Day 2 was a whirlwind of “celebrity” sightings, great make n takes and more awesome displays.

We started out the day by going back to the Technique Tuesday booth to do a make n take with Allie Edwards. We made an 8×8 grid layout and I got my photo taken with her.

More super cute banners hanging in the Ephiphany Crafts booth.  Who knew cupcake wrappers and coffee filters could make such an adorable decoration?

On the way to the Ranger booth, we stopped at Little Yellow Bicycle and made a 12×12 layout using their new Saturdays line.  Love this paper collection.

Oh, another detour – the May Arts booth.  So many new pretty ribbons.  I’ve got quite a list of them to order.  Really nice to be able to see them in person.  As I walked around the booth, Allison typed up the numbers of the ones we liked on her iphone. Very handy.

Finally made it to the Ranger booth.  They had had their own “creative challenge”:

Here’s a few of the ones I liked:

This sample made we want to order Tim’s compartments and I still may:

Of course, there were plenty of tags:

And yes, I got to meet Tim and get my picture taken with him.

And here are some pretties from Webster’s Pages:

CHA Day 2 Ranger Make n Take

Thanks for taking a look at my fun day at CHA!

Marjorie

Silhouette booth from Marjorie Towers on Vimeo.

The first thing you will notice about the above video is how LOUD it was at CHA. There is a great deal of excitement especially on the first day. One of the best parts of CHA is just taking in the way each company decorates their booths. The video show the back wall of the Silhouette booth. The images you see are what you can download to your computer and then cut with your machine. There are literally thousands of choices. Plus this machine will cut any font you have on your computer or any image you design yourself. Competing in the same market is the Eclipse by Sizzix. For those of you who follow Tim Holtz, you know that he has designed cartridges that will cut his stamped images. The Eclipse also will cut any font on your computer and any image you design yourself. I can order either machine for you if you are interested.

I fell in love with the Canvas Corp booth and spent a lot of time there on the first day. They have purchased Tattered Angels and we made a great make ‘n take using canvas and the new Plain Jane sprays. I really like any spray on canvas. It is just a great combination (almost as much fun as using Gelatos which I learned all about in class with Donna Downey in the evening of Day 1).

Here’s a few photos of Day 1:

This wreath was huge – about 5 feet in diameter.

Beautiful wedding layout on 12×12 stretched burlap. Yes, we have these at Creating Lasting Memories.

An example of mixed media mini-album.  Love the burlap pocket.

Lots of banners decorated the tops of the booths. These were real sweet made out of fabric.  One thing I really noticed at CHA was the mixing of media, especially combining fabric with paper crafts.

Vintage was everywhere in the booth decorations.  These clocks were hanging in the Graphic 45 booth.

Check out this layout displayed by hanging from an old yardstick. There were actually three layouts hanging from a single yardstick.

Ok, it took me forever (well 2 weeks actually) to get these posted so I thank you for waiting and I hope you aren’t too disappointed.  It really is so much fun to attend CHA. Next post I’ll share all the celebrity sightings of Day 2!

Marjorie

Hello bloggers!

It’s a New Year and as I shared with you, I have started a 365 (actually 366 this year) project. I thought I’d share my photos from the first week:

On January 1 we were graced with this awesome sunset.  I know a lot of you saw this because there were a bunch of people down at Sporthaven walking on the beach, or just sitting in their cars. And more than a few were taking pictures.  I plan to regularly take pictures of sunsets.

January 2 we finally had some rain.  I snapped this picture of the raindrops on my car as I looked out my garage door up my street.

January 3 is a photo of my dog, Snickers, in one of her favorite places to lie down these days – behind the dining room table.  She is getting deaf in her old age and I think she feels safer there. Gotta love that one ear up and the other down look.

January 4 I had some fun playing with my iPhone camera. This photo was snapped in the dark outside Fred Meyer in my car.  See, you really can take pictures anywhere anytime. Who knows what you’ll come up with.  I think it is a good idea to take a picture of yourself from time to time.

January 5 we had a wild winter ocean going on outside my window.  I took quite a few pictures of the waves crashing over the rocks.  I plan to take regular photos of the ocean too. Just because I love it and feel so fortunate to live here.  Before I moved here, I never realized how much the ocean changes day to day.

January 6 is a photo of my new exercise shoes that I bought that day.  It’s actually a photo for a new class I signed up for at Big Pictures called Move More, Eat Well.  The bracelet on top says “I Think. I Live. I Am. PINK.” Great new fitness and nutrition program I started.  You can find out more about that here.

January 7 I got home exhausted and tired from work. Something to do with an in-store birthday party making scrapbooks with 7 girls (age 10 and under). I was getting ready for bed and all of a sudden remembered my photo. I grabbed my camera and had fun working with very low light.  I really wanted to capture the sparkle on these Christmas flowers that are still out.  Found I have an ISO 3200 setting on my snap and shoot.   See what I mean about learning more about your camera with this project?

My daughter sent me a link to this site where someone has made a list of things to take a photo of every day, should you need some inspiration.  I’ll take all the help I can get.

If you don’t read Allie Edwards’ newsletter (you can subscribe at her blog), she had a great post on Creative Practice.  That is what this project is all about.  If you are interested in reading what she had to say, send me your email and I will forward it to you.  Meanwhile, I hope you are busy creating new memories for 2012.

Marjorie

It was another super fun two weeks (or 6 days or way more than 12 hours) of creating fun.  Some people call it a class, some may call it art and some even call it therapy.  Whatever you want to call it, it was definitely inspiring and so much fun to hang out with these gals and make Tim Holtz style Christmas tags.  And we even survived the experience with our sanity intact!

Wanted to post some pictures from the final day.  The last tag we made was New Year themed using the clock die cut.

The wonderful Trisha designed and taught this one.

This is Bev and Dotty hard at work.  And they are still smiling even on day 6.

Jacki, Loye and Carole having fun too.  Check out the Tim Holtz cargo case Jacki got for her birthday from some friends. Lucky! She must have some really nice friends. We discovered that it works really well as an easel (lean the sample tag against the handle and everyone on that side of the table can see it).

And when we finished, we celebrated!

Thanks everyone who came, who taught and who made me smile.  You are awesome.

Marjorie

11-11-11

The numbers said it was an extraordinary day.

Waiting until the shadows were long, I headed out with my dog and my camera. I couldn’t let this once-in-a-lifetime day pass without a picture.

From my back yard I snapped this photo of the sunset:

Stunning.  I should never take it for granted that I get to see sunsets like this all the time.

We, my Snickers and I, headed over to the field by the mill.  Of course, there were deer, one of whom was a little disconcerted to see a dog approaching:

But this one seemed to care less about us (she should have been a little more concerned as the dog was off the leash at this point):

And for reason (I suspect we pruned them late) the hydrangeas in our yard, which refused to bloom all summer, are now radiantly beautiful:

Nothing extraordinary here – just an ordinary day. But so gorgeous.  And I don’t live in a war zone, with burned out buildings and no vegetation to be seen.  I have a beautiful home and family and a life of peace and beauty.  Am I blessed? Yes. But I am also grateful for the soldiers who defended my right to have such a life.  Thank you to all the vets who have given me a perfectly ordinary day.

“May the Lord bless you and protect you; may the Lord’s face radiate with joy because of you; may he be gracious to you, show you his favor, and give you his peace.” Numbers 6:24-26

Marjorie

“Delicious Autumn! My very soul is wedded to it. And if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive Autumns.” -George Eliot

There’s really nothing like fall on the coast.  Being an October birthday girl from California, I’ve known this all my life.  For years, I would drag my whole family to the beach to go camping in late October.  I can’t remember that it was ever bad weather. It was usually balmy, just like last weekend at the Coastal Crop Getaway in Gold Beach.  Fantastic sunsets like this graced our days:

And the company was even better than the weather. Thanks to everyone who came! You made it a great weekend.  Can’t wait to do it again in March.

Marjorie

Some of you may have already seen this photo, especially since I received via the internet and I know how these things get passed along.  But it’s my current favorite so I thought I’d share it with you:

He will cover you with His pinions and under His wings you my seek refuge

I am currently reading Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout and in keeping with my word for 2011 (Story), I loved this passage (pg. 125):

“Oh, this is fun,” his wife said now, gazing through the night at all the houses they passed, lit up with different Christmas lights, and it made Bob Houlton smile as he drove; his wife contented, her hands folded on her lap. “All these lives,” she said. “All the stories we never know.” And he smiled further, reaching to touch her mittened hand because he had known she might be thinking that.

Marjorie

This year’s crop-for-a-cure was another big success. Creating Lasting Memories’ scrapbookers raised $150 which will be donated to CC’s in Brookings.  Here’s a picture of this fantastic group of women I am lucky to call friends:

Our guest of honor was Shirley Bowden who is a 5 times lymphoma survivor, hence the Violet.  That is the ribbon color for lymphoma. She has been cancer free since 2000.  Her stirring testimony of faith in God and the peace He gave her was a tremendous encouragement to all of us who were there listening.

Shirley Bowden - Survivor!

I had an idea which turned out to be really fun.  It is my belief that the best photos of people are “staged.”  I mean, you may get lucky with a random photo but most of the time, if you tell someone you are taking their picture, then ask that they look at you and smile, you stand a better chance of getting a nice picture.  And if you tell them to do something crazy – well who knows what you’ll end up with.  And that is what I did.  First I chose individuals as I drew their prize drawing tickets.  Then better yet, I choose two tickets at once and asked them to do something crazy/silly with their friend. And here is what happened:

Ruth and Sarah

Jscki and Sherry

Teri and Marrian

Clary and Sonja

Cathy & Shirley

Lori and Helen

I got home from the crop exhausted but feeling so happy.  I decided to look at the photos I had taken and I was so filled with joy.  I hope you can see that in these pictures too. Watch out Gold Beach Retreat ladies, I may do this again soon when we meet in just 3 short weeks from now.

Marjorie

Have you ever thought about what a tremendous resource a dictionary can be? And I don’t mean just for tearing out the pages and sticking them on a tag! (Although that can be really fun. But I recommend you find one for 50 cents at a garage sale for that purpose.) What I do mean is for finding just the right words for your cards and scrapbook pages.

With my new posting focus on “Creating”, “Lasting” and “Memories”, I decided to look up my store name words in the dictionary. Was I on the right track for my postings?

Create.  Webster’s says the root of the word for create and cry are the same and the primary sense of both words is to throw or drive out, to produce, to bring forth. Certainly they would seem similar when we think about creating new life, ie. childbirth. And some of you may even relate to that agony when you try to design the right card or layout. In my classes, I often say that it is not a craft class, it is an art class.  With a craft, you attempt to exactly reproduce what has already been created.  In art, you make a new creation by changing what was created. Hence the idea of making it your own. So here is my favorite definition of create: evolving from one’s own imagination, to make or produce by new combinations of matter already created. My attempt to teach new techniques on the blog seems appropriate under this definition.

Lasting. Now I know that nothing lasts forever.  Everything wears out (our bodies are perfect examples of this). Every new product that comes in will be replaced by the next new one that arrives.  According to Webster’s the word “last” is a contracted form of “latest”. And here’s the definition: that which comes after, follows all the others, next before the present. So with these postings I will simply be sharing with you the latest in a continuing stream of new product that comes into Creating Lasting Memories.

Memories. The definition of memory: the mental capacity or faculty of retaining and reviving knowledge of past events. Not surprisingly it has the same root as “mind.” These are the remembrances, impressions and recollections that become the stories we tell and the thoughts we want to express in our cards and scrapbook pages. Those remembrances will be thoughts expressed in words and photos.  Or they will be new memories we are creating in our relationships.  So here I will post quotes, sayings, stories and photos that have touched me.

Well I hope you found this trip down the dictionary road somewhat fun. Imagine! A book that is chock full of words.  Maybe it will help you find just the right ones for your next project.

I will close with a quote I love:

“When we recall the past, we usually find that it is the simplest things – not the great occasions – that in retrospect give off the greatest glow of happiness.” Bob Hope

Marjorie