back in the saddle

Finally. After several weeks of feeling all topsy turvey with my new schedule, I managed to phase scrapping back into my daily life. I feel so much better! I had a number of items to make for upcoming publications that I cannot share, but not that the must scrap list is done, I have time for fun scrapping. Yay!

I headed over to 2sketches4you and grabbed this week's sketch: Laura's Sketch 38. Fabulous! I used it for this thanks card for my inlaws. They were so sweet watching the kids when Drew and I were in Miami. A happy card and a gift certificate for dinner out was our way of saying thanks.

Cosmo Cricket papers, chipboard, ribbon from Earth Love, Jillibean Soup journal spot, and American Crafts Thickers with a hint of ink. I love how the colors are light, yet so warm. Yummy!

Off to scrap!

Halloween fun

Halloween shopping this year was quite easy. Allie took one look at the darling ladybug and fell in love. Surprisingly affordable with everything from leggings to antenna, it fit her personality perfectly. And it fit my mom requirement--NOT sexy. Allie crossed into the tween size/age category this year and as we browsed online costume stores, I was getting nervous. I am just not ready to see my little girl in fishnets yet. I was thrilled with her choice:

While Allie and I shopped for her, Zack and Drew headed to the boy land. Zack had already decided on Harry Potter, so I was shocked when he came over with a snow wolf ninja costume. He loves wolves and was determined that this would be his costume. We arrived home to find that the mask was not in the bag.

Back I went. Although the bag listed it as included, it was not in any of the ones in stock. The manager offered to take it back and give me some $ off another costume for my trouble, but Zack held firm. He did not want a mask, anyway. He liked his costume, but did not make it to love and is certain that next year he wants to be Harry Potter. Here he is making his best evil ninja face:

I still think he is adorable--even when he is trying to be scary. Happy Halloween! Off to raid the candy bucket.

Back to scrapping

Finally. After a couple of stressful weeks, I headed to my scrap room, turned on the tunes, and found absolutely no mojo. Eeek! Now that is a spooky Halloween. My favorite way to get my juices flowing is to lift one of my other works. Giving an old idea a new twist helps me get started.

I loved the paintbrush album I made for my mom's birthday and decided to put together one for Halloween. It let me use some fun premade embellies--like these darling monster felties from Sassafrass. How could you not love them?

The rich colors of the Pink Paislee papers are just gorgeous to work with and I definitely was in the groove by the time the project was ready for photographing. Quick, easy, and fun!

Life and fruit

Life tosses fruit at us all of the time. Sometimes it is little life disruptions in the form of small fruits: lemons, limes, or berries. Other times you duck a coconut just to get hit with a pineapple.

In younger year we learn to take lemons and make lemonade. After a few years of experience, we laugh at lemons. Toss them at us and we turn them into a full meal from lemon shrimp appetizer to a lemon meringue pie. It is the nature of the hard working mom to multi-task our way through the fruit salad of life.

I spent a week enjoying juggling limes. Limes are my friend as they make great margaritas. Drew and I traveled to Miami for his work and enjoyed warm weather, good food, and friends. The Monday night football game was a definite highlight. Sure, I had a ton of prep before we left and make-up work when we returned, but it was worth every second.

While sitting in the airport waiting for my flight, life decided to add some more fruit to the mix. My dean called to ask a favor. Would I take an accelerated English class starting in just 4 days?

Eeek! Just one little 9 week request would change my life enormously. 4 days of work instead of 2. An extra 13 hours of prep, grading, teaching time. 13 hours less to manage the mom job and house stuff. The upside? More money, a happy dean, a chance to touch the lives of additional students. The tiebreaker: the woman scheduled to teach the class was called to active duty in Iraq. How could I not?

And so I find myself hitting 2 weeks without a bit of scrapping. I can not wait until this weekend when I can tap into my mojo. Until then, you will find me chopping fruit until I can turn this latest medly into a tasty treat.

Thanks for the fun

The final challenge in the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog birthday celebration is to create thank you cards to send after the party ends. Normally, I do a photo birthday card showing some favorite shots of my birthday kid blowing out candles, opening presents, and playing games. It allows me to share the memory of the day with all of the family.

Even though this will not be our real thank you cards, it was still fun for Allie and I to put together. She felt we worked the tree image enough for our theme so we just used the same fabulous Earth Love papers, Thickers, our beloved Cuttlebug, and some favorite trim.

Thanks, Cuttlebug Team for the inspiration and fun!

Happy Card Day!

Happy World Cardmaking Day!

My day began very happy when the Fancy Pants Designs blog announced me as one of their winners! I am so excited and cannot wait to see what darling goodies arrive. I adore Fancy Pants!

I zipped on over to 2 Sketches 4 You and grabbed Kazan's Sketch 36 to start my cardmaking day off right. I wanted to use this ribbon that I fell madly in love with by Jillibean Soup. How much did I love it? I bought 5 of the same exact one. Red is my favorite color and my son is obsessed with numbers--how could I not?

It is a happy card that is perfect to send as a pick me up to a friend that needs a smile. Thanks for the great sketch Kazan.

Allie and I also made our thank you cards for the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog, but a thunderstorm rolled in making it dark and horrible for taking a good photo. Will be back with it tomorrow!

Hope yall had a great day of cardmaking!

Fancy Friday

Wow. What a long week. Filled with work, activities, meetings, volunteering, and more, every moment was scheduled. By the time I hit the couch on Thursday evening, I was all but brain dead.

Knowing that it was going to be crazy, I made certain to keep my Friday empty. The chores were done. The kids in school. The tivo full. I had all afternoon to scrap and play. Where to begin?

I stopped by the Fancy Pants Designs Friday Challenge. Their World Card Day challenge had me reaching for Rough and Tough and Krafty Boys collections. I was in the mood for a bit of paper piecing and had such fun putting together this little owl. Isn't he just too cute?


I am obsessed with pop dots lately and cannot resist layering items together. Using pop dots under letter stickers gives them such great look. Now the only question is who to send him to?