Stretch Your Sketches No. 5

I'm back today with Sketch No. 5 from the Stretch Your Sketches challenge over on the Ella Publishing blog.

The sketch is a two-pager, but I just don't do two-pagers. Not sure why, but everytime I try, I get a mental block. But, what's great about sketches, is you can adjust it to work for you. I made a one-pager instead. I added the journaling around the edge of the paper, which is a technique I use often. Love the look. I used several Echo Park lines and a bit of October Afternoon. I also finally snagged a Smash date stamp! I'm using it on everything. Love it.

The page is about attending my niece's school performance. We all asked for her autograph following the performance. She signs the program. A tradition we started last year. She loves it. On the way to the car, she was ahead of me a few steps, and I ran up to her asking if she was the famous Diana who just performed. She played along beautifully. Love these moments.

I'd love to see your take on the sketch. Leave me a link in the comments with your take.

Happy Scrapping!

Ten on Tuesday

1| I've been living in these white linen pants and red flats. So, so happy summer is here!

2| I heard The Head and The Heart on the radio and immediately became a fan. Such cool music. You can hear more here. I checked their tour dates and they are actually here in the Cities this week, but it's sold out. Bummer.

3| Are you looking for journaling ideas? Ideas to tell your story in a new way? Check out these awesome prompts from Ali Edwards.

4| There is a reason I'm not a baker. The recipes are too specific and I usually mess it up. I made banana oatmeal cookies recently and I put in the wrong amount of flour and oatmeal, missing the 1 in front of the 1/2 on the handwritten recipe card. Oops. They actually were still edible, but very flat. Ha! I think I'll stick with cooking where I can add a dash here and there and it will only add to the dish.

5| I attended my niece's dance recital and she was awesome. I am so in awe of how she can go in front of an audience and perform. So cool. I'm bursting with pride.

6| This mini album from Elizabeth Kartchner is fantastic. I'm loving the Instax photos and the paint. When my family is all together for a week during the summer, I always bring little books for the kids to document the week. Will definitely be taking inspiration from this book.

7| I've been on an organizing binge. Shredding, donating, recycling. Love the feeling of simplifying my space, my head, my life.

8| Fresh lemon in ice water is making me happy.

9| It's HOT. 95 degrees yesterday. Same today. Hellooooo summer.

10| At the end of May, June was looking bleak. But after a couple emails and phone calls it's looking much better. Can't wait to see people, sit on patios and drink something cold and frothy and Josh Ritter returns.

On The Road|Red Wing

One of the things on my 33 list is to visit three MN cities I've never been to before. So, this past weekend, my parents and I took a day trip to Red Wing, MN. I couldn't believe how close it was to the Twin Cities and I've never been there! It's a really quaint, beautiful town, right on the Mississippi. They still have a downtown area with parking on the diagonal, which I thought was neat.

The highlights:

• Stopping at Lark Toys and getting handmade wooden block letters of my initials.
• Stopping at Lake City to see Lake Pepin.
• Shopping at Pottery Place and finding a Bell jar I couldn't resist. 
• Having lunch at Falconer's Vineyard.
• Attempting to climb Barn Bluff.
• Perusing the shelves at The Best of Times bookstore. (There are so many books I'm wanting to read right now!)

I put together this mini to record the trip.

I used two pieces of cardboard as the front and back. I added a Hambly transparency to the front piece of cardboard. Then I added a tag, a scallop punched piece of patterned paper from My Mind's Eye, a cute little owl stamp from Hero Arts, the title and a little label, both from October Afternoon.

I added travel quotes throughout from Ali Edwards' Scrapbook on the Road class. I began the album with a tag describing the reason for the trip. The first page has a piece of the brochure from the toy store, along with a picture of the new wooden block letters on my shelf.

I included a picture of the Bell jar in its new home, along with a business card from the store and a cute little tag from Office Max. I love the 7 Gypsies papers from the Lille collection. They are so pretty and perfect on their own.

Another travel quote, along with a bunch of photos from our stop to see Lake Pepin. I made this in Photoshop Elements with help from Elise. You can check out her tutorial here. I'm slowly becoming friends with Photoshop. Really loving how this looks.

I added a bunch of journaling on both sides of the grid paper. I created and printed four smaller photos from Photoshop and included a 7 Gypsies tag.

Lots of journaling on these two pages, along with a little photo of where we went hiking.

I love how this series of photos looks side by side in the album. We attempted to hike up a bluff to the summit, but just couldn't get there. Whenever we thought we were getting close, we'd realize it was just beyond our reach. Once we got to the many flights of stairs, we called it quits. My Dad climbed the stairs to see if the summit was at the top, (way to go Dad!) but there was still more after that. Seriously?! Will definitely have to go back and conquer that bluff.

I added an envelope to include a few Instax photos and the last page is another one from 7 Gypsies. Again too pretty to cover up and a great page to end on.

I'm very pleased with how it turned out. I love mini albums. They are so fun to flip through. They are an easy way to document an event or a trip. It's also a great way to use up some of those supplies. I just grabbed what I liked and made it work.

I can't wait to visit two more MN cities.

Have a lovely weekend.

In The Kitchen|Creamy Broccoli Soup

Two thumbs up. Really delicious. The crushed red pepper flakes make the dish.
This was super easy to make. All in one pan, so a quick cleanup.
The contents pureed beautifully in the blender.
I halved the recipe and it was plenty for one person. A bowl for lunch the next day.

Find the recipe here.

Stretch Your Sketches No. 4

Today a quick post to show you a page I created for the Stretch Your Sketches challenge over on the Ella Publishing blog. I am addicted to sketches lately, so am loving the consistency of this challenge.

I stayed fairly close to the sketch, but used all the same size photos. I've wanted to scrap about "pancaking" for a long time, so I'm so glad to finally have it done. I enjoyed using a bunch of tags as part of the title. I picked these tags up the last time I was at Office Max. Who knew you could find scrapbook supplies there?!

JOURNALING| The kids love to pancake Stephan, since Megan was little. Essentially it means pouncing on him, pancaking him to the ground. Fun for the kids...not sure if it is for Stephan.

Ten on Tuesday will return next week. 

Things I'd Like To Tell My 18 Year Old Self

//Be brave. Take risks. You will regret it if you don't.

//He is not The One. You will feel like he is, but he's not.

//You don't need to figure everything out now. Relax.

//Keep going to school. Those extra degrees will come in handy.

//Do more for you. Do what you want. Be a bit selfish.

//Take more pictures.

//Stop eating like crap. Your body will thank you.

//People will disappoint you. Let it go and move on.

//You will disappoint you. It's ok. Don't be so hard on yourself.

//Keep writing. It will keep you sane.

//Mom is right. Taking a shower makes everything better.

//Everyone has a story, including you. Take the time to listen and don't be afraid to share of yourself.

//Good things will result from being kind.

//You are right. Family is everything.

See more of my lists here. 

Wordless Wednesday|Happy Spring