A technique, a tip, and a layout

Some time ago, I wanted a sample all of my mist colors on one piece of cardstock as a reference.  I sprayed my first four colors (in rainbow order, of course) and the resulting piece of paper looked something like this:

So, pretty, right?  I immediately thought that it would be fun to cut some die-cut shapes with my Slice out of this tie-dye looking paper and use it on a layout.  I had an idea for a layout using this paper this past week.  I cut the letters S-U-N-S-H-I-N-E out of the paper and also a sun.  I used the Handwritten Fonts Slice design card and I love this fun font.

So there's my technique.  My tip?  One of my mists was clogged when I was trying to spray the paper.  I tried running the tip under hot water, took the whole top off and ran it under hot water, tried pumping the tip madly....nothing would work!  I finally grabbed a toothbrush and just brushed the spray hole gently.  The mist immediately worked perfectly!

For my layout, I love this photo of my niece Olivia.  I love the bright colors of her dress, her curly locks and her amazing smile.  I thought my bright, sunshiney, tie-dye letters and bright sun looked great with this photo.

I used BasicGrey's Hello Sunshine line for this layout.  The patterned paper perfectly tied in the tourquoise, greens, pinks, and yellows of the photos and the letters.  Isn't she a cutie?

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Almost Twenty Years Later

Almost twenty years ago me and my now husband were in college and ended up at the same house party drinking.  That's all I'm going to share about that night....

I used the July Studio Calico kit on this and LOTS of butterflies and flowers.  I love the background paper from Sassafrass.  I hand cut the yellow flowers from a piece of American Crafts paper.  I love my new photo printer (well, not that new, but recently began using) as I can use it to print journaling on a 12"x12" page.  

Have a great weekend everyone!

Gerber Girls & Their Stories

I posted a layout this past January of the "Gerber Girls" - my great-grandmother, my grandmother, and my six great aunts (their last name was Gerber.)  You can find the post here.  My mother had told me that she would write a little bit about each of the Gerber Girls and I planned to incorporate her stories into a second page of the layout.  I finally finished the layout this week.

My mother wrote such great stories about her grandmother, mother and aunts.  I am so glad that she did this for me.  Thanks so much mom!

I used mostly BasicGrey Curio collection on this page.  I made the rolled flowers with a 7 Gypsies paper and a beaded flower embellishment that came in my April 2010 Studio Calico kit.  All of the letters, the bird, and the nameplate were made using my Slice.  I used Tim Holtz crackle paint on some chipboard on the leaves and vines.

Here is a close up of the left-hand page:

A close up of the right-hand page:

My mother's jounaling reads:

The Gerber girls have all left this earth.  Anyone who ever knew them, the first thing they will say is what hard workers each and every one was. That is the trait they were most known for. Was it their Swiss ancestry that made them that way, I do not know.  They were also known to be very frugal. I remember at a family get-together at my mother’s house, I walked into the kitchen to find them busy talking and washing Styrofoam plates we had used!  All of the Gerber girls married dairy farmers and all lived within 20 miles of each other. Aunt Leona – I called her Aunt O-nie for lots of years. My dad and Leona’s husband were brothers (brothers married sisters.)  The brothers shared their farm equipment.  Therefore, I got to spend lots of time at their house. I loved it ‘cause they had eight children, so I had lots of cousins to play with. Besides, they had more toys to play with! Aunt Katherine – All my aunts had a distinct brogue. That is one thing I remember about her. She was a religious person.  When she was in her 90’s she even went to China on a missionary trip. She wanted to die in her later years. So every year she made up a theme for the year.  When she was 97 her theme was “I’m 97 and going to Heaven.” My Grandmother Leah – Granma’s husband  (my grandfather) died in a car accident in 1935. Grandma was left alone to raise 7 daughters and to run the farm. I have heard stories of granma plowing the fields with a horse and walking behind the plow. During the years I knew granma she would live with elderly people to help them and also make an income for herself. When I was married she would help me sometimes. I remember her helping me peel apples for freezing or making pies. She was so frugal! She would get every tiny little bit of the apple that was possible to eat.  Granma fell and broke her hip. Then when she was in the hospital she fell out of bed and broke her other hip. She lived to be 6 months short of 100 years. Oh, yes, and how could I forget – granma was well known for her excellent pie making. I hate to brag, but I do believe I inherited that trait from her! Aunt Mary – Her husband (Uncle Fritz) was one of my favorite uncles. The story goes that I was so bashful when I was little that I would not go to anyone except Uncle Fritz. Aunt Mary only had one eye.  She lost the other one in the car accident that killed my grandfather. Aunt Selma – I remember her being tall and thin like granma was. She had seven children, but they were all older than me.  I do not remember spending much time at their house playing with the cousins. All together my aunts and uncles gave me 31 first cousins. (I also had 21 cousins from my dad’s side.) My mother Ruth – to describe my mom in a few sentences is hard to do. If only I could be half as ambitious as her at my present age of 65 I would be happy! We lived on a farm. She milked cows morning and night and also helped with the fieldwork. When they retired from the farm she started an antique business.  She would even drive into Minneapolis with this huge ugly van to buy antiques from estates. After probably 20 years of being an antique dealer she opened a Bed and Breakfast. I could go on and on about all my mom did in her life. I loved her dearly and miss her. Aunt Pearl – She died of stomach cancer when I was about 5 years old. All I remember is the funeral which was held at her house, with the dead body being there.  All of us kids had to play outside. Aunt Florence – She was the youngest and also my godmother. She married an Irishman who was 20 years older than her. They lived on a farm that was kept immaculately clean.

Have a great Saturday everyone!

Precious Pincushion

I have the most adorable pincushion sitting on my scrapbooking desk.  He holds some some Jenni Bowlin and some Maya Road stick pins so that they are ready to use when I want them.  I made the pincushion with a pattern and material from Heather Bailey.  

Isn't he cute?  I took pictures of him and created a layout with the September 2010 Studio Calico kit, Back 40.  When I was creating the page, there was a challenge for a Scrapbook Trends submission that was to scraplift a page from the September 2010 issue of Scrapbook Trends.  I scraplifted a page of Emily Pitt's called "Pencil Proliferation" from page 60 of that issue.  The layout that I created was published by Scrapbook Trends in the April 2011 issue, so I never got to share it here.

I loved being able to scraplift a layout of Emily's to submit to Scrapbook Trends.  Thanks so much for the inspiration, Emily!

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Dry heat my a**!

I had to go to Phoenix for three days in June for a annual training for my job.  I kept my eye on the weather, and it was forecast to get up to 113 degrees!   Around here, everyone says "but it is dry heat - you'll be fine."  Like 113 degrees would feel cool without all the humidity that we have here.  I've always wondered if it really would be tolerable.

Well, now I know.  Dry heat is HOT!  I did not like it at all.  I didn't even leave my air conditioned hotel.     I normally love to go out for dinner if I have to travel and I ended up eating from the hotel restaurant three days in a row, breakfast lunch and dinner.

I took one photo on the trip and that was of the palm tree just outside my balcony.  I used the latest Studio Calico kit, Paper Moon for my layout.  I misted the palm tree with Mister Huey.  I cut it out with my Slice and then used it as a mask.

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Crate Paper June Sketch Challenge

I've been having a difficult time coming up with ideas for layouts the last few weeks.  Actually, I've come up with lots of ideas, but they all involved my Slice which has been at the Slice hospital for the last few weeks.  It never made it home - died in surgery - but a new one arrived at my door this Thursday.  Yay!  In the mean time, I thought I'd try out the June Sketch Challenge from Crate Paper to help my creativity.  Here is the sketch:

I loved the sketch - it was very easy to work with.  The only thing I really did to it was to turn it on its side.   I used papers from the Pink Plum Collection and from my most used line ever, Restoration.  

I used my new Slice for the leaves and for the word "autumn" and the letters "V" and "T."  I ended up cutting the letters out and then using the cut out as a mask to mist the letters.  That wasn't what I had planned, but my new Slice did not like the thickness of the Crate paper, so I had to do what I could.  Here's a close up of the stitching:

In Killington,Vermont they decorate hay bales in the fall.  There are pigs and panda bears and caterpillars, etc.  The center photo is of hay bales decorated as an owl.  It was the best creation that we saw last fall.

Have a great week everyone!

My Toes - In the South of France

When I was on vacation last week in France, I took pictures of my toes.  I was in Paris in the Luxembourg Gardens, waiting for my husband to return from using the restroom and took the pictures.  I didn't notice the cigarette butts surrounding my feet until I looked at the pictures later.  So I took pictures of my toes again.  This time on a beach in Southern France, without the butts. (Unless you count the nude woman next to us - tee hee!)

This is my fourth layout from the April 2011 Studio Calico kit, Singin' in the Rain.  I think that is the second most used kit ever for me!  My first kit, Whodunnit, was the most used so far - I just finished a layout with it last week!  I also used washi tape on this layout - something I usually have a hard time using.  I think it looks adorable on this layout though.

Have a great day everyone!