Why, Hello There ....

Its been a while, huh? No promises when I will blog next since I keep making promises that I don't keep. I don't like it when people promise me stuff and then don't follow through, so no promises from me! Here are a few things that I have done while I was away doing God knows what :)






And I even participated in a challenge which I have not done FOREVER. This one is from The Cats Pajamas Co. and it was a fun color challenge. I was inspired immediately. This is actually a pocket calendar cover, but it could be used for a checkbook cover, also (although its a tad big -- didn't fit in my wallet). The image is from the Tickled Pink set from The Angel Company (circa 2008). And I have had those flip flop brads (from OTC) for almost as long as my youngest child has been alive. Okay, exaggerating ... but its been a long time. I thought they were cute and then when they arrived didn't know quite what to do with them. Does that happen to anyone else?





And I thought, as incentive to myself, I would pose a question. Answer the question and I will randomly chose someone to receive a small token of my appreciation for helping me get back to my blog. Let's consider this "baby blog candy" :)

QUESTION FOR THE DAY:

What is one "strange" item that you have used to craft with?

I will start:
I might try to stamp anything that will hold still long enough. But one that comes to mind is when I made the most adorable (IMHO) container to hold my tacks for my bulletin board out of those Laughing Cow cheese containers -- you know the circle ones with the lids? I also just bought some clear tubing from the hardware store with visions of bracelets dancing in my heads. I will have to let you know about that one.

Your turn!

Kammy's Birthday Book

Here are Kamryn's birthday pages. Sorry the pictures aren't super great. I will try to work on my photography skills when it comes to scrapbook pages. But these will have to do for now. I have some cards I need/want to make but with five kids hanging out today not sure if I will make it to my craft area today. If not, I will find something to post :) I am really going to try not to disappear again!

Kammy's half birthday was a very quiet family affair. I am really not good at journaling so this page still needs some writing on it. Ah, someday!



Kamryn's 1st birthday party was suppose to be a garden party but it RAINED! Go figure, so all my cute party ideas had to be moved inside. She still looked adorable and we all had fun.




Kammy's second birthday was a bunny party. These pages are some of my favorites I have ever done! They turned out as cute as the party was :)




And her third party was at the Butterfly House. The party was wonderful but these pages are so crowded ... I may redo them at some point ... not sure.




Thanks for looking! Happy Crafting! CHECK OUT MY BLOG CANDY BELOW!!!

Scrappin' Sisters

My sister, Christy and I have been scrapping together for quite a few years now and I have not posted much of my books so I thought I'd share some of my pictures from my kids birthday books. I have Kamryn's up-to-date (amazing) and need to do Teagan's latest (age 5 in November) and am pretty happy with how they have turned out. They love looking at them and these are easy to keep up with since its just two a year. Scrapbooking can be so overwhelming but I think doing "theme" books like these is such a sense of accomplishment it keeps me going.

Teagan's Half Birthday Party



Teagan's First Birthday was a Cowboy Theme -- mostly 'cause I loved this overall outfit from Gymboree! This is probably my favorite two page spread. I love the linen thread looped around the page like a lasso.




Teagan's 2nd birthday was Veggie Tales. He was a huge fan of Larry the Cucumber (and still likes to watch the videos occasionally) so it was natural to do this as a theme. And Oriental Trading Co. had a great pack of paper that made this super easy.




Teagan has always been quite obsessed with cars and trucks so this was an inevitable theme. We focused on construction vehicles because we had just attended the "Big Truck" even at The Magic House and backhoe loaders were a favorite at that point.




And when he turned 4 we had his class (almost all of them) over for the Pixar Cars themed party. This was a huge party! Yes, I was crazy that year. But it was fun.




I will share Kamryn's birthday pages tomorrow. And this is a good reminder that I need to get Teagan's 5th party pages finished. Hopefully you will see those soon, too!

Thanks for looking :) CHECK OUT MY BLOG CANDY BELOW!!

I am back!

Okay, so I am making a "Spring Resolution" and that is to get back to my blog :) I may have made the same resolution at the beginning of 2009, but that obviously did not work out so well. I have not been crafting as much as I would like, which is part of the absence. But I finally got some stuff done and uploaded some pictures so here goes:

I was inspired by the cute stacked canisters in the new SU! catalog. I have been storing my markers in these altered canisters but they were standing up and I worried about the ink. So, this was the perfect solution. They also save space and makes them easier to get to when I need them.



I have been meaning to make these plaques for my kiddos for awhile now. We can now hang these nifty little things and clip their artwork to them for display.



Here is an album that I made for my hubby for Valentine's Day present. We were going economical and this was a heartfelt and inexpensive gift. I found the LOVE album at Archivers (on sale) and had always wanted to try making one. It was super easy and I can almost guarantee that you will see more of these suckers on my blog in the future. Fabulous fun!



I am embarrassed to say that I did not make my kid's valentines this year. Ugh! But I couldn't let the whole holiday pass without some craftiness going on. These were quick and easy. The kids got to help with the cookies (good ol' slice and bakes) and with a quick and easy bag topper they got rave reviews from the teachers.



Thanks for looking :)

Christmas In July

Morning! It has been a super busy week for us. The kids are in swim lessons which has been lots of fun but pretty much blows my mornings. How can a half hour lesson blow an entire morning?? Not sure, but it has everyday this week! And we have had something every evening this week, too. I guess this is a preview of times to come as my kidlets get older. Teagan started Tball last night. We only got about 20-30 minutes in before we had a wicked storm. He was disappointed but DQ afterwards helped cheer him up. Gotta love a Blizzard in a thunderstorm!

Well, I did get to make two cards yesterday but I can only show one. The other is for my Mom's birthday and since I know she checks out my blog I can't post it yet. It is really cool, though, so early next week, I will post it. I tried a new and super easy technique that I know you will love. Its called Emerging Colors and I used Designer Series paper. Check out the tutorial here:

http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ee/index.php/resources/tutorials/emerging_color/

My second card evolved into a Chistmas card -- the first of 2008. It started out as a potential wedding card and then I kept playing with it and playing with it. Below is what it turned out to be :) I think I fixed the problem of not being able to click and see the pictures larger thanks to some blogging friends on SCS. Try them out and forgive my lack of photography skills -- some are blurry especially large!

And I got together with some friends this weekend to scrapbook. I got a few pages "almost" done -- you know me ... need to title and journal :) Here is a peek at those! I found a cute little punch in Mike's clearance for $1.50 -- there is a close up of that ... it looks like a little paper buckle! Adorable :) On the "dressing up with Nana" page I used my 1" circle punch all the way around the paper to make it look like a stamp. I thought that turned out cute, too! The pages of Kammy's 3rd birthday are quite crowded so I may end up starting those all over again. I like the colors but it might be too much. I don't love it. Feel free to make suggestions -- I like the feedback, really! The Cutie Pie page turned out simple and cute, I thought. I used more of my felt pieces. I love those but don't want to overwhelm my books with them. I might add some of those to the next blog candy I give out. I have so many I need to share! Can you even believe the baby in the Cutie Pie page is the same in the 3rd birthday party page?? She looks so different and BIG :( In a few weeks, I will be doing her first day of preschool page!!! I might cry! Boo Hoo!

I hope to post again before we leave for my cousin's wedding in Pittsburgh this weekend. Happy creating in your inspiring corner of the world :)

And we have a winner ....

Congratulations to CPullum -- she won the BLOG Candy this time :) Teagan picked his favorite number -- 14 and thats who won this time around. I have contacted her and will get her goodies out to her ASAP! Thank you everyone for playing. I am fast approaching 600 -- and I originally gave candy to get to the 500 mark! WOW!


We arrived back from our weekend wedding in Cinci yesterday. We had a wonderful time. We met some new friends and had fun reconnecting with some old ones :) The couple who got married will be moving back to STL at the end of the summer so we were even more excited about the whole weekend. I had enough time to do some scrapbooking and visit a few scrap/stamp stores in the area, too! It was wonderful to sleep in and spread my stuff out without having to share or stop every five minutes. I did miss my kidlets terribly and unfortunately my puppy was not as well behaved as we had hoped, so I am sure my sister missed US terribly, too :( Anyway, we all survived and life is quickly back to our normal chaos!


I am including some of my scrapbook pages that I completed. A couple still need some finishing touches but they are *mostly* done and I am pleased with them!

this is a two page spread of Teagan's first day of school. The pictures flip up so there are actually 8 pictures on these two pages ... I still need to title and journal!

This one is of Kammy in the bath tub! I need to title and journal, again. Behind each of the two pictures on the left hand side are tags to write on.

This one is of Kamryn talking on my cell phone. I need to journal on this one and that will be under the little flap with the yellow and pink polka ribbon. A lot of the embellishments are felt. I bought these from a LSS that is closing and is discounting everything. I was anxious to use them and love how it turned out.

and this last one is going to say "FALL FUN" but I haven't attached the "fall" letters yet. I also need to finish up journal-ing .. can you tell I am not so good at getting that part done? I love the colors on this one.

Hope you find a little inspiration today -- it is a beautiful day here and hope you are having the same wherever you may be!

Happy Stampin' & Scrappin'

A Whole Week Later ...

Okay, I know I disappeared for a while ... but I was busy with crafty stuff. And some family stuff ... here's whats up!

1.) I am getting ready to unveil a pretty exciting thing ... but I am going to leave you in suspense until I return from vacation. I am leaving on Friday with my kidlets to visit my Mom and Dad in FL. We are all so excited. I am flying and am a little nervous to do that with two kids by myself, but I have been saying lots of prayers!! Teagan is in his last week of school and I am a little in shock that his first year of preschool has already ended. Anyway, this endeavor has me crafting like mad. Here are a few samples:

2.) I signed up for an online scrapbooking sketch class that starts in June. Check this blog out (it's awesome if you scrapbook): http://www.valeriesalmon.typepad.com./ There is information about her Got Sketch Online class there. She has wonderful sketches that I believe come out weekly. I have not been scrapbooking much lately and want to get back to it. OOHHH, I am nervous! I have never posted any of my scrapbooking anywhere -- this is a first!! But, I thought this might be a great way to encourage myself to get on it! Look at me -- I am growing! So here is a sketch challenge that I worked on last night:

3.) And of course, Father's Day is coming up. I am hoping to get some cards in Nooks N Crannies so am starting to get a stash of those started. Here are two cute ones using my Fellas! 4.) And personal stuff ... we are getting a puppy! I know, I know ... I am crazy. Well, "we" have decided that we are not having any more children, and by "we" I mean Tim has "convinced" (kinda) me that this is the best idea. So, I am settling for a furbaby, instead! We will get him the week after we return from FL. He is a 12 week old (maybe closer to 14 weeks by the time we get him) shih-tzu. They have been calling him "Billy" but I am not so much a fan of people names for dogs so we will change it. I think I have it narrowed down to four: Stout, General Tzu, Bonsai, or Smidgen. What do you think?? Here is a picture of my cute little bundle:

5.) A very nice member of SCS also helped me format my blog a few weeks ago and I am sending her some goodies as a thank you. This is also kind of practice for giving away BLOG CANDY at some point in the near future. Here is what I made/purchased for her:

Plus I had my neices over the weekend which is lots of fun! So, that coupled with leaving for FL in a few days has kept me away from the computer. I am glad to be able to catch you up! I will try to post at least once more before I leave. And, I may be able to jump on my Mom's computer while I am there.

Thanks for looking (and reading)!