A Finish....And A Finish

It's rare for me to have two finishes in one week, but it indeed happened.  The first one is "Folk Eggs" by Prairie Schooler.  I actually got it done in time for (next) Easter!  I'd like to frame it in a whitewash painted frame.  What do you think?

The next one is a little different finish -- not of the cross stitch kind.  It's my London scrapbook.  I wanted to get it done before Matt came home for Christmas.  So I made my goal and am happy.  It contains such good memories of our trip of a lifetime.  Not fancy, nor is it particularly creative, but it's all there nice and neat.

These aren't the only pages.  I just photographed a sampling to give you an idea.  This scrapbook just makes me happy.  Thank you to the experienced scrapbookers who gave me advice and encouragement!

Our last Sisters In Stitches get together for 2012 happened last Saturday at Thea's house.  Once again, we were made to feel very comfortable and welcome as we stitched to our hearts' content.  Delicious soups were served by Thea and Laurie, and Marti brought a yummy coconut cake.  Our group is looking for a central location to have our stitch days, but it's been nice to visit each others' homes in the meantime.  We'll reconvene in January.  I'll make it a New Year's resolution to take pictures of our Stitch Days to share here.  I feel so lucky to have this group of friends.

I ran across the cutest Thanksgiving freebie generously provided by The Primitive Hare.  It's so adorable that I'm tempted to start it right away!  You can find it at The Primitive Hare's blog.  Have fun!

Having finished another stitching project, I thought it was time to start a new one.  Well, really two!  I'll post my progress with those next time. 

Welcome to my new followers!  And thank you, everyone, who took the time to make comments.  I enjoy each and every one!

Some Of This, A Little Of That

Lots of craftiness going on around here lately.  In a post last year, I whined talked about how I couldn't get started putting together the scrapbook I wanted to make about our London trip.  Some scrapbooker friends advised me to organize my materials and decide exactly what I wanted to put into the book.  I did just that this week, and finally started scrapbooking.  It's looking good, but certainly not the professional look that my talented friends achieve in their scrapbooks.  But I like it and have given myself a finishing goal for this project -- December 15.  Plus, I'm really enjoying doing this!  Take a look at the creative "organization".

On the stitching front, progress was made on "Folk Eggs".  I stitched quite a bit on egg #7 while watching a particularly bad baseball game.  I must say that I love Prairie Schooler.

I think I'm in the framing mode.  During a little fit of organization I discovered that I have some cross stitch finishes that need framing or further finishing (like ornaments).  One of these is "Seasonal Sampler" and I already have the frame for it.  So just getting the supplies out to frame it might propel me to do just that!  Do you think?  I also need to get online to my favorite framing supplier and order some items to frame a couple of other things.

And finally, not crafty at all, is sweet Cosmo taking a morning nap on the big cat bed.  Not a care in the world.

Scrapper's Block

This is a plea to all of my scrapbooking friends out there.  How do I get my scrapping mojo back?  This is a scrapbook that I started two (hanging head in shame) years ago.  Let me just say that I think scrapbooking is cool.  Sheila loaned me a book that was full of examples and hints and it was so interesting to look at.  What great ideas!  I love all the stuff that goes with scrapping -- papers, punches, stamps, etc. etc.  I'm especially enamored with the adhesive selection, like the little sticky roller (awesome). Plus I have completed one scrapbook in the past, and I must say that it turned out very well.  And if you want to get really technical about it, I would put together an end-of-the-year book for each child during my preschool-teaching days.  So I know what to do, I think.  I have all of the stuff.  Except for the "get up and do it".

The book in question will be a remembrance of our trip of a lifetime to London in 2009.  While we were there, I knew that I wanted to do this, and reminded Mark and Matt to keep everything.  Tube maps, ticket stubs, tour books, all the good stuff.  And I took a lot of pictures.  So here I am, with a nice bunch of interesting and colorful items to place in my book.  When I took all of this stuff out over the weekend, I was pleased to see that I actually liked the three pages that I crafted!  All I have to do now is get rid of this "scrapper's block" and get going again.  But how?  Am I overthinking this?  Getting too far ahead of myself?  Should I just concentrate on one page at a time? Is there a good way to organize all of the stuff I want to put into the book?

OK, fellow scrappers, please help me here.  Any ideas, suggestions or criticisms you have will be appreciated, and I thank you in advance!  When it's finished, I'll photograph it and post it here.