New Layouts

I have been working on more layouts for "Use-It-Up Challenges" we have been having on my scrapbook lists.


This first set is of my two step-children, Sydney & Noah. The picture of them together was taken at our local Walmart Photo Studio. They lady we had taking our pictures was great. As I scrap more of them you will see what I mean. She allowed us to take some great pictures that were definately, "outside-the-box" for a small photo place. We got a bunch of great pictures for under $50. I call that a super duper bargain!

The pictures in the park were taken by my extremely talented brother-in-law. I simply love both of those pictures of the kids. The umbrella photo of Noah was so spontaneous.







This layout is of my mom's dog, Mina. (pronounced Men-ah). Mina means little one in German, and when we got her she was the smallest puppy in the litter. Back in 1997, I took a road trip home from Texas to California (long story there), and when traveling through Nevada (I think), we found this town called Mina. It was 3 a.m., but my friends and I stopped and snapped a picture of this sign. I think the population was 40 poeple LOL. We joked that we were going to be shot standing out in the middle of no-where taking pictures of their town sign.

This wasn't the only sign we photographed on that trip. We found a city named Joseph City. One of my friends was Joe, so we took his picture next to the sign. It was actually a fun adventure. I am not sure I enjoyed it as much as I should have then, but the memories now are great.



This last layout set is of Noah at his graduation party in Missouri. Noah was accepted to KU (Kansas University) -- Go BLUE! The first set of pictures is of him opening his gifts, and the second page is one of the best pictures I have of him and his dad. They were both so happy there. That is another great memory for us. We were both so proud of Noah that day. He has grown into an amazing young man. I am so very proud of him and the person he has become.

Super Star

This is a layout I just completed today. "Super Stars" We had such fun having those pictures taken! It was a great day. Can you believe that great shot was taken at a Walmart Photo Center?!?! The lady who did our pictures was a great sport, and we got some amazing pictures!

Supply Stockpiling

I saw this article on another website :OrganizedScrapbooks.com. I found it very interesting, and I wanted to share. Credit goes to their user rockester.


Did You Know? A Word About Stockpiling Scrapbook Supplies
Submitted by rockester on May 20, 2005 - 22:00

* get organized


Did you know that an inch of pattern paper is estimated to be 100 sheets or 75 finished pages?

Did you know that one inch of cardstock is roughly 50 pages finished? How many inches do YOU have? How many pages do you do a year?

Do you have over 12 inches (1 foot) of cardstock or printed paper? Do you realise that is enough paper for 1000 pages? Are you stockpiling for someday when you already own enough paper to do thousands of pages?

Did you know that one tin/set of 100 eyelets makes and average of 20 pages? (And how many sets of 100 do YOU own?)

Did you know that many paper packs and multi sheet slabs usually have 10-20% of their patterns that will not suit you within a pack? (one sheet in 5 may not be to your taste so don't keep it in the stash--share!)

Did you know that each sticker sheet you own will do aproximately a two page layout? If you have binder full of stickers it will equal about 300 pages to use them up?

Did you know that each yard of fiber you own will make 1-2 pages? If you own a skein of knitting yarn, they contain between 100-200 yards of fiber? At that rate it will take you 100-200 pages of JUST THAT SKEIN to use up that yarn ball on layout pages? (SHARE!!)

Did you know that the average gel and writer pen ink longevity INSIDE a pen is one year before it is generally dry or unusable? (Use them up before they DRY up!)

Did you know that playing music when you scrapbook helps your creativity and productivity?

Did you know that starting with a format saves you 20 minutes PER PAGE?

Did you know there are about 500 free sketches online? Watch our links for sites. If you can't find those free ones online to print and refer to, or need ideas for crop parties, get Becky Higgins Creative Sketches book and also her Creative Companion book. Sketches are simply awesome for versatile formats of layouts.

Did you know that shopping once a week at the scrapbook store costs most scrappers an average of $25.00 each trip? (And most of those have enough items at home already to make 1000's of pages.) $25.00 times 52 weeks a year means $ 1300 spent per year.

Did you know that sticker letters cost an average of $3-$5 dollars a sheet now? Buy black so that later you can mix and match later your partial sheets for 'mixed font' titles. It will save you at least a dollar a sheet to BUY BLACK! Why? Because you will eventually get more many titles per sheet that way!

Did you know that one ABC sticker sheet usually makes only two titles before is is 'cast off' by most scrapbookers? Over half the stickers are then wasting away in binders or storage and cloggin up precious storage
space--never to be used again.

Did you know that people will pay $1 each for two punched flowers and a brad or pop dot? (Think Jolees, K and Co, and Paper Bliss) Do it
yourself for a fraction of that. It takes only pennies to make a stacked flower from your scraps and chalk the outside petals..... I know you have scraps and brads, eyelets or pop dots! LOL Pay yourself about $20 to $40 an hour and make a few dozen sets instead of buying them.

Did you know that stamping your own twill ribbon with phrases saves you $2.00 a yard? How many premade ribbon yards do you have that you need to use up? Wording ribbon usually works out to 1 foot per page. If you have a stockpile of 20 yards of worded ribbons of all kinds, that means you better get cracking and make 60 pages before you buy more!!

Blog Candy!

My friend, Jenn, is offering her very first BLOG CANDY!!!

Go check out her blog iscrapmemories . Read through her blog and check it out. Leave her a comment, and then link her blog to yours! Isn't that easy?? You could win $25 (min value) in wonderful scrapping supplies.

Trust me, Jenn has GREAT stuff in her stash!!!

Remember to check out her blog at iscrapmemories!!!!

Enjoy and GOOD LUCK!

Muir Beach Layout

These pages are of the first time my in-laws had went to the Pacific Ocean. I took them on a day trip to San Francisco. We toured around the city, and all of the famous landmarks, but they really wanted to see the beach as opposed to the SF Bay. We drove out to Muir Beach (1/2 hour or so out of SF), and we all got out and played in the ocean. It is almost impossible to read the journaling on the page, but it was almost word for word what they said. If you look from right to left, they start out tentatively wading in the water, and then they finally get out there a little way. (I did this because of the journaling). The last photo is of them running back up to the beach. A big wave came up and almost knocked them over. They were laughing so hard at the "feeling" of the waves and my MIL said, "Big, big, big wave. Big wave chase me." (Which is what the journaling strips say). My husband and I couldn't stop laughing.

I don't know if any of you have seen the movie with John Candy, "The Great Outdoors", where he runs in the cabin being chased by the bear. He says, "Big, big, big bear. Big bear chase me." Anyway the humor for us was in the journaling. I used real sea shells that we collected on the beach that day for the actual page accents. I cleaned them well in the sink and sprayed them with Archival Mist.

I really like the simplicity of this challenge layout, and the use of the white space on the pages. Thanks for looking!

OMG! I won a BLOG CANDY!

Okay so now I cannot stop dancing around the house because I won a wonderful blog candy from scentmycards! This stuff is amazing (so I hear). I have wanted to try it, and all of the ladies on my card making blogs just swear by it! I am so excited!!!!

Check out www.scentmycards.com ! Their card scents are on sale right now!! Sales are always good!!

I can't wait to make new cards that have great smells!!

~happy dance~

Thank you again, Cindy!!!

Can you Stand even MORE blog candy?

Love scented cards?

Well you are in luck! There are TWO yes, TWO chances to win TWO bottles of card scents from ScentMyCards.com??

How you ask?

Well first go visit Dawn's Frogaritaville here:

http://froggysfroggaritaville.blogspot.com/

Read the instructions on the blog and leave her a comment that I sent you over and then link to her blog on your blog.

Then boogie on over to Cindy E's blog here::

http://scentmycards.blogspot.com/

And do the same thing!

The winner will be drawn next Saturday on the 14th of March!

If you enter and link both blogs you get TWO chances to win TWO bottles! FUN, FUN, FUN!

Thank you Cindy & Dawn for this great blog candy!

Blog Candy!

Wow, a friend from my Bella List has an amazing blog candy offer on her blog. She just made 20,000 hits on her blog, and she wants to celebrate in STYLE!

Go check out her blog, and her amazing offer of some wonderful blog candy! Who knows? You may win!

The only catch is you have to share with me!!! HAHAHAHA! Can you tell I would LOVE to win her amazing package offer?

Go visit lori at: scrapinglori.blogspot.com

Share her blog with your friends, too! Who knows. We may help her get to 30,000 blog hits!

Ribbon Tying Trick

I read this today on another list. I found it funny because that is exactly what I did to apply the ribbons on the Ruger I love you layouts.


Ribbon Tip:

As a bonus here one of my favorite ribbon tips. Make the perfect ribbon knot by tying your ribbon around a spare brad. Decide where you want your knot (or bow) and attach brad through ribbon and paper. This give you leverage to tie the ribbon and makes a really pretty end product. Use any old brad too - especially ones you don't care for especially - the color will be hidden under the ribbon!

It makes bows quick and easy, and you have a simple way to attach them to your page.

{Ruger & Noah -- I love you}

This was a glitter/bling challenge for March on my group list.

This is my beloved dog, Ruger, and my step-son, Noah. They bonded quickly, and Ruger was Noah's protector.

More Layouts!

This layout is done on a transportation or car them, and again it is for a challenge. I has a great time finding some good pictures of my first two trucks. The 76 Chevy my dad bought when I was 13, and I always called it my truck. He always teased me and said "yes" when you get your license!

My second truck, the 1955 A Series Chevy was purchased a year later for me when I was 14. It was exactly the kind of truck I had dreamed of! I was so excited that dad let me take my savings and spend it on this beautiful piece of Detroit metal!

Are you surprised to know that I still have BOTH of those vehicles today! My two first trucks are still mine, and they still run. Both do need a little work and TLC. Their age is starting to show again!








I have been trying to get a lot of layouts down, and also get a jump start as we move into some new challenges for March:

This layout is about my best friend, Eddie -- He is a great guy. The 1982 picture was taken before we left for my Junior Prom. He was the best date, and we had a wonderful time. The 1989 picture is from my wedding to my now ex-husband. Eddie stood up with me that day, and it meant the world to me. He also had the honor of walking my mother down the aisle.

We have been friends since I was 12, and he was 14. We may be miles apart and not talk for days, months, and sometimes years, but we pick right back up where we left off. I know if I need him, he will never be more than a phone call away.

The cute little guy in the second picture is Eddie's son Zach. I often got told that he looked exactly like me whenever we were out in public. That was always a hard one to explain to people. They just would never believe he wasn't my son. He is a grown man now! Wow, those pictures are dated!





This is page two of that layout. Here he is pictured with his son, Zach.



And an attempt to get a nice overhead view of the two pages together.

BLOG CANDY WINNER!!

SUZANNE!!!

I put all of the names in the hat. For those of you that posted a link to my blog on yours, you all got two entries into the drawing!

This is really a LUCKY day for Suzanne! She won another drawing on one of the scrappin' boards I belong to! She better go buy LOTTO tix tonight!

Suzanne, there is a big ol' envie of goodies on its way to you VERY very soon!

I hope you like it!

Thank you all for entering. There will be more blog candy to come in the not too distant future. Please bookmark my blog and keep coming back~

Scrappers ROCK!!!

More Layouts!

Recent Projects Completed

For one group challenge we needed to make a paper piecing from a pattern given. I couldn't decide which I liked better, so I posted both. Now I need to do a 2 page layout using at least one of them to complete the last part of that monthly challenge.


Next, I needed to do two more pages for a monthly challenge. Our goal for a double entry in the challenge was to make a total of 12 pages. Here are my last two pages to make my goal.





On one of my lists, we do Pay-It-Forwards (PIFS), and Random Acts of Kindness (RAKS). I got a huge envie from one such giving person, and I decided it was time to use up all the wonderful items I could.

I took a bunch of different items, and made 7 greeting cards. In under a half hour, I had a great start to replenishing my card collection.




I have one more set of pages I finished two nights ago, but I cannot post them yet. They are entered into a Sketch challenge, and I don't want to give away the who made what. Though, by now, everyone is starting to know everyone else's families. LOL

New Layouts & BLOG CANDY

I have been busy for the month of February making layouts and entering challenges. I have decided that I want to start generating more interest in my blog, and get some classes and videos done to promote crafting and scrapbooking. I may not have all the talents, but I have a few. I love, love, love crafts!

In honor of all of the items I have completed, and all of the swaps and challenges I have entered, I am offering a HUGE envie of BLOG CANDY. Yep, this is a big envie packed full of paper crafting items. I have handmade items (done by me and other swappers), papers, stickers, chipboard, and more. This envie will be very full.

To enter, you just need to make a comment on this blog post. If you link my blog to yours, and cross-post my blog candy, you will get two entries. I will have my husband draw a name from all of the entries on March 1st.

There is so much in this grab bag of items! You will not be disappointed.

Coming soon -- even bigger blog candy for the promotion of my husband's new book!

New Cards~

I was busy crafting a bit between dishes, laundry, etc. I made a few cards along with the layout I posted earlier.

This first one is a masculine birthday card:



The rest are Valentine's for the family and our friends (not many, huh?) LOL



Thanks for looking~

Sketch Challenge

Today we had a new challenge on my group MemoryScrappers on yahoo. During Feb, we are doing the Use-It-Up challenge. The deal is we get a challenge, but we can only use items we have in our stash.


These pictures are very old (98), and wow, how picture quality has changed! LOL


I had a hard time capturing the dimension in the '98 and the flowers. There is also ribbon, rhinestones (gotta have my bling) and rub-ons. Yep, everything was in my stash!

Thanks for looking~

Special Card

It isn't often that we get to thank those who risk their lives for our freedoms. I made a special card for one such person last night~

Printed inside on white cardstock was the following~

HONOR

COURAGE

SERVICE

"Some people wonder all their lives if they've made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem." --Ronald Reagan

Dog Swap - Altered Coaster & Bonus Die Cuts

Dog Swap - Altered Coaster

For a recent dog swap, I made an altered coaster. The coaster came from Red Lobster. At our last visit, I asked our server for extra coasters for my crafting, and she gave me a handful (bonus!!). The papers are cardstock from my stash (black, red, navy and brown). The background paper on the coaster is from Karen Foster Designs. The buckles on the ribbon are cut from my Sizzix red dies collection "buckles". The dog bone brad is from a dog swap I did. The "newspaper" article is printed on grey/beige cardstock using my laser printer. It was aged with chalk and distress inks. The ribbon was a gift from a friend.

The die cuts are all from cardstock and cut using my Cricut and the Paper Pups cartridge.

Black and White Tags

Black & White Tags: Feb Challenge

These are the tags I made for the black and white tag challenge on one of my scrapbook groups (shown 3 front view and 3 back view). The cardstock is from Top Line Creations. The ribbons are from Walmart (Offray $1 spools). The buttons are from granny's button box, and the floss is DMC white embroidery floss. The "}" is cut from my Cricut using the Home Decor cartridge. I inked the edges of all the pieces using black chalk inks.

Hailey's First Birthday

Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday dear Hailey!!! Happy Birthday to you!!!


Party Time!!

Going in for the cupcakes:


The carrot peanut butter doggie cupcakes with cottage cheese frosting:



Hailey's cupcakes before icing:



Scooby wishing mommy would quit making her wear hats:



Pugsley finally posing with his hat on:




Our little birthday girl - Happy first birthday, Hailey!



Today was our little Hailey's first birthday. Mommy made her carrot peanut butter cupcakes with cottage cheese icing. The doggies donned their birthday party hats, and we sang happy birthday to Hailey.

Daddy and I had gourmet veggie pizza (oh the heartburn)!

Enjoy the pictures!

Christmas Babies

My dogs were great for posing for Christmas Pictures in front of our tree this year. Scooby is my tired reindeer, and Pugsley was Santa.