Compare and Contrast

So, as part of a scrapbook challenge, I had to compare two thoughts on one page. It turned out to be a lot of fun.

This page is centered on the differences in how Aaron and I travel. Essentially, he is a destination type person and I am all about the journey. We find ourselves sometimes at odds but more often giddy at the ideas and plans of the other one.

The paper naturally came from the Apron Strings kit and the idea came from my favorite Scraphappy group! It was a lot of fun to play around with contrasting paper and ideas. Hope that you enjoy.

Pumpkins and good times

Now, I am a serious pumpkin lover! I love pumpkin bread, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin pie and pumpkin rolls. I even love carving pumpkins or painting on them. I will glitter, glue, stencil and display pumpkins proudly. Knowing all that, it is strange that it has taken me this long to work out how to make my own pumpkin puree`.

First step is to find appropriate pumpkins for pureeing. I did this by heading to a nearby (fairly relative term as I live in Los Angeles, CA)pumpkin patch. By talking to the staff and explaining my plans for using the pumpkin, they suggested a few varieties. The two suggested for puree and bread were the fairytale and the Lumina pumpkin. Now the fairytale is a greenish pumpkin that eventually matures into a browner pumpkin. The Lumina is a beautiful white baking pumpkin that reminds me a little of cinderella's coach. The key in both is that I asked for a "baking" pumpkin and I found someone a great deal more knowledgable than myself to guide me!

Second step is to then...well, bake the pumpkin. There are several suggestions for how to do this including some given to me by the pumpkin experts that helped me choose the pumpkins. After gathering some suggestions I went with the one that sounded the least challenging and the most fun. I say most fun because the method I chose allowed me to use the cleaver! Laura from Heavenly Homemakers cooks the whole pumpkin. She is terribly brave! The folks at the pumpkin patch suggested peeling the pumpkin, removing seeds and cutting it into cubes. Then boiling the cubes until tender. Remove from water and puree`. I went with my friend, Sarah's recommendation. She suggests cutting the pumpkin in half horizontally. Immediately, I pulled out the cleaver and whacked into the Lumina. The dogs ran and hid. Next, you need to remove all seeds and stringy stuff. Clean off the seeds and save them for roasting if you are so inclined. Then bake each half in a preheated 350 degree oven for 60 to 80 minutes. Mine took about 75 minutes. When done, take out of oven and scrape out insides. Mash in food processor and enjoy the puree`.

I decided for the Fairytale pumpkin I would cube some of it and use it in my butternut squash recipes as a substitute. Yep, I did not get too far with that. It looked so good that I simply threw about two cups of cubed pumpkin into a bag with some olive oil (maybe a quarter cup), a tablespoon of chili powder and a tablespoon of Jamaican jerk seasoning. Shook it up and poured all contents onto a baking sheet. I baked for 40 minutes at 425 degrees. So good!

Thus, this year in making my mother's pumpkin bread recipe I used pumpkin puree that I made by hand. I don't think I will be able to go back the canned pumpkin again. This stuff is just too good.

The Joy of Hobbies

Well, it is fairly obvious that I am a scrapbooker. That is my hobby.

My husband, he sings barbershop. He is a bass. And it is a joy to get to see him practice his hobby! This latest time was at a program called the Harmony Brigade. I call it Barbershop Boys camp. It is essentially a wild weekend of extreme quarteting, hallway singing and evenings with the boys. For the first time ever, they invited the wives. It was a great opportunity to hear our guys sing and play with their friends...it also gave us a chance to have someone to eat with the menfolk ditched us for practice! All in all, it was wonderful to see my husband's constant smile and happy disposition. I guess you could say that Barbershop Boys camp put a song in his heart. Okay, too corny? Yeah, probably!

Solvang, California

Here is a layout that I did on my day trip to Solvang. It is a little Danish village, north of Santa Barbara. It is lovely. Here are just a few pics of the village and the sites. I used a color scheme suggested by Scrap Happy. The paper is from Crate Paper and came in my Apron Strings kit. Love Apron Strings!!!

Hope that you enjoy!

Back to life and reality

After a weekend with my sister and Aaron, I am back home and back on target. I am finally scrapping all my fun photos with Alice and Renee. They came out for a visit and we hit the sites, big time. Here is a quick layout I did on our trip to Disneyland.

The sketch is from ScrapHappy and the paper is from my trusty Apron Strings Kit. It is Fancy Pants's Beach Babe line. It was quite a fun mix to work with. And the sketch let me use a whole bunch of my favorite scrapbooking tool, patterned paper! Good times!

Hope that you enjoy.

Coming back

Oh my goodness! I feel as if I am coming out of an underground tunnel. I have been busy, distracted or not in the mood to scrapbook. But I remembered Lain Ehmann's comment about creativity being similar to exercise, doing it daily is better. So, a little here and there should get the creative mojo back. First, I worked on my halloween cards and candy holders and then I worked on some layouts.

Thanks to Scrap Happy's august sketch, I was able to put together a layout fairly quickly. Of course, Jenni Bowlin's Be Our Guest line was huge help as well. It came in my fun Apron Strings kit. There was a prompt from Scrapping Everyday Miracles about friends going the distance and it inspired me. Although I did not follow all of their criteria, I used them as inspiration.

Last month, two friends from Louisville, flew out to visit me. They traveled across the continent just to see me. I was so excited. They came for my birthday and stayed the week. We had a great time. So, in thinking about friends who literally went the distance, I scrapped this fun photo of Renee and Alice in Little Tokyo. Hope that you enjoy!

A little time, a little paper and a little prompt...

Thanks to Apron Strings Smaller than a Breadbox kit and Scrapping Everyday Miracles, I have a layout. I really liked playing with Jillibean Soup's new line Watermelon Gazpacho. I found myself using more of the background side of the paper. Lots of fun, bright colors and delightful polka dots, gingham and stripes. Ah, my favorite combinations.

Scrapping Everyday Miracles provided a very playful challenge this month. The prompt was "you have to laugh." Essentially it was about the things in our life that make us laugh, things we might otherwise take for granted. The stipulations were to use that theme and add a funny picture and a recycled element. So, I pulled out a fun sepia toned photo of Aaron that I have wanted to use for some time now. He is sitting in the Goofy car at Disneyland and just grinning. This layout prompt really allowed me to journal about Aaron's quirky sense of humor and how his "goofy"ness really makes me laugh. The recycled element is the ribbon, I pulled it from projects that folks have sent me. It was nice to reuse and repurpose. This was a great challenge and I really enjoyed using up some fun Apron Strings stash. Hope that you enjoy!

The Wizard of Oz

My friendly, playful niece likes several things, but two of her favorites are mail and the Wizard of Oz. Thanks to Graphic 45, I can give her both. Recently, Graphic 45 came out with a Wizard of Oz collection that is just too fun. Being a huge fan of Graphic 45 I snagged it right away. I took an old paperback that was dying (losing its binding, etc) and made flowers using my punch. Then I threaded some gingham ribbon through some thrift store buttons and glued them on for a center. I really liked the result. Will definitely be using that technique again. In the end, it was just a matter of cutting, gluing and arranging. A nice way to while away the afternoon. Hope that you enjoy!

At the County Fair

I love the fair! Having grown up in Columbus, Ohio it is required. We have one of the biggest state fairs in the country. It always took us two days for the fair. One day was junk food and rides...and what a gruesome combination that can be if you are not careful. The next day was shows and livestock. This day was reserved for horse shows, quilt shows and various cooking demonstrations. Then we would tour the stockyards and choose our favorite chicken!

This year I had the pleasure of attending the San Diego County fair. It was delightful! I saw a llama competition for the first time. This was also the first time I saw a turkey corn dog and deep fried girl scout cookies! You just cannot beat the fair for fascinating entertainment and quality cuisine!

Hope that you enjoy the layout! This is paper from my smaller than a breadbox Apron Strings kit. It is Echo Park's Summer Days. It was so much fun to play with and such a great mix of colors for my fun fair pictures!

Using up the extras

So, many of you know I am cheap. Or thrifty, depending on whom you talk to. Which means I like to use up as much free stuff as I can. Which means instead of using up my Yellowstone paper, I relied on free resources. For a 50 cent donation, I snagged a Yellowstone map. I used the map while in the park and then when I got home, I used it for background. I used sections of my paid for paper and blended it in with my map backgrounds.

This layout is about our hike to Fairy Falls. We arrived at the trail head to find a sign that said, "Campsite 48 is closed due to bear gnawing on carcass. Contact the ranger station for new assignment." Good times! We hiked through the rain and found our way to the waterfall and it was beautiful. Aaron found me a great walking stick and then we headed our muddy, damp selves back to the lodge.

All Yellowstone, all the time

Still playing with my Yellowstone photos. I am using up some fun papers from Creative Imaginations and Best Creation, Inc. Lots of fun camping paper and few stickers from the boy scout collection. I am playing with collage ideas and borrowing heavily from my favorite design guru, May Flaum. That has allowed me to tell a few Yellowstone stories that I have been dying to scrap. For example, in 1988, Yellowstone was hit with over 50 fires. It burned several thousands of acres. It will take around 125 years to get that mature forest back. I cannot imagine what Yellowstone looked like before 1988. I tried to capture some of the fallen trees in this latest layout.

Yellowstone Memories

Hello again! Sorry that I have been away so long! I have been out of town, hosting visitors and now I am back on creative track. So here is what I have been working on. Hope that you enjoy. I picked up a few Yellowstone sheets and some camping paper from Scrap your Trip. Great site with lots of travel friendly paper.

Flying the flag

This seemed like a good July post! I watched the Yellowstone Ranger do the morning flag raising one morning on vacation. I just watched and found that I was very inspired. With my hand over my heart, I smiled as she attached the flag to the clips and hauled it up the line.

For all the issues America has, at the end of the day, I am a free woman living in a free land with other free people. As Yogi Berra would say, "that's not nothing." Hope that you enjoy!

Blessings

I found an old bookmark that read, "count your blessings and be grateful." It was a good reminder for me. And the one thing that I am most grateful right now is that I have four grandparents that I can call and spend time with. So, in a creative attempt to scrap the everyday, I decided to create a layout about my time with my paternal grandparents. The paper is Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934. Hope that you enjoy!

Don't Drink the water

It seems that everyone around me is getting babies. I am quite glad. Most of these people are folks that I love and adore and therefore would like to see raise new humans!

While checking out my friend, Amanda's blog, Crafty Paper Girl, I found a really fun challenge. It is a challenge blog that asks you to scrap your everyday miracles. While babies are born everyday, it is still a miracle. So, I decided to find a fun babyish photo and scrap my excitement over all these new folks inhabiting the world now. And there are a few more on the way.

The paper is Modern Homemaker, because I cannot let it go. And since the challenge was to use paint and computer generated journaling, this is the result. I hope that you enjoy!

Birthday time

I have been wanting to use this Bella image for some time. It is quite cute and playful! I colored the image and then started to choose paper. Yes, that is probably backwards of what I should have done, but it worked out alright.

In fact, it was swell! I got some Cosmo Cricket Social Club in my Apron Strings kit. I have been wondering what to use it on and then the Bella came. I was able to stamp the card base with a flower from Stampin' Up's Remembering You. I also used their Night of Navy ink. Then I layered some pattern paper and cardstock. Finally, I popped a flower on the image and called it a day. Hope that you enjoy!

More Christmas

Since I was making cards anyway, I started playing. I cut and organized scraps and began making tags. These three came together pretty quickly. It is always nice to use some old paper. Hope that you enjoy.

Christmas in June...and heading into July

I am gearing up for the holidays and trying to get my ducks in a row. There are only six months left until the holidays and I need to be ready. So, I headed over to Jingle Belles and worked on their Christmas card challenge. This week it is on layers. The theme is "all bundled up" and we were encouraged to use three or more layers. I look at this card and think... "I threw everything I had on it." I have a tag, a flower, a brad, ribbon and multiple pattern papers. Still, I am happy with the result.

Most of the papers are from Graphic 45. I cannot leave them alone when it comes to Christmas! Hope that you enjoy!

Cupcake Time

On a good recommendation, we tried a place called Yummy Cupcake. It was very good. There were four of us and thus we were able to split four cupcakes four ways. It was incredible! After sampling the red velvet, the yummy chocolate, the peanut butter chocolate and the lemon bar cupcake, we declared a winner. It was the lemon bar cupcake hands down! We are talking graham cracker crust, lemon curd and cream cheese frosting. Few things in life are better than this combination.

Naturally, I scrapped this momentous occasion, because as I remind AAA, "if we don't scrap it, it didn't happen!"

Paper is from October Afternoon 5 & Dime collection and the sketch is from ScrapHappy group. Not sure that I am done with this layout. I may want to add some more bling, but for now I am content!

Hope that you enjoy.

Father's Day

Be prepared! Father's Day is coming up and I finally got to sit down and put together some cards. Now, while my father and my father-in-law do not fully understand my cult...hobby, I meant hobby, they do enjoy the results. Both my father and father-in-law love getting homemade cards. In fact, at the ripe old age of 30 something, I have managed to make it to the refrigerator again! High praise! Hopefully they will enjoy these as well.

The paper is scrap left over from Adorn It Family Heritage. I threw in some old silk flowers, buttons and a hand cut heart. (Can you believe that despite my love of punches, I do not own a heart punch?!!) This card is scraplifted from a Papercraft magazine from 2008. It is one of my favorites and had several variations of this card.

Hope that you enjoy!

Gotta Love Dogs

Okay, so lately there has been a lot of dog connections in my life. The humane society and LAspca are sending me information. Lot's of dog documentaries have been recommended by netflix. Several of my friends are dog shopping.

It has got me thinking about Mischa and Paige, my two furry devils. Recently, as part of a photo challenge the prompt was to photograph your everyday miracles. And right now, my everyday miracle is that two dogs provide me unconditional love and continue to ignore my moodiness. When I am down or overwhelmed, I can count on a cold nose to nuzzle my hand. When I am running late and get home exhausted, I can count on two lovable mutts to show enough affection to take down the Grinch. Likewise, when I am tired and lazy and think I do not want to get out bed, I can count on two little whimpers that say, "we have to walk. You'll feel better afterwards."

In a documentary called My Dog, Greg Louganis said, "I don't want to be dramatic and say that they are my reason for getting out of bed in the morning...but, yeah." I totally get that.

Thank God for dogs!

Weekend Play time

For fun, Aaron, the Amazing Actuary (AAA) and I walk from the Venice pier to the Santa Monica pier. We call it the pier to pier walk. It is about 4 or 5 miles and it is a blast. So much to see! Venice and Santa Monica are usually good for inspiring food and conversations. And, of course, a sighting of our favorite bodysuit clad guitar player on rollerskates is always a winner!

This layout is based upon our most recent pier to pier walk with friends. There is a picture of them at the Venice pier and then one at the Santa Monica pier. The paper is October Afternoon's 5 & Dime. The layout is based upon a May Flaum class that I took a while back at Big Picture Classes. Hope that you enjoy.

Baby Showers

Got to visit some friends in Louisville and make it to Richelle and Dave's Baby shower. Took lots of great pictures and have even managed to scrap a few. Here are a few layouts telling the story of onsies, cake and other fun things.

Most of the paper comes from my Apron Strings kit. I have been having a ball using up my Five and Dime. I have also been seriously scraplifting from May Flaum. It is so easy to scraplift from someone so talented!! What can I say?

LOAD is not for sissies!!!

So, I am behind on Layout a Day (LOAD). I am about 9 layouts behind. Hmm, guess what my evening entertainment is going to be?!! I find that I am having so much fun with this project and am so grateful for the chance to do something creative everyday.

Recently, I have been falling in love with new papers from Melody Ross and with the Paper Source catalogue! Thanks to a fabulous visit with some friends in Louisville and a wonderful time with my good buddy, Dara, I am in a happy, creative mood.

Lain Ehmann says that creativity is like exercise, it is better when you do it regularly. I think I have to agree. It is easier for me to pull together ideas, layouts and such when I am on a daily scrapbooking regimen.

Hope that you enjoy a few examples of what I have been doing!

Thanks LOAD for keeping me on track

Well, we are a long way from Mother's Day, but I could not resist this layout! My sister is such a fabulous person, and such a good mother. I decided to do a layout on how proud I am of my wild, little sister becoming this great parent.

I finally got to play with the PEEP papers from We R Memory Keepers, and the goodies from my Apron Strings kit. This is a sketch from the Scraphappy group and it worked beautifully! Thanks to LOAD, I am working my way through my photos and getting them scrapped!

Once again, I had a lot of fun playing with paper and beautiful photos! Hope that you enjoy!

On the fourth day of LOAD...

I created another layout! This layout highlights the many farmer's markets that I enjoy. If it's Tuesday, it must be Culver City. If it's Friday, we are headed to Venice! Good times!

The layout is scraplifted from a Big Picture class that I am taking called May with May. It is awesome! She gave us this sketch today and I adapted it to fit my needs. And I got to play with some Basic Grey Recess paper and Sassafrass Lass stickers! Hope that you enjoy!

Such a fabulous day for me

Oh my goodness, I was scraplifted! This is absolutely boggling to me. As I am a total scraplifter I understand the concept in the extreme. I scraplift constantly. If you told me to create a page with no sketch or layout to copy from... I might throw in the towel. Because I am surrounded by amazingly gifted and talented people, I cannot help but scraplift.

Today, someone decided to scraplift an idea from a layout of mine. I am in awe. Someone thought that my work was worthy of some kind of imitation! I cannot bend my mind around this. This is almost as if the universe is saying, I might be as talented as those lovely women I scraplift from all the time. Most of these women know who they are...but if they don't, Dara, Amanda, Mindy, Reagan and of course, Ali Edwards and May Flaum.

Thank you ladies for inspiring me!

Now about my layout of the day. This is a collection of old October Afternoon paper. Anyone else seeing a pattern- I am huge October Afternoon hoarder! I could not resist highlighting a series of really sweet pictures of Aaron with the puppies! Hope that you enjoy!

LOAD2

Hey there! Another layout for May LOAD. I find that I am doing a lot of scrapping my everyday life. Lot's of scrapbook gurus talk about doing that. I have been taking pictures of my daily walks, my cooking, how I spend my time, etc. And now I am creating layouts with a lot of journaling to explain what I am doing with my life. It is a different and yet fun experience!

This layout is about my love for coffeeshops and my dislike of coffee! Sounds complicated, huh? Being at a coffeeshop makes me more efficient. I find that I can only work on the work that I brought with me-no distractions of what else I need to be working on. I have lots of time to make lists and update my day planner. Laundry, dishes and other incidentals can be dealt with later. I settle down with a nice cup of hot chocolate and my many papers and pens and go to town!

Details: Paper comes from October Afternoon and scraps from the pile. I also circle punched bands that I collected from my various coffeeshop adventures. Thanks to Peet's, Coffee Bean and Starbucks for keeping me on a roll!

Starting LOAD

Well, we are heading back to the basics in a Layout a Day class! First day of LOAD and we were keeping it simple. I went to the stash and found some old patterned paper and cardstock. I then pulled out an old photo of my husband. I created a simple layout about how his quirkiness matches my quirkiness. I am trying to work on my titles and one tip, I have been given is to use quotes, song lyrics, and popular phrases when I am stuck. So, that led me to title this layout, "just my style."

LOAD for May

I am getting ready for what sounds like Scrapbooking Boot Camp. I signed up Layout a Day (LOAD). Basically, you get a daily prompt focusing on a theme for the week and then you scrap a layout. Repeat each day for 31 days and then you have 31 layouts completed. It looks like crazy fun and I am hoping to have the strength to complete this awesome project.

Here come the nerves! I have travel plans for one week this month, so I am getting a homemade kit together to take with me and then I am going to beg my friend for the use of her paper trimmer. Hopefully, I will be able to scrap and tell a lot of the my everyday stories. And it gives me the chance to blog for 31 straight days on my scrapbooking. Look out gang!

Preparation has begun. First, I gathered up supplies and hit the Maple Craft Center for ribbon and flowers. I gathered my paper, cardstock and other embellishments and put them together-ready to go. Then I made sure that I have enough adhesive to last me! Next, I ordered and picked up the photos and organized them by layout plan. Lastly, I made up some casseroles and gathered my take out menus. May should be quite fun!

Get ready, I know that I am!

Punches to the rescue

I have a slight punch obsession. It probably comes from not having a die cutting machine, but I really love my punches. I use my punches constantly! My punches help me use up scraps, make embellishments, create scallops, round corners, etc.

Naturally, I turned to my punches again when I came up with an interesting idea. After the fun Jingle Belles' challenge, I started thinking about other "green" possibilities. What was destined for the trash that could be salvaged for scrapbooking purposes? Hmm, and then I saw it. I had a sheet of Hawaiian Rainforest stamps, that were now stampless. I was getting ready to toss the empty sheet, when I realized its potential. Using my punches, I was able to punch out pretty flowers from the leftover background section of the sheet. And check it out, because it was a stamp set, all the flowers have adhesive already on the back. I have loads of fun flower stickers in rainforest colors!

Jingle Belles and punches saved a useful item from a premature death!

December will be here before we know it

Thanks to Jingle Belles I am back on track! They have a fabulous challenge this week. In honor of Earth day, they are encouraging participants to reuse or repurpose items that would otherwise be thrown out.

This was more fun than I anticipated! First, I started gathering up items that were "trash bound" and reviewed them. I came up with a scrap of fabric, an old tan envelop and a group of clothing tags. Now, most of you know, fabric is not my medium. It makes me nervous. But, I put on my big girl panties and went for it! I cut it into little hearts. I figured I could not screw it up that royally and I didn't! Next, came the lovely tan envelope from some junk mail. I stamped a "from the heart" image. When I was done, I stamped a few other Christmas images and saved them for later. I then moved onto the clothing tags. I stamped a tree image onto the inside of these tags. There was already a fun chain-link image there, so the tree image in brown really looked fun and textured. Lastly, I pulled some paper from the box o' Christmas scraps. I would love to tell you what paper, but I do not remember as they are now scraps. Pulled some buttons and paper flowers from the stash and Bob's your uncle, we have Christmas cards!

I am back in the game and making some serious headway, thanks to the lovely ladies of Jingle Belles. Seriously, anyone who needs some Christmas card inspiration should head right over. They have what you need! Now come December 1st, all I have to do is turn on the Hallmark Channel and address my homemade cards! Thanks again Jingle Belles!

Back in card mode

Back in black...well, actually I am back in pink and green. Thanks to my Apron Strings Smaller than a Breadbox kit, I have new We R Memory Keepers Peep to play with. What does one do if one has lovely Easter paper and no Easter pictures...you make Mother's Day cards!

This was a great deal of fun and even though the pinks do not entirely match up, they will be loved. How do I know this? Because they are mothers! Both women think it is lovely that I make them handmade cards...it is not grandchildren, but they are still grateful!

More paper fun

Here are the results of using up your fun paper instead of saving it for the "special" project. This time, I used the paper to scrap a few of my less than "bright and happy" experiences. There is a layout on my slightly obsessive love of books and one about major life decisions.

For both layouts, I stepped out of my comfort zone to take pictures of inanimate objects to tell a story. Once again, True Scrap gave me some new photographic advice that I was looking forward to playing with. I took a picture of a stack of books that I am currently reading to do a layout on my reading habits. (Scrapping the everyday, don't cha know!) Then I took a picture of a notebook that had a blank page entitled Pros and Cons. This picture helped me build a layout around the decisions our family is making about future plans.

In the end, being encouraged to use up my favorite paper and take different photographs, helped me tell more of my story. Scrapbooking is not always chronological. Sometimes it is using pictures and words to tell a story.

Pictures have arrived!!

Snapfish has sent me the photos. Finally, I was able to put my fun True Scrap knowledge into action. I started with the Shimelle Six Step program... basically cutting up all my favorite paper into large blocks before I even knew what my layout would look like. Yikes! (Pause for indrawn hiss of breath!) It turned out to be a lot of fun. I did not use up all the paper in a way that I would have liked, but I was able to get a lot of pages done quickly. There is still a two-page layout that I am not wild about. Will have to play around with it until I like it. But the rest made me happy because... finally, I was using up my fun paper!

This first layout was the story of my fun trip to the Reagan Presidential library. If you are ever in the area of Simi Valley, you should definitely check it out. Like the guy or not, the library is incredible. It has a replica of the oval office and an actual decommissioned Airforce One. Good times were had by all.

Here are the results of a pre-cutting program for paper hoarders. You be the judge!

Back to butterflies while waiting on pictures

After my brief foray into testosterone land, I am back at the butterflies. Felt green butterflies announce spring with authority. Here are some more thank you cards and springy ones at that.

These cards are the result of shopping your stash. I pulled out a plastic case of old paper that I had not used in a while. Inside this treasure box, I discovered fun stripes and coordinating cardstock. Happy spring paper with butterflies found in my old stash box... life does not get much better than this!

Have a great day!

Making manly cards

So, I am writing more thank you notes to the troops. And I realized that most of my cards are girly. Most of my paper and embellishments are designed around girls. I have plenty of butterflies, flowers, gems, etc., but very little "guy" stuff.

Today I sat down to make some man cards. I put some Lynyrd Skynryd on the music maker and pulled out my Sumo wrestling paper. No, that is not a typo. I have sumo wrestling paper. I pulled it out and crafted. It was a beautiful thing. I felt so pleased with my work, I was tempted to do some plumbing and watch some Nascar.

Hope that you get a laugh out of this post and enjoy the results!

Waiting on pictures and playing with paint

Now I am terribly inspired to play with techniques. Last night, I thought to myself, "if I painted on paper, what ink could I use to stamp an image on top of the paint?" Today, I tried it. I used my Ranger Paint Dabbers in light green (willow). And I used some DecoArt acrylic white to see what I could pull off. Then I used Autumn Leaves Stampology ink pad in Onyx. And it worked! Thus another round of thank you cards was born. Here are the pictures to prove it.

Of course, I could not have pulled this off without a good sketch. This week CardPatterns has such a fun sketch. I enjoyed playing with it and keeping it simple. I kept wanting to add to the card, but I decided to stick with the sketch and leave it alone. Frankly, I think the cards are better for it.

For those people who are following my paper hoarding problem, I am finally using it up. I have been holding onto this October Afternoon Cherry Hill Tea Towel paper for over a year. In fact, this is one of five sheets I own. Time to pull out and use it because...they are all special projects. No sense waiting on the ultimate project as there will always be more paper!

Moving outside of the comfort zone

Currently, I am waiting on pictures. Snapfish was having a fabulous deal (11% off total order and free shipping). So, I uploaded all my scrappable pictures and ordered them. Now I am waiting. As Tom Petty says, "the waiting is the hardest part." I am so ready to scrapbook and so ready to play with all my new True Scrap knowledge.

However, I still have to work on some thank you cards. After hunting down some sketches in the blogsphere, I decided to look at Sketchy Thursdays to see what they have for scrapbook page ideas. (Did I mention that I am ready to scrapbook pages)! That is when I decided to do something that tends to make me uncomfortable. I decided to use the layout sketch from Sketchy Thursdays and make cards. Because I am not a big one for measuring, I am often uncomfortable trying to fit ideas from one scale to another. But this time, I just went for it. Maybe this is me embracing my wild side! That is right everyone, just look out! Hope that you enjoy the results.

Add a little pesto

I was in the mood for homemade biscuits. Here is where it gets fun. I do not like to make biscuits. I do not have a biscuit cutter, when I have used a water glass to cut them out, they stick. I have to pull out the biscuit from the water glass only to find it mangled and abused. Biscuits and me are not always friends.

Luckily, I have a mother who did not like to make biscuits either. She liked to make something called "drop biscuits." Many of you might know what this is, basically it is biscuit dough, scooped up and dropped out onto a baking sheet. They are messy and irregular and tasty!

The drop biscuits were missing something. I decided whatever they were missing I was going to fill it with pesto. Thus, my version of pesto biscuits were formed.

Biscuits:

Ingredients:

* 1 2/3 C whole wheat pastry flour

* 1 T baking powder

* 1/2 tsp garlic salt

*2/3 C Milk

*1/3 C oil

This is adapted from the Joy of Cooking Cookbook. My variations are garlic salt, fat free milk and olive or grapeseed oil. Mix all ingredients together. Scoop one cookie scoop of dough onto the baking sheet. Add 1 T of pesto and scoop another scoop of dough on top. Bake at 475 degrees for 8 minutes.

Pesto:

Ingredients:

* 2 C basil leaves (packed)

* 1/3 C raw cashews (pine nuts are too expensive for me)

* 3 peeled cloves of garlic

* 1/3 C parmesan cheese

*1/3 C olive oil

Mix the first four ingredients in a food processor. While the machine is running, add the oil. Or if you are afraid of flying food, throw all the ingredients in together and process until smooth.

Enjoy!