Cosmo Cricket "Earth Love" layouts

Cosmo Cricket was super generous last month when they sponsored our Anniversary Crop with product from the "Earth Love" line and "Jolly by Golly". So here are the layouts I did with these really pretty and very fallish, in my opinion, papers and embellishments.

I know I already showed this one, but it is my super favorite picture right now. It is based on last week's sketch at 52 Sketches 52 Weeks.
"Dolly & Me"


"The Pumpkin Muffin" It was delicious!

"My Friend" This one is my favorite layout of Michelle. I love this pic of her. It was taken while we were up at Big Bear last month.

"Birds of a Feather" This is a pic of the four of us girls at Big Bear.

Thanks for looking!

November Kit layouts

Alrighty, here are the layouts I did with the November kit at A Million Memories. This kit was so hard for me for two reasons. the first is because I was at my parents' house house and dog sitting the week I was trying to work on this so I didn't have my usual tools. Second, this kit had a lot of pink, which is a difficult color for me to work with for whatever reason. Plus, I was on instructions for this month too. I'll tell you about that in a second.

These also still need journaling, which is the most difficult part for me.

"Our Bond" This pic is of my sister and I from this past fall at the cider mill. For this layout I made some paper lace, which you can find instructions for on the AMM boards here.

"Soar" I added some crackle paint on top of that chipboard butterfly and layered the Hambly doily rubons behind the paper doily.

"Sisters" This one is based on a sketch by Rachel Hall which is our new monthly feature at AMM. I cut out the inside of the paper from this Prima stitched paper. The alphas, i painted white, then inked up a bit and added Glossy Accents on top for a little shine. Learned that trick from Rachel.

These super cute buttons were in the kit. I popped the rose center out and added one of the Prima rhinestone centers to it to add a little extra bling. The trim here is from the A Million Memories Vintage Trims & Findings section of the store.

I have a bunch of Cosmo Cricket "Earth Love" layouts to share tomorrow so check back. And peeks of my Donna Downey projects are coming as soon as I get a little more caught up.

Catching Up

I have a lot to catch up on here. I had a very busy weekend of league and class with Donna Downey. I have lots of layouts to share, plus the story of the Beach in California as well.

Here is one pic of me and Donna helping me paint one of my canvas swatches, which is the class I took with her this past Sunday at Scrappy Chic. We made three ten-inch canvas swatches using lots of different mediums such as modeling paste, water soluble oil pastels, and alcohol inks. These are all things I have never used or would feel comfortable using, but they are turning out so great. I have some finishing touches to ad to them before I show you. I also won her new blue vinyl album and am really excited to try out some of those techniques in the album. She was really nice and so patient with my Type A personality that wanted to measure and count. Everyone also got a magnet and a couple of buttons. I think I will put my buttons on the layout sort of like American Crafts Flair.



There is also a new sketch up at 52 Sketches 52 Weeks. I used some of the American Crafts "Blue Skies" line for this one about my sister the chef. She makes some really good chicken and dumplings. American Crafts sponsored the design team for our Anniversary Crop.


And here is the sketch you are working with. Be sure to register and title your layout with the sketch number in order to win this week's prize.


That is all I have time for tonight. But I will be back soon to tell about the Beach, share my November kit layouts and hopefully my Cosmo Cricket Earth Love layouts with a very special page for Michelle!

The Story of Hollywood

So Saturday morning Michelle and I set out towards Hollywood to do some fun tourist type stuff. We got lost for about ten minutes but with me on the trusty GPS, we finally arrived on Hollywood.

Our first destination was Grauman's Chinese Theater.

We began walking the strip and of course the first thing I notice is the stars with all of the celebrities names on them. The stars go on and on up and down the sidewalk. I looked for some of my favorite celebrities but didn't find all of them. I probably would have had to walk the entire strip back and forth to find them but here are a few I found. It wasn't till the end of the night that Michelle realized that the symbols under the celebrities name was the entertainment field they were in, like film or music.

We made our way down to Grauman's where there were a bunch of people dressed up in all kinds of costumes such as Snoopy, Yoda, Superman, Captain Jack Sparrow, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz and more. Michelle and I made our way around the outside of the theater snapping pics of celebrities footprints, handprints and signatures. I was taking some pictures of some of the stars when apparently Yoda approached Michelle and reached out for her camera, I think he was going to take a picture of us. Michelle's intent was to take a picture of me with Snoopy. But Yoda freaked Michelle out and she ran and hid behind me. Like I was going to be able to do anything if Yoda wanted to take Michelle back to the mothership or whatever. So here are some pics of the celebrity imprints I found.

Me holding hands with Hugh Jackman, well not really, but his hand has been in this same spot.

It was really cool to see Hollywood history all come together here with all the old and current celebrities. We passed by Madame Trussaud's Wax Museum where Snoop Dog has hanging out in front posing for pictures. Michelle had a better picture but as you will read soon, her memory card was ruined in a freak ocean accident. This one is kind of funny because we both sort of have this "What the heck is going on over there?" sort of look.

Anyway, we kept walking taking in the sights. There were a ton of people on the sidewalk trying to hand things out, get you to buy something, or sign up for a tour of the stars' homes. There were a couple of guys, wanna-be rappers, who tried to hand us CDs and Michelle would reach out to take it, trying not to be rude until they would ask for a "donation". I don't know how I knew and she didn't not to stop and talk to these people. Apparently, because I kept walking, one guy told Michelle she had a nice backside, to put it politely and asked for her number. I am pretty sure she said no, but we all know how nice Michelle is and never wants to hurt anyone's feelings.

We then stopped in front of the Jimmy Kimmel Theater to get some free tickets. I had never been to a taping of a live show before so I was pretty excited for this. After getting our tickets we kept walking and I noticed that the shops took on a little different theme as we got a little further from the touristy area. The shops turned more into kinky costume shops. There was one really cool store that had all sorts of vintage movie posters and books related to film history.

I bought a really cute little zip hoodie in a turquoise blue that says Hollywood across it. Michelle and I both started to get a little hungry so we ate at this little dive Mexican restaurant. I ordered the dollar tacos and let me tell you, they were cheap for sure. Yuck. I made up for it with lots of chips and beers. Michelle had a crispy chicken salad and a margarita. We were met by her brother who took us on a little drive to Beverly Hills, Bel Air, and Rodeo Drive. As we were driving down Sunset, we saw some paparazzi waiting outside of some restaurant. We wanted to stop and see who they were waiting for but turning around would have cost us too much time. We had to get back to the Jimmy Kimmel Theater at 5:30 for the taping.

Michelle's brother took us to this mansion, called Greystone Mansion, where so many popular movies had been shot such as Ghostbusters, Spiderman III, The Witches of Eastwick, X-Men, The Holiday, Indecent Proposal, as well as TV shows such as Gimore girls and The Vampire Diaries. Here are a few pics from the Internet.

We were actually on the veranda her at the house.
Here are some pics that I took. Michelle tried to tell me this was just fog, but I think she meant smog. This is the view of the city from the veranda at the house.

After a quick walk around the house, we couldn't go inside because they were planning some big Halloween party there, but if I get back to California I for sure want to do a tour, Michelle's brother took us the long way back to Hollywood for our taping. We drove through some famous neighborhoods such as Bel-Air and Beverly Hills and down Rodeo Drive.

You'll notice in most of these pictures that sky was really overcast. It was really windy in Hollywood on this day. While driving back to Hollywood, a huge palm fell off a palm tree and nearly impaled the car. Fallen palms were all over the road.

Rodeo Drive was kind of disappointing. You see it in the movies and it looks like it is this really happening street with all kinds of couture shopping and fancy boutiques, but it wasn't really anything spectacular. Maybe I am a little spoiled living across the street from Somerset Mall that has Cartier, Tiffany's, Gucci, Nieman Marcus, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, etc. Anyway, it was good just to say that I have driven down it.

So we got back to Hollywood in time for the line up for Jimmy Kimmel Live. It was so funny to see Michelle shivering from the winds. I would say it was in the 60s, which if you are from Michigan doesn't phase you. I wouldn't even wear a coat out in that weather. Luckily I had invested in the hoodie earlier, so I let Michelle wear that. We had to stand in line for like an hour before they would let us in. Michelle saw some guy from a show called "Flipped" I think it was that was the assistant and was fired for not doing his job. I think that was the story. I don't know about these Bravo shows that she is addicted to. We had to turn over our cameras before we could enter the theater, so no pictures of the show except for this one of the sign outside.

While standing in line, which is across from the Kodak Theater where American Idol Finales are taped, the winds apparently got so high that the power went out on the whole block opposite us, including Grauman's and the Kodak.

We finally got in to the theater and were seated in the fourth row from the stage. Michelle and I were really surprised by how small the theater was. The guests that night were Dr. Oz, the two cast offs from Dancing with the Stars, one of which was Melissa Joan Hart and some Olympic snowboarder, and musical guest Morning Wood. They were pretty good, sounded a little like a mix of The Donnas and No Doubt. We had about a half hour to an hour warm up with some comedian guy, then Jimmy finally came out. It was interesting to see that he shoots his little TV promos during commercial breaks. To see the musical guest, we all filed out of the theater into another room set up to look like a bar that had a stage. At one point at the beginning of the taping Michelle and I thought for sure we would be on TV because a camera guy was standing in the aisle right next to us with a camera practically up my nose. When we watched the show back, after returning home, it turns out that only the back of Michelle's head made it on TV. The only shots of the audience were the pans in and out when we went into and came back from a commercial break. Bummer, but it was still fun to see how it was all done.

After the show we were headed home but not before picking up a free Red Bull from Superman and some Red Bull girls on the street and stopping to buy some postcards for my California mini album. We stopped at Wendy's for a bit to eat; it was way past my feeding time!

It was such a fun day and I would love to go back to do some more touristy type things like one of the bus tours, go into Madame Trussauds or see a movie at one of the cool theaters. Thanks so much for a super fun day Michelle!

New Sketch at 52 Sketches

is up this week and here is my sample layout. It is super simple. I created this one while I was at my scrap weekend in Big Bear. I used the new Earth Love line from Cosmo Cricket, who sponsored the design team this month.

Here is my sample layout with a pic of me and my fur baby, Dolly. The title is inspired by the movie title "Marley & Me".

And here is the sketch. So come play along at 52 Sketches 52 Weeks.

In other news my class at Treasure Book Creations is going really well. We are on the prompt for Day 3, so there is still time to join in and catch up.

I am still working on the November kit from A Million Memories and will have my layouts to post here soon as well as some other manufacturer work. When it rains it pours, and I am swamped with projects to do.

The Story of LA

Continuing on with my California story...Sunday night Michelle decided to take Rachel and me to experience some local culture and took us to Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles, which apparently is THE spot for chicken and waffles and has had many mentions in movies. I don't think it is in any movie I have seen, but I went with a somewhat open mind despite the fact that these two culinary creations do not at all, in my mind, go together. The inside had a very hazy pink glow. I think this was so you couldn't really see what you were about to eat. Rachel and I both ordered one fried chicken breast and one waffle. I also got a side of fries. Michelle decided to call me out in front of the waiter telling him I didn't understand the concept. He tried to convince me that this would be good, but I think I had already made my mind up. When our food came, I will say that it was good, but not together. I did not mix my foods. I don't think Rachel did either. Sorry Michelle, just not my thing. On the way out we took some pics of the sign to prove to my friends back home that indeed I had eaten here. The security guard, yes this establishment had a security guard, which didn't make me feel any more comfortable, took our picture in front of the sign. He asked where we were from and I told him Detroit to which he replied, "Oh tell Judge Mathis to come on down." Of all the Detroit area celebrities there are (Madonna, Eminem, Kid Rock, Ted Nugent) he mentions Judge Mathis. Well, he was in law enforcement, sort of, so I guess it makes sense.

We ended the night by trying to watch "Funny Farm" with Chevy Chase, but we all fell asleep on the couch. At some point Michelle made her way to her bed, then I woke up and made my way to my bed in Daniel's room.

Anywho, Monday morning Rachel and I loaded up in Michelle's car to head to LA for a day of shopping in the fashion/garment district.

First we stopped at this ribbon shop which had super cheap ribbon. I got some pretty trims and lace and a whole spool of ribbon-25 yards-for like 2 dollars! Then we headed to downtown to meet up with Stacy to shop in the fashion/garment district. These shops were a disaster.

This one was the most organized.

A different shop.

God bless Stacy and Michelle for digging through all those bolts of ribbon and boxes of flowers because I just had no patience for it. Plus it was like 90+ degrees and the Hispanic people were shouting in Spanish. Several shop owners were so rude. One lady stood right in front of Michelle talking on her cell phone while Michelle tried to look at the sunglasses she was selling. Michelle ended up getting these super cute pair for like 5 bucks. They were "Dolce & Gabanna" otherwise known as "David & Gary" Hahaha!

Michelle and Stacy found some really pretty trims, and Rachel got a few things while I tried not to pass out. So it was about my feeding time and we decided to get hot dogs from this street vendor. Apparently the best hot dogs ever are from these street vendors. The hot dogs are wrapped in bacon and then topped with salsa and some avocado. It looked super good but after the food Michelle had been feeding me and the gastro-intestinal problems I had been having I went with the traditional dog as did Rachel. The kettle cooked chips were amazing though.

The last shop we went to really did me in. These two ladies asked this guy to help them get down a bolt of fabric and to cut it for them. He started dialing his phone and then shooed her away. This other guy out in front of the street was yelling something to the effect, "i wanna sell water, water, water." Some chubby guy at the store next to the one we were at was shouting at the customers with a thick Hispanic accent, "Very cute Whooo, Whoooo!" I hope he was talking about the merchandise inside the store and not Rachel and I standing out on the sidewalk. This isn't even the best part of the day.

So we headed back to the parking garage where we found that some retard had blocked Michelle's car in. It was quite obviously not a parking spot. Michelle thought she could back out by inching out of the spot kitty corner but there was just no way. I got so irritated that someone would be so callous that when I noticed their back window was cracked I tried to push it down further so I could unlock the car door and put the car in reverse then Michelle could bump it and push it out of the way. But no such luck. I was so ready to kick the door in but I think I would have scared poor Stacy. Michelle tried calling the LA police to tow the car but they said the parking structure owners had to call them personally. So just as Michelle and Stacy are about to head down to speak to the parking attendant, a guy comes over to put some stuff in his car that was parked in front of us. He kindly moved his car so we could get out. So we said goodbye to Stacy and headed back to Michelle's house to hang out for a bit before taking Rachel to the Long Beach Airport to fly home.

It was so good to meet Rachel in person. She is so crazy talented. I am amazed by everything she does. She is just as sweet and nice in person, despite having a very long list of peculiar issues of which I am am keeping a running list. Let's just say that aliens better stay away from her and please, whatever you do, do not spit around her. Never leave money in an unorganized pile and if you are in possession of the remote control be sure to have the volume on an even number or a multiple of five.

I tried to be on my best behavior around her and Stacy because, as Michelle can attest, I tend to be a little bit too forthright. Setting my gastro-intestinal issues aside, which seem to always creep up when I am around Michelle-maybe it is an allergic reaction to her, I think they both, having met me for the first time were a little like, "Who the heck is this girl and why is she talking to me!?"

After dropping Rachel off, Michelle and I went for a drink and some appetizers at this place on the water called The Crab Pot. I had a beer and Michelle had a couple mojitos. We also had some delicious calamari and crab cakes. We had a nice long chat. I love talking to Michelle. She is so easy to talk to and I feel like I can tell her things I can't to other people. I know she isn't going to judge me and will always be there to listen and to cheer me on. I am so lucky to call her my friend.

By the time we were done talking the sun was beginning to set.

After a few drinks and some good food we took a little walk around.

A very pretty California sunset.

After our walk we headed back to the car and drove home to Michelle's. Later that night Michelle fixed some tacos for a late dinner and then we ran out to go rent a movie, "The Proposal", but we both fell asleep, tired from a long weekend and a full day. Be back soon with the Hollywood story, may favorite part of the whole trip.

The Story of Big Bear

OK, so since I have a lot of stories to tell I will break it down into four parts, the four parts of my California trip and today I will tell you about Big Bear, our scrapbooking weekend.

So the back story of this weekend actually begins about two months prior when we decided to all get together for a fun AMM scrapbook weekend. A few of us were going to be flying in from other states. Our friend Tonya was going to be coming in from Oregon, until her husband called and told us he was planning a surprise birthday party for her so could we move our weekend. I had already bought my ticket so there was no chance of that, so we had to lie and say that the others had something come up and couldn't make it. That was a real challenge not talking about it on the boards for a whole month!

OK, fast forward, Michelle and Rachel picked me up at the airport and having been on a plane for four hours, it was my feeding time. So Michelle ran me through In & Out Burger. The burger was good, the fries, not so much. So we got back to Michelle's house and hung out a bit watching some tv. Michelle and I fell asleep on the couch but were woken up at around 5 am by sick kids. Chloe had a fever and a cough and Daniel, well Daniel is just Daniel. I think he came out for a cuddle with his mom. He also needed to let me know that my mom, who he thought Rachel was, was asleep in his room. I woke up a few hours later to this super cute sight. Like mother, like son. Michelle will probably be so mad I posted this but it was too cute!

So we all get up and start to get ready to head up to Big Bear, which is in the San Bernadina Mountains. Stacy, another design team member who lives in California joined us. But she was too nervous to drive up the mountain, so Rachel drove her car and I rode with Michelle. We for sure needed two cars since Michelle brought pretty much her whole scrap room!

I have never been to California before so I really wanted to see it all. I have only ever been in some mountains once before and that was Hawaii when I was ten. We took a helicopter ride up. The mountains were really brown and dry till we got up a little higher but the higher we went the more curvy the roads got and the more nauseous I got. We did stop at a little turn out to take some pics.

Here we are about 6,000 feet up. Only about 2,000 more to go!

So as we get closer to town, Michelle realizes she has forgotten the keys tot he cabin back at her house! There is no way I am driving back down this mountain to drive back up! My stomach is already doing flops from all the turns and my ears are popping a bit. So we meet up with Rachel and Stacy and decide to push on to see if we can at least find the house and then get a hold of someone who can get us a spare key or something. So we are driving up and down the street the house is supposed to be on, but there is no such address. After a couple laps around the block, we decide to stop at Starbucks for a potty and coffee break. Michelle got a hold of her friend who was her contact for renting the house and found out that we had been given the right street, wrong address. Her friend had transposed two of the last numbers. So with Rachel as our leader, we headed back to the street to find the house. Still no keys for it though. With Rachel at the helm we found the house and started looking around to see if maybe, by any chance in heaven, there would be a way in. Low and behold the back sliding glass door was open. We could not believe it as Michelle opened it. So crazy. Someone was looking out for us for sure!

So we began unloading and setting up for our scrapbook weekend! However, it wasn't long before we were all hungry so we ordered some pizza and bread sticks from Dominos for delivery. Michelle wanted to go out but we were all pooped from the little adventure of just getting up there. A few hours into scrapping, the girl who wanted to go out and party looked like this. Are you noticing a certain theme here!? Just kidding Michelle!

The next morning, we all dressed and went into town to get some breakfast at this little diner. We decided to take a walk around the area as Rachel had discovered that there was a scrap store around town too.

Michelle for some reason or another that I can't figure out was very interested in fall leaves. I had just come from autumn in Michigan so they didn't turn me on as much. But our Big Bear weekend had a theme of fall leaves too, as you will see in some upcoming pictures.

Mine and Michelle's feet in some leaves.

A street in The Village-lots of shops and restaurants.



The four of us throwing up some fall leaves. The wall was actually painted that turquoise color, so no photoshopping there. I just wish you could see our faces a little better. (from left to right: Rachel, Jenn, Michelle, Stacy).

The scrapbook store was ok, I got a couple little brown bags to include in mini books and some brown gingham ribbon. There wasn't much there I hadn't seen before. Rachel got some Maya Road mini books and a few other things and Stacy picked up a few supplies. So we headed back to the house for some more scrapping. Later in the afternoon we decided to head back out for some photo snapping down by Big Bear Lake. Thank you to the stranger walking by who took this picture.

Michelle & Rachel.

Michelle

Then we headed into The Village for some dinner at a little Italian place, Pacoli's. I had mostacolli and a cannoli for dinner. Since we had no service at the actual cabin, the girls took some time to make their phone calls home to check in. Then we headed back to the cabin for more scrapping. I think this must have been my night to pass out because I was asleep on the couch at about 11:30, but in my defense I had four layouts done-ish.

In the morning we woke up and headed out to town again for IHOP. My blueberry pancakes were delicious even if the waiter didn't really seem to know what he was doing. We weren't really even sure if he was supposed to be waiting on us or if he even worked there. He seemed very timid. Anyway, I think we were all a little weary so after breakfast we headed back to the cabin to clean up and pack the cars to head back down the mountain, which I was not looking forward to. The cabin we stayed at gets rented a lot so there is this little guest book to sign at the end of the trip. so Michelle is flipping through it and reading what other people wrote when she sees that several people have written about a ghost in the cabin! Holy cow! Thanks God we didn't read that before we stayed there. We decided that it must have been the ghost who unlocked the back door for us and that he must have been a friendly ghost. But Rachel told us, that it is so weird to find that out about the ghost because one night when she was taking a shower after we had all gone to bed that she thought she saw someone standing in the bathroom while she was in the shower. Then once when she was scrapbooking, she thought she felt someone standing over her shoulder and looked but all of us were sitting at our places. It is so strange!

Anyway, we got the cars all packed up and snapped one last picture to remember our haunted scrap weekend.

On a side note, Big Bear has some of the biggest pine cones I have ever seen! Holy cow these were big! I wanted to take one home but had no idea how to get it on the plane or packed without crushing it. So here is a pic of the pine cones I found and lined up like the four of us girls.

The layouts I did at Big Bear I will be able to share soon. They were for assignments so I have to wait for them to go up, but I do have a November kit layout to share tomorrow along with a new AMM monthly feature. So check back tomorrow. I have more pics and stories from LA, Hollywood, and the beach.