St Pete Beach Album, Official Beach Bum

Today I used Life's A Beach to cut the flip flops which I cuttlebugged with the swiss dots folder and added a prima flower and a brad in the middle for the flower center. The sun was cut from Everyday Paper Dolls and cuttlebugged with the Spots and Dots folder. I inked, doodled and pop dotted everything. I cut the blue strip from cardstock and punched it with the EK Success "bubble" punch. The beach balls were some stickers that I had in my "stuff"...I think they are Mrs. Grossman's.

I cut the girl and boy head from Everyday Paper Dolls and created their snorkel gear. I used a piece of acetate (cut from packaging) for the clear part of the mask. I cuttlebugged the snorkel with the bubble folder. The fins are from Life's A Beach (layers from the diver guy). I inked, doodled and popped everything again. The water splats are rain dots from Cloud 9.

Day 181, Wednesday, June 30

I met Jen and Krista at the high school stadium this morning and walked the track and stairs with them. I couldn't do as many as they can...I was having a problem being dizzy when I was climbing the stairs. My bifocals didn't focus in the right spot to go up and down that many times. I guess I am getting old. Anyway, there are six sets of stairs on each side of the stadium...we went up one and down the other for a total of six sets of stairs. After the first round, I didn't go all the way to the top as I felt more dizzy as I went higher...so I let them go ahead of me so I didn't slow them down and I cut across about 3/4 of the way up. I made it four times around and one lap around the track. It took us about an hour to do that much. I left and went to tan...I went back to take a picture of the stadium and they were still going strong. On monday, Jen and Krista walked 9 miles in about 2 1/2 hours....GO GIRLS!

Day 180, Tuesday, June 29

Giz has sure been getting a lot of "potd" time. I had to take him to the vet again today. He has pink eye again, a bacterial infection in a scratch that he gave himself digging at his eyes....it is just in front of his left ear and his front paws are all swollen and he has been limping because he is chewing on them! If you look really close...you can see the "green" dye the vet put in his eye to be sure that he hadn't scratched the cornea. They have to know if it is scratched or not...so they can give him the right meds...well, he didn't have a scratched cornea. He was good during the whole visit and didn't even act like he was going to bite anyone!!!

St Pete Beach Album, Life Is Good

I knew I had to do a layout with the lyrics to "Toes" by the Zac Brown Band. I have been listening to this song since last summer and when I saw the picture of our toes in the sand on the beach...I knew it had to be! I used Graphically Speaking for the title "Life Is Good" and "today" is from Opposites Attract. The pattern paper actually had the word BEACH written down the side, so I split the paper at 3" and placed it down the left side and the other piece down the right hand side. I used rock candy distress stickles on the letters. The wave paper and sand paper are just pieces I had laying on my desk from another layout.

I cut the chair three times from Life's A Beach, so I could ink and pop dot the arms in the correct dimension. The paper is core'dinations from Joann's.

Day 179, Monday, June 28 St Pete Beach Album, Storm on the Beach

I worked on this layout today! I used Life's A Beach again....it has the best beachy stuff! Anyway, I cut the posts and weeds out of kraft colored cardstock, inked, layered and doodled them. Added the twine to look like rope around each of the posts. The bird I flipped around so he was facing the other way. Inked him, too and added a tiny little googly eye. I cut the title from Mini Monograms, which was difficult, because each letter has sort of a different font, therefore a different size. It was time consuming as I wasn't sure what to cut. The sandcastles were little stickers that I inked because they were really light colored and my sand was more of a tan. The word "waves" was a sticker that I had.

Close up of the posts on the title.




Close up of the gull and posts.

Day 178, Sunday, June 27

The kids came over today for a corn/shrimp and what ever else ended up in the pot boil! We use our turkey fryer but fill it with water, onions, lemons, garlic, salt and pepper and a seasoning packet called "crab boil"! We didn't have crab, but lots of shrimp, sausage, brats, corn, mushrooms and new potatoes. Stacie made a strawberries and mozzarella salad and Angie brought a twinkie cake, which both were delicious! Nate grilled fruit after we were done eating. My favorite was the pineapple and peaches! Everything was yummo! Hope we can do this again really soon!

Day 177, Saturday, June 26

I am soooo happy that Giz is loving his new food! He barks at me when I get the can out of the fridge or a new can out of the cabinet. He knows what comes out of that can and he can't wait to put his face in the dish!

Day 176, Friday, June 25

Stacie and I went to Cindy's house tonight for a 31 Party. I am holding the bag that Cindy ordered from a party she went to a couple of weeks ago. I liked it so much, I ordered the same one! Stacie ordered the bag she is holding, but in a blue and green print with flowers. It was fun to see all the different styles of bags and totes and to spend the evening with our friends! Stacie got her hair colored today, too! Nice do, Stacie! Here is a link to the 31 Party website. http://www.thirtyonegifts.com/

Day 175, Thursday, June 24

This is the tennis match that made history! John Isner beat Nicolas Mahut on court 18 at Wimbledon! The match was played over 3 days, being called twice for lack of light. The fifth set is no longer decided by playing a tie-breaker. The players have to continue playing games until someone wins by 2. This match lasted until the final score in the fifth set was 70-68. The record was also broken for serving the most aces in one match. We watched John Isner play in the Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas in 2008.

St Pete Beach Album, Fun in the Sun

Here we are at the beach again! I just love doing these beach pages. It was such a great vacation...very relaxing, just being a beach bum! Anyway, I cut the sun from Doodlecharms, layering it 3 times, inking, doodling and cuttlebugged it with the spots and dots folder. The pail and shovel is from Life's a Beach and doing the same with it...layering, inking, doodling and cuttlebugging! The title is cut from Pooh Font. I also inked the sand paper and there is a piece of velumn in the background that I cuttlebugged with the bubble folder and inked with blue ink.

The sandcastle is from Everyday Paper Dolls and the star fish are from Life's A Beach. I found the pail and shovel brads at Scrap Your Trip...thought they were really cute!

Day 174, Wednesday, June 23

While Peyton was here today, we built a Robot from the Robotz cartridge. He wanted to make it red of course...everything has to be red! It does take awhile to figure out all the parts and how they go together. We probably will be building a few more of these throughout the summer as he really did enjoy putting it together. He wanted to do a "flat" one...the dinosaur looking one, but we ran out of time today!

Day 173, Tuesday, June 22

Cindy and I have been working on this sign at school. We painted a tiger on the other side and will put vinyl letters saying "Home of the Tigers" and "Rogers Elementary" at the bottom. We finished the other side last week. Stan painted this side with the orange exterior paint.


This is the finished tiger. We had to put 3 coats of paint to get the white and black to cover the orange paint. I hope the students like it when they come back to school in August!

July MCPT Challenge Card

I finished this card today, too! I used the Happy Hopper Bunny Cruise to stamp this month's image. I added glossy accents to the inner tube and rubber duck. I cuttlebugged a piece of acetate for the wave...added just a scrap of ribbon...and I mean scrap, because I just had enough to tie the knot! I cut the sun from Doodlecharms adding ink and doodling again! I stickled the wave ring with rock candy distress stickles (can I just say I LOVE that stuff!). The background is just a scrap of paper I found in my tub...little rubber duckies!

June MCPT Challenge Card

My June MCPT Challenge Card is a house mouse called Sleeping with Strawberries and the second image is Berry Tired. I kept it simple...I cut the circle and scallop circle with my cuttlebug and nesties. I cuttlebugged the background red, with the swiss dots and lightly sponged with black to make it look like seeds!

I put the second image on the inside using the same nesties, too. The Thank You Berry Much is from an old Stampin' Up! set. Of course, I had to doodle around the edges.

Father's Day Old Car Card

I made this card for Father's Day for Jim's Dad. I colored it using the MCPT. I cut the image with my label nesties, doodled around the edge of both layers and pop dotted them together and on the background. Just a little ribbon...no bows for guys you know!

Day 172, Monday, June 21

I finished my MCPT card today for May....oh my goodness...I am behind! I don't have a valid excuse, I just am behind with this one. I used Zooballoo to cut the blue scalloped mat. I layered the cloud on top with pop dots, then cut the bench out and pop dotted that, too. I placed tiny silver brads in the nail holes to give it some dimension. I cut out the Tilda and pop dotted her, too! The flowers are little rhinestones that are shaped like flowers. I added some pearl earrings and a pearl necklace, too. I was happy with it when I finished it and I don't know why I didn't get it done in May!

Day 171, Sunday, June 20

Happy Father's Day!

We went to Jim's parents to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken and all the fixin's tonight (thanks Scott for getting me the grilled chicken!). Scott, Elaine and Austin picked up the chicken. It was fun to chat with the whole bunch of us! Jim, Dad and Scott posed for a quick picture for me. I should have had them close the window blinds so the light would have been better...but it was okay in the end.

After dinner, we went to see Popaw. I made him a card and put a couple of gift cards in it. He always takes Peyton to lunch so I thought he should get to "pick" every once in a while! lol He also had a couple of lottery tickets in his card, which 2 ended up being winners...much to Jim's dismay!

Day 170, Saturday, June 19

I made this card for Jim for Father's Day. It is a wallet gift card holder. Since he already got his present (ipad), I put a couple of lottery tickets in it for him. (They were losers!) I got this idea from the Cricut Message board of course. Here is the link to the directions http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/tm.aspx?m=2332005&mpage=1&key=&#2332005

While I didn't use the cricut to cut the cardstock...I followed her embossing lead. I cut the cardstock according to the video. Her directions were very accurate.
This is what the inside looked like...you can see the slots for the "gift cards". It opens at the top and I put a piece of cardstock inside like a dollar bill, that said...A sign of a great dad, is a man who has pictures where his money had been! It was fun to make and I hope to make a few more for masculine cards...those are the hardest ones for me to make.

Day 169, June 18

I started working on these beads today. I should have been finishing the Father's Day cards ... but the beads were calling my name ... they were so sparkly! You just add the beads to a piece of chain with a lobster clasp attached. Then you can switch the different pendants as you change outfits. I saw them on the Embellish It! website a few months ago. Here is a link to the website and the video http://www.embellishonline.com/neckart

I used what was left of my Mother's Day gift card from Hobby Lobby to buy a few more beads ... I had most of these already from other projects I have worked on in the past.

Day 168, Thursday, June 17

The Africa exhibit is a year old. Stacie, Peyton and I went to visit the Glen Oak Zoo today. Some of the animals are in different locations this year. The giraffe's look like they have grown over the winter months. They are brothers and they act like it, too!

Day 167, Wednesday, June 16

Happy 3rd Anniversary Lisa and Matt! It is hard to believe it was three years ago today! Congratulations on another great year together.

Day 166, Tuesday, June 15

My dad and I took my mom to IPMR today for a memory test. While she did great on the verbal testing...it was determined that she has a mild form of memory loss. The good news is...she is trying a patch that should help her memory. Or at the least, slow down the rate. I am glad we have gotten some help for her.

Day 165, Monday, June 14

My friend Sara came by to visit tonight! She was in town visiting her daughter and grandson! I was so happy to see her and to talk with her in person for just a little while. Their family moved to Arizona a few years ago and I miss her terribly! She was my doubles tennis partner for about 8 years. Her husband, John and mine, Jim played together for many years, too. We played mixed doubles as couples. What a pleasant surprize to see her standing at my door!

Day 164, Sunday, June 13

We went to eat at Flat Top Grill for lunch today. It is located in the Shoppes of Grand Prairie in Peoria. This is one of the works of art which was placed in the inner walk way. It represents the Glen Oak Zoo. When the statue was first viewed...the tail of the lion was up more in line with his back. There was a lot of news coverage about this lion and the residents of Peoria thought the tail was too high, exposing too much of the lion's "business". So the artist figured out a way to place the tail at a lower position...giving the lion a little modesty!

Day 163, Saturday, June 12

These are some of the projects that were displayed at Scrapadoodle today. I took 2 classes from Jill who owns Jillibean Soup paper (and accessories). She does most of her designs on kraft colored paper. The ideas are simple, yet very easy to create and look awesome! Here is her website if you would like more information. She has a blog, too!

http://www.jillibean-soup.com/about.php

The morning class consisted of these six cards using her papers. The prepackaged cards were in our kit. All of the paper was cut or punches...we just stamped or stickered or added button and popdots. Very quick easy cards to do...but very cute, too!

The class in the afternoon was this mini album. It was made out of paper lunch sacks (bought at Target....they are a little larger than the ones you buy in the grocery store.) Again, we used her line of papers, stickers, buttons, etc., The title is made with corrugated cardboard. You can ink, paint, sand, whatever, to make these letters your own. In the shadow box in first picture, she used the "waste" from the sheet of letters as her background paper! Way to use all of the product. Again, she had everything cut or punched and ready to go for each page.

We stamped the journaling box with brown ink on the kraft paper. We used border punches to cut some of the scallops.

I took the time to ink all of the papers and journaling "sprouts" (one of her products). The buttons and tabs are stickers, too.

The bags were cut to measure 12" long. We folded them in half so the bottom flap part was inside the fold. The top and bottom of the bags are in the center where the binding is.

The green cardstock is placed there for the picture. We threaded linen string through the cardstock buttons before we stuck them down on the kraft circles. (I just love the bird house paper! We used that on one of the cards....cut them out and popdotted them!)

All of the names of her papers are "soup" related...cabbage soup...she has a new one that will be introduced at CHA this summer called monster soup...that should be fun!

This is the back of the album. We used the cropadile to punch through all the layers of paper and paper bags. Sure is easy when you have the right tools. I finished my album, just as you see it, before I walked out of the store. I could have been done much faster if I hadn't inked every single piece of paper...but I am glad I took the time to do the inking. It gives it so much more!

Day 162, Friday, June 11

I didn't take this picture today. But this is something that is very upsetting to me. This is a picture of the beach in the Gulf of Mexico. For the last 51 days, BP has allowed oil to spill into the ocean. No one really knows for sure how many gallons or barrels of oil that have been lost into the water. I hope the land, sea and wildlife can recover from this horrible disaster.

Day 161, Thursday, June 11

Today Cindy and I went to our favorite Mexican restaurant, El Sombrerito, for lunch. We have been eating with this family since Jade's grandparents owned the original restaurant in East Peoria, back in the 80's. When we got there today, Jade came and told us that News 25 reporter Eric Shangraw and photographer Doug Smith were coming to do their segment "You Gotta Eat". After they filmed some shots in the restaurant, I went outside and asked if they would be my "picture of the day". Not only did they agree...Eric said to Doug to grab the camera so I could get an "action" shot. I explained that I took a picture and journaled about it everyday. Doug said "Oh, 365, right?" I said , yes, do you know a scrapbooker? He said he didn't, but knew about project 365. Sometimes, you just have to ask if you can take a picture...you never know what you're gonna get (borrowed that from Forrest Gump!). Here is a link to the video that aired on the news tonight....you can see Cindy and I in the background, just before they talk to Jade.

http://www.centralillinoisnewscenter.com/features/yougottaeat

Day 160, Wednesday, June 9

Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup! They played tonight and won in overtime! 4-3 There is going to be a parade in Chicago on friday at 10:30 a.m. Jim and I got to go to a Blackhawks game a year ago in Chicago. Nothing like watching a NHL game live, in person! Go Blackhawks!

St Pete Beach Album, Dolphins in the Surf

I finished this layout about a week and a half ago (before Giz got sick). I know you really can't see them in these pictures...but there were some dolphins playing in the surf on the beach. I snapped a bunch of pics trying to get a good shot....well, at least I tried. I used my Life Is
A Beach cartridge to cut the border of dolphins. The filmstrip border is Tim Holtz.

Can't wait to go back again!

Day 159, Tuesday, June 8

I have driven by this little car so many times in the last few weeks. I can't tell you when it appeared parked between these two poles. They want $1,000 for this little car. I think they have it chained to the back pole!