Layers and Layers

I'm obsessed with layering right now.  Thanks, Jen Jockish for being a GIANT inspiration in this realm.  My pages are getting fat and are going to make album storage even more of a nightmare than it already is! 

That said, today's layout is probably my very favorite of all time.

Whack a Mole

 

I started out the the chevron mask from Studio Calico for a very subtle effect behind my paper layers.

 

 

These star wood veneer are to DIE for.  I want to use them on everything now!

 

 

I was happy to pull out a couple of my stamp sets for this layout.  I always forget they are there!!  And how cute are those arrow paperclips??

 

Washi is pretty much a staple of mine on every layout.

 

I've had some doilies lying around and have been using them on a bunch of layouts lately.

 

 

Supplies:  patterned paper - Studio Calico, October Afternoon, Echo Park; letter stickers - Pebbles, October Afternoon; wood veneer - Studio Calico; flair - Ormolu; stamps- My Mind's Eye, Studio Calico; notebook tag - Studio Calico; die cuts - American Crafts, Elle's Studio; tape -  Bazzill, Freckled Fawn; buttons - My Mind's Eye; brad - October Afternoon; mask & spray ink - Studio Calico; ink - Ranger (Jenni Bowlin & Tim Holtz) other - doily, twine, pink tag

Thanks for reading!

Herringbone Arrows

I wanted a fun accent for this silly layout about my girlfriend's freakish ability to always beat me at air hockey. Or maybe I just have a freakish knack for losing...hmmm....something to consider!

Air Hockey Queen

 I love this herringbone pattern paper from Echo Park's Everyday Eclectic collection and thought to myself: "hey! I can cut some arrows out of this stuff!". So cut out arrows I did. I added a little bling to each one in the form of a variety of Doodlebug pearls.

 

 

I don't think I've done a layout in the past two weeks that didn't feature some sort of tin pin or flair.  I absolutely love these little guys!  I think they are so cute and give a little bit of pop to the page.  These two buttons are from Ormolu, one of my favorite recent discoveries.  Everything that put out is just awesome and fits my style perfectly.

 

 

 

Supplies: patterned paper & stickers- Echo Park; letter stickers - Basic Grey; pearl accents - Doodlebug Designs; flair buttons - Ormolu

Thanks so much for reading!

October Afternoon Obsession

Hi all! Happy Labor Day to my fellow Americans.  I hope you are also enjoying a day off today!  I've been super MIA due to school starting back up. For those of you that don't know, I teach third grade. Teachers went back a couple of weeks ago and the kiddos came back last Monday. I really want to get back to my regular blog features with some consistency, but as I'm getting back into the swing of things, I'm just going to post a few layouts these next couple of weeks.

If you are a regular reader at all, I've no doubt you know that my absolute number one favorite scrap manufacturer is October Afternoon.  I love all their papers and little bobbles and thingamajigs and I think it's pretty evident on this layout.  If I were to assign a percentage, I'd say this one is 85-90% OA's 9 to 5 line.  I also have to say it is a rare, rare, RARE layout that I don't use at least one thing from OA.

Now that I've gushed about my adoration of this company's products, here's my layout.

Jimimiraffe

This layout features a little toy that Lisa and I acquired with our ticket winnings at a trip to Dave & Buster's a couple of years ago.

I had so much funning layering these papers a la Jen Jockish!  The vast majority of which are from October Afternoon's 9 to 5 collection.  I also threw some Bella Boulevard, Echo Park, Basic Grey, and Cosmo Cricket in there for good measure!

 

I used lots of circle shapes in this layout.  Most of them from Ormolu or October Afternoon (surprise, surprise!)

I spent lots of time inking the edges of pretty much every piece of paper on here!  lol  I used some Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tea Dye.  I've had it for at least 7 years and was concerned it would be all dried out.  Nope, it was juicier than most of my newer ink pads. 

 

My new embellishment obsession are the little wood veneers from Studio Calico.  I've collected a variety of these from their kits over the past several months and am using them on pretty much every layout I do lately.


 

 

Supplies: patterned paper - Basic Grey, Echo Park, October Afternoon, Studio Calico; die cuts - October Afternoon, Ormolu; wood veneer - Studio Calico; flag, letter stickers - October Afternoon; flair pin - Ormolu; spray ink - Studio Calico, October Afternoon

Thanks so much for reading!

Scraplift Tuesday

 

Hey everybody, I'm trying out a new feature called (as the title of this post suggests) "Scraplift Tuesday".  This will be when I share a layout I created based on another layout I have seen.

The first awesome layout I found in the Two Peas gallery was created by mmspiker.  Here's some linkage to her blog post about her layout, Cathedral Quilt.

I love how she featured her photos on a paper quilt background.  I knew I wanted to somehow recreate that and ended up going with a number of overlapping scallopped circle punches and this is what I came up with:

Sugar & Spice

Thanks for reading!!

Adventures in Ireland Part Two

So I shared my Top Ten yesterday and really it just didn't cut it as far as all the cool things we got to go, see, and do.  So here are a few more highlights for your viewing pleasure.

Hook Head Lighthouse

We didn't get to venture in, because by the time we got there, they were closed up for the night. But man, the roaring sound of the surf and the gorgeous view made it totally worth our while.

The "Freak Waves" are my favorite part of this sign.

The Kennedy Homestead

Well, we tried, but after 30 minutes of driving down the skinniest little road you've ever seen, we were terribly disappointed to find it was closed for the season.

The Rain

It rained and rained and rained and rained. I think we had 3 sunshiney days the entire 5 weeks. Maybe 4. But the company I kept made it all worthwhile. Plus, we didn't let some measly rain stop us!

We pretty much took these two umbrellas with us everywhere we went and they can be seen in many a photo taken in many a locale.

Nights Out

We went out several different times during my visit. I was introduced to an amazing beverage called Tia Maria. And I drank a lot of wine. Some nights, too much wine.

Our first official night out in Limerick of 2012!

White Russians at the Red Cow Moran Hotel in Dublin.

We're looking a little like we've had one too many nights out here.

 

Meals

I make no bones about it. I love to eat. And we had a lot of amazing meals on this trip. And I took a lot of pictures pretty much anytime we sat down, but rarely seemed to capture pretty pictures of the food itself this trip.

Dublin Lunch Pre-Phoenix Park Florence & the Machine/Snow Patrol

Chinese food in Waterford.

I made this sandwich with some crazy combination of Southwestern cheese, onion chutney, and lettuce.  It actually turned out to be quite tasty, thank you very much!

Brunch in County Wicklow.

Vinegar and Ketchup.  Two chip-eating condiment staples.

Costa Coffee Break in Dublin.

The Beach

If there is one thing Lisa loves, it's the beach. We spent on particularly chilly (for this Texas gal, anyway), but fun afternoon on the beach at Lahinch. We even bought a kite cuz we're cool like that.

Please don't steal our stuff of this rock.

Let's Go Fly a Kite....and it will stay up too if it's not too windy.

...And then she falls in.  Only not really, because she was just pretending.

The Circus

I had not been to a circus in years.  We had a blast!

Fossett's Circus:  Ireland's National Circus

Thanks so much for stopping by and joining me in reliving our Irish adventures! 

Adventures in Ireland Part 1

Hey everybody!  I've been back from Ireland a little over a month now and it's taken some adjusting, in addition to the fact that there was a ton of stuff going on from the moment I got off the plane.

I had a great time with my girlfriend and we did a LOT of sight seeing.  This was my third trip over and it was definitely the busiest.

Please note that all of these photos if not taken by me, were taken by Lisa. 
My TOP TEN list of things we did in Ireland this year*:

*This Top Ten was virtually impossible, so I'll be posting some other highlights tomorrow.  An addendum, if you will...

10.    Guinness Store House.  This was really pretty cool.  Seven floors of Guinness information (how they make it, starting with the farming) and memorabilia.  Plus, I got to try my first pint of Guinness though I'm sorry to say, I just couldn't get through the whole thing.

My first pint of Guinness!  (And probably my last...)

9.  Craggaunowen.    This is a cool archaelogical open air museum in County Clare.  The downside is that it was pouring rain the whole time we were there, but we made the most of it.  I think we particularly liked the Woodlands Walk portion the best.  That's where we got to go on a little walk....through some woodlands.  There was also a reconstruction of an old boat called The Brendan.  The whole boat story is not coming back to me just at this moment...

8.  Dublin Pride.  We were supposed to go the Pride parade, but due to some navigational difficulties, we missed it.  We still got to go hang out a the block party.  And the highlight for me was a happy little boy on his (I presume) uncle's shoulders carrying a handmade sign saying "Gay or Straight, My Uncle Is Great!"  It made me think of my niece.  :)

7.  Hampton's.  This is my FAVORITE restaurant in Limerick.  Being the food lover that I am, I figured this deserved a spot on my top ten list.

6.  National Leprechaun Museum.  This was a fun little touristy stop.  Lisa, being a Leprechaun herself, really enjoyed it. 

 

5.  The Burren.

4.  Dunbrody Famine Ship.

3.  National Irish Heritage Park.  County Wexford.

2.  Cobh.  This is the town that used to be Queenstown and was the last port of call for the Titanic.  It's the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, so they had a coupla interesting things going on.

1.  The Long Room at Trinity College Library - Dublin.  OMG.  I can't even describe how amazing this place is.  Shelves and shelves and shelves of old books.  Bibliophiles like me will find themselves drooling here.  Unfortunately, photographs are not allowed inside the library, so here's a link to an amazing picture. 

Thanks for stopping by today!  And check back tomorrow for some more Ireland Highlights!