A "Nancy Project"

My friend Kim is always kidding me about my "Nancy Projects." I always seem to get myself in trouble by deciding to do something really detailed. This time I was working on a scrapbook page for my grandson's softball team, The Bucks. The store didn't have any camouflage paper, so I bought some cardstock in appropriate colors and was going to make my own. Then I remembered a technique I had seen Nathalie Metivier from Megenta stamps do where she cut the paper in small wedges and created a mosaic look. Here's my final effort (not a page yet, but at least the frame is done!)

Christmas Cards

I've finally gotten a good bulk of my Christmas cards done. I used two main designs this year:

Star Wars and LegoFest

Our charge this week was to make a layout for the LegoFest coming to Hartford, CT. I had Star Wars. To make it a little more interesting, I combined pictures of my grandson, Gavin who is 2 this year wearing the costume his brother wore several years ago as Luke Skywalker. Then I took pictures of Nathan from year-before last when he was Darth Vader. Good and Evil - that was it! Here's the result:

A Walk Down Memory Lane

I went to a crop last weekend and worked mostly on pictures from my college days. I think sometimes I'll never finish this project! It's fun, but I enjoy doing more current things too! I'm almost through sophomore year now. This one really took me back. Look at the maxi dress! How about that - they've been coming out with maxi dresses again this past summer! This one is from 1974! These are pictures of my friend, Jay Wilcox, and me singing in the Sunken Garden at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg. We used to sing in several of the local churches. Sorry the pictures are a little dark. Perhaps I should have scanned them before putting them in the layout, but I used the original pictures I had from the event.

This paper was from a collection I got on HSN - 3 Birds. I didn't know what in the world I would ever do with this yellow and black paper, but when I started going through my college pictures, this just seemed to fit, and the swirl cut from another piece in the same collection has a 70's feel to it.

New Swap Stuff

First let me apologize for not posting much lately. We've been absolutely swamped at work. We're putting in a new phone system and everyone has been working long hours. It's probably going to be like this for another month and a half! Yikes! Flu bugs stay away!

I have a couple of things to show you. This month our card swap is a Fall theme, and so is a swap that is being called "Pick 'n' Mix" where you do 3 items consisting of an ATC, a "twinchie" or a tag, or any combination. Here are my fall things!

Finally got my ATC swap done!

I had started working on the ATC for my September swap but got stuck - it just wasn't looking like I wanted it to. So I started in another direction. This one turned out much better! This is using one of the Stacy Stamps by Stacy Rich. I like the paper - it has little swirls that look like the wind!

A Challenge!

It's amazing when you find yourself stuck on a project, that sometimes when you finally get the inspiration, or make the decision, or whatever happens that gets you moving, that the end result can be way better than you expected! Our latest design team assignment from Wiggles and Giggles had me stumped. I loved the papers I had gotten - the Autumn Bliss line from Little Yellow Bicycle. The colors were great - I had a great assortment of embellishments - even the nice acrylic overlays and journaling cards. Pictures? I had nothing. I went through all the pictures I had on my computer - don't know why but almost none were taken in the Fall. The only Thanksgiving pictures I had were of our little sad table for two at home. I thought about doing something about the things I was grateful for, but didn't know quite how to approach the pictures. Also, since so much of what I'm grateful has to do with health, I wasn't sure I wanted to display something so personal in the store. Well, I was at the store on Saturday, and was talking with Lakisha about it. She pointed out that making it personal would really show what scrapbooking is all about and encourge customers to think about their own scrapbooking. Well, I sat down on Labor Day afternoon, and took some pictures of myself. A couple turned out pretty good. Hmm. So I got the left side of the layout pretty much conceptualized. Now I had to do the journaling. Boy - writing about yourself is HARD! About 15 tissues later, I had it written. Here's the result:













If you can't read the journaling, here it is:

Even though my health isn’t what I would like it to be and sometimes it’s really a struggle, I think about all the other people out there with problems much worse than mine…

Even though I get short of breath doing every day things like getting ready for work, I think about those who don’t’ have a job to go to…

Even though I get winded cooking a meal, I think about those who have to go without…

Even though children sometimes stare at my airhose, they’re just curious and it gives me an opportunityto teach them about how people are different, and sometimes their parents too…

Even though there are a lot of things I can no longer do physically, there are so many things I still can do, and those are the things that make me happiest and feed my soul…

Even though there are days when I need help, I’m grateful for my husband, who helps me in so many ways, and my friends at work who always think of my needs…

Gratitude and Happiness…
It’s all about perspective…

Happy Fall, y'all!
Nancy