Wild For You And Stamp It!

I have been having a blast getting to create again. Shanna and I have had fun getting back to our regular Friday or Saturday night scrap-a-thon. And I have a few cards to share!

Oh and can I share something excited with you??  This is the newest edition of the Paper Crafts Stamp It! edition that went on sale January 19th and I have a card in it! Very cool!!! It’s always fun to see your creation in print! Thanks again to Paper Crafts! This magazine is inspiring and has wanted me to play more and more with my stamps!

The cards I am going to share with you were all created using my new $1 stamps from Michael’s. Been having a lot fun experimenting and creating more with stamps! Even though there isn’t a fancy technique I’m using it’s just fun to bust them out and use them as cheap embellishments!

I am also super excited because the weekend of the 12th of February we are going to the 6th Annual Crop Connection in Mississippi (which lucky for us, has been moved to Madison)! Yay!!! It’s literally only like 10 minutes for us versus the hour half it would’ve been!  I’ve never been to a crop before so I’m super excited! Now, I just have to get some kits put together so I can actually get some things done! And hopefully I can actually get a layout or two done instead of just cards! LOL

But the best part of going to the crop will be meeting new local ladies!!   I can’t wait!

Ok…that’s about all I’ve got for now.  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are settling into  - Tom and I were busy with our honey do list. Which seems to be a gazillion pages long after just moving in but we are slowly getting ourselves organized. I started working on the 2nd bathroom which is a whole other post thatI will share next time!!!

Have a great day!

PS> sorry if the format of this post is weird. WordPress has changed things I guess and now I can place my pictures to fit the paragraphs of my post, etc. It’s really frustrating me! grrrrr….hopefully I will figure it out soon!

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Big Weekend Celebration!

January 21st, Cassidy turned 8 years old and we have been celebrating not only her birthday BUT  her decision to become Baptized in the Church. She has and continues to grow into this amazing young lady and I (and of course her Dad) cannot be more proud of her. She is such a hoot and has a zest for life that is just contagious. Her personality can liven a room in a nano-second and it’s fun to see her grow into her own the older she becomes.

We took her out for dinner to Applebee’s on Friday night where Tom and her devoured the cookie and ice cream thingie + they sang to her so she had the birthday sundae too! This kid cracks me up how she can put away the ice cream!

Then we came home and she opened up her presents. She was so excited when she found out that we signed her up for Fire soccer (it’s where they will be trained by professional soccer coaches).  This kid has talent and she is stoked to play with the best!  Can we say SCHOLARSHIP??? hahahaha

Then on Saturday morning Cassie had her birthday party at her mom’s, then her step-sister, Karlie, was also celebrating HER 8th birthday so we took Cassie to her party later that day. Then after Karlie’s party – she was being Baptized (by Shane) so we went and witnessed Karlie get Baptized.Kinda neat that the two are only 2 days apart!

Cassie before Baptism

Cassie and Dad

Cassie and Shane

And today was Cassie’s special day. Today she was born again. Pure. What a beautiful moment. She looked like such a princess in her dress that just SCREAMS Cassie! Shane (her step-dad) baptized her and I’m sure it was a proud moment for him to have the opportunity to share in this with her.  So it’s been a wonderful, beautiful weekend with lots of special memories and moments!  It’s a shame that time always passes too quickly. But I guess it’s the reason we should be thankful for moments in time like this.  I did sneak in a little creative time last week but just haven’t had a chance to share yet. But I will wait for another post to do so since this one is already pic heavy with our weekend doings!!!

I hope all of you had a special weekend as well! Thank you always for popping in and saying hello!

Cards, Cards, Cards

And no, I’m not talking about the Cardinals vs. Saints game last night.  I am not a fan of either team, but having lived in AZ for 7 years and having a husband who is a die hard Cards fan, I almost felt sad for them last night.  What a demolition and I’m sad for Kurt Warner because I am a HUGE fan of his depsite it all.  He’s a classy guy with a huge heart.

So who do YOU think will make it to the SuperBowl??? My SuperBowl pick?  I’d have to go with the Colts and Saints. (and I know — *shock* – I am not choosing my Beloved Cowboys, you ask, but heck…even I know the score. The Saints and Colts have been having an awesome season. Now, if my boys make it to the bowl – I, of course, will be elated beyond elated….but first let’s get through the Vikings game today.  — GOOOOOOO COWBOYS!!  I’m rooting for ya boys!!!

ok…now onto Cards, Cards and more Cards! I’ve been a card making fool. Shanna and I almost pulled an all nighter last night scrapping away.  Tom is gone on a hunting expedition in the cold, wet weather so we took full advantage of a quiet, all us home and scrapped the night away. I also have a few cards to share that I created earlier this week but just hadn’t had time to share them here.

This card was created for this week’s challenge at Cardalicious – the challenge was to create a friend card using polka dots, rik-rak, and the color green.  I decided to use some American Crafts papers that I’ve been shoving aside trying to figure out how I’m going to use them. This challenge solved my problem! I used the rik-rak design in the paper and Bo Bunny Double Dot Cardstock. I handcut the spools of thread from the AC pattern paper and used Pop Dots to add depth and dimension.  The font is a computer font.

This one also fits the challenge since I originally started with this one but decided to go with the other one.

The sun is made from a flower that I just cut the petals into strips and added the button. Martha Stewart butterfly punch, cuttlebug dot embossing folder accented with dabs of white ink.

And then these last cards I made last night. Shanna and I made a run to Michael’s and holy moley if they didn’t have the CUTEST dollar stamps!!! I just had to get them and play with them IMMEDIATELY!!!

I still have LOTS more to play with so stay tuned – OHHHH…and you can find each of these in my Etsy shop along with many more cards!!! Be sure to check it out! Now is the time to send that person you’ve been thinking about something special just to let them know you are thinking about them!!! Also, don’t see a card with the sentiment you want in my shop but like the design of one? NO PROBLEM – send me an email and I can custom create it for you! *disclosure – paper/embellishments may differ upon availability of product*.

Ok — well that’s all I have for ya today. I hopefully will have more to share throughout the week PLUS I will have pictures to share of the new abode! I’ve finally gotten all the boxes unpacked and it’s becoming more and more like home!

Back in Action (sorta): Love Birds

For the first time in about 3 months I actually took time (6 hours in fact) to scrap. Thanks to Shanna for letting me crash her pad while my craft room is still under construction from our move.  I was able to create a couple cards within that 6 hours – I’m a little rusty and was having some major slowness in the mojo flow. One card I can’t share just yet as it’s for this weeks challenge for Cardalicious.  We are finally back in action there as well now that the Holidays are over. Be on the lookout for the reveal of the newest challenge coming on FRIDAY.  Note the day has changed that the challenges will be posted!!!!

In the preparation of February – I decided to be proactive (agasp) and actually create a little card. Although it’s not adorned in the typical hearts and “valentiney” papers, I think the colors soften it up for this dollar stamp I got a while back from Michaels.

The green paper is from the Twitterpated line. Finally breaking into them!

I hope everyone’s weekend has been warm and fun! We are officially out of our old house complete with the cleaning. That’s what we did today was go back over there to clean. Feels nice to just have our new home to focus on now. Although – our washer is going out and we have to buy a new fridge.  UGH – welcome home right???

We are finally getting through our freeze period where our day time highs were in the 20’s!!! CRAZY!!! I think starting tomorrow they should get back up to around 48. that’s going to almost be sunbathing weather!! hahahahahaha -

Have a great week everyone and I will update again soon – hopefully with more creations as my mojo trickles back to me!

Peace Out!

Not for the pressed for time!

It’s been a looooonnngggg time since I’ve been in the circle of blogging, scrapping, and bantering on the boards. It’s been somewhat difficult to arrange my schedule to fit it all in and I’m trying real hard to refocus on my health and time with family and friends.  I’ve let the other stuff fall to the wayside. (oh and it doesn’t help that they changed security settings at work that no longer allow me to update my blog from there like in the past)….ahem. But I’m eager to get back to it. I’ve had a nice break and am ready to jump back in feet first!!! I think I’ve found a good balance now of finding my gym time, friend and family time and of course “me” time. Sooooo… IF you’re still around and checking in – THANK YOU!!!

I hope each and every one had a great and blessed start to 2010 and had a wonderful holiday season full of great festivities! I know we did…and so not to bore you to death, I will give a  cliff note version of what’s been going on since Thanksgiving:

November – soccer, gym, family, friends and house hunting – made offer on house. Went to Amarillo to spend Thanksgiving with my family – had a GREAT time!

December – Same ol’ stuff – Left Dec. 19th to head out for Southern Utah to visit Tom’s family for the holidays.  Drove to Amarillo and stayed the night with my mom, then headed out the next day for Arizona. Stayed with Cindy (thanks again for letting us crash your pad!!!) and saw some of  Tom’s family and my friend Cindy and Rachel – I miss you girls soooo much and love you to bits!! ♥♥♥♥  then off to Utah to spend the rest of the Holiday there. We hiked at Zion and another local mountain, did some tubing on Bryan Head Ski Resort and had a blast!!! Time went quickly and before you knew it we were making the two 15 hour day drive home to Mississippi.  Back to work that Monday – closed on new house Tuesday. Began moving things to new house and was completely moved over on New Year’s Day. Now comes the fun part of unpacking and of course getting the house settled to MY taste!!

I will have pics of the new pad to follow soon!

And as you know – with the new year – comes resolutions. And I’ve made a few to myself.

1. budget money better

2. work out at least 5 days a week

3. drink more water and less soda

4. organize better (this includes time management)

and the list goes on and on but I had to pick my major ones so I can actually focus on making them happen and not be overwhelmed with too many promises to myself! LOL

I’ve even started doing better with my diet and have started keeping a food journal to write down each and every BLT (bite, lick, taste). So I plan to update daily here on my blog as a food journal as well and maybe start sharing some of my recipes that I love to make that are super weight watcher friendly!!!

Drop me a line and tell me what you did over the Season! I’d love to hear from you all!

I will leave you with a collection of photos over the Holidays!

Merry Christmas and SALE!!!!

I know it’s been over a month since I’ve posted and well, since I’ve even scrapbooked!!! But it’s that time of year when schedules start getting busier and time slips sway from me.
I do have plans to get back at it which is why I have decided to hopefully clear out some older stuff in my Etsy shop to make room for all the new stuff I plan to create in the new year! I’d love for you to help me with that – so I have gone and slashed prices on everything currently listed! And my goal for next year is to rework my store and have more to offer!!! Who doesn’t love a makeover??!  So go ——HHHHHEEERRRRREEEEE ——– to check it all out – enow – I managed to sneak in a little Christmas shopping while visiting in TX with my mom so we are a little over halfway done with our shopping! YAY!!!  I have done ourven if you don’t see something I’d truly appreciate a referrall!!!

So is everyone getting ready to celebrate the Holidays?  I know we are -  going  CA-RAZY  and I promise to update you on everything going on. Of course it will be in a condensed cliff note version – hahahaha.

***HIJACK*** — to wish my beautiful Step-Daughter, Bailee, a very happy birthday. She turned 12 yesterday and is having her birthday party tonight! She is such a great kid and couldn’t love her more! 12 years old is such a turning point. One year before hitting the big teeeennnnaaaaggggeeeerrrrr years…..I remember being 12 and wishing to be 13 already! hahahaha -  to go back to the days where you actually WISH to be older! heee heeee

I really just wanted to pop on here before we head out for the Holidays and wish all of you a very Merry Christmas or Holiday however you celebrate!

Tell me what you have planned for the Season!!! I would love to hear from you!!

This is our Christmas Card this year. The photo I used was from a photo I took of my snowfamily I made during our January snow in North Carolina. And since I have been slacking and don’t have a family photo of all us – I decided to go CUTESY for our Christmas Card this year!

But from my family to yours HAPPY HOLIDAYS AND MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I HOPE IT’S JOYOUS AND BLESSED! ♥♥

Scrapstreet.com and Cardalicious #31

It’s now time that I can share a layout I created as part of being a guest designer for the online magazine called Scrappstreet.com in October for the Sound Off! Section.  The prompt was to create a layout focusing on the sounds you hear. You can check out the section here.

I chose to create a layout based on my background music while scrapbooking.

The Journaling reads:

Halo 3. It’s a typical sound I’ve come to get used to. Whether I’m on the computer or scrapping, it’s the soundtrack I’ve become dependent on! Tom and Bailee are two peas in a pod when it comes to playing Halo 3. I giggle at the commentary between those two while they play. Usually it’s along the lines of Tom yelling “where are you” and Bailee yelling “back at the base” or Tom “Snipe them”. It’s funny how intense you guys get while playing and the sounds gurgling from the T.V. When the other team gets killed. I hear them go Uuuuuugggggghhhhhh….aaaaahhhhhhh…ooooohhhhhh. And the blast of machine guns…dadadada d or the gaaaarrrrrsss when someone attacks. My favorite yet is the talk from y’all after a kill with your “Your Grandma’s, beat downs, oh snaps and fo’shizzles.”  I truly get a kick out hearing you two play together!

And here’s my card for this weeks challenge at Cardalicious to make a Thank You card using the colors black and red and flowers. This is one of my favorite color combos.

I am glad I finally had something scrappy to share with you but that’s about all I have for now. Thank you for stopping in and saying hello – and if your new to visiting my blog (even if you’re not) - say HELLO! I love to see where all my visitors are from and love to hear from you! Don’t be shy!!!!

Have a great week everyone! More later!!!

Threading Water Punch – tutorial

Have you ever sat and stared at your products or stash just KNOWING there HAS to be another use for it all?  Well, I am one of those that has to play with everything just to utilize the most of my stuff. Even if that means accomplishing nothing in the end. But when something comes from nothing – now that’s sweet success.  I have been on a kick of wanting to use my punches but find new and vitalizing ways to use them.  I get bored of the same ol’ border punch and just can’t afford to buy the newest and coolest out there. So that means – EXPERIMENTING!!

What I’m about to show you is a way to utilize your Fiskars Threading Water Punch other than just as a scallop border. I have done this once  – a while ago and thought I’d do it again but this time I thought I’d share how I did it.

Supplies:

Fiskars Threading Water Punch

Paper of your choice

1. Start by creating the scallop border(See picture #1)

2. Then trim the strip to where the total width is only .5 inches (from edge of scallop to edge of paper. It’s going to be a thin strip. (See picture #2)

3. Then VERY CAREFULLY – line up the hole inside the scallop – see pictures #3 – 6) — *tip*  once I have the top part lined up with the holes – I turn the punch over to make sure the holes line up from the bottom (picture #5). This just makes me certain my holes are lining up and my circle will be good.

4. Continue punching the strip in it’s entirety (Picture #7)

Picture #1

Picture #2 - cut to .5 inch from edge of scallop to edge of paper

Once the strip is trimmed to .5 inch - line up the holes from the border with the straight edge against the back (as shown)

Continue using the holes to line up the punch

Also - to make sure your holes are lined up - turn the punch over and line up the paper that way and punch - this can be a good tip to really get the circle perfect

Example

End Result

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then just embellish your card/layout/item to however you plan to use it.

This is just a quick little 4×4 card I created to use the example.

Card I made using the Threading Water Punch on both sides to make roof detail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

here’s the card I made a while ago using this same method of punching for

detail on a roof.

Hopefully this will inspire you to get creative with your punches – Thanks for popping in!!! Have a great day!

Camouflage…Can you see me now?

I’ve been a bad bad blogger lately but just thought I’d pop in to just so you know I’m here and well. I haven’t been scrapbooking much lately so I don’t have alot to share so this post will be quick.

This weekend was low key with the soccer games cancelled. It was sort of nice to have a weekend without the hustle even though I feel so bad for the girls since it seems all their games have been cancelled this season! Including the game last night! OYE VEY – But I got quite a bit accomplished on Saturday including some errands, cleaning house and having our neighbors over Halloween Night. The girls came to our hood after tricking and treating through theirs so it was fun to see their costumes. They looked so good!

Then I had Sunday as a free day so Tom and I went to camp for an afternoon hunt.  Well, he hunts – I sit and make noise and irritate him. hahahaha — I don’t shoot a bow and right now it’s only bow season. Come on rifle season….But it was still fun to get out there and have some one on one time with nature and my hubby.  I got some random photos to pass the time while sitting in the box stand. (This is where the irritation comes to play).  Typically you have to be very still and quiet while hunting – especially with a bow since they have to come in closer for a good shot. Well, you could only imagine the irritation from Tom every time he heard “click, click”.  — We saw no deer and not much wildlife so I was having to entertain myself by shooting pics of spiders, ducks, squirells, trees.  Not sure if he’ll be so quick to let me come with him anymore on his bow hunts!  — I will leave you with some of my random (not so quality/good) photos. Have a great week and thanks for stopping in!!!

Yes - even at the time a black crow atop some trees was picture quality!

 

 

This is the area we hunted - we had to hike to it through swampy muddy water calf high - YUCK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Random - just playing with settings

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A squirrelly squirrell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally a couple ducks came in - this is as far as my zoom lense would go - so you'll have to forgive how grainy the photo is

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is our little buddy Charlotte the black widow who decided to hang with us in the stand too - and for those who REALLY know me - this is HUGE for me that I didn't go running like a little girl - that came later when 15 wasps decided to make an appearance out of their nest and chased us out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally...this is the tree we bunkered against to finish out the hunt after being chased out of the stand by the dang wasps - couldn't resist taking a picture looking up against the pine tree

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brrrrrr….

It has gotten pretty chilly here lately. The rain has blown out and the sun is shining but you wouldn’t know it with how cool it is outside. The past few days we haven’t broken 60.  I think we are supposed to warm up later this week though to around 70 something. I even had a bit of frost on my windsheild this morning on my way to work – it was 40 degress! **AAAACK** I think fall has finally arrived!

Good news is with the weather drying out – that means we will have soccer games again! YAY!  Cassie played hers this Saturday but the older girls’ games were cancelled due to field conditions (the games are played at different locations). It was soooooooooooo cold out there. I felt sorry for those girls having to run on the wet muddy fields with temps in the low 50’s.  brrrrrrrrr… But they won – (creamed the other team actually – and they are currently undefeated)!!! The older girls have a game tonight so they’ll get to also enjoy playing in the cool weather! I think ALL girls are playing in tournaments this week! So we will have LOTS of soccer to enjoy! woo-hoo!!!

Other than that this weekend was full and fun. Finally cleaned house yesterday. I think I was being overrun by black dog hair that was beginning to morph into puppies in the corners.  Gross I know but it’s been raining so much it’s been just impossible to keep the floors (or house) clean.  So it’s nice to enjoy a clean home again. LOVE IT! 

I also got a little scrapping in and got a layout done. I created it for the current  challenge at A Million Memories to use a company’s logo.

 I chose the apple logo on the IPOD to create this TOP 10 on my playlist. The apple is the actual sticker that comes when you purchase an IPOD. I can’t probably even begin a supply list on this page as most of it was scraps and hodge podge of stuff. I did some masking with the Graphite Glimmer Mist. I put a vinyl mesh over the Kraft Cardstock and sprayed it to give it the grid look.  Detailed with some rubons and stitching. I used Pink Paislee Alpha Stickers for the numbers and 3 different AC thickers for the title. Used the tag rims for the metal circles. Just took the white paper out of them. This was actually a fairly quick layout for me and a fun one. It took me only about 2 1/2 hours to do it.

 

And I forgot to share my card last week for the current challenge at Cardalicious.  This weeks challenge was to create a card using 3 items (ie, paper, stickers, ribbon, etc).  I used K&Co Amy Butler paper and cardstock shapes. Added some pink ribbon for a pop of color. Simple but elegant I think — oh and I have to thank Shanna for showing me a secret for a beautiful bow.

I have always admired those scrappers who make beautiful bows as I always felt my fell “flat”. Well, thanks to Shanna and her showing me how she does hers, I can finally start doing pretty bows myself! Who knew the secret was all about making the center knot small and tight to fluff the ends???  So easy but I certainly didn’t think about that! So thanks girl!!

Well that’s about all I got for this Monday. I hope you all have a great and creative week and always always ALWAYS….THANK you for stopping in and saying hello!