WITL | days1, 2 + 3...

it's that time again... well, i'm a little behind. but it's another Week in the Life project hosted and created by Ali Edwards. one of my all time favorite projects, next to scrapbooking, of course. lately, i have not been picking up my camera as much, but do try to use my camera phone. w/ this project, it allows me to really think about what we are doing regularly and documenting those moments captured through the lens. read more about the WITL here...

this time around, life is different.... Tyler is in middle school (6th grade), Corinne is a 2nd grader, i have a part-time job working at the local flower shop, a full-time metalsmith and still doing some scrapbooking dt work. the man, well, he's still going strong w/ Fuji and is in the midst of another home renovation project... the master bathroom (more on that later). oh, and our rescued greyhound, Nala has gained 10 lbs... WHOA! apparently, that is a lot for greyhounds. but hey, she's preparing for the cold season ahead.

anyway, when Monday arrived, i knew it was time for WITL, but quickly forgot. none the less, i managed to snap a few images each day. not as much as i would have liked though. i'm usually going strong the first half of the project. but the flower shop has been busy and i've been busy trying to complete orders and meet scrapbooking deadlines at the same time. w/ that said, i was able to spend a few hours to just relax at the computer - something i don't do as much anymore - and upload all my images, edit and share this post... i have days 1 - 3 and i averaged around 10 to 20 photos each day. super low for me. but really, it's great living in the moment! so here goes...

day 1...

 early rise at 5am, hung out w/ Tyler and sent him off to school after 7am.

 Corinne makes it downstairs and heads out a little late, but in time for the bus.

 after a 30 minute workout and shower, i get dressed and spend most of my day at the flower shop.

 printed packing slips for orders and grabbed a few snacks before heading out.

back home and into the garage i go to start working on a few custom orders and the main polishes up one of his hammer he made in back in grade school... so cool!

Tyler arrives home from school playing on his phone, totally not paying attention to Nala needing to come back inside and as usual, Corinne draws for a good hour before doing her homework.

 Tyler at my desk, hiding from the camera, doing his homework, listening to webinar for his science class and i measured the kids... Ty grew 1/4" and Corinne grew 3/4".

after dinner... i passed out off and on, while watching Wheel of fortune and Jeopardy w/ the family. i was in bed by 830... so tired!!!

day 2...
today i was up at 415... couldn't go back to sleep. after waking kids up for school, i dressed and ate breakfast.

cleaned up the night before dishes (i usually don't do this, b/c i can't stand leaving dishes in the sink overnight, but i was extremely exhausted) and then cut out a hundred pillow boxes (packaging for my jewelry).

 whipped up a green tropical smoothie before work and filled up my new favorite 32 oz. eco water bottle i bought from Tupperware.

dryer buzzed just before i walked out for work and snapped a quick selfie before heading in ;)

and just like that, no more photos. i ended up running errands for several hours and didn't really think about capturing the moment... arrived home, unloaded and spent the rest of the evening relaxing w/ the family before heading to bed early.

lastly, day 3...
early rise and began roasting my raw almonds (i can't eat almonds raw, have a slight reaction to them, so i roast them) and poured myself a cup of coffee (yes i am back to having ONE cup a day).

 printed out mailing labels for orders and packed the kids lunch.

Corinne informing me how she will wear her hair on Halloween so it doesn't get in the way of her hoodie and punched out embossed labels for packaging.

the kids received Halloween cards from a cousin and one of their grandparents and i stayed up until midnight (this is RARE!!!) editing WITL photos and catching up on paperwork.

and that is it! see you with day 4 tomorrow... xoxo!

workbench | where i work...

so, today, i wanted to share a peek into my where i work... the mans garage! yes, i am in the garage and let me tell you, i am not looking forward to winter weather creeping in! with that said, i am however, diggin the larger space i have than where i once was before, sharing a tiny little corner in our laundry room on a tiny cheap wooden table i bought at a yard sale. when my husband changed bought a new desk for his office, he gave me his big ole jerker desk (Ikea). it's perfect!

Saturday morning i spent some time cleaning and organizing my scrapbook worktable... i'm getting ready to scrapbook this week and i must have a clean space before i start. afterwards, i did the same at my workbench, where i make the majority of my jewelry. it got so bad after spending nearly two weeks prepping for my first show last weekend that it was screaming clean me! it felt good to clean it all up and put things away where they belong. made creating and working on some custom pieces more fun and felt less cluttered.


that's me, decked out in my gear... dust mask, head magnifier, my favorite hoody, my old high school darkroom apron i wore back in highschool, sequence slippers (not shown) and my flex shaft...





 me at work, photog by Corinne...


eternity hearts necklace pendants in the works for a few customers...


ear wire posts ready for soldering... i keep them in one of my clean crucibles for easy access...



my dapping block... makes everything nice and curvy ;)



pickle is hot and ready to clean metal...

music is always on when i'm creating... matter of fact, music is always on around the house when i'm not creating. and i LOVE my greenlion studios saw, LOVE!


metal scraps...i save every last bit of silver scraps.

there you have it... a visual of me creating at my workbench in the garage :) thanks for stopping by... enjoy the rest of your Sunday, xoxo!

Gossamer Blue | blog hop...


hello there and welcome to Gossamer Blue's first inspiration blog hop where the GB team has come together to bring you inspiration using October kits.

if you've arrived from Brenda Weaver site, then you're in the right place! have you been having fun creating with this months kits? i know i have. i really loved the bold colors and geometric patterns in this months collection. today's inspiration layout is a little something extra i wanted to create because i loved the kit that much and because it felt great to create a little something extra all for fun!

Supplies used to create this page can be found in October's main kit, bits & pieces, main add-on kit and life pages kit.

for my page, i kept it simple and combined bold colors with simple graphic patterns, stripes and polka dots to compliment my family photo. the wood veneer frame was perfect and i used simple accents to surround it and the photo. the 'L' wood veneer anchors atop the frame to complete the sticker phrase. then i colored it with a gold metallic pen to continue the gold accents throughout the page.



i rarely use hidden journaling, so this was a fun addition to my page using like colors as the background. combined stamps from both main and life pages kits. the title treatment for the layout design is cut out from my Cameo wrapped around and framing the 8x8 design. this was fun and i love how it turned out. adding the bold yellow cardstock really balances out the overall page design perfectly.


thanks for stopping by and taking a peek into my page... hope it inspires you to play with titles. next up is Danielle Flanders... head on over to her page for more inspiration.

here's a complete list to keep you on track with the blog hop...

new experience + new pieces...

i participated in my first show in Lorton this past weekend and enjoyed the experience immensely! i just have to say though, despite the cold, rainy weather, it was fun meeting other makers with a love for handmade. and to be honest, i was nervous as heck! i didn't sleep well for almost two weeks. waking up at 430 am seemed like it was never going to end. my workouts were not happening... i was consumed, excited and nervous. but now that it is over with, it was totally worth it. but believe me, i will handle it a differently next time and work harder to be more prepared... that's the goal anyway.


so, i have some pieces leftover from the show and i am super excited about each of them. the pieces show will be listed by this evening in both shops (here + here) and more (not shown) will be added each day this week.







..... xo!

smitten | handsaw...

one of my favorite things to do is hand saw our my creations. it takes longer than just using a punch or using metal shears, but it is very relaxing to me. not a pleasing sound but it sure is awesome how a thing really good saw blade can cut through metal like buttah.... practice makes perfect, right?!





....... xo

Gossamer Blue | comfort foods...



as i begin typing this blog post, i just realized i never did did take out meat this morning to thaw for dinner tonight... guess i will be winging it with whatever we have. though, i can always whip up a vegan meal or have breakfast for dinner... hmmm!



so, i am obsessed with the October kits pattern papers this month  and created a page where i randomly added sheets around the outer edge of the page. then i machine stitched around the each piece. i created a grid style photo and centered it around the randomly angled patterns. images i used were part of a documentation series called, week in the life (by Ali Edwards) and i wanted to document my favorite 'healthy' comfort foods i enjoyed during that time. there were more to add but then i wouldn't have any room left to showcase the awesome pattern papers...




it's a busy page, but i like how the lines flow in so many different directions. it was fun playing with patterns and colors to coordinate with the photo images. the script title takes away just a tad bit of the linear, geometric design and it was the only place i felt the title would work for this page design... ha!




...xo!

Page Maps | October halloween sketch...

i'm SO ready for HALLOWEEN!

totally inspired by Becky's October layout sketch this month on PageMaps. i was super excited to create my page and used up some goodies from Gossamer Blue's October theme kit to make my page. AND, did you see Becky's brand new die shapes and stamp sets by Penny Black? WHOA!, talk about awesome. i love using dies and stamps together and these sets are perfect for your everyday and theme projects.



ok, so the sketch... i kept with the sketches overall design including the little details. added a fun little banner in gold foil cardstock that i embossed and used old Halloween ribbon by Martha Stewart... glad i held on to those. as you can see, i played around with lots of layering, well a simple approach to layering and tossed in a bit of blues i pulled from my daughters costume.




bunches for stopping by... i hope you like the outcome as much as i enjoyed making it. and don't forget to stop by PageMaps to check out the rest of this months awesome pages and a downloadable pdf file to reference... xo!

Cindy Scraps. All rights reserved. © Maira Gall.