A Little Scrapping and a Few Scrappy Cards

I have not posted any scrap pages in awhile, and since I just finished a few pages I thought I would post them along with a few of my other recent pages. I have a few cards at the end, 

made using my layout scraps. 

This first lay out is about our chickens. They have been busy this spring laying eggs, so we have cooked up lots of dishes to use them up. Creme Brulee, Tapioca Pudding, Lemon Meringue Pie, Quiche, Devilled Eggs, scrambled eggs, and fried eggs. Some of the girls really get cackling when they lay an egg! All pattern papers are Basic Grey.

This layout is about Father's Day, and my son's taking over the grilling duties for dad! A mix of pattern papers, mostly scraps! Crate Paper, Sassafras.

The next three layouts are made from an older paper line from SEI, Dill Blossom.
I love this paper line!
Both layouts are from my trip to Southern California with my sister Lou. The first layout is about the girls day out shopping with my sister and my niece Jennifer. We checked out some great decor stores that day.
And topped it off with a nice lunch in Laguna Beach.


I have been to many of the California Missions, but this trip was the first time to Mission Santa Barbara. In fact my first trip to actually stop in Santa Barbara. I had been through SB many times on the way north and south, but never had actually stopped to see the town or mission.

I had lots of photos of the mission and decided one, two page layout was not enough, so I also made another two pages to hold all the paper and journaling.
 

After I finished these two layouts, I took some of my scraps already on the table and
made these three cards.

The first was cut from a solid piece of the Dill blossom paper. I punched one edge of the card with a Fiskars punch.and added these fussy cut flowers, cut from more of the paper.  The "Hello" sentiment is from Stampin' Up.

The second card uses more fussy cut leaves from the Dill Blossom papers, and I stamped a Close to My Heart sentiment stamp and punched it out with a Stampin' Up label punch.

The last card uses more scraps from Dill Blossom, a border punch from Martha Stewart and a stamp from Autumn Leaves. I colored in the stamp image with color pencils and cut and framed the image with a  Spellbinders die.

Thanks for checking out my lastest craftyness!

It has been over 70 years!

Sunday, my hubby, my sister in law Joanne and I went on an adventure.

I had seen a news story late last week on our local CBS affiliate KPIX. They had gone to Yosemite National Park to do a story about our lack of rain and snow this winter. We have not seen rain here in northern and central California since October, and this is our rainy season. 

No rain or snow means no snow pack in the Sierras, California's main source of water for much of the state. It is so dry, that there is no snow on the Tioga or Sonora passes, which are usually closed between November and May, or even later, depending on the snow fall. They were both open in January, something that has not happened in over 70 years. 

And that meant that many parts of Yosemite Park that are usually buried in snow in the winter and inaccessible were open. Including Tenaya Lake. Not only could you visit frozen Tenaya Lake, the lake it self was not covered under many feet of snow. 

People were skating, picnicking on the lake ice, even playing impromptu hockey games. I thought it would be fun to take a day and go visit the park and lake after I saw this news story. I did not know my sister in law had seen this same news report also.

On Saturday, we were chatting and she mentioned she was going to go to Yosemite on Sunday. I asked why and she told me about the news report she had seen. I told her I had seen it also and I would go with her, if she wanted company. When we talked to my hubby, he said he would like to go
along for the ride too. 

So Sunday morning we got up early and headed out on our adventure.
I had packed us a picnic lunch to eat at the park. Many of the concessions in the park had closed down for the winter, as usual, not knowing the winter weather would be arriving so late! It took about 5 hours to get to Yosemite and then another hour or so to get to Tenaya Lake, with a few photo stops in between. 

 A view of the back side of Half Dome from Olmstead Point.
Beyond Half Dome is the famous Yosemite Valley. 

Perched on a cold granite wall at Olmstead Point. We might not have had much rain or snow, but the winter cold had arrived anyway.

From Olmstead Point you can see Tenaya Lake.  

Here I am out on frozen Tenaya Lake. 

Frozen sold from shore to shore. The sounds coming from below the ice sounded like whale songs. It was very cool being able to visit the lake and knowing that it may be another 50 years before we have a  winter like this again.

After we left the lake we decided to continue on over Tioga Pass, passing Toulumne meadows. We decided not to head back down to Yosemite Valley, but go the Tioga pass route and head up to the Sonora Pass. It was cold and windy at the pass, and sadly barren of snow. 

We headed down the pass to Hwy 395 to travel north to go over  Hwy 108 and the Sonora Pass, another pass over the Sierras not usually open after October, until May. 

When we got to Hwy 395 we stopped at a vista point to view Mono Lake and eat our picnic lunch.  

After lunch we headed up Hwy 395 to Hwy 108 and started up the Sonora Pass. Because this road is less traveled than Tioga, it is much more narrow and winding. But full of beautiful views! I can't imagine making this trip by horse and wagon!

After we traveled over Sonora Pass we headed down to the central valley and on to home in Sonoma County. It was a long day of driving, about 500 miles in 15 hours. But a chance to get away for the day and experience something we might not see again in our life time, 

was worth the long but beautiful drive. 

Rain is forecast this week which means snow in the Sierras and the chance to make this trip at this time of year will be gone. 

So long 2011, Hello 2012

2011 was a good year, 2011 was a bad year.

Mostly good, as all of my family is healthy, we have a safe, comfortable home and I started my blog!

The bad is that I lost my full time job in September and though I have not found a new one, we are able to still live comfortably and I have enjoyed a bit of a work break after 32+ years of working.
I have looked for work but have not found anything yet.

The following 12 photos are snippets of our lives this past year. Not necessarily the best or worst, but a bit of something from each month.

January

New Years Day, 2011. All around the table for dinner. Bill is not wearing a shirt as he had surgery (shoulder replacement) just 3 days before. 

February

Snow, snow, snow!! It seldom snows here in Occidental, so flakes that last a bit on the table are something to get excited about :)

March

Nothing much going on this month but I did craft this Lucky Day wall hanging from 

my vintage supplies. 

April

My hubby and I went to Petaluma to check out the spring Antique fair and sale. Found  a few treasures, but it is always fun to see the value of things I already own! 

May

Scrapping with some friends on the Russian River. A beautiful spot to craft, chat and relax. 

June

Family reunion time! My hubby's family celebrates with a reunion here on the ranch every year, but my family, not so often. We should though, because we had a great time!

July

We had lots of fun activities going on in July, but I think Henry and I enjoyed a Giants game at AT&T park the most. Especially as the Giants won!

August
August was a quiet month, I worked a lot. But we did take time to help Aunt Joanne celebrate her birthday. Happy Birthday Joanne! 

September

Since my job ended in September and I had been working a lot the last few months I decided I needed a real vacation. So I went up to my sister's in Oregon for a week to shop and play. 

October

I was off work just about three weeks when my old employer called me and asked if I could go to Boulder, CO and help out for a week. A free trip to Colorado, sure!

November

My friend Jenny was expecting a baby and our friend Heather and I hosted a shower for her with all our scrappy, crafty friends sharing in Jenny's joy. Jenny was due on Jan 2nd, but her sweet Isabel could not wait that long and she arrived on December 15th, a healthy bundle of JOY! 

December
December is always a busy month, with all the holiday activities, decorations and baking. One of my favorite things to do is bake goodies to share with friends and family.
One of my favorites is decorating sugar cookies with my boys.

Right now there is less than three hours until 2012. I hope the new year brings
everyone good health and happiness.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Where does the time go??

When I lost my job in mid September, I thought "wow, I will be able to get so many things done, have so much time to craft" Ha! I seem busier than ever and not much time to craft!

Between traveling for fun and for work I have been home all of 4 days in the past three weeks. 

My house is a mess, I have not been able to craft much, except for the weekend getaway in my last post! 

I had gone to visit my sister Lou in Oregon, for a week.

I came home Sunday for 3 days and then left for my scrapping retreat on Thursday until Sunday. 

Came home from that on Sunday morning.

Emptied my suit case and filled it back up to leave early Monday to fly to Boulder.

I flew home the following Saturday and finally crashed on Sunday.

On Monday I cleaned a bit, painted my old green bookcase that I moved out to make way for my new red cabinet I bought at Ikea to house my scrapbook albums.

I painted it black to go in my scrap room to replace my old wire cubes.
And since my scrap room is a mess, this is all you will see of it for now.

Tuesday was spent cleaning as I had not been home much lately and prepared for some overnight company. My nephew in Bakersfield had come to San Francisco on Amtrak and would be riding his bike from SF to my house that afternoon. A 60 mile ride on back country roads and some scary city riding. He is braver than me! Since he was visiting I invited my next door cousins over for dinner.
A great evening with family!

On Wed I got up at 5:00 am to leave for the city (SF) for a job search program. The third trip to the city for this program. The first trip I only made it halfway as traffic on 101 was a mess! The second trip, I made it with two minutes to spare! This time there was no traffic so I had an hour wait at Starbucks. It was only 4 hours long so that left me time to walk to Union Square and have lunch with my sister Sally. She works at Britex Fabrics so I also had a chance to shop. Mostly window shop as fabric at $50 a yard and up is not fabric you buy just because it is pretty!

Thursday I had more company, as my 3 Stampin' Up friends and I got together to craft and share ideas. Since it was my turn to host, I made up two sample projects for all of us to craft.

A fun way to spend the afternoon! After it was time to go to my son's football game.

Today was a day to relax. I finished up my ATC swap that I am participating in and will mail them off to my fellow ATC swappers. Artist Trading Cards have been around awhile, but this is my first time to join a swap. I have been in other swaps (circle journals, cards and charm swaps). I am looking forward to seeing all the great artwork I will receive!
And now more football tonight. Tomorrow I hope to do nothing! Or at least just what I want to do :)

Sunday I will be heading to Tomales for their annual Flea Market. I hope to find a treasure or two! 

Crafty Weekend

This lovely view is taken from the deck of the vacation house my girlfriends and I are renting for a weekend of crafty fun! I love my Bodega Bay retreats and the fun group of crafty girls that share this weekend with me once or twice a year.

I may only be 10 short miles from home, but it seems like a million miles away from the chores and duty of regular life!

I will be crafting from Thursday afternoon to Sunday morning. So much more fun when you share the time with girls who "get" your crafty, artsy ideas!

This lovely view of Bodega Bay is such a nice addition to the weekend. Need a stretch? Walk out to the deck to view the ocean and listen to the waves, gulls and peaceful surroundings. Too bad the house next door gets in the way of the almost perfect view.

Hopefully I can post some of my scrappy pages I create through out the weekend!

Girls road trip

This past week I headed up to Oregon to visit my sister in Sam's Valley and a girls road trip to Portland. 

I drove up to Lou's on Sunday,  and we headed up to Portland on Monday. We had no set plans so we could stop when ever we wanted. Being a Monday, many of the antique and vintage shops were closed, but we found a few in Aurora and I found a couple of treasures. 

Our first stop in Portland was Fabric Depot a huge fabric store. We only have JoAnn's here in Sonoma county. I found several fabrics for some upcoming projects and gifts I want to make. 

Our next stop was Powells Books. It is a huge store and you can get lost in there for hours and we did!

After a quick dinner we looked for a hotel downtown, but all were full. We found a room by the airport and Ikea, and since that would be our next stop we stayed there. 

In the morning after breakfast at IHOP, we hit IKEA. I was looking for a cabinet or bookcase to hold my scrapbooks. I found one, with glass doors that will hold them perfectly and protect them from dust. Now I just have to build it!

Our next stop was Edgefield. An old county poor farm turned into a pub, hotel and gardens and much more. 

The herb garden was full of late summer blooms and very pretty.

We stopped in Gresham, Troutdale and several other spots and then headed home to Lou's. 

On Wednesday I went with my sister to the Antelope Social Club pot luck luncheon. 

Some of the ladies have been meeting for over 40 years!

After the luncheon we stopped at a few stores in Shady Cove. One store, Shady Kate's has this tree outside filled with ties. 

After we stopped in Eagle Point at the Butte Creek Mill where the water driven mill has been grinding grains for over 130 years. I remember visiting this mill for years on my trips to Oregon. 

 On Thursday Lou, her friend Aleta and I headed up to Grants Pass for lunch at Taprock. It is right on the Rogue River, a beautiful view!

After we ate we headed across the street to ShopRiverRock.  A nice day out!

Anybody lose their keys? 

On Saturday, Lou's friends Aleta and Ida came over to craft and learn some new paper crafting ideas. 

I had brought some supplies with me to craft some Halloween ornaments for my Halloween tree. I will post those when I put up my tree and Halloween decorations. 

Sunday I headed home with my loaded truck and memories of a fun week.