Monday, September 22, 2008

Finally!

It's finally here! Brendan's Eagle Project has finally begun! And, just in the nick of time too! An Eagle project and all the requirements have to be completed before the scout's 18th birthday ... my son turns 18 on Oct. 17th. After the past 2 years of kicking him in the butt about this, I can't believe it's actually getting done, and just in time for his college application too. (That's him, the blonde on the right with the Vitamin Water, leading everyone in the work ... I'm soooo proud of him!)

His project is being done at one of his favorite camps in NJ, where he spent alot of time. He's cleaning up the boathouse by building storage racks & shelves for 10 canoes (there is very limited space there ... quite the challenge), power washing the 10 canoes & 10 rowboats, re-stenciling the leaf emblem on all the boats, and re-numbering them so they can be identified from land. We had a LOT of help from his Boy Scout troop, and we got a lot done this weekend, but alas, we still have lots more work to do, so one more weekend of work to go.

I helped alot with the work, but I made sure to get lots of pictures both for his report, and for my scrapbooking. At first, I was so focused on the project itself, that I was only taking shots of the actual work. The next morning, while getting ready for another day of work, I realized that I hadn't taken any photos for me! So, first things first, I wanted a shot of us, and a nice lady who was up there with her cub scout troop offered to snap one of all of us (this is the only picture of me ... gotta assign someone else as photographer next weekend! lol)

So, here it is Monday morning, and I'm just getting to posting photos from my last class. I wanted to put up pictures from the watercoloring techniques class, because it went very well, and the projects were very well received.

This first card was based on a beautiful card that was on Stamper's Showcase on the Stampin' Up! Demonstrator website by Emily Bash. As demonstrators, we can submit samples of our work, and if we're lucky, they make it onto the showcase. We're then allowed to CASE these cards (Copy And SE(something something--??) and use them ourselves. This is also my favorite place to go to get inspired because everyone does such great work. Anyway, her original design is a little difficult to see because the colors are so close, but on mine, I did the Fresh Cuts stamp in Elegant Eggplant, and then, using a Stamp-a-ma-jig and a Versamarker, I colored the larger leaves around the 3 edges, stamped again, and embossed with Black EP. I changed her Elegant Eggplant 5-Petal Flower Punch that she used with an Elegant Eggplant dyed small Pretties Flower. I stamped with Black Craft ink and highlighted with a black brad in the center. This card wasn't watercolored at all, but I thought everyone would appreciate learning how to 'dye' a Pretties flower.

This next card I designed myself, and I must say, I really stepped out of my comfort zone as far as colors go ... I rarely use Bold Brights, especially Only Orange, Summer Sun & Glorious Green! It was alot of work, with lots of steps, but I was rather pleased with it.

While preparing supplies for the students to make this card, I realized that I was pretty much out of the Pumpkin Pie DS polka dot prints paper from last year, so we improvised with other designs from the pack. I used a pin stripe paper, and Anabel chose a swirl design that was just perfect! I'm going to finish up my cards with her choice because her card came out stunning. I should've taken a picture so I could post that too.

This last card was another one I designed, and it's my personal favorite of the 3. While making it tho, I realized that I ripped the wrong side of the shell paper, so all my torn edges ended up on the left-hand side, when I meant for them to be on the right. So, picture this card upside down, but the shell is in this position (does that make sense?).

Oh my! My clock is chiming 11am and I still haven't showered yet! After that, I'm going to get to work on the cards for this Wednesday's Stamp-a-Stack. I've got a full house coming, so the projects have to be just perfect!

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