Prague Train Station

Going to Prague, and particularly Budapest, was like walking into a museum.  It was like time stopped before Communism, in so much of both of these cities.  I wandered upstairs in the ultra-modern Prague train station, and it was like the Land That Time Forgot.  Hidden away, with almost no visitors but an open cafe, was an unrefurbished Art Deco gem.  I hope Prague puts some effort into restoring this beautiful treasure, as they have with so many of their other treasures.










Sketch: Scrapbook Generations

Supplies: Cardstock: Scenic Route Cardstock, Core'dinations Graphic 45; Patterned Paper: Tim Holtz Kraft Resist paper, Teresa Collins World Traveler (Passport), Basic Grey Nook and Pantry (Bundt Pan); Tim Holtz Distress Stain (Picket Fence; Weathered Wood); Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist (Bahama Blue), Martha Stewart punch; Cosmo Cricket tag; Crate Paper diecuts and stickers ; Lily Bee ABC sticker letters

***For 12% off any purchase at Stop and Scrap, use the code FEATHERS.***

Accountability Wednesday: Post-Mardi Gras Edition

The party's over, and it's time to be good again.  After 2 weeks of parties, eating king cake and moonpies, and no exercise, its time to get serious again.  I'm not giving anything food-related up for Lent, since there's a pre-Easter Disney trip upcoming, but I'm back on it.  Amazingly I only gained 1 lb. over the last two weeks, but the antibiotics-induced cleanse that I've been on for a couple of days has probably helped with that.  Maybe I'll be able to work out soon.  Or even eat solid food...

Weight: 139.6 lbs. (+1)

Exercise:  Does screaming for beads count?

Happy Mardi Gras!

Today is Lundi Gras, and we are in the middle of Fat Tuesday celebrations here in the Deep South.  I want to wish all my readers everywhere a Happy Mardi Gras!

Typhoon Lagoon

***For 12% off any purchase at Stop and Scrap, use the code FEATHERS.***

St. George and the Dragon

The legend of St. George and the Dragon was important in Prague and in Budapest.  I wanted to take home the beautiful jewel-encrusted box/statue at the Hungarian National Museum, but it wasn't for sale!

St. George and the Dragon









Sketch: Scrapbook Generations

Supplies: American Crafts Cardstock; Little Yellow Bicycle Pack Your Bags (Navy Schedule); Scenic Route patterned paper; Pink Paislee (Queen Bee, 365 degrees  6x6 paper pads); 7 gypsies tag kit (Family), 97% stickers (Voyage); Studio Calico Mister Huey; Spare Parts clocks, brads; Elle's Studio tag; Tim Holtz mask, tiny attacher; American Crafts Thickers (Cream Soda); Lilly Bee ABC stickers

Charles Bridge

When I start a scrapbook page, I tend to pull out papers that pull from colors in the photos.  There is tending to be a lot of yellow and red pages about our time in Prague.

Charles Bridge

Sketch: Scrapbook Generation

Supplies: American Crafts cardstock, minimarks, thickers; Basic Grey Porcelain Doulton; Crate Paper Portrait Pearls, Something Blue; border sticker; Cosmo Cricket Circa 1934 Ginger, stickers; Studio Calico sticker; Heidi Swapp chipboard alpha; Colorbok diecuts; Pink Paislee wood shapes; foo fa la rub on ; Bo Bunny dimensional stickers; Martha Stewart twine; Tattered Angels Chalkboard Spray 

Accountability Wednesday

Wow, I guess the corrections for my health-related issues agree with me! That, and moving more...I lost 3 pounds this week.  I know a good bit of that was water retention / bloating that's been happening for a little while now, but I'll take it!  It feels great to be back under 140.  The rest of this week is all-out Mardi Gras, so all that may be back next week, but for now I'm a happy girl.

Weight: 138.6 lbs (-3 lbs)
Moving More: Bike (60 minutes), walking (20 minutes)

Singing Praises of the Sihouette

I purchased my Silhouette SD a couple of years ago.  This machine rocks!  I'd used it a good bit, for projects like this and this title, but to be honest, until I moved into my new scrap space, I didn't use it to its fullest potential.  Now that its permanently on the table and connected to the laptop, I'm making much better use of it. I just bought the new ratchet blade, and it cuts like butter.  Just to show you what its capable of, take a look at this layout:

Oberammergau



I cut each of those little cookoo clocks at the bottom with the Silhouette.



They are no taller than 2 inches.



Just look at that detail!



The hard part was gluing it all together!


Sketch: Scrapbook Generations

Supplies:  American Crafts Cardstock; Basic Grey sticker letters; Cosmo Cricket Earth Love patterned paper and 6x6 pad.

Breaking Those New Year's Resolutions!

CHA (or for those of you not in the know - Craft and Hobby Association's Craft Industry show) has wrapped up, and I have to say, I was only kind of impressed.  Lines from some of my perennial favorites, like Crate Paper, Cosmo Cricket and October Afternoon just didn't grab my attention this time around.  But enough lines did to make me break my New Year's resolution of a scrappy spending freeze through June.  Eh, maybe I'll revise that to a freeze between July and December.  Maybe.

The thing I love about Stop and Scrap is that not only to they have pre-orders for all of the major CHA cuteness, but they will combine orders.  So say that, um, a friend of mine -- yeah, that's it, a friend-- placed an order for some new Lily Bee paper on Monday, but then on Wednesday she decided to add just a couple of more sheets.  Stop and Scrap will combine those two orders into one, so you don't have to worry about a second shipping fee!  And not only are their prices already discounted, you can sign up for their email newsletter for a new code every day on new releases, usually 10-12% additional off.  But for my blog readers, you can use the code FEATHERS and receive an additional 15%   12% off every single order you place! {Apologies for the error}

In just a few weeks I'll be receiving a pretty hefty box.  I'm getting a few things from Echo Park's This and That Charming 


Couldn't resist the papers with the fans or the cameras!

and some things from Note to Self



Oh that Viewmaster paper!

And of course some new Dots and Stripes.  They go with everything.



From Pink Paislee, a little Spring Jubilee


some things from Prairie Hill



and a little something from London Market




And from Lily Bee -- a little Handmade



Buttercup 



and Double Dutch



And finally, My Minds Eye.  Oh, the My Minds Eye.  So beautiful, I wanted it all.  But I just got a few things from On the Bright Side


Miss Caroline (my favorite line by far)




And finally Follow Your Heart 



So I probably went a little overboard, but I just couldn't help myself.  So, what do you have your eye on?  Do tell!

Accountability Wednesday

I'll just say it:  this was not a good week for me.  I had some health-related issues, and some Mardi Gras-related issues, so I didn't eat too well.  I'm also baby-ing my back for the next week or so, so I did move more, but didn't move too much.  So the weight didn't come off so much, but I am losing inches...slowly.

Weight 141.6 (+1.6 lbs)
Exercise: Stationary bike x2 (5 miles), Walking x2  (2 miles)

Rock Hard

***For 12% off any purchase at Stop and Scrap, use the code FEATHERS.***

Finally getting to the vacation photos

As you may recall, I have a massive amount of vacation photos from our trip last fall.  Midst the craziness of moving I was able to come up with a plan of attack and get all of the photos I'll be scrapping printed.  I'll show you in a later post how I'm dealing with the album overall, with around 1000 photos to scrap, but here's the page I started with.  I'm not scrapping the photos in any particular order, but they will go in the book divided by city.

Beautiful Prague











Sketch: Scrapbook Generation

Supplies: American Crafts Cardstock; Scenic Route patterned paper and sticker; Foofala patterned paper; Basic Grey patterned paper, Bling It On; Tattered Angels Chalkboard mist; Martha Stewart punch, Cherish labels; Colorbox Cat's Eye Ink; Making Memories letter stickers, Baubles; My Minds Eye die cut, chipboard sticker; October Afternoon letter stickers; Fancy Pants rub on; Rebecca Sower Designs stickers; Prima baubles; Heidi Grace cardstock stickers; Bazzill Basics bling

***For 12% off any purchase at Stop and Scrap, use the code FEATHERS.***

Accountability Wednesday...on Thursday

Sorry I'm a bit late on Accountability Wednesday, folks.  You see, where some of my posts are pre-written and scheduled to appear here on my little blog at 8 am sharp, I actually write and post Accountability Wednesday posts after I weigh in on Wednesday mornings.  So sometimes, like yesterday, things get in the way of me posting precisely on Wednesday.  Yesterday I had a work meeting all day, and I just didn't get it done.  Sorry about that.  But I did have good news on the scale yesterday morning.  I know that moving more is helping with that, and I also know that my Mardi Gras party tomorrow night will set me back some next week.  But I know there will be setbacks.  It's easier though to know what the setback was that caused a bad weigh in vs. those mysterious gains when you've done everything right that week.  Those are the most frustrating!  But anywho, here we go:

Weight: 140.6 (-1.2 lbs) -- Woo hoo!
Exercise: Walk 25 min. x2, Stationary Bike 20 min., 30 Day Shred 25 min.

Digging Into the Stash

I'm really trying hard to keep my New Years resolution to use my stash and not shop until June.  It's hard with all of the adorable sneak peeks from spring CHA.  My Minds Eye - you are keeelllling me!  I may have placed one small pre-order.  Sigh.

Back in October my sister and I did a 5 mile Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk.  I was so proud of myself for making it all 5 miles.  Mark helped me get off my lazy butt and train the entire month.  My back didn't hurt at all after!

2 for the Cure







Supplies:  really old papers from American Crafts, Making Memories, Heidi Swapp, and Hambly.  Sticker letters from Echo Park and Pink Paislee.  My Minds Eye journaling card cut from a Halloween line.  Prima
flower.

***For 12% off any purchase at Stop and Scrap, use the code FEATHERS.***

Using More Scraps + Older Pictures

Digging through my stash of scraps and older pictures, this one from my senior year of high school!

We Are Family















***For 12% off any purchase at Stop and Scrap, use the code FEATHERS.***

Accountability Wednesday, a Sale, and a Coupon Code

Well, so much for my big loss last week.  I've eaten better and exercised more, and gained nearly all of that loss back.  My only hope is that it's from lingering salt from a restaurant meal Monday night that was overall fairly healthy.  And the couple of doughnuts I fell prey to at the office last week.  On a positive note, I met my goal of working out 4 times a week.  I guess I'll keep on trucking and maybe next week will be better.

Weight: 141.8 lbs. (+1.8)
Exercise: Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred x2, 1.5 mile Walk x2

*****

I have a couple of things I want to share with you.  First, you know my love for Ella Publishing's e-books.  Three of their books are on sale this month.  They are each $2 off, which is a great deal.

Eight is Enough shows you how to stretch your supplies.

31 Thank You Cards

Double Page Design - great for all those double page layout ideas

Also, my favorite scrapbook store, Stop and Scrap, is making it difficult for me to stay on my low-buy.  They are taking pre-orders for all the new CHA goodies that will be out soon.  I'm having trouble keeping my hands off of the new My Minds Eye lines, and today they are taking orders for two new Authentique lines:

And here's the best part: Stop and Scrap is giving my readers 12% off any purchase, including the CHA pre-orders.  You can use this code any time and as many times as you would like, so have fun!  For 12% off any purchase, use the code FEATHERS.

Quilting Your Scrapbook Pages

Ever get inspiration from places you wouldn't think?  Like advertisements, catalogs, or even quilts?  Shimmelle challenged us to do just that.  I broke into one of my many 6x6 pads for this one.

House Cat

Supplies:  Lily Bee Harvest Market Collection 6x6 pad, Martha Stewart twine, Basic Grey button