Brew Master

Here is the layout I made of Tim brewing his first batch of beer. He has made several different kinds and they have all been good. His first batch was a Strong Scotch Ale. He just bought a Canadian Ale that he'll start this week. He's all ready planning what he's going to have ready when my parents come visit in January.

For my layout, I started with SU Not Quite Navy and some More Mustard card stock. I also used some Paper Studio pattern paper. For the title and some embellishments I smooshed some bottle caps in my Big Shot. I saw the technique on Julie's Paper Trufflez blog and knew it was perfect for this page. See her tutorial here: http://papertrufflez.typepad.com/paper_trufflez/2008/09/bottle-cap-squi.html.

Thankful

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving yesterday. I am so thankful for our friends who come and celebrate with us every year. I am so thankful they are good cooks. Patricia brought veggies and crackers and a cheese log, Ann brought stuffing and my favorite orange fluff. Karen brought potatoes, corn casserole and pumpkin pie. Tim and I made yeast rolls, cheesecake, green bean casserole and the turkey. Sitting around a table full of food with good friends telling stories is the best way to spend a holiday.

I used my SU punches and paper to make turkey place cards and a thankful bouqet centerpiece.

Some Cat Layouts

This is our Riley boy. He loves to get in baskets. He's about three years old and still very playful. Fred likes to chase balls around the house, but Riley prefers to play in baskets. The page base is SU Bashful Blue with some silver, white and black card stocks and a piece of shimmery kitty paper. I found some neat blue chipboard letters somewhere, so I used a "B" for the title and added some black brads and rub on letters. It's a very simple page, but I wanted to focus on Riley's cuteness.

Then there is Naughty Fitzie. As old and feeble as she is, she can still get herself up on the counter to nibble on a loaf of bread. I used SU Ruby Red for the page base and Certainly Celery for the photo mat and Bashful Blue for the journaling box that was cut with my Top Note die on the Big Shot. The title are various styles of chipboard letters and some are covered in pattern papers. And I used some metal edged tags with pattern paper in them for accents. One tag has a sticker that says " Obedience is highly overrated" which is perfect for a naughty kitty page.

Fitzie isn't doing to well these days. She's 17 years old now . We've started giving her wet cat food because she wasn't eating. And truthfully, I don't think she could get up on the counter these days - even for fresh bread.

T-day Prep

This weekend we have been getting ready for Thanksgiving. We will be having friends over for dinner on Thursday. Tim and I are in charge of making the turkey and the dinner rolls. I might also make a cheesecake and some green bean casserole. Yesterday we worked on cleaning the dinning room. All of my scrapbook stuff has been put away so that we can eat at the table. Today Tim mixed some bread dough and I made rolls. I think we'll have to make another batch - I'd hate for anyone to go hungry. It was easy to do since Tim used the bread maker to mix and rise the dough. I took Tom out of the freezer to start thawing. We might have a small problem - I don't know if he'll fit in the roaster. And while Tim has been out riding today I worked on some place cards for the table.

Monday night we'll clean up the kitchen and get the nice china out and rinsed off. Wednesday night I'll make the cheesecake and prep the turkey. Thursday morning will be easy, put the turkey in the oven, make the green bean casserole in the crock pot and set the table. And wait for the guests.

A Layout for Hannah

My niece Hannah is a little soccer player. I really like this page because it's girly and sporty at the same time - Just like Miss Hannah.

It's a cold day for us here in NC. We'll be working on cleaning up the house for Thanksgiving Day. My job is to clean all my crafting stuff off of the dinning room table. I don't think my guest really want to eat on the living room couch.

More New Books!

In the last week I got two more new books in the mail. And I've been reading for my book club.

Gayle, at Every Day I Write the Book Blog, sent me a copy of We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver. Gayle hosts a book discussion on her blog - and you know how much I like to discuss books. For one of her previous discussions we read The Post-Birthday World another Lionel Shriver novel that I ended up really enjoying. So I have high hopes for this book.

And from Jennifer at Book Club Girl I got The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb - in hardback. When I was interviewing for my job here at SCPL 10 years ago, one of the interview questions was to describe a book I was reading. I had just finished I Know This Much Is True by Lamb. I guess I was so enthusiastic that the HR person interviewing me had to check out the book, and I was hired. So, needless to say, I have a soft spot for Wally Lamb.

My face-to-face book group here at the library just had our discussion of Wicked by Gregory Maguire. And for the first time in 10 years of leading book discussions, I got to be a participant. We had a guest leader who did a fabulous job of leading us through a very complex book. If you read Wicked just be prepared, you will not be reading just a re-write of The Wizard of Oz - it is much, much more than that. It's society, religion, good and evil, families, and friends. The picture is our our guest leader, Chris Bramlett, long-time participant Mary Frances Neal all dressed up as the witch, and me.

Bathroom Renovations

Way back in March, when I was gone to Minneapolis for the Public Library Association meeting, Tim renovated our bathroom. It was so nice not to be home while our one and only tiny bathroom was torn up. He took lots of pictures of his progress for me. When we moved into the house - is it 5 years ago? - the bathroom had green plastic tile and black wallpaper on the wall. The wall paper came down quickly. And the tile came down when we replace the tiny vanity for a pedestal sink. And then nothing was done for some time. We took our income tax refund and bought all the supplies - we had toilet and sink parts in the study and wainscotting in the dinning room. Now we have bead board wainscotting that Tim installed and painted - with base board and cap moulding. The top part of the walls he painted a soft green color. He installed a new toilet and new sink and base. We love our new bathroom. Thank you sweetie for such a nice bathroom.

For the layout I used a SU Old Olive and Not Quite Navy base. The title and journaling box are More Mustard. The accent papers are some old Basic Grey. I used a Sizzix die and my Big Shot machine to make the hammer and nail accents. And I also used some brads that look like screw heads.

Today is book club and we will be discussing Wicked by Gregory Maguire. A very interesting book. We are having a guest leader, so for once I get to be a participant. Can't wait to hear what everyone thinks about this book.

My Home Town

Last night I went cropping and got two pages done. And today I'm going to another all day crop and have a lot planned to get done. The page I want to share with you today is one I made the last time I went cropping. It's a layout of My Home Town. One of the last times Tim and I were at my parents I took these pictures of the great building in town. There is a pink quartzite quarry at the edge of town so all the old buildings are made of pink rock. I have a pictures of the old bath house in the park, the old water tower, a corner building downtown, the old opera house, the band shell in the park and the theater. One picture I didn't get is the library. The base is River Rock with Groovy Guava. The pattern paper is Ginger Blossom. I used the Embrace Life stamp set to stamp the flower embellishments on Blush Blossom and Ruby Red.

Happy Mail

I just got a great delivery. An Advanced Reader's Copy of Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford. And the author even signed it! I read a great book blog at http://printedpage.us/ and Marcia, who writes great reviews, also gives away books. I've started reading it, because even though I'm at work, technically my job is to find good books to buy for the library and I have to read some of them to determine if they are good or not. Are y'all buying that? I'm expecting a few more books to be coming my way and I'll let you know what they are as I get them.

Our Boy is Driving

This is the first semester Dylan has been able to fit Driver's Ed. into his school schedule. He now has his Learner's Permit and was happy to show it off to us. I used SU black for the background and some SU ruby red and summer sun with my die cut machine to make the paisleys. The red pattern paper, journaling box and round stickers are from CM. The chipboard letters were a horrible orange so I inked them with creamy caramel and ruby red ink to tone them down. It was a simple page to highlight our new driver.

Celebrating 10 Years...

...at the Stanly County Public Library. Yes, can you believe I've been working at one place for 10 years? It's a great place to work and I plan on staying a few more years. I wanted to take a little something into work to celebrate. I couldn't afford a big bakery cake with lots of frosting, so I looked for an easy recipe to make at home. I found a great recipe called Rickety Uncles - don't you love the name? The recipe came from a blog that I watch, called Whisk. Check it out here: http://www.whiskblog.com/. It was so easy: melt 1/2 cup of butter and add 2 cups of oatmeal, 3/4 cup of brown sugar, pinch of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla. Mix and put in an 8x8 pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes. See, it's easy. And tasty - I came home with an empty plate.