Shh, a secret...

No, I didn't make another design team and in fact, have no interest. :-D (However, Kitchen Keepsake IS looking for a techie/marketing person, if you're interested.) The extremely creative guest designer on Kitchen Keepsake, Laura, challenged us to make a dedication page to include our photo and handwriting. In light of the fact that Caitlyn will be attending Culinard in September for a grueling 36 week certification in Culinary Arts, I thought the mini that I just completed would make a perfect graduation gift. What do you think? (no wise cracks about the mugshot please, LOL)



Here are some other creations I've made recently.

Remember this handsome guy? Like his hat? :-D And, hmmm, looks like Anne is growing a margarita out of her head now that I'm looking at it...



These pics of Ayden cracked me up. I'll admit, they gave me a bit of a mojo block since I didn't really want to go all Christmas-y, but I was amused at the title. :-D



And I forget...did I share this already? I don't think so. Caitlyn makes my head split. One minute, she's a cowgirl, the next a princess and then a hunter chic. While at Walmart, she found this camo jacket and was dyin' for it. I mean, it's her money, but seriously? And yes, she was wearing her cowboy boots at the time. Iyiyi!



I have some recipe album layouts to share, but I'll do that later, as I have another in the works, also courtesy of Laura. Thanks for stopping by! :-)

Finished!

Just a quick post to show you my completed mini. I LOVE how it turned out! Now, just to fill in the holes with some of my fav recipes. :-)







Thanks again to Amy for the thoughful and now beautiful gift! :-) Thanks for stopping by, have a scrappy week!

Snow day!

Well, not a whole bunch, but enough that the girls called a "weather day" from school, so yay me! I worked on three more pages of the mini album. :-)







And a recipe album layout for the Comfort Food challenge on Kitchen Keepsake.



That's all. For now. :-D Thanks for visiting!

John's Cafe and Cemetary

I'm back from the retreat and I wish I could say that I'm feeling rejuvenated and such. These women



= CaRAZY fun!

Okay, you're probably wanting to know the story on the blog title, right? So, Anne and I are driving, following Lady Garmin's directions precisely. We're on this windy country road (picture: Deliverance) and we pass a sign that says John's Cafe and Cemetary. We were AFRAID! How creepy IS that! Well, long story short, what the sign REALLY said was John's Cafe and CATERING. We were relieved, yes. LOL

I made a new friend.



His name is Canusayluis. Alright, in the end, we finally figured out his name is Luis, but it took us a long time to figure that out. I think he really liked me, he kept trying to give me his phone number, even after I told him that I was too old for him and lived in Alabama. It was a very confusing conversation. LOL

I did manage to start working on my album that my friend Amy sent me. I don't know WHAT I was thinking! I totally thought that it would be an easy to do project that I could complete over the retreat weekend. Ummm, that would be a big, fat NO! Apparently, I don't follow directions very well, and my retreat mates kept yelling at me between howls of laughter when I f'ed up sheets of paper trying to size to the album. Oh well, I like the album so far anyway, I got three whole pages done. LOL







I'll keep working on it Amy! I might be finished with it by the end of 2011!

What else... OH, so it was REALLY.COLD. Who didn't bring a jacket? Moi. So I decided I'd like to get a sweatshirt that said Spartanburg on it as a souvenir. We already knew that turning right from the retreat leads to John's Cafe and Cemetary, so instead of turning right, Suzanna and I decided to turn left. Well! There's a whole cute little community called Converse, complete with quaint college and "I" thought it would be fun to find a sweatshirt that said Converse and have a pic taken with my Converse sweatshirt and shoes. Suzanna thought that was the stupidest idea ever. They also have COWS in Converse. I was very excited to get a closeup photo but wanted to make sure cows didn't bite first. Turns out, it didn't matter since the cows were enclosed in an electrified fence. :-( Anyhow, that got me telling the story about the roosters that I was so enthralled with during my August retreat, and these girls I was with this weekend are apparently experts on the whole rooster/hen thing. I still don't get it. Anyhoo...

I did break my spending freeze resolution by stopping at Archivers both on the way and back from the retreat. These were my needs:



I did find out an interesting tidbit of information that save me some money. The WRMK Sew Easy has been on my want list since I've heard about it early last year. I asked for a demo and I have to say, not diggin' it! So I bought some Bazzil templates instead. :-)

Thanks, my scrappy friends, for the laughter and the memories! :-)

Happy February!

Iyiyi! WHY do I do this to myself! More stitching, see all the calendar squares? LOL And just in case any of my family members are creeping, KEEP YOUR MITTS OFF MY CALENDAR! Sure, it's hanging on the fridge and you should feel free to LOOK at it, but step away from the pen.

January flew by. I finally relinquished all DT responsibilities and can now devote all of my time to the things I want to do. Feels great! When I sit at my table, I don't have to torment over what's due, or which products have to be used, or using creative brain cells on coming up with challenges. I can just CREATE. I like it! And if some of you have noticed me missing from various forums, it's true. I've made a conscious effort to devote my online time to my true love, Kitchen Keepsake. It's a drama free zone, gotta love that!

I am a bit in a photograpy funk though. Other than layouts, I think the last photo I took was on New Years Day. Just not much going on I guess, or maybe I need a new camera to inspire me. Loved my Nikon D80, but I gave it to Caitlyn as I just wasn't using it to it's full potential. Any suggestions on a small photy-box that takes great pics?

This photo was cropped harshly by Walgreens, but I used it anyway. Peyton was so cute, she wanted to celebrate the new year like a birthday, so she dug out two mismatched "1" birthday candles and lit them. It's times like these that remind me she is still just a kid. :-)



Yes, I don't know what I was thinking to do that many border punches and glue them down. It didn't turn out quite like I was envisioning in my head. LOL

Like my title on this one? :-D



I crack myself up! Only "I" would think to take a photo of backsides. LOL

I'm preparing to go to a retreat, so hopefully I will actually get some scrapping done and have something to share with y'all next week. Thanks for stopping by and have a very scrappy week!