Shhhhhhh!

I have been busy working on some layouts for ?????, but I can't post them yet - it's a secret!

Kissy's Garage

I have been trying to think of what to call my scrap room for a while now. Mommy's room is to neutral, studio just doesn't fit, scrap room - not personal enough. Anyway you get the idea, well in walked my adorable hubby the other day and as we were talking he started to look around (I had just cleaned and reorganized my room) and he said "this is your garage -Kissy's Garage" I laughed so hard, but he was right it is my version of a guys favorite place - the garage!! So my scrap room is now referred to as Kissy's Garage - I love it!
If you are wondering, Kissy comes from a sweet nickname that my nephew gave me when he was a little toddler - he had a hard time saying Christine and it came out sounding like Kissy, well the name stuck and now all my family and friends call me Kissy. The pic I posted is my "garage", the lighting is not so great, but it is a basement room and very hard to get a good shot of. TFL!

My Cocoa Daisy DT entry.

I thought I would share part of my Cocoa Daisy design team entry. It is built around what my ideal kit would be. The first pic is what I would include in my kit (all my favorites!). The layout, altered mini composition book and card are all created using items from the "kit". I had fun with my acrylic paints on the layout (the vines are painted on) and the buttons on the card are clear backed with found book paper. I threaded wire with beads and a flower sequin through each button hole. I can't wait to start creating with the "real" kits from Cocoa Daisy - they are so awesome!

New Hambly!

Well I finally ordered me some Hambly. I have been waiting for my LSS to get some in stock but it seems that is not going to happen so I ordered some online - and it came today!! Yippee, so many wonderful colors and patterns I can't wait to start creating with these. I love the "weight" of them, so sturdy you could even use them as pages in a mini album. I also broke down and ordered the pink chandelier overlay- so girly but so cool!

What's for dinner?

A big 'ol pan of baked ziti and glass of merlot makes me one happy lady! I am already looking forward to the leftovers tomorrow.

Woo Hoo!!!

I am a Daisy Diva!
I am so excited to be on the Cocoa Daisy Design Team!

Kit storage idea

I just got the new "Organization Tips" idea book and found the perfect way to store my kits - with pant hangers! How cool is that! I can hang up to 3 or 4 kits in their baggies on each hanger and they are right there where I can see them, and no more bent paper corners. I plan on finding some cute hooks to hang them from, (but nails will do for now. This is so perfect for me - I need to see what I have or else I forget that it's there, and it's enexpensive, always a plus!

Two very happy boys!

What do you get when you mix sunshine, two little boys and pond full of tadpoles? Two very happy and muddy little men! So this is what we did Friday, Nate's cousin came over for the day and I took them down to the pond to hunt for tadpoles, we had so much fun - Nate even caught a frog (which he later released " to go be with the rest of his family"). I had a hard time getting them to go back up to the house, finally had to brib them with ice cream!

Here's to playing!

I just finished this layout for a challenge at Scrap-Tastic to use at least 5 flowers on a layout - I think I got that covered! I have been having so much fun lately going back to my artistic "roots" and playing with colored pencils, acrylic paint and chalk on my layouts (the words flower, garden and the swirls on this layout are done with watercolor pencils). Playing with these mediums has added a new texture to my layouts and a bit of whimsy - and if possible I am enjoy the creative process even more! So here is to playing!

Quick gift.

Tme got away from me this week and I needed to have a little something for Nate to give his preschool teacher on his last day of school (which was today) so I made a quick altered mini composition notebook. I kept this one pretty simple and flat, so that she can throw it in her purse and not worry about it getting caught on anything. The ribbon loop on the side is for a pen. I love altering composition books - I like to cover the large ones with fabric and use them for sketch books, and the little ones are just so darn cute, you can make a bunch of them - keep one in the car or your purse!

As I said it was Nate's last day of preschool, I cannot believe my little guy is going to start kindergarten next fall! My father said he would start saving me tissues for August- wise man!!

All that glitters.

I have used glitter a little here and there on my layouts and cards but have not really gotten "into" it. Well that has now changed! I took a great Heidi Swapp class at the Novi Mega Meet and they used paint on an acrylic stamp and then sprinkled it with very fine glitter - it looked so cool! So I knew I had to get some more glitter and as luck would have it Hobby Lobby had glitter half off this week, woo hoo! Got lots of pretty colors and they even had these super cute little glitter shapes, how cute would they look in the center of a chipboard flower! And of course I could not pass up some pretty new beads too. The ribbon I bought at the mega meet - such wonderful colors and widths. I had a blast at the mega meet web address below takes you to their site where if you scroll down you can see me holding my winning layout for the page contest!! My best friend Amber got third place!!! http://www.megameet.com/glmm/index.html

Natural Inspiration

I love this time of year it's not to hot yet, we have wonderful rainy days and I get to dig in the dirt!! Most of my potting is done and I had to snap a few photos of the wonderful color starting to bloom in my garden. I am always amazed at the vibrant colors and unique textures that nature can produce. It always inspires me.

My new blog

Well here it is - my blog! I have a little "tweaking" to do yet but for the most part here it is!! I started this blog as a challenge to myself - I have never kept a journal or diary and have a hard time recording my thoughts on a day to day basis (unless it is on a scrapbook page!) so I thought now is a good time to start. And I love to live a creative life and that is what I want to share and encourage others to do as well. So my first creative challenge to you is do something outside your comfort zone - something you have been wanting to try but were afraid you couldn't or it would take to long (hey it took me two weeks to get this blog going!), and let me know what you come up with! Remember there is no right or wrong in being creative!