This has been a very low key, laid-back Memorial Weekend at my house this year . . . instead of the usual trying to crowd a week into a 3-day weekend with activities or visiting relatives . . . my hubby and I decided the take it easy and just hang around the house . . . so after all the house cleaning chores were done I found some time to do a little scrapbooking . . . I finally completed the second page of a 2-page layout I was doing regarding my mother-in-law . . . so here is “page 2” of the Emmens layout . . . this is a picture of the “daughters of the house” – Elizabeth (my mother-in-law) is the oldest. . . Hope (who died shortly after this picture was taken) is in the middle and Faith (the toddler) . . .

Here is the 2-page layout that is going in the “Emmens” section of an album . . . for those of you who saw an earlier blog of mine you will note that I made a couple of little changes to the 1st page layout . . . I added a strip of lace and replaced a crocheted flower/leaf with a butterfly . . .

I would like to share with you the following layouts that are of the various times during my mother-in-laws life . . . this first layout has her baby picture, high school graduation picture (she graduated when she was 16), her engagement picture and a picture of her 1 month before she passed away . . . the layout is from a class that I had taken from Tracy (she is the niece of Karen-the owner of PSB) right before she moved to Chicago . . .

The next layout is from a class that the very talented Christie taught at PSB and was the perfect layout for the baby picture of my mother-in-law . . . in preparing these layouts for her memorial service I ran across a copy of her birth certificate (which I shrank down and placed behind the fame) and a loose page that had snippets of her hair . . . soooooo of course I had to included it . . .

This next layout (Karen helped me with this one) showcases my mother-in-law’s extraordinary talent . . . she was a “concert violinist” . . . she started playing at the age of 6 and continued through her freshman year of college . . . when she graduated from high school she had been offered a scholarship to attend the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, however because she was only 17 her father said “no” . . . while at college (her father did let her go as long as she could still live at home) her professor submit her name to “Julliard” and again she was offered a full scholarship and again her father said “no” at which point she put away her violin and never played again . . .

The next layout is from a class that Karen taught (she is the talented owner of PSB) . . . its shows the next stage in my mother-in-law’s life . . . marriage and family (my hubby is in the lower right hand picture with his mother & older brother) . . .

So now you know a little of the history behind this very special woman . . . I want to give a big THANK YOU to Karen, Christie and Tracy for teaching classes that gave me the perfect layouts in which to honor my mother-in-law and my friend ELIZABETH ELLEN EMMENS BATES.

Just wanted to share a couple of “Make & Takes” that were actually completed this month and with pictures, no less . . .

This first M&T was made at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique at the Friday, May 1st pre NSD crop . . . Karen gave everyone a choice of 4 different “make & take” mini kits and after a half hour of trying to decide between 2 of them . . . I chose the one from K & Company to showcase a very special day in my family’s life . . . it was my mother-in-law’s 80th birthday and among all the “posed” pictures there was this one of just my kids, husband, myself & the birthday girl being silly . . . everything was in this kit except the pearls, glitter paint and chalk (I chalk everything that isn’t nailed down) . . . this picture hangs on my workplace wall and brings a smile and a wonderful memory every time I see it . . .

Now the 2nd M&T was completed at Magic Memories & Keepsakes in Chico this last Tuesday evening (May 19th) using Prima products . . . a representative from Prima was at the store earlier in the afternoon to demonstrate Prima’s “Clear Paintables” transparencies . . . the very nice representative left enough supplies behind so that those of us who worked during the day were able to learn how to paint the transparencies using Tim Holtz Adironack alcohol inks & blending solution . . . I added a glitter butterfly, a Prima flower and a Jenni Bowlin pearl flower . . . the picture is of my daughter, granddaughter and myself (taken at my brother-in-law’s on Mother’s Day this year) . . . Kyra is sure look pretty serious in this picture (I think she had enough of picture taking by this time) . . .

Well that’s all for now . . . thanks for stopping by . . . until next time . . .

WOW . . . you have got to stop everything and check out what is happening over at the Pebbles Inc. site. They have created a new line called “Lil’ Miss” and it is soooooooooooo cute and perfect for the little girls in your life. . . Pebbles Inc. is is also having a GIVEAWAY (yahoo) . . . that’s right they are picking one lucky person to received the full collection . . . and all you have to do is leave a comment on their blog . . . sooooooooo check them out and while you are there don’t forget to check out their boys line called “Lil’ Buddy” . . . till next time and thanks for stopping by . . .

Thanks for stopping by . . . and until next time have a great day . . .

A big THANK YOU to the three very brave ladies who showed up on Saturday, May 9th to take my crochet flower class at Paradise Scrapbook Boutique (this was the first time I ever taught a crocheting class). Everyone was given the patterns for making a single crochet flower (beginner); a triple crochet flower (intermediate) and a leaf (advanced) . . . Karen and Christie learned to make at a single crochet flower (it had been quite some time since they last crocheted) and Barbara made not only a single crochet flower, she also made a triple crochet flower . . . WELL DONE LADIES!!! . . . here they are busy crocheting . . .

For quite a few months I had been looking for something to inspire a layout I wanted to do regarding my hubby’s grandparents . . . well a few months back (okay quite a few months) I saw the cover of the Autumn/Winter 2008 Close to my Heart catalog and I knew that this is what I was looking for . . . soooooo . . . I ordered the paper called “Perfect Day” (along with the sticker sheets) and literally scraplifted the layout from the cover that I had so admired.

This layout inspired me to try sewing on paper for the first time using my sewing machine (I had previously done all needlework on layouts by hand) . . . it also inspired me to use crocheted flowers instead of the stickers I had purchase . . . however, I couldn’t find the color or sizes of flowers that I wanted . . . sooooooo . . . one night I decided to look through all my craft stash (it really pays to never throw things away) to see if I had any books on crocheting flowers . . . and lo and behold I did (hubby was not surprised) . . . at first I just made single flowers but then I ran across a pattern for making a three layer flower and another pattern for crocheting leaves . . .

Well . . . some of the ladies at PSB admired my flowers a lot and wanted to learn how to make them . . . soooooooooo . . . thanks to PSB owner, Karen, this coming Saturday (May 9th) I will be teaching a class (another first) on crocheting flowers and leaves . . . . here is a close up of the crocheted flowers and leaves that appear on my vintage page and that I will be teaching the ladies . . .

Oh . . . one other thing about this page . . . I used long strips of “Recollections” pearls to do the swirly things . . . I would love to know where I can order “pearl swirls” from . . . Well that’s it for now . . . have to get things organized for tomorrow’s class . . . till later . . .

WOW – WOW – WUBBZY!!!!!! . . . what a fun time I had last weekend in Paradise . . . Karen was the hostess (with the mostess) for National Scrapbook Day on Saturday at her store – Paradise Scrapbook Boutique – she began the fun by having a crop on Friday evening (and I left my camera at home again – so no pics) . . . there was lots friends (old & new), plenty of food (breakfast, lunch, dinner,dessert & snacks), lots of laughter, free scrapbooking goodies (paper, ribbons, vintage bingo cards & bingo chips, butterflies, flowers, bling and do dad’s ) and PRIZES (I won the $25 store gift certificate Friday night) . . . I was thoroughly spoiled . . . I was also amazed that I even got some projects done . . . anyhooooooooo . . . here are few pics of some of the people who were able to attend this fun-fun-fun event . . .

Can’t wait for next years!!!!!!