Retirement Layout

A girl can dream, right?  Ok, I'm nowhere close to retirement.  And even if I were retired....I'd be doing the exact same thing as I'm doing now. On the other hand, being free to take off for someplace hammock friendly- sounds pretty darn good right now, don't you think?

 

 I added a little gecko stamped in green ink and highlighted with glossy accents to give the paper an even more tropical feel.  And you need one of these guys around to eat the mosquitoes while you are lounging in your hammock.  Plus a sentiment stamp with a tidy little To Do list, because just because you are retired, doesn't mean you don't have to do stuff.  Like relax.  That's important, can't forget that.

Stamps by Door County Rubber Stamps, paper by Websters Pages, title stickers by SRM

Katy Cat

So this layout gave me fits this morning.  Ever have those moments when you feel like you are putting together a puzzle and you don't know what the picture is?  Yah, that feeling.  Sometimes followed by grumbling and a trash can.  Ok, no trash can.  That's too much Prima goodness to give away.  Luckily my frustration/need to take a nap level maximum coincided with the noon hour.  An, Lo, the benevolent gods of scrapbooking did smile upon me- Prima posted their April Build A Page sometime during the morning.  I love their Build A Pages.  I have folders full of their sketches and samples.  Oodles.  And this Build A Page was perfect for what I had already laid out on my table, plus a few leftovers from my Raspberry Tea Album kit (which I'm teaching May 8th, if you want to have lots of good leftovers too)   Inspiration, such a Good Thing.  Thanks Prima! 

Oh- and ridiculously cute cat, that's my adorable Katy, who is currently attacking my laptop case.

Sistah

Ok, now everyone is going to think all my family listens to nothing but Metallica and Marilyn Manson (in truth it's more likely to be Cole Porter) but here we go.  My sweet 16 year old sister.  Yo.

She pretty much is hardcore, her favorite movies are Domino and Tank Girl... and this is what she wore to Homecoming this past fall.  Whereas you could not have paid me enough to go to homecoming.  Ever.

I cut a slit behind her arm and tucked an ornate white wing into it.  The wing is actually a corner cut from the Storybook cartridge.  I really wanted it on the page and couldn't figure out where to put it, then had one of those AHA! moments.
The pink lotuses are cut from Amy Butler's Lotus Tea Box paper. Background paper is Bobunny (same as yesterday's layout I did of my mom) and strip of skull paper is a sheet from DCWV's Rockstar line.

Rock on Mom

This is my wonderful Mother :-) I think seeing this one might be able to see how I became who I am :-)  This picture is a self portrait taken when she won a contest for a copy of the book Scrap City (totally awesome book btw) that I kinda sorta stole until she forced me to give it back, lol.

Find some good punky paper (the paper I used is by Bobunny)
Mat a black and white 5x7 with white cardstock and then black.
To make the title I used Flirt glitter alphabet stickers by Reminisce, but you could just as easily use red cardstock and the new Blackletter cartridge.  I cut a guitar out of red cardstock using the Indie Art Cricut cartridge and tacked it on the end. 
Voila on hardcore mama in 15 minutes or less :-)

Big Ole Chandelier part one

I stocked these really great hot pink chandelier overlays by Hambly in our shop, oh, two years ago?  And I hadn't done a single layout with them, was totally stumped by their size and because I really, really didn't want to cover any of their coolness up with some lame-o photographs.  Then I realized "oh, duh, I can cut them in half!"  Since overlays are on the more expensive end of specialized papers, making the stretch through more projects is always good.  Dontcha just love two-fers?


Just a quick FYI, if you're going to be journaling on overlays or other acetates, you are going to either need a Slick Writer or an Identipen.  I really like the Identipens better because they are double-ended with one thick nib and one fine.  Once again stretching one tool further.  Yay!

Italian Herb Overnight Bread

This recipe is based on the Mezzaluna Bread from one of the Dairy Hollow House Cookbooks, Soup and Bread, I think.  That was a killer cookbook.  In fact all of Crescent Dragonwagon's cookbooks were pretty awesome.  I lived too close to Eureka Springs growing up to ever really justify staying at the Dairy Hollow House, but I'll always be a little sad I never did before they retired.

The background paper is some relatively old 7 Gypsies from my stash, the stems and title mat are cut from Flair's Fresh from the Vine paper.  That sunflower that's really too big for the page but I love anyway is one of the new Spellbinder dies :-) very "under the tuscan sun".

Happy Happy Happy

Thanks to Everyone for all the Happy Birthday Wishes (and ice cream!)

Strawberry Angelfood Cake

This is a wonderful summery cake that I got from the Food Channel's website.  I think that may be #2 in the Top Ten Things I Miss from Living in Town- ie that I don't get to watch the Food Channel or TCM anymore.  PBS is wonderful, in fact I have a button that says "A PBS mind in an MTV world"  I think that's a pretty good motto for life :-) but it just isn't the same without being able to flip from Emerill to Cary Grant.

If I had it all over to do again, I'd  probably re-do the font of the recipe and center the title, but I ran out of the letter R in my Anna Griffin rub-ons, and they were to neat looking to sacrifice, kwim?  I do love my Angel Strawberry though! 

Sweet Bebe

Yet another cousin's graduation looms nearer.  I decided to help her aunt out and help her start scrapbooking, many hands make light work and all :-)

Blossom Baby Layout

Materials:
Kaliedoscope Diagonal Stripe Paper
Enfant Rose 7 Gypsies Paper
Nirvana Ultrafine Transparent Art Institute Glitter
Crystal Ultrafine Transparent Art Institute Glitter
Xyron 510
Storybook Cosmo Cricket Cardstock Stickers
Purple Butterfly Creative Impressions Brad
Yellow Glitter Creative Impressions Brads
Herbal Garden Light Prism Cardstock
Magestic Purple Light Prism Cardstock
Floral Creations Spellbinders Die
Doodle Parts Spellbinders Die
Directions:
Using pinking shears or a zig zag blade on your cutter, pink the edges of an 8x10 baby photo.  Attach a sticker and brad to the bottom right corner of the photo, then mount it to a slightly larger panel of light purple cardstock.
Attach that panel to the 8.5x11 sheet of striped paper which in turn is mounted to the 12x12 pink baby words sheet.
Cut and emboss Doodle Parts out of light green cardstock to create vines.  Attach the vines around the upper left corner of the photograph.
Cut a 5 inch square of light purple cardstock, then use the adhesive masking technique to cut it with the Floral Creations die and sugar with white and light blue glitter.
Bend petals for maximum cuteness and then attach artistically to the vines on the layout using glittery yellow brads through the flower centers.

Orangettes

A new recipe page posted at last!  You absolutely must take the trouble of making these- and they are a bit of trouble.  Not difficult, but lots of steps, but worth it.  Orangettes are a little French sweet made from candied orange peels, sometimes (always in my case) dipped in chocolate.  Oh so good!

I was really having fun with my Stampington collage cubes and tried out the new 7 Gypsies Victorian Corners rubbings.  I tried the black flocking and think it is tres ooh la la :-)  The sweet couple and Eiffel Tower are Amuse stamps that I can't seem to stop using on everything.

Tea Time

Time to kick back with a cuppa of Earl Grey and my Recipe Club page for the month.  Aaaaahhhhh, life is sweet.


The darling paisley is a Spellbinders Nestability set, the vintage looking stickers are from Crafty Secrets (they always do such pretty things), and the papers are from an old collection by Bo Bunny, I've been hording them forever.