Wild Horses & Black Doilies

When we were in the Outerbanks for Spring Break, one afternoon we were eating lunch at a local place. I decided to ask where the wild horses could be spotted. Everyone knows that OBX has wild horses due to excessive post cards with horses but where to find them!

I figured a local dude would give me the straight scoop. He told us to take the ferry to Ocracoke Island and then served me a most amazing clam chowder.

Makes me hungry just thinking about it.

Anyhow, back to the horses. So, a long hour ride on the ferry, we head into town. On the way in we passed a corral and some cars pulled off the road. We then stop at a local grocery to stock up on drinks for the beach. We figured we were off to spot some horses. I asked the lady at the register where exactly to start. She smiled and said that they had to corral the horses due to tourist hitting them with cars.

At that point THE MAN starts mumbling things under his breath about horses in fences would techincally not be WILD beach running horses and I attempted to silence him with one of those hairy eye ball wife looks. So, after some time on the beach and exploring the town, we stopped on the way back to see the "wild" horses. Except for being a bit furier than most horses, they looked well, like horses.

My favorite part of this layout aside from the furry horse photo is my flower cluster complete with some shells...and black doilies!

Aren't those the bomb?

I almost like them as much as gold ones. Make me happy!

That acylic arrow is pretty cool too. Love how shiny it is!

Anyhow, I hope your Hump Day was awesome!

Little Joe Layout

I've been working with my new Purple Rain Scraptastic Kit and it involves LOTS of purple. Which is typically not my favorite color to work with, but this page makes me really happy!

My Mom wore the perfect shirt for this layout! Love it with a splash of gold lettering too!

The We R Memory Keepers - Hello Darling Collection - Ephemera makes a great border! Complete with some gems, which means for once this page is a bit err....flatter than normal. 

Flat or not, love this layout of my Mom and Little Joe. He is a gaffer (glass blower) and is one of the hidden gems of our Glass town, Corning! 

Hope your Tuesday is fantastic! 

Happy Memorial Day from Pratt Inc.

Hey Pratt. Did you forget what day it is? I think you forgot it was Memorial Day!

THE MAN gave me a look like I was half nuts and said, nooooo I didn't forget.

Yes you did, I said! We are laboring pretty hard so it must be Labor Day!

We went to an air show this weekend, but then came home to spend a day digging in preparation of the new natural gas line that is being installed and moving electric down from the house & telephone poles and running it underground.

That being said, I can't wait to scrapbook the Blue Angels and all the cool photos from our weekend.
One stunt pilot even created that heart in the sky to honor our military! I wish I had been quick enough to catch it more whole! Still, it was really pretty and I'm considering making it a background for a scrapbook page!

Anyhow, hope yours was awesome and slightly less sweaty than mine!

Sweet Love Layout: Art Show at Corning Musuem of Glass

Loved visiting the Corning Museum of Glass the other day for the 2015 Student Art Show. Lexi had a piece chosen and it was one that had been promised to me for various holidays...and finally, I got to see it up close and personal!

She made me  a pewter Westie key chain! Long ago I had a little white dog that I loved quite a bit even though he was ornery. Had to make a page to celebrate her ribbon and my new present! I'll have to get a photo soon of it!

The show was pretty sweet, hence the print & cut cupcakes I made! Love that I can do that now on my Silly!

I'm randomly never big on purple, but I really liked the Purple Rain Kit this month at Scraptastic and the colors in these papers are making me happy!

Happy Thursday!

Bodie Island: Outer Bank Layout

I'm really digging circles these days on my layouts. I think because you can take a sheet of double sided paper and cut it so you can see both patterns...

Add a bunch of paper scraps under some neutral flowers and voila! You have the whole paper line on one page, super pretty!

Give us Pratt's a lighthouse and we'll pose in front of it!

I'm almost done with photos from this trip, which is good. Our summer camping schedule starts next weekend!

Dearest Darling Slater Treat Cup Card for THE CUTTING CAFE

So Godmother Autie Marilyn is expecting her new kitten soon! She posted a photo of the young prince on Facebook just the other day. What a little sweetie pie! I'm so excited for her!

In preparation for her new baby, Lexi and I are sending her this baby rattle card with cat treats and some other goodies. I used some Tim Holtz paper (can you see the king in the background?) because I'm pretty sure this new baby kitten will be spoiled and pampered like a king cat!

The little green sprigs represent catnip and the 3 D rattle top is super easy to add treats to. This is one of many treat cup cutting files over at THE CUTTING CAFE and so much fun.

Can you see how deep this cup is? You can really fit a whole lot of treats in it!

Hope Little Baby Slater Kitty loves them! Oh and the little mouse toy we are sending that squeeks? Good luck with that mail dude! It was making me crazy while I was packaging it!

Happy Tuesday!

Weekend Warrior & pretty things

Argh! Someone stole my sidewalk and I'm trying to pretend the back yard isn't a war zone...so I keep looking at pretty things like these new Jolees burlap flowers and  awesome polka dotted bows....and this hand painted lovely dish I found at the ReStore...

Or these Rhododendron that are blooming so nicely by my gazing ball....the same gazing ball you can see across the piles of dirt and gravel...

And this is our new reality until we get the sidewalk dug out, move the gravel from where the old sidewalk was, get the new natural gas line run, pour new cement, and get grass planted...

The good news is that I can scratch running a jack hammer off my bucket list. Turns out not only can I run one, but I can also drag one around, and my boobs were involved.

You  actually do not need huge arm muscles to run one. In fact, as long as you can push a button, it pretty much hammers the crap out of concrete like a mad bastard. However, it's boring, hot, sweaty, nasty work. And it happens to be the perfect height for the ladies. I'm just saying at some point I looked down and both arms were shaking in time to the boobs jiggling. I felt like I was on one of those infomercials where you shake the fat off your body. I'm all still in one piece though, so I can't say it worked.

There, THE MAN said, you can go to work on Monday and tell the boys you ran an 80lb jack hammer. The one dude I work with won't let his Missus touch the lawn tractor and the other one thought running a jack hammer would be fun. Even I'm not dumb enough to think jackhammering is fun. Nah, I'll skip that conversation and pretend all day that I'm not sore, thank you very much!

Happy Monday! 

Me & Lexi: HAWK 5 K Walk Run Layout

Don't get crazy. I walked most of it! We may have ran when people had cameras about or they were holding traffic for us turtles. However, nobody with a stroller passed us, so I'm calling it a win! And those are skorts I'm wearing thank you very much. The kid already made fun of me, but they are very cool and comfortable. I hate running shorts as they seem to creep to places unknown....

Anyhow, Lexi's art teacher is the bomb and sent me these photos. I'm usually the one taking photos so it was a treat! Well, that and she has some awesome camera too...and that art teacher eye ball that makes everything perfect!

Love the gold accents on this page and the die cuts I made of our numbers. They are super cool!

I really like the Hawk logo I printed for my page! It's all kinds of fierce! And that adorable little pink sticker camera! So cute!

Anyhow, no running this weekend. Just jackhammering concrete. The Great Summer Project of 2015 begins with a bang!

How Charming!

Lexi graduates from YEA! tonight. I really wracked my brain to come up with a cool present for Miss Denise, their fearless leader. She has been amazing and kept all these smart up and coming CEOs on track!

We opted to go with a charm bracelet that matches all the kids in Yea! and their businesses! In fact, one of the girls sells these charm bracelets with hand punched hearts so I am using one I purchased & added some pretty little dangles to represent each kid and their business.

Lexi has the purple charm with a wing to match her logo for her business.

I have this really awesome box I made for THE CUTTING CAFE to put it in! 

Super sparkly for a beautiful teacher! Hope she loves it!

The Great Summer Project of 2015

The last house we put in a new walk way up to the house. This house needs all new walkways too. At least that is what THE MAN says. He's probably right, but it seems like a boat load of work. HOWEVER, a wider sidewalk means we can be even bigger slackers...we don't have to shovel at this house...we just plow them off so they will be the width of the plow blade.

I had to put in my own Dig Safe NY call even! I usually deal with those at work, not at home. Basically you call in your project to make sure any underground utilities are not affected. Since we happen to know for a FACT that the Corning Natural Gas line is actually under the sidewalk, it seemed prudent. They came up and marked it for us.

We even know how deep it is. That is what that huge plant pot is sitting in. A hand dug hole so we could find the gas line. It's not deep at all which is why they are coming back up to install a valve so we can shut the gas off before we jack hammer all the concrete.

I wish them luck digging in all those tree roots...but hopefully this week we'll have our valve.

In the meanwhile I'm enjoying all the new blooms. The lilac is quite lovely. And I've got all my potted plants full so they can just be moved out of the way.

So pretty! Thanks for taking a little peek at my backyard! Wish us luck!

Clam Digger Layout from the trip to OBX

Still working through photos from a recent trip we took on Spring Break to the Outerbanks. I think I have quite a few pages left! ;-)

Love that red Corning hoodie my oldest was wearing when I took this photo of her on the board walk going down to the sea. She had rolled up her jeans, so the waves wouldn't get them wet!

I played off those rolled up jeans with my title. Also, we did attempt to dig up what we were might be clams, but failed at finding a single one! Guess we'll have to figure it out next trip! Love that row of flowers and flare! And that pretty soft ribbon that was gifted to me for Mother's Day by my Mom!

Just a simple page with some really pretty paper to showcase a lovely photo!

Hope your Monday was fantastic!

Hawk Pride and Screeching like a Crow

Yesterday I ran part of the Hawk 5 K Run/Walk at the school with Lexi. They are the Hawks here in Corning, which is a better mascot than the Sand Stoners in Potsdam. Not that I have anything against a guy with a pick ax who represents the rock for which Potsdam is famous, but the word "Stoner" in American Culture means you like to smoke weed in vast quantities.

Anyhow back to running. We ran across any streets we crossed where they were holding up traffic and we also ran when we thought people had cameras. It was Strategic Running and I was pretty proud that no one with strollers passed us. So it was safe to say I still had enough energy to do some yard work when I got home.

THE MAN had suggested that I move some hostas to where he had just put some dirt & out of the yard. I was off to find my shovel and gloves when I stepped funny out of the shed. My ankle went sideways with a big ole crack and down I went with a scream. I was pretty sure the bone in my ankle was sticking out and I didn't wanna look...so I mostly just sat in the dirt and cried.

Eventually THE MAN who was in the garage wandered out looking to see if we had a crow screeching found me. He made me peel back my sock and sit on a bench in the shade. Brought me wine, ice and a book and told me to relax. He was raised by a nurse so I don't think a bone sticking out of my ankle would have phased him much.

It's puffy today still and hurts, but I think I'll live. In fact, I think I'm well enough to go to the store and do the grocherying with my personal shopping assistant. It is Mum's Day here, but I feel like I celebrated it already since I got to read the entire book in the sun with ice wine.

Hope you have a Happy one!

Sweet Treat 4 Mom: LESSology's Cupcake Challenge

Ever have those cupcake wrappers that get all icky as they are the one on the outside of the bunch? I am here to tell you don't toss them! Use alcohol ink on them! Love the color I got on mine!

It made a great base for the cupcake graphic I used and those pretty Prima flowers. And since the challenge over at LESSology is to use a cupcake on your project, it makes sense to me! Why not also use the wrapper!

I also used a couple pieces of cardboard that came in a package with my curtains & glued them together to make a heavy base for my card. See, Mum's Day is rapidly approaching and I wanted to make a cool gift card holder. I also wanted it all to match a previous box I made from THE CUTTING CAFE vending machine file. If you look really hard, you might see what I tucked in there for my Mom....but shhhh, don't tell her!

 Hope Mom enjoys her sweet treat as much as I am loving those sparkle green hearts and those gold letters!

Hope you get a chance to play along with us!

Go Fly A Kite Layout

This was my absolute FAVORITE photo we took from our trip to the Outer Banks. My kids turned into little kids on the beach and I must admit I flew the kite too! ;-)

Love the endless beach...

The paper and flare are from Close to My Heart and this paper set has really grown on me! I've almost used it all up!

Wish I was back there! This week seems endless!

Hugs!

Baby Cakes Rose Box for THE CUTTING CAFE

This little altered box was a joy to make with some really cool printed background stamped paper called the ALL GIRL SENTIMENT SET from THE CUTTING CAFE! I just printed the PDF file and then dolled it all up!

It was rather easy to cut pieces to fit my black box, adhere them with some roll on adhesive, and then secure the edges with washi tape. Of course I had to add some gold paint, and lots and lots of glitter!

Really dig those scrabble feet that were a gift from fellow DT Lisa from You Made Me Ink.

I supposed I should show you what I started with. Just a little sturdy gift box that was way too cute to throw away. Below it is the digital stamp that I printed on some hot pink paper.

I also used a second file from THE CUTTING CAFE on this set. I made my own roses from THE PAPER FLOWER set. I got the orange edges by inking them up and then adding some glue & glitter. 

I forgot how much fun it was to make my own flowers! Love how this pretty box turned out! Makes me smile!

Hope you get a chance to try your hand at printing out your own background paper! It's really fun to make your own!

Hugs & Happy Monday!

I Am Dreaming Big: Grapefruit Layout for Another Freaking Scrappy

So there is a reason we had Luke pose next to a grapefruit tree at the National Arboretum. He has been growing his own tree since he was three. We were actually really happy to see one inside with real fruit!

Always an adorable boy, how could I resist a grubby small person asking me to plant a grapefruit seed. Randomly the darn thing sprouted...and now we have a tree that is nearly as tall as he is at tweleve!

I imagine at some point we'll have to move to Florida so we can plant this TREE in our yard. ;-) 

Anyhow, it was totally worth making a page out of! Plus the challenge at Another Freaking Scrappy is all about flowers! You can use some on your page OR scrap about them. In this particular case we're hoping our tree has flowers and I used flowers! Also I used a really cool drawing Luke created in art class of a sunflower. I thought it worked well with the yellow theme I had going. 

Pretty sparkly leaves and some accordion bloom flowers along with a little bit of white thread makes up the embellishments. So super fun!

Come play along with us! Happy Friday and 1st of the Month!

Hugs!