Dreaming of Spring :)

We had a taste of spring weather a couple of weeks ago and it was wonderful.  Then the last two weeks it's been crummy.  I'm really dreaming of spring and wanting it to stay that way!  :)

I have another layout to share today, one from last summer when Landry was just too pooped and fell asleep on the floor in the living room one afternoon.  I couldn't resist and took pictures of her sweet face!

I love the fun bright papers on this layout, matches my mood for wanting springtime!  Ha!

Have you all had a good week?  I can't believe it's the last day of March and how fast this year is flying by.  I hope you have a great Thursday and thanks for stopping by today!

PAT

Morning all!  Do you have Parents as Teachers where you live?  We signed up before Abie was born and Laurel, our Parent Educator, was with us through both girls.  It was so sad when she came for her last visit last spring.  We still see her around town, and she also runs the before and after school program for the school district but it's not the same as the home visits.

This is the layout I did with some pics I took of the girls with Laurel.  Abie was too old for the activities that Laurel had brought for Landry but she would still bring little gifts for her and things.  Abie would still hang out too and help during the home visits.

The embellishments for this layout were in my odds and ends tray.  I just flipped through it until I found some stuff that worked.  I scrunched up the butterfly and added some ink to it to distress it a bit.

I was hoping to get a couple of layouts for Abie started last night and it just didn't happen, the night got away from me.  There's always tonight right?  :)  I hope you have a great Wednesday and thanks for stopping by today!

Quasi Project Life and another layout

Well, after my epiphany over the weekend I was able to let some of my OCD tendencies go and place layouts in my girls scrapbooks out of order.  This is a HUGE deal for me.  The other thing I was able to do was include some Project Life type layouts.  They were my first try at something like this and not nearly as in depth as some of them out there but again, it was about getting the memories down for me.  I was able to get several events in one page protector that would have equaled multiple layouts for me.  Does that make sense?  This was perfect for Christmas/Winter and Fourth of July, events where I take a ton of photos.

Here is one of my examples:

I found these page protectors at Hobby Lobby.  I think they were $9.99 and I picked them up when they were 50% off.  I can't tell you how freeing it was for me to add these in to my girls albums!  Like showing you my underwear!

I have a regular layout to share today too:

This little goal I've set for myself has been going so good.  It has felt great using up all of my scraps and last night I finished up Landry!  It feels great!  Now to get started on Abie and then last years vacation album.  I'll be buying new product in no time!

Thanks for coming by today and I'll see you tomorrow!

Productivity!

Good morning all.  Did you have a nice weekend?  I had set a goal for myself, to get as many layouts done as possible.  I'm happy to report that I am one layout away from being caught up on Landry.  That is with photos I have printed anyway.  :)  I was on quite the roll this weekend! 

This Thanksgiving photo was from 2009, all my other photos were from 2010 so I'm not sure how this ended up in the pile but I did a layout for it anyway.  I tried to keep everything fairly simple and just get the basics down.    I used one of my yo yos on this and love the addition of it!

One thing that really motivated me this past week was Write. Click. Scrapbook. And their week dedicated to using your stuff.  It really got me thinking about using up my stash.  One thing that particularly struck home was this post where she asks you to look at your older items and products you use.  It made me remember that I started scrapbooking to preserve memories for my kids.  That's it.  Once I remembered that, I felt like a weight had been lifted.  Yes I like my pages to look pretty and yes it's a crafty outlet for me but that's more what my card making and paper crafting is for.  The scrapbooking is more about the memories.  So, I'm breezing right on through these layouts and couldn't be happier about it!

Sorry for the long post today!  Hope you stayed with me and thanks for stopping by.  See you tomorrow with, YEP another layout!

Royals Mini Book

Can you believe it's already Friday?  Well, I got the pictures taken of my mini book taken.  I have to tell you I must have been on a clean and simple kick this week because this mini is super simple too.  There was a reason for it though, the pictures were so good, I really didn't want to embellish over them too much.  I got the idea for the album HERE and just fell in love with how easy it was.  I have visions of making a ton of these things with the same basic layout!  It was so easy!

Here is my cover, and I didn't realize it until after I took the picture, but you can't even see all my cute tabs.  That was the whole point of taking the pic vertically... 

Here are the first two pages.  This gives you a better shot of the tabs :)  I adhered pictures to each of the envelopes by just putting adhesive on three of the sides.

All of my journaling is on this one card, front and back.  Not too bad for a wordy gurdy like me!

Here's a side view of the book with the envelopes.

Here's one of the tabs with a picture on it.  I just adhered the picture to a piece of cardstock measuring 5 1/2 x 3 and sandwiched the tab between it.

On the other side I placed a second picture, maximizing my space in my envelopes!

Here's my back cover, again no embellishments.  Just kept this really simple, especially for me.  I set a new goal for myself this week.  I'm going to get caught up on my layouts and finish up our Minnesota vacation album.  (now that it's in black and white I guess I really have to do it huh?)  My motivation for this you ask?  I'm not going to buy ANY new product until all of that is done!  Think I can do it?  :)

I hope you have a good weekend.  I need to stay in and get some layouts done!  Thanks for stopping by today friends!

A quick thank you!

Good morning.  I have a quick post and a quick card to share today.  This is a simple one layer card, huh that makes two this week.  :)

I used Unity Stamp Company stamps on this, Versamagic In and a PTI button and twine.  I love how simple and cute this turned out!

I've been working on a mini album all week and am hoping to finish it up tonight and get pictures taken for tomorrow's blog post!!  Until then, have a great Thursday and thanks for popping in!

Finished Rolodex!!!

Well, I finished my stamp index Rolodex...finally!  I am so happy with it and am loving the way it works.  I thought I would post a few more pictures today of the finished product and also discuss some other issues with it.

 Here's a look at all my dividers.  Aren't they pretty?  :)  I adhered my cardstock directly to the plastic dividers that came with my Rolodex. 

Here's a closer picture.  I punched out a tab from my Stampin' Up! Round Tab Punch and labeled it before adhering it to my divider. 

Now, a couple of other things that came up during this project.  When I had big stamps, like background images that wouldn't fit I stamped just what would fit.  Like this:

Also, if I had several small images that fit within the same category that were from the same stamp set, I stamped them on the same card.  Like this:

Now, this project took me a long time to finish only because I worked on it for a couple of hours each night instead of big blocks of time.  It was well worth it though.  I'm hoping to keep up on it though and stamp new cards each time I buy a new stamp set.  If you want some more information about this, HERE is the blog where I first saw this idea and HERE is my first blog post about my Rolodex.

Thanks for stopping by today and I'll chat with you tomorrow!

A card and an award!

I have a quick card for you today.  Last week PTI Make it Monday challenge was to use their impression plates to partially emboss a card.  #1 I don't own any of their impression plates (yet) and #2 I didn't get around to making a card for the challenge.  So over the weekend, I had a bit of time and this is what I came up with.

I know the color is WAY wonky in the second picture, sorry about that.  I wanted you to have a close up shot of this embossing though.   I don't know if you own any of PTI's dies but they are a single layer of steel.  Like this:

I found that if I flipped the die over and ran it through my Cuttlebug, with the same sandwich, it embossed the card!  How cool is that?  So now, I have DOUBLED my money.  I am so super excited about this.  Now, if you already knew this please let me relish in my money saving discovery for a day or so before you tell me what an idiot I am as this is something you have already known for ages and I am just now joining the real world with my discovery.  Haha!

After I embossed my card, I finished it off with a simple sentiment and a bit of ribbon.  I think these would be great for a wedding or shower thank yous.  Very classic and simple.  I love the way it turned out.  Hope my Grandma does too because that's where it's headed :)

Yesterday, Steph over at BZB Creates gave me this awesomely cool award!

You have to pass this along to 15 bloggers and tell 7 things about yourself.  So here are my bloggers, I came up with as many as I could, Steph had already awarded it to a few that I would have as well so I did the best I could :)

1.  Jennifer at Happy Things
2.  Danielle at Me:  A Momentary Glimpse
3.  Michele at Michele's Scrapy Creations
4.  Schell at Schell's Craft Corner
5.  Vanessa at Scrappy-Ness:  Creative Life

Now for the seven things about me.
1.  Once spring hits, you can find me outside...until September.
2.  Fourth of July is my favorite holiday and four years ago my youngest daughter was born on that day.
3.  I dislike basketball.
4.  When I first started scrapbooking, I SWORE I would never stamp...or make cards.  HA!
5.  I have a 150 pound dog who is half Lab half Saint Bernard.
6.  I love swimming, the lake, the ocean, the bathtub, basically any body of water.
7.  I would love to grow flowers but I think I have a black thumb.

Well, that's about it for me today!  I hope you have a great Tuesday friends and thanks for stopping by!  See you tomorrow!

Smash Book Update

Happy Spring!!!!  Did you have a good weekend?  We were able to get all the spring shopping done for the girls on Saturday and spent all day Sunday outside. 

Today I thought I'd share with you a little update on my inspiration book.  I talked about it first HERE and again HERE.  Since we spent all day outside I didn't have much crafty time so I grabbed my inspiration pages, ATG gun, faux Smash book and pen and sat at the counter while dinner cooked.  I cut, adhered and labeled as I pleased and was total inspired as I looked at the pages.

Don't those pictures just make you happy?  When I was done, we ate dinner and then I ran downstairs and made a card!  This book is like magic!!  My book is divided into three parts.  Part I is project ideas.  Part II is specific tutorials with directions and Part III is inspiration.  So far, this is going really good and I like having everything in one place.

I'm out of here for today.  Have a great Monday and thanks for stopping by!

A brief break from the the thanks...

Good morning all.  I'm taking a brief break from the thank yous, don't worry I have a couple more for you next week, to bring you a little project I've been working on the last week.  I'm indexing all my stamps.  I originally saw this idea over at Two Peas.  I adapted the idea to the way I store my stamps, but it's basically the same idea and so far so good!  You can see the original idea/post here. 

All of my stamps are organized within a category in the Rolodex.  Then I stamped my image and in the bottom left corner I wrote the stamp brand and in the right corner the stamp name.  Now, I've been stamping off and on for a week and I still don't have all my stamps done.  There are stamps I forgot I had.  I think I'm really going to like this system for that reason alone.  That and it has allowed me to see what some of these images look like stamped.  Some of them look A LOT different inked up than they do in the package.

I'll be sure to keep you guys posted on this, I still have my category tabs to make and the rest of my stamps to finish.

This was Mike and I yesterday during our ride.  We rode to Lexington, MO with my parents and ate lunch at Riley's Irish Pub.  It was a GREAT time and makes me excited for spring and summer!

Happy Friday to you and thanks for coming by today!

Set of thank yous

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  Are you wearing your green today?  We have a corned beef in the slow cooker for dinner tonight and will cook up some cabbage later.  One of my favorite meals that I look forward to all year.  Do you have any St. Patrick's Day traditions?

Today I thought I would post the set of thank you cards I made for Abie.  I originally saw something similar to this over on Splitcoast Stampers and sketched out a design, but Abie picked out the colors and the stamps.  :)

These, technically, aren't one layer since the white card stock is matted on the green.  But you get the idea, you don't open the card up.  Very simple and easy.  A million different variations with this card!

Since Mike is on vacation this week, and since it's supposed to by 80 degrees today (holy cow!) I took the day off and we're taking a little road trip on the bike.  Should be a good time!!  Thanks for coming by today and I'll see you all tomorrow!

The first of many thanks.

Happy Wednesday to you all!  I need you to bear with me for a few days here because I have A LOT of thank you cards I will be sharing.  Today is one of the first.

I started this card out with a pre-made base which I picked up in the dollar aisle at JoAnn's. It had a heart on the front of it, but I covered that up easily with that strip of polka dot paper!  Then I added some fun layers and had my card!

Thanks for popping over today!  Have a fab day friends :)

Dad's Birthday

Well, we had a little impromptu snow storm yesterday.  I was really hoping it was all out of our system but Mother Nature snuck another one in on us.  Boo!  However, I must say this one was not bad AT ALL.  If you've got to have snow, this is the kind to have.  It snowed all day but only stuck to the grass.  Weird.  Most all of it is melted now.  In fact, downtown, where I work, it's all gone!

Onward and upward my crafty cohorts!  Spring is near and this will be the last icky weather...I'm sure of it!  Today's card is one I made for my Dad's birthday.  We celebrated on Sunday with sandwiches and brownies over at my parents house and the kids ran around and acted crazy, like normal.

I used another image from a children's book for this one.  I thought it looked a bit like the cowboy was singing.  Maybe Happy Birthday?  Let's pretend...  So I stamped PTI's Background Basics Music and layered that behind the vintage image, just to help my little daydream along.  I didn't put a sentiment on the front mainly because I couldn't figure out where to put it.  I really liked how big the cowboy image was and I didn't want to mess it up.  :)

And now for my underwear shot...(that's the inside of my card for those of you who don't know me well.  I feel like showing you the inside of my card is a bit like showing you my undies!)

Very simple, but it gets the point across :)

I worked late last night, already feel like this week is flying by.  Mike got the furniture piece painted AND glazed.  It looks amazing!  I'll try and take a picture soon.  I wish I would have taken a before picture...  Oh well.  Hope you have an awesome Tuesday and I'll see you all here tomorrow, same bat time same bat channel.  Thanks for coming to see me today!

St. Patrick's Cards

WOW, am I tired.  This time change thing stinks and it gets me every year.  We had a great weekend, although it was a busy one.  The party was a success and last night we spent some time over at parents house to celebrate my dad's birthday.  Even though it wasn't a relaxing weekend it was fun :)

I know St. Patrick's Day isn't until Thursday but I thought I'd share these cards today in case anyone needed some inspiration to make their own.  Abie is going to hand these out to her friends at school this week.

These are 3x3 cards and I stamped the background in white on green card stock.  Then for the image, I stamped it in black and added some yellow Stickles for the gold! 

If you're in need of some more inspiration, Mary Pat made some cute St. Patrick's cards last week here! 

Mike is on vacation this week, it's always nice when he's home because he will keep up on the laundry and housework for me. 

I hope you have a great Monday and thanks for stopping by today!

Boy Birthdays

Here we are, another Friday already.  We're in for a beautiful day here.  Abie doesn't have school and luck Mike is staying home with the kiddos today.  I think there is a plan for some outdoor play later on :)  What lucky girls to have such a good dad.

Tomorrow is the family party for Abie and my two nephews so I thought I'd share the cards I made for the boys.  First up for Reid, who just turned 6 on Tuesday.

This fun little card will go on his package.  It measures 2 1/2 x 3 1/4.  The main little image came from a vintage golden book I picked up a few weeks ago at an antique store with my mom.  Isn't it fun?  I love that big red button too, another one from PTI.

Now for Jace, who just turned 11, I made a gift card holder.  I wasn't as happy with this one.  After I finished it, I realized I should have stamped the newsprint on ivory cardstock., but it is what it is :)

There you have it.  Two boy cards, for my two favorite boys!  After the party tomorrow, we have dinner at my parents on Sunday to celebrate my dad's birthday.  It's a busy weekend for us!  What do you have planned?

Thanks for stopping by today and I'll see you later!

PTI Make it Monday

Yes, I know it's Thursday and my post title says Make it Monday.  I have not lost it...yet.  I played along with a little challenge this week over at Nichole Heady's blog.  You can check it out HERE. 

The challenge was to distress your edges.  I had to play around a bit from what my original design was.  At first I was going to make a set of cards, but it just wasn't working for me.  So this is what I ended up coming up with...

 

I stamped each one of the rain boots with Versamark and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder.  Then I cut them out and DISTRESSED them with scissors :) I popped them up with pop dots and stamped my sentiment at the bottom.  I love the colors of this card, so fun and springy and very fitting with all the rain we've had around here lately.

Have a great Thursday and I'll see you tomorrow!  Thanks for coming by today!

And the winner is....

Jennifer, from Happy Things.  Congratulations Jennifer!  Just e-mail me (beckyg1121@gmail.com) with your address and I'll get the goods shipped off to you right away!

Today I have a fun banner to share with you.  I am really loving my Birthday Bash Cricut cartridge.  Money well spent there.  (of course I didn't pay full price, picked it up for $30 on Ebay!)  But still, $30 bones is a lot in my book!  I'm pretty stingy when it comes to my crafty money.  We have the big family bash going on this weekend for Abie and my two nephews so I made a gender neutral banner.  It's very plain and simple.  I thought that way, if we needed to pass it around the family, we could.

I'm afraid it looks a little too girly.  What do you think?  Please tell me that it just looks more celebratory and not girly :) I cut the banners at 7" and the letters are at 4".  Super easy and quick!

You guys hangin' in there this week?  I can't believe it's already Wednesday.  This week is flying by, just like last week.  Daylight Savings is on Sunday and St. Patrick's Day is next Thursday.  Good grief, the year is zooming right by.  Have an awesome Wednesday and thanks for coming to see me!

A yo yo thank you

Good morning to you all!  I have a card to share with you today that I made with one of my yo yos.  I posted about my yo yos and my process making them here and here.  It took me a couple of weeks but I finally got around to making a card with one.

  I wasn't quite sure how to stick my yo yo on and ended up using scor tape of all things.  It worked really well.  The ledger paper, which I cut my doily out with, was from an old railroaders book I picked up at an antique store a few weeks ago.  Isn't that cool?

Remember, today is the last day to become a follower and leave a comment on this post for my giveaway!  I'll be posting the winner tomorrow!!!!

I hope you have a great Tuesday and I'll see you tomorrow!  Thanks for swinging through to check out my yo yo!

Productive weekend!

Morning all!  Did you have a good weekend?  We were busy but I was sure productive and I love weekends like that!  I got the girls closets cleaned out and inventory taken for spring :) I got some birthday shopping done for my nephews, Landry went to her first friend birthday party, we had dinner with my parents and most importantly, all those crafty ideas running through my head?  They were executed! 

The party Landry went to Saturday was a princess party and all the kids (boys and girls) were to come dressed up in their "finest royal attire".  All the girls were dress up as princesses and one of the boys had on a full knights costume!  How fun is that? 

Now one night last week I was trying to go to sleep when the idea for this card came to me :)  I know I'm not the only one whose mind races with crafty ideas as they're drifting off to dream land!  (Tracy)  So when I got downstairs to work on this card, it came together rather quickly, minus the interruptions from Landry.

I used my Storybook cartridge for my Cricut to cut out the crown and decorated it all up!  Perfect for a princess party :) 

Were you productive this weekend?  What did you do?  Don't forget, you still have two days to become a follower and leave a comment on this post for a chance to win my giveaway!!!!

Okay friends, I'm out of here for today.  Happy Monday to you and thanks for checking out my card today!