At Play...

Learned a new way to make chunky jewelry. What a fun time I had at Elena's house with Miss Vicky. Vicky taught us how to make this awesome necklace. There were five of us, including Sheila and Pam, and every piece was completely different and beautiful. I loved them all. I've already scoured my stash for some cool chunky beads, buttons and trinkets to add to my next chunky necklace. If you ever get an opportunity to learn from Miss Vicky, take it...she's very talented and very fun.

Life has been so busy at my house, with my father-in-law moving into my small home and my hubby having major surgery on his right foot. My days are all about these two men. I love them and am happy that it's me taking care of them, but I also get on my pity pot sometimes just because my time is not my own anymore. It's hard to make plans. But...there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Dave should be driving in another three weeks. At that point, I have to make arrangements to go back up to my parents house in No. CA to testify at a trial against her crazy neighbor who continues to harass them. Then, maybe then I can go back to doing what I want to do...

Wait! What an epiphany! It's funny, as I wrote that last sentence, I realized that I am doing what I want to do. If I didn't want to take dad to his doctor appointments, or Dave to his doctor appointments, or go to the store to get dad new t-shirts and hankies, I wouldn't. I guess I am living the life I want to live. I just want to play more often. Playing seems to be very important to me these days. It's a childhood thing I think.

Moving dad into our home is truly the right thing to do and day by day, we are adapting. He is a pleasant, sweet, addition to our household. He's found the garden and it's Spring! Yey! Even though he can't see or hear, he manages to tinker around the yard for hours at a time. I'm thrilled that he's found something to do that he really enjoys. He also like to do the dishes! Yippee!

Speaking of fun, on Sunday, I went to the Emerald City Artist Pavilion at the Royalty Over the Rainbow Retreat. This was a wonderful 2-day, scrapbooking, charity event sponsored by Scrapbook Royalty. The money raised will be given to The Cancer coping Center and the Boys and Girls Club.

The Artist Pavilion was a treasure trove of art items created and donated by local artists such as, Alisa Burke, Suzi Blu, Cheryl Waters and Miss Vicky to name a few. I purchased this beautiful Suzi Blu painting. Suzi is a friend, a wonderful artist and teacher. Check out her blog and school. I love her work and am delighted to have this piece in my craft room. It's taking center stage right now...reminding me to "PLAY" whenever I can. Everything can feel like playing...when I remember to have fun at everything I do.

Become a Charter Member of Club Royalty

Launching Club Royalty!*

April 1st, 2010
Become a Charter Member now for $20 and receive a
special Club Royalty Couture T-shirt as a bonus!

Go to Scrapbook Royalty to Register:

It’s all about Charity, Crafting and Sharing and how we can use our love of Creativity to tie them all together!

What is Club Royalty?
This is a club just for Charitable Crafters! And you get to choose how involved you want to be.
Here is how it works:

Charity
Each 3 month cycle we will give you 3 Charitable Acts to do- one each month. The tasks will vary and can be something like:
Taking blankets to a homeless shelter.
Making handmade cards for the troops overseas.
Taking flowers to a nursing home to cheer up their lobby.

Crafting
You can stop there and feel great about giving of yourself once a month or take photos or journal about your experience then create something to document your charitable act.

It can be:
A Scrapbook Page, Quilt, Video, Collage, Painting, Book, Doll,
The Sky's the Limit!

Sharing
Creating is so therapeutic and for some people, it is just for them but if you want to share you can upload a photo of your creation to our gallery and each cycle we will have lots of special gifts to giveaway from the amazing manufacturers, artists, and scrapbook stores that support Scrapbook Royalty! We will randomly choose as many winners as we can!

There will be lots of other perks.
We will have special manufacturer discounts just for members.
Special video tutorials from amazing artists sharing their charitable acts and their creations.
An online forum on the SBR website just for Club Royalty members to connect, share their stories and encourage each other’s volunteer efforts. We will have special bonuses throughout the year. This club is bound to grow and you know we will keep adding more perks as it does!

The cost to join is just a small $20 donation per cycle.
There is no commitment, there are no requirements.
You can do as little or as much as you want.
If you just want to donate $20 per cycle,
we are grateful for that too!
It’s all about Charity, Crafting, Sharing and how we can use our love of Creativity to tie them all together!

Become a Charter Member and receive a free Club Royalty T-shirt CBY4SBR (Created by Yudu for Scrapbook Royalty!) with a beautiful logo created by Rhonna Ferrar from House of 3.
*Article taken from SBR Newsletter.

Growth is Painful --

Is that what is happening? Am I going through a growth spurt? Perhaps I have lived my life for this moment. I feel like I'm trapped on a roller coaster and life is taking me for a ride that I am not necessarily enjoying, but feel compelled to endure. There seems to be no other option. By staying on the roller coaster, other people's lives will be better and maybe that's the right thing to do. I don't want to complain, but I don't think I'm living the life that I wanted to live. All I can do is assume that God has other plans for me and go with it and perhaps learn to be happy with it.

I have created a couple of art pieces and taken a couple of classes in the past couple of months. That is why I started a blog...to write about those things. I want to share pictures with you and happy thoughts.

When I sit down to say something to you, the only things I can think about are the things that I'm fretting over...and I know you don't want to hear about that...and I don't want to use your time in that way.

I pray for the days that I can spend time writing about the fun things I'm doing and the creations I'm making and the wonderful people in my life. Then I will share...