My favourite things around the house

Lisa has started a blog challenge over on the Scrapbook Station messageboard. Our first and current challenge is to share photos of our favourite things around the house. Here are mine.

Yay! This is the series of canvases I've just finished for Jamie's room. Whatdya think? I am in love with them!!!! I copied the designs of the little vehicles from a set of bibs Jamie has. First I sketched them onto scrap paper and roughly coloured them in pencil, to work out the colour combinations (I already knew that I wanted them to be bright primary colours). And then I went to work on the actual canvases and painted them with my acrylic paints. So pleased. Seeing as I'm no artist, lol.



The next is a print that I bought Phil when we first started dating. Now, eight years later, it is quite symbolic to both of us. You see, I mentioned in passing one evening to my new boyfriend that I'd seen this really cool print at a print shop near work during my lunchbreak. And he said that was funny because he'd been walking past a print shop in town that day and *he* had seen a great print. And it turned out we were talking about the same shop, and the exact same print. Uncanny. So I bought it for him for his birthday, four months after we met.



The last is our new front garden. New fence, new grass, new trees. Wonderful!!! I love looking out at it!


That's it. My favourite things at the moment.

I would love to see yours. Post it/them and leave a note here. Or, better still, come on over to Scrapbook Station, register and leave us a note there. Come join the fun :).

Kathie

More layouts!

Jeepers, for someone who hasn't been scrapping much lately, I'm sharing a lot of layouts at the moment, aren't I?

OK, here's my latest layout for Scrapbook Station. The theme this fortnight was to use several photos that showed a sequence of events.

Journaling: At first we were the ones doing the peek-a-booing. But these days you prefer to be the one doing the boo-ing. You hide behind anything - from the couch to Daddy's legs; even the flannel we use to wash your face after lunch. And if all else fails you simply lower your eyes and then peek up cheekily for our "boo!".

The littel photo that I've used in the "o" in the title is priceless. It's so blurry because Jamie was launching himself about on the chair, but look at that expression! It just cracks me up!

And this next one is a "just because" layout. Last Spring, I was sitting outside on the first warm day of the season and I thought, this is the life! I grabbed my camera and took a shot. It's worth remembering these little moments :). It has though, taken me until now to scrap it. Just as we enter Autumn ;).

Journaling: "The smell of jasmine wafts over the neighbour's fence, alerting me to the fact that Spring has arrived. The days have grown warmer. I can take my laptop and coffee outside on the back verandah after the morning chores are done. Jamie sits beside me watching the birds darting among the new leaves on the apricot tree. This is my happy place."

I've been ringing around about childcare places today and haven't had much luck. Groan. Some places are full up until this time next year. The earliest it seems Jamie will be able to get a place is July and that's not even a certainty.

I am sooo dreading ringing work. Wish me luck negotiating a return to work. It's increasingly looking like I'm going to have to resign as I just can't find childcare. I've got this horrible racing sensation in my chest. It's a sort of panic at the moment. But what can I do?

Hope you're having a better day.
Kathie

Motoring, cooking and cleaning

I have a layout in this month's Scrapbooking Memories:


Journaling: My Grandpa had an old Holden Station Wagon. It had big red vinyl seats. The front seat was a bench seat. Grandpa always drove. Grandma hadn’t learnt to drive. She always sat in the passenger seat. Grandpa called it “motoring”. We’d climb into the “motor” and off we’d go. And this is the view I remember. The view from the back seat, watching him at the wheel.
Grandpa’s car had a rain visor on the driver’s side window. It had me transfixed. Grandpa could drive along in the rain with the window down, and never get his arm wet. The best thing about his car though, was that you could wind down the window right at the back. When the weather was nice, Sonia and I would beg to drive with the back open. I don’t know whether it was the novelty of driving with the breeze floating in from the back of the car, or if it was just that we liked cranking down the window. There was something about the knob for the back window…
Yes, seeing this photo, I feel like a kid again, sitting in the back seat of the old Holden, going somewhere exciting with Grandma & Grandpa.

I found this old photo in my Mum's collection and it just said "Grandpa" to me. A sentimental sort of layout. And another oldie - June 2005! I am seeing a pattern in the layouts SM picks up, lol.

Today was sort of mundane. Playgroup this morning. Jamie wasn't in the mood. He really wanted to just come home and have a nap, so we left early.

While he slept this afternoon I moved my scrapping gear. I have to make room for some books to be stored where my scrap stuff used to be. You see, Phil's books used to be in a bookshelf built into the fireplace in Jamie's bedroom. Jamie thinks that it's fantastic fun to pull them all off the shelf. And, well, I'm sick of picking them up off the floor all the time. There's about 200 of them! The problem is that the only other place to put them is where my scrapping stuff is. So I spent a big part of today boxing up my scrap stuff and finding another (less accessible) home for it.

Apart from that, I cooked. Food for the freezer. Toddler friendly foods. Stewed apples to freeze. Stewed pears to freeze. Pumpkin for addition to food deemed unpalettable by toddler tastebuds - it always works! Tacos for Phil and me for tea.

Fun days :). Yawn. I've bored even myself.
On that note, I'm off to bed.
Kathie

I can make it myself!

Indeed I can. I just got my contributor's copy of "I can make it myself" in the mail. I have an "Autumnal" wall canvas in there. Here's a couple of pics.




When I was asked by Pride Publishing if I'd prepare the project for them, I jumped at it. It was a great chance to try my hand at something other than scrapbooking. I was give a pretty strict brief - that it contain three columns of five leaves and be in autumnal colours. And at first I wondered what on earth I was going to do. But by the end, I was luvin' it! I used scrapbooking papers (K&Co range), felt, string, hessian and buttons. LOL, you're not surprised? Yes, it was very "Kathie".

Kate Mason also has some gorgeous projects in this issue, so have a browse through when you're in your newsagent's.

Anyway, that canvas was just the start. I've done four more since then. I finished three off last night. They will be going in Jamie's room. When I get a chance I'll take a photo and post it. They're so fun!

OK, that's all today.
Hope you're having a great day!
Kathie

Aussie Pub Calls launch

Well, here it is. Michelle and Alana are launching Aussie's own Pub Calls blog.

(click on logo to go to blog)

Magazine themes, design team calls, competition details. Go check out the website. They already have several sponsors and the fun is set to begin on 2 April. Don't be late to the party :).

Hope you're all having a great Sunday.
Kathie

16 months

Rabbit, another month has passed. They are flying by so fast. I seem to have only just reflected on your last month when the next one has already finished. You are going to be a teenager in the flash of a moment, if we keep on this way.


Each month you are more and more fun to have around. We have been amazed at the leap in your comprehension this month. Even though you don't yet have the language skills to communicate with us, you are understanding more and more each day. “Do you want a drink of milk?” results in a gleeful giggle and an almost-run to the armchair where you drink your milk of an afternoon. “Let’s make a bath” sends you directly to the bathroom door, waiting impatiently for us to put the plug in the bath and run the water. “Bring me a book” results in a big grin and an armful of books being piled in my lap.

You know exactly what I mean when I say “Do you want to turn the TV on and watch Raggs?”. Yes, you nod and almost-run to the lounge room and the TV. This month you will actually sit and watch more than five minutes of TV at a time. You watch the doggies dancing and follow along. Your feet make little marching movements as you watch, transfixed.

You are on the go constantly now. In fact, it's amazing that I have any photos of you at all as you are usually already out of the shot by the time the shutter closes.


One morning at playgroup this month you were watching the children dancing to the music. Two little girls were twirling around on the stage. You watched them for some time. Then later that afternoon when we were back home, I found you doing it. You were holding your arm out across the front of you and turning in a circle, following your arm with your body, a huge smile on your face. After several steps you got dizzy and fell to the floor in a fit of happy giggles. You did it time and time again.

So now you and I dance together in the afternoons. We march to the music, we move side to side, we twirl and spin, and we bend over and look at each other through our legs. Yes, through our legs. Upside down. It always ends up in fits of giggles.


Sometimes we play chasey. You walk down the passage-way and I stomp along behind you until you giggle and almost-run. We stomp along through the loungeroom doorway, into the loungeroom, through the dining room and back out into the passage. After a few laps, when we’re breathless with stomping and laughing, we reverse it. I run away from you (always with a ridiculous run that makes you laugh) and then turn and wait. You grin hugely and chase me with your almost-run. I wait until you’ve almost caught up to me then scream with laughter and run away again. You bellow with laughing and almost-run as fast as you can.

Yes, your almost-run just cracks me up. Your little feet kick up so fast, your knees bow out, you almost lean backwards in your hurry to move forwards. Ah, I wish I had a video camera.


At night, after tea you like to practice walking backwards in the loungeroom doorway. You walk out to the passage-way and then back backwards through the doorway. Out into the passage-way and then backwards through the doorway. Out into the passage-way and then backwards….. On and on. Practice makes perfect.


I have been trying to think of what else you’ve been doing this month. What toys are you playing with? And you know, I can’t for the life of me think of any favourite toys this month.

You love old drink bottles. You often walk around the house with a plastic drink bottle tucked under each arm. Then, there’s Jak’s squeaky toys. Again, you walk around with one in each hand. “Err” you urge him. “Come and play!” Sometimes he does. And then you shriek with laughter and try to outrun him. Unsuccessfully. Sometimes you throw the toys for him and shriek with glee when he runs and chases them. Most times though, Jak just ignores you. He’s grown very wary of you this month. You are rough with him! I have to leave him outside most days now, as you just pick on him otherwise. I know that you mean to love him, but you hurt when you pull his hair, or his ears, or his whiskers, or his tail, or his paw. And Jak just lies there; long suffering. Looking at me with his big eyes. “Help!”

You love your books. We read “Where’s my Duck?” and you shake your head, no, as we lift each flap, looking for the duck. You love the page for “Row, row, row your boat” in your nursery rhyme book, and point out all the ducks, the dog, the children rowing their boats, waiting for me to name them all. In fact, we spend a lot of time doing that. You point to all the pictures “err!”, and I name them. You double check, triple check; making sure the answer’s the same each time.

You are curious about everything. Your love affair with the bath plug has continued this month. You crouch over the bath as it's draining and peer down the drain hole, trying to work out where the water is going. You pull the plug out of the drain and put it back in again and marvel at how the water stops draining. Grandad bought you a little toy car this week and the first thing you did was turn it upside down and figure out how the wheels worked.


You are growing out of the need for a morning nap. Sort of. Most days now I try and get you through the morning without a sleep. We go out, so that you are kept entertained. Most times, as long as you’re busy, you can last until lunchtime before you need a nap.

Occasionally you decide that you simply must go to sleep. When that happens, you go into your bedroom and grab your lovies out of your cot. You have slept with a tiny blue bear since you were a few weeks old. We named him Popcorn and he is a firm favourite. Then, when you had colic, someone suggested that I tuck an old t-shirt of mine down alongside the mattress, so that you could be comforted by my smell. At some point since, you have discovered it, pulled it from its hiding place and decided that will also be your lovie. Nowadays you have to have Popcorn in one hand and my pink t-shirt in the other, when you lie down to sleep.

So, when you're growing tired, it's not uncommon to find you wandering around with Popcorn in one fist and my pink t-shirt trailing behind you from the other fist. “Err”, you'll say holding them up to me. And I know that you want your nap.

For someone who doesn't talk much, you are remarkably good at communicating. It is truly wonderful to watch you develop.

Love you |...................thhiiiiiiiiis much.......................|
Mummy

Picturebook Charm

I have posted the instructions for my layout "Lucky Girl" that appears in this month's Creating Keepsakes Aussie Reader Gallery here.

Now, another layout share. I did this one a while ago, as part of my Scrapbooking Memories Masters entry. It's about my love affair with a little town in the North of Germany called Luebeck. It's a really, really old (medieval) town and in some parts of the old city, you duck down through these archways in the streets and stumble into these little cobblestone courtyards lined with the most picturesque terrace houses. I fell in love with them. I want to live in one. My Auntie does. Hers is 300 years old and has been lovingly renovated. All the walls are sloped, it is soo old.

Journaling: "There’s something that draws me back to this town time and time again. Perhaps it’s the history of this old Hansa League city. Perhaps it’s because of the people who live there. Perhaps it’s the architecture. Like these little row cottages that line the cobblestone alleyways in the Altstadt” (the old town). When you step through the low entrances to these alleys, it’s like you slip through a portal, straight into the pages of an old British children’s story-book. Terrace houses 300 years old lean down into the stone courtyards. Flowerpots line the walls and colourful blooms spill out onto the cobblestones. Roses ramble up the side of the rendered walls and spill their perfume into windows flung wide. This is picturesque with a capital “P”."

I converted the original photo into a sketch and coloured it in, because they so reminded me of pictures from my old European childhood books.

The original photo is inside the file folder, along with some paraphenalia from our trip to Germany.

And, yes, I haven't forgotten about my letter to Jamie. Next post!

Kathie

A catch up

Ok, a catch up post.

Firstly, I had a conversation the other day with a great friend of mine who has just started out scrapping (hi C!!), during which she mentioned to me that it's often so hard to tell what people have done on their layouts when she sees them in the magazines. And I remember only too well when I was starting out, wondering the same thing. So, I have decided that where possible I'll try to give instructions for my published layouts that I share.

So, if you know any scrappers who have just started out, or who enjoy scraplifting layouts for their albums, direct them my way! If they like one of my LOs in a mag, chances are they can come here and I'll have the instructions for it!

To start with, I've posted the instructions for this layout I had recently in Scrapbooking for Beginners and for this one that was in the recent Scrapbooking Memories (Vol 8 no 8). I would like that eventually all the layouts in my published works collection (see the link in the sidebar on the right) will have instructions. We'll see. Time permitting....

Secondly, Susan asked me about childcare in the last post and it reminded me that I haven't updated. I am due to go back to work two days a week at the end of April. I have had Jamie's name down at three childcare centres since early October 2006. And he is still to be offered a place. I can't believe the waiting list! That's over six months. And the centres can't give me any indication if he's likely to have a spot by the time I'm due to go back to work. This is dire! I'm so not impressed at the waiting list. There'd better not be any non-working mums ahead of me on that waiting list! Grrrr. I am just praying that work will be understanding if I have to delay my return to work yet again. I suspect not though. I'm running out of options. Anyone want to babysit a couple of days a week for a few months, lol.

And finally, a sneak peek of a new Aussie scrapping initiative. Sorry, this is all I can give you for now. How mean is that. Don't you hate it when people write on their blogs that they have a secret? I try to not do it, but I promised to spread the word...
Stay tuned for more information soon.

Jamie's 16 months old. And such a sweetie. He seems to be over the last teething episode and is being such a cheeky monkey. My letter about his last month is overdue. Next post!!

Have a great week
Kathie

The end game

As I talk to a friend who's at the local Irish pub for St Patrick's day, and confirm that, no we won't be there. As I hear about other friends who scrap all weekend. As I sigh wistfully for lazy days with nothing to do but amuse myself, I remind myself of my sister's words a while back...

As I paint window frame after window frame. As I scrub skirting boards and polish floors. As I write my to-do list for this week that contains things like:
- clean windows throughout
- buy mondo grass for pots
- Kmart storage stuff

... I sigh and remind myself of my sister's words a while back.

She said "Kathie, you have to keep in mind the long term. The end game."

And that's what I'm trying to do.

We are getting so close to finishing the house. The front fence is up. And is half painted. One of the side fences is painted. Half of the plants are in the front garden. The inside of the house is almost completely painted.

This makes me see that the end is in sight:



But the boxes. Oh my goodness. The boxes. They're going to drive me insane. And we haven't even started packing!


And finally. Last night I was sitting on my laptop. Well, not literally :). You know what I mean. And I'd just sent of a few emails - a chain thing that's going around. You ask your friends to send you one adjective to describe you. And this is what came back...

"classy"

You know who you are :). And I love you for it. I was sitting there with paint in my fringe, a giant streak of paint down my old ugly shorts. And that I was wearing shorts even... I was sitting there totally exhausted after a 5.30am start (more teeth!) and a day of painting and scrubbing and vacuuming. Totally exhausted. Totally not feeling anything remotely approaching classy. It made me smile. Thank you.

Have a great Sunday.
Kathie

Two layouts

Thanks for the lovely comments on my last post! I do enjoy sharing those snapshots of my life with you.

Today I just wanted to update you with two of my layouts just out in the magazines.

Lucky Girl (CK Aussie Reader Gallery Mar 2007)
I had this idea in my head for ages. I sing "Summertime" to Jamie at night and really wanted to get that second verse on a layout somehow. Originally my thoughts were to put it on one of J's pages, but then I found this little photo of me and thought hmmm.... Lots of scallops, lots of embroidered swirls. Notepaper wings dripping in kindyglitz.

My Grandparents (SM Issue 8 no 8)
LOL, this layout embarasses me. Although I still love it (indeed, I am strange in that I love most of my layouts still) it is old, old, old! I could not believe it when it was accepted. I had put my tongue firmly in my cheek when I submitted it. So, it just goes to show, one should never, ever try to second guess what a magazine editor is going to want. Journaling is all about my grandma and grandpa. Love this photo of them. Special. Weren't they quite the dapper couple? Wish I could have known them at that age.

If anyone who has done one of my classes thinks it looks slightly familiar - you would be right. I taught a slightly altered, simpler version (lol, no one thought it was simple at the time!) in my early collage classes.

That's it for today. My PC crashed and burned today. The blue screen of death. Scared the crap out of me. I have been madly backing up photos onto CD tonight. And still have more to do.

Haven't made a start on my canvases that I intend doing for Jamie's room yet. Did I mention them already? That's my next project :).

OK, lots to do. Better go finish burning photos.
Kathie

Random Snapshots

Just a few photos of what's making me happy this week.


Little toys lying on the floor. They make me smile whenever I walk past. As long as they're lying there neatly and not spread out all over the house.


The mantlepiece in our dining room. Gradually we're getting things back to normal. I love all these nicknacks. They all have meaning. Love the canvas above. I made it :).


The mantle in our bedroom. I picked this print up years ago in an antique shop and got it reframed. Still love it. Something about the airiness and quaintness of the pic. It calms me.


This blue ball against the white walls.


Jamie asleep in his cot. A long while ago, when he wasn't sleeping, I put an old t-shirt of mine down the side of the cot. A comfort thing. Little did I know that he'd become completely attached to it. He carries it around. I could have picked a better colour.


The moneybox I made for Jamie. It will hold the german money he got when he was born. So that he can see it and feel it when he's old enough to understand geography and that currencies vary. I don't want to bank it for him. I don't want it just to be numbers in a bank statement.


This duck on the river today :). One white duck among a zillion brown ducks. Dare to be different.


Jamie on the river today.
Playing with actions on my photos :)

We had a long weekend here this weekend. Hope everyone had a good one!
Kathie

I want a dishwasher!

We have a challenge going on the Scrapbook Station messageboard. Lydell has challenged us:

"... to scrap some 'inside information'...Some things about ourselves and our families that may not normally be scrapped. Some things about our everyday lives that would not normally be part of our albums, but are part of ourselves.[...]...Think outside the scrapbooking square- think about the importance of fitting our selves into our albums, not just the 'good' birthday photo, but the things that make us who we are......Join me on this scrapping mission and we WILL record ourselves."

Here's mine. Definitely not something I would have scrapped if it were not for the challenge, lol:


Journaling: I spend an hour a day doing dishes and cleaning the kitchen. It mounts up - the time taken to do breakfast, lunch and tea dishes, not to mention when I cook up batches of food to freeze. I really resent the time it takes. One hour a day over a year is 365 hours; 21900 tedious minutes. OMG, I really shouldn't have done the calculations... 365 hours! That's, like, 30 days for 12 hours a day... I spend a month of my life doing dishes!!!!

BTW: Loving those Creative Imaginations Journaler's Notebook pages!

Loving colour again too! This page is so bold for me. But I kinda like the stripey background. I'm finding that I need a patterned background for my pages atm.

LOL, Mum asked me today if I purposely placed Jamie's aqua bib on the pile of dishes, just so I could use that paper. Of course not! No, really. Not. I am not beyond doing that. But this time I didn't. I promise.

Now I do appreciate that there are probably some of you out there with bigger families than mine who spend even more time on this mundane task. I salute you!

However, I live with the frustration of knowing that just a few metres away, in our shed, is a brand spanking new dishwasher. For the new house. NOT for me now. Groan. Gnash. Sigh. I want it now! Now! Hear me! Now! I want to claim a month of my life back

So, have I inspired you to record the "inside scoop" on your lives on a scrapbook page, lol. Come and join in the fun at SS! We'd love to see your pages. It's a great invitation to capture something about your life now that, while it seems mundane at the moment, in years to come you'll be glad you recorded it. (I'm hoping that in years to come, I'll have forgotten what it felt like to have to wash dishes and think that this page was a quaint throwback to the old days!)

Kathie

{Heart} this!

Squeal! I am so excited. And this is the reason:

This book is due out any day now. And I'm in it! Along with a heap of other inspirational scrappers, the likes of Kate Mason and Deb Fuller (the authors), Daphney Matthews, Janine Koczwara, Evana Willis, Angela Zavitsanos, Jane Cocks, Jacqui Swain, Keisha Campbell, Emily Falconbridge, Alison Goldsbro, Celine Navarro, Loretta Grayson, Melinda Adams, Nicole Gartland.

I had the pleasure of getting to know Deb, Daphney, Ang, Jacqui and Nicole when I was on the Blue Cardigan Design Team, so it will be great to have my work alongside theirs once again.

And I forgot in my last post to include this layout:

Just out in For Keeps. I love this photo of Jamie with my Mum. Vintage hmmm...

I have to laugh at this LO. I bought those chipboard letters a while ago. I'd been hankering after them for ages. Thought I'd love them. And this is the only time that I've used them. Do you have those products that you just adore when you see other people use them, or when you see them in their packaging, and then when you actually get them, you just can't make them work with anything? Or is it only me, lol. I did exactly the same with some Autumn Leaves Stitched Rub-ons. Do you think I can use those things? They never seem to work on my page.

Thanks so much for your comments on my last post. I guess it's quite OK to be "versatile". "Eclectic" even.

Hope you had a great weekend! Happy Monday.

Kathie

Love, Snowmen and Weetbix

Hello people! Happy weekend. We've just been lounging around watching taped episodes of House and Heroes tonight. Kicking back and relaxing.

I spent a lovely day at Kate's today. Nic and Mel were there too and we had a great time gossiping and scrapping. We were working on our albums that we started in Zina's class at Creative Edge a month ago. I hadn't even touched it since the class, so it was a real accomplishment to make some progress with it. Hopefully I can finish it off this week. It's looking fab already. I'll post it when I've finished.

Nothing much planned for the weekend. Phil has to put up a picket fence. Jamie will no doubt keep my occupied. He's been a bit clingy this week. And so hungry! I was telling the girls that on Wednesday this was his lunch:
- big bowl of pork casserole
- big bowl of rockmelon
- cup of milk
- half a banana mixed with two big spoonfuls of yoghurt
- half a banana mixed with two big spoonfuls of yoghurt
- one piece of bread with butter
- half a raw apple
The kid is only 15 months old. He already eats like he's 15 years old!

OK, a few layout shares. This first one is in Scrapbooking for Beginners that's just out. My favourite shot of Phil and Jamie. Taken by Grant Walkley during a photoshoot when Jamie was just six weeks old.



This next one is my layout for Scrapbook Station's portal this month. The theme is circles. Go check them out - there's so much inspiration! I created this on a pizza board background. Stripped it all back to the corrugated cardboard and painted it. It's probably not very archival-safe, but oh well. I like it.

Journaling:
Falls Creek 1991. Look at him. I'd like to say that I made him myself, but I have to confess that I found him there on the slopes, waiting for some friends to happen by. A baseball cap for a hat, a jacket 'round his neck for a scarf was all that was needed. Perfect!

And this last one was just for fun. Inspired by a couple of challenges that are around at the moment to use food packaging on a layout. My little Weetbix kid.


Journaling: You really do love your Weetbix for breakfast. You scoff down two every morning - that's as much as I eat! You're getting used to using your spoon but, really, fingers are just so much more efficient, aren't they? You usually end up with Weebvix all over your face, in your hair, up your arms... you get the picture! Well, the adv. says that Aussie kids are Weetbix kids; and you are!

I'm feeling really schizophrenic with my scrapping at the moment. In Jamie's albums the LOs are all brightly coloured and fun. When it comes to my own albums - you know, my BOM stuff or childhood stuff - they're all vintagey and distressed. That's my natural style, but I can't bring myself to use it for Jamie's LOs. Probably because I prefer to scrap colour photos and his photos are so full of bright colours. They really cry out for fun colourful layouts. I just wish I could have a consistent look. Or is it OK to go back and forth? I look at my snow layout above, and then the Weetbix kid one and I can't believe that I can turn out two such wildly different layouts. And yet I do. All the time. Maybe it's my Gemini nature coming through. I dunno.

I'm interested in what you think. Is it OK to vary wildly? Or should I try to stick to my vintage style? LOL, the magazines seem to prefer it.

Well, have a great weekend!
Kathie