I am a Honey Bee

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Hell Night LO- Studio Calico 12/26 Sunday Sketch

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This Sunday Sketch from Studio Calico is going to be one that I refer to time and time again. I love how it allows you to include so many photos, or journaling spots, or just accents with patterned paper.

I used this sketch for a layout that documented our Mystery Meet #7 experience at Hell Night at East Coast Grill. Because it was a food event I was focused on the food, more than that people there. I don’t think they minded any way since we all looked like we were in agony of that heat that the ghost chili oil gave off.

Crate Paper made a line of stickers for Studio Calico that I love. This sticker sheet came in the Candy Shop kit. I used the yellow horizontal sticker and the label from that set. I’ve already used up about 90% of that sheet.

For some reason the red alphas made it their damn mission not to stick to the paper. Typically I encounter that situation on textured paper, but this paper was not textured. Very strange. Hoping it’s just this layout being difficult, and not an issue with the stickers.

Snowloko 2 LO- Studio Calico 1/23 Sunday Sketch

1/23 Sunday Sketch

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This winter has been horrible in Boston. Actually January was the worst. We were pounded with snow storm after snow storm. So I have plenty of photos of snow, snow drifts, being bundled up, etc. As much as I would love to forget this winter it is definitely memorable.

This layout is a dead ringer for this sketch. It worked out perfectly. I wanted to emphasize Price bundled up while showing the snow. Of course the snow is important, but it is rather plan to showcase. So I had my main photo established and the rest were small ones (9 in a 4×6 photo) that told the overall story.

I added more embellishments to use up my stash, as well as create a visual triangle. I had a bunch of Stampin’ Up! rub-ons that I transfered to colored paper so they would pop off the black. I wanted to use the black paper so the white of the snow would stand out against it.

Supplies: Studio Calico’s Solid black sheet of paper, Stampin’ Up! solid color paper, rub-on’s, and glittered brads

Happy Mail #1

This post is long over do.

After getting paired with the lovely Erica for the Strumpets Crumpets Ornament Swap I thought it would be fun for us to send each other some packages back and forth. This would be a way for us to create some fun things for each other, pick up quirky things we see in shops, send each other candy, and do whatever we want. Plus, it’s always fun to receive mail!

Well Erica sent my first package weeks ago and I’m jsut getting around to it. I’ve had a really rough past couple of weeks. Everywhere I turned things were falling apart. I had to face things head on and get through it. So now that thigns are getting better and I am not in manic mode I am sharing what this fun package included.

Erin sent me cheery mugs, a Toblerone bar, a grown your own little ducky, some alpha letters and textured tape for scrapbooking.  The mugs are so cute with mushrooms on them. She said that she thrifted them, too! It was so fun to come home to a box on he porch and then to take the time to unwrap everything.

I’m wrapping up my package goodies and a package will be in the mail heading to Erica this week!

the 3 amigos

my mom took this photo of the dogs this morning and emailed it to me. these are our family’s dogs… Piper, Macaroni, and Cobi.

Piper aka Pipes, Piper-do…  is almost 14 years olds and was ‘my’ dog, a gift for my 13th birthday, but when I left for college is stayed in Greenwich. She did come up to live in Boston for a few weeks when I was not working at one point. Now she pays more attention to Price when we go back to visit then me.

Macaroni aka Mac… is the newest addition to the crew. My mom rescued him last month or so from a shelter. He was 1 of 2 dogs that this homeless woman had. When she got housing she had to give one up. He is has fit right in with Piper and Cobi. He is afraid of the getting sprayed with a water bottle so you just need to pick it up and he will stop barking, which he really likes to do.

Cobi aka Cobi Monster, Chewbacca… is the sweetest dog ever. His named is derived from Cohiba cigars. He sounds like Chewy when he wants attention. Cobi is starting to go a little grey, under his chin and now has a patch on the back of his neck. I usually get him to sleep with me when I am visiting the boat.

Tattoo 3 LO- Studio Calico 1/9 Sunday Sketch



The whole point of a Sunday Sketch from the Studio Calico blog is that is inspires you to be creative. The sketch is to get your juices flowing and get to work. I used the structure and organization of the sketch to assemble my layout. The photos are where the journaling is in the sketch, and the photo and the color block is now the journaling and the photo below it. But if you take a look the essence of the page is still there. 

I’m kinda in love with tags again. I finished up my pack with these 3 that I used for journaling. I have them on my list of “must haves” again. Not high on my list is textured paper, which stickers, in this case alpha stickers, don’t stick well to.

The Cape LO

During this past summer, Emily and I did a day trip down to Cape Cod. We had a blast, as usual. I wrote up a blog post about it called : “Surf, Turf and a hint of Cirrhosis” That day was a whirlwind of adventures from breakfast, a Strawberry festival, shopping, the beach, getting seafood, making dinner and enjoying some boxed wine. While I want to make a (zany?) layout documenting all of that, I wanted to do a layout for just these 2 instax photos. I didn’t want them to get lost in the action of the other anticipated layout.

So I created a simple 2 photo layout. Some of the products I were Ki, American Crafts (Dear Lizzy line), Fine and Dandy, and House of 3. My favorite things to use were the text scribbles from Ki and the patterned paper from House of 3. I loved the long sticker and how it worked so well with the layout. The background paper was so sweet with the embossed butterfly.

Cara’s First Christmas LO- Studio Calico 2/7 Sunday Sketch

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-2/7 Studio Calico Sunday Sketch-

Years ago, if you would have asked me if I ever would have done pages with 1 photo I would have laughed at you. My pages were filled with pictures because I wanted to be able to look back and see all the pictures we took documenting the event. It’s funny to see how things have changed. I definitely think this is for the better since I have distilled my pages to feature the best pictures, not all pictures.

This page features my niece, who was about 2mo at the time. Cara is such a sweet baby that I wanted to do a page showing her off, showing her first Christmas off. We had plenty of photos of me holding her, which I could have included, but I wanted the feature to be Cara, and not me. I captured my moments with Cara in my journaling, but let the picture I selected show what I was most interested in… Cara.

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

The Circus is Coming to Towne- Yelp Event Recap

On Monday night Price and I went to Yelp Boston’s Elite event. This was the first non Elite only event of the new year, the first event to introduce the new Elite’s to the community. So there was no holding back!

The theme was “The Circus Comes to Towne”. Why TownE? Well it was held at te restaurant called Towne. This is a place I have been dying to get to but have been pushing it off since it’s really out of my price range… hello $25-40+ dinner entrées. Well, the chef owners, Lydia Shire and Jasper White, provided a fantastic venue, as well as the best food I have ever had at a Yelp event. Things ranged from tenderloin, curried cauliflower turnovers, caramel ice cream in pizzelle cookie cones, fried shrimp appetizers, hot dogs with a sweet pepper relish, Peking chicken tacos, and much, much more.

Plus, how can we talk about a Yelp Event without talking booze. I had one of the signature drinks, I believe it was called the bearded lady. They did not have a typical menu of specialty drinks, like usual, so I just had that one. Price, on the other hand, made it his mission to try all of the flavored vodkas that Hanger One supplied. In the end we think he rounded out the night with 8 vodka tonics. Hello Tuesday headache!

And of course, you can’t have a Circus themed event without cotton candy, popcorn and entertainers! I was head over heels in love that they had cotton candy!!! There were entertainers from The Boston Circus Guild that walked on stilts, did acrobatics, and some skillful hula hoop routines. There was also a guy doing magic! Lots of fun everywhere we looked!

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Yo Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rum- Brugal Rum Tasting At The Urban Grape

I am definitely not one to turn down an outing with Price that involves cocktails and cupcakes. So when that exact opportunity presented itself last Thursday I knew that we would be heading to The Urban Grape in hopes of diving head long into some Brugal Rum.

“Brugal Rum is the Caribbean’s number 1 selling rum, to the point that it is almost a national obsession for the people of the Dominican Republic. It is the only rum produced by a large distillery that is made from molasses in the same manner that it’s been being prepared since 1793. There is even thought that rum dates back to just after the time of Christopher Columbus, when Caribbean colonists were the first to distill the juice from sugar cane.
So how is traditional rum made? Sugar cane is produced into molasses. The molasses is then diluted with water and left to ferment for 24 to 48 hours (using yeasts). The fermented juice is then sent to be distilled, where it is heated to temperatures that allow for vaporization. Brugal Rum is distilled two or more times, resulting in a smoother, more refined product. The liquid is then sealed into oak barrels and left to age.
Brugal’s Blanco Rum is the least aged of the rums, at only one to two years. The Anejo Rum is aged for five years. Brugal ages rum for up to 30 years, to produce a sipping rum more akin to an aged scotch or tequila. The Brugal family still produces all aspects of the rum, and boasts five generations of maestros roneros, or “master rum makers.””- The Urban Grape blog

Hadley and TJ, owners of the Urban Grape, partnered with Brugal Rum to host an evening of rum cocktails and rum infused cupcakes. The 2 cocktails on hand were mixed by Bill Codman. Bill can be found out the Woodward at The Ames Hotel, which is a great thing since you definitely want to have him make you another drink. There were 2 Anegjo Rum based drinks, one including some champange and the other with pineapple juice. I would love to get these recipes to make them again, especially the pineapple one.  And the cupcakes were made by Kickass Cupcakes. I have never been a huge fan of their cupcakes but this changes everything.

Price and I left with a bottle of the Brugal Anejo so we could create our own cocktails at home. Also, we left with a pass for the 2 of us to see “No Strings Attached” compliments of Mix 104.1, who were there to play some house music. Definitely a great Thursday night.

The Urban Grape

7 Boylston Street
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467

617.232.4831

Thanks for visiting. Please leave me a comment to provide some feedback. I appreciate all the comments I receive.

Mr Wonderful LO- Studio Calico 2/14 Sunday Sketch

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Woohoo! A Studio Calico Sunday Sketch that I actually completed in the week it was posted! I completed this last Tuesday but have been dragging my feet about blogging/posting since I have had so much going on. But here it is in it’s scrapbooked glory!!

I loved this sketch because it made me float the pictures, as opposed to grounded them to a side, which I typically do. Also, I angled the pictures and accent papers, which I have a love hate relationship with. I embraced this sketch and went for it which is why I think I love it so much. Plus, I used that red sparkly frame sticker, that I got in a Studio Calico kit, in a way I never would have thought about before, had I not seen this sketch.