My Life Is Now Complete.

This weekend, I went to the shoe store to pick up some sneakers since I don't own a pair and I'm planning to add walking to my routine.

I was on my way out when I found the shoes of my dreams. They're just like the ones in the Janelle Monae video. I had a pair like them back in the 80's and I wore them so much they finally fell apart. I've been looking for a pair ever since.

Two-plus decades I've waited to find these shoes. Now, I just need to learn how to dance like Janelle. :)

A Peek at My Layouts for the July WIP Kit

July is my first month being on the design team at Work in Progress Kits. I'm so excited that in a few days my layouts will be revealed in the WIP Gallery. What a fun, summery kit Trish put together! Here is a peek at what I made:

A Delicious Palette at Color Combos Galore!

Color Combo 148 is live! And what a delectable palette we got to play with this week! I was blown away by the design team's creations. Going along with our wedding theme this month, we had this amazing cake photo to inspire us:

I went a little crazy as I was making my page. I kept adding and adding things. But I think my page turned out fun, which is what I was going for! And I think my title is pretty clever, if I do say so myself!

Here are some close-ups. I decided that pinwheels would be fun accents, to go with the whole "spin" thing. They are really easy to make.

The ice princess, which is a pale shade of blue, threw me. I could only find one pale blue paper in my stash. I decided to string my banner with a pale blue wispy fiber that reminded me of the wispy-ness of the cotton candy.

I hope you'll come play with us. It's so much fun! Not to mention you could win a prize from Scarlet Lime!

Purse-onality! {Creative Prompts for You Challenge #20}

I am having so much fun creating for Creative Prompts for You! I love the idea of using non-scrapping items as inspiration for my layouts. This week, our prompt was this photograph:

What interested me most about this photograph was the juxtaposition of the floral prints against the rustic wooden background. I also wanted to incorporate the purse idea, and I noticed the button clasp on the front purse and thought of the Maya Road clasp envelopes. The last element of inspiration I gathered for my layout was fabric--so, I used a fabric-covered brad and felt letter stickers for my title. I dug out some REALLY old woodgrain paper and some old K & Co. floral and striped papers to make my page. I just love when I can combine old and new stuff on my layouts!

A Rich, Sumptuous Palette at Color Combos Galore

Color Combo 147 is live, and what a beautiful palette Janet prepared for us this week!


With the Designer's Challenge of using the theme "At the Table," I immediately thought of the beautiful table my sister set on Thanksgiving. I had a little mishap as I was photographing my layout. A big gust of wind came by and swept my page off the stand and into the dirt, crumpling the lower corners. Ugh.
I used supplies from my Noel Mignon kit called Sonoma County to make my page, plus a few additions from my stash. Here are a few close-up details. I love the sparkly Thickers and the color was perfect for this Color Combo.
I dug out my Heidi Swapp edge distresser for this page, and added some pearly swirls.

I used my favorite Martha Stewart punch--the Iron Gate. Designing on 8 x 8 pages can sometimes be a challenge, and I have to find ways to include my story, so I added a pocket to house my journaling.

Journaling reads: Hey, Martha. You've got nothing on my sister. She sets a really pretty table. Every holiday, she gets creative. I love how she decorated the table for Thanksgiving 2008, with sparkly little pumpkins and fresh daisies and pretty beaded napkin rings. The perfect setting for our family's delicious feast!

A Couple of Recent Layouts...

Our current challenge at How Much Is Too Much? is called "Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other." Paula challenged us to use 6 patterned papers and 6 stickers on our layout. I had these papers from an old Studio Calico kit sitting on my desk from my layout "Oh! The Places I've Gone," and decided to use them for this challenge. I hadn't done a page for my book of silly photos in a while, so I made this page:

A couple of weeks ago, it was my turn to make the challenge at Creative Prompts for You. This is the inspiration piece I gave the team:
And here's the page that was inspired by that image:

I love being able to combine old and new stuff on a layout.

Color Combo #146 - Subdued and Elegant!

Color Combos Galore is back again this week with another beautiful palette:


Our twist to the challenge this week is to add stitching. I stitch on almost all my pages. I love the subtle dimension it gives to a page. I combined lots of older papers from my stash with some newer items. That's one of the things I love about this challenge--when I get receive the colors from Janet, I have to go digging through my stash to find just the right stuff to work with the colors, and I always rediscover things I had forgotten about.

I'm still trying to figure out how to get a perfect photograph of my layout. I just can't get it straight enough, so when I crop, a little bit of the edges always seem to get cut out.
Here are a few close-ups of my layout. I used Shimmerz on the flowers and doily to add some sutbtle shine.

Here you can see how I stitched all the layers of my layout. I used the flowers from so old Anna Griffin paper because of gold stamens in the flower centers went with the gold leaves on my nephew's head:

I love these new Artisan Elements by Pink Paislee. You can change the color with ink or paint, but I thought their natural color was perfect for this challenge. When I was looking for gray letters to use for the title, I dug out these old BasicGrey Black Tie letters, which had a hint of purple in them.

Oh! The Places I've Gone!

This week at Scrap Yourself, our challenge was to use the prompt "Oh, the places you'll go." I've been to so many places, and I had a hard time choosing what to scrap, so I decided I'd scrap it all! I sat down at my computer and started listing all the places I've lived and visited on vacations and I came up with A LOT of places. I searched through my photos for the perfect picture and came up with this one of me in Paris that I thought embodies the idea of travel.

I knew I wanted to use that cool balloon paper by Webster's Pages and I paired it with stuff from an old Studio Calico kit that I had been hoarding. I lifted the balloons with pop dots and added shiny brads to them.

I'm sure I've forgotten some of the places I've been over the course of my life, but just in case you're interested in knowing where I've been, here's the list that I included on the back of my layout:

Maryland (Ocean City, Baltimore, Frederick, Annapolis, Rock Hall, Cambridge, St. Michael's, Ocean City, Assateague, Chestertwon, Westminster, Ellicot City- day and weekend trips and lived here most of my life


Washington, DC - lots of times for day trips

West Virginia - lots of times to visit Dawn and day trips

Virginia (Mount Vernon, Richmond, Virginia Beach, Williamsburg, Arlington, Alexandria, Dale City, Leesburg, Fredericksburg) - day and weekend trips and lived for a couple of years

Texas - lived briefly

New York (New York City and others) - lots of times on vacation, weekend trips

Maine (Bar Harbor, Portland, Bangor, Wiscasset, Kennebunkport) - three times on vacation

Massachusetts (Boston, Salem, Cambridge, Martha's Vineyard, Plymouth, and others) - vacation

Vermont - drove through on vacation

New Hampshire - drove through on vacation

Rhode Island (Newport)- vacation

Connecticut (Mystic, Bridgeport) - vacation

Delaware (Rehoboth, Lewis) - vacation

New Jersey (Cape May, Atlantic City) - several times on vacation

North Carolina - on my way to Florida

South Carolina (Charleston) - vacation

Georgia - on my way to Florida

Florida (Port Orange, Orlando, Miami, Clearwater, St. Augustine)- many times to visit Gram and vacations

California (Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego) - vacations

Nevada (Las Vegas) - vacation

Arizona (Grand Canyon) - vacation

Tennessee (Nashville, Knoxville, Memphis, Gatlingburg) - vacation

Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, Lancaster, Bradford, Gettysburg, Punxsutawney, Johnstown, and others) - vacations and weekend trips

Illinois (Chicago) - twice for weekend trips when Farzad got an award)

Bolivia (Cochabamba, La Paz)- 3 times to live

Peru - in the airport on way to Bolivia

Mexico - traveled on way to Bolivia

Guatemala - traveled on way to Bolivia

El Salvador - traveled on way to Bolivia

Honduras - traveled on way to Bolivia

Nicaragua - traveled on way to Bolivia

Costa Rica - traveled on way to Bolivia

Panama - traveled on way to Bolivia

Canada (Niagara Falls, Quebec, Montreal) - a few times on vacations

Australia (Sydney, Melbourne) - vacation

New Zealand (Auckland, Christchurch, Queenstown, Milford Sound) - vacation

France (Paris, Normandy, Chartres, Rouen) - 3 times on vacation

Bahamas (Atlantis) - vacation

We Are Live!!!

I am so excited to be able to finally unveil what I have been hinting at over the last week! About an hour ago, we re-launched Color Combos Galore! We have a new design team, a fresh new look, and a twist on our tried-and-true color challenges. You have to go take a look to see all the fun new changes!

I am beyond honored to be included in this amazing group of designers that Janet hand-picked:

ANABELLE O'MALLEY
ANNE-MARIE TEODEBBI TEHRANI [I'm not worthy! I'm not worthy! (said in my best Wayne & Garth voice)]
DENINE ZIELINSKI
JAIME WARREN
JANA EUBANK
JANET PERAFAN-BABAR
JANIS MEDINA-MAGHINAY
JULES McKENNA - DE LUMEN
KIM MORENO
LADY GRACE BELARMINO
LILLY ROSE
MICHELLE LANNING
PIRADEE TALVANNA
RIA MOJICA
ROREE RUMPH
SARAH KLEMISH
SUSAN DUPRE
YUKA HINO

Janet is truly the Queen of Color. Check out our first inspiration board:


Here is my take on the challenge. I added gray as a neutral to the palette. I was so happy to break out my Webster's Pages Bloomers. They are so

If you're reading my blog, I hope you'll come over and play with us. There's even a chance at a prize from our sponsor this month, Scarlet Lime!

Today's the Day!!!

Stay tuned. It's going to happen some time around noon today...