Catching Up!

Sorry blog-buddies, my mojo has been waaaaaaaaay off! I am finally getting back into the groove of things and as soon as the sun returns to Philly tomorrow I will be able to share my latest layouts. So what has been going on? Welll...............I celebrated my birthday in October and I decided that I need to show I still  have it, lol. 

My niece and I hung out one Friday night sampling as many Margaritas as we could and still drive, lol. (BTW I am not tipsy in this picture- I didn't even have my first drink yet, her flash is blinding!) 

My grandson came over for a visit and Jada and I took him to the park. He couldn't decide whether he should laugh or cry, too funny.

And then Hurricane Sandy. I actually heeded the warning and shopped early, checked the flashlights and secured anything that needed to be secured. Our public transportation system shut down for two days and I do not drive in bad weather - period! so we were stuck in the house. Cabin fever set in so quickly, my husband was on the porch yelling "storm party over here!" just for some excitement. I finally got to venture out late Tuesday and this is what the bread shelves looked like at my local market.  

Glad Sandy is gone and may she never come back to the East Coast!

Is it Friday yet?

I know the weekend just passed but it goes by soo quickly that I am looking forward to the next one. We are experiencing beautiful weather here on the East Coast and I am enjoying every moment. I did some cleaning this weekend and Saturday I taught my class at the Assisted Living facility. We made Halloween treat boxes. I was a little nervous that they would not like them but they did, especially after they found out that I actually brought in candy to fill them, hehe. It took them almost an hour to cover the card stock with the pattern paper. It is funny I pre-cut the paper and tried to get them to select coordinating patterns but those ladies (and one gentlemen) had their own agenda so I just stepped back and assisted when needed, lol.  I did have one resident who began eating so much candy that I had to take her basket, I didn't want to get in trouble for making anyone sick! I almost got a picture of my class, Jada went with me and I asked her to take pictures for me but being a typical teen she took pictures of herself instead, lol.

I spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with my girls. They crack me up,they are like a comedy duo when they are together. Every time Jasmin is home from school they lay in bed on the weekends until they smell the bacon and then you just hear the stampede down the steps. Home fries, scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, brown sugar and honey sausages and toast - who would turn that down, lol.

Other than that my crafting mojo has been a little M.I.A.  I did go through my paper collections and at least looked at a couple of my WIPs but nothing completed just yet. Happily it is eggnog season at our Wine and Spirit shop, (ours are State owned and operated so the selection and cost are super regulated), maybe it will lift my crafting spirits, lol or at least my spirits in general, haha!

Kitchen Cake

I have been wanting a reason to do one of these for a while!  My husband's job is having an bridal shower for a sweet young lady today and of course he recruited me to provide our gift. To wish her well I made a towel cake or as I like to call it a Kitchen cake. There are four dish towels, four dish cloths, two oven mitts, four utensils, including an adorable dish brush (which is the reason why I went with the pink and black color scheme). I included a heart shaped pick that has the "Recipe for a Happy Marriage" poem that I found on the Internet and the couple's initials. I think I have found my newest addiction, I have sooo many ideas swirling around now!

I hope everyone has a great crafty weekend! Tootles!

My Pride and Joy

My oldest daughter came home from college for two weeks and it was such a joy having her around. She just finished her first semester (she started over the summer) and she is excited about the fall semester. I fell in love with this photo of her that I stole copied from her instagram and decided it went well with my package of unopened Summer's End that I am hoarding saving by Fancy Pants. This also is my second and final Guest Designer layout for the Sketch~n~Scrap blog. I am so very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of their blog. You should pop over and see what the design team members created and maybe even particpate in the challege yourself.



Two tone tip -

To add a little more variety to my pleated flowers I cut a thin strip of contrasting paper the same length as my main color strip.............

glued them together using my ATG gun and.....................

then I scored them using my Martha Stewart scoreboard every 1/4 inch, folded the pleats and Voila, my blue flower is now blue and brown.

And the Beat Goes on.......

My teenage daughter asked me to do a birthday card for a friend of her's at school. Masculine cards are a challenge for me and then a teenage masculine card made it even more challenging. I found an image on my Slice that reminded me of the Beats headphones that are pretty popular noways among the kids so I hope he likes it. I embossed the white cardstock with the stars embossing folder and all of the cuts were done using my Slice. I added stickles to the headphones to make the card pop a little.

Then after seeing this card using negative space by Jojorenee I knew that I wanted to lift it. So using a couple of my butterfly punches I backed the negative space with patterned paper and used white on white cardstock that I embossed using my Cuttlebug. I used my MM tag maker for the vellum tag and stamped it using a Papertrey Ink stamp. I topped the card off with some of my favorite May Arts ribbon with a pretty bow. I am also entering this card into the current Simon Says challenge. The prizes are amazing, you should check it out.



Card Anarchy!!!

Vrrrooommmm, Vrrrooooommmm I need to get my engines revved up! I kind of bombed out on WCMD because my mojo was replaced by Seasons 1 & 2 of Sons of Anarchy. To be honest I had never even heard of this show until one of the actor's (Johnny Lewis) death in real life made the news. Normally this is not my kind of show but the writer has made the characters very interesting and he is married to Katey Sagal and she has a great role on this show. The characters struggle with their chosen lifestyle and wanting to do better and in some ways don't we all have an inner struggle. I am on Season 3 now and will have to wait for Netflix to add Season 4 but don't worry I managed to get enough done to share with you today, lol. Have a great day!

Simon Says Card kit featuring Basic Grey Papers



First birthday card using DCWV stack



Another Simon Says card kit, I messed up on the embossing but we are just going to act
like that was suppose to happen, lol.



Day Trippin'

I am back! My job updated their  IE browser woohoo! So now I can share my first Sketch~n~Scrap Guest Designer layout. They are offering a great prize so be sure to pop over and check them out.

 For ths layout I combined Basic Grey's PB&J with Simple Stories Summer fresh. These are photos of my daughter when she was graciuos enough to accompany me to the CKC convention in Lancaster. I was going for texture with this layout so I created my own pinwheel flower. For the banner on the left I used a strip of denim from an old pair of jeans. The Thickers are orange fabric thickers and the burlap flower has a denim button in the middle. I tried stitching on this layout but you can barely see it. I don't know if my tension is too tight or my thread too thin, any suggestions??

A "S" layout and a Paper Secret

Excuse me for my technical difficulties. The official blogger upgrade is not compatible with my current system where I am......currently, lol. So I had to make some moves so that I could share my layout for the Paper Secrets September 15 Sketch Challenge (thanks for your help Mika).

I finally scrapped my nephews back to school photos from last year. I just love how my youngest nephew is looking up to his big brother. For my layout I used a few sheets from the Simple Stories Elementary Collection. The light blue stickers are from Collage Press and I was so bummed when I saw that I only had one letter "r" until a light bulb clicked. Don't tell anyone but the first R in the word Brother is actually just the outline of the other "r' on the sticker sheet, looks like that was intentional huh, lol.

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!!!

I am just about to burst!!! I am so excited to announce that I am the October Guest Designer on the Sketch~n~Scrap blog. How exciting is that? Trust me it was welcomed news during a very trying week,  I am so grateful! Thank you to Lisa and the entire design team for selecting me, I promise some special "goodness" during the month, especially since it is also my birthday month! I also want to thank Brenda and Rochelle for introducing me to to Sketch~n~Scrap, the sketches are awesome and I am so inspired to create. Soooo my husband is taking credit since the layout I submitted is about him...............go figure! But there is something special I wanted to share about the layout.
As most of you know Mika is my best friend and we met online through our love of scrapbooking a few years ago. We have only been together in person twice and the first time we were together was at a weekend crop. We were comparing die cut papers and our desire to keep or paper forever and still use it at the same time when when got a bright idea. We traced the paper onto chipboard and cut it out to use as a template. Then when we want to use it we trace it onto our paper, cut it out and Presto!,  a very inexpensive solution that will last for a long time. And three years later I still use mine. Tomorrow I will add another layout with a special secret. Now I am off to get those creative juices flowing. I hope you will join me in the challenges as they are revealed.

Here is my raw chipboard template

Here is the finished layout

''''

Sketch n Scrap #17

Remember on the A-Team when Hannibal Smith would say, "I love it when a plan comes together"? Well I love it when a layout comes together. I was thinking about my daughter's prom photos and then poof! this layout came together in my head using the newest sketch featured on the Sketch-n-Scrap site. My paper collection of choice..........Echo Park's Victoria Gardens. It was funny when I purchased this I had no clue as to how I would use it, I just liked the colors. I started to fear that it would have a permanent place on my shelf but no way! This paper was made for these photos, which is good because I have lots more photos, lol.

So for this layout I used my Papertrey Ink doily die, which is becoming a regular go-to tool for me. The butterflies are from Making Memories and I love using them; I am going to be so sad when I run out of those :(. For the banner strips I wanted to do something different and since I was using double sided paper, I cut the three strips, punch one end with a decorative border punch and rolled the other end down to see the other side of the paper. Another special touch on this layout out is my white on white border strip the I made with a vine border punch near the bottom of the page. To top it off I added a generous amount of bling and Voila, you have a layout done in minutes.............okay 90 minutes to be exact but who is counting, lol.

Sketch and Scrap Monthly Challenge

Have you heard? Sketch and Scrap holds a monthly guest designer challenge and this month I decided to toss my hat into the ring. This is a Crate Paper Portrait layout of my husband. He looked so handsome in his tux for a work based fundraiser and art show.When  I snapped the photo of him crossing the street in center city, he said he looks like a robot but I think he looks very cosmopolitan, lol.  

There is still time for you to enter, but hurry because the link closes in two days, click below for more information!!!

Sketch-n-scrap Guest Designer Challenge

Such a Beautiful day!

A perfect day for participating in a challenge. First I challenged myself by going over to my paper shelf and just like random generator blindly selecting a collection to work with.I picked Bo Bunny's Sunkissed. I remember purchasing it from Scenic Route Paper's online shop but I never really looked at how gorgeous the colors were. My next challenge was to participate in Grand Diva's September Sketch Challenge featuring this sketch courtesy of Page Drafts.To increase my odds of winning I am also entering Rochelle's stash challenge. The row of purple dots was made using a border stamp and embossing powder.

Life Lessons - Sketch N Scrap 16

I am so proud of my mojo for hanging around lately. One of my goals this year is to participate in more challenges so when I saw the sketch challenge over at Sketch-n-Scrap I was happy to join in. So far since finding their site I feel like the sketches relate well to my style and I have a good time interpreting them my own way. I used the Reminisce Unwritten collection from my stash for this layout of my daughter. She had a few difficulties adjusting to ninth grade but I have faith that she will make great improvements this year. For my layout I punched several layers of butterflies and machine stitched one set together and held the other set together with twine to give them a more 3d effect. I fnally used my last Heidi Swappp transparent clock from my stash and I loved using my fabric thickers. This challenge runs until the end of the month so there is plenty of time for you to join in - click here.

My old soul - Woodland Park Layout

When we saw Woodland Park included in the August scrap-room kit my friends and I got so excited. The colors are so fun to work with and vibrant. So far this is the only layout that I have completed this weekend but we are anticipated a bad storm which will hopefully mean more time to scrap.

Jada in Preschool - October Afternoon Woodland Park

Craft fair on my Mind

Okay I know I do this every year but I think I am almost mentally ready to start getting ready for a few craft fairs. So far I am looking at two in October and hopefully I can do at least two more before Christmas. Although I haven't started builidng up a serious stock I did at least do this one clipboard and notepad set over the weekend. Only 99 more projects to go, lol. I need my girl Tiffany to stay on me for inspiration, she is a whiz at putting on magnificent craft fair displays.

To the Moon

I hope everyone in blogland had a great labor day weekend. Mine was good, not too eventful but not boring either. I spent a lot of time with my hubby and still I was able to get a couple of things done. Here is a layout of our grandson using October Afternoon Rocket Age. Sorry for the not so good pic, it has been rainy here for a couple of days and I had to take the photo indoors.

Down to the Wire!

I am so glad that I found the Sketch-n-scrap blog. This is my first time participating in one of their monthly challenges but I do intend on becoming a regular. After many changes and much contemplation here is my layout entry for the August Sketch Challenge. I am still not 100% happy with the results but I am afraid that if I start pulling things apart, that I will ruin the layout. I used the Pink Paislee Indigo Blue collection, very nice papers to work with.

Mark your Calendars! September Holidays.

Can you believe it almost September already! School will start here after labor day and then time just speeds up - Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and a ton of birthdays in between.

Here are the September holidays. Some of these were custom made for me I think, lol. Because this is my favorite post each month I will be giving away a little RAK, just leave a comment on this post so I know you came by and your name will be entered into a drawing to be held Monday,September 3, 2012.

September 3 - Labor Day First Monday of month
September 4 - Newspaper Carrier Day
September 5 - Be Late for Something Day
September 5 - Cheese Pizza Day
September 6 - Fight Procrastination Day
September 6 - Read a Book Day
September 9 - Grandparent's Day - first Sunday after Labor Day
September 9 - Teddy Bear Day
September 10 - Swap Ideas Day
September 11 - Make Your Bed Day
September 12 - Chocolate Milk Shake Day
September 13 - Positive Thinking Day
September 15 - Make a Hat Day
September 16 - National Women's Friendship Day - third Sunday in September
September 18 - National Cheeseburger Day
September 19 - International Talk Like A Pirate Day
September 21 - International Peace Day
September 22 - Business Women's Day
September 23 - Checkers Day
September 25 - National Comic Book Day
September 28 - National Good Neighbor Day - Always September 28, previously the 4th Sunday in month

Flower pot card at the Atria & Anything Goes

Did I ever tell you that I teach scrapbooking/arts and crafts classes twice a month at an Assisted Living Facility called the Atria. It is a very nice place and the staff does an excellent job providing a nice variety of entertainment. When scheduling my classes I know better than to interfere with three things, live performers, cocktail hour (oh yes, they love to drink) and Bingo, lol. One day when I remember I will take pictures during class.

For this week's class we made flower pot greeting cards. I had a very good class and everyone participated and got very creative with their cards. This is the one I made as a sample using DCWV Garden Party. I really have to remember to take pictures of their creations to share. I am also entering this card into the Simon Says Anything Goes challenge, you still have time to join in.

Finally..............................

I have completed a challenge BEFORE the deadline! I am a big fan of Brenda's and Rochelle's layouts so when I saw they were having a combined challenge I was determined to join in. Then the cherry on top was getting the Splash collection by Little Yelow Bicycle in my August Scrap-Room kit. So I put all of this goodness together and created this layout of my nephews in their new pool.

The sketch was fun and funky and went perfectly with my photo! For Rochelle's layering challenge I used a small piece of chipboard, a button and some bakers twine. It accented the top of the layout nicely. I used a couple of my Papertrey Ink Dies (the doily and the tab) and the Splash collection was awesome to work with, the colors are bright and the embellies are just too cute.

This sketch is being entered into -

Granddiva's August Sketch Challenge

Rochelle's Layered Embellishment Challenge

Thank You and I'm Back!

Thank you so much for your caring, supportive and loving words of encouragement! I am so grateful to be a part of this wonderful scrapping community, you ladies are amazing. The funeral is over and today my daughter said "life seems strange now, Aunt Bert came to EVERYTHING!" Case in point, here is a little thumbnail (wish we had the original!)of my Aunt at my niece's bridal shower with the stripper, OH she was the life of the party that night- she said she wanted to see what he was working with, lol.



Last night since we had tickets already me, my sisters and my cousins went to see Mary J Blige and D'Angelo in concert and then back to the house for a good old fashioned house party. I got home at 2:30 a.m. I haven't done that in soooo long that i am exhausted today, lol. But after maybe another short nap I will be scrapping! I still have time to enter some August challenges, keep your fingers crossed!

Today I Celebrate You - Bertha Mae Gamble!

Saturday August 18, 2012 my Aunt passed away.

I have been walking around all week with a heavy heart. My bestie Mika got it correct when she said it was like losing my mother again but this is a little different. My Aunt Bert was my friend. I come from an old-fashioned Southern family where a child stayed in a child's place and since my mother died when I was 17 she never got to know me as an adult but my Aunt Bert did. She saw me become a mother and a wife. She supported me through my downs and celebrated my highs with me. She was a strong soul and always optimistic. She was super funny, especially when she had a little "taste" of Southern Comfort with me. She would attend any and every family graduation, bridal shower, recital, party, reunion whatever as long as her health would allow her to. She shared stories of the South, my mother, my family and just life in general. She loved to talk and she treated me like an adult. I got angry with her once for telling something that I told her in confidence but now I realize her telling what was going on in everyone's lives is what held our family together and now it is on us to keep in touch with one another. She was home, you know that comfortable warm place

where you know that you are safe. Her house, although small, was the best place for family gatherings. So much of my life has revolved around her and her family that I just feel a void. Today is the funeral where her body is laid to rest but she will forever live in me because she has truly made me the woman that I am today. I saw her the day before she died and she perked up a little when she knew that it was me and she said,Aunt Bert is a little down, I am old, I am old" and I as watched her struggle to breathe I knew it was just a matter of time. Today even as the tears fall from my eyes I am celebrating my Aunt Bertha Mae Gamble, a truly strong black woman, mother of seven, friend and neighbor to many, whose love was too great for this earth!

Thursday Tibits

Got my Scrap-room kit yesterday and I am very happy! Woodland Park collection is gorgeous, I can't wait to work with it! This is a sign you do not want to see first thing in the morning when you are already running late, carrying a lot of bags and don't feel like walking up the stairs, ugggggh!

Good to have a friend that is a fisherman! Here is the catch of the day - Broiled Bluefish cooked in a dill sauce with fresh Jersey tomatoes, yummy!

My latest layout, my love affair with MME continues.........................

Scrapping the Alphabet N = Numbers

Out of all the millions and kazillions of paper collections that I DO have, I do not have any paper collections that start with the letter N (and neither does Mika), can you believe that? So we substituted the letter N for paper with numbers on it. Lucky for me MME released this pretty enumerated patterned paper as a part of the Sweetest Thing collection and I, being such a savvy shopper, purchased it at the CKC convention. This is my daughter at the creek, I mean really who get's "photo ready" dressed up to go to the creek to catch fish and tadpoles................ummm my teenager, lol.
And here is another card for the monthly challenge on scrapbook.com based on a sketch posted in the forum. Slowly but surely I am getting a few projects done.

Can I Get a Refill?

I love music, all kinds and especially new artists. There is a young lady dropping her first album today named Elle Varner and I am already a fan of her voice. In her song "Refill" she equates falling for a man to a drink at the bar. One of my favorite lines (because I think it is sexy, lol) is -

I need a shot of

You on the rocks

Cause I'm down to my very last drop

Lol, what does this have to do with scrapping......absolutely nothing except that it puts me in a party mood which gets my mojo dancing and shouting! Last night I was able to knock out two cards for the monthly card challenge on scrapbook.com.

The first card is a school themed card using Scenic Route Appleton scraps. I cut the apple out of cork and stamped the white A+ on black for a kind of chalkboard effect. the school stamps are from TPC studio.

Then next one is inspired by a photo of an antique typerwriter. I used the notebook border punch, added a paper clip and used some scrap patterned paper. The top priority sticker is from October Afternoon 9-5 and the typewriter and pin are from the Lawn Fawn stamp set. I added some glossy accent to the push pin and stickles to the typerwriter keys, it is a nice effect IRL.

Legal Robbery!

Happy Monday or as I like to call it............"I don't feel like going to work day", lol. I don't know why but every Monday I get up and act like going to work is something new. Today was even more hectic because my co-worker called out and I walked in to a load of problems and glitches. Now that my day is calming down and lunch time is nearing I figured it would be a good time to check in with my blogland peeps. I hope everyone had a great weekend, mine was good. My baby girl came home from college for a visit this weekend and my grandson came over for a visit yesterday. Unfortunately he is in his biting phase and being a bit aggressive. He had us on our p's and q's all day long.
Saturday I was robbed! (okay let me clarify) - I went food shopping on Saturday and conducted a social experiment. I kept exact track of my spending because I wanted to know when I reached $100. Well here it is - $100 dollars in groceries in Philadelphia. My husband says that the jelly put it over the top and yes there are mostly meats in the cart but I have to tell you that my cart isn't even halfway full. Food prices are just high and the packaging is getting smaller and smaller. I do shop at the butcher shops also but a lot of times if you compare pound for pound prices the savings just are not there. So needless to say I felt victimized as I left the market, next time I am filing a police report to see if I can get anyone's attention, lol.


On another note I have a confession. This show is my newest shameful indulgence. As much as I would like to permanently swear off so-called reality shows (I mean whose reality is it when you have producers editing everything?) I am hooked on this series. It started one day at the salon while I was getting a pedicure and then escalated when I found all of the past seasons on the internet! If you have never seen it, I can't describe it any other way than "Messiness in its finest form".


Stay tuned for some layouts this weeks, the clouds are clearing up and the sun is shining so I should be able to get some good photos soon.

Happy "I need to finish this friggin' layout" Day!

Okay that is not really a holiday, it is just the way I feel almost every day, lol. So without further ado (whatever that is, lol) here is your list of not-so-usual holidays for this month. Happy August!!!!!! (side note: have you ever tried to google any of these days, you would be surprised at the level of celebration for some of these - it is really interesting)

August 3 - National Watermelon Day
August 6 - Wiggle Your Toes Day
August 5 - Friendship Day and Sisters Day
Friendship Day is dedicated to the bond of friendship and companionship and is celebrated on the first Sunday of August every year. The concept of Friendship Day originated in USA in 1935 and is now celebrated worldwide. This is the day when we express our love for our friends by exchanging gifts like cards, flowers, bracelets and friendship bands.
Several countries across the world have adopted the tradition of dedicating a day to friends and with the commercialisation of Friendship Day has gained new heights. The festival is enthusiastically celebrated amongst the youth, and exchange of friendship bands is the highlight of the day where friends compete with each other as to who gets the maximum number of bands. Some people also throw Friendship Day parties to enjoy the day with friends.
It is the perfect occasion to show your friends that you care and to recollect sweet memories of the time spent together. True friends are hard to find, so if you have one, make sure that you let your friend know on this day how much they mean to you.

Sister's Day celebrates being or having a sister. That means a lot of us will celebrate this special day.
Sisters are truly special and unique. Sure, we may argue and fight. But, when it comes right down to it, sisters are the best, the very best.
Celebrate Sister's Day by spending time with your sister. Make it a special day in some way for you, and for her.
August 9 - National Polka Day
August 10 - Lazy Day
August 11 - Son's and Daughter's day
August 13 - National Left-handed Day
August 14 - National Creamsicle Day
August 15 - National Relaxation Day
August 16 - National Tell a Joke Day
August 19 - National Aviation Day
August 20 - National Radio Day
August 22 - National Tooth Fairy Day
August 25 - Kiss and Make up Day
August 26 - National Dog Day
August 27 - Global Forgiveness Day
August 30 - Frankenstein Day