Card Sketch #55

Here is my card for Card Sketch #55 at the Sketches! {by Tamara} site. Be sure to take a look at what the other card designers created! If you make a card using Tamara's sketch, be sure to link it back to her site, and you could be her next guest designer!


I used Basic Grey Euphoria papers that I got from Wendy at ScrapCity. I stamped on the three panels with various $1 acrylic stamp sets that I got from Michaels. I added some ribbon, a couple of Primas, and a rhinestone brad. I also did distressing with chalk ink, and I stamped a stitched border across the top.

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

Wow, I got a lot of awards!

Hi everyone! I got three awards yesterday! Wow! Before I get to them, I want to thank Liz. Liz is a blogging friend, and she recently had her 100th post. She gave out surprise blog candy to the person that had commented the most on her blog, and that was me! Liz sent me a $20 Hobby Lobby gift card. How sweet and awesome is that? Thank you so much Liz! You didn't need to send me anything at all. It's my pleasure visiting your blog!

First off, I got this award from Lisa. Thank you Lisa! I think you're brilliant too! Lisa is also my buddy over at ScrapCity, and she is amazing with the challenges!

I got this award from Fiona. This is the Wylde Women blogging award. For this one, I'm supposed to link to Tammy's site, because that where the award originates. The purpose of this award is to send love and acknowledgement to women who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy. Wow! Thank you Fiona! You brighten my day too!

This last award I got from Judy. Judy is wonderful and so talented! She is the blogging friend that sent me that amazing "Scrapbooking Diva" tote bag. I love that bag and use it all the time! Women look at my tote with envy in their eyes! It's true! I took it with me to Archiver's and JoAnn's recently, and I saw many a glance in my tote's direction! Thank you Judy!

I just want to say thank you for your comments yesterday. I never should have posted about having a bad day, because I've decided not to get into the reason why. I've gotten past it, and everything is fine! Thank you!! I'm totally behind on blog hopping again, but I hope to get caught up with all of you today or tomorrow. I can't wait to see what you've been up to! Have a wonderful day, and thanks for stopping by!

Guest Designer at ScrapCity

I had the opportunity to be the card guest designer at ScrapCity for June, and I just realized that I never posted the cards I made with the awesome kit that Jen sent me! It was all We R Memory Keepers "Frenzy". Just gorgeous double-sided papers, and fun embellishments! It was so much fun to make these cards to feature over at ScrapCity.

The first three cards are all 4.25" x 5.5". It's the size I create the most.




The next three are made from 6" x 6" pieces of cardstock folded in half. I love this size, because it fits in those really inexpensive envelopes you can buy at WalMart . . . you know the ones, they are No. 6 3/4 envelopes.

The last two are 3" x 3" cards . . . perfect for gift enclosures.

So, those are my Frenzy cards. Isn't the paper gorgeous? Such amazing double-sided patterned paper!

I had a rough day yesterday. Maybe I'll explain what I mean by that statement in a few days. Nothing to do with family or anything like that, just something regarding me creating, etc. Long story. (In the grand scheme of things, it's minor, but it still made me have a bad day!) Anyway, it was horrible timing for a bad day, because yesterday was actually my one-year blogaversary! Can you believe that? I still haven't decided how I'm going to celebrate my blogaversary. I'll keep you posted. I hope you all have a great day. I want to thank all of you that visit me and leave me sweet comments! You make my day. In fact, you've made my year! Thanks for stopping by!

BBTB - Tear Drop - Butterfly Challenge

Our challenge this week at the Bitten By The Bug site was to use the butterfly on the Tear Drop cartridge. I don't have that cartridge, so I want to thank fellow designer Carole for sending me the cut. Not only did she sent me a few butterflies to choose from, she also sent me the paper that I used for my card front! Thanks Carole! Be sure to check out the other butterfly creations! They're amazing!


So, like I mentioned, I got the butterflies and the patterned paper from Carole, so I just had to assemble this card!! I added gorgeous American Crafts ribbon, a Prima, and a wood button. I also chalked the butterflies, and I adhered just the center of the butterflies so that the wings could come off the card front. I love the soft colors of this card.

Have a great day everyone, and thanks for stopping by!

More Birthday Photos!

Jessica had a very fun birthday, and here are more photos that I wanted to share with all of you!

Emily and Jessica munching on some popcorn (Yum!) waiting for the movie to start.


This is what we saw. Jessica's choice, and it was pretty good. Not the best Disney/Pixar production, but we enjoyed it. WALL-E was a sweet story.


Yum! Birthday big cookie! We had big cookie instead of cake! It was delicious!

This is just one of the gifts that Jessica got. She loved it, and she wore it already on Saturday! She does rock!

This is Jessica and me at Texas Roadhouse. We went there for lunch on Saturday.

This is Emily and Dave. It's fun taking pictures in a restaurant!!

I hope to do some more layouts today for the ScrapCity online crop. I got two done yesterday, and I'll show them to you during the week. Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!!

ScrapCity Online Crop

ScrapCity is having a HUGE online crop this weekend. Take a look! There are games, over 20 challenges, and there are prizes. It's also the grand opening of the ScrapCity store! The ScrapCity Blog has a coupon available to use in the store!

If you have some scrapping time this weekend, why not check it out? Tell them Carol sent you!!

Happy 11th Birthday, Jessica!

Here's my sweetheart, my youngest, my Jessica, getting ready to blow out the candles on her birthday breakfast, raspberry cheese coffee cake . . . YUM! Happy 11th Birthday, Jessica! I'm so proud, honored, and privileged to be your mom! I LOVE YOU!!

Card Sketch #54

It's card sketch day at Sketches! {by Tamara}, and this is the card that I created for Card Sketch #54. Be sure to take a look at the rest of creations by the card design team. They're all wonderful. If you make a card using Tamara's sketch, be sure to link it back to her. You could be an upcoming Guest Designer on her site!


I used another Unity Stamp image that I received from Latisha. Isn't the butterfly gorgeous? Thanks Latisha! I colored the butterfly with pencils and used gamsol to blend, the patterned paper is My Mind's Eye, the sentiment is an Autumn Leaves circular stamp that I cut with my Coluzzle, and I added some ribbon. I also added some stitching stamps around the ripped patterned paper, and I stamped a flower around the kraft circular card. So, what do you think? I'm happy with the way it turned out.

I haven't really had too much time to visit blogs, but I really hope to stop by and see what everyone has been up to soon. Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

New Home Card

Well, I'm very sad to say that our next door neighbors are moving. It's a job transfer, and they're going to Colorado. They're such a nice family, and I'm going to miss them very much! This is the card that I made for them.


I used a gorgeous double-sided Scenic Paper Route patterned cardstock. You can see both sides on the card front. I used my threading water punch, some fun fabric tab letters by ScrapWorks, ribbon, two Primas, a gorgeous Making Memories brad, and I designed the "we'll miss you!" sentiment on my computer. I stopped by a Hallmark store earlier today, and I'm so happy that they already had ornaments out for 2008, and I was able to pick up a "new home" ornament. So, every year they'll hang their 2008 New Home ornament on their tree, and hopefully they'll think of us!

I hope you're having a great day! Thanks for stopping by!

BBTB - George - # Challenge

This week's challenge over at Bitten By The Bug is to use the # sign on the George cartridge. Please be sure to check out what the design team created this week. You will be amazed at the creativity of this group! Regina also announced the four new designers to join the team. Congratulations ladies! So, here is my card for the George # challenge.


I made this card for my husband, because he is my #1 always! The papers, tag, and alphabet stickers are all Basic Grey. I love the masculine feel of these papers! The gorgeous ribbon is American Crafts. Easy card, but I really love it!

It's not as hot today, but it's super humid and it's raining. It's a good day to stay inside and craft! The girls have summer band, and then I have a couple of errands to run. I hope you all had a great weekend, have a fantastic Monday, and thanks for stopping by!

Silhouettes - Emily & Jessica

Well, I hang out at 4 Scrappy Sisters all the time. Andrea posted a couple of layouts that just WOWED me! I normally do not scraplift, but this time, I couldn't resist! I am totally in love with these layouts, and I couldn't be happier with the way they turned out!

Aren't these fantastic? I remember that my mom had silhouettes of us (my sister, my brother, and I) hanging in our family room when we were growing up. I love this!

I used Love, Elsie papers, and I did some detail cutting. The black mats were cut on my Expression. I added a quote to each page, and the titles are vinyl thickers. I also added some Primas and rhinestone brads. I JUST LOVE THESE!

To get the silhouette, I had the girls stand against a white door, and I took a photo of their profile. I uploaded them to my computer, inserted them into a Word document, printed them in grayscale, and then adhered them with removable adhesive to black cardstock. I then just hand cut the profiles, and then removed the photos and the adhesive. It was so EASY!

I LOVE THESE! Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

Guest Designer at ScrapCity

I'm one of the guest designers at ScrapCity this month, and Wendy sent me some fun Basic Grey Euphoria goodies to create with. I'm going to dig in and make some fun cards with this gorgeous kit that she put together! Thanks Wendy!


She sent me quite the collection of gorgeous 6x6 papers. It's really hard to capture how pretty the colors are! I just love Basic Grey! She also sent two chipboards sheets, some rub ons, beautiful flowers, and some ribbons. I can't wait to dig in and get started!

It's going to be hot and humid again! This weather has been horrible. I woke up with a huge headache, so hopefully that will go away soon. My girls and I will be cleaning today, and then we need to figure out some indoor fun . . . maybe we'll get creative. Have a great Friday, and thanks for stopping by!

Card Sketch #53

It's card sketch day at Sketches! {by Tamara}. This is my card for Card Sketch #53. If you make a card using Tamara's sketch, be sure to link it back to her blog. You could be a guest designer!


This is a 3x3 card, and I made it using paper scraps! The patterned paper is by My Mind's Eye, and it's double-sided. The chipboard swirl came from Wendy from ScrapCity. I painted it coral using Making Memories paint. I used the paint to distress the edges of all the papers. The gorgeous purple Prima came from Sharon. I added a fantastic Making Memories brad for the flower center. I love this size card, because it's perfect for a gift enclosure!

It's going to be HOT and HUMID again! Something about this weather is making me so tired! Oh well! I hope to get some creative time again! We'll see! Have a wonderful day, and thanks for stopping by!

T-Shirt Designers

I promised to show you the t-shirts that the girls made . . . here they are! They were both given white t-shirts to design. The first thing we did was dye the shirts. Emily's dye kit was black . . . not sure what happened. It looks fabulous though!


On the front, they both did negative images. I cut a huge flourish and a huge heart using my Cricut Expression!! I did "fit to page", and it cut them as large as it could on a 12x12 page. Awesome! So, we put the images down, taped them in spots, and then painted over them. When they were lifted . . . negative image. Cool! Jessica added the words "fun" and "go green". She used some alphabet foam stamps. Emily added the word "love" inside her heart, and she stamped a flourish off to the side, but they're difficult to see in this photo.


On the back, Jessica stamped "live, laugh, love", flourishes, some dots, etc. Cute design. Emily stamped her name, some flourishes, and a couple of hearts.


Emily stamped a flourish on each sleeve. Once again, it's difficult to see. It's cute though!


You can see the word "fun" better in this photo!


Here they are at the library waiting for the competition results. They actually walked down a "runway" and modeled their shirts for everyone. It was so cute! All of the kids did such a great job!

I'm happy to say that Jessica's "fun / go green" masterpiece won 2nd place! She won a $10 Border's gift card! Nice! I think they did an awesome job with this project!

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm in the Spotlight!

I'm thrilled and totally honored to be the first design team spotlight at the Sketches! {by Tamara} site! Thank you Tamara for featuring me! It's so much fun being a part of your card design team. I enjoy working on my card every week, and it's awesome using your sketches! Thank you!!

I have been trying to upload photos of the girls wearing their t-shirts that they designed for the library competition, but I cannot get my photos to show up. I'll try again later!

Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

BBTB - Paper Dolls - Cowgirl Hat Challenge

At Bitten By The Bug, we were challenged to use the cowgirl hat on the Paper Dolls cartridge. I do not have that cartridge, but once again DeeDee sent me the cut! Thanks DeeDee! She sent me a bunch of western cuts from the cartridge, and I ended up using the hat, the cow skull, and spurs on this card alone! Yeehaw!

I also want to let you know that BBTB has a new contest going on. Be sure to check it out!


I used some chalk on the cuts, and I added five brads to the hat's band. I had the blue bandanna paper in my scraps folder. The Lil' Buckaroo sticker is from Creative Imaginations. I added some twine around the card front. I love this card! These western cuts are awesome!

I hope you have a great day, and as always, thanks for stopping by!!

Latisha's Sunday Sketch #2

Latisha created a new Sunday Sketch, and I created a card with it right away. This is my card for her Sunday Sketch #2. Check out her sketch, and give it a try!


I used an awesome image that I just received from Chris. I used colored pencils and gamsol on the image. I cut the oval and the mat with my Coluzzle. The striped pattern paper is My Mind's Eye. I created a ribbon slide for my twill ribbon. I stamped "relax" using some $1 Michael's acrylic stamps. I matted the sentiment, and then I cut the ribbon slots using a Making Memories slot tool. I love the twill. I distressed everything with chalk ink. So, what do you think?

My girls have summer band this morning, and then we NEED to run to WalMart. We have lots of miscellaneous items that we're running out of. That's not good, because that means we'll be spending way too much money. It's horrible how expensive everything is right now. It's not just the gas prices.

I hope you have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!

Latisha's Sunday Sketch #1

Latisha created her first card sketch, so here is my card using Latisha's Sunday Sketch #1.

I turned the sketch on its side, and used a wonderful image from Unity Stamps that Latisha sent to me. I colored in the image with colored pencils, and I used gamsol to blend. For the rest of the card, I dug into my paper scraps! The patterned paper scrap is DCWV Pocket Full of Posies, and it has some sparkle. I used my threading water punch for the scallops, and I added three clear dew drops. Easy and fun!

Well, I do believe I need to cut the grass today. It's my least favorite summertime chore. After that though, maybe I'll get some crafty time. The girls are done with their library t-shirts that they designed. I'll take some photos and show you how they turned out! Have a great Sunday, and thanks for stopping by!

The Girls' Rooms . . . Again!

I told you I would show you the girls' rooms again after we moved the furniture back in. They have A LOT of stuff in their rooms! As long as they keep everything off the floor, it's OK with me. Here is Emily's room.


Under the butterfly, there is a mirror that sits on Emily's dresser. I don't know why, but it looks awful in this photo . . . probably because I didn't clean it well.


At the end of Emily's bed, we put in a papasan chair that was originally my husband's when he was single. It's Emily's reading spot. (She doesn't like her "sock tan" -- she got it from marching band practices outside!)


Isn't her desk area awesome!?! We still need to get her a desk chair . . . that's one of our extra kitchen chairs! We need to hang her Nightmare Before Christmas poster. She loves that poster! I do too!

Now, here are some photos of Jessica's room.


Doesn't her bed look comfy? She has a fun "egg" chair! She's using the papasan ottoman in her room.


Here is her desk. She's still organizing the top of it! We got this desk and chair at a garage sale for $10. What a bargain!


She still has a box of stuffed animals to take care of . . . we might build a shelf. You can see her dresser and her large bookcase.

So, that is the girls' rooms. It was actually fun putting them back together. It was a lot of work painting, but they just love their spaces!! We still have things to hang on the walls, but we'll do that gradually.

I hope to get some creative time today! Have a wonderful weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

Friends Card

Well, this is the last of my four cards that I submitted for the Paper Crafts Gallery Idol.


The gorgeous papers, tag, and transparency swirl are all My Mind's Eye. The paper is double-sided, so after I created the card, I used my threading water punch on the front, so that the inside of the card showed through. I love the brown and green color combination. The tag is so pretty on it's own, so I just added a little bit of lace, a Prima, and a light green Making Memories rhinestone brad. The large flower stacks is also Primas, and I added the transparency swirl to the stack, and I added a larger light green Making Memories rhinestone brad.


Here's a close up of the large flower stack. I love that transparency swirl!


Here's a close up of the top of the tag. I love the addition of the lace.

Not too much going on here today. It's going to be hot and humid, and we will probably have thunderstorms later. The girls need to finish designing t-shirts that they're making for a library design contest, I am working on a design team entry for one of my favorite sites, and my husband wants to watch some Nascar racing! After I get my design team entry finished and emailed, I want to hang some stuff in the girls' rooms and photograph them to show all of you! I also want to blog hop! I'm so behind, but I hope to catch up with all of you to see what you've been up to!! Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!!

Card Sketch #52

It's card sketch day over at the Sketches! {by Tamara} site, and this is my card for Card Sketch #52. If you make a card using the sketch, be sure to link it back to Tamara's site. You could be one of her guest designers!


I used GORGEOUS papers that I received from the first ScrapCity kit! They are We R Memory Keepers from the "Frenzy" line. Jen put together an amazing kit. If you are looking for a fun site to hang out, chat, and be challenged, you should check out ScrapCity! There is going to be a huge celebration of the ScrapCity's store grand opening with lots of challenges starting on July 25th. So, I am the Card Guest Designer at the site this month, and I was given part of a kit to create cards. I created THIS card using scraps that I had left on my desk. The papers are double-sided, and so pretty! I stamped a sentiment from a $1 Michael's acrylic stamp set, and I added three small Primas and brads. That's it. Easy as can be!

I hope you all have a wonderful day! Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Mail & Library Class

I thought I would post a photo of the clipboards that my girls and I made for the library class examples. The class went well, but it was a lot of LITTLE kids. A lot of three and four-year-olds with glue sticks! A lot of the moms that stayed to help out their little ones were very impressed with the project, and a lot of the kids came up to me to thank me AND to show off their clipboards! Very cute!


So, this is my, Emily's, and Jessica's clipboards. I sincerely want to thank Renee from the 4 Scrappy Sisters site. She sent me the library pockets which inspired my paper choice! Thank you Renee!!


Here Emily and Jessica show off their clipboards. Cute, huh?


Next, I received this incredibly GORGEOUS card from Latisha. I admire her work, and I really love how she uses Unity Stamps. I don't own any Unity Stamps, but that doesn't mean I don't want any! They're just gorgeous! Latisha should be designing for them! Anyway, love the card Latisha! Thank you!


Latisha also sent me some stamped images. These are Unity Stamps images. Love them, and I can't wait to use them! Thank you!


Next, I got this GORGEOUS card from Chris. Chris needed some motorcycle images for a card that she wanted to make, so I sent her some. This is the thank you note she sent to me for the images. It's just wonderful, and I love it! Chris is very talented! Thank you Chris!!


Chris also sent me some images to use. These are Lockhart images, I believe. Can't wait to use them! Thank you so much Chris!!


Next, I wanted to show you the wonderful gift that Emily received from her pen pal, Kendall. Kendall is Latisha's daughter, and I do believe that Emily and Kendall are both super excited to have a pen pal! Latisha got the backpack from the Target $1 spot (I've never seen this . . . how cute!), and they stamped on it. Isn't it wonderful? Kendall also made a gorgeous card and sent Emily some lip gloss. How FUN! Thank you Kendall! Emily LOVES it!

Well, that's all from me for today. The girls have already been to band, we're back from the grocery store, I need to cut the grass, and we have a dentist appointment later. It's a busy day! Yes, I'm behind on blog hopping. It's totally my story this summer! I will do my best to catch up with all of you very soon! Thanks for stopping by!