Korma Crush - When hospital stays mean good food

In January 2015 my mother slipped in a restaurant and broke her femur right at the hip line.  It meant surgery, steel pins, and a two-week hospital stay with lots of physical therapy and lots of complaining from Mom since apparently she thought hospitals should have the same level of service as the Ritz Carlton.  It also meant my dad needed an extra hand since, as often happens, he was a bit too reliant on my mom to cook, clean, etc.  He's fully capable of doing it all - just spoiled!

So off I went to Florida to help everyone out.  One would think my dad would be stressed out and worried with what my mom was going through.  Instead, he was somewhat pleased since it meant he and I could go to his favorite Indian restaurant in Sarasota for good curry, guilt free since he rarely gets the opportunity (mom would rather have hospital food than a curry).  The food there was amazing!  I have had curry in so many places and in some of the best curry houses in the US, London and other places in England but I have to say that this non-descript place in a shopping center in Sarasota had the best korma I have ever had.  We ended up going there three times in 10 days!

Mom recovered well but is still not willing to eat curry.  I think Dad is secretly arranging an extended trip for my Mom anywhere so he can go back to the restaurant!

For the layout, I decided to use a pack of Project Life cards I got on clearance yet never used (Becky Higgins Project Life "Baby Edition for Him").  I don't do Project Life but I like using the cards for layering - I just wish they didn't have rounded corners.  After all, One can always round corners of square cards but it isn't always easy to square off rounded corners without loosing patterns on the edges.  Problems of the first world!  For the border of the ivory paper, I used a cutting file I had that is intended to be used to weave a ribbon on the paper.  after cutting it and starting to thread the ribbon, I thought the effect was too heavy but liked the punch outs nonetheless so the edge treatment stayed without the ribbon.

You Are My Anchor

My husband is an amazing person!  I know...we all say that about our spouse - after all, if they weren't we wouldn't be with them, right?  So what makes him wonderful?  He puts up with me!  He is truly the yin to my yang in that I am a very hyper Type A perfectionist whereas he is laid back and just takes life as it comes.  He is my anchor in that he keeps me in place and steady.  Whilst one could interpret an "anchor" as something weighing you down, it is not meant that way in this case by any means.  Or if it did, it is a weight in a positive sense in that when I fly off the handle, he makes a joke that brings me back down since his extreme whit forces me to laugh even though the joke is invariable at my expense.  I love you, hon!

The design for this is based on another great sketch from Brenda Ragsdale at GrandDiva's Creative Corner for the March Sketch & Scrappy Friends Challenge.  I am combining it with Rochelle Spear's This or That challenge to use either polka dots or chevrons - I used both - polka dots in one of the paper layers and chevrons as the bottom border.  And the color scheme and "anchor" theme itself is inspired by the March Fashion challenge at ACOT.  Papers are all from Authentique Glory collection.  The cork letters are from Little Yellow Bicycle; cork anchor is Studio Calico; stickers are a variety of collections from Simple Stories SNAP!

(sorry for the bad lighting - I photographed this at night from my desk - I should have known better!)

Thanks for stopping by!

Cake Boss

If there are any advantages to being unemployed it is the time I now have to get back to one of my passions - cooking and recently, baking.  I don't have any photos (yet) of my recent baking exploits but the other day I made a yummy batch of coconut macaroons.  They were a little over cooked so not photo-worthy but yummy nonetheless.  In playing around with baking, I was reminded of a time in 2010 when my daughter and I took a cake decorating class at a local Young Chef's Academy.  My daughter took a number of classes there but this is one of the few times they did a mother-daughter event so I was thrilled to join in.

As for the layout, the design is based on a sketch from Let's Get Sketchy.  Over the years, this blog has given me so much inspiration and I am pleased to 'rediscover' them as I re-enter the world of challenges.  The bright colors of the layout are not my typical style but the photos screamed out for me to use some of the brighter 'princess' colored papers I had but toned down a bit with the plain white background.  The papers include bright little hearts from Queen & Co ("Girl Hearts"), teal pattern paper from Echo Park ("Little Girl"), and the glitter Thickers ("Hooray").  I even pulled out my embossing machine to add texture to the white triangles in the corners as well as finding a few Project Life-type cards for the journaling.  And that is another advantage to being unemployed - I cannot buy any new scrap supplies so I am forcing myself to dig through stash and rediscover so many things I forgot I had!

Thanks for stopping by!

The Birds

It has been such a long time since I posted anything to this blog!  It hasn't been because I stopped scrapping - far from it!  But as we all know, life frequently gets in the way of things and blogging was one activity that went by the way side over the past two years.  The most significant change in our lives has been a move from the suburbs to the rural life of a 14-acre hobby farm.  The other major change was my loosing my job six months ago but that's far more depressing to discuss than the farm so I'll stick to that for now!  I'll start posting more about the farm in the coming weeks but in the meantime, I decided to post the latest spring happenings - the return of the birds.

This time of year we get literally hundreds of birds out our back of every variety - the typical cardinal, sparrow, and blue birds but also warblers, red-crested woodpeckers, great horned owls, and many more (many of which we have yet been able to identify).  And like many areas, we get the black birds and grackles.  Thankfully the onslaught of these is only occasional as I don't think I could handle the cacophony any more frequently.  Despite the noise, I still appreciate the spectacle - after all, we moved out here to better appreciate all the amazing things that rural life brings, even if it sometimes feel Hitchcock-esque!

The layout for this was inspired by a Sketch+3 challenge at Scrap Our Stash that was a sketch plus three items from a list - I chose Graph paper (the tag on the left), Heidi Swapp (the tiny tags from a 2012 Tiny Tag pack), and Ivory (the background).

Thanks for looking!

The Diva and the Dog - MSM # 64

Another one using a sketch from My Scraps & More (and check out their store, too - great prices and great offers when you sign up for their newsletter!  This is based on sketch #64.

• Washi Tape:  Love my Tapes, Prima
• Paper:  Crate Paper; MME Stella & Rose; MME Sky's the Limit; Fancy Pants
• border punch:  EK Success
• Enamel Dots: Teresa Collins
• Word tags:  Elle's Studio
• Alphas:  Thickers Lindsey (a very subtle gold glitter); October Afternoon Daily Flash

Happy Comes in Small Packages - MSM # 63

So you know how much I love My Scraps & More sketches!  Here's another layout using their sketch #63.

Products:

• Paper:  Dear Lizzy Lucky Charm collection; kraft cardstock
• Frames:  October Afternoon Daily Flash; Crate Paper The Pier
• Background stamps:  grid = Verve; dots = Hero Arts
• Ink:  CTMH Outdoor Denim
• Alphas:  Thickers Patchwork; Prima Alphabet Stickers
• Heart punch:  EK Success
• Enamel Dots:  MME Cut & Paste Adorbs
• Washi tape:  MME Pink & Charcoal washi set
• Today chipboard:  Hedi Swapp
• Metal frame around year:  CTMH

My Scraps & More # 60

This layout is based on another sketch at My Scraps & More.  I typically get bored with using a single paper collection over and over again but I can't get enough of this line!  It is so perfect and there are even several papers that are non-Christmas so I know I will get a lot out of it! When I find I have a patterned paper that might be too bold to use on its own, I try to use it as a frame - I did this with two different papers in this layout.  Give it a try - it's a great way of using papers that might otherwise sit neglected in your stash.

Paper:  Simple Stories Handmade Holiday
Star:  Little Yellow Bicycle Naturals
Letters:  Little Yellow Bicycle

My Scraps & More # 59

I love the sketches at My Scraps & More and they have a great year end sale going on, too!  This layout is based on sketch # 59.  For this one, I rotated the sketch

Paper:  Simple Stories Handmade Holiday
Arrows:  Avery Elle Die
Brads:  very old stash

December Challenges

This layout was inspired by a sketch by Brenda Ragsdale for the December Sketches4All challenge and the embellishments were inspired by Kristi B's December challenge asking her followers to add "sparkle" which I did with a lot of gold brads and glitter tape.  Apologies for the photo being a little out of focus.

Paper:  Simple Stories Homemade Holiday
Wood Veneer:  Studio Calico
Sketch:  Brenda Ragsdale

Grand Diva's Sketch Challenge

I love the sketches Brenda Ragsdale comes up with each month for her Grand Diva's Creative Corner blog (not to mention her creations themselves).  Each month she teams up with her "scrappy friends" - Rochelle Spears and Kristi B.  I didn't combine the challenges into a single layout but you will see another layout today for Kristi's challenge

The papers are from Fancy Pants Merry Christmas and Little Sport lines.  I also used some fun new products from recent haul from A Cherry on Top - Jillibean Soup Flashcards, My Minds Eye Cupids Arrow washi tape,  and October Afternoon Daily Flash Frame Up chipboard frames.  And to not neglect my stash, I pulled out some brads from MME Indie Chic, stickers from Dear Lizzy, and stick pins from Little Yellow Bicycle