Hey!

Hello my blogland friends!

It's been two weeks since I have posted. Last week I meant to post the day after Thanksgiving but I never got the chance. I'm a busy woman! I have a lot to update you on! Let's start with some scrapbooking.

Here are my layout I made of my brother. I have Creating Keepsakes Easy Pattern for Scrapbookers by Brenda Arnall. I decided to use the first pattern to make these layouts of my brother. It took me a few weeks to complete it because I wanted to go through my stash of scrapbook materials to find embellishments. Finally I gave up and bought some inexpensive embellishments at Archivers. I am proud of these layouts and my mother loves them too. My brother's name is Keith and he is mentally handicapped. In the journal box I wrote all about his place in our family. Brother, son, nephew, grandson, cousin, friend etc. Here are some of the many faces of Keith. I often wonder what he is thinking when he makes these faces.
These two layouts are actually a double page spread. I had to tweak my design of the patterned papers. I like this layout. I bought this metal embellishment which said "brothers" and I cut off the "s". I really like how it looks. I love the picture of my brother laughing at the top. He can be pretty silly at times. He can also be very happy and jovial when he comes home. He doesn't stay with my family. He lives at a center for the handicap. I may add a "to be" with the "Happy Home" circle at the bottom. I think it will be more appropriate.

I also purchased a Clip It Up for myself. I bought this back in October before my hobby spending freeze. It allows you to hang all your embellishments so you can see them instead of sticking them in drawers, files and totes. It handy and I have found it to be most useful. Unfortunately this thing is not cheap! I paid around $60 for it. But so far is has been worth it. I love the ability to spin it around and find what I need. I hope to get an upper tier! But that can wait until I get my budget more under control. I have a lot more stuff to add to it.

I also bought the Autumn Leaves Designing with 2008 calendar. I bought this back in October too. I was a real spender before the realities of the market set in! LOL! I love these calendars! I have been buying them for about four years now. I like how you get inspiration everyday. I love to come to my craft room and check to see the latest inspirational idea. If I see an idea I want to try I add it to my page kit along with papers and embellishments. It makes it so easy to complete a layout. It's just perfect! This is me at one of my crops at the Creative Studio. This is where I started the layout of my brother. I was exhausted since coming back from New York earlier that day. I wanted to get out and scrap and I did. I crashed at 10pm. I needed to go home! LOL! Yes those are all my bags and I left my scrap box at home. I carry a lot of baggage when I go scrapping! LOL!

Tomorrow I will be at the Creative Studio again for an evening of scrapbooking with my friends. I hope to complete the family reunion album.

I think I will end my blog update here. I have tons of things to write about and I don't want to overwhelm you with too much information. I want to write about my crocheting, sewing, Christmas shopping and more.

Stay tuned!