Taking Nana to La Plata Canyon for the Last Time

Although Pick's had taken its toll on my mom at this point, she asked to go to the mountains. We drove her up and stopped at her favorite spot, the waterfall. She wasn't surefooted any longer, but she ambled over the boulders to sit next to the water. She isn't able to get around now and no longer seems to know who I am, but I am grateful I had this moment with her. What an incredible journey my life with her has been.

The patterned papers are from My Mind's Eye. The leaf cuts are from Cricut's Straight for the Nest cartridge. The square frame is from Plantin Schoolbook, and the font for the title is Calligraphy Collection.

Crafting in December

I love going to our monthly Stampin Up club!

crafty lil' thing: Tea anyone?

Is this not the coolest cozy ever? I love the creativity of Harry Potter fans!

crafty lil' thing: Tea anyone?

Thanksgvng Cards Option 1

Spent some of yesterday playing with cards. Here is one option I came up with for Thanksgving greetings. The paper is from The Paper Studio. The ribbons are from Ribbon Boutique. The stamps are Stampin Up, as are the inks, which I watercolored. I used Crushed Curry,Only Orange, Dusty Durango, Old Olive, and Garden Green. Of course, the black is Staz On so it wouldn't run with the water.

Oct Cardmaking

These are this month's Stampin Up workshop's creations.

BBQ Birthday invitations

Liam's birthday BBQ invitations are done! Now, I just need to get them delivered or in the mail!

I knew I would be using my new Cricut Lite Block Party cartridge for the cuts, which I did, and Liam knew he wanted burgers on the front. Luckily, I had also just run across a fantastic card on the cricut board. It was made by Tammy of cricutcritters. I loved her background/base ideas and card-lifted them! This led to the use of black and the cute scallop oval from the B is for Boy cartridge. I knew I wanted to use some gingham, red and white ribbon, inspired by the table clothes we'll be using, and Liam wanted some turquoise in there too. The burgers were cut at 4". The oval and scallop oval were cut at 10" (but are layers and not actually that large). BBQ was cut at 2", and the tag, from Very Merry Tags, was cut at 3". I wish I could show the inside, as it has a gingham boarder, grill, and the phrase "come 'n get it," but it also has contact info, our address, and map, which I'm thinking I'd rather not broadcast quite so openly! LOL

Now, to work on the decorations!

This month's Stampin Up workshop projects

Easter 2005

Liam is very matter of fact. When he turned 8, he stopped playing with Thomas the Tank Engine, becasue the packaging said, "For Children 5-8." LOL Luckily, SpongeBob Squarepants caught his attention and was made "For Children 5-99." This picture happens to be from 2005. We were in Albuquerque for spring break, and he was so worried that the Easter Bunny wouldn't know where to deliver his basket or hide the eggs. Luckily for him, the bug bunny is wise and knew exactly where we were. He managed to deliver the basket and hide the eggs in the very room where Liam slept! Needless to say, Laim was astounded when he woke to Easter in a hotel room!

I'm not sure how much I like this layout. Really, if it were anyone else's, I probably love it, but since it is mine and not really my usual style, I feel disconnected from it a bit. Anyhow, the cuts are mostly from Cricut's SpongeBob cartridge, though the eggs are from the Easter mini. SpongeBob was cut at 5", and still, his pieces were very, very tiny. The ocean floor is chalked with brown, chestnut roan, and creamy brown. Most of the paper is just solids, but the seaweed has a stripe to it that is hard to see here, and the coral is mottled with a bit of glitter too. They are both from My Mind's Eye and were scraps left over from other projects. The Stickles on the jellyfish are waterfall and cotton candy, and the date on the egg is lemon.

I had to laugh

Okay, I don't usually just post thoughts, as I like looking at photos when I visit other blogs, but this time, I just have to share a funny story! A son of a friend of mine stopped by my blog for a visit, after the prompting of his mother, and his post about my blog on his brand-new blog, cracked me up. Apparently, to the around 20-year-old crowd, my blog title "Goddess of Whimsy" aligns me with the cougars of the world! Apparently during Greek and Roman mythology lessons these days, kids are only learning about Aphrodite, because otherwise, the term "goddess” would mean more than just beauty and love. Whatever happened to the goddess of home or the hunt or fertility—just to name a few? I happen to believe that I have a bit of goddess in me—the whimsical sort! I love swirls, swishes, and bling, reasons to celebrate, reliving memories, and making the world a more fanciful place, and I promise that except for a crush on the grown-up Harry Potter and Edward Cullen (both fictional btw and technically, Edward is over 100), there isn’t the least bit of cougar in me!

Additionally, during the discussion of my blog, I got termed “middle-aged!” Granted, I am in the latter half of my 30’s, but I in no way feel or consider myself middle-aged! I know it is all a matter of perspective, but getting called middle-aged was a blow! Mind you, the students I teach tell me I act more like a kid than an adult, and my husband of nearly 20 years impatiently waits for me to grow up! I probably could have even allowed this fallacy to slide off me without notice had it not preceded a comment about the perceived drudgery of middle-aged life! What on earth, he asked, could women of my age have to blog about? Apparently, I am so old as to have stopped having experiences worth sharing with others! LOL

I guess it is time I start acting my age, and while to a 20ish-year-old that means eating Tums and using arthritis rub, I know it means getting ready for some tubing down the Guadalupe River when we visit San Antonio this summer, jeeping and hiking above tree-line (up around 12,000’ above sea level), enjoying Walt Disney World and The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, singing Ke$ha at the top of my lungs while driving….. Thank goodness wisdom comes with age. Imagine the life I’d be living if I lived like I thought I would when I was 20! It’s a good reminder that the years ahead of me don’t have to be anything like I imagine them to be; they can be much more!

Meeting Jan Brett

Let me start off by saying that I adore Jan Brett's books. As a mom and teacher, they are fantastic books to read with children. The stories are gentle and the artwork amazing. So, I was thrilled when I saw a sign that she was visiting my little city! I called my bff, a fellow teacher, and we made plans to attend.

Ms. Brett gave a wonderful presentation, which included drawing her newest character, and her words were full of encouragement for the kids listening. Then, we got to meet her one on one, where she signed our books, took photos with us, and had a conversation, which included her asking questions too.

Okay, so here are the layout details: The background paper is by The Paper Studio. The egg one is called "Random Easter Eggs." The pink and blue are from a stack called "A Day at the Beach." I used cuts from 3 Cricut cartridges. The swirls are from Home Decor. The bunny and eggs are from the Easter mini, and the font is Storybook. The felt flowers are from Creative Impressions. I used brown and cheasnut roan chalks, and a pink zig to color the inside of the bunny's ear.

Blue Lake Ranch Layout

If you scroll down a few posts, you'll notice pictures I posted the day of Blue Lake Ranch's Iris Fest. Well, I made the layout today. This is a rare thing for me--Liam is not featured or even included. He pulled a teen-behavior and wanted to sleep in rather than go this year. I guess I had better get used to scrapbooking events that don't include him, as I suspect there will be more and more.

I have to get the journaling done still, but I was excited to post this one for some reason. The green, mottled paper is from The Paper Studio. The pink, patterned paper is from My Mind's Eye's Summer Song Stack. The title was cut on the Cricut, using The Calligraphy Collection, and the iris cuts are from Walk in My Garden. Blue iris, lavender, helitrope, rouge, cyan, canary, marigold, scarlet, and fresh green chalks were used. The sketch used is from Page Maps Jan 08.

If you want to know more about Blue Lake Ranch, visit http://www.bluelakeranch.com/

Science Olympiad

Day 3 of vertigo, but I wasn't about to miss another day of scrapbooking! :)

The sketch is from Page Maps and was this week's Laying it Down challenge over on the Cricut board. The paper, in a rare moment of conformity from me, is all from the same collection! All of the patterned paper is from The Paper Studio's Little Boys and Their Toys Stack. There is little Cricut here, but the title was cut from Plantin Schoolbook.

Liam participated in the regional Science Olympiad was his first experience with this event. He was only signed up and prepped for Shock Value, but one of the other students didn't show. Her partner asked him to help, which he did. Who knew my son knew so much about anatomy without studying! He took first place in Shock Value, which helped his school go to state, where he was signed up and prepped for 3 events but again got put into another at the last minute! I'm so glad my son love science like he does!

June Cards

Just some cards made at this month's Stampin Up workshop...

Bisti Badlands

I am not nearly as caught up on scrapbooking as this layout makes it seem! I scrap out of order and do what interests me on any particular day. Well today, it was the photos from last week's trip to the Bisti Badlands with my family and my brother and his girlfriend.

The blue, background cardstock, which does have a slight pattern to it, came from DCWV's Summer Stack 2009. The brown, which is mottled, came from The Paper Studio's Safari stack. The green and the box-covered papers came from Basic Grey's Archaic Collection, and the stripe is from My Mind's Eye's Twinkle Twinkle Little Boy stack. The brads are by Paper Studio. There aren't many Cricut cuts on this one (because all their border cuts are too girly! Note to Cricut, please make some masculine borders too!), but the tag is from Plantin Schoolbook, and the title font is from Lyrical Letters.

The layout, btw, is from Pagemaps, and it was used as this week's Layin It Down Challenge sketch over on the Cricut board. Although I did follow it pretty closely, it isn't an exact match.

Anyhow, The Bisti Badlands is the least visited national park in the US! Last statistic I read said less than 500 people visit it a year! This is so sad, as it is an amazing place. It is isolated and sort of spooky, but it is also like standing next to the ocean--makes you feel small and like there is possibility everywhere. Sarah, who is from the Midwest, had never seen anything like it and thought it was stunning. I do too!

Cat Stuck in a Tree!

Yep, a cat stuck in a tree was Liam's costume that year. Why? Who knows, but it was the most imaginative costume we saw that night; most impressively, he came up with it all on his own!

Again, the papers are from Imaginisce, a collection called Hallowhimsy.

Spooktacular

Sorry for the terrible photos. I usually photograph the layouts before putting them into the book, but I didn't want these sitting around over night (with my cats!).

The paper is from Imagineisce, a collection called Hallowhimsy. All of the embellishments were included in that collection. The title was cut using Plantin Schoolbook.

Blue Lake Ranch Iris Fest