Erica's Artistic Attic

Please Feed The Bears

2010-05-18T05:30:00.000-07:00

Front view

Top view

Side view

Open- empty

Open- Fixings for 4 S'mores

Camping season has officially started for us. We have already gone once this month and have 2 more trips planned before June even gets here!! Our next trip we will be backyard camping, so I made this little lunch box filled with s'mores goodies for the hostess! It is absolutely adorable and even cuter in person!! I used Lauren's boxed lunch template from http://www.mytimemadeeasy.com/. The possibilities for this template are endless. I can't wait to make more of them!

Mother's Day Flower Tote

2010-05-06T06:19:00.000-07:00

Front View

Top

Side

Front

Side

This year for Mother's Day I was at a loss for what to get/make for everyone. I decided to go with Lauren's Trendy Tool Tote from http://www.mytimemadeeasy.com. It's sturdy enough to hold 2 pots of Gerber Daisies. I used all Stampin'Up products on this project other than the pattern for the tote.

Teacher Appreciation

2010-05-05T04:15:00.000-07:00

This week is teacher appreciation week. I made these cards for all of my kids teachers to let them know that we are truely greatful for all that they do. As a former preschool teacher myself, I feel like teachers are underpaid and underaprreciated. All of my kids have wonderful teachers, so we thank each one of you- Mrs. Garlock, Mrs. Miller, Mrs. Price, Mrs. Cook, Miss Michelle, and Miss Sandy :)

Simple Joys

2010-05-04T08:20:00.000-07:00

Happy Tuesday everyone. I had a few minutes to whip up a simple card this morning. Just enough to get the creative juices flowing so I can get started on my Mother's Day projects. This card uses an older set, called Green Thumb, from PTI. I've got the kids down for a nap now, so I'm hoping to get a lot accomplished today!

All Star Dad

2010-04-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

The time is just flying by. My middle son, Cameron makes his First Communion this weekend. And summer will be here before we know it. I love all things summer: long days, warm nights, camping, and baseball. That was the inspiration for my Father's Day cards. I used several different stamps on this card, but most came from the Stampin' Up set, Sporting. My favorite part about the card is the inside! My husband is not really a baseball fan. I wish he were so we could get him tickets to a game (preferably the Yankees:) But since he isn't we will have to come up with something else! I should probably get to work on Mother's Day cards since that does come BEFORE Father's Day! lol

Inside of card

Top Note Flag Box

2010-04-20T12:13:00.000-07:00

I love being able to justify purchasing a new product when I'm able to use it in so many ways.
This die is not new to me, but I did dust it off and use it for a few projects recently. This box will be made at one of my upcoming workshops. I used a box template that I printed from the demonstrator website. It was a little taller than I wanted so I just cut it down to size and assembled it. Then I cut 2 top notes from Whisper White, 1 from Real Red, and 1 from Ballet Blue. I cut the red piece into 3/8" sections and adhered them accordingly to the white piece. Then I used 1/4 of the blue piece, added a star, and adhered it also. I then glued the flag to the front of the box and the other white piece to the back of the box. What do you think??

Top Note Zoo Album

2010-04-12T05:09:00.000-07:00

Avery Rae

Carter

Recently I took Carter and my friend's daughter, Avery, to the zoo. I wanted to make an album for Avery of pictures from the day. She is 1 1/2, and so smart! I used the elephant from Animal Stories. The coordinating DSP is called Tall Tales. I took the thin cardboard that comes in the pack of DSP and ran it through the Cuttle Bug with the Top Note die to create the "pages" for the album. I did the same thing with the DSP, then adhered it to the cardboard. I'm also going to laminate the pages so she can actually look through the book without tearing the pages.

Loads Of Birthday Fun

2010-04-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

This is the card I made for my nephew's birthday tomorrow. I used the 4 wheeler from Loads of Fun and the Happy Birthday sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes. The ribbon and circle punches are from SU!. The buttons are from PTI and the scallop rectangle is a Nestie. Happy Friday!!

Happy Easter!!!

2010-04-01T17:11:00.000-07:00

This is no April Fool's joke! I actually have a post for you today!! We hit 81 degrees here in Ohio today. It's supposed to be just as nice tomorrow so we will be heading to the zoo :)

I used A Good Egg stamp set, some old DSP, a few punches, and some ribbon this card. I'm ashamed to admit this is the first card I've made since the few Christmas cards I made way back when.

Holiday Pics

2009-12-28T06:06:00.001-08:00

Austin

Cameron

Carter

Me & my brother, Kyle

Austin, Cameron, Carter

Of course I have tons of holiday pictures , but these are a few of my favorites.

Get Well Soon!

2009-12-28T05:45:00.000-08:00

Wow! It's been a looong time since I have posted. That's how long it's been I've been able to stamp. I hope your holidays were wonderful! Things should start slowing down for me soon, so hopefully I can get back to doing what I love. During my "time off" I did make another digital purchase from PCS, called Sick Lily. It's fitting for this time of year. It seems that everyone is sick. I also purchased Sick Billy. You will see him another day!

Mini Milk Cartons

2009-11-19T06:27:00.000-08:00

I hope everything is going well for all of you. I've been focusing my time of my family & friends so blogging has been put on the back burner. I still love paper crafting, but it is so much more important to spend time with the people that I love. I did have a workshop 2 weeks ago and this is the project that my girls made. Isn't it so cute!? I will be making several of these for party favors for my brother's girlfriend's upcoming baby shower. I used Lauren's template, MilkMade for this one. This is the mini version, but there is also a full size version.

Stir, Sip & Enjoy

2009-11-05T05:04:00.000-08:00

I am just loving these Lily & Billy Hot Cocoa digi images! I love to color them. It's a busy week here. I have a workshop on Saturday and a baby shower next weekend that I'm throwing and lots to do for that yet. Hope your week is going well!!

Warmest Wishes

2009-10-30T07:24:00.000-07:00

I think my problem lately has been that I am bored with the stamps that I have. I could buy something new, but then I have to wait for them to get here and then who knows if I will be able to use them right away. Pink Cat Studio's new digital line is just what I need for a quick fix. Lily Hot Cocoa is one of my new digital purchases. She was very inexpensive and I could download her and use her right away! Instant gratification.

Frightful & Delightful

2009-10-28T07:31:00.000-07:00

Finally got a chance to post today. I just have not felt creative. I had a little extra time last night in between things, so I made this Halloween card. I'm happy with the way it turned down, and it just may have been enough to get my creativity going again. Hope you are all having a wonderful week!

Buttons Galore!

2009-10-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post this morning, as I am bleaching everything in my house. One of my daycare parents has the swine flu, so I am being overly cautious. This will be another Chritmas gift. I think it turned out so cute. And who doesn't love buttons!?

A Bun In The Oven

2009-10-16T06:42:00.000-07:00

First let me start by saying Happy Friday & Happy 10th Anniversary to Erin and Tony. Can't wait to see you guys tomorrow night it's going to be a great time! That being said, let me share with you my latest creation , using Lauren's "A Bun In The Oven" template. This one has been out for a while, but I just decided to purchase it when a friend opened an in home bakery, appropriately named- A Bun In The Oven. I found this cute little ornament while I was out shopping, and I loved the snowman in the muffin tin, so I thought it would be a sweet little gift for her as she gets her business up and running. But I couldn't just hand it to her. It had to be all packaged up, and nothing is more fitting than this little template. I also have a couple of baby showers I'm working on, and I may make a few of these to sit on the tables, with baby socks in them. The lighting in these photos is terrible. it has been a dreary week here in Ohio. Here is a close up of the top of the oven. I had to get creative for the burners. I had no idea what I was going to use to make them. But as I was trying to figure that out, I began working on another projects using PTI"s large square trendy tubes. The Top of the tubes has the circles that reminded me of the burner, s0000 I grabbed my Chocolate Chip Stampin' Write marker and inked up the top of the lid & used it like a stamp! It worked perfect!! I was very pleased with that revolation.

Here is a shot with it open.

An here is the whole thing. Blurry & dark! lol

I am going to give this gift to her in just a little while and I hope she likes it. Who know, maybe we could go into business together. She could make little cupcakes or muffins & I could package them in this cute little box! TGIF!!!

A Christmas Wish...

2009-10-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

All right people. I have heard you loud and clear. Appariently you are not happy when I take a week between posts! lol So here is my latest project. I think I will be using Lauren's Timeless Templates in some form for all of my Christmas gifts that I am making this year, but to get into the Christmas mood I made this box (using the "from the desk of" template) and a few matching cards. I also added a marker to sign the cards and postage stamps, so everything is ready to go when I get ready to send out the cards....or this just may be a gift for someone! lol I guess you will have to wait and see.

Ghouls' Night Out Projects

2009-10-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone is having a great weekend. Mine has been pretty good. I had GNO at my house on Friday night, another workshop today, and got to spend time with good friends on Saturday night. Not looking forward to tomorrow, because not only is it Monday - but my wisdom teeth are coming out. Wish me luck! So projects I have for you today are a couple that we made at Friday night's GNO. For those unfamiliar with GNO, it stands for Ghouls' Night Out. It's a Halloween themed workshop that I have held for 3 years now. I think the girls enjoy it. Some dress up, others just come to eat and chat, but it's nice to hang out with just the girls for a few hours.

Here is a card that we made for our first project. It's cased from a card swap that we got while at Cinci Regionals. We used half of the Top Note die for the owl body and several punches for the detail. We used the Season Of Friendship stamp set for the tree branch & leaves.

And here is a little pumpkin box that we created using Lauren's Pack-A-Picnic template. The pumpkin face was created from PTI's Spooky Sweets set.

I also had a stash of small pumpkins laying around that needed a little something, so the girls added rub on to them. Too cute, but I forgot to get a picture of any of them.

So there you have it!

Eat At Your Own Risk

2009-10-01T12:29:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow evening I'm going to have a few customers & friends over for Ghouls' Night Out. We will make several Halloween projects, eat snacks, and visit with one another. This will be given away as a prize, but the girls will have a chance to make something similair using Lauren's pack-a-picnic template.

Meet Bitty Betty

2009-09-25T15:49:00.000-07:00

Wow, it seems like it's been forever since I've stamped just for fun. Melissa at Pink Cat Studio has come now started a line of digital stamps. This is Itty Bitty Betty- Yummy Frogs. This image is just so sweet, it's scary! lol You can't tell from the photo but there is glitter on the moon and the band of her hat and I put crystal effects onthe frogs eyes to make them dimensional and shiny. So that's what I've been up to this Friday evening. Hope your weekend is wonderful.

Back In Business

2009-09-23T09:21:00.000-07:00

Happy to announce that my camera is back. I was so excited I had to takepictures of our Regional make-n-takes. I see I still have to reprogram my camera. The lighting is off, but hey it works!! Here is a scrapbook layout. It's really cute, like I said though- lighting a little off. lol

A Chritmas card

A winter-ish type card

A pack of 3- 3x3 cards

A little box of 3x3 cards

And another Christmas card.

All projects were made using the Berry Christmas set in the Holiday mini.

GO BUCKS!!

2009-09-22T06:59:00.002-07:00

Well, unfortunately I still have no camera. It has been lost in transit. Why am I not surprised. So keep your fingers crossed that they find it soon. I just wanted to share this pic with you of Cam & Cart. It's one of my favorites right now. I also am asking that you keep my grandpa in your thoughts & prayers. He suffered a stroke yesterday, likely caused by a blood clot. We will hopefully know more today. But I know my grandpa, he is going to be

just fine!

Bad News

2009-09-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

I won't be able to post any pictures or projects for you for about a week. My camera died on me so it had to be sent out to get fixed. But I hope you all are having a great weekend. I must say that I had a great weekend so far. We just got back from Cincinnati. My sister-in-law was able to join me at the Stampin' Up! regional. The highlight of the event was the we were the first to spot Shelli Gardner and get our picture taken with her. As soon as Erin gets me a copy I will proudly share that with you. So now I am very excited and motivated to share some great projects with you (as soon as I get my camera back).

Teacher Gift #2

2009-09-09T05:02:00.000-07:00

Here is the 2nd teacher gift I have done. I used one of Lauren's templates to hold a set of thank you cards for Cam's teacher. Weare off to take Carter to his first day of preschool. i'll be back with pics:-)

Teacher Gift #1

2009-09-04T08:02:00.000-07:00

I have been a horrible blogger. I was trying to enjoy the last few weeks of summer vacation, but now that's over so it's back to creating. This is one gift set that I made for Austin's 5th grade teacher for Christmas. I covered a compostion notebook and decorated it, and the jar holds starter questions for journal pages. I tucked everything inside this little basket that I found at a craft store. We are camping this weekend so I hope everyone had a wonderful, safe holiday weekend. TGIF!!

Dairy Show Pics- Fair '09

2009-09-02T07:46:00.000-07:00

As promised here are some of the pictures from the dairy heifer show from the fair. Austin and Cameron are turning into quite the little showmen. There hard work has paid of by all of the ribbons and banners that they won. We are very proud of our boys!!

Back To Reality

2009-08-31T06:10:00.000-07:00

After a week of being away from home at our county fair, I am happy to back into the swing of things today. The boys took dairy heifers and pigs and did very, very well. I may be a little partial. Here are some of the pig pics. I will have others tomorrow.

Austin shakes the judge's hand when entering the ring. You have to make a good first impression as a showman.

Austin won first with both his (gilt girl pig) and his barrow (boy pig). lol

Here he accepting his banner and ribbon for Reserve Champion Middleweight Gilt.

Cameron loves to show his animals. Here he is sitting on his pen waiting for his turn in the ring.

Even though Cameron's pig didn't place, he still got a participation ribbon. He thought that meant he won first place. Who am I to rain on his parade?!

Carter waiting for his turn to show.

Sorry for the blurry pics. I have trouble with these every year. Because the arena is so dusty and dark and the pigs are constantly moving it's hard to get a good shot. Tomorrow I will have pics of the dairy show.

Myles Goes To Kindergarten

2009-08-20T05:34:00.000-07:00

This card is for my nephew, Myles that will be starting kindergarten next week. When each of my nephews start kindergarten I put together a little gift for them. Myles loves monkeys, so his gift has a monkey theme, and that is why there is a monkey on his shirt! The sketch was for yesterday's Mojo Monday sketch. I have friends coming to visit later today, so I better get my house in order!

For Your Shower

2009-08-18T07:59:00.000-07:00

This baby shower card is for yesterday's Mojo Monday sketch. I used the buggy from one of the My Cute Stamps sets. Sorry I can't recall the name of it right off hand. I'm going to spare you the details because I'm super busy today!! Have a good day!

With Sympathy

2009-08-17T05:21:00.000-07:00

Good Monday morning bloggers! I hope everyone had a great weekend. We spent the day at Soak City with the family. For those of you who are familiar with Cedar Point In Sandusky, Soak City is the waterpark that is connected to it. I had some very sleepy boys this morning. And we were even in bed by 9 last night! Before I went to bed I had a few minuted to work on last week's Mojo Monday sketch. There were lots of panels and layeres to this one, but it was fun. I used Urban Garden DP and Upsy Daisy for the stamped image. The sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes. I hope your week is starting out well!

Getting In Gear For Another Great Year!

2009-08-13T04:31:00.000-07:00

On Friday we are celebrating my nephew's birthday. Not that he's into robots or anything, but I thought this turned out to be a super cute card. My colors are Bermuda Bay, Kiwi Kiss, and Real Red. I colored my robot (from LAD) with COPICS, and added a little glitter. The card base is intended to look like a gear. I just cut out a large circle with my Coluzzle, then cut out the notches. We are off to dr. appointments so have a great day!

Happy 4th Birthday Carter!!

2009-08-10T05:36:00.000-07:00

Today is a big day in our house. We are celebrating 2 birthdays. Carter turns 4 today, and my dog turns 1. Happy Birthday baby boy! Where does the time go?

Wow! The colors on this card looked all whacked out in this photo, but this is Cart-man's birthday card.

Happy 1st Birthday Hemi!!

2009-08-10T04:34:00.001-07:00

We have two special birthdays in the Payne house today! It is also our dog, Hemi's 1st birthday. This tiny little blob is Hemi the night we brought her home.

This is her today, at 70 lbs.

Of course I had to make her a card. I used D is for Dog. The dp is by American Crafts. I liked that it had numbers and that I could highlight the one with a circle.

For The Newlyweds

2009-08-06T07:16:00.005-07:00

Tomorrow my neighbors are getting married, and on Saturday having a backyard reception. This is the card I made for them. I used all SU! products on this one, with the exception of the butterfly punch (Martha Stewart). It's fairly simple, but I like the color combo. The dp is from the Urban Garden collection. This week is just flying by! Lots to do. Have a great day:-)

Back To School

2009-08-05T05:41:00.001-07:00

Isn't this little guy just the cutest?! How many of you are ready to ship your kids off to school. Before we know it it will be here. I've got to be honest, I'm not ready for them to go back to school. It just hasn't felt like summer. It's going way too fast. They don't start until September 3rd, so we have a few weeks yet. I just did some supply shopping, so I was in the mood to make a back to school card for Carter. He is going into his second year of preschool. I used Billy & Dress Up Lily/Billy Accessories from PCS for this one. The dp that was used is by Three Bugs In A Rug. The layout was inspired by this weeks Mojo Monday Sketch. I colored the main image with Copics and I added Crystal effects to make the apple shiney. Don't you just love his little plaid shorts? I paper pieced those because Carter is wearing plaid shorts on his first day of school . I hope you week is going well! Happy Hump Day:-)

Camping-Mohican 2009

2009-08-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

The next 3 posts are a lot of the pictures I took while camping at Mohican this past week. It wasn't one of our best camping trips. It rained at some point every day. Out campsite was a completely shaded mudhole the whole week. So we spent alot of time at other campsites under their tents. I won't complain, we still had a good week. Other than the rain, the awful tubing trip we experienced, and the coons we had fun. Some of the kiddos eating breakfast.

Asutin & Mom

Carter & cousin, Ethan

A small portion of our camping crew.

Austin & Cameron

Austin

Cameron and the kids enjoying the play-doh! Good thinking on Leah's part. Kept the kids busy for many, rainy hours.

Carter enjoying a burger

Camping-Hiking/Mohican 2009

2009-08-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

On Saturday the sun finally decided to shine for just a few hours, in between rains, so our family and the rest of our camping crew took off on a 2 hour hike. It wasn't too hot and the trails were shaded, so it was nice. My only complaint was having to climb up the side of this enormous hill. Could've use my inhaler then. lol My family :-)

Carter taking a rest on the trail, probably in poison ivy. lol

Carter

The view

Carter with Daddy

Austin

My beautiful family

Cousin, Zane & Austin

Cameron

Dustin & I

Carter and cousins, Nate & Ethan

Dustin & I

Camping - Tubing/Mohican 2009

2009-08-03T06:19:00.000-07:00

These pictures are backwards in order, but you get the idea. They tell me that the water was freezing, and I believe them because it was raining and only about 67 degrees. This was the little river that ran behind our campers. It was shallow and calm, but a few days later when we tried to tube the big river after a lot of rain it was anything but shallow and calm! It was my first tubing trip in years and it was an awful experience, and I will just leave it at that! Stay tuned because I have lots more pictures to share with you through out the day! And away they go!

Bye-bye!

Some of the dads brave the cold, rainy weather to take all these kiddos tubing.

Austin and cousin, Zane.

The boys, along with some family and friends getting ready to float down the river. Unfortunately, as soon as the tubes hit the water it started to rain.

Our crew ready to hit the water.

Cameron

Carter

Carter and Austin and cousins.

You Worked Your Swiney Off

2009-07-28T12:24:00.000-07:00

Last night Dustin took the boys to watch our nephews show their pigs at their county fair. My nephew, Ryan, won his showmanship class. So while they were gone I was able to make him this card. The farm set I used is from Clear Dollar Stamps. I love the sentiment. It says, Wow, you worked your swiney off! lol I will put it in the mail for him tomorrow. I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week. This will be my last post until probably Monday. We are going on an extended camping trip.

Cameron & Carter's Birthday Party Pics

2009-07-28T10:05:00.000-07:00

The kids decorated their own cupcakes. Carter was very proud of his creation (that his Uncle Tony helped with!)

Yummy!

This is what Carter looked like after Uncle Tony cleaned him up. lol

Cameron & Papa

New bookbag & lunch box for school

Bass Pro Shop truck

I can happily say the rain held off for the most part during the boys' birthday party. It was short and sweet because everyone had things to do in the evening, but the boys had a great time.

Birthday Party Blues

2009-07-25T06:49:00.000-07:00

Today we are having Cameron and Carter's birthday party. It is a miserably, rainy day. The party was supposed to be outside, but it's looking like we are all going to be cooped up inside. Yippy! Not being able to stamp for over a week, and the way things are going around here this morning I needed some stamping therapy. I made this super quick card because if Dustin found out that I was stamping rather than marking things off my long list of to-do' s that I've been complaing to him about he'd be a little upset with me. I didn't even add a sentiment. I figured I'd put this in my stash for one of those times you need a card last minute, and I will just add the perfect sentiment then. Well, hope all is well for you on this rainy Saturday!

How Now Brown Cow

2009-07-23T08:44:00.000-07:00

This week we have been busy with our Brown Swiss fair calves, therefore, no stamping time. Only about 5 weeks until our county fair. This will be Cameron's first year showing a cow. This is also the first year to have the calves at our house. It is so much nice than having to go tot he dairy farm twice a day to take care of them! The 3 boys are also taking pigs. What a busy summer it has been! Cameron and Blue

Austin and Kelly

Happy 7th Birthday Cameron

2009-07-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

Cameron and Hemi sharing a hug after they both just woke up.

Cam's birthday brownies.

This is Cam' birthday card.

A close-up of the card.

7 years ago today I was blessed with my second son, Cameron.

We spent another weekend camping and today sang Happy Birthday to him as he made a wish over a pan of brownies. We will have a party for him and Carter next weekend with a real cake, but didn't want him to think his birthday was overlooked. I was a little nervous about the weather forcast for the weekend because it was calling for rain Friday through Sunday. It gave off a few sprinkles now and them, but overall was a beautiful weekend. The kids even swam the better part of Saturday, even though it barely made it above 70 degrees, and found out I am a decent cornhole player. We will take a week and a half off of camping. Then it's our big 5 day trip with tons of family and friends. If I had to guess there will probably be around 30 kids there, but I'm am probably underestimating! The card is fairly simple, but for his party we are doing a crayola art type theme, so I went for brighter colors on this one. Well, I am off to bed because I am absolutely exhausted and a little upset that my cell phone died on me today. So instead of sitting here pouting about it I will catch up on my much needed sleep.

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY CAM-MAN!

Loads of Dirt Bike Fun

2009-07-17T08:51:00.000-07:00

TGIF everyone!! We are going camping again this weekend, but it's cool and rainy. Hopefully the weekend won't be a total washout. I finally inked up one of the images fromthe Loads Of Fun set. I recently bought an outfit from Gymboree that inspired me to make this card for my nephew, Myles. Well, gotta run! Have a great weekend!!

Happy Birthday Tony!!

2009-07-14T05:28:00.000-07:00

This card is for my favorite brother in law who has a birthday at the end of this month I used my new Farm Life set. It was much harder to use that I thought it would be. The setails are tiny and it's hard to color. Going to have to practice with set for a while. I used my second to largest nestie scallop rectangle to cut out the main image. The buttons are a mix of PTI, SU!, and great- grandma K's closet. (Erin knows what this means-lol) The d.p. is older stuff from SU! And yes I took this picture in our wheat field. Happy Tuesday!

Camping- Jellystone Yogi Bear Park

2009-07-13T05:18:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful weekend camping at Yogi Bear park. The weathr wa perfect, except for a pop up thunderstorm that came in Saturday morning around 7:30 and only lasted about an hour. Everything dried up quickly so I am greatful that we didn't have to spend the day in the camper. It's about a 2 hour drive from where we live. The kids and the dog did excellent for the drive, so it was worth it.

Carter with pop tart on his face.

All my boys enjoying camp food cooked over the fire.

Austin would be content to fish the entire weekend.

Bear Hugs from the Payne gang!

Carter enjoying a swim.

The boys crossing the suspension bridge over the fishing pond.

Cameron and Hemi were buds all weekend and she couldn't have been better behaved.

So there is a wrap up of our weekend. We are camping again next weekend at a different place with my sister-in-law and her family. Can't wait!

Just Stinking

2009-07-09T10:25:00.000-07:00

I've been trying to finish a scrapbook layout for the umteenth day now, but the mojo just isn't flowing. So I decided to put together a card for this week's Mojo Monday sketch instead. We are going camping this weekend so I pulled out my Happy Camper set from TCP. I hadn't inked up this adorable little skunk yet, so I chose him for the main image. You can't tell from the pics, but he has white fun flock on the white parts of his body. I use liquid applique for his marshmallow, and there is a little glitter on the center flames of the fire. I used Cosmo Cricket's Mr. Campy paper. I don't know what I'm going to do when I run out of that stuff. Well, back to that layout. I refuse to let it go unfinished today!

Teacher

2009-07-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

I know it's the middle of summer vacation, and we shouldn't be thinking about school, but I like to stay a few steps ahead of the game. I was working yesterday on Christmas gifts for teachers. You may think I'm crazy, but it's less that I will have to do when the holiday season approaches. I will wait to share those teacher gifts with you until another time, I am sharing with you a card that I made. I used PTI's Teacher's Apple, along with the alphabet from last month's release at the Cat's Pajamas. I also wanted to use up my previous stock of in colors, so I used Riding Hood Red and Kiwi Kiss. The border punch is Martha Stewart. I hope the first half of your week is going well!

Wish Big

2009-07-06T08:26:00.000-07:00

I hope everyone a a safe and happy 4th of July! Our weekend was wonderful and busy, but I'm glad to back into somewhat of a routine today. My card today is a birthday card for one of my little daycare boys. He turns 2 this month and he loves elephants. I used the new Animal Stories set and Tall Tales d.p. The sentiment is from the Short & Sweet set. Oh the ribbon is new too. The color is Crushed Curry. If you haven't looked through the new Stampin' up idea book and catalog , you should! Happy Monday!

Chocolate Covered Pretzel Sparklers

2009-07-03T05:29:00.000-07:00

How yummy do these look?! I found the bucket at CVS for under $3. I new exactly what I wanted to do with it once I got it home. I covered pretzel rods with white chocolate and put red, white, and blue sprinkles all over them. Then I threw them in the freezer for a few minutes to harden the chocloate and done! My favorite part though, is the little bingo card. I got those here. I added a few buttons for "markers" on the card. I backed the card with some scrap SU! d.p. and trimmed it with scallop scissors. I covered a wood clothespin with the same d.p. and added a festive bow. TGIF!!

July 4th Treat Boxes

2009-07-02T04:32:00.000-07:00

These little cuties match my card from yesterday. I used the Ready, Set, Wrap template for these. I randomly stamped images from the Independence Day set all over white cardstock for the front panel. I added a navy scallopeed strip across the front, along with a star. I filled them with candy to give to family that is coming home this weekend.

Happy 4th!

2009-07-01T05:38:00.000-07:00

For the next 3 days I have patriotic posts to share with you. We have so much going on the rest of the week and into the weekend. How about you? I made my card using Kraft for the base. I sponged the edges white and added some white polka dots. I really need to find a good set with different polka dots in it. Then I stagered layers of red patterned paper, then white that I randomly stamped images from the Independence Day set. I used my scallop border punch for the navy strip and stapled it to the card. Then I punched out a star, added a ribbon a loop and a button and done! Those were alot of fun to make. Hope your Wednesday is wonderful!

Congrats Grad

2009-06-28T15:21:00.001-07:00

Finally, I am reconnected with the blog world! My USB cord for my camera broke a few days ago, so I have been unable to upload anything until today. I had to buy a card reader. So now that I have that figured out we are back in business! We had a great weekend. Very busy. Nothing unusual. But yesterday we had a graduation party to go to, so this is the card I made for the graduate. I used Brilliant Blue and one of the new In Colors, Crushed Curry as the school colors. The Congratulations is from the SAB set, Congrats and the Happy Graduation sentiment is from Teeny Tiny Wishes. that set will be in the new SU! catalog on July 1st, as well as the ribbon. well, that's it for today. We are going swimming....for the 4th day in a row!

Independence Day Windsocks

2009-06-24T06:29:00.000-07:00

This is what the kiddos have been up to this week. They made windsocks to hang from the ceiling in the daycare room. They were excited to use my Independence Day stamps because they aren't allowed to do that too often. They hung red, white, and blue crepe paper streams from the bottom that blows in the breeze. Again, sorry for the horrible lighting. I really need to take a photography class!

Craig Morgan Concert Layout

2009-06-23T12:54:00.000-07:00

Click on photo to enlarge

Right side of layout

Left side of layout

Here is a quick layout I put together this afternoon of the Craig Morgan concert we went to last summer during the fair. This pictures of the layout are awful, but I have no idea how to photograph them. Oh well. At least the layout is done! I don't knwo about where you live, but here in Ohio it has been pretty warm. Near 90 all week! We are enjoying it though. That's the reason fpr my lack of posting. We are just having way too much fun!

Meet Sweet Pea

2009-06-21T11:25:00.006-07:00

....And no I don't mean the stamp! This little cutie is Sweet Pea. My step-mom named her that. She is a 3 week old fawn that lives at my dad's. Yet another stray that they have taken in. She follows their 4 dogs around and thinks she is one of them. I got to feed her a bottle today. My hubby has been gone for the week, so this was the highlight of my week. I hope you all have enjoyed your weekend and are enjoying Father's Dad with all of the wonderful dads in your life.

Happy Father's Day

2009-06-19T03:54:00.000-07:00

Using my Happy Camper stamp set again, I made the last of my Father's Day cards. The sentiment is from a set that will be in the new Stampin' Up! Idea Book & Catalog on July 1st, called Teeny Tiny Wishes. Tonight we are supposed to do the Relay For Life all night walk, but it's storming right now so I don't know if that's going to happen. This weekend we are going to the zoo and celebrating Father's Day. Busy, busy, busy. TGIF!!

Lady and the Tramp Moment

2009-06-17T16:45:00.000-07:00

Right now Lady and the Tramp is one of Carter's favorite movies. The other night during supper, Hemi took a spaghetti noodle right from Carter as he was slirping it up. It was a Lady and the Tramp moment.

Happy Camper

2009-06-16T08:10:00.000-07:00

I made this card using last week's SCS sketch challenge. I used my new Happy Camper set. I still love that set! The weekend was wonderful. My birthday couldn't have been better, and this week hasn't started out all that bad either. So I guess that would make me a happy camper! Hope you are all having a great Tuesday!!

It's 5 O'clock Somewhere!

2009-06-12T03:49:00.000-07:00

I am so glad it's Friday for several reasons. First, this week was the kids first official week of summer vacation and we survived it!! More importantly, today is my 27th birthday!! Usually my birthday doesn't matter, but tonight we are going out. 14 of us are going on the Booze Cruise. So, 5 o'clock can't here soon enough!! TGIF!!

The Three Little Bears

2009-06-11T04:49:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I've had a chance to work on a scrapbook page, but I made it a priority yesterday. Now that I'm in the mood again I'm hoping to get a few more layouts done this week. I used my Happy Camper set again to create this layout of my "3 little Bears" reading one of our favorite stories. Click on th ephoto to enlarge for detail. Here is the left page. I paper pieced the bears' tummies. I thought it was a cute touch.

Here is the right page. It is so hard to photograph layouts.

Well, one more day til my birthday. Keep your fingers crossed that the weather is nice because we are going out for the evening. Happy Thursday!!

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-09T11:16:00.003-07:00

Sorry for the late post today. We went swimming this morning. 3rd day in a row! This is the first of my Father's Day cards. It will be here before we know it. I just got my new Happy Camper stamps in the mail from The Cat's Pajamas. I paired it with my Mr. Campy d.p. They work perfect together. I also used this week's Mojo Monday sketch. I hope you are ll enjoying your week so far. My birthday is on Friday and it can't get here soon enough!

Weekend Wrap Up

2009-06-08T05:46:00.000-07:00

The weekend is was wonderful, but today it' back to work! Friday evening I took the boys to my nephew's tball game. Big mistake. They were awful! Saturday evening I took the boys to a friend's house. We had bonfire and the boys had blast. Last night we took them to the same friend's house to swim in their pond. They swam for 4 hours. It wasn't even that warm out and the water was freezing, but they had so much fun. During the afternoon we went o my dad's house to play with this baby racoon. She is so sweet. She is like a puppy. She follows you around wherever you go. She is about 4 weeks old. The boys fought over her the whole time about who was going to feed her the bottle.

Austin holding her.

Cameron holding her, while "momma Mikah" looks over. She takes care of her like she is her baby.

Carter feeding her a bottle.

She is so little! She also needs a name.

Big Bear Hug

2009-06-05T04:06:00.001-07:00

This one is for this week's Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge. It's been a while since I've done one of these sketches. I like how this card turned out though. My little Bear is from Bear Hugs by CC Designs at ATS. It's an older set, but I still love it. Everything else on the card is from SU!, except for the butterfly. That is a MS punch. TGIF!!

Howdy Little Partner

2009-06-04T05:31:00.004-07:00

This card is for this week's Mojo Monday sketch. Everything I used on this card was laying on my desk from other projects. I think it's time to clean up around here! The image is from PCS (Sweet Pea). I colored the image a long time ago, and it's just been laying in the pile, so I dusted it off and went from there. The dp is from SU's Washington Apple collection. Everything else on the card is also from SU! Hope you have a great Thursday! And Happy 7th Birthday to my nephew, Ry-Ry!!

Preschool Teacher Thanks

2009-06-03T08:31:00.000-07:00

I wanted a card that was quick and easy for Carter to help me put together to give to his preschool teachers.
Today is his last day of school. He punched everything out for me. He did a lot of the stamping too, hence the ink smudges. lol I don't think he did too bad! Happy Wenesday!

Way To Go Myles!

2009-06-02T09:49:00.001-07:00

My nephew, Myles, graduated from preschool ths past weekend so I made this card for him. The lighting is a little off, distorting the colors a little because it's a gloomy day.I used some leftover cardstock stickers from the Primary Colors SSK. The ABC123 border was made using my new border punch by EK Success and I purchased it at Michaels. And my little graduate is from PCS, Dress Up Lily/Billy. Happy Tuesday!

Camping Pics

2009-06-01T13:36:00.000-07:00

*Second post for today. Scroll down for earlier post*

Over the weekend we went camping with several other families. The weather was perfect and I don't think I've laughed that hard in a really long time.

Cameron chowing on some watermelon.

Austin's 10th birthday was this past Monday, so we had cake for him.

Carter not even sure if he likes watermelon.

Most of the weekend you could find Austin fishing. That is his favorite thing to do while camping.

S'Mores Kit

2009-06-01T07:45:00.000-07:00

As you know, we went camping over the weekend. Before we left on Friday I put together this this s'mores kit to give to my s-i-l, who was also camping with us. She appriciates the effort I put into my projects so she usually ends up with them. I used Under The Stars for this project. The dp is from Moxxie. And of course, I used the Ready, Set, Wrap template from PTI.
Here is the side view with a closer look at the tag. I used liquid applique to puff up the marshmallow.

And it was a tight squeeze, but I filled the box with the fixins to make 2 s'mores. Happy Trails!!

A Miserable Zoo Field Trip & Watermelon Wrap

2009-05-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

My intentions were to post yesterday afternoon all of the great photos that I took during our field trip to the zoo. Well, this was the only one I was able to take of Cameron because it poured the entire time we were there. I didn't want my camera to get ruined. The kids dealt with the rain very well. Thank goodness it wasn't too cold. But I have a feeling there will be some sick kids over the next few days.

Onto more cheerful things, like this fun little watermelon wrap box. Again, this one uses Lauren's Ready, Set, Wrap timeless template. While I was making this one I had ideas popping in my head for other boxes to create using this template. I can't tell you how easy this template comes together. If you haven't already, you have to go to PTI and purchase this one!

We are taking off this afternoon to go camping for the weekend. I am sooo looking forward to it. My s-i-l and her family and lots of other people are going along with us so it's going to be lots of fun. I WILL have photos from that to share with you either Sunday or Monday. Have a wonderful weekend!!

World's Best Teacher

2009-05-27T06:06:00.000-07:00

I made this card yesterday, but forgot to post it because we have been getting our camper ready this week to go camping on Friday!! This is for Austin's teacher. I'm not doing end of the year gifts, but I will make each of their teachers a card. I used the Mojo Monday sketch for this one. The dp is from Bo Bunny Press Shabby Princess line. Have a great day!

Happy Memorial Day & Happy Birthday Austin!

2009-05-25T04:39:00.000-07:00

I hope you all enjoy the cookouts and parades and spending time with family & friends today. We are doing just that. It is also our oldest son, Austin's 10th birthday. He has been camping all weekend, so he isn't even with us. But I am looking forward to seeing him later tonight. Happy Memorial Day!

Sweetest Birthday Box

2009-05-23T11:33:00.000-07:00

I tell you, Lauren is a genius when it comes to creating her templates each month. Though I only have purchased a handful of them, I use them non stop. The one I'm using today is from the newest release called, Ready, Set, Wrap! They are available for download at PTI. I still had some of that fun patterned paper from Doodlebug Design on my desk from my last post so I used it to create a box that hold a Dairy Queen gift card. I have a total of 10 birthdays (including my own) during the month of June, so I am going with easy to reproduce gifts like this! I also have created a bunch of these for family that will be coming home over the 4th of July. But you will just have to wait to see those! Hope you are having a wonderful weekend!

A Little Something

2009-05-21T05:16:00.001-07:00

I made this card for this weeks Mojo Monday sketch found here. I think it would be a great Babay Girl's 1st birthday card. I inked up Sweet Pea from PCS. This time I put her in her strawberry outfit to match the dp. I picked up the dp from my LSS and it is by Doodlebug Design. Have a great Thursday!

Just Hangin' Out

2009-05-20T06:36:00.000-07:00

Just hangin' out!

I love this picture!

He thinks he is a rock star!

Yesterday the kids and I spent most of the day outside. We plan on doing the same today. Cater was being a goof so I took a few pictures of him in our backyard.

Home Tweet Home

2009-05-19T06:07:00.000-07:00

*2nd post for today so be sure to scroll down for my earlier post!*

So here is the bird house project that I have promised you. I think it turned out perfect. I love it! I created this using a template on Nichole Heady's blog. If you want the link to the template please email me and I will get that to you. I don't have it handy, other wise I would have linked it here. How cute would this be to give someone who just moved, or to someone that has been away for a while as a welcome home gift? I plan to give this to friends of ours that are moving this summer. I tucked a bag of bird seed inside:-) I used the SU! scallop border punch to create the shingled look on the roof. I love how it turned out. The template or sample doesn't call for a perch, but I added one by adding a small piece of a dowel roll I had around here. If you untied the bow at the top the roof lifts off allowing access to the bird seed. The sentiment on the tag if from PTI, called Boards & Beams. The sentiment actually says Home Sweet Home, but I didn't ink up the S in Sweet and added a T instead to coordinate with the whole "bird" theme. I hope you enjoy it. I had a lot of fun making it.

Cupcake Catastrophe

2009-05-19T05:42:00.000-07:00

This, my friends, is not the face of innocence. Quite the opposite actually. Hemi is now 9 months old and 56 pounds. I'm not quite sure how, but somewhere along the line we have created a monster. That, or I'm just a bad dog owner. You remember that yesterday I was on a field trip with Carter. If you've ever been on a field trip with 3 classes of preschoolers you know how tiring that can be. Then we had t-ball last night. By the time we got home and got baths and bedtime over with, the last thing I wanted to do was bake cupcakes. But I promised Cameron that I would. You see, he has a July birthday. Since he will not be in school then the teacher decided to celebrate his birthday today, May 19th. So I went to work baking "baseball" cupcakes. It wasn't that they are a lot of work so much as that by this time it was 9:30 and I'd much rather be in bed. So I get the cupcakes made, set them on the counter to cool, and run to the bathroom. I was gone all of 2 minutes and I came bake into the kitchen to find that all 30 cupcakes have been devowered by this 4 legged monster.(No, they weren't chocolate). Needless to say, in an effort not to kill her she was grounded to her crate for the rest of the night, and back to the store I went for more cake mix. By 11:30 I had all of the cupcakes baked, frosted, and decorated but I did not take a picture of them, because well, it was 11:30 at night!

I will be back in a few with the project I promised to share today. I just had to share this story with you.

Farm Field Trip

2009-05-18T13:19:00.000-07:00

Today I was able to take the day off from my daycare and spend it with Carter on his field trip to the farm. The kids had a blast and even though Carter spends a lot of time on his Papa's farm and cousin's dairy farm there were a few animals that he had never seen before. I caught this goat sticking his tongue out at us, so I had to take his picture. The kids thought that was sooo funny. And just before that a gigantic rat ran in front of my feet. I nearly passed out. I HATE mice and rats!!
Here is Carter petting one of the two reindeer. His name is Blizzard. The other is names Snowflake. They aren't very cute right now because they are shedding their winter coats. They have velvet on their antlers because they are still young.

Carter is milking Chessie here. He is on the dairy farm all of the time, but they use automatic milkers so this is the first time he has actually milked one by hand.
There are a lot more pictures, but I'll spare you. I do have a 3-D project to share with you, but that will have to wait until tomorrow:-)

Mother's Day Tea & One Cupcake At A Time!

2009-05-16T08:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry for my lack of posting this week. We are keeping our neighbor's 3 month old for the week, so that is keeping us quite busy. Thanks to my hubby and mother-in-law for watching all the kiddos, I was able to sneak away for a while to be with Cameron at school. Their class put on a Mother's Day Program. That stuff makes me teary-eyed every time!

This is a quick birthday card for my Grandma that I was able to make this morning while the baby slept. I pulled the color combo form the ribbon. I used Crazy For Cupcakes for the main image and the sentiment is from Sweet Little Sentiments.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Sharing In Your Sorrow

2009-05-12T11:09:00.000-07:00

Sadly, this past weekend one of our neighbor's mother passes away. I made this card for her just to let her know we are thinking about her during this difficult time, especially since she just passed a day or two before Mother's Day. This is a mostly Stampin' Up! card. The d.p. is called Walk In The Park. I added some bridal confetti flowers and used my Martha Stewart butterfly punch.

Another Trip To The ER

2009-05-10T05:00:00.002-07:00

I foresee a lot more emergency room visits in my future. Most of you know that I have 3 very active boys, so spending yesterday in the ER with Cameron probably comes as no surprise to you. If you remember he was just there in the fall getting stitches in his chin. This time, he went through our back door and cut himself up pretty good. He is very, very lucky. There were 3 of us adults standing there helping him "get out" of the glass so he didn't cut himself worse. Because of all of the blood I really couldn't tell how bad things were, so I took him to the emergency room just to be on the safe side. Once they cleaned him up they just glued the cuts shut. The (very good looking) ER doctor said that since the glass cut only 2 layers of skin instead of 3 stitches weren't needed. Hopefully he learned a lesson from this, and on the bright side I get a new back door out of the deal! I've been wanting one for a while now. lol Happy Mother's Day!!

Graduation Day

2009-05-08T06:18:00.000-07:00

Today my stepmom and cousin graduate from collage. Because of other commitments we have tomorrow, we won't be celebrating with them but these are the cards that I made for them. I had a sheet of Sandy Lion d.p. that had the notebook feel to it, so I paired that up with my Martha Stewart butterfly punch. The congratulations sentiment is from the Congrats SAB set and the flourishes in the corner are from theYummy SAB set. TGIF!!

Mojo Monday Mother's Day Card

2009-05-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

You are probably tired of seeing Mother's Day cards, but I have a lot of special moms in my life. This card is using Julee's Mojo Monday sketch for this week. I used Good Morning d.p. on this one. Another simple card. Took less than 10 minutes to put it all together, but these days that's about all I have to spare! Have a great Wednesday!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

2009-05-05T04:28:00.000-07:00

Well, it is May 5th already! Cinco de Mayo. Not that that's a big deal in our house, but the kids always learn about it at school. Tonight for dinner I'm going to make chicken enchiladas and fried ice cream! Trying to bring a little culture into our house! lol

I have another Mother's Day card to share with you today. This one uses the Parisian Breeze d.p. along with my Martha Stewart butterfly punch.Very plain, very simple.

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Pray

2009-05-04T04:13:00.000-07:00

Good Monday morning! Our weekend was great. Friday night we went to the cottage. It was raining so we were stuck inside, but we still had fun. Saturday was Cameron's last basketball game. Now it's on to t-ball for Carter. Yesterday was our nephew's First Communion. We had some time to kill before church so we went to the park to take a few pictures. The lighting wasn't the best that time of day, but none the less it was a beautiful morning. And this was the card I made for my nephew. I don't own a religious set. I had to make do with what I had, but I liked the way it turned out! How was your weekend?

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-01T04:37:00.000-07:00

Can you believe it is May 1st already? Where does the time go?

This is one of the cards I made for Mother's Day. I used the Top Note Die for the Rose Red piece. The stamps set is Thoughts and Prayers. The sentiment if from TAC from a long time ago. I don't even know what the set is called. I added some tiny adhesive pearls to the center of the flowers and tied on an Old Olive ribbon.

Any big plans for you this weekend? Tonight we are going to the cottage to cookout and fish. Tomorrow Cameron has his last basketball game, and Sunday my nephew has his First Communion. Busy, Busy! TGIF!!

For A Special Birthday Boy

2009-04-28T06:03:00.000-07:00

Well, our 85 degree weather is gone. It is raining today. The only upside to that is I planted grass seed last night, so it needs to be watered. And because it had been so nice for the past 4 days my house has a suffered. Guess today is as good a day as any to catch up on housework. Tomorrow is one of my daycare kids 4th birthday so I out together this very simple card using the little boy from Stamping Bella. The sentiment came with it. I just colored my little guy with Copics, tied on some ribbon, and added some brads. Have a great day!

Where Did The Weekend Go?

2009-04-27T04:37:00.000-07:00

I will start with the card, since that's why most people stop here anyway. Last week my friend, Haley, had a root canal. I sent this card to her in Texas just to let her know I was thinking about her. I used my dentabella for this one and some American Crafts d.p. The ribbon and button are SU! the flower is unknown. We had beautiful weather this weekend, but it went by way too fast! Temps have been in the upper 80's since Friday and will continue through today. We spent most of the weekend at home working on things outside. Saturday morning we did get up early and go to the storybook festival. Each year this festival is put on highlighting a different storybook character. This time, it was Curious George. The boys loved it.
Sunday we had to pick up trash for our kids' 4H club. Not so much fun, but it's nice knowing that we made a difference by doing our part. and here it is Monday already. I have so much to do today because the weather is supposed to get cooler and rainy, so I better get busy!

Pour Me Another Bartender

2009-04-22T06:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday it was a friend's 21st birthday, and knowing that he would be ''celebrating" I thought this card was a fun way to set the mood. lol I pulled out my Beerafella (Stamping Bella) and some old d.p. that I've had forever and got to work. The sentiment, pour me another bartender, was actually part of the paper. I just punched it out with a circle punch. The little charm is a beer can. The rest is pretty simple. Didn't want anything too over-embellished for this "manly" card.

Smell The Flowers

2009-04-21T05:59:00.000-07:00

Good Tuesday morning. I got a chance to work on Julee's mojo Monday sketch this week, so here is my take on it. The card is actually 4 1/4x 4 1/2, rather than the standard A2 size. It's pretty simple, not much to explain, other than the set that I used is Forest Friends from PTI. Plus I am shampooing the carpets while the kids are at school, so I better get busy! Have a great day!

Howdy Little Partner

2009-04-20T06:40:00.001-07:00

Spring break is officially over. The kids are back in school today and it's nice to be back on schedule. Truth be told, I didn't feel like stamping or blogging last week. Late Tuesday night a very good friend of ours was in a terrible car accident. I will spare you the details, and he will be fine eventually but it was tough for me emotionally. Once you become a mother you look at things from a different perspective. We spent a few of the nights at the hospital visiting with him. He got to come home on Saturday. He is by far out of the woods, and will have to go back to the hospital often for testing and surgeries. So please keep him in your prayers. The weekend was wonderful though. Jarrid coming home from the hospital was the best thing ever. And Saturday the weather was just perfect. It was in the low 70's during the day. We took the boys to our friend's cottage at sunset and let them fish in the bay. Then sat around a fire. It was absolutely perfect.

But now it's Monday. Time to get back to reality! I did get a chance to throw a card together for a friend who needed a b-day card for her nephew. They are from Texas, so this was fitting. Again, another Sweet Pea Image. My other stamps have collected so much dust since Sweet Pea came along. lol. Sorry for the color. It's a little off in the photos because *shocker* it's raining! Have a great Monday everyone! Thanks for visiting, and thanks to those that have asked where I've been this past week:-)

What's All The Buzz?

2009-04-14T06:22:00.000-07:00

EDITED TO ADD* I have begun to restock my Etsy shop with this card and several others. I will continue to add things over the next few days. If you are interested be sure to click on my Esty shop link to the right.

Another rainy day here in Ohio. I am so ready for 80 degrees and sunny. This card started out as my Mojo Monday card. The majority of it still follows the sketch. My main image panel was a little big, so I couldn't fit the second panel behind it. Other than that, it's pretty close to Julee's sketch. This is another Sweet Peas card. I am definatley getting lots of use out of this set!

Easter Photos

2009-04-13T09:43:00.002-07:00

Me and my handsome husband

Me and my baby boy

I won't even tell you what their dad said to them to make them laugh like that!

How was everyone's Easter? We had things going on all weekend. These are a few of my favorite photos from the weekend. By last night the kids were on such a sugar high (thanks to my dad and stepmom) that they were literally bouncing off the walls. The Easter Bunny didn't bring them any candy so grandma and grandpa had to make up for it. lol. This week they are on spring break, so I'm not sure how much blogging I'm going to get to do, but I do have a Mojo Monday card that I will post later.

Happy Easter!

2009-04-12T06:56:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter from our family to yours!!

Austin (9), Cameron (6), Carter (3), Hemi (8 months)

Get In Gear....

2009-04-08T12:15:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow is my nephew's birthday party. The theme this year is dirt bikes (I think...lol) Since I didn't borrow his mommy's dirt bike stamp set to make his card, I went with the next best thing. What little boy doesn't like robots, right?! Actually, the gift bag that I found was the inspiration for the card. I thought the bag was pretty cool since the belly opens up and pops out at you. The color combo was pretty fun too. So I went to work coloring my LAD robot with Copics. I used a really simple layout and there you have it! Sorry for the whacky brightness of the photos. Don't know why that happened, but I'm pressed for time and I'm not going to reload them.

Twinkle Twinkle

2009-04-07T08:15:00.000-07:00

I know it's been several days since I have posted, but in all honesty I haven't felt like it. Mainly because my mojo is on vacation, but also because the weather has been rediculous here and I just haven't been motivated. Today I had a little time to give the color challenge on SCS a try. We were to use Close To Cocoa, So Saffron, and Bashful Blue. I am waiting on a shipment of Copics that would have worked a little better when coloring my image (not as bright) but I had to use what I have for now. The card itself is very simple. Nothing fancy, but I did want to show you another one of the adorable Sweet Pea images. I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far.

Baby's 1st Easter

2009-04-03T06:08:00.001-07:00

It's finally Friday! Too bad is cool and rainy here. Yesterday was beautiful though, so we took advantage and spent the afternoon outside. I did get a chance last night to create another Swwet Pea card. This time for a Baby Boy's 1st Easter. I could picture Sweet Pea sitting in an over sized Easter basket with grass filler and goodies that the Easter Bunny had brought for him. Since there was no basket in the set (another idea for you Melissa;) I went for the box that is in the set. I thought it turned out darling just the same. TGIF!

Welcome To The Family Sweet Pea!

2009-04-02T05:21:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posting yesterday. I decided to go to my sister-in-laws instead. She does daycare also, so we don't get to visit much. But when I got home, I was so thrilled to find my new Sweet Pea stamps from PCS. They are beyond the cutest things ever! With Easter right around the corner, I thought I'd make an Easter card first. Let me tell you, this set has so many possibilities. You will being seeing a lot of Sweet Pea in the days to come. This card is a lot brighter than my usual, but I think I like it. I pulled this awesome color combo from my ribbon, which is by American Crafts. The rest is pretty basic. I hope you love Sweet Pea as much as I do. I will be back tomorrow with a Baby Boy's 1st Easter card.

Take Time For Yourself

2009-03-31T05:54:00.000-07:00

My poor Bellas have been neglected, so I pulled one out to use for my Mojo Monday Sketch. I may end up selling my Bellas because I just don't use them as much as I should. If I end up doing that, you will be the first to know. Anyway, the d.p. I used is from SU's Good Morning Sunshine collection. actually, all of the products, except for Bella and the sentiment, are SU! Hope you all have a great Tuesday!