All In A Day's Work

To Move On...

2009-08-31T14:30:00.004-04:00

Well, I just wanted to say that I will be taking an "official" break from blogging. I can't find the time to craft, or even upload photos these days, so that leaves nothing to post :). We are officially moving. To where you ask? I do not know. But we have three weeks to be out of our house of the last 8 years. Although I am sad to leave this house behind, being the house that both of my children came home to from the hospital, the house of many, many firsts; it is time to leave. Hopefully in time we will be moving closer to family, something we have desperately missed as they are all so far away. But in the mean time we will likely be renting for a few months until my husband finds a job up North or we decide to buy something here. Given the current economic situation, we aren't making any rash decisions either way. We just knew it was time to sell our house and not have anything anchoring us here in case we were able to leave. Our house sold in two months, which is pretty darn good for the current housing market. We were a bit shocked, but happy at the same time. Lots of work ahead of us, and lots more stress. As soon as life regains any sense of normalcy perhaps I will find time to start posting again. For now, it's time to move on.

Summer Fun with the Kids...

2009-08-02T22:15:00.023-04:00

I am now breathing a sigh of relief; I took my final yesterday and aced it! Yeah me!!! And then I came home and took a nap, ahhh... that was the best part of the day.

Now the best part of my weekend was our day out with the kids today. My husband has also been studying a lot and taking quite a few tests for his job, so we really wanted to make a special day for the kids today. This is a post for all the grands who haven't seen the kids in many months. This will certainly be a picture heavy post, so for everyone else... just enjoy the smiles :)

We took the kids to the Children's Museum of Richmond today and they loved it!

Inside, it's all about imagination...

The grocery store is complete with registers, groceries, and carts. Our daughter spent a great deal of time at the water table (thankfully they have plastic aprons to keep them somewhat dry, she needed it!)

They have a full craft room - HEAVEN!

Cute little places to hide, and even a car to work on which makes glug-glug noises when they put pretend fluids in it - so cute!

They even have a news room where the kids can be on TV. Of course our daughter danced around in front of the camera so she could see herself and all her moves on TV :)

Then we headed outside and found the drums, chimes, and of course the Hula-hoops!

So my husband spied the hula-hoops from inside the museum and bet me I couldn't hula anymore (not sure what he was implying here :). So I said I'd take that bet! (I should have bet something really good on this one because I was confident I could do it). But instead I bet him that if I did it he had to do it too. That brings us to the second photo, my dear sweet hubby hula-hooping! I love it when I'm right!

What a fabulous way to spend the day! Hope you all had a great weekend too!

Papertrey Blog Hop - Fun With Text!

2009-07-25T17:57:00.020-04:00

Well to say summer has been busy is an understatement! My class is finally coming to an end, so I am hoping that after this week I will have more time to devote to me - does that ever really happen? (You moms out there know what I mean!) It's funny though, even when you think you couldn't handle another thing on your plate, you add more and somehow it all gets done, but then when you take something away and you still feel like you are sooooo busy! Ahhh, go figure!

Since it has been some time, I needed something to get me started again, so why not participate in the PTI Blog Hop this month? I haven't done one in quite some time, even though I usually try to at least lurk :)

I had a lot of fun with this one and had sketched out five ideas, but of course not enough time to do all of them. So these are the two I finished...

This card measures 4 1/4 square. It was my very first attempt at using Copics, and as you can see I obviously need some practice. I have had them for about two weeks, but I am honestly a little intimidated by them :) Other than the coloring, it's a pretty simple card. I used a sentiment from Everyday Button Bits. I cut a square using the largest of the square Nestabilities, and used the frame from that to create the border. I added some cinnamon Stickles to the center to add some dazzle. The flower and leaves were then popped up on dimensionals, and it was complete. Aside from my Copic attempt, it was put together in a jif!

This one was even easier! The card measures 5 x 5. I used my Labels One Nestabilities to create the focal piece, and the Happy Birthday sentiment from Birthday Basics. I added an embossed border it using a larger Lables One die and a stylus to get just the right size. Add some MM flowers, buttons and a little splash of ribbon and done!

I hope you enjoy the Blog Hop - I for one can not wait to see what everyone comes up with for this challenge!

Have a great night hopping! I will be hopping and writing a paper at the same time - how successful do you think I will be with that paper??? *wink*

What I Used:

Smile Flower Card

Stamps: PTI Everyday Button Basics and Friends 'til The End

Paper: PTI Vintage Cream and New Leaf

Ink: Dark Chocolate

Miscellaneous: Copics, Cinnamon Stickles, Dimensionals, Large Square Nestabilities, Cuttlebug

Happy Birthday Text

Stamps: PTI Birthday Basics

Paper: PTI SS White and Raspberry Fizz

Ink: Pallette Noir

Miscellaneous: Labels One Nestabilities, Cuttlebug, Stylus, flowers are Prima and MM, black embroidery floss, glue dots, buttons and ribbon from my stash

Father's Day Full of Stars...

2009-07-02T21:24:00.015-04:00

I seriously never thought I would be so crazy busy this summer. Having our house up for sale, going to school, keeping kids entertained for the summer, and volunteering, not to mention taking on more than I can handle in the cardmaking "business," is seriously making me re-think how much I can truly handle. I haven't seen my bed before 1 am for about two weeks now. Enough complaining!

But before the holiday weekend hits I wanted to post some of the Father's Day cards I made for my dad and my Fathers-in law (I have two and consider myself lucky!). I also made a card for my brother, but I will post that one next time; it doesn't exactly go with the theme here :P

For all of these cards I used the Papertrey set Star Prints . I really like this set for masculine cards, but I almost didn't buy it. I kept going back and looking at it because I really liked the font used in the set and the variety of stars. Now I am so happy I purchased it! I made a scrap page with it too, but I am saving that for another post too since I am thinking of submitting that one.

So, onto the cards... I have the hardest time doing masculine, so I figured staying clean and simple was the way to go.

This was for my dad...

I really liked the green with the Smokey Shadow, it's actually a dark gray, or light black depending on if you are a half-full or half-empty kind of gal! The main panel is popped up on dimensionals while the green is glued directly to the Smokey Shadow. The sentiment is embossed with detail white. All the supplies used on this card are Papertrey with the exception of the white ink.

These two were for my Fathers-in-law.

The Cowboy... The Retired Navy Official...
Appropriate colors right? :) The squares are popped up on dimensionals for that added depth. Although sometimes it can be a challenge to line the squares up with dimensionals between them, I really like the shadowy effect it creates. Again the sentiments are embossed.

Well that's about it for me. It is now after 11, and I still have to finish a paper by tomorrow and finish some invitations. I am soooooo tired!

I hope you have a very Happy 4th of July! Enjoy spending time with your families and friends, but most of all enjoy the freedom you have to do so and remember those who fight for that freedom every day.

Stay safe!

Thanks for visiting,

Free Things To Do & A Simple Birthday Card...

2009-06-25T14:11:00.004-04:00

WOW! Who invented the phrase "lazy days of summer?" Where are those lazy days? I need one or two of them! Life hasn't slowed down a bit, which I guess is a good thing, but I am absolutely exhausted and see a nap in my very near future *wink*. The heat always puts me in the mood to sleep, and today it is a whopping 93 degrees - way too hot for me! So we went to the free movie to see Barnyard this morning - cute!

Speaking of free movie... I have made it my mission this summer to find lots of things to do for free. My friends and family always laugh, it's become quite a joke that not only am I always looking for a bargain, but I almost always use a coupon. Perhaps you can benefit from my bargain hunting. Here are some of the things I have found that don't have to cost a dime: bowling, the movies, playdates at the park, hikes, picnics, scavenger hunts, geocaching, the pool. The possibilities are endless with a little imagination. Some days we just spend the morning on our back deck fingerpainting (no mess that can't be hosed down!). In the end, what it comes down to is spending time with family and having fun! I hope you found something here that you may not have thought of, now go have some fun!

On a more crafty note, I was going through my pictures trying to organize them a bit, and found some cards I made over the last few months that I never shared on my blog and wished I had. Here is one such card...
I plan to do this card again with different colors, I really like the layout. I used a variety of stamps here, Technique Tuesday, See D's, Cornish Heritage Farms - I think I was trying to use things I had never used before. I even sewed! That takes some effort for me 'cause I hate lugging the machine out and setting it up. It really does add something to a card though. I wish you could see the CHF background stamp more, but the ink I used, PTI Aqua Mist, never comes up very dark in pics. Everything else on the card is pretty self-explanatory.

Well, I really think that nap is calling me, matter of fact it is screaming my name! I will wrap it up with my supply list and call it a day! Tomorrow is volunteer day, so perhaps I will get a chance to post this weekend.

Have a fabulous weekend!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

What I Used:
Stamps: Technique Tuesday sentiment, See D's flowers, Pretty Pattern Backgrounder CHF
Paper: Papertrey Ink Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate and Vintage Cream
Ink: Paperrey Ink Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss, Ranger Antique Linen Distress Ink
Accessories: Pearls from Michaels, Scotch dimensional tape, EK Success flower punch, whole punch, SU! Taffeta ribbon, sewing machine, Fiskars Threading Water border punch

Pretty Circles...

2009-06-22T15:24:00.012-04:00

I was looking through some of the projects I have worked on over the last few months of my "Blog Hiatus" and I knew I had to share this one. This was one of my favorite cards, so simple yet so pretty. I actually made this one for my mom with some of the first stamp sets I ever purchased outside of Stampin Up! (cause you know we all started there.) Each circle/flower is an individual stamp, most are from Art Warehouse, but the curly circle is Papertrey Ink.

I cut the center flower out and the hexagonal shape and propped each up with Scotch dimensional tape. I like this tape better than the SU! or MM dimensionals because it isn't as thick; it doesn't make things stand up as high so it makes it easier to mail cards without any extra postage. But of course I added pearls to the center and the "scrolly" circle, so added postage was necessary anyway :D! Here is a close-up of the pearls...

Like I said, one of my favorite cards. I hope you enjoyed it too!

I'm going to try to be short and sweet with my posts, perhaps that will make it easier for me to keep posting on a more regular basis, and most of you probably don't enjoy me blabbering on anyway - LOL! My hope is that when you come visit my blog you will find some inspiration and will enjoy visiting with someone who is enjoying the blessings that life has to offer.

Hope you enjoyed your visit today! As always, thanks for stopping by!

What I Used:
Paper: Kraft and SS White (Papertrey Ink)
Stamps: Graphic Flowers (Art Warehouse), Interactive Circles Small (Art Warehouse), and Borders & Corners {Circle} (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Craft White (SU!)
Accessories: Pearls from Michaels, ribbon Spring Moss (Papertrey), dimensional tape (Scotch), Large Scallop Scissors (from the dollar store and they work pretty well :) )

I Am Still Here!

2009-06-16T17:44:00.005-04:00

I just wanted to check in to say I am still here!

I have had several emails asking if I am still using my blog, or still crafting for that matter. Yes, I am and have been crafting off and on. I needed a little break, and I needed to feel like I was making a difference somewhere. Life got monotonous, and that is NEVER good for me! So I have been volunteering in various capacities to kind of fill that void. It's been nice and I will continue to do it, just not as often since summer is here and I want to devote more time to my family.

We have also had A LOT going on here at the ole' homestead. Our house is finally on the market, my son finished pre-school, I am teaching myself how to crochet, I am going back to school, and spending lots of family time together.

I want to desperately give the Ole' Blog a makeover too, just haven't found the time to do it.

With that said, I will have some pics edited and posted by this weekend, both things I have made and places we have been.

I hope you will hang in there with me!

Have a fabulous day!

Oh How I Missed Scrapbooking!

2009-03-29T20:20:00.001-04:00

My scrap pages have been on a bit of a hiatus - ok a pretty long hiatus, four years to be exact. I have so many pictures I just felt overwhelmed at where to start. But I LOVE these pictures of our daughter and wanted to get them scrapped before they were forgotten about.

Last month I ordered some colors of cardstock that I was a little unsure of until I actually got them in my hands. I knew they were perfect. Her pics were done in color and black & white, and I really liked the B&W the best, but I wanted the rest of the page to have that WOW factor, and these colors were perfect!

After finishing this page, I was REALLY happy with it! I entered it into the PTI Guest Star Stamper contest. Although I didn't win (insert sigh) I did get an Honorable Mention from Nichole Heady, which is huge in the paper crafting world! I haven't entered in quite some time, so it felt really good to be recognized.

Here are some of the details, lots of glitter on the flourishes and on the flowers. I cut the flowers, the flourishes, and the letters for the title with my Making Memories Slice, which my hubby bought me for Christmas - LOVE that thing!
The journaling tag is hidden behind the main picture...

The Damask patterns are embossed with white EP. I really like doing the little ribbon effect with the sewing machine. I need to do that more on my cards too.

Sadly, I have had to pack a lot of my craft supplies, well mostly paper and miscellaneous things that don't get a whole lot of use - but even that was hard. My husband looked at the space yesterday and laughed because he could actually see the top of my desk :D. You just never know what your gonna need - KWIM? I couldn't pack any of my stamps away, I tried, just wasn't gonna happen!

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of the detail from my scrap page. I had so much fun putting it together. This was the first project in a long time that I didn't even have to ask my husband for his opinion. He came home from work, saw the page and said "WOW, that looks AWESOME!" That makes a girl happy!

Well, I am off to start New Moon. I finished Twilight last night and read it in three days, which is so not like me. It is seriously as good as everyone said it was.

Have a great night and as always thanks for stopping by!

Time Is Flying!!!

2009-03-25T19:00:00.001-04:00

I can't believe I haven't updated my blog since it snowed. Although we have been having mixed weather around here (one day 60, next day 30), I don't expect anymore of that fluffy white stuff - So SAD :(

Well, I have a few things to share today to participate in the Papertrey Blog Hop once again! It always helps get me out of a creative funk. I have been so busy packing and volunteering that I haven't made time for my craft therapy :D! One fun thing (quite honestly there are many) that comes out of volunteering is that the ladies at the home are teaching me how to knit; now I just can't wait to actually complete something - LOL!

So, the challenge for the PTI Blog Hop was to create a background with stamps. I made a few cards to showcase some of my favorite stamp sets for backgrounds.

The first one is one I made for one of my fathers-in-law (technically, I have two) for his 70th birthday. I love these colors together! This card was actually inspired by this card that Niki Estes made a few months back. I LOVE NIki's backgrounds! For this one, I used PTI's Guide Lines , and added little white dots with a Ranger Inkssentials pen. The Kraft paper was scored with a Scor-pal at 1/4" intervals. Then I sponged the edges with Dark Chocolate ink. Easy peasy!

The second card I made last week for a friend whose husband just got laid-off (seems to be an epidemic these days :( ). I hope it brought a little glimmer of joy to her life. I used both Guide Lines and the PTI 2007 Anniversary Set Simple Little Things for this one, and again added the little white accents with the Ranger pen. I love that little accent! The sentiment is from a new set I picked up at our new Jo-ann Superstore (YIPPEE!) from the Paper Company Studio called Faith Greetings (great set!). The butterflies are of course a Martha Stewart punch, I think they complimented this design well. I popped the white piece with the sentiment up on dimensionals. Oh and one more thing, with the ribbon I did that crinkly thing with the heat gun - so pretty! I think this may have been the first time I didn't scorch it - LOL!

Well that's all I have for now. I have a crazy toy room that is screaming to be packed up (can't wait to put those toys in storage!).

Have fun on the Hop! As always thanks for stopping by!

***One more thing... How could I have forgotten this, I was chosen as one of the Honorable Mentions on Nichole Heady's Blog, Capture the Moment for the March Guest Star Stamper! Please go and read all about the other designers she chose! It's always so inspiring to see what everyone creates! I will share my project in depth tomorrow - PROMISE! ***

What I used: {Masculine card}
Stamps: Papertrey Guide Lines
Paper: Papertrey Kraft, Ocean Tides
Ink: Papertrey Dark Chocolate
Accessories: Scor-pal, PI Dark Chocolate Satin Ribbon, Cuttlebug and Tag Dies, Ranger white EP, Ranger White Inkssentials pen, twine, sponge, dimensional (under tag)

What I used: {Pink card}
Stamps: Papertrey Guide Lines, 2007 Anniversary Set Simple Little Things, Paper Company Studio Faith Greetings
Paper: PTI Kraft, Raspberry Fizz, SS White
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Fizz
Accessories: Provocraft Mini Scallop Scissors, Organza ribbon Jo-ann, Martha Stewart Butterfly punch, Pearls Michaels, Ranger White Inkssentials pen, dmensionals

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

2009-03-04T13:59:00.021-05:00

Ahhhhhhh, we finally got what I have always dreamed of, SNOW!!! Well it's at least what I have dreamed of since I moved to the land of no snow. We got about 8-10 inches of snow Sunday night (depending on who you talk to), which is completely unheard of here in this part of Virginia. I have been here for almost 9 years, and the only other snow I remember having that stuck for more than one day came the year I moved here. My kids have loved it; it's no secret I have too. We spent two hours outside yesterday morning in the bitter cold making a snowman and mini "forts" (more like walls :) so we could have snowball fights. So fun!

I wanted to share some pics of the kids having fun so the grandparents could see them. I will miss it when it melts, which will happen very soon since we are supposed to hit 70 this weekend - go figure!

I assure you she is no Angel! :D

Have a blessed day!

Read Any Good Books Lately???

2009-02-25T18:30:00.014-05:00

Before I get to my latest creations, have you read a good book lately? I have! You would think I would say some great novel, well at least I aspire to that again one day :D. But actually, the “good book” I am referring to is a book my cousin gave to my daughter for Christmas and it really got me thinking. The title of the book is… Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud and David Messing. The basic theme of the story is to remind us that by doing nice things for others we in essence do something nice for ourselves. Fill someone else’s bucket with kindness and you fill your own emotional bucket with positive feelings.

My son has really enjoyed this story and honestly the few times I read it with him I just went through the motions. But Monday I read it with him and for some reason it really hit home. Doing nice things for people really does make me happier. Sometimes it is hard to figure out what someone might need, and other times a simple hello or thank you can bring a smile to another’s face. We talked at length about ways we could fill someone’s bucket and my son is actually having so much fun with it that his three year old sister is finding ways to help too. When I drive my son to preschool I usually tell him to “Make good choices” as he gets out of the car. Today I decided to change it around a little and I said “Fill Someone’s Bucket” and he just turned around with the biggest smile and the brightest eyes and said “You got it Mom!” Gotta love that!

Now on to something crafty..

I made this card for the Card Positioning Systems card sketch challenge this week. Of course the prize has to do with Papertrey so I had to participate! I had a really hard time with this sketch, everything turned out so plain looking. But I needed a birthday card for one of my fathers-in-law and this was my favorite of the three cards I made.

I used my new Damask Designs stamps from PTI, and really love this set. It is so versatile and has the most beautiful damask shapes. It’s a pretty simple card actually, but men are fairly simple (well most men) so I think it will suit him just fine.

Well, I have lots of house stuff to do tonight. I can’t wait until this "To Do" list is behind us and our house is finally on the market!

Have a fabulous night/day!

And ask yourself, have you filled a bucket today?

*hugs*

Dawn McVey's Color Challenge...

2009-02-14T21:59:00.006-05:00

I am on a role... my second post of the day! I had a little time this afternoon to make a card. I know, I know, I should have been napping along with the rest of the family, but I was excited about Dawn's Favorite Color Challenge that PTI is hosting so I had to make something. Dawn's use of color is amazing; she often puts colors together that I would never have dared to use. I really envy her sense of color adventure!

This is one of my favorite color combos from Dawn's cards over the past week. I used this card as my guide, and can't tell you how much I love this color combo. The colors I used are Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate, and since I don't have Raspberry Fizz or New Leaf I found some comparable colors in my stash with some pink paper and Martha Stewart Ribbon from last year. I love green, so that New Leaf is definitely on my list!

The flowers and buttons are all from various Making Memories collections, green from 5th Avenue, the pink button from the Lemonade Collection, cream flower from Noteworthy - I was grabbing stuff from everywhere! This is why I love Papertrey's newest additions, it all matches perfectly - hence the name "Perect Match." :-)

I hope you enjoyed another creation today. Now I need to go clean my desk, what a mess!!! I hope to check out the PTI forum release party for a little while before heading off to bed.

I hope you had a fabulous day!

Thanks for stopping by...

What I used:
Stamps: PTI Polka Dot Basics, Birthday Basics
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate, Kraft; Pink from my stash
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate
Accessories: Martha Stewart Ribbon, Buttons Making Memories, Flowers Making Memories, DMC Embroidery Floss, Dimensionals, MM Slice (small pink flower)

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-14T15:28:00.019-05:00

Hope you are all having a fabulous Valentine's Day!

Ours has been quite relaxing actually, which is a definite change of pace for us. I just took a long bath, with bubbles no less, and listened to... silence...ahhhhhhhhhhh. My kids and my husband were/are napping, I should have been, but decided to relax in a nice hot bubble bath instead. My daughter decided to grace us with her presence at 4:40 this morning, so it has been a very LONG day, but such is the life of a parent *smile*.

I wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Valentine's Day before I missed yet another holiday here on the blog :-)! I also wanted to share the Valentine I made for my husband this year.

We don't usually celebrate with much more than him making dinner (a change from the norm believe me) and exchanging cards. I never expect anything to be quite honest with you, safer that way :-) But then these beautiful flowers showed up on our front porch.

I LOVE those orangey ones! He told me he picked the colors out specifically; I was intrigued. He actually did his homework? What they mean, according to my husband: white rose is for loyalty and honor; orange rose is for desire; and lavender rose for enchantment and love at first sight. Then he added, "Plus I thought the colors all went well together," which if you knew my husband you would find comical since he could care less if things match :-) What a sweet gesture - what's not to love!

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope it was a memorable one.

So happy you visited :-)

What I Used:

Paper: PTI White, Ocean Tides and Pink from my stash?

Stamps: PTI Wise Owl, Owl Bellies, Heart Prints, Polka Dot Basics, and Studio G letters

Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss, Ocean Tides, Summer Sunrise, Sweet Blush and Memento Rose Bud

Accessories: Cinnamon Stickles (owl eyes), dimensionals

An Over The Rainbow Color Challenge...

2009-02-06T21:58:00.015-05:00

Another one-day challenge from PTI...When I first saw these colors this morning, I was seriously intimidated! I make it a rule to pretty much never use more than three colors, so when Nichole posted these four and possibly more, I was stumped. Good thing I had all day to think about it. I even dreamed about color this afternoon during my nap - he-he!

Anyone else feeling that dreaded cold coming on? My kids were so sweet, they came down from their nap and went back to their rooms to play to let me sleep, I guess they knew I needed it. Could have been the mommy rage prior to their naps that clued them in!

Well by this evening I had quite a few ideas, but not a whole lot of time. This made me think out of my comfort zone - that is precisely what a challenge is for right!

I wrote out this sketch many months ago, when Alli Miles made a similar card. Can't seem to find that card at the moment, like I said it was many months ago, but I will try tomorrow when I have more time. I thought it would be perfect for these colors.

Super easy card, almost no stamping at all, but all the colors are there! Ribbon, buttons, embroidery floss and a sewing machine and you have yourself a card! If I could crank out cards as fast as this one, I would be a very happy stamper!

I hope you are enjoying these challenges as much as I am. It's getting me out of my creative funk!

I am inspired to use these colors again and my kids are fast asleep...

Have a fabulous night!

What I Used...
Stamps: PTI Quilter's Sampler Sentiments
Paper: PTI Stampers Select White, Acetate
Ink: Black Staz-On
Accesories: All PTI ribbon (Summer Sunrise, Pure Poppy, Ripe Avocado, Ocean Tides), sewing machine, buttons all Foof-A-Lah, Black DMC Floss, corner rounder EK Success

More Bags...

2009-02-05T22:44:00.014-05:00

I found some more bags that I never posted. I have no idea why I never posted them! I was so proud of these bags, how could I have forgotten them??? Gee - I don't know! Well, in the spirit of PTI and bags, I wanted to post them on my blog. I must say they get quite a bit of use. I would like to find some bigger canvas bags so I could actually use them for groceries too. These are a bit smaller, so they don't fit a whole lot in them, but they are great for my trips to Michaels :-)!

I used some canvas bags I purchased at Wal-mart, 3/$5, not a bad price. For the first one I wanted to use the recyle symbol, so I cut arrows out of the muslin and folded them before stamping on them. Then I cut some brown fabric to outline the arrows to make them stand out from the canvas bag. I stamped the flowers from Beautiful Blooms in various shades of PTI ink before sewing the two arrows together. Then I glued them onto the bag with Fabri-Tac (best fabric glue EVER!). After gluing the arrows I stamped the words around the triangle and added the flowers for balance.

For the second one, I cut flowers using my Cuttlebug with the Flower Dies and stamped flowers from Beautiful Blooms in PTI ink. I glued the brown rick-rack with Fabri-tac again, then sewed the buttons and flowers onto the bag. Easy-peasy!

Going green can be easy and fashionable!

Hope you enjoyed seeing more of my bag creations!

See you soon!
Thanks again for stopping by!

What I Used:
Stamps: Beautiful Booms PTI, Formal Upper Letters My Sentiments Exactly
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, Berry Sorbet, Spring Moss, Summer Sunrise, Aqua Mist
Accessories: Buttons American Crafts, Muslin, Brown Fabric, Canvas Bags, Cuttlebug, Flower Die Cuts, Chocolate Rick-Rack Wrights, Dark Chocolate ribbon PTI, Fabri-Tac, Sewing Machine

Be Mine Heart...

2009-02-05T16:48:00.007-05:00

One of my FAVORITE stamp companies, Papertrey Ink, is having a countdown for their Two Year Anniversary. They have been giving away prizes since Sunday and will continue to do so until their release party on February 14th. For all the PTI "groupies" :-) (including myself) this is a big deal. It is so exciting to see everything that is in store for the coming year, and to see all of the fabulous inspiration.

Since I have been spending more time getting our house ready for sale, I haven't had much time to do anything fun. It has been really hard to stay away from my desk, but will be worth it in the end I hope. So, I thought I would participate in today's challenge called It's In The Bag. I was planning on making a few little bags to fill with candy, so why not start now? :-D

I am embarrassed to say this took me a little over an hour. First off I can't find anything on my desk. Second, since it has been so long, I had NO idea what to do. So I used my trusty Polka Dot Basics to start me off. Maybe this will spur some other ideas, and I can start those Valentine's cards too *wink*!

If you are visiting from PTI, hope you enjoy the inspiration that everyone is sharing. There are some fabulous bags already posted! Can't wait to try some of them myself!

Have a great night! As always, thanks for visiting!

What I Used:
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics, Heart Prints, Sweet Love (little heart)
Paper: Kraft, Vintage Cream
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy
Accessories: MS Scallop Punch, Twine SU!, Ribbon Michaels, Scor-Pal, MS Glitter in Garnet

Something A Little Different...

2009-02-03T15:16:00.011-05:00

Although I still love papercrafting, I needed to take a little break. One of the things I haven't quite finished organizing is my craft area, so I am finding it hard to get in there to be creative. Not to mention that some of my favorite shows - like LOST - have started up again, and I have been using my "free" time to fit my shows in and to pack up and clean my house to get it ready to put it on the market - FINALLY! It's been kind of nice purging "things." But in the process I have been thinking about how much my tastes have changed and what I want for our new house. I haven't painted in a while, so I thought I would work on a little project for our half bath downstairs. After painting the walls I felt it needed something new and understated. Not to mention that I can paint and watch TV at the same time :-). So here is what I came up with...

I saw some really nice paintings at Target about a month ago, they were with the new patio furniture (can't find an image on-line to show you) but they were $30 plus depending on the size. Of course they weren't brown either, more Springy colors, so I took a similar idea and made it my own. The dandelion, although not a flower, can still be pretty in it's own way.

This whole project, all three canvases, paint and ribbon probably cost me about $8 to make, if that. Since I bought the cheap canvases, the ones with the staples showing on the sides, I just covered them with some PTI Chocolate ribbon and made, like a frame. Here is a side view...

My husband actually said, "They look nice!" and he usually doesn't even notice when I change something.

Well, I have other things, just not the time to download today. I need to start working on my Valentine's Cards - UGH! Where is the time going???!!!

Have a fabulous week! As always thanks for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed something a little different :-)

A New Year, an Organized ME!

2009-01-22T14:35:00.030-05:00

What a busy week this has been!!! Busy is good, busy makes me focus. I don't usually talk about my New Years resolutions because they are more like goals for me, not really resolutions. This way I keep them; goals make me work harder, and they seem more attainable to me. I have learned over 36 years that if I make resolutions per se, I just forget 'em! :-) So, one of my goals this year is to get me and my family more organized. I bought one of those "Mommy Calendars" with columns for each person and a block for each day of the month - LOVE IT! I organized my kitchen drawers this week, called Habitat for Humanity to come pick up some furniture we were planning to get rid of in the future (the future is now!), and cleaned out my bathroom cabinets (it is amazing how much make-up and hair stuff I buy and never use). The good news is that today I learned more about a free-market place that might actually take these toiletries that I don't use and give them (yes give them!) to people who would love to have them. How great is that!!! I know what I'll be doing next week :-)

Well, in a long, round-about way that leads me to finally sharing the teacher gifts that I made for my sons teachers at Christmas. The reason I am linking the two... I just hope they don't throw these away or give them to the free-market :-)

I think I mentioned before that my son has a total of seven teachers in preschool, the kids actually rotate from room to room for each "subject." My son loves it, he really enjoys the variety, and of course each teacher has a different style and personality, which is good for the kids to be exposed to. But boy, when it comes to gift-giving, it sure made for a lot of work!

Anyway, they were fairly easy once I figured out a design. For simplicity, I kept them pretty much the same, just different papers and colors. The quote is the same on each and it reads:

Kind words from a teacher can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are endless.

Sorry for the dark pics; I took them at about 2-3 AM the morning of their Christmas party. Now do you see why I am trying to get myself more organized???!!!

First I painted each frame to match the paper choice. After adhering the paper (with Mod Podge) I sprayed them with Plaid Acrylic Sealer. I used Spcriptina font for the quote and printed them on vellum which I then cut using my Labels 1 dies. I stamped another sheet of vellum with white ink and heat embossed with white embossing powder. For the butterflies, I did a base butterfly in a solid color and a vellum butterfly in the same shape and used versamark and Pebbles Chalk Inks to shimmer them up. Added some bling, dew drops and flowers here and there and wallah! My full list of supplies is below.

I have some fun cards to share in a few days. We are off tomorrow for a trip to visit the family (I hope!). My dad had his final surgery today, so if he is feeling up to it I really want to get up there to see him and the rest of the family.

Hope you all have fabulous weekend! As always, thanks for visiting!

*HUGS*

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Fancy Pants Pollen Dust (flowers), Autumn Leaves Elegant Flourishes, Inkadinkado Floral Flourishes

Paper: Vellum, variety of My Mind's Eye Patterns and DCWV

Ink: White Craft SU!, Versamark

Miscellaneous: White EP, heat tool, various ribbons, Mod Podge, Cuttlebug, Nestabilities Labels 1, Martha Stewart Butterfly punches, Pebbles Inc. Shimmer Chalks, Acrylic Sealant, Dew Drops, Acrylic paints in various colors, wood frames from Michaels, flowers Prima, and rhinestone brads are MM.

Hello 2009!

2009-01-11T22:03:00.029-05:00

I am extremely happy that 2009 has finally arrived! From the start it felt like 2008 was jinxed for us and it seemed to be neverending. My husband and I have decided that 2009 has got to be a better year and we are looking forward to so many wonderful experiences for our family. We have some family resolutions that we are excited about and I hope we look back on 2009 with fondness and not a sense of relief as we did this past year.

Although I did not share many of my projects the last few months of the year, I was still creating. I just couldn't find the time to blog as much as I would have liked. I spent a great deal of the end of November and early December making over 70 Christmas cards, and that was after I cut the list down! I vow to make it even shorter next year! On top of that I made some all occasion card sets and a thank you card set for another friend. And I also made my son's prechool teachers each a special frame (there were seven of them) which I will share a little later.

Now I know that Christmas is long gone, but I thought I would share the Christmas cards I made with the hope that they might inspire someone out there.

This was the first card I made. I sent out about 50 of these to family and friends, until I ran out of that fabulous ribbon. I was so excited to use something up from my stash, but now I am sad that it is gone. I bought that Martha Stewart ribbon at Michaels end of season clearance sale after Christmas 2007 for something crazy like $1.50 for 7 yds. What a steal!

Here is a close-up of the glitter. I outlined the entire card with white glitter, like snow. LOVE it! (Now if we could just get some snow here - I would be so happy!) The snowflakes also had glitter on them for that added sparkle. Of course it is hard to capture that in the picture, but they were way more sparkly in real life!
Here is the second card I designed. I wanted to use a less traditional color scheme on this one because quite frankly I was sick of red! This one also had glitter on the medium sized snowflakes for a little extra glitz.

Although I was pleased with both cards, I have to say the red one was my favorite.

I need to leave you with a little note... After re-reading my last post I felt like I may have left you with the notion that I was a complainer or a whiner of sorts. I really do try not to be that way in life. I was just a little disheartened. I believe that after 2008, I have a stronger sense of purpose and even more of what is most important in my life - my family! It doesn't matter how much money you have, what car you drive, or how big your house is - what matters is the love and support of your family and cherishing every moment with them. I have a stronger appreciation for my husband, my children, my friends, my family, and most of all for good health. Sometimes it is important to find that silver lining...

Thank you for visiting! I hope to be here more often!

A Christmas Wish...

2008-12-22T14:44:00.011-05:00

This has truly been the craziest month of my life; I have no idea where the last four weeks have gone. It doesn't feel like a month since I last posted here. I am sorry for that, but sometimes life (or should I say God?) has a way of putting things into perspective for you since we are sometimes too slow to see it for ourselves.

Here is my month in a nutshell...We spent some time at doctors offices for my son, which turned out to be an issue with his heart. The problem, according to the cardiologist, is actually quite normal, and it is his heart's way of saying to him "Hey slow down buddy, I can't keep up!" So when he goes through a major growth spurt (almost 2 inches in three months) his heart doesn't keep up. So we are treating it as such, and now we know the warning signs.

About two weeks ago, my brother-in-law was admitted to the hospital with a strange illness. FOUR days after being admitted, they diagnosed him with Toxic Shock Syndrome, which apparently can be contracted from someone carrying Streptococcus (yes, that is the same bacteria that causes Strep throat). He has no idea how he got it, but after being misdiagnosed a few times his kidneys and liver were in failure and his lungs and heart were also in danger. This being my husband's only brother, he was with him for much of his hospital stay.

Finally, my father had surgery last week and will again next week, so no visits from the grands as expected, and it wasn't feeling like much of a Merry Christmas around here. The holidays aren't the same without any family around.

Add to all of this the current state of our economy, pending unmeployment for friends, the sadness of others as they lose loved ones, and still others who find themselves amidst a bitter divorce - the world is not looking very "glee"ful and that Norman Rockwell Christmas picture seems very different from the one I am actually experiencing. Now wonder there is do much depression in this country!

Now don't get me wrong, there were many good things about this past month too, like my son's optimistic diagnosis, craft night with the girls, Christmas decorations and music, my kids with their very own tree and hanging their "special" ornaments, my son's Christmas pageant, and of course the yumminess of Christmas cookies. And you know what I realized today, it is what we (I) make it! If I want to wallow, well my holiday will be less than memorable. But if I make the decision to rejoice in everything I have and relish the joy on my children's faces when Rudolph plays for the 300th time on the radio, then my children will see how we can come through tough times with smiling faces.

So, I don't know about you, but I am ready to say Goodbye 2008! Hello 2009; may you be a better year for EVERYONE!

Merry Christmas! I wish you all a fabulous holiday, and most of all good health in 2009!

Another Papertrey Blog Hop...

2008-11-25T17:21:00.035-05:00

Here we are for another PTI Blog Hop. Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you enjoy!

This month's theme is "Floral Frenzy." Flowers I love flowers!!! If you look back at many of the projects I have on my blog, there is a VERY good chance that there is a flower of some sort on it, in it, or the project is it! I am so excited to be able to play along this month! I have missed it, and so needed something to exercise my mind - not to mention get it off of other things (see previous post!).

However, I am afraid that what I came up with wasn't anything too exciting. I just didn't sit down until this afternoon to do it, and by then there just wasn't enough time to execute all my ideas!

So here they are... The first one is a flower made of ribbon. PTI's very own Berry Sorbet ribbon to be exact!

Just keep looping the end over until you get something you like. I pinched the edges before putting a stitch or two in each "petal." The I added a button from Basic Grey (compliments of Beverly :-)!) to finish off the center of the flower. Pretty easy and I don't think I used more than 10 inches of ribbon. Not bad!

As for the second project, I used one of my favorite background stamps from SU! - Script. This is the one that has the Irish blessing on it. LOVE it! I stamped it in Versamagic Pearlescent Beige onto cream cardstock. I did not use PTI cream because it is too thick (a good thing!) to "bend," it creases more easily and I wanted it to be softer without cracking, so I used some cream from the Paper Company, much thinner, cheap paper for small projects like this.

After stamping the paper, I let it dry and then ran it through my Cuttlebug with the four sized flowers from Flower #1 set. Then I inked them with PTI's Dark Chocolate and curled the edges with between my fingertips.

Finally, I put a little glue between each flower die for stability since I knew I would mess with the petals again, and I added a copper brad to finish it off.

Wallah! Two different flowers in about an hour!

I can not wait to see what everyone creates tonight! I am so excited about all the new flowers I will undoubtedly learn! Have fun at the blog hop ladies!

Have a great evening! And as always, thanks for stopping by!

P.S. Sorry about the cutt off pics on the right side. If you click on the pics, you will get the actual picture. I am still learning about HTML. I will fix it later after I feed my kids :-)

Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails...

2008-11-17T22:18:00.007-05:00

Well, at least that's what I think it should say. What is a snip anyway??? Anyone know?

This was a really fun and easy card that I did for my nephew who recently turned two. He is the other twin from Pennsylvania who celebrated his birthday the beginning of this month.

I sketched this layout out a while back and never made anything with it. I thought it was an unusual sketch, and it required just the right image. This little guy is a .99 stamp from Imaginisce that I picked up at Michaels a few weeks back - I am so loving our new store here...ahhhhhhh...I get lost in there.

It's all pretty self explanatory really. He is colored with Prismacolor Pencils and OMS and I added some Cinnamon Stickles to his eyes. I think he is downright cute!

I have been working on some Christmas cards for someone else, which I am almost done - YIPPEE! I haven't really started my own yet, just a few here and there that I will share in my next post. I am still trying to decide on something easy, yet elegant; after all I have about 60 to make - I need easy!

On another note, if you are a person who prays, please mention my son in your prayers. He has been having some fainting spells, which we originally attributed to Hypoglycemia when he had them about a year ago. However, his doctor has recommended that we see a Pediatric Cardiologist just to rule out anything more than that. Our appointment isn't until Dec. 1st, but a few prayers would be most appreciated.

Enjoy your weekend, and as always thanks so much for stopping by!

Before They Grow Too Old...

2008-11-14T14:49:00.022-05:00

I love making my kid's costumes for Halloween. I hope to do it every year (well at least while they let me), because I know there will come a day when they will only wear store bought costumes, and then that dreadful day when there will be no more trick-or-treating.

So I figured I better get the pictures posted from Halloween at least before Thanksgiving rolls around :-P

Here are some photos of past years costumes...

My son as a chicken in 2004; he was almost 1 here...
My daughter as a flower in 2005, at 2 months old...
My son as a Deviled Egg in 2005, he was almost 3...

Both kids as Thing 1 and Thing 2 from The Cat In The Hat in 2006... (I painted the pumpkin too :-)

My son wanted to be a pirate in 2007, so his sister had to follow suit (her choice, not mine!)...

And here we have this years winners - WALL-E...

And Fancy Nancy (if you have a girl you know who Fancy Nancy is :-)...
Up until three weeks before Halloween my daughter had her heart set on being Eve from WALL-E, however one trip to the library changed everything. She read Fancy Nancy and fell in love; here was no turning back!

My son and daughter won first and second prize at our community Fall Festival. One of the judges said that he had to win first prize because somebody (insert mommy here!) put a lot of work into his costume. My daughter won second because even though they didn't know who she was supposed to be, she was just "so darn cute!" Our kids can be real charmers!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous weekend!

Tagged and Yes, A Card!

2008-11-11T12:34:00.000-05:00

Hi There!

I am so sorry that my posts have been so few and far between. My husband has been working long-long-long hours lately, and to be quite honest, many days/weeks I feel like a single mom - I really have a true appreciation for what they do, I can't even imgine throwing a full-time job on top of this! My husband is out of town this week, and of course we (the kids and I) are all sick. Bowling anyone? I'll offer you my head...

Anyway, my dear friend Beverly tagged me (three weeks ago! - eeeeeeek!) so I thought I would play along since I don't usually share much about me! So here goes:

The Rules:
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share seven facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Since it has been so long, I will just share my facts and not tag anyone at this point, as everyone has probably already been tagged :-)

So here are my little facts:

1. I have a bachelor's degree in English and a Masters in Counselor Education.

2. I hate the telephone! I would so much rather email, write a letter, or talk with someone in person than to ever pick up the phone. No I wasn't always this way, I could talk for hours with my friends and boyfriends in high school!

3. I went to Catholic school all my life until college. Now I am not sure if I should be Catholic anymore??? Hmmm...

4. I used to work for TV Guide magazine, however, I only made about $21K a year, so that job only lasted a year!

5. I do not like to swim in water that is also home to fish - it FREAKS me out! It's pool water only for me!

6. I love the outdoors, which if you really knew me would come as a shock to most because many people think I am too girly to like camping in a tent! My husband was amazed the first time we went and made sure to tell everyone how I did.

7. When I first met my husband he was casually dating another girl. He told me he believed in the "three date rule." If by the third date there were no feelings then he at least gave it adequate time to determine it wasn't meant to be. A few months later we had our first date (didn't go too well - he is a loud laugher, I am more reserved), then our second (also not great...met the friends and they were pretty over the top strange). Why this is important... If he never told me about his three date rule there never would have been one! It was on our third date that I saw him in a different light, and here we are ten years later!

Well, there you go, "fun" facts about me... Now for a card...

I made this one for my Goddaughter/neice for her 2nd birthday. I thought a "little" glitter might be in order :-) The only down side to glitter is it literally gets on everything, but boy is it pretty. I'm sure she enjoyed the sparkle though. Sadly, we did not get to the party (they live in Pennsylvania), which I just visited a few weeks ago for my Godson's 5th birthday. That 5+ hour trip is not fun with my "hates to travel" 3-yr old! But we do miss our family terribly and wish we could be there for every event.

On the up side, I really liked how this turned out. I used a lot of things that are so not usually my style: glitter, a gold paint pen, rub-ons, and lace. But it was a lot of fun to make something out of the ordinary! I also got to use my new curvy rectangle nestabilities - LOVE THEM!

Let's see, what's not obvious about this, well I made the flower base and inside flower with a corner rounder. I colored the curvy rectangle directly with a dew drop. Lastly, I outlined the white flower with a gold pen. Everything else should be pretty self-explanatory I think.

I now have to feed my sick kids lunch. I hope you enjoyed visiting and I so appreciate anyone who is still visiting my forgotten blog.

Have a fabulous day!

What I Used:
Paper: White and Plum Pudding PTI, lavender is Paper Company, Vellum
Ink: White Craft SU!, Versamagic Dew Drop Spring Pansy
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics PTI
Accessories: Corner Rounder Punch (with guard off), lace, American Crafts rub-ons, Gold paint pen, flowers all Prima, Gold Brads MM, Gem is from Michaels $ bin, Tiny Rhinestones $ Store, Mega Curved Rectangle nestabilities and Cuttlebug, Glitter Glue and Glitter Martha Stewart, Butterfly punch Martha Stewart

Happy Birthday GG!

2008-10-09T08:49:00.009-04:00

Sorry for the dark picture (if you click on it it looks better), brown on brown is hard to photograph especially with a little cream in it. I really had fun making this card. It was actually quite easy to do, and I loved every minute of it. It was so fun to sit among my crafty stuff if even for just an hour. Now I have some serious organizing to do in there, and well, to be quite honest, I am avoiding it :-P

Until I find the time to clean, this is all I have. I made this card for my grandmother (my kids call her GG for Great Grandmom) for her 84th birthday. She lives in Philadelphia so we don't see her much, but miss her terribly. She is a pretty old-fashioned woman, never drove, never remarried after my grandfather passed when he was very young. She thinks that we each get one great love and the rest is just to pass the time until we find him :-) She had her great love, no need to look for more she says. About as high-tech as she gets is her remote for her TV, so she will not likely ever see this. Nevertheless, we love you GG!

I traced the bird onto the brown CS from some chipboard I have had forever; the chipboard seemed too heavy for this card. I added a little MS glitter around the bird to dress it up a bit, and fashioned it with a flower brad with a little more glitter in the center. The vine is actually a swirly photo corner from Boss Kut. I am loving the new MAMBI paper stack I got at Michaels a few weeks ago, so my colors!

**ASIDE**Speaking of Michaels, I don't know what yours is doing, but my Michaels (yes, it's all mine!) is doing a complete overhaul. Their papercrafts department and stamps have at least quadrupled. I love it! They are now carrying more 12x12 papers by some big names, including Bazzill, Basic Grey and American Crafts. I hadn't been in there for two weeks (a record for me!), so I was super excited when I walked in there last week!

We are off for some family fun this weekend of apple picking, folk music, and lots of great food at the apple festival at Graves Mountain. At least we'll get one day of fun before my husband heads back to work Sunday to start off another six-day week. Sometimes I wish we lived in Europe or somewhere where people actually get to enjoy time off and they can take a holiday without being tied to their Blackberry or computer...ahhhhhhhh... one can dream right?

Since I haven't done a kid's funny story in a while, I wanted to make note of something my son taught me the other day. Do you watch Sesame Street? If not their is a little stint that Bert and Ernie do where they rub their tummies and pat their heads at the same time. Now, I have NEVER been able to do this, I have tried many times (I remember trying this as a kid too!) without success. So, we are eating lunch the other day and my son is doing it without even thinking about it, and I am struggling. I say "I give up!" It's just not something I am meant to do. My son says "You can never just give up mom, you can do anything you put your mind to!" (mom's words now coming back to haunt her :-) So, he teaches me that first you must rub your belly and then add the tapping of your head because if you try them both at the same time you won't be able to do it. Within seconds, WE were patting our heads and rubbing our bellies like nobody's business. Isn't it amazing what your kids can teach you?!

Take a lesson from your kids today, sometimes it is just about the fun, not about the task!

Have a super weekend!
*Hugs*

What I Used:
Stamps: PTI Anniversary set Simple Little Things
Paper: PTI Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss and Vintage Cream, PP is MAMBI
Ink: PTI Spring Moss
Accessories: MS Glitter in Brownstone, Flower brad MM sanded and painted with MM paint in Fir Tree, Cuttlebug, Scallop Circle Nestabilities, Boss Cut Corner Scrollie Leaves, Ribbon is Martha Stewart

For A Cause...

2008-09-26T18:07:00.004-04:00

I saw Cammie's post on Tuesday and knew I wanted to do something for this. She, through her latest release from Gina K. Designs, is giving 100% of the proceeds from her latest release to the Alzheimer's Association. She has also asked her blog readers to send words of thanks and encouragement to those who care for Alzheimers patients. This card will be mailed, along with two others to the address on her blog:

The Staff at the Artman Home

250 N. Bethlehem Pike

Ambler, PA 19002

Although I do not currently know anyone afflicted with this disease, I fear that it may be in our future. My husband's grandfather suffered with Alzheimer's. Our understanding of Alzheimer's is that it can be genetically passed on to future generations. Although there is a test to detect whether my husband will suffer with this disease, we have decided that this is not something we want to know at this point in our lives. Imagine knowing that somewhere along your journey you will begin to forget the most important people in your life and the most important events that made you who you are. I can not even imagine what the families of those with Alzheimer's go through and how frustrating a disease this is. But I pray for them and a cure in the very near future.

I pray that this disease is nothing but a definition in the medical books so that so many others never have to face the loss of a loved one who is still right in front of them.

God Bless all the caretakers, loved ones, and patients who know all too well what this disease is capable of. May you never have to encounter it!

Make it a perfect weekend!

Whoo Deserves a Thank You???

2008-09-23T11:08:00.023-04:00

(Wise Owl) from Alli Miles back in June, and I was soooooo excited to get a chance to stamp some images from it! I'm sure my fellow stampers know how hard it is to wait for goodies to come in the mail. Alli was so good about keeping in touch and letting me know what was going on. It seems that her goodies were shipped to her, but NEVER arrived! Unfortunately, I have had this happen to me a few times - I wonder where it all goes... hmmm... Anyway, we had to wait for another set to get to her (in Canada!) and then for her to ship them to me.

I seriously LOVE this set! I am usually not a big fan of owls, but these owls are just so cute and I love that you can customize them! I think Kim Hughes' owls are so cute too - they are on my long list of things I want! I started making just one of these from the idea in my head, but then realized they would be perfect for my daughter's Thank You cards for her birthday. So, as much as I hate mass producing, sometimes it is necessary :-)

I also got to use some new Cuttlebug embossing borders on the Chocolate paper. These are so cool and I love that they add just a little something. I hadn't received my PTI Pure Poppy paper and ribbon when I made these (that was in my Happy Birthday to ME! order this month) so I used some red Martha Stewart Christmas ribbon I picked up last year on clearance. I think they came together nicely, and I am so happy to be able to cross something off my list!

Here is the inside sentiment...

We took a little drive this past weekend and it gave me some time to actually flip through those magazines, PB catalogs and CTMH books that have been stacking up. Boy do I have ideas now, I think I have finally found my creative flow (it's been missing for a while). I kept walking by my craft area and wishing something would come, but nothing ever did ;-P But it's coming back - Yippee!

We are leaving Saturday for a little fun with the kids in DC to celebrate my 36th birthday! I still can not believe I am going to be 36 - I remember when I was a kid that was really old! Doesn't feel so old these days. We plan to visit the Museum of Natural History, among other things, to see the dinosaurs and then hit the zoo on Sunday. I lived in Northern Virginia for two years and never visited the zoo, so my kids and I will be experiencing it for the first time together.

Well, I have a ton to do today while my kids nap - ahhhh, love that sound... silence...

Have a fabulous day/evening!

As always, thanks for stopping by!

What I used:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Polka Dot Basics, Simple Alphabet and Wise Owl sets, Fiskars - Kimberly Poloson Filigree Borders

Ink: Papertrey Dark Chocolate, White Craft SU!

Paper: Papertrey Summer Sunrise, Spring Moss and Dark Chocolate, MAMBI Patterned Paper

Accessories: Dimensionals under owl, Cuttlebug and Embossing Border, Sizzix Wingo Zingo Alpha, Cinnamon Stickles, Large scallop scissors from Dollar Tree, Chocolate ribbon from PTI, Pink and Red are both Martha Stewart, Chocolate Zig pen, glue dots

The First Day of the Rest of Your Life...

2008-09-22T19:55:00.014-04:00

As I promised, I am FINALLY uploading some pictures of my son's first day of preschool. It feels like it was forever ago, but it's actually only been two weeks. I wish I could be on top of things, I used to be the most organized person I knew, my college friends hated me. Oh, if they could see me now, I have no idea what happened, but that is certainly not an adjective I would use to describe me these days!

The day started relatively painless as I took a few tips from my friend Mrs. P who gets everything ready the night before. I even prepared the ingredients for blueberry pancakes, of course leaving the liquid for the morning :-) So that is what he had for breakfast on the first day of school - brain food!

Isn't he cute!
Of course, his sister had to get in on the action. She WILL NOT be outdone!

I kept taking pictures of him as we stopped along the way (out the driveway, our corner, red lights, stop signs...). He was getting so sick of me taking pictures that he said, "Mom, stop taking pictures of me while you are driving, it's DANGEROUS!" Of course I had to laugh! He was a little quiet on the way, I think there was a little anxiety going on in this shot (he is so much like his mother in that way - fear of the unknown :-)

But as we pulled into the parking lot, or should I say "carpool lane", this big, bright smile came across his face. He was so excited, he was hopping from backseat to front seat to back seat again - it was so cute! I was so happy to see that, I needed to see that.

I was really proud of myself that day. I told myself I wasn't going to cry, but I felt it starting as we drove there. I wouldn't let the tears come out of my eyes though. Then when he got out of the car, I thought "Oh God, here they come!" I shed a tear from each eye before my daughter started singing a song from the backseat about how her brother is leaving her and never coming back... that obviously made me laugh out loud!

At the end of EVERY school day the kids line up to ring the old fashioned school bell out front. It is really cute to see the little ones do it, they can barely budge it. My son has come to think of the bell as a rope swing, so I have to closely monitor his ringing skills, or should I say swinging skills??? :-)

Hope you enjoyed the pictures. I will have something crafty tomorrow - yes, two days in a row, can you believe it!

Have a fabulous day!

A Princess Is What You Were Meant To Be...

2008-09-15T14:28:00.010-04:00

To think I almost sold this set without ever even using it! Well, thankfully I hadn't parted with it {yet} because I had to make a birthday card for a five year old who is VERY much a Princess. This was perfect for her!

And of course every princess must have a little sparkle in her life, so I piled on the stickles and glitter. This is probably the "sparkliest" (is that a word? :-) card I have ever made. Really not my style (if I even have one), but I can do sparkle when the need arises. I actually enjoyed making this card with all its sparkle. My son thought it was "cool," while my daughter said "oooooo, that's pretty mommy!". This coming from the child who deliberately touches every glittery thing in Michaels just so she can have "pretty hands." Ahhhhh, the little things...

We have been pretty busy around here the last week. I thought having one in preschool would make life slow down a bit, but that hasn't happened at all. But that's okay, I'd rather be running mad than bored out of my mind - we don't like to stay put around here :-)

Speaking of preschool... I have a few pictures to post from my son's first day. He was so cute! Now where are those pictures?...

Have a fabulous Monday! Thanks for stopping by!

What I Used:
Stamps: SU! Pretty Princess, PTI Mixed Messages
Paper: PTI Lemon Tart and Berry Sorbet, Basic Grey Two Scoops
Ink: Staz On Jet Black, PTI Berry Sorbet
Accessories: Diamond and Fruit Punch Stickles, Prismacolor Watercolor Pencils, SU! Watercolor Wonder Crayons, Niji Waterbrush, Dimensionals, Cuttlebug with Oval Nestabilities and Bloom Dots Embossing folder, Mini Scallop scissors, Organza ribbon

I Finally Stamped... Something...

2008-09-07T22:28:00.010-04:00

This was tough! I hadn't been able to really do much of anything creative for the last few weeks, so when I finally sat down to create, boy was it hard! I had no idea where I was going with this, but I had to start somewhere, so I pulled one of the very first stamp sets I ever bought out, and believe it or not I have never used it before now! I loved it when I got it, but then I quickly bought something else, and then something else, and yet I still couldn't let this one go. So here it is, my very first creation using Art Warehouse Stamps!

It's a start; nothing fancy, but a start!

Fairly simple to produce, had I actually known what I was doing with it. But as it was it took me a few hours of walking away and coming back. You would think it should be fabulous as much as I played with it. Oh well, it is what it is! We all have those days and those creations!

Well, my son starts preschool tomorrow and I am trying to get myself into a routine, so I am off to prepare snacks for the week and get all of my belongings by the door so we can be off without a hitch (yeah right!).

Hope you all have a fabulous Monday! I am just hoping not to cry when my little man gets out of the car for his very first day :-( I know he will be fine, but he has been with me exclusively for the last three years, it's just hard to let go...

What I used:
Stamps: Art Warehouse (Interactive Graphic Flowers), Autumn Leaves (Elegant Flourishes), Papertrey Ink (Mixed Messages)
Paper: Kraft Papertrey Ink, Black ?
Ink: Pallette Noir, Papertrey Berry Sorbet
Accessories: Bracelet Bling from Michaels for center of flower, Sakura White Gel Pen, Dimensionals, Ribbon, Silver cord, Cuttlebug and Tag Die

She'll Always Be My Baby...

2008-09-04T15:52:00.019-04:00

My little one just had her third birthday and I am still having a hard time believing she is three! You know how there are some things you can just remember like it was yesterday and yet you can't remember what you had for dinner last night? I really do remember everything about the births of both of my children - I don't know how considering the amount of drugs I was on and the length of my labors (over 24 hours with my son and over 13 with my daughter even though she was induced!). But I think mothers just have the ability to endure and remember the most wonderful moments that life has to offer.

The reason I am sharing so many pictures with you here on my blog is because all of our family lives in various parts of the United States, not to mention some friends who are overseas - Hey Vic! :-) - still fighting a war. So, I wanted to capture as many moments as possible so each grandparent could see her opening their gifts and so everyone could see how happy she was on her special day.

Even though her celebration was small, we had a fun day. We went to Burger King to meet a friend and her son for lunch and some crazy kid fun in the play area, then we had a nap (I needed that time to blow up balloons and hang up decorations), followed by play time with daddy, pick up her ice cream cake with Coco (her new stuffed dog) and daddy, some pizza (her request for her birthday dinner), and some party fun with our neighbors! That's enough for a three-year old if you ask me!

It's sometimes sad to see that all of their birthday presents come wrapped in either brown paper or brown boxes; that reminds me of how lonely these special days can be if we let them. Which is why my husband and I try to make them extra special for the kids. She loved her birthday and all of her gifts! I guess you can't miss what you never had!

Here she is in all her glory with a few of her new prize possessions...

Her first Strawberry Shortcake dolls...

A handmade card from Mana (my mom)...

Her new "he-haw" hat (her words :-)...

Money from G.G. (my grandmother)...

Her new dog "Coco" from Paw-Paw Gary and Grandma Connie,(she named him right away and we have no idea where the name came from)...

Her favorite "Princess" hat and her favorite brother (OK, ok she only has one brother :-)...

And the piece de resistance (read in French, I have no idea how to make those little accents :-p ), the ice cream cake that makes everybody happy...

Thank you all for making her day so special! She is one lucky little girl! Here is a kiss...

until we see you again!

Happy Birthday Little One!

Much love,

P.S. For my fellow stampers who may be visiting, I finally got some time to stamp. I actually have some things to share and will post later. Thanks for stopping by!

Overhaul...

2008-08-29T23:42:00.006-04:00

Well, after seeing some of the very crafty blog headers out there, I decided to give myself a crash course in digital scapbooking. Where did I go to get some tips? Why, Two Peas In A Bucket of course! There are so any helpful people on the forums there, and so many fabulous scrapbookers willing to share their talents with those of us who have NO CLUE what they are doing.

So, this new header is my VERY FIRST attempt at digital scrapbooking! Not too bad for a newbie if I do say so myself! I had a lot of fun creating it - too much fun actually! It probably won't stay around too long as I am now on a quest for some digital freebies. So if you know of some great sites for freebies, please share.

These papers and elements were all downloaded many months ago from the Shabby Princess website. Cute stuff!

Well I hope to find some time to do something creative this weekend, especially considering it is a long weekend and my husband is here the whole time- yippee!

Have a fabulous evening/weekend!

*ETA...
I am also learning a bit more on how to change some of the HTML code on Blogger to change my template and make things bigger and wider. So you may see some weird things happening here, just a heads up!

Only Papertrey Could Get Me Back To My Blog...

2008-08-25T14:37:00.013-04:00

Well, I have certainly been absent from my blog for one reason or another, but I couldn't let another day go by and miss the PTI Blog Hop! I love seeing all the creations that you ladies come up with, and althought this was a tough challenge, I am confident that you will still "knock my socks off."

So our challenge was to alter a CD case in some fashion other than its intended purpose. My inspiration actually came from IKEA. I spent a fabulous weekend with one of my bestest girlfriends who came to visit for the weekend, and boy did we shop literally til we dropped!!! Among the many places we went was IKEA and I came out of there with so many fabulous ideas (I'm in the middle of decorating my daughter's bedroom - can't wait to finish!). Anyway, I was so glad I checked the challenge before I left because otherwise this might not have occured to me. Here is the inspiration piece, but of course I had to liven it up a bit!

The whole thing...
Individual pieces...

Me and my Husband...

My daughter...

And finally, my son...

I will be back in a bit to compile a list of ALL of the supplies! I used quite a few bits and pieces from many, many, many Papertrey sets.

Enjoy the Blog Hop and as always thank you so much for visiting!

**ETA...

What I used:
Paper: Papertrey Vintage Cream, Aqua Mist, and Dark Chocolate
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics, “family” from Boards & Beams, “heart” from Wedding Day, “Love” from Mixed Messages, Forever and Cherish from Truly, Madly, Deeply set by Technique Tuesday, Flourish from Whirligigs set by Technique Tuesday
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, Versamagic Dew Drops Cloud White
Accessories: Making Memories Manila acrylic paint, Cuttlebug with heart die and polka dot embossing folder, EK Success small retro flower punch, pearls from Michaels, ribbon Dark Chocolate from PTI , Flowers from Prima and Making Memories, chipboard heart Making Memories, dimensionals, and EK Success Square Punch, and of course CD cases

Gotta Let 'em Fly...

2008-08-12T09:36:00.011-04:00

So sorry I haven't been posting the last week or two I should say (after the bee incident). After being forced into a bit of a hiatus with only one hand :-) I have also been super busy and my mind has been a bit bogged down. I finally decided to register my son for preschool, something I wasn't sure I was going to do. My son has severe alergies (some of which are deadly to him) and the thought of him being cared for by someone else, in another place, quite frankly scares the heck out of me. Put it this way, he has been tested for 36 allergens and he is allergic to 34 of them. We joke that he can have a pet cockroach and dust mites would be fine (the only two things that came back negative)! Putting things into perspective, I know it could be worse, but until you know that your child has the ability to make good choices, it's hard to let go. I know now that he is ready, just not so sure I am! But I have to be, and I have to let him go. What good is having the wings if you don't get a chance to try them out, right? So, I finally registered him in preschool.

Boy has that proved to be a difficult task - which school to choose??? We visited 7 schools and quickly narrowed it down to two. One of my friends made me laugh when she said "Just imagine what it will be like when we have to choose a college!" Thank God I have a good 13 years before that journey begins - I need a break! In the end, I decided that a warm, friendly, place with dedicated staff and a well-rounded curriculum was more important than whether or not he can read at the end of the year; after all it is only pre-school :-).

On a lighter note, my parents, sister and nephew are coming to visit in just two days! Yippee! They haven't been here in about a year, and they haven't seen the kids other than in pictures since just after Christmas. It's been getting harder to get up to Pennsylvania to visit and let's face it with the price of gas these days, a bit more expensive too!

I may have some things to share by tomorrow. I am hoping I get some time to myself today, although I have Mom duty with no reprieve until tomorrow night! These are long days... On our agenda today, a trip to the recycling center, Blockbuster, riding our bikes, clearing some debris from the backyard, giving haircuts, cleaning, and a NAP!

Thanks for stopping by today! Be back soon with something pretty (I hope!)

Make today a fabulous day!

Beauty and The BEEst...

2008-08-01T22:43:00.010-04:00

In this case, I will start with the "BEEst". Here I am trying to better my life and get back into shape. It is 6:30 AM Tuesday morning. I am "walking, walking, walking" as my friend Kelly C. would say. I am about 1.25 miles into my walk, enjoying some Colbie Caillat on my MP3, and BAMM! out of nowhere I get stung by a BEE. Not only did this bee sting me, but he had the audacity to leave his stinger in my wrist (which by the way I have since learned to scrape out carefully so as not to release anymore venom into your skin - yeah, I didn't do that!!!!!!!!!!). So I have to turn around and walk the 1.25 miles I have already walked to get back home while I am in excruciating pain. I was literally saying to myself "You can do this, it doesn't hurt that bad!" WHATEVER!!!

Now here is the thing, I have been stung by bees before, but they must have been yellow jackets because I have never seen a stinger before. (I have learned a lot about bees this week!) It turns out only honey bees actually leave stingers behind, and as a result of this dastly deed, they die, so you see it really doesn't work out well for either party here :-)

Well, apparently I am allergic to honey bees! My right limb from fingers to elbow has been blown up like the Goodyear Blimp - pretty sight, let me tell ya. Luckily, my reaction this time is considered mild, in other words, I did not go into anaphalactic shock and die!!! (Ok, I know I am being dramatic, but what's life without a little drama?!) However, I am told that this may not be the reaction I get if it happens again; it could actually be much worse. Great now there is something to look forward to...

Well, the swelling is going down, and I am now able to type, but who knows, you might still find a typo or two...

Anyway, I wanted to share some things I made last week for my friend Beverly, whom I met at the PTI Forum. Beverly is a wonderful person, and will go out of her way to do extra special things for people just because. I have never met her in person, and have only corresponded via email and mail, but her words are always kind and thoughtful. She is a very generous spirit, and for that I thank her...

With this card...

And this magnet...

I wanted to remind her that being creative isn't about what other people think of your work, it's about what you think and how you interpret those thoughts. At least that's what this quote says for me. I hope it inspires her to create and share her work! And I hope it inspires you just to share yourself with someone today.

Well, I think that is all for me for now. I was a bit long-winded; I missed my blog!

Have a fabulous Monday!

What I Used:

Thank You Card
Stamps: Studio G Thanks So Much, Impression Obsession Solid Florals Paper: Cream Premade Notecards from Paper Studio?, Chocolate Paper Studio Ink: Versamagic Dew Drops Jumbo Java Accessories: MS Butterfly Trio Punch, Rust seam binding ribbon, scallop scissors, nestabilities

Creativity Magnet
Square Nestabilities, Cuttlebug and dies, Whole Punch, Felt, Wrights Ribbon, Brads Joanns and Making Memories, Computer and Scriptina Font, Fabric Glue, Butons American Crafts, Embroidery Thread

Happy Anniversary!

2008-07-27T16:35:00.020-04:00

Today my husband and I celebrated our 5th Anniversary! We have known each other for a little over 10 years, and yes, many thought we would never get married (I being one of them). I guess one day he just decided he couldn't get rid of me so he might as well marry me :-)

Forgive the photos, I had to actually photograph photos - he-he! Our photographer never gave us digital photos, but he did take some fabulous pictures so we can't complain! These are just a few of my favorites.

In the photo below you might laugh at the size of my eyes. There is a little story to go with that.

You see we paid for pretty much our entire wedding. Our parents helped out with the bar and the DJ, but everything else was ours. Well, I was disappointed that we couldn't afford everything, but we had to make choices. Of course we would have liked to have had a video, but pictures were more important, so we nixed the video. But one of the biggest things I wanted was a horse and carriage after the reception so we could ride off into the night. Perhaps I have seen too many movies - but I just couldn't get this vision out of my head. It was the ONLY vision I had when I thought about what my wedding would be like. But, we had to make do with what we could afford, so no horse, no carriage. People had to eat right?! Needless to say I was crushed. I tried to find some way to make it work, but it wouldn't, so I gave up. I cried and moved on... reluctantly...

My husband and his friend spent a good portion of the day prior to ou wedding washing my car, my six-month old Honda CRV, as this was our departure vehicle. How exciting right?!

Well, after a fabulous evening, everyone left me in the reception hall (my friend Diana stalling me while everyone got outside), and when I walked out I was just about blinded by all the flashes until I came to the bottom of the steps to see...

THIS!

Hence, the reason for the big eyes - I was ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED! When? How? But never why? I knew why...

To this day, this is THE most romantic thing my husband has ever done for me. He knew how much I wanted this and he made my dream come true. He ONLY wanted to make me happy, to see me smile. He obviously succeeded, and he still does :-D

Happy Anniversary! Love you!

Papertrey Bog Hop #2 (for me anyway!)

2008-07-25T16:35:00.011-04:00

Here we are again for Papertrey Ink's Blog Hop! Woo-hoo! Thank you all for visiting, and I hope you are having fun!

The challenge for this month was to use vellum on your project. My first thought - YIKES! I don't like vellum (well at least I thought I didn't :-P). I have so many packages and rolls of vellum that up until now I never used (kind of like that paper crimper we all have and haven't used in years - you know the one...). But after just a few short days I had so many ideas flowing I was writing things down in the middle of the night! I just had no time to implement them :-( So I went with my first thought and I hope you enjoy it. But be warned... now that the vellum is out, you will be seeing more of it!!!

I actually used Taylor Vanbruggen's Cupcake Challenge Sketch #25 from about a week ago - cute sketch. I punched the flowers out with two different EK Success flower punches. I used plain old see-through vellum that I had on hand to make the large flowers. I smooshed them into Versamark, and pounced some Pebbles Shimmery Chalks onto them and sprayed them LIGHTLY (from a good distance) with some acrylic sealant to make the chalk stay better.

The small blue flowers are made from a roll of Martha Stewart blue vellum called Ice Water (which I got for $1 at a Michaels Clearance sale about six months ago!) Then I glued some pearls on to add a little elegance.

This card is very pretty in real life, not so sure I captured the shimmer and the softness in the pictures. I tried :-)

Simple, soft, shimmery and so worth it! I had a lot of fun, and have a lot of ideas. Thanks for the challenge!

Well, I was so glad to have you here tonight. Hope you have a fabulous night and an even better weekend!

What I Used:

Paper: Kraft, Cream (Papertrey Ink), Patterened Paper Prima Paper Sasha Collection, Ice Water Vellum (Martha Stewart), Clear Vellum (?)

Stamps: PTI Quilter's Sampler Sentiments

Ink: Versamagic Dew Drops Sahara Sand

Accessories: Pebbles Shimmer Chalks, Half-Pearls (MAMBI), Scallop punch (Martha Stewart), Scotch foam tape, Aqua Mist Satin ribbon, embroidery floss (to tie ends of ribbon), EK Success Flower Punches, Ek Success Corner Rounder

You Make My Heart Happy...

2008-07-22T13:09:00.007-04:00

I have been trying to figure out a way to really make my blog something special for me, so it doesn't feel so much like something I HAVE to do, but more something I WANT to do. It was seeming like a tedious task, and I often contemplate whether it is even worth it.

But then today I came to the realization that I don't keep a journal and although I used to be better about writing the funny things down that my kids said/did, I have not been very good about that in the last year. I always wanted to be sure I had them when it came time to scrap their pages, and since I hadn't scrapped in quite some time, I guess I just kind of fell-off-the-wagon so to speak :-)

At lunch today I had one of those "light-bulb" moments - that's it, the perfect way to look back and remember how funny my kids really are (because let's face it, they won't be this cute forever!) *SMILE* So, I will start including some funny things my kids did or said from the day/week, depending on how often I find the time to post and how funny they really are :-). Stay tuned...

Now for my latest project... I made this card for one of my mothers-in-law; yes, I have three, but amazingly they are all great - how blessed am I! I was so pleased with this card, I hope she likes it. She isn't likely to check my blog, so I can share this even though she hasn't received it.

This was the first time I used anything made from felt on any of my projects. I am addicted!!! I cut the felt with my Cuttlebug and Nestabilities and even used a hole punch - super easy actually! I used three different stamp sets on this card, another first for me, I am so proud... and I LOVE this color purple! I never thought I was a purple person, but this shade is PERFECT!

What I used:

Paper: White and Plum Pudding (Papertrey)

Stamps: Simple Little Things, Polka Dot Basics, Beautiful Blooms (all Papertrey)

Ink: Plum Pudding (Papertrey), Craft White (SU!), Spring Pansy (Versamagic)

Accessories: White Felt, eyelet (American Crafts), brad (MM), Nestablities, Cuttlebug, Cuttlebug Flower Dies, Ribbon Plum Pudding (Papertrey), 1/8" hole punch

Funny Moments...
My son got in trouble AGAIN today for hitting his sister, so I decided that would mean that she would get the little sweet treats that were supposed to be his for the day (they usually get two little pieces throughout the day). His face - majorly confused. He tried to make sense of this, but in his mind this was completely ridiculous! After some dismay, he went to his sister, had a little talk (not sure what he said as he whispered in her ear), said he was sorry and came back to me a few minutes later. He says, "I'll make you a deal (his favorite line at 4)... she said she doesn't want my candy, so how about you give it to me and I will make her take it!" I had to laugh out loud! He was so sincere and adamant about it! Needless to say, no one got any candy yet today!

Sweet Moments...
I am sure many of you are familiar with the fruit and vegetable dilemna many of us face with our kids. My son is no exception. So today I told him he had to eat half of a banana before he could have yogurt. He wasn't happy at all. So, I said (with a huge smile and big eyes!) "how about if I put a little chocolate syrup on top and it would be like a chocolate covered banana?" He said, "Ok, that sounds good." He took his first bite and said "Mommy, you make my heart happy" - love that kid! He makes my heart happy!

Enjoy your day! Make every moment count!

Where Does The Time Go???

2008-07-18T15:32:00.010-04:00

We finally went to have pictures taken! I can't believe how big my kids are now! I see them everyday, but it really hit me when I saw these pictures. It is sad, but it has been almost two and a half years since we last had professional photos taken of the kids. My son had pictures taken like every three months for his first two years, my daughter, well let's just say the thought was there :-(

Let me tell ya, my kids are not camera shy when it comes to professional photography! This photographer took over 140 pictures and these are just some of my favorites. It cost us an arm and leg, really killing my craft budget this month :-) but we are so happy we finally did it.

The only bad part about it is that Doug was supposed to be there so we could get a family portrait as well, but found out at the last minute that was not going to happen, so we went through with it anyway. To our family, he promises he will make the Christmas pic!

Enjoy! I hope they make you smile today!

My Mom...

2008-07-18T14:50:00.007-04:00

My Mom just celebrated her birthday on July 12th, and although I could not be there with her I wanted to send her something special to let her know that I was thinking about her and how much she truly means to me. She has always liked butterflies, ever since I can remember, so I thought a butterfly shaped card would be appropriate. I was on the phone with her when she got the package, and she was a bit shocked when she realized this was her card. It was packaged inside a clear box, obviously it didn't fit in your standard sized envelope!

A little tribute to my mom... She is one of THE most important people in my life, and I am forever grateful to her for all she has done and continues to do for me. My husband even says that he is VERY lucky to have her as a mother-in-law. She never judges, almost never gives advice (I think that is more because she doesn't want it to come back and haunt her :-), and she loves unconditionally. She is always there to listen and she always lets me vent without trying to fix things (something my husband still hasn't figured out). She tells me when I am being stubborn, but she knows exactly where it comes from (she lives with the man :-) so she doesn't hold it against me. When everyone else told me I couldn't do something, she would always remind me that I was capable of anything. And even when we are on the phone 3oo miles away from each other, I still know that she is there for me and she would give her right arm if it meant my happiness. For that and so very much more, I love my mom. I can't imagine my life without her...

Hug your mom today, or at least give her a call :-D

What I used:

Stamps: Impression Obsession Solid Florals, PTI Butterfly Kisses (swirls on the small butterfly)

Paper: MME Bohemia patterned paper, Heavy Acetate

Ink: Staz On White and Black

Accessories: Gingham May Arts, American Crafts Rub-ons, Adobe Photoshop (butterfly template), sharpie, White acrylic paint Making Memories, Cropodile, Martha Stewart Butterfly punch and detail scissors

Here is how I made this card. First I needed a butterfly template, so I made the shape using the cookie cutter in Photoshop. I then cut it out, and traced it with a sharpie onto a PTI clear box, they use these to ship their stamps, then I hoard them :-) I have many! I cut it with fine detail scissors, stamped the florals with staz-on in a random pattern, added the transparent butterfly after stampin some swirls with black staz-on, added the "happy birthday" rub-on, punched some wholes on the side and tied some bows. Hope you like it!

I Finally Did Taylor's Challenge...

2008-07-07T00:50:00.007-04:00

Hope you all had a fabulous 4th! We had a busy weekend, despite the fact that we really didn't go anywhere - go figure! We saw WALL-E on Friday, it was really cute, and it has a really great message to for the young and old(er). My kids had no clue what the movie was really about, they just liked WALL-E and EVE and all the other robots in it. This was my daughter's first movie ever in a theatre (she is almost three). She did pretty well, although at one point my husband let her go out into the aisle and she thought she could hang from the handrail. I was out of my seat like a shot to get her, needless to say she really did not like me at that point and everyone in the theatre knew it! But, I would suggest going to see it if you are looking for a kids movie with a good message. We enjoyed it!

Now for the card... Taylor VanBruggen has a "Cupcake Challenge" every week. She is a fabulous designer and I get a lot of inspiration from her. In her Challenge she encourages you to use cupcakes (hence the name "Cupcake Challenge") in your projects, but most importantly she really just wants you to follow her sketch. I have a cupcake or two, but none that were large enough to fit the rectangular panel, so I went with something a bit different for me.

I have had this Doodlebug stamp set for quite some time and never used it. It brings a smile to my face every time I look at it though and I have a friend who is going through a divorce who could use some cheering up. I am hoping this does just that! I used a lot of stickles to make it sparkle and quite a few dimensionals to make it pop out too! Like I said, this is very different for me, in more ways than one, but I really like how it turned out. Hope you enjoy seeing it!

Since it is very late here, almost 1:15 am, I will say goodnight. My son has swim lessons at 8:30 am, and my daughter will be up a good two hours before that!

Have a fabulous night/morning!

What I Used:
Stamps: Doodlebug Friends, PTI Mixed Messages
Ink: Stazon Black
Paper: PTI White and Berry Sorbet, Basic Black SU!
Accessories: Dimensionals, Stardust and Black Diamond Stickles, PTI Berry Sorbet Polka Dot Ribbon, Martha Stewart Coal and Pink Flamingo Markers, Paper Piercer, Mini Scallop Scissors

I Hope It Isn't Contagious...

2008-07-03T14:51:00.008-04:00

I don't know about you, but we have had a lot of friend's and family members announce they are either having a baby or have had a baby. I love my kids, but I hope it isn't contagious - LOL! So, I have been making a lot of baby cards and gifts lately, some of which I will share here on my blog as time permits. Right now, my kids are sleeping after a three hour trip to the pool this morning, so I have a good amount of naptime on my hands - YIPPEE!

The card above was inspired by one Lisa Nichols did for PTI a few months back. I loved it; it was so soft and sweet, yet natural. I knew I would use it soon and here it is. My friend Terri just had a little boy and I thought this would be perfect for her. She isn't a real frilly/girly person, and with three boys now, that works out great for her!

The second card was made for my cousin in Philadelphia who is having her first baby. I wasn't able to go to the shower as my son came down with pneumonia just before, so I missed all the fun again (this is one of the things that makes me really sad about living so far from my family). I tried to keep this one neutral since they are thinking she is having a boy, but we won't know until mid-July! Most of the supplies on this card are from Papertrey. For a complete list see below.

We aren't doing much for the 4th, probably taking the kids to see the fireworks at the raceway here. Not sure how my 2-year-old will handle them in person. My son, on the other hand, will love them! Then we have a barbecue on Saturday at a friend's.

I have some great memories of fireworks from living in Philadelphia as a kid. You couldn't live there without a true appreciation of the 4th of July! Whether setting them off in my aunt and uncle's front driveway or seeing the huge display just off the Delaware River, it always felt like home. I hope my kids have memories like those one day.

Happy 4th! Stay safe and enjoy your weekend!

What I Used:
Sweet Baby Card
Paper: Kraft, Martha Stewart Fennel (green), PTI White, Basic Grey LilyKate patterned paper
Stamps: Fiskars Baby, PTI Mixed Messages
Ink: Timber Brown Staz-On, Sponged Colorbox Chalk Ink Chestnut Roan
Accessories: White Gel Pen, Sponge, Paper Piercer, Nestabilities and Cuttlebug, Scalloped Scissors, Riibon (Michaels Clearance), and Foof-a-lah Buttons with Su! Twine

Sweet Pea Card
Paper: PTI White, Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics, Green Thumb
Ink: Aqua Mist, Thatched Straw Dew Drops
Accessories: Nestabilities, PTI Aqua Mist Polka Dot Ribbon, White Embroidery Thread and Needle, Dimensionals, Paper Piercer

A Sign?

2008-06-27T22:44:00.008-04:00

We have been thrown some curve balls this year, but despite all the turmoil, anxiety, and the unknown - we're still here! Right now I am potty training my two-year-old and I just keep thinking this has got to get better, and I know it will, but my patience is wearing VERY thin. So tonight after a crazy storm that seemed to almost come out of nowhere (much like many of the things that we have encountered this year), we saw this. This is the second rainbow in as many weeks, and I can't say that since I moved to Virginia, about 10 years ago, I have ever seen one. I felt like it was a sign! Sometimes you just have to get through the bad to get to the good. Here's to rainbows, long journeys, happy healthy families, and potty trained two-year-olds!

Have a fabulous weekend!

PTI - Acetate Blog Hop!

2008-06-25T20:45:00.013-04:00

This is my first time joining in on all the fun with the PTI Blog Hop! I know I am a *little* late, I have two little ones who don't want to go to sleep this evening! UGH! Love 'em anyway!

Back to PTI, the challenge this month was to use acetate on your creation. I used it as the window for the bird. I couldn't quite figure out where to put the sentiment after I had the whole thing put together. Still not sure I figured it out! he-he!

My card is pretty self explanatory though. But I do want to share my inspiration with you - Pottery Barn of course. This was my inspiration for this card... You can click on the link for a better picture. http://www.potterybarn.com/products/p10028/index.cfm?pkey=cbabqltall

I have been saving this picture from the catalog for months and am now just getting around to using it. Candice's set Birds of A Feather spurred my imaginaton! Who doesn't love Pottery Barn?

Have fun blog surfing and enjoy the hop! Have a fabulous evening!

Hello Again!

2008-06-20T09:34:00.013-04:00

Ok, here I am again apologizing for being a bad blogger. I really never expected some of the turns life has taken for us over the last few months. Trust me when I say blogging was one of the furthest things from my mind. So, thanks for hanging in there with me! This card is for you :-)

*** ETA: Once I saw the pic below on the screen, I felt like their was too much white space above the bird, so I added a little slit with my craft knife and some sponging over and now I think I like it better the old way :-( Oh well, too late to change it now!

I haven't had a desire to create much of anything lately. It could have had quite a bit to do with the fact that my craft area looked like it was in the middle of a hurricane still in progress! BUT... my WONDERFUL husband bought me some new cabinets for Mother's Day, which he put together on Father's Day - LOL! Here they are...and I LOVE THEM! I feel like I am in paradise! I don't need much, just new cabinets.

I needed some motivation and was blurfing and found Sarah's inspiration piece, just what I needed to get started again. I am seriously HOPING that I can make it at least a weekly update - HOPING!

I have had this chipboard bird for years, and never used any of them. I bought some fun flock months ago and never used that either - bad crafter! So, Sarah's inspiration piece forced me to finally use both and then some. I love the Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush and Kraft cardstocks from PTI - their paper is such a nice weight, well worth every penny :-)

Ok, well we are off to run in the sprinkler and paint doors - oh, what fun! Have a fabulous Friday! We are heading to a summer solstice party tonight, enjoy the longest day of the year!

What I used:

Stamps: PTI Mixed Messages and Polka Dot Basics

Paper: Kraft, Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush all PTI, Chocolate Chip SU, Vanilla unknown

Ink: Ranger Distress Antique Linen, Staz On Timber BrownAccessories: Circle Nestabilities, Cuttlebug and Flower Dies, Ric Rac American Crafts, Corner Rounder, 1/16" Whole Punch, Flower Thumb Punch, Rhinestones, Fun Flock in Caramel and Dimensionals

I think that's it!

Everybody Has A Little Princess In Them...

2008-05-14T09:11:00.008-04:00

My daughter is only 2 and a half, but she is quite the little princess. Over night she transformed from the little girl who never wanted to wear a dress, to only wanting "princess" dresses (as she calls them) and twirling in front of the mirror for 20 minutes at a time. Although we have many struggles over the outfit for the day (an issue I am sure we will not overcome for many, many, many years :-), I have to admit that it is pretty darn cute to see her so excited about fru-fru frilly dresses. When she shows up at the park wearing pants/shorts my mom friends know I won that day! (secret, sometimes I just give in because she is just so cute!)

So, in my search for a way to keep all her girly barrettes in one place (hard to do considering she has a lot of bows and bulky barrettes to go with her dresses), I came across a ballet barrette holder that I just thought was the cutest thing. The one I saw was much smaller and made of covered cardboard, so I decided to pretty it up a bit. Here is what I came up with...

The 9x12 canvas is painted with acrylic paints, the flowers are the Bride flowers from Michaels (they take paint REALLY well!). I highlighted the centers of the flowers with stickles or pearl, whichever matched the colors better. Every other flower is popped up with a dimensional glue dot. I used two different widths of ribbon to make the waist and the bows. You just clip the barrettes onto the long ribbon strips and you have a prety way of storing your bows without them getting all scrunched up! My daughter loves it!

Apparently so do moms. I have made 9 of these over the last four weeks and am finishing up my tenth today. They are custom order to match the color the customer wants. They can also be personalized with a name or inspirational word or phrase. After that showcase day I wrote about a few weeks ago, I got several orders and the possibility for more on the horizon. The one I am finishing today is a present for a dance teacher, so I HOPE as others see it hanging in the studio, I may get some more orders. They are a bit time consuming, and with two little ones I have to keep coming back to it over and over and over again - LOL! But, I have to tell ya, I am starting to hate the color pink - LOL! Everyone wants pink, I want to do something green and yellow or purple, anything but pink! he-he!

Hope you enjoyed visiting today! Make today fabulous!

Nestabilities Anyone?

2008-04-30T15:14:00.004-04:00

Short post, but just curious... I have an opportunity to purchase the whole set of circle nestabilities at a really great price (a friend doesn't want them), but I already have the large scallop circle set, which would then mean I would have two. I don't need two of the same set - I know, not a phrase we crafters often here ourselves saying - LOL! So, I would like to sell mine.

I used only one of them once, so they are not in their original package, but I could put them in a CD case for you??? I just haven't had the time to use them. Would anyone be interested in buying the set I currently have? I want to sell them for $22 plus shipping, and would likely only take Paypal. Let me know if you are interested, otherwise I might just put them on ebay - UGH! Thanks!

Have a great day/night!

One More Thing...

2008-04-26T15:51:00.005-04:00

One more thing before I leave the computer for the day... I wanted to share a fabulous Blueberry muffin recps that I found at Allrecipes.com. LOVE that site! I have made it several times an changed tings a bit here and there and found that this version is THE best! For us busy moms out there, this is a quick and easy way to get another serving of fruit into our kids, (we all know how hard that can be sometimes :-) Try it out!

World's Best Blueberry Muffins

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar (I don't use that much, I use a little more than half cup)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil (I substitute with unsweetened apple sauce)
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup FRESH blueberries (frozen really do NOT taste the same)

TOPPING
1/2 cup white sugar (I use brown or topping)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup butter, cubed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil (or apple sauce or you can half/half this) into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.

To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

Delicious! Start your Sunday off right! Enjoy!

No Where Near Needing This...

2008-04-26T15:27:00.009-04:00

Like I said last week, although my blog took a little time off, I unfortunately did not. We had a showcase day at my MOPS group a few weeks ago to show off our home businesses. Now I don't really have a home business per se, but since people had been encouraging me to show others what I can do, I thought this might be a good opportunity to do that. So, this is one of the projects I did for that showcase.

I am in Love with Cosmo Cricket's Sugar line! It is so girly, yet it's classic too. I have decided that is what my daughter's room will be decorated with. I am going to cover her name letters with it too. I just love the colors and the patterns! Gotta stock up now before they yank it from the shelves to make room for the new stuff, which I have to tell ya does not make my heart go pitter patter :-( like this does.

Guessing by now everyone knows how to make one of these! I used Maya Road rub-ons for her name and the flower is from MM. I did cover the inside with paper too, and attached an organza pull ribbon bag to keep the tooth and money in.

I actually got three orders for these in their choice of color scheme. Not bad!

So, what do you think?

OK, well off to clean and hopefully stamp tonight. I have a lot of painting to do to - you'll see that next. I miss my stamps! :-(

Have a fabulous Sunday!
Thanks so much for stopping by!

What I Used:

Paper: Cosmo Cricket Sugar Collection

Accessories: Maya Road rub-on letters, MM rub-on flower, Ofray cream satin ribbon, organza bag (inside), MM Copper Flower Brads, Tin

A Little Something...

2008-04-20T15:15:00.010-04:00

I wanted to share this project because this was very special to me. A while back in this post I wrote about my cousin, Tricia, who was going to be starting chemo for ovarian cancer. Anyone who knows Tricia (or as she calls herself these days *wink* Patty) knows how much she loves to play waitress. She takes coffee orders at every family get together. She never makes the coffee, just likes to take the orders :-) So, when she finished her last chemo treatment, we went up to visit and celebrate with her and her family. She was too busy on the phone with her boyfriend to really notice we were even around :-) but she did enjoy this little gift I made for her - her very own personalized notebook. My 11 year old cousin was there and she loved the polka dots, apparently they are big right now among the tweens :-) She had polka dot socks on and a bandana to boot, so I know my notebook was cool (is it still cool to say cool?) LOL!

The notebook was actually pretty before I covered it, but I did it anyway. I covered the notebook with Mod Podge and adhered the paper, and added the rub-ons (American Crafts) for her name. The P and the heart chipboard are painted with Making Memories Specialty Glaze in Ruby, see the close-up it's pretty shimmery (love it!). I sprayed the cover with an acrylic sealant before I attached the ribbon.

The sentiment obviously has special meaning for her now more so than ever; I know it does for me.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend! We will be very busy again, starting with my son's t-ball game at 8:30 am - UGH! We are test driving cars this weekend for my hubby, I'm praying that goes well because me and car salesmen don't go well together :-(

What I used:

Stamps: PTI Out On A Limb

Paper: MME patterned (I think), Pink is Carnation from Martha Stewart, PTI White

Ink: Staz On Black

Accessories: Ribbon Michaels Basic Basic Collection, American Crafts rub-ons, Mod Podge, Acrylic Sealant, Scallop scissors, Making Memories Specialty Glaze paint Ruby, Black brads MM, Flowers Prima, Chipboard letter Colorbok and heart MM

It's Been Forever...

2008-04-20T14:31:00.005-04:00

It has been a while since I last posted. We have been doing a lot around here. We had a *HUGE* yard sale last weekend and I spent many, many, many hours going through closets, drawers, cabinets... to get everything out of here. Unfortunately, it rained at 11:00 so we didn't sell as much as we would have liked, but we made some ***mad*** money and the rest goes to the American Veterans, so we feel good!

I also spent a great deal of time getting a portfolio of things together for a showcase day we had at my MOPS group last Thursday. That is probably the biggest reason I haven't posted. I was busy gathering goodies for the show and creating like mad. It was pretty successful, not all my stuff is stamping. I have a lead to be commissioned on painting some canvases for a woman who makes beaded things and bows. She sells at a lot of craft shows and wants to make some of my stuff part of her booth. I'll show you the biggest seller in a post this week.

For now, here is a card I did for our MOPS coordinator who just turned 40 a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, we were not able to go to her party, since we had NO babysitter. We don't have any family around here, or at least none that we claim :-). So finding sitters has proved to be our "BIGGEST" problem over the years. My kids do just about everything with us, we don't have much of a choice. Good thing we like them! :-)

So, for this card, pretty self explanatory really. This was my first tent topper. I bought these stamps from Shannan Teubner (thanks Shannan! :-) a while back when she was selling some of her "old" stuff. It's true what they say "One (wo)man's trash, is another (wo)man's treasure!" I love this martini girl!

I colored her with Prismacolor Pencils and OMS to match the polka dot paper, which I think is MME. The scalloped bottom is done with a corner rounder. The scallop around the image is done with scissors, while the scallop around the sentiment is a marvy punch. I don't have the oval nesties *yet*; they're on my long list! I added some stickles across the top of the drink for some added sparkle, and colored some faux baubles with a sharpie to match the ribbon . I popped up the sentiment with dimensionals and other than that, pretty darn simple!

Hope to be back this week with some more samples. Things are dying down a little around here, so perhaps I will...

Have a great week!

What I used:

Stamps: Inky Antics

Paper: PTI White, Base is Carnation by Martha Stewart, Polka Dots MME, Pink is Prism (don't know what shade)

Ink: Staz On Black

Accesories: Faux Baubles from Michaels, Sharpie marker, Lime Green Stickles, Liquid Pearls in Petal Pink, Prismacolor Pencils and OMS, Scallop scissors, Marvy Mega Oval Punch, Oval Coluzzle, Paper Piercer, Ribbon Basic Basic Collection rom Michaels, dimensionals

Just A Few More Easter Cards...

2008-03-25T15:02:00.007-04:00

I have only two more Easter cards to share with you all. We had such a fun time at the Easter Egg Hunts, but for the life of me I can't find the camera we used. We have two cameras (the bulkier really good Kodak, and the smaller pocket one that is so cute and orange :-). We use the smaller one to take quick shots when running around with the kids. Think it's in hubby's car....

Anyway, so here are the two cards I have to share today. The fist one was made for my parents. I wanted to get a few of these done, but after getting all those brads on there I just decided that everyone else knew we wished them a Happy Easter! he-he! I saw this layout on someone's blog - but for the life of me, can't remember who. I drew it out and then forgot who did it, so if it is you please let me know :-) I didn't come up with this on my own! Wish I had...

So the base is PTI white, layered with some champagne textured paper I found on clearance at Target a while back, and the main color is PTI Aqua Mist, love it! I used the Birds & Swirls embossing folder in my Cuttlebug to get the main image.

The sentiment is actually a Studio G stamp I found at A.C. Moore. It looks choppy in the photo, but it actually stamped well. I liked this card, simple yet elegant.

The next one I had in my head for a while, but it was the last card I actually finished. Don't know why??? I think I was having a hard time with the scallop bottom and thought it should have something on it, perhaps a sentiment??? Oh well, done and mailed.

So, the base is SU! Cool Caribbean, layered with some yellow I picked up at Joanns (they were premade cards I just cut up), and the top layer is PTI white stamped with PTI's Polka Dot Basics. I tried using Cool Caribbean, but the dots were blotchy, so I switched to Colorbox Robin's Egg (almost a perfect match to SU! CC), much better coverage.

I made the egg template from a plastic egg my son got for Easter (my in-laws sent their Easter gifts early - thank GOD!). The main one is Cool Caribbean again, paper pierced, with some American Crafts ribbon glued on, and edged with white ink. The striped one is from the new Nana's Nursery Baby Boy collection from DCWV - check it out, very cute patterns (Got the girl one too!). It's got the glitter already on it, who could ask for more??? LOL! For that one I just cut a slightly smaller egg using the same template and cutting inside the lines.

The scallop was made with my large corner rounder and then I punched holes in it. I sponged a little white around that as well, but the photo doesn't show that well.

It needed a little something, so I added a mini butterfly from PTI Butterfly Kisses and popped it up on dimensionals. The I heard the mailman on the next street over and had to run and get a pic! Boy was my heart pumping! That was the last day I could get it in the mail before it would be late! So there you have it... I am officially a procrastinator, never have been, but I am now!

Hope you enjoyed my little Easter cards! I am so enjoying the stuff over at SCS, I just started surfing over there again, hadn't been in a while. Wonderful artists over there! Gotta run - cleaning to do before the kids wake up!

Have a wonderful day/night! As always, thanks for stopping by!

What I used...

Card #1

Paper: PTI Stamper's Select, Textured Champagne Paper Bouquet (Target), PTI Aqua Mist

Stamps: Studio G

Ink: Versamagic Dew Drop Pearlescent Chocolate

Accessories: Cuttlebug, Birds & Swirls Embossing Folder, Mini Brads MM, Dimensionals

Card#2
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select, SU! Cool Caribbean, Yellow (Joanns' pre-made cards), Nana's Nursery Boy Collection DCWV patterned paper
Stamps: PTI Butterfly Kisses and Polka Dot Basics
Ink: Versamagic Dew Drops Could White and Thatched Straw
Accessories: Plastic Egg for template, Large Corner Rounder for scallops, hole punch, paper piercer, ribbon American Crafts and organza ribbon from Offray, dimensionals

A Little Easter...

2008-03-21T15:34:00.006-04:00

Well, I actually got some cards done on time (keeping my fingers crossed the USPS gets them there on time!). I had fun making Easter cards! I like the cute little Easter critters: bunnies, ducks, chicks... They were so fun to color!

These cards were for my twin nephew and niece in PA. On the first one, I finally used those square embossing folders in my Cuttlebug. I think these were some of the first I purchased and never got around to using. Then I scored it on my paper trimmer/scorer and stamped the characters in black Staz-On so I could color them and they wouldn't bleed. I actually used Martha Stewart craft markers. I would love Copics, who wouldn't? However, I can not justify the cost, so Martha's do just fine for as much coloring as I do with markers.

Have any of you seen the "Basic Basic" Ribbon that Michael's sells? That's what this yellow ribbon is. I gotta say, that it is some of the easiest ribbon to tie and it will just stay where you put it. I LOVE it! This is like 2.99 a roll for 10 yds, you can't beat that and if you have a 40% off coupon, LOOK OUT! you can practically steal it!

I bought this paper just to make Easter cards and then realized I only have two little girls to make cards for. Oh well, into my stash it goes.

Here is another thing I used for the first time - my Nestabilities! I know, you are laughing at me and saying "how could she?", but something about them intimidated me and I kept putting it off. I think I have had them for 4 months now???!!!

Well, I have the rectangles and used them to make squares - pretty easy. Except they got stuck in my B plates and I had to pry them out with a butter knife - is that normal? Anyway, I used them to cut the PTI white square in the center and also to cut the acetate square as well.

I stamped the bunny with black Staz-On and colored her with a So Saffron marker from SU!and Prismacolor pencils with OMS.

I glued them together and added a thin pink ribbon and bow to dress it up and some little white dots in each scallop with a gel pen. Glued it in the center with some mono, added a Prima flower with a rhinestone brad and there you have it!

I hope you have a fabulous Easter weekend! We are off to two Easter Egg Hunts tomorrow, one at church and one at the Botanical Gardens. Then Sunday, we have our own here for the kids, that's our little Easter tradition. Last year we did it in the snow, we never get snow, and last year - there it was on Easter, so much for little Easter shoes!

What I used:

First Card

Paper: PTI White

Stamps: Studio G $1 stamps

Ink: Staz-On Black, Martha Stewart Craft Markers

Accessories: Yellow Ribbon Basic Basic Collection from Michaels, Cuttlebug and Square Embossing Folder, Scorer

Second Card

Paper: PTI White for Base and center square, Acetate, K & Co. Sparkly Sweet Scalloped Stripes Patterned Paper

Stamps: Studio G

Ink: Black Staz-On

Accessories: Prismacolor Pencils and OMS, So Saffron marker SU!, Prima flower, rhinestone brad MM, ribbon Offray, white gel pen, Nestabilities and Cuttlebug

Getting through some old pics...

2008-03-20T15:18:00.007-04:00

I am posting some older stuff to get to the new stuff I just finished this week. This was a Valentine I sent to my Mother-In-Law and her husband, which she loved BTW! She is one of my best supporters, and always calls me gushing over whatever I make her. I love that about her, I can always count on her when I need to hear something nice.

Pretty simple card actually. I am finding that I am more inclined to design simple styles. My husband looks at some of the things I point out on SCS or someone's blog, and he says that cards with a lot of "stuff" make his head spin. WHATEVER! I like those cards, I just can't spend that much time and energy to get that result. So I'll stick with simple!

So, here are the basics. I started with a Kraft base AGAIN, and inked the edges with Versamagic Cloud White. I cut a piece of PTI white, I think it was about 1 3/4" x 4 1/2" and distressed that, then added a slightly smaller strip of a deep red from my scraps and distressed that as well. Before gluing together I paper pierced the border, but this didn't show up in the photo all that well. I think I need to make my piercings a little bigger in the future.

I stamped the heart from PTI Sweet Love with the Cloud White again on some dark brown Bazill; don't know the exact shade, I have so much of it just kinda thrown together. I cute those out and went over them with a Martha Stewart fine glue pen and sprinkled some of Martha's crystal fine glitter over top.

I moved the hearts around a few times before I was comfortable with where they were placed. I tend to do that a lot. The I popped them up on some dimensionals.

The last touch was the photo corners made out of scallop hearts. I don't have the scallop heart punches or the nestabilities, seems like EVERYONE is out of those these days. So I simply made a heart, free hand and scalloped the edges with mini scallop scissors - sounds easier than it actually was! Placed them over the corners and bent one over the other and glued in place. The added mini brads for some extra security. I think I saw that technique on Nichole Heady's blog - that woman is a genius!

Wallah, another Valentine. Sad to say that the one I spent the least amount of time on was my husband's card. It is so hard to make cards for guys.

But here is a funny little story. My husband asked me what I wanted for Valentine's Day. I said "nothing but a homemade card from you." Well, don't you know that Valentine's Day, on his lunch hour, he went to my LSS and the lady helped him make a Valentine for ME! He picked out all of the stuff and she helped him with what I think may have been a Cricut to make an envelope. He did the rest. Here is a pic... He was so proud of himself and so was I; not so much about the card, but that he actually went into a Scrap store without me to make me a card - that's LOVE!

Have a fabulous day/night! Thanks for visiting!

Life - Take It One Day At A Time...

2008-03-18T10:35:00.012-04:00

Life - ahhhh, gotta take it one day at a time. I know a lot of people can blog through the rough times - unfortunately, I'm not one of them. I have to prioritize things, and blogging wasn't really a priority the last few weeks.

Reasons for my absence... well, I will try to keep it all short. At the end of February my husband found out that in one week he would be getting laid off from a job he devoted his life to. He was such a loyal employee, we seldom saw him during the week, and often not on the weekends either. But, such is the nature of Information Technology. Thank God! - literally - that we have a wonderful friend who gave us a heads up so we could prepare. And prepare we did! That was a very crazy week, but after wallowing for a "day" (we are fighters around here :-) we made phone calls, sent emails, worked on his resume, bought a new suit (something he hasn't had to wear in years - heck, no weddings or funerals to attend!) and we got the ball rolling. By the grace of God, he was technically only out of a job for three days; we were VERY lucky! My husband has a lot of contacts and he is very well respected for his work ethic and his expertise. It paid off this time!

But while all this was going on, we were actually supposed to be celebrating because we finally had the plans to our new "to be built" house and we were on our way to making a dream we have worked on for over two years come true. Well, we called our builder right away and told him what was going on, and he was great. Needless to say, all those plans have been put on hold, a bit of a permanent hold I think. Our dream house will have to wait a little longer. I was crushed by that, but I am extremely happy that we have a roof over our heads and can still afford to feed our kids.

After the storm passed, I took a trip to Maryland to visit my Aunt & Uncle and cousins. We played the Wii for the first time, and I boxed against my husband and won. He was even beat by my 11 year-old cousin, another girl. Boy did the former Marine catch some flack! :-)

Then we were off to Philadelphia to visit with family for 10 days, a much needed little vacation. It was great to be there and I miss my family there. I loved hanging out with my sister shopping and just talking in person. I went craft shopping with my mom at a Super Joanns, A.C. Moore (neither of which I have here), and she took my son to get a new Light Sabre (which made her the greatest "Mana" in the world!). I don't have anyone here to craft shop with, so that was absolutely AWESOME! We took the kids to a place called Giggleberry Fair and they had a blast.

Here are some pics of them...

...laughing it up. My sister and I had some serious fun too shooting at our kids with these soft balls from these giant guns! I hated to come back to Virginia, but alas we had to.

I have still been working on things around here, painting walls, hanging pics, getting things ready for our huge cul-de-sac yard sale on the 12th of April. I can not wait to clean out our garage! My husband won't even go in there it's that bad.

Most of last week was spent at the mechanic, trying to figure out what the heck was wrong with my car. After $800 of parts and labor that likely didn't need to be replaced or done, they finally figured out that it just needed to be drained and filled with some new fluid and no more crunching. We are chalking it up to a learning experience, and will not be taking our cars back there again.

I haven't had much in the way of creative juices flowing through my veins. Too many other things have been cluttering my mind. But I am reaching a level of peace that I didn't think possible a few weeks ago. Plus my craft area has been quite a mess with all the new stuff having no where to call home :-). We are getting some new cabinets to take care of that this week. I do have some things to share though and will do that tomorrow. This week I am starting to feel like my old self again, not sure if that it good or bad??? :-)

Thanks for hanging in there. I promise I won't have too many emotional posts, we try to stay positive around here! Hope you enjoyed the pics of the kids!

Have a safe and fabulous day!

Valentine's:Under the Gun Style...

2008-02-12T16:17:00.000-05:00

Hey Y'all!

Not much time to type so this will be short and sweet. I am getting ready for a night out with the girls at the Cheesecake Factory sans kids and hubbies - YIPPEE!

So, I will show you one of the Valentine's cards I did, which are going in tomorrow's mail believe it or not! We have had a bad week here, and once everyone's finds out what has been going on, they will all understand :-)

Nuff said... I love this color combo. The paper is a mix of PTI white, Stampin Up! Blush Blossom, and Kraft, and Bazzill (the dark brown base - there are so many shades of Bazzill I never know which ones I have!).

I stamped the flowers from PTI Out On A Limb randomly on the Kraft paper and then added little black dot centers with a Sakura Glaze Pen (I love these things!) I made sure to avoid the area I planned to stamp the sentiment.

I used an American Crafts plastic heart from the Playhouse Collection, these are a perfect match to Blush Blossom. I outlined it with a black marker to make it stand out from the Kraft paper more. Used my Cropodile to put a whole in it for the knot and tied a sheer and satin know in it, then popped it up on a dimensional.

And there you have it. Another easy card! I am all about easy these days!

Enjoy and have a great evening! More to come tomorrow (I think)!

What I used:

Stamps: PTI Out On A Limb

Ink: Versamagic Dew Drops Could White, Brilliance Graphite Black

Paper: PTI White, SU! Blush Blossom and Kraft, Bazzill (dark brown)

Accessories: American Crafts Plastic Heart from Playhouse Collection, Ribbon Offray, Crop-o-dile, Sakura Black Glaze Pen, Black Marker to outline heart

A Super Easy Christmas Project...

2008-02-08T16:46:00.001-05:00

While going through some of my photos from the last few months, I found several pictures of things I made that I never shared (due to the hiatus of my blog!!!). Here are some really easy napkin rings made of little silver Christmas bells. This project is so simple that my four-year old helped me string a few of them, that is until he got bored and moved onto wreaking havoc :-)

I first saw them around Christmas of 2006 in Pottery Barn. I picked them up to buy them, and the more I studied them, the more I convinced myself that Pottery Barn was charging waaaaayyyy too much (what else is new?), and I could make them myself.

So here is what you need:

- about 14 inches of 26 gauge wire (silver to match)

- 25 bells for each napkin ring

- red velvet ribbon

Double up the 26 gauge wire (bend it in half) for extra security (strength and pliability). String the bells around, they will naturally fall into place.

Wrap one end around the end (don't twist because that will cause the wire to stand up. Instead hold one side down while wrapping the other around it tightly.

Finish them off by adding some elegant bows. I left a little extra room between the bells because I used velvet ribbon and it is wider and not as flexible as other ribbons.

Wallah! You now have some fun and festive napkin rings!

Have a fabulous Friday night! I am off to pizza-movie night at La Casa Elliott!

On my trip to Walgreens...

2008-02-06T16:00:00.000-05:00

So, the other day we got a new toy that required yes, you guessed it - more batteries! Now if you go into my kitchen, I have almost an entire drawer dedicated to a variety of batteries, and don't you know it, we don't have the three AAA batteries necessary to make this thing go! How is this possible? Seriously an entire drawer for batteries and only one AAA battery to be found!

Of course, all morning my son can only think about the batteries that he needs for this toy. As we entire every store on our list of errands, he repeats, "Mom, don't forget, we have to get the batteries." How could I forget? You are here to remind me that that is my mission today!

So after our many errands, we end up in Walgreens to get "the batteries!" Of course I just had to walk down that dreaded Valentine's candy aisle, the only thing that could possibly have averted my son's attention from his mission "the batteries!" But as I looked down the aisle I saw all of the Valentine's knick-knack thingys and found a little candy dish shaped like a heart with ribbon woven through it. It kind of looked like this, but a heart with the ribbon in it...

I remember a dish that my grandmother had in her front "parlor" that was very much like this. We used to play with her Hummels there; can you believe she had them out for us to play with - crazy huh! They were the real deal too, my grandfather brought them back from Germany after the war.

Anyway, I found inspiration in that little dish that day. I couldn't get it out of my head. So, I used it as my inspiration. I created this...

I couldn't get a great picture of this card. I think my camera was having a hard time with the starkness of the white and the contrast of the red. I used the new Papertrey Ink stamp set Out On A Limb. I love, love, love this set! It has the most beautiful sentiments in it, and has endless possibilities.

First I made a heart template out of printer paper so it was easier to fold. The only way I know how to make an even heart is to fold it in half then cut :-) I traced the outline of the heart on the base of the card, then punched the holes just around it.

I used my Making Memories Anywhere hole punch to punch two holes about 3/16" apart, then wove the Martha Stewart seem binding through all the way around the heart. I don't know that I would use a very heavy ribbon to do this it would be too much for that size hole. But the seem binding worked perfectly.

The flowers were stamped randomly, I only used the top portion of the large flower clusters. The black dots are made by touching the paper lightly with a black Sakura Glaze pen two to three times, depending on the size of the flower. I also used an SU! Color Spritzer and a black marker to add a little speckle to it and fill in the white space.

The heart is popped up on dimensionals to make it stand out from the ribbon. IRL it looks very elegant. I just wish my picture turned out better. I tried several times to get a good one, in the end, this was the best I could get. Any picture taking suggestions???

Well, I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for visiting today! Have a fabulous evening!

What I used: Stamps: Papertrey Ink Out On A Limb

Paper: Papertrey Stamper's Select White

Ink: Colorbox Chalk Ink Warm Red, Brilliance Graphite Black

Accessories: Ribbon Martha Stewart Seem Binding Ladybug, Dimensionals, 1/8" hole punch, stamp-a-ma-jig

Aren't these Cute Kids?

2008-02-02T18:09:00.000-05:00

I just had to post a pic of our kids. I am finally working on downloading and organizing all of the pictures we have taken over the last four months - yes, I said downloading! I came across some pics of my kids as we attempted to take a picture to put in our Christmas cards. Needless to say, anyone who thinks parenting is easy should try to take a picture of two kids under 4!

In the end we weren't able to get a good shot, well at least one that was usable. The one here turned out great, but my lack of computer editing skills prevented us from being able to use it. You see, I forgot that I am not supposed to crop before I send it off to be printed because they ended up cutting my daughter's arm off and it just didn't look good that way - he-he - can't imagine why! So after all that work (two picture taking sessions, both ending in either me or one of the kids crying :-) I ended up just sending cards without photos - oh well, there's always next year!

Enjoy!

Happy First Birthdays!

2008-02-02T12:53:00.000-05:00

I just love this little card! I love birds right now; I just bought a few but haven't had time to use them yet. Where does the time go???

This one was made for my niece's first birthday. On the inside it reads "You're 1!".

My brother and his family, well heck just about my whole family, live in Pennsylvania. My niece and nephew have the pleasure of sharing their special day together - they're twins! I'll share her brother's card tomorrow. They are truly a blessing to our family. Of course, when I see pics of them I so wish we lived closer and our kids could know each other better, but I know this is where we belong - at least right now... (*insert pout here*)

Anyway, for my niece's card, I dug out an old SU! set, Love Ya Bunches - this was one of my first SU! sets and I still go back to it every once in a while, can't seem to part with it, even though not every stamp has been used... (not that I can seem to part with any of my stamps!). The sentiment is from a Michael's dollar stamp. It's one of those square stamps so it was easy to ink up only the sentiment.

I colored each bird with Prismacolor Pencils and OMS, then added some stickles to each one. I remember a day when I didn't own any stickles, now I think I have them all!!!

I hope you like my little Saturday edition. I am off today to do some end of season clearance shopping with the whole family - that should be fun (insert the fakest smile here you can imagine!) Believe it or not it isn't the kids I am worried about, it is my husband. His sense of style is, well let's just say it's coming along. He dresses better when I pick out his clothes! (did I just type that?) :-) I love him anyway, the clothes don't make the man!

Have a fabulous weekend!

What I used:

Paper: Kraft, Basic Grey Blush, Martha Stewart Feldspar & Pink Carnation, PTI Stamper's Select White

Stamps: SU! Love Ya Bunches, $ Stamp Michaels

Ink: Timber Brown Staz On, Dew Drops Sahara Sand Sponged on edges

Accessories: Corner Rounder, Stickles, Liquid Pearls, Ribbon - Basic Collection from Michaels, Paper Piercer, Prismacolor Pencils and OMS, Fantastix

So In Love...

2008-01-30T07:00:00.000-05:00

I have only made two Valentine's cards so far - I know I am in a bit of a slump. Well, it is more like any free time I have has been devoted to fixing up our house to put it on the market soon - which I am dreading considering the market we are in... But I am learning quite a bit about home repairs. This past weekend I taught myself how to grout tile and it was actually pretty fun. I have aspirations of tiling a dresser now, just the top, an old one that would look really cool all purtied up!

Anyway, this card was actually made for no real reason other than I love my hubby. I gave it him back in December. I hid it in his laptop - a sure fire way to ensure that he sees it! As soon as he got to work he called me to say how much he appreciated and loved it. He was having a very tough few weeks at work and I thought he needed a little pick-me-up. It worked, try it!

Anyway, I read on Michelle Wooderson's blog a while back (she has fabulous tips if you have never visited) about using empty space to its fullest. Can't find the exact post, but check out her blog. So, I tried her trick with this one. I made a heart stencil and placed it behind the stamped image and sponged the heart shape with Versamagic Dew Drops Pixie Dust. It really gave the image more of a WOW factor that just simply stamping those stick figures. What do you think? I was pleased with this one, except that bow now that I look back at the pic. Oh well, he liked it!

Thanks for visiting today! Have a fabulous hump day!

What I used:

Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White, My Mind's Eye Wild Asparagus, SU! Cool Caribbean and Chocolate Chip Base

Stamps: Clearly Wordsworth Love Collection, SU! So Many Sayings

Ink: Staz On Timber Brown, Dew Drops Pixie Pink

Accessories: Ribbon American Crafts reversible, Stickles in Aqua, Tonic Distresser, Sponge, Stamp-a-ma-jig

More Butterfly Kisses...

2008-01-23T21:38:00.000-05:00

I did this one a while back for my grandmother's birthday, she turned 83 in October. I am just so glad that my kids are able to know her. She lives about 5 hours away, but we see her every time we go home to visit (yes I still call Philly home - weird huh!). Anyway, I saw a similar card somewhere a while back and loved it, (I am not taking credit for this concept, so if it is like yours, let me know). I loved the ribbon down the side. I did use different colors, and changed the layout of the butterfly a bit.

I really like the Kraft paper with the butterfly, it feels natural to me. This didn't take me too long to do, I just had to wait for the paint to dry before doing anything else. I don't have white ink that shows up so opaque on light papers, ( I have three different white inkpads and they all seem transparent to me) so I used white acrylic paint by Making Memories, called Spotlight.

The purple papers are both from a pack I bought at Michaels a while back, not very heavy paper, but perfect for layering. I made the doted paper with a dot stamp from Technique Tuesday's mini set called "Icing On The Cake." A dotted background stamp is definitely on my long list of things to buy - and when I say long, I mean long! I am trying to be good :-) ***I went to M's yesterday and only spent $9 - that's being good right??? :-)

I love these butterflies from Papertrey's Butterfly Kisses. I come back to them over and over again - my mom just bought her first set from PTI and guess which one she bought - you guessed it! She has always been a butterfly person too!

Well, I hope you are enjoying some of my creations. I am going to get started on Valentine's this week. Can't wait, I love hearts and all shades of red. I have quite a few ideas - now to just fidn the time to do it...

On a side note, I have been cleaning out drawers and downsizing our house a bit; what a great feeling that is to free myself of the clutter and all the unwanted things I just put in drawers so I don't have to look at them. Now to tackle the closets! I am on a mission!

Have a fabulous day!

Here is what I used:

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Butterfly Kisses, Technique Tuesday mini Icing On The Cake

Paper: Kraft, PTI Stamper's Select White, Shades of Purple from The Paper Company (Michaels)

Ink: Dew Drops Cloud White for sponging around edges and dotted backgorund, Brilliance Graphite Black

Supplies: Making Memories Paint in Spotlight, Ribbon is Bobbin ribbon from Joanns

I Feel Validated as I Walk on Cloud Nine!

2008-01-19T15:46:00.000-05:00

Ok so earlier this week I wrote about my goals for 2008, and one of them was to be mentioned on Nichole Heady's blog. Goal number 1 - check! Go check out her blog and see...

My card, which I posted yesterday, tied with another FABULOUS project by Barbara Schram - loved it! by the way - and we get free stamps and more importantly recognition on Nichole's blog! I was really more excited just to be mentioned on her blog as a finalist in the contest, she picked my card - YIPPEE! Winning wasn't my motivation here, nor did I think I would - but hey, who doesn't want free stamps! Now which set to pick - I have almost all of them!

I love Nichole's designs and PTI in general. I have to say that it is by far my favorite stamp company, and I am a bit bummed because now that I have found a company whose designs are so totally my style, we are about to sign a contract to build our new house and that means we must tighten those purse strings! UGH!!!!!!! A girl can still afford at least $40 a month right??? ***An aside - Nichole,Julie, Jane - please do not up that "free shipping" limit! :-)

Anyway, so I am stoked! And I feel validated. Have you ever asked yourself "Why do I do this?" - I do all the time. I truly love creating anything, doesn't matter what it is, just to create makes me feel good - no great! I need it! But sometimes I look at everything I have and wonder why I have it all? What purpose does it serve? Am I the only one benefiting from it? I sure hope not - I hope people enjoy getting a card or homemade gift made especially for them by me. I would if someone did it for me - I would cherish it.

Okay, well I will leave you with another project that I made using PTI stamps - Spiral Bouquet.

This was made for my mother-in-law, Suzanne. She lives in Arizona, and has kind of a dessert color scheme: turquoise, dusty pink/corals, tans and browns throughout her home. Believe it or not, I got the frame at the Dollar Store! Love that place!
Thanks for visiting!

Here is what I used:

Stamps: Papertrey Spiral Bouquet

Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White

Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, Dew Drops Spanish Olive and Pink Grapefruit

Accessories: SU! Color Spritzer, Black Marker, Fantastix Blender Pen, tape, frame from the dollar store

OMG - Can You Say Papertrey Honorable Mention???

2008-01-17T22:06:00.000-05:00

I was having a really bad morning, got very little sleep last night, was running late for my MOPS meeting, DD wouldn't put her shoes on, then she spilled my coffee on the floor (guess it was better than spilling it on herself), and it was snowing outside (OK - we liked that part, but it never sticks around here so not much to be excited about). At MOPS my day was looking brighter - we talked about food co-ops, which some friends and I are seriously considering starting. I was excited about that...

Until...

I got home, and my day got even better!

There was a message from a friend when I got home saying that she sent me some info via email, so while I was making lunch for the kids I fired up the computer. Opened my email and almost fell to the floor - before I could finish the email I was on the phone with my mom (the one person who truly can understand why this was so great!). I got an Honorable Mention on Nichole Heady's blog for PTI's Guest Star Stamper! YIPPEE! I am on CLOUD 9! This is so totally one of my goals for 2008 and here I am - Yeah!

To some this may not be such a big deal; for me this is HUGE! If you haven't already, check out her post here and if you read this before the deadline - VOTE! For me of course - he-he! No seriously, there are some really awesome projects on there. I saw Barb Schram's project on SCS last week, and remember thinking how awesome that key was!

Here is the card I submitted:

Super simple using PTI's new set Sweet Love. The base is obviously Kraft, the Swirl is Autumn Leaves Swirls I think. Both the swirl and the sentiment were stamped with Dew Drops Jumbo Java. I stamped the hearts with Dew Drops Pearlescent Poppy on Vanilla cardstock. I cut them out, used my eyelet setter to make the wholes in the card (since my 1/8" punch didn't reach), tied some SU! hemp twine through them, popped them up on dimensionals and wallah! I used a corner rounder on the two edges to keep the curvy lines of the heart soft. Simple and versatile! You can use it for a man or a woman!

I am soooooooo excited! You know the saying "it's just nice to be nominated"? In this case it truly is! I don't expect to win, but man this is waaaaaaaay cool!

Thanks for visiting!

ETA: The Swirl is actually from Technique Tuesday's set Whirlygigs. Sorry about the mix-up...

Time For an Overhaul...

2008-01-12T10:00:00.000-05:00

WOW - has this blog ever been in a vegetative state! Time to give everything an overhaul in 2008! Including my blog!

I set some goals for myself this year that I feel are completely achievable. I was feeling in a bit of a slump towards the end of 2007, lots of adjustments needed to be made, and I am learning that it is an ongoing process. Time management was and continues to be my biggest problem. I don't know how that happened, I used to be great at it! It could be the two kids that have since come along, as well as the current house, and the one we are building - hmmm, maybe that's it!

How do people do it all - I found myself asking that question quite often. I see these women who have it all together, or at least appear to anyway, but I am finding that it is just that an "appearance." Someone actually asked me the other day "How do you do it all? I can barely get myself dressed in the morning!" - you can imagine my astonishment! So, I actually appear to have it all together to someone - gave me a little sense of reality :-) (not to mention happiness!)

Anyway, one of my goals for 2008 is to post more on both SCS (Splitcoaststampers) and on my blog - so here I am with my first of 2008! I really do want this to be a place where family and friends can see what we are up to, but also a place that I can post my work.

Which leads me to a few of the other goals I have set for myself - I want to be published in a papercrafting magazine in 2008 - perhaps Papercrafts or Cards Magazine or even some start up would be fabulous! I have questioned many times (still do), as I am sure most people do, whether my stuff is really all that worthy. So, I am putting myself out there and hope at least one project is!

But to get there from here I need to make a name for myself. So I will submit stuff on-line, as in SCS or contests and see what happens. As I have learned in the "real world" it's good to "know" a lot of people and it can't hurt in the virtual world either! One specific goal I have is to submit my stuff to Nichole Heady at Papertrey, such as the Guest Star Stamper contest she has every month. I love her stamps and her creations, and getting recognition on her blog and site is like the Hollywood of Papercrafting :-) !

I have some personal goals too, things I want to accomplish with my kids, my husband, my friends (old and new) and my family who all live so far away. I really feel 2008 is going to be a banner year for me - and it really is all about how you feel isn't it?!

Thanks for visiting and see you soon!

I've Been Tagged - What??????

2007-11-06T14:28:00.000-05:00

OK, so this proves how much I actually check my blog :-( - I was tagged last week (Friday) by Miss Moon and have yet to respond. I didn't even know anyone actually even looked at my blog, I update so infrequently. Well, here goes, this is an easy one:

1. If you could have £100 worth of scrapbook paper or assorted embellishments, which would you choose?
I don't know how much that is in US dollars, but either way I would go with the paper, I'm an addict!

2. If you had to choose between using only stamps or rub-ons which would you choose?
Gotta say stamps at this point. Rub-ons, nice, but not my thing yet.

3. If you knew how to do both awesome cards and layouts, but could only do one for a year which would you do?
I guess I would say layouts for scrapbooking. I am soooooo far behind on my kids books that I would feel great to have them done or at least up to date!

4. Would you rather own a scrapbooking store or have your own scrapping room at home (can't have both, lol)
This one is tough for me, I guess I would like my own room. I need more space, which is why my scrapbooks are so far behind. We're working on that though :-) But a whole store, just think of the discount...

5. And then last but not least, what is your current cardmaking or scrapping style?
I like distressing, and I love browns and natural colors. It is hard for me to do fun, glitzy colors and embellishments, it feels unnatural. I use both rubber and acrylic. I prefer acrylic because I can see where it goes, but rubber still gives a crisp impression, so I am torn. I am starting to use more glitter and stickles though, I like the sparkle so we'll see where it takes me :-)

Now I'm supposed to tag 5 more friends, but I don't really know anybody, so I will do what Miss Moon did and tag five new bloggers per Allison's site. Here goes... (hope they don't mind)

1. Cindy
2. Melissa
3. Helena
4. Melinda
5. Kimberley

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T16:40:00.000-04:00

I hope you are all having a better day than I am today. The only good thing about today is that it is an absolutely beautiful day (weather), and that my kids get to go trick or treating. It has been a rough day!

But on a happy note - I wanted to quickly share two of the Halloween cards that I made. I did actually make Halloween cards, but they were few and for those closest to my heart, as my time was limited after I so brilliantly decided to be "that" mom who makes the Halloween costumes instead of buying them. I must say though, I am very proud of my work :-) LOL! Plus, an added bonus is that my son is sooooooo Super excited about the whole thing and loves his costume. Can't wait to see them in them!

The cards were both made from stamps I found in the cheapy bins at A.C.Moore and Michael's respectively. I colored them both with Prismacolor pencils and OMS. And of course both of them had to have some Stickles for sparkle.

The paper on the spider card is actually from a stack my mother bought for me about seven years ago. I seriously don't know why I still have it, but it was a good thing I did cause I don't really have much in the way of Halloween colors, except black of course.

The "faux" stitching is from Technique Tuesday's Hanging By A Thread set with Brilliance Black Ink. The sentiment is from a letter set I found in Target's $ bin with their Halloween punched and gems. That was stamped in Versamagic Dew Drops Pumpkin Spice and cut with an SU! Word Window Punch.

Now for the Ghost card: the orange polka dots is from DCWV, the ric-rac is May Arts, the spider web paper is actually hand drawn by me with a white Signo Gel Pen since my supply for this holiday is so limited.

The sentiment is letter stamps from the MSE set Perky (I think?). The spiders are actually very glittery IRL, they are those Halloween double sided stickers from Martha Stewart at Michael's. I got them last week when they started their 50% off sale on some of her stuff. I got some great stuff with that sale - but I won't go into that here :-)

Well, I better get going, gotta get ready for the big reveal! Have a safe and haunting night! BWAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Thanks for stopping by!

Caardvarks Micro Challenge Part Deux

2007-10-19T23:37:00.001-04:00

Okay, while I was using eyelets I was inspired to create just one more card. I finally broke out my crop-a-dile this past week and I am still getting the hang of it. Does everyone's eyelets get all torn up on the back? I like my old fashioned Making Memories set because the eyelets look cleaner and seem to sit better on the back. But of course we all know how loud that is. Maybe I am not using it right??? I have the thing set for 1/8", at least I think I do. Any suggestions?

Well, anyway, while my kids enjoyed their Friday night movie and hubby was relaxing on the couch, I decided to give the eyelets another try. I needed another Birthday card, so I used the Papertrey Butterfly Kisses set to create this one. The paper is Basic Grey Blush and the white is PT Stamper's Select.

I used Versamagic Dew Drops in Pixie Dust and Sahara Sand. The scallop piece is created with Wave decorative scissors. I pierced some butterfly trails and the scallops at the bottom, distressed the edges a bit, and finally tied on a bit of twine for a little something. The scalloped piece is up on dimensionals to create an overhang. Of course the eyelets are Making Memories.

There you have yet another entry to the Caardvarks Micro Eyelet Challenge. Now gotta get it on there on time; I have 15 minutes - UGH!

Have a fab weekend!

Boho Birthday!

2007-10-19T16:21:00.000-04:00

I absolutely had to have the new Boho Blossom set from My Favorite Things when it came out. As a matter of fact, this is my very first MFT stamp set ever! I love the femininity of this set. But, once I got it, I truly did not know what to do with it. I truly did struggle with this card, and revisited many times throughout the day. In the end, I like how it turned out, but boy do I feel drained!

I knew I wanted to use my new set, with Kraft paper and Versamagic Dew drops Aegean Blue ink (I love this color but have such a hard time with it because I have almost nothing to match it). That was where the creativity ended. I had nothing! I put it with a million things (well, it felt like it anyway) and ended up using Basic Black from SU! to make the image stand out.

I thought about putting a big brad in the center, but I really like the center of this flower. Plus, I wanted to submit this to the Caardvarks contest to use eyelets, so a brad would have been too much. The eyelets are Antique Copper from Making Memories.

Then I saw my Stardust Stickles in the drawer and had an epiphany. I don't use them near as much as I should. So I added some stickles for some glitz and some Organza ribbon from Joanns, and WALLAH! Sounds like it shouldn't have taken all that long, but trust me it did! Here is another pic so you can see the glimmer of the stickles...

There has been so much going on here, that I truly have no creative juices flowing through my veins. Hence the reason I have not posted a thing in over a week. We are in the beginning stages of building our very first brand spanking new house, so we have been quite busy finalizing plans and meeting with the builder, etc. I can not wait! My son just wants to move so he can have bunk beds, I have another agenda *wink* (can you say stamp room???)

I have other things done, and posts I could do, but just haven't felt like doing it. I have a list of projects that I want to accomplish, but haven't touched one. However, I am making my kids costumes for Halloween, and promise to post them here after the big reveal. I am very excited about those and hope they turn out as good in real life as they look in my head. Not much does these days!

Well, I hope my blog gets more interesting with more posts and more projects. With two little ones, I don't make the time to update it as I should. It is kind of like the family website I started when my daughter was first born, it hasn't been updated in over a year :-( GASP!

Have a fabulous Friday! Thanks for visiting.

On a Roll...

2007-10-10T14:40:00.000-04:00

Ok, so it wasn't the very next day, but twice in one week, that's a roll for me! I actually did try to post yesterday, but had trouble with Blogger and didn't have the time to devote to figuring out what the problem was, so I just moved on to something else. I wanted to share my first single layer card ever, which I am very proud of, particularly because I had an idea and went with it in minimal time. I dare say that I am getting better at quick cards, but I wouldn't want to jinx myself :-)

So, here is my very first single layer card...

This was the thank you card I made for my birthday gifts, mostly money, but I am certainly not complaining! The idea actually came from the ribbon, which I got at the dollar bin at Michael's. I wish I bought more, because after making all the cards, I actually finished a roll of ribbon, I don't think that has happened since I made the programs for my wedding! LOL! I have sooooooo much ribbon, that is truly my scrap addiction, well that and paper.

Anyway, I loved that the ribbon had so many colors and that it was shiny. So to go along with that I used shiny inks - Versamagic Dew Drops Cosmic Copper and Pearlescent Sky Blue, and then Spanish Olive and Sage for the stem. First I stamped the flower from Fancy Pants Pollen Dust in the Copper and then just the tips of the flowers were inked with the Sky Blue. The stem is from an acrylic Autumn Leaves set call Build A Flower and I made it sort of curvy on the block before stamping it and then did the same with the dotted line from the same set.

The sentiment is from SU! Noteworthy set. I stamped that with Versamark and then embossed it with Copper EP. Wallah, super easy and understated!

As for my birthday - I was able to go on a craft shopping spree, on the Internet of course, with my birthday moolah - I bought stuff from All That Scraps, Linnecards, Joanns, and Scrapbookpal. So I had a very fruitful week spending and getting the things I can't find in our local stores. Now if I could just find the time to use them...hmmmmm...

Well, I hope you enjoyed my latest posts. I have some more to show tomorrow believe it or not :-) Have a wonderful day and evening, and hope to see you then!

I'm still here...

2007-10-09T15:52:00.000-04:00

I am sooooooo sorry that I have been remiss in posting anything. I really don't know where the month of September went, and now here we are into week two of October and I still feel like I can't catch up. After deciding not to put my son into preschool this year, I guess I have been feeling like I need to do more things with him, showing him the world. So that's where most of my time has been, devoted to my kids. We are doing preschool things at home and exploring nature a bit. We have been to the beach, went hiking, we shot ears of corn out of a corn cannon, we visited the local gardens, went to a petting zoo, and today we took a hayride and picked some pumkins. By the time we get home, I don't even think about blogging. So, I am sorry to anyone checking back to see if I have done anything new.

I am still creating, just not posting. But, I do hope to change that. I have quite a few things I have been doing actually. I made some scrap pages and sent one to Cara (aka mom2tysonnashlee on SCS) so she could send them to her cousin, a soldier in the Army. She wanted to have a page sent from each state to compile a book of the United States. Check it out...
I like how it turned out, and she seemed happy with it too. I really do appreciate what those soldiers and their families have done and are doing for all of us, and this was truly the least I could do. My husband is a former Marine (Thank God!) so I know what they endure, and can not thank them enough!

I also made some thank you cards for my daughter's second birthday. I was so excited that my new Papertrey Ink set Beautiful Blooms had arrived just in time to make them. Now, so unlike me, I actually stayed up on the night of the 14th of September to see the new holiday releases from PTI. I don't know why I did, I was surfing and looking for inspiration and then it hit me, it was their new release party. So I decided to buy myself an early birthday present, I so deserved it! So of course I had to buy more than just one set to get free shipping, so I also bought Holiday Wishes, which I know will definitely get used on our Christmas cards (maybe not this year as I haven't decided whether or not to undertake that task, but definitely next!).

So where was I, back to the thank you cards. I wanted simple of course, as I had to make quite a few. And this is what I came up with...

The picture really does not do it justice, I had such a hard time getting something good because I took them the night before I mailed them, so the lighting wasn't great. The colors were inspired by the ribbon, which I got at Michael's a few weeks ago when they had their big ribbon extravaganza. Of course the base is PTI Stamper's Select, and I used all Dew Drops inks: Sea Breeze, Pearlescent Purple, Purple Hydrangea and Spanish Olive. The flower stamp is of course from PTI Beautiful Blooms, cut out with my Cuttlebug and Flower Die Cut, and then mounted with a dimensional. The stem is from Rhonna Farrer Elegant Flourishes set by Autumn Leaves, I love that set and can't wait to do more with that in my scrap pages. The sentiment is again PTI, Paper Tray. Simple and sweet, and I need something that went fast. Of course, then I had to write novels inside them to thank everyone for their generous gifts, but that's my style. I am big on thank you cards; people like to be acknowledged, and what better way to do that than to send a thank you.

Well, my daughter is talking up a storm in her bed so I must save the rest for later. Perhaps tomorrow there will be another post? Oh surely you jest :-) See you then, and have a fabulous evening!

Today Was My Birthday!

2007-09-26T23:12:00.000-04:00

Well, there you have it - today was indeed my birthday :-) But somehow, it just isn't as much fun as when I was a kid. It seemed like every other day in many ways; I still had to feed the kids breakfast, still had to make lunch, still had to do laundry, still had to clean, still had to change diapers, and yes, I still had to shower! I even had to make my own birthday cake, but that's a story I refuse to go into right now :-)

But I also got to sleep in an hour later, get two hours of kid free shopping :-), buy new jewelry from my favorite sterling silver boutique, buy new stamps and ink from Michaels, get cards in the mail, get phone calls from friends and family, dance with my kids to music I like, eat birthday cake (YUM!), eat at Outback (yet again YUM!), and eat the birthday sundae at Outback (yet again YUM!).

So I guess all in all, even if it isn't as much fun as when we were kids, it's all in how you look at it!

Happy Birthday to me and to anyone else who is blessed to be born on this day!

P.S. I am 25 again for anyone who is wondering - that was such a good year *wink* I think I'll stick with it!

Itzy Bitzy, Cutey Patootey?

2007-09-08T15:08:00.000-04:00

I love, love, love these little bugz from C.C. Designs! They are so adorable! I was going to give this one to my husband, just for being such a great guy! But after I added the flowers, it really doesn't fit his personality anymore :-) I think I might add another little flower to the other bugz head and send it to my cousin Tricia, who I have written about previously. She has had a really rough week, and I think she could use a little pick me up.

Anyway, I just got these Luv Bugz from Christine at ATS this week, and I couldn't wait to do something with them. I had purchased the Junkitz Salsa Pad a few weeks ago, and I thought that would work great with these little bugz; it's such fun paper!

The base and the red are from Bazzill, not sure which colors exactly, I bought them at the CKC convention in preformed packs.

The base is 4 1/2 x 4 1/2. The White is Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Select, of course! I stamped the Itzy Bitzy Luv Bugz with Brilliance Graphite Black ink. I cut that out with a Marvy Giga Scalloped Punch and then highlighted the edges with a light blue gelly roll pen. The bugz are colored with Prismacolor Pencils and OMS. I added Xmas Red Stickles to her flower, and then put a little blue gem in the middle for some dimension and sparkle. I layered that on the Bazzill red and added blue dots again with the gelly roll pen to mimic the circles in the paper.

I glued that on to the Salsa paper and then added my primas and brads before gluing that layer on top of the base to hide all my work. The brads are all Making Memories. I think it turned out so cute! I was very pleased with this one, and amazingly, this one didn't take me all that long. (I can stare at my desk forever trying to figure out what to do; my husband says that's because I have too much stuff - GASP - Blasphemy!)

Hope you enjoy your day today! Thanks for visiting!

Let's Pay It Forward!

2007-09-06T15:52:00.000-04:00

I found this on Angel Wild's blog Angelosity, and I think this a fabulous idea! So, I wanted to send it forward to anyone who would like to do the same. This is a great way to make some new friends and to send something to make someone's day (I know how much I love to get fun mail!). Plus, did you ever see the movie "Pay It Forward"? If not, I highly recommend it - one of the best movies EVAH! This is a small way to maybe make a small difference in someone's life - we all love new goodies, right? :-) So, I will send some goodies in the mail (ribbon, chipboard, this-n-thats) out to the first person who comments here. But, please remember you have to put the icon on your blog and send some goodies out to someone else. Thanks for visiting!

P.S. send me your home address via my email at kaceycant@yahoo.com

Funny Thing About Life...Well Maybe Not So Funny...

2007-09-05T15:28:00.000-04:00

OK, in the midst of a not so funny (ha-ha!) world, I have managed over time to find some humor in it all. Most recently in this... I took my daughter for her checkup a little while back and the doctor asked if she was talking. I said "Uh-huh!" Doctor: "Is she putting two words together?" ME: "UH-huh!" Doctor: "Is she putting three words together?", ME: "Uh-huh!". Doctor: "She is talking in full sentences?" as if in disbelief (she doesn't speak in front of him, only cries, HYSTERICALLY!), and I again I reply "Uh-huh!" He looked surprised, but in a non-believer way. So, she goes for her two year checkup, he comes out into the waiting room to get a parent who has brought their older child in, and sees my daughter talking away to another child, older than her, having a full fledged conversation, hand motions and all. We go back to see him, and he apologizes for not believing me when I said she could talk. I just smiled. I had a feeling he didn't, but who really cares, right. I know she can talk, and many times a day wish she would stop (LOL!), so who really cares. This brings me to the funny (not funny as in ha-ha!, but funny as in huh?) things I am finding...

Why do we place so much importance on what other people think or feel about us? Today I got an "email" from someone asking why it is that she can't seem to make and keep friends, or make relationships in general work when they are the things she wants the most in life. Yes, an email! Rather personal question for a mass email (at least 10 people on this list). I wanted to reach out to her, even though I myself have mixed feelings about her. My first instinct was to address it honestly, but given this person's history, I called my husband and asked him for guidance :-) (I often stick my foot in my mouth). He said, "tell her to talk to me", he is a lot more tactful at times like these. My counseling side screams out for honesty! Sometimes in real life I have to surpress that side of me :-) or it gets me in trouble.

Here's my problem these days, I don't care about insignificant things like this anymore. I can't! I want to, but I can't! This is why: that cousin that I wrote about last month, she had her first shot at Chemo, and they learned she was allergic to Taxol, the drug used in this particular type of treatment. They pumped her up with steroids a week later and tried again. She did ok for the first few days, and then developed a high fever, only to find out that she now has a Staph infection, MRSA, probably the worst Staph as it is immune to almost every antibiotic. They can not continue with the chemo until she gets rid of this infection, if she gets rid of it! I talked to my aunt, who is obviously distressed, and she begins to cry as she describes her daughter asking her "Why is this happening to me?" Her reply, "I don't know." Who does?

Then we learn that the niece of a very dear friend of ours was in a car accident this past weekend, and her friend who was in the passenger side was killed on contact. His niece is alive, and considering the accident, she is very lucky to be, but imagine the guilt that child (only 17) will carry around for the rest of her life. No amount of counseling will erase that.

So you see, I am having a hard time being concerned about "everything else" these days. I don't mean to sound callous and certainly don't mean to offend (see I even feel the need to apologize for what I write). But, these "life altering events" or "teachable moments" as I like to refer to them are putting things into perspective for me. Focus on what's important in life, and please STOP WORRYING WHAT EVERYONE ELSE THINKS ABOUT YOU; it gives them way too much POWER! Live your life for you and ENJOY it!

Nuff said!

She's 2!

2007-09-04T15:22:00.000-04:00

Well, it's official, my kid's are growing up! (tears) I can no longer refer to my daughter's age in months, she is officially two years old! UGH! She turned two this weekend, and it suddenly hit me that I have no idea what happened to the last two years of my life! It all seems a blur! Anyone else feel that way? My kids didn't head off to school like everyone else today,

I can't even imagine what that will be like... I feel the tears developing already, and the anxiety too! Oh, how I digress...

This was the card I made for my daughter's 2nd birthday. I love this paper from Junkitz, called Salsa Celebration. I got it from All That Scraps a few weeks ago and bought it for this card specifically. I've had this cupcake stamp for a while now, bought it at a Clearance sale at Joann's for .25, love that! I hadn't used it until now, but it has been waiting patiently for some ink :-) I stamped it in Brillance Graphite Black on Papertrey White, and colored it with various Prismacolor Pencils and OMS. Then I added some Stickles to it for some sparkle (little girls love sparkle!), and topped it off with some bling and a flower punch to match the little cupcakes in the paper.

The turquoise and the pink are from a paper stack I bought a while back, not sure who makes it, but they matched the cupcakes perfectly. I punched tiny flowers out of the Salsa paper and used them to surround the cupcake in the circle, the cupcake seemed a bit lonely without them. I pierced the center circle as well as the scallop I punched with a Marvy Giga punch. Added a little yellow bow and a sentiment from Papertrey, also stamped in Brilliance Graphite Black. You can't see it well in the pic, but I also stamped three flowers from Papertrey's Paper Tray set in the upper left hand corner with versamark.

That's about it! I really like this card, it was fun to make. Plus I want my daughter to look back on it one day and know how much she is loved. Especially if I'm not around to share it with her.

Have a wonderful day!

Do You See What I See?

2007-08-31T16:47:00.001-04:00

And yes, from there I started singing Christmas carols - fa,la,la,la,la! Should be of no surprise though, my daughter, almost 2, sings Jingle Bells repeatedly throughout the day; so Christmas carols are commonplace around these here parts!

I did this card for Shannon's contest, to make a card with stamps used in a way that they were not necessarily intended. I had to do this challenge, because it truly was a challenge! Love this idea!

In this card I used a few things for their intended purpose (obviously), but I also used some other things that I saw a bit differently. The main thing I changed (and this was the start of the whole card), was from an old SU! set called Framed Greetings. This was one of my first SU! sets, and I have thought about parting with it, but I go back to it every so often, so not yet ready! Anyway, I used the purse from that set and turned it upside down to make the chef's head and hat, then I gave him some eyes so he could see what I was doing to him :-) I added Star Dust Stickles to the curlies of his hat to make it sparkle a bit. Then I made him an apron out of some generic red cardstock and a Zig journaling pen. I cut that out and added a little strip of checkered Papertrey White that I colored with a red marker. I used the smallest "stem" stamp from Papertrey's Green Thumb set for his arms, pants, and the spatula handle and doodled on some extras. I used the cupcake outline from a Technique Tuesday Collector's set called Icing On The Cake for the spatula base, and colored it in with a black Prismacolor pencil and OMS, and added some Black Diamond Stickles to the spatula and grill for sparkle. The rest is pretty self explanatory. I doodled the outline to make it mirror the smoke coming from the grill, and added some black mini brads to finish it off. I got to use some of my dollar stamps that have been eagerly awaiting ink. I buy tons of those things and then forget to use them. So this contest made me look at everything I have, thanks Shannon! Oh, one more thing, the ink is my new favorite Black - Brilliance Graphite Black, and the paper is Papertrey White, Cool Caribbean SU!, and Paper Company red.

Here is a pic of the stamps I used:

Well, I think that about covers it! Can't wait to see who wins, there are some really cool designs coming from Shannon's contest. Great prizes too!

Have a fabulous weekend everyone! Thanks for visiting!

Do You Have A Green Thumb?

2007-08-30T11:25:00.000-04:00

I can't seem to put my Papertrey stamp sets away! I had them for so long without the time to use them, and now they have a nice little home on my desk, just like my glue :-) I am also truly LOVING the Versamagic Dew Drop Inks! They work so well on all types of paper, and are such a deep color, they work almost like craft inks.

The card base is from a card boxed set I got from Michaels. It's kind of a mustard color with speckles on it, almost like recycled paper. The rust color is from the new Paper Company collections, called Desert. Followed by some MME striped from the Asparagus collection. The White paper is of course, Papertrey Ink (that's the only white I seem to use these days). I used flower stamps from both Papertrey's Green Thumb and Butterfly Kisses and the "smile" is from Paper Tray again. I used Dew Drops in Brick Red, Gingerbread, Spanish Olive, and Sage. I also used Stampin Up! Marigold Morning ink (retired) and Colorbox Chalk Ink Yellow Ochre (I love, love, love chalk inks!). I added a little Gingerbread ink to the main image to give it a more natural feel, the white seemed too stark to me. For the white flowers, I brushed some Making Memories white scrapbook paint onto the stamp and then stamped away. I don't have white craft ink (on my never ending wish list), but this works well! The scalloped piece is made with a corner rounder, then pierced, and highlighted with a Signo Gel Pen. The ribbon is Mellow Moss from SU! On the inside it reads, "It's Your Day!" So I guess it's a birthday card, always need those!

September is a big month around here. First is my daughter's Birthday on the 2nd, then my long time friend Steve on the 3rd, my nephew's follow on the 24th and 25th, and then ME! on the 26th, our very dear friend Vic (currently in Iraq flying planes from the ground - very interesting stories) on the 27th, and one of my mother-in-law's, Connie, on the 29th! Very busy Birthday month here! I think I'll ask for a gift certificate to Papertray for my birthday - he-he!

OK, well, I guess I should go play with my kids, they are looking at me with sad eyes...

Have a wonderful day!

Super easy B-Day card for a guy!

2007-08-30T10:56:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I kept reminding myself it was my brother's birthday, and I had to get a card made, but I so dislike making masculine cards (because I can never think of what to do) that I kept putting it off. So, I was at storytime with my kids at the mall, and went to the card store to buy one (GASP! - I know, but it was getting close and I had nothing!). Then I came across this concept from, I think Papyrus, and said to myself "I can do that!". So I went home and reproduced it; it isn't an original idea, but very cute nonetheless!

I used Very Vanilla cardstock for the base. Used what I think is 18-gauge wire to make the shape of the hanger and used a glue dot behind the top part to secure it to the card. The sentiment is Papertrey's Paper Tray of course, stamped in Staz On Black. The ties are made out of MME Magnolia collection scraps. I love those papers! Super easy and quick! One the inside I stamped my own sentiment that read, "Tie One On - he-he!". I think he liked it, or at least got a kick out of it! He laughed when he left his message on the voice mail!

It's kind of dreary here right now, no rain, just gray. I like days like that, but somehow today I can't muster up the energy to get the kids out of the house! Right now that are playing well together, but you know that it is just a matter of time...

Hope you enjoy your day!

A Super-Quick Healthy Recipe That Tastes Good Too!

2007-08-27T09:37:00.000-04:00

Good morning all!
Do you love the idea of eating something healthy, but that tastes good too? I have been trying a few new recipes (while tweeking them a bit to meet my tastes) and this is a fail-safe recipe that so far everyone loves (even people who look at it and say that looks interesting!). A friend of mine who is also an at-home caterer discovered a fabulous, super-quick, recipe that everyone loves, and passed it on to me. I wanted to pass it on to you all for something really quick for you to try. Here goes:

1 whole tomatoe chopped, seeded and drained
1 can of corn drained
1 can of black beans drained
a few dashes of hot sauce

Here is where my tweeking comes in... I use 1 can of diced tomatoes with mild green chilies already in them (faster and no mess). The I add a few dashes of mild green hot sauce because my kids don't like things really spicey. There you have it! I serve it like a dip/salsa with multi-grain tortilla chips. Wonderful, quick, healthy, black bean salsa if you will! Try it and hope you like it!

Lots to share...

2007-08-18T12:40:00.000-04:00

I love my camera! I am soooooooooo happy that we got it back! It really didn't take any time at all and they seem to have done a great job. Something about calibrating the lens, and testing the aperture??? As long as it works, I don't care what they did :-).

Then we had family in town and I just wasn't thinking about blogging :-) Though I have missed stamping and creating, it was nice to just enjoy everyone. I thought about it a few times, but couldn't seem to find the time. And then first thing Friday, I fell off a curb (I know duh!) out front of Michael's of all places! What kind of irony is that!

I was carrying my little girl and holding my son's hand and went down one of those little hilly islands in the middle of the parking lot. Just singing the morning away, when BAM! I don't know where the strength came from, but I was able to get my kids back into the car when I seriously thought I was going to pass out. Somehow I fastened everyone's seatbelts, although I don't recall doing it, and called my husband, who I had just dropped off at work because his car was being inspected (this is all his fault right :-). I drove to his work and he drove me to the doctors. We spent most of the morning at the doctor's office getting x-rays, etc., to find that I have a severe hematoma?, and a possible hairline fracture. What a weekend! And it was absolutely beautiful here, missed it all. But I did get to stamp a little. So here is some of what I came up with...

This first one is the one I sent my cousin Tricia in the package we sent her last week. It is of course one of my Bellas. The white base is Papertrey's Stamper's Select. Flowahbella is stamped in Timber Brown Staz-On, and her dress is paper pieced with the patterned paper from a DCWV stack. The rest of her is colored with Prismacolor Pencils and OMS. I cut her out with the Curvy Cutter Oval set, and then mounted that onto a piece of Cool Caribbean SU! cardstock cut with mini scalloped scissors. The patterned paper is layered onto a piece of Tangerine Bazzill. I punched two small wholes at the top and bottom of Bella, and then in the patterned paper layers before adhering it to the white base, that way it was all hidden :-) I tied it all together with Moss ribbon from SU! and added some turquoise Stickles. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Paper Tray, stamped with Timber Brown on vellum and highlighted with some Stickles. I put glue dots under the flowers to hide the adhesive.

This is one I did this weekend for a friend who's father just passed away, Cancer yet again - anyone hate that word as much as I do??? I was trying to go for something understated yet pretty, but for a guy. I think it might be too feminine, but I gave it to him anyway; I am soooo not good with guy cards. I used some scraps I had left over from the Basic Grey Perhaps 6x6 pad, cut two strips of the green and used a strip of the Beatrice Pattern. Before gluing them into place I inked up the edges a bit with Chestnut Roan Fluid Chalk by Colorbox. I stamped Papertrey's Butterfly Kisses with Colorbox white and added clear embossing powder to make them stand out. Didn't stand out as well as I thought they would because of the patterned paper, so I made a reverse mask of the butterflies and sponged a little Gingerbread on them to make them stand out more. Then I adhered everything to SU! Chocolate Chip cardstock base and added a piece of twine with a tag made from the the yellow paper (think it's called East of the Sun) in the Perhaps pad. The white rim around the tag is Papertey's Stamper's Select cut with mini scalloped scissors, then sponged with a little Chestnut Roan again. The sentiment is of course Papertrey Ink's Paper Tray again, have I mentioned how much I love this set, so versatile! I find that I use it over and over again for almost every occassion. Looooooove it!

Now for the final card of the day...

This was inspired by the Splitcoast Inspiration Challenge from Saturday, found here. I needed an anniversary card for my parents, who by the way will be married for 38 years on the 23rd. This was the first card I did this weekend, so I was having a bit of a mental block. The challenge helped me come up with some colors. I had bought this set used from Lauren Meader (mytime on Splitcoast) a while back, and hadn't used it yet. So Big Blooms was perfect because I was a flowery mood. The card is a 5 1/2" square, different for me. I stamped the flower from SU! Big Blooms on Stamper's Select in Colorbox Fluid Chalk Warm Red. Cut that out and adhered it with dimensionals to a cuttlebugged piece of white measuring 2 x 3 1/2. The brad in the middle is from Joanns I think. The green scallops are made using the SU! Slit Punch on paper from MME. The brown is Bazill, but I am not sure of the name. The leaves are from SU! Best Blossoms, and they are stamped with Versamagic Dew Drops in Spanish Olive. I added strips of the MME green to the top and bottom, then some ribbon from the Michaels dollar bin, and then adhered the whole thing to Stamper's Select white. The sentiment is a shortened version of SU! Wonderful Words stamped in Chestnut Roan on an oval cut with my Curvy Cutter. The mini brads are again from Joanns, and it is also on dimensionals. The corners are punched with SU! ticket corner punch, but I think it's missing something. I struggled with putting brads in the corners, but I don't want to do it then hate it. All in all I like the way it turned out. This was my first inspiration challenge - I had fun with it!

WOW! I can't believe I just typed all that. Haven't done that in a long time. I hope you enjoy my latest creations. My kids will be up very soon. I must run, figuratively speaking of course - he-he! Thanks for visiting! Have a wonderful evening!

A Life Altering Moment

2007-08-07T21:48:00.001-04:00

This is just a quick post to share something that has been on my mind for the last few days. For those of you that pray, please say a prayer for my cousin, her name is Tricia. She has cerebral palsy, and is an amazing woman who has done some great things with the life she has been handed. She was diagnosed last week with cancer and she is only 39. We worried she wouldn't understand what that means. I don't really know that I truly understand what that means; there are so many possible scenarios, it is hard to get a grasp on cancer. Tricia is such an upbeat person, many people, including myself, could learn a great deal from her. I can't begin to understand what she is going through right now. But I do know that she is a fighter, and stubborn as a mule, and I have every faith in the world that she will fight this. She actually said those words when they explained what it meant to be diagnosed with cancer, "I'm going to fight this!". So, please keep her in your thoughts and prayers as someone who needs a little help right now. She will start chemo in a few weeks, after she recovers from her surgery (which is how they found it). We are sending her some love in a box, with cards from my kids, and some Care Bears (Good Luck Bear and Cheer Bear) to keep her going. Every thought and prayer helps. Thanks and have a wonderful night!

My guy!

2007-08-06T14:31:00.000-04:00

My husband and I just celebrated our anniversary, separately I might add, but celebrated nonetheless. On July 27th I was in Philly with my mom and he was watching over our little ones for the weekend. This weekend, he had his guys' thing and I had the kids. Sense a pattern here? One of us always has the kids. We don't live in the same town as either of our family, and have only one family member close by. Babysitting has been a trouble spot for us these past few years, so we take what little free time we have together and try to make it as special as we can, while our two little ones sleep soundly nearby :-) For our anniversary I made my husband the first two pages of his scrapbook. We have decided that we want to leave a legacy for our kids of who we are/were (just in case anything ever happens). We want them to know us if God forbid we are taken from this earth. So, I made the first layout entitled "things I love about you..." I can't post it yet, but will as soon as I can, because our camera has finally reached Kodak for repair (I hope). But some of the things I love of about my husband read:

Your positive attitude

Your strengths make up for my weaknesses

Your gentle and often calming nature

The way you suport me in everything I do

You love me for who I am

Your love of life

Your often strange sense of humor

Your ability to see other's perspectives (sometimes I hate this too :-)

The love you have and show for your children

That you are still a kid at heart, and that you remind me how important that is

These are the biggest things that me happy I have him. He is a fabulous person; people like him even before they get to know him. We all laugh about my husband; he can seriously walk into a room of perfect strangers and by the end of the night he will have made several new friends. He never feels uncomfortable. He is happy to be who he is! I, on the other hand am more of a wallflower, so we balance each other out.

One funny story about him meeting people, and our friends still laugh about this, we went to an apple festival about two hours from our home and while browsing the little inn we came across a family who was visiting from Italy. They spoke very little English, but somehow my husband was able to hold a 30+ minute conversation with these people and in the end exchanged phone numbers, addresses and email with them "just in case" they ever came back. We just watched as this all unfolded in amazement. I don't know how he does it. They have exchanged emails a few times since and have seen some beautiful pictures of Italy, that we would otherwise never have seen. Perhaps one day we will get there... oh to dream, we can't even go on a date!

One of our friends pointed out that Doug has something in common with everyone. He really does! He is a pretty worldy guy. He knows a lot about politics, foreign and domestic, he enjoys sports and also a good book, and he spent a few years as a Marine and working for the military. He is just an all around great guy, and I am happy to call him mine!

My challenge to you is to think of at least 10 things that make your significant other so special. Sometimes it truly is the little things... Have a great day!

Someone HELP me with my guilt...PLEASE!

2007-07-31T14:52:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-07-26T16:33:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-07-23T14:11:00.000-04:00

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

2007-07-16T23:32:00.000-04:00

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...

2007-07-14T15:43:00.000-04:00

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!

2007-07-11T22:47:00.000-04:00

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.

All In A Day's Work

To Move On...

Summer Fun with the Kids...

Papertrey Blog Hop - Fun With Text!

Father's Day Full of Stars...

Free Things To Do & A Simple Birthday Card...

Pretty Circles...

I Am Still Here!

Oh How I Missed Scrapbooking!

Time Is Flying!!!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

Read Any Good Books Lately???

Dawn McVey's Color Challenge...

Happy Valentine's Day!

An Over The Rainbow Color Challenge...

More Bags...

Be Mine *Heart*...

Something A Little Different...

A New Year, an Organized ME!

Hello 2009!

A Christmas Wish...

Another Papertrey Blog Hop...

Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails...

Before They Grow Too Old...

Tagged and Yes, A Card!

Happy Birthday GG!

For A Cause...

Whoo Deserves a Thank You???

The First Day of the Rest of Your Life...

A Princess Is What You Were Meant To Be...

I Finally Stamped... Something...

She'll Always Be My Baby...

Overhaul...

Only Papertrey Could Get Me Back To My Blog...

Gotta Let 'em Fly...

Beauty and The BEEst...

Happy Anniversary!

Papertrey Bog Hop #2 (for me anyway!)

You Make My Heart Happy...

Where Does The Time Go???

My Mom...

I Finally Did Taylor's Challenge...

I Hope It Isn't Contagious...

A Sign?

PTI - Acetate Blog Hop!

Hello Again!

Everybody Has A Little Princess In Them...

Nestabilities Anyone?

One More Thing...

No Where Near Needing This...

A Little Something...

It's Been Forever...

Just A Few More Easter Cards...

A Little Easter...

Getting through some old pics...

Life - Take It One Day At A Time...

Valentine's:Under the Gun Style...

A Super Easy Christmas Project...

On my trip to Walgreens...

Aren't these Cute Kids?

Happy First Birthdays!

So In Love...

More Butterfly Kisses...

I Feel Validated as I Walk on Cloud Nine!

OMG - Can You Say Papertrey Honorable Mention???

Time For an Overhaul...

I've Been Tagged - What??????

Happy Halloween!

Caardvarks Micro Challenge Part Deux

Boho Birthday!

On a Roll...

I'm still here...

Today Was My Birthday!

Itzy Bitzy, Cutey Patootey?

Let's Pay It Forward!

Funny Thing About Life...Well Maybe Not So Funny...

She's 2!

Do You See What I See?

Do You Have A Green Thumb?

Super easy B-Day card for a guy!

Be Mine Heart...