haiku 214

rose tinted skies
the fading sun smiles on us all
lovely valentine

get it scrapped!: books shaped my character

This one was for an article entitled "motif-print patterned papers that tell a story" that just went up at get it scrapped!  the motif-print that helps tell my story is the text in the background.  my story here is about my love of books, most especially the ones that indeed helped shape my character.  i wrote about them HERE.

jbs mercantile: scattergories! aka game time!

we've got a super fun new game going over at jbs mercantile!  a scrappy version of scattergories!

five reasons you should enter:
1. we're a fun group to hang out with
2. it's an inspiring challenge that will spark your creativity
3. you'll become reacquainted with your stash
4. cheating is always fun
5. there's a prize involved!

here's my first take on the challenge and i just might have to play another round.  this layout came together so quickly!  the photos were taken over the christmas break while g was in florida with his papi.  the kitties kept me good company while he was gone.  g noticed this layout last night actually and asked me why i had spent so much time in the living room as we always hang out in the craft room together.  i guess the answer would be i was lonely and letting the tv keep me company too?  i was definitely glad when my warm and squishy baby came home!

scattergories supplies i used:
DEAR lizzy patterned paper
jbs red/black extension iv patterned paper with DIAMONDS
DIAGONAL washi tape from target
DARK chocolate chip chipboard alphas from basic grey (three old fonts)
tim holtz DISTRESS stain in mustard seed
october afternoon midway DECAL alpha stickers
DOTS from paper source
DIE-CUTS gifted to me by gluestickgirl
DOUBLE-PRONGED metal attachers aka staples

aren't the splats just lovely?  that's a little trick i learned from louise nelson and it works just beautifully with the tim holtz distress stains.

randoms

i can't explain this one, but let me try.  my dad was a commercial fisherman.  my brothers are commercial fishermen.  i grew up on the gulf coast of florida, six miles from the ocean and across the street from the intercoastal waterway.  i do not eat fish sticks.  ever.  i do not eat at captain d's and such like.  i barely tolerate farm raised fish offerings from kroger.  tilapia.  why bother?  but a week ago monday morning i cruised through mcds for hotcakes, bacon, and my morning coke.  while waiting in line i noticed the happy meals had hello kitty in them.  i have a coworker who collects hello kitty.  hmmm.  perhaps i needed a happy meal for lunch.  don't judge.  then i saw the fish mcbites sign.  considering the processed fish aversions i've just discussed with you, this thought shouldn't have even entered my mind.  but it did.  maybe i want those.  sure enough i was right back at the same mcds for lunch.  i didn't want a burger.  i don't much care for mcnuggets.  against my will and better judgement i got the mcbites.  i've been biting them ever since.  i'm addicted.  i got them five days in a row from the onset.  i wouldn't kid you about something like this.  the batter is fine grained cornmeal and the fish i've heard is cod.  tastes almost like a florida fish fry.  if it came with a side of cheese grits i'd be too happy for words.  170 calories in the little box.  another 120 for the tiny fries and apple slices.  we won't talk about the coke.  mmm mmm mmm i'm lovin' it.  i've heard they're only around through the end of march for lent.  catch them while you can.

turns out i didn't accidentally erase those home to school and home again photowalk pics.  i found them on another flashcard once my brain function came back after the flu.  this shot made me giggle a little.  beware those seemingly placid killer cows calmly chewing their cuds.  you won't catch me hopping this fence.

i was photographing the jbs flea market the other day, and per usual, after photographing the outside of a set of books, i flipped one open to snag a pic of the inside.  everyone likes to see what's on the inside, right?  this particular set of books was a tiny set of educational books.  i chose mother goose to photograph as poems are normally nice.  the first page i flipped to was this one.  i was in a hurry and saw "there was an old woman" and immediately finished it mentally with "who lived in a shoe."  not so much, but after snapping the pic i noticed an awkward three letter word on the left side.  i took my glasses off to make sure i was reading what i thought i read.  i read the whole poem and laughed and laughed.  jenni wasn't there, but i went upstairs and read it to jared and laughed some more.  heck.  i took a picture and laughed all day.  i also took a picture of a more appropriate page for the website.

can you spot what's wrong with this picture?  teenagers parking in faculty parking is a pet peeve of mine.  grrrrrrrrrr.  don't get me started . . .

get it scrapped!: you wear my heart on your sleeve

i created this one for an article on bold stripes over at get it scrapped!  those stripes are pretty bold, eh?  you know me.  per usual, i had to kick the theme into overdrive.  i immediately played off the stripes in my son's first day of kindergarten outfit.  the sentiment expressed here truly makes me quite sentimental.

is he the cutest, or what?  i do love him so.  that little girl is me.  i like to put a little something girly on gman pages when i'm talking about how i feel about him.

the tag was too stark, so i stenciled it and drew a border around the edges.  and how excited was i to find that bit about kindergarten on lisa's new "modern mercantile" papers?  very.

polka dots, stripes, and thickers.  a winning combination, yes?  you betcha!

g's bookshelf: farmer boy

last year our read aloud material was all about engaging g in the joy of reading.  this year i'm more into choosing books that i think will mold his character.  i surely cut my eye teeth on my sister's set of "little house on the prairie" books.  i devoured the series many, many times, so i knew "farmer boy" would be a good read for us.  i think it's important for gabriel to realize that life wasn't always so easy and affluent the way it is for so many of us today.  "farmer boy" was perfect for communicating this idea.  the family worked together from dawn to dusk to grow, harvest, and make everything they needed to survive and thrive in their time.  the ground was plowed by man and horse, wheat was planted, nature watered it, it was cut and shocked by hand, threshed by hand, the stalks fed to the cattle, the grain taken to the mill, the flour turned into bread, donuts, and pies by mother, and almanzo, the little boy in the story, could surely eat.  merino sheep were raised, bathed and sheared by the men and boys, the wool was taken to town to get carded then dyed by the girls before mother wove it into cloth on her loom then sewed it into clothing for the family.  and serendipitously, almanzo celebrates his ninth birthday in the opening chapters.  it's a charming read with lots to talk about.

here's what g had to say:

they don't get paid much, but back then everybody was poor so the prices were very low.  his dad was very good at planting crops.  it was bad when they made the candy and almanzo gave some of the candy to his pig.  when there was school, nobody had finished winter term and when the big boys tried to hurt the teacher, the teacher brought out the black snake whip.  that was scary, but it was right because those boys killed a man.  and when almanzo brought back mr. thompson's wallet, he called almanzo a thief and then he gave him a nickel, but almanzo gave the nickel back.  mr. paddock said you'd better give him $100 dollars, no you gotta give him $200 dollars!  and when almanzo went back to his dad, almanzo's dad said you can keep the money and almanzo's dad said do you want to spend the money and almanzo said he wanted to put it in the bank.  it was weird at the end because the end was that the entire story was about almanzo getting a colt.

kit building: roy g. biv

i decided to make myself a little kit from my own stash to scrapbook with and it turned out to be quite a brilliant idea.  i sat down that night and created three layouts.  THREE.  i can't remember the last time i scrapped that fast.  it was a festivus day miracle!

speaking of miracles.  this is just the cutest story.  i know it's a horrible pic of my baby, but you can still see how way cute he was (he still is way cute - just making sure we have that straight).  anyhoo, this weekend when he was two-ish his gma and aunty gmas and aunty cousins had all come to visit us.  we had gone to the zoo and gone to the outlet mall.  it was at the outlet mall that we stopped in the toy store and tiny g was just mesmerized by the battery operated pig flying in circles, attached to a sting coming from the ceiling.  g's eyes got HUGE and he kept saying, "pig fly??  pig fly?!  pig fly!!"  over and over again all afternoon, all day, all weekend.  it is burned into our collective memory.  so when i saw these pig lights at kroger this christmas i had to buy us all a set.  oh the memories.  aren't they delightful?

this is the little kit i built.  i decided to go with a roy g. biv theme.

the kit contained:
one sheet of patterned paper from each of my color families, three thickers alphas, 2 sticker alphas, 5 more sticker/rub-on type things, a pack of vintage paper clippings, and a tin of random embellishment bits that had somehow ended up all tangled together.

several of the pieces i pulled because i was hoping to use them up.  i like to clear out my stash from time to time.  

here is a fun tip for you from my scraproom.  changing tables convert into fabulous scrapbook storage.  i changed many a gman diaper on this piece.  i kept those diapers and assorted essentials in those two baskets on the bottom shelf.  now those baskets hold my thickers (left bottom) and punches (right bottom).  the middle shelf is miscellaneous stuffs.  the top shelf holds mostly patterned paper and stickers.

of course the patterned paper is kept in roy g. biv order.  from left to right i have cardstock scraps, vintage papers, a variety of specialty papers, multi-colored paper, neutrals - black based, neutrals - brown based, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, pink, cardstock.  notice there is no violet in my world, lol.  right in front is an accordian folder with patterned paper scraps, roy g. biv-ed, of course.

this basket i got from my old lss when it closed.  i made many a shopping trip with these baskets.  g and i were reminiscing today about how many of his bffs and mine (their moms) were made from this lss.  it was a magical place and i still miss it.  but back to what's in the basket.  lots of stickers and a few rub-ons (we all know those things don't like me) some border-y type things and such.  my sticker alphas are also in here.  while they're not roy g. biv-ed, they are divided into colored and neutrals.  behind the basket is a 12x12 accordian folder with my jbs papers and stickers in it.

and here is my thickers collection.  definitely a roy g. biv scene with this one.  i was fortunate enough to work for american crafts for a couple years, so my thickers collection got beefed up then.  i have an unwritten policy of not letting this collection exceed the container that currently houses it.  thus the reason there were three sets of thickers in my roy g. biv kit above.  i deliberately chose thickers sets that i thought were close to done.  i have another unwritten policy of letting myself discard a pack of thickers when all the e's are gone.  can you believe that even after making three layouts i still had e's on all three of those sets?  doh!  back in the stash they went.

i've been thinking to kit build for so long.  i'm glad i finally did it and i think i'm addicted.  tomorrow i shall build another.  i wonder what my theme will be?  hmmm.  decisions, decisions . . .