The people I meet when I go "home"!

I have 3 homes. Indiana. Where I was born and lived until I was 22 years old. Colorado, where I moved at the age of 22 and where I now live. And San Diego, where I lived from 1989 - 1997. I LOVE going "home". Indiana is filled with relatives and grade school chums. But I never fail to meet someone new on a trip there. And San Diego..perhaps the place I love the most. And I meet so many new friends when I travel "home" there.

I have forever friends, like Lucky, that I stayed with for 3 weeks and never once took her picture! I think she is just embedded into my soul....but I really should take pictures of us together next time I'm at that home.

Then there are the new friends I gather along the way. Melissa taught a class that I attended, then she took a few classes from me. I think this photo will tell you exactly why she and I will be great friends. She's joined my yahoo group, calls me, emails me...and I tell you...she is going to storm the art world in just a few more weeks/months. Her work is brilliant. But she struggled with me as I forced her over into the altered world! She did fantastic!



And then there was Fern. I just fell in love with Fern. She had bought a Revolution a long time ago and it was hiding in the closet. So she brought it "out of the closet" and down to the store and she truly learned how to use it. I just don't think it will ever go back into the closet again!



So with all her diecuts, Fern put this little card together. But this was her first. She went on to do 2 complete 2-page layouts that she claims were her best ever. I wish I had photographed them....but I was just too busy with class!



And then, there are those who come to take a class and just blend in. Scores this past 3 weeks. I truly wish I had had the time to sit next to each one of you, chat for a spell, share more chocolate and get to know them a little. This gal picked out some truly wonderful papers to do her little acrylic book with.



So to each of you that I have met in passing, in a class, at a workshop, or while I demo'd at a convention, I just want to say thanks! It's really been so much fun!!! And if you would like to join my little yahoo group, just send me a note. It's the easiest way to keep up with what I'm doing and where I'm going. Today, I'm off to mom's to teach her friends how to make cards!

LinJeneering - our first product!

Yes....already! What is LinJeneering? Well...it's Linda Peterson and Jen Lowe engineering things that you are going to want/need in our Labora-torrey (Torrey Scott)!!!

When I was in the Ozarks last week visiting with Linda, we came up with this concept and as we were talking about all our ideas, I quietly sat there making notes of the "things" that Linda needed! Little did she know that when I went to "bed" at night, I was actually sitting up sketching my ideas and writing out all my notes!

Sorry Linda!!!

So, she was using a Milwaukee heat gun to heat Friendly Plastic and melt designs into it. It's rather difficult to have one hand holding the heat gun when you need 2 hands working the plastic! So, here you have it....our heat gun stand! Just visualize you can put any size of block below this to custom size the distance you want from the tip of the gun to the item you are heating! And now....both hands are "free" to move the object around as you apply heat.



I could hardly stand to have a "wood" thing in my studio! LOL! So, the next step was to paint it white.



And you know I'm not about to leave that alone, so of course, I've used my line of rubber stamps, Lucy McGoo, to decorate my stand!



Colorful and functional.....LinJeneered!!!



Lucy McGoo stamps and sentiments done in Ranger Archival black ink. Ranger's Distress inks used to color the wood.



Lucy dances, Lucy plays....and Lucy is an angel!!!



So, as usual, this is a copyrighted idea. Keep that in mind!

Just email me for more information on how to get your very own personalized, LinJeneered heat gun stand. And yes, your Marvy heat tool will fit into this just fine!!!

Journey thru Life

Life is a journey, but I think there is a journey through life from one generation to another. This is a piece that was published last year in PaperWorks Magazine. It was just so much fun to do, but it's all about the journey of 4 generations of women in this life and the threads they weave that connect each generation to the next.


When you look at the entire project, the tape measure travels the distance of our lives. I've used stamped images, cutouts, and things that remind me of my mom, grandma and a great grandma that I never knew.

ON the left tab, a close up of some of the snipets I've added to this collage. A spoon for all the knowledge they fed me....you can really tie any element into something meaningful in each project that you create.


In the center, you can barely see a photo of me as a little girl on the left behind the tape measure. Then you see a photo of my mom as a little girl above a dessform. I like the teddy bear on the pin cushion. I remember grandma with a pin cushion and thimble always close by. There's a book behind an altered matchbox. The matchbox contains a mustard seed. From the Bible verse "If you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move a mountain"....a reminder of how little faith any of us has.

Up in the upper left hand side is a round circle, inside that is a photo of my great grandmother at the age of 12.



There's another matchbox here and when you pull it down, a photo of my grandmother as a little girl.



the journaling reads:

The Journey Through Life is like a thread, weaving one generation through another. Fibers give out, as do lives. Yet each generation brings something new to the design of their life. I may never know how much I am like my ancestors. But I am sure there are many similarities. The thread that links us are the photos we keep. Here I have pictures of me, my mom, my grandmother and my great grandmother. The common threads are the lives that we lived…each of us born and raised on a farm. Each of us sewing our own clothes. Each of us with curly hair. Time has taken away much, but time has given even more . The Journey Through Life goes on, weaving into future generations a thread from the past.