Had this Lawn Fawn paper forever

Love using stash and I have 

way too much.

This adorable paper was perfect for this photo.

Got a little cluster going on - love those little critters

tucked into the photo.

Fussy cut that arrow out and using up the enamel stuff.

 Kept the title low key and since this is going

to Jill I left alot of room for journaling.

Love these transparency stars from Studio Calico.

And more fussy cut arrows.

 That bow diecut was the best purchase ever.

I cut and build them ahead of time and

even though the papers and colors are random 

they seem to fit in wherever I need them.

Hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Is the weather crazy where you are??? Hot/Cold - Damp/Rainy???

Very bipolar LOL.

Creating a background

I really wanted to use these veggies again from Basic Grey

and I fussy cut them out from remaining scraps

and I also wanted them to pop.

So I used a small circle stencil and some

modeling paste on a white background.

 I used the packaging technique to add the mists.

They say you can't screw it up.

Well....LOL.

I don't feel like I screwed it up but I also don't

think it "went on" like those experts in the video showed.

However in the end I did like the result.

 The packaging technique is when you take some mists

and either drop it on or mist it on the plastic

packaging from embellishments - then you smoosh it around

on the packaging and then dab/smear/smoosh

around your page.

It is pretty cool and easy actually.

I seem to make things harder than I have to LOL.

I wanted those veggies as an accent because its a photo

of a veggie - zucchini actually.

Tom's daughter gifted us a spirilizer for Christmas and

we finally got to use it when we

defrosted some homemade spaghetti sauce

in the crockpot this past nippy Sunday - and decided

to forgo the pasta.

We substitued zucchini and spaghetti squash 

and they were both a delicious- my favorite

was the zuchini which was sauteed really really quickly

in oil and garlic so it wouldn't get soggy.

As a result, it had a bit of crunch and we found you need

to make a lot of zucchini to have enough.

It was fun to do and I'll be using that spirilizer more.

Basic Grey with some Mr. Huey mists and some jute because I liked

the rustic-ness of it with the veggies.
I heard Basic Grey is going out of business.
Very sad if true.

Really busy scribbled background

Love it - and its from the new

Studio Calico kit.

Of course it fits Amelia to a T.

 I picked up on the pink and bumped it up

to hot pink.

I like hot pink.

It was a total match.

The paper is fun.

The photo is fun.

Doesn't get any better than that.

I think there's a paper issue tag in there.

And doesn't that arrow make you swoon.

It's hump day and I'm feeling light here as there really

wasn't much to do here as there is so much

going on already.

Since the mojo is iffy I'm just rolling with it.

You never know when a masterpiece will come out to play.

I'm still playing with photoshops stuff and I'm

still annoyed with apple.

Stamping fun

These stamps came with my new kit and if you look really

really closely - you can see I used every single one

several times.

(Sorry for the color on this - I did it at my desk).

Because I cut this down to 8x8 size I only did

2 clusters in the corners of the page.

Also that party Tag- I knew that was going to go with this photo

so that needed to be worked in - and of course,

covered up some of the stamping.

HINT: Stamp way more than you think you'll need that way

some will actually be seen LOL.

 Had that black "tag" left over from the moon papers

that I used previously and that adorable

mushroom dude was from a cut apart - I fussy cut apart.

I took off his right arm by mistake and that

is why he's sort of tucked in there.

I had those Bella Blvd do-dads forEVER and

finally used every single one of them too.

The paper is older Studio Calico and I have been

digging my way through "older" stash.

Woohoo!!!

I'm pondering the winter Basic Grey warehouse sale.

But I still have so much.......

I'm waivering.

Sigh.

Cutting apart cut aparts

We are back from the cold northern part of Florida

and its good to be home.

Thanks for your prayers for Shane - he is doing very well.

I'm so proud of him.

This photo was orginally being scrapped as a 6x12 and

what a disaster that turned out to be.

Somehow the gesso and watercolors I used on that

base paper looked well-stupid, and

there was no fixing that

which bums me out because I really love the paper -both sides

and that is why it was to be 6x12.

Anyway - I "scrapped" it (literally) and

began again after I returned home.

I found some Shimelle papers that I started for a page 

that somehow was tossed aside.

I seem to do a lot of "scrapping" yunk yunk.

The Shimelle papers really seemed to rock with the Studio Calico mats 

that I had glued to the photo - I then

added a few more touches and wa-la, mojo has somewhat returned.

I really liked the you and me from the cut apart sheet

but alas, it was too big to use on the page

So I fussy cut the & and whacked down the you & me

and wa-la, a lovely title that fits perfectly.

 That red hatch marked papers behind the photo looks

in real life more orange then red, until you

use orange.

And I wanted that title - so I just added more orange

stuff to pull it together and make the orange title less lonely

- and  then noticed the inking behind on the base page

is the same sort orange-red as the mat paper

so it really all works together.

And whacking it down - perfect fit.

 However, AT this point if it didn't work together

I was rolling with it anyway - because

seriously, is this gonna matter 100 years from now

if it lasts that long.

My new intention is to not sweat that kind of stuff.

A Time for Everything

Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

1There is a time for everything,

and a season for every activity under the heavens:

2a time to be born and a time to die,

a time to plant and a time to uproot,

3a time to kill and a time to heal,

a time to tear down and a time to build,

4a time to weep and a time to laugh,

a time to mourn and a time to dance,

5a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,

a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,

6a time to search and a time to give up,

a time to keep and a time to throw away,

7a time to tear and a time to mend,

a time to be silent and a time to speak,

8a time to love and a time to hate,

a time for war and a time for peace.

We'll be helping our youngest son through his time of grief. We all would appreciate your prayers. His dad, whom he has taken care of the last 6 years, lost his battle with cancer. Thank you.

If someone has seen my mojo

I'd appreciate it if you'd pack it up and send it back. I'll pay the postage. It appears after a flurry of rolling out pages the past couple of months - there's zip, zero, nada creativity going on.

Which happens.

I even tried playing around to no avail. So now I'm just ignoring it. I'm reading, exercising, and just hanging around doing nothing, or near to nothing.

We're also gonna be traveling in a couple of days, for a couple of days. Hanging with favorite youngest son should get things rolling. Or not.

In the meantime, we've had some very weird weather going on. High, heavy winds, tornadoes, rain and it finally got cold. So after everything settled down we took a ride over to see what the gulf was doing. The gulf is usually smooth, flat and relatively easy-going. Not on Sunday. It was cranky - extremely cranky and it was rocking and rolling. Of course I took photos.

 I decided to reload lightroom on my computer and give it a roll. Of course it drove me crazy as I'm totally spoiled by aperture, which is going away. I did do a tutorial and what they said I could do and what I actually could do were two different things. My keys didn't work the same as theirs.
Shocking. See the skies are different and I couldn't figure that out either. Grrr....

 I persevered and I'm mostly liking how they turned out, but I can tell you my frustration level was up there. It really shouldn't be this hard.

I therefore, uninstalled, reinstalled, and will give it another shot on other photographs I took that day. I still don't understand the catalog, file and project system. There's a lot of hoop jumping importing and exporting. Is there anything comparable to aperture but not as PIA as lightroom?

AND on another note, anyone else having trouble with blogger loading and uploading? It appears that not only has my creative mojo gone, but it appears my electronic mojo has hit the road too. 

I may have to go unplugged. 

Leftover transparency

I have a love/hate relationships with transparencies.

Love that they look so cool...

Hate that they're a pain to adhere......

Here I used the tiny attacher - which was brave of me

because letting staples shine on their own

is hard for me - for some reason I 

feel the need to cover them up.

Being the rebel I am decided to use them on the transparency

and let them be part of the embellishments.

Of course you'll have to look at the last photo to see them.

LOL. I didn't think of what I wanted to "chat" about until I

sat down and after I took the pix.

Isn't that always the way?

 The new Studio Calico kit paper is perfect

for this photo, I think it looks like tire treads.

I also liked the other side so I whacked it down for this page

so I'd have some leftovers.

And those Tim Holtz do-dads have been around

for a LONG long time.

Hardware and tires - win.

 See those staples now?

Three times to hold it down then layered

everything on top.

Those stars are perfect for Connor being at

the top of the heap.

Of course I had the title way before anything else.

It just worked. 

How far I've come - A Crossfit update

And man didn't time just fly.

Of course I had a few months off which caused

some set backs

but all-in-all I it didn't take long to

get back into the swing of things.

I treat my crossfit workouts like an appointment

that can't be missed. I try to keep absences to a minimum

because one thing I learned is that I need to be consistent in

order to keep things in working order

and to improve.

You may remember that I signed up for crossfit

because I was not able to do everyday

movements - like walking, bending, stooping, even sitting and

getting back up - which is important.

These are everyday movements that I took for granted

and these movements slowly eroded

 over time until one day - 

I couldn't do them anymore.

I couldn't squat down and get back up, I couldn't bend my

knees to sit normally so I just flopped down and

rocked to arise from sitting.

And then one day - I was walking, sitting and bending

like a 90 year old woman. And decided 

enough is enough.

I am two years into Crossfit and heading into year three.

So let me tell you what I've gotten out of my two years.

 It didn't take long to get back into shape after my 2 month vacation.

I did run into knee issues by overdoing things right away.

And didn't I learn my lesson.

I did some extra runs after workouts 

that caused my knees to

be seriously unhappy and that's when I learned to row.

I found I like rowing. 

When my knees returned to normal

I started to run again - my numbers are down

presently but they will be getting better.

800M - 6:10

1 mile - 12:57

And THEN since

my knees snapped back to attention

I discovered that I CAN LUNGE.

Lunging is important.

Now when I lunge - MY KNEES TOUCH the ground

and I can arise and lunge again.

I have never been able to do that before - NOT EVEN CLOSE.
This helps with the whole bending down thing.
Weighted lunges are in the future - I have an equilibrium
thing that needs to be worked on I tend to roll around like a weeble.

And I'm not done yet.

I CAN JUMP OVER THE BAR - when its laying flat.

I know I know 

it totally doesn't sound like a big deal but trust me

IT IS.

For some reason - after my brain fired off the command to jump

it rode on down to the hips and then to the feet

where both appendages totally ignored said command.

No matter how hard I tried my little fat feet were glued to that floor.

Well not anymore.

I can jump.

Since all the commands are now being obeyed by the body

and because my hips are now in working order I can sort

of do burpees semi-normal.

Now its just a matter of trusting my arms to get me down

and back up in one swift move.

BUT MY HIPS 

OMG. 

I can throw my legs back

and bring them forward simultaneously- no more 

looking like a crab getting out of the bottom of a boat.

It also allows me to jump rope.

Working on double unders - it appears that

I lack rhythm. Shocking.
Box jumps are in the future now as well.

SQUATTING - 

I have been working on this move for-like-ever.

This is another big deal because its key to 

almost everything. Especially the olympic lifts.

In my head I remembered being able to squat down in heels

and arising like a graceful giselle.

Well the graceful giselle turned into a clumsy camel.

Just bending those knees were a pain. Literally.

WELL.

NOW I CAN SQUAT TO ALMOST PARALLEL AND THEN 

ON A REALLY GOOD DAY or after I've warmed up

I CAN

GET BELOW PARALLEL.
I'm working on consistency now.
So my lift numbers have lowered because I'm
working on being confident to squat down and get back up
and know my knees and legs will do the job.

Back & front squats 55-65#
Overhead squats  & Snatch - PVC, training bar and maybe 25# on a
good day - there's something about these moves
that confuses the back and hips. One day....
Power cleans 70#
Hang cleans 55#
Squat cleans - still tricky but oh so getting better
Deadlift 170#
Push Jerk 60#
Split Jerk - 45# (maybe) I have daffy duck
feet that doesn't bode well for stability

I have to tell you that I'm shocked each and everyday
after a workout - about all the things I can do.
Its not getting easier -  I've gotten better.
It also helps thatn the coaches and
the people are the best -
and no box is complete without them.

With all this improvement -  year three is gonna be so awesome.

On a scrappy note - new Studio Calico kit papers 

that were perfect for Crossfit and 

I added the pink accents to match my sneakers

being girly and all.

I loved those alphas and ended up frankensteining

just a few vowels. 

Looks like greek to me LOL.

Christmas paper NOT Christmas paper

Well.

Always a conundrum in decision making

when encountering pretty papers.

I decided to roll with 8.5x11 of this fabulous 

Christmas paper because

I liked both sides of the paper

only then realized that its Christmas paper.

I really went rogue 

and decided to roll with it

even though I noticed that the different sides 

were well really different .

You'll notice the green with white stars - obviously

but then the strip to left is the B side.

Not a speck o'green anywhere on that side.

                And didn't that baffle me for a second or three.

However, since I'm trying to be more whimsical 

I decided no guts - no glory. 

I didn't go too far afield because well - one can only

be so wild and crazy in doses. LOL.

But I love how all the do-dads and embellies came

together - and I have to admit that it

sat on the desk as I walked by and rearranged it

about 1000 times before 

committing.

I have learned that I now have commitment issues.

Rockin' still with the old & new Studio Calico kits

I love that their papers are so interchangeable

from one kit to the next.

I have a bad habit of hoarding and then binging

trying to use up older kits before the new one comes.

  I didn't do that here.

I sort of jumped into that new kit - mostly

because that gorgeous paper was yapping at me.

I can dig it.

Of course I popped into the box of scraps

to find the bits and pieces

that make the layers that make

you peek into to see what's there - and you'll

note I used a glassine envelope - 

woohooo!!! 

 So way in the back feeling quite like the big boy

is Sam. Sam is almost two now.

Seriously - some slowing down needs to be happening.

I really love the color combo - especially that pops of "yellow/gold".

I sort of mixed them.

I'm trying to be more whimsical

so I'm not going to hold two different golds against me.

Old & New Studio Calico Mix

For a birthday page!

Connor turned 7 and omg. where did the time go.

Seriously.

Totally looks like he had a great birthday bash

and so glad he had a great time.

So the new Studio Calico kit came and how about that

delish number paper.

The cut aparts are a few kits ago and

I really do like the emoji ones - 

they have been alot of fun to try and incorporate

into pages.

I have been sort of successful.

I can roll with that.

I did purchase a new stamp at M's in the $1.50 bin

and even though I was thinking

"older" person sentiment - I decided to use it

here. Because he is getting awesome.

This page is pretty straightforward - not alot of tricks.

Every now and then I like to go "old" school.

A couple itty bitty changes on the blog

Nothing too rash, but as you may or may not know,  I change things why? mostly for no particular reason.  Crazy I know. I'm not quite sure if I'm bored or just need a change. However, in this case, playing around with the pathetically lack of choices in blogger - although you get what you pay for in FREE, I found I really like the title font because it almost looks like my handwriting. I changed up the title somewhat - well because I could, again. And then The colors are sort of the same as the previous one because I really liked the green and red and one can't get too crazy with the changes as it may drive all three of my readers to thinking they're on the wrong blog and we can't have that. LOL.

So as the grandkidlets photos of Christmas rolled in I scrapped them. Rather than spacing them out over the week I decided that they needed to showcased together because I'm still into changing things up. Is this wild or what. Must be New year's fever. Anyhooo.......

The New Hampshire grands came over the wire and

it looks like Santa got everything right.

Their page is a mix of Basic Grey and the Paper Studio.

I have a huge book of the paper studio

(the Christmas cards were made from the paper studio) and I believe

you'll be seeing those papers next year as well - LOL.

Unless you need cute papers - let me know.

The New York grands photos

were filched of their trip to Bass Pro Shop

where it looks like a fun time was had by all.

I'm loving the elf in the snow or did he collide with Frosty.

Still trying to work that one out.

This page is Basic Grey with a hero arts Merry Christmas stamp.

Then the New Jersey kidlets came in - and captured that moment

where the grands each got jersies of their favorite team.

I think they foiled dad's plans of following in his footsteps

and rooting for his teams.

Kids - minds of their own. LOL.

Again, Basic Grey.

Oh but wait!

This is NOT a grand - its the hubby showing

off his decorating and santa skills.

First time in a long time that the outside lights were lit.

He did a great job and it looked lovely and festive.

And I helped. Sortof - by staying out of the way.

More Basic Grey.

I'd love to say Basic Grey Christmas has been used up, 

but, alas - no...

except for the 12x12 papers - I have a 6x6,

stickers and embellies remaining.

Which is good - because one set of grands is remaining

and there's always next year.

I also did my Ali Edwards style page of all the cards

we received using up more Christmas papers 

and alas, you won't be seeing it.

It is done and that's all I will say.

Mini album from scraps

It's a well known fact that I stalk SoaphouseMama

over at Purplemailbox

and she does alot of these little mini's.

 I went into my scrap box that is way too full 

and just randomly pulled out papers.

I made sure the outside of the album was 6.5 inch paper

so that the rest would hopefully tuck inside

when it was inside and full of stuff.

 I stitched the binding a couple of times

and hopefully it will hold.

And then I threw in photos and do-dads and STUFF

THAT I'VE HAD FOREVER.

 And had the best fun ever just doing what I wanted

in tossing things about.

Especially for no particular reason.

 There are quotes and fun embellies.

 I'm not sure how to latch it so for now

its just a fat album that doesn't close
LOL.

If felt good to use stuff up that I had forever.

it felt good using some new stuff too

but MOST OF ALL

it felt good whittling down the scraps.
I'm totally gonna do this again.

Two 8x8 pages simultaneously

Shocked me too - I know.

Orginally I was going to do both photos on

one page - and then....

It just seemed to work out especially when

I found 2 8x8 size papers

that was perfect for each of the photos.

What were the odds.

 Love this paper and its totally Lou.

Added a bit more stars

and some layers.

(if anyone remembers this paper let me know)

It escapes me.

 This Cosmo Cricket paper was leftover

from a paper pack 

which most was used a LONG time ago for

a mini album.

Added some do-dads.

 And that frame was perfect for his name.

How cute and fun are these.
Kept everything bare bones
 which
 let their cuteness shine through.
I love having different sized pages in
my 12x12 albums it makes
the flip throughs fun!

Totally love 6x12 size

And I don't do as often as I used to.

I'm not sure why.

Did a bunch of layering with mats

as well as clustering.

It uses alot of leftovers and stash

that I had forever.

Love it.

 I never thought I'd ever work in that Big City

chipboard piece.

And finally.................

It works very well in this little cluster.

 And a tiny littly cluster bottom left

that is needed for balance.

It looked plain so I drew lines around the page with

little scribbles going on.

It's actually a very good size for a 4x4 photo.

This is Studio Calico for the most part.

Pink and gold combo

Well it started out with the paper again,

and I've had it forever.

I'm so glad that I didn't put this in the

giveaway bag and I'm

glad it finally found the perfect photo.

 The photo of these pretty

young ladies just screamed this paper.

And.....

 Doncha just love them birds.

I used a gold transparency
as a mat and
that black paper to make the
photo pop.
The fancy gold swirl on the journaling card
pulls it all together.

It actually came together pretty quickly

and I came to realize that

not all gold is the same color.

Which I decided I'd not obsess over.

Another 8x8 album for Jill which she will

need to journal about.