The Saga of the Aprons

On Saturday I got to spend the day scrapping. I had a wonderful day with my friends, but I didn't get much in the way of scrapping done. I did spend most of the day on this layout - The Saga of the Aprons. One of the challenges on SCS recently was to use fabric on a layout, so you'll see some fabric ruffles on each page that use the same fabric as the aprons.

The base of the layout is SU Very Vanilla. The center piece is Bermuda Bay, the photos are mounted on Real Red and the journaling box and title are on Soft Sky. I used the new SU flower punch for the accent flowers and also used Regal Rose paper, and I added a Basic Black center to some of the flowers to pull the black from the fabric. Tucked in behind the first page are the adorable thank you letters my niece and nephew sent me. They are accessible with Soft Sky tabs that I punched with the SU tab punch. The two pieces of pattern paper are from My Mind's Eye Sun Kissed "Only Smiles" Flower Girl Paper. Around the edges of each page I stamped a zigzag stitch in black with a stamp from the Hero Arts Ribbons set. The title is a combination of handwriting and stamping on a couple of K & Company Wild Saffron die cut tags, and a chipboard letter A.

The journaling reads: In 2008 I found this pretty fabric and apron pattern and had plans to make aprons for the girls and their American Girls dolls, and some fun John Deere fabric for Matthew. But I forgot that I really don't sew. So the aprons never got made. So for 2009 I sent everything to my friend Diana M. in New Hampshire and she made beautiful aprons and a sweet little bear for Matthew. Matthew and Hannah wrote sweet thank you notes.

Mailbox Monday - March 15

I spent the last week suffering from a sinus infection and so I didn't get much reading done. But I did get a bunch of wonderful books in the mail that I can't wait to get started on.

My first package was from the Romance Writers of America and it was 4 historical romances. For several years I have been part of the judging for the Booksellers Best Award. After I read the books and send in my scores I'll let you know more about them.

The next new book to come in my house was one I actually bought from the library's Friends of the Library ongoing book sale. I bought Marshmallows for Breakfastby Dorothy Koomson. I did start it but then my sinus infection took over and I've put it aside.

Then Lisa at Books on the Brain and Random House sent me a copy of American Rust by Philip Meyer.

The last package on my doorstep last week was from Book Club Girl and it was a hardback copy of Brava Valentine by Adrianna Trigiani. This one is moving up Mt. To-Be-Read so that I can participate when Ms. Trigiani is on Blog Talk Radio on March 31st. She's a hoot, so I encourage you to listen in.

Mailbox Monday - March 8

I'm really excited to have some new books coming into my home in the next few weeks. I've been in a bit of a reading funk recently, so I think seeing packages in my mailbox will help.

The first book I want to mention today, Fireworks Over Toccoa by Jeffrey Stepakoff, is one that I received a month or so ago from Library Thing. So I am terribly behind in getting my review posted. I have to say that Mr. Stepakoff did a wonderful job writing about a young southern woman. The beginning of the book skips around to various different times and characters, but the main character is Lily. Lily is a young southern woman who gets married right before her husband ships of to WWII. She comes from a wealthy family and has had an easy life. Right before her husband returns she meets a young fireworks expert and has to make a decision about how to live the rest of her life. It's a great story. Some of the early set up parts were unnecessary and the author tended to explain Lily's character rather than show us. But it was well worth the Sunday afternoon I spent with it.

The next package I want to share with you if really going to benefit my book club here at the library. Random House sent me a copy of Shanghai Girls by Lisa See and a package of chocolate. I all ready have a copy of the book, so I'll share both the book and the chocolates with my group.

The last thing I received in my mailbox last week was a copy of How to Knit a Love Song by Rachael Herron which came from Book Club Girl. Ms. Herron also has a knitting blog if you'd like to check it out. The author will be joining Book Club Girl on Air on Blog Talk Radio on March 17 at 7pm. These author interviews are always fun to listen to, and I can't wait to hear this discussion. I really enjoyed this book. Abigail is the main character and she runs into a bit of luck when her friend and mentor Eliza dies. Eliza leaves her a house, a yarn store, and a husband. But Abigail doesn't see it all right away. My only complaint was that Cade was a little loose and easy - if you know what I mean.

I hope to have some more news books to share with you next week.

Graduation '09

Here is the layout I made of Dylan's high school graduation. I used SU Going Gray as my background. I found a blue pattern paper with the word "Graduation"on it and I used a strip of that going across both pages. Down the sides of each page I used a great silver, grey and black diamond pattern paper with some silver swirls. I added some stars in Real Red, Summer Sun and Brilliant Blue. I also added a blue tassel embellishment.