Springtime

I am feeling spring-y today so I wanted to share a couple pastel layouts that I just completed.

This first one depicts our plane ride home from our trip to Europe a couple years ago. It is a one-pager because it is going to be the last page in one of my albums. I don't know how well you can see it but I used embossed cardstock for the background, hand stiched around the patterened paper and made a flower using a white napkin that I ripped up and misted.

For this next layout I broke in to some of my new Fancy Pants and Kioshi papers to create this monochromatic layout. I also tried hand-cutting the flowers and the "mesh" piece of patterend paper.

SA: Cape Town

My trip to South Africa was mostly spent in Cape Town. I landed in Johannesburg, spent a jet-lagged night in Pretoria at Matt's dorm and flew out early the next day. Cape Town, as far as I can tell, is the top tourist destination in South Africa, being near the coast, near mountains, near wine country, near the Cape of Good Hope and just generally a pleasant place to be. Unlike some traveller destinations however, it appears that Cape Town is a functioning city that happens to get a lot of tourists. That was definitely the feel around our hotel.



The waterfront was also bustling with tourists and people who actually work. It looked to be a functioning harbour; there were numerous dry-docked boats and many in the harbour being or waiting to be unloaded. There were also seals.

(front to back: Vien, Matt and Allen)

I was impressed by the city. Few others combine the energy for tourism with real business (though truly, only for a business elite, which I'll remark on later). The mountains so close to the city heart also reminded me of home, although an ocean of sand can't compete with the Atlantic.

Albuquerque Layouts

Here are some Albuquerque layouts. This first one is kind of funny and reflects some of the thoughts that went through my head when we first considered moving here. There are no pictures in this layout, which is different for me, since I usually have multiple pictures!

This next layout shows our first exposure to Albuquerque's balloon fiesta -- I loved the colors of these pictures and wanted to use these fun Pink Paislee papers to show them off. I also tried ribbon pleating for the first time!

I decided that I should probably also do a layout about something that we do every day -- watch TV! I used some beautiful paper and die cuts from Crate Paper's Prudence Collection and made a ribbon flower with a center made out of a spritzed paper bag!

Spring is here

I'm gone for a week and when i get back, Spring has sprung. We have beautiful cherry blossoms, lilac, and everything green (or as much as we ever get in Albuquerque).

South Africa (SA)!

I returned this last Monday from a week visiting Matt in South Africa, spending most of our time in Cape Town with a day or so in the Pretoria area. The trip was amazing from my vantage point (you'll have to ask Matt how much longer he could have put up with me, but given my peculiarities I suspect not much). The country is lovely but with deep troubles. Both the land and the people are beautiful and welcoming, and I saw so much that I plan to do a number of posts highlighting particular experiences.

I do appreciate being back though!

Easter Bunny

HAPPY EASTER! Jesse left for South Africa yesterday to frolic in shark-infested waters and mountain climb to dangerous heights (please pray for safe fun -- I am only slightly exaggerating)! Anyway, I am left here on my lonesome for Easter so some lovely church friends are adopting me for the day, which is super-fun but I have to admit that miss having Easter with my family and seeing little Chloe find her eggs *sniff*. Just because I am not with her doesn't mean I can't scrap her though! Here are a couple Chloe-dedicated layouts for your viewing enjoyment:

This first one is so glittery and fun! You really have to see it in person to appreciate all of the bling and how cool those mirrored butterflies look. I used my new ribbon weave punch -- don't you love it?

In this layout, I tried out two firsts. The first first is using a banner in my layout. That seems to be what is in right now and I thought it would be appropriate for this birthday page. The second cool thing about this layout is that I used my new xyron creatopia to emboss the banner paper with little flowers! I sanded the embossed brown core'dinations paper to reveal the tan core. And isn't Chloe the cutest? Hopping like a bun- NEY! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGAUOmxq0UM)

Our New Home

No, don't worry, we haven't moved out of this precious house . . . I am talking about our new church home!

Since we left New Life Church in Ann Arbor, we have been searching for a church that we can call home and we are fortunate that we are now members of Faith Evangelical Free Church. You can find out more about them here: http://www.faithchurchrr.com/

Not only have we found a new church, but we have also found a new small group and friends! This is a picture of some of us on our run (men) / walk (women). Yes, we know that we are the only couple without a stroller. No need to point that out. ;P