Face Off in the Mos Eisley Cantina

I thought it was so cool that they allowed the artists on Face Off to create a character for Star Wars. The winners got their character duplicated Clone Wars style to be put on StarWars.com. I really like the winner (made by Rod Maxwell and Roy Wooley) but the character that came in 2nd place, made by Laura and Sarah, was my favorite:

Does anyone else watch Face Off? What did you think of the characters?

P.S. Laura and Sarah's character photo came from FearNet.

Project Life Week 21

I made this back in June and now I have time to share it with the world. You're welcome.

This week documents a weekend when Corey was sick, a pack walk, working on cum. folders at school, field day, and the first class I taught graduating from 8th grade.

On this page I have another picture from graduation, the last day of school, a pool party at my friend's house, swimming at our house, pedicures for Corey and I, and car repairs.

A closer look...

I downloaded the movie poster for Mr. Popper's Penguins from the internet. I like all the journaling space.

I like using this Project to keep track of how many times I walked the mini pack since my New Year's Resolution was to walk them more. This picture came from the envelope of some junk mail. Free and earth-friendly scrapbook supplies!

This is what my scrap table looks like when I'm too busy to scrap. May is one of my busiest months of the year because of all the end of the year stuff I have to do at school. The "To Make" embellishment is a Flag SMASH Tab.

Now that I'm a Project Lifer I'm always on the lookout for menus and business cards when we're at restaurants. This comment card placed by the door was calling my name -- it's just the right size and has the location in a nice font.

I saved the invitation my friend gave me to her pool party and added journaling. How nice -- it already had lines.

More junk mail. This was Stellaluna's first time to swim with me. She did very well!

I love my car. I've had it since 2006 and this is the first repair we had to pay for. I feel like lucky it's been so reliable, but this came 3 days after my final paycheck for 2 months. I felt stamping the price gave it the impact it deserved.

P.S. Here is Nerd Nest's week 21.

Michael Kors Similes

I can't believe how lucky I got when I googled my favorite simile from episode 2 of Project Runway, Candy Couture. Michael Kors detested Elena's attitude about her dress, of which he said, "To me, she just looked like Rigatoni Mad Max." I thought maybe I could find some cool rigatoni art made by a first grader; instead I found this brilliant movie poster made by a graphic artist just for fun!

Other than the rigatoni mishap, I really loved this challenge! I was dazzled by what the designers were able to create with candy. I wished I could run around like a fool grabbing up candy in the candy shop.

Please visit Hearts and Laserbeams for a good blog post about this episode and all your graphic artist needs!

Michael Kors Metaphors

Season 10 of Project Runway is back and five episodes strong. I'm already behind in sharing Michael Kors's fabulous metaphors and similes. This year I am only going to share my favorite metaphor or simile of the show because I feel I've already demonstrated how craftily he can use them. Also my friend Angi is behind in viewing so I will be careful of spoilers but we know if your outfit is described with a metaphor or simile it's usually not a good thing.

That all being said, behold, my favorite metaphor of the first episode, A Times Square Anniversary Party:

Michael said of Kooan Kosuke's arts-and-crafts-in-a-bad-way dress, "She's borderline Teletubby."

P.S. Gangsta Teletubbies is from HotUKDeals.

Project Life Week 20

I made these in June but have fallen way behind in sharing on my blog. Believe me when I tell you that I am still working on this Project and loving it!

The first page documents watching this season of Glee's penultimate episode, a student passing level Z on his timed tests, discovering the baby bird I'd been watching left its nest, learning how to make a Jeopardy game on my Smartboard, a date night with Corey, a trip to the bookstore, and watching The Preakness. I used arrows to help navigate the page. I usually try to put everything in sequence but the layout worked better out of order this week.

The bird was drawn by a student's brother and I love this Project for allowing me to store little things like that. I had fun using a technology type of handwriting for my Smartboard day. I love this Project for giving me a place to play and experiment with techniques I could potentially use in my scrapbook.

The next page documents getting to stay up late to watch Game of Thrones, a Memorial Day party where I met my friends new puppies, Boba and Jango, a teacher leaving a surprise in my box, an impromptu picnic on South Mountain with Corey and the pack, a collaboration day with my team at school, and a book club meeting to discuss Day of Honey at an amazing Iraqi restaurant.

I couldn't get a clear close-up picture of my collaboration day...it's part of the bag that came with my lunch from Chipotle. I cut out red paper and placed it between the lines so I would have a place to journal. Reduce, reuse, recycle!

Taking a closer look, this day was made with a card I bought on clearance at the book store I visited that day. Super cute and easy! I signed my name at the bottom. I doubt I have my signature documented anywhere and it's something very personal to each of us. But I had to photoshop it out to share here in case someone devious wanted to sell my autograph for money. It's probably worth a lot.

I have a mustache necklace. Ever since I wore it to a meeting one of my colleagues has started leaving mustaches in my box at school. What else could I do with them except share them here?

Lots of t.v. documentation this week...I had to share this moment from Glee because it made me cry. I love that show!

I look forward to The Triple Crown every year, even though this time around my horses always took second.

This picture is from the previous episode of Game of Thrones, but it sums up a big moment in the episode we watched that night. I love this show too!

Can you see me taking a picture of it in the glare?

P.S. You can see Nerd Nest's week 20 here.

East of Denver by Gregory Hill

One reason I selected East of Denver as an Early Reviewer is because the main character's name is Shakespeare Williams. The other reason is he returns home to his dad's farm (east of Denver) to bury his dead cat and finds things amiss. Specifically his dad, Emmett, is suffering from senility and the farm is in shambles. My last Early Reviewer was about a daughter going home because her mom is senile. Am I bracing myself for what may come? I think I just like reading about people with old brains.

Shakespeare is a good kid so he decides to stick around and take care of his dad. They're both broke so they plant a vegetable garden to provide food for themselves. After all, Shakespeare's family has been farming since the Homestead Act. This was one of my favorite parts, just reading about them gardening and fixing up things around the farm.

The core of this story is Shakespeare trying to get his life in order while finding a way to care for his dad, and he is really good at thinking of silly solutions for a very complicated problem. At one point in the story Shakespeare decides to rob the bank with some old high school friends. It makes sense since the man who owns the bank used Emmett's senility against him to buy his Cessna for $20. But, you know, does robbing a bank really make sense?

Gregory Hill provides a lot of humor throughout the story, some of it dark. East of Denver is a good summer read for a few laughs and some pie in the sky moments.

can't make me go

Scrapping the Music has several challenges going right now. I chose to use the song, "Summer Paradise" by Simple Plan featuring Sean Paul as inspiration. The line, "Sunshine under trees" made me think of the time Captain Skippyjon Jones refused to come out of a tiny stream under some shady trees because he was too hot. Who can blame him?

Can't believe it's already been 2 years since that hike, which was only about 3.5 miles total. Back before he had 2 sisters to keep him active that was a lot of exercise. It was also 108 degrees that day, but he finally rallied and made it the final leg. What a funny guy!

Dog Days of Summer

Right when I started following Punky Scraps they went on vacation. Who can blame them? But now they're back and I got to take part in my first challenge with them, which is to use this sketch:

If you know me you know I can't just put 1 picture on a page, so I turned the sketch into a 2 page layout:

left page (the sketch inspired me to add the doggy paper clip by Karen Foster Design which was Corey's favorite detail):

right page:

The sketch suggests some type of paint splatter, which is what influenced me to pick these photos in the first place. I thought of the messy swim party we had when Joe and Jon brought their {giant} puppies over for the first time.

First I sprayed my paper with Tim Holtz alcohol ink (it's called Sail Boat Blue). Then I flicked it with some watercolor paint. I decided slinging paint is fun! I also used my watercolor paint to add some flair to the snips & snails & puppy dog tails badge I cut out of some patterned paper:

I inked the D with a stamp pad because the blue looked a little sad compared to the rest of the layout. I love those Summer Lovin chipboard letters by We R Memory Keepers!

And I want to thank Shazza for sending me the patterned paper by Basic Grey! I used only 1 sheet of paper on both pages by matting the pictures on the left and using the remaining strips for the border only on the right. Bet you couldn't tell!

Since watching NASA Curiosity feed on the internet Sunday night...

I have developed a mini-crush on this guy:

and this guy:

and have started reading this:

I like to imagine Bobak Ferdowsi is Michael Donovan and Steve Collins is Gregory Powell.

This is going into Project Life:

Thought for the day:

P.S. Bobak Ferdowsi came from Raising Rock Star, Steve Collins came from here, and More This Less This came from Hippie Jesus.

Class of 2012

One week ago today Stellaluna graduated from basic obedience. We had to get at least 2 matches in a memory game for her to get her certificate. Even though I suck at memory, she rules at obedience, and by staying for 15 seconds, leaving a treat that was thrown at her paws, and coming to me from 10 feet away she passed! Good girl! The instructor also jokingly gave us the perfect attendance award since the other dogs in our class got sick, had work schedule changes, or showed up randomly.

The best part was getting her more socialized around different people and dogs. I think it really helped her.

P.S. I just realized Caprica graduated on the exact same day last year!