Nothing To Do and All Day To Do It In

I used a photo of the Finding Bigfoot cast on my page. There is hidden journaling on the pull-out tag.

I decided to play along at

 CSI Colors-Stories-Inspiration

this weekend and got my scrapbook page photographed and uploaded for the challenge in the nick of time! CSI has new challenges regularly, so if you miss one there is always another one to inspire you. For this layout, I used the following as my guideline: Case File No. S365-7

CSI requests that you use all five colors in the file, two things from the Evidence list and something from Testimony on your page. (I also used a tiny touch of brown). When I saw that there was a hot air balloon in the Evidence list I was delighted! I was working on a layout using an April sketch from Page Maps and it included a hot air balloon. Notice that the sketch has string, scallops, and clouds too? Serendipity! Instead of using two small pictures, I chose to use one 4" x 6" photo.

I decided to make a layout about the fun things we did this summer. We are homebodies and enjoy unscheduled time, and the months College Girl isn't in class are perfect for stay-cations. Everything on my page is symbolic of our summer activities. 

I used Scrapmatts laser cut chipboard clouds and winged bird

I misted, stamped (branches and vacation quote), and sewed on the background page before I got started with paper layering.

I used Crushed Olive and Peeled Paint Ranger inks to distress the paper edges.

I used a photo of the Finding Bigfoot cast because College Girl and I watched an episode almost every night after Handyman went to bed - she and I are night owls! Speaking of owls, one night a large Great Horned Owl perched at the very tip of our Norfolk Pine in the front yard and we took a picture of it.

 Notice the owl button I included on my layout?

On the pull-out tag (left) I listed the fun things we did over the summer break, which included listening to music from the 1940's and watching 1940's movies. We also tried new recipes, went to Charming Charlie's and Ulta for the first time, had backyard fires, read books, and did ceramic painting. 

One scrapbook page done, a few thousand to go- haha!

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A Book for Me, A Book for You~

I love books and am saddened that our local Borders closed their doors recently. College Girl and I spent many an afternoon there after school. She worked on her homework and then enjoyed looking through the children's section. She would frequently go home with a new treasure tucked under her arm. Now the closest place to purchase books is Costco or Target, but it is not the same. They only carry the newest editions and, of course, there is no place to sit and look through several in order to make a choice. We visit the library occasionally, but more and more often we are turning to the internet for books. One of my favorite 'books by post' source is Bas Bleu. Never heard of it? Here is a bit from their site:

Bas Bleu, Inc. produces a catalog of books and bookish things. We started our company in 1994 and mailed 50,000 copies of our first edition. Now, we mail a million copies five times a year to avid readers all over the country. We read the books and write the reviews right here —but we’re a retailer, not a publisher.

• Our selections are eclectic — and rarely do any of them appear on bestseller lists.
• Our fiction recommendations — some of them classics you may have missed — are not to be found in racks at the supermarket or airport shop.
• Our travel books offer more than lists of hotels and restaurants; they’re the stories of gifted writers.
• Our books for children celebrate imagination and humor rather than cautionary tales.

We sort through thousands of new offerings from publishers to find those books that offer some combination of cleverness, wisdom, imagination, and joy.

BOOK CLOSEOUTS

One of my other favorite online sources is Book Closeouts  where I often find wonderful deals on great books. You never know what they'll have! They have a scratch and dent section  where slightly damaged books are offered at even greater discounts too. I have fun putting names of books or authors in their search box and finding they have just the book I want at a discounted price. For example, I put 'tea' in the search box and found there were 190 selections available today.  Below are two of the fun tea books available, and they also occasionally offer tea stationary and cards~

BOOK CLOSEOUTS

BOOK CLOSEOUTS

Speaking of cards, I made one this afternoon using a Page Maps  card map. Tucked inside is a birthday wish and a Barnes and Noble gift card for my bibliophile friend.

JUNE PAGE MAP~ CARD MAPS 2012

I used:

• Colorbok paper
• K&Co Brenda Walton purse sticker
• yellow bakery twine
• Martha Stewart edge punch
• pink gem and cupcake sticker on the purse

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