Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming!

Okay this post isn't really about swimming, but it's one of my favourite lines from 'Finding Nemo'!  I've been busy swimming this week, or rather doing what I do..which is crafting.  I've spent the better part of this week trying to get things ready for the Upcoming Go All Night Scrapbook Fundraiser taking place March 1-3.  This is my third year attending and I've enjoyed it so much that I joined the organizing committee this year for it.  I get to be in on the ground floor planning this amazing event and I also get to work with a fabulous bunch of ladies too!  What more could a girl ask for?!  I have been trying to be smart and get things ready in advance instead of running around going crazy last minute (like I usually do!).

I did manage to get quite a bit done.  1st off, I finished the Stampin' Up Cards for the Make N' Take Bar..can't show you everything but I can give you a sneak peek:

 

Had to include the Swallowtail stamp for one of the cards, it's such a beautiful stamp!

Then I got busy and started assembling the kits for the Canvas Class I am facilitating.  The class is full and I'm pretty excited to teach some new techniques and share a project that I loved doing, but I know I'll be nervous when it comes time to run the class, as usual, because I'll worry I forgot something, forgot to teach some part of the project, didn't do it right, messed up, or.....(okay breath).  IT WILL ALL BE FINE (just gotta keep telling myself that).  Anyhow, here's a peek at the preparations:

 I also started getting items ready as a Stampin' Up! Demonstrator.  I have plenty of product on order, just waiting to arrive and show at the Crop.  One of the coolest things I have for sale are the 'Flash Cards to Go' kits as seen on Stampin' Up! demonstrator, Connie Stewart's site www.simplysimplestamping.com .  I have absolutely no problem promoting her website because the flash cards she has made and shares have inspired some of my own great ideas, and they are just so simple to make - which I love!

I have a Flash Card to Go kit in each color palette from Stampin' Up!

Finally I have some of my projects that are near completion but need to be finished or vamped up a bit with photos and embellishments.  I'm hoping that I can either finish these before the crop so I can start something new OR I will finish them at the crop and just need to bring along the tools for completion (but really who am I kidding, I'm still going to pack up my entire craft room to bring to the Crop, otherwise I'll be worried I forgot something).

Just one of the many layouts I've done that needs photos and embellishments to be completed

Love how this star turned out, but I need to finish it's mate!

See how much I've managed to get done this week, this break from work came at the perfect time for me to catch up on my crafting, and I even got to spend some downtime watching t.v. and hanging with the kids!!  Now to spend some quality time with my hubby..he's on days' off too!  :)

Cheers!

Just gotta multitask!

Hey Everyone,

So I realized something last night as I was watching t.v. and catching up on my many PVR'ed episodes of 'Nashville', 'CSI', and 'Criminial Minds'...I am incapable of just watching t.v!  I can't just sit there and focus fully on the show I am watching.  Either I am reading a magazine, playing on my tablet, writing down a new to-do list, folding laundry, or in the case of last night, knitting.  I am addicted to multitasking or I just don't feel like I've made productive use of my time.

Anyhow, last night I was knitting and what I was knitting was one of those decorative ribbon scarves that I've seen so many ladies in my community wearing lately.  Turns out these scarves are surprisingly easy to make and I can finish one scarf in about three episodes..ahem I mean three hours *L*.  They are so pretty and come in so many fun colors.  I've made three already and I've ordered yarn so I can make five more!  Here's a picture of the one I just finished and the yarn I plan on using for a new one!

I'm thinking if I make enough of these, I might show them off/sell them at an upcoming Crop event..but we'll see how far I get with that idea.  Considering how easy they are to make, I feel guilty charging anything crazy for them and I wouldn't either.  Just gotta say, before I knew how to make them I bought three of these off of someone else and paid over 5x the cost of making them!!  YIKES!

Anyhow, that's all I wanted to share today.  I have some more t.v. to catch up on, since this is my week off of work so I'm sure I'll get a lot more done :)

cheers.

Go Figure!

Happy Friday Everyone!

As you know, I love being the creative Gemini and one of things in my tool belt of creativity is photography.  I have a home based business called "Gemini Arts Photography" that I've been lucky enough to do since 2008. I love taking photos and have had a special place in my heart for photographic memories every since I was a little girl looking at my grandma's photo box. 

So last weekend, I was given the opportunity to take photos for the High Level Figure Skating Club.  I have to admit I was a little nervous, as I sometimes get when working with new groups.  I want to make sure my clients are satisfied and since I haven't taken many sports portraits I wasn't sure what they would expect or that my photos would be up to scratch..just me being a little insecure that's all.

Anyhow, here are some behind the scenes and sneak peeks of one of my clients.  She's such a vibrant young lady that it was a pleasure to capture her spirit on film, not to mention that she was a great sport letting me wrap her in twinkle lights!!!

 

No we're not setting up for a magic act!  LOL

After some late nights editing and figuring out the technical aspects of uploading photos for clients (give me photo editing any day over figuring out mass emailing technicalities..that's where my hubby comes in, he knows computers way better than I do!!), I sent off all of my proofs today and have already gotten back plenty of positive feedback about the photos.  PHEW!!  Clients are happy, which makes me happy :).

Have a great weekend everyone!

P.S.  I'll be sure to post next week as I have a break and I'm going to be busy crafting - getting things ready for the Go All Night Crop happening March 1-3rd, here in High Level.  I've got a class project to prep for; some Stampin' Up Make N Takes, Inventory, and sales to get ready; my own kits to put together for personal crafting enjoyment; and some planning/packing to get ready for 'The Big One'.
Check out the link below to read more about this great event!
www.goallnight.blogspot.com  or look for the page on Facebook!

Also a special shout out to Connie Stewart at www.simplysimplestamping.com  Her Flash Card Series is AMAZING!! and I'll be promoting her blog and flash card kits at Go All Night!!  Her site has been such an inspiration for my own cardmaking.

Anyhoo, that's it for now..CHEERS!

Creatively Christmas Part Two

Okay so I know it's the brand new Year and not actually the holidays anymore but you'll have to cut me some slack since I only just took down my Christmas tree today!  2013 seems to have hit fast and hard in my house and it's been so tiring and hectic that today is the first time we've all been home to actually get stuff done..the serious after holiday cleaning is still being procrastinated on..I'm thinking February LOL! 

Anyhow, I wanted to share some photos from my holidays because although I didn't post, I was busy crafting and I DID get my FIL's quilt done! I was pretty happy with how it turned out and he loved it, which was the main thing.  I even have more fabric should I be ready to tackle a new quilt any time soon (though I tend to sew only every few months..it's so hard on the back to sew for those long hours, don't know how hardcore seamstresses do it...says the scrapbooker..haha)

So here's what the finished quilt looked like:

Aside from that I made some homemade snack mixes for gift giving!  The kids and I made Smore's snack mixes that we gave to my co-workers, their teachers, the daycare staff, etc.  I only wish we had saved some to snack on at home:

Then of course there were the Christmas cards I did with some students from work and of course I had the best of intentions to get my cards out to F&F before the holidays, BUT  I just sent them out last week *sigh*  oh well, better late than never!  Really I know this reflects bad on me and I seem like the worst of procrastinators *L* but normally I am a very organized and efficient person..truly I am!  I am!!

Finally, I did some baking and I tried some new recipes from Pinterest.  I Love how easy the recipe was for making this French Bread, I learned more from the tips and techniques than I did the recipe itself.  Did you know you can speed up the rise time by placing a warm wet cloth over your dough and popping it into a microwave (don't turn it on) that has been pre-run for 2 minutes.  the residual heat in the microwave and the wet cloth provide an optimally warm moist environment for the dough to rise in, my dough rose in 30 minutes instead of the normal hour...I LOVED THAT!!  Tried the same technique on my Cinnamon bun dough last week and it works great!  Now I'm more likely to make more bread dough recipes because I always hated how long the rising process took. Anyhow here is how the bread turned out, we've gone through 5 loaves already!

Oops, forgot one more thing..See told you I was busy last month..can I use that for the excuse why I didn't post ;P   I must share my photos from the Stampin' Up Cookie Basket Classes I did..these were so cute and the cookies were delicious and fun to make!

So that was the Month of December in Pictures, pretty much!  I did spend my two weeks of holiday blissfully relaxing and catching up on PVR'ed tv shows, holiday movies, and just some oldies but goodies.  I shared time with F&F which is always fun during the holidays and despite January kicking off with a bang, it's also been a good sign of the year to come!  So I'll be posting again soon with more fun stuff from my Gemini Life!

Cheers!

Creatively Christmas

Hi All,

I can't believe Christmas is just around the corner, just under two weeks away!  Eeek!  Sorry for posting late, as usual.  I have had every good intention of getting my blog up to date because I have been busy creating over the last month but I've also been seemingly too busy to sit down and jot a post.  It's harder than I thought to keep a blog going, even with reminders.

Anyhow enough procrastinating.  As I said, it's just under two weeks until Christmas, my favourite time of the year, and I'm only halfway through a quilt I'm making for my father-in-law.  I had the great idea to make him a throw quilt with images of his family all over it, since the man spends most of his time in his 'bear den' and nothing means more to him than his family.  I know this is a gift that will bring about the waterworks - his son loves to make him cry..everyone says he's mean to do that but really, I know the real reason why he likes to do it - because then it means the gift has really touched his father and means something to him.  My father-in-law really is just a big old teddy bear and nothing gets him more than sentimental stuff.

I'm still not done the quilt but I thought I would share some images of my project so far and I'll post the finished product once it's completed (hopefully before Christmas Eve!).

This first image is of the pieces all cut and organized ( I may be disorganized when it comes to time frames but I am definitely organized when it comes to my projects :-)

Next is a photo of the start of the quilt.  I'm about halfway done the front of the quilt and then I'll need to figure out how to sew the back part on so it doesn't bunch.

 I can do a basic quilt like this but trust me, I am not nearly advanced enough to put the cool swirly designs on it, etc.  I think he'll like the finished product though.  Stay tuned for more pics, and Happy Holidays Everyone!

Cheers

Wonderland of fun Part 2

This will be a short post today, just updating on material I posted previously.  I finally got my butt in gear and wrote up the tutorial for making the Mad Hatter Hat. So anyone that wants to try this at home, here are the instructions to do so.

I hope you can see the instructions ok, I'm learning as I go and enjoying the journey :)

I also got the chance to show a couple more ladies how to do the Hatter Project and their creations turned out beautifully as well! I just love how the Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante Paper coordinates with these hats.  I do want to try making one more hat with my Stampin' Up papers though, because I'd love to see what effect a different style of paper has on the overall look.  I'll keep you posted.

Take care and have a great week.

What a Wonderland of Fun!

Oh me oh my..I'm late, I'm late, for a very important deadline, er date!!  I meant to blog a week and a half ago as I have set a personal deadline for myself to blog at least once a month...oh well, guess I was just holding out for something extra blog-worthy!  I'm glad I waited! 
This last weekend I attended the 'Down The Rabbit Hole' Wonderland Themed Crop here in High Level.  This is the crop I mentioned in my last post, where I was going to teach the project class on how to make the 'Mad Hatter's Hat'.  I was so ill prepared and felt so rushed because it was a crazily  hectic week and I very much felt like the Rabbit in the story, forgetting things left and right and muttering to myself; I didn't even get my cookies baked for the crop until the moring of, and of course I forgot to take a picture of the end product..silly me.  Which is unfortunate because I had made shortbread cookies and put them in pretty decorative cupcake holders with ribbon and a tag that said 'Eat Me'. Oh well, it can't be helped and in the end I managed to get my sh..stuff together and showed up at the crop...10 minutes EARLY!  How about that, I had the time wrong anyhow and was actually early for the crop!

Anyhow, I was still very nervous about teaching the Hat Class, this is only the second time I've taught a papercrafting class and I'm always worried that the projects won't turn out or people will feel like I'm a sucky teacher, I'm still feeling my way along as it were.  The ladies I taught were great though and their projects turned out AMAZING, and honestly it's due to their talents and not my teaching!  Thankfully, they gave me their permission to post their projects here..aren't they gorgeous!

From Left to right - my teaching demo, Monica's, and Kathy's

 

 

I also promised I would send along the link for my original inspiration for the hat!  Which is a site I found on Pinterest where a DIY tutorial showed me how to make a full size hat that is used for the Mad Hatter Costume!  here is the link to the website via Pinterest:  http://pinterest.com/pin/283586107757269658/

 

Aside from the class, this had to have been one of my favourite crops to attend, partly because I LOVE Alice in Wonderland so I loved the theme for the crop but also because of the fun atmosphere the whole time I was there.  From the crazy teapots, to the decorations, to the games we played, it was all soo much fun!  The organizers are ladies that love to Crop and it shows in every detail they put forth..so thanks Bonnie, Gaye, and Mona..you ladies totally rock!!

 

Until next time...