2013 - OLW

Have you picked your word for 2013 yet? Mine is DISCIPLINE, I plan on being a much better me in 2013! Happy New Years to everyone!!!

Revealing Post!

I am all in the mustard and can't ketch-up, lol, so I apologize for posting this late! Don't forget that Sketch~n~Scrap is having two giveaways this month and there is still time for you to join in the fun. Just link up your projects using the sketches for a chance to win. More details can be found on the blog.

Here are my takes on the December 15th sketch and the bonus sketch. Good Luck and Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!!!!

When Reggie met Tamika

Today is my third wedding anniversary (12-12-12) and we have been together for a total of eleven years. As a part of our celebration I wanted to share my "How we met" story.
 After separating from my daughter's father, I took some time to myself. Yes I dated but nothing serious - I had to recover from what was the greatest heart break of my life at the time. After four years I was ready to get back into a real relationship. I had a couple of prospects but none that really floated my boat. At the time
I worked as the Office Manager for a non-profit agency called New Directions and my job included shopping for the residents. One day upon returning to the office from shopping I saw a very handsome young man filling out new hire paper work. I asked my Administrative Assistants about him. they didn't know much except that he was applying for a Supervisors position. I went to the Manager conducting the interviews (Mr. Willie) and asked him about the young man. he said, "Who Reg?" (I finally had a name!) "Yes, I am about to hire him, he is a good guy.....ooh so you are interested in him!" I said, "Yes, he is going to be my husband". He and I both laughed but my mind was already made up. I went to my desk hoping for a window of opportunity to introduce myself.
Next thing I know there was a ruckus and my "Reg" was walking out of the door. One of our Manager's (Erin) accused him of hitting on her and my Director escorted him out of the office. My heart dropped, was my Mr. Right actually Mr. Wrong? I went to Mr. Willie to find out what actually happened. Reg was making small talk with Erin while waiting for Mr. Willie. Reg asked her if she was married, she responded yes and she took that as a come on. My Director handed me Reg's paperwork that he left behind and asked me to handle it. I put all of his information in an envelope and included a handwritten note that said, "You hit on the wrong person, there is someone here already interested in you. Call me" and included my telephone number. Bold move right! Well HE CALLED! Now what? I was so nervous now that he called my bluff that I did not return his call for THREE DAYS!! Day four I finally took a deep breath and returned his call. The first thing he did was to explain what happened. He described how he was so excited about getting the job that he got too comfortable and that no he was not hitting on her, he was trying to make small talk and yes he noticed me too as soon as I walked in. We made plans to go out that weekend and the rest as they say is history. When he tells the story he sums it up by simply stating, "Sometimes you have to put yourself in a position to receive your blessings. I went to New Directions for a job and instead I found my wife, best job interview of my life".

B-ballin' - Photo Heavy

During the holidays my husband, nephew and I stopped at the Baketball Hall of Fame, located in Springfield Mass, on the way home. If you are a fan it is a great experience. There are three levels and it shaped like, well you guessed it..................a basketball, lol. Here are some fun photos from our trip.

Outside View of the Building

Who can jump that high for the dunk?

The logo on the floor at center court.

A picture of my husband taking pictures from center court, lol



One of the first women's basketball uniforms. Can you believe they made us wear that to run up and down a court! Thank you suffragettes, we have come a long way baby!!!!

 

Have to represent for the home team!





One of my fondest childhood memories is seeing the Globe Trotters with my Mother, fantastic show!







Had to represent Beantown for Mika!



Then knock him out!



And take the ball from him!



The bathroom dryers were too cute!

 

Don't you think my nephew looks like Kobe, lol?



One of Shaq's shoes. what is that they say about the size of a man's feet? Wow, I am just saying....................



Holiday Kisses

I found this great tutorial for Christmas tree chocolates and decided they will make great co-worker gifts this year. The tutorial is super awesome, not only does she give you directions for each individual tree but she also gives you a couple of time saver directions that will allow you to make four trees at a time. I did five last night and still haven't even used a full bag of the kisses. Once I got use to doing the folds it was easy peasy! I think I am going to do about 20 -25 of them this weekend.

Juggling Act

Hey there Blogland!
Sorry to be gone for so long, I am trying to balance life but I have to admit that I keep dropping the ball. There seems to be so much that I want to do in so little time. Three are some nice things going on like us spending more time with our grandson and my youngest daughter turning sixteen. There are some adjustments like my oldest daughter transferring schools, and me trying to increase take the leap and start my business presence on the web. However one of the best new things for me is being a part of the Sketch~n~Scrap design team. This is a fun group of ladies and I just love the sketches. I hope you have had the chance to check out the December 1st reveal here, if not please stop through and take a look at what the entire team created. Also we will be having two giveaways this month that I am sure you would love, you can get more information on the Sketch~n~Scrap blog!

This is my take on the December 1st  sketch:

I purchased this paper from Michael's on clearance last year but I am not sure of the manufacturer. I love the way it came together and there are some really fun elements to the page like this star garland that I used for my circle image. I found it in the party section of Michael's, it is usually used as a party decoration but you know as a scrapper we see things differently, lol. 

I stamped the numbers using my glue pad and some Recollections stamps and sprinkled them with some Martha Stewart glitter. I didn't follow the directions and heat the glue before I added the glitter so when some of the glitter started to come off, I had to add more.

Then to top off the layout I used the fiskars interchangeable border punch of music notes. Oh yes you will see this punch used more often.

I am trying to spend more time with the hubby so I have been crafting less but I hope to share a few more projects with you very soon. Also next Wednesday i will be celebrating my 3-11 year anniversary (married for 3 together for 11)  and I wanted to share our "how we met story", it is one of my favorites.
Happy Crafting!

Good news and a bit of a Blog Break

Whew, I am glad that I didn't have to keep that a secret for a long time, I would have burst! Yes I am one of the newest members of the Sketch~n~Scrap design team. I am looking forward to working with all of the ladies over there! Stop by the Sketch~n~Scrap blog to meet the rest of the team.

I have to take a small blog break over the next five days but I hope everyone has a joyous and wonderful week with your family and friends. I will be back in a few days to share my latest projects.

Happy Holidays from Philly!

How Could I Resist.........................

Entering Sketch~n~Scrap's design team call? They have quickly become one of my top sketch sites and even though I have had a lot on my plate I am super excited to be able to submit this layout for a chance to be on the design team.  I want to wish everyone who entered the best of luck and thank the ladies of Sketch~n~Scrap for this opportunity. There is not much time left to enter so if you are like me and have had a WIP on your desk for over a week you still have time to finish it up and submit it.



My Nephew Kevin - Simple Stories Awesome and Pink Paislee Starlight



Saturday Stamping trick

I just wanted to share one of my favorite tips when rubber stamping. Sometimes I have a stamp and I don't want to use the entire image, painter's tape to the rescue! For this card I only wanted to use the sentiment Happy Holidays and not the snowflake images on the side.

So I covered the snowflakes with painter's tape -

Pressed the stamp onto my white ink pad -

 Removed the painter's tape before stamping my image -

And waahlah! Here is my finished card!  



Burlesque Party Favors

     Sometimes having a long weekend works in reverse for me. Instead of me enjoying the extra time off it makes me long for the days when I won't have to work (I hope my hubby is reading this, lol). I did get some crafting relief over the weekend. One of my bonus nieces turned 32 and wanted "Aunt Tamika" to help with her favors. She had a burlesque themed party with corsets and boas as mandatory wear for all of the guests (I can't wait to see pictures).

      So at first I found the cut file for the cute corset favor bags (purchased here at  Cre8ive Cutz). The only drawback was that my niece asked for help about five days before the party and putting together 30 bags would have just been too time consuming. So she settled on altering some shot glasses. I purchased a wonderful corset image from the Silhouette store  and on the back of the glasses it say "30 Sexy2" to represent her age. I learned some lessons with this project like -

1. Never answer the phone when it is my niece calling and I know that she is about to ask me to do something last minute, lol. (just kidding).
2. Crafting may look easy to "outsiders" but when it is time to work on a project it is clearly not. She and my oldest niece came over to put them together and let's just say it took a little energy to show them how to apply the vinyl.
3. The housing that encases the Silhouette blade can get "gunked" up with small particles. After a total of over 100 small cuts my blade called it quits.
4. So from point 2 lesson learned - always keep extra blades on hand.
5. And another lesson from point 2, keep extra vinyl on hand too - just to leave a little room for error.Not that I made any, I am just saying..................

Overall I love the results and can't wait to add this to my porfolio of successful projects.

Getting Sketchy

I really enjoy using sketches to kick start my creativity. There are a lot of great sketch blogs in cyberspace and I would love to participate in them all but recently after a conversation with Mika reality set in. We were discussing how unrealistic it is to participate in all of the challenges that we see and how trying to do everything stops us from achieving anything. So from now on I plan on trying to limit myself to a few favorite challenge blogs each month. So for November my goal is to participate in the following -

• One or two here - http://www.creativescrappers.blogspot.com/
• I LOVE the sketches here http://sketchnscrap.blogspot.com/, they fit my style very well
• I like the sketches here too - http://www.papersecrets.net/2012/11/nov-1st-sketch-challenge-gdt-and-dt.html
• I like a couple here - http://pagedrafts.blogspot.com/
• Grand Diva and Rochelle Spears inspire me so much so I try to participate in anything they are sponsoring - http://granddivasscrappyplace.blogspot.com/2012/11/november-sketch-challenge-and-winner.html

I still have sketches that I wanted to do in October even though I missed the deadlines so I will be busy for a while! I hope everyone has a great weekend and I will leave you with my take on this sketch from the Creative Scrappers blog.

November Holidays

After a brief hiatus it is back! Time for the not-so-usual list of Holidays for November. Hmmm I see a couple that would be great inspiration for card making!

• November 1 - All Saints day
• November 2 - Look for Circles day
• November 3 - Housewife's day/also Sandwich day
• November 5 - Guy Fawkes day
• November 10 - Forget-Me-Not day
• November 11 - Veterans day
• November 12 - Chicken soup for the Soul day
• November 13 - World Kindness day
• November 15 - Clean Your Refrigerator day
• November 16 - Button day
• November 17 - World Peace day
• November 21 - World Hello day
• November 22 - Thanksgiving
• November 23 - You're welcome day
• November 30 - Stay at Home because you are Well day

Catching Up!

Sorry blog-buddies, my mojo has been waaaaaaaaay off! I am finally getting back into the groove of things and as soon as the sun returns to Philly tomorrow I will be able to share my latest layouts. So what has been going on? Welll...............I celebrated my birthday in October and I decided that I need to show I still  have it, lol. 

My niece and I hung out one Friday night sampling as many Margaritas as we could and still drive, lol. (BTW I am not tipsy in this picture- I didn't even have my first drink yet, her flash is blinding!) 

My grandson came over for a visit and Jada and I took him to the park. He couldn't decide whether he should laugh or cry, too funny.

And then Hurricane Sandy. I actually heeded the warning and shopped early, checked the flashlights and secured anything that needed to be secured. Our public transportation system shut down for two days and I do not drive in bad weather - period! so we were stuck in the house. Cabin fever set in so quickly, my husband was on the porch yelling "storm party over here!" just for some excitement. I finally got to venture out late Tuesday and this is what the bread shelves looked like at my local market.  

Glad Sandy is gone and may she never come back to the East Coast!

Is it Friday yet?

I know the weekend just passed but it goes by soo quickly that I am looking forward to the next one. We are experiencing beautiful weather here on the East Coast and I am enjoying every moment. I did some cleaning this weekend and Saturday I taught my class at the Assisted Living facility. We made Halloween treat boxes. I was a little nervous that they would not like them but they did, especially after they found out that I actually brought in candy to fill them, hehe. It took them almost an hour to cover the card stock with the pattern paper. It is funny I pre-cut the paper and tried to get them to select coordinating patterns but those ladies (and one gentlemen) had their own agenda so I just stepped back and assisted when needed, lol.  I did have one resident who began eating so much candy that I had to take her basket, I didn't want to get in trouble for making anyone sick! I almost got a picture of my class, Jada went with me and I asked her to take pictures for me but being a typical teen she took pictures of herself instead, lol.

I spent the rest of the weekend hanging out with my girls. They crack me up,they are like a comedy duo when they are together. Every time Jasmin is home from school they lay in bed on the weekends until they smell the bacon and then you just hear the stampede down the steps. Home fries, scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, brown sugar and honey sausages and toast - who would turn that down, lol.

Other than that my crafting mojo has been a little M.I.A.  I did go through my paper collections and at least looked at a couple of my WIPs but nothing completed just yet. Happily it is eggnog season at our Wine and Spirit shop, (ours are State owned and operated so the selection and cost are super regulated), maybe it will lift my crafting spirits, lol or at least my spirits in general, haha!

Kitchen Cake

I have been wanting a reason to do one of these for a while!  My husband's job is having an bridal shower for a sweet young lady today and of course he recruited me to provide our gift. To wish her well I made a towel cake or as I like to call it a Kitchen cake. There are four dish towels, four dish cloths, two oven mitts, four utensils, including an adorable dish brush (which is the reason why I went with the pink and black color scheme). I included a heart shaped pick that has the "Recipe for a Happy Marriage" poem that I found on the Internet and the couple's initials. I think I have found my newest addiction, I have sooo many ideas swirling around now!

I hope everyone has a great crafty weekend! Tootles!

My Pride and Joy

My oldest daughter came home from college for two weeks and it was such a joy having her around. She just finished her first semester (she started over the summer) and she is excited about the fall semester. I fell in love with this photo of her that I stole copied from her instagram and decided it went well with my package of unopened Summer's End that I am hoarding saving by Fancy Pants. This also is my second and final Guest Designer layout for the Sketch~n~Scrap blog. I am so very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of their blog. You should pop over and see what the design team members created and maybe even particpate in the challege yourself.



Two tone tip -

To add a little more variety to my pleated flowers I cut a thin strip of contrasting paper the same length as my main color strip.............

glued them together using my ATG gun and.....................

then I scored them using my Martha Stewart scoreboard every 1/4 inch, folded the pleats and Voila, my blue flower is now blue and brown.