Merci!!

I was reading through my blogs while I sit here and listen to a recorded conference call. I was so excited when I got to Paper Smiles --- I won her latest blog candy!! Go check it out if Nancy is not already on your "to read" list. She makes the prettiest cards - and today's is no exception! I love the way she combined 2 sets together!!

Wait till you see what I've got to post here in a little bit! I can't wait to show ya'll!

Make it a beautiful day!

A great sentiment

I saw this quote over on Terri Conrad's blog - and thought is was just wonderful:

"may miracles sprinkle on your garden today."

Isn't that a wonderful thing to wish for someone.

It is what I wish for all of you who stop by my blog! Thanks so much for sharing this art with me!

Testing

I am sorry to interrupt this blog. I am conducting a test. This is only a test. When the test is completed, normal blogging will resume.

Ha Ha!! I crack myself up sometimes!

Do You Believe in Luck?

My local stamp club makes ATC's to trade every month. For March, we had to use the theme of St. Patrick's Day. (Yes, club was several weeks ago, but I just got this photo off the camera.)

I didn't want to do anything too cheesy and traditional. I wanted to use a really cool "lady" stamp - I have several in my stamp collection that I just love, loVE, LOVE and don't use enough. And I wanted to have those little cut up words to make it ultra cool! (I really wanted something like my SBS3 sis Sandy creates --- a style that I admire, but really struggle to produce. Be sure to stop by her blog and check out the gorgeous card she posted on Tues, Mar 25)
I stamped this lady on some old patterned paper I found (and while I have a TON of paper, I have very little green paper that is actually pretty or cool. This was as good as it got! Such a shame I'm on a self-imposed paper buying boycott) and then matted her on the green. I accented her with some itty bitty sparklies (because every woman deserves to shine, right?!??!). I came up with the slogan you see, printed it off (remember this post? or this one? and began to assemble - in the kitchen b/c Dane was up and wanted a snack. I get one done, and decide she looks kinda weird with hand --- so I decided she needed something IN her hand. I went digging in my punch drawer and found a clover punch ---- can't believe I actually own that punch (well, yes, I can) or that I forgot that I owned it (*sigh* okay, I can believe that too!). The only way that it really looked "right" was to have it falling out of her hand. I decided that it looked like she was discarding it with a look of disdain on her face. SO - I had to think up a new slogan --- which I like SOOOOO MUCH BETTER!!! So I re-printed and assembled them all. I made 11 - one extra than was needed for club, but we had more people there so I only ended up with 1 extra and not the 3 or 4 like I was planning. Of course, everyone else loved the second sentiment too - who can blame them??? The rest of the ATC's that I traded said
Luck had nothing to do with it

Dress? Nightie?

I can't decide what this stamp looks like. It is labeled a "dress" on the stamp. But it looks like a nightie to me.
I found this card in my files and don't think I ever posted it. It was for a SCS sketch challenge eons ago.
Busy day around here - Dane is at mother's day out so I've got lots of things I want to accomplish!!

Make it a beautiful day!

Testing

I am sorry to interrupt this blog. I am conducting a test. This is only a test. When the test is completed, normal blogging will resume.

Ha Ha!! I crack myself up sometimes!

Bella is Taking Over

I finally managed to get some photos off the camera - actually DH did it. I don't know what he did, but I won't dwell on it....I'll just be thankful that he is a) more patient than I am and b) more computer savvy than I am.

This first card is actually an ATC for a swap that Katie hosted on the bellaholics group. I'm very sorry about the photo (perhaps I should have DH take my photos too). When I colored this, I had much better shading that went from dark to light. Now it just looks messy!! ICK!!! That big gem was from a pouch of sparklies I picked up in the Target $1 spot. Gotta love that section!! But I better hit it just right or there is hardly any of the scrapping stuff left! Such a bummer for a crafty girl!

This next card is for the Bella swap on SCS. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I love sketches and this is one I got from the bella forum at SCS. But I really wish people would post measurements for them. I hate trying to figure out how big an element is supposed to be!

Swaps are fun - and I always love seeing what other gals created. But I think I'm done with them for awhile. And I like my bella stamps, but I'm ready to move on to other stamps --- like SU! stamps. I signed up as a demo and my kit should be coming today!!Too much other stuff that I want to do that gets pushed to the side! I have another bella card I did for a swap, but didn't photograph it either before I sent it so I'll have to wait for it to come back to post. I don't even know if I'll get my own card back - I sure hope so 'cuz I thought it was just so cute!! I was really happy with how it turned out!

Make it a beautiful day!!

Something Pretty

This is a project that I created last fall in an attempt to join a "group" of paper crafters on ebay. Maybe I didn't get in because these pictures are not the greatest! Boy, have I learned quite a bit since then! I tried to get these in a slide show, but slider turned them all on their side....so, I'm just sitting here, waiting for each one to load. I hope you enjoy!! I wanted a special address book - one that was uniquely mine, one that would make me smile every time I reached for it - heck, one that was so pretty, I would WANT to reach for it, adding people's info instead of scattering them all about on the tiniest scraps of paper, never to be found again.

I searched and searched for just the right book - I knew that I didn't want to have to decorate the outside. I finally found this on ebay and gave much more for it than the $5 or less that I originally was hoping to spend. But it was exactly what I wanted and I'd looked for months. Each of the divider pages I decorated with papers from some stack, and then some common ribbons, flowers, blings and quotes.
For some reason that escapes me at this moment, I only photographed some of the pages, so that's all you'll see here. I'm too lazy to go dig up the camera and work on editing again. Then I'm off to my stamp space again!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Easter holiday with your family. Remember, Jesus is the Reason!!!

Guess Who's Back?

Back Again??!?

Computer was released from the ICU and is back home with me! I've been busy this week re-decorating my son's room - while he's been sick so it's been slow going!

I wanted to share this paper bag album that I made for a friend; she wanted blues and browns and didn't want it to be too girly so I kept the ribbons and stuff to a minimum. I wasn't sure about the pictures she would be adding so I kept the pages/photo mats fairly simple so it would be easy for her to just add her photos. There are many reasons why scrapbooking is not one of my most favorite things to do: but the big one is that I hate to cover up that yummy, pretty, fabulous patterned paper. My grandpa's name was Jack so I knew I would love doing it from the get-go. I petitioned for that name as a contender when I was pregnant but hubby didn't love it as much as I did. It's okay though, because I love my son's name!!

This project is one of my most favorite things I've ever done. It was super hard for me to give it up - do you ever have that happen to you? I have to fight it very hard because 1) I can't keep everything and 2) sharing is so much better. I love knowing that people smile and feel good inside when they receive something that I made just for them!

Have a wonderful Easter girls!! We were planning on going to the sunrise service at the canyon - it's so lovely to see. Last year they cancelled it because it was so cold and icy. No word yet on this year, but they are predicting a "winter mix" that morning. My little man has the flu so we'll be watching church on tv this year. Hopefully next year!

Out of Commission

Our computer crashed the other day. It is at the computer ICU, trying to be revived. Luckily, my hubby was able to let us come up to his office and use his computer real quick. I doubt I'll be on much this week. (Theresa, we are in the same boat) It's amazing how much we rely on the computer for things - beyond blogging of course, my business, weather, news, recipes, email, etc.
I am sure that once I get back online at home, I'll have lots of wonderful things to look at from all of ya'll!!
I have been busy making some things - I just keep forgetting to photgraph it. Oh well, maybe I can do that this week!

Have a wonderful week!