Well it's been ten years and a thousand tears...

And look at the mess I'm in...

On Smiley Julie's blog, These are a Few of My Favorite Things, 

this week's scrappy throwdown is 

These Are a Few of My Favorite Bands!!!

Julie has got me hooked on challenges!  sheesh!  hee!

Oh boy!  Its hard to choose one band!  Its hard to choose two!  

But I'm up for the challenge!  

Y'all know that my fav band is Pearl Jam, 

but you might not know 

that my next fav band is Social Distortion!

Mike Ness, love that tattoo'd man!
(At a concert in SF, I saw the band going onstage and I made eye contact with Mike!
whooo!  Made my night! LOL! 
and psst, he was wearing eyeliner!)

I did this awhile ago, and I don't know who took the photos...

they were forwarded to me by my co-worker and concert buddy,

Paul.

This is one of my very favorite layouts!

I hand-cut the Old English Social Distortion title!

(I'm just a little obsessively detail oriented!)

Background paper & stickers by Mara Johnson,

other bkgnd ppr by 7Gypsies,

rub-on grunge lettering (I don't remember by whom),

and rub-on Basic Grey swirlies,

Jolee's Boutique skelly,

Hambly transparency, 

paper roses &

other embellishments from a Paper Pixie kit!

sigh, Mike Ness...

: .)

Soakin' up the Sun!

hiya!

the father is visiting, so I've been baking, cooking, cleaning, laundering, stressing, stressing, stressing, building deck furniture, making multiple trips to Home Depot and Orchard Supply, installing a screen door, deleting my iPhoto library (and paying $55 to restore it, yikes!!!).  this is my first chance to sit down and write a post!

Scrapping the Music's throwdown for the week is Soak up the Sun, by Sheryl Crow.  a positive thinking song by my estimation!  I'm again inspired by the challenge in part b/c this is one of the BFF's favorite songs (hi Karen!) and I have a pix of the 2 of us at the beach...perfect!!!

without further ado, here's my piece...glimmer mist over a purchased stencil (the sun) and my own mats (the seagulls), my photos, alphas & that's it!!!

close-up of the sun...I LOVE GLIMMER MIST!!! have I mentioned that b/4??? hee!!!

I can feel the lifting of my blues...

Rolling into Santa Cruz : .)

Smiley Julie pointed me in the direction of another scrappy throwdown 

at the challenge blog, Scrapping the Music,
where she's on the design team.

Scrapping the Music suggests a song as inspiration and 

you're to create a piece from the music.

This week's challenge song is

Santa Cruz by Eddie Vedder.  

In 2008, Eddie went on a solo tour and
wrote this song on the way to his gig 

at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium.

He sang it for the crowd, me included!!!  

Awesome!!!  

The concert was one of the best I've ever been to.

I'm playing along 'cause the challenge gives me a reason to document the moment...

The background is the lyrics to the song, 

there's a little glimmer mist, 

some Basic Grey & Heidi Swapp rub-ons, 

Heidi Swapp ghost wings

a treble clef paperclip, and 

images of my ticket and 

the program from the concert. 

(It was a hard call, I have silly pixs from
this year's Santa Cruz 1/2 Marathon
that were dying to be scrapped to this song. 
I guess that gives me more reason to glue bits to paper!)

I need the beach to set me free
I need the wind to make me breathe
I need the water to wash my soul
I need my loved ones to let me go...

Eddie, swoon!!!  I love Eddie!!!

why must you always weirdify my happy place???

as I might've mentioned before, I'm a big fan of the comic, Pearls Before Swine.  

a character in the strip...Rat, has a complicated, pessimistic, and often mean persona, 

{much like a fellow fan of the comic (aka my co-worker)},

but he occasionally utters the most succinct and applicable quotes.

in this case, the quote is something I would say to the aforementioned co-worker, 

who often "weirdifys my happy place."

interesting way to get inspiration, yeah???

I've been wanting to use some Dia de Los Muertos stash I've been hoarding, 

as well as Frida pictures from Halloween.

doncha just love the calavera & the heart milagro???

here's that calavera again, used in a mock papel picado banner (sin picados!)!

I spent the entire day (ok, except for a quick trip to the gym) crafting with Donna and 

 I never got to my to-do list...shucks!

oh well...tomorrow's another day!!!
: .)  : .)  : .)

True Colors

more inky goodness from last weekend's livingroom artfest!

omg!  I love the spray ink!

I made some of my own stencils from magazine & catalog pixs, 

(thanks for the inspo, Dina!)

used some Ed Roth stencils,

and some alphas...

 

I'm wondering if I'm overdoing the hearts???

oh, and sometimes, less is more.

the good thing is...you can paint over "mistakes"
and the pages that are a little bit ick, heh!
: .)

now for some journaling & bit adding.

I think I'll stay up late and work on some pieces tonight.
 I can sleep in, vacation day tomorrow for volunteering at
Lance's San Jose LIVESTRONG challenge.

: .)

someone's romantic soul is showing...

not mime, LOL!!!

~Breathe ~ 

~Angels&Airwaves~

 Such a lovely ballad.

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Viva la Vida!!!

Happy Birthday, Frida!!!

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