Martha's Blue Glittered and Pearled Pumpkins

Years ago, Martha Stewart poured some pretty blue glitter on a foam pumpkin and created a whole new kind of elegant fall magic. At least in my mind. :) I seriously fell into deep like with glittered pumpkins and have never looked back.

The A Muse Lounge Challenge for the month of October is to stamp out whatever October means to you...for me, nothing says October more than blue glittered pumpkins. (Try not to read too much into that.)

So here's my card for the A Muse challenge. Stamps are A Muse and the metallic lustre inks are by Colorbox--the cat eye collection. Those are the handiest little things.

Happy fall!

Treasures from the Recycle Bins

Look what I pulled out of the Mixed Paper Bin at the Recycling Center over the weekend! Isn't it a beauty? Better Homes and Gardens from March 1968!! It even has that vintage magazine smell. :)

Check out some of the advertisements inside:

It's rainey and damp here...but this made me smile. Tomorrow the recipes section.

Winter AMuse Cards

I enjoyed attending 2 A Muse Art Stamps classes this weekend where this was one of the cards we completed. Note the use of Fabrique Applique aka puffy paint (leftover from the days of embellished and painted t-shirts and sweatshirts--hello 1985) on the snowballs. How fun is that?




This tag was a project from the tag class that I modified a little, making him into a card, with Stickles. :) Glittery Stickles makes me happy.

All stamps are AMuse Artstamps. Color was added using Copic markers...wow--those are some luxurious markers.

Slow Times bring Stamping

Things are slow these days...blogwise. I've been busy doing all the little projects that had accumulated on my "wish I had time to do this" list while I was getting the cruise scrapbook done.

I have organized stamps--meaning that all the clear photopolymer stamps are now housed in clear CD cases. Watch for more stamping to come to my little blog--mainly because I need to use the stamps I like to look at. I suspect that stamps multiply amongst themselves when I'm not looking.

I have, as I already pointed out, become enamored with A Muse Stamps lately. Such good stuff there. I love the clean lines of their signature look. The A Muse gallery is fantastic. I especially fell in love with the Jeep, the ipod, and this card.

And finally, have you ever watched Stamp TV? I just found this channel of youtube videos this evening and have been enjoying them so far. The hostess has a very calm and soothing voice and is well-rehearsed but not up-tight. I like that in craft videos. I do not enjoy video stars who haven't thought about how to present their instructions, causing them to hem-n-haw and fumble around. Bugs me. But I digress.

I realy like the technique shown here using wax paper. Need to try this.

Happy Friday!
--Sarah

Ribbons and Buttons...Oh My

This is what a girl does to celebrate her newly organized ribbon. I've been saying "I want to do that project" for months, after seeing a fellow pea create a similar display of buttons under glass. Blues and browns of all shades...these are a few of my favorites. :)

Speaking of buttons, have you seen this blog called *BUTTONFloozies*? It's shh-weet. Don't miss out.

Happy Monday morning!
--Sarah

Ribbon Redemption

It took until almost 4am, but the ribbon has been redeemed! Around 1:15 am, I realized that Capri Sun boxes could be cut in half and make the *perfect* holders for rolls of ribbon. As it just so happened, there were 8 empty Capri Sun boxes in my area, waiting to be recycled. (It's a long story.) So, I chopped them all in half and used them. Four boxes will fit in a large Iris Cart drawers, which is the same place I used to store the scads of disheveled ribbons...the boxes serve as sorters...there is nothing so soothing as ribbon arranged by color.

I didn't realize how much I apparently like red ribbons! Below shows reds, pinks, oranges, and purples/yellows/greens (because I don't use those alot).

Below shows boxes for black and whites, blues, sea colors, and browns. This drawer will get the most use...Black and white is almost always my first choice.

I organized each of the roll-less, by-the-yard ribbons this way. Each piece is rolled neatly and secured with a strip of paper. I used a tape adhesive to secure the end. Because I need to be able to see what's there, I stood each bundle on it's end. This basket from The Dollar Tree sits neatly on my desk now...reminding me to use the pretty ribbon and making it easy to do so.

And shhh...did you notice that there's a little room for a few more additions?? Hmm.

The paper strips are secure but not tight and they are easy to slip off. It was important to me not to damage the ribbons by using adhesive or pins on the actual ribbons. (Stores that poke a pin into their ribbon rolls really make me unhappy.)



There are a few carded ribbons in my collection, so I just left them as they were. One other little basket hold all the carded ribbons, on my desk, easy to flip thru.

The rest of the ribbons have been a) tossed b) recycled or c) moved to the Christmas bin.

I would love to have the space to keep them out where I can see them but wallspace is just not real estate I can afford right now. So drawers and baskets will have to do. I get a little giddy about the recycling aspect of repurposing the Capri Sun boxes. (If they were going to be sitting out, I would cover them with paper or paint them.)

I feel so much better now that my ribbons are accessible and easy to pull from.

Happy Sunday!

--Sarah

My Ribbon Storage is in Need of a Makeover

"Chaos" has to be the only word appropriate for describing the current state of my ribbon storage. It's unruly and outrageous. And something has to change.

How did I ever let it get this bad?

Help!!



In other news, sometimes it all just comes together. Don't ya love it when that happens? Case in point: When Joal and I were in Bar Harbor, I found a book called *Best of Bar Harbor*. It's basically a small photo book, like a coffeetable book, only small. It has all the requisite photos of Bar Harbor's most famous sites. I first glanced thru it while waiting in the lobby of our hotel. Later, while shopping in a local bookstore (one of the things I really like about Bar Harbor is the *local* businesses), I found a copy of the same book, autographed by the author. Score one. Then as I was paying for the book, I overheard the bookstore owner talking to a man about how well his book was selling...yes, it was none other than Greg Hartford, the photographer of the book I was buying. :)

How cool is that?

So on the plane ride home I was looking thru the book, reliving a little of the magic, and it struck me. Why couldn't I use this book as the base of my Maine scrapbook? I could tear it up and incorporate the (ahem) scraps into my scrapbook. Ha. Is that allowed?

I've been mulling on this since June, while I finished the cruise book. I finally came to the conclusion that this particular book is just too lovely to tear up. And then I pulled out a ruler and discovered that my sweet little book of photos from Bar Harbor is none other than 8x8...a very common size of albums in the scrapbook world. Can you say delighted?

The theme for this album is "life in a northern town" and it will have two sections--Bangor (where the boys stayed with their grandparents) and Bar Harbor (where Joal and I went). I can't wait to get started--it's so nice to be working on my own things again without time restraints.

Happy Saturday night.

--Sarah

Oh my...Look.

Go see this if all things ribbon, you like. Road trip, anyone?

Card Sketch Keeper

One of the finest video artists creating on Youtube today is Kristina Werner. Seriously, her stuff is top notch. She puts out a feature each week on her blog called Make a Card Monday--this week however, was not a card, but a card idea sketch keeper. Above is my version.

Note: I didn't have a stapler handy so I used a thick thread to "sew" the pages together in two places. This paper is from Carolyn Gavin's Greenhouse Collection by K&Co. It's one of my favorites of late, so I didn't want to cover it up with any other embellishments...just let the paper speak and enjoy it. :)

Happy Wednesday!

When Good Men Cry Out

When Good Men Cry Out
September 14, 2009

On Friday night Congressman Joe Wilson from South Carolina cried out against one more in a long line of lies that President Obama has told the American people. The president said that the proposed "Obama Care" would not cover illegal aliens. However, the congressman knew very well that without any enforcement mechanism in the bill (which he had actually read) that it could ultimately be used to cover illegal aliens. So, he spoke truth to power. He said, "You lie!" His statement has since been proven true, and this problem in the bill was fixed after he spoke up. However, immediately the Democrats began to threaten censure for Congressman Wilson.

First, Joe the plumber, now the congressman. Which of us will be next? Maybe it will be the "thugs" in the town hall meetings. Maybe it will be a police officer who was just doing his job. Maybe it will be a CIA agent who is just looking out for his country. Maybe it will be the young couple who exposed ACORN. Maybe it will be the guys at Fox News for their opposing points of view or their political activism. Or maybe it will be you or I for sending an e-mail with "suspicious" content.

It is time that we all cry out in solidarity with this descent, normally soft spoken congressman from South Carolina who displayed such uncommon courage and appropriate passion. He was crying out for us in that moment on Friday night, and we need to cry out for and with him now.

It is time the rest of us owned the obvious truth that he so bravely spoke. The president does, in fact, lie - sometimes by direct statement and sometimes by omission. Consider this. Throughout the long election campaign, he made sure that he came across as a reasoned "almost-moderate," as an advocate of bipartisanship, as a proponent of capitalism, as someone who is fiscally responsible, as being capable of bringing positive and agreeable change, as a political peacemaker, as an honest man, as a man of integrity and transparency.

In fact, he has since been proven to be none of those things. He had every opportunity to express his true views and intentions before he asked us to vote for him. But he intentionally hid those from the country simply because he and the DNC knew that the country would never elect an ultra left socialist who intended to rule the country with czars and "thuggish" politics.

He knew very well that we would never agree to spend ourselves into oblivion, apologize to our enemies, treat terrorists like deserving citizens, back down from rogue despots, weaken our military, tax investment capital out of existence, turn the country over to leftist, tree hugging fanatics and avowed socialist and communists. He knew all of that. So, he lived a lie. And he lied by intentional omissions and partial truths. And he did it smoothly and deliberately.

And so far, Congressman Wilson has been the only one in Washington with the courage to call it like it is, but, that needs to stop now. We, who simply want descent and effective government need to stand with this courageous congressman as the Democrats prepare to punish him.

Perhaps then, this clueless congress that we are presently saddled with can get the picture that, in effect, this congressman was not just speaking for himself. He was momentarily the voice of the majority in the nation. This president and his backers should know that the truth is now out, and that we, the responsible citizens and voters, "get it." And Ms. Pelosi and her "kids in the candy store" need to know that it matters to us how they handle our representative.

In the last few months, I have come to understand that President Obama is a "political kamikaze." That is why he does not respond to any of the normal pressures. He is not worried about a second term. He is only worried about accomplishing his "blitzkrieg leftist agenda" in this term. My estimate is that he never really intended to survive the process politically. His only intent and concern is to deliver up the country to an unalterable elitist run kind of socialism in this term.

And, in fact, we really cannot stop him at this point (he has the power to do exactly that) unless we can strip him of his congressional backing. Most of those men and women like the good life of congressional Washington, and they would like to return to it. So, they really need to understand that if they continue to empower this "mistake" of a president, we, the people, will see to it that they don't.

So, I would propose this plan. It is simple. It is easy. And if done in sufficient numbers as a grass roots effort, it could have real impact. Via e-mail, let’s just join with this courageous congressman by sending the same message a million times over to the White House. The president needs to hear this resounding popular vote of "no confidence."

So now, for us, it is decision time. Do we want to join this brave congressman in speaking truth to power. Well, let’s see. It is easy. It can be effective. It is definitely an expression of support and solidarity for and with Joe Wilson. It is a great exercise of our first amendment right. And, in sufficient numbers, it might actually help "rein in" this out of control congress and president. And it really is the right thing to do.

Yeah, we can handle that. Let’s just do it. Simply choose a day for the e-mail event and contact your e-mail "posse," and ask them to let you know if they would be willing to join you in e-mailing these two words, "You lie!" to the White House from this page: http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/ Then ask them to do the same with their "posse."

A small effort will be completely ineffective here. But a good and faithful effort could be very effective. Let’s be courageous and determined here. Let’s attend to our duty and stand by those who stand by us. Let’s stand by the Honorable Congressman Joe "You lie!" Wilson of South Carolina. Let’s all cry out together.

So, I'm asking you, as part of my e-mail group, "Will you join me in this effort?" If so, let me know and we will all mail tomorrow (I will let you know the number that are participating) Tuesday, Sept. 15. The clock is ticking for this effort to be well timed with the debate over Congressman Wilson’s censure. Let’s stand with Joe!

I wish I could physically stand in the House of Representatives with Joe Wilson. I wish his constituents from South Carolina would fill up the House gallery during the censure debate and insist on physically standing with him if he is ultimately punished by Pelosi and her group. However, I can't manage all of that but I can do this small thing and I hope you will join me in this effort.

--Larry Burnett

A Muse Again

A Muse Challenge

I am in deep like with A Muse Art Stamps. They are simple and clean and so very easy to use. My mom's mom, Bobbie, had a fan just like this...it was old and black and heavy. I remember it distinctly (which is saying something) so you can see why I was drawn to this particular stamp.

A Muse is hosting a challenge right now called the No Coloring Zone challenge--participants create without using the usual suspects of coloring (markers, pencils, paints, etc) to add color to images. I stuck with black and added color to the card using paper--cardstock and patterned.

Happy Sunday.

Paper Love

Found some paper to love today...because of course, I don't ever get tired of new paper. :) I'm not usually drawn to stacks...but this one is yummy. And it was half-price. Gotta love that.

STS-128

We pray for your safety and your continued success. Godspeed Discovery.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/sts128/index.html

For the Book Challenge

(Click on each image for a larger, readable image.)

Article from Creating Keepsakes, August 2009.

Written by Lori Anderson.

shown with publisher's permission, (c) 2009