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!

Congrats Wedding Card for Caleb

This dude I work with got married this past weekend. The other guys I work with tried very hard to talk him outta it. They are all scared of their wives but usually get to do anything they want, so the advice was a bit hollow.

It's double embossed...started with the gold and then added the alcohol ink and then added some sparkle...it's pretty delish!

I got it from Close to My Heart and it was so pretty I had to break the I'm not Buying Any More Stamps Period Rule.

I paired the card up with some vintage wrapping paper and a glass rose. Not sure Caleb will be big either of them, but I betcha his new Mrs. will love em! Her wedding colors were purple, pink and she had lots of chalk boards all over! Very trendy! Tried to at least use some of those colors!

Happy Tuesday!

Deer Me, More Junkin!

This past week involved a couple of sweet finds. The first was some wooden scrolls at the Crooked River Co-op in Wavery, NY. I love using those on furniture and I have Casper Clay's craft desk that might need a couple...they are pretty easy to add with the air nailer and I'll spray paint them black & distress...They are made local to me but there is an Etsy Store called Wood N What Knots.

And then there is the huge bowl of white knobs...that I got at the ReStore and plan on using on those little drawers that need to be upcycled from when Lexi was little...I am thinking some cool patterned paper and white knobs....but first I'll probably spray paint it something neutral...

I love those little deer salt and paper shakers that my family claims are fugly. They kinda make me wanna do a Christmas theme on that set of drawers even tho it's summer here! ;-)

And then (you can't see them well) I found those itty bitty knobs that are also from Wood N What Knots. ...they would fit a very small chest of drawers! I am thinking I'll use them on THE CUTTING CAFE Dresser Box...all these things are making me inspired!

It's Monday so I'll need all the help I can get!

Memories of Grandma Pratt Layout or Pea Pickin' Cake Recipe

Years ago, the ladies who were invited to my wedding shower were asked to bring their favorite recipe. All the recipe cards were carefully gathered up and placed in a keepsake box. I realised at that moment that being married may also involve cooking and I felt a moment of panic.

I have outgrown that fear, thankfully. The other day we were having a Crafternoon over at my house and I decided we needed a nice summer cake. Dug through that box and found a Grandma Pratt original:  Pea Pickin Cake. It was in her handwriting and as she has since long passed, it made me smile to remember her.

For this blog post, I actually bothered to google the name to see if was a Pratt thing or just something from that generation and discovered low and behold, it's a recipe from that time frame. Kinda like those jello salads you might find still at church suppers or three bean salad.

That cool purple doily, some washi tape, super huge Maya Road bloom, and those vintage leaves really do the hard work of making this page pretty! Of course, the recipe is the star of the show! I just scanned and printed on photopaper.






































It's really a mostly flat page for once! Not even a lot of splatters or smudged on paint. Just some really yummy colors!

Happy Thursday! We are slowly creeping towards the weekend...seems like it's taking forever to get here!

Vintage Handkerchief Butterfly Quilt

The other day I walked into a serious quilt shop. I could tell it was serious as it gave me the Heebie Jeebies. Somebody once told me that the thought of making a scrapbook page gave them tremors, so I kinda got what they meant right at that very moment.

I don't sew. I could hear sewing machines. Yes very terrifying.

Anyhow, I was there to show off a huge box of vintage hankies and ask nicely for someone to turn them into a piece of art. They suggested butterflies. In fact, here is a tutorial for doing that very thing.

Here is a photo to give you an idea of what I'm talking about that I borrowed from the interwebs. Pretty cool!

Anyhow I got the extremely stuffed box of vintage hankies from the Aunt who was cleaning out some stuff that my naughty Grandma Skip had. Nobody knows if they were hers from younger days or perhaps something she picked up along the way.

The concept of blowing one's nose on a piece of material is foreign to me anyhows and also gives me the willies kinda like a huge shop devoted just to sewing. However these have pretty patterns, lace and embroidery so will make a lovely throw! Hoping nobodys nose was really involved...

I got that photo at the top text messaged to me from the quilter, Cricket's Crafts! I cannot wait to get my hands on it! She is preserving the awesome cool lace on the edges!

It's Grandma Week here at Pratt Inc. so tomorrow's post will be about another Granny.

Happy Hump Day!

Broke Back Cankle

The other day I took myself to the doctor. The same back ache for two weeks was getting old and not being able to reach my toes kinda stunk. So away I went.

In the spirit of cooperation, I offered to pee in a cup right off so we could rule out bladder infection. I also proudly displayed my cankle. My ankle has been ugly since Mother's Day, but I was pretty sure it wasn't bad enough to wrap or you know get in to see the doc. But hey, since I was already there and had paid my $20 copay...it was fair game. 

The twenty something year old doc who could have also had a career in modeling listened a bit and said well....Your cankle as you call it is causing the back ache. 

Seriously? WTF. I didn't recall my back hurting since Mother's Day. Just two weeks back I woke up in the morning in pain. Who hurts themselves while sleeping anyhows?

She then went on to suggest that we wrap said cankle and called for an x-ray and oh by the way, should it be broken, I'm going to get a boot to wear. 

I gave her a hairy eye ball. Wrap cankle? It doesn't even hurt, it just looks nasty. And I sure as hell wasn't gunna wear a boot. Hello, it's summer! I politely declined to have my cankle wrapped. 

Ten seconds later, the nurse was wrapping it. 

I was overruled. I considered a quick smack down since I was pretty sure I had at least 50 lbs on said twiggy model doctor, but then thought the nurse would get involved and then things would get ugly. 

When I got home with a wrapped ankle and the supper I had picked up, THE MAN said it was about time I listened to someone. 

Oh yeah I said? She also said to keep moving.

Which meant we were up to our normal shenanigans this weekend. THE MAN stuck me on the tractor so I could help him take down a telephone pole. I also moved plants and push mowed. While I was at it, I planted my new rose bush. It's called Jump for Joy. No, there will be no jumping for a bit.

Still having trouble putting my socks on, but I think I'm on the mend finally!