Who cares about scrapping when I can eat?

I made a new recipe for dinner last night. You can find the instructions here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/08/spicy_shrimp_yu/ . Oh man, it was so tasty. We just had shrimp and bread. But the shrimp would be good with some rice to soak up all the sauce. I think any leftovers would be great in some sort of cold salad. This was so simple and easy to make that I think it will become a staple at our house anytime shrimp goes on sale. I have also made the Pioneer Woman's bacon wrapped cracker appetizers and they were very good also. Be sure to check out all of her recipes and the rest of her blog.

Will I ever stamp or scrap again?

Seems like the forces of the world are against me ever getting anything creative done. This long holiday weekend when Tim was supposed to be riding in the mountains and I was supposed to be getting lots of scrapping done - we ended up making an unscheduled trip to KY. Tim's Mom is in the hospital with some heart problems. She got a pacemaker late last week and spent several days in CCU. She's in a regular room now and doing so much better.

We did take some time Sunday afternoon to drive up to Owensboro to see the kid. And, of course, I took more pictures that seem like they'll never get scrapped. Dylan did a project for psychology class using his dogs to test biocommunication. The teacher handed out awards for the projects. Dylan got a Blue Plunger for the best topic award. He's very proud of his blue plunger. He has one more week of school and is planning on working at Burger King this summer.

I guess this week I'll work on catching up on housework and laundry. Then this weekend I am going to scrap! Because my nieces have dance recital this weekend which means more pictures to scrap.

Mother's Day Cards

As usual, I was late getting my Mother's Day cards made and mailed. But they did finally get done. Everyone should have received theirs by now, so I'll share them with everyone else. A couple of weeks ago, my friend Judi and I went to a new stamp store in Matthews. I bought my first official unmounted stamp set. Unmounted stamps don't come on wood blocks, when you want to use one you mount it on a reusable acrylic block. The stamps are stored in a CD sized case. Which means they don't take up as much room so you can have more stamps. The set I bought is called Jolies Fleurs by Lizzie Anne Designs. They have been very easy to work with, so I think I see more unmounted stamp sets in the future.

I love the color of these cards - celery, coral and pink. I used a half circle punch to make the scallops and did some paper piercing along the bottom by the ribbon for interest. The large scallop circle is a punch my friend Donna has. I used the small hole punch in the scallops to make it lacy. A little ribbon finishes it off. And inside is stamped with Happy Mother's Day.

The New Bathroom

The bathroom is almost done. Tim is working on replacing the old weights in the windows. When he finished with that then he'll paint the window and door frames. The wainscoting and woodwork is a soft white and the top part of the wall is Koi Pond green. It turned out exactly like I pictured. Now that we have a new couch, we can move on to the living room and dinning room - maybe in the fall. This weekend we are going to take a break from working on the house and yard and head to the mountains and do some camping, hiking (me) and bike riding (Tim).

Home Improvement Day

Today we are busy working on the house. Tim is busy putting in base moulding in the bathroom. The house was built in 1930, so the walls are a little wavy. But he is doing a beautiful job. We ran out to Sherwin Williams this morning and bought paint for the top part of the wall. It is a soft green color called Koi Pond. It's a different shade of green than the towels we have so I might need new towels.

While we were out, we stopped by the local furniture store to look at sofas. We found one that we liked - and it was on sale! I'm sitting on it now. It's not as big as our old one - a little shorter and not as wide. It is a sleeper sofa to give us a little more room for guests. And it was made right here in North Carolina. Fitzie and Riley have checked it out already. The old futon we carried to the curb and the neighbors hauled it off pretty quickly.

The garden we put in last weekend is doing pretty well. No corn or beans have sprouted yet, and the watermelon and cantaloupes don't look too good. But everything else looks great. We also planted a lilac and hydrangea. We've had some good rain this week which has been nice. I still need to get some impatients to plant in the pot on the front porch.

After all this hard work, I'm sure we'll sleep well tonight. I did go to a crop last night so have a few more scrapbook pages to show you next week.

My Mojo is Back

On Tuesday morning I finished up the page that had been on my table for three or four weeks. These pictures are from when I was up in Michigan and had a chance to sit down and scrap with my nieces. I'm going to end up making three different pages with these photos - one page for me, One for Sarah's book and one for Sydney's book. When I started working on this page I picked some papers that matched the purplish color of Sydney's dress so the papers ended up being too dark and drab to enhance the story. I switch over to some lighter colors that would coordinate with the other colors in the photos. But I was using punch star shapes as an accent. When I went to look for some pattern papers to use, I only found paper with flowers. Then I realized I really needed to use punched flowers instead of stars. So after three weeks of changing colors and embellishments, I was finally loving it.

I just spent two days down in Myrtle Beach with some of my online scrapping friends. So Hopefully I can get a couple of pages scrapped to show everyone.

No Mojo

I've lost my scrapping mojo. I got lots of great pictures on my trip to Minneapolis but I haven't had time to scrap anything. I did sit down and stamp for a bit this morning to see if I could get the creative juices flowing. I have two cards in progress, so hopefully I'll have something to show you soon.
This weekend we go to Kentucky to see Dylan and Tim's family. Which means I'll come back with more photos to scrap. I got two of James Patterson's books from his Maximum Ride series at the library conference. I think Dylan will enjoy them. Maybe I can find enough mojo to make a few bookmarks for him.
It's a busy time at work. It's National Library Week, so I've been coordinating activities for that. Thursday night if Open Mic Poetry Night in celebration of National Poetry Month. Need to see if I can write something decent enough to read. Today is Library Worker Day, so please stop by your local library and say hi to the library workers there. I've got book club this morning. We will be discussing Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. It is a beautifully written novel about the Nigerian - Biafra conflict of the 1960's. We should have a great discussion. I've spent some time this morning reading a few chapters and the beginning and end of the book to refresh my memory.
Other than that - the cats are well, the redone bathroom is great, and life is good.

I finally got some thank you cards made and ready to mail to my family who made my trip to Minnesota a great one. I had the best time seeing everyone. I got all my pictures printed so should get some scrapbook pages done soon.

For this card I used a color challenge on SCS to give me some inspiration - cameo coral, apricot appeal, mellow moss and creamy caramel. I used the Embrace Life stamp set and mellow moss ink for the leafy background and cameo coral ink on apricot and coral papers for the flowers. The while gel pen added a few accents. Since there are a few layers I didn't add any ribbon or hardware to make it more bulky for mailing. I'm pleased how they turned out and I think the colors are nice and soft for spring.

When I got back from Minnesota my tulips were up. Even with all the dreary rainy weather we've had, they've opened up beautifully. So this picture is for everyone who still has snow - spring is coming your way. Look quick because my tulips never last long - kids walking to and from school always manage to pick them.

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.

Birthday Bowling League

Every year for our friend Ben's birthday we go bowling. It's a ritual that we all look forward to every year. It will be so sad when Ben is too old to go bowling with us. Usually we bowl boys against girls, but this year we were a small group so we all bowled on one team. Karen was the overall winner this year - beating Ann and Steve. I scored higher than Tim for once.

This first page I made for a challenge on SCS. We had to take a test to see what color crayon I was and then scrap a page with that color and the color opposite on the color wheel. I was a yellow crayon so I had to scrap a page with yellow and purple. Thankfully this great bowling paper had both colors in it. I've used it for the last two years and I'm all out of it - need to go shoping for bowling paper.

After we bowl we go back to the house for presents and cake. This year Ben had a yummy Boston Cream Pie - and 10 candles. He got lots of great presents too.

The pages for this second layout were made by my online friend Sally for a swap we participated in. They were perfect for a 10 year-ols birthday.

Displaying Scrapbook pages

I just want to make sure you all know that I have the best husband in the world. I was showing him some wooden scrapbook page holders that were for sale online. They were only 20 something dollars, but he decided he could make one for me. We went to Lowes and found some pieces of polar ( the online version is made of plywood) and a dowl rod for about 7 dollars. In a couple of hours he made me a fabulous wooden frame to hang my scrapbook pages for display. And he even made one for a friend.

The page I'm displaying here is one I made this weekend. My youngest niece was Tinkerbell for Halloween this past year. The title says "Pixie's Just Want to Have Fun". The chipboard flower is covered in purple with silver, celery, and purple ribbon knots and rhinestones at it's center.

Freddy's First Scrapbook Page

Sally on SCS posted a great sketch challenge that I used for this page. "Play Hard Sleep Hard" -That's our Freddy boy. He loves playing with the feather balls, and once he starts playing the other cats join him. The background is soft sky and I used a stip of old olive and really rust and two cute patterned papers. The I scattered old olive felt flowers across the page. One of the flowers has a paw print brad in the center. And that is Freddy's first scrapbook page. I'm sure there will be lots more.

Some Scrabook Pages from the Summer

If you'll remember, this past August, I took a trip down to Myrtle Beach to meet up with some of my online friends from splitcoaststampers.com. I finally got around to scrapping that weekend.

The first set of pages is four of us, Donna, Darcy, Andrea and I, all scrapping on Donna's kitchen table. We had the best time sharing our supplies and being creative. Donna's oldest son, Duncan, actually took the group picture of us because we couldn't get the camera timer to work.

The second set of pages is of Myrtle Beach State Park. Donna, Darcy, and the boys and I went to the beach for the morning. A thunderstorm was coming up across the ocean and it made the water full of beautiful shades of blue. And I didn't even get sunburned while we were there. It's a beuatiful state park in the middle of an overcrowded beach town.

I used some of the same colors - really rust and cool carribean - and pattern papers from the same group to tie the two pages together.

Lovely Yellow Daffodils

I wanted to share a photo of some of my daffodils. I really need to get out and plant more next year.

I took this picture on February 5th. Last year I took pictures of daffodils on January 14th. This little bunch has a few more blossoms now and I also have a couple of clumps by the front walkway. The camillia tree has also blossomed and so has the lenten rose. I'm sure the tulips won't be up for awhile yet.

I cut all of my lovely daffodils for ceterpieces for my Best Books 2007 Tea at work. They were beautiful in some simple glass vases on top of white table cloths. And they have lasted all week. A few more have popped up in the yard, so I still have some to look at our the front window.