My Favorite 2013 layouts!

There was a post on message board I am active on that asked for you opinion of what were your favorite Top 10 Creations for the year.  Since I wrote my response I wish I could have added more.

I thought I would post my favorites from 2013 today and my thoughts!

I think I will start with the two courthouses I worked on this past year and still working on!

I have enough layouts in the first of many albums that I needed a title page for the album even though I still need to completely photograph three of the five counties I have lived in.  So far to date I think this is the best photo I have taken of a courthouse I have photographed.  I've only photographed or partially photographed 18 courthouse and six or seven I need to return to because of renovation work.  This is Anderson County County Courthouse.  I know the pink azalea doesn't match the papers!!!  But....Texas' official colors are red, white and blue!

If my mind serves me correctly this was a layout I did after putting together a kit for CKCB.  Older stuff and really wanting to add just a hint of mixed media application.  This Brazos County Courthouse.  The only photo I took and I took several to make sure one turned out well.  Since ;under construction I will return probably this summer on a Sunday morning since the Bryan/College Station area is a zoo!

For this photo I got kind of warped in my thinking trying to be humorous.  I asked Larry to take me down to the courthouse on Christmas Day, 2013.  Actually I was hoping to find a nativity scene!  Sadly not but Van Zandt County did in 2013 and Houston County had one this year.  Both counties with suits brought against them.  Van Zandt won their lawsuit and the State of Texas will help with the suit brought against Houston County.  Honestly I am tired of the "intolerance" crap that goes with religion in this country.  Get over being offended people.....I am never offended by your practice or lack of practice of religion.  What I am offended by is your treading on the Constitution!  And true atheists and agnostics are benevolent people who don't tread on other's belief systems!  'Nuff said on my politics.

I did find something though not often seen today but so much a part of my childhood.  A fallout shelter sign!  It was fun to scrap it alone!  Oh....and the other thing I found at the courthouse.....yep on Christmas Day somebody locked Santa in the Courthouse.  I wonder if Santa got in trouble and was waiting on a judge?  Stay tuned for that layout!!!  Maybe sometime this year!

I also started to scrap Project Life last year.  Once I ran out of photos in March I didn't print any more.  I have no idea why....just didn't but I love how fast it is and how I proved I could keep up!  Once I get done with the mini I plan to catch up!  I wasn't a big picture taker this past year either!  And so far not this year either!

Of all the photos I scrapped for the Life Photo Display at Mom's Birthday this was my favorite one and made the list of Top Ten!

This is an 8x8 layout which was just an amazing work in my mind.  I do not often fussy cut except G45!  There is so much goodness to fussy cut in Raining Cats and Dogs!  On top of that the Prima wood veneer matches the dress the little one is wearing on paper!!!

This is the last one I will share and it too, made my Top 10.  I just love it!

Most of the layouts I did for Mom's party were 8x8 and this one was, too!  I loved what few papers I had purchased when the original Times Nouveau came out and had just scraps left!  It was also my first papers from G45.  With the Collector's Edition it was a given and must have!  I will probably regret not buying two!!!  As I scrapped this photo of my Great Aunt and Mother I was stunned to see what I saw between papers and photo.  The car in the photo has the exact same styling in the photograph!  My Aunt Betty's coat almost the same styling as the model to left of photo.  How sweet to have 1930's period specific papers to go with a late 1935 photo!  Love it!!!

Until next time!

My Favorite Things

As I thought about this post the song sung by Barbara Streisand came to mind, 'My Favorite Things.'  I have way to many favorite things in my Paper Crafting Addiction!  My absolute favorite thing in paper crafting are mini albums.  They truly make me Happy!  The mini's I have created have all gone to someone as a gift.  I have drooled over hours and hours of videos on You Tube of beautiful mini albums.  My favorites are ALWAYS done with Graphic 45.  I am a see and do creator as I personally don't have a creative bone in my body to use a cliche!  I have taught myself to be creative and I still have what I call disasters occur!  I rarely throw them out, as I want to remind myself not to do what I did.

My favorite mini albums are ones created from scratch with chipboard.  A scrappy friend last summer discovered such minis and she lead me to numerous videos.  In fact in my groups monthly crop in June she spent almost the whole crop watching videos.  She describes herself in the same way I do, a see and do person.  As I dove into hours of watching videos and still watch them I decided the best thing for me was to purchase a Kathy Orta tutorial.  I am sure I will purchase many more until one day I will just sit down and create my own.  The album I chose was the Lapbook 2.

  

I promptly made a mistake in the construction but I so love the result!!!  I put a page in before adding the wallet feature.  Yet I found another place for the wallets that works perfectly!  As we say, mistakes can sometimes be beautiful!  I plan on using the same mini for two additional albums for Christmas presents for my brothers!  only this time the wallets will be in the correct place and the mistake will be added, too!  I just need one more set of papers for them. I even got bored one night and quickly constructed the second cover now waiting for the paper.

The current album is for a very dear friend who is about to become a Grandmother.  In fact her granddaughter's due date is today!  I should be done with the album in the next three weeks.  What a fantastic interactive album!  Nana can share with her granddaughter as she gets older!  I can see the picture in my mind of my friend with her granddaughter on her lap as 2-3 year old enjoying looking at her photos and listening to Nana's stories behind the photos!  The perfect line for the album is Graphic 45 Baby to Bride Collector's Addition!

I can't wait to show it off when I am done!

The second album will be done with Bo Bunny Altitude for my youngest brother's family who are avid skiers!!  Love this collection and delighted with Bo Bunny's addition of stamps in their lines!

The third album will be made with Graphic 45 Sweet Sentiments for my other brother.  I thought a spring album perfect for them with the celebration of Easter in mind which is perfect with how involved they are in their church!

As always I think way to far in advance!  I just love love the Kathy Orta Contessa Album!!!

And there are many more tutorials I would love love to have!!!  I just have to see where I am by the end of 2015.  Kathy is an amazing artist!

Two Months of Projects!!!

I literally have been very absent!  I've been working on a variety of projects through November, December and the first part of January.  On top of that Larry's Uncle went to be with the Lord on Jan. 1st.  Rough start to the New Year for our family.

Just one more little item, I'll be once again changing my blog name in the next week!  The current one is just too long.  I've decided on 'A Rancher's Scrapbook'.

November and December were taken up with four mini albums as presents for family members.

I finished the Basic Grey Calendar for Larry's office at our Oilfield Business.  This was may favorite page in the calendar!  Love love that wonderful man I call my soul mate and husband!

Then on to scrap a couple of layouts with a patriotic theme.  All those from Texas or visitors to our state recognize this statue on I-45 of Sam Houston: Governor of Tennessee, General of Texas Army who defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto, Republic of Texas First President, served Tennessee as a US Representative and served Texas as an US Senator.  These photos were taken by my daughter in 1995 when the visitor center was being built.

The next layout is a photo taken on the 200th Anniversary of our nation.  I was in Maine for five weeks with my grandmother.  Mom being a beautiful seamstress decided to make a period costume which would match her Appaloosa.  Exactly what was going on in our neighborhood, I am not really sure.

My last layout is my cover page for my Project Life Album.  No the colors don't nessacarily go together but they do for me and what I wanted to convey which is subjects near and dear to my heart:  Family and Family Heritage, our Ranch and History (Texas Courthouses & Discovering where Family lived )! Yes, I found Santa locked in the Limestone County Courthouse on Christmas Day!  Whoops....did Santa finish his rounds and decide to rest here before returning to the North Pole? This month is catch up time for Project Life!!!  Hope you'll read the journaling and maybe it will be a little clearer why the photos are a mix mash of topics.

I am also entering the above layout in the Elle's Studio January 15th Challenge to do a multi photograph layout!

Until next time!  

Odds and Ends

I thought I would just share a few thoughts and fun things going on today along with a little ranching layout.

First up is over at A Cherry On Top.  There is a huge amount of fun going on in the message board with loads of Points being able to be earned this week!  It is more like a week long mini crop while not a crop as the board celebrates CHA Summer 2013 in Vegas.  I was given a huge amount of points to share along the way this week and saving a few for next week.  So stop by gather some points towards your next purchase from ACOT and enjoy all the activity!

So what are a few of my pics for the new lines coming out:

From Imaginisce:

From Bo Bunny Kraft especially the envelopes:

From Elle's Studio Penelope:

And there are so many more I could share!!!

I found this morning Imaginisce announced their sale to American Crafts via their blog.  My hope that American Crafts will keep the original owners to design their products!

Looking back I realized I never posted my example for the 4x4 Challenge at A Cherry On Top!  I love hosting this challenge, and supplying each month's example.

This is EZ Sabre aka Murphy Dude!  Murphy in temperment is exactly what a Lowline is suppose to be.  He quickly worked his way into my heart.  His half blood heifers grace our pastures and are now giving us their son's and daughters.

What was undoubtedly the most favorite thing I enjoyed about this layout was using a stencil and Art Anthology's wonderful dimensional paint.  Here's what it looks like!

What grand fun to finally have three bottles in my stash and one of the paint sticks!

Until next time!

Sketch 269 - Nuts About Sketches!

Often times when a sketch just doesn't seem to fix in my head I take the sketch and make it smaller while still including most or all of the elements.

I had just the photo of my Great Uncle Tom who I never met.  The photo was taken in October of 1900 and he was five years old.  I had to choose Bo Bunny Timepiece as it seemed so appropriate for a turn of the century photo.  Somewhere in my mind was remembering what I was thinking when we were all worried about electronics and Y2K.  Time....ever moving forward!

Be sure to stop by Nuts About Sketches and see the awesome creations by the design team!

Thank you for taking a peek at my blog today!

Bo Bunny's Prairie Chic - A Review

From the moment I saw this line on Bo Bunny's Blog I was completely and hopelessly smitten by what I was seeing before my eyes!  This was the had to have line of everything that came out during Winter CHA for me!  And when I click post, I'll hit click and the whole line will arrive shortly in my home!

 

Now on to admonishing the company's who see the west as bucking broncos, rattle snakes, cactus and then have the gaul to put a Jersey Cow in the mix.  A Jersey Cow is a dairy cow not a beef cow.  Don't get me wrong Jersey's are my favorite breed of milk cows.  And don't get me wrong, I think those who own a dairy are amazing individuals.  Their work load in taking care of their herd of cows is incredible to bring you the perfect food, Milk!  I wouldn't know how to run a dairy if you paid me.  Bucking Broncos really irritate me!!! That's rodeo, that's not the ranch lifestyle or any way to train a horse.  If you are a trainer worth your salt then any horse you train never in his or her life offered to even pitch just one time.  The John Wayne movies, Lonesome Dove, etc just ain't (yep used the word for effect) what it's like on a beef cattle ranch of today.  At the same time I understand marketing and common misunderstood perceptions being an agriculture economist.  But I sure won't use those items.  Off my soap box.

  

Back to Prairie Chic!

BO BUNNY GOT IT RIGHT!  WHOOP!

The colors, the designs, the use of boots and flowers so reminds me of the country girl I am.  I love more then anything else being dirty from head to tail at the end of a day at the ranch.  Mind you it's a seven day a week job and sometimes a 24 hour day if you have an animal to care for or a cow your worried about her having her calf safely.  And at times not a pretty job when you fight tooth and nail to save a calf's life only to loose the calf.  It tugs at this ranch gal's heart strings in a way that tears are ok to let flow.  At the end of the day a good shower and fresh crisp clean clothes to have that very special husband say, 'We're going on a date tonight.' makes me realize Prairie Chic is that ranch gal's dream of the pretty that exists in everyone of us.

  

So thank you so much Bo Bunny for bringing the pretty of being a country girl, cowgirl and plan ole ranch hand into my heart!  I truly think this is the very BEST LINE you have created!  Now to line up all those boots of my country girl ranch hand daughter in a row and get that special photo to scrap with this line.  I guess it is my age, I just prefer my solid lacers that became so popular when I was my daughters age!  Oh, and those squared of toes!  Yuck!  Or pointed toes! Yuck!  Give me that softly rounded boot!  

  

Sure hope the other company's stand up and listen....there's the country gal and country boy who deserves the true west of today!  Including beef cattle instead of dairy!  Why not try a Red Angus or American Angus for a start!  And I own only two American Angus!  The rest are Lowline Angus and Santa Gertrudis with a few Longhorns for Yard Art!

Oh and just the time in this post to invite you to visit our website Flying J&L Ranch.

I HEART PRAIRIE CHIC!

My Hero

What are heroes!!!  They are individuals we look up to for one reason or another!

One of my heroes is my son!  I have to look up every single time I gaze at him.  In the literal sense!  He's 6'5"!  James is so loving, funny, intelligent and just plain fun to be around!  He loves computers and is majoring in Computer Science.  I am so blessed to have him as my son!

This layout was my example for the 2012 October 4x4 Challenge at A Cherry on Top!  I love hosting this challenge as I talked about in the "Over the River..." layout.  I definitely like this layout!  I chose to use two papers from the BoBunny Cambridge line.

In the photo above you can see I cut one of the papers, flipped it and added a joint to get to 12x12 again.  Then I used the Cut-Outs paper to finish the rest of the layout.  I just love the Zipper Trim from this line, too!  So much so I've had to resist getting another package of them!

Be sure to come join us in this great challenge each month at A Cherry on Top!!!  Random winner receives a $5 Gift Certificate from me!