Extraordinary

This was the thought for the day on a blog that I frequent and I liked it so much I wanted to post it as well. It is a good reminder that no matter how life might try to jade us that people are worth the risk.

In The Pink

Yesterday I got all my holiday stamps out and began thinking about Thanksgiving cards and Christmas cards. So what do you think I begin to create? Would it be a Thanksgiving card in some of those wonderful colors of fall or would I pull out a few Christmas papers to play with some ideas for this years card? NOPE! My mind rebels and I get in a pink mood. lol

I find a lovely piece of patterned paper in one of DVWV stacks that actually has several patterns on it and I begin to cut it apart to create several cards all with pink in them. Here are a couple.

All the paper here is DCWV except the black and white which are AC Cardstock. Border punch is EK Success. Grosgrain ribbon is Offray. Stamp is Kolettle Hall. Used black Staz-On Solvent Ink. The stamp is accented with small pearls, small crystal and yellow stickles.

Again on this one it is all DCWV paper. The ink is Close to My Heart in Blush. The ribbon is brown velvet from Maya Roads. The button is probably one of my new favorites. It is from AC (American Crafts) and I got them as part of a kit from Hip 2 B Square (Thank you again Leslie!!) a couple of weeks ago. The colors of the buttons are fun and they are glittery to boot! The flower and sentiment is a stamp from Studio g. The hearts on the light pink are a stamped background from Stampin' Up called Petite Patterns and it is an old one from 1999.

Here you can see that great button just a little better!

This too!

This is video is from the concert I was at on the 13th at Chop Suey in Seattle! I still am so thrilled to have been there. I am so looking forward to hearing this song, which is going to be the next single released to radio, live again.

Hoping to see this too

I hope Ryan Star will perform this one. It is a bonus track on the Deluxe version of 11:59 which you can download at amazon or iTunes. Love the song!

Looking forward

Sunday I am looking forward to seeing this song performed just like this. This is Train performing the song Words live.

Ryan Star Thank You

Last night my friend and I were at Chop Suey Seattle to see Ryan Star. What a live show it was! I can now say that not only does Ryan Star sound great in videos and on his CDs but also during a live show. He also puts his heart and soul into it. The audience is entertained by his voice and also by his wit. The man kept us laughing between songs. We had such a good time that Sunday we will actually be going to another concert where he will be opening for Train. Like Train but going honestly to see Ryan Star perform again. I will also say that Ryan took the time to greet fans and my friend and I got a moment to chat with him twice. Both times he was quite nice.

Before he took to the stage a man by the name of Ry Cumings performed and this was the first I had heard of him. His songs wowed us as well. Here is a video for one of his songs.

Messy, Messy Corner

Several years ago my husband and I moved out of our 1920s era home that we had remodeled and into a multi-story 1970s era home that needed updated. In that really hot real estate market that the US was experiencing several years ago this beauty with an unobstructed water view was just sitting and sitting. She had been on the market 6 months when we looked at her and man oh man was she ugly. Her worst feature the white and brown brick story and half fireplace that was featured not only in the living room but also in the entry of the home. It was awful and it was the first thing you saw as you walked in the house. So needless to say this house has taken some vision and hard work. With the inside shaping up we are really starting to look at the outside of the house. Last summer it was getting rid of that dark brown color it had been painted and this summer it is a bit messier as the photos below show.

We have a great big yard, yet no way to get there from the front entrance area. Well here comes one. A few weeks ago we had a friend dig up the yard with a back hoe and now with the forms in place the concrete truck arrives to begin pouring the slab that will allow steps to be built. That's my Dad and Brother helping my husband out for the day. My husband would be the one in the middle of the concrete getting the messiest! Just how do you get concrete stains out of cotton?!

Here you can really appreciate the mess. Mess equals progress and I am doing my best to keep that in mind.

A bit of the progress. The first float of the new front porch!

Cards Abound

I mentioned in my earlier post that I'd been busy making some cards...

Used some patterned papers from the new DCWV autumn stack for this card and the one below. I am loving that it is time for Fall.

This baby shower card is a take off on one I saw in the magazine from the UK. As I mentioned I have been getting some ideas from this new magazine. Fresh inspiration and I am enjoying it! The patterned paper is My Mind's Eye from their Quite Contrary line. The flower are Prima and Close To My Heart. I got to use my new EK punch on this one and I love those fold flat punches. Genius idea!!

Goo Goo Dolls

I have been working in my scrap room the last few days and that means there has been music playing. I need to take some photos of what I have been working on to post later. My inspiration has been coming from a magazine I've just discovered from the UK, Cardmaking & Papercraft, and I love it. It is a bit expensive since it is an import but having the fresh ideas has made up for the extra cost.

As I mentioned there has been music playing during all this paper cutting and gluing. The Goo Goo Dolls have a new CD out and I am liking it. One of my favorite songs on the new CD is a song called Hey Ya. No video for it yet, but here is a the song for listen. It is sweet one.

Unbelievable

When people visit the Pacific Northwest from other areas of the country they expect rain and clouds all the time. Everyone seems conditioned to expect this. Well folks I hate to burst your bubble...it is a LIE! Yes it is true we do get rain and in some places a lot of it. Come here in late fall and winter, I promise you shall find either rain or snow someplace in the Pacific Northwest. However if you arrive during the summer expect what you see in this photo a friend took of my back yard. Blue skies and brown grass. The only thing green are the trees and the patch of grass around the apple trees where we water just for the apple trees. All over town this is what you find. This mix of brown and green because at this point we have had one good rain in the last two and half months. Pacific Northwest summers are wonderful things!

Return Visit

Dry Falls State Park...this is another place I would like to head back to one of these days. Maybe in the spring so the landscape looks a bit different from these photos I have of it from 2003. The photos I have aren't even that good. They are from the old film camera I had as I visited a year before I got my first digital. Back in the day of having to carry rolls of film on vacation and then having to wait to see if you got the photo right. Gah! Hard to imagine those days now.

Dry Falls was once the worlds largest water fall the cliffs and dry basin area are all that remain today. As the world shifted after the last ice age this was one of the changes. Geology can be interesting and beautiful stuff.

Dry Falls looking southeast

Dry Falls looking northeast

Needed

I do my best to think before I speak. My best isn't sometimes good enough. I needed a reminder tonight. I sought out some music that helps. This is one of the songs that does the trick.