Paper Issues | The Beach Is Calling

Hi everyone!  There’s a new issue at Paper Issues today called “Chip Off The Old Block”!  Play along and link up to the issue post for a chance to win $20 gift certificate from the Paper Issues store!   You can use any of these things in your project to be eligible:  chipboard, activities to stave off boredom, what you do to keep busy, schedule, daily routine, menu planning, board games, on board ship (cruise vacation), surf board, family traits, use July, August or Chip Off the Old Block printables.

Here’s my layout for the issue:

I used the August Paper Issues printable, plus awesome papers and embellishments from the Simple Stories Summer Vibes collection!  I love this collection for scrapbooking not only summer, but also our Hawaii vacation this past March!

I layered some diecuts and chipboard around my photo to anchor it.

I also used some of the chipboard frames with 2x2 little graphics cut out behind it.

I used my Sakura Gelly Roll white pen to journal directly onto the dark background paper.  I love how that turned out!

If you want a chance to win a $20 GC to the Paper Issues store, then make sure you link up your project to the issue post in the next two weeks! 

You can use my code LISTGIRL for 20% off your entire purchase at Paper Issues!

Thanks for stopping by!

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Happy Birthday, Noodle!

Yesterday was our kitty Noodle’s birthday.  He turned five!  He’s been with us for about 4.5 years.  You can read his adoption story here. 

Noodle has been a joy to us, and he’s such a good cat. 

We helped him celebrate his birthday yesterday with some homemade whipped cream.

A little bit of tuna.

And he got to lick a Cheeto.

We were not there at his birth, but when we adopted him from the county shelter, his papers said he was born on 7/14/2010.  His size suggested he was about six months old, so it seemed like the date was correct. 

Over the last few years he’s brought so much joy and fun to our lives.  He’s a good one.

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What I Cooked | June 2015

I continued to cook new dishes every week in June.  I cooked four new recipes and they all turned out pretty well.  You can follow my “Stuff I Cooked” Pinterest board for all the dishes that I cooked this year so far.

Damn Delicious | PF Chang’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Made this on 6/4/2015 - it was pretty good. I think I put in too much minced ginger (1 tbsp is too much). Also, I didn't pat the chicken breasts dry before putting it through the food processor. So when I was cooking it too much water came out and I couldn't get it to brown. All those things are operator-error. And I used too much onion. Next time I'll adjust. I think in order for it to really taste like PF Chang's, you'd have to add more oil and sodium.  (Isn’t that what makes everything tasty?  LOL.)

The Woks of Life | 15 Minute Coconut Curry Noodle Soup

Made this on 6/9/2015 - I used shredded rotisserie chicken instead of raw chicken. My dish didn't turn out this red, but it was yummy. My soup wasn't hot enough when I poured it over the dry noodles, so the noodles were not soft enough. Next time I would soak the noodles in hot boiled water for 10 min and then add it to the soup. Also, the recipe says 15 minutes but it always takes me longer to chop things. This took me 29 min.  (Yes, I used a timer.)

Damn Delicious | Teriyaki Salmon and Broccoli Bowl

Made this on 6/17/2015 - I substituted spiralized zoodles for the rice, because otherwise this dish is 500 calories. I thought it was rather good. My first time making salmon on my own and baking it was quite easy. The homemade teriyaki sauce was tasty.

Damn Delicious | Swedish Meatballs

Made on 6/29/2015 - Followed recipe as is, except that I forgot to add salt & pepper to the meat mix before making them into meatballs.

My sauce wasn't as thick as it looks in her photos, but it did thicken enough. I had a LOT of sauce. My first time making meatballs and it was a success!  Todd loved this one.

So that’s what I cooked in June.  So far I’ve made 24 new dishes in 2015 and they are all on my Pinterest board.

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Evalicious | Meet Me In The Sunshine

Hello everyone!  I’m on the Evalicious blog today with a layout that I created about Peppermint’s visit back in May.  I wanted to fit a lot of journaling about what we did while she was here, so I decided to layer circular punched out shapes on top of patterned papers and journal cards to write my journaling.

For each day, I used a date stamp and also the Days of The Week stamp set and stamped on top of a punched out file tab.

I layered some Amy Tangerine diecuts underneath the journaling circle.  I also used round stickers from This Way and Life’s Sweet as embellishments. 

I love adding wood veneer to a page to give it some different texture and dimension.

I used some stamps on the circle journal spots such as Good Eats stamps and Best Day Ever stamps. 

The geotag stamp from Destination stamp set is still one of my favorites!  I love using it to indicate where we were in our fun outings and travels.

Embellishments such as the camera love shape clips and the This Way Puffy Stickers V3 put the finishing touch onto the page.

Hope you enjoyed having a look at how I fit lots of days and journaling onto a one-page layout!  Thanks for stopping by!

Evalicious Products Used:

life's sweet large tags	this way wood veneer v1	life's sweet snipsnip labels
life's sweet round stickers	this way wood veneer v2	this way round stickers
life's sweet badges	this way puffy stickers v3	camera love shape clips
destination stamps	good eats stamp set	best day ever stamps
days of the week stamps

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May Crafty Things and Obsessions

I know it’s almost June, but I did a lot of crafty things in May, and obtained new things and became obsessed with other things.  So I thought I would share them here.  I was writing posts for my personal private blog today and discovered a bunch of these fun photos from May, so I thought I’d post them over here on my public blog as well.

I Copic colored a bunch of things, because my Copic collection is finally at a place that I have enough colors to use!

I got a laminator and started foiling things.

I cleaned up and messed up my craft room many times over.

I got obsessed with traveler’s notebooks (Midori + fauxdoris) and ordered this Sojourner (Field Notes sized) from Rowena Curtis (@retrowtures on Instagram).  It arrived on 5/20.  I love it and have used it a lot!  I have four notebooks in there currently:  a calendar, a brain dump one, a sketch/draw one, and then one for lists (such as movies I’ve watched this year, crafty ideas to try, etc.)

I got obsessed with making DIY folders to go into my traveler’s notebook. 

I also got obsessed with Hobonichi planners and did a lot of research.  I finally ordered a Hobonichi Techno Avec from Japan at the end of May.

I got some more new pens from Jetpens.  That combined with my new traveler’s notebook obsession, I tested pen and ink pads on papers and notebooks quite a bit.  This was on the 32 lb Hammermill copy paper that I had a ream of already.  None of my pens bled through this, even the fountain pens.  Some of my inks bled through, especially the dye inks.  I think pigment and chalk inks work best in notebooks/planners, if you plan to use the other side of the paper.

I got two $9 containers from Amazon to hold my Copic markers and my pen collection!  Best thing is they stack, so it’s an expandable system.

I also re-discovered my Pilot Hi-Tec-C 05 pens and used them a lot.

I made Monika’s baby a softie kitty.

I made Peppermint a nerdy cat pen pouch for her birthday.

I made a bunch of cards in May.

For Todd’s mom Sylvia for Mother’s Day.

For Jen Carlson’s birthday.

Foiled cards.  This one for Sally’s birthday.

The next two for Paper Issues sponsored by Therm O Web.

This one for Monika’s baby shower.

This one for Peppermint’s birthday.

This one for Todd’s dad Tim’s birthday.

I got this set of stamps from Kelly Purkey and I love the pile of crap emoticon stamp!  I want to stamp that on my work notebook every day!

I actually do a lot of crafty things that aren’t for creative teams.  Those hardly ever make it onto my blog anymore.  If there’s anything you want to see more of, or that you want me to discuss in more detail. please leave a comment.

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