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)