Cherry Blossoms

I'm sad not to be Washington DC to see the Cherry Blossoms this year.  So the only thing better is to finish scrapping my pics from a few years ago.

It truely was a glorious day.  The trees were gorgeous, the air was warm and the smiles were plentiful.  I had taken Abbie's pink easter dress with us too and she was all to happy to twirl and pose among the blossoms.

I used mostly Basic Grey from the Green at Heart collection.  I think I used a K and Company sticker too.

Hope you have a glorious week!!

Crop Stats

I went to another AWESOME crop last weekend in PA.  (Thanks Jeni for all your hard work!!)  Here are a few of my stats:

Hours at the crop - 64  Arrived at 6pm on Thursday and left just before 4pm on Sunday
Layouts completed - 16
Number of photo scavenger hunt pictures taken - 21 out of 40  Obviously we didn't win.
Number of times Keegan fell asleep on me - 2  Cutest little baby!!
Pieces of chocolate consumed - countless!!
Quarter auction baskets won - 0  That's because Tina won them all!!
Raffle prizes won - 0  That's because Beth won all of those!!
Times I got to pick from the prize table - 2  Once for favorite luau costume (you'll see that beauty later!!) and once for best homemade snack...cake pops!!


We packed the car really well...and by well I mean over flowing.  I had to pare things down quite a bit because there were 4 of us this time.

Here are some of the scavenger hunt pictures:

Us with Denny Long in a luau costume.

Us on an orange tractor.

Us in a school bus.

Shannon on a rolled bale of hay.

Me wearing a local's bifocals.  Smokey was awesome!!  He helped up out with lots of the pics that we needed around town.

The one that really got us stumped was "you and your partner petting a llama".  Now the guy with the alpaca farm moved 2 weeks earlier and wasn't living with his alpacas at the moment.  We found his farm but it was so incredibly dark out that we were too scared to go wandering around it on our own.   So after 2 hours, we decided to call it quits.  Tanya and Megan completed the scavenger hunt in a little over 2 hours and were declared the winners!!

An now, for the luau costume...this one is awesome!!

That's me in the center with the HUGE blue hat!!  Crazy right??  When I shook my hips, the tassles went flying all over the place.  It was really fun!!

So over the next several days I'll show you some of the layouts I made.  Some I used sketches so I'll show you those too.  But first an original creation by yours truely!!

I was very happy to finish all the pictures from the March 2010 snow storm.  There were so many pictures and I made it a personal goal of mine to get them all done at the crop.

Here I used Bazzill cardstock, Echo Park patterned paper, Stickles for a little shimmer, and Thickers for the letters.

And here is the best news of the whole trip.  Shannon found my Cricut carts!!!  They had been packed up in the bottom of her jukebox.  And because she hasn't scrapped in months, she hadn't looked there.  I was just thrilled to be able to use my Cricut again!!

I'm still trying to catch up on sleep, so off to bed I go.  I'll have more for you tomorrow!!

Getting Ready for Easter

Sort of anyway!!  Abbie is already putting a list together of possible gifts for the Easter Bunny.  She is way too funny!! 

Can you believe I have all those egg dying kits??  Shannon was teasing me for it too.  There is no shortage of supplies in this house.

I used some Bazzill cardstock, Basic Grey green rub-ons, a Dear Lizzy green butterfly, Kaiser Craft lace flower and brad and a Fiskars punch.  I dug into an old stash of easter/spring themed paper for the patterned paper.

Are you all ready for spring and Easter???

I'm Back!!

Ahhhhh, it's so nice to have my computer back!!  I have a new hard drive and it's working like a brand new computer.  Tom is so awesome!!  I have all (most) of my pictures on a seperate hard drive now.  There are just sooooo many that my computer was really bogged down.  I am missing my pictures from Oct 2010 to present.  Tom is running some photo wreck software on my SD card as we speak to recover them.  I should be able to get most, if not all of those back.  I'm also getting another hard drive to have a second copy of my pics.  That should keep up safe for a while.

I'm glad to be back and see that I haven't lost any of my lovely readers!!  I even acquired a few new ones!!  Welcome!!  Hope you enjoy what I have created in these many weeks that I was gone.  I can't wait to share all the layouts with you!!  But before I do, a few signs that spring is closer than we think.

We have flowers blooming in our front yard.  I love this time of year!!  My lillies are starting to poke out from all the dead leaves and winter debris too.  And did I mention the tulips??  They're sprouting too.  Each day gets me one step closer to the warm weather.

On to one of the many layouts I have to share with you.

Easter is pretty late this year and I wanted to finish up my pics from last year before taking many more this year.  Abbie spent almost 2 hours with her eggs last year.  She wanted to make sure that each one was absolutely PERFECT before she placed in her carton.

I haven't gotten a clue what is used on this page.  I am making a serious effort to use up left overs.  Summer expos will be here before you know it and I want to make room for some new stuff.

I'm glad to back!!  Thanks for sticking with me.  I really appreciate it!! 

Have a great week all!!

Getting Ready for a Crop

I am going away to a weekend crop in 4 weeks and I'm so excited!!  I just finished the last layout from my last crop, just in time to take a whole bunch of new scrapping and scavenger hunt pictures.  Here it is:

Ah, 4 whole days of game and scrapping fun!!  I can't wait!!

Wishing for Summer

It's so much fun to play along with challenge blogs.  I played with Scrap Whispers a while back.  Someone creates a layout, then we take turns scrap lifting each other's layouts.  It was really fun to do too.  Here is the layout I created from one of the other players in the game.

I posted these pics of Tom and Abbie's sandcastle during the summer.  This was really fun to do too. 

Ok, I'm off to work...another super busy day!!

Happy Girl

Who doesn't love the smiling face of a child?  Especially if that smiling face is your child, right?  I found this great sketch on Nuts About Sketches and knew instantly what pictures I was going to use.  Here is the sketch:

Here is my take on it:

I was digging through my older stash of papers and found this collection from K i Company.  I love the brown, pink and green together.  And with a sheet of letters, this was perfect.  Especially since all my Cricut carts are all still MIA.  I added a few other embellishments like a Dear Lizzy flower brad, Jenni Bowlin butterflies and some other misc stuff I found laying around.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!  Hope your day is filled with love, not just today, but every day!!

Niagra Falls - Part 2

So I still don't have my computer back.  But Tom is being really good about sharing his work computer so I can get some stuff done. 

My weekends have been so busy these last couple of weeks I haven't even gotten much scrapping done.  I don't know how you folks get it all done, but I'm jealous!!  I decided I wasn't going to do anything but relax and scrap today.  That is after I do my work laundry for the week, clean the cat box, finish valentine's for Tom and Abbie, update my blog, pack food for work tomorrow and spend some quality time with one very tired and slightly stuffy little girl who is spending the day snuggling in bed.

Hopefully with a few good nights rest she'll be back to normal.

I did manage to get one layout done so far today, but I'll share that with you tomorrow.  For now, here is page two of the Niagra Falls layout from several weeks ago.

It was so cold and dreary out that day.  No sunshine at all.  So I wanted to brighten up the pictures with bright papers...and use up a bunch of scraps.  So that's just what I did.  I really love the red and black together.

Alright everyone, I better go put my clothes in the dryer otherwise I'm wearing jammies to work tomorrow!!

Don't you just hate it when...

Your hard drive crashes and now you have to share a computer with everyone else in the house?  Tom will have to buy me a new one and install it over the next few weeks.  In the mean time, Tom, Abbie and I are using one laptop.  And since Tom uses his for work, we get bumped from time to time.  Abbie's computer needs a little help too, so that will get repaired after mine.  Luckily, we backed up not too long ago, so not much will be lost, if anything.

So, posting will be little a slow this weekend, but I plan on getting some, if not all my layouts from the last week posted. 

Abbie has a friend staying for the weekend so I plan hope to get to the craft room at some point.  I have been feeling extra scrappy lately.

Alright my scrappy friends, I am going to use my very rare afternoon off to hopefully finish reading "The Girl Who Played With Fire".  I started it a while ago and really want to see how it ends.

Have a happy Wednesday!!!

Niagra Falls Part 1

More Niagra Falls pics, just like I promised!!  Aren't you happy??

It was so amazing to see the falls in the winter, but way too cold.  I printed about 65 pictures of that day, but don't worry, I make you see all of them.  Just some, ok, most!!

Come back tomorrow for part 2!!

No More Shopping

So I recently took stock of my craft room and all my scrappy supplies.  I decided that enough is enough.  I know, that goes against everything we scrappers believe in, but really, I have to stop.  Every month I get my kit from Scarlet Lime, I shop quite a bit at the crops I go to, I hit scrappy stores in every state or city I visit, and then we have the 2 big expos in the summer. 

I have been collecting more than I'm using.  Not good for many reasons:

1.  I'm spending money on stuff that I'm not even using for several months.

2.  I'm running out of room to store all my purchases.

3.  I want to acquire less "things" this year.

So I have decided to not shop for scrappy extras this year and use up some of the stuff I have hanging around.  I cancelled my subscription to Scarlet Lime.  I'm really going to miss those but I have a TON of stuff left to work with.  I even have 4 complete kits I haven't even touched yet.

I will allow myself to buy plain colored cardstock such as white, black and brown.  The colors I use all the time.  I have enough Tombow refills from my huge order last year so no need for adhesive. 

I can buy blade refills for my cutter.  Those are essential. 

When I go away to the CRC crops, I get $50 in vendor bucks for paying for the next crop in full that weekend.  I only go twice a year and each crop is really cheap at $155 so not a huge expense there.  And I really like having that time to get some serious work done. 

So I should be able to just make it through.  I'll keep you all updated on my scrappy purchases and try to pull some of those older supplies to good use in new ways.  I just need to be more creative. 

Here is one of those layouts:

I had these scraps of CTMH papers left over and really wanted to use them instead of throwing them out.

I scrapped a bunch of Niagra Falls pics this weekend, so that's what you're going to see the rest of the week.  Good thing is we are half way through the week.  Hooray!!  Only one more work day and the weekend is here again.  Can't wait.

Start planning your weekend everyone...you know I am!!

Say when....

I don't know when to say when on my layouts and they get a little clutter from time to time.  This is one of those times.

There is soooooo much going on!!  I just couldn't stop myself.

I only know of a few things on here because a lot of it's leftovers and scraps.  I know some of the paper is Pink Paislee, the letters are Thickers and I'm not sure of the rest.

Not sure if this is inspirational to any of you, but there it is!! 

Happy Tuesday!!

New Egypt Fire House

I finally got some scrapping done this weekend and it was wonderful.  I got up early and sat in my scrappy room before anyone else woke up.

 I have to apologize in advance for the quality of this weeks photos.  I forgot to take pictures when it was sunny out.  So I took the pictures on the window seat as the sun was setting.  The background is a little cluttered, but I'm sure you can get through. 

I've been working on some older pictures and newer pictures at the same time.  I so don't scrap in order.  A few years ago I took Abbie to the New Egypt Fire House for a fire safety talk.  They were really great with all the kids. 

I used all Basic Grey papers, some EK Success bling-like stickers, Glitz alphabet letters and think a rub on cause you know I can't scrap without them.

Well, it's Monday morning, so make the best of it!!

Catching Up

Ok, I promised a post last week about my blogger award, but sleep was more important.  I have spent much of the weekend catching up on lots of sleep!!  And now onto my award.

Val awarded my blog the Stylish Blogger Award.   THANKS!!! 

So now I need to share 7 things about myself.  Here we go:

1.  I love to cook but I HATE to clean up after myself.  Luckily, Tom loves to eat what I cook for him so he hangs in the kitchen with me and cleans up my messes as I make them...I'm so lucky!!

Check out these cupcakes with eggnog frosting I made for Christmas Eve.  YUM!!

2.  I have a serious hoarding issue when it comes to notebooks and journals.  I can't stop buying them in every shape, size and color and then keep them without using most of them.  I need to have a REALLY good reason to pull one out of my desk and start using it. A very small sampling of my notebook/planner stash.  I have a ton more!!

3.  I only have 2 hair styles.  Pin straight in the winter and my natural curly in the summer.  I don't know how else to style it so I stick to what I know.

4.  I LOVE the beach and everything about it.  I go to the beach every single day that I can during the warm season.  We start going in May and have gone as late as October.  We get there at the crack at dawn and still til sun down, usually because that's when we run out of food.  I love the ocean, the waves, the heat, everything...except the sand.  I don't touch the sand with my hands.  Having sand under my nails is a serious crisis for me.

5.  I love reality TV.  Love every second of it!!  How these people put all their dirty laundry on TV for my entertainment  is amazing.  And believe me, I am entertained by it!!

6.  I love to read and I get most of my yearly reading done at the beach.  I don't usually read at home.  I would like to, but just can't seem to make enough time for it.

7.  And finally, I loved my daughter's Nintendo DS so much, that I bought myself one so I wouldn't have to wait for hers.  I play on it almost every time Tom is driving in the car with me.  And I get annoyed when he tries to talk to me in the middle of a game!!

Can't get enough of this game.

And so there you have it.  7 random facts about me. 

And now I need to pass this lovely blog award onto some of my favorite blogs. 

1.  Rachael at A Window Too My Scrappin World.  I love her scrappy style and she is such a great source of inspiration.

2.  Diane at Created by Diane.  Her recipes are absolutely delicious and my family and I have thoughly enjoyed them!!

3.  Penny at Artfully Embellished.  Love all her layouts and great crafty inspiration.

4.  Scrap Whispers.  I love their challenges.  And their Design Team makes great samples.

5.  Sassy Lil' Sketches.  I love working with sketches and these sketches always inspire me.

6.  Brittany at The Rest is Still Unwritten.  A great scrappy style and I really enjoy her layouts.

7.  Chris at Work for Scraps.  Another great scrappy blog with a great style of layouts.

8.  Kelly at Scrap My Life.  Kelly creates really awesome layouts and I always enjoy reading her blog.

9.  Aphra at My Scrappy Life.  Such a great blogs with so many awesome layouts and crafts.  Lots of fun to read.

Well, those are my favorites.  So, please pass along the Stylish Blogger Award to 15 of your favorite blogs and share 7 random facts about yourself.

Did you miss me??

Another whole week without a single post.  Sorry folks, life took over and I just couldn't seem to get my act together.  I woke up early today so I could do a yoga workout before work, but decided blogging was a better choice. 

There hasn't been much scrapping going on here lately.  I have been spending my weekends cooking my little heart out for my family instead.  I have this new found love for cooking and baking lately and it's eating into my scrapping time. I'm working on fitting it all into my short 3 day weekend along with everything else that needs to get done.  You know...laundry, vacuuming, food shopping, playing with Abbie, spending time with Tom, watching Dexter (I'm almost done with season 2!!). 

There's gotta be away to fit it all in.  I need to work on that.

So I wanted to share something with you other than pictures of Memory games, laundry piles, dirty dishes, or my bowl of oatmeal, so here is a layout that is almost done.

I say almost done because I feel like it needs a title of some sort.  I've already used "Beach Baby" way too many times.  I was thinking of "My Sunshine" or something like that, but I can't seem to commit.

Here is what I used:

So Sophie and Basic Grey papers, Fiskars border punch, Thickers, Basic Grey border stickers and I don't know where that cute pebble came from.  I think it might be Jenni Bowlin...at least it looks like it anyway.

I got a blog award last week too!!  I was so excited!!  I'll share that with you tomorrow.  Right now I need to hop in the shower and get my very long and rainy day started.

Have a great Tuesday!!

Playing Dress Up

As I try and scrap some older pics with some newer ones, I found these three pictures of Abbie during her "dress up" phase.  She still plays dress up even now, but she calls if fashion and makes up fun and quirky outfits out of her real clothes.

I used Basic Grey's Green at Heart. 

Isn't she cute???

Christmas in Pittsburgh

We were in Pittsburgh a few years ago just before Christmas and they had so many awesome Christmas activities set up all over town.  And they had a trolley that would take from place to place during the day.

One of the shopping malls had Santa and a train ride, there was a Christmas festival one night and another mall had a bunch of Christmas activities set up for kids.

Happy Thursday folks!!!

Chef Abbie

As much as Abbie loves to cook, she enjoys tasting more.

The proof is in the pudding, or cookie...no real baking going on just tasting and posing.    She is just too funny!!