Thursday, September 26, 2013

M.O.M. - WoW WEDNESDAY

Good evening my friends...
It's been another fun filled week. I feel as if I am mostly caught up on my homework, feeling a little bored...but mostly happy because my work is done.

Today I spent the day catching up on some card orders. I have a few orders for Christmas that I need to get complete, so at the moment I'm not taking any more Christmas orders (unless I know you and you just know how to sweet talk me into making you a handful!).

Here is a glimpse at what I have to fill:
2 25 Count Boxes, 1 All Occasion, 1 Holiday
1 10 Count Sack, Holiday
1 75 Count Order, Holiday

Pretty bonkers right?

Well here is the first Christmas Card I made...
Colored by hand, in true Paula fashion...it's even embossed and has sparkles...also in true Paula fashion...
Paula is my late mother. Christmas was easily her favorite holiday. She at some point, attempted to make Christmas Cards...but it never took off the ground. But as many of you know, she painted and brightened my world with her other works of art. I felt as if she was watching me as I made this card. It made me miss her, and wish that Heaven had visiting hours.

This set of cards only has 10 in the order, so most of them will be truly unique and special like this.

I'm choosing to enter this card in a contest called WoW Wednesday that my local scrap booking store holds. The store in question is Cat's Creations Scrapbooks in Mineral Wells, TX. If my name is selected, then I will have a chance to win a fabulous prize! You want in on a little secret? You can enter to win too! All you have to do is post a comment on this blog, or on other blogs that you can find on the WoW Wednesday page here. You can even be entered to win the prize if you yourself post a wonderful creation. We love to be inspired by each other.

Well, that is all I have for now. I made some other cards but don't feel like posting them just yet. Hmm...I need to find some scrapping time with my friends...

With love,
c.jackson


And by the way gang, if at any time my links don't work, just let me know!

Other goodies:

Saturday, September 21, 2013

Another Lunchbag - WoW WEDNESDAY

Good morning gang!
I know I just posted about 5 minutes ago, but  I wanted to post again.

Another quick update:
This week has been kind of bonkers if you ask me. It's been filled with beautiful sights:


https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/969139_10200479991498140_1870402463_n.jpg 
https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/1186147_10200469314871231_1844649054_n.jpg
(Both taken in the mornings)
And some crazy moments:
On Tuesday, I locked my keys in my car at the local gas station, had to ask a nice gentleman to drive me home to retrieve my spares, but upon getting home, had to crawl through the window to get my spares, because the door was locked. That was pretty funny.
And on Friday, I ended up going to town (a 25 minute drive both ways) 3 different times! The initial reason for me going to town, ended up making me go the third time because I had realized I had forgotten it the two times before. Not to mention I filled my tank yesterday morning, and it was now half empty!
I've been sick with a cold, and have been battling my son's Viral Hives. And last night, my phone decided that was the perfect time to delete all of my photos from the last month...including some great ones of my son from the first 3 days of school, and some of him helping me cook a traditional Hungarian dish. Luckily, the most important ones I had shared on Facebook. So I at least have them there...

But alas...I'm back for another WoW WEDNESDAY entry!
After much success with my first lunch bag "mini album" I had to make another for my mother-in-law, who just ranted and raved about the one I had made. This will be my second entry on Cat's Creations WoW WENESDAY blog, for a chance to win some great prizes! All you have to do to participate is to comment on this blog, or on other blogs posted on the page that you can find here! Or, you can enter your own creations using the link tool at the bottom of the page. I've won a few times, and the prizes have been phenomenal.To see where I got my inspiration, go to this post: Much Thanks to Sandy!

I've been busy, so it's not finished, but here is what it looks like!
 The front cover.
 Inside cover, and page 1 (pocket page).
 All the insertable goodies, pull outs and writing spaces.
 Page 2 and page 3.
 More insertable spaces for journaling, or pictures. There is twine and tulle tied to the top of the tag.
 Page 4 and page 5 (pocket page).
 A better view at the pocket page pull-out, and the journaling area.
The reverse of the pull-out tags.

That's currently all I have done with it. When I have some time I work on it here and there, I hope to have it finished soon! I hope you enjoy my WoW WENDESDAY entry! And I hope one of us is lucky enough to be selected for a wonderful prize!

Now it's time for me to go outside and enjoy some tea while I enjoy the 60 degree weather we are having this morning! AMEN!

With Love,
c.jackson
 
Other goodies:

School's in Session - WoW WEDNESDAY

Is anyone there? I sure hope so, but, it wouldn't be that unusual if I ended up talking to myself again.

So, as you might have been able to tell, I have been "hibernating" due to my school responsibilities, but I am happy to report, this semester is very different from my last few. I had begun to get overwhelmed, suffered from depression, and just couldn't focus on my school work, so I quit my job. It might have been the best decision I've made so far. Although we are only 4 weeks in, I feel phenomenal. This semester feels different, honestly and truly. I'm staying on top of my work, much thanks to huge gaps in between my arrival at Tarleton in the mornings and my actual class starting times (12, and 9:25). I'm getting all of my work done, and it feels great.

My stepson had his birthday recently. His biological mother and I worked to plan and do it together, and I so enjoyed that. The party was a smash, except for my poor kiddo's skin was a mess. He had started coming down with what looked like an allergic reaction on Thursday, and come Friday night, he was covered in hives from head to toe. Needless to say we doped him up on Benadryl to calm the itching and reaction, and Calamine lotion to dry out the itchy hives. Took him to the doctor on  Monday, who gave us steroids, which immediately took them away (although they had begun to look better already by their own). I get a call last night from his Nana, who says that he woke her complaining of itching...NOOOO! I had a panic attack. I examined him this morning. He had a few areas of minor irritation, but nothing bad. So once again, we start the Benadryl routine. The doctor thinks it's either an allergic reaction to stress, an allergen, or it's viral hives, caused by a viral infection. I'm starting to think it's the latter. The only down side to a virus, you can do nothing to fix it, your body rids itself of it on it's own (like a cold). And I read that sometimes Viral Hives can last up to a month, not fun. So alas, we will deal with it as it comes. If he flares up again, expect another doctors visit update on here.

WHAT A MESS!
In between all of this, I haven't had much time for crafting. But I thought I would share this little treat with you that I created before my life picked back up.

I'm sharing these cards in an entry on Cat's Creations WoW WENESDAY blog, for a chance to win some great prizes! All you have to do to participate is to comment on this blog, or on other blogs posted on the page that you can find here! Or, you can enter your own creations using the link tool at the bottom of the page. I've won a few times, and the prizes have been phenomenal.

These cards were a special request by a wonderful woman. I "taught" her son during his early years of preschool, and he became one of my favorite kiddos. She was getting things gathered for gifts from the PTO to the teachers for the start of school, and she called on my abilities. I must thank her husband too, he politely reminded her that I made cards ;)

So I took a trip to Cat's Creations Scrapbooks in Mineral Wells, TX and loaded up on some goodies!
Cat had an excellent selection of papers for me to use, and I bought a stamp that said "Best Teacher" and picked up some fun school embellishments too. I had some cheap school stickers by Sticko to had to the mix too.
 The finished products! The best part is, no two cards were alike! I ended up having to make close to 30 cards, but they went by so quick, and the woman who ordered them was blown away! As you can see, the stickers added a fun little touch, and I used my chevron yellow washi tape to accent the saying. Of course I used my hemp too!
A closer view of two with the same paper used. I loved these cards, I mean, I haven't been this proud of a card in a long time! I think I need to start printing labels to put on the back of them so I can try to get more business!

So there you have it, my WoW WEDNESDAY entry! Scurry on over and leave a comment on some creations or post your own work, there is still plenty of time left!

With Love,
c.jackson

Other goodies:

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Adventures with Valerie!

Good Sunday Morning everyone!
As you very well know, I've been getting into bunches of trouble with a great friend of mine. You see, the story goes, I think we met while blogging on Cat's Creations Blog during some WoW Wednesday posting or another. I'd met her before, and seen her before at the store, but the friendship blossomed online. (Okay I know that sounds like some crazy online dating line...HA!)

We had planned our first scrap session together, or at least we thought we had. You see, Valerie is in HIGH DEMAND, so we could never exactly settle on a date, but when we did, we were both excited. Well it goes without saying we had a blast! We laughed, and scrapped, and just had a grand time.

Our second get together was rather impromptu if you will. I had gone to Mineral Wells to go to Cat's Creations Scrapbooks, and she just figured, 'Hey you're in town, let's cause some more trouble!'. Needless to say I got treated to some yummy food, and met some of her women's bible study group. That day was full of laughing and eating and scrapping. I got to meet her beautiful horse that day too. I used to ride them all the time when I was younger, but the sight of this massive majestic creature made me feel so tiny! We ended the day with some yummy watermelon and a few more laughs. I think she sent me home with a few goodies too, which I happily and graciously accepted. But we had also planned our next scrap that day. August 24th was the date, and time just couldn't move fast enough!

Finally, it had arrived, our third scrap session! I arrived early...which isn't unusual for me. I thought I would stay in my car for an extra few minutes just so I wasn't too early. She saw me, and texted me to tell me, "You don't have to sit in your car and wait for the exact time", I was busted, so I dragged some of my cargo in for the day. I treated her to some yummy pancakes, and she whipped up some good sausage. Then I decided I really needed to go shopping at Cat's. We had a ball there, and I treated her to a few goodies, to return the favor for her amazing hospitality. Then I dragged her on a fruitless trip to Walmart, but then we decided it was time to get back home, seeing as we had just blown like 3 hours doing nothing but eating and shopping! So began the fun! You see, sometimes Valerie just disappears, and I know she hasn't left the room...but where could she be?
 
Under the table of course! Makes me laugh every time. Sometimes she's loving on her furry friends, or sometimes she needs to get a book off the shelf that my table sits up against. 

Well her wonderful husband bought lunch, and I got to sit and eat with Valerie, Doyle, her daughter Vanessa, and her husband Keannon, and their wonderful bunch of children, Remi and Kennedy (Kashton was napping at his great grammies house I think). After that, we were off to our room to do some more scrapping damage. Kennedy and Remi decided it was time to join us too! It was so comforting to hear the laughing of the girls, and the constant movement of the three dogs, nothing like family!

Sorry for the poor lighting...but hey look I found Killroy!

Valerie and I continued to scrap, and laugh. And I mean, we got down right odd and strange. Here are some of our comments:
Me: "Wow, where did you get that stamp?"
Valerie: "In my tote."
Now Valerie, you know darn well that's not what I meant...I meant where did you buy it! But we laughed so hard.
Me: Talking out loud to myself while trying to find something in my mess of creativity "Where did I put that stamp paper?"
Valerie: "I'm not in charge of your paper, I don't know!"
Finally, I think I was adding some brown paisley Washi tape to something...
Valerie: "That looks like a bandaid..."
Oh man, we laughed so hard! 

Then Vanessa was having a hard time getting Mr. Kashton to sleep, poor mommy was stressed and he was fighting the sleep. So he came over to stay with us. I held him and rocked him. He cooed, and spit up on me, which I find to be the highest compliment ever. As soon as his eyes got heavy, he would start cooing and grunting, you could see him trying to fight those tired eyes...but...I got him to sleep though!!!!!! I felt like a winner!

The girls continued to grace us with their masterpieces, and I shared some of my paper and stickers with them too. They really warmed up to me, I got lots of great hugs.

Valerie's husband treated everyone to dinner later. I seriously felt like royalty. While he was cooking fresh corn, and baked potatoes, and steak, Valerie and I scrammed on over to feed her horse. Half way there she realized she had forgotten her camera, and she grumbled about it, because she wanted to capture the sunset, but we still got it on our phones anyways...

 
 

I had started a scrapbook on our first visit together, and tonight I finally finished it, with a bonus page layout to spare. I'd share the layout, but it's a surprise for my father and stepmother, and they read my blog sometimes. Valerie got some wonderful cards done. During our first visits, we would tease one another about who was getting more done, and were figuring out ways to distract one another. This time, although there was lots of teasing, we just enjoyed the day so much. The housefull of dogs, and kids, and adults. It was an eerie calm when the girls had to go to bed, I missed the sounds of them laughing and playing. But I did get to share one more picture with them before bed time.

Remi, Me, and Kennedy
Aren't they so sweet? Beautiful, funny, and talented girls right here!

I don't believe I could have found a greater friend than Valerie. Her wisdom, personality, love for God, aspect on life, and everything inbetween has taught me to be better, be calmer, not as critical on myself or others, and to trust that God is in charge (yes, I already knew this, but boy does she live by it). I can't thank her enough for her hospitality, generosity and for all that she has given me and that she will continue to give. So here she is:
My Photo
and Ms. Kennedy too :)

Looking forward to our next adventure Valerie!

with love,
c.jackson
 

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Gratitude toward Sandy!

Hello everyone!
So this morning, I went and sat in my newly & neatly organized craft area and stared at my things, because I had a creative itch, but I wasn't sure for what...And then I had remembered the videos Sandy had posted about her 'mini albums'. Then it hit me, I have some brown paper bags, so let's give it a swing! So I started by distressing the center of my bags with Tim Holtz inks. I then dug out my scrap bag which contained bits and pieces of Fancy Pants Wonderful Day Collection, Webster's Citrus Squeeze (one of my absolute favorites!), and other bits and pieces of My Girl from American Crafts.
 I was feeling a little skeptical at first, after all, Sandy made it look SUPER EASY!
What a mess I was making. I took this shot about halfway through my process. The mess only got worse. 
Finally, here it is! My lunch sack mini album! I bound it with hem and added a piece of bright ribbon to accent it. I added dimension with gems and flowers, and some foam squares to a few pieces.
The first two pages have so much that I love. The removable tag on the left hand side has room for journaling on one side and a picture on the other. The right hand side has a journal block that I formed into a file folder flip up. And there is a pull out on the page as well that is bright orange, and  perfect for more pictures.
The removable tag on the left hand side can fit into the pocket on the right hand side. A sweet picture can go on either side and the tag can be used for quick jouranling.
You can add sweet photos to the My Mind's Eye paper clip at the top on the left hand page, and journaling with more photos on the right file folder and pull out pocket page!
Another removable tag! 


 Another paper clip for a photo, another file folder type jouranling block, and one final pocket page for photos!
The front and back!

So here's to Sandy, for the wonderful encouragement and inspiration!

And by the way, this is going to be an entry on Cat's WoW Wednesday drawing held by Cat's Creations Scrapbooks in Mineral Wells, TX! All you have to do to become a winner and get some awesome candy (scrap surprises!) is comment on this blog. Other ways to enter the contest  are to comment on other entries that can be found here at the bottom of the page, or upload your very own creation! We love to be inspired by others!

Happy Scrapping!
with love,
c.jackson

now, if I can just hold out one more day my Adventures with Valerie day will be upon me!

Other goodies:


Thursday, August 15, 2013

Why strive for perfect?

Hey guys!
Just thought I would post a little humor for all of you. You know, every time I do something in my scrapbooking or on my cards, I make a mistake. Something gets put on crooked, or I have to cover something up, or I even spell words wrong on the finished product. Just wanted to share some of my less graceful moments with you all :)
 Do you see the mistake here? What if I get closer...
What about now? How about if I do some date stamp removal...
Ahh yes! Now you see it, I did in fact, misdate the page I was journaling! I bet you've done that once or twice too! Okay, let's try another.

Do you see the mistake here? Of course not, because no one would really notice it but me. But the button that's supposed to be in the lower left fell off somewhere. I had only noticed it after I had published my last post...
All better!

Now here are a few more...
I covered up this mistake too. I journaled on something I didn't want to journal on, so I added more junk to the page to hide it, but no one would have ever known except me.

And the grand finale...
Let me know when you find my spelling error here...already inked on the page. I'm not used to spelling CEMETERY often, but still, I usually pride myself on good grammar and spelling.

I hope you enjoyed some laughs here, because to me, they just fit right in. When you are an artist, there is no such thing as a "mistake" there are only happy accidents. And scrapbooking...really is an art. So here's to happy accidents, and all the imperfections that somehow become so perfect.

Until we meet again!
With love,
c.jackson




WoW Wednesday - A little more therapy!

Hey there lovely ladies, and gentlemen if there are any!

I don't know if I've told you all this, but I won the last WoW Wednesday Prize Drawing from Cat's Creations Scrapbooks in Mineral Wells, Texas! This is my second time winning now too! Would you like to win some awesome goodies too? All you have to do is click on the above link, and post a comment on the submissions posted by wonderful ladies like Valerie Light, Sandy, and myself! Feeling a bit crafty yourself? Post your submission on the WoW Wendesday page, and that will get you entered in the prize drawing too! Want to know what kinds of things you  can win? Well...just look below and see!

This was my prize from winning the drawing this week. It was a scrapbook camera shaped album kit! It was titled, Cat's Litter Box, such a creative name! Inside there was paper and goodies from Creative Imaginations, Best Creations & Brazzill to name a few. Also included was instructions and materials for a one page scrap layout (12 x 12) and materials to make an amazing decorative clothespin for displaying those precious photos. 
I must admit, I hadn't realized just how amazing this box was until I got home and dug into it!
First off, here is that amazing clothespin that is great for those special pictures! Here you see my sweet husband when he was a child :)

 Here is my rendition of the page kit that came along with the package. I had no use or need for the page at the moment, so I donated it to my mother-in-law's cause, she was scrapbooking their summer vacation to Galveston. I figured the vacation theme would work well! The little black square letter stickers say "GALVESTON TWENTY THIRTEEN". 
And here is the star of the show, my camera travel album! I am absolutely in love with it. The area around the "lens" is actually embossed, a little of my artistic license there. I also added some silver paper at the very top to give the feel of a button to snap a photo.
I absolutely loved the pre-glazed paper from Brazzill. All you have to do is ink over it and it becomes your own personal work of art. One of my favorite pages right here. I'm only missing photos for these first two pages but the rest is officially done.
 Another of my favorites!
Here is where my photos start. All throughout the book I have random scenery shots from various vacations to California, Mexico, Ohio and places in between. Putting all these memories down into this little book just made me feel so peaceful today. And I loved remembering all the little stories that went along with those vacations.
 The picture on your left in this shot above was a vertical photo, so I took some more artistic license today and added a small brad so you could swivel the photo to see it and read the journaling behind, see below :)
I love these two pages. On the left is a picture of a flash flood I took out in the Nevada-California border area. I titled it, "When it rains...it pours!" And on the right, I loved how the photo frame cut out added a cool flowing feel to my beach photos!
Here is a beautiful sunset from Florida!
A pull out album of special places in Ohio, including the cemetery my mother is buried in. Her and I used to love looking at old headstones in that cemetery! Most of my family is from Ohio, both parents sides. So that place is near and dear to my heart. 
My finished WoW Wednesday Goodies :) thanks for the awesome kit Cathy! 

The memories, the songs, the things that happened on these trips...those are memories I wouldn't trade for the world. I don't know why getting these memories down in a book helped, but I can't even begin to explain the feeling of peace I had when I was finished.


And just remember, if you like what you see, you could be lucky too, just enter Cat's WoW Wednesday  Giveaway today!

With love,
C.Jackson

My Adventures with Valerie blog post is coming soon! Check back around midnight on August 24th!

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