Hello NY - Hi 5

I'm recovering from the creeping crud and so glad for it too. Very annoying being sick - it gets in the way of all the fun things waiting to be done.

So there's Lou, a yankee fan, you can tell by the awesome cap he has on. In a great photo - that almost looks 3D. And then there's the NY skyline. I love the skyline - You can't help but take a bunch of pix of it. Gotta love that.

Of course the page is 8x8 because it will be off in the mail to go in the parents's album. I like mixing up sizes and these are the easiest to ship.

It was a fun page to toss together without overthinking it. Much. Using Bo Bunny, Basic grey, K&co and unknown blue sheet. I really need to mark these things down - but once the strip is off I'm pretty much just guessing.

Love that I got to use the Prima chipboard alphas that I've had forever- the distressed look makes me swoon. The ticket stub for journaling is 7 gypsies well unless mama's windy - then she can write wherever she wants to. There as a big gap to me when I was putting it together, hence the swirly twine from one to another - I think it helps with pulling the title together. It's odd but works.

3 weeks - (a tutorial sortof)

That was inspired by Wilna - over at 2 peas who does videos for In the mood.

She uses a mood board. I didn't do that.

What I did do was watch this video.

And she poured out some gesso and rolled it around on the paper 

with a rolling stamp.

It didn't look like this.

 However, once I started putting some papers and layers

it wasn't looking so bad. And I managed to smear

enough around to where you could even see it

once the papers were on.

 So again, set this up with no photos in mind.

 Do you remember Pages by Design? It came out

a number of years ago and has every single size

template in every shape you can think of.

And you design a page using the templates.

 I kinda like it for getting an idea of something different 

to do or try without actually comitting to the shape

until I want to.

It's also good to use the photo sizes for getting an idea of what size

will fit where and how many - in case you get carried away.

 Some of the templates are missing- hence the pieces of paper

and they do work nicely too. So if you don't have templates

cut paper shapes and note the size on them.

And there you have it! 

I'm a bit concerned about the "trapped" space on

the tag - it could just be me so let me know your thoughts.

But overall I'm seriously pleased with the page.

It was an easy one to put together and picked up some

of the journaling from my blog post here.

I cannot tell you how many blog posts ended up as a scrapbook

page and it made the entire process so easy- 

especially the journaling since it was already done.

Here's a challenge: scrap a blog post and try using templates in

putting your page together!

All dressed up

Almost back to the land of the living. Not hacking up a lung everytime I cough - progress! Staying in an upright position longer and doing little things.

I was in a giddy mood one day and decided that I needed to play with my watercolors. I saw someone - somewhere  just doing some swirls and sworls and wa-la a flower.  So I gave it awhirl.

Well...I wasn't impressed that day so I put it aside and happened upon it again and suddenly it didn't look so bad. And I decided it wouldn't hurt to run my new rolling stamp from SC over it in various directions and there it was looking even more better.

I remembered the paper that sort of was the inspiration for it and had a bit left over. Studio Calico stuff adorns the rest of it - except for the die cut flower- Tim Holtz, a bit o'prima bling.

The fun part about this photo is you can tell that we are dressed up; me more than the brother which is often the case. I am wearing a dress, carrying a clutch and I have stockings on and a garter - only thing in hosiery wear back then.

And we are visiting Sunken Gardens in Florida, in April. Its botanical gardens outdoors and I'm dressed up like I'm visiting royalty. That's how it was done back then. It was considered an event. Can you imagine? I had to be totally uncomfortable. But I was looking good. LOL!!!

Tattoo Artist

Whew got laid low the last few days by some strange virus.

I'm hoping to be on the road to recovery.

What can I say. 

This is too cute for words.

Amelia looks intent and focused with that crayon

which is probably better than a sharpie.
Went to the scrap box and put this page together.
Had and 8x8 of Bo bunny mama-razzi papers - love them
and that's the last of it I think.
Basic Grey, Authentique and K&Co is in the mix. 

Jumped right into my new kit--Labor day...

I KNOW. Another page with me and Tom in it.

I used some stuff from other kits as I couldn't bring myself to cut into virgin paper when I already had some cut up that matched.

Anyway, Labor Day this year was bittersweet as we lost Tom's sister and our reason for heading up this year was to say goodbye. Labor day had evolved into family get together time that we spent down at the shore, allowing for a time of relaxing and visiting. As you know, the shore was hit by Sandy so there are major renno's going on and there was no relaxing there.

Fortunately, we were able to hang out at Tom's sister's house in Red Bank and all the kidlets came and brought the littles with them. And littles have a way of making all things good again. It was good to tickle and cuddle. My new camera was passed about and played with - and that was a good thing, because my favorite SIL fixed the focus that was driving me nuts. AND they got pix of us. Total win-win.

Its good to be home, even with laundry and RV cleaning to do. Although we had a really great time. I'm dithering about what photos to print and do which is why I plunged in with the grands. Of course my dithering involves, do I do pages, albums, mini....what???? 

It was a start. And then another one - on scraps started. And hopefully more will flow.

Studio Calico- Sept KIT - on which I need to hurry and use as Oct is right around the corner.
AND DIDN'T THIS YEAR GO FAST. AND I have the Learn Something New from Shimelle waiting in the wings. I may wait and do it in November.

My Mind's Eye, Amy Tangerine thickers & rubons, American crafts labels and twine, Studio Calico paper and wooden embellies.

Recap of our trip.

Its good to be home!

Getting back to a routine such as it is.

And have space - lotso of space.

Got some creativity out yesterday.

Today will be clean the RV day.

 Labor Day in NJ - I was actually chasing hummingbirds...

ended up with a HUGE bumblebee.

 Bar Harbor Maine...

 Digby

 Nova Scotia Highway 3

 Peggy's Cove

 Cabot Loop

Prince Edward Island 

and the onlymoose we saw -

 were on these signs.

Sigh.

& could not resist

I know ya'll were waiting with baited breath for the use of that apersand I did a tutorial on here.

TA-DA!!!

I know - surprised me too. I did cut it down from the rectangle I had it on and dropped some mist and ink on it to make it work with the papers.

Basic Grey, Little Yellow Bicycle, and a punch - of which I used the extras. (I really need to figure out how to get itty bitty bits randomly strewn without looking NOT randomly strewn).

I also wanted to use the & in the title but not be so lame as to do a "you & me" etc. I had to dig deep for this photo. Long time ago. And so much fun.

That is my boy not resisting dipping his toe in the reflecting pool in D.C. Memaw and I were planted at the top of the Lincoln Memorial and I'm keeping an eye on him with my camera. Sigh. And he's so casual and nonchalant about it too.

Of course this photo is included in my roadtrip book of the entire adventure but felt it needed a page of its own. The story is just too much fun.

Up Bear Creek

Still on the road....hope to be home tomorrow....In full disclosure, we did pass by Bear Creek on our way to Canada...or coming back. Not sure which but it matters not.

Bear Creek is in PA and thankfully that tidbit of information was written on the back of the photo as well as a date. Swoon.

Thanks mom!

Not only was this page made with scraps but some really really old Basic Grey. You can't ever go wrong with BG.

Ever.

Also, another page built without a photo and there were 2 contenders - both heritage, and this one was chosen because it had information on the back and I liked it. Although someone did crop it. Not sure why because it looks like a really cool background or maybe the focus was to be on me and my brother.

I don't remember anything about this except my parents took us out to do things a lot. I find it fascinating that we are perched on rocks in the middle of a river/creek. I'm sure there was adult supervision but we weren't being hovered over. It looks we have sticks in our hands but not sure. Could be fishing poles - we did that a lot too.

Love that I have this documented even though I don't remember this specifically, it does give a warm fuzzy for other memories our parents did with us.

Slaying scraps one page at a time.

Close quarters living

When we thought about purchasing our RV we had several ideas in mind that were basically non-negotiable. 

It had to be affordable on gas. 

If you can’t afford to drive it around - then what’s the point. Ours get anywhere from 15-19 mpg. depending on driving conditions of course.

It had to be easy to drive. 

Ours drives like an SUV, with additional trunk space.

It would not be a 5th wheel or towed camper. 

We wanted to be able to grab things without having to stop and get out. We also didn’t want to purchase another vehicle for towing.

It had to be a vehicle that was easy to get into and out of tight spots and places. Some of the national/state parks roads that were built in the 1920’s and 30’s cannot handle the big rigs.

We actually purchased the perfect vehicle for us.

As you know we are subtropical flat landers and climate dictates RV use. We live in Florida where the weather doesn’t get too out of control. Since we purchased our vehicle we have taken it into northern territory where the weather turns cold(er) than the 10 day weather forecast - well forecasted. That means there is not a lot of outside time, i.e, sitting in our recliners-relaxing. 

And shockingly, being inside longer than we anticipated once we parked for the night actually worked out fine. As you can see we have the chairs in the pilot area, that turn and a “couch” that turns into a bed. There’s also a removal table that stores under the back bunk that we have used to dine on.

We basically learned to dance about each other.

We learned to switch places to sit every now and then to stay comfortable.

We (or dh has) learned to prepare everything used in cooking his dishes first. Then cook.

We (or I have) learned that washing dishes outside is a lot easier than inside, however, when it needs to be done inside, rearranging a few things and utilizing the floor for dirty dishes helps.

We learned that only one person can be in the “kitchen area” at a time. 

We learned that needing to get from one end to the other, one of us needs to sit or stand to the side.

We learned that only one person can shower at a time.

The big learn - was that everything has a place and needs to be put back in it when done.

We are still in the process of rearranging things as we go. 

What needs to be easily accessible.

What can be layered and packed - and eliminate banging and clanging when driving down the road.

What is not working that can be chucked.

We found that while driving down the road:

it was good to have a garbage bag hanging off the driver’s seat chair arm. 

it was good to have water in a thermal bag seat belted on the sofa where I can reach across and grab a new one.

it was good to have a ceramic coffee cup with a lid (Starbucks white Christmas mug)

it was good to have no slip under the coffee maker.

it was good to make sure all doors and drawers are closed tight before taking off.

it was very good to have my camera close at hand.

We now do all those things and more without thinking about it.

When we stop for the night we both have chores. Tom does all the hookups outside; water, sewer, cable (if available) electric. I do all the inside stuff. Closing the shades, swinging the chairs around, moving the backpacks from the back to the front behind the seats, turn on the hot water, air/heat, turning on the TV and scan for available channels if applicable.

Sleeping quarters also have a TV and both can be watched on different channels without too much confusion. We kept the beds as “twin” bunks so to speak - as its easier to move about without disturbing the other.

This RV has turned out to be everything I/we wanted it to be and more. It’s perfect for the traveling we do as we are basically drive-by campers. We stay for a night (maybe two) then we are off to see more sights. We cooked more on this trip and it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be; either cooking nor the clean up. It was great to pull off somewhere and rest or grab a snack or coffee. 

The perfect part was that at the end of a traveling day - we had our own space. We didn’t have to toss luggage about; unpack and pack. We could just turn the chairs around, sit down with a drink, and ponder what was next.

Detour on the ride home....

 Changed directions and headed toward New Orleans as DH has business to conduct and it would've been dumb for him to drive home and then turn around and travel again when we were already on the road.

 Found some trees turning in one of the upper states.

Also love the buildings along side of the road - mostly in Virginia.

I really loved the sky on this one - it was way more dramatic than I captured.

Got it on this one.

We settled in and zipped on down to Felix Oyster Bar and ate our fill.

 I love oysters.

They're your friend - you can eat tons without breaking the calorie bank.

Got some chores I NEED to get done before I head out and get a do-over with my new camera.

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

 We got up and it was a totally lazy morning. DH and I just putzed around admiring the scenery and relaxing. It felt good. Later in the afternoon we ventured out to the wharf and scarfed down chowdah, lobstah, and mussels, OH MY!! Very de-lish and filling.

We then set off to see not one but three lighthouses. 

DUPED again. 

There was a walkabout to see different sites, nothing at site #1.  Except some blackeyed suzies. I love blackeyed suzies. Shocking.

So we motored to site #2 because it was drizzly and cold. I walked up to the site that was honoring the first Acadians and to the left way across a non-level field I could see the top of the lighthouse and no way to get there.

Thinking it was another road, we hustled on down and found that you couldn’t access the lighthouse from a road. There was a trail around it - but not a start walking here sign. Nothing on the map indicated any of these things. Sigh. 

So yes, we gave up the hunt and headed back to the campsite to continue relaxing.

Tom wanted to get an early start as we’re going back through Maine to get to the lower 48 and home. Visiting an old pal of Tom’s and hopefully get to NH but there are some sickies there and we don’t wanna catch it - so alternative plans need to be made. 

On the way up, due to road construction we had a blowout, fortunately it was the inside tire on the duelly, and we about 2 miles from the exit. At the exit things looked mighty dim until we looked to the right and shazam! a used car place - with really nice cars and a service dept. with a young kid strong enough to change the tire. What a blessing that was really. So we continued on and made it to Richie and Gail’s.

What a sweet couple. We had dinner and gail and I chatted like we had been friends forever. She reminds me of someone else I know but I can’t put my finger on who at this time. 

Well the tire tread must’ve hit the propane line because we smelled proprane and had to turn it off and air out the van, so not amused. So now we can’t use our burners for cooking but we do have the new induction heating plate - we just need to buy the correct pans for it. 

Moving right along. 

Getting tire fixed today and replacing the spare. So we’re in a holding pattern at the tire place - also very nice, helpful people. Thank goodness for wifi. We had to return to the tire place after zipping on down the road as the balance just wasn't right. After a bit of a wait we took off again and its still not right but doable. When we stop again for the night we'll probably address it again in the morning. Haven’t taken a lot of photos  as we were zipping from pillar to post and not a lot of scenes. 

Cabot Trail, Nova Scotia

 Was such a disappointment. I expected to be taking a lot of pictures. I expected a lot more picturesque moments. There was like 10% photo op, 90 % driving with lots of pine trees with an amazing amount of ESS and hairpin turns. We spent a lot of time on the trail pushing ourselves to meet schedules when in fact, we should’ve turned back after the first 5 turnouts. 

It wasn’t that it wasn’t pretty, it was the fact that it wasn’t things we haven’t seen before in America. We expected to see different. 

On the lighter side, we discovered Tim Horton’s which is the Starbucks of our pal Canada. Their coffee is wonderful, their veggie soup is totally hearty and their ginger molasses cookies are to die for. OMG. They had one left on one of our stops and I wasn’t happy that I had to split said cookie - even if it was with my most awesome DH. After that split I found a TH that had a dozen of them - hard to find - and bought them, they’ve been a wonderful pickmeup during our drive.

We even went on down to Dingwall to see the St. Paul’s lighthouse that they had been advertising for miles. When we drove on into Dingwall it became obvious when we came upon the museum and the lighthouse and said lighthouse was moved from somewhere else. AND truly it was not a lighthouse but the top of one. I totally felt duped.

So we flew through the trail in order to get to the ferry in Caribou so we could get to Prince Edward Island in the hopes of seeing something different.

We made it on the ferry just fine. Its so weird driving the rig on there and park next to a semi. We went topside and I almost wet my pants when the horn blew signaling we were leaving the dock. 

 So I ended up running back and forth from port to starboard (a little nautical lingo there); the marina on the port side with working boats coming and going, and a lighthouse on the starboard side that also had working boats bobbing up and down. (bobbing - another nautical term LOL). And I chose the photo without bobbing boats.

I did eventually go in the “cabin” to warm up and get ready for round two when DH said the sun will be setting. 

Soon.

As in 10 minutes. Soon.

 Back out I went to get it.

So while one the port side doing a sunset, there was ANOTHER lighthouse on the starboard side getting the glow of the sunset. Knocked a few people over running back and forth.









 We are now relaxing at a KOA that my DH driving hubby totally needs. There is great wifi - which is great for you in getting updates.  

Not forgotten!

Peggy's Cove - finally!

 Woke up late about 9 a.m. - late again but not so bad. Reving up really fast because Peggy’s Cove is on the list. 

Finally. 

That was an easy, picturesque drive. 

Made Tom stop a couple of times and one turnaround. 

It just couldn’t be helped.



 One of those beautiful coves that had all the rustic gorgeousness could hold. And to my delight the photos came out just fine. 

And then we turned the corner.

 And shazam! a LIGHTHOUSE. So its the most photographed lighthouse in Canada. I can be a copycat. Of course its all cloudy and dramatic - well yeah! its that or dark and gloomy. 

Cloudy and dramatic sounds so much better. 

So breaking a rule that was in my mind only- try not to take a million photos of an inanimate object. WORK your camera and get a couple of great ones.

It couldn’t be helped.

First you have to deal with the ebb and flow of people climbing over the rocks to be near it. Then there are people who of course stand fixated and commence to taking a lot of photos. And who could blame them. But they need.to.move. NOW. Sadly the weather never changed. 

And they did. Who knew the power of the mind.

I managed to get quite a few shots without people in my way. Gotta love that. They of course have an adorable gift shop and a cafe where we had breakfast. It was very good. Fortified, I went out to get some more photos and chat with a few of the people. So much fun.

 And then we had to head on down the road. We needed to get a campsite and Tom wanted lobster and we also want to tour Cape Breton - a national park and then head on over to Prince Edward Island. Another ferry. whoa. Maybe a whale will show up this time.