Fun Etsy Store

Look at the Cricuit covers & scrapping goodies she has to offer at Scrapguild. Wouldn't a matching set of covers and a scrap catcher be fun? She takes special orders. And look how she is storing her cartridges and booklets....too cute.

From her site: I have a fashion design background, have sewn for 30 years and quilted for 10.

Here's her blog Cricutcraftyclare.

Where I'm From...

We have a challenge on our Obsessed Scrappers United boards..to go to this site and create a LO using the questions about where I am from. This was based on a poem by George Ella Lyons called "Where I'm From." It took quite awhile to come up with my words & the LO followed easily. I used paper from July's Club Scrap Jr. kit....it fit the theme beautifully!!

Where I'm From

I am from cool saltwater breezes, from shells, starfish & clams, from a Voit wetsuit for skiing over the sound, long sunny days & cold winter nights.

I am from a home built by my parents & added onto when I was born, from beautiful “mother-tended” gardens, from a shop full of tools & smells of creativity.

I am from wild blackberries, thimbleberries, nettles, elderberry trees, Fireweed, Indian Paint Brush & from the sweet scent of Sweet Peas & colorful, sweet blossoms of Nasturtiums.

I am from family gatherings reuniting souls each summer & loving, caring, closely knit kin, from George & Ruth, from Andrews & Loomis.

I am from the honest & hard-working, music lovers & the curious, from the artistic & creative.

From wait ½ hour after lunch before you can go swimming & is your homework done.

I am from solid & quiet Presbyterians, from the huge brick building & a Sunday School teacher I loved. I am from red-doored Episcopalians & a small church in Port Townsend.

I am from the Pacific NW, third generation, from pioneer stock. The ocean, sound, lakes & rivers run through my veins. From grilled & smoked salmon, butter clams, shrimp, Dungeness crab, sweet corn from grandpa’s garden.

From hardy Yankee stock in Maine who came west in the 1840s, returned to the east to fight in the Civil War, & came west again to homestead in Washington Territory, from a guitar playing dairy farmer & an Irish lass turned school teacher. From a dairy farmer’s son & a brick mason’s daughter – country & city united, strong, dedicated, hard-working men & women.

I am from photos lovingly scrapped from the 1800s to today, from a genealogy written in 1700s Ireland, tatted lace, crewel pictures, hand-made dresses, a hand-hewn shingle from a barn long gone, silver from a generation that lived in a castle & were landed gentry, my paternal grandfather’s guitar that I never heard him play, the letters from cousins in England during WWII, & the stories passed down from generation to generation to those who still love to hear them.

I'm soooo ashamed

I haven't updated my blog in such a long time :( But, here I am today. Lots of stuff going on this week. Tomorrow we have a funeral mass for DH's uncle on Bainbridge Island. He was 82 and quite ill for some time. His wife is just trying to get used to an empty house. I'm sure it must seem very quiet to her.

Saturday, we go down to Olympia for a 99th birthday party for my aunt. She's the last one of the five kids. My dad passed away first in 1985 at age 68..but his sisters were long lived...each of the other three sisters lived to at least see their 90th birthday. My aunt in Olympia was the second eldest and my dad the youngest. It should be a fun time for the family. We are bringing a life-long friend (age 93) of my aunt along with us - they should both enjoy the time together.

Next week DH & I go to San Antonio for a scrapbook retreat with my Obsessed Scrapbook sisters. There will be about 20 of us staying cool in the scrapbook store. A few DHs will be there, too...mine just wants to toodle around SA and see the sights. I want to take some pictures because the last time I was down there (in the 1980s) I didn't take a lot. So Riverwalk & Alamo here I come!! I'll be working on a couple of swaps - I don't want to bring a lot of stuff on the plane - so I'm pre-cutting and packaging up my stuff. I'm so looking forward to this since I've never met these wonderful ladies in person!!

We've been having HOT weather here (yes, I know it will be hot in SA) and we don't have air conditioning...just a lot of fans and popsicles.

Well, that's the short update for now. Happy Summer!!

Fruit of the Spirit - Love

Sorry the picture is a little off center. Hopefully you can see it just fine. Prima flowers & butterfly. I really enjoyed putting this one together.


Yeah, I know I've done two for Love - but the spirit moved me to do so! I'm working on Peace & Patience now.

April Telephone Scraplift

In a group I belong to, Obsessed Scrappers United, I am taking part in a challenge. The hostess emails the first person in each group a layout. This time I was first & boy was it a doozy of a LO!! I had to really scratch my head on this one!! I'll post the original later - after this round is over - along with my interpretation. Sorry I can't post it now **sigh** I just finished it & want to show it off...but, the others in my group read my blog and....well, you know ;)

The Fruit of the Spirit is JOY

OK, so now I am caught up through last week. I've been doing the Bible study, I just haven't had time to do the LOs to go with it ;) Anyway, the center of each flower has a word or two about joy: laugh, heaven, happiness, have fun, care deeply, delight, etc. And, of course, my dove.

March telephone scraplift...

So, the thing is, you are emailed a layout & you have to look at it & then create your own LO. I was last on this 3 person team & this is what I came up with.


The Thickers were the wrong color, so I used some Making Memories Red paint and painted them!!

I hadn't scrapped too much from 9-11 and these pictures from the flower memorial at the Seattle Center seemed to pop up and spoke to me. So I created a "Seattle Remembers" LO showing the pictures I took when we went down to put flowers at the International Fountain. There were thousands of flowers and it was a beautiful day to go and say a prayer and remember.

The Fruit of the Sprit is - Love

A little late - this is last week's Bible Study. The Fruit of the Spirit is love.

Fruit of the Spirit

I finally finished it. The introduction page for my Scripture Scrappers Bible Study. We are starting with the "Fruit of the Spirit."

I knew what I wanted to do, but as with all my LOs - it became an ever-changing piece of work. My first thought was to have grape vines hanging over a stone wall. Then I thought about the tree of life. Then I remembered a beautiful piece of printed vellum I've had forever.

So, I sketched out a curved stone arch, drew some grapes and vines over the top, drew in a tree, etc.


Then I gathered my materials....well, sometimes your materials can lead you in a different direction... I found some Prima roses. I decided on paper piecing, so I cut out my tree, punched my leaves, cut out the stones for the arch and then decided punching out little round purple pieces and trying to make grapes was not what I wanted to do. So below is the final outcome.

I used the paper piecing for the tree, stone arch. I painted a vine and leaves on the left side and placed Prima roses. I found some cute stickers of God's creatures and tucked them in here & there and used stickers for the title - "Fruit of the Spirit." Then, I cut out the inside of the arch, placed the garden print velum under it and attached it. I placed a white piece of card stock under the whole LO and placed the sticker of the stone house behind the velum.

Lastly, I placed the white dove on the page. That white dove will repeat on each page with the name of the fruit on it. So, below is the final LO - what do you think??

December Commit 2 Paper kit arrived

I just received my Commit 2 Paper kit.


The papers are gorgeous: SEI Alpine Frost collection, Silver alphabet from Thickers, Prima flowers - beautiful browns, whites, gray & tan Bazzill, and some lovely ribbon. I now have more paper to make layouts for my snow pictures!!

My first acrylic album..

OK, so it takes me awhile to get my feet wet when a new technique shows up. We received acrylic albums in September 2007's ScrapGoods kit. Humm, I started saving embellies that would look good with 'see-through' albums and amassed quite a bit....I can collect with the best of them!!

Well, the weekend of June 7th the ScrapGoods design team held an online crop & had several classes & challenges. One of the challenges I took on was to create an acrylic book. I'd been thinking about this for awhile & wanted to do a book of my sister who passed away in 2000.

I took pictures of the inside pages before I attached any ribbons, just to make sure the pages showed up OK. I hope you enjoy seeing as much as I enjoyed making it.


My sister loved the poem "When I Am Old I Shall Wear Purple" - so that's the color combination I chose - purple & red.

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick flowers in other people's gardens
And learn to spit.


You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go
Or only bread and pickles for a week
And hoard pens and pencils and beer mats and things in boxes.
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
And pay our rent and not swear in the street
And set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.


But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.
~Jenny Jacobs ~

Marianne as a baby and about 3 years old.

Marianne at about 2 on the left. The poem is a Native American Prayer

I give you this one thought to keep -
I am with you still - I do not sleep.
I am a thousand winds that blow,
I am the diamond glints on snow,
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush,
I am the swift, uplifting rush
of quiet birds in circled flight.
I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not think of me as gone -
I am with you still - in each new dawn.

Marianne at about 5 years old.

Marianne & our cousin Barbara. The poem reads:

A life well-lived is a precious gift of hope, strength and grace
from someone who has made our world a brighter, better place.

It’s filled with moments sweet and sad, with smiles and sometimes tears,
with friendships formed and good times shared and laughter through the
years.

A life well-lived is a legacy of joy and pride and pleasure,
a loving, lasting memory our grateful hearts will treasure.

Marianne's high school graduation picture 1960.

Marianne's college picture about 1964. The poem on the other side of the page reads:

The tide recedes,
but leaves behind bright seashells on the sand.
The sun goes down,
but gentle warmth still lingers on the land.
The music stops,
and yet it echoes on in sweet refrains.
For ever joy that passes, something beautiful remains.

M.D. Hughes

My sister & I at two stages in our lives...when I was a baby sitting on her lap and in 1997 standing side by side.

The text below the picture reads:

Sisters share that unique & special relationship that combines friend and family - a bond that is at the same time supportive and enduring. The woman who shares her life with a sister is blessed.

And the last page with a quote:

Each life is a miracle that changes the world…
And leaves it a better place than it was before.

I've been looking at the Basic Grey new lines and am in love with Boxer.

Aren't those colors and patterns just gorgeous?