Had some last minute creativity

before heading out west. Its gonna be so much fun.

Well this is Lou. Adorable, snuggie, baby Lou.

I loved holding and cuddling him.

 I wish I was closer. I could totally become a PIA. Seriously I'd be that way with all the grands. Its a gift.

One thing Lou will know as all the grands know. They are loved and will be documented minute by minute. I love getting pictures as that is the only way I can keep up. Recollections and Authentique papers rock these photos.

DH and I will be winging our way out west tomorrow. I can't wait. In anticipation of this event I have written two hubs (more to come hopefully) for your total amusement. I hope you enjoy and vote up.

Packing for an 18 day trip- day zero AND Creating a Travel Journal. Thanks for your support.

I'll be checking in from the west coast..really really LATE. Maybe.

Creative, Fun, Beautiful Photos

Just bring out the mojo. It's a wonderful thing. The minute I saw them, titles started rolling around in my head as well as papers and design flitting through. As you know the struggle I have with titles - well that just says it all. Fey was done with my Swirly-Doo kit except for the prima flowers and BG chipboard alphas. I just love the photo - Amelia all girlie in the sand. And honestly, I couldn't go the "seashore" route - it had to be as girlie as herself. So it was fun to Shabby Chic it up. The easy part was wetting the edges and having at it. The hardest part was waiting for it all to dry.

This one caught my eye. The three of them together. It's just one of those pix that took my breath away-too, and I just couldn't go with a typical title here either. Siblings standing together. 

They look sooooo beautiful together. The Stand Tall and Love are done with K&Co and various stamps, thickers, creative cafe and cosmo cricket alphas. I couldn't resist the seahorses. They mate for life. I like being able to switch from B&W to color - it makes for a romantic and chic look.

OMG. The series of this pix (more to come) made me think of the Etrade baby - however, the title just screamed at me on this one because of her adorable smile.  Just can't help smiling back at her. I used paint and thread to make it fun.

Back to the Swirly doo kit and shabby chic. (except for the flowers) I love that she's pulling on dad - that had that title rolling out. I'm not sure about the flower flow. (say that 3 times fast - LOL). And they are glued down. Like totally.

Boyz & their Toyz

Bwahhahaha. Always quite the poser!

Q's having a blast. Love the Authentique for this. Actually I love Authentique for most anything. 

Had quite a productive week. Lost almost 2 lbs. wooo-hooo! I was getting really annoyed there for awhile with the gains. I was getting quite a snarky attitude. I therefore began to increase the exercise and rejuggled the food stuffs. I've hopped on the bike and it feels quite good.

Also created quite a few pages - and managed to get a great balance between and the kidlets albums. Those 8x8 are evergreen so until I stop (bwhahahaha as if) they will just have to put up with it.  Which totally makes me happy.

And when mama and/or grammy's happy - everyone's happy. 

Point and shoot

I love candid shots. I don't think this is one of them. However, we were all taking turns holding Lou and passing cameras about.

Here he is with his granny. He's such a lucky boy in addition to granny, he has a grammy and a grandma. Good thing he's got the grandpops to balance all that girly stuff out.

This shot was done with my point and shoot. Stealthy. Because evidently you aren't supposed to take pix on take off and landing.

What schmuck came up with that lame rule.

However, on take off, I caught this shot before I got busted. I love it and you really can't have too many of the Washington Monument. Really.

New and Old

 Talking about papers. Although Lou can still be considered new.

I actually got some mojo yesterday and used it wisely. The pool shots are too much fun and make you smile. I used the new Authentique papers-Best Friends. And I actually broke out a stamp I had forever and never used. It was really really tough to get it off the clear plastic.

Lou has the old paper - Basic Grey Oh Baby - which honestly you can't ever go wrong with BG. Sweet Lou having some sweet dreams. I love the mix of alphas used there. I needed a capital L for Lou and lulliby so I traced it from the sheets and cut it with a craft knife. *Gasp* I know - me wielding a craft knife. Its scary stuff.

These are 8x8 to go in their albums. They of course are tasked with the journaling - because I can't have all the fun.

Published a hub about my foray about going to a crop. Please remember to vote UP. Thanks!!!!

I hate to bore you but....

 but those photos were very inspirational. 

And ideas kept rolling around in my head til one finally popped out. As I mentioned before we were at Harpoon Harry's. We used to go there a lot when we had the small boat. It was a great destination because the kids had something to do-a huge game room and we had a wonderful open air table to talk and relax. I'm glad I got to document this most enjoyable time and relate it back to others.

K&Company paper - which is just perfect. QK vixen - which I'm finding I'm using a lot.

Jumping on the hipstomatic bandwagon....

And I love the results. Sitting at Harpoon Harry's and enjoying the breeze and upcoming sunset.

The food is so-so but its a destination with shops and a marina. And when the company is good, it all works out.

The fun thing about hipstomatic is when you use a smaller screen, you can't see everything you get. Which is kind of fun.

It also has different lenses. This is 35mm that I picked somewhere along the line. You can change the lenses just by flipping the camera around and swiping over them.

I seem to just love this mode. However, I believe I shall be experiementing.

Relax with me on the lanai..

by visiting my hub communing with nature which I hope helps you become either a relaxer or slacker. Thanks for your support and please vote UP.

There are many good things about blog hopping

And one of them is finding a blogger that has a really cool and unique style that speaks to you. Ashli aka Soaphousemama, at the Purplemailbox's  pages struck my fancy. So I decided to lift one - Ben. More or Less. It was fun and I love the result. And because I enjoy her work, I can now stalk her because she's in my ireader, on igoogle and whenever she updates, I'll know about it. Check out her blog and her work. You're gonna love it.

So Us should really be them, because Us isn't me. (I should ever have looked that awesome) Or it could be they. However, since its for their album I decided to go with Us. 

I'm so glad I could clear that up.

I used Basic Grey out of print for this and dug around for some stamps and rubons I haven't used in a long long time. And thickers. I had to throw a couple of the packages out because they annoyed me by falling out everywhere and sticking everywhere but where you want them. 

However, they did work here. 

I did publish another hub - Power outages leave you in the dark. Please click on the link, enjoy and remember to vote UP. Thanks so much for support.

Used my new TH die cut

to make these totally adorable flowers.

Easy to use and do.

I chose the die over the scoring board because

of lack of storage. Its a wafer thin die @12x3.

Bo Bunney & prima come to the rescue.

I love her confidence sitting in

a chair just her size.

I love her adorableness 

and girlie outfit.

Love her smile!
Irish Sprite.

Kiss me they're Irish...

Totally cute and adorable.

I wanted it to be fun.

Love the outfit and poses.

Used some Reminiese

and the pink looked closer under

my light. Go figure.

So while I was on my way to creating this page...

the evolution was like birthin' a baby.

Most of my pages are.

Add and item here, take away there, no gluing till

ready and then trying to adhere it the sameway.

When I got it done, I realized it was nice.

Blech. Nice is good but when you create you

want something a little more. 

And at times, it doesn't take much.

After letting it simmer a bit and doing some drivebys

just to move a bit beyond nice, I realized I 

didn't have a title. And really sometimes you don't

need one, and I didn't want the obvious either -

St. Patrick's day. This is more.

These are Annie's great grandparents.

How awesome is that.

So I added a title and decided a bit more was needed.

And then just a bit of stickles just seemed to complete it.

Who knew something easy as stickles

would take it beyond nice.

The hardest part is waiting for it to dry.

So for Maddawg's Madcap, when you think its finished

and you don't like nice add that somethin' somethin'.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's day...

Mine was laid back and full 

of delicious food. 

Tom was rolling in the filet mignon

and shrimp with spices and herbs.

All was tasty and mouthwatering.

The sides were roasted corn and baked potatoes.

I did manage to get a page done of these 2 adorable boys.

Big brother is such a good helper.

I did get a trip in to Michael's and purchased

some new alcohol inks - ain't they

purty??? blasted on white

cardstock.

Little bit of basic grey and quickutz and sissix.

Headed to see my pal Holli - its fingers and toes day!

New lens fun.....

My darling sweet hubby surprised me with the

new Tamron 18-270 lens with stabilization

and piezo drive.

 It is lighter, faster and quieter than the previous lens.

It also slides out easier (no stuck spot)

and when you're shooting down

it doesn't creep out.

 So we took a rode trip through Casey Key

and the north jetty in Venice.

 I love this lens as an all around and I don't need

to carry a lot of gear when I travel.

I know some pros may scoff, but I'm a total

amatuer. I admit it. My whole

goal is to get great shots that don't need a lot 

of behind the scenes tweaking.

 These needed a bit of tweaking as I still have

problems with direct sunlight.

And people had body parts peeking out in

the edges of my pix.

So I blotted them out.

 However, I'm excited about these.

This is the Venice skyline from the jetty.

Lots of water.

 And the Nokomis beach, a great place to hang

is in north jetty park. 

Its also an inlet for boats, and has some great

fishing. And pelicans.

Love them.

Homemade lentil soup and....

chocolate chip cookies.

We recently had a new gas stove installed and it

really makes me feel like a chef.

And as you know when DH returns from out of town

I like to cook dishes that can be eaten at any time.

Like soups.

And cookies.

So I decided that Alton Brown's Lentil soup recipe

was the way to go.

For the chocolate chip cookies - well you can't go

wrong with the back of the Nestle's semi-sweet package.

I have/had really stopped baking since even before WW but

every now and then I have decided a treat is good.

All things in moderation right?

Alton's recipe......................

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
• 1/2 cup finely chopped celery
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 pound lentils, picked and rinsed
• 1 cup peeled and chopped tomatoes
• 2 quarts chicken or vegetable broth
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground coriander
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground toasted cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground grains of paradise

Directions

Place the olive oil into a large 6-quart Dutch oven and set over medium heat. Once hot, add the onion, carrot, celery and salt and sweat until the onions are translucent, approximately 6 to 7 minutes. Add the lentils, tomatoes, broth, coriander, cumin and grains of paradise and stir to combine. Increase the heat to high and bring just to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook at a low simmer until the lentils are tender, approximately 35 to 40 minutes. Using a stick blender, puree to your preferred consistency. Serve immediately.

I diverged from the Chef's recipe as follows:

I added to 2 cloves of minced garlic

AND hot italian sausage removed from its casing and dopped into the soup in bits.

Anyway if you ever had the lentil and sausage soup at 

Carrababa's - my additions get it pretty darn close.

Since we had company - the soup was scarfed down and I gave the

cookies away so we wouldn't be too tempted.

Of course I didn't think to take pictures of it. My bad.

I do have a scrapbook page in progress. I picked up some new TH alcohol

mists at Michael's yesterday and liberally misted some white

cardstock. The rest appears to be coming together

S L O W L Y!!!! 

Shocking I know.

Now to come up with something for dinner tonight. sigh..

Have a great weekend.

Jillybean Soup

is perfect for Easter photos of the grandkidlets.

Caution Bunny Crossing pagepi is

the recipe challenge over at ScrapNChat

and was fun to do.

3-4 pattern papers, 2-3 pictures,

ribbon, ink, journal tag, title.

 These are 8x8 for mom and dad's album

so its up to them to do the journaling.

Homework for them!

Love the pix of Annie & Owen together and I adore these

papers. The papers help with the sweetness of the photo.

 I have more where they came from.

Keep bringing the pictures on.

I'm ready.

Finally! finding that ancestor that

that eluded me for years.

Please click on the link to read further.

One more piece of the genealogical puzzle.

My Mind's Eye, Recollections flower.

Keeping it simple to write a lot.

U2

This isn't the best technical picture of them together.

But I think its the best unposed one (that I got).

(Waiting.....on favorite SonILs)

I love they're sizing each other up and

getting to know each other,

as you know long distance grandparenting sucks

because you have to start over almost 

each and every encounter. 

(especially when they're so young).

So, I had been painting on white and kraft

and decided to give black a go.

So I pulled the 2 colors from the photo

and added blue. 

So Jillybean soup seemed to work.

Published two new hubs.....

Appreciate your support.

Please vote UP!

Eavesdropping on the train

911 Memorial

It is also Nat'l Scrapbook Weekend.

Which I shall celebrate by scrapping. Hopefully the mojo will flow.

Thus, whoever sends me the most pictures.

WINS!!

I do have a couple of packages to send out.

Probably Monday.

After the free-for-all.

Double Dawg Dare over

at ScrapNChat can't be passed by.

I decided that because it's Friday.

And I can do what I want.

Here's your DDD - a journaling block/square/round,

tag, heart and a timepiece of some sort.

And magic mesh. (very manly)

(bwahahaha no flowers involved).

This paper s Artist paper from the Somerset

Magazines. I think its manly for my

2 men here.

I also love those Jenni Bowlin journaling spots,

and timepieces makes me swoon.

Maddawg's Madcap....

on ScrapNChat the first of the month.

Lots of cool challenges going on.

Maddawg's Madcap Is about swinging both ways.

 Biscraptual. bwahahahaa.

Otherwise known as a hybrid.

Used grey cardstock, and the photo was placed

as a watermark. Messed with opacity and

wa-la. Blending.

Since the right side had room, that's where the journaling

was placed. Just straight typing. 

The title was done with Quickutz.

journaling: Capise. Comprende.Guacamole. These three words when said to my boys, they knew I meant business. I mean it and they better pay attention. The knew I was easy. I could be swayed I was so not tough. But when I said these words, I was in the moment. I meant what I said. I could not be swayed. I believe in right and wrong and I mean to convey that to them. Have I succeeded. Sadly, in some cases no. But life is such that sometimes lessons have to be learned the hard way. And as much as we want to pare our children that. We cannot. We had hard times. We worked our way through. Who are we to decide that they are not to have them as well. But as parents. AS a mom. We would love to not have them learn anything the hard way. But as *I* have learned the hard way sometimes removing the “hard way” from the path does more harm than good. Because they do not learn the lesson of the hard way, but learn the easy path, which can be more harmful, painful than if they had learned the hard way. Sadly, I have learned parenting the hard way.