Dreaming through the long winters

I just recently had a garage sale... and I unearthed boxes and boxes of Cd's while looking for stuff to sell.  I came across this one, and I can't believe I didn't just carry it with my wherever I went.  Because I love it that much.
I remember where I was when I first heard it.  I was in Barnes & Noble. They were playing it throughout the store.  I went up to the register and said, "I have to have this cd, who is it????"And so I bought it and it makes me feel like I just drank a bottle of wine.

The last song, Recessional, might be my favorite song ever.

The whole cd is beautiful...  you just can't go near it.  So a Miller High Life toast to Vienna Teng this evening. THANK YOU! I love you!


On a side note, I had a dream the other night that I went to a Long Winter's concert.  And certain people had special passes to not only meet John Roderick, but to lay on him.  Ha... lay on him while he was on stage.  I don't know how he played with people laying all over him, but somehow the music kept on...
Anyway, I had one of these "special" passes, and when it got to be my turn, somehow something happened and the one of the guys in the band got sick.  Anyhow, it must've been a keyboard player cos next thing I know, they're asking me if I can read these charts... so I say, "SURE!"  So I guess not getting to lay on John was redeemed by getting to be in the band.  I wonder if they kept me around?  ha...  DAMN waking up always gets in the way of AWESOME happenings....  I at least got to hear myself play a couple tunes... wish I remembered which ones....

Beach Baby

I Really Wish my printer WAsn'T out of black ink right now. And I really wish my camera wasn't dead.

  So ...  I may have said this before, but it's hard to get good pics of paper art...  so forgive these bad pics, but I'm sure you get the idea. The roof of my mouth is burned from frozen pizza.  HA, that doesn't make sense...  you're asking me how frozen pizza could burn me...  

YOU KNOW HOW!  Don't EVEN!  

ok, I need to go fix things now.  like... my ice maker... my life... the second drawer of the bathroom vanity...

Customer 2.51

Customer 2.51 is allowing me to post the progress of her scrapbook.  So I am going to do just that in this particular post.

Here are some visuals:

Aren't her kiddies cute!  So this book is going to focus on the wittle girly...  but some brother is allowed here and there...

My favorite thing I recently discovered:  GLUE DOTS ...   make attaching ribbon so much less messy...
And no need to point out, I always overdo brads...  *sigh*  ...  and flowers...  and ...  marshmellows...

Anyway... can I just say that I CAN'T  WAIT TILL HALLOWEEN!

If anyone has any ideas for my daughter's costume, pour em in... coz I have no idea right now...
She'll be almost 14 months by then...

An excuse for more pink stuff!

Can I just tell you how much I love the dimensional elements!  (The big circle thingie)
And I think I might stamp myself a pancake breakfast tomorrow if I'm not careful! So to tie together those two sentences, the circle is colored pink with pencil, then I took the waterbrush and smooshed the color a bit to make it look more water colory...  (yes... I make up words just like everyone else)...  then I stamped over it with some wordy stamp. And TADA! Antiquey style circle thingie!!! Compliments little Norah's cute as ham face nicely!


Ok... I really just can't think of anything to say about these pages so I'm babbling.  But here they are... even for just some ideas for the ladies out there.  Hmmm... I'm sure they exist, but I might point out that I've never scrapbooked with a guy... or had him say "YES! THAT SOUNDS AWESOMELY FUNTASTIC!" when I asked him to come over and scrapbook with me.

And my might turned into an I did.

GOODNIGHT FRIENDS!  ('nother page below)

ACEO cards

Art Card, Editions, and Originals.

Also known as the ATC - artist trading card.

Art small enough to be mailed.  Small enough to be traded.  Apparently, according to Wiki- they started in the 90's in switzerland.  So this little idea isn't that old.  And I must say I've spent a lot of time admiring other artist's ATC's, but furnishing none of my own.

But now I've finally started, and I posted some on etsy for trading or selling.

they're getting so popular now, that art companies and the sort are making a variety of holders just for these little mini arts. And you can find a bunch of magazines and books entirely regarding ATC's.

I treat em' as mini collages most of the time.  Though occasionally I've just made them entirely a small painting. But really you could do anything.  As long as it fits on a 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 card, go for it.  

Tastefully Scrappy

One day in last saturday land, Fitty and Ninny had a Shin type of Dig.  We tasted and we scrapped... and we shared it with our FRENS!

So thanks to the friends and family who participated, it was a messy and delicious!

Here are some of my latest pages. 

This little cutie above Lukey is so photogenic!  So making scrapbooks revolving around him is way too easy.

this page uses some  DISTRESSING TOOLS,  STAMPS, Dimensional Elements and some Filigree charms.  Also brads, conchos, ribbon, and of course neutral papers and cardstock.

The dimensional elements (LUKE) I covered in paper, sanded with the micro files to make a nice and clean edge, and then stamped the top using VERSA MARK INK.  Then I brushed over the ink with chalk, and the pattern of the stamp sticks to the chalk so you can make it as subtle or strong as you like. Versa Mark ink is an invisible ink that lets you use a stamped image as a sorta glue.  You can chalk it or glitter it...  creates a really nice effect. I actually chalked Luke's name with two different colors, to bring a little contrast to the outer edge.

The EYELET TOOL makes it very easy to add eyelets and conchos to your page.  (shown above Luke's picture) The conchos are wide enough to fit a ribbon through. It's fun to use and makes for a very easy way to add interesting little touches.

And now Luke's all growed up! ha.. ok, not really but we jumped around 15 months in time...

 So when you've picked up your pics, and you're goin' through and you notice a series like this...  It's pretty much a no-brainer for a page.

I had em all kinda spread out at first and then said...  Hey, why not just shover em' right up against one another. Yes, I meant shover.  And actually... I lied.  I never spread em out. I kinda knew they wanted to be together.

So, needless to say, he's enjoying some cake... and the cake is what makes these pics so charming. So I decided to focus on that.  And I thought the flowers appropriate because he was in my mom's flower filled yard whilst he enjoyed this cake.

So...  nothing crazy again...

Just some paper, ribbon, stamps, and these things.  The stamps were little flowers, and I cut them out and pasted em' on to make em' pop a little. That's one of my new favorite things to do with stamps.  Cut em' out and they make a 3D focus to your page, or card. Color em' with pencils, chalk, or Markers if you like. 

The bottom of the page was actually done by just taking the whole ink pad in hand and dragging it over the paper. Kinda in a way so the edge would make a grassy type line here and there...

So that's it for the Luke update.

I am now going to practice my can crushing and hit the hay!

Check out Ninny's Tastefully Simple PHOODS! Our party was a double play featuring tastefully simple food. I recommend the beer bread, nana's apple cake... any of the spices...    etc..  It's really all good.  And quick and easy.  

Neat Ideas from CTMH

So Close to my Heart makes a lot of neat little things like this besides just your run of the mill scrapbooks.

I ended up with a lot of nice photos from Easter, and I didn't want to just put em' in a book, so I decided to feature some of them in this Acordian style scraptastic thingie.  ha...

You can see the various items here: 3D Creations  The one I used here is called "Memory Showcase", it comes in two sizes at the bottom of that page I linked.

I didn't really get too fancy with this, I wanted it to be pretty clean. I did some stamping, included some dimensional elements on the first and last pages... and brads and ribbon.. etc.

Anyway, it makes a great gift as well as something different to display around the house.
Perfect if you want to isolate an event, or a tribute to someone, or even a group of family photos to throw on the mantel.

Anyhoo, night night folks :)

Yes, I had two bowls for dinner: One filled with cheerios, and one filled with peas.
 There's no rules when it comes to PHOOD!