Cherry On Top Award

The rules in accepting this award are:


1. you must thank the person who passed it on to you,
2. copy award to your blog.
3. list three (3) things you love about yourself,
4. post a picture that you love on your blog, and
5. pass award on to five (5) others

First of all. More apologies. I have not been blogging alot this past week or so. Too much going on. A death in the family, a injured dog, internet issues, and its summer where there are so many activities going on, its almost impossible to juggle it all. So I am slow on getting this award up and forwarded. So sorry everyone!!! But I wanted to let Wendy know that just because it took me a week to post, it means a lot to me. Truly, it does. Everytime I get an award, I get that giddy feeling. The "wow, really?" - It amazes me all the time that people come here to check this site and leave such kind and wonderful comments. Each and every comment is treasured and brings a smile. Thank you all for being so kind to do so!

Now, on to the goods! A giant thank you again to Wendy at http://kingstonskreations.blogspot.com/ She is so awesome. You'll just love her amazing creations and quirky spirit. A true doll. GO SEE HER!!! You'll love it. I promise.

Three things I love about myself? Uh, now thats a hard one! I guess I would say that I love my good fortune of having a loving husband and wonderful son. I love my spirit/attitude. And, I love, um, my brown eyes? Does that sound silly or what? I don't love my eyes but I love my sons and he got the color from me. So there you go. How is that for RANDOM THOUGHTS?! Ha Ha Ha!

Here is a picture that I love:
This might seem like a dull picture to most. But for me, its special. This is my son and step dad together. They are the greatest buddies and the time they spend together is so wonderful. Even these "ordinary" moments. This is a man who was a dad to me when he didn't have to be. Actually, he was/is more than that. He's one of my best friends. He has his own daughter to be a dad to. And I had my own father. But this is the man that stepped in and me into the individual I am today and there are just no words for the gratitude and love I have for him. And now, I get to see him bonding with my son and being the best papa in the world. I am truly blessed by god for his presence in our lives.

And now to pass on to five others. This is always the most difficult because I think that everyone deserves one. So here goes: http://217creations.blogspot.com/
http://bellabugcreations.blogspot.com/
http://christinacreativecorner.blogspot.com/
http://thegreenbeanscrafterole.blogspot.com/
and last but not least is everyone who wants one!!! Come and grab it! Everyone deserves an award in my book. :) Have an awesome weekend.

Baby Card

Monkey was cut from the new arrival cartridge at 3". Sentiments were stamped and then embossed.

OOPS...

My old internet service was on automatic bill pay. My new one doesn't offer that. So guess what I forgot to do?! Augh!!! Guess its a good thing we were busy this weekend. I went to log on and check in with all the blogs and got a bit of a surprise. OOPSIES!!! But I got it all taken care of and let me just say --- wow ladies, I love your projects! I will try to come around and comment individually as well. Currently trying to get some "must be done" items taken care of and then I'll be back around. I have a couple cards to post this week but not alot. I really have been busy with the fam, and its too hot to be out in the craftroom. But I'll make sure I post SOMETHING this week. :) Hope your all having as much fun as I am!

Baby Shower Invitation

Okay, this picture sucks. Its so cute in person! Really!!! I don't normally love my creations, I am my own worst critic I think. But I had so much fun doing this. Maybe it was because it was for such a dear friend?! I am so excited to meet her little girl that I couldn't wait to work on something. I have 3 months to think of all the decorations etc. So plenty of time to tinker and play. And tinker and play I will!!! BWAHAHA~ (That was an evil eccentric laugh...)

I struggled with this one for a bit. I was originally going down an entirely different theme and path until one day on our walk she told me how if its Disney, it was in her nursery. She didn't care what it was, if it was D, it was in. However, she named like 12 things pooh that she bought and confessed a soft spot for the little guy. Well, hmmm... I have 2 pooh carts that I don't work with much and one of them has baby hundred acre wood characters - I was excited to finally get an idea on how to proceed. Since its a "baby shower" what better than pooh in a wash basin taking a bath???? --- But how to make it girly... That was my dilemma. I think that it turned out simple and girly. So I am happy!!! I think I need to add some more pink ink on the edges of the white cardstock. Its there, its just not showing very well on here. So I'll add a bit more later.

Okay now for the deets (I know, shocker, I wrote some of it down!)
The scalloped card was from A Childs Year and was cut at 5 3/4".
I used Pooh Font cartridge and cut pooh at 4".
The loopy cut was also from ACY and was cut at 5". Tied a pink irredescent ribbon to to it for fun.
For the rectangle center exclaiming "its a girl" - I used Plantin Schoolbook. Cut at 4. Paper was from Paper Pizzaz.
I cut all the layers out on plain cardstock. Don't ask me from brand names, I haven't got a clue. Inked Baby Pooh with some colorbok ink- I believe it was the mustard color. The blue cardstock represented water obviously so I put some light blue stickles on those pieces to bling it up a bit and add some pizzaz. The bubbles was my most very favorite part. After adhering the white cardstock, I added liquid applique and heat embossed it to raise it. After drying, I applied clear glitter paint to add sheen. Didn't that make it pop? I just love how it turned out. So do all that 24 times and there you have it. :)

Thank you all for stopping in tonight. And I see I have a few new followers... WELCOME! It means so much to me that you check in here and leave comments. Truly, I love and appreciate all of them. Even constructive critisism! So don't be shy, come in and say HI!!!

Quick update

Hi everyone! Just wanted to let you know that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. I am working on a large set of baby shower invitations and doing a lot of family activities. I hope to have the front of the shower invites done in the next day or so (as soon as I can sneak back out to the craft room!) and will post. Hope your out enjoying the sun!

A couple cards as promised

Got a little crop happy on the scanner for the pickle one, but you get the picture. I'd redo it but I am late for movie night with Jaryd. He's anxiously awaiting my arrival so he can start the flick~

Going to see

I was planning on posting some cards when I got home, but I forgot... Tonight I go out with the girls to watch ECLIPSE!!! How could I have forgotten something like that? I enjoyed reading the series and now feel compelled to see each movie. WHY?!I already know what happens. But will that stop me? Nope! I am so excited. The girl time alone is enough for me to be dancing around the room shouting "can we go yet?!" Ever have one of those days? If I play it right, we'll stop for coffee and dessert before we call it a night. I'll post something tomorrow. Promise!

Here you go ladies!

This award now belongs to:
http://lovnmystuff.blogspot.com/
http://nannes-creations.blogspot.com/
http://okieladybugsscrapnmore.blogspot.com/
http://sheinksalot.blogspot.com/
http://pinkpolkadotscrapper.blogspot.com/

No particular order, but all wonderful and amazing blogs.

Thanks again Rhonda. I really appreciate you thinking of me and bestowing that award. It makes my heart smile.

Look at this? Can you believe it? An award!
http://scraphappenswithrhonda.blogspot.com/ Been to this site yet? Well what are you waiting for? Go, go, go!!! You'll find cuteness galore. And some rockin' tutorials. Rhonda is a sweetheart for sure. Please go check out her blog when you have a minute.

She listed 7 things about herself so I guess I must do the same. :) But what in the world do you want to know about me? THAT is the question... Okay, here we go.
1.) I don't tan. I burn. 2.) I don't skinny dip, I chunky dunk. 3.) I really was a chearleader. 4.) Camping is one of my fav. things to do with my fam. 5.) I recently got a cotton candy maker - which means I can indulge at anytime WAHOO! 6.) I love to read. 7.) I finally get to go see Eclipse on Wednesday. YEAH!!!!

Now to forward to some more awesome blogs... I'll be right back for that. Kiddo needs assistance. :)

Sympathy Card

Gypsy Wanderings for the bird. A childs year for the background pieces. Tim Holtz alcohol inked edges. Cursive cartridge for the writing. Seriously folks, I "HAD" the measurements written out for this one. I was so excited that I remembered to do that this time... But do you think that I can FIND it? How do you people do this? LOL! I even wrote what paper I used and now for the life of me, I have no clue. So all you ladies that take the time to do that --- WOW!!! Your awesome, your organized, and you make me look BAD! :)

This card is dedicated to Bill. He was a lovely neighbor that I will miss dearly. I will miss his accent, his smile, and seeing him pass by on his daily walks. He was a part of my life since before I can even remember. I grew up right next door. Jumped the fence when I got married, and have enjoyed him as my neighbor for the past 30+ years. I am so happy that he can now join his beloved Ruth in heaven. We'll miss him, but I know he's where he wants to be.

Wedding Card

Just a quick wedding card using the "wedding" cartridge. Quick and easy. In fact, too easy! I was handing off to my grams so she could give it away when I noticed I hadn't chalked the wings or added any details. So I raced the card back home and blinged it up a bit. Too bad I forgot to take the "after" picture. Sorry. Your stuck with the plain "before." My grams thought I'd gone insane. We both had a good chuckle.

50th Wedding Anniversary

I had an order for a 50th Card. She wanted simple and classy. I think I achieved that. It was a delight to make. I used the Wedding Cartridge and did some free hand cutting. Cut the same image out in the different shades: Black, skin tone, white, and brown. Left the black alone as the base image. Cut the skin tone along the lines of where it would be showing. And also just the hair parts for the brown. On the white, I just used the dress part. Cut away and tossed the rest. Does that make sense? On the white dress, I embossed the buttons and the dress line with gold. Then after it cooled, I ran it thru the cuttlebug. When finished I layered the bride and groom in the appropriate order. It still looked plain. Not what I wanted. I thought the bride needed a veil, so I pulled out the tulle. I hated how it was attached to her head, so I pulled out some pearls. Loved the end result. But to pull in the pearls, I trimmed the bottom of her gown out with them too. Grabbed my background paper and embossed 50th in gold and adhered the couple. What do you think?

Little Purse

You know that little bear card below? Well, the lady I was giving to it just loves little purses and bling. I had made this purse a few weeks earlier and wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it. So I used it as a fancy envelope. She got such a kick out of it. And it is so her! For the life of me, I can't recall the paper I used. If its not secured in a "Stack Collection" then I don't know what to tell you... LOL! This one was loose. My friend and I often buy paper packs and split them. I will try to get better about noting where it comes from. But for now, bear with me! Used forever young for the purse and stickled the word "style" in the center. A little pink ribbon completed the bag as a handle. Viola!

Quickly

I had stickers laying on my desktop FOREVER. You know, the ones you like, but don't have a clue what to do with them? Well, as I was waiting for the guests to arrive I quickly turned them into little cards. Not anything WOW, but I managed to get those stickers off my desk. ;0)

4th of July Card

I used A Childs Year for the silhouette and cuttlebug'd the background. Took an extra minute and quickly inked the embossed background with some white ink to give it a bit of contrast. Inked red around the children images except the tip of the wand. For that, I used a glow in the dark marker. A little surprise for the recipient. It will GLOW! Lol!

Friendly Hedgehog

Okay, is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen? I cannot claim credit for this one. One of my dearest friends made this for us when I assigned her a fruit plate. Incredible isn't it? I'll stop posting pics for tonight and will get some cards up hopefully tomorrow or over the weekend. But I thought I'd leave you with this cute image before I sign off. I just love it. And I love the lady who made it. I am so lucky to have such amazing and talented friends. Love you babe! (Night Y'all!)

Sign for the door

I really wanted to do a tablescape like cricutrookie, but I ran out of TIME!!!
But I did manage this quick poster for the door.

Fun Fourth Activities

Oh, it was so fun. I really hope you enjoyed your fourth as much as I did. We had water balloons (do you know that I filled 100 of them without ONE popping?) Amazing huh?

The swimming pool was a bit chilly but that didn't stop the kiddos. Only a pop in the nose did that. (We always have SOME sort of injury when we get together, we are just thankful that there was no broken bones this time!)


Yep, that's grandma Doris and Jaryd playing foosball. See how my mom is not really into it? LOL! God bless her. At least she attempted to play.

And lastly, silly string. I missed getting pics of the kids with the string because I was getting the kabobs ready. But I heard it was a hit.

Retirement Card

A while back I told you I had several retirement cards. Here is another one. He retired from a laminating plant. Don was absolutely tickled with this card. He insists on displaying it and showing everyone. Isn't he cute? Turns out he was a wee bit jealous of me sending his wife cards and none for him! Cracks me up. I will definately remedy that in future.





This one was done a couple weeks ago. So for the life of me I can't not remember if I used My Community or My World. I know it was one of the two! (Does this mean I am getting old?) I cuttlebug'd and inked the background and then used some Tim Holtz alcohol inks on some toothpicks for logs. Used twine to bind the bundle of "logs" and hot glued it to the building. It was a simple card, but he got such a kick out of it that it continues to make me smile.

Gone Fishing :)

Remember when I said I was going to go fishing and spend time with Jaryd? Well here are some photos of that day. Isn't he cute? Those fish were so small, but he just would not throw them back. We had so much fun.

http://flowerdiscosscraphut.blogspot.com/ is such a wonderful site. You'll be inspired the moment you enter her blog. If you haven't been there, please take a moment and check her out. You'll be glad you did. Thank you so much Agnes for the wonderful blog awards. You are the sweetest person! A real joy to talk to. Thank you for thinking of me when handing out your stash. You deserve each one of those babies. Its so great that you share them with us. So A HUGE THANK YOU to Flowerdisco. Here are the awards she passed on to me:



I'd like to pass on these awards to any/all of my followers who want them. :) You all have great sites that I enjoy and I just feel like you all deserve them. So pick one up for yourself and pass the love on!

P.S --- I'll get back to posting some projects hopefully tonight. To say its been hectic here is an understatement. :) Take care!

Congratulations - Forever Young

A big congrats to MichellePMB - you are the winner of the forever young cartridge. Please get ahold of me with your contact and shipping info. I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you EVERYONE for your playing and for all the shout outs. Hope everyone had a fabulous fourth.