Pool Time!

We've been enjoying taking the little ones to the pool.  They both really like the water and it's a good way to cool off on an otherwise hot day.  I just cannot believe that this is the last day of July!

These layouts were done with Echo Park Splash papers and embellishments.  Such a cute line!
Here is the left side...I used two 5x7s for my photos...I often like using larger photos so they don't get lost on the page.

Don't you just love the photo of Taylor with her finger on her nose....it looks like she really has her finger up there but really it's just on the side.  It reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where Jerry is driving in the car and rubs his nose and to the beautiful woman in the car next to him it looked like he was....well, let's say DIGGING!  LOL!  What a great show about NOTHING! ;)
The right side of the page was done with WeRMemory Keepers page protectors...you know...that "new" way of scrapping I'm trying to do which is a bit simpler and quicker.

There is glare here because it was photographed in the page protector.  Oh well, you get the idea, I'm sure.  The other little cutie patootie in the photos is Kendall....my close friend, Cyndi's granddaughter who came out to play with us.

And here is how they look side by side:

Happy Crafting!

If It's Not Messy It's Not Fun!

That's my motto.  The more fun I have the bigger mess I make.

My grandson, David, loves to do arts and crafts and his mother (my brilliant daughter) is very good at finding things he can do and enjoy.  They've painted Christmas ornaments, flower pots and done all kinds of things.  The other day David who is 2 1/2 (will be 3 in September) did some finger painting.  His mom bought a canvas and then put some letter stickers over it that read "If it's not messy it's not fun".  Then she gave him some acrylic paints and let him go at it.  He had a blast and was quite happy with his creation which is proudly displayed in his playroom.

And here is the little artist proudly showing his creation:

He mostly crafts in the near nude....any mom of a toddler (or anyone who has had a toddler) will know that makes a lot of sense! 

I am entering this for him in the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge Anything Goes and the
Simon Says....Children's Summer Holiday Challenge.

Happy Crafting!

Family and Friends

I had a wonderful day with friends yesterday...we scrapbooked at Archiver's....lots of sharing and laughing.   Loved my time with my friends.

Last week my kids came to my house for home cooked meal.  My son brought his friend, D'Ann and we enjoyed meeting her and getting to know her a bit.

I did this layout with the BoBunny Alora line...so pretty...bright and cheerful!  I used some chipboard stickers and gems to spiff it up a bit.

I love this very happy line from BoBunny.  When I go away for a crop I can't take everything I own with me so now I look at my layout and think...well, maybe I could add a little ribbon....LOL!

Oh yeah, I blurred out the last name in Photoshop Elements to protect the lives of the innocent!
:)

I entered this in the following challenge:
Simon Says Stamp and Show Anything Goes


Happy Crafting!

So Proud of You!

Disclaimer:  This does not have the same meaning as "You must be so proud" which we southerners say and is not necessarily the most sincere thing and is basically used to shut you up.
As in:
Conversant #1: My daughter, who graduated from high school at 12 and went to Harvard and graduated from law school at 16, just married the brilliant brain surgeon/bank vice president and pro golfer and moved into a million dollar mansion on the beach in Tahiti which they now own.
Southern Belle Coversant #2:  You must be so proud.  (Which really means, "shut up, I'm sick of hearing your mouth".)


I'm so mean.  Crafters are generally nice people....but we southerners can have a little streak hidden behind sweetness! Beware of the southerner!  LOL!


Now...onto my card.  "So Proud of You".  Not the same...trust me.


I just placed an order to There She Goes Stamps...placed the order on Saturday (a week ago) and received it on Wednesday!  Wow...fast shipping.  The stamps are just awesome quality...they stamp beautifully!


I used the World's Best set to make this card:

 I used Cosmo Cricket papers "Joy Ride" which is an older line but I still have some scraps from a 6x6 pad...I think this works so well for another hard for me to do masculine card!  
This stamp set also has coordinating dies.  The ribbon was embossed with some black embossing powder...the banner was cut with the die. and I just looped the ends over the Papertrey Ink twine and used my little Tiny Attacher by Tim Holtz to secure the little flags.  A small Fiskars thumb punch was used for the little stars.

The center of the ribbon was punched out with a Martha Stewart punch.

 And below you can see the little pinking shear look which was done with a Papertrey Ink die.

And what am I proud of??? My son found a full time job and started work last Monday!  Yay!


Today I am off to crop with some friends.  I went down to my craftroom last night to pack up for my day with the ladies and ended up getting distracted and made this card instead.  LOL! So now I am unprepared and disorganized!  Definitely not proud of that!

I entered this in the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge.


Happy Crafting!

Wedding Wishes Card

I love my Silhouette.  I love my Cricut Expression but find myself using my Silhouette more and more and my Cricut less and less.  I need to get back to using that Expression...lots of beautiful shapes out there just waiting to be cut!

But for today's card I did use my Silhouette.  I liked the idea of using the negative image to do my design and chose this one from the Silhouette Store created by SEI.  I also corner rounded the outside with my Silhouette.  So easy....

This card is for a wonderful family friend who is getting married soon.

It cut so prettily!

See?

I added some red ribbon from Papertrey Ink and some pearls from Recollections.  The paper is Basic Grey's Little Black Dress papers.  The little tag and the Wedding Wishes sentiment is also Paper Trey Ink (Little Tags) and was heat embossed using some Versamark andwhite Zing embossing powder.  One thing I've learned with the better quality clear stamps (like Papertrey Ink) is that you barely have to touch the stamp to the paper....you don't have to mash hard! (We say "mash" in Georgia and probably other southern states, too ....not "press"....as in "mash that button"....not "press the button"....but I digress....)

Very quick, very elegant, and very simple.

 I cut the outside of the card to about 3.75 inches wide and then put a small coordinating piece of patterned paper on the inside.  And I used a Hero Arts sentiment that simply said "Congratulations" on the inside.

And my Challenge Angel (Sunshine Honeybee) told me about the following challenges which I have entered:
Craft Your Passion Challenge: Black and White and One other Color
Creative Inspirations Paint: Favorite Colors (I love red, black and white together!)
DLART Thankful Thursday: Weddings/Anniversaries
Penny's Paper-Crafty Challenge 86: Weddings/Anniversaries
Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge


Happy Crafting!
 

PETTY!

My family loves Tom Petty.  My kids grew up listening to American Girl, Free Fallin', Last Dance with Mary Jane, etc.  They love old and aging Tom like I do.  We have been to see him twice (some families go to Disney....we do Petty! LOL!)...the first time being in 2008.  We saw him in a smaller venue and my husband went all out when purchasing the tickets and got us absolutely fabulous seats!  Cameras were permitted so I was thrilled to get a few good ones of the Legend himself.

The show was opened by Steve Winwood (remember Higher Love?) and he was pretty great himself.

Here are the photos I took and the layouts I created a while back of this very memorable and fun night!

Sorry for the glare in the photos....these were printed on glossy paper and sometimes it just picks up the glare, doesn't it?  I would have gotten even better pictures if Tom had stood still for a few seconds!  That man was on the go the whole time!

Happy Crafting!

Something to Think About...

I was looking through some older projects and decided to share this with you.  You might like to consider doing something similar because it could be quite important to your family.

When my mother passed away in 2008 my brother and I had the responsibility of cleaning out her house, of course.  My mother was decidedly NOT a pack rack...she was the neatest most organized person I have ever known (well, her sisters are similar!)...that gene did NOT get passed on to me, LOL! She had some favorite possessions...maybe not things that were valuable from a monetary standpoint but valuable to her because they were given to her by someone special or she had purchased it to represent something special, etc.

But then when the time came to go through those things I came across items that I knew had a story behind them but I could not remember what it was.  Since both of my parents have passed on those stories are pretty much gone.  It got me thinking that I needed to have a way to record the things in my own life that are special to me so that when I'm no longer here my kids and grandkids will know those stories behind these things.  And then if they still want to get rid of these things in a garage sale...well so be it! :)

I bought a simple photo album....took pictures of things in my possession that mean something to me or that I particularly like and had those photos printed out in wallet sized prints.  Then I just stamped a journaling card and wrote the story behind the photo.  Simple but important I think...
Here are a couple of samples:

It is not complete...and this is a reminder to myself to update it.  I feel much better knowing that my kids will know some other stories of my life....

Happy Crafting!

Bring On the Happy!

Masculine cards can be sort of tough for this gal who likes flowers, butterflies and bling!  But I made this card this morning for someone special who is celebrating the big 6-0 in  a few weeks.  I saw a card on the Silhouette blog recently and decided to use it for inspiration (read: steal it).  Here's my version:

I love the way it turned out. 

I cut the white circle background with my Cameo from a shape purchased in the Silhouette store.  It cut so beautifully!  I took a one inch punch to cut some circles from the Authentique Genuine paper pad.  Those were easily adhered in a random fashion under the circle background and the whole thing was adhered to a 6x12 inch piece of Kraft cardstock.  I cut the banner with my Cameo, too, and heat embossed the sentiment which is from a Hero Arts stamp set I have.

I added a few Papertrey Ink buttons for a bit more interest and that was it....I just love this background and will use it again!

I entered this in the following challenges:
MilkCoffee Challenges: Round and Round We Go-Circles Challenge
Simon Says Stamp and Show: Challenge: No Rules
Tuesday Alchemy: Challenge #23: Button, Button, Whose Got a Button

And a big shout out to Melissa/Sunshine Honeybee for the heads up on the challenges. 


Happy Crafting!

Expression Through Recipe Shares

I am meeting up with a couple of friends tomorrow for lunch and some stamping/scrapbooking shopping.  We are going to the store I talked about last week...for you local readers it is in Roswell...called Impressive Ideas. What a great day, huh?
My friend, Kim, is a fellow blogger and has been doing it much longer than I have.  Her site, The Basement Stamper is HERE.  She does absolutely awesome cards....and is on design teams for Stampotique and The Stamps of Life. 
I don't remember when Kim, Heather (who is Kim's sister in law and a fellow paper crafter) and I first met but we used to go to these big overnight crops back in the early to mid 2000's.  I do remember that we were in a recipe club at the scrapbooking store I used to work in, Scrapbook Magic...which sadly closed many years ago.
Anyway, we had this awesome recipe club back in 2005, I think. We'd make layouts of our recipes to fit into 8 1/2 by 11 inch binders and also brought the actual foods so we could all sample then.  It was so much fun and the food was so good.  Each time we met we would do a different theme...appetizers, cookies, desserts, main dishes, family favorites, etc.  We each got a big collection of tried and true recipes...the kind that families really love, you know?
I dragged out my book and decided to take a few snapshots to show you what I'm talking about....

 The Corn Dip was one I did.

 And the Rage of Atlanta is another one I did and is a big family favorite of ours.

 Kim didn't sign all her pages but here is one she did...Chocolate Eclair Cake...yum!!!

So I'm looking forward to lunch and shopping tomorrow with some friends...a perfect day! :)

Happy Crafting!

Cricut Challenge 32: And How the Years Pass!

I came across this layout I did back in 2008 before my grandkids came into our lives.  This photo was actually when they were just "twinkles in their parents' eyes".
It's hard to remember when it was just us...how much David and Taylor have both enriched our lives. And one day maybe my son (on the far left) will also give me a few more grandchildren!
This is the photo I used for our annual Christmas card...it has a filter over it To remove lines from the grandmother to be's face so it looks a little fuzzy but it really was such a pretty photo of all of us.

And all I can say is....boy, am I short! 

DCWV papers were used in this layout.  My Cricut was used to cut the title "Blessings" with the Jasmine cartridge.

Happy Crafting!

I'm Just a Little Dandelion

We've started showing David how to pick Dandelions and blow on them to send the seeds flying.  Blowing is a big skill in a child's life....just think of all the cool things you can do...blow bubbles, blow out candles and blow dandelions!

Here is a card I made with a new Hero Arts wood block stamp that was a "have to have" for me.

My ribbon may be a tad overwhelming but the bow is PERFECT so it's not going anywhere!  I can live with its overwhelming-ness!  I used Papertrey Ink cardstock and heat embossed with white Zing embossing powder.

A little story about the dandelion.  It is the "official" flower of the military brat. (Bet you didn't know there was an official flower!)  I was a military brat...my dad was career US Army for 31 years!  Although I'm glad my kids have roots in my community and have lived here pretty much all their lives I wouldn't trade my childhood for anything.  We lived in lots of different places and I met people from all over the world.  And it gave me the ability to walk into a room and make friends instantly!  With the military brat life...if you don't jump right in and make friends right away you are likely to move before you do! LOL!  Anyway, a dandelion blows in the breeze and the seeds make a "home" wherever they land.  That's what the military brat does.  Home is wherever we land!

Don't you just love that about a dandelion?

This dandelion paperweight was given to my mother by one of my school's reunion groups (yes, I did go to 3 different high schools...10-12th grades in Germany, Mississippi and finally graduated in Florida!).

Isn't it fabulous?

I entered this in the Simon Says Stamp and Show: Challenge: No Rules!

Happy Crafting!

The Impossible to Mail Card!

I love big fat things....like big fat chocolate chip cookies....or big fat pieces of chocolate....but big fat cards just do not mail well, do they?  But sometimes I just can't resist!

Here is an example of an impossible to mail card:

Actually, I could put it in a padded envelope and it would be fine....but I don't know that it would do well in a regular paper envie.  You know?
When I was at the new to me stamp store the other day I picked up this wonderful little scalloped edge Dienamics die which made the center flower on my card.  It's one of those where you roll it up to make a 3 dimensional flower...and it is so cute.  I couldn't resist cutting some Papertrey Ink wool felt out with it....and then the smaller flowers were cut with one of the Paper Trey Ink's Flower Fusion sets.  The sentiment is Papertrey Ink...stamped on a piece of cardstock with some Close to My Heart ink and then the ends were punched with a large scallop.  *Cute idea, if I say so myself! The frame is a Spellbinder.  I added a few Hero Arts pearls, tied a little cotton floss into a bow and secured it and that was it!  The card base is Papertrey Ink cardstock (LOVE THAT STUFF!...it's so wonderfully sturdy!)

Simple and "relatively" fast! :)

Sending Love

I finally went to a local stamp store (about 30 minutes from me) on Saturday with a friend.  We were just overwhelmed by this great little store!  It is called Impressive Ideas and is located in Roswell, GA (north metro Atlanta) if you're in the area!  (Kim, if you read this....I'm still up for a meet-up!)
It was so much fun looking around...and the store owner was there and she was helpful and friendly.

I bought a stamp from a new line to me...There She Goes Clear Stamps.  This line has the very cutest stamp sets and I bought this one called Branching Out because it was so different to me.

I loved this stamp set!

One thing that is so nice about this stamping company is that the website has a gallery for each stamp set they have so it is so easy to get inspiration!

Here is my card...the frame is a Spellbinder frame cut out on my Cuttlebug and the paper is My Mind's Eye Stella Rose as well as cardstock from Papertrey Ink.

I did a little messy stitching on the bottom. I did color the envelopes out with Copics and then cut them out and paper pieced them to the stamped base.  And lastly I added a little Glossy Accents to the little envelopes.

Simple but sweet, I think....what a great set.  So many possibilities!

Happy Crafting!