Scrapbook Retreat

I just got back from a scrapbook retreat this past Sunday night. I had a great time! While the campus was beautiful, the food amazing and the classes terrific, my favorite part was the night we stayed up laughing, chatting and crafting the night away.

I will be posting about it in a series of posts since there is just too much to tell about in one single shot. (By the way, I didn't take the photos of the lake below. I have to thank the women who attended this even for sharing theirs.)

The event is held on the shores of Lake Coeur d'Alene. And everywhere you look is another stunning view.




The above photos were taken the day we arrived and after the snow melted. The night we arrived, Thursday, it snowed big fat fluffy flakes.

But it all melted by the next afternoon.

When we arrived, there were gorgeous handmade welcome bags were waiting for us. After trying to chose one and having difficulty, my friend, Theresa, pointed out the white and black ones and mentioned she thought she'd get the most mileage out of that one. I had to agree and picked up a black and white one, too. I love it and will use it in my scraproom.


It contained a granola bar, water, flavoring for the water, a schedule, a supplies list for all of our classes, and some Moon Glow Starburst Spray in Cocklebell's Coral. It's a powder in a spray bottle. You add hot water, shake and it becomes a colored mist you spray on paper, much like Glimmer Mist.

At the time we signed in, we got our bedding (if we had ordered any) and our logowear (if we had ordered any). We also had the option of putting our piece of the group art project on the wall. We decided to wait for the other girls to arrive before we stuck them into place, though here is mine and the completed set of them.

Vintage/Victorian Charms for Scrapbook Retreat Charm Swap

So out of the seven sets I completed, these definitely gave me the most trouble. These little stinkers weren't about to go down without a fight. But, completed they are. Finally!!! :-)

Seat #1

This is definitely the simpler of the sets. I ended up using Mod Podge Dimensional Magic, not resin, because my husband started doing research online and decided resin was too toxic for someone who is 5 months pregnant to use. I was bummed. I really wanted to try it. I had even bought it and the little mixing cups from Hobby Lobby. But after reading some of the horror stories online, I had to agree with him. Some were complaining of eyelid burn, some said they couldn't use it without opening all the doors and windows, others suggested investing in an industrial grade respirator. Why take the risk? Oh, well. Next year, definitely.

Here's the art charm:

It's pretty substantial in size and weight, so I didn't want to dangle it from another bead. I added one to the jump ring instead.


On the back, I used Mod Podge to glue on and seal the sentiment I'd printed on blue paper. Then I added a thick layer of Mod Podge Dimensional Magic on top.


And here is the filler:


And here they are all packaged up:




Seat #2

So, I worked very hard on this one. I ended up with mixed results.

These heart charms came from a lady who bought an old factory building in New York or New Jersey (can't quite remember which one) and inside she found boxes of charms from the 1940's. Well, at least that was the story she was peddling. Who knows if it's true. But, I don't really care, because I like the idea of coming across boxes of old charms like that. How fun!

Again, I decided to try my hand at decoupaging - something new to me. I took one of the charms and stamped multiple imprints of it on pale pink flourishy paper and cut them out. I used Mod Podge to glue them into the back depression of the charm. Next, I went looking for a quote that included the words "creativity," "inspiration," "art," or "heart." I loved the Marc Chagall quote I stumbled across.

"If I create from the heart, nearly everything works; if from the head, almost nothing."

Not all of it would fit on the back of the heart, so I chose "Create from the Heart."

Next, I printed those words on green paper, cut them out, and using tweezers, attached them to the paper I had glued onto the back of the heart. I then sealed it all with Mod Podge. Next, I sprayed a waterproof sealer on the top, since I planned to use only a thin layer of Mod Podge Dimensional Magic on top of it all. After letting the waterproof sealer dry, I covered it with the Mod Podge Dimensional Magic and let it dry for several days.

Well, over the course of those days, 3 or 4 of them developed some slight discoloration. I don't know if it was mixing all the mod podge, waterproof sealer and dimensional magic together or whether it was the chemicals reacting to the brass, but some shadowing appeared on a few of them. I was crushed. I had spent hours on these. And it wasn't like I could run out to the store, pick up some new ones and start again. Plus, the front was so pretty that I hated the idea of not using them.

In the end, I decided to include the hearts, but also beef up my set to include a few more charms so that those receiving them wouldn't feel as though they had been cheated. So, that's why this set has 4 different charms on it. Hopefully, those receiving it will find two they like and can consider those the set - art and filler.

So here they are:

I put the full Chagall quote on the front.






I glued a teeny rhinestone on the front. My husband actually helped with this one. He held the rhinestone upside down on his index finger and I put some glue on the heart where it would go. Then, I would press the heart onto his finger tip to pick up the rhinestone with the glue. The GS Hypo Cement worked like a charm. (Get it? Charm? LOL.)


I also included a slip of paper with some information about Chagall in the bag the charms are packaged in. I always like to know more about those being quoted, so I thought it would be fun.




All bagged and ready to go:


The bag reads "18 Charms (2 Seats)."

So those are my Vintage/Victorian charms. I will post my Under the Sea charms tomorrow. I like taking my photos in the sunlight. I think some of the photos above would have turned out much better in sunlight, but I was so excited to be done packaging them that I had to post some pics tonight.

Valentine's Day Cards

Needing a break from preparing for Creative University (which I can't wait for!), I decided to make some Valentine's Day cards. While searching for supplies for CU, I came across some forgotten colored pencils I had never even opened and some pens that weren't Copics (my favorite). I decided to give them a whirl and see if they could compare to my Copics. While I think these turned out fine, I definitely love my Copics.

San Francisco

Here's another one for Kurt's album. I'm trying as hard as I can to get it done before we leave. I need this monkey off of my back.

No Time for Scrapbooking

Wow - Life has a way of taking over your time. First the move to Boise from Portland - which was a LOT of work - and then 9 days spent in California with my father-in-law cleaning and prepping his house for sale. I love HGTV and it was fun to play Sabrina Soto for a week. I can't come close to her skill level, but it was still fun to try - it was like going to a staging fantasy camp for a week.

Here are some before and after shots:

Upstairs Bedroom

This is where I spent a majority of my time. It was sort of a catch-all storage room and the remnants from when my father-in-law's other son lived there. We turned it into a proper bedroom.

Before:

and after:




We packed up everything and once it was empty, the other half of the work started. I painted the walls to make it look fresh.



Living room

Before:



and after:


We didn't do much to this room - mostly just removing a lot of furniture and knickknacks.

We removed all of the blue accents in the living room area to neutralize it and changed out the curtains to bring in more light. We removed a chaise lounge at the back and added a dedicated dining area and left some blue accents in the new dining area to help define it.

We also removed a few other pieces of furniture to open the area up. We took out the screen and moved the bar area into the family room. Finally, we removed a buffet table from behind the couch. Once we moved the couch back, it made the room feel larger.

Oh, I almost forgot - I painted the foyer from apple green to almond paste.



Downstairs Bath

Before:

and after:


So those are the most dramatic photos. I did a lot of other little things, too, like removing little things from the walls all over the house, changing out the art and shower curtain in the hall bath upstairs, painting the window sill in the smaller guest bedroom, and painting the kitchen ceiling (when Cyn passed away she was in mid-progress painting it from gray to yellow). We took a paint chip to Lowe's and though it wasn't big enough to match a color using their computer, we eye-matched it and got a perfect match.

Not only did I get to see my dad and some friends, I also got to see some wildlife while I was down there. A pack (actually, I just looked it up and technically it's called a "rafter") of turkeys lives in the neighborhood and every morning they comb the streets looking for bugs and food. Cyn always referred to them as a gang of hoodlums. They look so funny skulking around. And the cutest thing about it all is that a quail was born around the same time as some of them and adopted into the group. It looks so funny and out of place - this tiny little bird hanging out with these big huge birds - and it behaves just like them.



I am still not used to living in a MUCH smaller metropolitan area than Portland. I was a little surprised to find out there was only one direct flight per day from Sacramento to Boise. Then, when I got to the airport and saw this waiting for me, it was confirmed. I live in a very small place now. And I like that. I might not like tiny little prop planes, but I like the small town feel of my new city.

Yup, that's all the passengers out on the tarmac waiting for their carry-on bags. Since there is no real storage space above the seats, they offer what is called "a la cart", where they tag it with a green tag and store it in the belly of the plane kinda like a grey hound bus, which is sorta how the plane felt. And you board by going out onto the tarmac and climbing up the open door stairs. Yes, I live in a very small city now.

After I landed, we went straight from the airport to a small stamping expo (around 20 vendors) - hey, I know where my priorities lie! I got some patterned paper - 9 sheets for $0.35 each - and they're really cute. I think they're retired Stampin' Up paper. (I need more patterned paper like I need a hole in the head, but that didn't stop me.) I also got a couple of stamps and some older issues of Close to My Heart catalogues for $1 each. They have some really cute ideas in them and I can't wait to try them out.

So, now that I'm done moving and helping my FIL sell his house (hopefully soon!), it's time to get back to scrapping. I am two months behind on my club and I have a few projects that need to be finished. I can't wait! I haven't scrapped in almost two months!

Western Idaho Fair

We went to the Western Idaho Fair this past Sunday. It was the last day so we got half-off admission. Yay! The fair reminded me so much of the Santa Cruz County Fair that my family went to every year. Well, "went to" isn't quite the right word. We lived and breathed the fair every year for weeks. We baked cookies and pies, we put together themed table decoration displays, we did flower arranging, we entered our poetry and fine art, we installed gardens, we worked the 4-H snack shack, we exhibited rabbits, chickens, goats, and sheep, we built huge displays in the 4-H building and put on demonstrations based on the classes we had taken that year - the list goes on and on. Those memories are some of my favorite from my childhood.

I went to the fair again one year as an adult and it was just sad - nothing like I had remembered. The hall where we our crafts had been displayed was filled with people's collections - troll dolls, silver spoons, and kitchy cow stuff (an entire case filled with things like cow salt and pepper shakers and a cow creamer where the milk comes out of the cow's mouth so it looks like she's regurgitating cream). The building where our homemade pies and cookies resided had been turned into a vendor hall, filled with booths from companies like Alhambra Water - where they were trying to hawk their water cooler systems. It made me so sad inside. I never went back.

So I wasn't sure what to expect when we went to the Western Idaho Fair. But, like everything in Idaho so far, it exceeded my expectations. We had a blast and here are some photos of what we saw and did:

First and foremost - the cardmaking and scrapbooking display:













And the most amazing quilts I've ever seen:

(My favorite - I LOVED these little monsters.)

Awesome cakes - It's amazing what someone can do with fondant:








We watched a little pig racing. Who knew there was a national association for Pig racing? I was a little sad Brittney Spare Ribs didn't win.





We went to the Wallaby exhibit put on by Bronco Motors. These little guys were so cute.





And we saw some farm animals:

This guy was pretty cool. I was so happy there was a fence between us, though, because he started to get aggressive and began coming at me with his horns directly pointed toward me, all business-like.

Loved this sign. Made me laugh. "Little extras" lol.

And finally, we rode the Ferris Wheel. I can't believe Spencer actually went up there in it with me. That is how much he loves me.