A Vintage Girl

Got a little craft on...sharing some Rubber Cafe love!

I just got my hands on the McGill Paper Shaping punches and tools and wanted to try them out.  A future project is going to require me to do hundreds of these, so now is a good time to just play.

Paper is cut, I am just putting together a flower and not following the directions.  (I kind of do that from time to time).  I added a fun Blumenthal Lansing button for the center.

Once the flower was assembled, I wanted to play with The Rubber Cafe's "You're So Fine" Glitter in Diamond Clear Cool Highlight to add sparkle to the flower.

I used a brush to apply The Rubber Cafe "Scrap Happy" Glue to the flower tops and let it set for a minute to become clear and tacky.

Cover the area liberally with the glitter.

Knock off the excess glitter from the flower and return to the container.

Add some punched leaves and glue to the bottom and you have a fun, glittery flower to add to layout or other project.

Thank you for stopping by.

My love affair with Blumenthal Lansing buttons...

Hi, my name is Candy and I have an addiction to buttons.  Old vintage buttons!  So let me tell you a fun story about this little "thing" I have.

Two years ago I was asked to cover a story about Blumenthal Lansing button company for Scrap n' Art Online Magazine, at the time I was a designer for the publication.  I jumped on this chance due to my love for buttons.  Now I have to tell you that I did not really do much with them at the time, I just loved to look at them and run my fingers through them as I had a number of jars full.  I have since found quite a few ways to use them in my art.

In preparing for the article, I head on over to their website and look around.  I found out that they had been around since 1877 and at that moment I realized that I have some vintage Blumenthal buttons on a card, but the Lansing was not on the name.  With some more searching and looking at the card it was the same company and the ones I had were from the early 1900's.  I was floored.  

So here I am having to write a story on this company, show the "newest" and "greatest" from the company.  I got to work on my article and named it, "These are not your grandma's buttons, or are they"?  I had alot of fun showing photos of my vintage buttons and some new ones and telling the wonderful story about this company.  To learn more go to Blumenthal Lansing History Page. 

Now I get the opportunity to work with them through the magazine and on other commissioned projects and I am so lucky to work with them, it is truly an honor!  This last CHA show I got a chance to work with some new products that they were introducing and was put to work on a colorful, fun project that took my out of my VINTAGE BOX.  I do it kicking and screaming but I secretly enjoy it! lol.  

My daughter, Mariah, helped me with this project as well.  We got a birdhouse from the craft store and using the fun and bright buttons, bling, sequins, flowers and glitter we created this birdhouse.

I was struggling with making a bird, so I asked my 14 year old daughter to help me.  She sat down and started cutting and gluing and going crazy and created this awesome bird for the birdhouse:



Thank you Blumenthal Lansing for allowing me to work with you in so many ways!

-Candy

The Road Less Traveled...

As you travel through your days with all that you have going on in your life, remember that those around you are experiencing trials and tribulation as well.  Reach out your hand, smile, say hello. You may never know how much you can touch someone with the smallest effort.

Today I experience the love and support of those around me and I am grateful.  I dont have control over what happens each day, but I stand firm that all things happen for a reason and taking the road less traveled is the right road.   You sow what you reap, so always pay attention to what you put out in the world.

 

The Road Less Traveled

by Kit McCallum

How often we must bear the challenges of life;
The endless roller coaster between happiness and sorrow;
The constant ups and downs of daily strife.
And always the question remains .... why?

Life is not an easy road for most;
It twists and turns with many forks in the road,
Although always, and inevitably, we are given a choice ...

Do we turn to the right ... or the left?
Do we take the high road ... or the low road?
Do we take the easy path ... or the difficult one?

Decisions are not easy for those struggling for direction ...
And sometimes the many choices and signs become overwhelming.

While standing at a crossroads in life,
The urge is to take the most comfortable path;
The road with least resistance ...
The shortest or most traveled route.

And yet, if we've been down that comfortable road before;
Have gleaned its lessons in life, and learned from our experiences;

Do we yet again follow the known?
Or does our destiny lie in another direction?

The fear of the road less traveled is tangible and all too real;
It manifests itself in many ways,
And tends to cloud the issues that might otherwise be clear.

It is in these times of confusion,
That we must seek peace and solitude;

Time to contemplate on our life,
Our experiences and our choices past;
Time to look back, and reflect on what we have learned
Without fear or confusion.

For only each of us knows our own personal thoughts;
Our unique past and personal history;
The experiences that brought us to the crossroads we now face.

We can always learn a small degree from others experiences,
And yet ... no one person can walk in our shoes,
Others know not, the trials and tribulations faced in private ...

For each is individual ... unique ... and personal.

And that is why ... while standing at a crossroads,
Only "we" can formulate the decision for ourselves;
The true direction that lies within;
The choices we must deliberate on with clarity and wisdom.

For it is only through personal reflection,
That we can now choose our destiny;
... Our next adventure;
... And the future we will embrace.

 

Vacay and CHA is over....logged roughly 300 miles of walking!

We arrived on January 23rd, and hit the ground running at Disneyland the next morning!  

It was so much fun to go to Disneyland with my daughter, Mariah.  We are heading in... a few photo highlights!

Some time in Downtown Disney...building cars.  A CAMARO and  VIPER!

After three days of Disney fun...it was on to CHA Winter 2012!  I will post some class photos shortly, just waiting for them to get in my inbox!

First, set up day and passing out some goodies for my peeps...mustaches for Ken and bacon for Elena.

Then on to the show days...starting with Basically Bare.  Melita, the Senior Editor at Scrap n' Art Magazine and I visit the booth to see Angela Pruitt.

The drop dead gorgeous book that Moe Mahoski made for me!  I am a happy girl!

Then the all important visit to the Shurtech booth so my duck tape artist daughter could visit and get the scoop on the latest and greatest in the Duck Tape world.

I only had a couple of projects in the show besides the workshop samples.  One was my dress form at the always beautiful Graphic45 booth.

A fun little birdhouse at Blumenthal Buttons booth with their new Crafters Cafe program product!
It was fun to create this birdhouse with glitter, sequins and buttons of course!  My daughter, Mariah helped me in making the cute bird out of these same materials for me!

And a few other stops along the way....Miss Stacey from Spellbinders, we traded autographs.  

And we could not have done it all without this wonderful woman, Cheryl Stapleton.  You are such an incredible friend, thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your support and making our trip a blast!

That is it for now. I will have photos of all the classes and samples as soon as I get some rest and feel less sick.  Thank you all for your support, love and hugs to all.

Candy