Help [ME] Ronda

inspiration Found.....

I have been feeling so inspired lately....in scrapping, in home decorating, both the walls and making the draperies, in cooking, and in every day life

where do you find inspiration? 

I find it in lots of places, like my son's t shirt.

here are some other places I find inspiration

• In scrapbook kits, here is a new one Paper Minx & This one
• in magazines,Tracy Porter, so much in here to look at, the clothes & the home decor,  this pillow and these...
• in etsy and homemade goods (tags, flowers, pincushions, & journals)
• in country living....scroll through the photos, my favs are number 7, 11, & 13
• in food......this cake is beautiful & so is this one
• in layouts this one, this one, this one
• in posts like this one, this one, & this one
• in online classes like this one or any here
• in home decor like this vase or these decals
• in fabric like Heather Bailey, Erin McMorris, or Amy Butler
• in challenge blogs: Scrapjack, Pencil Lines, The Design Experiment, One Little Word, Unpubbed, We Spy,
  

So here are some recent layouts:

Scrapjack Layout

Lotus Paperie

With Love.....

a little something

Birgit bestowed this little award on me and I feel so honored.  Especially since she is such an amazing artisit!  This layout is one of my favorite of hers (the placemat).



And this is how it works:

1. The winner can take the logo

2. Place a link to the person that send you the award

3. Give the Award to at least 7 other Scrapbooking-Blogs, which by its currency, the issues of choice and for their designs are especially noteworthy

4. Put a link to these sites on your Blog.

5. Write a comment on their Blogs that they've won an Award

So here are the 7 blogs I love to visit for their inspiration & funny stories:

• Vee
• Jude
• Mika
• Revlie
• Beth
• Patty
• Karla

love, lots of love....

capturing TIME, week 19

 TIME to LET GO!

Sometimes it is best to let things go.  To let go of all the worries, to let go of the anger, to let go of the things you can't change.  With this, you grab a hold of all the positives things in your life.  I find that I over think things way too much.  Sometimes I can't sleep at night because I am thinking too much.  And then I get these reminders to just let things go.  To see the beauty in life's little hiccups.

This little page was just using left over scraps I had on the table.  I put them in random patterns and then took my black pen.  I made little sewing doodles on the paper.  I then took a tag and walnut inked it.  Grabbed some letter stickers and place them across the tag and pattern paper.  I outlined them with the black pen to give them some umpf. 

NOW

Word up! Wednesday over at OLW. 

NOW to me is the best time of my life.
I feel secure in me.
I may not always do things right
I know life isn't easy (a little too well),
I know I have made my mistakes
BUT I am ok with that because....
I know I will learn from the mistakes
I know that life is beautiful and precious even when it is trying at times.
I know who I am and where I am going so....
I do feel that this is my NOW

Paint on the background scenic route paper. I might have to share that technique soon. Lots of layers.  Riff Raff Designs (laser cut chipboard...dude I want some more pieces). Hambly pieces & rub-ons. Scenic Route Pattern Paper.  Old Sheet Music.  Stitches here and there, both machine & hand.  Sewing hooks on the ribbon.  Hand cut felt letters inspired from my son's t shirt that I hand stitched down.  Walnut inked the chipboard.  Background paper also has Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Turquoise blue. 

and NOW lynn is a grammy.  A big congrats to you.  I loved our little conversation yesterday!  He is adorable.  Much Love!

I'm so

• happy that today is a lazy Sunday
• grateful that I am surrounded by wonderful family & friends
• wanting these for my craft room but they will have to wait (these are pretty cool too and these are awesome for glasses)
• hopeful that Andy will get an interview soon
• going to do this altered art journal & proud of her for standing strong in her integrity
• excited to read Breaking Dawn, the next addition in the Twilight series but will have to wait until August
• into books & this site ....got lots on my "to read" list....got any recommendations?
• happy we discovered that our local AMC theater offers $5 tickets on weekend Movies before noon
• in love with Down to Earth, the Peter Gabriel song from WALL-E.....but disturbed that it seems that is what the earth is heading for because of our carelessness (a very powerful movie).
• sharing the last of the vacations pictures......

After leaving the cruise, we drove to Port Angeles via Port Townsend & Dungeness Spit.  The next day we took a ferry to Victoria.  This is one beautiful city, so very clean & unique.  I hope to go back one day.  That night we ate in downtown Port Angeles at Bella Italia..... as in Twilight.  It wasn't planned but once I realized, I had to order the mushroom ravioli.  Only Twilight fans would understand this.  We then drove around hwy 101, stopping in the Hoh Rainforest at the Olympic National Park.  140 - 167 inches annual rainfall.  Seems so unreal and yet we hit on one of the sunniest days.  We also stopped at some of the beaches along the route, including Ruby Beach and made our way to Olympia. 

   

   

 

 

   

   

 

 

  

   

   

more cruising & HOPE

I think what made our cruise was not only the incredible sights but our staff on the ship.  We had the best head waiter ever, our room attendant was so very sweet, and the captain.  Oh the Captain.  He was a bit of a rebel.  He would do these announcements almost every day and they just cracked us up.  He would speak in this broken english accent (which made him even more endearing) and had his own little catch phrases.  Here are a few things he would say:

• Easy Peasy
• Wakey Wakey
• We have booked sunset for 9:23 pm and have arrange for sunrise at...
• that was my friend humback whale trying to attrack some females (after playing a clip of a humback whale's song)
• I was going to point out to you some bald eagles I saw flocking but then I realized bald eagles don't flock.  So maybe they were just bald seagulls
• We have some time in our pockets
• We go in and turn around very fast because we're not supposed to be here anyway (oh yes he took us off the beaten path and we went into this place called the Fords Terror in Holkham bay

We went in Holkham bay (not on our orginal itinerary) to see a Glacier.  It was magnificant and you can see the pictures below.  There were seal lions basking in the sun on pieces of ice.  The captain tol us that was the closest a cruise ship of its size has been to a glacier, 600 ft away.  You could hear it cracking and we saw a piece fall off.  Really cool.  You can see how narrow Fords Terror is and how our ship very carefully turned around.  There is one picture below that show us about halfway through the turn and how close land was.  I trust this captain and would love to go on another sail with him!  Below are pictures from Dog sledding in Skagway, the glacier, some on board stuff, and Prince Rupert.

And there are still more to come....but that will be another day.  I also wanted to share a layout I did for Lotus Paperie.  You can see the orginal challenge piece there.  I decided to get this down on paper before it is lost forever.  Lexi has done so well with her school year and is so proud to be a Sophomore.  So I gathered some photos throughout this year and the one I took last weekend.  The piece of paper tucked behind the row of photo is hidden journaling. 

 

capturing TIME, weeks 17 & 18

TIME to LAUGH

Sometimes you need to just let go and stop the worrying,  Laughter seems to make everything better.  So hanging with family, laughing the evening away is good for me.  They weren't kidding when they said laughter is the best medicine. 

This is a fun little technique similar to the summer time layout.  It is easy peasy to recreate.  So let's get to it.  The supplies:

• Paints
• Rubber Cement
• a Punch (mine is Martha Stewart Butterfly)
• Foam or paint brushes
• Removable adhesive/glue (Mine is Hermafix Removable)
• Page Mask (the one we have been using all along)

 

Lay your mask over the page.  Punch out some shapes and with the removable glue, stick them down scattered across your page.  Next take your rubber cement and drip it across your page.  I did mine in thin lines that went this way and that way.  Drip as little or as much as you like but make sure you go over your shapes too.

Set it aside and let the rubber cement dry.  Once it is dry, take your paints and go right over the glue and cover the page.  You can see I used three different colors.  Make sure you cover the area completely by your shapes and layer your paint colors. Let the paint dry.

After it is dry, start by removing the punched shapes.  Set them aside and use them on some other page.   Then start to rub off the rubber cement.  Be patient, taking your time but all the rubber cement should come off.  You are left with these awesome random areas of white.

I went back and use a black pen to outline my butterflies.  You could do this technique with any shape punch, hearts, starts, etc.  Some circles would be really cool too!

TIME for FRIENDS

Martha left today.  She actually stayed an extra day volunteering for those extra tickets.  So now her and the kids can come back and visit.  It has been a great three weeks and I can't believe it is over.  She is such an amazing person and I loved sharing this adventure with her.  Martha was such a tremendous help back at the house too, helping me get my house in order.  Thank you my dear friend.  I miss you already.

This is a simple page with some heart punches and stitching.  I had to think about the stitches since my pages are on the backside of each other.  So before I put my "laugh" picture down, I stitched down my hearts on the other side.  I punched them, lined them up, and stitched.  Then I folded back the edges to give them a 3-d effect.

Family Update

Right before we got on the cruise, Andy got an email requesting him for an interview.  We were thrilled and this was the company I was talking about in a post before as a good possibility.  It made the cruise itself really enjoyable without having to worry too much.  This company would be a really good fit for Andy and all of his credentials.  After the cruise, he got another email saying the interview was postponed thanks to soaring gas prices.  Totally disappointment.  He is still sending out lots of resumes and we are doing ok.  We are really trying to stay positive and thankfully we are doing ok financial.  We are still praying for guidance from the Lord to know what our next steps will be. 

My sister Sandra had hand surgery while we were on the cruise.  Her right hand had finally gotten to the point where using it was getting extremely difficult, still experiencing numbness and still swollen.  She was in an extremely bad accident and the doctor's weren't sure if she would lose the use of it.  (Here is the post).  The surgeon "cleaned" up her wrist saying there was lots of inflammation and swelling.  They still aren't sure if this will clear up her issues or if she will have to have this same surgery in the future.

Lexi has some traveling in the near future.  She is heading to Minnesota to hang with aunt Vicky.  She is super excited to be there this summer.  I think some of the cousins will be there as well.  I am also sure Vicky will spoil her and tell me there is nothing we can do about it.  She comes back for one day and then heads to California for a youth group retreat with our church.  She is super excited about going with them and getting to see the beaches of California for the first time.  Thank you to Phil & Maggie for making all this possible, we truly appreciate it!  I snapped this picture of her the other day when we went to Rocky Mountain National Park with Martha.

 

More cruise pictures to come.  Until then, Love Always!

The Cruise

Sorry I am behind, I know I owe a "TIME" post but I am going to do two next week.  Time has just caught up with me and I feel like I am scrambling.  And today the doors to my craft room are being installed, so Martha & I got out of the house for a while.

I did manage to eek out a layout for Lotus Paperie.  These photos are from our drive along the Pacific Coast and a quick stop at the beach.  I loved watching Lexi's face as she went to wade her feet in the cold waters.  She seemed so peaceful, in awe of God's beautiful work.  I thought these soft papers were perfect for this page.

I promised you an update on the cruise.  We were on the Royal Caribbean's Rhapsody of the Seas.   It was Martha's first cruise and to watch her reactions was like being on my first cruise all over again.  Our itinerary was cruising on the pacific, Juneau, Skagway, cruising into a fjord, Prince Rupert, cruising, and back to Seattle.  We had great time exploring the ship, eating way too much, and enjoying the scenery.  1136 pictures on my camera so I will sprinkle them over the next couple posts.  Ya you heard me right...1136 photos.  Wow!Here are the ones from the first days in Seattle and Juneau. 

   

    

More pictures to come and more updates.  They will be trickling in over the next couple of days.  Until then....much Love!

Home

I typed up this whole post and typepad ate it.  Grrr.....  Computers love them when they work but when they don't utter frustration! 

So I think I will just keep this one short and simple because who knows if it will get published.  We got home yesterday and have started on the mounds of laundry.  Martha is here with us for another week and I might just keep her for the rest of the summer....just kidding she has to go home sometime I guess.  We had a great trip and I have much to recap for you but I must collect my thoughts and pictures.  I don't have a final picture count for you but I am sure it is some large number. 

One Little Word had a great birthday celebration last week and I thank all of you who made it so special.  WOW, you filled my heart with love.  There is much to do there, emails, prizes, etc so I will have a busy busy week....a good busy.  In the meantime Word Up over at OLW: STRONG.  Had many ideas floating around in my head but knew this was the one when I found the picture laying on my desk.  It was definitely meant to be.  Photo credits go to Andy...thanks honey for such a great capture.

I will catch up with you soon with lots of sharing.  Until then...love, lots of love!