Birthday Cards

Lately I have been horrible about mailing out birthday cards - my problem was that I didn't have 1 cent stamps - but I finally got some and sent a bunch of cards out this week! Just be warned, there are lots of cards here!

***

Here are the cards I made for my Mom and Grandma - their birthdays are in June and July - see how bad I am! They are quilters, and I got the idea for these cards from Nona's video.

Here was the card I made for Nicole - I found out she is exactly one week older than me, and I was born where she currently lives and she was born not too far away - no wonder we like each other!

Here is the card I made for my FIL - his b-day is just two days before mine. I used a Riley image that I got from Ramsey. I don't have the post card stamp set, so I just drew my own. I used pop dots under the date/sentiment circle and under the cut-out Riley image.

Here is the card I made for my nephew, Mason - we share the same birthday! He is exactly 11 years younger than me, so he turned 16 this year. The funny thing is, we not only share the same birthday, but we were also baptized on the same date in October! Me in October of 1989 and he in October of 2000!

Here is the card I made for my other nephew, Jordan.

I also share a birthday with 3 gals in our ward at church - one of them is my good friend and my first CTMH downline, Lori, so here are the cards I made for those ladies...

And here is the card I made for my mom's hubby - his b-day was in July, also, see, I'm just horrible! I used another Riley image from Ramsey - and added Liquid Applique to add some fluffy frosting to the cupcakes.

Thanks for looking!

First Day of School!

My girls had their first day of school this week! Kaylee is now in first grade and Brianna started Kindergarten - it's weird that they are just one year apart in school, because they are almost 2 years apart in age, but since Kaylee has a fall birthday, she didn't start K until last year, just before she turned 6, and Brianna has a summer birthday, so she got to start just after she turned 5. Anyway, they are loving school and so far they are waking up before their alarm clock, and getting ready quickly, so we've been riding bikes to school every day (it's about 1/2 a mile). Here are some quick pictures from the first day - my batteries in my good camera were dead that morning, with the back-ups dead, too, so I had to use my old camera. It's a good thing I tried to take pics at home before we headed to school, so I could grab the other camera, or I would have been out of luck! The same thing happened last year, but luckily I got a few pics at school before the battery died. I really should have learned my lesson for this year, but I thought my back-ups were charged, I guess I was wrong!

Okay, enough gab, here are my cuties!

Thank you!

I have a few thank-you's that are due...

***

My friend Ramsey came over last week and brought me this fun card, along with a bunch of fun Bella stamps for me to play with! I have stamped a bunch of them and have been busy making cards - I will post those later! For now, here is the card Ramsey made for me...

I love the dimension, especially on the belly!

And my dear friend Kari sent me this fun goodie package for my birthday last week - isn't she sweet! Thanks so much, Kari!

Also, I have received this blog award from quite a few sweet gals. I really enjoy blogging and I'm so glad I started! I nominate everyone in my blog list on the right - there is so much fun inspiration out there, thanks to everyone for sharing!

Classic Beauties

My girls had a fun photo shoot this summer - here are their darling pictures - aren't they cuties!?! The girls just love dressing up and playing with the props - Brailee didn't want to let that little bear go!

Brilliant Backgrounds

So since I'm not buying any new stamp sets right now, I decided to break out some of my other ones that haven't seen any ink, yet. Brilliant Backgrounds is one of them. I always love the background stamps, but this one just hadn't been put to use, yet.

***

Here I used one of the background stamps to stamp kiss the letters in the title, and then I used it as fun corners behind some of the pictures. This is also my try at MCC #28 - I just changed the Bamboo to Outdoor Denim. On this 2-page layout I used Desert Sand textured CS, Crystal Blue textured CS, Buttercup CS, Outdoor Denim CS, Rustic Alphabet, Spot On Background stamp set, Brilliant Background stamp set, clear buttons, and sassy strands, and a PageMaps layout.

Here I used another background stamp from that set to stamp my dimensional element letters, and the bookplate. When I saw the layout on page 25 of the Summer Idea Book, it inspired me, as it added pink to this Game On paper pack, plus the title was Pink Ladies, which is exactly what Kaylee's softball team was named this year! On this page I used Game On paper pack, Calendar Stamp set, Brilliant Background stamp set, Hollyhock CS, Hollyhock ricrac ribbon, Blush dot ribbon, Monogram letters for the title (except I didn't have the letter 'I' so I had to cut my own out of scrap chipboard), black bigger and bitty brads, black photo hangers with hollyhock brads, and black spiral clip.

And this page doesn't use any stamping, but it's just another quick one that I got done yesterday. This baby has it's first scrapbook page done and it's not even born yet - hooray! I have never got around to scrapping ultrasound pics yet, but this page really got me in the mood to do the rest of the kid's 'first' pictures. For this page I used Heaven Sent Level 1 page and stickease, so it was really quick and easy.

I have the coolest SIL...

...so I love all of my SIL's, but Sandy is my stamping and scrapbooking buddy - I get so much inspiration from her, I really love to see her artwork and I enjoy hanging out with her. My birthday is coming up next Friday and she gave me my birthday present early - lucky me! Here is what she gave me...it's the new Originals Book - woohoo! It was at the very top of my wish list from the new Idea Book, so I'm excited. The artwork inside is fabulous.

And here is a close-up of the card she made me...

Thanks again, Sandy - you rock!

Mommy Moments

I just noticed that I haven't posted any pics of our summer fun recently, I really haven't taken many pictures lately - I know, a real shock! So I thought I would post some of my proud Mommy Moments.

***

I am now 14 weeks along and had another appointment last week and we got to hear the heartbeat. It was about 155/160 - so, does anyone have any predictions? We like to be surprised, so we won't find out until February, but it's always fun to guess. I had a dream last night that it was a girl and I was a little relieved - we have everything we need for a girl and we'd have to start all over if it is a boy - but as long as it's healthy and happy, we'll be thrilled. I have still been feeling great, as long as I can stay stress free. I've been getting some killer headaches, which is just not like me. But between my headaches and Brailee having a mysterious fever last weekend, I have finished reading Breaking Dawn - LOVE those books - I highly recommend them if you haven't read them yet!

***

Brailee was such a big girl yesterday - she woke up with a dry diaper in the morning and went potty for the first time - we were all so excited for her. So far it's been the ONLY time, too, but I still thought it was pretty cool - she likes to try, but I don't push it too much with her, I don't want to scare her off!

***

Brianna has been going to a 'Getting Ready for Kindergarten' program at school since last week. She gets to go for two hours every day for two weeks to start to get used to things. She is really enjoying herself and keeps asking when she gets to go ALL day! School officially starts in less than 2 weeks, so not long, at all!

***

School is close enough that we ride bikes every day - they wish they could ride their bikes everywhere! Anytime we are going somewhere, the first thing they ask is, 'Can we ride our bikes?' Here we are on the bike path - I wish I knew how many miles we go when we go this route, but we're usually gone for at least an hour and a half, it's a fun ride, and uphill on the way home, but the kids love it. On our short route, it's just over a mile, and only takes us 20 minutes, so I would guess this way is at least 2 or 3 times that distance.

I hope you are all having a fun summer - take care!

Family

I ran across these old pictures the other day and knew they would be perfect with one of Marjorie's Color Challenges, and it's finally one of the more current ones, so I got to play a little today. This layout is for MCC #29 - my SIL, Sandy came over today with her box of new stuff from the new CTMH catty. I don't have a scrapping budget as of lately so I don't get any new stuff for a while, so it was fun to see the awesome new products and play with some of it, too!

I'm pretty sure I got the date pretty close - all I know is that these pics were taken at least after August 1990 and before March 1991 and for some reason, I just have it stuck in my head that it was around Christmas. I'm close, anyway! I forgot to add my pull-out tag with names, I will have to include that soon! If anyone can see the pic decently, can anyone guess which is me?

Products Used - all CTMH unless stated otherwise: NEW Chocolate Alphabet Large, Chocolate Textured CS, Honey, Barn Red, and Olive CS, The Works Alphabet, Christmas Greetings stamp set, sanding block, edge distresser, Scallop Circle template (from OT)

Sisters

Here is a quick page that I did today for the latest PageMaps Blog Challenge and MCC #27 - I thought the bright colors were perfect for these B&W pics that I found. The Blog Challenge was named a Vacation Challenge, so I don't know if mine counts since it's not about vacation, but I found these pictures before I found any compatible vacation pics, and I had to scrap them right away! Plus, all my vacation pics need at least a 2-page layout ;-)

I recently saw the lacing on a layout on Melissa's blog and had to try it right away - it added a fun touch, love those sassy strands!

Oh, and this includes another sneak peak at an upcoming Stamp of the Month, the journaling piece on the right came from Annotations, which is October's SOTM. I didn't think the detail stood out enough with the light Kiwi ink, so I used my piercing tool to pierce the design - I LOVE the results!

Products Used - all CTMH (except the Fiskars Threading Water Punch - LOVE that thing!): Watermelon Textured CS, Sanding Block, Kiwi and Sunny Yellow CS, Hodge Podge Alphabet, Annotations, Checklist, Bubblegum Sassy Strands, Piercing Tool,

Cookies with Gma Nae

So I couldn't get enough of that Heart Throb set that I used on my last layout, so as I was looking for my next set of pictures to scrap, I found these from 2006 with my mom and girls making cookies and knew they would be perfect! I used the very last of my Cranberry B&T papers :-( and kept these pages really simple but with a lot of fun stamping. I still need to add my journaling in the empty white piece on the right page, but other than that, I think it turned out quick and cute.

Thanks for looking!

Products Used - all CTMH: Imagine Layout - Jazzy Combination (pg. 38), Cranberry B&T paper (retired), Heart Throb stamp set (upcoming Dec. SOTM), Cranberry Ink, Giggle Uppercase stamp set, White Daisy and Cranberry CS

I love YOU the most!

My mom sent the girls these sweet letters and pictures shortly after her most recent trip here - they were so precious that I didn't want them lost or forgotten, so I scrapped them! I used MCC #20 for these pages - for those who aren't familiar with Stacy's abbreviation, that means Marjorie's Color Challenge. I used to do at least one of her challenges per month, but it's been a while lately, and this is even an old one, so it shows how far behind I am! You can check out all of her color challenges HERE.

Here is the layout with a sneak peak of CTMH's upcoming December Stamp of the Month, Heart Throb! I usually don't like Valentine stamp sets, but I just LOVE this one! I am working on another layout today using this stamp set again, hopefully I'll get it posted tomorrow.

Products Used - all CTMH: Imagine Layout Sweet Symphony (page 24), Watermelon, Hydrangea, and Moonstruck B&T papers (all retired), Heavenly Blue CS, Extreme Caps, Rustic Alphabet (stamp kissed with Heart Throb), Because I Love You stamp set, Dimensional Elements Flower Garden, Heavenly Blue Embossing Powder, White Daisy Embossing Powder, Moonstruck and Hydrangea Bigger Brads, White Daisy RicRac Ribbon

Fair Results

The fair went well - I picked up our projects and my cash (SWEET!) on Sunday. I ended up getting Best of Show for the Professional Division on my purple 'Simple Beauty' layout, and I also ended up winning an additional award for that layout which was picked among all of the Craft Professional Best of Shows, so that was a really cool honor, plus an extra $10! I got second on the other layout that I entered. All of my cards and my book got first place, except one card (my favorite) ended up getting second. The girls were excited - they got ribbons - just Participation ribbons are given for the Kidz Class, but they didn't care, they were excited! It was fun - the hardest thing about our fair exhibits is that they don't display things by category, so everything is just kind of scattered all over the place, which I really don't get. It would be so much nicer to be able to see everything in the same category without searching the whole building. Anyway, it's been like that all 3 years that I have participated and I finally put in a suggestion to change that AND add more scrapbooking categories, so we'll see if next year is any better! Next year I plan on entering some photographs - I thought about it this year, but not until the last minute, and then I couldn't decide which pictures to enter. Now that I have been looking, there are a bunch I realize I should have entered! Next time I will be more prepared!

Anyway, thanks for letting me share!

Yankee fans in training!

My dad got to go to New York in early July - for those who don't know, our family has always been big Yankee fans, and he got to go to a game at Yankee Stadium. My girls have never really watched baseball on TV before, because I never thought they'd like it, but since Grandpa T was there, we turned on the TV and watched it that night. I officially have Kaylee hooked! Every time she sees MLB on the channel listings, she begs to watch baseball. It is so much fun to watch with her - she asks lots of questions and really gets into how the game is played. Anyway, my dad sent the girls these shirts and they just love to wear their Yankee gear! Brianna was excited to see the gray one, she said, "Mom, it's just like your sweater!" - which is funny because I never realized that she even noticed that old hooded sweatshirt before. I guess I didn't realize how much I really wear it ;-)

Here I am trying to get a good picture of the girls in their shirts - they are so silly sometimes it's hard to get just one 'decent' picture.

Brailee didn't mind posing for a pic - unfortunately, I was zoomed in, so I missed her cute little arm pose - too cute!

August Challenges

Sorry I'm a day late getting these posted - I can't believe it's August already! Plus, I was working on my layout for the Cherish Challenge earlier this week, and Brailee got a hold of it - grrr - and tore the left page apart, so I had to fix that before I could finish. So, I didn't get around to doing a brand new layout for the Imagine or Reflections Challenges, so sorry to those who have seen these before.

So, here are the challenges for this month. Here's how it works - at the beginning of each month, I announce which layouts from Cherish and Imagine that we are going to be doing - and starting this month, I'm going to add in Reflections! You don't have to do all of them, just what you want. I will also post my example. You then create the layout using your choice of theme, papers, orientation, etc. and send me a link or a picture of your layout. I will draw a name from all participants and the winner will get a fun bundle of cards at the end of the month. It's fun to see the different results from the same layout!

The Cherish Challenge is Dreamy Look on pages 52 and 53

Melissa's Little Miracle Layout

On this page, I used the hole from a Photo Hanger to 'circle' the number 7 for the date.

The Imagine Challenge is Up the Tempo on pages 64 and 65

On these pages, I cut each petal on the Big Blooms in half and then rounded the ends to resemble the flowers in the pics. I also used my sewing machine on these pages - fun, fun!

The Reflections Challenge is Bottom Border - Base on page 29

On this page, inspiration came from the Laurie Berkner song, I think it's called 'Who's That?' Anyway, the song echoes, so to take that echo onto the page, I created a mirror effect on the left side by using my rubber brayer. The tab on the top right pulls out for hidden journaling. I just love the look on Brailee's face in this picture!