Since my mojo has left the building.....

 I have a semi-new lens that attaches to any lens and

makes it a wide angle. 

Its very cool.

 I have a ledge.

Filled with photos and projects done by the grands.

 I love looking at it when I scrap and the majority of 

them have been scrapped at some point.

 And photos above as well.

 I change them out occassionally to keep it fresh

as they grow. Which is way.too.fast.

 I have had to declutter twice.

I know this surprises you.

It totally runs the length of my work space.

I need a bigger wall.

Nana's yard...

I found the paper I wanted to use but I had to show you the "B" side. 

Its very colorful and has some glitter going on and when I turned it over the "A" side totally blew me away. How completely different they are to be on the same page. 

So to speak.

Can we say STASH!!!

Its seriously cool paper that doesn't get any better than that really.

 Especially for a heritage page.

I couldn't make paper as neat as this. 

You can't see it in the light but there is purple going on in there. Hence, the purple accents. 

I found this photo in the wayback box of course and its meeeeee!!! 

Maybe at eighteen months old since the date indicates my brother's birth month and year. 

I had to figure out who was playing ball with me and I at first thought it was my Uncle Dave - my dad's youngest brother, but he is only 7 years older than me and this young boy looked a bit older/bigger. 

So I opened the ole family tree and found my Uncle Jack was about 10 years older than me. 

Bingo. Went with Uncle Jack. 

I'm kinda bummed the title is hard to find in the photo but it looks good in real life.
I broke out the die cut machine and made the title with QK spicy chicken.
Love that font and used the gray because it worked well with the page.
Should've used a bit darker gray for photographing. LOL.

I found a bill of lading I purchased during a "junking foray".

Love using stuff like that. Its the PA railroad and Edison Light Company.

I then broke out my new smoochies that are in the nail polish bottle and painted

some plain textured butterflies (from April) purple and used some

gray paint to outline them. 

I also happend to have some BG ledger paper, doodle bug and the washi is perfect.

Got carried away with the twine.

Photobombed Twice

Yes it could even happen in the old days.

Photobombing. Who knew.

Its really terrific though because the 2 little boys showed their mischevious side and many years later generations that didn't know them will see a glimpse of their personalities.

Right behind my Aunt Toot is my Uncle Albert - her younger brother. And way in the back is Uncle Frankie her really younger brother, who passed away at very young age.

This turned out to be a very simple page. I love that. It really showcases the photo.

Prima papers that just came like that. All I added was some MME as a mat, washi tape, a stamp in the corner, Kaiser flowers, Little Yellow Bicycle, and Studio Calico tiny alphas.

Sweet child of mine

Guns & Roses title - This is actually the only song of theirs I really liked. Obviously not a fan of AxelRose. But that's ok I'm not above snitching a title of theirs when need be.

The iphone photo was originally in color and I decided to play with B&W - not because there were clashy colors but because the pixels seemed to be smoother in B&W.

And it also worked better with the papers I picked out. I found this paper from Hobby Lobby by the Paper Studio. Its really flimsy so I backed it with some black bazzil. I broke out my new Heidi Swapp mist and played around. I started by sprinkling mist with the mister, but then I decided to mimic some others who slap mist on with a round paintbrush. I sortofkindof got the same effect they did.

I need more practice flinging.

I picked out bits and pieces of Bo Bunny and Authentique and whacked a journaling card in half. I found a place for my Studio Calico rubons (don't they make you swoon) and layered them and some wood do-dads. I tried gelatoes on the flower but it really didn't work so I broke out the watercolors. I also used some Pebbles (from SC Kit) stickers. to balance out that corner and slapped some feathers and a butterfly.

And then the title which took some brainstorming with April. After several lame tries (and I mean lame).  Wa-la. Then had to figure out how to get it on there. I had forgotten how much I love the labler and it was perfect.

The photo in color. It's sweet either way.

But I'm partial to b&w.

How about you?

Potty Girl

She is a total mess and I love it. 

However, it appears she herself has announced she

is ready for potty training. 

Doesn't get any better than that.

My boys didn't get it until way later.

Love the baseball cap

and pretty blonde curls around it.

I used some really old papers on this - Making memories 5th Av

for one and then some Bo Bunnies. (I don't know the gold one).

Love the MAMBI alphas - but beware they stick to the photo like um...

glue so make sure they are where you want them.

Full disclosure-not exactly where I want them and even undo 

kinda let me down on this. 

Used a gel medium to tack down the confetti from Studio Calico kit and

also flung a bit of glitter about the confetti.

Rode down to Hobby Lobby yesterday 6.6 miles round trip.

Was a nice ride actually.

Broke the rules and road on the sidewalk.

My bad.

Anyway I was after the ATG glue gun from Glue Arts.

I'm taking it back today.

Its bulky, the tape isn't smooth and doesn't cut off sharply

or in anyway easy which causes clumps.

I was really disappointed.

Swimies - no more...

Yah!! What a milestone and I wish I could say the same. Sadly, I continue to cling to my noodle and WOE to anyone who tries to take it from me.

I will turn on said person like a rabid dawg. Especially if I'm in the water. And I don't share. EVER.

But I digress...It's a milestone for any 5 year old to swim with the fishies. He looks so serious. It must be the goggles. Goggles can change an attitude in a split second.

So I found some really old Cosmo Cricket and I'm glad - because I love Cosmo Cricket and its perfect for this page. You'll notice that once again I took liberty with the spelling because I could and it was a space thing. AND those alphas are old Basic Grey stash. Woo hoo!!!

And because I was in a giddy mood - the sun gots googly eyes. googly - woogly
(And that little nick-name came from what movie). 

Cheeky...

These 2 boys are adorable and funny and take the best pictures. They look like they up to trouble. Its what boys do.

And don't a scrapbooker just love that.

Studio Calico again - looks like sandpaper and isn't that cool. I used 6x6 honeycomb stencil by I can't remember who and I'm too lazy to get up and look :). Little bit of Basic Grey, Little Yellow Bicycle - love those burlap alphas. Crate paper button, Amy Tangerine stamp, some twine and a clothes pin.

I got a little carried away with the cluster. It just happened honest. I just kept piling on. Love that.

I'll chase a butterfly anywhere...

And this guy has been teasing me forever.

We have a flower box in the backyard and firecracker

flowers and/or flora attract Zebra longwing.

(Yeah I looked it up - bing is a wonderful thing).

 There were several pairs flitting about - but by the time 

I changed lenses (I need to learn to be faster)

to my canon 70-300

he was the only left and he was very twitchy.

 He didn't light and land for long and made it tough

to focus on. I've been having trouble with focus

but I can't decide if its the camera or I need new glasses.

Probably the latter.

My favorite eldest follows a photographer Fro Knows and

sent me 2 of his videos. I watched the first one

and it goes through the basics of the camera and getting

off auto and on manual which I have been

doing for awhile but there's alot to know and I

forget something each time. 

SO practice practice practice is the word of the day.

Couldn't resist practicing with the butterfly.

I started with basic settings for gloomy, cloudy and dark but

before I could change any of them to make it

better (because eldest son said it looked to grainy and my ISO

was too high). And that was the whole point because of the weather to 

start there and then play around. 

Butterfly is a fickle critter and I didn't get to play.

However it was a good starting point.

If they're out today I shall commence to stalking again.

Calgon take me away...

You just don't see that commercial on anymore.
Is it even sold?

I'm a shower kinda gal so I don't know.

I was getting tired of 8x8 squares so I decided

to go round. I even broke out my sewing machine with

a funky edging. It took a few times around because the thread

got tangled up a few times.

I left it that way.

I then picked out papers and just started laying it on.

And then I found the die cut piece just laying about.

And it seemed to work.

Then I had to find the perfect photo for the page.

It called for a photo that was not quite swanky

and not quite tooo laid back.

I also stamped on the photo with my new Studio Calico stamp.

I know. I can be quite the rebel unexpectedly.

There's some Bo Bunny going on with Basic Grey, KI memories,

Little Yellow Bicycle cork alphas, Tim Holtz word strips, prima and

I got to use my new butterfly anywhere punch by Martha Stewart.

Wooo Hooo!!!

Splashdown

It could be the capsule - remember the old days of astronauting??? I tried to tell my kidlets but alas they were born in the days of shuttles.

No splashdowns which I'm sure took all the fun out of re-entry - having to land and everything.

AND.........

No quarentine. This one had to be the big one - like you just got done spending a lot of time with the guys and there you were in quarentine with the same dudes.

Anyway, nothing better than a slide on hot day. And you get to do it over and over again until all the water has been splashed out of the pool. And then you add more. All without a quarentine. Life is good.

I messed around with this page. Splattering paint about - that ended up not being tooo splattered. I wanted it to run. It didn't run. I had to make it run which made it look like I made it run. Sigh. I also did some misting using an onion bag. I also used some Studio Calico stuff, Cosmo Cricket and Sassafrass Lass. OO OO and the title is from some really really old Basic Grey. Kinda like the capsule.

Water bender

So my pal April came up with the title.

Love it.

It does look like she's channeling the water. 

Looking swimmingly. 

She's a waterbaby. Like her dad. Another adreneline junkie.

GREEEAAATTT.... lol.

So this is the challenge at SNC for potpourrie. Use a banner without it being a banner. You know banners not dangling from twine. Very fun and I believe I actually used up all the Studio Calico transparency. More Studio Calico papers, My Mind's Eye, Cosmo Cricket, Authentique, Sassafrass Lass.

I love the papers. They are so much fun and I got to use stash.

Hello facetime.........

Technology is wonderful.

 Especially when a connection can be made.

This is Connor. 

My grandson who is the spitting image of his dad.

He's adorable.

He's precocious.

He's chatty.

And doesn't that bring back memories.

I'm so glad him and I got to chat.

I wondered what I was going to say.

And there were no worries.

Because Connor was chatty, precoscious and totally adorable.

But you knew that.

Love the 4 year old pose.

He did it just for me.

And I love it and him. 

Like totally.

And its complicated.

Studio Calico stuffs. Washi.

OB-3

Ocean Beach 3 - New Jersey. 

Down at the shore.
And this time I'm in the photo.

Woo hoo.

Or not.

I never like myself in pix however, ducking behind a cute grandkid is always a winning pose. I was really pleased despite my non-love of being in a picture to be in a picture with the grands as well as Tom. I'm also glad to document this story because hanging out down at the shore has become important for us to do. Because of work, distance and life's busy-ness its hard to connect on a daily basis, so traveling up on a semi-regular basis allows us to a "routine" with family members.

So here we are in front of Kathy and Allen's little beach house that has to be gutted, raised and re-done thanks to superstorm Sandy which devastated the area. For the past several years, we have headed to OB-3 to celebrate Labor Day with the Murphy's. You can't ever go wrong celebrating anything with the Murphy's or hanging at the shore. It was a fun time to get together and see everyone.

Which means this year is going to be different. No hanging at the shore because 2 out of the 3 family-owned beach houses are still being fixed as well as other rental beach houses that didn't fair well through the storm and that means we need a Plan B.

Working on it.

Most of the stuffs used on the page is Studio Calico from last month and this month. Its sort of the same design as the Take That! page. I can live with that. I also like that I didn't use beachy themed paper but it still has a feeling of that casual-ness.

SO the Double Dawg Dare is to make a page with photos that have a theme without using themed papes and embellies.

Glad I could clear all that up.

Sandy toes....

This is an amazing photo technically. 

The colors are perfect and the composition is terrific.

 I want to take photos like that when I grow up.

And of course, those two kidlets are too cute for words.

 In fact Annie looks like a tiny animated doll with that sweet face and smile.

I like that Owen is messing with the sand and

both are enjoying the grit and cool of it on their feet.

I had some Authentique beachie papers left.

 (Shocking I know).

This page actually came together without a lot of castastrophe associated

with it - (another shock).

I also tilted the papers a bit behind the photo just because.

(will the shocks never end).

I broke out a swirly stamp from Technique Tuesday and used ranger -faded jeans ink.

Who knew beach papers could be so pretty and cool.

The only thing NOT Authentique is the title and the red

polka dotted paper.

Sassafrass Lass - the fit was perfect.

And the letters are kinda sparkly like sand. 

(8x8)

Take that!

This page took a different turn and I know that surprises you.

If you look at the strip between the photos - that is the B side of the papers from Simple Stories.

I had 2 other photos picked out but couldn't bring myself to completely blow off the A side of the paper that is about travel. And I really didn't want to whack it down as I had 2 4x6 pix originally.



Back to the drawing board as I contemplated changes.

While I was thinking about alternative photos I started playing around. I smooshed gesso about in order to tone down some of the busy-ness. I also grabbed these arrow masks that came in one of my Studio Calico kits that I hadn't been able to muss up yet.









You see that just barely smudge of brown to the left of the top photo?

 Yeah. That's how well it worked out. I used a sea sponge and dabbed brown paint over the arrows and it just didn't come out quite right and because I didn't spot them on the page right it became a total win when it turned into a brown blob. I even daubed white paint on it and some mist. And it still looked like a brown blob with white splatters and mist (no sign of the arrows at all).

I know you're interested in the story behind the photos and title as I've tunrned into quite the little rebel while flying. The whole lets turn all electronic things off during take off and landing is quite annoying - especially my kindle. During those 2 maneuvers is when you need the distractions the most. So my iphone, in airplane mode, happened to be within reached as we cruised over the City of Brotherly love, and it was semi-clear for Philly. Not only that - there was another plane mirroring us out my window (where the photo slide is on the page).

When the electronic cops were not watching, I whipped out my iphone and snapped some quick pix. And wasn't I happy with the results. Bwahahahaha. So those renegade photos are perfect for the papers. The rejected photos will be used in a page today hopefully.

And I didn't get caught (this time) soooooo TAKE THAT!

Its good to be king......

Okay, seriously - look at that photo and tell me this title 

doesn't rock the page. By Tom Petty.

It's good to be king, if just for a whileTo be there in velvet, yeah, to give 'em a smile
It popped into my head.

So I know I'm right.

Sweet Lou with his crown, and a smudged snoot.

As a little boy should look.

Adorable.

Just kind of tossing things about, looking for some mojo.

I even cut papers with my scissors and not my trimmer.

It drove me wild but I stayed the course.

And it was tough. 

Goes against everything I need straight in my head.

LOL.

Scary I know.

Used some Jillybean soup, Basic Grey, Sassafrass Lass, Bella Blvd for papers,

 Little Yellow Bicycle alphas, Cosmo Cricket journaling cards,

Creative cafe ribbon, arrow, Studio Calico enamels.

Tossed some Lettuce mist about by Ranger.

Delight

And this photo does indeed delight.

From the backlight, to guessing what is the backlight.

To their smiles.

To their delight in each other.

Did some distressing and wanted the photo to shine.

So I kept things to a minimum through layering; papers,

lace (April's lace) and edging and even the colors. And the Kaiser craft papers
made me swoon. I whacked them up so I could use both sides.
And of course bling.

I had forgotten how delightful (couldn't help it)

the QK alpha emily is. After searching through

TONS (seriously) of thickers that really didn't work with

the vision I had going on I was like oh man, die cuts.

Seriously it was then I wondered when did I get so lazy???

And that wonderful pink flower is total stash.

Anyone remember Creative Imaginations?

I am totally delighted with this.

:)

YOUR challenge over at SNC for Maddawg's Madcap is to use lace on your page.

New Powderoom....

Took a bit of license on the spelling. I had no more R's and ran out of room.

I decided that my beautiful bathroom makeover,

that was a long time coming, deserves a special page.

I love how it turned out. 

Got to use my vintage stuff from a Swirly Doo kit.

And remember those goofy carnations from Prima? Used a bunch of them too.

I had a ton of primas all in their pretty bottles and I got this

genius idea to dump them all in one big super satchel.

Of course all the flowers are scattered throughout and it took awhile to find them all.

Explain to my why I did it again.

I even used my gelatos for the background.

It came out sort of pink.

And I love that I finally worked in that birdbath.

And the birds. 

oooooooooooooooooo

Snot Me!

Hilarious photo!

Revenge by the little miss on being banned from the kitchen and other fun things.

Love pix like this.

She'll hate when she's older. And won't that be fun....

Some creative imagination (I think), basic grey, 7 gypsies and thickers.

Had a lovely 4th despite the rains that blew in an out. Friends piled in bringing FOOD. Lots of  FOOD. In fact there was so much food, we're partying again tonight so we can attempt to finish up the FOOD. Come on down and join us. We have tons leftover. The fireworks were not detered my any ole storm and were absolutely amazing. I love fireworks now - hated them when I was a kid. Imagine that.

God Bless America!

Have a wonderful 4th!

May we do the Founding Fathers proud.

Incognito

So now we know spiderman's true identity.

He's a girl.

Must've been her day off as spidey is dressed quite casually in a tee and blingy sandals while looking to cast her web. 

In putting the page together I was trying to find a web casting paper and found it with a Studio Calico transparency. The big camera came from cutouts for a project life pad. The banner and mat paper has gelato smeared all over it with some mist. (I think I may have used it up now). 

Smile

You just have to laugh at this because it appears there's trouble in the back seat between brothers.

Shocking I know.

Obviously, they're in close proximity, side-by-side. So seriously what could go wrong other than the usual:

He's looking at me.

He's touching me.

I wanted to sit by the window.

Love the photo - good blackmail material when they're older. My favorite kind.

Using the Recollections stash I've had forever and the flags were created with some gelato and mist.

And in a creative frame of mind  - I painted the wood veneer astericks. RED. out.of.control. LOL!