Scrapbook Sunday #7

DH just saw me uploading this picture and said, "Oh no, oh no." Oh yes! I really thought I would be able to stamp/scrap today, but somehow I didn't...once again. So I had to dig deep into the recesses of iPhoto and see what I could find to share. I made this layout back in early June, but had never posted it (at least I don't think so, I skimmed back over the past months and didn't see it).

These photos are from several years back when we took our nephews to the zoo one day. It was a great day, our first "outing" alone with the nephews. It was kind of surreal, driving around town with the two small boys in the backseat, and we were "like the parents", a very strange, but nice feeling. (I keep thinking I've posted and written about this before, but looked back through the blog again and couldn't find it...maybe I've just thought about it a lot?)



Most supplies are SU, close to cocoa 12x12 cardstock and ink, Collage Alphabet. The distressed tags are 7 Gypsies and the brown twill tape is Martha Stewart.

I do have to mention this movie I went and saw Friday night, Feast of Love. Let me preface this by saying that I like almost all movies. I liked Ishtar when it came out, and I think I was the only person in the whole world who did. But this movie really ticked me off. (I'd been sick all week, so dh said maybe my reaction was just because I wasn't feeling well, but I don't think so; if you've seen it, let me know what you thought!) It was trying to be all "arty" like it was offering us some new insights on love, but believe me, there were no new insights there. It's a shame, it has some very talented actors, but I'm warning you to save your money!

The whole evening was not wasted, however, because I got to catch up with my old work friends. I was needing some fun, girl time, and it was good to hang out with them again and hear about all the old work place drama (and be grateful I wasn't a part of it anymore, lol!).

I hope everyone has a great week and we are all able to squeeze a little stamping into it!

September Stamp Club Projects

Better late than never, right?! Here are the stamp club projects we made this week. Everyone loves the Autumn Apparitions set! On the card, I twisted the pumpkin stamp to make the moon, and I stole this great idea from Tandra, thank you!


For the box, I've seen them cropping up all over blogs recently, most cuter than this one. I was working from memory at the crop I went to a few weeks ago, so this is what I came up with. The 2 pieces of black card black card stock are cut 3 1/4" by 9 3/4" and then scored at 3 1/4" from both ends. They overlap and you tie them together, very easy!

Also, the black circle "web" behind the spider tag on the box...they demonstrated at Convention, so I can't take credit for that either! I cut 2 1/2" circle, then punched around the outside edge of it with a 1/2" circle punch. Put your black circle about half-ways into the 1/2" circle punch, then punch around, right next to the previous punch, so you'll get sharp, spikey points on your web. Hope that makes sense!

This is the inside of the card:


Lastly, I thought I would share the Stamp Club Challenge prize that I made for the girls who participated in the challenge (see previous post). I'm really digging these clamshell packages repurposed with a new life. I made this in about 10 minutes, using Carte Postale embossed with white on the DSP and filled it with goodies from the Pretties kit. Lori was the lucky winner! She also shared with me, you can take apart the packaging and use it to make die-cut shapes, like with my Cuttlebug. I can't wait to try this too.


Okay, gotta dash! Thank goodness it's almost Friday! Have a terrific Thursday!

September Stamp Club Challenge

It's my favorite time of the month...time to post the challenge projects for my September Stamp Club members! For September, they received this bag of goodies and had to recreate a 6x6 page. They did an amazing job! These four members will be coming to Club on Wednesday night, so I'll draw one of their names to win the bag of prize goodies for playing in the challenge this month!


This is Lori's page of her precious niece Lauren. (Lauren received a new baby sister last week also, so congratulations to their family!) Is she not the cutest?! I told Lori she needs to scrap this photo and submit it for publication. The photo is awesome! And don't you love how she made her flower?!


This next one is Beverly's page of her precious dog. It doesn't seem fair she has beautiful twins AND a beautiful dog! (When I told DH that, he asked if I was jealous, and I said "yes!" He said I could get another dog!) I love her flower, too, and how she put the hanger on it, fabulous idea!


This is Milissa's page, it's so bright an cheery, gets your attention immediately! (I should mention that I'm also jealous of Milissa as she goes to Hawaii EVERY year with her mom and sister!) I love her ribbon and eyelets, how she did her flower circle and the cut-out tree. Sooo cute!


Lastly, this is Valerie's super cute page! Don't you love her title with the cut-out "p" for Paisley with the scallop behind it?! What a cute name for her puppy, I've met him, he's super precious! The stapled ribbons are also super cute!


Well, I think I've exceeded my daily quota for saying "cute", so I better get ready for school. I was super grouchy yesterday, yikes! I can't be this tired and grouchy already on Week 5, I'll be searching for my "happy place" today, wish me luck!

Scrapbook Sunday #6

Schwooo! I just finished up a page...with 5 hours to spare! lol! I've been playing with thise photo of our nephews Jackson and Noah with Nick for several weeks now, but could never get it right. Today it just finally clicked!

Of course, now that it's all glued down, I see it all needs to be scooted up a little on the page, but oh well! And I didn't add the boys' names (I need to find a place to do that, because when I'm 97 and senile and looking at my scrapbook, I'll want to know who those 2 cute youngsters are!). And the question mark dots look too little and light compared to the heavy Nick....can you say "never satisfied"?!

The weekend turned out quite enjoyable. I finished up the stamp club projects yesterday (forgot to take a picture, will post that later), prepared all the materials, etc. and had some time to "veg out" and get caught up on Internet surfing. The house is clean, the errands have been ran, the laundry is done, ahhhh, peace for a few moments. Am feeling torn between stamping more OR grading papers (I know I should, I know I should, I know I should) while watching a movie with dh. Hmmmmmm....

Hope you have a wonderful week!

No Stamping Required

Yikes! Did I really say that? No stamping required?! When I was playing around last August (that makes it sound so long ago, which is how it feels!), I made this background with the Cuttlebug Snowflake Embossing template that I received from my wonderful in-laws as part of my birthday loot. I had planned to use it as a background, but then fell in love with how simple and beautiful it looked on the plain white card stock. The soft blue ribbon has been in my stash forever, it was one of those $1 spools from Michael's. I liked how the sun was streaming through the window on the card in this shot.

Well, yeaaaa, the weekend is finally here! I hope it's a good one for everyone! I took a 3 hour nap when I got home last night, from 7-10:00, then got up and tried to catch up on my blog reading. My google reader was at 184! Yikes! I got it down to 24 by 1 a.m. Not having internet service for 4 days is the pits! Who knew (well, I knew) that I was so addicted to the Internet?!

I'm very excited, I actually get to work in my stamp room today! I *have to*, to get projects ready for Stamp Club tomorrow! Yeaaaa, for *have to*, I'm afraid I wouldn't have or make time for it any other way. (I just get so consumed/obsessed with school stuff.) I started 2 projects last Saturday night at the crop, so just need to put the finishing touches on them. Of course, I'll have to unpack all the crop stuff first, ugh! How did that not happen for a whole week?!

Okay, ta-ta for now! Have a Super Saturday!

Big Dreams

I do have Big Dreams...of sleep...this weekend! I found this card I made before summer that I had not posted yet. I do love the Office Accoutrement stuff, I've always been a sucker for anything officey. The card is based from a sketch on a website, but I can't for the life of me remember where. It was one of those sketch challenge websites, not an individual blogger's challenge. Hmmmm, maybe it will come to me (after I sleep this weekend, perhaps!)

I have not fallen off the face of the earth, although it does feel a bit like that! When I got up Monday morning at 5:00am our internet service was not working. It just came back up Thursday afternoon! Can anyone else say "ridiculous"?! They were doing some work/updating Sunday night and ours got messed up. Thursday was the soonest they could come, and dh had to take off work to be here. I did try to "sneak" to the blogger site at school (they are very strict!), and they had blogspot blocked! The nerve! lol!

I'll be back this weekend with more stuff! I got an AMAZING RAK from Jenn Balcer (click her name to see the pictures of it) yesterday, and I'm just beside myself! I came home at 6:30 with a migraine and went right to bed, so it was such a great pick-me-up. I feel so *special* and feel like singing "nan, nanny boo-boo...look what I got!" (Can you tell I work with kids all day?)

Have a fantastic Friday!

Scrapbook Sunday #5

Wow! I can't believe it's already week #5 for our Scrapbook Challenges! And I especially can't believe I'm still always desperately searching for something to post...or make quickly! lol! So this week I am kind of "fudging" a bit.


This is clamshell packaging that I repurposed into a 3-D scrapbook item. (That counts, right?! Come on, it has a picture on it!) I got this great idea from this post by Tia Bennett on Two Peas in a Bucket this summer. I used one of my Cuttlebug diecut packages, it was perfect for it! Some of those hard plastic clamshell packages are impossible to open without destroying!

By the way, this beautiful little girl is the daughter of my bff Cindy in Kansas City (we were bff's since going to the same babysitter since we were born, then all through school, lived together in college and after, etc until I got married...my Mom always said when we got married we'd live in adjoining duplexes), and it's either Morgan or her twin sister Brooke. But I think it's Morgan. Hmmmm, if you're reading this Cindy, let me know!

Also, I did not heed your advice, and I changed Emma's 12x12 page from last Sunday by hand-stitching a flower shape on it. Doh! I've been going back and forth on which way I like it better. In person, I like it better before. But it doesn't look as bad in the picture here (I think?!). So yes, I'm cheating and posting it again for this Scrapbook Sunday!


Finally, I went to a Daisy D's Crop at Recollections last night...it was fun, but sad, because our friend Margaret is moving away to Phoenix! Boo! Hoo! It was an emotional drive home after saying goodbye, knowing tha she wouldn't be at anymore crops and stamping events with us. It's a good move for her, though, and I am excited for her...just sad for us!

I had to post one of her pages, my favorite from the night, with her nephews using the Rock Star stack paper. Margaret can make some pages! She always gets so much done (unlike some people...me!). I'll be sharing some more of her pages and Beverly's pages during the week (since I'm running out of personal material and have no more time to stamp it seems...thank you, girls!).


Yes, I did not finish one item last night. I arrived 1 1/2 hours late (because of writing bleepin' lesson plans...I should post that 14 page document that eventually took me over 8 hours to write!) with NO cutter and NO adhesive. Hmmmm...cutter and adhesive...kind of important items, don'tcha agree?! It's not like I have 5 cutters at home and could keep one in the car! Ugh!

Then between the eating and shopping and feeling sick from too much eating and shopping, (OMG...Beverly made the best homemade brownies with icing I've ever had!), it was time to go. C'est la vie. And now I wonder why my shorts are too tight today!

Okay, enough of that. I have to finish grading papers and get them entered into the computer by midnight, work up some lesson plans for the tutoring I am starting now two nights a week, prepare all the "hands-on junk" needed to go along with those lesson plans, and wash a massive pile of laundry (thinking of you, Beverly!). Oh, I miss those good old summer days...sigh. Have a super Sunday!

No 2 Alike

So I'm searching through my iPhotos looking for pictures of any cards that I haven't shared yet! And I found this one! lol! I made it this summer and emailed it to Paper Crafts for a winter card call. I never heard from them, however. So much for my first submission attempt! (Perhaps they never received the email?! That's what I' choose to think!)

Thank you for your nice comments and concern for Nick yesterday. I'll spare you the gory details, but during the sickness we noticed blood around his mouth, and I found a small mass inside. The animal hospital gave him a shot and antibiotics to get over the sickness, then he'll have to go next week for some surgery to get the mass removed and examined. I'm hoping for the best and trying not to worry about it until the time comes. He's 14 years old and definitely declining, I just never saw this coming.

School is keeping me very busy, as usual. I can't believe we're coming up on the end of three weeks already! I haven't been keeping up with my funny student stuff very well, darn it! I did get a sweet pick me up yesterday, however, when administering this TPRI spelling test to the class. While grading the test later, one girl with limited English skills had written jibberish for most of the words numbered 1 - 20, but then she had added her own number 21 and written "I love you." Little things like that just make my day!

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Recipe Card Stock: Bashful Blue, Whisper White, Basic Black, Seven Gypsies or Rusty Pickle patterned paper. Ink: Bashful Blue Craft. Accessories: Iridiscent Ice Embossing Powder, Heat Tool, Black Brad, Making Memories Photo Corners (from Big Lots years ago), Dymo Label Maker, Dimensionals.

Pinkness...

Good morning! I found this card to share that I made back in August when I was doing all of those Splitcoast Dare to Get Dirty challenges. I think it was for a sketch challenge and a "pink" challenge, but I could never get a good photograph of it (this is before I actually broke out the camera's instruction manual and asked y'all for advice), so I had never posted it. It is pink, that's for sure!

Okay, running late, working on four hours of sleep after dealing with a very sick dog last night, my poor Nick. Hope everyone has a terrific Tuesday!


Recipe Stamps: Block Party. Card Stock: Pretty in Pink Textured 12x12, Whisper White, Petals & Paisleys DSP. Ink: Pretty in Pink. Accessories: Photo Corner Punch, Pretties Kit, Pink Gingham Ribbon, Paper Piercer, Dimensionals.

Scrapbook Sunday #4

Just barely made it! Can you tell that I take my crazy self-imposed challenge/deadlines seriously?! I sat for a good 3 hours after my Halloween Stamp Camp (which was great by the way...my friends and customers are SO wonderful and fun to be with!) ended staring at some pictures and paper and couldn't come up with anything. Ugh! Hate it when that happens. I think it was a combination of being dead tired and being distracted by watching t.v. (Did anyone see that new show on HBO..."Tell Me You Love Me"? Talk about RACY! Don't watch it with any children around...maybe not even with your husband around!).

Then I saw this adorable picture of my niece Emma, scrapped the other project (for now), turned the t.v. off, and got busy. I seem to have an easier time working with girl photos and flowers, I don't know why, and it doesn't seem fair to my darling nephews!

Anyway, while visiting the family several years ago, I saw this photo my father-in-law took of Emma and I loved it, so he printed one for me. It's 5x7, but it does look kind of small on this layout. I may need to go back and add some more "stuff." Sometimes projects look so good right in front of you, and then when you see the photo, you're not so sure. Maybe it's always a good idea to take a photo, so you can see the project from a different perspective? I wonder. Any artists out there know?

Okay, while proofreading this post, I just got a great idea (I think...it's late...I could be wrong) of how to change this layout. If I rework it and repost it next Sunday, does that still count for my Scrapbook Sunday Challenge?!

For real (my students got me saying that..."For real??"), I must go to bed...or else the precious children will suffer tomorrow! *wink* Sweet dreams!

Batty for You

Happy Saturday morning! (I'm putting on my happy face, I'm actually feeling quite grouchy!) I hope everyone has had a good week. I can't believe how fast the time is going, it's already been two weeks of school, and my *ss is dragging! lol!

I believe this may be my last stamped card to share if I don't get myself into that stamping room soon! (Well, I've been in there, but only to grade papers in the comfy chair!) I made this card back on August 17 when I stamped with my upline...I remember clearly because it's the ONLY card I managed to get made all day! And even then I had to fall back on a classic, simple design...the 3 circles/squares in a row...to even get one card made!

I think I mentioned before how Amy Yingling, concept artist at Stampin' Up!, showed us at Convention how to punch a small circle, then punch a slightly larger circle around the opening, to get a cool "circle ring." Inside the circle I used Batty for You and the "Boo" from Autumn Apparitions. A very simple card, but those little guys are so cute!

We'll be feeling very "Halloweeny" soon as tomorrow is my Halloween Stamp Camp. I have 9 or 10 coming, so lots of cutting of supplies and preparation today, but I'm really looking forward to it. I haven't had any *girlfriend* time for a couple of weeks now (which is probably contributing to my grouchiness!).

All right then, I best get myself moving so I can start checking things off my *to do list*. Crossing things off is the best part of the *to do list*, and the main reason I make the list. And I'm sure that you sometimes add things that weren't on the list...just so you can cross them out...too. I know I can't be the only one!

Recipe Stamps: Batty for You, Autumn Apparitions. Card Stock: Basic Black, Whisper White, Only Orange, Pumpkin Pie, More Mustard. Ink: Staz-On Black. Accessories: 1 inch and 1 1/4 inch Circle Punch.

Loads of Love

Okay, I wasn't going to share this card because of the bad coloring job on the wheels, but I'm seriously running out of material...I mean cards...so I had to! lol! I do NOT recommend trying to watercolor with Basic Black! I should have used the Basic Gray that I used for the center of the tire. You know I'm not much of an *artiste* when it comes to the watercoloring, but I had to for this set because I needed a card for my stepdad's birthday last month. I don't have too many masculine sets, so I pulled out the old Loads of Love. He's a real pickup guy, so it was perfect!

Speaking of wheels, here's one of my finer moments at the Albertson's grocery store last night. I rounded the corner of an aisle too wide and with too much speed and plowed right into a wire display rack featuring Little Mermaid Ariel toys. A dozen toys went flying into the air, which was bad enough, except they hit an unsuspecting lady deciding which kind of laundry detergent to buy. She jumped a mile high. I felt so bad, and I was laughing so hard. She didn't think it was as funny as I did. I tried talking to her during the *clean-up*, but she got out her cell phone and made a call (probably making sure her insurance was up to date).

So I stroll on trying to seem carefree when I wiped into the side of the aisle. No display sticking out this time, mind you, just the regular aisle. Somehow the plastic white hangers go flying everywhere. I didn't even look behind me to see what the lady was thinking.

The really fun part came when I'm checking out and see 4 white hangers, plus a metal hook with 3 Ariel toys on it. I have to tell the cashier that "I've changed my mind on these." I have decided, however, no more listening to my iPod while I'm grocery shopping...

Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Recipe Stamps: Loads of Love. Card Stock: Blue Bayou, Confetti White, Basic Black, Creamy Caramel, retired SU DSP. Ink: Staz-On Black, Basic Black, Basic Gray, Blue Bayou, Certainly Celery, Close to Cocoa, Creamy Caramel. Accessories: Aquapainters, 1 1/4 and 1 3/8 inch Circle Punch, Linen Thread Crafter's Tool Kit, Dimensionals, Foo-fa-la button.

Elementary Essentials

Yikes! I still didn't manage to stamp all weekend, except for the scrapbook page I posted on Sunday. My stash of cards I made from the summer is getting dangerously low, what will happen to my blog then?! lol! I ended up working on school stuff all day Monday. I forgot how I can get so wrapped up in school stuff!

Speaking of school stuff, I sent this card to a customer awhile back as a thank you. She's a school librarian, so it seemed appropriate. It's the first card I made with Elementary Essentials, one of the sets I got with my big free order. I need to play with it some more. It was originally for a Dare to Get Dirty sketch challenge from mytime, but my 3-panel pieces were a little too long I decided.

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Recipe Stamps: Elementary Essentials, Typeset Alphabet Lower, Three for You Punch Box kit. Card Stock: Real Red, Whisper White, Old Olive, So Saffron Prints DSP. Ink: Real Red, More Mustard, Old Olive. Accessories: Night of Navy button, Linen Thread, Glue Dot.

A Day to Rest From Our Labor

And I like it! But not a day to rest from our stamping, right?! So far this weekend, I've only had a chance to stamp/scrap the page I made yesterday, but today I plan to spend some serious time with my rubber. *wink* The last load of laundry is in, the house is {pretty much} clean, and I got a week ahead on lesson plans. Whoo! Hoo!

I thought I would show these two cards together. I made them as thank-you notes for customers back when I was off for the summer (it sounds...and feels...like it was soooo long ago!). They are similar with the acetate window and In the Spotlight flower stamped in Staz-On White. I find myself using this set a lot. I also love that {thank you} from All Holidays.



We did make it to see Stardust, and we really liked it! I've always liked fantasy/science fiction show, and it was a nice romance too. Robert DeNiro really stole the show, he's hilarious in it! I also caught up on all the episodes of Design Star on HGTV (while grading a huge stack of papers...note to self: assign less homework this week!). Does anyone else watch this? I'm really disappointed in it this year. They had so many double elimination rounds, they had hardly any individual challenges, and they just don't seem that good this year. It cannot even begin to compare to Top Design on Bravo. Okay, enough of me ranting about silly tv shows! I hope everyone has a great Labor Day!

Recipe 1 Stamps: In the Spotlight, All Holidays. Card Stock: Bashful Blue, Cutie Pie DSP, Certainly Celery Prints DSP. Ink: Rose Red, Certainly Celery, Staz-On White. Accessories: Transparency, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8 inch Circle Punch, Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon.

Recipe 2 Stamps: In the Spotlight, All Holidays. Card Stock: Certainly Celery, Cutie Pie DSP. Ink: Certainly Celery, Rose Red, Staz-On White. Accessories: Transparency, Scallop Circle Punch, 1 3/8 inch Circle Punch, Bashful Blue Taffeta Ribbon.

Scrapbook Sunday #3

Schwooo! I made it! Just finished this page in time to quickly shower (still have to get dressed, put on make-up and blow-dry hair!) as I promised dh to go see Stardust at 4:15. This page came together very quickly. My little sister sent me this picture a few years ago in with my birthday card, and I've wanted to scrap it for a long time. It's very special since it's taken with our dad, who was killed in a car accident when I was 12 and she was six.

Definitely had to go for a "retro" feel here. Don't you love my outfit?! How did my Mom let me wear that? And who would have guessed I would end up majoring in Fashion Merchandising in college?! The minute dh saw this he said "What's with the attitude? Why were you copping a 'tude?" So that's where the title comes from.

Okay, off to see Stardust. Anyone else seen it? Let me know what you think! Have a Super Sunday!

Recipe Stamps: Jumbo Outline Alphabet, In the Spotlight, Three For You Punch Box kit. Card Stock: Chocolate Chip Textured 12x12, Night of Navy, Kraft, Whisper White, Close to Cocoa, Apple Cider DSP. Ink: Chocolate Chip Classic, Night of Navy & Chocolate Chip Craft. Accessories: Versamarker, Vintage Brads, Dimensionals, Scallop Circle Punch, 3/4 inch & 1 inch Circle Punch.

I dig the Library Clips!

Okay, I still haven't stamped, but I'm going to today! (I have to admit that I must first unearth the desk from the mounds of stamping rubble that has landed there, ack!) This is the third card that I made when my new Autumn Apparitions set arrived about three weeks ago. I can't wait to get it out and play with it again! (Please don't notice the inside of the card where I abandoned a bad wheel job in disgust.)

Did you notice that new fabulous library clip? They are tooooo cool! I see myself having to overcome a huge hoarding problem, they are just so precious! They're hard to find/see in the mini catalog I think, so make sure you don't miss them on page 16. I'll definitely be stock-piling these!

I'll be back later (yes I will, yes I will, yes I will...ignore me convincing myself) to post a scrapbook page (that I'll go whip up in five seconds, I mean hours) for Scrapbook Sunday. AJ is challenging herself now too, go check out what she posted last Sunday, plus yesterday, and she promises to post more today. Is she making me look bad, or what? (Cool it okay, AJ?!) Are you up for the challenge?! Post your scrapbook pages today (or start a blog so you can, you know who you are!) and share with us!

Recipe Stamps: Autumn Apparitions. Card Stock: Really Rust, Confetti White, Basic Black, So Saffron Prints DSP. Ink: Staz-On Black, Pumpkin Pie & So Saffron Craft. Accessories: Libarary Clip, Dimensionals.

More Autumn Apparitions

Happy Saturday! I'm so excited about this 3-day weekend, words can't describe!! I've got big, big plans: sleeping, cleaning, grading papers AND stamping!! Whoo! Hoo! I have hit the two week mark with no stamping, so I am sooooo ready! My stash of cards ready for my blog is pretty low now, so thank goodness!

This is another card I made with the new Holiday Mini Autumn Apparitions. I know I said it before, but I just love this set! The Holiday Mini is online now, so you can check it out here.

Thank you so much for all your nice comments recently, even about my classroom! The kids and I survived the first week, and I'm feeling really good about this year.

Okay, I'm off to IHOP, the post office, and the grocery store...fun stuff! Have a super Saturday!

Recipe Stamps: Autumn Apparitions. Card Stock: Staz-On Black, Only Orange, Whisper White. Ink: Basic Black, Only Orange. Accessories: Black Gingham Ribbon, Oval Punch, Crafter's Tool Kit, Black Brads.