Stuie's Diner

...where your weiner gets a shake.... You could not pay me enough money to wear that on the back of my shirt! It was a hilarious moment as Jen read that and nearly choked on her food.
We went to this new diner in Dawson Creek the other day. If you know anything about me and "the Twinkie" you'll know I'm a bit leery of metal tubed shaped dwellings, especially those painted pale yellow. This one, however, was silver, so I took the risk. It was decorated very cute inside, all teal and black. They had a jukebox and lots of Elvis stuff on the walls. The menu had Betty Boop and the Fonz.

I am totally loving this layout for many reasons:
1) It's super bright
2) I used some Studio Calico I thought I never would (the cutlery paper and milkshake)
3) My photos have no mats (well, except for one). That's rare for me.
4) It's fairly flat and yet I still like it!

Close up, just for fun!

Flashmobs ♥

I think flashmobs are totally great. A flashmob is basically when a bunch of people randomly start dancing in public. You can see a ton of them on youtube. I love watching people's reactions. There's a very festive one where a choir starts popping up in a food court singing "Hallelujah" at Christmas time.

This one was done in January of this year in Vancouver. It's a bunch of elementary students from 2 schools to support anti-bullying day. Pretty neat idea. I love at the end how the pink fades away slowly. I think that in itself is pretty symbolic of how we are all alike and connected. Even though you may not know you have something in common with a stranger, you probably are more alike than you think.

Snooze

Mack is a very spoiled dog. He basically gets what ever he wants. In this occasion, he stole my spot on the couch. He was just too cute to kick off, so I crawled on the floor and took this photo:

This layout is designed by Crystal, with a few changes from me.
3 things I like:
1) The colours - I don't use purple very often, but this layout is very soft because of it.
2) Flower ribbon - I LOVE this ribbon, but have only used it once before.
3) Painting behind my title. On occasion I do this when I just don't know how to anchor my title any other way. So simple!

Scraplift

Isn't it wonderful how much inspiration a single layout can provide? Take, for instance, this layout:

This layout really isn't my style. I rarely use a white background and even though it has a lot going on, it still seems kind of plain for me. But, I was attracted to the red hounds tooth pattern running vertically and thought I'd give it a go.....

The result was this layout, of Ryan's birthday cake! I used a mix of Sassafrass and Cosmo here, as well as some puffy stickers from Wal-mart.
3 things I like:
1) This layout was really fast to complete - thank you sketch!
2) The title - I feel fancy when I mix multiple letterings in one title.
3) I used a few supplies here I had been hoarding because I loved them so. Example: the music note paper :)

Then, I took a class of Crystal's at the scrapbook store. One of the layouts we made was this one here (click to see). The first half of the layout is based on the same sketch! All 3 look so different!

Winter!

I really do like winter. I love snow and I love to watch it fall. I also like to shovel it, although, with Ryan being home this year, I did pass it off to him mostly. :) The heap of snow in front of our house this year is MONSTROUS! (Layout to come!) I must admit, now that it is nearly the end of March I am a bit tired of snow, and would like to see some sunnier days. This part is the worst for me, all the melting. The dogs get messy, and walking to work is dangerous! I only made it half way today, and then I called my boss and said "If you want me to make it to work alive, you're going to need to come get me". Lucky she likes me!

Here are some layouts of our favourite winter activities:

I struggled on this one for a bit. Lynette at our local scrapbook store suggested I add the brown dotted paper and that kind of connected it all and toned it down for me. Thanks Lynette!
3 things I like:
1) I used REALLY OLD paper - some of this is from like 2008!
2) I used a lot of photos
3) I used a bit of ribbon which I have been ignoring lately - although this ribbon came from June's stash, so perhaps that doesn't count.....

This is one of my most favourite layouts in a while. I love the colours and the textures. I also love how different it is from Crystal's version. We used the same photos and sketch, but so different!
3 things I like:
1) New stuff! Don't you love when you get something and are instantly inspired to use it? That way, it doesn't collect dust for, oh, 3 years until it sparks your interest again.
2) Tim Holtz distresser - it's this tiny circle with notches. In the notches are mini blades that rough up your paper. Love it!
3) Scrapbooking friends - thanks Crystal for the second "Snow" border sticker!

A day in DC and homemade rootbeer....

Today was a day spent mostly devoted to scrapbooking. My friend Jen picked me up at 10 this morning and we drove to Dawson to check out the scrapbook store there, Chocolate Clover. I like that she has a very different selection from in town, although not nearly as much to choose from. I got a few good finds, including Cosmo's Circa 1934 and some of Sassafrass' Indie Girl as well as a few other random bits and pieces. I was very pleased to find a magazine June has been searching for in the $5.00 clearance bin.
After a quick stop at the mall to pick up a lunch bag for Ryan from Marks (we were sold out in my store) we decided to be adventurous and have lunch in this 50's diner. (When I say we, I mean Jen, I was slightly nervous about what we were getting into entering a giant metal box). It was very cute in there and the food was inexpensive and fairly tasty. Luckily, Jen had her camera and she took some photos. (Layout to follow - I've already selected some pieces for it!)
We stopped at B&T, but that was a major disappointment. Everything was old, and the sales lady was clueless. Why ask me if I need help if you have zero concept about scrapbooking?
On the way back we went to Crafty Folks in Taylor and I got a few more things. I got a Christmas line from Echo Park that has ornaments all over it. I took some photos of my favourite ornaments this Christmas, so I will use it for that.
When I came home, I finished up this page that's been sitting around for a week or two. I was hung up on what to add for embellishments. After a while of whining and being generally non-productive I started to dig through my (fairly extensive) stash and found I had more than enough to finish it off. Here is the finished product:

I used a mixture of Earth Love and Nutmeg for papers - both by Cosmo Cricket. Three things I love about this layout are:
1) I used chipboard letters - I have been very bad about using those lately. I coloured these ones with brown Copic marker and heat embossed with clear powder to make them shiny. I was trying to go for the effect of the bottles.
2) The tiny bottle cut from my Cricut - it kind of looks like a wine bottle, but close counts. :)
3) Lots of journaling! I told the story and gave instructions for making your own root beer.

I said a while back that I would post the layout of us snow shoeing. That will come next as long as many other layouts I've been working on recently.

I still exist.

I've actually had a bit of a life lately and I have done a few layouts. I'll post soon. In the meantime.....