Monkey in the Middle

My morning started at 5 am with a sharp pain down my leg. Got up, did some stretches and found some Advil. Couldn't get back to sleep so read a book for a bit. Figured the morning would be a train wreck as I had one kid to drop off at the Museum and the other one in the opposite direction.

Kid one was dropped off successfully. So far so good. We stopped at Dunkin for coffee because I was tired and the boy needed a doughnut. The line was long, but I got myself an ice coffee and blueberry muffin.

We had hit the four lane when the text messages started arriving.

Mom no one is here are you sure I am supposed to be here. 

My co-pilot was in charge of reading them to me and responding. He was also in charge of buttering the blueberry muffin.

I suggested in my very best calm Mom voice that he cut it in fours and carefully butter one section and hand it to me. I also suggested that he tell his sister to ask someone in charge.

I watched him fumble with the knife, get butter on my phone and stop buttering to respond to the next text message.

Mom people are here in suits and I think the museum is closed. What do you want me to do?

I give the boy an eye ball. I am getting hangry and that muffin did not appear to heading my way any time fast.

Again, still calm I repeat myself. Tell Lexi she needs to ask someone. There isn't much I can do, I am driving and she is in a safe place.

Again I watch him fumble with the phone while waving buttery knife.

I then ask nicely for part of my muffin. (I think GET IN MY BELLY MUFFIN but try to remain calm).

Boy fumbles the muffin. It has somehow managed to self destruct.

The phone dings again.

Mom I think the entire museum is closed. There are table cloths. 

Belly takes over for brain. Besides the table cloth comment has me stumped and I don't have the fortitude to deal with it.

LUKE TELL HER TO ASK SOMEONE IN CHARGE AND GIVE ME THE DAMN MUFFIN. 

He looks really sad. He tells me that he can't be expected to text and cut a muffin all at once and that he could feel the angry from my side of the car plus he was pretty sure Lexi was upset on her end of the phone too. And next time could I consider a doughnut instead? The butter was a bit much.

The phone dings again.

I'm all set. I'll explain later. 

Thank you Sweet Jesus the madness is over. I tell the boy to hand me the remains of the muffin and sadly lay it to rest in a napkin. It's just a crumbly mess at this point.

Luke texts back:  "K"

Luke I am going to take that K and beat you to death with it. There's this cool little thing at the bottom of a recently sent text that shows you if the text was read. You don't need to "K" me. 

Luke texts back: "K"

Luke stop. You don't need to send me "K" it is the stupidest thing on the face of this planet. 

By now the caffein and sugar have done their trick and I no longer feel like a zombie from The Walking Dead. Belly has stopped talking and I'm back to brain power.

I tell him to tell her we love her too. That is what it is. Just love because if you didn't love your kids, you'd eat their livers for breakfast.

Happy Rain: Layout from the Sterling Renaissance Fair

My tickets to the Renaissance Festival in Sterling were bought months ago as was the reservation at the campground...so we couldn't cancel due to rain! Suspecting rain late afternoon, we left the camper with umbrellas. About a half hour into arriving, down came the showers!

Due to toting around an umbrella, I didn't get a ton of photos, but it didn't stop our good time! The few photos I did worked well as a collage. Even pulled out the oval cutter I haven't used in ages.

I also used a Lizzy Hill trick. My paper was pretty busy but I still wanted to journal on it. Out came the white out!

I am also digging those flower clusters! The little fluffy ones that are white and sticking out sideways are vintage and those little pinecones were found at the campground! And look at those ladies on those huge silk ropes! They were amazing!

Hope your Tuesday was awesome. The week seems to be off to a good start for me!

Fishes and Frocks

Early this spring we set up camping trips on alternate weekends. We figured we'd kill ourselves working on the new place if we didn't plan on getting out of dodge every now and then. Which of course doesn't mean the work is all done! We are getting close to wrappping up the sidewalk project into the back door. THE MAN did a little work on it on Friday before we hit the road for the Renaissance Fair in Sterling NY.

You can see my garden in full bloom and the new straw that is holding down grass seed. You can also see our side hill which is a project in itself. We have some plans for that as well that involve a bit more grading to make it easier to mow!

While we were at the Ren Fair, I picked out this lovely spitting fish for the water feature I think we should have by the back door. I mainly just took a picture of it and WISHED it was mine. I nearly have THE MAN convinced we should have a water feature, but not enough to add an expensive hand made fish to the equation. Although you must admit it's quite amazing!

And while I was wishing, I was thinking I'd look awesome in this green gown. Again passed that one by! Had to console myself with a turkey leg slathered in hot sauce, steak on a sword, and a slab of carrot cake! Still want the gown though!

We did buy some wine at the Ren Fair! Yummy stuff and I thought it was super cool my wine bottle matched my wine glass and my scrapbook pages! I'm alway in serach of the perfect picnic table and this one was the best! Nice & flat great for making a couple of layouts!

Today it's back to the grind of work with more sidewalk work to top it off in the evening. However, we have more camping planned so lots of weekends to look forward to! Happy Monday!

Aunt Karen Angel

My Aunt Coco asked nicely if I would make her an angel for the Lake George Cottage. She had spotted one somewhere and gotten the idea. Since she didn't get a photo and it was gone the next day when she went back, I was left to use my imagination. I grabbed some sheet music at the ReStore and that vintage Ivory Brand type writer ink metal box and got creative with a dowel and some hot glue.

The head is a glass lamp finial and fit nicely over the dowel after we whittled it down a bit with a knife. The box was cut with metal snips to fit over the same dowel. The only "new" thing is really that bloom from Prima. The other little blooms were some vintage ones I dyed and added.

I got this idea from Jean Green, a fellow blogger who sent me the adorable little angel on the left. She used a spool to keep her angel upright. I used a heavy ceramic insulator from a telephone pole we took down recently to weight the bottom. You can just see it peeking out from under Aunt Karen Angel's skirt. A big washer is the very base. Her skirt is sheet music, but I used the cover for the front of the skirt. I liked the graphic. ;-)

I also used birch bark from Lake George to make the tag. On the tag is a quote my Aunt Karen had written in her yearbook and was something my Mother read at Aunt Karen's internment so it was extra special. I think it very much fits an angel. 

Really happy with how this turned out! I'll keep Aunt Karen Angel safe in my china cabinet until I can deliver her to Lake George and my Aunt Coco. My Aunt has to do something hard today so wish her luck and strength! It's also the reason I picked today to schedule this post.

Happy Thursday to you all as well!.

Kayak Around the Bay Layout

My Mom (aka Grandma Gretch) and Luke had a little Kayak around Dunhams Bay when we were up to Lake George a couple of weekends back. He is so much longer than my Dad that they had to adjust things mid trip so he was more comfortable. That kid is growing like a weed! He said it was a lot of fun and a bit of me was quite jealous to not have gone myself!

I'm really digging the washi tape with paint splatter look at the present moment so I used a bit of washi with some red hearts to match the color of Mom's kayak. Also grabbed my other favorite with the gold dots! I used some birch bark stuck under the photo as well. It makes nice washi tape strips when cut on the paper cutter. ;-)

I was randomly pleased my toes matched my page, hence you are getting a photo of my pedi as well...and I'm loving sandal weather! Bring on more summer please!





























Oh check out that gold sequin making an apperance in the very bottom corner...super pretty!

Hope your Hump Day rocks like a boat! Oh wait..rocking the boat is bad...anywho....

Little Altered Drawers with Hardware

Little white knobs, numbers from a telephone pole and huge old metal furniture tacks decorate this upcycled drawer set. The drawers themselves are teeny tiny so it's much more of a decoration, but it's making me happy with all the hardware! If you want to see a before photo, I blogged about it in my Deer Me more Junkin Post. Those tacks came from a recent ReStore trip and the numbers came off a telephone pole we took down on our property. THAT is a story in itself...

The grundgy look with the copper and gold paint and red chips were intentional as well. I really wanted something to match the rest of my little collection. Some quick sanding took off that black paint I added!

Snuck some scallops in on the top & added some extra copper paint. They make me happy!

Hope your Tuesday is lovely!

4 The Love of Roses: Print & Cut Tab from THE CUTTING CAFE

Miss Regina over at THE CUTTING CAFE created an add-on for the Yearly Planners that is a month tab. Meaning that (and this is the exciting part) you can print & then cut them and have perfectly spaced tabs. I had to try it right away with the July Tab. If you look, you can see it nested under the doily and the pretty paper. I also printed the month of July from the Planner. Love it when a file can be repurposed to do double duty!

I liked using the month & tab for this scrapbook page because it's about a new rose I bought called Jump for Joy. I am keeping tabs (how punny!) on my roses and I'll slip the tag for this rose in the scrapbook behind this page. I wanted to use July because it seems to be blooming quite prolifically right now.

Love the gray inked up doily and how mostly flat this page turned out! I've maxed out another scrapbook so I'm trying just a bit to go flatter! Wish me luck since it probably won't happen!

Happy Monday!

Happy Birthday Jennifer!

Popping in today to wish my Sistah In Law the happiest of birthday weeks! (if the Aussie girls look real close, that is Australia on my card down near the rose!)

It's her actual birthday today, but I do hope her family treats her to a week of indulgences! I also hope that my package arrived safely!

Matched my card to some vintage wrapping paper I used. I love the rabbits and toadstools! Pretty sure my Grandma wrapped a present for me when I was little with the same stuff!

The really remarkable part is that I sewed (gasp!) on my card. The boy had my sewing machine out working on his uniform for Civil Air Patrol, so I did some stitching on my card! Hopefully you are sitting down for this news...

Anyhow, have a great weekend as it's Friday! insert happy dance here! And wish my Sistah In Law a happy day too! 

Aunt & Twin Layout

We spent the past weekend at Lake George. We traveled North for my Aunt Karen's internment who had passed earlier this year. She was my Mother's Twin. It was difficult to see her twin-ness as a kid since she suffered from some kind of thing I never could identify. The eulogy my Mother delivered explained it was Autism. Things are so much different these days and she would have gotten a much different reception from the world. Instead she made her way through half way houses and got sicker mentally and physically.

I made the page very "arty" as everyone who spoke about my Aunt Karen mentioned her various talents as an artist. Since the funeral was at the family compound at Joshua's Rock, I also added a couple of pine branches (in pink!) and some birch bark in strips.

I used the birch bark like washi tape but stapled on. It worked really well! You might see that I snuck in a rub-on paint brush! Love the pink splash of paint! I was trying to add just a little and the top flew off...Love happy mistakes!

Hope your Wednesday was Happy...we are on the downhill side now and coasting to the weekend!


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Busy Busy Worky Worky Pretty!

Today I looked over at my pile of pretties today and thought wow, what I could make if I didn't have to work! Check out those cool little baby bird cages and the gold metal candlestick I found at the ReStore a couple of weeks back. Cannot wait to start messing with them! And those flowers that I ordered are calling my name! Oh well, they will have to wait! Free time is coming!

Happy Tuesday!

Oh Happy Day: Last Day of School Layout

My oldest emptied her backpack on the last day of school and left me all kinds of goodies on my desk for a scrapbook page. Coinciding with that my friend Kristy hooked me up with a scrap page that needed to be finished so away I went!

Can you spot a hallway pass, school badge, hand drawn foxes, and two beaming kids?! They were so happy to start their ten weeks of vacation. Love that gold "OH" in the title and those scripty words!

I thought the little foxes were adorable and made a great addition to my page. The one sleeping is what my kiddos have been doing quite a lot due to staying up late. Goodness, those teens!

Hope your Monday is amazing!

Mad Eye Moody's Altered Candlestick for LESSology's Woodgrain Challenge

I have really been digging candlesticks lately...well, it might be because I keep finding really good single candlesticks at the secondhand store! And I'm pretty sure they are lonely so I take them home with me....

This one was awesome with some brassy gold and those crazy feet! I added some alcohol ink to accent the details and some dyed lace with a pretty flower. 

You might be wondering by now who exactly Mad Eye Moody is besides the character in Harry Potter. Well, we have a new pet chameleon here at Pratt Inc. that we named Mad Eye. She is exceptionally grumpy and perpetually looks around her home for her pet crickets. We would have named her something else if we had actually known she was a girl...so sometimes we call her Gizzard or Madeline...if you want to see baby photos, I blogged about her here!

My daughter made the font up for the little canvas & found the cricket graphic for me. She also pointed out that really cool metal & bead chameleon at the store that I used to perched on a real birch branch! It makes me happy every time I look at it!

What a fun project! I hope you are inspired to play along at LESSology for our Wood Grain challenge! I do hope it puts a smile on my grumpy lizard's face! We put it by her cage! 

Love Your Selfie: CMOG Layout

We have the good fortune of living near the Corning Museum of Glass or CMOG which houses the world's largest collection of glass. Our town is in love with glass and is also quite arty! It also means opportunities! Miss Lexi at 14 has been offered a chance to volunteer at the museum this summer. We beyond excited for her!

Part of her volunteer work involved some homework at the museum. Since I hadn't seen the new wing I offered to accompany her. They wanted her to take a photo of her favorite piece of glass with herself as part of the assignment. I was happy to accommodate...it wasn't quite a selfie, but I figured I was getting a pretty cool photo out of the deal!

It's a pretty flat page. Was trying to use up a bit of a kit I had left over. It's nice to have a flat page once in a while...so you can get all crazy with flowers on another and still fit them in a book!

Happy Tuesday!

P.S. I LOVE that chandelier they have in the new Contemporary Art & Design wing...can you tell it's HUGE! So pretty!

Christmas in July: Shake it Up

My daughter wrinkled her nose up when she wandered in my office late the other night. She said, um Mom it's not Christmas!

It does seem odd to be taking this photo with green grass in the background and not snow! I am excited however to be one card down when it comes to Christmas Cards! (How many does Lizzy Hill have done though?)

The main attraction on this card are the shaker bells! They are from THE CUTTING CAFE Christmas Shaker Card collection and full of glitter! I added more glitter to the outside that I touched up with some gold paint and some drips of ink.

Gold washi tape and some real glittery snowflakes complete this card! I really dig the depth but I'll have to send it in a box!

Hope your day does not involve any snow, unless it's the fake glittery kind!

Happy Monday!

Shades of Purple, Blue, Green and Mike

I'm off this morning to a breakfast at the office. I hear we're having pancakes and sausage...I'm so there! Just wanted to pop by with a couple of photos!

Friday is a holiday here in the States for some due to the 4th of July.. and THE MAN and I have a hot date with some sheet rock & demo work in our garage...but before we jump into that huge project, let me show you some smaller projects that are wrapping up..

The grotto garden behind the garden shed is growing nicely! I transplanted a ton of hostas back there in the spring and they are working on blooming...such a light delicate purple color! And my garden globe finally arrived so I can put my new garden sculpture out that we built! Love that blue shimmer!

I sanded down the top to Casper Clay's Art desk last weekend (carefully mind you, I had to keep his name and a few other little things he had drawn!) and added my green scallops that I blogged about finding on Monday. It then got a coat of clear to make sure I could wash it off should scrapping prove messy! ;-)

Do you not love them? Huge thanks to Etsy Store called Wood N What Knots for making them! 

I'm off tonight to see the Magic Mike Movie with the girls. I thought it was a basketball movie until I realized it had to do with a male stripper. I am guessing it's the Shades of Gray for the summer...getting women hot and bothered! I hope it inspires me to strip sheet rock off the garage walls!

Happy Pancake & Hot movie day!

Hello Awesome Layout for Another Freaking Scrappy

Just a simple ordinary thing that happens every single work day morning...coffee with THE MAN and the news in the wee hours of the am except right now it's summer vacation so things are a smidge more leisurely...

But I did think it was about time I documented it...who knows, perhaps when my kids are adults, schedules will be totally different...I for one hope there is a shorter work day!

Lots of goodies on this page! A hand drawn fussy cut truck which was a doodle by Lexi, a black doily...a little bathrobe and the word AWESOME because of course, that is our challenge this time round at Another Freaking Scrappy!

I do love the colors on this page! Had to brighten them up a bit with some white gesso around the edges.

And I'm up with this page as it posts! Happy Hump Day!