New Baby card

One of my REALLY good friends, Kathy, is getting a Labradoodle puppy some time in the very near future (she is a rescue and had a broken leg, so Kathy can't get her until that is all taken care of). You know I'm a sucker for furbabies anyway, so I decided that I'd make her a card to have ready when she finally gets Sierra! Below is a picture of the card that I made AND a picture of Sierra....

Misty's Birthday Card

My best friend of 26 years (YIKES) is having a birthday on Saturday. She has finally caught up with me! =) She sent me a text message today thanking me for the card, so I know that it's safe to post this now. She LOVES Marilyn Monroe so I decided that's what I'd use for my inspiration for her card. I specifically looked online for a black and white pic of her and found one quickly that I really liked! Now, here's a little secret - the picture printed fine but when I was cutting it out, there was a small bit of white left at the top..as I was trying to trim it with my paper cutter, the paper started to rip. I was upset but was able to compose myself enough to step back and look at it. I decided that I'd just run with it and distressed the whole thing! I thought that it gave it more of a vintage look this way, anyway, which was kind of what I was going for. It's on red cardstock that I stamped with Versamark, which has become one of my favorite products. HAPPY 31st, MISTY!!! XOXOXO

My scrap booking buddy

Yes, this really is where Moo sits while I'm working on my projects. If she's not ON the table then she's in my shirt or zipped up in my jacket. She's MY dog and feels the need to be, literally, everywhere I am. I DO realize I have an illness with this 4-legged cutie. =) Also, this is how messy my table is 99.9% of the time. It's hard to scrap without making a mess and I have an even harder time cleaning it up!

Winnie the Pooh "page"

For those of you that know me, having a baby has been one of my main concerns for nearly 3 1/2 years now. About a year ago, we got the nursery done...well, we moved my scrapbook stuff out of the spare room, took down the extra bed, put up Winnie the Pooh border and moved some baby furniture in there. Last weekend, my wonderful husband painted in there under the border and I just love it! It "freshened it up" for me, which was what I needed. Anyway, I found a wonderful poem ("Children Are..." by Meiji Stewart) on a poster at Old Tyme Pottery but didn't like the colors so I decided to make my own version of it. Not exactly scrap booking but for someone like me who doesn't know TOO much about computers and editing programs, I worked a really long time on it but am so pleased with how it turned out! Needless to say, it's already hanging on the wall where there just happened to be a nail with nothing on it....

3x3 Notecard Tote

This was my accomplishment for today. It's a cute little "tote" that holds 3x3 notecards that can be used for gifts or something small. I even thought this would be cute to do in Christmas themed paper and make gift tags to put in it! What a cute gift! I got this idea from Splitcoaststampers.com - http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/notecardtote/

Framed Page for Hannah

I have some old pics on my computer of things that I've made in the past and will be adding them to my blog from time to time. This is a 12x12 page that I made for my 15 year old cousin, Hannah and framed it. I found the saying in a magazine and the plaque was like $24 - I KNEW I could make it for cheaper and of course it turned out so much cuter! =)I just used different letter stickers, nothing too complicated. She loved it and I'm hoping that she always remembers these words of wisdom "NO boy is worth crying over and the one that is won't make you cry"

Another Birhday card

I'm slowly getting things finished that are on my "to-do" list. June is such a busy month with birthdays!!

Birthday Cake!

Here are the awesome cakes that my hubby made for me! He's the best! I love green and SHAMROCKS! I bought the cake pan forever ago and had St. Patrick's Day plates and napkins that I got on clearance at the end of the season =)

Sunday evening scrap time

Marge and I started the off, like we do A LOT of Sundays, at Archiver's and Michael's. Can't say there was much going on, but it did get me in the mood to do some scrappin' which was good. Sad thing is, I had to come home and take a nap before I could get started! What is is about shopping that is so exhausting??

Tonight I made a birthday card, which turned out way better than I thought it would, thankyouverymuch. It was one of those where I started it and about halfway through, I thought I should trash it and start over but in the end, it all came together. It's funny how, sometimes, the simplest things can take the most time to make! I mean, there's nothing ultra fancy about this card. Sometimes you've got it, sometimes you don't. I also made her a check book cover for her birthday, which is June 10th. I wanted to get these things done so I could give them to her this weekend.

My Birthday!

My actual birthday is tomorrow but we celebrated last night. A group of 12 of us went to O'Charley's and then back to our house for cake and ice cream. James made my cake(s)..Marge took pics for me, I'll post them when she passes them on to me. My wonderful in-laws got me a new camera and some scrapbooking supplies. YAY! My friend/sister Gerri (she and her husband, Mark and their beautiful baby, Colin - our Godson partied with us) is taking me on a "romantic getaway to South Bend, Indiana (www.theblueheronguesthouse.com/home.htm) to a B&B and an art show this weekend! Not really my birthday present, but it's a long story and a "convenient" excuse =) THEN, my best friend Teri made me these adorable note cards!!! I just had to share....

Father-in-law's Birthday Card

Nothing fancy, but another card....

An Anniversary card and Wedding card that I "found" on my camera

Somehow these got saved to the internal memory of my camera (I HATE this camera...can't wait for my birthday - only 16 more days!).

Father's Day Card

I know it's a little bit early for this one but got some inspiration and figured I'd better run with it! Not a complicated card but I DID make the cute little shirt on the front! I added the inside of this card, too...just a couple of stamps that I thought were really cute.

Baby Book

My best friend of almost 26 years, Misty, had her first baby in January. YAY! As one of her baby shower gifts, I put together a few pages in a scrapbook for her. She's not a scrapper but thought this way she could at least have something unique to put some pictures in! My mother in law and I worked on this together and I was so happy with the way that it turned out! I haven't asked her if she's put any pics on the pages yet or not =) PS - this is my first attempt at doing a slideshow! I hope the ones in the future are better and easier to do!

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you mommies out there! I'm a mommy...of 4-legged babies...and reminded my husband of that. I got a great dinner at an Irish Pub last night for it! =) Today, we enjoyed a relaxing morning, slept the early afternoon away and then had his parents over for Mother's Day dinner. It was nice uneventful day.

Here is the card that I made for my mother-in-law:

Just a small update and a picture of my "kids", for those of you who don't know them...

I DID get a Mother's Day card started and finished yesterday. YAY! However, I can't post it just yet since my Mother-in-Law hasn't gotten it yet. Wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for her! (Not that it's extra special or anything...you know...)

An update on my birthday cards. Well, one of them anyway. The card with the bear on it was made for Jenna, the baby that I watch 5 days a week (along with her 4 year old twin siblings, James & Jayne); she turned the big O-N-E on Saturday. Her mom is also a scrapper and I felt that I'd be "critiqued" for some reason. =) Well, the party was on Sunday...on Monday morning Krista commented on how great the card was. She said that she didn't even give it a second thought while opening gifts, she thought it was so good that I bought it and didn't realize I'd MADE it until she went back through everything that night. Is that a great compliment or what?! Not to toot my own horn but I thought it was pretty good, too. It was one of those where I almost didn't want to give it away =)



And now, a picture of our "children". (From L-R) Blanche, a 9-ish year old Chihuahua Pug, Mufasa - "Moo", a 15 month of long-haired Chihuahua and Happy, a 13-ish year old Lhasa Apso Poodle. We're sick about these dogs and I sometimes wonder if we should have children *laugh*

My accomplishments from today - 3 birthday cards!

I've been THINKING about these cards for a while now, knowing that the birthdays were coming up but couldn't get the inspiration to work on them. Just as I was ready to throw the one with the bear into the trash, I looked at Sizzix's site (www.sizzix.com) and found a way to make the bear go from blah to oh-so cute! I love the way it turned out! I have to admit I put about 4 hours into this card...honestly! I don't know what the deal was, it just wasn't doing what I wanted...couldn't get the mental image on the paper! The other 2 are similar...I was running out of time and loved the design so I decided to do the same one for our niece, Chloe and James' other goddaughter, Alyssa (Chloe is also his goddaughter). Funny how something that looks so simple can take so long to put together! I've just started really using my Sizzix machine, instead of just buying dies! I'm loving it!! I'll be making Mother's Day cards this week along with getting my shopping list ready to make Eggplant Parmesean! Oh and I'm having a Close to my Heart party on Saturday! Another busy week ahead of me....

A little creative

I don't want people to get the wrong idea and think that I'm some kind of super-crafty person. =) My initial inspiration (aside from my wonderful mother in law and the fact that I wanted to do my own wedding scrapbook) is that I am ADDICTED to pens and paper. There, I said it. This is a fetish of mine that I've had since as far back as I can remember. So, add a WEE LITTLE bit of creativity and BAM, I'm a scrapbooker! I have been scrapping for about 4 years now and take up and entire corner in the basement with all of my supplies. James always wanted me to get a hobby. Now he wishes I'd found a cheaper one! =) I've come to realize that most of the fun with scrapbooking is buying things to use!! Marge (this is the awesome lady I mentioned earlier, my mom-in-law) and I go to Archiver's at least once a month, coupons permitting and you can usually find us at Michael's, too.

Recently, most of my inspiration for pages come from 3 wonderful books that I don't know how I ever lived without! I ordered these books through Close to my Heart (acrylic stamps).

Cherish: https://nikkid.myctmh.com/Retail/Product.aspx?ItemID=435
Imagine: https://nikkid.myctmh.com/Retail/Product.aspx?ItemID=3396&CatalogID=1250
Reflections: https://nikkid.myctmh.com/Retail/Product.aspx?ItemID=3705&CatalogID=177

And now they even have one for card-making!!
Originals Card Confidence Program: https://nikkid.myctmh.com/Retail/Product.aspx?ItemID=4219&CatalogID=178

No, I don't sell Close to my Heart products but I DO love things that make my life easier!! It's hard to come up with a new idea for every page/project and these books at least help to get the creative juices flowing! For me, scrapbooking is like interior decorating for photo albums!!

Checkbook Covers

>This is what I have been working on, most recently, They are checkbook covers! I got the idea from my Aunt Liz and ordered the clear covers from eBay. I made 6 of these last night and have a list of more that I want to make! I'm having a blast with these...they're quick and easy and give me a sense of accomplishment. =)