Finally, today is almost over!!!

It has been a long, challenging day today. I am surprised I got my page done! So first off, this is the page I finished today for my brothers album.

 

This is a sketch from Let's Scrap,
http://letsscrap.ning.com/photo/februarys-sketch-for-lets?context=album&albumId=2186252%3AAlbum%3A161537

 He has a great sense of humor, so I am sure he will appreciate the "Grease 2" throwback. lol In the photo is 3 of my 4 brothers and ironically I called the 4th to find out what type of motorcycle it was. So I Googled the logo and found one! I loaded it into my SCAL and cut it with my Cricut.  I had to cut it twice, once in white vinyl and then in black. I wanted to use vinyl so it would look more like an actual decal. The strips above and below the flames is actually silver chrome, but crappy weather here, therefore crappy picture, sorry about that. The "Cool Rider" title is actually 3 layers, red, blue then chrome, also hard to tell in the picture. I am guessing that the photo was taken in the early 70's but I am not sure since it only had names on the back and no date. So, one more page down for his album, however many more I can get done before our trip to go.

So then, my day. A friend came over for a bit to scrapbook this morning. She couldn't stay long, so it was more of a chit chat, then scrapping. That is ok tho, I needed some adult interaction. Children are such a blessing, but days like today were surely a test. Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I still have yard sale pricing to do and really wanted to work on my flower garden some. The bind weed is coming in nicely and I need to get rid of it before it chokes out my hollyhocks!

I am showered and have posted on Let's Scrap and here, so I think I am done for the day!
Good night to all and cheers!
~Mindi

Inspired!!

After days of thinking and scheming, I have figured out what I want to do with my brother's next page. I am very excited about it, and hope since I have it mostly put together in my head, I can finish it today. I will post it as soon as it is done!!

Also, I can sure tell that I am just way too tired at night to be blogging LOL! My last post was Monday and I said my Let's Scrap weekly sketch was due that night. It wasn't due until Tuesday night! Gotta love summer, can't even figure out what day it is.

So, I will get the monkeys up and moving and then to the crack room to start my page. Crossed fingers for progress!

For now, Cheers!
~Mindi

Something done is better than nothing done

Well, I did get my Let's Scrap sketch done today. Good thing, it is due tonight by midnight! lol I guess I work better under pressure. This is the sketch for this week(well  ending tonight lol)  http://letsscrap.ning.com/photo/62211-1?context=featured

and this is what I did with it

All of these flowers are from my yard. The peonies are spectacular, especially in real life. They are actually a bright fuscia color, even tho they look red in the pic. The purple flowers on the left are still a mystery, no one can figure out what they are. I won for my LO from the sketch on 6-8-11 and got an awesome prize from Scrappy Doodads. You should check out her Etsy store, some cool embellies and what not. Any who, the butterfly was from my prize pack, total score!!

I did actually get to the little house for a little bit to get a feel for what I had for the yard sale this weekend. Mike helped me out and we got all the stuff out of his shop. Now he has no excuse for cleaning up :) I really don't care, it is his sanctuary, he can have it however he wants it.

I didn't get my newspapers sorted, but they aren't goin anywhere, so whatever. Not gonna stress on it. Lots of stuff to do tomorrow again, staying busy keeps me sane I guess.
It's that time of day, so.....
Until next time, Cheers!
~Mindi

why did I forget....

to tell Mike that the back tire was low? ........Give up? because I wanted to come out of the grocery store to find I had a flat tire! Some nice person, unknown to me, left a note on my driver door window. It said "you have a flat tire :( " I am glad that person was nice enough to do that, because it was the back passenger tire and I wouldn't have seen it otherwise! I would have noticed after driving, but glad it didn't go down that way. I am so glad there are still good people in the world. That kind person took just a few seconds out of their day to write that note, but it saved me possibly driving on my rim and causing damage. So maybe next time you see someone with a flat tire, or needs help holding a door, or whatever the case may be, take that few seconds and help them out. Karma is a crazy cat that follows you around.

So, I did not (big surprise) get very much scrapping done today. Little to none actually. I did get pictures and paper picked out, so I WILL sit down at my desk tomorrow and do something about it! Then I HAVE to get out to the little house out back and get some yard sale items sorted and priced. Mike's aunt was nice enough to give me everything she was going to put in her yard sale, but didn't have one. So, now I am having a yard sale this Saturday. It will be nice to have some extra dough for our trip in August to Washington.

I have been on pins and needles the last week or so. I haven't heard anything about the Let's Scrap design team application yet. I did turn in my LO pretty early, since the deadline isn't until July 15. The good thing is the design team position would be for August thru November. The kids will all be going to school all day this year, so I will have a nice quiet day to be on the computer looking at sketches and hopefully inspiring others in their work. Let's Scrap  a great place to meet new scrappin buddies and meet new people from all over the world.  I actually really like the gals there and consider them friends. It would be such an honor to be a part of the design team there. To be a "leader" of sorts and hopefully someone that people could look to for support and ideas. So, as you can tell, I am pretty excited about this, and you will know as soon as I do!!

With neon green painted fingernails, and sleepy eyes, I will sign off for now.
Have a great night, Cheers!
~Mindi

What a great weekend

So, I hope everyone is having as good of a weekend as I have!! All day Wednesday and Thursday I spent re-arranging my "crack" room. Our Aunt gave us some old cupboards so I swapped them for a dresser I had in here. Much better storage solution. I also traded out some other shelving I had. I am very pleased with the way it turned out.

Then Friday I hosted another Wine, Scrap & Chat. It was a good time for all. I did a little less wine drinking, a lot more scrapping and about the same amount of chatting this time. :) I actually got something accomplished this time. This page

This was a Let's Scrap challenge, for the scrap your stash group. Challenge 10 was to use pre-made flowers, bling it up and use pre-made journaling. I put the journaling on the back, because I felt it was private for me and Susie. That and she wanted to hang it, and I didn't want her to have to look at my handwriting on something to remind her of her beautiful mother. She let me scan the photo of her mom, which is her Sophomore school picture. The sheet music was from as pile her mother had, which means a lot to her. We actually figured out the roman numerals (googled it lol) and the page is from 1907, just amazing!! I didn't want to cut it, so I folded it to  make a pouch of sorts. I had Susie's guidance throughout the process for her mom's favorite colors, etc.

Yesterday Susie and I went to garage sales. I just really enjoy spending time with her, we had a great time! I got this solid wood desk for 1$.

The black file cabinet I already had, and it barely squeezed by a fart under the desk!! That was the deciding factor if the desk would get to stay or not. Obliviously it fit and the desk stayed! I promise to do a post of my room soon, I would just really, really like to try to do some scrapping today :) I will give a sneak peek.

This is my flower storage

These jars are from several many different yard sales. The 2 largest jars were 50cents and 1$. The tall jar middle row left was 10cents!! The rest were any where from 10cents to 50cents. You just have to know what you are looking for when you leave, and you can find at least one jar at any yard sale! The shelves are from Michael's, purchased as a 3 pack with a 40% off coopin.

I am so ready to scrap, so for now, Cheers!
~Mindi

Painted with Fun

I was just going to put my new scrapbook LO's in their blog pages, but this one is getting posted here! Susie is my dearest, oldest, bestest friend and has been for over 15 years now. Anything we do together we have a blast! We have been thru thick and thin and thick again together and have only became closer with time. Loves ya Susie Q!

Some detail worth noting: I was pretty proud of myself for thinking to put the paintbrush and paint blob next to the title :). The title is stenciled, painted red and then blue with a smaller brush. I dry painted the red background strip with green and blue paints. The bottom trim is a paint chip from a sample book. Susie found it out at the farmhouse. She asked if I could use it for anything. I knew I could if I thought about it long enough!

I have to tell the story of her sitting on her front steps freezing with her feet in a pan of water. Mike and I went to Tombstone AZ for our honeymoon in March. The weather in MT was cold and yuk while we enjoyed the sunshine. Susie sent a picture message of her making a snow angel and said "I bet you can't do this right now" so Mike took a pic of me with my feet in the swimming pool saying "I can't, but you can't do this" lol Leave to Susie, she sent the pic of her on the stairs saying "yes I can!!!" We still laugh about it, I would have never thought of doin that if it was the other way around. She cracks me up!!

Once again, paint chip for the bottom border. I used my cricut to cut "fun" out of some blue glittery cardstock. The green paint chip is "clover leaf" cuz I am so lucky to have such a great friend.

Have a great night all, Cheers!
~Mindi
p.s. I was exhausted last night when I posted this, I forgot to add that this is Let's Scrap sketch from 5-26-10  :)

Happy Birthday Daddy!!

On this day in 1930 the greatest man was born, my Dad. He was a great father, one of the good 'ole boys, the best gardener I have ever seen and not a single person could say a bad thing about him. I never saw him go to church, but he always lived his life right. He treated others with respect and always helped out when he could. It doesn't seem like it has been almost 16 years since he has been gone. He passed away August 17, 1995 and my son and his namesake Clifford was born September 16, 1995. It's funny how time just slips by. Not a day goes by that I don't think of him and miss him dearly.

On another note, I am up early. After this I am gonna get in my "crack room" as Mike calls it, and get something done!! I think it is good therapy. Maybe I will even do a LO for my dad, just cuz!

Have a great day, Cheers!

Sometimes things are put where you can find them....

I had a wonderfully relaxing weekend! I went with my dearest, bestest friend out to her farm. In the exact spot considered to be the middle of nowhere and it was great!!!! It is mostly dirt road, and our backs were relieved that we got to pavement. We were cruisin down the highway at 60/65 mph and as we drove past what I thought was mud in the middle of the road. Susie screams "those were kitties"!! Brian hits the breaks, backs up down the highway and jumped out and grabbed the kitties!!

We backed up into a pull out and went looking thru the ditches for mama or siblings but nothing. All we had in the pick-up was some queso cheese we had been munching on so we let the kitties have some. They were so hungry that the black one was trying to eat the paw of the striped one because it had cheese on it. Poor little ones :( Susie had to pry it's jaw to get it to let go. So we gave the black on the lid and the striped got the jar. They really enjoyed it

Cute cheese faces!! So black kitty is Susie's named "Nacho" and striped is mine named "Queso" lol
So I got baby home and gave her some tuna and some milk and a very needed bath.

She has been a great kitty the last 2 days, slept a lot, which she needed. I think she is pretty happy with her new home.

We love our new little kitty, an angel to say the least. Who know's how many people drove by and missed or how long those poor babies were in the middle of the highway. God's hand protected those kitties until we got there.

Little blessings are everywhere around you, you just have to open your eyes to them.

SOOOOOO EXCITED

So,here it is, my entry for the Design Team at Let's Scrap. It is a sketch they selceted for the appicants to use. I spent a lot time thinking of something spectacular to do. Mike finally just told me to relax, keep it simple and classy, and I couldn't go wrong. Wish me luck!!

I am not sure how many people will get the fact that the wheat on the left side has full heads and the right is harvested, but at least I know.

We are gonna make Father's day cards this afternoon, and hopefully I will get some cleaning and arranging done in my room. If so, I will get some pics posted :)

There's no normal life, it's just life. Get on with it.~ Doc Holliday

I also put that as my status on facebook, because it fits my day today. I hate people who air all their dirty laundry online, so I will skip the details. I will just say this, sometimes just when you think life is going "normally" someone throws a wrench in things to shake it up. We are a strong family, and everything will be fine, but it is hard to not to hold a gruge against the haters. Sometimes, people just need to worry about themselves more than they worry about others. Kind of like the sliver in my eye compared to the log in yours.
Anyhow, gonna work on my design team challenge when I get home, and hopefully have some progress to post :)
Cheers for now

Rhubarb Crumble!

So, I did say I was gonna bake out of Betty Crocker cookbooks, but it only had pie recipes. Hubby is not a huge pie fan, so I moved onto the 1980 Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook. That is where I found this recipe

Let me tell you, it was a hit with everyone!!! So easy to make too!!

So, on another note.....
Let's Scrap http://letsscrap.ning.com/  is the website "I hang out on" and I love their challenges and sketches. I have won twice for prizes on random draw and also been chosen as "Inspiration of the Week". There is no prize for that, but it is worth more than any goodie bag to me. It is approval, acceptance, acknowledgement and most of all, an atta-girl for what I have done. You can't put a price on pride in what you have done :)  So anyway, as I mentioned earlier, they posted a sketch to be turned in as an application of sorts for the design team. My hubby, my friends, and even my friend to remain anonymous from Let's Scrap, have whole hearted encouraged me to go for it! I am aprehensive, but have started my page. I will post it when it is finished. I know the design team would be a lot of work, but I am down. I have nothing BUT time! lol So, wish me luck!

Paisley

Here is a close-up of paisley's I did on a page yesterday.

This is what it looks like on the page.

This was time consuming to do, but really easy. Very basic skills. I found a paisley pattern using Google image search. This is what I decided to use

I printed this on cardstock and copied in several different sizes. I picked colors from my Zig Markers that matched the striped paper. I am sure any marker or pen would work for coloring, just make sure it is acid free for scrapbooking purposes. Then the part that took awhile, cutting each one out. If you look at the close-up, some of them ended being up pretty tiny! I just glued them on the page, layering until I liked how it looked. I added bling brads to a few and used foam adhesive circles to make them stand up for a taller layer. VIOLA! Not to hard at all! The sketch I was using for inspiration http://letsscrap.ning.com/photo/2186252:Photo:300308 was a 2 page, so I used the left side. I HATE all of my circle cutters and punches, so I used the paisley's instead.

I have to go cook dinner, so for now
Cheers!

1st Blog Ever!!

So here it is, my 1st blog ever, and you are reading it! Aren't you the lucky one? I have had this set up for about a month now, and never got around to adding pictures or saying anything. It is amazing that when you have a goal for something you get more motivated. Let me explain....

I am an active member of the Let's Scrap website http://letsscrap.ning.com/  but I just joined last month. It was a great time to join because May was National Scrapbooking Month WOOT!! They had lots of NSD challenges posted along with their regular sketches and Design Team challenges. So, I got a lot of pages done last month :) Anyway, how this all connects is that they have just posted a sketch that you can do and submit as part of application for August thru November design team for the site. I would like to "go for it" if you will and along with their sketch they said to link to your blog so they can see your other work. VOILA I am now getting my blog going! I may or may not get the design team position, but either way it was good motivation to get my butt movin!

I am hoping to post pics of my craft room and show tips on how I store some of my things as I progress with my blog. I would like to also challenge myself to try 1 new recipe each month (maybe week) from the 1950 Betty Crocker cookbook. Lot's of high hopes and expectations for myself, but I think I can do it!

That's all for today, as I spent forever loading my wedding album pages and captioning them today, but I promise I will progess much faster now that I have the jump start.
Cheers and good night!