Christmas cards

Here are the Christmas cards that I made this year.  I actually lifted the design and colors off of the cover of Scrapbooks Etc.  I loved the pink and green and really wanted to play with those colors this year for my cards.  

A big giveaway

Here is a really great giveaway that you should check out!  Especially if you do any kind of digital anything.  

http://rhonnadesigns.blogspot.com/

Let's find some inspiration

Let's see what is inspiring today.  I haven't been surfing the net too much lately so I haven't really run across anything that really struck me.  Or at least nothing new.  LOL! 

The Hero Arts blog is always great to check out.  They have a lot going on and post usually at least 4 times a week.  Also this week Kelly Goree was guest designing with them.  Yay! 

http://heroarts.com/blogs/club/

Since it is almost Christmas, I'll try to find some Christmas stuff. 

Here is a fun little thing from Better Homes and Gardens.  You can decorate a tree.  You can also do cookies and make a snowflake.  I like the snowflake one the best.  Give it a try, just for fun!

http://www.bhg.com/bhg/file.jsp?item=/marketing/registration/trim_a_tree/bhg_splash_trimatree08&temp=yes&prsc=trimatreetoptoolsdecember

I think that's it for inspiration today.  Just look around you, especially this time of year.  There is so much beauty everywhere.  So many different color combos and designs.  Just keep an open mind.  : )

October LO

Here I am again, not really doing a good job of posting.  Not really getting much scrapping done either.  So much going on lately.  But, I do finally have my October LO done.  This is for my month of the year album.  Really loving  these MM journaling notebooks.  Such cute little papers to use on LO's.  It's the tan/cream shaped paper for those of you who didn't know.  Also used BG paper on this and American Crafts foam thickers.  Thanks for checking it out.  Hopefully I'll have some more goodies to post soon.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just want to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone takes just a minute to actually think about what they are thankful for. It is always good to reflect on these things and appreciate them.

Just a pic of someone I am very thankful for all the time! : )

Inspiration

Well, I haven't been very good about posting again.  It seems we are so busy lately and when I am on the computer I am trying to catch up with other things.  But I am making a little time today.  I am linking a few things that are inspiring me right now.  Thanks for peeking! 

Gmail:http://www.google.com/mail/help/intl/en/about_whatsnew.html

I know it sounds silly that email can be inspiring but they now offer different colors and styles for your background.  Right now I have a sunset color scheme and it is so pretty.  Oranges and brown.  Makes me want to go home and get out my BG Ambrosia paper and scrap with it.  Gorgeous!  

If you haven't checked out Esty, now is the time.  http://www.etsy.com/ Everything is handmade and it is all unique and fun.  Many different items available so that everyone can find something they like.  You can shop by item or even by color!  I love all the little paper goodies you can find for scrap booking.  I also enjoy browsing the purses!  So cool. 

I have posted about this site already.  But today I am emphasizing it.  http://www.jessicasprague.com/  I am taking a free class here and it is wonderful and very inspiring.  She offers other classes and will be announcing the 2009 schedule soon.  If you sign up for her newsletter you will find out about them when they are announced.  Also, how beautiful is the background of her web page?!  I think that inspires me even more!  

Well, that's it for me for now.  Get out there and get inspired!  

Have a good Friday! 

Where have I been?

I have been meaning to post but we have been sooo busy! We are really working hard to get our new room done. We are remodeling a room into a game room. We are going to have a pool table and probably a bar and a table for playing cards etc. We have spent the last couple of weeks sanding the mud off the walls and painting! Not really a lot of fun, but definitely worth it! We are really excited to get it done and love seeing the progress we are making. I will post pics one of these days to show the progress and definitely when we get it done.

I have some news on the scrapbooking front. I have applied for my first ever design team. I have never done this before and I am very excited! I won't know until the end of the month if I made it and I can't wait! I applied at a very cool place called Your Memories by Design. She has a great blog, forum and a really awesome store. She makes some of the neatest things! Here's a link, check it out! http://ymbd.blogspot.com/ I'll let you know how it turns out.

I am also taking an online class by Jessica Sprague. I am super excited about this too. it's a free class which is great and I think it will be a good learning experience. Here's a link to that too.http://www.jessicasprague.com/

Got lots of other stuff to catch up on and post soon. Keep checking back!

My September page

Here is the September LO for my by the month album. Lots and lots of good stuff happened in Sept. Especially our anniversary! : ) Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek.

DCWV cardstock, Basic Grey pp, Sassafrass Lass stamp, misc ink, Zig marker, Martha Stewart rub-ons, Kaiser month rub-on, EK Success scallop punch, Tombow adhesive.

Things that inspire right now

Here are a few things that are inspiration to me right now. Ali Edwards and a few other do this on their blog regularly and I am going to try and do it too. I really like to click their links and see what kind of goody they are leading me to. So, I want to provide some of that fun too! Sometimes it will be scrapbooking stuff, sometimes not. Just things that I like, that catch my eye, that make me happy in some way! Enjoy!

Of course my first one is from Ali: www.techniquetuesday.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=AETY&Category_Code=

Really liking this organizer stuff. Kinda pricey though:http://www.target.com/itso-Storage-Organization/b/601-5526844-7744965?ie=UTF8&node=676257011

I am loving this paper right now! It is absolutely gorgeous:http://www.embellishonline.com/page/83234202

Well, that's my post for today. At least for now! I hope everyone is enjoying fall!

My latest page

This is a LO I did about my hubby and I. It was originally suppose to be part of an anniversary gift for him, but I didn't get it done in time. So I just made it for fun. The pink shaped paper is actually the page, the neutral behind it is just something I laid it on to take the picture. These are pics we took in a photo booth at the mall. We like to do silly things like that and it's fun to see how silly the photos will actually be! : )
Making Memories paper, College Press journaling card(I love these), Zig pen, Paper Studio clock faces, Autumn Leaves swirl stamps, 7 Gypsies stamp, Stickles glitter, misc. date stamp, crystal swirls, ink.
Thanks for peeking, let me know what you think!

My August LO

Here is my August installment of my monthly LO's. Lots of good stuff in August so I included lots of photos. Click on the pic for a larger image in case you want to read my journaling. Thanks for stopping by!

Thank you card

This is the card I made for the contest I mentioned in my previous post. Unfortunately I don't think I made the deadline. But, I am still going to add it to the contest list. And, I am still going to mail it out. This was a worthwhile cause and very fun to make the card. Whoever wins the prize pack will be loaded with goodies for a long time!

For those who may want to know. This card is made of DCWV cardstock, new Basic Grey ambrosia paper, American Crafts felt flowers, EK Success gem, American Crafts ric rac and misc. journal card and sticker.

This is worth checking out

http://myblogbycammie.blogspot.com/

Check out the blog candy on this blog. She is giving away an awesome prize pack! All she asks is that the contestants make a card or two or three for someone who is an Alzheimer's care giver. This is a wonderful idea and a wonderful cause. I think this is very worthwhile and plan to participate! Plus, who can pass up a prize pack like this?!! Please check it out!

A few pictures

This is the banner hanging in the mall. So cool. These pics are taken from the third floor of the mall.

This is a view looking down at one of the classes. There is usually 30 or so people in each class and probably 10 classes going on at a time.

Here's me!

This is us having supper at T.G.I.F's!!!! I love that place! It is so yummy!

Here in Minneapolis

Sitting in the hotel in Minneapolis listening to the planes come in. I've heard 3 the last 15 minutes or so. It's so cool! And, they are flying so low already when they come over the mall and the hotels it's just awesome! It's only 7 a.m. on a Sunday and I really don't want to be awake. But, sleeping in hotels is hard for me. The bed is never right, noises wake me up, and I'm just antsy and excited to be here. So, while the hubby sleeps, I'm surfing the net and writing to you all!
Scrapfest was great again this year! I recommend it to anyone who is even a little interested in scrapbooking! It is so much fun and so educational. I took two classes this year instead of one like last year. I'm glad I did. My first class was with Scrappy Cat/Darice company. Now honestly I had never heard of this company but the class sounded fun so I took it. I am so glad I did! They gave us a boat load of supplies and they are really nice things! Definitely worth more then what I paid for the class. We made a 8x8 album. They gave us an album with all the papers precut for the pages. Then it was up to you to put them together and add some embellishments! So cool. Also very nice people. A husband and wife started this company. If you have a chance, check out their website or blog. I will get a link when I can.
My second class was with Hero Arts and was taught by Jennifer Maguire. That's why I took it. She is a pretty famous scrapbooker. In this class we put together a clear acrylic tag mini album. It was very cool taking a class with Jennifer, she is a very good scrapbooker and I have seen her work all over the place. The class itself was very fast paced. This is ok, although I had a little trouble keeping up. But, that's good for me too. I am a slow scrapper so this takes me out of my box and makes me try something new/different. Speaking of that I used Stazon ink for the first time to stamp on the tags. That stuff was different and hard to clean off. I don't think I like it although it was nice on the acrylic. Probably won't be buying any though. We got our little album supplies and a nice set of stamps in this class. I also won a door prize and got another set of stamps for Christmas. These will be nice to have.
All in all, very good class experiences. Again, I recommend to anyone. Plus, it's the Mall of America! We are talking shopping here people!!!! How can you go wrong!

Scrapfest-Here I Come!

I'm getting excited. Scrapfest is this weekend and I am going. This will be my second year. For those of you who don't know, Scrapfest is a big scrapping convention type deal at the Mall of America. They basically take over the mall with booths and classes and lots of scrappy goodness! It is frickin' awesome! I had so much fun last year and I can't wait to go again. I am taking two classes this year, last year I only took one. I enjoyed it so much I thought I would try two. Not only a weekend away in Minneapolis, but a scrap filled one at that! It doesn't get any better! Oh wait, yes it does, my hubby is going with me! He is so awesome! He entertains himself for a couple of hours while I am in my classes and then we spend time shopping and eating and having a fun time! I love it! Minneapolis watch out-the Ungs' are on their way!

http://www.scrapfest08.com/

Here is the July LO

Here is the page I made for July for my monthly album. Pretty simple LO this month. Just trying to get caught up and stay that way. I think it turned out pretty well. My fav Basic Grey paper and a few accents to spruce up the page. Thanks for checking it out! I'll be back.....

Hello out there

Well here I am again, not doing a very good job of posting. It seems like we are so busy this summer and I can't do everything I want to do. Lots of golf of course, and we love that! We have also been remodeling our game room and building our new shed. That has kept us busy off and on the past few weeks. Last weekend we helped Denny's sister and her family move. Yay for them! That was probably the hardest I've worked in awhile, and I felt it for a few days after! LOL! Trying to get some scrapping done, but that seems to wait while I try to keep up with everything else. I need to win the lottery so I can quit my job! Then I would have lots of scrap time! Although, I should actually play the lottery if I want to win it! Technicalities! Well, just an update for you all. We are doing well and hopefully I will have some scrappy stuff to share soon. For those of you who do scrap, click on the link on the side of my blog for Ali Edwards. She did a big Q & A thing the last week or so and has some awesome pointers and tips on her blog. Love her work and her ideas.

June Layout

Here is my June monthly layout. Pictures are from a golf outing and from my Gramma Jeanette's 80th b-day party. Love the blue paper against the blue skies in the pics! This page is just so vibrant, especially IRL. Making Memories journaling paper and a cute little butterfly-just for fun! This is a 2-page 8x8 layout just in case anyone is curious. Thanks for looking, let me know what you think!

May page layout

This year I have been making a page of the month album. Each month I make a layout highlighting some pics from the month and a little journaling to cover some things that happened. I have really enjoyed doing this. It is easy and fun and I seem to actually get these pages done! I am especially enjoying the 8x8 format I have chosen. It is easier then the 12x12 although I will still scrap that size too. Unfortunately though, I haven't done much in my 12x12 album. Here's the May page. Thanks for taking a peek!

I am still alive!

I have not posted in forever! Summer showed up and we have been busy! Of course most free time is filled with golf. We have gotten in a lot of it lately, but we are not complaining! We have both been busy with work and other odd jobs too. And, the last couple of weeks have been filled with us working on our remodeling project. We are redoing a room in the back of our garage and making it a game room. More specifically a pool room (as in billiards, not swimming.) So, it's been pretty crazy. As a result, I have not blogged and I have not scrapped. I've got the bug though and have sat down at my table a couple of times the last week. I haven't gotten much done, but at least I could play a little. No new pages to show right now so I will leave with a beautiful photo of beautiful flowers that my hubby gave me for my birthday.

Here it is!

I received my wonderful prize pack last Friday! Unfortunately I have not had time to upload images until today. As you can see it is a spectacular array of scrappy goodness! First there is a brown Doodlebug brand tote and it was filled with lots of Doodlebug goodies! A craft knife, a mini album, a cutting mat, some glitter chipboard letters, some glitter, some jewels, and a couple of alterable items. As if that isn't good enough, the piece de resistance, a Mimi large rolling tote!!!! This is awesome! I realize you non-scrappers don't understand the excitement behind this, but believe me it is exciting! First of all, this tote retails for $149. Yep. Second, this thing has enough pockets and places and room for everything I could possibly want to take with me anywhere, ever. I can not put into words how frickin' cool this is!!!! Thank you scrapbook. com! What an awesome web site. Enjoy the pics everybody! Don't be surprised if you see me wheeling down the street toting my bag behind me. Empty, with nowhere to go. Just me and my tote, looking good. : )




Strike a pose!



P.S. How cool that my new t-shirt matches my new bag! I am just that good.

Hot Damn, I won!

I entered a contest at sb.com. It was a week long challenge to create a mini album that concentrated on journaling. Well, I am not a fast scrapper, so for me to finish this in a week, actually less, was pretty amazing! The prize was a prize pack of scrapping goodies worth over $200. Yes, $200! And yes, you got it-I WON!!!!!!! I can't frickin' believe it! I am so excited I could just bounce right out of the chair! LOL! Here are some pics of said album. Might as well show it off a bit!

The card box

Here are a few pictures of the box I decorated for Dylan's graduation party. I forgot to take a 'before' pic, but it was basically a very large box made out of plywood. It had a slot cut out on top, and hinges so that the top would open up. I didn't want to use paper to cover it because it would have been expensive and a lot of work. So, I decided on material. I got some wooden letters to spell out cards. I covered some of these with paper and some I painted and then stamped a flourish design on them. Then I added a tassel for the grad, and some twine string to make it a little more masculine. I added a photo of the grad on the top of the box and silver stars. I thought it turned out pretty well considering I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it at first! Everyone seemed to like it though. Thank God for that! LOL!

Just some words

Life took over a little bit this last week and I haven't made it to my blog. We had an overnight rain this past Thursday that brought us 4 or 5 inches. This on already saturated ground. We made a wonderful discovery with all this rain. We had an old pipe in our basement that was never capped off and the water was running in like a faucet! It was not a good situation. We had a lot of water in the back room of the basement and some got on the carpet of the living room. So we have a little clean up to do. Denny had the plumbing guys come out and fix our "leak". It was their mess up to begin with. They left that pipe uncapped when they put in our new septic tank, 4 years ago! Well, the situation is under control now and it certainly could be worse.

Continuing on with lots of projects. Still going with my acrylic album. I did take a couple of photos that I will post soon. Also working on my March page for my year album. My year album consists of a two page layout for each month of the year. Just some highlight photos and quick journaling. It's a good way for me to keep up with the memories each month even if I don't get the pages done I want to. Lastly, I have Dylan's card box to decorate. This box is for his graduation party next weekend. I was at a loss on what to do with it, but inspiration hit while in Hobby Lobby! I think I have come up with a couple of good ideas, now just to get the project done for the party! It's been pretty busy around here! But, my creative juices are flowing and I'm loving all these opportunities to express myself!

The latest project

I may have scared myself out of scrapping! I have taken on what will probably be the hardest project I will ever do. An Acrylic Album! I knew it would be different, thought provoking, maybe even hard. But, this has surpassed that already and I've barely begun! LOL! I had some ideas before I started. I got more ideas as I started. But, now, I feel like I'm getting in over my head! There is a lot of thought in this. I have to think about how things are placed, how much shows through, or doesn't, and where my adhesive goes. Wow, it's crazy! I plan to take some pictures as I progress with it. I will post them occasionally so you all can follow along with me. Wish me luck, keep me in your thoughts! LOL!

Newest layout

This is the latest layout I have finished. It is about our trip to Scrapfest in Minneapolis this past September. I had lots of fun seeing the vendor booths, taking a scrapping class, and shopping for the first time ever at Archivers. We are already planning on going again this year! I used CK Ali font for the journaling. I love Ali Edwards and her handwriting is fun and unique. I think this is a font I will be using often. I used Queen and Co. felt fusion as a page border/embellie. I thought this added a really great touch to the page. Love the SEI Winnies Walls paper I used. Picked this up on clearance one day, not sure that I would even use it. But, it seemed to fit this page perfectly. Very simple LO. Please leave comments, good or bad. I am always looking for pointers and help, and of course, who can pass up a compliment?!

My first post

Well, I have finally decided to jump on the blog bandwagon! I realize that I am about two or three, or maybe five years behind! But, some of us are slow to embrace new things. Or something like that.
This blog will be a mix of things. First and foremost it will be about scrapbooking. Scrapbooking that I do, that others do, ideas, techniques, etc. Whatever tickles my fancy really. It will also give my family and friends an opportunity to see my work and what interests me. Secondly this blog will be a place for random blabberings. I tend to do this in life out loud, so I may as well do it on the web too! I will talk about family, work, hobbies and interests, world events. Probably not world events, but I was trying to sound cultural. Hopefully I will be good for a laugh occasionally, and good for inspiration and ideas always. I hope to make some friends through this blog, keep in touch with friends I already have, and maybe get some of myself out there in the world. Especially the scrapbooking world.
This is just the start. I want to customize the blog to represent me a little more. I also plan to upload some pictures and layouts soon. It may take a while, but I'll have this place looking like home!