Here are my two most recently completed layouts. I got little ideas here and there, but my best thing was that I finally am using some sweet vintage stamps I scored a while ago.
I love this picture too! It’s so cool how I caught it right when the spinner was being let go. Got this big print at Costco, and it’s pretty decent for 1.99. Yes, the scanner cut off the bottom of the layout (I hate that it like can almost go the full 12 inches, but not quite, argh). Okay now these stamps are the coolest coolest (that’s right, DOUBLE COOL). You can kind of see them on this old post. Click on the first picture so it’s bigger and then look in the left middle above all the little drawers. Those really dark things are old wooden printing press blocks. On our road trip Julia and I went to this awesome place called Sister’s Garden in Iowa (I know it was to the East of Des Moines and sort of on the boarder of the state). It had neat old stuff, cool new stuff, well the whole place was cool. Oh, see these little hair things in Scully’s hair on this post, yeah, I got those there too.
I digress… So if anyone else has these old blocks, I have a tip for how to stamp them. They are really hard so they don’t stamp like rubber stamps. I found it works best to put something squishy underneath the project (and the Scrapworks Pushpad works so fabulously). Then make sure you are standing way above it and apply as much pressure as possible. Bj did the ones above for me after I placed them where I wanted, I just couldn’t get enough leverage. Anyways happy with these layouts and Sciarrino and I are going to head to Salem later to hit up the big three (Micheal’s, Craft Warehouse, and Paper Zone)… I’ll have to show you my spoils :).
This is wedding number three. Katie and Josh, I’ll let the pictures do the talking:
The happy couple.
Kim (we call her Tex because there were multiple Kim’s in crew) just moved to Texas (which I guess is ironic isn’t it) and flew up for the wedding, yeah!! That’s me in the middle with the best hair I’ve ever had, and Sciarrino.
Tex and Martin are just the cutest!
Sciarrino and Karen. Karen is in the bridesmaid dress from a wedding she was in earlier in the day, we have weddings popping up all over the place! Okay Karen has the best hair ever, look at these curls dude! (Kathy gets a close second for always having perfect bridesmaid hair and that’s hard to do when you’ve been a bridesmaid like seven times).
Julia flew in from Princeton where she is rowing with the National Team, go crew chicks go! Oh and all the bridesmaids have cute ribbon in there hair from where? Oh the Ribbon Jar!
Me and my man. Check out that thing in my hand. I’ll have to show you tomorrow what I do with all these, but I have grand plans. The favors were in these awesome tins and I’d say I scored quite a few… 🙂
Um, my brother is a little crazy, but hey, I love him. And I know Bj thinks we fight a lot, but he’s an only child and he just doesn’t get how fun it is to jab at each other! Aren’t these guys goofy!!
So the wedding was a ton of fun, great dancing. In fact Bj danced with me for like a whole two minuets (the first time ever!!!). I know Josh and Katie are going to be super happy together and I wish them all the best. Also I love going to weddings because: *yummy food *great people *happy couples *getting spruced up and my favorite… *seeing Bj all dressed up!!!
Oh it’s fun to scrap and watch Lois and Clark!! Here are some of my favorite lines:
{when Clark looses his powers} Clark: “I lifted a rocket into orbit before – not I can’t even lift this.”
Clark: “Superman is what I can do, Clark is who I am.”
Lois: “Kent is a hack from Smallville. I couldn’t make that up.”
Clark: “Lois it’s past babbling hour. Could you get to the point.”
{about the Superman outfit} Martha: “One things for certain, nobody’s going to be looking at your face.” Clark: “Mom!” Martha: “Well they don’t call them tights for nothing!”
{and my favorite of all time} Lois: “All right, maybe, somewhere very deep inside me is some eensy weensy, microscopic – all though highly unlikely – possibility that I feel some sort of unmotivated, completely unrealistic attraction to you.
Okay, you have to get the BHG Inspirations book, because that’s what I used for this layout. I don’t know why I can’t find a link to this book but I got it at Border’s so go check it out! I actually did this layout last night. Today Beachwood and I went to go get gorgeous (read: painful waxing by a total novice) and then headed to Salem. We laid out by the pool all day, but I put lots of sunscreen on so I am tanning slow. Then we went out to one of my favorite Mexican places for my mom’s birthday and got cake and ice cream. I came home to a bunch of orders. Simple Scrapbooks featured the Ribbon Jar in their newsletter, but I didn’t sign up in time, so I haven’t seen it. Hopefully they’ll forward it to me tomorrow. So anyway it was a pretty good day, and I’ll post more pics tomorrow!
{edited to add, oops, forgot to say which inspiration it was: Page 10, Alison Beachem, number one… and did I already say you have to get this book!!! I’m only on the first inspiration, ahhhh love it!}
Okay I have no idea who Dan is but he found my tainted love Levi’s wide leg commercial!!! He totally rocks. This is the world’s coolest commercial (in my humble opinion). It came out years ago, and I only saw it a couple of times, but I thought it was just so clever. Check it out:
from Dan:
I was looking for the "Tainted Love" Levi’s commercial myself, and I finally found it online. The site link is listed first, and the direct link is listed second. It’s a French site (I think), and they did stick a advertisement across the beginning, but the rest looks fine.
Oh ya, Beachwood is back. And we’re scrappin baby!!! I actually haven’t complete a page yet, just little projects, and she’s already almost done with a mini book, crap I gotta catch up!!! You know what would help me a lot? A little genie. Then I could just snap my fingers and have the photos I want printed up instantly in the right size. That would be sweet. I got the new BHG Scrapbooks etc. Inspirations today at Border’s to help me out. It looks awesome. I scored three spots at the Scrapyard Friday night for Beachwood, Sciarrino, and I, so you should be seeing a lot of pages by the weekend.
Totally a side note: Funniest thing that happened today? I heard a truck backing up in front of the townhouses today and went out to check the mail and the situation. It was a Pacific Power truck. After getting the mail I walked back into the car port and I heard this “hey.” I look over and through the slats of the neighbors fence I saw the power guy. I said, “hey, checking the meter?” “No, shutting it off.” (LOLOLOLOL) I said I wasn’t surprised, and he said, “oh, why?” I was like, well they are messy and gross and don’t seem that on top of things (the love lost between me and the band next door is no secret). Then he started whispering, “Come over here, come look what I can see.” Okay, so I got around under there carport and up onto their porch… He goes, “look in here, look at their living room.” Okay I’ll give them a little credit. It looked a little cleaner than last time, I mean they switched the Pabst Blue Ribbon box wallpaper for white walls. But.. They had the hugest bong sitting in the middle of about 70 beer cans. The middle aged power guy was cracking up. Well I guess we know where all their money went. I just said, “I guess I should say thanks, because they can’t plug in their amps today!”
Getting back into the groove of the free association. Just comment (pretty please) on the first thing that comes into your head when you see this word. See the first free association for more info. But let me just remind you why I started this thingie… I don’t want to pressure anyone, but I know people are reading and I want to hear a "holla!" So this is a fun interactive way, and hey it’s so so easy! Just click the comment button baby!! Rocket
This morning Bj and I drove to Salem for my grandmother’s funeral and wake (why is it called that?). I was totally fine until we got to the funeral home. It was a private funeral, just like 30 or so family (my grandfather’s had been this huge thing downtown), so that made it a little better. But it was open casket. I wasn’t going to look or anything, so I just kinda chilled in the waiting area, but then it was time to start and they still didn’t close it. She looked (I say this hesitantly) good, but off somehow. Like kind of plasticy. I don’t know, it was just weird to me, and I knew her soul wasn’t in there so it didn’t really mean that much to me. Except that I love that they put her favorite pink lipstick and nail polish on her. My cousin Laura said that they should have buried her with a bottle of it. My dad had called me this morning to ask if he could use my blog from the day I found out to read as part of the eulogy. I said sure, but that I definitely couldn’t read it (I’m a big time crier). Well my dad practiced reading it and couldn’t get very far. My little sister stepped up to the plate and read the whole thing. I am just so thankful for her, I don’t know how she did it. It was so cute too because she started off saying, "I normally don’t speak in public, but I’m making an exception." I didn’t know what people would think of it because I didn’t write it expecting the whole thing to get read out loud. My family was all very appreciative of it though. And one of my grandmother’s nurses (she always had a personal nurse with her the last few years) said that she was sure grandmother recognized me and that made me feel really good. Our family was so lucky to find such caring help for grandmother.
After the service we drove to the cemetery listening to a CD that my cousin Laura had made. It was so sweet, it had all of grandmother’s favorite songs on it, and I can just picture her listening to them. I’ll have to list the mix because if you like old crooners you would love this. Bj was one of the pallbearers which was so sweet of him. We just had a quick thing at the grave site, but it was nice. I really think that having a smaller funeral is nicer in a way because it’s just people who have a really close relationship with the person. I do think that big services are good so that everyone can pay respects though.
The wake was at my aunt and uncle’s place, which is just up the street from Nick and Lacey’s so I stopped to say hi. I was totally fine until I said the word’s "grandmother’s wake" then I started to cry again. I don’t know how Lacey felt about that, I’ve never cried in front of them before. The wake was nice because I got to talk to all my cousin’s, more distant relatives, and old family friends and people that worked with my grandparent’s (like my all time favorite secretary Marilyn who always bought Girl Scout Cookies from me when I was little). I really like my family members so anytime I get to see them I love it, even if it has to be under these circumstances. I had so many people comment to me on how much I look like my mother (which is like the best comment ever – despite what she says about the photo below). Some distant relatives hadn’t seen me in a while and they always act shocked when I tell them how old I am. 🙂
I took a nice drive the back way to Corvallis through the country. Lots of windy roads, and the smell of mint everywhere. I just let my thoughts wander since I was alone. Bj and Brent set off for so cal before I left. I got home and I was determined to get all the orders out (which I did, even the one that came in at 4:59, yeah me!). One of my customer’s also emailed me an awesome layout which I am going to use in the next newsletter (so sign up already!). And I got an email from Simple Scrapbooks saying that they are going to do a blurb on me for their next newsletter. I have to write a press release now, ahhh!
All in all I think grandmother was smiling down on the day. My cousin Dustin said that grandfather had probably remodeled heaven for her (they built nine houses together), so I hope they are enjoying themselves!
First thank you all so much for your emails and comments, it means so much! I am doing pretty well with everything. We have all been telling stories about grandmother, and I really believe she is livin’ it up in the afterlife, but we’ll see how I do with the service and wake on Tuesday.
So Friday I went to my mom’s graduation. It wasn’t any piddly little graduation either, she received her bachelor of science in Interior Design (which is not decorating, so don’t even say that people). In case you couldn’t tell she was just a little bit excited. And we were too. My mom started working on her associates of art degree when I first went to college, just taking a few classes or whatever. Then two years ago she decided to get her bachelors. She wanted to go to OSU with all of us (My step dad, brother, boyfriend, and I all graduated last year, and my brother this year), but they did not have an accredited program. Since my mom isn’t in to doing anything half way she decided to go to the Art Institute of Portland (she lives in Salem, an hour away). So for two years she’s been driving up there like four days a week and working her butt off. It was weird at first because I didn’t get all my normal super cool care packages in the mail, but my mom sure understood what we were going through at school. It was so funny to hear her call up and complain about a prof. I would say the last two weeks have been the real test though. I was pretty much avoiding spending too much time over there (at my mom’s). There were architectural plans, drawings, samples, and big boards all over the house. There always seemed to be a bit of a crisis (which was sometimes solved by buying more computer memory and every book on the subject under the sun). This was only because my mom had to show us all up by graduating with honors. Did I mention her yard still looks flawless and she had time to cook meals and have them ready to be re-heated in the freezer? The funniest thing though was that she made me drive to Salem to bring my cap and gown to her because she didn’t believe it was properly pressed and wanted to see it for her own eyes. Then when I got to Portland for the graduation Bill was caught in traffic with the outfit and my mom had to borrow a wrinkly one (this is really funny if you know my mom, since I’ve never seen her wear a wrinkly anything). She said, “I don’t even want to walk in this!” But Bill showed up right on time and the show went on. We all stood up and screamed when my mom’s name is called, because we’re cool like that. After we went to my grandma’s place (grandma=mom’s mom, grandmother=dad’s mom). She had been cooking all day, much to her twin Ileane’s dismay (“As soon as I go on a diet Arlene has to cook up a feast!”). It was really yummy and I got to see two of my cousin’s, my uncle’s, my grandpa and my great aunt Mary. I just eat up family time. It’s so funny to hear everyone talk, “no John said it was his back” “no I talked to John last and he said they didn’t find anything” “I just got off the phone with John and this is what he told me.” Heheheh. Plus it’s like this cool world where everyone is small and I feel like a normal sized human being (except for my freakishly tall – at least for our family – uncle Rob). Brent drove me home after and we stopped to pick up my little sister Emilie.
Emilie is the unfortunate victim of a dye job gone wrong. Her natural hair is so pretty. She is half black so her skin is like this perfect color and her hair is naturally very light brown with beautiful blond highlights, it’s also got wonderful curls and is so soft. So being a teenager, of course she hates it. She really has had some bad luck in the hair department though. My friend Julia was watching her last winter and Emilie was supposed to get her hair straightened. They got partway through and then realized her scalp was reacting badly to it and had to stop. So she had half chemically straightened hair. She was pretty upset so they came over here and we watched movies and ate ice cream. This time she was trying to bleach out a darker dye job from before, but the lady went a little (a lot) too far. I have to say though she is taking it very well. So I decided to take Emilie for the weekend so we could have some good sisterly bonding, and get her out of my dad’s house during funeral/moving yuckiness (my dad has another place in So. Cal. and they are U-Hauling a bunch of stuff down there this week). Emilie and I did our usual sister bonding, stayed up too late, slept in too late, ate lots of junk, and watched our favorite shows on DVD. We also got crafty and beaded. Emilie got some of my ribbon and had the idea to make her necklace. She took a charm from Claire’s and strung it on double faced satin. I figured out a cool way to fix the ends and it turned out pretty cool. She’s one crafty chica if I do say so myself.
Emilie started watching Smallville to take a break from working through My So-Called Life. Every time something happened I would hear her go, “Oh, SNAP.” I wish I could have recorded it so you could hear it, because writing it just doesn’t do it justice. After the fiftieth time I yelled down, “Emilie, snap has lost all meaning!!!!” Which slowed down the usage a bit. I have got to get this girl In Living Color so she can see what a real snap is “That gets two snaps up in a circle!” She was mad because she said I’ve gotten her hooked on Smallville now, but I said we’re just even because she was the one who got me hooked on The O.C.
So today we had the windows open and we just hanging out, still in our pj’s at one. I started to smell gas, which is weird because we don’t have any natural gas appliances or anything. I just closed the windows and didn’t think much of it. So I took a shower and got all ready and was so hot that I had to open my window but it still totally smelled like gas. So I go to investigate and find my car leaking gas. Nasty! Scary! I call my dad, but he told me to open the cap and when I couldn’t told me to drive to a gas station, which I was too afraid to do (blowing up in your car is so not a cool way to go). So I called AAA and told the lady on the phone what was up. She was all, “We do not deal with gasoline, you need to call the fire department, RIGHT AWAY!” So I was like, “Ok.” I called the fire department and told them it wasn’t an emergency or anything but that I had leaking gas, and blah, blah, blah. So she said they were going to send someone over in a bit. Okay so I thought I’d get like a guy in one of their SUV’s or something. Instead I got three SUPER HOT FIREMEN!!!! (love you BJ! :>) But seriously, let’s talk girls. These guys had abs so hard I could see their six packs through their perfectly faded blue t-shirts that said Corvallis Fire in red writing. They had on their yellow baggy pants with their suspenders down, and their big boots, and did I mention they were HOT (oh and really tan). So I was all, “um, my car’s leaking gas.” The one hot fireman opened up my gas cap (like it was nothing and I couldn’t open it for the life of me) and gas spilled out all over. He asked me if I just got it filled and where. Yesterday, at the cheapest place in town. In my defense I did ask them not to top it off (we do not have self-service gas in Oregon, thank God, otherwise I probably wold have blown up by now). So then he said that I was parked on a slight incline (which I honestly never realized our carport was on), and that it was hot, and I had just gotten my tank filled. So all this means that the fumes build up and it leaks over. I felt a little stupid, but the super awesome firemen were all, “Oh, hey don’t worry, that’s what we’re here for.” “Ya, call us anytime about this stuff.” and “Happens all the time.” They had me turn the car around and said that the rest of the gas would just evaporate. The only regret I have is that my really annoying band playing neighbor’s weren’t home to scare the shit out of with the huge firetruck in front of their place.
After that excitement we drove to Salem and I got to give my mom her graduation present:
I am really loving these silk pieces and have been using them on everything. I also made a cool tag for my dad’s father’s day gift but forgot to take a picture, darn!
It’s the ultimate relaxation kit, now that she has a break: bright towel, water balloons, Pez, plastic glasses and straws with built in umbrellas to sit by the pool, nail polish, and an iTunes gift card so she can make her own mix. I sewed some trim onto a cheapo bag and I love how it looks. I also love how the tag turned out.
We went out to dinner with dad, Kim, Emilie, Brent, Kim’s dad, step mom, and niece. It was a pretty good time, I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, my family tells some pretty good stories. I think I might have to take some notes at my grandmother’s wake (all five cousins are coming for sure, juicy, it’s gonna be juicy). Brent freaked me out and told me it was going to be hailing golf ball sized hail and gusting at 70 miles per hour, so I hurried home. Of course no such thing happened and I had one of the best drives from Salem ever. It’s just me here tonight and I haven’t had a night to myself in a long time, so ciao!
