Lisa Crafts Too

Origami Leap Frog Craft for Leap Day

Happy Leap Day, everyone! It's been an eventful Leap Day over at my place. My younger cat, Lilah, took Leap Day a bit too literally and leaped (actually, fell) out the window...15 feet or so to the ground. Turns out the screen was torn at the bottom and Sammy and Lilah were snuggling in the window. All of a sudden, we heard a noise and Bryce saw Sammy scrambling to keep from falling out the window and realized that Lilah actually did fall out! Thankfully, all was ok. Lilah must've landed on her feet. She missed landing on the barbed wire fence and I found her walking around outside, trying to figure out where she was and what the heck happened. (She's an indoor cat.) I am so relieved that mommy and daddy (me and Bryce) were home today! One life down, 8 to go. Here's a photo of my little girl:

Isn't she cute?

Okay, so, in crafty news, in honor of Leap Day, I thought I would share with you all this origami leap frog craft - the frog really leaps, which is pretty fun. Here are the written instructions for the origami leap frog. I also decided to take step-by-step pictures for those of you who prefer to have visual instructions. The frog only takes a minute or two to make, so give it a shot!

 

 

 

 

Another Scrapbook Page

I promise this is mostly a craft blog and not a blog on my car adventures. It's just that so much has happened these past few weeks (old car died, got new car, got engaged...yeah, still have to blog about that last one!) plus, this week I have a gig 2.5 hours away to play Bach's St. Matthew Passion, in addition to my normal teaching job, so crafting has, unfortunately, had to be put on hold. I did, however, finally manage to scrap another 12 x 12 layout page yesterday for my Lisa & Bryce album, which, for my first album, is really coming along quite nicely - in other words, I am in love with this album and the lovely papers from My Mind's Eye's Lost & Found Two 'Sunshine' collection. Hmmm...these might even make lovely wedding colors?? Not sure about that yet, but I am sure that I love the color scheme of this scrapbook album.

As I said in my last scrapbooking post, I am very new to this. This is only my third 12 x 12 layout ever. I've made two mini-albums for friends' babies, but that's it. Scrapbooking is so relaxing (if you can keep the kitties off of your table and supplies) and the photos really do look so much cuter when surrounded by pretty papers and coordinating embellishments.

For this layout, I used a 12 x 12 sheet of paper from the Lost and Found Two Sunshine collection as the background. I then used a variety of papers from the 6 x 6 in. paper pad (from the same collection) to create a patchwork pattern to lay on top of the background paper. I selected two pictures of Bryce hugging my kitties (the big grey tabby is Samson, the tiny calico is Dalilah) and also one of the two of us that my mother-in-law-to-be turned black and white (I think using Instagram - oh, how I need an iPhone!) I cut away the background from the two kitty photos so the colors were better matched to the papers. I added two tickets from Tim Holtz collection (Love and Play) and, finally, added a few matching My Mind's Eye brads to give it a bit of a special touch. I completely love how this layout turned out, don't you?

Check out this article that I wrote on scrapbooking:

Scrapbooking: A Fun Way to Preserve Memories and Photos

 

Goodbye Henry; Welcome Suzy!

Any minute now the auto salvage company will be here to pick up Henry and do who knows what to/with him - such a sad moment in my life. The good news is that they are giving me $400 cash for him, which will go toward the balance of the down payment of my new friend, Suzy - a white 2010 Hyundai Accent.

As sad as it is to say goodbye to my old pal, Henry, Suzy is a welcome addition to my life. Suzy is reliable. Suzy has qualities that Henry did not - a working horn, for example. (Yes, Henry had completely lost his voice... no inspections on vehicles is required in Florida...not a good thing, in my opinion.) Suzy also has working Air conditioning. Aside from the obvious,this means that she does not fog up the windshield when it rains. I can now drive in the rain and see where I am going. This is good, very good.

Henry is now officially gone. As Bryce (now upgraded from boyfriend to fiance!! - that's another post, too!) put it: "RIP Henry... may your memory be eternal...and may your organs be put to good use to help save the lives of other Chevy's."

So, from here on it will be me and Suzy (named after Suze Orman as a reminder to be financially responsible so that I can make my payments on her.) Here is her picture:

Isn't she adorable? She's got such a nice, cute, rounded bubbly butt. She is seriously about a third the size of Henry, but she still holds a lot of junk in her trunk :)

So far, two out of the three times I've driven her to work, she has gotten pooed on by a bird in the school's parking lot. Is this some kind of omen?

 

RIP Henry (1993-2012)

Ok, so, in my last post I mentioned that last week I suddenly found myself in the position of having to buy a new car. If you are reading this blog, chances are that you are an actual real life friend of mine (because, let's face it - this blog is new and I don't have any followers yet, so I am pretty much talking to myself at this point in time...) and you know that, for the past 8 years, I had been driving Henry - a light blue 1993 Chevy Caprice. I named him Henry because he was the color of old man's pants. Hank was also an appropriate nickname as Henry was a bit beat up from a few minor accidents, old age and heavy driving.

Henry was my companion these past 8 years. He and I went everywhere together: Henry moved me down to Atlanta from Baltimore, back up to New York (my original home) and then back down to Florida (his original home.) Henry took me to work and to gigs all over Florida (even up to Savannah, Georgia), to the grocery store, shopping at the mall and at Michaels - everywhere. Henry and I were inseparable. Henry was not just a car - he was Henry. I knew him intimately and he has been with me through some of the best times of my life, and also through some of the hardest. Henry never judged me - he simply helped me to move on with my life, from my first job in Orlando, to my current residence in St. Petersburg.

I had been with Henry through some of his toughest times: brain surgery, a couple of pacemakers, hot flashes, etc. Henry's final battle was lost to a bleeding ulcer. Sadly, after several blood transfusions, Henry lost his transmission. It became clear that this was truly Henry's final battle - and one which he would not survive.

Now, after 8 long years together, I need to decide whether Henry should be buried or cremated. No matter where Henry's final resting place may be, I hope he knows that he was truly loved and cared for to the best of my abilities. Henry may be gone, but he will never be forgotten.

RIP Henry (1993-2012)

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

It's been a crazy week (which is why I haven't been on the blog or the computer) - but, more about that later! I just wanted to write a quick post to wish everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! I have updated my list of Valentines crafts: there are 8 more listed than before, so be sure to check it out.

My boyfriend, Bryce, gave me this cute little owl for Valentine's Day - his name is Ollie and he came from Target. Bryce has truly been there for me these past few days - I suddenly found myself in need of a new car after Henry's transmission went last week. I don't know what I would've done without him dedicating days of his time to drive me all over Florida looking for a new car. (This is a whole other post, though.)

So, Happy Valentine's Day to Bryce, and Happy Birthday to Maryellen, my best friend from high school! I hope both of you have a wonderful day :) I love you both to pieces :)

Valentine's Day Crafts

Wow, 2012 is flying by so fast so far! It's hard to believe that Valentine's Day is just one week from today - where did January go??

Well, in case you haven't started on your Valentine's Day crafts yet, or if you need some extra inspiration, I've compiled a list of articles I've written, each of which features a different Valentines-themed craft. I will continue to add to this list as my articles go live, so check back daily. The link to these crafts will remain active in my sidebar to the right all year round.

Or, you can click the link here: Valentine's Day Crafts

My first real blog post...!

So, here we go... my first real blog post. As I sit here writing this, the superbowl is on (not that I am watching it!) I guess the NY Giants are winning, but, whatever. I'm not into football AT ALL - just keeping my boyfriend company. Of course, the commercials are fun to watch...like the Dorito commercial where the grandma slingshots the baby forward to snatch the bag of chips from the brother in the treehouse? Funny! But really, what better time to blog than during a football game?

For this first post, I've decided to show you all a little bit of me - through a craft, of course. Since I don't have a real photo of me on my profile I thought I'd start by showing you my very first attempts at scrapbooking. I've made a couple of mini albums for a couple of my friends who have new babies, but never a full 12 x 12 layout like these, which I put together last week. 

These layouts are nothing fancy, but I am in love with them because, well, I am scrapbooking photos of me and my boyfriend and, well, we are so cute together, what can I say? And I say that because we are happy, and I like that we are happy. Happiness is important, and I know because I've been in relationships before where I've not been very happy. Those weren't so good, but we're not going to talk about bad stuff. Not today, anyway.

So, I used these:

My Mind's Eye scrapbook paper (Lost & Found TWO)

Lost & Found TWO brads

Tim Holtz tickets

and combined different bits and pieces with a few of my favorite pictures to create these layouts:

Here's a closeup of the journaling box:

(By the way, now the New England Patriots have pulled ahead and are winning 17-9. Madonna's halftime show was good...)

See? We're cute, aren't we? Told ya so. I would never lie about such things. So, that's me. I am a real person and not just a cartoon drawing. My friend, Victoria, did the drawing - she is very talented. Not only as an artist (check out her fb page, Paint Me Senseless)- she's also a gymnast-turned-circus girl. She's pretty much awesome.

So yeah, pretty simple layouts, but I still like the way they turned out. Looking at them makes me smile. Basically, my boyfriend makes me smile. He's not afraid to be a complete goofball, which I totally love. I love him. I am so lucky.

(P.S. Giants back ahead, 21-17 with 5 seconds left. Good game.)

Getting Started Blogging

Like any new project, a blog takes some time to get started. While I am eager to start blogging about crafts and other fun things, I am still getting everything set up. I've got lots of fun things planned for this little space of mine on the internet and am excited to share bits of me and my craft addiction with each of you! So, stay tuned and I am sure this blog will be going in no time :)