High Times in the High Desert

Hens' Den Newsletter!

2012-02-13T14:38:00.000-08:00

The Hens' Den has been very busy creating a new website, putting its current inventory on sale to create room for new CHA 2012 products, setting up a gallery where you can win a prize just by uploading your layouts, and putting together its first newsletter! The newsletter has sneak peeks of all of the new products coming into the store.

The newsletter also features this layout that I created with My Mind's Eye's Stella & Rose Hattie collection:

Here are the steps that I used to create this layout:

1. Use My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose Hattie Tapestry double-sided patterned paper as your background.

2. Mat each of your photos with the back side of My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose Argyle and Woven Stripe double-sided patterned paper.

3. Use a border punch to create a pattern with Bazzill Basics Midnight Cardstock Paper and add to the bottom of your photos.

4. Cut out rectangles with My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose Herringbone and Woven Stripe double-sided patterned paper and arrange behind photos. Ink your edges to make the paper pops.

5. Add Maya Road Small Organza White Roses Ribbon to the bottom and side of your photographs.

6. Fussy cut flowers from My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose Hattie Happy Bouquet double-sided patterned paper and create embellishment clusters.

7. Add My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose Hattie Label Stickers to the embellishment clusters.

8. Use My Mind's Eye Stella & Rose Hattie Label Stickers & Sticker Tags and May Arts Teal Satin/Grosgrain Double Band Ribbon to create pendents on two opposite sides of the page.

February Layouts

2012-02-11T18:58:00.000-08:00

This is the first card that I have made with MME's Sunshine line:

As you can see, I have now jumped in to MME's Lost & Found Christmas line:

Hens' Den Reveal

2012-01-27T09:19:00.000-08:00

This month the Hens' Den gave me Basic Grey's Picadilly Collection to work with. I love the oranges and blues in this line, and thought that they would look great with these kayaking pictures from this summer.

Here are the steps that I used to create this layout:

1. Cut two Basic Grey Picadilly double-sided patterned papers (Eat at Joes and Farm Fresh Eggs) in half and adhere them together to form your background.
2. Cut strips of coordinating Basic Grey Picadilly double-sided patterned papers (Breadbox and Breakfast Nook) and hand-stitch around each strip.
3. Layer the strips of paper on the background to create a pattern behind your pictures.
4. Distress the edge of your photographs and crop two pictures.
5. Mat your smaller pictures using the other side of Basic Grey Picadilly's Farm Fresh Eggs double-sided patterned papers and hand stitch around the edges.
6. Layer the pictures on the layout.
7. Fussy cut flowers from Basic Grey Picadilly Home Sweet Home double-sided patterned paper.
8. Adhere the fussy cut flowers to the layout using pop dots.
9. Add Basic Grey Picadilly Metal Flowers to the embellishment clusters.
10. Finish layout with a title and journaling.

New Layouts (and card)

2012-01-14T13:24:00.000-08:00

My dear friend Tiffany just had a birthday and I created this card to celebrate using MMR's card sketch.

I also have lots of layouts to share with you today. The first one is yet another layout of Jesse and my first trip to Hawaii (we took a lot of pictures of this fun new adventure!) using MME's January sketch and Lost & Found Sunshine line.

This next layout is the final layout from Jesse's trip to Chile, featuring Bo Bunny's Et Cetera line.

Last, but not least, is the first layout I am doing for our anniversary trip that we took to Phoenix last year. The main reason we chose Phoenix was so that we could buy Jesse a new car from a dealership there. I used MME's Stella & Rose Hatti line and PageMaps' beautiful new sketch to creat this layout.

Family Fun

2012-01-11T17:27:00.000-08:00

I always knew my family was weird. Here's proof!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T13:25:00.001-08:00

Yes, I know that Christmas was a week ago, but we have been traveling, making blogging a tad tricky. Before we left, we got ourselves stockings (no, we never had any before) and fixed our fireplace, which has added coziness!

Our first stop on our multi-leg tour was in Indiana, where we hung out with Jesse's side of the family.

We baked delicious gluten-free pumpkin muffins

and fiery chocolate mini muffins with chocolate icing and strawberries.

We had to use ridiculously high proof alcohol to get them to light right, but we got it!

We also played pool

and Jesse played so well that when he scratched Lorna was so surprised she spilled her wine all over the floor.

All of us went out to eat together as well.

We also had fun and craziness with my side of the family.

We enjoyed our presents,

read,

got crafty,

and went to the Mystic Seaport.

We had fun looking at old boats.

All in all it was a good Christmas!

The Hen's Den Design Team

2011-12-15T07:49:00.000-08:00

Guess what? I am one of the Hens' Den's new design team members! You can find the announcement here: http://thehensdenteam.blogspot.com/ You will have to wait until January to see my first project as part of the Hens' Den design team, but until then here is a new layout I just completed using MSC's sketch #1:

I also had a blast playing with sketch #2

and sketch #3!

Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

2011-12-13T19:57:00.001-08:00

I was in the kitchen the other day, examining some questionable spinach, when it occurred to me: much of the food we throw out is perfectly safe for consumption. Many of us pitch the sour cream when the clock chimes midnight the day of its expiration stamp, but I'm thinking more broadly. A lot of food is safe well past any reasonable level of edibleness. Take my spinach for instance. It was in a bag, and at the bottom was a mass of green mush and liquid. Would you pull out your Oneida spoon and dig in? Nonetheless, I'm sure I could dump it in a pan with a little oil for a stir-fry and never know the difference. Popeye ate mushy spinach, and look where it got him.

On the other hand, no one ever ate blue-green chicken, cooked or otherwise, and was happy with the result.

This epiphany led me to the following, very important, list of foods you can eat when they're rotten:

Spinach
Carrots
Cheese (just cut off the fuzz)
Olives (Testing this now! 2 hours and counting!)
Bread
Potatoes (like a Chia pet, just trim the sprouts)
Rice
Flour (worms = protein)
Twinkies (these don't actually go bad)
Apples
McD's french fries

Surely you've found others...

(PS: I don't really know if you can eat this stuff. When faced with the omnivore's dilemma, I recommend, as always, taking the conservative position.)

Sunshine

2011-12-11T19:21:00.000-08:00

Now that I finally have a (short) break from traveling, I have had a chance to do some scrapbooking. I used MME's Sunshine line for this layout, which is based on MME's December sketch. These pictures are from my favorite breakfast ever -- at the Princeville St. Regis in Kauai. The food was delectable and the scenery was awe-inspiring!

While we were in Kauai, we explored the island in this jeep and got out and explored some beautiful beaches. This layout is based on sketch 3 from My Creative Sketches.

Here's the two-page layout perspective.

Finally, I made this card using scraps from MME's Union Square line and card sketch.

Marathons are Painful

2011-12-04T19:39:00.000-08:00

Running for 26.2 miles is painful. Being out in the freezing rain for four hours is painful. Running a marathon in freezing rain is madness! Jesse, Sarah, and Tyche braved the horrible conditions to run the Dallas marathon. Congratulations!

Chubby [Bunny]

2011-11-27T16:38:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving! Sadly, we don't have any pictures because we forgot our camera, but I thought I would give you this treat of a picture taken just a couple minutes ago.

This is what I get when I send Jesse to the store to buy marshmallows -- he amuses himself by buying the hugest ones possible:

The perspective in the picture doesn't do this thing justice. Seriously, each one is so ginormous that I could not get the whole darn thing in my mouth!

Addendum -- here are the marshmallows taking up the entire mug:

Leaving on a Jet Plane

2011-11-23T19:39:00.000-08:00

Jesse and I are flying out to Delaware bright and early tomorrow morning to share Thanksgiving with Jesse's grandfather and mother's family.

We have actually been traveling a ton lately -- mostly for work. Between the two of us we have traveled to Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, in addition to various cities within New Mexico, and all the way to Chile, just in the last six months! We also have trips to Indiana, New Jersey, Texas, and back to Connecticut planned in the next month! Craziness.

11/11/11

2011-11-14T19:08:00.000-08:00

A good friend of mine's birthday was on 11/11/11 (so fun!) so I had to make her this card based on the MME sketch and Lush lines:

I also used the MME layout sketch this month for another page from our trip to Hawaii. You can also find a tutorial for my handmade sun in the WeScrap forums.

This final layout is also for WeScrap. I love re-living our Hawaii memories!

My Creative Sketches

2011-11-07T20:16:00.000-08:00

My Creative Scrapbook has a new sketch up that I used to create this layout of a beautiful sunset that Jesse took from our lanai in Kauai. I used more of MME's Lost & Found Sunshine collection.

My new favorite music video

2011-10-30T12:23:00.000-07:00

I am not sure what my old favorite music video was, but this is my new one. Remember how I mentioned that we bumped into Danny Pudi (who plays Abed in Community) while we were in New York this summer? Well, he happened to be in Time Square shooting a music video for Jones Street Station when we ran into him. We (at least Rachel and Chloe) are so dang cute that they couldn't help but include us in this music video for the song "The Understanding":

These are some shots that we took on our own cameras (much larger than the toy Danny was "taking pictures" with).

Anatomy of a Bonk

2011-10-23T15:10:00.001-07:00

The Duke City Marathon was today. I've been training for a few months. I'd been hoping for a pace around 9 min per mile, but I'd been able to keep a bit faster pace during my runs without trouble. So, I went out a bit faster, around 8:45 - 8:50. Even at 15 miles, I felt great. I kept going at that pace until I started to fade a little because I thought I'd be able to back off some and keep going if needed.

Boy was I wrong.

Check out my Garmin splits from the marathon. As you can see, I'm cruising up through mile 19, at which point I start to slide. And like an avalanche gaining speed, I quickly slide all the way down and am doing nothing more than just moving forward. I was lucky to be doing that.

I made the classic mistake of going out too fast, overestimating my abilities. I won't say I would have gone under 4 hours if I hadn't done that (because who knows?), but through 18 miles I was on pace for a 3:51. Apparently, that's way out of my league.

I would also say that it wasn't a mental breakdown. My body was done. I was nauseous, dizzy, and running for even a minute left me out of breath with my head spinning. When I finally finished, I couldn't stand up straight without getting out of breath for half an hour, and I was nauseous for twice that time. It wouldn't have surprised me if I had passed out just standing around afterward.

It was a good race overall though. My time was decent, and I learned a lot about running a marathon. I think I could have gone faster with better pacing, and I was hopeful to be able to hold the pace I tried based on runs like this one. But ultimately that's not what God decided to have happen. C'est la vie!

Marathon Man

2011-10-23T14:02:00.000-07:00

Jesse ran his first marathon today! He ran a total of 26.2 miles in 4:09:12 hours, which is quite incredible when you think about it. Here he is running to the finish line:

Fall Colors

2011-10-16T14:55:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I met up with his dad and uncle for an impromptu trip to Colorado. We got there in perfect time to see the aspens turn a brilliant yellow and drove up winding roads to see these spectacular views.

I have been working with fall colors in scrapbooking as well, using yellow from MME's Lost & Found2 Sunshine line

and orange and brown from MME's Lush and Lush2 lines.

Ten Challenge

2011-10-04T07:59:00.000-07:00

For the TrailMakers' 10 challenge, I used ten buttons and ten alphabet stickers to create this layout that features Bo Bunny's Et Cetera collection and Bakers Twine from the Paper Trail store: http://leaveapapertrail.com/zencart/ I love how these pictures from Jesse's trip to Chile just pop against the neutral papers!

Et Cetera

2011-10-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

I know that Jesse just got back from his trip to Chile, but I couldn't wait to begin scrapping those pictures! Bo Bunny's Et Cetera line (found at http://leaveapapertrail.com/zencart/) is perfect for scrapbooking travel pages!

Tile

2011-09-17T17:33:00.000-07:00

Yes, we finally did it! After years of discussion, we finally installed tile in our bathrooms and laundry room. We decided to get it professionally installed instead of doing it ourselves, which turned out to be a great thing because the installer ran into a couple issues that we would not have been equipped to deal with! Anyway, without further ado, here is the finished product:

We absolutely love the look and it will be so much easier to keep clean than the carpet that used to be there (gross!)

More Crafting

2011-09-15T07:28:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show you how I made my latest handmade flower. You need to start with approximately 8 hearts. You can punch out the hearts, hand-draw the hearts, or stencil them. I traced mine using some chipboard hearts that I had in my stash. You will want 4 larger hearts and 4 smaller hearts. The size you want will depend on how big you want your flower to be. Your largest heart will be about 2/3 the size of your completed flower.

Once you have your hearts, use your fingers or a pencil to curve them a little bit, which will make them easier to manipulate later.

Poke holes in the bottom of your hearts and put them on a brad -- smallest hearts first. Arrange the hearts around the brad and you will end up with this kind of flat looking flower.

Mist your entire flower with water so that it is easy to manipulate and then pinch each petal to get this look:

I used my handmade flower on this layout of our trip to Hawaii last year. I used MME's sketch, theme, and their new Lost & Found 2 papers, pearls, and brads.

I also made this card based the MME's card sketch & theme and using their Lost & Found Union Square and Lush Red lines.

Taos

2011-09-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I had not gone to Taos except to ski, so we had fun taking my mom and Jeff there while they were here a couple weeks ago. We stayed there overnight so that we could have the time to see all of the sights. We walked around galleries and saw neat things like the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge:

the San Francisco de Asis Church:

And the Taos pueblo (my favorite):

We had a great tour of the pueblo, saw their adobe homes, and bought some art and bread:

Vintage

2011-09-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

The Dusty Attic chipboard in the Paper Trail store (http://leaveapapertrail.com/zencart/) is perfect for those vintage-looking layouts. I paired it with paper and alphabet stickers from Fancy Pants' Its the Little Things line to create this layout of the marriage conference Jesse and I attended earlier this year.

The Big 3-0

2011-09-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, I am 30 today! Crazy, huh? It seems like there has been a whirlwind of birthdays lately. I have started making more cards and here is a birthday card that I made for my boss's birthday that was just last week:

I used Bo Bunny's Timepiece papers, Fancy Pants' It's the Little Things alphas, and Ranger's stickles on this card, all of which you can find at The Paper Trail store: http://leaveapapertrail.com/zencart.

Scrapbooking

2011-08-19T16:10:00.000-07:00

I was able to do some scrapbooking this month, which was nice! I scrapped these pictures from our trip to Connecticut this summer and used a sketch from MME. To create this layout, I used MME's Lost & Found Union square line and their Lush Red line.

I also used a combination of the Lush and Union Square lines for this birthday card (I told you I have a bunch coming up) and followed MME's card sketch for this month.

This last layout I did for Sketch Inspiration's sketch this week. You should check it out because the Paper Trail is sponsoring!

Birthday Card

2011-08-09T08:07:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of birthdays coming up in my family so this birthday card challenge (create a birthday card with non-birthday papers) is very timely. I used TaDa Studios's Whirlygig Collection papers, Basic Grey's Out of Print Collection alphabet stickers, Creative Studios's rhinestone brads, and Unhinged Creative acrylic charms. The way I used the charm was to adhere a piece of patterned paper to the back of it and tie it off with some ribbon. You can find all of these supplies at The Paper Trail store: http://www.leaveapapertrail.com/zencart.

Out of Print

2011-08-01T07:52:00.000-07:00

The Paper Trail store (http://www.leaveapapertrail.com/zencart) is carrying Basic Grey's new Out of Print line, which I used to create this layout of our frozen adventure on the ridge of Sandia mountain. My favorite part of this line are the butterflies, which I accented with Prima rhinestone flourishes.

Jesse's Chile Trip

2011-07-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

Once again, Jesse's brother is living someplace cool and Jesse used it as an excuse to visit him! This time around, it was Chile! Being that it is their wintertime, it was quite chilly (ha! pun!) and they were able to hike near icebergs!

Most of their time was spent doing some sort of physical activity or the other. Here, they were indoor rock climbing in preparation for their outdoor climb.

They also took a trip to a port town, where they took a boat ride and saw the coast at night.

Jesse's dad's family was able to join him on his trip, which was pretty neat.

Chile has some great wines and they were able to do a tour while they were there (yes, Jesse brought back many bottles!)

Although they enjoyed the local fare, Jesse was able to sneak in his customary McDonald's stop.

Jesse took tons of cool pictures of these stairs that they paint and this one is my favorite.

Last, but not least, they got some outdoor rock climbing in.

MME Projects

2011-07-23T18:37:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple things I have been working on lately. I made this card using MME's Lush line and card sketch:

and I used MME's Union Square line and layout sketch here:

Happy 4th!

2011-07-05T19:05:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th everyone! We spent this weekend at Pop-Pop's cottage at the bay and did the usual crab-eating, damnation-playing, water-skiing, and book-reading. One new thing we tried was kayaking:

Despite an early mishap . . .

. . . it was smooth sailing for Jesse.

His mom even said that he was "showing off" . . .

. . . but found that she did well too after Jesse gave her a couple pointers!

Anything Goes Challenge

2011-06-29T07:35:00.000-07:00

I love challenges, but it was super-fun to just go wild and create a layout without any rules! This kit is my favorite to date -- the color combo is striking and the patterns are so easy to work with! Even though the kit is packed with amazing embellishments, I had fun making a few of my own from this kit. I made a flower using the ribbon that came with the kit and one of the metal embellishments as the flower center. Another fun embellishment that I made with this kit was the centerpiece of this layout -- the clock hands that I fussy cut from one of the papers. The last handmade embellishment was also fussy cut out of one of the patterned papers and I used a rhinestone circle to accent the clock.

I know you will have fun with the kit too -- check it out here: http://www.leaveapapertrail.com

MME Layout

2011-06-17T08:05:00.000-07:00

I have been very focused on the scrapbook company My Mind's Eye lately. Both their old and new collections are so completely my style and extremely easy to work with. I used the current MME sketch and MME's Union Square collection to create this layout of our trip to New York. As you can see, we enjoyed our celebrity encounter and Chloe made friends with (i.e. terrorized) all of the pigeons in Times Square (hence the reference to the musical "Bye Bye Birdie").

I used the following MME products in this layout: MME Lost & Found Union Square Moments Charming; MME Lost & Found Union Square Beautiful Day Journey; MME Lost & Found Union Square Perfect Damask; MME Lush black ribbon; and MME Hattie brads.

8 YEARS!

2011-06-11T17:44:00.000-07:00

Jesse and I celebrated our eighth anniversary over memorial day weekend. We took a road trip to Phoenix and picked Jesse up a car (VW Golf TDI)! Because it is a manual, Jesse had the honors of driving the whole way home! (I am in need of some serious driving lessons).

We had a nice dinner at this eclectic Japanese tapas place downtown, where we had bites of pork belly, duck, tofu, and squid.

We also got a tour of Taliesin West -- Frank Lloyd Wright's winter home, which is now a school of architecture and museum.

We had a good time and learned a lot -- neither of us had been to a Frank Lloyd Wright building before.

One of the first things we noticed as we approached Phoenix was the huge and plentiful cacti. We saw a huge variety of them and other plants at their botanical gardens.

There were flowers and hummingbirds too, and since we went in the morning it wasn't too hot.

They had a cute/corny photo op place, so here you go!

Father's Day Card

2011-06-05T08:18:00.000-07:00

It was so easy to make a Father's Day card with this kit! With all of the neutral papers (and amazing pops of red) and great embellishments (buttons and ribbon are so versatile!), this card came together so quickly. I can't wait to send it off!

Check out the June kit and contest details at http://trailmakers.blogspot.com/

June Debut Project

2011-06-01T07:59:00.000-07:00

Bo Bunny's Timepiece collection is one of my favorites so I was very excited when I found out that this month's kit features this line! With all of the clocks on these papers I thought it would be fun to make a belated gift card from this kit. I fussy cut the clocks from the patterned paper and added some of the embellishments from the kit to make this card.

Check out the entire kit and other debut projects at http://trailmakers.blogspot.com/

Family Vacation

2011-05-24T19:17:00.000-07:00

Last week we had the opportunity to jet over to Connecticut to see my family. Despite the cloudy/foggy/rainy/cold weather, we were still able to enjoy some time outside on the beach

and in the back yard.

And of course it was great to see everyone -- even when we were indoors!

We spent a great deal of time shopping (they have great outlets there!)

One cool thing we were able to do was to take a day trip to New York. We saw some exhibits at the Met,

chatted with celebrities in Times Square,

and did our best to see the top of the Empire State Building through the fog.

We also met up with Rachel's friend and Jesse's cousin in New York and had some excellent Italian food. Truthfully, we ate really well the entire trip -- yum!

Traversing Frozen Tundra

2011-05-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

Back in April, Jesse somehow convinced me to agree to go on a hike at the top of Sandia peak. We were just going to traverse for a mile or so along the ridge . . . no big deal, right?

WRONG! Despite the fact that it was April, the top of the mountain was still covered in snow! Not only did my legs get all red but my ears and hands and, well, everything was cold!

And it was windy and on this of all days the sun was nowhere to be seen.

We did get to our destination, however, (the Kwanis house) and then high-tailed it back to warmth!

Handmade Flowers Challenge

2011-05-08T06:19:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share this layout I made of some of the fun get-togethers we have had with our fellowship group at Faith Church:

I love handmaking flowers so I knew I had to enter the handmade flower challenge at TrailMakers. I used some ribbon to make a flower that I used on this layout, which features Fancy Pants' Little Sprout and other items that you can find in the TrailMakers store: http://leaveapapertrail.com/zencart. Get more details on the challenge and products I used at http://www.trailmakers.blogspot.com/

Defense Verdict!

2011-05-05T16:01:00.001-07:00

I survived and won my first jury trial!

Flourish Challenge

2011-05-04T17:22:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of challenges going on this month at the TrailMakers blog. I am challenging you to make your own flourish! There are so many possibilities -- use Ranger's stickles, liquid pearls or dimensional pearls, doodle some flourishes, or stitch them. I doodled a couple flourishes in pencil on this layout and then went back over them with a needle and punched a couple holes on the lines and used black thread to stitch these flourishes on my layout. I thought that stitched flourishes were more appropriate for this manly layout of my husband, his brother Matt, and girlfriend Merida rock climbing in Socorro. I can't wait to see what you will do! Link up your projects at http://www.trailmakers.blogspot.com/

In Trial . . .

2011-05-02T07:51:00.000-07:00

. . . until further notice!

May Debut Project

2011-05-01T05:19:00.000-07:00

I love the mixture of elegance and fun that Karen put together in the May kit. The kit features Fancy Pants' "It's the Little Things" line and contains some beautiful Kaisercraft Chipboard (which I inked with VersaMagic dew drops) and Jolee's flowers. I used the kit to create this layout of Jesse's first half-marathon with Dave, Sarah, Tiffany, and Dan. A whole bunch of people from our church ran the Duke City half marathon as well, and we met up with them after the race. Everyone did a superb job (especially Jesse!) and Vanessa and I cheered from the sidelines!

Get more details on the TrailMakers kit at http://www.trailmakers.blogspot.com/

Rain Challenge

2011-04-27T05:16:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-04-17T19:34:00.000-07:00

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.

Album Cover

2011-04-13T07:59:00.000-07:00

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/

Pagosa Springs

2011-04-09T20:27:00.000-07:00

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.

Fun in the Neighborhood Blog Hop!

2011-04-01T00:01:00.000-07:00

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/

A yummy dessert at Krystle's http://hightimesinthehighdesert.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/

Floral Sketch

2011-03-30T07:35:00.000-07:00

Sketch challenges tend to be my favorite, and this week's TrailMakers sketch is fabulous! It calls for lots of flowers, which the TrailMakers March kit is perfect for! I used the kit plus a lot of Prima flowers, to create this layout of our trip to this bay last summer.

Go to the TrailMakers blog to see the kit, more inspiration, and join in the challenge.

Little Yellow Bicycle

2011-03-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

I am so happy that Lauri let me play with Little Yellow Bicycle's Twig line this month. I love the mix of cutsy and earthy elements, the blues, greens, and browns, and fabulous embellishments, which were just perfect for these pictures of South Africa. LYB's Lucky Me line coordinates so well with Twig and the brand new Prima and chipboard Thickers added the perfect touch! You can find all of these products in the Scrap Attack Scrapbooking store:

http://www.qbaroo.com/scrapattackscrapbooking/

I cut the scalloped circle die cut paper in half and used Prima ribbon as a border to frame this picture of Cape Town, South Africa.

I used the second half of the die cut paper in this layout and oriented it horizontally. I love how the brown Prima bling adds a nice touch to this masculine page without making it too girly.

I used plenty of this gorgeous Prima lace to create a border around this two-page layout. The corrugated birds are so adorable and added that bit of whimsy that this layout needed.

I love the graphic designs that LYB put in these Twig papers -- they are beautiful and so easy to use. All of their papers work together so beautifully.

I used a lot of blocking in this layout to show off as many papers as I could from the beautiful LBY Twig and Lucky Me lines.

Challenge and Glossy Accents Tip

2011-03-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

There is a new challenge at the TrailMakers! For this challenge I created a layout about eating crabs at the bay -- such fun! It was easy to use three different kinds of paper (one patterned paper and two kinds of cardstock) for the background and matting because the March kit is full of lovely paper! Check out the full kit and challenge here: http://trailmakers.blogspot.com/

One of the cool things about this kit is that is comes with glossy accents. Glossy accents is a versatile tool and I used it to make a shiny chipboard embellishment. What I did was take the chipboard tag and colored it with paint. Once the paint dried, I applied a generous coat of glossy accents on top and let it dry overnight. The next day I had a nice shiny chipboard tag, which I finished off with some ribbon and alphabets from the kit! Here is a close-up:

TrailMakers March Kit

2011-03-06T15:48:00.000-08:00

This month's TrailMakers kit is my favorite so far. The papers are so lovely and the fabric thickers are the prettiest I have seen. I used this kit on this layout of our trip to the Bay and made a flower with part of the gorgeous ribbon included in this kit.

Check out the full kit and design team reveal at the TrailMakers blog:

http://trailmakers.blogspot.com/2011/03/time-to-debut-our-march-kit.html

Love Song Challenge

2011-03-01T20:36:00.000-08:00

I think the line "I can't resist your charm" from Lionel Ritchie's "Endless Love" describes Paris quite well and the TrailMakers February kit is also irresistible! Check out both the challenge and kit at the TrailMakers blog: http://trailmakers.blogspot.com/

{SAS}sy February Reveal

2011-02-23T07:30:00.000-08:00

This month I was lucky enough to work with a kit from Scrap Attack Scrapbooking featuring Glitz Design's Hoopla collection! I used the kit to scrap our trip to Colorado with Jesse's dad:

Thanksgiving with Jesse's mom:

And our trip to Vegas for the Rock and Roll 1/2 Marathon:

Check out these layouts in the SAS Guest Designer gallery to see all the products I used: http://www.qbaroo.com/scrapattackscrapbooking/gallery.cfm?galleryoid=148

Queen of Hearts Crop

2011-02-19T21:10:00.000-08:00

We are in the middle of a really great crop at Scrap Attack Scrapbooking! There are 8 challenges and a bunch of games for this holiday weekend so come check it out at http://scrapattackscrapbooking.com/messageboard/

These are the layouts that I have done for this crop:

Recipe Challenge

2011-02-16T07:29:00.000-08:00

The TrailMakers are holding a recipe challenge using four of the letters in "LOVE LETTERS," each of which represents a scrapbooking item that you incorporate in your layout. I used L (lace doily), L (letters), T (trim), and S (stamps -- I used a stamp from My Pink Stamper) in this layout, using the February kit:

Check out the challenge, the kit, and sponsor here: http://trailmakers.blogspot.com/

Scrap Attack Scrapbooking Guest Designer!

2011-02-04T07:12:00.000-08:00

Guess what? This month I am guest designing for Scrap Attack Scrapbooking (SAS)! Check out their blog for the official announcement: http://scrapattackscrapbooking.blogspot.com/2011/02/please-welcome-krystle-to-our-guest.html

One of my favorite things about SAS is their challenges (some of my favorite layouts were created for SAS challenges). I created this layout for their January Fancy Pants contest using the Lilac House line:

This month the sponsor is Little Yellow Bicycle -- check out the details here: http://scrapattackscrapbooking.com/messageboard/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=19046 As you can tell, I am so excited about this opportunity. Check back in throughout the month for other exciting challenges and crops! Before you go, here's another layout that I did back in December:

-1

2011-02-03T07:48:00.000-08:00

That's right. On my way to work today my car told me that it was -1 degrees out. Brrrr.

TrailMakers February Kit Debut

2011-02-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

The TrailMakers' February kit is so romantic and perfect for these stunning nightime pictures of Paris, don't you think? I love the brocade patterned paper from this kit and the lovely Prima flowers. The sheer ribbon from the kit and the "love" stamp from My Pink Stamper were the perfect finishing touches to this layout. Check out the full kit at http://www.leaveapapertrail.com/zencart/

Snow Challenge

2011-01-26T07:58:00.001-08:00

This week's snow challenge from the TrailMakers (http://www.trailmakers.blogspot.com) is so fun! As soon as I saw these Christmas tree stickers from the TrailMakers' January kit (which you can purchase here http://leaveapapertrail.com/zencart) I knew that I wanted to add a little "snow" on top. I used frosted lace stickles on each peek and voila! Snow!

This little wintery piece is gracing the front of one of my albums -- I have American Craft ones with windows on the front.

And here's a close-up:

Better Late Than Never

2011-01-22T20:07:00.000-08:00

I know Christmas has come and gone but we never did post about our small group's Christmas party, which was really fun! One of the highlights was our white elephant gift exchange, which involved great gifts like a Tae Bo video . . .

. . . awesome head gear . . .

. . . more awesome head gear . . .

. . . and lovely accessories!

We are blessed to have all of these amazing people in our lives!

TrailMakers

2011-01-11T10:03:00.000-08:00

Exciting news -- I was asked to continue on designing for TrailMakers! I am excited because they have such great kits and fun challenges!

Speaking of challenges, for the current TrailMakers challenge (create your own embellishment) I created a snowman embellishment by fussy cutting him out of one of the sheets of patterned paper from the Paper Trail's January kit and attaching him with pop dots for dimension. I love how the puffy ribbon adds to the warm fuzzy feeling of this page!

Just a few more days to get your handmade embellishment project in! And, don't forget - if you participate in both of our January challenges, Karen will put your name in the hat to be a guest designer here at Trail Makers in March! Don't let this opportunity go by - you will love the kits we have here and the opportunity to play with them for FREE is awesome!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2011-01-02T08:42:00.000-08:00

We had a fun (and cold) time with my family in Connecticut for Christmas this year. Rachel schooled Jesse and Nicole at poker . . .

we get lots of loot . . .

which we were very excited about . . .

decorated sugar cookies . . .

and enjoyed each other's company!

January Kit

2011-01-01T15:45:00.000-08:00

I am so excited to debut the January kit from The Paper Trail -- I love the blues and the reds and the browns -- such a lovely color combination! And the embellishments are stunning! Check out the entire kit, which features Echo Park's Wintertime, here: http://leaveapapertrail.com/zencart

This trimming the tree layout is important to me because I really never feel like it's Christmas until after I put up a tree!"

Tag!

2010-12-29T06:22:00.000-08:00

I have been having a great time working with the December kit from The Paper Trail Store (http://www.leaveapapertrail.com/zencart). I especially love how you can create black and white pages with pops of color, which I though was perfect for this layout of our first (and so far only) trip to the Albuquerque Auto Show.

For this create-a-tag challenge I used one of the stickers from the kit to create a journaling tag. I can't wait to see what everyone else does for this challenge!

Movies you can watch with Jesse

2010-12-19T17:13:00.001-08:00

Building on my earlier post, these are movies I would absolutely watch again (in no particular order):

Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
The Bourne Trilogy (2002 - 2007)
Babel (2006)
The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) only for serious fans of mindless sci-fi action
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Serenity (2005)
Seven Samurai (1954)
The Constant Gardner (2005)
Charlie Wilson's War (2007)
Primary Colors (1998)
The Social Network (2010)
Event Horizon (1997)
The Fog of War (2003)
Riding Giants (2004)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Movies to Hate with a Passion

2010-12-19T17:05:00.001-08:00

Krystle and I just watched one of the most horrendous things I have ever seen, charmingly entitled Eat Pray Love (2010, with Julia Roberts). I hated this movie from just after the opening credits, though I will admit that my utter lack of sympathy for the main character likely comes more from me than any egregious issues with her.

Regardless, this spurred me to make a list of the recent movies that I hate, with a passion, to warn you, our friends in the blogosphere, before your precious evenings are ruined. Feel free to spew your own cinematic venom in the comments.

In no particular order, and without explanation:

Eat Pray Love (2010)
Atonement (2007)
Sex and the City (all of them)
Green Zone (2010)
The Departed (2006)
The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)
Anger Management (2003)
Bride Wars (2009)

Vegas baby, VEGAS!

2010-12-18T16:52:00.000-08:00

The title above is how Dave summarized our trip to run the Rock 'n Roll half marathon. We had a lot of hang out time the days before, stuffed ourselves ("carbo loaded") at a French themed buffet, walked more than we wanted to up and down the strip, and eventually ran the half right through the action. Check it out. Dan and I set personal best times while Dave and Tiffany finished looking like they wanted to do it again. For my trouble I received a solid metal participant's medal and all the bananas I could eat, which turned out to be 1.

The highlights were a dirty old man and his acolytes handing out beer at about mile 4 and a guy in a Marines shirt that we passed at mile 2 rolling by me at mile 13.

Check us out:

Stamping

2010-12-15T06:00:00.000-08:00

I have to admit that I do not stamp all that often so I am glad that The (paper) Trail Makers Challenge Blog is challenging everyone to stamp on their projects. For this challenge I used tone-on-tone stamping (a technique that I have never tried before) and used the stamped cardstock as part of my background:

I created this layout with the beautiful December kit from The Paper Trail store, which you can find here: http://www.leaveapapertrail.com/zencart/.

Thankful

2010-12-11T15:26:00.000-08:00

We were able to see almost everyone on Jesse's mom's side of the family for Thanksgiving at Pop Pop's. We were also able to celebrate two very special birthdays:

We are thankful for lots of family fun!

Trail Makers Blog Hop

2010-12-01T07:04:00.000-08:00

There are two exciting things going on at the Trail Makers -- the first is the debut of the lovely December kit and the second is a blog hop to show you what the design team has done with it! So first things first, here is the kit! It features Lily Bee's Christmas Town line with a good helping of embellishments, including Prima flowers, Thickers, and ribbon. You can get more details and purchase the kit at the Paper Trail Store: http://www.leaveapapertrail.com/

My favorite thing about this kit is that it is so versatile that you can use it for any type of layout. Here, I used the kit (along with candy cane stickles, which you can also find at the store) to create a layout of my inlaws' trip to visit us in New Mexico. I especially love the sheer red ribbon that I pleated and taped to give extra dimension and richness to this layout.

If you are interested in seeing what the other design team members did with this kit, hop right along with us. If you came here from Jen's blog, head over to Karen's next: http://leaveapapertrail.blogspot.com/. If you came here first, go back to the beginning of the hop at the Trail Makers blog: http://www.trailmakers.blogspot.com/. I am sure you will be amazed at all of the beautiful projects and there are PRIZES involved!

Save the Date (Trail Makers Blog Hop)

2010-11-24T07:51:00.000-08:00

You are cordially invited to join us here on December 1st at midnight EST to debut the December Paper Trails Kit. Believe me it is full of absolute GORGEOUSNESS!!!! Each of the Design Team Members will have a DEBUT project to share with you using the kit and a little birdie told me that there will be RAK's too! Then you will want to race to the Paper Trails store to purchase the December Kit because they will be gone quick as a wink. Karen truly outdid herself this time!!! The blog hop will last until December 4th at 11pm EST and then RAK's will be pulled on December 5th and announced!!! Are you ready to get your hop on?

To hold you over until then, here is another layout that I made using the November kit. Check out the full kit here:

http://leaveapapertrail.com/zencart

A Page in Time Scrapbook Kits

2010-11-22T14:59:00.000-08:00

I am this month's guest designer at A Page in Time Scrapbook Kits and was fortunate enough to design with their Making Memories Reverie kit, which was perfect for these pictures from Karl's wedding:

Check out the guest design team announcement and the kits here: http://apageintimescrapbookkits.blogspot.com/

Mouthwatering

2010-11-17T09:04:00.000-08:00

Right now the (paper) trail makers challenge blog (http://www.trailmakers.blogspot.com/) is having another challenge -- to create a layout that has something to do with food -- and they are giving away beautiful embellishments from the Parisian Anthology line if there are at least 10 participants! You have until next Saturday (the 27th) to enter. Here is what I came up with for the challenge:

I will admit it -- I am not very good in the kitchen. Which is why I surprised myself when I made a delicious pie for Jesse's 30th birthday. This is the recipe that I used for the crust, which was flakey and delicious!

I love how the Jenni Bowlin papers really added to the home-y feel of this layout. I also used a Jenni Bowlin vintage button and a black button from Basic Grey's Cappella collection.

October Layouts

2010-11-14T13:15:00.000-08:00

Despite being super-busy this past month, I managed to get some layouts done (mainly in the first part of the month). This first layout is of Karl and Emily's wedding reception and I used MME's Lush collection in pink (you can't tell very well but the paper is flocked).

I conquered my fears of mists in this next layout. I misted the Fancy Pants background paper with some of my brand new Smooch Spritz.

And I made another zipper flower for this layout, which was pretty fun too.

In this clean and simple layout, I layered some of Teresa Collins's Giving Thanks papers, which are so pretty, and just added Making Memories alphabet sickers.

And last but not least, I finished another sparkly Christmas layout with specialty paper from The Paper Studio and Doodlebug, Making Memories glitter alphas, and a Kaisercraft wood star and a nativity cut-out that I painted with Ranger metallic paint dabbers.

I can't believe that Thanksgiving (and Christmas) are almost here again!

New Mexico Employment Law Desk Reference

2010-11-12T15:01:00.001-08:00

You may or may not know that the Labor and Employment Group of my law firm (of which I am a part) has been working for over 2 years to publish a book: The New Mexico Employment Law Desk Reference. It is done, published, and we have even sold some to our clients (New Mexico employers).

Today we had a book signing party (all of us wrote chapters and/or assisted with editing the book).

And here we are -- all proud and liquored up:

Postcards from Paris

2010-11-07T13:01:00.000-08:00

Right now Jesse and I are super-busy for work. I am just randomly busy and Jesse is preparing for a conference. If you are asking "didn't he just get back from a conference?" you would be correct! Despite the title of this post, Jesse's last conference was in Luxembourg, which is apparently really pretty and affluent. After his week-long conference came to an end, Jesse took a little detour to Paris, where he spent some time with his thesis advisor who is now a professor there.

This is Jesse eating a hamburger in Luxembourg (he has one in every new place he visits):

And this is a really cool war memorial for the Battle of the Bulge:
Luxembourg looks like a really nice place!

They certainly have more greenery than we do here in the desert!

And castles!

This is Jesse with some college friends.

Not surprisingly, the best resturant Jesse has ever been to is in Paris (this isn't it though).

The timing was perfect for Jesse -- he was in Paris for the Paris auto show.

Much better than the Albuquerque auto show!

Most importantly (to me) is that Jesse went to a chocolatier and picked up some chocolates to bring home to me (they are so good!)

He also had time to take in the more traditional sights, which are even prettier at night.

Amazing, huh?

Not Halloween

2010-11-03T07:37:00.000-07:00

The challenge that is currently running on The (paper) Trail Makers Challenge Blog is to use Halloween papers on a non-Halloween layout. I decided not only to use Halloween papers on a non-Halloween layout, but I used them on a summer layout! I accomplished this feat by using the papers very creatively. The bright green strips on the top and bottom of the page are Scribble Scrabble's Jeepers Creepers Cats Bats and Hats. and the orange photo mat and flower are made from Scribble Scrabble's Jeepers Creepers Halloween Sampler. I also used Scribble Scrabble's Jeepers Creepers Scribbled Sentiments Die Cuts for the frame around my subtitle. One fun technique that I used in this layout was to create a zipper flower!

You can enter your own layout for the challenge here: http://www.trailmakers.blogspot.com/

Now a Kit Club!

2010-11-01T07:31:00.000-07:00

Big news! The store connected with The (paper) Trail Challenge Blog is now a kit club! This month is the debut kit month and let me just tell you, the kit is stunning! It is packed full of Parisian Anthology and Portebello Road papers and lovely lace and ribbon and pearls!

Check out the kit here http://leaveapapertrail.com/zencart and take a peek at other layouts showcasing the kit here: http://trailmakers.blogspot.com/2010/11/this-is-it-our-big-announcement.html

Recipe Challenge

2010-10-27T12:31:00.000-07:00

Better Scrap (http://www.betterscrap.com/) has a receipe challenge this week. I created this layout that features the pie that I baked for Jesse for his 30th birthday:

In this layout I used Midnight Black Discount Cardstock, embellishments from Gauche Alchemy's Acme Mixed Media Paper Crafting Kit, and For the Luv of Art Favorite Things Stamp Set. I also used papers and a button from Jenni Bowlin, My Mind’s Eye ribbon, Prima rhinestones, Ranger Stickles, a Sakura Glaze pen, and I tried my brand new Tim Holtz alpha die for the first time!

Art Freckles Blog Hop

2010-10-26T07:00:00.000-07:00

Don't you love blog hops? I have participated in many a blog hop but my blog has never been one of the hop stops! Well, there is a first time for everything and today I am part of Art Freckle's fall blog hop.

Thanksgiving is fun with my inlaws because not only do we get a feast but there are muliple birthdays to celebrate that weekend as well! I created this layout using Teresa Collins's new fall line -- Giving Thanks -- which you can find at the Art Freckles online store (http://www.artfreckles.com/store/catalog/). While you're there, check out what is happening on the message board (http://artfreckles.com/forum/index.php).

There is a total of 8 stops on this hop so here is a full list so you don't miss any. If you are hopping in order, Jamie is next!

1. Art Freckles - http://artfreck.blogspot.com/
2. Linda Gunther - http://lindasueanne-scraps.blogspot.com/
3. Joanne Keminen - http://usinguptheprettypaper.blogspot.com/
4. Jill Sarginson - http://jillelizabethsarginson.blogspot.com/
5. Krystle Thomas - http://hightimesinthehighdesert.blogspot.com/ [you are here]
6. Jamie Harder - http://ahappyscrappyplace.blogspot.com/
7. Kayla DuPont - http://dream-bielieve-imagine-mustangkayla.blogspot.com/
8. Shannon Wyman - http://cre8yourself.blogspot.com/

{SAS}sy News

2010-10-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

Super-exciting news! I am going to be a guest designer for Scrap Attack Scrapbooking! They have a great message board, online store, and blog, which you can check out here: http://scrapattackscrapbooking.com/index.htm

I want to share with you the layouts that I created for my design team application. I love this first one because these pictures of Chloe using chopsticks is so adorable! I used Basic Grey's Ambrosia collection for this layout, along with some embellishments from their June Bug line, some Bazzill rhinestones, and my favorite Thickers font.

I love the pictures in this next layout too because it warms my heart to see Jesse and Rachel playing in the snow. Aren't they adorable? I used some specialty paper from The Paper Studio and The Paper Company for the background and embellished it with American Crafts Thickers and rose ribbon, Jolee's Swarovski crystals, and Liquid Pearls.

This last layout is about the highlights from our trip to Boston, especially seeing the Car Talk office (one highlight not featured here is our dinner with Matt -- sadly we forgot to take pictures of that). I used Fancy Pants notebook paper, Discount Cardstock, Bazzill rhinestones, a Jenni Bowlin button, Pink Paislee pleated ribbon, MME Lush ribbon, and a Making Memories embellishment for this layout. I even used stamps (for the title and flourish) -- something that I need to do more often!

Banner Year

2010-10-20T08:39:00.000-07:00

A new challenge is up at the (paper) Trail Makers Challenge blog and you are challenged to add banners to your layouts! Check out the details here: http://trailmakers.blogspot.com/

I wanted to make a bright, fun banner for this challenge and Creative Imaginations' Piece of Cake - Balloon Animals paper was just what I was looking for. The paper has a series of diamonds that I cut in half to make triangles for my banner. To finish the page, I used a bright white cardstock to make the colors in this layout pop even more.

Recycle, Reuse, Renew

2010-10-19T08:27:00.000-07:00

Better Scrap (http://www.betterscrap.com/) has a "Recycle, Reuse, Renew" challenge this week. I used corrugated cardboard and other unusual items in this New Mexico layout:

Duke City Half Marathon

2010-10-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

The Duke City 1/2 marathon was today. I was shooting for under 2 hrs or better, and came out well ahead of that at 1:49:23. I'd rate that as almost miraculous, and certainly a huge, fun blessing. You can check out my splits at Garmin:

Duke City Half Marathon by jessedavidthomas at Garmin Connect - Details

Everyone else ran great as well. Dave smoked us all, Dan was just a minute or two behind me, and Sarah and Tiffany came in well under 2.

Lots of fun.

Better Scrap October Challenge #2

2010-10-13T06:45:00.000-07:00

Better Living Through Scrapbooking has another challenge up that you can check out here: http://www.betterscrap.com/

For my challenge entry, I created a layout about Wesley crawling for the first time (at our house!) For this layout I wanted to play with white space (using Discount Cardstock's white linen paper) and a pop of bright color, which Basic Grey's Lemonade collection is perfect for!

Another fun thing about this layout is that I used shrink film for the first time to create the charms that I used to create the circular accent. It was super-fun!

The Big 3 - 0

2010-10-12T07:15:00.000-07:00

Jesse turned 30 last week, but we didn't have a big bash because he spent almost the entire day on an airplane! (He was on his way back from Europe -- a trip that he should be blogging about soon).

I did make him an apple pie though, which was a big deal because (1) I have only made 3 pies in my life and (2) this one actually tasted good! Here is poor jet-lagged Jesse trying to smile for the camera!

Ten Things & Ten Dollars

2010-10-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

Want to win a $10 gift certificate to the (paper) trail store? If ten people participate in this week's challenge, which is to add a list of 10 things in your layout, a participant will win one! You can enter (and find out more details) here: http://www.trailmakers.blogspot.com/

This is the layout that I created for the challenge:

For my list of 10, I decided to list the ten people (other than me) that appear in the pictures. I am a person who is bad with names and I tend to not list people's names in journaling, thinking, oh there is no way I'll forget that person's name! Ten years later, I am trying to remember this one college friend who I have a picture of and I have no record of her name anywhere! So I am happy that this challenge prompted me to put some names on paper.

I used simple lines to create this layout because I wanted to use all five of these pictures and did not want the page to look too overwhelming. Cosmo Cricket's Earthlove patterned paper (found in the store in a 2-collection pack with Cosmo Cricket's The Boyfriend) was perfect for this clean and simple layout.

LAST holiDAY

2010-10-04T08:09:00.000-07:00

We decided to spend our last day in Kauai touring the Waimea canyon (we had already checked out so we didn't want to go swimming or anything). But even the best laid plans get thrown out the window when there are waves to catch! We drove through Kapa'a on our way to the canyon and Jesse spotted a whole bunch of guys surfing. Surprisingly enough, we had not seen much surfing on our trip because the waves just weren't there that week. Jesse had hoped to try to surf while we were here but didn't get the opportunity. So when this chance presented itself, we just had to rent a board and dive in (and when I say "we" I mean "he").

Surfing involves a lot of crashing and burning (one of the surfers congratulated Jesse on his "epic" wipe out).

And whether he was in the water or out, Jesse put those baywatch boys to shame!

Despite the fact that this was only the second time he ever surfed, Jesse got up a couple times.

And fell more than a couple times!

This is the best picture that I managed to snap of Jesse surfing (yes, I basically stood there for an hour taking pictures). He is kind of on his way down but he is standing!

After the surfing detour, we had enough time to eat a lovely dinner of local fish and check out Opaekaa Falls, which was situated right off the side of the road. In this picture you can also see the beautiful earrings that Jesse got me. They are made up of coin pearls and Ni'ihau shells.

I have to show you a picture of these local chickens as well. These things are everywhere in Kauai and the roosters crow all throughout the day and night -- starting waaaay before sunrise.

We spent our final night in Honolulu at the gorgeous Hilton Prince Kuhio hotel. Jesse took this fabulous picture of our night view. Sadly we were way too tired to do anything but sleep that last night but I have to say that during our vacation I felt the most relaxed I have felt in a long time.

August and September Layouts

2010-10-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

Between posting about our vacations, family visits, Jesse's marathon training, and my design team work, I have been delinquent in showing you my non-design team scrapbooking layouts (many inspired by Scrap Attack Scrapbooking challenges). Without further adieu . . .

This first layout is my favorite. I love the pictures of Chloe dancing around in her princess dress and Basic Grey's Kioshi line was perfect for this layout. If you click on the image, you can see that I did a ton of hand stitching!

In this layout I used the Kioshi line in a more bold and unexpected way. I hand cut the lattice pattern from a checkered pp and used it to accent sweet pictures of Chloe's first trip to the dog park.

Speaking of bold, I just love the colors in the Bayberry line by Pink Paislee. I thought that both the colors and name of the Bayberry collection worked really well with our blueberry picking pictures!

I also used the Bayberry line for these next two summery layouts. In this first one I created a couple handmade flowers using the pleated ribbon from this collection. Aren't the nightime pictures that Jesse took beautiful?

This is is a funny layout about a joke that we played on Jesse. You can click on the layout to read the journaling along the outside of the page.

Pink Paislee's Queen Bee line is the complete opposite in terms of colors and look but I love it just as much (probably more, really). This layout features pictures taken of my office, which is not that clean right now!

Last but not least I used one of Kaisercraft's older collections to put together this earthy layout, which commemorates my greatest athletic achievement to date!

Sunset Cruise

2010-09-30T21:13:00.000-07:00

On our last night in Kauai we took a sunset dinner cruise.

Jesse was at home on our little catamaran, but the long ride and big waves made me queazy at points.

We got close-ish to the Forbidden Island (a super-secret privately owned island).

And saw the Na Pali coast from an entirely different vantage point.

This part of the coast is inaccessable except by boat/kayack.

Cool caves appeared in numerous places (apparently there are dead Hawaiian royalty stuck in there)!

Waterfalls dotted the shoreline.

There is this one spot where a bunch of hippies camped back in the day. They eventually became so numerous that they cause sanitation problems and were kicked out!

Very King Kong with the mist . . . no?

And although the clouds obscured our sunset, the view remained stunning!

Hanalei

2010-09-29T11:00:00.000-07:00

I know, so many Hawaii posts already and there is still so much more to share! We stayed right next to Hanalei, which has really cute shops and fun places to eat.

Most importantly, Hanalei has beautiful scenery that you can see while driving in your jeep! (Oh yes we did let the car rental guy talk us in to one!) The jeep made it easier to drive on the rough roads (maybe too easy -- at one point Jesse plowed through a mud puddle so deep that mud splattered in through our open windows!) It was worth it because Jesse had some fun driving this monstrocity around (when it was my turn at the wheel I was more terrified than excited).

While driving around Hanalei we stopped numerous times to sink our feet into the soft and fine sand.

In this picture you can see the famous crescent shape of Hanalei Bay:

Not only do you get great ocean views, but when you look inland, you see TONS of green!

Better Living Through Scrapbooking

2010-09-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

Exciting news -- I am October's guest designer at Better Living Through Scapbooking! (You can see the announcement here http://www.betterscrap.com/?p=661). They are a challenge site that gives you 4 super-challenging (and rewarding) challenges a month. This week's challenge is to create a layout about your favorite color. This is my layout of my favorite color (well one of them anyway) green:

Kee'e to Hanakapi'ai Hike

2010-09-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Not only did Jesse run a total of 20 miles on our one-week trip, but he also dragged me on a hike. Not a one-mile lazy hike, but a four mile up a mountain hike along the napali coast. I guess this is my punishment for not doing La Luz again this year! Joking aside, it was hard but it was the prettiest part of our trip.

In this picture you can see how close the coral reef is to the beach (which is why you can simply put on a snorkling mask and stick your head in the water and see beautiful fish -- we did that a couple times!)

This is me smilling at the beginning of the hike (less and less smiling occurred as we progressed).

A nice hiker took pictures of us together.

This is me taking a well-deserved break.

In this picture you can see the napali coast pretty well.

There were a number of waterfalls and streams along the way which, although pretty, made the trail slippery and muddy!

See the lushness! (I think a huge theme of our time in Kauai was its extreme lushness!)

After two miles, we made to to Hanakapi'ai beach. Jesse thought it would be fun to take off our shoes and walk along the beach. I thought that was silly because then we would have wet sandy feet to put back into our shoes and hike 2 miles back so I said no thank you! He "made" me walk along the beach with my shoes on though, and made sure to keep me away from the waves . . . or not!

The tide was coming in and some of the waves were really strong and one freak wave came in and drenched us! I ended up with SOAKED shoes, socks, and sand everywhere! To add insult to injury, Jesse thought it would be funny to take a picture of my misery.

The worst part? Jesse's shoes and socks, which I carefully placed on a rock for him, were completely dry. (He was sweet enough to let me wear his socks on the treck back though, so he isn't heartless!).

Here is the waterfall that we had to cross twice (once to get to the beach and once to get back). Amazingly, we did so without falling in!

It was certainly beautiful!

If you want the details (how far, how fast, and an arial map of where we went), click on this link: Kee'e to Hanakapi'ai hike by jessedavidthomas at Garmin Connect - Details

New Challenge (Win a Gift Certificate!)

2010-09-26T11:51:00.000-07:00

The (paper) Trail Makers Challenge Blog has a new challenge up today -- check it out at http://trailmakers.blogspot.com/2010/09/its-list-of-10-and-prize.html

You have two weeks to create and upload a layout that includes a list of 10 things (any ten things) in your journaling. If ten or more people participate, the design team members will vote and award a $10 gift certificate to the winner! The store is bursting will brand new items (check out the pre-sale section) that are all on sale! http://www.leaveapapertrail.com/zencart/

Kauai Runs

2010-09-25T20:46:00.000-07:00

As if one 10-mile run weren't enough, Jesse got another 10 miles in (in two shorter runs) while in Kauai. You can check out the deets here:

Easy 4 by jessedavidthomas at Garmin Connect - Details

Hot and Humid 6 by jessedavidthomas at Garmin Connect - Details

Jesse's Waikiki - Diamond Head Run

2010-09-24T08:45:00.000-07:00

Remember I told you that Jesse did something else "fun" in Waikiki? Well, he got to see the entire Waikiki beach and Diamond Head because he ran the whole stinkin way! Our first morning in Oahu Jesse woke up at 6am (jet lag!) and decided that it would be fun to get a 10 mile run in. So he started at our hotel (on the far west side of Waikiki beach) and ran along the entirety of Waikiki beach all the way around Diamond Head (and then some) and all the way back!

When he first told me that, I was like um, that's really far. Are you sure you know where Diamond Head is? I almost didn't believe it until he uploaded his run and I saw it on this map (click on the link -- it's really cool to see!):

Waikiki - Diamond Head by jessedavidthomas at Garmin Connect - Details

Jesse said it was one of his favorite things he did in Oahu. To each their own I guess. This is how I saw all of Waikiki beach:

Back to School Layouts and More

2010-09-22T08:42:00.000-07:00

It is fall and I know that a lot of you have back to school layouts to scrap from this year, or last year, or the year before . . . so The (paper) Trail Makers Challenge Blog is challenging you to get it done! As you know, I don't have a little tyke going to school but I do have pictures from last summer's tour around Yale that Nicole and Matt took us on.

Nikki Sivils's Henry's Brilliance collection is perfect for back to school layouts! I used the Henry's Attire and Henry's Cut Ups papers and added Scribble Scrabble's Haley's Collection Keylime paper to mat my pictures. Embellishments from Jenni Bowlin (Bingo Chipboard Buttons) and Blue Hills Studio (felt ribbon buckle) were the perfect finishing touches. One technique that I utilized in this layout was distressing. Although I liked the colors of the pattered paper, I thought they were a little bright for the layout so I took some sand paper and gently rubbed it across the whole sheet. Not only did this turn the bright orange into a lovely muted orange, but it gave the layout a relaxed distressed look.

I also just realized that I never posted my layout for the last challenge! My project went live when I was on vacation and in my frenzied effort to share at least some of my vacation pictures I totally forget to show you this layout:

The challenge was to use 4-6 pictures in a single page and I used 4 wallet sized pictures in this one-page 8.5x11 layout and framed the picture group by stitching around one side and placing Fancy Pants Rusted Sun Buttons on the other. I love the way the Little Yellow Bicycle - Clothesline - Come Together 12x12 Double Sided Paper has that space for a title on top!

Princeville

2010-09-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

We spent the bulk of our vacation in Kauai and stayed at the Hanalei Bay Resort. Despite its name, the resort is not in Hanalei, but instead in Princeville, which is the cliff area to the east overlooking Hanalei Bay. When we got to our room we were treated with a welcome rainbow (we also saw a rainbow shortly after we arrived in Honolulu).

The view from our room looked even better at night.

The grounds, like all of Kauai, were incredibly lush.

Our room was cute and tiny (note how this adorable resort bed takes up 80% of the room!)

It was a lovely little place to retreat to.

The resort itself boasted an award-winning pool (5 waterfalls drain into this large, winding, saltwater pool), which has unobstructed views of Hanalei Bay. There is also a sand-bottomed section of the pool and a sand-bottomed jacuzzi with its own waterfall.

I especially enjoyed playing in and reading by the pool.

Our resort was not the only one in Princeville. We were next door to the St. Regis (a hotel we would have loved to stay at, but it would have cost five times as much as we spent per night for the pleasure). I heard great things about their breakfast and we splurged one morning. Let's just say we were not disappointed. First of all, the views from this opulent balcony where they served breakfast was perfection.

(This hotel is a big fan of infinity edge pools and fountains).

(Do you see the waterfall?)

We also noticed that rainstorms spontaneously appear and disappear throughout the day.

Aside from the vistas, the St. Regis had the best coffee ever and the most decadent food (I, for example, had banana bread french toast with spiced macadamia nuts on top!) Certainly a treat!

Oahu

2010-09-16T20:37:00.000-07:00

Our first stop in Hawaii was the lovely Oahu.

We spent a day touring the Arizona Memorial, the Missouri, and Punch Bowl cemetary with Pua, the most lovely tour guide.

We got in a lot of relaxing beach time and enjoyed eating at lovely resturants in and around the hotel (and what tropical vacation is complete without a mango daiquiri?!?)

We were lucky enough to stay at the Hilton Hawaiian Village and, once we saw a Louis Vitton in the lobby, realized we might be a bit out of our league! As you would expect, the grounds were beautiful, stocked full of fancy shops, resturants, flowers, pools, and even penguins (who knew?) We even had a private lagoon and were next to a harbor with cute boats.

Jesse also spent some time doing something he really enjoyed, but I will leave that for him to tell!