Paperless Post : Fabulous Fun with Digital Cards

Dear Me. I saw a Christmas layout out and about on blog land yesterday. Scared the shorts right off me. I have a sneaking suspicion that the fall leaves are on their way and next thing you know it, we'll be jingling all the way....Summer is on it's way out.


To me, this means it's officially CARD TIME around here! The Pratt Family starts getting older right about October, unless you want to mention my Dad who has a birthday at the end of September. Then there are Thanksgiving Cards and Christmas Cards and then my birthday slides in at the very end of the year. I love making cards, but sometimes....there just isn't the time. My focus these days has been more on interior projects vs. ones on paper. THANK GOODNESS for Paperless Post!

I made a quick card for Luke complete with a plane in about two minutes. I sent it to myself so I could see what it looked like. It was dumb to be excited about getting a card I made in my email , but I was!

Then I made one for Lexi. She brought macaroons home from the airport when they stopped in Paris, so this card made me think of her. Love the script font!

The real genus though is sending invites. They even have it set up so you can get your RSVPS though email. I started making an invite to my 45th Birthday (which happens to fall on a Saturday) until I realized it's legitimately four months away. A smidge too early for save the dates!

Anyhow, if you are feeling crunch time, I urge you to check out Paperless Post! Its awesome fun!

Happy Hump Day!

Maine Diner Layout for Luke

 Things sometimes just show up in my office and then I'm left to guess what I'm supposed to do with them. The other day a big wadded up menu from the Maine Diner appeared. Much later the boy showed up and mentioned he brought it home in hopes I'd add it to a scrapbook page. I hadn't seen any photos so I was a bit perplexed on how I'd make a page...Then my inbox started dinging and these beauties popped in.

The menu proved to a simple addition. A quick fussy cut, backed it with some dark gray paper, and then pop dotted it up. I love it as it makes the perfect title. That little bloom makes me happy too. Not extremely beachy, but it matches Luke's shirt! Added some die cut fish and a pine cone to finish the flower cluster.

And there you have it! My page from the weekend! I'm not doing a lot of paper crafting at the moment, partially because it's nice outside and also because the adventures are a bit more adult like this summer. I don't think a page a week is all that bad though because (!!!!) there are 52 weeks a year and that's like two books full right there!

Happy Tuesday!

Off & Rolling (alternative name: A BIG BALL)

Back when I had one kid who was a little and I got preggers for the second, I mistakenly thought that the new baby would be a lot of work. Don't get me wrong, he was. However, the two year old was still a whole lot harder. When she started talking, her favorite phrase was ME DO IT. I swear that there was also a little foot stomp in there too. I remember her baby sitter was impressed when she got her own can of Chef out of the turn around, grabbed the pull tab, got her own bowl and heated it up in the microwave.  As far as the baby went, you just had to keep little Luke in the swing and he was pretty chill. We value independence here at Pratt Inc. so we likely thought if we taught her how to make her own snack this would be a good thing! 

So, the oldest has her first week of college under her belt. It's really her senior year of high school, but she's in the accelerated program at the local community college. We figured she might as well start getting some SUNY college credits. She'd still be in high school, but they took away open campus last year and little miss have her own car was like what seriously? She had a summer of independence of getting herself to work and back, not to mention trips to Wegmans and Market Street, so it really annoyed her. 

Honestly I couldn't be more proud. She's super pumped about her classes, appears to be able to get herself to where she needs to go, and is working afternoons & weekends to make sure she has enough money to keep flame working. Turns out that teaching them independence at an early age means they are ready for big things sooner, I guess.  

I'm still packing lunches & doing laundry so don't worry about me getting too bored, now that one is trying out her wings....although one might question why I had to glue hundreds of glass roundels onto a spare garden gazing ball & then grout them.... 

Just Beachy You & Me: Fun with Rosettes Layout for THE CUTTING CAFE

It was so much fun playing with a little cutting file on this layout of THE MAN and I. I used a file called Fun with Rosettes from THE CUTTING CAFE. It comes with several different rosettes but I chose the scallopy one! It's such a lovely focal point for two pretty photos!

I added some other pretty things too! Love those butterflies! When we were walking along the beach we saw a lot of butterflies! The center of the rosette is a piece of flair! Haven't used those in so long!

Really dig my title on the side and all that vellum! It's a super pretty page! That flower is just such a nice accent! I'll be making another page of this camping trip soon. THE MAN and I ventured up to a campground we've been trying to stay in for a while called Southwick Beach. It was so much beautiful sand on the edge of Lake Ontario!

Happy Tuesday!

Leaving Your State (of Mind)

This past Friday morning, THE MAN asked if I wanted to go trail riding this weekend down to Lyman Run, PA. It's been monsooning around these parts and the weather dude said that it wasn't going to rain on Sunday. It was either that or paint part of the carport. Riding sounded a lot more fun.

The last time I rode on those trails I was carrying a pretty heavy burden. Nearly 10 years ago a lady I knew from work who had perfect abs, the perfect smile and perfect personality had committed suicide leaving behind two precious kiddos. In fact, I knew the exact spot in the trail where I came to terms with the fact that there was really nothing I could do but remember that just because things look peachy, they aren't always. That burden flew off of me and I just felt the joy of being.

I felt that same peace when I was there today. Riding along at 25 miles an hour, wind in your helmet, and all alone with your thoughts. That little girl up top there in the water picking on her Daddy starts college tomorrow. She's in the accelerated senior year program up at the local community college. She'd probably still be in high school, but in her junior year they took away open campus. Lexi has always been allowed her wings since she's a steady sort who is pretty responsible, so she'd been giving high school the stink eye ever since. We are hoping that bopping around college a little early will be just the thing she needs to succeed.

THE MAN and I are spending all kinds of quality time with each other these days. In fact, we enjoyed fresh black berries, Cheetos, and beef jerky for lunch on our ride. We skipped a swim due to both of us forgetting a hoodie and we had a pretty good chill. It was nice to just talk on the ride down and back. As far as painting the carport? There is always next weekend...although I really wanted to bike ride the PA Grand Canyon....

Happy Monday!

An Awesome Time: Layout from Lake George Camping

THE MAN and I are journeying to a point in our relationship where we're spending more time together. Camping this summer has been mostly us hanging. That's OK because the oldest has what might be considered a full time job and the youngest has been keeping himself busy working as well. Our one family vacation this summer was a long weekend at the Lake. Promised myself I'd get this scrapped up before we left for our next trip!

I've been using a lot of photo collages to keep the amount of pages I create down. I love scrapping, but now that I've been doing it for YEARS, I've got quite a few books. I love being creative so I'm turning to other outlets like painting kindness rocks! I was quite pleased to use up some items created by a friend including that bear, awesome title, and those trees!

Here's a close up! Cool isn't it!

Anyhow, I'm off to fold a load of laundry and pack a few things! THE MAN and I are off to another great adventure!

Pink Ladies Layout for THE CUTTING CAFE

I really had no expectations going into the evening. In fact, I flew home Friday, threw some clothes on including my new PINK LADIES jacket, powdered my nose, dug out a strand of pearls, blew dust off the kitten heals...and within 15 minutes we were eating dinner at Kristin's house. Dinner was quick and then we were off to the show! My friend Teri talked us into going to Grease. It was showing at a local theater and it was the song-a-long version. I don't sing. Well, I do with enough wine!

I had a lot of fun with this photo strip I created! I printed it in black and white to follow my theme, plus there were a lot of contrasting colors and I wanted a simple page so I could show off my typewriter cutting file.

Here's my photo collage in color. As you can see I would have had a tough time getting all the colors to match. I was kinda sad to not have the coat in pink though, so maybe I'll have to print out ONE photo in color.....

Isn't that type writer cool!!! It really worked well for part of my title! You can find it over at THE CUTTING CAFE and is actually a card. I always cut all the pieces so I can use them to create depth with pop dots.

Here's to hoping this week goes by like Greased Lighting!