Remembering....

Ten years ago, I was a newlywed and I had just moved back to upstate New York from Georgia. I had sent my girls off to school and I was picking out my outfit for a job interview that I had later in the day.  I remember that I was drinking my coffee and watching the Today Show with Katie Couric and Matt Lauer when I saw the first plane hit the World Trade Center.  Then just a few moments later, I watched the second plane hit.  I remember watching the news for the rest of the day -- my interview postponed until the next week.

What happened on September 11, 2001 changed our lives forever. Security where my husband works was upgraded and has been super vigilant ever since. My youngest daughter never remembers taking a flight without being thoroughly screened at the airport.  We have learned to get to the airport at least an hour and a half before we have to be at the gate just in case screening gets backed up.  I hear people complain about how long it takes to get through airport security, but I have learned that I'd rather be safe so I don't mind the better screening.

I am much more patriotic now.  I am so proud of those who serve in our Armed Services.  I am much more sentimental when I see soldiers at the airport or when I hear "I'm Proud to be an American" -- I get all choked up for both.  I make sure I have an American Flag decorating my house in some way -- on the mailbox or in a window.  I also have so much more respect for the brave firemen and policemen who keep us safe since the tragedy on 9/11.   I am so very thankful that they were there to help so many and sad that so many of them were also victims that day.

I am proud that we as Americans came together as a nation ten years ago, and I am proud we remembered everyone today together.  God Bless America -- home of the Free and the Brave.

A really, really long break...... LOL

I really need to stick with this blog thing.  I was doing well for a while but then I started letting things slide and now I have a whole lot of catching up to do.

Ok --- enough of the "I should have..."  Let me go pick a topic and make a post.

Never enough time.....

I always feel like there is never enough time to do everything that I want.  I really should have made a New Year's Resolution to set aside time to do something fun and just for me at least once a week. 

I'm slowly starting to get back into making cards and swapping.  I had to take a break for a while because of the holidays and then because I started my second job.  Now things are winding down and I can get back to the fun things. I've still been doing a few Copic things here and there but I'm ready to start building up my cards again. 

Staying Busy with New Scrap Layouts

Most of the scrappers I know like to get as many pages done at one time as they can.  Close to My Heart has wonderful books that I like to describe as a "Scrapbooking for Dummies" series. No I don't think scrappers are dummies but the patterns offered in the books make scrapbooking so easy.

So since I had a few free days, I decided to take out my books and see if I could come up with a template or two for cutting paper and making multiple pages.  Well, I have worked up several templates and I made these 16 pages using one CTMH Level 2 paper pack and a few extra sheets of cardstock for bases.  I took out one of my favorite papers (Whoops-a-Daisy) and I got busy.  I really love the look of this paper and I'm so glad that I was able to get so many pages from it since it's now retired.

Yay!  Now I have to get out some pictures of my grand-girls and my nieces so that I add them.

Merry Christmas

This year has been tough -- not just for me but for many. I get myself through every day by counting my blessing and making myself stay focused on the good things I have.  Although this year has been tough financially for us, we are starting to adjust to our self-imposed cut-backs and we are making the best of things. 

Although Christmas will be smaller than years past, we have lots of wonderful things - we are relatively healthy, we laugh a lot, and we are employed.  I hope everyone else is able to count their blessings too.

Another Copic Challenge

I saw a Copic video that just really made me think "outside the box".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiS_V2Ph13Y&feature=related

This was a perfect challenge for me. I had to really blend since I didn't have most of the colors shown in the video. I couldn't get the blue sky to really work for me so I did a nice sunny yellow sky. (I felt warmer just making the sunny sky.) I am including pictures of my card and a close up of my chair just to let you see more detail.

Alternate ideas ----
I loved making a background and I loved coloring in a stamp on top of the background I made. My challenge is more of a 'create a scene/background with Copics' -- I'm sure not everyone wants to go to the beach ... {LOL} A sunset background would also be a good for this challenge. So would a night sky or dusky sky maybe with a silhouette of a tree or grass in the foreground. Just bust out the Copics and blend, blend, blend!


Bo Trommer
Copic Junkies Design Team Member

(Stamps: chair > TAC and sandcastle > Clear Dollar Stamps)
Copic colors used:
Water: BG32, BG10
Beach: E00, E11, E33
Chair: E25, E08, E33
Sky: Y11, Y02
Y17 for the flag on the sandcastle


Suggestions for blue sky colors (from the DT members):
B0000/B000 combo or BG0000/BG000 combo
B0000 – pale Celestine and BG0000 – snow green

A Golden Opportunity

This week on Copic Junkies, Shannon posted a challenge to use Copics to color images to look like metal (gold or silver). Well, I didn't have the right colors for silver (need the Cool Grays but I only have the Warm Grays) so I opted to used my "Y" markers to make gold. Here are a couple of my cards.......





I tried to up the ante on the gold idea by adding Copic Atyou Spica pen in Gold (for the vase) and Clear (for the flowers). The Atyou Spica does leave some stroke marks but I love the sparkle. 



Please check out Copic Junkies for challenges.