Still on Hiatus

Well, the BBQ (both of them) was fun! Megan's best bud Ryan had one Friday, Aug 20th - he left for BYU on Sunday. We had one on sat, Aug 22nd. It was great to spend time with all and it gave Megan a chance to see our chosen "family" members before she leaves.
We've spent the past couple of days up in Arnold at our cabin. We have an annual "girl's trip" to come up, relax, and hike the South Grove trail in Big Trees (about 4 miles). After the hike, we picnicked at Beaver Creek and played in the water. Craig joined us this year - but it'll be back to traditions next year!
Soon, we'll be heading home. We need to box everything up so I can ship it to Boston on Friday...plus, I need to get back to "my room". i will post pictures soon!

Hiatus?

I've been busy slowly but surely moving back into my room. I'm trying to take my time and think through where to put everything. It's a lot tougher than I thought - mainly due to all the stuff that needs to fit! I have emptied out 2 tall iris carts and some cleared closet shelves.

Amidst the mess in my room (and garage) is the stash of dorm stuff for Megan. It's been fun shopping together and planning the little bit we can. As summer is ending, it's been a bit disappointing for Megan. Friendship issues (and jealousies) have continued - some of these teenage girls are just not very nice. Megan is a December birthday, so she is pretty mature and focused for a teen. Actually, she's a teen in age only - probably why she has done so well with all the adults in community theatre. It'll be good for her to meet people who have similar interests and some who are more mature and focused.

Tomorrow, I hope to start posting "before" photos.

A Brief Break from Creating...

Yesterday, I did take a book class at ScrapLovers/A Work of Heart, but I need to complete the stitching on them. When they're done, I'll post them. Today was another day of dorm shopping with Megan.

Target has college packs of single place settings, as well as other odds and ends for dorm rooms. We also did some clothing shopping. I now have a big box to be shipped off to Boston in the coming weeks. I'm hoping that we'll just have 2 boxes to ship - some of the smaller items will fit in a suitcase. The question will be whether the large box of bed linens and towels will fir in my car!

Creating

Since I had to hang out to wait for a patio furniture delivery, I spent some time in my room-in-transition. We started the last week of PSL Summer Camp for Club Scrap. So, I made two 2-page layouts. After that, I thought it was probably time to address the altered books gathering dust in my room.

A couple of years ago, four us picked themes and began circulating our books to be altered. We have no time limit - which is why we still are not done! I worked on Linda's "black and white" book. This theme has been difficult for me because I'm not a black and white type of person. I see colors and nuances - plus I don't believe in absolutes. So, I pulled out some funky black and white designed paper and decided to go with the first thought I had. Hence the above pages. It's a hand with a pocket watch on a chain and the words "you're getting very sleepy". I thought the circles might be something you'd see being while being hypnotized....I told you I had trouble with this theme:-)

Tomorrow, I'll be at ScrapLovers/A Work of Heart for a bookmaking class. I made some inside pages with FW liquid acrylics and water to use as some of the pages...I'll post those tomorrow after the class!

Painting...

All my creative energy today was spent painting my room. My daughter helped with the cutting in and I rolled all the walls (and took over the 2nd coat of cut ins). It's a great red. I'll probably post photos after it's done. I've been taking one at every step of the re-decorating process. I'm hoping to look at lighting options tomorrow. THEN, I need to scrap some pages to help my team for Club Scrap's Summer PSL!

The photo above is from the most recent GAB altered book page. The theme is "Naughty Little Secrets". The background and the bed are fabrics and the bedposts are actually fairly flat wooden beads.

Podium Book Completed

I added photos to the Podium Book project. I also stamped some accents and used various brads. The print on some of the pages is from the Avant Garde kit. So, I stamped the circles in a couple of similar colors and punched them out. I popped the circles up in several places on the pages. These were photos take 2 years ago, about this time, of my daughter and my visit to So Calif. to visit my cousin and her twin grandsons.

Podium Book Completed