Happy New Year!!

It's almost 2008 for me...for some of my friends it is already the new year.

I wish you all a prosperous, peaceful and healthy year ahead, with lots of scrapping and crafting.

Shhhh, My secret sister mini-book swap

At SG, I am involved in a mini-book swap. We've decided to keep the person we are creating for a secret. But, I can post these pictures of the book I've created for her. This is the cover. She wanted a flexible binding so she could have a "lumpy" book. So, I chose ribbons.


The next two photos are a couple of the pages.


I also included a pocket to keep special stuff.

White Christmas

Merry Christmas!! We are spending a quiet day at home. Presents have been opened and I'll be starting dinner soon. We received one extra present this afternoon, it started to snow.

Now, since we live in the Pac NW, it will turn to rain soon, I'm sure. But, for now, we have our white Christmas.

Today is also the day my SG friend, Bobbie, & her DH are taking their beloved dog, Duncan, to the Washington State University Vet School. Duncan has a nasal cavity tumor. We are all praying and sending warm healthy thoughts to them. You can read more about this on Bobbie's blog.

Name Book class

On December 9th my aMUSEme group sat down online and learned how to make Name Books. Mine isn't finished yet; however, I wanted to show it off. I still need to decorate the front with some primas and put my name on the inside with some rub on decorations.

This is the book closed & tied with pretty pink ribbon:


This is the book open:


I used some holographic wrapping paper for the outside and some pretty Chatterbox PP and Bazzille cardstock on the inside.

Where has the time gone?

Oh my gosh. It's almost Christmas. I've been busy sending out cards to my ScrapGoods friends, wrapping presents and working. Yup, working, still...but I do have vacation next week, so it is good.

The tree is still standing, only one ornament broken so far. It's just a little piece broken out, so I rehung it with the hole to the back of the tree.

It's snowing in the passes, Snoqualmie Summit is gorgeous right now and the skiers are sooooo happy. I wouldn't mind a bit down here in the lowlands.

Christmas decorating

The Christmas tree is now decorated and I feel calmer just looking at it. Now, if I could just figure out how to turn the flash off on my camera, I might get a decent night photo with the lights on. Oh well. I've saved a little room for some homemade ornaments from my sisters at ScrapGoods. When I receive them & put them up, I'll post that, too.


The mantel has the nativity and my angels.


These are my snowmen. They are so much fun and they remind me of my sister. She loved angels and snowmen. So, it's a small Christmas reminder of her every time I see them. That's my great-aunt Kathryn on the right. It's a pastel that was done many decades ago.


Sammy, be good.


This is Sammy not being good. I don't have any photos of Cindy not being good because I was too busy saving the tree to take any pictures.


Sammy and Cindy resting up from helping me.

Fat Book

I joined a Fat Book swap at my LSS last spring. The theme was the letter "J." We each created our own cover and 12 identical pages - one for each participant. This is my cover: I wrapped gold embroidery thread around a letter "J" I made out of cardboard. I put "jewels" and other J items on the cover.




I chose Jellyfish & Jewels as my page. I covered the 6x6 chipboard with a piece of blue cellophane, then some yummy handmade paper with wonderful fiber in it and covered that with another piece of blue cellophane. The jellyfish bodies are pieces of glass (flat on one side & rounded on the other); the tentacles are beaded fringe. I attached a treasure chest filled with pearls & gold seed beads. The diver is an embossed stamp image on gray paper. The floor of the sea is torn sandpaper. There are real shells and other embellishments on the page.



This is a page done by another participant - she chose Junk as her page theme.



This participant chose Jumping Jack as her page theme. The Jumping Jack has movable arms & legs.


Now, why did I put this here?? Because I've joined an online Fat Book swap with my aMUSEme group. The book theme is Childhood Amusements...I have some ideas, but nothing has jelled yet, so I can't share with you what my page theme will be.

Folding Class

I belong to the Yahoo group, aMUSEme, and this past Sunday we had an online class and learned how to fold these cute packets.

I haven't put the bow on yet, but I will before I use the packet to hold little goodies for the recipient.

The larger one was made from an 8 1/2 x 11 piece of wrapping paper and the smaller one from a 7 x 5 piece of paper.

You can also put plain paper through a Cuttlebug and emboss a pattern on it. So many different things you can do with this.

It's snowing!!

Woo hoo, first day of December and it is snowing. Now, mind you, I don't like to go out & have to shovel or drive in the stuff, but when I can be inside all snug and enjoy watching it come down....that's what I like.