last layouts for May..

 I have been taking part in a couple of challenges at 2 Peas Refugees.  May Tell Your Story and May Blogging Challenge.  It has been a fun month.  My scrapbooking total is only around a dozen pages.  Even this weekend...think I got 5 or 6...but still had fun.  And used some of the challenge prompts.

So my last layouts for May...these are of dgs#1...
a couple of challenges, used a border punch for the Great Day side...not that you can see...maybe a little on the bottom.  And layered project life cards to create the background on the other side. 

Then there was a challenge to take on something you don't do very well.  I tend to leave my pages very plain.  The following is pretty much how I would/could leave this page.  So to challenge myself I took out 2 of the panels and embellished just a little more....

(they are in San Francisco, so the crab works...right???)  Okay, embellishing is a work in progress for me.  I should show the one my dgd#1 did, she has no qualms about embellishing...

On Saturday...we had 

a mega crawfish and low county boil.... This is a pic of dgd#1 getting her lesson on how to eat crawfish.   And she did it, even sucking out the 'head'...I could not do that. (okay, gotta say it, when i turned the critter over to pull out the tail meat, it DID look a little too cockroachy for my taste)

   But the rest of the meal, was wonderful...some of the sausage a little spicy, but no complaints. 

 It was a good day, heck, it was a good weekend!!! 

I love my birthday month!

happy birthday...okay, 3 out of 4 pics I bought myself...

Fancy Pants found on Ebay...the diecuts/cards Etsy...wink of Stella and embossing on Amazon.
Wink of Stella was such a huge 'hit' at my home crop...I think the kids used up my gold..I decided I need to increase my supply.   That 3 pack includes more gold.

A Cherry on top (except the die strip)...Nuvo dots were on sale!! My first ...so, looking forward to playing with these. 

Cardstock pocket page cards from Etsy.  Too cute for words.  

And my birthday gift from dd and dsil...cannot wait to play with the banner punch.  I know, I know,  I have banner on cricut and banner stencils from Kiwi Lane, why the punch board?   Well, I find when I just need a quick one or two or three, and they are not the same size as the Kiwi.... I still try to cut them by hand.   And that does not work...I am a horrible hand cutter.  I remember struggling even in kindergarten...sad actually.

And more washi, there was a thread on 2 Peas Refugees asking how many washi rolls we own...I counted 187, now I have 197...hmmm, wonder if there are any stashed at the Gossamer Blue kit area....?? or my Scrapbook Circle kits.  

When dsil made a comment about all my packages this month, they are shipped to work as I live in the country and my dogs have been known to shred packages...I told him ' It is my birthday month"..."Yes, I get a month".  ha!!

I love my birthday month!!

some Layouts from Saturday.

I am participating in a couple of challenges at 2 Peas Refugees,  a blogging challenge, 15 blogs for the month of May Blog Challenge Thread  and  Tell Your Story  with various challenges to help us be creative...5-23 Tell Your Story thread.  I think my total layouts for the month of May is at 7 or 8...so not a big number, but still having fun.

Pics from Saturday, these are the ones that I did get on my 'big' camera...the D3000...a wonderful Christmas gift from the kids a couple of years ago.  I remember that Black Friday sale, dil, would not let me into Best Buy with her...we waited in that cold line for a long time.  But we parted ways at the door and I went shopping at Michaels...she did all that for me to have this wonderful camera.

It is my baby and usually only brought out for special occassions.  Sil was borrowing it for work, but when he needed to travel with it...I balked and he finally got the company to buy their own.  Sorry, 'my baby' does not go on planes without me.  I mean I hide it at home...I would be so heartbroken if anything ever happened to it.

Anyways, I digress...

Saturday layouts, this first one took me a couple of hours.  For the May challenge, I used a clock.  These are pics of my dgd#2 with my fil and mil.  I used the red white and blue as my fil was very patriotic.  These are actually pretty much the last photos we have of him.  Don't think many were taken as after this, he was in a scooter with an oxygen tank.

 This is a page for my dgs#1's book.  Can you guess his name is Jase?    for the challenge used washi tapes..and also 'something new', the diecuts are one of my newer purchases.  I need to learn something more for Washi tape...it is the one with numbers across the middle.  Thinking I need a 'washi' techniques month or something.  

 and this is for the challenge that said to use Project Life cards in a different way...not glued yet...but playing with layering them to create my pp background....

There were more layouts, one is being fixed...I did not like the proportions...the other not yet photographed.

On a previous blog was asked if I like my Scrap-n-easel.  In a word, YES, but I do not take it to crops...I have been seeing them a lot esp at the Expo crop.  And with small grandchildren, the magnets do worry me.  So I try to be extra careful and keep them in a container and  put them away after use.  But as far as using it to layout my pages before gluing and getting a good vertical view of them...yup, me like it a lot.  It seems I got a good deal on it also, a couple of years ago.  I really don't like to pay full price and avoid it as much as possible.(insert cheesy smilie face)

the weekend...

Sorry, no pics, my point and shoot decided to 'crap out'.  Which I am kind of used to, think this is my 3rd Nikon Coolpix in as many years.  I don't see them as a long term camera. 

Luckily I had the big camera on hand...but need to download pics. 

and Luckily, my mil gave me some money for my birthday, so I have a CANON on its way to me from Amazon.  Time to try something else.  We will see if it is any different. (probably not)

Birthday was great...pancakes in the morning from my son in law...lunch with dh, we went to Denny's so I can order off the senior menu...dd brought me a baskin robbins birthday cake ice cream and a balloon.  Dinner at my favorite Chinese restaurant.  And Saturday night, movie with m&m popcorn and my favorite pie at son's house. My granddaughter sat next to me as we watched the last half of the 10 Commandments...she is such a joy.  7 years old and so full of 'quips' and questions.

 I love the month of May. 

Friday was the service for fil.  As a friend said, it was 'a healing time'.  Difficult, emotional, beautiful...all the above.  He lived a full life and was able to pass with no regrets.   And with people who loved and admired him.  

I don't know how y'all feel, but I did not take any pics.  It is not too late, as we have his memorial banner still up.  I don't know, just don't feel like this is a 'scrapbook' moment.  But there are great- grandkids who will not remember or meet him...maybe a pic of the banner would be appropriate.


Saturday was scrapbooking day.  Happy to report I was in my pj's till about 3pm.  Then dd and sil came over to make dinner for mil...and we got some because she is staying with us. (insert cheesy smiley face)

Sunday after church, was nap and being worthless day, for all 3 of us, mil is staying with us, guess we needed to be 'refueled' so to speak.

  Watched what I had recorded of Grimm including season finale.  Now that was a frustrating difficult show to watch.  Had my friend Janell on text blast the entire time.  siiiiiigh.

Was also sick until about Sunday morning.  Strange, odd symptoms.  But today all is fine.  So what was it???   I will call the dr and see if I need to be seen for any type of follow up.



 

Happy mail and birthday...ha!

 

Had a little happy mail yesterday...my stamps from Crafting Desert Divas...cannot wait to play.

And took a quick pic of my work desk last night.  As Weds is WOYWW over on lisadv's blog...soooo, I'm a day late.   On my desk, besides the basic tools...the cards from the crop still not put away, the card I am fixing...purchase from Crafting Desert Divas, also another Etsy purchase... from GlitterDustDesigns...project life cards.  Soooo pretty!!! And a mushroom shaped essential oil diffuser, completely an impulse purchase...now where to put???  I already have one in my bedroom next to my side of the bed....don't want in scraproom, where I keep papers...hmmmmm. 

As I walked out, I thought..."oh, should take a pic of the pile in front of the shelf...now THAT is embarrassing!!"  Piles of kits from the crop, cardstock and scraps.


Felt a little under the weather last night, let's just say I picked up some AZO this morning...so went to bed without dinner around 6pm.  Of course I did not sleep, I fast forwarded thru Game of Thrones...I skip the stuff dealing with the people I don't care about.   I will probably watch episodes in full with dd.

Today is my birthday!  I am now old enough for the Denny's senior menu!!  Dil's bday is tomorrow.
Makes it easy for the guys to remember!! ha!!

Tomorrow is a service for my fil, so we will probably get together with family on Saturday for birthdays.  I have requested dil's "Indiana" pie.  officially called a sugar cream pie. 

a 1 layout crop...but made some cards.

What I accomplished at crop...siiiigh.  Only one layout... there were 4 of us, and 3 out of 4 were 'newbies' so what I did was show them card techniques and let them take off and craft.  So, between that and food prep and running to get them supplies...I only had one layout.  BUT did almost 12k steps!!  so the day was not a 'bust' AND had a great time getting to know my guests. 

We also had a mac and cheese potluck...which we doubled so we could share for fellowship the next day.  One gal made hers with ground beef and 4 cheeses, I made mine in the crockpot and the young man...he is a future culinary student...so I gave him a 'chopped' style bag.   In it was spam, nopales, truffle oil, Dubliner cheese....his was my favorite...it came out with a sharp, smokey taste.

This was our first project...cricut cutting and embossing.   I am unhappy with my leaves, so that is being changed.  The young man actually already has a cricut ...for fondant cutting.  So he helped the others cut their images.    He spent the day figuring out the 3d flowers and boxes from my Art Philosophy cartridge.  He gave the after lunch 'lesson'...on how to roll the flowers!!!  It was great.

In the afternoon, we did stamping and coloring with gelatos.  The shark is from Newton's Nook.   I was the only one who did an ombre effect, the girls painted with the gelatos.  

Then we did alcohol ink...I did a plaid, 2 did the tie die effect and one did stripes...

 

So not a productive day for scrapbooking, but had other 'successes' and enjoyed it.   Still have my challenge list from 2 Peas Refugees...hopefully Saturday will be a good day for doing that.

 

Crop dreams...

Setting up for a crop today...have the 'essentials', I hope.  Transformed the dining room into a crop space.  Table seats 8, expecting 3...with a 4th...kinda in the air.

 work stations, is it sad I was able to come up with a cutter per person???  (the cutterpillar is mine)but guess what I discovered, no spare blades! yikes!  Also had a Smash pen per person.   A shared supply station in the middle, dark chocolates, assorted tools and pen/marker collection in the middle.

These are shared between 2...glue dots, ruler, foam dots, scissors and fabric scissors.  I had 2  sets of the rulers/scissors ...one set is for home the other for cropping.  (y'all do that too, don't you?)

 Tool station blocking entry to kitchen right behind dining room...

Cricut with some of my favorite carts and a stack of Recollections cardstock available.  They are my favorite for cutting, cuts clean.

 And the die cut/embosser with a selection of envelopes...my small ink collection and an idea book for those who are stumped.

My 2 confirmed guests are beginners, so I thought I would show them techniques on cards...to get them started.  Maybe a new technique every hour, at least at the beginning till they get comfortable and are  able to go on their own.  I will start with cutting a Cricut image, and embossing a background....

Okay, even if no one shows, I will be scrapping today!!   

Time to clean bathrooms, stock up fridge with water and go buy some fresh muffins!

shopping!!!

Been shopping, but that is okay...April and May are heavy birthday months...teehee

This is actually dgd#1's  ...for her birthday I bought her a nice set of watercolor markers...and HAD to find her something nice to put it in.  On Etsy I found this purple divided melamine bowl...just LOVE it.  Don't think I am going to tell her I bought it for her...will tell her it is for the scraproom.   The Dream stamp is her coloring...with her new markers.  

 this month's Gossamer Blue Life Pages kit, I have already been using the diecuts.  I love the colors this month.

 These are the embellies from this month's scrapbook circle...

 and the papers....again pretty vibrant colors.

my purchase from Scrapbook.com...Julie Nutting paper!!!  And the diecuts that Ellewood featured on her blog that I fell in love with Ellewood's post ...I did not know I had them on order, but so glad I did!

 These are actually 6x6 cards I found on Etsy...plan to use in my pocket pages. Esp the kitties

 And this from a link from another blog post, about All Scrapbook Steals...Journeyfan's blog post
lots of Doodlebug and buried a little bit of Fancy Pants and Echo Park.

so, it is my birthday next week , and I can shop if I want to...and shop I have been a doing.  Now comes the using them.  Keeping my fingers crossed for this weekend.

New Furniture fun...

new furniture...well, dh and I went last Saturday...here is the result.  His first choice as a set that came only in black...my first choice was much simpler, softer...here is the 'compromise'.  The ottoman is my stipulation, I have 4 grandkids in the 2 and under range (okay one is still in the womb) so for the next few years, we will have an ottoman for a coffee table.

So, the man now has 5 reclining spots in the living room.  And he has been trying out each spot before he claims his.  Couch and recliner (aka 'man chair') are covered with blankets...because...

dh was 'afraid' that the cats were eyeballing his new furniture.  (in this pic they do look black).  He should be scared, that is our 'velociraptor' cat next to the man chair.   Though last night, I proclaimed it the woman chair and told him it is MY new spot.

I put the old ottoman in the bedroom...and Percy has claimed it.  Funny thing, dh keeps bumping into it when he gets up during the night...last night he even fell across it.  He accused me of putting it there for that purpose, I told him it was just an added benefit. 

yup, too much fun.   For my birthday I ordered a new duvet and curtain set.  That old blue blanket I have had (and will have) for over 15 years.  It was brought to us by dd's friend's family as a gift when they made a trip to Mexico...it is my favorite and it comes out every winter. 

same pics...2 different layouts...

these layouts use the same pics...of the kids and my son playing in the snow pile last spring ... The first is the one that is going in dgd's book.  My project life concentrated on snow ....

then I chose this cloud pp for dgd#2's book...it comes complete with sun.  But I felt like it was too much a difference...

So, with the Snap "Carpe Diem' embellies in this month's Gossamer Blue life page kit...I transformed it a bit.  (the page on the left side has  the same pics as dgd #1's book)

Can you say exhausted?  Yup, that is me.  this morning I joined ddil and dgd#2 (aged 2 years) at the library for the preschool 'wiggleworms' story time.  Took dgs#1 (aged 13 months).  Okay, HOW DID I DO IT??/ when it was me with 2 kids in carseats with all their stuff!!  HOLY MOLEY that was a lot of work.  And it was just one kid, one carseat, one backpack (they don't do diaper bags at that house), one purse and one stroller.   And then I went to Walmart with him...so put purchases, kid, Subway lunch and purse into the car...oh my...I used to be young and energetic, really...how do these young women do this...with multiple kids!!  siiiiiiiigh. 

  Oh, and side note, my grandson is one heck of an 'eater'.  He ate a 6" meatball sub (okay, just half the bread) for lunch.  When my kids took him out to eat over the weekend, an older couple stopped them at the register and told them, "We hope you make a lot of money, that boy is going to eat you out of house and home"   But babies do get picky and they slow down....riiiight???

My first brand new layouts for May..

These are the 'fillers' for dgd#1's book, as I found that I was out of sequence on a set of pics...

Both layouts use Bella Blvd Molly papers...

also spent the day embellishing the under embellished or non embellished from the retreat weekend...an example...  from...very plain...it was the last layout of the weekend...I really struggled

 to added diecuts to dress it up...(the magnets are to hold it up for pic...)

a view of my 'office'

My job is 90% babysitting my grandson and 10% general ledger accounting for my husband's 2 companies.  Here is my work area.  A small nook area at my dd's home.  (the safe, shelf and containers by the swing are their's) (though I use the shelf cabinets)

I am spread out all over the place while working.  piles and piles of papers. 

Just learned that we need to furniture shop tomorrow.  I am set to babysit for my kids (dd) so they can go out for their anniversary dinner.  So, baby boy is going furniture shopping with me.  DH wants to replace the living room couches before we have @200 for his dad's services...

Whaaaaaaa????? @200, what happened to the simple service for family and close friends? 

But this is my dh, he can be  more into appearances than I am...he doesn't want his father's friends thinking we are 'less'  than.  Our furniture in the living room is 10+ years old and well, errr, loved (distressed)  by the cats.  It does not bother me...but it bothers him. 

If it were up to him, our house would be more of a showcase.   Me, I love old and worn...to me that is home.  We went to a house he loved, his friend's daughter ...everything hard, floors in polished concrete  and showcase furniture...the only comfortable spot was outside on their patio.  To me, it was so cold....  I have no interest in a home like that.  Okay, their bathroom sink was cool...concrete and rusted copper bowl.  He also has a friend who is a multi millionaire...he owns a very large tech company and he can buy a luxury car for cash...dh goes to his designer decorated home and is very impressed...I was not.  It just did not have the feel of a home, except the kitchen/adjoining room.  Since this was the one they spent the most time in, it had some personality and comfort in it.

Guess that is why I am his 'soulmate'...I offset and balance those tendencies...  Me?  I would decorate with Craigslist finds.  I don't need new and fancy. I would also have a dozen cats and run a pet rescue from my living room!!! so, he offsets that!!!

Though thinking about it, it is only with our home...he is not this way about his clothes and such.  He wears stuff from Western Stores...wrangler jeans and plaid shirts.  None of us are into designer stuff for clothing.  His friendships represent all social/economic circles.  White collar, blue collar, struggling...it does not matter to him. 

a few of the layouts from crop weekend....

some of the layouts from the weekend...

You can tell my progression throughout the day.
these are for dgd#1's 2015 album

did not start till mid-morning, had some to finish from dgd #2's album first thing in the morning...

First lo for dgd#1...basic but a little more embellished...

next, this was fun.  Used Authentique pps...and even asked the girls "is it weird that I want to use the pp's label on this layout?".  They assured me that it worked. 

A close up of the shaker card embellie I made with my fuse.   Even used the saying on the paper's strip on top.  OOOOOh, wrangling those beads...wowza a li'l difficult. I was fighting static and gravity...took 2 tries, but got it done.

This is the layout later in the day, won't even show y'all the matching page, waaaaaaay tooooooo plain.  The brain is starting to get tired...so very basic and barely anything.

But here is a close up of the tag...used a Pink Paisley stamp for the background, used my Misti
Did it all while "Girls Night Out" was playing.

and the last for the night....very, very plain...needs a lot of detail work.  Another little shaker card...but used packaging not my fuse.  Think I need to figure out a 'framing' for it.

so, though I counted these last few... I don't consider them finished...

As I put it into the album, I will embellish...this weekend!  Yay for NSD!!

What are your plans for NSD and Mother's Day.  I get to babysit Sat late afternoon thru evening...and Sunday, I asked dh for a salmon dinner.  (so much better than trying to go out)...and that way I get to scrapbook!!!!  ha!  (I hope)

 

5-3-16 On Top of my desk...

I am participating in 2 challenges at 2 Peas Refugees this month...let's see how it works out...

The Blog challenge, last month is was 21 posts for the month, for May it is 15

...2 Peas Refugees Blog Challenge

And the Tell Your Story  Challenge, as many layouts as you can with daily prompts and challenges....I am not able to scrap daily, but hoping with NSD this weekend, and the crop I am hosting on the 14th...I may be able to keep up...a bit.  (not a chance, several of the ladies are seasoned Calvinball'ers)

Tell Your Story 5-3

So, this is what is on top of my desk??.  While putting away layouts from the crop..I saw that I am slightly out of order,   Need to insert some Shasta Trip layouts in between what I already had.  The birthday to the left was in the book...so, need to create a transition layout in between.. the unfinished layout on the right.  Lucky, I remembered that the cupcake paper was Bella Blvd, so I can have coordinating paper for the facing page.  I am ocd like that.  Actually found a sketch to help me do this layout.  Of course with my schedule, it will be Sat morning before I actually do it.

so this will be my first layout for May...

home from crop camp...

home from crop....

Let the unpacking rituals begin!!!  At least, unlike Expo, not a lot of shopping was done...only the little Owl bag represents a Joanne's run on Saturday morning.  Of course, I was the one who did not NEED anything...but the one who spent the most...can you say SALE!  ha!

One of the gals is a part of the design team for this group, Craftin Desert Divas  
She was working on a couple of projects...so if course, I had to buy a set of stamps that feature a mermaid this morning and some sequins.
of course.

There were 12 of us, 11 scrapbookers/ paper crafters  and 1 sew-er.  They are still there, I had to leave a day early, as I could not get today off.  I actually have tomorrow off, as I have a series of appointments throughout the day.  Including dr's for a blood test, just the regular fasting blood test for cholesterol...a pedicure (squeezed that one in) and dentist.

So, had to leave early, but got the chance to visit with Michele, my friend from high school days.  She lives just one exit away from the campgrounds.  Always so good to see her.  She is one of those friends that even if it is 6 months between seeing each other, we pick right up as though it was just yesterday.  Sure do love her and her family.

Of course, there was no getting good sleep hours at the crop.  The first night stayed up till 11, the next 10 (I am someone who goes to bed at 8, normally).  But of course, when you are my age, there is no sleeping in...up between 5 and 6...siiiiiiigh.  So came home exhausted!!!  Getting these out of the car was a huge accomplishment.  My stuff takes the back seat and the 'trunk'.  I could never drive with someone to one of these...well, maybe Michele, as she would just have one bag.  She is just not the collector that I am.  In fact, we are talking bout her coming out in June to scrapbook. (in my cave)


I did 29 layouts.  Though some I shouldn't count.  You know how it is, your first few are terrific, done and embellished...but toward the end of the night, you are lucky to get the papers chosen and the  pictures down.  PLUS, you just don't  pack the embellies you need (I  cannot anticipate them)...sooooo, toward the end of the night, those layouts need finishing touches.

I'll take pics and post as I get them unpacked.  Got a little done this morning before work...