Queen of the Crop

Good morning!  I hope that you are having a fabulous start to your week.  I am completely dragging.  I have a cold, & I am sooo tired (hence my post being a day late).  I had a wonderful weekend scrapping, but did not get much sleep.  The first night I was up until 3am, the second night 4am!  Needless to say, I had a lot of fun!! I got 29 pages done, & about 12 cards.  Not too shabby, huh?   Today I bring to you the latest layout using the most recent Nuts About Sketches sketch :       Basic Grey paper, chipboard, & stickers were used.  The brads & buttons may even be BG as well.  I used random flowers, some washi tape, & doodled the stitching.    The layout is of Audra at a couple months old.  I really love scrapping them when they were lil.  It brings back the memories of the smell, their soft skin, & how they do things for the first time.  Almost makes me want another one.....ALMOST!!!    Thank you for looking today!  Please be sure to

Good morning!  I hope that you are having an awesome weekend.  I know that I am!  I am at a scrappy retreat, having a fabulous time with some new friends!  I am at the Hideaway Hills Bed & Breakfast , & not only is the place gorgeous & the staff friendly, but I am getting so much done, & having so much fun!  Just what I needed after the crazy couple of months that we've had.  Today I am sharing with you a new challenge at Red Carpet Studios : For the week of April 28th - May 4th, the challenge is to make a Thank You card, inspired by award speaches.  The sponsor is Dilly Beans Digi Stamps , & the lucky winner will receive 3 digis of their choice!  What an awesome prize!!   And here is what I created with the digi stamp that I chose:   I am really getting the hang of this digi stamp thing!  How much fun is coloring with markers?!  I used my Tombows ( I really should start writing down which ones, huh?).  & I used scraps from my scrap bin, as

First I would like to send out a huge Happy Birthday to my baby girl, who turns 8 years old today!  I cannot believe how fast these past 8 years have gone by, & how she has gone from a tiny lil peanut, to the little girl that she has become!  The transformation is amazing!  I remember the day we found out we were pregnant with her, how we had tried for so long, & Tony & I stood in our kitchen & cried tears of joy!  Then I had a horrible pregnancy, was on bed rest, & then she was born almost 3 months early!  She was in the hospital for 5 weeks after her birth, & came home at 5 lbs. (she was born at 3 lbs 6oz.), & on a monitor.  To look at her now, you would never know the stuggles she had at the begining of her life!  Oh, my lil Emma-poo!    In honor of her birthday, I did a layout of her at 2 years old, for the reveal of the latest Nuts About Sketches sketch.     I do believe everything that I used is Basic Grey.   Speaking of Emma, here i

Welcome to Day 1 of the Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue Blog Hop! Wedding bells will soon be ringing as the wedding season is almost here, and the design teams of Red Carpet Studio and The Paper Nest Dolls have teamed up to provide you with some beautiful wedding inspiration by creating projects using Paper Nest Dolls digital stamps! If you've just come across the hop and would like to start at the beginning, please visit Red Carpet Studio . Red Carpet Studio is a movie-themed challenge blog that runs weekly challenges, alternating between layout and card challenges each week. All of their challenges are inspired by either a movie or aspect of Hollywood! The Paper Nest Dolls is a brand new digital/rubber stamp shop that sells adorable stamps inspired by the designer's children. Their stamps are sold here and they just started a challenge blog as well! For my project today, I made... The image is "The Proposal".  Isn't it cute!! 

Hi there.  A few weeks ago, our neighbor Clarke Jr., received his first communion.  What an honor & joyous time!  Of course they had a big party for him, & we celebrated with true Texas BBQ, & lots of other goodies!  A fun time was had by everyone who attended!    For his communion, we gave him a monetary gift, & I decided to make the card to give him.  Here is what I came up with:     To give the cross an older look, I distressed the edges, even ripping it in some places, & I also crumpled it.  I used some handmade paper behind it, that I distressed as well, & adhered to some scrap patterend paper.  I used brown twine, & the Purple Cow Craft Geek Wind It to wind wire into a heart.  I finished it off by adding a sticker & doodling along the edges.  Viola.  Simple & easy.  Perfect for an 8 year old's First Communion!   Have a great day!  Please stop by again soon. 

Happy Monday!  Yes, the start of another week.  But do you know what I just realized?  There are only about 8 more weeks left of school.  I can't believe that!    Today, another sketch was posted at Nuts About Sketches .  As usual, it was so much fun to work with.  It always helps when the subjects in the pictures are fun as well.       I used all scraps from a Memory Works kit, & lots of buttons.  The kids in the pics are of my Emma, & her cousins Nicholas & Kaitlyn.  When I had Audra, my cousin had taken Emma to give Audra & I a rest, which was so very kind & helpful!!  As you can see, Emma had fun with her cousins, & Audra & I had some quiet alone time.    Thank you for looking today.  I hope to see you back again soon!

Hi there, & happy Sunday!  I hope that you are having a great weekend.   It went from the 80s this week, down to the 40s, & is now back up into the 80s again.  That usually means that I will get sick. I surely hope not!    With it being Sunday, it is time for a new challenge at Red Carpet Studios !  & I have to tell you, that I loved this one!!  It runs for the w eek of April 14th - April 20th, & the challenge is to make a vintage card, inspired by old Hollywood movies.  I don't know if you remember, but a few months back, I was challenged to make a vintage Valentine's Day card for the From Here 2 Scrapternity crop, & I loved it!!  So, here is another vintage challenge!  Yay!!    The sponsor is  The Robin's Nest , & the prize is a $10 gift certificiate for their store.  Wow!  That is an awesome prize!    As I mentioned, I just loved this challenge!!  I used one of the vintage photos that I had in my stash, that didn't know what t

Well, we are now a week into April.  Before you know it, we will be in the middle of summer!  This year is just flying by!    It's Monday!  I know you know what that means.  A new sketch is revealed at Nuts About Sketches .  As usual, it is another great one. Honestly, this is probably one of favorites recently.  I had a lot of fun making it, & I am really happy with the results. Here is what I created:       See....all the ripped papers, & the colors, you wouldn't think to put orange with these colors, but they all blend well.  & it matches Emma's sweater perfectly.  I fussy cut the blue flowers & leaves, & used a pop dot to give them some dimension.   Be sure to stop by NAS to see the actual sketch.   Thanks for looking.  Hope you have a wonderful week. 

Have I ever mentioned that I love crafting?  Well I do!!  It just takes me to my happy place!  I just wish that I had more time to it.  Wouldn't it be great to win the lottery so that you could craft ALL the time!!   Beings that I am NOT a millionaire, I appreciate every moment that I get to craft.    Like when there is a crop, especially at From Here 2 Scrapternity .  You really need to get in on these crops. They are easy, & fun, & offer prizes as well.  So, come on over & say hello.  We won't bite!   Here are 2 more of my creations from the FH2S crop. This one was to use 1-5 flowers on your layout, which I used 3:     And this layout was created for the sketch challenge, but the twist was that you had to use the word "spring" in your title.    I hope that you have enjoyed my layouts today, as much as I enjoyed making them.  Thank you for visiting me.  I hope to see you back here soon.  Feel free to leave some love.  I love c

Happy Hump Day!!  It is a fine Wednesday, only a few more days until the weekend!    Today I would like to share with you a project I did for the From Here 2 Scrapternity March crop.  One of the challenges was to make a spring bag or basket.  When I saw this challenge I got so excited because I had learned how to make a gift bag at the CK convention last year, from using a brown paper lunch bag.      It is super easy!  You cut the bag to the desired height.  Then you measure cardstock about 2 inches longer than the actual bag, & one the same size as the bag.  Adhere the same size card stock to the front of the bag, score the longer cardstock to make a flap over the top. Once that is done, cut 2 slits on the fold & insert ribbon of your choice.  Once that is done, adhere to the back of the bag.  Find some coordinating patterened paper, & cut just a bit smaller than the card stock & adhere.  Find an embellilshment, buttons, die cut, or whatever your he

Hello, & happy Monday!  How are you today?  Are you finally feeling the warm weather this spring?  Hopefully with it being April 1st the snow will die down, the flowers will start blooming, & the warm weather will begin.  For me being in TX, I kinda of miss that change of weather.   Today another sketch has been posted at Nuts About Sketches .  As usual, it was a fun one.  To check out the actual sketch, be sure to visit the NAS site.  Here is what I created with it:     The little girl in pink is Emma, & the boys are Nicholas & Jack, her best buds in PA.  We had a playdate at our house, & as you can see, there was some "lovin" going on!  :o)  We still talk about them every single day, & miss them so much sinced we moved to TX.  These pics are from 2006, so it is funny to see them all so little.  They are all 8 now!!    Thanks for looking today.  I hope that you have a wonderful week.  Please stop back in the days to come to see what