Well I'm on a Jillibean Soup kick!

Got some of the new stuff and I can't 

get enough.

Well pretty soon I will OR have to buy more. LOL!

I love how this came out, and I had this LO rolling around in my head

when I saw these photos a few weeks ago.

All Jillibean soup except for QK cosmo alpha, creative imaginations brads, heart punch (used a paper bag), Sissix swirl, recollections cardstock.

Journaling: Mark and Laura Tower were cousins on dad’s side. (I’m still trying to figure out the line-had to be on the McCormick side that much I know). They migrated to Florida when they were young and lived a life that I admired. They lived simply. A small house they owned, as well as vehicles. And they loved to camp and travel. From the time they were young newlyweds, they’d work 11 months and in the summer travel and camp. It didn’t matter that they left their jobs, they’d find another. They were good friends and were there when we went through some tough times and had wonderful wisdom I can appreciate more fully now. They were a lot of fun and interesting to be around, always up for a simple good time like crabbing for clamming. I just wish that Nick (whom they are holding) had gotten to know them. 

I love that everyday photos were taken

like Nick playing in the yard.

When he was 2.

He love the yard and it was fenced in

so he could be well "fenced in."

LOL!

Jillibean soup old/new, creative cafe, sticko!

DH and I installed a new plant box in the yard...

with the hope that they'll survive. We're not plant nurturers by nature  - ha! oxymoron, so this is going to be survival of the fittest.

To read more about it, check out Burying them alive.

Had some fun on Manic Monday 3.28 @ Moments

And got a couple of layouts done.

This is a key photo in iphoto so I see it everytime I'm in the

iphoto and the title

has been floating through my head for awhile,

finally it's out!

8x8

And the two cutie patooties are the grandkidlets

having a blast on a carousel. I love

the bright fun colors.

6x12

I love working in all shapes and sizes. 

And having choices
and the challenge.

I'm also using my stash.
Once upon a one time, I was all
about having to use the latest papers, embellishments and techniques,
now, its fun to make the old stuff new.

The canal behind the "grassy knoll"

is a happening place.

It's not very deep and there are fish in there.

I wouldn't go fishing there.

But others do.

Birds have made it their home.

Gathering in the early morning  and do whatever birds do.

They're so graceful and noisy.

Colorful and different.

Very careful and skittish.

 They all seem to get along pretty well.

The black one is a "snake" bird or Anahingha and I wish

he would've moved away from that stick

and a Blue Heron.

My hawk came for a visit yesterday.

 I wasn't fast enough.

Thursdays who knew???

Got a lot done and it was so much fun,

hanging at Moments and manic scrapping with April.

First one is Owen with his dad at the St. Paddy's Day parade.

He's too adorable!

6x12

Lucas is just too pretty. 

I love this shot.

He's gonna be a heartbreaker for sure.

8x8

Cammie is growing up so fast.

Trying to wolf down ice cream.

On a the hot sand.

8.5x11

Ice cream is winning!

Love it!

I made an executive decision...

Shocking I know.

However, we have this rosebush in front of our garage.

In a little patch of dirt.

Honestly the bush should never survive much less bloom.

So here I AM in the house and the bush is not.

It's outside blooming where I can't see it.

Where is the enjoyment in that?

So since its going to die anyway......

I made the executive decision to whack them off the bush, while in bloom.

Plop it in a glass, set it on my desk and admire it from inside the house.

I totally need to make decisions like this WAY more often.

Had a blast participating in

Sketchy Thursday!!

If you've never played. My pal April and I had a blast!!

And another layout is completed.

I've been having the best time scrapping my California trip.

It was a long time coming.

My Mind's Eye

MM paint

Noteworthy

QK emily, holiday, corners

Prima

BG buttons

Bazzill

Autumn leaves stamp

Fancy Pants ribbon

Sixxix swirl

iCons

Another manic Monday at Moments.

And this layout was extremely painful.

Why do things look good and then you glue them down and it doesn't look the same?

This is totally different then when I started.

Imagine that.

How do you capture San Francisco. 

Really.

I totally forget Coit Tower. 

My bad.

Bo Bunny, Reminisce, prima, bling, qk holiday & sissix swirl.

My turn to stalk....

the woodpecker!

He only visits on the weekend. 

I'm thinking he has to live closer to his job.

And visits our yard as a weekend retreat.

I've been practicing my ninja stealth moves on crunchy leaves.

And it appears that I did pretty good.

Used my18- 275 lens - totally out. And you can see his beady little eyes.

He's quite noisy and tenacious.

He's also very skittish.

He also decided it was time for us to get up this a.m. by banging on the flashing of our house.

Rotten bird.

Playing around............

Yesterday I decided that I just needed to bite the bullet and hop back on my bike.

I haven't exercised on purpose in MONTHS.

AND it shows.

Gained back some of the weight it that took me 2 years to lose.

NOT HAPPY about that at ALL.

And then WW changed their program. Sigh.

I really loved riding all over town so it really wasn't a hardship.

So I hopped on the bike and huffed and puffed my way to Wachovia.

It's about 5 miles. ONE way.

Because in instead of just riding, I like missions.

And for now, Exedrin is my BFF. LOL!

In the midst of the pain, I managed to complete another challenge at Moments.

The impromtu challenge was to play around.

So I did.

From the life and paper addict blog April discovered how to make

those adorable flowers.

So I created some to match this paper. 

And they look aorable on this LO.

That's Aunt Ruthie with her mom, my great grandmother.

They don't look happy.

They could be a contentious lot. 

They were all dressed up.

Foo Fa La paper & buttons. A total blast from the past.

I have more.

April's lace. Keiser brad.

QK swirl, label, magnolia alpha.

Challenging Moments.........

As you know I hang at Scrapping the Moments and they have some challenges going on.

This first lo is the ad challenge. 

I love that photo. 

It was my screen saver for awhile.

and 6x12. Swoon

The next challenge was one little word.

and that word was NEW

as in a new day.

Sunrise

I got up really really early to catch that.

And may I say that Longbeach Island's sandy shores are 

beautiful and peaceful.

Looking into the rest of the challenges.

See what makes the mojo flow.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!


May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Another manic Monday over at Scrapping the Moments..

and another late night hanging with April. Which rock 'n rolled with all kinds of creativity. Finally got some photos from Nick and I couldn't wait to use the paper I had hanging around from the first couple of tours.  I found it cool that the Florida boy connected with a company from Titusville, FL that started out by providing airspace protection for the shuttle.

`

If Continuing on the California trip, as Tom and I were driving around the hills, we found this chapel up in the hills. 1830.

I practically swooned.

Then as I was taking photos in the rain, and of course, just checking, the doors were opened. Unlocked.

I was beyond delirious.

It was beautiful, holy and had a congregation because I snooped through the bulletins I saw laying there. The history of it just boggles my mind.

 I love Old Town and spent a lot of time there. It was easy to get to and just had lots to do and see and if you get there early no ones in your way when taking photos. More to come later.

 I as I was cruising around, this woman was drawing and I loved her face and wanted to take a picture. 

I tried to be stealthy about it. And she kept catching me. LOL!

So I finally just asked if I could take her picture, she told me I'd like her art better and to pick out a drawing. So I did. And while she drew for me, we had the most delightful chat. And I got my pictures.

And the settings were wrong.  But that's okay. 

I'm learning.

Do you know how hard it is....

to do a grapic layout when you're depth perception challenged?

It ain't easy.

Lining up those pesky lines is well challenging.

So because I'm always up for challenge, I not only did it once,

I did it twice. Bwahahaha!

I started my California photos after waffling ALOT.

I took A LOT of photos (shocking I know), and to my surprise many of them came out quite good.

I had made up my mind to learn to use my camera better and not quite divorce auto, but not date him so much. Knowing that if I REALLY needed to get the shot, and it wasn't moving, I could call on auto. So in the course of waffling if I wanted to do an album, layouts, mini's OH MY. Nothing got done.

(I can imagine your shock)

So I finally made a decision.

Not only did I embrace my inner Ali E. for the graphic style.

I embraced my inner Ansel Adams. 

I sortof trod where he did in Yosemite National Park. They actually have a

nature hike that follows his footsteps you could take along with your camera of course.

But we weren't there that long.

So..........we blasted around the park and got in all the highlights.

Balboa Park was a lot of fun. 

It was an adventure just to get there, I had to take the bus to the train, the train, to the bus, and the bus to the park. And then a lot of walking was involved.

AND I had decided that it was going to be B&W day.

However, the colors were so pretty and when the sun was OUT, 

and being the decisive person that I am,

I went both ways.  bwahahahaha!

With an artistic bent. 

Playing with semi-manual settings.

So here I am Dabbling in things that

totally fascinate me and intimidate me at the same time.

I admit the artsy journals fascinate me. I have a couple of books of them. And I adore Somerset Memories.

I have an artsy journal/book which I started. Most of my pages looked like scrapbook pages.

Then I got daring. (to me)

And stopped.

And started.

And stopped.

Here's the latest attempt.

I don't feel confident about this form of art.

I concentrate on what I don't have.
Fancy cool handwriting.
The ability to draw.

But I'm not gonna let it stop me. One of these days..............

And because you have been breathlessly waiting.........THE DECK!

That is going to double the size of the lanai.

That is going to enhance our communing with mother nature experience. 

That will allow more bodies to party down with.

Snort.

Working on the screened in part now.

Will keep you posted. 

Because the excitement is more that you can bear.

I know.

Another creative evening....

cyber scrapping.

April and I chat and challenge each other.

We decided to do the March 1 sketch at Moments by Diana.

Below is the result. And its a funphoto of Shane when he was two. He was a critter in the manger scene. I can't tell what critter because he doesn't have his mask on. LOL. AND he was sitting and paying attention. That in itself is amazing.

He was chunky too, which is fun because he's always been so skinny. Savannah is in the cow costume and Cassie is a pig I think. Hard to tell, and Jacob is Joseph.

 Cosmo Cricket & bazzill die cut. 

I love die cut shapes.

And there is Shane playing kissy face with Sadie. 

This is Rebel paper from Glitz Design and Jillybean Soup alphas and heart punches.
8x8 size.

So goes another manic Monday....

and what a fun time it was!!!

We actually discovered we could talk over yahoo and not just type.

Which totally opened a whole new world.

We tried once before without success. 

April needs to learn NOT to put me on hold or hit the mute button.

LMAO........

So the above layout of my eldest was a challenge to use stars.  I didn't want to make a typical army page although I can assure I have all the papers and embellies.  Pink Paisley fit the bill. 

The layout below is just a fun one, and if there was a challenge  involved, I don't remember what it was. Maybe it was 8x8 which is the size. Or I used my fiskars edge punch. Bo Bunny papers!

The last was distressing any which way you want. I also combined it with the challenge at Moments for the March color challenge, red, white and black. Cosmo Cricket woo hoo!

Seriously I didn't mean to do another 6x12. It just evolved. I do alot of evolving. LOL!!! The creative beat goes on................

Hubby did a good job

photographing the apeleated woodpecker.

Or as I call him. Woody the Woodpecker.

Original I know. 

Snort. 

He has been working this branch for days, til we run him off by

a. stalking him for photos

b. finishing the deck

c. he returned this a.m. - early, banging on the branch

He's a noisy bird.

Deck photos are coming soon! I know you're breathessly waiting. LMAO...

And the creative beat goes on....

And no one is more shocked than I am. 

It's good to have my muse, April, back which I think its not just a part of it. 

But is it.

If feels awesome to be creating, for bettter or worse.

Which I'm finally catching up on those late nights!

Below - All MM Noteworthy (which i love ), office depot tags, basic grey mini chipboard letters, and folk art paint and glimmer mist.

 Came across this adorable photo of my brother, on this truck.

Is it me, or does he look less than enthusiastic in having his picture taken.

Bwahahaha! Cosmo Cricket rocks this.

 Back to my roots 2 journal when I found this gem. 

Check out the lamp, curtains and wallpaper.

I didn't convert it to b&w because it just wouldn't have the same impact.

I used Basic Grey to continue continuity in the album, and there's a bit of KI memories. It's less overwhelming when its used sparsely.

And the thread is braided, (as I pondered breaking out the sewing machine)
self adhesive from my goody box.

Can't wait to see what creative vibes today brings!

She's got game!

This is the one that got away while April and I were in manic mode.  Scary but true.

This is all Chatterbox. QK vixen, katie and cosmo. The journaling star is from Elsie.

Journaling on the star is a lift from pg. 46, Creating Keepsakes in the February issue.

And that's my gram playing badmitton, in our backyard on Nesquehoning St in Easton. Looks like a cookout was going on, and my Nana is sitting on a lawn chair just out of the picture.

Another funfest Scrap....

However, we're definately feeling the late nights.

 I KNOW I am. But I was game!!

 And the challenge for this evening was 8x8. A really cool size.

 One that I defiantly dissed on last night's challenge LOL!

So I embraced 8x8 tonight and even found that size page protectors. woo hoo! 

Ok so this was almost a  year late.

 But I had to wait for the perfect papers.

Which I found - Karen Foster. Complete with stickers. 

And a MME tag.

Ain't he just the cutest. Quite the little Laddy.

It was a total Manic Monday over at Moments....

 Say THAT 3 times fast. LOL!!!! April and I got our scrap on again. (HINT-there may be another spurt this afternoon. Scrap chat look for us there and JOIN in) Moments link. So NO excuses.

OK. So I loved this paper and whacked it for another project, soooooooooo....it's 6x12 (which on a manic side note FOUND 6x12 page protectors on Amazon.com) So if you wanna give it awhirl you can just add them to your 12x12 3 ring album!

That is Sassafrass Lass and my Nick. With Domino's icky tennis ball in his hand.

So I had this monkey die FOREVER and finally figured how to get it in there. This paper is Recollection and I'm assuming old. (From Michael's) No matter works for the occasion. This is a photo that has no bearing with the story. It's just Shane with a cute smile and a story about the title.

The back to my roots 2 journal. Just sliding in heritage photos as the spirit moves me. I even used stash from the BOX that April thoughtfully put together for me. OMG. I'm still on OVERload.

So in keeping with album "continuity" I'm using Basic Grey which I love. Again, its all about information, so as I find stuff from Ancestry.com
I totally need room. I add it in an informal journal style.

Uncle Axel spelled his name differently. He never married.

I have no idea what's gonna go down today. We totally wing it. AND you can always do your own thing. Lots going on at Moments. New GDT and New Challenges are happening as we speak.