12 Days of Christmas Swap

It that time of year again... I joined a Christmas swap with some of the great artists on abc_alteredbookclub for the annual swap. In the past we've made fun little gifts for each participant but this year it was slightly different. We each make a page based on the 12 days of Christmas song. At the end we'll each have a wonderful Holiday book to cherish every year.

Here are all the little gifties just waiting to be opened.

Today's 1st day of Christmas page was made by Corinne of Glitz-oh Girl.

A great piece of digital art!  Thanks Corinne!

Each day I'll be opening another page...or maybe I should say the kids will be opening another page. They love to open presents!!

Lots of snow and keeping busy

We got hammered by a winter storm here...  We got 15.5 inches at our house...but since the wind was blowing so hard we have drifts that are 4-5ft high in places while some spots are bare ground.

Here's a photo out our back patio door.  See the cool swirl pattern in the snow!  Up to the left between our house and the neighbors there was a 5ft drift.

So in between shoveling and attempting to use the snowblower. I've been working on some crafty stuff.

I cleaned my sewing machine..changed thread on both the bobbin and spool...and it seems to be working a bit better.

I made a couple more journal covers..





We also put together our Gingerbread house kit from Trader Joe's. I think it turned out pretty cute. Maybe next year I'll do the really deal and not buy the kit.  I know my girl and I will be making one at her Holiday party at school as well...except with graham crackers. Like these ones.










And in case you hadn't heard what a crazy storm we had here yet...here's a YouTube video of the Metrodome...now known as Mall of America Field..collapsing.

Friday Freebie

This week I'm sharing a scan of...well..maybe someone can help me out on this one. I have a couple of large documents and these were with them.  They appear to be coupons? Tickets?  Not really sure sure what I have, truth be told.  I think they look really cool and would make fun additions to a background.  Have fun with them!


Click images to enlarge...

Citra Solv with National Geographic background technique

I am totally hooked on this "new to me"  technique. I've seen it in a magazine, You Tube, blogs etc. Trust me...this technique has been around the block a time or two. Of course, I am super late in actually trying it but I had said I wouldn't buy any new art supplies. Well...technically I didn't buy a new art supply, I bought a concentrated cleaner. That counts right!?!?

Anyway...Since not everyone on the planet has read about it I'll tell you what I did. It is so simple and has such cool results.  A word of caution...this will be messy...protect your surfaces, hands and clothing.

First you take the CitroSolv concentrate full strength and pour a bit into a small container. I used a foam brush to apply it directly to the front and back of the Nationtal Geographic pages I wanted to use.  The more ink on the  pages the better. After slathering on the CitroSolv to as many pages as you'd like...close the magazine and walk away for about 20 mins or so. When you come back...put on a glove and start opening the pages...they will likely fall right from the magazine as the CitroSolv seems to un-glue the binding as well.

I hung my pages to dry with clothes pins overnight.

I painted a few pages with CitroSolv before going to bed to see if the effect would be any different. The effect seemed a little more "muddy" to me rather than having the cool bubble effect. Still totally usable papers...just different.

These are some of my favorites but as you can see below...I ended up with a bunch of fun papers to play with.

Learning a new skill

Over the weekend we had guests...my brother-in-law and his girlfriend. I had asked her if she'd show me how to knit some time. She said sure if I'd show her how to crochet.  We both learned something very interesting, I knit like a crocheter and she crochets like a knitter. It was difficult for each of us to break the habits that we used for our previous yarn work.  I've been trying again and again but never get any further than this. I'll keep trying.

I also made this journal cover  the other day but as I was working on a second one...my sewing machine started acting goofy. I think the timing is off...or maybe the tension. I'm going to have to bring it in for a tune up. It's about 25 years old and has never been looked at...it's well over due.

Tea Tuesday

BRRR!! It's a cold one here today.  It looks beautifully...the sun is shiny bright but then you step out the door and it slaps you in the face!  At least it's not super windy.
I'm having a nice hot mug of tea of organic oolong tea today since I have to go back out to go grocery shopping.  I actually went to workout this morning already...gotta wear off all those goodies somehow.

Go see what my Tea Tuesday friends are up to today... Visit Kimmies blog and look on her sidebar.

Friday Freebie

I love the old car in this photo as well as the little boy coming out from behind the car.  I'm guessing this was the little girl's first communion.

(click image for full size)

Enjoy!