Will you send Mikayla a card??

I was 'blog-surfing' earlier this morning and visited Charmaine's blog (www.oodabugalley.blogspot.com) I just love her work---
anyways-she has posted there about a little 5 year old girl Mikayla who is going to be undergoing 70, yes seventy!!, chemo treatments for a brain tumor. You can, hopefully, read her story by clicking on this link http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/mikaylafrazier (If ANYONE can teach me HOW to do the whole click 'here' instead of typing out the WHOLE link IN the post....PLEASE DO email me and share huh??) If you would like to join in and send a card, thoughts of encouragement and OF COURSE prayers, the BEST gift of all, please email me for her address--of course you don't need the address for prayers so let me encourage you to send Mikayla and her family a card.
I can't begin to imagine what this family is going through but I DO know what it feels like to get a card in the mail from someone who was 'just thinking of you' AND what it feels like to know someone is praying for me.
Thanks in advance for sharing the love..............
-S
PS: Have a HAPPY and SAFE New Years!!

MY babies

Nikki and Samuel were playing around the other night and Nikki was taking pictures.
I just LOVE it when they make 'nice' and love each other!!

Grandma and her grandbabies

As HARD as I tried I could NOT get ONE picture of both kids and GRANDMA looking and smiling!! If I got ONE kid smiling the other was either NOT smiling or LOOKING AWAY.
Finally Grandma suggested it was time for 'silly pictures'......

......we couldn't even get a 'silly picture' with EVERYONE being 'silly' or goofy at the same time!!

My Party!

I had a Graduation/Thank You Party for friends who helped us out while I was in school. I'm just SO thankful and appreciative to ALL our friends and family who supported us, helped us out with the kids and EVERYTHING else AND for ALL the prayers sent up on our behalf. We are SO blessed to have SO many wonderful friends!! A HUGE THANK YOU to each and EVERY one of you!!!

I think a good time was had by all. We had enough food to feed a small nation--we're STILL finishing leftovers!! I've been lucky enough to be able to use some for breakfast's, lunches and dinners for the past few nights. The boys are getting TOO used to veggie&cheese omletes but what better way to use up all those left over veggies and cheese!! I even made homemade mac and cheese the other night. I mixed 4 different cheeses (gouda, pepper jack, cheddar and some french cheese my mom picked up at COSTCO) and topped it with some left over ritz crackers. Hey! It's ALL gotta go!!! :) The boys (Joe, Chris, Sammo and my Dad-yesterday) have had cheese and veggie omelets for two days now and I STILL have cheese left over!!!

I still have crackers, cheese balls, spinach dip, artichoke dip, party mixes and MORE to use up. I'm HOPING Nikki has a few friends over for annual New Years Eve Party and that they help to use it up for me.

Here's a picture of me with my cake.

My friend Kim asked if she could bring the cake-of course I said YES! so she had it done with the school colors....silver and black. I think it came out beautifully!!

Thanks Kim! :)

Unfortunately we didn't get many pictures. I was too busy visiting and Mom didn't think about it until it was too late. I think Nikki took a few but she was busy hangin' out with her friends that came. I'm gonna have to get a hold of her camera and see if she got any pics for me.

It was a FUN FILLED evening that is for sure. The WORST part about parties at your own home, for me anyways, is that I NEVER feel like I had enough time to spend with all my guests!!

Purty Birdie

I noticed this little bird sitting in the Ponderosa Pine right outside the front deck and I just thought it made such a 'purty' picture! I think I'll crop it a little, get it printed, frame it and put it up somewhere in the house. Who knows what else I might end up doing with it. Joe suggested post cards of some sort.....we'll see.

More Pictures......................

I just haven't had, or MADE the time to create lately. Maybe today or tomorrow??

I HAVE been enjoying time with my family though....
My mom and dad left yesterday. It seems like as quickly as they came, they left. We were SO busy with everything that the time just FLEW right by!

SO, since I can't post any 'creations' just quite yet I figured I'd post some more family holiday pics........

This is a picture of my Dad Christmas morning. Just call him 'Santa'!! :)

On the trip over my Mom says he was asking all the little kids what they wanted for Christmas and if they'd been bad or good. Imagine! I wonder if those kids thought they REALLY saw Santa! Heeheehee!

Samuel had SUCH a good time with his Grandpa. He even woke up the night before they left crying. He told Joe he was crying because he was sad because he knew his Grandpa was leaving in the morning. :( He's always had a special connection with my dad.

Here's Joe and Sammo. They were messing around and wrestling-having FUN! It was SO much fun watching them. They're so goofy together.

Here are the boys again....preparing our Christmas turkey. They were SO funny. Look at Sammo's hands on his tummy. They were bragging about how GOOD the turkey smelled. Samuel said, "it smells like Kentuky Fried Chicken!"

It was snowing out as they were cooking so they took to playin' a little too. They just MAKE ME SMILE!

Ahhhh---the end of a LONG day and this little man is POOPED! Here he is just chillin' at the end of the sofa. It wasn't too much longer before this big guy was SOUND asleep.

JANE STOP THIS CRAZY THING!!!!!!

What a WHIRLWIND life has been lately. HOLY COW!!

School is over....

I've 'graduated'....

Working...

Mom and Dad are here visiting...

Christmas...

Party....

ALL in ONE month!!!

Do you see why I am behind in my blogging?? YIKES!

Well, let me try to catch up......

My Mom and Dad are still visiting...they are only here for a week and almost a half total anyways-and believe it or not, our time together is just about up!! They will leave here tomorrow sometime for Spokane for an early morning flight out on Saturday morning. It seems like they just got here and they're leaving already. I just wish things weren't SO busy and we could have enjoyed our time together a little more. The kids have enjoyed spending time with Grandma and Grandpa...especially Samuel. He's been going out with Grandpa on their daily rides around town--just looking.

Christmas was fun......everyone happy with their gifts.

Here's Joe sporting..... whatever THIS is!!

Samuel found it in his stocking (Thank You Grandma!!) and he and, almost, everyone else thinks it's pretty cool and have to give it a try.

Here, of course is Sammo with it on. He LOVES it. It does feel pretty....er, uh, different.

His only complaint....

It makes his head 'sweaty'.

Here's 'Nickles' with her new scarf (again, Thanks Grandma!). I found this yarn at The Craft Warehouse and asked my mom to knit a scarf for Nikki-to match a vest I got her for Christmas. She LOVES both the scarf and the vest!!

And Sammo again............. in his NERF Dart Tag garb. He got TWO NERF gun things for Christmas this year (in addition to the other FOUR NERF guns Grandma and Grandpa got him BEFORE Christmas!! He and Grandpa made bullseye's on the window part of the french doors and they've been challenging each other to see who can do best!) and he couldn't be happier!! Ya just have to be REAL careful around the house now.........you never know WHEN you might be 'hit'. :)

The other one is the NERF Longshot. I swear the thing is about as tall as he is. I don't know HOW he can even make it work but he does. He's so funny. I love listening to him.....'Say hello to my little friend.' 'Little' HA! I've gotta say, he's a pretty good shot!! -with a NERF gun anyways!!

Well, that's enough for now....

The girls are up and Joe is playing with one of Samuel's Christmas toys....a remote control helicopter....men are just BIG little boys!

And there's the door.....Sammo went shopping with GMa and GPa...looks like they're back......

I'll post again later.

Enjoy the rest of your day!!

-S

Sisters at heart

A few people have commented to me how I don't have many pictures of Nikki on my blog. She's just never around while I'm taking pictures I guess.....
However, Nikki is her OWN best subject. I got my hands on HER camera (The BEST Bday gift I think we've EVER gotten her, by the way. She uses it EVERY SINGLE day. NO KIDDING!!) and copied some of her pics to my laptop. She can take good pictures.
SO, here are a few pictures of our 'beauty' and her BEST FRIENDS.
SO many people have asked if they are sisters....not biologically.....but they ARE sisters at heart!!

REAL SNOWFLAKES!!

It was snowing out this morning when I was waiting with the kids for the bus. Nikki pointed out how the snowflakes looked like 'REAL' snowflakes. I checked them out and low and behold.....THEY DO!!

Of COURSE I had to at least TRY to take a few pictures. They're not the BEST pictures but check 'em out:

I don't remember ever seeing SO many REAL snowflakes that actually LOOK like pretty snowflakes. Catch what I'm say'in??

I'm off for the next 2 nights but I DOUBT, greatly, that I'll get a chance to 'create'. Instead I'll be trying to get ready for my mom and dad's arrival. They arrive in Spokane on 19th and will come up this way early the next morning. It's a long trip coming from the East Coast so they tend to spend the night in Spokane and just drive up the next day. Originally we'd planned on going over to meet them and spend the night with them in Spokane, do some shopping etc... but the 19th is the kids' last day of school and they have programs and what not that they REALLY didn't want to miss so chances are we're going to just stay home. I suppose it will give me a few extra hours to get those last minute things done--not to mention sleep a little since I'll be working Sun/Mon/Tues nights.

Ciao for now..........

Merry Christmas!

The kids and Joe put up and decorated the Christmas tree last Sunday after church while I ran out to pick up a few things at the store. I couldn't believe it when I got back. Joe and Samuel had actually put the tree up while Nikki and I were at church and then while I was out picking up a few things for lunch they decorated it! Chris (a friend of ours) even helped with the decorations. All that was left for me to do was clean up the mess!!

One of my FAVORITE things to do is turn down all the lights in the evening, sit on the sofa with a cup of hot cocoa and 'watch' the Christmas tree lights....some good Christmas music just makes it all the better!!

Slight change in plan.....

When I got up this morning I went right up to my 'scrap-n-crap room', as Joe so affectionately refers to it, to work on my invitations. As much as I like the first one and as easy as it is, this one is even EASIER!! I'm just whipp'in 'em out!! SO, I'm going to go with this one instead. I just NEED to get them done and in doing this version I am SURE I can finish them ALL up today and get them out in the mail tomorrow morning--before a sweet coffee date with a few friends!! :) This being out of school thing is going to be SOOOO very nice! :)

The cardstock will vary-crystal blue, blush or hollyhock and I'll use the pink ribbon until I run out and then I'll use white organdy. The invitation itself is matted on colored cardstock--will just depend on what the card color is obviously-- and then around the matting and the invite I've applied some crystal stickles...just for a little 'bling'. I think they're cute AND they're SUPER quick and easy. JUST what I need right now!!

Well, now I'm off to help with the lighting of the tree.........

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday!!

-S

Graduation Invite

This is the invite I made up for my 'Graduation Party'. Really, more than a 'Graduation Party' it's going to be a THANK YOU Party for all our friends and family who have supported and helped us out during the time I was in school. We are SO blessed to have SO many people who have gone out of their way to help us and I want them to know JUST HOW MUCH it has meant to us!!

I used paper from The Christmas Stack (DCWV) and CTMH cardstock (blush, hollyhock and crystal blue), The Snowflakes Spot stamp set (SU!), misc ribbon, snowflake buttons (misc also). I embossed part of the cardstock with my cuttlebug (LOVE that machine) and the snowflakes embossing folder. The font is Noodlescript.

Now to finish up the rest and get them OUT IN THE MAIL!

I've been SO busy!!

It's been FOREVER that I've had a chance to post. Bad me, bad me!!
I've been pretty busy though......working, finishing school, preceptoring etc, etc.....
Hopefully the busyness of things will slow down just a bit now........
I'm DONE with school!! I still have my RN boards to take of course, but my 2+ hour drive a couple times a week is finally OVER!! Yippee!! -There's a GOOD savings RIGHT there!

We had our class dinner last week. I had such a NICE time. Here are a few pictures from that night. Patrick and his wife are on the left. He's a good egg, that Patrick.....and a fellow ex-Yankee... :) We're both ORIGINALLY from the East Coast. He gave me the SWEETEST card. It just so touched my heart. What a good guy with a heart of pure gold!!






More classmates....Lauren-(you've left me with some pretty good memories too!! When I think 'toast' I just can't HELP but laugh out loud!!)
Kyle, Jaime and Katie.




And here are a few more classmates: Aura, Deanna and Korie- who was also my commuting buddy many 'a days!
I am SO blessed to have had the opportunity to be a part of this class. What an AWESOME group of people!! As excited and happy as I am to finally be done, I'm sure going to miss seeing everyone every week in class!! Bittersweet.

Thursday night, (Dec 6th) was our pinning.

Here's Joe, Nikki and Samuel pinning me............... -a little blurry I know...but you get the 'jist' of it.
It's very surreal. As much as I KNOW it's over, it just doesn't feel 'REAL' yet.

My mom and dad are coming for Christmas and will be arriving on the 19th. Our poor house is SUCH a mess. Joe and the kids really tried I know, to keep up with things but our house really needs some TLC. So for the next few weeks that's what we'll be busy doing, purging, organizing and cleaning......in addition of course to getting out the Christmas decorations, going Christmas shopping, working etc, etc........
OK, so maybe things WON'T slow down right away!!

Today I have a 'date' with my 7 1/2 year old son so I guess if I'm going to get much done around here, I'd better get moving.
I'll be posting the invite to my 'Graduation Party' here in a bit so check back and see what 'cha think. Comments and suggestions are always welcome!!
Enjoy your Saturday and have a WONDERFUL weekend.
I KNOW I will!!! :)

They're not the BEST pictures but..........

.....it's all good.


While I was getting ready for our class dinner the other night, which, by the way was wonderful! Well, since I brought it up........I am DONE with
school!! We had our LAST exam this past Wednesday and what a relief!
The truth of the matter is, it's more of a bittersweet type deal. I've truly made some incredibly wonderful friends over this past year and it's going to be SO strange not seeing them every week anymore. I just hope we DO keep in touch.

Anyways, moving right along....................I was getting ready and...................................................

.........I happened to look out our bathroom window and saw this amazing Eagle munch'in on her catch for the day, a steelhead trout. I asked Joe to grab one of the camera's to take a picture. I just LOVE Eagle's. I just think they are BEAUTIFUL. MY thought was for Joe to take the picture from the balcony off our bedroom........guys think differently from us though girls........he took them through the bathroom window. I LOVE my husband to death but can you say, 'deedeedee'!!! UGH! I TRIED to 'fix' them. They're a LITTLE better but not much. It's alright......she's STILL AMAZING to me!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I hope your day is FILLED with multiple blessings and MUCH JOY!!

We don't usually do much for Thanksgiving and it's certainly not 'traditional'.

Nikki has requested for Joe to make 'his ham'. We ALWAYS have it (Joe's ham) for Christmas but Nikki ALWAYS tries to get him to make it for Thanksgiving as well.

So, YES! We are having HAM for Thanksgiving!!!

We'll also be having mashed 'taters, sweet 'tater casserole, green bean casserole, green salad, home made crescent rolls (I have a KILLER recipe!!)

and pun'kin pie.

Samuel helped me earlier this morning in the making of the pies.....He LOVES to help us bake and cook and I hate to discourage him for fear that then he'll NEVER want to cook or bake. So, even though sometimes it's a pain in the neck........I let him do as much as I can.

We got to the part where you pour in the evaporated milk.....it was like pale yellow in color---hmmm.... well, I thought, it's fat

free....maybe it's supposed to be yellow?? Well, when the white chunks started coming out I pretty much knew somethin' wasn't 'right'. Turns out the 'best used by date' was 2005!! Guess THAT can had been around for a little too long huh??? I guess we're just not a big evaporated milk using family!!

Anyways, down the drain it ALL went!

Luckily we had another can of pumpkin and JUST enough sugar--errr, well, splenda--it's all the same!!!

Anyways, here are a few pics of my 'lil man makin' his pies.......

...and the finished product(s)!!

Hopefully we can 'train' him to be as GOOD a cook as his dad!!!

Again,
Happy Thanksgiving from our home to yours!!

For a friend.......

This is a card I made up this afternoon for a friend.

I came across this paper yesterday when I was looking for paper for my gaudy flamingo card. This paper just caught my eye. Believe it or not I picked up the stamp from the $1 bin at Michaels the last time I was there.

I hope she likes it!!

Okay! NO MORE creating for me today. I'm off to study.

Materials Used:

Stamps: for you (Michaels $1 bin), Ink: Pumpkin Pie & Ruby Red (SU!), Topiary (CTMH) Papers: OLD paper (unsure), pumpkin pie & old olive (SU!) Ribbon(Offray)

Misc: crystal stickles (Ranger).

It is what it is!

OK, so I lied....

ONE MORE CARD for tonight.......

I'm not totally sold on this card yet....maybe I'll feel differently when I get up in the morning and look at it again. I came across this paper tonight when I was looking for other paper and when I saw it all I could think of was the Baroque Motifs set. I dunno......

....maybe if I stamped on the lighter yellow paper instead of the off white??? Maybe I'll give it a whirl tomorrow....we'll see........but for tonight, it is what it is................

Materials Used:

Stamps: Baroque Motif's (SU!), Ink: Pumpkin Pie-(I think!), Ruby Red and Close to Cocoa (all SU!) Cardstock: Chatterbox Patterned Paper: from a stack Misc items: brads (?)

old truck

Yeppers! Another card.....

This one is for my dad.

My mom was real sick a little over a year and a half ago and hospitalized for 5 weeks. I flew home to Connecticut to stay with my dad and youngest brother. During that time the relationship between me and my dad REALLY grew. After I returned home (to Washington state) we'd gotten into a little routine for a while where we'd talk once a week or so-sometimes more often. Not for too long but just long enough to 'touch base' and talk for a little bit to see what the other was up to. Well, my dad's been SUPER busy lately--as I have--and we just can't seem to connect-the whole phone tag thing... I miss talking to him. He makes me laugh, he makes me think-I mean REALLY think about stuff-and he can even make me CRAZY at times. :) BUT, as crazy as he can make me sometimes, I'm SO thankful for the time we had to grow our relationship.

Anyways, this card is for my dad. I'm going to write a nice note on the inside and remind him of just how much I love and miss him-and also tell him how excited I am to see him, and my mom, next month when they come to visit!!

Well, I think that's all for tonight. I'm tired so I think I'm going to head off to bed.......

ENJOY the rest of your weekend and come back and visit again SOON!!

-S

Materials Used:

Stamps: oldtruck (TAC), Geometric Thoughts (CTMH-B1090), Simple Stitches (C1234)

Ink: Close to Cocoa (SU!)

Paper: Chatterbox

Accessories: brads & photo clip (CTMH), twill (just4fun crafts)

After looking at this card for a while I decided I should just go ahead and color it in........

What do you think??

I was really looking for more of a RUST color to color the truck but it would seem I DON'T HAVE a rust colored chalk. This is the closest I could get.

I'm pretty sure my dad will like it regardless :)

tickled pink

I picked up my TAC (The Angel Company) order from Katrina! Of course I had to cut all my new stamp sets down so I could use them BUT I have managed to get one card DONE...a few more are part way done...I'll post when they're complete.


But, for now, here is this one:


Is she just too much or what!?!!
I just noticed (from the picture) my bottom little 'bling' rhinestone was crooked. YIKES! Luckily it wasn't dried completely and I was able to straighten it out!
I'm not so happy about my pink cardstock not matching perfectly so I guess I'll either have to keep my eyes out for a darker hot pink OR just color her in with a different color next time.
I used colored pencils and OMS (Odorless Mineral Spirits) to color this beauty in and then went over her boa, hat and heels with crystal Stickles (LOVE that stuff!!) The paper is just stuff I have had forever. I don't even know where it originally came from--probably paper stacks or something.
Alright, off to work on something else before it's time for bed!! Tomorrow is going to be dedicated to studying--after church of course.
Enjoy the rest of your weekend........
-S

My FIRST Saturday 'PLAY' card-

SO--I woke up early this morning but had a headache and just was NOT motivated to 'play'.

After a cup 'a Joe and some toast (AND making breakfast for Sammo-a banana smoothie and eggs) AND put'zin around in my craft room for a little while I decided to do SOMETHING!! Well, here it is:

It's not the BEST picture, I KNOW. But really, I didn't feel like taking another.

It's a pretty simple card. I embossed the background with my Cuttlebug--which I LOVE!!! with the snowflakes folder. I had originally THOUGHT about just highlighting some of the embossed snowflakes with some icicle stickles but I didn't care for it....soooooo....I tried wiping it off....well, that didn't work so well, it just smeared but then I kinda liked the look so I smeared on MORE. I like the sparkliness. ;)

Well, Katrina just called....she has my TAC stamps!! YIPPEEE!!! I'm gonna go pick 'em up from her at work!!

Materials used:

Stamp: A Tree for All Seasons (SU!)

Ink: Blue Bayou & Creamy Caramel (SU!), Archival Black, Holiday Red (CTMH)

Cardstock: Ruby Red & Not Quite Navy (CU!-Earth Elements paper pack)

Ribbon: White Daisy Organdy (CTMH)

Misc: Icicle Stickles (Ranger), Snowflakes embossing folder (Provo Craft)

Time well spent....

LOOK at what Shelli from SU! sent to all of her Demonstrators!!!!

Aura? Have you gotten yours?? Have you had a chance to 'play'?? I can't WAIT to see what you do with it!! :)
Well, mine arrived yesterday and I am SO glad I have today and tomorrow off so I can PLAY with it!!
The name of the set is Time Well Spent. It is a Level 3 Hostess set in the upcoming catalog SOOO....if YOU'RE LOVING this set as much as I do, think about doing a party (home or book)!!

Gotta go PLAY now---
Until next time....................

The plan is.........................

....to stamp-n-play on Saturday!!!

Check back sometime this weekend to see if I actually followed through with the plan!!

This picture was taken by my friend Julie. She took it while she and her son Riley were out hunting. I just LOVE it!!! One of these days I'm going to have it printed and framed. It's on 'the list'.

GOOD FRIENDS KEEP YOU WARM

Another card I made up using the same sketch as the last (see earlier post).

I bought this little stamp a few weeks to a month ago. I think I got it in a clearance bin somewhere.I'm just having a little fun 'playing' this morning. I'm going to HAVE to get something done today so I think this may be the end of my 'playing' for this morning.

The kids are making cotton candy--YES! at 10:00 in the morning. My son is a sugar FREAK-but it's keeping him busy for right now...he hasn't actually MADE any yet but he will be here in a few minutes............So, until next time--Happy Stamp'in and ENJOY your weekend! It's off to work for me tomorrow BUT I DO have Monday off!!!

Materials used: Paper: White Daisy, Cranberry and Blush Cardstock (CTMH) Patterned Paper: The Christmas Stack (DCWV) Ink: Orange, archival black, White Daisy (CTMH) Stamps: Baroque Motifs (SU!), Snowpeople (studio g) Ribbon: white organdy (CTMH), red with snowflakes ($1 bin-Target) Misc: Icicle Stickles (Ranger), Liquid Applique (Marvy)

The Snowflake Spot

I had the 'day off' yesterday....I had some homework to finish up but after I got that done I thought I would 'play' a little....and I DID play just a LITTLE! (The kids were off early again yesterday due to conferences and we had Sammo's conference in the afternoon so that kind of cut into my 'play time' a bit...but it's all good....it was nice being able to make it to his conference. I haven't been able to do a lot of that kind of thing for a while so it was REALLY nice to be able to go. I know he liked that I went too. He's a good student and I know I didn't have anything to worry about but it's still nice to go and see what he's up to in school....
Moving right along........

I picked up some paper the other day at JoAnns. It's a Christmas Stack by DCWV. It was on sale for $11.99. There are 180 sheets in the pack which makes each sheet about $0.06/sheets. There are some really cute patterns in that stack-I'd looked at it a couple times before and decided to just get it. The problem is, I have SO many of these darned stacks, well, I have SO MUCH PAPER, I hate buying more....but really, just like with the REST of this hobby, it's an ADDICTION and at $0.06/sheet!!! So, I KNEW I wanted to use some of that new paper for this card but I ALSO knew I wanted to use my cuttlebug too....(yet another addiction)--turns out I didn't end up using much of the paper after all! Anyways, this is what I came up with...........


I wasn't so crazy about it at first..but it's kind of grown on me a bit....It's pretty simple and didn't take much time to put together. I LOVE the icicle stickles BUT it's got a bigger tip (I'm sure to accomodate the bigger glitter pieces) and it had a tendency to clump up and blob out a bit.
And, of course you'll notice the embossed snowflakes. I just LOVE that little machine!! (Samuel LOVES coming in and making up different embossed papers too. I'm going to have to figure a way to 'nix' that or I'll be out of plain paper before I know it!!) I used blush cardstock (CTMH) for the embossed snowflakes and then sanded the top a bit.
Materials used:
Papers: CranberryWhite Daisy and Blush cardstock (CTMH)
Patterned Paper: DCWV, The Christmas Stack
Stamps: The Snowflake Spot (SU!)
Ribbon: White Daisy Organdy (CTMH), light blue grossgrain (Michaels)
Misc: Icicle Stickles (Ranger), 'rhinestone gems' (WalMart)



This is Beate's sketch challenge so if you want to 'get in on it', start creating! You can check out her blog: http://beate.blogs.splitcoaststampers.com/
for details. She has links to work by other ladies too who have participated in this challenge and their work is just beautiful-so check 'em out!!
Let me know if you do something too, by leaving a comment and a link to your blog. I LOVE seeing what everyone comes up with!!


Enjoy your weekend!!

Frame for Katie

This is a picture frame I did up for Katie for her bday. It matches the paper from the card. These are SO easy to make up and they always come out so darned cute-to me anyways.

I bought the frames at Michaels 'forever' ago for $1. They really just snap together. The longest time is waiting for the glue to dry!

oops-just noticed the background paper doesn't match. You get the point anyways! :)

Have a GREAT week!

-S

Birthday Wishes for Katie

This is a birthday card I made up today for Katie, a girl in my class.

I KNOW I have a test tomorrow and I SHOULD be studying. I've just been SO busy lately....I just needed a little 'me' time to clear my head.

The card is TOTALLY lifted from Cambria Turnbow (http://www.cambriaturnbow.blogspot.com) I'd been looking and looking for some inspiration and when I saw her card on her blog........I knew THIS was IT!!

PLUS, I got to use my new cuttlebug!! I was SO excited when it arrived but I haven't had any time to REALLY do anything with it--on a card or anything...I've embossed TONS of paper already that's just sitting on my desk. The flowers were made with my flower marvy punch, 2 of them stacked on top of each other with one of the little embossed flowers cut out on top and then a rhinstone brad.

I hope Katie likes it!

Until next time......I'm back to the books!!

Materials used:

Stamps: Birthday Wishes ($1 bin-Michaels)

Paper: Brooke Paisley & Brooke Narr Stripe (making memories), pink carnation cardstock (CTMH), white cardstock (misc).

Ink: pink carnation (CTMH)

Ribbon: Dashes, Dots & Checks

Misc: Oval Bookplates (JoAnn Fabric), Rhinestone brads (making memories)

Cuttlebug, Bloom Dots embossing folder

Happy Saturday!

Gosh! I haven't posted in a while!! BUSY, BUSY!!

No rest for the weary you know..

I studied with a fellow classmate the greater part of the day today and it looks like we'll be at it again tomorrow. We have a test on Monday.

I WANTED to spend some time in 'my room' today but the books were calling my name-I guess the books were a little louder??

I did actually get a chance to clean my room up a bit-after Korie left. I have a few cards I want to make so I was TRYING to 'get in the mood'. I had a tough time at first but FINALLY got ONE (of the three I want to get done) done. I went to upload them and was pleasantly reminded of some pictures I took the other day. Let me share.........

I've never really been much of a Fall person. Spring has ALWAYS been my ALL TIME FAVORITE season--and I even grew up on the East Coast (Connecticut) where everyone just talks of how BEAUTIFUL Fall is and the changing of the leaves and all........I dunno, it always reminded me of death and dying-cold- where Spring always meant rebirth and renewal to me.........

Well, I don't know if it's because I'm getting older or WHAT but I am just LOVING Fall and all the beauty that surrounds me. I took this picture from our back deck. It's looking up the river (Okanogan).

Next, a few pics of my little man!

Now, if he isn't just THE CUTEST guy-I don't know WHO is!!!! :)

I always TRY to get pictures of the kids with this tree and it's leaves before Fall passes. The leaves are just absolutely GORGEOUS to me and the pictures always come out SO nice! -Well, I think so anyways.........

OK, so when I saw this picture, I just CRACKED UP! I have NO idea what he saw, THOUGHT he saw or heard or what but the look on his face just made me chuckle!

Ya know, as I was looking at this picture I was reminded of another picture where Samuel has this SAME look on his face! I'm pretty sure I don't have it saved to the other computer but if I can get it scanned I may just post it. The only difference is he was 1-1 1/2 sitting naked in a little wading pool we had. How FUNNY is that!

Alright, alright..................

So, this is the last one of Sammo.....

Mittens (Nikki's cat) just HAD to get in on the 'going's on'...silly kitty!!

No pictures of Nikki! :(

I don't know WHERE she was, for heaven's sake, I don't even know WHEN I took these pictures, my guess is she wasn't home.....AHH!! She was at Vanessa's and didn't get home until it was too dark. I hope I get a chance to get some pictures of HER at the tree....Maybe Monday-we'll see.

Of COURSE I'll post a few of HER too if I can get her to take some.

I'll post that picture of the card I was working on in a bit..........

Until then, Tata!