Merry Christmas Dreamers!!

   It has been a while since I had a lull in creativity, but I wanted to share my latest project with you.  I made this adorable mini-album for my newest grandchild, Evelyn.  It is her 1st Christmas and it needs to be special.  I bought this  mini paper pack and "goodies" in 2009, when I was in Denver with my good friend Patty. I love bright colors and loved that it was not "traditional" Christmas colors.  Fancy Pants   is a great paper  company, and I had to have it.  It was my 1st visit to an Archiver's store and it was fabulous! (I used "it" too many times in those last 2 sentences, but I got nothing else!!)

    But when I got home, I just couldn't make the paper work with pictures of the boys!  So I stashed the brightness away!  Until I got a Grand-daughter last February!  The album itself came in a box of "warehouse over-runs" from Maya Road. * If you aren't their friend on Face Book, you are missing out on contests and warehouse sales! 

    Putting it together was fairly straight forward...glue paper to chipboard album, sand edges, embellish...ta da! A finished album!

I used Smooches paint around the edges for the bright pink and green.  Some stickles, bling glossy accents and I am very pleased with the way it turned out.  I know her mom & dad will also.  I will try to snap some pics of the finished product, since I won't have photos till next weekend.

The last couple of months have been a bit to handle..but I am not going to allow my grief to overshadow one of the most glorious holidays.....the birth of my Savior.  I'm dreamin' of a perfect holiday...you keep dreamin' too.



Out of Sorts

Hi Dreamers.  I have once again abandoned this blog.  I have been lacking creativity for some time.  I usually blame it to my attention deficit, but I have been back and forth to Oklahoma several times.  I have had time to visit with family and friends, went to Traverse City,  Michigan for a vacation. Great sight- seeing and picture taking opportunities around every corner.  We even had dinner in a vineyard.  Magnificent.  Memories of a lifetime.
    As I write this I am again in Oklahoma, but not on a vacation.  I am here, mourning the death of my favorite brother, Mike.  We were 18 months apart in age and often were mistaken for twins,,,because he was a preemie.  We grew up poor but with so much love we didn't notice. We shared so many memories...camping, dances, learning to drive a stick shift, marching band, sharing secrets, raising our children together with the same rules and morals, and just being silly together.
   And I can write that last paragraph with a smile on my face..cause I know he is with God, he is whole and healthy, playing praises on his trombone.
  But I also know that life leads us different directions and we never know how or when it will end.  And that makes my scrapbooking more important. Not a photo album...stories, memories put together with our photos to make  a record of our lives.  I'm not famous (don't want to be) and when I am gone, the only ones who will notice are our families...our friends...and with time even the ones that love us will forget us. And those who are young or not yet born will dig through boxes of pictures and try to figure out where we were in the photo and what were we doing? Or even who are these people.
    So when I return in a couple of weeks, my focus will change greatly.  My scrapping won't be totally focused on contests and what people "want" to see or learn.  But rather, on writing my stories and the stories of my family, as they were told to me.  Technology has pushed us away from that communication. (sitting at a table with family, 4 out of 6 of us were on their phones catching up with silly posts by people they barely know)
   So until then my friends, start sharing your stories and asking questions of your older family.  Become a historian for your family.  Share your dreams....
   And keep dreamin'

Pammie Kay

August Book of Me Prompt

  Hey Dreamers.  I know that by now most of you are aware that the Creative Scrapbooking Divas blog is closed as of last Sunday.  I am really saddened by it...cause I imagine I will lose contact with some great friends that I have made over the last 2 years.  I fully understand the reasons....it was a lot of work for everyone.  My personal blog has been so ignored  :(
    I am going to assure you that every month I will still issue my challenges here on this blog.
                 I will post as follows:

• 1st- Mini Albums   due the last day of the month, by midnight central time zone
• 15th- Book of Me   due the 13th of each month,    by midnight central time zone

    So I would like to restate my Book of Me challenge for August...if you don't mind.  I have some readers who are not Divas, just Dreamers and they may also want to join in.
   Being at my real home in Oklahoma always causes me to really be homesick. Therefore the prompt...is home. This is a personal journey for all of us. For some home is warm and fuzzy, full of wonderful memories. But sometimes home can be a place of hurt and regrets. I would like you to write about home...any home you have lived in...where you grew up, first home in marriage, or your current home. Or maybe even about a dream home, not yet realized.
Here is an "untouched" picture of my layout. (there is no photo editing program on his laptop!) I took this on the front porch of my Oklahoma home.

I used the Nutmeg line from Cosmo Cricket. I love double sided paper! This was one piece of paper, cut in two pieces (top is larger) and pulled together with a strip of paper that I pleated

Here is a closeup of the heart and paper strip. I love that the paper had dashes on it, to mimic stitching. I didn't have access to a trimmer, so I "cut" everything out by hand, using a really unsharp pair of round pointed scissors! I tore the large pieces and paper strip using the straight edge of a ruler. Then I ripped the heart shape, after drawing it on the back of the page. Some home made flowers to match and I was finished.

I love the birdie on the title strip, so I fussy cut one off of the dotted paper and popped it on foam dots. I covered the hole where the birdie came from with the title. The journal box on right is just for the picture. I will need a MUCH larger block to write all I have to say about home being where my heart is.
Hope you enjoy working on this prompt. I would love to see how yours turns out, so leave a comment.  I have started a Flickr group for us to post our projects into.  Please ask for the link and I will email it to you.  I think a private group is good for us, but feel free to invite your friends! 
  I'm Dreamin' that this will be a great success...you keep Dreamin' too.

Pammie Kay




Pammie Kay

FUN AT CKC!!!

Well, I have to say my trip to Oklahoma has been a great experience....I was able to do a lot of things I needed AND wanted to do...it has been a great mix.  I also got to get a lot of scrapping done.  That was because of the Creative Keepsakes Convention that was in Tulsa.  The girls and I spent Friday & Saturday playing with new products, meeting old friends, SHOPPING!!, volunteering, taking classes, and 2 nights of cropping!  I won several prizes and completed a mini album!
     I am on my son's computer, so I don't have pics on here. But I'll briefly (lol) tell you about some of my favs:

• Embellish It!  Shelby & Steve are the 2 nicest people.I worked in the booth with them for a while on both days.  They were the only ones to have the newest Basic Grey and Simple Stories papers. And she makes some awesome layout kits.Show price was only $10 and $12 online...they are creative and  pretty. Not just some die cuts and photo mats (you know the ones I mean!)  Check them out by clicking their name in the title.
• PK Glitz:  Awesome products!  They have the double sided adhesive sheets that you can cut in your cricut, Pazzle, Cuttlebug, etc. And it is heat resistant, so you can sprinkle it with embossing powder. They carry the glitter embossing powder, it's glittery but not all over your page!  DREAMY!!

   I have only a few days left here, so I can't spend them on the computer. Things on my list to still do...visit my friend Laurie, swim with grandsons, spend time with my cousin Pam, tackle another stack in DD's old room (I hate cleaning, but I had dirty worse!!), and hopefully get to scrap with my fabulous page kits I bought from Embellish It!  As much as I love getting away, I equally love going home to Stevie and being with him.  Lots to look forward to. 
   So for now I am Dreamin' of fun...you keep Dreamin' too

A mini album beginning

     Morning Dreamers!  The blog hop was so much fun!  The Divas will have another in September, but I won't be participating this time...I need some time to scrap some of my other challenges also.  And, it falls on our anniversary weekend..maybe hubby will do something special.  Want to leave my options open! 
    I have been so busy this week, creating like a storm.  Mostly I have been keeping up or trying to keep ahead of my design team duties at Creative Scrapbooking Divas.  So I am going to partially share a post and you can go there to read it in it's entirety!  I am working on a couple of things for "just us" also. I promise.  My table always has 2 projects going, in case one starts boring me!!
    I have a repeating subject on the Divas Blog that I post once a month.  The first month it was just a starter, sharing my very first mini album.  You can see it here if you haven't yet. That was a fun project and got lots of people at the shop excited about making mini albums. But let's be serious...there's no way I can make an entire mini album every month. Not if I want them to be good. Sure I could slap something together to showcase, but that is not me.  
   So instead, I am challenging everyone to work on their album with me...a few pages at a time.    Below is my finished front cover.  I am in love with Distress Stains and enjoyed staining with them.

    So here is finished front and if you would like to join the group and start a mini album with me (shake your head up and down, yes Pam we will!), hop over to the Divas site and start in.  Oh, and every month there will be blog candy!!

   I dreamin' of my album being finished, you keep dreamin' too.

Day 2 of Dog Days of Summer Hop

Well, I hope you all enjoyed all the wonderful creations on the hop yesterday.  The plan is, gals for you to do some creating on your own this weekend and then share it with us on the Creative Scrapbooking Divas Blog..  That gets you 2 entries into the drawing for the prize package!!  I know I could use some more product...   So be sure and play along.
    I don't know if anyone else is posting again today....but if you want to follow the Blog hop...go to Luisa's blog and follow long.  Again, be sure and leave a comment everywhere!
    I told you yesterday that I would have another post today...and TA DA!! I rarely do a one page layout...even in a sketch contest I do a second one.  I like the way it looks in my albums.  I must warn you that one of the pictures is a little x-rated....but cute! I used the same papers as yesterday..but since the one (K&Co) was so old and the only one I had, I had to use it sparingly!   Of course, the pictures aren't that pink in person...but they are orange-ish! 

    The "x-rated" pic on the lower left show Patrick's.....well...we lived in the country and sometimes there wasn't always a potty when you needed it!  The bear does this in the woods!  I couldn't believe that Steve took this picture, but we will laugh about it till we die!  And it doesn't bother Pat at all...he says he was cute! 
    As  always when I do one of the kid's layouts, journaling is a focus.  I carried over the twine element from page one onto the picture as shown here.  A couple of wraps around and a knot did the trick. I love these mini tickets from Maya Road, and couldn't resist adding them with some sentiments to the photo.

Well, I hope I have given you some ideas of where to go with your next summertime project.  Grab some old photos and take off with them.  I did use copies, cause my 110 camera from the 80's didn't do close ups...and you couldn't tell what size your subjects would be in the finished photo!  Now go on to Alecia's Blog and see if she has posted again today.  Enjoy the last of your weekend ....and keep Dreamin' of your summer-time layouts.

Dog Days of Summer Blog Hop!

      

 Welcome to the Creative Scrapbooking Divas' "Dog Days of Summer" Blog Hop! Yes, it's all about summer, and I hope you have been enjoying the wonderful blogs.  I can't wait to hop this morning!

   If you are just joining me now, you can go to Luisa’s blog to start at the beginning so you won’t miss a hop stop and can be eligible for the blog hop prize.

Here is the CSDivas Divalicious Dog Days of Summer Grand Prize:

To earn a ticket you need to:
1) Live a comment in each of the hop stops.

                         2) Leave a comment at the CSDivas blog when you are done.

After you've done that, you can also earn extra tickets by:

a) Become a follower of our CSDivas blog!
b) Become a Fan of our Facebook Fan Page

c) Add a summer project to Mr Linky below

Here's our Tour List, in case you get lost along the way:

Luisa - Creative Designs by Luisa http://www.creativedesignsbyluisa.com/

Sandy - ScrapBook Blessings http://www.scrapbookblessings.blogspot.com/

Stephanie – The Magic of Ordinary Days http://todaysmagical.blogspot.com/

Pam - Dreamers Klub 
 http://dreamersklub.blogspot.com/

Jessica- Jessica's Blog
 http://jessicascraftshaque.blogspot.com/

Alecia - Welcome to Alecia's
 http://freakalecias.blogspot.com/   



       So let's get started.. I love summer time.  But when they said we were going to us "Dog Days" for our theme...I knew exactly what I was going to scrap.  You see, having grown up in Oklahoma, that is not a cute little phrase, but a true season there.  It starts about July 3 and continues until about August 11. It is a hot, hot time in Oklahoma and other southwestern states.  If you want to read about how it got it's name....go here. It's kinda interesting.
    This summer in Okla. has lived up to it's reputation with heat.  In fact, only a few years have been as bad...or worse.  In 1980, it was worse....with the heat not ending until late September.  How do I know?  I delivered my 2nd son on 8-8-80!  There wasn't enough air-conditioners in the US to get this fat lady cool!!
    Steve would take our older son to the local lake, Keystone, to swim and play on the beach.  I didn't go very often, cause I would swell up like a toadstool!!  Don't worry, there are no scary pictures like that here!  Only cute ones of my son Patrick, who was 19 months old.

  This layout is a mix of new and old products  The kraft cardstock has become my newest favorite color! (I use it too much, I know) The lined paper is from the new Lost and Found set from My Mind's Eye.  It was the right color, had a nice shape on the top and sides.  So, I simply cut the pretty glittery pieces off.  I will use them on a card or as a home made embellishment.

The bottom layer is from K&Co.  paper that I was "saving" cause it was pretty! I have lots of those! The color matched well with the yellowy/orange of the old photos.(don't get me wrong..the lake was "turning over" and the water was actually that red.  Usual for August). I needed a little dark to pop the pictures a bit, so I used some heavy paper from October Afternoon (love their new line!!!)  The alphas were stickers from pink paislee and the ribbon from Cosmo Cricket "Mr Campy" line. Everything else was just stuff from my stash. 

   Here's a close up  of the wonderful velvet ribbon from CC.  And yes girls, I used my own handwriting..the grand kids will love hearing about Uncle Pat and seeing Grandma's writing.  Trust me, I've lost all my elders, and I cherish anything written by them.

    I hope I haven't been too wordy again today.  I haven't talked to you all in a while...but I'll tell you about my busyness at a later date!  And I hope that you have been inspired to pick up some old photos and get them on paper.  This is the story of your life and it deserves to be told.  I'll have the other page posted on Sunday morning, if you want to check back.

 

Please leave a comment (to be entered in the contest) and feel free to look around my blog.  I really don't mind...I love it.  If you like what you see, please be my friend!! 

Now you are off to Jessica's  blog to see what she has in store for you!!

Girls I'm Dreamin' of cooler weather..you keep Dreamin' too!

GOOD MORNING DREAMERS!!!

  And it is a good morning. The rain has washed Illinois clean and it even has a fresh smell outside.
      My son & family are coming to see us today  from Oklahoma. We had a close family friend get killed by a hit & run driver over the weekend and the funeral is Saturday.  So I will get to see my grandsons, but not for a happy occaision.  They will help cheer us all up!
   Well I have been a busy girl! Since I don't get around much, I have gotten a bit of scrapping done.  About 15 cards that I am making for a couple of Aunts for Christmas gifts, to be exact!  And a layout for "Scrap Your  A** Off" competition.  I am not as happy with the brightness of it, but it is a good layout.  Went together fast...the paper kinda dictated what I should do.

     I sold this paper in my store several years ago.  It is from SEI. I knew when I saw it that I had to save it for a "Lisa" page.  She is from Kansas and is a Wildcat fan. So purple is her fvorite color!  I made this one 12x12, so I will have to make a separate one for her 8x8 book. Which is ok, I have some more of it! The pictures were from when sheand her hubby were here last summer.  We went to Springfield, Ill. to see all the Lincoln exhibits. That was a great day!

  But you didn't come here to hear about vacations!  Here is a close up of the "fussy cutting" that I did!  It was a little tiresome, but I got it finished. I added the wee tiny pearl bling on the petioles, again tiresome.  They kept sticking to my fingers!! The large flower is a piece of chipboard that I covered. I didn't realize until I saw the picture that I didn't ink the inside of the flower!  It is still chipboard gray!

I used this flower on another project some time ago for a small cork board to hang in my room.  Looks so different with different paper on it! I had a couple of the packages, left over from owning the store!

    



Well Dreamers, that's all I have today.  Need to get busy doing a bit of house cleaning for my family.  I have the word "Dream" all over my house to remind me that, even small dreams are dreams.  If you have a dream, you still have hope.  So for now, I am Dreamin' of a fully recovered knee....you keep Dreamin' too!

Pammie Kay

EVERYBODY READY TO BLOG HOP?!?

Saturday, June 11, 2011!

Please join us for a

  Unless you live on a beach or are on vacation, can you think of a better way to spend a hot, humid Saturday?  We have 11 blogs for you to visit, each teaching you a different tutorial. (Get it..we are teaching, therefore it is summer "school"?)  You can get the list of some of the projects at this link.  Not all of us have made a decision on what to do yet.  That would be me!  And some others, I am in good company! 

    It's starts at 9 am EST, and you have until the 16th to complete any challenges.  I know I had over 30 comments the last blog hop and am looking forward to this one.  We have some really talented ladies in our group.  I am a little intimidated by a couple, cause their work is so fabulous!  So I hope to hear from you ALL on Saturday (or at least by Monday), and see some of YOUR work.

  I am Dreamin' of all the new things I'll learn this weekend...

you keep Dreamin' too.

Pammie Kay

So Behind!

I bet you think that since I have not been posting anything lately that I have not been creating?  You would be wrong!  I have gotten quite a few things finished and I want to share a new one with you.
   I have to give you a little back story on these pictures.  They are of my son Patrick when he was 2.  He was "all boy" from birth.
He:

• starting walking a 8 months
• had his first stitches at 18 mos  (a total of 22 ER visits before he was 10!)
• fell 30+ feet from a tree
• has close personal friends now who work in ER (yes, he still goes on a regular basis! Even at 32!)

  So this particular day, I was in the garden planting flowers and had my back turned. SHAME ON ME!  I found him carefully stacking daddy's charcoal for him.  He was covered from head to foot, but so proud of himself for helping ! 

So I made the decision to stay with the dirty theme.  I took a piece of putty grey card stock, ripped it down so that beautiful star paper would show, inked and distressed the edges.  Still too clean, so armed with a finger dabber and Black Soot Distress Ink I made smudge marks ALL OVER the paper! 

   I used Echo Park's Little Boy paper kit exclusively for this layout.  I love the colors and the stickers are awesome.  (same pack I used for the twins' page a few days ago).  I like that it is little boy paper, but not baby. 

Other things I added were the star bling and some twine.  The stars I have had since we made cards for soldiers in Desert Storm!  Yes, I have a throwing away problem.  But I knew one day I would use them and I have! I backed the car sticker on card stock and mounted it on popdots.  It has nothing to do with dirty boys and everything to do with boys.  I love the picture cause it shows his neat little stack of charcoal.  You can see the satisfaction in his face!

This last photo shows not only him smelling my marigolds....or the dirt from head to foot....but my banners up close!  I just took snippets of different paper in the pack, snipped the ends like ribbon, and glued the top around the twine.  I cut some stars out of background paper (yes, now you know how cheap I am...if I am covering a background with card stock, I cut the center out of the pattern paper, leaving only a frame!  I've told you I waste nothing!), and attached the twine to them.  I didn't want my banners to fly away so they needed to be grounded. And it ties in the stars from the border.  The tiny alphabets came with the packet, so the colors matched perfectly!  LOVE ECHO PARK!!!

Well, going to get my Saturday going.  Don't forget that I have a little blog candy going on Thursday's blog...click here and it will take you to it.All you have to do is leave a comment.  You can comment on all my pages if you want to...I love the feedback.  Don't be afraid to tell me if you would do something different on the layout.  That's how we learn from sharing different points of view!   I hope you enjoy my blog, when I get around to doing it!  I fully enjoy writing.

For now, I'm dreamin' about my sweet little boy who has grown into a good man...

You keep Dreamin' too

Pammie Kay



Just a quick post...

then I am off to physical therapy!  They are really helping my leg feel so much better, but I can't help but complain...a little bit.  Wednesday, they had me balance on one leg...throw a rubber ball at a small trampoline...try to catch it...all standing on one leg!  Come on now....To start, I can't catch. With a glove, yea. With my hands? Get real!  I was quite comical as the ball repeatedly hit me in the tummy, the chest, the shoulder...a couple of times it hit me in the hands!  I even hit the exercise bike behind me!  So on to more fun today!  And while you are laughing at me..this is how your fingers look after washing 3 times...after dyeing silk ribbon with Distress Ink!  It is lighter today, but no, it is not fully water soluble!

  Wanted to show you a quick look at the layout I did for the weekly competion at Paper Secrets...

This is an 8x8 layout, so you just have to imagine how tiny the flowers I made are! And I have yet to figure out how to take a square picture!  But trust me, the pictures and paper are glued on straight...I have a ruler and I know how to use it!!

Here's a closeup of the pleated flowers I made.  The orange and blue ones are 1"!!  The "ribbon was made with microbeads on a 1/4" red sticky tape strip!  It's hard to follow sketches in minature...but I did.

My ride will be here any minute...so I'm am running!

Need a little help

Morning Dreamers.  Hope it is as lovely outside at your house as it is at mine...mild and sunny.  Perfect early summer morning.
    I am up early starting on projects already...but I am stumped on this one thing...which color of glitter to cover my chipboard letter with. I started this page while on retreat in Lake Geneva, WI. It s a beautiful town and luckily the weather was bad, so I wasn't distracted from my cropping!  so here is the page....

It's my beautiful new Grand-daughter, Evelyn.  We were challenged to do a "photo booth" type picture and this is my take. I used paper from My Minds Eye, fussy cut around the 3 flowers to make an embellishment out of them.  This kit came with the scroll sticker, which I popped up on dots. I love how my flower came out. I put a silver stickles around the edges.  A little bling, some ribbon....tada!! It was done...almost.   I  plan to put one large chipboard "E" on it, with a journal strip of "velyn" and her birth date on it.  And I want to big E to be covered in glitter...but which color do you gals think?  Rose or the turquoise?

I  love them both, but can only use one...

So here is my job for you today...leave a comment telling me your choice by Friday nite at 10:00 pm CST. I will tally up the totals and take the one with the most votes.  THEN, I will pick with the random generator the name of the person who will win this Maya Road Coaster Album!  I love the little birds..this would make a great gift for a friend who needs a pick-me-up!

So I'm dreaming of which color you will pick...and you can dream of what paper you will put on your little birdie album!

Thanks Dreamers!

Pammie Kay

A New Look and a New Attitude

Welcome back Dreamers.  Ok, I know you have been here it is me that has been missing!  Trying to turn a new leaf, starting today.  I have lots to share, so let's get started!

  It is the most beautiful day here in the burbs.  Sunshine, nice cool breeze, a wonderful day to open up the house and get rid of the winter stale.  Only one problem with that...having scrap spread on the dining room table with open windows!

It blew all the way down the hallway while I took my afternoon nap!  You can see what I've been working on...layouts of the twins visit last summer using Echo Park's Little Boy set and a page for baby Evelyn using My Minds Eye, Laundry Line!  I laughed out loud when I saw it and had to share!

We had such a great time when they spent a week with us...water gun fights were the biggest activity.  But they got to fly on a plane for the first time and we went to the zoo with Aunt Amy.  And the museum etc, etc.  It was a full week...I sent them home tired out!I used almost everything from Echo Park for this except the chipboard frame and 2 pieces of ribbon! After fussy cutting,  I heat embossed the stripes on the planes and popped them with foam dots. I also embossed the frame with silver and red.  I did these for a contest, called "Scrap Your Ass Off" at the Paper Secrets Ning site. I didn't have the orange check but matched it well I thought with this cardstock.  I cut with my Pazzles machine the beach ball parts and mounted them on a piece of chipboard. I also cut the sun with my Pazzles (I love it!  worth every penny!) The photo corners are brads that I got from Oriental Trading years ago, and am finally using.  They fit the color scheme very nicely.  A little gold glitter on the brad heads makes the sun sparkle!

I Had to put the closeup in here so you can see what a fabulous job my Kodak Z710 does when it is on "sport" setting.  I LOVE that it captured the water drops so clearly.  This was a great afternoon in the neighbors' yard slipping and sliding the summer away.  Sometimes don't you just dream of having that carefree life again?

Keep Dreamin' cause wishes do come true!

Pammie Kay

Welcome to the Creative Scrapbooking Diva Mansion Tour! To celebrate National Scrapbooking Day, May 7th, we wanted to share with you the wonderful groups of CSDivas.   You should have arrived here from Stephanie's Magic of Ordinary Days.  If this is your first stop, please start at Ann's Scraps of Time.

"Creative Scrapbooking Divas is ... a place for Divas to inspire, create and enjoy the process! We encourage members to create, try different things, challenge themselves and enjoy the process. At CSDivas we don't sell anything, we have monthly challenges with RAKs offered, Sponsored grand prize, great camaraderie, and we like to Spotlight our members and their fabulous creations. Most of all we want our Diva members to have fun!!!"

   We have 8 Design Team Divas aka tour guides to give you a taste of what is offered at the Diva Mansion. If you are just joining us now, you can go to Ann's blog to start at the beginning.

Our Tour List:
Ann- Gadgets/Mixin Up-Ann's Scraps of Time
Yolie- Traditional Layout- JustYolie, JustCreate
Sandy- Cards/Cricut- ScrapBook Blessings
Vanessa- Faithbooking- Creating Sensations
Alecia- Cookbooking- Welcome to Alecia's
Stephanie- Technique- The Magic of Ordinary Days
Pam- Mini album/BOM- Dreamer's Klub  >>YOU ARE HERE!
Luisa- Gift ideas- Creative Designs by Luisa

Please show some love and leave a comment for each DT Diva, some are offering a cute little RAK! You can also get entered in the Grand Prize drawing from CSDivas....

a) becoming a new member who:  completes their profile, uploads their picture and post their Introductions

OR

b) Current members, posting a NEW project to any of the groups by midnight May 7th.

In both cases please post a comment and/or upload your project here: DIVAS MANSION TOUR BLOG HOP THREAD! So we can keep good track of players who earns a ticket for the Grand Prize!

Now onto my Mansion "Room" to tour.......

A couple of months back, we did a restructuring of the groups (design team changeover!) and I inherited 2 groups...Book of Me (BOM) and Mini Albums. These were combined into one group, but are really still 2 groups. Since it is new, it is the smallest group in the room, with only 6 members!

       I must admit I've not done much with the Mini Albums section, but I am going on a retreat this next weekend, so on the 15th look for a mini book challenge!  This section will not always be a challenge, just because mini albums aren't as quick and easy to do as a LO!  But I would love to see samples of mini-albums you have created or are working on.  We will start talking about the different kinds of mini's and I have pulled up some patterns on-line to share a tutorial or two.  Keep checking back.Here is a front cover of an album I did at a CKC class in October...

The BOM part of the group is my real love.  I have a huge need to tell the stories of my life...and my ancestors' lives.  My Grandmother was the historian in our family and of 28 grandchildren, only 3 of us took time to listen to her stories....of cattle rustlers, Oklahoma land run, my mother's childhood...she should've written a book.  She didn't, but I am.  I am writing about my love of school, my hate of school (grew up!), favorite toys, boyfriends, true love, inner feelings.

   Now, don't let that scare you!  You can also NOT write all the touchy feely things in your BOM.  It is intended for your needs and your memories.  Once a month I will give a prompt in the form of a challenge...April was elementary school..

For May the topic is My Mom and I....which I haven't even done, cause I am trying to dig up a picture of the 2 of us!  I may end up being only journaling...I do that on occasion!  But as you can tell, I love to write...it just flows off my fingertips! 

       So my blog challenge to you is to do a NEW page, OF YOU and submit it to the group. (You have to join the group to be able to submit!). I will have a RAK for a random participant.  And don't forget to leave a comment here...you can even follow me if you would like..I know I would like to become friends with all of you!

Now, on to Luisa's blog....

I'm dreamin' of finishing my album...you keep dreamin' too.

Glad April is over!

Let me start by saying, I can't believe I haven't blogged in a month!  WOW!  But I basically haven't scrapped in a month and that is even more sad...or amazing.  April has been a tough month and I for one am ready to put it behind me.  I blew out my knee (having meniscus surgery in mid May) and had a large skin cancer removed. It was benign but took a BIG chunk out of my upper arm.  It is healing nicely and will be hidden by short sleeves!  So, I am pretty much over doctors....   I know I will get some scrap time in after my surgery, because I can't drive for quite awhile.  I drive a 5 speed and I'm afraid of how much pain the clutch is going to cause!

   Enough whining!  I have gotten some items finished.  If you are from Creative Scrapbooking Divas...you have already seen these.  But not all of you are members there (WHY NOT?!?), so I am repeating them!  I finally finished this project!  I started it about 3 years ago, put it away and you know what happens when a project is no longer on your work desk...it just doesn't exist!  So I pulled it out to show it as an example in my BOM/Mini Album Group at CSDivas.

It is a kit that I bought from Daisy D's (how long have they been outta business?) and I was going to do a class with it! Again, I said it went into the black hole that is unfinished projects!! The album itself sits on the outside of what is basically a cardboard pencil box. I didn't use my original, but a copy that I mirror imaged to fit the layout correctly.

  I began with copies of old pictures of myself as a little girl.  There aren't too many of them, as we really

couldn't afford to have pictures developed.

  I stamped the word Playtime of tiny little tags and attached them with brads!

I used the next 2 pages for other "treasures" in my life.  My brothers were my constant companions and there are very few things I would change about our childhood!  The ribbon was the biggest pain! I punched 4 holes in the green piece of card stock, then poked the ribbon in the holes, taping it down on the back to secure it.  I could never get it the same length on the outside edges, but gave up.  It is good enough for me!

 The second page is for Eugene. I typed his story on the red journal block, but you can't read it and has to be redone.  Then a picture of Eugene will go on it

No early childhood would be complete without horrid school photos!  I copied my handwriting and my moms writing from the back of the pictures to preserve it. And no, again I didn't use originals because this box will be handled alot and I didn't want them destroyed.  They will go into an album, where they can be protected from dirty fingers!

The inside of the box...yes it is empty....I am putting my childhood treasures in there.  I didn't want to show your for fear you would break into my house and steal my plastic farm animals or my charm bracelet or....I can't tell you...it's a secret!

I'm off to fill my box with my childhood dreams....

fill something with your dreams today!