How Much is too Much?

Yay! Time to reveal...

... More soon. Too tired to think clearly.

My Word!

I can’t believe that Halloween is almost here, that Football season is under way, that the weather is no long 90 degrees outside, That leaves are falling, or that it’s time to start thinking about Christmas presents & cards. Yet I am thankful for all these things, because this is my favorite time of year. Hands down.


Time has flown since my last entry on this blog. Seriously where does the time go?

Wait. I know where it went… to my new latest obsession: twitter! Yep, I know it has been around a while, but I have only really started playing in it over the last 6 weeks. Thanks to my BFF, Whome, I have been introduced to some pretty amazing tweeps, and to a new to me social media obsession.

Bet you are wondering what I have been up to lately? Well in life, I have been busy dealing with stress. My grandmother passed away. My mom had her 2nd and 3rd breast biopsy in 2 years as well as Bra-c testing, and my dad was sick with food poisoning. Oh, and the weekend that this all happened, I had plans to visit Whome in Philly again. I did make it to Philly, and had a wonderful time with a bunch of new found friends, I spent some time with family reminiscing about Grandma, and after my return home, mom’s Testing’s came back Negative, and Dad is feeling much better.

Weight loss is moving slower than I want it to (true for everyone I think). I was inspired by a couple of friends that have personal trainers to try one out. So I met up with one at my gym and upon our first meeting she asked me about some of my fitness goals. My response: I want the “Victoria Secret Package.” She laughed, but I was only half joking. I know it’s not going to happen overnight, but I would like to look more like a fit and trim model, than a webble-wobble character. I have been hitting the gym a little harder over the last 2 weeks. I meet her again on the 25th, and I’ll let you know what happens, as it happens.

On the crafting front I’m thrilled that I have news: watch close now, on Oct 25th, I am going to be revealing my LO as a guest designer on the How Much is too Much challenge blog. I am super excited about this, since it the only crafty thing I have done since my last card reveal. Ok, ok. Admittedly this isn’t completely true, but I’m not ready to be posting Christmas cards yet, and My Step-daughter has not given me time to take senior portraits of her, and, *sigh*I have been a photo slacker. In general, my Creative mojo has been severely lacking!

Finally: More cards

It's been a while since there have been cards on this blog, but you are going to finally see some today!

 But first a quick catch up...

I have been selected to be a guest designer for the How Much Is Too Much? challenge blog! How excited am I? Very excited! Espically since I am more of a digi scrapper, and most people on the site, and that partake in the challenge are trying to use up their paper & element stash(es).  Look for my post on How Much is too much in October. As soon as I find out the official date, I will let you know, and I would love for you to play along! I'm afraid I can't share that LO with you until we are much closer to that date. Also, I recently participated in the digimorph at the Two peas in a bucket. A digimorph is much like a Digial scrapping version of the game "telephone". The group starts out with one person's layout, and it gets past to the next person who creates their layout using the LO of the person before thm as inspiration. On and On it goes until we are through the whole list, and then we reveal everyone's once everyone in the group finishes their LO's. I was near the end of the group, so it shouldn't be long until I can show you that LO too!

Ok,ok, now onto the cards...

Phew!

Feeling a little more caught up today! going to try and get some cards and layouts done today. Look for a post later!

10 things

Just a quickie entry to let you know that I have not dropped off the edge of the blogging world. I have just been busy,as so many others are as summer begins to draw to a close. This is the beginning of my favorite time of year. And until the weather starts to turn really nasty, toward the end of November, my posts will be a little sparse, as will my crafting creations.

Life recently has thrown me a curve ball that allows me to reexamine where I want to go in life, and how I think I might want to get there. Remember a post or 2 ago when I did the "Miss This" LO, about missing Lake life after I moved in with my boyfriend...Well the boyfriend is no more. There was nothing suspensful or dramatic about it ending. we just hit a snag. A big one. One we couldn't find a workable way around. So we parted as friends, with plans to stay in touch. Not sure what life is going to bring me next, but I'll starting figuring it out day by day.

As a picker upper I wanted to list 10 little or simple things that make me smile. I invite you to do the same.
1. Purring cat laying on my feet.
2. Dew covered spiderweb in the morning.
3. The smell of Gas & grass clippings
4. Driving with the windows down instead of the AC on on the car.
5. Singing, badly, to the radio or ipod.
6. Finishing a gym workout, covered in sweat.
7. Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.
8. Learning soemthing new.
9. Cleaning something cluttered (closet, basement ect,)
10. Reading

I am a slacker.

Yup. That's me! Especially lately when it comes to crafting! Summer life is just too busy. But tonight while waiting for DBF to come home from work, I did finish an almost done layout, and completed one from start to finish.  I also have one or 2 LO's from the weekend at Whome's, that are on my laptop, versus on my PC. and I have yet to unpack the laptop since coming home. So I have to get those posted too. And I know I have 6 or 7 cards sitting only craft table waiting to be photographed so that I can get them up here. I'll do my best to have done by the end of the week.  I'll be home more during the weekend as I'm dog sitting for my parents while they are away on vacation.

First up is this weeks How Much is too Much challenge # 141: Use 5 patterned papers and 3 different letter types. This was almost too easy! I think I have 4 different letters, and 5 patterned papers (6 if you count the "Cali" as patterned)

And next is a LO I started a few weeks ago. As I get closer to moving in with DBF, I started thinking about what I'm going to be leaving behind. And the beautiful day on the lake is only the beginning.

The weekend. In detail.

Philadelphia. Visiting Whome.

The trip down was long. 6 and a half hours for what is normally a 4 hour drive. I got boxed out of taking the Tappanzee bridge by a bunch of trucks. I was literally in a truck bubble. So I was forced to go over the GW bridge, I was momentairly entertained but a while Ultima in front of me. there were 4 guys in the car, and in one of the stopped monoent in the stop and go traffic, The passenger jumped out of the car, hopped over to the trunk popped it grabbed  a few cans of bud light and jumped back in the car again. I had to laugh about that, if I had 3 other people in my car, my friends would have done the same thing!

Yesterday, went shopping. Victoria Secret, Best Buy, Macy's. Also went to see the new Leonardo Dicaprio film, Inception. What an awesome movie!! And this morning, went to a Team in Training  training event at Valley Forge. While  Whome trained I took a 40 minute walk. It was a beautiful cool morning. And I got to see 4 deer too! Wish I had my camera. Then out to breakfast. What an amazing, upbeat group of people!  And it all helps benifit the Lukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Want to know? Visit Who Me, Run? to follow her latest adventures. Updates about funraising and where and when she'll be racing next!

I also have some exciting news! I have been selected to be a guest designer for the How Much is Too Much Challenge blog. So keep a look out for an October date.

Seems Like...

I'm doing a lot of catch up on this blog. While definitely blogging more than I have in the past few years, I never seem to get to things on here as fast as I want to. Bear with me a bit, I'm still working on a different balance to my life.

I have started really working at losing weight. putting my eating choices and excersize time first, instead of last... basically making my health and my weight a priority. For more info, and to see how I'm doing, check out my new page "The Hard Truth".

I hope by the end of the weekend to have a couple new layouts to show you, and a few new cards as well. Last Saturday was an extremely hot and muggy day here, so after inside chores were done,  there was nothing that could be done outside (it's a really bad day here, when, at 8am it was at 92% humidity and 79 degrees F) except to play in the air conditioning. I have been on a birthday making card kick after running into 5 work b-days in July that I didn't have cards for.

Also, a quick reminder that August 1st is a Pagan holiday, the first of the harvest festivals, and I'm looking forward to a healthy feast of fresh garden veggies (my peas and beans are ready as are the first of the cherry tomatoes, as well as the raspberries, the first couple of zucchini's and cucumbers have matured, too!) and this should fit right into my diet. it will also include the best carrot cake ever (from my aunt's recipe) for desert.

And on the scrapping side, August 1st should also be the release of the new Songbird Avenue charity collab kit, and The Daily Digi also releases the next collection of kits, know as "the Digi files" that day too. The How Much is too Much challenge blog also is back to having a new challenge every week instead of every other week, check them out on Monday to see the next challenge, I know they would love to have more people play along! Mojo Monday also has a card design challenge every Monday too, and this Monday, being the 1st Monday of the month means their challenge will also be a contest. If you are looking for some great inspiration, you should check this out! The designs they come up with from a single sketch is amazing. Page maps too should be releasing another month of page sketches for both paper and digital designs. Finally, the Wacom Pen Scrappers blog should have a new free kit and a challenge at the beginning of August too!

And have you been following the Paper Clipping Roundtable or the Paper Clipping Roundtable Digi show Pod casts, they are really cool! Highly suggest checking them out for a few laughs, some great info, and some really cool picks of the week, and both shows are related, the discussions are very different! You can access these pod casts through the iTunes store or through the Paper clipping website.

Hacking Hijinx

My primary e-mail account was hacked this afternoon. Thankfully the damage seems to have been minimzed but quick action, and a variety of different passwords. how ever it will take me a few days to make sure everything is sorted properly. I hope to be posting again shortly, but need to make sure that nothing else was compromised first.

Heard About this?

I know you savy computer blogging types have it all over me! But here it is, just in case you have never seen or heard of it before... May your day be a little better than it was!

1000 Awesome Things.

This crafter is alive!

I know you have been waiting to see some crafting goodies from me. I've been talking about making cards, and about that fun 4th of July Sail across the sound.. so here it is.. the digi LO...

And 2 birthday cards, too!

see I haven't been completly absent when it comes to crafting... just a bit slower due to out of state family visiting for 10 days.

...and the show goes on.

Life, that is. All the worlds a stage, says Shakespeare. And he is SO right. And while life happend I don't always have time to post, but at least it makes it onto my todo list even if I don't always have time to get to it. I am kind of enviable of those that get in a post everyday, or every other day. So here's what been going on with me...
4th of July weekend: went sailing, didn't being a camera. and of course we sailed someplace new, we went to Montauk, NY by crossing Long Island Sound. I do have a funky digi layout of this now complete but it's on my DBF's pc, rather than on my laptop. Found out brother has gotten the new iPhone 4, I'm now insanely jealous, I spend an hour oh him phone playing the Angry Birds app/game! And I'm sure the my bff, Megan will soon follow suit.

Tuesday: I worked the early morning shift at with for a coworker who has to babysit her grandbaby last minute. Also, my sister flew in from Colorado with her youngest son for a week visit. Disgustingly hot and humid enegry zapping weather has moved into the area. due to stay around until the weekend. Ugh.

Wednesday: despit wathering, all plants drooping from heat. Lawn more brown than green, burned from sun & heat. Tomatoes forming, and Peas appearing on the vines. also rasberries ripening like mad.

Thursday: Have been partaking in a free card and computer tricks class over at JessicaSprague.com. I decided that instead of just watching other poeple make computer generated goodness, that I would print up something too... Went to load the printer software on my "new-er" laptop, the one that has my Photoshop Elements on it just to find out that my HP c3100 isn't compatable with Vista. "$#$& @!" We someone on freesyslve is going to get a decent scanner and printer! but now I have to shell our $$ for a new printer. Anyway, was unable to print or partake in the class.

Friday: I found out today, after forgetting to set the alarm and oversleeping by 45 min's that there were 3 coworkers that had birthday's this week. It was probably a good thing I didn't know ahead of time because my b-day card stash is down to nothing! AAGGHH! time for some major card making... (but no time to do it!) Also went for a hike at Devil's Hopyard for a little while, instead of going to the gym. The air was like breathing through soup, even at 7:30 in the evening.  I did bring my camera, but there wasn't enough light at that time in the deep woods to photgraph anything well. But the company was great, and the stream water was clear and cold when we waded through after hiking up, and back down a big hill.

Saturday: to the gym, sore after the hike. Doing shores. cleaning, laundry ect. Also got 2 cards made. Will show you soon! Also downloading the new ipod 4 update (seems to be taking a while). Tonight's plans canceled by the weather - heat and humidity relieving rain has arrived,  in a big way. That also means tonight's plans for watching the New London's fireworks from the boat is out too.

Tomorrow plans: Family picnic at the yacht club. sun, sand, sailing, photos. alcohol. Current weather prediction: perfect day, or so they say.. but then.. we'll have to wait and see!

Tagged.. on Indpendence day weekend...

I've been tagged by Megan.. So anyone coming from her blog.. here are 7 things you most likely don't know about me...

1. I'm on Team Vampire. Yes, really. Hands down. No, you cannot make me change my mind. No it does not have to do with the twilight series, most of those are just band wagon fans. Give me Dracula, Blade, The Lost boys, Buffy & Angel, The Underworld Trilogy, and Anne Rice. They and many others were here long before Twilight. And yes, I like Twilight too, but not so much Edward... I'm all about Emmet, Alice, and Jasper!

2.  I didn't get a car for my 16th birthday. I didn't get my licence either. I got my licence at 19, and for my 16th birthday I bought a Catamaran ( Cat-a-ma-ran -a low to the water dual hulled boat with a tarp in the middle) and my Step dad taught me how to sail it. It cost $300 and about $500 in repairs to make it sail-able.

3. I am a massage therapist. However with the economy so tight right now, picking are a bit slim so I work in a doctor's office as a receptionist full time.

4. I have a lead foot. My last speeding ticket was from last June. I have been to driver retraining 2 times due to this. It has not stopped my speeding.

5. I love working with my hands. My grandfather was a wood worker by trade, and I think this has been passed down to me. I love doing paper crafts (that should be obvious from past posts), But I also love doing home projects, I am a fearless user of  nail guns, band saws,  razor knifes, drills, table saws, wrenches, sockets, nails, screws, I can frame a wall, hang drywall, and use joint compound. I can mix cement, and epoxy. I can lay flooring, silicon beads and grout for tiles. I love the sense of accomplishment at the end of the day, and taking pride in my hard work especially when it comes out looking better than I planned on. Home Depot is in the top 3 of my favorite stores.

6. I watch a very limited amount of TV. Most of that I watch on hulu.com. My Boyfriend and I don't have cable.

7. I am a child magnet, much the thankful amusement of my friends, and the astonishment of people I barely know. If I'm anyplace that has kids, whether I know them or not ( think holiday party, or BBQ) I always end up with someone handing off an infant for feeding, or a random kid on my lap. I don't go out of my way for this to happen, but it does. And I love it. I don't have kids of my own (yet), and I adore their sounds, random snuggles, and playing with them. I'm the girl that plays peek a boo in the restaurant with the 2 year old that's in the booth behind me.

How much is too much mojo?

I got a little busy over Father's day weekend. And didn't get a chance to post last weeks mojo monday's card.. so here it is! Mojo # 143. I still have to work on this week's.. that'll probably be posted late too, but I LOVE this week's design. What you havne't looked? Well, go here! 

Next up, is the newest How Much is Too Much challenge: 1999. A 1 word title. 9 squares. 9 patterned papers. 9 brads. My total count: 1 word title (check). 10 squares (including the metal bookplate that's square, many are tucked under other squares and peeking out- check) 9 patterned paper: orange stars, green circles, colourful stars, black with dots, yellow polkadots, stripes, grid background, stripe circles, and a tiny red star on the last E in reece (check). And finally, 9 brands, 5 colored, 4 black (check).

This next card was inspired by my DSD. She informed me earlier this week that she thought a perfect wedding dress would be black with splatters of neon colored paint everywhere. She's 17. Where she came up with this idea, I'll never know....

And finally, I channeled my inner Michelle Zindorf. I love her work, She does a lot with silhouette's and unique ink patterns that she creates with masking techniques and ink rollers. And she always gives a tutorial on how she makes her card. so here is my take...

yea, me.

I walked 2 miles today. I finished 2 layouts. I took 128 photos, mostly of my nephew... Did you catch the begining of that? I walked 2 miles. It's not much. But when you're 100lbs over weight, it's a start.

I also learned today, that while there are lots of strictly digital companies operating, there are only a few paper companies that offer their products digitally as well. I first got curious about this when I picked up Zoe Pearns "Persimmion ". The colors of this kit, as well as the flower patterns are very similar to the My Minds Eye original "Bloom and Grow" line. I looked a little closer and, bam, there it was, in type. designed by Zoe Pearn...right there on the MME website...

Then a thread at 2 peas popped up today about which paper lines have also gone to digital. I learned that Carina Garner, Jen Allyson, and Deena Rutter (sold at design house digitals) also design lines for MME as well as the afore mentioned Zoe Pearn (Sweet Shoppe Designs). And that Chrystal Wilkerson's sweet summer line (sold at jessicasprague.com - used on my HMITM DT entry) was picked up by a new company called Echo Park. And that along with Basic Grey a few other companies have joined the digi revolution! KI memories, Kaiser Craft, DCWV (digitally known as 300dpi), and SEI all offer digi products. I wonder should this continue; if there will be more people switching to digi or hybrid? time will tell, but for this scrapper, this information makes it easier for her to think about parting with most of her paper stash.

Would I be trading one stash for another? Yep. You betcha... But then I wouldn't run out of my favorite paper, or hoard it for years knowing I'll never be able to use it again. See, look at the layout I did today...See that beautiful, just right kraft colored cardstock? It's by Vinnie Pearce (sold at 2 peas), it cost $0.99. I have used it 5 times. I'll never run out of Kraft paper again. I love that.

Notes From The Week & a Card...

This week:

Monday: I was laughed at by a drug rep. The office was listening to the radio, and a old Hootie & The Blowfish song was on.  I was caught, dancing in my seat to the refrain of "hold me, hold me, 'cause I want to get higher and higher". The man stopped in his tracks, did a double take and laughed. I just smiled and kept dancing... till that annoying invention called a telephone rang.

Tuesday: Card class with my Stampin' Up demonstrator. Carol is just an awesome, and her cards are uber cute! I love hanging out with the girls for a couple of hours ever couple of weeks, and she let us sneak peak the new catalogue... you're gonna LOVE it!

Wednesday & Thursday: Home Depot delivered the new dryer to my DBF's house, and I was asked by one of the nurses in the office if I would make a card for her nieces high school graduation... needs it by Friday. No problem.  I used a set of $1 stamps that can be found at Michael's (from last summer). and see those tiny tassels!? White embroidery floss colored with (you guessed it) Copics, to match and glued down and a clear spica glitter marker to add a bit of sparkle!

Friday: Took photos of the dogs playing with the hose & in the kiddie pool (see post below to meet my dogs) also got a really good pics of some of the flowers around the yard. This one is of the lavender by the front walk... and I played in PSE 7,just for fun!

Saturday: Today, I'm a blogging fool. But also wanted to share some fun scrap stuff with you... first, Jessica Sprague is going to have a free class on digital card making, to celebrate her sites 3rd birthday. They are also having a large blog hop with a total of 33 freebies (this weekend only)! I love freebies. I bet you do too. Second, if you have time, I'd loved it if you checked out Operation Write Home. They are a non-profit group that sends hand made (blank on the inside cards) to our armed force members serving overseas so that they can write home to their family and friends. Since I have more than a few friends, and family in different branches of the military, this is one group I keep close in mind and heart. Thirdly, 2 fonts for you... Matchbox and Chunk. I love Chunk, it looks so much like the QK font Roxy. bet you could mix and match in a breeze.  And last, I love this blog, she has some amazing ideas!

Oh, and on a personal note, I'm getting a bit nervous about the HMITM DT call entry.. I should know by Monday if I made it onto the team,  but to be honest, I'm biting my nails to the nubs and crossing my fingers!

Meet the Dogs...

Ever heard the phrase, "worked like a dog"? Well not in this house...they don't work hard at all! My Step- dad says that when he dies he wants to come back as a dog, as long as he is a dog at our house.

Meet my fur babies that bark...
First up, head to head is Spirit (left) and Bella (right). The are both Shiloh Shepherds. Bella is a beautiful big girl. At 5 years old she stands close to 30 inches at her shoulders, and weights about 110lbs. Spirit is our 6 month old puppy that is about 65lbs. With any luck, we hope that she will rival Bella in size when fully mature between 2 and 3 years.

This is Bella in our wading pool. We've has this for 4 years. We got it for Bella, for this purpose...to lay in the water and get cool in the hot New England summer... for 4 years she has wanted NOTHING to do with the pool. Nothing. Wouldn't even drink out of it. And then Spirit came into our life. Spirit loves everything about water. Since the weather started to get warm, Spirit has laid in the pool numerous times, without a care in the world. We are pretty sure that watching spirit play, and learning that the pool is nothing to be scared of has brought out Bella's inner puppy.  The pool has about 6 inches of cold well water in it, A I think she looks like a hippo in a tea cup. Watching her lay down it we realized that we need a bigger pool, maybe oval shaped. Now that she's got hang of it, she spent all afternoon running around, then laying in the water, then running some more.

And this is our adorable Spirit. Aka: Zoomie, Thief, & Sneaky. She is highly intelligent, and stubborn. Thankfully, she'll do just about anything you ask of her, for a cookie. So, we use food as a huge motivational tool. Despite her stealing dirty socks from the laundry, flip-flops from you feet if she can, or mail from the office garbage can, she is a good girl. She just has a healthy amount of puppy energy to burn off (or as we like to say - she needs to get her zoomie's out). She likes to play with Bella, swim, chase the water from the hose...And she likes to chase Thor, and when he isn't looking she'll try and thief his ball away too.

And finally,Thor. He is my "best man". He's a 10 yr old Shepherd mix rescue that we have had for about 5 years. He has a bit of a split personality. We think someone may have beaten him while he was inside, because all he does is hide in his crate. But outside, he's a happy go lucky boy. He definitely has more of a working dog attitude, and sometimes he's too serious to play with the girls, but he loves to play ball games. We also thinks he had a fair amount of training in his life before us. He knows way more than the basic commands, and he does things on his own like, identify our car by sniffing the wheels an all the car handles. Or he'll perimeter search a new place before settling. He is also forever the guardian and babysitter. Occasionally we'll let our cat, Hootie, outside. He generally stays in the yard, but if he should happen to wander out of sight, we tell Thor to "find Hootie, find the cat" and he searches util Hootie is found. He's also the first to alert us when someone has arrived home.

Crap, I Forgot...

Pottery barn. have you looked at their stuff lately? It's always good...but WOW! So freakin' pretty! I love their color combos, the mix of warm and cool, muted and bright. And the way they ties the same colors together for indoors and out, as the season change.. Now I don't own a singe thing of theirs, not even as a gift, but, what great inspiration.. and we could all use more of that, right!? 

                                     

The Plan That Fell Apart

The Plan: Sleep in. Get a LO or 2 done. Figure out how to customized the blogger background to something that matches my header. Go home celebrate an early fathers day with DSD and DB & families...

Well...got a call last night,nephew has a fever of 102. canceling plans for early fathers day... not the end of the world.  things went down hill from there. I didn't sleep in. I did get 2 LO's done and bought a new digital kit from basic grey. the I spent the rest of the day FIGHTING with blogger about getting a background loaded.. and when it finally did, it was wrong, totally, completely, utterly wrong. so after 4 tries I'm giving up for the day. I reverted it to what I started with... which will work for now. And I'll try again another day.

Plans for Home Improvement...

This week was more or or less unremarkable. Yep. It's true. Back to work, same old routine. some weeks are just like that... and then I got to see my DBF. We went to Chili's (there went my diet) and saw the new Princes of Persia movie (it was pretty good, Jake Gyllenhaal never looked so irresistibly sexy). 

Today we ordered new laminate to cover the existing kitchen counter tops, we also purchased a new dryer. We lost ours to the flooding about 6 weeks ago, but DBF finally tested the washer, and that at least still worked. The basement seems to be at a stand still, at the moment. We have the demo work done, but need to get some rewiring done before we can put insulation and drywall up. We also don't have anyway to get the dry wall home...but I hope we'll get that done before he gets the kitchen started. Once the basement is done I want to start working on the 1/2 bath on the 1st floor. No major over haul here, just some patching of holes, maybe a new lighting unit for above the sink, and maybe build a frame for the mirror,  and some paint. but as anyone who does home repairs knows, it the prep work that takes the longest, and it's the little details that make it look complete.

I'll keep you posted about home improvements as we go...

Did you know that there was a huge thread over at 2 peas discussing paper v. digi scrapping?! I was shocked to see some of the opinions and comments... I love both mediums, and I think both have some amazingly talented creators! I was saddened that some people still think that digi scrapping isn't real scrapping. I thought the point was to capture memories and moments in a meaningful way for you and your family. I'm glad I missed the "no, digital isn't really scrapping" memo, because the LO I did today would not have been possible to do with paper. The photos are from last summer, and I just can't get over the fact that we are closing in on the Litha (the summer solstice), and it's been a year since I've seen my Colorado family. it feels like it's been a lifetime...

Want to know how I did this? Easy peasy, lemon squeezy! Ha ha. I know, I hear you groaning from here. But really, it wasn't hard.

First I picked the photos I wanted to work with. I cropped the the smaller photos down to get rid of any distracting stuff in the background of the photos. I then picked a photo to make big, I chose one that had some "white space" in the upper right hand corner. Note: white space is any space where there isn't a subject, or something going on in a photo or a lo. In this case the sandy beach was my white space. I decided that I didn't like the hard edge the big photo created so I took my eraser tool. and chose a soft brush (if I had been painting this brush would look like an airbrush spray, but on erase it erases in the same pattern, creating a soft edge). I turned down the opacity down to about 30%, so that I only took a little away at a time as all I wanted to do was get rid of the hard edge rather than create a new hard edge. so I clicked on the hard edge about 4 times to get rid of it entirely then I went in about 1/2 a stroke inside the edge of the photo and took it down 2 clicks, creating a feathered edge.

Next I picked a neutral cardstock called "old paper" and over layered it onto of my big picture, I then reduced the opacity of the paper to about 50% so my photo was able to be seen through it. (if you look close you can see the text from the "old paper" on the photo. Note: If I didn't want that look I could have chosen to use my eraser brush again where the subjects are and gotten rid of the paper all together to make the photo stand out more, but I liked it this way and left it.

Then I took those 3 cropped photos and layered/placed them on top of the old paper, and reduced their opacity to about 85% so they blended a little, too. I added a couple of sea related elements (sand, netting, and word art, shells and clock) and put them all overlapping the small photos. I added a text box, and poof! Finished.

Alrighty, here are the 2 cards I made this week! and as an added bonus a layout too. The LO is for the HMITM challenge # 134. 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. I used 6 different patternd papers and 6 different things that were sticky. ( yes the challenge called for for stickers, but what makes a sticker? glue already on the back!) so I used 1.a flocked sticker, 2. 3 leather photo corners, 3. Chip circle sticker, 4. title, 5. journaling, and 6. brackets. all which came with glue on the back!

As for the 2 cards, as hard as I try this week, I cannot seem to get into the mojo monday card design. But as you can see there is no mojo loss here. The first card stamp is by Sarah Kay, and the second is just pp and a QK kite diecut.

And lastly, becasue I know Whome is going to want to see these.. photos from the week, Rigby, helping to guard my scrap table. If it's not made with cat hair, it's not made with love! And my nephew at 5 months old.

Just wait...

for tomorrow's post! I have 2 adorable cards to show off, but I'm too tired to get pic's edited right now. But I didn't forget about that fantastic watermelon salad recipe...

Ingredients:
Butter crunch or Cobb lettuce
1 seedless watermelon
3oz of finely crumbled feta cheese
Fragment mint
1/4 cup of oil
14/ cup of rice vinegar
dash of pepper

Directions:
Mix Oil, vinegar and a shake or to of pepper in a small bowl. Set aside. (Ta da, you have made dressing!)
Finely chop the mint. set aside.
Take the watermelon off the rind, place in a large bowl.
Pour the dressing over the watermelon. then toss to coat the watermelon.
Place leaves of lettuce on a dish, and spoon watermelon mix onto leaves.
Sprinkle feta cheese on top of watermelon.
Add mint
Serve.

Tips, tricks and other suggestions:
The most amount of time in the prep work  is used cutting the watermelon. You might want to do this the day before. This is suppose to be a savory dish so using olive or safflower oil is best (and both are considered healthy oils). This does use an entire seedless watermelon, so be ready to serve to a crowd, but expect some will want seconds. Don't add salt to the dressing, the feta is salty enough. If you want have this over the course of a few days, then simply cut the watermelon, and mint a head of time. Make the dressing and set aside, and put all ingredients together when ready to eat, because adding the vinegar to the high sugar content of the watermelon will get the melon fermenting fast. The freshly chopped mint really does add a new dimension to the salad, don't skip it. Also any lettuce will work but The butter crunches wavy leaves and bright green color make for impressive presentation. Cobb is also a lighter green and it's large leaves make for a pretty, natural bowl to serve the watermelon.

signing out for the night.

Off to a Good Start

Ok I should know better than to stay up until almost 3 in the morning the Sunday before I go back to work after a week off... Wait I do know better, but my body doesn't like to listen. I tossed and turned, and finally got up and re-watched last weeks Glee episode on Hulu (yes, yes - I'm a gleek, becasue who doesn't want to live a world that breaks out into song and dance?). Yet despite the obivoius lack of sleep, I had a decent day at work. Nothing and no-one got under my skin. I came home to happy fur babies. I made a wonderful watermelon salad (the recipe I will try and get posted tomorrow). I got new photos of my 5 month old nephew that were e-mailed to me...

And then I turned on itunes, checked  my blog and I have not one, but two comments! I so did a little happy dance! Thank you ladies. I know I may not always comment about comments, but it was a really nice surprise. Megan, yes, I did send you that card (and as instructed I hope you have it at work), becasue you are amazing! and as a double bonus I had a new follower too! and to think all I had wanted to do today was share some Scrappy/card stuff, and share a favorite photo....

So, here we go, really quick, A reminder that Mojo Monday has a new challenge out today, as does the How Much is Too Much? blog. Speaking of HMITM, I recieved a quick email stating that they recieved my application and LO for the design team, and that I should hear on the 21st of June as to weither I made the cut (fingers crossed). There are some amazing, talented ladies trying out for this and I would be honored to be chosen.

The next thing was to introduce you to 2 (new to me blogs) the first is A Guy's Guide to Surviving Scrapbooking, and the second one is No Bad Photos. So here is my not perfect, no bad photo to share with you...

This is a not so perfect photo that I love.  I have done just about everything I can do it in PSE 7 to get it to look more clear,  Ive tried changing it to black and white, played with layers, ect. This version is the one I like the best. This was my first wedding photography job, last summer. Of course then I was so excited! Every photo was SO good! I took over 700 photos. Now a year later I look back, and while some are still good, most are not. It was a beautiful sunny day, the wedding was at 2:00. I had over exposed skin, and deep shadows on faces. I had weird shadow patterns from trees... but this one stands as my favorite. Sure, It's a little blurry. But I love the FEEL of the photo. I love the moment alone, in their own world, fairytale quality of the photo. I love that they are facing each other,their stances casual, comfortable, and yet in admiration of each other.

A few more things...

A few more cards that never made it to the 2 peas gallery (more copics for patty). The Image for the Mother & baby came from Wiff of Joy, the Fairies are from The Greeting Farm, and the chick was from Pink Petticoat (i think).

These bottom 2 cards (obivously) were not made with copics. The one on the right was made with left over stickers from Joann's dollar scrap stuff, and an american craft rub on. The one on the right was with Prisma Color Pencils and gamsol, Basic grey paper, and an inkadoo stamp.


Have a great Sunday!