Life is like

22 May 2015 Comments Off on Life is like

by uniquelyyourscraftjournal in Seeds of thought Tags: life, Linddbergh

“Life is like a landscape. You live in the midst of it, but can describe it only from the vantage point of distance.”

Charles A. Lindbergh

Charles A. Lindbergh is one of my heroes. I admire his courage and determination in the midst of naysayers, air disasters, family pressures and the media. His Spirit of ST Louis still “flies” at the Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. His epoch flight took place on May 22, 1927.

~Sallie

Art Journaling with Sizzix

20 May 2015 Comments Off on Art Journaling with Sizzix

by uniquelyyourscraftjournal in Tutorials Tags: Sizzix, Spellbinders

Dear Fellow Journalers,

One of my favorite crafting tool is my Sizzix die cutting machine. I have made so many different cards and paper crafting items with the dies and embossing folders that are made specifically for this machine. So when I came across this tutorial I had to read and share. This tutorial uses any type of die cutting machine and a Spellbinders die. This is useful for making a statement on a journal page or highlighting an image. Enjoy!

~Sallie

Creating Frames with Nestabilities™ dies

by Beate Johns

Create cardstock frames with Nestabilities dies.

Supplies

Cardstock
Wizard™, or other die cut machine
Two Cutting Mats
Magnetic Spacer Plate
Tan Embossing Mat
Two Nestabilities™ dies, that will create your frame, Label 13 Nestabilities dies used here

Step-by-Step

Step 1

Place a piece of cardstock on a Cutting Mat. Place your two Nestabilities™ dies on top of it, cutting lines facing down.
Step 2

Top dies first with magnetic spacer plate, then with second cutting mat.
Run sandwich through the Wizard™.
Step 3

Place dies cutting lines facing up with your cardstock frame between the dies.
Step 3

Top sandwich first with tan embossing mat, then with second cutting mat. Run sandwich through the Wizard™.
Step 4

Your frame is ready to use on your project.

Video!

Variations

Using a different die-cutting system?
You can find a comprehensive download that provides sandwich recipes for most major die-cutting machines on the market here.

Mix and Match
You don’t always have to use the same die shape. Try a regular oval, circle or square die inside a label die.

Puzzle of Life

15 May 2015 Comments Off on Puzzle of Life

by uniquelyyourscraftjournal in Perspectives Tags: birthday, life, Mod Podge, puzzle

Dear Fellow Journalers,

Puzzle Piece

Several months ago, our Library sponsored a Puzzle-Off contest. Each 1000 piece puzzle was the same and the teams competed for prizes. I loved putting puzzles together when I was younger. The puzzles I worked on were copies of Charles Wysoski paintings. I remember that it took several days to complete the puzzle and while a challenge it was rewarding when the pieces fit together. Some of the puzzles were so beautiful that I used Mod Podge and hung them on my craft room wall.

Have you ever realized how many similarities there are between puzzles and life? In a puzzle, each piece plays such an important part in the big picture. Loose a piece and you loose a part of the picture. I remember once loosing a puzzle piece of a wood paneling. No big deal I thought. But the finished product sure did look odd! (As though something was missing!!!) In life, it is people and events who play the important parts.

Everyone knows that in puzzle-making, you put the frame (edges) together first. Sometimes you can have a piece that you are sure fits somewhere but it doesn’t. That can be frustrating.

The pieces in my life, my family, my friends, community, celebrations are a mixture of good and bad, joy and tears, happiness and sorrow Each event or person comes into our lives for a purpose. We never really know how our life fits together and won’t until the end.

As my Granddaughter and I face new birthdays this month, I hope that the pieces of our lives continue to make us happy and we continue on this journey of puzzle-making with joy, peace and love.

‘Til next time,

~Sallie

Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given

To Sallie and uniquelyyourscraftjournal with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

You may reach Sallie at uniquelyyourscraftjournal@outlook.com

My Birthday

15 May 2015 Comments Off on My Birthday

by uniquelyyourscraftjournal in Paper Daydreams

Dear Fellow Journalers,

There are 2 Seeds of Thought that I want to share with you. Both are very appropriate for today:

“Start every day like it’s your birthday.”

unknown

“Life is uncharted territory. It reveals its story one moment at a time.”

Leo Buscaglia

….and yes, today is my birthday! My life in print now includes all of you so I wanted to say thanks for your comments, your support and your guidance during this year. I hope that my posts and those of my fellow authors have helped you on your journey of discovering your life.

~Sallie

Over the Rainbow

13 May 2015 Comments Off on Over the Rainbow

by uniquelyyourscraftjournal in Perspectives Tags: dream, Rainbow

Dear Fellow Journalers,

Another post by G. Enjoy!

~Sallie

Remember that beautiful old song: “Somewhere over the rainbow, birds fly high, if birds fly over the rainbow, why then oh why can’t I?”

I’d like to suggest you can! Oh not in every thing and all the time. We all have our weak points. Take me for example: I’m terrible at math. From the earliest days of long division to Trig and Aniline Calculus, whatever side of the brain handles that, well mine went out to lunch one day and never came back to work. But I never let it get me down. So I’d never be an engineer or rocket scientist, let somebody else do that, but I did have talent in History and Writing. So I decided that limits are barriers we set on ourselves, and I decided it was time for me to fly over the rainbow.

My first manuscript entitled “The Siege at Sevastopol” was not exactly a page turner. It lacked the two things every good piece needs: Heart and directed purpose. So I went out to try again, and with some mentors to help, my new manuscript entitled “The Siege at Sevastopol as Compared with the Siege at Khe Sahn” doubled my readership. These two events, over a hundred years apart, had both much and little in common. It started talk among true military historians, it even started debates. I was now the toast of the town. Invited to speak and lecture. I had managed to fly over the rainbow!

My next challenge is to fly over the moon. I don’t know if I’ll make it, but if you drive by my home one night and notice the lights on in the Study, you’ll find that crazy bastard friend of yours is trying to write the piece that will build the rocket!

By the way, did I mention that the view from the top of the rainbow is FANTASTIC! Much better than that you see with both feet on earth. It invigorates your spirits and allows you to put aside the weights that have been holding you down.

So what rainbow is yours to fly over? What’s holding you back from doing it? Strengthen your wings and come up to where the air is rare!

So in the words of that old Frank Sinatra song: COME FLY WITH ME, LET’S FLY, LET’S FLY AWAY!