This Is Gonna Be Fun Y'All

I have a book of his work. I have a mug. I have a flock of magnets on my fridge that are modeled off his signs. And now I have an original of my own. Actually...two!

Back in December, after Tommy had paged through Simon's colorful coffee table book, we decided to take a "field trip" to his workshop/studio in uptown New Orleans. We weren't sure what we would find! After perusing the small number of finished pieces on display (it was Christmas time and stock was low), we met Simon (French pronunciation) and decided to have him paint a sign with Famille Fox and the year we were married. We had seen similar works, ordered by other families, waiting to be picked up, and couldn't wait to have an original for our home. 

So we ordered and went off to lunch at Joey K's, an uptown eatery that displays many of Simon's overflow pieces. You can just guess what happened next: we fell in love with another of his signs and bought it right off the wall. Here it is...still on the wall. ;)

This is gonna be fun y'all!

I just got the call that our other (ordered) sign was ready. Yeah!

NOLA Love

When it comes to lively color palettes and trendy alphas, Bella Blvd. has it going on. I can't say enough about their recent Color Chaos collection. It's so versatile! Here I've used just about every color in the collection on this page about NOLA, New Orleans, Louisiana.  

Rainbow stripes flow down the center of the page, all courtesy of a bonus paper included in the collection pack! Coordinating embellishments enhance every inch:

While all of the papers are from Color Chaos set, the embellishments are mostly from a dish of miscellany that is kept on my desk. I love sorting through all its bits and pieces and coming up with that perfect little something. Check out all the goodies I found for this page:

One of the best aspects of this and every Bella Blvd. collection is the alphabet and sticker sheet. The alphas are TOO CUTE!

Supplies: Patterned Paper-(Bella Blvd. Color Chaos- Blueberry Strandz, Gulf Strandz, Ice Strandz, Guacamole Strandz, Pickle Juice Strandz, Bell Pepper Strandz, Orange Strandz, Peep Strandz, Punch Strandz, and Daily Details Strandz). Embellishments-(Bella Blvd. Color Chaos Treasures and Text Stickers), (Just Write Journaling Stickers), (Color Chaos Bella Bows Bell Pepper), (Crate Paper Craft Market Colored Chalkboard Stickers), (Crate Paper Craft Market Ephemera), (Crate Paper Maggie Holmes Confetti Sequins), (Studio Tekturek One Way Ticket Badges), (Simple Stories Life Documented Enamel Dots), Flower, Buttons, Brads.

Jazz Fest NOLA

This month's I Lived kit (my Scraptastic kit choice for April) is one of the most colorful happy kits ever, so I had to use it to document one of the most colorful and happy events in my city. You might be thinking Mardi Gras, but nope, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival is what immediately came to mind. 

I don't go every year, and this year will be a miss, but when I attend, it's a a feast for all the senses. Good food, great music, and joyful crowds everywhere. I had hoped to see Elton John this year, but we will be watching a certain son walk across the stage in Tuscaloosa on that day. Oh well! Here's what the crowd looked like at a recent fest, a menagerie of hats, flags, and umbrellas.

The grid on this Pebbles' Happy Day collection paper helped me to neatly arrange the elements of this page. Squares and rectangles cut from some of the other kit papers were overlaid with stickers, enamel dots, and die-cuts from the Simple Stories documented collection. A few squares were left without patterned paper and the embellishments applied directly to the page. 

What a happy, happy day!

Seriously Silly

When my sister comes to visit, we often get together and do something touristy. It's not like she's never lived here! She grew up here, and comes back to visit at least 2-3 times a year. Still it's fun to experience the city of New Orleans and appreciate it like a tourist. 

On this particular day we wandered the French Quarter. Lots of window shopping and picture taking. Give me an old building, door with character, etc. and I'm all over it. 

Every once in a while I'd ask Kevin and his cousin to stand in front of an edifice and snap their picture too. And every once in a while I'd get a silly shot like this:

I'm really getting good use out of these papers from the Boys Rule collection. When I ordered a 12x12 paper pad (2 of each paper) I was worried that it was going to be too much! No way...I love this stuff!

With double of each sheet, I don't have to be stingy...and can layer to my heart's content!

And here's a little tip: To make that REALLY dark foam word coordinate better with the chalkboard look background paper, I rubbed a little bit of powder over the letters. Voila!

Do you ever play tourist in your hometown? What do you like to do?