History Was Made Tonight

My heart has been so touched by the speech I just witnessed by President-Elect, Barack Obama. I have witnessed the passing of the baton that is so American - the peaceful election of a new administration. I am humbled. The speech that was just given was of such a high caliber and given by a man that belongs to a select few - FDR, Abraham Lincoln, JFK. This is a moment in history that speaks of greatness. How lucky for the young generation that this is THEIR generation and THEIR President just as I was a part of the JFK generation. I am in awe tonight as I was when Kennedy was elected.

As I looked at the crowds shown on the TV screen, I loved seeing the diversity of America - MY AMERICA. I pray that President-Elect Obama will be blessed with the knowledge to get us back on the right track. I pray that his inspiration will spread to each and every one of us.

In my lifetime, which hasn't been all that long, I have seen blacks going to different schools, sitting at the back of a bus, drinking from appointed water fountains, unable to go into some public places. Slowly. over the years, those barriers came down. This - this is a moment in time that is historical and I have been witness to it.

What I saw in the faces of those gathered to hear this man speak were the faces of hope - a lifting of spirits that have been down for such a long time. People, knowingly or unknowingly, feeling the pressures of the past eight years were feeling their burden lifted with the promise that together, we can make change for the better. So many who have felt generations of being "held back," that there was no future, because of race, were finally witnessing something this nation holds true - that ANYONE can be president. We were reminded that WE are the United States of American - each and every one of us - a collective group.

God bless the United States.

XO,

Chris

Race to the White House and Diversions

It's everywhere. You cannot get away from it. Political commentaries! Talk about mudslinging! If any of these candidates had noses that grew like Pinocchio's when untruths were told, my gosh, they'd be falling all over themselves - doing impressions of elephants or anteaters! I have to say that Utah is 99% quieter than Las Vegas was. The TV ads are sparse and yard signs, trash mail, door fliers, etc., are basically nonexistent. It's sooooooooooooooo nice! It's just sad that when watching these candidates on TV, the political "spin" is an insult to the intelligence! OK, enough of my political diatribe! No one cares what I think, LOL. However, this is my blog and I can voice my opinion, right? I anticipate a political breath of fresh air - a different tact - a more gentle way of interaction.

Enough...

If you are into Nestabilities, have I got something for you! There is a website, Cut@Home, that sells them. If you sign up for their newsletter, each month, you get a 40% off coupon code which is applicable to one item each month. I've been buying the four packs of Nesties and taking the 40% off! When I say four pack, I mean, for example, large rectangles plain, large rectangles scalloped, and the next smaller size of rectangles in plain and scalloped edges. You can use them in your Cuttlebug. Just remember to get the tan mat, too. There are two mats in each package. Your 40% off coupon code may also work for the single sets. I'm not sure, though. I have 3 four packs making 12 complete sets of Nesties. That little coupon code is perfect!

My printer died. We sent it back to HP for repairs. They called and stated that they are returning it to us for burial. I'm thinking a good Irish wake or maybe a New Orleans style tribute is due. That little printer was the little printer that could. It was soooooo good and sooooooo reliable. I loved how my prints always turned out beautifully. Now, I'm lost. I haven't scrapped in a week. I'm in the dumps. I don't even want to scrap. I have a big printer that prints on 12 x 12 papers, but the quality of the photos is stinky compared to the now departed one. I've been spoiled.

Below are the last photos HP printed before he went to Printer Heaven. Out of desperation, I made some cards. Here they are for you to view. Enjoy!



For this card, I rolled the background image using a stamp wheel. I water colored the little girl, pumpkins, and ground. I added some glitter to the bat's wings and the tummy of the little sweetie. I love these stamps!



On this card, the gold paper is a bright, clear gold. I added a little piece of sheer ribbon for her hair bow. Again, I used water colors to color the picture.



The last card looks very, very vivid. I'm not sure, in real life, the colors are this harsh looking, but if I look at each component, the colors are right on.


Baby Boo

Oh, this was way back when I was young, had good eyes, and thick hair. Time has taken its toll! I liked showing the two photos of DS - one where he was crying, and the next, after he got his bippy! I think he was too hot. LOL I made most of my costume using gold Christmas tree tinsel stitched to the neck, hem, sleeve cuffs. The dress was yellow satin. I also had openings in the back where the elastic for my beautiful wings threaded through. I was a fairy princess with crown and wand. I made a little pair of ears and a hat for DS. He was also wearing yellow fleece jammies. He looked like a fuzzy stuffed animal. He was just two months old. *sigh*


My Honey

This is my sweetie. We're coming up on our 33 anniversary. I get so sad sometimes. We're getting older. My health isn't what I'd like it to be. DH has longevity in his genes. I know he'll marry after I'm gone. That just makes me soooooo sad. I'm selfish. I don't want to ever share him. OK- back to the LO - I added some gold foil CS to each corner to add a bit of sparkle. The title strips are fabric and attached with little screw brads.



Sweet Fall Memories

I wasn't sure how this LO was going to turn out. I knew I wanted to step out of my comfort zone by braving orange and blue. I'm not sure I like the result, but it is bright! The leaves in the upper left have a touch of foil in the leaves' veins. It's also hard to see, but I stitched around the inner and outer circumferences of the circle to add some texture and draw the eye to the center. Each year, in the center of town, the Chamber of Commerce (I think) sets up this gorgeous display of pumpkins. It's quite large and in an uncovered covered wagon as well as all around it on the ground. It's there just for photo shoots and visual enjoyment. Of course, it's an annual event to take photos of DH. The title is glittery. It was gold until I colored it with ink so that it wouldn't clash.

Well, I'm going to see if my clothing budget is $150,000 for the next little bit. I need to make sure I can toss in a couple of Manolos and Jimmy Choo's. Oh wait, that's the clothing allowance the RNC provided for the VP candidate - forgetting that is against the RNC's own guidelines to provide a clothing allowance!!!!!!!!!!!!! *grumble* Someday, I should share how I feel, LOL!!!

I've seen women like this before. I had her pegged after the first interview. There are those that walk among us that will walk on us, no matter what it takes, to get where they want to be - even if it means casting your integrity to the wind. "She" is an insult to the female gender - a manipulator (remember the winks). She's found it worked before. Six years, five colleges later, a BS degree, LOL. She can't complete an extemporaneous thought! When she speaks off the script, her thoughts are disjunctive (I think that's the right word - they don't connect). ! If she's given a speech, she can "parrot" that perfectly, but don't dare ask her a question that deviates from the appointed, rehearsed, prepared speech. You know it's coming! She gets this vacuous look and makes a feeble attempt to "snow" whomever is interviewing her. This is not the last of You-Know-Who. She'll never go away. Americans have short memories and will not remember her inability to intellectualize let alone complete a coherent sentence. She's smart enough to learn to talk the talk for the next time around. Sadly, this isn't the kind of smart a leader needs to flaunt. Her intelligence needs to be intrinsic. A piece of advice to Ms. Palin - during those long, dark, Alaskan nights - PICK UP A BOOK AND READ!!!!!

Welcome to the blog to no where, LOL

Have a good one!

Chris

Let the Voting Begin!

Yikes! Early voting is beginning across the USA. How will this election result? There are less than 20 days to go. It's getting exciting - if you can ignore the negative campaign ads. I think I should have a contest for the most POSITIVE presidential campaign ad! Who knows, maybe I'd start a trend!

My sweet husband and I were out taking photos a couple of weekends ago. You've seen the photo of Cedar Breaks and the snow which I posted right after we went. I thought I'd share a couple of additional photos to help you get into the fall mood!



Oh, that's not an Autumn photo! It's a Choco Taco! LOL I used to buy these by the box for my husband and son to munch on! They are sooooooooooooooooo good!!! Are you thinking about licking the screen? Don't. It won't work!

Hmmm, back to the photos. Here are a couple to really help you get in the Fall mood:



Doesn't Mother Nature do a wonderful job! Look at those leaves!



I took this photo after I made my darling husband drive up and down the highway until I found this tree again. I love the contrast of the flaming leaves against the black lava flow. If I could title this photo, I think I would name it "Determination." How that Aspen grew through that basalt rock just amazes me. Gotta love Mother Nature!

This photo should be entitled, "Follow the Yellow Leafed Road." LOL


Lastly, here is a LO I did after our photo shoot. The mountain in the background is a volcano cinder cone. The area in which I live is extremely geologically interesting! There are cinder cones, deep canyons, huge fault lines, dinosaur tracks, volcanic flows, and the beautiful, deep red sandstone.



Thank you for stopping by and thank you for leaving comments on previous posts. It's nice to know who is visiting and if there was something that you liked!

Have a good one and be careful of errant ChocoTacos!

XO

Chris

Utah's Weather is Wonderful - It Snowed Already!

Sadly, it didn't snow where we are because we're too far south, but it did snow 40 miles north of us! The high today was in the 50s and by Wednesday, we'll be back to the upper 80s again. *sigh* I love Fall and Winter. In the morning, we have the house open. Almost every morning, I hear geese and ducks squawking their little hearts out as they are heading south for the winter. They sound so cool! Our night time owl is back. We hear him in one of our trees at night. I just love it!



I'm not going to bore you with tedious chat. I don't even know if you read anything I write or not. LOL. It's OK if you don't. I get it. I would love if you left comments though. Everyone loves to get "warm fuzzies," and each comment is a treasure to me.

Here are some layouts I recently did. You don't want to hear the story behind them, do you?


My Silly Boys


3 Goofy Boys

The layout below is absolutely beautiful in person. The camera just didn't pick up the lime green and black very well. This is a shot of DDIL who participated in a sidewalk chalk art community activity.

Freedom of Expression


Machine Washable Boy

Again, this LO is so beautiful in person. The colors just didn't come up well. I used copper metal alphas and then ran copper floral rub ons up the side. I have given thought to removing the flowers. I'm not sure I like it. We filled our garage three times when moving here from Las Vegas. Hint - before you move, do get rid of almost everything! LOL

Moving Day

One of the things that we, as a family, did all the time was take day trips. The apple didn't fall far from the tree (well, actually, it did. It fell from the tree and then rolled right out of the orchard). I wanted to make sure that this family activity was not forgotten as time passes. By scrapping a LO about our day trips, someone will remember. The red grid is half of a clear acrylic 12 x 12 sheet by Page Frame Designs. I liked that it added something different to the LO. Then, I used acrylic alphas to carry that through.

Our Day Trips


My Guy

I hope that this little girl is smart enough to stay within the boundaries of the National Park! It's hunting season and sweet babies like this are becoming targets.

Autumn

I'll be posting some cards that I've been working on as well. It takes me as long to make a card as it does a layout! Is that normal, or am I just too pokey?

Thank you so much for stopping by. I love having visitors. The company that runs the map at the bottom of the page clears the maps each year. I was so sad that they cleared mine! I loved watching the little red dots grow!

Blessings to you,

Chris XO

So Much To Do - So Little Time

When I was teaching, I was ten times busier than I am now. Why, then, now that I'm home all the time, is there not enough time to do all the things I want to get done? Is time just passing by in a faster manner? Am I so old that it just takes me longer? LOL I'm still extremely organized (until I go into my scrap room), but it just seems that I just don't get as much done.

Fall is here. The temps are below 100 and the leaves on the trees are beginning to show signs of yellowing. The trees in the mountains have already begun to show their Fall colors. Fall and Winter are my two favorite seasons. I long for snow. I love the cold temps. I love the colors and scents of Autumn. Woo Hoo! It's October!

I've been a bit busy scrapping. I have a lot to share. I'll try not to bore you with tons of details, LOL. When I do challenges, I always dig into my older stuff first. It gives me a chance to use up things I've thought were too pretty to use, LOL. Do you do that, too?

The first LO is one of my current favorites. I love the colors and the die cut paper.


He Loves Me

This LO was another opportunity to use some paper I've been hoarding. I am soooooo NOT a purple person! I took the plunge creating this LO.


Ladybugs are Angels with Freckles

Layout #3 was for a challenge to use five different kinds of PP. I thought it would be fun to get away from the usual strips or blocks. This was taken about 30 minutes from our home. The peaks in the far back are those of Zion National Park.


Kolob Plateau

Are you hungry? Well, this will drive you to the kitchen! This was also done for a challenge. This wonderful cake box opens up and is perfect for holding something special. I used an extremely dark brown Bazzill CS. I inked the bottom in a darker brown to resemble crust. Then, I used tiny pieces of paper to make the coconut. The bow is made from strips of patterned paper, too! You could make eight of these and have a whole cake to display!



Not for Human Consumption!

The following images are those of an album I made for my sweet husband. He can put the photos in that he wants. I loved this PP and just thought I could do something special with it. The base is made of brown Bazzill CS to which I added the binding after the LO was done.

For the cover, I did some stitching using floss, added felt flowers, some glitter on a chipboard arrow, flowers, buttons, sticker alphas, and an epoxy butterfly.


The next two pages are great for DH. He won't have to think too much about the photos. The chipboard alphas are from the new BG line, Ambrosia. On the second page, I used brown rub on alphas and stamped a swirl to which I added bronze metal flowers. I wanted to keep it masculine.


This set of pages uses more Sass Lass. I just loved to use those borders. I just couldn't cut them and toss them.


Enjoy the sunshine, but remember sunscreen! I put some of the alphas on pop dots just to give it some dimension. I also stamped the owl on white CS and then colored it to match the page.


This set of pages turned out so nicely. I loved the colors and the stamps I used.


I really tried to achieve a variety of styles and colors. I love the woven ribbon technique with my new punch! LOL


Last, but not least, are the pages in teal.


My husband loved his album. I loved making it! Think anyone would buy one similar to it? LOL I don't like to make things exactly the same.

OK, I've taken enough of your time. I am so glad that you stopped by to visit. Thank you!

Have a good one!

Chris

When All Else Fails, Scrap!

I'm worried; therefore, I scrap.

I worry about our economy. I worry that those who were supposed to oversee our nation's financial balance had blinders on while those who were instrumental in the downfall of financial institutions were smart enough to NOT leave a paper trail to their off shore accounts while those who provided them with those many, many millions are now without their investments.

I worry about our political future. We have the "Teflon Princess" running for VP. Her speeches are parroted at every speaking event. I hear her putting HER name first and her running mate's name second - a DEFINITE POLITICAL NO, NO! What would Freud say to that? LOL We have her running mate stating that he has a way to end the war. Why is he keeping it a secret? If he has a way to end the war, shouldn't he tell us NOW since we're spending billions daily. Why is he holding back? We have the other presidential candidate, whose wife is conspicuously absent, trying to appeal to the gentle side of humanity by speaking to the throngs in gentle ways. Our country doesn't respond to that type of dialogue. If you go back in our political past, you'll see that when being spoken to, our Presidents (with the exception of Jimmy Carter) were, pretty much, boisterous! Americans "hear" that type of commentary. I am clearly not stating my presidential preference, I'm solely making political observations.
I am worried.

Fall is on its way! The daily temps have fallen below 100°! The leaves at the higher elevations have begun their change from green to gold. I love, love, love Fall! The weather is perfect! We can turn off the A/C and open windows! I'm already planning to make some butternut squash! Yum!

Here are some new layouts I did to keep my feeble little mind active.

This sweet photo of DS is my most favorite of all we have of him. He was our "Special Cargo," as his overalls state. We waited so long for him to come to us. When we finally thought we wouldn't be able to have a child, we did! It was so worth the wait! I used a transparency for the space between the PP and flowers. I thought it was an interesting technique.


Daddy's Angel

The next photo is of DS and DDIL. I printed the photo on a transparency. It looks great in real life, but a bit blurry on the screen. I think it's because the transparency has pulled away from the PP a bit. I love this paper and wanted to use it for something other than a child's layout. Son and daughter-in-law were in Seattle when this shot was taken.


You are So Deer 2 Us

The last LO is of DS when he turned five. He had a group of friends over for a swimming play date. I love this robot PP and just had to make the LO bright and interesting. I had some scrap metal which was pliable enough to be embossed. So, I embossed the flowers! It kept the flowers looking less girly. I covered the chipboard arrow w/ matching patterned paper. I just love bright layouts! This one is going in every direction, LOL!


Friends

I was thinking about starting an Etsy store to sell albums like the acrylic wedding album I did (below) and maybe some cards or even a layout from time to time. What do you think about that idea? I just want to make things. I wouldn't do it for the money, I have so much "stuff" that I can't use it fast enough, LOL. Should I?

Thanks for stopping by! Glad you were here!

Chris

Frustrations!

Well, I'm back in bed again. My knee is in so much pain that I cannot find a position that doesn't hurt! So, I'm in bed with ice on the top and the bottom. I am frustrated more than ever! Since I started some machine physical therapy, above and beyond the pool therapy, both of my knees are not happy campers. That makes me a not-so-happy camper! I can't sit with my knee bent at the scrap table for more than 15 minutes. That's been my scrapping limit for almost two months now. I'm just not making any headway. The doctor doesn't want to replace the knees. I don't want that either, but I'm getting to the point where the pain is eroding my spirits, too. I would be so happy with bearable pain which would allow me to just be able to DO things. I had to vent. It made me feel a bit better - sort of.

I have some LOs to share. I think I'm going to have to go back to scrapping using the bed tray. Bummer!


A Leafy Seadragon

This photo has been hiding on a disk. I finally found it after looking for it for months! This creature looks like seaweed, but has the characteristics of a sea horse. If you look closely, you can see a horse head shape on the left side. That's the critter's head! You can see the ribs in the center as well. It's legs have the "leaves." I wanted to match the PPs with the photo. I chose to place a piece of vellum over the Two Scoops PP to mute the design and not compete with the photo. Then, I tore the vellum away from the photo. I used grungeboard swirls that looked, to me, like a good match with the design on the paper.


Sweet Cheeks

This LO was fun to do. I remember that we went to Spring Mountain Ranch, outside Las Vegas, for a puppet show. DS was so happy to see Elmo and Cookie Monster! LOL The LO isn't crooked. I just took a bad photo. Everything is nice and straight. I added a strip of Prima black bling to the right side. I got to use up some of the rub ons I seem to hoard, LOL.


Cheeky Monkey

This LO has papers that I've been holding until just the right moment. I found this photo of DS taken when he was six and a T-ball "master" - NOT! He'd be digging in the dirt with a found popsicle stick as the ball would roll by just in front of him. Of course, he was oblivious to the fact that he was supposed to actually GET the ball!!! He was a team favorite after pulling stunts like that! *sigh* I also used some rub ons for the borders of a star and arrow. I have a drawer full of rub ons that I just forget to use! It's difficult to see, but I added touches of red, blue, and black glitter to the LO. The monkey in the star has also been glittered.

Thank you for stopping by. I love that you have taken time to stop and visit.

Have a good one,

Chris