For Lisa

So, my friend Lisa is a good egg. I love her take on life. Recently we finally hooked up at exercise class and she said that her new goal was to have FUN every day. I like that. Too often I forget. It's a good goal.

I had picked up this metal star with her in mind ages ago at North Country Neighbors. So, dusted it off and had a quick think. Now, when in Canada over the weekend, I saw eighteen different rolls of Tim Holtz tape. And the two rolls I have are still quite full. Which gave me a goal of using it up a bit so I'd be justified in buying more...(See how my brain works?) It's like ice cream...well, anyhow....

So, I gave it a try and loved it. Of course, added some brown StazOn too to ink up edges. She is also into grungy primitive stuff, so while this is probably too pretty for that, she also likes sparkles and glitter. Of course, what girl doesn't like something pretty. Added this pretty locket with the word FUN in it to remind her every day.

The base of the whole flower cluster is a gauze bandage! Thanks Helen! She rocks using those on her pages. I had to raid one out of the medical kit...so I see a future trip to the store...and more projects! The orangeish flower is one I made from my cutter and glimmered up...I love making those!

Have a good night! Off to enjoy a bowl of popcorn and some blogs...

Helen's Challenge

So, on my trip to Canada, I spotted this really cool sheet of paper. It's by Pinkpaislee and called Decorative Doilies, House of Three, and has this really cool resist pattern. It looked perfect for Helen's Challenge on the Do More with Less blog (TOTALLY LOVE THAT NAME) where she is a guest designer. There is another day or so to participate so go check it out.

Here are her rules:

The challenge is to MIX YOUR MISTS (Modern Shabby Style!)
1) Use at least 3 different colours of mists (diluted acrylic paint in a spray bottle works too) I used three or four different colors

2) Use chipboard that you have first used as a mask for your mists: I originally used some chipboard flowers but hated them and the outline and not having any chipboard I loved, I opted to go with a Tattered Angels stencil.

3) Use up some of your old (or new!) rub-ons (stickers work too)-added the one at the top and one at the bottom that says "laugh"
4) Add an eclectic assortment of other elements to give your creation a MODERN SHABBY

And, in keeping with the theme of recycling that is promoted on this site, a bottlecap with a flower insert! I got to use some new crackle clear glaze I found too. It doesn't LOOK crackly, but rest assured it is crackly. In one of the photos above, I added a few drops around the photos as accents and it cracked nicely! The lace at the bottom of the page has also been passed along from one scrapper to another so it's nice it's getting some use. It takes mist nicely, so that is awesome.

I also used a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays which was fun. They always have super cool sketches.



I had to combine two photos to get my square, but I got to use all the photos I wanted!

And, on my blog you may have noticed I am doing some upgrades. My neighbor asked how I follow along with so many blogs and the answer wasn't an easy one. She didn't want a blog of course, so I suggested I just add what I follow on my sidebar. Of course the new header was just plain old fun! Since I spend a fair amount of time looking a scrappages from around the world, I thought a photo of me and the kids with some American flags in the background would be fun.

Yellow Glimmermist, the border, and more ramblings....

So, I never got to explain why I love Saturday am at my house! A cup of coffee, some blog browsing, maybe reading some of that new book I got on my ipad...but I was interruped by my other pc before I could explain all that. More specially a skype from my most favorite neighbor. It was pretty simple. It said: Wanna go to Cornwall? For those of you not living in my area (which would be all of you pretty much) that means we're going over the border. Now, they have some fun stuff over in Canada. Their Walmart for instance carries different scrapbooking stuff...BUT more important is that THE SCRAPBOOKING store is over there.


My instant response was no. I mean, things needed vacuuming...I can't possibly go anywhere with dog hair on the floor. Then my smarter half kicked in and I realized I needed yellow glimmermist. Much more important than vacuuming OR grocery shopping.


It is always fun at the border crossing. I always get a teeny bit nervous. On the trip over, we got a gruff woman who was like: WHY DO YOU WANT TO GO INTO CANADA? On the trip back, we again got a woman who was a bit nicer. She said: Why did you go to Canada? This lady got the correct response and as I was drawing a breath to explain about the new crackle glaze I found, and yellow glimmermist, and this super cool piece of Sassafras paper, she waved us on. Usually it takes more than five seconds at the US boarder crossing where we are paranoid androids, but she must have seen the manic look in my eye that comes from viewing sheets upon sheets of yummy paper, a wall of Prima, etc. She should scrapbook. Seriously. Much better than hanging out in a little booth.


Anyhow, due to my day abroad, I have deligated some of my tasks. One of them was drawing for my RAK. This got assigned to the 10 year old who is most fair. She looked at everyone's photos and said, why, the lady with the little girl should get it. I was like, no wait, Lexi, you have to cut them out and fold them up and then draw a winner! She looked puzzled. But, this lady that said something about a white hair is really funny...I said, no, it has to be FAIR. So, she opted to make a game out of it. She cut all the names up, crumped them up, and kept picking names until she had one left. That was her winner. See, out of the box thinking. And, Julie won. I am a bit suspicious since she was her original pick...maybe her daugher and my daughter had an arrangement...So, Julie, e-mail me your addy, please and thank you!


And, lest you think badly of me for not posting something with a photo, here is a card I made for my Aunt Connie. Scraps of October Afternoon paper along with a stray sticker madet this fun card.
I even left the bottom of the paper on. I thought my Aunt might think it was funny. She is my science Aunt, working in the energy industry...hope she likes it...

Happy Sunday! I'll be at the market!! (yes, that was for you Helen!!)

Ah! A Winner, a bloggie award thingie, and how much I love a Saturday morning....

So, first order of business. Sweet Bloggie Award thingie....from Karen!

So, 7 things you don't know about me:

I'm a dog person, have cats, but there is just something about dogs...that really reach into your heart. Mine like ice cubes which is a pretty cheap treat...and low cal, which if you have a fat beagle, you are looking for options like that.

I have a fat beagle mix named Forrest that came from the pound. THE MAN spotted him, had to have him, and it turns out he was only there for a half hour, hence the really calm demeanour unlike the rest of the dogs who were barking their heads off. He now is a terrible bed hog and has nasty breath, but...loves us to pieces.

I work at home. I'm a project manager for a firm that designs well pads for the Natural Gas Industry. Don't ask me how I got here. IN fact, our closest office to me is 5 hours away in a different state. I know, it's strange. It's pretty much the story of my life...a little choice years ago and voila, here I am.

I adore differences in culture. So, you guys spelling COLOR with a u, totally cool. Or talking about chooks (which I now know are chickens, LOL) and blogging about the really cold weather when I suffer with a heat wave...I love it. Just as much as I love talking to the predominately PA crowd I work with who have their own differences...and better convenience stores.

You would THINK working at home is amazing. It is. However, I don't turn things off as well as I should. Hence in the evening, I might be working on a huge inbox full of e-mail and then switching over to use some modge podge on a creation. I'm not entirely sure I'll be able to go back to an office...they might think it strange when I bring my laundry in to fold during a conference call....

And, I'm out. I know, not seven things there...but I have a hot date...

I am off to a craft show where a local blogger is showing her work. Check it out here, she has some great ideas...you should follow her....

I'll be back later. For one thing, I have to draw my RAK and the other, after I pick up some scrappy stuff (I'm out of hot glue) I have a little wall hanging to post....

Some RAK, an updated page, and an apology!

08/05/2011 UPDATE:

don't forget to leave me a comment to get in the running for this RAK!!! drawing tonight!

PREVIOUS POST

Yeah, I'm a loser! I decided a bit back that since we have a camper, I needed to really WORK at summer. Meaning, wring every single little bit of fun out of it as possible with the family! So, been gone for a bunch of days...and then spent some time earlier this week visiting our Towanda office in PA. Where I was working, but obviously not scrapping at night either! Plus, no internet, so no blog stalking.

I will be catching up shortly...OR, that is what I am telling myself!

Anyhow, a couple of things of interest!

I'm offering a RAK! For you guys not sure what that means, it is a Random Act of Kindness. Also translates to, holy cow, I have a huge amount of ribbon I'd like to share! Marilyn brought me this HUGE bag of stuff the other day. I thought I'd share a bit. So, today or tomorrow or by next Friday, leave me a comment on something interesting. Say like, I love Westies because they have short kinky hair and you are the running for my RAK! I will have a very official drawing, meaning I will put your names all into a hat and have my kid pick a name.

It's all packed up and ready to send. I don't care where you live. I'll send it there. Keep in mind this stuff is vintagy, so not for your faint of heart scrappers! ;-)

Ok, my second item of business is that yes, I may have blogged about this page before, but it fits PERFECTLY on this challenge I spotted. Yes, I had to change one tiny thing. BUT I love what I had to add so to me, it's fair! It's a challenge blog that inspires you by looking at photos of lovely rooms! It's called Beyond the Door and the theme this month is kitchen related! Now, I had ALL the criteria for this page with the exception of having a kitchen related implement. I didn't have any thing LIKE that so I took a photo of my new favorite vintage spoons collected at Marilyn's garage sale, printed them out on photo paper and then fussy cut them!

Check it out here!

All for now!

See ya in a bit. I have a page I'm working on. It's actually TWO pages of the same thing, but I am sure I'll add a twist. It's for a page share I'm doing with my sis in law and our DDs who dressed up in fancy dresses for us.

Dream Page

It is the month of DREAM pages! Scrap-It-Lah is hosting a challenge page and I thought I'd play along. Well, I did promise someone that I'd play along on the last challenge and life got in the way of that....

Iris is asking that we use: "three things in your layout... stamping, embossing, and misting. Plus there must be at least one raw chipboard to dress up".

I use misting all the time, but I haven't pulled out a stamp in AGES. I did grab a new stamp I purchased recently from Close to My Heart called Hope. I like this one in particular as it somewhat looks like a tattoo. I had forgotten that along with my misting, I had also used some glimmer modge podge which made stamping a bit more challenging. The rose paper I used is embossed so I'm calling that item good as well. The letters are chipboards and I used white paint splotched on them with some glimmermist and then glitter. I also added a few Webster's items to my page as the featured designer designs for them and I thought she'd enjoy it...and, hello, those flowers are the BEST ever!

If you are local, Misty Hollow has them in stock. I convinced their buyer to get me some, but you had better go quick as there aren't many left!




My second inspiration was from a page I spotted recently on Vanilla Scraps and also links into a really cool new challenge blog called Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge blog. I am sorry, but that is just a cool name. And, check out Karen's page she made for the challenge! I didn't scrap lift her, because I was having trouble coming up with specific dreams or goals. I really love her page though. A good scrapbook page to me is one I keep thinking about. Of course, I had to ask her what chooks were. She said chickens, which is still confusing to me..if she means the egg laying variety that is cool, but having grown up with them...I'm not wishing for some anytime! I still have a scar on my leg from that stupid mean rooster we had...oh sorry, off topic!

Ok, so their challenge is asking for some specific things:

use any two of:
cloud
rainbow
kite, or
symbols of your dream – you can use a photo or drawing that is representative of your dream

I did use rainbow colors and I'm going to say the heart stamp with wings is pretty symbolic of my plan for growth in the future. Ok, so maybe that is a stretch, but due to my inabilities to fit anything more on this page...which is already pretty full....and I do want you to go visit those blogs....

And, now about my page. I have had this picture for years. IN fact, like my journalling says, it was taken my senior year in highschool because the year book camera was home and my Mom snapped it. I have started a book documenting some childhood memories (Marilyn has done all the pages so far) and I thought it would be fun to use this one in there. Really goes to show you how all the little parts of my life now total the sum. I was speaking on the phone to my future husband!






And, one last thing to leave you with! Baker's twine! Yes, I used some Helen, just for you! LOL!! Check out her page with the cool brick stamp and froggy on the Scrap It Lah website!

So much fun.......and a post about The Perfect Day

Of course it wasn't completely perfect....the temps were out of this world! But somehow, you don't see the sweat or the heat in the photos. AGAIN, I am sorry you guys where it's cold. You will make me green with envy in late January when I am scrapping mitten photos.

So, I decided to play along with two challenges tonight. Just for fun. And, well, I have photos to scrap! Which is always my first goal...what is not scrapped gets done!

The first I spotted on Helen's blog and she is discussing Nadia's challenge blog Once Upon a....Sketch. The basics (without reposting all the critera here) is to describe (can have been in the past) a perfect day with journalling.....And then, there is another challenage at Show Us Your Stuff that includes a LIST of items to use! That was bit harder as I don't normally try so hard with embelishments.

1. Paint-I used clear glimmermist and also some splatter in turquoise. I love the clear glimmermist I sprayed on it! It looks dreamy.

2. Include the color red-see the little red doily?

3. Handmade flower-purple one I made, like it?

4. Include some fussy cutting-I printed out the sigh from the Phoenix Rollercoster and then cut it out by hand.

5. Use a decorative strip! Looped this under my Phoenix photo!

My background paper is printed out from a photo I took while in the chair lift. That is when we realized that there were multiple roller coasters in this park and hubby yelled up from behind me and told me we were going. So, I got to worry about falling out of the chair lift, the daughter falling out of the chair lift and then going on roller coasters. Meanwhile the daughter kept saying RELAX MOM. She wouldn't sit next to me on the first roller coaster, said I worry too much. Although THE MAN and I got off the first one and decided we were much too old to go on another one and then of course we're in line for the second one!

And, here is my journalling. There will be another page from this event. I have a ton of photos. It was fun hanging out with some work peeps too while we were at it!

Rocket Man

Yes, I had the Elton John lyrics running through my head as I created this page! I was inspired in two parts. Firstly, I had the rest of the October Afternoon paper out on the scrap table and couldn't bear to pack it away. And, saw this fun little challenge out on Scrap Fit which I actually spotted first on Missy Whidden's blog and I liked her banners so much, I wanted to try them. Now, hers are MUCH more exciting than mine, they really pop with those bright colors against the black and the twine/floss idea on top is inspired since mine is a bit hidden.

Oh, and how did you like Lexi's face as she cheered on Luke! Isn't that great! She is a bit competitive and wanted her brother to win. The battling robots had to move different colored pucks to win! Of course, being here near Canada, real hockey pucks were used. LOL!



Best part is I had enough scraps left over to also make a card! I haven't done that in ages. I will post that in a bit!

Dream Big Squirt

Oh what fun! Helen is the blogger girl at Bird is the Word! I see they have a new challenge up. Typically I take these pretty seriously, but this time the paper was too much fun! And, I give you two guesses alright maybe just one, what their word is!!

I guess I couldn't take making this page too seriously anyhow. Luke (or Squirt as I like to call him) has big plans for life. He is always working with his hands and his brain coming up with new things. If it's not legos, he's hitting my recycling bin. Typically he will come up with some new brain wave and start bouncing ideas off THE MAN and then if you are able to follow along, you ust never know if you are going to get a lesson on physics or electricity.

Camp Invention was no exception. One car ride home he was complaing because "So and So" didn't know what the red wire was. This was said with great distain only an 8 year old can pull off. I didn't want to admit that I leave wiring things to others and had no clue what the red wire was for. Anyhow, I am super proud of Luke. I imagine he will come up with something clever to do with his future. Something likely I will only be able to explain in vague proud terms to people who ask me what my son does for a living!

The paper was from October Afternoon and was something I convinced our local craft store to carry. They even got the little metal buttons that go along with the paper!

Anyhow, sorry for the brief post, I'm just now getting back in the swing of things from being away for the weekend!

Leave me a comment and let me know if you know what the red wire is for...I won't tell if you don't!

Today Page and some ramblings about flowers and a tutorial

I confess. I really do. For some reason in my life I really like flowers. Real ones, pretty sparkly scrappy ones, ones I make...yes, I love Prima and the ones at Webster...love looking at people who make things with flowers on their pages. Love to make my own too. Spotted a cool one a bit back on a blog that I wanted to make. I have gone through several versions of trial and error, burnt my arm on a heat gun in the name of making one...searched for a blog showing how to make the new ones everyone seems to have except me out of ribbon.

So last time I was wandering around Walmart, I spotted this big cheap spool of Polyester ribbon and thought I'd give it a whirl again. I heard someone mention using a cutter to get the circles which only resulted in wasting ribbon and some not to nice words on my part. So, did it the old fashioned way by drawing a circle on with a marker!

Here is the blog where I spotted the flower I wanted to copy. Teresa is a cool artist, so check out the rest of her blog as well! Next time I think I'll use more layers! She said she will do a tutorial at some point so maybe I will pick up more pointers!

I then cut them out with really sharp scissors and stacked them up with a brad in the middle. Two big circles and one smaller one.

Pretty plain and icky! Next step, heat gun! Very carefully heat up the edges being very careful not to overdo it. Just like a blow dryer, let the edges ruffle up. You can even do the back. I kinda went a bit overboard. And yes my black edges still slow, but I really don't mind. Next time I may use a bigger sharpie.

THEN, pull out your mist and spray the it up good! Since you already have the heat gun out, you can use it to dry the mist so you can use your flower right away. I then sprayed some spray adhesive and glitter to make it extra cool.

Here is my flower clustered in with a Prima flower and a vintage button.

So, next about the pages I made. My SIL and I are exchanging pages from her visit. I choose the photos she took of our girls in my meadow since I knew I might be able to play along with a blog challenge or two and have extra fun.

I'm going to let her pick which one she likes the best. I love both of them for various reason. Leave me a comment on which one is your favorite! Now, both don't have the little butterfly charm because the second one I had has vanished in the whirl wind of scrap supplies that are now laying out all over. So, at some point when I find the little bugger, it will go on the page that is missing it!

I used a sketch layout made by Nadia at Once Upon a Sketch for these pages. Then I thought maybe about playing along with Bird is the Word. And you guessed it, their word for this month is TODAY! So, they got married and I got a fun page to make!

My sis in law also got the benefit from a recent scrappy care package I got from a friend! I am constantly stealing photos of their daughter and using them because she is so gosh darn cute! So, they got me a HUGE stash of goodies! The butterflies, some of the colored doilies, and the big letters got used right away! Big thanks to them for feeding my addiction. And, they haven't seen the last of their baby on my blog, I got the SWEETEST photo of her wearing black and yellow at our company picnic. I am thinking Sweet as Honey would make a nice title....

Alright if you are still with me, look at my previous post earlier today and leave me a comment so I can put you in the running for my RAK!

Purple Pumpkin & some cheating

So, North Country people don't do heat. Well, I'm not officially from here, but I'm going to confess to be more into winter here than summer. So I am holed up in our camper with the AC, two dogs, and two kids watching netflix on my ipad. AND we have plans to hit the beach (yes we have beaches here, lovely clean sandy ones) after hubby comes home with pizza.

BUT, it is cool enough to blog hop and go vote on my Purple Pumpkin page. I only have EIGHT votes!! Ok, there are some amazing pages out there. BUT, can you pretty please go vote on my layout? The trick is that you have to HAVE a Facebook account and also LIKE Purple Pumpkin First...and then you can vote. I made this page a bit ago and I use Purple Pumpkin stuff ALL THE TIME. It does rock.

Thanks guys!

yeah for me, a little monster, and a vote!

So, yeah, I'm pretty excited. I have to say. I am in the Guest Fit Girl Spot Light! Check me out here! Whoohooo!

And, I seriously need your help. I want to do a page for Purple Pumpkin...so you need to head out to their Facebook Page and vote for me tomorrow! I will try to remind you tomorrow but since I didn't even remember camp was this week, things are not looking promising on that front. Maybe you can remind me tomorrow to vote for my page? And they are in Australia, so tonight will be their tomorrow, I think?

And, here is the monster I promised. I recently starting stalking, I mean watching Lisa M. She blogged about her son's art which is super cool. You should totally check it out. Mr. B created this awesome cool monster I am pretty fond of. OK, so maybe he reminds me of someone...and he named him Eragon, super cool!

So go run, check out his work. When you see his name scrolling in the movie theater in a few years when you're watching a DreamWorks movie, you can say you read it here first. Seriously very cool monster. I must admit, it was quite a bit of fussy cutting...but worth it at the end. I don't have copics (yet?) so made do with some photo markers I had. And I used Helen's idea of printing out things on photopaper (She does her journalling) so they are shiny ahead of time.

And, here is the fancy cat. Used inspiration from that card I mentioned earlier. YOU know, the one you should go vote for. Only, I didn't use flowers but microbeads and sticky backed paper. And some primas that were on sale...and some antique buttons donated by Marilyn that had their little white strings dyed with some Tim Holtz purple stain. I was hoping the buttons would take the color, but no, so have to think on that still...

And, last but not least, the journalling. And yes, it's all true. He really is a little monster. A little sleeping monster, but let's not wake the beast or he will want a snack.

Ok and check out this page I got completed! I really wanted to use this monster!