The One with a Thanksgiving Layout and Card

Check out the latest and greatest Cricut idea book: Cricut Holidays! Can it be October yet?? I'm SO ready for the holidays! Here is a blurb about this book: It's the most wonderful time of the year... for crafting! Get in the holiday mood with our fabulous, brand new Cricut Holiday Idea Book. We've got you covered with all the must-have basics - from holiday cards, to tags, to holiday decorations - and then take things a step further with amazing ways to present treats, document your holidays in your scrapbooks, and even fun ways to celebrate Thanksgiving!

There were a couple holes to fill in this issue so I made a Thanksgiving-themed layout and card:

LIVE LAUGH LOVE GROW FAMILY

JOURNALING SAYS: For your first Thanksgiving we drove down to Newport Beach and met up with all of the Taylor family except Grandpa Tom and Grandma Carolyn. Everyone loved getting to see you for the first time. Especially Great Grandpa John.

HOW TO:

1. Using the Home Accents Solutions cartridge, cut the following from your choice of cardstock:

at 1” and 1 1/2” (cut six) | at 1” | at 3 1/2” | at 2” | at 3” | at 3” and 2” | , , and (blackout) at 3”.

2. Drop assorted colors of spray mist across a kraft cardstock background then sew a border using brown thread.

3. Adhere wallet-sized photos and one square photo diagonally across the layout from bottom left to top right, using foam squares under two of the photos for dimension and interest.

4. Place the cut over the square photo.

5. Set the word cuts by and around the photos as shown.

6. Assemble the cut and its layers then adhere it to the top left corner; tie brown baker’s twine in a bow around the neck then add a piece of the 1” cut for a wattle.

7. Type journaling on lined paper using a typewriter, cut it into strips, then adhere the strips to the top left and bottom right corners.

8. Accent the layout with a couple pieces of brown felt scalloped borders, a sentiment sticker atop a photo, a row of colorful buttons, pearls, and an orange star jewel to dot the “i” of the “live” cut.

TIP: A grouping of different colors of border cuts make for the perfect turkey tail - and don’t forget the wattle!

SUPPLIES: Cardstock, adhesive: American Crafts; Patterned paper: Scenic Route Paper Co.; Spray mist: Tattered Angels; Felt scalloped border: Fancy Pants Designs; Baker’s twine: Divine Twine; Sentiment sticker: Making Memories; Star jewel: Mark Richards; Pearls: K & Company; Buttons: Autumn Leaves; Sewing machine: Brother; Thread: Coats & Clark; Typewriter: Smith Corona; Personal electronic cutting machine: Cricut® by Provo Craft

GIVE THANKS

HOW TO:

1. Using the Home Accents Solutions cartridge, cut the following from your choice of cardstock: (shadow) at 2” (cut three) and 1 1/2” (cut three).

2. Sew a border around a cream 4 1/4 x 5 1/2” card base using brown thread.

3. Adhere the three 2” cuts across the top and add matching colored jewels on top.

4. Layer the three 1 1/2” cuts over the first cuts, using foam squares for dimension, then add matching colored jewels on top.

5. Place a dimensional sentiment sticker at the bottom.

6. Tie a mini bow from brown baker’s twine then add it below the sentiment.

TIP: Leaves in fall colors and arranged in a row mimic the feathers of a Thanksgiving turkey.

SUPPLIES: Cardstock, dimensional sentiment sticker, adhesive: American Crafts; Jewels: Kaisercraft; Baker’s twine: Divine Twine; Sewing machine: Brother; Thread: Coats & Clark; Personal electronic cutting machine: Cricut® by Provo Craft

This magazine will be in stores any day now so be sure to check out the full issue soon!

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The One with Fat Sal's

As I mentioned yesterday, after The Getty we went to Fat Sal's for lunch. I'm pretty sure I'm never going to eat anything ever again because nothing will ever compare to or taste as good as the sandwich I got. Kid you not, hands down, this was by far the most delicious, delectable, tastiest, yummy thing I have ever eaten in my life! If you're ever even anywhere near LA, you better go or else...

Fat Sal's is in the heart of UCLA. We almost got beat up cuz our license plate says USC... oopsies. We miraculously found a metered parking spot and then walked up the street to our final destination. The ghettoer looking the place, the better the food is and Fat Sal's sure didn't disappoint!

After taking a quick gander at the massive menu (we've been preparing and pondering our choices for weeks :),

I settled on the Fat Texas BBQ:

Yeah, you read that right: bbq pastrami brisket with chicken fingers, mozzarella sticks, bacon, sautéed onions, melted cheddar & mozzarella, fries, mayo, honey bbq sauce, on a garlic hero. And no the chicken fingers and fries aren't on the side - they're IN the sandwich! Oh yeah!

Chris placed our order and the waiting game began. My only complaint is how long it took - but I guess perfection can take as long as it wants :)

A pic of the chefs and owner.

Up for the challenge? Not today - maybe next time :)

Makin' our grub.

At last our lunch was ready. I think this thing weighed 2 pounds.

I unwrapped the honker and saw this:

And then I took my first bite and just about floated into the air.

A ginormous slice of heaven on earth.

Fox slept through the entire experience.

I'm pretty sure this won't be the last time we visit Fat Sal's. In fact, it's only like 5 minutes from the LA temple so I'm thinking every time we do a session we'll have to eat here afterwards. Done and done.

PS - check out the awesome movie theater right behind Fat Sal's!

Fox Theater!

Hehe.

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The One with The Getty

Only a few more days left of Chris's break so we're going to try to squeeze a lot in! Today we drove to the other side of LA to visit The Getty. Even though it's only 20 miles away, it might as well be in another part of the country a) because it takes 4ever to get there (or anywhere in SoCal for that matter!) and b) because the lifestyle is so different. It feels like any direction you go is a completely different place. 20 miles one way and you're at Disneyland. 20 miles another way and you're at the beach. 20 miles another way you're in the mountains. 20 miles another way you're in the desert. 20 miles another way you're in the hood. 20 miles another way you're in Beverly Hills. At one point while driving the freeway split off into 6 (SIX!!) different freeways! Where to go where to go?

California is such a diverse and unique place! Anyways, where was I? Oh yeah, we went to The Getty. I had no idea there were so many buildings - it was overwhelming! (I s'pose I could have researched a bit before going...) I couldn't get a pic of the entire place so here's one from online:

Admission is free but parking is $15 - if you go with more people you can split the cost. Either way it's totally worth it! We found a spot and then made our way up to the tram which then took us up to the museum set atop a hill.

Here's the first piece of art we found. Me likey.

The entrance.

Downtown. The LA skyline is just barely visible in the middle left.

A nice shady place to eat and mingle.

We didn't even know where to begin! So Chris became the tour guide and I followed closely behind with my camera.

Here's a collage of some of the artwork I liked:

The top right picture is called "Portrait of Alfonso d'Avalos, Marquis of Vasto, in Armor with a Page" - I'm Paige!

Where can I get one of these beds?

The Evans family at The Getty - 8.23.11

Looking down at the cafe.

Waterfall.

Then we took a walk through the gardens.

We made a quick pitstop at the giftshop wherein I saw these intricate metal thingamajigs:

Here's a closer look:

Neato right?!?

And I'm pretty sure this necklace was calling my name. Alas, my wallet was not :)

A 3-part view of LA from The Getty.

After The Getty we headed down the street to try out Fat Sal's for lunch. It deserves a post all of it's own though so that's what's up to bat tomorrow!

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The One with the Beach Bar Mitzvah

Amy and I worked at another event last night!

This time it was a bar mitzvah at a fancy restaurant right on the beach between Santa Monica and Malibu.

One of these days I'm going to take all the silly pictures of me and Amy from these events and make a layout with the title "Choose a job you love and you'll never have to work a day in your life." AMEN!

While driving to the event which was right off the PCH, I accidentally went too far and had to drive a couple more miles up the road in order to turn around. However, my accident turned into a happy happenstance cuz I got to see the Getty Villa! Still need to actually go there...

My car was actually taken away by a valet service - there's a first time for everything I guess!

Before the party started we took advantage our time and moseyed onto the beach to take some pictures and scope out the venue. I forgot my camera (second time I've done that! Shame on me!) so these are all doctored up photos from my phone.

I have never seen so many table settings at one of these events before! This kid must be popular ;)

Like Amy tweeted, "Work doesn't feel like work with a view like this!"

I like this black and white photo of a crowded beach that was hung outside the bathroom.

This is the view I saw from our scrap table looking up.

Virgin strawberry lemonade with real strawberry bits! Don't forget the umbrella straw!

World's most awesome cake!

The candy bar.

This band entertained the guests at night with covers of great modern songs.

Here's our work table:

We prepped 24 pages each so alls we did was glue on the photostrips, embellish a li'l here'n'there, and slid them into an album!

The bar mitzvah boy had an entire scrapbook full of memories at the end of the night.

I just love "working" at these events!

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