Saturday, January 30, 2010

The {not SO big} REVEAL!

Oh, FRIENDS!

I didn't mean to tease you with "the big reveal will be on Friday!" and not deliver! So sorry about the delay... Goodness, gracious, preparing Scrapland for a photo shoot required a LOT more tinkering than I expected! Well, all I can say is, "thank you for you patience!"

And with out further delay..... Somebody please yell: "DRIVER move that BUS!"

New S-C-R-A-P-L-A-N-D!
(This view is right as you enter through the main door...)



That's some SERIOUS curio...-ing!
{For the curious..}

And just a little bit closer, now...
{Aay- aay- oh- OH!}

Little bit wider NOW!
{Aay-aay- oooh- ohh- ohhhhow!}

And... beginning to look to the SOUTHERN side-o-town...


I'm really proud of this counter-top thingy! It's two, painted, pine shelves, screwed together and then topped with a strip of a sewing top cutting pad that {yes, I've had for 9 years!} I've looked after for FAR too long! Hee Hee I had huge plans to top that sucker onto a table top for giving classes.... but I never got the table or taught the CLASSES... so, uh... I had an epiphany ~ CUT IT to a more useful size! So, I dragged it down to the local {small!} hardware store and had them cut it on their table saw, thereby saving myself the gas that I would have spent, taking it to the plastics store... AND the aggravation of waiting for hubby to do it... Anwhoo, I was even able to use the other side, on the little counter space as you walk in, on your right..


AND, this one's kind of redundant, but I'm leaving it in for show... Oh, wait, this angle works to show these funky shelving units ~ I acquired them for OLD Scrapland from my DEAR friend {Hi, LORETTA!}... they were extremely affordable and I gave them a bath made from two colors of paint and glazing medium... Just kind of nice to quite down the oak look and make them seem more scrappy and less "entertainment wall..." They work wonderfully AND they are STRONG enough to park an elephant on top.... {you'll see..... hee heeee!}


Oooow, wait, instead of going south, I backtracked to me "main corner" or "home" position, where I'll be doing most of my work... {Oh, yeah! The stuff with paper... and ink and glitter and STUFF! Hmmmm... a place for my stuff? Do I have any STUFF? Do WE have and love our stuff? Ohhhh, YEAH!}



Okay, sorry ~ it's late ! That's why it's dark outside my cool French doors, but I just had to give you guys the JUICE! Anywhoo, now we're BACK to the "southern" side of town... Here's my big card holder thingy and horsie picture, in context to the other fun goodies! Hey! That black and white photo is a picture of MY grandmother in Ireland, when she was 14 years old! Talk about your vintage treasure.... Hmm.. At further review, that frame may require some crackle, too... HEE HEEEEEEEEEEEE!


I found the perfect GALVI socket cover for under my chicken wire, card viewing contraption! You migh-a-noticed... I have a little thing for galvanized steel STUFF! Also, ya see that cover on my lil' couch... That was my color inspiration for OLD Scrapland, but I'm still trying to make it work.... {Sorry, Andi, not a stitch of distressed leather in the place!} I've always planned to sew the comforter into an actual slip-cover {have you SEEN the price of slip-covers!?! *gasp!* I DON'T THINK SO!}


Now, visitors, we've turned our camera towards the NORTHERN side of SCRAPLAND...



Still looking north, but slightly east... towards my main door that I'll someday paint, too... But not until down the road... AFTER I've taught myself how to make CARDS again... {Sometimes it's so hard to shift the old gears!}


Now, I'm shooting from a seated position, on my little couch, you can see the roof a bit more and get SOME idea what I meant when I mentioned those cabinets are STRONG!



REALLY strong!

Can you see my AUTOGRAPHED picture of WYNONNA!?! {Love her!} She might need a crackly frame one of these days...

Another shot towards the "back" of Scrapland from me STANDING on top of my tables, which is what I've always done, to access my stamps! Yep, their up there pretty high! I can reach most of them just by standing, but I try to put real oldies and goodies at the tippy top, since I probably don't use them... EVERYDAY... ahem.. YOU COULD DANCE on my tables... talk about STRONG! Speaking of strong... that horsey portrait is "Tess!" She's a CHAMPION quarter horse that I have been painting for a dear friend for WAY too long... Perhaps, by sharing my sin with y'all.... I'll have the discipline to finish {the background is what gets me!} and free my soul! My goodness, has that girl been patient with me! Anywhoo, I have to confess that "Tess" looks pretty good in New Scrapland... (*cough-cough!*)


And, finally, one more shot of the TOWER of POWER!

Husband wants me to mention the "shear wall" {don't even know if I'm spelling it right} construction of New Scrapland... "tell your blog friends..." , he tells ME! "That they should think about this in THEIR rooms..... BECAUSE it's so safe to drill into and hang shelves from......" Quite proud of himself, he is.... And I'm just going to be very quite right now... {hee Hee}




But, seriously, friends... It was unexpected, yet a very practical decision to leave Old Scrapland and give it back to "Nona..." Hard to believe I've been at this for a little over a month! I don't know if that time seems long or short... But either way, it's coming together. I really want to thank you SO much for your encouragement, love and support! Sharing all of this with you is such a gift! {If it weren't for BLOGLAND, I'd have to have you all over!} As you can see, I have accommodations for one, maybe two guests at a time, so we'd be doing A LOT of visiting! Hee Hee {Not to say that I wouldn't mind HEARING from you, if you ever do come though town... Y'all c'mon by RANCHO DURENBERGER and SCRAPLAND, now!} Yet, until then, I'm just so appreciative of you allowing me to share this journey with all o you, sweet ones...

{I hope I've made some sense and not too many typos... its been a LONG one and I'm about to drop... Night-night, or g'morning.... either way, I can't wait to hear from you! Thanks again!

Bye bye, now... {somebody pull the plug!}

Yawn!

I love ya, maaaaaan!

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Vintage HORSEY magic... and wonderful news!



It's today, its' today, it's TODAY!

Howdy, FRIENDS! I am so beyond honored to share some fabulous news with y'all...





Just this week, the sweet and talented Dawn Woleslagle, announced that she will be creating and marketing her very own line of stamps!!! I am tickled for her, because I have long been a fan of her hugely elegant and crisp design style... and at further inspection, discovered that she is actually a professional graphic artist! Her eye for composition and color is flawless ~ in my lil' opinion... So, when I learned of this new endeavor, I was so excited for her! But THEN, I was excited for ME!!!!!! Why? You might ask....

She invited me to be on her design team, alongside some VERY impressive paper crafters, starting with Maile Belles, whom she introduced yesterday...! There are a few MORE crazy-talented gals, who, Dawn will introduce in the coming days! So, keep an eye out for that!

I'm always impressed with Dawn's graphics that she creates for her blog, so I can only imagine what she does professionally! In the meantime, we get to look forward to her new STAMPS! Her blog features a subscription button, and I hope you'll consider showing her some support with her new line. I've had a sneak peak and I can tell you that designing with her stamps is... going...to..be... such....... hard WORK! N-O-T! Hee Hee {They're AWESOME!}

So, there's THAT excitement! Wahooooo!

In the meantime....



I'm pretty excited about THIS, too! A lil' decorative project that's been a long-time brewing in my chaotic little brain! Come a little closer and let me tell you how I REALLY feel... {cue the band!}



If this was a musical, I'd launch into a little ditty about how long I've cared for this unfinished piece of FABULOUS POSSIBILITY... How I've loved it, protected it and dreamed for its future! Would I distress it? Would I faux finish, mural, EMBELLISH? What would become of this fantastic piece of wood that I purchased at a local craft store from THE CLEARANCE BIN!?! Do, do, do, do, do, do, dooooooooo......



Then BLUE happened! Baja Breeze, to be specific! THIS was the color that I created with multiple colors of left-over house paint that I have also cared for ... for far too long! I was endeavoring to compliment the "orange! aka, SADDLE color" of New Scrapland... and somehow, I wound up with Baja Breeze! Talk about CRAZY! But, OH, my goodness - it works!




So, THEN, there was a 10 year old jug of CRACKLE medium! Oh, BABY! Why on EARTH did I wait so long to play with this stuff! IT'S SOOOOOOOOOOO FUN! Just lookee! I mean, c'mon, I've been crackling on paper since 2003! What on earth took me so long to do it for home dec? {Shhhhh, don't answer that! ~ I'm finally realizing that the reason I've had so many home dec materials on hold for....nearly 10 years... is my nearly 9 year old DAUGHTER! HELLOOOO!}




Anywhooo, I wasn't a huge fan of the seams in the wood, so I decided to play with the magic of the crackle medium to create a faux mitered corner! Oh, just LOOK at the crackle! {So purdy!}

The masking was EASY-PEASY!



There was some naughty temptation to leave it like this:



But I'm ruled by a symmetrical gene... or something... So, I did the whole thing. {Quite frankly, I'm not DANGEROUS enough... at least not with home dec! hee hee}


This darling horse print used to hang in my brothers' rooms back when they were LITTLE! {And dinosaurs roamed....} There were actually a bunch of them, but I have a dim memory of my oldest brother, ALTERING them... {If only he know how relevant he could become in the paper crafting game all these years later... hee hee} Anyway, my mother was kind enough to save this for me! {Or, frankly, whichever kid would take it off her hands! - YUP! Me!} And I've been dreaming of the proper home for it for a few years...




Little did I know that NEW Scrapland would be just the place! I can't wait to share MORE...

I hope you'll stop by, again, {sometime!} on Friday - for the BIG reveal! No bus to move, but maybe I'll think of something... hee hee

Thanks, again, for letting me share all the fun with you!!! Just returning the favor for all that YOU guys do for ME!

xoxo-

E.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

More progress from NEW Scrapland!

I'm on a mission, friends! GET SCRAPLAND DONE and share a "big reveal" on FRIDAY!

Can she do it? YES..., she can!

Check out some home-dec FUN!




This little jewel is something I've been planning for a LONG time ~ I wanted to do this in old Scrapland, when IT was new! But once I got up and running in there, I was never able to put decorative projects back on the top of the to-do list {Wah!} So, this time, I'm sticking to my creative guns! This is a decorative CARD bulletin board, concept. An old barn window, sealed, crackled and painted.... Some chicken wire for texture and also to clip artwork to... AND SOME long curated over... COOL COWBOY FABRIC!!! Yes, ma'am! I'm "dumping tackle" in a BIG way! I've got some materials I have been guarding for nearly 10 YEARS.... {OMG!} Finally! A place for "my things!" hee hee



Lots of room for cards, and still enough for this juicy "Roy Roger's" print to S-H-I-N-E upon the walls of my lovely new Scrapland!



This was such a hot idea for me, I decided to do it AGAIN, with this cool door I found underneath our big chicken barn - this one already had the chicken wire included {WHAT a bargain!}, plus a cool kind of shelf thingy...




('Scuse the uncovered outlet - my punch list is a MILE long!)



Check out ROY and TRIGGER! Yessireee, Bob! They are looking FINE and bless them for providing me some great accent to tie so many of my new colors TOGETHER! I'm so excited to show you pictures of how they look in the context of my furniture, materials and other such yummies.... BUT... YOU HAVE TO WAIT! Mwaaaaaaahh Haaaaa Haaaa!

{It's fun to build a lil' suspense!}



I promise to have that outlet covered the next time you see this corner of New Scrapland! Okay? All RIGHT!?! AND, wait! There's more!

On Thursday, I have a little announcement to share with y'all... {WHOOOPEE!} and maybe a few more pictures of some decorative work I've got going in my new digs... I guess it's safe to say that I've rounded a corner... on the way to "my new happy place!" New Scrapland is feeling more and more like "home" for me and all of my craftiest treasures... In fact, I managed to get my internet signal in there today {all by myself! Yipee!} So, I'm TRULY on my way!

Thanks, SO much for letting me share this journey with you all! I am so appreciative of all the funny comments and kindness you've all shown to me during this process... It has REALLY helped me on the difficult days... I can't even tell ya!

Okay! Bye now!

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Happy Birthday, Christi!



What are your favorite things about blogging?

I have far too many to count... but, guess what? I'm going to share one of my FAVORITE reasons to blog, right NOW!




I made this little card to celebrate the birth of Christi Milliken, 50 YEARS ago! Happy BIRTHDAY, girl! Surprise! It's your day, and I'm part of YOUR birthday blog hop! Yipee!



Okay, if you don't KNOW Christi, yet ~ you're not alone! I don't know her, VERY WELL, at this point, but that's no biggie... THIS IS BLOGLAND! I've been to Christi's blog via challenges and here and there {she's VERY talented! Stop by and see her amazing work, if you have a chance!}, but I don't KNOW, know her... Here comes the REALLY cool part! Christi's parents contacted me many, MANY months ago. They found my name on her blog and decided to include me on a list of bloggers who might contribute to a special celebration for this momentous birthday celebration... HOW COULD I REFUSE! Is it possible that she has some of the most darling parents on the PLANET!?!?! Well, I won't qualify them any further, except to say that in addition to being thoughtful ... they must be pretty brave! Whether it was to delve into technology or reach out to strangers... or ALL OF THE ABOVE....! I was SO impressed with their unique plan and LOVE for their, sweet baby girl! She MUST be extraordinary, IRL! hee hee {No pressure, Christi, I'm just sayin'... YOUR parents rock! And they must have pretty good reason!}

Not only that, but I really appreciate the "kick in the pants" this particular commitment was for me, being that I haven't stamped, glued or crafted in any way other than HOME DEC, since the fabulous 12 days of T!m tags... Scrapland has been under some MAJOR construction and NO crafting has been possible! THANKS to Christi and her parents, I was forced to make it work ~ and I'm GLAD for the incentive... HAPPY incentive!

Here's some detail of this fun sheep from October Afternoon ~ I busted out some old Liquid Applique from Marvy! {Almost forgot HOW magical that stuff is! Woops!}


Oh, friends. Papercrafting! {I've missed the magic!}

And because I was actually up and running with this card AND a fun little gifty that Christi will receive in the mail..... {probably not by TODAY *doh!* Sorry, hon! Monday or TUESDAY at the latest! It was QUITE a week!} Anywhooo, my maiden crafting event in NEW Scrapland!, happened, thanks to CHRISTI! In celebration, I'm going to give you a {MESSY!} sneak peek at how things are shaping up!



So THERE! Wahooooooo! What a cool way to celebrate SO many things! But especially Christi and her parents, Ken and Pat ~ what a lovely family! Here are the other blogs for hopping! Play along, if you have time or just give Christi a shout out - SUCH a great thing about BLOGLAND! I love it!


1. June Houck http://simplyelegantpapercrafts.blogspot.com/

2. Jeanne Tomshack http://tomshack.blogspot.com/

3. Barb Walker http://thebuzzfromqueenb.blogspot.com/

4. Stacy L http://impressionsofaribbonaddict.blogspot.com/

5. Christi Thorsen http://cici510.blogspot.com/

6. Cammie (Carolyn King) http://myblogbycammie.blogspot.com/

7. Marie Isom http://isomcre8tions.blogspot.com/

8. Mary Ellen Harrison http://abeautifulscrapbook.blogspot.com/

9. Sarah Masteller http://sarahspapertray.blogspot.com/

10. Susan Roberts http://rainy.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/

11. Jeanette Fincher jcfincher.blogspot.com


Here's a run down on my supplies... {forgive me if I leave something out! It's been a while since I've thought about my supplies..., other than where to PUT them in my new scraproom! hee hee}

C/S - Stampin' Up!
D/P - October Afternoon
Stamps - October Afternoon (sheep) & Inkadinkadoo (sentiment)
Ink - Stampin' Up!
Sticker Letters - October Afternoon
Border Punch - EK
Ribbon - Michael's

Thanks for visiting me today!!! It feels good to be back! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Chirsti!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

New SCRAPLAND: progress report!

Hello, fine and funny friends of BLOGLAND!

Thanks for all of your support and understanding about my disappearance from the land of BLOG! Where have you been ALL my life ~ I love it! It felt wonderful to hear from so many of you and I so appreciate the patience and encouragement you've all shared so generously!

Here are some progress pictures of NEW SCRAPLAND! The painting and carpet are done and WHAT a color challenge I have given myself! When I get it together, I'm going to challenge myself to make some cards showcasing the colors I have chosen. {And, it WILL be a challenge! hee hee} I started with a color called "saddle"...


My husband walked in and asked "what made you choose ORANGE!?!"

Luckily, for him, before I could answer {or throw something at him...} he said, "it looks GOOD!"

Then, there was a 5$ bucket of this great color ...


I don't even know what it's called, but it was so close to the darkest color on the swatch of my "western" saddle color.... that I grabbed it for accent! Here's some more shots around the room..

For the beams, I mixed the two, purchased colors, with one of those groovy mixing attachments you pop right on to a screw gun! Wahoo! Who needs the Kitchen Aid! That baby blends color - like buddah!



Here's me, swaddled in paint clothes and perched from my ladder, frantically doing some touch up before....



CARPET!



Hee Hee! Lookeee! It's CLEAN! And new! And smells REALLLLLLY nice! It's THE nicest carpet in all of RANCHO DURENBERGER! {I guess that's a little perk for giving up old Scrapland... Oh, YEAH!}



Right AFTER this photo was taken, I took a nap RIGHT ON THE GROUND!

{Not really, but I thought about it for a LONG time!} hee hee

So, FRIENDS! That's progress! Thanks for letting me share!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

HAPPY New Year! Urrr, a few weeks later..

Bang THOSE pots and pans, girrrrrl! A belated HAPPY NEW YEAR to all of you!



Hello, wonderful friends of Blogland! I have MISSED Y-O-U! Golly, golly gosh, I really have! TWENTY TEN {if you're calling it that... Somehow, I've started signing checks with 2002....(!) I know! What's the deal!?!} Anywhoo, I sure hope yours has started off with a happy bang and much happiness! Sincerely!

Me? Not so much. That's why I trotted out 1971 "me" to celebrate New Year's with y'all... Just want to tap into her {aka, me!} enthusiasm. Things started out, here at Rancho Durenberger, with a bump, and a bang and a thud... A LOT of bumps..., let's just say. As I've mentioned before, I don't like to face my "happy place" without my happy! But, as the month is flying by, and I was so busy in December... TODAY, I said "{insert expletive of choice ~ but make it count!}" to all of that rubbish! I'm getting back into the game in spite of everything! I mean to check in with as many of you as I can, so as to drink in some of that creative magic that makes this all so much fun!

I hope you haven't given up on me all together ~ I just loves ya'll sooooooo! {*sob!*}

I'll be talking with you again, SOON!