Finishing up THAW at Willow Traders

I made it through another month of scrapping challenges at Willow Traders! Here are the last 6 layouts for the month.

THAW #7--Evaluate your life.

Yearbook kit from Studio Calico!

THAW #8--Celebrate your favorite nut. I have two!

Pep Rally Add-on from Studio Calico.

THAW #9--magazine "lift". I lifted one of the "Made in Minutes" layouts in the October 2009 issue of Scrapbooks Etc.

Soda Fountain kit from Studio Calico.

THAW #10--National Denim Day

Combination of past kits from Scarlet Lime and The Scrapping Spot.

THAW #11--spin the color wheel

Yearbook kit from Studio Calico.

THAW #12--National Candy Corn Day

October kit from The Scrapping Spot.

Bad Blogger

I have no legitimate excuse for not blogging lately. I wish had a good excuse like I was saving the world from doom or feeding the hungry. I've done none of those. I've been consumed by Bejeweled Blitz, Farmville and Cafe World on Facebook. It should be renamed "Crackbook". I don't even check the home page most days...peoples' status is of no consequence to the goings on of the above mentioned addictions.

My students are fully immersed in reading The Clay Marble. They clamor for more reading time instead of GASP! Social Studies or Science. Oh the horror! But, I am secretly thrilled that they want to read as opposed to being forced.

Our fourth and fifth graders had the privilege of being visited by the local fire station. It isn't often that we get visitors. Clifford and Smokey visit Headstart and we usually get "a rock". They weren't the only ones to have some fun.



I was the ONLY teacher that this fire fighter asked to try the jacket on. Go me.

On to THAW at Willow Traders! THAW stands for THree A Week. We get three challenges posted the Friday before and each layout is due Monday, Wednesday and Friday of the following week. I do mine during the weekend.

THAW 1: scrap something sweet.


THAW 2: use the entire alphabet.

This one took TWO DAYS to do. All the letters were different colors so I got it in my head to paint them white. I needed two coats to get them white and then had to paint the entire background as well. I am nuts.

THAW 3: was due on National Moldy Cheese Day so we needed circles or triangles, yellow or white and something green.


THAW 4: use a dozen of something. I used those pink and orange thingies.


THAW 5: use your favorite dessert as inspiration for a layout. My fave dessert is tiramisu and used the brown/cream color for inspiration. Plus, we had to use lowercase letters. In all honesty, I chose that color scheme because I had The Scrapping Spot's October kit out and I wanted to scrap Kim's wedding pictures since her colors were...pink and brown.


THAW 6: scraplift a sponsor. I lifted Emelyn's "Sweet sixty-five" layout.

I WON!!!!

When I participated in the sketchfest challenges at Caardvarks, I never expected to get anything out of it except 7 card sketches and 7 cards to use in the future. Imagine my surprise when I checked my messages on my blackberry and saw a feedblitz email for Caardvarks. I went to my beloved MacBook to check if it was for real! Sure enough, when I clicked on my name, my blog came up!!! Thanks CAARDVARKS! You made my day!

LEO 15 and a card

I made it through all 15 challenges for LEO at Willow Traders! Go me!!! The assignment: Use ink or paint on a layout. I used black ink and charcoal Maya Mist on this layout.


Cardstock: Bazzill Lava; Papers: Studio Calico, Sassafras Lass (border strip); Ink: misc. black ink, charcoal and red maya mist; Rub-ons: Basic Grey; Alphabet: Sassafras Lass Vintage Yummy Monogram Alphabet Stickers and Adorn It by Carolee's; Misc. items: Tim Holtz mini mask, Studio Calico journal card, Maya Road turns.

This moment had to be documented. The title is what JB said when we were dressing him up for pictures on his 2nd birthday. Grandma got him the outfit and wanted to have pictures of him all decked out.

Here's a card for the Studio Calico blog challenge!


Cardstock: Bazzill Kraft; Paper: Making Memories snowflake (b side); Stamp: Studio Calico botanical; Misc.: red baker's twine from Michael's. Studio Calico items: bag sticker punched with a circle punch and "packed with love" card covered with kraft cardstock for sentiment.

LEO 14

Only one more LEO to go this month!
The assignment: shaped LO. It's a good thing I save the shaped papers from my kits. It's not that I don't know how to use them in a layout. I usually want to save it for something good. I used The Scrapping Spot's July 2009 kit for this one.

Papers: Fancy Pants Kraft Kut - Red Journaling, Summer Soiree Beach House, Summer Soiree Sunkissed, Autumn Leaves Die Cut Card lace, Summer Soiree Journal book page; Ribbon: Fancy Pants Printed Wave; Chipboard: Lime Rickey Chipboard stickers; Making Memories: Metal Sayings - Family; Alphabet: Doodlebug Design; Ink: Colorbox Chalk Ink-dark brown by Clearsnap.

LEO 12 and 13

LEO 12- me at 35
The challenge: use fabric on the layout. I used a strip of green fabric along the border of the Studio calico camera paper. Papers, embellishments and stamp from Studio Calico. Fabric from Ben Franklin Crafts.





Here's LEO 13...Enjoying Life

Pictures from yesterday's post. Papers and embellishments from an old Scarlet Lime kit.

sketchfest Saturday

It's the last day of sketchfest at Caardvarks. Here's my take on the sketch:



I used an old Scarlet Lime kit for this one.

Sketchfest Friday

It's a double post day. Here is sketchfest Friday at Caardvarks!

Here's my take on the sketch:


Paper: Daisy Bucket Playlist and Bazzill Basics Kraft cardstock, Rub-on: Scenice Route Paper Co., Ink: Colorbox Chalk ink by Clearsnap and Maya Mist, Frame stamp: Studio Calico.

Now I have to psych myself up to do LEO 13...multiphoto LO.

Disclaimer: I'm not a professional photographer

Yesterday we said to good-bye to Auntie Chia. She was the last of her generation and all of us were saddened by her passing. But, she is truly in a better place. Fr. John Francis told a story during his homily about a woman and her fork.

She wanted to be buried with a fork in her hand. As she grew up, she was always told, "Hang on to your fork." There was something more to come. The woman wanted to be buried with her fork so that everyone would know that she finally had that something more. Uncle Marco put a fork into the flowers adorning the top of her coffin at the cemetery. It brought laughter through the tears and reminded us to be happy for now Auntie Chia is with Uncle Bill and the rest of the family smiling down on us.

Today we gathered one last time to say the final rosary. We prayed. We ate. The children ran around. The older folks talked and laughed. We took pictures. I'm so used to take single shots, not groups. GRRRR...forgot to change the f/stop on the camera and was left with some blurry shots. Those toward the back were...well, part of the background. Live and learn. Are the pictures totally shot?!?! Not to me. They still represent family and the joy we shared today.

Front row: Auntie Binkie, Auntie Eva, Auntie Zina aka Robocop, Mom. Second row: Auntie Marcia, Auntie Fay, Auntie Margaret, Auntie Patty, Auntie Dora. Third row: Auntie Vi, Auntie Jo, Uncle Alfred, Uncle Frankie, Uncle Marco, Uncle Donald.

These are our family's new elders...otherwise known as the "Manams" short for "Manamko'" which means elder in Chamorro. But, that's not all of them. There are more...

Sketchfest Thursday

I'm five for five of the sketchfest! That's five more cards than I had last week. They will all come in handy at some point.



Today I used a kit from 2008 from The Scrapping Spot! I can't remember off the top of my head which month it came from, but it was full of Chatterbox Happy. It was also the kit where Dee crocheted a butterfly. I still have the butterfly! Saving it for something really cool... :) I think I added the Chatterbox Happy stickers to the kit bag after having gotten it from somewhere else. I have no clue! It's been crazy busy around here lately. I can't imagine how I'd be these days if I had a husband and children. Not that I don't want them. I do...just waiting for God's plan there. But, I digress. I purposely didn't tack on a sentiment on this card. I like having a bunch of cards ready for any occasion. Thanks to Heidi for such awesome sketches this week!

Sketchfest Wednesday!

Here's day four of sketchfest!




I used Studio Calico's Playground kit for this one. I added a Jenni Bowlin rhinestone button. I also used Maya Mists in lime and charcoal. I used a the fiskars butterfly shape template as a stencil.

Sketchfest Tuesday and LEO 11

Here's day three of the Caardvark's sketchfest!



I used Studio Calico's July "documentary" kit. The flower came from a tutorial from Lisa at Willow Traders.

I used the same kit to scrap LEO 11 at Willow Traders. The assignment was to sew on a layout. I used the effervescence punch by Fiskars and sewed through the second set of holes with some yellow baker's twine that I got from Michael's.


This is a layout of me with my friend Sarah. Sarah and I met online through The Scrapping Spot's message board. We met in real life for the first time over the summer while I was in Vegas.

Monday's sketchfest

Here's day two of sketchfest at Caardvarks:Monday's sketch.

Here's my take on the sketch:




I used the Bibliography kit from Studio Calico and Tim Holtz's Flights of Fancy stamp set.

Play along with Sketchfest at Caardvarks

There's a sketchfest going on at Caardvarks! Here's my take on the first card sketch:



I used a past Studio Calico Kit and a stamp from Scarlet Lime.

Catching up with the LEOs

LEO 6: Old friends thank facebook
The assignment was to use decorative edges on a layout. I used the Martha Stewart zig zag punch and the Fiskars upper crest punch. I LOVE punches!!



LEO 7: Welcome
The assignment was to use old stash. This kit was from Scarlet Lime 2008.



LEO 8: being a mama
The assignment was to make flowers. I used a tutorial that Lisa had done. Completely CASEd her flowers from the Studio Calico paper bags to the scalloped circle to the use of maya and glimmer mists.



LEO 9: Random Hamdom
The assignment was to scraplift a design team member layout from one of the prize sponsors. I chose a layout by Hillary Hiedelberg from The Scrapping Spot's DT. She had a two-page layout posted, but I'm a mostly one-page scrapper.



LEO 10: growing up
The assignment: "That was then this is now"...in other words scrap a progression of some sort. I chose to scrap pictures of my niece Toria. She was 8 and receiving her first holy communion in the first picture and 15 in the second picture. All grown up, but she'll always be little to me.



It's a somewhat sad weekend for me. Got home yesterday after work to find out that my grandma's youngest sister, Auntie Chia, passed away at noon. No one called to tell me, but then what could I have done? She was the last of their generation. Now they're all dancing happily together.

Catching up with the LEO Challenge

I feel like someone hit the fast forward button on my life this week. Two nights in a row I ate dinner L.A.T.E. I make it a point to eat before 8pm...but two nights I had dinner around that time. UGH. I've still managed to keep up with my LEO stuff though. The one saving grace in the hectic week!!

LEO 3: Use a non-scrappy item. I used the brown paper bag (the strip under the black crepe ribbon) from my Studio Calico kit.




LEO 4: Scrap an OLD photo. This one is O.L.D. From the 50s or 60s...I keep forgetting to ask which decade.




LEO 5:



I used this sketch by Shawn as inspiration for this layout. I also finally got to use my September TSS kit

September LEO Challenge 2

We were given two color palettes to choose from for this challenge. I went with the first one, because that die cut paper matched perfectly!

September LEO Challenge 1

Challenge 1: Choose a layout from the July LEO and scraplift it! I chose this layout by Celeste.



Here's my scraplift:


I used the May 2009 Studio Calico Playground Kit.I added the Jenni Bowlin bingo card from a 2008 kit from The Scrapping Spot.

September LEO Challenge

I signed up for the September Layout Every Other Day at Willow Traders. I usually scrap like a mad woman during the summer. This summer was a bust in comparison to previous years. I spent the first three weeks of my summer vacation winding down from the school year, taking a three-credit class to jumpstart my teacher recertification in 2012 and packing for my three-week vacation. Of course, no scrapping happened while I was on vacation, but I sure did take a lot of pictures. Little did I know that after being home for three weeks, I would be gone again for another three weeks. I have several kits piled up that have been sitting untouched. But I digress from the original point of this post.

When Jill posted on The Scrapping Spot's message board about the WT September LEO Challenge, I knew it was my chance to get some scrapping done.

A pre-challenge challenge was posted for the weekend in anticipation for the start of September. It was easy and fun and I knew I would have no trouble doing it.



Even Jill, the original Miss I-don't-make-cards made a few. Lucky me, I get one of them!!

Reminiscing

My mom's only brother flew in from Minnesota for a visit. Spur of the moment trip for him. Took us quite by surprise when he said he was going to fly out here. I woke up at 5:15am on Friday and went to bed at 2am Saturday after picking him up. While he played catch-up with his sisters yesterday afternoon, I took a three-hour nap.

Old pictures came out of the glass case today. Extremely old pictures. Uncle Jimmy still had all his hair. Auntie Margaret was wearing dresses. We came across this picture...


...the six of them all in a row from youngest to oldest. That's my mom third from the right. Amazing to see that she wasn't always the shortest.

And then I saw this...



...a picture of my grandfather. With hair. Black hair. Never in my life had I seen him with a full head of black hair.

I scanned these two pictures and photoshopped them a bit. Auntie Marie didn't realize that her eyes were closed in the original picture because it was much smaller. Can you open my eyes? She asked. Nope. I don't work magic. There are lots of other gems in there. Can't wait to discover all of them.

one post long overdue

It's been more than a month since I've blogged. Busy traveling without my beloved MacBook. Traveling without a computer can be both liberating and mind-boggling. I did have my blackberry, but turned off data service...did NOT want to pay roaming for THAT. I had my Ipod touch, but there's only so much you can do on that small screen. I was on vacation. Literally. Figuratively. Physically. Insert any -ally word you want here. Basically, I checked out of my highly responsible, always available life. I think I called home a total of three times in the three weeks I was gone. So, just where did that big plane take me?

I went to Hawaii for four days for Kim and Jeff's wedding. Hung out with Dean. Went shopping with Addie. Spent some time riding the free trolley to Ala Moana. Tried to sleep in, but failed in a big. Who would have thought that I would be up at 4:30/5:00 most days?!!? I was appalled at myself.

Next stop: PDX. I told everyone I was going to Portland. It wasn't a lie. I DID fly into Portland. But, I spent most of my time in Battle Ground, Washington with Shannon and her family. Two little ones and a husband and thankfully, no four-legged friends. My favorite cats in the whole wide world, George and Piper, had to go to new homes several years ago. Sad not to see them loafing around and getting their hair all over me. We spent a day and a half in Ocean Shores, Washington. Seriously, NOT the place to go when you're used to the warm calm Pacific Ocean around here. Beyond frigid water and dark sand. So not for me. I did end up in Portland with Leanne and her family. It was hard to imagine Leanne and Neil with a little one, but after seeing them all together...so much easier to put my mind around it. Lucas was a hoot!

Finally, I was off to Las Vegas. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right? NO need for full-disclosure! I had fun spending time with Patsi, Maureen and family, shopping with Anne Marie (who knew the spike-haired tom boy would turn girly) and just hanging out. I also got to meet and spend some time with Sarah from The Scrapping Spot's MB. It was triple-digit hot! You would think I learned my lesson 2 years ago visiting in the summer, but that's the life of a teacher.

My flight was delayed from LA to Honolulu by two and a half hours. Luckily, the flight was overbooked so I was upgraded to First Class. I spent the night at Ala Moana and prepared for the long flight home.

I tell ya, if one can't do the direct flight from Honolulu to Guam, first class is the way to go if traveling via Narita. The first class seats on Northwest's double decker 747 virtually turn into beds. I was upstairs and it wasn't full. My purse had its own seat!

While I love leaving the island on vacations, I relish being home in my own bed. Nothing like being at home.

Through the Lens Lesson 2

Moving along through lesson 2...more inanimate objects! I used my 50mm f/1.8 lens for all these pictures.



This was my bouquet from Christine and Cedric's wedding LAST year. It was made with silk flowers. Just shook off some dust and brought it outside.


'

Same bouquet, different location. LOVE that blurry background!



These poor orchids are "jailed"!



Same orchids...you can see their "jail" more clearly.

Through the Lens

I thought it was time I learned a little more about my Canon XSi so I signed up for this class at Debbie Hodge's Get It Scrapped site. I've printed lesson 1 and got started with taking some pictures. All the subjects were at school or at home so I had no human specimens to shoot. I took a toy car and went outside. First lesson was on focal points.

Assignment 1:


Center Focus


Far right focus--if there's a fancy name for it, I have no clue!


Center focus--recomposed left. At least that is what I think it is. I focus on the car with the shutter button halfway down and then moved over to the left.


Center focus--recomposed right.

Extra Credit:


Used one of those foreign buttons on my camera and it didn't explode!! Back button focus.

For all of these pictures, I used a 50mm 1.8 lens on program mode (a new mode for me!!!). Couldn't do assignment 2 as the kidlets were conspicuously absent and the livestock was not moving under the shady tree.

A Black Hole

Sometimes I feel like time disappears into a black hole. It's been almost a month since I've posted to this blog. Busy with end-of-the-school-year stuff. Short recap since the last update:

• Mid-quarter progress reports sent out a mere couple of weeks before report cards were to be distributed. Talk about extra work!
  
• Report cards filled out...waiting for grades from other teachers is the worst! It is was just me posting grades, I would have been done the day after our cut-off date.
  
• Two field trips to finalize and go on. We watched "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian" and went bowling. Two different days.
  
• Last day of school craziness. Out of 24 students, only 13 showed up for the last day. Didn't bother me one bit. I still had report cards to finish. I let the kids watch a DVD on the computer, play with random things and just hang out. They played musical chairs WITHOUT music. HOW? Someone hummed some tunes. It was fun to hear and see them be inventive. We did the annual bus wave-off. In the hot sun. I was not amused.
• Finished all my work on the last work day by 10am and I had to stick around till 2pm. Where's the justice there??!?!
  

Spent a couple of days just vegging. Dinners in the crock pot that cooked all day and were so yummy to savor at night. Then...BAM! I got sick. It always happens. ALWAYS. When my body has a chance to relax, for some inane reason, my immune system decides to shut down and I get to spend the next few days breathing through my mouth. It helps NOT ONE bit that people in the neighborhood burn illegally, that my uncle's yard dude decides to do their ENTIRE lawn on one of the hottest days and that people in the class I'm taking wear strong perfume. The upside is, I can't really smell these things with the stuffy nose, but my nasal passages still react. Fun, huh?

And no, you didn't read wrong. I am taking a class. It's a five-day three-credit class that I'm taking for teacher recertification. My certification expires in 2012, but I don't want to wait till the last minute to get those classes done. Plus, it's hard to find a three-credit class for $60. Not a lot of scrapping done lately. Waiting for a shutterfly order...must be swimming its way to me.

it was just the weekend...

... I swear, it was just the weekend. Today is Wednesday. Where did the last few days go?!?!? Kind of weird that this week is going by fast, or so it seems. I haven't felt like this in a LONG time. Could be that Auntie Margaret came in on Friday night so I got to go to a movie by myself at 8:40pm. Could be that we celebrated Mother's day on Saturday night. Could be that I finally sat down and figured out flights and schedules for my summer vacation. I think it's the last one.

I was originally going to purchase my ticket and use miles to upgrade. But then I found out that upgrading to business class required 40,000 miles (not bad) plus $400 EACH way. Say what?!?!? Basically, the additional charge would bring my cost up to a full economy fare. No thanks. There was NO way I was going to spend $2000+ to fly to Hawaii and back. My Continental mileage bank read at 88,000+ miles. I played with the dates and finally settled on leaving on June 18th and returning July 8th. There went 80,000 miles out of my mileage bank. For business class. Roundtrip. But then I had a technical problem come up on the continental.com website. So I called the local office. At the end of the day, 70,000 miles was deducted, paid $17 for processing and I still get to fly business class. I do have to return home the circuitous route from Honolulu to Narita to Guam. But, it's business class. I can handle that. Now, I don't plan on staying in Honolulu for three weeks. I'll be there for five days/four nights and attend my cousin Kim's Catholic wedding ceremony and visit with some friends.

So, more playing around on the computer. Orbitz and expedia were my friends. I wanted to visit Shannon in Portland (actually Battle Ground, WA) and Patsi in Vegas. I was going to do Vegas then Portland, but it works out better for everyone if I do Portland and then Vegas. Honolulu to Portland to Vegas to Honolulu... $658 on expedia. Apparently, I got a good deal according to my friends. Those flights are Northwest flights...or should I call them Delta? At least, Uncle Jimmy will still have a paycheck since I contributed to my hard-earned cash to his employers. This will be the cheapest trip I have taken since I started working. Even if I stay in a hotel in Honolulu (I'm so leaning towards this), I'll still come out spending under $1100.

Something to look forward to. Spending time with friends. Shopping...the only time I can stand to be in a mall is on vacation. Go figure. I seriously cannot stay on this rock the entire summer. Only TEN more school days (eleven more work days). Then three weeks after that and I'm gone. I have about three weeks left of summer vacation when I return and then school begins again.

Now, I'm off to watch "The Phantom of the Opera" on DVD because I am going to see it (for the second time) in Vegas.

NSD Layouts

Here's another layout for the Studio Calico challenges... April's mist challenge, Tina C.'s white space challenge and MLE's self-portrait challenge. I finally figured out how to use the timer on my camera and mounted it on my tripod. I used two different textures on top of the photo in photoshop.



This second one for the day goes with Stephanie's something old...lots of old stuff -- kaiser buttefly, heidi swapp frame, glitter thickers.



It's a dreary, rainy Sunday here. My throat's a little scratchy and this weather does not help in the allergy dept. I'll probably fall asleep soon... love naps on Sunday afternoons especially when it's raining.

April in a nutshell

I totally dropped the picture a day ball. Just became too much of a chore and not much fun. Instead, I've chosen 30 pictures taken from random April events to highlight life in the fourth month of 2009. From our first visit to the newly opened Chili's restaurant to Allie's 14th birthday to Easter and new clothes, creating things and discovering new supplies at the craft store, taking self-portraits and spring shows, getting a bigger working surface and dancing. It's still all meaningful for me.

Today is National Scrapbook Day! I'm jumping among Willow Traders, Studio Calico, and The Scrapping Spot this weekend. I have a challenge going up at The Scrapping Spot at 11am Eastern Time. I'm kind of glad we're a day ahead so I can still do some challenges posted around cyberspace and still get entered for some prizes... I did one layout for 5 different challenges at Studio Calico!



This ONE layout encompasses 5 challenges at SC: stitching, 3 patterned papers, using mist, something old and ledger/graph.