Sunday, March 16, 2014

Hope Your Birthday was Royal: Step Card for THE CUTTING CAFE


























My father-in-law is celebrating a birthday today!

Again my card is late, but I'm sending something GOOD WITH IT so hopefully he will cut me some slack!

I LOVE step cards. I never would have tried them on my own, but being assigned them on a design team, you tend to give things a try you might not try on your own. Check out all the awesome designs Regina has over at THE CUTTING CAFE!

I love them because you can stack them up and they are super steady!


























I made him a poker card with a Royal Flush because he's loves to play. On his last visit, he was teaching us to play Texas Hold 'Em. All of us. The 13 year old is a good bluffer!
























And look how flat this card folds! LOVE IT!

Happy Birthday Dad Pratt!

Saturday, March 15, 2014

Sweet Fun Layout for Another Freaking Scrappy


































As much as I am getting tired of SHOVELING the white stuff (the internal argument of it being a good work out is losing ground) I don't mind scrapping it so much!

Had to make a fun page of a trip we made out back to cut some wood. The trailer got stuck eight times and we had to winch it out several times. It was fun for a while until I got cold! So, they all posed for a Victory photo for me to cheer me up!

Had a GREAT sketch to use from Another Freaking Scrappy. The challenge opens today, so hope you are inspired by it as well! Come play with us!



May have taken a few wee liberties, but I do have flowers and a huge round element! I am into layers right now. 

Heck, I even have really round flowers! ;-)


Really LOVE how that paper doily that Shirley punched for me turned out. It was originally white with a subtle pattern, but some spritzes and a good crumble made it all tattered. Here is a side view of it. 

And one last photo so you can see the deck is snow free for once!


Hope you are having a GREAT WEEKEND and are full of all kinds of inspiration to get scrappy!

Hugs!






Friday, March 14, 2014

The Second 5 Gifts of Lent: HAPPY MAIL


Last Saturday I dropped my son's glasses off at the eye doctor. They were replacing his lenses because he is growing like a weed and was complaining of blurry vision.

The Nice Lady at the Eye Doc said:  Let me just check and make sure they are in. It's Pratt, isn't it?

I flinched a little and said OH you must have a really good memory!

The Nice Lady at the Eye Doc said:  I sure do! I recall these very frames and spending hours chipping off super glue.

I looked for something to crawl under.

The boy had decided at one point to repair his own glasses. They typically do not warranty frames that have been etched with superglue but in this case, it's Potsdam and peeps are pretty cool here.

On my return trip to pick them up, I brought her a candy bar. The good yummy kind that is super rich and I'd want to eat.

It's not quite a random act of kindness, but I am giving myself credit because:

A) I remembered to buy it
B) I didn't eat it
C) I remembered to give it to her!

Anyhow, my other RAKs this week include mailing four packages to some scrapbooking people I don't know. I mean, I'm on a team with them but I don't you know like chit chat with them. It was hard picking out stuff to send!

And talk about having a hard time? Dropping that soap off at the post office for them to hand out to grumpy people? Boy did I feel strange! But I did it!

I'm two weeks down on Mission Lent!

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

How Alarming: Embroidery Hoop Altered Art

On Sunday, I was hanging out in my craft room thinking hard.

I was thinking about making the most out life which led me to download a printable from Graphique on Etsy to use on this piece. Life is way too short to be stuck & miserable.

I am sure you have heard the poem To the Virgins, to make much of Time by Robert Herrick at some point or other. It's slightly annoying, but placed over roses and leaving out the title, it's better. ;-)

GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
  Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
  To-morrow will be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
  The higher he 's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
  And nearer he 's to setting.
That age is best which is the first,
  When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
  Times still succeed the former.
Then be not coy, but use your time,
  And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
  You may for ever tarry.

I really have no concept of what it might be like to not be enjoying life. (and on a side note, I don't intend to lose my prime just get better and better thank you very much Mr. Herrick)

Things are pretty easy for me. My first world problems this week include forgetting to buy butter and running out of dog food.

I cannot imagine what it would be like to live with THE MAN and not actually LIKE him. It seems kinda important, like having peanut butter to go with your jelly. Or chocolate to go with your peanut butter.

But, like I said, I do not know what it's like.


































I used some items on this hoop to illustrate the poem a bit. One is a vintage bingo card from my friend over at You Made Me Ink who also hooked me up with these super amazing blooms. Bingo for how things sometimes are unexpected in life!

The second is the gold outline of an alarm clock and third being a bike. I wanted an image for time and also an one that involved moving away from a situation.


Since I really layered up the hoop, I wanted it to be free standing for display. So I hot glued it onto a piece of very heavy cardboard. The thick line of hot glue got glittered and it's prettier in real life!


































And here it is hanging out on my table where I can enjoy it for a couple of days. I'm sending off to a friend just as soon as I find a box that will work. (excuses excuses)

HHAPPPPPPPY HUMP DAY!

and a little video from Dead Poets!


food for worms, lads!

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Palm Trees Layout


































When we were in Florida, Lexi kept yelling PALM TREES at every opportunity.

To say she was excited to be in a warmer climate with different kinds of trees is quite an understatement.


The fun part for me on this page was encorporating the map of where we stayed at the Barefoot Beach Resort. I brayered over it with gesso so it wasn't so bright, but you can see a smidge of it by Lexi's foot. 


My favorite part of this page was adding Lisa over at You Made Me Ink's pretty blooms coupled with found shells, a little bit of dyed cheese cloth and a sparkle! Also tucked in a drink stir stick that was lovely green and a palm tree!

Lisa used a new file that Regina at THE CUTTING CAFE has recently released that looks like so much fun!

It's called Paper Flowers and there is a easy video with step by step instruction by Tmika that walks you through making them.

Hope you are having a blast today wherever you are!

PALM TREES!

Monday, March 10, 2014

Gather Ye Rosebuds Shaker Card for THE CUTTING CAFE


































This shaker card was so much fun!

Made this card for a family member who is going through a rough time. I wanted her to know that we loved and supported her. Nothing says that better than a grungy doily, glitter, gold shimmer and sequins that move around! I also wanted to remind her that life is short and sometimes things must come to an end to start the next chapter.


































The key to a shaker card is depth. I achieved that with some foam tape. Wanted the layers to also add depth, so added a bit of cardboard, little doilies, and paper to lift it off the page.

It got mailed in a soft mailer instead of a traditional envelope due to it's size!

Making the card was very easy with a great cutting file. The files are from THE CUTTING CAFE and I used the Polaroid shaker to make this card.

To give the whole thing more depth, I also cut out an extra Polaroid frame from thick cardboard on my cutting machine.


































And yes, I took this photo on SNOW! It was cold enough, it wasn't going to hurt the card one bit!

Hope your Monday is fantastic!

Saturday, March 8, 2014

The First Five Gifts of Lent










A while back I took one of those personality tests on Facebook to see what kind of dog I was. I had to have been extremely bored. It told me I was a golden retriever. Although that seemed to be positive, it cautioned on being too eager and helpful.

I feel horrible if I can't answer a phone or get right back to someone on an email at work. I am told one can wait a few minutes for that kind of thing, but still I feel a terrible guilt for making someone wait.

Most times at the hair dresser I am clutching my smart phone and texting & emailing the whole time leaving my stylist to converse with nobody.

She tries her best to distract me, but usually I give her the same answers one mumbles at the dentist.

The exception with the hairdresser is that usually I wander out with some juicy useful tidbit. Names of new shows to watch, ideas for things to pack in lunches, meals to try. I decided this time when I walked in that I was going to focus on being present in the moment even if it killed me.

We both agreed I needed the attention. When a hairdresser exclaims oh my your hair is LONG it's not always a nice thing. What I didn't know until after I talked to her was that she needed the attention too.

Her morning had started badly. The dog had managed to get into the trash and while cleaning that up, she dropped a glass bottle on her foot. In fact, although she had cleaned her foot up before coming, she wasn't entirely sure if all the glass in the cut was actually out.

Then, due to having to clean up garbage and her foot, she was late to work by ten minutes.

Her first client was upset and had left. When she called to apologize, she got an earful. Since the lady was supposed to get a massage and instead got angry, the entire process seemed a little pointless to me when I heard the story. (I have learned the art of waiting a few minutes living here in the North Country although I draw the line at 45 minutes at the doctor's office).

My hairdresser was still so sideways she had to paint one of my big toes three times. That was remarkable in itself as usually she takes something I can turn into a 20 minute affair of hopping, swearing, and arm waving into five minutes of effortless activity.

It was HARD to sit still and not check my phone.

It rang twice. One was a guy I work with a lot and the second was the president of my company.

I happen to know for a  fact they both get their hair cut since they always call me back later and say oh I was getting my hair cut. Plus when I see them, they do not resemble apes.

The first call was during a foil and the second was right before she was about to pull off the eye brow wax. I ignored both calls even though it was KILLING ME. Answering the second call probably would have been hazardous to my eye brow anyhow...

The boss one was a bit harder. He calls rarely so I had a minute or two of distracted pondering until I dragged myself kicking and screaming back into the conversation.

All gray hairs colored, eye brows tamed and toes a nice sparkly hot pink, I paid my bill. I left her a nice tip. She plans on putting new windows & a front door in her house this summer and will need all the money she can get.

And on topic of waiting, I am dropping off four bars of hand made soap at the Post Office when I am there today. That line seems to make people grumpy and I'm going to ask the lady at the register to give them anyone who looks like they need a pick me upper. Someone local makes the soap and the scent is Lost on the Beach. Since it's snowing again here, hopefully the smell will give them a nice day dream of a hot sandy beach with umbrella drink!

Have a Happy Saturday!


This is the first of five posts about My Version of Lent. Hopefully you enjoy them as much as I am thinking them up!

Thursday, March 6, 2014

LESSology Clothes Pin Challenge: Scrapbook Corkboard

























Did you know that you can stain clothespins?

Yeah, me neither! I used clothing dye to turn mine black, but I hear food dye does the trick too!

I started off with six clothes pins and let them sit in the dye bath for around a half hour.

To my surprise it worked perfectly!

























Decorating them was easier than I thought too. I used some pretty little gems from The Funkie Junkie on one set along wtih some black glitter and on the other set I used some Prima Vintage Mechanicals from the same store along with small metal tops I had left over from a previous project. I honestly couldn't believe how well those tops fit in to frame out the image and to think they were almost thrown out!

Vintage Flower Postcards from Nicecrane Designs were carefully cut for the centers!



Now the Paris clips are hanging out in my kitchen to help keep snack bags shut.

The Flower Clips are hard at work in my scrapbooking area. I love this idea! I used up some little scraps of molding along the top edge of some cork board. Now I wish I had made one three times as long with that many more clips!


























The clips are nailed onto this cork board and will keep some of my little things handy also leaving room to tack smaller items up for quick viewing to make a page.
























Look how organized! That spice container is up next for some paint & overhaul!

I do hope you come play along with us over at LESSology with our clothespin challenge!

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Mitra's Version of Lent

Now, not being of the particular flavor of religion that celebrates Lent, I was somewhat taken aback this morning when a fellow coworker told me he was giving soda up until Easter. I forgot yesterday was Fat Tuesday.

He then went on to admit that he had just switched to drinking tea to get his caffeine fix.

I was like dude, that is like ME saying I'll stop drinking wine and switching to Jack.

I told him (because I am nice like this) that it sounded like a cop out. And if he wanted to give up soda, to just give it up already and do something hard for Lent.

He assured me that he drank a LOT of soda and doing anything TOO hard probably would just end up failing miserably.

I get it. If someone asked me to stop being Snarky, I would last for the first five seconds of the day. Sarcasm would be a hard habit for me to break.

He did point out that Lent was meant to remind you of Jesus & his fasting and all that.

Yeah yeah yeah I said because again I am polite like that, you should do something hard. You can give soda up for your health anytime.

Well, he said. What are YOU going to do?

Since I was already raining on his Lent Parade I gave him a few ideas of what I WOULD do.

I said, instead of giving something up, what about giving something back? Pay for the guy's coffee behind you next time you are out? Tell the grumpy cashier that her sweater is a really pretty color. It will make you feel good and they will feel good too. Do a random act of kindness everyday. That is what I'd do. EXCEPT for me, that would be hard since sometimes I don't leave the house for a couple of days at a time. The mail lady would think it was really strange to keep getting gifts....

Patrick decided to send out 40 cards. He said he really liked getting mail and it would make him happy to send other people mail. Since he typically sends out postcards when I don't, I believe that about him.

As for my version of Lent, I'm working on it. Since it starts today I'm a bit behind already, but I'm coming up with a plan that does not involve 40 RAKs to the mail lady.

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Hope You Had a....Ball Birthday Card for Grandma Skip & The Cutting Cafe























It's Grandma Skip's Birthday Today! My Mom assured me that it's perfectly OK that this card I made for Grandma is still sitting on my table and not mailed as of yet. In fact, I even used past tense when I stamped the sentiment!

She knows I'll add chocolate though so perhaps she thinks that will keep me out of hot water!



This card has many layers.....can you see the bottom layer which is a baseball? And the stamping that is under the chippy "love you" and some clear acetate? And then there is the vintage baseball ticket I downloaded to use as well. Also check out the super amazing sweet flower from Lisa over at You Made Me Ink.

Two cutting files were used on this card from THE CUTTING CAFE. The BASEBALL AND BAT SHAPED CARD SET have that lovely baseball and are super simple to use. Lisa's PAPER FLOWER TEMPLATE was featured last week at THE CUTTING CAFE

If you look PAST the card, you will see snowmobile tracks in the snow that has STILL NOT LEFT YET. We are trying to make the best of it and having a little play in the snow while we wait for spring! ;-)


































I finished stamping the inside and added a photo of the kids and I.

I tried to go all Hallmark on it so completed it reads:  I Hope You Had a Ball!

Happy Tuesday!

Monday, March 3, 2014

I Love A North Country Sky for Lindy's Stamp Gang Challenge


































I am still getting the hang of my Lindy's Stamp Gang Starburst mists. In fact, I will SKIP showing you the flip side of this huge doily where things turned out a big muddier. Huge thanks to best neighbor Shirley who hooked me up with this doily that she used some new punches on!

My daughter showed up in the midst of misting and said, why did you flip it over...and I might of said something slightly snarky!! Anyhow, my second try made me much happier!

Even the flower got a little mist as it was originally white.

Bougainvillea Fushsia mixed with Tibetian Poppy Teal make that purple color that I love....although they are not exactly the colors in their challenge. Which I think means I need to buy more mists.....


I was trying to work off their March Madness Color Challenge and I think I got close...although things are far more teal than blue.






I also used a bit of the mists on the ribbon. I washed them out to get a more muted color. I was surprised how well it worked! 

Be gentle with me, folks over at Lindy's as I get up to speed with your lovely products! 

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Just A Song Before I Go: Layout for Another Freaking Scrappy


































So earlier this past week I mentioned that my grandmother's boyfriend died. I also said my neighbor was growing a squirrel on his face, but now have regrets over making fun of his beard.

When I was growing up, I had four sets of grandparents.  They were not all officially real ones, but since divorce ran in the family I had lots of fun people to pick from.

I like to watch Madman and imagine that things were a bit like that back in the day.

Lloyd Fargo was one cool cat. My grandmother's boyfriend had a motorcycle and took me on rides. Not to mention he owned these huge ass spruce trees in his front yard perfect for making forts under.

They were together for a very long time when I was growing up until some unfortunate incident regarding a kitchen counter and a saw.

One of my fondest Lloyd memories is my first tape. I got the awesomest present one Christmas and it was a REAL TAPE PLAYER where I could record my own voice. And play music. It was small enough I could lug it around and lug it around everywhere I did. It was likely the size of a dictionary to put it into perspective.

Lloyd must have gotten sick of me playing my own self back over and over again and went out to his truck and got me a very old Crosby Stills Nash and Young tape minus the cover and slightly sticky from rolling around in the glove box.

I MEMORIZED that tape!


























One of their song titles made for a good scrapbook page title.


I kinda think it fits their relationship. Here are the lyrics that I used:


Just a song before I go

To whom it may concern

Traveling twice the speed of sound
It's easy to get burned




































Love this crazy paper I printed out from an old book I had called the Pokey Puppy!

If you get the urge, this page was created for the first of the month challenge over at Another Freaking Scrappy.

Anne is challenging us to:  Scrap or art journal about a favourite song in from your teens. You can scrap some of the lyrics, or the title, or a photo of the band …

Interestingly enough, I was in my teens when I went to my first Crosby Stills Nash and Young concert. Couldn't really see the band from the seats we had due to pot smoke haze, but the music was fantastic!

Hope your weekend is full of scrappy time! ;-)

Hugs!