Red Solo Cup FIL Layout

Alright. Is Red Solo Cup only a song we have here in the States?? Do ya all know what I am talking about?

I mean, I doubt you have Red Solo cups in Australia???? South Africa????? UK???

And yes, the song is the unedited version. It's Tody Keith. It has to be the unedited version. Wrong yet very very funny.

And to be fully fair for Father's Day, I had to do a page about THE MAN'S DADDY. Papa Pratt. The dude that stole THE MAN away from me for EIGHT LONG DAYS to Vegas. YES, I still love him even though he said next summer is the fishing trip to Canada. I mean we got fish here...just not any um....oh you get the picture...

Huge thanks to Marilyn who caught the boys looking at our new Kubota at our last Fall party and snapped a few photos for me through the garage window. I know, she is amazing!

Used a GREAT SKETCH by Heather.  THANKS HEATHER, this one really rocks!

Used a new paper pack from Close to My Heart that Kristy sent me called Pemberly. LOVE how the flowers turned out. Big huge thanks to Lizzy for the little black ones!!! 

Hope you like the page, Papa Pratt!!! ;-)

AFSC Page: TEACH Layout for Father's Day Challenge

And today's page is brought you to by Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge, a song written by Crosby Stills Nash and Young...and the Vintedge Paper Line from Ruby Rock-It.

Another fabulous challenge is up and you should take a quick peek. Might help you scrap those Father's Day photos from yesterday. ;-)

Here is the challenge:  Using sketch 11 – Father’s Day is celebrated in June in some countries – scrap a memory of your father or grandfather, or another male who has influenced your life greatly.

There is a sketch to use, which inspired me to create the strip banner on the side of my page. Just flipped the sketch sideways and made my photo large enough to make it feel part of the page.

Here are a couple of little side shots. You will have to ignore the blades of grass that I missed while photographing that snuck their little grass blade shadows into my photo.

A little cluster of goodness.

And, a close up of my little metal title with crackle glue. LOVE IT!!!































And here is a side shot too of all my goodies. Do you see that lovely little NY seal from Channa's store? And my pop dotted heart down at the bottom?

Hope your Monday is amazing and if you celebrated Father's Day yesterday that you had an awesome day.

I missed hanging with my Dad yesterday as he's getting over some minor surgery, but I'd like to wish him a very happy one and a "do over" card! Meaning we can always do it over! Thanks for sending this photo of us so I could make this sweet page, Dad.

OH and a word about my journaling. I wrote out the words to Teach Your Children in the video above and wrote around the page. It is a song I recall from my childhood and has some meaning.

Zeus & Zoe Mixed Media Challenge

Marivic was crazy enough to let me set a challenge over at Zeus & Zoe! 

It is our first EVER!!!!

So, you must stop over there and check it out for me! AND of course play along.

Here is a copy of my post:  

Greetings!

I am posting this from the sleepy town of Potsdam NY. We are considered "Upstate" which means I live in the middle of nowhere yet upstate from New York City!

Anyhow, I love my little town and when Marivic (proud owner of the Zeus & Zoe) asked me to post our first ever challenge, I thought I'd like to share this vintage image with you.

It appears to be a graphic from an Art Studio located long ago here in Potsdam, NY.

I thought it would help me set up a challenge that would be fun.

Our challenge for June 15th:  Create a project that includes Mixed Media. You can drag out your mists, glitter, paint, fabric, markers, inks and anything else to create something amazing. Please gather inspiration from this image when you are creating your project. You don't have to USE the image, but certainly can if that tickles your artistic spirit.

The Zeus & Zoe kits are designed to have many vintage elements and lovely new papers to inspire you. You don't have to use a kit from Zeus & Zoe to play along. Although it might help you to be inspired!

Here is a page/photo flip book I created to go along with this challenge.

List of items used from the Zeus & Zoe Kit I had to work with:

Pink Paislee Mistable Parisian Paper 

Vintage Doily 

Vintage Daris White Iris Glitter

Silver Key

Pink Letters

Assorted Flowers and Lace

Green Shimmer Stick Pin

Here is another photo so you can see what it looks like when I slide the little flip book out of the clear holder. That shimmery heart shaped doily came in my kit and I used the vintage glitter to make it shimmer.

This is also a good shot of that lovely knitted flower below.

That flower was designed by Irini who makes Get Creative Embellishments and she has graciously offered us two of her flower packages to offer as a prize!

For the second prize winner, you can win these brass and metal skeleton keys from Zeus and Zoe Etsy Shop.

Our plan with our monthly challenges is to support other artists by promoting their hand make embellishments as well as our kits, so if you are interested in sponsoring, please let me know!

Make sure you take a quick peek at the rules over on the challenge site.

I'll be back next week to show you the inside of the book, talk about that crazy dragon fly I made, and tell you a bit more about the making of this page.

Happy Friday!!!

Winner WINNER Chicken Dinner

Hey there Blog Land!

First of all thank you to each and every one of you for joining us at our Blog hop at Berry71Bleu and Zeus & Zoe!

And right before you get to the winners, let me tell you something BIG!

Tomorrow, there is the first ever challenge over at Zeus & Zoe and I came up with it!! YES ME. ALL BY MYSELF!!! Ok, Marivic helped, but still. Please hang out with us there. Good prizes too. 

OK, back to the winners!

Thank you for joining our blogs and we will not disappoint you, there are many challenges coming up for you to join. 

So the winners are.............

The winner of the Flower Pack from My Glittered Coated Life is...Tina Suitella!

The winner of the kit from Zeus and Zoe and Berry71bleu Etsy Shops is.....

.......Lizzy Hill!

Congratulations ladies!

You have 1 week to claim your prizes. Pls. email your address to berry71bleu@gmail.com

And the winner of my RAK is:

Rosslyn aka COWGIRL SCRAPPER from My Creative Corner

Please e-mail me your addy and I will get your box of lovely goodies out to you pronto. The mail dude here takes a check and a package right at my back door I live that far in the country, LOL!

Altered Wizard of Oz Frame Using Nicecrane Design Images

SERIOUSLY LOVE THIS FRAME.

I have friends in high places, happy dance!!!

My crafting diva friend Lisa from Kansas hooked me up with Nice Crane Designs and Ignacio sent me these babies to use.

So, got a little set of graphics RIGHT IN MY INBOX to use and print at whatever size I wanted. OH LOVE DIGITAL. Do you not LOVE those graphics behind my oval frame vintage from Wizard of Oz books? Here is what I got!

FREAK!

Let me show you a before photo of the frame!

This was not quite as pretty when I spotted this frame in the second hand store.

It originally had a lovely inset burgundy velvet with a horrible plate hot glued right smack dab in the center. And, right at the second hand store (BEST FRIENDS in Potsdam) my buddy Tim look out the center part and sold me just the frame. Hence not stuck with super ugly thing that I would just have to throw out. Hope someone else "loved" it!

So, nothing for me to do but get home and add some canvas. (And don't be eye ballin' up that new bird cage I also found...that comes LATER)

I added gesso and some glimmermist to get a cool background. Here is a close up if you can look past the lovely flowers!

A little Prima flower tucked in there with one of Irini's new flowers. I will link you up to her store here if you want to check out her lovely knitted flowers yourself. 

And, here is my center frame that I also recycled and painted. No before photos of this, but I added some gold alcohol ink, some glimmermist, and also some modge podge. HOW do you love that little itty bitty ruby slipper broach!

Here is another shot of Irini's lovely pink flower with the cream center. The variegated yarn really makes me happy with the super sweet center!

AND, here is my quote so you don't gotta squint! 

“You have plenty of courage, I am sure," answered Oz. "

All you need is confidence in yourself. There is no living thing

that is not afraid when it faces danger. The true courage is in

facing danger when you are afraid, and that kind of courage

you have in plenty.” 
― L. Frank Baum

Thanks for taking a peek! We are one day closer to THE WEEKEND!!!

Little Altered Pooh Box using the Scraptastic June Kit with Artistic Drips

OK, this little card sized box started off as a Winnie the Pooh Box and was donated by Marilyn for some altering.  No before photos since I wasn't exactly even sure if I'd love it when I was done. SOOOO, can you imagine it for me? Add in some puffy stickers I had to peel off that kinda made some little wrinkles...YES, it was ugly.

My easy technique for fixing all that is ugly is spray paint. It happens to be spray paint season here as well as black fly season and turtle migration season. I personally like spray paint season the best.

I can get all crazy with a can of spray in the driveway stones due to the fact it's finally warm. Usually THE MAN shows up all huffy and reminds me of wind direction, vehicles in close proximity, what color the driveway stones are turning and all that jazz. I think he lacks vision sometimes when he starts pointing out drips...poor baby is married to a spray paint artist and must just adjust.

I have fallen in love with this super bright collection from Scraptastic and I thought a box would be a sweet thing to alter. Not much of it left in my kit either. ;-(

PLUS, they have a CLUSTER challenge up over on the blog. I like clusters, They remind of chocolate and peanuts and...

OH sorry. I think I might need to go grab a snack. That is what happens when you put off writing your post for tomorrow until 8:55 in the evening.

OK so back to clusters of the paper variety.

So, here are a couple shout outs to some awesome paper divas. HELEN, thank you so much for reminding me to dust off this paper doily. And Marivic, I told you I'd be talking about you AGAIN today on my blog. She sent me that awesome enamel piece that actually inspired the entire box! It came with a Zeus and Zoe kit and I have been hoarding it ever since. I even had to pry 11 year old girl paws off it since she also fell in love.

And, speaking of artistic misunderstood drips....

A little spray paint in the inside with some mists dripping down. Oh paint, how I love thee.

AND it is officially HUMP day by the time you are reading this, so I am wishing you a nice graceful slide down into the weekend from here!

Eclipse Page for Scrapfriends and where I may just be a SAP

HEYYYYYYY!!!! Welcome new followers from the Berry71Bleu blog hop!!!

 I am so super excited you do realize that I love to find new people to talk to. Not to mention stalk too. I like to play along with challenges, so if you have one you are really into, give me a shout out and I'll try to hang with ya. I do intend to check your blogs out shortly!!!!

Lizzy Hill is on the team over at ScrapFriends, so therefore, I am there like white on rice. 

Here is their super cool sketch which I may have taken a few liberties with. Anyhow, without it, I would not have decided to cut that photo in three above!

Let me catch you up a bit as this page will make no sense to you unless I give you some background. 

A couple of months ago, THE MAN (aka the hubby) was invited by his Dad to go to Las Vegas on a guy's trip. I really wanted THE MAN to go. Aside from all the interesting photo texts I believed I would receive, I thought that it was a good time for him to spend time with his Dad. I mean, we never know how much time we have left to soak up fun. 

Did try to convince THE MAN that I too could be a guy. Did not work. Boobs and inability to write my name in snow must have been a dead give away. 

So (and here is a keen insight to the female mind) aside from the fact I begged him to go, Carpe Diem and all that jazz, I was super annoyed he DID go. Yes, try explaining THAT to the male brain.

So, did great with the first half of the week. The second half I moped and avoided talking to THE MAN for fear I would make him miserable 8 trillion miles away. 

When he did get home with his iphone and I got over my sulk, I realized that he had quite a few cool photos I should scrap. 

For instance, while he was there, he enjoyed watching a lunar eclipse. As in a real moon, not some night club show. 

I took the liberty of making the photo MINE and adding some lyrics that kinda fit in with my mood while he was gone.

We are not telling him that I missed him, OK?

So used a few lyrics from Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart. 

And I am sure you will notice these super cool amazing flowers on the bottom corner along with some itty bitty cards. The cards and the super glittery cool flower were a gift from Irini who I think comes up with the coolest color combinations EVER. She is selling them in her Etsy store, so have a wander over there and check them out. No doubt when everyone finds out about them, she will wear out her fingers knitting!!!!

So, anyhow welcome and I am wishing you a happy hump day early!!! (Ha HELEN!!! LOL)

Welcome to the Berry71Bleu/Zeus & Zoe Blog Hop!

Hi Everyone!  Isn't this exciting?!  We are having a Blog Hop at

Berry71Bleu and Zeus and Zoe, starting NOW!  This is it!!

If you have arrived from Rebecca's blog you need to be

hopping off to Sandi's next!  If you have just come

to visit and weren't aware of the Blog Hop you need to go back

to the first name on the list if you would like to join the hop!

Your first stop on the hop is the Zeus and Zoe blog HERE.

Thereafter the list is as follows :-

Marivic Clifton {Zeus & Zoe and Berry71Bleu Owner} HERE

Jaz Lee {Zeus and Zoe Designer} HERE

Rebecca AKA Bexta76 {Zeus and Zoe Designer} HERE

Mitra Pratt {Zeus & Zoe & DT Co-ordinator} HERE

Sandi Taloumis {Zeus & Zoe Designer} HERE

Jennifer Snyder {Guest Designer} HERE

Lisa Novogrodski-Lead {Alumni} HERE

Agnieszka Bellaidea {Berry71Bleu Designer & Sponsor Co-ordinator} HERE

Amanda Aveiro {Berry71Bleu Designer} HERE

Cathy Cafun {Berry71Bleu Designer} HERE 

Channa Suitella {Berry71Bleu Designer} HERE

Helen Tilbury {Berry71Bleu Designer & DT Co-ordinator} HERE

Karola Witczak{Guest Designer Berry71Bleu}HERE

Keren Tamir {Berry71Bleu Designer} HERE

Renea Harrison {Berry71Bleu Designer} HERE

Vicky Varvadouka {Berry71Bleu Designer} HERE

Ending up at Berry71Bleu Blog HERE.

Yup, that's 17 blogs you need to visit!  But we have certainly made it

worth your while as we have TWO GRAND PRIZES TO BE WON!

Our main prize has been donated by Zeus and Zoe & Berry71Bleu.

Click into the Zeus and Zoe Etsy shop HERE.

Click into the Berry71Bleu Etsy shop HERE.

We also have another fantastic sponsor! -

Click into the Reneabouquets Etsy shop HERE.

Renea is offering this VERY BEAUTIFUL prize pack!

AS WELL AS ALL THESE WONDERFUL SPONSORS

we are all offering a RAK along the way too!  Here is mine!!

To have a chance of winning my prize you need to comment on this post!

To have a chance of winning one of the GRAND PRIZES you need

to visit EACH AND EVERY BLOG in the hop, become a follower

and leave a comment!

 When you reach Berry71Bleu at the very end of the hop you

MUST MENTION that you have visited ALL THE BLOGS IN THE HOP

 for a chance of winning one of the 3 main sponsored prizes!

You have FOUR FULL DAYS to hop!

Our blog ends at midnight EST on Monday 11th June 2012.

We will be announcing the winners a few days later so keep checking back

on all the blogs for the winners' announcements.

Winners have ONE WEEK ONLY to claim their prizes,

if left unclaimed we will redraw and announce new winners!

 We know our friends

in the Northern Hemisphere are wanting to enjoy the Summer so

we are making it EASY FOR YOU TO WIN in June!

We will be announcing a new challenge once the hop is over,

in the middle of June, as we have been blessed with a fantastic

new sponsor -  Wycinanka Chipboard from Poland!

Keep a look out on the Berry71Bleu blog!

Wycinanka have donated a great prize, a pack

 FULL  of amazing chipboards.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Here is the tag that I will be using for my Zeus and Zoe project

this month!  Keep following the Zeus and Zoe blog to see how

I use it & remember that you can order your own from the

Berry71Bleu Etsy shop or put in your very own custom order!

HAPPY HOPPING!!

We Love DQ Scrapbook Page using ScrapFit Layout

Along with my dog trauma/$450 Turtle Page from Tuesday, this is the page that goes before it in my Scrapbook. AND YES, I made it on a scrapbook again! Handed the camera to a kid and got a photo or two.

I used a sketch from ScrapFit that caught my eye to lay it out with.

Also used up more of my June Scraptastic Kit that came with those adorable little canvas banners.

AND...for your amusement, here is a photo I did NOT use on my page...the stinkers.

MAN. I could really go for an ice cream. Thank goodness it is nearly Friday.

It is ranking up higher than wine right this second....

Altered Tart Pan with Inspired Altered Frame

Oh Blog Land, you are so inspiring!

Spotted this post at Lisa's Blog yesterday. We made a project together and I've never even MET her!!!

Thought it was only fitting I too play along with the challenge.

Over at Our Creative Corner, they are asking for items using "frames" and I had picked this lovely one up the other day at the Second Hand store. It was pretty cool on it's own, but minus glass or anything else....but reminded me of either a pine cone or perhaps fashion?

Also thought it might be fun to use a tart pan as backing which is also from the second hand store! It was originally silver, but painted it black to match!

Of course the lovely Oct. Afternoon Paper made a super cool back ground. 

Added some sweet flowers and a bit of modge podged on ferny lace!

And, here it is one more time! ;-)

A 450 Dollar Turtle Scrapbook Page

Used an awesome sketch from Crafty Sketches for inspiration and my new OH SNAP Kit from Scraptastic. Love the Amy Tan!

So, not sure if you remember, but I just got my husband back.

No, he wasn't missing. I knew exactly where he was. VEGAS. Sin City, the lucky dog. EIGHT everlasting days.

Yes, I got all sorts of interesting photos from Vegas and tried to act super happy when he called and told me about various awesomeness. The picture of the two hot girls wearing police outfits with their arms around MY MAN and holding a gun to his head was a bit much at 2 am, BUT, I held my cool. I even impressed myself.

So, Friday night (the NIGHT BEFORE HE WAS GETTING BACK, yes this is important) we went out for dinner at Dairy Queen. I even took photos of the kids with their little ice creams. I smirked the whole way through dinner. I love DQ ice cream for dessert.

Then, driving home, we saw a turtle crossing the road. Have no idea why turtles cross the road, I am assuming it's 'cause it's spring and they are looking for sandy places to lay eggs perhaps?

Regardless, we hatched the plan of capturing the painted turtle and bringing her home to our pond. Stopped in the middle of the road, grabbed annoyed turtle, drove her home and we then watched her in our glass aquarium for an hour or two.

It was getting to be around 6 pm (still very much daylight here) and was time to release the turtle...so we walked back to our pond. Both dogs were begging to go. They know that the creek is back there, mud for rolling in, things to sniff, basically dog heaven.

Now, let me just point out that I have a DOG BUTTON on my layout. There is significance to this.

So, while we are releasing the turtle and taking two whole photos, I hear yipping in the background. So like we had been out back there for five whole minutes.

Now, we do live in the midst of the wild kingdom with the turkeys and coyotes, and deer.

I thought briefly that the sound was a baby coyote and perhaps we should muster the troops and head back. Not that I thought a baby coyote or mama coyote would hurt us, just that the sound made me uncomfortable and slightly scared.

So, called the dogs. The fat, wet, muddy beagle showed up and we started walking back, calling for Patti, dog number two.

Patti starts crashing through the woods towards me and immediately I can see she is in distress.

She has a face full of porcupine quills.

We are like a half mile from the house. She is flipping her lid. Pushing her face into the dirt to try to make the pain go away.

Thankfully I have my phone and use google to call the vet that lives up the road.

They answer.

Our conversation goes like this:

ME:  LISTEN. I need to come in right away. My dog has a face full of quills. 

Mrs. Vet:  OK, that is fine. You can come in. But you will be charged for an after hours visit which is around $150 and then there is the cost for...

ME:  I.DON'T.CARE. I am on my way. 

Luke:  MOM MOM Mom? Is Patti going to die?


So, it is way too far to drag a big dog back or carry her to the house. Plus, she is still flipping her lid.

I look at Lexi and say, you gotta do this kid. Sit on her, hold her still with your body and I will run back and get the jeep. Thankfully she is nearly as big as I am these days and not squeamish.

Also, thankfully have that jeep and 4 Wheel Drive!

I ran (really ran like I was gunna die ran) back to the house, grabbed keys and drove my jeep back on our trails.

Threw kid and foaming bloody dog in the back of the jeep and send the other one running for the house with the fat wet beagle.

Fat Wet Dirty Gross Beagle took a nap on the couch while the kids and I drove foaming bloody faced dog to vets.

I will post this picture, but really small. You really don't wanna click on it. I mostly took a photo for THE MAN who was trying to get on an airplane and also flipping his lid 'cause Patti is his baby dog and he was feeling horrible we're all dealing with this trauma.

Plus, he asked nicely if I could just pull out the quills. He thought differently once he got this photo via text.

They sedated her, gave her a shot of antibiotics and three people spent two hours pulling quills.

She bit the stupid porcupine. BIT IT.

She is a lovely beautiful dog with a brain the size of a peanut and worth the $450 in vet bills....but I can honestly say the turtle I saw on the way home from picking her up the next morning that was crossing the road was left right there to fend for itself!!!