What's been swallowing my time

The week before Easter I took a Pysanky making class.  (Pysanky are Ukrainian Easter Eggs)  I did grow up making these, but was never very accomplished, or patient, with them.  In Ukraine I made a few but I haven't attempted a pysanky in at least eight years.  I took the class with my very artistically talented friend Kelly (her first time ever making Pysanky) and was blown away by her natural talent.  For me, it wasn't so much about how great my eggs might one day be, but more about getting reacquainted with my Ukrainian roots.  It was fun and even relaxing.  And it was inspiring.  Pam Gomf, the instructor, is simply amazing.  She is actually one of only 5 egg masters in the world.  Her inspiration had Kelly and I attempting eggs all week.  Here's what I managed (well, the ones I'm willing to show)

Publish Post

The process is similar to batik.  You apply wax where you want the colour to remain what it is then you dye the egg and cover with wax what you want to stay that colour.  At the end you blow the egg (remove the inside) and then melt off the wax.  Easy, right?

Echo Park

OK, so I'm a little late on this post.  A whole week late.  But better late than never...right?  Besides I didn't say what Tuesday I'd post this for.
So this is what I did with the Echo Park Playground Line.  This is one of those lines that the scraps still sit on my desk.  I will definitely be using them up!

A little peak

Life has been so crazy lately!  Recovering from the car accident has really dominated my time as well as dictated a lot of what I can and can't do.  Good news - I'm on the mend.  Bad news - still not enough time to scrapbook as much as I want. 

For spring break we spent a week on the Oregon Coast with another family and we had a truly fantastic time.  We stayed in a house overlooking the beach and we had no schedule to stick to.  We, the kids and adults spent a whole lot of time just playing.  And of course, that meant a lot of pictures taken.  Almost 1000.  I'm still uploading and sorting but I'll be sharing some soon.  Until then I'll share a little of what I worked on this week.  Tuesday Lila will be putting out a new line by Echo Park (and some other yummy products).  I really loved working with this line. It's just a fun line, but the colours are also easy to match outside of the line - cardstock, brads, photo holders etc.  I always love it when I don't have to think to hard as colour matching is always a challenge for me!

 

This card was a last minute creation and barely made it into the bag of stuff to go to Lila's.  I was actually inspired by a challenge on Dixie Pieces this weekend to use some of the "leftovers".  

I'll post more on Tuesday!  Thanks for looking!

Thanks for the inspiration

My son has recently had a person make a difference in his life.  Through his school he was able to participate in afterschool martial arts.  His Sensei, Eric, was truly inspirational.  He was patient with him, yet able to teach him self confidence and some pretty cool moves.  I thought he deserved a truly original thank you card.

 Digi image - The Greeting Farm

More March Challenges

I always love the monthly challenges posted at DixiePieces I was really inspired by the March challenges.  There were so many of them all focused or related to green/St Patrick's Day.  I had all kinds of motivation to complete as many of these challengers as possible, but I probably don't need to say that March turned into a challenge all it's own for me.  Fortunately I did get a few challenges completed in the first part of the month and am just now getting around to sharing them.  Thanks for looking!  I hope you like them.

   This challenge was Lynne's Grow it Green and had to include something from nature.  (Little Yellow Bicycle's Twig line made that pretty darn easy!)

This was for Kim's good luck Challenge.  I don't often put things "skewed" on a card but I thought I'd give it a try.  Hmmm, not sure I'll do it again anytime soon. But I still like the card.

Thanks for taking the time to check my post out!

A little inspiration

These LOs are from a couple of weeks ago (pre-car accident).  I saw a pub call for LO's done from the same supplies.  I knew I wouldn't make the deadline to submit but was inspired to give it a try nonetheless.  I'm always looking for supplies to go with my DD's girlie girl attitude, but without a dominance of pink.  (Although, DD would not mind all the pink!)  The Savannah line by 3 Bugs in a Rug was perfect for both the colours and my challenge.  I like that I could incorporate photos from different times in DD's life.  (I am not a chronological scrapper.) There were plenty of options to make the LOs look different but still appropriate for my little princess.

Supplies - Patterned paper - 3 Bugs in a Rug
Ribbon - my own stash
rhinestones - Heidi Swapp
Coil Brads - Karen Foster
Glitter Butterflies - unknown

In recovery mode

Life happens...not always as planned.  Last Wednesday I had my list of things to do.  It was a crazy day but I knew I'd make it through.  Focus on the list and I knew everything would be alright.  Updating my blog was right near the top of the list.  Putting everything on hold because of a car accident was no where near top of the list.  It wasn't even on the list, until it happened.  Fortunately I was the only one in the van when an oncoming pick up crossed the center line because the driver fell asleep.  I swerved so it wasn't head on but it's still not great.  I'm OK.  Mostly.  Muscle aches and pains mostly.  My poor van though is in pretty rough shape.  Some meds, massage and rest for me and a whole lot of body work, or maybe just a whole new van for the vehicle.

Thus, all the things on my list were put on hold.  I'm now just getting back to my blog.  I haven't even sat at my scrappy desk since the accident but fortunately I had just finished up a few projects so I'll share those with you.

These cards were done for a March challenge by Erica at Dixie Pieces, challenging us to make cards from leftovers from other projects.  That's exactly what I did!

I also took on a challenge from Tammy at Dixie Pieces to complete a "UFO"  (unfinished object).  I completed a card kit.  It was a fabulous kit from a class I was supposed to have taken at BC Crop For Kids in Oct. with Cari Locken.  (I just love her!)  I had to miss the class but still absolutely adored the cards and had a bunch of fun making them too!  When I took on the challenge I had one card done (the one on the bottom right).  I played and strayed from the instructions on a few but I love the end results!

Now to get these posted over at Dixie Pieces...

Thanks for looking!