Funny Layout

Here's a layout I finished over the weekend.  I used a couple of December 2010 events to poke fun at my inferior photo-taking abilities.


I know all of December's blurry pics might make you think it, but.....I was not DRUNK! 

The few pictures I have from these two events last December came from my phone's camera.  I have learned that it can be a great camera, but it's really hard to hold it still.  I've gotten better, but that first month was literally a blur!  Anyway, joking about the blurry pictures gave me a way to coordinate these two unrelated events into one layout.

I used all Jillibean Soup (from last year's and this year's holiday lines), except for the shapes strung across the bottom of the page - those came from another sheet of shapes from my stash.  I started with a sketch from Sketch Support.

Celebrate Football Season!

This weekend starts college football frenzy around our house!

Crystal owns the TV from now until late November, and then again from late December through the bowl season. 

She knows all the coaches and players and has a head for the stats, records and stories for all the teams.  Thursday and Friday nights often include games.  Saturdays become 12 hour football marathons, and it's not uncommon to watch 2 games at the same time. Sundays become analysis days, filled with sports shows, newspaper articles, and maybe an NFL game, just to keep up with where college players go. 

I watch the Buckeye games, and I'll get interested in other games throughout the season, but the constant football attention starts to wear on me.  I'm so happy to have my craft room, so I can retreat there.  I fully expect to get a lot of scrapping done this fall - and I won't hear a peep about it from Crystal until sometime after Thanksgiving.

In honor of the fall football frenzy, I am having my first contest!  It's a simple one - I just need your opinion.  Reply to this post , and I'll draw a random winner.  Here is the question:



September 2010 - Part of the Club - For just one day we got to see how "The Other Half" lives at Ohio Stadium.  We parked in our reserved spot and made our way to the Skull Session. Then we went to the stadium and found our Huntington Club seats. Private food, bathrooms and TVs, our own seats with cupholders....don't think we can go back!

 I "completed" these pages at a recent, very productive crop at Red Letter Journals, and I used a sketch from Sketch Support.  But - after I got everything affixed to the page, I realized that I completed mismeasured the mat on the righthand page, and suddenly I had a big hole to fill.

I need ideas on how to fill that page!  Anything that involves moving or taking this page apart is not an option - I used ATG tape, so it's all super stuck, and I don't want to put that kind of time into starting over.

So, tell me, what would you do?  All suggestions will be entered into a random drawing.  Feel free to include a shout out for your favorite team, too!  Reply by 5pm, Friday, Sept. 2nd, and I'll draw and post a winner over the weekend.  Winner receives a package of goodies from my stash.  If the winner happens to be a Buckeyes fan, maybe there will be a little something extra :).

Go ____________________ (insert your team name here, even if it's Meeechigan)!

Want to Do vs. Have to Do

I have a lot of "have to do's" this weekend. Yuck! 

I have to work on Saturday morning, and then we're finishing up some projects around the house. I see patching, caulking, sanding and painting in my near future.  Double yuck!

Add in the usual grocery shopping and laundry, and it's almost enough to make me want to skip to Monday.

But somewhere in there I WILL get some free time, and with that I will participate in the Miss Arts Papercrafting School Free Class.  Looks like a great way to see one class and take a look at the site's list of other available resources, too.

Summer? Summer? Where Are You?

I know where it went.....



It started in May with our trip to the Hocking Hills.....



It continued through June with Junior's classes......



and a terrific month of scrapping, thanks to the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog....



It turned into July and flew by with fun events like my 20 year high school reunion and this night when we were able to meet Tess Gerritsen.....



And I took an online class with Allison Davis at My Creative Classroom. These are just a few of the pages I completed for the class gallery......



....and then August has been the Month of Junior.  Poor puppy hurt his back, so we spent lots of time at vets and emer$en$y vets, trying to help him through the pain and the uncertainty.  After 2 full weeks of complete crate rest and another almost 2 weeks of low activity, he has had enough of it and wants to PLAY!

I did sneak away on one August weekend for a two day crop at a LSS, Red Letter Journals.  It was a fantastic two days and nights, and between that weekend, the Allison Davis class and the Counterfeit Kit challenges, I am so close to being caught up on our 2010 and 2011 albums.  My goal was to have it all done by August 31st, and I think I'm actually going to be able to say that I met my goal! 

In Junior's Honor

Here's a simple before and after for  Metamorphisis Monday at Between Naps on the Porch.  My offering is not nearly as exciting as this week's featured screened in deck (it's lovely!), but it is something that will perk up our bedroom wall.

This post is in honor of our dog Junior, who is just not having a good month.  Right now the vet's best guess is that he has a pinched nerve in his back. And while his x-rays didn't show anything to explain his pain, they did reveal a fracture in his hip.  So, our boy is on strict crate rest for a month. That's right, 30 days. We're on day 2. I don't know how any of us are going to make it. How do you keep an active pup in a cage for a full month?!

As an aside, August is earning a bad reputation around our house.  August 2009: Our cat, Owen, was in the hospital and then passed away. August 2010: Junior's first brush with emergency medicine - he was recovering from water intoxication after a beach outing.  And how this.  Serenity now! Serenity now!

Anyway, a couple of weeks ago, I found this plaque and liked the quote and sepia coloring:

And here it is after my alteration:

Notice the difference? I printed Junior's picture in a sepia tone, to match the coloring of the plaque. I chose a close up and cropped an 8x10 print to fit.

Just a quick, inexpensive way to personalize a piece of artwork. 

Here's hoping our Junior will heal and get back to being the active guy he wants to be!