Staci Shuck

Progress and a touch of the flu!

Good thing I got alot accomplished Saturday and Sunday! Early this morning I was struck by the annual stomach flu bug!  Yuck!  I knew it was coming but was hopeful I could ward it off.  Finally I gave in and well, let's just say I spent the day in and out of bed!  Starting to feel better though so that's a good sign! 

Now for the progress...on the craft room cleanup!  My first goal saturday night was to clear a space to work so I could clean/organize and create all at the same time.  Within an hour I had cleared this space to begin my work. Don't get me wrong though...there's still ALOT of stuff to clear out but the good news is that I have a start!  I have tons of bags FULL of things for specific projects and class kits so I am going to take it a bag at a time.  First bag looks like this and has tons of Webster's Pages and My Mind's Eye!  Oh and notice the big Donna Downey Canvas Album!  Remember that...you'll see it later this week!

I have vowed to use as much of this "stuff" as I can and to finish as many of the projects as I can as well.  I WILL complete the projects...you just may have to remind of that sometime in the future.  Soooo...I began to wonder how I was going to get all this done in a lightning speed kinda way and remembered years ago when I used the Scrap Maps/Page Maps/Sketches to get layouts done quickly.  There have been so many over the years but they all are wonderful to help you get a jump start on completing ALOT of page layouts in a short time!  I have tons of these books somewhere in my stacks of stuff...but couldn't put my hands on things sooo I ventured to Sweet Peach Crop Shop where former student and Grove's employee,  Angie Gutshall is a member of the Design Team.  Sweet Peach does a sketch challenge monthly and I was just in time for the end of the November challenge!  Sooo...the sketch for this month is below.  Understand that I haven't worked this way for MANY, MANY years so the first page was a REAL challenge but...I did finally finish the first page and jumped immediately into 3 more.  I'm a happy camper!  I used only what was in the bag so that emptied it out a bit and I got several things accomplished in the way of using photos and getting page layouts completed.  Did some other things as well but they're for later!  These pages aren't perfect, there are changes I would make if I did them again BUT...they are DONE, I won't make changes and I am one step closer to my clean craft room!

So here are my variations of this layout sketch.  Still have a few more to complete...hopefully tomorrow!  Enjoy!  Did I say that I LOVE Webster's Pages Bloomers!!!

 

Stay tuned and wash your hands ALOT...I hope NO ONE gets this flu bug!

Leftovers and confessions! Time to move on!!!

I love this Thanksgiving holiday weekend.  The traditional foods are favorites, the first the family is together for the season, plans begin for Christmas holiday.  This year I went all out with invitations for our family dinner.  It was a bit of creativity I needed in between visits with Donna and Stephanie at Grove's!  So here's one last bit of Thanksgiving first the invitation and next...LEFTOVERS...Central Pennsylvania style...turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing all mixed together in one bowl...with a bit of gravy and turkey juice!  YUM! Thanksgiving if officially over now and it's time to move on!  Saturday evening I began the rest of the "Big Clean".  Most people to Spring Cleaning...I do Fall Cleaning!  Thanksgiving is the first official holiday that the house MUST be Clean and in order!   Sooooo...3/4ths of the house made it by the deadline...rooms left...a bedroom, the garage and...my crafting room!  I'll be the first to admit it...I have ALOT of crafting stuff!  Now for the confession...I have a problem gathering goods that I don't have time to use!  It's terrible...I think the real answer to the question is to retire and just craft!  LOL!  Ok...I said I was moving on so here goes.  I began the crafting room clean out last night.  The plan is to clean/sort/dispose and Create while doing that.  I'm sure it will take longer but...I plan to use some of this stuff and refuse to let go of the ideas and plans I had for some of it!  So first...the confession video...

 

Happy "belated" Thanksgiving!

We sure enjoyed a bountiful feast Thanksgiving Day and are so thankful for the time spent with family and friends!  We are truly blessed!  The house is in order ...hopefully for the duration of the holiday season and longer!  Now if I could figure out the "WHY?" part of us not being able to keep it in order!!!

Hope you all had a great holiday and if you "shopped 'til you drop" Black Friday...hope you have recovered!  Enjoy...and be sure to create something today!!! 

Our traditional "turkey butter"!  Made with a chocolate candy mold.  A local dairy does this.  Served on "Yellow Cameo".  A depression glass pattern we've collected for years!

The "VIP" table...yep...it was finally cleared of all the "stuff"! 

  

The "Cool" table and the "Really Cool" table...these guys braved the steps with plates of food to our downstairs dining room!  It was a wonderfully full house!

Happy Holiday season everyone! It's Time to do some crafting now!!!!

 

Creative Inspiration Continues!

Had a wonderful weekend with Stephanie and the crafters at Grove's!  Creative Inspiration was awesome and "it was a Beautiful weekend in Pennsylvania"!  Did I say we had a WONDERFUL weekend with Stephanie Ackerman????  Well, we did and I may have to say it a few more times because I just can't believe it's gone already!  I soooo miss the fun of the weekend and actually getting to take in the fun stuff surrounding us in the little Central PA town!  So nice to share it with Stephanie!  We visited some local sights and some family places too and even got to see a LIVE buck grazing in the fields...we had seen quite a few "not so much alive" along the road up to that point - road kill - you know it's "the rut"...the season prior to hunting season in PA when these 4 legged creatures truly become "deer in headlights"!!!  Glad Stephanie got to see at least one alive in the fields.  In true holiday fashion we traveled "over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house!"  Had this photo snapped as proof!

As if the weekend already wasn't special enough, full of creativity, inspiration, friendship, comraderie ...there was this....  a beautiful piece of "hand stitched felt goodness" by Stephanie herself!  I couldn't believe my eyes...gorgeous...Thank You, Thank You!  I haven't been able to place it on the tree yet... but it will find it's way there soon, I promise!  I just keep looking at it and getting more inspired.  Had to create the heart ornament for mom!!!  We'll be making a trip to the Felt store this weekend!!!!  I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it!  Look forward to doing more this weekend and to adding bits and pieces of "Felt Goodness" to my Christmas Countdown books too!

Here's to special friends with awesome Inspiration!  Many Thanks Stephanie and the Grove's crafters!  Look forward to the next visit and the arrival of the next season!!!

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!!!!

The holiday officially kicked off this weekend with a visit from friend Stephanie Ackerman!  We enjoyed getting into the spirit with the Christmas Countdown project that will be ready to go by Dec. 1st!  This book is AWESOME...wait did I say it was AWESOME?  It's reeeeeeally AWESOME!  I haven't started mine yet but boy to I have plans for the upcoming holidays!  Thanks Stephanie for sharing this with us!

We had a wonderful visit, remembering Inspired 2009 and 2010 and sharing our love of wool felt, stitching, hoarding (oops... that's a secret!) and creating.  Can't say enough about the time with these special people and can't say a big enough thank you to Stephanie for coming to teach us!  We can wait for the next season to arrive so she can visit again!

Mr. Claus even joined us!  See if you can find him!