"Time stands still best in moments that look

suspiciously like ordinary life."

- Brian Andreas

~~~~~

That is a great quote to describe scrapbooking...

a moment in ordinary/everyday time.

~~~~~

This is a layout from one of my class assignments.

There's a lot going on because we are learning

from each step we take (22 pages of instructions)

with video support for this layout.

Now that it's completed it tells a bit about routine time

in my life and can go into one of my

albums.

Supplies: All from Jessica Sprague's Photoshop Class "Now We're Rocking".

~~~~~

"Comic Books"

This layout was one I did outside of class.

It was so important to me that my girls know about this

memorable tradition that my Dad started when I was 4 years old.

I have such fond memories & feelings of those Saturday nights.

Supplies: Background paper, Kiwi White by Shabby Princess; Ribbon, "Twill Ribbon" by

Shabby Princess; Ribbon Scraps, "Tapes" from Weeds & Wildflowers; Brads, "Brad Bonanza 3"

by P Knox for Designer Digitals; COMIC word, "Vibe Alpha" from Art WHSE.

~~~~~

"Halloween"
I remember this photo being taken like it was yesterday.

We were both 10 years old.

Susie lived across the street from me and we played together

most of the time... dolls, paper dolls, dollhouses, etc.

And we could be found up the apple tree or on a raft in

our swamp.

Fun memories!

Supplies: Paper, "Haloween Papers" for Pixels & Ice Cream; Tree, pumpkin, spider and

orange paper mat, "Hootfest" by Heidi Larson from Little Dreamer Designs; Journaling

mat, "Halloween Papers" from Pixels & Ice Cream; Acrylic Frame, "Tom Turkey

Collection" for Raspberry Road Designs; Hanging Spider, "Halloween Brushes Vol 2"

by Michelle Coleman for Little Dreamer Designs.
~~~~~

Make it a great weekend!

XOXO

Joni

More Layouts and Stories

I'm getting hooked on digital scrapping!

It's so clean and neat and organized... although

I know I will always have to play with my glue, scissors,

and stacks of paper.

I'm basically a tactile person.

~~~~~

My ornament hunt this year was for Scandinavian

ornaments.

Wendy and I stumbled across these cute little children...

or are they tomtes?...

when we were shopping in Scottsdale AZ.

~~~~~

You can click on photos to enlarge.

Supplies: Paper, Kiwi White from Shabby Princess; Tree border & Tag, Scandinavian

Christmas Journaling Delights; Ribbon & Bow, "Christmas Day Collection" for

Raspberry Road Designs
~~~~~

Yes... I had years of ballet, toe, and modern dance...

all the way through college.

This was my first year on pointe and I had a solo

dressed like a rabbit... wouldn't you know.

The day of the first show, a huge German Shepherd dog

bit me in the thigh and I sported a lovely gauze

bandage that matched the white tulle of my costume.

~~~~~

Thanks to Helen Hancock for sharing the cute ballerinas

on my layout. Helen has been my INSPIRATION to

start digital scrapping. Stop by her site.

Supplies: Pink Paper by Barton from "Love Me Do"; Ballerinas, by Amy Sumrall from

"Little Ballerinas" pack; Frame, "Doodly Pattern Frames #1" from Weeds and

Wildflowers.
~~~~~~

Yes... I do knit!

I'm just consumed with other things at the moment.

I knit a ski sweater in College with lots of

pattern.

Supplies: Papers, frame, heart flower, yellow heart, all by Erica Hite for Scrapgirls;

green checked bow, "Holiday Magic" for Shabby Princess.
~~~~~~

I had such a happy childhood!

I tried very hard to make my girl's childhood years just as

wonderful.

Supplies: All supplies from "Make a Wish Collection" by Erica Hite for Scrap Girls.

~~~~~~~

Make this a great week!

XOXO

Joni

New Layouts That Tell Stories.

I was going to take a blogging break during my 4 week class
but decided to just keep going
and
share my new digital layouts and the stories behind them.
These layouts have already been placed in their new homes...
scrapbooks that tell the stories of my mom, my dad, and me.
Many of these stories are unfamiliar to my girls.
~~~~~
Rather than repeat what is written on the layout...
just double click on each layout and you can read it there.
My mom was very resourceful during the war and creative.
We lived well despite the economy.
Here is an example...

Supplies: Paper, a teets "Sunporch"; Overlay with grunge border,

Artist Edge Overlays No. 1 by ANNA; Ribbon, "Harvest Spice by

Shabby Princess; Leaves from "Tom Turkey Collection" by

Raspberry Road Designs; Tree from "Apple Festival" by Raspberry Road

Designs; Letters, Brown by Shabby Princess.

~~~~

This is a photo taken at a baseball game

at the U of Wyoming-Cheyenne

during Kristin's graduation week

back in the 90's.

I had just gotten a perm

and had no clue how to handle my hair.

This layout was made with class materials.

Supplies: Paper, buttons, blue letters, tag from "Carnival Mega Kit" from Robin & Team at

Sweet Shop Designs; Frame from "Candy-Frames" from Sweet Genevieve Designs.

~~~~~

My Mom's mother died when she was 5 years old. Her father

was a longshoreman in NY. He couldn't take care of her so he

went back to Norway and she was put in foster care. She was

in 13 homes during her early years. She became a nurse,

married my Dad, and gave birth to me at the age of 36.

She was the most wonderful mother and I miss her dearly.

Supplies: Paper, "Red Dots" from "Love Me Do"; Santa, holly, & star, by Gina Marie Huff for

Weeds & Wildflowers; Ribbon/Bow,candy cane from "Christmas Day Collection" for

Raspberry Road Designs.

~~~~~~
My Dad had 3 Aunts that he dearly loved. They were all

from Norway and a bit eccentric.

Supplies: Paper, 'Enchanted Paper Set1 from Raspberry Road Designs'; frame from
"Doodly Pattern Frames" by Gina Marie Huff & Heidi Lynne Williams for Weeds and
Wildflowers; flowers, stems, butterfly from "Lazy Days of Summer" by Gina Marie
Huff for Weeds and Wildflowers.
~~~~~~
I seem to be having some blog problems
so I'd better quit before it gets worse.
Sorry for spacing, etc. errors.

XOXO
Joni

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

You know how much I love Eloise

well, yesterday I felt like her...

MY TASK FOR MY NEW CLASS WAS NOT GOING WELL!

- I was frustrated!

-I stamped my feet!

-I tied my cats tail in a knot!

-I ordered "Room service, please!"

-I said everything at least 3 times!

And to top that off...

My computer said to me in a sweet little message,

"YOUR HARD DRIVE IS FULL!"

No kidding... that was the way my day went.

Sooooooo... all my digital scrap materials and my class

materials were moved to my external hard drive

and it took hours, hours, hours.

Today life looked better and I was able to finish my layout

(above).

I did get a bit carried away with my new Valentine brushes

and stamped a bit too much on the photo.

But it was such fun.

Now I'm only 2 layouts behind.

I must admit that I am really learning a lot and am

becoming so much more familiar and comfortable with

Photoshop.

~~~~

I wish I had more to share with you.

Kristin left to go skiing in Colorado

and

Wendy has been in DC at the inauguration

parties, and a ball.

~~~~

Tomorrow I need to go to school to assess some children's

reading so I'd better start using my time at home better.

XOXO

Joni

Saturday, January 17, 2009

My Second Photoshop Layout.

I am working on recording the life stories of my mom, dad,

and myself (an only child).

I wanted to make certain that I had documented my

childhood love of cookies... especially

SNICKERDOODLES!

~~~~~~

How sweet is my husband...

he baked a batch of snickerdoodles just for me to photograph.

Now that is sweet!!

Thanks Honey!!

~~~~~~

This is such fun... the process is fascinating and the product

(albums) will be nostalgic.

Paper: "Enchanted 2" by Raspberry Road Designs; Hearts:

"Heart Pieces" by G Thomas; Brown Letters: Shabby Princess.
~~~~~~

I spent yesterday writing about my mom and dad's lives.
I'm pulling from several documents and it is like
playing Nancy Drew...
lots of snooping around and looking things up on the web.
When my dad said he loved to play Mumbelty Peg...
I had to look that one up!

XOXO
Joni

Thursday, January 15, 2009

I am SOOOOOO EXCITED!!

This is my very first Photoshop layout... ever!!

I have done some digital scraping using a simple program

called Memory Mixer.

But Photoshop is the Big Kahuna...

and I'm riding the wave of accomplishment at the moment.

Next step... to give credit to each designer of the paper

and elements I used in creating this.

I've kept records but need to find them on my computer.

~~~~~

My plan is...

(1) to begin my next class in Photoshop.

It begins on Monday... for 4 weeks.
(2) to scan all of the photos I have of my parents when they were

young (born in 1909 & 1910).

(3) to begin writing 'the story' to go with each photo on 'Word'

and save it for printing on each layout.

I want my girls to know all about their heritage

and so much of it was handed down in the oral tradition.

~~~~~~

It was 12 below zero when we woke up this morning.

But we still went out and about.

We went to Barnes and Noble and browsed...

bought a few magazines and a book...

& had a Starbuck's Grande Pumpkin Spice Steamer.

I hated it!

Boyd drank it for me.

XOXO

Joni

TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2009

Well... here she is... Ms Susie Snowperson!

She's still sitting on my work table.

WHY??

I'm not happy with her.

I rarely am happy with things I make.

I guess it's because I know every mistake regardless of

how small it might be.

There are exceptions to that idiosyncrasy...

I'm usually happy with my scrapbooking

and my decorating.

I may attempt another snowperson

or maybe not.

Right now I think I'll make some stuffed hearts a la the

Tilda books.

My branches have had assorted colored hearts

added along with paper snowflakes...

difficult to see against the light-colored wall.
Try clicking on it.

I'm reading a really good piece of non-fiction right now

(see: side bar)

But I bought a bunch of 'cozy' mysteries on Amazon's

buy 3 get 4th free offer.

I've already shared the Candy Cane Murder book that I threw

in my cart at Target one night.

I'm a really top-notch thrower!!

That I do well!

It was such fun bedtime reading that I got hooked on a new

genre of bedtime books.

They're silly, laugh out loud books, but they do keep

you wondering... "Who did it?"

And it's not the butler as there's NO butler in these books,

just goofy women doing goofy things.
I'm currently reading

The PMS Murder.

Fun-ny!!

I have a subscription to Creating Keepsakes...

my favorite of the scrapbooking mags.

~~~~~

There's a good article in the new issue...

"Scrapbookers Making a Difference".

5 women use their talents to brighten other's lives

~~~

Here is an article from Creating Keepsakes online...

http://www.creatingkeepsakes.com/content/view/20061/

Get Involved in a Good Cause
Kim Blackinton

Do you have a favorite charity or a cause you are passionate about? Have you wanted to get involved in a good cause but don’t know where to start? Here are some websites to help you get started. To see more examples of Creating Keepsakes readers who give back to the community through scrapbooking, see the “Scrapbookers Making a Difference” article in the February 2009 issue.
* Look up a charity to see the facts about it before giving at CharityNavigator.org.
* Already shopping online? Let part of the proceeds go to your favorite charity through iGive.com.
* Search the Internet and help your cause at the same time with GoodSearch.com.
* Provide support for those going through chemotherapy—Chemo Angels will match you to an anonymous patient with whom you can send cards of support.
* Help make cards for our military troops—find details at CardsForHeroes.org.
* Get involved in charitable crops for a cause through Scrapbook Royalty.

Food for thought!
XOXO
Joni

SATURDAY. JANUARY 10, 2009

Quess what I'm thinking about... alot!

VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

It is one of my favorite 'special days' of the year.

I don't want presents...

just red, pink, & white paper,

ribbon, scissors, and glue.

Well... maybe a few more supplies.

Yesterday I volunteered in Chris's 1st grade classroom

and then Boyd picked me up and we headed down

to Oshkosh (an hour South) to a favorite florist in quest of

branches for a Valentine tree.

They have unusual gifts.

~~~~~~

I found these huge lollipops that I had to have.

(50% off)

I could see them in a vase in the center of our table...

and that's just where they are at this moment.

The arrangement needs a bit of tweaking...

red glass pebbles in the class vase,

etc.

And the shop did have the branches I had in mind.

(Also... 50% off))

They're much prettier than in the photo as they

have lots of 'BLING' to them

I hung the heart on the branch for the fun of it,

but I do imagine I will hang something from

the branches

(not sharing yet).

I have really become inspired by the TILDA books.

The best prices are on Amazon.com and under

'Used books'.

I buy most of my books that way and haven't gotten

stung yet!

I bought the linen yesterday to make some snowmen.

($14.99 reduced to 5.99 a yard at JoAnns)

Not that I'm lacking for snowman already...

but these are so darn cute...

and easy to make!

I bought some Bamboo Fiber for stuffing the snowmen.

It has a soft & silky texture.
I'll show you the finished products when I'm done.

Meet Tiffany.

I took this photo in Arizona on Thanksgiving Day.

Wendy and Darin had invited some of their friends

for dinner with the family.

Someone even brought a foster dog

they were caring for.

That doggie, MATTIE, won everyone's heart that day.

Well...

several weeks later Tiffany and Tim went to the Welfare League

and adopted Mattie.

Mattie is now the big dog sister to their cats

Lucy and Scout.

Thanks Tiff and Tim for giving a home to another

of God's homeless creatures.

I have been a very poor 'comment leaver' on blogs

lately. I'm reading... just haven't commented.
I'm "lurking' as they say in blogland.

I'm over my head in Photoshop lessons.

I'm spending 'hours' each day trying to put together

all this info in my head and practice

applying it.

Which has involved reorganizing all my folders & files

and moving all to an external hard drive as I

filled up the hard drive on my laptop.

But I've learned a lot about my computer

and about Photoshop.

Please bear with me...

I have more to go!

~~~~~~

XOXO

Joni

Part #2 of POST below

This is the end of the post below that disappeared

right before my eyes.

But these are sooooo beautiful and I wanted to share them

with all of you beautiful people...

so I approached the problem the only way I knew how...

a second post.

These remind me of Junie Moon who has a glass-blowing

'get together' every year and creates lovely ornaments.
That's all for today.
~~~
If you didn't read Part #1...
it's right below this post.

Sleep well my friends!
We're eating dinner in front of the fireplace and
watching a DVD.

XOXO
Joni

TUESDAY, JANUARY 6, 2009

It's such a good feeling

to put closure to a project.

And my December Daily album is done!

I just organized the workroom... once again.

All the Christmas papers & embellishments are

tucked away until next year.

~~~~~~

If you've never scrapped before then this is a perfect

project to try it out. My pages are only 6x6 inches...

how wrong can you go?

Try a Peppermint Hot Chocolate at Starbucks.

I really liked it!

I had a Salted Carmel Hot Chocolate on a different day

and I wasn't crazy about that one.

Chris's house.


Chris's boys.



A wall in Chris's house.

My resolutions are tucked in the little envelope.

And for my eyes only!!

A card made by Syko in Finland.

She photographs her applique work.

I'm a fan!!
And on to 2009!

My daughter Kristin

is a fan of artist Dale Chihuly.
This was an exhibit Kristin, Darin, and Wendy went to it last Saturday

in Phoenix!
It's there until May so if you're in the Phoenix area before that

you might want to go to the The Desert Botanical Garden

to see it... experience it.

Dale Chihuly is known for his innovative glass sculptures,

and his work is recognized for its grand scale and vibrant colors.
His spectacular creations are found in more than 200 museums worldwide

including the Metropolitan Museum of Art,

London's Victoria and Albert Museum

and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

But, this is his first exhibition in an outdoor desert environment

ENJOY!!

The rest of my photos just disappeared

and I have no clue how to fix it without starting

over.

I'm going to put them on a second post...

SORRY!

I leaned on something

~~~~~

Joni

SUNDAY, JANUARY 4, 2009

What a WONDERFUL 2008!!

And I'm determined to make 2009 even better!

~~~~~~~

Everyone seems to be going to the movies to see 'Marley & Me'.

I CAN NOT handle dog movies...

they make me sob. Not cry... SOB!

So Boyd and I went to see Valkyrie.

We really enjoyed it as he is a WWII buff

and I have a strong interest in all that went on during that war.

It was a very good movie!

Well acted...

great casting...

& wonderful scenery.

It's the story of one of 20 attempts on Hitler's life.

The problem was that we both knew the history so we knew

what was going to happen next.

Although, it was still good.

I'd give it a B+!

~~~~~~~

When we got home and got the mail...

there it was...

no, not the Golden Ticket,

but the new... hot off the press...

Pottery Barn Kids catalog.

My FAVORITE OF ALL THE CATALOGS!

~~~~~~~~

Just look at these wonderful, wonderful things!

I had to share them with those who don't get the catalog.

"Oh the places you'll go!"

MAGICAL , SILLY, and WHIMSICAL...

3 of my favorite words.

I wonder how Boyd would feel about sleeping on

Dr. Seuss sheets??

Look at the wall art.

Limited prints.

Who wouldn't want to take a nap with him?

And even a bath collection!

FYI: www.potterybarnkids.com


My computer has been down for a few days.

Boyd's been working on it and it seems fine now

(knock on wood).

So if you haven't gotten a comment from me

that is the reason.

~~~~~~~

I can't wait to share with you the project that I am

about to start.

I'll give you some hints...

linen

a bit of fabric

sewing machine

'Tilda'

GOT IT?

~~~~~~~~

Make this a great year!!

XOXO

Joni

THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 2009

A Potpourri of photos.

~~~~~~

Yes... I Joni Possin... had a makeover.

Like my new look?

Not very practical for sitting at home scrapbooking.

And then this magazine called and...

well the cover says it all!

Then there's me at an early age... 2 years?
Reciting "... and sticking his finger UP his nose,
up the chimney he rose."



On to better things...
Chris's 3 boys on their very best behavior.
"Have a cookie Mrs Possin!"
"Just hand me the plate boys!
~~~~~~
We played Wii.
THE 4 YEAR OLD BEAT ME AT BOWLING!!!
No wonder they have such good self-esteem.
Ben, Sammy, and Luke
~~~~~~~

I want to share this 'Creative Chris' idea.
She found this metal frame at an auction knowing
she'd find the perfect use for it...
and she did.
She hangs the children's little art projects from school on it.
Changes it with the seasons.
I love the importance it places on the children's creations.
Good idea Chris!!

Their house looked so pretty as we drove up on glare ice roads
and snow that was turning to ice on our windshield.

They are true Packer fans.

Then again... who in Green Bay isn't?

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

May this be a year of peace, health, and wisdom!

XOXO

Joni