Christmas? Where did the time go?

I'm so not ready! Usually I do all my shopping on Black Friday but working nixed that. So here it is, November 30th and I just started my shopping. Mimi and I went to Kalamazoo after school with the goal of getting 2 presents. Accomplished. The problem is that we also came home with a bunch of other goodies! New towels(desperately needed), boots for Mimi and a bag of my favs, Ghiradelli peppermint Bark squares. Scrumptious :}

Unfortunately I didn't receive a happy email this weekend, so I can share my design team entry for Sketch Support here. Congrats to those that did!  I'm looking forward to more great inspiration this coming year and a big shout out to Ashley Horton for making the team!

The cake is a cut from the "Wrap it Up" Cricut cartridge.Snipped the candles off then added a Jolee's candle embellishment. Mimicked the patterned paper and stitched around the cake. The banner ls layered and popped with foam squares. I noticed almost all of Matthew's photos after he learned to walk include bruises on the forehead. Poor baby! Fancy Pants patterned paper and Jillibean Soup corrugated letters.

Well...since Blogger won't upload the second layout I guess I'll have to post it later. Anyone else having trouble with Blogger? Work the next two days. Hoping for a happy medium. We seem to be feast or famine when it comes to pregnant ladies :p



Family Fun at the Fair

Typically when confronted with the opportunity to purchase patterned paper or embellishments, I choose paper.  Rationalizing that I can always come up with something on my own...right? Then later, when selecting the perfect photos to go with the paper, regret not snagging some of the matching goodies :{ Such is the case here! So after going through my Cricut cartridges and not finding what I was imagining, I created my own "Big Top"!

   

Used some Bazill Swiss Dot for the top layer of the title then added Stickles to the dots.  Layered several cuts to create depth and finished by offsetting the last layer (contrasting cardstock) from the top layers. Font from the Storybook cartridge.

Isn't that seal adorable :) He is from the Birthday Bash cartridge.

Used the "Sew Easy" by We R Memory Keepers for the stitching. Punched and layered tissue paper for the flower. This "ticket" paper from Imaginisce was perfect for the title and embellishing!

I'm 3 days through my 4 day stretch and I'm dragging. So many patients today! Tell me why a person wouldn't eat or drink all day and then come to hospital and want to eat because they were hungry? One more day and I can scrap again. Happy Happy, Joy Joy, Happy Happy, Joy! (Picture me hopping from one foot to another while singing, It's guaranteed to bring a smile to your face!)

Tell me about you Black Friday shopping experiences, so I know what I missed this year :}}

To Change or Not to Change?

That is the question! I've been trying to improve my computer and blogging skills but it's a toss up between "pass" or "fail"  :) So I ask you fellow bloggers for your constructive criticism and milk your brains for knowledge. "Like" or "dislike" the changes and "why?" are the questions.

Any suggestions on how to make a header appear would be helpful. The template is from Cutest Blog on the Block , they have a matching header but it doesn't have an HTML code to copy. So puzzling!

Please be honest :) I want a pleasant viewing experience for you all. 

Dress Up...or Not!

So much work went into these dresses. French seams, delicate lace around the edges, and an adorable headband for Mimi. Ready just in time for Easter. But when I tried to dress her...it was all "No you are not!". She kicked and screamed the entire time. Not sure if she opposed the fact that it was a dress or this dress. She finally gave in to her mother's superior will (and power), a moment I'm not proud of. Who makes their kid wear something she doesn't want to wear? A Mom who worked like the dickens...that's who!

This making Memories patterned paper has been in my stash forever! Sorry for the glare on the photos, having trouble lately taking pics without it :(  Used a Becky Fleck Pagemap for this layout.

Doesn't she look innocent, hard to believe she was kicking and screaming a few minutes before :)

It's  fun to play with girly, lacy, frou frou stuff sometimes, but I'm ready to go back to my more traditional style now. I think I'm cutesied out! Oh, and a quick note about vellum...it moves when you try to sew it down. I ended up with a ripple and had to add the paper with the heart border punch to cover it up.

Really sad that my long spell off of work is almost over. Not looking forward to the 4 twelve hour days to come. If we are lucky, maybe all the pregnant ladies will be too full to come to the hospital :) Hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

I Love Gramps

I rarely use a sketch twice, mainly because there are so many great sketches out there. This one by Sketchy Thursdays called to me again :) I found these photos of my Dad and Matthew when looking through Matthew's baby photos. There seemed to be a yellow cast to them, so choosing the paper was a little more difficult than usual. This paper by My Minds Eye had been in my stash forever, just waiting for these photos!

These corrugated letters from Making Memories started the standard kraft color but morphed with acrylic paint, chalk ink and marker, before I was satisfied.

The twine was a happy accident. I was digging through my ribbons and it fell out onto my layout :) 

Can't get enough of border punches...when will my obsession end!?

Tucked the journaling behind the photo, I love how it eliminated the need to find room on the layout. It really felt good to use some of my stash! Not one of these items was purchased in the last year, in fact, most are several years old.

After Mimi & I picked up the new retainers today we went shopping. Eric turned 51 today and we wanted to pick him up a couple of treats. A box of Fannie May Pixies and some doodads for one of his tools and he was quite happy. We had some quality time shopping at Plato's Closet. She picked out 2 cute skirt and blouse combos, tights, a cute jeweled owl ring, and a feathered hair accessory. More photo fodder for her Mommy :)

Now off to bed. Work the next 2 days and then a blessed 5 days off in preparation for the 4-12 hour shifts of torture over Thanksgiving!

Dumpster Diving...My New Occupation

Yes, I've been reduced to dumpster diving. Last week my lovely daughter unwittingly threw her brand new retainers away! The wonderful retainers that are clear so you can see how pretty her teeth are now. Into the school lunchroom trash they went and she didn't realize it until after she returned to her class. The trash had been bagged up and emptied into the dumpster.

I really didn't want to tell her Uncle Steve (who did all her orthodontics non gratis) that she'd thrown them away, and I figured this would be a good deterrent to doing it again, so off to the dumpster we went. Six giant trash bags later...covered in taco fixings and a multitude of other goodies (it happened to be "sampling" day), we gave up. It didn't help that the current high school gym class was hanging out of the windows yelling "trash pickers!" and the yellow jackets were chasing us around the dumpster.

So, mean Mommy that I am, I was going to make her pay at least half of the cost of her replacements. Daddy saved the day by putting it on our flex spending account. Why does he get to be the good guy!? Now I'm off for the 2nd time today to Kalamazoo, to pick them up. This morning was spent with my Dad at the vascular surgeon having the rest of his staples out and an ultrasound to check the flow in his fistula. Woe is me, pity party for myself going on here :( Missing my scrapping time.

Hoping to get a layout posted tonight if the computer is cooperating...and that is another story :)

There's Nothing Like a Good Friend!

Emily and Mariel have been friends since they were born :) I have pictures of them when they were a year old playing in the leaves. My BFF Lerita and I were pregnant together and delivered about 6 weeks apart. I love how they can go weeks without seeing each other yet it's like they've never been apart when they are back together. Just like Lerita and I!

We had an impromptu photo shoot right before we went shopping with the girls at Plato's Closet. Plato's Closet is a resale shop for teens and Mariel's favorite place to shop. I wish I'd taken my camera along, they were so cute trying on all their sassy selections. Mimi kept forgetting to hold her door when she came out to show what she was trying on, then the door would shut and lock. After the sales girl had to unlock it for the 3rd or 4th time, we made her start climbing under the door :) A pretty funny sight since the gap was barely tall enough for her to slip under. She came home with a pair of jeans, several shirts, a sweater jacket, a hoodie, earrings and a couple of necklaces all for $65. All brand names and some of the items still had the tags on them!

Used "Indie Bloom" by Basic Grey, it matched their outfits perfectly and has that boho, youthful feel I was going for :) Misted over a laser cut paper by Reminisce with smooch ink to create the background.

Traced around the title to make it more visible.

Prima center on punched flower, used a pencil to recurve the petals.

Cut the big petals with the Sizzix, crumpled, inked and layered with a Basic Grey felt flower.

Used lots of Distress ink to grunge it up.

A little brighter and busier than my usual but I'm mixin' it up ladies! Have a great day :)

Wow...a 2 pager!

This is one I did for a Creating Keepsakes sketch challenge. It's getting harder to find papers to go with my sons' baby & toddler wardrobe, since most of his outfits were red and blue. Why didn't I dress him in other colors?! If only I'd known then, that I was going to be a "scrapbooker" and chosen a wide variety of colors so I could use my bountiful stash :) Oh, and while I was at it...taken better and more plentiful photos.

All the cuts are done with the "Birthday Bash" Cricut cartridge. Couldn't have been a better fit!

Used "Rocket Age" by October Afternoon patterned paper. Did a little stitching around the circles.

The rest of the tile reads "and I will hold your lolly if you want me to!".

Cut the title 3 times and offset them then popped with foam. Love the 3-D effect.

Had a wonderful Sunday! Received a "star" day from work for 12 hours and didn't get called in! Finished a layout and photographed a backlog of layouts and edited them. Snuggled with Mimi on the couch and watched Eclipse in preparation for the new movie Breaking Dawn. We always watch all the movies in a series the week before a new release to amp up the excitement. We are both "Team Edward". Mimi says " You cougar you!", I had to explain that our bodies age but our minds don't. She gave me that "wiser than her years look" and smiled. Hope you had a wonderful day too!

Kind, Sweet, Beautiful,Friend. *Out for Publication* Yea!

Basic Grey has been hitting it out of the park with paper designs lately, I just can't get enough! "Sweet Threads" has to be one of my favorites, right up there with "Lemonaide" and "Green at Heart". Gorgeous  bright pink, orange, & green...perfect for the girly, shabby chic style I've been leaning toward lately.

This is one of my favorite pictures from this year. When I first viewed it on the computer, I was struck by how much Mariel and I look like one another. This wasn't always the case. I've always had difficulty seeing the resemblence, instead seeing her resemblence to her Dad.

Used some vintage lace and punched the butterflies from vintage sheet music.

Used an Anna Griffin lace diecut as a stencil then flipped it and used it on the layout.

Inked the edges of everything to add a slightly grungy, teenagy look, Not sure if teenagy is a word, maybe current is a better term :) I did this layout for a challenge from Scrapbook Trends to scraplift a layout from the September 2011 issue. I chose "Dada's Wishes for You" by Amy Heller on page 53.

On another note...it was another eventful week here. Dad, aka "Grandpa Joe" had to have an unexpected surgery on his fistula on Saturday. Up at 4:30am and at Borgess by 6am. He was in surgery for about 3 1/2 hours and came out with 22 staples in his arm! Spent an hour and a half in recovery then went to dialysis for another 4 hours, not counting set up and take down. We finally made it home at 8pm.

He is having a hard time recovering from the anesthetic this time. Lots of sleeping and forgetfulness. I hope he doesn't have to have surgery again anytime soon. The good thing is that his fistula is working again. I did get to play with his new "smart" phone during all the waiting and discovered I'm jealous. I want one (insert pouty face), although I hate to admit it...I can't see to work it without my granny glasses :}} Unfortunately it isn't in the budget, so I'll have to settle for playing with his phone.

Thanks for stopping by!