Monkeying around

I have been trying to use my time more wisely and scrap a little each day. So far I have about 4 WIPS just about ready to upload with several other projects swirling around in my head.

In the meantime my husband's job has a client in need who is expecting so everyone there has banded together to try to do something special for her. My husband asked if we could contribute a diaper cake and of course I was very happy to do it. Since I have never done a tricycle before I decided to give it a shot and I love the results. Here is a front view of the bike. I even added the little key rattle to start the engine, lol. Not pictured is the tag I made to list the "ingredients" for the recipient.

Here is a view from the back. I used a bib for the fender and then I decided to add a license plate. I googled PA license plates and found this style (that we no longer use). That says, "You've got a friend in Pennsylvania". I thought that was very fitting for the occasion so I just added the company's name for an added sentiment.

But one of the most exciting things for me was that I finally got to(thought to) finally use my Around the block tagger. I know this is not the best picture but that is how I attached the license plate to the bib.

I have to confess that I have had this tool tucked away in a drawer for years. I thought it was such a great idea when it came out but once I had it I didn't find much use for it so away it went to the land of the least used tools like the fastenater and eyelet setter. In my quest to become better organized I have recently cleaned out my drawers and when I ran across the tagger I was determined to use it for something and I am glad I did since the only other way I could have probably attached the license plate would be with pins and it would not look as neat. My only problem now is that the tool is pretty much obsolete so finding the tags for it is going to be challenging, but hey, at least something old is new again.

Stickle Storage

If you google stickles storage you will find a lot of great ideas. Some are very expensive others are less expensive. Mine is definitely on the less expensive side. I wanted to share this idea now especially since so many stores are having back to school sales and it might be easy to find these cd cases. So initially I simply purchased a crate-type cd storage case from Walmart which I use to store my clear stamps, when I noticed the perfect sized stickles holes at the top and Voila! - a two way storage system under $5.

Happy Friday - CHA Love in Pictures

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Here are some of my favorite Summer CHA 2011 picks! Visit the scrap review to see more, there is no harm in window shopping right?

Can't believe I've stayed away so long..............

All of my "Old Schoolers" will recognize that my title comes from a Jackson five song, you know when MJ was at his cutest (to me of course). I have been so proud of the fact that I have been updating pretty regularly that I have to apologize for my absence but I had the most fantastical weekend! I got the opportunity to hangout out with my scrapbooking sisters from five different states for the weekend in New York. We met through the internet and we talk to each other every day and my day is not right if I don't talk to them. I will be sharing photos, hopefully on layouts, lol, over the next few weeks but here I am in my "city walking " outfit.

In scrapping news I am loving a lot of the CHA Sneak peeks, I have a list do you? I did this layout before I left for the weekend. This is my baby girl upon entering seventh grade, as you can see having to wear a uniform never dampened her fashion sense. I just love her argyle socks!

After doing this notepad for a friend, it kind of put me into a craft fair state of mind and now would be the perfect time to start building my stock, I am hoping to get into at least three crafts fairs this fall.

I will be back tomorrow with more!

Welcome to my Flower Shoppe

I have been indulging in a little ummmm shall we say Cricut obsession and I am constantly looking for new cartridges that I have to have! Yes I have to have them not just want them, I am beyond that! Usually I stalk sales, trying to get that perfect price before I buy a cartridge but this time I just couldn't resist when I saw the latest release of cartridges - you can get a good look at all of the newest cartridges in action here.
Even though I would love to have them all I started with The Flower Shoppe and Fancy Frames cartridges.

I haven't had a chance to play with the Fancy Frames cartridge but the Flower Shoppe cartridge is just awesome. I was instantly addicted to it and I need to stock up on some extra blades because I see that my machine is going to get a lot of work. I haven't even fully explored the cartridge yet but I like what I see so far. Here is a close up of a current WIP on my desk using the Flower Shoppe cartridge. Far be it for me to be an enabler {wink}, but for me this was definitely a great investment!

Good News

Whew! So many good things have happened for me in the past couple of days that have my spirits on a high! My husband's job gave them i-pads as a thank you gift for a job well done and since he is not a techy type of person, he gave it to me. At first I was not impressed until I started playing around with it and now I love it. I can't wait to download more books, music and photos and the most impressive thing for me is the battery life! Ten hours compared to four hours on my laptop is such a big difference.

All of this happened on Friday which was such an awesome day for me. First I found out that I made the top three at Sketches in Thyme. If you have never visited, it is a fun challenge site that will definitely get your juices flowing. Thank you ladies so much for the honor!

Then I found out I won a $5 gift Certificate at Sweet Peach Crop Shop! I can't wait to receive it, I have already been window shopping on their site and I can't wait to get some new goodies.

Speaking of goodies I stopped in Michaels Thursday to get some adhesive and I was sooo impressed to see all of their new products! Of course they had a nice selection of Martha Stewart stuff, some different DCWV pads that I had never seen before, a lot of the new Tim Hotlz stuff, some cute punches, colorbox inks in pretty colors, some art-c embellishments and best of all they sell copic markers now. I only got stuff on sale since I was by myself and I could only use one coupon. I am going to take my three kids and four coupons on another trip to get some copic markers at 40% off really soon although it looks as if they are selling out pretty fast.