Queen of the Crop

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Hi friends! I hope that you had a fabulous Thanksgiving...eatting until full, & enjoying family & friends. I know that we have had our fill of turkey! We spent Thanksgiving with my husband family & extended family, then today, we spent it with my family. Very nice. I am so thankful to have spent Thanksgiving with my family(ies) this year, as next year we will probably be a unit of 4.... Just Tony, Emma, Audra, & I. Which brings me to our Texas update. It seems that things are moving rather quickly now. We have exactly one month left here in PA. The movers are coming December 21-22-23rd, to pack up the house & take our belongings to TX. We will stay with my parents through the Christmas holiday, then on December 27th, we will be boarding a plane & taking off to our new home. My parents will be joining us soon after we arrive (they will be makeing the 2.5 day trek by car to meet up with us there!). The past month has been a whirlwind. It seems that every moment we...

Hola, chicas! How are you this fine day? In honor of Dessert Month we were asked to create a layout around our favorite treat, for Chicas Getting Craft y. Well, I am pushing my limits here, as the photos in this layout were taken at an ice cream shop in Avalon, NJ. Ice cream being my all time favorite sweet treat! Now, I know you don't see ice cream anywhere in the photos, but please take my word for it...it is definately an ice cream shop. These men are my father, my husband, & my sisters fiance. The keyboard player is a comedian/singer & is really good friends with my father. They grew up together. Well, whenever my dad goes to see him play a gig, he pulls my dad up on stage to sing a song. This time, Tommy (the keyboard player) told my dad to pick any 2 guys from the audience to come up with him. Of course he pulled Tony & Noah up with him. Noah (my future brother-in-law) was refusing to go up, but eventually he did & they sang the Three Stooges song....

Hi friends! Today I bring to you a layout with orange, black & purple for Chicas Getting Crafty . This layout was part of Scraptacular's page design class, but I tweaked it & made it my own. This picture is of my daughter Emma (the short one) at her birthday party with her 2 best friends in the world. They have known each other since they were 4 months old & have been the best of friends since. Jack is a neighbor & we joke that they are going to be married some day. But when these 3 get together, they have the greatest time & play so nicely together! Thanks for looking today.

Good day, everyone! I have to be honest with you. I am very stamp-challenged! And this month, when I was told we need to work with a "digi-stamp" at Chicas Getting Crafty ....whoa! That is way out of my comfort zone. But, I thought to myself, "This can't be so hard, right?." So, I printed out my stamp, & sat down with my girls, who were coloring, & created this card for my "lil monsters" this Halloween. My biggest issue is that I don't have the mediums to fill in the stamp. I used colored pencils & chalk pencils to come up with this card: I hope you enjoyed my creation. Thanks for looking & have a fabulous day! P.S. Update on the move: We are stuck in the fact that the bank doesn't want us to carry duel mortgages, even though there will be a guaranteed buy out from the relo company. The relocation company has stepped in with the bank to try to get that waived, & we have reapplied for a new mortgage through a diffe...

Hi everyone. Everything on the house is status quo. We are waiting to hear when exactly our move date will be. We may be outta here as early as October 22nd, but we aren't sure yet. We are running into a snafu w/ the bank as far as closing on our house before closing on the new house, so we are awaiting answers from the relocation company. In the relocation policy it does state that we can carry duel mortgages for up to 90 days & the relo company would pay the lesser of the two, but the mortgage company didn't seem to get that memo. We are anxiously awaiting & I will certainly keep you posted. You will continue to see crafty posts popping up on my blog, but they were created back in July/August. I can assure you that all of my craft supplies are in bins, in storage, in my basement. Very very sad. My craft table is folded & put away. Even all of the girls craft supplies are tucked away. They are now limited to coloring books & crayons. They are chomping at the bi...

Hi & happy end of the month. Can you believe that we are nearing October?! This year is just flying by. For those of you that have been following my blurbs of our relocation, I will post soon to let you know exactly what, when, where it is all happening. But for now....... Didn't I tell you that there were 5 great sketches this month at Chicas Getting Crafty ! Each one was so much fun to work with! I hope that you have used them for your projects & had as much fun with them as I did. Here is my take on this weeks sketch: This picture is of my husband & my girls on a miniature golf night with our church. I was away, so he had dressed them, hadn't combed their hair, Emma's socks are pulled up high, but that doesn't change who they are, & how much he loves them! They are the light of his life! They adore him & he loves them right back! Thanks for looking. Again, if you use this, or any of the sketches, please share with us over at Chicas G...

Hello there family & friends. I know that many of you have been asking how we are doing with the relocation to Texas. It is a big move & very emotional. One day I am excited, the next day I am weeping & rethinking our decision. It is a very stressful time for us. Our current house is on the market. We have had an open house, appraisers coming in & out, & we are just waiting for someone to fall in love with it as much as we did when we bought it. If you know of anyone interested in a great house in a great location in Exeter PA, please send them our way. Last week, Tony & I went to Houston to scout out the area & search for our new home. It was a very tough week! We looked at over 50 houses in various areas. We started out north of Houston in the Spring area, then headed North-west to Cypress, then we ended in Katy. On that third day we knew we had decided that we really wanted to be in the Katy area. Tony & I were not seeing eye to eye on any...

Good afternoon, there is another wonderful sketch posted today at Chicas Getting Crafty . If you haven't already, you should hurry on over there to check it out. This sketch was so much fun to use! As soon as I saw it, I knew exactly what paper I was going to use, & what pictures. I used the scraps from the April Scraptacular kit. That was such a fun kit & I knew that I had the perfect scraps to use. I rounded the corners of the stips of scraps, used left over stickers, then I found a fun tag that I had used half of. The other half fit perfectly here. I had tiny strips of ribbon that found a good home on this page. I threw all of my scraps together, & this is what I came up with: These pictures are of my youngest, Audra, when she was about a year & a half. We had gotten this slide from freecycle & Audra adored it. She would go up & down, up & down, up & down. This would last for for a long time. But it kept her busy & she loved it. Thank...

Hi there & welcome back. Over at Chicas Getting Crafty there is another wonderful sketch!! Which means that it's a great day for me, how about you? I am thrilled to share with you my take on another wonderful sketch. When I first saw this sketch, I immediately thought of my husband. He always asks if I am going to put anything in that "empty space". I, personally, LOVE the white space & really enjoy doing layouts with it. Like this one: This layout is of my oldest, Emma. She has the biggest, most beautiful eyes that I have ever seen. She has eyelashes that grown women pay for! She often says to me, "Mommy, I look different. My eyes are so big." I just tell her, that it is perfectly ok to be different, those eyes are so big & beautiful, & that the boys will get lost in them some day. I am so glad that you stopped to visit me today. Please share with us your take on the sketch, over at Chicas Getting Crafty should you chose to use ...

Hi there! I hope that you are doing well, this fine day! For this layout, I was inspired by the patriotic-ness of our country in honor of 9/11. I did not have any patriotic papers, so this truly was a challenge for me. I used my scraps to make this layout (I was on a roll from the other challenges this month), which was fun. I pulled from this bin & that pile & random items (like the tag that has a bird under the star). I put it all together & this is what I came up with: The pictures are of my mother-in-law, on the Fourth of July, playing with sparklers (she is still a kid at heart!). The little picture is of me & Emma. Emma wasn't quite sure what to make of them, so I had to help her until she got the hang of it. God Bless the USA!! Thanks for looking today. & be sure to stop by Chicas Getting Crafty to see my full post & what my fellow DT members are creating this week. Have a great day. ~Anneliese~ (post pres-scheduled. diligently working on house ...

Just a lil update on our move to TX. As you may or may not know, Tony has been offered quite a job with his company, but the catch is that it is located in Houston, TX. By taking this job, it opens several doors for advancement within the company in the near future. It was a long time coming, & it is finally here. Our house here in PA is being put on the market this week, & Tony & I will be going to Houston to house hunt next week. We have 4 days to find the house of our dreams! I will keep you posted on that as well. With that being said, all of my scrappy supplies are packed up & in storage (boo hoo!!), because you know how cluttered & messy our scrappy areas can get! Our sitting room needs to be staged as a sitting room, not as a hoarding scrappers room. lol. All of the post that you will see on my blog in September, October, November that are crafty related have been created previously & scheduled to be posted. All of my DT duties are on hold until we are se...

Hello there!! It is so nice that you stopped by today. Over at Chicas Getting Craftythere is another fabulous sketch. Woo Hoo!! Love it! M y take on the sketch is of my daughter Audra, when she was about 18 monthes, & her first experience on the beach. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it. She would sit in the sand, then stand up. Sit & watch the water, then dig her toes in the sand. It was quite funny. You can see it in her face that she didn't really know what to do. Thank you for looking. I hope that you enjoyed the sketch & my take on it. Please stop back again more fun & inspiration! I love having you. Have a great day!! ~Anneliese~ (the month of September posts are pre-scheduled. We are busy packing, & house hunting, & preparing for our big move from PA to TX. Details on that to follow.).

Have been over the the Chicas Getting Crafty blog today? Have you seen the fabulous sketch posted? Isn't it wonderful? And guess what? You are lucky this month because there are 5 weeks in September, therefore there will be 5 sketches here at Chicas Getting Crafty! All of them are out-of-this-world!! Here is my take on this weeks sketch. I used the title "Imagine" because my girls are so very close, & I can't imagine one being without the other. They are the best of friends, & really enjoy each other. Well, they are only 4 & 6, so I'm sure as they get older things will change a bit. These pictures are from our vacation this summer. We went to see Lucy the Elephant in Margate NJ (www.lucytheelephant.org). Emma (my oldest), did not want to go in at all. She was pouting & just kept saying she didn't want to go in (as you can tell in the very first picture). Audra, just took her by the hand, & said something to her, ...

Hello hello hello. Monday is here, & I am a little sad to say that this will be my last sketch on the DT for Nuts About Sketches . New team starts with the next sketch. And although I will surely miss being on the team, I will continue to pull her sketches weekly & use them. Here is what I created w/ the latest sketch: There is a dairy farm a few miles from our house. At that dairy farm is a little restaurant , as well as a little petting zoo. At that zoo they have farm animals as well as rare & unusual animals. The best part is that it is totally free! The kids love going there & seeing the animals, as the pictures show. Always a fun time. Thanks for looking, & thanks Shawn for allowing me to be on your DT for the past year.

You got it! Monday morning, Monday Nuts About Sketches sketch. My term is almost up with her, so this is one of the last ones that you will see. I am sure that I will continue to do the sketches, but just not as her DT member. But with out further ado, here is what I created with her latest sketch: As I've been scrapping, I seem to have a lot of photos of my father, but not so many of my mother. I will definitely need to do something about that moving forward. But here is my father with baby Audra. He just loves his grand kids as you can tell by the look in his eyes. Thanks for stopping by. See you soon.

Oh my goodness! Have you seen the sketches that the girls are creating at Chicas Getting Crafty lately? They are awesome! I was one of the lucky ones to design with Kimmy's sketches this month, so I would like to share with you what I have created. These are pictures of Emma (yes, I know, I haven't forgotten about Audra!), & our dog Charley. We were so worried that Charley wouldn't take to Emma, but he immediately became her protector the day we brought her home. Here, Emma is 7 months old, & just starting to move around. He would sit & watch her every move. She loved it when he was near, & learned to pull up by using his back to steady herself. Supplies used: Almost everything I used was from the Basic Grey Euphoria line: paper, buttons, letters, brads, chipboard. Karen Foster Design green Scrappers Floss Colorbox chalk ink- lavender & blue Thanks for the wonderful sketch, Kimmy, & thank you all for stopping by to look, & don't forget to ch...

Hello there! How are you this fine Monday in August. August! Holy smokes, where has this summer gone?? Thanks to Shawn, I was able to create another fun layout using one of her sketches for Nuts About Sketches. Here is what I came up with: These are fun pictures of Easter 2010. We had gone to church with my parents, then went back to their house for an egg hunt, & a wonderful, traditional, Easter ham dinner. Fun fun fun. Thanks for looking, hope to see you back soon.

When Peachy Laura from Chicas Getting Crafty asked us to chose a part of a wedding to scrap about, the first thing that popped into my mind was the cake, so I blurted that out right away. Then I thought, how am I going to scrap a wedding cake??! I have never scrapped any of our wedding photos, then I thought that I would flub it & scrap one of the kids birthday cakes(shhh, don't tell Laura!). As I was flipping through photos, I found the perfect "wedding cake" pictures! My parents, on their 40th wedding anniversary, renewed their vows & had a huge celebration, much like a wedding. They had gotten married in Germany & only a handful of people attended, so they went all out this time, & had the big traditional "wedding" for the renewal. The cake was no exception! Here are the photos of the cake, them cutting, & feeding each other. Still as in love, & 1000x more, as the day they were married. Supplies used: Foof-a-la patterned paper Bazzil ...

Oh my! I had thought I had set this up to post while I was on my cruise, but I still had it set as a draft! I hope I didn't disappoint you! Anyway, this gives me the opportunity to tell you that Tony & I had a wonderful time on our cruise! It was so nice to get away, just the two of us, & reconnect a bit. With all of his travel for work, the impending move on our minds, it was nice to push all of that aside & just enjoy each other with out any distractions. We got massages, pedicures, drank an awful lot! & just had a wonderful time. Since we cruised to Canada, it was a lot colder than what we thought, but over all it was so much fun, & well deserved & needed. The kids return tomorrow, so back to life we go. Onto the craft stuff. Of course this is a Nuts About Sketches take on a sketch, it is Monday (well, now Tuesday) after all. The picture is of the girls this past Easter. The sun was in their eyes so they kinda look like they've been ...