I did a list for journaling

I don't normally do lists.

Somehow coming up with adjectives

intimidates me and that is probably why I kept

it pretty simple. When having to "think" my mind goes blank.

Shocking I know.

And having an adorable granddaughter maked it easy.

 Got a cluster happening in the corner with lots of goodies.

I got some green going on.

It just sort of happened - along with the purple.

As you will see I pulled from the photo.

 This photo is a couple of years old and how I passed it over 

for so long baffles me - except that its

time has come. LOL.

Studio Calico, Bo Bunny, Homemade enamel dots 

Cutest little mini album ever

Thanks to Connie over at Crafty Goodies.

She posted this adorable accordian fold instagram album

and mentioned she was teaching this mini by Bo Bunny in a class -

and since I live in Florida and she lives in Texas well....

I couldn't resist.

I chose not to do accordian fold - 

because I don't do

accordian fold well therefore I adapted it into a regular mini and

it worked very well.

 My base is a light chipboard and the size I chose is 6x6

The green EK Success corner rounder

rounded out the corners on all the pages including

the light chipboard.

 Then using Simple Stories 6x6 paper pack I had laying around

I adhered them to the remaining chipboard pages.

Poked holes after the papers were adhered with my 7Gypsies Binderie -

best investment ever. 

 Added an assortment of embellishments.

 With some gorgeous pictures and

a pocket page with 9 strips of paper that Cavin

can journal on.

And this last page is Simple Stories as well - not kidding

and isn't that perfect.

This is going to be so much fun because I can see

making it girlie as well 

and tayloring it to just about anyone.

Another collagy page

I warned you this would happen.

I took these photos were taken as we relaxed at Babcock Webb

Wildlife Management Area and while

I could've scrapped each individually - however, some of

these photos wouldn't stand on their own

or there are really no stories behind them, i.e., bee on a flower, 

bird in the grass or a dead snake, etc.

The snake story might be amusing though as it was lying
on the side of the road-dead with its head and rattler cut off and
how macabre is that....

- seriously
we mostly relaxed in a chair,
I took the most of the photos from said chair

what more is there to say.

So.....

They look awesome in the collage,

they look great in the album not taking up a bunch of room, 

and bonus ding ding
 no one is bored because Lynn's storytelling is slacking.

Temptation and Bible Journaling

I don't know about you but I'm tempted everyday.

Alot.

There are times when I choose the temptation (eating that food,
not cleaning the house, or losing my temper)
 and there are times of resistance.

It was so reassuring when I came across an Oswald Chambers quote

"Kept by the power of God".

Oswald's devotion came from I Kings 2:28 when Joab gave in to

temptation a second time.

I liked his reference to I Corinthians 10:13

-He (God) will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.

I used enamel paint with some Mister Huey ink,

Authentique, Thickers, and magic mesh - I'm not sure where

that's going but I liked it - however if you run it

through you xyron - baby power is required to negate the

adhesive that comes through the mesh.

Just sayin....

Building a page from the scrap box

Every now and then I feel the need to scrap even

when I'm not

being inspired by a photo.

Gasp - I know.

I either find a base paper or sometimes

I plow through my scrap box to start the process.

This is my bucket of scraps and it seriously needs to be whittled down.

I found some scraps and papers that spoke to me and layered them up

and also used the branding strip as washi tape.

I usually design the mats and layer landscaped because that's how

I take the majority of my photos

although, if I do decide to use a portait photo I can

just flip the page around.

It's a this point I begin the hunt for a photo(s).

 I never know what direction it will really take until

after I find the photo.

In this case, I found a heritage photo that had

writing on the back and it just

truly struck my fancy.

I photographed the back of the photo and adhered it to the back of

the page with some washi tape

as was too huge to work it into the design.

I can't decide if its my Aunt's or Nana's handwriting

but it is chockful of info - people, address, parents (of the cousins)

and more or less the year.

It totally made me swoon.

On the front side things came together rather quickly

once I decided on a photo.

The tag has the journaling and can be pulled out and read.

It also points the info on the backside.

Looking at my dad and aunt when they were kids and

now we are all grown up and my aunt no longer with us, it made me

focus on the title because while its cool to move into

different stages of life - the photo does point out at how fast life moves.

Studio Calico, Echo Park, Kaiser Craft, Basic Grey

and my homemade enamel dots.

Changing up from 8x8 to 8" circle

Every now and then I like to change things up.

I love doing circles.

One day I'll do a 12" circle - need to find

something big enough to make it.

Broke out the Shimelle paper pack and die cut.

 And then adding to Shimelle was some goodies from

the Paper Issues Swag Bag.

Some die cuts from my die cut bin and wa-la 

layers going.

Did a bit of stamping and as I look at the page now

I didn't use any mist.

Well huh.

I did zig zag stitch around the page which covers up

any scissor issues I may have going on.

I see peeps in videos just take scissors and cut up papers

in a really straight line. Which is very annoying.

Mine always look like it was done by a drunken sailor.

Stitching to the rescue.

Miss Amelia pedaling her new ride.

Celebrating two birthdays in April

And I love the fun color explosion paper from Studio Calico.

It's perfect for a celebration.

Found some lovely layers in Paper Issues Swag Bag

(love them) and some stars and dots, alphas

from a Studio Calico kit.

And those little bows - I make them in batches because

its fun to do

and

its kinda neat to try and match them up.

 The B&W photos go perfect with the papers and

as you can see I did some background work with ink and stencils.

Got some misting involved and matted the photos

with vellum.

I wanted to work in that Hello April tag because it was cool

and it allowed me to bring the gold down in the 

title and the funky numbers for the 2 different dates.

Amelia and Quintin - waiting on those donuts.

Waitin' on all that picture takin'.

Patience grasshoppers.
LOL.

A mix of stamping and handwriting in my Bible Journaling

Another amazing quote from Oswald Chambers that

just cuts to the chase and says it all.

Isaiah 26:3

We all have imaginations - some better than others.
Mine has its moments for sure.
Its wonderful to know the source which was
an ah ha moment for me because it never occurred to me
that God would be imagination.

I used enamel paints - 3 shades yellow, orange, green and

tried mellowing them out. I really love how it

turned out and I used yellow to highlight the verse.

Transparent alphas were the perfect size to highlight imagination

and did you know that if you use glossy accents to glue

the transparency letters on - you can't see the glue behind it.

I stamped the first part and then I realized I was running out of room

and handwrote the rest of the quote in order to make it fit.

I've come to like how it turned out.

Studio Calico, thickers, technique tuesday.

Accomplishing even more at the box

Me and Tobie relaxing and encouraging others

after finishing 15.3 CF open at the box

of which I worked the Masters (55+) WOD.

Below is the RX left side- Scaled right side.

7 muscle ups - I did ring rows and dips

which mimics the same movements in muscle ups.

100 double unders (jump rope)

or 200 single unders

50 wallballs-10# I used.

My job was to do as many rounds as possible in 14 minutes.

It was a really LONG 14 minutes.

You'll have to read to the bottom to see how I did.

In the meantime an update on some gains I made physcially.

Notice the knee with the blue sleeve?

We're coming up on 2 years after surgery - and look at me sitting Indian style

On.the.floor - with my knee bent.

That wasn't even on the radar when I first started.

As a matter-of-fact, when I first started that puppy wouldn't bend

much less in that direction.

It was frozen in time.

So to speak.

Oh and the tank top says grandma in beastmode.

Bwahahahaha Love it.

AND

Here we are in action!
 Single unders, double unders. 

100 - 200

I do have a rope in my hand - however, back a year ago,

all I could do was bounce gently on my toes.

And you guessed it - I'm doing single unders. Double unders

take a certain amount of coordination that I haven't yet acquired.

I can whip that rope around now and knock out the jumps.

Which is why you can't see the rope I was

going so fast.

 And then the wallballs - 50 of them - were tough - because you 

need to squat down below parallel and heave

that (mine was #10 ball) wallball up to the thin red line.

Manly men need to fling it up to the big red line.

I'm still having trouble hitting that line everytime

but I can bend down and fling.

I'm thinking I just need to be taller.

It was alot of fun and totally exhausting.

I did 512 reps.

Next year it'll be even better because I'll be able to do even more.

From Chipboard to Plan B - Paperbags

I really love how the mini album for Quintin turned out

using an old CD mailer here. Of course

once I get on the bandwagon about a particular product,

I tend to get carried away.

And I wanted to make one for Amelia's birthday.

Therefore I surfed the world wide net to find more and sadly,

there are no more being produced - which makes sense.

Who really uses CDs anymore.

 I took matters in my own hands and decided to make my own

as I had some really thin chipboard that would bend 

easily enough. After I connected the pocket page to the book I 

decided to sew the binding together.

And my sewing machine decided that it was not going to cooperate.

At.All.

I could've lived with the messy stitching but it tore a chunk

out of the bottom - that couldn't be fixed - when I tried to rescue my

needle, bobbin and other parts caught in the mess.

 Thus Plan B evolved.

A paperbag mini album.

From the humble brown bag.

 And ta-da.

Using Little Yellow Bicycle mixed with Basic Grey,

some killer photos of an adorable kidlet,

with some awesome stamping and can we say adorable?

 Love the little pockets for extra photos on tags and

the back can also be used for journaling.

 Kept the pages simple.

However, I love that little girl and this Dear Lizzy

stamp collection is one of my favs.

 Snuck in a Paper Issues Swag Bag card for a mat.

 And used up those word wood veneers.

A total win-win.

Lil Miss Amelia turns 4 today.

Of course I'm late.

And that's good because had I been early, it might've snowed

again and I really don't want to be responsible for that.

Its spring already.

Misting in my bible journaling

I went a bit easy since I wasn't sure how much it would saturate

and also since I have lousy aim - I wasn't sure how

far it would go on the page.

I'm impressed by my restraint actually.

Another Oswald Chambers quote to go with John 11:8 and
just loved it - especially the glad & reckless joy part.

Cut aparts from Shanna Noel, Ashley Horton and Panda 8.

A 6x12 just to change things up

Actually I also practiced my stamping

and stitching and came to the conclusion that

both need work.

 However, no guts - no glory and I persevered.

Found another big tag.

I adore those big tags.
Each time I think I've used the last one - I find another.
Big tag win!

 They are the perfect mat for a 4x4 photo.

I used a transparency over the photo and also stamped

on said transparency. Love how it looks.

Very simple and easy.

Studio Calico pp and stamp.

Technique Tuesday stamps.

Shimelle date stamp.

Echo Park pp.

Sometimes a page just isn't quite the masterpiece

you envisioned.

I decided to put this out there because all anyone ever sees

is the really, really good stuff, and one

needs to know one is not alone when a page isn't quite right.

As you all know in scrapbooking there is no right or wrong.

There are a few rules as with everything else

and once you know the rules you can break them but 

this page doesn't really break any rules and the colors aren't really goofy,

the design is just well.......... pedestrian.

 It was a page put together when I wasn't "feelin' it."

 And it totally looks like I wasn't feeling it.

I couldn't  put my finger on it before, however, in looking at it now,

it is very plain and when I plowed

through everything (and I have quite a bit of everything)

nothing was quite right.

It was then I decided to call it a day.

Its an amazing, awesome photo

and I would love to do it better justice.

AND....

There are always options.

I can print the photo and do it again or

I can pull out the page and move/add/change it.

(a bit of telephone lingo there - mac)

I'm calling this is a work in progress 

and I shall keep you posted as to its outcome.

I know this has never happened to anyone else. LOL.

NO sugarcoating - if you have any 

suggestions just lay them on me. :)

Remember those old CD jackets?

Found ONE!

And its baaaaccckkkk!

They make the cutest little minis

and great for gifts.

Not too overwhelming.

So when and why did they fall out favor.

Inquiring minds want to know.

I noticed as I opened the jacket - there are 2 glued

together - as they should be.

Only one was upside down - as it shouldn't be.

 Undo does work its magic on old wet glue.

It wasn't pretty but it became undone

so I could flip it around and make it right.

It was a bit on the rough side

so I sanded the sides down just to even it out.

 And reglued it the right way. 

Now tags can be put in the pocket and they won't fall out.

 I inked the edges as I always do because

getting the measurements correct is really a crap shoot.

With the edges inked the booboos don't stand out like a sore thumb.

 I wrapped a single sheet of pattern paper around the spine

and I employed my bone crusher tool 

to burnish the paper to make it wrap easier.

 And then wa-la.

Like magic.

A completed mini album.

It's Quintin's 7th birthday and good think I looked

because I really wanted to make him 8.

 Of course in the photos he's 6 and under.

But who's counting.

And dangit I meant to add his birthday photo in it.

And forgot. :|

 However, its fabulous all the same.

Tucked away are tags inside where the CD would go

or maybe some playlist.

 I decided to get carried away and add glitter and paint

to the chipboard alpha and number.

As I was working on the page - the glitter kept getting all over the photo.

I solved the problem by a. putting modge podge 

over the characters AND b. putting the ectrochrome transparency

over the photo.

If you look real close you'll notice its backwards.

Oops.

 And the same set up on the next page. 

I didn't pull out the tag and I actually added a photo

behind the flap with one tag tucked in.

I was going to leave the back plain but just.couldn't.do.it.

LOL.

Stamp with white ink - came out pretty good.

All is Basic Grey.

Have I mentioned I love that collection.