I'm back!

Well we got back into town last night - we spent the week in VA visiting family. We had a wonderful time, great memories, weather and way to much food! Grams and Poppy watched the boys for Greg and I so we could have some much needed "us" time. We caught up with family and friends, went to dinner at a Japanese Steak house - I really enjoyed the night out, very entertaining meal. Aside from Zach waking up in the middle of the night and screaming like a caged animal for hours at a time - all went well :) The boys had so much fun being spoiled by Grams and Poppy. On Thursday Greg and I took a trip into Richmond and spent the morning walking in an area of town called "Carrytown" lots of quaint boutique type stores and galleries. We had a great pizza at Joe's Inn, and then my dear sweet hubby took me to a great little scrapbook store called "Memories Galore". Here are some of the goodies I found in Carrytown and at Memories Galore. I am thrilled to have found that 7gypsies punch, can't wait to try the crackle paint. The little magnets are made from old typewriter keys.


These cards are actual quotes from little children - so sweet, and the button, well it's just so true!


These cards were to just to cute to pass up - I loved their design too:


I LOVE these Sukie labels:


And a new addition to Nate's Ugly Doll family, he named him "Batty":


These are some of the great Scrap goodies my Mother-in-law gave me for Christmas:


As far as the scrap spending freeze goes - I applied the zip code rule to my purchases so that means they don't count! :)
I will be posting my Cocoa Daisy layouts tomorrow, and I hope you all have a safe and fun New Year!

Have a Merry Christmas!

This next week is going to get busy - so I wanted to take a moment to wish each of you a very blessed holiday. From my family to yours - have a Merry Christmas!

A year of memories.

A while back Tricia at Cocoa Daisy asked if I would help her put together a kit around the Danelle book box from Creative Imaginations, well here it is! I am so excited about this kit, (it makes me smile every time I look at it) you get everything you need to make it, (there is a complete list of instructions included) as well as plenty of other goodies to help you embellish the little books. There are 12 mini albums inside (one for each month) they are just the right size to get a little peek into what you did each month, and when you are done you will have a whole year's worth of memories. This would make a great gift to a new mom or newlyweds! I believe it goes up for sale January 1st!

My tip/trick for Tuesday!

We all love the packaging that our scrap goodies come in, so why not try to use, and recycle them at the same time! Alot of the packaging is in the same design as the line you are buying as well as being printed on heavy glossy cardstock. I keep my small tag punch handy (any small punch will do) and before I throw something away I will punch a few out - and I have custom little tags!

a few of my favorite things

I thought it would be fun to take a pic of some of my favorite scrap finds from this year. So here is the list: My Basic Grey magnetic mat (could not scrap without it), the glitter is from Doodlebug-great colors and Stampin' up-the best super fine glitter. I really like playing with the Prima watercolor papers, the little itty bitty flowers, and I adore their chipboard alphas. My new favorite punches are from Martha Stewart-the bird and the mini tag, and my scallop circle and oval from Marvey. I am really addicted to acrylic stamps, but the ones I keep reaching for are my Autumn Leaves swirls, my little bird/butterfly set from Sassafras Lass, and my date set from Three bugs in a rug. The wired pom pom trim is from an online store called PaperValise. I love all of the new Noteworthy line from Making Memories but especially these little journal notepads. The Versafine has been around for awhile but I only discovered it this year and it is the best for acrylic stamps, gives such a nice crisp image. The paint daubers from Ranger - so cool to use. The love elsie chipboard buttons-I can't seem to stop hoarding these! One tool I highly recommend is the Basic Grey file set, every scraper should have one of these! Another item I seem to not be able to get enough of are the Basic Grey buttons, the colors and variety of sizes are so perfect. Of course any and all thickers. The spools of thread-so great with the buttons-are from Martha Stewart. Daisy D's rub-on stitches look so real. The Tinkering Ink hand lotion came with one of my Cocoa Daisy kits and it is so awesome - I can use it and start scrapping with out greasy hands. The Hambly woodgrain overlays-I especially like the cream. That is pretty much everything! To be honest - this is a short list, I have a ton of favorites, but these are the ones I find myself reaching for all the time. Leave me a comment and let me know what your favorites of 2007 are - I would love to know!

Some Dec. randomness

Not a lot going on and seeing as how I cannot post any of the layouts I am working on yet I thought I would post some random thoughts for the day.
I am not in the Christmas mood yet - it's making me grumpy.
Just bought the cutest little fake trees for my kitchen from pottery barn.
Nic gave me some awesome Ghirardelli peppermint bark chocolates with my swap on Sat. and I loved them so much I had to buy the big bag at Target today.
I have all my Christmas shopping done, and my cards mailed.
I love it how Nate will surprise us with a new bit of knowledge he learned at school.
I need to start making dinner but I am not motivated at all! (Chicken stir-fry is on the menu)
I want to go clothes shopping REALLY BAD!!!
Zach just got a stuffed frog from his Grammy today and when he unwrapped it he said "oh he's cute" and gave it a kiss.
The quote on my fridge right now reads "We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today."
I took this photo of my little itty bitty while playing tickle monster - I know it's blurry - but I love it, you can see his little scar on his chin from his accident Thanksgiving night - which sent us to the emergency room! Luckily he did not need stitches just some "super glue".
Have a great day :)

Pajama Day!

I am offically declaring today a pajama day! It's nasty rainy and icey outside so we are just going to stay in wrap presents and hang out in our pj's. I may even get a little scrapping done today. I have on my new pj's from Old Navy - my mom gave me these for my birthday and I love them!!! Of course they are orange and off-white a favorite color combo of mine (they match my scrap room). The boys are all for pajama day too, and to end the day Nate has requested pizza and chips and cheese for dinner - boy do I like the way he thinks!

Happy Birthday week - to me!

I cannot believe I am "in my mid thirty's! and yes that is as close to me telling you all my age as you are going to get! I have to say I really don't feel like I am this old, I still think of myself as a 30 year old. I do not like this getting closer to 40 or the crows feet I am starting to see - no not at all! We celebrate birthdays in our house for a whole week - the birthday boy or girl gets to be spoiled all week long, helps with the getting older thing! Tonight is dinner out with my hubby - just us, no kids a great meal and glass of wine - can't wait! My wonderful cousin-in-law was sweet enough to send me a Gift Certificate to my LSS - to help me out till the spending freeze is over, Thank you Tessa!!!! I must give full disclosure about the spending freeze - last Sunday night was my LSS's ViP night and of course being it is a once a year thing and it was the first night of said birthday week - I had to go, and yes I spent some money, but in my defense I applied it as a birthday present to myself :) and I bought one of these:


I have also been busy being "crafty" this week, I made these:
for the girls I am going to crop with ALL DAY tomorrow, (just some little felt bags with something sweet inside) can't wait to see my Crazy Michigan SiSters!

And I made this for my BFF Amber, I love the "&" sign (love collecting them) I like to say "&... because there is always more to the story" really applies to the stories we tell when we scrapbook. The "&" charm is from PaperValise, the other parts and crystals are from a local bead shop.

GOTM for Dec!

In other words I am the Girlie of the Month for Scrap-tastic! Becky sent me some wonderful holiday goodies from the store (go check out her store, she has a great selection, especially of Prima and Urban Lilly.) I loved working with the blue and red combo, and had a chance to make some Christmas cards. It seems like forever since I have made a bunch of cards.

Happy December 1st!

And to celebrate here are the rest of my layouts using the December Cocoa Daisy kit! I have a hard time making Christmas layouts (I think I o'd on them when I first started scrapbooking) and I was thrilled that this months kit was not your traditional Christmas colors/kit. The first layout is done with the Prima watercolor paper - this was time consuming, but a lot of fun. I used watercolor pencils for the detail work and a water brush and ink pads for the background, all you do is use a wet brush (or I like to use the brushes that have a barrel you can fill with water) and just rub the brush against the ink pad then paint, gives you a very subtle effect. The photo is of my grandmother when she was a little girl.
The second layout I made with the journaling in mind, it comes from one of my son's books, I altered it a little it reads: "I heard" said the bird. "How"? said the cow. "when"? said the hen. "where"? said the mare. "I heard" said the bird. "what!" asked all the animals. "what did you hear?" "I heard the mommy say"..." I LOVE YOU" "I declare!" said the hare.
The title on the third layout is also from a children's book.
So if you are ever stuck on what to journal on a page, just look through your child's books!

My mojo came back!!!!

It has been missing for the last two weeks! I had some projects to work on - will be able to share those on the 1st - and it was a struggle! I think I changed the title on one layout about 5 times. It is so hard to make yourself be creative when you are just not feeling it! But I am happy to say my mojo has returned - such a good feeling. I cleaned up my scraproom and reorganized a little, for some reason this always seems to help me get those creative juices flowing. I started working on my mini album for my HOF entry and having a lot of fun with, That's the worst part of HOF - I don't get to share what I create:( I will leave you with one layout I did for Cocoa Daisy, using the December kit. Hopefully I can post the rest of them tomorrow!

Being Thankful

To often I get busy doing everyday "stuff" and forget to stop, look around and appreciate all the wonderful gifts God has given me. My healthy and supportive family, my very special friends, our home, the wonderful free land we live in, and my beloved and our two boys. No matter what they make my life complete. I am also thankful for all of you! Thank you for stopping by my blog. I love to share what I create, and hopefully inspire you too! So here is to being thankful each and everyday!

cute little project

I made this card and tag set for the make and take this month at Cocoa Daisy. I have been on a paper pieceing kick lately, and this is a great way to use up some of those little scraps of patterned paper. Click here

sneak peek

just a little sneak peek of the Nov. make and take for Cocoa Daisy!

Late Halloween pic.

I suddenly remembered that I had not posted any Halloween pics yet! This is Nate as "the cutest Optimus Prime ever", he was so excited to dress up and go trick or treating with his cousins, and at the last minute ( and I mean last minute-which is why the make-up is not the greatest) we decided to go with make up instead of the mask, safer and more comfortable. I have no pictures of Zach in a costume, because he would not let mommy put one on him, hopefully next year!

some randomness

I want to vent a little - it is so frustrating to me when I wake with this great creative energy, ideas swimming around in my brain, and all I wan to do is go to my scrap room and dig in, but the days "stuff" keeps getting in the way. I keep thinking things like, after the ironing I'll have a minute, then it's maybe after lunch, then when Zach naps, etc. etc. and all of a sudden it is 9:00 pm everyone is in bed and I finally have an hour or so to play - and I am to tired, not to mention all that great creative energy was completely gone by bath time. Oh how I wish I could make the good scrapbook vibes appear on demand! (little vent over with)

You have to try the new (new to me anyway) Chex Mix "turtle" flavor, chocolate and salty all mixed together!

I must admit to spending about $20 on scrap stuff, not to bad a bender, and in my defense my craft knife broke and I had to go to the scrap store for a new one - how could I resist the new prima and the vinyl red thickers!!!!!!!!!!! Here's hoping that nothing else needs to be replaced so that I can adhere to my spending freeze.

I have been busy working a number of projects all of which I cannot share at the moment - I promise to post a layout soon!

The new book by Ali Edwards life artist - got my autographed copy at Cocoa Daisy it is so awesome, I highly recommend it!

Just a few "goodies"

I love to make handmade cards and to receive them too! I thought I would share two beautiful cards I received this last week crafted by two very talented ladies - I love how I can see each one's personality show through in the card they made. The sweet little owl card was made by my friend Amber - she knows how much I love my owls! The pretty floral card was made by none other than my mom! Thanks mom!



Oh and my latest edition to my little collection of bird friends - I named him Eddie!

to HOF or not to HOF....

....that is the question. I am not sure if I want to put all that time and energy into another entry. I have all the assignments sketched out and even 2 layouts done already but I am just not feeling the excitement. I really like what I have sketched, and these sort of contests/challenges tend to really push my creativity. I just don't know what to do, all the drama that happened with this years HOF kinda took the fun out it. I think what I am going to do is just work on some layouts as time permits and if I get it all done I will enter, just try to be laid back about and enjoy the process, not get all stressed. We'll see - I'll keep you all posted!

Update on the spending freeze - no purchases, except an order placed for some product for someone for Christmas, so it doesn't count :)

FYI slide show is all updated!

November Cocoa Daisy!

I think it was Stephanie who said that this kit practically scrapped itself - and she is right! It just worked so well with some of the pics I had, I mean my MIL's sweater could not have matched that PP any better! My favorite is the cane walk layout, I have not done a "vintage" layout in a very long time and I loved the feeling of getting an older memory recorded, must do more of these!

Let the spending.... END!

Ok it's November 1st - and that means my self imposed scrap supply spending freeze is in effect! The rules are that I cannot spend any money on scrap supplies until January 1st - this does not include my monthly kits, adhesive or cardstock. I am happy to report that I even skipped one of my kits for the month of November. I am feeling pretty confident - but then again it is only the first day!!! I am sure I will have the shakes by Thanksgiving. So feel free to ask me how I am doing and hold me to it! (and my conscience, aka Tessa may call at any time ;)

Ugly Doll!

A little while back when Grams and Poppy were up visiting we did some shopping and Nate spotted this little guy in one of the stores. Had to have him! So Grams got him for Nate and he loves this little monster - calls him "huggy blue". Sleeps with him almost every night. I showed him the website Ugly Doll with a bunch more and he has the bat one picked out for Christmas!

a few layouts

I made these layouts with my Studio Calico kit. The layout titled "I miss this" is a little 'scrapjack" I did of a layout done by Scarlet Namvong - loved her original! Loved working with these bright colors.

Just some fun stuff.

First of all I am so excited about the books that I bought for Nate. They are by Lloyd Alexander and are the Chronicles of Prydain. The series has 5 books starting with "The book of three". I cannot remember how many times I read this series but they are some of my all time favorites. I know Nate is only 5 yrs old and the books are recommended for 8 and up, but I am going to read him a chapter each night and explain things/words as we go. We started last night and Nate was hooked once the main character (Taran) wanted to learn sword play!

Next while traveling through the "blog world" I came across this site poppytalk lots of fun stuff, it's like visiting a virtual flea market!


Last a photo of Zach - can't leave itty bitty out!