Category Archives: Post-a-Week 2011

Aug 29

My Daily Junque Time Album

Hi, there! Yesterday I had an itch to create this mini-album I discovered by Janet Hopkins on Etsy. It came as PDF instructions only, and luckily I had most of the supplies, which were by Paislee Press’s Daily Junque line. I love this line and it’s vintage feel. I didn’t have the chipboard journal from 7Gypsies (from their Savannah collection), but I did have plain chipboard that I cut into the size and shapes according to the instructions. I also ad-libbed a little when I didn’t have all of the papers in the instruction photos, but I’m not one that has to have everything perfect. My papers worked just fine, and if you do decide to make an album like this, I wouldn’t fret if you need to substitute your own papers as well. The nicest part about this: it was easy! The instructions came from the original hands-on class taught a while back somewhere far from where I live, but Janet was nice enough to make these PDF instructions available for others like me who also want to make an album.

Janet no longer has this particular album on her Etsy site, but she has another one similar to this, and others that are also really neat. I can’t wait to fill this one with photos and journaling! Any questions, please feel free to contact me. Thanks for stopping by!

Aug 28

A little piece of Greek heaven!

The entrance, and the front of St. George's Greek Orthodox church

Yesterday I attended my very first Greek Fest. I’ve lived in Fresno for some twenty-plus years, and this Greek festival has been going on for 51 years, so I think it’s about time! My mother was originally going to come, and asked me to join her, so even though she was not able to make it, I had it firmly implanted in my mind that I was going to go. Luckily, the hubby was agreeable to come with me, so we made it a date.

First thing I noticed was the amount of cars parked bumper-to-bumper starting several blocks away…..“Oooooh, this is going to be BIG!” went through my little brain, as we searched for a place to plant our little Toyota. I got dropped off at the entrance, and I waited for hubby……a long time (poor guy!). But while I was waiting, a very nice couple walking in front of me suddenly turned around to me and asked if I had a ticket. I was taken aback as I stammered, “Uh, no….not yet…..”, when the man held one out and offered me one of their extra ones. Thanks!! That’s the second thing I noticed: the people (and I mean all of them) were extraordinarily nice! 

Since the church was the first thing in front of us, hubby and I decided to go inside and see what it’s like. Oh. My. Goodness. WOW!

St. George's Greek Orthodox church

Truly awe-inspiring. We were given permission to photograph (for which I am eternally grateful!), and as I did, I couldn’t help but feel like suddenly I wasn’t in Fresno, anymore. I felt transported to an ancient Greek Isle, or to some far-off equally ancient European city. I was compelled to be quiet, reverent, and mindful of its magnificent beauty. I could have sat down in one of the pews and meditated, soaking it all in for who-knows-how-long, but we were hungry, so we went on to where the food was.

Pure heaven on plates!

Oh, boy!! A-MAZE-ing!! Now, my husband is from the Middle East, and the food is similar, but I don’t think there is anything better than this! Pita, marinated vegetables, salads, feta cheese, shish-kebobs, grape leaves, hummus…..oh, and baklava! I have never been a fan of baklava, but I ate a piece here this evening that definitely converted me! My mission now, that I am home, is to find out the wonderful seasonings, herbs and spices that make Greek food so delicious. I can barbeque chicken, I can toss together vegetables with Extra Virgin Olive Oil, but there is something unique that they add that makes their food truly special…..so wonderful and good, you can’t get enough! But the nice thing is it’s healthy, and light enough to not make you feel heavy and bloated afterwards, so you could dance to the music later! Opa to that!

We may not have danced, but we watched others dance, which was really fun. The music (performed by the Olympians) was really wonderful. Even if you’re too shy to dance, like me, you can’t help but wiggle to the music in your chair. It’s great!

Yes(!), we saw Kopi, and he let me take his picture!

Later on after the sun went down, the dancers from the church, as well as a group from Modesto danced in their traditional dress. It was too dark to photograph, unfortunately, but it was exquisite. In the darkness, I could imagine cliffs and ruins in the background, with cobblestones beneath their feet. Beautiful and breath-taking.

Thank you to the Greek Community and St. George’s for this wonderful Hellenistic experience. Here’s to many more! Opa!

Aug 26

Embrace the need to play.

The last two words at the Big Idea Festival: embrace and play.

My page for embrace:

And my page for play:

This was the most fun page to do. Playing is good, and we all should do it more often!

I also have the final week’ layout for The Mother LOAD boot camp warm-up:

Reflection

This week is about style. I was to figure out what my style is; what are the colors I choose most, what type of embellishments do I always reach for, is there something I always tend to do on my layouts? I looked back over previous layouts, and I noticed that I have a tendency to always reach for kraft or white cardstock as my base. I like red. I like tags, fabric brads, and I like a linear look, as opposed to something whimsical, for instance. My layouts don’t have to be perfect, in fact, sometimes I like that hand-crafted-I-made-this-in-kindergarten look. It’s down-to-earth. That’s me. I have no idea what to call my style, and I don’t really know if I like my own style, but it’s comfortable. Like a pair of lived-in jeans. I have time to improve on it, however, and that gives me even more comfort.

This coming week, on Thursday, September 1, the “LOAD” part comes in, and I’ll be challenged to complete a LayOut A Day (get it?). Boot camp gets under way full-swing, and my goal is not only to get my layouts done, but do them well, and get them on this blog. Can I do it? I think I can! Until next time!

Aug 22

Goodbye, Summer Twenty Eleven!

Last night I finished filling up my ‘Summer Twenty-Eleven’ mini-book. I purchased this book from Elise Joy Blaha on her Etsy shop. It’s a 4×6″ size, and I left it on my work desk to add to, little by little. And as you can see, I added a lot, and it got big! But that was half the fun of it. The empty book came with so many cool papers in pretty colors and designs, and it’s not a book you fill all at once; rather it’s a journal that you fill as you go along with your life. I found it so much easier to do this kind of project instead of having dozens of photos in front of me, an empty book, and not enough time. It really is a journal in the sense that it’s all about the everyday happenings in your life in which you are encouraged to add photos and some cute stuff here and there. You don’t even have to be a scrapbooker to enjoy filling a book like this, because there is nothing you shouldn’t do with it, and it comes as a blank canvas with only your imagination as the guide to give it life. Since mine has so many pages, I didn’t want to tackle the daunting task of photographing it, so I thought I would try something different and [gasp!] make a video to show what I did. I like looking at other scrapper’s videos of how they create things, and especially the final, completed project.

Thanks for stopping by; I’ll be back later!

Aug 22

Live and cherish the little moments.

Two more words: cherish, and live. Days 7 and 8 with the Big Idea Festival at Big Picture Classes gives us these words to create our pint-size pages:

Vellum overlay by Webster's Pages

Good friends, good times, good life.

Four more days, and I can put the album together!

And then, on to the Mother LOAD. Week 8 is about inspiration, and where we gather it from. I seem to have plenty of it lately, and my layout is inspired by some little moments my mother and daughter shared recently. [Note to Mom: don't be mad at me; this is important and means a lot to me!]

My black and white photos seem to have come out with a greenish tint for some reason…Anyway, this is the last week of boot camp warm-up, and next week (September 1) starts the LayOut A Day boot camp! I’m ready (I think), are you? Until next time!

Aug 20

Give, Enjoy, Nest.

I’m behind at the Big Idea Festival, and just got caught up today with the last three words: give, enjoy, and nest.

Giving sure feels good, doesn’t it?

The epitome of enjoyment…life is good!

I love nesting, and I especially love the nest I’ve created with my family!

We’re half-way through; six more days to go until we have twelve words to live by, and I can put these pages together into an album!

Aug 17

Less.

Today’s word is ‘less‘.

I ended up with a hole in my head…..but then I noticed that it happens to be right where the camera was, so think of it as the ‘camera lens’. LOL! Oh, well, I spent less time on this than normal which is a good thing. We’ll see what tomorrow’s word will be!