A Layout finished!

It always feels good to finish a layout. This one has been on my desk for a week. I'm not sure why, all it needed was journaling. A couple quick lines and "wahlaa" done. I think my son really enjoyed playing flag football this year. It was something new and fit into our schedule perfectly. He only played defense but thats ok. He made a couple key plays during the season and hopefully learned enough that next year he can play a bigger role. His team did very well. They finished 2nd in regular season and were scored upon in the closing minute of championship game. They lost by 5 points. A real bummer. But many good memories. His next adventure is basketball. Hopefully they have a similar schedule and it won't conflict with hockey.

Well I'm off for the weekend to Chicago. The Ice Dogs have a 3 game road trip. I hope we play well. Wish us luck.

What happened to my desk??

I sat down to make 2 quick cards and this is what happened to my work surface. I craft bomb exploded! Holey moley how does it happen so fast? Thank God it only took a minute to clean back up.



So today I created 2 really cute birthday cards for two of my favorite people. They also happen to be born on the same day. Look at that. The first one is for my Mom. I used a sketch from the Cuttlebug challenge blog. Loving the patch work quilt pattern on the bottom. It reminds me of Patsy "the Quilter".



This card it for my kid, Brendan. He will turn 11 on Tuesday. Where did the time go? We are giving him his gift tonight. He gets a "blue" ipod nano. Lucky Boy! His old MP3 player won't sync with the computer any more, much to Mom's dismay, nor will it hold the music. It keeps crashing and all the music is "Poof" gone.



I'm so proud of myself. I do not consider myself a card maker, but these were so fun to make. I think I will be making many more in the future.

Happy Crafting!

Crop till you Drop Make-n-take

Kelly gave me the task of creating a layout for this past weekends Crop till you Drop event at the Scrapbook Zone. She said use the Reminise Fall paper line and some cardstock and go for it. So While at work on wednesday I did. This is what I came up with. I had fun with the cricut and my 12x12 printer at home to create the title.



So when I got home and looked at my photos, I decided I needed 2 more photo mats. Well when that happens you must edit your layout. I bumped the big mat to 5x7 and added 2 more 3x3 mats. I had some great photos to use that I'd taken last week on one of those Indian Summer days. I went to work the long way and drove down Hines Drive. Beautiful day, great photos at Nankin Mills. Here's my version of the layout.



I will miss those last few warm days. It looks like winters here already as it's been snow flurrying all day. I'm already looking forward to Easter.

Kaiti's challenge LO

I found a website called "Kids can Scrap" It's a challenge blog for kids that scrapbook. So after we went to see HS Musical 3 we thought Kaiti should give it a try. She found some photos she wanted to use, paper and dove right in. Here's what she created. (Just to clarify things Kaiti is my 12 yr old Niece.)
I love it. She did a great job. The pattern paper was some sale paper I picked up at the store this summer and die cut myself. She wrote about herself and added a poem. Here is her Journaling:

Hi I’m Kaiti and I am a 12 year old girl. I love theater singing and acting I am currently in Westside story Grease and Sussical jr. I am a very outgoing adventures and young spirited girl. I love my friends and of course my computer. Scrapooking with my aunt is fun. (She has all the good stuff). I also love writing. My teachers and friends say I’m really good at it. Here’s a poem: I hope you all like me. My family says I’m very funny. But don’t look me in the eye, or you’ll die of laughter on the inside.

I'm oh so proud of her. Her first scrapbook challenge layout. She wants to keep trying these as they are posted. Their we address is: www.kidscanscrap.com

A Christmas Wonderland!

We have a wonderful tradition in our family. Every year the first weekend in November the girls all get together to go shopping. We meet my Mom in Saginaw and spend 2 days shopping and eating and just hanging out. It's a blast. This year we changed it up a bit. We met in Frankenmuth at Bronners. Bronners is the Biggest Christmas store you'll ever see. I forget the exact size but truly it's huge. With the most wonderful displays. I took some pictures to share.


The details in each figure are marvelous. I took this one of the Bambi because it has tiny quilt patterns in it. Amazing. There was a whole group of figurines like this. The Artist has amazing talent.
I also found some statues that reminded me of my Mom. Here Mrs. Claus is quilting and Mr Claus is helping out, yep by taking a nap. Sounds like Virgil to me. lol


And this one was for me. Mrs. Claus is Scrapooking. MInd you it's the old fashion way, before we discovered what acid and lignin did to pictures but she'll learn. She's clipping pictures from a magazine.
One trip there every few years is just fine with me. The place was jam packed. We were only in there about an hour and in that time frame it filled up. You could barely turn around without bumping into someone. It was fun for a short time and then I needed to get out of there. So we were off to Bavarian Inn for lunch. Frankenmuth is also famous for its chicken dinners. But we did lunch, it's cheaper and just as filling.


Our girls had a good time. We even got them to pose for a group photo. Lauren's on the left, then Kaiti and Sam's on the right. Giggling and laughing the whole time. I really enjoy this tradition. It's one I hope we continue for years to come.

An Army of Gobblins

Halloween is always the kids favorite day of the year. Well it ranks right there with Christmas Day. This year he decided to be an Army Guy, imagine that. Face all camo'd up and everything. A quick trip ti Halloween USA netted 3 tubes of the right colors and we were off to hide the boy in Camo. He decided to start at home, headed out the door and found his buddy Ashton and his little brother Logan. Oh lucky me, their Mom offered to take B with them and I got to sit on the porch with Rob and Spencer and pass out candy at our house. We had very few kids this year. We live on a street with a lot of houses that don't turn on their lights so the kids skip our side of the street. So sad. It means I don't buy alot of candy. We headed to my sisiter Debbie's aout 8 a went out again over there. Derek kills me he put on his girl costume again. Blonde curley wig, jeans skirt and a tank top that read "you can't afford me". I almost cry every year, the kids too funny.

I'm glad it's over, now we move onto the best holiday of the year....Thanksgiving! It's all about food and family. I'm ready to head Up North and do a whole lot of nothing for 4 days.

Well Tuedsay is the big day. Elections! Thank God. I'm ready for the political adds and phone calls to STOP. Please go vote. If you don't you have no right to bitch for the next 4 years.

Crafty Night...

Oh what fun. I like to listen to the tv while I scrap. It keeps me company. But the cable outet in my room doesn't work. Well it didn't anyway, till this afternoon. The poor guy can about 2 and was here till 4. He had to crawl up in the attic...over the duct work....and thru the blown in insulation. Ya it took a while but it was worth it. We also go a digital box for the main tv, now we can do PPV. Brendan rented "Bill & Ted's excellent adventure" great movie.


My sister Debbie and her kids came over tonight. Derek had a project to finish and they needed my craft stash. It was fun, I should have taken a picture of his cereal box it was cute. But Kaiti and I had fun making ATC's. She didn't know what they were till I told her. She caught on quick. Made 2 of her own to trade with friends at school. She wants to come over soon and make some more. They're quick and easy, instant gratification. Heres what we did, Kaiti made the bottom 2.

I also worked on a challenge LO from the AMR board. It's called a BAM challenge, "a Book about me." Challenge #9 was to scrap your husband/significant other. I started here because I knew I had a couple good pictures laying around. These were from 4th of July 1999. Notice the small black fur ball in the right picture. Yes thats Magenta when she was just about 12 weeks old. She's no longer with us. She developed cancer this summer and had to be put to sleep. I've stumbled across a few photos of her lately, I miss her, she was a great dog! I have another LO half finished on my desk. Hoping to finish it Thursday. My cousin is coming tomorrow. I'll be busy. Aren't we cute in these photos?? So much younger and thinner/more hair. lol Gotta love the man!