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!