My Scrappin' Place

My Project Life . . . coming soon!

2012-01-25T20:56:00.000-08:00

I'm ecstatic about Project Life this year . . .
I bought my kit in March of last year
I was so excited to do it, but I got so far behind . . . so quickly.

I don't have (make) time to go out to Walmart and order pictures.
For one thing I usually have the boys with me and they don't have the patience
(nor do I) to sit there for an hour and go through my photos.

I even tried ordering them online, but it just takes to long to upload, etc, etc, etc. . .
so . . . .
my Project Life sat and sat . . .

But now . . . a New Year and a fresh start!
I'm excited all over again and . . . . I have a plan. . . a process, if you will . . .

Part 1 of MPLP (My Project Life Plan) - I got a Canon Selphy for Christmas . . .
now it is so easy to print out my pictures
daily/weekly - however often I want to print them!

Part 2 of MPLP - On January 1st I started a daily journal - I just jot down a few sentences every night before I go to bed about what we did that day, the weather, etc. Simple, not too thoughtful, nothing deep, just notes about the day.

Part 3 of MPLP - I still take tons of photos and the date I take the photos is recorded in my camera . . . so . . .

if you put them all together, I can piece together a week quite easily by looking through my photos and reviewing my journal . . .

I run to my Selphy and . . . VOILA! Project Life is happenin' in my house!

Simply put . . I love it!

I'm finishing up my 3rd week of January . . .
. . .how's that for a good start to the year!

Another thing that helped me . . . (baby steps) . . . is I'm doing 1 page (rather than 2) per week. It's more doable for me right now . . .
I may find that I need 2 pages if I continue to make this process work . .

but for now, the one page per week is working for me!

Gonna run now because I'm going to try to work on some embellishing tonight . .
hopefully by this weekend then I'll be ready to post my first 3 (completed) weeks here . . .
for all the world to see . . .
yikes!

Hope you all approve! *grin*

Have a great night!

Brothers

2012-01-21T21:10:00.001-08:00

One of my favorite photos of the boys . . . taken in the summer of 2007 . . . Joe was 2 and Josh was 5. The paper is from a new pack I got at Joanne's (Colorbok - Flea Market). I got the adorable quote tag at Doodlebugs in Sequim . . it says

"He is mine. I am my Brother and my brother is me. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson"

I love this layout - fun. simple. and aren't they so sweet!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Captain Josh

2012-01-19T09:31:00.000-08:00

It's fun to do layouts from pictures that are several years old . . . takes me back to when my kids were really little . . . this layout is a perfect example. I've always loved these photos of my oldest son, Josh. I took them when he was 2 years old . . we were camping out at SilverKing Resort . . . which is no longer open to the public for camping (we missed out on our opportunity to buy a camping spot when they went up for sale to the public - dang!).

Jim let Josh drive the boat and Josh looked right at home at the helm! So cute . . love the lip in the middle photo!

Left page:

Right page:

I've got other layouts I've done lately that I'll get uploaded so I can post tomorrow. We're on our 3rd snow day now . . . and it's snowing like crazy outside as I post here, so we may be looking at having an entire week off due to snow! Wow!

Enjoy your day!

Animal Lover

2012-01-17T08:54:00.000-08:00

My youngest son, Joe, is a total animal lover . . . he loves all animals and is so amazingly caring. He'll be 7 in March and is the sweetest boy. We have accumulated pets (cat, fish, bunny) in part due to his desire to be around animals. My husband and I think he'll be a veternarian when he grows up! Animals are just drawn to that kid . . it really is something.

Anyway, this is a layout I did a while ago but I've never posted . . it's using an older CTMH special offer kit called Felicity. In these photos he was hanging out with with my mother-in-laws dog while we were taking care of him for her.

Left side:

Right side:

Enjoy your day!

Simple scrap Thank You cards and . . . Winter!

2012-01-14T09:44:00.000-08:00

I always enjoy making Thank You cards because we usually have so many to send that it's a great opportunity for me to use up scraps - which, if you are like me, you have an over abundance of! Here are the Thank You cards the boys sent out to family/friends for Christmas gifts. Fun, simple and quick!

And last night we got a bit of snow, which rapidly froze . . . and when we woke up this morning, it was snowing like crazy. Not much has accumulated, but it's our first snow of the winter and the boys are having a blast playing in it! Supposed to stick around for a couple days and maybe even snow a bit more tonight and tomorrow . . . so Happy Winter!

Hope you enjoy your day!

Papa and Joe

2012-01-14T09:40:00.000-08:00

I did this page quite a while ago and always loved it, but since my Dad's passing right after Thanksgiving it has become very near and dear to my heart. Photo was taken on my son's 2nd birthday in 2007. Love you, Dad.

Recycled Friday

2012-01-13T18:59:00.000-08:00

I've seen so many cool recycling ideas lately, that I thought I'd share at least one idea every Friday. Saw this recycled rake on Pinterest and had to share it. Next to scrapbooking/cardmaking . . . gardening is my next passion.

Unfortunately, we completely tore our garden/yard out last summer to level it (it was terribly uneven) so I'll have to start from scratch on creating a inviting retreat in my backyard again. This is definately a fun idea I'd love to incorporate.

Hope you enjoy the new Recycled Friday posts.

~Jeani

Today's the day . . . I hope!

2011-11-15T09:43:00.001-08:00

I took a vacation day from work today . . . need a little "me" time! I'm hoping to get some of my recent scrap pages and cards posted here today. It's been so long I have to refresh my memory on how to upload photos - yikes! My first mission was to go through my CTMH stamp sets and clean them out - I pulled out 20 that I thought I could part with - I'm sure they'll be replaced shortly with some of my favorite PTI stamp sets!

Cold cold cold here today . . . perfect day to stay inside and play in my scrap room. Hope you enjoy your day and find some time to be crafty!

Time flies . . .

2011-10-21T18:14:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's been so long since I've posted! March . . really?

My youngest son and I have been spending a lot of time in my scrap room lately and I do have some fun projects to post . . . coming soon - I promise!

I caved in and purchased a membership to Paperclipping - and I'm getting great inspiration from Noell Hyman's videos! I watch them everyday! Well worth the (discounted) $38 I paid for membership! If you haven't checked Noell out yet, you should . . she's got some great ideas and so much stinkin' energy . . . I love it!

Much more to come . . .

My (New) Scraproom!

2011-03-27T08:08:00.000-07:00

As promised, albeit a little later than I intended, here are the photos of my new scraproom. Well, not really new, but newly redone. I'll take you on a photo tour around the room. The wall as you come into the room (still need to replace those 2 pink storage bins on my bookshelf with black ones): Two photos of my desk space at the large window (notice the cute cute black and white shower curtain I bought to cover the closet): The west wall of the room . . the old desk I painted black to match the black theme and my favorite redo . . . my oh so cute bench seat (see below for the makeover photos of this cutie as well as the desk): To recreate my space, I purchased some more white cube storage pieces, repainted and added some great black pieces I got on sale at Joanne Fabrics. I repainted some furniture pieces and voila! I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new space. Here's a shot of the before . . . it was so cluttery and messy I couldn't stand it (this looks especially messy because I was painting in the opposite corner of the room, so all of the things I had on the wall were cluttering up my craft desk even more). I decided to 'hide' as much stuff as I could (in my new white cubes and reorganized closet) so that my room always looks neat, clean and crisp. I completely reorganized my closet and it's much more user friendly now as well. I purchased this old entertainment center at a thrift store a few years ago, painted it red and had it in my boys' room for toy storage. Recently, I moved it to my scraproom and painted it blue, as seen here. When I was recreating my scrap space, I asked my sweet husband to cut the sides off for me, I painted it black, bought some high density foam and recovered it to match the curtain covering the closet . . end result: Here's a BEFORE photo of the desk: My first attempt at painting the room . . . I used a piece of Sweet Leaf cardstock to have them match the paint because I love that color . . but it didn't work so well on the wall . . . kinda actually made me feel queasy when I sat in the room . . . lol!! But it all came together for me . . . I LOVE IT ALL! I have had so much fun using my new space over the last month or two. I'm eyeballing a couple of more storage cubes to replace some of the cluttery junk under my desk space and then it will be complete! Ahhhhh . . .I love the color as well . . it is a Better Homes & Garden color called Sanctuary . . how appropriate is that!! Tell me about your scrapspace . . . I love to see other crafter's ideas and how they organize their spaces. Thanks for stopping by . . .

Fast Food Folk Song (at the Taco Bell Drive-Thru)

2011-03-18T18:05:00.000-07:00

I frequent a fellow CTMH'ers blog (check out Tresa Black's blog "Fabulously Artsy" HERE) . . . she always posts these great video clips from YouTube. I just had to share this one because it cracked me up . . . and after the week I've had at work I need all the laughin' (and wine) I can get! Enjoy . . .

Have yourself a FUN weekend!

Ribbon Carousel Giveaway!

2011-03-17T07:19:00.000-07:00

Want a chance to win this very cool Ribbon Carousel? Check it out and enter to win on

Katie Skiff's blog HERE.

Fellow CTMH Consultant Corinna McGregor sells these extremely handy

space efficient storage tools.

You can check Corinna's other goodies at her online store HERE.

Daddy's new toy . . .

2011-03-13T22:11:00.000-07:00

My husband drove down to Oregon last weekend . . he's been researching boats for several months and finally gave in and bought this one! He's like a kid at Christmas!! It's a great boat . . . a 2007 North River. He got home Friday evening from Oregon and we ran outside to check it out . . . this is a photo in front of our house . . .

and Saturday morning we got up and took the boat out to Lake Sutherland for a maiden voyage . . .

The boys had a blast . . . I can't wait to see them when the weather is actually sunny and warm. It was raining lightly on us at the lake, but that didn't stop them from totally enjoying themselves on the new boat . . .

Here's a photo of me and the boys giving Daddy a "thumbs up" on our new toy! :-)

And . . a photo of the inside of the boat. It comfortably seats 6 people . . the 2 front seats have shock absorbers in them, which will be nice out on the ocean when salmon fishing this summer! There is a little room up under the bow that will serve as storage for the downriggers when we're not using them, but will also be a great place to throw a foam pad and a sleeping bag so the boys can crash if they need to while we're out crabbing, shrimping and fishing!

Now I really can't wait for summer!

Scrappin' my newly developed pictures from 2009!

2011-03-13T21:15:00.000-07:00

I've really been slacking on getting pictures printed . . but I finally went and had about 250 pictures developed so I've got some new (older!) photos to work with!

I recently painted and reorganized my scrap room (I'll post photos of my newly remodeled room tomorrow!) so I'm having a ball working in there now. . . it's such a great space!

Anyway . . . here are two layouts I did in the last week . . . the first one is my youngest son (photos were taken in July 2009) . . . I love their dress up photos . . . isn't he so stinkin' cute?!!! :

Close up of page one:

Close up of page two:

The second layout is of my oldest son reading to his little brother . . . again, these photos were taken in 2009 so now my youngest son can actually read himself! Better late than never getting them scrapped, huh!?!?! :-)

If you get a chance to stop back by tomorrow you can check out my craft space. I'm so excited because I actually set up my sewing machine on a table so I can start stitching on my cards and layouts!!! And I love the new paint color in my craft room . . so come back (better yet, sign up to receive emails of my posts)!

Thanks for stopping by . . .
Jeani

PTI - Make it Monday Challenge

2011-03-01T18:01:00.000-08:00

This is the first Make It Monday Challenge I've participated in, but I loved Heather's idea of using fun foam (which I have a stack of in my kids' craft drawer) to stamp with! Very clever (and inexpensive)!

My photo taking abilities do not do the card justice, but I used my Mat Stack 2 die and made a stamp (with fun foam!), and stamped it on my page. Then I punched out a circle, used dimensional tape to pop it up, rimmed the edge with Stickles and adhered a die cut butterfly . . . added a little coordinating ribbon and voila! Such fun!!

Here is my take on the challenge:

Thanks for stopping by!

H2H Challenge - Sketch Week!

2010-12-02T19:46:00.000-08:00

It's sketch week at H2H . . . and here is my entry:

I watched the great tutorial that Mandy did a couple of weeks ago on the H2H blog . . and I had so much fun making those little flowers I couldn't stop . . . I made one in just about every color . . . lol . . too fun.

Hope you find time to check out all the great takes on this fun challenge. Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Jeani

Plenty for Twenty!!

2010-12-02T15:20:00.000-08:00

Close To My Heart is offering Plenty for Twenty in December!

From December 1st - 31st, when you place a $20 order on a MyCTMH website, you'll be rewarded with a popular, retired D-size stamp set for FREE! That's a $26.95 value, plus there is

FREE shipping/handling and no tax on your free stamp set.

Grab your Plenty for Twenty in December by contacting me and making a qualifying purchase today!

Happy shopping and thanks for stopping by!

Playing with some new stamps . . .

2010-11-29T20:39:00.000-08:00

. . . and made a couple of fun cards.

This was one I made similar to my H2H entry, but I used mostly PTI products:

and a simple, but fun, thank you card . . .

I should be cleaning my scraproom, but I get too distracted . . . I start finding goodies I forgot I had . . then I have to stop cleaning and start scrapping . . . lol . .

And, I have to apologize for the poor quality of my pictures . . . as I'm rearranging, painting and cleaning my scraproom, I'll need to create a photobox to take pictures in so my backgrounds are nicer . . . oh well, hope you can see past the terrible photos and can enjoy some of my creations.

Thanks for stopping by!

Snow Day + No School/Work = H2H Challenge Time!

2010-11-24T08:16:00.000-08:00

Yep . . . our first snow of the season and our poor little town is so not used to snow that school has been closed for 2 days . . going on 3 I'd say by looking out my window at the beautiful, fluffy white flakes coming down! We got about 9 inches of snow in our backyard over the last 2 days. It is beautiful!

Anyway . . . on with the challenge. The challenge this week at H2H was a thank you card, as we are in the midst of that wonderful time of year that we look at our lives and are ever so thankful for how much we are blessed. This year is especially sentimental for me . . . I am very thankful for my wonderful, loving husband and my beautiful boys. 'Nuff said . . . I don't want to get weepy on ya! Here's my card, made with . . .of course . . . beautiful fun Close To My Heart products . . . yet another reason to be thankful!

Hope you enjoy my card . . . now hop on over to the Heart to Heart page and check out all the other talented works entered in this weeks challenge . . . and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you . . . may you all realize just how blessed you are!

Jeani

Beautiful paper . . .

2010-11-21T14:21:00.001-08:00

. . . makes for simple, but lovely, cards. I had this velvety soft paper in my stash and made a couple of quick cards with it.

It's snowing here in Port Angeles today . . . our first snow of the season . . .

. . . a perfect day to spend some time playing in my scraproom (after a snowball fight with the family, of course)!!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

My first H2H Challenge!

2010-11-19T15:45:00.000-08:00

. . . . and I'm hooked!!! It was so fun to play this week because the challenge was to create something GIRLY . . and I don't have any girls . . . just my 2 sweet boys. So, needless to say . . . I had a lot of fun digging into my pink stuff and using some of my Tickled Pink diecuts to make this card. I hope you enjoy it. And don't forget to check out all the other great GIRLY creations on the H2H blog!

A couple of cards

2010-10-10T17:23:00.000-07:00

I recently rearranged my scraproom to make it more functional . . . and in doing so actually took the time to make a few cards. It was so nice to get my creative juices flowing again . . . it's so easy to lose myself in there. . .

Thanks for stopping by!

My hiatus is over!

2010-10-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

After a long time away . . . and a long break from scrapbooking and cardmaking . . I'm finally back! And I'm so excited . . not just because I've missed my crafting, but because my life is finally settling down again. Kids are back in school, weather is nice and crisp, autumn is in the air . . . ahhhh . . life is good (again!).

Stay tuned for some fun things I've done in the last week!

Fun layout . . .

2010-03-14T19:57:00.000-07:00

I like this layout, because when you look at it you would never guess what it's about until you read the journaling! My husband took our youngest son out to pull crab pots and asked if he could take the camera and get some pictures. Well . . . against my better judgment I said yes and my camera ended up going OVERBOARD! Luckily he reached over the side of the boat and grabbed it before it sank . . . and I was (thankfully) able to save all the photos of the memory card, but the camera never worked again. These were the last photos taken before the plunge!

Time flies . . .

2010-02-22T20:24:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been 6 months since I've posted on here - wow!

I have been doing a lot of scrapbooking . . . I think I've done at least 15 layouts in the past 2 months . . which is really good for me! I need to take some photos and get them downloaded to my blog. Making the layouts is the fun part - getting them on here . . . not so much!

The weather has been beautiful and I like to photograph my layouts outside, so I have no excuses! Stop back in a day or two and I'll have some of them uploaded . . . also have a couple (not many) cards that I can post too.

Thanks for stopping by . . . .

And the winner is . . . .

2009-08-28T17:59:00.000-07:00

. . . . . #2!!!

Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to post the random generator info on here, but it came up with #2!! Congratulations, Leslie! Please email me with your mailing address so I can get your goodies out to you!

Well, the interview is over and I was told we probably won't know until Monday who was selected . . . so as soon as I know I'll share it on my blog! Sorry you're having to keep your fingers crossed for so long! LOL!!!

Have a great weekend! :-) jeani

Two bird cards and last chance for BLOG CANDY!

2009-08-27T20:05:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of cute little bird cards I made several weeks ago and just got around to photographing and posting (time flies!). This was the first time I actually played with SU's kraft paper - love it! - and my first card using CTMH's new felt shapes - love those little birds!

Don't forget to post a comment to my BLOG CANDY post below to be entered to win the blog candy . . . I'm drawing a name TOMORROW after my interview (3:15 pm Pacific). Wish me luck!

:-) jeani

Point No Point Lighthouse

2009-08-25T19:23:00.001-07:00

Just wanted to share this beautiful photo I took the other day. We took a little detour on our way home from my niece's birthday party in Woodinville on Sunday and stopped at Point No Point Lighthouse. Pretty neat, huh?!?!

Friend card using Emporium paper

2009-08-25T19:17:00.001-07:00

A simple card I made the other day using CTMH's Emporium Level 2 paper pack. I punched the flower shape out of the side of the 4 piece paper square and then I popped up the flower to add more dimension - a little hard to see in this photo, but I hope you get the idea!

Thanks for looking!

2009-08-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

My good consultant blog friend, Trish, just started up her blog Scrapping Playground of Dreams. If you get a chance, hop over there and check it out . . . she's just getting started, but has some great artwork up already! Way to go, Trish!

You still have 3 days to comment on the Blog Candy posting below to be entered in the blog candy drawing!!!! I'm randomly selecting a winner on Friday, Aug. 28 after my job interview!!!

Thanks for stoping by!

Jump! card

2009-08-24T18:22:00.001-07:00

I made this card with a Close To My Heart stamp set called Jump! I first bought this stamp set back when I became a consultant with CTMH (about 3 years ago) and this is the first time I've used it!!! I thought it was an appropriate theme for this time of year as we are just about ready to pick the apples from our Gravenstein tree!!! Enjoy!

Don't forget to comment below for BLOG CANDY - random winner will be selected on Friday!!!

BLOG CANDY TIME!!!!!

2009-08-22T12:18:00.001-07:00

Ok . . . as promised, here is a pile of blog candy I just put together. Some of the fun stuff in this package: over 20 fun chipboard shapes, metal halloween embellishment, flowers, leaves, plastic spiders, misc. brads, extra large buttons, stickers, ribbon, metal label tags, ghost alphabets by Heidi Swapp and a pile of misc. cards I've made over the years.

So I have an interview on Friday, August 28 for a job I really want with the school district. I'm already employed with the district, but this would be a full time job instead of the 3 hours a day I have now. To be entered in the drawing for this fun assortment of goodies, just leave me a comment below about an interview experience you have had or . . . . just say "Hi."

I'll randomly draw a winner on Friday, August 28 - after my interview and let you know how it went!

Good Luck . . . . and thanks for visiting my blog! More creations to come . . . :-) Jeani

2009-08-21T22:12:00.001-07:00

This is a layout I did a couple of weeks ago ~ my first time using the felt diecuts from Close To My Heart. Sorry it's not such a great photo . . . I took several and they were all blurry . . this was the best one of the bunch.

The photo was one of my boys and I that was taken for an advertisement in our local newspaper for the childrens and maternity shop I used to own. I used a felt button as a pull tab on my journaling behind the photo.

Stop back by tomorrow for some BLOG CANDY!!!! Have to give something back to those of you that have stuck with me during the sloooooowwwww times on my blog! Thank you!

2009-08-20T16:20:00.001-07:00

This is my latest creation . . . uses 2 great new products from Close To My Heart . . . Childhood Portrait Stamp set and Sweet Home Level 2 paper pack. Isn't it sweet?!?!

My life is constantly changing . . my schooling has been postponed and I'm hoping to get hired on for a full time job next week . . . in the meantime, I've got lots of time to play with my new products and I am going to make a great effort to post more often and offer up some blog candy to those diehards that have stuck in with me through my slow times in the blogging world! Stay tuned . . .

Has it really been 2 months . . .

2009-06-27T10:17:00.000-07:00

since I last posted? Wow . . . well, I am about to take quite a longer hiatus as I have just enrolled in school (FULL TIME!) to finish my BA in Education. As I will also be working full time, continuing to be a Den Leader for my son's cub scout den and being a wife and mother . . . the next 2 years are going to be BUSY and STRESSFUL. All of this will leave me very little breathing room so I don't know how often I will get on here.

We did get away last weekend to a wonderful camping trip at LaPush (yes, Jacob Black's stomping grounds!). It's about a 90 minute drive from our house and I just had to share a couple of photos to let you know just beautiful and fun it was . .

Our trailer was just about 50 feet from the beach . . it was beautiful!

The surf was amazing and the kids had a blast running from the waves all weekend!

My youngest son preferred to play in the little creek that ran down, through the driftwood, to the beach!

We had such a great time, we're going back with my SIL and her family for several nights after the 4th of July!

And I have actually been making cards, it just takes so long to upload and crop, etc. that I just don't get them on my blog. I thought I would post one that I made this morning (all CTMH) for a birthday party we're going to tomorrow . . . .

. . . and then I'll just have to say, put your name on my email if you want to see when I post next . . maybe easier for you then coming back to nothing new on my blog time and time again! Putting your name on my email will mean that you get an email from my blog whenever I post something new - try it! It's a great way to keep up with what someone is doing without having to remember where you were!

I hope I can eeek out some time to play with my paper crafting, but I'm not planning on too much . . .so, please be patient with me. I will try to post something every now and then.

So, here I go . . . off on another adventure! I'll keep you posted on my status!

:-) jeani

Check out Janet's Blog Candy!

2009-04-23T20:20:00.000-07:00

I was just blog surfing and found out that Janet over at Corrosive Creations is giving away some GREAT BLOG CANDY! Look at this:

All you have to do to be entered is leave a comment . . .so surf over there, check out her great blog and leave a comment for blog candy!

Mother's Day Card - Flower Pot style!

2009-04-21T09:29:00.000-07:00

I saw the directions for this card on SCS and had to make it! I really like how it turned out! Liked it so much that I posted the link on Janet's blog Corrosive Creations by Janet for Mother's Day.

Products used: CTMH cardstock (Desert Sand, Colonial White, Sweet Leaf); CTMH Stamp sets With Love, Friendship Blessings, Spot On Backgrounds; CTMH chocolate ribbon; misc. buttons; and Prima Flowers.

Sticky Note Holder

2009-04-21T09:01:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to making a little sticky note holder for my desk. These are just the $1 plastic frames you can get at Walmart or the dollar stores . . . . but works perfect for sticky notes! I used CTMH Free Spirit Lv. 2 paper pack.

I dropped my camera on the frame when I was taking the pictures . . . dang it! . . notice the crack!

CTMH is TICKLED PINK!

2009-04-16T17:41:00.000-07:00

Close To My Heart is celebrating National Scrapbooking Month by offering a beautiful scrapbooking kit with everything you need to create 2 beautiful two page layouts. Click here to check out all the details of this Tickled Pink promotion!

GARAGE SALE!

2009-04-14T21:30:00.001-07:00

All items for sale are also listed in the GARAGE SALE block on the side bar.

For Date Time Place $2.00 (block measures 3" x 2.5")

Baby Talk $9.00

Delight in Life $8.00

Riveting $7.00

Occasionally $5.00

Any updates or new items for the Garage Sale will be added to this post . . .so keep checking back. If you see something you want to purchase, reply to this post and leave an email where I can contact you. I take paypal, check and money orders. Thanks for looking!

My new look

2009-04-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

I hope you like my new blog look . . . I'm still playing with the header, but I love the colors and the bird!!

I also just posted a photo of the Summer Idea Book cover on my sidebar . . . there are so many cute new stamps . . . adorable camping stamps . . . I can get a lot of mileage out of those since we spend 1/2 our time during the summer camping!

I've got so much work to photo and post . . .I'll try to get to it this week! I'm also trying to clear out a lot of stamps and miscellaneous stuff, so look for my GARAGE SALE items in the sidebar before the week is out!

Now . . go create something!

Birthday thank you card

2009-03-19T13:39:00.001-07:00

These are the thank you cards I made for my son's 4th birthday party last week. This set is called Family Ties - Children (CTMH) and is soooo cute! It is currently one of my faves!

I've got several layouts (19 pages) that I did at scrap camp a few weeks ago. I still need to journal on a couple of them, but then I promise I will photo them and post them as soon as I can.

Have a great weekend!

Such clever little card kits

2009-03-07T18:01:00.000-08:00

Ok . . .this was just so stinkin' clever I had to make a bunch of them!!! I got this idea from Aaron's blog . . . she's got so many cute and clever ideas . . in fact she's having a great giveaway right now, so be sure to get over to her Booth and check out her amazing talent!!

This one was 100% scraplifted from Aaron . . meaning I used the same stamps and the same colors . . . . . some things are just too cute not to have!

This is the cover:

This is the inside (the little vellum pocket to put stamps in was my idea!! -my little spin on Aaron's idea!):

These are the cards inside - 4 cards total, with various simple sentiments:

This kit used CTMH's DREAM BIG incentive stamp set and our new spring color Tulip.

With these, I took Aaron's idea and made 2 more kits using different colors and different stamps . . .
the first set uses Papertrey Ink's Birds of a Feather stamp set and CTMH's retired Breeze paper:

The cards inside:

For this set I used CTMH's DREAM BIG incentive stamp set for the tree and Chocolate and Goldenrod papers:

So . . the clever part of this card kit . . .is that the kit is made by gluing 2 envelopes together . . as simple as that. You can get all the info from Aaron's blog. Hope you enjoyed my spins on her adorable idea! Have a great one . . .

Some simple cards

2009-02-08T17:51:00.000-08:00

I've been making a lot of simple cards lately . . . they are fun and easy and QUICK!!

Here are a few . . .

Got this owl stamp at Michaels and just love it . . .

Made this birthday card on the way out the door to a party today with Family Ties - Children (CTMH):

Another stamp from Michaels . . I don't have any bunnies and I like the simplicity of this one . .

:-)

Cards

2009-01-19T19:28:00.000-08:00

Here are 3 cards I put together for my hostess club on Saturday. I have been wanting to play with Ms. Gardener . . . and had so much fun paper piecing her in the cute little hippie pants (Emporium Lv. 2 paper). The gals in my club had fun doing the paper piecing for the first time . . .CTMH's new Ms. stamps just lend themselves to that technique, don't they?

And 2 cards copied from the CTMH bulletin boards . . . with my own little tweeks:

More later . . .

Finally . . .

2009-01-19T15:38:00.000-08:00

Yes, as promised, I finally got my other 3 layouts photographed and uploaded . . here they are . .

10 Things I Love About You
I must admit, I shamelessly copied this layout from another CTMH consultant! Every now and then, don't you see a layout that you JUST HAVE TO HAVE in your album? This was one of those layouts for me. I absolutely loved it and copied it almost exactly (except for the things I love about my sweet little Joey). All products are CTMH:

Left page:

Right page:

Christmas 2007

For this layout, I used more products that I've had around for years . . . the paper, stickers, and my quickutz reindeer that I just love but have never used before. I like the way this one turned out:

Left page:

Right page:

Ocean Shores

I really don't like the wave sticker I used on this layout, but it seemed appropriate and I've had it for so long (as I have the cute surfer paper) I just had to get rid of it . . . Other than that, I like the layout . . . I like the colors (not typical for me) and the photos. And I love Ocean Shores . . . so it's hard not to like the layout when I have such great memories.

Left page:

Right Page:

That's it for now . . . I haven't been in "scrap mode" for a while, so it will take me a week or so to get some more layouts put together. But I've been wanting to play with my stamps and take on some challenges for cards . . so keep coming back to see how I'm doing!

Lotsa layouts!

2009-01-11T20:46:00.000-08:00

I got into a little frenzy just before the holidays . . . felt like I needed to start using some of the products I've been stashing for so long! So I pumped out about 12 pages (WOW!!) in about 1 week! I was pretty proud of myself. So, here they are . . .

One Tired Boy - I added a journaling tag underneath the middle picture (you can see the little red ribbon sticking out of the side). Basically, it says that when Joe is tired enough . . he can fall asleep just about anywhere . . . this day he fell asleep on the coffee table/trunk in the living room, wearing his Incredible Hulk costume . . lol . . he is too funny!

New Bunkbeds - my sister and b-i-l made these log bunkbeds for my boys and brought them out to us from Montana last November (2007). They are beautiful and the boys love them! For this layout I used all CTMH products - love that Caprice paper!

Two Little Monkeys Jumpin on the Bed - my boys love to jump on our bed . . . just had to capture it on a layout . . .and . . I've had this paper for so long I can't even tell you! I cut out 2 of the monkeys and popped them up on the photos . . . !

1st Day of Preschool (Little Sprouts) - this was my youngest son's (Joe) first day of preschool last September . . . he is just so stinkin' cute, isn't he? My little lovey . .

I used all CTMH products for this layout - one of my absolute favorite paper packs EVER . . Sarsparilla . .

Here's the full layout:

Left page:

Right page (the quote on the tag says "nobody knows what a boy is worth and the world must wait and see, for every man in an honored place is a boy that used to be."

Halloween 2007 - this was my boys on Halloween year before last . . . .Josh was a great vampire and Joe was a sweet little monkey . . lol . . For this layout I used paper and embellishments that I've had for YEARS!!! Finally dug them out and used them . . .boy that feels good, doesn't it?! Also used some new Papertrey Ink stamps (spider with web and the cat):

Full layout:

Left page:

Right page:

That's it for tonight . . . I'll photo the rest tomorrow, yes, there is more! I have a 2 page Christmas layout, a 2 page "10 things I love about you" layout and a double page layout I'm just finishing of a trip to Ocean Shores last summer. . . .so come back and check them out!

Have a great night . . . happy scrappin'!

New Idea Book

2008-12-28T19:19:00.000-08:00

Yeah . . . it's almost here . . . the beautiful new Spring Idea Book from Close To My Heart. Products from the new idea book are available to purchase beginning January 1, 2009! If you don't have one yet, email me and I'll get one in the mail to you for just $4 (including shipping). Some adorable new stamp sets and gorgeous papers . . . . can't wait to start playing with this stuff!

Christmas cards

2008-12-14T10:25:00.001-08:00

I don't get on here to post as much as I'd like to . . . but I have been finding time to play in my scrap room!

Here are some cards I've made over the past week.

I love love love this paper (MyMinds Eye):

I made these cards (all CTMH products) for a class a few weeks ago:

Just a quickie card using a tree that I had stamped and put aside about a year ago!

This is a cute little coaster photo display I made to put a couple of Christmas photos of the boys in (photos will go on the coasters on either side of the O) . . .

1st grade layout - finally!

2008-12-14T10:22:00.000-08:00

I know I've been promising this for a long time . . . I FINALLY finished it about a week ago and am just now getting it uploaded!

This was my oldest son's 1st day of school this year . . everything is Close To My Heart except the patterned paper. Enjoy!

Life, Christmas Tree and Free CTMH Stuff!!

2008-12-06T17:52:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted in so long . . . life is moving at full speed and although I do find some time to play now and then in my scrap room, I don't seem to get time to photo and upload and post everything. I'll try to get some of my recent work up tomorrow.

We went out first thing this morning to get our tree at a local tree farm. The boys love searching for the perfect tree and helping Dad saw it down! I was so bummed because when I took my camera out to take photos (as I do EVERY year), my camera battery was dead! So, no pictures this year, but I will post a photo of the tree and decorations that we put up today. What a festive transformation - in just a few hours - whew!

If you haven't checked out Jeanette Lynton's blog yet (CTMH founder) you should. She is giving away a Level 2 paper pack from the beautiful new Spring 2009 Idea Book. I spent some time the other day reading through her blog and she is so inspiring. I hope you get a chance to check it out!

Hope you are all safe and well and that you are enjoying the start to this festive season! We're still waiting and hoping for snow, but it has been so mild lately, I'm not sure we'll see any until after the first of the year!

More tomorrow!

Twilight Fans . . .

2008-11-19T08:44:00.000-08:00

Well, Port Angeles is rolling out the red carpet for the release of Twilight on Friday . . . check out the article that ran in Sunday's newspaper (front page) . . .

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20081116/news/311169994&SearchID=73336531598459

It's going to be CRAZY downtown . . . I might have to go down there with a girlfriend just to say we did it! :-)

Have a good rest of the week!

Superheros and Santa

2008-11-02T14:44:00.001-08:00

Here is a photo of my little superheros on Halloween:

My 3 year old was Batman and my 6 year old was Ironman ~ aren't they adorable!

The day after Halloween, we went to visit Santa. He is such a fun Santa . . . this is the first year that Joe actually sat on his lap willingly (although you can see he is pulling a little to his right - away from Santa!)!

Hope you all had a great Halloween with your kids! We had 11 kids (and their parents (our friends!) over before trick-or-treating to have pumpkin pizza. It was a lot of fun and something we've decided to do again next year and maybe every year! Here's a photo of most of the kids in costume in our front yard (4 of the kids weren't there when I took the photo and then I forgot to get another one when everyone was there!):

Have a good week!

Aspen Snowman card & Frankenstein treat bag

2008-11-02T14:25:00.000-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, I had forgot my photobucket password and just got it figured out!

Here is a card I made for a party the other night using the little snowman from CTMH's Homeward Bound stamp set and Festive Thoughts. The paper is also CTMH - Aspen Lv. 2 paper pack. Enjoy!

This is one of the little treat bags I made the some of my boys' friends that came over on Halloween. I forgot to get a photo of the girl Frankenstein's . . . I'll try to get one and post! They were fun to make and soooo easy!

Our Christmas Card

2008-10-25T11:56:00.000-07:00

Here is the Christmas card that we will be sending out to friends/family this year. The photo doesn't do it justice . . . it really is much cuter in real life!

I do think this is the simplest card I have ever made for our Christmas cards - whew! Good thing, because there is so much going on these days that SIMPLE IS GOOD! LOL!!

The photo of the boys (ages 3 and 6) was taken in May while we were razor clam digging at Copalis, WA. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera when we went on this trip (almost a crime in my book!) so I had to buy a disposable camera and the photos were just not as good of quality as they would have been had I had my camera - oh well - at least I got photos!

Razor clam digging is one of our family traditions and the only time we will pull the boys out of school (sorry, teachers!)! So, although it seems kinda like a silly photo to put on our Christmas cards, it is the photo that would mean the most to those that are close to us! I hope you enjoy it . . . . . .

The sentiment says: May the spirit of Christmas, (inside of card) warm your hearts all year long.

All products used were CTMH.

Christmas and Fall cards

2008-10-24T16:23:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of cards I did for a gathering last night. I wanted to come up with 2 different cards using the October Stamp of the Month (Annotations). Everyone seemed to like them and we had a lot of fun - thanks, Angie (and Pam for letting me borrow Evergreen!!). :-)

I finally got enlargements of the boys on their firsts days of school and our Christmas photo of the boys for our Christmas cards . . .so my goal this weekend is to get our Christmas card posted (that's easy) and get the boys First Day of School layouts done (that one's a little tougher). Check back this weekend to see if I get them done!

Have a great weekend everyone and, as always, thanks so much for visiting my blog and all of your wonderful comments on my work! :-)

WINNER!

2008-10-23T13:57:00.000-07:00

Yaaayyyyyy . . . Congratulations, Diane! Diane got her last needed word today (cuttlebug) and emailed me with BINGO!

Diane, email your mailing address to me and I'll get your goodies out to you ASAP!

I hope you all had fun playing! Keep visiting my blog for fun projects and more games!

THE FINAL 5?

2008-10-23T07:14:00.000-07:00

Are these the final 5 words? Will we have a winner today? Oh, it's so exciting . . .

Here they are . . .

Stamping
Revolution
Papertrey Ink
Brayer
Cuttlebug

If we don't have a winner (email me) by the time I get home from work (1:30pm), I'll post a bonus word! GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!

Perfect day cards and holder

2008-10-22T16:00:00.000-07:00

Scrap Bingo has been keeping me pretty busy, but I have found some time to play! I made this adorable little card holder and 3 coordinating cards to go in it. I saw this card holder on the CTMH bulletin board and thought it was so cute I had to try it. It will hold about 8-10 cards (with envelopes) so I've still got to make a few more!

I used the CTMH Perfect Day Lv. 2 paper pack - so cute! Happy Wednesday!

Wednesday's bonus word . . .

2008-10-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

is . . .

LAYOUTS

I know a lot of you are getting close . . .we'll see if this word helps!

I'll post 5 more words in the morning . . .I think tomorrow might be the day . . . some of you are verrryyy close! Good luck!

5 words for Wednesday . . .

2008-10-22T08:31:00.000-07:00

Here are your 5 words today . . . someone's got to be close?!?!?

Two Peas in a Bucket
Prima
Ink
My Favorite Things
Bellas

I'll post a bonus word later today if nobody emails me with BINGO!

Today's words - sorry so late!

2008-10-21T14:50:00.000-07:00

Sorry it took me all day to get these posted . . . it's been a busy day!

Here are the long awaited 5 words for the day:

Quickutz
SEI
Fiskars
Flourishes
Basic Grey

and I might as well just go ahead and give you a bonus word now because I have a meeting tonight and probably won't get back on here . . . so, here ya go . . .

PAPER

Good luck, all! I'm anxiously awaiting someone to yell out BINGO!!!

Late BONUS word . . .

2008-10-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

I know it's a little late and some of you probably won't even get this until tomorrow, but here's a bonus word for you guys . . . . isn't the suspense killing you . . .

. . . .

. . . .

the bonus word is . . .

. . . .

hmmmmm. . . . .

okay, just kidding . . .

TECHNIQUES

Good night, ladies! 5 more words in the morning . . . :-)

5 for Monday

2008-10-20T08:13:00.000-07:00

Here are the next 5 . . . is someone gonna get BINGO today????? Email me if you do!

Adhesive
Tsukineko
Create
Doodlebug Design
Rusty Pickle

Good luck!

Bonus Word

2008-10-19T16:00:00.000-07:00

Today's bonus word is:

Scor-Pal

We could have a winner anytime now, since I've given you more than 15 words. First one to email me with their BINGO wins! We'll keep playing until we have a winner. I'll post 5 more words in the morning.

Good Luck!

The next 5 . . .

2008-10-19T08:11:00.000-07:00

Happy Sunday, everyone. Hope you are all having a great weekend.

The next 5 words are:

Scraps
Gina K.
Ribbon
Photographs
Liquid Applique

Good luck . . . we'll see how close you're getting . . . maybe another BONUS word today.

;-)

BONUS WORD!!!

2008-10-18T12:50:00.000-07:00

The bonus word for today is Distressing!

Hope you guys are having fun! 5 more words tomorrow! Have a great weekend!

Next 5 Words

2008-10-18T08:14:00.000-07:00

Way to go, everyone! Here are the next 5 words:

Close To My Heart
Sponge Daubers
Karen Foster
Chatterbox
BoBunny

Stay tuned today . . . . I'm feeling a bonus word coming on ;-)

First 5 words

2008-10-17T08:00:00.001-07:00

Here are the first 5 words. Remember, when you get all 15 words email me to claim your prize!

Making Memories
Impress
Spellbinders
Hero Arts
The Cat's Pajamas

GOOD LUCK!! Reply here and let me know how you're doing! Have fun! I'll post the next 5 words tomorrow morning!

Scrap Bingo Players

2008-10-17T07:45:00.000-07:00

Here are the 12 players who have emailed me their 15 words for this round of Scrap Bingo.

Diane
Chrissy
De
Shan
Kris
Paula
Shir
Kathe
Sanela
Yvonne
Cheryl M.
Kelly

I'll post the first 5 words in about a half hour (after I take my son to school)!

Scrap Bingo deadline tonight - need 4 more players!

2008-10-16T16:38:00.000-07:00

If you haven't selected your 15 words yet, please look through the list below and email me your words so you can play! Deadline for emailing me your words is 10pm tonight (PST).

I'll post the first 5 words tomorrow morning! Feel free to post a response and let us know if you got any words or not!

GOOD LUCK! :)

Christmas Card

2008-10-15T19:46:00.000-07:00

I was hoping to get both of my sons 1st day of school layouts done today, but started playing with my new stamp set instead. I got this adorable stamp set out of the new CTMH catalog . . . this is the first card I've made with it and I'm so glad that I like it as much as I thought I would! I used liquid applique for the snow and a cute little charm from CTMH.

I'll try again tomorrow for those 1st day of school layouts! ;-)

Still need for 4 more people for Scrap Bingo . . .starts Friday morning! Hurry and sign up by emailing me your 15 words!

Scrap Bingo - Let's Play!

2008-10-13T15:59:00.000-07:00

Ok . . so here are the rules for Scrap Bingo (as adapted from April at Artistic Paperie - Thanks, April!). The first 12 people to email me their lists will get to play this round, so email all your scrapping friends and get them to play along!

This is an EASY game . . . just a matter of luck, no skill needed! Anyone can play!

1. Pick 15 words from the list below

2. Email them to me no later than 10 pm PST on Thursday, October 16 (to keep things fair, no late entries will be accepted)

3. On Friday, October 17th, I will start calling off 5 words a day

4. Cross off the words on your list that I call

5. The first person to get all of their 15 words called, email me, and you will be the SCRAP BINGO WINNER and win a fun assortment of scrapbooking/cardmaking supplies. I went through all of my STUFF!!! and picked out some beautiful papers and fall ribbons and flowers and a couple of small 3x3 cards you can embellish. Also threw in a couple of cute little purse kits (these make adorable little treat boxes) and a few chipboard pieces! I'll go through and try to add some more fun surprises in there for the winner!

Here are the words from which you need to pick your 15 words from:

Autumn Leaves
Adhesive
Paper
Fancy Pants
Scraps
Ink
Cosmo Cricket
Sponge Dauber
Brayer
Fiskars
Create
Dimensional Elements
Close To My Heart
Making Memories
Stamping
Papertrey Ink
Impress
Scor-Pal
Gina K.
Bellas
Cuttlebug
Flourishes
Chatterbox
Pebbles Inc.
Techniques
Distressing
Rusty Pickle
Spellbinders
Quickutz
Layouts
Ribbon
Doodlebug Design
Prima
Karen Foster
Photographs
SEI
Bazzill
Two Peas in a Bucket
EK Success
Hero Arts
Heidi Swapp
Tsukineko
Queen & Co.
Provo Craft
Revolution
Basic Grey
The Cat's Pajamas
My Favorite Things
Liquid Applique
Creating Keepsakes
BoBunny
Crate Paper

And, just in case my links above don't work . . . my email address is jeanihill@tfon.com

Have fun and GOOD LUCK!

SCRAP BINGO . . . who wants to play?

2008-10-13T14:00:00.001-07:00

Get ready . . . .scrap bingo details will be posted later today! Winner will get a great prize package of scrapping stuff! I'll post all the rules, details and photo of the prize after I pick up my son from school! :-)

Halloween Cards

2008-10-12T08:26:00.001-07:00

I got some great new stamps from Impress and had to play around with them. Here are 2 Halloween cards I made. I don't usually send Halloween cards, but they are so fun to make!

The little witch on this card is a Martha Stewart punch I ordered from Impress. I brayered the background and used the winter tree from CTMH's Four Seasons and then just used my black pen to put the other dots in. The moon was just made with my circle punch. It all came together (thanks to Jody!). Love that little rickety picket fench stamp from Impress. :-) Enjoy!

Fair cards

2008-10-05T09:19:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of cards I made while demonstrating at our fair (in August!).

For this card I used CTMH's Yeehaw, Sarsparilla Lv. 2 paper pack:

For this one I used CTMH's Say It In Style, Evensong Lv. 2 paper pack:

Gotta do a little housework and then I'll post some of the stuff I've been working on while my camera was out of commission! So much catch up . . .whew!

Finally!

2008-10-05T08:35:00.000-07:00

Yes . . .I finally got my new camara. Got a little cheaper one than I had hoped, but I needed new clothes for work . . LOL! Hope it will do the job!

I thought I had posted these before, but guess I didn't. I created this card (using CTMH Four Seasons and Spot On Backgrounds) several weeks ago and liked it so much that I copied the design but made it a sympathy card (for a co-worker who lost her FIL). Hope you like . . I'll post a bunch of stuff later that I've created over the past couple of weeks . . .

Here is my original card (love those little trees!):

Here's the sympathy card:

New camera this weekend?

2008-09-24T15:05:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven't been posting lately . . . I'm really hoping to get a new camera this weekend! I figured nobody really wanted to just hear me blab . . . ;-)

I have been making cards lately, just don't have a camera to take photos of them - dang!

So, thanks for being patient with me and hanging in there . . . check back on Sunday to see if I was able to convince my DH of my dire need for a new camera . . . . LOL!!!

Just a note

2008-09-09T20:45:00.000-07:00

Just a cute little card I whipped up with some paper I got at my LSS (months ago!). I finally came up with a cute card idea for this fun paper! I originally bought the paper to use on a layout of my son playing piano . . but this works too!

Christmas Card record book

2008-09-09T20:16:00.000-07:00

I made one of these books last year and got such great feedback on it, that I've decided to make them for a Holiday Open House in my local community this year.

I tried to get a photo of the inside, but . . . . my camera died. I mean really died. I've been nursing it along all summer, to the point where I had to use a tack to push the button down to take photos. . .pretty bad, I know. But it finally gave up. So, alas, no photos of the inside, but it is basically sheet after sheet with columns/rows for Name and Address, Year Sent, and Card Received. So you can make a list of everyone you send Holiday cards to with their names and addresses and the year you send a card . . and you can also indicate whether or not you get a card back from them. Hope you like it! They were fun to make and I've got a few more started, with different colors and different designs . . .

All CTMH products used!

An Award from Kim!

2008-08-28T13:09:00.000-07:00

Kim, over at Clearly Inspired, nominated me for this fun award! Thanks, Kim! You should check out her great blog!

It's so fun to see regular viewers on your blog . . . you start to feel like they are friends, even though you have never met them. Kim is one of those blog friends and her work is worth checking out!

So, the rules for this award are as follows:

* The winner can put the logo on her blog
* Link to the person you received your award from
* Nominate at least 7 other blogs
* Put the links of those blogs on yours
* Leave a message for the bloggers you've nominated

It's hard to pick just 7 great blogs, but I will try! In no particular order, the blogs I want to nominate are:

My Paper Haven, one of my latest blog discoveries
From The Heart, a great CTMH art gallery!
JenTapler Designs, sweet, fun creations!
Poppy Paperie, absolutely beautiful work and great project ideas!
Paper Prozac, you know you love the name and I know you'll love her creations!
My Life Dot Com, a fairly new blogger, but an extremely creative CTMH gal!
So Many Colors, So Little Time, she makes the MOST adorable cards!

Thanks again, Kim! And if you've got some time, sit back, relax and check out these great blogs! They are all so much fun! Have a great day!

Gift Bags

2008-08-28T12:51:00.001-07:00

I made up these gift bags last night . . . one is for my niece who is turning 8 this weekend and the other one is for a gift exchange my husband is in this weekend.

My DH said he wanted an outdoorsy gift bag . . so this is what he got . . .

and this is the one for my niece . . .

I used all CTMH products with the exception of the bags, the raffia and the Prima flower. Enjoy!

I WAS PUBLISHED!

2008-08-19T15:37:00.001-07:00

I am so excited!! I knew as soon as I saw the Stamper's Sampler in my mailbox yesterday . . .

I had submitted 3 cards to them for a design challenge several months ago. If they publish one of your cards, you get the next magazine free. And, since I don't have a subscription to this magazine, I knew when I saw it in the mailbox that they must have selected one of my cards!

Here's the magazine:

and here's the card they published (on page 18). I was excited that they chose my CTMH card . . .to be honest, I can't even remember what the other cards were! LOL!!

Here's the little write up I had to do about the card . . . it's so exciting to see my name in print in a magazine that I really like! What a thrill! :-)

Okay . . . so now I'm all pumped up and I'm going to make some cards for their new challenge! I'll keep you posted!!

Fair Time

2008-08-15T19:04:00.001-07:00

Sorry I haven't been posting anything lately . . . I've been busy getting ready for our County Fair, which started on Thursday. I was demoing CTMH stuff and I was going crazy getting stuff ready for that. Plus I started my new job on Monday and the whole shift in dealing with daycare and shuttling the kids has taken it's toll!

It's been a great week though! I'm really enjoying my new job as the Assistant Superintendent's secretary at our local school district. I'm only half time so my day goes by really fast and I barely feel like I get anything accomplished when I leave . . . just makes me work twice as hard is what it does!

Anyway, all of my scrapbooking stuff is still out at the fair because I have to work again tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll get a chance to play around with my new stamps and get some stuff posted next week!

For anyone interested in our little Clallam County Fair, here's the link http://www.clallam.net/countyfair/index.asp We stayed at the fair until it closed last night (the kids were getting pretty pooped) but the band was so good! It was Randy Linder . . he plays Credence Clearwater Revival songs and he was REALLY GOOD! You can check him out under entertainment on the fair website above. The kids got their full share of cotton candy, games, snowcones, rides and corndogs. We also got our annual photo taken (a $5 black and white photo on an extra large button)! It is our favorite thing to do and we have buttons for the past 5 years. It's so fun to look back at the buttons and see how the boys have grown. The first one we had taken was before Joe was born. One of our funny family traditions . . our annual FAMILY PHOTO at the FAIR!

Have a great weekend and hope you get a chance to enjoy a local fair in your area . . .they really are the best!

:-) jeani

Happy Birthday, Pardner!

2008-08-10T10:52:00.000-07:00

I used CTMH Sarsparilla paper pack for this card and my new Cuttlebug (for the adorable horse and the embossed background). I'm pretty happy with it . . . so much so that I can't give this one away! LOL!! Enjoy!

Twilight Fans . . .

2008-08-01T15:11:00.000-07:00

As the sequel to Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse is fast approaching . . . I wanted to post a link to our local (Port Angeles) newspaper for Sanela . . . there was a big article in there this morning about Forks and Twilight, etc.

So, for any of you Twilight fan(atic)s . . . check this out

http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/article/20080801/NEWS/808010310

And for everyone running out tonight at midnight to get the new book (SANELA!) . . . please leave a copy for me! We're going camping tonight and won't be home until late Sunday!

Have a great weekend!

Look what I did when I had an hour ALONE!

2008-07-31T17:54:00.000-07:00

First, the card . . . I had this card in my head all day. I found these little chipboard frames and adhesive ribbon in my stash when I was going through my stuff today! It came out just like I hoped . . . just got the sweet flowers at Michael's the other day . . . I love the colors!

I actually put most of this layout together the other day, but finished it today (journaling and embellishing) when I had an hour to myself (ahhhhh!).

Just Add Water

2008-07-28T08:57:00.000-07:00

I've had these photos of the boys for over a year waiting to do a page . . . finally just did it last night! This is the first page I've created in my NEW ROOM!

All CTMH product except the chipboard . . . but I covered it with CTMH Good Times Lv. 2 paper! Enjoy!

I punched circles out of the Good Times paper and covered them with window charms . . . I had a lot of fun doing this page!

Beach card

2008-07-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

I've had this card sitting on my desk for weeks . . . . waiting for me to go buy a couple of sheets of sandpaper. I finally remembered when I was at my local hardware store and . . . voila! Here is my little beach card.

I saw a beach bag card somewhere (CMTH??? SCS??? can't remember) and had to try it. Thought it would work well with sandpaper (although I didn't tear my sandpaper very well . . .I might have to try it again). I also liked this little rope I used for the handle. Hope you enjoy!

Sanela TAGGED me!!

2008-07-24T18:16:00.000-07:00

Isn't this fun! I've been tagged and nominated for an award in the past 2 weeks! Wow!

Well, thank you, Sanela! Sweet Sanela . . . she just moved to Indiana and is probably still in the process of unpacking and yet she found time to sit down at her blog (which you've got to check out) and tag me (along with some other great bloggers)!

So, the rules for the FACTS TAG are fairly simple . . . you've got to reveal 7 facts (random, funny, weird, etc. facts) about yourself and then tag 7 other people (with links to their blogs) and then post a note on their blog that they've been tagged! Ok . . easy enough . . . let's see . . . now the facts . . .

1) I despise onions but love onion rings (my husband thinks this is bizarre).

2) I like to stay up late and sleep in (which doesn't always mesh with my kids' schedules - bummer!)

3) I recently sold my business that I started (from nothing) almost 6 years ago!

4) I had a miscarriage between the births of my 2 boys . . . and we thought I miscarried my second son, but when we went to the emergency room his heart beat was strong! That's my sweet Joey!

5) My husband and I were best friends for 10 years before we got "together" and married.

6) I take as HOT of a shower as I can possibly stand - but short . . I'm in and out within 8 minutes. But it's so relaxing!

7) I was invited to "stamping parties" when I worked at our local high school and thought "how weird, I'm not interested in that!" I got into stamping about a year later and became a Close To My Heart consultant in Feb. 2007. Isn't life funny?!?!

Ok . . .that's my 7 facts. So, here are my 7 tags: Marjorie, Nicole, Aaron, Angie, Jennifer, Hilary, Kim

Some of these tags are blogs I've just discoverd and others are some of my favorites . . . all of them are GREAT so I had to share them! You really should check them out!

Thanks again, Sanela!

My Scrap Space

2008-07-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

Ok . . finally got these photos uploaded. I rearranged my scrap space about a week ago and here are the before and after photos . . . my space is arranged in an L shape around the bed in our spare bedroom:

BEFORE:
I had my large table by the window, but never really felt like I had a good work space . . everything was spread out . . .

I had my husband build a wood block to raise my desk up so I had a cutting area that I could stand up at . . . still no good working space . . .

My stamps and misc. junk were stashed on my bookshelf in the corner and my CTMH paper is stored in the white cubes:

Misc. accessories are stored in these drawers and my inks were on the far wall - away from my desks . . . (at one time my desk had been underneath these shelves so ink was more convenient):

These old Ikea shelves held mainly photos:

More storage . . . my contraband papers are mostly stored in these pull out drawers, along with all of my scraps . . . my albums etc. in the wire cubes . . . ugh!! Such a hodgepodge . . . IT DROVE ME CRAZY!

AFTER:
My small desk is now in front of the window (and off the block my husband built for me!) with all of my papers TOGETHER to the left. I'm getting 2 more white cubes this weekend to replace the drawers (that are falling apart because they're overstuffed!). . .then my little shelf will sit level on top of it.

Some of my ribbons, flowers, raffia, chipboard, etc. are stored in these old jars that sit on my white cubes in front of the window . . . I'm an "out of sight - out of mind" type of person and if I can't see my stuff I forget I have it . . .so these jars are great for keeping stuff in my sight!

My larger table is to the right with BOTH of my storage shelves above it and EASILY ACCESSIBLE . . . .

these are the shelves that hold my stamps, ribbon and misc. embellishments :

and, finally . . . my bachelor's degree from CTMH training program . . just had to embellish it a little! LOL!!

Finally . . . a space I actually enjoy sitting down and working in . . . still have a couple of things I want to do as far as organizing papers, etc. . . but it's the best use of the space I've had so far and I'm very happy with it! Hope you enjoyed the photos and hope you enjoy your space as much as I'm enjoying mine!

Happy Citizenship Card!

2008-07-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

I was having trouble getting into my Photobucket account so I could upload my photos . . . finally got it figured out!

This is a card I made the other day for my Mom . . . she just got her US citizenship (she was born in Canada). It's been a year long process and she just got sworn in (and registered to VOTE!) yesterday! Yaaayyyyy, Mom!

Birthday card for Mom

2008-07-17T17:22:00.000-07:00

This is the card I made for my Mom for her birthday the other day. Got the basic idea from another CTMH consultant . . . lacking in original ideas lately . . . and then put my own little spin on it with the turned up corner and the wide organdy ribbon.

I haven't been on my blog for the last few days because I've been redoing (again) my scrapbooking room . . . I LOVE IT!!! Finally got it to where I really like it! I'll post pictures later tonight . . DH and me are actually taking the kids to my MIL's and going to dinner and a move (Hancock) . . . yaaayyyy! More later . . .

2008-07-14T08:58:00.000-07:00

A fellow blogger, Nicole, gave me this award! First blog award/tag I've received since starting my blog last fall! Thank you, Nicole!

The rules for this award are as follows: 1) The winner can post the logo on her blog. 2) Link the person you received your award from. 3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs. 4) Put links of those blogs on yours. 5) Leave a message on the blogs you've nominated. So the 7 I am going to nominate are:

Maricar, Vicki, Diane, Lisa, Sanela, Jen, Wanda

Thanks again, Nicole!

Rough 'N Tumble Birthday

2008-07-14T08:53:00.000-07:00

Made this card last night for my son's best buddy's birthday tonight. I got the idea from CTMH's online classes for consultants . . . thought it was so cute I had to "lift it"! Have a great day!

Little slump . . .

2008-07-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

Yes . . . I'm in a little slump . . . I can't help it . . .the weather has been soooo nice (finally!) and I just can't help but be outside in my garden/yard/deck.

But, thank goodness for my Hostess Club . . . I have to get my act in gear for them every other month . . . so this is what I've put together for our meeting on Saturday:

One of my club members (and good friend) has been asking me to do a random stamping project on club day . . . so we will actually be doing 2 different random stamping projects:

I'll be giving each of the ladies 2 6x6 sheets of White Daisy cs. On the first sheet we'll be doing the resist random stamping (I think that's what it's called?) of dragon flies from CTMH's Butterfly Kiss stamp set and then embossing some of the dragonflies with clear embossing powder . . . they'll take this dragonfly 6x6 home and they can create whatever they want with it.

Here is a plain white 6x6 piece and a 6x6 decorated piece with the resist random stamping:

I messed up a little bit on my test sample though, I stamped the resist dragonflies in gray instead of clear . . . so they'll turn out better on club day when we just use clear. That way the dragonflies will pick up the other colors (crystal blue, orchid bouquet, amythest, etc.) when we rub the ink over the finished project.

Our second random stamping project uses another 6x6 piece of cs. I was able to make 2 cards and still have a leftover piece that I could easily make another card with:

Here are the cards up close. (I got the idea for the first card from another CTMH consultant.)

Our other project is the coaster calendar that I posted a few weeks ago. Anyway . . . hope they'll enjoy the projects. I just got some new stamp sets, so I'm anxious to start playing . . . but it's supposed to be REALLY warm for the next 2 days . . . . hmmmm. . . . don't know if I can tear myself away from the back deck!

Smiles and enjoy the sunshine in your part of the world!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!

2008-07-02T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hope you all have a great 4th of July . . . we are heading to Ocean Shores for a fun filled camping weekend with some friends! The nice warm weather we've been having lately feels SOOOO GOOD! Can't wait to get to the beach! Here's a few photos from last year's trip to Ocean Shores . . . isn't it GORGEOUS . . . yeah . . . my sweet little boy is pretty darn cute too!

I just got some fun new stamps during the CTMH Stampaganza and can't wait to use them when we get home . . . so look for some new creations next week and SCRAPBOOKING BINGO!

Have a safe and happy 4th . . .

Sympathy card

2008-06-25T11:03:00.000-07:00

This is a sympathy card I made yesterday for a customer's friend that passed suddenly. I used my SU felt flowers for the first time. I love the bright colors against the black and white of the CTMH Silhouette papers.

Life's A Jungle - Stacked

2008-06-24T13:04:00.000-07:00

I got this idea from Vicki W . . . her stacked Life's A Jungle card was adorable!!! I made this for a birthday party my boys are going to on Saturday. Used my stash of CTMH Cocoa Cafe papers . . . enjoy!

Quick fix . . .

2008-06-21T19:55:00.001-07:00

My mom came over on Thursday night and I knew I wasn't going to be able to do any scrapbooking/cardmaking while she was here, so I got my "quick fix" by decorating some of these cards that I bought in the $1 bin at Michaels.

These are the card packs as I bought them (they measure about 3x3) and they were $1 for each pack (green, blue and pink):

This is how I decorated each card:

And this is a layout I put together (not glued down yet!) of us razor clam digging in early May of this year. Razor clam digging is a family tradition and a very big deal! This was my youngest son's first razor clam adventure. I was razor clam digging at 5am the day I went into labor with my first son - I was admitted to the hospital at midnight and had him at 1:30 the next afternoon! So, there's no escaping the razor clamming in our family!

This little tag (that I've had in my stash for a long time!!!) says: "It isn't the big pleasures that count the most, it's making a great deal out of the little ones. Jean Webster" So true, especially when you have young kids! Nothing is bigger to them, than the little things!