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.

Baby Bouquet

Like I said before I love doing diaper cakes and I started trying to think of ways to make a less expensive version . I came up with this bouquet that includes a dozen diapers, eight wash cloths, four pairs of socks, and a receiving blanket. then I added the congratulations pick and an adorable matching tag with the "ingredients" listed on the back of tag. I absolutely love the results. My husband is giving this as a gift for one of his assistants and he had to transport it on the train, I hope it held up!

Sweet Peach Challenge!

This layout is for the challenge over at Sweet Peach Crop shop's blog. This is my husband when he was an adorable baby. One of my favorite embellishments on the page is a Yuengling beer bottle cap that I flattened then added some patterned paper and glaze and then punched two holes in it with my crop-a-dile to make it into a button. I am still tossing around ideas for the journaling that is why I haven't added it yet.

I have to remember to take pictures as I am going along when I make a special embellishment so that I can share them with you and create a tutorial, who knows maybe one day i will actually do a video., hmmmmmmm.

And the Award goes to.........................

I received an amazing award from Deborah (and if you have never been to her blog you should stop by, she is a Cricut Cartridge queen and very creative!) I'm so honored thank you so much! The rules of this award are as follows: There are no rules. Just pass it on!! So I will be passing it on to some wonderful bloggers!

But then she also gave me this one too and it does have rules -

1.To send a thank you to the person who nominated you and include their link. (done)

2. To accept this award, I had to answer 7 random facts about me. (done)

3. Pass the award on to at least 8 other awesome blog buddies.

7 random facts about me -

1. I don't know how to swim ( but I am going to learn one day)

2. I love to dance, line dance whatever involves shaking my groove thing

3. I have a stupid trick I do with my nose that makes kids laugh. (I have to take a picture and show you one day, lol)

4. I love to cook and do so almost every night

5. Pink is my favorite color

6. I love to watch game shows

7. I have developed a later in life allergy to cut grass or as I call it, my "Enemy!"

I am passing these awards to -

Mika

Princess

Maria

Tricia

Tiffany

RJ

Thomisia

Iffy

Sweet threads and my i-top

Thanks to a few friends of mine, I have come to love Basic Grey so when I saw the Sweet Threads collection I just had to have it. When it arrived I was very initmidated by the colors and bold patterns so I put it on the shelf until I could figure out just what to do. But when I saw the photo of me and my best friend from high school I was inspired by the designs on our shirts to use Sweet Threads. I wanted to "junk up" the layout (as me and Mika always say) and bring out the bold patterns and colors. I wished I had purchased the matching brads until I said to myself, "Silly, isn't that is why you have that i-top brad maker on the shelf?" I answered "yes" to myself and got to work. I love that tool and my brads came out perfectly!My layout was inspired by this Scrap Room sketch and will be my first time paticipating in a challenge over at Sketches in Thyme. This is for the open challenge where you can create a layout based off any sketch you wish-

Retail Therapy

Happy Father's day to all of the wonderful fathers in the world, especially my husband!

Yesterday on the way to the movies to see Bridesmaids (which was a little more R rated than I expected considering that I was with my daughter, but was overally very funny - kind of like a female version of the Hangover) I stopped in JoAnns to use my extra 20% off coupon. Since we were pressed for time I didn't get a chance to look around like I would have liked but I did find a few great items. I found a great colorbok line called Flea Market, a great big butterfly punch and I got the Black Currant DCWV stack that will go perfectly with my daughter's prom pictures. I haven't been feeling that great today but I do plan on taking a little time to play.

Well we tried

Me and Mika decided to test our wings a little and try out for a design team. Sad to say that we didn't make it but I am super proud of my entries. I think I have really evolved (actually both of us have) as a scrapper and I am going to continue trying out for teams and submitting designs to be published. Here are my entries, I am really proud of my work. Now if I could just speed it up, lol.

Sharing is Caring

So yes I did get some scrapping done and I will be sharing that with you later this week but in the meantime I just wanted to know how many of you have seen the latest issue of Scraps of color magazine? Well I just have to tell you it is chock-full of inspiration and information. I think I have referred back to it at least ten times now because there is so much great information. I don't want to give too much away but there are some great digital downloads, very inspiring layouts and a super fun 3-d challenge. The individual pages are easy to print pages and the format is such an easy read.
So to quote a famous rapper - if you don't know, now you know, and should check it out the first chance you get.

I am scrapping this weekend even if the house is on fire!

I am making a public vow to get some scrap-booking done this weekend instead of scrap-looking. See I will put a layout out together and then stare at it for hours trying to figure out just what it needs. I know what it needs,it needs to be finished - shoot! And that is my goal. I think the most I have gotten done in one weekend is seven so I am going for the gusto baby I am going to try to get at least seven done again, lol.

I hope everyone has a great weekend ! Here is some eye candy for the ladies - doesn't my hubby look handsome in his tux, lol. he had a black tie affair for work.

Some Creative Goodness

Unfortunately I haven't had a lot of time to work on my craft fair items or my layouts (even though I have been doing some layout work that I can't talk about right now, but keep your fingers crossed for me) but the creative juices are still flowing. I did this cupcake tower for my grand-nephew's third birthday party. I got the cupcake tutorial here and bought the cupcake wrappers template here . I used the super fun Birthday Bash cricut cartridge for the character cupcake toppers and for the words I just used my scalloped circle punch and some red felt Thickers. My niece decorated the entire house in a carnival theme and had games that required tickets to play. It was very cute and I am sure all of the kids had fun.

Then I had another order for a diaper bike. I am really getting the hang of these and can get one done in less than a 1/2 hour. She will picking it up today, I hope she likes it. My favorite part of these is that everything on it can be used, it is the gift that keeps on giving.

Late 80's Flashback

My oldest daughter is going on her junior prom tomorow, and I am excited and overwhelmed all at the same time. Just for fun I wanted to share a cople of my prom photos (my senior prom and his senior prom). I can't find my junior prom photo ( I just remember it being a nightmare to get ready for) but when I do I will share that one too.

When Life gives you Lemons.........Create!

I am very blessed to have several very supportive, loving scrapping girlfriends that I met right here through the internet. We talk almost every day and the days we don't just feel weird. I have met most of them in person, all except one - and that is my sweet Southern Belle Barb (Hopefully that is going to change this summer)!. she was generous enough to send me the DCWV lemon stack and can I tell you that it is gorgeous. I created this decorative coaster, post-it notepad and magnet gift set for another friend of mind, I love paying it forward.

All in the Mustard and can't Ketch-up!

Wow, where does the time go? I haven't felt like I have had a quiet weekend in such a long time. I have so much to share but I will try to be as brief as possible. First my biggest news, and I have been hesistant to share it, is that I am on a weight loss journey. I don't know what kicked it off officially but i just decided that it is time. I decided four weeks ago to begin the Dukan diet, like Kate Middleton and so far I have lost 20 pounds. I did not take a before picture and I haven't been doing a great job taking pictures along the way but one day at work while wearing a pair of pants that I couldn't even get both legs in for two years I got this bathroom shot. My hips and stomach are a little bit smaller and I notice the difference. This motivates me to keep on moving!

Oh My, Happy belated Mother's day to everyone! My family and I attend the Race for a Cure every year and this year my nieces and daughters got really creative with their outfits. Their "Touch Yourself" shirts were reminders to everyone to do your self-exams.

My first craft fair went well. I sold about 1/2 of my products and I stuck to mainly my glasses when I saw that it was a fair geared more to home items. Unfortunately most of my profits was used to buy food for my hungry helpers (my daughters, lol) but it was still a good experience. I would definitely do it again and I am looking forward to going to different venues in the fall. Here is a picture of part of our set-up.

and back to Mother's day for a moment the girls bought me some new workout clothes, my stepson gave me a beautiful card and my husband well ..............not a thing. See every other week he buys me roses, different colors and different sizes like these without a holiday or special event, just because he loves me. Who could ask for more?

But then this weekend he bought this for me,

and this for me. I guess I am getting a little spoiled and loving every moment of it.
and last on the news list is I became a step-grandmother this weekend. I think I am going to have him call me La-La like my niece does. Little Jaiden Jefferson was born Friday May 13th, sounds pretty lucky to me!

I will be back soon with some crafty goodness, I promise.

Just a few scraps............

When my first daughter was born I got professonal pictures done pretty regularly and she was such a little ham she loved every minute of it. Here she is at the age of two all dolled up. I used Basic Grey's Lemonade collection with a black background. The doilly is by Martha Stewart and the butterfly is chipboard by Maya Road that I covered and then traced to add another butterfly on top for dimension. The title is done with American Craft thickers and the round bling is by Recollections and is sold at Michaels, they have a very nice variety of bling there, you should check it out. The pink swirls are by Prima. I am thinking now that I should have matted the photos but..........

This next layout features my baby niece who is just such a sweetie. Here she is with two of her favorite foods at the time, Danimals, and Pizza. She is four now and is still a picky eater. The PP is from MME 's Fine and Dandy collection. I fussy cut one of the banners and added foam tape under each triangle for dimension. The buttons are from Jenni Bowlin and if you look closely you will see I used the packaging from the buttons as an embellishment on the layout, just trying to be green and creative at the same time. Oh yeah, I used Ms. Elizabeth alpha stickers from the Dollar Store for the title, do they still sell them? Glad I have my stash just in case they don't.

Take that Procrastination!

I have been trying to do a craft fair for a while, but I tend to wait until the last minute to begin working on my projects, running out of time, staying up for 24 hours straight and then crumbling up in the middle of the floor tired and disappointed with myself in tears, but not this time! I signed up for a craft fair on May 7 and I am really excited because I am determined to have a good day. I have already started working on my projects and I will begin sharing them with your over the next couple of weeks. So first up are my decorated coasters. I bought the coasters from Papertrey ink and since they are a little thin I glued two of them together, decorated them and added a beaded chain to hang them from. I love my digital stamp boxing girl from Whimsie Doodles. I feel like I am really getting the hang of hand coloring images and I like using different mediums. On my boxing girl I used color pencils, watercolor pencils and markers. I made nine of these in different skin tones. For the other coaster I used real thread on the spool for a nice 3-d effect! I am in business baby, and feeling good!

A Layout a Day #3

Have you ever fallen in love with a paper collection the moment you saw it. That is how I felt about Cosmo Cricket's Circa 1934. Now I am not sure if I told you before but I have a paper obssession and when I really, really like a collection I don't want to use it. But I broke down, pulled out the scissors and put this layout together of my daughter. She loves celebrities and fashion and my goodness does she have expensive taste so when I saw the sticker "10 thing I love" I decided to do a layout on a few of her favorite fashion items. I made the flower using a tutorial in the last issue of Scrapbook etc and I jumbled her name for a different effect that me and Mika always tease each other about, lol. Overall I love this layout and how it turned out, I've said that before though right?

A layout a Day #2

A friend of mine just sent me an article describing the difference between an addiction and a compulsion and i have to admit My Mind's Eye papers are my compulsion. They are a great heavy-weight (at times I wish they were just a little lighter) and they come in great colors. For this layout I used a piece of navy cardstock as my background and the paper line is from the Stella Rose collection. I made the tag using my Making Memories tag maker and an extra piece of pattern paper. I used the pleating technique from the April edition of Scrapbooks etc for the flowers and then used a varitey of border punches for the paper strips, oh yes and the little label came from a close to my heart vendor at a crop I recently attended, I like their products and will definitely be back for more. The tickets were made using the die and stamp set from Papertrey Ink, it is definitely one of my favorites!

I didn't really have a title for this layout. These pictures were taken at Domino's Pizza on my daughter's 14th birthday, so I used my Slice and the Teen design card to cut out the TTYL which reminds me of how teens communicate nowadays.

A Layout a Day #1

I have been working on a stack of Works In Progess (WIPs) and even though I am pretty good about posting them once they are complete I don't always tell the story behind the layout. This is a layout of my daughters and their father in NY from last year. They just went for the day on a bus from Chinatown in downtown Philly. While there they visited Times Square and the Empire State Building (at least from the outside, the girls were too nervous to go to the top). I used the Girls' Paperie from the July 2010 www.scrap-room.com kit. I die cut the paper using a template I made from a previous die cut paper and if you look very closely you can see I inked the edges. I cut the banner from the pattern paper and added the bakers twine. I made the pinwheel flowers from a piece of red cardstock and I kind of struggled with them because I just could not get them to stay glued down so I went on glue overload (you can even see it on one of them, ooops!). I used a variety of Alpha sitckers for the title and added some buttons to top it off. Overall this is a fave for me. Even though their father and I are not together I love seeing him take time out for his girls.