Teacher Gifts and a Recipe

This is what we came up with for teacher gifts this year. The boxes are Memory Keeper boxes from CTMH and they are fairly easy to decorate. The bows are the paper bows that I made a few weeks ago. We made Chewy Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, Peanut Butter Kisses and the most incredible Cinnamon Bread. I could seriously eat a whole loaf of this bread, it's that good!!! The teachers loved their gifts and were impressed with the boxes too. I wish I would have taken a picture of the card Jacob made his teacher, it was a classic! I had this Grinch paper that he wanted to use, so we cut out the Grinch image and then he stamped a naughty or nice list on the card next to the Grinch. He wrote all the fourth grade teachers names on it and made them all naughty- except his teacher!!! What a suck up :)

Anyways, I thought I would share the recipe for the Cinnamon Bread that I got it from my friend Jennifer. Give it a try, it is awesome!!!!

Cinnamon Bread

1 Yellow Cake mix

1 large box instant vanilla pudding

3/4 Cup oil

3/4 plus 1 TBLSP water

1 TSP vanilla extract

1 TSP almond extract

4 eggs

Suagr Mixture
1/2 Cup sugar

4 TSP cinnamon

Combine all ingredients for the bread and beat for 7 minutes on med speed. (don't cheat, it really has to mix that long)

Coat two loaf pans with butter and cinnamon.

Layer cake mix and sugar mixture, you should get three layers. It rises quite a bit while baking.

Bake for 45-50 minutes at 350.

Enjoy!!!!

I'm not all about paper

Okay lousy picture, whatever!! A teacher friend is having a very unexpected fourth baby in a few weeks and I wanted to make her something special for the little guy. This is a crochet hoodie wrap and I am in love with these. They are so soft and cuddly!

I started crocheting many years ago when I was a Police/Fire dispatcher. I needed something to fill those loooonngggg graveyard hours where they frowned on napping during a shift, so I taught myself to crochet. My first project was an afghan that I made Eric for our anniversary. It has since become our Great Danes blankie which Eric was none to happy about, but that's another story.

This is the perfect time of year to just sit on the couch watching a movie while working on a project and I have a few going right now. I get easily bored and distracted, so it's always an accomplishment when I actually finish one! I just finished an Alpaca beanie for Eric, maybe I can get him to look at the camera long enough to get a picture of it.

Bows, Bows, Bows

I don't know about you, but I have a ton of paper! I don't know what it is about it that I can't resist, but it just seems to jump into my basket when I walk by it. So, I have a ton of Christmas paper that I stocked up on last year. I can't even remember what I was going to do with it now, but it just stares at me with that disappointed look every time I open that bin. I found a paper bow tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers and went to town making bows. I ended up making 50 and 48 survived the cats, lol. I adapted the instructions a bit. The original instructions called for 3 brads and numerous pop dots for every bow. I used one brad and just layered the bow pieces onto it. Maybe I will do a video tutorial on it and show you how incredibly easy it is to knock out a whole bunch of these.

A card "FROM" a friend

My good stamping buddy, Cheryl Myers, stopped by to bring me something and lucky me, it fit nicely inside one of her beautiful creations :-) I am always giddy when I receive a card and this was no exception. She even made a point of leaving the inside blank so I can pass on this beauty to some other lucky recipient. Now that's a green stamper who understands the art!!!

The beautifully spooky card below is another one of her creations that I received for Halloween.

Thanks Cheryl, your the best!!

Birthday Card Set

So what do you get an eight year old girly-girl for her Birthday? Well, if you are like me, you usually take the easy route and do cash inside a card. However, I was in the creative mood AND I had a brilliant idea! Hey great ideas are few and far between for me, so I think that deserves a moment of silence.......................................................................................................................................     Why not make a card set and let Miss. Rylee color in the images? I know, genius.... right??? I made two of each cards and added some goodies and bling in a bag with a glue stick. I also provided some colored pencils for her to work her magic. The card holder is an 11" circle with the ends folded in and a 1" band wrapped around it.

Now, if only she likes it as much as I do. Maybe I should throw some cash inside the card just to be safe            

Funny Faces

My kid is funny! He has so many different faces and expressions, he reminds me of Jim Carey. He is more of the slap-stick kind of comedian, you know, like The Three Stooges. The picture on the left page is his "You just took a picture of me in my underwear........outside" look. The middle picture on the right page has got to be one of my all time favorites. This is how he came out of the bathroom one night after taking a shower. I know, I know, I gave him the speech about how dangerous it is to put Q-Tips in body orifices and even more dangerous to walk around like that. No need to nominate me for the "Worst Mother of the Year Award".

A Cute Card

You might be saying to yourself "Self, where have I seen this card before?" Yea, I can't get anything by you people so I will just confess! I scraplifted this straight from the Winter CTMH catalog. I have no shame, I am a scraplifter and I'm not afraid to admit it! I did a party for a good friend a couple of months ago and she wanted to do this card as one of our projects, so who am I to say no. Pretty cute if I do say so myself. And I CAN because they say your suppose to praise yourself for the little accomplishments in life. Hahahaha, I need to spend less time watching all the mindless programs that I record on the DVR and more time creating! Seriously, do you have a DVR?? OMG, how did I live without that? I actually sit and channel surf waiting for a program to finish so I can go back and watch it. My reasoning is because I hate commercials and the DVR lets me fast forward through them. I know, crazy and irrational, but it's my little way of getting back at Corporate America that aims it's ads at their target audience. I mean really, when my nine year old son asks me what Viagra is for because that ad airs over and over and over again during a baseball game..........OY! I think I might of just lost my one reader

How about a fall card

Why is it that no matter how much time I spend making sure everything is perfectly straight on my project, something always look crooked in the picture??? Man, that is irritating!! Okay, I'm done ranting about my lack of photography skills.

This card is an ever so cute 3-D card......... humor me. I guess I should have taken one of those fancy side view pictures so you could actually see how it looks IRL (that means "in real life", a sad attempt on my part to convince you that I am a savvy blogger). I stamped the tree image on the base card and then stamped it again on another piece of card stock. Then I cut out the inside of the tree on the second image with the E.R. blade, otherwise known as an Exacto Knife. I just know one of these days I will end up in the E.R. when using this knife, so I call it like it is! Then I layered it with foam tape and adhered my buttons.

Am I lost??

Is this MY Blog???? Wow, has it really been over two months since I posted last? I am a bad, bad blogger! I am sorry if I have let my readers reader down, lol. I won't bore you with all the excuses, only because I can't think of any good ones right now. But I do have something to show you if that helps win me any redemption at all.

This is a layout I did from our Seattle trip. I took enough pictures to fill a whole album, but opted instead for a one page layout with many pictures on it with the highlights of the trip. I'm sure I will go back and scrap other pictures, but I'm just happy to have this one done for now. Heck, why stress myself out trying to keep up with the Jones'. There’s something you should know about me...........I'm a perfectionist living in an imperfect world and that just stresses me out!

And since we are here, I might as well confess my soul to you. Two of the reasons I am such a bad, bad blogger is 1. I HATE- HATE- HATE having to remember all the products that I used so I can post them in the dreaded "supplies list". So from here on out, if you would like to know a specific item that I used, just ask me and I will figure it out for ya ( please refer to the last line of the previous paragraph for my reasoning) 2. I take awful pictures of my artwork. First of all, the professionals say to use "natural, indirect light". I would challenge anybody to find any natural, indirect light in my house after 8:00 a.m. By the time I remember I need to take the picture, well lets just say I am usually on my second pot of coffee and it is waaayyyyy past 8:00 a.m. I really need to invest in one of those Photo Light Boxes.........................Oooohhhhh Honey

Thank You for being you

We made it back from Seattle!!! We had such a great time and it all seems so surreal. I LOVE my Aunt Becky sooooooo much and I am thankful for the time we got to spend together. She is such a warm and loving person. I wanted to make her a Thank You card that incorporated a picture of us and this is what I came up with. It is a 5X7 so it could hold a picture CD. It is hard to see in the picture, but the sentiment says "Thank You for being you" from the new Card Chatter stamp set. I will share some pictures later.

Supplies: Cardstock; White Daisy, Chocolate, Sorbet and Heavenly Blue

Stamps; Card Chatter

Ink; Sweet Leaf

Silk Ribbon and machine stitching

Flower Child

Cardstock: White Daisy, Sunflower, Outdoor Denim and a misc. scrap

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Stamps: Flower Child, Copic Markers and the silk ribbon is from Creative Impressions

I have been having so much fun playing with this stamp set and my Copics!!! Isn't this little guy cute?? This set reminds me of the photographs that Anne Geddis takes of those adorable little babies. I have been practicing and playing with my Copics and I now have dozens of these images colored. I LOVE my Copics now that I have taken the time to play around with them and learn how to use them. ENABLER ALERT: Carpe Diem has them on sale right now and they have lightening fast shipping! My last order only took two days to get here. I think I might have to get a job to support my Copic habit, not to mention that the kids are eating us out of house and home. Funny because I don't think they eat this much while at school!

How is your summer going?? The older I get, the more I appreciate the little things in life. I have come up with my top ten list of things that I like most about summer. What about you, what are you enjoying the most? Here's mine:

1. Sleeping in late

2. Staying up late

3. Not having to get up at the crack of dawn to get Cait to the bus

4. Watching my garden grow

5. Watching the baby chicks grow (one turned out to be a rooster!)

6. Vacations

7. Water, swimming pool or the lake, I just love water

8. Laying out on the deck on cool nights looking at the stars

9. No more lunches to make

10. Baseball season

Old fashion fun

In a desperate attempt to get my kids off of their video games, computers, cell phones and other mind numbing devices, we have started looking for fun things we can do as a family. Jacob absolutely loved bowling. Catie didn't actually bowl, but she was there. What can I say, at 16 years old I was just happy that she was there and entertained by our great bowling skills, lol! We have also gone rollerskating, or uhm.....rollerblading. I just think that four wheels is the safer way to go. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Just my opinion.

Mood Art

click on picture to enlarge

Have you ever noticed that your artwork is a reflection of the mood you are in?? When I am completely happy and over the moon, I find myself using bright cheery colors and when it is cold and snowing outside, I head straight for the warmer colors. Well, this layout is a result of a mood I was in not to long ago. Sometimes I just put too much on my plate and I start to feel over whelmed. I started thinking that even though I am not perfect and by no means ever will be, life is good. My intentions are always in the right place. I have so much to be thankful for, take off your pity party hat!

A little while later I came across this layout by Jennifer McGuire. WOW, that is amazing! Even she has the same feelings of inadequacy every now and then. So I headed to my table for some self-therapy. That was exactly what I needed and this layout came together so easy. I don't keep a journal or a diary, but with this layout I discovered that scrapbooking is my way of "writing" my feelings down.

Sunflower Harvest

click on picture to enlarge

These are the sunflowers in the garden from last year. I took pictures of them and forgot all about them until I started planting this years garden. I found some seeds that I had saved from last years harvest and I thought it would be fun to do a layout and preserve those memories.

Jacob looks forward to planting season every year. We do a pretty good size garden with lots of different stuff. The one thing I hope my kids take away from me is that you can never take more from this earth than you give back. Nothing goes to waste! We try to use as much as possible, everything from the chicken manure, egg shells, veggie trimmings and the plants themselves go into the composter and in return it gives us black gold that goes right back into the garden.

My hope is that many years from now when my kids have kids and their kids have kids, they will enjoy looking at these memories that I have captured of our life. And it would be really cool if they could take something from it, like those sunflower seeds and plant them and grow their own memories.

On a roll

Wowzer, is this really my third post in less than a week??? I have been on a roll lately! I wouldn't say that my mojo is back, it's more like it comes and goes.

I had a completely different vision for this card when I started it. I just could not get it to turn out the way I saw it in my head, I guess that happens sometimes, lol. I spent way to much time fiddling with it and just decided it is what it is! My bff liked it none the less and I didn't mention the many hours it took me to get it done.

Cardstock; Crystal Blue, Chocolate, Creme Brulee, Caprice Paper pack

Misc. flowers, baubles, white ribbon from my stash that I dyed with Creme Brulee re-inker,

Fiskars corner rounder, machine sewing and chocolate ink pad

It's been a hoot!

I L-O-V-E owls and have been in heaven ever since they became popular again! This stamp set from Close To My Heart is one of my very favorite ones............aren't these little guys cute??? The card on the left is for a friend, I just felt like making her a card! It simply says "Just wanted to say Hello" on the inside. The Thank You card on the right is for Jacob's teacher and on the inside it says "It's been a Hoot".

Cardstock; Misc. solid color for base, Close To Cocoa, Colonial White and Bloom & Grow by My Minds Eye

Cocoa and Bamboo ink, CTMH buttons, ribbon from my stash, Fiskars border punch, the Coluzzle and Copic markers.

Father's Day Card

Here is the Father's Day card we did in the club this month. It was a huge hit and oh-so cute!!! I can't wait to give it to Eric since he already got his present a little early. I am making one for my dad too.......it's a nice change from the ordinary kinda card.

All supplies are Close To My Heart

Where does time go????

Yes, I know I have been a bad blogger lately!!! I don't have anything crafty to share because I haven't been to my scrapping corner in a looooong time. Part of the reason is that my mojo left and I can't find it! The other reason is that we have just been plain busy around here.

For anyone that doesn't know, I have been on a mission to lose weight. The pounds just kept sneaking up on me over the years and I couldn't take it anymore. I became VERY conscious of what I ate and I got active. I work out with a personal trainer once a week and make an effort to do something physical every day. My efforts have paid off because I have lost 50 pounds since January!!! WOOOHOOOO!!!!!I still can't wrap my mind around what 50 extra pounds felt like. I am very proud of myself to say the least!!!

Anyhow, I have some pictures to share of some of the things we have been up to in the last two weeks.

Pismo Beach

It was cold and windy, but we didn't care. Any day at Pismo is a good day!

Please excuse the bad hair and no makeup, lol.

Jacob and his sand castle.

Me on the beach

The new baby chicks!!! They are the cutest little things.

Jacob on Easter in the back yard.

Catie on Easter in the wild flowers.

Jacob's first time bowling. He did really good too!

Simple Sunday #7

Cardstock: My Minds Eye, PinkPaislee, American Crafts

Inks: Chocolate, Tulip

Stamps: CTMH The Works Alphabet

Misc.: ric rac, My Minds Eye die cuts, CTMH rub ons, distressing tool

2 Be With You

I was recently online "just looking" over at A Page 4 All Seasons when I saw the French Flea Market collection by My Minds Eye. I just melted and HAD to have it!!!It is amazingly beautiful.

This layout was inspired by a layout done by Jennifer Johnson and posted on Inspired Blueprints. She used the scallop border punch on her page and I thought it was a brilliant idea.
I normally don't convert my pictures to black & white, but the colors in this picture were just to harsh. I am really happy with this layout................it never hurts to have beautiful paper!

Cardstock: Cocoa, White Daisy and My Minds Eye; French Flea Market collection

Ink: Cocoa

Misc.: Big Pinks flower, scallop punch, doodlebug pearls, sparkles, CTMH rubons and computer journaling

Simple Sunday #6

Sometimes I just can't bare the thought of cutting up beautiful paper. I kept it simple here and didn't add a lot to it, I wanted to see the design on the paper! I did do some sewing on it, but only because I already had it out from another project. I will share that one later! The sewing could easily be done with a faux stitching stamp though.
I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. The time change always seems to effect my internal clock and it will take me some time to adjust to losing an hour.

Cardstock: Chocolate, White Daisy and My Minds Eye; Bohemia collection

Stamps: Dream Wishes

Inks: Chocolate

Misc.: CTMH Rubons, Clear stickles and machine sewing

Born to shop

If I had to use one word to describe my mom, it would definitely be "Bling"!!! So I decided her Birthday card had to have A LOT of bling on it. And I had every intention of getting her a Roomba, but that became an impossible task here in our little town. So, I settled for a gift card so she could go get one. This card fit the occasion perfectly, Born to shop...not to mop! Okay, maybe vacuum in this case, but that wouldn't have been as cute.

Cardstock: White Daisy, SU paper (very old)

Stamps: Ms. on the go

Inks: Black Stazon and chocolate

Misc: Prima flowers, copic markers, flower brads, ribbon, sparkles

March's Tip: Liquid Glass

Liquid Glass is very versatile and has many, many uses. It is one of the best all around adhesives that I have found, but you can also make images shine or look 3-D and you can add liquid glass to any stamped image to make it pop.

Basically, all you have to do is squeeze it out to cover the desired area and that's it! Here are a few tips on how to use this product efficiently:

1. Don't shake the bottle! When you shake the bottle it adds bubbles and makes the surface less smooth when you squeeze it out. If you have bubbles, gently squeeze a little out onto scrap paper so that you can get the air bubbles out before your start your project.
2. Be sure to clean off the tip each time you use it so you don't get globs of it stuck to the outside.
3. A little bit of this goes a long way. For instance, when I am using it to apply chipboard, I apply it in small dots to the inside surface only. This eliminates the excess liquid from seeping out onto my project.
4. Allow time to dry. 10-15 minutes depending on the thickness. If it's really thick let it sit longer.
5. Add glitter to the liquid glass before it dries, apply patterned cardstock to clear buttons, apply to the center of a stamped flower for that 3-D effect or use to apply chipboard or other heavier items to your project.
6. If you are using liquid glass on an image that will but cut out, first stamp the image, apply liquid glass, and then cut out after drying. If you cut out the image before applying the liquid glass, the paper may curl.

Simple Sunday #5

It really is my own fault, I mean you probably shouldn't ask a nine year old what colors you should use! His favorite color is green, so imagine my shock when he said blue and orange!

My personal challenge of late is to use up the old before I break into the new. I am not much for stickers, but I seem to have a lot of them. So I pulled out my sticker box and found something Orange.

These pictures were taken last week when Jacob had the flu. I decided to keep him home "just one more day" from school just to be safe. Well, he drove me nuts!! He was fine and should have gone to school that day. I learned my lesson, lol.

Cardstock: SU and Imaginisce

Stamps: He said, She said and The works alphabet

Misc: Stickers, chipboard and the Coluzzle

Totally Scraplifted

Come on..............we all do it, we usually just change a little something to fit our unique styles. I scraplifted this from Lisa, I really like her simple style. I however, didn't put the daisy's on them and I left the sentiment open for whatever I choose to use them for. I made a whole bunch of these because they were so simple. What a cute thank you card, we can never have enough of those!

Cardstock: White Daisy

Stamps: Argyle Background

Inks: Chocolate, Baby Pink and Juniper

Misc: Ribbon from my stash

Water Coloring

I LOVE water coloring!!!! It is easy peasy............just emboss your stamped image and color in with the ink from a stamp pad using the waterbrush. This card took no time at all to make and it was F.U.N. to do, lol. Please ignore the lousy picture btw. It is cloudy today and I just couldn't get enough light on it.

On a side note, Nichol is having an awesome giveaway, so check out her blog and leave a comment!!!

Cardstock: Colonial White, Garden Green and watercolor cardstock

Stamps: Treasures of the heart

Inks: Tulip, Sorbet, Sunflower and Versamark

Misc: Waterbrush, sparkles, white embossing powder and Garden Green ribbon

Simple Sunday #4

Cardstock: CTMH Stardust, My Minds Eye, Outdoor Denim

Stamps: Argyle Background and Headline Alphabet

Inks: Versa Mark and Cranberry
Misc.: CTMH rubons, chipboard, white sticker brads and the title is heat embossed with clear powder

Anniversary Card

Here is the card that I made Eric for our anniversary. I love how it turned out and was inspired by Julee over at Poetic Artistry, here. This makes 16 years for us, so on the inside I wrote 16 reasons why I still love him. I'm pretty sure he appreciated the thought that went into it.

Cardstock: Outdoor Denim, My Minds Eye double sided cardstock and White Daisy

Inks: Outdoor Denim and Juniper

Stamps: Friendship Blessings and In My Heart

Misc: White Daisy Ribbon

Simple Sunday #3

I have had this picture stored in my computer forever. My desktop actually gave me some warning before it crashed so I was able to save all of my pictures. I am a very lucky girl! This is one of my very favorite pictures of Jacob because it reminds me of that time when he was still a little boy. This is my take on Inspired Blueprints sketch #5.
This layout is simple in the fact of the cardstock and picture placement. I wanted to emphasize his big brown eyes so I painted the chipboard letters for the title in brown. My picture is 5x7, the Star cardstock is 4x11 and the Striped cardstock is 2 1/2x11.

Cardstock: Stars and Stripes by Basic Grey, Outdoor Denim and White Daisy

Misc: Making Memories Chocolate paint, Dimensional Elements alphabet letters, brads from my stash, ric rac is really old and waxy flax.

February Girls Club Layout

I absolutely LOVE this paper pack!!!! The possibilities are endless and it can easily be used for boyish layouts and cards too. The picture sizes are one 6x6 and four 4x4. There is actually no matting for the pictures, I only put them on to show picture placement. We are focusing on stamping techniques this month.......... there is just so much you can do with a stamp! My layout is titled "Our Club" because I plan on taking pictures of us at our meeting this Sunday. One of my goals this year is to scrap more about me and my life. I hope you like it! Oh- and this month, CTMH has a wonderful promotion! When you spend $25.00 in stamps, you will receive a custom-designed B-size stamp My Acrylix "Good Times" stamp set free. So if you have been thinking about getting a stamp set, now is the time!

Cardstock: Unforgettable, Vanilla Cream and Juniper

Inks: Sorbet and Juniper

Stamps: Headline Alphabet, The Works Alphabet, Intrinsic Background and Aspiration

Misc.: Colonial White Ric Rac, Pewter Brads

Simple Sunday #2

Seriously Simple, that's all I can say about this layout!!!! Everything used is CTMH unless stated otherwise. All it takes is a base page, 5x7 and 4x4 pictures, ribbon, flowers and brads. I really like this layout because it focuses on the pictures.

Cardstock: That's Amore and Chocolate

Misc: Big Pink Flowers, satin ribbon, white mini medley accents and white mini brads.

Online Sale

Every once in a while I need to go through and make room for new stuff. I cleaned my craft area out yesterday and decided that I would let go of some stamp sets and other stuff. I like to think of myself as a collector of all scrapbooking things, but I am running out of space. So if there is anything you are interested in or have a question about an item, just shoot me an email. The Spellbinders and the Sizzix all work with the Cuttlebug. Everything is used unless noted otherwise. I accept paypal as well as checks. Thanks for looking.

Scor Pal (large one, 12x12) REDUCED $20.00

Spellbinders Nestabilities: Oval $20.00


Cuttlebug Alphabet Die Cut; Make me an offer



Sizzix Die Cuts: Circles; Make me an offer



Sizzix: Cuts; Make me an offer



NEW Sizzix Bibz Die: Dingbats; Make me an offer

Delight In Everything$15.00

Today's Date $15.00

Serendipity $15.00

Snap, Crackle, Pop $7.00

The Simple Things $15.00

Make My Day $7.00

Baseball $7.00

Magical Seasons $15.00

Wonderful Charms $7.00

Coffee Stain: NEW $10.00

Moments $15.00


Kindered Spirits $15.00

Remember This: NEW $10.00