dj

July 2nd? that can't be right. can it?

I'm the guest team member over at Twisted Sketches for this week's sketch.

I don't know why but I'm diggin' the sketch thing lately!

The subject of this is based off of a conversation my therapist and I had a few weeks ago. About giving myself permission to live a good life. Allowing myself to create the life I want.

I did a bit of a blog post about it awhile back as well.

Go play. Because it's fun. And fun is good.

(AND in case you weren't already aware, there is a new prompt over at Scrapmojo which I totally and completely forgot about until about the day before. I know, I'm a bum. So, go check it out and see what the other lovely gals have done. I'll be sharing mine soon!)

She's my cherry pie... ummm. no, wait.

I don't really even like that song.
Anyways.

Vintage Plum's July Kit - Cherry Pie is here! I've called kits yummy before. But when I say this kit is yummy, this time I'm quite serious. It's just the best way to describe it!

I fell really head over heels for this kit - it was just screaming: summer, july, the 4th, Americana, good food, road trips, diners, and just classic, vintage fun.
Yeah, I got all that from this kit.
And you would too if you would stop reading this and go buy it already.

So yeah, I'd been meaning to share this photo of some blueberries but I hadn't yet. I'm not kidding you - I buy three pints of blueberries from the market each time and they are gone in 2-3 days. About a pint a day. I can't stop myself. Addiction. Delicious.
I used one of the cupcake liners as a mask and I also played around with my own distress ink for the first time. That stuff is very good stuff.

Again using the cupcake liner as a mask. I also cut it in half after it was all pretty and sprayed up to embellish with it.

We are lazy snackers. So our fridge is set up like a healthy buffet. Yum.
I love die cut papers like this. And as someone who hardly ever uses chipboard for anything, I have a new appreciation for it.

I used one of the coin envelopes that came in the kit to make a quick little gift card envelope for Neil's bday:
(ignore one of the stickers popping up, I had to hide it from him in my purse and my keys weren't very kind to it. I had a stern talk with them.)

My petunias - which despite many scares are still going strong. I'm figuring out how much attention they need in between "none" and "smothering". Next year my goal is to plant a whole balcony garden. I'm reading up on it. Check in next year...! But let's not talk about my tomato basket right now... I have no idea what is up with it. That's the other half of the cupcake liner up there as well. And I'm very much in love with this Jenni Bowlin paper. Perfect stuff.

So - this thank you card ended up with a bit of a western theme going on. I don't mind but didn't even notice until after I finished it. That's Vintage Plum's own menu paper peeking out in the background. Loved it.

Lots and lots of fun things going on at Vintage Plum right now too. Leave a comment on this VP blog post for a chance at some lovely etsy goodness. Be in the first 10 customers to buy 2 or more kits (any of them, July and all past kits included) and you'll get a cute prize pack from Midnight Oil Scrapbook Designs.
Plus - the Art Card challenge is still going strong, already a couple adorable entries in there.
There is another awesome post about ATCs, along with a free download and a giveaway.
*phew*

That may be all?? For now?
If you're not craving something sweet or at least something that smells like paper then I have failed miserably...!

Happy Wednesday.

" i always love a good "dude." :) "

That was Katie's comment moments after I posted these on flickr. It cracked me up. I'm all about sharing the funny.

(you can see these a bit larger and more detailed here.)

For this week's challenge over at Vintage Plum. If you play with us and share what you've created, you're automatically entered into a drawing for a $5 gift certificate. Very cool.

So come play. I'm in the mood for art cards of all kinds so these won't be the last for sure.

I hear fireworks popping all over town. Ahhh... the 4th. The pyro inside my husband will soon be bursting out of him I'm sure. Insanity.

The chat for Dina's new class over at Get it Scrapped just finished up. It sounds amazing. I'm so excited. I've got plans for it and the other classes I never finished up from last year. My own little summer school... more about that later.

For now, blog reading. One day I will master the art of blog reading balance. One day.

cherry pie. is so sneaky.

vintage plum july kit = yum.
and that's all I really have to say about it. until July 1st of course.

Not much to say..

No really.
I'm kinda blank today.
I'm in that busy mode. Go go go.

Something to share. I get asked a lot about what I do to get the muted look to my backgrounds on layouts. Like what I did here:

So over at the Vintage Plum blog I posted a little how to.
If you're interested.
It's not really anything new, just how I do it. A little peek into my messy head.

Alright, be back later...

Alphabet Soup

Vintage Plum's June kit, Alphabet Soup is.... well, yummy.
Like alphabets.
and soup.

Check it out.

Happy Monday.

that funny old facebook....

So awhile back, and when I say awhile, I mean AWHILE, a facebook note was passed around offering raks to the first five people to leave a comment.
It was fun, and many reposted and commented.

And then, and this is the part where I am embarrassed, I got something in the mail!
From the super duper talented Mandy.

I'm embarrassed because I got this in the mail during the crazy couple months that was me working, me going to school, me trying to get moved and trying to keep up with scrapbooking commitments along with therapy and trying to get my summer photography work situated. In otherwords, me stressing myself out and not handling time very well. I want to say I got this in March. But it very well could have been April. Yes, I'm an ass. When I got this, I opened it, loved it and then had to put it back in the packaging (to avoid a niece, cat or dog or just daily living getting ahold of it) and set it aside until I could actually enjoy it. And I kept telling myself, I gotta be sure to thank Mandy!
Like I said, I'm an ass, and so, more than two months later I am thanking her.

So Mandy, Thank You!!!!
and please forgive my rudeness.
and know that this sweet little sign has a new spot close to my front door!

There may be a couple more belated thank you posts for other people, because I'm trying to be less of an ass.
;).

Tomorrow is Friday. good deal.

Mmmmmmmm.... sneeeeaks.

I really am one of those scrapbook consumers that loves sneak peeks.
when kit clubs and other places do this, I'm so so so enticed.

Anyways.
Vintage Plum is changing things around a bit - starting with the June kit, kits will be released on the 1st.
And that is very soon.
SO, here are some yummy sneaks for the upcoming kit, Alphabet Soup (omiword that name is good stuff.):

View more good stuff right here.
I'm not sure why I like collaging my sneak pics together. That's just how I roll.
yep yep.

Happy Wednesday.

So behind on this...

I think every single day since the 10th of this month I have been saying that I need to post my layouts of the adorable May kit from Vintage Plum, Primary School Summers.
So please excuse my annoying lateness.

a very belated birthday card for a friend.

probably my favorite layout I've done in awhile. honestly, so sappy, so corny, but I always love layouts I do about Neil. can't help it.

I believe there are only a few of these kits left, so if you're interested in one, go jump on it. This kit was FULL of stuff, so many fun little bits.

I have a wicked headache this evening for some reason. Boo.
So much to work on too.
Looks like I won't be doing much more than the never ending effort of catching up on blogs. Also watching some monster quest on the history channel with Neil - right now it's all about bigfoot. Can I tell you a secret? the idea of bigfoot freaks me out a little. seriously. but I still find it fascinating so I'm watching.

Hope everyone is having a lovely Memorial Day.

...how the girl feels...

So, we are moved in. Well, mostly. You know, those odds and ends are still left.
I have a hanging basket with various plants (sage is the only one I remember! ha!) and my tomato basket as well. I've never ever had plants before, so we'll see how these do. Went to the market Saturday morning, got my plants and treated myself to a tiny gooseberry pie. Which is probably the best thing ever.
Wish I would have gotten photos of the flowers I bought for my mama in law. They were so lovely, irises with one big bright peony mixed in.

So, not much time to chat of course - but some Vintage Plum items to share:

My turn to do the weekly challenge for this week.

all about using up the most random of scraps.
When I did this layout, I literally was feeling so strange about sitting down to scrap with all the packing and moving and working and everything else happening before and after. I didn't just slap this together or anything but I did kinda just let myself go with it. I sort of believe that's probably the best way to go about using paper scraps anyways.

Check out the challenge here - if you get your layout posted in the gallery by Sunday at 8pm CST, you'll be entered into the drawing for a $5 coupon at VP!

And tomorrow night I'm hosting Creative Cafe. We'll be making some paper lanterns:

Such an easy, quick project. I really just wanted to make something fun and light like this.
Starts at 6pm CST tomorrow so come play with us!

Alright, off to get ready for work. Then errands later, gotta pick up my new mail box key, run by the library, we really need some groceries and toilet paper, yeah...

happy monday!

(title: no you girls - franz ferdinand)

party like.... a 85 year old rock star with a scifi fetish?

So before I jump into scrapmojo goodness, I have to say, even though I'm working in a couple hours I am having the BEST morning.

I took a little trip down to the farmer's market (which after I move will be seriously like a minute away from me...) bought some gorgeous delphiniums for a vase (will need to keep them out of reach of the cats, which I hadn't remembered until after I was in the car)  and on saturday morning the vendor will be bringing me a hanging basket with a mix of plants and a hanging cherry tomato plant for my new balcony. At a stand down from that one I bought some fresh spring greens, green onions and eggs.

And so my breakfast this morning was spring greens, green onions with pepper, olive oil and a little ranch dressing. Is that strange? I'm so not a typical breakfast food person. oh well. It was yummy.
And I think I spent about 8 bucks on everything. A bag of icky greens at the store costs about half of that for just half of what I got.

I love you farmer's market.

ANYWAYS!

Scrapmojo #34 - Describe what your day would be like if you could party like a rockstar. Use Cinco De Mayo as your design inspiration.

So that is my sad truth people. That a day of being lazy in bed with my husband, eating ice cream and popcorn and watching scifi totally sounds better to me than any party. I know. I know. GEEK.

BUT can I just say, how freaking excited I am that Neil and I will finally start to have our usual Friday and Saturday nights of scifi and bbc shows, home cooked dinners and a little scrapbooking (from me..) back? I'm like.... about to explode I'm so happy. I was missing our usual weekend routine. It's been about 6 months.

Ok, must get ready for work.... Happy Wednesday!

so sneaky.

My May Vintage Plum sneak peek:

Many more little peeks right here as well.

In other news, I'm officially moving next Friday, which means this week will be mostly filled with school, work and packing/moving. I'll have a couple more scrap related updates with scrapmojo goodness and the VP May kit reveal, but other than that, I'll probably still be a bit quiet.
Just give me a little time to get settled and then I'll be back with full blogging force. I'm bursting at the seams with so many things I want to share!

Something fun:

(I did something like this on another site last year and it was so cool seeing something all the way through like this, a real good kick in the butt creatively too!)

*Plum Star Search*

 

Have you always wanted to strut your stuff and show off your star potential? Are you ready to see your name in lights? Then join us at Vintage Plum for a 5 week competition filled with challenges that allow you to show the true star you really are! Prizes will be awarded weekly, but in the end only one star can truly shine. That lucky star will be awarded the Plum Star title and given a Guest Designer spot!

 

Rules to play:

 

1. Sign-ups begin April 27th and end May 9th. You must be signed up by May 9th to be eligible to play and win.  First challenge starts on May 10th.

 

2. All challenges must be completed within their designated time frames.

    

     a.  All entries must be newly created and exclusive to the contest.

     

3. International players are welcome, but if you win you must pay the difference in shipping to receive the kit and Guest Design spot.

 

To win:

LO's will be voted on on a weekly basis. You will receive 1 point for participation and 1 point for every vote you receive. Bonuses will be listed each week and worth an additional 2 points.  Each week the player with the most votes will be awarded a prize. Player with the most points at the end of the challenges will receive the Plum Star title and Guest Designer spot.

Sign up in this thread to participate.

bleep. bleep. bleep.

I want to throw a brick at something.

I don't have internet right at the moment, but in the interest of keeping peace I won't say more than that.

I'll be back over to my dad's in the morning to keep catching up on blogs and other things... I'm finally feeling like my head is above water!!

I do have something fun.... new prompt up at Scrapmojo!
Peter Pan, good times.
I would post a pic of my layout BUT it's at my home computer and I'm on the laptop at my dad's.
(NOT GETTING INTO IT. NOT. NO REALLY. NOT.)

So, go play and enjoy a little random internet time for me!

Happy Monday.