Life is Better When YOU are Laughing--My Darling Niece Julie!

I am entering it into Simon Says Stamp blog anything-goes Wednesday challenge--my fourth for the challenge (I usually can't get it together enough for that many entries--maybe it will finally be my lucky week). A few years ago while we were celebrating Thanksgiving with my family, several of us decided to play disc golf. It was fun seeing Julie get the giggles as she played for the first time (I think). I thought all of her fun poses and faces would make a great layout! I am totally into the latest craze of Polaroid frames! And, I was lucky enough to win the Jillibean collection a while back. The flowers are CTMH; the button, October Afternoon; the twine,The Twinery; the jewels, Pebbles. The green frame on the left was made with an American Crafts die that I also won!!!

Thanks for looking!

Charlie - All Boy

See how the bracketed page is lopsided on this page? That is exactly what this little pup Charlie has done to our lives--made it very lopsided! Isn't he adorable though?  I made this page for Simon Says Stamp challenge to use a splash of color. I chose yellow mainly because of Charlie's pacifier chew toy.

Thanks for stopping by.  I hope you are having a great day!

P.S. Please pray for us that our old house sells soon or at least has a contract by the middle of February. We've been given a lot of blessings that have made us do ok having two house payments, but we got news that at the end of February our home insurance will be WAY more expensive! Thanks and we appreciate any prayers you could offer!

Happy Halloween - 2011

I made this layout using this week's Sketchy Thursdays sketch! The papers are My Mind's Eye. Mitch went trick-or-treating with some Speech and Debate friends. He said he gave his loot to one of the team member's younger brother! That was nice of him! I'm glad he didn't bring candy home! I would have probably eaten it!

Thanks for visiting!

Fall Card - Crafter's Companion

Isn't Popcorn the Bear, from Crafter's Companion so cute? I just love him to pieces! Here is a fall card for their September challenge! I am also entering it at Ribbon Carousel Challenge which is new to me for their RCC 21 Fabric of Our Lives with Linda challenge!!! I fussy cut the leaves from a CTMH stamp! I also added a little glitter around the Sizzix cloud that I made out of pocket material from an old pair of jeans! I have also added some liquid glue to the apple and pop dotted Popcorn! I thought it turned out really cute! Did you?

Thanks for visiting! Please leave me a comment if you have some time! I'll try to visit you if I haven't already visited you today!! :-)

Steve and Kelly's Favorites at the San Diego Zoo

                                                 

Steve loves polar bears, and I love koala bears! Actually, I love polar bears, too! But, I chose these photos because they were some of our favorites at the San Diego Zoo.  I meant to place the photos a little more to the left, but I had already peeled the paper and photos off for another issue... I made the flower with several layers of Sizzix flowers which I then crimped and inked with some turquoise to go along with the paper and butterflies.  The layout is not wonky in real life either... I made this using Frosted Designs lovely sketch!  I'm in a hurry today because for the first time in his life, my hubby locked his keys in the car, and I am going to take them to him and have lunch with him also! So, yay for that!  

Mini Book with Skewer Binding

I've been thinking a lot about hand-made books for the last few weeks. I found a great book on them at my library a few weeks ago, and you might say that began my complete fascination with them!  I made a mini a few weeks ago that was so simple.  This skewer binding book is a little more complicated but not so bad--especially when you happen to have a fantastic blog in your reader whose author just so happened to post a tutorial via Ustream video  yesterday!!! It was made from Handmade Decorative Books!  Sarah's work is so great! She makes the best shabby chic stuff and is just an all around nice lady. I love listening to her voice in the video!  If you go visit her, please let her know that Kelly Massman sent you over!  Needless to say, Sarah's books are much prettier than mine, but I had so much fun making mine that I will probably make more!!!

Thanks for visiting! I hope you are having a great weekend!  If you have time, please leave me a comment--I'd be thrilled! I'm a little behind in blog commenting myself, but I'll get there soon!!! :-)

Who's at the Zoo?

I'm just barely squeaking this in on time for Scrapfit's Workout #50-  Be Inspired By A Book!  I used Who's at the Zoo?!  I have so many zoo photos left to scrap that I decided to make a layout with as many photos as I could fit on a page! I used Pebbles, a Sizzix cut foam elephant and a felt cut gorilla and some buttons to finish it off. How's that for easy--you can definitely tell that I didn't spend any time on this layout, but that is ok. It definitely has a good representation of the animals at the San Diego Zoo. We had so much fun there that I couldn't help printing off way too many photos!!!

Hope you are having a great day! Thanks for visiting!

I finally felt like scrapping again

I loved the sketch from Sketch Inspiration (#235) this week, so I got back into my huge stack of photos from the Phoenix trip I took in June with my twin sister, Karen!!!  I totally love to scrap simply and get a lot of photos in my layout. I used some Pebbles, My Mind's Eye papers, a fun flag from Nikki Sivils, some letter brads (maybe Paper Suite from Hobby Lobby), a fun journaling spot from Pink Paislee and some stamping/inking from CTMH for this simple layout from the Phoenix Desert Botanical Garden. I found a fun new (to me) anything goes challenge  at CropStop, so I thought I'd give it a whirl.

Ocean Dreams (Coffee Filter flowers) - and I'm FAMOUS

I made this layout for Fiskars and CK challenges. I used a Fiskars scallop punch on a spray misted coffee filter on all three different types of flowers that I made. The top one has a Sizzix flower base, but the rest have 4-6 Fiskars scallops. Gosh, I must have used at least 3 or 4 different mist colors to kind of look like the sand and the ocean. I also cut my coffee filter letters on the Sizzix. It is hard to see, but I also used the Fiskars Washed Ashore border punch on this.

Now, why am I famous, you ask? Well, I was thrilled yesterday to get a surprise package from Fiskars. What did it contain? A new border punch which I helped name! It is called Falling for You. This particular punch is so great–-our family so loves trees and leaves–with the hubby being into wood-turning. I couldn't be more excited!

Teddy Bear Hugs

I made this for the Moxie Fab World The Chevron Chic Challenge! I used three papers with the chevron design (the bear itself, the black and the green background)! The bear is a CTMH stamp, and I fussy cut it. I zap dotted (Helmar) the MME scalloped square piece. I also entered this at Sketches 4 All.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day fit really well with Simon Says Stamp's challenge to Show Some Hands. I chose to show gardening hands.  I stamped the CTMH image on vellum, colored it and then fussy cut it and applied it to some Pebbles Paper. The Happy Mother's Day stamp is also CTMH.  The ribbon is KI Memories. Oh, and I picked up those cute little pink, see-through pebbles (don't know what they are called) for $1.19 at Michael's last weekend!! Aren't they adorable?!

Have a great day!  Thanks for visiting me! It means a lot!

Comments make my day! Especially from you!!!! :-)

I must be in love with this stamp!

I made this card with my favorite stamp from Hero Arts. It is for the CPS Card Sketch Challenge #114.  The little yellow American Crafts flowers are flocked.  I used a puffy marker for the yellow flower centers in the basket! The sticker is SRM Stickers!  PP is Pebbles!

Thanks for looking!

I've been trying to work on layouts, but this apparently was all I had in me today!

Get Well Card and Some Great News

Well, here is a get well card. It is for my mom who has been in the hospital twice now in the last few weeks. She is having some heart problems (first time), and it has been stressful, especially so close to losing Alex (our nephew).  My mom got out of the hospital today after being there since last Wednesday. We're all hoping she won't have to go back anytime soon. They are still trying to get all of her meds regulated properly!  Anyway, I did the card using a new sketch site (to me) called Card Patterns.  It is their Sketch #106, and I did it for the Paper Variety's challenge to make a Get Well card and for Simon Says Stamp's challenge--anything goes.  I wanted to use some bright, cheerful colors.  The butterfly is from Fancy Pants, and much of the rest is from Pebbles!


In other news, my son and his friend got first place in NFL (National Forensics League) districts last weekend AND first place at the 2011 MSHSAA Speech District Tournament this weekend which means they get to compete at Nationals in Dallas, Texas, this summer and at State in April at The University of Missouri--Columbia for their speech and debate duet acting performance!! We are so proud of them! Mitch worked really hard this year in Speech and Debate and had a job as well as taking some tough classes! Yay, Mitch!

Autumn - 1995

I made this for several challenges at Sketches 4 All--Melissa O'Neill, Wendy Crow and Stacy Harper Watson's to be exact! I combined the challenges so that I could enter Stacy's "Ya Ain't Gettin' Off that Easy" challenge which is to incorporate 3 or more challenges into one layout!  I am also entering it into Frosted Designs because I did some distressing!

Autumn was the best dog I ever had! I originally got her so that I could train her to be a Support Dog for the disabled.  However, she developed hip dysplasia, so they couldn't use her. When I found that out, I chose to adopt her.  She would have been such a good help to someone! She was so eager to please.  She's been gone a long time, but I think of her all of the time!  Now, I am allergic to dogs (all kinds--even the ones that are good for people with allergies)! Isn't that weird? I had one of the most shedding dogs in Autumn, and now I wouldn't even be able to have her...

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!!! Blessings are sent your way!

First Job

You know, sometimes you have it, and sometimes, you don't! This is more in the "don't" category.  I don't know why I was so stubborn to keep working on a layout when I was just not "feelin'" it! Well, that's the way it goes sometimes. I just haven't been feeling well this week. Many of you do not know that I have Lupus as well as Sjogren's Syndrome (which is another autoimmune disease), and I also suffer from terrible migraines frequently.  This is why I work part-time as an ESL tutor instead of as a full-time librarian!  Well, this week I have been in a flair. I had a horrible migraine today, but I wanted to take two of my students to a kite making afternoon about 1/2 hour from where we live. So, early this morning I took my Rx, grabbed my "heart pillow" (heating pad) for my neck, slept in my quiet, dark room until it was time to get ready to go.  I did not want to disappoint "the girls."  We did get to go, and the girls got to make some beautiful butterfly kites--taught by a master kite maker from China! It was so fun seeing their enjoyment!!! We also took them out to eat. This was a rare treat for them! So, we really enjoyed the day! I'm still feeling badly, but HAPPY!

Anyway, back to the layout: The Paper Variety had a challenge where you had to scraplift one of their DT members.  I decided to use elements from Tessa's layout! They are the cluster with the heart, star and flower to the lower right of the photo. I also drew a box around the photo as a frame and added some buttons in a couple of clusters.  I also added a scallop to the right of the photo--which Tessa also included in her layout!  I did use paint, but I used it more like the loosely followed Sketch Inspiration's #144 this week.  You can see the sketch in the paint dauber circles and the border strip along the bottom of the photo as well as the little bracketed title "First Job - Gerbes." I also took a little inspiration from a CK layout called First Snowfall by Tina.

Halloween - 1968

I have no idea what costume my twin sister and I wore this year for Halloween, but I can sure see that we loved eating the candy!  I used a lot of vendors on this layout:  the majority of the papers are from Basic Grey. The photo corners were made from a sheet to which I had previously sprayed Krylon webbing paint. It makes such a cool effect--perfect for Halloween!  I did this layout for Sketches 4 All. They have a fantastic contest going on right now! There are lots of prizes to be won!

Meijer Gardens using Pebbles!

Here is a layout I created from a sketch by Erin at Practical Scrappers for the (paper) Trail Makers Challenge blog! I mainly used Pebbles!

Here are the things from the recipe that I used:
I got it finished just in time! Thanks for the last minute reminder!! :-) Here is what I used:
RECIPE:

Tag ---not used 
Ribbon-- as leaves for the acrylic flower
Alphabet -- Basic Grey chipboard letters
Ink -- CTMH red ink distressed edge around Kraft circle and top right square
Lace-- not used
Markers (for coloring, journaling, etc.)  --  journaling
Acrylic accents-- acrylic flower daubed with red alcohol ink
Kraft cardstock -- large circle
Eyelets--flowery eyelets in several of the paper flowers/acrylic flower                                                                    
Rubons--around journaling/flower in left bottom corner/under  title 
Stitching (machine, hand, or faux!)--faux, around journaling/under  title

Pandas at the Zoo in Memphis in Black and White

I did this for several challenges at  Sketches For All. Go over there for all of the fun challenges! There are usually prizes, but the challenges are just fun anyway!! :-) I added this to The Studio Challenge to use something as a mask--I have a heart just above the Hambly that I found in just lying around in my craft room and used it as a mask for my black home-made shimmery mist!

Chihuly again

This layout was created from a Practical Scrappers sketch Friday! I had fun splattering Ranger ink all over this one! My fingers were inky on Monday when I created it!!! :-)  I made it to go along with Stacy H-W's Weekly Stash Challenge for July 12. 

Outtakes from Prom - rustic

I'm entering this in Scrapfit challenge 21.  It said to use a machine, and punches count!  I used Bo Bunny's Mamarazzi on this one. The coloring in the photo seems a little off-what looks like gray is actually a really pretty, light-blue!  I hand-made the black rose out of some Glitz Designs Paper.  The jewels are from Pebbles--very glittery.  I used a Fiskars punch on the Glitz Designs paper for a border on the pictures of Mitch and Haley together.  Finally, I used some CTMH stamps to add a few fun words/phrases and a little border of Haley peeking out of the crack in the barn "wall".   In case you are wondering, my layouts are pretty simple because for me it's all about the pictures! I love having some fun papers and some cute embellies, but the pictures rule! Don't get me wrong, I love other people's work who use a lot more stuff!! I just have a simple style for my own scrapbooking!!