Paper Whiskers

Today

Happy birthday Eric! Love you. xoxo

 

This is my all-time favorite photo of him, from a few years ago. Dimples! :D

:)

Happy birthday to me!

This was my card from Eric this year. And yep, that's where I found it. :D

"Valentine"

(click on the photo for a closer look)

A bit of catching up. This is the valentine I made Eric last month. Does the brown banner look familiar? :) It's from the same rubon set (Hambly Screenprints) that the Easter centerpiece used. The wings are made by Hambly, as well. I applied them to thick vellum, then cut them out. The heart is a precut piece of chipboard, from the Bare Elements line by Creative Imaginations. It' part of a ring book, so I used the existing hole as the hanger and added the metal washer and ball chain. The main part of the heart was created with a red rose patterned paper, stamped with big black swirls and inked around the edges.

Then I added a coat of crackle glaze (made by Ranger) and let it dry overnight. See where the cracks are smaller and closer together on the right-hand side? Yeah, that's not on purpose. LOL  That's what happens when the glue holding the paper to the chipboard isn't completely dry, and curls up when the crackle glaze dries. That whole half was curled right up the next morning. Frustrating! But, I fixed it with redline tape, inked the heck out of that side, and glued the banner over the worst of the damage.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and Eric liked it, so in the end it was a successful project.

Whiskers: An afternoon in the sun

Despite this being the worst winter in a long time, two members of our little household have been enjoying themselves. Strong, unfiltered sunlight floods our front room for the middle part of the day (on sunny days, obviously), which Kahlan and Edie soak in for as long as they can stand. If Eric doesn't close the blinds (the glare is killer on his monitor), they will lounge in rotation, taking turns in the best spots. From the windowsill, to the back of the chair, to the floor, back to the chair and over and over. With short cool-down breaks in the 'shade' (any non-sunny spot). They flop. They doze. They watch the orange tabby who lives across the way. They fight half-heartedly. They bask.

The photos below were taken one such recent sunny day. Click on them to see close-ups. Enjoy!

----------------------------

It's interesting to see all the different ways the light looked in these first three photos, all taken within the same half hour. Where she was sitting and what she was sitting on, made all the difference.

I just want to reach into the photo and scrunch my fingers through her fur:

The only one I converted to black and white, because there was a distinct red/pink glow reflected from the tree skirt Kahlan was lounging on. It was going to either be impossible or take too long to fix, so I did this instead:

And one more, just because it made me laugh out loud . . .

Merry Christmas to Me!!!

Eric and I celebrated our Christmas today and THIS is what was waiting under the tree for me!! He truly surprised me, as usual. It covers the whole story of how Superman died and the events following, through his return. The first thing I did when I opened it was flip through to the moment he came back to Lois. ::sigh:: I love that page.

And I love my husband. He indulges me in my obsession. ;D

"Summer is made for Lounging"

I think this is probably my favorite picture from this summer. Eric's dimples and Trent's little laugh wrinkles are just... sigh.

This layout was fun to do, for many many reasons. There's exacto work here, that I haven't done in ages; I used bunches of rubons-which I love, and using an enlargement means I don't have to fuss with getting multiple photos to fit.

Supply details: tree paper is from Scenic Route, scroll rubons are from Hambly Screen Prints, and the letter rubons are two different Heidi Grace sets

One Photo and A List

{Trent and Uncle Eric, hanging out in the hammock.}

1. My hair is 10 inches shorter, as of the day after we returned from vacation.

1a. Perfect timing, don’t you think?

2. I’ve seen Transformers 3 times already, and have plans to see it at least once more.

2a. Anyone need a movie buddy to see it? I’m your girl!

2b. Seriously. This summer isn’t quite in the same league as Superman Summer, but it’s pretty darn close!

3. Happiness is:

3a. The tug of toddler fingers on my necklace, accompanied by a little voice: “po-lar bear?”

3c. Pink glasses perched on a freckled nose

3d. A wide open grin that doesn’t seem to care that in a swimming pool, it’s usually better to keep your mouth closed, lest you get a mouth full of water

3e. A good heart that worries about the new puppy’s mommy missing her baby

3f. “Bubble Land”

3g. Schwans ice cream bars

3h. Long talks with sister-in-laws

3i. Bluebirds keeping house

3j. Long naps in hammocks

4. Calvin and Hobbes STILL makes me laugh so hard I cry

5. Number fill-ins beat sudoku any day of the week.

6. I think Lucy is going to have to stay skinny for a while.

6a. It’d be nice to have a digital SLR (so nice!), but for the amount of pictures I’m taking right now, film is fine.

6b. Bummer. :(

6c. But at least Target has cheap developing, and will put them on CD!

7. A .30 cent gas price increase over the lunch hour is ludicrous.

7a. LUDICROUS!!!!!!

8. I have seen many movies lately, but will have to do a movie review post later.

8a. Live Free and Die Hard

8b. Down With Love

8c. Miss Potter

8d. Happy Feet

8e. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

8f. Oceans 13

8g. Man of the Year

8h. Catch and Release

9. Despite the fact that I am not saving up for big purchases anymore, I’m coveting these Copic markers.

9a. Alcohol-based (so don’t smear/dot like water-based)

9b. Blend-able, like Prismacolors

9c. Many, many colors, in such vibrant shades!

10. I read a romance novel while on vacation.

10a. First one in two years, I think.

10b. All-Star Superman, Vol 1 was light-years better.

11. I made a quilt for Tina, with the scraps from the kids’ Christmas gifts. It deserves a post of it’s own, but I’ll just post a link to the album for now.

11a. 5 Quilts album (4 kids quilts and 1 mother’s quilt)

Finally identified:

"At Long Last Love" from the "Sinatra & Sextet: Live in Paris" 1962 concert album (album released in 1994)

I've been looking for this song performance for ages, ever since I watched Return to Me the second time. (The first time I was recovering from the emotional rollercoaster that movie takes you on.) The soundtrack doesn't have this song on it, played during one of my favorite scenes. (When everyone's dancing at the restaurant.)

I figured out which song it was, but every version I could find online sounded different from the one in the movie. And yes, I did actually have the movie going and compared the song tracks to the clips I could find online. No dice. He usually sings it much slower and smoother than the one that is in the movie. So, I gave up the search.

Until this weekend, when I was watching the movie again, and realized I could see part of the CD that the characters are holding when starting the music. Thank goodness for Pause! It's not a clear shot, but the cover definitely had a black center, with a white border. Definitely enough to match, thanks to the Internet! And I found it. I don't want the whole CD, so unless I find a single for sale somewhere, it'll just be in my reference file. But at least I know which version I'm looking for now.

:D

Man, I love research.

Valentine

The card I made for Eric this year. The center panel was designed by Jessica Sprague, and printed on cardstock. I added the lettering (MM glitter sticker letters) and sewed it to the muslin and card. The brass heart in the middle is from my selectively used hoard. I love them and was so happy to see it fit so well. The colors are off, due to the lighting, so it's a bit darker in real life.

"Whiskers"

(as usual, click to enlarge)

A few of the results from the last Sunday morning photo shoot with the furry kids. This time, I had a roll of black and white and decided to play with the macro feature on my zoom lens. It didn't make a huge difference, I don't think, but I like the results.

The layout is what came of my attempt at the latest Photoshop Friday from Jessica Sprague. I started out following along, then got sidetracked and ended up not using the technique at all. I will try again later, because it's a pretty cool technique.

supply details: patterned paper - Rhonna Farrer 2Peas Dec06 free kit; scalloped ribbon - Rhonna Farrer 2Peas Jun06 free kit; tag - Sande Krieger 2Peas Nov06 free kit; 'whiskers' - Onyx font; journaling - Book Antiqua font