Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Rain Challenge

When I saw the TrailMakers rain challenge I knew I had to get my hands on the Indie Girl collection in the TrailMakers store (http://leaveapapertrail.com/zencart) because they have such cute cloud stickers! I used two of them on this layout and used Krisis Kreations' flower template to create the sun peeking out behind the clouds! For a finishing touch I used glossy accents to accent the flowers and faux stitching on the paper.




This layout is of Jesse's trip to Vancouver for a conference. He took a lot of pretty pictures!

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Spring is here, and judging from my watering eyes and mucus filled nose, it has come in full force. But it's not all bad; we have some beautiful cherry blossoms in our backyard:

Also, my Peach Tree in a pot survived the winter and a Peach Tree Borer (which I found and smushed sometime in February) to come back lush:

We have an imperturbable lilac bush as well:

Most exciting, however, is our recent replacement of a Yucca that died in our front yard with a Bird of Paradise bush. The new bush hasn't leafed out or flowered yet so no pictures, but the whole process was interesting. This is what our back yard yucca looks like:
It's beautiful, green, and grows very little. Here's the corpse of our other Yucca:
The interesting part is that upon digging up the dead plant I found hundreds of bugs infested in it's roots and trunk. They had eaten it hollow. I learned from a local nursery (Jericho nursery on Alameda, highly recommended) that I'd found a Yucca Weevil infestation. Here's a picture of mine, with a larvae and adult:
Here's the adult after I got done with him:
Anyway, I dug up as much of the infested dirt and actual bugs as I could. But, since there were literally hundreds I'm sure I missed a few. I followed up physical removal by applying a product with Merit insecticide (Imidacloprid) and another product with Carbaryl. The first was specifically recommended to kill these weevils. Here's hoping.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Album Cover

I created this scrapbook album cover inspired by the TrailMakers Banner. I copied the general design (label shape, diagonal ribbon, swirls) and used dimensional pearls, the Indie Girl collection, and a digi flower template from sponsor Krisis Kreations (tip: you can use digi files as stencils by printing them out and cutting them out).
Get more details on the challenge and products I used at http://www.trailmakers.blogspot.com/

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Pagosa Springs

Last weekend we had the opportunity to go pick up Lorna and Isaac who flew in to visit Jesse's dad who was in Pagosa Springs. We actually had a lot of fun (ignore Jesse's scowl in this picture, he just doesn't like his picture being taken!)


It was very windy but nice there. We spent some time in Durango as well, which is always a nice place to visit.

The guys went skiing at Wolf Creek. Although it is at the very end of the season, they still got some decent skiing time in.
Lorna and I had an even better time soaking at the hot mineral springs.

Friday, April 1, 2011

Fun in the Neighborhood Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Fun in the Neighborhood Blog Hop! Each TrailMaker design team member has been assigned a dish and has created a layout inspired by that dish. I got dessert -- creme brulee! (Yum)

I was inspired by the two circle dishes and the simplicity of the style and color scheme. This is what I came up with:

I used papers and embellishments from the April TrailMakers kit, which features Crate Paper's Neighborhood line, and a flower that I made from a digital Create it Yourself Flowers template by Krisis Kreations. Check out the full kit (which one lucky blog hopper will be able to win) and the beginning of the blog hop at http://www.trailmakers.blogspot.com/



These are the rest of the blog hop stops: First up is our Appetizer at Heather T's blog...guest designer for April http://scrappingmomof3.blogspot.com/

Going for drinks next at Amarilys' http://amadrian8.blogspot.com/

Then we're off to Yara's for some salad http://itssummereveryday.blogspot.com/

And the main dish at Sandi's http://sandileescraps.blogspot.com/

A scrumptious side dish at Karen's http://www.leaveapapertrail.blogspot.com/


An after dinner mint at Kristi's Kreations (our April sponsor) http://www.krisiskreations.blogspot.com/


And ending the evening playing some cards at Tanya's http://tanyalsblog.blogspot.com/