Sunny Sculpture Festival

Apparently this local sculpture festival has been going on for years.  I just learned about it last year and really enjoyed the event so this year I took my husband.  The one difference was the weather.  We went in the morning so we could have lunch afterwards and it was still very warm.  There is a photo of some ducks heading for a cool spot that I meant to print out and put on the layout.  They needed a little shade, too.

The festival takes place at a beautiful park and showcases beautiful objects made of wood, metal and all kinds of other mediums.  My favorite was the one containing colored glass.  Hubby liked some of the wood carvings.

For the layout, I used 3"x4" photos stairstepped down the 2 pager.  Lots of stickers are used for embellishments and little bits of journaling.  The page still needed something to fill it out so I reached for my gelli prints to for more embellishment and journaling.

Check out the process video here:


And here is the sketch:

Thanks for watching!

Blinging up a Winter Page

We had one winter weather event last year.  It was more ice than anything. The trees glistened for a few hours and I got a couple of photos.  The kitty is Jasper rolling around on the porch. It is a covered porch and stayed dry for this event.  He has access to an outdoor building where he can stay warm and dry.

For the page, I used a combo of old and new.  The background paper is some ancient Pebbles paper from a baby boy collection.  The smaller papers are from Basic Grey's Urban Luxe.  The rhinestone letters are older product from Kaiser craft.

Here is the process video:



And here is the sketch:

Thanks for visiting!

And the mantel...

One more holiday decorating project is the mantle garland.

We do not use our fireplace at all.  If you use your fireplace for any type of fire, please check into what his safe to place near the fireplace opening, if anything.  

The process video is shown here:



Be sure to see the previous post for suggestions on acquiring the pretties for your holiday decorating.

Thanks for watching!  I'll have another scrapbooking process video up soon.

Holiday Staircase Garland

Almost every year since the mid-90's, I have been hanging and decorating a holiday garland on my staircase and in recent years on my mantle as well.  This is a favorite of visitors and finally I remembered to film the process. The process video is below.

My Mother started me on this.  She did the initial shopping and purchased my artificial garland.  I've added and changed ornaments and ribbon over the years.  We've learned a few things about shopping for Christmas decorations over the years. Here are a few tips:

• Scout the stores weeks before Christmas to see who has the kind of decorations you would like to purchase.  Some stories like Hobby Lobby will run discounts throughout the season but many will wait until just before Christmas to start markdowns.  Stores that carry these items as seasonal decorations will have the best sales as they need to move the product out.
• Recheck with your favorite stores the week before Christmas to start collecting.  When we first started we always had to wait until the day after Christmas to get bargains, but many stores start marking down earlier now.
• Choose a color scheme of no more than 3 colors.  I use gold, burgundy/dark red, and light green. I've changed schemes over the years.  Originally it was gold, red and white.
• Buy 3 or more of one type of ornament.  Odd numbers work best in decorating though you may find even numbers of ornaments that come in a box.
• Select ornaments of all shapes and sizes.  Choose decorations where you don't have to get super close to see the detail.  You and your guests will appreciate your garland from a distance.
• Fill in with some florist pieces.
• Have florist wire on hand to hang ornaments and secure ones that need a little extra hold.
• Choose special large pieces for the newel posts on your stairway.  This is an area I change up every few years as I only have to change 2 or 3 pieces to have a fresh look.

Most of my ornaments came from department stores and the Christmas shop at our now closed Ace Hardware store.  All of us in the area mourned the loss of that great store particularly for holiday decorations.  I also bought quite a few decorations of Martha Stewart for Kmart.  I don't know if she still does decorations for them or not, but they were always beautiful and reasonably priced.

A couple of disclaimers on the video.  This is the first video I have made using a regular tripod.  My husband was tied up so I did it all myself as you can probably guess.  The lightening is a little brigher than I would have liked.  A cloudy day would be best but, unfortunately, there isn't a cloud in the forecast for days.  I would appreciate any constructive feedback you have.  Thanks!

Here's the process video:

Thanks for watching!  I'm planning to decorate my mantle this weekend so perhaps I'll get that one filmed as well.

Drapery School and a Canvas Sale

For years, I dreamed of having my own business.  I investigated starting my own catering business.  I loved to sew and considered becoming a dressmaker.  Oh, how glad I am that didn't get out of my head into actual work.  I have trouble fitting myself!  I thought about decorating children's rooms making all the bedding and painting murals on the walls.  This was more of a fantasy since I can't really draw (ha).  I thought of running a small clothing or home accessories manufacturing firm.  I had plenty of ideas but I never got past some notes, a little research or making a few samples.

Then one day, I came across an ad for a professional drapery school just 2 hours from my home! I couldn't believe it.  I had made many of the window treatments for my own home and was starting to do some things for friends.  Here was a school that could teach me to make things properly.

So I took 4 days of vacation and attending this amazing school, the only one of its kind in the country.  We learned everything from where to buy equipment to making our own patterns to constructing several different types of window treatments. I left knowing I could indeed start my own business and I did.  For 16 years, sometimes part time, sometimes full time, I created professional window treatments.

This layout celebrates that class.  I've used cardstock and stencils for the background and matting.  The video also shares hand stitching the title.  I've mixed purchased chipboard embellishments with memorabilia.  For more techniques like the ones in this video, check out my classes at:  http://www.lisaedesign.com/p/classes.html   I have classes in using creative ways to use Cardstock and Stenciling on your scrapbook pages.

Here's the process video:



And here is the sketch:

And speaking of hand crafted things, I've reduced the prices on all of the handmade canvases in my Etsy shop just in time for the holidays:  Lovely Layers Art

Thanks for taking a trip down memory lane with me.

Title Page with circle photos

Don't gasp. I've cut some photos in circles!  What was 'out' for so long is back in again.  These photos are some of the many extras I have from visiting Gibb's Gardens north of Atlanta in May of this year.  The 5x7 photo will be the title page for the trip.

You could do this page with the circles cut only from papers and skip the supplemental photos.  Here's the process video:



And here is the sketch:

Thanks for visiting today!

Post hurricane island

Our favorite beach is Hilton Head Island.  We were fortunate enough to go twice this year including a trip just last week.  We love the island and I scoured the Internet for whatever photos I could find during and after Hurricane Matthew crawled by the island as Category 2 with 110 mph winds just off shore on October 6 and 7, 2016.

We've been visiting the island for 25 years and have never known this type of event to occur.  I've been extremely impressed with the plan they had and followed through with after the hurricane.  They are working extremely hard to clear all of the downed trees and debris. We found the roads cleared and almost all bike paths cleared.  With the continual work, some of these photos are already outdated but I wanted to share what we saw.

We were staying in the middle of the island which I believe had less damage than the south or north ends.

It looks like the Loch Nest Monster snacked on the dunes.  I think these dunes prevented a lot of flooding.  Otherwise, the beach was unchanged.

The island will be a little sunnier place with trees down.  Most places seem to have lost odd trees here and there, not great swaths of trees.  It is the trees that make the island so special so we hate to see any of them lost.  Cleanup work here was just about completed by the time we left.

We had to go around or turn around just a couple of times when out biking.  I was amazed that they had the paths not only cleared but cleaned of almost all debris.

We saw exactly two things washed up on shore in the 2-3 miles of shoreline we walked regularly.  One was clearly ripped from the ground as the concrete was still attached and then there were these steps.

I was surprised to see so little roof damage in the area of the island we were staying.  This condo complex is on the beach.  There were a few houses with tarps as well but not that many.

We have never visited this late in the year so we didn't know if the lighter crowd was due to the time of year or the hurricane.  People were playing tennis, biking, beach and dining in the restaurants.  Why would anyone stay away?  We figured this out after about 3 days when we biked by this closed golf course.  We never saw anyone playing golf anywhere on or off island.  I imagine it is a much more delicate procedure removing downed trees from a golf course.

The damage was also more apparent on the neighborhood streets which were cleared but piled on either side with trees and branches waiting to be hauled away.

All photos were taken from October 28 to November 1, 2016

We are so grateful to the city and the people of Hilton Head for all their hard work in cleaning up and moving on.  We hope to visit again as often as possible.

A more serene hiking page

After two colorful hiking pages, I have this one that is more serene.

This layout was simple and quick.  Here's the process video:

Visit my class page for more information on my latest class The Living Page and all of my other classes.  Thanks for watching!