Things I like

How many random things do you have shoved somewhere in the range of your dresser? As I was moving I realized I had accumulated a few random tags over the past year. Guess I should have cleaned that basket a little more often. I'm not doing project life or anything of that nature. I really don't do much in the daily life scrapping. So I thought this would be a fun way to document some of the things I'm into these days.  

 I don't want to be materialistic about what I buy, but I thought it would be a fun way to document what I'm into in my young 20's. Most of these tags are from things I use most days. I got the Apple from my phone, the Vera tag is from a receipt holder from my teaching bag (do they not have the most pretty packaging ever for online orders), and well my Coach bag is my constant sidekick when I'm out and about.

 I used Tim Holtz crackle distress paint in Weathered Wood to paint the grid lines. I recommend not painting too thick, and letting it air dry.

Then I used my Sew Easy to punch the holes, and I hand sewed the blue thread in. I always try to do a random "about me" page each year. It is fun to look back and see how I have changed.

How have you documented yourself lately?

Chicago Trip

Back in November my cousin J and I took a bus trip to Chicago. It was a great deal. Her local park and rec department organizes the trip. They drive you right downtown to the magnificent mile. Anyone who has driven down there in the past knows it can be intimidating to drive in true Chicago traffic. This was the perfect trip. We got to socialize the whole way and really enjoy seeing the sights through Chicago.

This was a tough page for me to come up with. The pictures have been sitting in a pile for quite some time. I was perplexed by the royal blue sky at dusk on the Watertower and the Hancock Tower.

 I finally picked the Basic Grey Out of Print paper line for these pictures. I inked a lot of it with Tim Holtz Faded Jeans distress ink, to fit my pictures better.

I have a new favorite stencil in my stash. It is from The Crafter's Workshop. I picked it up at an art store during my vacation. There was nothing scrappy in this store, but I do enjoy browsing art stores from time to time.

 I created this flower by layering scalloped circles, and misting the flower until it was damped (with water). I crumpled the entire thing up a bunch of times until I got the shaped I was looking for.

You can see I used a combo of mists and gelatos with the stencil. First I splattered some gold mist all over the paper. I had to play with the color from the crazy shoes we were trying on at Nordstroms and the fact that they were just putting up the Christmas lights. I mean what else is there to do during a random downpour besides try on fun shoes.

The blue gelatos were from a Faber Castell pack I picked up a Michaels on the way to my crop. I kept hearing about them, and I had a coupon so I decided what was $5. I could give them a shot. They were very fun. They were the consistency of lipstick, and I rubbed them on my messy mat. Then I misted them with water to make a thicker watercolor. They were very fun.

Looking forward to next years trip. I'm ready for some new clothes.

Girls Weekend

This past weekend I was able to attend a little meet up by some of the ladies I chat with a Scrappin Peeps. We met at the Woodridge Lodge, which is a crafting lodge groups can rent out for their functions. We had ladies from Wisconsin and Minnesota make the drive.

We had an absolute blast. We scrapped. We stamped. We did mixed media. I learned some new techniques, specifically gelatos and modeling paste on canvas. I just wanted to share a few pictures of our weekend and my canvas. My goal is to get some of my scrapbook pages edited and posted this week. We report back to school in the morning, so I'm back into teacher mode. My classroom won't be ready for another week, so I'm working on lots of projects at home.

I wanted to share some pictures of the crop since all my scrappy friends couldn't join since schedules are nearly impossible to coordinate.

How much food do you need for two days?

The lodge, the porch was great for sitting on!

The crop room

 And this was my big project on Saturday night. I've never done any major mixed media. I play around with stuff sometimes, but not like this.

So I started modge podging paper to a canvas.

Then some paint, and I put some ink down as well

 And drum roll please....the final product.....

 I absolutely love how the modeling paste mixed with glimmer mist looks. I actually had did this underneath without the paste, and it was underwhelming and blended in too much. So I went right over again with the paste and more mist.

 Some hearts and another stencil with the paste on the right. I'm downright addicted to this stuff. I will be running out asap to buy some. The letters were cut on the cricut and modge podged down.

And lastly a group shot of all of us on the deck. The owner was awesome taking all of our pictures.

Our Group

Celebrating a Birthday

Just wanted to post a picture of the birthday card I made for my sister for her birthday! She is out of state on an internship, so I we aren't celebrating together this year. I'm heading off on a weekend crop and she is celebrating with her friends.

 Big surprise, guess who pulled out the alcohol inks. I used two tones of purple, the light in the middle and the dark around the edges. First I embossed with a background stamp. I stamped the flowers and alcohol inked them. Then I reversed the embossing ink, and fussy cut them. The bling is all from the iRock system.

Sister's shot from a recent wedding

 And a preview of my work in progress scrap loft. I got this used cabinet at a garage sale for $10. I tore out the TV stand and put in some shelf and voila-hidden scrap storage.

 Two of my favorite canvas' I've gotten and a random little bird from my Grandma's.

Hello lots of storage space!

My favorite command hooks from my dorm made for great hangers for cricut mats, misting masks, and some other hanging items. 

More pictures to come later. I'm in the process of getting back to teaching. My classroom construction isn't ready, so I'm working on lots of projects from home for the time being. Dreading the unpacking but excited to see my kiddos.

Quick Hello

Popping in to say a quick hello. Life is absolutely crazy. Just got home from a trip to Door County. 5 days on the lake. Three of them were downright cold; Two of the cold days it rained like crazy. We did get two nice sunny and warm days.

One day we had a storm roll through, and knock out the power. No power=no well pump=no running water. That was an adventure. In 21 summers up there, we've never lost power. Not sure what the cause was. Of course it was the day we had company. So we taught the kids how to play Spoons....and a bunch of other board games. Once we saw the electric company truck we decided they must have gotten in (its one way in and out-no alternate route) so we went out for dinner.

Thought I would pop in and share some of my favorite pictures. Not too many with people. Kinda weird not having my sister along.

Two nights of cooking on the outdoor cook stove

First time I've ever been able to get a night shot of the light house. Next year the tripod's coming.

Pouring rain one morning. Kinda a neat shot through the trees with the rain

Big lake freighter on Lake Michigan....love my big zoom lens

Round three of storms rolling in. Went out to take pictures....or continuously step in puddles and get wet shoes.

And looking the other way pink clouds....major storm clouds behind them though

 Do you remember the bluff beach from last year?  Turns out the ice shoves take down the rock scupltures each year. Ice shoves are incredibly powerful if you do not know that. They can move entire houses with the right wind.

This is last years round of sculptures- Rock Sculptures 2012

 So there are new rock sculptures each year. An architect is actually trying to build protection from the ice shoves. She has made some amazing new sculptures this year.

 The only thing that makes it every year is the teepee. This thing has been up since May of 2005....or at least that was the first time we visited.

Such a cool place. Happy to be home to my bed and warmer weather. I really should get moving on packing. I don't think it's going to happen tonight.

Moving day to my new place is tomorrow. Which is earlier than scheduled. I was able to take care of all the important stuff from my phone on vacay. Internet was not on the "must do" list. So I'll be offline for a bit.

Winter Girl Scout Camp

As you know, I am part of the Summer Camp over at Scrappin Peeps! This challenge was hosted by my friend Janet. Her challenge was based off the Girl Scout Song "Make new friend, but keep the old. One is silver and the other's gold." This song immediately inspired me.

I was in Girl Scouts for many years. They had two troop houses within two hours of town. We went many times to this specific camp. Unfortunately I found out that the council did not manage their money well, and they had to sell this specific camp/land. But.....the good news is that a crafter bought it and turned it into a craft house. 

 This challenge entailed using a song somewhere on the page along with the colors silver and gold. My silver is in the mists and the middles of the snowflakes. I did all my jounrnalling in gold. My song was the girl scout song, which is around the edge of the right page. The journalling on the left page is everyone's names. Figured I should do that while I still know everyone's names.

 I cut some random snowflakes on my cricut and then used them as mask. I made the mistake of using a little glue to hold them down temporarily. They did not want to pull up with all the moisture (it was a hot muggy week here which equals a terribly damp basement-but all my normal paper is in tight bins). Which lead to the bling covering up some rips.

This particular event took place back in 2000, which makes me pretty young. I scanned the originals and had them reprinted the other night. I'm on the hunt for a good photo scanner. This particular camp was a winter camp. We did the obstacle course on the first day. Which was a good thing, because we had snow overnight. I remember the mom's having to get over a big log on the obstacle course, which was pretty funny. My mom was talking about how the entire eating/living areas were constantly covered with craft stuff from all us girls.

Girl Scout camp is one of my fondest memories of growing up. I loved crafts, I loved hiking, I loved campfires. Really I still enjoy all this today. It was fun going down memory lane with some old pictures this week.

Moving day is in less than two weeks. This is a current shot of my craft room/apartment storage/classroom storage. Its a mess!

Summer Camp at Scrappin Peeps

It is summer camp week over at Scrappin Peeps! Nine other "peeps" and myself are hosting a series of scrapbook challenges that run from this past Monday through July 29th. You can play along with any or all of the challenges. I thought I would share my challenge over here, and the page I created to go with it.

Friendship Camp Challenge

“The Stories of our Friendship”

"A good friend will come bail you out of jail, but a true friend will be sitting next to you saying...'Damn, that was fun!'"

The friendship camp challenge is a challenge about telling YOUR favorite stories. Your pictures do not have to correlate to the story. Your journaling can be hidden if needed.

I would like you to devote this layout to a great close friend or two. I would like to see at least two pictures of you and this friend.  This page is all about YOU! This is one for your personal album.

In your journaling, I would like to see these items addressed:

How long you have known this friend

Where you met this friend

A favorite memory/story with this friend

Some type of highlight or highlights of your friendship

And somewhere on your page one quote about friendship

This challenge is not about the stuff, this challenge is all about the stories and memories. Write from your heart. Pictures can be old or new; from the same day or a collage of events. Friends can be childhood friends, adult friends, or friend’s you’ve known forever. 

Here is my corresponding page-

I did this page about my friend Katie, who grew up across the street from me. I've scanned some old pictures to put on this page. 

Paper is from My Minds Eye- one of the Jen Allison's lines. I want to get to Archivers and get another set. I splattered a little Color Shine with a paint brush.

My individual stories are on the little tags in the pocket. Too many stories to journal on one page. I'm a big fan of pockets.

This quote on the right really stood out to me. We've got some crazy adventures throughout the years. Snow forts, Halloween, Door County Pontooning, and more.

I toned down the lime green flower with a little bit of Tim Holtz Antique Linen Ink