We're down to the wire!  Only two days until Scrap Madness begins on our forum.  For those of you that don't know your way to the forum, you can join at www.bostonscrapfanatics.com.

Scrap Madness will be a month-long blast of challenges, games, projects w/instructions, techniques w/instructions, and just plain fun!  There promises to be something for everyone.  So if you're looking for inspiration; if you've lost your mojo and can't find it ... then Scrap Madness is the place for you!

See you there!

SPOILER ALERT!!!  SPOILER ALERT!!!


Only 5 days til Scrap Madness over at www.bostonscrapfanatics.com

And as a 'prelude to madness' Tina has posted the following question:  What is your favorite way to use ribbon?

And some other hints include:

• find those eyelets
• dust off your chalks
• find a roll of masking tape and keep it handy
• have your scraps handy
• keep your pens nearby

This promises to be a 'month o' fun'!  I hope you'll join us!

While the Cat's Away Challenges!

I went away to crop for the weekend and to celebrate my 60th birthday.  Not sure how much celebrating was done as I spent most of the weekend in bed with a miserable cold.  And I only managed to get 3 layouts done the entire weekend.  That's not so surprising because I am not a power scrapbooker ... I tend to be more slow and steady.

Anyway, while I was away, Dawn C., a member of BASF decided to have some fun and posted a challenge called "While the Cat's Away" ...  She challenged folks to post some inspirational ideas, layouts, sketches, etc.   To help get the ball rolling, Dawn posted this sketch:

And Shari rose to the challenge with this layout:

Nice job on the layout, Shari!

Then in true BASF fashion, others jumped on board.  Tina posted some helpful instructions on 'word art':

To journal within a circle:

• Open up MS Word
• Click on the oval shape.  Click and drag on your page to make the desired size.
• Double click on the shape. A box should pop up to format the shape. Click on color to make it no fill. Click on size to make sure the width and height are the same. Otherwise it would not be a circle.
• Click OK
• Click on the text box. Click and drag over the circle shape.
• Click on the text box again. A box should pop up.  Click on color and choose no fill. Change the width and height to the same size as the circle. 
• Click OK
• Click on the text box and drag it right over the circle so that it is right over it.
• Type your text as you wish and make it fit as desired.  
• Use the center button in the journal box to even out the sides as you type.

You can find other helpful tips on the forum at:  www.bostonscrapfanatics.com.

Then Lynne jumped in with another fun sketch:

And followed that up with an awesome sketch site (new to me and fabulous)!!! www.scrapsketches.blogspot.com.  Tons of absolutely gorgeous sketches to be found there!  Take a peek, I promise you won't be disappointed!

And, so not to be left out of the fun - troublemaker Amy suggested they all sneak into my house and raid my supplies!  Gotta love that girl - she gives the term 'crafty' a whole new meaning! LOL  (At a crop we went to a year or so ago, she actually glue dotted my tools down to the table.  Who said glue dots don't hold? LOL - they were S T U C K good!)

Gotta love the BASF members - always full of fun and mischief!

I just had the most wonderful birthday surprise (yes, that's right, today is my 60th birthday)!  My old employer, Pamela, owner of Pamela Hart Landscape Services, where I worked for 11 years, just came by my current place of employment with a huge bouquet of flowers.  She and Lucia, another friend from the landscape company surprised me - totally.  Words cannot express how touched I am that they remembered me.   I am  truly blessed to have worked for Pamela and to have met some of the kindest and nicest people while working there!  Thank you both!

And how cute is this card that Dawn taped to my door this morning ... Peter Pan was my favorite fairy tale growing up!  

And it came complete with extra cuts so I can do a layout on my fav fairy tale!  Thanks, Dawn!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day in the neighborhood, would you be mine, could you be mine, won't you be my neighbor?

If you haven't visited the forum, you're missing this week's challenges posted by Tina and Lynne.  Tina's is particularly interesting.  She is asking us to create a layout using our most commonly used expression.  As an example, she offers her's which is "the reality is" ...

Fun challenge, Tina.  But, I may have to excuse myself from this one as my most commonly used expression may not be suitable for a layout!  LOL

Lynne's word challenge this week is Balliwick, a particularly unusual word.  She gives this definition:

Noun: 1. a person's specific area of knowledge, authority, interest, skill or work; 2. the office or district of a baliff


Be sure to post your response to the challenges here so that we can all be inspired!

March Madness is coming to the BostonScrapFanatics.  Each day, beginning March 1st., a new project, challenge, layout, card, ATC or other bit of inspiration will be posted.  There will be games, trivia and prizes!  The person that participates in the most activities wins a prize and a free crop!

To join in on the fun, go to www.bostonscrapfanatics.com and follow the registration guidelines. If you are already a member of the group, you are all set and ready to begin on March 1st.

Come join the fun!

I am now the proud owner of this delicious paper pack by Tim Holtz "Kraft Resist Paper Stash."  It's even more beautiful in person.  The back side of each sheet is pure kraft.  Love love love it!

Have an awesome night!

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE Canvas Corp!?!  Check out what I just found on their blog!

I love wreaths and this one rocks!!!

Anyone that knows me knows that I am a coffee fiend!  Check out this new line by Canvas Corp.

Just love me some Canvas Corp!

Each week Tina and Lynne post challenges to keep us inspired.  This week's Wednesday word is "CLEAVE."  Head on over to www.bostonscrapfanatics.com to get the definition.  Be sure to share your layouts from this week's word.  We would love to see how Lynne's word inspired you.

And for some more fun, check out Tina's challenge this week!  It is to create a non-traditional Valentine ATC or card.  Tina is defining non-traditional as not using the word love, not using the color red and not incorporating a heart into your piece.  Can't wait to see what you all come up with!  Here's Tina's sample:

Tina

Dawn

A hug can turn a frown into a smile.

When I woke yesterday, in my quiet time with God, I was struck by how blessed I am. Not only do I have two homes, a car, a functioning automobile, a wonderful family and an awesome circle of friends, but I also have a wonderful employer, Sue.

When I returned to work yesterday, after having taken time off last week to take Eligio to two doctor's appointments, and out Monday and Tuesday of this week because of his hospitalization, Sue called to check on how I was doing.  And when Brian, her son, handed the phone to me, I knew I had to tell her how grateful I was that she was in my life.  And I did just that.  And because I was speaking from my heart and with unabashed honesty, the conversation got a bit emotional.  Brian, who was sitting across the office said "Oh, no, Carol, don't cry" and promptly got up and hugged me.  Now I ask you, how lucky can a girl get?  I have an employer who is understanding and very generous and am surrounded by technicians that are fun, helpful and genuinely caring.  My job is yet another blessing I add to my gratitude list each day!

My gratitude list keeps me positive in a negative world.  It keeps me upbeat and happy and reminds me of how grateful I am for the things I have and not focused on the things that I do not have.  It reminds that life is a true gift.  I tell you, I am abundantly blessed.

It's been a rough 48 hours here at the Levesque ranch.  It all started last Thursday (yes, I know that's longer than 48 hours ago) when Eligio told me he had a funny feeling in his lower left gum.  Since then we've had two dental appointments, swished with a medicated mouthwash, gone through half a bottle of tylenol and half a bottle of ibuprofen, and had a wisdom tooth extracted, followed by a script for vicodin.  But the real fun began last night at 2am when he was carried out to Mass General by ambulance.  Since then he's had two surgeries, a breathing tube inserted and a surgical drain placed in his neck!  All of this because of a funny feeling in his gums!  He's being kept sedated for the next two or three days until his breathing tube is removed.  And that can't happen until the swelling, which is so bad it's squeezing his air way shut, goes down.

Needless to say, it's been a whirlwind around here. And just to throw a bit more in the mix, while helping Eligio transfer at 2am from his bed to his wheelchair I wrenched my knee.  I mean I WRENCHED my knee.  So while the ambulance and fire department were here prepping him for his trip to the hospital, I left Robert with Eligio while I came downstairs to get dressed for the trip.  My knee is hurt so bad that as soon as I took one step down my knee gave way and I fell down the stairs.  Yup, that's me! Now I know that if I yelp or cry for help a second ambulance will be here to carry ME to the hospital.  So I got myself up and tried to just go about the business of getting dressed and out the door to the ambulance, which I managed to do, all while limping.

I'm home now and hoping to get some rest.

But, in all of this, I learned one very important thing:  firemen smell of old smoke.  Yup, that's the thought that I kept having while they were assessing Eligio:  "man they smell like old smoke"!  And in my true style of not editing my thoughts before they come out my mouth, I ALMOST told them that.  But the pain in my knee was a total distraction and even I realized the ridiculousness of that statement!

Okay so I was a little confused yesterday!  Davide IS Italian, but he lives in Germany and speaks very good English! LOL  He's such an interesting guy.  He's returning to NYC today and making arrangements to play in Times Square.  I so cannot wait to go see him in concert!

Davide Martello (Google him!)

He was showing us pictures yesterday.  Turns out he did not play in an ocean but in a lake! Whatever, it's still a large body of water!  And his feet were submerged while he played!  Then he shared a picture of himself playing IN THE MIDDLE OF A HIGHWAY.  That was wild and he obviously lived to tell about it.  Seems he likes to bring his music to unusual places!  More later when my pics of him are transferred and posted! Oh!  He also completed two 12 x 12 layouts!  And, they were both adorable!

I'm off to finish up a layout for the Sketch Challenge and the Color Combo Challenge.  Have an absolutely wonderful supercalifragilistic kinda day!

I'm so glad it's Friday.  Work is over for the week and I get to play with paper tomorrow.  A friend has a friend visiting from Italy and they are both coming here to crop!

This is no ordinary visitor!  This man plays piano in the middle of the ocean!  Yup, that's right.  And, Mishe, my friend, is bringing him here because he truly wants to scrapbook.  I'm not exactly sure how or what he'll work on, but this promises to be a very interesting time!  I'll definitely post pics later.

Let me paint a picture for you of the group:  Mishe, a sweet, soft-spoken woman; Tina, a sarcastic and witty woman that excels at one-liners; myself, well let's just use the adjective blunt, tho some call me 'salty' and Davide, a pianist from Italy that speaks very little English.  Fun!  One thing I know for sure - laughter is universal and there will be lots of that!

Now that I've made a commitment to blog, I need to step up my commitment to getting layouts done.  Specifically, I need to work on the Monthly Sketch Challenge, the Monthly 'Recipe' Challenge and the Monthly Color Combo Challenge.  If you haven't seen these yet, you can find them here: www.bostonscrapfanatics.com. I do hope you’ll join in the fun.  Be sure to post your layouts at: http://www.bostonscrapfanatics.com/cpg1/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=login

and remember the gallery requires an initial registration and log-in.  Can't wait to see what you all do.

Well it would appear that I've been somewhat successful at this blog thing.  It's both fun and frustrating, at the same time.


I mentioned yesterday that you were here just in time to take part in our February challenges.  Each month we have three monthly challenges: a sketch challenge, a color combo challenge and a 'recipe' challenge.  The sketch and color combo challenges are pretty much self explanatory.  The 'recipe' challenge is not about a food layout, though it certainly could be if you so chose, rather it's a challenge to use up your stash.    These challenges are posted on the first of the month.


We also have fun weekly challenges posted on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.   On Tuesdays, Tina Mello, a long time member in good standing (sometimes, LOL) posts a random challenge for us for that week.  And on Wednesdays, Lynne posts a word challenge.  These challenges are stored on the forum for inspiration and are referred to often by members.


So without further delay, our February challenges are:

Carol

Shari

And, just because Valentine's Day falls in February, I have added a card sketch as well:

Shari 

Our color combo this month is a simple one:  neutral colors - black, white and beige (any or all listed) and a hint of color - pink or red because it's Valentine's Day, and add a heart.  Easy peasy!  Have fun!

And to inspire you ... 

Lynne

Shari

And finally, we have our 'recipe' challenge offered by Tina.

Ingredients: kraft paper, cardstock, jute (twine or other string/ribbon), chipboard embellies, ink or paint, metal (jute is stapled), title letters

Technique: stenciling and distressing

For inspiration, check out Tina's layout.

Tina

And, when you're done, please share your finished projects with us at:

www.bostonscrapfanatics.com

The gallery requires you to register and then log in.  You'll find a folder for each challenge. Thanks and have fun!

I've been struggling with creating a blog for a long while now.  It's time to bite the bullet and muddle my way through this maze.  I hope you'll enjoy what you see here and will come back to visit us often.  My goal is to keep the blog active and full of wonderful ideas to inspire you.
Our group is not made up of Boston scrapbookers alone.  We have scrap buddies from all over the US and Canada. So please, if you do not live in the Boston area, don't hesitate to join in.
To get to know us on a more intimate level, please join our forum at www.bostonscrapfanatics.com
And you are just in time to join us for our new monthly challenges.  Each month you'll find a sketch challenge, a color combo challenge and a recipe challenge.
Hope to meet you on the forum!




Carol