MOM, What Were You Thinking???

So I am going through my mom's pics, which have tape and labels all over them, and are/were in those old photo albums that turn the photos weird colors!!! I am trying to find toddler pics of myself for another "book about me" challenge over at AMR.

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Check out how red this one is....

This is the best I can do to try to fix it....
I can't get this one right either....
I think my scanner isn't very good, the colors are not coming out right...
No matter how many times I clean the glass on my scanner, I still get all these little white dots...
I want to be able to scan all my mom's pics, then make discs for her, me and my 2 bros, but with this quality, I don't think I want to. I heard there are places who will scan for you, but I can't even image how much that will cost!!! I am sure their scans would be better than mine though, so I am still considering it. Have you ever had that done? If so, what can you tell me about it?

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Mom does not want me to scrapbook the originals (why, when sitting in those crappy albums and loose in a box is so much better?), so I need to invest in some good albums where I can just slide the pics in. What would I do with the tiny pics, and the larger pics? I know I will figure it out. Thanks for the vent opportunity!

Gotta Love The Oregon Coast

If you have ever been to the Oregon Coast, changes are you have been to Cannon Beach. Cannon Beach is host to Haystack Rock. Haystack Rock is host to wonderful marine gardens, aka tidepools. I remember coming here as a kid and playing in those tidepools (only the sandy ones, not the rocky ones with all the sealife). They have someone out there all the time now, so you can't go and see all the wonderful sealife anymore. I was a little disappointed, but I understand. Not everyone is responsible enough to be trusted. The Oregon Coast is usually cloudy, but mild weather-there is no such thing as a bad day at the coast (except for the occasional flooding and hurricane force winds in the winter). It may have been raining, it may have been windy, but it was a wonderful day-and hey, I can use all the help I can get while walking on the sand, wet sand is much easier to walk on. This trip was taken July 2007.

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For the layout, I used Bazzill cardstock, 7 Gypsies printed paper, rubons are Imaginisce, chipboard arrow is Bazzill (covered in pp), stamp is Autumn Leaves, traced in Stickles, letters are American Crafts Thickers, rhinestons are Target $ Spot, sea shells are just that, sea shells. The border was made using this tutorial on Memory Makers.

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This layout was done for a mini-challenge over at Use Your Stash. The assignment was simple, use blue and green, flocking or glitter (I had neither, so hopefully Stickles will count), and 2 photos.

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Thanks for looking!

More Weekend Fun

Here is a layout I did for a blog challenge over at KJ Starre's Blog. She gave us a sketch from Becky Fleck's Page Maps. Here is the sketch...

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Here is my take. I tend to take sketches quite literal.

The paper is Sassafras Lass, rub on and journal block are K&Company Blue Awning, ribbon is Basic Grey, stiching template and cs are Bazzill, title is American Crafts Thickers which I inked, and felt flourish is inked Felt Fusion.

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Here are my alternate shape inchies for a swap over on AMR. They are still 1 inch, but different shapes than a square. They were fun. I cut the stars and the scallop circle on my silhouette. I used MM flower brads and matching Stickles for each scallop. The stars are inked yellow, stamped with a Studio G stamp with brown ink, then I used my Crop-O-Dile to put in matching yellow MM eyelets in the center.
Close up of the scallop circle....
Close up of the star...

I Love Weekends!!!!

Weekends are great, because I get to sit at my scrap table and play all day long! I have finished up the "inchies" I am supposed to make for a swap over at AMR. "Inchies" are little 1x1 inch squares decorated and used on layouts, cards, atcs, whatever! There are 28 people participating, and we have to make 2 inchies for each person. These are the ones I made...

This one is a Studio G Stamp, which I used Stickles on the "sparkles". I used my Stencil Collection dry chalks before I stamped, to give the image a colored look. I inked the edge with my Colorbox Chalk.
This one I also used a Studio G Stamp, dry chalkm and inked with Colorbox Chalk, but I also used some dyed "skittles" for the flower center. This time I roughly chalked after I stamped.
This is the ATC I made for another swap over at AMR. We are doing an alphabet swap, where 26 people each get a letter to use. I chose "M". I really had a hard time coming up with ideas for this, then found a neat monkey font, and used my Silhouette to cut the little monkey. I used some more alcohol inks, along with the Mixatives, and gave these "skittles" a little shine. The Stickles I used were actually the diamond Stickles, but I love how it looks brown! The stamp is from Technique Tuesday.

Stamp Happy

AMR is not having thier usual Scrap Chat Hour this week, where we are paired up with another member to swap ATCs. One of the gals suggested we do the swap anyway. I was thrilled to find out we are still swapping! This week's theme is a hobby, other than scrapbooking! I really struggled with this, as I am pretty much obsessed with scrappin and all things related. After a number of prototypes and very colorful fingers, I came up with this! I tried to use a different application technique for the Stickles on each flower/color. Do you think I used enough Stickles???

These are the supplies I used for this ATC. Yes, count 'em, 7 different colors of Stickles! I also used this Technique Tuesday stamp, Kabloom! Don't forget about those Studio G wood mounted letter stamps.
As much as I enjoy doing ATCs, I am really struggling with creating them. I feel like they are lacking something, or that they are not good enough. I want them to be fabulously amazing! I will continue on my ATC pursuit of perfection. I still have one more ATC to design for AMR, an alphabet swap with all 26 letters, I chose "M". I also have to start figuring out some inchies for a couple other swaps at AMR.

I am off to bed, I haven't gotten more than 4-5 hours of sleep in one night all week long. For me, that is bad, as I am one of those people who need 8-10 each night-even with my bi-pap, a machine for my sleep apnea (what an amazing piece of machinery)!!

Here it is...

The tutorial I was waiting on about Ali Edwards, alcohol inks, and transparencies. She just posted it on her blog, but here is the link to that post. It look so cool, and extremely easy! Thanks Ali for sharing with us!!
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I played with this technique, but I only had laminating sheets, so the acrylic wasn't right...I can see it will be VERY cool once I get the right kind of transparency sheets!!

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I am still working on that book about me album/challenge over at AMR. Challenge #3 is to make a page about our parents, since we wouldn't be here if it weren't for them. Most of the stuff on this page is from AMR's July Kit, except for the Prima Flowers, Kaiser Craft Pearls for flower centers, brown Target $1 Spot ribbon at bottom, "skittles", and Technique Tuesday stamp for journaling. The kit supplies used are: brown leaves and green scalloped paper is American Crafts, flower paper is K & Company, bird rubons are Maya Road, letter rubons are Jenni Bowlin, clip is 7 Gypsies, green ribbon is unknown.

Pardon the messy picture, I am just too lazy tonight to clean the area off and then crop the photo to make it look better. But at least you get a hint of how I work!!!

I Am Way To Excited To Wait!

Before I can tell you what I am so excited about, I have to lay out the history...
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Tigardlilly had given me some of her dyed "skittles" a couple months ago, and I love them so much. I don't want to ask her for more since she already gave me quite a few, so I have been accepting the fact that this is all I will ever recieve and have been dealing with that realization, all the while knowing they will be gone after a while. Don't you just hate the phrase, "when they are gone, they're gone!"?
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Now for the excitement....Laura called me at work to tell me she is at the Beaverton Michaels, which we have both searched multiple times for more "skittles" with no luck! Needless to say, Laura checked again, and there they were, 1 pack of blue, and 3 clear! She only wants 1 clear, so she is picking up the other 2 for me! I can't begin to tell you how excited I am!!!! What is so exciting about clear skittles you may ask? Check out tigardlilly's post about dying skittles, and here is her tutorial!! Now, what should I do with my 8 JoAnne coupons I have??? hmmm, I think I am going to stock up on alcohol inks, tonight!!! The cool thing, is that all 8 have different SKUs, so I can use them all in one transaction!!
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What else can I do with these inks? Oh yeah, Ali Edwards was at Tim Holtz's booth at CHA using alcohol ink on transparancies!! How cool is that!?! I have to do more research on it when I get home to find some cool links. I did find a lot however on some of the blogs I read, which are over on my side bar, in case you can't wait till I get home. Unfortunately, I can't remember which ones, and my dinosaur here at work just takes too long, sorry.
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Check back later, on this post, as I will upload pictures of my goodies tonight when I get home! That is still a long time till I get off at 6, and since I also have to meet with my landlord tonight at 7 to do my move out walk-through.
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Here's hoping I don't go crazy waiting to get there, and here's hoping they don't suddenly sell out of the inks before I get there! lol
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I will post later this evening with pics, I promise!!

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As promised, here are some pics I took!!!

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Of course, all stamps, stamp sets, and stamp pads were on sale for 30%. Why do they do that when they have tons of coupons, everything is on sale, grrrr. Being in the bad mood I was in, I argued with them saying I want the 40% off, since the alcohol inks didn't fall into any of those categories. The manager had the cashier change the prices for me and quickly made this rude comment..."I don't know why, I have never had anyone complain that something was on sale". Well I wasn't complaining, just making a point. Anywho, I got them and that is all that matters. I think I will take the rest of my Jo's coupons, head to Mike's and get the other sets of inks that Jo's didn't have, not to mention, I grabbed 2 of the same sets! Now I have to go back and exchange them.

Finally Moved In!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finally got moved in, YAY! I hate moving, but who doesn't right? It is especially hard when you will be living in one room. I had to put my scraproom in my bedroom, which is pretty small, note how close the bed is to my table. This is my mom's sewing table, that I am now using since she had to move all her sewing stuff out-thanks mom!

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Since I am moved and set up, I got to catch up on some challenges I have been wanting to do. This one was for Use Your Stash. The challenge was to use stamps on a layout, and make a card. I wanted to use these BG scraps I had, and these pictures of my neice were the right color, and so much fun! I scribbled over her name in photoshop, that is pretty much all I know how to do! lol I used Technique Tuesday "Two Steppin' In The Garden" stamps, and some Autumn Leaves for the flourishes. I used Stickles over it for a little punch.

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This is the card I made for the same challenge, same BG line, Phresh & Phunky. I used Studio G stamps for the greeting. I made 2 of these, for a couple AMR buddies who won a challenge I did on there. I used Stickles again!
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This was done for a challenge over at To The Starres And Back... The challenge was to use at least 9 blocks, I used the grid method with 12 blocks. We were to use at least 2 printed papers, I used 4 from Scribble Scrabble. We were to use multiple photos, I used 5 and put them in a grid pattern as well. We were supposed to also use 4 stickers. This was difficult, as I just packed up all my stickers since I don't ever use them, I borrowed from tigardlilly. We were also supposed to have handwriting and stiching. The stiched "splash" just sort of happened, I used multiple flourishes from Bazzill's In Stiches templates. I love how it turned out. What, no Stickles??? I guess I don't use them on everything! This was the first whale I ever saw, and I saw it at the Sea Lion Caves on the central/southern Oregon Coast. It was a gray whale, and it was awesome!!

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This Challenge is for a new challenge blog, The Story Matters. The challenge was to do a page about you, anything you want. I chose to do the page about me and accepting myself, as well as the horrible pictures of myself. CS is DCWV, PP is October Afternoon, Detours. Chipboard Frame is Scenic Route, which I covered in Bazzill, inked and Stamped with Technique Tuesday stamps and Stickled. Journaling stickers are Scenic Route, ribbon is Scrapworks and MM, arrow is Grungeboard-inked and Stickled. MM noteworthy with TT stamps for "me". Circle is TT Technique Tiles, inked and stamped with TT. Flowers are unknown.

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Over at AMR, there have been challenges while Stacey is gone at CHA, they are calling them "While The Cat's Away" Challenges.

Here is #1
The challenge was to use printed paper that is at least 6 months old, I used Cosmo Cricket Dutch Girl. We were supposed to use at least 5 eyelets, fiber, and stickers (what is it with stickers, grr!). Sorry my pic is blurry, I haven't quite mastered the macro setting on my camera.

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This was challenge #2

The challenge was to use the color orange, 3 buttons, chipboard and ribbon. Most of the supplies are self-explanatory, the chipboard is the pp covered birdie, and the flower, which I also stamped on. I Stickled the bird, and both flowers. The paper is Dream Street.

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This is challenge #3

We were supposed to get a start on our Christmas cards, I only did one, for the challenge. I used printed paper scraps from a slab. I Stickled the dots on the tree, and again on the snowflakes. I also used some dyed skittles I got from Laura.

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So, that is what I have been up to! There is so much catch up to do with blogs, challenges, message boards, etc. Now that I have the internet in my room now, I should be getting a lot more done and posted. Thanks for looking!

Some Happenings....

Remember the LO I did a month ago with the lacey panels for a challenge over at Koala Fuzz the I won? I got my RAK the other day! Here is what Harley sent me! I already have the stamp, but I sure I can find a use for it. I also got some Heidi Grace decorative pins, a chipboard-ish foldable book, a white Galaxy Marker, and some Maya Road chipboard birdies.

Last week I got to participate in the last 10 minutes of AMR's Scrap Chat Hour about Christmas in July. We get paired up with another person and swap ATCs based on the theme...Here is mine!
So, you should know by now that I am moving....Here is the proof! We worked all weekend long, and we are still not done!

These are empty boxes and some furniture.
These are the boxes I have all packed up, we are on our 3rd row of boxes.
This is the stuff we are giving to Goodwill, it isn't much, but it will help us get rid of some stuff, especially since we don't have a lot of room in my parents' garage.
This is the pile, so far, of the stuff we are taking with us, and yes, we need our kittys' house! lol This does not include my scrap stuff either!
Since we have already packed up ALL our kitchen stuff, we are eating with disposable dishes!!!
Here is what we are eating for a week. I know it is not healthy, but I don't have time to pack my kitchen at the last minute, being that I work full-time now. Did I mention how much I hate working???
And just for fun, here are the boys, taking advantage of the new "cave" created by the mattresses!