Lotsa croppin'

Since daughter was on Spring Break, I took two days off work. One of those afternoons (and evening) we spent at our local scrapbooking store cropping. In over 5 hours, I got a lot done!



Just a simple page with Bazzil cardstock, Karen Foster paper and a few brads. (Our backyard March 17th)
Believe it or not, this was our First Day of Spring -- Snow, ice AND rain!

Condolences card

Such a sad day today. A good friend at work had to put her cat down last night; poor Fluffy was 15 years old with a large tumor... what a terrible thing to have to go through. Using a card in a PaperCrafts magazine as inspiration, I made her a condolences card with Basic Grey paper, Bazzil cardstock, a stationary tag, kitty pawprint brad, Prima flowers, ribbon, vellum, pawprints stamps and a black and white photo from a cat calendar.

Hubby said it was so nice, it would make her cry. He was right, she cried, I cried, and then she hugged me and we both cried again.

My Dakotah adding her own paw of sadness.

Productive Croppin'

I was on fire tonight... two layouts AND a card finished. And another 2 page layout nearly done. All in less than four hours at our local scrapbooking store. It was great to get some pages finally completed; it's been awhile!

A couple of nice closeups of Casey our terrier cross. She'll be 10 this year! Basic Grey paper, Heidi Swapp letters. One photo is raised with foam squares, both are mounted on black Bazzil cardstock.

Dakotah playing with my pot pourri table decor...she really does think I placed these balls there just for her enjoyment. Basic Grey paper, chipboard letters painted and sanded, brads distressed with ink, chipboard tag with kitty brad and fibers.

A thank you card to my online friend for showing Ted Neeley my painting of him. "Superstar" logo stamped on Bazzil cardstock and raised with foam squares. Karen Foster patterned paper over Bazzil cardstock. Heavy brass "Thank You" plate adhered at bottom.

Inside of card. Ribbon with gold cross, more Karen Foster paper. She likes purple, and I thought the "stars" on purple paper was most appropriate for "Superstar!" Hope she likes it!

Calm and Curiosity

I don't know why, but it seems to me that layouts of our furry friends are so much easier than other layouts I struggle to complete.... is it because they are so photogenic? Entertaining? Or are they simply doing what I would dearly love to do: take time to relax, napping whenever the mood hits, perhaps staring out into the unknown with wonder...

Whatever it is, here are two more layouts of our cats, Dakotah and Sheba; doing what cats do best, I guess.

Croppin again

Two more layouts I completed at cropping night tonight. I just love taking photos of Dakotah, she is so photogenic. I am especially enjoying getting different points of view; getting down on the floor and up close (as in the "Pounce" page).



Layouts of the pets seem so easy to make... Basic Grey paper, Bazzil cardstock, chipboard letters and a few embellishments are all I used, but I may add some ribbons to the "Playtime" layout. (Dakotah playing under my dining room table runner -- see my Stale Coffee blog for a video of this event).

Five (yes, 5!) New Layouts

Wow! Yesterday daughter and I spent nearly the whole day at our local scrapbook shop and we had a great time and got a lot done. I completed five layouts!

This first one is about my making applesauce (see post below). The card on the right folds up or down, so you can see all the photos, or the transparancy behind (an image of all the apples beforehand). The journaling includes two small photos popped up with foam pop dots of the wasps that were trying to get in the kitchen while I was cooking up the sweet apples. Paper is Basic Grey.

The second layout I did was of some "Mouse Cookies" daughter and I made last year to sell at her school's bake sale. We made dozens of these; they comprise of Oreos topped with chocolate-dipped marachino cherries (with the stem left on for the tail), a Hershey's Kiss for the head, two candy hearts for ears, and some icing piped on for eyes and nose. They really were too cute to eat!

The third layout was of Dakotah's mug shot, caught red-handed (or pawed), in my dresser drawer. The paisley paper was a bit overwhelming as a solid background, so I cut it out and used it as a background frame. I also punched holes in the side and bottom (a bit hard to see here), used vellum for the journalling and embellished it with ribbon and a paisley heart charm.

"Laundro-cat" (a play on the word laundro-mat) depicts Dakotah again in a playful mood. Whenever I do laundry, she jumps up on the bed while I'm sorting it and digs herself into the warm towels. A simple layout, but I like the way the colors came together.

The last one I got done yesterday was "Profile of a Cat". I had two cute profile shots of both our cats, Sheba and Dakotah, so I typed up some words that described them. I chalked and then sprayed a fixative on the words, cut them into strips and then adhered them onto the page. I also cut out one of the flowers from the background and popped it out using foam tape. Title is done on a transparancy held on with eyelets.

I don't think I have ever done so many layouts in one sitting... daughter got five pages done as well, and we were beat after our marathon cropping session!

A Couple O'Layouts

Two more layouts were completed at our weekly croppin' session at Dalcrafts. The first one is actually of daughter's goofing while cropping; using chipboard letters to write me notes on the table, and choking on dinner she was laughing so hard...yes, yes, in true scrapbooker fashion, while she choked, I took pictures (she was fine, BTW).The second one is of our cat Sheba. Inspiration for the photo came from catching the end of some "Funniest Animal Videos" show (or something like that) on TV... We saw this cat drinking milk from a glass by putting her paw into it and licking it off! It was so cute, we wanted to see if Sheba would do the same. She sometimes gets to lick our cereal bowls (after we are finished, of course), but this morning, I put some milk in a glass instead...just enough so she couldn't reach it by sticking her head in. No luck, though; she refused to get her paw wet, and instead tried desperately to stick her tongue as far as she could to get at the milk...hilarious to watch! Poor girl; I poured the milk out into a bowl after all.I used some great white ink to edge everything (making it "milky), and splattered white paint around the rub-ons title. Hidden journalling is slid under the smaller photo. Charms include a "purr" round brad, a cat's paw and a milk bucket on the white ribbon.

A whole day of scrapping

Since I've been on holidays this week, daughter and I spent 8 hours at our local scrapbook store cropping on Thursday. It was so great! Air-conditioned, no cats knocking our stuff off the table, and we got so much done! Here are four pages I completed, and I even got a card made for a friend at work who is retiring:
Daughter at age 11 on the day we got her a new kitten, Sheba
Our latest fav at Starbucks

I wanted to do a layout with just cardstock -- and I think these photos were good to use for that; they are so busy, they didn't get "lost" in a bunch of patterned paper and embellishments.

New Layout and 2Peas Challenge

Finished up a simple layout of Casey my "lapdog" on the weekend...My LSS has beautiful Basic Grey paper, so it really doesn't need a lot of embellishments. I machine-sewed another sheet of Basic Grey onto the background to mat the photo of Casey on my lap outside on our deck. The title is hand-cut from computer fonts, with the "O" mimiking a dog collar with a small silver charm with Casey's name on it, held on by wire. The vellum journalling block is held on with yellow flower eyelets and stamped with one of my new Creative Memories clear foam stamps and yellow acrylic paint.

Today's challenge at 2Peas is "what would be on your scrapbooking wish list if cost were not an issue?"


I would have to say either a tall wire paper rack like the LSS has, or a larger room to spread out in. My room is so small ( take a peek here), I have to keep it efficient and cleaned up, or else the cats will play with my stuff!

Cat painting

Last week I found some really cute cat figurines at my work's gift shop that I thought would look great on my desk.
The first one I got was a sculpture of three cats, with a dark brown/black finish. It was the only one of that color; but I also liked two others that complimented it, one with two cats and another with a single cat...all the same style, but in a light tan shade. Since they didn't match, I took them home and painted the smaller sets to match the larger triple cat pose...I started with a base of black acrylic ceramic paint and dry-brushed a brown / rust shade over that to bring out the features. I'm pretty happy about getting a fairly matched set now, but the funniest thing about painting the cats was Dakotah's assistance... a black cat helping me paint black cats!

2 New Layouts

..completed last night at our cropping evening. Daughter and I went back to our local scrapbook store and I was pretty productive... two layouts done and another 2 pages nearly complete. The first one is daughter posing during a thunder storm. The second is a goofy pic she took of Casey after I gave her a bath (the dog, not the daughter!)....

Dakotah's Walk

My latest scrapbook page documenting Dakotah's first outdoor walk on a leash...she was great...I think she thinks she's a dog sometimes - she fetches, sits on command and walks on a leash!

Two new layouts finished last night

This picture of Casey and Dakotah kills me...Casey is a total sissy, and can often be seen running away from the cats....love the look on her face!
Daughter and me at our local scrapbook shop on cropping night. Used a Starbucks "Akeelah and the Bee" coaster on this one (Meticulosity: 1) Extreme care and precision 2) Attention to detail). Yeah, THAT'S me. Not.