Sketchbook 4| No.11

Do you have sensory memories? Like when you smell or taste something and instantly brings you back to a particular place & time in your life? I had that the other day, when I was eating dried kiwi of all things.

The first time I ever had dried kiwi, I was on a train in China. It was a snack I picked up for the ride from Xi'an to Shanghai and thank goodness I did because we had no idea how long that ride would actually take! I remember being so hungry when we finally made it to Shanghai, all of our kiwi now gone.

I discovered it again in my local grocery store and picked some up to snack on. I'd forgotten that I'd eaten it that first time in China. But the second I tasted it, it brought me back to here, to the exact place in that photo and I knew I had to scrap it.

This has to be one of the most simple layouts I've ever made. There aren't a lot of products and not much dimension. It also photographed terribly. But I love the memory I captured.

I used the 35mm kit + Ditto Letter Stamps + Orchard Mister Huey/Red Maya Mist & some Prima Fluid Edger Chalk ink (love this stuff, it's like butter!)

Journaling Reads: This is how I travel, 2nd, even 3rd class if need be. I know this could be someone else's nightmare, sleeping 2 ft away from a perfect stranger. But if it measn getting where I need or want to be, I'll do it. This was the mother of all train rides, from interior China (Xian) to the coast at Shanghai. It was least 13 hours, probably more. I felt safe and content in my little berth, the boys above me if I needed any help. Plus, it was a breeze compared to traveling 3rd class, sitting upright knee to knee on a crowded train. Some of my most vidi travel memories are from these Chinese trains. We got to experience the whole spectrum on this trip.

And because it's not wildly apparent, those black things down at the bottom are my knees. See! I'm in the photo too =)

Even though the page ended up not having anything to do with kiwi, it's what sparked the memory. Thank you kiwi, for helping me not to forget!

cheers & besos,

NSD: 30 Years

My parents celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary at the beginning of this month. I bought them a cake to celebrate. At least I got this one good photo out of them! They're the worst at letting me take their photo.

I used the aptly titled Crate Paper-Paper Heart line. I love the colors in this line, especially paired with that fabulous woodgrain.

This is for the SC Letter Stamps Challenge & 2Peas Beneath the Layer challenge.

Congrats Mama & Papi! 30 years is such an accomplishment in this day & age.

cheers & besos,

Thodes

Right now, under the title of this post, there is a squiggly red line under the word Thodes. Aptly so, because it isn't a word!

Hey dearies! I was posting fast and furious there for awhile. Now work has descended on me and so I'm stepping back for the next few weeks.

But I wanted to share this fun page I made using only stamps and sequins, my new favorite thing!

Have you ever played bananagrams? It's like scrabble but more cut throat? ;) Kim tried to play Thodes as a word. Yeah, it didn't work out for her. But the word just makes me smile :)

This layout is so so simple. Instagrams + Project Life stamps + Charcoal chalk ink + smattering of sequins! I love that it's simple. I'm so not even bothered by how the stamps didn't stamp perfectly on the textured cardstock.

Did you know my favorite color is yellow? I'd think you might after reading this blog for a bit. Love the pops of my fave color on this page!

Thanks yall for your patience with me and this blog. I will be posting again soon!

cheers & besos,

Perfect Polka Dot

I have succeeded. I have finally found the perfect polka dot paper. It's soft, it's neutral, it goes with everything! It's from the new Dear Lizzy line and it's called Sea Breeze.

Here are two layouts I made using Sea Breeze as a background:

A page from Xi'an, China, with 3 4x6 photos. I couldn't come up with a more clever photo design, what with 2 horizontal and 1 vertical photo. I think the grid worked out. I splashed some Pickle Mister Huey on the background, used the stamp that came with my Daydream Believer kit for my journaling. Which I also think would make a great frame for a photo strip, btw.

I added some twine, buttons, and those great butterfly embellishments as accents on the page.

I was channeling my inner Scrappy Jedi with this next layout. I love Melissa's layered style and all of the white space in her designs.

The page is about work, how I've finally filled in the big shoes I had to fill. After 1.5 years it's all come together. Figuring out the work environment, the sector, the government. And although I'll never be an expert on any of these things, at least I know now that I don't have to be. That no one expects us to have all of the answers at the top of our head. And that my friends, is a huge relief!

It's a bit hard to tell, but the shirt I'm wearing in this photo is purple. So I played with a purple/gold/silver/tan color scheme.

I did some splattering with Purple Maya Mist and layered small strips of paper, ribbon & stickers on the ends of the page.

See, perfect neutral right?! It can be dressed up, dressed down, the skies the limit! I will be purchasing more of it and it's cousin, Hazy Horizon, in the very near future.

Do you have a favorite neutral patterned paper? I'd love to see it! Link it up in the comments, won'tcha?

cheers & besos,

Project 12: Lists & Recap

Complete.

In the can.

All done!

That would be my Project 12 for 2011.

I made this wrap up page, to document some of my lists for the year.

[[And because my OCD would not let me have only 1 divided page protector layout in the book (February/March), I needed to have more for variety!]]

I listed my travels across the world this year, only 3 countries but plenty of cities (13).

Also, the far away friends (12) I managed to spend time with.

Photos of both my and Matt's families and a timeline of Urijah shots.

Then finally, the list of books I read this year (31 total). I'm happy I finally got use all of those great Studio Calico stamps!

I'm happy to have a complete scrapbook for 2011. As well as some smaller bits and pieces of life captured.

If anyone is considering doing Project 365, Project 52 or Project 12, I completely 100% would recommend you do it. Yes, it will get tedious. But the payoff is so worth any and all trouble.

And just like that (but perhaps not so nonchalantly) it's done!

cheers & besos,

Project 12: April, May, June

Hello dear bloggie friends! My apologies for the random hiatus. I've been scrapping lately, I just haven't had the chance to blog.

The words don't come as easily to me :) But I try!

So last weekend, I got caught up on my calendar pages. 3 whole months worth! I took a bit of a break from these for one reason.

My sweet Maddie got her angel wings in April.

And it left a big black hole in heart.

And I just couldn't bring myself to document it.

But it's been 3 months now and I'm just barely getting use to the idea of her being gone and just barely able to document. I still miss her so much!

For the April calendar, I used some Pink Paislee House of Three and bits of Studio Calico.

And the accompanying picture page, is full of color. I had to include that photo of the Royal Wedding and all of it's lovely fairy tale-ness & this awesome diecut from My Minds Eye that I've had in my stash for quite a awhile. It was too perfect to not use!

May was a much busier month, in the beginning. And then it was pretty low key and restful up until the end when we went all out with a trip to New Orleans!

I used my Lawn Fawn Polaroid stamp and some Studio Calico stamps to share some of the highlights. Also btw, lately I've been loving blue! It's not one of my usual faves (aside from the Tiffany's/robins egg/teal variety) but lately I've been using it quite a lot.

And then on to June, which led to a lot of activites, but not a lot of pictures!! What the heck was I thinking not taking a picture with my high school best friend, as we had dinner for the first time in 4 years?! What was I thinking when I had everyone over to my house for a pizza party to convince Susie to not be scared about her upcoming trip to Amsterdam?!

But alas, it's true. I do not have any photos of these oh so fun events.

I did however, have a few photos from date night, baby-sitting Urijah, and our weekend trip to San Antonio. Well, of some of the food we ate but none of me and my Grandpa! The entire reason why I'd driven out to San Antonio in the first place!

In the words of my mid western boyfriend, oh geez!

I guess I haven't learned!

xxbesos

England *Mini

I have some Mind the Gap goodness to share with you today!!

But first, I have to gush about the awesomeness of crops! There's just something about being away from all of my stuff, away from all distractions, at a table with limited supplies (and usually limited space) that just gets works for my brain!

On Sunday, my friend Susie invited me to her friend's for a Scrap & Yap Brunch. This group of ladies gets together every so often to scrap and chat and brunch. It was such a nice time. Even going into it not know anyone (which I seem to be doing a lot lately), didn't diminish my capacity for good quality scrapping fun!

While I was there, I got 7 pages fairly well done. A few needed some minimal products from home, some needed titles and they all needed journaling. But in just a few short hours, I had 7 more pages to add to a mini album I hadn't even started! What's not to love (and gush) about that?!

I'd purchased this mini album kit by Making Memories at least a year ago, with the intention of using it as an England album.

I think it works perfectly, and all I had to do to the window was add some Thickers.

I also created this as a title page, using my Mind the Gap kit.

I had to keep on theme!!

And this was my first picture page. I did something a little subtle here and tried to match the patterned papers, with the colors in the photo i.e. green patterned paper next to the grass, cream next to the stone wall, blue next to the sky, etc.

I also dug into my stash of Studio Calico letter stamped and used my favorite charcoal chalk ink for the title and the date.

More pages to come! 5 more to be exact :) Oh, and don't forget to check back to tomorrow for the winner of the Mister Huey's (which btw, I used the oh-so-fabulous white to splatter around on the patterned paper).

Cheers, bye!

xxbesos