Friday, February 27, 2015

Sparkly Pale Pink Aura & the universal language of animals


The other day the door to the cricket container was open. The cat alerted me to the fact by sitting below Mad Eye Moody's cage and swishing his tail. He is brutal on bugs with his six toes and fat furry swatting paw. I have no idea how many crickets if any were a snack. Made me a smidge jumpy 'cause I wasn't sure if I would end up finding one loose later.

Mad Eye in the tradition of the rest of the animals around here speaks the universal language of animals. I found him talking to the dog the other day from the branch closest to the front in the terrarium. I'm convinced they speak to each other. I am also pretty sure they could tell me what color my aura is. 

I usually do not think about my aura. I have been lately because I want to do one last layout from the cruise and it was the encounter we had with the dude selling sunglasses in Key West. 

He was a vendor on the side of the street and caught our attention by asking if he could try something with Lexi's hair. Now, you may remember back to 14. Most days are bad hair days or at least you feel like everyone is checking out your hair, clothes, face and judging you. You feel a bit like you don't fit in your skin, not sure if you even like your skin, and your soul hurts a bit as it's trying to expand to fit you who is growing by the minute. 

Yes, by all means. Make Lexi feel beautiful and play with her hair. 

He was super cool. He had her pick out a double comb with sparkles and twisted her hair up off her neck. He was not only a street vendor but a hair wizard. 

He offered to try my hair. Yes, I felt like a princess. My hair was in a pony and using the combs it swept it up off my sweaty neck. I also felt free as no matter how you pull up your hair, you always feel it pulling. He then looked me square in the eye and said I had a beautiful aura. Ok, so he might have been blowing smoke up my ass, but then again, who am I to say he didn't actually see it?

So I said what any smart woman would say when a man was playing with her hair. Why thank you!

THE MAN was convinced that we needed these combs and away we went with our hair high and feeling beautiful. Regardless, it was a world class sell. OH and in my opinion, my aura is a sparkly light pink with yellow edges...I'm just guessing since the lizard isn't talking.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

The Gizzard Layout






































Blog peeps, meet Mad Eye Moody

Mad Eye Moody, meet Blog peeps!

Yes we got a lizard. If you were as sick to death of winter as I am, you also might have gone overboard and bought a terrarium for said lizard & planted real plants in it.

He's a baby chameleon and currently capable of being green, light green, dark green, and well, other shades of green.

We brought him home last Friday night and he immediately climbed to the very top of his cage where it was warmest and hung upside down with the heat lamp on his belly. I'd do that myself if I could it's been so dang cold here in NY.




























As you can see, we are still snow covered which is why I had to add flowers, and pink and orange to make me think happy thoughts on this page!

Those chippies leaves are a gift from Miss Helen from South Africa who is probably nice and toasty right now!






































I opted to use the first photo I took of Mad Eye (named for the character in Harry Potter) vs this other really pretty one I had...


He is climbing the orchid I used as a live plant!

Hope you are staying warm in your neck of the woods!

P.S. THE MAN refers to Mad Eye as the Gizzard...so it's kinda his pet name...pun intended!

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Sneaky Peaky Tuesday





























Just a quick sneak peek! We are still working on my altered sewing table for my office. It's been hard to get it painted due to the super cold temperatures. It finally warmed up for a whole entire weekend day so we got it painted black & cleared. The stone top is giving us fits still, but I imagine we'll eventually win!

Happy Tuesday!


Monday, February 23, 2015

Ribbon Rose Easter Egg


























Now that Valentine's Day has been officially put away at my house, I'm on the hunt (pun intended) for all things Easter-ish. Actually to be honest, I am stick to death of snow, as pretty as it is and I'm ready for flowers!

Can you tell?

Wait, let me show you from the top so you can get the fully loaded effect!



I am not entirely sure what kind of egg this is...large that is what. It was predecorated, cut & with with hinges and a find several weeks back from the second hand store. I did photograph it in it's plain jane glory before messing with it. The checkboard was from the same trip & the seam binding is for scale.


























It was a bit grungy and the pink velvet stained up from the glue they used. (who cuts an egg in half? totally cool idea)


























Of course an application of gesso on the outside and some mists on the inside fixed everything....





























I was really thrilled how it all turned out...


























Looks a treat with a few other Easter things I pulled this weekend....





























And what is that you spy in a tank? Meet Mad Eye Moody. More on him later this week!

Happy Monday!

Friday, February 20, 2015

Junkin Friday


It seems like forever since I made a trip down to the second hand store. I totally picked the right day!

Got a pile of vintage seam binding, a cool snap box, and that horse shoe horn! Since a spool of seam binding that big is usually around $8 or so, I was pretty pumped!

Happy Friday to me!


Thursday, February 19, 2015

Christmas Magic: THE LAST CRUISE PAGE (I think)






































Got back into the Christmas Spirit with this page. The Cruise ship was all decked out for Christmas and during one trip to the atrium, I got THE MAN to pose on the stairs for me. Of course it was quite busy so I had to be patient while people used the stairs....





























I really wanted to showcase this photo so built up a lot of layers and then added a nice chunk of cardboard....always love working with that! Some vintage velvet leaves, a key, paper scrap banners, a vintage doily and some cheese cloth completed the decorating. Those skeleton leaves were a gift from Lizzy Hill ages ago that I turned up from the Christmas paper stash.



























Here is a side view so you can see some of the scraps I used and the glitter & gold.

I also used something NEW on this page that I am QUITE excited about.





























A NEWLY released Tim Holtz lace stencil is finding it's way onto my projects! I love it quite a lot so I am sure I'll overuse it again and again....

I first saw it at the Funkie Junkie Boutique which is a rockin' scrap place to shop. It's like getting the most fabulous present when you place an order with her!

In case you missed it, I used it on yesterday's project here!

Hope your Thursday is MOST fantastic! We are just a short hop away from Friday!

Wednesday, February 18, 2015

A Random Act of Kindness Card for Jen


Yesterday was Random Act of Kindness Day...which I figured out at the VERY END OF THE DAY when it was way too late to do anything nice for anyone. And besides, I am always late with cards anyhow, right? 

So this card is heading out to a coworker's wife to cheer her up. She is likely having a rough one since her hubby is sick and so is her little girl AND it's her birthday! I'm here to tell her she can reschedule that birthday! I'm also yelling HELLOOOOOOO from over here as a fellow Mom saying these days do pass. When they are little it seems like every month there is some sickness or whatnot!


Regina the Queen of Awesome Cutting Files over at THE CUTTING CAFE came up with this lovely little dress form that I used.

It was super quick to cut out! Just added a little lace to the dress bottom and voila!

An very elegant centerpiece to my card! Love it! 

Here is hoping that next week is better, Jen! And that your rescheduled birthday is fabulous!

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Formal Dinner: Second to Last Cruise Page ;-)






































I keep promising myself that I have done my LAST PAGE from our cruise...but it seems that I keep finding more photos I want to use!

Well, in this case I remembered I had the itinerary from Christmas & these great photos of Lexi and Luke at dinner....and I really love that dress photo so I pulled Lizzy Hill and cut her out!





























Was down to a lot of scraps in a paper pack I was using up so on they went!

Added some gold paint to my hot pink letters for some mixed media..






































I highlighted a few of the things we did that day on the ship's itinerary....one of them being the Hairy Chest contest that I blogged about before!

Fun times!

Hope your Tuesday was most excellent!

Monday, February 16, 2015

Poconos Adventure: 17th Anniversary Layout





































Whipped this up when we got home from our overnight adventure down into Pennsylvania. We had been wanting to take a trip to the Poconos for ages and decided that we should celebrate our 17th anniversary at a resort. It also happened to be on Valentine's Day so we took advantage of a package deal at Ehrhards Water Front Resort with a fancy dinner, room, and show!

I had such a nice time I wanted to make a page right off. I brought home the doily from dinner and started adding layers. You can see it peeking out there near that super cool gold sparkly tag and by the photo of Lake Wallenpaupack. I snuck out to take a few photos as the sun was just setting and boy was it cold!








The snow is just as deep there as it is here! I had to wait until we did some snow removal before I took these photos!
























The room was so awesome that I snuck a few photos of the inside too. Complete with a gas fireplace and hot tub, it was quite romantic!




























Love that sweet little folded heart! I am trying to figure out how to recreate them as they came in a recent scrapbook kit!

Hope your Monday is terrific!

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Ship Memories: Close to My Heart Crafternoon Layout






































Recently I spent a lovely afternoon with Jean, Teri, Kristy and Julie. It was like old times and we were thick as thieves. Jean is now the Close to My Heart consultant (we have all taken turns) and had all these lovely page kits for us to pick from.

It's a welcome change from what I normally come up with. She had a lot of super cool die cuts like that awesome hexagon on the bottom of my page all made.






































I had to add some flowers & a gold doily when I got home though! It still ended up pretty flat and less grungy than my normal look. ;-)





























Makes me happy, that title! The pink one was cut by Jean and I just added the yellow sticker letters.

Hope you enjoyed my Crafternoon page! Huge thanks to Teri for having us!

Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Cutting, Prepping, & Sanding the Junkin Sewing Table


Just popping in with a quick update to my Junkin Sewing Table...we are making progress!

Ye Old Slab of Granite is back unscathed from the place that was cutting it. And, we managed to cut a nice square hole in our table. PHEW!

Now we have to marry the two...which involves a LOT of measuring.....

Then, more sanding & paint!

Happy Hump Day!




Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Fun Food Facts & GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may



On Sunday we went to visit my Gram. She had been transferred from the hospital to a nursing home. She had wandered upstairs this past Monday at my Aunt's house & was not making sense. My Aunt took her to the emergency room right off where they ran a boat load of tests. They assume it was a stroke.

I was nervous as hell to go visit.

The disease in her brain is slowly making her forget. It's also pissing her right the hell off. From as long as I can remember, she was a small woman with a big presence. She taught me how to iron, vacuum, fold sheets, and get mad. All very useful things. On the weekends when I was little she'd drive over with coffee cake, her little Pekingese dog, and lots of energy and we'd clean. Her house was always spotless, the sidewalk shoveled, the flower beds tidy.

Being quite an independent sort, she recently tried to escape from my Aunt's house a couple of times.

Fell off a chair trying to change a calender at midnight.

Needless to say, it was time for the professionals to take over. She is still quite capable of getting around but the chair alarms, door alarms, and cameras make escaping into the winter & the snow much more difficult. Besides since they frown on losing people at Nursing Homes, so we can hope that everyone will try their best to keep her contained.

Gram was in good spirts when I found her in the common room. She said Mr. Parker had been to see her earlier today and he was her favorite neighbor. I was pretty darn sure Mr. Parker had passed away years ago but she was happy so I told her how cool that was. (I also wondered exactly WHAT she and Mr. Parker had been up to since she was slightly sparkling when she told me!) Dad told me later she had been given happy pills, but who cares. Happy is Happy. Sparkly is Sparkly.

Later we went down to the dining room where they were reading fun food facts and serving tea. Time for us to leave. The visit was for us, not her. I am sure shortly after we left, we faded from her brain. The older memories seem to be stuck there but the new ones are flying away as soon as they are made.

I also finally understand the Christmas present she sent us.


It's a photo of her and Grandpa in his plane. They divoced when my Dad was in college so it seemed really awkward at the time. Now it just makes me happy.

It also reminds me that time here is short, no matter how long those years seem away. A little perspective is always a good thing. Gather Ye Rosebuds....


Monday, February 9, 2015

Scrap Cards

I try to kill my entire Scraptastic Kit once a month. Sometimes I don't and I end up with a bag of scraps. The other day I set about to make some Valentine's Day cards that used up quite a bit of one bag. I was left with just a few to make a couple of more cards. Of course that piece of gold doily was top on the pile to make sure it was used!






































Here is the second one! Embossed craft paper & some awesome rainbow ribbon!

Hope your Monday is awesome!

Friday, February 6, 2015

Cupid Mailbox for THE CUTTING CAFE


I have been anxious to work with The Mailbox Template since Regina released it. Over at THE CUTTING CAFE she has been hard at work and there are TONS of lovely things to choose from for Valentine's Day.

It's such a cute little decoration!


Here is the other side with the little flag that comes in the cutting file. I added that little gold cupid with the pearls and gold trim. The paper I used had a white resist that worked well with some purple mists!


I even decorated in the INSIDE! Well, I might have misplaced something sticky causing my black paper to tear, which wouldn't have been a big deal, but it had a white core. ;-) So had to cover that up with a sticker!


 The colors I used make me so happy! 

Happy Friday!

Thursday, February 5, 2015

Altered Bee Smoker & Thoughts of Spring



My thoughts are already turning towards spring and we're only two months into winter! I'm thinking of flowers and honey bees!

You might be wondering what this odd contraption is. Believe it or not, I recall my Dad using this smoker when I was a kid when he was moving the honey bee hives around. Recently he passed it to me for some altering vs. throwing it out.


I wanted to soften the rusty metal by adding flowers, a modge podged image, and a really cool metal bee & clock. 


I slightly bent the clock & bee piece to follow the curve of the smoker. It's not a real clock, but works for our current challenge over at LESSology!

I am so hoping you play along!

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

Valentine's Day Pile O' Cards






































Gold doilies, a bag of Valentine's Day paper scraps, 4 inch by 4 inch black paper, washi, and a cool vintage image were a lot of fun to work with to make up a bunch of cards! The 14th is around the corner!





























Love that gold shimmer!






































Just a close up of one of the cards. I am looking forward to getting them in the mail!

Happy Hump Day!

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

What Happens on a Cruise Stays on the Cruise unless you blog...





































Yesterday I posted this page and insinuated there was a story to accompany it....

There sure is....

When the peeps on our cruise ship announced a hairy chest contest, I never in a million years thought THE MAN would volunteer.

The kids musta made him do it. I was off grabbing one of those umbrella drinks at the time and when I got back there he was up on stage with a bunch of other dudes.

Then they started picking female judges.

I qualified for the 40 year old category.

So on one side of me was a young 20-30 year old, me in the middle, and a 50 year old on the end.

The older woman and I were having a grand ole time and had a good cackle when they told us what we had to do.

She had to judge their strip tease dance, I had to feel their chests for hair, and the last lady had to spank their booties.

Young chicky fake smacked booties. What a chicken! ;-)

Yes, it was meant to totally humiliate everyone on stage all in good fun. The little people (of which there were many) were laughing at all of us. My little people were taking photos, bless them.

They were even more excited when the losers got water dumped on them.

THE MAN only made it through round one sadly as we could only pick three guys to go to the next level and there were two strip tease artists & one old due that we couldn't bare to cut.

In all honestly, I would have asked them to keep my husband, but I figured that the next round would be worse....

Round two involved dressing up the winners as women using clothing from the audience....it's not nice to see a dude in a bikini with a hairy chest....

Monday, February 2, 2015

Contest Layout for Another Freaking Scrappy





































We're back at Another Freaking Scrappy after a small break. I think Christmas caught up with us all!

Anything goes this month!

I am in QUITE the mood over Valentine's Day. It's one of my favorite holidays and also happens to be my wedding anniversary! Decided to make a layout with that theme in mind!






Lots of bling, scraps of this and that all tucked along a long black double sided scallop.

Check it out from the side! ;-)





























There is of course a story behind this layout...something really amusing happened on our cruise and I wanted a layout to document it!

I'll be back tomorrow with the story!

Happy Monday!