National Scrapbook Day Layout Contest - Close to My Heart

Do you want to win an amazing Close to My Heart prize package for National Scrapbook Day? Are you looking for a great CTMH consultant?

CTMH has a contest running for National Scrapbook Day (May 2nd), and you can enter using ANY products! Visit their webpage at ScrapbookandShare.com for more information!

As for the great CTMH rep? My friend, Jenn has a wonderful blog I Scrap Memories. She is a CTMH consultant, great friend, and super scrapper! Let her know I sent you over!

National Scrappin' Day Giveaway!

Go to a Chocolate Kind of Life's blog and enter to win an amazing blog candy prize! Wow, so many wonderful giveaways, and so little time!! Enter to win!

One Day Only Blog Tour!

Do you love Stampin' Up Stamps? I do! Some ladies have put together a really fun tour with lots of chances to win great prizes, and some wonderful deals, too!

Start at Lisa's Blog, and take a tour of 17 blogs. Each has a wonderful example of projects, and most have special offers and freebies. Who can say no to blog candy and freebies? Not me!

Have fun! Let her know I sent you over!

Then and Now

This layout was for another challenge. A then and now layout. The first family picture was taken in 2004. The papers, ribbon, and embellishments are all from SEI's Mimosa collection. I love the glitz and sparkle on the papers! They are so hard to capture in a photograph.



This second photo was taken at Christmas 2007. We did a wonderful family photo shoot to include three generations. Joe's parents, brothers & wives, and all of the kids. We got some great pictures that day!


The bird was die cut using my Cricut Machine Home Decor cartridge. All of the other embellishments were hand-cut or punched using my Creative Memories Circle Punch.

Hailey's Cupcakes

Both of these layouts are for monthly challenges. The first page is using journaling strips for the journaling. I computer printed my journaling using a Creating Keepsakes Font on matching paper. The first of the title is a chipboard letter I painted using Making Memories paints from my stash.



The second page is using the same technique. The challenge here was to use a "food" in the title. So for Hailey's first birthday, I made "Hailey's Cupcakes".



Thanks for dropping by to take a look!

Oh, the papers are from Quick Quotes. They came in a page kit, but I didn't care for their design, so I made my own. The rickrack is from my sewing stash. I believe it is Wright's Brand.

TWITTER GIVEAWAY: Flip Mino HD Digital Video Camera! | Week in Rewind/Movies

TWITTER GIVEAWAY: Flip Mino HD Digital Video Camera! | Week in Rewind/Movies

Another amazing freebie. If you twitter, even better odds of winning!

TWITTER GIVEAWAY: Playstation 3! | Week in Rewind/Movies

TWITTER GIVEAWAY: Playstation 3! | Week in Rewind/Movies

Wow, talk about a nice offer! I know it isn't "scrapping" but who wouldn't love a PlayStation 3!?!?!

Stampin' Up Blog Candy from Janet!

Wow, another amazing blog candy offer involving Stampin' UP, Copics, Bella, and more! How awesome is that?!?!

Go to Janet's Blog, and find a way to enter 4 times! Yes, you can get up to four entries for this amazing prize!


Click on the graphic below to head to Janet's Blog~ Beware 80's rock reigns supreme there!

Blog Candy!

Yes, another blogger is offering an amazing Stampin' Up blog candy!

Hop on over and check it out! You may just be the lucky winner, and then you will have to share with me (hahahaha)!!

Visit: Scrapping Out Loud You can enter once per day until May 1st.

Good Luck!

My Goodness!

Time has just flown by on me. I can't believe I haven't posted since Easter! I was just checking my camera, and I realized I didn't take a SINGLE picture over the Easter weekend!

I colored eggs. No pictures. We had a lovely dinner. No pictures! That is SO unlike me!

This week my parents have been here since Friday. It was wonderful to have them here. We got so much done! They built a chicken coop and chicken run for my 6 new baby chicks. My mom cleaned my whole back patio. They helped me clean and get our inground pool in shape for the season. It is beautiful and blue already!

We had over 90 degree days for the entire weekend! I am so sunburned, and I normally don't burn. We were just outside from dawn to dusk every night doing things. I am tried to help to the best of my ability, but with my knee, I wasn't a big help. We wanted to get as much done as possible before my knee surgery.

I even was able to scrap, organize, and create while they were here. We ate SO good! My mom is a fabulous cook! We had ribs, steak, pizza, and all sorts of wonderful meals. We made all of our bread (homemade = so yummy). My dad is now so hooked on the bread that he bought mom a bread keeper and slicer, so she can make bread like I do.

Of course, we had all of these outdoor projects while they were here, and now that they went home for their appointments the temperature has dropped 20 degrees! It is overcast and much cooler today. Yesterday by now we were closing up the house and turning on the air conditioning! Today, the windows are open, and I am a bit chilled. What a difference a day makes.

Well, today I have a couple of errands, some sweeping to do, and then it is CRAFTING time! I need to finish uploading all of the projects I finished and get them posted here. New projects are coming!

Easter is coming!

Wow, thinking about Easter as it was when I was a kid, and how it is now. It is just so different.

Without all the peeps in my family now, holidays are so different. For 99% of my adult life, my grandparents were at every family holiday. Now with my grandmother gone, I hardly see or hear from my grandpa at all. It is weird.

My aunt moved to Wisconsin, but thinking back it was hit and miss for her to be around for the holidays. I think most of the time she would arrive.

My other aunt lives sort of close, but the traveling is hard for her with her job, dogs, etc.

My parents are the only constant. We try hard to be together for every holiday.

Hubby's kids are grown, and they weren't normally around for Easter. We had them for summer and every other Christmas, but then still not as much as we should have. Long story that won't change by talking about it.

I dreamed Easter would be this huge event. Kids and family everywhere. Instead, there are 4 of us and 4 dogs. No kids hunting Easter eggs. No family making so much noise you can't hear yourself think. Nothing like I dreamed of. Not bad, just not the holidays of my dreams.

Reality is, nothing is never exactly how we dream it to be.

Decopage Challenge

I did three items for the decoupage challenge. Two composition books, and one radio belt clip for work.

The floral book is covered in SEI papers, with mixed fibers, and chipboard accents.

The boxer book is covered with Boxer Photos from one of my calendars I purchased a few years ago. I think it was made by Brown Trout Publications. I cut ou the day-to-day picutes, and assembled in a hodge podge fashion around the notebook. I added chipboard accents, flowers, tabs, and ribbons to decorate it up more.

I don't recommend the tabs. They crease and scrunch too quickly. I know technical terms there).

Enjoy!

Stamping with REAL flowers

Paint Stamping with Real Flowers

Another challenge for April was to stamp using paint and real flowers. I took a stroll (okay limp) down to the mailbox, and gathered up some wild flowers on my way back up to the house. I got out my Making Memories paint set in the spring colors, and set out to try my hand at flower stamping.

I learned that you want to use a "stiffer" flower. The pansy type petals don't hold paint well, and they don't hold up to more than one or two images. They also seem to pool the paint more and the image is more of a blob than a flower.

The wild mountain lilies worked great, and the dandelions were another nice flower to use. They made cleaner and more flower-like images.

I tried a variety of paints colors to make them more interesting.

This was a fun new technique to try. I think I want to see how some summer flowers work. I think commercial flowers would be great because they are hardier than wildflowers.

April's 1st Use it Up Challenge - Inchies!!

A new month means a new list of challenges! For this inchie challenge, I used only scraps from the Boxer Brats Scraps stash :) hehehe! These are all little cupcakes stamped with a $1 stamp I found at Michaels (on sale for $0.50). I stamped them then embossed them using Stampendous Pearlustre Embossing powder. I wish you could see how much the purple outline shines! I colored them using my watercolor pencils and crayons. (If you do this, be careful not to break the embossing powder off. I learned the hard way.) Next I punched them into 1" squares using my Creative Memories square punch. I went to the next size up and punched the light pink frame, and then a step larger to the hot pink frame. Ta Da! 27 cupcake inchies at your service!