It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas!

Long time, no post! I have been super busy getting my Christmas on lol! Not much scrappy news to share, but I have FINALLY finished up my Christmas cards and thought I would share a few with you....I have a few more I have made but ran out of light. All of my cards use Stampin' Up stamps, I decided it was time to dust 'em off and put them to use! Felt good to stamp again. I hope my friends like my cards. I was also able to use up some of my older Stampin' Up designer papers, they are all so perfect for cards. I have a lot of designer paper and it felt good to use it up. I am planning on making some journals with this paper as well...need to put it to good use, instead of hoarding it right? I don't think I'm going to meet my goal of 150 layouts for the year, so better set my goal a bit lower this coming year...I did get 93 layouts done, so that was pretty close. With only 17 days left in this year I would have to do some major scrappin' to meet my goal. I know some of you could do 57 layouts in less then 3 weeks, but considering I have had two layouts on my desk now for over 3 weeks waiting to finish, I'm not holding out much hope...but maybe I can eek out seven to make it an even 100! Well, better get back to work, gotta get some more presents wrapped and bought, and I still have some more decorations to put up! I hope to be back this weekend with those two unfinished layouts to share (that is if I can get my Christmas shopping and gift wrapping WRAPPED up LOL!) Catch ya again real soon!

My Little Sketch Book

I am so honored to be the Featured Guest Designer over at My Little Sketch Book today! Liz's sketches are so fun, so inspiring and so user friendly! Absolutely LOVE them! I used My Mind's Eye So Sophie line for this page and embellishments and letter stickers from Jenni Bowlin and American Crafts. My favorite accent on this page was the burlap fabric I used to accent the larger picture, so fun to use up your stash isn't it??? I have had this fabric for a few years now and so glad to actually use it!! These pictures were taken by my sister in law in October when we went to visit my brother and his family in Nebraska, we LOVE roasting marshmallows in their fire pit, a quiet relaxing time, and some simple moments I don't want to forget! I want to thank Liz for having me as a guest designer this week, it was a lot of fun. I am looking forward to sharing some other work with you in the next few weeks! And don't forget to hop on over the My Little Sketch book to see what Liz and the other designer's did with this week's sketch, I know you will love it as much as I did! Have a wonderful week my friends!

Happy Halloween!

Hope ya'll had a Happy and safe Halloween! As you can see we had a crazy bunch for Halloween this year. Jakob was a nerd...Katie the Kat and Ryan went as the Swamp Monster. What a crazy crew and weird mix huh? Miss Katie the Kat couldn't stop admiring herself and thoroughly enjoyed all the candy she got. Ryan had fun trying to see how many houses he could get to in one hour and Jakob actually enjoyed being nerdy...his best saying this year was when Ryan asked him if he was going to go ahead and eat the Nerds they had just received at one house and Jakob replied, "I would but I can't eat my own kind"!!! How funny is that, Ryan and I thought that was SOOOO funny! LOL! So another Halloween has passed and the kids are all in bed, hopefully they won't wake up with a stomach ache with as much candy as they ate :o) I'm off to watch the Rangers game and maybe get a bit of scrappin' in, I have one layout almost done! Got Sketch 106 starts tomorrow, so gotta rest up, gotta make sure I don't fall asleep in class tomorrow. LOL!

Family Fun

We're back from a fun time in Nebraska. The weather was down right hot this year, kinda funny, cuz last year we had snow! LOL! The time we went in 2007 was hotter, but this year ranked right up there, we wore shorts to the pumpkin patch! These are some of the highlight pictures of our trip. We actually carved the pumpkin like professionals this year. It was a cooperative effort between me, Jake and Mari, and it looks pretty nice I think! My little nephew is super cute don't you think, look at those teeth!!! He is growing up so fast. We had a great time at Vala's Pumpkin patch again this year, that place rocks! Loved roasting marshmallows, even if it was hot...and just enjoyed hanging with my brother, sis in law and nephew. Very relaxing and enjoyable time. Can't wait to go back again next year! Hoping to create a few pages this weekend, but gotta get those pesky household chores done first! And of course, a bunch of football to watch this weekend, GO BIG RED! Catch ya back here again real soon! Thanks for stopping by.

Pagemaps

Barbara's challenge over at Personalscrapper for October 5th was to create a layout based on one of October's page maps. This is the layout I created based on Becky Fleck's Page Maps sketch above. I just love Page Map sketches! October had so many fun sketches it was hard to just pick one, I plan to go back and use at least one more during the Croptoberfest L.O.A.D. crop. For this layout created for my newest nephew's scrapbook I used October Afternoon's Fly a Kite papers and "sweet" sticker, that I had won on the October Afternoon blog (YEAH! and thank you October Afternoon!), kite, heart date box and cloud stickers from Echo Park (Personalscrapper's Sept kit- you gotta get this kit, fun...fun..fun) and Letter stickers by Cosmo Cricket (thanks Erica!) and American Crafts. The punch I used to create the border under the pictures is from Stampin' Up. Hope you have a great weekend folks...I get to spend some time with my cute little nephew (the one in the layout above) so we have lots of activities planned for the weekend, but check back next week, I will have more scrappy goodness for you as I will have to play catch up on the L.O.A.D Crop!

Why I love Personalscrapper!

Just a quick post today, wanted to let you all know that if you are in the market for some great inpsiration, want to receive the latest and best scrapbooking products monthly at your doorstep without leaving the house AND want to be part of a GREAT supportive community of online scrapbookers, then you need look no further then Personalscrapper! I used to spend TONS (and I mean TONS) of time shopping for scrapbooking products to use on my page, I would go one place, find cute stuff I loved only to find out the stickers, ribbons, or other "matching" embellishments were sold out and may not be restocked anytime soon :o( I would then hunt and hunt to find something to match, and if I didn't then I would just forget about what I bought and move on to something else. While at the St. Louis CKC 3 yrs ago I met Erica and Personalscrapper, I was skeptical at first, worried I wouldn't like the kit OR that I was paying to much for it when I could find it "cheaper" somewhere else. Boy was I worried for nothing! The first kit that came I thought "well, its cute but it's not my style"....but since I paid for it, I needed to use it (why be wasteful) well, the rest is history, the DT at Personalscrapper had SO many great ideas that were included each month in the kit PLUS the other members on the message board shared their layouts and I was OVERWHELMED with ideas...in fact, I started wanting ONE more kit to do ALL the layouts I had ideas for!!! And by scrapbooking with these gals, I learned to think outside the box and be MORE creative with my kits so that now each kit that comes I am SOOO excited for! I have used a variety of papers, colors and embellishments that I most likely wouldn't have tried if they weren't in my kit. I also LOVE how everything coordinates, it takes the work out of it, I just pick my pictures to go with my kit and then go to work, no more searching all over and spending time "hunting" when I can spend that time "creating". I have got to know many of the gals at Personalscrapper over the last 3 years I have been a member, and I must say they are the nicest group of ladies I have ever met (well, not really met, but you know what I mean! LOL!) I would love to actually "MEET" them IRL someday! So if you looking for a kit club, I can HIGHLY recommend Personalscrapper, you won't be disappointed! If you don't believe me go check out Erica's blog HERE she is featuring a new member of Personalscrapper each day in October, so hop on over and "meet" some of the great gals that I scrap with!

Lisa's sketch challenge

Hey, yes, it really is me with TWO blog posts in two days! LOL! As I mentioned in my last post I am the "host" of today's L.O.A.D. challenge at the Personalscrapper board for Croptoberfest. My challenge was for the ladies to create a layout based on my sketch above, but with a bit of a twist, they are to use a "fall" or "fallish" word in their title, i.e. Fall, cool, crips, pumpkins, Thanksgiving, leaves...well, you get the picture! The layout DOES NOT have to be a fall layout though, for example, you could do a LOVE themed layout with the title "FALLING FOR YOU"...fun huh? If you would like to play along I would love to see what you come up with, just post a link to your creation here in the comments section and share the love! For my layout using this sketch I used once again Crate Paper's Lemongrass collection with some 7 Gypsy's stickers and SEI and Jenni Bowlin letter stickers. This cute little guy is my little nephew, isn't he a QT? Well, I hope you enjoy the sketch and play along with me. I everyone enjoys what is left of your weekend...check ya later peeps!

Happy World Card Making Day!

I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted, the time has flown by and it doesn't really seem possible it was a month! My Thirty-One business has taken off and keeps me plenty busy, but I am going to try and be more faithful in creating weekly like I used to do, I really miss it! I always try and celebrate World Card Making Day every year as it makes me take time to make the cards I really do enjoy creating but seem to not do as much now that I scrapbook. These are some cards I created while trying to use up an older Personalscrapper kit. The papers are by Crate Paper the Lemongrass line, this was one of my all time fav Personalscrapper kits! I love Crate Paper's paper, the texture is just divine, so unique! I am actually planning on scrapbooking a bit later today, so check back tomorrow as I am hosting the October 3rd challenge for the Personalscrapper L.O.A.D Croptoberfest where we all try to make a layout a day in October, it is a alot of fun! Come join us if you want, I'd love to see you there!

BLOG CANDY ALERT!

Ok, I gotta share this with you...my blogging cyberfriend Star is having an AWESOME giveaway on her blog HERE...I am so in love with this school line by Memory Works that if I don't win I am still getting it for myself. It would work great for any grade level even the older kids and that is hard to find something not too schoolbussy (is that a word) cuz I really don't like school buses, they are so non metro...ok, I really do like school buses, but I like a more sophisticated school line like this one vs a more kindergartenish one, plus I think you could use this line for pages other then school too. So hop right on over and enter to win, I promise I won't be too mad if you win instead of me :o) Enjoy your last days of Summer friends and I hope to actually create something out of paper to share with you this weekend, wish me luck!

We're Back!

We're back from our week long trek to Washington D.C. We had a great time seeing all the wonderful sites, taking in all the history and enjoying all that this wonderful city had to offer. It was my second visit and my son's first. We saw so much but yet there were some things we didn't get to see. We really enjoyed the Air and Space Museum as well as the American History Museum. I LOVE Mount Vernon and we were able to go there by a lovely river cruise up the Potomac, it was a lot of fun...and on the way back Jakob was able to be my guide on the metro! We met some lovely people from all over the world while touring the various sites, everyone was so friendly, it was really fun visiting with friends from Australia, England, France as well as Indiana right here in the good ole' USA! We walked our legs off too...espeically at Arlington National Cemetery, which is beautiful but has a lot of hills...next time we will take a tour bus :o) Our hotel was right down from the Capital so we had some lovely night views and the weather was just perfect...mid 80's each day...a cool wave from the 100 degree temps here in Texas! LOL! School starts tomorrow and we are all set...ready to start back to a routine, this summer sure flew by. I hope to visit with you all again this weekend and share some more scrappy stuff!

Basic Grey Fun!

I am busy busy with summer winding down and haven't had much time to blog or scrap lately. I wanted to share with you a layout I did awhile back for a Practical Scrappers challenge to use eyelets! This layout uses the Max and Whispers line from Basic Grey...I loved the colors of this line when I first saw it but didn't buy it right away due to it being a "pet" line, but after much contemplation I decided it was SO not a pet line and had TONS of uses...so I bought a little (well, not the whole line so that is a "little" to me! LOL!) I loved this picture of my son and his two cousins at the Ft Worth zoo in 2008 and thought the colors blended nicely with this picture. If you are looking to get some of the Max and Whispers line or some of the new Basic Grey lines you can go to EMBELLISH IT they have tons of Basic Grey and other stuff in stock all the time with great prices too! I'm taking the next two weeks off, going to be spending the last 2 weeks before school starts enjoying time with my son, so I'll catch up with my bloggin' friends at the end of the month! Stay cool!

My Little Sketch Book

I am so excited to be guest designing on Liz Qualman's My Little Sketch Book this week! I just adore Liz's sketches, they are super fun to work with. This sketch was a bit of a challenge for me as it had lots of layering, getting me to step outside my box a bit...but that's a good thing for me and I was excited to play witht his sketch. I chose to use these pictures of my son feeding my nephew his breakfast at our hotel last June when we went to visit. I wanted a "sports" feel to my page as I was using the title Breakfast of Champs...so I decided to use my new Pink Paislee Starlight papers and embellies to capture that feel. I love the way it turned out. These papers are so versatile and not just for July 4th layouts! Go check out the beautiful work of the other designers (here), they are both awesome! Hope everyone has a wonderful Sunday afternoon and hopefully I will be back sooner rather then later to share some more scrappy goodness!

Sketchy Friday!

The time has come...my LAST sketch for Practical Scrappers * boo hoo* :o( I LOVE sharing my sketches, so if you know of any site needing a sketch, let me know, I would love to share! For this week's sketch I used my May Personalscrapper kit featuring My Mind's eye So Sophie line. The colors were perfect for this picture of my son and myself meeting my little nephew Wyatt for the first time! Letter stickers are from American Crafts Remarks and the small circles are Jenni Bowlin. Go check out what the other PS DT did with the sketch here...lots of good eye candy today! Hope you can play along with us using this sketch, would LOVE to see your work! Have a great weekend everyone!

Sketch 74 ~ Sweet Time

I can't believe my time as a designer at The Scrappiest is almost at an end :o( I have enjoyed it so much, but yet I am excited to see who made the new DT and play along with them each week! My last sketch will be next week. I am sure I will find plenty to keep me busy, there are so many sketch sites I visit weekly just drooling over all the inspiration they showcase wishing there were more hours in the day to play along with them ALL! This week's sketch found me using some of my newest stash (mainly cuz I was too lazy to dig through my older stuff and this was still in the box! LOL!) I had just gotten Pink Paislee's 365 degrees line on sale at Stop and Scrap and couldn't wait to use it. I used the papers, clear sticker, cork buttons and journaling punch out ALL purchase at 40%!!! WOWZERS! These are some of my favorite recent pictures of my son, I captured them while we were out boating with my brother on his boat while in Wahoo, Nebraska last month. In the first picture you can see the "look" I get when I tell him to smile...and then in the second you can see the genuine smile/laugh at some joke when he doesn't know I have my camera ready to snap a pic! Love that smile!!!! I hope you will play along with us this week at The Scrappiest..Apron Strings is the sponsor this month and it is a GREAT prize! Good luck and can't wait to see your work!

Sketch 73 ~ Soar

Happy Monday! Sketch 73 is up at The Scrappiest, and it is a really fun sketch, what I like to call a "squishy" sketch, one that leaves quite a bit of white space, which is a challenge for me, so I was really pleased with how this layout turned out. This layout is using the Echo Park Summertime line, just love this new company! Can't wait to get more of their new releases (like A Walk in the Park!) Letters are vinyl Thickers, these were an impulse buy that ended up being a good investment as they work great with some of the new papers I have gotten recently! The picure was taken a few weeks ago at Sandy Lake Amusement Park in Carrollton. I had never been before and it was really a lot of fun, this is my son and his friend Logan in the swing ride, which by the way goes WAY fast, faster then other similar rides I had been on, so I was glad I was taking pics vs riding rides, I would have been super dizzy! If you like Sketch 73 then don't forget to upload your layout HERE for a chance to win a great prize package from APRON STRINGS..check it out, yummy, yummy!