The Hotties of the Group

Here is a layout of the guys in the wedding with the Groom. I love that they wore black with Red Ties. They were all supposed to where Cowboy hats. We changed that so they could were a black hat to fit their own personality if they wanted.

I especially like the large doodled frame in this layout. And the extra big ric rac. Lets not forget the doodled buttons. Love those too.

Sizlin

You all are going to get pretty tired of Wedding Layouts in the next year. With about 3000 photos it will take me that long if not longer to scrap them. No, I will not scrap them all. Just my favs. Problem is........there are sooooooo many favs to do. Seriously, the 3 photographers did such an amazing job.

This Layout includes some very old paper from Rusty Pickle. I think I have about 6 sheets of this paper. See that tassel embellishment on the top left. Well that had a tassel with a maroon color. Now, why on earth would the manufacturer put a RED jem with a maroon tassel? So I took of the tassel and made my own out of real Red. Turned out good. Also, on the buttons. I did not sew them. I doodled on the buttons to make them look sewed. So much easier.

Still My Girl

This layout started out as a lift from Elsie's 52 challenges book. I made a few changes but not really enough to call all my own. It's a good mixture though. I totally love the title. She is still my girl no matter what. That blank green space on the left side will house either journaling or a picture of her when she was younger. I have not decided for sure yet. What do you think?

Something Old Something New

I seriously love this photo of Jen in front of an old truck parked on the side of the road. Don't know who's truck it is. But it reminds me of my grandpa's truck. Old and Blue. Built tough like he was.

I used bubble wrap on this layout for the red dot pattern. Love that stuff. I also took some lace and folded it up then stapled it down. Another one of my favorite techniques. For the words "some thing" I wrote it in freehand then to make it pop I put Glossy Accents over the top. It made the words pop just like I wanted them to.

A Gift For Nikki

I made this lamp shade a couple of years ago for a magazine in the UK when I worked for the fab Helen Bradley. The publisher misplaced the lamp shade for so long. About 4 months ago it apopeared in the mail. I was so excited as I thought it was gone forever. When I made it I intended to give it to Nikki for her Studio. Well, there it was all cute still.

I did not tell Nikki it re-appeared. I saved it for her for Christmas. When she opened it her eyes got all big. She was either very excited or she was a good faker. She is making things for people all the time but she rarely receives something hand made herself. I hope she really does like it.

My Favs

I thought I might share my favorite ornaments from our tree. Each year I have a great time bringing out the ornaments and reminising about each one. This year was especially fun since I had not seen the ornaments for about 3 years. This lovely pipe cleaner ornament was made by my lovely daughter Jenni when she was in pre school. There is a green and yellow one on the tree also. They are always the first ornaments I hang with a smile on my face. She hates it when I hang them as she thinks it is embarrasing. I don't care though. I think they are fabulous.
These cute little reindeer were made by me about 10 years ago. Every year Jenni and my niece Kendra and myself would start making ornaments around Thanksgiving. They are made out of a mixture of stuff you already have in the kitchen. I can't remember the ingredients but I believe it was mostly salt. You could form anything you wanted or simply use a cookie cutter for your pattern. Then you bake them but you need to remember to put a paper clip in the top as the hanger. We seemed to forget that part quite often. After baking we painted them and then sprayed them with a varnish for shine and protection. I used to make them for every ones gifts. It was a long process as I made about 20 a year but it was so fun. The girls looked forward to it every year.
Now these gorgeous little beauties are hand made by a lady that lives somewhere in Sonoma County. I found her at a Christmas Craft Fair. She makes these out of goose eggs. She uses a high speed dental drill to cut out all of the intricut little patterns then fancies them up with formed papers and glitter. They are simply amazing. I bought these for friends a couple of years. Some how I lost track of this lady so I may never get more.
This ornament was purchased by Jenni's dad and myself on our first Christmas together. That was like 23 years ago. It is still one of my favs as it reminds me of our time together and how happy we were then. There are about 5 more ornaments the two of us purchased together but this one is my absolute favorite. It is made out of glass and always hangs at the top of the tree.
And this little elf was also made by me. Again, it is the dough recipe. I think I made 30 of these that year. I just love the cuteness. Merry Christmas to all of you.

Dreamer

I so LOVE this layout I did at The Scrappery retreat last month. I was inspired by a member of SIStv. I do not remember her name so I apologize. The trick here is to do a layout using all white or clear. No color. I think it turned out great.

Challenge Club at The Scrappery will be given this challenge tonight at the meeting. I will not be there as I have to work my 2nd job. However, I wish them luck and all the creativity to complete thier challenge. Anyone else up for the challenge? Go for it.

The Missing Tree

Our tree has been missing for about 3 years now. Not that is was physically gone. It has always been upstairs in the closet with all the other Christmas decorations. Two women in the house did not want to carry all that stuff up and down the stairs.

Matt is here now. Meaning we don't have to lug it all anymore. Sunday while I was at work Matt set up the tree with the lights. He even decorated outside. Something Jen and I have never done. When I got home from work I was expecting to see all purple lights on the tree. Real purple. Not the fuchia they sell in the stores. Purple that was special ordered years ago. Matt decided that was too girlie so he added Red that I had purchased for the wedding. It actually looks good and I like it.
Jen and I hung the ornaments when I got home. We now have a Tree and I am loving it. I will share my favorite ornaments in another post. Christmas is in the house.

Chocolate Chocolate and more Chocolate

My bosses 35th birthday was a couple of weeks ago. I decided to make him an all Chocolate cake as Chocolate is his favorite next to Cheesecake.

I got on Food Network to find the ulitmate Chocolate Cake. This cake is called a Chocolate Chocolate with Chocolate Ganach. Yep, super rich and oh so yummy. The comment I love the most that day was "OMG, I just gained 10 lbs looking at it." Jason was super excited and could not believe I made it. His eyes got big as saucers. I love it when he does that.

I did learn a thing or two when making this cake. Most important was to let the ganach cool a bit before pouring it on the cake. I can not tell you how long I had to keep scraping the ganach back onto the cake. The other thing I learned was to be sure the sides of the cake are seriously smooth and cut down. It was too bumpy for my taste. No one else seemed to notice but I did.