It's the little photos

I was talking with a relative I haven't talked to in years and we were reminiscing about our parents, who have all passed, and the memories we remember. I talked about how my parents would walk the quarter mile to her parent's house to play cards and how her mom always made my dad eggs sunnyside up when he was at their house for breakfast.  I realized its the little things that the memories are made of. 

That's when I started thinking about the photos we take to keep memories to share. We take photos of vacations and birthdays and other special gatherings and occasions but we rarely take photos of the everyday things that make our lives complete. 

Why? Because at the time these events are taking place, we're not thinking of the future or how special these moments will become as we grow older. We don't even think. We may comment on how sweet it is or nice but we don't realize that someday this present will become the past and those everyday simple things, mundane things, we take for granted will have deep, deep meaning for us. Meanings of missing, of loss, or wanting to regain and hold on to what is now gone. 

I've decided to rethink my picture taking and thanks to our wonderful digital world, I can. I need to start taking pictures of the everyday events that my family goes through. The cute, the sweet and even the mundane things we do will one day make memories we will miss. 

So as your children hurry to catch a school bus and there is chaos going on all around you or your hubby is grilling on the weekend like any other weekend grab a camera, snap a picture, and snap a memory.  A memory that doesn't seem to have much meaning today will be so precious and close to your heart as you grow older and look back.

Wednesday Wearin'

of the green.

I said I was behind on my St. Patrick's day crafts. 

I designed these cards and made them to help celebrate the wearin' of the green. The sad part is that I never sent them to anyone. They are still sitting on my desk right here in front of me. I have a horrible habit of designing and making things and then never going any further with them.

I have realized that designing things is a therapy for me. Designing makes me happy and organizes my thoughts. It also is horrible at taking time away from things I should be doing like cleaning the house or washing the clothes. The chores that I really hate to do but in the end must and will always get done. 

I sometimes have to tell myself I'm not allowed to design or craft until my chores are done. This usually helps but not always. The computer and designing is a strong drug for me at times. 

So that being said, here are my belated St. Patrick's day cards...

I used this design to create the design for the card below. I realized after posting that I had forgotten to rotate the pictures. Oops. I just read recently that it's almost impossible to find a four left clover. I need to look that up for sure. I remember finding lots of them growing up in the country.

We all need our green beer on St. Partick's day or any other day for that matter. I'm not a beer drinker but my family sure likes their beer. We're Polish not Irish but that's okay when it comes to celebrating St. Patrick's day. I think we're all Irish on that day.

Have a happy day and see you back here tomorrow.

Butterfly Explosion Photo Box

I'm still fighting my cold but life goes on so today I took some quick pictures of my Butterfly Explosion Photo Box I was talking about yesterday. I worked with some of the pictures but most are just as I snapped them since I'm running out of steam and my eyes are crossing. 

Here is the outside of the box and the cover:

I added colored glitter glue to the wings of the butterflies and the three rhinestones came from Mariam's Craft Source.

Inside of box:

 Pink glitter glue and pink rhinestones add and extra touch to a page.

 I designed these pockets so that poems, sayings or journaling can be done and a photo can go on the outside area. There are two of them on the bottom layer.

 I love putting my embossing machine to work to add some textures to areas inside where a photo will go.

 Layering area where a photo will go can also give that little extra pretty look to the inside.

Here is the box open and flat with my original designed butterfly. I put him on coiled jewelry wire to he looks like he's flying.

The picture doesn't do him justice. My daughter came in and saw him and exclaimed how pretty the butterfly and explosion box is and as she puts it, she's not a fan of pink either.

I didn't go into details of the measurements of this box but if you'd like more info on how I made it, please post in the comment section below.

Tomorrow I'll be back with some more St. Patrick's day projects that are late for the posting.

It's still cold season?

I am the lucky winner of a spring head cold. I can't complain (too much) because I could have the flu.

Having a cold or being sick with anything makes crafting hard but I was determined to get some done. I'm working on an Explosion Box to donate to a craft show. 

I would like to get at least 6 of them done but we'll see. I am learning that when I want to make something to sell or donate to be sold, it is wise to design my own projects so I don't infringe on any copyright laws. I designed my Explosion Box, but there are so many free cutting files out there or you can find lots of tutorials on how to cut them out without a machine that I don't think it would be a problem to use one but better safe than sorry.

I'll post pictures and info when I get it all done but what I want to show you today is the butterfly I created in Inkscape to go in the middle of my box. I actually designed two but only used one. 

I wanted some fanciful butterflies and I think they turned out okay for my first try. I saved them as svg. and png. files so I can cut or make a digi of them. I have some grand ideas for these two butterflies.

You'll have to wait to see which one I chose for my explosion box. 

Maybe having a head cold helps instead of hinders my creativeness. Hmm. Still don't like it.

Have a great day!

Time to get back at it

Do you ever get in a slump in life? I think we all do but if you never have, please let me know how you have not so I can learn how not to. :)

I have found that as my children get older I get more busy with them and less busy with crafting. I thought I was busy with the children when they were small and I organized a mom's play group. I felt that since I put the activities on the calendar for our group that meant I needed to show up to them or almost all of them and we were a pretty busy group. Now the children are all busy with after school activities so if I want to craft I have to get it in before I need to get ready and pick them up from school and that's where my other excuse for not crafting come ins: Facebook.

I have also found out that Facebook becomes an excuse for not doing what you should be doing. I get lost in my Facebook page reading comments and stories and looking at videos my friends and family post. I just need to turn it off but it's addictive. 

I do make things and sometimes even take pictures but it's the getting them up on my blog that lags and is neglected so I am going to try to be better about it at least until I click on my Facebook tab again. 

I made a few things for St. Patrick's Day and even took pictures but since I was on vacation during St. Patrick's Day, I didn't get the pictures posted. 

Here is one to wish you a belated St. Patrick's Day...

 I made these using a file from SVG Attic called Charmingly Green and my Silhouette. I cut out circles in yellow paper to look like gold and hot glued them around the edges. It made the inside higher so I could add treats on the top as well as the inside of the box. The top of the box comes off. I put mini Reeses peanut butter cups inside and mini Rollos on the top.

Thanks for helping me get on track again with my crafting. I have more projects to share so come back tomorrow to see what I made. Tomorrow's project is something I designed myself for my file cutting machine.