I found it!! The perfect fabric for my craft apron! Oh, and guess what???

It has PINK in it!!

I found some gorgeous cloth today and I'm going to use it to make a crafting apron. Yep, you heard right - a crafting apron not a cooking apron.

The apron will be of this style. (See the crafty scissors in the pocket?!)
I got the free pattern for this apron at this really great site!











And, I will be using the fabric below for the apron's 'base'. I have yet to choose the other colors and/or patterns for the pockets, waistband and ties. Any suggestions?
Don't you think this fabric is just 'fun'?!













Can't wait to get started.... I'll let ya know how it goes - maybe I'll even model the finished apron! Scary! ;)

xoxoxo
PattyAnne

My Town, Current Reads and Precept Homework

Hi all,

This past weekend we had a beautiful day on Sunday so my friend Robbie and I headed downtown to the park to hike.
It was gorgeous. The weather was sunny and warm - so unlike the day before when it was windy, rainy and rather COLD. Here are a few shots from 'my' town.











After we hiked, we ate at little Italian restaurant where we both had scrumptious salads with all kinds of greens, walnuts, strawberries, grilled chicken and feta cheese. YUM-OH! Well, that's not exactly accurate -- I had feta -- Rob doesn't like feta so she had shredded mozzarella. I still can't believe she doesn't like feta. I could put feta cheese on everything. :)

So, let's see. What else?? Ummm..... I've been reading. I'm almost finished with Sophie Kinsella's, "Shopaholic Takes Manhattan". I absolutely love this series. It is just so light and fun. At the same time, I'm also reading Kim Edwards', "The Memory Keepers Daughter". Boy this is one book that is hard to put down. I cannot wait to see what happens to each of the characters because Kim has really drawn me deep into their lives. I am sooo waiting to find out what becomes of Phoebee! I'm only on page 147 (out of 401 pages) but I highly recommend this book! If you have read it or want to read it AND discuss it, leave me a comment on my blog and I'll email you the info on joining the fun book club I'm in. We are going to begin our discussion of the book on March 1st.

Oh, one last thing.... I'm going to an Advanced Precept Leader Training class in March and got my pre-workshop homework yesterday. Wowzers. I think I will be busy with this (and lovin' it!). As a matter of fact, you should see my kitchen table right now. I've got all my study materials strewn out on it.

Anyhooo, I will be doing homework in 1 Samuel Chapters 21-23, Daniel Chapters 1-7 and Matthew Chapter 5 verses 1-4. If any of you have ever done any Precept Bible classes you KNOW that I am going to be really, REALLY busy with this probably right up until the day of the class.
Say a prayer for me. :)

xoxoxo
PattyAnne

My American Idol Vote Goes to.......

I love this guy! :)
Love his costume! Love his nerve!

Chattanooga Choo Choo

This past weekend I drove to Chattanooga to visit my daughter, her husband and
my grand-DOGS, grand-CAT and grand-BIRD. (nope, no grandKIDS).
Pictured below is one of those grand-babies. Cute,huh?














While in Chattanooga we visited an awesome nature center. Isn't the treehouse that was within this nature center cool??



















Check out the Nature Center's website here.



Ok, back to my trip..... my daughter and I had planned on doing a bunch of scrapbooking when I got there but she and her dh had been in a car accident on Valentine's Day (the day before I arrived) and she was hurting quite a bit. Thank God that both she and her husband are OK - just bruised.





So anyway between her hurting and worrying about their car (they are a one-car family) she wasn't exactly up for 'scrapping happy'. She did make one 8 x 8 scrapbook page though.

Today they found out that the 2001 Honda Civic would NOT be totaled which is good news! Now they are waiting to be told when the car will be repaired.

Well, all in all, my excursion to Chattanooga was GREAT. I'll tell ya, it sure is heartwarming to see what a nice home your grown daughter has. I'm not talking about how fancy her house is/was or how clean it is/was -- I'm talking about the nice homey home she has made.

She sure makes her momma very proud!

Yikes! Look at the time!! I have to get offa here. I am sooo far behind in my Bible Study for tomorrow since I was out of town. AND, I need to make a few more of the books that I showed you last week on my blog for my Bible Study friends.

Have a grand day! :)
xoxoxo
PattyAnne

OH, and no, we didn't see the Chattanooga Choo Choo this time but someday I will tell you about almost getting smoooshed by a Chattanooga Train.

Really!

We were almost squished!!

Do you know the old rhyme:
Eewy gooey was a worm
Eewy gooey had no home
Climbed upon a railroad track
Eewy gooey never came back....
EEEEEWWWWWYYYY GOOOEY!

My Chaos Layouts

Here they are...FINALLY :) - the layouts I made at my LSS this past Saturday. The photos don't do them justice because you can't see the textures and popups but you get the idea.

OH, they are going to be Soooo GORGEOUS when I add my photos. I can hardly wait! :)

All You Need is Love

I did another tutorial on Scrappersguide.com and LOVE how it turned out. You can see my finished embellishment below.

If you're at all interested in learning how to do some of the fun digital stuff to add to your paper scrapbook pages, you outta go to Linda's Scrappersguide website. She offers many freebies there, BUT, the deal of deals is her monthly video class. (I'm pretty sure that you need to have Photoshop Elements or the full-blown Photoshop software to follow her tutorials.) You can get good deals on Photoshop Elements if you shop around. Anyway, back to Linda's tutorials. I have to say that they are THE BEST on the web. She consistently offers great, highly usable classes. In addition to the video classes you get a complete digi kit each month including background papers, fonts, ribbons, tags, brads, etc. etc. etc.

Anyway, I signed up for the year and LOVE it. I believe it was $36 for a year. What a DEAL. Really, it is!

Oh, Linda also has a free newsletter with tips available! Photoshop users you gotta try it this. Fun, fun, fun!

Here's my first attempt:
,
xoxoxox
PattyAnne

It was a Marathon - 10 Pages in 6 hours!

Saturday I had a ball at my LSS. We made 10 scrapbook pages in 6 hours - during which time we also woofed down our lunch!! These pages are BEAUTIES!!!
Dana and Carmen had beautiful pages all planned and ready for us to cut out and assemble. I think the hardest part was cutting the darn chipboard for one of the layouts. It turned out so cute though!

Usually when I go to one of these crop things I'm just the slowest poke in the group. Not this time! I was able to keep up almost ALL day. Phew!

Well, here are the ten pages we created. A couple of these pages aren't quite done because I didn't know what size to cut my mats since I didn't have any photos with me.

I almost think I'll leave the pages as is and let my daughter put in the pictures SHE would like since I'm making the book for her. What do you think?

Ok, I'll get my photos taken of the layouts in the next day or so so check back. :) Yes, I'm procrastinating!

A & E Play Ball

Both of my nephews are basketball players! I haven't seen them play (they live over 8 hours away from me) BUT, my bro-in-law sent me a few pictures of them in action. :)

I've been learning a new digital scrapping technique from scrappersguide.com and thought I'd use my nephew's photos as my subjects. Sooo cool. Sports pictures look really great 'exploding' out of the picture frames!!

Here are my nephews!! Oh, I deleted their last names - they are TEENAGE boys who probably wouldn't like their aunt plastering their full names on the net! ;o)







Woohoooo, I just thought of something. My son has taken some really cool duck and goose/geese pictures. I bet they'll look really funny waddling outta their picture frames!

Until next time,
xoxoxoxo
PattyAnne

Happy Birthday Evelyn

It was my MIL's birthday last week. This birthday was a BIG one. Evelyn turned 90!! Happy Birthday!!!

I digitally scrapped this picture of Evelyn enjoying her birthday.
I created the ribbon and the hearts using tutorials from scrappersguide.com
The letters were free from Marie Stones at http://www.freedigitalscrapbooking.com
I used the tutorial on Jessica Sprague's site (Photoshop Friday #15) as a clipping mask refresher. The background is my creation.

Well, Eve's birthday was a lot of fun. We (a group of 6) went out to eat dinner. (Eve had sirloin and I had Mediterranean Chicken.) After dinner we headed back home to Eve's for cake. Since Eve found out last year that she is diabetic, we had a sugar free cake. It was made using a purchased angel food cake, sugar free cool whip mixed with sugar free pistachio pudding and pineapple. It might sound kind of 'yucky' but it is actually VERY good!




Well, thanks for stopping by!!
xoxoxo
PattyAnne

4 x 6 Notecard Books

Another sunny Sunday... a sunny Super Bowl Sunday.

I don't really have a favorite Super Bowl team this year so I guess I'll just pick who I want to win by their "outfits". When in doubt, this is ALWAYS a good way to choose your team LOL. Ask my dh, that's what I do!! ;)

Yesterday was a busy scrapping day for me. I came across directions for making a simple book using 4 x 6 inch lined cards and thought, "Hey, these books would make fun gifts for my Bible study buddies". See, when we do our Precept Bible study we are supposed to mark various key words in our Bibles AND keep track of how we mark them so we can be consistent throughout our Bible marking.

For example, when we mark love, we put a red heart on the word. Not too tough, right? But what about if you also have to mark faith, trust, prayer, gospel etc. etc. etc? How do you keep track of all those markings?? Well, that's where my little 4 x 6 card books will come in handy. We can keep track of the way we mark these 'key words' in our booklet and just refer to them as needed!

So, are you wondering what the books look like? I think they turned out really cute! I used the Bind-It-All to bind the books and, oh, hey, can you see the stitching on each cover? I got out my sewing machine to add the stitching! I love them. I hope my buddies do too!

Ok, I'll be right back. I have to go take the photo! ;)

I'm back. Here they are!

Digital Scrappers - Create a Clipping Mask in Photoshop

This tutorial shows a really cool way to create an embellishment. After following the tutorial, print out the shape on card stock and then attach it to chipboard and then sand and/or ink the edges of the chipboard piece. I may make a video showing this technique.

Calling all digital scrappers - How to create cool text for your scrapbook page

I found this on You Tube today. This lady shows a really cool way to make text for scrapbook pages. While I don't really care for what she has done, she DOES demonstrate an excellent technique! Can't wait to try it!

Well, it was another Wednesday morning at the gym. Ginny (my once a week trainer) worked me really hard - I mean HARD. Could it have been because I was about 10 minutes late for my training (I overslept) and Ginny was punishing me?? :) Nah, it's good - I need it!! I'll tell ya what though, when I awoke this morning and looked at my watch, I realized that at that VERY moment (8am) I SHOULD have been on the treadmill doing my 5 minute warm-up. Oops. Sorry Ginny! Anyhoo, I am really a morning person and basically NEVER sleep in until 8am -- I wonder if my body knew it was a "ginny day" and it was trying to hide?!

Well, *huff puff* I made it through the workout *huff puff* and then headed on to Bible Study. We have a fabulous group of ladies in our study from all different backgrounds. (This particular group of ladies has been meeting for years!) Today marked week one in the 1st Thessalonian Precept Upon Precept (Kay Arthur) study.

After the study (we actually got done about an hour later than usual because - well, you know... we like to gab) we headed out to eat at a great little coffee shop. This shop serves tasty, HEALTHY food. I had a spinach and feta cheese quiche, a cup of chicken gumbo soup and some fresh fruit (orange slices, a pineapple slice and some grapes).

After lunch, we headed across the street to a 'new to us' scrapbook store. It was larger than the one I usually go to BUT not nearly as nice. I AM partial to MY LSS. Have I told you how much I love it?! Hey, Dana (the owner of MY lss) even mentioned me in her blog. How cool is that? :) Hi Dana and Carmen!

Ok, I finally made it home and am now working(except for these few minutes to write this). I guess I better work tonight to make up for today!!! You know.. I do love my job. I especially love the blogs that DK and I 'man'. DK does the writing... Oh, I'd give ANYTHING to be witty like her!!! She is SO funny. Her blog entries are a pleasure to read. They make me LOL a LOT. Her PERSONAL blog is listed on the sidebar (A Flyover Blog). Have a read!

Guess I better quit yacking and get back to work....
Have a grand Wednesday!!
xoxoxoxo
PattyAnne

PS. Yesterday was my MIL 90th birthday. I made her birthday card - I even got out the old sewing machine and zig-zagged on it. So darn cute!!

Happy Sunday

I went to the 'crop' at my local scrapbook store Friday night and had a ball. It is so much fun to sit around creating with all the creative people who come not to mention the fact that Dana and Carmen just make the shop a place you LOVE to hang out!! They are just such upbeat positive gals. Oh, and did I mention that I LOVE the decor of their shop. It's sooo PINK!

Well, Camen showed me how to make the covered letters as promised. I think they turned out REALLY GREAT!! Here are a couple:




I also made this page for the 31 page LOAD challenge while there.






I just finished making this digital page of my sweet, SWEET pooch (my page was inspired by one done by Valjs). This is Codie. She has lymphoma. My vet thought that she would have died 3 years ago but she is hanging in there. She makes me smile. :o)



Ok, enough chit chat for now. I've got lots of stuff to do so I'm off!

xoxoxo
PattyAnne

Elizabeth Irvine

I found out about this lady today!! I'm going to have to watch more of her videos. She also has a guided relaxation audio every Friday here.
You can subscribe to her via iTunes too!

Watch her here. Below is part 1.

Another page for the LOAD challenge

This is my 18th layout submitted for the LOAD (lay out a day) challenge at bigpicture scrapbooking. This means that since today is the 24th, I am 6 layouts behind!!! Hopefully I will get a few extra pages done tomorrow at the crop.

I got it!!!

My new ATG tape gun has arrived. I think I ordered it on a Friday and I had it by Tuesday. Wow! Great service from FRAMINGSUPPLIES.COM

I am glad that when I ordered the gun I also ordered a reel (not sure what you call it) of tape because the gun doesn't come loaded with any tape.

Anyhoo, check out how they packaged the gun! Yes, that is EIGHTEEN feet of bubble wrap!! I wonder if they ran out of packing boxes or if they always package their shipments like this!?
Needless to say, the product made it to my house in perfect condition and....it works like a charm!! I'm so glad I got this gun!! I can't wait to take it to the crop tomorrow!

Wooohoooo! When I awoke this morning I checked my email and happily discovered that my new tape-ish gun had been shipped and was due to arrive on my doorstep later TODAY!
Ain't life grand. :)

Oh, I returned the faulty tool (GlueGlide Max) to my LSS today and Carmen and Dana (owners of store) were great. They were all set to give me my money back - no questions asked (I wonder if they've had other guns returned?) but I told them I wanted to do a little shopping first.

Well, like I said, I returned the gun BUT I bought a TON of cardstock in its place. Oh, I bought lots and lots of luscious colors. Ewww... I don't usually call cardstock luscious but, hey, I'm trying to use some new adjectives here LOL. Soooo, luscious they are!

Ok, back to my shopping - I also bought some great chipboard letters and embellishments. Carmen showed me how much fun it is to cover these teensy, weensy chipboard shapes with pretty paper.

Here are the steps:
1. First you cover the itty bitty chipboard letters with glue or double stick tape.
2. Then you lay the paper on top of the glue-covered the chipboard letters
3. THEN you cut around the whole mess with an exacto knife
4. Then you sand the edges of the paper covered chipboard and
5. THEN you ink the edges.

Sound fun?? Well, the way Carmen described it made it sound like it was soooo much fun! When she showed me a couple of sample letters. I was drooling. I want letters like those on MY scrapbook layouts!! You know what? I not only bought all the chipboard letters and the paper to cover them but I also bought the six-pack (I think) file tool set. You gotta have a file tool set to file your letters (Carmen told me).

Well, tonight when I'm watching American Idol I think I'll have a go at my chipboard pieces.

Yesterday and today I made digital scrapbook layouts for the online LOAD challenge at bigpicturescrapbooking.com.
Have a look:



Guess that's about it for now. I've got a log burning in the fireplace and I'm kicked back in my recliner waiting for the doorbell to ring signaling the arrival of my new glue-ish gun. Dinner should be on the way - takeout from a Japanese Steak House
xoxoxo
PattyAnne

UPDATE: It is 6:15 and my tape gun delivery has not arrived yet! :( I hope it comes soon!

Gym, LSS + Comfy Pants :)

I went to the gym early this morning. Did my usual (30 minutes of cardio while watching Regis and Kelly) and then both the machines and free weights.
Afterwards I took a shower at the gym thinking I would leave there and go directly to my LSS (local scrapbook store) to return THE glue gun mentioned in a previous post.

Well, when I got to the LSS, the doors were still locked. Dang. So, I came home, ate lunch, popped an ibuprofen (my old body is already aching - that's what happens when you get to be MY age!) and am now kicked back in my recliner with my laptop. I know.. I know... I need to get to work. I will. Lest you think I'm a slacker, I DID work for about an hour this morning from about 6:30 - 7:30. Oh, did I tell you I have THE best job! I work outta my house which means I get to roll out of the bed and head right to the 'office' ... in my pajamas!!! I prefer to call them my 'comfy clothes' since I can be found in them at all hours of the day (and night). You know the pants I'm talking about - those cotton, elasticized waist and/or drawstring pants that they sell at Old Navy. Oh, they probably sell them everywhere but my sister usually gets me a pair or two of really cute print ones from Old Navy. One year she got me a pair with REALLY big shamrocks all over them since my birthday is on St. Patrick's Day. (My mom says my name woulda been Lorraine had I not be born on St. PATTY'S Day.)

Well, I guess it is time for me to get to work or you will start to call me a slacker.

I'll have to go to my LSS later. Besides needing to make my return, I really want to buy some solid color brazill cardstock!! I think I'll buy some PINK!!! Yep, definitely pink!!

Later!
xoxoxo
PattyAnne

I love lazy Sundays!

Today was a lazy day for me.:) I just LOVE days like this! Don't you?

I kicked back, relaxed and read some of my current book, "Shopaholic takes Manhattan". What a fun, light book!! I am loving it. The story (near the beginning of the book) of the lilac shoes and the clementine shoes was so funny that I HAD to walk around the kitchen reading it aloud to my husband as he ground the beans for his morning cuppa!! I'm sure he apprciated it ;) Too funny!! I've gotta tell you, though, the chick in the book does remind me of someone I know....no, not me....but someone I know VERY well -- someone who shall remain nameless. ;)

While in this relaxation mode, I also got caught up on listening to some of my favorite podcasts. Here are a few podcasts I listen to (in no particular order). Yes, I hear you.... I AM a nerd.
1. Diva Craft Longe
2. Geek News Central
3. Photoshop User TV
4. Layers TV
5. Fitness Rocks
6. ScrapHappy

Around three this afternoon, David (hubby), Aaron (son) and I went on a hike to a local botanical garden. We had planned on using our time there to click off some photos but it was actually way too cold. Well, I clicked off a few (exactly three!) photos for a digital scrapbook page. (I needed to upload another scrapbook layout page to Lain's get a LOAD of this challenge over at bigpicturescrapbooking.com).

Here's my digi-page:


Well, tomorrow I will be taking my GlueGlide Max gun back to my local scrapping store.
Wish me luck. Actually, they (Dana and Carmen) are WONDERFUL. I am sure that I will not have a problem returning the 'sorry' tool.

OH, I almost forgot! I promised a recipe post this time. This dish was REALLY delicious. (I got it from Becky Higgins' website). Here it is:

GARLIC CHICKEN FARFALLE

16 oz. Farfalle pasta
1 c. heavy whipping cream
3-4 chicken breasts (boneless, skinless)
2 to 3 cloves garlic, crushed OR garlic salt (I do a spoonful of crushed garlic)
1 Tbsp. pepper*
1/2 c. butter
1 lb. bacon, crumpled**
1/2 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
1 (12 oz) Lawry’s mesquite marinade with lime juice

*Seems like a lot of pepper, but it has a wonderful flavor when everything mixes together. If you're apprehensive, do less pepper. You can always add more.

**We like to cook our bacon in the oven (400 degrees, convection). Way less messy. And it's crispy every time. Time varies, so you just have to watch it. I think it's usually around 30 minutes. Allow to cool and then crumble,

[ directions ]

Crock pot chicken and bottle of marinade on low for 6 hours. Pull marinated chicken out of the juices, allow to cool a little bit, and shred (I pull it apart). Set this aside. About a half-hour before serving, boil the pasta. In a small saucepan, melt butter, add garlic, whipping cream, pepper, parmesan cheese, and crumpled bacon. Whisk together on low heat for 3-4 minutes. In a large bowl, pour over cooked, drained pasta, add chicken and stir through. Sprinkle a little bit more shredded parmesan cheese on top.


Ok gotta run!!
xoxoxo
PattyAnne