Alaska

Lacking winter landscapes, I had to be a bit creative with last month's Scraptastic kit, Baby It's Cold Outside. One thought was to sift through my photos from an Alaskan cruise a few years ago, and use some of those pictures. Here is what I came up with:

By cutting out the center, distressing edges, and mounting on a background of cardstock, I was able to use both sides of the same sheet of paper, one inside the other, tree trunks and cardinals.

The cardinal motif is repeated with a sticker and journaling card. Love the bits of red.

And now a couple more of those cruise pics are scrapped!

Unfazed

This was his first time surfing and it almost didn't happen. After brief dryland instruction, the kids headed out on the water with their surfboards. Almost immediately one of the other kids lost his board to a large wave, and it popped up hitting Kevin in the eye. He came to shore hurt, mad and a bit flustered, but determination took hold and back out he went...unfazed...to catch his first waves! WTG!

I didn't see the possibility until the page was otherwise completely done, all but the rub-ons. I was thinking of adding a bit of mist, but ugh, that wasn't going to be easy covering up all the photos and elements. And then I spied those rub-ons from the Amy Tangerine Cut & Paste collection. Oh yeah...they might just work. 

Placing them willy nilly here and there, it resembles carved graffiti on the woodgrain background.

And my undying love for banners continues...especially when they are this easy to make. I used the American Crafts 1.5 inch punch, inked edges, crumpled them up a bit, added to twine, and voila...done.

Now, does anyone have an old used surfboard for sale? He can't wait to try this sport again!

Cheesecake Celebration

7th grade graduation from Christian Brothers is a big deal. It was a rough two years, but two that prepared him well. So, after the ceremony, we let Kevin decide where we'd go to celebrate. Not surprisingly, he chose Cheesecake Bistro. Funny thing...I don't know what he was thinking, but he was disappointed when he realized that we were going to order LUNCH first. Um, yeah...lunch THEN dessert. Here he is with his gigantic celebratory cheesecake. Yum!

Patterned papers, stickers, letter stickers, tag, ribbon, baker's twine, and frame are from American Crafts. I love these ready to stitch tags:

Yes, he did it! And now that we're in the middle of his eighth grade year, I'm glad he had the challenge, because this is no picnic either! ;)

Time To Take In The Plants!

Geesh, I had just put them back out after a couple of weeks inside. But here we go again, with a freeze warning...sleet and freezing rain expected, possibly a few flakes. Flakes? Oh I wish! Snow is such a rarity around here. The last time it snowed, I ran outside and took a picture of the dusting. 

Below is a colorful page that I created for Winter Week on the American Crafts blog:

Sparkly snowflake stickers embellish the page, added to polka dots and tags:

A second page featured on the American Crafts blog includes a quote (found on Pinterest) that expresses my true feelings about cold weather:

Time to fly south little birdie!

And take me with you! It's still January, but I am SO ready for spring.

Let's Roll

It happens every December. While I am preparing the house for the holidays, shopping for presents, and celebrating with family, my photos are piling up! Then when the seasonal madness subsides, I find myself a bit overwhelmed. Returning to my scrap desk, I need a way to roll through some pages. That's when I return to some favorite all-purpose designs, such as the one used below. Scraptastic's Baby It's Cold Outside kit and add-on make it a breeze. 

A simple grid is defined by stitched lines surrounding punched squares of patterned paper. A title, a banner, and a bit of ephemera (ticket stubs) finish off this simple page. Done. Not every page needs to be complicated! Now back to that pile of pictures...

Do you have a favorite go-to design?

The Annual Christmas Pic

The kids have learned to tolerate it...the annual Christmas "photo shoot". It only takes a few minutes, but you'd think we were subjecting them to excruciating torture. All they have to do is stand there and smile, while my sisters and I snap away, hoping to get at least one photo where everyone has their eyes open. We do a photo of each family, and then gather up the cousins for one big group shot. As the kids get older, land jobs, move away, and even have families of their own, it's not so easy to have everyone in the same place at the same time. Last year was pretty successful, with all but my youngest sister's child present. 13 out of 14 is not too shabby!

The layout above was based on a sketch by Becky Fleck, and can be seen with the January PageMaps. Each member of the Scraptastic Design Team was given a different sketch to interpret and use with our kits. Here is the sketch on which I based my page:

A few changes were made and I had my page all laid out. Three photos were reduced to one, my title moved to the doily, and the tag/banner became a major design element. Here's a closeup:

I love all the gold embossed accents in Scraptastic's Home for the Holidays kit. The gold doily and gold vellum die-cuts were some of my favorites, along with the wood veneers.

Do you get many opportunities to take pictures of your extended family? I'm lucky in that most of us live in the New Orleans area. It becomes pretty special when the "outliers" return to spend Christmas with us! :)

I got a J.O.B.!

After 14 years as a stay-at-home mom, I ventured out and got a job. Yes, a J.O.B. It's not full time. I can hardly even call it part time! It's just perfect. I create my own hours, do the work when it fits my schedule, and get a little extra dough each month. Oh yeah...it will come in handy when Kevin begins his orthodontic treatment this month!

So that's what's been going on with me. Although the work itself is not extremely time consuming, the training was a bit intense, involving four days, five nights in Chicago. CHICAGO! In January! The week after that infamous polar vortex! Needless to say, I spent two weeks getting ready...buying long undergarments, gloves, a hat...things that I never have a need for in south Louisiana. Try finding a long coat in January. Not going to happen. I guess they are already making way for the swim suits. Macy's had a few leftovers along a short wall at the back of the store. Even Burlington COAT Factory had only rack after empty rack. So I had to do with what I already owned, a less than ideal situation.

Luckily, the weather cooperated, the polar vortex spun its way north, and temps were manageable. Here are a couple of pictures. The first is from the plane as we were about to land, downtown Chicago in the background:

and another through the window of the hotel shuttle, just a pretty snow covered neighborhood:

Sigh. That's all I saw of Chicago. One day, when the weather is warm, I'll have to go back and play tourist.

About that job: Sorry to be so mysterious about what I do, but it's kind of proprietary information that I cannot share, since it involves quality assurance assessments. Anyway, I think I'm going to like it. :)