Wall of Frames

I have slowly been trying to fill the hooks on my stocking holders. Yes I am aware Christmas is long over, but I keep these hangers out all year round. THE MAN gets grumpy about holes in the plaster. I had some pretty snowflake crystals hanging from them a while ago, but it was time for a change seeing how it's spring.

My latest creation is next to the unicorn.

Recently we were on our way to town in the rain when I spotted a piece of a telephone pole on the side of the road. It happened to be the piece with the metal number 53 and I insisted I needed it.

THE MAN knows it is difficult to fight crazy, so he just pulled over and said hurry.

I used it in the middle of my piece and painted it with some Ranger Patina so it would match with the rest of the frames. 

I shared the other number with a cool blogger named Connie over at Crafty Goodies who collects the number 5. She in turn sent me some of the number 3s she had in her stash. That is my favorite number OF ALL TIME. Something about the shape maybe...

Here is the little pile of goodies I started with. I had ordered a trivet with some art work of my son had done, which was not cropped correctly, so I decided to use it instead of throwing it out.The doily came under some soup I ordered when we went out for supper and I snuck into my purse. Did not use the wood block, but I have plans for that too. 

My favorite part of the whole project was using a rivet gun to attach my hangers. Hardware makes me happy and I for sure plan on using rivets again! Look how pretty they are with their little scraped up metal!

Hope you are having a great Thursday!

First Bloom Page Just Because

A while ago I was laying on my belly on our lawn with cell phone in hand.

Was capturing the daffodils in bloom on their level. I say a while ago since they have come and gone and we have since mowed several times. Loved the sun flare I got with the farm behind things in this particular photo.

I am one of the few crazy people I know who grow daffodils in her lawn. I thought they would look cool under the apple trees in full bloom, but they kinda miss each other a bit. Before I know it we are mowing and my blooms are hanging out in a vase in the house. Hence a photo or two and then a page.

And another photo for Lizzy Hill in Australia as I believe she shares my fondness for these blooms!

The journaling on my photo was inspired by a Crosby Still Nash and Young song. It reminded me of how I felt that moment on my belly with the grass tickling my nose. Ready to Carry On with Spring!

Here is a close up of the funny little green key I made! Tim Holtz makes the coolest things for us to fix up our own way!

Happy Hump Day peeps! We're creeping towards our long weekend now...

Sexy Layout Or Alternate Title: Where Did Your Sidewalk Go?

 First up, a song to get you into the mood of where my head was with this title.

Oh come on. Everyone loves a little country....besides, you can see how I dress when I'm helping with projects around our house involving the Kubota. but for the record, I wear a ball cap, not a cowboy hat...and I totally dirty dance with THE MAN all the time during chores! (snort!)

Anyhow...

On the list for the summer is installing a new sidewalk into the house. The one that was there was terrible! Falling apart in many different places. Got so I'd meet the mail lady and UPS dude outside in case they fell and twisted their ankle.

Here is a side shot of my flower, button border and you can catch a peek of THE MAN'S face as he is working on taking out the concrete. He is controlling the bucket of the tractor with his mind, lol!

FOR THE RECORD, we thought we'd have to rent a jackhammer and there was no way we'd get out these steps this easy. So it was pleasing to see it peel up like that. 

And here is one more showing the view across the page. 

AND, one last photo of the end result which is pretty bare looking. Working on concrete tonight provided the rain holds off!

Happy Tuesday!

5 Minute Linda Layout for Bird is the Word & Scrap4Help

I made this page for Bird is the Word. Their new releases for the month are:  HE | SHE | HIM | HER. 

I saw their challenge and specifically made this page. I have had that photo on my desktop for several months in the theory I would blog/scrap about it. Love when a challenge inspires me to get off my buttinsky! 

I have been consciously collecting photos around the North Country of things that are exclusive to here.

Five Minute Linda is very exclusive to Potsdam and widely known. She also has a very interesting story...but I'll get into that in a bit. Her name comes from a $5 hair cut in five minutes. And that is with some chatting even! Of course, there is only ONE haircut she knows...and you might have to even up things yourself....boys haircuts are only $3.

I'd say she cuts the hair of 95 % of all North Country men and boys. I have nothing to base my math on, except that everyone knows her and she is cheap. Cheap is something people are real fond of here...and quick is also good!

Here is a close up of the vintage flower I made. I had one solo cloth napkin hanging around and cut a few flower shapes out of it along with some vintage book pages. I like how it looks old against the bright colors plus I can link it up with the Scrap4Help blog where their challenge is to use a napkin.

AND....that story I promised you about Five Minute Linda...her name by the way, is not something I came up with. She is referred to that throughout the North Country.

Word on the street is that her current husband wanted a divorce. Evidently it was amicable enough that he spent the winter working on her new digs up the road and while she was still living at the house, invited the girl friend and her kids to move in. NOW THAT is working nicely together. ;-) Of course, that is all rumor, but it was the hot topic prior to my new Heifer neighbors....

Happy Monday!

Noisy Neighbors in the 'Hood

Big news in our neighborhood are new neighbors.

Met them recently on a walk. They followed us. It was a bit odd.

Well, they are baby heifers, so I suppose we can give them the benefit of the doubt.

I am told there are two girls and one boy.

I did not check. Thought looking at their pee pees kinda personal. I leave those tasks to THE MAN who knows what to look for...he started to say look....the one with the hanging down thing...and I sshhhed him. I mean really. What if we embarrassed Curley?

I named them. The boy is Curley and the two girls are Thelma & Louise.

Imagine my disappointment to find out the small person who lives in the house that owns the heifers has already named Curley.

He is Sir Loin. I heard one of the girl heifers is called Soup which had me confused until THE MAN said, well like Beef & Barley Soup? It's just too long so she shorted it to Soup.

OK, lets give Alexia some credit here, those are damn good names when you are keeping in mind your baby heifer will someday be on your plate or in a bowl....

So, the news on the street is that these heifers are trespassing.

We met up with our neighbor Joe on the same walk and mentioned our new neighbors.

He does not use a cell phone or Facebook or any other social network device despite the fact he is a lot younger than me. BUT, he always has the SCOOP.

Their fence got placed across the stream in numerous places so they can get water. Property line goes to the center line of the stream so some peeps are a bit grouchy.

Perhaps after they go to the butcher and some white packages arrive to sooth the pain....Steak always cheers me up....

Happy Friday!

My Happy Place: FORREST layout for Another Freaking Scrappy

It's reveal day over at Another Freakin'.....what fun. That team is ROCK STAR with their layouts!

Here is our super simple sketch!

I made mine to celebrate a BIG DAY for my dog Forrest.

He was invited to Doggy De-stress Day over at Potsdam State College.

The brain child of Marissa, a friend of our bestest babysitters Chelsea and Heather, he got the benefit of an invite.

(Let me tell you a secret....FORREST is very fond of girls and was all sorts of showing off for the crew that came to pick him up)

He had a blast! Of course, that night he was so tired he had to lay down to eat dinner, the poor baby!

Just a little side view of my page and those delicious lime green feathers that were previously earrings I scored at the second hand store.

Here is a close up of them and my dog paw flower with the orange trim! Love it!

Now it does seem odd to wish you a Happy Hump Day when I am posting a dog layout...

Lego Robotics Page for Miracles Momma Designs

I am a bit conflicted over this page. I used my Silly Machine to cut the letters on the bottom and then didn't place them centered...which is a direct result of using spray adhesive vs stickers you can move...and did not get many photos at all due to fast moving excited boy and my inabilities to know what the heck I was even looking at...

HOWEVER, it is done and slightly off kilter funky-ish, so I am running with it. ;-)

Now the sketch on the other hand, rock star quality! Thanks for another good one, Heather over at Miracles Momma Designs!

A small peek at my journaling. I could have written a whole lot. Like Julie and Luke were on deck the whole time controlling the robot controller, and that he was the one the lady in charge said was "carrying the team" and that he got to program for the first time and how cool that was....but....... 

I hate to sound braggy....

In this particular case, Luke will shine as my technical smart boy is always trying to figure out how to make something work. I am SO looking forward to next year. 

Here is a shot of my crooked silly letters and also the robot controller fussy cut on the side. I noticed as I cut it out that Lucas and Julia are on the digital read out. So cool. I have also been hoarding those Lego brads for AGES and finally got to use them up. LOVE THEM TOO!

Just a quick little side view on my page! Happy Tuesday!

Keep Your Eye Out for Fugly

I recently spent a whopping $.75 at a second hand store the other day. Got myself three fancy dancy plastic doilies. Well, I got MYSELF one and two for friends. Would have gotten more, but they only had three.

Sorry for the blurry photo. I took the photo with my phone and I think the flowers upset the camera violently. The pen is thrown in there for scale so you can see that these doilies are not SMALL by a long shot. They cover a 12 by 12 sheet of paper nicely.

You know who you are Miss Lizzy Hill and Helen, these bad boys are heading your way. Scrap peeps that made good use of the LAST plastic doilies I forced them to take. ;-)

I shoved those ancient doilies in hot water almost as soon as I walked in the door and tried not to think of how ugly the flowers were.

Interestingly enough when I removed the ugly flowers, they were pretty all on their own ...so I have tucked them away for possible Christmas projects....the yellow part went in the garbage, but if I can use them, 24 nearly free poinsettias aren't bad...and the foliage looks interesting too...

Now, you might be wondering what one does with a plastic doily.

I have used the ones I have A LOT. Here is what this doily looks like with plaster (you can use a credit card to spread it out) and also some mist. The plaster is pink there but will dry white and ready for mists or inking....it also sands nicely. I always throw some clear spray on mine but I think it is just fine without it.

So, keep your eye ball out for non-conventional items you can convert to your scrappy purposes.

Disclaimer on the title:  THE MAN uses the word FUGLY all the time. I just googled it so make sure I knew FOR SURE what it meant....two different definitions came up...Free and Ugly, which almost fits....and well...you can read urban dictionary's version....

Happy Monday!

Barbie Grill & my Paint Stick

a little hand made sculpture made from a paint stick by Luke

represents me with my highlights and a sequin cell phone

The other night we had a rather frank discussion around the supper table. We were eating subs because I had burned the crap out of supper. Had to deploy the fire extinguisher and everything.

Lexi later commented it was the BEST.NIGHT.EVER.MOM as she always wanted to try out a fire extinguisher. Well, Mommy likes to make sure you kids are well rounded....I let them use the rest of it up on a tree.....

Ok, I'll start at the beginning.

Somewhere around 2 pm I decided pork chops would be nice for supper and pulled them outta the freezer. 

Turns out that isn't enough time to thaw so I carefully set the whole mass of chop on the grill with it on low and let warm slowly. 

Then, spent 10 minutes carefully prying them apart and spread them out and dusted them lovingly with some spices. STILL ON LOW. 

I tell you this because when I came out three minutes later, the grill was on fire. 

THE MAN claims the chops were fatty and I have to just get used to the new grill. 

Personally, I think Barbie and I are gunna have a grill smack down soon.

Yes, I have named my grill Barbie. I hate that song Barbie Girl and it doesn't take much for me to twist that into Barbie Grill. 

So, since the flames were quite high and said grill is tied to deck due to high winds, I opted for the fire extinguisher after shutting off the gas and considering my options.

Since I did not want to be the person to set the house on fire I sent Luke in for a fire extinguisher. 

To his credit he brought it directly and calmly. 

I blew the crap outta blazing chops FOUR TIMES and they still wanted to burn...

Perhaps they were fatty. 

THE MAN shows up at the tail end of my performance and says....DID YOU SAVE THE CHOPS.

No, I saved the deck and the house. SERIOUSLY BRING ME WINE OR MAYBE SOMETHING STRONGER. 

And then he says...I was just in the bathroom for a minute...and got THE LOOK when he mentioned that now we had to buy a new fire extinguisher. 

Anyhow, back to our frank discussion we had while we were eating the sandwiches.

I felt a little out of my element since I was wearing a ball cap at the table. When I went out to buy supper. I wore it because the last time I set the grill on fire I singed my eyelashes and did not notice for a couple of hours. I figured the hat would hide any fire damage...smudges or otherwise. 

Anyhow THE MAN was asking Luke about the pen that had exploded all over his carpet that may or may not happened while the baby sitter was there..

Luke is super curious about a lot of things. There was the time he plugged the vacuum into the wall with a staple on the plug..and then the time he set his garbage can on fire....Right now he's working with electro-magnets and batteries. 

We try not to stifle creativity in hopes he makes a lot of money when he grows up and buys us our own Island somewhere warm. 

My contribution to the discussion was to explain that his brain is pretty smart and perhaps he should save his experimentation for times when his parents are actually there since we know where the fire extinguisher is. 

I also had previously gotten the pen out of the carpet with hairspray earlier right after I took the chops out for supper.

Since today is Mother's Day in the States, I'd like to publicly thank my children for providing me endless amusement and great art work. There might be a few gray hairs in there too, but that is what the hairdresser and highlights are for.

And yes, I bought a new fire extinguisher. Seemed important. 

George Frame

A little while ago I blogged about my Bubba Canvas I made. Bubba being the dog that I inherited by marrying THE MAN, it's also interesting to note that George nicknamed Bubba. George being THE MAN's Mom. Her real name was of course Georgeen. Most people would not think to name their baby girl George I hope...

I was going to wait until June to post this, on the anniversary of her death, but then with Mother's Day coming right around the corner, I thought it was fitting. 

She passed away when THE MAN and I were newly weds. She was around for our marriage and our honey moon, but missed our new house and of course the new babies that came after.

Being a Pratt/Hardin mixture, her lessons on life were a bit on the strong side. I recall a dinner where a tray of fries may have gone flying into my sister in law to be's lap...anyhow, I will wander back from memory lane and tell you about my frame...

Here is the pile I started with. I recently realized that eight trillion things on my dressers in my bedroom meant I wasn't going to dust. So, I decided to reduce in the hopes of tricking myself. Ended up with a frame I really liked and this really old photo from another frame I wanted to keep. Those gold letters up there are her initials. GH for Georgeen Hardin. The fussy cut butterfly was from before I even scrapbooked and was something I cut out and had in the frame with the photo. 

The actual photo is from my wedding shower, well after actually when she is cuddling with my father in law. I think they were relieved it was over. 

It was an interesting shower. The cake was a flop, there was a huge ice storm preventing my Sister-In-Law's arrival who had the majority of the food, and a dead battery in our new truck...

Here is a side view so you can see that there is some space between the actual back of the frame so there is room for my cut out photo to pop out a little, now painted green patina letters, and a big flower. 

Now, making the frame was half the fun with layers of Ranger Patina paint, a bronze ink pad, and some brown StayZon ink. I am loving that color right now. 

A Huge Happy Friday to all you and a Great Weekend! Hope it involves a bit of paint! 

Best Day Ever Layout for ScrapFriends

Just a short little post to show you a recent page I made with photos from Lexi's BIG HUGE SLEEPOVER. She blogged about it just a bit ago.

At the urging of my Aunt Coco, I sent Lexi with a camera. It's not that she doesn't like taking photos I just imagined she'd be thinking of other things like cake and hanging out and all that...

Did get a bunch of really fun photos from the BIG SLEEPOVER/MEGAN/PAIGE birthday extravaganza.

Of course, they were all a bit blurry and a lot involved slices of cake. Made me hungry!

Hold on, I will share the cake photo that I cut out at the bottom. Gummy Worms, yum!

I wonder if you have those silly things or if only Americans eat candy worms. Those are the questions that keep me up at night you know.

I did have a fabulous sketch to play along with from ScrapFriends. Flipped that bad boy on it's side so my mustache paper would make more sense. Lexi has been in love with that paper since it arrived in a kit so it was for sure going on a page for her.

Loved making that huge cutout of all the girls from the bowling alley. The background there is terrible, so it was great to cut it out and just make the girls pop against some pretty paper.

A little inking, spattering, and voila! Super simple page. I think there are a couple of more cool photos she took so perhaps I will do up another at some point. Plus, she needs to come back and tell us what she did at her party besides bowl and eat lots of cake!

Happy Hump Day!

4.2 Miles Layout Just Because

Have you ever gone for a bike ride and felt the lovely spring air hit your face and feel as if things are just perfect everywhere!

I had such a nice ride with my son the other night.

We went 4.2 miles, hence the title.

I love the new pen I found. It's called a glaze pen and is make by Sakura. See what a pretty shiny look it gives my text?

I made a pretty little Tim Holtz key up for this page. I was going to make my own inserts, but this one was pretty cool already.

Here is a cross view of my page. I LOVE the sun glare because well, it's SUNNY here finally!

Grass is getting green, the birds are chirping, things are growing and we are biking! If you look at the side of my page, you see I used a little funny scrap that says blah blah blah, which is exactly what you hear when the boy in front of you is trying to hold a conversation!

May your Tuesday be bright and sunny with the wind blowing in your face!