Am I going to make it?

Since I am WAY behind on reaching my layout goal for the end of the year, I pulled out a couple of pages that I did a few years ago for swaps or gatherings and finally added some pictures. Do you think I can still reach my goal by the end of the year? There's not much time left! Here are some super quick pages that helped my numbers a little! I only count pages that I keep for myself that have pictures and journaling on them - if I counted gifts, I think I would already be at my goal ;-P

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These pages were for a club gathering in Spring of 2008

I did have to create the right page for this one since all I had was the left page - but it still went together super fast.

These pages were for a Themed Swap that I was invited to participate in about 2 years ago, hosted by Tiffany Cheney. At that time I never thought I'd have use for boy pages ;-) Swap participants received the following boy themed projects from me:

...and I created a companion page for myself.

And here it is with pictures!

And since I have LOTS of pictures of this little boy and his busy-ness, I put the extra pictures on a photo storage page and used flip flaps to fit them all.

With Gratitude

Happy Thanksgiving! I figure this is the perfect day for a post with some Thank You cards!

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I was asked to teach the Activity Day girls how to make a card this month - it was extra special because it was also Kaylee's first Activity Day now that she is 8! I kept it super simple since it was for girls aged 8-11 of various paper crafting skills - I hope they enjoyed it! This was the card they made.


The following card was the one I originally was planning for Activity Days but quickly decided it was too much for them. Kaylee liked the card so much, though, that she wanted to make it for her thank you cards for her birthday and baptism. Here is my card...

...and here are some of Kaylee's cards - she still has more to make but this is what she has done so far. I cut all the papers for her and let her use them as she wanted. She distressed the edges, stamped, and assembled them all on her own. She started out creating her cards exactly like my sample but then Brianna wanted to make one too, and she ended up doing her own thing which helped Kaylee think out of the box as well.


...and here is Brianna's card.

I sure love creating with my girls!

Wordless Wednesday

Snow Friend

I just love snowmen - isn't this one too cute? This is a fun, simple can creation that I plan on filling with treats for the girls' teachers next month. This project will be included in next month's holiday workshop - a 'Make Your Own Snowman' kit for only $4! The hat can either be removed to access the lid of the can, or the top of the hat opens as well.

Thanks for looking!

Fishy Face

This week I am going to attempt to play catch up, so be watching for my scheduled posts over the next couple of days!

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Here is a fun page that I did of Trysten - I love his little fishy lips ;-D I used an October 2009 sketch from PageMaps for this layout, I just flipped it upside down and left off one of the 2x2 photos that it suggested. My original idea for this page consisted of circles cut from a transparency to give a bubble look - I stamped my title and embossed in Heavenly Blue powder on one of the circles but I had a problem with static that day and could not get a clean image no matter what I tried. So I found this fun chipboard alphabet and I embossed that for my title instead. All of the chipboard circles are embossed as well.

CTMH Products Used: Building Blocks paper pack, On Target Dimensional Elements, Heavenly Blue Embossing Powder, Comments stamp set, Solo 8 stamp set, Blue staples, Wide White Ribbon

Other Products Used: Alphabet Chipboard, Blue Zig Marker

Thanks for looking!

Kaylee's Special Day(s)

Kaylee had a great birthday and baptism - thanks to all the family and friends who shared this special day with us! The girls got out of school early on Thursday and had no school on Friday so we had extra time to play and celebrate! David took Friday off so I could go to P/T Conferences and I then I was *supposed* to go get a CT scan but forgot ;-P Anyway, he ended up going over to help his parents on their new building and so I took all the kids out to lunch by myself, which was a lot of fun. After that I had a surprise planned for Kaylee. We've told the girls they can pierce their ears when they turn 8, so I set up a fun girls day out to get Kaylee's nails done, her hair cut, and her ears pierced, and to get my hair cut as well. She ended up backing out of the ear piercing but maybe someday she'll work up the courage! Brianna has been wanting to get hers pierced for a couple years now so I don't think she'll have a problem - Kaylee was never interested until just recently but I guess still just not quite ready! Here she is getting her nails done...

and here is Kaylee and me afterwards...

Here are some pictures from her baptism on Saturday. My mom made her darling baptism dress and of course the headband that I posted a couple days ago. The flower that you see my Grandma pinning on Kaylee is her Christening Bracelet - my Grandma has made one for each of all the girls when they got blessed, so that added a perfect touch. I knitted her the white slippers to remind her to always follow in Jesus' footsteps. The white towel with the CTR symbol and her name and baptism date was a gift from her Primary Teacher - isn't that such a fun idea! Great Grandma Sager spoke on Baptism and Grandma DeVries spoke about the Holy Ghost and presented Kaylee with the beautiful white roses.

She had her friend party this last Saturday - we rented the Rec Center which includes Roller Skates, and had Pizza and Ice Cream Cake - I thought it was a blast! There were lots of falls and sore bottoms! Poor Brianna probably got the worst of it, she fell so many times, but no matter what she would get back up and try again! One time she fell on top of Kaylee's skate and it scraped up her back pretty bad but even that couldn't stop her - after an ice pack and some rest she was ready to go again.

I took Trysten's stroller which ended up being a VERY good idea! The kids had fun pushing him around, especially those who had never skated before. He fell asleep and took a nice nap which was nice and that way I had free hands to get things done. Thanks to Mystie, Jamie, and Tracy for helping me out as well - I wouldn't have been able to do it without you!

When the kids took a break to eat, Trysten took advantage of the clear floor and had fun crawling around and chasing his dancing sister.

Brailee didn't spend much time on skates - we took her scooter and she went around on that for a while, but the rest of the time she spent just running, playing with cones, and pushing me around ;-)

Aren't they the cutest?

My mom made up these darling headbands for the girls - aren't they just too cute! Oh, and the headbands, too!

And sorry I've been MIA lately, I took a time-out from blogging for a bit but I hope to get back into the swing of things. I've been doing lots of creating but no sharing so thanks for sticking with me! I will be back soon to post pics of Kaylee's special days and all of the fun creations I've been up to!

Eight is GR8!

Kaylee is turning 8 and getting baptized on Saturday! We love this sweet, caring girl of ours and we're proud of her decision. We're looking forward to a memorable weekend with family and friends.

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Here are the announcements/invitations that I created. I created standard sized cards for family and bookmark sized cards for her friends.

I FINALLY used my Cuttlebug which made these really fast and easy. I embossed and sanded the front out of Breeze CS. I used Amethyst CS and stamped 'Eight is gr8!' using black ink. Ever since I made the card (posted here) when my nephew turned eight last year, I knew I wanted to use the same idea for Kaylee and I think it worked perfectly for these!

Here is the inside - with a poem I found on Sugar Doodle.

And here are the bookmarks - I stamped them with the corner flourish from the Key To My Heart stamp set in Breeze ink.

And then here is the Baptism Book that I created for her. This was another super easy project but I am so thrilled with how it turned out - I can't wait for her to fill it in! I used Silhouette Simply Snapshot 9x9 pages along with a 9x9 Accordian album. Thanks to a file I found on Sugar Doodle, I just copied and pasted the information I wanted to include in her book. I did have to tweak it to fit and change some things to my liking but it went together really quickly!

Here are some close-ups of each page...

...this is the cover - a picture of her in her white dress will go under the Top Coat.

...here is the back cover

...here is where friends and family will sign

...Articles of Faith page

...Baptism Day details that she will fill in afterwards

...Church Leaders page

...the left page here will be filled in by Kaylee - I saved the right page for something special - I hope it works out like I want it.

Thanks for looking!

Wordless Wednesday

Stampaganza begins today!!!

Stamp lovers rejoice! We are making it easy to build your stamp collection! Cardmakers and scrapbookers alike will love this opportunity to earn free stamps during our November campaign. We’ve never done a promotion like this so close to the holidays, and this makes gift giving more fun and more affordable. Tell your friends, your family, you might even want to tell Santa Claus!

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From November 3–30, 2009, when you purchase any two stamp sets (sizes A, B, C, D, and/or E only) at full retail price, you will receive a third stamp set of your choice FREE (of equal or lesser value for your entire order)—a savings of up to $22.95!

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Some restrictions apply. Shipping/handling apply. Click HERE to view a flyer with complete details.

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Click HERE to visit MyCTMH website and view all available stamp sets!

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Each year, CTMH retires some older stamp sets to make room for upcoming stamp sets. This month's Stampaganza special is the perfect time to purchase some of those stamps that you have been debating on before they are retired on December 31. There is a complete list of retiring stamp sets (with pictures) in the Retiring Stamp Sets section of MyCTMH site - just click HERE to view the last-chance stamp sets.

November SOTM Blog Hop

Welcome to our November Stamp of the Month Blog Hop! This month's SOTM is called Around the Block and it's a fun set of 26 house-inspired stamps. I hope you'll hop along with us as we have a lot of talented Consultants participating this month - I can't wait to see what they all create!

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When you're done here, the next stop is Helen's Blog, so don't forget to keep hopping!

Here is a page I created using this stamp set - these pictures were taken 23 years ago when our house was being built - I think these are great pictures of my family - it's fun to see us so young. The little girl in the bottom right picture - that's me! The layout came from the November PageMaps. Anyway, I used the Back Country paper pack (my dad's shirt just kept drawing me to this paper), the alphabet stickers came from the Back Country Level 1 Kit, I added some Autumn Craft Buttons tied with Olive Waxy Flax, and some Outdoor Denim Ribbon (some stitched with Waxy Flax - never again, that was a pain!). The year was stamped with the Charm Numbers stamp set and I stitched around that circle with more Waxy Flax (LOVE that stuff!). If you look closely on the Barn Red piece you can see where I stamped the wood stamp from this month's SOTM set and the rest of my title 'is where the heart is.' also came from that stamp set.

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If you click HERE you can view a card I created using this stamp set - we will be creating it in this month's workshop.

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Don't forget to hop along to Helen's Blog and all the rest of this month's participants to see all of their fabulous creations!
Thanks for looking - I hope you enjoy the blog hop!

November SOTM Blog Hop List

In case you get lost or find links not working along the Blog Hop, here is a complete list of participants.

Jena DeVries
http://www.livelovelaughscrapbook.blogspot.com
Helen Onulak
http://www.hookedonstamping.com
Carla Ironside
http://www.carlacreates.blogspot.com
Cindy Leek
http://www.paperspadsandpictures.blogspot.com
Laurie Levnik
http://www.creationsbylaurie.blogspot.com
Krista Ritskes
http://kristaritskes-simplycreating.blogspot.com/
Kathleen Androlewicz
http://bowlofstamps.blogspot.com/
Paige Dolecki
http://www.paigespaperparadise.blogspot.com
Shannon Pelletier
http://www.mycolorfulworldinvt.blogspot.com
Jody Gustafson
http://www.cre8nmemories.blogspot.com
Laura Dame
http://www.thecroppersconnection.blogspot.com
Terrie Dodd
http://www.my-life-in-real-time.blogspot.com
Lori Brown
http://www.savingmine.blogspot.com
Cibele Glazer
http://www.flowerfoot.blogspot.com
Caren Goldsein
http://www.scrappycaren.blogspot.com
Traci Godbee
http://createwithtraci.blogspot.com
Dawn Ross
http://www.iamahappystamper.blogspot.com
Maricar Harris
http://www.maricarharris.blogspot.com
Jamia Bankhead
http://www.papermadnessinc.blogspot.com
Laurie Newton
http://scrapsfromthebeach.blogspot.com/
Nona Davenport
http://www.nonapearl.blogspot.com
Tanya David
http://www.scramperscorner.blogspot.com
Sheila Bennett
http://sheila-bennett.blogspot.com
Melissa Laverty
http://www.fancymelissa.blogspot.com
Amy Edwards
http://PaisleysPlayhouse.blogspot.com
Lori Leng
http://www.pinkcloudscrappers.blogspot.com
Kristie Herdener
http://www.goofyscrapper.blogspot.com
Jill Lucas
http://scrapwench.blogspot.com
Adeline E. Brill
http://adeline-brill.blogspot.com
Michelle Nist
http://Michellenist.blogspot.com
Dawn Heuft
http://www.stamptildawn.blogspot.com
Jessica Booth
http://jessicabooth.blogspot.com/
Susan Brooks
http://www.stampingintheopen.blogspot.com
Sarita Schraeder
http://www.blessedscrapper.blogspot.com
Katy Donaldson
http://www.scrappinkaty.blogspot.com
Mary Eisen
www.mestamp2.blogspot.com
Deb Young
http://www.scrapbookczar.blogspot.com
Haley Dyer
http://www.inkyscrapper.blogspot.com
Kimberly Smith
http://verykimberry.blogspot.com/
Barbra Otten
http://barbraotten.blogspot.com/
Tammy Lea Pinchard
http://mycreativeclubhouse.blogspot.com
Nancy Brown
http://www.creativelyartsygallery.blogspot.com
Karen Norman
http://www.gettinscrappywithit.blogspot.com
Judy Burger
http://makingtimeformemories.blogspot.com/
Sylvia Jacquot
http://stampinsylvia.blogspot.com/
Brae Montgomery
http://thebrae-er.blogspot.com
Pamela O'Connor
http://www.cherishyourmemories.blogspot.com
Antoinette Herrin
http://www.GodblessyourART.blogspot.com
Debra Van Patten
http://memoriesoftheheartbydeb.blogspot.com/
Jen Patrick
http://www.roxybonds-scrappin.blogspot.com
Wendy Kessler
http://www.myscrapbookingblog.com
Beth Naumann
http://www.bethscreativeblock.blogspot.com
Misty Jackson
http://www.misstscraps.blogspot.com
Brenda Harmless
http://keepsakeswithheart.blogspot.com
Amy McVey
http://www.clearlystamping.blogspot.com
Linda Shewchuk
http://www.awesomememories.blogspot.com
Chris Shouse
http://www.houseostamps.wordpress.com
Pam Klassen
http://eimmap.blogspot.com/
Michelle Bourlet
http://michellescreativeconnections.blogspot.com/
Jen Rubio
http://www.jenrubio.blogspot.com
Wanda Riley
http://www.creatingwithwanda.blogspot.com
Lori Miller
http://www.clearlyfromtheheart.blogspot.com
Carol Taggio
http://craftycarol55.blogspot.com
Tracy Oleksak
http://www.mamaolie.blogspot.com