Tiger's Blood

24 ounces of frozen goodness.
Stains your whole mouth red.
Including your teeth, especially if your brushing skills are questionable.

Spoon it.
Smooth, syrupy, shaved ice, that instantly melts on your tongue.
Punch that scoop straw all the way down to the Styrofoam bottom of the cup.

Slurp it.
Suck up all the melted parts, leaving a frosty iceberg in the center.

Go until your front teeth ache from the cold.
If you have front teeth, that is.
Go until your brain freezes!

It's summer!
You don't need to use that brain of yours for another 30 days.

Jen, come on down!

Winner of the July Echo Park Paper kit is commenter number 12, who said:

1:28 PM
Blogger Jen said...

Oh, I really like Victoria Garden!

1:38 PM
Congrats, Jen!
I can't find an e-mail for you on your blogger profile, so shoot me an e-mail.
shauntewadley@gmail.com
I need your final choice for the paper kit, and a street address to send it to!

Thanks everyone!

Sneak Peek

I just got the green light to share a brand new paper line that Echo Park is releasing at CHA.
It is called "Happy Days."
Is there anyone old enough to remember the TV show?
And then the spin-off "Joanie Loves Chachi" that was pretty stupid.
I had a crush on "The Fonz."

This paper line is bright, happy, 50's diner-esque colors.
Diner-esque is a word.
Really it is.

I loved working with this line, and I am happy to report that I can give this kit away as part of the drawing!

If you have already entered, don't worry.
I will e-mail whoever wins, and verify the Echo Park Paper kit of their choosing.
If you have not entered, scroll down to the next post, and comment!
HERE IS A LINK FOR THE LAZIES
Here are some sneak peeks at some of the projects I created with this line:

And lastly, my favorite project:
There is a sheet of journaling cards included in this kit.
I cut them apart, and made lunchbox notes out of them. Then I cut this cute box out of patterned paper to match, and store the cards in.
I downloaded the box shape from Silhouette.
Did you know that Echo Park has teamed up with Silhouette, and has shapes to match their paper lines?
Neither did I!
(Goodbye $$$)

Cute, eh?

So to re-cap:
You are peeking at another (top secret) new line from EP.
Enter to win a collection of your choice from Echo Park Paper, in my post below titled "Do You Feel Lucky?" by Wednesday.
Cross your fingers.
Go get a Tiger's Blood Shaved Ice.
Eat it.
Slowly...do not give yourself a brain freeze.

Wait for my e-mail, sometime on Thursday.

Do You Feel Lucky?

Hey- since this blog has been all braggy lately, with my projects, I figure the only way I can keep y'all interested in dropping by is to do another giveaway!

Leave me a quick comment, and let me know which of the two new Echo Park Paper Co. collections you would like to own.

If you need to fast and pray over it, you have time.
I will choose someone on Wednesday.

And if you need to see the full kits to make your decision, you can take yourself over to the Echo Park website, and click on the new kits, it will show everything in the kits, including the two full-sized (cool)sticker sheets.

Here is a link:
ECHO PARK PAPER CO.

Good luck!
(ineverwincraplikethis.)

More Show and Tell

This is another paper line from Echo Park.
It is called "The Apothecary Emporium."

What I really liked about this collection was the sticker sheet.
Almost all of the stickers were completely "usable".

See the stickers on the treat containers?
I didn't have to alter them.
The stickers for the kit were designed to make instant treat bags or cards.
For someone lazy like me, who occasionally thinks about doing something cute for someone, but then changes my mind cause I don't want to take the time--this kit is perfect.
How hard is it to take a brown paper lunch sack, slap one of those cute stickers on it, and have the recipient be impressed?
Here is a card that practically made itself:

And a layout:

The strip across the middle is cut from patterned paper.
Almost every kit in the Echo Park paper line contains a piece of paper that has individual elements on it, that you can cut apart and use for embellishments.

See the strip I used for my border?

For some reason, I only want to work on scrapbook projects after midnight.
My schedule is really jacked right now.
I get really creative at night.
Or maybe "punchy" is a better word.
Either way, I started messing around in photo shop, and learned how to use texture overlays.
I know most people probably already know about them, but this is ME we are talking about.
I have taught photo shop to myself, just by playing around.
Also, this past winter was when I first discovered a little miracle called The Electric Blanket.
Clearly, I am a little slow on the draw.

This Halloween layout, was the first photo I altered with texture.
I am so proud of me!
Before:

After:

Then I went nuts on some pictures:
Before:

After:

Before:

After:

So yeah. I am totally into texture.
So if you see a weird looking lady, taking pictures of cement, or tree bark, just let it roll.
And if you are around and about at 2 am, swing on by and see what I am working on!

Show and Tell!

You can skip this whole post if you are not into paper crafting.
Really.
No hard feelings.

CHA is right around the corner, and I have been holed up in the studio cranking out projects.

Here are a few peeks, of the ones I have permission to share.
One of the companies I do things for is called Echo Park Paper Company.

They are releasing a few new paper lines for CHA.
This one is called Victoria Gardens.

Here are a couple of things I made to showcase this paper line in the trade show booth:

I loved this line!
Fun colors, and pretty paper.
And it smelled deliciously like fresh ink.

And in case you think I am favoring Shianne, just because she is going through a better teeth stage than my 8 year old...here is a whole mini-album, dedicated to Mikayla and her baptism.
I am only showing a few pages, cause I know you have better things to do today.

And if you DON'T have better things to do, come over.
My laundry situation is dire.

I have been avoiding it.
Creating things.
Also, the pile I attempted to pick up from the laundry room floor contained a ginormous spider.
I am waiting for the spider to do the laundry.
Or leave.

This image shows the open mini-album, inside the mini-album.
Tricky!

And this concludes our "Show and Tell" for today.

Back to your regularly scheduled summer activities.

A Mid-Summer Memory

One day, a few years ago, around this time of year- I loaded all the kids up in the suburban and announced that we were going to do something "Super! Fun! today!"
The kids were so excited!
Everyone seat belted in, and peppering me with questions.
"Is Dad coming?"
"Where is it?"
"Is it the bowling alley?"
"Is it McDonalds?"

"I am not telling you, it is a surprise."

Then we merged onto the freeway, and the kids could hardly contain themselves!
Heading into the BIG CITY!
It was going to be AWESOME!

We kept driving.
Past Thanksgiving Point with the dinosaur museum.
Past the movie theater.

Driving on.
Finally, I pulled off of the freeway, made a few turns and this is what loomed into view:

My kids were literally screaming with joy!
"We didn't bring our swimsuits!", they cried.
"It's okay", I said "you won't need them."
I am sure my kids were pretty confused, and conjuring up images of lounging in a lazy river completely nude.
Sharing the parking lot of Cowabunga Bay Water-park is VF Factory Outlet.

I unloaded the stunned children, herded them through the doors of VF, and proceeded to outfit them in $10.00 jeans for the next school year.

I still chuckle about the cruelty of the water-park thing.
And every year, about this time, we begin school shopping and my kids remember the water-park thing too.

It's good to have fond family memories.

So long to a blurry June.

We had a busy month.
Soccer season ended.
This year, my twins both played.
Each on separate teams that practiced on separate days at different parks in town.
Luckily for me, they had games on Saturdays, at the same park.
I took pictures of them on the last game day.
They both got medals.
Why? You may be wondering.
Did their team take first?
Or second?
I dunno.
In this town, we are afraid of hurting the fragile feelings of children, and we discourage hurtful competition that may make a child feel inferior.
Therefore, everyone gets medals!
YAY EVERYONE!
Thus avoiding hard life lessons like: being a gracious "I am happy for you" loser, or a "non-gloating jerk" of a winner, and that thing called general sportsmanship.

Sometimes being politically correct is for the birds.
And that statement is not even politically correct.
I meant to say, being politically correct it is for mammals of the winged variety.
Anyhoo, I took pictures of them on the last game day, with their well-earned medals, and had to take a standard "jump" shot.
Therefore, I forced my ISO to 6400.

And with that shot, I forgot to turn the ISO back down.
Meaning, that the next 5 bazillion shots on my camera were grainy and craptastic.
Especially when I try to print them any larger than 2 inches.
I took some really cute shots of my daughter, Shianne, who has (much to her fathers horror) grown up quite a bit recently.
I had to manipulate them in photo shop to look "artsy" to compensate for the ISO grain.

A little filter action, and some 70's colorizing.
Also, sometimes yard trash AKA "Sam's future project" crap makes for cool photo props.

The ISO was still forced all through the family BBQ.
Here is Grillman at work:

Sam took over the BBQ duties.
This is a big step in our marriage.
I grew up with a Dad who frequently threw dead carcasses on a flame, and we gladly scarfed them down, carcinogens and all.
I love grilled meats!

Every holiday after we were married I would ask Sam "So, do you think you would like a BBQ grill for *insert holiday here*?"
And he would always answer in the negative.

Finally, what translated to him, was my own personal obsession with wanting a grill.
He bought ME a grill for Mother's Day, 2009.
For me.
So I marinated, and started grilling, and one day, just like that, he took it over.
I knew he would.
There is something primal about men throwing raw meat on an open flame.
Meat.
Fire.
Good.

I have also mastered the art of The Rainbow Jello.

Truth be told, I hate Jello.
I hate the flavor of gelatin, and the texture.
But I cannot resist the OOoooh and AAaaah factor of serving up The Rainbow Jello.

Perfect for a summer BBQ.

Also in all its ISO 6400 glory, is The! Parade!
We have been in the local parade promoting my husband's business for two years now.
He got all of his Jeeping buddies suckered into it, and we are quite the spectacle.
Here is everyone lining up, and waiting for the Parade to start.
You can see we had a few big rigs.
I would have gotten out and taken a decent photo, but my thigh skin was stuck to the vinyl seat and would have ripped clean from my bones.
It was 186 degrees that day.

The little girls were practicing their "Rodeo Princess" waves.
Clearly they are too young to be concerned about waggling triceps.

What made the Jeep entourage awesome, was that periodically they would stop and do "stunts."
Get your inner red-neck prepared for this!
They would climb each others' tires.

Again, I didn't get a decent photo, because I happened to be riding in one of the stunt Jeeps.
They didn't just stack one Jeep on another Jeep...no way, they would stack five Jeeps. Sometimes we would have a Jeep on two of our tires, and we would be up on another Jeep's tire.
That's some gooooood stuff, right there.
My older kids were pimped out in Bowling Pin attire.

A super pride-filled day for all.
In 6400 ISO.