A Visit to Trader Joe's

Oh, how I miss, miss, miss Trader Joe's! There will NEVER, EVER be one in Utah - anywhere in Utah! We had to go to Vegas earlier this week. I won't even begin to mention the heat - the 114° in the part of town we were in. How do I know it was 114°? The Navigator has a temperature reading that is right on target! I wanted to throw my body into one of the freezers at Trader Joe's! As it was, I kept my wrist pulse points on the edge of the freezer compartment! It didn't make a difference!

OK, back to Trader Joe's. Words like pleasurable, experimental, enjoyable, and varied come to mind! I came home with soy cream cheese, creme fraiché, marinated mozzarella balls, lime chicken burgers, buffalo burgers, salmon, shrimp, pitas, soy corn dogs (which are absolutely wonderful), cookies, cheeses, fish, bags of frozen berries, and gargantuan artichokes! There was more, but I've probably scared you off by now. The trick was getting it all back to the house w/out it melting. Enter the coolers and the ice! LOL Everything got home safely and barely thawed. Now, as I use the stuff, I have to remember to make a list so that on the next trip, I'll know what we used up.

It was so good to come home.

I did some layouts this week. Want to see them?

The first layout is of our precious Precious! She is just the sweetest animal I have ever known. She's not overly affectionate, but she is sweet, funny, and makes her wants known! Every night, she brings a toy into the bedroom just in case we decide to play. It's not unusual for us to wake up and find a stuffed animal or a ball between us! When she thinks we've left the house, she'll walk around meowing while she goes from room to room looking for us. I could go on, but that would be boring!

For this LO, I used the Basic Grey Lemonade Stand line of papers and embellishments. I thought it just went so well with the photo. DH picked this hydrangea from our garden. It was for me, but some little fur person thought it was for HER! I backed the doily with a piece of PP but didn't run the backing paper to the edge of the doily. I wanted to maintain the delicate look of the doily. The LO just needed to have that girly girl feel!


Take Time to Smell the Flowers

The next LO is of my sweetie! DS took DH to this really fun restaurant in Issaquah, Washington. It's called XXX Root Beer. The ambiance makes the restaurant a real treat! The interior is covered with classic automobile memorabilia. It just looks like a party is going on! When I decided on this photo, I knew I just had to make the LO as fun as the XXX Root Beer experience! I chose PPs from the June Bug line. I did some cutting and layering. Around the larger circle, I've added yellow Stickles for a touch of sparkle. You can't see the sparkle in the photo, though. The black flower is fabric that I've stitched and gathered. With the large brad in the center, I thought it looked like an old LP. I added a touch of bling around the title as well as lots of matching flowers. I thought that the matching sticker was perfect - "You can have EVERYTHING you want!"


Sweets for My Sweet

The last LO is of DS. I took this shot while he was eating his very first soft ice cream cone! We were on our way to Oregon for the first of our many summers on the Oregon Coast. Look at his face! I think he was really loving it! I used MME paper with lots of layers and fun stitching. I added Stickles to the ice cream cone in the lower left. I thought the paper went so well with the photo. I'll journal on the removable tag later.


Heat Wave

Well, that's about it! Not bad for a week's work! I hope you enjoyed my designs. I loved sharing them with you!

Thank you so much for stopping by. It's so nice that you chose to come and visit!

Love to you,

Chris

A Hundred and Stupid!

When the temperature outside exceeds 110° my DH and I lovingly call it "A Hundred and Stupid!" It's just too hot outside to even think clearly! We went through that this weekend. It was just too hot! Hopefully, that was our one and only horribly hot spell. We usually get one scorcher each summer. Be gone summer heat!

Here are a couple of layouts I've done, as well as a card. I had fun with the card. The flower is made of layer upon layer of tissue paper that I cut using my Nestie dies. Then, I ran the whole collection through my Cuttlebug to add even more texture! LOL The photo is not very good. It's been cloudy and breezy outside, so I had to use artificial light. The ribbon w/ the stripe is pink w/ an olive stripe that matches the PP perfectly. I also used my pastels to lightly touch the edges of the layers to give more dimension. Whadda think?


Tissue Flower Card

The next LO was done with June Bug as well. I wanted the feel of the LO to match the feel of the photo. No, DS wasn't really going to kiss the fish. The next photo in the collection is of DS sticking his finger in the fish's mouth to feel the teeth. LOL. This was the first fish DS ever caught. He was confined to a playpen. I tossed in his line and let him do the rest. Well, DS eventually got bored. The day went on. When we were packing up to go back to camp, DH reeled in the line and this fish, poor baby, was exhausted and hooked! Years later, we still remember that day!


Real Boyz Kiss Fish

The next photo is of DDIL and DS. I thought their photo was just so adorable. DH took the photo in Nachotta, Washington. For years, we ate at a restaurant there called The Ark. The Ark now has new owners, but the previous, AMAZINGLY TALENTED, owners have a new restaurant called, Jimella's. If EVER you are on the Long Beach Peninsula, please visit Jimella's. Her gift for beautiful, delicious food is the best! She's even cooked for President Bill Clinton. We started eating at The Ark when DS was about 4. We never, EVER had a bad meal. Chef Jimella would always prepare Salmon Lucas just for DH! I should post a shot of that meal for you to see.


Family

We had the sweetest little beach house on the Oregon Coast until a couple of years ago. Fortunately, we sold it before the real estate market sunk lower than the Marianna Trench! DH and I miss the beach terribly. We love Neskowin - the greens, the hills, the beach. We'll go back eventually. Afterall, we have our house contents in storage! Well, after a storm, the beach sand was eroded by about 10 feet and exposed this ancient forest of tree stumps! They have been dated to the time of Christ! How many times we walked on sand that had these ancient treasures buried beneath our feet! How cool is that?


Neskowin's Ancient Trees

And here is a link to something hilarious that happened years ago on the Oregon Coast. If you haven't seen it before, please take the time to view it and LISTEN - LISTEN ALL THE WAY TO THE VERY END...*giggle* It's NOT rain fall you are hearing... (scroll down)

Exploding Whale

Are you done laughing yet? Is that hilarious or what? I love what was said about the seagulls not being enticed to scavenge.

Well, that is my contribution for the time being. I hope each of you has a wonderful week. Scrap lots!

XO,

Chris

Magnolia Tilda Stamp Storage

Several gals have inquired as to how I store my collection of Magnolia Tilda stamps. I thought I would take a photo and explain how I've managed to keep things all at my fingertips. Here is my collection:

Shortly after I started collecting these little gems, I quickly realized that there had to be a way to keep track of them in such a manner that I can view each stamp. I decided that since I safely store my scrapbook layouts in page protectors, why not my stamps? I began by stitching a grid on each page protector. All pages hold at least 12 stamps while other pages hold more, as many as 24 depending on the pocket size and contents. I tried to customize the little pockets to fit the stamps. Then, using my Xacto knife, I carefully cut a slit across the top of each pocket. This allows me to slip the stamp in and out.

Each stamp still has its backing on it to protect the stickiness. Also, when I've stamped an image, I always stamp a second which is then cut out. I store the stamped image behind the stamp so I can see what the stamped image looks like. I also have written the name of each stamp on a strip of paper so I can see that information just as easily.

It sure has been a great system for me. Maybe it'll help some of you!

Have a good one! Thanks for stopping by!

XO,

Chris

I Think I "Dun Good!"

I am just so proud of myself! I have spent about two weeks working on the new header for my blog! Do you like it? In reality, I spent a week thinking and planning. Then, I spent four days this week putting it together. Now, if it could go wrong, it did! Punching the border was a "no brainer" until I hit the corners. For some reason, my Fiskars punches line up perfectly at the corners, but this one...Acckkkkkkkkkk! What a pain in the arse! I wrecked so much paper just trying to get the pattern to line up correctly. However, unlike Sarah Palin, I am NOT a quitter! I hung in there until I got it right! Woo Hoo!

I want to thank Casey at Hot Bliggity Blog for being such a sweetie and making the background available for all of us to use. Please visit her site and check out her backgrounds. She would love a donation, too, if you use one - just to keep the site up and running.

I haven't any new layouts or cards yet. I just got another batch of Tilda stamps in the mail today. I can't wait to play with them.

The desert is hot - not too bad - yet. It's been around 100 for the past week or so. That's not too bad. The heat has forced me to drink more - not alcohol, LOL - but my new favorite drink, Crystal Light! How much Crystal Light is too much? I love, love, love the pink lemonade and the regular lemonade. If it tastes so good, there has to be something wrong with it, right? LOL

OK, I'm off for now. I just wanted to tout my new header. Thanks so much for stopping by!

XOXO,

Chris