Wishing you all the very best ~ Thank you

Well, here we are... the end of another year.  Can you believe that 2010 is over??  The decade 2000-2010 has gone by extremely quick.  In the decade, we have reached some major milestones... my daughter got married, had 2 beautiful grand children, my son graduated from college and got engaged, we downsized our home from the family home to a townhouse.  Lots of changes for us, in the '90s we had little kids in elementary school to having grown children with an empty nest.
My Mother has always said, "life is like a roll of toilet paper, the closer to the end the quicker it goes".  Man, is she right!
So, with all that being said, I hope that you and yours have a safe and happy New Years Eve and a very Happy, and Healthy 2011!!
til next year,
~Jill

Merry Christmas

Hope today finds all happy and healthy sharing the day with those we love.
Happy Scrapping the memories of today and tomorrow.
~Jill

Mimi is officially in the "Dog House"

The last time my daughter was visiting she browsed thru my scrapbooks to see what I had been up to, she made some very complementary comments, laughed a little, smiled, even winked (I think).... as she put the last book back on the shelf where they are kept she calmly asked, "why are there no layouts of JT?"

JT???  did you say JT????  well, I, well I'm, ah crap... I don't know ---- all I could say was, "this Mimi blew it big time".

Keep in mind, I haven't really done much of any traditional scrapbooking since I've been derailed with mini books and art journaling.  I however, did not think it was an excuse I should say out loud to the mother of my grandson..... YIKES!!!

So, I'm currently getting photos printed and trying to get some layouts done of JT.  This is what I've accomplished with the photos I had already printed.

Yes, he had already had his 1st birthday when the observation had been made that there were no layouts of JT.  (bad Mimi)

Back to work - I have so much to get caught up with in my daily life, then I get to play.
Thanks for stopping in to check on my life adventure.
~Jill

Day 12 (2 days late)

Well, can you believe that the 12 tags of Christmas have come to an end????
I have had tonz of fun, learned bunch, and enjoyed sharing the experience with you.
I loved the lessons that were taught on T!m Holtz blog... being the technique junkie that I am, it has been 12 wonderful exciting days.  (although, next year I am challenging myself to stay on track with the 12 days and not to have an open house party during the event!! - live & learn)
I hope you have enjoyed checking in on my life adventure.
~Jill

Day 11 - (3 days late)

Well, as I had feared having a cocktail party on Saturday and company for the weekend I am just getting back to my 12 days.
I didn't get to "make my stamp" out of a die cut (although, I promise I will, eventually), instead I used a snowflake stamp to emboss the background.  I used the tree stamp from the Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz collection CMS 031, I stamped it onto GrungePaper and cut it out for the die cut tree.
Off to complete day 12.
See ya in a bit - thanks for stopping bye to check on my life adventure.
~Jill

Day 10 - T!m Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas

Day 10 ---- you would think that it would start getting easier???  NSM (as Mario would answer)
I really had to dig deep into the "how on earth am I going to do this??" pit, I obviously don't own the snowman die, however I do own the snowman & snowflake texture fade embossing folder (remember, I won it on T!m's Blog back in August/September).  To come up with a close similarity to todays tag I ran grunge paper and grunge board thru my cuttlebug with the snowman folder, then went to work with my scissors.  I was feeling really good about how it was all coming together, got my grunge on with the sandpaper, painting, and inking.  Then reality hit when I placed Mr. Snowman here onto the tag, WTF - he shrunk!!!  I am assuming (and we know what happens when I ass u me) that the embossed snowman and the die cut snowman are NOT the same size???
Well, at this point 1:10am Sat morn I had no choice but to finish as started....
I also ran into problems with the washers, as in, I have none....so, I cut out some 1/2" circles of metal duct tape, it was as close as I could get.
I ran into some scheduling conflicts today as in my son and his finance came in this afternoon from OKC, OK we were not expecting him until late in the night tonight, but NO a phone call at 10am informed me that he was 2 hours away!!  YIKES!!!!  Since I had spent the better part of the last 10 days playing in the loft (any guesses as to why???) I had to put on my Super-Mom cape and get to work, in hyper-drive!
Tomorrow, I don't think will be any easier, as we will still have company and I am hosting a Christmas open house here at our home.... (please, wish me luck).
With all that being laid out as my, "big fat excuse" as to why todays tag looks like yucko, I am still having fun, still learning, and still creating.
Thank you for stopping into check out my life adventure, until tomorrow...

~Jill

Day 9 - (& still) Playing with T!m Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas

This is what I came up with for today...I was seriously missing every single item needed to complete this tag.  So this is what I did!!  The rosette flower I made with the Martha Stewart scoreboard, using a 10" long piece of paper 1" wide scored every quarter of inch (reversed every score).  Again, I made my baubles out of glass beads.  I used the Blackletter font on my cricut using Core'dinations Vintage Collection in Starry Night.
I came up the stairs to the loft today... OMG you would not believe the mess that I have made up here in the last 9 days.... It's a crime, I tell you.
Thank you for stopping in on my life's adventure... hope to see you tomorrow.
~Jill

Day 8 - (still) Playing with T!m Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas

Today was so much fun!!!  I will never throw away the negative for a mask again - EVER!!!   I was so fortunate to already own the Seasonal Mask (woohoo)  again better lucky than smart!
I don't have the house on-the-edge die, I do however own grungepaper and scissors.... LOL, I know it's not the same but it's close enough for me!!
I love how today's tag turned out and I'm looking forward to the reveal in a few hours.  (2am is awfully late around here, but so far, I haven't been disappointed in waiting up)
Thank you for stopping by to check on my life adventure, it sure is fun...
see you tomorrow,
~Jill

Day 7 - Playing with T!m Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas

Todays tag was fun...and it was a pleasant surprise that I had so many of the products that were featured on T!m's Christmas Tag that he posted for Day 7.  (it better to be lucky, than smart!!)
The problem that I ran into today was I drowned the sticky back canvas which caused it to lose some of it's sticky back...however, it was fixable with a spot of Glossy Accents.
I have so much other stuff that I want to share on the blog, however, until the 12 Tags of Christmas are completed I'm going to put it all on hold for your viewing pleasure... LOL
Thank you for stopping in on my life adventure.
Come back tomorrow and see if I'm still hanging with T!m...  :-)
~Jill

Day 6 - I'm in Shock, Are You, You Should Be...

I'm having so much fun... I'm learning so much... and can you believe it I'm still with it!

While all my Christmas goodies are out - all over the place!!  I'm enjoying getting caught up with layouts that need to be scrapped for the family scrapbooks of Christmas's past.

Today was a challenge, however I really enjoyed learning the technique of stamping an image onto the embossing folder then transferring it to an image...super fun.  I love the way that it appears behind the raised image.

Thank you for stopping in to check on my life adventure, hope you will return tomorrow to see if I'm still here...lol

~Jill

Day 5 of the 12 Tags of Christmas

Well, here we go, Day 5....  I think I had more fun doing this tag than any so far.  I'm in love with using the white paint as a resist, it makes the tag look like it's embossed to me!  Plus, of course, all the other techniques were also fun as well as a challenge to come up with ways to "get the look" without having the product.
Thank you for stopping in to check out Jill's Life Adventure.  Have a safe and scrappy week.
~Jill

Day 4 (can you believe I'm still doing it??)

I am having so much fun - playing!!  Tonight was the monthly virtual crop at "The Beach" it was fun talking to my crafty sisters, I've been so out of it lately we hadn't had much "together" time and it was a very enjoyable evening.
Todays tag was a walk outside of what I thought I knew and understood.  It even included an email to T!m in the middle of the day... I couldn't get the blue to layer on the fragment, so I went to the master for advise.  I'm still not entirely sure that I get it, but I do believe that practice make better art... lol
It was also fun to create my own "baubles" and with the help of an on-line friend and a YouTube link I think I did okay.
Thanks for stopping by to see whats up with my adventure, til tomorrow!
Hope you too are enjoying your weekend.

~Jill

Day 3 - DONE -

Well, can you believe it???  I'm still chugging along...and enjoying every minute.  I will tell you that my biggest challenge today was the color of "red" on my cardinal bird.  The closest I could come was Wild Plum and Cranberry alcohol ink - both with undertones of pink and purple.  It altered the choices I had with the trim for both the bottom of the tag as well as the tie for the top, I wimped out on the top and went safe & boring.  I guess the range of colors of the supplies I do have is what has been the most restricting in my opinion,  but once again, I am extremely grateful for the goodies that I do own.
I hope you are also playing along with T!m on his 12 Tags of Christmas adventure for 2010, it is challenging, educational, & down-right FUN.
Thank you for stopping by to check on my life adventure.
Til 2morrow -
~Jill

Day 2 - DONE -

It's 9:15pm here and I proudly display my day #2 tag following along with, T!m Holtz and his 12 tags of Christmas.
Last year I had all of the best intentions of playing along, well, I got all the way thru 3/4 of the day #1 tag!!  WooHoo, Party!!  As I was getting out my Christmas crafty boxes last weekend I was greeted with a pathetic looking partially completed tag. - So Sad -
So, at this point I have already doubled my accomplishment of last year and Christmas with T!m!!
There are a lot of items that I gratefully do have, however it is fun and challenging to figure out what to do for items that I don't have.
The next 3 days will be interesting as my husband has the days off, we will see how much crafty time I can steal each day, wish me luck.
Thank you for stopping by Jill's life adventure,
Have a good weekend.
~Jill

Tag #1 of 2010

Well, I'm officially 5 minutes late...But, so is T!m... LOL
Here is my take on Tag #1, I didn't have the rickety house die so I substituted with the cricut and the Jolly Holidays cartridge.  There were bunches of other substitutions as well, but that's the challenge and lots of fun.

Thank you for stopping in on Jill's life adventure...til tomorrow (or actually later today).
~Jill

Let the Season Begin...

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving, it was Vince and I by ourselves...included a very big bird and a day filled with football.

We even partook in Black Friday, which actually started on Thanksgiving day this year.  Did you know that Michaels had their JetMax Cubes on sale for 55% off?  When you stack them on top of each other they make the perfect height for a small table to place my laptop on...what I was using had been glued and nailed and screwed to the point of no longer able to repair -- I was grateful that I had it for the years that I did but it was time to move on.  Having the 4 cubes at my fingertips is wonderful all that extra storage is amazing.

With Thanksgiving behind us it is time to "officially" start the Christmas/Holiday season.  You see, I know this by one thing and one thing only.  Last night at midnight Mountain U.S. time the season began with the first posting on Tim Holtz blog with the 1st Tag of Christmas.

I am off to the loft for the next 12 days to play and experiment and create - Enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by my adventure.

~Jill

Thankful Banner

I got this idea from blog hopping and seeing everyone's super cute banners. My daughter and her husband live about 4 hours south of us, they are raising 2 beautiful, loving children. I started thinking about how to help educate the kiddos with the idea of gratitude and thankfulness... this is what I came up with.
I used 8, 8.5x11" medium weight chipboard pieces, covered then decorated. It's approximately 5 1/2 feet when hung-up.
There are 4 ribbons hanging from each letter and I have used small clothes pins in this example, when it reaches it's final destination I'm hoping they will use something more "secure" with toddlers in the house. My theory is that for the 8 days before Thanksgiving to add something that you are thankful about. A drawn picture, a cut out from a magazine, a photo, a letter, etc... I'm looking forward to see how the family uses and learns from this "Thankful Banner"

I know it's been a super long time since I've blogged, believe me I've been busy. I was gone most of October, I have lot's of photos and stories to tell with my future layouts. I will try and get you caught up when I get some of the layouts done.

Thank you for stopping by to check up on my life adventure, hope you have a wonderful week.
~Jill

Here are a few of the things I've been enjoying...  I used the Martha Stewart butterfly punch as a screen, dab painted around it then "colored" the butterfly with stickles, oh, how I love my stickles!!  This was also an experiment with some doodling on my page. (a first)

This page was a complete accident but I have to admit it's my favorite so far...

This page was inspired from my class with Tim Holtz, these were some of the bits and pieces that were left over after completing my curio cabinet.  It's title is "All Over" because thats the way I feel about my passions, they are all over the place!

Thanks for stopping by to see what's up with Jill's life adventure.
Hope you are having a happy, crafty, healthy week!
~Jill

The Spoon Theory written by Christine Miserandino

The Spoon Theory written by Christine Miserandino

Just when you give up all hope of thinking you can ever put it into words....

Thank you Christine for this explanation, having had MS for 23 years I've never been able to articulate how "I feel", now that my children are adults I am going to share this with them.

Thank you,

~Jill

and the winner is.....

Okay, there is a little story that goes behind this blog candy.  I was feeling very overwhelmed last week with everything I have going on so I considered the idea of asking Kathryn if she would just do a give away of this collection during the crop...(with it being Halloween stuff I was quickly running out of time).  I even called her during the crop to ask her, she didn't answer, so no big deal.  Then I thought well if I have her give it away then she won't have the opportunity to play along so I bagged the idea.  Next stop make a post, girl get off your duff and make it happen.  I have been so blessed & stinkin' lucky in the blog world I really did want the opportunity to share the love.

Well, with the lead up you had to know that fate always intercedes and can you believe that the number generated was #21 on random.org and wouldn't you know it the winner is: Kathryn....congrats girl, it's kinda fun to have random.org repay the favor.  I'm really glad that I followed thru with the original intention of having blog candy, it has been fun for me, going to have to do it again.

BTW, Tuesday I won another prize, it was on the Creative Imagination Blog they are doing a blog swap with Hero Arts this week and it has been a bunch of fun to see all the great things they are creating, I will do a post when it gets here...

I appreciate all of the love and support that everyone has shown.  And for the new followers welcome, glad to have you along on the adventure

Thanks again to everyone, and thank you for stopping by to see what's up with Jill's Life Adventure.
(the next chapter involves me taking my mother to her 50th high school reunion....this ought to be good!!)
~Jill

Good Luck to you!! (Blog Candy)

Well here it is!
My first Blog Candy, featuring goodies from the Little Yellow Bicycle Collection of Frightful.
It includes: 8x8 paper & a punch out tablet which has 126 cardstock embellishments and 20 sheets of pattern paper:  Clear Stamps 12 pieces:  Fabric embellishment tags 7 pieces: Clear cuts 30 pieces: Cardstock alphabet stickers:  Metal charms 6 pieces.   Also included is a felt strip (approx 12 inches) of black spider webbing.
There are a few other spooky goodies but I didn't get them in the photo...so the surprise is all yours!
All I ask you to do is follow my blog and please leave a comment on this post. That will let me know that you were here and you want the opportunity to be a lucky crafter!

It will close this Thursday evening (before bed), I will post the winner (by random draw).

Thank you for stopping by to check on my adventure,  good luck to you!
~Jill

My recent adventures...

I have stated before that I am the luckiest crafter in the world, well just to confirm that statement I need to share some additional "winnings".
Last month Michelle at Everyday Scrapbook did a giveaway on her blog to promote the wonderful craft frames that she is now manufacturing and featuring on her website. I think you will all agree when you see them that this is going to be an item that we all need one or more in our world. (she is doing some all natural for us artsy fartsy types that want to decorate our own, so keep your eyes open for those) Anyway, I was a winner on her blog!! I won these super fun Fancy Pants Designs Fashion Sense Felt shapes one is 'Tis The Season the other is Fall Harvest. I've already made a layout last night using these fun embellies.

This is the layout I made using these fun felt shapes, it is a submission for a contest going on over on Kathryn's blog for her 12 months of Christmas giveaway over here: http://thescrapbeach.blogspot.com/ she is keeping us honest this month and making us work for it! We were challenged to use a specific color combination of this:

So I made this:

Speaking of Kathryn, I also won a random drawing (using my favorite number-of course) during a UStream chat on the beach. She gave away a sample of my "Never lose again bookmarks", well, she also sent me this amazing jean pocket, I can't wait to find the perfect project to use it on!!

Also at the beach last month on the virtual crop I won this amazing Close to my Heart stamp set and glitter fun from Ruthie (a.k.a. Scrapchicky). I'm looking forward to using this set I've never played with CTMH product and have always heard good things about them.

So, that's what has been happening here in the loft on Jill's Life Adventure.
Stay tuned because I'm posting my first giveaway EVER!! I figure since I'm so stinking blessed with all the love that I receive in our crafty world it's my turn to share it... so make sure you check back in tomorrow.
Til then,
Have a happy scrappy Sunday! (I'm off to meet Debi from Oklahoma - another Beach Babe, at Ikea)
~Jill

Some layouts...

Hanging by the pool...

Bar hopping in Cozumel...

In the Dining Room...

Dancing in Pregresso, Mx...

In the casino...

Bar hopping in Cozumel, Mx

Playing on the ship...

Random photos of fun...

Playing like kids...

The bits and pieces from the trip...

Finally finished the layouts from the Cruise in May!!
I really liked making these layouts from our vacation in May, plus I had fun playing with journaling, stamping & piecing.
Thanks for checking by to see what's up with Jill's life Adventure...

TIME WITH T!M....

(no last name necessary)

I was super lucky to get "the" picture, with the master!

Our round tables had 5 seats each, with this set up and lots of goodies in the center. (paper, paints, inks...etc)

Working on the project...

Look at the table of goodies that Mario shipped for us to scavenger thru...

The finished project, I LOVE IT!!

Some closeups of the goodness...



And you can't forget the back...

Mario brought my "Blog Post Candy" from winning on T!ms blog.

And wouldn't you know it, because I'm the luckiest crafter in the world I won a door prize...

Of course there are a ton more pictures and I had the best time with crafty friends, made some new ones, met a "you tube" bud...it was the day dreams are made from.
I am so fortunate to live so close to Stamp Asylum and to be able to play with Monica and her wonderful friends....thanks Monica!
Thank you for stopping by to check on my adventure...
~Jill