Babushka Page for Miracles Momma Designs

Was sorting through another bunch of Peru photos and came across this photo of my Mom taken on the very last day. Part of the tour took us to a very high end store and I remember being back on the bus when my parents returned with their hat purchase. My Mom was VERY pleased with herself and the ladies on the bus were happy for her. Of course there is a story behind this hat. A story that ties into my very existence...
But we can save that for Story Telling Sunday! Happens to be just around the corner, so you won't have to wait long!

Thanks for the terrific sketch to use Heather from over at Miracles Momma Designs! Really digging the scallop. I have a special piece of paper I keep in my stash and trace when I wish to have something nice and scallopy.

Here is a close up of my flower cluster. Was trying to emulate my very flowery Glitz Design paper. You can also see the new snow covering my deck...it's pretty but I am ready for some real flowers! ;-) Check out the little metal antique pieces I used on the corners. Found those on a frame in the Second Hand store and grabbed it just for the gold metal pieces!

And here is a sideways shot of my page and yes, the snow is actually pretty....

And one final photo of my title. Love how those turned out. Put a bunch of alcohol ink on them while they were on the page and then covered them with some glittery stickles. Reminds me of tie dye...love alcohol ink! 

Happy Thursday and if you get a chance, play along with her awesome sketch!

Girls With Boobs & Priorities

I know you guys were all concerned the other day when I told about my brutal search for a new bra. Lucky for me, I had to pass by a mall which also contained a Victoria Secret while on my trip last week. This seems insignificant, but the nearest store to me is about an hour and a half. If I KNEW what I wanted to buy, I could always turn to mail order, but obviously had to start with getting a good fitting bra.

So, since I was in my old stomping ground, good friend and fellow boob slinger wearer Kristy offered to hang with me at Vickys.

It was a magical moment. Taylor the lady who was working on my return had a huge laugh at my story about the five trillion bras laid out all over the floor of the fitting room. She cocked her head sideways, took a good peep at ye old boobies and said, well, I can promise you I know what size you are.

She had boobs! And added plus, knew how to measure. I am pretty sure she was a BOOB FAIRY sent to help me in my time of need.

I am a proud owner of a new bra WITH sparkles and flowers AND didn't even try it on. Women with boobs know how important happy boobs are to an overall good outlook on life.

And the second benefit to having a friend accompany you...instead of a dude...she talks you into something you may have overlooked, which is a pretty bra. Not used to having one of those!

Interestingly enough, I was almost willing to forgo the evil of the bra store and instead hit a craft store where I knew I'd find things I loved...

There was really only time for one store and a hot cup of tea with Kristy to catch up....

I did content myself with a five second dash into Joanne's late Friday night on my way home and manged to find a few things in five minutes.

Can't wait to use them!

Oh and Happy Hump Day. Somehow saying that seems slightly wrong on this post....

Soap and Water, Step 1 for Cabinet Project

So, a while ago I talked about a new big project I was planning on starting. Well, I started it! Actually my Dad and my Mom who had the cabinet part of this in their barn for years started it over Christmas when they pointed it out to me and said it was free for the taking. 

I of course went home and started measuring. I have this vision in my mind of matching furniture for all my scrapping stuff. So far so good. I have the main desk I work at, a huge storage cabinet for my scrapbooks, and also the main piece I'm modeling things after where I store paper.

But, I have another need. Extra storage for stamps and inks and whatnot.

PLUS, my Mom was bugging me to give her ideas for a 15th Anniversary present and when I suggested new throw pillows she snorted. She said they are not permanent. WHICH of course they are not in my house when dogs view them as personal sleep aids. 

She is making stained glass for the doors.

CAN.YOU.IMAGINE. 

I know! Here is the pattern. THE MAN picked out the glass. He happens to be good at that kind of thing so I am not even sure exactly what they will look like. What a nice surprise!

I spent a chunk of Sunday and exhausted three cloths cleaning my new cabinet. Many soapy buckets of water later, we are now ready to attach the base to the bottom and mount the doors with hinges. THE MAN assures me that this is precision work and he is up to the task. My Dad made the doors and also the base out of some spare legs he happened to have stashed in his barn. I know, he rocks too.

After washing, I did a bit of work with some wood patch to get the corners filled in. You can also see where my Dad patched a bit of molding that was missing. He figures the cabinet piece is around 100 years old and since it came from my Uncle Ted's house, that it was part of a furniture making business some of our ancestors ran ages ago. 

You can also see how crazy discolored the wood is all over. So I really do not feel badly about not refinishing this. I think it will look great painted black and distressed, as long as I make sure the accents at the top are still visible. Look at all that awesome detail....

Fun times await with the spray gun. Wish me LUCK!

Happy Tuesday!

License, Insurance Card, and Registration Please?

So, this past week Wednesday I headed down to Pennsylvania for work. It happened to be break week for the kids and THE MAN had already headed down for his job earlier. So, thought I'd hang out in our office for a bit. Only trouble traveling the five hours down is you have to travel through the lake affect snow zone near Syracuse NY. I was meeting my parents to pass off the kids in Syracuse as well.

I had already been briefed on the lake affect snow showers I'd be passing through so I was not surprised when things started to look a bit hairy. Flashing signs said:  EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS.

Being a native New Yorker, that means slow down, turn on your lights, get ready to brake slowly so you don't skid, turn on your 4-Wheel Drive, and pay attention.

We turned off the radio, I asked the kids to be quiet, and I started to really focus on driving in the snow.

A tractor trailer passed by and it got suddenly much worse as the visibility decreased. I was happy to follow someone since tail lights were pretty much all I could see.

Two more tractor trailers pushed passed and visibility decreased. As the snow cleared, I noticed break lights ahead and started to slowly break. For some reason unknown, a plow truck was stopped in the middle of our lane and the person I was following was breaking to stop.

The dude behind me must have missed my break lights. As I didn't even know anyone was following me (white car!) I was very surprised to feel someone hit me from behind. It was more of a bump that anything, Not scary, but when I saw plastic start flying, I thought oh Crap! This is going to be NO fun.

We pulled over and soon figured out we were part of a larger accident that also involved a tractor trailer and another vehicle as well. Someone called 911 and we proceeded to wait.

I took the opportunity to take some photos.

My jeep is barely damaged, but I am sure it will still be costly to his insurance. The dude nailed my tow hook. See it there below? I do need a new frame for my license plate and also a new license plate light. ;-(

His car needs a lot more help! YIKES! We proceeded to wait for the police which turned into almost an hour. I figured it would take a bit due to how terrible the weather was, but turned out that he was told the North Bound lane of the divided highway vs. the Southbound. And since you couldn't see across between the two, he had to turn around to find us. 

I have never been in an accident, but if I was going to have one with my kids involved, I'll take this kind of bump any day. THE MAN questioned the kids later on the "accident" and they had forgotten it even had happened. They were too busy playing on their tablets in the back using a mobile hot spot. 

I was happy to finally get down to Corning MUCH later than expected that night and sit down for a nice supper at Applebee's with THE MAN and a mango Margarita. This napkin was under my drink. My sentiments exactly! 

Happy Monday to you, I'm off to call around for some quotes to get my baby jeep repaired!

Too Much Stimulation

So, a few years ago I went to a tarot card reading at my friend Size 8 Maria's house. She is called Size 8 Maria due to a lucky shopping trip where she found a skirt in a size 8, it fit and she was overjoyed. She said she did not care what the real size was since it made her so happy.

Anyhow, this tarot card reader told a lot of things to a lot of women. Some of whom cried.

My cards read like this:  SLOW DOWN, RELAX, BREATH. Well, not word for word, but she basically said that. No deep dark epiphanies for me. No skeletons I needed to address. No tears.

Have I headed such advice? Of course not. I have a phone, a skype account, a lync account, two different e-mails, a home phone and THE MAN/children with similar stuff. I am constantly stimulated.

My brain whirls and spins. Occasionally I tell myself to BREATH.

Anyhow, I have joined the zillions of people now watching Downton Abbey to relax because well, it is interesting, amusing, and I love the dresses. I also secretly admire Cousin Violet. How you can you not?

So, I'm starting at the beginning of the series so don't you dare tell me who died recently and wreck it for me. I saw the scene with Cousin Violet using the telephone to pull a favor the other night, the one where she says:  Is this an instrument of communication or torture?

She said what I've always thought about my Droid!

Love this clip with the Top 10 Maggie Moments. Happy Friday!

Playing with a Canvas

Had a play this weekend with a small 6 by 6 canvas I had. I woke up thinking about texture and hot gluing a bunch of items on a frame, gessoing over them and then added some alcohol inks.

Not sure I even LIKE this canvas, but it was a lot of fun messing with!

I think it looks sea like. But then also really strange!

I stared with a bare canvas and modge podged on some tissue paper. Then started hot gluing items down on top of a chippy.

Painted the whole thing white with gesso and after it dried, started dripping alcohol inks on it.

It was an interesting lesson on texture and the paint blending together. I do think I could always repaint with gesso and start again...which may happen at some point.

But, I am glad I got my paint on!

New Shutters: Layout for Frosted Designs Challenge

I just HAD to make this layout. I was so excited this weekend. THE MAN in a fit of romance installed shutters on my house for Valentine's Day. No flowers for this girl, I get big gifts! Wait 'til you see what I got for my 15th Anniversary...VERY different!

The challenge over at Frosted Designs is to:  GO BOLD and boy did I have fun with that. Bits of color here and there and in particular hot pink.

It helped I had a new Scraptastic Kit to play with!

Made some special yellow dyed lace from an ink pad and alcohol, added spatters of paint here and there and a big splash of hot pink that came in the kit. The special little ribbon flower came from my neighbor Shirley. I LOVE IT!!!

Here is a cross section of my page so you can see all the dimension. Really pleased with how this one turned out. Sometimes simple and splashes can make you so happy!

Here is another close up and you can see some of the washi tape that came along in the kit and new letters...Also a punch that I got for Christmas! Love it!

Happy Hump Day! Hope you get a chance to play along, it was quite fun!

Market in Peru Purchase: Water Color

Things here in the North County run a bit slow. In fact, I was completely surprised the other day when the Frame Mill called and said one of the paintings I had brought home from Peru was completed.

My Mom and Dad and I ran into a young man in the little market at the base of Machu Piccu who was working on getting through Art School. Of course later we met LOTS of people selling their art from portfolios, but I really liked his work the best, so was glad I bought a couple of things home to get framed.

Throughout Peru there were very interesting hardware pieces on doors and windows. I took tons of photos of these items...looking forward to doing something with them at some point. No doubt this water color will serve as a center piece! Love the contrasting colors!

Play Together Scrapbook Page for Miracles Momma Designs

THE MAN and I have always had a good time hanging out. I thought it might be fun to make a funny page using a photo taken a while back in our woods after a paint ball game that I found on my phone the other day.

Of course, I tinted the photo a light pink and added lots of pink on my layout to make him squirm just a bit...

Used the latest sketch out at Miracles Momma Designs for my layout.

 Liked the idea of adding hearts, but made one big heart out of some scrap paper that was in my Valentine's Day paper stash.

It was a lot of fun to make as was this folded flower. The twine and paint dots made me happy too!

If you get a chance, pop over and play along with her sketch! It's lovely!

And Happy Monday in your part of the world!

Wanting to Fly Page for Another Freaking Scrappy

I recall the moment as if it were yesterday. A bit out of breath from all that walking, an amazing feeling of getting somewhere and wishing I could be a bird; wanting to fly even higher to see all of Machu Pichu in Peru.

Had been saving this photo for something special and decided to use it on my latest layout for Another Freaking Scrappy using the following sketch.

Decided to create a nice thick boarder by cutting some crazy paper I had and just using the very edges for a boarder. It was some October Afternoon paper. 

Can you see just the edge of it there? Very bright and colorful. In fact, I am still working on what I might want to use the center of it for.

Yes, world's worst photo above, but I can't seem to find a memory card that works. I go through those like I do socks.

Also used a flower I did a tutorial for ages and ages ago on turning silk flowers a different color using alcohol inks.

Also opted to interpret the feathery wings on the side of the sketch as feathers! Guess it wasn't much of a stretch there! Picked these feathers up at a local store. They previously were plant sticks...in my house you put feathers in a plant, it will become cat magnet....works much better on a scrapbook page!

Snuck a small bit of the title in on the top in handwriting and then added some letters at the bottom. They were originally canvas, but I added some orange paint because, well the color rocks! Also outlined a stencil I used with dimensional paste with an orange marker after it dried.

And a nice sideways view so you can see how very rumpled this poor layout is. I shoveled a spot for it so it was nice and flat on the board for the photo but the paper itself is not flat by a long shot!

Happy Friday! Come play with us, it's so much fun!

Happy Valentine's Day: THE CONTEST by Bruce Mero

It's always nice to celebrate a holiday with a new story. Here is one of my favorites that I lived through...That is my Grandma above on the altered tin. I remember summers at the Lake fondly and recall this particular conversation clearly. It was the first time anything interesting had ever happened at the supper table. I can't buy you all chocolates, but perhaps Dad has given you a chuckle. ;-)

The Contestby Bruce H. Mero

          Warm summer evenings at the cottage at Lake George nearly always found family gathered around the long table on the screened porch eating, talking and imbibing. This night was no exception. As dusk settled upon the lake surface and boats returned to the docks at the end of the bay, family members were engaged in a lively conversation, lubricated by liberal applications of New York's finest spirits. Our meal had been preceded by several bottles of Genesee beer and multiple glasses of red wine accompanied dinner. Dishes had been cleared from the table. The after-dinner conversation rambled from topic to topic, interspersed with laughter. We all were downing glass after glass of Cabernet from a gallon jug we had opened after dinner. It wasn’t long before we were all giddy and getting more so as contents of the wine bottle dwindled.

          It was my sister-in-law that first noticed that her mother was beginning to show the effects of the alcohol and suggested that someone hide the jug when her Mom went to the kitchen to get a cigarette. Upon her return to the porch, she asked to have her glass refilled and was told by the group and in unison, that the wine was gone. Undeterred, she returned to the kitchen and opened a bottle of Genesee beer and took a swig. Leaning on the door jamb between the kitchen and the porch to keep her balance, she looked a sight with a cigarette in her mouth and a beer bottle in her right hand. Surveying the gathered family, a wry smile came upon her face. She removed the cigarette from her mouth. Her left eye was nearly closed and a twinkle sparkled in her right eye. She looked at no one in particular when she stated that she was recently trying to remember which of her three former husbands had the longer penis. Incredulous, the six of us sitting at the table looked at each other with open mouths. Without hesitation, she then stated that she loved all of her sons-in-laws and wondered which of them had a longer penis. 

          She then looked at my brother-in-law sitting to my right, then me, then to my brother-in-law sitting on my left.  Her open eye still twinkled. 

          “Well,” she said.  “Which of you is it?” 

          In a commotion of sliding chairs and clearing throats, the six of us stood and bolted in different directions. The girls took their mother by each arm and led her back through the kitchen and into the living room. The three sons-in-laws slipped out of the screen door and out into the darkness where we spent the remainder of the evening feeding the mosquitoes from the back of the boat parked at the dock.  

          Breakfast the next morning was at first a bit awkward though it became clear after only a few minutes that the query of last evening had been forgotten by the questioner. Nervous glances between those at the table faded to smiles, then grins as the conversation went in other directions.

WALK Scrapbook Layout for ScrapFriends & Get Creative

They were being seriously goofy so I whipped out my phone and started taking photos.

We MADE the kids come for a walk out in our woods the other day. Winter seems endless so if you get some nice days, it's time to get some fresh air and exercise.

Believe it or not I did start out with this sketch from ScrapFriends. I also started out with a bag of scraps from a summer kit with the thought of using up as many as possible!

I had even made these accordion blooms way back in the day and they fit for my page, so I used them up too!

Here is a cross section view of my page so you can see the layers and spatters and real snow on the deck. Anything for some sun in a photo!

And I love this banner I made! It's washed out in the photos, but I had these little inkable banners left over I wanted to use. Covered over them with some dimensional Modge Podge.

Also want to link this up with Get Creative where they challenge you to use snowflakes in your layout. You can just see my snowflake strip peeking in here! It was nice to make a colorful layout about snow!


Happy Hump Day!

Happy Fat Tuesday!

Miss Lisa from Kansas has the most awesome challenge up over at Our Creative Corner:  Party Like it's Mardi Gras! I do live in a college town so of course our little local craft store does carry masks. Cheap enough at $2 for three!

Originally just a black plastic mask, I was at a bit of a loss to figure how how to make this mask cool! Turns out spray adhesive and a whole lot (large copious amounts) of black and purple glitter followed by clear spray will give you an awesome glittery finish that stays where it is supposed to.

Here is a close up of the glitter and my decorations. The large metal piece was previously an earring and perhaps you can see the vintage letter I added in behind everything? Used a lovely orange flower from Irini too!

The peacock feathery plant stick I found in the craft section in Walmart. I hot glued it all onto a vintage pot holder I found at the second hand store and dyed up, voila! You have a little wall hanging!

Here is a second photo that also has an unaltered pot holder so you can see what I started with. Somewhat grungy but with a lacy edge that won me over!


Oh and Happy Fat Tuesday? I guess Mardi Gras translates to that from French. I had to google it myself, because I have wondered for years what that meant. Sounds like a good day for a cupcake...honestly. Or making something with glitter and lots of it!

In the Pursuit of new Tata Holders

For the past two going on three years, I have been exercising. It's to the point now I get grouchy if I don't get my exercise fix, although I can't promise I always love it. I have slowly but surely lost around 15 lbs. More importantly, I can pick up 30 lb dog food bags like a rock star and shovel snow without hurting myself.

This slow gradual weight loss has had a price.

Bras. I have gone through boob slingers like it's going out of style.

Used to be they would wear out. Now things fall out and nobody needs to see that.

If I knew someone that needed practically brand new boobie holders, I'd at least not feel so bad, but I'm what you might call large.

Thank you Grandma Skip. She probably weights less than a 100 lbs of which 10 lbs are boobs. I blame those genetics. Better than getting her temper, thank you very much.

In the pursuit of TaTa Holders that would contain the girls, THE MAN and I ended up at Victoria Secret over the weekend. For some reason, the lack of snow actually falling meant everyone headed to the one store I needed to visit.

There was a line for the dressing room four girls deep.

Girls with measuring tapes were running around and throwing bras over the dressing room doors to ladies.

I was measured and given a magic new number and pointed in the general direction of what I thought I wanted. Interestingly enough, the walls in the changing room at Vickys were padded. I think it was meant to be decorative, but in retrospect, it may have been for another reason.

Holed up with new bras, I proceeded to try them out.

Boobs fell out in weird places.

I pressed the buzzer on the wall and some tiny cute 20 something poked her head in. I am pretty sure her tatas were normal sized so I was doubting her abilities to really understand my predicament.

Mitra,what can I help you with?

Um. They are falling out. (are you blind?)

I think you need to measure me again.

They upsized me, downsized me, sideways sized me and finally sent me on my way over to check out with something called full coverage that kinda hurt my feelings.

It was a marathon session of bra trying on and the floor was littered with black bras. There were push up bras, bras with sparkles, bras with gems, bras with padding (as if!) and I had lost count how many I had shoved myself into.

It wasn't pretty and I was starting to feel real mean and ornery. Considered using bras as sling shots and the padded walls were getting on my nerves.

Which brings me around to a business concept that I think would work since I was starting to lose it towards the end.

Victoria Secret needs to have a cocktail lounge associated with their store. THE MAN had reached the tail end of his patience with waiting and could have used a nice glass of wine. He had texted me at some point and asked if the store had eaten me.

I needed a glass of wine myself. I wanted to hurt someone quite possibly by tying one of the measuring tapes around someones face.

I do think they would sell more bras. THE MAN winced at the last TaTa holder with the $50 price tag. Give him a little wine and he'll buy me two and a new pair of silk pjs without a backward glance.

And to the gentleman who was standing in the doorway to the fitting rooms in the middle of my marathon bra trying on session and who may have caught a glimpse of cranky me in a poor fitting black bra, I do apologise. Please take yourself over to the cocktail lounge of the store, have a double  martini on my tab, and wash the horror of it all from your brain.

Wisdom or Lack There Of

So yesterday I got my last wisdom tooth out. They told me the last time I was at the dentist that I had a nice cavity forming between the wisdom tooth and last molar. Made sense to just get the blasted thing out.

Could have had it done when I was little and they took two out surgically and knocked me out. But no, I wait until I am 39 and can totally have a brain meltdown!

Anyhow, it went OK. THE MAN was there to make sure I went through with it which was a smart move on his part. They didn't want him to stay with me, but after they figured out what a big baby they had on their hands...they let him hang out in the corner!

He knew that it would just be easier to make sure I behaved. He also did not let me have the two glasses of wine I wanted prior to going. It made sense to me...

Anyhow, I want to share a video we watch at work after anyone has gone to the dentist. It cracks me up every time. I think they used gas on the poor boy! I wanted gas but got that look that said, listen...you are an adult...seriously? YOU WANT GAS?

Here is to a Happy Friday!

I'm Feeling Cobalt for Top Tip Tuesday

I have had this cobalt glass bottle in my stash since the summer with plans of sand blasting it. In fact, I have had the doorknobs nearly as long, with the theory they would make a nice stopper for this bottle. They are nice and feel almost stone like. Looking forward to using the second one in a creation!

Here is a close up of the door knob. THE MAN cut it back a little bit for me so it would fit nicely into the opening.

And how does this project apply to Top Tip Tuesday where they are asking you to use a hearts and romance in your creation? I have a heart dangled off the bottle! It was one I made ages and ages ago from clay and the glaze dripped nicely although I was hoping for a nice even blue coating!

And as far as romance, nothing is better than having THE MAN help you sand blast and cut metal. That is love right there. I am pretty sure he thinks my creations are a bit crazy most days!

And my tip:  Alcohol inks work great for staining bottles and metal! You should give it a try!

One last photo to give you a nice chill. My back yard today:

I blew all that snow off the board where I set the bottle and it flew in my face! I was like ohhhhhhhH! Since I was only wearing slippers and a sweatshirt, I was impressed with my snow bath!

Have a great Thursday! It's almost the weekend!

Happy Birthday Sara & RUINS Scrapbook Page

I know, it's amazing, I live near the fabulous Sara Zenger. And we don't have coffee together! I have met her IRL and she is super cool! That whole work life thing gets in the way off all this fun that could be had for both of us I'm sure.

Wanted to participate in her 'lil Birthday blogger hop and make a page from a super awesome Diana sketch, so here it is! Did I mention there are prizes and all that and it's not even OUR birthday?

I really enjoyed making this page from a bag of scraps I had. I think this is a good sketch for using those up! Add a few banners to use up the smallest smidges...

I had found an old kit hiding behind a drawer in my scrap area so I am working my way through the remnants and getting them onto a page. Also found buttons that came in the kit and used them up too!

That way I don't feel guilty buying new kits! ;-)

The full title to my page is "Everywhere you look in Peru...RUINS." 

It was exciting to see the stone work from our bus windows. In fact, I'm not even sure where my Mom took this photo as this was a pretty common place view. 

And a quick shout out to my friend Irini in Greece who makes these great flowers!!

Happy Hopping should you choose to help Sara celebrate and HAPPY HUMP DAY for sure!