A Sad Note

I have some very sad news. My cat, Gracie disappeared about 2 weeks ago, and we are fearing the worst.

We have looked and looked for her, and put ads in the newspaper, and flyers around the neighbourhood, and checked with vets and animal shelters, and she is just not anywhere. I miss her terribly.

I'll admit, she could be a pest. Like last Christmas, when I couldn't put up my Christmas village on the mantle, because she kept jumping up there, and I was afraid she'd knock everything over and onto the fireplace. Or how I'd put on clean black slacks, and she'd insist on sitting on me, and then I'd have her fur all over me. Or how she'd sit in front of the computer, so I couldn't see the screen. Or how I'd wake in the night, with no pillow, because she was laying on it.

But how I miss that sweet face, and the little meows. When she came inside, she would insist on being petted and loved, even before going to her food. I miss her sitting with me watching TV. I miss her laying in my scrapbooking room, advising me on colour choice and ribbon selection (Once she ate some ribbon. I had to monitor her poo for about a week to make sure it came out the other end. I never did find it. Of course, I wasn't looking that hard.) I'm going to miss her for a long time, in a lot of ways.

Gracie, you are loved and missed.

Detour - eReader!

Once again, I have gone off on another wild tangent, this one into the land of eReades. It's a long story, one that began last summer.

I have been plotting and planning on getting an eReader since last summer, but just kept putting it off. Finally decided to take the plunge and JUST BUY ONE. Of course, for me there is no "just buy one", it takes days and days of on-line and in-store research, and asking EVERYONE if they have an eReader, and how do they like it, and what-do-you-think-I-should-buy?

Originally thought I would get a Kindle, but being in Canada kind of adds to the expense (read: duty, taxes, shipping, etc. etc.) When I saw the cute (and so very pink) Sony, I couldn't resist, and so now that's what I have. (Plus, I can actually borrow books digitally from the library! Kan't do that with a Kindle in Kanada!) (NOTE: All those K's were on purpose. I do know how to spell "can't" and "Canada").

And my opinion? Well, if you want something you just take out of the box, turn on and start reading, the Sony is not for you (unless you really enjoy reading instructions. The instructions are 131 digital pages long). Fortunately, I do have some idea about computers, so syncing to my computer, setting up accounts with Sony, Adobe and my public library wasn't terribly hard, just time consuming. I will admit it took me some time to figure out how to get the book I borrowed from the library on to the eReader.

And if anyone has an eReader, I'd love to hear what kind you have, and what you think of it.

Until next time....

Detour - Mexico!

This last weekend I went on a little retreat with a friend of mine. The PLAN was to go to our cabin, and work (I mean, Play!) on my Caribbean album. It's been slow going, and I have been having some issues with placement of pictures, embellishments, words.....etc. etc.

Anyway, after packing half my scrapbooking room for a 2 day jaunt into the woods, I realized that I had far too much stuff to carry, and no clear plan on what I was going to do. So I thought, why not work on your Mexico album? It's finished, except for putting in the photos! This will be easy! How many decisions can there be?!

So the rule was, I was going to use only ONE LINE of paper, that being Graphic 45 "Boardwalk", plus cardstock. That was easy to pack. And photos. Look, they are all together in an envelope! Scissors, glue, and a little ribbon. The embellishments were going to be cut out of the Boardwalk paper. I fancied that I might even get the album finished over the weekend!

The album is not finished.

Some of the photos were missing from the envelope. The fussy cutting and deciding of placement of the embellishments took longer than anticipated. There was food to eat, and sleep to catch up on. And magazines to read!

No, the album is not finished. But I did get 4 photo pages done. Shown here is the cover, one of day title pages (There's a funny story there. I made up this album before our trip, knowing what our itineray on the cruise would be, and what ports we would be in.

Then along came Tropical Storm Georgette, and the intinerary went out the window. Since I glued everything down so securely, I can't change any of the headings!) and 2 of the photo pages. I figure, a few more retreats, and I may just get this thing done!

Until next time...

A Different Kind of Stamp

I had a grand idea for my album, and that was to get POSTAGE STAMPS from each of the ports we visited on our Caribbean trip. I love stamps, both the inking kind and the postage variety.

Our first port was Nassau, and we were walking about and stumbled upon a post office. I bought these three stamps, which I thought was a pretty reasonably priced souvenir.

The next 2 ports, St. Thomas and St. Martin, were another story. We were on excursions that whisked us from the ship to our island destination, and there was no time for searching for a post office. So I didn't get stamps from those countries. (Hmm, maybe I'll just have to go back...)

On another note, I was at a Copics class last night, and wouldn't you know I forgot my glasses. The result was my colouring was way OUTSIDE THE LINES. My precious husband is away this weekend, so I have lots of time to find my glasses, and try, try again. I may need to go back to Kindergarten to get a colouring refresher on staying inside the lines!

Until next time (unless this business about the Rapture is true!)....

How does a Week Pass so Quickly?

We are back from our Caribbean holiday, and now that I am recovered from the jet lag, time change, rich food, lack of sleep, etc. etc, I am ready to take on the task of completing my Caribbean album!

Step one was finishing my journalling. I had hoped to journal every day, and I almost did it, but those late nights on the last 2 nights were IMPOSSIBLE, so I ended up journalling those days once I was home.

The next thing was to order my pictures. We took about 450 pictures, which I thought was quite a few, but I've had peope tell me, "That's nothing! I took over 1000 on our trip!" Isn't the digital age great? Remember the days of bringing back rolls of film, having the pictures developed, only to find out you'd left the lens cap on, or some similar disaster? There are some drawbacks about so many pictures, and that is having to DECIDE which to print. I whittled it down to 195 pictures, to which my precious husband said, "What are you going to do with all those?"

So now back to REALITY. Besides now having to go back to work, resume cooking and housekeeping duties, I have some decisions to make on the album, and probably some alterations. I think I'm going to work from back to front, since I can't think of how to arrange the first pages.

Until next time... which hopefully will be soon than the last post!

Ah- Ha! v.s. Uh-oh!

Have you ever had one of those "Ah-ha!" moments, where things make sense, or you've figured out how to do something - it's usually a positive thing.

Or how about an "Uh-oh!" moment, when you suddenly realize things are not going according to plan, or you've made some blunder that's going to be tough to fix? Well, I had one of those "uh-oh" moments this week with my Caribbean gatefold album.

I was at an all day crop last weekend, and decided to work on the inner pages - "Stop stalling," I told myself, "and just get them done!" I think I may have mentioned that little voice before, and how it's never a good idea to listen to it urging me on to "just" do something. Anyway, I listened to myself, and glued some Bo Bunny paper onto the back of the Websters Pages (sounds crazy I know, but I was trying to tone down the loud patterning on the back of the Websters paper). It looked great. Then, once home, I realized my great faux pas. I had cut the Websters Pages the same size as the back cover. "So?" you ask. Well, I reply, this means the pages won't close as they are going to bump into the wire binding I plan to hold it all together! Now I have to trim off 3/8 " off each page, which is no big deal, except I have to make some decisions about which side to trim.... and you know how I am about decisions. Until I figure out what to do...

Covers Complete!

After much arranging, re-arranging and agonizing, the cover of my gatefold album is complete. Now I just have to do all those inside pages! I'm also going to change that stamp on the post card. I plan to buy stamps on our trip, and use those on the post card. More about that in a future post!

I was playing around with my Tattered Angels Glimmer Chips and Glimmer Glass, and the little fish was the result. I painted the chip part with Luminere Paint, and then spread glossy accents over top, and popped on a matching Glimmer Glass piece. Annoyingly, not all the chips have matching glass pieces.

I also tried some other types of paints, and learned that thicker paint is not better, it makes the little designs in the chips disappear. And less is more when you work with these, if the chips get too wet the paper on the surface of them starts to "pill" and rub off. Painting on Glimmer Mist seems to work better than spraying (for me anyway, those darn sprayers clog), and Distress Inks lightly brushed over the tops work to pick up the ridges on the chips and so make the pattern on them stand out.

And now, its on to the inner pages! Until I have some to show you, ta-ta!