I've got to STOP!!!

I can not, for the life of me, decide on a layout for my Christmas cards this year! And, I'm not finished....I still have a couple more stamp sets I'd like to drag out and play with as well!! My goal is to have a very simple, easy card, but for some reason, I just can't stick to that criteria. When you make as many as I do (don't ask, it's sickening), it needs to be streamlined. I need to get them done ASAP as I've got some bridal shower invites and Reception invites (no wedding, just a big reception planned by the bride and groom) to get done by the middle of November.

For the next couple of days, I'll post what I've got....tell me yay or nay if you would. TIA! And, suggestions WELCOME! :)

Now, the colors are not negotiable! LOL!! I happen to like this combo of colors and I realize it's not for everyone (Steve just can't get past the colors...he doesn't particularly care for them. I think it's the pink.) but, I already bought the cardstock in these colors to make all my Christmas cards, so the colors stay! So, I don't want to hear about it! ;)

Our visit to St. Louis (part 1)

Last weekend we all went to visit Steve's brother, Brian, and his family. And, for once, we didn't spend all weekend playing Wii! LOL!! On Saturday, we went to the Science Center for a couple hours, played at the park for a little bit and went to Boo at the Zoo and the kiddos dressed up in their Halloween costumes! Here's some of my fave pics of the weekend....

Doing a Conga line in the parking lot of the Science Center.




Mara & McKenna looking at their veins under the VeinViewer (which is so cool, we have one of these at work!)



All the kiddos with their foot inside a dinosaur footprint.


A tornado maker, which was really neat, if you could keep the darn kids out of it long enough to see it form!


Doing some brain teasers....


Uh....where's McKenna's body?!


Fun with mirrors!



The Science Center was awesome. I just wish we had more time there! Oh, well...there's always next time! Stay tuned for my favorite pics from part 2 (the park) and 3 (Boo at the Zoo) to come. It's late and I'm going to bed! :)

Sshh! Don't tell!

Naw, I don't have anything to tell, it's just the name of the layout! ;)

This is for the latest sketch for the Stuck?! competition. I thought for sure Steve would be like "yeah, same ol' same ol'" but he was kinda blown away! It's the opposite of what he likes....he likes lots of pictures (2-pagers preferably) with journaling. This one has neither.

This was using a past BYOM kit, of course! ;) I also used the Cricut cartridge Storybook (that I borrowed from Nicole) for a butterfly, flower and leaves. I still want that cartridge....so awesome. Used some Technique Tuesday chipboard circle, Bazzill letters and some old Heidi Swapp letters for the title. Paper is the Fancy Pants Boy line (Just a Boy or About a Boy or something like that.) Anyway....TFL!

"Weston" nameframe

A friend and fellow co-worker asked me to fix up a nameframe for a baby shower gift for her friend, so this is what I came up with! She showed me a picture of the nursery stuff online and I think this will go pretty well. Weston....this is the first time I think I've heard that name. Sounds very regal.

Tonite was a get together with the Peach side of the family. We had to miss it. For one, it would just have been too long of an evening, especially with the girls having school tomorrow and they are giant bears to get up in the morning when they go to bed late. Secondly, there were parent/teacher conferences this evening. Pretty good reviews for the most part. McKenna's teacher is concerned with her organizational skills and daydreaming. Even asked us if we had entertained the thought that she's ADD. Oh, yes, definitely. But, her grades are out of this world and she says she's very creative and such a hoot to have in class and you just never know what's going to come out of her mouth. Yep, pretty well what we thought.

Mara's doing well. Her grades are what we expected. She tends to want to play with things in her desk and she likes to talk to everyone around her. Her teacher explained her as having a "bubbly" personality and is good hearted. There is a special needs boy in her class and evidently she is just wonderful with him. She helps him out at lunch and helps out the physical therapist with him during recess. How sweet is that?!

Micah's teacher had nothing but wonderful stuff to say about her. She did say that she was pleasantly surprised that Micah is as sweet as she is! Only because she's had Mara and McKenna and loved them to pieces, she didn't think the third one would be the same, but she is! LOL! Micah had a rough several weeks at the start of school with reading and math, but she has come a long way and doing really well now. She still writes several letters and numbers backwards that we need to work on. She actually is doing better with subtraction than with addition, which her teacher thought was kinda different.

So, all in all, pretty good conferences. Pretty much what we had expected all around. Anyone got any good ideas on how to teach McKenna organization skills?!?!?! Steve said it should be a piece of cake to teach her that since I'm organized and anal. I don't think it's learned, it's just how I'm programmed! LOL!!

Recipe for ME!

The Recipe For Kelly

3 parts Mischief 2 parts Success 1 part Passion Splash of Craftiness Finish off with an olive

What's the Recipe for Your Personality?

So, whatcha think....is this me?!

Merry & Bright

Last, but not least, the last card from the retreat from my back to basics card class! This one was easy peasy. Simple little masking technique.

Stamp set: Merry & Bright; Cardstock: Natural White, Bordering Blue; Ink: Bordering Blue, Not Quite Navy; Accessories: Scallop edge punch, small hole punch. TFL!

A very merry Christmas to you

Another back to basics card I did at the retreat! Love this stamp set in the Holiday Mini! I think it's incredibly versatile.

Stamp set: Season of Friendship, Best Yet; Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point; Ink: Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Versamark; Accessories: Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon, oval punch and label punch, SU pastels. TFL!

Ooooh...Scary

Yeah, yeah, I know....it looks major crooked. It's really not this crooked IRL and it's alot prettier IRL as well, I swear. Steve was even impressed with this one, and trust me, that doesn't happen too often anymore! I just couldn't get the lighting right on this one for some reason...too much glitter, perhaps? Bling cardstock, glitter paper, purple Stickles, glittered chipboard alpha...guess it was just too much. And, right after I got done bragging to Tiffany that I never have problems with my photo editing software! That's what I get, I guess!

Anyway, this is my layout for Round 2 at the Stuck?! sketch blog. How am I doing against everyone else? No clue. Who's my competition or am I completely out of my league? Who knows. She doesn't post point position or the other competitor's layouts. I would love to see the other scrapper's creations!! Oh well, I should just be glad that noone gets kicked out, right?! I'll quit whining for now. ;)

With every BYOM kit, I try and do a layout for each of my girls. I was missing a layout for JoJo for this kit, so this is so I feel well rounded for the kit! This was Halloween 2007. The photo of Micah is blurry, but I still love it.

Creatively Yours Sketch #33

Here it is! My 12x12 layout for Sketch #33 for Creatively Yours! I just fell in love with this sketch...all the circles just seem so flippin' FUN! I broke into my BG Recess that I haven't used too much of and LOVED IT! I had picked up a package of BG Recess chipboard at Big Lots a couple of months ago (for only $2!! gotta love that!) and was just giddy with excitement to be able to finally use it! The die cut shapes that go with this set match up perfectly with the chipboard shapes!

Anyway, these pics are of McKenna's first day of Kindergarten back in 2006! TFL!

Happy Birthday, Mara Taylor!!!

Wow, my "baby" girl is 9 today!!! Where has the time gone?! What a rough road it was to finally get you here....blood clot and bleeding for 6 weeks, terribly nasty, horrible morning sickness 24/7, numerous hospital stays to get rehydrated, IV's at home, getting a Hickman catheter put in my chest at 20 weeks pregnant, 25lbs. lost, bedrest due to high blood pressure due to pre-eclampsia, it was neverending! But, finally, my doctor decided to put me out of my misery at 36 weeks and get you delivered! You were 5lbs. 4oz. 19 1/2" long and the most gorgeous thing I'd ever laid eyes on! And talk about the most perfect baby....your tiny disposition was so easy going. You were a dream! So incredibly easy to care for....you were content to swing in your swing all day long if I let you. Most of the time I had to wake you up to get you to take a bottle. What a sweetheart. And, here you are 9 amazing years later.....3rd grade, High School Musical FANATIC who is madly in love with "Troy", computer and game wiz, tender hearted, awesome swimmer, Daddy's Girl. Happy Birthday, Sugar Bear!

Wishing You Cheer

Another card for the back to basic card class I did at the retreat! I just love snowmen for some reason!

Stamp set: Wishing You Cheer, and I'm blanking on the little script word set; Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Pacific Point; Ink: Baja Breeze, Pacific Point; Accessories: Photo Corner punch, Scallop edge punch.

TFL!

Only in a small town in southern Indiana....

....can you strike up a conversation with a complete stranger and compare deer stats, location, and vehicle damage in the grocery store parking lot! ROFL!!!

Yep, that's what happened tonite! I was walking out to my car, when an older couple got out of their van that was parked directly in front of my car. The gentleman says "Hit a deer, didya? Me, too" and points to the front of his van. Then, it just went on to compare how big the deer were (mine was waaaaaaay bigger than his, btw! He compared his to running over a dog, mine was like hitting a brick wall at 60 mph!), on what stretch of road (his near Loogootee, mine on Celestine highway) and how much damage (his not bad, not good, but not bad, mine is $5000 worth of damage). After I got in my car and drove off, I just couldn't help but chuckle.

I don't have pics of my car with my camera yet, but when I do, I'll post them. Heck, you know me, I'll probably end up scrapping it! It was, after all, my first deer hit (technically....I did graze the back legs of a deer one night, but it didn't do any damage to my car)! Steve got pics of the car and the dead deer on the side of the road with his cell phone. We're so morbid.

Oh, and tonite at the Pumpkin Patch Bash, someone just completely and totally made my day. I won't call her out on my blog, just in case she doesn't want to be, but "J", thank you so much! You are so wonderfully kind to say the things you said. That is one of the reasons I do this....if I can just inspire one person out there, it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy! ;)

Mr. Twigster

This is one of the cards I made for the back to basics class at the retreat last weekend. There's a few more layers on this one, but I just couldn't help myself! LOL!

Stamp sets: Mr. Twigster, Curvy Labels, Priceless; Cardstock: Ruby Red, Handsome Hunter, Cameo Coral, Whisper White; Ink: White craft, Basic Black, Ruby Red, SU markers; Accessories: Hemp string, Curvy Label punch, Scallop edge punch.

TFL!

Playground Princess

I did this layout in a competition that I'm currently in at the Stuck?! sketch blog. This was such a fun sketch! I used some leftover paper from a BYOM kit + some MM Noteworthy. I borrowed Nicole's Cricut cartridge Storybook (and fell in LOVE with it!!! That is next on my list to get!!) for the owl and flourishes and monogram. Some of my new Pink Pirrouette striped grograin ribbon came in handy to make my new favorite bow (trust me, folks, you are going to get tired of seeing this bow, but I just can't help it!).

For the 4 week competition, noone gets kicked out. The current DT votes on their favorites every week. At the end of the 4 weeks, the top 3 with the most votes gets a 6 month term on the DT! Cool, huh? I like the part that noone gets voted off, makes me a little less nervous!

TFL! And wish me luck! :)

Wild About You

These are the cards I made for an order given to me by my dear stepMIL for her to give to a friend for her birthday. The friend does travelling to Africa, btw.

Stamp set: Wild About You, Spring Solitude (retired); Cardstock: Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red, Old Olive, Not Quite Navy; Ink: Chocolate Chip, So Saffron, Old Olive, Close to Cocoa; Accessories: 2 square punches (forgot the dimensions, sorry!), scallop circle punch (for the "bite" taken out of the corner!), Chocolate Chip grosgrain ribbon (made into my new favorite bow!); Technique: using markers to color in the image of the stamp (the tree branch and the flower).

TFL!

Let it snow!

One of the cards I'm messing around with being the Christmas card I send out this year. There is quite a bit involved with this one, so I doubt I make too many of these bad boys....cutting out the scarf, cutting out the hat and pop dotting it, putting Dazzling Diamonds on top of the swirl....but it's so stinkin' cute! I saw this idea in the gallery at SCS and knew I had to CASE it, so I did! :)

Stamp set: Cold Play (retired); Cardstock: Wild Wasabi (retired), Bashful Blue, Real Red, Whisper White; Ink: Basic Black, Pretty in Pink, Real Red, Apricot Appeal, Versamark, White craft.

TFL!

What did you do for Nat'l Cardmaking Day?

My "holiday" was spent scrapbooking all weekend long at Tiffany's parent's house for a cozy retreat! I got done with 12 sets of one card for an order, 26 cards done for my Mom to send out for Christmas, 4 different cards for the card class I did at the retreat, got a start on some of my own Christmas cards, got really close to finishing up an 8x8 album for an order and one 12x12 layout! I took sooooo much stuff to work on that I didn't even get to! I have such lofty goals. I guess I don't work as fast as I think I do! LOL!!

This is the card I made for my Mom to send out for Christmas this year. I used the stamp set "Shellebrate". The cardstock I used were Whisper White and new In Colors Tangerine Tango, Kiwi Kiss (+ the new double sided Kiwi Kiss ribbon), and Baja Breeze. I also used new winter paper from the Holiday Mini. I love the unconventional colors, but it just fits for this stamp set, which is kinda unconventional, too. Mom, I hope you like them! :)

Should I be worried?!

Ya know....normal little girls play with their dolls. Hug them, dress them, feed them, push them around in a stroller, etc. Not my girls. Nuh-uh. No way. They ripped (yes, ripped. I thought they took scissors and cut, but I was corrected by McKenna) the head of one of their baby dolls. On top of that, they took a red marker and drew a line from the doll's eye down it's cheek. And, on top of that, they took the red marker and drew red lines around where they cut, excuse me, ripped the head off. And, on top of that, they put the doll head in my shower next to my shampoo to scare me. Can you feel the love?!?!

Did they scare me? Well, not exactly, but I did put on a pretty good show and we have video to prove my Oscar winning performance, but it kinda shows me in the shower. You can't see anything, but still, you all are not going to see me in the shower! Needless to say, the girls were absolutely THRILLED with the video. They were crackin' up all morning.

Like I said before....never a dull moment.

BYOM Halloween kit!!!!

Oh, yeah. That's what I'm talkin' about. Wonder why I was one of the girls who got to play with this kit?! ;) Well, besides the obvious, I also threatened to throw a big ol' hissy fit if I didn't get to.......just kiddin', kind of. Anyways, enjoy and go snatch one up for yourself here!

Wedgie!!!

Ok, I shouldn't joke about it, but I can't help it!

Last Friday, Steve and I went to school and ate lunch with the girls (we had to be there for Movie Day that afternoon, so we just went early and ate with them, too.) Anyway, after lunch, McKenna told me she couldn't go outside for recess. Instead, she had to go back to her room and do fact families. I asked her "Why?", but she clammed up and got embarrassed and didn't answer. I figured she'd gotten in trouble for something by the way she was acting, but I had planned on talking to her later about it.

I was outside on the playground when one of McKenna's friends came up to me and spilled the beans on her. Evidently, when everyone was lined up in the hallway that morning before school started, McKenna gave a boy in her class a wedgie!!! Why?! No idea. She won't even really give an answer, either. Mrs. Scott and Mrs. Schroering were floored that she had done that. Actually, I was too, when I heard this! That's just not something that the girls do to each other at home! What was she thinking?!

Anyway, I guess she got in pretty bad trouble in front of everyone. If you know McKenna, that is the worst thing you could do to her. She thrives on positive attention, but if she knows you're disappointed in her and she gets in trouble in front of alot of other people....oh, boy. It's not pretty. Well, she ended up missing two recesses and had to write an apology letter to the boy and she almost missed out on Movie Day, but Mrs. Schroering thought she had been punished enough.

Geesh....never a dull moment.