Promised Photos

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Here's a sampling of Jonathan's photos from his camping trip on the May 24th weekend.  As I told you, he had some input from a lady who was also on the cruise and who explained to him about the rule of thirds when taking photos.  It made a dramatic difference to his photography as you can see, causing him to stop and think as he was composing his shots.  I don't know about you, but I would be really happy to scrapbook some of these photos myself.

However not all our photos are perfect and so they may need some help before we print them.  I was reading on a blog how to blur the background of a photo if it is very busy and overwhelming the subject matter of the photo.  They used Photoshop Elements as their program, but I would think the concept would work with other photo programs too.  Here's the link so that you can watch the video how to.

Do you have some graduating students this year?  One of our customers altered the shirt card that she made in class to become a graduation gown, great idea.  This is the card, can you visualise it as a gown? 

 Or how about a mortar board using this design and black cardstock for the card?  I googled images and came up with this picture....do you see what I mean?

  

And if you're looking for a teacher gift idea here's another one for you. 

My niece is making cookie tray calendars for her children's teachers.  That's why I had to teach  her Mom, so she could then teach my niece.....LOL, it goes around and around.

Well I started this post on the 28th, but I just heard my clock chime and now it's the 29th.  I will post the digital scrapbook page that Linda mentioned in the newsletter, but not tonight, so check back later in the week for that.

Until next time, Happy Crafting....

Lilian

Have You Done It Yet?

Have you signed up for the All Day Card Class?  It's filling up fast, and although I wasn't at work yesterday, Linda tells me it's half full already.  So don't delay and be disappointed, we're only doing one class this time around.  Check us out. Offering ten differently styled cards with all the supplies and instruction for just $40.00 it's a steal of a deal!  Keep an eye here on the blog and I'll perhaps give you a sneak preview in the next few days.

How was your May 24th weekend?  Couldn't have been better for weather could it.  Our family was scattered this time, with some of us away camping in Tobermory, some getting ready for a week away at Trillium Lakes Art Camp and some of us visiting (and crafting) with family it was quite different for us. 

We knew May was going to be a busy month and it has panned out as expected with additional twists in the road, which gave me the opportunity to meet up with two of my sisters. 

Here's another photo (did you see the one's in the newsletter?) of us enjoying one another's company.  Evelyn,  from Belleville, is planning on renovating/organising her craft room after being inspired by what I've done in mine.   I'll be looking forward to some photos when she's done that I can share with you.  My sister-in-law in England, Diane, who some of you have met, is also in the planning stages of a room for her crafting.  Lots of lovely goodies coming your way soon hopefully.

 And of course here's my dear husband who patiently filled his time as we crafted.  He commented to me on the drive home that I had obviously enjoyed my time with my sisters.  I asked him why he thought that and he said..."I could see it on your face as you were teaching them new things." 

I don't think of myself in that way, but I do realise I have had the opportunity to learn many things and just want to share that knowledge with others.  That can be a disadvantage for them sometimes, (LOL) as when I'm on a roll I don't stop talking!   
This is standing on my counter opposite where I craft, a reminder to share the talent with which I've been blessed. 

I'm hoping to show you some photos that Jonathan took when he was at Tobermory.  He bumped into a lovely lady who shared some of her photography tips with him and which he used.  The result being some really great photos to scrapbook.

Also hoping that Rachel will have had time when she was at Art Camp to take a few photos, but their schedule is pretty busy.

Here's a couple of links for those of you who are interested in the upcoming Olympics.  This one is of the torch run which my sister-in-law was at yesterday.  It reminded me of when we saw the torch go through Bracebridge for the Winter Olympics.  The other is of my nephew's interview for CTV and his Road to London. 

Until next time, I hope you have many happy hours of crafting.   Don't forget if you have a craft that you want to share with others, get in touch with us or email it to us so that we can post it.  Don't forget that we all get the benefit as we pay our gifts forward.

Lilian

What a Lovely Mother's Day.

I don't know about you, but I enjoy the special day put aside for Mothers.  I love that I get time to spend with my daughters, but I love too the fact that they are able to enjoy the day with their children. 

This year I was able not only to enjoy their company, but my sister's company too as she visits from England.  She in turn enjoyed her second Mothering Sunday of the year.  England celebrates Mother's Day, or Mothering Sunday as it's called there, earlier than we do. 

Both Christine and I were treated to a gift that brought back some sweet memories for us.  I'll post the photo of that gift later.

Right now I want to show you the two lovely cards we received.  Hand made cards are so nice to receive, though I did have to chastise my sister for almost pulling hers apart as she tried to see how it was made!  She's an avid cardmaker too.

I do have another card to show you, but forgot to get the photo from Linda, so will do that in the next few days too.  Linda made cards for two of Rachel's teachers recently.  Although they were modeled from a card we made in one of the Thursday night card classes, I want you to see how different they ended up.  However.....you'll have to come back for another visit to see them.

Until then though,

Happy Crafting

Lilian

Card Class Last Week.

Did you see the cards that were made in last week's card class?  Here's one of them, and you can look here for the other two.

The ladies had a great time making some pretty neat flowers for to embellish the cards.  Maybe we'll make some more next week too.  We also double punched a strip of cardstock and one of the ladies didn't punch in quite the same way and ended up with a beautiful "outside the box" embellishment.  Drop into the store to look at another way to use your border punches. 

One of our regular cardmakers wasn't able to attend this class and she was none to happy that she missed out on these techniques.  Never mind, we'll be sure to catch you up to speed Tammy.  

It was quite a learning curve for me to discover how many ladies didn't know how to tie the ribbon to make the man's tie on the masculine card.  Having worn a uniform to school many, many, many ....did I say many years ago, I had to tie my tie every day.  It's ingrained now.

What have you been crafting at lately?  Why not send us a photo of your latest creation to share with others on our blog. 
Here's a beautiful card that I received recently from a friend.
It was a lovely pick-me-up from a pretty sad week for me.  I was so thankful for her kindness.


Happy Crafting until the next time I blog

Lilian

A peek into my creative space and more....

Well I promised you some photos of my creative space and again the days got away from me.  Life sometimes throws you curves that impact on your good intentions.  Some background on my space though.  In the planning of my space, I decided that I would repurpose the furniture that I had instead of purchasing more.  This meant finding out how to successfully paint laminated and pre-finished furniture. Thank goodness for the internet!  There are so many blogs where someone has tried to do what you want to do, already figuring out the pitfalls for you.  I learned that the best way to paint laminate was to use a good primer before you paint.  I also chose to let it cure for a bit before I put anything on or in it.  So my two unmatched bookcases and unmatched dressers were all painted white along with the grey counter top on the cabinet I inherited when Linda had her kitchen redone.  I'm very pleased with the results and love being able to put my hands on everything easily.  Well, that is except for my ruler that seems to have done a runner!  So here's a peek into my space......

This is how my space used to look.  See all the mismatched pieces of furniture and the grey counter top.  My workspace faced the window, so my back was toward our living room.

This is the same view into the room with the new look.  The counter top is now white and I changed the door hardware too.   Now the worktable comes out from the window, so when I'm working I can see into the living room.  It is also considerably longer as it's actually a door secured to the wall at one end and supported on the bookcase at the other end.  It's wide enough that my sewing machine sits on one side with the chair in place ready to go, along with space for another crafter on that side. 

 

This photo shows the left side with two bookcases at either end painted white, along with the two dressers.  One was cream and one a dark wood with legs which I removed.  This made it shorter so I bought some dollar store plastic bowls, added the same hardware as on the opposite cupboards and  sat them on top of the shorter dresser.  Randy helped me cut the new counter top for this side as I couldn't cut it with my scroll saw.  I cut a shelf for the top of the bookcases to display some of my "stuff" as I work on it.  It also helped to bring all the pieces together as one unit.  

Here's the right side of the room.  See all the scraps of cardstock organised in dollar store baskets with colour samples hanging on the front for easy viewing.  My Cameo sits in the corner of the counter ready to use, the Cuttlebug is in the cupboard behind my chair.  Punches are to the side of the chair in the plastic bin and patterned paper is in the stack beside my chair.  I can reach just about anything I need without moving much from the chair...LOL.  You can see two more work areas in the background.  One is a rolling table that can pull out and the tall stool in the other photo can be pulled up to the space at the counter.  The pendant lights that you can just see hanging over the desk area, provide some lovely direct lighting.

This is the bookcase that supports the table and holds most of my painting books along with a myriad of other things.

I hope you've enjoyed a look into my space and maybe I've inspired you to craft a space in your home for the crafting that brings you pleasure.

Last but not least I have a quick link here to an interview that my nephew Brian did just recently as the Canadian Olympic campaign was launched.  The campaign is called Give Your Everything.   He is once again going to the Olympics and who knows may again bring home another gold medal for Canada.  Good luck Brian and all our hardworking athletes. 

Well I hope this post wasn't too long and inspired you either as a crafter or as a supporter of the Canadian athletes.

Happy Crafting

Lilian