pink nostalgia

the 29 list: #22 make homemade lemonade

Knocked out #22 on the list.

Round 1

The first one was easy, namely because I didn't make it, but I DID slice the lemons and provide witty banter, so I'm counting it.  Just squeeze lemons, puree frozen strawberries, and add sugar.  Everything is to taste.

 
Round 2

I tried a recipe I saw on TV where you boil sugar and lemon zest to make a simple syrup.  This one left my whole arm covered in crackled sugar and tasted like a cheap circus concoction, and not in a good way.  BUST.

Round 3

 
 

1. juice 2 lemons  2. add 6 heaping Tbsp sugar  3. add 12 oz of water  4. stir until sugar is dissolved  5. add 2-3 basil leaves and muddle with your straw  6. top off glass with ice  7. add some lemons back in 8. enjoy on a hot-as-the-dickens-summer day

 

Cheers.  : )

throwback thursday: the consequences of learning your ABCs

My mom likes me with long hair.  Whenever she sees me with long hair, she plays with it and says, "I love your hair long."  If I have it cut short, she says, "I like it better when your hair is long."  When I was 4 years old, I had really pretty, long hair, down to my bottom with ringlets on the ends.  Sigh.

Sometimes I don't like to take naps.  Unless I'm exhausted, I'd rather be doing fun or even constructive stuff.  I've always been this way.  One day when I was little, my mom was FED UP with me and declared it nap time with the promise of ice cream if I would just be quiet for a few hours.  I wasn't tired, but I wasn't about to argue.  Trying very hard to be a good little girl and not let one little peep escape me (I was often threatened: "I better not hear a peep out of you!),  I decided to perfect writing the alphabet.  I had crayons in my room but no paper, so I found a different blank canvas - my white pillowcase.  I started at the top left and went to work.  Once I messed up, I flipped and rotated the pillowcase and started over.  I finally fell asleep.

Some time later, my mom came in to wake me up and take me to get ice cream since I had, in fact, remained peepless.  But first, she saw the pillowcase.

As her blood literally began to boil, she grabbed my shoulder and turned me over.  No sooner than she could scream the words, "Angela Nicole, what is the matter with you?  WHY did you write on your pillow?!", she revealed the opposite side of my head, the side that was previously against the pillow.

You see, once I was done with my alphabets, I found a pair of scissors, and out of sheer (shear?) boredom, cut a huge chunk out of my hair.  I cut it a few inches from my scalp, but only on one side.

Instead of ice cream, I got the spanking of a lifetime and a trip to the barber.  There was no choice but to cut the rest of my hair as short as I had cut the one chunk.

When the stylist was done, my mom told me with a disgusted tone, "I hope you're happy.  You look like a boy."

I was not happy.  I started to cry.

 
Fall 1986

Still to this day, my mom mourns the loss of those ringlets.

my most embarrassing story

Aack!  So remember a while ago when I said that I'm thinking of a number between 1 and 1 million, and once I have that number of blog views in one day, I'll post my most embarrassing story?

Well, the time has come, my friends.

First things first: a HUGE 

 
to everyone who reads this blog and has passed it on.  Seriously, y'all really make me smile, even though I can't tell who you all are.  : )  I'll throw in a bonus embarrassing moment - one of my favorite things is hitting the "refresh" button on my blog count and seeing the views skip up.  The sheen has not worn off.  So thank you.

And now...

It was a Friday night about 10 pm in the spring of my freshman year at Baylor (i.e. old enough for this to not happen to).  Where was I?  Hot date?  Parties?  No, not even at the library.  My roommate and I were at the university gym, working out with the 5 other losers on campus.  I know it's hard to believe with these eyes + charm, but it's true.

Since all of the sorority girls were otherwise occupied, all of the treadmills were finally available.  Beth and I hopped on two next to each other, and off we went ("off" in a circular not-getting-anywhere kind of way).  This was the age just before iPods, but the treadmill faced a row of TVs, sans headphones.

A commercial for Kentucky Fried Chicken came on advertising a bucket of chicken for something like $12.99 or a 3-piece meal for $2.99.  It struck me as odd because usually as the quantity goes up, the price goes down, but this deal appeared to be going the opposite way.  Naturally, I started calculating in my head the per-piece price to determine the better deal (and maybe, just maybe, write a letter to their accounting department informing them that their quantity/cost ratio was incorrect).

*At this point in the story, my friend Karen interrupted and, in a very serious tone, said, "Stop right there, Ang.  That's embarrassing enough."  *Footnote: I have a friend who also does math in this head when he runs.  Of course, he's an accountant, too, so I don't think that helps my case at all.  : /

All of the sudden, I was looking at my treadmill's dashboard.  As I was thinking, "That's strange.  I'm trying to look at the TV," my gaze shifted to the top of the conveyor belt.  I automatically flung my arm out and grasped for the rail, but my hand instead hit the plastic cover at the top of the belt.  Then my chest hit something hard, I gasped, and I felt carpet against my knees.

And only then did I realize what had happened.

I just fell off of the treadmill.

I just.  Fell off.  The treadmill!

Beth quietly but urgently asked if I was okay.  (She later told me that she didn't want to make it worse by rushing to my side and drawing more attention to me.)  Of course, I was mortified, but nothing was bleeding or cracked.  I semi-casually looked around to count the number of laughing observers, but everything seemed fine.  I decided to play it off by returning to my catapult and slowing down to a walk.  I waited 5 minutes before I asked Beth if she was please ready to go.

By the time we got back to the dorm, we were laughing pretty hard.  She said I looked exactly like a cartoon - my legs shot out from under me and I was launched straight back off that thing before she could blink.

I don't have photographic proof of The Fall, but my roommate Beth will back me up.  Let's just go for broke with a photo from freshman year.

 
Sorry, Beth, to drag you into this.  : )

Surely that's enough.  I mean, you can't top a giant sombrero.

roommates + authentique

Tuesday was my most viewed post everrrrr!  Thanks, y'all!  Here's the conversation Dave and I had about it.

A: So [yesterday] was the most viewed blog.  It was the one about Maddie.  You know what that means...we have to have a baby.

D: So that more people will read your blog?

A: Yes.

As this post goes live, I'm most likely laying by the pool in the back of a rented condo with a splitting side from Beth's woes of pregnancy and Cassandra's tales of her first year of motherhood.

Yep, roommate reunion time!

I was giddy with anticipation last week so I scrapped this photo from last year to tide me over.

 
 
 
Supplies: Patterned paper, die cuts: Authentique. Alphas: Sassafrass. Journal tag, brads: American Crafts. Pen: Sharpie. Thread, ribbon, cardstock.

I lifted this page from Kelly Purkey.  I used my dot trick again for the bottom half of the page.  And I think I already need more of that striped paper.  (Get all of the supplies plus the other three new Authentique lines at Crop Paper Scissors.)

Man, I can't wait.  It's going to be legen-wait for it-dary.

the rest of milwaukee

What's a trip to Milwaukee without a huge party, lots of family time, and hammock shenanigans?

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
There was some debate over my pronunciation of HAM-muck and Judy's pronunciation of hamm-OCK.  Let's call the whole thing off.

 
 
 
And if I had a nickel for every time I heard a Milwaukee native complain about how hot their 85 degree weather was, I'd be on a boat to Barbados right now, away from the 102-degree-with-a-107-heat-index-and-50-percent-humidity-Central-Texas-weather.

 
 
 
 
But seriously.  It was kind of hot.  : )

beignets

When we went to Bastille Days in 2003, one of the few things I remembered was eating beignets with Dave.  Wanting to recreate that sparkling night, we were on the hunt all night for beignets.  And we found them.

 
Beignets are fried dough topped with powdered sugar, similar to donuts, delicious, and a bit greasy.

Dave and I shared one, and isn't he sweet to hold the beignets for me?

 
Well, that's what I thought, but I didn't see what his mouth was doing.

 
That's right.  Blowing the powdered sugar in my face. 

 
I mean, just mean.  Just.  mean.

 
 

bastille days

Last weekend, we went to Bastille Days in downtown Milwaukee.  It's the largest national outdoor French-themed festival in North America.  It comes to downtown Milwaukee every summer for the last 30 years.

 
 
 
 
 
 

This wasn't the first time we've been.

 
[from 2003, a month before we got engaged, when we were head over heels in love.]

It felt a little more magical the first time, but the second time around was still fun.

Except for this...

 
That story tomorrow.  : )

meeting maddie

We finally got to meet our niece, Madelyn Jane.  It was much overdue.

This was our first meeting at about 11 pm.  Of course, she had just  been woken up, but she was so sweet and went right to both of us.

 
We had a sparkling time.

 
 
 
 
 
 

I think she likes us.  : )

throwback thursday: [wink]

Check out this face. 
 
 
 

Me and Stephanie in the second photo, me and my aunt JJ in the third photo.  And yes, that's Miss Piggy on my bathing suit.

I was either:

a. winking, or

b. reacting to my mom's new perm (!)

And check out those chunky thighs!

how to: use ink (part 2/2)

Hi, welcome back.  : )

This inking method is similar to yesterday's tutorial of edging, but the effect is more subtle.  It's still easy, you just need a few more tools and a flat surface.

You'll need paper, ink, a blending tool, and a craft mat (mine is by Ranger, about $20). 

 

Turn your ink pad upside down and tap or press it several times against the craft mat.  This will transfer some of the ink from the ink pad onto the repellant mat.
 

Place your paper next to your ink drops.  Using a circular motion with your blending tool, pull some of the ink onto the edge of your paper.  If the color is too irregular, just keep blending by making little circles with your sponge. 
 

*Do not dab your blending tool in the ink and then press it onto the paper.  This will make a rectangle on your paper, and it won't blend out.  You need to start off of the paper (on the mat) and pull the ink onto the paper.

Keep blending around all edges of your paper.  You can add more and more ink to get a darker color.

Here's the before and after.
 

Notice in the "before" photo how it's hard to see the top edge of the sheet music, but in the "after" photo, it's more defined and finished.

And here's how it looks on a page.  I inked the entire "cherries ripe" rectangle and the cameo piece behind it.  I also inked the edges of the three tags.

 
 
 
 
Supplies: Cardstock: Bazzill.  Patterned paper, pink stickters, butterfly rub-on: Jenni Bowlin.  Floral trim, green rhinestone: Webster's Pages.  Pink ribbon, striped ribbon: Making Memories.  Bakers' twine: We R Memory Keepers.  Green alphas: Sassafrass.  Pink chipboard, journal tag: American Crafts.  Ink: Tim Holtz.  Cherry sticker: October Afternoon.  Rose brad: Girls' Paperie.  Pen: ZIG.  Staples, thread, reinforcers.

See the page and pick up the supplies, including tons of ink pads, refills, and inking tools at Crop Paper Scissors.

Here are a few more examples for good measure.

 
 

Feel free to leave questions in the comments, and I'll do my best to answer them.

Good luck!

how to: use ink (part 1/2)

Hey-yo,

So my roommate Beth asked for a run down on inking after she saw this post.  I'm happy to oblige, but I'd like to add a disclaimer here that I am not an expert on inking.  I dabble.  I think it has to do with the fact that I don't like to get messy.  In any case, I'm happy to pass on the little bit that I know.

AND HEY!  You don't have to be a "scrapbooker" to make use of this post.  You can use these techniques on pages, projects, cards, and even little notes to your sweetie.  : )

The first and most obvious thing you can do with an ink pad is stamp with it.  I'm worse at stamping than I am at inking, and anyway, it's self-explanatory.  The one thing I will say is that when you're applying ink to your stamp, you should only tap your stamp up and down on the pad and not rub it on the pad in a circular motion.  If you press in circles, you'll tear up your ink pad.

Okay, so here's the lesson - how to use ink without stamps {colon} the basics. 

Get your ink pad and whatever you're going to ink.  My favorite ink is Color Box Chalk ink because it has such a creamy (?) finish.  You can ink anything that will absorb the ink (i.e. paper, fabric, cardboard).   

 

I made a super-quick tag (literally less than 5 minutes) for Dave using the cloth tag from a pair of jeans (you know, the one that normal people throw away as soon as they get home), a mini stapler, ribbon, and ink.

Take the cover off of your ink pad and gently slide the ink pad along the edge of your paper, perpendicular to the paper.  You can get more ink on your paper by tilting the ink pad towards the top side of the paper.

 

(Special thanks to Dave for taking this photo.)

 
Paper: Authentique, Uncommon line, Gifted.  Ink: Color Box Chalk Creamy Brown.  Ribbon: Making Memories.  Pen: Sharpie.  Staples.

Here are a few examples of what it can look like.

on a card:

 

on chipboard:
 
 

on journal blocks, photo mats, and even ribbon:

 

on acrylic letters:

 

So inking the edges can make your paper pop, give definition, or make something look aged.

You can also lightly drag the ink pad across your paper.  I like this best when it's subtle.

 
 
 

And that's it!  Go experiment and have fun!

If you have any questions, you can leave them in the comments, and check back tomorrow for everything else I know about inking.  ; )

a darling board

Yet another project using photos of my grandparents.  Man, I'm getting a TON of mileage out of them.  : )

 
Supplies: Patterned paper: Jenni Bowlin.  Alphas: American Crafts.  Flowers: Prima.  Corner: Melissa Frances.  Tag, tissue tape: Tim Holtz.  Clip: Office Depot.  Ribbon, pearl.

I actually picked these photos (grandpa on the left, grandma on the right - Isn't that the cutest curl you've ever seen in your life??) to match the background paper.  I definitely wanted black and white photos and something that was old or at least looked old, and these fit the bill (ha! - Did I just call my grandparents "old"?).

 

I cut my patterned paper to 7x8 and attached a piece of regular cardboard of the same size to the back.  Since my paper looked like an old photograph, I sanded the edges and sanded the top of the paper to make it look like some of the color had flaked off over the years.

Here's the original background paper.

 
Jenni Bowlin Studios, Haven Collection, Betty's House.

Perfect for a heritage page, right?  Here's my distressed edge.

 

Then I just started layering.  I painted the foam letters to match my paper.  I thought the font was perfect, but they were gray.  I mixed two acrylic paints to get my color.

BEFORE:

 

AFTER:

 

Every time I look at this board, I swoon a little.  Love love.

p.s.  See the board in person and pick up everything at Crop Paper Scissors.  ; )

catching up

Hi Friends,

My apologies for a stagnant blog.  This week has been a whirlwind.

I was selected for jury duty which lasted all week.  The only thing I'd like to say is that it was stressful and mentally exhausting which led me to #9 on the list finding a great wine which promptly put me to sleep each early night this week.

I'm putting lots of things together for next week, and I'll have some pages to share after this weekend.  : )

And since no post should be without a photo, I'll leave you with this.

 
Happy weekend.  ; )

i have another new favorite.

Peonies.

I've been staring at them all week.

 
 
    

Not a bad way to spend five bucks.

My only complaint is that I think "peonies" is a hard word to pronounce.  Like "rural."

Sparkling.  ; )

throwback thursday: high school nostalgia

First, thank you to everyone who has asked how my week is going!  It was one of those weeks to just get through, but a phone call and friends really helped.  I'm over the hump and off to a sparkling weekend.  : )

Second, sorry this Thursday post is on Saturday!  I went to bed at 8:30 on Thursday night (and woke up Friday morning feeling amazing) and forewent blogging.

Since I've been homesick for my dear high school friends this week, I thought I'd drag out a few photos.

 
Andrea, me, Bethanie, Karen, Shelley, Katherine.  Project Graduation, May 2000.

 
Marlo, Jess, me, Rita.  Project Graduation, May 2000.

 
Rick, Michelle, Jaime, Jenalie.  May 1998, Coach Marrie's classroom.   Notice the team photos in the top right on the wall and the yearbook in Rick's hands.

As I was looking for throwback photos yesterday, my melancholy turned into nostalgia when I came across these notes skillfully passed in hallways and under desks and riddled with inside jokes.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 

Sigh.  Does anyone else have a sudden urge to make a friendship bracelet? 

Happy holiday weekend!

P.S. I'm trying to get the word "sparkling" into a regular rotation.  I think I can do it.