Gone til the 2nd

Hi Everyone,

Just have one more project to share until the New Year! Will leaves today. I am going to drop him off at the base airport and then I'll be driving down to my parent's house in Indiana for a few days. I'll be driving home on the first, so I probably won't post again til after the 2nd. I hope you all have a wonderful start to your New Year!

I made this card (and envelope) for Will to read on the plane...and I of course was crying like a baby the whole time I was making it and writing in it. I'm just like that. A big time cry-er. Lucky him, right?! :-) No stamping on this one. I used my computer and then hand cut the hearts and traced around them with my white marker. The stickers are Doodlebug designs. I hand cut the circles as well. I have a circle system I could have used, but I didn't want to drag everything out last night. I just wanted to have something to do to busy myself while Will was making all of his "good-bye calls" to his family. I like how it turned out. I found the quote in a magazine. It says "In the arithmetic of love, one plus one is everything, and two minus one is nothing". I thought it was pretty fitting for his leaving.

I'll be back next year!

Assignment # 2--take two

I created another page using those same assignment supplies. All of the patterned papers and stickers are from Cloud 9 designs. I couldn't resist the urge to do something else with these papers. I just LOVE them! :-) I die cut the title using my sizzix machine and the Round-About alpha. The hearts are a mixture of hand cut and chipboard Making Memories. I did the journaling on the computer in Word. The photo is 4x6.

So I just thought I'd share my second creation with you before I take both layouts to the Pink House to turn in! Hopefully the after-Christmas traffic won't be too terrible! And I should have more to share later!

So I found some time...

Will is making our Christmas dinner, so I found a little time to get this done and take a few pictures to post it up! This is the layout for my second assignment from the Pink House. Using papers and embellishments from Cloud 9 Designs Be Loved line. I will probably take it up there tomorrow and get my next assignment. I am really enjoying the assignments so far.

I may make a card or something else to go along with this...hopefully I'll have some more time to play after the kiddos go to bed! :-)

I apologize for the bad photography...my camera has been acting a little wacko this week. I think I need to take it apart and clean it really well. But anyway, you get the idea and if you want to see it up close and personal, go to the Pink House and check it out!! :-) All of the paper and everything I used except for the journaling that I did on the computer, can be found there. Oh, and I hand cut the larger hearts myself, but there are other stickers and such from this line that could be used instead.

Merry Christmas from my family to yours!

Merry Christmas everyone! We've been busy around here taking pictures, baking cookies for Santa, and snuggling in for a viewing of the Grinch. I promise to post some new projects on Wednesday! Hope you and yours have a safe and happy holiday!

More Card Fun

I made this card last night too. I LOVE the way this turned out...I think it looks even better in person than in the picture. I'm going to try it in different colors too to see what I can come up with. I used Stampin Up's Priceless set and the sentiment is Technique Tuesday. Brads are from Making Memories and the Ribbon is Offray. I used my Creative Memories Square punches to do all of the squares. All of the inks used were by Ink It Up.

We had this super-yummy dinner tonight. If you like comfort food, you just have to try it. It's pretty basic, but SOOO good. Boil some chicken on the stove with water and 4 chicken boullion cubes. Then once the chicken is falling apart, pull out the chicken and put it on a plate. Add egg noodles to the boullion and start tearing up the chicken. When the noodles soften, add the chicken and stir. Salt and pepper to taste. Then we served ours over mashed potatoes. Comfort food just wouldn't be comfort food without the mashed potatoes! :-) SO so easy and so so good. If you try it let me know how you like it! :-) Happy Friday!!!

SC155

A quick card to share tonight. This was my take on the SCS sketch 155. I used papers by Doodlebug Designs. I bought these a couple years ago and was saving them for a Valentine's day layout, but keep forgetting to use it. SO I pulled it out today to get me in that Valentine's creating mood for my assignment for the Pink House. I also used some of the Sugar Coating glitter. I just LOVE this stuff. It's so fun to use!

I am still in a very creative mood but have to put off doing my "homework" until I take some new photos of me and Will. I need some anyway and this gives me a good excuse! Gotta love that! So not sure what else I'll work on tonight, but I'm sure I'll find something!

Assignment # 1 Finished!!

I went to the Pink House today and delivered my first assignment. So exciting. I got to hang it up and I took some pictures (of course). :-) I also got my second assignment--using the Valentine's day papers, stickers, fabric tape, and rub-ons by Cloud 9 Design. So, I'll probably be up til 1 am again tonight! haha...

This is the Pink House from the outside. My car is completely in the way, but whatever, you get the idea. And then the other picture is my layout hanging on the wall inside! YAY!! :-)

By the way, I am completely aware how big of a dork I am to have taken a picture of it hanging in the store. BUT this was a huge goal of mine that I just had to document and I am so excited! So I'm a completely happy dork :-)! Have a great rest of your week everybody!!!

Assignment # 1

So I already have one goal I can check off of my list! I am officially a member of a design team! Thank you to Ronee & Michelle for bringing me on board! I will be designing for The Pink House on N. Rhett (I-526 Exit 19) in Charleston! If you haven't checked them out, you need to. Check out their website, here. They have all of the beautiful papers and embellies that AC Moore and Michaels don't have, not to mention an amazing crop room, great class schedule, and a wonderful super-friendly staff! I met **Mom** the first time I went in and told her I was somewhat new to the area and she introduced me to a couple of ladies that were in the store. Isn't that great?! So I'm not just singing their praises because I'm a part of it now, I loved the store even before that!! :-)

Anyway, I received my first homework assignment last night. It's a calendar page using Dream Street papers. I also got some great Doodlebug stickers and some bazzill cardstock to use for my creation...I was up til nearly 1:00 this morning working on it! I just couldn't stop. And bless Will's heart for putting up with it! He stayed up with me and gave me his opinion about flower placement, etc...haha. :-) Here is the 2-page spread that I came up with... It is still a work in progress. Be gentle, it's my very first calendar page!! :-)

Like I do...

I was thinking today, when Hayley woke up from her nap all cranky that no one but me really knows all of her little quirks. It's been that way since she was a newborn. Her dad was never really all that involved and now he has made the choice to not see her at all, so it was pretty much just me and her. This layout celebrates that bond that she and I have. She hasn't been away from me for more than one full day since she was born. I can usually figure out what she needs even before she says something, though it is much nicer now that she has her words to express herself. Tonight though, we ordered pizza from Papa Johns and she had gotten up from her nap just before the pizza arrived. We all sat down to eat and she just started crying and wouldn't stop. Will, bless his heart, tried to pick her up and cuddle with her to calm her down, but it just wasn't working. I picked her up, and she went completely silent. I know how to hold her. I know to give her her blankie and a pacifier and to rub her back under her shirt not over it. I know that playing pat-a-cake with her ALWAYS makes her smile, no matter what. So this is for her to look back on when she gets big and to know that no one knows her or loves her the way I do and no one ever will.

I don't know if you can really tell in the picture, but the photo corners are outlined with white stickles as are the centers of all of the flowers. The patterned paper is from the Rob and Bob for provo craft slab. Punches used to create the flowers and hearts are by EK success and Sizzix. The white dots are from my standard hole punch from staples. The alpha stickers are by EK Success as well. The plain cardstock is by paperbilities (tan, pink, and turquoise) and Bazzill (orange).

I may use this page as part of my submission for one of the design team applications. What do you all think??

SC154

Here is my card for this weeks sketch challenge over at SCS. I got this cute little owl stamp at Michaels. It was one of the dollar ones by Studio G. I couldn't believe it! I just think he's so cute. The flourish is by Autumn leaves and I hand drew the leaves on it to make it look more like a tree. The sentiment was from the same set of Studio G stamps. I stamped it in versamark and then used my Pebbles Inc. chalks to color it. The owl is colored with colored pencils. I distressed the edges of everything just using the blades on my scissors.

I am so sleepy...off to bed with me! More tomorrow...

Going out on a limb...

So, I've decided over the past couple of weeks to try out for a couple scrapbooking design teams. Definitely not for my stamping skills, lol. But I've had the goal the past couple of years to get some pages published and I thought that it's kind of hard to get published if you never submit, right?? SO, I have already applied to one site and am working on my application for a second one. I will share some of those layouts later--probably over the weekend. And I also have an altered clock that I've been working on tonight that I will post as well. :-) Lots of fun creative stuff going on around here and I'm sure after Will deploys there will be even more because I will have lots more free time on my hands after the kiddos go to bed.

Anyway, today I'm sharing this wreath. It was a kit from Making Memories that I received for winning the name tag contest at the swap I went to in October. And those gorgeous kids in the photos are my 2 girls and my **hopefully- sometime -in -the- near- future -soon -to- be step-children**. Clockwise they are Sidney, Shawn, Hayley, Spencer, and Caitlynn. Yep, 5. We have 5 kids between the two of us, and I really want to have one more. I know, totally crazy, right?? We'll see how things go. I had tons of fun doing this wreath, so I really recommend it if you were thinking about getting one. The instructions are super easy to follow and there are seriously a million ways to dress it up. Mine is pretty basic at this point because I was pressed for time, but I'm thinking that after this Christmas is over I'll go back and re-vamp it a bit and give it some real pizazz & Erika-type flair! :-)

I cannot believe that Christmas is coming up so fast. Crazy how quickly this year has flown by.

Happy Birthday Mom!!

Today is my Mom's 53 b'day. Happy Birthday Mom! And also Happy birthday Kim Humbard! Lots of birthday this week. Will's Mom's birthday is the 14th, his dad's is the 15th, and another friend of mine is the 15th also. So crazy week with the birthday cards!! :-) But, surprisingly enough, it's not a birthday card I'm sharing today. This is a LO I did of Caitlynn getting her ears pierced. It's not really what I had envisioned for this layout, but I had lots of photos that weren't great quality thanks to a cheapy camera and florescent lighting at Claire's. We took her to get them pierced as part of her present for her 6th birthday over the summer.

The flowers were die cut using the sizzix system. Buttons are by fun expressions. The paisley patterned paper is by making memories. The other patterned paper with the words on it didn't have a manufacturer listed on it and I can't for the life of me remember. Sorry!! The title "Fashionable and Cute" was Caitlynn's response to getting them pierced. She said, "that wasn't so bad, and now I'm fashionable AND cute!" it was hilarious! :-)

Delight in Life...

So I've been doing a lot of thinking today. I was pretty down this weekend and it really affected the mood of things around our house. So I decided that I'm going to take some more "me" time during the week and try to unwind as much as possible. I don't want to waste the little time (19 days and counting) that I have left to spend with Will before he leaves being all moody and sad. I should be happy that I still have him here right now, right?? So, no more being sad...until the 29th when he leaves.

As a start to my "me" time this week, I created these two cards. I am going back and doing the CPS sketches. The first one is my take on sketch # 1, and the second is my take on sketch number 41.
On the first one, the stamps are by Autumn Leaves. I stamped them in Versamark ink on white cardstock and then colored them using chalks by Pebbles, Inc. The sentiment was typed in Word.
The second one uses Stampin' Up's Delight in Life set. My sister stamped the images for me when I was in Indiana last month so I could play around with them during the drive. I never got around to using them then, so I decided to use them now. Oh and in the photo the buttons look crooked...they really aren't. I stood the card up to take the picture and the glue wasn't all the way dry and the button slipped! Oops! I didn't notice til after I took the picture, but it's all fixed now! Let me know what you all think! :-)

Together Forever

I am kind of having a rough weekend. Will started packing for his deployment yesterday. I was cleaning the baby's room and walked into our bedroom and he had all of his flight suits and gear all stacked up on our bed and was checking them off a list as he loaded it into his bags. It just hit me full force that he's really going to be leaving. And boy am I struggling with that! This will be the first real deployment for us. He's been gone before, but only for about 10 days at a time at most. And those have been few and far between for us since we've been here. I just don't know how to handle it. And I can feel myself sort of going into that mental shut down mode, where I push people away. I don't want to do that. I'm trying to avoid that at all costs. SO, distractions are welcome and much needed!! He leaves the 29th, so this Christmas is going to be kind of bittersweet. While I love the holidays and am welcoming all of the Christmas excitement for my kids, I'm also dreading it because I know that he leaves right after.


I've known that he needed to pack this weekend. He has to have his bags ready to turn in tomorrow for inspection and then to be loaded onto pallets. I really didn't expect to have it affect me that much when I saw him packing, but last night we were kind of distant with each other, which always bothers me. By the time we went to bed all was well, but I still cried myself to sleep because it's really hitting home how limited our time is before he leaves. I try to keep it to myself because I don't want to do the guilt thing on him. He already feels bad that he has to leave and he already knows how upset I get just when he does a week long trip, let alone FOUR months.
Anyway...these are a couple cards I've been working on to send him when he's away. I'm hoping to come close to sending him one for every day he's away...but we'll see how that works out since I'll have the house, 2 cats, 2 kids, and work to take care of all on my own while he's gone. :-) He has also requested that I regularly send him some of my *almost* famous chocolate chip cookies. I think I need to stock up on postage!

On a roll...

Thank goodness I have a supportive guy in my life that allows me all the time in the world to create, make HUGE messes, and talk constantly about cool new products and things I learn about this amazing passion of mine. Tonight while sitting around after he got home from work, he asked what I wanted to do for the evening and I said my usual, "I don't care, what do you want to do?" which has become more a habit than me not caring what we do. And he in turn responds with, "I don't know." Well after about 15 minutes of this, and him watching some very manly TV shows about Most Shocking Moments caught on Camera or something, I decide I want to drag my scrappin' stuff out. He laughs and helps me bring the big table into the living room so I can still be "with" him as I work. Then he sits and peruses my pages when I ask for his opinion. I just love that about him. He doesn't get upset with me for neglecting him, he doesn't sit and ask me if I'm done yet. He just keeps me company...so sweet.

Anyway, here are my two pages I finished tonight! The first one was inspired by CKs new Scrapbooker of the year, Elizabeth Kartchner, and a page on her blog that she did of her daughter. I used completely different products, but they are similar. And the other page is all me :-). Enjoy!

SC153 Challenge

So here is my card for the sketch challenge over at splitcoast today. I absolutely loved this sketch. This is by far the best card I've done so far in my opinion. I just think it's fabulous :-). Well, fabulous for me anyway! I'm much better with the scrapbooking still.

The stamps are from the Oriental Trading Company Scrapbooking magazine. My mom has this habit of buying me all of the stamp sets in the catalog since I started trying out stamping! This is one that I got for my birthday and I haven't had a whole lot of time to play with it. So I pulled it out today for the challenge. The patterned papers are from the Provo Craft Holiday Stack. I colored the penguin with colored pencils and the scallop circle is hand cut. I NEED the nesties! :-) I'm hoping Santa brings them!

I am so grateful for these sketches. I would've gone nuts this afternoon without some time to play. The kids took a nap and I got my stuff out and got moving and with this, the sketch actually made it go faster! YAY!!

As promised...

I'm back this morning with my LO that I did last night. I am still not thrilled with the quality of the photo, but it's early morning and I needed to get this done in case I don't have more time later, and it kills the time before the kiddos arrive.

So the details...12x12 layout. Both photos are 4x6. Patterned Paper is by Scenic Route, Felt ric-rac by Offray, Ribbon by American Crafts. I used my sizzix machine to die cut some acetate for the letters and then used acrylic paint to give them some color. The die set was the round-about alphabet. Then the computer font is called Holy Guacamole! Brad by Making memories. The circles at the bottom were all cut using my creative memories circle punch. I had the plan for this layout all drawn out, which I very very rarely do. So last night when I started, I thought I would be done super fast. BUT as it turns out, I'm even more of a perfectionist about my pages when I have a plan drawn up. So I planned on getting more done, and ended up only getting this one done. (In my defense though, I was also watching a riveting episode of Grey's Anatomy--so glad they re-played it because I missed it the first time! And now I'm dying to see Thursdays show! Any other Grey's addicts see it??) Hopefully I'll have more time this evening to play! I might even get all my stuff together and sketch out another one.

Doesn't my girl look super super happy?? She makes the BIGGEST mess when she takes a bath. Ahh, to be young again. She is absolutely terrified of the water, unless it's in our bath tub. When we went camping, she screamed bloody murder about going in the lake. My mom tried taking both girls to the pool and Hayley would scream anytime they brought her close to the water. But she loves her tubby! Crazy!

I talked the other day about my new issue of CK, right? Well, I have been going through my scrap magazine withdrawals because my subscriptions got all messed up when we moved, so there were like 2 months that I didn't get any even though I changed all of my address info. But long story short, I devoured this issue and there was one part in particular that I've been working on this week. They talk about coming up with a mantra for your creating...I've been pondering on this. Right now I like "Experience life; embrace the memories" but it seems to change every day. So what do you all think? Anyone else have a personal creative mantra or just one for every day life? When I get mine just right, I'm going to create something I can frame in my office to inspire me.

Quickie Post

I did another scrapbook page tonight, but the photos turned out really badly. The flash was leaving a really icky glare on the pictures, so I'll post a pic of it tomorrow when I have natural light to shoot in! It's cute though...and I have some other things to share, so check back tomorrow!! G'night everyone!

SC152 Challenge

This is the card that I made today for the splitcoast sketch challenge #152. I am going to start doing these every week and hopefully also get to go back and do the old ones as well. That should give me some good practice!

The patterned papers are by Provo Craft. I used the Fun and Fast Notes set to do the stars. I used Marvy Stamping markers to outline the outside of the star for the large stars and then the smaller ones are an outline of one of the inside stars. The sentiment is Studio G (dollar bin at Michaels).

I'm getting ready to hopefully get some more cards made now. There's a football game on and I like to scrap while I watch. It keeps me from yelling at the TV too much ;-). Hope everyone had a great Monday!

Super Scrapbook Saturday #3

Even though the post is a day late, here is my scrapbook page for Saturday! It is a 12x12 LO. I don't know who the manufacturer is on the patterned paper. I bought it at least a year ago at the scrapbook store in Noblesville, IN--The Scrapbook Corner. Cardstock is Paperbilities as usual. The die cuts are by Sizzix.
These pictures were from my Christmas Card photo shoot last year. I'm gearing up for this year's shoot now. I'm not sure how I'll do them, but I know my time is running out, so I better get on it!! I just love this time of year...I can't wait to start receiving holiday greetings...I display them all until after the New Year because I love being able to see them all at a glance and remember friends and family.

I also completed this card in my new favorite color combo!! I'm addicted to it. So be prepared to see it all over the place. I was so excited to get my Jan. CK mag and the color combo was on the cover! I swear that some day I WILL decorate a room in my house using these colors. They are so soothing and homey...anyway, the info on the card...I used to Doodle This Flower from Stampin Up!, The swirl is by Autumn Leaves and the sentiment is EK Success. Inks are by Ink It Up!, and the ribbon is all Offray.
I used to be so intimidated by using orange. I love the color, but sometimes its just hard to use. Well, not anymore! I decided to take my favorite color combo for decorating my house into my creative realm as well...now I have no idea why I didn't do it sooner! Want a challenge?? Try using these colors as well. You'll get hooked too! Don't forget to share what you create!

Pay it Forward

I found this challenge on Katie's site, and decided to participate! I will send a homemade gift to the first 3 people who comment on my blog requesting to join the PIF (Pay It Forward) exchange (make sure you leave your email so I can get your addy!!). You may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it!!! The only thing you have to do in return is "pay it forward" by making the same promise on your blog. (If you don't have a blog, just promise somehow). I can't wait to see who I will be giving to. To join, just cut and paste this to your blog, and comment away! So get posting!

Finally some time to play!

After my long absence from creative thinking, I finally had some time to play today and I got caught up on making some birthday cards! Sorry to those of you who haven't gotten your cards yet--I'm so behind schedule! But they are coming!!

I haven't played with this set for a while, but I had a lot of fun using it. This was the first Stampin Up! set that I purchased and I always seem to go for the newer ones when I sit down to play. It was definitely fun to re-visit this set, though! I perused the SCS gallery for some inspiration and then started stampin! I used all of the same papers and supplies for all three designs. I'm pretty happy with the turn out. One was completely cased from SCS with small changes to the color scheme and sentiment. The other two are the same color scheme and designs that I came up with.

The set is called Seein' Spots by Stampin Up! I used inks by Color Box and Ink it Up. Papers by Paperbilities. The sentiment stamps are from Hero Arts and the circle Happy Birthday sentiment was made on the computer using WordArt because I didn't have a stamp that fit what I wanted to do!

The card with the large arrow still seems to be missing something, though I'm not quite sure what to add...I may still embellish it a little more somehow, but I absolutely LOVE the stickles...I am a major stickles fan... anything with a little glitter and I'm sooo into it! :-)

The Countdown to Christmas has begun...

I have had zero time to be creative since Thanksgiving. I am hoping to have time tonight to get crafty. I need to get caught up on some birthday cards and start my Christmas ones. I did manage to start my Christmas shopping finally.
Our trip home from Indiana was a nightmare. What should have been an 8-9 hour trip took 12 hours thanks to a lovely flat tire in Kentucky about 100 miles from Knoxville, TN (the halfway point between Indy and here). We changed the tire in about 20 minutes, but then had to drive the remaining distance home on the doughnut spare tire because the tires for my car are a rare size and have to be special ordered. UGH. So instead of getting home late Tuesday, we didn't arrive home until 6:30 Wednesday morning. Just in time for Cait to get on the bus and since she slept the whole way home, I went ahead and sent her to school. Will and I both had to work on Wednesday on very little sleep for me and none at all for him, so it's been a very long week. Hopefully we'll be all caught up on sleep by Monday! I'm sure it still won't keep me from staying up late to get some scrapping/card making done! :-) Check back tomorrow and hopefully I'll have some fun stuff to share!!

Happy Turkey Day!

This was my first ever Thanksgiving away from home. I have to admit that I was a little homesick this morning because I didn't wake up to the usual smells of Thanksgiving. My mom wakes up at about 5 am to get started on the holiday cooking and preparations. Instead, I woke up and had to come down and get it started! I was nervous about cooking everything myself. I've helped in the past, but always under the careful direction of my Mom.

I can happily report that our meal was AMAZING! We had all of the usual things--turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, pumpkin pie, and crescent rolls. And I also baked some chocolate chip cookies that my girls were eating ALL DAY LONG. And some rice krispy treats also. We were all stuffed and I fell asleep for two hours on the couch and woke up to the dishes all being done already by my sweet and thoughtful boyfriend, Will.

Here are a few pics of our day...

Then after this part was all said and done and the girls were in bed, Will and I watched some football and I was able to complete this scrapbook layout for my sister. She is a scrapper/stamper as well, but she is 7 months pregnant with her second child, a baby boy to be named Logan Michael, and doesn't seem to have much energy for scrapping lately. She asked me to do a LO for her with one of her senior pictures from high school.
It is a 12x12 layout. I used patterned papers by Chatterbox. Cardstock by Paperbilities. Stickers by Provo craft. Felt Flowers are from American Crafts, brads are by fun expressions and the ribbons are both offray.

I did my fun ribbon trick again--I can't help it, I am just so excited that I figured out a way to make decent looking bows!!

Hopefully my sister likes how this turned out.

Thanksgiving Eve

Hi All,
I do not have a project ready to post. I have been super busy around the house. Will and I decided it was finally time to paint the living room since we have the time off this week. Well, it turns out that it's taking THREE coats of paint to get it done, which was a little more than we bargained for! :-) But it's looking really beautiful...I can't wait to see what it's like when we finish it! I'll post pics as soon as the room is photo ready! Off to bake some cookies and make rice krispy treats! Happy Turkey Day!!

Merry Christmas Decorations!!

Thanks to all of the inspiration that I've been finding on other blogs, I've been trying to make some Christmas Decorations. This is the latest creation. I made it last night while Will was flying and I plan on making a couple more.

I used a styrofoam cone that I purchased at Michael's, though I got a couple more tonight at Walmart. The patterned papers are all from the Provo Craft Christmas slab. I used plain silver straight pins with a small head on them, but other people were using the colorful pearl looking ones. And then the stars on the top were ornaments that came in a package of 16 for like $2 and I thought they would be the perfect topper. They had them in gold also. They came with thread strung through the tops, but I snipped it off, since I don't intend for the tree to hang anywhere :-).

I attended a swap with some of the Carolina girls today and had a GREAT time! Thanks Ronee for being such a great hostess! We made two really great cards and the swaps from the other ladies...so fantastic! I'm so lucky to belong to such a wonderful group of talented creative women!! I have so much more to share, so more coming tomorrow.

Super Scrapbook Saturday #2

Sorry I've been quiet on the blogging. I've been a bit busy, so I haven't posted even though I have been very productive. I made a different set of swap cards that I like even better than the ones I already posted. I also made a Christmas tree decoration that I will post later in the week because I have to get a "topper" for it. And of course I did the scrapbook page that I'm going to share here.

This is another 12x12 layout. I do create some in an 8.5x11 format, but I haven't shared any of those yet! This is a picture taken of my little family unit during our last visit to Indiana at the pumpkin patch. The large floral patterned paper that I used is by Bo-Bunny Press. When I saw it, it made me think of Fall which is my favorite time of year so of course I just HAD to have it ;-). All of the other papers are from the DCWV Fall scrap slab that I got as a door prize from the Carolina girls swap last month. The photo corners are also DCWV and coordinate with the papers. The stickers are by American Crafts and then the smaller text is Georgia font. I inked all over the papers and stickers with a chocolate brown stamp pad by ink it up. I almost added some brads and ribbon, but I couldn't find a placement i was happy with that didn't make the page look too cluttered. I kind of want to frame this page...I love this picture of my family. If only Caitlynn had been sitting up so you could see her whole face...but hey, she's in there and looking in the general direction of the camera just like the rest of us, so I'll take it!! Who needs perfection?? :-)

CPS Sketch #39

During nap time today, I quickly whipped up this card for Card Positioning Systems Sketch #39 . Of course, this is the first time I've done a sketch from that site. I've been on a roll this week doing sketches from different blog sites. They are helping me immensely to play with the stamps and supplies I have now and also helping me to use up some of my scrap paper which is REALLY building up. I used the swirls from the SU Priceless set and the flower image is one of the dollar stamps from Michaels. The patterned paper is a scrap left over from the scrapbook LO that I did on Saturday. And the large purple twill is actually from the packaging of a quilt that I got at Target. Cardstock is paperbilities. Inks are from Colorbox.
I've only been stamping/cardmaking for about a month now and I feel like I'm starting to get the hang of things. But practice makes perfect and I'm really enjoying all of this practicing I've been doing!! And it's definitely a great way to spend the kid's naptime!

Swaps DONE!

I have another swap coming up on the 18th. I'm excited. Only my second one ever, but I had so much fun at the first one that I just can't wait for this one to come up! The theme for it was something brown. I absolutely love brown. I used the pale blue/chocolate brown color combo and came up with this card. The patterned paper is from that Rob and Bob for Provo Craft Slab again (didn't I say I'd use it up in no time at all?!) I apologize for the somewhat blurry photography this morning. I used my creative memories cutting tool to create the ovals. The sentiment stamp is by Technique Tuesday. Ribbon is by Offray. And the brads are making memories. The Chocolate brown cardstock is Paper Reflections and the White is paperbilities. At first I had it where the ovals were alone without the ribbon behind it and the patterned paper lined up with the bottom with only one strip of brown across the top of the patterned paper, but I thought it just looked too blah. So I added the ribbon and repositioned it and then added the second strip with the brads and voila. Finished product. It's pretty simple overall, but I think the color combo calls for something more elegant and simple. It actually took me about 3 hours to get 8 cards done because I was watching Dancing With The Stars. (I really think that Marie needs to go next.) Then we had Monday Night Football on, so I was pretty distracted throughout the whole cardmaking process. But I'm glad I got them finished and I am pleased with the end result, even though it is nothing like my original vision! :-) But I must say that I am EXHAUSTED today after staying up past midnight last night and getting up at 6 am today. I WILL get to sleep at a decent time tonight. Probably right after the results show for Dancing...Happy Tuesday everyone!

An early morning card to start the day!

I had to get up early this morning in order to get Caitlynn dressed and ready for school. Will is off today, so getting out of bed when he was getting to sleep in was very tough! However, I'm up, so I though that I might as well get a card made this morning before the other kids get here for the day. I have FIVE birthday cards that I need to send out over the next week or so. This is the first card that I'll be sending out.

I absolutely LOVE this little bird from the Stampin Up! Fun and Fast Notes set. I don't use it very often, but I think he's just too cute. I also used the Doodle This stamp set for the doodle in the corner. And the Happy Birthday sentiment stamped inside the card is from the fun and fast notes set as well. I did my little ribbon trick again for the bow. Cute, right? :-) I was the mastermind behind having to do all these birthday cards. I just joined the Carolina Girls group on SCS and thought it would be nice to send out cards to each of the other women in the group as a way to send them birthday greetings and for all of us to practice our card making. And of course the first month that we begin, there are 5 women with birthdays all within days of each other! So happy birthday to all the Carolina girls!

Scrapbooking Saturday!

So much for not posting today! I managed to get two scrapbooking layouts finished in the wee hours of the morning :-). Will and I stayed up late and he practiced his guitar playing while I did some scrappin'.

This layout is 12x12 and I used the patterned papers from the Rob and Bob Studios for Provo Craft Super Slab. I love these papers. Usually, people give me these super slabs as gifts and I dislike three quarters of them--these, I love them ALL. So I am sure I'll use this slab up in no time at all, especially since I used 4 sheets on this layout alone. The alpha stickers came with them. All colors of cardstock are by paperbilities. I just love this picture of Hayley. She is constantly following me around. On this particular day, I went upstairs to grab something and came right back down...she of course was on her way up after me as I was coming down. Lucky for me, I had my camera in hand to snap a quick photo of her coming up after me. Most days this drives me crazy having her under my feet the entire day, especially when I'm cooking or actually trying to get some work done, but I know that i will miss having her as my little shadow when she finds other people/things much more exciting than her mommy! :-)

This layout is also 12x12. I used ribbon by Michael's, Page Pebbles by Fun Expressions, Stamp by Autumn Leaves; Die Cut Title using Sizzix Slim Jim Alpha; Cardstock Paperbilities; Patterned Papers are Carolee's Creations (the words behind the photo), and Two Busy Moms (the circles on the background were cut from this paper). I tried out a new bow idea on this and I love the result. I always have such a hard time making the bows come out right, so this time I kind of created a bow without having to tie anything :-) The ribbon is just folded and wrapped to make the bow shape...it's actually 4 pieces of ribbon that I manhandled into a bow and glued together, lol. But I like it! :-)

Now on to do laundry...who knows, maybe I'll get more scrapping done tonight--so far it's been my kind of weekend!

My first attempt at a Beate's Sketch

Another day of firsts for me in card-making. First I did the tutorial for the purse card and now this is my first attempt at a Beate Johns sketch challenge.

This is the card that I made for Beate's sketch. The sketch can be found at her blog here.

All of the stamps used were by Studio G. The patterned paper was from a scrapbook stack of papers from JoAnn's. The yellow cardstock was from DCWV and the other colors from paperbilities. All of the inks are by Stamp Craft. The photo corners and scalloped circle were hand drawn and hand cut (I can't wait to get the nestibilities scalloped die sets!).

I am pleased with how this turned out, though I think it would look better if I could've sponged the coffee ink on the circle instead of having to do the direct to paper method. Must buy sponges!! That's on the agenda for the weekend! :-) I'm not used to doing two posts in one day, but I just had to share! This may take the place of tomorrow's post so that I don't neglect my family any more this weekend! Hope you all have a great one!

My first purse card

This morning while I was waiting for Hayden to arrive, I decided to make a purse card based on Keri Lee Sereika's tutorial.

The patterned paper I used was from a large slab of patterned papers purchased at JoAnns, though I cannot remember who the manufacturer was. The cardstock is paperbilities. Button is Fun Expressions. The two flowers on the front are hand-drawn. The ribbon is American Crafts ;the brads are Making Memories; Stamps: Priceless Set by Stampin' Up; Ink by Stamp Craft (Coffee); and I created the scalloped edge using a template by The Crafters Workshop.

Making this card was so much fun. I plan on playing with this kind of card a lot more for sending fun notes to my girl friends back home in Indiana. Thanks, Keri for the great tutorial!!

I haven't been a very good blogger this week. It's been a bit crazy around here. I've been helping out another childcare provider in our neighborhood the last few days because she had some appointments. AND I had a new child start this week also. She's three, so I thought she'd be a little lower maintenance...not so much the case. She hasn't been around other kids before, so she doesn't like to share and such. It's been a treat, let me tell ya. I'm hoping she adjusts quickly. But with the other extra kids here, it's been a little stressful getting her settled. At least she's only here 3 days/week.
I haven't gotten any stamping done at all, but I have been doing a lot of wishlist making on stamping sites when I have spare time. I LOVE the new Cornish Heritage Farms stamps and I went through the Stampin Up Catalogs again and made a new list of those as well. I will have some extra money this week from the extra kids being here, so I may treat myself to a little something also...it's been a stressful week, I deserve it right??
Hopefully I'll get some stamping/scrapping done tonight and I'll post some pictures later!

Where does the time go??

It's already November. It's time to do the Christmas shopping...the weather is getting cooler. My children are growing like crazy...AND Will's 4-month deployment is creeping closer and closer every day. Six months ago, it seemed like we had all kinds of time before he leaves. But then I blinked and here we are, already preparing for when he leaves. So crazy. Where does the time go? This time of year always puts me in a bit of a nostalgic mood. I have been strolling down memory lane back to when Caitlynn was born and spending all that time in the NICU. And to look at her now, you'd never know that she ever had any problems. She's such a beautiful girl. And then my little Hayley...feels like yesterday that we were bringing her home from the hospital wrapped up in the same green blanket that she drags everywhere now. Ahh...the memories. I wish I could freeze time and just squeeze out some extra moments with them while they are little. There just don't seem to be enough hours in the day.

I sent out Christmas lists to the grandparents over the weekend, and am expecting to get their wishlists back from them this week so I can start shopping hopefully next weekend. Will is on a ten day EAS starting on Thursday, so it'll be just me and the kiddos for the weekend. I had all sorts of scrapbooking/stamping stuff on my list. I'm very excited! I have such a hard time spending money on myself, so I always look forward to Christmas and my birthday. I would much rather spend money on other people...just the way I am. But I could use some fun new stuff to play with!

Speaking of playing, I did get a couple cards done this weekend. Here is one of them...

Let me know what you think...all feedback is much appreciated. I actually cased the general idea for this one from the SCS gallery. just trying to get a handle on what looks good before I design my own--though I did do several tweaks to the original design. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.

I figured it out!!

I'm just a little excited. I figured out how to make my own watermark. I know this isn't any large important feat or anything, but I still figured it out! It's always a challenge for me because everyone shows tutorials using Adobe Photoshop software, which I want, but don't have. Instead, I have PhotoImpact Pro that I received as a gift. And because I have it, I can't seem to justify buying the Adobe software just because I'm too lazy to read the info on how to use what I have. Make sense? Haha, probably not. Anyway...I played with the software this morning and figured out how to do it. I've attached it to this page that I did last night. How does it look?? Does someone have any hints on how to better photograph my pages and cards?? My pictures always look poor quality. Maybe I should start using my Nikon D50 more often...I tend to rely on my Kodak Easyshare because it's lighter to carry around. Another thing I need to really learn how to use! I LOVE my D50...it's just a little intimidating sometimes...maybe I need to befriend someone with the same camera so they can teach me how to use it properly. I got frustrated with it trying to take pictures when the lighting isn't ideal...they turned out so badly I just gave up with it. Bad, I know. I suppose I could do that today...go get it from it's high place of honor and actually figure that out too...a day of learning how to use my equipment! :-)

Halloween Pics--Finally

So it took me a few days, but here are some photos from Halloween. We had so much fun trick or treating. Hayley was just the cutest baby ever. She's usually such a scaredy-cat, I was so surprised that she actually participated in the trick or treating, but she LOVED it. It was definitely the highlight of my week. And Will didn't end up having to leave on a trip, so he was home for it too. We ended up meeting up with Caitlynn's bus stop friend, Tori and her Mom (who is VERY chatty). She talked Will's ear off the entire time we walked with the kids. He's so quiet and shy and then there's this woman who did not stop talking. I was very amused by it...he wasn't so much :-). But he was a good sport.

Now on to a weekend full of football...and house cleaning. UGH.

Root for the Colts on Sunday!