Look Ma, another card!

I think my mojo is coming back! w00t!

This one is for PH's challenge on SCS. HCE02 - Squares, Scallops and Sentiments It's funny how you get an idea in your head and then it decides to go it's own way once you start putting everything together. That's what happened here.



I knew I wanted to use the Inkadinkadoo Cardinal stamp from the Winter Birds set. I haven't used it yet ;) So I started there, then I was looking around my table at the various pieces of scraps and stuff, here you look too, see what I saw? LOL



I found the Basic Gray paper and thought it looked like branches that a bird might sit on, so I went with it. Then I picked my cs colors, easy when Basic Gray seems to match their colors with SU colors! Love that! Wild Wasabi and Cranberry crisp it was.

Ok a square card, NP, no glitter, NP, sentiment 3 words or longer, hmmm ok, found one, scallops, got them too. Now how the heck to pull it all together.

I started with the idea of having the bird on a solid piece of white, but then you could see the PP. Then I thought of cutting out the whole bird, but I looked at the branches it was sitting on and changed my mind rather quickly! I decided on a partial cut out, and did the scallops on the bottom edge, leaving me just enough room for the sentiment IF I split it up around the bird. I liked the idea of leaving the wings popped up, but I didn't want to actually POP them up KWIM? So I just didn't glue them down. The ribbon behind them helps to push them out a bit to make the bird look as though it's flying, or at least trying to take off.

I made a card! Woo Hoo!

SCS is having a Holiday Challenge Extravaganza 2008
and my friend Victoria is hostessing the first challenge, so I HAD to participate! Plus, just maybe, it'll get me back in the swing of things.

So here's my card.



This is attempt #2 for this design. The first one was ok, but the only snowflake I could find was from Season of Joy and I didn't want the circle of dots around the flake, so I tried to make a mask and stamp just the snowflake. (I was using In Colors, so I don't have markers, if SU would make markers for the In Colors, my life would be SO much easier ;) ) Anyway, I got a couple of unwanted marks on the card, so I stamped the Snowflakes from Merry and Bright over the whole side thinking that would help hide the boo boos. It did, but unfortunately the last time I used that stamp I either didn't clean it at all or at least not very well :( It got some pinkish flakes on my card, pretty, but not what I was going for. I did try to overlook that too and stamp the sentiment to finish the piece, but I just HAD to add one more thing. I wanted a flake on the tail of the sentiment, so I stamped one. But I didn't check my stamp and I got smudges on the piece. So with all that wrong just sitting there staring me in the face, I couldn't justify finishing the card. I am a perfectionist and I really don't like "Oopsies" on my cards. So I tried again with a different approach.

This one went smoother. I masked off the side with the sentiment, then I stamped the little snowflakes (making sure the stamp was GOOD and CLEAN this time). Then I marked the lines on the reverse side and scored them with my trimmer. I really wish I had a scorepal for this, but I don't so I used what I have. Then I saw my new Martha Stewart Snowflake punch sitting there and thought "OOOOOO Anna's done a TON of cool things with snowflakes lately, maybe you should try something like that!" Now of course I don't have the cool chunky glitter that Anna has, and I don't have any really cool rust snowflakes or half her talent, but I think it turned out quite nice.

Ribbon Leftovers for sale!

OK I have some ribbon left from the share I did eons ago. Here's what I have left.

Soft Subtles

Pretty in Pink
Barely Banana
Certainly Celery
Bashful Blue
Almost Amethyst (close)

Bold Brights

Glorious Green (close)
Green Galore
Gable Green - gone
YoYo Yellow
Only Orange
Pink Passion
Orchid Opulence(close)
Lovely Lilac
Brilliant Blue
Tempting Turquoise

Earth Elements

Really Rust
Ruby Red (close)
Cameo Coral
Summer Sun (close)

Rich Regals

Ballet Blue
Night of Navy
Taken with Teal
Handsome Hunter
So Saffron
Bravo Burgundy (close)

Neutrals

Very Vanilla (close)
Going Gray

In Colors 2007
Buckaroo Blue - gone

(NOTE: the ribbons are NOT SU ribbons, but match the colors very well!)


The cost is $1.05 for 5 yards. I'm selling the colors in 5 yard increments. So the smallest amount you can order is 5 yards of each color you'd like!

Since these are leftovers and I do NOT plan on ordering more, this will have to be first come first serve basis.

PayPal only please, it's just easier for me. I can take Credit cards through my Paypal account! Shipping and a small Paypal fee will be added to your total once I know how many yards you'd like. Please e-mail with your choices laurakayj @ yahoo . com (just remove the spaces) If you could put ribbon in the subject line, that would help a TON!

Brunch with Santa

Today was Camp Adahi's Brunch with Santa. Kendalyn was SO excited to tell Santa exactly what she wanted. She had a mental list about 30 things long! I told her that Santa only had time to hear 2 or 3 things that she wanted. So in the end she decided to ask for 1. An Easy Bake Oven (Yea me! I know my daughter pretty well! She had NEVER said anything about this until last week. Guess what? It's been wrapped and hidden for 3 weeks! LOL) 2. Jewelry (This is a new one for today. I was told this morning that she wanted a small diamond. OMG, I guess she's going to be "THAT" kind of girl. LOL Hey at least she's getting one thing on her list.

As we were driving to the Brunch, we saw a sign at the Cumru Community Center announcing thier "Lunch with Santa". It was also today. Kendalyn read the sign and said, "Well I guess it's going to be Mrs. Claus there, because we are going to have bunch with the REAL Santa, right Mom?!" I had to try not to laugh. I love that she is still so innocent. I can only hope that it lasts.

Our 1st Turkey Day in PA

Here is my Thanksgiving table before we sat down to eat. I brought out the "fancy" plates LOL. They used to be my Grandmother's then I got them. My Mom suplemented the set I got with more pieces from the Betty Crocker catalog (too bad it's gone now, I had 100's if not 1000's of points left :( ). Oh see that cool gizmo in th emiddle of the table??? $5 at Walmart. When you have a really small table and a LOT of food, you need to think UP LOL. It was such a great way to have all the food on the table and still be able to have room to eat. Anyway, my brother Randy came over and we all had dinner together. It was my very first time cooking both turkey and hosting a Thanksgiving. Everything went off without a hitch.


Kendalyn LOVES Thanksgiving food, the turkey and especially stuffing. I make just a very basic stuffing, no oysters or raisins or nuts etc... and we all think it's just the best part of the meal. There is hardly ever any leftover.


Kendalyn is so happy to be able to spend time with her Uncle. Before we moved to PA, she had only seen him maybe 3 or 4 times in her life. We got to see him that many times in the first month we were here! It's really nice being close to MY family again ok so not all of them are here, but I'll take what I can get ;) )

Kendalyn's Christmas Tree

Kendalyn wanted a tree for her room, so we got her one. LOL It's really cute. At 4.5 feet tall, it's just a little taller than K. She chose the ornaments (with a little encouragement from Mom ;) ) and we put it up tonight. K is SO proud of her little tree, she says she hopes Santa will come downstairs to take a peek at it, because it's "SOOOOOO pretty!"She's such a hoot.

Since the colors match some SU colors pretty well (Tempting Turquoise, Pink Passion, Green Galore and Only Orange) I'm going to make a set of cards using those colors. I can't wait to play, I think they will be super cool X-Mas cards ;)

Hopefully now that I found this awesome picture editing program, I'll be able to upload cards and pictures easier. I know it's been around forEVER, but I just now had the need to discover it. Picasa is AWESOME. It's SO easy to use. Anyway, I hope to get my stamp back on SOON! LOL Now that I'm online again, I don't have anymore excuses.

The View from my Porch

I promised a few friends some pictures from my new house, ummm back in July when I moved in.. uhh better late then never??? LOL Well here they are. Hey, at least I took the pictures!

The first pic is the view from my porch the week I moved in, back in July.



The second pic is the same view this weekend.



I still don't know why I ever left PA! It's really pretty here. Anyway there are the promised pictures. Maybe I'll get a chance to upload some pictures from Halloween as well as some of the latest cards I've made. Yes, you read that right, I actually made some cards! I know, it's been forever, but I have done a few. I'll try to see what I can do. Gotta scoot!

Finally, an update!

Whew, life has been crazy since I posted last! Let's see where do I start...

Kendalyn has started Kindergarten and is loving it! Here's a picture from her first day of school.



And yes we're suckups and those are apples on her dress ;) My Mom and I saw that dress and fell in love with it. K thought it was pretty cool too.

She loves her teacher and is doing really well. Shes the best reader in her class. She started out in the AM class, but because of the job I got, she was moved in to the PM class. That move just happened yesterday, but I think K will be ok with it.

So that leads me to my job. I am working as a child care teacher at Camp Adahi. I was hired for part time and was ok with that, knowing that the turn over and such is so high at these places that I'd end up with a full time position in no time. Well that happened FAR faster than I ever thought possible. I was hired on Friday and my first day was supposed to be that next Monday. I showed up for work and the director was walking down the walkway and she stopped me and we chatted for a little while. Later that day she came in and told me that I would get 35 hrs a week and that would make it so I could get medical insurance. Ok COOL! Well fast forward a week and the one girl that they hired for the 3 and 4 year olds quit. She was only there for 2 weeks. See what I mean about turnover!?! Anyway, that Monday I spoke with the director again and was offered more hours and an extra dollar an hour! Plus a day off a week. So Now I work M, W,Th, & F. 8 - 5. That's 36 hrs a week minimum. PLUS, she's trying to get me on the medical ins after only 30 days rather than the 90 that's usually the case.

I forgot the best part!!!! I get FREE child care! That's going to save me close to $250 a month. That in and of itself makes the job worth it, but the other benefits are nice too.

It's going to take a lot of patience to deal with some of the people I work with/for, but I think I can manage. Oh and the other thing... the teacher for the 4 and 5 year olds is leaving in a couple of weeks and she wants me to take her job. Who knows if that will happen or not, but I think it's a good possibility. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Other than that, I LOVE my apartment. I LOVE my neighborhood and I am SO happy to be back in PA.

I miss my online friends, but I'm hoping to have internet access at the apartment after the 1st of the year. I need to build up a financial cushion to help keep me on my feet before I agree to any extraneous bills (cable and internet! LOL)

So that's what I've been up to lately.

Checking in

Ok so this is so strange to me. Here I am sitting in Panara updating my blog. Until I get a job and can afford to get internet at home, this is going to be my only way of checking in and communicating with the world. I haven't been without internet in over 10 years, so this is really weird. It's hard to concentrate with K bouncing around on the other side of the booth as well as other people discussing their business all around me. Oh well, I guess I'll get used to it. It's all for a good reason.

Just to let everyone know, the move went off without a hitch. We got to PA just fine and got the truck unpacked in 2 days. Getting the boxes all unpacked will take FAR more time ;) K and I really like the new place and as soon as I get a chance, I'll post some pictures of the gorgeous view I have from my back porch! It's so much nicer to walk out there and see mountains rater than corn fields!

K has almost the entire 2nd Floor (ok technically 3d floor)for her playroom/TV room and she LOVES it. I do too!

And to answer everyone, no I haven't even started to unpack my stamp room :( It's last on my list, even though I'd really like it to be the 1st!

Next on the agenda is to find a job. My friend Jay has a couple of leads for me, which is great!

Ok time's up, I'll try to check in again next week.

Cracked Glass Lovely

A group of my friends and I have started challenging each other on the weekends. Last week was to use the Basic Gray Blush 6x6 pad and a certain sketch. This week is to make a card with the cracked glass technique.

Ok, I'll admit it, this is NOT one of my favorite techniques. I do like the results, but it's so finicky to get good results. I usually have to go back and add a couple extra layers of UTEE because inevitably the cracked part will crack too much and piece will fall off. I actually received a card in the mail once with pieces of UTEE floating around in the envelope, so ever since I've been pretty careful when I make a cracked glass card. I would really hate for someone to get one of my cards that was falling apart!


Ok so to the card...



It's pretty simple. I stamped the flower in Basic Gray (Thanks Danita!) and watercolored it with Blush Blossom, Groovy Guava, Certainly Celery, and Wild Wasabi. Than I sponged on some Basic Gray, using a sponge that was kinda of damp. It changes the way the ink plays when the sponge is wet.

Then I started the cracked glass bit. About 4 layers of UTEE and a 20 minute rest in the freezer and I cracked it, and of course a piece fell off :( GRRRRR Well it wasn't too bad I couldn't do my next step and fix it later, so I rubbed some Sahara Sand over the cracks to accentuate them. Then I did another layer of EP (I used regular clear and not UTEE for this layer). It rested again for a couple minutes then I cracked it again. This time was better.

I made the card to open at the top, and there's a little bit that doesn't open. (I can't remember what that's called). I masked off that top strip and stamped Paisley in Soft Sky. Used my Threading Waters punch to punch the white strip for the top. Some silver embellies set it off.

Oh yea I almost forgot! I MUST enable you! LOL I bought the Tim Holtz Design ruler last week and have only had a couple of chances to play with it, but OMG it ROCKS! I LOVE the Mat Pack by SU, but was always disappointed that it wasn't even as long as the short side of a card. That part of it was just poorly designed. The Tim Holtz ruler has holes for piercing every 1/8 inch and it's a full 12" long! I LOVE that! It's also a centering ruler and it has a metal edge so you can use a craft knife without worrying about cutting into the plastic ruler! This thing is AWESOME!

I'm single again!

So my divorce was official as of 9:30 this morning. I am officially a single Mom. It's been a crazy last year, but I'm glad it's all over.

I'll be moving at the end of the month and I can't wait! PA here I come!

New Digs

So it's official, I'm moving back to PA. (Well as long as the judge doesn't do something stupid and say I can't)

I found an apartment in the school district I want K to go to, and my wonderful parents were able to go and take a bunch of pictures for me. Here's the floor plan and a few highlight pictures...

The floor plan isn't to scale, it's a rough drawing from the sketch my Dad made. But you can get the idea.



Here's the bathroom.





And the kitchen and porch.







And the BEST part of this place.... the finished Attic loft. As of right now, I plan on it being a combo playroom and living room. I was going to put my stamp room up there, but after looking at the pictures and floor plan, I think this might be a better idea.

New Card and a story behind it.

Ok I'll start at the end and work forward. LOL Here's the card I made for my neighbor, he helped me out last week.



And here's the reason why! This is a combination of postings I made on a yahoo group I'm on. It's easier to just copy and paste all this rather than re-type it.

6/7/2008

You are never, I mean never going to believe what was in my
bedroom????! !!!!

A SNAKE!!!!

In my 2nd floor bedroom! OMG I am so freaked out right now. It's not a
poisonous one, but still that's the last thing you expect to find. I
was trying to get stuff together and out of the way to attempt to put
he air conditioner in the window and I moved the fan out of the way
and looked down as I set it on the floor. And there was the snake! It
was looking right at me and it was freaked out too, it started to try
to sound all threatening and made rattling sounds (no, it's not a
rattlesnake) but many snakes will try to intimidate by imitating the
rattle. Anyway, I screamed, not because I'm afraid of snakes, but
because I was so shocked and startled to have a SNAKE in my bedroom.
OMG I want out of this house SO badly!!!

So I started calling anyone I know, of course that's not too many
people around here. I got no answer from Rob, no answer from the
neighbor, no answer from my parents, but then I called my brother and
he answered. I was able to calm down quite a bit and talk to him. Then
my parents called back and I talked to them for a while. I feel a bit
better, but I'm still freaked.

I went back upstairs while I was talking to my brother and there was
no sign of the snake anywhere. I'm pretty sure it's back in the walls
or where ever it came from.

This happened a couple years before K was born too. I went to close
the closet door and there was a darkish "thing" on it. I didn't see it
exactly, but it fell to the floor with a thud and then disappeared. I
was pretty sure it was a snake, but Rob never believed me that that's
what it was. He couldn't imagine a snake in the second floor bedroom.
Since I didn't see it for sure, I second guessed myself. But not this
time, I KNOW what I saw, I looked the damn thing in the eyes. It was
definitely a snake.

***********************************************************************
6/9/2008

Another Snake sighting... (same snake, different location - I HOPE!)

So I was in the kitchen finishing up making dinner when I hear this
sound coming from above me. We have a drop ceiling in there and I'm
quite used to the mice using it as a racetrack, but that's not the
sound I heard. It was distinctly the sound of scales scraping across
the ceiling tiles. OMG I called the neighbor immediately. So he came
over and started prodding and lifting the tiles to look. Well he saw
it! I am not crazy, there is a snake in my house. He had it pinned at
one point but it got away. Then we lost it :( I wish we could have
gotten the darn thing outta here. So the snake is somewhere still in
my house, now it's closer to the 1st floor than the 2nd, but as far as
I know it's still here.

***********************************************************************

We named him Fred.

***********************************************************************
6/10/2008

Fred has been evicted!

by yours truly! You heard that right, *I* caught him! You don't want
to know where he was last night though...

IN MY BED!!!!!

I have to work today, so I set my alarm and it went off. He must not
have liked the sudden loud noise cuz he slithered out from under the
covers.

Now last night before I went to bed I stripped the bed down to check
it, but just on my side. No snake there, so I went to bed.

Anyway, once he was on the top of the covers and I was standing there
staring at him and him at me. I looked over to the top of the dresser
and saw a pillowcase and thought, well I won't ever have a better
chance to get him than now. So I took the pillowcase and turned it
inside out over my hand. I watched him and he tried to get back under
the covers, "I don't think so!" So I flipped the cover off him, he
coiled up a bit, and I grabbed a couple of coils as close to his head
as I could and flipped him into the pillowcase.

I ended up taking the pillowcase and putting it in a box and putting a lid on the box. I took the box to the neighbor's, since I had to work, I didn't have time to take Fred out and let him go in the fields. Luckily my neighbor is a really great guy and he did it for me. It was all surreal, I still can't believe that I slept with a snake in my bed all night long.

It's too bad I didn't get a picture of him, but I was more concerned about getting rid of him.

It was a Bull Snake, not poisonous, and pretty timid as far as snakes go. Just BIG, he was over 3 feet long. I have a King size bed and he took up most of the length of it and he wasn't stretched out fully!

The new me!

I needed a change, and I needed it badly! I decided it was time to get my haircut. I have had LONG hair for at least 15 years (if not longer) and it was pretty much the same thing, long and in a ponytail. I liked that it was easy and I didn't have to fiddle with it too much. Well I got tired of it finally. Part of why I kept it long was a comfort thing, I had it that way for so long, it's what I knew. And part of it was that's how my DH liked it. Well since that doesn't matter anymore, I decided to try something different! Let me know what you think...

Here's before (in January)...



And here's the new look :) K took the picture for me!

Meeting Mickey

The highlight of every trip to Walt Disney World is meeting the Mouse himself! We were so very lucky, when we went to see Mickey, there was NO LINE, I mean none! Ok so there was 1 family in front of us, but that was it! It was wonderful.

Kendalyn was a trip, every time she had her picture taken with a character she would pose just like the character was posing! She is such a goofball!



One thing I've noticed is that just about every single page I've done so far has some sort of Circle on it. I guess when you are working with the most famous 3 circles it's a given! LOL

Supplies:
Paper - Bazzill, Creative Imaginations, WW
Accessories - brads, ribbon, Threading Waters punch, Marvy scallop punches, transparency, various hole punches, Mickey icon sticker

Flying High

This one was so much fun to do! I paper pieced the Dumbo. I haven't done that in AGES! I used to make them and sell them on eBay, but my carpal tunnel stopped me :( It was the perfect touch to finish off the page. He was a bit tricky, cuz he's SO small. Those eyes were tough! LOL But I love it!

I used a LO from 2 Peas (again LOL) But I changed all the papers and colors and such.

Ok I LOVE LOVE LOVE my new Threading Waters punch! When I went into work yesterday, I saw it hanging there and I grabbed one! Luckily the owner was there and I was able to purchase it right away! I first did the bottom edge and then very carefully lined it up to make the corner and went up the sides. It's not hard to do, but you do have to be careful.



The journaling reads: "Nanny likes to plan vacations, she likes to plan them down the exact order in which we do things, and well this trip was no different. The Dumbo Ride was to be first, and it was. You were so excited to ride and even more so when you realized YOU controlled when Dumbo went up and down. Uncle Randy and I rode with you, but YOU were in charge."

Supplies:
Paper - BoBunny, Scenic Route, Chatterbox, Going Gray, Pumpkin Pie, Pretty in Pink, Barely Banana, WW, Tempting Turquoise
Accessories - brads, brads and more brads LOL, rickrack, ribbon, Prima flowers, threading waters punch (LOVE IT!!!!!!, Olivia Cuttlebug letters
Stamps - flourish by Autumn Leaves
Ink - Olive Pastel Chalk ink

Again, there's a hidden Mickey! Maybe even 2, but the 2nd one is tough to see in the picture.

Randy & Kendalyn

One of the best parts of the trip was being able to spend time with my family. Since I moved to IL, we've only seen each other a handful of times. I've seen my brother even less than my parents, it was so great that he was able to come and join the fun with us! K just LOVES her Uncle Randy.

We were waiting in line for the Dumbo ride, it was the first ride of the day, and Kendalyn was so excited it was hard to get her attention.

This is another LO heavily inspired by a LO I saw on 2 Peas.



Supplies:
Paper - Basic Gray, Very Vanilla (the tag)
Accessories - buttons, ribbons, twine, hand stitching, machine stitching, circle punch
Stamps - SU flourish from Season of Joy, Happy Harmony
Ink - Distress ink - Vintage Photo, Stazon Timber Brown

PS. Can you find Mickey? (there are 3 but you can only see 2 ;) )

Ride

My Mom always has a "plan" every time we go on vacation. And of course every time things work out as expected the whole family must say "I just love it when a plan comes together!" (*Bonus points* if you know where that's from :) )So part of Mom's "plan" for Disney was when to ride which rides and in which order to do things. Well, when traveling with an almost 5 year old, you must learn to be flexible :) I have learned this lesson quite well over the past year.

When K saw the Carousel she wanted to ride it "NOW!" LOL, well Mom's plan was to ride Dumbo first. So we told K that we'd ride the Carousel, but we wanted to ride the Dumbo ride first to avoid long lines. She was reluctant, but agreed.

Anyway, she had a great time riding the Carousel, of course she HAD to pick a horse with colors totally different from her outfit, making color choice for the page a bit tricky, but I think I made it work. LOL



Supplies:
Paper - Cosmo Cricket and Basic Gray Patterned paper
Accessories - brads, Prima flowers
Stamps - Scrappy Cat journaling lines, SU flourish & small flower from Season of Joy, SU Little Pieces
Ink - Color Box Olive Pastel chalk ink, SU Night of Navy Craft

PS. Can you find Mickey?

Energy Surplus

Woo Hoo! I'm on a roll! I'm having fun scrapping again (well except when I make a HUGE mess of my table with the embossing powder! Oops! Next time find the Tidy Tray BEFORE embossing!

My child has SO much energy, its not funny. She is non-stop (but not hyper). She can go all day long, but when she crashes, she CRASHES! At 5 she still takes naps! (Yea I know, I'm VERY lucky about that!)


Here's the journaling: "Can I bottle that? Holy Cow, you have a lot of energy.
You met this little girl while we were still on the plane taxing to the arrival gate. Thank goodness you two didn’t realize you were sitting a row apart until the flight was ending. You kept feeding of each other’s energy and had the flight not been over, it might have caused a problem, you wouldn’t stop laughing and carrying on! It was kind of funny to watch you play over and around the seats.

Here you guys were entertaining yourselves while we waited for the luggage to make its way around the carousel. Grandpa Larry thought it was so funny the way you guys, literally, ran circles around the adults."

Supplies:
Paper: EK Success, Bazzill
Accessories: Bling, sewing machine, chipboard, white EP, Turquoise glitter EP, Nestabilities, QuicKutz Paige mini letters, corner rounder

Welcome to Orlando

Here's another page from our trip. It was K's first time on an airplane and she did a great job! Looking back, I really wish I would have taken a picture of her in the seat on the plane, or walking down the little enclosed hallway to get to the plane etc... I'll have to remember for next time.

At this point in the trip K didn't know anything other than we were going to visit Nanny and Grandpa Larry in Florida. We didn't tell her about WDW until we were just out side the gates!

It's a pretty basic layout, but I don't really like all the "stuff" on my pages. Sometime there is so much crap on the page, you can hardly see the pictures anymore.

Here's the journaling:
"We made it! You did a wonderful job on your first airplane flight ever. We took Airtran Airways and left from Bloomington, IL and flew into Atlanta or Atlantica as you liked to call it. After a short layover there we made it to Orlando. Nanny, Grandpa and Uncle Randy were waiting there for us, and boy were you excited to see them!

Originally we were going to try to have all of us arrive at the same time, but it turns out that it was good that Randy’s flight came in earlier. We wouldn’t have fit in the Suzuki with all of our luggage!"




Supplies:

CS: EK Success, Bazzill
Ink: Regal Rose (on the word "to")
Accessories: Bling, small corner rounder (for scalloped edge), Nestabilities, Olivia Cuttlebug alphabet, Rub on word "Welcome", Fancy photo turns, ribbon

ºOº Walt Disney World ºOº !!!

I don't think I mentioned our trip to WDW this past January. After the whole divorce thing was set in motion, my parents decided to come here to be with us for Christmas. They would have been near Orlando around that time, so I mentioned the idea of a Disney trip instead. They thought it was a wonderful idea! So my WONDERFUL, AMAZING, GENEROUS parents paid for us all (Me, my DD and my Brother) to fly down to Orlando and go to Disney World!

K and I spent a week there and my brother a couple days less. I wanted to stay! It was so nice to arrive to 60 degree weather in the middle of January. When we got back there was a LOT of snow here.

We went to Magic Kingdom one day and Animal Kingdom another day. For a 4.5 y/o that was plenty! We also went to Downtown Disney and had a wonderful time browsing the stores. I have to say I was less than thrilled with the "scrapbook" store. But I did get an album from Disney World for our pictures.

Anyway, I thought I'd share the Layouts that I've done so far. Between my Dad and I we took over 1000 pictures! Needless to say, I won't be scrapping them all ;)

The first one is the title page. I just finished it last night. I love the way it turned out, but I wish the stickles would have been a little more evenly spread out under the ghost letters. I added the quote from Walt Disney that says "I only hope that we don't lose sight of one thing, that it was all started by a mouse."



Then there is the Layout from the Finding Nemo Show at Animal Kingdom. It was WONDERFUL! Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take flash pictures inside :(. I got around that by finding pictures that someone else took and had posted online. The actors are the same, so it didn't really matter that we didn't take them. plus I can't imagine getting better pictures than these!



The next layout is Kendalyn meeting "her" Fairy Godmother. She really loved meeting all the characters, she acted as though they been best friends for years. Of course in her mind they have been! We literally had to pull K away, she would have talked all day!



Who can visit WDW without taking a spin on the Tea Cup ride? Not us! That's for sure! That's my brother riding with us. It was the first time Randy and I have been back to WDW since we went in 1982 (maybe '83, I can't remember exactly, I was 8 ;) ) We all had such a good time. It was wonderful to experience Disney again, but even better to be with my family and also see it through my child's eyes!



This wasn't at WDW, but along the strip to the RV Park where we stayed. K wanted to play Mini Golf SO badly! Of course Nanny can't deny K ANYTHING, so even though she felt icky, we went and play Mini Golf! K took to it like a Pro! It was really fun, I can't remember the last time I played.



So far, that's all I've gotten done, but I'm still working on them. I have all the pictures printed from WDW so I'll do those first, and then when I'm done with those, I will start on the ones from Animal Kingdom. I'll try to post them as I do them rather in batches.

Update on me

Ok so you know that for the past year I've been pretty absent from the blogging world. So here's why...

I'm in the middle of a divorce. My STBEx met someone else and left me last August. I've been through all the emotions and have now settled on, it's not as bad as it first seemed. I finally got the first draft of the settlement papers yesterday and everything looks pretty good. Hopefully we can agree on everything and this is the beginning of the end.

I've still been crafting on and off, but not to the extent I used to. I started a part time job at the lss. It's a dream come true! I get paid to make cards! I really love it! I just wish I could work there full time.

That leads me to my next step in life, to get a "real" job. I've been a SAHM for the past 5 years, so getting back out there is a bit intimidating, but I know I'll be able to find something.

The plan as of now, is to stay here in Illinois for the next year to save up some money and then move back to PA. If you have read my blog from the beginning, you'll know that the only reason I moved to IL was to be with my STBEx. So as long as I'm allowed, I plan to go back. I've reconnected with some of my friends from home and they are excited to have me back!

Luckily my DD is still pretty young and moving after she attends Kindergarten shouldn't be too traumatic for her. She can make friends anywhere :) I now it will be hard for her (and everyone involved) but I do think putting some distance between me and STBEx is the best thing.

So anyway, that's why I've been away. Blogging has been pretty far down the list of priorities for me. Hopefully once I get settled in an apartment, and get my life back on track a bit better, I'll be able to get back to it.

Asparagus Hunting

LOL I know that sounds so funny doesn't it? Well I never had any idea that Wild Asparagus grew here in Central Illinois. But my friend Danita set me straight on that! We spent most of yesterday hiking up and down the railroad tracks hunting for asparagus. And did we find some! Wow!!!! Here's what I took home with me!



And just look at the size of those stalks! Now Danita swears they are nice and tender all the way down. Nothing like you get at the store and that once I try these, I'll NEVER buy Asparagus from the market ever again!



I plan on taking some to the neighbors as a kind of thank you for all the nice things they've done for me. I know they'll enjoy it, since they just planted their own Asparagus patch.

VMAAAPR08-E Weekend

The bonus challenge was to use the word weekend as your inspiration.

Well the weekend means getting to play with my DD! She loves to go to the park and play for hours on end!! And the weather is finally getting warm enough to be able to do just that!



Supplies:
Stamps: Have a Splendiforous Day, Leafy Tree
Ink: Coffee Bean Brilliance
CS: Wild Wasabi, Scenic Route
Accessories: rick rack, black eyelet, copics

VMAAPR08D: Saturday Night Fever!!

This challenge was to mimic John Travolta's suit from Saturday Night Fever, well sorta ;)It's a B&W challenge!

This was REALLY a challenge for me. I don't have a huge selection of A*Muse stamps to begin with, and trying to find one that fit this was tricky!

Plus I LOVE color! -----------------------------> see my Color Combo Site :)



Well I have a thing for trees, I think I have most of the ones A*Muse makes LOL, so when I was rooting around my stamps I saw the Birch Trees and thought they would work perfectly for this challenge!


Supplies:
Stamps: Birch Trees
Ink: Whisper White Craft
CS: White, Chatterbox PP
Accessories: ribbon, Hologram Highlights

VMAAAPR08C - Do the Hustle...

Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do (I think that's the right amount of Do's ;) )

This challenge was to follow the sketch seen here (Do the Hustle sketch)



I went a different way, but it still follows the sketch. I REALLY like how this turned out!

Supplies:
Stamps: Camper, Journey is the Reward
Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, Chocolate Chip
CS: Brocade Blue, KI Memories
Accessories: ribbon, (blue) Circle Punch, circle cutter

VMAAAPR08B - Disco Ball

Challenge #2 Use glitter! Not Stickle, not Spica pens, not any other kind of "contained" glitter, but REAL old fashioned MESSY glitter :D



I make a lot of glitter ornaments around the holidays and one of the byproducts of them is custom colored glitter. I have quite a collection now, but of course I didn't have the color I wanted, RED nor do I have a red re-inker LOL. Oh well. So I turned to my In Colors and made some Purely Pomegranate glitter! It's SO pretty!


Supplies:
Stamps: Have a Beautiful Christmas, Have a Splendiforous Day, Tiny Bird, Winter Tree
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Rose Red, Adirondack Pitch Black
CS: Kraft
Accessories: Homemade Purely Pomegranate glitter, ribbon

VMAAAPR08A - Let it Be!

Here's my card for the first Virtual Meeting of A*Muse Addicts challenge!

The theme is 70's and this challenge was to use no embellishments. So my card only has paper and the stamps.



This is even smaller than the normal A*Muse size LOL, it's only 3 x 3, perfect for a little gift card.

Stamps: A*Muse
Paper: Basic Gray Blush 6 x 6 pad, Very Vanilla
Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black, Bravo Burgundy
Accessories: (Blue) Oval punch, Copics

Life's Simple Pleasures!

This is for the A*muse Addicts weekly challenge.


I thought I had found the perfect black ink to use with my Copics, but alas it still ran when I hit it with the blender :( I used Adirondack Pitch Black on Bazzill smooth CS. It worked GREAT for the colored inks, but the blender just made it run like crazy (see the fire). Oh well, I'll just have to remember that in the future.

It's pretty funny that "Life's Simple Pleasures" is the challenge this week, as it's the newest A*Muse stamp I bought!

Recipe:
Stamps - all A*Muse
CS - Bazzill white, SU Bordering Blue and Chocolate Chip
PP - KI Memories
Ink - Adirondack Pitch Black, SU Chocolate Chip, Certainly Celery, Going Gray, Bashful Blue, Creamy Caramel
Accessories - Word Window Punch, copper brad, Copics, sponges, Liquid Appliqué

Other than the fire, I'm pretty happy with how this turned out :)

30 THINGS EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE & SHOULD KNOW BY THE TIME SHE'S 30

With everything that has been going on in my life lately, I needed the reminder! There are a few things that I would add to this list, but I think I'll make them a separate post.


30 THINGS EVERY WOMAN SHOULD HAVE & SHOULD KNOW BY THE TIME SHE'S 30

By Pamela Redmond Satran

BY 30, YOU SHOULD HAVE:

1. One old boyfriend you can imagine going back to and one who reminds you of how far you've come.

2. A decent piece of furniture not previously owned by anyone else in your family.

3. Something perfect to wear if the employer or man of your dreams wants to see you in an hour.

4. A purse, a suitcase and an umbrella you're not ashamed to be seen carrying.

5. A youth you're content to move beyond.

6. A past juicy enough that you're looking to forward to retelling it in your old age.

7. The realization that you are actually going to have an old age—and some money set aside to help fund it.

8. An e-mail address, a voice mailbox and a bank account—all of which nobody has access to but you.

9. A résume that is not even the slightest bit padded.

10. One friend who always makes you laugh and one who lets you cry.

11. A set of screwdrivers, a cordless drill and a black lace bra.

12. Something ridiculously expensive that you bought for yourself, just because you deserve it.

13. The belief that you deserve it.

14. A skin-care regimen, an exercise routine and a plan for dealing with those few other facets of life that don't get better after 30.

15. A solid start on a satisfying career, a satisfying relationship and all those other facets of life that do get better.

BY 30, YOU SHOULD KNOW:

1. How to fall in love without losing yourself.

2. How you feel about having kids.

3. How to quit a job, break up with a man and confront a friend without ruining the friendship.

4. When to try harder and when to walk away.

5. How to kiss in a way that communicates perfectly what you would and wouldn't like to happen next.

6. The names of: the secretary of state, your great-grandmother and the best tailor in town.

7. How to live alone, even if you don't like to.

8. How to take control of your own birthday.

9. That you can't change the length of your calves, the width of your hips or the nature of your parents.

10. That your childhood may not have been perfect, but it's over.

11. What you would and wouldn't do for money or love.

12. That nobody gets away with smoking, drinking, doing drugs or not flossing for very long.

13. Who you can trust, who you can't and why you shouldn't take it personally.

14. Not to apologize for something that isn't your fault.

15. Why they say life begins at 30.

Scratch that last post!

The Color Combo Site is back up and running! Thanks for your patience!

Color Combo Site Down

Temporarily! I've been having server issues on and off for the last year, and then last week it just went dead completely. So I needed to find a new place to have it hosted. I have done that and now I'm just waiting for my webmaster to get the site loaded and working. Unfortunately it's not as important to him as it is to all of us, so I have no idea when it'll be done. I'm hoping by Monday, but I can't be sure. I'll post here and on SCS when it's working again.

SCATTERGORIES

SCATTERGORIES...it's harder than it looks! *Use the 1st letter of your name to answer each of the following... *they have to be real places, names, things...nothing made up! Try to use different answers if the person in front of you had the same 1st initial. (WHICH BY THE WAY IS HARD IF YOU ALREADY READ THEIR ANSWERS) You CAN'T use your name for the boy/girl.


1. What is your name: ....................................Laura

2. 4 letter word:....................................Love

3. Vehicle: ....................................Land Rover

4. A city:....................................Lincoln

5. Boy Name: ....................................Logan

6. Girl Name: ....................................Lyra

7. Alcoholic drink: ....................................Lemon Drop

8. Occupation:....................................Lawyer

9. Something you wear:....................................Loafers

10. Celebrity:....................................Louis Armstrong

11. Food: ....................................Litchi Nuts

12. Something found in a bathroom: ....................................Lipstick

13. Reason for Being Late: ....................................Lost

14. Cartoon Character: ...................................Linus

15. Something you shout:...................................Leaping Lizards

16. Animal...................................Lemur

17. Vegetable...................................Lettuce

18. Mineral...................................Lapis Lazuli

19. Body part:...................................Lips

20. Word to describe you:...................................Logical

21. College Major...................................Linguistics

22. Tropical Location...................................Little Cayman

23. Color...................................Lime

24. Movie Title...................................Labyrinth

25. Sports Team...................................LA Lakers

26. Gifts...................................Land (I wish!)