The One with February American Crafts Layouts

I can't believe tomorrow is the first day of March. February sure has flown by! Don't forget to say, "Rabbit! Rabbit!" first thing after midnight and you'll have good luck all month, or so says my Malm.

I scrapped today for my monthly American Crafts assignment and here's what I created:


Once An Animal Lover, Always An Animal Lover

Tips and such:
1) So I've been watching Full House (best show ever!) on DVD and just started season 3 and it just so happens I was watching the episode where they get their dog Comet while I was making this animal-themed layout. What a co-ink-a-dink.
2) I'm so proud of myself for using patterned paper as my background :)
3) I made the brackets by folding a piece of yellow cardstock in half, drawing half a bracket with a pen then cutting it out. Voila - a full bracket!
4) No sewing machine used on this layout - shocking!

Journaling says: I've been an animal lover ever since I can remember. I've always had a plethora of pets to satisfy my daily need of human-animal interaction. My very first pet (besides fish) was a guinea pig named Tanmerry (pronounced "Tan-marie"). She was a good first pet but passed away right before we moved to Washington. This is me as a little girl feeding some cats a popsicle and such.

Supplies: All supplies are from the new I DO line by American Crafts - Cardstock, patterned paper, brads (fabric, jewel, pearl), badge, buttons, dimensional felt flowers, chipboard letter stickers (flocked, metallic), pen, adhesive: American Crafts; Scissors, paper cutter: Fiskars


My Mother's Shoes

Tips and such:
1) This is my all-time favorite picture of me as a little girl. I've used it plenty of times in my arts & crafting, and I stumbled across a whole page of them while searching for a picture to scrap. I just had to use it again.
2) I started by punching 40 scalloped circles from each of the new 24 patterned papers in the Botanique line (soooo pretty!) and used the fronts and backs of each paper. I punched smaller regular circles from most of the papers and adhered them on the same scalloped circles using thick foam dots. I embellished some of the circles with brads, chipboard flowers, Flair, and journaling.
3) I wanted the title to be "Walking In My Mother's Shoes" but it was too long. Oh wells!
4) This layout weighs about 5 pounds :)
5) No stitching on this layout either! What's happening to the world?!?! I wanted to go over the scalloped circles that don't have any embellishing on them with white stitching, but after visualizing it in my mind's eye, I decided against it. But don't you worry, I WILL bust out my sewing machine soon enough. It's addicting.

Journaling says: I'm so glad that my mom took these pictures of me as a toddler walking in her high heels. It just proves how much I love her and how I've always wanted to grow up and be exactly like her. I'm so glad that my mom and I are so close and get to talk on a daily basis via Google chat. She's the best mom in the world!

Supplies: All supplies are from the new BOTANIQUE line by American Crafts - Cardstock, patterned paper, brads (jewel, pearl), badges, foam letter stickers, chipboard flowers (flocked, printed), paper leaves, pen, adhesive: American Crafts; Scalloped circle punch, circle punch, paper cutter, scissors: Fiskars

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The One with Cafe Rio Overload

I know I know, enough about Cafe Rio already. But we went and it must be documented for our future posterity.

Cafe Rio opens at 10:30am (at least the one in Manhattan Beach does, not sure about any of the other locations, though I'm assuming they all open 'round the same time) so I wanted to be there at about 11 to avoid the lunch rush. Who eats lunch at 11am right? Chris Olson texted us when we were about 10 minutes away and said the wait was two hours! We were still gonna go, Cafe Rio is simply worth the wait, but it turns out he was lying. There was no wait. Score.

The purpose of this picture is three fold. One: to show this Cafe Rio does exist. Two: to show Jenny's genuine enthusiasm. Three: to show the Chris' performing their secret handshake...???

Happy girls!

Chris and Paige. February 27th 2010. In heaven. Lookin' good Jenny :)

This is what all of the fuss is about my friends. Pork burrito. Enchilada style.

We even got one of our meals for free cuz we had a full frequent diner card from when we lived in Utah. We planned to use it on our very last day in Utah, but moving took a lot longer than expected. We were saving it for our next trip back there but not no mo! We've got our own Cafe Rio now, hallelujah!

This is the face of pure bliss.

The gang and our meals.

Let me just say Cafe Rio is like a legend in our religion. If you ever want to be in good company, just head to Cafe Rio. You're almost guaranteed to meet up with a random old friend. Chris Olson did!

We actually recognized one of the workers in the assembly line from the Provo location. We told him we had all just moved to California from Utah and he was so happy to see us he gave us free drinks. Then Blake went up to him later and asked where we could get the Cafe Rio t-shirts we'd seen people sporting around and a few minutes later he came back with an armful of shirts for each of us. Just wait, it gets better. Attached to each t-shirt is a tag for a free meal!

We are SOOOO going back next Saturday.

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The One with the AC Studio Blog Layout

Visit the AC Studio Blog to check out a layout I made using the new Heat Wave line. Here are some sneaks to entice you to see the real deal.



I was challenged to make a love layout using the new Heat Wave line which is based around beach stuff. I love a good challenge. Speaking of challenges, I gotta get back to working on my challenge gallery and new challenge post on the CARDS blog. TTFN - ta ta for now!

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The One with Simple Pleasures

Is it weird to be so flippantly excited over a restaurant opening? But I'm not talkin' just any plain-ol' restaurant, I'm talkin' CAFE RIO BABY!!!!!

Thanks to a Facebook tip by my in-the-know friend Lyndsey, I have something to look forward to for many weekends to come:

That phone call was THE most important phone call of my life. Okay, so maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit....Still, I was so excited when someone answered my call (which I wasn't expecting because they're not even open until 10:30, I was just hoping for a voicemail message) and I asked in an all-too-eager voice, "Is this location open yet?"
"Yes ma'am! We just opened yesterday!"
"Ahhhhhh! I'm so excited, I'll see you soon!"
"We'll be waiting for you!"
Hehe.

Is 26.8 miles too far to drive for a smothered pork burrito?

HECK NO!

My taste buds are going CRAZY in anticipation for Saturday. It has been far too long since my last Cafe Rio encounter. Over six months in fact. That's just crazy. I can't even fathom that it's been six months since I've eaten the best burritos known to man. We even have a free meal card to use! ("FREE MEAL!!")
Anybody wanna come??

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The One with a Wardrobe Pick-Me-Up

I am soooooooo in need of a wardrobe pick-me-up (stop your snickering Chris and Dald, and all the other men out there who maybe read this blog). Do you ever just get so sick of staring at the same things over and over and over and you feel like you'll never look cute again? Kid you not, I have clothes in my closet that I've had since 7th grade. I'm sentimental. So I went to Target this afternoon and got a few new things and now I feel much better. Shopping is a nasty habit. But as long as I'm the bread-winner working my tail off day-in-and-day-out, I feel I deserve a few things to boost my confidence now and again.

Exhibit A: A cute yellow handbag. I've been using the same purse for almost two years now, time to switch things up. $15. Steal.

Exhibit B: Lately I've been putting on my clothes and saying to myself, "If only I had a pair of purple shoes to go along with these..." Now I do! $13. Not too shabby.

Exhibit C: "So my pants don't fit so good." That's an inside Ben/AC joke :) But anyways, I'm bored with my pants, they're all old and decrepit. Saw these, tried them on, and loved them. Done.

Exhibit D: I feel like my wardrobe, especially my pants, is lacking in color and I've noticed that Southern Californians are experts at wearing unexpected fun and bright colors and I just want to fit in darn it! So I got some cute pink shorts. $18. I love Target.

Exhibit E: Love love love this tunic. So pretty and flowy and colorful. On sale for $15.

Mission accomplished.

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The One with Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune

I watched brand spanking new episodes of Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune tonight. Are these shows really still on? They're not just airing rerun after rerun after rerun? I remember watching these back when I lived in California. Oh wait, I live in California. Small world. I mean I watched these game shows when I was just a little girl many-a-year-ago.

Alex Trebeck looks different without his mustache, but other than that, still the same.

Pat Sajak and Vanna White are still looking young and spry. Gotta love make up!

I haven't watched Wheel of Fortune in so long, there are a lot of new things like wild cards and random internet bonuses on the wheel and lightening fast rounds or something and it's all very fast and digital. There's even a million dollar slot wedged between two mini bankruptcies. I'm thinking I'd like to be a contestant, which is quite possible cuz it's filmed in LA, I just have to get my bum in gear cuz and fill out some forms.

Answer: Watching Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune with my husband.

Question: What is the a perfect night?

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The One with I Want Candy

All day long I was thinking about what to blog about and I just kept coming back to CANDY. So candy it is. Welcome to my random life.

I'm in serious need of some sugar. Especially after looking online at all my favorite candies to get pictures. Ever since I can remember I've had a sweet tooth. I loved trick-or-treating and I would save my candy and make it last for months. We always have a bucket of candy in the house to munch on for dessert and gladly let our friends partake when they come over - we like to share the wealth if you will. Candy is a big part of my life. So what are my favorites you ask? Well. Lemme tell you.

My all time most favorite candy in the entire world are Giant Now & Laters. They always have been my favorite and they always will be my favorite.

They're pretty hard to come by on a day-to-day basis, though I know I could always stock up online. Usually I find them in random candy stores or in a select few grocery stores. I like all the flavors except for grape which I avoid like the plague. They're huge and fruity and chewy and that equals heaven.

Another favorite of mine is Haribo gold bears. Or anything by Haribo really.

My mom loves these too so I ate them frequently growing up. I like to either stick them in the fridge so they get cold and hard or open a bag and let them sit for a few weeks to get really hard. My taste buds are most fond of the red cherry, green apple, and white pineapple flavors.

Starbursts are always a top pick of mine.

They're a great size and the flavor is just so powerfully delicious. My favorite flavor is the cherry, then watermelon, then orange, then lemon. I do NOT like lemon flavored candy in any shape, way or form. I LOVE cherry candy in any shape, way, or form. There used to be a bunch of different kinds of starbursts and my favorites were the kind that came in blue packaging, then they went and changed a great thing so now I'm stuck with the classic flavors, which are still really good.

Are Swedish fish cherry flavored? Whatever they are, I love them.

I could eat a whole bag of these and not feel bad. They're so good.

Another candy I really like are Sour Patch Kids.

But really I only like the red ones so I pick those out first and give the rest away.

Whenever I go to a Sweet Factory (I haven't seen one here in CA yet, but I haven't really looked), I stock up on the same two candies. These sweet and sour patch cherry slices (the website says: soft gummy cherry slices bursting with cherry flavor and coated with sour sugar. Mmmmm.)

And these sour blue cola bottles:

I could live off of these things.

I much prefer fruity and chewy candy to chocolate, but every now and then (not to be confused with now & later, hahaha) I get a craving for chocolate and I have two favorites:
Milky Way

and Twix.

"Two for me, none for you."
I like to put my chocolatey candy bars in the freezer then eat them when they're frozen. They taste so much better that way. Thanks for the tip Dald :)

So. Yeah. My mouth is pretty much watering now. I need some candy, STAT.

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The One with Lazy Sunday

In honor of today being the most lazy Sunday I've ever had in my entire life (8+ hours watching seasons 4 and 5 of Project Runway on the couch...), I shall post a video about Sunday laziness that never ceases to make me laugh.

I'm going back to the couch now. Hopefully I'll think of something more inspiring to post about tomorrow :)

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The One with Elle's Studio February Projects

Here are my February projects for Elle's Studio!

JUNIOR HIGH GRADUATION DANCE
I created 7 flowers using patterned paper (some of it is the Valentine paper downloaded from Elle's Studio), a circle of matching colored cardstock, a colored "note:" journaling spot, and a circle of felt. I crumpled and bent all the pieces before stitching them together to create more texture and dimension.

Journaling says (please don't judge teenager me!): "Junior High. Where to begin. It was during these three short years that I lost and found myself. My parents called my 13th year “Hell Year.” I did dumb things and thought I was all that and a bag of chips. I bleached my hair blonde, wore blue contacts because I hated my brown eyes, and laying out in the sun to become as dark as I could was my favorite hobby. Boy was I vain. I don’t know how my mom and dad handled it so well. Somehow through all the lies and tears, I made it to my junior high graduation dance and went on to high school then graduated from college and now here I am, scrapping while my husband carves a tooth in the other room. This picture serves as a reminder of my silly past and now I can look forward to an amazing future. Picture taken 06/1999."

Supplies: Cardstock: American Crafts, Bazzill Basics, Kraft; Patterned paper: Basic Grey, Elle's Studio, Pebbles; "Note:" journaling spots: Elle's Studio; Felt: Craft supply; Letter stickers, pen: American Crafts; Scalloped circle punch: Marvy Uchida; Circle cutter: Martha Stewart Crafts; Sewing machine: Brother; Thread: Coats & Clark; Scissors, paper cutter: Fiskars; Adhesive: Helmar


LOVING LIFE LOVING YOU

I printed patterned paper that I downloaded from Elle's Studio (Valentine and Christmas), then I cut the patterned paper as well as packaging, bookmarks, pieces of felt, and cardstock strips using decorative scissors and decorative border punches. Then I layered all the strips around a photo, scattered some glitter buttons on top and added a letter sticker title. I even busted out my paper crimper and crimped the yellow cardstock. I watched Memoirs of a Geisha while making this cuz I was still in a Japanese mood after the festivities last weekend. I love the music and story.

Journaling says, "One of our very favorite movies is Elizabethtown and in that movie there’s a scene with Chuck and Cindy’s wedding. As Chuck is embracing Drew Baylor he says, 'Loving life, loving you.' This quote has turned into our mantra ‘cuz it’s so true!"

Supplies: Cardstock: American Crafts, Bazzill Basics; Patterned paper, journaling spot: Elle's Studio; Glitter buttons, letter stickers, pen: American Crafts; Felt: Craft supply; Decorative scissors: Provo Craft; Pinking shears, paper cutter, scissors, decorative border punches, paper crimper: Fiskars; Adhesive: Helmar







HEADBAND

After making the flowers on the Junior High Graduation Dance I decided I wanted to use the same flower technique and make a headband. I'm going to make a tutorial tomorrow and post it soon, but in the meantime here are some instructions: I layered journaling spots, cardstock, felt, and patterned paper to create the flowers then secured all the layers with a brad. Then I hot glued the flowers to a matching headband. I tied two pieces of ribbon into bows and adhered them between the flowers. I also adhered a matching color and size piece of felt underneath the headband to create a more finished look. Here's to hoping cute headbands stay in fashion a little while longer!

Supplies: Headband: Target; Patterned paper, journaling spots: Elle's Studio; Felt: Craft supply; Jewel brads, ribbon, cardstock: American Crafts; Pinking shears, scissors: Fiskars; Scalloped circle punch: Marvy Uchida; Circle cutter: Martha Stewart Crafts; Adhesive: Helmar; Other: Hot glue gun

Check out all of the other amazingly talented designer's work at the Elle's Studio Inspiration Gallery!

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The One with the CARDS Challenge Card: Transparencies

It's Friday it's Friday it's Friday it's Friday it's Friday it's Friday! Can I get an amen? "Amen!" Today I did a post on the CARDS blog featuring cards that used transparencies. Here's my take on the challenge:

THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH
Card is 4.25" square

Tidbitlets
I watched the Back to the Future trilogy while making this card and a few other things this morning. Classic series. I love how it's almost the year they travel to the future to in the 2nd movie. We don't have flying cars quite yet :)
Hambly Studios is the ultimate when it comes to patterned transparencies. I die cut several mini scalloped circles from an assortment of patterned transparencies and stitched them to a cardstock circle, surrounded by a foam letter title on a kraft card base.

Supplies: Cardstock: American Crafts, Kraft; Patterned transparencies: Hambly Studios; Foam letter stickers: American Crafts; Needle: Dritz; Floss: DMC; Paper cutter, scissors: Fiskars; Circle cutter: Martha Stewart Crafts; Die cut machine: Cuttlebug by Provo Craft; Mini scalloped circle die: Nestabilities by Spellbinders; Adhesive: Helmar

So last night at 8:54pm when I was drifting in and out of consciousness (cuz I tend to fall asleep like *that* when it's past 7:30pm and I'm on the couch watching TV) I got an email from my little sister Allie showcasing a card she made:


Soooooooooo cute right!?!? I couldn't be prouder. She's a girl after my own heart :)

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The One with Painted Finger Nails

I haven't painted my nails in nearly six years. (Well, white tips don't count - I'm talking all over color.) I'll do anything to avoid attracting attention to my hands. They're big and veiny and look like my dad's. (No offense padre). But you know what? This title page picture in FamilyCircle magazine might have just change my mind.

I love the idea of painting each nail a different color. I love the fact that these colors remind me of the new Dear Lizzy line by American Crafts. I love that these colors would match a lot of different things in my wardrobe. And I love that there's a buyer's guide in the back of the magazine that tells me each and every shade, how much it costs, and where to buy:

OPI Nail Lacquer, Teal the Cows Come Home, $8.50, opi.com

CND, Tropic Coral, $9, goindulge.com

Orly, Lemonade, $7.50, orlybeauty.com

Jessica Cosmetics, Purple Essence, $7, jessicacosmetics.com

Essie, Van D'Go, $8, essie.com

So if you happen to notice my dolled up nails in the next few weeks, this is what inspired the sudden manicure.

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The One with the 600th Post Handmade Giveaway Winner!

Sounds like lots of people had a great Valentine's Day! Now I've got some ideas brewing for next year.
So I just plugged in 1 and 121 into a random number generator and it gave me 105:

which is my super talented and special friend Kelley Eubanks! I can't think of a more deserving person to win this giveaway. If you read her blog you know what I mean.

Congratulations Kelley - I've sent you an email.

Until the 700th post, take care, au revoir, adios!

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