Favorite flower

Here is my layout for the new TAAFOMFT challenge -- tell us about your favorite flower. I just love the hydrangea. I really wanted them in my wedding bouquet, but the florist said no. They needed too much water, and she didn't want to work with them. But at our new house, we have four hydrangeas!!! Totally makes up for that. :)



Also, if I owe you a package, I am working on getting all of my mail together this weekend. I had some handmade stuff that is going out, and that took a little extra time. Also, I only wanted to make one trip to the post office.

Oh, and a little good news on the homefront -- Lola figured out the cat door this morning!!!

Well, I'm off to watch my husband buy running shoes. I hope this won't be a day-long process. I pride myself in being able to say that I can buy shoes faster than he does. But I also buy larger quantities of shoes, so I guess it all evens out in the end. :)

Photos, school, and happy mail

July was a great month for photos. I still have a couple of days left, but I'm so happy that I've been able to commit to most of the photo-goals that I set for myself. (Diptych kinda fell through, I guess...again...if anyone wants to diptych with me for August, shoot an email to bekkabess@gmail.com. Because I really want to complete a whole 30 days. Third times the charm, right? And if you have no idea what I'm talking about, look here.)

School is less than 3 weeks away (or, five days away if you're my husband). I love back to school shopping. I went to the store to buy makeup (because I just realized that I ran out at the end of May...I don't wear much makeup in the summer). And I came home with all of this:



Yes, there are 750 drinking straws in that photo. Because we do a lot of hands-on design activities in my classes, and the only straws that I can find around here are bendy. So when I saw these (not bendy AND colorful) at Meijer, I got all giddy and bought three bags. Something tells me I'll be back for more...

Oh, and here's some happy mail that I received the other day from the oh-so-fantastic Amy Lapi! I won a giveaway on her blog, and she sent me all these nifty things!



She also sent me one of her prints. Given my love for Starbucks, I'm pretty much thrilled. :)
And just to put in a plug for her, you can find all of her fabulous prints here.



Also, a new challenge will be posted tomorrow over at These Are a Few of My Favorite Things. This one is my favorite so far...yes, I know that we've only had two. I have a feeling the phrase "my favorite so far" is going to get a lot of use with these challenges. :) I'll be back later to share my layout.

The Post-It Note Dress

I posted a couple of photos of the Post-It note dress on Facebook yesterday, and got a lot of great comments, as well as several questions. Hopefully in today's post, I can explain exactly what I was doing with all those Post-It notes. :)

First, I'll start with the final product:

"What did you make this for?" - Amanda

3M is one of the major businesses in Cynthiana. In fact, Post-It notes are manufactured here. As part of this weekend's Art Walk, 3M sponsored a Post-It note fashion contest. You assemble a team of 4, and each team pays a $20 deposit and receives a box full of various Post-It notes. As long as you submit a final product, your deposit is refunded, and any left over Post-It notes are yours to keep. My friends Stacy and Dan asked me to be part of their team (their 3-year-old son Micah was our 4th team member -- he provided the comic relief).

Oh, and duct tape was the unofficial 5th member of this team. :)

Also, Stacy and I both work at schools, and we're happy to report that with all the leftovers, we each have enough Post-It notes for the upcoming school year!

"Did you make that?" - Kami

Mainly, Stacy and I did. She came over earlier in the week and we made the skirt. It was a busy week, so in my spare time, I made the purse, earrings, boa, and shoes. (My MM Slice came in handy.) And I started the top, but she was the one who made the top stay on me. I really owe her a great deal for that.

"Wait, for real???" - Jeannie

For realsies. :)

"Can you sit down in it?" - Julie Ann and LeAnne

Not at all. Which is the only thing about the outfit that disappointed me. Because if I could have, I so would have worn it to church this morning.

"Is the purse made with post its too?" -Kellie

The purse is 98% post-it, with a little duct tape. :)

Oh, and notice the shoes...the left one split during the show!

"Can you please make me one. How much for the dress?! HAHA." -Sarah
Sarah, if you ever find yourself in Kentucky, and you have a stack of Post-It notes, look me up! :D

"So, if this teaching thing doesn't work out, you're planning on becoming a fashion designer, yes?" - Jeannine

Well, if we had won the contest, or at least placed, I might have given consideration to a career in Post-It note fashion design. But I might need a little more practice...perhaps I'll start with a costume for the cat... :)

Where was the contest held? - Bekka (Okay, I just needed to keep with the theme. Forgive me.)

The contest was held in the Rohs Opera House, which was decorated with lots and lots of Post-It notes (of course).

Is there video from the event? -Bekka

Wow, Bekka, you sure are full of questions. :) You'll be very happy to know that my husband captured some footage from the event. The person speaking is Stacy, who I worked with to construct the dress. She and her husband, Dan, wrote the speech about the dress and creative process. Listen closely -- when Stacy mentions Micah and his train noises, Micah (who is sitting in front of Mike) gives a demonstration.

A winner, some post-its, and a pain in the neck

Here's my page for the first Favorite Things challenge.





The random number generator chose #4...congrats Ashley! Send me your address to bekkabess@gmail.com, and pick one of the following: bunny, duck, turtle, or kitty. (Odd question, I know. It will all make sense in time...) :)


So I've been absent for a few days. Mostly because I've been dealing with some neck pain since Wednesday. I finally broke down and saw the dr. yesterday, and it turns out that I've been having neck spasms. With meds, heat, and stretching, I should improve in a few days. But right now I'm in some pain -- certainly not anything unbearable, but five days of it is too much. I haven't wanted to do much of anything for the last few days. But today was much better.



So much better, in fact, that today I started making a dress out of Post-It notes with some friends. More about that soon...LOTS of photos to reveal after Saturday, but here's a sneaky peeky. :)

I love our yard

I've been taking lots of photos in our yard. Here's a little proof that my love for photography is returning. :)













Don't forget to click here to sign up for my giveaway. I'll be drawing tomorrow.

Photo Swap

A few days ago, I showed you the fabulous layouts that Sarah made for me!

I made these for her! I really hope she likes them, because I had a lot of fun making them!

Also, I am terrible at photographing layouts!

Her dog Maui is a great scrap subject! :)

Gearing up for...

...the start of These Are a Few of My Favorite Things. To kick things off there is a big (like, more than I spent at Michael's today) giveaway over at the TAFMFT blog!



And because she loves a good celebration, Sarah is having a giveaway on her blog as well.



And, because I can't bear the thought of her partying alone, I'm getting in on the giveaway fun. I don't know what you'll get at this point, but it will most likely consist of something crocheted and something scrappy. So leave a comment below between now and July 15 (when the first challenge is posted), and I'll draw a name to win a fabulous unidentified prize. (I promise it will be identified by then!) :)

I just had to share...

...these beautiful layouts that my amazingly talented friend, Sarah. We decided to photo-swap a little while ago. (I'm still working on hers...I'll post as soon as I finish.) I am blown away by how awesome her work is, and that she took the time to make two fantastic layouts for me!

Also, how cool is it that my cat manages to look like a wombat AND and Ewok on the same layout?! :)

In the morning, I have news to share about the "These Are a Few of My Favorite Things". I think it's worth getting excited over! :)

Cereal-ously.

Sunday was grocery day for the Bess household. We both dread it, so we're desperate for ways to distract ourselves. Who knew that the cereal aisle can be an amusing place.


We decided to pass on the sugar frosted flakes because we thought they might taste like fish.





We learned that iguanas like fruity puffs. Ew.





And we couldn't tell if this box was full of cereal or bees. The bear appears indecisive.



Also, is he bathing in the cereal?!

If my cat had a facebook page...

...she would not list herself as being a "fan" of the cat door. In theory, the door allows her to go in and out of the basement (where her food and litter are) as she pleases. So far, she just kind of bats at the door with her paw and waits for us to open the (real) door to let her upstairs.





For now, we're just leaving the flap up, because that seems to be the biggest obstacle to her going up and downstairs. Does anyone have any experience with this?

4 days of 365

1/365: An example of multitasking duirng training. On the right, you see a curriculum document in progress. On the left is a recipe for hashbrown casserole.

2/365: I made a hair accessory and wore it all day. I felt cute. Also, it was a gorgeous day!

3/365: Waiting for Mike to pick me up from the scrapbook store. My car was getting new tires.

4/365: It was a rainy 4th, so we went to wal-mart to get some supplies to fix up the house. I got sidetracked. :)

Believe it or not, she still scraps.

It's been a couple of months since I scrapped, so it feels so good to finish a few layouts. These are just a few of the layouts I made at SISiversary. More to come...

This is Mike and his friend Forrest running in the Raggedy Ann 5K back in March.

The oh-so-disappointing glockenspiel in Munich.

And our freshly coated walls. Sigh. I loves them. Probably because sanding and painting them was a three-week ordeal.

And in other scrappy news, I was invited by the oh-so-sweet-and fantastic Julie to be part of her new challenge blog. The blog is called These Are a Few of My Favorite Things, and the title pretty much sums it up. Our first challenge goes up on July 15th, and we'd love to have all of you participate!

Oh, and I updated the "Find Me Here" section on the right, just in case any of you want to keep up with the 365, Cynthiana banners, daily mugshot, or diptych projects. (Whew -- that seems like a lot!) I'll probably do an end-of-the-month update on each of these.

Silly boy, thinking he knows how to bake.

Last night, Mike reorganized the kitchen cabinets.
Then he decided to test me to see if I could find anything.
"Let's say you want to bake a cake. Where would your flour sifter be?"

Um...flour sifter? The man has obviously never watched me bake a cake.

July is gonna be a photo-riffic month.

I have a confession.

I have been burned out on photography for about the last year or so.

Apparently, when friends know you can take a semi-decent photo, they don't hesitate to ask you to do so. It was fun at first, because people wanted me around. (Part of me enjoys being needed.) But as time went on, I felt obligated to experience social gatherings from behind the camera.

About a year ago, I made a decision to stop taking my Rebel with me. I went to a friend's birthday party, and when people asked me if I could take photos, I said no (difficult to take photos with no camera). I enjoyed the party. I still took our Powershot places, but it's not a fancy camera, so people weren't as likely to ask for favors. But my photos have been very "snapshot" lately. I can't remember the last time I put a lot of thought into taking a photo. I used to be so serious about photography, and I so badly want to return to that.

Oh, and I don't get invited to as many get-togethers now. Kinda sucks, but I'm not as frazzled.

I barely took any photos as SISiversary over the weekend, either. I regret that. (Luckily, there's a photo-pool on Flickr, so I at least have some to draw from).

Please don't take the above as whining. I promise I'm not having a pity party. I just want you to know where I'm coming from.

So, I've decided that July is the month I get back to enjoying photography. I'm starting 365 again, as well as a mugshot a day, because I think that looks like fun. I'm doing a diptych project with this gal, and I'm going to chronicle the wide assortment of banners that show up in front of our courthouse. (A friend of mine said, "Cythiana is the sign-makingest town ever." I want to prove this.) :)

Now I just have to get good at saying no for those times I don't want to feel responsible for capturing someone else's special moments.

I'm excited about starting this! I think I should make a separate blog for these photos. What do you guys think?