The Smith Girls' Spot

My Girls

2011-07-21T16:59:00.000-07:00

Sara and Emily's cheer pictures. Both in high school this year!

We Love to Camp minibook

2010-01-31T18:40:00.000-08:00

Country Girl at Heart

2010-01-31T18:31:00.000-08:00

When we decided to move back to Texas, I was excited to get the girls closer to bigger city life. We had lived for five years on the coast of North Carolina in a small-ish town, and that was a great place to live while they were that age. But as they got older, I wanted them to be closer to bigger city things. Turns out, Sara is a country girl at heart. She loves to be out in the country, at the lake, at the beach, anywhere in the boonies and misses that...

It's Ours!!!

2009-04-17T09:37:00.000-07:00

Pics from the realtor's website of our new place!

Oh, my gosh. I was sooo bummed about having that huge repair to our current house, which DH and I both have grown to dislike very much. We decided to lease it out so we can write off some of the repair and purchase our "forever" house...and here it is!! We're all approved and ready to go. Just waiting on the appraisal, since they're running two weeks behind. Guess everyone is busy refinancing. The leasing market is really good right now according to several realtors we spoke with, and there isn't one for lease in our neighborhood, so we'll be good.

Emily's room has this cute built-in stage. The top of the stage is her bed - so cute! The floor is plexiglass with different colored lights underneath :)

There's one room I'll need help in repainting. It's the game room and, boy, do I dislike that blue. I need help in knowing what in the world to do with a room like this. Just paint it all one color???

New Stuff All Around

2009-03-20T15:02:00.001-07:00

This kit had such sweet ribbon! And pretty rub-ons.

So I got a new job! Yay :) I've worked from home for years, but business is slow out there. Folks don't have enough money to sue each other anymore, so my line of work is diminishing. With a massive home repair bill upon us and a new set of braces on Em, it was time for me to start looking. Just so happens my neighbor is an attorney and his secretary was, well, mean. She threw tea in the face of a sweet co-worker during an argument. At a nice law firm. Who does that in this economy? LOL! Crazy I tell ya. So he offered me the job and I snapped it up - whew!

Michelle at Polka Dot Whimsy I thought asked me to do a guest design spot and I was thrilled - such cute kits she has! But I'm up there as a regular on the team, so that's a nice surprise! I really love the girls at 3SB and Heather is awesome, but I wouldn't be able to really participate there as much with the new job and what we're going to go through on the home repair, so I went ahead and resigned. But I love them! PDW doesn't have the same board participation, so I should be okay there.

We Love to Camp Mini

2009-02-27T07:25:00.000-08:00

Oops! Sorry, this one is out for pub. I'll put it back in a few months...

Wanted one of these Jenni Bowlin minis and finally remembered to get one. Love it with the October Afternoon cloud paper and super cute Imaginisce rub-ons. Finally got around to using the Making Memories glittery frames and K&Co. 3-D glittery fish stickers together.

Using up stash...

2009-02-20T14:28:00.000-08:00

One good thing about cleaning out my office means I'm more likely to use up old supplies :) I never really loved that Love, Elsie paper and it was in a giveaway stack. But when I started this layout, I snagged it back from the giveaway pile :)

My girls and their friend. They text, text, text all the time when they are together. Weird!

Chillax

2009-02-17T05:21:00.000-08:00

Quick post. Loving the new Basic Grey little chip letters. And vellum, hmph.

Rashes and Rain - Making Memories Passport

2009-01-25T15:37:00.000-08:00

Loving Making Memories stuff right now. They seem to be getting it just right on all their products. And my revamped Michaels is awesome! Picked up the Making Memories, Prima and K and Co. there for this one.

This trip was ridiculous. The first time we took the boat out, it rained. The first time while we were out in the middle of this huge lake, getting used to figuring out the boat, of course! The fog and rain clouds obscured the banks and it was a nail-biter trying to find our way back to our campsite dock, thinking the whole time, "WHY did I let him get this friggin' boat?" :) Our RV spot was a muddy mess and getting the dogs in and out was a pain. But! We hung around and waited out the rain. I like the pictures we got, though :) So it's all good. Never did figure out what that nasty rash was that Sara got.

Chloe's Closet

2009-01-24T08:25:00.001-08:00

Love the new Chloe's Closet from Making Memories. It will be perfect for all the outdoor pictures we take at Matt's parents. Love the mix of patterns and colors and all the embellies.

Cute stamp from 3 Scrappy Boys this month!

Love these pictures of Emily and John Luke, her cousin. We went to visit John Luke's dad, DH's brother, when he was home on a visit from Iraq, on his way to Afghanistan.

A Couple More ...

2009-01-17T09:40:00.000-08:00

Hating my scanner for sure! Totally blurs my layouts. I'm glad to have tons of pics of when the girls were younger that I've never had the time to scrap. Now that they're getting bigger, it makes me happy to go scrap events from a few years ago and makes me smile :)

Sara's friend Rebecca cracks me up. She's very cute and very bubbly and very dramatic. As they were doing last-minute studying for semester exams this week, Rebecca shouts out, "You're such a NERD, Sara! You know all the answers!" LOL! We laughed about it on the way home from school and I had to scrap it that night. Using some of that cute Colorbok in my stash. I love all the bright colors and fun patterns.

Snow Joy - White Challenge

2009-01-11T09:03:00.000-08:00

My friend Donna at Happy Scrappin came up with a cool idea that really got me inspired to play around with this layout. It was do one in all white, off-white, clear and/or bling. It even made me pull out some vellum for cutting the flowers :) They have a contest going until the 15th, I think, if you want to give it a shot!

I'm going to use it as my stash challenge this week at 3 Scrappy Boys and see what those ladies come up with.

My packrat ways came in handy. Used a piece I'd tossed into my scrap things from an old frame. It was great for some dimension and putting the white UTEE on the glass edges.

Merry Christmas Eve :)

2008-12-24T07:15:00.001-08:00

I love this picture of the girls. It was a Christmas Eve picture. DH's tradition is to open gifts on Christmas Eve, then Santa comes in the morning. We always did everything on Christmas morning. Anyway! We do DH's tradition. The doll was a gift Emily had opened that night and she brought her to bed with her.

They looked so sweet when I checked on them that night and went to get my camera. Decided I needed something to stand on to get a better angle and grabbed one of their tiny old metal folding chairs that went with an old metal Mickey table and chairs set. OMG! I almost fell right on top of them trying to balance on that tiny chair :)

3ScrappyBoys December add-on kit for the bingo card and wings. The wooden bird was covered in Peridot embossing powder with some interference blue (which is white) on his chest. Joys of the Season for the leaves and misc. ornies from my stash.

Meeting the Pope

2008-12-12T12:13:00.001-08:00

After Matt and I got married, he was transferred to Quantico, Virginia with the Presidential Helicopter Squadron. One of his first trips was when the Pope came to Colorado. He was flown around in the presidential helicopter, HMX-1. The Pope thanked them at the end of his trip and we received some gorgeous photos. I'm just now getting around to scrapping them :) I scrap out of order for sure, huh? :) Thank you so much to Heather for the gorgeous kit with Crate Paper and other pretty goodies she rounds up for us at 3 scrappy Boys :)

Nifty New Ornament Shape

2008-12-08T04:51:00.001-08:00

I gotta stay out of Hobby Lobby. Seriously. These cute little square bottles were too hard to resist. Rub-ons were ones from my stash by K&Co. They're still at Hobby Lobby. They're big rub-ons, but I just used little parts of them. Oh, and Santa needs to bring me a new pair of scissors for sure - kinda mangled some of the ribbon ends!

I Believe Ornament

2008-12-08T04:44:00.000-08:00

A flat, round ornament. After making the glittery Christmas houses I had all the snow left over and thought this would be a good place for a little bit of it :)

We Adore You...

2008-12-05T06:55:00.000-08:00

Loved my kit from 3 Scrappy Boys, full of lovely Crate paper and other little goodies. I made the flower with the Storybook cartridge and a book page for the outer petals, then kit cardstock for the inside petal. Crumbled them up and then embossed with a sparkly embossing powder and stamped with a swirl stamp and Staz-On. The scanner smushed poor Baby Sara's face, sigh.

3-D Scene Inside Clear Ornaments

2008-12-02T07:32:00.000-08:00

I've always had this in my head for a few years, but never had the time to get it out :)

The ornament with the tiny "joy" banner came from Hobby Lobby. The second ornament with Emily sitting on the Christmas package came from Michaels. Hobby Lobby's were in the Christmas section, but the ones at Michaels were back in the regular section by the paints and mosaic things. They are clear plastic and break into two parts. I prefer the ones from Hobby Lobby, as they are thinner and do not have as much distortion of prism to them.

Stop by the Christmas section of the craft store where they have decorations for the mini trees and pick up whatever strikes your fancy. I used tiny trees, candy canes, gift boxes, snowflakes and such. Grab a bag of faux snow while you're at it :)

So here we go:

To get Emmie on the gift box, I needed to get an idea of what size image. Take a tiny gift box. Don't glue down, but place the gift inside the ball and guestimate how big your picture needs to be. You can place a ruler behind the ball to get an idea. My image of Em is 2.25" tall and about 2.5" wide at the longest points. Print and trim your photo.

For her angel wings, I did a Google search and found this lovely site, karenswhimsy.com - she had free images of wings. Use some wings from the scrap stash, stamp them or use feathers or iron-on appliques of butterflies, butterfly wings, whatever strikes your fancy. These wings I printed out onto a patterned paper, covered in glitter and then Stickled around the edge. They measure 1.25" x 1" each. Attach to your photo. I used a liquid adhesive for this.

For the ornament above, I placed Em on a tiny gift box. The ribbon has a touch of glue behind it to hold it up in front. The back of the photo is supported by a glue dot cut in half and placed as shown below:

Same idea for the tree, cut the glue dots so it stands straight inside the curve of the ball:

Arrange your little scene. I used hot glue to adhere everything inside, with pop/glue dots to make them even and stand up straight inside the curve of the ball where needed. It will look like this:

Add some snowflakes and close up the ball. I used a foam brush and Mod Podge on the top of the ball, then sprinkled with a course/chunky clear glitter on the top and sides.

Add the wire ornament hanger, tie a bow and add little beads, snowflakes and what have you to the bow. I used a foam brush and Mod Podge again on the edge of the ribbon for a snowy look.

For the ornament below, I used an iron-on applique of a butterfly from the craft store and made a tiny "joy" banner to hang inside. I used tiny Anna Griffin letter stickers from years ago. Placed the letters onto pink cardstock and cut a triangle. I backed that with green paper, then trimmed with small scallop scissors, then Stickled around as shown.

I then took a flat, thin ribbon and simply glued each banner piece to the ribbon. The ribbon was then attached to hang inside the ball with glue. The two glue spots were covered with the tiny yellow flowers.

The snowflakes are simply punched from glitter paper. The top one is bent a tiny bit and hung from the top of the ornament. The second large snowflake is glued a bit behind the tree to make it seem like it is standing on its own. The tiny candy canes are actually glued on their side to the tree, as they really aren't tall enough and would get buried in the "snow" if glued to the bottom of the ball.

So there you have it! Merry Christmas everyone :)

Glittery Christmas Houses and a new ornament

2008-11-28T15:21:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone who requested a template has received it! If you haven't, let me know.

So I bought a couple of these houses last year when I saw folks doing them. And then they sat. And sat. And sat. Finally got a chance and interest to do them! This one from Kat was fabulous and whimsical when I saw it last year, http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=1256272 and Linda Albrecht's last year were so so pretty!

Anyway, poor DH is a neat freak and the girls and I were laughing as we were setting it up that he was going to be very nervous when he saw all the loose "snow" on the table...and sure enough, he was! But he loved it and said it was very pretty and that outweighed his nervousness of the dastardly loose snow :)

And then Emily in a little Christmas scene inside an ornament :)

It would be great if I could take a decent picture! Just not enough hours in a day to learn all there is to know about settings and lighting ... sigh.

Sparkly Christmas Wall Hanging

2008-11-20T06:42:00.001-08:00

Went by the store to pick up more stuff to make another stocking garland for a friend. Saw this cute stuff at two different stores and couldn't resist trying to make it come out of my head :) Thank you so much, Vicki, for the lovely RAK! Your chip tree and "Wish" are on here and I love them very much. You're a doll.

Have a great Thursday :)

Melissa

Life at the Pole cuteness

2008-11-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

Made this for a class this weekend at 3 Scrappy Boys crop. Of course, I can't get a good picture to save my life :) That line is super cute! The bows pull out journaling tags. Click on the images - the close-ups are better.

Tiny Holiday Wrapping Stuff

2008-11-17T08:04:00.000-08:00

Made these for a crop class this coming weekend at 3 Scrappy Boys :) I'm looking forward to some fun with those girls this weekend! Come by for some scrapping, prizes, games and hanging with the girls!

Can't wait to make Jenn's planner.

Stocking Template

2008-11-14T05:27:00.000-08:00

Someone suggested I put a template up for the stocking shape on my blog for those that don't have a Hobby Lobby near them. I'll be happy to make one, but since I'm a new blogger, I don't know how you guys would get it off the blog. :) So if you want a template of the stocking, leave me a note and I'll email it to you, okay? Unless someone has a better suggestion for this baby blogger!

Thanks for all the kind words, girls!

Christmas garland/banner

2008-11-12T15:07:00.001-08:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! I want to get started decorating a little earlier this year and make the season last :) I've never been inclined to make a garland before, but these wooden stockings with jingle bells were so cute! They needed to be on a garland.

It's on Sara's dresser mirror. She loved it when she came home from school today!

I'll post directions below.

Instructions for the Christmas Garland/Banner

2008-11-12T14:24:00.000-08:00

Sorry, had to remove the pictures for publishing.

Supplies:

Approximately 9" long wired garland. Mine is made of pearls, but there are all kinds out there!

Wooden stocking with jingle bells. Mine are from Hobby Lobby

Patterned paper of your choice. I just used one sheet of green and one sheet of pink and green (Anna Griffin) and a little scrap of a red/pink polka dot from KI.

Chipboard letters to glitter, or already glittered letters.

Three wooden or chipboard snowflakes.

Red and silver glitter.

Mod Podge and spray sealer.

Stamp pad or chalk if desired for aging/edging.

Red and green tulle. Mine is white and came in a 5.5" wide roll. See tip below for painting tulle.

Thin wire. I used some from 100 years ago when I first started scrapping in my stash.

Cream satin ribbon. Mine is 3.65 m wide.

Six wired ball ornaments. I found them where they have the miniature or smaller scale decorations for Christmas trees.

Glue gun to attach snowflakes to stocking.

The wire pearl garland I found at Joanne's for two bucks. I twisted it around itself lengthwise three times to fit across Sara's mirror.

Unscrew the bells from the stocking. Trace the stocking shape onto pattern paper and cut them out. I adhered mine with Mod Podge, but you can just use whatever adhesive you like. Edge with a brown ink if you like. Reattach the jingle bells.

Cover wooden or chipboard snowflakes with silver glitter. My snowflakes came from Oriental Trading, but there are wooden ones at the craft store. Spray with a spray sealer to keep the glitter in place - works great.

I used the Storybook cartridge from Cricut for the "Ho Ho Ho" letters on the "shorty" setting. I used red cardstock then covered in red glitter and spray sealed.

These wooden stockings came with a little hole for hanging. But I didn't want it hanging too much at an angle, so I taped the wire as shown so it would hang a bit straighter:

It's thin wire, but I just ran it through the hole and across to the other side and secured with tape.

For the poofy netting behind the bows, I used four 8" long pieces of tulle behind each bow. My tulle came on a roll and is 5.5" wide. What I had on hand was white, so I just painted some red and some bright green. Just lay out a sheet of parchment paper or foil, paint the netting with acrylic paint with a foam brush, and you're good to go. Or buy it in the right color to begin with is even easier :) They have colored tulle on rolls and also in the fabric department on bolts. I've found more colored tulle on bolts than on the rolls.

Anyway, lay two red 8" pieces alternating with two green 8" pieces of tulle like in the picture below. You can secure with a bit of wire to make your poof now or wait until you have the bow and ball together and use the wire from the balls to secure the net to the garland. That's what I did.

With the wide satin cream ribbon, make a fat bow, but don't pull it tight yet. Run the wired balls up through the back of the knot of the bow, like this:

Well, the picture is dark and you have to look hard to see the wire poking through the knot.

Tighten the bow. Mine is about 3" wide when done.

Take the bow/ornament, gather up the layered tulle in the center and wrap the wire around the tulle and garland to secure all the pieces together.

This one is in Sara's room and she LOVES it! I'm going to make two more for friends and one for Emily's room. If you make one, let me know so I can see!

Getting in the spirit :)

2008-11-06T07:15:00.000-08:00

My favorite photo ever of the girls is this one tiny little picture I have of them on Santa's lap. It's dark and blurry and I just love it anyway. I'm really missing them being that little! Through all of our moves, it keeps popping up here and there in my stuff. So after seeing these oh-so-cute October Afternoon goodies, I decided to finally make a page with it.

Christmas pictures and most papers don't inspire me that much, so I guess I just never scrapped it before now. But I so love the pinks and this shade of blue and green for Christmas stuff, I knew that little picture's time had come :) Throw in some glitter and I'm a happy girl.

I've got the new Sassafras Christmas line coming my way any day and can't wait to scrap some parties I threw for the girls and their friends making gingerbread houses :) Hurry, Sass, hurry!

Make a Wish

2008-10-31T14:36:00.001-07:00

Huh. It's blurry where the scan met.

Gosh, Prima's new journaling blocks are so freaking cute! I hadn't seen them until Heather stocked them at the store at 3SB. I love them!

Happy Halloween, everyone! Gotta go feed my little ghouls and get them ready to walk the neighborhood tonight :)

Boo!

2008-10-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

So I thought I'd grab some branches from outside and hang some glittery spooky stuff on them. So this was a totally free project - yay! Had all the stuff already, and borrowed my friend's Paperdoll Cricut cartridge. I wouldn't have bought that one, but it has some cute accessories on it.

Grabbed some black spray paint and painted the branches, then threw a little glitter around on them, then sprayed them with a spray sealer.

After the images were cut out of cardstock, I grabbed my coffee jar where I keep a little watered down Mod Podge and sponge brush. Mod Podged them, then glittered them up. I stuck a triangluar shaped coffee filter in a coffee cup to catch the extra glitter, then it was easy to just pour the extra glitter back into the jar when done.

Gave them a little bit of time to dry and then sprayed them with a spray sealer. That's it! So easy.

Happy Halloween all!

Fabulous!

2008-10-28T16:54:00.000-07:00

Gosh, this new Sassafras Lass is the cutest stuff! "Cute" is very high praise in my book, and this is just the cutest.

I can't believe Sara is 12. She's got the sweetest nature. She was invited to a birthday party for a friend she doesn't really hang around with that much, but she wanted to go. Sara had a different friend sleeping over the night before the birthday party in question. Over breakfast, we were talking about the party. The girl spending the night said she was told she could come to the birthday party, but only for 30 minutes because another girl would be there who doesn't like her and will not stay if Sara's friend stays. When Sara heard the story, she decided she just didn't want to go to someone's party who was being ugly. She wanted no part of any drama. I love that about her.

I had to go to the mall to get a new suit and Sara wanted to go with me. We dropped off the sleepover guest then headed to the mall. She could have changed her mind and gone to the party, but she said, nope, I'd rather just be with you, mom. Aww! Love her so much.

Took her into Claire's to see if there was a trinket she might want. She was wanting what I call "old lady beads," the round plastic big beads girls seem to be wearing around here. She didn't really like them and said she wanted something more "natural". Seconds later, we spy these cute mushroom earrings and owl necklace. She said that's the more natural look she was going for - hee!

So out came this paper right when we got home, of course!

I've got the new Sass Life at the Pole coming from my favorite store, 3 Scrappy Boys! They ship SO fast and I bet I'll have it in a day or two - can't wait to play with it!

Yo!

2008-10-14T08:30:00.000-07:00

The fabulous Jenn made these funky fabric flowers and sent them! Thanks, Jenn! Hoping she'll open an Etsy or something with them soon.

So I look out in the back yard, and Sara has a pink mink scarf, huge sunglasses, her hair in an updo of sorts and a sweater dress. Oh, and her new cell phone. It's 80+ degress outside. Ask her what she's doing and she says she's playing teacher. Hee! I guess that pink fluffy scarf is all the rage with teachers these days.

Anyway! Grabbed the camera and snapped some pictures with her phone/iPod thingy DH bought the girls. She's wanted a cell phone for a long time, but no way was I getting her one. She didn't need it! This year, boy, do they need it. Crazy schedules and never knowing what club they want to stay after school for. Thought I'd be glad, now I just worry they're going to lose them :)

Country Girl at Heart

2008-10-12T14:56:00.000-07:00

Sigh. I just love Collage Press papers. Thank you to Happy Scrappin' for the awesome gift certificate - yay! Got a set of Collage Press, some cute Halloween papers, the cutest little bird stamp and a set of super cute Christmas paper. Now if I only had more time to scrap with it!
Here's a simple one:

Fun News and Card Challenge!

2008-10-04T08:48:00.001-07:00

Made these first two for a card challenge over at 3 Scrappy Boys. I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone does for their different card challenges! I could use some card inspiration :)

Different RAKs are going on by the DT members and a pretty stamp set by the owner for anyone loading anything into the gallery this weekend.

And an old one I'd made for Em's friend who won the spelling bee :) Filled the popcorn box with candy and a matching pencil.

I'm so glad I found 3 Scrappy Boys. Those are the most genuine, nicest girls over there! I look forward to checking in throughout the day - it's a nice break from work. I'm on the design team now for their kits and super excited to get the first one. It will be the trio kit, where Heather mixes in three different manufacturers - can't wait!

http://www.3scrappyboys.com/shop/index.php

Have a great weekend!

"Simply You"

2008-09-26T11:47:00.001-07:00

Gah, loved using black cardstock. Sara at 3SB really inspired me with hers so I wanted to give it a whirl. Wanted to squirt out a quick layout this morning. Sometimes that's just what it feels like, like you have to get one out, kwim? :) :)

We went to visit DH's parents last month. They're in a very small town in the middle of no where. We stayed at this funky little motel with fab blue doors :) The girls and I just killed some time one morning taking pictures in front of them. Could have screamed a little when I downloaded them and they were fuzzy. Gotta do something about proper focusing :)

Anyway, have a great weekend. I've got tons of work to get to.

Cover Girl :)

2008-09-19T17:09:00.000-07:00

Wasn't thrilled with either the scan or photograph, so I'll post them both :)

I was excited and all when Emily was on the cover of Memory Makers a few years back. But as time goes on and I don't submit anymore, I really cherish this cover now! We were just waiting for the school bus one morning when I snapped this picture in front of an azalea in the yard. She had dressed herself, with a hot pink hat that matched her hot pink cast from her broken elbow :( Poor thing. Anyway, Kari from MM used it for a cover. I really miss Kari! She was so awesome to work with. We were moving to Texas, so Kari put the bluebonnet seed packet in the little denim pocket. So sweet!

It makes us smile when we get a flier in the mail that has this cover in the advertisement/post card thingy. Sara is on the cover of a booklet MM gives out with a subscription. I'll have to scrap that ... one day!

Have a good weekend, everyone.

Welcome, Little Chick! And kids keno party...

2008-09-17T13:50:00.000-07:00

A card made for Emily's teacher and new baby. DH gave me a Cuttlebug and I thought, hm, I wouldn't really use it. But when I saw the chick die and swirl from QK, I knew I'd keep it!

That card was next to some Valentine decorations for a Valentine's keno party Mitzi and I had at the house for Emily, Shelby and her friends. It was really fun decorating and thinking of their food/table decorations.

I'm thinking it's time to throw another shindig - just need to think of a theme...any ideas for 11/12 year old girls for keno?

A Date with Mr. Campy/Greetings from Camp Grady Spruce

2008-09-15T04:59:00.000-07:00

Mr. Campy from Cosmo Cricket, I just thought that was the cutest stuff when I saw it. Had to have it since we have tons of camping photos.

Camping in December, we decorated our girls' cabin for Christmas, of course, complete with a little tree and stockings on their bunks. We'd serve them hot cocoa in the morning before heading out and in the evening - so cute!

Each year in fifth grade, our elementary school goes to the most awesome YMCA camp for three days. It's environmental learning, where the classrooms are conducted as you stop during the hikes. They do the whole bit: fishing, archery, horseback riding, learn to build campfires, smores - you name it, they cram it in those three exhausting, fun days!

Whoever caught the first fish had to kiss it. Dillan caught the first one, and biggest one, but Evan just had to kiss it - ewww! When we got home, I framed Dillan's fish picture and sent it to school for DD to give to him :)

A shot of one of the "classroom" stops on the hike, doing an experiment on the limestone.

Em and her best friend :)

Felix was so full of energy. He kept the kids in line and in stitches with his humor.
He's going to school to be a doctor then taking that skill back home to his country. Awesome guy.

Party On!

2008-09-08T13:43:00.000-07:00

Hmph. It's a bad scan - the color is off.

Just been into really crazy pages lately. I guess my next one should be more ... structured or something. Maybe I'll try a sketch from someone. This was a challenge from 3SB I've been inspired by. Thanks, Sara, for the challenge!

Happy Days :)

2008-09-07T17:37:00.001-07:00

I was so ridiculously inspired when I saw this layout and tree by Loretta Grayson. I never go look at the garden girls stuff - I just forget. But there were some treats there! Anyway, had to give Loretta's layout a whirl with these fun pictures of the girls in their 1950s costumes for the school dance. They were so excited when the costumes arrived in the mail. They twirled around and waited in the yard for DH to come home so they could show him :)

Here's Loretta's - much more structured than mine :)

http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/pg.asp?cmd=display&layout_id=1329415

I've got a heck of a mess to go clean up now, just from making one layout and three ATCs today?! Sigh.

ATCs...finally

2008-09-07T15:07:00.000-07:00

I just had to have this ATC holder a few months ago. Then it sat and sat. I found a fun and inspiring message board to hang out at, and it got me going on a little scrapping mojo.

I've got to go clean up the huge mess I made in the living room making these. My office is a tornado and I keep dragging stuff in the living room to work on, making a mess in there, too!

Happy Sunday.

At the Lake

2008-09-05T12:19:00.000-07:00

Can't wait to work with the rest of the Mr. Campy stuff from Cosmo - so many camping pictures I still want to do!

Latest Mini

2008-09-05T12:16:00.000-07:00

The latest mini I finished up a week or so ago...not sure that the lake theme and glitter and bling go together, but what they hey :)

Last Few of the Latest Mini

2008-09-05T12:14:00.001-07:00

The last few pages of my latest mini:

The color is wayyyy off, but you get the idea...

Once Upon a Time...

2008-09-05T12:01:00.000-07:00

Man, I love the new Storybook cartridge from Cricut. Love love.

Loved taking the girls down to Sea World. We loaded up the camper and dogs and found a perfect R.V. place a mile away from the entrance to Sea World. The best part was they had a shuttle that ran every hour, so we didn't even have to worry about parking and long lines of traffic in the morning or evening.

The R.V. place was nice and clean and we would swim with the girls at night when we got home. We rented a car the last couple of days and did the typical Alamo tour, River Walk, Ripley's Believe it or Not and a creepy haunted house.

Mini Madness

2008-09-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

Love a good mini - here are some covers from older ones I've done. I'm trying to get all my stuff in one place instead of in a bunch of different galleries here and there.

We Love October!

2008-09-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

Some days you just feel like making a messy, fun page, right? That's what October is like - messy and crazy, busy :)

Ice Storm

2008-09-05T11:38:00.000-07:00

This was such a perfect day. We woke up to some ice (big deal here in Texas), and
school was closed. So we head out and played in it all morning.

We came in later, watched some movies and scrapped - had hot chocolate and the works. It was a perfect day.

The Journey is the Reward

2008-09-05T11:35:00.000-07:00

Little Em came home from school one day, quietly got her crackers in a bowl for snack,
went and got her favorite Little Pet Shops and carefully lined them up around the bowl to watch her do homework and settled in. She was so sweet, quiet and deliberate about it and I just loved watching her do it :) Who knew you could love someone so much???

Altered Puzzle Piece?

2008-09-05T11:32:00.000-07:00

Not sure why, but a mb friend asked some girls to alter puzzle pieces for her. This is what I came up with. Gesso'd and painted it, cut out a little fairy. For the branch she is sitting on, I read a neat trick years ago in a book given to me by a friend that really got me inspired - Holly, I miss you - anyway, lay out a sheet of aluminum foil.

Cover the foil with a layer of paper towel for a rougher surface or tissue for a softer surface. Cover the foil and paper towel with Mod Podge using a foam brush. When it's dry, it's a great little moldable canvas that you can paint, ink, stamp, mold, whatever. I twisted mine up for the 3-D branch here. Super fun. Wish I could remember the name of the book to credit, but that was several moves ago :)

First acrylic album

2008-09-05T11:17:00.000-07:00

Played around with this when they first hit the market...

2008-09-05T11:15:00.000-07:00

Just hamming it up one day, getting some pictures for a DT assignment. So glad she likes to have her picture taken!

Pretty Baby Sara

2008-09-05T11:09:00.000-07:00

Sigh. I love her so much :)

Sometimes, I just like to do a little busy work, cutting out stuff while watching TV with the fam :) Thus the vine...

Choir Festival

2008-09-05T11:06:00.000-07:00

These cute little papers from KI had to come home with me the other day. Glittered up some chipboard snowflakes, added some clearanced K&Co. chips from Target. The chipboard heart I see has fallen over on the "Choir" part of the title. Sigh. You get the idea!

"I Recycle"

2008-09-05T11:03:00.000-07:00

:) :) :) Sara and her friend Kaitlyn came home from school with these adorable floppy hats from the Enviro-fair and learned about recycling. Too cute! They thought I was pretty ridiculous because I really got a kick out of them for some reason that day.

I'd just gotten the Cricut and wondered how newspaper would cut. Eh, some flowers cut okay and some tore. But it was fun to experiment.

Happy to be happy...and a button challenge

2008-09-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

Sorry, the layout has gone to CK! :)

This was for a button challenge. I'm not a big button user - actually, I rarely use them. So this was a fun change.

I've loved these pictures, although they're just plain old snapshots. They were taken a few years ago after we moved to Texas and I stayed home instead of continuing to do court reporting.

I LOVED being a reporter so much. But with Matt traveling and no family around, who would pick up the girls from school? Or even take them for that matter, since I'd have to leave home so early. They couldn't be in a sport with any regularity, as our schedules were so unpredictable.

Anyway, I was happy to be happy that I could be the one to pick them up after school, grab a couple of friends, come home and play. It's that simple and it's makes me that happy :)

At the Lake

2008-09-05T10:12:00.001-07:00

Okay, okay, so I finally decided to start a blog. It's mostly to keep layouts all in one place! I hadn't scrapped in a year or so, but after I bought the Cricut Storybook cartridge and Mr. Campy from Cosmo Cricket, I'm all into it again, as time permits around work and the girls' activities and such.

Here's the latest: