The Twins and their Furry Friend

I made this layout of my twin sister and me with the "furry" Phil the gorilla at the St. Louis Zoo.  We were about the same age as my sister's daughter and my son! It is weird to think that so much time has passed since this photo!!! Anyway, I saw the photos and thought they would fit great with Simon Says Stamp Furry Friends challenge; so I made this layout!!!

Thanks for looking! Hope your summer is going great!

Simon Says April Showers and/or Spring Flowers - Take 2

Linking up to:  

Simon Says April Showers and/or Spring Flowers

The Graduate - Fancy Pants Swagger Style

I made this for Page Maps anniversary boy-girl (I chose boy) challenge and Simon Says Stamp anything goes!!  I used Fancy Pants' fabulous Swagger collection.  The colors and papers just fit Mitch's graduation/school colors!  I embossed the orangy-red colored paper under the photos.  I fussy cut the big fleur de lis out of a sheet of the collection and turned it on its side.  The journaling reads "Man Oh Man.  It seems like only yesterday when I dropped you off for your first day of kindergarten!"  Ain't it the truth!  He has now very successfully completed his first year of college. We were very, very proud of his first year GPA and his dedication to studies as well as his ability to meet new people and still have a lot of fun!!

Thanks for looking!

Echo Park NSD Challenge #4: 10X the Love

Here is Charlie on the day that we had a blizzard. It was his first "big" snow! He hated it and wanted in! I made this for Echo Park's NSD Challenge #4: 10X the Love using an older collection that I love! In case you are wondering "what are the 10 things?", they are the 10 snowflakes with a jewel in each at the top!  I hope you like it! I wanted to do so much more scrapbooking today, but I am happy I got a chance to create a few layouts! Maybe I'll get more time tomorrow!

Thanks for looking!

Charlie and Mitch

I made this for the Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes Challenge. I also made it using the sketch at Scrapping Everyday Miracles. 

Welcome Home New Baby

THE STORY:  the boys (my husband and son) had been begging for a dog ever since we moved into our new house.  The idea was that he wouldn't have to be left alone for long hours since we'd be so much closer to my husband's work, and he works from home often. Well, I kept saying "NO!" since I'm allergic. Steve (my husband) had been stalking Craig's list and the Humane Society and saw our Charlie's photo the second it was posted.  Well, I took one look at this little puppy's photo, and he was in our car one-half hour later--and he lived in the next town over....!!!!  Even though I do have the allergy problem, it is kinda worth it! He's such a sweetie (to us)!  Charlie has worked his way into all of our hearts, and we can't imagine life without him now!  I made it for the PageMaps challenge. Here's the sketch!

Graduation from High School

I was pretty happy with how this turned out. The only thing that would make it better is if these two were still dating. But, you know, if it is meant to be, they will meet again when they are older. I wish only the best for both of them.  I am entering this into Simon Says Stamp Anything Goes. It is my 2nd entry.  I used Close to My Heart papers and borders, and the Harriet Tubman quote is also from there.  The date stamp is Amy Tangerine (American Crafts) and the embellishments come from all over the place:  American Crafts, Pink Paislee, Basic Grey, Crate Paper, October Afternoon.  I love it when you can coordinate different collections into one awesome layout! It is one of my favorites that I've done in a long time.

We have renters in the house we left. They are the original family who wanted to purchase the house. They love it so much--sounds like as much as we loved it! We met them the day they moved in, and they seemed really nice. Their intent is to lease for a few months until they can get their credit score upped a little bit after having paid off some medical bills. It sounds like a risk, but it  feels like this is the right thing. Please continue to pray for us and/or send us some positive vibes.

Peter Rabbit in Yellow and Green

Since I am guest designer over at Crafter's Companion this month, I thought I'd make another "yellow" card for the challenge. I added some texture to this card by distressing the edges with my CTMH distressing tool to add it to the Simon Says Texture challenge. I also splattered some Luminarte powders on this which has some texture (and sparkle--which allows me to add it to Stacy's challenge) all by itself. Finally, I added some gorgeous Crate Paper buttons! One of the boys just might have to give me this card for some occasion. I don't' know if I can let it go. I love Peter Rabbit!!! I colored the image with CTMH water color pencils and some copics.

Thanks so much for visiting! I really appreciate it!

Mini Book/Graduation Card

I made this little book/graduation card using one 8 1/2" by 11" sheet of paper!  I love that the inside middle is a surprise.  I got the butterfly, bird, and girl silhouette stamps from Simon Says Stamp and also am entering in their Anything Goes challenge this week.  The zinnias are from Flourishes and the rest of the stamps are Close to My Heart!  The base is kraft cardstock and the rest is either Crate Paper or DCWV.

Thanks for looking! I made this for my son's girlfriend for graduation.

Hope you have a great week!

Happy Mother's Day

Well, I am sad that I didn't win the Crafter's Companion blog hop this week because I would have won every Peter Rabbit/Beatrix Potter stamp set they carry!! I would have been in heaven.  Congrats to the winner though! Anyway, this is my entry for the Mother's Day challenge over there. I thought I would make the cute little SWALK character in bright colors.  I used some Crate Paper patterned paper.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you have a fantastic day!!!

Our Home - in the Blizzard of 2006

I made this layout for The Paper Variety's challenge to include the word "home", a embellishment, or a house theme on your paper project.using Sketchy Thursday's latest sketch! I found these photos of our home in a big snow back in 2006 when I was looking through old Christmas cards recently. I thought it was fun that the perfect sketch and challenge came up right after I found them!

Thanks for visiting!

Phoenix Airport

My sister and I had some time to kill at the airport when our trip to Phoenix was over so we decided to head up to the rooftop of the airport terminal.  We had such a great view. We were glad someone told us to go up to take a look. I made this layout with Sketchy Thursday's 9.1 sketch challenge--I flipped it, though! I love that airplane patterned paper from Studio Calico!

Thanks for visiting! Hope you are having a great week!

Mini Book with Skewer Binding

I've been thinking a lot about hand-made books for the last few weeks. I found a great book on them at my library a few weeks ago, and you might say that began my complete fascination with them!  I made a mini a few weeks ago that was so simple.  This skewer binding book is a little more complicated but not so bad--especially when you happen to have a fantastic blog in your reader whose author just so happened to post a tutorial via Ustream video  yesterday!!! It was made from Handmade Decorative Books!  Sarah's work is so great! She makes the best shabby chic stuff and is just an all around nice lady. I love listening to her voice in the video!  If you go visit her, please let her know that Kelly Massman sent you over!  Needless to say, Sarah's books are much prettier than mine, but I had so much fun making mine that I will probably make more!!!

Thanks for visiting! I hope you are having a great weekend!  If you have time, please leave me a comment--I'd be thrilled! I'm a little behind in blog commenting myself, but I'll get there soon!!! :-)

California Animals 12,000 Years Ago

First, I have to say Happy birthday to my wonderful Dad!!!

Well, I have to say I went a little haywire with the Crate Paper sparkly die-cuts on this one! I guess I must have been in the mood for color since the mural only had a couple of colors in it! It also may have been because of the colorful Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger:  Luminous Layers challenge this week.  I used a fun sketch from Sketchy Thursdays to make the layout of these two photos which I pieced together from our San Diego Zoo visit.  I think you can tell that the inspiration came from the Tuesday Trigger and that Crate Paper made the perfect patterned paper for it. Who knows what happened from there! My layout also fits Frosted Design's challenge this week to include animals!

Anyway, thanks again for visiting! I really appreciate your sweet comments! They make my day!

Have a great day!

Panda at the San Diego Zoo

In keeping with the zoo theme, I decided to make a layout all about the Panda we saw at the San Diego Zoo.  I am entering this in a challenge over at the CK blog to layer at least 3 textures.  I layered the flower with some wedding/netting, felt, foam and a metal/epoxy brad which is layered over ribbon and paper!

Thanks for visiting! Please leave a comment so I know you visited! Thanks and have a great day!

Leo and Stuart at the Zoo

I made this cute little layout of Stuart and Leo at the zoo. The alligator is a CTMH fussy cut image which I stamped on green paper and then embossed! I actually have changed this layout a little bit in that I added two fun jungle-type leaves that I punched from a Fiskars spunch that I got from Tania Willis! Too lazy to rephotograph but suffice it to say that it added some cuteness to the top yellow circles!  Thanks again, Tania!  I used a sketch (I think #230) from Sketch Inspiration for this layout!

Have a great day!

Pretty in Pink

I made these two items for Stacy's card and layout challenges at Sketches 4 All.  You have until July 31 to play. Won't you please play? If you do and win (the chances are high since there aren't many entries yet), you will receive a great prize! I've been lucky there more than once and have often thought Stacy is TOO generous!! So, take advantage of her generosity and get some crafting completed by doing a fun challenge!  I also played tic-tac-toe over at The Paper Variety with the card.  My winning combo:

 

Use ... stitching, make a card, and include the color pink!

Maramec Spring Park -- Nephews Stuart and Leo

I made this layout of my nephews, Stuart and Leo, at Maramec Spring Park!  I used Sketchy Thursday's 6.16 sketch for this one!  It is funny how ideas about one object are all in the perspective! The boys and their mom and dad looked at this big knot in the tree as a great sitting spot! My husband looks at it and thinks what a beautiful burl bowl it would make!!! In any event, I thought that the photo was so cute that I HAD to scrap it!

SUPPLIES:

Cardstock:  Bazzill Basics

Distress Crackle Paint:  Weathered Wood

chipboard bird:  unknown

Plaid paper and branch paper:  unknown

Buttons:  Cosmo Cricket, Wanted

Circle paper:  Crate Paper

Stickers:  SRM Stickers

Mist:  Tattered Angels

Ink: CTMH

Other:

Cricut

Memphis, Zoo

This is what I do when I have a lot of photos to scrap. I just pile them on and add a couple of accents--in this case a bunch of buttons, flowers and a big dotted brad! That big yellow chipboard flower has Jenni Bowlin paint on it, and it has been stamped with a background stamp from CTMH in an aqua pigment ink from SEI. The paper is Crate Paper.

Thanks for visiting. I won't be posting much in the next few days as my husband (and I) are getting ready for a big art show--Art in the Park in Columbia, Missouri, June 4-5, 2011.  It's a fantastic show. If you are in the area, please stop by and say Hi! :-)

More Memphis Zoo Photos

Here's a simple layout from the Memphis Zoo. It seemed rather cruel to have these particular animals facing each other from across the path!  The cat kept pacing trying to figure out a way to get to the poor little guy--and you can see the look on the little guy's face. The photos tell it all!  I think I'm completely finished with our Memphis trip now, but I still have a few layouts to post on the blog.  The little wooden flower button is Studio Calico. Isn't it cute? I also tried my first Gluber from Cosmo Cricket. It is the ribbon flower with the big yellow button. I got to make it at Archiver's over the NSD weekend...

Thanks for visiting!