Runs With Scissors!

blog candy

2011-06-19T20:33:00.000-04:00

Check out this new blog I came across on the circut message board. Great projects and she is giving away blog candy. Be sure to check it out at http://scrapwithraina.blogspot.com/

Say Cheese!

2011-06-19T15:46:00.000-04:00

I made this card this weekend using my all time favorite Cricut Cartridge Create a Critter. I handle advertising at my job and we are working on making a new brochure and some new ads so I had to pick a number of residents to be models in the various pictures we were taking. So I thought since they were all so accommodating and good sports about getting their pictures taken I would make them all thank you cards. So this is what I came up with. On the inside it says "Many Thanks". I had to make 18, which wasn't too bad once I came up with the idea, after that it was like an assembly line.

My Weekend Creations!

2011-06-13T14:05:00.000-04:00

I have two swaps due this weekend and I finally got them completed yesterday. It felt good to get something done FINALLY! The first item is a "Quote Card" It is 3x5 inches and it was to be an inspirational quote. I love love love the quote I used from Winne the Pooh. "If you live to be 100, I hope to live to be 100 minus 1 day, so I never have to live without you." I used DCWV Green Stack and Bazzill paper. I used clack CTMH stamp pad. Just random buttons and I have no idea where I got the Pooh and Piglet stamp.

This second item was a recipe page. It is 6x6 inches and we were to do a Strawberry Recipe. I spent tons of time going over recipes on allrecipes.com and finally settle on this one. I wanted something different and this was it, plus it had over a THOUSAND 5 star reviews so it must taste good too! It is for Strawberry Pretzel Salad which is a little deceiving because it is NOT a salad but definitely a layered dessert. I used Bazzill cardstock, generic cardstock from Joann's and my Hello Kitty Cricut Cartridge for this layout. The stamp in the bottom left is from My Pink Stamper Fruit and Veggie Punnies set and I just used my CTMH black stamp pad. You can't really tell in the picture but the kitty and strawberry are popped up using Stampin Up dimensionals.

Center Pieces for Band Banquet

2011-05-31T15:47:00.000-04:00

Last Friday night was the year end band banquet for our high school. As President of the Music Boosters, I was very involved in planning of the banquet. We had a mother who was very crafty who always made the center pieces each year, her last daughter graduated last year. I kept my mouth shut about doing something but they couldn't find anyone to do the center pieces so I finally volunteered. Our band travels to Florida each February and the last 3 out of 4 years we have done parades at Disney World so I knew I wanted to do something with a Disney theme. So I cut out characters which included Mickey, Minnie, Donlad Duck, Goofy, Pluto, Nemo, Jack Jack, Winne the Pooh and Tigger. (only showing Mickey in this picture, once I download all of my pictures I will post all of the characters here). I adhered a wooden skewer to the back of the character and covered it with a second base layer. Did the same with the "MUSIC TO MY EARS" saying and the music note (this was attached to floral wire). I took a 4" clay pot and filled it with crumpled paper and nestled a 3" Styrofoam ball in it. I stuck the skewers/wire into the ball. Covered with the shredded paper you use to put in gift baskets. The characters were cut to a maximum of 11" (some were smaller). These center pieces were a HUGE hit at the banquet. I am very pleased with the way they turned out.

Found a new blog to follow.. be sure to check it out!

2011-05-05T11:25:00.002-04:00

National Scrapbook Day - This Saturday May 7th!!

2011-05-04T10:00:00.000-04:00

Be sure to check out the National Scrapbook Day at Robyn's website!

Here are a few of my layouts from my Hamburg Hideaway Weekend

2011-04-22T14:41:00.000-04:00

This two page spread is a take on a layout I saw on Monique Griffith Designs. My favorite layout of the weekend! I used Mickey and Friends for the characters and Quarter Note for the saying and the music notes.

I love Pluto! I am was very happy with the paper choices for this layout. I should have written down the name of the paper, I think it is Basic Grey but not 100% sure.

This layout has my favorite picture on it. The bottom right picture with all of the girls piled up and they all look so joyous! This paper is Creative Memories.

I like how this page came out, but the picture is from the previous years trip! oops!

Again I was very happy with these three Sea World layouts. The one below with Shamu is my favorite. Although I am not 100% positive but I believe the trainer standing on Shamu's nose was the woman he killed the following year. We were there in 2009, the trainer died in 2010. Shamu letters were cut from Cuttin' Up and splash is from Disney Dreams Come True. The pelican in the bottom layout is from Life's A Beach.

Hope you enjoyed my layouts. I actually got 21 pages done on my scrapbook weekend and it has really put in the scrapbooking mood! I hope to get some layouts done this weekend, so maybe I will have more to add to the blog on Monday!

Expression 2 Giveaway!!

2011-04-22T11:04:00.000-04:00

You need to go to My Pink Stamper and enter to win the brand new Expression 2! Robyn was given one by Provo Craft to give away on Monday right before the world launch which will happen on HSN on April 26th! Several ways you can get multiple entries to win this new machine!

Scrap Weekend

2011-04-18T10:10:00.000-04:00

I just got back from an awesome scrap weekend away with friends at The Hamburg Hidewaway. Got lots done and had a great time on top of that. I got 21 pages done and two cards. I really was aiming at getting more done, but I am happy with what I ended up with. I finished my pictures from the 2008-2009 band season. I will scan a few of my favorite layouts tomorrow and get them posted. I am hoping that three uninterrupted days of scrapbooking with get me motivated and keep me scrapping. It was great to actually be productive with my scrapbooking again, it seems like it has been a long time since I got anything completed! Check back soon to see some of my layouts that I got done this weekend!

Happy Spring!

2011-04-07T13:48:00.000-04:00

I sure wish someone would tell Mother Nature it is supposed to be spring! Bring on the warm weather!! I have been very busy with non-crafty stuff since Christmas time.

My baby turned 16!

Went to Disney World in February with Katy and the Interboro High School Marching Band --

we had a blast!

Then Katy had her her FROSH Dance also in February

Then I had the big crop to benefit the Marching Band. Thanks to everyone who attended and helped out. We raised $700 for the band!

I have had a little time to get a few projects completed. Me and my fellow Scrap Tarts had three swaps due from January through March. We are swapping them this Saturday, can't wait to see what everyone did!

Sympathy Card Swap - simple and classic.

Card stock, a simple ribbon and a prima flower along

with a short and simple sentiment complete this card

Recipe Swap - Chicken Tortilla Soup

Again kept it simple since I didn't have a large space to work with. Card is 6x6. Printed out the recipe double matted it. Added to Mexican themed cuts from my Cricut. Sombrero came from Designer's Calendar and the cactus was from Toy Story. Added a flower brad to cactus for some visual interest.

Part of the fun this Saturday at our "Swap Crop" we are swapping Easter Baskets filled with scrapbook goodies! I will take a picture and add it soon. Here is a card that I made for each of my swap buddies. The pink layer was embossed using a Cuttlebug folder with larger circles, they are hard to see in this scan of the card. I cut the Bunny and Carrot from Create Critter (still my favorite cartridge ever!) and then I added a cute springy ribbon across the top. The pink paper looks a little lopsided on the scan but doesn't look like that in person.

I am going on a scrap book retreat weekend to the Hamburg Hideaway next weekend with 8 other ladies. I leave Friday morning and will be back on Sunday afternoon. I am hoping that three days of uninterrupted scrapbooking brings back my mojo and I can fill my blog with all of the wonderful cards and layouts I get done! Be sure to check back soon!

Whew! It has been a long time....

2010-12-06T14:32:00.001-05:00

since I have posted on my blog. Life has just been so busy, but band season is officially over, we made it into the 2nd round of the playoffs and then we won our big Thanksgiving Day game rivalry againts the Ridley Raiders so the football season ended on a good note..

So here is what I have been up to lately. Finished my Christmas cards. Here is a sample of the cards I made. I used different pattern papers but same stamp set for the cardinal. The Santa ones I only made a few. Both stamp set and inks are from CTHM. The paper is from assorted paper pads and the ribbon is from Joann's.

I also completed my Christmas/Winter tags for my swap that I am in that is due this Saturday. I used the new Cricut Lite Cart. Jolly Holidays for the penquin and the tag was cut from last years seasonal cart. Very Merty Tags. The ribbon is SU organdy, trinket pin from Tim Holtz and the JOY trinket is from the beading isle at Michaels. I used Martha Stewart glitter embossing powder on the umbrella and I gave the little guy googley eyes to make him even cuter!

I have also acquired several new Cricut Carts. that I need to get cracking on making projects with them. I have picked up since the summer -- Toy Story, Mini Monsters, Creative Memories Cheerful Seasons, Quarter Note, Birthday Bash, Nifty Fifities, Jolly Holiday and Four Legged Friend. I hope to have projects posted with each of the new carts as soon as I can. My Gypsy is on its way back to Provo Craft to be replaced so I am back to just cutting with my Expression.

Some Recent Cards I have Made.....

2010-08-24T09:23:00.000-04:00

Here are a few cards I made using my cricut. I love making the cards, I just need to figure out how to squeeze more time into the day. It is marching band season and I am very active in the Music Boosters so that really takes up a lot of my free time. But any way here are three cards I made recently.

Girls Rock! Using my brand new cart - ROCK PRINCESS, I really think I am going to love this cart!

Pretty Pony - I made this card for my DD's boyfriend's little sister's birthday (got that?) and I absolutely LOVE how it turned out! Made using CREATE A CRITTER my all time favorite cart.

Happy Day - I made for my SIL's birthday. I really like this cart, first time I used it and I will be on my go to cart list from now on. Cart used - HELLO KITTY.

CKC Valley Forge

2010-08-02T10:22:00.000-04:00

I we to CKC Valley Forge on Thursday and Friday of last week. It was awesome. I think this is the 6th year CKC has been in my area, I have gone 5 of the 6 years, but this is the first time I have stayed over at the hotel. I shared a room on Thursday in the Scanticon with my friends Jean and Denise. We had a such a fun time. Two other friends, Shirley and Linda had a room right down the hall. I took a total of 5 class and did one crop. The classes were all pretty good - two Technique Tuesday card classes, Boxer Palooza (Boxer Scrapbooks talks about their company and hands out freebies pretty fun), Disney Magic by Lickety Split, and Mosiac Moments class that I added at the last minute. This system for creating picture mosiacs using your photos is just awesome. I hope to have pictures to post of projects and goodies that I bought while there up tonight or tomorrow!

All Day Crop and ROBOTZ

2010-07-12T10:26:00.000-04:00

I went to an all day crop on Saturday, which was a fundraiser for the church where we hold our monthly crops. The group wasn't as big as usually only 30 (we normally have up to 52 ladies) but $800 was raised for the church! Way to go ladies! I had a lot of cricut rewards points and I didn't really want any of the carts they had available but I knew that my friend Tonya wanted Tags Bags Boxes and More and it is discontinued and hard to get a hold of. I saw that they had it in the rewards site so I ordered it for Tonya and we did a trade. I gave her TBBM and I got ROBTZ in exchange. Here is what I made while playing with my new ROBOTZ cart! I got the tutorial for the little card purse from Splitcoaster Stampers

Card purse, I think my scoring was a little off but it was my first attempt. I made four cards to go into the purse and the are all below. I love this cart, perfect for kids cards.

All of the casdstock was CTMH and the colors are just great I love the way they coordinate so well.

I'm Melting...I'm Melting......

2010-07-08T15:47:00.000-04:00

Ok I have had enough of summer already and it is only the first week of July. It has been so stinkin' hot in Southeastern Pennsylvania through the spring and into the early summer I just can't stand it anymore! It is only like 93 degrees today (take notice that I said ONLY) but the humidity must have spiked up because is is oppressive outside. Yesterday and Tuesday we hit 102 degrees both days and there is no end in sight, nor any rain! We had record amounts of snow this winter -- almost 80 inches -- and now we are having record breaking heat! Enough already!!

Well.. I received a package in the mail the other day from Oklahoma.... yes from Robyn at My Pink Stamper and it was my goodies that I won on her blog in June. Here they are:

All four of Robyn's new stamps sets and the nice note she sent with them! Can't wait to play with them this weekend at the all day crop I am going to! Hope every is staying cool where ever you happen to be. Hope to update on Sunday with lots of great stuff I will be making on Saturday!

OH YEAH.....

2010-06-26T21:55:00.000-04:00

On my way to my crop in Quakertown I noticed that I passed by a Walmart. Shirley who hosted the crop informed me that this Walmart had ALL of the new Cricut Lite carts in stock the other day. So on the way home I could not resist and stopped to see what they had. They had most of the new ones, they were out of stock on about six of them. So of course I couldn't stand there and not bring one of these new carts home with me so I got..........

...................................... CAROUSEL

Cricut Cards -- Creative at Last!!

2010-06-26T21:39:00.001-04:00

I went to crops two Saturdays in a row! Both crops I spent my time playing with my Cricut carts. My new Cricut Lites as well as some of my older carts. I also used My Pink Stamper Punylicious Stamp Set and my other new stamp set Scrappy Mom Amusing Animals Stamp Set All inks are CTMH - Papers assorted brands of patterned paper and cardstock.

Here are the cards I made today at the crop I went to in Quakertown.

( Cricut Lite Meow)

(Life's A Beach)

(Paisley)

(Life's A Beach)

(Hoot N Holler)

Here are three cards that I made last Saturday at my local crop.

(Meow)

(Live Simply)

TIM HOLTZ WITH NO RULES

2010-06-24T18:56:00.001-04:00

I am on vacation this week, have gotten next to no scrapping or card making done, but I have been doing a lot of blog hopping. I came across the cutest video on Tim Holtz's blog. Check 3 year old Pezza making a Ranger distress inks masterpiece. TIM HOLTZ WITH NO RULES I have run across Pezza's mother's blog in my blog hopping travels so while you are there checking out the video you should check out the rest of the blog too! Enjoy!

I won something!! Check it out!!

2010-06-24T18:29:00.002-04:00

Look at what I won at MY PINK STAMPER!! If you haven't been to Robyn's blog you have to go on over and check it out. She has great ideas and videos all about using Cricut cartridges! I won all four of her new stamp sets coming out next week. All of her stamp sets work nicely with Cricut cartridges. I already have one and can't wait to get the four new ones!! See the Winning post!

Woooooo Hoooooo

2010-06-13T21:12:00.002-04:00

I got an email this afternoon from a friend who had located the new Cricut Lite Cartridges at a local Walmart, the one of three that I had not gotten to yet. So I made a quick trip over there tonight after dinner and picked up MEOW and LIVE SIMPLY. I am doing a happy dance!!! Don't have time to play with them tonight, hopefully tomorrow night! I am so thrilled, I was obsessed with getting these two carts it was driving me crazy LOL. Now I am putting myself on a scrap spending restriction until CKC at the end of July.

Scrapper Block Continues....

2010-06-09T14:06:00.001-04:00

I am still feeling less than motivated to create anything. I did do a card and a cut both from Create a Critter last night. I got my new Peachy Keen faces stamps in the mail and wanted to try them out. They are just adorable. Here is what I did.

The penguin came out cute, but when I was trying to do the new hide contour feature on my Gypsy and as you see by the little line beneath the beak I missed something I should have hidden! I also didn't have any of my colored pencils handy to color in his beak.

This I was pretty happy with how the card turned out. I might make the cuts slightly smaller if I do this one again. I think the fawn was cut at 3.5 inches and this is an A2 size card. I messed up her face a little bit. The stamp smeared a little bit and when I used my white gel pen to finish her eye it smeared too! I may take a black pen ad try to touch up her eye tonight.

I doubt I will do any crafting tonight the Flyers are playing at 8:00 and then tomorrow night my DD has music lessons and I have to help her start studying for finals. So this weekend once again I will try to break out of my scrapper's block and get creative!

Scrapper's Block

2010-06-07T09:47:00.000-04:00

I am having total scrapper's block. I just don't feel creative at all. I forced myself to make two cards last night. I want to scrap, I really do but when I sit down to do it I lose my mojo. I only got these cards done because I scrap lifted the ideas from My Pink Stamper's website. The bird house is a shaped card -- Robyn did in a video and the fish one was posted by a creative lady during a challenge on MPS site. I am not real happy with the birdhouse card, it is missing something. I do like the fish card, the sequin scales really add to it. I intend to use MPS's Puny-licious Stamps to out little sayings on the cards, so they are actually not 100% done. Maybe tonight if my mojo returns!

New Cricut Cartridges -- 24 of them!!!!

2010-06-05T20:19:00.003-04:00

The Cricut Message Board has been a buzz since yesterday when someone posted that they stumbled across new Cricut Carts at Walmart. They are called Cricut Lite and there are supposedly 24 of them!!

Here is a partial list of the new carts. The crazy thing this caught everyone by surprise --- no announcement by PC just a mysterious appearance at Walmart! Here is a link to a bunch of pictures of the new carts that I found on 2peas http://picasaweb.google.com/phiedragon/CricutLite#

My two favs so far are of course Meow and Live Simply, couldn't get a picture of that one but it has a little hedgehog on it that is just too stinkin' cute!

1. B is For Boy

2. Baby

3. Billionaire

4. Block Party

5. Carousel

6. Celebrate With Flourish

7. Cherry Limeade

8. Cupcake Wrappers

9. Dude

10. Feeling Groovy

11. Handy Man

12. Hoot and Holler

13. Live Simply

14. Meow

15. Slumber Party

16. Sugar & Spice

17. Wildlife

Here is a picture of the one that I must own!

Waiting for the weekend!

2010-06-02T12:04:00.002-04:00

I went to AC Moore on Sunday to get one of the new release Cricut cartridges, even after telling myself that I really didn't need them and would wait for the long anticipated "CAT" cartridge. I picked up not ONE but TWO of the new carts! I got them price matched for Joann's sale price of $39.99. I picked up Cindy Loo and Freshly Picked. I have them out of their box and linked to my Gypsy but haven't done anything else with them. It has been a busy week so I am looking to play this weekend! So by the weekend I promise to have projects using all of my new cartridges posted.

Here are my two new aquisitions from this past weekend.

Here is my eBay find for only $26 incl. shipping!

And just because I love this cart so so so much I thought I would ad it to this post too!

Cards from Saturday's Crop

2010-05-24T14:08:00.001-04:00

I wasn't as productive as I had hoped I would be at Saturday's crop. You know how it is, you get together with all of your crop friends and you talk more than you create sometimes! But here are the few cards I did get done. The two farm one's I scraplifted from someone on the cricut message board, I apologize that I don't remember her name (my bad) and then the hedgehog is pretty simple but I just love him! I also used My Pink Stamper's Punylicious stamp set for the sentiments on the cards. The deer I ran out of time for getting her on a card but she was just so adorable that I couldn't leave her out!

Cricut Obsession

2010-05-21T10:53:00.000-04:00

I am totally obsessed with my Cricut Cartridges, Expression and Gypsy! I think about what I can make with my cartridges all day long at work! I troll blogs and get such great ideas from all of the ladies and men out there that are so talented. I picked up the new Cricut Cartridge PRESERVES last night on eBay for $26 and free shipping! I saw some really great paper in the new CTMH catalog that will be perfect to use with the PRESERVES cartridge. I have an all day crop tomorrow and I plan on creating with my E and G all day! I will post all of my creations either Saturday night or Sunday morning. Hope you stop by and check it out. Once I get my blog more organized and I get better at updating it several times a week with my creations I will start promoting more and have some blog candy!

Updating of Blog

2010-05-18T15:25:00.002-04:00

I made some changes to the looks of my blog and I am committing myself to posting more of my creations and card/scrap related posts. I tried to scrap on Sunday night while I was watching the Survivor finale but my darn cat kept getting in the way, if he wasn't laying on my papers he was messing my Expression so I gave up!

I am attending an all day crop this Saturday and plan on working on cards. So look for an update on Sunday hopefully full of great new cards I made with my Expression and Gypsy!

Cards

2010-05-12T10:15:00.004-04:00

Here are some cards I made this past Saturday at the crop I went to in Quakertown. I had a great time and made some fun cards I gave to my mother for Mother's Day. Here they are:

I used CTMH paper and inks, the stamp and punch were SU and I embossed with a cuttlebug folder.

Paper, stamp, ink and rick rack all CTMH and the adorable Hippo is from the new Cricut Create a Critter (CAC) cart.

Cardstock, stamps and ink CTMH, Patterned paper is Basic Grey Kioshi and the Panda is from CAC.

Again paper, stamp and ink CTMH and the Owl is from CAC.

I LOVE Create a Critter

2010-05-05T10:20:00.004-04:00

Ok, Create a Critter (CAC) has to be Cricuts best cartridge EVER! I just love it! I am going to a crop on Saturday and I plan on making cards with it ALL day. And just so you know how much I LOVE this cartridge I failed to mention that I am the proud new owner of an Expression. I finally upgraded my baby bug to the E!! Here are two cards I made the other night with CAC. The cat is a shaped card I made by playing with the images and layers using my Gypsy another awesome crafting tool that I am finally getting the hang of using! The mushroom card I scraplifted from an image I saw on mypinkstamper's blog.

Happy Spring

2010-03-28T14:46:00.007-04:00

Here are a few things that I worked on this weekend.

The card and the triangle treat box I made for a contest on a blog (see previous post). I used CTMH papers, and cuttlebug embossing folders.

The cat stamps below I picked up at the scrap stamp art tour that was in Oaks this weekend. I just thought they were adorable. I already used the to make a birthday card for my mother in law. I also used my new colored pencils and experiments with gamsol. Fun!

And last but not least, is my kitty -- Sonny. He loves when I get my Cricut out. He likes to watch the paper moving. I was helping Katy with a school project (another great use for the Cricut) and he was helping!

Blog Giveaway!!

2010-03-10T14:07:00.001-05:00

http://cuttlebugblog.blogspot.com/

Check out this blog to find out how you can win this Cricut Expression!!

I made a card!

2010-03-10T13:50:00.005-05:00

I haven't been gettning much of anything done lately. No scrapping, no cardmaking, not much of anything! But this weekend I hosted an all day crop as a benefit for my dd's high school marching band and I managed to get one card done! Not much but at least it was something! The weatherman is calling for a very rainy weekend here is S.E. Pennsylvania so I am hoping to get my mojo flowing and get some stuff done! Here is my card:

Card base: Bazzill cardstock, Scalloped Circle: cut with large size Spellbinders Nestabilities, Butterfly Paper: Basic Grey, Stamp and Ink: CTMH.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-02T20:40:00.003-05:00

Another new year is upon us. The time just flies anymore, the older I get the fast time just wisks by me. It is scary!

I know resolutions are almost always broken. But I am going to make a few anyway. Can't hurt to try, right?

First, I am going to continue with my weight loss journey. The last time I was at my weight loss meeting was before Christmas and I was down 15 pounds, I had been down 16 but gained a pound over the Thanksgiving holiday. Can't wait (ha ha) to see what damage I did over the Christmas holiday! Weigh in is on Wednesday.

Second, I am going to cut back to almost nothing on my scrapbook spending. I have so much stuff I could open a store! I am going to finish out my commitment to Shirley's Close to my Heart hostess club, I think that has a few months left. I am also going to continue with my Scrap Room monthly kits but I am dropping all add on's. I of course will have to continue to buy consumables such as adhesives.

I also want to try to use my cricut more in my scrapbooking, actually try to scrapbook more in general. I make so little time for it, it is no wonder I am years behind in scrapping pictures. My once a month crops just are not enough. As for my cricut, I was updating my inventory of cartridges and boy oh boy I have accumulated a lot of them! If I counted right I have 48 of them!! OMG!! So I really need to start making better use of them.

Ok, well gotta go finish de-Christmasing my house. One more thing I want to try to blog on a more regular basis too.

Happy New Year!!

Some Recent Projects

2009-12-15T16:41:00.004-05:00

Here are some cuts from my new Cricut Paisley Cartridge. I love the Russian Dolls and the Goddess Cat!! There are tons of cute cuts on this cartridge. Can't wait to play with it some more real soon !

Here is my 2009 Christmas Card. I made three versions -- the green shown below and then I also did a red background and a blue background that matched the circles in the patterned paper. The patterned paper is Imaginesence and so is the adorable little polar bear stamp. The colored card stock is Bazzill. I stamped the bear, colored his scarf in with watercolor pencils and then covered his body with ZIG glue pen and then with Stampin Up glitter dust.

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas Day 3

2009-12-03T16:51:00.000-05:00

Another beautiful tag!

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of Christmas Days 1 and 2

2009-12-02T08:45:00.002-05:00

Day One

Day Two

I got busy at work yesterday and didn't get a chance to check out Tim's awesome creations! But as usual they are just incredible!! If you go to his blog his has step by step instructions on how to recreate his tags. http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Tim Holtz !!!

2009-11-24T13:13:00.002-05:00

Tim Holtz is once again doing his 12 Tags of Christmas starting next week. If you have never checked it out you have to! Even if you don't attempt to recreate his incredible tag creations it is just really awesome to see the work he does. I believe he has previous years tags archived on his blog you can check them out too!

http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Got Gypsy? I DO!!!!!!!!!!

2009-11-20T16:38:00.001-05:00

I got my Gypsy (an early Christmas present) about two weeks ago. I have linked all of my cartridges to it and I am ready to start using it. I am going to an all day crop tomorrow and my G is going with me. I hope to have some pictures of my Gypsy creations real soon!!

I won something!

2009-10-07T20:27:00.002-04:00

I got a surprise in the mail today. I won a Dot n Go glue dot dispenser! I must have signed up for a contest on their website www.gluedots.com in September and I was one of the lucky 100 winners in the September Dot Spot Giveaway! Woo Hoo. I love free stuff!!

Linvilla Orchards

2009-09-25T16:51:00.002-04:00

Again, here are more pictures I took with my new baby, my Canon Rebel Digital SLR. I soooo love this camera, it has to be the best purchase I have made in years!! Linvilla Orchards is a farm near my home and it is their big season with Pumpkin Land open. They have also update their animal enclosures which was nice to see.

September Crop

2009-09-25T16:45:00.002-04:00

Here are a few pictures I took at the September crop. I was trying out my awesome new camera!!

Linda and Shirley looking busy, LOL

Magda and Tonya

Jean and Peggy Lee

I finally scrapped!

2009-09-07T23:02:00.004-04:00

I finally scrapped a little this weekend. I completed a swap that is due at my September 19th crop. The swap was baby tags. While I didn't actually scrap any photos I feel pretty good that I at lease did something! I made two different tags using girl or boy colors. CTMH Animal Crackers Paper; CTMH Its A Zoo stamp set and the fibers are also CTMH. Then I accented with pebbles. The shape was cut using the CM Custom Cutting System.

Has anyone seen my mojo???

2009-09-01T09:02:00.002-04:00

I am in a major rut with my scrapbooking. My pictures are out, my TSR kits are out but I just look at the stuff and I just can't seem to get my mojo moving. It is getting depressing that I just can't get motivated!

It is the first day of a new month so I am going to try to participate in as many challenges as possible on TSR, maybe that will help me!

Sunday Update

2009-08-16T14:23:00.002-04:00

I spent the weekend at my Uncle Ed's house in northern New Jersey (Pequonnock to be exact), he is about 15 or so miles outside of NYC. Katy and I went up for my cousin Donna's son's high school graduation/going off to college party. We drove up yesterday morning and came back about an hour or so ago. Had a good time, took my camera but didn't take any pictures! Duh! Donna's son Hugh, is six foot 8 inches and is going to SUNY Maritime College on a basket ball scholarship. He is a really nice boy. I also got to see my cousin Deb, Donna's sister and her family. Their younger sister Jen and her family couldn't make it, as Jen was not feeling well and didn't think she could do the two hour drive from Connecticut. Got to see my great nephew Osiris, haven't seen him since last November when he moved to Florida with his mother. He is as cute as ever and seem genuinely happy to see me and Katy, I was afraid he would have forgotten us, after all he is only 4. I believe he is going back to Florida soon. I wish my nephew would get better custody arrangements but he doesn't like to rock the boat!

My goal for this afternoon is to scrapbook!! I printed out all of the challenges from the TSR site and I want to get at least two of them completed today! It is too hot to go outside to do anything so it is perfect to sit in the a/c and scrap!! I hope to be on tomorrow posting an update with lots of pictures of what I got done today!

Also BB is on tonight, can't wait to see who Michelle puts up. I got Showtime just so I could watch BB after dark. I have been taping it and watching it the next day, fast forwarding through a lot of it because it can be boring but evidently something big happened on Friday night. Of course that is the one night I forgot to tape it. I did tape it last night but DH is hogging the TV so I might not be able to watch it before the show tonight.

Another layout.....

2009-08-03T22:31:00.005-04:00

This is the two page layout I got done on Saturday night at the Send Off Crop at CKC. It basically is another layout taking the idea from the TSR sketch challenge.

CKC VALLEY FORGE

2009-08-03T21:20:00.006-04:00

This Saturday I went to CKC at Valley Forge convention center. Had an awesome time. I took 4 classes, went to the Saturday night send of crop and got some great stuff at the vendor faire. Ran into lots of crop friends all day long.

This was from my card class. We made the little black and white box and then made 5 cards. They gave us enough supplies to make a total of 12 cards. Class was ok. Didn't really learn anything new.

This awesome stash of stuff was from my Boxer Palooza class. Didn't do a project -- just got lots of free stuff!

This is from the Quick Quotes Dutch Door album class. I added this class as a time filler in the afternoon. Jean, Dawn, Lisa and Tonya were all in it and that made it fun. The album is kind of cute.

This project was from my SEI Clearly Fabulous Acrylic Album class. Fun class, cute album.

I did more layouts last night!!

2009-07-28T13:14:00.006-04:00

I am so proud of myself. I got another two page layout done last night. I did if for the Monthly Sketch Challenge on http://www.scrap-room.com/ I used all of the photos from vacation - where I take a picture of Katy is the same place every year. The Brandt gift shop has a big bear outside of the store that every year he is dressed in something different. You can really see how she has changed over the years, particularly between 2007 and 2008!

Just a little interesting note about these pictures, not only do they show how Katy grew over the years, but in the 2006 photo, it is kind of hard to see but she had broken her arm 4 days before we left for vacation. She broke her right humerous (sp?) bone just below her shoulder. They couldn't put it in a cast so she had to wear an imobilizer which basically held her arm against her body for six weeks. So that is the reason her arm is under her shirt in this picture.

My Scrap Mojo Is Back!!

2009-07-27T10:50:00.002-04:00

Above: Hamburg Hideaway weekend in April of this year. Already have the same weekend scheduled for next year. So I guess this was our first Annual retreat!

Below: These two pictures are from different weekends. The top picture is from the Cozy Crop House in Lancaster, PA. We went there in December 2007. It was a fun weekend which was almost cancelled due to bad weather! The bottom picture is from the Hamburg Hideaway in October 2008 - Karen and I went and met others including Taryn the owner - who all are from the TSR boards.

I have been in a scrapbook slump lately. I just don't know what my problem was, but I just couldn't find my mojo, LOL. I would go to all day crops and get nothing done, I was working on cards more than scrapping. But last night I decided I was going to do at least one layout done. So I got my TSR kits out and my tool bag. I decided to pick a set of pictures that were simple. I had a ton from vacation in June and all of my band pictures but I stayed away from them. I thought just a few pictures would be less intimidating. So I chose pictures from the three scrap weekends that Karen and I have gone to over the past 2 years. I used my TSR double shot kit from July - it is Jillibean papers. I am very happy with the turnout!! Maybe knowing that CKC is this weekend it has me getting back into my scrap-grove!

Christmas Card

2009-07-24T16:32:00.002-04:00

This is a very rough sample of the card I am working on for Christmas. I have plans on using ribbon on the front and I am thinking of using versamark and a background stamp of some sort on the red cardstock and of course it will be centered and all even. I did this at the crop on Saturday and it was at the very end of the day and I just wanted to get at least a proto-type done so I could say I got something done! I hope to make a few good one this weekend.

Band Album

2009-07-22T10:00:00.001-04:00

I have finally completed Katy's 2007-2008 band picutres from her first season in the IHS Marching Band. I have set up a slide show at the bottom of the page. Now I need to get working on the 2008-2009 season especially since the new season starts on August 4th!!

2009-07-20T11:50:00.003-04:00

This is one of the stamped images I will be using on my Christmas cards this year. At my All Day Crop I managed to spend a lot of money on new Close to my Heart stuff (you can check out my friend Shirley's CTMH site here http://shirleynatali.myctmh.com/ ) and I made one, yes I said ONE, proto-type Christmas card using the adorable Penny Black stamp above. I have ordered a few more PB stamps to use on my cards and I am hoping that they will be waiting for me when I get home tonight. I also need to find just the right paper too. I loved this image because the kitty looks exactly like my kitty named Sonny.

I really wanted to get more done on Saturday but for some reason I have gotten little to nothing done in the way of layouts in months! I kiddingly told my friend Karen this morning that I need scrap therapy to see why I can't seem to get layouts done, but I really think I need a good kick in the butt to get my mojo back. CKC is in less than two weeks and I am hoping that spending the day there taking class and shopping and checking out all of the new and great sbing products will help me get back into scrapping on a more regular basis.

Kirsten Has Blog Candy!!

2009-07-16T13:21:00.004-04:00

Kirsten is celebrating her birthday and is giving blog candy to her followers! Be sure to check it out http://rockstardj1.blogspot.com/2009/07/birthday-candyx.html

A full set of the newly released Sugar Nellie Gorjuss Girl stamps set 3

Blog Update

2009-07-16T09:36:00.002-04:00

I have to apologize that I have not posted anything scrap related on my blog for a while. I am going to an all day crop on Saturday so I am hoping to get lots done! I promise to post my layouts and/or cards, whichever I get done. I have kind of lost my scrappin' mojo lately and I hoping that this crop and then CKC in two weeks will jump start my creativity.

More Blog Candy!! Go check it out!!!

2009-07-02T23:00:00.002-04:00

Pauline is celebrating the anniversary of her blog and has some yummy blog candy! Be sure to go check it out!! http://passionforpapercraft.blogspot.com/

Blog Candy at Taryn's Blog!!!

2009-06-29T16:35:00.000-04:00

Monday, June 29, 2009

Blog Candy!!!
I just wanted to give a shout out to everyone who stops by and visits my blog! I have put together some goodies to give away to a random reader of my blog. In order to be entered into the drawing, all you have to do is become a follower of my blog and post a comment here, and also post this on your blog! Friday, July 3rd at 9 p.m. I'll draw a winner. So spread the word, because if I have lots of response, maybe I'll give away more than one prize...I'll get a picture later today and post it with the goodies.

I got a new car!!

2009-06-14T21:42:00.004-04:00

I finally did it. I took the plunge and helped stimulate the economy. I bought a new car yesterday. My car that I had was a 1999 Hyundai Elantra which I bought new in 1999. It had almost 121,000 miles on it and I loved that car. But it was starting to nickel and dime me so I decided to take up the really good offers the dealers are now offering. I figured I would start with Hyundai since the car I currently have had been such a good car. I test drove an Accent and an Elantra. The Elantra has gotten much more expensive in the past 10 years. Plus all of the ones they had were loaded with extras. So after driving both and looking at a lot of different ones (colors and options) we sat down to talk numbers. The deal they offered me on the Accent just could not be passed up. So I am now the proud owner of a 2009 Hyundai Accent with only 65 miles on it (so far, LOL)!!!

Katy graduates from Middle School

2009-06-13T01:06:00.005-04:00

On Thursday, June 11 Katy "graduated" from Norwood Middle School. I guess that officially makes me the mother of a high school student!!! She looked beautiful in her dress and I was very proud of her. She won the Interboro Music Boosters Excellence in Instrumental Music award!! This week she also went to her first dance. It was the 8th grade dance held at the school. It's theme was New York New York and she had a great time. She had a date too!! Andrew who has been going to school with her forever is her new boyfriend. He seems like a nice young man, as far as I can tell, LOL. He doesn't say much. Here are some pictures from the dance and graduation. Making her walk down the "gold" carpet. Doesn't she look so grown up and beautiful?!?!?Receiving her Music Award.

Receiving her "graduation certificate"

Katy Jamie and Jeannie after the graduation.

Rachel Jeannie Katy Andrew and Jamie before the dance. (Rachel is only in 7th grade so she didn't go to the dance).

Katy and Andrew. He bought her flowers!!

Katy and Jamie before the dance. BFF'S!!

Katy looking very pretty in her dress but very uncomfortable with all of the attention.

Sunday Update

2009-06-07T20:36:00.007-04:00

I had a very nice weekend. I went to an all day crop yesterday to benefit the church where we hold our monthly scrapbook group. It was very successful and I am sure the church will be happy and grateful for all of the very kind scrapbookers who helped make the day a success!!

I managed to get a total of 5 cards done. Not as much as I would have liked but if you have ever cropped with a group of ladies then you know the day is as much about socializing as it is getting projects done!! Here are my cards that I completed. I tried a new technique using glossy card stock and inks. I am happy with the way they turned out especially for my first attempts. They are all made using Stampin' Up Glossy White Cards stock, Close to my Heart stamps sets (several different ones) and CTMH & Tim Holtz Distress Inks.

Also here are a few pictures form Hershey Park. I went there on 5/28 with the Norwood Middle School Band. The other girls in the pictures with Katy are Jess and Ellie.

Memorial Day

2009-05-26T21:35:00.003-04:00

Memorial Day is the official end of Marching Band. They do all three local parades and let me tell you it is a LONG day. The kids have to be at the high school at 7:15 AM and they march in the Norwood/Prospect Park parade, then the Tinicum Parade and then finally the Glenolden Parade. Not only do they march in the parades they have to play the National Anthem at the memorial services at each town, which means they have to stand for however long the speeches are. We had one kid get sick before the last parade and one girl pass near the end of the last parade. Not too bad for as hot as it was and how long of a day they had. Friday night was the band banquet. Nothing fancy just some food at the high school cafeteria, awards ceremony, photo montage DVD and then some dancing (or messing around) to a DJ. It was a fun night. Sad to see another year coming to an end. The Seniors get special recognition at the banquet and it was nice to see them all and touching at how emotional some of them got at saying good bye to their high school years. Just four short years and that will be Katy (yikes!).
Katy and my mother after all of the parades were done.

Katy with her tenor sax and too short pants. She must have grown a lot since August when they were fitted for her, LOL! This is at the Norwood parade.

Blog Candy

2009-05-22T10:58:00.002-04:00

Check out the blog candy at http://www.kelliewinnell.com.au/?p=1817 You can win this!

Updates..... Cards, Creatures and Couture

2009-05-19T22:59:00.008-04:00

I have been neglectful of my blog again =-( Anyway at my last crop I decided to work on cards instead of photo layouts and here is what I came up with. I was happy with the cards I created!! Here are three of my favorites:

On to another topic - my bunnies and birdies.... My baby bunny is growing up really fast, I see him all over my yard and my neighbors yards with his parents pretty soon he will be as big as his mom and dad and I won't be able to tell them apart. Sadly, my Robin's nest seems to have been abandoned. It has been a month and the eggs are not hatched. Evidently something happened to the momma Robin causing her to leave her eggs. I am going to remove the eggs and may another bird will use the nest once it is empty.

And last but not least Katy has found the first of two dresses we need for her 8th grade dance and graduation. Yes that is right, not one but TWO dresses for my skater girl - emo - punk chick - who lives in black sweat pants and cami tops and hates being labeled. My creature of darkness with her black eyeliner and black nails and multiple piercings (ears only 'cause that is all I will allow!) This is my tomboy who hasn't worn a dress in no less than 6 years! But after a very frustrating evening at the mall we managed to find one that is just perfect. It is a really pretty teal green and looks incredible with her red hair. We will be venturing out again this weekend to find a dress for graduation. Wish me luck that we manage to find something without killing each other in the process!

Front of Dress

Back of Dress

Spring is in the air....

2009-05-03T12:19:00.002-04:00

You can tell that spring is in full swing. My yard, although somewhat small, is full of wildlife this spring. I have several birds nesting in my Blue Spruce, plus another family of birds in the little birdhouse DH made and hung on our Maple tree. Plus we have a family of bunnies and more squirrels than I can count!

Hamburg Hideaway

2009-05-02T15:54:00.004-04:00

Two weekends ago I went to the Hamburg Hideaway Scrapbook Retreat House with a group of friends. I had an awesome time and can't wait to go back again real soon. I didn't get as much done as I was hoping but I did manage to complete Katy's band pictures from LAST band season!! Here are the layouts that finished up the 2007-2008 band season.

And then the last parades of the year. The Band does three Memorial Day parades. Prospect Park/Norwood, Tinicum and then Glenolden.

Week 3 and 4 Sketch Challenge

2009-05-02T15:50:00.003-04:00

These are the final two layouts I did using Pam's Sketches from April. I really enjoyed particpating in Pam's Sketch Artist of the Month on her blog. It really challenged me to get out of my comfort zone when doing layouts. I love all four layouts I did using her sketches and can't wait to see May's sketches!! Thanks Pam!!

Easter Cake

2009-04-15T13:24:00.004-04:00

This is the cake I made to take to my brother and sister in law's house for Easter. It is a giant cupcake. I saw this pan on QVC a month or so ago and thought it looked so cute I just had to have it. Well, let me tell you as cute as this cake turns out you work for every ounce of cuteness!! The directions that came with the pan were useless. I scoured the Internet for other people who have purchased this pan and had tips. I actually found a lot of good tips!! This cupcake cake cooks in one pan with two halves. It has a spot that cooks the bottom of the cupcake and a half that cooks the top of the cupcake. Since they are different shapes they of course do not cook evenly, that proved to be the biggest challenge. I got that figured out almost, nothing burned but the larger bottom half was just very slightly undercooked. I wanted to decorate it really cute. I colored my icing and had all of my fancy decorating tips but no bag! I thought I would improvise with a plastic bag. Well that didn't work out, as soon as I squeezed the bag to force the icing through the tip it seams blew out and icing went all over my hands!! So I just had to ice this cake the good old fashioned way with a spatula. I had enough batter left over that I made some regular sized cup cakes to go with it. It was a huge hit at the dinner, so all of the trouble was worth it!

Week Two Sketch Challenge

2009-04-14T10:04:00.001-04:00

Here is my week two Sketch Challenge from Pam's blog (http://sassygirlscraps.blogspot.com/ ) This is my layout based on Pam's sketch. You can see the origianl sketch and lots of other great sketches that Pam does on her blog.

Swap

2009-04-13T15:43:00.003-04:00

This is a "treat hodler" that I made for my monthly scrapbook group's swap. The picture is a little blurry, sorry. I got this adorable idea from splitcoaststampers website. It is made with some cardstock, patterned paper and acetate (I used overhead projector transparencies). I was very happy how it turned out. There is 11 of us in this swap group so I ended up with 10 other really cute "treat holders" in addition to the one I made!

Sketch Challenge

2009-04-06T10:03:00.003-04:00

Here is the first layout for my sketch challenge on Pam's blog http://sassygirlscraps.blogspot.com/ . I had a lot of fun doing layouts using Pam's sketches. Each Sunday in April she will post a new sketch and my layout I did using that sketch. I will post my layout each week here after Pam posts them on her site. Thanks Pam for the oppotunity to participate on your site!!!

Some other projects of mine...

2009-04-06T09:42:00.004-04:00

A group of 11 of us who crop together monthly do a swap each month. We have done cards, calendar pages, altered paint cans, tags and this month we are doing candy/treat holders. I finished mine candy holders last night but didn't get a chance to take a picture of them yet. I will post it as soon as I get the picture. But here are my last two swap items --a "Spring" card and a gift tag/gift card I did for a swap.

For the card I stamped the Easter eggs with a CTMH stamp (Pumpkin Patch - they look just like eggs when you color them with spring colors!) cut them out colored them in. I used green mulberry paper to make the grass. And the saying is from another CTMH stamp set. Then I just tied some ribbon on the top to give the card a little extra flair. Not my favorite card, I know I could have done much better, but I had just come back from a week in Florida with the band and was sick with pneumonia!!

Below is my gift tag and card set we did for a swap in March. I used bazzill bling (pink) and I am not sure what what brand the patterned paper is (something I have had in my stash for a long time). I cut the card front a little shorter so I could add the lace and rick rack. Then I added two primas with a little stickles to give them some sparkle. For the tag I used the same pp and ripped it and inked it. Then attached the rick rack with a little green brad. I also added a prima using a pink brad.

Layouts I have done recently

2009-04-01T10:38:00.010-04:00

These are some layouts I have done in the past month. I am trying to get my 2008 Disney pictures done since I have ton from when I just went to Disney in February! I have four other layouts that I completed but I can't post them yet. I am the Sketch Artist of the Month for April on Sassy Girl Scraps' Blog!! Pam did the skecthes and I took her sketches and created my layouts. One sketch and layout will be revealed each Sunday through April. Each month Pam featrues a different scrap artist and weekly sketches. You have to go check out Pam's blog she does awesome sketches! http://sassygirlscraps.blogspot.com/

MIA!!!

2009-01-08T13:29:00.002-05:00

I don't know if anyone actually reads my blog but I am still around just have not had time to do anything lately. Maybe this weekend I will get some layouts done and posted.

Tomorrow is Kate's 14th birtday so she is going to the movies tomorrow night with girlfriends, then she has county band practice on Saturday 8:30 til Noon, then off to get her belly button pierced (I will be taking my camera) then dinner and cake with the grandmom's that evening!!

So hopefully Sunday will be my ME day!!

Stay warm! Happy Scrapping!!

Christmas Kitties

2008-12-24T07:07:00.007-05:00

Here are some pictures of my kitties enjoying my Chrismtas tree, which the kitten (orange tabby) thinks I put up for his personal amusement. The other night he brought me an ornament while I was sleeping. He got into bed with me stood on me and dropped the ornament on me!! Every morning I have to fix the tree, He is looking all innocent here, don't let it fool you. He is a little devil. He is worse than have a 2 year old human!

Kit Kat also like to sleep in the exact same place under the tree which at times can get interesing and leads to wrestling matches under the tree!

The one above and below are from when I was attempting to decorate the tree. Sonny had to be right there to see everything I was doing.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!!!!

Harrisburg

2008-12-24T07:03:00.007-05:00

I finally got the chance to get the pictures from the concert at the Pennsylvania State Capitol uploaded here. The Norwood Middle School Concert Band played at the capitol for the 5th consecutive year. It is an absolute stunning builing inside. So if you live in PA and you have never been there you should put it on your list of things to see.The band was posing on the steps inside the rotunda. The guy in the green shirt was a photograher who works at the capital. He was taking a group shot for us and will send us the pictures in a few weeks.

The band in action. Katy is in second row third in from right.

This is a picture of the rotunda. It does not do this place justice.

Getting ready to play

Another shot looking up into the rotunda

Here is the buildind from the outside. That big green dome is what the rotunda shots are (on the inside) pictured above.

We were very honored to be asked back year after year. The kids enjoy it, mostly because they get out of school, and it is a nice experience overall for them. This was Katy's last year going, as next year she will be in high school.

Norwood Middle School Band Concert

2008-12-23T11:23:00.003-05:00

Here is a picture from the winter MS band concert. Katy is in the second row, right side, third one in. The other pictures that I wanted to post are at home on my computer there! I thought I had burned them on a disk but evidently the burn didn't work because I got to work with a blank disk! That is how my week has been going.

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-21T16:07:00.004-05:00

I can't believe it has been a month since I last posted. I was doing so good for a while! Oh well, my only excuse that I have been super busy at work and at home.

Let's see what has happened in the past month. Kate has played in three concerts (two at school) and one at the Pennsylvania State Capital building in Harrisburg. I made my Christmas cards and finished my calendar swap. I plan on brining my calendar page and the ones made by others into work tomorrow to scan them.

Here are some pictures that I have taken over the past month.....

My computer is being stupid and won't let me upload any more pictures for some reason. I may have to do this from work tomorrow. Bummer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SNOW!

2008-11-21T11:06:00.003-05:00

Ok I have been getting myself all in a huff over how much Christmas stuff is out, one of my neighbor's has their Christmas lights put up and lit, the mall is fully decorated and Santa is there, and radio stations are already playing Christmas music!! It isn't even Thanksgiving yet people!! It seems we now skip immediately from Halloween to Christmas. Now I woke up this morning to what I thought was going to be some flurries. We have been having them daily for the past few days. Early for us, even here is SE Pennsylvania. Well within minutes of leaving for work at 8:00 it turned into a full blown snow storm!! My usually 30 minute commute to work took 90 this morning. Evidently from winter to winter people forget how to drive in snow, and to tell you the truth it was only a few inches, not bad at all. I work at a retirement community and our residents love the snow because they don't have to go out into it, LOL. The picture was taken by one of my residents, he took it from his balcony this morning looking into our courtyard.

Swap Page

2008-11-10T15:01:00.002-05:00

I am in a swap to make a calendar, there are 12 of us and we each were assigned a month. I have August. We are to make the top half of the calendar as a 12x12 layout and then make the month's name to go with the actual calendar part on the lower half of the calendar. This is what I came up with. I am not sure like it. I have only made this one so far. The layout was to include a photo mat and a pocket of some kind. Any opinions would be appreciated.

What I got done over the weekend

2008-11-10T14:50:00.012-05:00

These layouts are of my Family Reunion we had in October. It was my mother's side of the family, some of whom I haven't seen in 20 years. I created all of my layouts using my great kits from The Scrap Room. Most of them (all but the first two) are using the Bella Boulevard Family Tree papers that were in this months kit.

Halloween ( a week late)

2008-11-08T18:55:00.011-05:00

I have finally downloaded my Halloween pictures onto my computer. So here they are. Katy was a Panda Bear. I made her costume and I thought I did a pretty good job. She really liked it too. Although some people thought she was a skunk, a kitten, a puppy and a koala bear!!! Hmmmm.... some people really don't know their animals. Also posted are some pictures of my kitties and my pumpkin.Katy, Matt, Tyler and Rachael

My Haunted House carved pumpkin.

My little Sonny trying to eat the pumpkin, notice Kit Kat watching him. I am sure she is thinking evil thoughts about her little brother, who at times is cute as heck but not real bright!

Katy checking out her candy haul. Not so good this year, she usually has 3-4x's that amount of candy. Don't know if it was because it was a Friday night and there were football games, or the Phillies World Series parade or what. Just not as many people were giving candy this year. Notice Sonny checking out the stash.

He made his move on the candy and snagged himself a dum dum. Very appropriate!

Kit Kat checked out the Milk Duds but this Diva doesn't do candy!

This splat of fake blood on my patio, left by Tyler after he covered his face with it, proved to be an endless source of fascination, fear, and gross out to every little kid that came to my door for candy the rest of the evening!! If I was an evil person I could have had a lot of fun explaining the blood. "Yes that is real blood, it from the last little kid that came here and didn't like the fact that I was giving out fun size candy instead of full size, Mwaaaa Haaaaa!"

R.I.P. Charlie

2008-10-27T09:34:00.003-04:00

This weekend DD's little hamster passed away. She was a very sweet black bear hamster, we had her about 18 months or so, maybe a little less than that. From what I understand Hamster's lifespans a very short.

Slide Show

2008-10-24T10:38:00.003-04:00

I finally figured out how to add a slide show!! Yeahhh. It is at the bottom of my blog. The layouts in the slide show are all from an album I am currently working on. It is of my dd's marching band experience from last year. I am almost done, I have maybe another 10 or 12 layouts to go and it will be complete. Then I can start working on this years band pictures!

Some of my layouts

2008-10-14T16:06:00.007-04:00

I was able to bring my layouts to work today and scan them. So I am going to post some of my favorites that I did over this past weekend at the Hamburg Hide Away. If you are looking for a great place to get away and scrapbook then I have to highly recommend this place -- AWESOME!! http://thehamburghideaway.blogspot.com/

I will post more later. When I scanned them all they saved as pdf files so I have to convert them to jpeg which I am trying to do without getting caught messing on the computer while at work, LOL. These two layouts are my favorites. These pictures are from our Band trip to Florida in February. They were take at Silver Springs in Ocala.

Monday, Monday....

2008-10-13T15:16:00.003-04:00

I hate Mondays!! Especially after having an awesome weekend of scrapbooking!! I went to the Hamburg Hideaway scarp house retreat with Karen. From Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon --- nothing but scrapbooking!!! I was in heaven!! I got 20 12x12 layouts done and made some new friends along the way. Can't wait to go back again.

Here are just two of my layouts. Once I either take pictures of or scan some of my favorite layouts I will post them.

Virginia Beach Trip

2008-09-30T15:03:00.013-04:00

This past weekend I travelled to Virginia Beach with the marching band to participate in the Neptune Festival Parade. It is a huge festival that goes on every year down there to celebrate the end of summer. There are like 50,000 people along the parade route. This is our biggest parade other than the Magic Kingdom parade. We had a football game Friday night (we won by the way) and then had to be back at the school for a 3:30 AM departure!! It rained on and off all of the way there. This first picture is our bus going over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. The second is of Katie and the other kids getting into their uniforms on the bus before we arrived in Virginia Beach. When we got to the staging area for the parade it wasn't raining. The kids got off the bus to get their instruments from underneath, put their plumes in their hats and it started to pour! We got the plumes off their hats but the parade went on as planned. It stopped raining by the time the parade started but not soon enough, everyone got soaked. Needless to say Katie's little cold that she has been fighting is now a bad cold and she feels really crappy and stayed home from school yesterday.

Above is Neptune. This is a big statue on the beach right near the parade route. Below are some pictures from the parade.

Here is Katie and another girl from the band who we always room with on our overnight trips. After the parade we drove to Williamsburg and stayed at the Great Wolf Lodge. It is a really awesome hotel.

Katie and Jaime getting "yelled" at by Mr. Peltz the band director! (They weren't really getting yelled out he was just messing around)
Katie enjoying the fabulous room we got. Incredible TWO floor room. She is sliding down the railing. Her and Jaime had a blast. This room had two bathrooms, three tv's, a fireplace and an upstairs bedroom! Looking down from the upstairs bedroom.

Also this weekend my little kitty Sonny went in to be neutered and declawed. He made out fine. I picked him up Sunday night after we got home from Virginia. Although he is not feeling too well today. I have to go to the vet after work and pick up some pain meds for the little guy. Poor baby!!

Allergy Testing

2008-09-24T15:04:00.002-04:00

On Monday I went to the dermatologist to get "patch tested". I have had dishydrotic eczema on my hand for about two years and the past few months it has really flared up badly. Went to the dermatologist at the end of August and he thought it might be brought on by something I am touching so he scheduled me for this patch testing. What they did was adhere 65 little metal grommet like things to my back with tape. Each grommet was filled with an allergen. These were the 65 most common allergens for my area, northeast United States. Ok, so Monday I go in and they adhere this things all over my back. I can't get my back wet. I go back today and they remove everything and look at which allergens I may be allergic to. Guess what? I was allergic to the freakin' tape they used to adhere everything and NOT ONE SINGLE other thing tested positive!! So now I have to go back again on Friday and see if I have a delayed reaction to anything. Still can't get my back wet. It has been real fun every morning trying to bathe in the bathroom sink. This morning I washed my hair in my kitchen sink because it has a spray hose. Well, I think I got half of the kitchen wet! Can't wait until Friday when I can actually take a real shower!

Sunday Update

2008-09-21T18:29:00.003-04:00

It is Sunday evening and once again I don't know where the weekend went. This past work week was the week from hell. I don't think I have ever been so busy in all of the 12 years I have worked at Riddle Village. It was just insanely stressful, and top it all off I worked by myself 3 of the 5 days. AND on Friday while I worked by myself I had TWO move ins on top of all of the other insaneness of the week. I was glad when that day was over and I even got to leave at 4 instead of 5 which was a welcome treat.

After work I went to the football game. It was an away game against Glen Mills. GM is an all boy school for "troubled boys". It is state run and it is spectacular! I only wish our local schools were as nice. The band wore their uniforms for the first time this season and they looked awesome as usual. Stupid me was so flustered after a crazy day at work forgot to take my camera. I could kick myself because this had to be the most well lit field we have ever played on. It was perfect picture night, but I was without my camera !!! Out football team won to make the night even better. Final score 27-14.

Yesterday was out monthly all day crop. It was nice to get out and relax, although in 8 hours I only got ONE 2 page 12x12 layout done. But I got to kick back and hang out with my friends. Today I took my kitty Sonny, back to the SPCA to get his microchip inserted. He was due to be declawed and neutered this coming Friday, but the girls at the SPCA convinced me to try something called Soft Claws first. They are little rubber caps that glue onto his nails to keep him from scratching stuff, but they don't harm him in away. Here he is with his blue manicure!

Monday, time to update...

2008-09-15T16:12:00.008-04:00

Well this weekend flew by as usual. Overflowing with things to do. Friday night we had a football game. It rained all afternoon. I thought for sure it would be cancelled, but it wasn't. Luckily by kickoff at 7:30 it was only drizzling. I didn't bring my camera because of the rain. Saturday the band did a parade to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Prospect Park Termites football league. It was hot hot hot! But the parade was nice. I did take a few pictures there. Saturday night my MIL and SIL came over to celebrate (belatedly) my birthday. SIL gave me a gift card to JoAnn's and I went on Sunday to purchase a cropadile Big Bite using my GC and a 50% off coupon! Sunday I went to my brother's house to help plan my mother's 70th birthday party. She adamently does not want a big party so we are going to do a little family party with just her children and grandchildren. We are having a big family reunion in Baltimore the weekend of her actual birthday (10/5) so we will do a cake for her then too. The family party is planned for 10/18.

Here are some pics from the parade (Kate is easy to pick out look for the red hair or red sneakers LOL):

15,330 Days.....

2008-09-10T09:30:00.002-04:00

15,330 days is how long I have been alive, LOL. I don't know if that sounds better than 42 years or not! I am unfortunately at work on my birthday. I really think that companies should make your birthday a holiday for you. I think my boss is going to take me out to lunch for my birthday. I hope we are going to go to Peking and really good Chinese restaurant near my work. It is tradition that the birthday person brings in some treats to share. So I stopped at the bakery this morning and picked up a dozen donuts and some sticky buns. Hopefully everyone will enjoy them.
I found out last night at the boosters meeting that plans may be changing with our Florida trip. It was originally planned that we would be going to Coco Beach, Kennedy Space Center, Universal and Sea World. But Mr. Peltz lets the seniors have a big say in where we go and they are pushing for Disney. So it looks like we are probably going back to Disney in February. That is fine with me, there was so much I didn't see while I was there. Another issue that came up last was price. The cost of the trips are getting higher and higher. We are going to Virginia Beach at the end of the month and the price for that is $135 for students and $150 for chaperones. Up 30-40% from last year. The Florida trip went from $425 for students to $475 and there hasn't been a price set for chaperones yet. So what Mr. P. is trying to do is keep the costs down. He may cut the length of the trip from 5 days in Florida to 4. And possibly cut the Virginia Beach from the schedule next year. That way there is only one expensive trip per band season. We do a lot of fund raising but we can't keep up with the rising prices. Especially the buses. Their cost went up by almost 20%. I am just glad I only have one kid. Some parents have two kids in the band, I don't know how they do it financially.

Some days I really love my job!

2008-09-09T14:30:00.003-04:00

I am sitting at my desk at 2:30 on a Tuesday afternoon, eating sushi, Stilton blue cheese, smoked salmon and sipping champagne punch! And listening to a string quartet. I work at a very prestigious retirement community in Media, PA. We are celebrating the opening of the addition to out medical center as well as a complete renovation of our "commons" building. I took pictures during the ceremony which was very nice and mingles through the party crowd taking some candid shots and group shots. It rained this morning but the rain stopped in time for the ceremony at 1:00. Before and after the speeches there was a lone bag piper playing, very nice. Then everyone converged on the party. Our dining staff out did themselves. As much as we all complain about the food they feed the employees at lunch time, when it comes to a special function they are spectacular. Ahhh.... I think I will go get myself some chocolate cover strawberries for dessert! I hope hubby isn't hungry tonight, because I know I won't feel like dinner after noshing on all of the goodies here all afternoon!

Another weekend gone in an instant....

2008-09-07T14:58:00.005-04:00

Another weekend has flown by. It is already 3:00 on Sunday afternoon. Yesterday was spent hanging around the house as Tropical Storm Hanna blew threw. Not as bad as the weather people were making it out to be. Lots of rain, just a little wind.

Today was spent lazing around. I did finish my cards for my card swap due on 9/20. I managed to get the last of the done while the cats were taking their afternoon nap!
Here is a picture of my card. It is a fall themed card. I wanted to give the stamped image a little pizazz without coloring in the whole image so I used a little stickles on the pumpkins and I thought I would just highlight a little bit on the boy (scarf and patch on knee). I should have stopped with just the pumpkins but too late now. I guess it came out ok. Plus the flash made the stickles really shiney, doesn't look that shiney in person.
The first week of school is behind us. Not too eventful. I am sure things will get into full swing this week. Went to the first football game with the band on Friday night. We played Bonner an all boy catholic HS in Upper Darby PA. We gave them their first win in two years. The band did really well, can't say the same for the football team. It is a shame because last year our team made it to the first round of the championships but since a lot of the best players graduated last year our team needs to rebuild itself. It was hot at the game and buggy. There were actually bats swooping down on the field and stands eating the bugs!

I am getting ready to go to my mother's for dinner. She is cooking us dinner for my birthday, which is actually on Wednesday. I will be 29 again!

First day of school

2008-09-03T10:35:00.003-04:00

Well, school started this morning. I tried to get Katie in bed at a reasonable time last night. I can get her in her room but I can't make her sleep! Maybe now that school has started and she has to get up early and will be busy all day she will get tired earlier than 2 AM! She did get up very easily for me this morning, hopefully that will continue but I am not too optimistic. I had her get all of her stuff ready last night so that was easy too. She got picked up by her friend, Jamie's grandmother and she dropped off both girls and Jamie's little brother David at school.
It is hard to believe that my baby is starting her last year in middle school! She is in the 8th grade now. So this year they are the big shots at the school, which goes from 1st -8th grade. So not only that this year will bring, testing for honors classes, high school orientation, and trips to the high school to pick their classes for next year, graduation, 8th grade dance and dinner. So it will be a busy and memorable year.
I snapped a few pictures of her this morning. Every year I have taken a picture of her standing on the front porch on the first day of school. Last year she refused to even let me get a halfway decent picture of her inside the house, this year she at least let me do that.
I am anxious to hear from her when she gets home around 3:00 to hear how the day went. At least there is no marching band tonight. She had band last night and has it again tomorrow night. Then Friday night is the first football game of the season for the band. Can't wait. I am signed up to be a chaperone, hopefully I can get there in time to go on the school bus, I don't want to have to drive my car to the game because it is an away game.
Once I download my pictures I will post some of the here.

I love my cat....

2008-08-30T14:36:00.003-04:00

(oh, the life of a cat!)

I spent over two hours at the vet this morning with my Kit Kat. She has been having a problem with her left eye. Discharge, blinking a lot, rubbing it. I took her to a vet last month and whatever the problem was then it is back. I couldn't get into her regular vet until Tuesday, but I can't go on Tuesday, so instead of making her wait I got into another vet today. They were nice enough. Her appointment was at 11:30. We didn't get seen by the vet until around 1:00!! They had an emergency which I understand. If I didn't hear what was going on through the walls I would not have known why I was sitting in the little room for so darn long. A dog came in in real distress and he ended up dying. I heard a lot of commotion and then someone was crying. Very sad,my heart goes out to the dog's owner.
The vet finally came in looked over Kit Kat pretty good, she was not a happy camper, plenty of low threatening growls. She said she could have a viral infection that when cats get it they always have it. Or she could have allergies. So $144 and FOUR prescriptions late I walked out of the vet at 1:45!! I have drops for eyes, drops that I have to get into her mouth, a pill that I have to give her (that should be fun!) and also a capsule that I have to open and sprinkle over her food.
I certainly hope all of this stuff helps her be more comfortable. I am slightly skeptical just because this is not my regular vet. But I will see how things go. And then decide if I should take her to her regular Dr. for her recheck in about 10-14 days.
Now it off to buy school supplies for Katie. Only four more days until school starts, yeah!!

Long and busy week!

2008-08-23T09:39:00.006-04:00

Well, this week has been very busy. It was "Band Week" and Katie had to be at band practice from 8am to Noon and then 6-9pm, Monday thru Wednesday then on Thursday they had to be in regular time in the am but back at 4pm! Thursday night was family night. Big BBQ picnic for the band members and their families and the kids performed their half time routine. I went at 4 to help with the set up. There was a HUGE turnout. There are about 110 kids in the band and their must have been easily 100++ family members.

Here is a very small section of the huge line for food!

The kids performed the three songs from the Blues Brothers movie that make up their half time show for the football games. It is amazing how good they are already. Katie is doing great with her tenor sax. She is right out front for one of the songs. I have a video of it and if I figure out how to post it I will. I also have lots of pictures too.

Yesterday was the band picnic trip to Killins Pond state park but Katie decided not to go. She was exhausted from a hard week and actually slept until 2:30 in the afternoon. I took advantage of my day off and got myself a pedicure in the morning and than ran a lot errands that I would normally have to do on Saturday. A very productive day.

So after I get done updating here I just have to clean the bathroom and vacuum and I am free the rest of the day to do what I want. Hopefully that includes scrapbooking!! Speaking of scrapbooking, I got myself in a little trouble with Creative Memories. I sell some of my unused scrapbook stuff on ebay (mostly non CM stuff) but I did throw a few CM things that I just don't use on ebay and I don't know how they do it but they caught me. I got a phone call and an email telling me that I am breaking the CM rules and I had to take down all of my auctions and sign a letter telling them I won't break their rules again. And I was suspended from CM for 10 days, although they must have gotten the letter I faxed and checked ebay to see that I took down my auctions because I got an email telling me that I would be reinstated today. So my plan is to place another CM order and get what a few customers need and some stuff for croptoberfest and then I am getting out of the CM business. Too restrictive. I can't buy or sell ANY scrapbooking stuff on ebay. NOTHING. I made almost $200 in one week selling stuff on ebay. I don't think I have made $200 in the few months I have been selling CM!!!

I said I would post some pictures so here they are:

Happy Monday

2008-08-18T10:55:00.010-04:00

Here is a really cute picture of my kitties. What a life!

Well, the weekend flew by as usual. And as usual I got hardly anything done that I wanted to get done. Saturday was filled with errands and cleaning. Then yesterday I was hoping to get some scrapbooking done but ended up going to the movies with Katie and her girlfriends. I normally just drop them off and then go back and pick them up when the movie is over but one girl wasn't allowed to go unless I stayed with them. So I had to stay. The girls are all 13 but for some reason this girl was allowed to see a rated R movie but couldn't stay without a parent. Anyway, we saw Step Brothers. What a waste of time!! OMG it was awful. Definitely made with the mentality of a goofy teenager in mind!

I did get one thing done that I have been meaning to. I took about 8,000 pictures off of my computer and put them on discs. Hopefully it will help my geriatric computer run a little better. I also download new pictures from my camera and the parade on Thursday.

Here are a few:

Katie getting ready to step off. She is never looking at the camera when I want her to!

Stepping off on the boards!
There they go!

Crazy seagulls! Someone left food on their beach towel and they went nuts!

Katie and her friend Cait on the beach and playing in the surf after the parade.

This morning started Band Week. Kate has practice from 8AM until Noon and then back again at 6PM until 9PM. They do that today through Thursday and then Friday they go to Killin's Pond State Park in Delaware for a big picnic and day of fun! I am helping every night this week so I will be busy busy busy, work all day, run home get her to band, run home feed hubby, and back to the school to help out in any way I can. I am happy to do it. Last year I missed out on all of that because I broke my ankle a few days for before band week started, ouch!

Ocean City

2008-08-15T11:21:00.002-04:00

We travelled to Ocean City yesterday. Katie marched with the band in the 99th annual Ocean City, New Jersey Baby Parade. The kids did a great job. It is always fun since it is the first parade of the season. Lots of newbies in the band this year but they all sounded great. This is the 14th or 15th time the Interboro H.S. marching band has lead the parade.

After the parade we spent some time on the beach. It was HOT HOT HOT. No sea breeze at all. I had an umbrella but still the sun was too much. We left to come home around 2:00. We had been there since about 8:15 am!!

I took lots of pictures but didn't get a chance to get them off my camera yet. So maybe tonight or tomorrow I will post some pictures from the parade.

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-08-11T13:27:00.010-04:00

Well, I am finally going to take a little time to update this blog! I am just a tad behind, LOL

Okay in a short synopsis here is what has happened in the past 8 months!!

In the last post I mentioned Karen and I were going to the Cozy Crop House in Lancaster. We went, it snowed, we had an great time, got lots done!! Christmas came and went. Very nice this year, Lots of nice gifts given and received. And no one was sick like last year. Katie woke up with a stomach bug last Christmas, it was horrible!!

Katie turned THIRTEEN in January. Still can't believe I am the mother of a teenager!!!
January also brought the 4th anniversary of my Dad's death. Still miss him terribly and not a day doesn't go by that I don't wish he was here to be enjoying life with his family. Miss you and love you Dad!

February we traveled with the Interboro High School Marching band to Florida. We spent a day in Atlanta GA. Beautiful city, wish I could have spent more time there. Then onto Florida where we spent 1/2 a day at Silver Springs and then onto Disney World!! Sunday February 17 our band was the featured band in the Magic Kingdom's Spectra Magic Parade. It was an incredible experience. We then spent the next two days enjoying Disney World. I loved Epcot!!

I got sick on the bus back from Florida. Did I mention we travelled to and from Florida via motor coach?? Not as bad an experience as I was thinking it was going to be. I got the flu the last day in Florida and after a 20 hour ride home on a bus I arrived in Pennsylvania with a 104 fever. I also had on a t shirt, capris and crocs it was gorgeous when I left FL -- it was snowing and freezing in PA!! I was literally sick for a month, ended up with tonsillitis and after three rounds of antibiotics and the strong possibility that I would have to have my tonsils removed I finally got better around mid-March!!

Not much happened in April and May. Other than I decided to become a Creative Memories consultant. Mostly to have products available for the ladies at my monthly scrapbook group.

June came and school let out. We went on vacation to Chincoteague. Our usual spot. Loved it as always. The weather was spectacular. Only issue was that Katie lost her cell phone or so we thought. Went crazy looking for it and it ended up being in her sneaker!! The last week of June we got a second kitten. After seeing all of the kittens that run around Chincoteague we felt the need for more kittens! So we went to the SPCA and picked out the most adorable little orange tabby kitten. His name is Sonny and he is the most affectionate little guy!

At first Kit Kat was totally pissed off at Sonny and us for bringing this little kitten into the house. After about 5 days we could let them be together supervised, and now they are the best of friends. They sleep all curled up together it is so cute.

July was a little crazy. We had some major issues with some of Katie's so called friends. Turned out that they were every bit of the bad influences that I suspected they were. We had a major intervention and got her away from one girl (and her crazy mother) and one boy that were nothing but trouble. The girl was easier to get rid of the boy was another story. After finding out that he was much older and going to be a dad (yes he was 16 and had a girl pregnant) and was trying to seduce my daughter. I had enough and went after him full force. I called the police and told them what was going on (it helps that my nephew and my brother are both local police, brother is chief). And word filtered to this "boy" that I meant business and was calling the police and he was gone in no time. Katie was pretty upset with us for most of July for "ruining her life". But luckily things are getting back to normal, finally.

August has arrived and so has marching band !!! Yeah!!! Practice started last Monday. Katie fell that same afternoon onto glass at her friend's house. Long story short it was pretty bad, I was at work, no one told me how bad, I came home from work to find out it was bad enough that friend's grandmother was going to call an ambulance. She cut her hand pretty bad, lots of blood! Lost feeling in her ring finger and pinky. So Dr visit Monday night, back to the ER Tuesday night and to the hand surgeon on Thursday. Luckily all has worked out fine and she will make a full recovery. But all of that made her miss the first two band practices! So band is tonight and tomorrow night and she is recovered enough to go and then Thursday we will be doing the first parade of the season in Ocean City NJ leading the 100th Annual Baby Parade on the boardwalk!!!

This weekend was nice but we had terrible storms all day yesterday. Downpours, lightening, thunder, hail and even tornado warnings! At the end of it we were treated to the most beautiful rainbow!

Wow 8 Months!

2008-08-01T14:18:00.001-04:00

I can't believe it has been 8 months since I posted something on here! Things have just been crazy I guess. I have so much to update. Unfortunately I am at work right now and can't do it. But I am going to make time over the weekend to get things update here!!

Crop House Weekend

2007-12-12T19:12:00.000-05:00

Our crop house weekend in Lancaster starts this Friday and it is being threatened with snow!! YUCK!! I am really hoping that Dee is just overreacting a little to the forecast. From what I can see there is just going to be a little bit of snow. Nothing a seasoned Pennsylvania can't handle!

I am all packed and ready go. Karen and I leave Friday around 1:30!!! I am so excited.

Here is a picture of my Christmas Kitty!! Isn't she cute. I had to put the hat on her when she was asleep. It was impossible when she was awake.

Christmas Card

2007-11-18T19:30:00.001-05:00

Here is a card that I made for a Christmas card swap for my Lancaster weekend crop at the Crop House the weekend of 12/14 thru 12/16. Made it with my Doodlecharms cart. for the Cricut. It came out pretty cute if I do say so myself. I haven't decided if I am doing homemade cards this year, it is so time consuming and I have such limited time and Christmas will be here before you know it!!!

Kitty Pictures

2007-11-18T19:27:00.000-05:00

Here are some recent pictures of the kitten. She is getting a little bigger and much much badder (if that is even a word, LOL!) She gets into everything and is on a constant quest to eat her housemates!!!