Some of my recent work...

I've had some creative time lately, so I thought I'd share some of my creations:

First, a birthday card I made for a friend:

Chatterbox papers, Stampin' up stamp filled in with watercolor pencils and stickles. Oh, and that's my tuxedo cat, Baci, just hanging out!

And a couple layouts, one of Greg & his brother, the other of my cousins.

The journalling reads, "Fall 2007: I came around the corner & found David and Greg standing like this (not consciously), talking. Think they might be brothers? The buttons are Basic Grey, one ribbons is from the Target dollar spot, the other is from KI Memories, the papers are We R Memory Keeps, and the font is Pharmacy. You can find these papers at Scraploft, a store owned by my friends Jenn and Sarah.

My cousins:

The papers and flower stickers are by Making Memories, the letter stickers are American Crafts. The journalling "November, 2007: Even though the girls have gotten closer as they've gotten older, there are still moments of sisterly teasing. Tonight, our family attended a dinner reception for Kim & Brian Labedz and Melissa, who is always cold, huddled in Emily's coat at the table. When she finally took it off, Emily did this impression of her, inspring "The Look" from Melissa. :)

A few layouts

I went with my friend Erin and couple of her friends last weekend for ScrapMania at Archivers. We celebrated Erin's birthday that night and had fun scrapping the night away (after appetizers and cocktails next door at Applebee's). Here's two of the layouts I got done that night.

The first is about the cupcakes I made last fall for our friend Ijaz's annual Halloween party. I had to resort to making them because my first choice recipe, for witches broomsticks, turned out more like cookies on a stick. For you scrappers out there, the papers are Scenic Route, the letters are American Crafts and the die cut is from the QK Silhouette library.

The second layout are photos of my cat 'Cio I took in January. I was really pleased at how well they turned out, and was excited to use this paper I had bought a few years ago because I knew it'd look good w/ 'Cio. It's bold and graphic so I was a little intimidated by it, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. The stamps are by Hero Arts.

Happy Belated Valentine's Day!

So, it's a day late but I thought I'd wish all of my family and friends out in cyberland a belated Happy Valentine's Day. I had a wonderful day. It started w/ good traffic into work (what can I say, I'm easy to please). About 10am I got call from my sister-in-law who had received the package we sent to her. In January, we got to have our nephew for part of a weekend, and during that weekend, as a surprise, I took these photographs.

Then for Valentine's Day I put them in a frame, and mailed them to my sister-in-law and her husband. They had not idea that we had done this and seemed genuinely excited to get this. That alone would've been enough to make my day perfect. But to top it off, Greg had snuck a Valentine's card and box of chocolates in my work bag, so I had a surprise when I got to work, and then we had a package of treats (we're talking homemade chocolate chip cookies, rice krispy treats w/ Valentine's decorations, and peanut butter cup brownies!) from my aunt and a card from his Grandparents waiting for us when we got home. Greg and I also had a nice dinner out at Bar Abilene in Uptown. I had fajitas, he had enchiladas, and we split the Bananas Foster for dessert. Neither of us had ever had that, but we both LOVED it. I think we're going to try and figure out how to make it. All in all, a great day!

Fishing w/ Papa

Here's a layout I've had rattling around in my mind for awhile but finally got up the "guts" to do it. I don't know why but sometimes there are photos or memories that are just so precious, that it's hard to scrapbook them...almost like whatever I do will never be good enough for it.






Journalling reads: "I remember several times that my grandpa took me fishing. This particular time, grandma & grandpa had taken me to a family reunion near Brainerd, MN leaving mom behind in Omaha to study for finals. That weekend was full of family, campfires, boating, and fish-frys (Uncle Darrill made the best beer-battered fish). While I don’t remember anything specific from this particular day, I love this photographic reminder of all the fun times I had with my grandpa. Fishing, working in the woodshop, taking trips to the hardware store (it took awhile for mom and grandma to figure out why I loved the hardware store so much…it was next to the ice cream store). It was during these ordinary events that we talked, or didn’t talk, about everything (or nothing). It was during these times that my grandpa taught me the kind of person I want to be: patient, kind, smart, inquisitive, funny, big-hearted, & a little ornery."



Products used: Patterned Papers by Sweetwater, Cardstock by Bazzill, heart punch by EK Success, Ribbon by Offray, transparency by Hammermill, Rub-on by Cloud 9 Designs, font is a free font from the internet called "Acoustic Light".

A Late Holiday

Greg's work had their belated holiday party last weekend at the Chambers Hotel in downtown Minneapolis. It was a 1940's Hollywood theme complete with impersonators, a red carpet and some blood orange martinis and mini cupcakes. This was the self-portrait we managed to take. Many of Greg's current co-workers worked with us both at our previous jobs so in some ways it was like a mini reunion. I guess Greg sees them everyday but I don't get to so it was fun to catch up.