Sweet Swixteen

This weekend we went to Kentucky for Dylan's 16th birthday. Yes, our little boy is 16! He is a junior in high school this year and has turned into a young man. He's enjoying his classes - especially the two computer programing classes he is taking. Next semester he will get to take drivers ed. This is the first year we have given him cash for his birthday. He's saving his birthday money and almost has enough for the Xbox360. We also gave him the last Harry Potter book and a music CD that Tim made for him. It was a good trip. Our new car was great - I still need to figure out what kind of gas mileage we got, but it was pretty good.

A Weekend in Myrtle Beach.

At the last minute on Friday I decided to make a trip to Myrtle Beach, SC for the weekend. My SCS friend, Darcy from Arkansas, was going to be visiting Donna, another SCS friend. So Saturday morning I loaded the Forrester with all my stamping.scrapping stuff, and one small bag of clothes. It ended up being a very easy drive down there - only took about 3 hours and 20 minutes with me driving the speed limit. I got to Donna's house about noon and Darcy got there just a short time later. In about 2 minutes it felt like we'd all been friends forever. Saturday afternoon we made quick trips to Micheals and AC Moore. After dinner, Andrea, another SCS'er came over and we crafted. We had a blast around Donna's kitchen table. Sunday morning we went to Myrtle Beach State Park but didn't stay too long because it started to thunder and lightning. Stopped quick at Sonic for lunch and went back to the house for more crafting. I had to leave about 6 and I hated to go. I'm sure I'll be going down to visit Donna again. Tim says he might have a weekend biking trip coming up this fall, so that would be a good time for me to take another trip - and hopefully it will be cooler in Myrtle Beach.

I Love Free Books Part 2

Several days ago I mentioned that I got two free hardback copies of The Lottery by Patricia Wood. Well, I finished the book today - and it is great! It will definitely go on my list of choices for book club next year. And the author left a comment on my post - how cool is that?

Four Cats is Too Many

Simon is here on his annual visit. His Mom is on "vacation" for a couple of weeks. It's amazing how well these cats get along, and everything is normal. This is the first time that Riley has met Simon. And I think the first couple of days that Riley was a little put-out by our visitor. or it could have just been the stray cat who was hanging out on the deck (who thankfully is gone). This morning Riley and Simon were playing chase - at 6:30 in the morning. Tarzan and Fitz have just been watching them. When Simon comes to visit we have t-r-e-a-t-s'. Can't say the word because the know what it means. So this is a picture of Tim trying to dole out t-r-e-a-t-s' to four cats. Simon is hard to see, but he's under the chair.

A layout for Tuesday

Ah, it's Tuesday. My day to sleep in and enjoy an easy morning before I go to work. Except the cats were loud this morning and insisted on being fed. That Simon has one loud meow. And it's book club day, so I have to leave for work earlier than normal. At book club we will be discussing Widow of the South by Robert Hicks. Si, I'm sitting here on the couch with my second cup of coffee listening to a load of laundry in the dryer and the the dishwasher running - need to do those things before it's a 100 degrees outside again today.

I want to share this layout of my Great Grandmother Kreber, who we called Granny Two. I did this layout during for the big Virtual Scrapbooking Weekend on SCS. The challenge was to include a recipe in your layout. I have a box full of all of my Granny Two and Grandma Holles' recipe cards. The base of the page in elegant eggplant. The so saffron layer has a enlarged photocopy of Granny Two's Penuche recipe. I also include a couple of photocopied recipe cards in the library pocket. I made some pattern paper with the Pretty Posies stamp set using plum and sage inks for the flowers to accent the top and bottom of the page. One the library pocket are some of the things I remember about Grandma Two: quilting, violets, Granny Buns, and gardening. Tim scanned and printed the photo for me, so I didn't use my original. I love this page, and I hope you do too.

No Fear

Dad and the boys worked together and made some soap box derby cars. Joe's car was made from a kit. Jim's car was totally homemade. After Joe broke his arm, Mom and Dad asked me if I wanted to race his car in the locally derby - no way! They raced down the hill by the Riggs Library. It was a really big hill! Joe said he could race his own car - even with his broken arm. he got 4th place in his class and Jim got 2nd place in his class. Pierre, SD, summer of 1976.

I had to call Mom and Dad to check on some of the details. We had a good time remembering. I'm sure the boys remember the event differently, but this is how I remember.

I used True Thyme, So Saffron, Buckaroo Blue and Close to Cocoa papers to give the page a 70's feel. I stamped the race car from Toy Box and used my SU markers to color them in for the only embellishments on the page. The title is made from chipboard letters and rubons. I love how this page turned out

I love Free Books

One of the perks of my job is that sometimes publishers send me free copies of books, usually titles that are just coming out in paperback. Their goal is to for me to select the title for my book group, so they can sell more copies. Recently I got a paperback copy of The Virgin of Small Plains by Nancy Pickard, and I did like it so much that I put it on the possible list for my book group next year. Then a couple of weeks ago I got a paperback copy of The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. I had already read it and loved it , and it's also on my possible list for next years book group. This week I got TWO HARDBACK copies of The Lottery by Patricia Wood. This book has been getting very good reviews. And it is so new we don't even have our copy at the library yet. One copy is for me to read, and the other I'm going to give away as some sort of prize at the library. It's been a long and tough week for me so I've barely been able to start my news book. Can't wait to read it and see if it's as good as all the reviews say. If it is, then maybe it will go on next years book group reading list.

Exhausted

VSBN is over. We had a wonderful weekend of scrapping challenges on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/. Thankfully I took the day off yesterday to recover. People are still working on their challenge submission, so we will not know until Wednesday evening how many challenges were completed. I know I filled an entire album with the pages I made for samples - and I love every page. I'll start showing you some of them. Now I need to spend some time making cards.

The theme for VSBN was "Curl up with a Good Book". So all of the challenges had to do with books. Gloria was our kids challenge hostess and she likes the Goosebumps books, so the first challenge on Saturday was to make a page with bumps. My page is from Fitzie's birthday. I used pop dots to raise up the circle embellishments.

Keep watching, and I'll try to share all of the pages I did for this big weekend.

I got a birthday present!

I think Tim is worse about presents than I am. He ordered my birthday present and gave it to me already! Not that I'm complaining mind you. I love getting presents. I got a new Canon Rebel XTi digital SLR camera. A huge step up from the Canon point and shoot camera I have been using. My new camera is too big to carry around in my purse at all times like the Sure Shot is. I took a few photos last night, and I love the quality. I am so excited and can't wait to get out and take some more pictures.

Our friend, Jon, who moved to Wyoming last year, is coming in for the weekend. We are all going to get together to celebrate Jake's birthday. A great opportunity to use my new camera.

VSBN is This Weekend!

The BIG Virtual Scrapbooking Night is this weekend. We'll have 12 scrapping challenges over the course of two days at splitcoaststampers.com. If you are a scrapper, please come join us. I've made samples for each of the challenges, and I've filled an entire album.

Saturday, August 4th starting at 10:00 am EST with the last challenge posted at 8:00 pm EST

Sunday, August 5th starting at noon EST with the last challenge posted at 10:00 pm EST

Now, these two pages are from our 4th of July celebration with out friends the Grochowskys. All the boys; Tim, Steve, Jake and Ben, had fun lighting the fireworks. Tim went down to SC and bought a few large fireworks. We had a ton of fun without spending lots of money. Karen manned the grill, as always. She made burgers and hotdogs and corn on the cob. Thankfully the weather was great and we spent all evening outside.

The challenge at the VSBN preview was to use chipboard, so all the letter "F's" are made from chipboard and covered with paper. Fourth, Fun, Food, Fireworks, Freedom.

A Book, A Frame, It's Both

One of the challenges in last weekend's VSBN was to take a hardcover book and alter it to a picture frame. This is the perfect project for me! I chose the book The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman because Tim and I enjoy listening to these books on audio. Come to think of it, it's about time for her to publish a new one. I used Basic Grey papers and ribbon and flower embellishments to match the decor of our living room. I can easily change photos to keep it interesting. The picture in there now is of Tim and I in front of the Harry Potter movie poster when we went to see the movie a couple of weeks ago. It is so perfect on the fireplace mantle.

Wet and Wild

Another challenge during this weekend's VSBN preview was to make a layout with hidden elements. I finally scrapped the pictures of Tarzan's bath. The title pulls out to show the journaling hidden away.

And just an update on Tim's big race on Sunday. Sixty-six miles long and 11,000 feet of climbing. he finished 355th of 450 racers. He did have a better time this year than the last time he raced it - and no black eye this time.

It's a Dora Fiesta

Over at splitcoaststampers.com we had our Virtual Scrapbooking Night preview party this past Sunday. Now I can start showing you some of the pages I've been creating for this event. On Sunday we had four different challenges. Each challenge hostess makes a sample page, and I as the event coordinator make samples of ALL of the challenges. The theme for the event is books, so all of the challenges have something to do with books. Needless to say, I've been scrapping my little heart out, and I can't wait to start showing these pages off.

Our first challenge (AUGVSBNA) was to make a page using purple in honor of the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich. So I made a layout for my niece Sarah's third birthday. She had a Dora party.

Off Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell

Tim is leaving today for the mountains. Tomorrow he is racing the Off Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell. He loves doing these extreme races. The last time he did this race was 3 years ago, and he fell halfway through the race. He finished the race and drove home with this lovely black eye.

While Tim is gone, I'll be reading our copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm still waiting for Mr. Brown to deliver. I wish he would hurry. I'll get it read before Tim gets home. Once Tim gets it read, we'll send it off to Dylan.

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be busy coordinating the preview event for SCS Virtual Scrapbooking Night. We'll have 4 great scrapbooking challenges. If you want to join us, the first challenge will be posted at 2:00 pm Eastern time, and you will have two hours to make you page to fit the challenge. It's lots of fun, and a good way to get lots of scrapbook pages completed.

If only Mr. Brown would get here...

Recipe for Today

I'm anxious to get home tonight so I can finish up the layout I have in progress. I was snipping pieces of pattern paper before I left for work this morning. Since I don't have any new stamping to show you until after VSBN, I thought I would share a recipe. Mom wanted me to e-mail this to her, so here it is Mom. My boss brought it as a salad to a work potluck. Tim took it to a bike social and they used it as a dip.

Penny's Salad
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, drained
4 oz. Monterrey Jack cheese, cubed
1/2 cup salsa (add more if needed)
1/2 cup green onion
1/2 cup celery
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
garlic
cumin

Mix everything together. Serve chilled.

Harry Potter Mania

We went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix last night. Good movie. They got a few things wrong, but over all did a good job trying to condense such a large book into a mavie. Tim and I have a copy of the new book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, on order with amazon.com. It should come on Saturday while Tim is at work. We buy the book for Dylan, but he graciously lets us read it before we send in on to him.

Here's a silly little quiz for you to take if you are into the Harry Potter mania.

Find out your Harry Potter personality at LiquidGeneration!

Sunday Update

I don't have any new stamping work to show you. I'm busy working on sample pages for the upcoming Virtual Scrapbooking Night (Weekend) on Splitcoaststampers.com. After the big event is over, I'll have lots of pages to show.

This is a card I made awhile back. The base is certainly celery. The swirl is stamped in rose red on Sahara sand, and matted with rose read, all on a certainly celery base. Friend is also stamped in rose read on Sahara sand and matted on rose red and attached to some celery ribbon. I love the colors of this card.

Tomorrow night I am going to go to Inky Fingers, which is a local stampers group that meets down the block at the senior center. I think I want to work on the design for our Christmas cards this year.

Sweet Sixteen

We don't normally celebrate the cat's birthdays. But today is special, Fitzie is 16! And I needed an excuse to make a cake. Fitzie has always been my kitty. She and Tim just tolerate each other. I got Fitzie from our friends, the Fitzgeralds, before I moved from South Dakota to Kentucky. She was a great traveler on her first trip. She has since moved to NC, and then to TN, and then back to NC. She's lost lots of teeth, and doesn't jump as well as she used to, otherwise, she's healthy and will probably live a few more years. The birthday girl did lick up a few crumbs of the yummy chocolate cake I made, and I have some tuna for her later.

Preparing for the Virtual Scrapbooking Night

The last few weeks I have been making lots of cards. I'm trying to have a stack on hand. For the next month or more I won't have much card making time as I will be concentrating on scrapbooking. SplitcoastStampers (www.splitcoaststampers.com) is where I hang out online. Every 3 months or so, they have a huge scrapbooking night - which ends up being over 2 weekends. This quarter, I am the coordinator - or publisher. The theme is Curl up With a Good Book. We will be scrapping on July 22 and August 4th and 5th - so please come and join us. Since I am the coordinator I need to make sample pages for all the challenges. Which means I need to get scrapping.

So here is one of the cards I made for my stash. Several weeks ago the color challenge on SCS was to use cool Caribbean, marigold morning and pretty in pink. I cased my card from Emily, the color challenge hostess. The card base is cool Caribbean. The image is Petal Prints - stamped in apricot appeal and pretty in pink - stamped on whisper white and mounted on marigold morning. I used my Coluzzle to cut the circles. The pattern paper is from My Minds Eye. And the ribbon is pretty in pink. It's a simple card, but I love all the soft colors.

Weekend Catch Up

I mostly spent the weekend reading. I read Simply Magic a romance by Mary Balough. It's third in the series, and the other two also start with "Simply". The other book was also number three in a series. It was The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith. He writes the No. 1 Ladies Detective series, which I don't like, but I am loving this Isabel Dalhousie series of books he has. They are totally different from No. 1 Ladies.



I want to show you what I made last week for my friend Judi's birthday. Her gift was wrapped in a kraft take out box that I stamped in red, pink and black. I also added buttons and ribbon. I also made her a mini album about friends. I used some SU designer paper to cover some chipboard coasters and lots of different embellishments and stamp sets.