My Not-So-Shabby Life

Visit me here!

2007-12-18T14:15:00.000-08:00

I've Moved! Come visit me at my new blog!

I stayed inside today ~

2007-12-09T19:31:00.000-08:00

And got a few more projects done. I am thrilled to have completed my 2008 calendars. That's always quite a task! I just have to print off 2 pages and bind them. I don't know if I've ever been done so early in the month. I also got our yearly newsletter made. I've addressed the envelopes. So the only thing I have left to do is print off the color copies at work and stuff the envelopes. They will go out in the mail tomorrow. Another yay!!!

I made a couple of cards today. Here is one of them. Don't look Michele!!!!

This next card is for my boss. All of us girls pitched in to get him and his wife a night on the town. There are gift certificates to AMC theaters and a Kona Grill gift card. I played around with Tim Holtz's 12 days of Christmas project on here (day 8). Mine doesn't look as good as his (of course) but it honestly came out better than I thought it would. I made the wood grain look. It really does look much better in person than in this photograph.

Just for fun. I bought several of those Making Memories giant chipboard shapes last Christmas. I covered this one with Daisy D's pattern papers. It might just show up as a giant tag on somebody's present this year.

And lastly I made this tree. I got the inspiration from here. Mine isn't as pretty as hers is, but I think it is very pretty. I recently purchased a styrofoam cone to make a different tree. But I ran across this tree and decided I would rather have it, especially for a lot less work. I tore Christmas songs out of an old hymnal I have. I glued and old wooden spool to the base. I painted an old metal snowflake for the tree topper and put a Creative Cafe brad in the center. I found the "snow" buried deep in my holiday decorations. I have no idea how old it is, but it is old. I think they make better fake snow now. And my tree would probably look better with it, but I used what I had on hand. I'd love to make more of these in varying heights for a forest like effect.

Well I believe that's it.

Have a great week!

I got a lot of "work" accomplished on my day off!

2007-12-07T19:30:00.000-08:00

I made this card for my daughter's friend who is having a birthday party this weekend. All papers came from the scrap pile. The stamps are Stampin Up and Creative Cafe. And look....I used the Sizzix too!

I made this card for a friend.

These projects are for my February class at Captured Memories. It's a cone (treat holder) and a card/album.

This card/album is made with an office manilla folder. I love the look and feel of it!

The papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Hey Sugar line. Perfect for my project. Though not quite as bright as it appears in pictures.

I had a fun day with the girls today. Shopping at the new Nell Hills in Briarcliff (plus a few other close shops) and lunch.

Sooooo much eye candy in this store!

I absolutely loved this table! It was so beautiful. And probably oh only a thousand dollars to create this table setting :)

Even the bathroom was pretty. Pretty enough to photograph anyway ;)

Then when I returned to school to pick up Allie, the brownies took a field trip to the marble factory. If anybody needs a marble made just come see me ;)

Another big day planned tomorrow. I teach then we have my husband's work Christmas party. I'll be gone most of the day tomorrow too!

Captured Memories January Layouts Class

2007-12-06T15:37:00.000-08:00

I just completed my January layouts for Captured Memories.

It might be kinda hard to see, but the mitten has glittered felt on it.

And on this layout, there is glittered snowflakes on the snowman's hat and scarf. I got this cute idea from this incredibly adorable card made by Rae for CMK's Scenic Route Contest this month. I used my new glue stamp pad with this and it totally rocks! Everybody who stamps needs one of these!

And I hope you can all tell that the letters spelling "cocoa" are actually marshmallows. I think my cup came out pretty good, so I'm excited about that. I was afraid it wouldn't look like much of a cup.

Well I haven't heard from Homegrown Hospitality, so I will probably be able to post pictures of the projects soon (see below post).

Tomorrow is a day for moms. A bunch of us are dropping our kids off at school, then heading out for a day of fun. I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

By the way, I photographed the above layouts with my new portrait lens I ordered for Christmas. I ordered it yesterday and it came today! Free shipping. I'm quite happy right now.

It's beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas

2007-12-02T15:39:00.000-08:00

with all these Christmas projects I have had going on this weekend. I altered the Starbucks Advent Tree that I purchased last year. They are still selling them this year if you want on for yourself. I just used pattern paper, stamps and a white pen on mine. I love the look of flowers and buttons, but I decided to keep it pretty simple. I really couldn't figure out what I wanted to do to the top. Finally I cut some bazzill into strips and sewed a zig zag stitch down the middle and fashioned the pieces into a bow.

I've only filled a few boxes with notes. I need to get some candy and trinkets to fill up the remaining days. The papers are made by imaginisce. The stamps are Stampin Up.

I made this wall plaque for my friend who had a baby at the end of October. I made her a set for her daughter born about 18 months ago and she wanted another one for her new addition. Luckily I still had some of the paper left to make one. I really like the ones I made for her daughter though - but I didn't have enough of it all.

This weekend I was busy creating projects to submit to Homegrown Hospitality. It's a very cute magazine jam packed with ideas of gifts to make. Such cute stuff in there. Anyhow, I'm not sure if I can post the projects I submitted, but here are a few peeks. I love how my projects turned out and I have my fingers crossed that they will too.

Today I started working on my January layouts class. I've only completed 1 so far. 2 to go. Plus I'm hoping to have my February class (gift cone and mini card/album) ready to go by Saturday too. I need to get to work on this stuff.

Have a great week!

Holiday weekend is over!

2007-11-25T15:25:00.001-08:00

Here are a couple of shots today I took for my next Photography Club meeting on Tuesday. I missed last month's meeting because of vacation. So I'm not really sure what this month's assignment was, except to photograph a person. Who better to photograph than Allie?

We had planned to head to the arboretum on Friday to shoot some "leaf" photos, but it was just too chilly for this whimp!

I realized today was my last opportunity before the meeting to really get a shot. I covered a board with wrapping paper (to use as the background) [I got this cool tip from Holly of Pink.Sugar.Pop]. I tried to make Allie's too long bangs gracefully cover her face. I sat her next to a window for optimal natural light. Then I put Clay holding white posterboard opposite the window to reflect light back onto the dark side of Allie's face. I took a couple pictures with a candy cane, but that just wasn't exciting me. So I made Allie a hot caramel apple cider and put it in a festive holiday cup. I told her to have fun drinking it and that a face full of whipped cream would be cute. She was plenty happy to oblige. Check out the results for yourself:

I had to convert the photos to black and white because Allie's pink camo pajamas clashed with the tan and red Christmas tree background. I can't wait until I can get some constructive criticism from the class. It's always helpful to hear other's suggestions.

Here are a couple of layouts I never got posted:

The above layout was created with mostly Daisy D's papers and embellishments. But there are a few other products thrown in there for good measure.

The below layouts were created with Doodlebug. I just couldn't stop working on these layouts. Finally I had to step away from the pen and call the layouts complete.

We went to the in-laws this weekend. Every year I make a digitally scrapped calendar for myself, my mother and my mother-in-law. The great news is that I've finished 7 out of the 12 layouts! It's always so much work creating these. I don't have any of the layouts on this computer, so I'll have to post pictures of those later. Like maybe after Christmas since my mom reads this blog.

Well off to finish dinner. Have a great week!

Did a little scrapping this weekend

2007-11-18T16:27:00.001-08:00

and I did a little shopping too!

First here are my finished layouts for my December 8 layouts class at Captured Memories.

While there, I finally got to shop the Creative Cafe. I love the product. Danelle had such a great idea with this concept. I couldn't buy everything that I wanted because of pricing questions but that's probably not a bad thing since I spent plenty of money already. I'll hit the other items next time I go in.

Today I had 4 of my bunco buddies over for the afternoon to make cards. They were whipping out cards left and right and I finished a whopping "1" card while they were here.

Of course there was quite a bit of detail with this card.

It's my submission for CMK's Scenic Route Roxbury card contest this month.

Win or lose, I love it...even if it took me over 3 hours to complete!

There are a couple of tags, and a pocket for goodies.

Somebody will likely get it for Christmas...but it just might have to be Clay if I can't part with it!

So I finished this card and Allie did 16! And they are quite cute. I sure which I could work at her pace.

And she even had sayings/sentiments in many of them. Aren't the cotton ball snowmen cute in the back. But both of our favorite is the one in the front row on the left with the fireplace and the stockings.

Well off for dinner and maybe even clean up this mess a bit.

Natural Beauty

2007-11-11T08:44:00.000-08:00

I created this layout for CMK's December Guest Designer opening. I was their guest designer last December so I had to wait a whole year before applying again.

I don't think I have EVER spent so long on a single layout. And it is without a doubt the heaviest layout I have ever created. I knew early on in the design process that this would be something I would want to hang on the wall so I didn't worry about the weight or "going outside the lines". I plan to paint up a canvas or maybe put it in an old window frame and hang this up somewhere in my living room. The colors would be perfect. I really want to make the giant heart into a pillow. Wouldn't that be beautiful? I really think I'm going to make me a giant felt pillow to put on my old church pew.

Here's a little close up of some of the detail:

Here is the challenge:

Construct a layout around things you are thankful for. You must use warm tones, you must use felt, you must use ledger paper, there must be a heart, must use at least 2 photos and there must be journaling.

So I think I have all the bases covered. Hope you all can spot the heart! You may have to look closely but there are 2 photos. I converted these photos to sepia, printed on transfer paper, cut to a heart shape, and ironed on to a muslin. I think I sewed on this layout forever. Lots of hand sewing and quite a bit of machine stitching as well. Isn't that ric rac cute? It is so tiny and fun to sew on the layout. And to top it off, I used Daisy D's product on this. So now I'm gonna throw myself in the hat for their DT search.

Call me a lucky gal!

2007-11-09T07:45:00.001-08:00

Because I just got this paper storage display:

I'm in love, and maybe in a little bit of trouble from my husband who has banned me for putting another piece of furniture in the house (I'm also working on getting the accompanying shelf to go with it). I've got almost all my paper in here and organized and labeled with the contents. But shhh....I've got too much paper and now that it's on display my husband will notice that to, so my mom and my sister are on the way over to my house right now to relieve me of some of it. So nice of them to help me out on this. But oh my....I've made a total mess of my scrappy area while trying to organize (how does that happen). So I guess I'll be doing a little clean up while the "shoppers" are here.

November Layouts Class

2007-10-28T16:52:00.000-07:00

My November layouts class is finally ready. Take a peek:

I wish I could go again!

2007-10-27T15:20:00.000-07:00

On vacation that is. What a wonderful trip it was....despite seeing sooo many clouds. I don't think there was a single day (in all 12) that we didn't seem some rain. Ok, maybe a couple, but definately a lot more clouds than sun.

The first part of the trip was spent at the Nick Hotel in Orlando. The hotel was soooo cool that Allie would have been just as happy spending the day there than going to the Disney parks.

Some cool activities going on at the hotel. They had a schedule of events every day. Of course one of the most anticipated events was the daily sliming which took place at 4:45 at the main pool.

They had arts & crafts in their workshop. They had a Nick or Treat and they supplied the costumes. They had a dive in movie which was a poolside movie on a giant blow up screen and so much more. Allison & I even attended the Bikini Bottom Bash and got our picture taken with Sponge Bob and Patrick.

Allison had her own room, including her very own tv. Now that was a hit! She is seen here working on her homework.

Then after 5 days in Orlando we headed off for our Cruise. Now that was wonderful. Here is a picture that they took as we were about to board the boat (this frame was one of the challenges for the Croptoberfest at Create My Keepsake last weekend).

The cruise was absolutely wonderful. I have so many pictures to sort through and a party to attend in a few short minutes, so perhaps I will post some pictures later.

I'm off to a couple of birthday parties (one friend turning 40 and another 50). I made them matching cards because I was short on time. Take a peek:

The bad news is that the card is too big for any of my standard envelopes. I'm going to have to use an office size envelope. I'm taking a flourless chocolate cake (hoping it would similar to a wonderful dessert I had on the cruise) and a corn and black bean salsa to share. I really need to get out of here.

C-ya!

It's a holiday weekend!

2007-09-01T08:22:00.000-07:00

And thankfully I'm doing much better. My leg doesn't really hurt any more (unless I standing and not moving around). It doesn't hurt to walk, but I'm walking with a limp because if I walk normally it does hurt. And it doesn't hurt when I relaxing (though it aches sometimes). I just can't do anything that requires standing around. I can only stand for about 30 seconds before it starts hurting. Don't ask my why I can walk but I can't stand. Crazy. And anytime I am sitting around, I still need to keep my leg elevated. If I over do it, then my leg turns red and begins to swell a bit again (though nowhere near as bad as it was).

I wanted to share with you this awesome RAK I got from Carolyn at CMK. It didn't seem much like a RAK....it seemed more like I won the big prize at a CMK online crop. So many goodies. And awesome product too. I received this the day I found out I had the clot. Timing was perfect. It sure cheered me up, even though it has taken me over 2 weeks to get it all put away. Take a peek:

I haven't been able to scrap for over 2 weeks. I hope to change that this weekend. I don't think I"ll be able to sit comfortably in my space for hours, so I'll have to work quick or work in shifts. I want to try to challenge myself to do a layout in under 1 hour. Sounds easy for most people...but definately not me. I'm too slow! I've slowly been picking up my space for the last couple of days and it's almost ready for some scrapping.

Needless to say I am now behind on my personal challenge to finish at least 1 project or layout a weekend. But the last weekend I scrapped, I completed 2 layouts. I'll post them now. I created the first pages over 1 year ago and just now got the right hand pages done. So I'll post both pages for your viewing pleasure. These second pages are really going quick. I figure I spent plenty of time creating the left page, that the right pages are basically serving as a way to display more pictures and give more information. I haven't been fussing over them, but funny that I like them anyhow.

I created this layout with my first kit from Treasured Scrapbooking about a year ago.

And this layout I lifted from a member over at Treasured Scrapbooking sometime in 2006. It's been so long that I'm sorry I can't give credit where credit is due.

Well thanks for dropping by. I sure hope to have more pictures before the end of the holiday weekend :)

Not a lot of creativity flowing here :(

2007-08-25T14:35:00.000-07:00

I found out 11 days ago that I have a blood clot in my leg. I have been on bedrest going on my 10th day and I'm extremely bored. It would be wonderful if I felt up to scrapping, but sadly it's just too uncomfortable (even painful) for me.

I went to the doctor so he could reassure me that I didn't have a clot. He suspected I didn't, but had me undergo an ultrasound just to be sure. Good thing I went...even though he didn't give me the news I wanted to hear. He didn't really think I had it at first because I was lacking several of the major tell tale symptoms, mostly I was lacking the pain. Well it didn't take long for those symptoms to bear their ugly head. I was in serious pain for about 4 days. The worst is behind me and the pain is greatly subsiding. But it is still lingering. It was hurting me all the time. Now, the bulk of the pain comes when I'm vertical (but luckily even that pain is reduced). So since being vertical = pain, I elect to be horizontal and deal instead with the ache.

I've been experiencing improvements for the last 3 days, so I hope to keep up this pace. I might even sneak out of the house to watch my daughter's soccer game tomorrow evening.

I've had to cancel my September class at Captured Memories....I just can't get the class sample made up in time. :( The class is supposed to be 2 weeks from today. I should be vertical by then (keeping my fingers crossed). The store owner had to teach my last class for me last weekend because I simply wasn't able to do it.

This is the last project that I've made and photographed, but not yet published on my blog. It was for Creasa's challenge at CMK to use a rubon on a clear button. I love the way the card turned out.

Have a great weekend! I hope I have new projects to share soon!

I hosted Scrappy Hour tonight

2007-08-10T20:40:00.001-07:00

over at CMK. Scrappy Hour is a scrapping happy hour of sorts. Rachel is generally the host. Each week she puts together a quick class teaching us a new technique. At the beginning of the week, she'll post a supply list. Then on Friday (8:30 central time) Scrappy Hour begins. She posts the steps and takes pictures of the process. A new picture and step is posted about every 10 to 15 minutes. You have no idea what your (or her) final product will be until the final step. It's pretty wild because everybody's projects look so different. Yet it's such a fun way to scrap. If you're prepared and have your basic supplies ready ahead of time, you can scrap a project rather quickly.

Anyhow, Rachel loves to have guest hosts. I volunteered to host late in September. But being the procrastinator that I am (and the fact that it's less than 2 week before Allie's big 9th birthday bash and our big trip) I did the project nearly 2 months in advance. I let Rachel know that I was ready to go and could fill in for her if the need arose. Well she was sick this week so she called on me. I love my project and had been dying to post it so I'm happy to finally post it. The topic of my class was Getting Down & Dirty with Paint!.

I also finally posted a couple of my personal challenge layouts of finishing uncompleted projects. Here are those layouts:

I'm only 1 layout behind. So if I can get 2 uncompleted projects done this weekend, I will be caught up. I've been scrapping of sorts tonight....only I haven't pulled out a single supply. Just taking care of the photographing and online stuff. Unfortunately that doesn't count.

Now get a load of this beauty. I'm not exactly sure what it is. But it is a light. I believe it's meant to hang on the wall and not the ceiling though. I picked it up at a garage sale today for the tiny price of $1.25. You may be wondering what the heck I'm going to use it for...I know my husband is. Allison's 9th birthday party is going to be a Drive In Movie in our backyard. The show will be High School Musical. I going to bring the projector home from work and we will project the movie onto the back of the house. We will have a concession stand in Allie's playhouse. Finally now I know why I made my husband cut her front door in half (so that the top part can be open and the bottom could be closed...originally I was thinking puppet show but not one puppet show has been held there). My brother is going to light up the backyard with all the white Christmas bulbs they used when they had a Christmas tree lot. And now....well I've got a marquee (sp?). Isn't that what they call those lighted signs outside the movie theater. How could I have been so lucky to score this for that price. And when the party is over, it might make some pretty cool mood lighting for a 9 year old's bedroom. I'm wondering if I can write on it with a dry erase marker. I'll have to test an area.

And speaking of Allie, she got a palatte expander and braces yesterday. She has been such a trooper. Who would have thought that the most traumatic part for her is that she can't floss her teeth right now. We lost the special tool to do it so we'll have to go back to the dentist and get one next week. While most kids would be complaining about the pain and awkwardness of it, she's worried about flossing. She sure doesn't get that from her mother!

Well, maybe I'll take a few moments to scrap. Not many plans this weekend...but wish me luck. I'm walking in the Race for a Cure cancer walk on the Lazer Tow team on Sunday. Luckily it'll start at 7:45 am....because it's supposed to be 102 out that day. Yipes!

Have a great weekend!

I've been a scrapper slacker

2007-08-06T04:58:00.000-07:00

this weekend so not one project completed. Ok, barely one started. I have started removing the outer and inner covering on an old make up case (suitcase style). I have a project planned for that.

I went to Goodwill for the first time in months. It's always one of those things that you bomb out on or score big...and this time I scored big! I spent a whopping $13 and walked away with loads of stuff...mostly stuff to be altered. So that brought up another problem. My "Things to Be Altered Shelf" is way overstuffed as it is. So I worked this weekend to improve the looks of this shelf by purging. I was able to widdle away my stack of catalogues from Summer 2006 CHA into just a small stack of ideas I didn't want to forget. Then I decided to begin purging my desk. Let me tell you....it stinks being a hoarder. I got rid of tons...but still not enough. It's a sickness I'll tell you.

So since I have nothing scrappy to show except for a clean scrappy space, I will share this card my daughter made me last weekend. On the 26th I had a surgery and my mom came in town to take care of me because my husband wasn't able to get off work to (he did get off for the surgery itself...just not the following days). Anyhow, my mom had her new Paper Craft Creations 5 magazine. They decided to make me a card. Here is the card Allie picked out and made for me (with a little help from Grandma).

Isn't it adorable? Well I wanted to look through the magazine so my mom left it for me. Since I will be seeing my mother today, I decided I better to look through the magazine and get it back to her. Well I ran across Allie's inspiration card and it was made by none other than Melissa Phillips. I thought that was so cool. I sent Melissa a message that my daughter picked her card out of the whole magazine to make it for me. Of course, being the gracious person that Melissa is, she sent a nice little message back. And Allie thought it was super cool that I knew the designer of the original card, that I posted her card, and that the original creator loved her take on the card.

Well, I suppose my job is calling. Have a great week you all!

And NO....I didn't complete my challenge again this week. I've slacked 2 weeks in a row! I need to create 3 pages next week!

Not a lot of scrapping this weekend!

2007-07-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

But for good reason. I was laid up (so to speak) most of the weekend. I did have time to complete 1 project for CMK's Christmas in July event going on this weekend. I soooo wish I had more time to do some of their awesome projects, but I only found the time and energy for 1. Even though this was a Christmas in July event, I adapted the project to turn it into a thank you gift. Actually I have several family and friends to thank for their help this weekend, but one friend in particular deserved a thank you gift. She sat with me on her day off until my mother could come home and be with me. The poor girl was also the only one to witness me taking a puke. She deserves something for that. So this gift and card is for Kerri (a fellow friend in kickboxing). The container is filled with Lindor Truffles. What could be better than that? Here is the gift...

Another special thank you to Clay, my mom, and Allison who all took such good care of me and were so supportive. And thank you so much for the countless others who called to check on me. I am doing great btw!

As for my challenge earlier this month....I'm not going to get it done today. But I was one challenge ahead, so now I'm even. Plus I'll be taking it easy for the next week or two so maybe I can play a little catch up.

Have a great week you'all!

Soccer Star!

2007-07-25T07:30:00.000-07:00

Here is a digital layout I created while at work. I used the free kit offered when I purchase the BH&G Ultimate Guide to Digital Scrapbooking (which is an awesome magazine btw). Skindacat wanted to see our sports layouts and she is offering up a nice "juicy" RAK of Fontwerks stamps to one of the posters. So you know I couldn't pass up that challenge.

I was limited to what I could do since I was at work. It was going to have to be digital. Luckily I had some soccer pics on a flash drive with me. And I had fun creating it....I really need to do more digital layouts.

Well here it is...

TFL! Have a great day! :)

:( Not much time for personal scrapping this week :(

2007-07-22T19:44:00.000-07:00

Really, only enough time to complete my personal challenge of finishing 1 unfinished layout a week. I finished it at the 11th hour....9:45 on Sunday night. Buy hey...I got it done. I haven't photographed it yet though.

I haven't felt too great the past couple of days. So at night I was going to bed early. I'm much better today...though my allergies are really starting to kick in. We went out of town for Clay's family reunion yesterday. I had to teach yesterday, but we left just after class. There was a wedding (which we skipped) Saturday night, and the family reunion today. I made this cute card for the couple.

The only other scrapping I did was prepare for my August layouts class. I felt so bad on Friday, I just couldn't bring myself to make the pages. So I got up at 5:00 Saturday morning and was able to finish them before leaving home. They came out pretty cute, though I really think the ice cream layout needs something else. If inspiration strikes me before the class I will add it in. But that is hard to do because the layout is now 45 minutes away.

So back to the family reunion. It happens, usually the last Sunday of July, every other year. It's at my husband's aunt and uncles farm out in the country. My MIL and 9 brothers and sisters who are still living so it is quite a crowd when you get all 10 of them together and their children. When we go, I seriously only know who a handful of them are and I've been with my husband over 22 years. And because there are so many people, the reunion is held outside in a machine shed (pole barn). Usually it is VERY hot but we really lucked out that it was much cooler today. I don't even think it hit 90 today. I swear, it's usually at least 100 degrees with high humidity. The stars of the reunion was this litter of kitties. Only one kitty was brave enough to be held so the poor thing was passed around all day. Allie said "Mom they are selling them for free. Can we take one home?" The answer "No". But they sure were cute!

Another busy week of Scrapping!

2007-07-15T16:34:00.001-07:00

But first of all, Friday the 13th was my birthday. And on that day, I received my new zoom lens via Fedex. I'm sooooo glad to have that! I've used it some, but I'm itching to put it to the test.

Here as some creations of this past weekend...2 two page layouts and a garland which I just adore. And I had some creative input from my mom and sister on the garland. I've enjoyed some serious scrapbooking time (at least for me) for the last 3 weeks. Unfortunately that time will be slowing down, but I will still have plenty of time.

The first project is a garland I made for Paper Trunk Designer of the Month (PTDOM). Paper Trunk is a new manufacturer and the owner/designer Carrie is a fellow CMKer. She has wonderful papers and stamps. I'm lucky enough to already have all the papers, and I'm just waiting for the opportunity to get my hands on those stamps. Anyhow, here is my entry. Unfortunately we could only send one photo so I didn't get to send the up close picture. I'm hoping that Carrie will see the other picture here on my blog.

This was just a layout I did for fun to use up some of my stash. I taught a similar class at Captured Memories earlier this year. I loved using my new Stampin Up spiral punch (to make it look like notebook paper). The papers are by 7 Gypsies.

This layout was for Friday's Scrappy Hour at CMK. This scrappy hour focused on buttons. Rachel did a great job and I hope to host my own Scrappy Hour someday. I used Imaginisce papers on this one. I did penwork galore on here. Finally I just had to say enough is enough and step away from the pen.

I still have yet to complete my challenge of last weekend...to finish at least 1 of my unfinished layouts a week. But last week I did 2, so I won't feel quite so bad if I don't get one completed before the end of the day. I'm gonna try though.

Have a good week you all!

**EDITED TO ADD**: I did it. I completed my challenge and finished a layout. I was able to do it real quickly because I already had the pictures printed and ready. I slapped the pictures on the page, did a little journaling and spent about 10 minutes embellishing it and now I can call it done! Yay!!!

I'm on a Roll!

2007-07-09T03:03:00.000-07:00

I did another second pager yesterday. But I also modified the first page too, so I'll repost it. It wasn't my favorite layout (and it still isn't) but at least it's better and has more color.

I did a lot of scrapping this weekend.

2007-07-08T14:39:00.000-07:00

And at least for this week, I've met my goal to do at least one second page. Take a peek. This is the companion page for one of my submissions to the Fancy Pants design team.

This 2 pager is from last week. I finally learned how to photograph fireworks! These papers are from Creative Imaginations. I felt like I was cutting out stars forever.

Lastly, Allie and I started designing the goodie bags for her birthday party. Each girl will get a purse (minus the ribbon because that was too messy). Not sure what will go into them yet though.

Pretty cute huh. I'd love one in a larger form. The purses are from the dollar spot at Target. The flowers are felt, cut with my sizzix and scissors then sew on with buttons in the middle. Each girl will get her name on a tag. I just have to figure out where to get several of those darn ball chains.

Have a great week!

Getting a few scrappy projects tied up.

2007-07-07T14:44:00.000-07:00

What is this? It's a store display I picked up real cheap at my church garage sale. What am I going to do with it? I don't have a clue. I'd welcome any suggestions. The only thing I can think to do with it is to use it as a display for mini albums in my scrap room.

I also finished a mini album for our upcoming vacation. I know I'll want to come home and show off my favorite pictures right away so I've already done most of the work (remember, I said favorite pictures).

This is a Maya Road chipboard album and the papers are from the Art Warehouse Vibe line.

The stamps are AW, Safrassa Lass (sp?), Stampin UP and Archivers bargain aisle. There are very few embellishments in this album.

Since I don't know how many or what size the pictures are, I wanted to leave plenty of space for that. So I just did up the basic pages, and will embellish as I add pictures in. But I've done the hard part so I'm hoping I will have an album to show off within days of returning home.

Have a great weekend!

Tea Party

2007-07-04T04:43:00.000-07:00

I did my first Scrappy Hour over at CMK on Monday (since kickboxing was canceled this week). Basically the challenge was to use as many tags as possible on a layout. Originally I was quite skeptical about it, but now I love the end result!

And even better, I got my second page completed! I have a whole stack of layouts with an incomplete (ie: not even started) second page. STARTING TODAY - I am going to challenge myself to work on second pages. Hmmm, at least 1 a week seems reasonable. This would be so wonderful to accomplish. When I make a layout w/o the second page, I store all the papers to make the second page so that I won't use them. Just finishing up second pages should free up quite a bit of space.

Well today is the 4th. We're heading to the water park for part of the day. Then we'll probably just hang out at home this evening. Have a great 4th!

Oh yeah.....I'm a winner!

2007-07-01T11:49:00.000-07:00

I just found out that I won. Check it out CMK PageFrame Contest

And look what I win....

Well I win a blank PageFrame 6x6 album. How cool is this album. Seriously cool I'll tell you. I wanted to win it sooooo bad. Now hopefully I won't be scared to use it. I also win a couple of PageFrame star shapes and a couple of PageFrame flower shapes. So much fun to work with.

I could update forever!

2007-06-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

I'm really bad at maintaining this blog. If I would ever remember to take my memory stick to work, I would have no problem updating it. Just seems like if I'm home, I don't feel like updating. Oh well, it gets done every now and then.

Would you all want a peek at my latest contest entries?

The jury is still out on a couple of the contests. I didn't win in the Rusty Pickle Amazing Race, but there should be a pretty good (from what I hear anyway) consolation prize coming my way. Isn't that last frame cool? It's for a PageFrames contest at CMK. I used 3 different PageFrames on this project. Took me quite a while to finish all the components of it. It was one of those situations I just had to tell myself to quit already.

One week ago today Clay had his 20 year anniversary at work. Yay!!!!! So he already got his bonus and it's tucked away waiting until the final payments on our upcoming vacation come due. I can't believe it's just over 3 months away. Yikes...I want to lose at least 15 more lbs. I got derailed for a couple of months...but I'm back on plan again! Anyhow, back to Clay's Anniversary, as a celebration we went to dinner. But Allie and I made Clay cupcakes and a card.

I still have more...much, much more. But this will have to be enough for now. Good night!

First Communion Pictures

2007-04-30T13:00:00.000-07:00

Well without going into too much detail, here's a quick re-cap of the day:

Allie was beautiful, the day was beautiful, the meal was wonderful, the service was wonderful and my pictures were horrible. I mean really, really bad. It makes me totally sad. I did get some good pictures before and after at least. But I didn't get the "money shot" I was dreaming for. At least everything else went off without a hitch. And we did go out yesterday to the arboretum and we got some really beautiful shots.

A great garage sale and getting ready for First Communion

2007-04-30T12:31:00.000-07:00

On Friday (and again on Saturday) I took time out of my First Communion preparations to go to a garage sale close to our house. They had several antiques. I picked this baby up on Friday. There are 10 yarn/thread holders (obviously don't know the technical term) that I picked up for $5.00. I picked up the basket for $2.00. I picked up a few other items as well, but these were my favorites.

They told me to check back, as they had more items they would be putting out. I found time between First Communion practice and the last frantic moments of getting ready to go back and search for new items. I picked up the jar next to the basket for $3.00.

I got this wash stand. I think it said $5.00. I'm thinking I might use it as a magnetic memo board.

And by far my favorite item is this old oak card catalogue thing. This baby was only marked $10. It's has some damage on top, but I don't care. I practically started jumping up and down when I found it.

I spent $20 the second go around. Actually I had $22.75 in stuff but talked them into $20 since that was all I had.

When we got home, I asked Allie if she wanted to use the china for dinner. "What's china"? She didn't know because I don't think I've used it since my very first Mother's Day, 8 years ago. So we pulled it out and set the table. It looked so pretty. I made place cards that contained favors (prayer coins) for everybody in attendance. Please don't look at the ugly gold candleholders. We used those at "Jesus Day" last week, and I thought it appropriate to use them for First Communion even though they weren't quite up to par.

May Captured Memories Layouts Class

2007-04-30T12:18:00.000-07:00

O Boy I've been busy lately. The owners finally contact me last week to find out where my layouts were. It was rough but I got them done. The class is "celebrating the women in your life".

CMK Heat Up with Hambly Contest

2007-04-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

During the month of April CMK was holding a Hambly product contest. Guess who was one of the winners? :)

I totally loved my entry. Take a peek...

Yeah for me because I have me some Hambly prizes, and a CMK gift certificate arriving on my doorstep shortly!

Spring as arrived!

2007-03-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

And everything is looking so beautiful. All the trees are blooming and my daffodils have bloomed (all 4 of them :)) It's the brief time of year that I can enjoy the blooms in our yard without all the weeds (I'm not a gardener). And with the blooms comes the first bouquet gift from Allison.

Updated: As I went back to look at this post I realized I really should paint that electrical cord white. I guess it's never stood out to me like it is right now :)

Calendars for Sale

2007-03-23T17:12:00.000-07:00

Anybody want a hip new calendar. If so, head on over to our church/school next weekend. We're having a Boutique and Tea Room fundraiser. We were kinda short of booths for the boutique so last week I asked my sister to join me in a booth. She sells jewelry (mostly Catholic) and since First Communion is coming up, I thought this might be a good place for her to sell stuff.

So what am I going to sell. Well I'm working on it. Probably won't be much. By the time I pay for the booth, and donate a percentage of proceeds, I will be lucky to make a dollar. But it's for a good cause. Really hoping my sis does well, and it won't hurt to go now will it?

So that's where the calendars come in. I've made three of them. All pretty cute if I do say so myself.

These were made out of purchased frames. I just created a background so to speak. You write on the glass with dry erase markers and it wipes clean when you need to change it for the following month. Really, seems to me that writing on glass with these markers is way better than the dry erase boards. The marker wipes right off.

In other news, today I had a layout that was featured on the home page of Create My Keepsake as their Layout of the Day. I love this layout. I used Fancy Pants Key Lime Pie collection.

All right...off to do more creating. Wish me luck next weekend!

April Captured Memories Class

2007-03-13T04:27:00.000-07:00

will focus on Spring. The class is scheduled for April 14. Here are the projects:

Finished my 6th & Final Challenge!

2007-03-03T17:35:00.000-08:00

Of course I still have to go back and complete the second pages on a couple of them.

This was another ad challenge. I was really drawn to it and thought I could do something great digitally to it. So I did a little hybrid scrapbooking (digital and traditional). I did most of it digitally but then I matted it all on black. I also stamped on it...but the image didn't come out so clear on the photo paper.

I got a lot accomplished today for me. Much more than I'm used to. I've only snacked off and on. Time to get a meal in.

This will go in Allie's Karate Album which tracks her progress to Black Belt. So far I've only done this page and the title page. Hmmm...I have a lot of catching up to do. Maybe I'll do this whole album hybrid. Only problem is that it took me as long to scrap it hybrid than traditional. But oh yeah....I could do the digital part of it at work!

Challenge #5...On time...Yay!!!!

2007-03-03T14:52:00.000-08:00

Ok this is challenge #5. It is an ad challenge. I really loved this ad. And I think I like how the layout turned out too. And look...it's a 2 pager!

OK...here is layout #3

2007-03-03T13:07:00.000-08:00

I know 3 usually comes before 4. But well I had 3 done but I already missed the cutoff so I didn't photograph until after I got 4 done. And well I think I just got 4 done by the skin of my chinny chin chin. This was another sketch layout using 3 Art Warehouse Products.

2007-03-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

Ok....I might have caught up. Here is the fourth challenge.

I'm already so far behind....

2007-03-03T10:40:00.000-08:00

but here is the second challenge. It was a sketch challenge...using at least 2 Art Warehouse products. Haaaaa....I got 4 stamps in on this one (and no I'm not counting each letter in the word smile as a stamp...obviously since it's 5 letters). You may have to look hard, but they are all there. And again...I got to use some of my product from Frenzynae!

Gotta go...I'm waaaay behind! Which is bad for a s-l-o-w scrapper!

2007-03-03T09:07:00.000-08:00

I'm doing an online crop today. This is the first challenge. It was an ad challenge. And as a bonus, I used my CMK Kit from Frenzynae today. I love how it turned out. I did a really crappy job of photographing it though.

There's been a lot of birthdays lately!

2007-02-25T14:05:00.000-08:00

The six week period between the end of January and the beginning of March seems to be packed with birthdays. Normally I really get to "test" my card making skills, having to make a bunch of cards. But I've been busy lately so I pulled several out of my ready-made stash.

But here are a couple I did get created.

I made this one for my mom. It is a gift card holder.

I used a 7 Gypsies Portfolio and Cosmo Cricket papers. Also pulled out a couple of my Stampin Up Stamps.

And this is going postal tomorrow. It's going to be part of a surprise birthday tag book.

We were asked to make a birthday tag. I hope it's ok that my "tag" is a little unconventional...

My latest Submission

2007-02-11T14:28:00.000-08:00

I finished up my submission for the Scrapologie DT search. They have beautiful kits. I would sooo love to be on their dt. We had to submit a 12 x 12 layout, an 8.5 x 11 layout, an altered project and a layout describing our artistic style.

I like all the projects, but the altered item is by far my favorite. It's an old window. I used SEI paper for this project. The paper is behind the glass. I stamped To Do List on top of the glass. And I wrote on the glass with dry erase markers. They erase from glass very easily....much easier than they erase from a dry erase board. The right side is obviously a calendar template, the middle is intended to be notes or to-dos. The left could be notes or display of a layout.

Wish me luck!

2007-02-11T14:23:00.000-08:00

Well I'm just now getting around to posting my Captured Memories Layouts for the class I'm teaching on March 10. Here they are:

11 Random Things about me

2007-01-22T11:16:00.000-08:00

Creasa at CMK challenged us Bloggers to post 11 random things. Yikes....what do you want to know? This is gonna be random for sure!

1. Just booked at 12 night vacation (5 nights in Disney and 7 night Carribbean cruise). I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

2. I don't have any scrapping trips or conventions planned this year :(

3. I really need to start a diet and stick with it (see #1). Seriously thinking about joining Weight Watchers again. Lost 40 lbs. a couple of years ago. Put 25 back on. It works....as long as you go! SOMEBODY WHO READS THIS PLEASE HOUND ME ABOUT THIS. I WANT TO LOOK GOOD (OR AT LEAST NOT BAD) ON THIS CRUISE!!!

4. Speaking of #3...I am hungry right now!

5. I have to work 4 days this week instead of 3. What a bummer. But we could use the extra money (again see #1).

6. I don't want to go to kickboxing so I can participate in an online chat with Danelle Johnson and Mellie Langworthy. But I have to go (again see #1).

7. I got a whole lot of scrapping done last weekend...that makes me happy. In fact I've been on a scrapping kick for over a month now...getting a lot accomplished. And I love what I've created. Too bad none of those DT's I've tried out for lately have shared my enthusiasm in my work.

8. My new camera makes me super happy. And I'm so happy that I joined a photography club to learn how to use the thing!

9. The wild birds at my house have been super hungry. I think it's a lot harder for them to find food under the ice and snow. I've been putting out lots of it. (this one was really random).

10. I heard from a friend today that I haven't spoken to in a while. Brought a smile to my face.

11. We went to see Casino Royale last night (007). That guy was much hotter than I thought he would be. Made for a nice viewing pleasure :)

Ok, 11 totally random things about me. Of course a lot of them were connected.

Guess What I got for X-Mas!

2007-01-19T20:37:00.000-08:00

A new digital camera. And it's not just any digital camera...it's the Nikon D70s. Man does this camera ever rock. And the good news for my boss is that I can stop borrowing his!

Thanks to some great advice from a CMK friend, I ordered a Crumpler Camera bag to tote it around in. Love this bag. So stylish looking.

And I also joined a photography club. What is the likelihood of a photography club starting in the country about 5 miles from my home, and it started just before I got my camera. I missed the first meeting (cuz I didn't know I was getting the camera). But I made it to the second meeting. Boy do I ever have a lot to learn, but it's gonna be an awesome resource!

I made this cute Photography Journal to take to meeting to jot down notes. I designed it so that the colors would somewhat match my camera bag.

My CMK DT Entries

2007-01-19T20:28:00.000-08:00

Well sadly, I didn't make the CMK DT. But that's ok. Because I'm really proud of the projects I submitted. There's always next year ...

Wow...what a Bad Blogger I am!

2007-01-19T20:19:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna get back in the blogging groove. I've been surprising busy since my last post. What ever happened to a slow January. Not happening this year.

I must have Valentines Day on the mind. Take a peek at this project I completed yesterday. Love those SEI papers!

I taught 2 classes last week at Caputured Memories. I did a Recipe layouts class and a layouts class. I was very pleased at my attendence in both classes.

Here are pictures of the February layouts class I am teaching. The theme here is Valentines Day...just in case it's not that obvious.

HO HO HO.....MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2006-12-04T10:26:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, Clay's work had a holiday party. This year they made it a family event and kids were invited. It was a nice party.

But the best part....guess who showed up? And guess what else....he brought presents too!

And even better.....this Santa did magic tricks! And look who he chose to be his helper for one of his tricks...

Allie waited patiently for her turn to sit on Santa's lap. And she was all smiles when she got up there.

Santa was very impressed with Allie's list. And with a list like that...who wouldn't be?

Gotta love the fact that she had a whopping 25 items listed, and she added #26 to include....and other stuff! What a cutie!

Dec. 2 2007 Planner class at Captured Memories

2006-12-04T10:09:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to show you pictures of the planner I taught at Captured Memories last Saturday.

I completely love how it turned out. I've made myself one, with a few more touches. I haven't photographed the new and improved version though. I am also making one for Allison's second grade teacher. Lucky gal. I'd love to get something like this. I just hope she likes it too!

I added just a couple of pages out of this cute Rusty Pickle paper that looks like the old Chief Tablet Paper. Then in the back I made this cool pocket thing. I'll try to remember to post updated pictures of this. By the way, I picked the books up at a recovery outlet store. The primary papers used in this project were Rusty Pickle. I also used Robin's Nest, 7 Gypsies and K&Co. Throw in a lot of office supplies and whalla....you get this!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

2006-12-04T09:42:00.000-08:00

And not just because I got all my holiday decorating done over the weekend. But the winter weather has hit. Last Tuesday, it was 70 degrees out. Last Wednesday, it was sleeting and by Friday we have a layer of ice with 9 inches of snow on top.

Look at some of these pictures...

It WAS so beautiful out. Well that is until Clay and Allison decided it would be a lot of fun riding their 4 wheelers in the snow. And if you're worried that a deer was hurt during the filming of these pictures (check out the background of Allison holding bunny ears behind her snowman) don't fret. Clay's target practice foam deer finally hit the ground after standing up in our backyard for like 2 years now.

Last week was a great week!

2006-12-04T09:08:00.000-08:00

First of all, last week I got my goodies in from KI Memories. Oh my, it was well worth the wait. Look at this cute little (well big) box waiting for me on my front porch last Monday.

Of course I tore right into it. I did (well I had Allie) take pictures along the way. Her composition needs a little work. There were lots of chin shots.
My project will be published in their idea book coming out in January. I can't wait, it will be my first time in print! Thank you so much KI!!!!!!

Thursday Allison didn't have school because of bad weather (ice). I was so busy decorating and cleaning that I didn't check the board at CMK right away. But boy I should have because I found out I WAS SELECTED AS THEIR GUEST DESIGN TEAM MEMBER for the month of December. That sure made my day. I'll be receiving a box of goodies from them today with Piggy Tales products. I can't wait to see what I get! They put out a challenge at the beginning of the month to make an ornament. This is my winning entry...Ornament. You can check out the other photos of this in my last post.

On Friday I made this wooden stocking. I bought the original stocking at Goodwill for $.99. It looks pretty spiffy if I do say so myself. So spiffy that it made Create My Keepsakes layout of the day on Dec. 3.

I made a couple of other projects....just not ready to share them yet.

Also this weekend, I finished 2 layouts for the 3 Bugs in A Rug Design Team call. Win or not, I love my layouts. I already sent them in a whopping 12 days early. I will post them later since I'm not sure if it's ok to post them now.

I finally got the chance to do some "creating"

2006-11-19T19:12:00.000-08:00

Finally, a chance to get some projects worked on. Here's a peek at what I've done.

First I'm in a recipe swap at CreateMyKeepsake. Here is the card I am sending off tomorrow. I did some playing around in Photoshop for this layout. I figured out how to install and use brushes for the first time. For those of you that don't know...the brush is this project are all the swirls at the bottom of the picture.

CMK also has a contest going on challenging members to do a project using at least 5 7 Gypsies products (I used 6). Here is my layout for this challenge. This is the title page in a Karate album I plan to make for Allie documenting her progression to black belt. The petals on the flower represent the different colors of belts she will test for on her way to black belt. On the petals, I have recorded the date that she achieved that belt color. I tried some new things here. Notice the 8.5 x 11 size, all the white space, and the fact that there is NO pattern paper anywhere on this layout.

Finally, another CMK contest. This one is for the December Guest Team Designer. The challenge was to think outside the box and make an ornament. I dug through my stack of stuff to be altered and I ran across this paper mache book that I purchased at Captured Memories garage sale back in Sept. Most products used were Basic Grey. I love the way it turned out.

This weekend I also worked on 2 albums that I've sold. I just need to complete the covers on them. I will post pictures later....

And finally....I got an e-mail from KI Memories. My prize package for being a finalist in the Celebrate Life In Color contest is going out tomorrow! Oh....this is going to be a very good week ;)

Back from Waynoka!

2006-11-06T12:50:00.000-08:00

Well we're all back from Waynoka, OK.

What's in Waynoka?

Little Sahara State Park.

Who cares?

ATV riders care.

Little Sahara has 1,450 acres of sand dunes ranging in height from 25 to 75 feet, and offers the perfect playground for off-road vehicle enthusiasts (ok some of this was pasted right off their website).

The trip was nothing less than a blast. Always is.

As a family (and a large group) we go 2 times a year. Once in the Spring and once in the Fall. The guys go a couple of additional times a year.

Happy Halloween!

2006-10-31T21:01:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of scenes from Halloween night. We carved pumpkins last night. Aren't they scary. Allison drew the cat and the "boo". The puking pumpkin in courtesy of Clay. I'm sure you all have seen the puking pumpkin picture circling in your inbox this month. Who would think that a puking pumpkin could be soooo darn cute?

Allie was Mr. Potato Head this year. As Mr. Potato head, she had a variety of faces to choose from (3 mouths, 3 noses, a moustache and a tongue). All unused parts were stored safely in the flap on her....well....butt.

She had a friend come over to go trick-or-treating. We are lucky enough to live in a subdivision in the country, but her friend isn't quite so fortunate so she likes to trick-or-treat in our neighborhood. Of course, we only had 4 trick-or-treaters....and 2 of them were Allie and Brooke. But the girls sure did clean up. Our neighbors are more then generous with their offerings. Check out the loot. She got treat bags, a giant Symphony chocolate bar, stickers, a backpack with a bottle of coke, a yo-yo and loads of candy. Not a bad take considering there are fewer than 25 homes in our subdivision (and not all of those had people home to pass out candy).

And we got nearly that much candy at last week's Trunk or Treat at school. We have chocolate coming out the ears!

Baby Gift

2006-10-14T16:06:00.000-07:00

Some friends of our adopted a baby girl a couple of weeks ago. Here are a few things I made for her. The album has a couple more pages in it....but you get the idea. Not traditional baby colors I know, but I love them (though they do look a little bright in these pictures).

Been Busy Finishing Up Projects Today

2006-10-14T16:01:00.000-07:00

Today was Work-On-Unfinished-Projects-Day. Well, at least the projects that need to be done ASAP. I finished a baby gift and card, I finished up recipe pages for a recipe swap I'm in and I made a wall plaque for our church bazaar tomorrow.

Countdown to Halloween

2006-10-13T10:40:00.000-07:00

I made this Countdown to Halloween for a contest at Create My Keepsake. I intended to make this on a cookie sheet and use magnets to hold the "days" in place. But I didn't have a cookie sheet on had, so I dug through my stash to see what I could find. This frame was the best thing I could find, and really it turned out perfectly....once I figured out how to make the letters/shapes stick to the glass....yet still be removable. The wonders of 2-way glue was my answer. I just covered the back of the chipboard pieces with the glue and let it dry. This particular glue dries tacky...and it's just tacky enough to hold the chipboard to the glass. I love this project and it was all created with supplies I had on hand (even better) and Allie just loves to add pieces to it every single day.

October class at Captured Memories

2006-10-13T10:34:00.000-07:00

My October class sample is finally complete. Less then 2 weeks before the class (yikes....I was waiting on the paper to arrive).

This class is a 2006 Holiday Planner. Chock full of the new Daisy D's Christmas line. Such a cute planner. Due to the construction of this, I will be doing much of the cover and the back page for the students (since there is sewing involved). It's going to take a bit of prep work to get it all done!

Arboretum Photo Shoot

2006-10-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

My boss generously lent me his digital camera for the weekend. Over the course of the weekend, I took over 300 pictures (Allie's soccer game, her birthday party and the above photo shoot). On Sunday we went to the Arboretum forthis photo shoot. These pictures are my favorites of that trip, but there are many more good ones. Apparently it was a popular day for photography because I saw several photo shoots taking place. But it's the perfect setting. It's where I go if I want beautiful shots.

Vacation Photo

2006-10-01T07:35:00.000-07:00

Here is a layout I created a while back ago. The photo was taken on our trip to Wisconsin in early August. I think it is just such a beautiful photo.

Really the reason I am posting this now is because my boss let me borrow his Nikon D70 camera for the weekend and I just wanted to see how good it would do photographing layouts. So far, I haven't found anything (other than the price) that I don't like about it. I love it! And I am pleased with the results of photographing layouts too!

Party Preparations!!!

2006-09-24T16:17:00.000-07:00

I can't believe Allie will be turning 8 in just under a week. And I also can't believe I'm not ready for her birthday party. For you all that know me, you know I start planning her parties sometimes months (like 6) in advance. This year, we didn't come up with a theme until about a month ago. I must say, it is going to be fab though. Today I've spent much of the day getting ready. Her theme is "Salon Bop". We are having a salon birthday party. The invitations were mailed out as gift certificates to be redeemed only during the party time (hair, pedicures, before/after photos, etc.). Upon arrival the girls will check in. Once everybody has arrived the girls will be given a robe then head over to the photography studio for before pictures. There will be various sations set up around the house for glamour. At each of these stations, there will be some type of food (just like a regular pampering adult spa) such as sandwiches, fruit kabobs, veggies/dip, & cream puffs. One station will have frosted sugar cookie hands that the girls can decorate with frosting and candies. One station will have a word search puzzle made up by me (with attendee names and other party details). The last station will be to have your after photo taken. Then I will probably take a group photo. I will print off the photos and either send them home with the girls or with their thank you notes (depending on how much time I have).

The day will end with presents and cupcakes. It ought to be a swell time!

Today was a mad dash to get some of the details worked out. I made sugar cookies. 2 kinds of cupcakes. The menu. Word Search puzzle. The robes (which took me about 1 1/2 hours to complete). They are men's t-shirts, cut up the middle. The bottom is cut off for the tie. Then I made a logo and iron it on to every one of them. The thing that took so long was ironing all of them. Wow, I'd almost forgotten that an iron isn't only used for crafting!

I had a great class yesterday!

2006-09-10T12:18:00.000-07:00

Well actually 2 classes. I sold 30 kits at Captured Memories. Then when I arrived I was asked to make up 2 more. So a total of 32 just thrills me.

After spending over 4 hours teaching the class, I really wanted to scrapbook the layouts. I left the originals with the store, so I purchased supplies to make my own. Once of the papers was sold out so I had to improvise, but I really like the "new" layout.

Now I just need to get working on future classes....

Getting ready for my BIG class

2006-09-08T10:31:00.000-07:00

This is what it looks like getting ready for a scrapbook class of 30. Oh my, after doing this, I so appreciate the time other teachers have spent on me! The packets are nearly done. Kitting them up now. However, I have to go a little early tomorrow, because some of my paper didn't arrive at the store until after I left yesterday, and it's too far to make a special trip. The embellishment packs is where most of the time was devoted. I worked on it about 2 hours, Clay worked on it for about 2 1/2 hours and Allie helped for about an hour. So about 5 hours just in the embellishment baggie alone. I did a lot of the work for the students so they could finish their projects in class. Plus I only have 1 hour between classes, and I'm gonna need to eat (and shop....read on). The paper didn't take much more than an hour. I still need to pack up my supplies too. I'll be done in about another hour.

Captured Memories is having a garage sale tomorrow for people to sell old scrapbook supplies. They have 30 people (I think) that are selling items. And there is a TON of them! I saw what they already had yesterday and I was floored, and only about half the people had brought their stuff in. It would be a great way to score a tote on wheels for anybody who wants one. The stuff had awesome prices on it. Everybody local should go check it out!

By the way, don't look at my mess. I also have bags and stacks of stuff to get ready for Allie's 8th Birthday party later this month. She's gonna have a "Salon Party".

A New Look!

2006-09-07T07:06:00.000-07:00

What do you think about the new look of my blog. Geez....it's taken me forever to figure out how to personalize it. I still need to tweek it, but it's much, much better.

For starters, I changed the template. I really liked my old one but for the life of me, but I couldn't figure out how to get these changes on that one. I added a banner at the top, and I also added a links section.

Now if I can only figure out how to get my posts to look good....**sigh**.

HEY LOOK AT THIS!!!!!!

2006-09-06T04:03:00.000-07:00

The KI website has been updated with a list of finalists in their Celebrate Life in Color contest....and check out the last name on the list!

TS' Sponsor in September was WeRMemoryKeepers

2006-09-06T03:48:00.000-07:00

And they gave us lots of cool WeRMemoryKeepers Product. I'm planning to make a chipboard album but haven't had time to yet. But I did get this little jar altered. This is my glue jar. I love using wet adhesive, but can't stand that every time I go to use it I have to wait for the glue to run to the tip. I found this jar (maybe a relish jar) and it holds the glue bottle perfectly. So when I'm using my wet adhesive, no more waiting for the glue to rise to the tip. I also made this thank you card to send to WeRMemoryKeepers thanking them for sponsoring the Treasured Scrapbooking Design Team.

Been creating items for our church auction

2006-09-05T18:52:00.000-07:00

Our church auction is coming up in a couple of weeks and I spent the long weekend creating a couple of things to donate to it. First is a lunch box recipe tin. I still need to get some recipe cards for the inside, but it's nearly done. I also made 3 gift card holders. There is a whole table of silent auction items dedicated to gift cards and gift certificates. I think I will "encourage" them to put my cards on that table and label them gift card holders/card (or something like that). Lastly, I'm going in with a friend on the last auction item. It was her idea to do a cookie of the month club. One dozen fresh baked cookies delivered to the winning bidder's house once a month. We will take turns doing this. And if I have time, I will create more items. But right now, it doesn't look like I'm going to have the time. The theme is Christmas in September. I might part with one of my advent calendars I made last year.

My 3rd and BEST post of the day!!!!!

2006-09-01T20:48:00.000-07:00

Today was the day that KI Memories was making calls for their Celebrate Color Contest. I knew I came up with a unique entry...but I also knew there would be a lot of people submitting entries.

I was gone much of the day today, but when I got home mid-afternoon, I decided to look around to see if any posts were made about the calls going out. 2 peas had several threads going on, one of which was from KI saying they were still deliberating and it would likely be this evening before the calls went out.

I couldn't remember what phone number I put on my entry. So I forwarded my cell phone to my home phone just to be sure. Around 6:00 Clay and Allison talked me into going to Louisburg for a tractor pull. I really wanted to stay home and scrap, and bite my nails, but I gave in and went.

I checked my phone numerous times and called home to check the answering machine several times. Finally, around 9:00 I gave up. When we got home around 10:00 the first place I went to was the answering machine. THERE WAS A NEW MESSAGE!!! I pushed the button and walked away. Clay went by the answering machine to listen. When I heard it was from KI I started jumping up and down and screaming. Clay kept trying to sush me so he could hear what was being said (I was waaaaaay to excited to listen at this point).

Can you believe it? This is probably the best phone call I've ever received in my life. And though I would have loved to talk to Kim and Ira in person, I'm so glad I have that precious recording of their message. You can bet I'll be saving that message...FOREVER!

September Treasured Scrapbooking Layout

2006-09-01T06:41:00.000-07:00

Here is one of my layouts for Treasured Scrapbooking's September Kit. This month I got kit #2 and it is awesome. Both kits are very nice this month (again)!

This picture was taken of Allie when she was at a friend's birthday party (tea) about 1 1/2 years ago. I just love this picture....not sure why her lips looks so red though (they don't look that bright on the original layout).

Every month we also do one sketch of our layout (which is shown below), a second layout and a project of our choice. I've got my other project complete, and it sure is cute. Just can't post a picture of it until Mid-month. I still have one layout to complete.

Thanks for looking and have a great holiday weekend!

My Second Sell-Out!

2006-09-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I learned that my September layout class at Captured Memories was a sell out. So we opened up another class. You can view the layouts here.

Well now the second class is a sell out! I couldn't be more excited. It'll be quite a task putting together 30 kits. Yikes...I better start on the class handouts! I just ordered 1,000 resealable clear bags from U-Line. I got them for just over $.07 each. The second best alternative was ordering 100 off of ebay for almost $.17 each. That's a big savings, however, I will never use 1,000. If you want to buy a few for a cheap price....let me know and I'll cut you a deal. Otherwise, I'll be unloading some of them on E-bay myself!

I also need to start working on my upcoming class projects. In October, I'm doing a holiday planner made out of envelopes. I'm planning to use Daisy D Holiday Paper, but I'm waiting on it to come in. In November I will be doing another layout class. In December I am making a cool 2007 Planner. I got some awesome books (with a lot of help of my sister Michele who helped me to create the vision). I got a variety of papers to go in these planners, but I'm really excited about the Rusty Pickle papers I got to put in there. I just hope that the vision I have in my mind comes out in the final product (that can be a problem sometimes).

Thanks for sharing in my excitement.

I Scored at a Garage Sale Yesterday

2006-08-18T04:02:00.000-07:00

I went to a garage sale at a retirement community in Belton yesterday. They have it all the time. It's in a big building, it's all neatly organized and they always have a deal (usually everything you can fit into a paper grocery sack) for $3.50. And the best part...they usually have lots of good old stuff! Today was no exception. Look what I got!
Old dishes, old Rx bottles (?), 2 small glasses that would be perfect for Allie's American Girl doll, a couple of glass bottles, glass spice bottle, silver salad spoon and fork, glass cake stand, plus that other stuff and 3 pairs of shoes for Allie (not pictured). My favorite is the wooden divider up front. It's an antique. It came out of an old cash register, the bottom is rounded. The lady who sold it to me said it was her father in-laws. I scored that one on the way out the door. But since it wouldn't fit in my bag, I asked them if they would just take $5.00 for it all since I didn't have time to load a second bag. And they did!

Of course this little stop made me a few minutes late to Allie's school where I spent about 6 hours total (2 shifts) helping out with enrollment.

Today we're headed off to the dentist, lunch with daddy, then to Leavenworth for the afternoon.

But first....I need to unload these CLEAN goodies out of the dishwasher....

I've been a Bad Blogger Lately!

2006-08-17T05:45:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy lately, but it finally started to slow down a bit.

We had a great vacation in Wisconsin. I really should get some pictures posted. But not now...

I found out yesterday that nobody signed up for my Party Pack class at Captured Memories this Saturday. **SIGH**. But really not so sad. I'm not prepared. And I'd rather not teach the class at all then to teach to just a couple of people. It's a lot of work preparing and travelling to and from the scrapbook store for a small amount of money. When I designed the class, I knew it would go over big or fail miserably. I just don't think it floated anybody's boat, but I don't see it as a reflection of my work. Here is a picture of the projects.

But it wasn't all bad news. I found out that my September fall layouts class has sold out. I didn't have anybody signed up prior to July 29. But at that class I brought in my class samples for September. Since that time, 15 have signed up and 3 (that I know of) have been turned away. I contacted the store owners and we decided to open up another class. I'm soooooooooo excited about this. Here is a peek at the projects in case anybody local wants to sign up...

Well...I'm off to help out with school enrollment.

Thanks for looking!

It's a sell-out! Yeah!

2006-07-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

I just got the news from Captured Memores that my Travel Journal class is a sell-out!

Yep...that means 12 slots have been filled over 2 full weeks before the class is scheduled to be. You may be telling yourself Big Whoopie! Well it is a big deal. This is my 4th class and my previous 3 classes had 12 students total between the 3 classes.

I just had to share the great news!

Scenes from Girl Scout Camp

2006-07-14T05:21:00.000-07:00

Well the big word for yesterday was HEAT! It was hot at GS Camp! The girls did have a great time (most of the time) though. Here are some pictures of camp (ok my pictures are a bit out of order).

What did we do? Well we learned how to read a compass (something new for me). We made pet rocks (mine was a butterfly and Allie's was a snail). We made badge holders. We made all 85 of our swaps (small crafts that pin on your hat that you trade with other kids). We took turns on the rope bridge. We have plenty on the docket for today too.

First thing I did when I got home was make a bee-line for the shower. Then I enjoyed a piece of birthday cake. Clay made this cake for me. Didn't he do a great job. And it tasted great too!

Happy Birthday To Me

2006-07-13T06:26:00.000-07:00

Happy 38th Birthday to me! Aren't these cards beautiful. I got even more that I really love, but I thought I would share these 2. The card on the left was made by my mother. Isn't it beautiful? She did a fantastic job. I plan to fram this card cuz it would look so cute hanging on the wall. Her card creating has come a long way. She does way better cards than I do now. I need to talk her into submitting some of her work for publication, and this card would be a great place to start. The other beautiful card was created by Allison. She really does such a good job. She did this completely on her own. Daddy got the supplies out for her but she picked everything out on her own. My sister Michele and my best pal Brandi each made me beautiful cards too. Then I have 2 unopened cards (from my friend Annette and my in-laws). I will save them to open this evening with my birthday cake.

So what are my birthday plans? Well it'll be a doozy. So far I've done 2 loads of laundry and I am working on my third, I've unloaded the dishwasher, I've vacuumed the house, I've taken the trash out, made a couple of lunches and have been packing for Girl Scout Camp. In a while I will head to Mike & Lisa's (brother and wife) to pick up my birthday present (another memory stick for a camera and a surprise). Then off to the scrapbook store to pick up supplies for my class on July 29th (a vacation journal). Back home for a bite to eat then off to camp. Yep I am celebrating my birthday and the next 2 days at Girl Scout Camp. It will be 96 today & tomorrow and 99 on Saturday. Heat index over 100. Oh yeah...and humid. The weather hasn't been too bad so far this summer, it's too bad that today is literally the hottest day of the season so far! **Sigh**.

Well I better continue on with my plans. I just wanted to share these beautiful cards.

Travel Portfolio

2006-07-04T10:55:00.000-07:00

I made this portfolio to take with me on my travels later this month. On the 20th I'm leaving for Chicago (again) to attend CHA. CHA is the Craft and Hobby Association retail show. Retails go there to order products for their stores. It is not open to the public and you have to be lucky enough to score a ticket to get in, and I was a lucky person.

Then the following week we are going to Wisconsin to stay at Clay's cousins cabin. I'll put my travel directions, site seeing info. and whatever else I can think to put in there. This was all made with free product I received from SEI.....Granny's Kitchen line.

The World's Worst Garage Sale

2006-07-02T18:49:00.000-07:00

Yep...I just had it. I didn't even make enough money to pay for the $15.75 ad I placed. I was about $3.00 short if you can believe that. All day Thursday, all day Friday and a couple of hours on Saturday and I made a little over $12. Pathetic!

And could you resist these cuties? Well apparently people had no problem doing it. They sold a whopping 3 glasses of lemonade. What's the matter with people? I usually buy the lemonde even if I don't want it.

Can you say "SCORE" ?

2006-06-16T08:38:00.000-07:00

I stopped at a moving sale on my way home from dropping Allison off at VBS. I couldn't believe the prices this place had on stuff....it was all priced to sell! Anyhow, check out my loot. And I got all of this for $10. And really it didn't come up to $10, it was $9.45 but I told them to keep the change. And it probably would have been even less than that but I offered to pay the full price of $1.50 for a box full of items, when I only took one of the items.

What all did I get: I got an antique chair (that orange one in the back) for $1.50. I got that backpack (which I definately don't need but it was so nice) for $1.50. I got 2 pieces of enamel, 4 glass jars, some cookie cutter, 2 sets of bed sheets, some tea towels (I guess not really sure on these), a couple hand garden tools, a couple of tins for altering and giving out as gifts, an old lawn darts game and a 50 foot measuring tape. I just love that measuring tape, it will replace the much newer version that I take along when going to sales. It will be so much easier to manage than the other.

And I passed a couple of deals by. The had a kinda ugly plant stand (at least that's what they called it) for $1.50. It had a metal base and an ugly wood top. I still may go back and get it and mosaic the top. And they had a beat up old dresser for $10. I was so close to getting it but no way to get it home with out my husband's truck, and no way to hide it from him. It had 5 drawers, and one was messed up the others were fine. It could probably be reconfigured to remove some of the drawers and turn them into shelves. YOu know what, I just talked myself into going back for it. I'll stop back by on my way to pick Allison up from VBS and buy it. I guess I'll take Clay's truck tomorrow morning to go get it. I'm gonna be in soooo much trouble!

Ok, well I better go hide all this other stuff. If I find homes for all this stuff, he doesn't notice it. But he can't stand when he comes home and see's a pile of stuff (even if it was free - you know from one of my bulky trash pick up outings). If I get the dresser, I'll post another picture...tomorrow.

Later~

My Minds Eye Design Team Call 2006

2006-06-08T20:57:00.000-07:00

This is my altered entry into the contest. I really love this journal and plan to take it on our vacation to Wisconsin later this summer. This was really made from envelopes (quite strong envelopes). It has 10 envelopes that I got for $.15 each at L&V in Leavenworth. I cut the ends off of all the envelopes so that I could put big tags in the slots for extra journaling, pictures, heck it's even big enough to store brochures. I've had the envelopes for quite some time now, and I've been dying to come up with a reason to use them....and now I have that reason.

I have 10 more of those envelopes, but I'm thinking that I may have to go buy some more of them. You never know how many you'll need!

The rest of my pages....

2006-05-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

Finally...I finished my Personal Treasury Album!

2006-05-30T18:41:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the pictures...I don't know where the rest went. Perhaps I went over my limit. And for the life of me...I can't figure out the order, I downloaded them in order. Who knows!

TS 5/23 Blog Challenge....

2006-05-24T12:07:00.000-07:00

a day late!

The challenge for today read:

So with all that has gone on here the past few days with waiting for the DT call I thought we would blog about that. So todays blog is.... For those of us who have been submitting, how long have you been, how do you handle not being accepted, and what is your goal? For those you haven't what keeps you from submitting and what would it take to have you start.

I am very new to submitting...and I don't do much of it. I remember my first layout probably about 5 years ago when Memory Makers was holding a contest for scrapbookers. Though I loved my layout, I didn't win. The winners were really deserving though.

Then last summer I went to the Iowa Scrapbook Extravaganza and entered a photography/layout contest. I loved my layout (and still do) but I didn't win.

In January, 2006 I entered a design team contest for an online scrapbook store. I didn't see the call until the day before the deadline. I created a couple of projects and picked some projects out of my stash to submit (not enough time to make all new entries). I loved my entries, but I didn't win.

In March, 2006 I entered the 2 Bugs In A Rug design team contest. I loved my entries (which are posted in my blog) but once again...I didn't win.

In May, 2006 I entered Treasured Scrapbooking's Design Team contest. I loved my entries...only this time I won!

I have not been actively submitting work for publication or applying for design teams. I would like to get some work published but I think that being on one design team is enough for me.

Looking back, I suppose I was disappointed that I didn't win. But in every case, I was proud of the work I submitted. The contests forced me to scrap something I might have not otherwise done. So in the long run...I consider myself a winner.

I'm so excited...Check this Out!

2006-05-22T13:46:00.000-07:00

Guess what?

Well read about it here : http://www.treasuredscrapbooking.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=306&start=0

YEAH FOR ME!!!

2006-05-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

This is the project I taught at Captured Memories yesterday. It's a man's wallet. This isn't the exact same project though. I had bits and pieces left from the project, so I came home and made one for myself (the store has the original sample). It would make a terrific father's day present. I made one for Allison to give Clay last year for Father's Day. The pattern paper is from the Wild Asparagus line. It's a bi-fold. Inside there are 2 tags with quotes, and three bigger tags (2-sided) for adding photos. Also, on the left inside pocket, there is space for an additional photo. The pictures are out of order. I have a lot to learn about blogging I guess.

I've been having allergy symptons this weekend. And I'm so dang tired. I don't know if it's because I've stayed up late getting projects done, or the allergies. But today, will be an easy day, and I am waaay thankful for that!

Garage Sale Finds!

2006-05-19T16:56:00.000-07:00

You know me, I love to find old things. On my way to meet Brandi to do some garage saleing, I stopped at an antique sale on the way. These people had a beautiful flower garden and 2 barns full of antiques. They had some really cool things. I could have easily dropped a couple of grand there. I picked up a couple of old milk crates (carrier things) and a wire basket. The prices collectively were $24, but I asked if they would take $20 (because that is all I had) and they did. So anyhow, the milk crates are in such good condition, I'm not convinced they are old. There is the teeniest, tiniest bit of rust, and I'm not sure about the plastic handle. Were they plastic? It is very well built, and possibly the reason they look so good is maybe they were stored inside. I hope they are old, but even if they are not, I will find something great to do with them. I can say, that everything at the sale was old, so I think it is a high likelihood they are old. And I just love the look of the brown wire basket in the middle.

I got the cutting board at another sale. It had a $5 tag on it, but the man running the sale was telling everybody to bring him an offer....so I offered him $3 and he took it. The stuff had belonged to his mother. Did I need another cutting board? No, but it was so beautiful, and it doesn't even look like it was used. And it is so big that it will hold a lot of stuff. This will definately be my nicest cutting board. I need to find out how to take good care of it.

I also got Allie a Barbie Dream house in great condition for $25. It had a few pieces of furniture with it, but we already have plenty of furniture. I made her one out of shelving and scrapbook paper a couple of years ago, but it kinda leans so I said if I ever saw one for a deal, I would get it. It's bigger than the one we have too...which is good. Anyhow, it barely fit in my friends van so it definately won't fit in my car. She said she would deliver it to me later this weekend.

It was a hot day. I came home and took a nap. Next stop shower. Then dinner. Then scrapbook. Later~

Scrapbooking Brownies!

2006-05-19T16:49:00.000-07:00

For the last Brownie meeting this year, the troop leaders asked me to do a scrapbooking project. Since there are 17 kids (and a few extra siblings), and not a lot of money (I ended up supplying nearly everything), I wanted to do something easy and cheap. What's the first thing to come to mind. A paper bag album of course. I designed and printed a cover page but the kids did the rest. They loved it and the albums came out very cute. Here is a picture of the mess at my daughter's table.

I'm Loving My New MP3 Player!

2006-05-18T09:14:00.000-07:00

I'm slowly but surely figuring out how to navigate my new MP3 player. This morning in lieu of my workout video, I decided to take my new MP3 player and my legs out for a walk. I dropped Allie off at school this morning. Then I walked across the parking lot to walk laps around the church and through the cemetary (don't laugh...I'm not the only one who does it). I walked for 90 minutes. I listened CD 1 of a book on cd and also to music for a while. I came home and took a picture of myself (ignore the pooch trying unsucessfully trying to hide in the background). I wore a belt so I could corral everything on my right hip. Let's see, of course I had to take my new MP3 Player. Can't forget the cell phone (even though I only get marginal coverage out there). And of course my podimeter (or whatever it's called). By 9:30 this morning I had already registered 11,000 steps for the day. Since the recommendation is for 10,000 steps a day, I guess I don't have to take another step for the rest of the day! It was a beautiful day.

The 8th grade is graduating this evening. They were outside the church taking pictures in their cap and gowns. It almost made me sad...the time passes so quickly, Allison will be that graduating eighth grader before I know it. I will be very very sad. I'm glad the 8th graders had such a beautiful day today.

Check out my new printer!

2006-05-18T09:06:00.000-07:00

It's not much of a beauty I know...but it works well. I got it yesterday for $79.99. I was mistaken about the $50 rebate (you had to buy it in conjunction with other equipment). I still feel it is a good deal at $80...it would have been a steal for $30. Considering it costs about $50 just to replace the ink cartridges! I'm a little bummed also that my old printer cartridges don't work in it. I thought they would. The good news is that I can remove the ink from them and refill my new ones when the time comes. It will be an inconvenience, but at least it won't be wasted. I may even try to get my old printer working again and use them both...one for printing out good things, and the other everyday old stuff (where I can refill the cartridges myself). I used to refill my cartridges all the time...and I save a bundle. I just never figured out why my prints always had a greenish tint to them. Then one day I noticed on Donna Downey's blog that the reason was refilling my printer cartridges with non-manufacturer ink. Since then, I kept 2 sets of cartridges for my printer. Refilled ones for daily printing, and Canon ones for "Good" jobs. It would be nice to have a printer designated to each!

Printer Frustrations! URGH!!!!

2006-05-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

So for the past couple of days my printer hasn't been printing out any words that are typed in black. I wasn't concerned about it because my printer ran out of black ink. Well last night I put in a new cartridge and I still couldn't get it to work. I messed with it for 3 hours, to no avail. The only thing I accomplished was wasting a ton of toner trying to figure out the problem.

Clean the print heads...print....clean the print heads....print...clean the print heads....print.

It's very frustrating especially since I have to print out 17 photos for a daisy scout scrapbooking project (that I'm in charge of) for Thursday, and directions and pictures for a scrapbooking class I am teaching on Saturday.

So, the choice is to pay for service on my existing printer or buy a new one. Neither option sounded good to me....because I like my printer. Well after researching photo printers online all morning I found a printer for $79.99 that got very good reviews and it's in stock locally. And to make it even better, there is a $50 rebate. So if I actually get the rebate (I've really had problems collecting some that I have sent in), the printer will only be $29.99. Heck, you can't even buy ink refills for that price. So needless to say, my mood has picked up a bit since. Still, I would prefer to do nothing. Maybe my printer will miracously fix itself today!

Ok, well on to the Treasured Scrapbooking Blog Challenge for today. List 5 things I like to do besides scrapbooking.

1. Hanging out with husband and daughter. This could be alot of different things. You know... like vacations, hanging out at the lake, Little Sahara, the movies, etc.

2. Shop garage sales, flea markets, estate sales, auctions...you name it. Anywhere you can find old and cheap treasures...I wanna be there. I love antique stores too...I just can't afford them.

3. Shabby Chicing/Trash-to-Treasuring. I love to take less than pretty items and dress them up to look better.

4. Reading. Reading fiction mostly. But I also like to read magazines, and the internet (I do a lot of reading on the internet). I like to get ideas you know.

5. Watching TV. I admit it...I'm a tv junkie. And getting my video MP3 player will allow me to watch more if I want. (That's probably not a good thing).

So those are 5 of my favorite things to do.

Have a good day everyone!

2006-05-15T16:46:00.000-07:00

For my blog challenge on Treasured Scrapbooking, we are to take a picture of our Mother's Day gifts to post on our blog. Looks like I cleaned up!

My Unloved 3 Bugs In A Rug Design Team Submission

2006-05-15T12:50:00.000-07:00

A while back ago I entered a couple of submissions to be on the 3 Bugs In A Rug Design Team. I love these layouts...but apparently they weren't good enough. I thought I would share them with you....and it gives me the opportunity to practice adding photos to my blog.

Another Weekend Done!

2006-05-15T12:04:00.000-07:00

I had a busy 4 day weekend. Thursday was spent shopping and cleaning for weekend company. I worked at the school's golf tournament for 12 1/2 hours on Friday. Saturday, we had a 8:45 am soccer game (Allison rocked by the way scoring all 4 goals). We invited a friend over to play with Allison while I cooked, cleaned and worked on my Treasured Scrapbooking Design Team Submission. I didn't get finished up until 1:30 am. Then Sunday we had my family and Clay's family over to celebrate Mother's Day.

Speaking of Mother's Day, I got some great stuff. Allison made me a card, a note, a picture frame and a key chain. All really cute stuff. I also got a mouse pad with a beautiful picture of Allison on it and a video MP3 player. My mother and my SIL each made me a beautiful card. And my mother got me a real pretty butterfly to hang outside.

I made a real good lunch for everybody. I was being daring and all my recipies were new things except the deviled eggs. We had Panini and it was YUMMM!

My First Blog Post...YEAH!!!

2006-05-14T18:56:00.000-07:00

I am setting this blog up as part of a "Blog Challenge" on TreasuredScrapbooking.com. Today is Mother's Day. It's been a long weekend, I'm tired, and I'm ready for bed (but looks like this Survivor finale is going to take yet another hour). This first post is just so I can check it out!