One More Page Before Work

I managed to finish one more page this morning. This is my son with Mark and Amy's son. Gabriel was so enamored of him! The kit is again Boy Fashion.

Mark Amy & Jonas

This is the first page of several with our friends who came to visit us in Myrtle Beach. Isn't that little boy a sweetie!!?!?! The digi kit is call Boy Fashion and is by Ilona Hamp, The Heart eyelet is from Misty Cato, The chipboard date pieces are by Janel Kretschman, and the torn corner was created by Sara Ellis.

Arrrrrr, I'm on a roll!

Ok, one more set of pages for the day, then I think I am done for the evening. This completes one whole CD of pictures though, which means I have 3 more to go! These photos were also from the Ripley's aquarium, in the Pirate exhibit. This kit if called "His Stuff" and is made by Jeanelle Paige.

Ripley's Aquarium

More pages from today's rather productive scrapbooking session. These are from the Ripley's Aquarium in Myrtle Beach. The digi kit is called "Boardwalk" and is from Sara Carling. Thanks for taking a look!

CANNONBALL!!!!!

This page was so much fun to make, but a little difficult. If you read my previous post, you know my computer hates my photo program, well, I did both these pages at the same time, now it hates me even more, but I did it! With no crashes to boot! I love my camera, I can do so many cool new things with it, including live action continuous shooting. These pages and the previous ones are so fun! Digi kit is called "Surfin' Safari" by Jennilyn Designs. Just so cute and soooooo much fun stuff in there! Perfect for the SC vacation! These are the two pages side by side.

So can ya tell yet...

that's it's often not until Tuesday that I have time to scrap or stamp? Here's two more pages from the South Carolina album. One I had to start from scratch because apparently my dinosaur of a 'puter hates my scrapping program. I told it to get over it, lol!

Finally, Some Southern Comfort

Here's the first two pages I've finished for our vacation scrapbook to South Carolina. I bet it's about as hot there as it is here in Wisconsin, only they get an ocean breeze! These two pages are of the rental house our family shared there.

Ah, Digi Scrapping at last!

It's been a while since I've had the bug to get some scrapping done and today I got bit but good! I am itching to start on my vacation pictures from South Carolina, but first I whipped up this page. It's photos from last weeks fishing trip my kids took with grandpa Dave. Catera caught a Brown Trout, her first, which was an exciting adventure.

Another Tuesday, Another Color Challenge

I figured it was the perfect time to make a card with splitcoaststampers color challenge, my mom's birthday is tomorrow! The colors are Bashful blue, Certainly Celery and Close to Cocoa.

Prayers for safety!

I mother-in-law left yesterday morning for Tanzania Africa on a missionary trip. She is traveling with the rest of her group (they have not arrived yet...LOOOOOONG FLIGHT!) Any prayers you can offer up for their safety and their mission would be wonderful. They are going to be working with a school/orphanage for 2 weeks. She is very excited that God has called her to use the skills He has equiped her with for this mission.

Give Me a Great Big "C"

I found this little (big) cutie at the Hobby Lobby in Manitowoc, WI while on vacation. I wished I would have picked up a bunch more because I think they would make awesome Christmas gifts! This one I made for my daughter. She is IN LOVE with anything tropical, so made this one for her door. My son wanted to know if I bought a "G" for him. Well, of course I did, but when will I get to it is the next question. I used to sell paper piecings on ebay, so the palm tree was a cinch, detailed with a bit of pastel and a white signo gel pen. The paper came from a "Petals & Paisleys" pack I had purchased a few months ago from Stampin' Up. Then I added Primas with brad centers to up the embellishment factor.

Tremendous Undertaking...

People who know me say I work better under pressure. I HATE when they say that. I've always dreamed of being a person that doesn't wait until the last minute. I feel so in control of things when things are ready to go ahead of time. Well, here I am again, about to take on a huge project, more because I didn't think of it until this morning and less because I procrastinated on it, but, I digress. My MIL is leaving Sunday for a two week mission trip to Tanzania. She is a bit nervous and some of her family is not supporting her choice to use the skills God has equipped her with for HIS mission. They would prefer she kept her feet firmly planted in the United States. My husband and I fully support her choice to go and use her God-given skills to further His kingdom and I know she will be blessed many times over for it. So, with that being said, I am starting a project to make some sort of paper treasure for her to open each day, including, but not limited to hand-drawn treasures from her grandkids, hand-made cards, mini scrapbook pages, etc.

Well, here's the first card, made with the Boatloads of Love stamp set from Stampin' Up's new Fall/Winter Collection catalog. This also encorporated the Color Challenge 123 from Splitcoaststampers.com.

We're Back!!!

We arrived home from Lake Michigan yesterday after almost a week of odd schedules and lots of fishing and family time. I took some fabulous photos of Lake Michigan that I will share soon, but for now, one will have to suffice. Two of the mornings, we did the traditional Two Rivers thing and woke up at ZERO DARK THIRTY to get out and set lines before the sun rose. I got some really awesome shots, but this one was my favorite. This was the sunrise that greeted us Saturday morning. We don't often get up early enough to see the sunrise, and both days it was spectacular!

Fun Creations

Push – Pull Card

Items needed:
Cardstock (2 colors plus a base)
Sticky Strip
1 ¼” square Punch
Plastic Grocery Bag
Ribbon or other embellishments

Step 1. Cut your card stock into the following sizes:
(2) 5 ¼” X 2 ¾” (Brocade Blue)
(2) 5” X 2 ½” (Black)
(2) 4 ¾” X 2 ¼” (Confetti White)
(1) 5 ½” X 8 ½” (Black) Scored at 3” and 6”
(1) 5” X 2” (Brocade Blue)
(1) 4 ¾” X 1 ¾” (Black)
(1) 4 ½” X 1 ½” (Confetti White)

Step 2. Using 1 ¼” square punch (or paper cutter to do the same) punch about ½ inch in from the edges on the smallest scored section.


Step 3. Cut a 1” strip from a plastic grocery bag using very sharp scissors. Using sticky strip or double stick tape, adhere the plastic bag strip looped through the punched notches. Cut off excess grocery bag.


Step 4. Fold at scored lines using a bone folder. Unfold and set aside.

Step 5. Stamp top layers as desired. One of the larger size will be a card front, one of the larger size will be a place for the message and one will be for whatever else your heart desires and a place to attach the pull mechanism. Keep in mind, only the bottom of your larger message piece will show and only the top of your smaller pull piece will show. Embellish as desired.

Step 6. Now comes the tricky part…Start by adhering your card front to the middle section of the scored piece. Roll the plastic bag with your fingers until the seam where the adhesive was applied is at the bottom. Affix 2 short pieces of sticky strip to the plastic strip, parallel to each other. Attach smaller pull mechanism piece FACE DOWN here, making sure that you leave at least ½” to the left for the adhesive to close the card up. Also make sure it will fully hide inside the card.



Step 7. Flip the card over. This time, apply two piece of sticky strip at the TOP of the plastic strip and adhere the inside sentiment piece FACE UP, making sure it sits fully within the card frame.

Step 8. Close card by hand and test it out! Then place a piece of sticky strip on the edge of the card where the fold is. Close card, burnishing the edge well.

Sadness and Sympathy

There is a family at our church who has been hit in the last two months with some terrible tragedies. And yet, I am astonished at the matriarch's strength and faith through it all. I can only pray that her strength continues and that that her family will heal as well.

A couple of months ago, a scary incident happened to a beautiful mom of two. Her estranged husband went after her in an attempt on her life and after threatening to harm their children, took his own life. My children go to school with these two children. They attended my church. It's one of those things you never believe would happen here and it has. Thankfully, the mom is recovering much beyond the estimates of the doctors and she is doing well.

Sadly, her father passed away last week. I cannot imagine her mother's pain at dealing with the serious injury of a child, two fatherless grandchildren and now the loss of her husband. While we really don't know this family well, it amazes me how many of them are somehow connected to my family. Besides the fact that they go to the same church, my daughter had one of the son's as a soccer coach and my husband plays softball with yet another son. So I decided today was a day for card making, even if right now I've only accomplished the family's sympathy cards.

Card Credits:


Brocade Blue Card -
Stamps: Close as a Memory (All Stampin Up!)
Paper: Brocade Blue, Mellow Moss, So Saffron and Confetti White
Ink: Brocade Blue
Accessories: Many Marvelous Markers, Key Tag Punch, Wide White Organdy Ribbon, Silver Cord



Cameo Coral Card -
Stamps: Close as a Memory, Linen BG (All Stampin Up!)
Paper: Cameo Coral, So Saffron, Old Olive, Confetti White
Inks: Cameo Coral, Old Olive
Accessories: Many Marvelous Markers, Key Tag Punch, Slit Punch, Narrow Olive Organdy Ribbon, Prima, Yellow Brad and Silver Cord









Ruby Red Card -
Stamps: Close as a Memory, Aida Cloth BG (All Stampin Up!)
Paper: Ruby Red, Old Olive and Confetti White
Inks: Ruby Red
Accessories: Many Marvelous Markers, Key Tag Punch, Wide White Organdy Ribbon










Lovely Lilac Card -
Stamps: Close as a Memory, Fresh Fillers (All Stampin Up!)
Paper: Lovely Lilac, Sage Shadow, So Saffron, Confetti White
Inks: Lovely Lilac
Accessories: Many Marvelous Markers, Key Tag Punch, Brads and Photo Turns










Perfect Plum Card -
Stamps: Close as a Memory and Floral Bg (All Stampin Up!)
Paper: Perfect Plum, Mellow Moss and Confetti White
Inks: Perfect Plum
Accessories: Many Marvelous Markers, Key Tag Punch, Brads, Slit Punch, misc ribbons

New Beginnings

Well, I have been contemplating this blog thing for a while and decided it's high time I jump in with both feet. Today is as good a day as ever, I am home, off of work, enjoying the kids and some stamping time. It feels like it's been forever since I've stamped but with the new Stampin' Up Fall/Winter Collection Catalog due to arrive any day, I have the itch again. I am hoping that this will be a great place to share my creations, my thoughts, my photos and ideas! Thanks for joining me!