Far From Home

I have been on vacation this week, living the relaxing beach life on Siesta Key in Florida. Oh, the sun, the sand, the surf, the mudslides (yum). Our condo is across the street from the beach, and is equipped with beach chairs, umbrella, towels, etc., all the things needed for a day (or five) on the beach. The weather is heaven, and I'm chillin with my family. But I haven't forgotten my scrappy buds. I bought a Crafting mag at Barnes & Noble here, and have drawn a sketch for the pics I've taken so far. Since we're not doing anything but sunning and sitting, there aren't as many pics as I thought I would take, but that's fine by me, means I'm having fun doing...nothing!
Wouldn't you know, though, I forgot the cable for my camera so I could post some photos, and even forgot the cable for my phone, so I can't show off anything til I get home.

My Muse has insomnia

That green checkerboard paper sure has inspired me! I'm using it 'til the last millimeter. Plus I got some new images from my Bella Sistah--thanks, Tiffaney!!

Of course, I'm also involved in a challenge to use diecuts on my projects. The felt flower here and the cricut-cut flower above are within that guideline.

Don't you just love QT Owl? He's from Pink Cat Studio. I have to get the set. This is just one of too may cute owls.

Fun With Scraps

I have a full file drawer of scrap paper, and I love to swim in it when making a new card. Of course, it would be a lot faster if I organized the paer, at least by color, but for now it lies in wait for me. Like this green checkerboard paper. I think it screams SPRING, and I know I'm screaming Spring, where's Spring??! The complementing paper is DCWV, as well as the checked paper, that I bought eons ago at Joann's on clearance (of course). The image was free from a PIF or a RAK, I can't remember, I just know this stamp is the cutest! I colored her with Copics, and glitzed her with Liquid Glass and Srickles, my two fave embellies. The buttons came from a pack I bought (again eons ago) at WalMart, and the raffia was on clearance (somewhere). I come from a line of very thrifty German stock!

Another card with the same flavors" DCWV, free image, Copics, Stickles and Liquid Glass. Gotta love those owls--I know I did back in the 70's when they were first popular!

I really like this image, and will have to get help IDing the company. Anybody??

One More Card

I received some images from my scrapping buddy, so of course I had to make a card immediately. I love the stitched card fronts I got from Linda, and will have to snag somemore from her soon. The sentiment is from Stamping Bella. I colored Edwin with my copics, and glitzed it with Liquid Glass.

I Had a Few Minutes Here and There

I've only been able to look into my craft room lately, although I had a few minutes here and there and managed to make a few cards. My daughter likes the one above the best. She likes the colors and the sentiment. I love that the snap, the ribbon, the images, the sentiment and the stitched card front were all no cost swap items from Scrapbook Place!!

This card is a little fuzzy, which is too bad because it's my first Stella. She's Stella sitting on a toadstool, but I cut the toadstool out and sat her on the leprechaun's lucky pot o' gold. Her gold happens to be skittles. The glittery embossed card front and the image are all from swaps. The sentiment is StampingBella, and I cut the pot with my QuicKutz.

I guess I am longing for Spring, because all my cards definitely have a Spring theme! The wheelbarrow image is one I stamped eons ago from TAC, and just rediscovered. I colored one of the daisies violet to match the cardstock background. I don't use a lot of circles in my layouts or my cards, so I played outside my box this week!

More pages on Australia. The above page was made with blue patterned paper with CHristian words and symbols. I cut out the red starts from the specialty paper to form a border at the bottom of both pages. I also used my event passes for hidden journaling as well as memorabilia on the page along with the photos.

Our stay in Australia improved greatly when we moved out of Olympic Park to our host church in Manly Beach, two blocks away from the Pacific Ocean. The kids went bonkers when we reached the beach. I used two patterned papers, the dark blue ocean and the sand, and kept some white border around the pictures to make them pop on the page.

Australian Layout

There was so much to see and do, before World Youth Day events, during, and after them. After the official events were over, we had a few days to sightsee, and I had arranged some tours. We were disappointed that the whale-watching tour was cancelled due to bad weather, but the day we spent in the Blue Mountains was glorious. For the pages I had some blue sky patterned paper, as well as some distressed green paper.
One of my favorite techniques is tearing paper, and I used this technique to give the pages some dimension. I used clear sticker journal boxes, and matted all my photos and quotes with the same color that the green paper was distressed with.

Although I had literally thousands of photos to choose from, with all the rest of the group's collection as well as my own, I chose just a few extras to place on this last page of the layout. I had bought a mailable map of Australia, which included cool journaling boxes on its borders. Here I cut out the bottom border of journaling boxes and used it for the bottom border of my own page.

More on Australia

Here are the next pages in my Australia layout. I used mostly CTMH papers that were given to me at the crop by my tablemate. What a generous soul!!

The first page relates our airport layover, although I can't complain too much. Even though it was about eleven hours and waiting, we had been bumped to Business class and so had free rein of the Business class lounge. Half of us (me included) even took showers while there, along with a free buffet and internet -ready computers.

Good thing we were spoiled on our way, because once we hit land it was very rugged---walking, bus and train hopping, walking (all with our luggage), then putting down our beds on the floor of an Olympic Park parking garage with about 1200 other pilgrims. Did I mention the abnormally cold weather Sydney was enjoying at the time?

I can smile and laugh about it now, but at night when my feet were tingling and hurting and I was wearing three layers of clothes and a silly winter hat to keep me warm in my sleeping bag, it wasn't funny. Our host church later in the week more than made up for our suffering. More on that later...

World Youth Days album is finished!

Not only was I able to finish my layout of my trip to Australia with the Youth Group, but I'm in a Scrapping Survivor game and the first challenge was to use quotes on your pages. So every page of this album has a quote. AND I didn't use any new material or items, I used my Stash, so I can claim these pages on another group in their Stash Bash Challenge.
Almost every page has journaling as well as a quotation. I made a point of journaling only the high points of the trip, and glossed over the low points, like layovers and more than enough hiking to last a few years and cold weather, etc. I'm taking the album to work for my coworkers to see tomorrow. I'm so glad I accomplished this!!!