Creativity, Inked

So I Made Another Halloween Album

2011-10-01T18:48:00.000-07:00

Yeah, yeah. I know. I said not even a week ago that I would not do it. I remember saying it but man oh man did you see the stuff that I bought? I couldn't help it. AND it is a paperbag album. My intent is to sell it on eBay but when the husband saw it, he said that I should keep it. Seriously, I still have enough stuff to make another one. Anywho, here are some pics.

I used the new punch that I picked up. It is the border at the top of the ribbon.

I LOVE the glitter paper!!!! I picked it up at Joann's a few weeks ago and the glitter does not shed at all. Love it, love it, love it.

A layout featuring a technique (almost. I can never copy exactly. No matter how hard I try. It is what makes me one of the worst artsy class students in history) from Tomoko Takahasi, one of the Bo Bunny designers. Here is a link to her project.

Homeschool question of the day -

MOM, how do you write an exclaimation mark in cursive?

Seriously? Where does he get this stuff???

Greek

2011-09-27T09:06:00.000-07:00

AKA Econ 483 is kicking my butt! Big time!!!!! My hat is off to anyone who deals with this for a living.

If P(A) = 0.80, P(B) = 0.98, then, and P(A  B) = 0.78, then P(AB) =

Here is how to proceed

P(A/B) = P(A  B)/P(B)

Need to find P(A  B)

P(A  B) = 0.80

P(A  B) = P(A) + P(B) –P(A  B)

P(A  B) = P(A) + P(B) - P(A  B) = ???

So P(A  B) = 0.80

P(A/B) = P(A  B)/P(B) = ??

Because this girl needed more than just a little hint or a couple of question marks to figure this out. I might be in trouble this semester. Just sayin.

Rainy Days

2011-09-23T12:27:00.000-07:00

It is rainy, rainy, rainy here today. It is actually supposed to rain until next Tuesday according to the mini weather man that lives in my house. It is making me sooooooo sleepy. I can barely keep my eyes open. I made some stuff but can't take any photos bc of the terrible light that we are getting now. I read on someone's blog that they use daylight bulbs (she took photos at 9pm and they were fantastic) so I am going to go and get me some of those today. I can stay up crafting all night now!

I really hope (DMV'rs don't kill me) that all of this rain is going to translate into a snowy season. I can't get enough of the stuff! When we lived in SC, there was one season. Hot. I can think of many times wearing shorts on Thanksgiving & Christmas so I love the fact that we actually have 4 seasons here in the DC area.

I don't have much to say today but I did want to post a couple more photos that I love....

I can't believe it's about that time again. Yeah!

Why does he love to make this face?

Me and my oldest two. Awwww. Miss them both.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great Weekend!

Best Decision Ever

2011-09-22T08:05:00.000-07:00

One of the best decisions I have ever made has been to not fight the boys getting a small pet. Mia & Shelby are the best!!! I never thought I would love having pigs so much. They are adorable. My husband and I actually call them our grand guineas. So silly, never (ever) thought that would be me!!!! But look at Mia, she is so cute....

And Shelby is so plump and adorable. Love them pigs, I really do.

I have started doing pages for ebay again. It is not nearly as profitable for me as it is for some people, but it helps with extras. And I love making pages. Here are a couple that I managed to put the sold sign on.

This is just a random shot that A took on her phone of us. We were at my youngest daughters pagent a couple of years back. The guy in the background is laughing bc he was making faces as we were taking photos. He was in all of the shots and we didn't even realize it until he started laughing like crazy. It was hilarious! And I love the pic of the 3 of us.

I was digging around in my garage and came across a box of books. Old books that I have had for a long time. I dug this one out and started reading it. I haven't been able to put it down. I don't even like her but I remember the tv series from way long ago. I don't know if anyone else does this, but whenever I come across certain scenes that I remember from the show, I can see the characters acting them out as I read. It is so cool. When I (finally) read the Harry Potter series, I found myself doing the same thing. And I found out that my favorite author is going to release a new book in my all time favorite series next year. Finally. So to make a too long paragrapher longer, this book is extra readable. Even if you find Nora Roberts boring (like I do).

Well off to home educate the one in the middle and to do my homework. Thanks for stopping by and have A GREAT Day!

I Will NOT Make Another Halloween Album

2011-09-21T13:50:00.000-07:00

I said it but apparently, I didn't mean it. I stopped by M's to get the last 4 inks in the distress collection and ran across this stuff.

First up is the goosebumps. I had heard about or seen someone using this a while back and I think that I will try it out. Maybe as a mask. Spray it on my paper and bam! instant pebbly texture. Hope it works, love the idea.

Next was the border punch. All of the ones I have are rounded scallops in one way or the other so I was looking for something different. This is different. It looks as if the border is made of hearts. awwwww

K&Co. Oh man, I love them. How cute are the pumpkin dimensional stickers. Really, really cute.

These are all from Jolee's. Those buttons are incredible and I will not just be using them for Halloween. The bright prima's that come in the tubes are screaming for these buttons. My little guy is trying to figure out a way to get me to give him some spiders and skeletons. Not happening, little one, no chance!

And the last things that I picked up are from the recollections line. I love, love, love the lenticular stickers. So scary..... You can see how they change in the scan that I did. The top two have morphed while the bottom two look normal. Each sticker has a scary face and a normal face depending on the angle that you are looking at them. Way cool.

These are huge. They average about 4-7 inches tall and 5 inches wide. Love them.......

These are pretty sweet too. There are 22 of them in the package and they are about 3X4.

There is no way that I would be able to use all of this on a layout. So I have to make a couple of mini-albums. Right?

Thanks for stopping by and happy humpday!!!!

Halloween Album

2011-09-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

I found this K&CO kit at Joannes and fell in love with it. I knew that I would not use it as a tabletop decor piece so I thought a little spinning was called for.

I decided to make a mini-album. I love them (mini-albums that is), it would still be something that could be put out for halloween, and I could really get outside of the box and do something creative. I am so happy with how it came out. I left all of the windows "open" so that you can get peeks of the next "room" through them. All of my ideas just came together so easily. I think I might make another one. Here are a couple of peeks at the album.

The cover (I hadn't added the binding rings or ribbon yet)

Can I just say, again, that I LOVE K&CO...... I used elements on this album that spanned several different collections and a few years and you can't tell that they weren't made together. Just sayin, gotta love that.

This is the back of the cover. The date/year/whatever can go on the tag on the roof and journaling can go on the door.

Two of the pages from the inside. I covered a couple of the chipboard pages of the album with halloween paper and embellies just so that there would be solid space to put a photo. I used the glitter paper from coordinations. Love it!!!! It does not leave any glitter at all on your hands. I also can't get enough of google eyes. I have been seeing them everywhere..... I put a couple at the top of the white string corner to make it look ghoulish. I was so happy with how this came out.

I sold this particular one but am seriously thinking of making another one for me. Maybe one with a Disney theme. hmmm.

A Fresh New Start

2011-09-06T12:03:00.000-07:00

Mondays always seem like a fresh new start to me. Whenever I decide to do something new, I always plan to start on MONDAY. New exercise program: Monday. New schedule: Monday. Getting up earlier (I am so not a morning person): Monday. Just one of those curious things I guess. Does anyone else have a favorite day to start things?

My to do list is so crazy long! 26 items and I am not even done yet. Everything needs to get done. Everything.

I have to get a new school ID. Can't put that off because I need to by books next week and have to look them up at the school website.
Register my car.
Pay bills
Print new vehicle insurance id cards. Why am I putting that off till the last minute?
Arrangements for next years Disney vacation.
Arrangements for Beach weekend.
Arrangements for day in NY (tickets, parking, where to eat, etc) It is so much easier to go to NY when you do all this in advance. Especially the parking!
Q school sked (order curriculum, sign him up for classes, join new homeschool group).
Resked my hair appointment and take Q to get a haircut.
File. Still unpacking from the move and I have hundreds of old statements that I need to decide whether to keep or not. Bags of shredding to do and new files to make. Who holds on to utility bills from 1998?

I finished a page about me and my sisters and I love how it came out. Basic Grey is the best!!!! Love their paper. As far as I can remember, they have only come out with a total of 3 lines that I did not care for. As in, I only bought a few papers instead of the whole line lol. They are a terrible influence on my scrapping budget.

We went to Niagara Falls this weekend and I am completly in love with this place. I could have stayed 2 more days. It was just magical. You are not going to believe the photos when I post them. My husband got this great shot of a rainbow at the base of the American falls. It is mind blowing to see them up close. When we drove into town, we could see all of the mist that was rising from where the waterfall hit the lake. It looked like smoke. Amazing place. A-Ma-Zing.

Old Photos

2011-09-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

Looking through old photos makes my heart sing with happy thoughts. I feel like I should write down some of the songs that run around up there. Who knows, maybe one of them will be a hit.

Is that seriously my hubby? Hell yeah! He looks so young!!!!

Me and my girl at some event. She looks taller than me but she isn't.

My girl in elementary school. Can you find her? She hated that hairstyle. I have never told her this, but I hated it too lol. I always try to defend myself but really there is no defense for trying a new hairstyle on picture day.

(hint - she's in the middle row, 4th from the left and no I do not know why the little girl in the black dress is standing like that)

A and Q on a trip to Disney

My sister and her oldest daughter (she's 22 now and still just as cute)

Me when I was in the Navy (no comment)

And last but not least, a layout using photos that I have been meaning to scrap forever. Q is the worst sport! You can't tell from the photo but he was super mad that he was losing and really pouting about it. I convinced him to smile or at least look a little normal (told him that he would never bowl again) and this is what I got. A decent photo.

Thanks for stopping by and blog u later.

Favorite Page Ever

2011-07-27T08:23:00.000-07:00

I cannot even begin to express how fun it was to make this page! I was blog surfing and saw this layout by ingvild bolme. Her work is so beautiful. I can't imagine having all the pages in my scrapbook be that beautiful. I would probably only have 2 lol. Anyway, check her blog out if you get a chance. She is always doing something interesting and always pushes the envelope. I wish I could figure out how she gets that black, smudgey, speckly look on her white pages.

The first thing that I did was break out the paint and a couple of pieces of heavy scrapbook paper that had the cream and blue tones that I was looking for. I used a mix of liquitex glossy white and regular acrylic cream colored paint. I painted the cream on loosely and then drizzled the white on while the cream was still wet. I used a large brush to loosely push & brush the paint around until I got the look that I wanted.

I really liked the look of the white and the cream together. I actually use it all the time with paper and did not realize that it is one of my favorite color combos. The white just makes the cream stand out so well.

I then pulled out some pink on pink polka dot paper and stamped a rose using red distress ink. As I paintd the rose with white, the distress ink tinted the paint pink. I then went back over and highlighted a couple of places with the white. After everything was dry, I cut around the edges so that I would have a border to peek out from handcut and distressed swirl.

Two sheets of white Bazzil turned into a inked piece of subtly patterned paper. I used distress inks to stain and spatter the white and then I spritzed it with a ton of water and literally scrubbed the paper down with a paper towel. I penned the border with black and red fine line markers then cut the swirly edge out. Cut it down so that the distressed paper and rose border would show and what I ended up with was

Several (hundred lol) handmade flowers, fussy-cut details, scalloping

It is so chunky from the side!

This is my next project. A summer album. Love the SUMMER title! It's not done yet but I like where it is going.

I tried a new to me technique on the next page. I have done paper quilting with squares b4 but never a whole page in an album. When I started it, I thought it would be too busy. But it was not at all. It is very interesting and so easy to do.

Use a square punch to punch enough squares to cover your background. Use as few or as many different papers but remember b-a-l-a-n-c-e. You can find balance by using the same color, pattern, quantity or color value throughout the page.

Ink the edges of each square (or not if you don't like inking.) It adds a softness to the edges of the squares that helps them blend together as one.

Cut a piece of background paper (does not have to be white. Use scraps if you have them) to the size of your page. Add borders, etc to the edges than glue your squares down so that the edges are touching each other. Try not to overlap.

The end result

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great humpday!!!!

What's Been Up......

2011-07-22T12:33:00.000-07:00

We have been doing lots of traveling this summer. It is absolutely fantastic! There has been so much for our family to celebrate this year. Graduations, marriages, new homes, new jobs, promotions. God has truly, truly showed up and showed out for us! I really don't have a ton to say/describe but I do want to share pictures.

Aaron graduated from airmen basic! He is in Alaska now and he loves his job. This was him on graduation day. He was so happy to see us!!

These are just a couple of pictures that I love from the over 600 that we have taken. The first is of my girly and my niece. Love it so much. And the second is of me and the hubster. Love him so much.

My baby sister graduated from college! I can't even express how happy we all were this day. She smiled so big all day long. This is a picture of all of us girls after the grad.

My brother graduated from Officer Candidate School. He worked so hard for this and I am so proud of him. My MIL and his girlfriend are pinning on his bars. The look he has on his face says that it hurts but I promise he is tougher than that and was just holding back his emotions.

This was taken the day my little guy got to meet the Vice President. This is a photo of him at his home right before he went inside. Q was nervous and would not talk to VP Biden unless he asked him questions but we are working on that. He looks so grown up in his tie.

I finished this layout and am in love with it. It is so pretty! I will post more about it later.....

We found and bought a home in Maryland. We absolutely love it! It has enough room for everyone to come visit. A big yard for the kids and future grandkids. Plenty of entertaining space and it is so bright and sunny. We plan to stay here for the rest of our days. I joked with my realtor about being buried in the nature preserve out back. I have to take pictures of the inside (I have been promising the girl for over a month now) and will post them soon. We have so much decorating and painting left to do!!

Well that's all for now. Thanks for stopping by and holla at ya later. And don't forget to have a great day!

Two Weeks Ago

2011-07-18T17:18:00.000-07:00

I made a decision to not eat any more fast food and so far so good. I was finding myself "supporting" McDonalds 2 times a day (WHAT!). Seriously. I had gained 10 pounds on top of the other pounds that I have been needing to lose for years now. I had to stop. Had to. And I did. So far so good. I feel so much better. I am not nearly as tired (I would feel that I needed a nap as soon as I finished my meal whenever I ate at MCD's) and I have a ton more energy. I am not saying that McD's is bad for you. I don't think it is if you eat there in moderation. But I am saying that I was out of control and if I was eating at McD's for that many meals, I was not getting enough fresh fruits and veges and other good things. Since we bought the new homestead, we have been eating out significantly less. Significantly. Less than once a week significantly. That is big for us bc we LOVE to eat out. Love it. But anywhoo, moving on.

On my desk

I am just getting ready to start a summer mini-album. I took a few pictures of my crazy process. I don't know how anyone can work like this! I set my studio up in the family room downstairs until we finish my actual space. I can hardly wait for it to be done. I am envisioning craftovers with the chicks, classes, super productivity. The list is endless. Back to my desk...
I am going to use 7gypsies board album for the base. I love their products bc they are soooo sturdy.
I did not like the fact that it was accordian so I am going to cover the holes I don't want with paper and use larger rings to hold the entire album together. It is bound to be as thick as a phone book when I am done.

The papers are all over the map. I can't even begin to name all the companies. I am sure there are some you recognize. As always, I use a few oldies but goodies and mix them in with some new kids to keep it interesting.

I also picked out K&Co's summer stickers for my embellishment base. But I plan to use all this other stuff to fill it in and out. No skinny mini's here! I covered the entire table in possibilities....

Thanks for stopping by and I will update progress tomorrow with a couple of new techniques I have been playing with.

Dear Terrible Tenant

2011-04-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

Dear terrible tenant,

It has been horrible working with you. Not only have you not paid rent for 3 months, you trashed my house! Although I could never wish a family not have a place to go, I feel very, very sorry for anyone that would put a roof over your head. The last 2 days have been a nightmare that neither me, my husband or my children will ever forget. I had assured my husband that even though you had no honor with the payment of your rent, you would not destroy our home. When I handed you the keys, the place was in close to new condition. When I walked in the door on Saturday, I was speechless! Dog feces and urine dried in the carpets, dog urine on the walls, dried food on the wall in half the rooms, chewed gum on the floor, moldy tubs and showers, black with grime tubs and sinks, windows yellow with grime and dog drool, rabbit? pellets over an inch high in the closet upstairs, busted cabinet doors, busted stove (that had not been cleaned since I handed the house over to you. It is a self clean oven, all you had to do was push the buttom before you left home in the morning and it would have been clean when you got back!), animal food beneath the carpets, all of the doors damaged. Every inch of the home has to be painted. I have never in my life seen so much dog hair, did you ever vacuum? It took my entire family 2 days to clean the home! I just really do not know what else to say. Such a shame that your little ones have to live like that! I never in my wildest dreams would have believed that you lived this way.

If you read this post, my request would be that you have respect for the home you are living in now and for the person that is kind enough to rent it to you!

A House and A Prayer

2010-12-14T08:14:00.000-08:00

We have found dream house number 3,268 lol. We have been doing a lot of looking. A lot. And we have found that while it is easy to find a dream house, it is not easy to find one that fits into a budget. We have looked at new stuff, old stuff, great stuff, amenities, no amenities and just plain crap (it is amazing how some of the foreclosed homes have been destroyed). We found a realtor that we like and while we were planning our strategy for the day, I noticed that 90% of the homes on my list were either short sales or foreclosures. Completely accidental!

We have decided to place a bid in, a for real bid - not the play bids we submitted (said we would and never did) with the last 6 houses we really liked. All I have to do is go over and hit the mailbox. We have looked at the house 2X's and we have debated and finally all three of us have moved ourselves in.

The hood has no amenities (except being beautiful) but we have space to put in a pool and a basketball goal if we would like. CJ has space for a future boat and dog. And he can have a workshop.

It is truly perfect for us, but it has some issues

mold in the basement
huge dead tree in the front yard
wasps nest everywhere
major clean-up inside b/c it has been empty so long
stolen ac & heating units
more but it is getting a little daunting to finish listing them all

Here are a couple of pics for the girl

Love you girly, let me know what you think!

But Moooommmmm, I don't want to go to school!

2010-09-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

No that was not Q today, that was me. It is only the 2nd day and I am already contemplating how many days I can miss and still get an A.

Drats, I have 2 B's already (I hate to admit that) and don't want any more.

Sigh. Back to class with me. After I cook dinner, fold the laundry and make my bed.

Overcome

2010-08-25T08:53:00.000-07:00

I am overcome.

God has blessed our family so.

He has brought us thru everything and we are all so grateful.

I owe all of my joy to him and I don't want to forget that. Ever.

Today was supposed to be just another day, but I woke up this morning feeling as if I had just finished something big. Elated. Happy. Thankful.

I can't totally describe the how or the why but I wanted to share. Thanks for listening.

Have a beautiful, blessed, productive day!

We Fell In Love With A House

2010-08-24T05:16:00.000-07:00

It is the first one we looked at and I know it is a big no, no to commit your heart to a home so early in the process but CJ and I both can see our family living in this house. It is made for living with lots of space (storage and living), lots of windows (big, airy, sunny windows), lots of places to curl up and read a good book, lots of places to sit and share, room to do big crossword puzzles and play heated games of scrabble. I could scream over the beautiful wood floors, granite countertops and other special details. The neighbor hood is full of walking paths, tennis courts, sports fields and has a pool. There is a shopping center within walking distance and another one less than a mile down the road. It is closer to his working area. We can have it built from the ground up on a large cul de sac lot. So many plusses. But with a house like that comes the worry.

Is it too soon to make a decision?
Can we really afford it?
Can we qualify to buy it with the strict lending practices of today? We do after all have a home and he will be retiring soon.
How much money do people with homes like this make?
Do we make enough or are we being extravagent and living above our means(sp)?
Is there something better out there?
What if the job he finds after he retires is in another part of the country?

We have a year to make a decision about buying a house. And I know that with trust in God all of this stuff will work itself out but it is still on my mind.

I finally finished my nieces baby shower invites. A week after they were promised to be done. They were so much work! But they turned out so cute. All hand stamped with hand cut scallops and pretty decorative blocks and hand set rhinestones. Really love them. Hope she loves them too. What do you think?

And finally, more pictures of Mia. I can't take credit for these super cute photos bc Q took them! I think a new camera is in his future. He used mine to take these and did a better job than I would have. We bought him a really simple point and shoot for Christmas but I think he needs something a little better.

We Interrupt This Regularly Scheduled Program

2010-08-18T08:23:00.000-07:00

For 100 baby shower invitations
A new job demo'ing the Cricut at Best Buy

A booth at ScrapStampArt tour
An adorable new addition to the family that I am slowly falling in love with
A new tutorial on C. Middlecamp's blog
Searching for a new home to buy (our last home! So excited)
Finding and buying all of the new MME lines (Seriously beautiful)

My new kit club subscription.

So, sorry for being such a slacker no show here. I will do better in the future! Thanks for stopping by and

HAPPY HUMPDAY..........

Meet Mia

2010-08-06T11:26:00.000-07:00

she's hiding bc I scared her. she is still very jumpy & shy.

Not as cute as I thought she would be (red eyes, huge) but still cute.

She is huge! As big as the dog I would have considered getting.

Can't stop calling her "your creature" (she has red eyes for goodness sake! I thought that was a sign of being either possessed or drunk.).

Am itching and scratching but I think the "allergy" is all in my head. And so is the flea infestation.

I sniff everytime I go upstairs because I really expect her to smell. Can you safely & economically clean their cages 2x a day?

All of that aside, the little guy is the happiest kid in the world right now so I think we will keep her. He is so gentle with her and afraid that if he picks her up wrong he will hurt her. Adorable. I really love that kid.

I finally finished something scrappy. Q loves to cook and on Thanksgiving last year he was allowed to cook 2 dishes all by his lonesome. He did great! He made bacon wrapped shrimp and peach spritzer (no wine). The peach flavored simple syrup he made from scratch. It was lovely. I made bread - I love to make homemade bread btw. I get insanely happy when we let milk go sour and a few years ago, I had a beautiful sourdough starter that I had to get rid of when we moved. It takes years to get a starter great! anyway back to the story, sorry for the OT - and he was like a puppy begging to help me. So here he is rollin dough.

I got my SC kits yesterday. I had to run it downstairs so the hubby wouldn't see it and start asking a whole bunch of questions that he really didn't want the answer to. Now the hubby is at work and I finished my last class yesterday soooooooo

I am going to play and play and play. All. Day. My plan is too use August pagemaps and the entire contents (every little piece!) of the SC kits. Wish me luck. I will post my results (good or bad) tomorrow! But I can tell you today that my favorites in the kit were

The date stamp. *sorry about the pic being so crappy*

Jenni Bowlin yellow butterflies

and finally the girls' paperie die-cuts. Love, love, love the clocks. Would have bought this just for them!

Thanks for stopping by......

Shere

The Husband and The Boys Are Going

2010-08-05T12:57:00.000-07:00

To the pet store. Right now. To get one of these......

Something that I vowed he would never get. Why did I cave. Because these are much better to stomach than the fat green catepillars that he has adopted as a pet. He has been catching them in the yard and they crawl all over him, he hand feeds them (completely gross by the way), takes them out into the yard for excercise and has himself convinced that he taught the last one to play dead. Yeah, I know. Disgusting. But the last straw was when I came inside and found the nasty thing on the dining room table.

So, needless to say, they are on the way to buy the boy a proper pet. Complete with little rolling ball thing.

Joy.

On The To Do List

2010-08-04T10:32:00.000-07:00

Mail C her mail that I forgot to give her while she was here
Deal with HOA! Hopefully for the last time......
Cricut demonstrator interview
Cook Dinner
Dee's Baby Shower invites
Finalize family cruise details
Family cruise invites finished & mailed
Budget with the hubby
Plan science projects with the little guy for the next couple of weeks
Niagra Falls plan
Return necessary phone calls
Get court date for bogus parking ticket
Wait anxiously for the Studio Calico kits that I should not have ordered
Laundry
Place pages in new album
Price new mattress
Study for final exam TOMORROW (yikes!)
Forward info to the girl
Clean out garage
Clean sun porch
Weed backyard flower beds
Can excess garden bo-tay
Rethink this to do list
Clean car
Blog
Definitely rethink the bottom 2. I am sure they will fit on next Wednesdays to do list.

Eating My Words

2010-07-29T07:25:00.000-07:00

Just a yesterday I posted about how none of the blogs (at least the ones I visit) are buzzing about CHA. I do my daily blog checks today and what do I see? The incredible amount of amazingness that this summer's show has to offer. It seems that the most buzz is about the projects. My head is buzzing with all the ideas. My house is going to look like scrapbook central by the time I am done! I will create so many projects we will have to hang them everywhere, including the backs of the bathrooms doors. I'll be using scrapbook paper to make pillows! Okay maybe I am going a little overboard but you get the picture.

On a whole other note, the hubby & I spent the evening (and I mean the ENTIRE evening, like 5 hours) doing yardwork - him and gardening - me. I have the dirty gloves and bug bites to prove it.

These were brand new when I started. And a few after pics of the yard. I didn't think to take pictures before but trust me, it was bad. All of the plants were growing together in one big mass and they were full of the fall leaves & weeds. There was no mulch to speak of and there were huge rocks throughout the bed.

My husband cut the grass and edged the entire yard and both sides of the sidewalk.

I know this is picture overload but I am just so dang proud! Thanks for stopping by and have a happy Thursday.

Bazaars and Other Things Crafty

2010-07-27T17:37:00.000-07:00

So they have a needlepoint show but other than that, no crafty venues that I can find in this area. Are city folk just not into homemade crafts? Where can a girl go in the north east to get her fix of handpainted flower pots and crazy cute dolls? I just don't know. Hopefully sometime soon, I will find something but till than I guess I have to keep surfin the net.

I have seen surprisingly few post about CHA. The last show, every crafty blog you clicked on had a CHA update of some sort. I was hoping to see more. I was in ACM a couple of weeks ago and they had a contest going that gave the winner a free trip to CHA. hmmmm.

Only a couple of pics today, we are on our way to the pool but I wanted to pop in and say hello. This is what is on my desk.

Notice that my "desk" includes every surface area in my studio. This is a small portion of my basic grey collection that I finally decided to cut into.

A new layout that I am working on. It will include some funky handscalloped borders and frames and lots of paper piecing & fussy cuts.

The next 2 photos are of the kitchen sink. I have a ton of stuff out that I will consider actually putting on this lo. Except the prima stamps, I have those out cause I just love them and I want to think about what to do with em. And that BG paper, I have 2 colors of the same pattern and I want to try to create a cool effect with them. The remote control is excluded too. That is just there bc I can now see my tv when I work.

I posted a couple of layouts on 2peas and want to say thank you for the kind comments (if you are a pea and happen to stop by here). I don't know if it is okay to reply thanks to a comment on there or not but I know that I can say it here, bc this is my queendom and I can do what I want (evil laugh throughout the typing of last paragraph).

For whatever reason, I feel so, so tired today. I mean I am really draggin my butt on the ground. I am ready to turn in already. Gee Whiz.

So with that being said, thanks for stopping by and I hope you had a great Tuesday!

P.S. I told the little guy that he could have a hamster today. I must really be tired........

Glass Houses

2010-07-26T09:59:00.000-07:00

Not the crafty kind (although that did spark an idea) but the kind one shouldn't throw stones at. I visit several blogs everyday - bc they are the bees knees in my book - and I was starting to get a little huffy that many of them hadn't been updated since about the 16th. Than I took a look at my last update date and immediately apologized to the wonderful designers who I am sure are super busy creating beautiful things for me to dream of creating. Sorry. Again. Truly.

Made this layout of my husband for a contest on the Prima blog. I actually even submitted it! I loooovvvveee it. I can't explain why. At first glance it is too girly with all the flowers and the soft colors but who is this layout for anyway? Me, and I am a girl. Next picky point is that it has too much stuff on it. But back to the question, who is it for? Me, and I love too much stuff. Like snapple, more stuff is better stuff. So just this once (probably not) I give myself permission to give myself a break. Thanks self, I am going to hang this lo on the wall because I love it even more now.

I started off with a white sheet of AC cardstock and glimmer misted it like crazy with 4 different colors. Than I used TH bsoot distress ink to stamp the border at the bottom of the pic. Went to work cutting some prima pearls apart and layering, layering, layering. It took me 4 hours to do this layout and I started over at least 2X. I distressed the edges of the white but it still felt plain so I put it on a piece of matching blue bazzil (didn't trim the white at all!).

My niece is here for 2 weeks visiting and we are busy, busy, busy showing her the sights of DC. She says that she is having a fabulous time. Me too sweetpea, me too. I can't believe how fast the summer is sliding by. Time is on steroids. Before I know it, it will be cold again.

CJ and I have decided that we are going to settle down here in DC. We are going to buy a house here and an income property in Aiken and settle down to a life. My last child will spend the bulk of his childhood in one school, one home, one neighborhood. That is huge. It still breaks his heart that we had to leave Charleston and he still is homesick for it. The income property is so that when my husband retires, we will be able to go home. And if we play our cards right, we can get a property with enough land to build a small home on it (and a pool) that we can use as a vacation home in the summer -till the day we move there permanently- and as a home for our parents when/if they need to be moved in with us -after we have moved there permanently. Still in the dreaming stages on this. You just never know what God has planned.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Monday.

Was Sure That I Didn't Need It

2010-07-25T15:47:00.000-07:00

But after hearing TH "talk" about it on his blog, seeing the pictures of it, and STILL heehawing about getting the cuttlebug, I am going to take the plunge and grab it up. Christmas will be here soon right? The it I am referring to is the new diecutting/embossing machine that TH/Ranger will be selling this year. Love all the features, it is all that I am looking for.

Photo from TH

According to TH, it is fully electric, portable, heavy duty and last but not least, cute as all get out. It'll cut through grunge, acrylic, metal, canvas, chipboard, multiple layers of cs, fabric, bookboard (which is super, super hard to cut!) and will emboss this stuff as well. I have to get it just to see if it will emboss bookboard. He assures that it is quiet too. Seriously. That is all that and a bag of chips. So glad I waited on the cuttlebug. I was looking to buy it just last week!

And hello, the new dies & embossing folders that he is releasing, wow. By the end of the year, my studio will look like a TH merchandising display lol.

So after all that gushing, I just have one thing left to say, Anybody want a Sizzix? Pay the shipping and it is yours!

He Has Great Ideas

2010-07-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

This was not my idea, it was his. And I love how it came out. I was skeptical at first and thought that since he was thoughtful enough to make a suggestion about something that is dear only to me, I could try it. It could always be pulled out later right? Well I tried it and I absolutely love how it turned out. My favorite part of this entire layout. I was originally going to use one color and skip a space between stitches. He suggested that I use a different color. Future Einstein I tell you, future Einstein.

The layout is all about how much fun we had stuffing ourselves (6 of us) into the photobooth at the Riverbanks Zoo. Even the people watching us were enjoying it -laughing with us not at us hopefully. It was so frickin hot that day too! We were literally melting by the time we got out of the booth. Now whenever we see a photobooth, we want to stop and use it. Good times I tell ya, good times.

I made the layout based on this sketch from MME July contest.

Speaking of MME, have you seen their new releases? Say What - they are amazing and I will have them all as soon as they hit the shelves. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be this line - MME, please don't be upset with me for stealing picks off your blog if you just happen to stop by mine!.

Portobello Road

If you get a chance, stop by their blog and check out this post. It had a pic of all the amazing new releases. Check out the rest of their blog too and have a look at some of the projects their design team came up with. That is one talented group of ladies!!!!

One of our last visitors for the summer is here. My niece is staying for 2 weeks. I just got the little guy back from my sister after him being gone for 3 weeks and the big guy is finally home after about 2 weeks of travel. Soon things will return to normal for us. Long school days, dinner in, quiet house, early mornings, homework and a much smaller family unit. At least we have a week to get used to our much smaller family unit. This weekend our last visitors will be here. 2 of my sisters and my dad for the weekend. Next week, all of the kids will be here (both girls and A will be back). Phew, this has been the busiest summer I can remember in a long time.

Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic Sunday! See you later.

What Happens When You.......

2010-07-16T18:08:00.000-07:00

Spend a week cleaning & organizing your scrap space?

You can't find a thing! At least I can't.

I have been making myself at least go into my space, sit down & play every single day. I have been so super busy this summer that I really haven't been able to sit down & create. I want to, but by the time I get to I am too tired or I have other things pressing in on my time. So I made a deal with myself. Creative time everyday no guilt allowed. Working so far but for how long I don't know. It feels good to be in there, even if all i'm doing is hiding (code for organizing/cleaning) things.

And a great example of what I mean is this layout that I have been working on since MONDAY. Yeah, I am not exaggerating. Monday. I took this picture to show what is on my desk. But oh well, i'm flexible. The second picture has all the stuff I pulled out to possibly put on this layout. I think I might need an intervention.

Got to stop by Great Scraps this week and picked up less than normal but more than enough to keep my forever growing stash movin.

Graphic 45 Halloween line

Little Yellow Bicycle Boardwalk & Pack your Bags

We R Memory Keepers RetroGlam. These are the only 2 pieces I was able to get of this line. But I love, love, love it. I would buy every single piece! I can't wait to use it......

and last but not least, Echo Parks Sweet Summertime. This line is crazy cute

Fortunately, we are pulling tons of stuff out of the garden. Unfortunately, it is mostly peppers! I have so many I am really having to get creative with using them (ie, I am giving them to friends & family lol). We did finally get some tomatoes to ripen (the vines are packed full but they are all green) and we harvested some bell peppers & squash. The corn will be ready any day, the silk is already drying, can't wait to taste that.

Some more photos of our 4th of July fun! Will I ever stop with the photo overloads?

My boys at my cousins cookout.

My Aunt Jenny. Love this pic of her, hate the glare on her glasses.

Hello IKEA! If it is possible to fall in love with a store, I think I have done it. We went to get a bed for the boy and found one that he is going to absolutely love at a price that we absolutely love. It makes his teeny, tiny room look so much bigger. Although it was a major pain to put together (and we busted the boys fish tank in the process of putting the bed together) it was so worth it.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

CH-CH-CH-Changes

2010-07-12T09:45:00.000-07:00

Hubby is home.

Kids are gone.

We feel like we are "rediscovering" each other. If that is possible after 14 years. We talk about everything. We dream about our future, grandkids, kids, everything. Still amazed that he delights me so much more than he did when I first met him. Is that possible? We had dinner the other night and sat at the table talking and laughing for about 45 minutes after dinner was done. I feel so blessed to have him.

Harvesting fresh veges from ours and my fathers garden. The best things I ever ate. CJ is so proud of himself that he has started calling himself "Farmer J". If he breaks out the overalls and pitchfork, he is going straight to youtube. He is going to be out of control once he harvests that beautiful corn that is growing so well!

*why o why does this blog not have spell check?*

Rearranged my craft space so that it looks less like a paper plant explosion. & most importantly, I can see my tv when I create, boouyaaa.

Picked these up the other day and all I can say is that I LOVE THEM! Would recommend them to my favorite person in 2 seconds flat!!!!!! (stole the pic off AC blog, hope they don't mind)

Ran across this photo of these 2. They are together now b/c she picked him up from my SIL house to spend some time with him. She & her beau took him to see "Despicable Me". Hope they had fun & didn't fight too much.

I am still trying to weed thru the over 1500 pictures that have been taken since summer began. Too, too many but oh how they make me smile when I look thru them. I have got to get a better way of printing and storing the photos we take. I have been getting increasingly more afraid lately that I am going to lose our photos. I just can't seem to wrap my head around a good solution that will allow me to store them on the computer and print them out.

I love this photo of my boy with my sisters girls.

He did such a good job being gentle and patient with them while they were here. They loved it when he got home from school and the 3 of them would go to the backyard and play ball, chase each other and "help" in the garden for most of the evening.

That's it for now. Thanks for stopping by and hope you had a great weekend!

A First, Again

2010-07-07T17:12:00.000-07:00

I cooked a meal tonight for one person only. Just me. I haven't done that since my 21 year old was 5. It is unbelievable and a bit surreal to have the house all to myself. To only be responsible for my own activities. To be solo. Can't quite wrap my head around it. I guess I better enjoy it for it is going to be very short lived!

Fourth of July was a blast. Action packed. More stuff than I have done in a month of Sundays. Swimming, 2 cookouts in one day, fireworks and tons of family.

I am so very grateful, from the bottom of my heart & soul for the men and women of the Armed Forces. God bless them and their families for the hard won freedom that they ensure for every American Citizen.

More Picture Overload

2010-06-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

This is a cell picture of Harry Potter's World at Universal. It was amazing but the lines were 3 hours long to do anything!

I didn't remember Disney having the characters out doing the skits like they were this time but it was so much fun!

Blue Man Group was the best! We had so much fun. I thought LaNouba would be the better show but no, uh uh, this was it hands down.

Vacation

2010-06-28T11:17:00.000-07:00

A couple of months ago, CJ and I decided that with Aaron leaving, Jasmine leaving and Ariel gone, leaving us with only the little guy left in the house we needed to do something drastic to reconnect with our babies, spend some time with them while it is still ok to hang out with your parents and give them a token of our appreciation for them being the best kids ever. So we decided that a family vacation was in order. A week in Orlando at one of the best resorts we have ever, ever stayed at (even better than the one in Miami and that my friends is saying a lot!). 5 days, 6 parks, 2 shows later we are back and exhausted but it was a great trip! So sorry in advance about the picture overload!!!!!

The tree of life is AMAZING inside and out. I cannot get over it.

Our hotel. 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, gourmet kitchen, 2 patios, indoor & outdoor pool, bike paths, water slides in pool area, complete & total bliss

Q enjoying the rain shower in the master bathroom (surprise, daddy has the camera)

Hello

2010-06-27T15:05:00.000-07:00

Seriously where did last week disappear to? The boy has 2 more days of school (Yeah, almost done), it is so sad to think that before we know it summer will be over and it will be back to crazy busy skeds and cold winter days. Sigh.

On another note, we had a great weekend! We took the girls to the beach and they got to go see the trains. One of the trains passed us so fast that it took our breath away. We were all delighted and talked about it all day. They got to ride the carousel on the National Mall (it was surprisingly cheap too) and to see a buffalo at the American History Museum. We are probably going to go back there today as soon as the boy gets home from school. Soon we will have a completely kid free house. Just me and my man. That has not happened for years. We probably won't know what to do with ourselves. Hopefully he will get a trip that I can go on with him. Wouldn't that be fun.

Thursday

2010-06-10T08:55:00.000-07:00

My sister and my oldest "baby" were here! It was so exciting to see them and spend a couple of days lovin on my girls (my baby sister and my daughter) and my sisters adorable kids. We went shopping, bar-b-q'd, hung out, and visited the National Zoo. I have said it before and I will say it again, DC has the most amazing FREE attractions!

The little guy was so thrilled with the snake his brothy found. It is crazy how excited we all were for him to see it. We just all love him to pieces. Aaron is already talking about how he is going to fly him to wherever he is to visit during the summer. Sigh. Yet one more person for me to lose him to during his ever shortening summer break.

Now my Mom in law, nephew and two nieces are visiting till the weekend and needless to say, I am busy every second. No craft time at all. These little girls have me worn out by the time bath time is over and their bed time is here. Good golly, little ones are exhausting (and extremely chatty!). Just wanted to stop by for a few minutes and say hello. Off to take advantage of the metro and some more of the free attractions available!

Wednesday

2010-06-09T11:06:00.000-07:00

Can get out of bed. Finally. I have been updating my post since last week. That's why it seems as if I am in a time warp. Monday perky, Tuesday sick as all get out, Wednesday all better. So not the real timeline!

Look at what my oldest caught today.

This is definitely catch and release. No matter how much the big doe eyed little guy pleads/begs/cries,
it is NOT staying!!!

Trying to get all the arrangements taken care of for A's leaving home. Travel plans, packing his things, opening accounts, trying to tell him as much as I can about how things work. I am so excited for him to get started on his new life. He is so clueless about what is waiting for him that I think I am going to make him a lifebook with advice from all of us and examples on how to do things like write a check, keep a check register, keep up with his monthly bills, stuff like that. He has never, ever done it. How did I learn? I don't remember. I guess you just get it cause you have too.

I am back at school. Mixed feelings about this as my kids will be out of school soon and I won't.

My nieces are here for a 2 week visit. Prayers are much appreciated as it has been a very long time since there were little ones in my full time care!

My most favoritist scrappy project of the moment! Sparked a million and one ideas!

An Explosion Box!

Thanks so much Ginger for the great comments/suggestions. Your the best. And yes, I know that I am late as all get out posting the thank you but I hope you know that it has been ringing in my head since I checked out that website. Check out the photos I've been taking if you don't believe me lol. If I say so myself, they are much improved. I totally surprised myself!

A couple of family photos that I love.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you are having a great week! IE Yeah it's hump day!!!!!

Tuesday

2010-06-08T07:17:00.000-07:00

Oh my. Sick. Really Sick. Behind and sick. House Dirty but still sick. No laundry done because I am sick. Leftovers again? Yep, your mom/wife is sick.

Nuff said.

Should be feeling better in a couple of days. If not, someone's (ie hubby that brought the crud home) going to get it.

Monday

2010-06-07T19:07:00.000-07:00

Crazy busy. Maybe just plain crazy, who knows sometimes, but I have seriously not had 2 extra seconds to rub together (except for Mother's Day) in over a month. Because I have not had any time to myself I feel like one of those vicious little dogs. You know the ones, you walk by and see it and it just looks so sweet and inviting but as soon as you get close enough, it takes a taste of you. Yeah that's me right now. I feel like biting! lol.

Not only do I spend my time doing endless domestic stuff, my husband and I have been gardening (okay, my husband has been gardening. I just take photos & credit lol). Here are some photos from our garden.

One of the three cross-stitch projects that I am working on.

Have not been super, super crafty lately. In fact, I don't think that I have set foot in my studio for more than a few minutes here or there in a few weeks. But I did manage to get these layouts done.

This one I did of my niece. The fam had gone to Clarks Hill for the day and had a great time. At the end of it, I guess she decided she didn't want to leave. So Cute she is.

A scraplift from Scrapbook Trends.

The girl again. I have been going through all my old photos and scrappin them. When my husband saw this layout, he said "haven't you used that picture on like 4 layouts?". Yeah I think I need to find a new favorite.

The sketch I used

Q at Kings Dominion. He won't let anyone else read the map when we go to any kind of large park. He takes it over and guides us to all the stuff he wants to see. Which is cool b/c he always wants to do everything!

It's Final, Finally. Aaron graduated!!!!!! WooHoo. He had us scared, literally, up to the last minute but he walked across the stage and picked up his high school diploma. He is talking college for the first time ever but I don't know. He and school. Icebergs and Beaches. Seriously. One day he will be ready but that day ain't tomorrow. So proud of him for how hard he worked.

I will end this chatty, picture happy post with my favorite photo of my boys. We took this in Atlantic City.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you had a fantastic Monday!

Another Sketch

2010-04-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

This would have been the first time that I had ever actually completed all of the sketches but I got lazy and crazy busy so I only finished about 1/2. Oh Well, better luck this month. I have also been scraplifting lately. I buy so many magazines but I can't continue to justify the expense of them if I don't use them. So if I buy it I have to make something from it. That's my new motto. I am going to be a busy girl.

Here is the page to go with the sketch

Here is a scraplift from a Bo-Bunny Mamarazzi ad

And a couple of layouts that I had done and was waiting to put pics on

Did this for a challenge but never submitted it. Like the lo and will probably put pics of the girl on it.

I have been dreaming a lot lately. Usually I go to sleep and wake up with only a vague shadow of my dreams remaining to haunt me. Sort of like an impression or a hint. But lately, my dreams have been vivid and remembered. They stay with me throughout the day but not in a bad-scary way, more in an i'm thinking this over type way. Very odd for me.

I truly, truly miss teaching. For the longest while I have been going back and forth about giving it up. Even as I made plans for classes and shows to visit, I was not sure if I was really going to do it. I am still not sure. I don't know why I am on the fence. I have been praying for direction and for guidance. If this is really not what I am to do, I don't want to do it but if it is, I want to get on with it already. I am not a patient, wait till the moment is right type person. When I make my mind up to do something, I do it. So this on the fence thing is new for me and I have to tell you, I don't like it one bit lol.

On a more positive note (what am I, a philospher lately or what?). You have to go to the Hero Arts Blog. Seriously, Hello. Everything that they post lately seems to be a must do folks. How cute is the toaster card. I'm making that this weekend. What are they doing to me giving me so many doable projects in one day. AAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHH. My kids won't see me for a week!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope that your Tuesday is fabtastic!

Might I add that today is a beautiful, beautiful day and it really should not be rolling up on Wednesday again so soon (I have a full day of classes, 8am - 920pm with too short breaks between my classes). I wonder if there is someone that I can talk to about that hmmmm?

Can U Say Bar Fight?

2010-04-20T11:16:00.000-07:00

Finally got to see my sister and we had date night with her and her husband, my bil and his girlfriend. We had a great time!!!!! First we had dinner at Fogo de Chao. Best restaraunt I have ever eaten at. Well worth the big bucks we dropped that night. The service was incredible, the food was incredible, the drinks were incredible, in a word, Incredible.

(yes the waiters dressed like that)

Than we went to

(you have to ask me about the beer joke, it was too, too funny)

to see

(Yeah folks, he looked just like that, except drunker lol. To his credit, he was funny as hell!)

and this is where it got interesting. Mike was drunk/high off his a$$ and about 1/2 way thru his show, he started repeating jokes for like the 6th time. The crowd was pissed!!!!!!! Than Mike got pissed. Than the B word started flying. And than I was ready for the bar fight. Haven't seen one of those in about 20 years. Not a good one at least. You know what i'm talkin bout. A real down & dirty, chairs flyin, shoes & earrings coming off, hold my purse girl bar fight. But it turned out to be a classy joint and Mike sobered up enough to end his routine before it got past the name calling and we came home.

Seriously, A great night

Score, Got These And Went To

2010-04-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

Seriously folks, I love my husbands job! We were able to score a ticket for the little guy to go to the

And we saw her sing Write You a Love Song

Slushy girl from Glee

The Glee cast was phenom and I have a lot of pics of them. Even though Q was rushing me to go do "fun" stuff. Seriously? I thought Glee was fun!

No this was not a backdrop. The White House is heartbreakingly beautiful!

The WH vege garden

This Is What I Come Home To Sometimes

2010-03-31T08:26:00.000-07:00

I never know what I am going to get when I come in the door. Today it was this......

The little guy wearing a viking hat (aka McD's box) on his head singing the Batman Christmas Song.

And since we have been getting so much rain and have been bringing in lots of firewood, we get to see plenty of these.

They are driving me crazy! Whenever I feel like I have found and killed them all (shh, don't tell the little guy. He freaks out whenever I kill any bug.) I find 2 or 3 more.

And since I have been on a mad creating streak lately, here is a page I did to house our Baltimore road trip photos.

And a couple of scraplifts

Again I was inspired by Christine Middlecamp. I have been following her blog for a couple of years and I love the way she layers. She has some great ideas to share.

I plan to sit my B-hind down Sunday and print photos to put on all these layouts. I think that maybe then I will upload them into my 2 peas and split coast galleries. I haven't put anything in there since oh man I don't even remember. I hope I still know how!

Thanks for stopping by and have a terrific week........

Gardening Time

2010-03-31T08:14:00.000-07:00

Me and the boys are going to be working in the yard. Not putting in plants in for a couple more weeks but we are going to dig up a couple of beds and clean up some weeds (not those kinds of weeds lol) but the kind that won't let my husband have a decent vege bed. I guess we'll take a trip to Lowe's sometime this weekend. I was one of my neighbors out working on his beds and plan to casually walk by and see what he is doing next time. I cut a bunch of daffodils and put them in the house to brighten up the joint. They smell so good! I had put in all deep yellow ones but Q decided to give me a hand while at was at school yesterday and he put in a few extra. I can only imagine what the plant that he took these from looks like right now. Next year I hope to have tulips, hydrangea and all sorts of beautys in my collection of milk glass vases.

I have about 50 million 1/2 used packs of alphas. Normally, once I use all of the a's or e's I can't get enough out of the rest of the letters to make the words I want and I hate mixing the fonts too much on my layouts. I am a same type letter gal for the most part. My lo's look too wonky to me when I use more than one type alpha for my titles. So I have been thinking on ways that I could use up the rest of my alphas and here are a couple of the ideas that I came up with.

use them on a photo mat
use them as a border

here are 2 layouts that I made like that.....

use them as a framed monogram accent on a photo (loved this but don't have a pic of it)
use them on cards

I used leftover rub-ons, paper, ribbon and stickers on this card and I loved how it turned out!

and then I ran out of ideas. I tried to come up with at least ten but the old sponge just couldn't do it. So if you have any suggestions, feel free to share (and thanks in advance, your creative and great!).

Pictureless layouts (I even journaled on one and still did not put any pictures on it). Can't figure out what my prob is here although ink is expensive. I actually saw a post on two peas about this and am so glad to know that I am not the only lost soul who does this. Although it seemed that most of the ladies that posted that they did this were sb instructors, designers or ladies who took a bunch of classes. Interesting post all the same.

Wise advice that I want to pass to my kids. I hope that they find happiness everyday instead of waiting for their lives to be perfect. I wasted a lot of years waiting for the right this or that in order to be satisfied. I want to put a small individual photo of each of them on top of a large photo of the three of them together.

My favorite page of all time! Have no idea the pics but I love the page so much that I am going to take photos especially for it. Another one for my kids. I want them to know that I am so in love with them. They make not only my day, but my life.

This one is made of all of cardstock! No patterned paper was harmed to make it. I hand painted the flowers with glimmer mist and acrylic paint than outlined them with markers & gel pens, than cut them out and shaped them (sorry about all the thans, just excited about this concept). Love how it turned out!

The cutest card I have ever, ever made! I even used die cuts on the envelope for the to address. Going to send this to my nephew Carlos bc I know he will love it.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Hubby Was Home

2010-03-26T06:03:00.000-07:00

For a little while at least. But now he is gone again. This is the busiest he has ever been and will repeat this home for a day or two pattern at least 3 more times over the next month or so. Sigh

And my sister and her family just moved here. So excited that she is so close.

Sketchy post #3. I haven't done a double pager in a while. Ok, I rarely do double pagers. I am strictly a one page layout kind of girl. but here goes.

and the page.

larger pic of page one. I plan to put pics of my hubby on this spread. I was so happy with the contrast between the blacks, creams and reds. It is what I call a dual monochromatic page (if that is possible) because I used different saturations of 2 colors, red & cream. The glimmer mist, wow. You can really see how it shimmers in the upper left corner.

and page 2. I did a lot of layering on this page. Lots of fussy cuts but the page looks really simple. It took me a day and a half to finish!

I altered it just a little bit. I used glimmer mist and a THoltz mask on the sides of the pages to make it feel more balanced to me. I also used scraps almost exclusively for the mats and pp on the page.

Finally, after over a year of applying, Aaron got a call back. I am very proud of him and am so excited that he will finally know what it is to earn the money he puts into his pocket. I really can't believe that he is going to be graduating soon and leaving home soon after. He will spend a couple of months in Ill with his Grandma and then he will be off to basic after that. Time sure does fly.

My new favorite breakfast is a banana, 2 cups of coffee and

These littly babies are sooooo good! For the last few years I have been trying to healthyatize our diets. Not necessarily cutting out fats and sugars but more leaning towards cutting our preservatives, food dyes and what not. It has been going pretty well. It is definitely more expensive but so worth it. Last year, I was looking for a good alternative to cream soups (they have msg in them) and never found one but I learned in that process that there is a lot of food out there that has msg. Yikes. I hardly buy any canned foods, preffering fresh or frozen (no preservatives at all most) and I don't buy rice mixes or foods like it anymore, which have tons of msg. It has not been as difficult as I thought it would be. We love noodles with fresh spinach and veges, rice the same and potatoes. I have been learning so many new ways to cook potatoes. So what's the point to this. No point to this whatsoevah, just talking to my girls about something that ive been mulling and i hope you dont mind. The good news is that before I started, my cholesterol was super, super high and now it is better than normal so something must be meshing here. And if I am being totally honest (which I am), the changes were so slow that we havent even missed the way we used to eat or the things we have dropped from our diet.

I saw a news report not to long ago about a woman that set an experiment to see if she could eat healthy off of the average amount of money that food stamps supplies to a family per month (I bet that saved her a ton of money! My grocery bill is out of control). I was amazed by how she was eating. She said that she couldn't afford fresh or frozen foods or good cuts of meat. Hello, where was she shopping at whole foods? Not that I have anything at all against whole foods, it is one of my favorite stores but you have to have a healthy food budget to shop there. Seriously. Budget shoppers shop where the bargains are and that is not whole foods my friends. I had to wonder if she exagerated a bit, she was talking about all this weight she lost and having to eat canned foods and fatty meats. Wha? My mom budget shopped for us and she started a garden, found a co-op and learned how to make a mean pot of stew (ok, sometimes it was nasty) but she did it and we ate healthy. Just no snacks except what we made at home and not a lot of the more expensive fruits (grapes, cherries, etc).

Babble over, time to say thank you for stopping by and I hope that you have a fantastic weekend!!!!! Hope your weather is not rainy, cold or snowy like ours here is supposed to be.

What Am I Doing Today

2010-03-25T06:06:00.000-07:00

My to do list for today.....

Clean - hubby is coming home for 1 stinkin day and I want the house to be clean & fresh smelling. I love to come home to a clean house after a trip and I want to give him the same courtesy.
Schoolwork - huge, huge list of test to study for, projects to complete and homework assignments. Sigh
Laundry - to include the huge basketful of socks that need to be sorted
Submissions - I am working on several submissions and have to take photos to put on the pages, take good photos of the projects and get them all uploaded with my information
Summer Scrapbook Shows - I am applying for several shows this summer and there is so much planning to do. Booth design, kit designs, class designs, product orders, travel plans & reservations
Vacation reservations - Disney or cruise?
Bills - my personal favorite
Menu for next week
Q's Summer activities - he wants to take karate, play soccer, start learning Japanese (yes, he asked for this), science camp, art classes and he wants to start piano lessons this year
A's Graduation stuff - lots of fam coming to town so reservations, invitations, ordering cap & gown, etc
File - I open my mail only when I have to so I always have a pile that looks like this

Unfinished projects
Develop new projects to add to the unfinished projects list
Rearrange my craft room
Family phone calls - I like to talk to at least one of my sibs & my parents daily so I try to make a couple of calls every day of the week. Weird I know but it works for us bc no one can get information without sharing it with someone else. So if I get good news from Aggie on Monday, I can talk to Janeen about it on Tuesday and Teen will call me on Wednesday etc.
Workout - can someone invent a workout pill? Please? You take the pill and it is like doing a 30 minute run. Take 2 pills and you've done a thirty minute run, 30 push ups, 50 sit ups and 250 crunches.

Here are a couple of my favorite pics from our Baltimore trip.

I took most of them, but Q took the one of that interesting looking fish.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a fantastic Thursday.

P.S. If you like to make handmade flowers, stop by and visit lollychops, she is doing tutorials all this week and they are fantastic!

What a Great Weekend

2010-03-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

We went here

I actually got to see one of the torpedoes that I used to work on while I was here and was able to tell my hubby a little history about them. That was buck but the sub was small so we left and went here

and here

holy cow folks, this is the largest B&N that I have ever seen! And I have seen a lot of them. It is like 4 stories has an indoor and outdoor cafe and 2 coffee bars. The little guy and I could have stayed there for 1 full day and been as happy as ticks on a fat dog but the hubby was having none of it so we went here

Those mantas there were as big as a baby elephant. Q and I spent a good half hour trying to get decent pictures of them. Man were we tired from all the walking so we left and went to my very favorite restaraunt and had an amazing lunch/dinner. If you have a chance to go, I highly, highly recommend the red velvet cheesecake. Yum.

I have to edit the photos that I took of us (ha ha, I said edit) but will be posting them especially for the girl sometime this week.

The weather was perfect and Baltimore Harbor was packed with street performers, wall to wall people, dogs with their owners and runners. There are a ton of runners here. We enjoyed and will definitely be going back. Although next time I will make sure I take my own pillows! The hotels were down and man am I paying for it now. Off to pop a couple of Benedryl.

Thanks for stopping by and have an incredible week!

Great Scraps

2010-03-17T10:11:00.000-07:00

And sketchy layout number 2. I love it when I do what I'm supposed to do! The sketch....

This sketch was so much fun. I hand cut the scallop and decide to put 2 photos at the bottom instead of one. I also handmade the journal mat with my cad and a pair of scissors. Love the colors on this one too....

I spent the entire day (11-5) scrappin at Great Scraps. It was so, so nice I truly enjoyed it. I only finished 2 layouts though. I am definitely not one to crank out page after page. I know a lady that did 30 layouts at a 2 day crop. Holy smokes, I don't do 30 layouts in a month.

I don't know what the deal is but I haven't been able to keep my eyes open for the last 2 days. I fell asleep last night at like 930. I was in bed before my boys! I must be getting old.

Anyway, thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!!!

PageMaps

2010-03-17T09:50:00.000-07:00

I plan to do all of the sketches for pagemaps this month. wish me luck. Here is the first sketch

and the page. I intend to use a picture of me and all my sisters but I can't find it! I am going to have to get one of them to send it to me. Not sure I love the layout, but I love the colors and the concept. Sorry it's so blurry, I may be forced to retake the pic of it later.

I showed this layout in progress a couple of weeks ago, maybe, I can't remember but I finally finished it.

I plan to add this photo of my gabby girl + another one as soon as I find one that I like enough to put in the circle.

My intention was to craft all day Saturday and today but instead, I spent the entire day reading! I have read 4 of the 6 - 1000 page DG Outlander novels since I got them a few weeks ago. Seriously, I stay up until like 2am reading most nights, I just can't put them down. I haven't had any takers on my offer to give them away so as soon as I finish the last one, I plan to donate them to the Goodwill.

This is a photo of the worst adhesive I have ever used! It was awful for me. I have disliked things before (glimmer mist) and them come to love them but I don't see that happening here. I got it bc it was on sale for like $2 and I ended up giving it away. Seriously, awful.

I had this idea in my had for a bag/purse and it is still there but I still have not definitively decided upon a design or a plan. It is just swirling around in my head. Times like this make me wish I could put pen to paper and come away with the picture in my head.

My husband and I have been together for over 14 years now. I was thinking about how when we first met i loved every single thing about him and he really could do no wrong. This feeling must have stuck around for awhile bc we dated for 3 years before we got married. We are very, very different in a lot of ways but I think that what makes us stick and still love each other very much, despite the differences, is we both have the same ultimate goals. God comes first, we come second and the kids come next (most of the time we come second but on a daily basis I have to admit that we put the kids needs first). Lovely right? Well, I have to tell you that the next time that man starts talking in the middle of a good movie we are going to leave the theater and go straight to the judge! He is the worst movie talker ever!!!! I am quite as a church mouse but him, OMGoodness he would talk straight thru if I didn't give him the stink eye and refuse to answer his questions. I won't watch any tv show with him unless it is recording for the same reasons or if it is something that I didn't really want to watch anyway. AAAAGGGGGHHHH.

On another note, spring is in the air. It is supposed to get to 70 on Friday and I caught a picture of these this morning when I was photographing layouts.

I have already been looking through garden catalogs so I guess the boys and I will be spending some time this weekend looking for a nursery for the garden plan I have in mind.

Thanks for stopping by and check you later. Have a fantastically wonderful week!

Encyclopedia Brown

2010-03-13T09:17:00.000-08:00

Yes, I still have encyclopedias. I am a smell the book kind of girl so having them on disk is not appealing to me. I had a whole entire set of them which included the entire works of all the great well known philosophers but I donated them to a private school years ago. Broke my heart but at least they are being used. My husband has been threating, begging, and bribing me to give up these last few and I just simply can't. They are beautiful to me and I am holding out for that library. When we finally settle into the last home we are going to live in, I will have a library that holds all my books. I am so looking forward to that. But for now, I think they will have to go back into the box seeing as how he set his fish tank up right next to them. Pity.

It is stinky dark and wet and dreary here. Supposed to rain all weekend and part of next week. I sure do miss my fluffy snow.

I will be crafting all day today and 1/2 of tomorrow yes I will. Can't wait. I have bought a ton of new papers and embellishments that have been calling me all week.

K&Co. Probably one of my favorite companies. Still have a few things that I want to get

I also bought a lot of pink paisley paper, october afternoon papers and embellies, some new basic grey, american crafts, bo bunny, my minds eye, me and my big ideas and a new company that I was not familiar with called scribble scrabble. I loved their papers though.

I have already used the bird and one of the frames on the sticker sheet! I never do that, it normally takes me a few weeks to use my new stuff. I plan to cut the center out of the yellow die cut edge paper. The pattern is too cute to cover up and, again, I have already used the 1 of the token die cuts. They are about 2 inches wide and 1 inch tall, big enough for a sub title or part of a title. hmmm just thought of that.

Oh man, that is a heck of a post. Sorry about that. Been chatty lately. I guess it is the weather! Thanks for stopping by and hope that you are having a fantastic weekend. Later

New Favorite Layout

2010-03-12T11:27:00.000-08:00

This is my new favorite layout.

It is of my girl and my best friends boy when they were about 6 months old. I haven't journaled it yet because I am not quite sure what I want to say, maybe I will just use a quote. At least I used a photo.

The weather is so bad here and CJ is out of town and I was concerned about Q coming home to an empty house (plus I left my cell phone) that I decided to play hookie on my last class. Most of my classes have been super empty today so hopefully my professor will not take this day to put out some amazingly difficult concept that I must be in class to appreciate. I have been faithfully reading each chapter, doing the optional homework and taking hundreds of notes so I should be fine.

I finally got the new issue of CK and am going to settle in to read it and the 4th book in my Outlanders series tonight. That's my plan and I am sticking to it. No laundry, dinner cooking, bed making or other distractions will get between me and my relaxation. I wasn't crazy about the cover colors, despite the fact that purple is my favorite color, but I am reserving judgement on how much I like this issue.

I have just started following along with KW cards on Fridays and Mondays. I went back and started at the beginning and here are the 2 cards I made. I am going to make this weeks today. I plan to do nothing at all but craft this weekend (with the exception of taking Q to the art museum).

I have been promising the girl my recipes for a while now and have finally started a blog to share what we are eating with her. I think she probably misses the family dinners a little.

Not a lot to share today. Thanks for stopping by and have fun & fantastic weekend!

Uncle Sam is SO NOT my Favorite Uncle at the Moment!

2010-03-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

AAAAGGGGGHHHH. Is all I have to say after spending months on an issue with my least favorite uncle. Are you serious? Could this be any more frustrating? Yes it could so I will just accept the blessing that it is not and say a prayer of thanksgiving that it will eventually be resolved and things will run smoothly after that. Right? Right.

Anywho on the other shoe, school is going very fine. Very fine indeed. Despite the fact that I am surrounded by chattering 18-20 yos, I love it and am doing very well. The old bowl of jello still has all its flavor. Yes indeed. No loss of wrinkles in my brain no matter what my hubby says.

On to better subjects than my frustrations. I know that I am going to look back on the post I have made these past few days and wonder why in the heck I was having such a bad week. Which is so not the case, I am have a series of fortunately good weeks that happen to have a few bad moments (disclaimer). That being said, I will move on. On to some awesome blog action today. Hello, I visit about a hundred blogs a day (why the heck do you think I don't update my own? just sayin) but today was a good day to visit blogs.

First American Crafts stunned me with a gorgeous layout that I can't wait to scraplift by Piradee Talvanna using these products (how cute is that butterfly paper?)

And than Melissa Phillips does another page that I am totally going to scaplift for my niece and she leaves a really simple recipe for homemade Oreo Cookies that I am also going to lift for me and the little guy to make.

On to Pinefeather who did a tutorial on the cutest simple card! I can't wait to try it and you know mine will have a drawerful of crap on it and so not look like hers when I am done. I am also going to go and buy myself a cuttlebug this weekend. I have been holding out long enough. I know that as soon as I buy it, a new machine is going to come out that is better but I won't be able to get it bc I just bought this one and .....oh sorry, having a baby bug flashback. My bad.

Ok, mini albums are my thing and I love to make them but this one by Katie Watson on the Maya Road DT blog is the bees knees. OMGoodness you have to see it.

If I ever made a card for my mother that was as beautiful as this one that Ingvilde Bolme made for hers, she would move in with me and cook me dinner every night for a year. Seriously.

Ok, I am supposed to be working on a science project idea so that when I call my science partner we have something to discuss but I have no idea where to start. Hello, science is my worst subject second only to math! Geez.

Thanks for stopping by and have an incredibly good day!

Somebody is Going to Get a Black Eye

2010-03-10T13:02:00.000-08:00

And since it is illegal to give them to your kids, I guess it is going to be me! That little boy is acting like a complete butthole today and I swear if he doesn't stop, it is going to get ugly!!!! Mommy time out (at the scrapbook store and the boys have to fend for themselves for dinner) is fast approaching. Why is he crying when he is ticking me off? UUUUUGGGGGHHHHH Oh, sorry he is not crying, he is singing which is so much more appropriate.

He informed me that he is having a bad day because he only had crackers and a sunny d for lunch and the lunch lady would not listen to him (and even had the nerve to insist that she was helping him) when he was trying to tell her not to call me or his dad because we were not available. I am serious people. I gave in his lunch check on the 1st and it is in his backpack right now. Why did he not just tell her his check was in his backpack? No clue.

I am going to insist on a raise when my husband gets back!

National Zoo

2010-03-09T09:40:00.000-08:00

We visited this fantastic (free) place and had a ball. One of the things I love the most about living in DC is how much there is to do. With the weather so bad lately, we really haven't done much but it was gorgeous out and we had a great time. I, of course, forgot my camera but here are the pics the little guy took with the cam he got for Christmas. He is doing so well with it that I think there is a better one in his future. Maybe for Easter. He absolutely loves the thing! The most interesting thing we saw was a wolf. I have been to a lot of zoos and have never seen a wolf. Boy do they stink!!!!! But this one was red and looked like a very tall fox, hence the nickname, fox on stilts. It was almost as tall as a zebra. The female lions were also beautiful and huge, huge, huge. I am still always slightly surprised by big they are when I see them in person.
This is my favorite, the meerkats and they were the most active in the zoo besides the little teeny monkeys.

These were in with the sloths and they were so tiny. They were about the size of a small cat or an older kitten. They played with each other like children.

This is the wolf, so graceful and beautiful. I would go back just to see him. He might even end up on my Christmas cards this year!

Speaking of zoo, the hubby is trying to get cool daddy points by putting this in Q's room

I think he won the popularity contest hands down this week. It even has an ugly crayfish in it.

Oh and I think he put the crabs in there too. I told them that if the crabs get out there was going to be trouble. We had them before and they both escaped. The kids would come home and they would be in the middle of the living room. Yuck!!!! Because I am evil (HAAAAAHAAAAAHAAAA), when the boy walks in the door from school, I will ask him to guess what I sucked up the vacuum hose. Works everytime. He freaks out and runs to dump the vacuum tray to find his crabs.

Just wanted to pop in for a quick second. Off to do a massive amount of science homework and to play catch-up with housework, phone calls and emails.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

If You Could Change One Thing.........

2010-03-07T08:56:00.000-08:00

That is a question that I have been asking myself and really thinking hard on these last few months, years really. Seems as if I am growing up. I know, I know, that is an odd thing to say for a woman who is over 25 (you didn't think I was going to tell my real age did you?). I am very happy to say that there is not much that I would change and most of what I would change is because my actions caused pain to someone that I love. Have I been an angel? Heck no!!!! Far from it, I just think of the great lessons I learned from the things I screwed up on and how those lessons have and are still shaping my life. My world has ended more times than I can count but I am still here. I am still important. I am still contributing. I am still learning. I hope to never stop. I am so happy to say those things about myself because for a very long time, I felt that I had no purpose and no reason for being here. Okay, deep communication over. On to the good stuff.

Went to see Alice in Wonderland yesterday and while it was not nearly as good as I thought it would be, I keep finding myself yelling, "I NEED A PIG HERE!". Easily the funniest part of the movie for me!!!!! And Johnny Depp, he is so odd. I could not get into his character, but when he danced at the end of the movie, SO funny. But Helena B. stole the show. She was the most entertaining.

I put pictures on a couple of layouts. I have been wanting to. I got a whole but of pics developed at Target but they are all 4X6. Not that there is anything wrong with 4X6 photos, but a girl needs a little variety. My printer has been crapping all over the photos that I printed at home. So annoying! Great photo, half of it anyway than pink on the other half UUUUUGGGGGHHHHH!!! Excuse the exclamation points, I am very emotional about this. So anywho, I ran to Staples to pick up some (expensive as all get out) ink and what should I find there? A $50 photo printer!!!! Get. Out. I am beyond over joyed and the darned things prints like a dream. O but I tell ya, if those boys use my printer, there is going to be trouble..........

Here is the first layout. I put a pic of this layout in progress a few days ago and it has really changed. I am very happy with how it came out.

This is a layout that I did during the big snow storm. Love it too.

This is what is on my desk right now. Not sure where it is going to go but so far liking it.

Thanks so much for stopping by and see you next time. Hope you had an incredible weekend!

Inspired by Donna Downey

2010-02-28T10:58:00.000-08:00

I would love, love, love to go to inspired this year but am still not sure if I am going to be able to. My schedule is crazy and I don't really have anyone to go with me as most of the folks in my "circle" here are not crafty. Anywho, off topic, again. I am inspired by all the canvas that she uses and the bags that she is making. I love the idea of a canvas purse and have been playing with paint, stamps, gathering and beading to make a new purse. Although I ended up using muslin because the canvas was too heavy. Don't have pics yet bc I am far from having a finished product, but I hope to post something next week, just wanted to get the idea in writing and see if any other crafty souls were thinking along the same lines.

Here are a few more pics of the baby cards that I made. Still haven't done anything else with them. I guess I should be glad that I lined the envelopes and leave well enough alone.

I finally got my 2 scrappy titles and am going to do these 1 challenges from the 52 challenges book and try one technique from delight in the details-

Get inspired by an outfit (52)
Button bouquet (delight)

A recent dinner conversation between me and my hubby

Why Bother?(him) Excuse me(me) I said why bother? (him) This is about my use of salad dressing. He who drowns his salad in lite dressing can't understand why I use so little. So as I was trying to explain it to him, he looks over at the little guy munching away on his own salad, sighs and says nevermind. Q just happens to like his salads with NO dressing at all.

(Is it normal to put pictures of your food on your blog? Just curious.)

This is what I am working on now. Loving the color scheme but it sure does need a lot of work at this point!

Just finished this yesterday and have to get some picks of the new house and all of us together in front of the fireplace. Can't believe that this time next year, we will be 3 instead of 4. My little birdies are flying the coup so, so fast......

The paper that I used is glittery and I love it, but you can't see it in the pic above. Plus the colors are not as dark. I took another pic with the flash on and it shows the glitter and softer colors better.

And last thing for this super long, super pic filled post is the photo cube that I made from scratch. Yes, from scratch.

Side 1

Side 2 (my favorite with that handmade flower and leaves)

and side 3 (I didn't take any pics of the last side which is just for journaling).

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you had a fantastic weekend!

A New Camera

2010-02-17T10:51:00.000-08:00

I definitely want one but the cost of the one I want is a little steep right now. This is what I have and it is a pretty good camera.

This is what I want and it is not "cheap" enough for me to justify just going out and getting it (oh to be a Oprah's child at this moment).......

So I started digging around on the web and found a few websites that "teach" you to take better pics (I am totally unsure that I am able to be taught to take good photos, Ronee tried her best, hence the waiting on a pricier camera) and am going to give the learning experience a new try.

My lessons seem to be starting with the snow picks I have been promising my girl. She is in SC and sent me snow pics of her own. Global Warming? I have never seen the south get that much snow and I have met a ton of northerners that say the amount of snow we are getting is CRAZY not normal. Where is Al Gore? I have a couple of questions for him. The first one will be about the slow death of my favorite hairspray because everylady was trying to save the ozone layer by not using it. Ok, i'm rambling, just a little. Anywho, here are a few pics my girl (and anyone else that wants to take a looksie). The first one is of our backyard. That fence is almost 6ft tall and the bird bath is approx 3.

We had to dig a path to the trash cans because the snow just sucks you under and you can't walk. Trust me, Q's shoe is in there somewhere.

A project that I have been working on. Now that the girl is no longer at home, whenever I come across a picture of her I get very nostalgic. I always wanted a little girl, from the time I was a little girl I have dreamed of what she would be like and my little girl is exactly what I imagined her to be. No less know than when I dreamed of her before she was born. So that is what the title and the journaling mean.

Nothing is glued down and I still have to add the title and finalize where I want to put things, my journaling, etc. But so far eatz goood for me. Check out Christine Middlecamp's blog for a tutorial on the border. She is so creative and it was so fun to make.

I got a the book "Snow and Ashes" as a gift and read it in a week. That was a few years ago. I was a little lost in some places and since I never read the descriptions at the front of the book, didn't realize that it was because this was the last book in a series of 6. There were 5 more that I hadn't read! Was at BAM and found the whole series. Of course I bought them all and will spend the next few years of my life reading them b/c they are all about 3" thick. I never, ever reread a book but am going to make an exception with Snow & Ashes. If you would like to read the series and are willing to wait for me to finish them, I will happily mail them to you. I am halfway thru the first one (Outlander) and have been staying up till all hours of the night to read it. Consider yourself warned!

I also ordered these 2 little beauties and intend to spend the next year doing all the challenges and projects. Can't wait for them to get here. Wish me luck!

Sorry (again) that it's so long. Gotta run, late for class.

Hello Friends

2010-02-08T08:28:00.000-08:00

A couple of the snowed in projects that I have been working on. Sorry for the crappy photos. I would like to blame it on the lighting but I can't. It is just me. Hope you enjoy anyway.

I found the directions to make the easel card on split coast stampers. Hello, I love that site!!!!!

This is a candle that I made and love. I keep it in my living room and am so happy with how it turned out. And it was made with scraps even (except for that large, gorgeous blue flower).

I've been making baby cards. I made 3 boy ones and 3 girl ones. I can never make the same design twice so they are all different. Looking at it here, it looks a little plain and I think I will add some ribbon or something to it. After that, I just need to find some folks that are making babies to send them to, hmmmm.

CJ and I plan to actually go out on V-day so I made this for the pics I know he is going to take:

(see that heart? That is a throooooowback EKSuccess shaker box from way back)

It is unbelievable how much snow we have gotten! I am one happy girl. Aaron & I shovelled the drive and the walk yesterday and had to dig the car out. When I say dig, I mean that the car was buried up to the door handles and there was 3 feet of snow on top of it! Can you say what the heck? I am used to the snow in the south that is here today and gone in one hour. Not here I tell you. Wait till you see the photos of the parking lots and side streets. They don't have anywhere to put the snow in the parking lots so there are mounds that are about 12 ft high in the larger lots. Unbelievable. We are definitely going to get one of these babies!

Every now and than, I will stalk my daughters facebook page. Look what I found when I was looking at her pictures. I adore my baby brother and he is so good with all his nieces and nephews. My daughter spends a lot of time at his place when she is in town. I can't wait to scrap this!

Sorry about the long post. Gotta go finish the sidewalk before we leave for the movies. Going to see Avatar (again). Best movie we've seen in a long time!

Hello, 20-30 Inches

2010-01-30T09:43:00.001-08:00

of snow that is! Are you kidding me right now? I could not be happier. I should be able to get a lot of scrappy stuff done this weekend, WooooooHooooooo. I will post some pics of the winter wonderland later.

More Snow

2010-01-29T08:05:00.000-08:00

this weekend. Supposed to start Friday and roll out Saturday. The weatherman is still undecided on whether we are going to get a little or a lot here, but he says that this storm is going to drop buckets somewhere.

I Am Officially In Love

2010-01-26T08:22:00.000-08:00

With my family of course. Being wife/mom makes me so happy. hmmm, now if I could just learn to let go of the feeling that I should always be doing something.........

With the new scrapbook store that I found that is just 20 minutes from my house. I left with a headache from looking at so much great stuff!!!!!!

With my new classes. OMGoodness the ideas, the ideas. I can't wait to teach them!

With starting school back up again soon.....

With the Smithsonian. Not only is it the bestest museum ever, it has some of the greatest activities. Scavenger hunt in the art museum, artist lectures, concerts, movies heeello. Love it.

With scrappin photos that I printed out last week instead of last century, lol. Yeah, i'm that bad. And one of those to boot. You know which one, "gotta scrap all those photos from the first 20 years before I print out new ones" one.

Do you have old, ugly (why did I ever buy this & what the heck am I goint to use it for?) patterned paper that you know you're never going to use? I have a ton of it, probably literally. Here are 10 things that I came up with to use it for.

Use the white back instead of cutting up a piece of white cardstock.
Paint it, glimmer mist it, stamp it or emboss it than cut it up into decorative embellishments. You can use paper piecing, cricuts, sizzix, quickcuts, slices or any die cut machine with very good results, you just have to make sure your paper is bone dry. I especially love stamped & cut out flowers.
Use it as a template. When I am designing a layout, I often cut regular copy paper to the size of the photo/s that I am thinking of using to see if I like the size and to plan placement. Works like a charm. I would use the white sides because it is much less distracting than a pattern (especially if it's ugly).
Punch elements out of it and use the paper or the element as a mask.
Use it to protect your work surface. Old magazines work well for this too.
Sometimes I will have paper that I want to use as a base of my layouts but it is not strong enough. I simply adhere it to a piece of junk paper to make it a little stronger. Sometimes you may have to trim it a bit so it doesn't show, but it works like a charm. Tape runners & not liquid adhesive seems to work better for this.
I read a lot. It is not uncommon for me to be reading 3 or 4 books and a couple of magazines at the same time. So (i'm sure you can see where this is going) I cut it up into bookmarks/placeholders. Also great for making notes on when I see a project that I like.
Challenge yourself to use it.
Emboss it than sand it. I have gotten some great looking mats doing this.
Use it to make patterns for boxes, shapes, cards, etc.

I always love to get tips for using the stuff I buy, so share please. What do you do with your ugly paper?

And He's Off

2010-01-13T12:09:00.000-08:00

again. Don't know if I would like to travel as much as he does. I used to but lately it seems as I am ready to come home the day after I leave. So not like me. I love to see everything and am very (very) nosey!

Me + Him + Karaoke

2010-01-11T09:30:00.000-08:00

= a hot mess. Neither one of us can sing and we are both boring with a capital B. You can see where this is going, not far if a career in singing is involved. But even a bombing in a karaoke bar is a pretty good way to end a whole, entire day spent with your honey.

My Honey's Home

2010-01-06T07:19:00.000-08:00

I have to go pick him up in about an hour and I am beyond excited. I haven't seen him since the middle of December. While we were freezing our butts off, he was in the Virgin Islands chillin by the pool. Welcome home babe, its 35 degrees today, cold yet? Can you tell I am a teensy, weensy bit bitter?

It's Cold As

2010-01-04T03:34:00.000-08:00

a witches' tit in a brass bra (as one of my bestest friends used to say very regularly about the state of the ac in our dorm). 21 degrees when we got home last night and apparantly our heat is stuck on 65! I am not a 65 degree type gal. I need that blasted unit to give up at least 8 more degrees. Had plans to go to the movies, library and somewhere else that I can't remember but it's super windy outside and my studio (with space heater) and bed are calling me. Ok whine session over.

Have been making something everyday. So, so happy with myself. I would put out there what I am working on but it does not seem to motivate me to finish when I do that so I will keep it to myself. But I did do this......

No photos yet b/c I haven't received all my Christmas photos back yet. I have the perfect ones in mind. We roasted marshmallows and I have some really cute pics of my niece eating hers.

I think I've had my facebook account for about a year and am still a total no show there. No pictures, no posts, no comments, no nothing. But I received an email saying that a friend that I haven't seen in ages wrote on my wall. Checked it out and he actually wished me a happy birthday. I can't believe he remembered! He always was a very, very sweet man and his wife was CRAZY to let him go!!!!!! I just hope that means that there is another woman that is worthy of him waiting in the wings. Anywho, my prince charming will be here on Tuesday and I can't wait. I truly miss him and the holidays did not feel the same with him gone. I believe this is the first or second holiday in 14 years that we have not spent together.

I went to Target yesterday to process some of my photos and duh, I left the darn memory card in my busted, only want to work occasionally card reader. DITTTZZZYYYY I have been lately. Maybe it's because my better half is gone.

It's 12pm and where is my piggy?

Still in bed. What???? He is gonna be a real pill on Monday when he has to get up at 6:30 and it is 25 degrees outside. So not looking forward to that.

I haven't posted in ages so I will apologize in advance for being super chatty today. My daughter, sister & her kids and my niece came here for Christmas and it was so much fun. I wish they could have stayed even longer. We did so much!!!! And had a wonderful time. On Christmas day I thought that the kids would be homesick but they loved it. We opened gifts, we played in the snow, we watched movies, we took naps, we played with the kids toys, we..... well you get the picture, we did a whole bunch of nothing! We did not even cook because we had plans to go to Old Country Buffet and enjoy a home cooked southern meal that we did not cook ourselves (or wash any dishes for). We loaded the kids in the car, agreed on our plan to eat greedily, sit back and chat for an hour or so, eat greedily again than come home stuffed to the gills and go for a walk (not! it's cold outside) nap, nap and nap. We pull up and were so happy that it didn't seem crowded at all. Uh, that's because it was CLOSED. What the heck! Closed you must be kidding me, I did not buy any food to cook for Christmas dinner and it is now 4pm. My brother told me that it was packed last Christmas what is going on. Closed. The universe stricks again. Plan B. Sit in the parking lot and call restaraunts in the area till we find one that is open. Finally, Ruby Tuesday answered the phone. Not southern but food. Not buffet but salad. And we had the place to ourselves. Great food, lots of laughs and we managed to still get stuffed.

I managed to steal some photos of our vaca from my girls facebook page

Christmas Wish Come True

2009-12-19T15:26:00.000-08:00

We had record snowfall! For several years now I have been praying and pining for a white Christmas and boy did I get it this year!!!!! It looks to me to be about 20"s but the weatherman is saying 10-15. Went out in it very briefly this morning and it is super soft and powdery. It looks like sugar. I promised pics for CJ and the girl so here they are. (love u babe and wish u were here)

My Creative Classroom

2009-09-02T13:02:00.000-07:00

Guess what I did? I applied to teach online classes at My Creative Classroom. And guess what else? I was hired. Yeah, yeah I know, my life is crazy right now but I am still super excited. I will be teaching 2 classes. This one that is all about making stuff yourself (my all time favorite thing to do!) .....

This is just one of the things that we will be doing. I covered everything from making your own buttons to making brads using photos. The crazy kitty, pumpkins and journal spot on this layout are going to be made in class.

And this one that is all about the glimmer mist.......

Yep, that necklace is made using stuff and glimmer mist. It is pretty, my neighbor told me so.

I still need to add blinkies and put the finishig touches on my classes but once that is done, I will be in business.

Thanks for stopping by and see you soon.

4 weeks till the big moving day! We are so excited!!!!!!

2009-08-25T09:11:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted for awhile. I have had a lot going on, all of it personal. I have made so many changes. My husband and I have been forced to live apart for almost 2 years now because of the housing market, economy, whatever and it has been tough. I have had to make some decisions that I put off making when I should have and that has been tough. These last 2 years have really taken a toll on our family. The time apart stress our marriage and his relationship with the kids. For the past few weeks, I really was not sure if we would survive, but God is good and he let us know in no uncertain terms that we made a commitment (#1) and we really do need each other. Giving up is not an option.

It is tough but we finally decided to take a leap of faith and move the family to where my husband is. Not just a decision, but we have taken steps. We have a move date of October 1st. That is when the beautiful moving guys will come and start packing up our stuff. Have I mentioned how much I love moving guys? If you have ever moved, you know why. My husband does not have to worry about a movie star or a pool boy when I start going thru my midlife in about 20 years. He has to worry about one of those guys in a truck that has the word "Movers" painted on the side. lol. Anywho, I got way off track. I am excited to move and really excited to move to DC. My hubby loves it there and can't wait to get us there so that we can really enjoy the city together. The boys are excited that they get 2 weeks out of school. The girl is excited that finally, she gets to move to the city (when she grads of course). I have a line on 10 houses to look at renting and we have narrowed the neighborhoods down to about 5.

I am in my second semester of school and managed to finish my first up with a 4.0! I love, love, love, heart, love being in school. I took Economics this semester (hate, hate, hate) along with 4 other classes.

I will be teaching online but am going to post a different entry about that. I have closed Gifted but am working on something else that I feel will fit my needs better.

Grow

2009-07-01T07:51:00.000-07:00

That's it, that is all I want to do. All I feel I am called to do. I have a golden opportunity here. I am young and retired. I can make a fresh start. Doing a job that speaks to me. That makes me happy. That doesn't feel like work. There are only 2 things that fall into that category for me.

I want to be a wife & mother that is at home most of the time. I love being able to be there for my husband when he needs an encouraging word. I love being there for my boys when they get home from school or if they have a problem. I love being able to talk to my girl when she needs me. I love cooking healthy meals & taking care of my home. When I had my more than full time job everything was a chore. Everything. I had no time, no patience and no joy. I was cranky and even though I was doing my best, not a good wife or mother. I was very good at my job though. I felt that my family was number one because I was providing a good life for them. But my kids came home to an empty house everyday. There were times when, because of work, I could not stop what I was doing to talk to them. And instead of being able to be a support to my husband when he needed it, I had my own job stresses to dish. And finding God, God was nowhere to be found in my life. Now, things are different. I am taking my time to find the right career. I am spending time with my family. I am finding myself again. It's not easy most of the time but I am growing.

I want to have a job that allows me to create the things in my head using the things in my hands. Be it paper, wood, bits of string or fabric I want to make pretty things with them. But the #1 requirement for my job is that I can keep #1 at #1. I don't want to sacrifice my family for business. I want to travel, a lot, but it would be nice to take them with me. I want my schedule to be flexible. I want to be excited about what I am doing & sharing. I don't ask for much do I?

All of this is coming from deep inside of me. Lately, I feel that my emotions are my skin and that I don't want to "have to do" for the rest of my life. I want to feel everything when I feel it, not later when I have time.

Busy

2009-06-30T06:55:00.001-07:00

I have an extraordinarily busy day today. Whew, I am tired already. So why am I blogging you might be asking, well I don't know, I just couldn't help myself. Here's my Tuesday to-do list:

homework for Web & Bus class

study for Acc test tomorrow (and boy do I need it! Have I mentioned that I can't count?)

laundry

dishes

finishing touches on class samples & get em in the mail

work on developing new class for a new assignment

mow the lawn (where's the boy when you need him? I am only doing the front today!)

Pay bills & mail (Yuck! I wish I could get paid and have the cosmos pay my bills so I could spend all my money on clothes, eating out, coffee & scrapbooking)

finish moving furniture in boys room

take couch to the dump (that's been on my list for months now)

clean my bathroom (maybe move that to tomorrow)

CHA reservations

camping reservations

baby shower cards for my sister

etc, etc (ie stuff that I need to do but won't do today lol)

What's on your list?

Man, it is absolutely gorgeous today! Hot, but georgeous. I even took a photo for you.........

Have a great day and blog you later!

Don't Leave The TV On

2009-06-24T02:41:00.000-07:00

when you go to bed or you will find yourself waking up at 4:30 am and end up blogging an hour later!

A "nice" note my girlie left me on FB

#1-"I found you woman!"
*when I told her I had a FB account she didn't believe me so she called and asked me which community? I was in. Communi what I said. She called me back and 1st asked me if I was sure I had an account than said that she could not find me anywhere. A couple days later I got this*

#2 - I didnt send you a friend request thank you very much. What would make you think that I would want you snooping around on my page? Hmmm? You might get a few shockers lol. But thank you, I wouldn't be beautiful if it wasnt for you. Come on you ARE my mother : )"
*I got this in reply to the very cute note I left her about how hard she was going to have to work to get me to accept her as a friend. How sweet is my girl. Reminds me of that candy commercial for the sweet & sour gummys

Cathleen Smith (met her in one of my classes, she was great) is an Rusty Pickle Amazing Race Finalist. Congrats Cathleen, your work is fantastic. I have to go check out the clues at noon.

My boys are gone. Did not realize how quiet my house would be or how much I would miss having them around. They are having fun at my brothers and when I called, my little guy did not even want to slow down & talk to me. Oh well I have to face reality, he is not my baby any more.

Off to do homework. Will probably go back to sleep for a couple of hours.

Just Blog Already!

2009-06-23T08:16:00.001-07:00

I did it again. I posted 2 weeks worth of post in one day. It is so much simpler to just do it when I start the post. Some people.

Here are a couple of photos of one of the classes that I will be teaching in Columbia. I am so happy with how it came out. I was a bit disappointed that my original supplies were no longer available but once I got to work with these, the album just came together. Love the bird in the nest!

I sure hope that I can get in the TH class at CHA. That would make me so happy!

Just Finished

2009-06-22T20:44:00.000-07:00

the homework that I started at 12pm. This school stuff is no joke. I haven't worked this hard since Q was a baby. My brain is fried!

Very Good News! I talked to Jodie and I will be teaching 3 classes at Scrap 'n' Stamp in Jacksonville, Florida next month. I used to visit this store all the time when I lived there. I will be teaching:

The Apron Class
Being Myself 6X6 Mixed Media Album
The Glimmer Project Mixed Media Album

I love all three of these classes and was very happy when Jodie said she wanted them. I should be posting a few pics of the samples this week before I get them in the mail.

I will also be teaching a new paper bag album in Columbia in July. I will post some pics of that tomorrow.

My dad is doing fine. I just want to say thanks for keeping him in your prayers. My girlie emailed me some pics of him. He just bought a new mule and was completely annoyed that he could not go and plow with him over the weekend. He plows the old fashioned way and let me tell you, it is hard work being pulled behind a mule! It is one of the reasons he stays so thin. He is probably the most active man I know. He picked me a bag full of fresh cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and squash (my favorite!). I am waiting for the boys to come back before I cook them. The horse at the bottom is the one that threw him last year and almost killed him. My husband said that that horse would have been glue but my dad (with a punctured lung, broken collarbone and everything else) refused to go to the hospital till he was sure the horse was safe and not hurt. He is one amazing man.

I did this layout of Q and just realized that I left the "e" off of Dude. Duh! Still love the layout though. I went back and added the "e" in the second lo (ps, excuse the mess in the background of the 1st pic)

I will be going to CHA! I am so excited. Beyond excited. This is my first time going and I am going to try to take a ton of classes and look at lots of paper & stuff. Should I get a purple boa & tiara?

How Sweet

2009-06-16T14:56:00.001-07:00

Is this dog? This is my moms new puppy Candace (Candy for short). She is adorable!!!! And my little guy loves her. She loves him too. They spent the entire day playing chase and he took her for walks. And no, we are not getting one. We will visit this one to take the edge off. Reminds me of another cute dog huh Karla. (yah I know the pics are blurry, I truly suck as a photog)

My mom had been wanting to go fishing for a while and that's what we planned to do while she was here. We actually went to the river the first night and didn't catch a single thing! She caught 2 yucky catfish and a really pretty turtle. All got thrown back because Shere don't clean no fish!

Have a great day!

Hello

2009-06-07T12:17:00.000-07:00

When you are in school, you actually need to check and see if you have any assignments due. Who knew. I didn't apparently! But it's all good, I can catch up next week.

Yippee, 2 more days till school is done! Can you say sleep in. Yall I truly can't wait.

Change 3

2009-06-05T07:44:00.001-07:00

Major change 3 for the girl. She is going with art. Hopefully this will be the last time as school will start in about a month.

The hubby and I have been talking about a trip to Disney. Could the urge to go be coming from Nicoles excitement about going with her family? Maybe, maybe not.

My sister is finally, finally getting married. Holy cow. She and her fiance have been together for darn near 10 years (might be more than ten, I lost count) and are finally on the same page. I am so happy for her and am praying that they have the happiest fairy tale marriage.

The boy decided to join the Air Force this summer. Wow, just wow. Sometimes I look at him and don't realize that he is my baby boy. From 4 lbs of baby joy to 150 lbs of boy/man. Wow.

My mom will be coming for a visit soon.

Scrappy Stuff - for the little guy. Because he knows everything and won't let us forget it.

Thanks for stopping by and blog you later!

Been Scrappy

2009-06-04T10:49:00.001-07:00

I've been scrappy! Look what I did today.......

For shame, only one layout has pictures. I don't forsee that being fixed anytime soon as I need black ink for my printer and do not feel like running out to get any. Besides that I am thinking of submitting all of my photos to one of those online places and having them printed out and delivered to me. Lovely, just lovely that would be.

Thank the Lord school will be out next week. I can barely make it!

Thanks for stopping by and blog you later......

I Have a Date

2009-06-03T06:39:00.001-07:00

But it's not with my husband! It's with the scrappy chicas at Scrapbook Creations in Columbia, SC. I will be teaching 2 classes there on Saturday July 11th. I am beyond excited. I really loved her store. I had to spend 20 minutes drooling, I mean looking around before I could even talk to Stacie. Lovely, just Lovely.

I officially started school 2 days ago but thankfully, I am taking online courses, so I start tomorrow. This will be one short post. I have a lot of frickin money to recover from spending. It physically hurt me to write the check for my tuition and the bookstore made me cry (and I almost flipped my van over turning into it). I got no sleep last night thinking about going to the school today. I know things will be much easier when I get the hang of things but right now, today, it is tough!!!!! I told my girl that I am going to transfer to her school and take every class that she takes. Hey, we can be study buddies. It was real quit for a while lol.

She actually decided that nursing is not for her. She hates anatomy & physiology. So instead of nursing, she is switching to premed. Go figure. That decision actually settled on me calmly. Pediatrician really feels more like her to me than nurse. I can see her doing that. ER, I cannot. She moves like a turtle and is never, ever intense.

Just Madness

2009-06-01T07:49:00.001-07:00

Monday should just be renamed Madness. Everything that needs to happen seems to get scheduled on a Monday. Is it because folks are trying to finish everything early so that they can get their weekends started on the right note? I don't even know but I tell you what, mine was jam packed!

2 showings of the house
dental appt for both boys
make dental appt for girl (when exactly will she start doing this herself?)
bills & budgeting
deposits to be made
getting rid of old furniture & a box of magazines (should have been 2 but I couldn't cope with parting)
cleaning the back porch (involved a long brush, soapy water, a broom and moving furniture)
tying up loose ends before my new classes start
follow up phone calls for my sb classes
groc store visit (do I have to go every single day? Why do I set aside a day for shopping?)
reserving camp sites
cooking dinner
arrangements to pick up the girl & get her fin aid for next semester situated
laundry (washing, folding & putting away)
sorting the boys clothes (don't fit, unfit, & just plain not clean but in drawers anyway)
vacuuming (Lord it takes about an hour to just vacuum the upstairs & down)
deep cleaning the bathroom (must make the boy bathe in his bathroom!)
washing dishes
calling family
and about 6 more things
eat (Had popcorn, does that count?)
Blog Hop
Cuss at Facebook

My time is all gone but at least it was productive. How was your Monday?

Library Time

2009-05-30T09:11:00.001-07:00

We finally made it to the library today. I never turn my books in on time and we check a ton of them out. Of course, I get there today and owe almost $27. Crap, do you know how many coffee's that would have bought me? At least 5 maybe 6. The little guy is too excited and has been reading since we walked out the library's door. Literally. So I won't complain. At the rate he is going, he will be done with all 7 books that he picked up by Wednesday. At least they won't be late!

My husband and I will be celebrating our 11th wedding anniversary this year. I think back to when we got married and it was so simple. Almost another day for us. We got married, went home and changed than went about out day as if nothing special happened. I love to watch the show Platinum Brides, and I always wonder what it would have felt like to have a big production. When I think about us, I realize that we really deserved to. We did it right the 2nd time around and we really should have celebrated it more. I still love him as much, actually more than I did the day we met (14 years ago) and I cherish how we have spent our time together adjusting to each other and learning to honor our differences. I have a lot of respect for him and am glad that I gave love & marriage another chance. He was so worth trusting with my heart and my children. If you are reading this, I love u babe. Not in love with the photos or the lo but thats okay, I love the concept.

In other news, I have been working on a couple of new classes and am so excited to reveal more details about them. One is so different and not really even a scrappin class. It is an apron class! Here are a couple of the fabrics that students will have to choose from.......

We are going to make several of those big frilly fabric flowers to go on it. And we are going to use vintage buttons & jewelry to decorate. And we are going to add a monogram. I could just go on and on about it but I won't. I should have the description and teaching locations up in the classroom section soon.

Well thanks for stopping by and blog you later!

Wanted. Accountability Partner

2009-05-29T11:59:00.000-07:00

I have been watching the show "So You Think You Can Dance" and even though I know I can't, I forget. I find myself saying "Wow, I can do that." Who the heck am I kidding? So if you are willing to be my partner, all you have to do is call me up on Wed & Thurs night and say "Shere, you're nuts if you think you can do that and I will seriously hurt you if I ever see you on the show." That's all you have to do. Give me a quick reality check.

Meatballs Gone So Wrong

2009-05-28T02:52:00.000-07:00

So last night I get inspired to make a good old fashioned comfort food dinner. I visited my dad over the holiday and got some delicious fresh veges from his garden. I decided that we would have meatballs and mashed potatoes with them. Yum. I only had ground turkey on hand which always, always, always makes dry meatballs to me so I decided to ensure that they were moist and delicious. Um yeah that did not turn out so well. They were too moist and would not hold together, even with the egg I added. You can't just throw it away, that would be wasteful. I got the genius idea to make a meat sauce with them. Turned out to not be so great of an idea and what I got looked a lot like slop.

And yes I served it to the boys. The little suck ups said that they loved it. Yeah right, I had to hide it under everything else before I would eat it. If I don't see what it looks like, I can't get quesy. There is no way in heck the girl would have eaten it. Next time, I will throw it out!

A lo about my neice when she was a baby. She is 7 now. Such a big girl.

I have been working on this layout for about a month now! I got a great idea to place 2 papers together and sew a circle in the center than tear the circle out to reveal the paper underneath. It works great and I love it but I lost all motivation with it after that.

Well, thanks for stopping by and blog you later.

Facebook? Undecided

2009-05-27T10:13:00.000-07:00

I finally opened a facebook account yesterday and while I am interested in how it works/why so many people love it/making new friends, I am still undecided on whether or not me likey. I am a total techno-dummy. Texting-have yet to send one. Twitter-don't even know what the heck it is. Myspace-umm, no. My cell phone is older than my kid! So my facebook friends, please be patient with me.

I added a new blog to my link list. Her name is Anna and we met at inspired. She was a riot & very, very straight talkin! Her blog is exactly like she is so consider yourself warned if you go meet her.

A lo that I did for Noel Mignon's contest. Love her kits and may be investing in one soon.

I signed up for 4 (yikes) classes. I am going to start all over again. With the exception of my basic english and math credits, I am junking them all. I completely changed direction with my major but am happy with what I am doing. I like the fact that I can take the classes that I want and tailor my degree to what I want it to be instead of trying to finish as fast as possible and shuttling all of my prior credits to the electives. I start next week. Homework, yeah. Maybe I can show my kids a thing or 2 about straight A's and turning my homework in on time. I was at the mercy of extra credits when I was last in college because I was working with 2 little ones (1 & 4) at home. I so don't recommend that, but you gotta do what you gotta do!

What a Fantastic Weekend!

2009-05-25T20:05:00.000-07:00

I love, love, love my family!!!!!! I'm sorry that I haven't commented on the post or posted on commenters blogs but I have not been near my computer since I left on Friday Morning. When I am with my family, all I want to do is spend time catching up, talking and just plain being around them. They make me deliriously happy and I smile the whole time I am with them.

We visited my Granny, picked veges from my Dad's garden, fed his horses, picked wild berries, went fishing, bbq'd at my sister's new house, spent some time with my mom, loved on my adorable new nephew, visited my aunt (who was very happy to have company and it was so good to talk to her and to look at her photos and collections), went to the flea market (apparently, goats are in because there were so many for sale) and last but not least had dinner at my daughters apartment. The boys (Q and my 3 nephews) were completely fascinated by all the animals for sale. Fat geese, lots of biddies, puppies, roosters, pigs, rabbits. I said "no" more than I have in a month. Mom can we get a rabbit, mom this puppy sure would be happy with us, mom can we get a duck, mom can we take home a biddie and keep it until it is big enough to release in the wild. Wha? Release in the wild? Where does he get this stuff? He was so busy the entire time we were gone, that he fell asleep before his head hit the pillow almost every night. As soon as we got home tonight, he went straight to bed. Didn't fight me on it or anything. We haven't watched more than 30 minutes of tv (except for the movie marathon Sunday night) in the last 4 days. That's a good thing because we watch a lot of TV.

That's all I got today, no pictures because I am a slacker. I should have taken some of my dad's gorgeous horses. They are such beautiful animals. And one of my uncle's alien dog. He has a lump (tumor?) on his head that they can't figure out what it is. He looks like a unicorn. I hope they don't have to put him to sleep. I wouldn't let the kids play with him at all.

Thanks for stopping by and blog you later!

Finally Friday

2009-05-22T08:13:00.001-07:00

Finally. I sure wish that school was out. We still have 2 more weeks. Oh well, I guess I just have to find a way to enjoy the last 2 weeks of quiet days.

Been workin on some new classes and on stepping outside of my box. I have been invited to teach at a couple conventions but I don't think I am going to. I have had a few people that took my classes last year email to ask if I was going to be there this year and I gave a definite no. I thought I was thinking about it but I guess I'm not. I want to focus more on local, small classes so that I don't have to get someone to come in and keep my boys. Yes I know A is 17 but still, leaving him & Q alone to fend for themselves for 4 days. Not ready for that. So say a prayer for me that my new venture works out. I love teaching and have been told that I am good at it so I want to keep doin it for as long as I can.

I found this crazy patterned paper. Crazy patterned. And I bought it. I knew that I would never use it as it was, I really loved the flowers. So, what's a fussy cutter to do? Cut the flowers out and make a bangin (if I do say so myself) simple layout.

Crappy picture I know but I just had to post this. I have had this paper for years, years (especially the K&co at the bottom. I don't think you can find that paper anywhere but in someones stash now). But hello, the layout. Yeah I like it.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Conversations With Q

2009-05-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

Q: Mom, guess what I found today.

M: I have no idea. What did you find?

Q: A tick!

M: (shocked/grossed out/worried about lime disease) A tick! Where and why didn't you tell me earlier?

Q: I found it on my arm at school. It was crawling out of my jacket.

M: Have you been in the woods with your jacket on?

Q: Of course.

M: Why didn't you tell me earlier (it was about 9pm) and where is your jacket now so that it can go in the wash?

Q: I don't know, I forgot and my jacket is on your bed.

M: Crap.

Guess who got no sleep last night because they kept waking up feeling like something was crawling on/biting them?

Monday

2009-05-18T05:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Monday Everyone! I hope that you all have a fantastic week!!!!!!

This lovely lo is all about a fair trip. I used the unity stamp from the inspired event literally all over this one. I love the stamp and can see why Donna talks about/collects them so much. I see more of them in my future.

Remember to.........

and enjoy the rest of the week. Thanks for stopping by.

Class was a Blast

2009-05-16T18:02:00.001-07:00

I didn't think I was going to make it. I didn't think Andreene was going to make it. I didn't think Lee was going to do a bumpy page. Lorna skipped out on a baby shower that she was cooking for (ok, only some of it). Michelle sat thru the whole class and actually finished her album. I don't have pics, but as always her project was fan-tas-tic. I love her work. I had so much fun and I ate way to much of the gourmet meal cooked especially for us by Publix. LOL. Didn't quite get to the La-ti-da meal but let me tell you, it was still really good.

Kind of sad, this was my last class here before I move. Hopefully there are some stores in DC that will entertain the idea of me teaching there. Can't believe we only have a couple more weeks. Hopefully, we will actually get to move when we planned. Right now it is not looking so good but I know that God has a plan and a timetable to go along with the plan so I will be patient. I really miss my husband though!

Been Scrappin -

When we lived in Okinawa, we took the kids on a hiking trip to Higi Falls. It took us 3 hours thru the jungle to get to the falls. The kids were exhausted and the water was so cold that they only got in once. Don't ask me where I got the huge walkin stick. It was probably something CJ found. I can't believe my kids are so little. They are Q's age. Where has the time gone? The girl is starting her 3rd year in college and the boy will start his senior year in HS. Wow.

These cutie pies are my cousins. About 6 years ago! They look nothing like this now!!

Got the paper, loved it and made a lo. Will put picks about my dad's garden on it. Going to visit him soon as he said some of his vegetables are ready for pickin. Yum, home grown veges. He doesn't use any pesticides or fertilizers so you can eat what he grows right in the field.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wolverine is Calling Me!

2009-05-15T18:28:00.001-07:00

I love, love, love the X-men series. I must go see it! Must. But not tonight because I still have to tweek my kits for tomorrow.

So Whatcha Doin?

2009-05-14T05:16:00.001-07:00

I have class this weekend so I am preppin kits. I love to teach but I hate to prep kits. It is so much cutting. And what was I thinkin? Making a patchwork page. Am I crazy? Look at all the little blocks!

I love this page. It is so summery and fun.

This though is still my all time favorite.

And what can I say, I never get tired of making paper bag albums. Not like the acrylic. After making 6 or so of those, I am done! But the PB albums, I still love making them as much as I did my first one. I still like acrylic, I just can't seem to get past my creative block with them. Here are a couple of pages from the album we will be working on this weekend. Fun.

(my favorite page! Love the little birdie)

I am so looking forward to class this Saturday. Andreene and Lorna are taking both of my classes and they are both so much fun. I finally smartened up and added more time to the project and I am providing lunch. My plan is to cook a homemade gourmet style meal (Braised chops with creamy corn sauce, layered salad and creamy mashed potatoes. My dad-in-law says that my mashed taters are the best he ever tasted) but we will see how that works out. Thanks for stopping by!

Leftover Kits

2009-05-12T09:02:00.001-07:00

I have some leftover kits from inspired 4 of each class to be exact and will post them on ebay. I had a couple of folks tell me they were interested. There is a link to the right. Here is what I am peddling-

It's A Wonderful Life Scrapbook in a Frame Class. Comes with everything including instructions, frame and full packages of rub-ons, alphas etc. Well worth the price

Accordian album with matching box kit. Also includes everything to make the project. Box, album, full sticker sheet, a full stack of DCVW La Creme paper. Everything is cut so all you have to do is put it together.

The album has 10 pages so these are just a couple of examples. Thanks for stopping by! Blog you later.

Oh My, What A Time I Had at Inspired!!!!!

2009-05-11T12:52:00.001-07:00

I didn't take any pictures (again waaaaa) but I had a blast. I have to say that this was one of the best experiences that I have had in a long time. It was so laid back and the ladies that I met were so freakin nice. So freakin funny. So freakin talented. Everyone was kind and not stressed out a bit. I loved it so much that I am going back next year as a student! Happy Mother's day 2010 to me. Saturday, I stayed until about 2am yackin my trap. And I was not in the least bit grumpy. I just had so much fun. Can't say that enough.

It Never Ceases to Amaze Me

2009-05-05T05:37:00.000-07:00

Contradictary

2009-05-01T13:01:00.000-07:00

I found myself in the bookstore (which is not unusual) perusing the books in the diet aisle. While I was flipping thru the Biggest Loser 30 Day Jumpstart book, it hit me. I was eating a sugar cookie and thinking about what I was going to order for lunch from McDonald's. hmmmm, maybe I should pick this book up after all.

Grrrrr

2009-04-30T06:05:00.001-07:00

I am so jealous when I see people that have nice, juicy veins. When I first started with the regular check-ups and physicals and such, I had no idea that I was in a special category. No idea that torture was to be had every time I had to have blood work done. No idea that I would come to secretly love the techs that could get my blood with just one stick. I now know that I am special and I truly dread having to have labwork done. My veins are the stuff that cause newbies nightmares (and guess who gets stuck doing most of the sticking? Yep newbies most of the time) I almost always have to get stuck more than once (3 is the average) and almost always by more than one person. Mrs. Brown (she is the sweetest lady and has a voice and demeanor that is pure honey) always gets me on the first try. Always! I sure did miss her today. 2 sticks and than they had to get it from the side of my arm. Hurts like heck and leaves a very ugly 2 wk bruise. Oy.

Humpday

2009-04-29T06:42:00.001-07:00

Here's my to do list:

cook dinner (not leftovers). We are having Arroz con Pollo yum
budget & pay bills
garage (one box at a time)
vacuum downstairs
a load of laundry (if I do a load a day, I don't have to dedicate a whole day to it). How do 3 people generate so much laundry!
Bible study
2 class samples
lab work

So I am sitting here blog hopping my day away and fighting a serious urge to take a nap when my doctor calls. When your doctor calls you out of the blue, it is never good news. The conversation goes like this:

D: How are you feeling Mrs. Jamison. (This is gonna be bad.)

S: blah, blah, blah. I seriously babble when I am nervous and I am tired.

D: We got your labs back and I would like to sked an appointment (This is gonna be really bad)

S: blah, blah, blah. I don't even know what the heck I was talking about and he must think I am a complete nut job by now because I am just jabbering!

D: Your iron is low. Very low. Have you been throwing up blood, peeing blood or having nosebleeds? (Low iron, that is old hat and so not as bad as I thought)

S: My iron is always low. But I can come in Friday (so relieved)

Turns out, my iron is lower than normal. Could explain all the naps and how frickin freezin I am even though it is 75 degrees in my house. My hemo level is 8.7 (6.5 is considered to low to function apparently and 12-16 is the normal range) and my hematocrit is 28.2 and normal is 36 to 44). Looking forward to getting to the bottom of this so that I can get a little energy back.

New Projects

2009-04-28T03:07:00.001-07:00

I have so many projects in the works. Jewelry, aprons, classes, challenges and the list goes on!

I found this challenge blog, Ad this, while I was at 2peas and thought that it would be really fun to do. I did post this layout a couple of post ago but I am starting to really like it and I decided to take a couple more photos to show the dimension (which was part of the challenge). I did a lot of layering and pop dotting on this one. My girl is gonna be majorly po'd when she sees it because she hates this photo.

Thanks for stopping by and blog you later!

Officially A Deadbeat Mom

2009-04-25T16:23:00.001-07:00

Yep, it's official. I am a dirtbag. Q had his game this morning and I also had planned to take a volunteer orientation. I figured that hey "I'm good at multitasking, he will have adult supervision, I'll kill 2 birds with one stone. The orientation is only 30 minutes and while he is playing I can slip out, go to orientation and be back before anyone knows that I am gone". Perfect plan. For failure. Of course it didn't work. I had just finished the orientation when I got a call from Coach. Mrs. Jamison, the game is over. Crap! I was in downtown Charleston and the game was in N. Charleston. ie it takes at least 20 minutes to get back. Double crap! Long story shorter, Q was the only kid left on the field and his coach had to wait for an extra 20 minutes for me to get back. I am definitely an ass.

And no, they did not win.

A layout that I created about the little guy and his daily habits. He is like clockwork. Does the same thing everyday. I had originally done this for a challenge but in the end, did not submit the lo.

Thanks for stopping by see you later!

Why Do Fridays Feel Like Birthdays

2009-04-24T07:39:00.001-07:00

I always have a feeling on Fridays that I am going to get something special.

I had planned to spend the weekend with my dad & brother fishing but I forgot that the little guy has soccer every Saturday. Every single Saturday. No weekend trips for us. Oh well.

Thursday

2009-04-23T05:11:00.001-07:00

Simply Thursday. Q had soccer practice today and he decided he wants to try out for goalie. Umm, don't think that will be happening for these reasons:

He has only played soccer a grand total of 5 times
He is still scared of the ball
He will not practice at home! There are too many adventures to be had in our neighborhood for him to waste his precious time practicing. It is bad enough that he has to do homework
Snakes are coming out of hibernation (see previous reason) and #1 thing on his list is to "observe a snake in its natural habitat" okay

He still really likes soccer but he likes everything else too. He wants to spend his summer

visiting every state in the US
learning to speak French
at science camp
taking a few art classes
learning a musical instrument
last but not least visiting the water park

Short list? I think not but I am going to do everything I can to assist him. We even built a map at World 66. I love this site because you can personalize your own map to show where you have been in this small world of ours.

A is much older and much simpler. He simply wants to get a job!

Me, I would be happy with 2 or 3 teaching assignments a month, living in the same home as my husband and attending college.

Here is my layout for pencil lines sketch 129. I really, really like the way this came out. When I saw the photo, it really hit me that my little guy is soon going to be a big guy. I want him to slow down just a little bit. Soon enough he won't need me to read to him at night or to sew the ear back on dog or even to cook him a hot breakfast.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

Yeah It's Humpday!

2009-04-22T17:11:00.000-07:00

Hello, hello and happy Wednesday!

This layout makes me happy. This was my daughter in 1996. Why is the picture so wonky you ask? Because she was so scared that she would not let me move away far enough to get a good picture. My neighbors put on a fantastic halloween each year and this was all part of the act. To this day, she says that she was "pretending" to make me happy. Yeah right!

I cut circles into the cardstock distressed the edges with my scissors and than layered in all kinds of goodies. I left the word strips on the background and cut the whole thing into a circle that I placed behind the hole in the cardstock. I had fun with this one.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

New Direction

2009-04-21T10:11:00.001-07:00

Not quite sure where but I feel so strongly that things are changing and that I am going to be heading in a new direction very soon. I have been revamping my business plan, dusting off my resume and choosing classes. Change is definitely in the air.

Here is a layout that I am not in love with but it is going to have to do. My mother-in-laws birthday a few years ago.