Explore

Prompt 5

and to think...just a few hours ago these were simple, handmade embellishments hanging out in the jungle I call a scrap table...

Happy Birthday Daddy!

7/25/25-8/22/77

My Own Little Episode of Hoarders...

For some reason I am drawn to watching Hoarders be it on TLC or the Discovery Channel. If I'm surfing and I find Hoarders I stop and watch, mesmerized. I have the instant urge to begin throwing away EVERYTHING...I still have STUFF because I don't act on it--I'm too lazy for the follow-through. heehee Wait--that's why these hoarders have so much CRAP. The honey has promised if he feels I am becoming a hoarder he will stop it. So lucky to have him!

So THIS is what my drafting/scrap table looks like I am ashamed to admit....I clean and it stays that way--until I begin to create again....

And this would be my homemade embellishments from my Explore class. Now I just need to pull together items and assemble the page for prompt 5.

Looking at them today I'm thinking they're kinda cute. Thanks for the inspiration Shimelle!

Productive Saturday Morning...

Got up-maybe a little earlier than initially anticipated--and immediately mixed up a cake (from scratch). Once it was in the oven I did some light cleaning and a load or two of laundry. By Ten a.m. I had a wonderful, from scratch cake cooled and ready to ice with homemade iciing....



The cake is for my honey to celebrate his birthday--which was Thursday. Planning to take him out to eat somewhere at some point this weekend. I'll give him the cute canvas I made (hope he likes it) and we'll have a relaxing weekend.

EXPLORE

A cute, what looks to be inspiring class that I will be taking onnline for the next 4 weeks--like I don't have enough going on already.

Go to Shimelle.com if you're interested in checking it out....

Sunday Night Scrappin...

It's been a relaxing Sunday...breakfast at Larry's--been a while since we'd been there and either I was really hungry or it was just really yummy today....HEB run....a mid-day nap and tv....a run to CVS to print some of mom's old pictures...a yummy fish dinner prepared by the honey....some evening scrap fun, a little more tv and bed.....Mondays come around too quickly......

How I Used An Afternoon of Vacation Time

Took off at noon today (well closer to 1p by the time I got out of there...). Went home to create.......





The CKC class for which the kits did not arrive on time. Got the instructions and sat down to create....Yes, those are pictures of Les embeliished by flowers....the class was Prima's Get Your Grunge On boy mini album.........

CKC

I decided this year that I would take full advatage of CKC being in Houston. I took a vacation day and booked a hotel. I check class listings and signed up for a couple. My thoughts were that this would be a nice mini vacation. I could relax, scrap and shop. Though my original plans were not to go solo it worked out that would be the case--no problem for me!

After finding a friend from high school would also be in attendance, we made plans to meet up and 'play' together at the crop Friday night. Initially I only had plans for two classes but after our Thursday night chat I decided to add a few more when I picked up my registration on Friday morning. I'm glad I made that decision because the extra classes proved to be the ones to get me thinking outside the box and sparked my creativitiy.



I signed up for a Prima 'grunge class' that was to be 'boy themed'--basically how to use all the Prima goodness (which is often frilly and flowery) to make a masculine album. It was my first class. Unfortunately, our class kits did not arrive and we had an instructor with no supplies. Fortunately she had enough kits from another scheduled Prima class (which I had just added) that we would do in class--while still getting our original class kit once it arrived the next morning--kinda like getting a class for free. Since I had signed up and paid for a class that I had now done the project the wonderful folks at CKC allowed me to change my class--so it was still like getting a class for free.

My final class on Friday evening was titiled I Love That Paper...from the desciptions I was thinking it would be about using the various beautiful patterned papers as backgrounds, etc. It turned out to be a class where we took some cute but funky paper and cut our various elements to put together a layout. I loved it! It got me thinking outside the box. It gave me a boost to unleash my creativity.

Summer Reading...

While browsing Target I came across several books that grabbed my interest so naturally I had to get them. Now I have to read them! I have a habit of picking up books that appeal to me then putting them aside because I'm not really in the mood to read. The result: stacks of unread books. In an effort to keep that from happening with my lastest purchase I am determined to read these books by the end of July. So far, I have managed to finish one. If I manage at least a book a week I will be able to accomplish my goal. And maybe, just maybe I'll get back in the 'habit' of reading on a regular basis...

Happy 89th Mom....

Happy Birthday mom. You'll be glad to know I'm doing well. There have been a few little bumps but nothing to derail me. I've got a great guy in my life that you would love--he takes great care of me and says you don't have to worry about me being taken care of cause he has it covered (yeah, I told him about your big concern being me-how you said you worried about what would become of me...). You would probably really be loving him right now because he is a hunter and I have sausage in my freezer from a wild hog he killed---I remember you always commenting you'd like to have some good, wild hog.... I live by the things you taught me; to not wait around on others if there's something I want to do--I've shared that philosophy with others on many occassions. I can thank you for all the great adventures I've had and the courage I've had to do various things. I am proud to say when you left I did not stop living. So happy birthday mom--give daddy a big hug from me.....

Gettin "My Craft On" and other Sunday Adventures...

After a bit of debate I decided to make a run into civilization to do a little shopping...and along the way I heard from my 'Jewish Mother' who proposed doing a little shopping together and grabbing lunch. It's been ages since we've gotten to visit so today was perfect! She picked me up in her new chariot just outside Macy's and off we went. Spent some time wandering Joann's and picked up a few goodies....then back to the mall and to wander Macy's and few other stores. After that we checked out Aaron Brother's Framing (I think that's the name---I could get in trouble there since they carry Tim Holtz and 7 Gypsies goodness). We topped it off with a yummy lunch at Panera and chatting and catching up. We really need to schedule that a bit more frequently...

I had talked about the honey's upcoming birthday and bounced ideas off Carol....and when I got home and began to play I continued to bounce ideas off her and came up with what I think is a cute canvas for his office---here are a few sneak peeks:



a fun tidbit...I picked up the bingo card on the first trip the honey took me on when we went through antique shops in Llano....

Project from HELL...

I am ashamed to say this is my scrap closet.....I will say it no longer looks THIS bad. I was off half a day last week and decided to begin the process of purging and organizing. Tons to get rid of and much to organize. I long for an organized, accessible stash--hoping it will help foster my creativity (doesn't that sound fancy--lol). I had decent momentum and did manage to purge quite a bit but there is still much to go--here's hoping I can accomplish something this weekend....

Fort Worth Weekend...

So last Saturday morning the honey and I loaded up and headed for Fort Worth--all for me because I had tickets to see the Oak Ridge Boys.....so off we went....along the way we stopped in Waco to check out Crop, Paper, Scissors--picked up a few things but overall wasn't all that impressed....

After a little blip we were finally able to get in our room at the downtown Sheraton--wish I could say I thoroughly enjoyed that hotel but I can't (that's a whole other story but let's just say my room charges ended up being reversed after a few calls to the management staff...)

We met family for dinner at my favorite Ft. Worth BBQ place-Ricskys....where we ate, drank and laughed--a good time for all...then a stroll (yes in the blazing heat and humidity) that included 'cowboys' singing on the corner.



The honey survived the show--while he was physically present I know mentally he was somewhere else cause that just wasn't his thing--yep, I owe him big time...

Sunday morning we were up and off to meet family again for a yummy Mexican breakfast near the Stockyards (drove the honey through) then home we went.A quick trip with a few bumps but full of good food and great company.

And believe it or not....I didn't take that many pictures! Kinda disappointing in hindsight but it'll be okay....