Project Life Week 10: Now

 I'm continuing to gear up for Saturday's Project Life blog hop. I thought it would be good if there was a lot of PL at the top of my blog so PLers didn't have to wade through a bunch of cards, which they may not be interested in. As you can see, I've really outdone myself with the bad photography. I just got Photoshop Elements 11 yesterday and am learning how to use it. I don't think it can fix a pic this bad, but I'm sure it can do more than Picasa, which is what I've used for years.

 This is my Week card. I always enjoy making them, and try to make them a little special, even if I don't do much with the rest of the layout. I started with an Amber Edition card. I always circle the month. I stamped the ten on a paper banner. The leaf on the mulberry flower is a vintage sequin. It adds a nice dash of shine.

 All of those black spots are Snow Geese. Thousands and thousands of them landed in the field behind our house during March. It was awe inspiring. Snow Geese are fabulous white birds with black spots on the ends of their wings. They are impressive to watch, and fun to listen to. Like most birds, they are very talkative.

 More geese.

 Some journaling about the incredible bird population here.

 The photos above and below are red-winged blackbirds. We had tens of thousands of these. Like what you see on documentaries. No lie.

Remember, if you click on the photos, you can see them a little better.

Project Life Week 10: Then

 I know I sound like a broken record, but I apologize for the bad pictures. They are easier to see if you click on them. It was cloudy when I went outside to take these, but of course the sun came out right when I got set up. I have improved my photography over the years not by learning how to use my camera well, but by experimenting until I get it right. It's not the best method, but I'm too impatient and lazy to make the effort to just do it right in the first place.

 I don't enjoy photography at all. If I did, I would spend more time actually learning how to do it.

 There really isn't any earth shattering Project Life goodness here. This is basic PL: Get the pictures in a book where people can enjoy them. Done and done.

 On Saturday, I am participating in a Project Life blog hop. So, I am going to get some good pictures to post if it kills me. I know no one actually visits my blog, so posting these pictures doesn't feel too humiliating. But to know that people might actually stop by is a big motivator!

 So, you will find me wandering around with my camera and a PL layout looking for that magical location. You know, the place that makes me look like I've ever used a camera before. It's around here somewhere, and I will find it. Yes, I will.

Project Life Week 9:Now

 Week 9!! This was so long ago, I can hardly remember it. That's okay, though, because it's documented right here. If I ever need to know what happened during week nine of 2013, all I have to do is drag this album out and look it up!

 Amber Edition 4 x 6 with a little stitching, a little chipboard, and a little cork.

 That's an A Muse Studio computer stamp.

 This pic isn't bad. That's what I hope for when I shoot my PL pages-just a few shots that are less than bad!

 The two boys I still have at home.

 Our guinea pigs. If you don't have your own, you should get some. They're adorable. When you get in the produce drawer, they wheek!!! like mad. Here they are saying, "Fennel! Yea fennel! I love it when we get some fennel! What could possibly be better than fennel?" They like vegetables a lot more than I do. I never make any sort of affirmative sounds when I'm digging in the produce drawer. I do mutter in disgust as I throw away all the good intentions that never got eaten.

All I did here was staple on some typewriter journaling. I know I'll love having this pic of W's 9yo hand in about 10 years when he's all gangly and gigantic.

Best Wishes for a Happy Birthday

 I made this card for a Seize the Birthday challenge, then never uploaded it. I am determined to actually upload challenge cards, starting sometime in the future! The sentiment is from Gina K Designs Spring Mix Stamp TV kit, and the papers are from the Signs of Autumn kit. The stars are Nesties.

 This one has the exact same companies as the first one. Except the cream die cut is a WPlus9 die. It's very cool, and the bird is covering up some of its detail. I have some cards made which feature it better, I just haven't photographed them yet.

 This one is all GKD Signs of Autumn, except there's some 7Gypsies paper and a Spellbinders heart.

 This one is fairly new GKD. It's called A Little Something, and I got it as part of the GKD incentive program. This was the very last "One Free with Three." They rolled out a new incentive program this month, and it looks pretty good, too. I am crazy about this set, and am very proud of my coloring on this card. Even though I am a rank amateur, I think it looks pretty good. That puts this set right at the top of the list, because it makes me look good, don't cha know. I used Gamsol Magic to color it.

This set is called You're the Sweetest, and is one of the four sets in the newest Stamp TV kit, Days of Summer. This is a CASE of a STV card. Don't those limes look good enough to eat? I used Memento Bamboo Leaves and Cottage Ivy on them.

Tomorrow we go to the Renaissance Festival, and I can't wait! I think the 9yo will be beside himself with joy! It's right up his ally!! 

Project Life Week 9: Then

 I know it has been quite some time since I posted a Project Life Spread. That is mostly because I am so dissatisfied with my photography of the layouts. I think I have improved over my last attempt, but this is still not where I'd like it to be. This page is underexposed.

 This is the same page, overexposed. *Sigh*

 I embossed an Anna Griffin frame with an Inkadinkado stamp, and added some typed journaling. The heart border and butterfly are K&Co.

 Remember, if you click on the pictures, they become larger, and scrollable.

 On Week 9, I still had no PL specific products except my Amber Edition. Believe me, that has changed. I now have so much PL stuff that it is overwhelming. There are so many choices, I don't know what to choose.

 It's okay to just insert pictures into the pockets and call it good. When I am feeling creative, each pocket is like a little work of art. When I am feeling like just getting the job done, I put in the pictures and call it good. Both are perfectly fine. In fact, a page like this every now and then will help lighten your book.

 Besides, wedding pictures can be fairly redundant, and abundant. I don't have the time or attention span to embellish or comment on every photo, and I'm quite sure no one wants to read all that over and over again!

Tune in tomorrow for a few more cards.

So Grateful

 Most of the supplies for this card came from the Gina K. Designs Signs of Autumn Stamp TV kit.  I colored the image with colored pencils and gamsol. It's my favorite technique for coloring because it's the easiest for me to do a reasonable job. I am a teensy  bit jealous of the gals who can color so beautifully.

 This mermaid stamp was from a Wendy Rago Bad Girls kit. I don't know what happened to that kit club. It was really good. Who knows? Companies come and go so fast in the papercrafting world it makes my head spin.

 This is a GKD Signs of Autumn card. The stamp under the leaves is a Unity stamp.

 I did not design these last two cards. Both of these cards are from Spring Mix STV episodes.

I really like this oval frame, and sort of want to put it around every image I stamp. There's also a circle one just like it in this stamp set.

It's beautifully gray and cloudy here today! I hope we get rain. In other news, I got my first thrift store designer bags yesterday. I always see bloggers picking up designer bags for $10-$20, and I never even see designer bags! The first one was an old Brighton organizer for $8. It retailed for $150-$200 new. It has so many pockets you would not believe it. It also has a tiny cell phone holder. Remember, cell phones were humongous, then merely gigantic. After  some time, they became so small you could hardly see them. Then they got big again, and flat. I think I'll put lip gloss and lipstick in that pocket. That will be convenient, since I use them 50 times a day.

 The second was a Liz Claiborne for $3. NOT a Liz & Co bag like you can get at Kohls, an actual Liz designer bag. It has gorgeous, floppy, thick, and soft leather in saddle brown mixed with a straw fabric body. It's perfect for summer.

I also looked at the "designer" bags they had locked up behind glass for $20-$30. Not one of them was a designer bag. They were just hideous, over embellished knock-offs, which clearly dazzled and confused the ARC workers. The thing about real designers is that they actually possess a modicum of restraint. I told the gal that not one of those bags needed to be locked up, as none of them were real. I hope I didn't offend her, but it's true. I guess I should keep my big nose out of it, and let them continue to put the real stuff out on the floor for cheap.

Three Little Kittens

 Now when you look at this ADORABLE image, surely you can understand why I love Crafty Secrets so much!! I used my vintage Underwood to type the Happy Mother's Day sentiment.

 I made this one for a WPlus9 Monday Mood Board, which I didn't get photographed or posted in time. That is so typical for me. I really play in quite a few challenges, but once the card is finished, my follow through is terrible. But I do love my WPlus9 stamps and dies. A. LOT.

 Another Crafty Secrets card.

 This one is from Gina K. Designs Signs of Autumn Stamp TV kit. Not the sequins, though. Sequins weren't in vogue when this kit came out!

I think that's a MAMBI rub-on, and a bit of Blue Awning paper. The button is vintage. I am working on a STV challenge card now, and I am going to try to get it posted before the challenge is over!

Bright & Beautiful Birthday

 This card is from the Gina K Designs Stamp TV kit Enjoy the Sunshine. I did not design this card, it's a STV card. I used different dies than Gina did, otherwise, the card is an identical CASE. I don't generally work in pure hues like this, but I have to admit, this is a cheerful card.

 I designed this Father's Day card around the vintage dictionary picture. I thought it would make a perfect FD card, since it has tools on it. The button is vintage, too. AND, I typed the sentiment on my vintage Underwood!!

 Paper pieced pumpkins. I think this is my favorite paper pieced image ever. These pumpkins are from GKD Signs of Autumn.

 No stamping here. Just some Crafty Secrets and my vintage typewriter sentiment.

This one is also from GKD Signs of Autumn. I have been using that stamp set like crazy this month. I made kind of a weird card with this stamp yesterday. I'll post it eventually, so you can tell me what you think. I made this sunflower card for the Seize the Birthday challenge. I thought this was their sketch, too, but I can't find it on their site. I know this was a sketch card because I remember that it was a little hard to put together, and I don't love the little banners sticking out on the sides of the focal image. I'll try to figure out where it came from and link it up.

Crazy Bunch of Cards

 Generally the cards in my posts all come from the same line of stamps or paper, because I use what I have out until I'm tired of it. Because of that, they have a coherent look. Here, "all of these cards are not like the other." That's a Sesame Street reference. Anyone in their 40's will now hear the jingle playing in their heads. *Sorry*

This top card mixes Gina K. Designs Holiday Cheer with some gorgeous old Basic Grey. I can't remember which line, but it's pretty.

 I know I said I was completely out of Sassafrass Lass, and I am. (To my knowledge. Who really knows what lurks in my stamp studio.) I made this card before I posted I had used it all up. Yes, it takes me about a month to get a card up here. Sometimes they have already sold in my Etsy shop before I post them here.

 This card is all GKD, except for the envelope. It's from Kinkos. I have several packages of these that I whip out for Christmas.

 This one is GKD and BG Ambrosia. I am close to using up my 6 x 6 Ambrosia pad. I love it for autumn colored cards. Funny thing about this sentiment: I was on the phone with my sis while I stamped it and fiddled with it and got the banner ends just right. Right before I was about to adhere it, I actually read it. It's all about coffee, and my card had pumpkins or something entirely different on it. The recipient would have thought, "Okay..."

This is another Unity card, with the "You are my sunshine" stamp, which I use all the time. Our oldest used to sing this when he was very, very young, like 13 or 14 months old. None of our boys rolled over or walked early, but man, could they talk shockingly early.

Well, I have to run pick up W. He was on a sleep over last night and had a bad night. He texted me at 4:30, and it didn't wake me up, so I feel pretty awful. I hope he's not too traumatized. He's such a homebody. Comes from being raised by old people.