Just another reminder

              Chocolate IS good for you! 

Fun stamp using Close to My Heart Stamp of the Month for August 2013 as the inspiration for this fun Banner!  This banner is posted in my crafty room just as I come up the stairs. 

Wow!  It's been a long time since my last posting.  August has been a whirlwind here in Michigan.  This card pretty much sums it up!  I found these Stampin' Up stamps in the drawer and have always been drawn to them and this is a time to remind all my friends of this quote.  Just a simple card with whimsical polka dots, a fun scalloped tag and some special buttons I've been loving for quite a while.

Good news has come this past week.  I am on Let's Scrap Design Team for September - December 2013!  This will offer some good challenges and hopefully some wonderful inspiration for other crafty people.

Also, I have passed the interview and background check for a position as Scrapbook Instructor at the local Michael's.  I'm looking forward to extending my talents locally, too. 

With Labor Day weekend upon us and the hot muggy days getting shorter, I feel the need for some Autumn breezes and dried leaves to shuffle through. 

Love to all!

Views of Mackinaw Island

Here's a layout for a Close to My Heart challenge.  I used papers and embellishments from Buzz and Bumble Workshop on the Go, CTMH stamps used were from the My Sunshine and Pinwheel collections, the edges were outlined with CTMH Crème Brulee and Sorbet.  I also used a little Buttercup ink on the badges but you really can't tell from the picture.  Journaling was done on my computer using Microsoft Word - the swirls are clipart from Microsoft.   I'm late for the drawing but wanted to share this fun layout with all of you!

PEGBOARD STORAGE!

This is a peek into my scrapbook room.

Wow, the pegboards are much fuller now!

The top board was framed at a craft show for $50.

The lower two were framed by me using part of a roll

of funky duct tape for $5.

Love the storage outside of drawers where I can easily find things!

YOU CAN COUNT ON ME

Yes, and you can use papers, stickers and vellum sentiments from your stash to make a fun and colorful card.

I love baker's twine and decided to make a bow with two lengths of twine.  Also - you have to love purple and orange together!  The orange paper square was embossed with a Sizzix embossing folder (Bohemian Lace) and then distressed with Tim Holtz's seedless preserves distress ink.  The sequins was not difficult - I just dabbed some glue around the edge of the purple paper and let the sequins fall into place. 

Somewhat whimsical and colorful!  Hope it brightens your day a bit - and you CAN count on me!

MY GUITAR

Oh, this was fun!  Distressing, spilling coffee, embellishing, and remembering.  Remember those 3 sisters I have?  Well, this was one way to totally antagonize them (as the youngest of 4, it was my responsibility).  Just play "Puff, The Magic Dragon" for a few hours each night and never quite get the 2nd chord right.  Add a little unsyncopated  rhythm - because you're trying to get the next chord right - with some very boring strumming and you have created the perfect antagonization.  Anyway, I still probably can't get the second chord, but I do know all the words and have created a fun memory page! 

Family Legends (may not always be true)

A bright LO for a Let's Scrap challenge.  Pretty papers in pink and teal.  Scalloped frames, funky tags, and the "Legend" title made by using the Sizzix Eclips.  Of course, I had to add some washi tape!

All you need is LOVE

Love is all you need.  The love between sisters shopping for bridal gowns.  Really Reasonable Ribbon from their new Citrus assortment was used to add some POP; a little orange bow, the striped multi-colored as strips on the title, and green ribbon with pleated orange ribbon on top as a bottom border.  That border is holding two butterflies and a beautiful flower from Prima.  The lettering on the title was created using Sizzix Eclips Decorative Doodles Script.  The side bar letters (L-O-V-
E) were cut from DCWV Nana's Kids papers and the background is also Nana's Kids.

MARY DOLEZEL AND THE HOUSE ON PROSPECT STREET

(Click on the photo to see full size!)

Here are the stories tucked inside the right side pocket....

The House on Prospect Street…

The house at 704 Prospect Street in East Jordan, Michigan, has brought some youthful memories.  It was painted white back in 1960 when my grandmother, Mary Shepperly Dolezel, lived there with my Uncle Cy.   Her other children were scattered throughout Michigan in Flint, Royal Oak and Bay City so the summer visits were special. 

She must have looked forward to our visits and filled the house with wonderful aromas of baking bread, fried cakes, and molasses cookies.  Her meals were simple and based on her German heritage.

The grandchildren slept upstairs but never complained if it was too hot up there.  One granddaughter was even able to play the old pump organ in the hall.  Such wonderful sounds come from that musical instrument.   I can’t remember exactly what it looked like but I can still hear the melodious chords.

A typical day at Grandma’s house usually included a trip to the Tourist Park just outside of the town.  We’d spend hours digging in the sand and swimming in the southern arm of beautiful Lake Charlevoix.  On occasion, the children were treated to a visit to the caged deer to give the animals a bit of dried corn.

We all knew that Grandma needed a break when she handed you a banana, told you to take it outside and eat it slowly.  So then we would patter off to the Pray’s house to play with their girls and dig in their giant sand pile.

We were creative, inventive, and playful.  Our grandma did not have to entertain us – she had the perfect environment to conjure up our own entertainment.

My grandma passed away in 1960 – I was only 9 so a lot of these memories are from stories retold by older siblings.  Her funeral was near Halloween so after the ceremonies, when the sky turned dark, family friends helped us create some costumes to play trick-or-treat right in East Jordan. 

I don’t remember going back to East Jordan as a child after her passing.  I did return years later to see the house on Prospect Street and reminisce about times gone by. 

Every time I have a banana, I think of Grandma Dolezel and “eat it slowly”.

Constance Dolezel Bolander

June 27, 2013

... and another written by my sister....

June 28, 2010

Gladiolas. 

Grandma Dolezel had a garden in her back yard, pretty far back from the wood shed, where I suppose she grew some vegetables, and where I know she grew rows of gladiolas.  For the life of me, I have not been able to remember what color they were.  It seems to me there were white ones, and some red ones, and for some reason I think some of them were variegated. But truthfully I don’t remember for sure what colors they REALLY were, only that there were quite a few, and she really loved them.  Now whenever I see gladiolas I think of Grandma Dolezel and that patch of land behind her house.

From back there, you could see the hill we climbed one time to have picnic somewhere overlooking East Jordan.  It seemed at the time to be very far off from where we “lived” with Grandma, but it was probably no more than half a mile away.  If you walked off in the other direction from the garden, you would end up at the very wonderful sand pile! There we could play for hours at a time with any number of kitchen implements donated from Grandma’s well stocked kitchen.  And some time during the day, Ellen Pray’s Grandma would come over and, if it was cold tell us we were dressed too warmly and, if it was hot tell us we needed to put a sweater on. 

Over in front of the wood shed was a huge chestnut tree, on which Uncle Cy hung a rope swing. We have a picture of Christy on the swing as a tow-headed toddler. It stayed there for us to swing on until Grandma died.  That and the martin house were the quiet places to which we were banished when our grandmother needed some quiet time; she’d send us outside with a banana, admonishing us to “eat it slowly”.  I was a teenager before I figured out that there was no  physiological reason why bananas had to be eaten slowly… the reason was that Grandma Dolezel wanted her grandchildren out of her hair for a while.

Written by Marjorie Dolezel Timmer

 

A GROOVY KIND OF WEDDING

Feeling Groovy!  I took on the challenge of making a starburst scrapbook 2-page layout and chose wonderful photos from my DD and SIL' wedding last September (2012). 

It was a groovy wedding - in a state park by a lake and surrounded by high rocky hills.  They kept costs at a minimum by being creative.  He's an English Professor and she is a Fine Arts major.  DD made all the flowers (with a bit of help from SIL and me) and they were gorgeously cut from atlases and books.  Then the flowers were carefully tied together using floral wire and tape - each flower individually made. 

I wish you all could have been there but maybe seeing this beautiful LO will give you a glimpse of the magic of that day!  My best day that year. 

Love you so much, DD and SIL.  You've helped me find my place!

I have been playing with Faber Casteel gelatos, water and a glue gun to get the effect on this mixed media piece on watercolor paper.  Vivien Key (Contadina K) has been my inspiration to jump out of the box and into some beautiful abstracts.  The coloring of the gelatos blend together so well and it was one of my "projects" while on vacation earlier this month.  The second step was to add the glue gun vascilary effect

It's just a machine!

FedEx has arrived and delivered my Sizzix Eclips #3!  Keep praying that this one will last longer! 

MACKINAW BRIDGE

If you have never been on the Mackinaw Bridge in Michigan, here's a video to give you a simulated experience!  
http://youtu.be/jdTKKKA4Kqw

 

Ken & I had a fantastic trip to Mackinaw Island yesterday via the Arnold line.  After spending a good part of the day on the Island, we returned and crossed THE BRIDGE!  Ken's first time in the Upper Peninsula and we have photos to prove it!

 

We have lots of photos to scrap and memorialize this adventure.  More to come!

 

       

EXPANDING HORIZONS WITH A MACHINE

Well, I've been without my Sizzix Eclips machine for about 2 weeks now and am slowly getting out of withdrawal.  I've learned to cut freehand and make circles with other tools that have been sitting in a drawer for a very long time. 

The month of challenges from Let's Scrap is just about over - there are a few challenges that end June 7; however, I am on vacation in Northern Michigan and left the scrapbooking supplies home.  I want to spend some time with water colors and gelatos and may create some interesting backgrounds for future use.

Hopefully my new Eclips machine will be delivered while I'm gone and I can get creative with it again.  My DD, Diana, says I really don't need it but she has never seen my freehand drawing!

Happy Spring to all and to all a goodnight!

YOU ARE MY HAPPY!

You are my HAPPY!

Just a beautiful card based on a Let's Scrap sketch,  I used washi tape to make a border and then some glittery paper, lacy lace, pretty flower and some pearls to let someone know how  happy they make me.  Turned out pretty cool.

OUR FIRST DANCE!
A wonderful photo of Ken & I at my niece's wedding last July.  Of course it was our FIRST dance and the song was "Endless Love".  Aw!  So touching.  I used Creative Memory borders mixed together as a background for the photo - lots of fun to use only one photo and white cardstock!

BO'S BATH!
This was a challenge to use water to distress the page anyway you wanted.  I dedicated this to wonderful Bocesus as she is very patient with her weekly bath to keep the itchies away (she has food allergies).  The pictures were precious and the I love the way the pastels brought everything together.

MOM!
A tribute to my Mom!  The journaling is "She loved the beach, not the water.   She didn't talk much, but said a lot!  Beautiful Lady, RIP"  This was my first time to use burlap with scrapping and it help make a nice nautical type theme.  The chipboard banners spell "mom"!

PATRIOTIC TRIFLE!
This layout was created for a Let's Scrap Challenge during National Scrapbooking Month.  The challenge was to use at least 5 scrap pieces of paper.  Well, I made the whole background and embellishments (except the new blue/white star ribbon from Really Reasonable Ribbons - Patriotic Assortment) to make this layout.  I love adding stitching to the layouts and of course my Washi Tapes.  I think it's a great tribute to my daughter's patriotic trifle.

EVERYDAY IS A HOLIDAY...
This card was created with a Let's Scrap sketch and I used leftover papers from Jillibean cardmaking.  I made the background square and then added the circular cut semi-circle.  The title is attached to corrugated cardboard (we must recycle) that had been distressed with TH distress inks.  I added the buttons, red ribbon (from Really Reasonable Ribbons) and white rose as accents.  Who wouldn't want this card!

DREAM POP Paper from CTMH.  You have to see it to believe it!  This LO was based on a sketch from Let's Scrap (for a challenge, of course).  The trip to Wisconsin over Mother's Day weekend was very special so a very special LO was needed to commemorate it.

UPPER PENINSULA LAKE

This peaceful page was created with CTMH Chantilly papers and their Workshop on the Go instructions.  Love the papers and the stamps!

OH! THE PLACES YOU'LL GO

This is for a Let's Scrap challenge to have a verse from a story that matches the photo.  My fav of my GrandTwins and Dr. Seuss!  I used Nana's Kids papers for this layout with embellies from my stash.  Fun to do!

A TRIBUTE TO HAIR

This was a complicated sketch from Let's Scrap that turned out easier that I thought it would be.  I used Prima papers from their Hello Pastels line and many of my daughter's pictures throughout the years. 

A Walk in the Woods Layout

These are photos from nature hikes at Midland's City Forest and Green River Preservation in Northern Michigan.  The big hibiscus was in Elk Rapids, MI.  I had fun with vellum and inks on this layout.

Let's Scrap Sketch card

This was a challenge for me.  I was cutting circles with my eclips - cut it too small at first so I recut it at 7" to get that one part of the circle!  Then the flower wouldn't stick - I got out the rubber cement and that little thing is on there for good!  Hope you like the card - you all help make every day a holiday.

GESSO FUN!

 

This is my first attempt at using gesso as a base on chipboard.  I really enjoyed playing with the gesso that added wonderful texture to the page.  Last night, I applied various colors of inks that were daubed or sprayed and then misted with water.  Turned the page in different directions to get the color mixes that appealed to me.  I kept misting and daubing and spritzing with water until the effect I wanted showed through.  Then the piece was left to dry overnight!  Ta Da! I'm happy with the result and will definitely use gesso again.

 

Now to get the courage to use this method on a scrapbook page.

William V Dolezel

This layout was made for a Let's Scrap challenge.  I used Heritage paper and added lots of metal and bling.  The picture of the quartet was found on the web and the map in the middle is a shot of our house in Bay City, MI taken from Google Maps.  Lots of swirls and memories are on this page.
4/11/13

THE FLOWER GIRL

This is my Granddaughter, the flower girl.  These are my takes on printing B&W photos on vellum and then using the color photo in the layout, too!  Lot's of detail on this one.

FOR THE LOVE OF TRAINS

This is my wonderful grandson!  His love of trains inspired me to create this layout. 

WATSON GIRLS

This is a layout I created for a "Let's Scrap" challenge.  I used wonderful heritage B&W photos of my mother, father, aunt and uncle.  The challenge was to start with plain white cardstock and use only inks, black pens and we could use washi tape.  I had a wonderful time stamping, coloring, and journaling on this page.  (3/25/13).  The layout is called Watson Girls.