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!