United We Stand

photo taken at the top of Whiteface Mountain in Lake Placid NY

Do you work to live or live to work?

I remember having that discussion with myself five or six years ago and decided I wanted to do the first and for sure not the second.

That being said though, we are up here nearly in Canada several hours away from family for a job and STATES away from my Sistah-in-Law and her clan who also moved for a job.

That is, however, kinda the world we're living in these days, at least here in the US of A.

Families are scattered and we have to rely on the phone, e-mail, texting, and skype to keep in touch. And not to forget blogging!

Or if you are like us, we WISH we kept in touch better with everyone, but there is that silly thing called life that sometimes makes it harder!

We just spent a couple of rainy days camping with the Sistah-in-Law and Dad Pratt in Lake Placid, NY (home of the 1932 and 1980 Olympic Games if the name sounds familiar).

Five kids, two dogs, One Grandpa & One Granny, and lots and lots of sugar. Not to mention eating constantly too!

It's all good though. How else would I hear their southern accents and cry a little inside at the fact the oldest is bigger than me.

Kudos to THE MAN for organizing it all and hauling us two hours away with our gear & house on our back, grilling in the rain, and sweeping up the sand at night after small peeps went to bed.

Great job Sistah-in-Law for hauling small peeps 12 hours North for a taste of home.

And Granny and Dad Pratt? Thanks for all the mixed drinks & maple walnut fudge. You rock! ;-)

Linking up with Sian over at Story Telling Sunday who I am pretty sure might also like fudge. 

Daisy: 3rd Birthday Layout

North Country peeps know where it's at. When there is no good available holiday to use for party planning, invent one!

Miss Daisy The Coolest Basset Hound on the Planet invited us to her birthday party the other day.

I do believe she is three. Or so Tommy says. Tommy is Daisy's boy and also Luke's good friend. You can see him in the middle there.

As you can see, she is not maybe IN LOVE with wearing a pretty birthday badge and hot pink outfit. Or maybe the gifts on the table were not piling up quick enough. YES, she got presents! ;-)

She showed her dislike about ten minutes after we got there by rolling in some other doggy's doo-doo and had to have a quick wash. Too bad for the lady she met up with in between who gave her a quick pet only to find that she was wearing poo. Well, they were both wearing poo at that point. ;-)

Look at that face though! You really think Daisy meant to be naughty? I used some clear glimmermist on my photo, thought it would make it shimmer, not splotch up, but I don't mind it so much now.

Just a little side view. You can see the depth of my daisies cut with my Silly!

And one more photo of my flowers and a badge that Lizzy Hilly passed my way recently along with her use of the world Silly for the cutting machine we use!

Hope you guys have lots of fun lined up for the weekend, if not, maybe come up with some creative fun! ;-)

LESSology Challenge #27: Packaging Central

I am a box hoarder.

There, I've come clean. Long after whatever device I have is long gone, I've still got the box!

Take a look at this bad boy. It's black, sturdy, and awesome!

Perfect for messing around with!

I decided to make it into a shadow box and cut a circle out of the lid. Took a bit of doing though, so you have to stick with it!

I have had these circle cutters from Creative Memories for a trillion years and they still are a go-to tool for me. I had them long before those magic electric cutters we all have. You cannot put a box lid in a Silhouette no matter how hard you try, so I imagine I'll have them for a long while after too!

After getting the circle cut in the center of the box top, I used gesso and alcohol inks on the inside.
I cut out a piece of patterned paper for the background.

Next was the fun part, adding a sparkle modge podge, pearl-ex paint, and all the goodies inside! The edges on the top of the box are foil doilies with ink rubbed into them.

The bottom of course are some up-cycled thread spools. I opted to keep the thread on them as I thought it looked really cool! Plus, the thread is a bit old, so not all that great for sewing with anyhow.

The really cool part about upcycling is that it is fairly cheap! The only cost I had was in a downloadable reusable image. I grabbed this one from Nicecrane Designs for $4.50, but can print out as many images as I want! The moss was from our woods and the the flowers & shrooms were all in my stash!

Here is a side view of my box. I am loving that butterfly! Something else from my stash that I added alcohol ink to!

Please come play along if you would over at LESSology!

Get those boxes and packaging material upcycled into something fun!

And for you peeps in the States, get off your computers and go celebrate the 4th! 

Shades of Yellow for Another Freaking Scrappy Challenge

You ever make something pretty simple but it makes you so happy?

That is how I felt about this challenge & my layout. Of course the color yellow makes me happy too.

It is quite possibly because my 7th Grade band director told me I looked nice in yellow a few years back. ;-)

Anyhow, our challenge at Another Freaking Scrappy for this time 'round is: What is your favorite color? Why? How does it make you feel? Or make a monochromatic layout from your favorite color ‐ or journal the challenge or both!!

(a little side note here, I really do like how everyone else spells colour with a U, looks far more interesting than our way, but I always feel inclined to change it to our correct spelling...why is that?)

Just a close up of some lovely soft blooms from Lizzy Hill, a cut out I made and inserted a real doily between the layers, my copper leaves and a charm I made! Fun times!

Love the photo I used. Believe it or not they are doing the first haying here.

I know, it's crazy! I love the yellow that the fields turn for a short while after a hay. This photo was taken during an evening walk.

Come play with us will you?

P.S. Yes the title was my attempt at humor and a copycat on the Shades of Gray books. I do suggest reading them with glass of cold ice water near by. ;-)

Enchanted Layout for The Onion, Quirks and Mitza Pitza Grand & Final Challenge

The very last Onion (aka Sue) and Quirks (aka Lisa) Challenge #6 had me quaking in my BOOTS! Well, OK it's summer here so flip flops. 

Here it is:  Make TWO cards of the same design or colors, but one must be Shabby Chic and one in the CAS genres. The word card always scares me and then that other acronym terrifies my very soul. 

I really like cards. Just not the me making them part. ;-) 

We did get this pretty little background to use in some way shape or form, so that helped! Feel free to use it yourself if you like it!

To ease my pain, I decided to view them as card fronts and made a scrapbook page. 

Some I went with the shabby look and others CAS. 

Lots of fun little items on here from the Trinket Track. Loving that cameo and that bird which is sitting on top of my photo!

It was a great opportunity to show case this photo from my apple trees! They line my driveway and I always think nice thoughts about the previous owner planting them for me to enjoy. 

Sometimes my apple trees bloom nicely and sometimes we get just a few blooms. Of course the years with the good blooms also have good apples...hoping I'm lucky come October!

Of course the STAR of the show is not really an apple, but a Crabby Apple, but wow it is lovely!

I have had so much fun with these challenges! Some of them were harder than others but I think were great for sparking my creativity!

Huge thanks Onion (aka Sue) and Quirks (aka Lisa) for letting me jump on your bandwagon!

Delish Layout for Jot & Sian's Challenge

Because I adore all things Sian, I had to do her challenge over at Jot:  Challenge 3 – What to Scrapbook when There’s Nothing to Scrapbook About by Sian Fair.

So last week I scrapbooked  about a mama turtle and made a sweaty me page the week before so I am hardly running out of material!

Actually Sian made me remember the most amazing bakery from when I was little. A good trip to town involved the bakery, lunch with my Dad AND the library! I used item #5 from below.

Now JOT is a a new kick-butt amazing on-line...oh wait. I'll let Sian describe it. She does have a way with words....

Hurray! Jot magazine is here! Jot is a brand new, online, free magazine for the modern memory keeper and it has just been launched  by the talented Kim Archer and her team.

Figured I'd give one of their challenges a whirl and take a peek at their magazine! I love the fact it's on-line, so I can carry it on my phone!

Enjoy their challenges and their magazine, if you get a chance!

Happy Friday!

Oh and huge thanks Helen for that most amazing flower cluster you sent me in the mail. It was on my page quicker than I could eat one of those big half moon cookies! You rock!

4th Grade: Oh the Places You'll Go Layout

I broke down earlier this week and made myself a list.

Not a normal list. The kind of list THE MAN would look at and snort.

One with scrappy pages I wanted to make.

I just get all these photos and ideas and things going on in my brain...

And every since school let out, I feel slightly off kilter in a good way. ;-)

I had this page in my mind made up like a hot air balloon, but then got thinking I wanted a photo collage...

Which I made in Picasa....which goes to show you that sometimes in life free things can be awesome!

It's hard to have a lot of room for many goodies when you are trying to fit this many awesome photos on one page.

Luke's moving up ceremony was THE BOMB.COM (to quote Helen) and had many fun things incorporated into it.

The theme was Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss complete with hot air balloon on the windows!

Wanted to use this photo but totally ran outta room. We got to take Luke's green blue and yellow balloon home.

They also had these super silly frames we could use to stage photos.

Lexi was a bit sideways over all the pretty decorations and coolness. She maintained she did not have such a FANCY moving up ceremony! Although she did get a new dress....

They had all kinds of crazy balloons including little lego people holding them down!

My favorite part of the page is the side part where I got crazy with stickers and banners! Tucked a little bit of a silver doily behind my circle & title. Love it!

Anyhow, hope your Thursday was terrific, mine is coming to a close! 

Lexi's Egyptian Mask

My oldest got an award the other day.

It was for Art. Not a big surprise there.

Neither was the 99 she came home with on her report card.

When I told her good job she winced.

She basically said that Art for her was not a big deal because it was too scripted. Meaning she was told what to do and that went against the very core of her little artistic self.

I get it. Of course, it's school and you have to also do as you are told.

One of her projects was this Egyptian mask

She was not fond of it at all, despite the 100 grade.

It came to me with ears nearly falling off.

A bit of some hot glue, cardboard, some glimmer modge podge, feathers, and liquid pearls and she still hates it.

She did cheer up a bit when I told her we could put it downtown in the consignment store with a price tag on it.

She says it's too spooky looking for anyone to purchase. Maybe she's right, but that was part of the assignment!

Well, let me know if you are in the market for an Egyptian Sarcophagus, since I happen to know the artist.
;-)

Happy Tuesday!

Back on the Island Layout for ScrapFriends

We all know I cannot resist a ScrapFriends sketch.

I even cut these arrows out by hand as I wanted that shape!

Recently we went camping with my Father in Law and his wife for Father's Day. It was a whole lot of fun.

Luke got to go canoeing and Lexi played in the water a bit. Mostly just super relaxing!

The cool part about the campsite is being right on Lake Ontario on an island.

Check out this google image of what it looks like!

I imagined I was waving to Anne across the water saying see you this fall scrappin!

Here is a side view of my page. Really like how this turned out. Used some silver alcohol ink for the splatters and orange perfect pearls.

I have a few more photos to use from that trip, so I am planning a second page that accompanies it and also will have the journaling.

I really liked the busy with the colors & patterned paper but minus the words!

And a close up for one of my new upcycled scrapbooking items! Bread twists! See how happy it makes my twine?

Just flipped it over and added a smidge of hot glue to keep the twine in place.

It matches nicely with the little green round plastic piece I found on the beach and glued a flower & brad on. I am not sure what it was in a previous life but here on my page it makes me happy!

Happy Monday! Hope you had a fun scrappy weekend!

The Quirks, Onion, and Mitza Pitza Challenge: AHHHHHCHOOOO!

Dude. I cannot tell you how icky this week was.

Allergies struck Sunday night after an all day rain and I spent most of the earlier part of this week half dead with tissues stuck up my nose.

No seriously. NOT KIDDING!

THE MAN even said tissues stuck up ones nose are not sexy. I may have been crying at the time when he said it, but they were not real tears. My eyes were dripping!

Needless to say I spent every free available moment on the couch with a book when I wasn't attempting to work. Working while medicated on various allergy meds is not extremely effective, fyi!

Being the last week of school, there wasn't a lot of downtime.

Which is why at one point on Wednesday as I was driving a kid home from school I was expecting to get pulled over for sneezing five times in a row while driving.

Nothing is worse than those couple of minutes you shut your eyes and hope for the best....

Anyhow, my creativity was at an all time low. I wanted to be playing with paper...but had no umpfh!

So, my theory when that happens...

Blog Land and Challenges and Design Teams all will go on....while you are pulling yourself back from death and next week will be better!

I did make a card for Luke's Teacher since the boy is moving up to the middle school. See, that is him right there peeking at you. ;-)

My small people are all morphing into big people. It was my last hurrah for teacher gifts.

Even cheated a little with the card since the middle section was previously cut out of a scrapbook page. ;-) See?

Was going to put a gift cert to our local liquor store in my card since that is the kind of present I would love. Did not manage to get to the liquor store. Figured that would make my driving while sneezing thing a lot worse if I had bottles in the jeep and got pulled over by the Popo.

Amazon gift card from the local drug store purchased while buying more allergy meds had to suffice!

I did like how it turned out. That little green metal piece at the bottom is an earring I painted and upcycled.

I also did a very wee bit of stitching as The Onion (aka Sue) and Quirks (aka Lisa) Challenge #5 was to sew a chevron pattern. 

I am sure they have made something quite fabulous so I encourage you to go check out their blog!

And, guess what!

SCHOOL IS OUT for the next 10 weeks. Why that right there puts a spring in my step!

Happy Sunflower Painting

Finally got around to getting a little sunflower water color Jeanie made framed up and on the wall. Sometimes I start a To-Do Pile and that was in the pile along with a few other things that needed to go to the frame shop. Finally got it back the other day. It's only been six months or maybe eight?

I thought sunflowers would look nice next to angry monarch creature poster and near another framed piece from Peru of a barn door bolt.

Notice how well pink and orange go well together and that my ceiling has sparkles. I know I might be crazy, but hey, if it makes ME happy when I look at it and THE MAN doesn't notice what is hanging where, I'm going with it!

Her piece is right on time though since the sunflowers are working hard at growing tall these days in my garden. I never plant them, but the birds got crazy this year and I had a whole crop spout up!

Happy Friday peeps! I for one am totally happy to have made it through the week!

FIN Layout

Lots and lots of bling on this page.

Happened to get a package from Trinket Track  recently due to Lizzy Hill's new appointment on their design team (I like to buy local). Well, they are from Australia, but since they think Lizzy's the bomb and I do too, I want to support them.

Can you see the cute little ribbon flowers on there? That pretty pink one on top of the embossed metal I made, near the huge purple butterfly Helen sent me and right next to the cool Christmas tag from Jeanie? Those pretty little things are from the Trinket Track  The gold ribbon on the tag said Merry Christmas, just flipped it over so I didn't have to wait to use it! Thanks guys for helping me make a page!

I'll leave you with one more view showing the dimension. 

You might be wondering about the title. Well, FIN is what THE MAN said under his breath when the project was over. 

I looked at him and said did you just say FIN? Like it's finished?

Then we argued over what language it was. Just one of those small little moments! Personally I would have used a few exclamation points myself since I was SO HAPPY our front door was back in the usable stage and it turned out so nicely!

Happy Thursday to you, I am wandering off to a moving up ceremony for my kid. He's going into the middle school and saying good by to being a little kid. ;-(