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We've been watching Chad's parent's Miniature Schnauzer for the past 2 weeks while they're out of town. They like to joke with him and say it's his sister. Anyways, I wanted to do a photo or two of her to give to them when they get back. I'm very happy with how this turned out...I've really been into the glowy type black and whites lately. I darkened in the background so it resembled a billowy velvet background. And it looks awesome printed out. I HIGHLY recommend Kodak Matte Paper Heavy Weight. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this paper for black and whites. It's okay for color, too, but it depends on the print....color takes more ink, so it tends to warp the paper. I got mine at Office Max, and it comes in a few sizes, even 12x18 (I think that's the bigger size...?).
I finally broke down and subscribed to the Poppy Ink kit! I haven't been buying anything in the way of scrapping supplies lately...I kinda like getting kits, cause you get a little of everything. Plus I've enjoyed scrapping with arts and crafts supplies and found objects, too. So I'm doing pretty well with this, Jenni Bowlin, and Tie One On.
The kits are way cute, and more on the eclectic side! It all comes packeaged in a big plastic bag with the little tag tied on. We got 10 sheets of different patterned papers from Urban Lily and American Crafts, 5 sheets of Bazzill, fabric and instructions for making fabric fowers, lots of cool ribbon, two aplha sticker set, and lots of other goodies! Not to mention the gallery on the site is always to die for. Those are some talented lades! Can't wait to start playing today. I've already got alot of ideas swirling around in my head.
This week for Studio Friday, we share something that evolved into something completely different than we had planned. "I'm sure we've all had a moment when we're creating something we've had in mind and then something totally different results by accident."
These photos are one of my Aha moments. A little over a year ago, I was reading a book about sparking creativity, and it suggested playing around with scanning random items on your scanner. I was expecting to do just some funky, fun stuff (which I did), but these ones actually turned out GOOD. They're all done with nothing but a scanner, and some slight tweaking (plus B&W conversion) in photoshop. The lily was accepted into a local art exhibit, and the sand dollar one was my most popular print at a small art show I participated in. I guess you could say this was my first venture into digital....the 'gateway' experiment, hehee.
So here's my latest masterpiece (hehee)! I had this picture of my Dad and me, and thought it would make a cute gift. (Yes, Momma, this is a COPY!) I really hope he likes it! It's 8x10, and will be framed. I adapted the quote from one I found online. The original said "To her the name of Father was another name for love." -Fanny Fern. This just fit me better. I also found him a small cast iron skillet (he uses them for campfire cooking and such), but I think maybe I'll wait and give that to him later. It'd be awful heavy in a Priority mail box (plus it might break the frame!). What do you have planned for the Daddies in your life?
I just wanted to share some of the stuff I picked out for our bathroom. I went for a kinda cottage-y look. When I saw this faucet, I fell in LOVE. It's the coolest faucet I've ever seen. I love that it looks like an old water pump:
Here's the matching shower/tub set:
And here's the toilet I picked:
I got these pictures online...my bathroom isn't actually done yet. I couldn't find a photo of the cabinet online, but it's white with beadboard doors, and I got knobs the color of the faucets (brushed nickel). I'll take a picture of the cabinet and the tile later. Chad'll be finishing the tear-out next week, and we're getting all the tile put in next weekend. Right now, we're just with out a sink in the bathroom, so we're just using the kitchen sink (yep, our house only has ONE bathroom!), which is no big deal. I just propped the old mirror behind the sink and I'm all set! I'll also snap a photo of the bathroom now, even though it's halfway torn apart, so everyone can get an idea of the 'before'.
This is what I received for having my name drawn from the Stitching Challenge on the Freestyle Blog. A ton of different Autumn Leaves papers, 48 sheets to be exact (yes, I was a dork and counted them!), including some yummy Rhonna Farrer papers! There's even some Dad papers in there, too, which is perfect timing for Father's Day. I love those papers cut into shapes... I can definitely see myself wanting more of those.
I was also able to get ahold of some of those elusive White Uniball Signo Pens. I can't wait to try them out. I found them in stock at Jet Pens. So, I've got lots of goodies to play with...it's awesome that everything showed up just in time for the weekend!
Chad is starting to tear all the tile out of our bathroom as I type this. We're completely re-doing everything but the tub. I picked out alot of neutral stuff, but we got some glass inserts for the walls, and a cool tumbled marble tile for the floor. Not to mention the most AWESOME sink faucet I've ever seen.....the water pours over the top, looking like an old water pump. I forgot to take before pictures this morning (this house was built in the late 60's, I'm sure you can imagine the lovely Harvest Gold floor tile...but I had made it look cute!), but I'll definitely post after pics. Everything will be done in about a week, so I'm looking forward to that!
Here's another collage I made on Saturday. I didn't do much else...I had another KILLER migraine on Friday, and I was out of work. I did this in stages on Saturday, because I didn't really feel 100% until yesterday afternoon. This migraine thingy is weird- I'll get a couple fairly close together, then I won't get another one for over a year (not that I'm complaining!). I just wish I knew what set them off! Luckily I had called my Doctor after that one I had a couple weeks ago, and they refilled my perscription for my headache pills.
ANYWAYS- I'm really getting a kick out of doing these collages. I have so many ideas floating around in my head. I do want to sit down and do some more Layouts, too. I came across another Design Team that I'm pretty sure I'm going to submit for. I just have to wait for the right ones to come along, and this one looks like it fits me pretty well. There's still a couple weeks until the call closes, so I figured I'd wait and see if I come up with something else I LOVE.
I was so inspired after reading the first Collage Discovery book by Claudine Hellmuth, that I wanted to create some mixed media collages of my own, and give photo transfers a try. I'm so thrilled with it! And the best part is, you use photocopies so you don't ruin the original photo.
AND, something cool: Remember how I posted earlier about submitting my hand stitched layout for the Freestyle Challenge? Well, my name was drawn for the prize (not sure what I get, but I know it'll be cool!) and they posted my layout on the Freestyle Blog! I don't even care that it was random....I am just awed to see my LO on a site with all those talented ladies! Yay! My sister's famous, now. Hehee.
I was in the mood for photography today, and I got some really good shots! I'm really finding that if I don't try so hard, and don't worry about if a shot is going to turn out, they DO turn out, and I'm much happier with them. Make sense? So anyways, here are a couple of my favorites. I'm going to get a big print of the ribbon one made for my craft room.
I can also now post the sign I made my mom for her birthday...it's a big one for her, everyone send her many wonderful 'Happy 50th Birthday' vibes tomorrow! I love you Momma! So, I was inspired by Ali Edwards on this one...I think it's something we all need to remember and have hanging on our wall:
And can I just say how much I LOVE black with white polka-dots? Whether it's paper, ribbon, whatever! It just looks so happy.
We're planning on going out to a friend's house tomorrow to hang out by the pool...we're supposed to get rain, but we'll see how it goes. Have a lovely Memorial Day, everyone, if I don't post tomorrow!
Favorite hairstyle you ever had: I LOVED my hair my senior year of high school when I used to wear it straight. The photo above is my Senior yearbook photo. My hair was long and all pretty when it was straight...but ALOT of work. My mom had to help me if I wanted it to look good. Wash hair, blow dry straight (she had to wear gloves because my hair had to be so hot to get it straight!), then go back over with a flat iron, the curl the ends with a curling iron, or put hot curlers in the whole thing (like we did here). But if it was damp or rainy....can we say AFRO?! Chad likes my hair curly, though, and DETESTS it when I straighten it. I guess I just want what I don't have! I've learned to love my curls.
Favorite song on the radio that you just love right now: Well, I listen to XM, so the songs I hear on the radio are a little different. I lovin' 'Tension' by Aqueduct (this week, anyways). It's kinda funky, but my kinda thing. I just downloaded the album off itunes, and I just keep listening to it!
Favorite TV show: Desperate Housewives, VERY closely followed by the original CSI.
Favorite musical artist: This one is always hard for me, as I don't have just ONE favorite. As I said above, I'm really digging Aqueduct right now, as well as Neko Case, Sufjan Stevens, Annie, and Archer Prewitt. If I had to pick a band whose every album I have and would buy without hearing...that would be Modest Mouse.
Favorite thing to eat for supper: The first would be Mac and Cheese. The Kraft Deluxe kind. That's my comfort food, and the thing I can always count on being able to eat if I don't feel well. My second all-time favorite would be Dirty Rice- that Zattarain's kind that comes in a box- made with sausage (the kind in the plastic wrapper that you cut into breakfast patties) instead of hamburger meat. Yes, I can appreciate a home-cooked meal from scratch, but for some reason, my favorites are straight from the processed food isle.
Favorite movie: Again, I don't have just one. My most long time favorites are 'Monty Python and the Holy Grail' and 'Yellow Submarine'. I have recently added 'Napoleon Dynamite' to that list. Any movie that has a ton of one-liners that you are quoting YEARS after it comes out is a good movie to me. Hehee. Yeah, I like the crazy ones. Oh, and of COURSE I like all the Harry Potter movies.
Best date you ever went on: That would have to be my third date with Chad. We just did some totally random stuff, like go to Wal-Mart, watch a movie, and play scrabble at his place. We decided to walk across the street and go for a walk on the beach at night. It was January, so it was still WAY cold in Fernandina. He gave me one of his coats that was WAY too big for me. We were standing on the beach, and he asked if he could give me a kiss. Our first kiss! It was wonderful...and not to be corny, but you DO hear music in your head when you've found the perfect man. Hmmmm....so dreamy.
Your most favorite friend: My family. Don't get me wrong, I love my unrelated friends, but I seriously LOVE hanging out with either of my parents, especially since I don't get to see them all too often. My sister is 8 years younger than me, and we have ALWAYS been close- I hate that I'm missing her High School years, and all her Horse/Barrel Racing/Roping stuff. And I'll never pass up an opportunity to get to spend time with Chad!
The best Christmas present you ever received to date: Well, there's two I'd like to put here. Christmas 1994, when I was in 9th grade, my parents got me my VERY FIRST CD player. I just remember how excited I was...I even remember the CD's I got: Dookie by Greenday, In Utero by Nirvana, and Nirvana: MTV Unplugged. Yeah, I was going through my 'freak' phase. I still listen to them , though! The other one would be Christmas 2001, when Chad got me my Nikon N80 film SLR. I only had an old manual up till then, so this was like FLIPPIN' AWESOME! He gave me a new camera bag, which I thought was for the old camera, and, get this: a CHIA PET! I was kinda like, okaaayyy. Just before he walked out the door to go back to work he said, "You have one more present, but you have to FIND it!". And when I found it, there was my camera and a new lens!
Man, I am so long winded on these challenges, but they're fun! Hope I didn't wear anyone out with all my babbling...
I did this one of my sister today. Didn't get to do any others, cause this one was pretty time consuming, but well worth it! I checked out the FreeStyle Blog and this week's challenge is hand stitching. Perfect timing considering I had already planned to do it on this page...cool! The flowers are cut out from Gin-X paper, then I hand stitched the swirls. The other stitching is machine sewn. I can't tell you how much I love these layouts I did this weekend!
Hello everyone! Work has been so crazy this passed week since we got back from vacation. I still need to go through and organize my pictures. I really didn't take as many as I would have liked, but I was too busy enjoying myself! I discovered a new favorite artist in one of the galleries down there, too. Her name is Suzy Pena- her website is SuzyPena.com. Her work is absolutley amazing. I think she does it all on photoshop. I got a couple small things (I'll post those later), but I'm definitely going to save up for a big one.
We got to do all kinds of fun stuff. We went out on a big catamaran for a snorkeling trip. I've never snorkeled before, so that was sooo cool! Poor Chad, there was a whole SCHOOL of Tarpon just taunting him. He'll get a big one soon...! For me, the highlight was that we got to see a stage production of Rocky Horror! OMG it was SO AWESOME! Chad and I were 'Virgins' to the show, so we didn't dress up. Seriously, Key West has got to be one of the best places to see that. They're so laid back and NOT uptight about stuff like that. It completely amazed me how those guys could dance in those platform spike heels.
Okay, so I FINALLY got to scrap again yesterday! It's been almost a month since I've done a layout. Melissa (BellesMommy) organized Pub Day over at 2 Peas. It was an awesome all day crop with lots of challenges and RAKs. I've never done an online crop before, and I gotta say, it was SO much fun! I hope they do it often! I didn't get to participate in National Scrapbooking Day, so this was great for me. So, here's the layouts. I'm SO happy with them, I just can't stop looking at them!
This one was for the "Don't be Serious, Have fun with Yourself" challenge. These photos are from my senior year of High School- I was 16 in the top, and 17 in the bottom, but they were just perfect for this. I used alot of stuff from my Jenni Bowlin May kit here. I've only stitched on one page before, so I decided to give it a go again....I'm flippin' obsessed! Alot of my pages will probably be stitched now. One of the best comments I got was "This is an nice FreeStyle page you've got here!" How cool is that!? Okay, so here it is:
The next one was the "Defining Words" challenge. You take a photo of yourself or someone you love, and think of words that describe them. I've been wanting to scrap this photo, so I used it. Plus with Father's Day coming up, I've got Daddy on the brain. More stitching on this one...told you I was obsessed! Everything but the black MM stickers are from the Jenni Bowiln April kit.
I can only scrap until about 3pm today, though, because our friends (the ones whose daughter's wedding I photographed) are taking us out to dinner as a thank you. We're going to Buca di Beppo. World's best tiramisu, here I come! Yum!
Jenni Bowlin's May kit is up! I swear, each month is my new favorite! I just love how she photographs the kits, too- makes them EVEN MORE appealing. This one has so many flowers...right up my alley, and the colors are just gorgeous. Our embellishment boxes are just going to be crammed full this month with even more flowers. Mine should be waiting for me when I get back from vacation next Friday, just in time to scrap over the weekend before I have to go back to work.
My stack of 'To Do' stuff here at work is getting smaller and smaller- almost done. I have 1 kitchen to price, another to design and price, and 4 installation packets to do for smallish jobs...nothing too complicated. It will be so nice to leave here tomorrow and not have anything weighing on my mind.
I made this for a guy I work with who's retiring. He just LOVES his Ticonderoga pencils. He refuses to use anything else. So, I thought it would be funny (and useful!) to give him a big ol' cupful of them. There's 104 there. He's still going to be doing some pricing and sketches for us from NY, so he'll get plenty of use from them. He said he'll leave some to his kids and grandkids in his will. He got a real kick out of it. To make the 'plant stake' for the card, I just unfolded half of a large paper clip and stuck the end into one of the erasers, then clipped the card on. This would make a cute teacher gift, too- for those that have kids!
Another cool thing: Chad bought me an iPod on Saturday! I've been tooling around with the idea of just getting the 512MB shuffle (the cheapest one they make) so I could have some music at the gym. He got me the 60GB iPod video! Way cool. I have about 1/4 of all our CD's uploaded on it, and only have 2GB filled. And we have ALOT of CD's. Chad has every Jimmy Buffett CD ever released. Dude has released a CD (or two) almost every year since the early 70's. Such fun concerts...but that's off topic.
I have been so lax in my blogging lately! Work is super-nuts this week. I go on vacation next week (we're going down to Key West for a few days!) so that means getting LOTS of last minute stuff done. I've also been working away at home getting all the Mother's Day stuff done. My mom's is done...but I don't want to post it here, cause I don't want her to see it. I will say that it was inspired my Heidi Swapp's mother's day project, since my mom doesn't know who Heidi Swapp is (and DON'T YOU DARE google it, either, Momma! You have to wait. Neener, neener.)
I know my mom is sitting there thinking, "You little snot rag." Hehee.
