Fun cards

I did these cards for the book "Flip, Spin & Play" which is out on the shelves now. It truly is a fun little book and I thought I'd share a bit more about the techniques on these cards:

This is a flip card. The part with the school kids is the "top" and it flips down. "....and what was she really thinking?



when you flip it down, you see the nurse sitting on a book and it says "All that education...."

On the lower half, it reads "And I still can't heal a man!!!"



So easy to do, just tear the photos, images and adhere them to a torn card. Take any pre-made card and flip it up and down.

These are my actual relatives! That I embellished! LOL! And on this one...just torn strips of paper. The saying is from Crafty Secrets, "There's a wild little woman somewhere in each of us" I inked the black & white photo using Ranger's Distress ink with their foam nibs. Quite a fun technique!



Here's Aunt Nellie and Uncle Bud (Nelson) - twins.

"Men! You can't live with them and you can't live without them...." (I used a craft knife to cut the window in order to cut around the images on the paper.)



"but a twin brother? Oh good grief! I'm stuck for life with him!"

And on the bottom flip: "who needs "borrowed relatives" when you have real ones like these?"

I decided I don't need to buy photos of other people...I have plenty of my own!



Kerry says the whole state of Indiana is related to me. I wonder why he thinks that?

"The Brandon Women, famous for their Raisen cream pies....."



"It never failed to get them out of the kitchen in a hurry!"

"If you think raisen cream pie is bad, you should try their gooseberry pie....makes you wonder where goose berries came from?"



All of these flip cards were then assembled in a flip-flop card that you can see in the book. I think I should do a whole line of funny family cards....think they will forgive me?

Rocks, frogs and poems

If you know me, you know I'm not afraid to put much of anything on a scrapbook page. I think if you look closely, you can see the actual physical rocks on this page. The photos of Jason are just so cute...he was throwing rocks into the river and just laughing...then turning around to make sure we were watching him. Memory Makers magazine had a call for lumpy pages...I do think I gave them lumpy...and they published this! It is really the heaviest layout I've ever done.

Note the little green paper punched frogs crawling around in the rocks? And some of the rocks have been painted. Some of the rocks are flat paper. Truly a fun project!



This is probably my favorite photo of Jason. I have always loved the look on his face...like he was just not quite sure what to do and just a little scared. This is a 12 x 12 layout...and rather than buy one of those transparancies with the designs to go over it, I simply put this in the wide format printer and printed right over the paper and the photo. Designed the overlay in photoshop and just hit the print button. The little pocket has a note to him about this day.



I cannot help but laugh every time I look at this one. What kind of mom an I that I would not only let him eat the grass....I had to get the camera and take pictures! LOL! And I wrote the poem:

Eating stick and grass
That's what I like to do
I think it's pretty cute
But it makes me go poo....

Anything I touch
goes right into my mouth
And then my mom will say
"you better spit that out!!!"



And this is one of my earliest layouts....but I still just love it. The series of photos just match the poem I wrote for this one:

My bubba is hard to hold
And he likes to look at me
It seems he sleeps all the time
Except when he has to pee
He sure makes funny faces
He's just as cute as can be
I really like my bubbe
And I know that he likes me!



I have found that often a simple little poem can say so much more than any journaling. I have thousands of photos yet to scrap. A never ending project!

Rocks, frogs and poems. So appropriate for scrapbooking my memories of these 2 little boys!

Playing with Chicken Soup!

OK, you've read them all: Chicken Soup for the Soul, Chicken Soup for the Desparate Housewife's Soul, Chicken Soup for the Harried Scrapbooker's Soul.....I mean the list is just endless! And of course, every person's Grandmother always did say that "You just need some chicken soup!!"

Now, I've not read all of the books, but I've read enough to know that most of what is written is heartbreak stories. Some of it makes you feel good, some of it warms our heart, and some of it is funny. But some of it is just a tad too sad for me. I don't get "well" by reading heartbreak stuff.

So I have to disagree with the chicken soup books! (GASP!!!)

I believe this:

PLAYING with chicken soup is what's good for you.




Think about it.

1. If you can actually, literally "play" with chicken soup...you can probably play with anything!



2. As a child, each of us "learned" by "playing" with something. We played in the band. We had a part in a class play. We played at recess. We played on the swingset, with our dolls and firetrucks. We learned how to share, how to get along, how to put things away....just think of what you learned when you played!



3. We actually learned how to collaborate by just playing, building forts, having wars, and playing red rover, red rover, send my friend over.



What does the word "play" mean? I liked this definition: A physical or mental leisure activity that is undertaken purely for enjoyment or amusement and has no other objective.

You define it....but it is something that is fun, that makes you happy, that you like to do. The Old Testament says "A merry heart doeth good like a medicine." That's Proverbs 17:22. Or try Proverbs 15:13.



Reading funny stories from someone else's life is just not going to help. You need to get up, put the book down, set the computer aside, turn off the TV.....and actually, literally, physically.....go play!!!



I have a new keyboard (musical) and I LOVE playing it! And I go play in my studio just about every single day. My sister and I play together when we go out riding on the ATV with out husbands, and try to see just how narrow and steep a trail we can ride. I love to sit at 14,000 feet high on a rock-covered mountain side looking through piles of stones in search of a tiny amethyst crystal. Now that's definitely a game, to see if I can find one! Sort of like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Mom plays by painting and watching her new cat. Kerry plays with model trains. So does my sis, Elaine. I'm sure you have a hobby of some kind, but the big question is....do you take time to play every single day? Do you force yourself to play when you are sad or depressed? Do you even consider it when you are sick or not feeling well?

Playing with chicken soup. Give it a try! You might find it's just what you need!!!