Special Bond

Owners of Mustard Moon (Past and Present)

Awww, I love these guys!

Sweet Freedom

Journaling (behind photo):

So this is what it's like to have complete freedom.  Last October we planned, with Rob and Christy Eggers, to have a weekend away to go antiquing up in the Jackson area of California. After much deliberating over dates, places to stay, stores to shop at, and general itinerary, we decided to just "wing it", something none of us had ever done.  It was strange when people asked us where we were staying we had to say, "I don't know."  We knew the area  we wanted to go, but we decided we really didn't need that kind of structure.  How weird!  We stopped where we wanted we ate when we felt like it, we stayed as long or as short as we wanted.  At our first pit stop while waiting in line for the facilities we started looking at the dumb hats lining the wall of the gas station.  We decided we all needed a hat, a new identity for the trip.  So, that was that, we got new hats.  Later as we were flying down the highway we saw this old... I don't know... water wagon, in front of another gas station.  Laughingly we commented that we should stop and take a picture in front of it.  We weren't on any time frame.  Within moments we were standing in front of a broken down water wagon, camera set precariously on the hood of the car... and voila... this picture came to pass. How fun this all was, is this what it is like to be free of responsibility for a day or two.  Free from cooking and cleaning, free from work, from kids, free from church callings, from the phone ;and from almost all of our daily routines.  We stopped at a roadside chocolate shop, took pictures with strange statues (of course sporting our new hats). We ate Mexican food, we strolled in and out of antique and art stores, we drove up the road we drove back we went to a movie (opening night of Zorro) We chose a hotel, we registered, we then stayed up late watching the dumbest movie on the planet (Terminal) and eating Hershey's hot fudge.  In the morning we ate breakfast at... what was it?  The Waffle Barn? (I can't remember for sure)  We shopped more, we laughed, we scored good deals, we bought seemingly strange things, rusty wagon wheels, dented fire extinguishers and an LP record called "The Stripper and other songs for the whole family"  Say what?  We ate ice cream and took more photos.  We had a great time and possibly even convinced our husbands that an antiquing trip could be fun.  So much fun in fact, that we might do it again, especially after swallowing a big dose of freedom... sweet freedom.

I Love Your Guts

Ooooo, I like the way this one turned out. Paint is one of my favorite things to put on a layout, just for that extra touch!

Journaling:

How could I do without this guy? My life would be dull and boring without having his guts to love!

Hale' Ewa '07

Too Much Black & White

Journaling:

Halloween 2006

Brady knew all year waht he wanted to be for Halloween.  I don't know where he got the idea, but in the end he had had just a little too much BLACK & WHITE.

Essence of Afton

Enjoy Life

Sweet

Sassy

Spunky

eleven

Uncommon Beauty

Unspoiled

What?  I usually put letters that don't spell anything upside down, I don't know what I was thinking -- I like this layout anyway.  

This is my cousin Jay.

Smitten

Journaling: (on tags)

How could I be so crazy about a 7-year old boy

miniature prince charming

a smile that melts my heart

completely smitten by this boy

brady, first day of school, 2006

Storage Box

I bought this box at The Container Store and covered it to use in my scraproom to store... well, bits, pieces, things, ephemera and stuff... go figure.

My Valentine

I used Shakespeare's 16th sonnet for part of this journaling.  I got a love of it from Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility.  It just seemed fitting here.

Journaling: 

Let me not to the marriage of true minds

Admit impediments.  Love is not love

Which alters when it alteration finds,

Or bends with the remover to remove;

O no! it is an ever-fixed mark

That looks on tempests and is never shaken;

It is the start every wandering bark

Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken

Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks

Within his bending sickle's compass come:

Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,

but bears it out even to the edge of doom

If this be error and upon me proved,

If never writ, nor no man ever loved.

More journaling: (on tag behind large photo)

What do you get when you cross 2 people that are stubborn, opinionated, over-worked and often under-appreciated?  You get Brad and I and often fireworks.  Described like this our marriage doesn't sound particularly fun and, I won't lie, sometimes it's not.  But like in Shakespeare's 16th sonnet my love for Brad is my "ever fixed mark, that looks on tempest and is never shaken."

Sometimes when we are at odds I feel like we are reading a bad script for a play. We play our parts well, but I often don't feel like myself - jut an actress playing the part of someone with a very bad attitude.  I anger myself sometimes that I can't just throw the whole script out the window, or burn it in the fireplace, never to be read from again.

But in the end I am thankful for our love, that emotional lighthouse, which stands steady through the storms of everyday life.

The Queen of Grunge

Yes, this is me, I answer to the Queen of Grunge.  Made with some of my favorite Mustard Moon paper and of course all the junque; stamping, cracked embossing powder, brads extra office supplies, extra sewing supplies, paint, game pieces, stitching, tags, sewing, chalk, , and I am partial to upside down letters and numbers... ok maybe I went a little overboard on this page.  But I love grunge, it makes me so happy!  I even used a blurry picture

Journaling: (Why I like grunge AND also describes what Scrapbooking means to me)

When it comes to my personal life, I guess I dislike grunge since it means dirt of filth.  And when it comes to music, grunge bands sing about apathy or dissatisfaction.  I abhor all of these things, but when it comes to scrapbooking, "Ahhhh!" It just makes me happy! Nothing is more satisfying than really grunging up a page, chalk, ink, metal, hardware, rips wrinkles, sandpaper, paint, a little bit of this, a tidbit of that; antique things, one of a kind things, something unique, something unexpected, heck, even trash. Sounds odd i know, but I feel so fulfilled when I finish a layout with one or more of these elements on it.  Sometimes I envy those who have a clean uncluttered style.  I always learn from them and occasionally try my hand at it.  But in the end I can't get away from that worn, aged found it on the street style.

More journaling: (in pocket behind above journaling)

I love finding out stories and tidbits about my grandparents and other ancestors.  It makes them human.  Even though I knew my grandparents well (I was married with kids before they passed away) it is still fun to find out that when they were young they used to sneak out of the house to meet friends, or they they thought that their parents didn't understand them.  How I would love to have pictures of the friends they met, or an actual journal entry about how they felt misunderstood. There is a connection to the past and a link to the future when one journals, scrapooks, takes part in genealogy or documents something noteworthy for future generations.  It is a strange phenomenon really... but I hope that within the pages of my scrapbook the scripture in Malachi Chapter 4 verse 6 will be, at least partially, fulfilled.  And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers...

Accordion Book

Here's a little accordion book I made for a "make and take" at Scrapbook Island.  I printed the photos on a newsprint-type paper.  I love the effect.  This was quick and easy but it's still one of my favorite things.