081612 My Super Hero

Well my favorite challenge site is celebrating it's one year anniversary this week! Congratulations to Pam & Lisa at Whimsical Musings! This week we get to choose from all of the challenges for the entire year. I am trying to play catch-up a bit so I have chosen to use my CKC August kit for my challenge #41 layout based on a superhero - how fun!

As soon as I heard this challenge I knew what photo I would be scrapping.

This snap just begs for a cape!

Not sure where I found this image (I think a digi kit) 

but I knew I would need the cape idea 

& as I'm not always too bright on my own 

about adding the artsy details I saved this.

So let's see what I can do with my really super-girly kit... yikes

Ah, but how soon I forget that there is a B-side to my papers...

(3 is the backside of my hexagon paper) 

...plus I have that fun cartoony wood grain paper - perfect.

I choose some possible elements from my stamp sets.

And super heroes have super powers.

(How am I doin' so far?)

I think I will stitch those zingers down - love the energy!

After playing with a title & a little journaling & detailing I've got a page.

(Now we just have to remember when/where this was taken...)

081112 Today...

Been way too long since we've had our Saturday date day. Hubby dearest got a hankering to make pasta so set out into cyberspace to find an Italian market. Off to Livonia! Being the geographically-challenged woman that I am I had not a clue where it is/how long it would take to get there. More later on that...

(They had me at the "Fresh Baked Bread" sign on the awning, lol :~)

OH, yeah!

This is part of a row of cases of frozen homemade stuffed pastas. Shown here: 

Homemade Gnocchi, Italian Chicken Ravioli, Florentine Pesto Ravioli, 

Italian Sausage & Broccolini Ravioli, Italian Sausage Baci, 

Veal & Porcini Mushroom Baci, Ham & Porcini Blend Ravioli, 

Roasted Butternut Squash Ravioli, Portobello Mushroom Giant Ravioli... oh, my!

Olive?

Pasta??? 

Can you believe that this aisle runs from front to back of the entire building? 

And I couldn't find alphabet pasta for Lincoln...

We managed to find a FEW things to take home, ahem!

And within our window of opportunity, an unplanned stop on the way home.

 As I said, I didn't know where we were headed until after we were en route. When I realized that we were going past Novi I immediately thought, Do we have time to stop at Archivers? I never did get there in May when I was down there for the MegaMeet or when my kindred spirit came for a visit this summer - she got sick & we couldn't go. Time allowed! My knight in shining armor does it again without even trying - love ya, honey! xo

Oooooooooooo!  Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!

 

BAD blogger - I forgot to take pictures when we ATE once we got home!
Oh, man - we got 3 kinds of ravioli to die for plus 2 quarts of sauce, some kind of
unpronouncable bread (they had samples :~) that you soak in olive oil & top with
some stuff we bought, asiago artichoke spread (groan), olives, fresh mozzarella
(probably my favorite cheese), italian sausages both hot & mild, etc.

Scraproom Teaser

What's behind this door?

And what is going to happen with these?

 Stay tuned!

August CKC Kit "Rebel Summer"

This month's inspiration is a wonderful digi kit from Scrap Orchard in tried & true all-American style.

Now I'm as much a patriot as the next gal but this kit presented me with two huge problems - don't have a lot of product that was reminiscent of it & no photos in my arsenal that seemed compatible either in story or feel! What's a counterfeiter to do?

Then I realized that I always start with the paper. Well, although I wasn't inspired by the color scheme, there was a really nice mix of patterns in this kit! Pattern I got :~)

Gingham, small floral on dark background, hexagon, plaid (this is where I started), REBEL change-up from a grey suede textured paper, small (well...) floral on light background, lined paper, chevron, REBEL change-up from plain color, polka dot, stripe that reads like a corduroy texture to replace the denim, and  woodgrain (hehe)...

Fortunately for these middle-aged eyes a complete listing of all of the other components was provided. I decided to work closely with this list since I was already a rebel with the papers. Although a few items are awol (bicycles & fruit, for example, although I did include some felt), I am not ruling out making some pinwheels from scratch along the way!

If I had room I would love to keep this Configurations tray out all month just as you see it - I think it is inspiring. Some more bits & bobs below. I included b/w copies of the layouts from the inspiration kit page to break them down into sketches. Otherwise stickers, stamps, ribbons, flowers, stitch rub-ons & a yummy butterfly paper (someone mentioned butterflies being summery in their kit presentation & I totally lifted that idea) and I'm calling it good. Still need to choose some alphas, if I can remember where I put them in my newly organized scrapspace!

Bye-bye, Beachy Keen...

Can't believe it's time again to put together a new counterfeit kit. And this month my special scrappin' bestie, Lynnette, is the Guest Designer - how marvelous! Go take a look at her kit post here, it is blogging at it's best :~D

So this is the final farewell to my Beachy Keen July kit, which was a surprise in how enjoyable it was to stretch in new directions. I intentionally wanted to use black, white or kraft backgrounds this month and for the most part kept to that pinkie swear with myself. Here is layout #9:

When going through my magic blue box I discovered a few things that hadn't been used. These photos I had matched up early on with the vintage BG paper - tough to use it all up at once! I had really wanted to use the JB stencil paper throughout the month as a stencil so that it would be painted/spritzed/inky when I finally used it as paper on a page. It was perfect here as the title fit right in with the letters!

The JB medallion stamp was forlorn & inkless in the bottom of the box so out it came - the perfect thing to accent that G for the title. Here's a tip, though. When stamping on paper with cutouts you will have to stamp the image on both layers to ensure that your image is complete (grateful no permanent adhesive had been applied!) 

 And one last canvas embelli, using another stamp from the set - having those really encouraged me to think stamping but within a limited choice. All in all this kit ultimately turned out to be loads of fun!

Scrapspace Part Deux

This is the first scrapspace I have had that had wall space. And oh! What a lot of things can be done with walls! Lots of inspiration out there but as I'd prefer to spend my money on scrap supplies, I have improvised.

Technically NOT wall space, but I never had a door, either! Pottery Barn - love the look of this & the idea of utilitizing that space but $60? I don't really even think shelves are what I need but it looks so cool! Found this over-the-door towel rack lonely & forgotten in my mudroom:

How perfect! I thought hanging was the way to go for packs of embellis and even considered a clear hanging shoe storage bag, but this can accommodate a variety of sizes & has a high visibility factor which I need. For me out of sight is out of mind which is why it is so important that I carefully consider what is on display.

This was where I started with this part:

 

Had thought I would love to have an inspiration board on this wall until I saw this:

This was REALLY my heart's desire, but at $150 (ouch!) I paused... This isn't exactly in the style of my  pretty little room but I really loved the idea of showcasing some inspiration in my space. An email from Michaels  & their cube storage system at 50% off looked pretty tempting! And it fit on my sideboard with room left for my Big Kick.

Next I will have to deal with the closet (cue ominous organ music) so that I have shelving for the bins that are still downstairs, and a space for my sewing machine to stay set up - perfect!

 

Stay tuned!

To my 18 year old self

I had some helpful inspiration for this ScrapHappy Cookbook prompt, which I've credited on my Flickr post. I started out with a figure on the phone from the 9 to 5 October Afternoon line to represent my current self and a vintage (wow - I am really that old...) photo for my 18 year old self.

I chose the Basic Gray Lauderdale 6x6 paper pack for a patchwork background as it reminds me of retro style. I tried to chose more chaotic papers for the early days (top right).

Next I wanted to use the Jenni Bowlin numbered paper but it was going to overpower everything so it had to get trimmed back.

Then I cut some arrows marked on the back of plain green Lauderdale paper, then made the raw chipboard telephone into a glossy black one by inking and adding Ranger Glossy Accents. Don't mind the bubbles - a label will be added later on top with the year (intended to look like the phone number).

A phone needs a cord, but this one is brown, not black. 

Ink pad to the rescue again!

Number one lesson I wish I'd known as an 18 year old?

Put GOD first. Everything else just follows from that.

Decided that sentiment needed a little more pizzazz so created a little crown style accent with one of my first scrapbooking purchases - fancy edge scissors! I think I bought a tub of them, lol. I am surprised how often these come in handy, though, to add just a little something extra to a mat.

Time for a snack :~)

Then sew down the paper patchwork & arrows.

And there you have it.

The advice I would give ANYONE, young or old.