Meghann's Little Corner

A Love Story

2012-01-29T08:00:00.001-06:00

The new Elle's Studio kit for this month is called A Love Story, and it is such an awesome, versatile kit! Here is one of my layouts from the kit that was featured on the Elle's Studio blog last week.

A few things that I loved about this kit were the exclusive tags. Really, you should buy this kit just for those! They are awesome, and really great for use on layouts, cards or any other projects. Check out these sweet little round tags.

Aren't they adorable?

Another of my favorite things from this kit were the handmade fabric embellishments created by the talented Tara Anderson. Here is a closeup of one that I used on this layout, along with one of the Crate Paper buttons.

Isn't it beautiful?

Check out the other projects that the design team members have come up with over at the Elle's Studio blog. There is really some beautiful stuff being created with this kit!

Also, don't forget about the extras that you can purchase along with the kit, like the awesome Studio Calico Mister Huey's Shine. It creates a beautiful sparkly shimmer on anything you choose to spray it on, and I used it on the awesome Pink Paislee Wood Shop Alphas.

Elle's Studio Sketch Thursday

2012-01-28T09:08:00.000-06:00

Hi there!

Have you checked out the Elle's Studio sketch for this Thursday? It is a good one!

This sketch is so versatile! I was drawn to the cluster of photos & embellishments, as well as the vertical axis along the side. That's one thing I really like about sketches...you can use them just as they are, or pick out parts and pieces to really make them your own!

Here is my layout that is loosely based on the sketch:

This layout documents our tour of Alcatraz when we were in San Francisco in 2010. I'm pretty much loving everything about this layout--the photos, all of the patterned paper (from the American Crafts Amy Tangerine line) and the embellishments (also from the same AC line and Elle's Studio, of course!). Did you notice the border punch along the left side? That is the new Ticket Border Punch from Jenni Bowlin, and I am kind of obsessed with it.

Here are some closeups:

This cute little 'The things we saw' tag is from the Elle's Studio's 'Lil Snippets- Travel and works so well at documenting the highlights of the day!

This little cluster of embellishment is my favorite part about the layout! The green tag at the back is from the Amy Tangerine line at American Crafts. The two tags in the middle are from Elle's Studio's new Handmade Layers Date & Place Strips and Handmade Layers Pennants- Blank. I then popped a piece of patterned paper on top that I punched using this Martha Stewart punch (one of my favorites!) and a brad from the American Crafts Amy Tangerine line. I love me a good cluster!

Sidenote: Because I've been such a good wife lately, and all of my cleaning & sprucing of the house helped us sell it in 6 days, my wonderful husband bought me a new Canon macro lens to take these closeups of my layouts! I have to say, that I am LOVING this lens!

Because the first tag only held the important stuff and I wanted to write a bit more, I put the remainder of my notes on the day on this sweet little note tag from Elle's Studio's Handmade Layers Cutouts sheet. I slid it in a little pocket that I made behind my patterned paper and attached the cute little Amy Tangerine camera paperclip.

Go over to the Elle's Studio Sketch Thursday blog post, get inspired by the other layouts that the talented DT members have come up with, create your own layout and post by 11:59pm on Wednesday, February 2, 2012 to have a chance to win a $10 gift certificate to Elle's Studio! Good luck!

Elle's Studio January Inspiration

2012-01-22T23:09:00.000-06:00

The Elle's Studio January Inspiration Gallery went live today, and I can't even explain how excited I was to check out what the team did for our first month! There are some amazing layouts, cards and other projects in there. Here is what I came up with.

This layout, made with the Studio Calico Boardwalk kit and Summer Memories Journaling Tags, documents a weekend trip that my two friends and I took to Orange Beach, AL this summer.

I love this layout. The color combination is one of my favorites, and those yellow AC Thickers are my all-time favorite alpha ever. I'm pretty sure that I only have consonants left! The photo was taken last summer on our trip to France and as soon as I saw that photo, I thought, "It looks like a fairy tale."
I used the Studio Calico Brooklyn Flea kit for this one, along with some new and beautiful Elle's Studio tags- the One & Only Large Journaling Tag and One & Only Note Tags.

My last project for the month was a mini album (as you could probably tell from my sneaks), but this is more mini that I've ever done before, at 2.5" x 3.75".

The entire mini was made using the Studio Calico Glee Club Kit, Elle's Studio One & Only Note Tags, and a few other tags on the pages that I've highlighted below. I made it as a Valentine's Day gift for my husband. It may just be my favorite project that I've ever created. Here are the pages:

The Layered Number Cutouts came in handy on this page!

Under the "no. 3" is a Turquoise Pennant. These are so versatile, I use them for everything!

The "two" tag is another from the Layered Number Cutouts.

Lastly, that super cute "no. 1" tag is from the One & Only Tidbits.

Here is a look at the spine, which I covered over with Washi tape.

After some thought, this little mini wasn't very hard to make at all (and I should know- I actually made two of them after I spilled coffee on the first one!) If you're interested in its construction, the ES blog will feature a tutorial in February about how to create one yourself!

Please go check out the January Inspiration Gallery to see what the amazingly talented design team did, along with a special guest designer, one of my favorite designers, Kelly Purkey!

Elle's Studio Sneaks!

2012-01-20T08:27:00.000-06:00

Oh my poor, neglected blog. How I have missed you.

I have been busy over here working on a new project and selling our house (we were under contract in 6 days and we had 8 offers- it was an all out bidding war!) but really I could have taken the time to sit down and type out a quick word or two. But this is how I work. If something in my personal life is bothering me, I completely shy away from contact with others. When we lived in the UK, I barely spoke to anyone because I was so depressed. I think I do the same thing here on my blog. Essentially it is just another way of contact for me with others, and when something is bothering me, I shut this down too.

I will go into things that have been going on in my personal life in another (possibly long) blog post. For now, just know that we're okay over here, and we continue to 'keep calm and carry on.'

I also plan on showing you my kitchen after I photograph it properly over the weekend. It was the main selling point of the house.

Okay, let's get into the fun stuff! I can't tell you how excited I was to learn that I would be a part of the Elle's Studio design team this year, but when my goodies arrived, I was even more ecstatic. I'm not sure if you have seen the new arrivals yet, but they are fantastic, and I used a lot of them on my January Inspiration Gallery projects, which will be up on the ES website on Sunday! On with the sneaks!

These first two sneaks are from my favorite layout this month, mostly because of the color combination I was using, but the awesome thing is that I can always find an ES tag that goes with my Studio Calico kit color scheme!

This sneak is from my second layout. I got out my embossing gun for this one.

The next two sneaks are from a project that I am DYING to share with you! It seriously may be my favorite thing that I've made...ever.

Have I enticed you enough to check out the Inspiration Gallery when it goes live on Sunday? I hope so! If my projects don't wow you, I know that the other ES team members will!

Have a great Friday!

The rush is over!

2011-12-26T20:16:00.001-06:00

I don't know about you, but December was pretty much a whirlwind for me. Between going back and forth to Houston and New Orleans, Christmas shopping, working & doing general everyday things, I couldn't get a handle on this month. Today I am breathing a sigh of relief that it is December 26th...the day after Christmas!

Even though this month has been crazy, we still had some great times. Here are just a few highlights of my December.

Lots of walks with Toby

Decorating!

Texas/Louisiana state line

Fall finally comes to the Gulf

Lots of house-hunting in Houston- everything is bigger in Texas!

Baking- Yum!

Happy for the days that we can spend together

Do you want to know the most exciting part of my month? It's this announcement that came out today! I am so excited to be a part of the Elle's Studio design team for 2012 along with so many talented women! I can't wait to show you my layouts and projects!

Now I'm off to finish off that pecan pie pictured above. I hope you and your families had a wonderful holiday!

December Daily Days 2-5

2011-12-07T11:19:00.012-06:00

Hi everyone! Well, I thought I would be back on Sunday with a December Daily update, but alas, no scrapping went on this weekend. Instead, I was cleaning out closets and getting the house prepped for our appraisals next week, as well as getting the house decorated for the holidays.

I did sit down last night to work on days 2-5 of my December Daily.

From December Daily 2011

Day 2 might be my favorite in the book, but we'll just have to wait and see about that. I used the Hambly transparency in front of the actual page and attached bits & pieces from my Studio Calico December Daily kit along with Ali Edwards "Holiday in a Box" stamp.

From December Daily 2011

The actual page for day two includes a photo of my meal that night, shrimp & grits and my journaling is about how I don't like to eat alone. I love the composition of this photo. I'm currently receiving Maggie Holmes' December Daily photo prompts, and a recent one challenged us to take a photo of something from a different angle or perspective. It kind of makes an ordinary photo more interesting!

From December Daily 2011

Oh day 3. I had great plans for you, but you didn't turn out as I had hoped. I decided to use my limited edition Holly Berry Mr. Huey's on the background, but instead of my typical splatter, it threw up all over the page. I shrugged it off and carried on with placing the Echo Park chipboard ornaments on the page & "hanging" them with Martha Stewart baker's twine. I just wish the background were a bit better. Once I receive my album & page protectors, I'm planning on adding a segmented page protector to the right side of this with ephemera, journaling, and a Ghiradelli peppermint bark wrapper that I bought on this shopping excursion in search of the perfect ornaments. Maybe that page will distract you from the ugliness of this one? We shall see.

From December Daily 2011

Day 4 is simple, but I like it. I didn't want to add any more embellishment, especially since I am planning on putting a transparency with embellishment right before it. I love the collection of cardstock borders from My Mind's Eye that I picked up at Archiver's. Those tickets were included in the package.

From December Daily 2011

Simon sent me a photo on December 1st of his new office in Houston & I thought it would be great to include photos of what he's doing in the album as well as myself. It's good to get both perspectives in here. I had originally cut out a snowflake from the woodgrain paper & found the scrap sitting on my desk, so I used the negative at the top of the page & accented it with a brad in the center. Again, simple is the word here. I'm not putting tons of embellishment on every page & I am totally fine with that!

You can see my December Daily album here. More days to come!

In Hindsight

2011-12-03T16:08:00.000-06:00

I will be back tomorrow with my December Daily day 2, but for now, I want to share a layout that I finished off last night.

From Finished Scrapbook Pages

When my parents were visiting in June, we decided to take a nature walk in a local swamp, which turned out to not be the best idea. Not only was it oppressively hot, but there were nasty little alligators blocking our path and horseflies biting us every second. Even though the walk wasn't very pleasant, we laugh about it to this day, so although it wasn't perfect, it is still a great memory for our family. Here's a closeup of the embellishment using a Studio Calico tag, a Sassafras chipboard butterfly, My Mind's Eye scalloped circle and baker's twine, a Basic Grey brad, a Pebbles pennant flag and a word sticker from The Girls' Paperie. To the right of this is an Elle's Studio Lil' Snippet which houses my journaling. All of the papers used are from the Studio Calico Countryside collection.

From Finished Scrapbook Pages

Hope you're having a wonderful weekend!

December Daily: Day 1

2011-12-02T10:52:00.000-06:00

It's that time of year again, December, and I've decided to embark on December Daily. I was a bit leery for the project at first, as this month isn't typical for us. We're currently separated by a 6 hour drive, only seeing each other on the weekends. However, later down the road, I know that this experience will make us stronger, and realized that real life, even the tough days & months, IS worth documenting.

For day one, I decided to take a self-portrait and journal about how I'm feeling about December in general, which isn't great.

From December Daily 2011

I really love the way it turned out. It really feels like "me" and I hope that I can keep that up throughout the entire album. My color palette is red, green and light teal, (with neutrals mixed in) and I am really loving it.

I did prep my pages beforehand. I downloaded Ali Edwards' 6x8 overlays and printed them out in red. In preparation, I only added the snowflake patterned paper at the bottom of the page. I've pretty much alternated each page with either patterned paper at the bottom block, or patterned paper in the large block at the top. Last night, I printed out my photo and added the embellishment (made from pieces of the Studio Calico December Daily kit and and an Elle's Studio turquoise pennant. My title was made from Jenni Bowlin alphas and Studio Calico's month stamp set.

I've started a new Picasa album to house all of my December Daily entries here. Are you embarking on this project with me? If so, link up your entries on the comments below! I love seeing how everyone makes this project their own!

Big things coming...

2011-11-25T07:30:00.000-06:00

After a week and a half of having family and friends in the house, it's back to reality. My parents and grandmother were with us for 4 days. Can you believe that I didn't take one photo with them? Instead of looking through the lens, I enjoyed them being here! A few hours after they left, our friend Sarah arrived with her three year old and her 8 month old. We had a noisy, full house while they were here and it was wonderful! I introduced her three year old to The Little Mermaid, which she loved, and then as an early surprise, Father Christmas brought her a singing Ariel doll. $20 was so worth seeing the look on her face (and hearing "Part of That World" about 50 times.)

So after all of the hubbub around here, it would be great if I could say that we're relaxing, but we're doing far from that. We actually have a big week ahead of us. Instead of celebrating our blessings with our families on Thursday, we will be making a 6 hour trip to Houston...to house hunt on my sacred Black Friday. Yep. We're moving again after a year and a half.

We are really excited about this move. Simon was offered a fantastic job from another company, one that will really build his resume and include frequent trips to Brazil (Portuguese Rosetta Stone here we go!) I can pretty much work from anywhere, as I am currently working for an office outside of Washington D.C. We're also looking forward to being in a bigger city and buying a house that needs little to no work upfront. Painting the walls is all we would like to do. So it is a pretty exciting time for us. Unfortunately, until we sort out a house in Houston and take care of the one in NOLA, we will be living apart during the week, as Simon starts his new job in Houston on Monday.

So, big things are ahead for us!

As this is a text-heavy post, I'm going to leave you with a layout about our visit to the Golden Gate Bridge last year.

Happy Black Friday!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-24T11:45:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving from my family to yours!

I'll share with you a Thanksgiving layout that I created last night with the Studio Calico Handmade kit and some Elle's Studio tags. We celebrated our family thanksgiving a week and a half ago & I snapped a few Instagram photos on my phone before the meal.

From Finished Scrapbook Pages

Have a wonderful holiday and enjoy your turkey! We are off to Houston for the next few days. Why you ask? I will tell you tomorrow!

What We're Eating Wednesday: My favorite Thanksgiving side dish!

2011-11-23T11:13:00.000-06:00

With Thanksgiving coming up in less than 24 hours, I thought I would share my favorite Thanksgiving side dish this week. You will never grab for the Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup or French's Fried Onions again after you taste this. (I couldn't get Flickr to cooperate with me, so no photo, but you know what green bean casserole looks like anyway!)

Green Bean Casserole (courtesy of Martha Stewart)

Ingredients

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus more for dish
1 medium onion, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 pound button mushrooms, stems trimmed, quartered
2 teaspoons coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 pinch grated nutmeg
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup canola oil
4 shallots, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch rings
Directions

In a large skillet over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons butter. Add onion, and saute until it begins to soften, about 4 minutes. Add bell pepper and mushrooms, and cook until softened and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 8 minutes. Season with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Set aside to cool.

Prepare an ice bath: Fill a large bowl with ice and water; set aside. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Add beans, and cook until bright green and just tender, 4 to 5 minutes. Drain, and plunge into ice bath to stop cooking. When cooled, toss drained beans with mushroom mixture; set aside.

Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Add 1/4 cup flour, whisk constantly until mixture begins to turn golden, about 2 minutes. Pour in milk, and continue whisking until mixture has thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir in cayenne, nutmeg, and the remaining teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Remove from heat, and let cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Pour over beans, and toss to combine.

Butter a 9-by-13-inch glass or ceramic baking pan. Spread half the green-bean mixture over the bottom. Sprinkle on half the grated Parmesan, and spread with the remaining green beans. Combine the remaining Parmesan and the breadcrumbs, and sprinkle over casserole. Cover with foil, and refrigerate until just before serving.

This next part is optional, sometimes I just put some whole-wheat breadcrumbs on top to add some crispiness.

Heat canola oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Toss shallot rings with the remaining 2 tablespoons flour. Fry the shallots in batches, turning frequently, until golden brown. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Place in an airtight container, and set aside until ready to serve.

Heat broiler, positioning rack about 8 inches from heat. Cook casserole, covered, until mixture is bubbly and heated through, about 10 minutes. Uncover, and cook until top is golden brown, about 30 seconds. Sprinkle fried shallots over top, and serve immediately.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving with your family and loved ones (hopefully with this dish on the table!)

A layout

2011-11-08T08:29:00.000-06:00

I just wanted to come on here quickly and share a layout that I completed yesterday.

This layout records my 27th birthday when Simon surprised me with an overnight stay at a local plantation. I used the Studio Calico Boardwalk add-on, a couple of Crate Paper Emma's Shoppe stickers, My Mind's Eye Lost & Found brads and a tag from Elle's Studio Layered Numbers sheet. I cut my title from the Slice Words & Expressions cartridge.

Here's a closeup of the layering of embellishments.

I am so loving the combination of the newsprint, woodgrain, raspberry butterfly & green brad.

Hope you enjoy!

Elle's Studio Project Kit: Complete!

2011-11-05T07:30:00.004-05:00

I am so excited to show this to you today and even more excited that this project is now sitting on a wall-shelf in my den! The project kit from Elle's Studio, called Forever Grateful, won me over as soon as I saw it was a printer's tray. I already have one laying around the house that I've never used, and I was determined to actually finish one off. I knew it would be easy, as everything is included!

These are a few of my favorite squares.

This is one of my favorite photos of the year from a street strewn with confetti in France.

This photo makes me so happy. I swear that Toby poses for the camera.

I really like this little tag sticking out of the envelope with the number '3' on it. Yes, my dog counts as a member of our little family.

I wanted to keep the largest 5x7 photo pretty clean, so I just put this small embellishment together using the Elle's studio circular tags, a Crate Paper button (which was included in the kit), baker's twine, pop dots, one small 'A' from my favorite alphas ever, and an Elle's studio date tag.

Lastly, I couldn't resist putting a large 'a' in a square with the green patterned paper because I really wanted to create a visual triangle, and let's face it, I'm obsessed with the letter 'A'.

Thanks for looking! I just received an email today about the next two Elle's Studio project kits which go on sale November 14th, so make sure you sign up for their email newsletter to be included in the presale!
I absolutely love the exclusive tags that are included in the kit, and I have plenty left for more future cards, layouts or projects!

Have a beautiful weekend!

They can't all be winners...

2011-11-01T07:30:00.000-05:00

This week's Thursday sketch over at Elle's Studio was a great one. Check it out here.

I love the large title block on the left side & how the small strips of paper go up to meet it. For some reason, though, my mojo wasn't there and I definitely didn't do the sketch justice with this one.

I really love my titleblock. I love that I stamped the Studio Calico doilies with Versamark on the grey paper and put colorful brads in the centers. I love that I mixed a lot of different patterns, a definite sign of my "style."

But that's where the love for this layout ends.

Where did I go wrong? Well, first, the rest of the chosen patterned papers are way too muted and the only thing that you look at when you see the layout is that grey titleblock. Everything else fades into the background. Second, writing on washi with anything other than a ballpoint pen is out of the question. Therefore, my writing is hard to read.

How do you think I could improve this layout because at the moment, I'm about ready to tear it apart! I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Happy Haunting

2011-10-31T14:28:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! Happy Halloween! I hope you're having a wonderful Monday.

I just wanted to share a quick Halloween tag that I put together for my giveaway last week!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned paper: My Mind's Eye; Sticker: Echo Park; Brad: Pink Paislee; Stickers: October Afternoon; Stamp: Westrim Crafts; Ink: Stampin' Up!; Canvas tag: Maya Road; Other: Baker's twine, ribbon

I love this tag. How cool is that witch silhouette? I also learned by making this card that you can stamp on canvas with regular ink! It just might become one of my new favorite techniques!

Have a spooky Halloween!

Pumpkin puree & a dog Halloween costume

2011-10-26T07:30:00.000-05:00

After a few hours measuring, stitching & sewing, I came up with this Peter Pan costume for Toby's first Halloween party.

I'm actually quite proud of it. I even hemmed all of it, used velcro closures and hand stitched the felt hat. It was a bit disappointing that most everyone thought he was Robin Hood, but whatevs. If I would've had time to get together a Tink & Hook costume for us, it would've been unmistakeable.

So today would normally be What We're Eating Wednesday, but to be honest, I have no clue what we're eating! I'm trying to get back to a normal routine after a deadline and a 14 hour work day on Monday. Instead, I'm going to leave you with a tutorial on how to make your own pumpkin puree that I posted on here some time ago. I make several freezer bags full every year and use for easy dinners and desserts later on. The color of a pumpkin pie made with homemade pumpkin puree is really magnificent. I hope you can try it this fall!

Moving on, I have a prize pack for two jars of American Crafts Zing for this lucky lady

Danielle Breedlove, email me (just click on the tab to the right) with your contact details and I will get these sent right out to you!

Have a great Wednesday!

Halloween Fever

2011-10-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

I got a fever and the only prescription is... no, not more cowbell! More Halloween! We are gearing up here for my most favorite holiday. The house is decorated (albeit a bit messy because of some contractor work going on- more on that later) but it still makes me happy to see leaves and pumpkins everywhere. To add to my excitement for autumn, the weather finally turned and we have been in the 60s the past two days. Even if the cold spell ends tomorrow and we're back to the 80s, I'm happy for a taste of fall.

Tonight I worked on a costume for Toby (and yes, Toby is my dog.) The guy who helped me at JoAnn's thought I was nuts. Toby has a big Halloween party to go to on Saturday, and we have a lot to live up to (ahem...Erica and her awesome Santa costume for Charlie last year.) I can't wait to show photos on Monday!

I had a few minutes earlier in the week to put together a layout with the help of a Thursday sketch from Elle's Studio!

Supplies: Studio Calico's Glee Club kit & Elle's Studio Lil' Snippets (Date) & Handmade Layers Tiny Tags, American Crafts Zing in Chestnut

Last year for my beautiful friend Erica's birthday, we went to a park here in NOLA right on the Mississippi that the locals call The Fly. We celebrated with wine, food and pumpkins! It makes me wish my birthday was in October!

Do you love Halloween? How do you celebrate this fantastic holiday? Are you like me and watch Hocus Pocus at least 6 times? Make your dog a costume? Leave a comment by midnight CST on Monday for a chance to win an awesome set of autumn appropro American Crafts Zing!

What We're Eating Wednesday: Slow Cooker Char Siu Pork Roast

2011-10-19T08:00:00.001-05:00

Lately, I've been in the mood for cold weather & comforting food. Since I can't get the cold weather here in Louisiana, I'm settling for comforting food--and turning the AC down low. I wouldn't share a recipe with you that wasn't awesome, but this one is off the charts amazing. The best part is that the slow cooker does all of the hard work & at the end of the day you get an amazing meal!

Slow Cooker Char Siu Pork Roast (Chinese barbecue)
I served this with steamed rice & veggies stir fried with garlic & soy sauce.

1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup hoisin sauce
3 tablespoons ketchup
3 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder
2 pounds boneless Boston butt pork roast, trimmed
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth

- Combine the first 8 ingredients in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Place in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add pork to bag; seal. Marinate in refrigerator at least 2 hours, turning occasionally.
- Place pork and marinade in an electric slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours.
Remove pork from slow cooker using a slotted spoon; place on a cutting board or work surface. Cover with aluminum foil; keep warm.
- Add broth to sauce in slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 30 minutes or until sauce thickens. Shred pork with 2 forks; serve with sauce.

courtesy of Cooking Light MARCH 2006

Enjoy dinner!

Is this real life?

2011-10-14T08:00:00.001-05:00

Coming back to a crazy schedule after a few days of being off and soaking up the sun in Mexico is rough. I'd like to say that I came back rested, but that was hardly the case. I actually had to take my laptop with me & worked for the first evening & next morning in the resort hotel room. The room didn't even have a task chair at the desk. I'm fairly certain that I was the first person to ever work in that hotel.

But, after Thursday at lunchtime, I was free & relaxing by the waves. For the first time in our relationship, we went to an all-inclusive resort, which I never left while we were there. Simon did a few excursions with friends, but I was happy just doing nothing. That was definitely the first time that we haven't been in go-see-do mode on vacation, and it was pretty lovely.

The reason we were in Mexico was to celebrate the wedding of my beautiful friend, Blythe to her long-time boyfriend, Jim. They were married in a gazebo by the ocean. It was so amazing!

So, here's a recap of the week, in photos.

This was what I looked at from my hotel room for the first morning. At least I had a good view!

Lunchtime & cocktails in the pool

Toes on the beach!

Simon & Jim did a swimming with dolphins experience.

This is the best dolphin kiss I've ever seen.

Blythe looked so beautiful in her dress. It was perfect.

Bridesmaids! That is me on the left. I love my dress (Banana Republic). I also love the fact that Simon took the photos during the wedding. He did such a great job!

A rare photo of us together!

Now that we're back and I have another week of work under my belt, I'm hoping that life will get back to normal, which means getting back on a blogging schedule. I'm planning on a relaxing weekend with Halloween decorating and scrapbooking.

Thanks for sticking around! Have a good weekend!

What We're Eating Wednesday & General Nonsense

2011-09-28T20:15:00.002-05:00

It's gotten crazy over here again. It looks as though it will be a while before I post any craftiness, as all of my "free" time is going to be spent working for the next two weeks to meet deadlines.

I did get a start on my project kit from Elle's Studio. I am totally loving this! The only problem I'm having is that I haven't taken a lot of photos this year, and I don't have one of the three of us (Simon, Toby & myself) and I'd really like to include one. Looks like I'm going to have to set up a photo shoot! It would give me an excuse to purchase a remote for my camera!

So, for What We're Eating Wednesday, I have an extremely easy, tasty & VEGETARIAN dinner for you. In fact, as I write this I am enjoying the leftovers.

Warm Tortellini & Cherry Tomato Salad

Ingredients
2 (9-ounce) packages fresh cheese tortellini
1 1/2 cups (1 1/2-inch-long) slices fresh asparagus (about 1 pound)
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon extravirgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4 cups trimmed arugula
1 1/2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
3/4 cup (3 ounces) pregrated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion
1/3 cup thinly sliced fresh basil
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered

Preparation
Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Add asparagus to pasta during last 2 minutes of cook time. Drain.
While pasta cooks, combine vinegars, oil, and pepper in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add pasta mixture, arugula, and remaining ingredients; toss to coat.

Courtesy of Cooking Light, January 2005

How I changed it up: I removed the red onion ( just because I didn't feel like it that night) and added a grilled chicken breast, cut up in strips.

Enjoy!

Studio Calico Card Sketch

2011-09-22T08:14:00.000-05:00

Hi friends!

I had just a few minutes to sit down and create a thank you card for my neighbor, who so kindly made a huge dish of cajun creamy pasta for us a couple of weeks ago. Luckily for me, the Sunday sketch over at Studio Calico this week was a card sketch! Here is the sketch.

And here is my take on it.

I used scraps of my May 2011 Lawn Party kit for this one. Since I saved so much time using a sketch, I was able to put together another card, this one much more simple.

I love mixing patterned papers, and I feel that these work really well together.

Thanks for stopping by! When is the last time you made a card?

What We're Eating Wednesday: Chicken Shawarma

2011-09-21T08:38:00.000-05:00

Wow, do I have a great recipe for you today. Not only is it super easy, but it is fast, tasty & a Cooking Light recipe! Perf! The chicken also reheats well, so it is perfect for a leftover pita the next day.

Chicken:
* 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
* 1 teaspoon curry powder
* 2 teaspoons extravirgin olive oil
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 3 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 16 (3-inch) strips

Sauce:
* 1/2 cup plain 2% reduced-fat Greek yogurt (such as Fage)
* 2 tablespoons tahini
* 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 garlic clove, minced
* Remaining ingredients:
* Cooking spray
* 4 (6-inch) pitas
* 1 cup chopped romaine lettuce
* 8 (1/4-inch-thick) tomato slices

Preparation:

1. Preheat grill to medium-high heat.
2. To prepare chicken, combine first 6 ingredients in a medium bowl. Add chicken to bowl; toss well to coat. Let stand at room temperature 20 minutes.
3. To prepare sauce, combine yogurt and next 4 ingredients (through 1 garlic clove), stirring with a whisk.
4. Thread 2 chicken strips onto each of 8 (12-inch) skewers. Place kebabs on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 4 minutes on each side or until done.
5. Place pitas on grill rack; grill 1 minute on each side or until lightly toasted. Place 1 pita on each of 4 plates; top each serving with 1/4 cup lettuce and 2 tomato slices. Top each serving with 4 chicken pieces; drizzle each serving with 2 tablespoons sauce.

Source: Cooking Light JULY 2008

What we've been doing

2011-09-19T08:00:00.004-05:00

It's been another busy couple of weeks over here. Between working, business trips & fun trips, we've been constantly on the go.

We spent the weekend before last in D.C., our old stomping ground & the place where we met.

We hung out in Dupont Circle on Saturday night. It was fun visiting the old bars that we used to go to, but overall, it just made me feel old! Everyone was so young!

We did the touristy thing on Sunday, September 11th and recreated our first date by visiting Eastern Market & eating lunch at Montmarte, a French bistro.

We even sat at the table we sat at on our first date.

I picked up some antique maps at the market for the house, which I am so excited about. We've been looking for a Darbyshire map (the county where Si grew up in the U.K.) and finally found one!

Afterward, we took a stroll from the Smithsonian to the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial.

It was surreal to be in D.C. on September 11th. There were helicopters everywhere around the mall.

Simon wore his new birthday sunglasses. Doesn't he look good in aviators?

Things have been a bit nuts around here lately. No news that I can share just yet, but Si had a really big day a couple of weeks ago & I wanted to make him a card to get his confidence up. When I was at home, I went to the Archiver's in Cincinnati & picked up a ton of the new Amy Tangerine line from American Crafts. I decided to break it out for this card, which is crazy, because I'd normally hoard it for a couple of months.

I love this card. Yellow, brown, gray & blue? Perfect color combo for me. I also like how it isn't masculine or feminine. I've recently purchased a few different colors of American Crafts Zing, and used a Studio Calico border stamp in Mustard zing along the left side. The brown and grey chevron patterned paper and the library card are part of the AT line. The brad is from an old Basic Grey line that I've been hoarding.

Hope you enjoy!

My Weekend

2011-09-06T08:11:00.000-05:00

I got back yesterday after a long, interesting weekend at home for a friend's bridal shower & bachelorette party. I offered to take care of the food, which was a lot of work, but I was pleased with how everything turned out.

These little pom pom cupcake toppers turned out really cute, thanks to my mom! They're not the easiest to figure out. If you need some pointers, email me!

On Saturday, I had the pleasure of being chosen for the Saturday Spotlight over at the Elle's Studio blog! I was so extremely excited & amazed when I received the email from Elle, asking me for two layouts. I already had a few layouts featuring ES tags, but I was itching to make some new ones.

To see the layouts in their entirety, hop on over to the ES blog here.

Now off to work...it is so hard to return after a long weekend!

What We're Eating Wednesday: Thai Chicken Saute

2011-08-31T08:03:00.000-05:00

This recipe is SO amazing. It is so great that we had it for dinner on Wednesday and then I made the sauce again on Saturday for dipping with chicken skewers at a party. It is so good, I could eat it again this week.

Note: The Sriricha makes this a hot (spicy) dish. I would add a small bit at a time until you get the heat level just where you want it.

Thai Chicken Saute

1 (3 1/2-ounce) bag boil-in-bag rice
1 1/2 pounds chicken breast tenders
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon fish sauce
4 teaspoons canola oil, divided
1 cup sliced onion
2 teaspoons bottled minced garlic
1 teaspoon bottled ground fresh ginger (such as Spice World)
1/2 cup light coconut milk
2 tablespoons Sriracha (hot chile sauce, such as Huy Fong)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
4 lime wedges

Preparation

Cook rice according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Keep warm.
Toss chicken with cornstarch and fish sauce. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan; sauté 5 minutes. Remove chicken from pan. Heat remaining 1 teaspoon oil in pan. Add onion, garlic, and ginger to pan; sauté 1 minute. Return chicken to pan; cook 1 minute or until done. Stir in coconut milk, Sriracha, sugar, and juice; cook 45 seconds or until thoroughly heated. Sprinkle each serving with 1 1/2 teaspoons cilantro. Serve chicken mixture over rice with lime wedges.

Enjoy!

Return to the land of the living

2011-08-29T08:12:00.000-05:00

Life has been so crazy lately. I feel like all I've done is work. After one 55 and three 60 hour weeks, I think it is safe to say that that is all I have done. Luckily, I conquered a big deadline on Friday & am now working with a more realistic schedule, so things should be looking up a bit!

Last week I took some time to create a layout about my Mom and Dad's first po-boy here in NOLA. I used the July, Mind the Gap Studio Calico kit, along with a sticker from the Homefront collection (dinner time), and two awesome Elle's studio tags.

I love punching a shape and using the negative space to house embellishment! It is one of my favorite techniques.

One thing that is really annoying me is my new AC marker that I used on this layout. I wanted it to be darker and have a finer tip. I think I will go back to my Stampin' Up Chocolate Chip marker from now on.

I have some very exciting scrappy news coming up on Saturday! Hint: The layout that I shared today has a clue on it as to what the surprise is.

In other news, it's this guy's birthday today!

Happy birthday Si! LOVE YOU!

Have a great day,

What we're eating Wednesday: Almond-Crusted Tilapia

2011-08-24T08:00:00.000-05:00

As it is so hot outside, it's seafood again this week! Fish is one of my favorite summer foods. The best thing about this recipe is that it uses tilapia, one of the most reasonably priced fish in the market.

Almond-Crusted Tilapia (courtesy of Cooking Light's book, Fresh Food Fast)

1/4 cup whole natural almonds
2 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs
1 teaspoon salt-free garlic and herb seasoning blend (such as Mrs. Dash)
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 (6-ounce) tilapia fillets

1. Place first 4 ingredients in a blender or food processor; process 45 seconds or until finely ground. Transfer crumb mixture to a shallow dish.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Brush mustard over both sides of fillets; dredge in crumb mixture. Add fish to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness.

*Note: I served this just like the photo shows, with mashed red potatoes & steamed green beans. This dinner was definitely a winner & both my husband & I agreed that it was a restaurant-worthy meal.

What we're eating Wednesday: Shrimp Florentine

2011-08-17T08:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! This week, we had an AMAZING, easy & quick dinner that I just had to share with you.

Shrimp Florentine with Caramelized Garlic (Cooking Light March 2006)

Garlic:
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
20 garlic cloves, peeled
Cooking spray

Shrimp:
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon butter
3/4 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/3 cup (about 1 1/2 ounces) grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups frozen loose-leaf spinach, thawed, drained, and squeezed dry
4 cups hot cooked linguine (about 8 ounces uncooked pasta)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°.
To prepare garlic, combine 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt and garlic in a bowl. Place garlic mixture on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally.
To prepare shrimp, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add shrimp; sauté 3 minutes or until done. Remove shrimp from pan.
Melt butter in pan over medium heat. Stir in half-and-half, broth, cheese, 1/4 teaspoon salt, red pepper, and black pepper. Cook 1 minute or until cheese melts, stirring constantly. Stir in shrimp and spinach; cook 1 minute. Combine shrimp mixture, garlic mixture, and pasta in a large bowl; toss well. Serve immediately.

*Note: I did not have enough time to roast the garlic, and it still tasted amazing. Here's what I did: I heated the oil & sauteed about 10 cloves of chopped garlic until golden, then added the shrimp. Once they were perfectly cooked, I pulled them out with a slotted spoon so that I could make the sauce (minus the butter.) Once the sauce got thick & creamy, I put the shrimp back in the pan, along with fresh spinach & my cooked linguine. Perfecto!

It's a miracle

2011-08-15T08:25:00.000-05:00

After working two 60-hour work weeks, traveling to D.C. and back & having two days to recoup, grocery shop, clean & do laundry, I had just enough time to sit down & create a scrapbook layout.

If you follow Shimelle's blog, you know that she has posted a TON of inspiring challenges over the weekend. Pretty much every challenge is calling to me, but I started with my tried & true favorite, the grid challenge.

In this layout about our trip to San Francisco last year, I had so many beautiful photos that I wanted to use to tell this story. I use grids a lot if I want to fit more than 2 photos on a layout. For me, it just looks neater that way & it comes together a lot quicker too. You'll notice on this one that there aren't a lot of embellishments. I didn't want to clutter it, or lose the feel of the grid with extra "stuff." On thing that I did in this layout that I really love doing is mounting my photos all the way to the edge of the 12"x12" cardstock. I usually start by not doing this, but I always go back to using up all of the horizontal space that I can.

I'm hoping that my work-week isn't looking too terrible, as I'd love to get into more of Shimelle's awesome challenges. If you played along, what was your favorite challenge?

What We're Eating Wednesday: Pork Chops with Carolina Rub

2011-08-03T09:25:00.000-05:00

Hi there! I am here with the return of "What We're Eating Wednesday", which I plan on being more dedicated to each week. I love food. I love to eat it and I love to cook it, so I will have something to look forward to sharing with you each Wednesday.

This rub made my pork chops out of this world! Plus, I love any meal cooked on the grill, as that is Si's domain.

Pork Chops with Carolina Rub

1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 (4-ounce) center-cut pork loin chops
Cooking spray
1/4 cup barbecue sauce

Prepare grill.
Combine first 7 ingredients in a small bowl. Rub pork with spice mixture; let stand 10 minutes.
Place pork on grill rack coated with cooking spray. Grill 4 minutes. Turn pork; grill 2 minutes. Brush each chop with 1 tablespoon sauce, and grill 2 minutes or until desired degree of doneness.
Note: An easy rub flavors these grilled chops. Let them stand about 10 minutes before grilling, allowing the meat to absorb the flavorful spice rub.

I served these pork chops up with some coleslaw (I followed the directions on the bag for the dressing) and the best part of the meal, the barbecued beans.

Stove-top Barbecued Beans

Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add 1/2 cup chopped onion and 1 minced garlic clove; sauté 3 minutes. Stir in 1/3 cup ketchup, 2 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 tablespoons prepared mustard, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce, 1 teaspoon chili powder and 2 (15.5-ounce) cans drained and rinsed Great Northern beans. Cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

(both recipes are from Cooking Light, May 2006)

After trying this out, you will never buy canned baked beans again!

If you end up trying this menu, let me know what you thought!

A layout on Monday

2011-08-01T08:35:00.000-05:00

I need to get going at work, but I wanted to share a layout that I made with this week's Elle's Studio Thursday sketch! You can see the sketch & the awesome inspiration that went along with it here.

(made with Studio Calico's May kit, Lawn Party & Mister Huey in Calico White.)

My mother & grandmother came to visit us last November, before my grandmother's health deteriorated. It is such a good photo of her. She looks healthy & strong. I realize now that it may be the only time she is able to visit us here, so I want to cherish those memories.

Have a great Monday!

Sunday Truths

2011-07-31T12:28:00.001-05:00

photo courtesy of Add a Pinch

- Freezing a big batch of blueberry waffles to reheat in the toaster later is the best breakfast decision I've ever made (says my husband).

- I haven't taken a picture in weeks.

- It is too damn hot here to do anything outside. My tan is going away & my dog is going crazy.

- I love to travel, but a day trip to D.C. was rough.

- I have two Studio Calico kits sitting on my desk unopened.

- I am growing tired of waiting for a miracle each month & the disappointment that follows.

- I have been obsessed about eating Mexican food lately.

- The bad thing about working from home is that you never get away from work.

- School supplies make me want to go back to school.

- "The Help" may be the best book I've ever read.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

A few of my favorite things...and a winner

2011-07-25T08:00:00.000-05:00

Thank you for the comments left on my giveaway post below! Based on the comments, I have some ideas in the works for future blog posts and it makes me feel more connected to you all knowing what you want to read about when you come here! Without further ado, the winner of the giveaway box is:

Dawn said...

I love the scrapbooking stuff..I would like to see how you put pages and minibooks together. I love seeing the process of layouts or DIY projects.

July 18, 2011 1:25 PM

Dawn, thank you for your comment! I will definitely try to put something together for you showing my scrapbooking process. Email me (see the button to the right) with your address & I will get your box out to you!

I went to an auction for a few hours on Saturday and was so excited about what I scored! I wanted to show you a few of my favorite things in the house that I've picked up from auctions & estate sales recently.

First from the auction this weekend...

Two of these mahogany with inlay drop leaf "lamp tables". Now I just need to get a sofa in between them! The drawers appear to have been dropped, so it looks like I will need to call my furniture restorer.

This small oil painting reminds me of our travels in Italy. The frame is good, but needs a bit of repair work at the corners.

I loved these as soon as I saw them & when I showed them to Simon, he really liked them too! (Queen Victoria is still highly loved by the Brits & his mother has a painting of her in their front hall.) They are made of a resin formed with hard wood sawdust & animal blood (crazy what those Victorians did, huh?). We want to get them restored, but in the meantime, they're going in a shadowbox on the wall. Check out what they went for at Christies. Yowza.

From an estate sale at the end of June:

A silver plated tray so that people can make drinks on our "bar" without getting the top all sticky.

Being from Kentucky, I love anything horse related, but I really liked the shape of this little trophy from a New Orleans charity horse show.

I've been looking for an ice bucket ever since our Derby party, when I had to borrow my neighbors. This one was perfect and shined up really well!

A cute footed compote & dessert stand.

All of these silver-plated items (along with one other footed bowl) were only $58!

And this...

May be my favorite thing in the house. I bought it here.

Here's the wall that its on. I've shown this mirror before, but it was made with old wooden printing block letters.

And yes, my printers tray is empty! I've been meaning to do that project for months...

What's your favorite second-hand item in your house?

A visit from my brother

2011-07-20T21:59:00.001-05:00

Hi everyone! First I'd like to say that I am so thankful for the comments that you've provided so far on the post below! The giveaway is still open until Friday, so if you haven't commented, go here and leave me some constructive criticism!

At the moment, I am trying not to fall asleep while typing. I have been working like crazy lately! Last week, on a day's notice, I flew to Florida for a site visit on two hotels. I was there Wednesday to Friday evening. This week (and for the next few months!) I'm working on a big hotel renovation project & am flying out to work in our head office all day Monday, going to visit the property, then flying back late that evening. It is going to be a crazy ride, but I'm not complaining one bit. I LOVE working again and I love doing what I do.(P.S. I'm working on a future blog post all about this!)

In all of this craziness I still have time to scrapbook! When I don't have a lot of time on my hands, I turn to a sketch to help me create a fast layout. Well, fast for me is an hour or so. Again this week, I went to Elle's Studio for their Thursday sketch. I was really excited to break out my new journaling cards from Elle's to create this layout!

Here is the sketch.

Here's my take.

I randomly found these photos in a pile on my desk from a weekend in 2006 with my brother in D.C. I had just moved there a few months earlier & he came for a visit. We had a great time! I really like creating a tone-on-tone title. Something about it just makes me happy. I'm also really loving this color combination of a tomato-soup red, teal, cream & craft.

See that teal strip with the hexagon shape? That came off of the bottom of one of my Studio Calico papers months ago. Every time I cut into one of my SC papers, I make sure that I remove this little 1/2" strip of paper & save on my desk for future projects. When I need a bit of a certain color, I reach for these. It just so happened that I had one the perfect color of teal that I was looking for!

Another favorite technique of mine is creating a 3D custom embellishment from die-cuts & brads, or any other chipboard pieces I have on hand. A.K.A. channeling my inner Christine Middlecamp. She totally rocks the layered embellishments, and is such an inspiration to me in this hobby! This one is made with a Girl's Paperie tag, Martha Stewart one inch pointed circle punch, a Fiskars star punch & a Sassafrass brad. I spritzed the black cardstock star with Mister Huey Calico White to tone it down a bit.

Supplies: Studio Calico Lawn Party kit, Studio Calico stamp, Elle's Studio tags, Girl's Paperie 'air mail' tag, Sassafras brad, October Afternoon craft mini alpha (MY FAVORITE!), Mister Huey in Lunchtray & Calico White.

Thanks for stopping by!

A prize for constructive criticism

2011-07-18T07:00:00.015-05:00

I've been noticing lately that I can hear crickets when I go to my comment section on a blog post...meaning not many of you are commenting & letting me know that are reading this! I just checked out out my Google stats, and it seems that I might be boring some of you. I'm doing a giveaway in the hopes that I can hear from some of you that are 'stalking' the blog and since Google Reader tells me that 182 people subscribe to this blog and the most I've received are 15 comments, I believe that I have quite a few stalkers! To be entered to win this giveaway, please let me know what I can do to make my 'little corner' a bit more interesting to you. Do you just come for the scrapbooking? Do you not think there is enough of the personal stuff? I love constructive criticism, so give it to me!

Here's what's up for grabs.

This pizza box is packed FULL. There are items from pretty much every scrapbooking manufacturer in here. I have included paper, embellishments, alphas, and ribbon...even a Glimmer Mist! Most of these items were included in my Studio Calico kits & just weren't the right fit for me. Some of them are gently used (like a few 12x12 papers cut in half) but there are no little scraps. I'd like to make some room for new goodies, just in time for CHA! If you're interested, tell me what you'd like to see more (or less) of on my blog!

Note: As this box is pretty heavy, I need to keep the shipping costs down & will only pay for shipping to the continental U.S. I hope you understand!

Giveaway will stay open until Friday July 22nd at 11:59pm CST.

Elle's Studio Goodness!

2011-07-12T08:00:00.005-05:00

Hi friends! It was an exciting day today because not only did I find out about a new contract that I am getting & set up an LLC with the state of Louisiana, but Elle's Studio released their new line!

I couldn't resist this colorful image in my inbox this morning! I had to place an order! I can't wait for it to arrive. Go check out their new stuff here!

Elle's Studio also has a sketch every Thursday on their blog. This week it was based off of an amazing layout by Melissa Mann, (who I may have a total scrap-crush on!) but alas, it has been picked up for publication so is no longer shown. Here is the sketch:

Here is my take on it:

This layout documents a walk in the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias that we took in Yosemite last August. I used the Studio Calico Into the Woods kit, which included the FabRip that I used to make the little 5-petal woodgrain flower. I stitched the little butterflies onto the larger butterflies, but while doing so, my sewing machine somehow found itself jammed, so my poor little butterflies are a bit roughed up.

Stay tuned later this week for a scrappy giveaway! I have an entire pizza box filled to the brim, so you won't want to miss it!

My dog's crazy personality

2011-07-08T17:05:00.000-05:00

I am so thankful for Toby! He makes our little family [almost] complete and brings so much joy to our lives!

He has the funniest personality. Really, he is like a little person. At some point on his daily walks, he has to drop down in the grass and roll like crazy. It is his happiest part of the day. I remembered last night that I snapped a photo of it in March, so I decided to scrap it with the Studio Calico Into the Woods kit, which was perfect for this layout!

At first it didn't seem like "me," but after an hour of moving things around and adding some mist, I think it is definitely my style.

Have a wonderful weekend!

I've been published!

2011-07-07T08:30:00.000-05:00

But this time, it's not in a scrapbooking magazine. I received a FB message from a fellow Junior League provisional that said, "Great photo of you in the St. Charles Avenue Magazine this month!" The St. Charles Avenue Magazine is the city's society magazine, so I was really surprised when she said that I was in it. I don't subscribe to the magazine, so I went online & found this!

That's me in the purple at a Junior League provisional kickoff event. Pretty exciting, huh? I just joined the Junior League in June & already I'm in the society magazine of New Orleans!

If you want to know more about the Junior League or want to find a chapter near you, check out their website. It is a great organization, and I'm so excited to be a part of it!

An update & a layout

2011-07-06T11:42:00.000-05:00

First, I want to say thank you so much for your kind comments & prayers for my grandma. We were with her all day Saturday & Sunday and during that time, found her improving. Her speech is getting clearer & she is going to have an occupational therapist help her with getting dexterity back in her hands. This situation has left her a bit down, so if you could still keep her in your prayers, I'd be grateful!

Before I got the call on Thursday night about my grandma, I was working on a layout based on last week's Studio Calico Sunday sketch.

And here's my take on the sketch.

I used Studio Calico's Singing in the Rain kit along with Crate Paper's accent cuts, Girls' Paperie rose brad & little letters & word stickers & Cosmo Cricket chipboard letters. I flipped parts of the sketch around, but generally kept with the overall idea of the sketch. I created the banner with pieces from this EK Success border punch & the Cosmo Cricket exclusive label stickers from the kit. The layout is about my friend Erica, a person who made my transition to this city last year so much easier because of her friendship!

Hope you enjoyed! Do you usually stick to sketches as they are or do you mix it up a bit?

If you're the praying type...

2011-07-01T14:55:00.000-05:00

Please pray for my grandma. She was in the hospital for a minor foot surgery that was scheduled for today. Mom and Dad talked to her around 9pm last night, just to say goodnight. A few minutes later, a nurse called and said that she had been found unresponsive on her bed without a pulse. She was taken to the ICU and intubated. This morning, she was breathing on her own, so they removed the tube, but her speech is very slurred, and at this point we're not sure if it is because of the drugs they've put her on, or because there has been some damage done. She had an angiogram this morning and we're waiting for the results.

Simon & I are driving home to be with her for the holiday weekend.

I would appreciate any kind thoughts or prayers that you can offer up, both for our safe arrival and her health.

Thanks friends,

A mini baby book

2011-06-25T11:00:00.000-05:00

My close friends are not scrapbookers, so when they have babies, I love to make them minis that they can just put photos in and journal on for their own easy scrapbook. Maybe I'm just trying to get everyone hooked on this awesome hobby! =)

My friend Erica's baby shower is today, so Thursday night I spent about 5 hours putting this little book together from a Cosmo Cricket mini album that I already had on hand and my Studio Calico Candy Shoppe kit that was sitting on my desk totally neglected. For my sanity, I kept it simple and didn't include a lot of embellishment.

I didn't put any embellishment on the front cover. I thought that the cute patterned paper was perfect.

I used grid paper on the inside cover so that Erica could write her baby's stats down. I also like to include the birth story because it is something that may not be told directly to your child. The month pages are perfect for adding a 2"x3" (or larger) photo to with a bit of journaling about how they've grown or changed that month.

Month 9 is one of my favorites!

Love month 11 too!

I kept the back inside cover blank so that she could journal a note to her child that sums up the first year of their life.

It was so simple & I only used what I already had on hand. I really like to do this for my friends who I know will really appreciate the care & work that went into it. I can't wait to see it filled with photos of her little boy!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Finally...a layout!

2011-06-22T09:33:00.000-05:00

It has been three months since I last completed a scrapbook layout. I have about 4 Studio Calico kits sitting on my desk untouched, which kills me! Last night I pulled out my Into the Woods kit & Studio Calico's Sunday sketch to create a quick layout. Here's the sketch.

And here's my take on it.

Journaling: We originally bought tickets for Voodoo at City Park because Muse was playing. I didn't realize that I would discover so many others, like Metric & Florence & the Machine. - Halloween weekend '10

I broke out my white AC Zing to emboss the Jenni Bowlin chipboard stars, a technique I really like! I also added two cardstock tags from SC's Countryside line. The ribbon on the journaling tag is actually the bracelet that we had to wear to gain access into the concert for the weekend. I've been saving it for months just waiting for this layout!

I also received a happy package in the mail yesterday.

My Rome layout is featured on page 98. It is one of my favorites! This book is huge, and is filled with nothing but layouts. There is so much inspiration to browse! Pick it up here.

Have a wonderful day!

Scrapbook on the Road- France 2011

2011-06-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! Wow, it feels so good to be sitting down here on my ol' computer typing a blog post! I wanted to get my SOTR album finished so that I could share my France trip, and today I just sat down and nailed it. I was really pleased.

A few things about this album. I went about it much differently than a scrapbook page. I didn't analyze over where to place anything, I just put it down. There also aren't any embellishments other than things that help me share the story of our trip, like journaling cards. Now, unlike Ali, I wanted to use up some of my stash, so I used a lot of brightly colored patterned paper from my leftover Studio Calico kits. My color scheme was raspberry, yellow & teal, so I tried to stick to those with a lot of neutrals thrown in.

So here we go. I'm going to do it all in one go, so just note: THIS POST IS PHOTO HEAVY!

I picked up the album from Archiver's when I was home in April. It is the 8x8 Ditto journal from Hampton Art. I really liked the size, and the fact that it was kraft so I went with it. I LOVED this album. It was easy to put in our backpack & it was the perfect size for everything that went in it.

My cover is pretty much the only embellished item. I used the chipboard bubbles from Maya Road & cropped & cut (using buttons as templates) little shots of us from the trip for the largest circles. Here's a closeup.

Title page:

Monday:

My wonderful friend, Keshet, sent those Studio Calico days of the week rub-ons to me, and they were fantastic for this project. I love them! To make them stand out a bit more, I outlined them with a Sharpie pen. Perf!

On the backside of the Le Pichet postcard is this photo, my favorite that I've taken to date (in manual too!)

Love the texture & the blue jeans with the red brick.

Tuesday:

I took this "feet" photo on this awesome marble floor in the Chateau du Versailles, and that started the "feet" photos for the trip.

Tuesday/Wednesday:

Just a sidenote...if you've never been to Versailles, it is amazing. I learned about it a lot in my History of Design class freshman year, and it is so much more amazing in person.

I used the Making Memories tags that my sweet friend, Anne, gave me to make a mini page for Wednesday. Love it.

Thursday:

This is probably my least favorite page, just because the photo is terrible. It had just started to rain, so the light wasn't too great. The great thing about this project is that I didn't feel bad using not-stellar photos. I just wanted to remember the trip, and even not-so-hot photos help you do that. I'm also really glad that I collected random things, like receipts & the label off of this champagne bottle we picked up from a winery.

We've been to a lot of abbeys, but this one was beautiful!I used a lot of these Maya Road kraft envelopes to store tickets & photos that I couldn't fit on pages.

I was really excited about the fountain photo that I snapped in Dijon. (Yes, we picked up mustard there!)

Friday:

On this day, I hardly took any photos. It rained, and in the morning my allergies were terrible. So bad that I couldn't concentrate at all, something you really need to do when you're taking photos. So because it was such a big part of my day, I attached the allergy medication box that I bought for relief.

This chateau was one of our favorite places that we stayed. It was fantastic & the dinner was amazing. There was a couple from Louisville sitting next to us too! Small world.

Saturday:

We drove a lot on this trip, so it seemed appropriate that I included a car shot.

The whole reason we went to France was for Simon's friend Mike's wedding to Marielle. It was at another beautiful chateau. I saved our placecards from the reception & included them. I really liked having the tiny attacher with me.

These were photos that were not very stellar, but they told the story & I'm letting it go. Although it is fuzzy, I do like the one of the two of us. It is only one of three that we have on the entire trip. I'm also so glad that I got a table group shot because that was the best part about the wedding, the people at our "rowdy" table.

Sunday:

I really love this photo from Bordeaux. We were on the riverfront & they have fountains that stream up from out of the pavement. It was probably about 90 degrees that day so a lot of people were out taking advantage of the sunshine & cool water.

These next few pages from La Rochelle are definitely my favorite, probably because it was my favorite place that we visited. We rolled into town at the tail end of a carnival and there was confetti everywhere from a parade. It was a great opportunity to take a "feet" shot. Love it.

Monday:

The photo on top is my second favorite from the trip & is a door knocker. Isn't it amazing? I love little detail shots like this. The color was just perfect too. Also on this page, I wanted to include an envelope, but didn't have much room, so I adhered it to the backside of the page, but left the flap hanging over. I really like how that turned out.

My favorite meal on the entire trip was this pot of moules marinieres with frites (also commonly known as moules frites.) It doesn't get any better than that, especially when you're eating it on the water.

We finished up the day in an aquarium, where I shot this photo. It was a good change from all of the historical things we'd been visiting.

Tuesday:

If you can only visit one chateau in the Loire Valley, I recommend Chenonceau. It was beautiful. I found a young Japanese tourist who also had a Canon DSLR around her neck to take this photo of us, which is the best one I got. Gotta love Japanese tourists.

This is a mini page about Simon losing his Ray Bans on the trip & using my girly aviators...funny.

On the backside is a postcard from Simon's favorite restaurant of the trip.

Wednesday:

Before we flew out, we finished off the trip with a visit to Chambord. It was massive & very interesting.

I am so happy with this album & tonight when I showed it to Simon, he said, "It's good to have something to remember this trip by, especially when we spent so much money on it." Haha. Such a husband-like thing to say. But really, he's right. There are so many trips that we can't remember little details. On a trip like this, where we went to several towns/cities & drove over 1000 miles, it is important to get all of these things down on paper.

It was also great to do most of the work on the trip. I did slack off on my journaling for the last two days of the trip, but putting together the pages beforehand made the process so much easier. Next time, I won't pack so much in my kit, as I found that I didn't add the alphas until I got home.

I will DEFINITELY be doing this again. I highly recommend purchasing this class. It is a bargain too at only $14!

Life is good...

2011-06-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! I have missed blogging so much. We had a great time in France! I took some fantastic photos (all in manual mode!) that I will share as soon as I have time to edit. I also have my Scrapbook on the Road album to finish off and share with you. I will leave you with a teaser of this one taken in the Chateau de Versailles.

As soon as we returned last Monday evening, I had to put my nose to the grindstone and finish off a deadline that I had for Friday. Now that is out of the way, I feel that my time has freed up a bit. My parents came into town on Saturday, so I have been spending the weekend with them relaxing, cooking and just enjoying having family around. My mom had her first encounter with a crawfish on Sunday afternoon.

Let's just say it didn't turn out to well for the crawfish.

I need some advice, friends. I bought an IPad so that when we traveled, I could still blog and check email, etc. I didn't set up anything beforehand, because I figured it would be pretty simple. I was wrong. I tried to set up Blogger Mobile, but to no avail. I can't believe there isn't an official Blogger app. I read somewhere that Typepad makes it much easier to blog "on the go," but I am not sure. How do you blog and post photos when you're away? I'd love to figure it out!

Bonjour de France!

2011-05-25T17:19:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! We are having a great time touring around France. I was hoping to post some photos, but so far, haven't had much luck with Blogger. Please hang in there, as I will have plenty to share soon!

Cali mini (amongst other nonsense)

2011-05-16T07:00:00.001-05:00

I have totally neglected my blog lately, which I really hate, but so many other things going on in my life have needed to take priority. I feel like I have been doing too many things at only 50% effort, when the achiever in me really wants to do a few things at 100%. I keep thinking that time will eventually come back to me, but so far it hasn't. In fact, things are about to get even busier, since I start my provisional year with the Junior League of New Orleans next month...will share more on that later.

I haven't created a single layout in the last two months (crazy, right?), but I have been working on my Cali mini and yesterday, finally completed it, which feels great.

Here is the finished product, created with the Studio Calico Documentary collection, as well as my Studio Calico Continental kit from last year. I started off with a Maya Road mini album that came with both chipboard pages & envelopes for storing ephemera. I will stuff the envelopes with all of the things I collected along the way, but I also treated the outside of the envelopes like pages. I decided early on that I didn't want the book to be too thick, so I barely put anything dimensional (other than chipboard letters) on the pages. I had to use a lot of layering instead.

I wanted my photos & the info to be the focus, so there is not a ton of product on this album, which is totally okay with me.

The book covers three different areas we visited in California, so I wanted to include our itinerary to remember where we were when. I embellished inside cover with items cut from the SC patterned paper & stickers.

I kept the intro page simple and stamped my title with SC stamps.

SC banner stamps here.

This page makes me happy just looking at it. Sushi & a mix of fonts. What's not to love?

Love this one. I think that photo of S & I in front of the sign is my favorite from the trip.

It that sculpture not the coolest thing ever?

Love those SC Documentary stickers. Good thing I had two sheets! And, when in doubt, add a Fab Rip.

It's no secret. I have a weakness for champagne.

This is my favorite page from the book. Love the mix of patterns with different woodgrains.

Nothing special here, but using a mix of number stamps & my own handwriting makes me happy.

Second favorite page from the book. Love the mix of green & red, as well as pennants cut from SC patterned paper & stamped/written on.

I was going to share a few photos that I took today in the park (shooting only in manual mode now!), but this post has been so ludicrously long that I will spare you until Wednesday.

What We're Eating Wednesday- Cinco de Mayo Edition (on Thursday)

2011-05-05T17:01:00.000-05:00

Hi friends! Happy Cinco de Mayo to you!

As Wednesday seemed to sneak up on me yesterday, I thought I would post a couple of great Mexican favorites, one that I just came up with last night.

This first one is heaven on a fork for me! I call it Mexican Bean Salad. Here's what I used last night:

1 14.5 can black beans
1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes
1 c. frozen corn, thawed
1/2 avocado, diced
1 bunch of cilantro (but I LOVE cilantro-adjust accordingly if you don't.)
Dash of salt
Dash of pepper
Juice of one lime
Splash of olive oil

This salad was awesome & so fresh tasting!

I made Tres Leches cupcakes last year for Cinco de Mayo and they were fantastic (and easy!)

Tres Leches Cupcakes

For the cake:

* 6 large eggs. separated, room temp.
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
* 1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

For the milk mixture:

* 1- 14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
* 1- 12 oz. can evaporated milk
* 3/4 cup heavy cream

For the whipped cream:

* 2 cups heavy cream, very cold
* 1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
* ground cinnamon, for dusting

reheat oven to 325°F. Line standard muffin tins with paper lined foil liners.

In the electric or stand mixer, beat the egg whites with the baking soda and salt, until you get soft peaks. Turn mixture on low but keep beating and add the egg yolks, one by one, then add the sugar. Beat til completely combined.

Turn off the mixer and add fold in melted butter, with a spatula until incorporated. Add the flour in four additions, folding carefully just until incorporated.

Divide the batter evenly between the liners, filling each halfway. Bake for 25 minutes, rotating halfway through until golden brown. immediately poke the cakes with a skewer, making several holes.

In a bowl, whisk the sweetened condensed milk, the evaporated milk and the cream until well blended. With the cupcakes still in their tins, brush milk mixture over the cupcakes, repeating until all the liquid has been used. Allow cupcakes to fully absorb mixture. Once cool top with sweetened whipped cream.

Make the whipped cream: Whisk heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add sugar and whisk until combined.

Distribute dollops of the cream on the tops of the cupcakes and sprinkle cinnamon to taste. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 3 days.

Makes about 20 cupcakes.

Enjoy your celebration! I'm off to shop for Derby party food!

Weekend work

2011-05-02T08:39:00.000-05:00

All of the years that I wanted a house of my own, I didn't think about all of the work that would go into it. I do thank God every day for the blessings we have in this home, but man, it is a lot of work. This weekend, I painted my laundry doors and am now one step closer to FINALLY finishing this kitchen.

(Still need to paint the trim, though!) About the laundry doors...we took out a maid's bathroom & part of the old walk-in pantry to put our laundry in the kitchen (the washer/dryer were previously in the very narrow & dark mudroom/back entrance to the kitchen) which created a BIG opening for us to close off. We knew that custom sized panel bi-fold doors would be expensive, so we took two four-panel doors that we removed during the renovation & had a local second hand architectural supply store cut them in half and add wood pieces to the sides to make them the correct size for the opening. This was a HUGE savings for us in this kitchen renovation, and we didn't waste items that we already had on hand!

We also worked out in the yard. Simon finished our new privacy fence and we came up with a plan for a water fountain. I can't wait until it all comes together. I ordered one of these tonight, which will make our backyard experience so much more pleasurable.

So, on to craftiness. A friend of a friend emailed me and asked if I could make cards for her bridal luncheon with her bridesmaids. She wanted them to give with her bridesmaid's gifts, which were rhinestone earrings. Her wedding colors are navy & silver and her wedding has a very elegant feel. Here's what I came up with.

I used Stampin' Up! Baroque Motifs stamp set with their silver embossing powder, which I love! I stamped "thanks so much" from SU's Sincere Salutations in Night of Navy ink. The chipboard base for the salutation was by Maya Road.

The hardest part was the bows. I'm a perfectionist when it comes to them! I used the silver ribbon that we had left from my wedding, so I wanted to show it off well.

Did you get anything crafty finished this weekend?

What We're Eating Wednesday- Mac 'n' Goat Cheese

2011-04-27T08:18:00.000-05:00

Today's recipe is a veggie one. A couple of times a week I try to have meatless meals because not only is it good for us, it is good for the environment. This one turned out especially well and we still have enough for another meal.

Ingredients:

* 3/4 pound macaroni pasta (I used whole wheat penne, because it was in my pantry)
* 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 2 cloves garlic, chopped
* 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
* One 9-ounce bag spinach
* Salt and pepper
* 6 ounces goat cheese, broken into chunks
* 3/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Directions:

1. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until al dente.
Drain, reserving 1/4 cup cooking water, and return to the pot.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add
the garlic and cook until golden, about 4 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes,
spinach and the reserved pasta water and cook until heated through, about 4
minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir into the pasta along with the goat
cheese. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle the walnuts on top.

*recipe courtesy of Every Day with Rachael Ray

Enjoy!

Easter treats & a winner!

2011-04-25T08:56:00.000-05:00

First, thank you all so much for your sweet birthday wishes & ideas for my 28 list! I am working on it now, but you all had so many great ideas that I know I wouldn't have thought of. I'm really excited!

Without further ado, the winner for the girly kit is:

Ursula said...

Happy Birthday! I always liked 28, it's just a nice comfortable and still young and peppy age. If you haven't already done it, I'd say read the bible this year! Otherwise, learn a new skill that you've always wanted to do. Oh, and I like the girly kit! TFS
April 22, 2011 12:21 PM

and the boy kit:

Jennifer said...

Happy Birthday!! Hope you have a great day.
Because of your comment on my blog about visiting the natural history museum, I'm going to say that one of the things to do is visit a gallery or museum you've not been to before. I know you probably won't make it all the way to London this year but I'm sure there must be one closer to home!
I'd like to win the robotic kit. I like robots, I wish I had one to do all my cleaning! x
April 22, 2011 1:04 PM

Congrats ladies! I love your suggestions!

I wanted to share the Easter pail I made for Simon this weekend. Since we don't have kids, I have to make these cute little things for the hubs!

When I was in Fredericksburg, I found a candy shop that had a bunch of British "sweets." I bought Simon a few British candy bars, but didn't just want to stick them in the pail. I decided to cover them with a cardstock "box" and make them look like flowers popping out of the grass. All of the shapes were cut with my Slice.

When editing these photos, I noticed my aperture is way off, which is why I'm glad that I'm taking Maggie Holmes' beginner photography class! Here is a photo that I took today for a recent assignment.

Love my dog.

Hope you enjoy!

28 Candles

2011-04-22T11:19:00.000-05:00

Happy Earth Day, Good Friday & birthday to me. Looking forward to celebrating with blueberry pancakes, wine & sushi (not all in the same meal.)

It makes me feel good to give gifts. In fact, I like giving them more than receiving them. SO, I thought I would share some gifts with you dear friends. I have two little kits to give away today in celebration for my birthday. One is a bit girly and one has a more boyish feel.

The boy kit includes the My Little Shoebox Robots Unplugged line and has 3 patterned papers, one die-cut cardstock sheet of labels, one die-cut patterned paper and a transparent overlay.

The girly kit includes the Girls' Paperie Paper girl line and has 3 diecut pattened papers, one sheet of 12x12 patterned paper, the vintage buttons & market trims.

Leave a comment here by 11:59pm CST on Sunday April 24th telling me what I should add to my list of 28 things to do in my 28th year and you'll be in the running. Also let me know in your comments if you prefer the boy or the girl kit.

Have a wonderful day!

Hello again blog

2011-04-20T08:41:00.000-05:00

Hello blog. I'm so happy to be with you again after such a prolonged absence. Life has been so busy lately that I haven't had time for anything besides just getting by. I hate when I feel like I'm just keeping up with everything, but I guess we all have times like that.

So let me tell you what I've been doing, blog. Over the last couple of weeks I had a few major deadlines on my project that took up most of my time. Simon & I have been doing a lot of work around the house. Two Saturdays ago I painted the dining room & realized afterward that I hated the color. Nice. While I was away this weekend, Simon ripped up all of the overgrown back flower beds, so now we have fencing to put up and lots of greenery to plant.

This weekend, I flew home to visit my parents. I had planned the trip before knowing that I would have deadlines on both Monday & Tuesday, but I still had a good (and sleep-deprived!) time. Friday night my friend Blythe came over & we put together her bridesmaid bouquets. They turned out to be SO beautiful.

My brother decided to model for us.

Saturday we went to the races at Keeneland in Lexington, KY. Mom, Nikki (my brother's girlfriend) and I started the morning with mimosas at Ramseys. I can't really think of a better way to start off the morning. We met up with my dad and brother & went to the track.

Maybe it's because I'm from Kentucky, but going to the racetrack just makes me happy. As does betting on a winner, which I don't do very often.

On Sunday, we woke up at 4:30am to go to an antique fair near my parent's house. I brought my camera, but couldn't function so early in the morning. I ended up getting a really perfect wire locker basket, some linen towels, an wooden 'A', a jar of old Coats & Clarkes thread, an old metal army box with really cool graphics, a 2 gallon crock (which I plan to use as a planter) and this, the major find of the day.

An unstained, neutral sugar sack from New Orleans. Perfect.

Also on Sunday, I blew out some candles. My birthday is on Good Friday this year (a pretty somber day for a birthday if you ask me!) I'm going to celebrate with a giveaway on you, blog, Friday morning! Stay tuned!

The week of frustrating events

2011-04-06T22:12:00.000-05:00

Where do I start?

I traveled to Fredericksburg, VA on Friday morning to be there for my friend & her family at the funeral of her grandpa, one of the kindest men that I've ever known. He was buried at Quantico today with a full military burial. Love you Grandpa Manning.

Although the reason for my visit was not very positive, it was really good to be with Melissa & her family, and also back in Fredericksburg, one of my favorite towns in America. I woke up early on Saturday & Sunday and took a walk around the town, so I will share photos with you on another post.

Monday didn't start the week off well. The Lily Bee design team was announced, and as usual, I wasn't on that list. I loved the layouts I submitted (which made me feel really positive about the call) so I thought I would share them with you.

This layout was created as I reach the end of my 27th year to reflect on the events that made up my year. I utilized my go-to design, a grid, but changed it up a bit with circles & the bracket shape in the center. It was the first time I had used acrylic paint with a stamp, and I have to say I love this technique!

I absolutely love this photo of Simon and Toby a few days after we picked him up at Thanksgiving. This layout pretty much sums up everything I love about scrapbooking-- layering different strips of bordered paper & groupings of embellishments. (I've recently established a huge scrap-crush on Christine Middlecamp--as I believe she is the queen of perfect embellie groupings.)

Yesterday I received an email from the company that interviewed me the Friday before last. Although they "thoroughly enjoyed meeting with" me (positive start, right?) they have "everything they need from me at the moment & will keep me updated as to whether they have a need for my services in the future." Hold on, what? I called to clarify, and it seems that there is not an immediate position to be filled, but they're interviewing for the chance that their workload would call for an additional designer. I really wish I would've known that before I got so excited about this opportunity. Note to self: if I ever have an interview again, ask if there is an immediate position to be filled.

So, just a great big ARGH from this end of the blogosphere. Do you ever have a week where you just want to throw in the towel? How do you get past it without turning to the bottle? (Haha, not really, but I'd love to get some suggestions. =)

Life in motion

2011-03-30T21:44:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been a week since I blogged, checked my Google Reader (yeah, that will take me hours!) or Tweeted. I feel like I'm totally out of the loop on everything. I've been so busy that I didn't even go for any of the Studio Calico add-ons that released on Sunday. Yeah, that busy.

My interview last Friday went well. Really well! (To those of you who said a little prayer or thought good thoughts for me, thank you!) The woman who interviewed me was a senior designer and at the end of the interview gave me a packet about their benefits package... so that's a good sign, right? I'm just trying not to stress about it, but to be honest, every time the phone rings, my heart skips a beat.

I had two big deadlines on my contract over the past week, which has caused most of the MIA-ness lately, but I've started to realize that if I do get this job, I'm going to need help around here. We no longer have a 700 sq. foot apartment. This house is a lot of work. I will definitely need help cleaning & doing the yard work, which we spent 5 hours doing on Saturday when we could've been doing something more productive.

After my deadline this afternoon, I felt so much better about the rest of the week ahead and sweated all of my stress out at spinning tonight. I then came home and Simon told me that my friend Melissa had called to tell us that Grandpa Manning died suddenly today.

When I moved to the D.C. metro area, my friend Melissa followed about 3 months later to get her Masters at American. Her grandfather & uncle lived about an hour away in Fredericksburg, Virginia. Since I didn't have any family in the area, they were my surrogate family. I would spend weekends there with Melissa and even spent a New Years Eve there without her when everyone else was out of town. Her grandfather showed me so much kindness in the two years that I was there. He was a retired Marine, but you would hardly know it, he was so kind and gentle. He had the voice of a white James Earl Jones (or so Amber said.) Even though we lived far apart, we still Skyped on the holidays so that we could see each other. Even though my life is crazy busy right now, I feel that I need to go be with my friend & her family, who I love so much.

Just a reminder for you to give your grandparent a call, if you're lucky to have them around. At this moment I feel that life is always in constant motion, and if you stand still it swirls around you like a whirlwind.

What We're Eating Wednesday (if I have time to cook at all)

2011-03-23T08:00:00.002-05:00

(Even with a bum tail, he's still pretty happy.)

We've been a bit crazy around here lately. Lots going on, including deadlines and getting ready for my HUGE interview on Friday. This one is so big, it is a make-it or break-it point for my career. No pressure, right?

Simon started his MBA classes back last night after a month long Mardi Gras hiatus. I wanted to share with you what I made for dinner since it was just me. I thawed out a couple of these babies and served over whole-wheat spaghetti & sauce. Perfecto.

Light Turkey Meatballs

* 3 slices whole-wheat sandwich bread
* 1/4 cup whole milk (I never keep whole around, so just use 1%)
* 1 1/2 pounds ground turkey, 93 percent lean, dark meat
* 3 scallions, finely chopped
* 2 small cloves garlic, minced
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley (or 1 tbsp. of dried, if you don't have fresh)
* 1 large egg
* Coarse salt and ground pepper

1. Place bread in food processor; pulse until fine crumbs form. In a small bowl, mix breadcrumbs with milk; set aside at least 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine turkey, scallions, garlic, parsley, egg, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and breadcrumb mixture; mix gently with a fork.
3. With hands, form mixture into balls, each equal to 2 level tablespoons; arrange in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
4. To freeze, transfer baking sheet to freezer. Freeze for 1 hour to set shape; transfer frozen meatballs to an airtight container or resealable plastic bag, and freeze for up to 3 months.

*courtesy of Martha Stewart

To sautee: Heat olive oil in a pan over med-high heat. Sautee thawed meatballs, turning occasionally until golden brown on outside & finished throughout. Add sauce to pan with a splash of water & cook for another 5 minutes.

To bake: If you don't feel like sauteing the meatballs, throw them frozen on a baking tray sprayed with Pam and stick them in the oven on 425 for about 25-30 minutes until cooked through. Then just throw them in the sauce prior to serving.

Enjoy!

When it rains, it pours

2011-03-18T08:11:00.000-05:00

We've lived here for a year now, and before that I was staying with my parents in Kentucky for a couple of months. From the time that I landed back in the U.S., I was job hunting in New Orleans. When I started doing research, there was one company that stuck out to me. This is the one that I've been wanting to work for since. Yesterday, they called me to schedule an interview next week.

I am beyond excited. I really want this to be the one.

A couple of hours later, another company called to find out my status. They said that they would call me back on Monday to schedule a meeting.

As my friend Valerie said, "When it rains, it pours."

If you're the praying type, I could use all the help I can get.

In crafty news, I've been working on a mini about our trip to California last year. After a lot of thought, I figured out the cover.

I can't wait to fill it now. The Maya Road mini that I'm using includes chipboard pages, as well as pockets for holding all of the items we gathered along the way.

What's going on with your weekend? We're painting, shopping, getting manis & pedis (me, not Simon), and seeing West Side Story with friends.

Have a great one!

What We're Eating Wednesday

2011-03-16T08:23:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone! Since we're cutting back on beef here in the Andrew household, when I make a beef dish, I want it to be spectacular. This is one of my easiest & tastiest go-tos for beef, plus, the items on the ingredient list are things I already have on hand.

Beef & Scallion Stir Fry

Serves 4

* 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
* 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
* 1 tablespoon cornstarch
* Coarse salt
* 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes, plus more for serving (optional)
* 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
* 1 1/4 pounds flank steak, cut diagonally across the grain into 1/2-by-3-inch strips
* 4 cloves garlic, minced
* 2 scallions, sliced crosswise 1 1/2 inch thick, white and green parts kept separate
* White rice, for serving (optional)

Directions

1. In a small bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup water, hoisin sauce, vinegar, cornstarch, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon red-pepper flakes; set aside.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over high heat. In two batches, cook steak until lightly browned, turning once, about 2 minutes per batch. Transfer to a plate.
3. Add remaining teaspoon oil to pan along with garlic and whites of scallions. Cook, tossing often, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Whisk hoisin mixture to combine; add to pan along with scallion greens.
4. Return meat to pan; cook, tossing to coat steak with sauce, 1 minute. Remove from heat. Serve immediately, over rice and sprinkled with red-pepper flakes, if desired.

*courtesy of Martha Stewart

Enjoy!

Dining room diva

2011-03-14T09:04:00.000-05:00

I'm going to get real here. I compare myself to other women. A lot. I see their blogs showing their perfect children/husbands/houses. I personally have friends who are SO put together, it puts me to shame. Lately, I've been comparing my house to others. We've been in this house for about 10 months now, and most of it still remains the same as the day we walked in, which frustrates me to no end. I have a very good friend who just moved into their house about a hour away last fall, and it is absolutely perfect. Granted, she didn't have to paint or renovate anything, like we ~~did~~ are still doing.

My main goal this weekend was to get the dining room painted. I had the best intentions when I went to take down the wooden drapery cornices covered with an awful pink & green fabric. I knew that I could lift them myself, so I started unscrewing, not realizing that the front was so much heavier than the back. As soon as the screw was out, it fell forward off the brackets, hitting me on the head, then landing on the floor, right where my puppy's tail was laying. He whimpered, and started walking into the kitchen when I saw the blood going everywhere. Long story short, he had serious gashes on his tail that required anesthesia & 15 stitches. So, it didn't turn out to be the best weekend for us.

I did, however, manage to paint the ceiling and crown molding this weekend, and Simon hung our new ceiling fixture. Here's what I have planned so far for the room.

We've had that dining set since 2007, and I may recover the dining chairs. I drooled over that Restoration Hardware pendant in black until it was $150 off on sale, so I bought it. It is beautiful installed, and the quality is very good. The wall color is Wedgewood Gray by Benjamin Moore. The curtains that I love are Anthro Coqo, but as they don't come in black, I'm going to have to find a similar fabric in black & cream. I'm still on the hunt for upholstery fabric for two side chairs I picked up at an estate sale. Still looking for artwork/maps & a lamp for the china cabinet.

What do you think? Did you get everything on your DIY list done this weekend?

Currently...

2011-03-11T08:15:00.000-06:00

Wearing: Jeans, cable knit spring sweater & the gray hoodie (which goes with every outfit.)
Drinking: Cafe du Monde coffee
Eating: Kashi cereal
Listening: My puppy finishing his breakfast
Watching: The Today show
Thinking: Of the people in Japan
Enjoying: Starting a new mini about our Cali trip last year
Anticipating: The weekend!
Wanting: More time to do everything I want to do

I will leave you with the layout I sneaked earlier this week. Here's the story: The morning of our wedding, it rained buckets. Which, is pretty normal for Scotland. My dress was silk & I was STRESSED. But, right before we left for the church, the rain let up and by the time we left the church after the ceremony, the sun was out and it was a beautiful day. On the way to the reception, we spied a rainbow along the countryside. It was so beautiful, and we felt truly blessed. Being the bride, I didn't have a camera on me, so I was lucky enough that my awesome maid-of-honor snapped a pic for me.

Hope you enjoy & have a beautiful Friday, even if there aren't rainbows in your skies!

P.S. What We're Eating Wednesday will be back next week. I didn't even go to the grocery this week, which equals meals not worthy enough to share here!

Happy Mardi Gras!

2011-03-08T13:47:00.000-06:00

Around here lately we've been...

Catching beads & watching parades

baking & decorating cakes

and scrapbooking.

Just gonna give you a little peek of a recent fav layout.

Hope you're enjoying Fat Tuesday!

Gearing up for the weekend

2011-03-04T08:09:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! A quick post today because I have a deadline that I need to prepare.

I made this layout for the Pencil Lines DT call last week about a French fete that my friends and I attended last spring. This layout makes me crave moules frites! Luckily, I can get it in May when we go to France!

LOVE, love, love those SC doilies.

We have a lot of this to look forward to this weekend. I've been practicing my bead-catching all week to get ready.

How about you? What are you up to?

What We're Eating Wednesday: Chicken Mac & Cheese

2011-03-02T07:30:00.006-06:00

I didn't get to take a photo of my favorite meal this week. I was so excited to eat it, I forgot to pick up the camera! This week, we ate Chicken Mac & Cheese (with a side salad.) I took Martha's Lighter Macaroni & Cheese and mixed it up a bit with some protein. My mom used to make a version of this (with Velveeta & canned chicken) for us when we were kids, and we loved it! I still love it to this day, but prefer a more grown-up, less processed version.

1 cup of shredded, cooked chicken (I used a rotisserie chicken, which left enough for lunch all week!)
1/2 box elbow macaroni
1 c. chicken stock
2 1/2 tbsp. all purpose flour
1/2 c. plain breadcrumbs
1 c. milk (I use 1%)
1 c. chicken stock (fat-free, low sodium)
1 tbsp. butter
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of cayenne
1 tsp. thyme
1 c. shredded cheddar (use a sharp, English cheddar, not processed stuff.)
1/4 c. Gruyere cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cook macaroni to a couple of minutes under al dente. (This is very important!) Drain & rinse with cold water.
3. Melt 1/2 tbsp. butter and mix with breadcrumbs. Set aside.
4. Whisk 1/4 c. of the chicken stock into the flour to make a paste. Melt 1/2 tbsp. butter in a saucepan and add thyme, cayenne, nutmeg & 1 tsp. salt. Add milk and remaining 3/4 c. stock. Whisk in flour mixture. Bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Reduce to a simmer & cook for 8 minutes, whisking frequently. The sauce will have thickened by this point. Add cheeses until melted. Add cooked macaroni & chicken. Stir to combine.
5. Pour into a 2 quart casserole that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Top with buttered breadcrumbs & bake until bubbly and golden on top, about 15 minutes.

Serves 3-4 (depending on your husband going back for seconds, which he most likely will do.)

Exciting stuff!

2011-03-01T07:30:00.003-06:00

Today on the Studio Calico message board, a little birdy reminded me about this exciting release coming up!

I had totally forgot about this book coming out, especially since I received a request for a layout over a year ago! Now that I know it is coming out soon, I really have something to watch out for in the mail! Also exciting is that you can preview the contributor page on Amazon.com, which shows my name on page 98! I'm sure that this book is loaded with awesome inspiration, so pre-order it today!

In other news, I feel like I'm already running behind this week. I forgot to do laundry on Sunday, which is my normal laundry day. I just found out today that the project I'm working on has just expanded to the public spaces, which is awesome, but overwhelming at the same time. My scraproom is a mess and I have a billion other things on my to-do list that I wanted to finish up before we have friends over in the middle of the month, and Mardi Gras takes this entire weekend out of the equation.Can I please get an additional 6 hours in a day? Or better yet, can I just learn to run on 2 hours sleep?

Did your week get off to a good start?

What we're eating Wednesday: Red Shrimp & Mango Curry

2011-02-23T08:50:00.000-06:00

I've decided to start a new weekly post on the blog (mainly to help me remember to update it more frequently!) in which I pick one thing we've eaten in the past week that I think is worthy enough to grace your own dinner table! My husband and I are foodies, but even if you're not, the meal that I choose will be easy enough for you to recreate and enjoy!

I meal plan each Sunday and do my grocery shopping for the week, which makes life so much easier for me. I hadn't pulled out my Nigella Express book in a while, so I decided to pull a few recipes from it this week. On Monday, I made Red Shrimp & Mango Curry, which was a huge stretch for me. I have a hard time with sweet and savory combinations, but I wanted to challenge myself and give it a try. The worst that could happen would be that I would eat a PB&J sandwich if I didn't like it, right?

This meal was AMAZING. It was savory with a bit of sweetness. The mixture of butternut squash, sweet potato, mango & shrimp was outstanding. It wasn't hot at all, which I was surprised about, since I had never cooked with Thai red curry paste. The combination of flavors makes you feel like you had cooked it over the span of a few hours, when it only took about 15 minutes. And, if you can't tell from this photo, I love cilantro.

Nigella's Red Shrimp & Mango Curry

1 scallion, finely sliced (I used 3!)
1 tablespoon garlic or chile oil (put a tablespoon of garlic in your saucepan, add a clove of garlic and let the garlic permeate for a couple of minutes, creating garlic oil. No need to buy a special bottle!)
1-1/2 tablespoons red Thai curry paste (I found this at Whole Foods)
1 cup coconut milk (I used the low-fat version)
1 cup chicken stock
2 teaspoons fish sauce (also found at Whole Foods)
12 oz./2-1/2 cups butternut squash & sweet potato cubes (about half of a small butternut squash & sweet potato--the rest gets frozen for another meal.)
7 oz. frozen shrimp, thawed
1 cup mango cubes
1 teaspoon lime juice
3-4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro (or if you're me, a lot more!)

1. Fry the scallion in oil for a minute, then add the curry paste.
2. Whisk in the coconut milk, stock & fish sauce & bring to a boil.
3. Tip in the butternut squash and sweet potato cubes & simmer, partially covered for about 10-15 minutes or until tender. (Don't turn them into mush!)
4. Add shrimp to the pan, letting the sauce come back to a boil. When it does, add the diced mango & lime juice and cook for another minute or so until the shrimp are pink & cooked through (don't overcook the shrimp!)
5. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and serve over plain rice or wide rice noodles.

Serves 2-4, according to hunger!

Happy eating!

Bonjour!

2011-02-22T13:02:00.000-06:00

I created a couple of layouts recently about trips that we've taken in the past. I find that I haven't documented enough of our trips, so I'm trying to find good photos (when we lived in the U.K. it was pre-DSLR times which equals not-so-great photos.) Here's one documenting a perfect spring day in Paris.

I really like cutting things out of patterned paper and making them more dimensional. Here I cut the oval and the banner out of the House of 3/Pink Paislee paper to make it stand out a bit more. The oval was a perfect backdrop for my title. I also cut out the lace paper from Basic Grey and bent and crinkled it to get it to stand out more like ruffles.

I'm really excited that we are lucky enough to go back to France this year. Since we have to be in Scotland the first weekend in June for my brother-in-law's wedding, we figured we'd just make a trip of it and go to our friends Mike & Marielle's wedding the weekend before. We're starting out in Paris and meandering to their wedding, taking place here.

Yeah, I know. I am so excited.

Another exciting part of the trip...my flight from the U.S. arrives in Paris at 6am, but Simon's doesn't arrive from Germany until the afternoon, so I have a whole 8-9 hours to wander Paris alone. I'm planning on taking lots of photos (because when I was there last, hardly none were taken. Again, pre-DSLR days) and checking out antique shops.

And another (post DSLR) layout recording our hike to the top of Half Dome.

How do you feel about your pre-DSLR versus your post-DSLR layouts? Any exciting trips planned this year?

What is a great haircut worth?

2011-02-16T07:30:00.007-06:00

Thank you all so much for your sweet comments about my Valentines. You totally made my day and I hope that you all had a sweet holiday!

I decided recently that I was going to stop getting my haircut at hair schools. No, you can't beat the $15 cut, but when they forget to cut entire sections of hair, it just isn't worth it. I went to a FANCY salon tonight, and to be honest, I felt a little under dressed for this one in my zip-up hoodie and Converse all-stars. They give you a button-up smock when you come in that you go into a changing room to put on. They have dedicated shampoo girls. Wha? Although the cut was over 3 times the price of a hair school...it was totally worth it. I am in love!

I also created a layout the other night with the remnants of my Back 40 kit.

I've realized over the last few years that marriage takes A LOT of work. We are always working at it and learning how to be good people and good partners to each other. This picture was taken back in June 2009, and I realized that I've never scrapped it. I wanted to use up the last few bits of my Back 40 kit, and when I saw the Jenni Bowlin die-cut paper and card, I knew it would be perfect for this subject.

I cut the title out of cardstock with my new Handwritten Slice design card. I got it along with two others because they were so cheap at Two Peas! I know that I will want to use this card to create titles all the time!

Okay, enough crafty talk. I'll leave you with a pic of my boy that I took this afternoon. This is his G-Q pose. =)

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-14T08:15:00.000-06:00

Happy Valentines Day friends! I hope you can share this day with the person that you love. We are having a low-key Valentines Day here with Ina's steakhouse steaks (Simon's favorite)and hanging out with our puppy.

I wanted to share the Valentines that I made for friends & family. I used up almost my entire Back 40 kit to make them, and they may just be my favorite cards ever!

This one is for my brother, so I wanted to make it a bit more masculine...

And here's a closeup of my favorite...

Thanks for looking and have a beautiful day!

Tupelo Honey Love

2011-02-10T08:04:00.000-06:00

On Tuesday night we had our monthly girls night at my friend Maria's shop, Tupelo Honey, located on the trendy Magazine Street here in NOLA. She creates amazing works of paper art such as notecards, invitations, and paper straws, and also showcases her own photos on many of her creations. Maria has the most amazing vintage sense of style, and her shop matches that. Every time I go in, I just want to take photos! She has an amazing way of showcasing everything in a very special way. Take a look.

If you're in need of invitations or cards with very special details, visit the Tupelo Honey website!

Weekend ramblings

2011-02-06T16:07:00.000-06:00

Hi friends! It's Sunday afternoon here, just a few hours from kickoff time. I don't know about you, but this year, I don't really care about who wins. I just hope it is a good game. Of course, I'm really excited about the commercials!

Friday was my first official day of design work in 3 years, as I got my contract through and was set up on the office remote desktop. It felt really good, but a bit overwhelming as well. Re-learning CAD is the toughest part, but I think I will pick it up quickly. I want to thank all of you for the very kind words you've given over the past few months about my career issues. You don't know how much they've meant to me. This contract isn't permanent, but I'm so thankful for the opportunity to have something new on my resume.

Because I knew my contract was beginning, I took the time last week to create a few layouts for the CHA challenges over at the Studio Calico message boards.

"See You On Skype" was my first layout created for the color challenge in which we had to use yellow, teal, gray & white. I love this color combination, so this one came pretty easily. Here's a closeup of the title.

This layout was created with the Studio Calico Metropolitan kit.

My next layout, "The Bikini Pose" was done for the magazine challenge, but I accidentally chose an advertisement as my inspiration instead of a magazine or book cover. Whoops! I still like it!

This layout was created with the Back 40 kit, which I may add is perfect for Valentines as well!

Here's the advertisement.

And the last layout is funny. I heard a quote that I really loved & wanted to use it for the quote challenge. When I heard the quote I thought, "Hey! That word is my one little word for the year! How cool?" Except, I forgot that my one little word was really trust, and instead I thought it was faith. Geez. However, I guess trust & faith kind of go hand in hand, no? So I guess because I created this layout, I've officially changed my OLW.

Here's a closeup.

This layout was created with the On The Easel kit and was inspired by Jen's amazing layout here.

The whole list of Studio Calico challenges are here. Although the deadline for prizes has already passed, they would still be a great starting point to a fantastic project!

Also, I wanted to mention that I finally caved in and started Tweeting! I'd love for you to follow me, and please share your screen names so that I can follow you too!

Tudor Love

2011-01-31T16:58:00.000-06:00

So I am a history geek. I could watch the history channel all day. I could tour grand houses and castles daily on vacation. One of the best books I've read was John Adams by David McCullough. One of the most fascinating spans of history for me is the Tudor dynasty in England. (Ya know, the one that split England from the Catholic church all for the chance to have a son--which didn't even happen?!) So, a few weeks before we were married, when we were visiting the south part of London one Saturday to have Simon's Corvette serviced, we decided to make a day of it and visit Hampton Court Palace, Henry VIII's primary residence. (When he wasn't touring around the country with his entourage bankrupting various Lords' estates with his parties!)

Visiting Hampton Court made me feel like I was in a Philippa Gregory novel, and it was fantastic! The grounds were beautiful, the palace was amazing, and the audio tour? Well, to me those are the best part! There's no use in visiting a place with so much history if you can't learn about it! Don't ever skip an audio tour!

Here's a layout I created with the January 23rd Sunday sketch at the Studio Calico blog. I was so excited when I found the Making Memories roses in my Napa Valley kit, as well as a Hambly rose rub-on that I had been hoarding for some time. Just in case you don't know, the rose is the symbol for the Tudor dynasty.

I hope you enjoy! Are you a history geek like me? What parts of history fascinate you?

Let's catch up!

2011-01-26T08:30:00.002-06:00

Happy hump day everyone! I hope that you've had a wonderful week so far. We're doing okay over here at the Andrew household. It was lucky that I took Toby to the vet for an emergency x-ray on Friday, because as it turned out, he has bronchitis and we had no idea. So other than missing a play date with his BFF Charlie today, things aren't too bad here.

Simon started a new semester of his MBA at Tulane with an accounting class. He'd like to get an written explanation from anyone who decided that accounting would be a good career. Really, he wants to know. He finds it extremely boring, but hey, this is the guy who has never balanced a checkbook in his life and has to learn how for the first time. Thank God the CEO of the Andrew household has it together. =)

I haven't received my contract yet from my previous employer, and it is making me nervous. To make matters even worse, I finally received an email from a company here in NOLA I submitted my work to a month ago and they're not interested in me. Which really hurts. To bide the time without chewing my nails, I've been working on a couple of layouts. The first turned out exactly how I wanted it to.

I took this photo on the 4th of July last year just as the sun was setting in our front yard. As soon as I saw it, it made me extremely happy. I love the sunburst and the bright colors in the flag. I knew that I wanted to create a layout about how thankful I am for being back in America and how because of my experiences, I won't take it for granted again.

Here are some closeups.

I started this layout by stamping the Studio Calico star border in navy several times on a Scenic Route grid paper. I then pieced together a the remainder of the flag from other patterned papers in my Studio Calico Continental add-on kit. I wanted to make it look a bit "homemade" so I stitched on the stripes with my trusty sewing machine and ended with a few squirts of Mister Huey Classic Calico (which is a dream!)

My next layout didn't turn out as I would have liked, but hey, they can't all be winners, right?

Last June, my friend Erica and I drove to the north shore (the fancy way to say across lake Pontchartrain) to a pick-your-own blueberry farm. We had a great time, and left with 3 gallons apiece! I still have one left in the freezer!

It ended up being a bit more simple than I would have liked, but that's okay! The story is down and that is all that matters.

Let me know how your week is going, unless you're going to CHA, and in that case, I don't want to hear about it! Hehe...just kidding! Can you tell I'm a bit jealous?

Weekend totals

2011-01-23T16:30:00.001-06:00

1 emergency trip to the vet Friday afternoon because I thought Toby swallowed a metal piece of hardware--luckily, the x-rays proved that he didn't
250 dollars spent in under half and hour at the vet
15 friends over at our house
1 king cake consumed
6 bottles of wine and several packs of Abita finished off
2 hangovers on Saturday morning
3 hours spent watching episodes of The Dog Whisperer

Other than Friday, our weekend has been pretty low-key.

I'll leave you with a layout I created inspired by this one. Love her!

General craziness & a new layout

2011-01-18T16:39:00.000-06:00

A lot has been happening over here. I'd like to say that the kitchen is totally finished, but it isn't. We are still sanding & painting windows. Not only that, but our contractor has turned out to be a total deceptive, unethical snake. I won't elaborate, but at the end of the day, this will be a huge learning experience for us, and I keep trying to think of it that way. It's the only thing that keeps me sane!

On the bright side, I got a call on Friday from my director of design at my previous company outside of D.C. They have an upcoming renovation job here in New Orleans on a Hilton, and they want to contract me to work on it. I can't tell you how excited I am. At the end of February, it would have been 3 years since I've done design work. Who knows what opportunities this could open up for me.

I created a scrapbook layout on Saturday about my friends back home in Kentucky. I used the 1/9 Sunday sketch at Studio Calico and the Metropolitan kit to get me going again. This is my first layout of 2011!

This layout was a tough one for me. So much has changed in my friendship with my girls back home in Kentucky. Distance makes it hard, but we've also had totally different experiences and we have different views on things now. This layout is about focusing on the fact that no matter where we are now, we know where we've come from and our friendship has totally shaped the women that we are today.

BTW, I am totally loving that big scallop punch. How did I live without this thing?

December Daily- Days 14-31

2011-01-11T15:34:00.000-06:00

Whew! This December Daily sure was a lot of work, but I really like the way it turned out. Here are days 14-31. I hope you enjoy!

Day 14 supplies: Paper- Bazzill Basics, October Afternoon; Rub-on- Making Memories; Button- Basic Grey; Border punch- Fiskars

I made my own holly wreaths from our holly bush outside and hung them in our den. It was my favorite Christmas decoration by far this year.

Day 15 supplies: Paper- Basic Grey, Sassafras Lass; Rub-on: 7Gypsies; Stamp: Basic Grey; Rhinestones- MME
Day 16 supplies: Paper- Basic Grey; Ribbon- Making Memories; Envelope- Maya Road; Stickers- Cosmo Cricket & Jenni Bowlin; Rhinestone- Kaiser Craft

On Day 15 we went to a 20's & 30's church group Christmas party. I forgot my camera (duh!) but took a photo of the ornament I came home with in the ornament swap.

On Day 16 I finished off the Christmas pudding that Simon's mum and I had started. I put the recipe in the Maya Road envelope at the top.

Day 17 supplies: Paper- Hambly & Bazzill Basics; Journaling spot- Martha Stewart; Rub-on- Making Memories; Baker's twine- Martha Stewart
Day 18 supplies: Lace paper- KI Memories; Photo frames- K & Company; Spray mist- Studio Calico

On Day 17 I took a photo of the kitchen with the marble installed. Still painting, though.

Day 18 (page 1) has a series of photos that I took of Simon and Toby playing on the sofa with the Christmas tree lit in the background. Just realized that there is no date or journaling on this page. Must remedy that.

Day 18 supplies: Paper- Studio Calico, Teresa Collins, Basic Grey; Journaling spot- Jenni Bowlin; Rub-on- 7Gypsies; Button: Basic Grey; Bakers Twine- Martha Stewart; Stamp- Studio Calico; Ink- Stampin' Up!

Mincemeat pies are my favorite Christmas treat!

Day 19 supplies: Paper- Making Memories; Transparency- Hambly; Journaling stickers- Jillibean Soup; Vintage die-cut- from a Christmas card

Day 19 is all about the Christmas cards we received.I love this spread--mostly because of my awesome friend Margy's handmade card on the right and the vintage die-cuts that I pulled off a card my dear friend Susan sent me.

Day 20 (left) supplies: Paper- Making Memories, October Afternoon, Bazzill Basics; Stamp- Basic Grey; Ink- Stampin' Up!; Other- star brads
Day 20 (right): Paper- October Afternoon, Basic Grey, Hambly, American Crafts, KI Memories; Stickers- Cosmo Cricket; Rhinestone- MME

On Day 20 I had a little get-together with friends. I made the star cookie tree on the left.

Day 21 supplies: Paper- October Afternoon, KI Memories, Bazzill Basics; Other- Snowflake brad, ribbon
Day 22 supplies: Paper- October Afternoon; Making Memories; Die-cut- The Girl's Paperie; Stickers- October Afternoon, Sassafras Lass; Baker's Twine- Martha Stewart

Day 23 supplies: Paper- Collage Press, Bazzill Basics, KI Memories; Border punch- Martha Stewart; Stickers- Sassafras Lass; Pin- Making Memories; Rhinestone- MME
Day 24 supplies: Paper- October Afternoon, Hambly; Frame- Maya Road; Fabric Brad- Basic Grey; Star punch- Fiskars; Rhinestones- MME; Glitter- Martha Stewart

Day 25 (left) supplies: Paper- Teresa Collins, October Afternoon, Making Memories; Stickers- Cosmo Cricket; Border punch- Martha Stewart
Day 25 (right): Paper- Making Memories, Teresa Collins, Basic Grey; Stickers- Jenni Bowlin; Pearl flower- Jenni Bowlin; Star punch- Fiskars

I included a timeline of Christmas Day on the left so that I could remember how the day went. I created a 5x7 photo collage in Photoshop for the right.

Day 25 supplies: Paper- Making Memories, KI Memories; Ribbon- Making Memories; Tag- Little Yellow Bicycle; Transparency- Hambly; Heart- cut from Slice Basics card 1; Star- Jenni Bowlin; Rhinestone- MME

My cute little bro made all of us girls jewelry this year for Christmas.

Day 26 (left) supplies: Paper- Making Memories, Jenni Bowlin, Basic Grey; Bingo tiles- Jenni Bowlin; Ribbon- Making Memories; Baker's Twine- Martha Stewart
Day 26 (right): Die cut paper- Basic Grey; Journaling spot- Jenni Bowlin; Paper- Making Memories, Teresa Collins; Rub-ons- Making Memories; Rhinestones- Kaiser Craft & MME

Day 26 was special because I finally got to meet my friend Steph's baby, Kendall.

Day 27 supplies- Paper- Theresa Collins, American Crafts & Bazzill; Stickers- October Afternoon, Jenni Bowlin; Pen- American Crafts

This is by far my favorite photo in the album.My hubby looks so handsome, and I can't believe I got the dog to look at me!

Day 27 supplies: Paper- Making Memories, October Afternoon; Stamp- American Crafts; Ribbon- Making Memories; Vintage button; Ink- Stampin' Up!; Stickers- October Afternoon

Day 28 supplies: Paper- Studio Calico, October Afternoon; Journaling Card- Studio Calico; Rub-on- Making Memories; Rhinestones- MME; Sticker- Jenni Bowlin; Paint- Making Memories; Spray ink- Studio Calico; Paint- Making Memories
Day 29 supplies: Paper- Making Memories, October Afternoon, Basic Grey, Bazzill Basics; Stamps- Studio Calico; Ink- Stampin' Up!; Stickers- October Afternoon, Making Memories; Pearls- Kaiser Craft

These are my heavy-in-technique pages. I think by this point I was getting bored by what I was using so I tried to mix it up a bit. I used the leftovers of my KI Memories snowflake lace paper to mask the October Afternoon patterned paper and sprayed with Studio Calico's applejack Mr. Huey on day 28. I also inked around one of my photos with acrylic paint. You can see a great tutorial on this here.

On day 29 I created my own patterned paper using the house stamps on the Making Memories ledger. I wanted one to stand out so I stamped it black inside. Unfortunately, I dropped the stamp on the paper while I was creating, so I had to cover it with the Making Memories script sticker on the right.

Day 30 supplies: Paper- October Afternoon, Basic Grey, Teresa Collins; Stickers- Sassafras Lass, Jillibean Soup; Button- Basic Grey; Baker's Twine- Martha Stewart; Other- Ribbon; Border punch- Martha Stewart; Pen- Uniball Signo
Day 31 supplies: Paper- October Afternoon, Jenni Bowlin, Teresa Collins; Rub-on- 7Gypsies; Stickers- Jenni Bowlin; Baker's Twine- Martha Stewart; Rhinestones- MME

Now all I have left to do is punch the holes and bind with binding rings. Thanks for sticking with me through these long posts. I'm glad that I have this project out of the way, because I'm really looking forward to getting back into 12x12 layouts!

Project Life: Revisited

2011-01-07T17:12:00.002-06:00

At the beginning of 2010 I had the best intentions. I had just flown back to the U.S. for good and ordered Becky Higgins' 2010 Project Life kit to document the journey of our new city and a new life.

Like I said, my intentions were good.

What I didn't realize was that some days, I wouldn't want to take a photo. Not even with my brand new Canon Rebel T1i. Some days, life was just way too ordinary for an unemployed housewife. You can only take so many photos of what you're eating.

I also didn't realize that, being the picky person that I am, I wouldn't like all of the

[at this point during my blog posting, I actually went to the Studio Calico website and read all of the Friday bloggers blog posts before realizing I was right in the middle of typing my post. Remember this for my point below.]

designs of the paper/notecards, etc, that I would find in the kit. Therefore, I would have to come up with something on my own, a very daunting task if you ask me.

And last, as you've already noticed, I am a bit scatterbrained. I'm not dedicated enough to take 10 minutes EVERY day to print out my photo or journal about it. Most of the time, I was getting big batches of photos printed and journaling about them sometimes months after the fact. It doesn't work very well for capturing feelings on the here & now.

So, from my last count, I took photos on 306 out of 365 days. Not the greatest.

I'm really glad I tried it, because it forced me to take more photos during the year than I would've done normally. I don't think that Project Life is for me in 2011, but maybe if my life changes in the future (aka children) I may give it a try again. Here are a few of my favorite photos from Project Life in 2010.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

That last one may just be in the running for my favorite photo of the year.

I hope this hasn't put you off of a Project Life/365 this year. Try it out, maybe it will work for you. If not, you can do what I'm doing and try out something smaller, like a Week In The Life this year.

One Little Word

2011-01-05T08:00:00.001-06:00

After a lot of thinking, I've chosen my word for 2011. For some reason, after thinking of a dozen other words, this one kept coming into my head.

source: Inquisitr.com

Although I hear a lot of people say that "God told me this," or "God showed me that," I've never been one to feel that way. I've always struggled with the idea that someone besides me might have a hand in my destiny. I guess this is the first time I've actually felt like maybe God is trying to tell me something by putting this word into my head.

In 2011...

I want to put my trust in God that he will choose the right path for me.
I want to put my trust in my husband that he will provide for us.
I want to trust in my abilities to be a good wife, a good friend & a good daughter/granddaughter/sister.

A lot of things that I had hoped to happen in 2010 just didn't. I can't explain why, but I just need to trust that they will happen when they are meant to happen.

Here's to a new year and a new chapter.

Goodbye December

2011-01-03T11:25:00.000-06:00

Oh December, you were a killer. Maybe it was driving 3200 miles back and forth to Kentucky within a month, or the Christmas shopping, or the baking, maybe the puppy potty-training, but you really threw me for a loop. I stopped doing all of the things that I wanted to do like scrapbooking and blogging. I have piles of magazines left unread. January will help me get caught up on everything...cleaning, organizing, painting AND fun things. So, sayonara December. So glad you're gone.

On second thought, December did help me make a really cool December Daily mini, which I am halfway through with now. I think it may be my favorite project ever. This will be long, but bear with me.

My cover was really easy. I used the Teresa Collins bracket book cover. I bought a Making Memories metal frame at Michaels and printed one of Ali's free title circles which I embossed with Zing red glitter and gold embossing powder by American Crafts. If you don't have a Versamark pen, you'd need one to do this.

Day 1 supplies: Paper- Making Memories & Sassafras; Stickers- Jenni Bowlin (star), Jillibean Soup; Rub-ons- 7Gypsies; Rhinestones- My Mind's Eye

Page one is pretty simple, but I really like it.

Day 2 supplies: Paper- Basic Grey; Ticket & border: My Mind's Eye; Rub-on- Making Memories; Button- Basic Grey; Snowflake & tag- cut from Fa La La Slice card; Other- baker's twine and Tim Holtz Mini Attacher (MY FAV CHRISTMAS PRESENT!)
Day 3 supplies: Paper- October Afternoon, Studio Calico (text), Basic Grey (green); Chipboard frame- Maya Road; Rhinestones- Kaiser & Co; Paper ribbon- Basic Grey; Paint- Making Memories

I was undecided about if I was going to make my pages back to front, but in the end decided to do it. I treated each page as separate, as I am terrible at two page layouts! You gotta do what works for you.

Day 4 supplies: Paper- Basic Grey; Bazzill Basics (kraft); Stamps- Basic Grey, Studio Calico; Border punch- Fiskars; Stickers- Jenni Bowlin; Cardboard star- Jillibean Soup; Other- ribbon & brad

We had a busy day on day 4 with a trip to a local plantation and a holiday celebration in City Park. This is the closest I come to a two page layout!

Day 5 supplies: Paper- October Afternoon & Bazzill Basics; Rub-on- Making Memories; Embossing card- Tim Holtz; Slice basics 1 design card; Rhinestones- My Mind's Eye; Ink- Stampin' Up!
Day 6 supplies: Paper- Making Memories, Studio Calico; Border sticker: Basic Grey; Rub-on- American Crafts; Stickers- October Afternoon; Other- antique button.

I forgot to take a photo on day 5 so I decided to create a page about our Christmas wish lists. I love the way it turned out! I got to use my new Tim Holtz Bingo embossing card, which was perfect for this project. Here is closeup:

Simon's mum bought us an awesome rosemary tree. I took this great photo on Day 6 while she was reading in the background.

Day 8 supplies: Paper- October Afternoon

On day 7 I went to a friends ordination into the priesthood. It was a magical service. Not sure if I'm going to add embellishment here or not.

Day 8 is incomplete because I'm waiting on a photo from a friend of our December market booth.

Day 9 supplies: Paper- Making Memories
Day 10 supplies: Transparency- office supply; Die-cut paper- KI Memories; Spray ink- Studio Calico, Maya Road; Chipboard- Maya Road; Paper- Bazzill Basics; Rub-ons- Making Memories; Rhinestone- My Mind's Eye

On day 9, I forgot to take a photo again, so I'm trying to come up with ideas on what to add here. Any suggestions?

Day 10 is a series of three pages, including a transparency front page. It's my first time working with them, and I'm in love! I used a clear transparency and backed it with a misted KI Memories lace paper.

Page 2 of Day 10 Supplies: Paper- Making Memories, Bazzill Basics; Stamp- Basic Grey; Punch- EK Success; Other- brads

Page 3 of Day 10 supplies: Paper- Making Memories

I'm thinking that this is just far too boring. Must work on that.

Day 11 supplies: Paper- Cosmo Cricket; Sticker- Jillibean Soup; Chipboard shapes- Girl's Paperie; Other- baker's twine
Day 12 supplies: Paper- Basic Grey, Making Memories packaging, Bazzill Basics; Felt accent- Making Memories; Font- Traveling Typewriter on dafont.com

Day 11 may be my favorite so far. I love the photo of my Christmas lights on the sisal rug. After taking Shimelle's Love Your Pictures class, I've really learned how to get a different perspective in my photos. I really liked how one of the sheet music words was "aglow" so I put a bracket sticker around it to make it stand out. The arrow really draws your eye to the photo.

Again, forgot to take a photo on day 12, but I went to my church program and took out the canon of the day. On the punched tag at the top I wrote "remember the true meaning of Christmas!"

Day 13 supplies: Paper- My Mind's Eye, Teresa Collins; Transparency- Hambly Studios; Stamps- Studio Calico; Game spinner- Tim Holtz; Journaling tag- Elle's Studio; Stickers- Jenni Bowlin; Rhinestones- Kaiser Craft; Other- ribbon

Love this spread for day 13. The first page is about how Toby decided to lay under the tree, which we all thought was so cute, but he ended up peeing on the tree skirt! That's why the game spinner is pointing toward naughty.

Day 13 part 2 supplies: Paper- Teresa Collins, Basic Grey, Making Memories, KI Memories; Stickers- Sassafras, October Afternoon, Jillibean Soup; Stick pin- Making Memories

I think this is my second favorite page so far. I actually moved the stickers around so much that I ripped the ledger paper, so had to cover it up with something and decided to use the KI Memories lace paper. I love how the white snowflakes stand out against the ledger paper. I also love making my own layered embellishments like I did here with a punched circle, snowflake & punched paper from Teresa Collins. Here is a closeup:

If you made it this far, thank you! I will have the remaining days up shortly. I'm also working on coming up with my one little word for 2011.

Thanks for being here with me at the start of 2011. I hope it is a great year for all of us!

20 Days of Holiday Sharing

2010-12-11T02:16:00.000-06:00

I just noticed tonight that my 20 Days of Holiday Sharing project went live on 2Peas, so I wanted to share it with you!

I came up with this rosette tree project after seeing something similar in TJ Maxx made out of wood shavings. I realized that I could make this work with paper and voila! Handmade Christmas decoration that only takes time, but not a lot of moolah!

The gallery posting on 2Peas has a tutorial, along with step-by-step photos to help you along the way. If you have any questions, feel free to email me (just click on the link to the right.)

Happy crafting!

Wow...

2010-12-10T10:03:00.000-06:00

I can't believe that it has been this long since I've updated my blog. I know that I technically shouldn't feel guilty for neglecting it, but I do. What can I say? Life just gets in the way of the things we really want to do sometimes.

So a few updates for you.

This month brought my first publication in Scrapbook Trends with a Studio Calico layout. So exciting!

In other exciting crafting news, I have a REALLY COOL project being featured on the Two Peas 20 days of holiday sharing event coming up soon! I'll make sure to let you know when it is up.

This little one is such a handful! You can't let him leave your sight for a moment or he is chewing up something or peeing somewhere. But, he is SO darn cute I have to forgive him right away.

Simon's mum is in town and we're having a great time seeing the sights and going shopping at all the stores she can't find in the U.K.

My December Daily started out great for Day 1, and then my printer broke. Wah wah. I'm hoping that it will be fixed tomorrow, or else I'm going out to get a new one! Next year I am totally getting it finished before December first!

I hope you're doing well, blog friends! I promise not to neglect you for this long again!

Monday Randomness

2010-11-22T17:57:00.000-06:00

This boy

Went to his first SEC football game this weekend
Is working really hard on his MBA at Tulane
Is getting out of painting because of said MBA program
Has an obsession with watching Garrow's Law on the BBC Iplayer
Is looking forward to seeing his mum in a couple of weeks

This girl

Is stressed about all that she has to accomplish in 24 hours before the big drive
Has been painting nonstop for 2 days
Is totally over painting, but loves the sense of accomplishment in a freshly painted wall
Prays to God that things will look up soon, but knows how lucky she is
Can't wait to see her family and be back in Kentucky this week
REALLY wants to scrapbook and work on her December Daily, but can't fit it on the long list of things to do

This boy

Has no idea how spoiled or loved he will be in less than 48 hours

Thankful Thursdays

2010-11-18T12:57:00.000-06:00

This morning I had coffee with a new friend who recently found out she was pregnant with her first child. Although her & her husband feel that they've been blessed with this news, they were not expecting the pregnancy. She has just quit her teaching job (teaching here in New Orleans is VERY stressful & not good for the pregnancy) & he is looking for something that pays better. They don't have health insurance & they're trying to figure out how to make ends meet.

While driving home, I turned off the radio & just thought. I thought about how lucky Simon & I are to be in the situation that we are in. We have this beautiful home. We (almost) have a new kitchen. We're getting Toby next week. We have each other. No, I can't go out and buy a new fall wardrobe or the furniture to fill the house right now, but that doesn't matter. We have what we need, and then some.

I got out of the car and walked into the back door where the electrician is putting up the under cabinet lighting in our new kitchen. I think about how much we've spent on it, and it made me feel guilty. I know this is not the right way to go about this, and that I need to channel this negative energy into something positive. So, I decided to pay it forward & buy a few bottles of prenatal vitamins for her today. I know it isn't much, but I wanted to do something.

What has made you feel thankful for what you have lately?

Wordless Wednesday: New Haircut

2010-11-17T09:47:00.000-06:00

New Layout & Po-Boy Pics

2010-11-16T09:16:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! I hope your Tuesday is turning out terrific! Haha...that was cheesy.

Anyway, I opened up my new Studio Calico kit, Napa Valley, last night, and let me just say that it is chock full of goodness! I needed to create a layout fast, so I used this weeks sketch up on the Studio Calico blog.

Here is my take on the sketch.

I took this photo as one of my Project 365 photos the week I started spinning again. I spin on Mondays & Wednesdays, and it is awesome! If you're looking for something to really get you in shape, spinning is it!

On Sunday, we went to the Po-Boy Festival on Oak Street. The place was packed with people trying to sample all of the best po-boys in the city. Simon & I opted for Jacques-Imo's roasted duck po-boy (for him) and the fried green tomato with shrimp remoulade po-bo (for me!) They were both fantastic. Here are some random shots of the event.

This cute old lady was watching the crowd from her window.

N'awlins people love po-boys!

Have a great day!

December Daily preparation!

2010-11-14T00:07:00.000-06:00

This year will be my first December Daily album. The task always seemed so daunting to me, mostly because I didn't have a family with children to take up most of my documentation, but I've decided that with a new house, my mother-in-law staying with us for two weeks, and a new puppy, I should have plenty to capture!

The hardest task now is deciding what to use to make my album beautiful! I have to admit, I find minis extremely hard. At the moment, I have about 5 blank ones staring at me from my shelf that I have ideas for, but the small scale just freaks me out! 12x12 has such a vast creative canvas for me.

After seeing this December Daily post from Ali, I've decided to go with the Teresa Collins Noel covers. I am a huge sucker for good fonts, and I love the festive words on the front cover.

(Sorry about the random child in the product photo. Only one I could find!)

For the inside of the album, I've decided to use mostly red, with some green & brown thrown in for good measure. Here's what I've assembled so far (both new & old!)

(Apologies about the lighting! Must learn to get creative when there is optimum light level outside for photographing blog images!)

Clockwise from left: Making Memories Mistletoe- Trees, Making Memories Noel- Poinsettia Music Notes, Making Memories Noel- Advent Calendar Rub-ons, Making Memories Noel- Rub-ons, October Afternoon Very Merry- Write the Cards, Making Memories Mistletoe- Artisan Solid FaLaLa, October Afternoon Very Merry- Wrap the Presents, Teresa Collins 'Tis The Season- Christmas Circle & Remember (so sweetly given to be my this fabulous lady!), Making Memories Noel 8x8 sheets- Postage Stripe, Words, Solid Green Ledger & Green Glittery Dot, Teresa Collins Noel covers, Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly- Merry Berry, 7 Gypsies binding rings (red, brown & white).

I'm also loving these 6x8 printable overlays by Ali Edwards & am trying to figure out how to incorporate them into the album.

(photo by Ali Edwards)

I'm sure I will add more embellishments to the mix, especially when I visit Archiver's at home for Thanksgiving. Just the thought of going there makes me so anxious to go home! Yes, Mom, I'm looking forward to seeing you too!

I also have my eye on these little beauties from Elle's Studio.

Aren't they vintage fantastic!?

What are your December Daily plans?

Must go to bed. The last Formula One race of the season is on tomorrow at 7am!

Love & hugs,

Weekend To Do List

2010-11-12T17:47:00.000-06:00

I don't know about you, but I am a list maker. It helps me become less anxious about what needs to be done because I can see it all there in front of me. I feel good about crossing things off the list. After having family over & doing the market this week, I've been trying to catch up for the past few days. Here's my weekend to-do list:

1) Decide on cabinet lighting (and order!)
2) Start December Daily album. This will be my first!
3) Submit Elle's Studio design team application (really excited about this one!)
4) Open up Studio Calico kit and CREATE!
5) Clean everything (the kitchen renovation is still creating a lot of dust.)
6) Look at November's magazines (which are still in their plastic covers)
7) Decide on paint colors for the entire house (Sherwin Williams paint is 40% off this weekend only! I will save hundreds!)
8) Start looking at doggy products & finding ways to 'puppy-proof' the house!
9) Finish reading my blogs (still 150 left unread in Google Reader)
10) Mow the lawn (definitely last on the list!)

What do you have to do this weekend?

Hectic week!

2010-11-11T11:25:00.000-06:00

Whew! I apologize for being MIA for a few days. It has been a most hectic week.

My Mom & Grandma flew in last Thursday for a long weekend visit. We had such a nice time seeing the sights around town. I even got my mom up at 5am on Saturday for an estate sale (which proved to be amazing! More info on that later...)

We visited the French Quarter. Grandma didn't care too much for Bourbon Street, but she liked Jackson Square.

After the estate sale on Saturday morning (and a breakfast at Boulangerie!) we went to San Francisco plantation. It was really lovely, and we were the only ones there!

We had an afternoon snack of beignets and coffee at Cafe du Monde. Total sugar rush.

Then we took Grandma to Lake Pontchartrain, which is right in our back yard (and separated by a levee.)

On Sunday we walked around City Park and the NOMA sculpture garden.

After they left, I had a couple of days to prepare for the Harrison Avenue Market, which was last night. It wasn't as successful as last month, but I was proud of what was on display. I will be updating my Etsy shop later this afternoon with Christmas card sets!

So that's what I've been up to. I have a lot that I want to get accomplished in the next few days, mainly getting things ordered for the end of the kitchen renovation, cleaning the house, finishing a book, and playing with my new Studio Calico kit!

How have you been, friend?

French bakeries

2010-11-03T10:37:00.000-05:00

There's something that resonates inside my soul when I step into a French bakery. The first thing I notice are the yeasty smells of fresh baguettes, the richness of the pain au chocolate & strong black coffee. Once I get over the high of the smells, I see the visual feast of the brioche loafs & croissants lined up for sale, as well as the racks upon racks of fresh bread waiting to cool. Can you tell I'm a foodie, and that I could never give up carbs? Haha.

On our last visit to my favorite French bakery in town, La Boulangerie, I took some photos. Last night I sat down to create a layout about my love for French bakeries and turned to Pencil Lines sketch 211 for some inspiration.

Here's the sketch

And here's my take.

All of my supplies were from the Studio Calico On The Easel kit & add-on. When I saw the MME French die-cut newsprint paper, I knew it was made for this layout.

Have I made you hungry yet?

Love & hugs,

Do you Voodoo?

2010-11-01T11:10:00.000-05:00

We spent our Halloween weekend at the Voodoo festival, a weekend music event here in New Orleans held in City Park. We live so close that we rode our bikes there each day.

We had a great time seeing bands like Metric, Weezer, Muse (my favorite!), Florence & the Machine, Ozzy Osbourne, & Interpol.

Although we had a great weekend, it didn't feel much like Halloween! I think next year calls for a big Halloween party.

Kitchen progress

2010-10-29T12:12:00.000-05:00

It's slow, but it's coming.

(You can see before photos here.) The most amazing part is how much light we have in here now that we knocked all the walls down to create one room.

The floor was finished on Wednesday (my favorite part so far!), and the base cabinets started to go in yesterday. The new appliances have also been delivered. I can't wait for a dishwasher that actually works!

Because of the sunlight, it is hard to see the paint color against the back wall, but it is Morning Fog by Martha Stewart, a grayed blue. The paint job was a disaster, though, so I recommend if you like a MS color, get it matched and get a better quality paint like Sherwin Williams.

This is Simon's favorite part of the entire renovation. The 51 bottle wine fridge that has a blue light when you open the door. He has a thing for blue lights.

Too bad after this is finished we won't be able to afford any wine to stock it with! Haha.

Our new family member...

2010-10-26T10:02:00.000-05:00

No, I'm not preggers. Our new family member is of the furry kind.

Meet Toby, our soon-to-be Golden Retriever puppy.

He's still with his Mom & Dad (or really Mum & Dad since he's from an English bloodline) at the breeder's house in Bowling Green, Kentucky. To save an extra 20 hour drive to get him sooner, we're waiting until we drive home for Thanksgiving and pass right by BG. By the time we get him, he will be 12 weeks old! I'm hoping he doesn't grow up too much by then.

We're looking forward to puppy kisses, wet noses & long walks, and we can't wait!

Love & hugs,

P.S. They're laying the tile today in the kitchen! Photos are coming soon!

Kitchen progress & two deep layouts

2010-10-21T10:30:00.000-05:00

The beginning of this week was hard work. The drywall guy got the orange peel texture applied to the walls in the afternoon, and because of the tight schedule, I had to prime all of the drywall on Monday night. I worked until 12:30am. Then, to make my poor arms even more sore, I had to paint the ceiling on Tuesday morning. I could barely stand up straight afterward! Yesterday the concrete was wheel barreled in on top of the slab, and now we're waiting for it to cure over the weekend. I'll also be painting the walls over the weekend. Fun stuff. I'll post some photos when I'm finished.

I'm having a hard time trying to get my hands on some white marble. The importer that I've visited always has something I like, but it is on hold for another customer. They're not expected to get any more white marble in until the first week of November, the week my mom & grandma are visiting & the week that this project needs to be finished. I just called a local fabricator & the option to get slabs trucked in from Atlanta is out because the importer doesn't have any stock. *le sigh*

On to some craftiness. I made these two layouts from Studio Calico's On The Easel kit & Watercolor add-on. They're a bit deep, but that's okay, right?

I took this photo of my dad when he & mom were visiting in July. I loved it instantly because of the yellow background and the wooden chairs. I wanted my letter to him be hidden, so I misted an envelope & sewed it on the page.

You'll recognize the photos on this layout. I journaled about my career struggle, and how I'm ready for it to be resolved. I really like this one, mainly because of the idea I came up with for the chipboard window.

Journaling reads: "I'm ready for my window of opportunity to open. Being unemployed is getting so old. I miss being independent & successful. I miss talking about my day over dinner. Part of me wonders if I'm not meant to be a designer, but have no clue which path I should follow. I trust that God will show me the right path & open that window for me soon. I need the light."

I hope your day is going well!

Love & hugs,

This weekend

2010-10-18T15:30:00.000-05:00

This weekend there were hayrides, handfuls of kettle corn eaten, good friends to hang out with & pumpkins to carve.

Hope yours was great too!

Crafting for myself (and a request!)

2010-10-15T13:32:00.001-05:00

After weeks of making items for my booth at the market, I'm looking forward to crafting just for myself tonight & this weekend. I did take an hour to make this layout last week (which in hindsight, wasn't a great idea, since I was crunched for time near the market day!)

I wanted to remember the great time we had at the NCAA tournament this past March, but I didn't want a 'themey' sports page.

My layout inspiration came from the challenge last week on the Studio Calico blog to create a grid. I love grids, so I really wanted to play along. I also used the SC Back 40 kit to create the page, along with the months stamp set. (If I ever get caught up with my Project 365, I'll be using those babies!) I'm really happy with how it turned out!

So, I also have an awkward request. Cosmo Cricket, a company that I love to create with, has a contest going for an honorary design team member for next month. Each contestant has to be nominated. If you have a spare minute, could you please visit this blog post and leave a comment nominating me? I really appreciate it!

Also, I'm updating my Etsy shop on an hourly basis with new cards & Halloween favors. Check it out by clicking on the "M.A. Paper & Such" link on the right.

We're going to a pumpkin farm festival tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to shooting some fall photos! We don't have any leaves changing here, but darnit, we have pumpkins!

Love & hugs,

Harrison Avenue Market

2010-10-14T12:13:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was the big debut of Treats & Greets (a combined effort of my little company, M.A. Paper & Such, along with my friend Erica's company, Crescent City Crunch) at the Harrison Avenue Market.

I worked so hard to make as many cards & gifts as possible. Our booth decor was my favorite part. Think vintage shabby. I think it turned out pretty well, and was so worth the effort that we both put in. Here are some photos from the event.

My little Halloween section of the booth. The coffins & treat bags along with some Halloween cards are available in my Etsy shop!

Yay for the new Comptometer! It works perfectly as card display!

Erica is totally working that sale!

The family frame is still available!

The headbands were popular!

I loved the lamps that we put out after it got dark. It made our booth feel so homey!

We had a lot of fun! I sold quite a bit, and passed out all 40 of my business cards that I had on hand. Erica sold out of granola! All together, I'd say it was a success!

I'm going to be updating my Etsy shop all day, so check in for some cards, Halloween treat bags & boxes, as well as a few home decor items!

Love & hugs,

Estate sale vintage finds!

2010-10-08T13:08:00.001-05:00

My friend (and Realtor), Eileen, had told me about a BIG estate sale that was due in October. Everyone in the "know" had been talking about how this one could be the sale of the year. I knew that it would be some time in October, but hadn't heard anything.

Last night before bed, I decided to check my email. Eileen had emailed to tell me that the BIG estate sale started this morning (which rarely happens here--usually they're Saturday & Sunday) so we knew this one would be huge. That was at 11pm.

Now, I don't know about you, but when I'm excited, I can't sleep. I don't think I fell asleep until after midnight, and my alarm woke me up at 4am. I got ready, met Eileen at her house & we picked up a friend & drove to the estate down in the Garden District. We arrived at 5:30am and there were already 3 people in line ahead of us.

Here's how an estate sale works--the earlier you arrive, the more likely you are to find something extraordinary. You line up as you arrive. If you're lucky, you can look inside the windows of the house to know what rooms you want to go to first. Unfortunately, the house today had locked gates surrounding it. Numbers are given out by the estate sale company at 8am which corresponds to the order you enter the house. Then, you have until 9am to go to a coffee shop, eat & caffeine up before you're allowed to enter.

The first few minutes are a mad dash. The good pieces of furniture will go in the first 5 minutes. Along with artwork. So if you have any interest in something big, take the tag. I scanned the furniture, but didn't see any kitchen chairs that I liked, so moved on to smaller items.

The kitchen (where you can find a lot of great deals!) produced this

(real rust! not fake vintage!)

and this (on the right), which looks great with another apothecary jar I already have.

After the first floor, I moved onto the bedrooms. In one of them, I found this for my studio.

It only needs the seat re-batted & reupholstered.

Then, the attic, which was dark & dirty, but was full of interesting stuff. I found this first, and knew it was a keeper.

I'm picturing filling it with ice & drinks for a backyard party. (Yes, Margy, I know you want to kill me, and I actually picked it up thinking of YOU! But then decided it was too great to part with. The next one I find is yours. =)

Then I spotted this (pictured below), but I couldn't carry both because it was too heavy! This is where the panic set in. I rushed downstairs & put my items near the checkout where a kind lady said she would hold my place. I dashed back up to the attic & grabbed it. Note: it took me an hour to clean the grime off this baby. It's missing a few keys, but that adds to its charm! I just looked it up online, and here's the info on it. I'm pretty sure it's an H or a J model.

*Edited to add: I just found the serial number & it is a "J" model made in 1933! There is a similar one here on Ebay for $125!*

So even though I'm totally exhausted, I have some cool vintage finds to show for it!

Love & hugs,

Currents

2010-10-06T21:46:00.000-05:00

Currently I am...

Listening: to a football game or practice from an open window. Man, I love fall.
Eating: just made Chicken & Mushrooms in Garlic White Wine Sauce for dinner. Yum!
Drinking: lots of water & one glass of Diet Coke per day!
Wearing: gym clothes from spinning tonight. Too tired to change.
Wanting: one of these little guys to be here earlier than Thanksgiving, but not wanting to make two 9+ hour drives to Kentucky (more on that later.)
Thinking: I need to do another layout with my September SC kit before my October arrives tomorrow!
Enjoying: last night's episode of Parenthood that I just watched. Love that show!
Feeling: tired, but grateful for my life.

Love & hugs,

Card or photo stand tutorial

2010-10-05T11:48:00.000-05:00

I was up late last night making these

I found the tutorial by Wendy Smedley here & decided that I wanted to use these for card displays at the Harrison Avenue Market, coming up on October 13th.

Just a side note about the tutorial... I don't like the way she made the pinwheels. You really just need to accordion fold them. I made my folds about 3/8" wide for the perfect pinwheel depth & vary the width of the strip of paper from 1" (which makes a 2" pinwheel) to 1-1/2" (3" pinwheel.) A 12" long strip of paper works best, and I found that the optimum number of "peaks" is about 14 so that your pinwheel isn't too tight or too loose. Am I clear on this, or did I just confuse the heck out of you? Who knew that so much could be written about pinwheels?

I found the spools and 3/8" dowel rods in the wood section at Michaels. All together, the wood cost me only about $10. I decided to paint them an antique white, so I cut the dowels at different lengths, pushed them into the spool holes, primed & spray painted them with 2 coats (sanding in between coats.)

After drying, I cut patterned paper (this is a great way to use your scraps) to fit around the spool and used Mod Podge to adhere it. After it was properly adhered, I spread Mod Podge around the outside of the patterned paper to seal it.

This is where I did things a bit differently than the tutorial. (see photo above) I made my pinwheels (with hot glue--the best thing to hold them together) & adhered them to a scalloped circle with hot glue to make sure they held their shape. I then hot glued the scalloped circle to the front of the dowel.

These are also available at Michaels, and are great to use if you want to change out your cards or photos often without gluing them. I hot glued one clothespin to the back of each dowel (I couldn't bother painting them!).

Voila! Custom card or photo displays! Perfect for using up those scraps. Link me up if you decide to make your own!

Love & hugs,

21 is my lucky number

2010-10-04T11:10:00.000-05:00

Sorry I've been MIA for a few days. Not getting picked up by Scrapbook Trends or chosen for the Ella Publishing design team last week left me feeling frustrated, and when I feel that way, the last thing I want to do is scrap or blog. But, it's a new week & we're moving on!

We had a fun weekend around here. Saturday morning & afternoon were spent driving around town searching for marble slabs & laundry closet doors. I found the perfect slabs, but alas, they were already on hold, so the search continues.

We headed to the Warehouse District Saturday night for Art for Arts' Sake, and saw some pretty amazing pieces like this crocheted vintage motorcycle

and this graphic wall art piece made from metal & paint.

We were parked right outside Harrah's, so we decided to go inside. I haven't been to a casino since I've been legal, so we thought it might be fun. Simon decided to play black jack, and we walked out a hour & a half later $120 richer.

My hubs (such a baller.)

All day Sunday, literally from 9:30am to 6:00pm, I worked on stripping & sanding an antique drop-leaf table that my grandma gave me. I'm really looking forward to getting that project done!

Hope that you had a great weekend! What did you get up to?

Love & hugs,

I know it's late, but...

2010-10-03T21:09:00.000-05:00

Studio Calico has a new website, and it is amazing!

To celebrate, they're giving away some pretty fantastic prizes on this blog post. If you're reading this, go on over and check it out! While you're there, make sure to leave a comment by 11:59pm EST tonight saying that I (Meghann Andrew) sent ya!

Oh, and don't miss out on 20% off of October's add-on kits.

Will be back shortly with a post!

Love & hugs,

Hello fall, is that you?

2010-09-27T19:34:00.002-05:00

I woke up this morning, ate breakfast & got dressed to mow the lawn. Usually, I sweat so much in the 90 degree heat that I soak my clothes through. This morning, I was pleasantly surprised to find a COOL temperature of 68 degrees. I couldn't believe it! I tried to convince Mother Nature that it was fall by baking an apple pie last night. I guess she heard me.

Craziness ensued today at Studio Calico, as the add-on kits were released to subscribers. In addition to the main kit, On the Easel,

I picked up the Watercolor add-on (which is currently sold out, but more will be released tonight at midnight EST!)

and the Documentary collection kit, which I've been waiting on purchasing for a while. I received a $10 gift voucher for having the layout of the week, and it was the push I needed to buy it.

Can't wait to create a California mini-album with that collection.

I finished a layout last night about baking. I absolutely love baking & cooking in general, and after visiting the Culinary Institute of America in Napa over the summer, I realized that I should have followed that path and gone to culinary school instead of going to design school. Hind sight is always 20/20, and if I would've known that I would struggle with my career in design... Anyway, I hadn't really talked about it with anyone, so I put it down on my layout. I guess scrapping is a kind of therapy for me, ya know?

I used the Back 40 kit (still available!) again for this one and the 9/12 Sunday Sketch on Studio Calico's blog. I flipped it 180 degrees to switch it up a bit. Here's the sketch--make it your own!

By the way, I found out today that I can give out the 10% off coupon code to anyone, so use FF321 at checkout for your Studio Calico discount! The coupon is good from today until 10/20.

Love & hugs,