Kermit the Frog

With thoughts of Christmas right around the corner, I bravely started a new project.

It makes perfect sense. Instead of putting up my tree, I am sanding.

This lovely tall (don't actually use the stool) table was obtained at a sale of office furniture and goes back to the time of real life drafters & designers I believe. I have however done my best to ruin it. 

That black spot is me catching the table on fire with the embossing gun. Mine is a real life guy's gun from a hardware store, so it's a bit...um....powerful. 

Honestly though, it is supposed to be in the 50ties this weekend and I have a hot date with a sprayer!

I have been sanding for two nights and the top looks amazing. 

My intent is to spray it black so it matches this other piece I have in my scrappin' area and painted up over the summer. 

Wish me luck! This time I have buy off from THE MAN, so I'm in the clear there at least!

And why Kermit? Lizzy C. sent me the COOLEST LINK yesterday. I almost peed my pants watching it. I didn't win the lotto, but this youuuuuu tube video helps ease the pain!

Happy Friday! Back soon with my post for Another Freaking. It's the FIRST again!

Mug Shot Page for ScrapFriends Color Challenge

Did you know that lottery winners never get stressed out? I wouldn't know. But, a coconut didn't hit me in the head either and I'm thankful for that!

I was cleaning the top of my desk the other day and came across my duplicate passport photo and it made me laugh. A nice close up shot so you can laugh too.

I mean, I knew it was terrible at the time. And it's still terrible.

It was a rough rough summer. Peru at the end of it was perfect. Getting to that point, a roller coaster.

The nice lady at the Post Office was on her second attempt to take this photo after calming me down. I had three whole seconds to devote to getting my passport and had forgotten to bring checks me with.

The town I was getting the passport in was a war zone, so it was a miracle I made it there at all.

Anyhow. I thought I need to share it with the world. Or at least the folks at ScrapFriends using their color challenge image!

YES, I know green isn't in that color combo. 

Shoot me. I'm not a lotto winner. I thought the green would cheer me up. ;-)

Besides Karen Wray gave me that yummy Prima Rose paper fifteen trillion years ago and it was time to use it. 

Lizzy Hill gave me that delicious Manor House flower and I bet she bought them at ScrapFriends. 

They are INKABLE & MISTABLE which is why it's that lovely shade that matches and all glittered up from this AWESOME SAUCE GLITTER spray that Helen sent me. 

Catch you tomorrow. I have a CRAZY project to show you tomorrow. PROOF I am nuts.

Is it Friday yet? 

Put the Lime in the Coconut

I am YOUUUUUUU Tubing right now.

I had to look up the Put the Lime in the Coconut song. It is stuck in my head now so don't blame me if it gets lodged in yours. For crying out loud, it's older than I am by a couple of years. It deserves to be played...

I am thinking about coconuts as in the kind that fall off the tree and onto your head.

We do not have coconut trees in upstate NY.

So, I would think it would be very hard for me to get hit in the head with a coconut.

I am going somewhere with this really.

Anyhow, Power Ball is up to 500 million dollars. It's the second largest in history.

Yes, I played and I am pretty sure I am the winner.

So, my friends...........................

Get ready to PARTY IN VEGAS! I will pick you up on my jet. Lizzy Hill lets make biscuits.

They said on TV your chances of getting hit in the head by a coconut are greater than winning lotto.

Regardless, I have faith. Better be nice to me today. I'll be rich tomorrow.

Good Bye Fall....

This is what my china cabinet looked like earlier this week until Christmas hit it. Right now, my kitchen table is covered in decorations and I'm trying to make up my mind.

It takes me forever to get the right balance of stuff that makes me smile each time I walk by. Not like a scrapbook page which is much quicker!

I'll share the new version shortly.

Happy HUMP Day!

12 Tags of Christmas Altered Tin Top 4, 5 & 6 For the Funkie Junkie Challenge

Three more TIN TOPS  with the 12 Tags of Christmas Tags Challenge over at the Funkie Junkie!

Aside from burning a hole in the top of my wood scrapbook table, these went together nicely! 

Tin Top 4 wood embossed with brown paint & light sanding is BY FAR my favorite.

I made the little framed photo of the log cabin using a large sized silver jump ring that I painted with Ranger Patina which incidentally I bought from the Funkie Junkie's online store. 

My inspiration was this tag with the pinecone flower which said woods/log cabin/country to me. 

Tin Top 5 was a whole lot of fun too. Who could have thought Washi tape would go so nicely over the original lid and also was modge podge-able. The metal strip came all punched like that and was a recent purchase over at Michaels in the jewelry area. I was able to also add a piece of broken jewelry to both edges in a fit of recycling. ;-) 

Here is the lovely inspiration tag. 

I am pretty happy with this little clock inspired Tin Top 6 with the burgundy bow. I actually painted the top with Perfect Pearls which by the way you can stamp into and it becomes textured. Added a few clock pieces to keep the theme!

And the inspiration tag is below!

I am half done! How exciting! Got little bits and pieces ready for others.

Happy Tuesday!

Tits in a Wringer

Survived Black Friday. It was questionable. I was helping load a 1964 Jeep into our trailer for a trip to Albany. THE MAN had sold it with delivery and it involved Eighteen Trillion loads of parts down from the attic of our barn, bolting the Jeep body back on the frame and rolling it into a dump box. I like think it was a free marriage building experience.

 Of course the trip itself was also fun. Snowy for parts of it and slick. I need to go to Australia. Or South Africa. Somewhere nice and warm....and without snow.

And then I actually started Christmas Shopping on Sunday at Best Buy. Which is where I got that lovely picture above. I mean, those of you not from here...sometimes people CAMP OUT OVERNIGHT in TENTS and CHAIRS by the stores. This is serious shopping. Heard on the news there was a brawl in Victoria Secret. Didn't catch where, but they said it look most of a day to get all the store straightened out. Gives a new meaning to getting your tits in a wringer.

I also hopped on over to Michaels and spent $50 in mere seconds. Not like things were on sale, I just found lots of fun metal things to play with.

I am in the mood to work with metal these days!

Back tomorrow with more of my little spice jars for the 12 Tags of Christmas Challenge.

Happy Cyber Monday!

Officially Christmas Time & Visions of Sugar Plums

I hate to admit, but the day after Turkey Day is the start of the Christmas Season here. Of course Good old Wally World has already started with the Christmas music and the decorations...but since I have already checked out their displays, I guess I can't complain!

I had to get into the Christmas Spirit as I've been working on two projects that will get blogged about at the second annual Visions of Sugarplums - a week long event beginning December 3rd!  Over 17 blogs will be showcasing Christmas projects, recipes, and giveaways!  

I can't wait to give away my project. I used real embossed copper on the roof and look at that bird giving you the eye ball. 

Yes just a 'lil sneaky to get you into the spirit!

Happy Black Friday!

(for those of you not from here, it's a day of huge shopping, long lines, deals and a jump start into Christmas...do you call it that where you live?)

Boy by the Train & Happy Thanksgiving Day

Today I'll be sitting down with my 'rents, kids, THE MAN, little Gram and Ant C to have a huge Turkey Supper. It will be amazing, warm, funny, and lots of wine will be consumed.

We will be thankful that we're all in good health, together, and have a great feast to eat.

Which brings me around to my page.

When I was in Peru, we took a train to get to Machu Picchu which was super amazing. It had a glass top so you could look up into the mountains and huge windows to look out into the rain forest and up into the mountains.

It was half way there when our train stopped. I could see this little shack in the distance and thought it made a cute photo with the itty bitty little boy watching the train. He reminded me of my friend Kristy's boy Calvin who also likes trains.

Here is the photo with the background. 

It was not until we got much closer when I realized he was all by himself. I wondered at a culture so different from mine. When I had kids that size, they were firmly attached to me and I was always fearful that some great evil would befall them if I didn't constantly keep them in eye sight. Obviously he was just fine by himself watching the train go by. 

So, I threw an American quarter at him (it was a slow moving train) because I thought he'd think it was fun. Of course, the nervous nellie Momma in me thought oh no choking hazard! 

He grabbed that quarter and took off. My Dad and I had a good laugh and we went back to watching the scenery. 

On the return trip from Maccu Picchu, we stopped in the same spot. The whole family was out that time and taking handouts from people in the train. The shack was a house and four or five people were collecting candy, dollars, and food. 

One man had no hands and had to scramble to pick up a granola bar with his wrists that the gentleman on the opposite side of the train threw. 

I had a terrible feeling in my stomach that we on that train had so much. A lovely vacation, a beautiful train ride and these people had our scraps. 

So, today, I am thankful for where I'm sitting in the place called Life. And I do hope deep down that the boy watching the train manages to take that train somewhere and make a great life for himself. 

12 Tags of Christmas Altered Tin Top 2 & 3 For the Funkie Junkie Challenge

More fun with the 12 Tags of Christmas Tags Challenge over at the Funkie Junkie!

Goodness gracious these are addicting. I was having the time of my life working with a little metal tape on THE MAN'S workbench last night. Too bad I got embossing power on his iphone. I got the EYE BALLS. And the LOOK which said SERIOUSLY?

Loved making this one with all the cogs and grungy snowflake. Kept pouring on the clear embossing power which works really well on metal since it heats up nicely.

This was my "example" which is super amazing and fabulous. I am a little jealous of how much SPACE she has to work with but I keep telling myself I'm working with a different medium and trying to make these tops "clean" enough to also work as little containers later. 

And here is my third top with a little snowman all embossed and some window screen and glitter. My snowflake kinda got buried with clear embossing power, but hey, it's there!

And, Linda's very lovely and elegant example! 

Happy Almost Hump Day!

If you get a chance, stop over to Linda's Funkie Junkie store as she is sponsoring this challenge through there!

 I'm off tomorrow, so wanted to get this posted tonight so I had tomorrow all day to get my scrappin' on!

Good Luck Roof Bulls: Miracles Momma Designs Sketch

What a fun little sketch! I rotated it to make the most of my photos.

Heather at Miracles Momma Designs always manages to come up with these cool ideas like banners behind the photos. I love show casing a nice series of paper that works well together.

My favorite part of this page is the little house sticker with the red microbeads. and the heart pin.

Here is a close-up of my paint splatters. My latest Scraptastic Farmer's Market Kit  came with a nice brown paint dauber so I enjoyed smearing on some paint. It also came with these delicious papers from Lily Bee!


























Also included was this pretty brown thankful banner and glittery leaves.

I thought it went well with the colors of these itty bitty little bulls I bought come from Peru. Two grubby boys asked me to purchase them and since it was early on in my trip, my resistance to cute little faces was lacking so I handed them $5 American and they ran for the hills. Turns out I overpaid by quite a bit as my father pointed out later!

Here is a photo of a bigger set. I think the colors are so pretty and soft on these.

Bulls in Peru are EVERYWHERE! They love to put them on their rooftops along with other items, usually a cross. There is a really nice little write up of that on this blog if you are interested. I think it's cool they believe bulls bring good luck.

Personally I always avoid them...having gotten stuck with one licking the tires of my truck one sunny afternoon while out doing field work!

Happy Monday!

Fairy House Page: Another Freaking Scrappy Sketch for the 15th!

This page was quite the bugger to take a photo of. The not flat thing was making me bonkers!

Did try ironing it before I put all my goodies on it, but that only worked a little.

I do however LOVE how it looks and it will lay nice and flat in a book anyhow.

I used PLASTER. As in the kind we use on the walls here.

I know, crazy nuts! More on that in a bit. I also used a coolio sketch from Another Freaking Scrappy who has their latest and greatest sketch up.

Here is a photo of my plaster pre-inking. It's very useful that my plaster comes in a pink color that changes when it dries so you can see it here....

 I used a Tattered Angel Glimmer Screen that one normally uses for misting to push the plaster through. A flat credit card type thing works like a charm. In fact, used the snow flake just left off the edges...not that you really could tell after all my goodies are added on.

After the plaster was dry, I ran a couple of different ink pads over the raised image and then spritzed with a little bit of alcohol to get the color to run. You can see the texture here and also the inking.

And why am I telling you about making my own background? For a challenge of course!

Over at Our Creative Corner they are running a challenge about making your own background and not using one smidge of background paper. Sounded like fun to me!

I did cheat a bit and used some glittery flowers from Jolees on top of making that turquoise one myself. The whole thing really made me happy with the contrasts and glitter!

And my page was to document a really cool place we stayed at while in Peru.

I thought it looked just like a little house out of a Fairy Village deep in the woods with the flowers and paths.

I want a house like that when I grow up!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Ham

Since it's the 15th, I had planned on bringing you the latest and greatest challenge over at Another Freaking Scrappy but I'm going to take a quick moment to wish my Grandpa Ham who is up in heaven a Happy Birthday. 

I am pretty sure he's reading my blog. He wouldn't comment on it of course, that was never his style and I don't think he was ever big on computers but still....pretty sure he's keeping an eye ball on things.

He is certainly keeping an eye ball on the boy in the picture. That is a much younger Luke with Scruffy (again with the white dogs) who is probably listening to some cool story about WWII and a plane. One never knows what Master Lucas Pratt will do next. Always coming up with a new idea for an invention or design he wants to make. In that way he takes after Grandpa, although he certainly doesn't have Grandpa's quiet dry sarcastic side.

You never do know how much time you have with someone. Just got that message in a card from a good friend who's hubby is pretty sick. It's a good message, we didn't get near enough time with Grandpa Ham. He still had some stories to tell. So keep your eyes and ears handy at the next family gathering and give a few extra hugs! 

Back tomorrow with glitter and flowers and paper....

12 Tags of Christmas Altered Tin Top One

Yikes! I had way too much fun with this itty bitty little top.

Who knew the metal tape used for stove pipes would cover something this small and emboss so nicely!

If you want to see the first post where I talked about altering these tops, it can be found here.

My goal is to get 12 done so I can participate in the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tag Challenge! She is sponsoring this through her store, The Funkie Junkie.

Here is a close up of the little 4 by 4 inch top.

I was inspired by the gold on her tag, the stars, pearls and swirls! Not enough room for wings, sadly!

Happy Tuesday, almost hump day!

4 Dollar Pumpkins Scrapbook Page

Just a fun little page for me!

I am going to admit something right here in blog land. I had WAY MORE FUN making this page than carving pumpkins.

For some reason, we are not blessed with the holiday gene here in the Pratt Family. Which means I have pretty much carved pumpkins with my kids for years since THE MAN starts twitching when we ask him to participate.

I figured this year we were all too old for pumpkin carving, but really I was hoping they had forgotten!

No such LUCK as Luke asked the NIGHT BEFORE HALLOWEEN when we were getting our pumpkins!

Thankfully I found them at a local greenhouse and was given a terrific deal since it was between me and the pigs!

Here is a close up of my paint runs and freaky bottle cap flower!

And another little close up of my journaling.

 I always forget how much fun black paper is with white writing!

And here is the finished jack o' lanterns!
























Lexi carved her kitty Eragon's face while Luke made a Creeper from Minecraft!

They did complain that no one would ever see these due to the fact we don't get any trick o' treaters at our place way out in the middle of no where so I promised to share them with the world!

Thanks for taking a peep!

Battle of the Chicken

I found this cool REALLY OLD vintage spice rack nearly a year ago. Of course, I was hoarding it until inspiration struck.

It's really not very nice the way it is. Well, anytime you gotta clean dead spiders out of something....

But also it's kinda of daunting. I mean, it will make great storage or a display....

But how to make it mine?

Started with a really good scrub of the little containers and decided to cover the tops of all but three of the brightest and best. I also sprayed down the wooden part with the sink sprayer and added a bit of Lemon polish to help with the old wood smell.

Vintage might be charming, but also has it's dead spiders and smell!

I also have decided what I plan to do which is half the battle. I HATE being scared to try something. I call it the Battle of the Chicken.

And I'm happy to report (which is why I am telling you) that I am going to start altering EACH little tiny tin top and enter them into the Funkie Junkie's 12 Tags of Christmas . I'm not used to making such small little pieces of art so will be quite the challenge!

Wish me luck! Oh and I think I won the battle of the chicken on this project at least!