Bloggerettes & Girlfriends…

Good morning, my friends!

Well, I know it’s June, but you wouldn’t know it from the view outside my kitchen window!  Sooo gloomy and grey…”June gloom”, as it’s called here…yesterday was  bright and sunny, but today…a good day to stay inside and create!

Just a couple of things to share with you today, then back to work on my parents’ 50th Anniversary scrapbook…

First off, a wonderful new group is forming…”The Bloggerette Sorority”!  Karen, of “Some Days are Diamonds” is the wonderful creator of this group…

…we’ll be creating things, sharing, meeting new friends…so much fun ahead!  Thanks, Karen!

Our “rush” requirement to get into the sorority is to use the image in the above button and make…anything!  Here’s what I came up with:

 

Some lace, grosgrain & gingham ribbon, deep red paper roses, vintage mother-of-pearl buttons—{one of my very favorite things!}—platinum Stickles to brighten everything up…

…and a bit of Dazzling Diamonds for sparkle…

The ladies in the Crafty Secrets’ forum over at Splitcoast have a wonderful challenge every week…this week, Pammyjo is hosting us, and the challenge is to use a clip in our cards…or to clip something…any way you want to interpret it!  Here’s mine:

Once again, lace, ribbon, Stickles and Dazzling Diamonds (well…they were still on the table…!)  A gorgeous pink Prima flower, and my button favorites…

The image, along with the vintage postcard backing, come from Crafty Secrets’ “Girlfriends” Images & Journal Notes booklet.

The “Girlfriends” strip comes from Crafty Secrets’ “Altered Fairies” Creative Scraps.  And my clip—a fun & quirky one from a retired SU! hardware kit.

Well, that’s it for me today…the girls have friends over…it’s movie day at our house.  Probably an over-abundance of junk food will be involved…sounds fun!

Hope you have a wonderful day, and I’ll see you very soon!

Julie

LiveJournal Tags: Crafty Secrets,The Bloggerette Sorority,Splitcoast,Girlfriends

You’re Invited…and the Dress…

Good afternoon, my friends!

Another beautiful summer day…just being lazy with my girls—doesn’t get much better than this!

I have a couple more pages to share with you from the scrapbook I’m working on for my parent’s 50th Anniversary…gotta hurry—I’m leaving next week!

Here’s the first page for today…the big announcement:

 (Crafty Secrets’ “Bonjour Merci”& “Flourishes” stamp sets; Martha Stewart label stickers, lace, Martha Stewart seam binding).

I have one of the original announcements, with it’s lovely font and embossed lettering…I scanned it and reduced it to fit on the page better…

I love these photos of my parents…My Mom’s one and only “glamour shot” and my Dad…he’s just handsome, isn’t he?!

I love these flowers…found them in the wedding section at Michael’s…beautiful glass beads.  Mom loves beaded flowers…she’s made a huge bouquet with them, herself…

Beautiful, aren’t they?

The next page…

(Crafty Secrets’ “Classic” paper pad, SU! half pearls, Crafty Secrets’ “Card Sentiments” stamp set).

My Mom is very talented in many mediums…I’ve always loved her sketches.  Here are a few she did as she planned her wedding dress.  I have copies of the drawings…again, I scanned and reduced them.

Love the detail!

My daughter, Sarah, noticed that her Grandma makes hands like she does…with indistinct fingers.  She has a hard time drawing individual fingers, as does my Mom, and she liked noticing that similarity between them…just another connection…

Mom’s plan was to design and make her own dress, with her mother’s help.  But one day, on the cover of a bridal magazine, she saw the perfect dress…and they discovered that they were carried in a nearby shop.  They had one—in just her size…she loved it, they bought it, and it was simply elegant…just perfect for her…

These photos were taken on a try-on-the-dress day…

I’m really enjoying this scrapbooking process!  As I said the other day, this is not something I normally do,  so it is a bit challenging for me…but that’s a good thing, isn’t it?

Well, that’s it for me today.  I’ll be working on more pages…and thank-you for all your kind and encouraging comments about it.  Thanks for helping me along with this! 

I’ll give you all a wedding break in my next post—I have a couple of other things I need to finish and post—then back to the wedding…I’ve got to hustle!

Hope your day is warm, breezy and wonderful!

Julie

LiveJournal Tags: 50th Anniversary,Wedding Dress,Announcement,Crafty Secrets,Clayn Riggs Smith,Karen Ostlund Smith

50th Anniversary Scrapbook…a Beginning…

Good evening, everyone!

Seems like I haven’t posted in a million years…what a busy weekend it’s been!  There’s been a lot to do, some deadlines to meet, family to play with…all the good stuff!

The thing that’s been taking up most of my time, however, is finishing the planning of my parents’ 50th Anniversary celebration which will be happening at the end of this month…so much to do! 

Since my brothers and sisters and families live all across the country, we’ve been spending much time on the phone, and now we’re getting down to the wire…..!

My personal gift to my parents will be a scrapbook of their engagement and wedding…I’ve been collecting and procrastinating (I’m SOOOO good at that!), but now’s the time!  I’m a card maker…I don’t do scrapbook pages very often, so this is a challenge for me…

…and with a very few exceptions, that will be the subject of my posts for the next week and a half before we leave for my parents’ house…so bear with me!

(I’ve even had to ask my Mom not to read my posts till after her anniversary…thanks, Mom!—no cheating, now!)

(Crafty Secrets’ “Flourishes” stamp set, Prima flowers, crystal rhinestones, lace and Martha Stewart seam binding)

I’m keeping my pages fairly simple…and I’m going to make my parents do a bit of the work (well…Mom, anyway!)  I’m leaving journaling spots for her to tell their story.  I could write things…but I wasn’t there…she knows these days much better than I do, no matter how many times I’ve heard the sweet stories…

Meet the Smith Family in 1960…My dad, Clayn on the left, eagerly clutching his new fiancee’s hand.  My mom, Karen Ostlund, (just look at her beaming face!), my dear grandmother, LaPriel (she’s been the subject of my posts before…here’s one), my grandfather, Rudger…and my very young Aunt Diana and Uncle Eric gazing on from behind…

This was a very happy time for the families. The Smith and Ostlund families had lived near each other and been friends for years. 

My grandmother, LaPriel, had hoped this would happen someday…just as her mother, Mary and my grandfather’s mother, Pauline, had wished for their own marriage…

…sometimes wishes come true…

 (Crafty Secrets’ “Frames It” stamp set, DCWV stack flower, vintage buttons, lace, Martha Stewart seam binding)

A newspaper article from her college town announcing her engagement, along with another girl’s announcement…and something I’ve never noticed in all the years I’ve had this copy…

…my Mom’s name is misspelled!  It took my youngest daughter to notice it….I don’t even know if my Mom’s noticed it before!

I love this photo of them…I believe it was taken for a newspaper article, but I can’t find it…and I noticed something fun today…on the bookshelf behind them is the very collection of old Childcraft books that sit on one of my bookshelves today…I love them.  They were LaPriel’s, then were given to my Dad, and then to me…

Well, that’s all for me tonight…thanks for letting me share this with you.  I’m sure everyone feels this way, but I absolutely have been blessed with the best parents in the world, and I am so looking forward to celebrating this special milestone in their lives…

See you soon…

Julie

 

LiveJournal Tags: Crafty Secrets,Engagement,Scrapbook,Clayn Riggs Smith,Karen Ostlund Smith