Summer Muse

Here's to new discoveries!
Love, Carrie

TACOS AT THE BEACH

On Sunday Ryan and I spent an impromptu afternoon at the beach.....It happened like this: We had planned on getting a couple tacos and eating them at the beach. Well, as we were getting ready to head out the door, Ryan starts to change. I asked him what he was doing and he said that he was putting on his swimming trunks (which was completely unexpected). So, that's when I got excited and put on my bathing suit, we found a couple towels, grabbed our tacos and spent some enjoyable time sitting in our beach chairs. Eating lunch (and the best potato tacos EVER). People watching. Chatting. And even cooling off from the hot sun in the ocean.....the water felt so refreshing, splashing up against my shoulders as I stood waist deep.

At one point I was evaluating all the ugly beach umbrellas, wondering why there were no pretty ones until this beauty caught me eye.....

I think it's just perfect.....so I snapped a photo of course ; )

Happy summertime lovelies!!! <3 Carrie

Project Monday

Hi everyone!  Happy Tuesday to you!!!  For this week's project I'm sharing a layout I finally got around to creating using my colorful fair photos (from week before last).....

This layout ended up being very simple, but I think fun to look at.....just how I feel about that day  : )  I really wanted the photos to stand out, and since there were so many, each one is layered with a raffle ticket to give it a little bit of uniformity and add some quirky character.....

The raffle tickets and glittered thickers are from the lovely Color Me Miki shop, and I think are perfect for summer scrapbooking!

As far as last week's photos, I have decided to print up the collage I made to add to my 2011 album, so that's why there's no project with them today <3

I hope you're having a great summer.....see ya tomorrow!

Love, Carrie

WHAT'S FOR LUNCH

Today I thought it would be fun to share what a typical weekday lunch looks like for me:

• Lots of fresh fruit (raspberries are my favorite this summer)
• Seasoned nuts
• A sausage beef stick
• Cheese

That's pretty much it other than something refreshing to drink like ice tea or a cherry coke zero.  And today it just so happens that I have this movie on while working on my projects/Pumpkin.....Bringing Up Baby.....

(source)

I like to have movies on while I work.  The background noise, and looking up here and there to see something pretty on the TV, seems to work really well for me.....

(source)

This movie in particular is very sweet, beautiful to look at, and makes me laugh out loud quite a bit.  Katharine Hepburn is adorable and very quirky.  Plus, having a real leopard as one of the main characters is really fun.

Well, I'm off to get stuff done.  Have a lovely week!!!  <3 Carrie

Your Appointment with Friday

Hello lovely blog readers!  Happy Friday to you!!!  As promised, here are my summer solstice photos, along with a new spin on last week's prompt.....

On a Tuesday

My first day of summer was great.  I did the following.....

• Had my first product photoshoot....yay!!!
• Ate the best Philly cheesesteak covered fries EVER for lunch (was a dork and didn't get a photo)
• Picked up photos from Costco for scrapbooking and hanging around my living room
• Took both Gatsby and Ponyo on a long walk
• Wore my summer shoes
• Got lots of photos of different wildflowers
• Turned on the fan (cuz it was hot) and inspired by all the pretty flowers decided to watch Marie Antoinette
• Enjoyed a couple pieces of my favorite chocolates for a late afternoon snack
• Spent the rest of my day playing on Pumpkin, editing photos, soaking up inspiration from some of my favorite blogs, and created a few blog posts on both my blogs

And here is a pic of my little boy playing in the flowers.....

I just love all the layers in this photo.....I think I might blow it up to hang on my inspiration wire.....

Well, I hope you enjoyed a little peek into my day : )  For this week's photo prompt the challenge is to pick a day of the week and document it as much (or as little) as you would like in photos.  It's pretty much the same as last week, except instead of documenting the first day of summer, you document a Tuesday, or Wednesday or Saturday, etc.  For me, honestly, the day started out with me not really feeling the whole taking photos all day thing, but once I was warmed up, I really enjoyed it a lot.....and I think you will too.  I hope you get a chance to play along!

Have a wonderful weekend!!!

Love, Carrie

SWEET NOTES

A sweet note or two will soon fill these cards I made for the Pink Ninjas using their May kit, *Isn't She Lovely*.....and I have to say that creating with all the goodies in this kit was very lovely indeed.  I TRULY love all their kits, but I think this is one of my favorites so far.

And I can't wait to send this card to my beautiful mom.  The colors are warm and sweet, just like her : )

This weekend I have a little scrapbooking to do, a lot of playing with Pumpkin, a visit to the post office to mail presents, some quality time with Ryan (maybe at the fair?), a family party, hopefully only a little work, I'd love to go see the new Woody Allen movie, and I think I'm going to switch out the photos I have in frames on the walls of my home.....starting with the living room.  It's a project I've been thinking of for a while and am excited to get started.  Happy Friday!!!  <3 Carrie

My Muse { Layout }

Here is my final layout for the Pink Ninjas for the lovely month of June.  I ended up using the photo from yesterday's summer muse post, so I thought it would be fun to share here today (just like last week : ).....

I layered six different patterned papers, and to help give uniformity used my sewing machine to sew almost all the pieces together with yellow thread.  There is also a bit of white paint splatter and Mister Huey's color mist in Bonny Blue.....

I have been wanting to add the title of my layout directly onto a photo for a while now, so it was really fun to finally be able to do it with this project.  And that's pretty much it.  Fairly simple, but still fun!  See you tomorrow with my summer solstice pics!!!

Love, Carrie

SEEING BLUE

So this is what's going through my head.....I started the process of lightening my hair the middle of May.  Ever since then I have been trying to add more pale colors to my life.  Specifically, light blue being one of them......

Yesterday I had a revelation, and a new color scheme was born.   My head is now swimming with endless possibilities.  New colors to look for while shopping.  A new blog makeover for July or August?  New colors to use while editing photos.  New colors to look for in taking photos.  And the hunt begins.  What will I find?  Hopefully a new bouquet of flowers to brighten my day, and the perfect makings for a post to help describe it all.  <3 Carrie

Summer Muse

Who wants to wake up to the sun kissing their face this summer?!?  Happy day two of summertime!.....See you tomorrow with a new layout : )

Love, Carrie

SUMMERTIME

Summertime is for fruit scented candles.  Summertime is for experimenting with different flavors of iced tea till I find my favorite.  Summertime is for spending time at the fair so I can hang out with friends and family, and practice taking light bokeh photos.  It is for enjoying warm evenings with my sweetie, taking my doggies for long walks, and eating marzipan chocolates in the afternoon.  Summertime is for waking up early.  Summertime is for lots of work, trying new things and hopefully lots of play.  Summertime is for eating Mexican food at the beach for dinner, and frozen yogurt dates in the middle of the week just because.  It is for organizing and hoping my little sis comes for a visit.  Summertime is the perfect excuse to eat a whole box of fruit at once, and to make a homemade kite.  Summertime is for praying everyday, loving life and trying extra hard to smile more.  Happy first day of summer.  <3 Carrie

SWING CAROUSEL

(photo taken by Steph, photoshop actions by me)

This is my new favorite ride at the fair, and that's me in the photo with the pink shirt!  My sweet friend Stephanie and I went to the Del Mar Fair together last week and had a blast!!!  We ate yummy fair food, and walked around and saw almost everything.  I documented our day for this weeks photo prompt over at Bubblegum Life, so if you pop on over HERE, you can see all my pics from this day : )  Plus, if you visit Steph's blog, she has some pics up over there too that are really fun!

Do you have a favorite ride at the fair?  I think I like the swing carousel because it's so simple and pretty and you get to feel the wind in your face while you're flying up above the fairgrounds.  Perfect.

Well, I hope your day today is lovely.  Right now I'm drinking some hot apricot tea with vanilla creamer and thinking about what to work on next.  I'll probably give in to the fun project and do some scrapbooking, but eventually I know I'll have to get all the other stuff done too.  Happy first day of summer tomorrow!  Yay!!!  <3 Carrie

Your Appointment with Friday

OK. So this week's photo prompt is a little different than my regularly scheduled routine.  Since tomorrow is the first day of summer as well as the summer solstice I thought it would be fun to see.....

 

How much can you fit into the longest day of the year?

And so for my example photos, I thought it would be fun to share pics from when I went to the fair with Steph last week.....

Once through the entrance lined with license plates and into onto the fairgrounds the first thing we did was take pictures in a photobooth (which I hadn't done in like 15 years)!  It was the perfect way to start out our day!!!  After that, we shared an caramel apple cup....hmmmm soooo goood!

Next, we walked through the gems and woodworking (which I didn't get any good photos of), and then strolled through all colorful rides and fun looking games.....

I ended up going on this ride, which is now my favorite (that's me in the pink top and gray jeans).....

There was even a sign out in front of the ride saying that it is from Neverland Ranch (which I think is really cool : )

Then we walked through and looked at most of the animals.....the cows, goats, sheep, chickens, ducks.....and I thought these curly haired goats were so cute.....

By then we had decided it was time for more fair food, so we shared these delicious fresh potato chips with melted cheese.....

And something sweet was in order after all that salt, so I got a cool and refreshing iced lemonade and Steph drank a mocha freeze while we enjoyed looking at all the pretty flowers and plants.

One of the photos below is a chair with a cushion made entirely of succulents. Beautiful.....

And that's pretty much it for my day. I didn't do much after returning home.....it was a fun filled full day, that's for sure : )

So, I'm going to try and create a project with one or all of these photos to share here tomorrow, but for sure I'll have an inspirational post for Wednesday, as well as another layout on Thursday.  Then, on Friday I'll share my summer solstice pics.

Of course, this prompt does not have to be completed tomorrow, if it works out best you can document any full day of your week.  And if you do, don't forget to share on our Flickr group because we all love to see your inspiration!

A big thanks to Steph for going to the fair with me, and for taking the pics with me in them!

Have a great week everyone!!!

Love, Carrie

Little Sis { Layout }

This is another layout I created for the Pink Ninjas, using their awesome *isn't she lovely~oner upper* kit.  And since I ended up adding some of the photos from yesterday's summer muse post, I thought it would be fitting to share it with you here today.....

I used yellow glimmer mist on the orange strip of paper, and layered three different papers around the border of the layout.....

I also added yellow glimmer mist to most of the chipboard pieces.  It was weird for me to not use any paint splatter or sewing on this project, but now that it's all put together I really like how clean the lines look, so I guess it all worked out OK.  In the future, I doubt I'll end up having time to make layouts using all my summer muse photos, but I will try and sneak one in here and there just for fun : )

See you tomorrow for a new photo prompt!

Love, Carrie

HELLO

This tiny little owl is from the Salt Lake City Zoo.  I think he wanted his picture taken because he posed so nicely for me : )

As of late, I have some fun layouts up on Bubblegum Life from guesting for the Pink Ninjas, as well as today I started to share some photos from the photoshoot I did with my little sister.....my summer muse.  Other than that I really haven't been up to a whole lot that's new.  Just constantly working away at projects, trying to keep my home in order, and enjoy as much time with my sweetie as I can.  And honestly my work life at home has been more busy than it's ever been, so I haven't had a whole lot of new and exciting things to share here.  However, even though I may not be at this blog from time to time, you can (almost) always find me over at Bubblegum Life with a new photo prompt every Friday, a new project every Monday, as well as some inspirational photos (for a while) on Wednesday, and an occasional extra project on Thursday.  Well, I'm off to go run a couple errands before dinner, and then hopefully to fit in some scrapbooking later tonight!  Have a lovely rest of your week, and I'll see you again soon.  <3 Carrie

Summer Muse

What is growing in your garden today?

Love, Carrie

P.S. See you tomorrow for a layout I created using these photos : )

Project Monday

Well, I did it.  I finished the layout with my peony photos, and now it is cheerfully hanging in my living room.....you ready to be overwhelmed with pink and yellow?!?

I was lucky enough this month to have the Pink Ninjas ask me to design for them again this month, so I used their *isn't she lovely ~ oner upper* kit to create my layout.  And I just havvveeee to say (cuz I don't know if I've ever mentioned it before ; ), that their kits are the BEST to create with!  The best variety of fun goodies!!!

Here are some of the details of my layout.....

I used yellow and peach glimmer mist on the vintage flowers, as well as on some of the strips of paper.

Used lots of paper layering and sewing.....

And layered and layered some more : )

I Hope you have a lovely week!  See you on Wednesday for an inspirational photo post!!!

Love, Carrie

Your Appointment with Friday

Since this is the last Friday before Summer officially begins, I thought it would be nice for us to look around and find something that is.....

Uniquely Spring

This is my first bouquet of peonies, and boy am I hooked.  I think they are just so beautiful.  Ryan brought them home for me last week, and now the last of the giant blooms are finally starting to fade.....

Honestly, I am a little sad that I probably won't be able to buy more since peonies season is pretty much over.....but now I have these pretty pictures to remember them by.  I think for my project with these pics, I'm going to create a layout so I can display it in my living room just for fun : )

When you look around is there anything that stands out as uniquely Spring to you?  Or maybe you have a Spring tradition, like Spring cleaning???

Enjoy your weekend!

Love, Carrie

Hello June

(photo by My Sweetie)

Well, I don't know about you, but to me if feels like it's almost summertime.....and as you can see I missed last week's posts because I was busy enjoying the creation of my new Bubblegum Life summer blog design.  My sweet baby sister, Blondie, is my adorable muse for this season, and each Wednesday for the next month or so I'll be sharing a photo from our magical photoshoot together.  Today however, I want to tell you lovely readers and fellow artists how much I appreciate and love you.  Thank you for making beautiful things.  I hope that Bubblegum Life helps you find a little inspiration.....inspiration from other artists, and also from inside you.  Sweet dreams  <3  Carrie