Christmas Shopping in the City

The girls and I took public transportation into Center City and shopped until we dropped. Here they are in front of a big Center City law firm. It reminded me of my shopping trips with my mother when I was younger (even though I don't go down there too often now). There is still something magical about being downtown.

Least Favorite Thickers

I have been (and still am) a thickers fan for a while - even though I still struggle with what to do with those extra letters, like how many "z" words can I use? But these Salutation Fabric Thickers drive me CRAZY!!! I used them once, and when I tried to put them back in the package I got a jumbled mess. I am not crazy about the script and honestly there are a couple of letters I just can not figure out. The crazy thing is I just could not bring myself to throw them away.
"What if I found a tutorial on how to use them?"
"Maybe I can salvage them for one of my many backlogged mini albums?"
"There has to be some use for them! "
Alas after my last cleaning session, and finding a couple of letters stuck to my pants I just threw them in the trash. It was a hard parting of ways but something had to give.

St. Ignatius Holiday Bazzar

This year i attempted to do a couple of craft fairs. I am not a pro at it like Tiffany http://thejoyinsideofme.blogspot.com/ , but she has inspired me to try to go bigger and better each year. Since this was a kid centered and school related event I tried to keep the items relevant. I made about $200 and my sister gifted the table fee so it was a great day. My family came out to support me and my nephews even got their pictures take with Santa. all in all it was a great day. My niece (not pictured) is going to help me get ready for the African-American Marketplace in February - I am excited.

Still Catching up

Things in my life are happening faster than I can blog but I hope to get caught up soon. I still have pictures from the bazzar that I vended at this month that I would like to share, photos from my gingerbread house party, and Monday was my second wedding anniversary and my husband made it super special. I am almost finish my Christmas shopping for the first time in my life before December 24th so I am excited, lol. Here is a quick card that I did for my husband's co-worker. I really like Jillbean Soup's Dutch Mustard, I snagged it up at the CKC Vendor Faire this year.

The Friday After

I must confess that I am one of those people who will get up at 3 o'clock in the morning to go shopping on Black Friday with my niece. Sadly this year I had to work Friday so we decided to start out early Thanksgiving night. I happily stood in line and maneuvered through the crowds to get a couple of goodies. One of the things I just HAD to have was a wi-fi blu ray player. At first I couldn't understand what the big deal was but after setting it up and watching a movie I have converted and I love this new addition to my electronic family.

Next on my list since I broke my camera over the summer was to find an affordable point and shoot camera, so I was happy to find a Nikon for a good deal for myself. Nikon is one of my favorite brands and although there is a little bit of a learning curve (that I could probably get over faster if I would just take the time to read the manual, lol), this camera takes great pictures.

I also got a few gifts for others but I can't go into details until after December 25, wink wink~

I did a little shopping online too at MakingMemories.com and purchased a couple of Slice cards and a hands free collar. I received a free gift with my order and imagine my surprise when all of this arrived as my free gift! Not a bad shopping day at all!

Hey Tamika, where have you been....................

.............................around the corner and back again. That was a little "step" song that my friends and I use to sing/cheer to while playing outside. It is funny how those memories pop up out of no where. It has a snazzy beat that is hard to recreate via text but now it is stuck in my head, lol.




Boy, it has been so long and I have so much to tell and share but I won't overload one post, I will just keep posting for the next couple of days. So outside of crafting, ordering and reorganizing my baby girl turned 15 years old on Thanksgiving day.

Wow that was so hard for me for some reason. I think reality set in that I no longer have babies and soon both apron strings will be cut. I love both of my girls to pieces so as hard as it is I am excited for them to grow, learn and experience the world!

My Love Affair with Hip Hop - R.I.P. Heavy D

Today my heart is so sad, I just found out that rapper Heavy D has died and as I type this I can't stop the tears. I have never met him in person but I have always loved his music and entertainment persona.
For those that know me well I am a hip hop baby. And even though my husband thinks that I am too old to still love hip hop many of my favorite memories revolve around rap. My high school dances, block parties, christmas wish lists, young adult years and more can be tied back to hip hop in some way. Just like in the movie Brown Sugar

I can remember the day i fell in love with hip hop.........................it was the day that Scott la Rock and KRS1 dropped the Criminal Minded cassette. I rewound it over and over again until I learned every word. When me and my boyfriend Richard were at a party at the Mill Creek recreation we danced to that music until we were both sweaty and tired. We enjoyed every moment! I know some people can't understand rap but outside of the guys in it to make a quick buck (who profti off of disrespecting women and glorifying violence) it is poetry to me, music made with words, emphasizing the beauty of the english language. True lyricists are poets of the street, telling my story and they touch my soul. I will miss you Heavy D, thank you for sharing your God given gift with me, I will treasure you always!!!

Today is my Birthday

And I feel good. I am at a real happy place in my life and although I am not 100% where I want to be developmentally I feel really good about who I am and my life in general. Over the past year I have learned a lot. I think I am becoming a better wife, and a more patient mother. I am learning to have a more forgiving heart and I strive to be less judgemental of others, as I have been judged unfairly recently and I know first hand the pain it causes.
I know that there are people who are in my life for a reason and others for a season and when their time is up, I take what I have learned to be a better person. I don't hold grudges as negativity is draining and I honestly wish peace and blessings among everyone. I love meeting new people, forging new friendships and cultivating the friendships that I already have. I love my family throughout our many different personalities and I am soooo comforted in the knowledge that they have my back without question. And most of all, no matter what anyone else thinks, I Like ME!

Here is a layout from my birthday last year, now I have 364 more days to get this year's photos scrapped, lol.

October 14th Friday flowers

Sometimes my husband is so extra thoughtful. This week's flowers are a pretty pink in honor of breast cancer awareness month.

Blinging for a cause!

I wear my pink silicone bracelet every day that says "peace, love, cure" but last night while shopping I stopped in at Dots and got this blingy love bracelet because all of the proceeds go to breast cancer research. Some people think that all of the breast cancer awareness promotions are a bit much but to this day over thirty years later I remember seeing my mother's crude scar from her masectomy for the first time and how shockingly sad that was for me as a child, so until there is a cure we are not doing enough! Think Pink every day!

Baby Shower Invitations

My niece asked me to make baby shower invitations for her god-sister who is expecting her first child. I was happy to do so especially since I don't have many invitation samples to feature on my website. I used the Cricut Craft Room to weld the base for the beehive card base. I embossed the white layer with the Swiss Dot cuttlebug folder and chalked the edges for depth. The pooh figure is popped up with foam tape and I embellished the bow on top with a rhinestone in the middle, the Mom-to-be loved them. I made 32 and she just asked for 20 more, WOW!

Friday September 30th Flowers - Very late Post

We went away for the weekend of September 30th so I thought I missed my Friday flowers but when I walked in the house the following Monday afternoon, these were waiting for me on the dining room table. Classic Red roses, my favorites.

Get Well Fishes

My husband's job holds monthly challenges for their work sites and this month each person had to make a get well card for an ailing co-worker and of course I had to handle this one for him. I wanted to do something cheerful and whimsical so I decided to send "get well fishes" instead of 'wishes". I think I finally got my money's worth out of my Cricut for this card because almost everything was cut out on the Cricut. To made the card shaped like a fish bowl I used the Cricut craft room to weld the shapes and cut them out. I embossed the "water" using a cuttlebug folder and I added Martha Stewart glitter for the "sand". The clam has an actual pearl inside and the larger fishy has googly eyes. The fishes are the same image I just used the flip feature on the Cricut expression and made one larger than the other. All of the die cuts are from the Sponge Bob cartridge except for the fish bowl and the fishes, they are from the Sesame Street cartridge. I added a clear acetate die cut of the fish bowl as an overlay for a more glass-like effect ( I don't know if you can tell in the photo). Inside the card says "Well anybody could send get well wishes, hope you feel better soon!

September 16 Friday flowers

On the train ride home

My first castle

SOC Magazine Review

The new issue of Scraps of Color Magazine has been released and is full of a lot of goodies. The founder, Tiare, included one of my comments in the reader's section, that was so cool. I really appreciate this magazine and the quality of the work and the articles. The August/September issue doesn't disappoint, trust me. I can't give away a lot of details because I want you to check it out for yourself, but just let me say that this issue includes more great digital download freebies, great articles on tools and techniques and some wonderful layouts for inspiration. One of my favorite parts of the magazine is the fact that tips are included throught the magazine. Not only do you find out what products are used on the layouts but there is information on how to use them yourself. Lastly I have to say it was way, way, way, cool for me to see this woman in the "spotlight" this month, she creates cards, layouts, mini albums and other cool altered art and I am so proud of her work (and the fact that i know her, lol), so what are you waiting on get your copy here!

Fine and Dandy

My love affair with my minds eye continues, this was a great collection to work with. These are photos of my stepson as a toddler.

Labor of love

I have been trying to take advantage of the three day weekend and work through some WIPS. I also took some time to work with the Cricut Craft room site (more on that in my next post) and I got the Martha Stewart circle cutter for 60% off at Michaels using AC Moores coupon so for me this has been a good crafting weekend so far.

This is my daughter as she graduated from 8th grade. I have many more pictures to scrap from that day so I decided not to journal a lot and focus on two of my favorite photos from that day.



These are some cell phone photos I jacked from my daughter last year, no special occasion just admiring her growth. I made three out of the four flowers with flower shoppe can you tell which one I didn't, lol.


And finally here is a layout of my baby niece at her first dance recital. I used the Lemon Flower stack which I just absolutely love. The colors are fantastic!

September 2nd Friday flowers

Proud Mama Moment

My baby girl is entering the ninth grade and she had chosen to go into a military based Academy. The curriculum is purely college prep but they do have ROTC training and a lot of PT. At first she was nervous about the school but after spending two weeks in boot camp over the summer she loves it and is looking forward to moving up in rank. So far I think the school fits her personality and I am sure she will do well. Hats off to my cadette!

Interpreting a Sketch

I hope everyone is fairing well after the storm. We are still experiencing high winds and flooding so it is not over just yet. I did get a little scrapping done during the storm, thankfully we did not lose power. I love using sketches for inspiration. At first when I started using sketches I felt like I had to interpret them literally. Over time I learned to take elements of a sketch and make it my own. I used this sketch by Aphra Bolyer as the starting point for my layout.

The first thing I did was to turn the sketch around for a different perspective. This angle worked for me once I decided on which photo and paper line I wanted to use. Since I wanted to do a single photo layout I focused my attention on the bottom part of the sketch.

Then I picked out the elements that I wanted to incorporated into my own layout. Like having a decorative edge, the cluster of embellishments and the vertical writing.

After gathering all of my thoughts I got to work and the end result is this........................................................................

my final take on the sketch. I think sketches are a great way to kick start your creativity, don't you?

Blogging Break!

Hi Everyone!

I just wanted to check in really quickly because I will be M.I.A for a couple of days. There is so much going on with school about to start. This year I will have a freshman and a senior in High School and a fourth grader in Elementary School, there is so much to coordinate that I am trying to maintain my sanity. Starting next week I plan to focus on craft fair items because I do want to do at least two fairs this fall. So on my creative to do list I have to-

1. Make a diaper cake for my former boss

2. Make a diaper castle for my husband's co-worker

3. Make 8 post-it note pads (order)

4. Plan eight scrapbooking classes

5. Get at least two layouts done each week

6. Make a craft fair goal list and get it done!

7. Attend a Crop with my girl Rashidah

My household list is just too long to put here but it starts with cleaning and ends with purging. I hope everyone has a great weekend and for those on the east coast batten down the hatches in case Hurricane Irene hits hard, who would have thought we would get hit with an earthquake and an a hurricane in the same week? This is definitely something to scrap about and pray about! Before i leave you I just wanted to share - my husband buys me flowers every other week, this week it was orchids and he got me a stuffed animal from the bank - meet Pinto (ignore the tag calling him Lightning we changed his name, lol)!

Summer is coming to an end

And next weekend we are going to make a trip to the beach before the school year craziness starts. Last year we had a wonderful beach vacation, and although I am not a big fan of the sand I enjoyed some quality time relaxing with the hubby. I really enjoyed working with the American Crafts Margarita collection and putting together this layout.

I wanted to keep the chipboard title simple but I wanted to use a nice size font so I looked in my stash and pulled out these green scenic route alphas, that unfortunately didn't match my color scheme.

No worries, I just removed the green layer -

And painted the raw chipboard with a white acrylic paint, added some stickles and my title was done. This is a good way to stretch your supplies.

Monday Pooh-ism

“A little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference.” - Winnie the Pooh

This is a small diaper cake I made for another one of my husband's assistants this weekend. For some odd reason they all seem to be pregnant,lol. Since she does not know the sex of the baby yet I decided to keep it gender neutral and do a Winnie the Pooh theme, I mean who doesn't love Pooh right?

Working with LYB Twig

I really like how this layout came together, once I cropped this photo down to get out all of the extra background out I decided to go with an 8 1/2 x 11 layout of my niece and her brother. I used a Teresa Collins foam stamp from my stash for the dots and cream colored acrylic paint. I used some of my favorite Miss Elizabeth's alphas for the title - I have been holding on to those for a while, lol.


I embossed the card with a cuttlebug folder and I got the stamp from Michaels $1 section. I added some of my favorite crinkle ribbon that I bought from Prarie Bird Boutique.

Flea Market Find

I am inspired by some paper lines instantly, so imagine my joy when I found the Colorbok line Flea Market at Joann's. It is a very fresh line with a little grungy feel. My favorite part of this layout are the keys. The big blue one is a die cut out of chipboard using the Expression and the Happily ever after cartridge. The second is an embellishment that I picked up at CKC and the black one is a sticker. My friends put out a challenge to make a card after a layout. I found this great tutorial link on clips and cuts and decided to give it a try. It came out great and I am looking forward to making more in various sizes.

Play Time

Here is a layout from pictures my niece sent me of my grand-nephew playing in the park. He loves his little froggy boots and tries to wear them all of the time. I smashed a bottle cap, added some pattern paper, punched button holes with my cropidile and added some glaze for a cool handmade button. The word "play" was cut from chipboard and cardstock using my Cricut Expression and the Birthday Bash cartridge. The patterned paper is from my stash of Cosmo Cricket's "Lil' man" collection.

Creative Weekend and Scrapbuggy Challenge

Sometimes I feel bad that I purchase more supplies than I actually use so I set forth a deliberate plan to scrap this weekend. Using one of my many scrap-room kits on the shelf I put together this layout using Basic Grey's Hello Lucious. This is one of my daughter's many cell phone pictures that I had printed and an original poem of hers that was published in her school's literary magazine. The card stock was a little too bright for me so I used Glimmer Mist to tone it down and since I am a novice with the spray bottle it is a little messier that I would have liked but that adds the the effect, right? The canvas tag comes from my stash, I was so excited to have the chance to finally use it.

This is based on a pagemaps sketch that I saw on Gemiel's blog for a challenge sponsored by Scrapbuggy. I was inspired by how great her layout turned out so I put it on the top of my list to work on. There is still time for you to give it a shot too, check out the details here.

Cricut Storage and Handbags

I use to be so frugal when it came to buying cricut cartridges because of the price. But once the prices started coming down, my collection started going up and storage became a problem. So I started looking around my house and re-discovered this bathroom storage rack I had when I lived in an apartment and mounted it on the wall in my scrap room. I love that I can see all of the cartridges at a glance and the unit is roomy enough to fit two rows of cartridges on each shelf. There are 32 cartridges pictured here. I use the towel bars to hang notes that I want to refer to at a glance.

In not-so scrappy news when I went to New York we stopped in Macy's and that is where I found out that Fossil makes handbags. I am a big fan of Fossil watches so I was super excited to see their handbags. In true Fossil style the bags are different than what you normally see and I just love their quality. Here are a couple on my wishlist, along with a watch of course.