BASB Challenge: Monochromatic

The new challenge is now up and running on BASB. Dawn's challenge is to create a monochromatic layout. I choose to hit the local Home Depot where I tried to force the paint genius to sell me free chips. I guess I was having chip guilt to actually offer to buy them. To the guys credit he only laughed mildly as he shoved me to the door. Well, it turns out that the chips actually did their intended job as one of the colors above will be the new color in my bathroom. Well, someday. Someday when there are no weeds to be pulled, no pool to be dipping in and no lawn chair to rest my behind. In other words...September 2010. Way after the color has gone out of style. That's the way I roll. Anyway...hope you can check out the challenge and give it a whirl. If you need advise on how to smooze your Home Depot/Lowe's/Menards/True Value paint gurus, give me a yodel. :o)

I've Been Replaced by a Middle-Aged Bald Man

Yes, it is true. I have been replaced by a middle-aged bald man. No, I haven't started cross dressing. However, maybe I need to do so. Nah...that's just not my thing. My niece has had a crush on her neighbor for years. She's six, so when I say for years it has been most her life. Maybe the entirity of her life. I should have seen the signs of him taking over when at the age of two she would see him, get riled up and scream with delight...hiiiiiii Douuggggie. The flirt. It was cute. I wasn't threatened. That is...until now. On Friday she called me at work...her usual call to me asking for a special day. Sure Em. I'll pick you up after work. Then came the stipulation...I need to be home by 7:00. Huh? You don't want to be with me for hours and whine when you have to go home. Nope...Dougie is having a bonfire. Dang...I've been replaced by a middle-aged bald man. I'm not going down easy. Game on, Dougie! Game on.

GAME ON

Enough pouting and whining. Let's talk craft.

DOUGIE

The following are the ATCs I made for the Studio Calico challenge - In Memory of Alisa. I had a hard time doing this. I was overthinking and wanting it perfect. I always get like that when I make something for someone else. It's far from perfect, but I think it turned out pretty good. The cards are based on a posting Alisa made on Studio Calico on July 17, 2008 titled Happiness is. Pretty cool things to be happy about. She will be missed by the entire SC community.

ALISA

Just a note...I know that flower on the water lily portion is not a water lily. There is a method behind my madness. The flower was in a Studio Calico kit and was a tribute to Aleida after her death. I have been holding on to it to use it on something special. This seemed like the right moment. The music sheet even fits Alisa's quote. Hmmm...just realized that. :o)

ALEIDA

Well, back to work. Gotta earn my keep. Thanks for stopping by. I hope you have a beautiful Tuesday!

Pinwheels A-Plenty

Happy Friday! Today is the last day of school for Nick, Jake and Em. I find it funny that they make them come in for a final day, but release them at noon. That is dumb. I say keep them all day or don't accept them at all. Makes sense, don't you think? Well, Nick is missing his last day, because he is sick. Poor "Not So" Little guy. Honestly, 7th grade next year? When did someone take the rock off his head and let him grow? Sure wasn't me. I hate change.

NICK

Well, let's get to the point of this blog....me and the junk I make. I say junk in a loving manner. I would hate for someone to read that and then receive it in the mail. They might think I don't value them and really think I am sending them crap. Whatever...I am overthinking here. So the pinwheel cards were made for a challenge on Studio Calico. All you had to do was make a card, layout or other project and put a pinwheel on it. Easy. Done. Mixed it up a bit for the orange card and used a border punch along the...ehhh...border...duh.

PINWHEEL

The card below has no pinwheel, but wanted to be posted anyway. Just a blank easy card. The ivory dots in the center of the flower are beads. A friend gave me a bunch of "junk" jewelry, which I quickly pulled apart as I have no use for jewelry unless it is $1000 or over. Kidding. I like $500 stuff, too. Who am I kidding? I don't wear jewelry. I am a gem all on my own. Gag.

PINWHEEL

PINWHEELPINWHEEL

On that note...I will say goodbye. Thanks for stopping by and putting up with me. Don't believe anything you hear. I am clean of all drugs. The ramblings found here are the real me. So sad.

In My Garden: Part One - Spring

I love gardening and could ramble on about it forever. I probably will...dang...sorry in advance. When it comes to gardening I think I know everything. I really don't and that makes me dangerous. Only in the garden. Well, maybe in other places, but we won't get into that here...yet. When I say I love to garden...I do. I just hate doing the work. I am a lazy gardener with no money to hire a hot gardener to help me out. So I do the work with help from my nephews, niece, sister, mom and a few neighbor friends. They work mostly for pool privileges and Sonic treats. They are awesome and I appreciate each and everyone of them. With my lazy love of gardening I have four rules:

LAZY

1. If a plant is fussy and requires constant attention - it gets yanked. Nothing is allowed to be more high maintenance than me.

LAZY

2. Some weeds are allowed to grow until they reach knee high. I have a no bending rule in regards to weeding. Of course, the niece and nephews have knees closer to the ground. By the time they reach my knees there really aren't that many for me to get. Yippee for Sonic labor.

LAZY

3. Read all the books and magazines you can about gardening. Research websites. Watch HGTV and DIY. Talk to all the gardening gurus you can find and then realize a lot of what they say is overkill bupkiss. See rule #4. Learning to garden is trial and error. Sure there are right and wrongs, but someone else's right and wrongs most likely won't always be yours.

LAZY

4. Find shortcuts for everything. Most "pro" gardeners hate shortcuts. They are tied to the old school rules. Sure they work, but you waste a lot of time and end up with an aching body. Whatever. Short cuts work, too. Anyway...just remember most pros have a show on HGTV and a dozen assistants helping them off camera. They can preach about digging holes and burying their roses for winter AND still look and feel good due to the assistants doing all the work. Hello Martha...love you, Chick, but we all know the truth.

LAZY

That's it. That's all. It works for me. It can work for you. If you want to garden, just have fun and if you don't have time to scrap or chat along with gardening, it's work and you need to reevaluate. Well, unless you like work and no time to scrap.

LAZY

Speaking of scrapping, the above layout was done for the Scrap Your Crap challenge on using packaged embellishments. I used K & Co. number brads and a package of daisy buttons. This layout is also for a motivating challenge between a few of my scrapping friends - do a layout with photos without people in it. Done.

LAZY

LAZY

Sidenote: I did not get my free rootbeer float from Sonic last night. I was watching my niece and nephew last night and Jake wanted a treat way before 8:00 free time rolled around. Oh well...had to pay and it was still good. My newest love...lime cream slushes. Here comes another weight gain. Hip hip hooray...not.

LAZY

Have a great Thursday. Thanks for stopping by. :o)

Cards a Go-Go

It all started with a little challenge posted at Studio Calico by Davinie for Card-A-Licious and then it got out of hand. I have never done a card challenge, thought it would fun and was in the mood for small scale. Way in the mood....I now have about 20 cards sitting on my table in various levels are completeness. Aye yi yi...will I ever learn self-restraint? Whatever...I am set for the year. LOL! The challenge was to create a card with the following: two or more flowers, ribbon and the color blue. The ones shown here are a few that are complete. Oh and three look very similar and the last is way too simple that I probably shouldn't even post it. However, I am too lazy to remove it now. Dawn, provided me with the dictionary blossoms in the embellishment swap. Aren't they a beauty? I think this is the week of Dawn. It seems the last two days were made possible due to her lovely embellishments and I still have more. Yippee! The card above it the one I am putting into the challenge. As you can tell, I borrowed the flower idea from Dawn. Dawn, Dawn, Dawn! Thanks again!

Alrighty...tomorrow there will be more as I am attempting to post every day this week with some kind of creation. Last night I half completed a layout for the Scrap Your Crap challenge of using up packaged embellishments. That layout will also fit another challenge I am in of using photos with no person in it.

Until tomorrow...drive safe and be happy. Oh and for those that love Sonic a little birdie (Hi Judi!) told me that they have free rootbeer floats from 10 p.m. to midnight tonight. Be still my heart.

BASB Challenge 14

OMG...it's me x 4. That quite possibly may be more than anyone can handle, including my mother. Well, to be honest she made me, so she can deal with it. LOL! The layout above was done for the 14th BASB Challenge hosted by the stunning and creative Mye. Her challenge is ALL ABOUT SELF. This is the challenge in her words:

BASB

I want you to create a layout/mini/canvas (or anything your little heart desires) about yourself. Easy right.....well there are a few rules:

BASB
1. include a recent self portrait
2. No talk about being a mother, or wife because we are more than that
3. And do not talk about what you do for a living because we are more than that too.

BASB

I want you to create a layout strictly about yourself, and yourself ONLY! We as women are always putting ourselves last, so for this challenge I want you to be all about you! Create something about who you really are! So get those timers or that camera remote ready or just capture yourself in the mirror. Doesn't really matter how, just get in the photo! So get busy and get selfish!!!

BASB

Now if you have read my blog for awhile you know I am all about me. I am so into me that sometimes I even believe it. Sometimes. The day I was making the my layout - not so much. I was having one of those "my butt is too big and my hair is too limp" kind of days. That's normal. We all doubt ourselves at times. I think it's good to have a layout to reflect that. I want to make another layout when I am feeling all sassy, a.k.a. The ALL THAT Attitude. But for now...I really think my hair is limp and my butt is big. Aye yi yi. On a good note...see those gorgeous flowers? My buddy and honorary sister, Dawn, made those for me. Aren't they stunning? She is so dang talented. Plus she loves David Cook and well...I agree that he is the bee's knees.

BASB

Enjoy your Tuesday! I hope you are able to join in on the challenge. Go on...get selfish. :o)

MBC, a.k.a. Motivation by Challenge

A few of us were emailing last Friday and came to the conclusion that we needed a little scrapping motivation for the weekend. That is when the mayhem began. We drew up a list of challenges and these are a few of the results:

MBC

Menu Challenge: Greta provided four courses with multiple choices. You compiled your menu and then she sent you what you had to use on your layout. I had to use: a transparency for the base, two photos (oops...pay no attention to the third), sewing: hand or machine, and a butterfly. Here's the outcome:

MBC
Joy of joys...the Slice works on fabric. I applied fabric stiffener and let it dry then "Sliced" away. Cut like butter. Not joy of joys...taking a photo of a transparency is difficult. You have to deal with fingerprints, glare, bugs smacking into the layout, etc. I'm not lying about the bug..it was a baby grasshopper and it splatted right on my layout as I was getting ready to snap the photo. I like grasshoppers, so it survived....for now. The kraft paper is not part of the layout. I just needed something solid behind the transparency for the photo. Anyway...there you go...dinner.
MBC

Work Challenge: Use only items you can find at work. In other words, how to scrap at work when you didn't bring good stuff. This is what I came up with. Honestly, it's ugly, but when you can't add a bit of October Afternoon, Cosmo or Sassafras it most likely will be.

My non-traditional item list included: bubble wrap, half dry black ink pad, red re-inker, a paper plate, computer/Photoshop, staples, copy paper, rolodex divider, foam tape, scotch tape and thank goodness I can access Flickr at work. Journaling is a bit hard to see. It says: Emily's first jump of the year. She sure can bounce. Yeah...I journal so well. That will bite me some day.

I also finished the 14th Challenge for BASB. Can't show that yet. Mye is hosting this challenge and it is a fun one! Check back tomorrow if you wish. You won't be sorry. You get to see a big happy photo of me. What more could you ask for?

MBC

One challenge layout left. I need to complete a layout containing a photo without a person in it. I am kind of an alien at times, so I wonder if a self-portrait would be allowable in this instance. Probably not. I'll figure it out. Well, add another project to my list. I just signed up to do an ATC for Alisa. Alisa was a wonderful girl that was a big part of Studio Calico. She was so supportive, funny and friendly. Alisa died a couple of weeks ago and she will be missed by her family and friends as well as the entire community of SC. Emily Pitts is organizing a project for her family that is wonderful. You choose one of her quotes that she left on SC and make an ATC. I choose this quote:

MBC

Posted: Thu, Jul 17 2008 at 02:50PM on True Life Stories > Happiness is...
My daughters grooving in their room, dancing to 70's funk, Brick House, anyone?
new water lily blooming, and a resident green frog!
MBC
I cannot wait to work on this. I wish we would have met in person. I think we would have gotten along really well.

MBC
Enjoy your night!