Scrapbook On The Road {MA - May 2011}

I'm going to be flying home for a few days in May before I head to Alaska for the summer. What a better time to test drive the whole Scrapbook on the Road thing. I threw this album together in about an hour today. For the covers I used two pieces of 6x8 chipboard that I covered with some patterned paper by American Craft {Metropolitan series} I used some of the brown 7Gypsies rings that I purchased for my other album and filled it with scraps I had laying around the studio.

Take a look inside!

{Front cover detail}

{I added some sateen ribbon to the top ring. I may or may not do all rings.}

{Velum flower on a brown craft envelope}

{Small pieces of cardboard and colored envelopes}

{I pulled an opaque vellum envelope from one of my other projects.}

{I also found some clear overlays from a GCD Studios scrap pack (Provence series) that I had wedges between other packs.}

{Decided to use some of my Project Life cards for journaling.}

{Damn you , Blogger for rotating my photos!}

{Overlay detail}

{Another Project Life card and a piece of blue textured cardstock.}

{I heart graph paper. Especially the colored stuff!}

{Back cover detail}

I also have a bunch of fun stuff to include in it. I have some Martha Stewart chipboard letters that I'll be using. I have a B for Boston {Dan and I are heading into the city to go to MFA one day} and I'll also be bringing an N for Newport in hopes that I may talk him into taking me to Newport again to tour the mansions {Hint, hint.}

I can't wait to get started on this!

Scrapbook On The Road

Over the weekend I purchased the Scrapbook on The Road class from Ali Edwards. It was the best $14 I've ever invested. There's handouts, lists and detailed videos about how to construct your album. She also goes into detail about hunting and gathering ephemera from your trip, adding photos to your book and telling your story.

The first thing I did after reading everything and watching the videos was to go into my studio and sift through stuff to decide what kind of book I would like to create. I will be using this for my trip to Alaska this summer. I didn't want anything too bright and colorful so I'm sticking mostly with neutrals and the occasional pop of color.

I pulled some colored envelopes that I will end up punching and adding to the album. A lot of the supplies on the class list were sold out so I made do with what I had and ended up only ordering a few 7Gypsies items from Etsy. {You'll see these further down the post}

I also pulled some letter and quote stickers from my stash. I may or may not use these in my book but I'll probably take them along with me.

I love these little round travel chipboard stickers. I think I got them at Michaels a few years ago in their $1 bins.

More various bits that I pulled. Once again, I may or may not use them. I'll just wait to see what feel the album takes on and see if they will fit in with the general theme.

I love the tickets and that cute little bird! Those will more than likely get thrown in somewhere.

I ordered a set of 7Gypsies Elizabeth book covers. They measure 5.5"x7".

I also snagged some colored tape, also from 7Gypsies.

I found these 1 3/5" brown rings. I think these would work for a general vacation book but seeing as how I'll be away for 4 months, I may need to upgrade to larger rings.

I also purchased some 7Gypsies mini colored blank labels. Perfect for adding little notes, tags and observations.

Once I get my Etsy items in the mail, I'll punch everything and start working on my foundation pages.

I seriously recommend heading over to check this project out!

{You can find all the information here}

Back Home

I made it back home this afternoon after a very long drive. If I had any sense I would've taken tonight off from work, but I didn't. Talk about exhaustion! We stopped in Louisville at Feeders Supply so I could get some Emerald crabs for my tank. They've been named Drake and Josh and seem to be doing well so far. I also ran into Barnes and Noble and scored a new address book and some gorgeous new stationary. Woo!

I'll probably hit the sack as soon as I get home in the morning so I'll post some photos tomorrow evening.

Hope you all are having a safe and happy Labor Day Weekend!

Once Upon A Time in A Far Away Land...

Ok, so 1300 miles isn't exactly a far away land but it was a 20-something hour drive up here so it might as well be. This week has flown by and I can't believe I'm heading back home tomorrow. Sunday I drove down towards the Cape and spent some time with the family. Monday I went shopping for a bit and had lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and finished the day with some mini golf with Dan and the girls. Tuesday we drove an hour up to Sterling and kicked around Davis Farmland for most of the day. Wednesday I met with Michelle at the school to go over classes and whatnot. Dan and I decided to head out to PA Wednesday night and do Sesame Place on Thursday since we didn't know what the weather was going to be like with hurricane Earl moving this way. (Looks like it's gonna end up to be some rain and wind.) And now it's Friday and I've got ingredients for Kale soup waiting for me. And now, on to business...

The winner of the August Giveaway is xlacrimax!!! Congrats! Please email me at issue.girl (at) gmail.com with your address and I'll drop your package in the mail.

I'm thinking about the September giveaway so if anyone has any ideas, leave a comment.

The Catch Up

The catch up. Not to be confused with uh... yeah, that.

And speaking of ketchup, have you seen these? I'm all about some ketchup but it seems wrong to bake the flavor into chips.

Anywho, I had all intentions to finish up the magnet tutorial this weekend, photograph new items, post them on Etsy and start on the second book of the House of Night series. Did that happen? Not so much. Except for the reading part. I got home Friday morning from work and got some packages together that needed to be mailed, chatted with Dan for a bit via Skype and ended up going to bed around 09:00. Well, the Dish Network guys work me up about 2 hours later and I didn't end up falling back asleep until some time after 2pm. I finally woke up around 8pm and stayed up until 04:00.

Saturday morning rolled around (a very short time later) and Mom wanted to drive up to Paducah. She needed to run to the bank and I needed to swing by the pet store to see if they had any Emerald crabs. I have an outbreak of bubble algae in my tank. (Boo) I called the store on the way up and got their answering machine, telling me store hours were Monday through Friday blah blah blah. Well, shit.

So we ended up going to the bank and then stopped at Michaels and Hobby Lobby so I could get some new supplies then we decided on Olive Garden for soup, salad and bread sticks. Yum! I've been wanting an iHome for a long time because every time I do a massage I have to lug my laptop around so I can play my music. Since we were in town, we ran into TJMaxx for a quick (yeah, right) visit. Not only did I find an iHome for $35, I also snagged two shirts, some new perfume (Guess by Marciano) and some Turkish Delight. When I got home there were two packages waiting for me from my Swaptree swaps. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in DVD (I am now the official owner of all of the HP movies) and Betrayed. Woo!

I screwed myself over since I decided to stay up for the rest of the day. 8pm rolled around and my bed was looking awfully agreeable. So, there I went. For some reason (maybe cause I'm always up at that hour) I woke at 01:00 and couldn't get back to sleep. I ended up in the studio, watching HP while working on some new crafts and next thing I know, it's 07:00! I went back to bed at 09:00 and didn't get up until around 7pm this evening. There's a whole day wasted. But at least I'll be well rested for work tonight.

In 27 days (you bet I'm counting them) Mom and I will be road tripping it back home (see below) for a visit with the fam. I can't wait to see everyone. This will also be part one of The Move. We're loading the back of Mom's truck with stuff that way I'll have less to bring when part two rolls around in November)

Dan and I plan on taking the girls to Sesame Place while I'm up. My aunt has taken her kids and she said they had a blast so it should be a good time. There's rides and a little water park which means bathing suit. Eeep!

We'll, I didn't really mean to ramble on like this but sometimes you just have to. And now you all know what I've been up to. I have to finish up a few jewelry projects that include resin so I'm going to try to get the tutorial finished in the morning before I hit the sack.

See you all then!

Checking In

Hey all! I haven't checked in lately cause I've been on my vacation in Louisville with Dan. I'd like to say things have gone smoothly and all is well, except I came down with Strep on Tuesday and I'm just now feeling better. Booo. We drove all the way up to Cincinnati to go to the zoo and ended up leaving really early because I was so sick. So not fun. I ended up going to an urgent care center Wednesday night and the doc there was really nice and actually gave me some antibiotics so I didn't have to dish out extra money for that since I don't have insurance. Yesterday we spent the day at Churchill Downs. I ended up winning almost $70! Woo hoo! Go ponies! Right now we're sitting in Starbucks and I'm stealing some wi-fi. Off to Waverly tonight! I'll have pics posted on Sunday.

Hope you lovelies are doing well!

Henry's Arc

Finally... Friday

It's finally Friday. I've got a test tomorrow for school and I'm no where near ready. Guess I'll be trying to study at work tonight.

Yesterday I had crowns put on both of my front teeth. Well, temporary crowns anyways. I have to go back on the 26th to get my permanent ones. It wasn't fun. If you've never had a crown, just imagine someone punching you in the mouth. Over and over.

Needless to say I've been a little down and out since then. So I will leave you all with some photos of the Downs because they make me feel a little bit better. I can't wait to go. 5 more weeks until I see Dan (woo)

(all images found via Google images)

Field Trip!

Dan booked our visit to Waverly this week.

I.cannot.wait.

It's been seven or eight years since I've been and frankly, that's way too long.

We're going in June so it will be perfect weather to go enjoy some other things while we're in the Louisville area.

We plan on taking a day and heading up to the Cincinnati Zoo. I think the last time I went was for a school field trip in eighth grade.

We'll also hit up Churchill Downs. Love the ponies. Love, love, love. They also have a really nice museum that traces the history of the track.

And of course, we'll probably spend one evening strolling through the Waterfront and end up at Joe's.

June can't get here soon enough!

And We're Off!