Have you read a good book lately?

After Twilight and Fanfiction.net took over my life and then my own story needed to be told - well - I thought I might be ruined for reading again. I tried. Really I did - but just couldn't sit still long enough to get involved in another book. Well I finally did and it was a good one.



The Glass Books of the Dream Eaters. Finished it today at lunch in fact. After getting into it, I liked it a lot. Now I find there is an online adventure to go with the books. It's text based!!!!

If you can't feel that excitement then you were probably not around for some of the first text based MUDs that were all the rage in the very late 80's and early 90's. Video games were not always video - boys and girls!

Tee

Book Binding

Tim Baker Ammonite Books


If you know me, then you know I am nuts for boxes and containers. Hence the obsession with 3D paper projects. However, very few outside my family know about my love, adoration and downright reverence for books and writing instruments. Years ago, the manager of Carl's Sew Creative (Dallas) found out and gave me a very special pen. Phil has my undying loyalty to this very day!

One of the things I love about Letterboxing is that you usually find handmade log books along with the hand carved stamps. Talk about heaven! I also get to make them and that's the BOMB!

Today, I'm sharing a couple of book making tutorials with you.

The first one is by Paige Evans and was published in the "Mini Albums 2008 Idea Book". Simply Handmade posted a link to get a free digital copy of this book on their blog. I don't know how long it will be posted, so go check it out when you get time. The article starts on page 108 (just type it in the page number field at the top). This is one of the most detailed articles on "real" book binding that I've seen. There's a link at the end to Paige's site so you can see more examples of her books. Lovely.



The second tutorial is posted on Flickr by Kate E. Did. This is a Coptic tutorial that does a great job of showing you how to create some exceptional books, journals or scrapbooks. Yum!

Till next time,

Thinking of You

I found this stamp in a dollar bin quite a while ago. It's cute and versatile - and really looks cool when you've hand written the info on there.

Sand Sculpture

Now I know when you live at the beach that sand gets everywhere... but the grocery store? *heh* When our new Publix store opened up they had this sculpture just inside the front door.

Cool huh? Well it gets better: It's a sculpture of the Lifeguard Station that is just two blocks away. Now, you might say that you've seen other Publix stores with sand sculptures that were amazing. You'd be right, but those are done by professionals. This sculpture, boys and girls, was done by the employees at the store!!! Kudos to them. What a fun way to jump right into the neighborhood!

Gift Card Holder

I've had this pic for a while and never posted it. This is a really simple way to dress up a gift card with designer series paper or card stock.

A belly band of contrasting paper holds it closed. That and the Word Window Punched slot (available from Stampin' Up) keeps the card secure. You can scallop the edge with a punch for pizazz.

Big impact for just a little effort. See you next time!

Animal Kingdom (2 page spread)

It was our last trip to Disney on our annual passes. We were headed out of Animal Kingdom for the final visit to the park and this group of cast members were standing in a line, encouraging the kids the run by and swat their outstretched hands.

Joey being.. well Joey.. jumped into the line to help out! He stayed with them until the last guest had passed. Then ran over to us with a huge grin on his face. The cast members followed him over and gave him the hat he's wearing in the picture and a very special Tinkerbell trading pin. It was a great way to end our fabulous year at Disney.

Nine year old. Wow. Seems like just yesterday that she was a preemie infant sleeping in an open drawer beside my bed. Then seconds later, she was three and we were rushing to get in the car to get to the zoo for her birthday party. Her dad was telling all the kids (we had five at home at the time) to go go go. She put her little foot down, popped her hands on her hips and shook her finger at him saying, "Now you wait a minute!" LOL THAT was the day that my Morgan showed herself! Six years since then and they seem to have floated away like the little bubbles on this simple page.

Peace, Love & Joy

Thought I'd share a few scrapbook pages. We are finally printing some of the billion pics we have from our digital cameras. Yep, that's me and a very rare glimpse of The Unknown Stamper. We were out letterboxing and having a great time. Bob is usually behind the camera but he let Morgan have it for this hike and she snapped this one when we were not expecting it.

Hope all your days are filled with Peace, Love and Joy!