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!

graffiti highway, pa Layout

Had a little play with some paper Sunday morning. It started by printing out a very large 12 by 12 photo on white paper that didn't really excite me, so I overlaid a large 8 by 10 photo which kinda made me happier, even though they didn't match up perfectly. I had planned on doing a large format photo since I had taken this really cool photo of the Graffiti Highway in Centralia, Pa. See, a while back a controlled burn in this town accidentally set a coal layer on fire and the town has smoldered since! It prompted shutting down the road which is seriously melted in parts. Later, people visited & came with spray paint. It's eerie yet super cool.

Interestingly enough, many choose to practice their skill at drawing dicks. In fact many cartoon characters had genitalia added that the original artist hadn't intended. I found the whole hike pretty entertaining as you never knew what you might see in paint! This little pup made a nice fussy cut addition to my page.

It's a pretty flat page for my album, which is awesome! I've got a few more pages to add from recent trips! Next one up will be from Lake George!

Happy Tuesday!

Floatsam & Jetsam from the Field

Summer is always a busy one here at Pratt Inc. Work picks up, camping commences, and this year the almost adults that live here also have summer gigs. The summer gig for the oldest involves learning how to flame work and she's getting pretty proficient. So proficient, I've taken to hiding her creations and posting about them on Facebook. We have a pretty good tourist trade 'round these parts and a very healthy Kindness Rocks community, so this morning I headed off with a dozen all wrapped, labeled, and stuck in baggies to Market Street so I could "hide" the little critters in plain sight. So far I've heard that the penguin was found. On that note, those glass marbles & that funny little glass ball up top aren't something that Lexi made. The dirt around these parts in town are full of glass! (Other not so nice things too, but it's been industrial here with the glass industry since 1880.) In fact, one of the Habitat houses I work on had a sewer line cut in and that's where I found that little milk bottle. Another hundred year old house we suspect might have been a barn yielded the funny little glass ball. Yet another place built in 1880 had that gold shovel bottle opener and that cool wood horse piece. It's also the same house we found Nancy Drew stairs!

This past Saturday, I had a group over to a house to start gutting it. Armed with hammers and sledges, they started demo. The house started the day without stairs...and a small upstairs apartment. We then
spotted something funny behind a built in closet realized that the stairs were still in the house all along! I expect the next group will figure out how to take out the tub and cut a hole in the floor so we can get between the floors.

This little adorable table also came home with me from that house. She had nice legs, what can I say! I spent some time in the sun cleaning off the cobwebs & old varnish with some TSP. I did more work with some gray chalk board paint, but I'll be back to show you that later after some distressing & wax!

Happy Monday!

Green Wire Nut Box for the Plain Box Society with StencilGirl® Tiny Medallion

Can you believe this was a really simple plain kraft box? I added some Lindy's Stamp Gang mist to some plain paper over a really cool stencil and the whole thing got quite magical!

Here's the Tiny Medallion Stencil I used that was JUST the right size for this box! I've used it quite a few times and I'm always pleased with the result! Just enough detail, yet not too much!

Here's a photo of the box open. It's still quite functional, even though I added green & silver spray painted wire nut feet, metal scallops, and some crystal brads! Loving the copper scallops on the edges. The little molding around the bottom is a paper straw cut & hot glued.

The top has a little metal scallop too! This went off to my niece with an air plant & these pretty glass gems. Hope she liked it!

If you want to see more cool stencil projects, Tina Walker has a HUGE blog post with lots of things to look at over at StencilGirl Talk!

Happy Monday!

Christmas Cracker for THE CUTTING CAFE

Despite the heat here in New York, I was able to channel my inner Christmas spirit to create this Christmas Cracker from a cutting file from THE CUTTING CAFE. It was fun pulling out the pretty paper and some festive ribbon!

I even grabbed some fake snow to stage the cracker but then thought...SNOW??? Seriously? it was so humid out that even contemplating snow hurt my brain! Loved adding some flowers & vintage foliage to the cracker.

I even pulled out the embossing powder to add a little gold to the ends. So much fun! My cutter really did the heavy lifting with this project. I just added a little bling and it was ready to be filled with treats!

Happy Thursday!

4th Layout

Was having a bit of a play with some paper the other day and came across this fabulous circle with vellum. I decided it would make a great background to a bigger photo. Since I rarely scrap myself these days, I wanted to use a recent photo that was taken of me at a Habitat for Humanity Home Dedication.

I'm also at the stage of the game where it looks like there is a LOT of house to finish on both of our ongoing projects, so I was trying to pump myself up. See, the home dedication is pretty much the party...at the very end of a long bunch of work!

Isn't that a cute house? I sure will miss that porch! Good thing we have a deck at the new house we're working on! It's a great place to eat my lunch! Well, I'll get back at it! The house in the photo was my 4th house, so onto the 5th, 6th, and 7th!

Happy Hump Day!