Just One More Sleep

DH has been gone for what seems like forever. It's been just shy of three weeks. I've been home alone with my feline friends. You would think I would have scrapped my heart out. I didn't. He left and took my mojo with him, I guess. It was very hard to be alone so long. I'll tell ya - it's pretty darn hard to do everything around here by yourself! I'm too old and things hurt now! But, tomorrow is the big day. DH will be home in the early evening. I never slept like an average person. I went to sleep at three AM and got up around nine AM when the cats decided I should open my eye lids. Quite frankly, I think they were afraid I may have passed away and then what would they do!

I am so ticked. Things I've ordered on line are not getting to me. It really bugs me. I bought stamps as a gift for a friend. They never arrived. What made it worse was that I told her I had found them (they've been discontinued). Then, a stamp I sent to her never reached her either. I had my return address on the envie, too. Another friend sent me something from Australia. I never got it, either. Add to that another order that never found its way to my mailbox or front door. I think someone is getting pretty lucky. I'm not. Doesn't that bug you, too?

I made some fruit leather today. It's been dehydrating in the oven since this morning. I'm using the heat of the light to do the work. I started out with the oven on convection. My lowest temp. is 170° and you were supposed to set it at 140°. So, I got it going at 170° on convection and then turned it off. I'll check on it before going to bed. Have you ever made fruit leather?

Yesterday, DS and DH went to the Olympic Peninsula and visited the rainforest and FORKS, WASHINGTON!! It was a downpour, but my DH, the trooper he is, got out and stood by the "Welcome to Forks" sign so DS could get a picture for me to scrap. No, they didn't see Jacob or Edward. *sigh* How fun was that? I told DS to tell his dad that the picture wasn't good enough and that he had to take a couple more, LOL. DH didn't fall for it, though! LOL.

I made a birthday card for a friend. It's Singing Tilda. I loved this stamp. I loved the gown. I forgot to add the green leaves before I took the photo. They are on there now, though. I colored her w/ Copics. Then, I added some Stickles in strategic areas to make the gown look like gossamer. I added silver Stickles to the end of the microphone. It looks really nicely, I think. I hope you like it. Here it is:





I am so far from being a good Copic user. I try, though. I loved the pale color I managed to achieve on her gown. I wouldn't mind one like it, LOL

Thank you, friend, for stopping by. I appreciate the time you took. Leave a little love if you want. That is always a treat!

XO,
Chris

Some Tilda Cards to Share

A funny thing happened during an organizational cleanup session - I found a note written by DS from 1987! He was six when he wrote the note. I had it tucked away all that time. The funny thing is that I had recently done a scrapbook LO journaling that very event! So, I modified the scrapbook layout so that the handwritten note could be included. Here is the revised LO:


The Great Knott's Berry Farm Caper

The unedited handwritten note reads: "Dear Mom; Dad,
Leo (as stuffed lion) and I are down eating breakfast.
wait for telephone call.
PS: I took the key"

Of course, we didn't wait for a telephone call because WE WERE ASLEEP AND HE HAD LEFT THE SUITE ON HIS OWN BY QUIETLY GETTING DRESSED AND LEAVING! Be still my heart. Of course, we didn't get the note because HE LEFT IT ON HIS PILLOW IN THE OTHER ROOM!

And this is probably why we only had one child. The Lord knew that we'd have our hands full with just this one! He could have so easily been taken since the courtyard was open on three sides to the parking lot with hallways leading right to the lots!

Here are the Tilda cards I made. I hope you like them. Each has been colored with Copic Markers. I'm trying to get better and better. LOL It's a very slow process for me! LOL


For this card, I did double stamping. I stamped the hay bale and Farmer Tilda as one piece as well as the fence pieces and the attached horse. The sheep and the rooster are individually stamped. I added some bronze and yellow Stickles to the rooster to add some bling. The shee'p's inner ear parts are covered in hot pink Stickles. I elevated Farmer Tilda and the hay bale, the rooster, and the head and tail of the sheep using pop dots.


Hello Cupcake
I used Fairy Dust Tilda and the Love Muffin for this card. I colored the Fairy Dust in crystal Stickles so that it sparkles.


Hang in There
For this card, I used an acrylic card as my base. I took the predominant figure, Edwin on the anchor, and placed it on the front. Inside the card, I created the remainder of the scene. Mermaid Tilda has a delightfully glittered tail. The scalloped circle behind her, flips up so that a message could be written inside. I had some paper that had water marks on it and accented it with matching Robin's Nest dots. I love these acrylic cards! You can get the acrylic cards at Happy Scrappin' Scrapbooking. They are listed under the Page Frames section.


Try to Relax
I know that everyone likes to make blue water, but really! When was the last time you went to the lake or the ocean and the water color was a pretty blue? Isn't it usually a greenish brown? LOL. This is another card in which I combined stamps so that they made one image. In this case, it is the background stamp paired with the dock stamp. I may have also made the Tilda as part of the single grouping. It's a little tricky to do that, but I think I'm getting better at layering the stamped images.


Lady Tilda
OK, first of all, all of the shades of purple go together. I have no clue why the camera gave me three different shades - paper, flower, and ribbon. They look weird, but trust me, they all are in the same hue family. Go figure. I mounted the papers and matting on a card base of very pale grey Bazzill cardstock.


Tilda with Fairy Wand
The background papers are a pale cyan and match the dress perfectly. There is a very subtle print on the PP.


Pregnant Tilda
The greens just didn't come up well. They are a pretty pale, mint color. This is such a cute stamp and I love that baby buggy!

I've had fun stamping and coloring with my Copic markers!

Thank you for stopping by! I hope there is something above that will provide some inspiration!

XOXO,
Chris

It Finally Rained!

Last night was heavenly. We had wonderful thunder, rain, and the not-so-much very likable lightning! When it thunders here, it just rolls and echoes forever off the walls of the canyons in this area. The rain was so needed and, even though we didn't get tons and tons, it was enough to rehydrate the trees, shrubs, and flowers.

I only have a card to share today. It took me a while to do it, but I'm happy with it.



The photo colors are a little off on the rose and the bow. I don't know why the camera didn't get it, but they have more blue and really are close in color to the paper. The card has a pale grey Bazzill foundation. Then came the eggplant cardstock and paper. I colored Tilda, her frog, and the window with my copic markers. I also added just a tad of Stickles to Tilda and the crown of the frog.

Here is a LO I did to journal the time our DS ate a bottle of Children's Tylenol in an attempt to make himself well. He figured that two Tylenols weren't working, so 22 would work better. DH was so tired the night before, that when he put the medication back, he inadvertently din't place it in the locked cabinet. DS had been ill for so many months and, at age 3, was down to 24 lbs. We were always at the doctor's and had tons and tons of tests done. It turned to be an inner ear infection that had gone undetected! After I discovered what he had done, we spent the night in the Emergency Room. Poor baby! He looks so ill in the photo.


How to Give Us Gray Hair

Thanks for stopping by my sweet friends. Your visits mean the world to me! I'll have more to share in the next few days as I have other cards in various stages of completion!

XO,
Chris

At Any Age, Being a Mom is So Hard!

Dear Readers,

I don't even know if there are any readers out there, but if you are reading this, thank you!

IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR MY MONTHLY VISITING TEACHING LESSON IDEA, PLEASE GO TO VISITING TEACHING SISTAS. All of my monthly ideas may be found on that blog now.The link is HERE.

I've been so very blue lately. I'm missing DS so much that it hurts! I don't think I could make the drive due to some physical limitations. I know I cannot fly. So he's 1100 miles away and I feel like crud - racked with guilt because I am unable to be close. I've missed his birthday. I miss him. I miss his voice, his humor, his bear hugs. I miss being a mom who is there. For all of the previous reasons, I am filled with guilt and such a feeling of sadness. I've just been so teary eyed for about the past month. I never thought that being a mom would ALWAYS be this emotional! I worry so about him.

I've been scrapbooking and card making in an attempt to keep my mind busy. I've read tons and cooked/baked tons of new recipes. This week, I made a grape cake using fresh grapes. It was surprisingly very good, sweet but good. I also made a talapia oreganata which was delicious, too! My most favorite cooking endeavor this week was a huge pot of cioppino. I had all sorts of shellfish/fish in it. It made for many great lunches and two dinners as well. I also baked a batch of popovers for DH again this week. He really enjoys warm popovers with jam or honey. I'm seeing a pattern here - sad? Then hit the kitchen! That can't be a good thing, right?

Here are a couple of LOs I did.


Toothless

DS was about six when these shots were taken while vacationing in Oregon. He was so tan! I made the filmstrip and then printed the filmstrip image on a transparency so that it would look realistic with the photos behind it. The inner perimeter of dots may look crooked, but it isn't. It's just the way I had the camera. I loved using the Kraft card stock.


Back Seat Monster

There is quite a long story with this layout. I have it all written down and tucked behind the monster. The orange fibers are on the end of the journaling tag and are positioned to look a little like the monster's hair. I thought the monsters were so cute that I took one of them and made it large for the layout's focal point. It's cute, huh? Suffice it to say that DS spent two hours, NONSTOP, saying things like, "I want McDonald's. Why won't you buy me McDonald's? I want french fries. I want a Happy Meal. I want a cheeseburger. Why won't you take me to a McDonald's..." We were on a road trip and had no idea where we were. DS kept this up to the point that DH and I thought about putting DS in the trunk (not really), but we did consider it as a possible solution. DS wasn't yelling or anything. He just talked incessantly saying things like what I wrote for two hours straight. I was driving. Suddenly, as if the heavens felt our pain, there, in the middle of the road, was a McDonald's bag and french fries all over the roadway. Now, we were in a very rural area (lost) and had no idea how they got there (a miracle maybe?). I quietly pointed them out to DH and wondered if I should pull over and pick them up or just get personal satisfaction by running over the whole thing. I chose the latter and told DS to look about the back window at what I had just smooshed in the road! Revenge is best served up cold, right? LOL Then, all of the sudden, the road opened from a two lane to a 3 or 4 lane highway. Still lost, I continued to drive north. Lo and behold, all of a sudden, a McDonald's appeared! We had managed to find ourselves in Carson City, NV! Yes, DS did get his McDonald's. We had been traveling up through the Sierras and somehow wound up in Carson City on our way to Auburn, California. Who knows how I got us there from California's Hwy. 395 and the Sonora Pass!


Taking a Chance on Love

This is a LO of DH. Sorry about the glare off the title alphas. I printed DH's photo on aida cloth to give it texture. That's why it has all those little dots. In case you don't know, aida cloth is the fabric on which cross stitching is done. I think red, white, and black is one of my favorite color combos. I love this man! The little hearts on the oval tags are black heart shaped brads.


Sunkissed Me

This is just a fun LO for my Book of Me. I spritzed the white CS with Smooch in red, yellow, and blue. I cut the flowers and added pop dots of differing heights underneath so that some are higher than others. Because I love textures, I added several kinds of textures to the LO as well. The crocheted pieces that look green are really yellow. For some reason, my camera just hates yellow and makes it look an ugly green.

Thank you for stopping by. I appreciate your visiting.

XO,
Chris

A Moment to Treasure

I've been a busy bee this week. Today, I would like to share the LO I finished last night.

This LO really started in the Fall. DH and I sat and watched the movie, "UP," and just loved it! We both got misty eyed. I know we both saw parallels in our lives together with the life Carl and Ellie had together. At that time, I just knew there was a LO in there somewhere.

Just after Christmas, DH traveled to AZ to help his dad open up the winter house. While he was gone, I purchased a DVD of the movie. I sat and watched it. Once again, I was all teary eyed. I took notes as I watched the movie. I knew I needed info from the movie and wouldn't be able to watch it when DH was home. That would ruin his surprise!

Months passed. My wheels kept turning as I pondered the LO in the back of my mind. I knew which PP to use with the house on it. I was unhappy with all the cloud papers out there until I saw this one. Because it had grass and trees, I thought it was perfect to ground my LO.

Last night, I sequestered myself in my scrap room and started assembling all the precut pieces. What you see is the final result. Now that DH has been given his surprise gift of love, I've pulled the DVD from the pocket behind the house and replaced it with a love letter to DH. When DH saw the LO, he got all misty eyed! It really touched his heart!

Some of the balloons are elevated on pop dots. I didn't like the clouds as they seemed lost on the paper. By sewing around the perimeters of the clouds, they became more visible. There is a little heart where the strings tie. It says, "Made with Love." I added some bling to the flower centers and took a phrase from the movie for my title - "Thanks for the Adventure." TFL!

Thanks for the Adventure

Thanks again for stopping by! Love you guys!

Blessings,

Chris

Spellbinder Nestabilities Storage Idea

Hello from a very hot southern Utah! It's supposed to be 110° by the weekend. Too hot to do a single thing!

I wanted to share with you how I store my Nestabilities. Yes, I tried the clear plastic CD boxes, but even all those little clear plastic cases took up way too much space. I wasn't pleased with the result at all. Then, one day, I was going through my music CDs which are stored in a small metal carrier with a sturdy lock and handle. The lightbulb in my mind went off and my Nestabilities storage issue was solved in such a nice way!

Below is a photo of the carrier. It is filled with about 180 pockets - four pockets on each side of the page (8 per page). Well, why not use it for the Nestabilities? I kept them on their backing cardstock - the taped one - which came in the packages when purchased. I did, however, cut them down and curve the edges so that they would fit better in each pocket. The flaps fold over the opening. For the larger Nestabilities, the super long ones, I have used two pockets. One end goes in a pocket and the other end goes into the adjacent pocket. Because I have so many larger ones, I stick another set in the second pocket and reverse the process.

I cannot tell you how delighted I am with this! Here's a look:

I have filled almost all of the pages, LOL! It is so wonderful having all my Nestabilities in one place. The case is so strong that it can take the weight of all those sets. When I fill the entire case (which won't be too long), I'll start a second one. It is a compact way of storing a ton of metal Nestabiities.

Next, I'd like to share a LO I did of DS. I used OA papers and elevated a ton of the components using foam dots. I love how this turned out. It's just so happy! DS is about three in this photo. My mom had given him a Mickey Mouse phone for Christmas. He had her number memorized right away! The phone spent years on the dresser next to his bed. I miss my mom. I miss DS. I wish he lived closer.

Thank you for stopping by. I'm fighting a migraine and am going to hit the hay! I hope you are well. I love that you cared enough to come by. Thank you for that. You are wonderful!

XO,

Chris

How Was Your 4th of July?

Did you have fun? Was the long weekend a good one? Ours was quiet. It is just too hot to go out. Over the past couple of months, I've already whined enough about the heat. I honestly feel guilty with having the air conditioner run as much as it does to keep us cool. We don't run any major appliances during the peak hours - washer, dryer, oven, etc. I guess I'm helping out a little bit by not doing that. I try to use the crockpot to minimize cooking and heating up the kitchen. My scrap room is very hot. I have a fan going in there whenever I'm in there scrapping. I'm still warm even with that blowing directly on me. Come on November!

I did a LO yesterday that is just so so. I don't know what else I could have done to make it better. If you have any ideas, I'm open for them! I thought the theme might be something our son might appreciate some day - or not, LOL.

That is me in the photo. My mom and my aunt told me that the coat and hat were a beautiful emerald green. I used that info to make this monochromatic LO. It's too much, huh? The photo was in black and white. Using Photoshop, I made the coat and hat green. The rest of the photo is still in the black and white. Sometimes, I just surprise myself with what I can do in Photoshop! I am strictly a trial and error person when it comes to Photoshop!

In the pocket are strips. Each strip has two tiny photos. One photo is of something from my childhood that we had in our home or I remember from my grandparents' homes. The other photo is the modern component. If you look carefully, the photo in the center of the pocket has something that looks like a "V." That was our refrigerator when I was growing up. If you pulled down on one side of the "V," the door would open from one side. If you pulled down on the other side of the "V," the door would open from the other side! It was sooooo cool! My mom was just tickled when she got it. So, the counterpart photo is the beautiful stainless double fridge and freezer in my kitchen. The tiny photo you see in the right, back, looks like a fly swatter. It is a photo of a carpet beater! I remember my grandmother taking the rugs out into her back yard, hanging them over the clothes line, and then whacking all the dust out of it with the carpet beater. Sometimes, I would even get to do it. The matching photo is of our Dyson vacuum. I thought it would be fun to record these things. Each strip also has some written journaling regarding the items in the photos. The ticket under the clockface says "Always Remember."

Then and Now

Thanks for stopping by! I'll have something more to share really soon.

Blessings,

Chris