I Was in A New York State of Mind....

So the family got to spend the weekend in NY City with my fabulous daughter and it was magical!  It snowed most of the day Saturday and believe it or not, the snow started to fall while we were in Central Park.  We had the most amazing breakfast ever at Brooklyn Diner (I had read about it on Kelly Purkey's blog and she raved about how good the food/atmosphere was).  We had dinner at Carmines and it was also fantastic.  We stayed at the Manhattan Club and were so impressed with the room.  I was a little worried bc it had gotten some awful reviews but it was literally one of the best hotels we have stayed at in NYC.  Much better than the last few which were teeny tiny itty bitty and awful to boot! 

I can't wait to get the photos on a layout!!!!!!!!

The view from FAO....

 

My oldest and my youngest.  They take a photo in the same spot every time (yes, that is a really big book that he carried around the city all day long!  The apple does not fall far from the tree bc I take a book with me everywhere I go too) ....

 

My oldest with my baby sister.  It was COLD out......

 

The gang of ladies at Chelsea Market.  This was the last thing we did before we got on the road for home.  We were SO tired.......

 

 

I really didn't take that many photos while we were there.  As usual, we walked everywhere.  I love this city and walking allows me to really take it all in.  Everything I see is fresh and different to me every single time. 

 

What's your favorite city (if you have one) and how do you document your visits there?  Do you make it a point to take photos or do you just go with the flow and improvise with the photos you manage to snap?  My husband is the photographer in our family and he did take his big camera but we ended up leaving it in the room because it is so big and bulky.  I didn't even take my ipad out with me.  It was so cold out that my phone actually died if I took more than a couple of photos in a row. 

 

Anywho, thanks for stopping by today and have a great Tuesday!

 

Sweet Little Babies 2......

A girl version......

I have to admit, and I think that I have already mentioned that as much as I enjoy making baby albums, this one was a struggle for me.  Purchasing the album and supplies just kind of fell together but I think that maybe the colors were just a little brighter than what I am used to?  I don't know, I just struggled with design & layout choices for these albums from beginning to end.  I love the end result but man did I have to work to get it. Here are the other pages.  I kept the design almost exactly the same as the boy album with just a few minor tweaks here & there.....

 

 

My favorite in both the albums, I love the little animals and those lollipop flowers.......

 

 

 

 

 

In other news, I have discovered that my "tomorrows" need a little work:).  A few days ago, I posted that I would put these photos of the girl album along with some winter photos up "tomorrow".  Tomorrow came and went several times but here they are.  We got about 6 inches of snow over the course of a couple of storms and my neighborhood looks absolutely beautiful with its winter coat on.  I love how peaceful & quiet everything is when the snow blankets it. 

 

 

 

As always, thanks for stopping by and have a great Monday!

 

 

 

Sweet Little Babies.....

I love them.  They are so, so loveable.  I think that most people agree that babies are the bee's knees and even if you don't particularly like children, you can always find something to love about a baby. 

Not only do I love babies, I love making baby albums.  I have made so many over the years that I have lost count.  Some I sell, some I keep and some I give away to my favorite little babies momma's:)

My latest album was based on an adorable album that I found at ACMoore.  I purchased 2 of them and proceeded to take an obscene amount of time to make matching boy/girl albums.  For some reason my mojo ebbed sporadically with this album and I would finish a spread and have to come back to it later (at one time, I didn't come back for a month! What!!!).  But I really love the end result and hope that whoever purchases them (they are both up for sale on ebay starting tonight) loves them just as much. 

 

 

 

It is so bright and colorful and full of handmade embellishments and special touches.  So much fun to make!  My favorite part of the album, hands down, is the amount of space for journaling and photos.  I will post up pics of the girl album tomorrow but until then, thanks for stopping by and have a great Tuesday!

 

We had our first major snow storm yesterday and it is so beautiful out!!! I will also post pics of that tomorrow too......

The Keeper of Important Things

I am thinking of changing my title.  Domestic engineer is just stupid to me, housewife doesn't cut it and stay at home mom is fine but does not really say what it is that I do.  Now, "keeper of important things", that title is an interesting one in my opinion.

As I was falling asleep last night, I was thinking about how the month of September starts birthday season for my family.  We have a ton of birthdays and anniversaries for the next four months, 6 in September alone.   My family does what has become a tradition.  Even though no one usually forgets, the first one up and at 'em on somesones b-day texts everyone a reminder that it is so & so's birthday.  Than lucky so & so gets a call with the b-day song from everyone else. 

Yeah, don't picture Stevie Wonder's version.  Ours is normally the most off key, earsplitting rendition ever heard.  But it is the highlight of our year and we all love getting "those" calls.  One of my sisters actually waits in her office and invites her employees to listen in (she puts it on speaker phone although you could probably hear it anyway). 

Sorry, I got a little off topic.... I was talking about being a keeper.  Appointments, anniversaries, birthdays, household information, important documents, deadlines (think immunizations, registrations, school projects, annual renewals), bills, allergies, favorite foods, food dislikes, favorite colors, fears or phobias and so much more.  As moms, as women in general, we keep all of this information about the people we love tucked away to be grabbed whenever there is a need for it.  As scrapbookers, we document the stories about our loved ones in order to share them.  A memory for one turns into a memory for all. 

This was the first cruise we took.  Waaaay back in 2005 I think.  We brought back a ton of these postcards so I decided to put one on a page about the trip.....

The picture is horrible but I love the memory.  My daughter was at that stage where she really thought I was the devil so moments like these were rare. 

My niece when she was a baby.  She's 18 now.  I found this picture of her when I was sorting through my photos, preparing to put them in albums.  I have a drawer full of border strips and I have had most of them for years (gee whiz some of them are more than 10 years old).

I hand cut a heart from the white cs, traced the heart onto the black cs and hand cut it too.  I traced the heart again on a piece of scrap paper than just went to town gluing the borders down.  I'll have to do this 50 more times to use up all of my border strips, but for now, I feel like I took the top off of Mount Everest.  

What about you, what is your supply Mount Everest and how are you tackling it? 

As always, thanks for stopping by and have a great Tuesday.

It's A Rainy (Hopefully A Little Snowy As Well) Day

And I am ready to craft.  My Christmas tunes are going (still), my heater is blasting and my glue gun is smoking hot.  I have had these die-cuts FOREVER and I am determined to use the whole sheet of them all up today.  It just so happens that the 12 tags project that tim holtz posted for February is perfect for this.  I will be back tomorrow to show you what came about. 

Score card.....

Stash - 0
Shere - 1 (plus a gold star for not sleeping on a rainy, snowy Sunday)

I have been creating much more lately (yeah for me - happy dance - loud clapping) since I decided to make making stuff a priority.  It feels so good to do more than just jot my ideas down and put them aside for a "better" day.  I chalk it up to taking care of me and know that in the long run, my family and I will all be better for it. 

I am finally getting my head set on doing something about the hundreds of photos that we have stashed in boxes.  My kids and family love to look thru them when they visit so I am sure that my scrapbook and photo albums will not go to rot when I bite it.  The effort is worth it to me bc I enjoy finding old photos of my mom, dad and ancestors so why won't my future family members feel the same when they come across mine?  I purchased these page protectors from WRMK.....

 

The plan is to organize my photos by date and add them here more or less chronologically.  There won't be any layouts here only photos and sometime PL cards that document the people, dates and stories that I remember.  Seriously, this album is not going to be very creative.  Just plain ole grunt work to get the photos out of boxes and into more user friendly albums. 

This page on the other hand was creative and will go into my scrapbook album.  3 years ago, my husband, son & I took a trip to Niagara Falls. - 3 years?  WHERE does the time go and HOW does it move so fast??  It feels like we took this trip just last month.  Geesh -  This is one of my favorite photos and I really love the lo too.  I did a lot of journaling on this page, but it is all on the back.  Only the basics (who, what, when & where) are on the actual page...

It is a scraplift of this layout that is on my pinterest board.  It's by Stephanie Bryan whose work I love.  If you get a chance, click on the link and visit her blog. You will not be disappointed!!  Yeah, I know.  My page is nothing like hers except for maybe placement but I am still 100% happy with it. 
I am especially in love with the collage of papers behind the photo mat.  This comes from the Amy Tangerine paper pad that I just bought. 


Anywho, that's all for me.  What about you?  What is your favorite thing to do on a rainy day? 

I would love to hear from you and thanks so much for stopping by!

April Showers Bring May Flowers

It's that time again.  Another calendar post.   Four pages down, eight to go.  I am starting to think that I can do this thing, lol.  Anywho.  So far I have been sticking to my recipe and original plans pretty good and this month was no exception.  I was not crazy about the floral paper that I chose initially so I changed it.  I tried to stick with the program for a few days and make myself use it but eventually I realized that I was not going to do the page if I used that paper.  Maybe next time.  I still like the colors and the idea of using the two different types of floral papers.  I may still change it out but for now I don't hate it.  Much. 

Just for the record, it is really (really, really) hard for me to toss paper that I am not crazy about.  For whatever reason, my heart makes me find a way to use it.  One thing about the more generic paper pads that I love is that the backs are white so I can use it as white cardstock if I don't care for the pattern. 

This layout is on the flatter side so that is a win for me. One of my biggest concerns about the end product is that I am going to have a calendar that won't lie as flat as I want it to.  I am crazy about the papers that I settled on for this page! The colors are so pretty!!  Here is a look at the page....

As you can see here and on most of the pages that I do, I have sewed some of my photo mats.  I don't use sewing to hold things down as much as I do to add some interest to my layouts.  I just love the way it looks.  When I first started sewing on paper, the biggest problem that I had was the paper buckling and leaving an air hump on my mats.  In order to prevent that, I just make sure that I glue everything down well before I start sewing.  You have to be careful to not glue too close to the sewing line (especially if you are using runners or other dry adhesives) because it will gum your machine so bad.  Ask me how I know this......

If I am being 100% honest, I have to say that 9 times out of 10, I just sew individual papers than I mat them.  It is just easier and since my go to adhesives are really, really strong I haven't had any problems.  Sewing on pages is easy peasy and truly one of my favorite ways to add interest with no bulk.  You don't need to have a special machine, thread or skill.  If you can do the basics, your good to go.  I don't even change my thread or stitches! 

As a crafty gal, there are a ton of hobbies that I enjoy and one of them is cooking.  Not the everyday, get some food on the table type cooking (chore) but the trying new ingredients, photo worthy food type of meals.  I own upwards of 100 cookbooks and cooking magazines but buying them is so not a waste of money for me as I cook from them all of the time.  I love to try new ingredients and combos so much that my family is spoiled for it!  They don't like to eat leftovers and unless it is a favorite meal, will throw out the bored card if I cook something more than once. 

At first, cooking like this was time consuming and expensive but since I have been doing it for a few years, the cost have gone down and I can bang out a menu in no time flat.  For me to cook something more than once it has to be absolutely delicious, so I don't keep a recipe file for any recipes but the ones we truly love (unanimously).   These dishes are the ones that I share with my kids & sisters. 

The only real issue that I am still dealing with is that my food rarely comes out looking like the recipes.  I realize that my food is not styled or anything but it really comes out looking different.  Here is a look at what I mean.  This is a photo of the Potato Gnocchi dish from the magazine (Good Housekeeping, I believe).......

Beautiful!  It looks so tasty!!

This is mine............

What.  Not as beautiful.  In fact it is a hot holy mess but I promise it smells fantastic.  It was good but it will not make a comeback in this house.  I don't particularly care for gnocchi but the husband and the kid made a huge fuss about the fact that if I don't like it, I don't cook it.  So now, we have things that I don't like.  Like veal, lamb, liver, beets, scallops and creamed spinach.  Ironic that most of the times we have to put up with kids that don't like certain foods.  In this house it's me.  I don't cook myself a special meal,  instead I usually just have everything but the meat or nasty vege.  Who eats beets and really likes them?  Yuck!  This works fine for me, in fact, I would love to have meatless meals 2-3 times a week (that got vetoed very fast!)

Does anyone's food (hobbyist like myself, professionals we already know you nailed it) ever come out looking like the picture?  If yours does, how do you do it?  This issue won't stop me from experimenting in the kitchen.  Honestly, if it tastes good and looks edible it will get eaten but I would love to hear any secrets you have to share.  I promise, I will not blab to another soul.....

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fantastic day!

eBay is A Place to Find Everything...

It truly is.  And it is open and available to you 24 hours a day and you can get there from anyplace in the world.  I bet you could get there from space if you were an astronaut and needed a space flashlight.   Don't believe me, here is a space flashlight on eBay. 

I have been selling on there for years and years and at first, I only sold my crafty stuff.  Layouts, albums, scrapbook kits, etc.  I still do from time to time and currently have a few projects listed but I discovered that I have an eye for interesting things.  I really do.  I was probably much more surprised than you but less than my husband who often says "who the heck would by that?".  Me that's who.  The crazier the better. 

I love to hit yard sales, thrift stores and resell shops and could (and do) spend hours doing it.  Lately, my goal has been to turn it into a thriving business.  My last little birdy will be leaving the nest in 2 years.  I don't want to go back into the work force but I also don't want to be busily unemployed either so I decided that selling treasures was demanding enough to keep me busy and interesting enough to keep me from being boring.  It doesn't feel like work.  A lot of work it is though. 

There are no employees yet so everything (find, clean, research, photo, post, market, ship, service) falls on me.  I'm not complaining.  Not at all.  I have learned so much and it gives me the ability to collect without hoarding.  Probably one of the most interesting things that I have found are the year books.  Especially the military ones. 

They are extremely hard to find!  The really good or interesting stuff normally is.  People tend to hold on to this type of memorabilia because it is so personal to them.  But as time goes on and things get passed from one person to the next, the attachment fades and things get let go of.  Sometimes to the trash but often, and this is magical to me, to someone who missed an opportunity or lost an item that they loved but can't easily replace.  This is the love part of this journey for me. 

 

I have held on to the book pictured above for a couple of years for this very reason.  It seemed so historic and I loved looking through it at the photos of our fighting men at their work.  This is an item that can't be found in retail stores.  In fact, there are very limited venues for books of this type.  Here are some photos of the pictures inside......

 

What's with the car?  And why is he doing a jig???

I haven't listed this book yet.  I guess I am just not ready to let it go and I can't seem to get comfortable with a good price.  These can sell for a lot or they sell for a little.  Don't think that just because something is old and rare, that it is valuable.  The price for these books is inconsistent and depends on many different variables.  The graphics, condition, age deployment number, event relationship and popularity of the ship all play a part in how much an item like this will sell for. 

Everything on eBay is not a bargain but there are a ton of treasures!  What kind of treasures have you found on eBay?