oh my!! Yes I have returned from vacation and hit the ground running. I can't believe how much time has passed since we returned. I am so sorry to have kept you all waiting for so long. oh the shame.

I need to get back into my office and create. Hoping that time comes soon. Until then, I am going to post a couple of pictures here and some more on my Family site.

On our day of arrival we headed to EPCOT after checking in at the resort. We were ready and raring to go. We went and saw Mickey, Pluto and Minnie and then stumbled onto Duffy (Disney's cruise mascot) Good start to the vacation.

vacation

Yup we are finally heading out to enjoy some much needed family time. I will be back at the beginning of May. Until then, blog surf without me. But don't forget me... I will return!! 

happy birthday to me!

Usually I am not in for the whole celebrating of my birthday. It is just a number (one which I frequently forget) and I really hate to be the center of attention.

This year it is not so bad. Especially when even Google has wished me a happy birthday!! I mean seriously how cute is this?? 

Yes I use Google Chrome and am a registered user so that is how they got my birth date. Am I freaked out that Google has this information- nope. I think it is adorable and gave me a smile. And couldn't we all use more smiles in our days?

etsy custom order- peacock theme

Well hello there! Very long time, no see from me!! Oh the shame. I would love to say it was because I have been crafting and creating but nope, just being plain ole lazy and not blogging. Hanging my head.

I have created two custom card drawer boxes for an Etsy customer. She loved the first one so much she ordered a second one. Love when that happens. She wanted a peacock colored box in which to store cards and letters etc so with that in mind I knew I would need some good weight cardstock as well as reinforcing the box itself with chipboard. I also learned that if you add chipboard to the box, you will need to shrink the drawer down just a smidge or it won't slide in and out so nice. Good thing I always buy an extra sheet or cardstock to cover myself!! :)

I was over the moon when I got to Michaels and discovered this amazing peacock paper! Seriously, how could I not use it? It was a great weight and worked up so nicely. Plus it had all the colors my customer and I had discussed and it was blingy!! oh yeah. Here is the card drawer box opened.

Here is the box closed. I love the teals and purples of that paper!! So dreamy to work with.

 And here is a shot of the top of the box. oh yes I went there with the extra bling! I used my Sizzix dies to cut the hearts and used a small punch for the smallest hearts. I used rhinestones that I glued by hand because I totally didn't trust the ones with adhesive on them to stick to the textured paper. I pop dotted a few of the hearts to give it some dimension.

Then came the hard part, trusting the postal service with my creation! I was so afraid it would be smashed in transit but it was not (whew) and the customer LOVED it!! Which made me a very happy lady. She loved it so much she ordered another one for her daughter for her wedding. I will post that one tomorrow. Promise.

christmas 2008 continues

And here we are again back to Christmas 2008 and all the fun it was. I have a much smaller pile now and am feeling very motivated to continue. Here are the latest two creations.

This layout was so much fun and yet so simple. Love it when that happens. I found the paper in a stack I had and it screamed for these pictures. I used my Fiskars apron border punch to mimic the gingerbread roof for the top of the page and for the top of the journal box. I used some chipboard letters I have had FOREVER! I added stickles and puff paint to the house on the background paper to give it a little pizzazz. The kids look so young!!

This next one I am loving so much right now. I do not want to put it in an album because I will miss it!! Sometimes it just happens. These are pictures I took after Alex got a haircut right before Christmas. You can see the major difference between the page up above and the one below. He ages so much in a few days with the haircut!! I used some Basic Grey papers that I had which worked with the colors in the pictures. Added in some chipboard stars that I covered with paper and inked the edges of. I used my stitching tool from We R Memory Keepers and used some embroidery floss for the sewed border around both pictures. Like I said, I am loving this layout right now.

Have a great one! I am off to make some cards. At least that is the game plan- we'll see how far I get.

valentine's day goodies

This year I have been working in Alex's classroom of amazing first graders and in one of the kindergarten classrooms for both the AM and PM classes (not to mention getting to hang in the art room once a week) and decided that I wanted to give Valentine's to all those kiddos. 

First came the decision as what to get them all. Since there is always a big demand for pencils in the first grade room, I went forth and found some cute ones at Target in their holiday area. Then somehow counted wrong and ended up with more boy pencils than girl pencils which did not work in a female dominated room. I then hit the dollar store and they saved the day for the girls!!

For the kindergartners, I decided on some fun colored super balls along with some foamie heart stickers. Thankfully I counted correctly when buying the super balls at Target (again in their holiday section) and managed to have a 'few' left over for my kiddos to have (or save them for next year!!)

Then came the decision of how to give these goodies to the kiddos. I decided on a pencil holder type card for the first graders. Below shows the inside of the card that I stamped. I also signed it for each of them.

I also stamped the front of the cards and added their names. I closed the card with some heart stickers I picked up at Michaels since I didn't like how they looked open. Yes I sharpened all the pencils since the students are not allowed to use the electric pencil sharpener in the classroom (sharpen pencils too much, push too hard etc etc) and that would not be fair to the teacher to have to sharpen all those pencils before the kids can use them.

This is a side view of one of the treats. I was pretty proud of myself!!

For the kindergartners, I decided to put their goodies into snack baggies and then add a tag. As I was surfing Pinterest (cuz everyone does) I found these so adorable tags. They seemed pretty easy so off I went. Below are all my love bugs set to be made into tags.

Here is the completed project! I stamped the sentiment onto the red paper and then attached them together with some floss I have. I added who it was to on top of the love bug. Perfect!!

And since I cannot forget the teachers... I made each of them a little bag to hold some Lindt goodness.

Hope your Love Day was a wonderful one!! xx

oh yes i did!!

Scrap that is. Get your mind out of the gutter... geez. :)

I have had the photos from the end of December 2008 (yes you read that right 2008!) pulled out from their box for a few months now (read that as about 6-8 months) and have been S L O W L Y working on them. I was going to pack them up and had actually put them back in their box when I stopped, slapped myself around a bit and pulled them back out. 

Let me explain the self beating and why it happened. I first must explain that I have not printed any pictures lately unless they were going into my Project Life album and the reason for that?? I have three photo boxes F U L L of pictures that I need to scrap. The dates on these boxes go from 2002 or 2003 until early 2012. That is a ton of pictures sitting there taunting me into putting them into albums. (this does NOT include the three other photo boxes of Walt Disney World vacation photos) oh the shame.

As I was putting this tiny pile of pictures away I was overcome with a massive amount of guilt. Seriously massive. Probably because I had to take down all three of the photo boxes full of pictures to actually get into the one box where these photos should be placed (chronologically speaking). Another part of it, may have been that for the past couple of nights, the kids have been taking their scrapbooks off the shelves and looking at them. Really looking at them and laughing at what they were like when they were smaller. Alex especially thinks it is funny of the things he used to do. Unfortunately, Alex only has about 5 albums and they are not completely done (enter in the three boxes of photos I have mentioned before) so he is feeling unloved. Major mommy sigh and enormous amount of mommy guilt.

So off the races I went. I am going to scrap. I am going to scrap for me. And not only for me, but for my kids. I am happy they have found enjoyment in what I have been working on for years. I don't want that to end. So here goes... I am scrapping!! These may not be magazine works of art using all the latest and greatest tools, embellishments and paper. But who cares?? As long as the memories are in the albums and not stuck in a box, that is what matters- to me and my kids.

This one is going into Alex's album as I had already done another page to put into Kira's album using other pictures taken the same day. My title is weak but that is what happens when you are using the scraps and are running out of letters. But let's remember- it is headed for an album and not a box. Happy mommy.

This one is so cute. Look at that happy face of childhood. Placing her written letter to Santa into the Santa mailbox at the post office. I can't believe she was so small and adorable. Now she is stunningly beautiful and I have the right to say that since I am her mom! Love my girl. The letter on the bottom of the page is what Santa wrote back to her. Love it!!

I hope to keep working on this pile and the three boxes. That should keep me busy for the next 100 years!!