POKEY PEAS REFUGEES CHALLENGE FOR JANUARY 2018

Love your pages, nylene. I hope Steve's eyesight continues to improve.

Glad you enjoyed your crop, msliz, and got to play with some Peas! I usually see my LO's as natural 2 page spreads, and when I work with PL page protectors I often insert a traditional full page in between two different page styles. Somehow it bothers me to have A design on the left and B on the right, even though I often mix it up a bit between facing pages on full 12x12 LO's.

Yes, @elaynef, I find the PL style harder to do than a full page LO. I miss the freedom of overlapping photos and using different sizes on a page. I also have trouble with the orientation of some of the cards, getting them to work with the orientation of the slots in the protector and those of my photos. I don't think there is a magic ratio of photos to cards, just what is pleasing to your eye. I have seen pages posted that are all photos and some that have one or two with the rest cards or pp. Some use embellishments either on the cards or on top of the page protector; some are completely flat. The page you shared with us is lovely, so I don't think you will need a lot of help in that department.

I hope you get some time to play this week, LisaDV. Adding snow removal to your normal busy schedule does not give you much free time or energy, but at some point you need to recharge your batteries, and I suspect you do that through creativity. Hope you can share the page you completed and can complete and share the one on your desk. I love to see your work.

Thanks for all the help with my Silhouette, scrapincin. I am gradually getting it to do what I want it to do. Staying with pretty smooth, light cs for now, using the 3 setting. Was happy to find out that it cut some metallic pp well with that setting, too. Have also learned to KISS (Keep it simple, Stupid!) Duh... Straight lines cut much more easily that curvy ones.

Did the title on this LO. The smaller word had letters that were WAY too fine, and the cs had been inked, so it came apart as I took it off the mat, but I was able to salvage it.

Happy family by Gramma Dee, on Flickr

Over the weekend, I also finished another simple double pager. Not a lot of extras, no Silhouette. Just let the papers step up and do their job. I didn't take the photos. My ddil from the BC coast sent them to me New Years' Eve.

Not Quite by Gramma Dee, on Flickr

I have another page ready to be assembled. Have cut and matted the photo and pp, and cut the pieces I wanted to cut with the Silhouette. Just decided it needed a little sumpin' sumpin' before I put it together, so applied a little wet medium and now I need to wait for it to dry before I finish it.

I am thinking that this will be it for my crafty binge for awhile. We are flying out to see ds & family this upcoming weekend, and my goal is to get Christmas put away before we go. Will see how that works out for me. I had actually planned to start that today, but instead I am playing around with my Silhouette, chatting on line, and now I need to drive into town to pick up a package of dies I ordered a week or so ago...

As the song says, "Tomorrow, Tomorrow..."

Hoping to get some nice snow pics this week!

I'll be back later to read & catch up.

Just wanting to wish

justjac , Happy Birthday.

I have a cake in your honor on the birthday thread on NSBR.  I hope you have a terrific day!

Happy birthday, justjac!

Happy Tuesday, Pokeys! I need to do laundry and some organizing stuff by phone, so not sure if I will get to Operation Christmas Takedown again! Will have to see. Whatever I end up doing, it does NOT look like today will be very crafty!

Here is the calendar page I started yesterday and let dry overnight then assembled. I thought the photo of Jacob skating on the home made pond would be great for a January theme.

19 January by Gramma Dee, on Flickr

While I was there, ds was busy flooding the patio just outside their walkout exit to the back yard. He was using a hose hooked up to the hot water tank and a spray nozzle he was holding out through the near ground level window. (Had already built the frame and lined it with a plastic hockey surface). Just after New Years, ddil sent a couple of videos of the boys skating on the home made rink, and on Saturday she sent me some stills to print.

Okay, off to do more mundane things. Have a terrific Tuesday!

Good morning, Ladies.

Your drawing is amazing, kellyr21. Faces are really hard, but I think you nailed it! I always struggle with shading and I envy you for being able to do that so well.

I hope Steve's eyes improve more every day, nylene. The sign in the store was really funny. Too bad he couldn't read it yet.

And I was wondering has anyone heard from maribeth at all? Haven't seen her on this board. Has anyone been in touch with her through email or PM's on other boards?

I really AM going to put some Christmas stuff away today. But the skating photos along with the scraps from the calendar page were calling me from the top of the pile on my counter this morning, so I decided to put together a couple of quick pages first. Still haven't done the journaling b/c the hand written title has to dry first, but thought I would share it now.

I was tempted to go to the Silhouette and look for images or to cut my title, but this was simpler for me. Hey, when you write your titles, you don't even have to find stickers let alone cut files!

sk8tr boyz by Gramma Dee, on Flickr

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

grammadee, your pages are all wonderful. You did a fabulous job with the silhouette titles and I love seeing all the photos on Happy family. I laughed out loud at the "Not Quite the white Christmas I was dreaming of" title. Those pages are perfect! Great paper, great icicles, fabulous title. Your January calendar page is beautiful. And that's so cool that they built their own skating area. Sk8rboyz is also amazing. I'm always so envious of your control on liquid mediums like nuvo drops for writing. When I try it, it always just looks like a mess. I hope you have your Christmas things put away, and unlike me, I hope you didn't forget anything. There is still a Christmas bauble hanging from my dh's mounted fish's mouth. The kids put it there this year and it's usually not, so I keep forgetting about it until I see it. Enjoy your weekend.

nylene, I feel for you. I know my heart would sink if my dh wasn't seeing well. But as you said, we have to give our bodies time to heal. Hopefully, he's doing a bit better everyday, even though sometimes when you're in it, you can't see it. Praying he gets better quickly.

@elaynef, how are you doing? love the meme. DS does an on-line school. His math teacher is from TX. An email went out the other day that her internet was down due to ice storm. Yesterday morning, the temperature here was warmer than southern Illinois and Austin, TX.

kellyr21, wow! that drawing is amazing! I'm so glad you are back into drawing. I think your face is fantastic. They are hard.

It's going to be 32F today. I'm so excited. Yesterday it was 23F and felt wonderful. So we'll have another melt off over the next couple of days. The snow plowed pile is already just a small mound with last weeks melt off. I was thinking we were going to have a mountain by seasons end. So yay!

Speaking of mounds, I haven't been folding my laundry as it's come out of the dryer for the last few weeks, so I need to go get that all folded and put away today. I'm taking the comforters to the laundry mat tomorrow, so I need baskets to put it in. If I don't come back the laundry monster probably tackled me.

Good afternoon, Pokeys!

I have arrived safe and sound at ds's home in Abbotsford. The girls are at school. Dgs has headed off to his university class followed by study hall. Ddil is at work. Ds is using my rental car to run some errands and volunteer at a hockey game. I am curled up on the couch with a specialty coffee enjoying the calm before the storm. 4 kids need to be taken 3 different places right after school, and we hope to grab supper together somewhere. I have my camera battery charged and ready!

Like justjac says, we have had freakish weather moods lately. Last week we had -40 windchills. This week it was well above freezing. The drive to the city was completely uneventful. The threatened storm and freezing rain ignored us.

Has anyone heard from LisaDV ? Hope that laundry monster didn't get her!

hoping you gals can play along with 28-4-28 in February. Hopefully you will be able to use some of the challenges the hosts are cooking up for LOAD, justjac. 

Hi everyone,

I'm back and safe. The laundry monster almost had me, but I beat him in the end. bwahahaha.

Don came home on Thursday evening. I've been very cautious this flu season. I know dd would not be able to handle the flu vaccine. As soon as anyone comes in from being out in public, they have to go straight to the bathroom and change clothes. (the virus can live on clothing for 13 hours). They have to wash their hands. Then any hard surface (which the virus can live on for 8 days) that followed them in gets either the lysol spray or cloth including cell phones, glasses, etc. I'm way serious, here!! Don does the routine, pulls out his laptop and I hand him the disinfecting cloth for it and his pen. Everything is A-OK. We go to bed, and he has the audacity to cough all night long. What. the What? The next morning, while telling him, no you can't kiss me. here take this (handing him an airborne) and telling him about his night time activity. He was shocked. Luckily, it appears to be a cold, but I have everyone on airborne and essential oil feet rubs. DD is still fighting the virus from earlier this month, which is just natural for her body to take longer, plus we traveled which prolongs her healing. Fun times. I hope every pokey stays flu free this flu season.

justjac, I will be looking forward to viewing your pages either via instagram or in flickr for LOAD. You always do a fabulous job.

grammadee, glad you arrived safe and had a bit of calm before the storm. I hope you get tons of wonderful photos to use.

scrapincin, your page is super cute. and, What an adorable gift!!!

kellyr21, congrats on finishing your bedroom. Snaps, Props, or whatever the hip kids say these days to mean "two thumbs up" on starting your living/craft area. We started cleaning on a storage closet on the 13th, and it's still not finished. But I've only been doing about a box a day. I did find many photo albums (the old magnetic kind of dh's from childhood through until we met - he really was a memory keeper) and so many of the newer kind with photo slots. So fun to the kids so small. I'll be going to your blog after I post this.

Waving hi to all! Hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Good Tuesday morning!

After a very busy weekend, I returned home yesterday. Flew into Edmonton, printed my photos, did a few more city type errands, then drove home. Feeling a bit stodgy today, but otherwise okay. Not anything that a pot of coffee won't remediate...

Hope your dh feels better, LisaDV and that the virus has not attacked everyone. I guess with your home schooling the kids, controlling the germs coming into the home must be a huge challenge. I don't think families are ever as sick as the first year a child goes into public school.

I left some love for your page in the Gallery, scrapincin. What a lovely gift the kids gave you. And it's great to see YOU on your page!

Hope your dh is doing well, as well, nylene and that his eyesight is coming back as the blood clears. Please excuse the language, but my dd says that we each have an "Itty Bitty Shitty Committee" nattering at us in our heads, telling us we are not good enough, that nothing is every going to get better, why try, etc. She says the challenge is to "Adjourn the meeting or the IBSC!" and just get on with doing what we do in the best way we know how.

Your bedroom redecoration sounds great, kellyr21. It is wonderful that you use your creative strengths everywhere in your home. It must feed your mojo just walking through it. Love your cards. Such rich colours.

I have some more steps in Operation Christmas Take Down to do, and won't get them all done today, but getting there... The goal is to celebrate dh's birthday Saturday here, so I need the house to be clean and tidy before people arrive for supper that evening. Later today, dh and I are going over to friends' to play cards, so I really should get going on OCT soon...

But first, I want to set up another 28-4-28 thread. I really hope the Pokeys can join in for at least SOME of the fun. The challenges I have had the privilege of previewing look fun and open to all kinds of interpretation, so hopefully you'll find something that inspires you. No need to do a lot of prep: just when you see a challenge that might work with a page or card or other project you are working on or want to do, then use the challenge and share it in that challenge thread. And here, of course!

I will link the new thread here when it is up.