Passion For Paper-Tricia Raleigh (martin)

Just wanted to let everyone know I have not dropped of the earth. The house we were renting was sold this month. So I have been busy packing and moving again. Life should be back to normal soon. Or as normal as it can be, living in a little apartment.  Since most of our stuff is going to storage I shouldn't have to unpack a lot.  tricia

I was looking at some of my photos and found this summer time suit case I finished a while back. Since it is below 32 degrees around here. I felt like I needed to post a warm summer time photo. tricia 

Here is a thank you gift I made using Graphic 45 paper. I added the zipper for a little added bling. I think this paper is one of my favorite paper lines.

Totally off the subject of any art talk. I was driving home the other day and saw something orange in the sky. So I had to go around the block to get a second look. I found this deer hunter so funny I had to share. I am not a hunter, but everyone here thinks hunting season is a holiday. They all think work should be canceled on opening day. To me it is to cold around here to sit in a tree and wait to see a deer. Or in this deer's case a man. We got our first flurry of snow this weekend. It didn’t stick or stay long so I couldn’t get a good picture to show yal. I am sure I will have more chances.  tricia

Morgan got his helmet to ride ATV’s now he just need the ATV too.   Slowly but surely he is getting hooked up. He gets a few perks with daddy working at Arctic Cat.   Arctic lets some employees ride the ATV’s and Snowmobiles. We just have to take some classes. I had never seen a snowmobile until we moved here. So I can’t wait to check out how different they are from riding ATV’s. The only problem I foresee is that the snowmobile requires snow and that means cold weather. I am already cold all the time and the cold weather hasn’t even got here yet. The high this week is around 47 to 50 degrees. I am going to have to get me some thermal underwear soon or start packing my pants with all my scrapbook papers. ttfn, tricia

I am about to get everything unpacked here in northeast Minnesota.   I just unpacked my last craft room box. Now I have to figure out where to put it.   I need to get rid of some of my craft supplies but I just love them all. Someday I might need them. I guess it’s a compulsion just like women who have all those shoes and never will wear all of them before they die. I have been playing around a bit with some new supplies. Here is a Halloween project I have been working on. Hope you enjoy. Hi to all my TN friend I miss being inspired by all your talent. Miss you too Cindy. :) Tricia

I got my hubby headed off to his new job yesterday. Yeah!  He starts work monday.  Now I am on my own to get everything ready for the move. I am glad we have movers coming, however just getting ready for them and getting my house ready to sell is overwhelming.  Yesterday I also celebrated my birthday with mom. Doing the dinner and movie thing. Thought I would top it off with a little frozen custard. Well I always get the same thing but being my birthday and all I decided to get something new. Not sure what the problem was but by the time I got home I was so sick. Hugging the toilet and I didn't even drink alcohol. When I was young and celebrated I knew why I was sick. (to much fun!!). The good news is I believe in celebrating your birthday all week. And the rest of my week is going to be greeeat!  tricia

I finally visited Graceland last week. I have been here 3 years and never got the chance to go. We are getting ready to move to MN so figured if I wanted to see it I better go now. I'm not a big Elvis fan but I was really impressed. As an artist I loved looking at all the costumes he had. I was amazed by the talent and time it took to create them. The house was cool too. It was a total "Brady Bunch" experience. tricia

This is  how we start our wild adventures to CHA. Can you believe we even got more stuff in here on the way home? We a had a low rider on the way home. We just needed to add some cool paint to the van but we were to tired.   tricia

I just returned from CHA. I had so much fun. I saw so much stuff, I haven’t even processed it all. I am still so tired. I learned a lot about being a designer with CHA. Thank God I had my wonderful mentors with me helping every step of the way. I would have been as lost a goose with out them.   I met some wonderful woman, that also design as CHA members. How amazing and inspiring they all were.   Here are a couple of project I created for a children’s display at CHA. The first is a kids party hat the second is a desk set for a girls room. tricia

Did you think I was never going to post again? I was beginning to wonder myself. I have been so busy with new project. I am going to CHA this year for the first time. I am going as a designer and I have been trying to get as many project as I can created. I also have taken on a new adventure at my LSS. Our store has a card kit they create and sell every month. Our designer for these kits has moved. So I am in progress of designing my first card kit for the store. I am so excided to be designing these kits. However, I have big shoes to fill and I hope I am able to make my LSS proud. Also I am creating some project for A-MUSEA-PALOOZA stamp extravaganza. This is an exciting week long of event on July 7th-13th.. These stamps are so fun. I will post some sneak peeks soon. They are definitely going to get you in the holiday mood. Here is a peek at one of the project I am creating for CHA. The stamps are from Artistic Outpost. I painted the pencil box lightly. Stamped with black then colore

Here is a little book I have been working. It is 5 star book by Pine Cone Press. I still need to add pictures to finish. It took a little work but I think it was worth the time. I got on line this morning and looked at my OSU transcript. I was excited to see: Degree awarded- Bachelor of Fine Arts. I guess it just goes to show persistence pays off. --tricia

I also though I better share one of the projects I have been working on for the LSS. This house is created by using the Maya Road chipboard house. The paper is by Fancy Pants designs. The flowers are many different brands. Hope you enjoy.

Hello, once again it has been forever since I have blogged. I just seem to loose track of time living life. This is a simple card I created for the LSS. We have a make-n-take Monday every week teaching new ways to use our products. This week we used Jolee’s embellishments and cloud 9 paper.

Hi all, Just wanted to share with everyone my mini book and our LSS hit dream street papers blog. So cool. If you want to cheek it out here is the link. http://dreamstreetpapers.blogspot.com/ . I am working on a new project for the store and should be posting it soon. tricia

WHERE HAVE I BEEN? Not blogging as you can see. I have been a busy girl. I have been finishing the last bit of Spanish class. (Thank the Lord).. I did well on my test and finished my oral report yesterday. Now all I have to do is turn in homework for the semester. Then I will be a free woman with a BFA in graphic/illustration!!! Also I designed the mini book kit this month for the LSS. I have included the pictures for your viewing. The paper is by Dream Street Papers. I had so much fun with the bright color and creative images. And then on top of all of that my family thought I should take care of them and the house and cook. Go figure. Now that school is finishing up I hope to be creating more and posting more. tricia

I need be studying for a Spanish test but of course I am finding anything I can to avoid it. I have not had time to create anything new, so I am adding an illustration I did for Texas coop magazine publication a while back. Hope you enjoy. It is created with punches, quickutz, card stock and craft knife. tricia

I joined in on a vintage card challenge this week. It was so much fun. We were sent similar products to make a card and then we sent pictures back. So they could be displayed together. It is amazing how different the cards look. Shows you how different creative minds can be. To view the other cards pop on over to Art that makes me happy. I hope every one has a Happy Easter. tricia

I was tagged by Roxi a few days ago, so thought I better get with it and play along...I was asked to write seven random things about myself, then tag seven other bloggers to do the same. I am not sure I know 7 people that haven’t been tagged. So if you reading this “tag your it”. Let’s see if I can think of 7 things. Hum!! 1.I was a FHA president and FHA queen in High school. Big hair and all. 2.I was a hair stylist for 20yrs before moving to Memphis. My mom and grandma are both hair stylist also. 3.I love being around people but I must have my down time. I guess I am a home body at heart. 4.One of my first jobs was working at Mazzio’s pizza. 5.Everything in my brain revolves around art, everything in my husband’s brain revolves around engines- makes for strange conversations. Don’t tell him but most of the time I have no idea what he is talking about. 6.I love to use swirls in my art not because they are in style but because they represent the curls of hair I used to play with. 7.When

Oh my, I can’t believe how long it has been since I posted. I have been so busy. I am taking a Spanish class to finally finish up my graphic design degree. I have been totally consumed with trying to learn all these new words. I think the older I get the harder it is for me to learn. Or maybe the fact is my brain is just as stubborn as I am... I did however take a little break to work on some projects for my scrapbook store. The first is an acrylic book using a paper line from SEI. The second is a page using the scraps I had left from the book. The happy baby is meee. The whole time I was making the book the colors made me thinking of my childhood. So I had to go dig out some pictures and match them up. You know how you get when your on a role.

Hi yal, I am a woman who is ready for Valentines Day to be over. I have seen enough hearts to last me for a while. Here are some valentine day projects I did for my scrapbook store. The first project is a mini book kit, titled- 10 reasons why I love you. The paper is by Memory Makers. The designing of the kit was fun. However, after cutting out every piece for 23 kits and packing these kits. I can now say I have a new appreciation for people who create 100’s of kits a month to sell. The second project was for the store also. I created these make n take for a special sweet heart sale we had last Saturday. Two days and I won’t have to think about hearts again. Oh just so there is no confusion. This doesn’t get my hubby off from getting me something for valentines. Sorry, I have yet to figure out how to edit these pictures when posting. The first two are the end of the book.

Hey look 2 post in a row. Wow! I have been want to make a mask with a peacock theme for a friend of mine for a while. So yesterday I got busy and made a mini version with some of my favorite quickutz product. I used some of the florishes, bottle caps and juke box. I am thinking for the final mask I will make the feathers larger and add more detail. I hope to get it done soon. You know the saying. "So many ideas so little time."

Ok, so I am not the best at updating this blog. I'm gona work on that. Here is a project I did for my scrapbook store a while back. just a little eye candy for the day. Hope you enjoy. tricia