Today Layout from Camping at Sampson State Park & Three Brothers

Don't mind my crooked photo of my layout. I accidentally dumped my adult beverage on the background and it's going to take a bit before it's flat...good thing I had a large photo collage to use so you can't tell! Didn't want to waste all that pretty paper! Made the background when I was camping so it would be ready for these photos!

For a simple weekend, the photos are so pretty! Love the photo of Luke and Megan...and Lexi was looking pretty chill with her galaxy sweatshirt & bandanna! Totally loved visiting Three Brothers too! It was three wineries and a brew pub so all kinds of fun things to see & do. Totally planning another trip up there next year!

Really love those flowers I used up in the corner! Simple yet when I added them, the whole layout made me really happy!

And on that note, have a great Hump Day! I'm off to House. We're moving out of one and starting a new one!

Just a Rollin'

With a little help of some Twisted Tea and an extra dose of patience, I managed to get half of the kitchen ceiling cut in and rolled. There are a trillion things to cut around on the ceiling due to all the can lights and I'm certainly not a painting speed demon...I was pretty pleased with the color. The previous painter did not leave any extra paint so I had to get some mixed up. I'm pretty sure originally the kitchen was a purple blue color, including the ceiling. The pale yellow needed a second coat to cover up that blue, especially around the lights. It's actually brightened up the ceiling quite a lot, so that's pretty awesome.

I had company as Lexi decided to paint a bird house on the island. She's about half done too. It takes a lot of effort to get a good looking galaxy. The bird house is a donation for a library garage sale, so we really want it to be pretty so they get a lot of money for it!

It's pretty much summer here now. It was super hot over the long weekend and the flowers are out in full force. This is one of my favorite views. Turns out a brick house looks good with a lot of purple & red plants! Love those hanging baskets. Spotted a hummer out and about here today and it made me happy.

The little cedar knee garden is pretty cute too. Love those candelabra primrose and those hosta! So pretty!

What a nice long weekend! I'll be back tomorrow with the layout I made & perhaps even later in the week with Lexi's galaxy bird house!

Happy Monday!

Happy Long Weekend

Been off on a bit of a blogging break. I'm not quite right if I don't get a chance to play with some hot glue or paper & then write about it, so I'm really looking forward to the long weekend. Got lots to do. Some of which is a bit of gardening. Got a new to me planter to fill that I just got painted up with some black spray paint and I see the garden with the yellow magnolia is also trying to grow grass as well as tiger lilies. Got that page I want to scrap from last weekend's camping trip....

I'm told by THE MAN that Saturday is the best day for him to get some work done since Sunday and Monday are supposed to be rainy. This is good because even though I've been up to my ears in houses at work, there is work to do on my own. It won't hurt my feelings to be inside if it's a bit rainy.

The other day one of our new homeowners was complaining about working all the time and never getting a chance to get anything done around the house. I hear ya Sister, I really do. I'll have a paint brush in my hand for part of the weekend and it won't be on something crafty! That kitchen ceiling won't paint itself!

The good news on that end is that I have finally taught myself how to paint a good trim line. Last year when I was working in the front entry way I tried and tried, but never got a good line up around the ceiling. Turns out a really good brush goes a long way in the right direction to a good line. When I was half my age, I used to think by the time I hit 40 I would know quite a lot. Turns out that I really don't, but I'm OK with that. I can now say though that I can paint a good trim line though.

A couple of weeks back, our office Nazi Susan asked where I got the background for what I do at work. She's really quite a nice lady, but is very firm on our slovenly ways.  I laughed at the question as I really couldn't pin point a previous job that really laid the groundwork for Habitat. It's more a collection of things and then some of it is working on my own place. She listened to me to belly laughing for a few minutes on the thought I actually appeared to know what I was doing. Then she said, do you know who left those boxes on the table? We really should get those picked up.

Speaking of houses, we have two new houses in our summer line up at work. One is nearly 100 years old and the other is just a baby. The 100 year old house will have some foundation work and an addition, while the brand new one just got set earlier this week. I had no idea I was capable of organizing a set crew, crane, hauling guy, the state police, and camera guy. I didn't actually sleep the night before so it made the interviews interesting. By the time they were asking me questions both pieces of the house were set and my brain was jello!

Well, I'm off. At the moment I have a hot date to play with hot glue and some green wire nuts and yes it's crafting related!

Beautiful Recycled Bird House from the ReStore

So, a while back the Corning ReStore had a large group that wanted to work in the store for Martin Luther King Day. We had the bright idea of combining bird house construction with a little store rearranging since the group was pretty big. The bird houses are made out of OSB which generally speaking should be painted to make it last longer. A volunteer made us a TON of kits and the group put them together. A few of them got painted...none of them quite look like this one though....

I gave one to my parents who have glammed it up as a raffle item. Even the back is pretty! And I love the license plate top!

Love the spray painted leaves! Such a simple yet very cool idea! Hope they make a ton of money for their cause!

Happy Tuesday!

Quick & Easy Thank You Cards with the Top Note Die

Recently I've been attending the PTSD meetings at my kid's school. Really, it's the PTA or maybe its the PTO, which stands for Parent Teacher something or other, but mainly it's a bunch of woman and the principal who sit around and chat for a bit. It's generally speaking not my cup of tea, since there isn't tea served there or even wine. But Megan's Mom is going and drives right by, so I have been going. Plus it turns out STEM Moms are all kinds of normal. Probably because their kids are flying the helicopter or even made the helicopter....

They needed thank you cards and a lot of them. I offered to check the ReStore but I only found some packages of baby invites.

So I made some. I'm about half way there, but these were super easy! I had a pile of these pretty bits & strips...and they needed to be used up! So, these are kinda like left over cards!!!!!

First I grabbed all the useless strips of paper out of the kit and cut some 4 by 6 pieces up too to use as the backgrounds. Then I used adhesive and stuck them to a piece of paper.


Then, I ran the whole thing through the die cut machine. I used a die that is probably the first one I ever bought called the Top Note die from Stampin Up. How easy is that?

After about three cards I figured out that I could cut out a shape and then stamp, so the sentiment was also inside. Wow. I felt clever! Some of these cards even had some misted backgrounds from another project I was working on. So pretty!

They are traveling to the Mom who needed them by Kid Post. I can't wait to hear what she thinks!

Happy Monday! I'll be back tomorrow with a project that MY Mom made!

Cyber Patriot Layout for Civil Air Patrol

I've been holding onto this photo for a month or two. I always struggle with pages that are for accomplishments vs. actual memories of mine. It's harder for me, but I always want to document what my kids are up to. This is a photo of the end of last year's Cyber Patriot when their group won second place in NY! Cyber Patriot is hosted by the Air Force and these kids learn important STEM skills.  It's also a subgroup in Civil Air Patrol, so just when you think your kid can't get any busier....

The circles were inspired by that B-Sides sticker the kids got from a trip to Rochester which was a hacker conference. So, I used a circle cutter to expose some patterned paper under the blue. I wanted some special patriotic flowers so made some out of star paper. I haven't made those in ages!

Luke's the tall one on the left side. I always love how sharp they look in their blues! Well, wish them luck this next year! They are starting up practice again!

Happy Saturday! I've got a hot date with a paint brush in my kitchen since it's raining here today!

THE CUTTING CAFE Lip Balm and Chapstick Holder

At times I come up with something quite unexpectedly. Take yesterday. I waited until the very last possible minute to do my project for THE CUTTING CAFE. I mean it's not like I was sitting around reading a book and had time to actually make the project....wait, I was. Which means I didn't actually read the directions which resulted in the first chapstick holder being much smaller than an actual chapstick. I had much better luck with the second one of course, but I didn't want to waste the smaller one...

What did I fill it with you ask? Why, Paper Sweeties sequins of course. Isn't that a cool little present for a scrap buddy though? Some super cool beads would look nice in one of these little boxes too. So much fun.

It's pretty easy to get the product out of these little boxes. There is a flap door and mine is just tied shut with some twine. I think it makes a pretty decorative element on the front of the card. These are really cards too so you can write a nice sentiment inside!

Looking forward to sharing these with a friend! Love the colors I picked! So soothing & matches the Green Tea Mint Chapstick perfectly!

Hope your Monday is awesome! Thanks for stopping by!

The Stencil Girl Plain Box Society & Weekend Round Up

Thought I'd show you a few things hanging around the office these days. One is just a pile of things in preparation for a new project. I'm jumping on the creative bandwagon again with another Tina Walker collaboration! This time 'round we're working with Stencil Girl Products and a very plain jane brown box. I'm eagerly anticipating turning my box into a piece of art! I've picked out some rusty bits and some copper thread to start the creative juices flowing with this awesome stencil!

Also on the table earlier this past week was a turquoise dyed nail pouch. We had a huge box full of these for our upcoming Lowe's Woman Build. Of course only a couple were this pretty. I accidentally picked up a bottle of that white puffy paint ages and ages ago and it turns out I really did need it! Those letters pop against the blue!

Speaking of the build...I might have had a little too much fun. And pretty much like normal, I'm trying to get out of doing any actual painting.

Thanks for popping over today. I'm back tomorrow with a new product that Regina has over at THE CUTTING CAFE. They are Lip Balm and Chapstick Holders. So cute. Of course I made one that is a different size than a chapstick, so you'll have to pop back over to see what I put in that one!

HUGS and Happy Sunday!

Joy Mist Spice Rack

I had a little too much fun with some flowers and decoupage on this little left over spice rack. I mean, it was like a little black blank slate....and I had rehabbed a new bigger one last week....what to do with the old one.....why not glam it up? Might have to pass it along to a friend, but it needed to be pretty first!

I added some left over flowers from THE CUTTING CAFE, some thread, and some extra scrabble tiles with hot glue. After some distress sanding, I also added some gold paint.

That scallopy wrinkle image on the back of the rack is decoupaged crepe paper. I really liked how rough it was and the gold paint really made it cool looking.

Really liked how this turned out. I think it would make a nice present with some new mists! I am sure I've got a scrappy friend who has a birthday soon, don't I?

Happy Tuesday!