DH & Canon surprised me

with the new Canon 70D. 

So I played around the house before I left.

 Of course the backyard that usally teems with 

wildlife was sadly lacking.

 On the cool side, we have two more pineapples going on.

This is the newest one.

 We stayed at the Good Sam RV park last night

and it was comfy and relaxing.

 We are RV'g our way north to NJ and I did practice

some highway driveby photography.

Mountains oooooooo.

 Not bad. I love old structures.

And it appears that VA is chock full of them.

This one is the only one that came out good.

The photo below is the we blew by one.

And while I am so enjoying my toy, its with sadness we 

are heading to NJ. Usually Labor Day is a day

of gathering of fun and frivolity for our family, and this year will be

a bit different as we remember Ginny.

My favorite eldest sister-in-law lost her battle against

cancer last night and we're heading there to say goodbye.

It's quite bittersweet as she was a lovely woman and a sister to me.

I know she is being lifted up on eagle's wings.

Ready to fly...

Love getting instagrams or iphone photos of the grands direct to my phone. And usually said pix get the mojo flowing.

For example, this baby came in yesterday (or now the day before) and that same day a page was done.

All done in scraps. 8x8 makes it easy to do that because the base was a scrap. The only malfunction was when I used permanet adhesive to adhere the papers I had the flowers upside down. No worries, I flipped it around which changed the design/layout sort of. I think it worked out better now in hindsight.

I also had a peek at Mz. Ashli's page Nice kitty where she used dots. I didn't do that. But she did use die cut circles behind  her 2x3 size photos. What I did instead so I wouldn't be an exact copy cat, I used a QK die cut of scalloped rings and stuck them behind the photos and in some areas popped them up.

I know. Pop dots know no bounds in creativity. LOL!

Saw banners somewhere that had been punched out, so I did the same with a small heart punch. Then had a couple sparkly hearts left over from the MAMBI sparkly alphas.

Mama also said that she expected to be able to fly once the wings were donned. Grunting and groaning trying to fly "like Tinkerbell" she said. Well Grammy may have gotten the wings but she didn't promote any Tinkerbell flying. Darnit.

And would you look at her pretty blonde hair that I'd pay big bucks to have.

Counted Cross Stitch

I loved and still do love counted cross stitch.

Sadly, I don't do it anymore.

Its hard now because I can't see the stitching no

matter how big the stitching or holes.

I have a bunch of beautiful scenes that I gifted over

the years. When mom and I traveled we would

take our projects with us.

 Easy to carry in a plastic bag. 

Easy to pick up and do when there was some

downtime available.

 I like that my mom snapped me in action and at

my Gram's. I love her furniture, her living room.

I totally miss her and her house.
Another page built with scraps and without a photo.
It took days to find this photo. and then
after to really really really decide to use it.

 After I have the page together I decided

some counted cross stitch was required.

So I used the mat and punch from the Amy

Tangerine package in my Studio Calico kit.

I spread them throughout the page.

Top left, top left corner of the photo

and right corner at the bottom of journal card.

Love the layers.

Let's address the glitter. 

I used some gesso andthen decided that 

maybe black would be good.

It looked like pepper.

So I tossed in some red.

It looked like pepper and chili powder.

And then I decided gold.

Therefore some sequins and those pesky little

beads were tossed on top.

And everything was totally flat.

Twine needed to be involved. Lots of movement.

Love the photo - I see a bit of Nick there.

Shades of the 80's hair.

Remember

I love this stamp and I have used it quite a bit. It was the perfect choice for this heritage photo.

I have to admit - another page put together before having a photo for it.

Love that - like totally.

Actually I had this selection of papers/scraps picked at the same time I was picking out papers for Camera holder. I know you're totally aghast now.

Anyway, love how it turned out. I don't remember the "post card" mfg. but it totally works here. I also copied the back of the photo that has someone's writing on it. Could be my great grandmom's OR my Aunt Toot. (short oh's - not like beeping a horn-LOL).

The photo took me into a FB chat with my cousin who's the last man standing on the Schneider side. He was a font of info that led me back to Ancestry because I had a few things wrong.

I know you're surprised.

I fixed up my boo-boos and while I was chatting, being the magnficent multi-tasker that I am - I continued to work on the page. Which is why the butterfly is covering up some journing because my Cuz couldn't seem to make up his mind who the writing belonged to.

Which is all good.

And while the title bazzil looks pink - its matches the flower when its under the light at my desk. Just wanted to clear that up.

A mix of pattern paper is Daisy D's (base), Cosmo Cricket, Authentique, Sassafrass Lass, Josephine Kimberling is the flowers, Studio Calico ribbon - a change up over twine. Heidi Swapp stamp, prima and kaiser craft pearl.  ooo ooo and I got to use my notebook paper punch.

Even after having the paper picked, I have to determine the "design".  My process sometimes takes minutes, hours and sometimes days or weeks. Very hard to document. Most times, its ripped apart several times and then reinstated to the original design. Or papers change. Then a decision on a photo that can also change by the minute, hour, day.

All of which surprises you, I know.

A What not to do tutorial.....that does end well

My Studio Calico kit came with an Amy

Tangerine embroidry/stencil kit.

It comes with a variety of items; i.e., words,

punctuation, corners etc.

a mat, a punch and needle and thread.

 I chose the ampersand because well - why not.

Chose some paper, laid it out on the mat 

and punched away.

And then I proceeded to sew.

Using a back stitch and following the holes

it wasn't hard to do, remembering

to pull tight but not too tight as paper

is a bit more delicate than fabric.

 And then I noticed I got lost in the sewing 
and forgot it was an ampersand.
Don't do that.

I was sewing an 'S' and it wasn't until I got

to the doohicky (for lack of better word)

that I knew I screwed up.

 No worries. 

I could have pitched it and started over again

but I decided to

  carefully pull out all the thread

I had stitched and begin again.

(backside)

And wa-la finished product.

I believe I'll be trying a couple more stencils. 

Later.

Came out pretty good.

The paper is light blue with brown thread

and now its sitting on my desk 

waiting for a home.

Stay tuned.

It may take awhile.

Camera holder

Another page started with scraps and no photo!

Love how it came together, although I did get carried away with blasting some Mr. Huey all over.

Then I got some die cut flowers that I felt needed to be repeated at the top and used my Sissix die cut. And then gussied it up a bit, and covered it up with some glitter. And then I needed to glitter the die cut.

So if you look carefully at the photo of me and Billy, you'll notice I have a camera in my grubby lil paws. It could be I was a budding photographer even then, but I'm pretty sure I was just the designated camera carrier. However, at 4 years old I would never give either one of my kids at that age my camera to carry.

EVER.

I used kraft paper, some basic grey and making memories pp, K&Co flower, tea dye paint with bubble wrap, studio calico camera & thickers and Cosmo tiny type.

3 of us...

This was another page in a series of picking out the papers

and putting the page together and then picking

out the photo to go with.

And it has been a blast because I did what I wanted.

I'm very good at that. 

I got out some Anthropology spritz from Tim Holtz

and some cranberry glimmermist which

isn't quite red or pinky.

OH WELL.

I also broke out the pinking shears.

That's a photo of me, mom and brother Billy.

The decor slays me.

I think where are at friends of my parents (because I KNOW its not our house)

Don and Blanche Remaley on Berwick St.

except I did get confused by the lamp - it was popular.

Love how turned out. 

Another Heritage page bites the dust!!!

Although hmm...we still need to define heritage.

I mean come on. Moi???

She said/He said Hello love....

Underneath the pp and photo is a hot mess of 

gelatoes and mists.

The page was inspired by Wilna that does In the Mood

to Scrap on 2peas using mixed media

She also uses a mood board where she gets her inspiration from.

Of course, I didn't do that.

I just willy-nilly started to toss mist and

gelatoes about.

And wa-la a blob

 - that of course I didn't photo

because I was too busy trying figure out how to cover it up.

I didn't have a photo planned when I started

tossing and really no paper direction either.

I just started pulling from my huge collection of scraps.

I finally got to use the she said/he said card I got from somewhere.

Anyone know????

And pear/pair get it. Snort. 

Loved the big flowers from Josephine Kimberling and cut 

the big blue one in half.

And the Studio Calico stamps from this month's kit.

The b&w striped paper came from Hobby Lobby - Paper studio

its really a light paper so I backed it with some white bazzil. 

The rest of the pp's: creative imagination, basic grey.

Way too fast...

I almost fell on the floor when I saw this photo on facebook. I know Cami is growing up fast, but dang, this is way too fast.

I remember her as a little girl and Uncle Tom allowed that she could only cry three times in a day and he would be counting. She would also unafraidedly mix it up with her cousins and show them that girls totally ruled.

Now this is another page that started without a photo. I used some Tim Holtz paper  as a base (I think-the strip was off or nonexistent) and jazzed it up with some grey paint and a crafter's workshop stencil. If you look at the lower left I turned the stencil upside to get the branch - and after I noticed the birds were flying upside down. Must be magic. LOL! An old Swirly doos kit transparency (the last of it I think) and a tag I have no idea what- it was in a transparent envelope. Prima bling, can't place the flower, and thickers. I did fix the T - it slipped upon photographing. I really do like how the stencil turned out. There's also a basic grey rubon that you can't see near the title. PP: authentique, bo bunny, jillybean soup... I did use a honey comb stencil with tan paint under the bird cage stencil and on the other side - it looked stupid. So I covered up. win-win.

Very girly for a tom-boy that became a girly-girl when I wasn't looking. (and she's only 11). Sigh.

Simply Irresistable....

This page actually started without a picture.

My mojo took a little hiatus and I decided that maybe playing around would help. I did pick up a 6x6 My Mind's Eye pad at M's. I'd say new but at M's is all um...relevant.

I started with an edge punch, a couple of stamps (the bottom left is mostly covered up, an onion bag and a white dauber - that I had to hunt for.  I did some messy stitching to cover up some um.... things. OOO OOO and I flipped some glitter on the white paint too. I also sprinkled some mist about.

I found the flowers from Studio Calico Josephine Kimberling and they matched really really well. The heart doily was under my glass mat - very convenient.


Then I went to the wayback box for a photo and decided a portrait orientation worked better and actually found a couple of promising photos - but I loved this one.


When I got to the photo corner I took a break because the paper was eluding me and it needed something blue in the corner. After cleaning the dishwasher, reloading it and scrubbing the sink out, I strolled on back and lo and behold I found the paper I was hunting for.



And then I had to find more of the Bo Bunny I used for the photo corner because I wanted to use this QK label. And then of course that needed something. So I used my new butterfly punch that can punch anywhere. Swoon. And that fountain from Dusty Attic literally fell out of a basket I was hunting through for more do-dads. And then I decided that some washi was required to cover up seams. Then I had to find pearls.

The title from Making Memories actually jumped out of the bag too and I was kinda eh about it but when I put it on the label - I liked it much better and it goes so perfect with their pose.

Then after I adhered everything - I couldn't remember if I took a picture of the picture. Heavy sigh. Because of course I used permanent adhesive. I carefully yanked it off and took a photo in case anyone in the family would love to have a copy because I used the original.

In a what was I thinking act

The other day I decided to take my camera and go play.

Only problem it was A. in the heat of the day.

and B. really in the head of the day.

I perservered and did prepare

 taking several bottles of water and some trail mix.

Am I a hiker or what.

 Of course I carried an extra lens just in case.

I got to the preserve and noticed there are signs indicating that

said site is under surveilance.

Seriously? 

You used to be able to drive through but not anymore.

So hiking it was.

 I was ok with that - but there wasn't a bunch of shade.

And I saw no signs of the wildlife they were boasting about

- mostly birds 

 Its actually a pretty large preserve however, since it was really really hot and

I wasn't seeing anything that I couldn't be seen anywhere else in Florida

or my backyard - which actually has a lot of bird 

and squirell action going on and 

we could qualify for a sanctuary or preserve.

Just saying.

 I backtracked back to the car.

 Sat on the bench for a moment and waited for a breeze or two.
Because I was melting and I should know
better than to be traisping around outdoors in Florida
in the heat of the day.
DOH!

 And this tree just jumped right out at me and well - 

it was the most interesting thing there. 

So far.

Well except for this turtle who appeared to be on a mission and 

moved really fast - 

The two of us appeared to be the only live beings about.

Ready 2 Eat

Another fun photo - 

Annie asleep with not one - 

but several forks in her grubby lil mitt. 

A girl has to be prepared.

You never know when a snack is going to come your way.

AFTER, I put the page together with my

new Studio Calico kit papers, wood alphas and astricks, I remembered

that this is a Christmas photo.

You can't see Owen but they are both 

napping in their new sleeping bags.

How fun is that!

Well okay then, no harm no foul, because I won't be

blabbing and I'm sure you can keep this on the down-low.

I used my favorite flower punch and I had the

pink circle and tag. I used my

favorite heart punch for the heart papers (of which the strip is gone)

so your guess is as good as mine.

Therefore, moving right along - I forgot to mention the

cool new stamps from the kit that have been stamped on the photo. 

In white ink.

Am I out of control or what.
I believe I have left enough room for journaling.

BTW - how do you like the new look? It needed to be refreshed because

I have had it the same way forever.

I added my first name to the title and wa-la it pops up in search

as a second choice. 

Some lawyer with my name is first.

dammit :)

OH SNAP!

These two photos are hysterical.

As I was on the hunt for something scrapable and

these two photos were side-by-side in my aperture file.

And I burst out laughing.

Honestly, it couldn't be helped.

Two hambones.

The sea lion was funny. He was in the pool and

watching his handler every step of the way.

Waiting for some goodies.

Owen was with us just being Owen.

A total hambone.

I had a blast with this page, again using my

Studio Calico kit for this month.

Except for the chipboard alphas and they are basic grey.

Riding shotgun...

More really cool papers from the Studio Calico kit.

This kit is making me swoon.

And would you looky there the purply-blue paper - 

it matches dad's Yankees cap.

I planned that.

totally.

Love all the little goodies from other kits and the only thing NOT SC is 

the Autumn Leaves stamp for journaling.

Again, nothing tricky going on.

Except another page is done.

 I planned that too.

Lou looks like he's having a great time and dad

took a great selfie.

Big adventures happening in Brooklyn.

:)

I love Brooklyn - its one of my top 10 favorites cities

in my list of 20 favorite places to visit.

U~2 (a title used before I'm sure)

And that's okay because sometimes it really really goes with the photo and sometimes it's all the letters and numbers you have left over. Even if it may be in the same album. Or not.

Let's go with - leftover letters. I need to buy a lot of vowels.

Love the kit this month from Studio Calico. I can't tell you why - it just rang the ole mojo bell and I've been rocking it ever since.

I wish I could say I did something tricky on this page but alas, No. I even used the stamp that came with the kit. Twice on this page.  Love that.

In fact, I only have a pattern paper or two remaining from the kit.

Swoon.

Anyhoo, The papers are SC as well as the wood butterflies (from another kit) Love the mixing and matching. This was quite simple to toss together and I'm good with that. And the frame. Oooo la la. It makes the photo shine. The alphas are thickers of course (not from the kit either). But they kit them a lot so of course why not.

I love this photo. Daddy and Daughter - just says it all.

Harvested our 5th pineapple of the season....

We've had a very fruitful season this year. FIVE (5) sweet pineapples fresh from the vine. (The greens you see behind it is fresh basil and oregano-nothing better on food than that when cooking).

Knowing that this pineapple was ripe was an accident. New acquaintances from NJ happened to be staying with our friends next door and they were fascinated with our flora and fauna.

 And they noticed the pineapple plants and are astounded that a. things grow and b. you can eat the things that grow. (We find that totally amusing and widespread with folks from the north).

So we told them how sweet and delicious they are when eaten fresh with no pesticides.

And when they went out back to look at one - it was ready to eat!

So Tom harvested the pineapple and we shared it with our new friends to their delight and amazement.

It's so cool to watch them enjoy it.

I am now rooting the tops of the 5 we harvested and I'll be looking to plant them soon. We are running out of real estate for them however, so we need to figure it out. They love the morning sun from the south and rain - lots of rain which we have been blessed to have everyday. What a wildlife.

It's going to be a pool day

with friends and a duck.

The duck keeps tabs on the temperature of the pool.

That noodle is for bobbing and its mine.

And I don't share.

Raise your hand if you love to bob.

Bobbing is relaxing.

We'll also be grilling and picnicing.

Awesome  wildlife day!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this month's Studio Calico kit!

Marks & Co.

Usually I spread the kit out and inhale it all in.

Then I commence to fondling and caressing each piece.

Several times.

This time I pulled out each piece one-at-a-time.

Gazed fondly on it.

And commenced to scrapping.

Whoooo - Wheeeee

Found the perfect papers from the kit to highlight

Miss Amelia.

Actually the papers, sequins, and stars are from this month's kit.

The rest except for the doily, pinwheel and basic grey chipboard alphas came from

Studio Calico older kits and some I ordered from the store.

And the little bird tucked in there.

SC all the way and I need to get more!

I tried to match the "girl" to the everyday (you know b&w).

April says its kind of whimsical.

I can do whimsey.

And I'm working on more.

Girl with a parasol

I have done this photo many times; adding into my heritage pages, a comparison page, and my roots album.

However, this is the original.

Sitting in the way-back box was doing it no good so it was time to do it again and get it protected before it just falls apart.

Which would annoy the snot out of me.

I love the paper. Could be a Studio Calico kit paper as its designed by Josephine Kimberling and I have some really cool diecuts from her that I had ordered from SC that I am using on another page, so I'll assume it came in a kit, because honestly I would have never bought that on my own. And what a shame that would've been. I love it. I have to tell you though, it did sit around with the photo on it for about a week before I actually committed.

Everything in its time.

Of course there's no date on the photo, so I'm guessing that my Gram was about 16-17? maybe. So that makes it about 1924. I love the dress and then the parasol accessory. Who knew Gram could be a fashion statement. Actually I did. She did keep up on fashion and I can't tell you how many times she would inform me that this or that style was "all the go."

The stamps and cancellation actually came from my Grandpop's collection of stamps, cancellations and envelopes, so it was cool to add to her page. The bits of paper are basic grey and authentique, with some magic mesh, dusty attic fountain, and heart doily. Thickers and basic grey alphas. And the bird is recollections I believe and that is the last one. Woo hoo!!!

Stash has been used.

Got my new Studio Calico kit today and already jumped in - and that is unusual as I usually fondle everything for a day or three before using any of it.

I am doing a victory lap!

If you look above in the NAV bar -

 I FINALLY FIGURED OUT HOW TO PUT WORKING

TABS IN MY BLOG!!

Wooo freakin' who!

Okay so I didn't mark the link. 

BUT I can tell you what I did more or less.

In case you care.

Open design and then pages.

Click on new page - then WEB address.

When you click on WEB page you need a URL.

In another tab on my browser - I opened my blog and

did a search on the "key" or "label" word I wanted to emphasize

in my tab, i.e. ourwildlife.

On my search on the keywork wildlife looks like this.

http://murphyslaw-lynn.blogspot.com/search/label/wildlife

copy and paste that in the URL.

Save arrangement and check your blog. 

When you click on the tab all your labeled and/or key word in the blog

should appear in your new page.

I know it sounds like "blah blah blah" but it works.

GO ahead click on my tabs :)

Celebrating the 4th

I found these two photos and printed them out at the same time.

One for me and one for them.

Both pages use a mix of Authentique and My Minds' Eye. The pinwheels were handcut from the papers on MME and glued on toothpicks.

Nothing tricky on either except I used all the BG stars from my Studio Calico Kit.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the photos. The first one -- 2 siblings and they are just showing the love and telling a secret.
So not posed or cheesy.

Secrets between the two of them. Would've loved to be a fly on the grass just to know what's going on in their little minds.  Or not.

The second one is mine all mine and are the 3 together 2 siblings and a cousing. I did a Shimelle as I was running out of paper and I happened to also like the B side. So I used the polka dot as the base and cut the ledger paper up and reversed to the B side for the middle. ooooooooo I did mix up white and beige but I really like the stickers. Couldn't help but throw on some twine and the rest of the stars. I wish I had more to journal on the page but alas I'm scrappin' from afar which is better than never scrapping at all.

Good day @ the game

Jill sent me a series of photos starting with the boys walking up the steps to Fenway Field.

In fact that was what she titled that photo. And as more photos came over the phone, Jill was sending me a story.

I find that I build better pages if I have the story first.

So in my head I was like OMG! She took a photo of the field and I can blow.it.up. I got the idea from Miss Ashley over at purplemailbox but I had to find this in her 2peas gallery because I couldn't locate it on her blog, however, check her blog out because she is chockful of ideas and makes awesome pages.

Well I first had to determine if they were iphone photos and they were. And although 12x12 flitted through my head, A. I wasn't sure if the 8mp camera would blow up well and B. all the pages I do for the kidlets are 8x8.

So I decided to print out the 8x8 and OMG! (again). It printed out amazing.

Then the remaining photos I decided to use as 2x2 squares to tell the story. Of course the boys walking up the steps and the 2 of them all smiles. I have to admit I was torn because there was another one of the boys from the back looking at the field with their arms around each other.

The smiles won out.

Of course there were two of Amelia on daddy's shoulders and I did the strip a couple of times because I needed a certain order and this was the one that got in. Of course the other one had better smiles. I honestly didn't notice right away. My bad. And the last one came over black and white. My printer which was out of ink and I didn't notice right away printed them all in b&w and it was not quite what I wanted. It just didn't pop.

So I requested the color version and wa-la.

And a story was formed.

 I also used white cardstock to cover up the crowd and use for the title and additional journaling. I made myself cover up the player in the outfield because there was something else catching your eye therefore, the weight needed to be on the left. The journaling is left blank as most always is up to the parents to do and I believe I left plenty of room. And there is always the back since I backed the 8x8 photo on cardstock to stiffen it up a bit.

I am really jazzed - scrapping on a large photo. I have to admit it was hard to start.
IT IS A PHOTO FOR PETE'S SAKE.  It was the hardest part. However, once I started going it did become easier. I CAN'T WAIT TO DO IT AGAIN!

Nothing better than fresh pineapple.

And its even better when you grow them yourself.

And can call them organic.

No pesticides.

At.all.

And we have 5 that have become harvestable over the last few days.

And we've been whacking them up and eating them.

So other than taking a picture of this gorgeous one. the rest

will be left up to your imagination.

I have been rooting and planting the tops for a few years.

I started with a store bought pineapple and

after you whack the top off you need

remove all the pineapple and take it down to 

the top bottom. (You'll know it when you see it).

I put them in water and get some good roots going on but

you can stick them right in the ground if you want.

They do love a morning sun.

It takes a couple years to get your first one so patience is required.

So after the first 2 years and since I have about 8 plants

we have been harvesting them almost every year.

You know when they ready when they're more or less golden and

when you touch them, the fall off the vine. (so to speak).

Our pineapples have evolved into sweet and juicy fruit that we

eat straight out of the husk with no frills.

And we have been eating at least one every other day.

YUM!