Blog Award!

My dear friend, Elisabeth, awarded me this wonderful blog award! Thank you so much, my friend! Now, I must follow the rules and pass this along to my choices for the "I love your blog" award!

Here are the rules:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog

2. Link the person you received your award from

3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs

4. Put links of those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message on the blogs of the person you’ve nominated.

So, now I am working on my list of blogs and will be back tomorrow and let you know who they are!

Quiet weekend!

It's been a very quiet weekend for me. DH was in a golf tournament the past 3 days so it has been exceptionally quiet here. I did some scrapping with friends on Friday evening and a little yesterday. Today I am just enjoying the beautiful weather. Would you believe that some of the leaves are changing already? We have several trees nearby that have scarlet leaves on them. Tomorrow I hope to get some pictures. This is also a very busy week here in the Poconos. The last week before Labor Day and there are M'uperes everywhere! All of the "last minute, before school starts" vacationers are here! Our infrastructure is just not enough any more!

Here's a layout that I started Friday evening and finished yesterday morning at 4 A.M.! Very "out of the box" for me, but its growing on me. I made it for my new guest DT gig at Cropstop and used a sketch from a challenge at a great site called, Creative Scrappers. The sketch is a Becky Fleck sketch. The flowers are just amazing to make! I learned the technique from another fellow scrapper, Scrapperlicious. Her work is amazing and she posted the "how-to" in her blog. So, I thought I would give them a try. I just love them!

HOPE for TIME...

HOPE, a four letter word with such meaning! I made this for my brother and his family. This past year has been a very stressful one for him health wise. I did a LO about him this past spring that was published. He served his country, but his time in the military pales in comparison to the struggles he has faced recently. His faith is strong and he lives with HOPE! Here's a LO that I finished today. It is a picture of our oldest DD and her son. Their family was in VA Beach on vacation and it was Brenden's first time to the beach! I just loved this picture...the shadows, the sun glistening on the water, and the two of them holding hands. If only we could save time in a bottle....

Recollecting and collecting....

Do any of you recognize this china pattern? It is Hall Autumn Leaf....yes, if your grandmother had a Jewel Tea delivery man, then this is what he sold! I remember my grandmother's delivery man well. His name was Abie. I am not sure if that was his real name or not, but that is what everyone called him! He would stop by not only to sell his wares, but chat with everyone, just like a friend of the family. My grandmother bought my mother a teapot shaped like Aladdin's lamp. It has always been a part of my favorite childhood memories. Now, that teapot, and another 300 pieces of this china design, all reside in my home! Everywhere! China hutch, Etageré, occasional tables, end tables, walls. You name it, there is a piece of china on or near it! This mini tea set was a special purchase through a collector's club that I belong to. I couldn't wait for it to arrive. It is in my collection of newer pieces that have been reproduced by Hall since the original pattern was discontinued. This rose is another of my favorite collectibles. A Lefton china rose that my mother gave me for my birthday one year. It is fortunate enough to reside next to one of my Hall china candlestick holders!

Changes in the wind...

Fall is in the air already, here in the Pocono Mountains! I know we have hot weather ahead, but we have had some very cool nights with lows into the 40's this week. You can just feel the changing season in the air. A couple of weeks ago, John and I took a ride to the top of Camelback Mountain. Oh, what a fabulous view! You can actually see the White Mountains in New York from there. In another month, we will go back so we can see the leaves starting to change. By mid Ocotber, it will be a sea of color. As much as I like the summer, the colors of Autumn excite me. It is my favorite time of year! Lots of color inspiration thanks to Mother Nature!

Check this out!

After a week of being couped up inside with Bronchitis, I finally made the move outside this morning! I went for a short walk and then browsed the flower beds for weeds. I found this mushroom growing next to our shed. Interesting. I have never seen one like this before. We have a lot of shrooms growing here in the Poconos, but this is new to me! And, I am sure its more than likely poisonous. Any color inspiration here?

My Cupcake Sketch Card

Well, this is my second "cupcake sketch" card created with the sketch posted in Taylor's blog. The challenge begins on Fridays and lasts til Monday mornings. Weekends are usually busy around here and I don't scrap much, but I am recovering from Bronchitis, so I haven't done much this week, but scrap! I loved this sketch and decided I would try it when I came across this cupcake paper in my stash. The cupcakes are cut from pp made by Masterpiece Studios. The card is made from black Bazzill and I used my Fiskar's Threading Water punch along the edges. The cupcakes are on pop dots on top of scalloped circles of Doodlebug sugar coated cs punched with a SU punch. The scalloped circles are on pop dots too, so there is lots of dimension on this card. The sentiment on the center circle was stamped with Stazon teal ink. I am trying to remember the stamp set! It is a set of birthday stamps that I purchased a while ago. I embossed the edges with some clear EP. The card color is a little unusual, but I wanted the bright colors of the cupcakes to stand out, so I used the black background.

Woohoo!

I was selected as a guest design team member for the month of November at CropStop! This is so exciting for me. I am anxious to meet and work with the new design team and the other guest designers. I have added a link to their blogs and now I am off to browse!

What a pane!

This is a project that I am working on that has been, literally, hanging around for a while! I am re-doing this window frame from its previous state into a more "Tuscan" design. The interior of most of our home is embellished, notice I used a familiar term to all of us, with old world antiques, grapes, and roses in shades of greens, rusts, and eggplant colors. I have been saving a set of the Rusty Pickle French Market papers to use on this project, along with some grapes and roses. I chose to keep the small wreath in the center and add some embellishing to it along with the glimmer mist. Speaking of Glimmer Mist, I just can't get enough of the stuff on it to give it the look I want! I may need to replenish my supply before I am done!

Here are some newer photos of my project. I have added more Glimmer Mist, but I think it may require more and more! I used Coffee Shop, Juneberry Wine, Honey Dew Mist and some Gold. The window panes are almost finished and ready for assembly. I hope to have this done by the end of the weekend!

Summer Memories...

As August rapidly flies by, I am trying to put some of my favorite summer memories on paper! This layout is one I did of our dear grandson experiencing the beach for the first time at the ripe old age of 2. Our daughter recently sent us some pictures of their weekend trip to Virginia Beach. There are so many great pictures, I didn't know where to start. There are a few more layouts in the works that I hope to finish before it's time for the pumpkin patch pictures again!
Love these Bo Bunny beach papers and the Thickers that I covered with Super Russet Pearlex. I used some netting from the local craft store and added some Primas with pearl centers. The floral paper down the right side is on pop dots to add some dimension. The picture is a little dark because the sun was casting a shadow.

My first "Cupcake" sketch

I finally decided to try Taylor VanBruggen's cupcake sketch challenge. Every Friday she posts a sketch on her blog and you have til Monday morning to create a card/layout with the sketch to be included in her prize draw. My dear friend, Barb, became a grandmother this weekend, so I decided to use the "cupcake" sketch while making a card for Barb. I used Crate Papers, Daisy Bucket ribbon, Queen & Co. felt trim, and my favorite Chestnut Roan ink. It didn't turn out quite like I had hoped, but I guess for first try, its not too bad. Check out Taylor's blog for more details.
http://tayloredexpressions.blogspot.com/

My altered life....

Since we have already (hard to believe) been through the first half of the calendar year and we are working on the second, I thought I would post a few of my favorite altered projects. Some of them may have appeared earlier in my blog, but you will just have to look at them again! First, meet the triplets....Meredith, Madison, and Morgan (from left to right in the photo). They are my good friend, Kim's triplets and the focus of this layout you see. Every year for Easter, I alter something for them along with a new Easter basket/container of some sort. They were so into flip flops this year, that it was the first thing that came to mind when I was searching for something to alter. Kim had each of them pose with their flip flops on so I would have photos for a layout. This DCWV pp was perfect, to say the least, for this "ribbons n' toes" page!

This "Time Frame" is one of my favorite altered pieces. For some reason, it looks crooked in the picture, but it's not! The papers are MME Wild Asparagus and I used a Technique Tuesday stamp frame. The little boy in the photo is my dad when he was 6, along with his two sisters and his grandmother. His grandmother, my great grandmother, immigrated from Scotland when she was 9 years old. We still have the family Bible dated 1848. The basket is a little trinket that I altered for a 4th of July party at DD's this year.

Another dollar aisle find from Target. I altered this bug cage for my GS using the Fancy Pants, "About a Boy" pps. So perfect for this!

This lunchbox tin was a favor at a scrappy birthday get together that a dear friend had for me. We all got a tin to alter along with dinner and a birthday cake made by her DH! It was so fun. I used Fancy Pants papers and added some Stickles, bling and a butterfly! The altered notebook is a dollar store find that I altered for keeping records of my published work. And, the Melissa Frances Chipboard album is done using Cosmo Cricket papers. Haven't added any photos yet. Still working on what to do with it.

Finally inspired!

These are my two latest layout creations. I had a good weekend for inspiration and really enjoyed making them. Of course, any layout with our GS in it is enjoyable! He is such a delight.