I'm home!

I had a wonderful trip to Minnesota and Michigan. I got to see lots of family and had a great library conference. I came how with 23 free books! And I got to see enough snow for a lifetime - actually, the weather was very good while I was there. I flew in to Minneapolis on Good Friday and it was snowing. My Aunt Julie picked me up from the airport. I took a few pictures of the beautiful snow at her house. Most of this had melted by the time I left. I have lots of pictures to scrap from this trip. After I do laundry and go to the grocery store I can get started.

A Masculine Page

I took a challenge on SCS to make a masculine page using flowers. I started with this adorable picture of my brother Joe and his two girls, Sarah and Sydney. I printed the photo in black and white to make it more dramatic. The quote says: "There is only one way to lead a child down the right path... That is to go that way yourself". The flowers are gorgeous leather, I know you can't tell that from the photo. I used the colors ruby red, so saffron, old olive and chocolate chip. The stripped paper is from American Crafts, the leather flowers and rub ons are Making Memories - everything else is from Stampin Up!

Now I have to go pack my bags. I won't be able to take as many pair of shoes as I'd like because I have to pack sweaters and a coat so I don't freeze up in Minnesota and Michigan. I'm super excited about seeing everyone and getting more photos to scrap.

Life Takes Over...

... and you have no time to scrap. I've got a page laid out - adorable photo of my brother and his two girls holding hands. I want to use a quote on the page, but can't find what I want. I need to just give up on that idea and move on.

Things have been very hectic at work. Budget requests were due at the end of last week. I've got a bunch of fun things in my request so next year could be busy for me. We are also restructuring our technical services department in advance of searching for a new librarian. The new person will be Systems and Technical Librarian and I am no Acquisitions and Outreach Librarian. I'm excited about my new duties, but I have ALOT to learn.

I'm getting ready to leave on a trip this Friday. I got a grant to go to the Public Library Association meeting in Minneapolis. And it just so happens that I have family an friends there - how coincidental. I am so excited to get to see everyone, and the conference looks like it's going to be great to. While I'm gone Tim is going to remodel the bathroom. The new beadboard wainscotting is in the dinning room but the boxes of sink, vanity, toilet, fixtures and hardware are all in the study. He has instructions to take lots of photos so I can scrap it when I get back.

And that's life and why I have no new scrapbook pages or cards to show.

Birthday Wishes

This is my oldest niece a couple of years ago on her 6th birthday. You can't tell it from the photo, but her shirt has little blue flowers on it, which is where I got the colors for the layout - ballet blue, barely banana, and certainly celery. The title, "Birthday Wishes" is a stamp from the set For a Friend and I double mounted it to make it stand out. The ballon, present, and cake stamped images are done with Birthday Whimsy. I cut them out and mounted them on small squares to accent and ground them. I am going to do the journaling in the green strip in the middle of the page.

A New Recipe

We tried a new recipe last night. It was good for the cool windy day we had. I don't like green olives, but they give this dish great flavor. I also added a handful of frozen peas at the end.

Stewed Beef with Rice

1 small onion, chopped
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 T. canola oil
1 beef flank steak (3/4 pound), cut into small pieces
2/3 cup tomato sauce
2 tsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. dried oregano
dash pepper
2 T. slice pimento-stuffed olives (I used 1 small can)
2 cups hot cooked rice

In a large skillet, saute onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add beef; saute 2-3 minutes longer.
Stir in the tomato sauce, vinegar, oregano and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30-35 minutes or until meat is tender and sauce is thickened. Stir in olives. Serve with rice. Serves 2.

Enjoy!

The Beach

I did two scrapbook layouts today - one page for Sydney and one page for Sarah. I'll share the Sydney page today and the Sarah page latter in the week. Need to dig out some Hannah and Matthew pictures to work on next.

I took the colors from the pictures - close to cocoa for the background as the sand, groovy guava paper and purely pomegrante ribbon for her cute pink and orange Dora swimsuit, and buckaroo blue for the water. I stamped images from the stamp set Shore Thing, cut them out and put them on a tag as an accent. The title is from chipboard letters. I really love how this turned out - very simple to show the cute photos.

Another Trick or Treat

Last week I shared with you a Halloween layout for my youngest niece who was Tinkerbell. This week I want to share with you the layout of my oldest niece who was a singer for Halloween. She's a very creative little girl and she decorated the shoes she wore as part of her costume. The layout came from Darcy's VSBN challenge on splitcoaststampers.com. I used some bright Basic Grey papers, a chipboard flower and some of the new SU rubons to coordinated with the big orange and purple flowers of her outfit.