Pipes and Parmesan

.....bagpipes that is!! We spent Saturday afternoon at the Kimmel Center for a concert of the Regimental Band of Her Majesty's Coldstream Guards and the Pipes, Drums and Highland Dancers of the Royal Scots Dragoons. This was another of our gifts to Mom and Dad for Christmas. The Kimmel Center also programs free events on the great plaza inside in conjunction with ticketed events so at 1:30pm the Pipes and Drums of the Atlantic Watch performed. Such a cool way to spend the afternoon. Our tickets were 2nd balcony directly over/behind the stage---a wonderful location for this performance.

Then we came home and after a brief stop at the house, we walked uptown to our favorite Italian restuarant, Villa Barone. Dad had a number of gift certificates for there so we decided to use some of them!!! And now there's great leftovers in the fridge!

The tapestry is almost done and I'm loving the effect. Took today off from the project after working on it every night. And I got fabric to start making my charms and we ordered paper for the page swap. Life is good----

Enjoy,

Janet

Applecores, YoYos, and Tapestries

..... seems I'm having a real "love affair" with fabric these days. Maybe I've OD'ed on the scrapbooking and need a creative change. Signed up for a class at the local quilt shop (it's not until the end of March but you got 20% off if you registered in person this past weekend) and it's made from scraps using the lovely Applecore template. And then there's that cute little yo-yo maker that is probably going to play a large part in my charms for ScrapEtc. Currently working on some ideas.

As promised, here's some shots of the tapestry in progress. I was asked by the organizers of our church ladies retreat to create a banner/wall hanging. This year's theme, Tapestry of Love, is taken from the book of Colossians 2 (The Message.) Anyway, I'm collaborating with another gal who did the sketch and is working on some 3D embellishments for the piece. My job was to create the main part of the piece. Spent LOTS of time this past weekend getting it to this point. Sandy and I have been shooting pics throughout the process and she is using those shots as backgrounds for the weekend's powerpoints. Anyway, here's some in progress shots:

Tonight I'll be back at Mom's working on the cross that will be applied on top of this layer. Gave a sneak peek to Jess(the chairman) and Becky(my collaborator) yesterday and they were thrilled! It's always nice to know you've captured it right!!!!

In other creative matters, I've finished 1 page and have two others in progress for my Christmas journal. Maybe I'll sit and order photos from Snapfish tonight. It's so hard to totally create without the photos in hand.

Off to cook dinner!

Enjoy,

Janet

New Year's Day

Usually I work on New Year's Day, and normally it's the day shift because most of my kiddos have been out partying overnight and aren't functioning yet. And of course, New Year's Day is one of the days that's time and a half pay so that sweetens the deal!

This year though Jerry and Lynne, our choir director and his wife, decided to have a New Years Open House Brunch for the choir instead of an evening party. Great idea!!! Lots of food, fellowship and fun and a great atmosphere. They live out in the woods about 45 minutes away from our house and raise alpacas. All the photos are from Tuesday.

Spent some time on Tuesday afternoon working on the tapestry. Then had dinner at Mom and Dad's before going into work 7-midnight. It was SO slow and boring!

I've never been one to make resolutions. But this year I've created a "50 THINGS to do in my 50th YEAR" list. Some are serious, some are fun, some are travel related, and some are hobby related. We'll see how well I succeed as the year progresses.

Off to Mom and Dad's for dinner since it's Sandy's night to work. I think I'll take my sewing machine and work on the tapestry. Yes I promise I'll post some pics soon.

Enjoy,
Janet

It's a New Year....

and time to be more diligent in blogging. I'm going to try and update on a daily basis--no promises though! December is always such a busy month--I realized somewhere along the line that it was my 26th year working in retail during the holidays YIKES!!!!----and of course all the church activities including 4 nights of cantata and then our normal weekend of 4 services. This shot is from my view during our Tuesday night warm-up. Yes, it's tuxs for the men and fancy black for the ladies. We really do "clean up" nicely!Got my Angel Tree gifts in on time, mailed my ScrapEtc Secret Santa in time, made a ton of candy for gifts (thanks Becca for the Oreo fudge and Susan for the Chocolate Crack), didn't bake much :( , mailed Christmas cards the week after Christmas, and I'm just starting to actually do the pages of Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas album. I have a goal for that since I'm taking a class with her at Scrapbowl in mid February and I want to take it! These are the wonderful gifts I got from by Secret Santa, the very sneaky Gloria B. All kinds of fun stuff including a mannequin for my evergrowing collection and a super cute handmade album all ready for photos. Can't wait to meet her at ScrapEtc. This is the annual photo from Christmas night with Mom and Dad, Sandy and Chris and his dad. Been having them for dinner for a number of years now. The last photo is one of the things we gave Mom and Dad for Christmas--- a photo collage of us with the pics from our photo shoot with the fabulous Becky Novacek! They're currently rearranging their wall grouping to hang this!

More about what's coming for the new year and the choir New Years' brunch tomorrow. I'm off to work to take down all the holiday music and signage and set up for the BIG Buy 2, Get the 3rd FREE DVD sale!!!

Enjoy,

Janet

Shopping Terror

So horrified by yesterday's shootings in Omaha--sooo glad that all our scrapping friends are safe and praying for the families of the victims. It's so much harder when you know the place and have friends in the area.

And then I thought about it again as I walked across the parking lot and into the store to work this morning. It could happen here. It could happen in any retail store in any town or city in America. A very sobering thought.

I think it's time to go to the studio and start on my Christmas journal. I've got ideas in my head; just need to assemble. I've been sketching and journaling notes so hopefully I can make some progress.

More later,
Janet

Happy December

Can you believe it's December already???? Time for shopping, wrapping, baking, Christmas cantatas, etc. etc. etc. And of course, time for Shimelle's Journal Your Christmas!!!! Have great ideas in my head, just need to sketch them so I can actually do the pages later.

Thanksgiving was a nice peaceful day---just the four of us--- and then the leftovers on Friday. On this past Monday, I had a new experience--getting a wisdom tooth which I had chipped a piece off right before CE--extracted at the oral surgeon's. Wasn't as bad as I had expected, I actually had minimual pain even after the novocaine wore off. I didn't even take any Advil. Now to make an appointment to have a crown done on the tooth next to it.

I've spent the week weaving panels for a banner I'm making for our Ladies Retreat. The theme is Tapestry of Love and I'm sort of been commissioned to create this project. I'm thrilled with the results so far! It's really "an as-you-go" piece! I promise I'll post photos when it's a little further along.

Got our Secret Santas and Secret Sisters for ScrapEtc. this week as well as signed up for the page swap. And then there's that great collection of teal/brown/pink fabrics I bought for another signature quilt. Oh the projects!!!

Had fun on Friday doing high tea at the Mulberry. Sandy had a gift certificate that had to be used so the ladies had a tea party. Love that!!

Well it seems Blogger doesn't want me to add photos just now so I'll try again tomorrow---

Time for bed--that 7am meeting comes early!!!

Enjoy,
Janet

Monday afternoon--I added the photos!

Off for a Few Days....

I'm actually off from work until Black Friday. How cool is that???? Needed to use up my last two vacation days of 2007 so I'm just trying to get a bunch of odds and ends around the house done. The list is LONG; some fun, some not so fun so I'm trying to mix it up. Spent the morning cleaning out the closet; have a whole bag of "donate" and a whole bag of "throw out". Switched the summer and winter items. And I'm working on questionaires for ScrapEtc Secret Sisters and Secret Santas. Thinking about my Shimelle "Journal Your Christmas" album. Need to start working on a tapestry/mixed media banner I've been comissioned to do for our church ladies retreat in February. Have to finish the label and mail the Pink-Green Quilt. And shop and make my contributions to the Thanksgiving feast.

I seem to be collecting quite a few of these great mannequins----it's my current obsession!

More later,

Janet