Mom and her girls

Sometimes life just works out that you are all together and can take a picture. I think it turned out great!



Colleen and her husband are helping April remodel a bathroom. Elaine brought mom a new computer (oh my...it's so nice!) and I'm here for a few days....so we took the opportunity to have our photo taken together. Mom is 78 - looks pretty good, huh? And the youngest daughter is 53 - so hard to believe!

Mom just continues to improve and it is great that we are all here this weekend. And yes, our brother stopped by for a few...but didn't stay long enough to be part of the photo. Hmmm....wonder if I could photoshop him in.....

Another "4 Moore Girls" Adventure!

If you haven't figured out by now, I just LOVE a great adventure! In 2000, all 4 of us Moore girls (and I put that loosely as we are all over 50 now!) and our hubbies went to Lake Powell together. It was the first time the 4 of us girls had been together overnight since we left home. We mostly laid in the water as it was around 108 degrees the whole time we were there....even at midnight!



In 2002 all 8 of us went to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico together.....for a whole week! I guess we decided if we could handle a few days on the lake, we could handle a whole week! We didn't share all the same activities, so here are 6 of us out on an ATV ride through the "jungle". We did some snorkeling, some day cruises, some massages and some shopping. Ok, 4 girls....we did a LOT of shopping!



Then in 2005, 3 of us went to Israel and Egypt for 15 days. Are we getting brave or what? TWO weeks together? It was just the most wonderful trip I've ever taken! You can tell from this photo that we just had so much fun! They dubbed us the "Ya-Ya sisters".



And now, this October, 3 of us and 2 hubbies are taking a cruise together. I can hardly wait! We just booked it this week and the phone lines and emails have been flying so fast I can hardly keep up with everything!



It's a 10 day cruise, so Kerry decided he wanted a bigger suite.....wowzers!



I love this floor plan....I have 2 sinks in the bathroom....a complete necessity at this age! LOL!



Anyone want to join the family fun? Holland America We have 3 full days at sea....I can teach digital scrapbooking! For FREE!!! :o)

Hey Aunt Jean! I think you and Uncle Bob should join us! Wouldn't that be so much fun??? Any of my cousins dare to join the famly fun???

So a little over 20 weeks. Can I get into that size 12 swimsuit by then? Weight Watchers 2.5 lbs per week maximum might even get me into a really old size 10 suit! LOL! I guess my diet starts NOW! Perhaps I'll blog my progress on a weekly basis.

Telling a story

Someone once said that each piece of art needs a story. As does each layout. As does each album.

When I was making this album, "The Closets of My Life", there was nothing on the market thick enough to put it all in. Remember, each page is made from foam core board. So although the whole album is just 14 pages...it is about 4" thick. My only option was to make an album from scratch. I covered pressboard with linen. Cut out a hole and inserted a doll house door that really opens. Across the top I used mica, copper, a ticket stub, a button, and a dictionary clipping to spell out the words "The Closets of my Life". And of course, a key and a lock. And I used coated wire to "hinge" the album together along the edge.



When you open the doors, you see mini photos from 26 years of my life (1 every other year) and 2 blank spots for photos from 2005 and 2008. Another true testament to the bad hair days of my life!!!



Simply open up the door to see the full LO and this poem that I wrote for this album:


Where I keep my secrets
And hide my scrapbooks too
A place for all my journals
Where no one ever looks

Momentos in boxes
My locked up diary too
My favorite dolls and toys
Some are old, some are new

When I was young I′d hide
Things from my 3 sisters
We'd always seem to fight
Over what was mine or theirs

And as a teenager
I’d lock my things up tight
And take them out to read
when it was late at night.

I married my sweetheart
And didn’t want to share
Any of my old loves
I hoped he wouldn't care.

And when my son was born
I wrote down all my thought
So maybe one day soon
He'll read what I forgot.

Now the years have passed
My closets are bulging
I don't know what to do
No more room for my things.

They're always a mess
There's never enough room
I can't find anything
It's time to get the broom.

What can I get rid of?
Nothing that I can see!
It's all so important
It is all about me!!

Now here's a chance for you
To come and take a peek
And you will gladly see
The things my closets keep.



As I have already shared these closets in my blog, you can find them here:

2008
1998
1988
1978
1968
1958

The title from each of those layouts then comes together to form a new poem:



The season of my life keep spinning on the wheel of time
Unfolding our teenage years with these memories of mine.
Revealing unimagined life with a baby this fine
All my bags are packed & I'm sliding on without a dime.
Recessed deep in my heart was the love you have made divine
Opening dreams & Making them real, now that's my design!!!



This is my story, this is my song, praising my Saviour, all the day long, this is my story, hope you will say she′s had a great life, she′s loved every day!!! (If you grew up in a rural country Sunday School....you will be singing by now!)

That really is what my story is all about, that no matter what has happened in my life, through the good and the sad, I have loved and been loved by my family, my friends, and my Lord. What more could I have ever asked for? My life has changed and evolved over time, as have the shapes of my closets, the things I have kept, and the memories I have cherished. My prayer today is that my closets will continue to grow, to change, and to expand. And that no matter what the size or shape that my closet may be, that I will have grace to accept it, love to put in it, and memories to share with others for all time.

May all your closets be filled with changing seasons, teenage memories, unimagined life, some good and some sad, a lot of love, and dreams that you design!!!

Destiny is not something you wait for.

Destiny is choice. - Walter Anderson

When I designed the album, "The Closets of my Life" in the fall of 2003....I had only been scrapbooking since February of that year. So you can see that I learned quickly....and went way beyond the boundaries even back then. As I was picking a closet every decade, I decided to do a "dream" closet for 2008. I was halfway through the decade. Kerry and I had married. Our life together was just an adventure as he was happily showing me the world, trying to expand who I was.



Here's what I wrote in 2003 about 2008:

In 2008, I will be 56 years old. Colleen will be 55, Elaine will be 54 and April will be 52, and my son, Jason, will be 30. There are already new memories in this closet. The 4 Moore Girls took their first vacation together in 33 years. We went to Puerto Vallarta for a week. A year later, April′s husband died and that will change our future. Kerry has a new granddaughter. I will need to keep things for her! I′ve lost 30 lbs and I have retired. For the first time in my life, I am able to stay at home!!! I have time to go back through all my memories and put them in scrapbooks and display all the things I′ve saved these many years!!!

There are planned events that I will add to my closet! In January 2004, we are going on a 15 day cruise down through the Panama Canal. I hope to get the first stamp in my passport on this trip! I want to go to Israel. Maybe my son will get married and have children; maybe I will be a Grandma! I would love to open a scrapbook store and design a line of scrapbook paper.

I have designed a huge walk in closet for my future, filled with all my scrapbook stuff. Filled with Chatterbox stuff!!! I know I am going to need a whole lot more space to store all my memories, my scrapbooks, my journals, my keepsakes, and my secrets!!! My life is so full right now, I cannot imagine it getting any better, but I know that it will!!!

As I look back at the closets of my life, they are full of wonderful memories, things that I love to touch and feel, stories that can make me laugh and cry. The seasons of my life continue to spin on the wheel of time. Each day that God gives me, He allows me to be a part of this wonderful, unimagined life of mine. One day, I will walk on, but hopefully these memories of mine will live forever tucked away in the closets of my life!






My dream back then was to own a scrapbook store and I decided to create one inside of this pop-up layout. Of course, I was doing this for a chatterbox contest...so this is filled with Chatterbox supplies.




You can see 2 rows of mini layouts. I simply downsized copies of projects I had done. Then 5 rows of product. Did I really want to own a store? Yep...I even made an offer on a local store that was going out of business. But it fell through and today, in 2008, I am truly grateful for that!



Another row of mini layouts across the top. Across the bottom are mini file folders filled with 1" squares of Chatterbox paper.



I do not own a store...rather I have a studio that looks much like this. Walls filled with product, layouts everywhere...tables for my friends to come and play with. All the fun benefits of owning a store...none of the risk, stress or worry...and loads of time to create and design just the way I like.

I'm so glad I did not wait to own a store. I'm so glad that I created my own destiny...having a place to play all the time!

How fast the past 5 years have flown! This month marks the 5th anniversary of my artistic career. Sort of fun!

And 40 years ago.....

Back in 68!! Oh what a year that was! Life was everything I dreamed it would be!!! Sweet 16, first kiss, first love, first heartbreak!!! What a very special time for me!!! Sharing secrets with my sisters, sock hops and band practice. We took the telephone inside the parlor closet when we were talking with our boyfriends. We thought no one could hear us that way!!! Our closet still had games and books, but now I added empty candy boxes, dried corsages, vacation souvenirs, newspaper clippings, pep rally banners, photos of slumber parties. I kept my diary locked up tight just so my sisters would never know what that first kiss was like for me!!!

Awhile back, I started to share my album "The Closets of my Life". It's an album that picks a year each decade and tells a story as you weave through the "book". I shared 1958. Today, I'll add 1968.

You know, your closet is where you put your shoebox filled with momentos, and where you hide your secrets. Loads of things from our past gets tucked away so I did the same thing with these pages. On the left, the title is "Unfolding our teenage years with these memories of mine". I put the round circles (playing tiles) over the f, h, and s. I graduated from Frankton High School...FHS. I took a page from my yearbook with all the autographs on it and used that as the mat for the photo frame. Don't you remember those straight a-line shifts? I think they are back in style now....40 years later!




The closet is based on my Great Aunt Muriel's wood wardrobe. A "closet" that I used to have in my house. The doors opened and then there were drawers inside on one side and you could hang clothes on the other side. I did the entire album using Chatterbox papers....this was made in 2003, one of my very first scrapbook projects.





So you open it up and there on both sides are the pockets....filled with memories and collectibles from my past. On the top, center flap is a photo of the 4 Moore girls with dad, our brother and both of our grandmother's. Mom must have been behind the camera.



And then you open up the entire "layout". What a wonder!

And yes, that telephone pops up!!!



My closet in 1968 was in a new house. That was the year we moved to the parsonage in Perkinsville. And although I had moved into our "new" house on the corner of Grandma's farm when I was 5, this is the first move that I remember. Our closet was filled with games (see the mini chinese checkers?), and I played the clarinet. There's a mini scrapbook tucked into this side titled "Frankton Indiana). and I have silk garter covers....I wore my first girdle this year. Sooooo glad we no longer have to struggle to get into those things today! LOL!



Junior year, junior prom. And yes, that is the actual pendant that he gave me the night of prom. The matching bracelet was just too big to fit into this page, but don't worry...I'll find a place for it yet! He joined the Air Force and wrote me beautiful letters that I hid in my closet for years. Couldn't let my sisters read those!!!



A closet isn't full unless there are a pair of ice skates....one of our favorite things to do in the winter. And right below them is a pair of 14 KT gold hammered snowflakes that I picked out on a summer vacation to Cripple Creek, Colorado. Back then it was an artists colony and I watched the guy make the earrings...and just had to have them. If I remember right, they cost $14.00....a fortune in 1968! Student of the week clipping from the newspaper, my report card for that year, and a viewmaster reel.....life was good!



We started going to Prairie Baptist Church that year and I picked my Life Verse from the Bible which is written inside one of the books stashed on the shelf in my closet below. I was a Jr Hi camp counselor with my best friend, Nancy. I was stage manager for our Junior Class Play, Our Town. It was the year I started doing genealogy. 1968 was the year of the mini skirt, but our dresses were below the knee. It was a church thing back then. Amazing how high you can get your hemline when you add a belt after you leave home! OK, mom, don't read this! LOL! I even paper pieced the saddle oxfords and shoes at the bottom of my closet.



The telephone is just the cutest thing! I've demo'd how to make this on DIY and you can find the instructions there. Yes, this layout was shown on DIY....just so much fun!!!



OK, you know the tune to the song (Oh What a Night!)....so just sing along with me

Oh, what a year that was, back in '68, What a very special time for me, life was great!

It was a very special year, a very special time......

ART IS LIKE DANCING....

Art is like dancing
there is a beat
there are steps and moves
and you create
a new form of music
for the world to hear.
It has the passion
of a great orchestra
and it has the quiet sound
of a single piano key
it takes you places
you never knew existedp
It can make you feel
right at home.

Well, when I have my moments, the poetry and writing just seems to flow from me.  I truly believe that my art is inspired a lot by my childhood memories of music.  We didn't have a whole lot.  But when I was 10, I received a clarinet for my Christmas present.  Mom & Dad were just so smart!   I could "buy" the clarinet by earning 50 cents for each half hour that I practiced.  Even in the early 60s, it took me hours and hours to "own" it!  But I did learn how to play it, so well, that I played First Chair for a few years in band.  There were also piano lessons and private voice lessons.  I even managed to take first place with a solo "Jesus Wept" at an all state contest held at Ball State University.  I still have the blue medal somewhere.

So, music was a huge part of my childhood.  The 4 Moore girls sang as a quartet at church probably from the time the youngest sister could stand up.  I have no idea how many songs are embedded in my brain and on some days, I just start to sing them for no reason at all.  Other than they make me happy.

This week, my hubby surprised me with the gift of a new digital (musical) keyboard.  So expect to hear more about that as I learn how to digitally make music.

I turned the poem above into a rubber stamp available thru After Midnight Stamps.

And today, I'm playing with Spellbinder's "flying Beauties" die and the Paisley Nestabilities die.



I'm working on a tutorial for this as well, but wanted to showcase these dies.  I used Stamping Up paper.  
I believe it's the "Outlaw" package.

I used the Stencil Collection's pastel chalks.  I happen to have the 48 set and use them all the time...wait til you see the tutorial!!!



And I'm using real Swarovski crystals to add some bling to the cards! They came from Scrapbook Your LIfe! in San Diego....one of my fav places to shop!

The swirly stamps are by Autumn Leaves.

And here's the paisley die....embossed with a Sizzix texture plate.  Nothing like mixing it up with competing companies!  LOL!  But what a gorgeous effect I get!



Music and art.  I am so blessed!  And when I allow.....they can take me places I never knew existed....they can make me feel right at home.

Barbra sang.....

Do you ever sit and listen to the words of a song and get your inspiration from it? I do. I think songwriters are beyond amazing! In one of Barbra Streisands songs, the lyrics read:

"I say we each choose roads to call our own but none of us is traveling through this universe alone. And this circle just goes on and on, it began before us...it will be here when we've gone. And this circle goes on and on connecting our humanity, joining me to you and you to me. Seasons keep spinning on the wheel of time, we stand, we fall, we struggle up the mountains we must climb. Different dreams may colour what we see ahead but our lives are strong together, on a common thread, and this circle just goes on and on."

I pick the songs I like based on their words. And from my favorite songs often come some of my favorite projects. One of my first projects was an album titled "The Closets of My Life". It's been shown on PBS Scrapbooking & Memories as well as on DIY. I picked a closet from each decade of my life, reconstructed it, filled it with memories and just giggled the entire time!




In 1958, we were still living in our little house on the corner of my Great Great Grandpa House's farm. Very plain closet. But I made little pockets around the door that open and contain all kinds of memories of my childhood. Candy that dad brought home in his lunchbox, boardgames that we played....fun little things!



On the back of the closet door, my journaling reads: "My Sister's Closet...Just one tiny closet, and one tiny bedroom, shared by all 4 of us. Not many clothes, but a whole lot of games and books. Not many things, but our Bibles, our Bible study lessons, and our Sunday hats and shoes. My memories have faded over time. But when I look at these pictures I can still feel that summer day when we created phones out of tin cans, we buried our dolls in the sand, and tickled our cats tails. I can still see the swingset that dad built and hear our laughter and our screams when we swang too high. I remember playing with Grandma's jewelry on her bed, swimming in the horse trough and wading in the creek. Our lives were rich with love, with family, and blessings from our Lord. Most of all, we had each other!!! Where has time gone? If I am left with nothing but the memories of my youth, then I will cherish my thoughts of those summer days, playing with you, the innocence of our youth, and all those wonderful memories that I have of growing up with you in our little house on the corner of our Great Great Grandfather's farm."



And then inside the closet, tiny paper-pieced outfits that spin on a wheel, dressing a photo of me in the style of that generation.



The seasons of my life keep spinning on the wheel of time.....this circle...just goes on and on... connecting our humanity, joining me to you and you to me.

More Moore Stuff

Once upon a time, there was a young woman who started having little girls..almost one every year! Although they didn't have much, they liked to keep what they did have. Because it was their "stuff"! That was "once upon a time" and this is now and those 4 little girls are all grown up and boy! do they have stuff! They have 50 + years of stuff these days! They have so much stuff, they trade stuff, share stuff, give stuff away and sell stuff!!! OK, they are getting ready to sell more of their stuff on ebay!! I think once they start selling their stuff, you will have fun looking at their stuff because you never know what kind of stuff you might need..you might need their stuff...no one can have more stuff that the 4 Moore girls....they really have some great stuff!!!

LOLOL!!!

But first, a bit more about the Moore girls (that's their maiden name) and why they have so much stuff!!!

The oldest Moore girl grew up, got married, had 2 kids, got an MBA degree, owned an antique shop, collected way too much stuff, retired, became an artist, collected even more stuff, made stuff, altered stuff and now needs to sell stuff on ebay!!!

The second Moore girl grew up, got married, had 2 kids, helps her husband build 10,000 SF houses, creates wonderful stained glass windows, became a jewelry designer, collects antiques and stuff, has a house so full of stuff it's about to explode!!! Oh, you should see her attic...stuff is stuffed in there so tight...well, you can't begin to see the stuff for all the stuff in it's way!


The next Moore girl grew up, got married, owns a computer business with her hubby, works full time, and spends all her money on her stuff. This sister is really good at finding stuff that all the other sister's want! Her stuff is so good, her sisters borrow her stuff and it never gets back home. But then, there's so much stuff at her place we think she doesn't miss the stuff that we have that's really her stuff!


And then there's the little sister, the cutest sister, the one with the cutest stuff. We all want her stuff because we think it will make us young like her! Cute sis, cute stuff....so much stuff these 4 Moore Girls have!!!

Of course, we blame it all on mom! She taught us how to shop, how to use coupons, lay a pattern on the fabric to save room, wash windows with water and newspaper...yep, we learned it all from her, including how often to change shoes so you can shop a little longer!!!



Somehow, we all survived each other and are pretty happy with all the Moore stuff we have today. But mostly, we are thankful to have each other. Every now and then, one of us decides to sell some more Moore stuff on ebay, but then we always check to see if one of the other Moores wants our stuff first! We swap clothes, household goods and even furniture. It's called the Moore migration. The more stuff you have, the more often you can do a Moore migration!!!

When we start our More Moore stuff sale on ebay, I'll post a link here. I think that having so much stuff is one of the reasons I create so much stuff...I need to use my stuff in new ways!!! But that just gives me more Moore stuff to sell on ebay!! OIY!!! Just know that we know that no matter how much stuff we have, family and friends are more important than our stuff. It's just fun to be a Moore....and have more Moore stuff!

LOLOL!!!!!

It's my birthday...and I'm planning a party....

OK! Want to sing along with me?? Yep...FIFTY SIX years ago today...I was born! What an amazing life this has been! Do I have any complaints? OF COURSE I DO!!! Old age pain...things I can't do anymore.... But mom once said to me "Well, Jennifer, I don't think that on the day you were born, anyone gave you a gift certificate entitling you to "one easy life", did they?" and that has stuck with me throughout the years. These days, I just ignore my complaints, my aches and pains, because it really has been a wonderful life!

I doubt that mom planned to have so many little girls so fast....but I am SO GLAD that she did!!!



We have grown up, grown apart, and now grown back together as our lives have taken us to Colorado, California, Texas....and now all back to Colorado!



We are all about a year apart in age, and just about as different in personality as one could ever imagine. But I swear, if any of us ever need a thing...the other 3 are right there on the front doorstep.

Today is my birthday and I'm planning a party. OK...I'm planning several parties! I'm in San Diego teaching workshops this week and for lunch, today...a party with friends in Julian. For dinner...a party with friends in Santee. When I get back to Colorado...a party with friends there! I think I'll just plan to party all week long!

But for all the partying I can do, I always take a moment every year on this day to thank mom for bringing me into this world all those years ago. Hey mom! How does it feel to have a FIFTY SIX year old daughter? LOLOL! Probably not an ounce different than it feels to have FOUR daughters ALL over the age of 50!!!

You are the best mom ever and I am so honored to be your daughter! I love you mom!