U R Sew Sweet Cupcake Shaker Card for Grandma Skip and THE CUTTING CAFE

My little Grandma Skip got kicked outta her nursing home for multiple escape attempts and for hitting her roommate. Naughty Grandma!  I imagine I'll be equally as bad when I'm older! 

Anyhow, she is settled back into a new nursing home where it's more locked down and she has her own room. I thought it was high time for another box of chocolates and a cool card!

My U R Sew Sweet Sentiment is also a bit tongue in cheek. I figure she's giving the nurses a run for their money! Maybe I should be sending them the chocolate...

Anyhow, my favorite part on this card is the cupcake! I used a real metal cupcake wrapper for the base and lots of glitter for my frosting! Regina has a super cool cutting file over at THE CUTTING CAFE called 13 Shaker Cards Templates and Cutting Files.

You might have noticed there is a bit of a sewing theme on here! I've got a project in the works that involves vintage hankies and a throw. I can't wait to show you photos!

Hope your Saturday is amazing! 

Happy Memorial Day: Rochester Air Show Layout

Ohhhhh what a fun day! I really wanted a red, white and blue theme due to spending the Memorial Day weekend holiday at the Rochester Air Show. Had to add some pretty doilies and music paper!

I was most excited about my red, white and blue candy stick that I found & added as a base to my photo collage! Made that in Picasa, thank you very much! I added a bit of glitter to the stick which matched my glitter tape. I had spotted some cool straws on a page that Helen at Scrap Addict made so a shout out to her for inspiring me!

I found a Blue Angel badge image on-line so I printed that and used a white heart doily cut in half with some crinkle ribbon on the corner of my page! Love that splash of yellow! I also tied two little glass heart beads to the ends...kinda hard to see here, but they are super cool. Those Blue Angels were really the stars of the show! Amazing to see. 

As you can see in this side view, the page is pretty flat. I printed on my title when I made the large background sky print using a large format printer. Fun times though, it's always nice to add a page that won't bulk up my book too much for once!

Happy Friday! May your weekend be amazing!

Seam Binding Spool Holder outta Junk!

THE MAN would claim that the dowel for this project lurked in his garage for months and it's possible that he might be correct. However, it's finally put together! Here is my Seam Binding spool holder in it's pre spray paint glory! The bottom is a wire wheeled piece of cast iron I had in my stash, then the wood dowel, then a little lamp finial. Everything is held together with bolts as we threaded the wooden rod.

Here is my spool all sprayed with a Hammered metal paint. Love my spray paint stump don't ya!
It's very handy. I am not looking forward to the day when THE MAN rents a stump grinder.

Here is my spool all set up with my vintage seam binding! Looks like I need to score some more!

And while we are on the topic of putting things together...

A second hand store $10 concrete bird bath base, a metal spray painted base from a dish all topped off with a glass gazing ball holder off Amazon! I am just waiting for my gazing ball to arrive so I can install this in the garden!

Happy Hump Day!

A Perfect Night: Lindsey Stirling Concert Layout for Scrap Around World

I almost scrapbooked this photo the VERY NEXT DAY after we got back from Lindey Stirling's show in Syracuse NY. It was THAT GOOD.

To say she plays the volin is kinda like saying that is all she is. She puts on a SHOW! Anyhow, I had to use some really pretty sparkly paper to make this page! She sparkled all night!

Got my mixed media on. Helenthe owner of Scrap Around the World is big at that so I thought I'd take their mood board and have a little play myself. Plus, check out that chevron! That was the second reason I used that super cool gold glitter paper!

The reason I opted to go with this mood board is that Lindsey Stirling told us that she wasn't always a positive person and didn't like who she saw when she looked in the mirror. She told us that she had to change her own attitude and herself. Fits right in with the quote on the mood board!

Just popping in a view from the side. Love those ink splatters! I was also inspired by the colors and those lovely flowers on the hair comb!

And if you wanna check out a video of Lindsey Stirling, here is THE MAN's favorite! 

Happy Tuesday!

Yea! Grad Layout

The school year is wrapping up nicely and summer vacation will be upon us before we know it!. So it's time for me to get some pages out of the way! Lexi graduated from her Young Entrepreneurs Academy class a bit back and I needed to make a page about her graduation, trade show, and also use her business card!

The colors she choose to use were purple, gold and black so I went with those same colors on my page. She had made her own background paper and I used a sheet of it on my page! Love that black and white striped heart that I glued on her business card. So pretty! She designed her own logo and that is what was used for her business card. Cihparg Design was the company she launched (The first word is Graphic spelled backwards). Her business plan was to provide graphics, blog designs, headers, etc to people who didn't have time or the talent to make them.

The black doilies make me happy as does that gold heart that was on the paper I used and I fussy cut it a bit so it would pop up. Just a few flowers to bling out the page! Luke is with her in the photo because he was her assistant at the trade show. It was awesome to see them working together.

Hope your Monday is awesome!

Dusk Layout: Rochester Air Show

Got all painty this past weekend! Got my gold on too! Love these two papers that I used to match a Rochester Air Show photo. Can you see the teeny tiny planes in the sky against the sunset?

A close up of the flowers and layers around the photo. Lexi grabbed this photo on her cell. I wanted a few of the fireworks that came after, but we were watching those from the truck due to extremely cold weather!

Really love that doily tucked in at the top and that silky ribbon that tumbles around under the ribbon rose. Makes me happy! Just like gold sequins!

Those are new purchase and I intend to use a LOT of them!

Happy Hump Day!

Alcohol Ink & Gold Embossed Scrap Cards

I recently bought myself some gold embossing power. I ran out a while ago and I had a hankering to use this giant stamp I have. It looks awesome on kraft paper! Glad I made friends again with my embossing gun!

I added some alcohol inks to stain thinks up a bit and some of them mixed to that lovely deep purple color. Loved the random nature of the inks!

These CARDS make me happy!

Hope your Tuesday is awesome!

Spray Painted Lines in the Dirt

THE MAN and I argue rarely and generally only when someone is either hungry or tired. So, the disagreements are usually pretty lame. This time Miss Artistic argued with Mr. Practical about how we are laying out the sidewalk. I wanted an artistic Better Homes and Garden curve and THE MAN wanted straight lines.

At one point someone may have mumbled under their breath about spending too much time on Pinterest and not basing Pratt Inc. projects in reality and on a budget.

Good thing my curved sidewalk takes up less yard space and less concrete. You can kinda see it lightly painted in. I used purple to differenciate between the white marking paint.

We are now into the Sick of this Project phase. It's had a lot of different parts going on at the same time. We had to get the Corning Natural Gas guys up to run a new gas line. We also pulled the electric down from the poles on the side hill and ran it underground. When I'm using the term "we" I really mean THE MAN who has done all the tractor work and also rough landscaping. He is always the brains behind the operation although I did find this ancient cement mixer for the project sans motor for $40.

THE MAN added a small engine he had in his stash & made sure it turns slow enough for concrete. This means at the moment we are planning on doing our own pour. Although we are also considering getting a couple of quotes. Having only ever hired a couple things done ever, it's somewhat terrifying to me. 

The weekend the electric came down so we could run it underground had a moment of excitement too.  THE MAN was pulling the wires back so he could show me how to put tension on the pole so we could cut it down carefully with the chainsaw when it started to fall on it's own. It was THAT rotten. We are thanking our lucky stars it fell in the perfect spot so nothing was damaged including the DIYers!


























Since there is only one tractor, I have been messing around with a new garden with pavers. I had marked it all out with purple spray paint and did all the dirt moving myself. It will wrap around after we get the new sidewalk in. The previous owner had wished for a garden there so I was thining of her as I built it.

I'm in no hurry to fill it or chip it. The cheap plant time of year is coming, I just have to wait a few months! I was all kinds of excited to see my cheap bought in fall climbing roses bloom so I'm cool with some scratch and dent plants. It's like Christmas in spring. 

They are super pretty! Really velvety!

Well, wish us luck! We're getting there!

Happy Monday!

LESSology's Lace Challenge: Altered Candle Stick

The other day I came across a lovely black single candle stick at the second hand store. It was really heavy, smooth and oh so lonely since there was only one. I thought it would make a fantastic perch for the wooden bird my Mom gave me at Mother's Day. 

Check out what I started with for the bird. It was originally a little hanger and I couldn't settle on where to hang it. 

Love the little circle in the middle! Makes a great place to stash a pretty little purple crystal that I've been hoarding. 

My favorite part of this whole thing is the spray painted gold base with the alcohol inked peals. I only had cream colored ones and I wanted them to match, so I added alcohol ink!

Honestly the whole project came about because I wanted something to tie a nice chunk of lace on! I also wanted it to match a basket I made so I used similar flowers. I am really pleased at how it turned out!

If you get a chance, please play along with our Lace Challenge over at LESSology!

Design Team Planner for THE CUTTING CAFE & Pressie for Miss Lizzy Hill

This planner was a simple three ring binder until it was covered in cardboard & a treatment of spray paints, alcohol inks, and washi. What better to decorate a design team planner with!

I even decorated the spine of the book! Love those drips!

This is what I started with before I got all crazy with the paints and doilies! 

The flowers even got some drips of paint! Love the shimmer on this binder. So pretty!

I added some gold, silver, and copper washi tape! Those hints of metallics are super cool!

And now for the inside! That really cool flower was already there so I worked around that graphic with the color scheme for the rest of the binder. 

It's full of organizing pages for a Scrapbooker who has design team commitments and likes to play along with challenges!

Regina over at THE CUTTING CAFE came up with a ton of great pages to fill a binder to organise the busiest of designers! Check out all the pages here. From a calendar to a page for addresses, it will help get you all straight!

I hope my friend Lizzy Hill likes it. She is on the Kraft + Design team so I thought she'd appreciate the color of these pages. ;-) 

And that I even decorated the back!

Happy Hump Day peeps!

Beach Vacation Layout for Kristy

oh double page me! Oh my! Didn't think I had it in me but we had a lovely crafternoon at my house this past Saturday and I had some pretty photos from my friend Kristy and voila! Some pretty layouts!

I cheated a bit and made the one photo that Kristy sent me SUPER LARGE by printing it out on cream colored paper. Check out those little flip floppys up there in the corner on top of my new stamp! Jean made us those!

Isn't her youngest's handwriting adorable? So glad she captured that photo! I love their family photo too! Super cool!

And here is a photo of her Mister acting like a dancing deer on the beach. I know, It's rare we get a photo of this kinda thing in it's natural environment. ;-)

That super delicious title was another Jean creation!

Love crafternoons!

I had all kinds of yummy stuff! Even a Pea Pickin' Cake! More on that later!

Hugs and hope your Tuesday is awesome and somehow cake is involved!

Glamping Layout for Another Freaking Scrappy

My homemade seafood dinner was one of the highlights of our Spring Break trip to the Outerbanks. We shopped at a local sea food market and came home with fresh fish, scallops, and a huge bag of clams. It was a feast!

I thought it was a perfect page to make for the latest challenge up at Another Freaking Scrappy....

Anne is asking you to scrap:  using a tool you have not used before (a particular diecut, punch, rub-on tool, heat gun, stencil, new scissors), or to scrap about your favourite tool or experience with all tools (not necessarily scrapbooking tools). You can use one or all of the prompts.

I choose to pull out a woodie stamp that has not had much use at all but is one of my favorite stamps. I also grabbed some new embossing powder and a heat gun. Of course the embossing pad was nearly dried up as I haven't used it in ages...but I persisted and got that cool image on my page. 

I also pulled out some embellishments that have gotten passed by in my stash, including that cute little green deer hair pin. 

Loving the pretty stuff on this page! The gold mixed in with the polka-dotted burlap bow...kinda fits with Glamping! 

Hope your Monday is fantastic and you get a change to play along with this awesome challenge!

Hugs!