saving, hoarding....or collecting?

A frase we have is "a deer child has many names", well I guess you could say the same for someone who likes to hold on to things. I know a few in my life that are excellent in keeping things that just don't need to be kept.
For instance...this past spring I helped out this sweet young lady cleaning out her room. And to think of it, I do this almost everytime I go visit her....hmm....

Anywho, cleaning her room is a project. A endless one but fun. A lot of excuses are made, stern voices, laughter and exhuastion. We got through it...as we always do.
One of the things that made me keel over in laugh was this piece of paper found in a stack of many other papers.

Apparently she wrote it in class....

 

I got to hand it to her, she is creative!
Meg Honey....keeping a paper like the one above is on the verge of being a horder... just so you know :)

Everything went okay, she had a clean room and I turned back home.
Months went by and this summer I decided that I want my frames up on the walls and filled with photos and art. So I get started....realizing that I need to develop more photos to fill the frames. So I put that project on a hold and days turned into weeks and then months. So a few weeks ago I decided to tackle the project again...

I still didn't have photos for all the frames but went ahead on hanging them anyway.
One of the frames is a bit larger and I wanted something vintage in it. After a little thinking a lightbulb went on in my head and I remembered a little something I bought on one of my travels.

This is where I have to bite my words...

In 2002 I believe...I went to see The Monticello in Virginia, the home of Thomas Jefferson, and got a copy of the declaration of Independance. I had every intention back then to frame it, however not the intention to wait 10 years! :)

So Meg...I guess I am a bit of a hoarder too... ;)

I did frame it....now all I need to do is fill the other two frames with photos. :)


To a certain degree we are all hoarders/ collectors....guess we just need to know when it goes overboard.

 

Art project

After our trip to the battlefields we met up with Kent at the Cheesecake Factory back home and had a really yummy dinner!! It is one of my favourite places to eat....not going to lie...but the desserts is one of the major reasons why I love it. :)

Don't get me wrong but the food is pretty good too.

We had a little experiment when the desserts came in and of course I did pull out the ye old camera to document it.
A cool print to enlarge and frame....would be kind of neat. :)

What you need is a clear glassmug and dark liquid, we used coffee and then you need milk

Quite fun to see the milk turn into clouds inside the mug. :)
And it would be a neat idea to enlarge and frame.....hmm...

Until next time..

Gifts

I am the kind of person who loves giving away gifts, especially when I know the recipient will love them. And especially when they don't see it coming...:))

I like to hunt for gifts, maybe not hunt but...no hunt is the right word. I go out and find the gift that either screams the recipients name or something that they are passionate about.

Sometimes or mostly always I try and give the gift of memories.

This past Christmas I gave away a certain gift I knew would be highly appreciated and one that I am oh so proud of myself.
Since I live a few thousands of miles away from my second family I tend to search online for the gifts for them. This year however I didn't have to go far...

A few months ago on vacation I had a mini photoshoot with them and what is more perfect than give away a collage of a few of those photos.

I used Shutterfly and totally love the products they have. Check out below one of the projects I made as a gift.

(note: this is not an advertisement, but a recomendation from me to you)

Blank Project Wall Art

Create personalized greeting cards and invitations by Shutterfly.

View the entire collection of cards.

I have also done a digital photo album that were highly appreciated.

A

a few weekends ago I attended a bacherolette party for a "old" friend from high school.

One of the things we had to bring with us were a gift that would symbolize the friendship we each had with the Bride to be.

My contribution was this Cardboard letter A, which is the first letter in her name.

Really simple actually.

All you need is well a cardboard shaped letter of your choice, some pattern paper, glue and a few decorations.

What you get is this:

(this is the front and back to it)

Quite pleased with the outcome I must say.

(even debated to keep it myself and give her my letter M I have on my shelf...but alas...she didn't have a M in her name.)

Which then made me think of re-doing my letter M...which then just made me tired! :)

DIY project

An emty frame, some chalkboard vinyl and Voilá!!

What you will need for this is following:

An empty frame (or just one you don't use)

Chalkboard vinyl (or you can paint a board with Chalkboard paint)

and...

some flowers

acrylic paint

crackle paint

and other embellishments

Will show you below the steps I did to make this project

First you strip the frame bare, and prep it for painting.

I put 2 layers of red acrylic paint,

Then I put on a layer of Crackle Paint from Ranger Products, this one is

called "Old Paper". Wanted to get the aged look.

(imagine a photo here of me putting on the crackle paint)

After the Crackle paint is dry I then used Distress Ink "Walnut stain", to

age it a bit more and so the crackle paint didn't stand out to much.

After that I attached my flower (with glue) and stapled on the ribbon.

Only took me half a day or so....all depends on the drying time and I

just let it sit on my craftstation and everytime i walked by I just added something.

The Chalkboard Vinyl I used I think I bought either at A.C Moore or Michaels, the last

trip I made to U.S last year. But I know there are inexpensive Chalkboard paint out there.

Go and Create! :)

As promised...

I have had these canvases stashed in my bedroom for a while and decided ohh about a month or two ago to do something with them. And Voilá!!! Not sure if the one on the left is done or not....have had them leaning against one of my livingroom walls for a week now to get the feel of them before I hang them up.

I used Acrylic paints, Tim Holt masks, Distress inks and crackle paint. (I so love when I can use my scrapbooking stash for something else than Scrapbooking!)