Pink and Black & This and That…

Good afternoon, dear friends!

Hope the week has gone well for all of you…I’m now getting ready to spend a week camping up in the mountains with about 100 teenage girls and about 30 women…am I crazy?!  It will be wonderful—it is every year!

Just a couple of things to share with you today…over at Splitcoast in the Crafty Secrets’ forum, the challenge for this week is simply to use pink & black in our cards—on of my favorite combinations!  Here’s what I came up with:

I love these sweet little characters from Crafty Secrets’ “Altered Fairy” Creative Scraps—always so fun to use! 

I used one of the cards Vicki gave me last CHA—I’ve been loving those! (Thanks, Vicki!),  a bit of pink lace, Dazzling Diamonds & Crystal Effects on her wings, platinum Stickles, and that’s about it!  Nice and simple this time…

Next, I just have to be silly and share with you that I’m KINDA in the newest Somerset Life magazine…

As I first quickly glanced through the magazine, I felt like something was a bit familiar in the pages…Then, as I really looked at the first article, titled “La Belle Epoque”,  I realized it was my friend Pam’s store right here in Old Town Salinas! 

And there’s my claim to fame—see the aqua wall inside the store?  I did that vinyl lettering for her a couple of years ago…okay, not a big claim to fame, but…! 

It’s a gorgeous little shop…she always decorates it so beautifully…if you’re ever in town, stop on by!  Wish you could have seen her Marie Antoinette display—ooh la la!  And her Christmas and Halloween window displays are to die for!

Lastly, we finally got the photographer’s proofs of our big family photos shoot last month…just thought I’d share a few of them with you…

My sweet family…

My husband Roger and me…

My parents with their six children…

And the whole crew!  It was so amazing to have every single one of us together for a couple of days—it’s really hard to make that happen, I can tell you!  We were very lucky, and had a marvelous time!

Thanks for letting me share all of this today…that’s it for now…I’ll be back on Sunday with something new…till then, have a fabulous weekend, everyone!

Julie

LiveJournal Tags: Crafty Secrets,Somerset Life,Family Photos,Splitcoast

The Ties That Bind…

Good afternoon, dear friends!

Well, it’s another beautiful, but beachily gloomy day here on the central coast of California…I miss the bright heat of Utah a little bit, but this cooler weather certainly feels like home…

I have a few things to share with you today…just finished a fun project with some of my new Crafty Secrets supplies…

All the images are from the new, double-sided “Sew Nice” Creative Scraps, and the background papers are from Crafty Secrets’ “Pastel” and “Classic” paper collections...

…lace, ribbon, old crystal studs, vintage mother-of-pearl buttons, a Prima flower, Stickles, a crystal pendant…

I decided to stitch it all together, crazy quilt style…

…and as I stitched, my thoughts turned to one of my great-great-grandmothers, as my thoughts often do…

Augusta Maria was born in Denmark in 1854.  She was the daughter of a fairly well-to-do cabinetmaker.  Not wealthy, but they lived very comfortably for the times.  She was sent to a private school for young ladies, and learned the art of making fine ladies’ gloves, and became a good seamstress, which were skills she used throughout her life.

When she was just 16 years old, she married my great-great-grandfather, an American who was in Denmark for a time teaching.

                 {Augusta’s chest, crocheted shawl and shoes}

When she arrived with him to his home in the “Wild West”, and saw the impoverished way many of the women were living, she sat her chest down on the ground, opened it up, and gave away most of her fine dresses and things away to the women who were there to welcome her to her new home…

In a small town in northern Arizona, where Augusta lived most of her adult life and is buried, there’s a small family museum.  In it are a few of her personal possessions…physical reminders of a lovely, gracious and quiet woman…

A small, beautiful chest made for Augusta when she was young by her grandfather, a noted Copenhagen cabinetmaker in the mid-1800’s…

…beautiful purple velvet lining the inside of the lovely box…

Another “treasure chest” made by the same grandfather, who was also a violinist in the King’s Orchestra in Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen…filled with her simple woman’s treasures…

Her scrapbook from late Victorian through Edwardian times…I could only take this one picture, as we weren’t to turn the pages…how hard it was to obey that rule!

And best of all, her crazy quilt…

I found out that it had been passed on to my grandfather, and was in their family for quite a while…oh, how I’d love to have it gracing my sitting room at home!  But, it’s in a place where many can love it where it is…

…delicate stitches…worn velvets and satins…beautifully embroidered monograms…flowers, animals, patterns…all stitched by the loving hands of a woman I never met…

…who has touched my life in more ways than I can imagine, through those invisible ties that bind us together…

I hope your day is filled with wonderful things….I’ll see you soon with something new…

 

Julie

LiveJournal Tags: Crafty Secrets,Augusta Maria Outzen Smith,crazy quilts

Crafty Secrets DT New Product Challenge!

Good morning, my friends!

Time for another challenge for the Crafty Secrets Design Team, and this one was very open and extremely fun for me!

Sandy Redburn, the amazingly talented owner of Crafty Secrets, and her staff, have been working so hard on new products…there are so many new ones coming out, with more on the way…and our challenge was simply to use some of them today—not too hard, is it?!

I went a little crazy, though….I was so happy to be home and crafting in my own space that I made four projects for the challenge….and had so much fun doing it!

I focused on the new “Halloween” Creative Scraps this time.  These are fabulous!  Here they are:

Aren’t they great?!  So many images, printed on both sides…here’s my first card:

LOVE this vintage owl with his winking eye…so fun!  I used various pieces of the Creative Scraps for this one…the owl, the “Treat” bingo card, and the scallop edging on the top and bottom…if you look closely, you can see all the wonderful detail…so cool!

Next…

This is one of my favorite images in the set—love this sweet red-headed witch—I used a bit of the scrap set border on the card here, on the top and bottom of the houndstooth dp…again, so much wonderful detail!

Next, a fun little tag…

I love these little Dolly Dingle kids…always have!  I cut out another pair of them to pop them up a bit,

added a “Costume Party” ticket from the scraps, a crazy bunch of ribbon and some pom-pom trim…fun!

And lastly, this one…

Again, so many fun elements to play with in the Creative Scraps!  Love the alphabet tags spelling out “Halloween”!  I sparkled up the watch with Dazzling Diamonds, but it’s hard to see it in the picture…

…and such a sweet little witch…a little bit of glow in the jack-o-lantern’s face and the kitty’s eyes…!

Well, that’s it for another Crafty Secrets’ challenge!  I hope you’ll go and check out the Crafty Secrets’ blog for more new item information, and please go and visit the rest of the Design Team today…I know they’ll have LOTS of wonderful inspiration for you!

Crafty Secrets Blog

Vicki Chrisman, Team Leader

Pam Hooten

Marisa Grosson

Linda Duke

Michele Kovack

Melissa Phillips

Flo from France

Deborah March

Have a wonderful day, and I’ll see you soon with something new!

Julie

LiveJournal Tags: Crafty Secrets,Halloween