Valentine Envies almost there!

Man, my Monday flew by and I'm sort of hoping the rest of the week goes by as quickly too.  However, I hope I can have a productive week at the same time.  Is that asking to much?  :)

So last week, I posted on Wednesday about my new pink bags I picked up at Michaels.  I made a little bit of progress on them...

I took plain manila tags and covered them with Valentine cardstock.  Then punched out a round tab punch and folded it over to cover up the hole.

I only covered one side of the tag.

The manila tag fits perfectly inside the mini bag!!!

Here's the back of it. 

 Now I originally saw an idea on Pinterest where they took the mini bags and decorated the fronts with all sorts of cute Valentiney embellishments.  In one of my many late night crafting "thinking sessions" I came up with the idea of the manila tags.  So I made 14 and on each day, the girls can pull out a tag and read a little love note from mom and dad :)

I'm going to post my workdesk tomorrow but I'll have the finished envies up on Thursday.  I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday and I'll see you tomorrow!  Thanks for stopping by today!

My weekend...

Morning and happy Monday to you!  Did you have a good weekend?  We were super busy.  You know, I really love to just be at home and relax on the weekends, but sometimes there are things that require your attendance :)

After a morning full of volleyball games Saturday, Mike and I got the girls dropped off (one at Grammy and Pa's and one at a slumber party) and headed down to the Marriott for the MRA Ball.

This was the view from our hotel room.  We were on the river side of the hotel rather than the city side.  Either way would have been beautiful.  I could have sat and looked out the window all night long!

We were in the process of getting ready, when I realized that I forgot hairspray!  Seriously, who forgets hairspray?  Mike ran down to the gift shop and picked up a teeny little bottle for $3.50.  Bah!  We had a fun night and a great meal.  Sunday morning we had breakfast with some of Mike's co-workers and then made our rounds to pick up the girls.

I did get some crafting in, late Sunday afternoon.  Just need to get my pics uploaded so I can post my crafty projects with you :)

It's supposed to be 62 degrees today!  It's just been one of those crazy mild winters, totally okay with that!  I hope you got some crafting in this weekend and have some crafty plans this week as well!  Thanks for stopping by today and I'll be back tomorrow!  Have a beautiful Monday!

Fun felty Valentiney card!

Woo hoo Thursday!!!!  I'm so excited to share my card with you today.  I came up with the idea for this card last year, right after Valentine's Day and I've been patiently waiting to make it, all this time :)

I used Michael's felt, Sizzix Bigz dies and my Cuttlebug to cut out the fun shapes!
 

Then I added some buttons and pins :)  This lovely card makes me so, so happy today!

I hope you have a great Thursday!  Thanks for stopping by today and I'll see you tomorrow!

WOYWW

Yeah Wednesday!!!  I really love Wednesday, halfway through the week, I can have Friday in my sights!  Today I'm linking up over at JULIA'S BLOG and sharing what is on my workdesk...

Remember those little pink bags from yesterday?  Well, here they are.  I'm working on a little Valentiney project for the girls.  I'm afraid I won't get it finished this week, maybe over the weekend?  I hope?  Anyway, this is what is on my workdesk right now!

What's on yours?  Hope you have a beautiful day.  Thanks for stopping by to see me and I'll chat with you again tomorrow!

Project Life, Week #3

Morning and happy Tuesday everyone!  I was able to get week number three done over the weekend, minus the pictures of course :)  This week was a bit easier since it was the week that JUST happened.  It still helped having my calendar notes though!

I'm starting to run out of post its so I had to rip them in half this week :)

I was much happier with my title card this week.  It was a little scrappier and that's what I was hoping to do.  I feel like I have a lot to say and I'm not sure of the best way to get all that across and still add my scrappiness.  Maybe I can embellish the photos? 

Check these puppies out!  You all know how I love those little brown paper sacks, right?  Well Michaels sells them in white and I was going to pick some up to work on a little Valentine project.  Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the store and found pink, red, purple, orange and black!  They may have even had yellow.  I was in mini paper bag heaven!  More on these little bags later this week...

Have a pleasant Tuesday and I'll see you back here tomorrow :)  Thanks for stopping by today!

Freshly Made Sketches #18

Good Monday morning everyone!  I'm playing along today with FRESHLY MADE SKETCHES (made the deadline the week!)  Head over to their blog to check out the awesome cards the design team made and all the great entries!

Here's the sketch this week:

Here's my card:

I always forget I have this Spellbinders die and I just love it, but find it hard to use.  It was perfect for this sketch!

Did you have a good weekend?  Abie had her first volleyball game Saturday, they played two matches, is that what you call them?  They won one and lost one, but most importantly she had a blast!  Mom and I went dress and shoe shopping for Mike's work thing next weekend and I found a dress and came home with three pairs of shoes!  (DSW has GREAT clearance!) 

I have to get my driver's license renewed today, wish me luck on a good picture :)  Have a great Monday and I'll see you tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by today!

Project Life Week 1 and 2...

Minus the pictures :)  So does that count as being caught up?  My plan is to print my pictures off at the end of the month and work on the journaling throughout the weeks of the month.  Does that make sense?  So the spreads I'm going to show you are done, minus the photos.

 This is week one.  I'm doing one 12x12 page for one week.  Since I'm not doing a picture a day, I don't have enough pictures to fill up two 12x12 pages.  The only problem is, I have a lot of stories and notes for each week I want to tell and I'm going to have to figure that out :)

I put this 8 1/2 x 11 insert between the two 12x12 pages.  On the front side is Abie's grade card on the back side is this family portrait Landry made :)

Here's week two.  I like how I moved the title card down to the lower right hand corner, but I would like to get a bit more scrappy with my title cards.  I need to figure that out...  All in due time.  Right now I'm just trying to get the general feel of this project.

Now at the end of the month, I'll get my prints made and slip then in to the designated pockets.  My hope is that I'll get a little photo printer for my birthday and then I can print as I go.  (ARE YOU READING THIS MIKE????)  Haha!  He doesn't ready my blog...

What do you have going on this weekend?  Abie has her first volleyball game tomorrow morning and then mom and I are going dress shopping, really excited about that!!!  We're getting together with some friends at some point this weekend, really excited about that too :)

Hope you have a fab Friday and a lovely weekend!  Thanks for stopping by today and I'll see you soon!

I won again!

Happy Thursday my friends!  So a couple of weeks ago TRACY was doing an appreciation giveaway.  I sort of entered by default, seeing as how I comment on her blog every single day :)  Imagine my surprise, and hers if you watch the video of her drawing, when she pulled my name and I won the mini album kit!

It came in the mail yesterday and it's awesome!

Here's a picture of all the papers and embellishments she sent.  Tons of stuff!

Here's the album.  It's 8x8 and really thick, thick chipboard.

Check out how thick that is!

Awesome, right?  Thanks so much Tracy!  I'm not sure I'll be able to do this kit justice.  If you know Tracy and her mini albums, you know they are amazing!  I'll have to figure out something really cool to do with this one :)

In other news, I finally got my wedding ring back yesterday!  Woo hoo!  It had been in the shop for three loooooong months!  We were told 4-6 weeks, then 8 weeks, then 10 weeks, blah, blah, blah.  Good news it, my ring is back on my finger, where it belongs, and looks better than brand new!

Abie has volleyball tonight, and it's leftovers for dinner.  Big excitement, right?  Hope you have a great day.  Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you tomorrow!

WOYWW 137

Happy Wednesday and happy WOYWW!  I'm linking up over at JULIA'S blog today along with lots of other crafters to share what is on our workdesks.

Here is mine!

 

This is the mess that was left after I made my robot card.  Now if you know me at all, you know that I really can't stand a mess.  It drives me nuts to see this and I can't believe it's not cleaned up yet, but dinner was ready so I didn't have time to pick up.  I usually clean up after each project, even if I'm going to use the same products :)  

So, what's on your workdesk today?  Any fun projects or leftovers like mine?  Hope you have a beautiful Wednesday.  Thanks for stopping by and I'll chat with you soon!

Freshly Made Sketches #17

Good morning!  I'm back today, with a card I made using a sketch from FRESHLY MADE SKETCHES!  It's been weeks since I've played and I finally had the chance last night to sit down and make a fun little card.  Only problem was I missed the deadline to enter.  Oh well, you win some, you lose some, right?  :)

Here's my card...

Isn't that little robot so cute?  I love his googly eyes. 

Have a wonderful day and I'll see you back here tomorrow!  Thanks for stopping over today :)

Heart wreath!

Good morning and happy Monday!  Did you get the day off today, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day?  The girls and I are home, but Mike is at work :(  We'll have to keep ourselves occupied until he gets home.

Last Wednesday I posted a picture of a wreath I was working on.  I found this idea on Pinterest and thought it was SO cute.  I made these for the girls doors and after cutting out the strips, 2x11, Abie was able to help the rest of the way...

In the directions, she used glue dots to hold hers together.  I used my ATG gun.  I have to say, the ATG gun failed me!  I usually holds so well for me, gravity is NOT it's friend.  After I hung these up on their doors, I had to glue the loose parts with the Tombow Mono glue (is that green and white stuff?) and hold them closed with mini clothespins.  It worked, crisis avoided and happy girls!  :)

Are you making anything fun for V-day?  I have another project I found on Pinterest that I'm thinking about working on, just not sure yet.

Mom might be taking the girls to see a movie today.  Other than that, I'm laying low, enjoying my day at home.  Hope you had a nice weekend.  Thanks for stopping in today and I'll see you tomorrow!

TGIF!

Happy Friday everyone!  I told you yesterday I had some new goodies to share with you and here they are!

These are some fun Smashbook sticky tabs that I thought would be awesome for my Project Life album!  How cute are they?
 

This little pad is full of blank journaling cards.  I've seen several "famous" Project Lifers use these in their books and Michael's had them for $1.99!  I only bought one pad, it was hard to choose which one to get.

I kept in mind the colors of my PL core kit and thought this pad went the best.

I wanted to give you a peek at how I'm keeping up with my album during the weeks.  I'm only going to print my photos once a month so here's what I'm doing in the meantime.  On a daily basis I'm keeping notes in my calendar.  One day I forgot to write down notes and I tried to remember the next day and I already forgot what we had done.  Can you imagine if I wasn't taking notes on a daily basis, or trying to???  On a weekly basis, I'm doing this...

This is another tip from MICHELLE WOODERSON.  She talked about using post it's to keep herself organized and now that I'm doing the project, I totally get what she means.  I took a few minutes and added some notes about photos I want to print for  the album and journaling I want to enter.

This lone post it was for the beginning of a week :)  When I get time, I'll go back and add in title cards and some journaling cards.  The hope is that at the end of the month, I'll print my photos and slip them in to finish off the weeks!

So, do you have any organizational tips for your scrapbooking?  What's your best tip for keeping yourself on top of things?

Big plans this weekend?  We're cleaning out the toy part of the family room tomorrow and also Landry's room.  Mike and I might be going out tomorrow night for a little date, TBD :)  Other than that, just relaxing and enjoying ourselves.  It's a three day weekend for the girls and me, poor Mike has to work Monday :(  we'll miss him, but I'm sure that we'll find something to occupy our time!

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by today!

Project Life Title Page!!!

The day is finally here!  I've been talking about it for weeks and I'm so proud of myself for not only getting caught up on all of my scrapbooking, but getting started on my Project Life album too.

 Here's my title page...

Here's a close up of one of the journaling cards that I embellished a bit.  This part I love because I was able to get extra crafty, but since it was on a small scale it wasn't overwhelming for me, like a 12x12 layout can be.  Perfect!

Be sure to come back tomorrow, I have some new goodies to share with you and also how I'm working a month at a time on my album!  Thanks for coming by today and have a lovely Thursday!

What's on your workdesk Wednesday

It's Wednesday already and I am really happy about that, how about you?  I'm posting a picture of my workdesk today, along with everyone else over at JULIA'S BLOG. 

Abie and I are in the process of working on some Valentine wreaths for the girl's bedroom doors.  I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it would be so cute for their rooms :)

Not much else going on here.  Looking forward to the weekend, and enjoying my weekdays to their full capacity in the meantime.  Have a wonderful Wednesday and I'll see you tomorrow!  Thanks for coming by today.

One of the last layouts of 2011.

Happy Tuesday!  I want to thank everyone for their kind thoughts about Abie :)  She is much better today!

I wanted to post one of my last 2011 layouts.  I was really stretching it there at the end ya know, creativity wise :)

I was sitting at my desk trying to figure out what I was going to do and I saw this roll of ribbon that I bought a long time ago, but hadn't used.  It was definitely my inspiration for the rest of the page.

Here's a close up of the ribbon...

I hope you have a beautiful Tuesday!  Thanks for popping in today and I'll chat with you a bit tomorrow.

A simple Thank You card.

Oh what a weekend!  More on that in a minute :)  Let me share with you my very simple little thank you card today.

I needed something quick and this is what I came up with.

I stamped the sentiment in eggplant and added a purple rhinestone.  Can't get much easier than that!

Now, on to my weekend.  Saturday we worked on Abie's room all day.  It took five hours to clean that puppy up!  Now that may sound bad, but we cleaned out her closet, her dresser AND the dreaded desk/hutch.  We rearranged her room too and by 9PM Saturday, after hanging her pictures and hooks, her room looked fantastic.  Fast forward to 1:19 AM Sunday.  Abie is up, getting sick.  Off and on all Sunday morning.  Poor thing.  She was laid out all day.  So that meant the constant running of the washing machine and spraying of the Lysol can for Mike and me.  I'm hoping she'll be better today, but waiting until she wakes up to see for sure.  That was one weekend I'm glad is over!  :)

I didn't get a chance to work on my Project Life title page.  Hoping to get to that this week some time.  In fact, didn't get any crafting time in this weekend :(  Mom duty calls sometimes, doesn't it?  What about you?  Did you get any crafting time in, I hope?  Please share so I may live vicariously through you.  Haha!

Have a wonderful Monday and I'll see you tomorrow!  Thanks for stopping by today!

More Project Life practice.

Happy Friday :)  I have another Project Life practice page today, at least that's what I'm calling them.  It's the divided page protectors, but I like to look at them as practice for my "real" PL pages.  Haha!

I had several pictures from this visit to the lake to see my grandparents and didn't want to get rid of any of them, especially since this was who Landry Jean was named after :)  So this page protector was perfect since I could fit tons of pictures in it!  I was able to add some journaling and embellishing...

And up top some patterned paper with a bit of stamping!

Do you have a busy weekend?  We don't have any PLANS, but we do have plans.  Does that make sense?  Tonight we're dropping my car off because there was an issue with the tires, they're only a year and a half old but the tire place is going to replace them, yea them! After that we're going to head on out to dinner.  Tomorrow we're going to purge Abie's closet and room.  After that I'm hoping to get my Project Life title page completed!

I hope you have a great Friday and a wonderful weekend.  Thanks for coming by today! 

New camera and new case!

Happy weekend eve everyone!  I know it sounds bad, since I just got off Christmas break with the girls, but after two days back at work I am SO ready for the weekend!  Today we're having a sort of a lock in at work so everyone can do some much needed file maintenance.  The problem with this?  It's supposed to be 65 degrees today and would be the perfect day to be in the field instead of holed up in the office.  Isn't that the way it goes?  :)

Today I'm super excited to share with you my new point and shoot camera.  I wanted something tiny, that would fit in my purse and I could carry around with me so I wouldn't have to lug around my bigger camera.  Especially with working on Project Life and me trying to take more pictures this year and all :)  So after much research, and opinions from a few friends, I ended up with this little gal

Isn't she pretty?  KATIE had mentioned to me that one of the things she liked about her little camera was that it was pink and she always knew that one was hers, plus it was pretty :)  That made me happy and I kept that in mind when I was shopping.  A lot of the cameras out there were black or silver and this one stood out!

This camera is ti-ny!  Look behind it, that's a Momento ink pad!

Here's another shot, isn't that crazy?

Now this lady came with a case, but let's be honest, it was ugly, and big.  It almost tripled the size of the camera.  The whole point of getting this was to keep it small, right?  So I checked out Etsy and found some super cute cases, but I knew my fantastic sister could whip me up something.  Plus, I already had the fabric and the button.  Here's what Jennie made for me:

It's basically an envelope for my camera :)  She lined it and put some interfacing in between so it would be a little more stiff.  This is a picture with the camera inside.

Here's a picture without the camera...

And one with the lid open :)

So, there you have it.  My new little camera!  It did come in handy on Sunday.  I took some pics over at Mom and Dad's when I probably would have left my other camera at home :)

I hope you have an AWESOME Thursday!  We're back to volleyball tonight after a two week break.  Abie is excited :)  Thanks for coming by today and I'll see you tomorrow!

WOYWW

I know I've said this before, but what I really love about a Monday holiday is that I think it should be Tuesday today and it's already Wednesday!  :) 

Today I'm sharing what I have on my workdesk...

Remember I told you I had one more layout to complete for 2011?  This is it!  I'm just figuring out the placement of some things and then I'll be finished :)  Like all my scissors?  Do you guys have different scissors for different things like I do? 

Be sure to check out all the other lovely work spaces over at Julia's Blog!

I hope you're having a good week.  Things are going just splendidly here.  It's nice to get back into our routine, but I'm already looking forward to the weekend!  Hahahahahahaha!  Thanks for popping in today and have a lovely Wednesday.

Happy 2012!

Happy New Year everyone!  Did you ring in 2012 in a grand way like me?  Haha :)  We spent our evening in the most perfect of ways, at home, with movies and snacks a low key night with my parents.  At midnight (I stole Tracy's idea) and opened up the back door, to let the old year out, and the front door, to let the new year in.  I just love that idea! 

We headed over to mom and dad's on Sunday afternoon for our annual Black Eyed Peas and then we went over to our old neighbors house and spent some time with them.  It was a great way to spend the first day of the new year :)

Yesterday, I finally got down to my craft room and got to work on my layouts.  I got A LOT accomplished.  In fact, I only have one more from 2011 to complete and then I can devote myself completely to 2012 and Project Life.  Do you know how good that feels?  Pretty amazing!

My trick for getting so much accomplished in the layout department?  Pebbles Inc divided page protectors. 

I bought these last year at Hobby Lobby and they make for super quick layouts!  I paired them with some pre-made 4x6 Halloween cards and let me tell ya, I sort of felt like I was making a Project Life layout.  Ha!

Just a few simple embellishments...

And some cardstock stickers :)

I was able to whip out MONTHS of pictures in just a couple of hours.  It was awesome!

Do you have any surefire tips for getting yourself caught up when you're behind?  Maybe not just on layouts, but on other craft projects? 

I'm heading back to work today.  It's been so nice to be at home this last week and a half and I can't believe it's over already.  The girls are both ready to go back, and seem excited, so that makes me happy. 

I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday.  Thanks for stopping by today and I'll see you tomorrow :)