>)
I'm sure you've visited Matthew Mead's Holiday Magazine Blog and seen all of the previews for his lovely, inspiring Holiday magazine coming out that can ONLY be purchased via this site, haven't you?
I've pre-ordered mine, you should hurry over to pre-order yours too so that come November 1st you'll be well on the way to jump starting your holiday treasures, decorating and traditions!

Creating Anew this week and a few treasures!

I literally feel shut out of life if I am not able to create something, anything, to make me feel creative.
I'm pretty much the same way about having a book to read too!
This week I decided to create with a gift from my friend Gail that she gave me for my birthday,
a blank calendar to create from scratch.
It's rather daunting looking at an all white page and knowing where to begin.
Recently I read about color and it's impact in our lives as far as nature, our homes, our moods...
So I began there and thought about color as it's connected to the months of the year...
So to me, January is white, maybe a bit of blue, ice cold, and sparkly, like snowflakes...

Birds are dreaming of Spring, the world colors are muted...

Then, of course, February is pink and red, warmer because of L-O-V-E...

Hearts are spreading the vibrancy of the color of February...

I'm about to begin March, I feel "green" a light Irish Green!

I thought I'd share a few of the treasures I found at Canton this past month too...

A gorgeous piano roll paper in it's original box...

Isn't the patina of the paper fantastic?!

Made my heart sing!

This I don't know what it is, but I saw it as a station for paintbrushes and glitter tubes!

Then I bought a few goodies from the vendor night too at A gilded Life...

I saw the colors of this vintage French map and said YES!

And a little silver container to hold doo-dads is always on my list of

necessities...

A hand painted vintage box from a French flea market...

the lettering is just so ever slightly raised...

And several pages of handwritten French script, including the penmanship lessons of a child

from long ago...

how beautiful!

Well, I will leave you now and return to my heart's delight of creating!

I hope you will come visit me again very soon!