The year revisited

I cannot believe that today is the last day of 2008. It is scarey how fast the time goes by. A little sad, too.

So, at the beginning of 2008, I set some scrapbooking goals and since this is the last day of 2008, I guess I need to evaluate how I did. My goals were to create 300 pages and to finish 2007. I did not accomplish either! I failed, but not miserably, at least. I was able 200 pages, which is really pretty impressive since I think I only did 40 in 2007. I am also just about 4 pages from finishing 2007. I was really pretty much done with 2007 in the fall, but didn't print enough pictures for what I was doing, so, I printed the pictures but then didn't finish the pages. I also did some other projects which I didn't specify for goals like about 50 cards, some altered notebooks and jars for teachers gifts. So, even though I didn't accomplish everything I had hoped to do, I still feel pretty dang good about all I DID accomplish!

Obvioulsy, I need to re-evaluate and change up my goals a bit for 2009. So, I have decided that I will set my goals a bit lower. I am going to shoot for 200 full size pages, these can be 8 1/2 X 11 or 12 X 12. I also want to do 50 "mini" pages for my photo carousel, these are 4 X 6 (they are so much fun!), 50 cards and 5 altered items. I also want to finish the name books that I started LAST year! (yep, I started them in 2007, sad, I know), they are all cut and bound, I just need to embellish them. so, looking at this list now, maybe I didn't set my goals lower, they just may be a bit higher! But, I do think I can accomplish them, if all goes well with the year. Oh! I almost forgot! I also want to do better at keeping my blog updated, I want to actually take pictures of my finished projects and get them up here. Phew! That's a lot to do in 2009!

I wish you all a safe New Year's Eve. Please remember, don't drink and drive! Here's to a happy, healthy and productive 2009!

Classroom and teacher gifts

Usually for classroom gifts, I do like every other parent does, go to the dollar store or search Oriental Trading for some cheap gift for all of the kids in the class. Randy always had nearly 20 kids in his class, but Brandon only has 11, it would have been easier to do that I guess. But, in reality, how much "junk" do the kids really need? I always find that bag of presents some time during the summer with everything still inside it. This year I decided to give the kids something all kids love: Popcorn and hot chocolate! I had decided this a long time ago and then I came acroos the link for these cute double pocket, uh, things... And they are perfect! These were super quick! And I'm done! woohoo! This is for Brandon's teacher, I'm going to fill it with Hershey's kisses. I also altered her a cute notebook, which I forgot to upload!

This is for Brandon's title teacher. I will fill it with some sort of hard candy, I think

I seriously can't believe I am done with these projects!

Thanks for looking!

Calendar pages January thru March

Every year I make my in-laws a calendar for Christmas. The idea actually came from one of my SIL's, we used to do it together, but I do it by myself now. Anyways, usually I am working on this all the way to the last minute on Christmas Ever, but this year, somehow, I have managed to get it done with nearly a week to spare. Of course, I haven't done the actually calendar pages yet, but, I hope to get that done today, too.
I have to apalogize for the quality of my pictures. They suck, but, I don't feel like redoing them, so, I'm just going to go with them. thanks for looking

Calendar pages April thru August

notice that I sewed on this page? I do not sew, this is a major accomplishment for me!

Christmas Calendar August thru December

Woops, I added this one twice! Oh well, isn't my neice Kadence, just adorable?

Stamps for sale

NS- No Staining
SS - Slight Staining
HS- Heavy Staining
NUM - New UnMounted
NM- New Mounted
First picture, all stamps $12 EACH set plus shipping (see end of post for particulars). Left to right, top to bottom:
Santa's Helpers NS
Winter Play NS
Glad Heart SS
Painted Garden SS
Hearts & Posies NM
Heart & Soul SS
Heavenly DAys NM Second Picture: All stamp sets $10 EACH plus shipping
B Monogram with the negetive pieces (you could have 2 stamps here!) SS
R Monogram with the negetive pieces NS
Fun Filled NS
Framed Fun SS
Kindness Shared SS
Reindeer Greetings SS
Quick & Cute NM

Third Picture: All stamp sets $10 EACH plus shipping
Funny Faces SS
Perfect Plaids HS
Basket of Blossoms NS
The Fine Print NS
Nature's Wonders SS
Country Greetings SS
Brides & Babies SS



Fourth Picture: All stamp sets $8 Each plus shipping.
Bold Check Frame NS
Bold Hearts & Flowers NS, there is a name and phone number writeen on the blocks, could easily be sanded off.
Designer Greetings SS
Notable Notes NS
Fabulous Flourishes HS
Dear to my Heart SS




Last Picture: All Stamp sets $3 Plus shipping
Special Hug NS
Hand Stamped by HS missing one stamp
Unicorn Portrait W/ Roses NS



I accept paypal only (unless local) shipping is as follows:
I will fit as many sets as will fit in the flat rate envelope for $5, should be several small sets or a couple larger. If it's more than will fit in the envelope, I will ship all that will fit in the flat rate priority mail box for $10. Please leave me a comment here or if you are local give me a call.
Thanks for looking and helping my car fund...

Look What My DH did for me!

Yep, he hit a deer in my car! Thankfully, he is completely fine. I will now be posting my stamps for sale, as I need to raise some extra cash to cover the deductible without using the savings account.

A little project

So, it's my neice, Kadences' birthday this weekend. She's really into stickers. One of my SIL's bought her a bunch of stickers, but, her mom says she sticks them everywhere! So, I decided to make her a sticker book. My original thought was to break out all of the old construction paper and staple it together to make a book. Then, I thought maybe I would cut the construction paper in half and bind it with my BIA. And then, all of a sudden it hit me that I just needed to cut her a crown book and bind it with the BIA! She is a little princess after all! I just love that you can cut all these great shapes and bind them together to make little books! I didn't do too much decorating because it's a sticker book, I just put her name on the front, used a bit of stickles, which aren't showing, and some ribbon on the wires, because it's so fun to do something girly!
Front:
Inside front, just to be sure everyone knows what it's for!:
You can't really see it, but I stamped around all the edges of the inside pages with the same color ink pad, just to add some whimsy. Wish it would show up in the pics!
So, I started a project, finished it, took pictures and got them onto my blog! It's been a long time since I've accomplished that much!

Bad Blogger, Bad!!!!!

I can't believ it's been more than a month and a half since I've done anything with this blog! What a bad blogger I am!
I have done several pages in that time, but, I haven't taken a single picute of them! Such a bad girl, I know!
Our family has been busy enjoying football season. Randy is in 8th grade, he plays the center and is also on the D-line. I thought I would upload a few pics here.
In this game he was a captain. Always an honor.
I just love this picture, the look on his face is priceless!
Okay, so that's all I've picked for today!
Thanks for looking!

A new cartridge and I actually used it!

Okay, it's no secret that I'm not being very productive this summer. Truthfully, I will be the first to tell you that I'm not very creative in the summer months, I don't know why that is exactly, but it happens every year. I don't usually get my creative mojo back until Winter comes, actually, usually not until January or so. However, I did get two new cartridges in the last couple of days, and I have actually used one! The Storybook cartridge is fantastic! I just love the font and all the flourishes are great!

So, our neighbors daughter is getting married in a couple of weeks, and this is the card I made for her. I have no idea what her colors are (her invite is black and white!), so I just tried to use soft colors, which is tough for me. Anyways, this card was inspired my GrammaS, check out her blog link to the right--->. While it looks nothing like her card, that is still what inspired me! It didn't turn out exactly like I was envisioning it, but it's okay! Thanks for looking!

I've been tagged!

Okay, I have never been tagged before! At least not on my blog! Thanks, Scrapmommie25 ! You can see her blog here: http://scrapmommie25.blogspot.com/

The rules of the game: Each player answers the questions themselves. At the end of the post the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment letting them know that they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answers


Ten years ago: I was a wife and mother to one boy, who was 3. We lived in a small trailer. I sold Stampin' Up! And also worked for my in-laws at their packing plant.

Five things on today's to do list: The same things that are on my to do list every weekday! 1. Laundry 2. diapers 3. lunch 4. diapers 5. dinner
Snacks I enjoy: potatoe chips, m&m's
Places I have lived: Montana and only Montana, it's the best place to live, so why leave?

I just realized that I live a pretty boring life, but, that's okay with me!

5 people, not sure I can do it, but, I will try!

http://ncscrapaddict.blogspot.com/ Tammy

http://beautifuldelightsblog.blogspot.com/ Lynn

http://grammashouseofcards.blogspot.com/ Sharon

http://scrapsetc.blogspot.com/ MissC -AKA- SillySkittles

http://esthrmend.blogspot.com/ Esther

Way too long!

WOW! I can't believe it has been a month since I updated! I didn't do very good keeping up with my blog in June... I did end up completing 29 pages in June. All for the baby book. I am ashamed to say that I didn't take anymore pictures than the ones I posted previously before I gave it to our friends. I also am ashamed to say that I did not get it quite finished. I have 4 more pages left to get done, but, I can't bring myself to do them... I am so over PINK!!! I also have found that I don't really enjoy building the Pooh characters, even though, they really aren't that difficult. Good thing I have never invested in the Mickey's!
So, I have managed to do 6 pages in July. Three of them were for the baby book. But, the other 3 were really fun, as usual, they are all pretty similar, different, but the same! This was a fun snowball fight that all my guys had after a really late spring storm last March, like 2007 last March! The papers are Basic Grey, I bought them from Archivers when we were in Denver last fall. I only bought one of each of the 3 double sided papers, so this was a good way to use them. The design came to me one night and I really like the way they turned out, I just wish I could figure out how to thread my sewing machine, because I think that sewing would look great around the circles. Ah well, maybe some day!
This is for the family book, I also used Fancy Pants stamps and some stickles!
Brandon's book: No stamps or stickles, but some crystal "icons" I've had for awhile and just now used.
Randy's book: Used the stamps and the "icons" but no stickles. See? different, but the same...
Well, thanks for looking, hopefully it won't be another month before I get this updated again. I am almost done with 2007, which was one of my goals, I just need to finish the wedding pics and also the pics from the Packers game last fall. I also set a goal of 300 pages this year, I am at 158, so I would say that I am right on track, I really hope I can do it!

one month!

Here is a two pager for the baby gift album. One month. I am going to do all of the holidays as well, but, I am struggling with whether I should match the colors that I have been using (pink, yellow, green) or use the colors of the holiday (red, white & blue for the 4th of July...) any thoughts on this subject would be greatly appreciated!

I am really struggling with getting good pictures lately. It is gloomy here again today, and I just can't get a good quality picture. But, I have set a goal for myself not to let the pages stack up, to get the pics taken and posted on here as well as the challenge thread on the cricut site. So, I guess it's as good as it's going to get for now!

I am now up to 5 pages for the month!

tub time!

Here is another page for Hayden's baby book! I don't love the way it turned out, but, I'm not sure what it is that I don't like about it...

I used my cuttlebug to emboss the scalloped circles. I also used my threading water punch again, if I use it enough, I won't regret buying it, since I'm not really much of a punch person! I also used my poohfont cartridge for the baby pooh in the tub! There are also stickles, but you can't really see them!

Thanks for looking! I have now tied my page count for all of May! I have finished 3 so far in June! Woo Hoo!

Some for the baby book.

So I have done 2 pages so far for June! Not great, but, considering I only did 3 for all of May, I guess I will take it! These pages are all for a baby's first year album that I am doing for some friends of ours who are due the end of this month. YIKES!!!! I'm hoping to get it finished and take it to them in the hospital. I sure hope she doesn't go early!

This title page I actually did in May, I think... I used the famous "skittles" for the flower centers on the smaller flowers and the flower gem in the center of the large flower is actually off of a headband that one of my daycare girlies had and she decided to pull them all off. I found them all over the floor! Works nicely here, I think!

These pages I actually used my new threading water and leave it to weaver punches by fiskars. I think they are both a lot of fun! I also used my new quikutz flourish dies. I cut them with my cuttlebug. I think this page looks a lot better in person. I also used some stickles, but, they aren't showing up!

So the pics aren't that great, it's been pretty goomy and I just couldn't get a good one. Oh well! At least I got them posted!

May was pathetic!

Okay, May was pathetic! I only did 4 pages and 4 cards. That stinks! So I didn't take pictures of the first 2 cards, they were graduation cards, made with a different variation of tigger. I didn't use the patterened paper, I embossed them with the cuttlebug. Here are 2 cards I made for my neices who graduated from High School a couple of weeks ago. They are twins. Riley was the Salutatorian of her class, way to go Riley! I'm really proud of both Riley and Jordan! I also added "skittles" aka decorative accents to the cards after I took these pics.

This is the first page I have done for our dog, Willie. I probably won't do too many, but he is a member of our family now, so I need to do a few, right? This is for our family book. My secret sister for 2007, Marsha, sent me some great dog stuff when we first got Willie, so I finally used a bunch of it! The bones were cut out using my cuttlebug and the dog bone die from Quikcutz, I cut them out of dog bone patterned paper. I like the way it turned out.
This will be the first of many pages from my youngest BIL's wedding last August. You've seen the pic of Brandon before, I just love it! The page is a little plain, but, I think I will leave it. This is for the family book, also.
This is for Brandon's book. The guys getting ready for the wedding. I already posted the 2 pager for the family book.
I have one more page from May, but, I haven't even taken the picture yet! Hopefully I will get it taken and posted this week. I would really like to get back on track for June. I have a baby's first year book that I would really like to finish to take to the hospital when the baby is born, she's due at the end of this month! I better get moving!

Thanks for looking!

Great book!

A good friend of mine, Tammy, recommended this book to me last week. I was led to it while at the Bible Book Store on Sunday and I finished it today. What a great book. I would like to recommend it to you all.

Time for an update!

I guess it's finally time for an update! It's been awhile!

April was not an overly productive month for me, I finished only 17 pages and 11 of them were for the baby gift. Oh well, I guess that's the way creativity flows, right?

So, my younges brother-in-law got married last summer, Brandon was a junior groomsman. I just love this picture that I was able to get of him. I haven't decided for sure, but, I'm thinking this is for the family book!

I'm loving those Fancy Pants stamps!

You might remember my "thirteen" layout I did a couple of months ago. This is the same picture, only 5x7. I love this picture, too, especially since it was just a random picture taken on a regular day! This is for the family book. He's still not overly fond of the flowers!
This is from by BIL's wedding also. It was kind of a funny day. The rental shop didn't include little Cash's pants (he's the cutie in the pic second from left). Now, the wedding was 45 miles from the rental shop, but my oldest BIL happened to be staying in Billings where the shop was, so, we called him up. Anyways, Clinton started joking that he was going to say that he didn't have his pants either, he joked about it for about 15 minutes, then he said they really DID forget his pants! Of course, we all thought he was still joking, but no, they really DID forget his pants! Now, remember he is 6'8", we prayed they just didn't pack them, and they didn't! Older BIL, Nick, got yet another call! In the end, the rental shop messed up 3 different things, as they also didn't match one of the vests! I never found out, but, I hope my MIL got some of her money back! This is also for the family book!

I might add that every single picture is on the "wonk"!

And finally. the last of the sports pictures from 2007! Basketball for Randy's book! Pretty simple, but, again, done! I love the epoxy embellishments, thanks, Tammy!
Okay, I'm hoping that May is more productive than April was, but, my hopes aren't too high about it since we are so busy with Brandon playing T-Ball.

Thanks for looking! It feels so great to have some pages posted again!

Overwhelmed

Do you ever just feel overwhelmed with life? That's how I am feeling lately. One strange or sad or infuriorating thing after another.

I live in a tiny town, we have been hit lately with a wrongly accused sexual preditor that is being slandered unbelievably on a daily basis. I wonder how people can call themselves Christians' and still knowingly treat someone so badly... On the other hand, he is an identical triplet and his brothers ARE preditors. They are, evidently, very identical.

We also have a stalker in our tiny town, a man following teenage girls and young women. Of course the guy mentioned above is getting the blame for this, but it is in fact, a different man.
My neighbors were robbed a couple of weeks ago. By someone who, apparantly, had been watching them, and had their schedule down. Scary. My life is totally scheduled.

There have been 2 children shot in our state, one accidentally by another child (his brother) and the other an 11 year old girl shot, allegedly, by her 24 year old step-father, while her 25 year old mother watched. You do the math.

There was an apartment fire that killed one man and displaced several families in a nearby town. While staying in a hotel, one of the families decided to have a pool party for all of the displaced families. A five year old boy drowned. That family lost their home, and then their son.

Yesterday, a father and husband was taken from his family in a work related "incident", they are long time members of our community. What a shame 2 boys are without their dad.
A bus and a pick-up collided, a 7 year old girl was thrown out of one of the bus windows and killed.

Not to mention all of the car wrecks, people taken due to illnesses while they are too young. People loosing jobs due to a shaky economy and ever rising gas prices really putting the pinch on todays families.

Today, I feel overwhelmed.

finished baby book!

Last week, I finished a baby book for some friends of ours who are expecting their first baby (a girl, obviously). It would have had more pages, but, I really looked at the new Pooh cartridges for the cricut, and I decided to cut it a bit shorter than I planned, and make them another book to take to them in the hospital of her first year. So, anyway, this book is for pictures taken at the hospital. Mom isn't really a girly-girl, so, I decided to forego the baby pinks and lavenders, even though, I would have really enjoyed that beings I only have boys! So, all the base pages are the same color of coral, even though they all look a little different, then I used a burgandy and moss green, so, it is still girly, but maybe not too much? It turned out pretty good, I guess. The orientation is 11X8 1/2, which I really enjoy doing for this type of book.

Title page

again, the backgrounds are all the same, taken in the same spot, one after another, I'm not sure why they all look a little different.
Mom and Dad pages, I used rubons and some vellum quotes.
Grandparents. Love, love, love the Fancy Pants stamps!
For the new family! And some other random pictures. I had fun playing with the patterned papers on these
There is another 2 pages, but they are super simple with no embellishments and 3 spots on each page for 4x6 pics. It would only let me upload 5 pics, so, I'm just not going to post them! The picture came out blurry anyways!

So, tell me what you think for a baby girl book? I'm going to leave a few empty page protectors in the back for the footprints and certificates they give out at the hospital, the size is perfect for her to just slip them in!

Thanks for looking!

Wow! Thanks Lynn for the award!

Wow! I am so very honored that I received this award from Lynn (lovin'lifeLynn!) http://beautifuldelightsblog.blogspot.com/ I just love her creations and her love for life (no pun intended)!!!

I now have to award this to five other people, they in turn (I hope anyway) will do the following...
1) You have to pick 5 blogs who deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material and also contributes to the blogging community no matter what language2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to the blog to be visited by everyone.3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and the link to the blog that has given her or him the award .4) Award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "arte y pico" blog, so everyone will know the origin of the award. (Cut and paste the info into your blog to make things easier).

This was tough, here are my 5

Tammy (NCScrapAddict)

Robyn

SarahAnn
Kopperhead

TomiAnn

I'm really hoping the picture shows up! Thanks again, Lynn! I am truly honored!