Someone HELP me with my guilt...PLEASE!

Have you ever gone on such a shopping spree that you just couldn't stop spending, no matter what your conscience was saying to you? That was so totally me this weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the crafty shopping my mom and I did. The CKC was great, although I didn't feel like we really got any great bargains there, just some stuff that you can't really buy in your usual craft retailer. Now although I did spend some money at the convention, my before and after shopping spree was even more fruitful. We don't have an AC Moore around here, closest one is 50-60 miles away, so I stopped there on my way to return something I purchased a few weeks prior, and ended up spending money there. They had the cutest Halloween stamps on sale, I found a new paper trimmer for 40% off, glue dots were 50% off (couldn't resist that), and of course I couldn't leave without some ribbon from American Crafts and paper from MME :-) I think that's all I got there.

(here is the MME paper, isn't it awesome)
Then I was off to Mom and Dad's to sleep...

I got there about 12:45 am and had to get up by 6:15 am to meet a friend for breakfast and get my hair done (yes, I still go all the way to Philly to get my hair done!). Of course, I overslept, but I still made it. Breakfast was great, and my hair turned out just as I had hoped (I kind of like my hair, how many people can say that?). Then we were off to the Creative Keepsakes Convention. We walked around the vendor faire first, and then went back to buy ALL the things we wanted before we took our first class. Then... buyer's remorse set in... OH WELL! The deed was already done. I got some great stuff though, but I never spend that much money at one time. Here are some pics of what I got...

Sorry about the pic, but the camera is still broken, shipping it out tomorrow to be fixed. The chipboard letters are from Rusty Pickle, and I was planning on purchasing something like this on-line to make word banners for our new house (when we finally move?) so this purchase was justified (in my mind). The paper packs are from Scenic Route, so cute. That little tweezer thing is called a glitter grabber, never saw that before, that was only $1. Then of course, I got the Basic Grey precision file set, been holding off on buying that and found it for $6.

Here are some of the chipboard sets from Scenic Route that I got for scrapbook pages, and I also picked up some alpha slides for $1 each.

This was the first thing I bought, some Paper Pizazz templates. You can cut them out and make 3-D flowers out of them. I also bought one with background designs that are really cool, here is a link to see that one. What trip would be complete without some new BG paper, Mellow, had to have it.


Of course, I had to pick up some Stickles, and was able to get the Black Diamond stickles that seem to be wait-listed everywhere. I also got some Heidi Swapp ribbon sets for $1.50. I met the owner of Zsiage, who was selling these scrapbook film letters, and I looked at them the first day, but waited to buy them until the second day (Thank God!) when they were on sale buy 1 get 1 - Yeah! My mom took a class on these Home Grown Bloomers by Crafta Frame, and after seeign the demo I had to get some of these too. You can make them any color you want using chalk, markers, inks, glitter, whatever. That makes me happy because I hate when I don't have a flower that matches the colors I need for my project. These are any paper crafter's
must-have.

And now for the store purchases we made. Mom and I drove over to New Jersey to hit all three craft stores in one shot. I had read about a Super Joanns and had never been to one, so I mapped one out before I left Virginia so we could go and check it out. I bought a ton of clearance metal monogram charms in all shapes and colors. Packs were originally marked 9.99 and we got them for .97! I also got the new Luxury Stack by DCWV - so pretty, and two packs of Dew Drops. Then we hit AC Moore and I didn't buy much because I had already bought "stuff" on my way down. So we went over to Michaels and I got some new $1 stamps, $1 ribbon, and 5X7 canvas to make these cool magnets I learned about in one of my CKC classes.

So, do you think I bought enough? My conscience does! I blew my budget, and am not going to spend anymore money on crafty stuff this month - oh, hey, its the 31st! No really, for a month! But we had such a great time, and I would do it again in a heartbeat, minus the classes probably as I didn't feel I got all that much out of them. However, they did inspire me to set a goal for myself, to complete 4 scrap pages each week - 2 layouts, one for each of my kids. Is that unrealistic? I hope not. Now to just get some of those 2006 pics printed out :-)



Thanks for visiting!

I'm Off To CKC!

I am so excited about going to Creative Keepsakes Convention I can hardly stand it! Plus, I get to spend the whole weekend with my Mom, kid free!!!!!!! This is only the second time I have ever been away from my kids, and although I will miss them dearly :-) it will be nice to only have to worry about me. So, I am in countdown mode now, waiting for my DH to get home so I can jet out of here. The ride is about 5ish hours away to my parents. I usually don't mind the drive though, plus it gives me a chance to listen to whatever music I want, not that my kids don't enjoy my favorite KT Tunstall album these days - my almost two year old knows the words - how bad is that! But it also gives me a chance to just relax, despite the fact that I have to drive through Washington DC.

So, I am leaving here with a game plan, and have many items on my wish list, however, I do have a budget. It's a pretty reasonable one given that my hubby new this was coming up, but I hope to keep myself restrained as I know that since CHA was just last weekend, there may be some new things to make me stray from my plan. I am also taking some classes to learn some new techniques, so I'll share anything that looks good when I get back, well after my camera is fixed (keeping fingers crossed).

Anyway, my camera is officially on the fritz and we are going back and forth with Kodak now to see if they will fix it. They are looking at some sample pics now and said we should hear back form them by tomorrow morning. So I would like to leave you with some pics of my kids from this weekend. My little ones are great lovers of the outdoors. They are truly loving summer, especially the "big pool" (now that we have finally gotten my daughter to go in). But this is just them in our backyard playing in their "baby pool" with our friends' kids. They also played a bit on the slip and slide, which has since ruined our grass, but oh the fun they had! Enjoy! Have a fabulous weekend!

What's Silver and Black and takes a bad picture??? My Kodak Z612! UGH!

I can not believe it has been a week since I last posted anything! I truly do not know where the time goes these days. I am sure that those of you out there with little kids totally know where I am coming from. I had friends come to visit this week from my hometown, and the three days they spent here just flew by. It was so good to have some old friends staying with us, I can't remember the last time I laughed as hard as I did this past weekend. We just watched the kids play together, ate lots of food, played games and just talked forever until the wee hours of the morning. I am still trying to catch up on my sleep. We just had such a great time!!! I admit, I was worried about how the weekend would go before they arrived. They aren't as organized (insert control freak!) as I am. They don't do things on a schedule (they sleep in til after 9-10ish). They eat pretty much whatever they want (most things in my house are whole grain, wheat, or low to no sugar - I know UGH!). But somehow it worked wonderfully! I can't wait to do it again! Our two sons are only 5 weeks apart, and they got along famously! So much so that her son didn't want to go home yesterday. But we came up with a plan; they are going to be penpals of sorts, sending each other pictures, letters (that we write, they are only 3 1/2), and little gifts. They both LOVE to get mail, so this will be perfect!

Now for the bad part, I discovered a few things that were broken at some point during the course of the weekend. Among them, my fabulous (hope I can get another one) alarm clock (I love the display and the sounds). And worst of all, today when I attempted to take a picture of the card I made for the Sketch This Challenge Week #3, I discovered that my camera is now broken! UGH!!!!!!!!! My Kodak is only 7 months old, so I am hoping that it will be covered under warranty. The bad part is I didn't take any pics of my card until today, so after much editing, and many attempts, we got something that is not great, but okay. I couldn't go through the last two weeks and not be able to post something for week three. So here it is, lines and everything, and I am still getting it there in the final hour even though it has been done for days. I needed my computer genious hubby to try something before I submitted it. But we are still getting lines across every picture - flash and no flash, good light and bad light, black background and white background! UGH!!!!!!! Well, I hope Janelle understands over at Sketch This Cards; I am so distraught over this, I just can't believe it! But, this is soooooo my luck! So, not much I can do, but pray that it can be fixed.


My brand new LG EnV died last week, and now my camera! I got a new phone out of that deal, but doubtful a new camera is coming our way. What is worse is that I hate to miss one day of my kids; I hate not having a camera just in case they do something cute - which they do every day!


Well, here are the details on this card. I started with Papertrey's Stamper's Select White Cardstock and stamped a flourish from Fancy Pants Pollen Dust in Colorbox Black , then added a layer of Bazzill black, and another layer of Cuttlebugged Stamper's Select again. I used the Textile embossing folder for the top layer. I then smeared it with Versamark and used a soft paintbrush to apply PearlEx in Blue Russet across the cuttlebugged layer. The hearts are chipboard I cut with my Cuttlebug dies, and covered them with My Mind's Eye Bohemia "Girlfriends" cardstock, smoothed with a file, and painted with Making Memories paint in Spotlight. The paper is double-sided so I was able to use two patterns for the hearts and for the layer under the sentiment. The solid hearts are popped up on dimensionals. The sentiment is stamped in StazOn Black, and it is from Technique Tuesday's Words We Love and Truly, Madly, Deeply sets. I cut the pink layer with my Fiskars Mini Scalloped scissors and pierced the scallops. I finished it off with some Black Organza and some tiny flowers I punched with an EK Success Daisy Punch with Making Memories Mini Black brads. I think that about covers it! I wish my camera worked because it is actually a beautiful card, if I do say so myself :-) And shimmery too! Perhaps if (when???) it gets fixed I will upload a new photo to this post.


Well, good night and thanks for letting me blab about my woes! Thanks for visiting!

Finally a Chance to Stamp: Sketch This Challenge #2

Yeah! What a week it has been since the last challenge, I never thought I would finish this. But alas, with 20 minutes left to spare, it has been uploaded by the end of Monday. Yippie! I am truly loving these challenges because they are making me think out of my normal box. I have been dying to use my Butterfly Kisses stamp set, and I thought why
shouldn't a butterfly land on this flower, thereby creating the

second layer the sketch called for. Sure, I could have done something easy like placing two flowers on top of each other, but where is the fun in that? *grin* Instead, I had to mull it over in my head for the last three days until I could finally stamp. Plus, I couldn't really see the top of my desk, so I had to clean that off again, and now it's right back where I started - vicious cycle!

Well, here are the details: I used my oval Curvy Cutter template to make the petals with Vanilla Cardstock, sponged them with some Colorbox Chestnut Roan Chalk Ink, curled them with a bone folder, and glued them under the chipboard piece in the center. The Butterfly is stamped first with Versamagic Dew Drops Aegean Blue, then the swirls are stamped in Chestnut Roan, same for the flower center. I used some BG Lily Kate that I have been hording. That is such pretty paper; I just couldn't bring myself to cut it up, until now. The second layer is Vanilla again, and the base layer is Chocolate Chip. Brads are Making Memories, mini antique copper. The Ribbon is by American Crafts. The sentiment, also stamped in Aegean Blue is from Warm Words SU!

Well, I hope you like it! I am off to bed only to face the dishes from tonight's dinner in the morning (as my husband likes to say - "They're soaking!") - so not like me, really! Have a good night!

Cute little find...

I don't know about you, but I am always so excited when I get some really great finds in the clearance bins. I pride myself on the fact that I don't pay full price for anything (well except Papertrey Products). My husband is always so impressed with my ability to come home with bags of stuff having spent minimal amounts of money. I just found shirts for my kids for .98, even I couldn't believe that bargain!

Anyway, in my latest search for a bargain I went to Joanns to try to find some fabric to recover some pillows that I never really liked, they were having 50% off on fine fabrics. Instead of fabric, I found some great clearance buys. Aren't these little photo (I am going to use them for cards) holders really cute? I couldn't pass them up, and after paying for them, I should have bought more because they were only .59 each. You can't see it so well in the pic, but they even have glitter on them. I also got bags of Patriotic confetti for .25 each, and some dollar stamps for .50 each, as well as brads and an EK Success flower punch on a 40% off coupon. I love sales!

I hope to work on some crafty stuff today after attempting to clean up my space. I will post something new either today or tomorrow. Have a wonderful weekend!

It's a Bella Birthday for Mom!

Oh, I am so proud of my first Bella (and that I learned how to do Hyperlinks). I had to have Bellas, who doesn't? Bellas are rather strange if you really disect them, but they are also so extraordinary, not to mention so truly feminine and cute! Just look at their smiles, so inviting, and yet primitive, they have sticks for arms! Whatever it is they have, call it feminine wiles (is that the term?) - it made me buy five different Bellas! She is just too cute!

Which is why I chose her for my mom's birthday card. My mom turns 60 Thursday, I can hardly believe it! I wish I could be there with her to celebrate, but we live almost 300 miles away, and with two little ones, the trek can be very, well let's just say, long... But, I will see her in two weeks when I drive up to Philadelphia to attend the CKC at Valley Forge. It will be my first convention, and my first scrapbook weekend with mom. I am so excited! My sister calls us dorks, but I'm OK with that!

Anyway, I colored her hair with various orange and yellow Prismacolor Pencils and OMS to represent me (I have strawberry blonde hair). Of course, I had to use my Basic Grey Perhaps papers to compliment Flowahbella, plus I was happy to do something pinky. The sentiment is from Papertrey, more of my favorite stamps. Their stamps are so awesome, as is their paper, which I also used on this card. The Prismacolor Pencils seem to really adhere well to this paper, and yet it is so easy to move them around with the OMS. The ribbon is organza I picked up for .50 at a clearance sale - I love the color, but it is so not me - I'm an earthy girl! To top it all off, I had to use some primas, how would Flowahbella be complete without a few extra flowers thrown in there? I think she turned out rather nice and I hope my mom enjoys her. That's all for now, off to do some Soduku before bed. Have a wonderful night/day!

Supplies: Paper: DP Basic Grey Perhaps, White Papertrey. Ink: Stazon Timber Brown, Versamagic Perfect Plumeria. Ribbon: Organza Joanns. Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, OMS, CM Corner Rounder, Cloud scissors, Primas, MM antique mini brads.

Another Boy - Another Card!

Well, here is yet another baby card for yet another Boy! It seems like I have been doing quite a few baby cards lately and all of them for boys! I have such pretty pink paper calling out for a baby card, but alas, the number of boys entering the world is far outweighing the female population. So, here is a quickie, but an oh so cute one I made for a friend of my husband's new little addition. I love this MME paper, it is so versatile, and as soon as I saw this pattern I thought it would work great. The stamp is actually from a Fiskars set I found at AC Moore, and I used a 50% off coupon so I think it cost me like $7 for 44 stamps, can't beat that, and they work pretty well. This is also a card of firsts, in that it is MY FIRST card ever colored with my new Prismacolor Pencils and OMS. I know I am behind the times (everyone else is using their new Copic markers - way out of my budget). I think I did a pretty good job with the pencils, let's just say I am not embarrassed to give it away! I bought my pencils on Ebay, 120 pencils for $46! I almost attempted to use a coupon at Michaels to buy them, but it still seemed pretty expensive. Then it hit me, EBAY! I must have hit it at a good time because I haven't seen anyone get them for that cheap since, nor before. YEAH ME! Okay, enough on that one, I have one more to upload.

Supplies: Paper: DP and dark blue MME Magnolia, White Papertrey, Cool Carribean, Bazzill Tangerine. Stamps: Fiskars baby set, SU! Warm Words. Ink: Versamagic Aegean Blue. Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils, OMS, Tangerine ribbon SU!, MM antique mini brads, and dimensionals.

My First Blog Post!

WOW! This is a post of many firsts. This is my first Blog post and my first contest post - Go ME! So, Welcome to my blog! I hope you enjoy what I have to share and enjoy the journey with me. Like many of you out there, I am new to stamping and card making, but not new to crafts. I have been into some kind of craft since I was in middle school, learning to sew clothes from my mom. She is a super crafty lady, so I guess I inherited my love for crafting from her. But, last summer a friend introduced me to Stampin Up! and I have been hooked on stamping ever since. I am using it in scrapbooking and in card making, and recently started doing some altered art projects. This is addictive!

As is blogging! I have been surfing many a blog these days, learning a great deal about stamping and all the products that are out there. As a result I have probably been buying more than I should, but we need it all right! Nah, I have been pretty good about keeping myself on a budget. But it is ALL so awesome!

I decided that I would submit a post for the Sketch This challenge at Janelle Richmond's blog, http://janellerichmond.typepad.com/sketchthiscards/. This was so exciting for me because I really liked the sketch and the prize is really great too! Now if I could just learn how to take better photos at night... The cards were do by Monday night, and I just barely got it done. I kept putting it off and then next thing I knew it was 9 Monday night - UGH! - and I wasn't even close. But I did submit it at 11:59 Eastern time, so I did meet the deadline. So, off I go for challenge week #2, check it out!

Supplies: The DP is from a chipboard stack I bought at Joanns ages ago, the blue covering the chipboard flowers is MME Magnolia, the red is the PaperCompany, and the white is Papertrey. Brads are all Making Memories, Ribbon is Sheer Creations (Michael's), Flower Punch is All Night Media, Sentiment is Happy Harmony by Stampin UP! Ink, Colorbox Fluid Chalk Warm Red.