Road Side Repair Job Layout

Just a fun page to use this photo I had of THE MAN. He is probably not actually scratching his head over Lexi's bike but might have been resting his hand there to fend off the bugs that were eating us alive..........

Recently we camped near Chimney Bluff State Park. See, we had this grand idea to ride a couple of miles down the road to the State Park and check out these really cool drumlins...and the rocky shore of Lake Ontario. Of course reality hit several miles into it when we realized that her bike was not changing gears and it wasn't exactly all flat. The bugs hit right about then too.....

Good thing he had his multi-tool for the bike so we could keep riding real fast!

Here is a side view of my page. Love those little stripey flowers I made!

Here is a close up of the flowers and pretty little bike sticker I used!

Happy Hump Day!

New Addition to Pratt Inc.

No, no, no babies or puppies are joining the family. (PHEW!)

A couple of weeks back we set up a new printer for the entire house.

It's an HP Wide Format Officejet 7500A.

Wasn't super expensive, I can print off any pc in our house, it prints 12 by 12 and scans 11 by 17. Also can copy and fax. I can't believe it can fax. Not like I'll ever use that but once a year, but still.....

AND!!! It's black not white so matches my scrap area stuff...we all know how important THAT quality is!

So far so good. It prints on the smaller sized photo paper with ease and quietly. Printed a 12 by 12 photo for me very nicely. We are in the dating stages, but things look very promising!

I will let you know how our relationship develops, but so far I'd recommend this printer. And no, HP is not sending me a boat load of printer cartridges to write this. (I WISH!)

All Grown Up Layout for Once Upon a Sketch

Haven't played along with Once Upon A Sketch it seems like ages! Their challenge fit right with a photo of the cousins and my two from smallest to biggest! Their theme this time 'round is growing!

I also managed to fit their sketch in by turning it on it's side.

I added a very small amount of journaling. Couldn't add too much more those kids are states away and I really don't get a chance to hang with them enough! Didn't want to have a nice cry all over my paper!

One of my favorite parts of my page is this vellum flower I made by hand. I LOVE IT! ;-)

Here is a cross section of my page. It's really kind of cool as you can see the bread twist banner I made with some mesh from onions! More photos of the bread twists later....I've been playing in the recycling in again!

Happy Monday!

Old Knobs and New Paint

I've been off and away making memories and working on my arm muscles.

Well, not too much on the arm muscle part...just a little.

I was girl Friday in the garage door painting project at my Mom and Dad's house.

BOY they look nice! Even got rained on a little and we managed to get that repainted without any issues.

My arms got a very small work as we had to scrub each panel to give the paint something nice to settle onto. It was THE MAN'S idea and we all know how good he is with the spray gun & paint.

That pile of glass knobs emerged from my Dad's barn for ME!!! and are already mounted on something neat in my brain. I cannot WAIT to make that project.

Happy Friday! I have nothing much planned for the weekend for once except more arm muscle work in the form of a couple of loads of fire wood, a couple of garage sales and SCRAPPIN! ;-)

Camp Colby: Lexi's Layout

So, when we sent the kids to camp recently, it was minus any electronic devices. Both camps had that rule.

I totally got why, I mean, keeping track of small people is way more important than a silly camera that has fallen in the lake. So, being the person who craves photos, they went with those little film cameras you have to get developed somewhere.

Dropped the little cameras off at Walmart the next day upon their arrival home due to small peeps saying hurry get these developed we can't wait to see our photos!

Did not know they had to get sent to the far side of the moon and would take weeks to get back. I am being sarcastic, but they just called to tell me they were in.

Patience is not a strong suit for me!

Anyhow, I had to make this page with a photo I took five minutes before we left Lexi at camp in front of her bunk Whiteface. The bunk houses were all named after Adirondack Mountains. THE MAN stayed in Haystack when he was a kid.

Here is a side view of all the dimension. I love that background paper I used. Lexi loves brights and colors so was trying to reflect her personality a bit.

Another side view so you can peek and see my banner with it's little curl & double sided paper!  Also used part of a sheet of those cardboard arrow stickers in different spots.  Just cut up the clear plastic and stuck them down.

Lots of shimmer to this page and I love those flowers I glittered up a bit that came from Helen.

Can't wait to see what other photos I have to work with!

Happy Tuesday!

Camp Colby Alumni Layout

In a weird twist of how things work at Pratt Inc. both THE MAN and I attended Camp Colby when we were small people. I am pretty sure I recall watching his family pack him out as my parents signed me into camp, but I cannot confirm the hazy details of when I was 14. My Father in Law also went to Camp Colby.

In a time honored tradition and since she wanted to, we sent Lexi to her first ever week away camp.

While dropping her off, I grabbed a quick photo of THE MAN checking out the dining hall, which by the way still looks pretty much the same as it did long ago.

Now Camp Colby is run by the New York State Dept. of Conservation, so pretty crunchy granola as we'd say in these parts. Not in a bad way, although my parents report that I came home taking shorter showers and ripping napkins in half...

Well, maybe I made up that shower thing...What teen takes a short shower?

Anyhow in the spirit of using up stuff, I made sure I attacked my scraps to make this page!

My favorite part is this banner flag tree I made from them! Little branch was picked up at the camp on our way out!

Happy Monday!

the long terms effect of cooking-guest post by Lexi

I think she is like her mama, something upsets her she has to write it out...anyhow, here is a small story from Lexi written today after the great cooking tragedy of 2013

So I sit here typing up this story as I usually might… except for the fact that everyone is hot. And I don’t mean summer hot as we have an air conditioning system. (Lucky us right?) But not only is everyone hot but our oven is on a cleaning cycle (you know when it gets REALLY hot and burns all the crusty stuff off?) and there is the smell of smoke in the house making everyone’s eyes and thoughts burn.

Now let me tell you how all of this has to do with the long terms effect of cooking…

This is one of those stories that are awful during the moment but later you look back at them and laugh at yourself or others once the moment has been lived through. So today I decided to make brownies for the famous people of the Pratt household… aka me, my brother, mom, and dad… now you don’t have to be SUPER COOK to figure out what went wrong. I looked at the box and it said 24 to 26 minutes in the oven. My thought process “ok I’ll put it in for the lesser time and check it then. If it’s not done ill just put it back in.” THAT’S WHEN IT ALL WENT WRONG! The timer beeped and I took it out and stuck a toothpick in to check if it was done. “Nope not even CLOSE” I thought so I went to put it back in and…

!!WARNING IF YOU FIND BROWNIE MURDER !!!OFFENSIVE STOP READING NOW!!

I DUMPED NEARLY THE WHOLE PAN OUT IN THE OVEN. 

Of course not on purpose but if you believe in karma… I (and the whole house) got what came around. We put the oven on clean so to burn off all that access brownie just when a storm decided to rain all over our (brownie murdering) parade… literally. 

This meant that the windows could not be opened. We all got the memo about the whole down pouring and super wind a little late. Resulting in a favorite bottle of Mom's to get broken (courtesy of Mr.Super Wind) and a bunch of brownie murdering grumps. Now we had to live with the smoke, clean up broken glass, AND go brownie-less… nonetheless of course that’s all over now and I took what was left of my poor brownie and ate it with a scoop of ice cream and peanut butter. So I can’t say ALL is bad...

Note from the Mom in the story:  It totally smelled like brownie-ass and still does....and I'm resolving to buy the treats from the store here on out. Twinkies are back thankfully...sounds like a good plan to me and doesn't involve the oven!

Summer Bucket List for Scrap Africa

A page without photos! What fun!

Linking this up with Scrap Africa and their patch work challenge. Love my little circle patches! I used a lot of scraps here including a bunch of cream colored circles I had been holding on to!

A while ago we were driving home from camping and decided we wanted to make the most of our summer.

A list is always good and I saw someone out in blog land scrapbook up their bucket list. Printed mine out on clear vellum and then pasted them on these little quilted circles.

Here is the list since it's a little difficult to read, which was by the way, part of the idea! Didn't want it to be overwhelming, but more like a suggestion!

And, all FOUR of us contributed! Love Pratt Inc!

Fishing & Cook your own Fish

Cook over a fire

Fudge

Go to Lake George

16 Cords Firewood

Potsdam Festival

Atlantic City

Kid Fort

Water Balloon Fight

4 Wheeling on a Beach

Trail Ride

Renaissance Festival

Camping in Sodus Bay

Garage Sale Trip

Roller Coaster

Love that it's part of the way through July and we have already done a bunch of these!

Happy Hump Day!

For the Love of Shiny

So, recently went to a secondhand store where people consign stuff. Meaning that instead of paying 25 cents for a find, you might pay a whole dollar. I broke the bank with my purchases here. LOVE THEM all to bits!  I honestly have a project in mind that involves a fork and a spoon...for realz!

How do you like that crazy gold metal top for something? A WHOLE DOLLAR! ;-)

THE MAN and my oldest claim it is BATTY, but I only saw the detail and the shimmer!

The second really good thing that happened this week is that the farmer up the road mowed our back field.

Nothing amuses me more than green tractors hard at work. An added bonus would be a broken down tractor with some hot dude driving it but alas, they were all in good working order. ;-(

Today we had a gathering of Turkey Vultures on the recently bailed hay. Might have been holding a team meeting not entirely sure. Imagined they were all talking over each other like my team does.

Turkey Vulture One: So, what do you think of the format of that new progress report I sent out last week?

Turkey Vulture Two:  I think you should used a different color for the main title, but then a double line around your deliverable items in cell N42-58.

Turkey Vulture Boss (who is late):  Hey anyone seen Micah?

Turkey Vulture Three:  I think he's on the phone.

Turkey Vulture Four:  Hey, did you guys see the latest episode of Mice Men?

Turkey Vulture Five:  GUYS GUYS GUYS!! There is this new equipment out there that holds three gyroscopes, three accelerometers and an atomic clock, which, together, work as an autonomous navigation system and will only cost us $150,000 per unit...can we get one?

I got as close as I could to them until my family started yelling from the back step.

Hey Mom, try lying down on the ground and pretend to be dead. You might be able to get a better photo....

Turkey Vultures are not small. Six of them probably could fly off with me. Besides, they might have heard about my new collection of shiny pretty things...I decided a retreat back into the air conditioning was in order just to be safe.

Tail of the Pup Scrap Page & Happy Birthday Jennifer

I made this page SPECIAL for my SISTAH-in-LAW who is turning 39 today!

I am actually not sure how old she is, but we'll go with 39. It's such a nice not round number! Plus I think it's kinda close. ;-)

We had SUCH a nice meal here at Tail O' The Pup with her and her kiddos!

Here is a cross section of my page. The Black and White image came off the Tail o' The Pup website and worked perfectly for my title! Easy peasy!

I am IN LOVE with this silver doily that I added several colors of alcohol ink to. Makes me happy! As does that little canvas butterfly that was a gift from Lizzy Hill along with that crazy green spoon & star that is below!

Happy Memories! Hope my SISTAH in LAW is having a super awesome birthday! At some point I'll send her this page and few more for her scrapbook. The longer the package sits here, the better it gets though, so I'm not in a huge rush!

Berry Pickers Page for the Scraptastic #2 Challenge

Always nice to get some cool photos in your inbox along with four quarts of fresh strawberries!

Thanks for taking the kids berrying MOM!

The berries are long since gone, but the memories are all scrapped here on this luscious paper that came in my latest Scraptastic Kit Rock Lobster. I'm playing along with their second challenge of the month: make a page about a food you love to eat during the summer.

WHO does not like fresh strawberries?! We made shortcakes and had them over at Shirley's summer picnic!

Here is a side view so you can see how big and juicy my big berry is that I added to the center of my layout.

It was a piece of chippie I had in my stash from Maya Road I believe and I added a ton of gloss to make it so juicy looking.

Here is another shot of it and also my handmade flower!

Love those banners too, a nice way to use up some scraps!

Happy Tuesday! We are creeping every so slowly to the weekend!

Slow Three Dips: My Dips page for Another Freaking Scrappy

Our last challenge is up at Another Freaking Scrappy!

I am sad our challenge blog is closing down, but happy for our fearless leader Anne! I for one have gotten my panties in a bunch over blogging & DT work. THE MAN is always happy to point out it's just for fun! ;-)

It's a sketch too so can be included with other challenges!

I enjoyed inking these little banners up with some purple ink and adding some prima flowers from Helen! Also some ink splotches and using up some scrap paper from last summer made me happy too! 

This photo was taken on our recent trip to Lake Placid and happened to be a sign I found in the campground. The kids were HAPPY to pose with Patti our dog. They are all such cuties! 

That sign just means to drive slowly as they had three small ditches crossing the road for water. I like my interpretation of it better!

Love the little banner cluster I made along with these pretty glittery leaves. You can see them best in this side view along with the little cluster of banners & a pop top with some yarn.

Please come play along with us on our last challenge!

Happy Monday!

Courage Layout for Bird is the Word

“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.” 
― E.E. Cummings

Thought I'd play along with Bird is the World before their challenge is over and found this quote to match this photo of my kids and niece/nephews up on Whiteface Mountain. 

Had so much fun with this page with the colors and the little feathers I painted up for down the side!

Here is a cross section so you can see the little old pearls I have hidden under the banner flap. (Thanks Helen for the idea!!)

Happy Friday!

Association Island Layout for ScrapFriends

I wanted to match the first page I made for this trip to Association Island so I used the same color schemes and paper, but the new sketch from ScrapFriends!

I have said it before and I'll say it again, I LOVE their sketches!

Made a little bottle cap embellishment and also added a bread twist! (by the way, I am going to try adding a bit of embossed metal to one, wish me luck!)

Since it was Father's Day weekend, I figured I'd want a nice page of THE MAN with his Dad, which is why I took a photo of them during one night at supper during sunset. Also loved this photo of him fishing with Luke. And no, they did not catch anything!

Anyhow, have a wander over to play along with their sketch and Happy Thursday...creeping towards the weekend!

In A Cloud (but not lost) Layout for Scrap Around the World

Oh it was dreamy being up at the top of Whiteface Mountain in the midst of all those clouds!

I have been up there at least a couple of times but never in zero visibility! It was for sure very different!


Thought I'd finally give Helen's new challenge blog Scrap Around the World a try with it's dreamy mood board challenge.

I used both the colors and some of the images to inspire my page and embellishments.

The little creamy canvas embossed flower originally came ready for paint/mist from Lizzy Hill in an adorable little package. She also sent me that lovely brown beaded circle, metal piece that I added alcohol ink & glitter to, and also canvas key!

One of my absolute favorite parts of my page is this little cut out where I added our "Pratt Stamp" on top of a silver doily. It's see through, which is really kinda cool! Of course the Stickles edging everything also makes me VERY happy!

One last photo of a side view of my page. You might be able to tell that my pen was RUNNING OUT OF INK so I got this lovely ombre look!

Hope you have time to play along and HAPPY HUMP DAY!

Too Late for Towels in Kinny's Drugs

Baby I whispered, I had an accident in the bathroom. 

At 39, it is a slightly awkward thing to say to your husband as your shorts pockets are bulging and you are in the middle of a store carrying just your wallet...

I do not take blame for it however. Circumstances....

The short lady who went in the potty before me and laid a stink bomb is the true person I feel like blaming here.

We drove Lexi two hours to camp and being a bit early, stopped at a local drug store for a pee and candy bar break.

Since I was the one crossing my legs, I got to go first.

I waited and waited and waited.

Finally this tiny woman emerged.

I entered and a wall of stink hit me.

Normally I'd retreat, make a couple of laps around the store or wait until later.

HOWEVER my bladder was not having it.

I couldn't see whether the bathroom WAS actually clean but due to the stench I was pretty sure putting my purse anywhere BUT my lap was a bad idea.

I don't know if stink can stick, but it sure seemed like it at the time.

You guessed it, I stood up and bam, purse landed in the potty on top of my pee! Still not sure how I pulled that off, but I am capable of great acts of lameness.

I did not swear. I did not cry.

I pulled dripping purse up with ninja speed and set it in the garbage can praying the purse was lined.

THANK THE DEAR HEAVENS I was able to retrieve all the contents that were all still bone dry.

Left the purse for dead.

Now I am shopping for purses.

RIP old black purse that went with me to Peru.


P.S. I think it's easier to shop for a printer than a purse. I might be carrying just a wallet for a while!
P.P.S Dear Family that begged me to write this, I hate you just a little! ;-)

Only One Scrapbook Layout for Scrap For Help

Was having a little play the other day with some bubble wrap, inks, and a copper paper ring I had been hording for ages. I honestly was figuring it was destined for the garbage until I came up with the idea of cutting it into fours and embossing each smaller piece. Of course adding some patina paint made me even happier! Black staples to help keep it together!

Thought I'd make a page for Shirley my bestest neighbor.

She always brings me coffee which is top notch.

The bubble wrap is a new one for me. I've seen lots of people use it and just never have tried it. It may be because I am hoarding my stash for packages. I did find a nice 12 by 12 sheet that I decided to try inking up.

Huge thanks for Scrap For Help on helping me jump on the bubble wrap band wagon!

In the spirit of more bubble wrap usage, I popped some and placed it under my main photo of Shirley's rose. 

I love the little fussy cut rose I added at the bottom.

It's from Ignacio's store Nice Crane Designs and all of the flowers in his digital download are amazing!

Just one more photo looking across my page and a little story about this rose bush. Earlier this spring Shirley and I were complaining about roses bushes we both had that died all the way back to roots. She said that she had one that only produced one flower each year due to it dying back. Well, if you take a good peek at her rose, looks like she is getting a few more than just one this year!

Hope your Monday is terrific! Mine is rainy, but that might be why Shirley is getting extra blooms!