Can you believe this....

Hi again!

Can you believe this? Three days in a row I've been able to get on here and post some artwork. You know, I am the world's biggest procastinator! If I would only...well, lets not go there! I don't want to bore you.

I did these cards for my good friend, Jenn. We were ooooing and awing at the stamps online, and without Jenn knowing it, I ordered a couple (ok ok...a couple is two, I ordered three) of the cutest little stamps from Elizabeth Bell. These lil darlings are from Elizabeth's "Sweet Ebony" collection. I have several links to share with you about Elizabeth Bell and her
Sweet Nellie stamps, which I will do at the end of this post.

Here are the three cards I sent to Jenn. The stamped image on this card is called "Basket Full of Apples." Isn't she the most precious! I used papers from CTMH's "Let's Get Together" paper pack. I made the flower from gingham ribbon and a flower loom I purchased off ebay. Ribbons came from www.reasonableribbon.com.

This darling little girl stamp is called "Garden Girl. When I purchased this stamp, I was busy in my garden, trying to grow some vegetables. This year, I wasn't as successful as I have been in the past. I have a couple of pictures of Deborah and Kelli working in the garden when we first prepped the garden. I think using this little gal on the page would make for a really cute layout.

I used CTMH's "More To Adore" paper pack and CTMH's markers to color her in. The ribbon came from http://www.just4funcrafts.com/. I also used my Cuttlebug folder "Swiss Dots" and embossed the half circle. That really adds some dimension to the card.

This little cowgirl stamp name is "Giddy Up Pony" from Elizabeth Bell's Sweet Ebony Collection. When I first saw this adorable little girl, I immediately thought of my grand daughter,

Deborah, and the cowgirl hat and boots, her Popi and I gave her for Christmas last year.

I am not sure where the papers came from. I just pulled them out of my stash of scraps. The cardstock is CTMH's barn red and bamboo. I use Friskar's border punches for the borders done in black and bamboo cardstock. I made the flower with my flower loom and attached it on a chipboard flower from CTMH. I also use my Cuttlebug folder "Swiss Dots" to the background. I cut the heart out with my sizzix "Big Shot and set an eyelet in the top.

I sent some stamped images to Jenn as an RAK, and if you visit her blog, www.just4funcrafts.blogspot.com, you can see some of her artwork. Jenn is the most talented artist I have seen. I get alot of my inspiration from her.

Now back to Elizabeth Bell and the links I promised to include in this post. There is a blog for Elizabeth Bell, so click on this link, www.sugarnellie.blogspot.com to go to her blog. If you would like to see some artwork/cards using the "Sweet Ebony" stamps, click here: http://www.zhibit.org/elisabethbell/sweet-ebony-cards-2. There are pages and pages of artwork. And to view or purchase any of the "Sweet Ebony" stamps, click here: http://www.funkykits.co.uk/catalog/index.php?cPath=47_46.

That's about it for now. If I knew how to make this links into a one word link, I would, but I haven't a clue as to how to do that. As you can tell, I am still a bit computer challenged.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed yourself and have a Terrific Tuesday!

Until next time...

Happy Scrappin'!

Inky Hugs,

Leanne

A little bit behind the times....

Greeting again from the Rubber Room!

I am so pleased you stopped by. Its a very common thing for me to be a day late and a dollar short! I say this because here we are about a week and a half before Thanksgiving, and I am about to share the layouts I did a couple of months ago, at the beginning of the school year. I am also a year behind getting Deborah's album done. One good thing though, is they are done and into their albums. Two done, gazillon more to do. LOL I keep telling myself, baby steps. But you

know...those baby steps are being stampeded with photos screaming, "Scrap Me!!"

These first two layouts are of my granddaughter Deborah on her first day of Kindergarten. She can be such a "ham" when a camera is pointed at her. Papers are from Close to my Heart, Silhouette paper pack, flowers are prima flowers with itty bitty brads from CTMH. The die cut apples and backpack and title block in the left page, was something I picked up from WalMart a few years ago.

These two layouts are of my grandson, Matthew and his first day of preschool. I enjoyed doing Deborah's layouts so much, I decided to do the same for Matthew's pages. And his bright red shirt, just lead me to use primary colors for his pages. The polka dot paper at the top is from CTMH's Giggles and Grins. and the other is the last of the paper pack "School Days" from CTMH. I had some school themed stamps and stamped and colors various images on the "crayon" pattern paper. Too much open space for my taste. I made the little title block to match that like Deborah's. The shaker apple on the left page, has the alphabet beads, spelling out "Matthew's First Day of Preschool." The apple diecut on the right side, is from my stash. and the crayon die cuts, I did on my Wishblade.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed yourself. Stop back again sometime.

Until next time,

Happy Scrappin'

Inky Hugs,

Leanne

You're a Star!!

Hey there everyone!! Welcome back to my Rubber Room. I am so glad you dropped in for a bit. I want to share with you a card I made for my brother this afternoon. I received an email from my SIL telling us that my brother, Don received an award last night from the Engineering Department of the University of Louisville. My brother taught there for many years, till he retired a few months ago. Don had to say a few words after receiving his award so he thanked the IE (I think that stands for Industrial Engineering) department for giving this award to a civil engineer. That has to be an inside joke, because I don't understand the humor! Do you? :) Anyhow...

Don first graduated from Illinios Institute of Technology in Chicago, with a Civil Engineering degree. He then earned an M.B.A. degree from the University of Louisville (1983) and a Master of Engineering Management degree (1999). Don is also the author of a textbook on construction management. Dr. John Usher present the award to Don. Shannon Graves is a chemical engineer and the alumni ambassador who organized this year’s event. Those are the people pictured above.

The card I made to send to Don is 5" x 7". Colors are Cranberry and Black. I used the star paper from Game On paper pack from Close To My Heart. I also used the stamp sets, Star Struck and Shining Star. Embellishments are from the gold My Accents and black My Accents. The ribbon came from my stash, and I think I purchased it from www.reasonableribbon.com.

Thanks for stopping by,

Until next time!

Happy Scrappin'

Inky Hugs

Leanne

And so the "Tis the Season" begins...

Greetings from the Rubber Room!

I can't believe its been over three weeks since I have posted anything. My deepest apologies for not posting sooner. Don't you just hate it when life gets in the way of your passion? I am not grumbling too much...but that creative to do list is growing! So what have you been up to in the past few weeks?

Well, I did manage to get all four of the grandchildren together and off we went trick or treating. Jaden didn't care too much about going door to door, but loved dressing up in his costume. A friend from church gave Kevin a couple of Halloween costumes for the twins, a couple of years ago. Kevin and I thought for sure these costumes would make it to this year. It would have, if the twins didn't go through a growth spurt not too long ago. So, our little Jaden looks like he was poured into his suit. He didn't care...he just enjoyed the day. And Benny walked around with his head cocked to the side, because the bird costume's hood (which was the bird's head) was just way too heavy. Deborah dressed up as another princess this year, Princess Jasmine and Matthew wanted to be a fireman.

Here are the kids right before we took off to go trick or treating. Of course, while trying to take pictures, do you think the children would hold still to capture one pic of all them smiling at the camera? LOL I got one but without Benny! I said, "What happened to Benny?" And here he is as I am trying to get him back with the others. I couldn't resist taking a pic, dirty face or not. I couldn't resist the snapping a pic of that adorable face starring back at me through the camera lens.

So, that was our Halloween night. I can't wait to get started on the scrapbook pages for this year. I am busy trying to get all 8 pages (that's a 2 page layout for 4 albums) of Halloween 2007 done. They are presently sitting on my table waiting to be completed. But first, I have to set them aside and start of the project for this month's workshop.

The gals asked if we could do something a bit different and other than scrapbook pages. What better way to get into the Holiday spirit than to do start making Christmas cards. Now, I have been browsing the internet, and CTMH's bulletin board, looking for inspiration. I found lots of inspiration through my memberships on many yahoo groups, other consultant's blogs, and the bulletin board. Its gotten to the point to where I am a bit overwhelmed with all the talent I have found in all these places.

I just placed my order with CTMH, because I found I am in need of a few newer stamp sets. So, when that order arrives, I'll be able to buckle down and get busy. Once the cards are completed, I'll then post them here. But meanwhile, trying to get into the festive activities that this time of year brings, I made this wall hanging. I got the inspiration from my friend Laurie from Louisiana. She did the same thing, but with different papers. The colors I used are CTMH's Clover Meadow, Honey and Cranberry. Patterned paper is from Daisy D (scraps from a project I did last year). I used my Cuttlebug embossing folder "Swiss Dots" and cut the letters and tags on my Wishblade. Most of the embellishments are from CTMH or Just4funcrafts.com and the ribbon came from Reasonableribbon.com.

Until next time.... Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Scrappin'

Inky Hugs,

Leanne

November Blog Candy Blowout!

Hey everyone!

Go on over to Sheetload! They are having an awesome Blog Candy Giveaway for the month of November. Look at those goodies that you can win. 4 Lucky winners, I hope one of them is me! So go on over and check it out!

October Workshop

Hello and welcome to my Rubber Room!


I have been so busy these past couple of weeks, that I almost forgot to share the layouts we will be doing this month at my monthly workshop. The pictures are of my granddaughter, Deborah's Kindergarten graduation. She was very determined to wear her cowboy boots and hat, that her Popi gave her for Christmas. She loves those boots!










Papers are from My Reflection Notebook paper pack from Close To My Heart, along with the My Reflection My Stickease. I cut the title out on my Wishblade along with the two hearts. I used HP Photosmart Essential program for the template on the left page.

If you like the layouts I feature each month for my monthly workshops...why not consider ordering a scrapbook kit? I have all the details on my other blog http://www.creativebundles.blogspot.com/. If you have any questions, email me at Kit20296@aol.com. I'll be happy to answer them for you.

Until next time,

Happy Scrappin'!!

Inky Hugs,
Leanne

Chuga Chuga....Choo Choo

Greetings from the Rubber Room!

I thought I'd share another 2 page layout I just finished. The photos are of my grandchildren, Matthew and Deborah. Matthew was about 18 months old in these pics and Deborah was about 2.5 years. This train we had given to Deborah the previous Christmas. She loved her little train. What child doesn't love a ridem toy? Matthew was finally walking a lot better. He wanted to climb on the train and go round and round, just like big sis Deborah. So, he climbed up on the train and it didn't move. We showed him the button to push, and he would push it and the train would jerk forward. He just didn't know he had to hold the button down to continue riding. So, being the big sister that Deborah was...she showed him and continued to hold the button down and walk along side the train so Matthew could have his turn riding the train.

Papers I used here are from DCWV's Nana's Kids paper slab. Cardstock and embellishments are from Close To My Heart. The title is from Scrap Metal, in the Ravie font and the little descriptive signage above the pictures, I made on my Wishblade. Inspiration came from Becky Fleck's book, Page Maps.

Thanks so much for stopping by! I love having you visit my blog. I have a couple more pages almost complete and I'll post them in the next day or so. Don't forget to leave a comment or two. I love the feedback I receive. It always helps to improve.

So, until next time...

Happy Scrappin'

Inky Hugs,

Leanne

Playing in the snow for the first time...

Greetings from the Rubber Room...

As you can see with all that I've been posting, I've been quite busy in the rubber room. I haven't had the twins in a couple of weeks, and I've been trying to put that time to good use by trying to get more layouts done.



This particular layout really gave me a run for my money! You see...my family lives in the high desert of California. So we hardly ever get any snow. If we do, its usually overnight and its gone the next day. We're also considered in high elevation, not too far from the Tehachapi Mountains. So, if we get a little bit of snow...then we know that Tehachapi got a lot more. A few years back, my hubby and I bought some property up in the Tehachapi Mountains, in an area they call "Mountain Meadows." When we did get that little bit of snow back in the winter of 2006, we knew there would be a whole lot more up on the property. AND our granddaughter was finally old enough to go up and play in the snow. So, Kelli and her father, bundled up Deborah and off they went to the property, to go play in the snow. I sent along the camera with Kelli and told her to take lots and lots of pictures, so I could do a snow scene layout. Something I don't normally get a chance to do.



Now, let me tell you what I did. First, I took my inspiration from Becky Fleck's book, "Page Maps" on pages 14-15. I used the papers from CTMH's My Reflection Collection's "Dicken's Village." Now anyone who knows me, I have such a hard time with big empty blank spaces on my page. I had a major problem with this layout because of the big empty space at the bottom. It could represent snow...but that wasn't good enough for me. So, I thought, what does Deborah and the property have that I really want to showcase here. Pictures were taken care of for Deborah. But the property, its big and wild, and nothing but wilderness up there. What attracted me to this property in the first place was all the trees. So, with my Wishblade and a file, a member on one of the many yahoo groups I belong to, I cut out the trees, using CTMH's "Petal" cardstock. Then with my sponge daubers, I sponged, Twilight and Desert Sand on the trees to give it more dimension. Using pop dots I adhered the trees to the page. But first...the white is there and I couldn't just leave it like that. So, I turned to my creative CTMH sisters and asked for some help. I received quite a few emails explaining how to represent snow on a layout. I took all their suggestions, and went to work.



Here is what I did: I tore several pieces of White Daisy cardstock. I then took CTMH Amethyst ink and sponge the edges. I tried using Petal ink, but it turned out looking too dirty for my taste, so I switch to a lighter shade. Then I covered the front of the cardstock with adhesive. I combined, white Fun Flock and my prism glitter and spread that over the front of the cardstock. I tapped off the excess and VIOLA!!!! I loved how that turned out. I hope you can see it from the photos I took of the layouts. Now, of course, seeing the layouts in person would be so much better...but I hope this is satisfactory and you get the idea.



Thanks so much for stopping in. I am so glad we had a moment to share. Come back again and don't forget to leave a comment. I love reading them! I'll have more artwork to post in the next couple of days.

So, until next time....

Happy Scrappin'


Inky Hugs,
Leanne

Kevin in Kindergarten

Greetings once again from the Rubber Room!

I wanted to share with you the layouts I did for my son Kevin's album. The year was 1987, and he is just starting Kindergarten.

The papers are from Provo Craft. I had these papers in 8.5x11 size, but when I was at Michael's, I noticed they had the same papers in 12x12 size. I didn't have to blink twice before scrafing it up. Made doing this layout so much easier and alot more fun. All the bits and pieces of this layout is from my stash that I've been saving. Saving for what? That is why, I am going through everything and trying to use it up. The little heart in the lower right hand corner of the second page, was once a pin. I bought it at an antique store for $.50. No telling where you can find things to put your pages.

I hear some layouts calling my name...so I better get back to it. I'll have some more to share in the next day or two.

Thanks for dropping by. Don't forget to leave a comment. I love hearing from you.

So, until next time....

Happy Scrappin'

Inky Hugs,
Leanne

In loving memory...

Hello!

Welcome back to the Rubber Room!

A few years ago, a call went out from the editors of "Paper Trends." They were looking for various paper crafts items, things other than scrapbook layouts or cards. I was in my clock making phase at that time. Unfortunately, I no longer have that picture to share...but anyways, I sent off via email and picture of a small cd clock I had made to the publishers. A couple days later, one of the editors wrote back to me and asked if the clock actually worked. Which it did...and then she asked for me to package it up and send it to her. She wanted to put in the Premier edition of "Paper Trends." I was so excited. So I sent off the little clock and waited for the new magazine to come out onto the stores shelves. The waiting was unbearable. I couldn't wait to see my little cd clock in print. Then one day, in the mail, I got a copy of the magazine and there on page 121 of the premier edition was my little clock and the instructions on how to make one. I was thrilled, excited, and proud to be able to contribute to this publication. I can now say, I have been published. My first and only time I have submitted anything. The editor wrote back to me ... once the magazine was published and out the door (what is they say in the newspaper industry?...put to bed? LOL) and asked me to send her my address so she could send the little clock back to me. I told her to keep it and place it in her office as a remembrance of the "premier" edition of her magazine.

Then a few months later, I received this package in the mail. It was full of papers, and stickers, and all kinds of embellishments. Papers I had seen at my LSS and drooled over, but couldn't afford at that moment. The papers were Sharon Sonneff's Sonnets from Creative Imaginations. They are absolutely gorgeous. It was such a special event that led me to these papers, I wanted to so something just as special with them.

My sister Joella, received this poem from a friend the first year after the passing of our father. She in turn, retyped it on the computer, printed it on parchment paper and framed it. She sent it to all three of my brothers, and myself. I, in turn, retyped it and made this layout for the family album, using the special papers I received from "Paper Trends." But before I could do this layout, I wanted an angel to go on the page. I looked and looked, and I could not find an angel I liked enough to include on this layout. Then, my brother, Jeff, one Christmas, sent my family a personalized serving tray and this sweet little angel was on that tray. So, now I knew what angel I wanted on it, I went in search of picture, bitmap, jpeg, book, anything that had this little angel. Then one day, someone on one of the groups I belong to, shared a link for all kinds of artwork. As I was browsing through this website, http://www.senecapondcrafts.com/ I found that little angel. I was thrilled. So, now with all the pieces together...I finally put the layout together, with the help of Becky Fleck's book, "Page Maps."

Now I realize the printing on the layout is so tiny and you probably can't read the poem...I thought I would share the poem here with you.

My First Christmas In Heaven

I see the countless Christmas trees
around the world below,
with tiny lights, like Heaven’s stars,
reflecting on the snow.
The sight is so spectacular,
please wipe away the tear...
for I am spending Christmas with
Jesus Christ this year.
I hear the many songs
that people hold so dear...
but the sounds of music can’t compare
with the Christmas choir up here.
I have no words to tell you,
the joy their voices bring,
for it is beyond description,
to hear the angels sing.
I know how much you miss me,
I see the pain inside your heart,
but I’m not so far away,
we really aren’t apart.
So be happy for me, dear ones,
you know I hold you dear.
And be glad I’m spending Christmas
with Jesus Christ this year.
I sent you each a special gift,
from my Heavenly home above.
I sent you each a memory
of my undying love.
After all, love is a gift more precious
than pure gold.
It was always most important
in the stories Jesus told.
Please love and keep each other,
as my Father said to do.
For I can’t count the blessing or love
He has for each of you.
So have a Merry Christmas and
wipe away that tear.
Remember, I am spending Christmas with
Jesus Christ this year.

Thanks so much for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed yourself and found some inspiration. I am heading back to my corner and work some more, so that I have more to share with you on another day. Come back again.

Until next time,

Happy Scrappin'!

Inky Hugs,

Leanne