Bitter-sweet

As I lay here to write this post, I am so very, very grateful I do not have to get out of this warm and cozy bed and face work today. It is COLD! No, I mean, 6 major airports shut-down; snow flurries in Florida and Sunday night football postponed until Tuesday for the first time since 1940 somethin' kind of COLD!

On other hand, as I lay here thinking about what I wanted to post about our wonderful holiday this year, I always feel a little sad that it's over, sort of a "post holiday depression"..... You know how it is, we spend so many, many weeks getting ready for the Big Day and then it seems it's over so quickly. It was such a wonderful holiday for us this year; from the candlelight service at church on Thursday night to the four of us spending the Sunday after Christmas playing games together.

(I do have photos to post, but Scott helped clean up my laptop and transferred ALL my photos to my external hard drive....that's okay, however, the hard drive is in the living room, and as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I am in my warm and cozy bed and I am not getting out...well, not yet anyway! :o) )

The chilly weather also means no working in the studio for me. Well, I did dawn several layers and managed to slather some paint on paper last night and I started to feel much better. However, today, it looks like I better tackle one of the many projects on my list that can be done in the warmth of the house.....

-yearbook pages
-filing the piles of bill paperwork
-yearbook pages
-posting photos to the blog
-yearbook pages
-start washing our new clothes
-yearbook pages
-start putting away the monorail that's under the Christmas tree
-start putting away the Christmas tree
-yearbook pages
-ordering prints of our Christmas photos
-yearbook pages
-catching up on lesson plans
-yearbook pages

Hmmm, I certainly have plenty I've been procrastinating......

Wait, I could even venture out to shop at Hobby Lobby with my new gift cards, but that would require me getting out of this warm and cozy bed. I mean, if I can go outside to shop, then I surely could go outside to work in the studio!

The weatherman says our temps will return to the 70's by this Thursday and Friday. If I plan wisely, complete that list from above and I could declare Thursday and Friday as "Studio Days".......

Perhaps I better start with a shower, however, that will require me getting out of this warm and cozy bed......

Happy Day everyone, stay warm and check back soon to see if I ever made it out of this.....warm and cozy bed!
Melle

Signs of the holiday......

mmmm, the house smells heavenly this morning.
It smells just like cookies and brownies.
It's too bad blogs don't include the ability to share smells.
Smell; might just be the most unappreciated sense that we have. Just think, you can't enjoy food without it.
(....Perhaps I could use a little less ability to smell, since I keep gaining so much weight....but I digress....here let me eat one of those newly baked cookies to help me focus....)
We are almost done with the baking. Yesterday we finished, several of those Nestle frozen cookies that have cute reindeer and special holiday colored chips, but then we baked our usual Reindeer Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, and chocolate chip.
(oh oh, we forgot the oatmeal raisin - of course I think I'm the only one who eats those....thus the extra weight again....sorry, here I'll eat another cookie to help me ....mmmm...focus).
We made Rice Krispie Treats, brownies and Andrea added a really delicious truffle recipe to our usual list of treats. We still have the Forget 'ems, Cream Cheese Bars and banana pudding to make today.

I'll share recipes soon....
I'll share why we do all this, soon.....

In the meantime, I had some photos ready to share:
Catching up from last week, McKenna and fellow classmates in the choir had a holiday performance at Church on the Square in The Villages.

The students did a wonderful job. It was a beautiful evening.

A few days later, Scott also performed at Church at the Square with The Sounds of Scotland. It too, was a very nice evening.

And on Black Friday McKenna had a chance to visit with Santa. It was so cute because while Andrea had every intention of just watching from the sidelines, Santa had a different plan. When he raised his white gloved hand and used his pointer finger in the "you, come over here" sign language, Andrea knew she better go and "visit" with Santa too. He seemed to take a real liking to her. Spoke with her longer than McKenna. They chatted about college and the future.....cool.

Merry Christmas everyone!
Tomorrow, tomorrow I'll get to finish my holiday shopping. :o)

Melle

There are those commercials again.....only 4 shopping days until Christmas....and I'm still not done yet.....however, it'll still have to wait because today we practice a favorite holiday tradition:
It is cookie bakin' day!! And one of our favorites to bake are these cute little babies, Reindeer Cookies.


We just use the chocolate chip cookie dough recipe from the back of the Nestle Toll House chips bag. We use the mini pretzels for antlers, chocolate chips for the eyes and of course a red M & M for the red nose.

The butter is softening now and I can't wait!
Have a great day everyone!
Love,
Melle

I needed my hanky...

Okay, here's one more for today (sniffle, sniffle).
McKenna was hoping I would do a slideshow for her in celebration of her birthday like the one I did for Andrea....
So enjoy.
(sniffle, sniffle)

How sweet it is!

Monday morning; wake up at 4:30; roll out of bed, go potty.....and crawl right back into my cozy bed because it is the first Monday of our Christmas vacation! How sweet it is!!

While I took Saturday "off", I was a little worried when Sunday came and I still wasn't full of vim and vigor, so I took it off too.

I am relieved when I woke up today feeling a lot more motivated. I still have quite a lot to do.
Then again, it could be the streaming commercials and news segments targeted to "last minute shoppers"..... last minute shoppers? I'm not a last minute shopper. Okay, I mean sure, I have some last minute things to finish, and yes, I'm feeling a little worried as to when I will finish exactly, but "last minute shopper" - that's a little harsh, don't you think! Hee, hee, it'll come together, it always does.....

Okay, well, I know the masses who follow my blog have been waiting eagerly for the many stories and photos I've promised.....perhaps today I'll get to work on that....right after I finish my last minute sh..... I mean as soon as I finish up a few loose ends today....... :o)

However, in the meantime, I did finish this little video from McKenna's birthday celebration with some of her friends from school at the Build-a-Bear workshop..... Enjoy :o)

Look, a new post....well, sort of.....

Another post about how I'm too busy to post would just be silly.....
So, I'll just say, when things do slow down a little, rest assured I'll have plenty to share, lots of photos to post and new ideas for the upcoming year :)

However, I didn't want this weekend to slip by without at least posting this photo and wishing my baby girl a happy, happy birthday!! On December 9th, 2010 McKenna Noelle Broaderick turned 9 years old! :)
I love you sweetie,
Momma
pictured in front row from left to right: friend, Cassidy Woods; McKenna; close friend Olivia Kuhn; back row l to r: Riley Woods, Cassidy's sister; and Fall Kuhn, friend and Olivia's sister.
The girls are at the Build-a-Bear Workshop in Gainesville, FL. I might just like to mention that this was a Saturday, Dec. 4th to be exact and the parking lot at the mall was PACKED!!!! I'm not kidding. I haven't experienced even a Black Friday that busy in years!!! Then unfortunately I guess everyone from the mall left at the same time we did, 'cause the "shortcut" from the mall home took what seemed like forever!! It was bumper to bumper traffic for the first few miles from the mall.......hmmm, just sayin'!

Tag, you're it!

I can't explain it, but I just kept playing with inks and stampin' tonight.....my studio is a mess again, but I just didn't want the time this evening to end. I made lot's of gift tags and started this year's December Daily album.

The Red Ones, inspired by Tim Holtz. His have many more layers, but I just can't see making each one a piece of art, when most likely they will get tossed anyway.

Some more Red Ones.

The Green Ones. Funny, I'm not really all that into green, but I liked these okay.

Rats, why didn't this photo turn out? Well, it's 11:30 and I'm not doing a re-shoot now.
These are The Blue Ones.

These are The Candy Cane tags that McKenna helped me finish for her teachers. The plan is to attached a tag to a small bundle of candy canes. Those will be tied to the handle of the brown gift bags. Inside each gift bag will be these neat red and white insulated tumblers we found on sale at Hobby Lobby. I'll fill the bag with a variety of hot chocolate and decorate with raffia and red bow. I would of done all that today, only to realize I don't have any more brown bags w/ handles!!


These are just a few tags I made with some scraps I found. I wanted to use my new embossing folder that I got to use in my new Cuttlebug....the machine, that I just had to have, but don't have the time to use!



Last year I was inspired by Ali Edwards who keeps a December Daily album. I actually made one last year and even took and printed pictures that captures moments and traditions special to us....however, I didn't finish the journaling until tonight....even then, I still have a little bit more to do!

I did start this year's book as well.

Here's the outside so far,

and the inside.....so far. You can tell I'm going with a swirl or flourish theme. They are my favorite at the moment, so why not?!


And for those of you who made it through this blog entry all the way to the end, here is an oldie from the photos I've been scanning. A vintage Scott and Melle photo! Oh my gosh, look, even before he had a ring on that finger!! Had to be around 1990.
There's more....stay tuned......

Oh, if I could just keep you a little longer, I did snap a photo of McKenna looking through each ornament before she hung it and another of Andrea hanging a few.

And yes, together they managed the angel on top of the tree for another year :o)

Good-night everyone.
May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving day!
Sincerely,
Melle

Looking thru old photos....

I actually wrote a list of things to accomplish today;
Getting the Christmas tree up and decorated today was big (thank you Andrea and McKenna - did I mention I LOVE them this age?), but bigger than that was getting all of the photos scanned AND uploaded for the "fond farewells" that go in our elementary yearbook. (Did I ever mention that I am this year's yearbook advisor - 'cause I just don't have enough to do.)

So while scanning, (Gail found me the cutest and fastest little portable mini-scanner for my birthday....I love it and have so many plans for it......) anyway, while scanning, my mom has left some old photos over here....they are on our "to do list".....so I thought I'd share a few in random order and unedited:

Of the top 10 favorite photos that have ever been taken in my life, this is one of them. This is my grandfather, Paul S. Ballif. For me, my grandfather walked on water. This is the way I remember him. This is what being from Colorado always meant to me. Log cabins, fishing, horse back riding, my grandfather smiling and his denim jacket. Thankfully, I still have that jacket.

Here you can tell that my grandfather was a lot older, but look at that landscape. My grandfather's backyard in Boulder was my favorite place to play. It was there that he taught me about snapdragons, black eyed susans and roses. It was where I had an inner-tube for a swing. Before steal belted tires, the tires on our automobiles were filled with an "inner-tube". These were soft, bouncy and a lot of fun when they hung from a sturdy branch of a tree. I'm on the right, I'm guessing about 17 and my mom is on the left. I always like these 3 generation pictures.

This is from one of those top 10 favorite photos taken during my lifetime. Me. I think about the age of 21. Hiking boots, over-sized shirt, comphy jeans, perfect hair, my first mickey mouse watch that I bought with my very own paycheck from Walt Disney World, and the Rocky Mountains in the background. Other than being very lonely during that time of my life, this was about as close to how I always imagined my life would be like. I even had a 35mm camera with me that day and took some pretty good pictures.

Awww, my first of two John Denver concerts. Ironically, I saw him in Daytona Beach and my little one bedroom loft apartment was only about 6 blocks away from the Ocean Center where the concert took place. My mom was with me :o). It was her first concert, too. Me, living beach side! I wouldn't do it today and I'm pretty certain I won't let my girls do it at 19!

Oh my gosh, you can tell my teenage years were during the 80's! Look at me! Stonewashed jeans. (Apparently I loved these. Almost every photo posted today includes stonewashed jeans.) Shoulder pads in my matching stonewashed jacket, side pony tail and big hair. Of course, that is a new perm I have, just in case my already big hair wasn't big enough!


I totally have no memory of this photo....it's weird.....yes, the photo is a little weird, but I mean it's weird I can't remember this picture. I can't even place where it was taken. I mean, that is my stuff on the dresser and the wall behind me, but I can't figure out where in the world I am. I'm pretty sure it was while I was in Daytona Beach at photography school because I'm guessing this was a self-portrait assignment. I only share it today really because of those stone washed jeans...oh my gosh, I'd love to be that skinny again!

Well, I had a few more photos for tonight's post, but now Blogger won't let me add any more....guess that means I've probably bored you enough and will head off to bed.
Tomorrow will be Thanksgiving Eve, the rest of the week will go very fast from here. I'm hoping however to still get in some crafting time tomorrow and one more blog update before the weekend.

love to all.
May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with the ones you love!
Melle

TGWAOFB!!

Thank God We Are On Fall Break!!!!!!!
To my good friends who are not on Fall Break yet, I'm thinking of you and can't imagine how you are making it to work or school these next few days??
I do have a very long list of things to accomplish during this time off, but I'm afraid I keep taking this word "break" too literally.

Saturday morning I was wide awake at 5:35, but then took a break and watched TV in bed until 8:00. Then I did get a shower and started some laundry, but needed a break from that and played lots of Wii games with the girls. Scott got home and I needed a break from all the gaming I was doing so we all went to the movies. Scott and I got to see Harry Potter 7 part 1, which we were very happy with and the girls wanted to see Megamind. (I really love the girls this age since they could go sit in another theater without us - cool). I was worn out from all that eating popcorn and drinking soda, so we took a break and had lunch at Logan's. When we got home, Scott did mow the yard and I did clean up the studio. I even managed a few gift tags....not holiday tags as is my goal, but it often takes awhile to "get in the zone"..... so I took a break and went to bed.

Sunday morning Scott was off to work, so I actually did tackle some real housework. Since I'll be giving the girls a little extra spending money for Black Friday, I thought let's make the chores a little more fun (if that's possible). For every little task they did, it was worth $1 or $2. And if there was a complaint I got a dollar back. That did seemed to keep them more motivated and we worked like that all morning, until.......I needed a break! We then had lunch with Nana. :o)
Feeling a little recharged from my break, I then did tackle the grocery shopping at Walmart. What was I thinking? It was crazy busy....the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Why didn't I go in the morning like I usually do?? Well of course, once I got home, unloaded, put-away and then fed the kids, I needed a break so I played some more Wii games with McKenna and headed to bed!
(actually, the girls did whip up a birthday cake for Grandpa and Grandma and Grandpa came to visit for just a little while before I went to bed)

And this morning, still recovering from my Walmart experience, I did drag myself out of bed by 8:00. The carpets were getting cleaned today and we had plenty to move out of the way. I then got the dishwasher going, the laundry going, headed out to the studio because I finally envisioned the gifts I'm going to give to McKenna's teachers, sat down and then realized I needed a break so McKenna and I headed to Michael's. And as you can guess, I sure needed a break from all that craft shopping, so I painted and stamped in the studio all afternoon until the carpet man got here at 5:00. Well, watching him wore me out, so we took a break and went out to eat (my first visit to a Wing House - not as much fun as this summer's first visit to a Hooters - that's when I got to drink lots of ice cold Coors Light and walked back to my hotel room!). Still feeling rested, as a family we tackled the rest of the holiday food shopping at Publix (the produce is way better there, which is important since we are having Scott's vegetable lasagna for Thanksgiving). Although, Publix was not near as bad at Walmart, I was feeling a little fatigued, so I took a break and thought I'd rest while I wrote this post.

(I do apologize for writing such a long post and describing every teeny tiny detail of my last three days. I am obviously trying to make up for my lack of blogging. I'll try to get back on a more regular routine and include photos to write about next time!!)

Whew! I'm tired. I think I'll take a break and head to bed. :o)
Best wishes to you and yours this holiday season!!!
Love,
Melle

I'm gettin' there.....

okay, updated banner blog.....
picked up the studio yesterday, even made some tags....
today is cleaning the house and puttin' up a few holiday decorations.....
tomorrow is getting the carpet cleaned and then the tree....

stay tuned.....
I'm gettin' there......

Well, another day has slipped by and I didn't accomplish a tenth of the things on my "to do list", but I did have a wonderful 12 hours yesterday.
The classes were very small and that was great!
Donna taught, laughed and shared with us. She is someone I admire; someone who inspires me and someone who encourages us to learn from play. (a good practice i should do more w/ my own students)

We worked on 3 albums, but this was my favorite of the 3....not finished yet, of course....but yesterday was more about the process and not the product.....

I did get to share some of my canvas pieces with her and thank her for inspiring me.

She autographed this piece and I can't wait to hang in my studio space!

Tonight, there is still paint on my hands and I can't wait to create more!
Love to all,
Melle

Donna Downey in TWO days!!

I realize I am writing this post tonight before I've even finished updating you on the activities that kept us so busy during the month of October, but on my 40 minute drive to work this morning, it occurred to me that I never posted my finished canvas piece that I'm going to ask Donna Downey to autograph when I get to see her this Saturday!

Donna Downey is the one who inspired me in the first place to create these canvas pieces I've been doing. (And it was Yvonne and Stephanie who introduced me to Donna - thank you Yvonne and Stephanie!!!) My grand plan was to make a canvas piece of me with each scrapbook artist/designer I've met, then have it autographed when I get to see them again and display these in my studio. Well, of course, I only have one finished. Nothing like a deadline to help you focus.


The truth is, I've paid a fortune to see her in Palatka (of all places) this Saturday. I signed up about 8 weeks ago for 3 classes that will take me 12 hours to complete. About 24 hours after I paid, I felt really guilty; worried about the money I spent and tried to cancel, but of course, the store doesn't give refunds on classes. So, I finally found comfort in telling myself that apparently that's where I'm supposed to be.

So now, naturally, I'm worrying about what to wear!
I did stop by Beall's after work today and bought a new outfit. It too was a small fortune and of course I'm feeling guilty about that. I'll sleep on it and see how I feel in the morning.

You can't tell in the picture yet, but the clothes are cute because Andrea helped me pick them out and I know they are comfortable because I tried them on. Actually, that whole experience turned several more pieces of my hair gray; I've reached the age where my daughter has to dress me.....which reminds me.....it's time for me to buy my first box of Clairol too! I think auburn will do, don't you?

Love to all!!
Photos on Sunday......promise!
Melle

Okay, confession, if you click on the photo of my canvas piece, it will enlarge the photo and you will find that I tried to write on the front of the piece. I so wish I hadn't done that, but I did. Then, of course, I misspelled a word! I can fix it, but just didn't before I posted the photo. Those of you who know me so well, know that it wouldn't be by Melle if there wasn't something misspelled!

Where have we been and what's goin' on?! Part I

Hello All!
Here it is, one of the most celebrated days in our house.....and NOW I have a minute to post.....I'll keep updating until I run out of time.....
We'll we've celebrated Andrea's 16th birthday. It began with our traditional birthday celebration at our favorite Japanese Steak House, Kotobuki's on October 17th.
James and Nate were our chefs.

By special request, Aunt Debbie made Andrea a new Kimono. It was as beautiful as Andrea.

I am so grateful that many friends and family were able to come and celebrate with us.
(I hope to put a video together so you can see everyone.)
I was especially happy though with this photo of my mom and me and the girls....pretty cool.

We then continued with the celebration the following weekend when Andrea asked if we could visit The Rainforest Cafe at Downtown Disney. She also got to bring along two of her friends Caitlin and Alexa.

We are so grateful that Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Lisa could be there too!
All in all, she said "it was the best birthday ever!" Well, it wasn't a new car in the driveway, but it was a good time. :o)

She turns 16 today!

Andrea, my sweet beautiful daughter, thank you for 16 wonderful and amazing years.
I love you so much.
Mom

Many have wondered and many are right!

Two weeks? Two weeks have passed and I haven't posted!
Sometimes, I never know what to post,
Sometimes, I have photos to post,
and sometimes.....just like now....I just can't find a minute or two long enough to allow me to post.

Okay, well, that's because, it usually takes more than a minute or two and lately (for about 4 wks) apparently Blogger does their upgrades on Sunday nights....right about the time I finally have a minute to post....

With all that said, my Dear Faithful Readers, there still is no update tonight, still no new photos posted because we started our celebration of Scott's 40th last night; because I'm off to the art teacher's conference for two days later this week; because we'll begin to celebrate Andrea's 16th this weekend; and because we'll continue to celebrate it the following weekend with a trip to Rainforest Cafe; because I'll be teaching; I'll be working on the yearbook deadline; I'll be doing laundry; I'll make a few teacher gifts; I'll teach a craft class a school (okay, I hope on that one); I'll be sleeping; we'll then end the month with Halloween; oh then, I'll be finishing several costumes; and then begin November with an all day visit with Donna Downey; you know, that same stuff as you.... :o)

So, many have wondered how in the world I've had time to keep up with a blog....and many are right....I just don't......not for right now it seems :o(

Love,
Melle

The camera lens story...

Although it's been more than 10 days since my last post, I can't think right now what it is exactly that has consumed my free time that I would normally have spent blogging.....
so this seemed as good as time as any to finally fill you in on my silly camera lens story:

I never dreamed of myself being a teacher...yet, here I am
I never dreamed of myself being a writer...yet, here I am

What I always did dream of myself as is a photographer.

I've never thought myself great at any of the above, but I did always think I could hold my own when it came to taking pictures.

From experience I have learned that I am not cut out to be a wedding photographer because there are no “retakes” at a wedding.

It’s too much pressure. There is only one chance to get it right.

Well, as I learned a few weeks ago, apparently I’m not cut out to be a sports photographer either! And turns out, for the same reasons listed above – there are no “do overs”, there are no “mulligans”.

My camera has two lenses; one I call the regular lens and one I call the telephoto lens.

Now I seldom use the “regular” lens ‘cause I like to “fill the frame” with my subject. I guess it’s a style. Anyway, it’s something I picked up during my short time in photography school.

Well, I was photographing Andrea’s first meet. Of which she had three races and two were the butterfly stroke. This would also be the first time she’d ever done butterfly in competition.

I waited patiently for her turn. I was ready and in position.

Buzzzzz, a racing dive and she was off.

I kept zooming in my lens…..and zooming….and not getting very far.

I was snapping, but still swearing in between each shot. I just couldn’t get close enough…..I just couldn’t “fill the frame”.

I swore I would be on the internet that night…..I was ready to buy myself a new….a new and bigger lens…..the kind that ‘causes “lens envy” if I had to, but this was ridiculous!

Here was my best shot.

And here is my best shot after Photoshop.

Thank God for a 10 megapixil camera.

Thank God for Photoshop.

And thank God I didn’t buy a “new lens”,

because all I needed to do was switch from my regular lens to my telephoto lens!

What an idiot!

I am happy to share that day Andrea finished her very first 100m butterfly in 5^th place….not last, but in 5^th.

The following week, she place 3^rd and then she did it again just last week! Third place! That’s only two away from first!

Now, I’m not competitive and I’m not a swimmer, but that butterfly has to be just about the hardest stroke I’ve ever tried.

I couldn’t be more proud; I’m just bustin’ at the seams! :0)

Love to all!

Melle

Prototypes....

Just wanted to get these posted tonight.....


I've been working in the studio some today hoping to get inspired for this year's Halloween treat bags....last year you may recall I made about 35 of these little babies, which led to a whole lot more at Christmas. (Perfect timing on both: October's helped fund Andrea's birthday and December's helped fund McKenna's.) However, I just can't imagine me doing it again this year. Although they are a lot of fun (primary motivation), they are very time consuming (only 'cause I carefully putter on each one). This year I'd like to offer a class one day after work in my classroom and maybe, just maybe offer a class at SHE (wink), but I don't know if there would be enough interest for people to actually make them themselves.....
I'm still hoping some other ideas come to me, but my favorite part that's new is the black paper "lace" across the top of the bags - too cute!


I am really happy with the tag. The paper lace was just from a brown paper bag....talk about cheap! I was so glad to get my glimmer mist out and working again. Last week while at a class I was explaining that since I had thrown away the lids from my glimmer mist bottles, all of the bottles were now clogged. I thought I tried everything to make them work (wasted a lot of glimmer in the meantime), but last week someone said, "have you tried soaking the lids in warm water?". I answered "of course I had", (cause I tried "everything").....but I got to thinking.....while trying "everything" I hadn't really allowed the lids to SOAK. Well, whatta know? It worked! I am so grateful.

Hopefully back with a real post tomorrow......I still haven't gotten to tell you my camera lens story.......

Love to all!
Melle

9/11

9/11 used to be the day we celebrated my birthday,
now it is a day our country mourns for those lost in the terrorist attacks 9 years ago.

9/11 is a time we remember the 343 firefighters who lost their lives on that day.

I couldn't be more proud of my firefighter.
He makes sacrifices everyday to serve and protect so many we don't even know, I feel ashamed when I've whined and complained.

9/11 is also a day we remember the brave men and women who have sacraficed their lives for the freedoms we enjoy.

However, thanks to the love of my wonderful friends and the love of my family, I can still celebrate my birthday and I thank them so much for that. Thanks to my friends and family this birthday weekend, I have eaten well, crafted with my hands and left my fingers all messy, I have money to spend at Michael's and am carefully researching my options and best of all I have 3 new books to devour.....so off I go......

okay, well, those of you who know me so well.....it's after 10:00pm on a Sunday evening....."off I go" alright, but to bed.....hopefully, I'll get at least 2 pages in before I crash.

Love to all!
Melle

Labor Day Weekend

Today I read that Labor Day was advocated as 8 hours of work, 8 hours of recreation and 8 hours of rest.....well, it's 10:30 pm and I'm about to head to bed for my 8 hours of rest, but I wanted to share my 8 hours of recreation this today...


6 completed canvas/photo things (what should I call these things anyway?)
1 12x12 wooden frame decorated
and played with some more pages in the book I started last weekend at the Glitz Girls class.


2 of the girls on the beach; the quote says "find treasure wherever you look"
one picture to give away, one for me to keep
1 of my grandfather for my mom; I have a second one started for me (but I can't get the background paint right - urgh!)


2 more photos from Big Cat Rescue, one for me and for Sue. Sue says each year Big Cat Rescue has a "Fur Ball" and they have an auction to help raise funds - she asked if I'd make another canvas thing to auction off - too cool!
1 wooden 12x12 frame finally finished to hold one of my favorite digital layouts


You've seen this one before as well, however I had a request to make another one so she could give it as a gift (thank you Kendra!! :o) ) Now to make one for me to keep!

So, I didn't get any notecards made, however I did also start some Halloween treat bags - I'd like to offer a class to the teachers at school....we'll see if I can fit that in??!!

I still have some cute stories to share from this past week. I plan to post tomorrow, afterall, it is Labor Day!

Night, night.
Melle

PS - I also painted an apron I plan to wear to the Donna Downey workshops I hope to attend in Palatka the first weekend in November. (post photo tomorrow - promise!)

AWWWWW

Awwwww, finally, finally doing one of the things I look forward to all week (and frankly, I didn't think I was going to make it this week).......I love the part of this crazy back to school routine where I sit down in my studio on Sunday afternoons; when I sometimes catch up on reading blogs, E-mails or Facebook, when I might work on lesson plans for the week or the bills (yuck), and hopefully, if things are really going well I write my weekly post for this blog, my classroom blog and update my classroom webpage......that's when things are going really well.

I like to get here about 2:00, but today it is almost 4:00, so we'll see how much I get to do.
This afternoon I have all the above to hopefully catch up on (except maybe Facebook - haven't read that for weeks) AND a card I need to make and a canvas I want to start.

Reflecting on the week, well the beginning was pretty rough going however, thanks to a good friend from work who watched McKenna for a few hours and to the gals at this AMAZING scrapbook store in The Villages called SHE Scrapbooks (wink), my week ended wonderfully!!

I had the chance to take classes Friday night and Saturday morning with The Glitz Girls and LOVED it!
On the first mini-album we made we actually used corrugated cardboard for the front and back cover.

Not that I don't think this is really, really cool to do, I just think it is so ironic that when I joined this scrapbook hobbie over 10 years ago a responsible memory keeper wouldn't even let their photos touch anything that wasn't "acid and lignin free". I even remember a company marketing gloves to scrapbookers so the oils from their hands wouldn't get on the photos (not just the negatives, but the photos as well) and now look at the trend! "Grunge" is the buzz word. Everything we touch is sanded or inked to make it look old or "vintage".......so funny. Makes me wonder what we'll do in another 10 years?? (Let's just hope chopping up our photos with Fiskars paper edgers NEVER happens again!)

The second mini-album we worked on was taking an old hardback book and embellishing it. You could tell that all participants of the workshop were trained well, because when we were told to rip pages out of our book, there was a collective gasp! Ginger, our teacher, said, "it's okay, my mom isn't here" hee, hee, I thought that was so funny! So, the concept is that you tear out pages to make room for the thickness of photos you will place inside. Donna Downey would so recommend that you then just paint right on some of the pages as well! In fact she mentioned it in a recent post. (By the by, her post yesterday was about this new binding machine she just saw at CHA - she loves it - so I want it!)


Okay, so I've rattled and rattled on about how come my week ended well and now five days later, I really don't want to revisit why the beginning was so rough. I'll just share the highlights and I'm sure you can fill in the rest:
Monday - Open House at my school 6:00 - 7:30
Tuesday - Open House at Andrea's school 6:00 - 8:00
Wednesday - Open House at McKenna's school 6:00 - 7:30

Tuesday, the girls and I are in our car by 7:50, actually a few minutes ahead of schedule only to pull away and realize we had a flat tire.....in the rain....I can't find our jack or tire iron.....and no flashlight......oh and Scott is in Orlando at a TNA wrestling match......I believe there was a text from him that read "screamed like a little girl so I could get up front"........
Like I said, from here, I'm sure you can fill in the rest.

Although, I was perfectly ready to have the girls and I sleep in the car until he could pick us up on his way home, luckily I work with some really great ladies who have "not so excited to change a tire in the rain, but I will because my wife asked me to help a friend" husbands.

Okay, an hour later and I can check "updating my blog and two loads of laundry" off my list....I'd better go tackle that other stuff......like lesson plans!

Love to all,
Melle

Wait, just a little advertising from Melle.....you know, sort of an "Melle's current favorites".....like Oprah, she does that sort of thing, right?

• I so love following the posts on Ree Drummond's website, aka "Pioneer Woman", click here or she is also on my blog list.
• I so love www.pandora.com . It is like your very own radio station!!! Very cool. Never have I been able to hear so many of my long lost favorite John Denver songs. Woohoo!! So I have turned off the usual music I have attached to this blog so you too can sign on to Pandora and keep your favorite music running in the background!

Peace
Melle