Calvinball- "birthday bourbon"

A two-page layout based on a sketch from a Scrapbook Generations sketchbook (really cool sketch books that give photo sizes, background paper dimensions, and suggestions for how to personalize and adapt the sketches to your needs.)

This layout is Tom's birthday a couple years ago, when we went to a Phoenix restaurant that served a brand of bourbon he had wanted to try for years that we first heard about in a television show we watch that's set in Kentucky. It's quite a highly-sought-after and very limited release bourbon (called Pappy Van Winkle), and I found out quite by accident that this particular restaurant / bar actually had all three vintages of it (aged for 15-yrs, 20-yrs, and 23-yrs). So, this was his birthday celebration, trying all three varieties. And eating some wonderful food, too...

I actually saved the napkin from the winning variety, and included it on the left-hand scrapbook page.  This layout also includes two banners made from patterned paper and crafting floss. 

Memories of a good time, even if the food photos aren't the greatest. I guess that just means we'll have to go back sometime to get some better shots, lol!

cute pet photo interlude

me, totally zonked out on the couch, covered in cats.

 (This photo is from early January-- I was extra-tired from staying up for New Year's, I guess-- lol!)

Prescott, totally zonked out on the couch, a couple days later.

Calvinball update- "Seed Catalogs"

 (sorry in advance for the horrible yellow tinge to the photos- I've been scrapping pretty late at night, and the lighting isn't the best for true-to-life photos.)

that being said, the positive thing is that I've been scrapping! This Calvinball contest is getting me to complete layouts I've had halfway done for ages, or ones that have been just marinating in my head... (attending a 12-hour crop at the local SB store yesterday helped, too... haha!)

This layout has no photos at all, and is one I've wanted to do for years but couldn't figure out quite 'how' to do it. I got the vintage seed catalog cover images from the internet, and left myself plenty of room for journaling my memories of gardening and the excitement the seed catalogs would garner when they came in the mail. (Sadly, Mom says they don't send print catalogs anymore-- it was always fun to read through them, read the cool names they came up with for the new varieties, and see the pictures people sent in of their 5-lb tomato, 150-lb pumpkin, carrots that looked like faces, etc.) 

This page talks about the kinds of things I remember eating from the garden-- rhubarb, strawberries, fresh peas, green onions, radishes, apples, currants, plums, and pears from Grandma and Grandpa's yard... and Mom's process for selecting what new seeds were needed by going through the box of left-over seed packets she had stored in the kitchen cabinet from the previous year. 

this page used only patterned paper, journaling cards, and vintage buttons

Once I got that page done, I realized I hadn't said everything I wanted to so I made another one (see it below). I started out with a 6x12 yellow background and added canning jars that were cut out from a different piece of patterned paper. I added the canning labels from a third piece of paper and started writing. Again, I didn't have enough room... so I added a 3-inch strip of lined paper to the right side of the layout to give myself plenty of room to write. 

The second page talks about my memories of helping out in the garden, starting with helping to plant the seeds in the spring (and putting the seed packets on a stick at the end of the row so we could remember what was in each row), thinning out the plants when they came up to give them room to grow bigger, pulling the weeds, and picking the vegetables when they were ready. 

There was nothing quite like going out into the garden with a bowl and a paring knife to pull the first green onions and radishes from the garden, then eating them at dinner only 5 or 10 minutes later, or picking a dozen ears of sweet corn, taking off the husks, and dropping them right into the boiling water to have that 'just picked' freshness and sweetness that didn't even need butter.

cutout canning jars for adding my journaling, and more vintage buttons 

This page also talks about how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to grow up the way I did: to learn how my food is grown, and the effort and work that goes into getting food for your table and preserving it for the winter. So many people nowadays don't have any idea of the labor involved in getting that bunch of green onions to the grocery store, or what type investment of time, effort, and faith / hope in the weather and growing conditions you have to have to be a farmer, or just to cultivate some of your own food. I am truly grateful I had that experience, and that my mom and dad (I love you guys!!), by giving me the experience of working outdoors in the garden, instilled a love of plants and nature in me that I will always have. 

Even though I still don't like cooked peas, lol! (private joke-- I hate cooked peas, so I would always get a small bowlful of raw peas instead of having to eat the cooked ones... )

This post took way more space to write than I thought, just to talk about one layout. (but it's worth it-- it's a layout I really like, even though there are no photos on it at all.) So keep your eye out for more Calvinball scrapping posts soon! And, I went hiking last weekend to see some of the very ephemeral spring wildflowers we have here in Arizona-- the flowers were gorgeous, I got some fresh air, and I got a few good pictures out of it (along with a bit of a sunburn!), so I'll post some of those photos soon. 

a quick post-and-run!! Calvinball 2015!!

I apologize for the crappy color quality of these photos- they were all taken pretty late at night in my scrap room. Yes, I still do scrap (occasionally), and hopefully I will be scrapping a lot more in the next month or two! I signed up to take part in a fun month-long scrapbooking challenge called Calvinball, on a scrapbooking website. 

Do you remember the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes? (I do, since I grew up in the 1980s... it was one of my favorites). Calvin and his stuffed toy tiger/best friend Hobbes  would play Calvinball, a game where the rules were made up as you go along. This scrapping contest is for the entire month of March, to encourage fun, a bit of smack-talking, and scrapping. The rules change as you go, and you get points for making layouts, cards, posting about Calvinball (one point for me, haha!!), and bonus points for meeting scrapping related challenges- like a page with more than 3 photos, for example, or a page using specific supplies. 

If you'd like more information about Calvinball, you can go to the Get It Scrapped website and read more about it-- click here. Come join in! Anyway, to the layouts-- they were photographed late at night, hence the crappy colors. I did what I could to fix it, but really would like to re-take them sometime. (after Calvinball ends, when I have more time, lol!) 

--click on any of the photos to make them larger--

A layout about my scrapping essentials, which include patterned paper, inspiration, photos and stories, and Diet Dr. Pepper! This page has been partially finished for at least 1 1/2 years, and I never would have finished it without this contest. yay, me!! :D

A page with a pretty nice photo of Ariel, hanging out on 'her spot' on the back of the couch, looking out the window. I always wonder what she's thinking, if anything... watching the birds (does she think she can get them?), or is she just wondering when dinner will be served?

The  embellishment area at the top right- sorry for the glare; that banner is made of plastic. The letter stickers are teeny, and have to be at least 2-3 years old. (yay, me!! for finally using up some of my older supplies!)

This layout showcases photos of our Saguaro cactus's very first flowers!! We wondered how many years it would take; we bought it in 2006 when it was 5 feet tall, and in June 2014, it got its first flowers! (a whole three!) I did the best I could trying to get pictures of them, but the Saguaro is at least 10-11 feet tall, so it was kinda difficult-- I didn't want to fall into the cactus while I was doing it. 

larger photo, left-hand page

larger photo, right-hand page

and with that, I'm off... I want to see if I can sneak in at least a few minutes of scrapping before I head to bed! I'll be back soon, with more photos.

(and sadly, we haven't seen the owls anytime recently... Tom says he's heard them occasionally, so maybe they're still in the neighborhood- I hope so!)