Layouts to share

A couple of weeks ago I shared my excitement that I had been asked to be a guest designer for an upcoming dare on the NZ Dare blog. I wasn't able to share any details or the page I did for the dare until they posted it on their blog...but now I can.

The dare was to create a layout that was a nature scene with no people in the photo & also the layout had to have a Haiku poem on it ( 3 lines - 5 syllables in the first & last line & 7 syllables in 2nd line) I'm not a poet by any means and Haiku's never really did much for me. So this one was a tough one for me. Picking out the photo was the easy part since I have lots to choose from. The photo in the layout below is from a 4 wheeling excursion my son & I did in Yankee Boy Basin in Ouray Colorado a few years back. Such a gorgeous place & I've been wanting to scrap this photo for a long time..

So the layout below is what I came up with for my dare entry.

And below is a layout I finished yesterday. Very simple and quick to put together. I love the colors on this one. Most of the patterned papers are from Basic Grey's Urban Prarie line...when I bought it I never would have thought it would be so versatile & that I'd be turning to it so often when pulling together layouts.

I probably should explain this photo and why I wanted to scrap it. My son came home from playing basketball with the neighbor boy and asked me if they could play video games together. I told him that I thought it was much too nice of a day to be indoors playing on the playstation. A few minutes later I came around to the front of the house from the back yard & there they were sitting on the front porch, with the tv just inside playing baseball on the playstation. I had to laugh out loud when I saw them. Pretty clever huh?

The chipboard title letters are from Martha Stewart...I got them on clearance & I really like them a lot. You can't see it from this photo but they are shiny..and the color is so pretty isn't it?

That's it for tonight...I have another layout to share soon...just have to get it photographed first. For now I'm off to bed...enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone.

One more thing to be thankful for...

About this beautiful girl....

This is my daughter Amanda. She's been in the Navy in Aircrew school for the past year & a half. She is graduating in a couple of weeks with military honors at the top of her class. I'm a very proud Mom....and yes I am thankful for her every day. And thankful she has found her niche and is so happy. But there is more...

She's in love. Head over heels in love with a man who makes her very happy. And if she's happy..I'm happy.


They met in aircrew school....became friends, began dating ...

And fell in love....

Madly in love..... And today she called me because she wanted me to be the first one she shared her news with...that he proposed to her today (in a very romantic way)...and she said yes. So she has something to be very thankful for this Thanksgiving...and her Mom is thankful too. Thankful that after years of men who treated her badly and didn't appreciate what a treasure she is..that she has found this handsome guy who brings her such joy, is so good to her & loves her so much.

So happy for these two.....I hope that they share a lifetime of love & laughter together. Congratualtions to my baby girl. Love you !!!

Giving Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Just a quick post as I have to get my carrot souffle cooked before I head over to my sisters for a delicious feast. I spoke with my daughter this morning. She is sad she can't make it home for Thanks giving but she'll be home 3 weeks from today so that will be here before I know it. And she is spending the weekend with her boyfrined who has come down to Florida from his base in Virginia to spend the weekdend with her...so I know she'll have a very happy weekend.

Off to finish my baking but I'll leave you with a few things that I'm thankful for today (and every day)

• My family above all else !!!
• My health
• Our troops, some of whom are not able to enjoy the Thanksgiving with family that we are enjoying today
• Having a roof over my head, food to feed my family & a warm fire to heat my home.
• Good neighbors
• Being an American
• Having a 5 day break from work for the holiday weekend
• Being only 3 weeks away from seeing my beloved daughter again.
• November being almost over...that means I'm one month closer to springtime.
• Having a big piece of property so I can garden to my hearts content
• Living in a small town.

I'm sure I could go on & on...but there's cooking to be done. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Randomness & a layout to share

Jake was so proud to bring this home from school the other day & tell me that he had won 2nd place in an art contest at his school with it. I love the noses and especially love how each of their eyes are looking to the side. They say the one clear way to tell that someone is lying to you is when they look off to the side rather than look you in the eye. Ironic that they are politicians???


And can I just say that this boy is going to make some lucky woman a very happy wife one day. He cooked me dinner last night all on his own (with a little bit of advise from me on how much of each ingredient might work for what he was planning.) And he even wears the towel on his shoulder like I do when he cooks. Love that !

Egg noodles, broccoli, cooked hamburg seasoned with garlic, pepper & smokey paprika..placed in a casserole & topped with a cheese sauce he made seasoned with basil & then topped with a breadcrumb topping.

The finished product fresh out of the oven and the proud handsome chef who created it.

And you know what....this meal was totally delicious.

And a layout to share that I finished up this morning. I really love this picture of Jake sitting near a pond we were hiking around . The brown & green pattern paper is from Crate Paper & the green scallop edge paper is Creative Imaginations. Loved how great they went together. Funny..when I was doing this layout I was thinking the title was "Awesome Kid" But as I look at it now it looks like it reads as "Kid Awesome" Ah well...I still like it.

And a closer shot of the journaling on the left side of the page. The green scalloped edge peeking out from behind the circular "boy" rub on is actually a felt flower from Creative Imaginations.

Off to get some things done for Thanksgiving baking....I hope you all have a wonderful holiday.

There are some advantages...

... to getting up at the crack of dawn on a freezing cold morning to walk the dog...

Sometimes you get to see a sight as pretty as this sunrise to greet you in your back yard.... that white dot way back there is Tanner having a little run around. That far back section of my yard we call the grove. The whole left side is blackberry bushes. Next year I plan to plant a bunch of high bush blueberries back there...then it will be a real grove.


Love this one. Who says the Fall is an ugly season? I love being able to see the real beauty of the trees when there are no leaves to hide the branches.

Love this one too...

You aint nothing but a hound dog..

Yes....the dog has learned how to dance. And yes Jake really had that song set up playing on You Tube for the dog to dance to. Too too cute to watch them playing around together. These 2 love each other so much.


Love how his ears are still up in the air in this picture.

Today was frigid at about 20 degrees and very windy....brrrr. A good day to get the woodstove going & hang out near it in the family room downstairs. We did go out earlier in the day and hiked a short trail that goes through the woods behind my house to a natural spring and then pulled down a bunch of grapevines in the back yard that were overtaking the trees. I made a huge grapevine wreath with them to hang on the side of the house. Then we came in to get warm..the dog napped, Jake played on the computer & I did a bit of scrapbooking. A perfect afternoon.

Now we're all fed and cozy hanging out downstairs on the big leather sectional near the wood stove watching a movie. Not a very exciting or eventful day but to me it was just perfect. Especially after the week I had packing 57 crates for my department move (ugh!) and being really sick for the past couple of days with a nasty cold and unable to stay home and try to rest & get better because of the move. It just feels so good to have a relaxed day to unwind & try to shake off this cold.

Hopefully I'll have to more scrapbook pages to share soon. Have a great weekend everyone.

NZ Dare # 58

I guess I'll start with my exciting news...a couple of weeks ago I posted a page that I submitted for Dare # 57 at the NZ dare blog and I'm so happy to say they asked me to be a guest designer on dare # 59. I have been blogging for just a few months now but I have never been published in any way...so for me this is really a big deal. I am super excited. I recieved instructions on what the dare will be but I can't give any hints before they have posted it on their site. I will say this though.....I don't think it could possibly be a bigger challenge for me. It is something that is soooooo not me...but that makes it even more fun I think. Nothing like stepping waaaaaayyyy out of your comfort zone to get you thinking huh? Anyway...enough about that till that challenge is on their blog....

Dare # 58 is t-shirt inspiration. You can see the shirt on their blog (listed in the right column of my blog as "No 8 Wired")When I saw that shirt I wondered how I'd never find much inspiration from it...then I remembered a pair of grungeboard wings that I thought I'd never find a use for and a sweet angelic picture of Tanner...and voila....there it was....inspiration.

So enough rambling....this is the page that the hot pink t-shirt inspired. And that's the (sometimes) angel pup. The pattern paper is from Basic Grey's new Urban Prarie line.

The flowers were from a package of Making Memories felt letters I picked up recently. The crystals I added to them add just a touch of sparkle.

This swirl under the wings is actually a transparency. The wings are sprayed with glimmer mist and edged with Stickles glitter glue. I painted under my journaling so the writing wouldn't look too busy on the patterned paper.

so that's my interpretation for this dare...I need to go put my thinking cap on for the next one....its going to be a tough one for sure. Have a nice week everyone.

Silly photos

Not too much to say today....still working on getting all my outside yardwork done. But thought I'd share a few kooky pictures of the dog. I have a layout almost done & some exciting news to share too...hopefully will get to that later. Have a great day.

Yup...thats my shirt he's tugging on...

And Jakes hand he's trying to chomp on...

But when he's done with being all playful. He's a really sweet lovable lap dog.

Blog fever

Its contagious I guess. This handsome boy has caught the blog fever & created a blog of his own.

He designed it all by himself & and did a very good job of it too. He is really having fun having his own online journal. He can't understand why he doesn't get comments yet though. He checks every night...and although I know he appreciates the ones I leave for him he will be tickled pink if he ever gets any from someone other than me. If any of you are ever reading my blog and want to check out his blog and maybe leave him a quick comment you would be guaranteed to put a big beautiful smile on his face & totally make his day.

His blog address is http://usanavybro.blogspot.com/

Things to be thankful for today..

Thankful that I can appreciate the beauty of the world around me....


...even when the landscape I'm looking at is 100% gray. That it was warm & in the 60's helps make it more enjoyable I suppose. But there is something so beautiful & peaceful about swamps isn't there?

Thankful to be able to share the beauty of nature with Tanner who has discovered he is a water dog after all. He had such fun fetching sticks from this little pond as we threw them for him.

Thankful for this sweet boy who is such great company for me & who is so loving with his dog.

Thankful he hasn't got to the age yet where he feels he's too grown up to hold Mom's hand

Thankful for a healthy meal on our plates at the end of the day.

Thankful the hike & swimming tired out the dog so much that he slept for 2 hours & I was able to get my Christmas cards all made this afternoon. It was the perfect way to spend the afternoon while it was raining outside.

the card below was made with last years Basic Grey Figgy Pudding line....thankful for Basic Grey too : )

And this one was made with Basic Grey's new Wassail line.

The ornament & joy letter stamps are from a really cute set of Martha Stewart clear stamps that I just couldn't resist.

Random ramblings & a layout to share

Fall is truly here....and Christmas is only weeks away. This is what the trees off of my back deck look like...almost completely bare now...how depressing & grey things look in the winter. Just the oaks are yet to drop their leaves now.


That said though today was a gorgeous day here....70 degress this afternoon. Jake had no school & I took the day off as well. What did we do today????? Bet you can't guess by looking at the picture below. The good news is that the wood is finally all stacked...woo hoo. But I still have lots of dead wood to pull from the woods, cut & stack. I am so glad though to have all that wood that was deleivered over the fall moved & stacked. After we finished this we went to the town hall to vote. I was voter number 962 for my town (population approx 5000 I think). I have never been so torn in my decision voting ever....I stood there for a full 5-10 minutes second guessing my choice. And Jake & I have been glued to msnbc.com all night watching updates every 2 minutes. Very very close race but right now it looks like Obama may take it.

Since I was home during daylight hours I was able to photograph this recent layout that I finished so I thought I'd share it with you all. The patterned papers and most of the stickers are from basic Grey's new Granola line. Love the earthy colors in these papers. These pictures were taken last winter when Amanda came home on leave for the holidays. Sweet sweet memories !!! Can't wait to see her again.

I love these two pictures of my kids together...especially the one with Mand hugging Jake with her eyes closed. They say a picture is worth a thousand words...and when I look at this one there is one word that jumps right out at me loud & clear. LOVE.

This picture of me with my long hair makes me almost with I hadn't cut it all off. I'm still loving the new cut but the long hair was a vanity thing I guess and I do sort of miss it. Don't miss taking care of it though.

Of to get Jake ready for bed. He just made me laugh out loud when he turned & asked the dog "Tanner...who do you want Bark-Obama or Mc-Bone". Too too funny....out of the mouthes of babes huh? Have a good night everyone.

Fall Frolic

Jake & I had a very busy day yesterday getting yard work done & stacking wood. The weather was beautiful here.....sunny & in the 60's. Tanner's buddy Rasta was staying over again at our neighbors house so the 2 of them romped & played for hours while Jake & I got things done. Jake took a break while I was leaf blowing and asked me to bury him in the leaves. A few seconds after I took this picture he was nowhere to be seen.


Even Tanner had fun jumping in the leaf pile

Rasta wasn't going to be left out of the fun. Funny how vicious he looks here......he is the sweetest gentlest dog you could ever meet. He & Tanner were just playing. Jake was trying to get clear of them.

Even Tanner looks a bit scary while he's playing. But these two dogs adore each other.

They even share sticks with each other. Can't you just see the love in Tanners face?

Today was a little less productive. My helper was with his dad for the day but I did spend a couple of hours pulling dead trees & fallen branches out of my back woods. Its such a nice feeling knowing how much free heat I hauled out of the woods to cut up. Makes it so worth all the hard labor. I also managed to squeeze in a little scrapbooking so I'll try to share the page I finished sometime this week. Hope you all had a great weekend.