Have a Blessed day!

Happy Easter!

My lil shredders

I'm guessing is a snowboarding term.

And that's what they're doing on the mountain because their Mama

 like my son

is an adreneline junkie.

Shocking.

So this 8x8 turned into an 8.5 x 11 because 

I happen to plop it on the block

and had a hmmmmm moment.

The tan pp has a bunch of arrows on and is very busy.

Sadly it doesn't photo well.

It looks like it needs something more.

I did try the Shimelle tilt only 

I think mine's a bit more tilt-ier than she meant. 

So the adreneline junkie mama needs a bigger album.

oooooooooooo

We are back from the get out of the house mold slaying tour.

Sadly the kitchen and bathroom is a wreck still.

Hopefully it'll all be back together today. Of course painting

will need to be done but for the most part the

kitchen should be functioning.

The bathroom is going to take awhile.

Progress............

You my brown eyed girl...

The song challenge over at SNC. I believe Annie girl's eyes are hazel, however, for the purposes of this challenge they will be brown. I have always loved that song. Its fun, adorable and romantic when someone notices your eyes. Since I'm on the road I do NOT remember the paper. I will point out that until I added this in my album I did NOT notice that the page is not a true 12x12. (I must've trimmed some off).

Imagine that.

So I backed it with some gold cardstock that matches the chevron yellow paper but didn't retake the photo. It looks good with the cardstock. 

And wasn't that tan card fun.

It actually has "girl" printed on it. I rearranged my entire scrap area and how I keep my cards, stickers, and journaling embellishments just to find this card.

After I had the rest of the title on there, the printed word looked flat and goofy so I added more thickers to balance it out. 

A bit o'messy stitching that sort of got stuck on the washi tape. 

SO fyi...washi tape, sewing machine could be bad for business.

We went to the Eric Clapton concert the other night.

And it never fails that wherever we sit there are

drunken bozos that ruin the experience. 

I rant about it on my hub

Rock Concert Etiquette

Please click on the link, read, enjoy, vote UP

and any other adjective you think applies.

Comments are cool too.

Thanks for your continued support. 

He rocks pretty darn good for 68.

Old rockers still rock!

I had lunch at Avonlea Antique Mall-Hipstomatic fun

Its MILES long, has endless booths and a cafe to keep your

energy up. I had lunch with Tom and Carl 

chowing down on the chicken berry salad. Sooooo de-lish.

 The boys left so I started wandering about. Remember patterns?

I wish I had kept mine, however, in reviewing sizes on these

babies mine wouldn't fit anymore. And in reviewing these

sizes and what's passing for sizes now-a-days 

you are having tricks played on you.

 And doesn't this cabinet make you swoon. It would

look great in our entry. Tom is not buying it. Literally.

 So I had to make a pitstop. This is their version of a powder room.

It took me days to get out of it.

 Just washing your hands was an experience. There are 4 stalls and I used

each and every one. And shopped. Quite the multi-tasker. LOL!

 Since Tommy-boy wasn't buying the cabinet, I found this stove.

oooooooooo  However, he pointed out we have one already.

He's a true romantic :|

And then just when I was thinking where's Connie when you need her,

BAM! found some bottlecaps and receipts. The receipts are from Pennsyvania

railroad shipping to the Edison Electric Light company.

Be Still My Beating Heart. 

Connie, my online blogger pal, is the finder & keeper of all things vintage that rock her pages.

And being the copy cat that I am - bought the bottlecaps.

You need to check her out at Crafty Goodies and bookmark her.

Freeze Frame

I have no idea how I missed this photo in the first place. 

It's been languishing around since last year and I happened to stumble upon it my mistake. 

And it made me laugh and look at it several times. 

The sign of a great photo right? 

Well 2 of them are the grandboys and they're a freakin' hoot. As you can tell by their poses. 

And then the dog. Seriously? Posing. That's a cause for a grin in and of itself. 

8x8 Size and I believe the background is JBS (I could be wrong) and assorted Bella Blvd and one I can't remember. 

But I wanted to use happy colors.

 I had a great time with this page and I used my brush art font from Sissix with negative and postive space because I was too lazy to go back and cut them again, 

but I'm not clear about the whole thin die things.

 I heard odd things when I ran it through the big shot. SIGH.........

We have left the premises as the mold slayers are doing their thing.
And that stuff smells nasty.
Hoping they're done by the end of the week and we can
put the rest of the rooms together - but the
kitchen will be together.
And oddly we found the problems in the bathroom but the
kitchen took the brunt of it.

We will be rocking with Clapton later this evening.
Laaayyyyy-lllllaaaaaaa

The ad challenge at SNC

involved kissing. Although I had a lot of photos where kissing was involved, I decided to use this paper I had laying about for decades its seems. Its from scrapbour - the love letter collection. I have no idea how I acquired it, nor why I kept it so long. The photo is a picture of my mom and dad right out of high school, so very young, and on the back of the photo - my mom came through again, by marking December 31, 1952 and January 1, 1953 in such tiny writing I missed it the first time around.

 She's a hoot.

 Like maybe they didn't call it New Year's Eve back in her day. I love that they celebrated it so comfortably. And this was before they probably even thought about getting married. 

Now if you examine the photo closely, my Gram was all about decor back in the day and just check out the curtains, the sofa, the lamp. Her PARLOUR was indeed a fashion statement.

I love the way this photo talks.

Mote Marine experience

After Jungle Gardens we decided to check out Mote Marine.
Its basically an R&D and sea creature rescue
It has expanded a lot since we were last there and there was lots
to see and do.

 The sea lions of course are like the jesters of the sea

and it was amusing to watch the ones in this pool.

Their trainers kept going back and forth and 

the seals would follow them around as best they could.

It was a hoot to watch.

 This one is actually genius. They have a sandy bottom and flowing water.

You pay $5 for a pail for of sand and sharks teeth.

And then you get a sieve and pan for the sharks teeth.

The kidlets have no idea they've been set up and everyone "finds"

a bunch of them. This amused Owen for about 20 minutes.

Just in time for the seal show.

 Of course there are picturesque signs that you can poke your

head or the heads of your offspring's offspring through.

Very fun when you can get them to stand still for 

a second or two.

 The turtles are huge and live a long life when they aren't

in turtle soup. It was neat that the big tanks 

had windows kid high and thus keeping their hands

from getting bit.

 Jellyfish remind me of lava lamps. You can get buzzed 

watching this for days. And the lighting rocked.

Owen proudly showing his cache of "found" sharks teeth.

And he gets to keep the bucket.

Genius.

Ephemera-document

I've had this original memorandum laying around for years.

I had 2 maybe 3 of them and they are 

from Lehigh Valley PA where I'm from originallly.

And in the wayback box were these pictures of 'the last

steam engine'. Mom had written that on the back as well as a date

June 4, 1960 but not the where. I know there was a 

roundhouse in Easton, PA somewhere but

doing research on the internet evidently it wasn't as big a deal

as we thought it was. 

I'm thinking they retired these babies with some pomp and

circumstance.

This page turned out goofy but I really didn't want to cover up

all the cool things on the memo and wasn't sure how to accomplish that.

On the positive side, I did another page with 3 original photos on it.

SO A MADDAWG MADCAP OVER AT SNC-

USE EPHEMERA ON YOUR PAGE.

A moment with you....

Continuing with the whole misting thing I wanted to change the color

of the die cut circles see the second layout here where I misted

and used negative space. So you can see the die cut circles on this page.

I also used my new Studio Calico stamps for the title.

There are also misted butterfly negatives that you can't see.

My bad. 

Seriously do you really ever know where exactly

you're going to create on a page.

Of course I swapped out the photo because the ones I had in mind

lacked one I knew I had somewhere and finally found.

But not in time for this page.

So I picked another original photo from the wayback box

AND Sha-zam.

There's alot going on in this photo. 

Like at Howard's feet is an adorable kitten.

And in the bushes is a man looking toward the house.

I can't identify him. Sadly.

But its precious all the same.

 So the pictures below were meant for the page above.

Don't you love how it all works out.

I'm so gifted that way!

I put these pictures out on FB because I don't know the location

and sadly the last remaining relative in the picture didn't know either.

And I had the baby wrong.

Sigh.

I used stash on this - that paper is EK success and soooooo

old and flimsy that I backed it with cardstock.

And I love the look. Very old school.

Some Cosmo Cricket thrown in.

And yes that's me with the goofy haircut at 12. 

I was just allowed to start growing it out.

And yes, that was how it was done (dare I say it)

in the old days. 

*laughing hysterically*

Now I know why my Gram wanted to clock me when

I asked her about the olden days.

Yes, April we do need to set heritage parameters.

Raise your hand if you have a lot of boxes

Loaded with photos sitting about. 

Every now and then when I'm searching for that photo(s) that will spark my mojo, 

I all of a sudden happen upon photos I never ever

  noticed the first few million times plowing through. 

It always boggles my mind when that happens.

Because it is now their time to be scrapped.

And those three are IT.

 I don't ever remember seeing them and I don't believe

they were ever stored all together. So I was pleasantly surprised

when I happened upon them. 

The starkness of the photos indicate that the construction of the 

home was just completed and we moved in.

And my brother and I were very excited.

I wrote about this home in other layouts so I didn't go into too much detail here

due to lack of space because I wanted to use this diecut shape.

And I'm baffled I can't identify the man sitting next to pappap.

I punched out the flowers and decided to add gold heirloom glimmermist.

So instead of wasting all that yummy-ness I sprayed them on white cardstock

which came the base paper for the layout below.

I know!!! It's the little things.

This little piece of paper is what's left of the paper behind the photos

that you can't see except for a little bit below the middle photo

and now I wonder why I bothered. LOL.

I did write the address and our phone number down

including the old area code because I was shocked I remembered that

when I couldn't tell you what I had for dinner yesterday.

Funny how the mind works.

Doesn't the negative space and mist rock. I love it and it works

perfect on another photo I happened across of Nick

and Shane at the church Easter egg hunt.

They were so young. Shane was 3 and Nick 12.

I used happy scraps and some jillybean soup diecuts that I reversed

and glimmermisted with turqoise because the other side is pink.

Not that my manly kidlets couldn't handle the pink, the blue worked better.

I didn't add more flowers instead I misted some punched

butterflies on the same kraft paper I misted those shapes and it turned out ok..

That one may be used cut as background or used for punches.

I'm not sure. I have to look at it in the light of day.

Animal fun at Jungle Gardens

Did you know all swans mates for life?

I didn't see a mate.

 You can also feed the flamingos.

You have to get there when they're hungry.

They are obviously well fed.

Owen couldn't convince them that they needed a snack.

 This dude is just hanging around.

Look at the smirk.

bwahaha...

 A fun playground and slides to conquer.

 Seriously did you know that flamingoes can sit like that.

Their knees go the wrong way.

And this guy was too pretty.

And white.

And a perfect subject for a bokeh effect.

Bokeh effect in case you didn't know is an unrecognizable background

with brilliant points of light.

I always called it blurry.

Sha-zam!

I planned that.

On the one day when we are all Irish....

My favorite blessing for all of you!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Got a double dawg dare goin' on at SNC...

 Jump on in anytime.

So I was thinking when one of my pals asked about paper.

And as I pondered my stacks of paper that

has been hanging around in some cases way too long.

It also took me back to when I first started scrapbooking

and knew absolutely nothing about anything I

inadvertently became the cardstock queen.

Pattern paper was not even a blip on my radar until I

started watching Sandy Genovese on the DIY channel and

my world opened up.

Back then scrapbooking embellishments were beginning to evolve

so unless you had a die cut machine or purchaased stickers (which I didn't) I

produced some really really plain pages.

So today I decided that my DOUBLE DAWG DARE would be to use

nothing but cardstock with a couple of non c/s embellishments.

I broke out paints to use with die cuts and foam stamps.

I whipped out my stamps in order to bring some embellishments to life.

I used watercolors and die cuts.

I'm really happy with the page.
However....
I will always love pattern paper. In fact I have my new

Studio Calico kit and I don't want to cut the papers.

Here is my face :|

Piggy tales...

Photo taken by KevinDuffyphotography

On Manic Monday at SNC.
We try to never miss.
 Are every girl's dream and mostly especially their mom's

who want to make their girl - really girly.

Like having hair, piggy tails and huge bows and flowers.

So why do boys have the fastest growing hair 

and the longest eyelashes. 

That is so wrong on so many levels.

So Piggy tails page is a lift of Shimelle's . Click and scroll down - 

 you'll know it when you see it. 

It's on one of her videos.

Her videos totally rock and you need to check them out.

Photo taken by Jill Maynard - Fit for Life Photography

 Okay - based on Quintin's face and the fact that we all know Mz. Amelia 

is the princess, I just couldn't help the title and subtitle.

I love the cosmo cricket alphas (or they could be Makin' Memories) 

I use both unabashedly. 

Photo taken by Jill Maynard - Fit for Life Photography

And Connor many moons ago just rockin' the drool in this pix.

Poor baby had to be totally teething something awful.

But he's too adorable and is the spitting image of his dad.

It's deja vu all over again.

Walking around New Orleans is always fun

 because its quite diverse. You can always find someone

trying to get attention.

Whether they want it or not.

I almost missed the above shot (which I know the settings aren't right) - but

how many times you get to see a big wheel like 

this roll down the street. 

He shot by me and I was really not paying attention.

So I just point and shot.

Sometimes you just gotta go with it.

 As I happened to be meandering the square I happened

upon this aspiring artist sleeping on the job.

Artists and seers jam the square touting their wares

 and it was just too perfect I caught this.

Artistic shot of the day. 

Snort.

Carriage rides are everywhere. We took one many

years ago and it was very interesting and fun.

This one was sort of shot from the hip.

Because I'm creative like that.

On the way home we took a slight detour...

We happened to be going by the Battleship Memorial Park.

Right off Rte 10E

In Alabama.

And for $2 you get lots of old military things.

 There were memorials for the Korean and Viet Nam wars.

 And the USS Alabama that you can tour. 

We respectfully declined because it would've taken hours.

My knees weren't up to it. 

And I/we really wanted to get home.

 This B52 has quite the wingspan and had to breakout my

new wide angle attachable lens.

It works awesome.

 One last shot of the battleship as we crossed the bridge.

We made it home safe and sound.

And its great to be here.

The Cabildo museum and French Market

Touring the museum was on my list

and they had tons of art, artifacts and information

from the Indians in Louisianna and all the

history in between.

It was very fascinating.

The museum is located next to the St. Louis cathedral.

 So I couldn't resist a do-over of the cathedral which is

beautiful without all the stages and cables that were being erected for

Mardi Gras and Superbowl when I was here last.

And this is the view from Artillery Park without a bunch

of peeps and junk in the way.

Timing is everything.

 I decided I needed to cruise on over to the French Market 

and this golden statue of Joan of Arc greets you as you stroll 

down the thoroughfare. The 

statue was presented to the city by Charles de Gaulle in 1959.

The French Market is actually a flea market and I couldn't

resist this wine glass. 

bwahahahaha!!!

 Returning to our abode I was shocked when I found that the

street was basically people free

and the blue and white building just begging to 

be photographed.

I adore the rustic-ness.

And the architecture.

and the balconies - make you swoon.