Happy Pineapple Day

So, today is Pineapple Day and although it's not my most favorite fruit, I do like it once in a while. And I definitely like it in Pina Coladas or cake form :) One way my mom used pineapple was in these Soft Pineapple cookies. They are so tasty, though she always added some buttercream frosting and this recipe doesn't call for it. They are very soft cakey cookies, which is probably why I like them frosted!

If you want to celebrate Pineapple Day, you could always buy this adorable partial die from Hero Arts or the color layering stamps over at a2z Scrapbooking. Pineapples are pretty popular right now in the craft world, perhaps since pineapples can be a sign of welcome. 

Although while we were visiting an old plantation near Baton Rouge, they told us that guests received a pineapple on the breakfast tray when it was time for their visit to be up. We found that kinda funny--hey, nice seeing you, take this pineapple and get out now.

While I didn't feature any pineapples, I did make a scrap page (it's been awhile since I made one) with my new Pretty Little Studio goodies. I think I should probably get a commission from them since I'm so enamored lately :)

I'm loving the bright colors of the Hello Heather collection and the gold striped paper is so lovely. You can see the shine of the stripes on the right edge. 

I added some gold die cut hearts (that they threw in for free--they always give a little something free in my orders!) and used a 12x12 sheet of teal shimmer paper.

I think it's pretty colorful and fun for this pic of my daughter. The black word die cuts and tiny phrase were from the same Heather collection and the ampersand was a gold sticker from PLS. They look good together I think. 

Happy Monday!

Chark

Easter Means Chickies

Got the cutest chick stamps from 2 Cute Ink digital stamps, printed him on kraft and colored him up with my Prismacolor pencils. Then I realized I had some pics from last Easter's egg hunt (so sad, one kid at college means a one-kid hunt but he's all for it still, so that's good) that I could scrap. So I did! 

You might notice that the Hulk (who is attached to the pick-up) is holding an egg. That one took the son awhile to find. I'm not the fastest scrapper or the best, but I enjoy it and I loved being able to use the chicky stamp on the page. Ever stamp, digital or rubber, on your scrapbook pages?

Happy Friday!

Chark

First Vacation Layout

We just got back from our Michigan vacation three days ago, and I already have a scrapbook layout finished! That has to be some kind of record! And here's why—the first thing I did when we got back was to visit my favorite local scrap shop and cupcake shop (they are conveniently located next to each other) and found Pretty Little Studio items in the The Paper Cottage. I love PLS, even though I mostly hoard the pretty little items instead of using them. But this time, I found all kinds of beautiful beach items and brought them home and then I printed my favorite pic from vacation of my son and sat down to scrap.

Here's the result.

The 12x12 paper is Fancy Pants and the beach paper is some kind of bargain bin paper with texture that I inked up a little. The rest is all PLS. Here's a close up it so you can see the paper and word stickers. I trimmed the gold anchor from a story card.

I'm entering it over at the PLS monthly sketch challenge, hope you'll join me! I love that the paper is all handmade in the US and run by one little shop. The woman who owns it will often ask opinions on Facebook on what colors the next collection should be. It's a very cool way to run a business. 

I've ordered from them online multiple times and never had a problem and am not affiliated with them in any way...I just love the vintage illustrations and the printed vellum and clear papers. Oh, and the flair is gorgeous, as are the stickers words in gold and silver—I hear teal word stickers are next. yum!

Have a happy weekend,
Chark

Steampunking It Up

Here's a layout I did of a museum exhibit we saw last year in Springfield, Mass. They have a little complex of museums you can go to with one price and in the courtyard is a Seuss Sculpture Garden. It was worth the price and time to visit the complex.

When we were there, they had this amazing steampunk exhibit with clothing, jewelry and animatronics. Here's a page with just some of the pics I took. I used Bo Bunny steampunk die cuts and the film at the bottom is theirs too. I just mixed some of my alphas for fun.

Do you like Steampunk as a thing? I've read some novels (mostly Young Adult) and enjoyed them and I love the mix of the gears and clocks and history with fantasy. The clothes are fab in my opinion, although when I told my daughter she ought to get one of the gowns, she said, "yeah, that's your style." sooooo....I guess I like everything about it!

Here's a fab example of a steampunk gown from the Socialbliss blog. Yeah, I'd wear that, y'know, twenty years ago.

Happy Monday,
Chark

Put A Ring On It

Today is Onion Rings Day...and I have to admit that, even though I don't like how onions crunch, I love onion rings once in a while. I like the batter best but if the onion is not juicy and is skinny, I'll eat the whole onion ring. It's weird because I love the smell of onion rings and onions on a pizza...but I take them out of everything, even French Onion Soup.

Because nothing ruins onion soup like onions. I know—I'm weird, you don't have to tell me.

So here's an Onion Rings recipe if you're interested. I'll keep buying mine at Steak n Shake and eating the tiny ones.

Speaking of rings, for our 25th Anniversary, my hubby and I decided to treat ourselves to silver rings. Mine had to have bling on it (of course!) so I chose diamonds around the front. Here it is in the box. He chose a silver matte ring with a band of shiny silver on either side. I don't have his ring picture, but it looks great on his right hand! :)

I'll add in a layout I just finished, even though it has absolutely no "ring" connection. If I was a good blogger, I would've thought this through more—lol!

It's of an outdoor sculpture park we happened on during last year's vacation...who doesn't love Dr. Seuss and who wouldn't love a little Lorax and a giant Horton sculpture? The kids had fun—there's even a Who village made of sticks.

Here's a close-up. I've had the alphabet stickers and 3-d book stickers for awhile and they were perfect for the page.

Happy Onion Ring Monday!
Chark

Easter Cuteness

If you're a scrapper, you probably have older pictures that need scrapped...or maybe you don't. I had these from 2008 (don't judge) and finally got them on a page. The Doodlebug Easter Parade paper and stickers I got were just too cute to leave on the shelf. 

The series of pics are of my son completely missing an egg and it was kinda cracking me up...wait, crack, egg...I made a pun! Still, it was funny because it was like he assumed it would just appear if he kept looking in the same place. And our daughter immediately starting eating her candy before her brother even finished finding his. Kids!

I made these journaling cards out of the paper and added some washi and the little critter stickers. For the background, I started with a white page, sponged on some Distress Inks in random order (Picked Raspberry, Lemonade, Peacock Blue)  around the outer edge of the paper and added more Doodlebug patterned paper. It was actually a really quick page and that's saying something for me. I'm definitely a slow scrapper.

Happy Easter!
Chark

CSI Investigation And Inspiration

The folks over at CSI: Color...Stories...Inspiration have a fun challenge up. And you'll have to put on your deerstalker or pick up a magnifying glass to get started. If you enter the challenge, you can win gift certificates!

I get to be a Guest Detective this month at the site, since a2z Scrapbooking Supplies is sponsoring their giveaway and I'm on their DT. It was the first time I played along at CSI, but it was really fun. You pick from the evidence and testimony to create the page, include the (color) scheme and the let the sketch inspire you. Then you get to work cracking the case.

For my page, I used the colors as instructed and then added triangles, cupcake, sprinkles and doodles form the evidence. I added testimony in the form of handwritten journaling with the word grumpy in there and made the title of the page like a Grumpy Cat meme. Fun!

The title is No Really...thanks for the stupid cupcake. My daughter wouldn't pose for me with the cupcake unless she was making a weird face, so it looks to me like she hates the cupcake she's eating. Actually, she enjoyed it, especially since her friends got it for her and it had an octopus ring on it. I used triangle pieces from my favorite triangle die and sequins to make sprinkles, I drew a grumpy cupcake at the top and tried to make my sprinkles fall down the page. I also tried to make the word cupcake look like the fun Thickers stickers (Amy Tangerine Plus One) so I didn't use up all my stickers :)

I used some Hero Arts stamps for the background papers (Talk Bubble stamped on the pink paper and Thanks from Be Happy on the ivory). You can get both of these stamps for $10 over at a2z Scrapbooking right now! 

And, if you use CHARK15 for your coupon code, you'll get 15% any orders of $25 or more! So, you could add in a stencil, some ink and maybe even some flowers and you're practically making money! Ok, you're not, but it does feel good to save money and you'll be doing that...I love a good sale.

Happy Monday! and Happy 79th Birthday to my mom, Mary!! Best. Mom. Ever.
Chark