On mountain mornings the wood smokes curls round and round

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Pen Tablet Class

I recently took a pen tablet class at www.Jessicasprague.com It was really a challenge for me with a steep learning curve. But, I persevered and I have some things to show you. I am doing a yearly 12 layouts, one for each month using a template and a lesson from the class. Here is January, February and March. On the layouts I made stamps, did some free hand doodles and some tracing of objects and then I wrote around the picture block in my own hand writing. I hope to see improvement as the year goes on.


I have also been doing some things with brushes. I will post some of these when I have more.

Since summer is approaching, here is some very important advice for you: Never wear polka-dot underwear under white shorts!

Have a good one.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Easter was so fun for my family

We sure had a great time Easter weekend. We met at Kristen's on Saturday for the egg dying and a great dinner which featured Honey baked ham. We had the egg hunt Easter Sunday and a wonderful breakfast brunch featuring baked french toast. This is a family favorite.

1 loaf sourdough French bread, torn into pieces 8 eggs 8 ounces cream 1-1/2 cups milk or half-and-half
1/4 cup maple syrup
6 Tablespoons melted butterLayer bread and cubed cream cheese in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Mix eggs , milk, maple syrup and melted butter. Pour over bread/ cheese mixture and push down to soak up egg mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 40 t0 50 minutes.
I have made a few layouts. Here they are for your enjoyment:

These are all posted in my gallery at Jessicasprague.com go check them out for all the well deserved credits and to see other incredible layout.

I will leave you today with this tidbit of info:

Dreamt is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".

Have a good one!

Friday, April 2, 2010

It's trying to be spring

Today is pretty nice. It was nice earlier in the week but woke up to snow on Thursday morning, enough to cause a 2 hour snowday delay in the school. Will be pretty windy over Easter they say. I have a theory about wind in Flagstaff staff It blows pretty hard whenever the seasons change. I like to say, " It blows in the spring ( or whatever season is approaching. Here is one of my scrapbook pages that I am going to use to enter the Jessica Sprague CT tryouts.


This page is from 2007 and it is one of my favorites from one of my favorite vacations.

Have a great Easter (don't eat too much) and remember:
A cow produces 200 times more gas a day than a person.

Have a good one.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

What a wonderful project



On Saturday last I went to a 12 hour crop held in a local resort hotel. We got great goodie bags, 3 meals, limo rides to the local scrapbook store, cocktails, hors d'ourvers and great raffle prizes. But, that was not the great thing about this day. The great thing was the fantastic project that this benefit crop supported. Jack's Little Brother project sponsored by Northland Hospice was founded to support parents who have lost babies. At the moment they are raising money to build a memorial children's park. I am so impressed with this project. There were about 30 attendees at this first annual event. I am making it my mission to get many more people there next year. It will be held each year on the Saturday following President's Day here in Flagstaff, Arizona, perhaps at the Little America Hotel again.

Have a good one. No funny remark to close with today. I am still too wrapped up in the JLB Project.

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Almost a teenager

My grandson Jake was twelve yesterday. It really doesn't seem possible. But, I am a proud grandma cuz he knows everything!! LOL. He is indeed 12 going on 20 and my daughter is going bonkers! HA HA HA Here is a scrapbook page I made. His party was a swimming party at the Flagstaff Aqua Plex. We all had a really good time.



I have been doing a lot of pages with my snow pictures and am going to make a book with them and maybe some note cards as some folks have suggested.

I am not feeling so good today and will mosey on off but I will leave you with this insight:

Snowman fall to earth unassembled.

Have a good one!

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

54 inches

We have had 54 inches of snow and are still digging out. It snowed for 5 days. During the snow storm it warmed up just enough to rain 1 inch. What a mess. The schools were closed all last week and now are on delayed schedules because the buses can't run well in the outlying areas and the sidewalks are still covered so there is nowhere for the kids to walk except in the street.

But, when the sun came out it sure was gorgeous. My hubby had to begrudgingly admit it too. He spent all his time shoveling, including 6 hours on the roof (4 1/2 feet of snow can be very heavy), while I stayed inside and scrapbooked. Here are two pages I made yesterday for my BIG SNOW album.We are finally almost all dug out and going about our daily routines. We just have to allow more time to get around.

I will leave you with this thought:

Baby robins eat 14 feet of earthworms each day. Umm guess I'm thinking SPRING.

Have a good one!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Milestones

I would like to be able to tell you that in the past year I...

Successfully lost 20 pounds.

Ran a marathon.

Grew three inches.

Caught up on all my back scrapbooking pages.

Kept my house neat as a pin.

Traveled to a foreign land.

Developed an addiction for salad.


Instead, I have to tell you that in the past year I...

Am still working on the weight issue.

Have kept up with my water aerobics.

Downloaded more than my fair share of digital scrapbook supplies.

Failed to simplify my life.

Traveled to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon.

Am still addicted to “Survivor”.

Have become lazy about using the telephone.


However, in the past year I also...

Met amazing women on line at my scrapbook forums and classes.

Have gone on a few great trips.

Have been doing things I enjoy.

Have fallen hopelessly in love with my Kindle.

Have re-discovered the examples of historical heroes.

Discovered that my own voice is best when I am speaking for myself.

Have a group of friends that I can do fun things with.

Managed to keep my hair at my favorite length.

Became faithful in my journaling.

Have Learned to send text messages.

Have learned to trust that my children really are grown-ups.

Have learned that my favorite time of day is right before bed when
the day is finally winding down.


In the next year, I am hoping to...

Continue my journey to rediscover the basics in life.

Be even more alert to the needs of others.

Spend more time simplifying my life.

Make progress in being worthy of the trust others put in me.

Continue to develop my relationship with friends and family.

Wear the jeans that I've had tucked away in my closet for years.

Write once a day.

Accept myself, forgive myself, and get back up whenever I fall down.


Have a good one