Structure...no seriously

Yesterday I was chatting with some friends and had an epithany (I've always wanted to say that) I thrive on structure.  When I was single I always thought that I was a spontaneous type but looking back I realize that I would plan even my *spontaneous* trips etc to the last minute.  So in an effort to get on track with having regular blog updates I given myself some structure and have set up a schedule both here and on our doggy blog (you'll need to look there for that one).

Starting next week ~ hey I need time to get stuff together ~ I will be giving the following a try:

Tuesday - will showcase a favorite product or designer
Thursday - will showcase tips and some of the pearls of wisdom I've been lucky enough to collect
Saturday - will showcase what was created over the week

If there is something you want me to expound (another word I think is cool) on ~ share as I might just run with it.

Blog Candy

Who doesn't like a little Candy now and then???   I just learned Cricut Creations by amkscrap and Memory Making Crafts are giving away....To ONE lucky person... one of each of the Winter Mini's!!

If you want a chance to win, and it's easy peasy, head over to Cricut Creations and follow the directions posted there. 

Good luck everyone :)

New Baby - Part Deux

So last week I was excitedly telling you all about the knife Jay made me that I named Coco (after the cocobolo wood used on the handle). Today I'll share Part Deux of the saga... and you know since I'm calling it a saga now it's not going to be good don't you?

I used my lovely knife several times with Jay hovering reminding me it was very sharp. I repeatedly told him I was a big girl and to bug off - I'm pretty sure I was that polite about it but I digress. So he finally leaves me to my own devices with Coco who promptly tried to "trim" the nail on my left index finger. It's not a bad cut but in the most inopportune location. Thankfully we had a finger splint to keep me from hitting the finger and causing unbelievable pain to myself and super glue to keep the nail in place as catching it on something is not to be dwelled on.   I can't wait until he tells his buddies over on the knifemaking boards what a klutz I am and that he is never making me another knife no matter how much I beg.  They suggested I needed more initially - they really seem to be nice caring men so I am going to assume it wasn't so I could finish the job so Jay could inherit my mass fortune - mass fortune yeah right!

It isn't easy to see but if you look close towards the middle of the nail on the bottom of the screen is a half oval shaped red line.  The red line is where the nail is cut and yes it goes down into the nailbed...again not dwelling. 

I was typing one handed for several days but I'm back to both and am so looking forward to starting the LOAD challenge next week -- 28 layouts in 28 days.  Why yes I am crazy why do you ask?

Drooling....

Like so many of you am I drooling over all the sneak peeks leading up to the Craft and Hobby Association show - aka CHA happening shortly. I can appreciate the beauty of it all and can see many bits and pieces joining my collection.

I am a fan of Pink Paislee. Which is rather ironic as in and of themselves I like neither pink or paisley, but Pink Paislee has made me love them when done their way. To see what I mean check out the newest release here. WOW WOW WOW! And again WOW!!! I love the design and the colors - oh my the colors... It's simply grey and yellow you say. Ye of little vision {wink} it is a gorgeous blend of nature mingling delicate designs with boyish charm it is Queen Bee and I must have it! Hoping MemoryWorks will have it in the new catalogue but I must have it all regardless...

New Baby...

I'll admit it - when the man said I want to make knives I nodded thinking wonder how long this will last. The first knife was kind of cool so I mentioned I wanted a good midsized kitchen knife never thinking I'd have one a few weeks later but today I got to use it to dice some bread - hey I was desperate to find something to chop ok... Isn't it gorgeous?



I got to pick the blank and the handle material (cocobolo) and it is shaped to my hand. I am so sorry I doubted you sweetie and when can I get another one???

My desk

During a discussion recently I mentioned the desk that my sweetie made me using 8 jetmax cubes as 'legs' and a custom cut one piece top from a 4x8 sheet of MDF (think the white shelves you can find at Home Depot etc but larger). I was sure I had already uploaded photos but realized I had only posted them on the discussion board of the Big Picture Scrapbooking class I took last year. Then the search was on to find them... With out further ado here are the shots of the side used as an office/school work area. We also put the pins that hold the stacked units together in the top cubes and marked them with stazon ink placed the desk top on them and applied pressure so it would transfer. We then removed the top and drilled holes so the top is held in place which makes the unit more stable and secure.




I have rearranged the cubes some what (the 3 drawers were moved to the other side and a 4 drawer unit was put in their place - also moved the glass door unit on the non computer end to the other side and put in the one with the magazine dividers in it's placed) to make it more functional but the 2 up concept holds true. We can both be sitting at the desk, facing each other, and working on the laptops that replaced the desktop. Also the black carts at the end have been moved and my cropper hopper cart sits there. The tall black cart is under the desk as are several other things we need easy access to but that don't need to be taking up precious floor space. I can leave a scrap project out while doing school with my son as I have a ton of room. One thing I need to do differently is to put a finished edge on the sheet. The one I place on has come off in places.

I am so excited to share my newest handcrafted item from my sweetheart but that will come tomorrow as I still need to get a photo of it...

Shimmerz...

Pop over to Shimmerz to check their announcement and get details about this blinkie

To date I have only dabbled with them but I am tempted to go all out...

Back and Blog Candy

I got back from Florida yesterday and my internal clock is still a tad off but I had to share this blog candy...



My friend Alex shared this on her blog and I just had to pass it on. How cute are they??? You can visit here to see them and enter for a chance to win but hurry you only have until the 18th!

Bad blogging day

Last night I was trying to get yesterday's entry up and kept getting error messages saying my URL was corrupted... And honestly I usually catch a couple of typos, grammatical errors once it's up - this holds true for yesterday too. But alas I can not go in and correct them as I am getting the error message when I try to publish it again even though it is only moments after it published it successfully. I love technology don't you?

My Little Monster...

Ok so I got a little side tracked but I did finally get what I planned on being my first layout of 2010 done.

You see I saw this paper by Reminisce while cropping at Stampers and Scrappers Delight in Boise and I thought I had purchased it as it was stinking cute but apparently I just fondled and drooled on it then put it back and got the Dinosaur paper by My Mind's Eye. But I digress...

So as I mentioned I fully intended the adorable (yes I know I'm biased) photos of my son in his 'new' to him robe and jammies with is brand new pillow cases to be the first layout I did in 2010. Well last Saturday I got invited to attend a hockey game with friends so went early and stopped by to pick up the paper and stickers by Reminisce but needing to create I had already done these pages.

As is my style the layout is very simply. I used a Prism base in Frosted Kiwi, used Intense Kiwi for the title and photo mat, the glitter frame transparency is by Fancy Pants, pattern paper and stickers from Reminisce's Monster Parade line and ribbon that just screamed at me to buy it while in the store. Since I don't 'do' ribbon that is saying something. I used foam adhesive to get two of the stickers to pop off the page. Currently I am big on handwritten journaling - don't ask me why as I hate my handwritting.



I also want to give a shout out to Prism and Jamie to say THANK YOU!! I won an amazing kit from them that arrived today. Today, the day I should have been only cleaning and getting ready to fly out to Florida tomorrow for my mini vacation but no all I wanted to do was dive into it's yumminess - is that a word because if it's not it should be. Now I have something to look forward to when I get back on Mondaya

2 Hours Equals ???

What does this stack of photos, 3 cardstock, 2 patterned papers, 1 vellum sheet, assorted rub-ons, and a few embellishments get you? Well if you scrap with the page protectors that MemoryWorks carries then you get 7 completed pages in 2 hours. Yes I said 2 hrs and that is with interruptions galore and taking the time to use my Cricut to do the title.

Like everyone else I am impatiently awaiting the launch of MemoryWorks Simple Stories line. So when I stumbled across 22 photos of a trip I took with my Mom in 1988 and realized I had page protectors in the same configuration as those used in Simple Stories well what else could I do..

This shows the stack of photos I started with


I originally pulled these papers but put back a 4 sheet of the patterned papers and pulled 2 co-ordinating cardstock sheets. Thus I ended up with 2 patterned papers, 1 vellum sheet and 3 cardstock sheets - I did not use a full sheet of anything!


This is my title page using the page protector that has a 4x12 strip across the top and 4 - 4x6 spaces. The rub-on used for my journaling spot is on top of the page protector and the "trip" chipboard is under.


Page 2 is of course the backside of page 1 and all elements are inside the page protector. I trimmed my top photos to 3 1/2 and mounted it in the center. Page 3 uses the 4x4 protector First Class is on top of the protector and World Traveler is on the cardstock.


Page 4 is the back of page 3 (like you didn't know that...) To save time I simply did my journaling on the back of the cardstock inserts - I did this through out you do need to ensure you do the lumpy items after you are done everything else.... Again top left rub-on is on the cardstock and bottom middle is on the protector itself. Page 5 is 4 - 4x6 and 1 - 8x6 space. I took my favorite, I know it's not the best one, photo and matted it then centered it in the space and placed a rub-on over the 3 layers. The quote under it is on the page protector.


Page 6 I trimmed the photo I wanted to use and centered it putting a rub-on over it and journaling under. The rest of the spaces simply hold photos. The last page has 1 - 2x12, 3-4x6 and 2 6x4 spaces. I placed the Travel tag is on the outside of the page protector as well as the 'bon voyage' rub-on. The scroll on my journaling card is on the cardstock.


I had fun literally whipping these up using what I had on hand and if I can get them done in 2 hours (I started at 2:13 and finished at 4:00) having to cut photos and paper just imagine what you will be able to do with the actual MemoryWorks Simple Stories line.

Getting our stories into albums will be a whole lot easier very soon!

My First for 2010

I am itching to play with paper and so is my hubby but don't tell his manly buddies... Jay enjoys sitting down and running my Cricut and Sizzlet machines (the silhouette frustrates us both most days) and he loves that I am making cards for Operation Write Home.

Today though we are going to sit down and make some thank you cards for personal use and maybe get a layout done. I say maybe as I have a vision - I know exactly what photos I want to use and what paper I need for them. I just am unsure if I have the paper on hand. So while dinner is on I'll be digging though the stack of yet to be filed paper I have on hand and getting everything else we will need ready.

Here are the photos I'm using for my first layout of 2010...

In my group of friends I am lucky enough to have some with boys just older and just younger than Reece so he gets awesome clothes from Sam and Max and when we are done they go to DJ. The first 2 shots are the 'new' robe and jammies we got just before Christmas. Reece now insists on having the robe ready when his bath is done - towels are not good enough for him any more...




In this shot he is reclining on the soft and gorgeous pillows made for him by Nej (Mom to Sam & Max). Her talent and generosity spoils all who have the pleasure of knowing her - thanks friend.


So what will your first layout of 2010 be? How do you decide or are you like me this time and had photos screaming at you to get them done?