this length of antler is very "in" right now

my favorite car

This month at These Are a Few of My Favorite Things the challenge is to choose any of their past themes to scrap. I chose my favorite car (Carmione like Hermione) because in my school scrapbook I had a page saved to scrapbook the story of when I bought it.

The paper scrap that says Earth Love is a strip I cut off of the bottom of another piece of patterned paper. I was so excited when I found a Prius acrylic stamp and now I got to use it! I also used my library date stamp for the dates. Here's my journaling which I got off of my Myspace blog. Remember Myspace?

6/5/06 Wonder of wonders, my Toyota Prius arrived today!!!

Ooh, it's so pretty and it's like a car from the future.

When I told my class that I was leaving right after school to get my new car they started clapping. It's nice to have my own little group of cheerleaders.

6/6/06 I took my class on a field trip today to the parking lot so they could see my new car! They thought it was very cool (because it is) and there was a general air of excitement.

After going out to my car this evening I noticed it has about 200 little fingerprints all over it now. Pretty cute!

Good Days

The challenge at Scrapping the Music this week is to use "Good Days" by Alain Clark as inspiration. I had never heard the song before and I'm not a super fan, but it inspired me to scrap this 2 year old photo from Chuck E. Cheese's that I've been using as a page holder in my scrapbook. My friend Angi accidentally bought 2 Chuck E. Cheese scrapbook kits (I hate it when that happens!) so she gave me some paper and die cuts to use. Sweet! I was also so happy I got to use my triangle punch to make a banner!

I still have some of the kit left which I can use for the pictures of my nephews which still need to be printed out. Here's a sneak peek because I know you can't wait:

Dolci di Love by Sarah-Kate Lynch

I requested Dolci di Love as an Early Reviewer because I read Blessed are the Cheesemakers, written by the same author, in 2009 and thought it was cute. Dolci di Love did not disappoint.

It all begins with a golf shoe. As Lily checks her husband's shoe size for a birthday gift, she discovers a photo of his other family, the family he has when he is working in Italy. What really stings is that his other family has children, and Lily's marriage is falling apart because of lack thereof.

Once Lily arrives in Italy to cause some drama, the Secret League of Widowed Darners believe they have received a sign that Lily is meant to be with their local hottie, widowed bachelor Alessandro. Through drinking too much wine and baking cantucci at the head Widows flailing bakery, Lily discovers what she truly needs and deserves from life.

I liked that it didn't end in a corny, predictable way even though it's a corny, fun story.

My Ántonia by Willa Cather

I read My Ántonia with my book club but I also get to cross it off my 2011 To Be Read Challenge list (it's been on my shelf since 12/29/09).

This is a beautifully written story told from a man named Jim's point of view as he reflects on his life, starting at age ten when he moved to Nebraska to live with his grandparents after his mom and dad die within a year of each other. The story takes place in the late 1800s when people in the Midwest were pioneers living off the land. Ántonia is a neighbor girl a little older than Jim whose family has immigrated from Bohemia and are struggling at every turn (not unlike immigrants today).

One part that brought back a nice memory for me was when Jim's grandparents sell the farm and move to town. Shortly thereafter Ántonia moves to town as well as a hired girl. "All the young men felt the attraction of the fine, well-set-up country girls who had come to town to earn a living..." I had a friend in college that used to call me "Country Come to Town" since I am a small town girl who is dazzled by simple things. I wonder if my friend got that term from this book?

Although Ms. Cather mastered creating imagery with words, I felt the story lacked real problem/solution plot. It is a snapshot of Jim's growth from boy to man with Ántonia a symbol of America itself, as she creates life from soil and labors to survive in this land of opportunity.

Happy Earth Day!

Today, being the last day before spring break, was field day. Since my class had to rush outside right after breakfast I only got to mention that it was Earth Day with a brief explanation, saving my lesson for the afternoon.

One little girl from my class didn't need my help explaining. While we were waiting between games she came up to me excitedly and said, "I just made a new friend!"

I said, "Really? That's nice! Who is it?"

Then she walked over to a big tree and hugged it!

How cute! I took her picture and it kind of looks like Tree Hugger by DUDADAZE.

outer space fun

I just heard a story on NPR which said that for the next 2 weeks it will be easy to spot the international space station with your binoculars at night! Go here to find out what time it will be in your area.

P.S. I got the space station photo from LibraryThing. This is the caption: NASA Astronaut Steven Swanson took the Firefly and Serenity DVDs with him on Space Shuttle Atlantis' STS-117 mission, which lifted off on Friday, June 8, 2007. The DVDs will permanently reside on the International Space Station as a form of entertainment for the station's crews.

How cool would it be to watch Firefly in space?!

little nubbins!

Yellow.

Last Wednesday it rained and I knew I had a yellow day coming up. Perfect weather for taking pictures of our Palo Verde in bloom!

Close-up (difficult in the wind!):

Thursday was sunny again but the tree was just as pretty:

Green.

I read Anne of Green Gables in high school and LOVED it. I keep planning to reread the series but have never gotten around to it with all the new and exciting books getting in the way.

I liked the movie too. When I was a teenager Richard Farnsworth (Matthew) was the grand marshal of our parade. Afterward we went to the rodeo and he was sitting in the stands! I went up to him and asked for his autograph and told him I loved Anne of Green Gables. I think he said, "That was a good one." He was super nice.

P.S. Ode to Anne of Green Gables is by elloh.

scrappin in the rain

We got some rain this weekend, perfect weather for scrapbooking!

The first page I made was for Scrapping the Music. Their challenge was to use the song "Hanging By A Moment" by Lifehouse for inspiration. My title for our hike comes from the lyrics: There is nothing else.

I had so many pictures to use which made it pretty easy to put together.

At Screen 2 Scrap their challenge this month is to use the movie poster from Singin in the Rain as inspiration. As an additional challenge you could add an umbrella and use groups of 3.

The rain inspired me to scrap the pictures from the Pet Walk I went on in February with Caprica. The walk when we got poured on. The rain was not a glorious feeling but raising money for homeless pets was.

For my groups of 3 I used 3 hearts I cut out of the event's brochure and I also used 3 rainbows: 1 on her coat, 1 on a tag that came with some shoes I bought, and 1 by love, elsie.

I was going through one of my inspiration binders and I found a scrapbook page titled "Becoming Bride" which inspired me to scrap my niece Becoming A Bride.

Caprica's impersonation of Captain

White.

Our principal rented Tron for the school to watch today since we've been working so hard to get ready for testing next week (which Corey said makes her the "best principal ever!"). Anyway, as we were waiting for the movie to begin the DVD menu was on our tv screen and one of my students said, "'Tron' has a consonant blend!"

So watching movies can be educational. I guess we're ready for testing!

And I'm looking forward to watching Tron for the first time on Blu-ray tomorrow at Joe & Jon's.

P.S. I found the photo of the girls in white here. For the record I don't agree with his review.

Lavender.

(not current moon phase)

P.S. The moon twilight is by ploop26 at deviantART.

Pink.

I just noticed it's Spring Colors Week at Poppytalk! I'll join in today and finish out next week. Here's the schedule: Wed - Pink | Thu - Lavender | Fri - White | Mon - Green | Tue - Yellow.

I love these little Harajuku Girls. I first saw them about this time last year in the mall. They're actually perfume bottles. Too bad I don't really wear perfume. I think I like the one with the hearts and the one with the headband the best. Which one is your favorite?

Coincidentally I just went to my friend's blog and she wrote a sad story about the color Pink. Enjoy.

Building the Pauson House

I requested Building the Pauson House: The Letters of Frank Lloyd Wright and Rose Pauson edited and introduced by Allan Wright Green as an Early Reviewer because Frank Lloyd Wright is a Phoenix icon. There are tours, a street named after him, and his buildings are all around town.

Imagine 1938, when the best way to communicate is a letter, but it won't be received in an instant. You have to get your message across clearly, all the while making sure your character comes through. This book has photos, but is primarily a collection of letters between artist Rose Pauson, who the house was built and designed for, and Frank Lloyd Wright. It may sound boring to read about all of the details of the house that Rose wants changed, money haggling, and looking at many revised blue prints, but Rose and Frank's unique personalities are the real stars of the letters and the book. They refer to the group of people working on the house as "The Fellowship," and it really feels like one, even after the house is built and it leaks like crazy. I think the romantic in me really just enjoyed reading letters. ("You wrote her letters?" "Oh mail. It was called 'mail.'" "Stamps, envelopes. You know, I've heard of it.") ...I delighted in seeing the old stationery Rose wrote on when she stayed at the Biltmore, when Frank wrote on Santa Fe "The Chief" stationery, and Western Union Telegrams! I suppose if someone released a book with a bunch of emails and texts it just wouldn't be as much fun.

I'm not spoiling anything by telling you that after 2 years of writing letters (including less than one year of building), Rose and her sister live in the house for a year, rent it out, and on April 11, 1943 the renters leave a door open, the amazingly long curtains blow into the fireplace right next to them, and the Pauson House burns down. All that remains today is part of the chimney, which was moved 200 yards so we could have 32nd Street.

Corey and I went on a field trip yesterday to check out "Shiprock" as it is known by locals. It's the entrance to a neighborhood of expensive houses. It's difficult to find an exact address but it's easy to find. Drive east on Camelback, turn north on 32nd Street, drive over a canal, turn west on San Miguel, and there it is:

That's me with my book, nerding it up. We compared the pictures in the book to the chimney and were able to match up the rocks! The weird thing is that when I got back in the car, my bookmark (the publisher sent the book with a bookmark depicting one of Frank's art glass designs. Whoa. I did not know he designed glass too) was on the page where Rose asks about fire insurance! Creepy.

This book is a real gem. Now I want to read The Women and Loving Frank and go on a Taliesin West tour!

P.S. Rose Pauson? Never heard of her before this. She's not even listed in my little art book. But here is one of her paintings, Trees In A Landscape With An Orange Road:

start growing!

autumn, summer, spring, whatever

Autumn Wonder by Debbie Adams is the inspiration this month at ARTastic:

The extra challenge is to use clouds, trees, and autumn colors.

The painting (autumn!) made me think of the pictures I took from our hike in July (summer!) which I still hadn't scrapped (spring!).

I had this brown paper which was perfect, combining books and nature. Too bad the best designs would be covered by my pictures. First I was going to cut them out with an exacto and switch them which would be time consuming and difficult to match up. Then I remembered we have a scanner now!

I placed 3 of the scanned ones I like over the less desirable images...

...like this.

Voila! I used the leftover paper to make a pocket in the back to keep my journaling in, and to make a tab to pull the journaling out. I printed the journaling from my blog, attached the tab, and added 51 with letter stickers (the hike number in the book).

I didn't get to use any of the pictures that had clouds, but at least I got the trees and brown in there.


I also finished this from our trip to DC in January:

I tried to use a lot of things from the brochure. Also, how excited was I when I found this paper? It has a train theme and a monkey, and my sister-in-law wore a monkey hat on the train!!!