Chris' Corner

happy valentine's day...

2012-02-02T09:36:00.000-05:00

how about another valentine's day card to finish out the week? this one is on it's way to the vet's office tomorrow and maybe a couple for me, cuz i really like how this one turned out.

supplies: mme dp, pti sentiment, su heart punch

any big plans for the weekend? we are all staying home this weekend and doing house things. scott is replacing my back brakes before my inspection and we are hoping to get some work done on the kitchen cabinets done. i am so ready to start painting them suckers.

have a great weekend!

wordless wednesday: in the middle

2012-02-01T09:05:00.000-05:00

{for more wordless wednesday pics go here.}

kiss me...

2012-01-31T11:35:00.000-05:00

the furnace guy is here this morning. cleaning the system. so while i am being held captive i thought i would get a new post up for you.

i have been working on valentine's day cards for the shelter and a couple for my own personal use. i didn't send out any last year, but got 3, so i will put 3 in the mail this year. i can't remember if this was a popular holiday for my cards at the vet's office or not but i will take 10 out or so anyway.

my friend sara has been using this black and white pti paper here lately and it has inspired me to dig mine out and use it too. she has been busy making cards for owh for our heroes. very cool use of your stash indeed!! this wasn't around when scott was still in the navy.

all supplies are pti except for that stamp and the tag. tag is from staples and that stamp has no label. no idea where it came from but i can tell you that it stamped a many an envelope when scott was overseas with the navy. shouldn't everything be swak-ed?

i can't believe tomorrow is february 1st already and it's also leap year in case you are still stuck under that rock...jen...heehee!! a whole extra day for me to waste. this week is commissary week for me, so i am finishing up my menu and lists. tonight we are having spaghetti and i am thinking tomorrow it might be warm enough to send the man out to grill up some pork tenderloins....weird weather this winter around here.

have a good one!

gracie & project life chit chat ...

2012-01-26T12:04:00.000-05:00

my very sweet girl, gracie mae turns 8 today. which might not seem very old but for a large dog it is. gracie weighs 112 pounds. her joints and feet are feeling old and she has arthritis in one of her elbows. scott built her steps for the bed, because jumping up there just wasn't easy anymore. i am starting to wonder just how much more time i am going to be blessed to have with her. i see her feeling older every day, which breaks my heart. she really has become to mean so very much to me. which is ironic cuz i wanted to kill her for the first 2 years of her life....she was the worst puppy i've ever had. stubborn to train. ate her poop every day. ran off whenever possible. but today, the very best dog i could ever ask for. brock told me last week, that "we all know that you love gracie more than you love us". i was laughing so hard, but some days it is true...if you have teenagers, you can relate.

so is everyone familiar with the new "dear lizzy" line, "neapolitan"? scroll down...you see that stamp that has different phrases on it? well, it occurs to me yesterday on my walk, that i have some of those dam things...somewhere. that was the key, where did i stick those for safe keeping? so i tore apart my room yesterday and found them. they are from 7 gypsies and i am thinking due to the number of them, they have to be from qvc, from a hundred years ago. these will be awesome for my project life.

also yesterday i remembered that i had bought some random page protectors and that i might just have a few of the regular ones i need to start my binder for pl this year. so i also got that done and started. hopefully amazon will get these back in stock here soon.

i'm sure by now, unless you live under a rock, you have seen that it is now the thing to decorate your project life pages. so i did just that. i have this basket that holds all things sniplety-like. anything die cutted, punched, or ends of ribbons that didn't make it onto a project...goes into this basket for later use. i dig thru this thing for every project. and this is what i did for the first page of my pl album. i have something to represent all the 4 seasons, our last name, the number 4, a scrapped half of doily. and i found that cut folder name thingy (that just happens to be cut from that old paper i found in my neighbors garage at her estate sale) that i stamped the word family on it from those 7 gypsies stamps. pretty cool. now i'm not sure if i will do this for every week, but i am sure i will be digging thru that basket for more goodies. i do not want anymore than this one binder. i am currently having issues with binder storage so one is enough for us. someone, who will remain nameless, was suppose to make me a cookbook/album primitive shelf...but that has yet to be seen. i won't tell you how long it took him to build those stairs for gracie. lol

i need to get in the shower, vacuum, and work on some shelter valentines. suppose to storm tonight, snow then rain, one of my very favorite winter combinations, not.

thanks for stopping by and i wish you all a super thursday!!

wordless wednesday: flip

2012-01-25T09:38:00.000-05:00

{go here for more ww photos}

for scott's birthday...

2012-01-24T09:29:00.000-05:00

i meant to post this last week but the days just got away from me....which happens a lot here lately.

scott had another birthday last week. we had a quiet celebration with just us. i made him lasagna with our canned sauce from last summer and a boston creme pie cake for dessert...and of course a card.

supplies: basic grey boxer and pti

well, i am out of here. i've got chores to get done, dinner to take out...

have a super day.

wordless wednesday: beach day

2012-01-18T09:12:00.000-05:00

{for more wordless wednesday photos, go here.}

christmas gift for my neighbor...

2012-01-17T09:42:00.000-05:00

this is a card from that boxed card set i gave my neighbor, sara jane for christmas. she has a thing for "tiffany blue" and this hawaiian shore from pti is as close as i could get.

all supplies are pti.

well, this is going to be short and sweet today cuz i got stuff to get done. after a 3 day weekend, my house needs some work.

enjoy your day!

left for dead card...

2012-01-12T11:32:00.000-05:00

i started this card and then didn't like something about it and it was left for dead...but then i found it in the s-crap box and i think i like it now, or at least like it enough to try to sell it for the shelter. i am thinking the main image needs to be stamped up and over a little bit and i am a little irritated that i didn't get the sentiment stamped on the lines that i was aiming for...lol. but i doubt that anyone will notice or care. the postcard background stamp is from unity. i have no idea where that green hounds tooth paper came from, i am thinking a studio calico kit.

and yes i did color this image all by myself. i definitely like the design for this card and will make some more with a little tweaking here and there.

we are finally getting some snow here today. we've had a very snowless winter this year. the boys were thrilled to wake up at 9 am....and find out that there was no school. but not so thrilled when i sent them out to shovel the walks.

all because of the photo i posted yesterday, i have decided to do project life again for this year. that photo deserves to be a memory somewhere. this is going to be a big year for our little family, so many changes are coming our way. so i caved and ordered the cobalt design from amazon. i have to say that i am not thrilled about the changes to the project. i don't like buying everything separately. it costs more money this way. i liked the simplicity of getting everything in one box and being done. they were sold out of the month dividers and the page protectors, which is aggravating. so now i can't even put my binder together when i get it. cuz i have no guts (pages). i liked the pretty month dividers in the my previous PL, now they are just plain clear with a month label sticker. and the anal-ness of me doesn't like that my other PL binders don't have the little label holder thingy on the spine. but what can you do?....one of my resolutions this year was to accept the things that i cannot change. i'm a "fixer" so this is not an easy thing for me to do. but i am trying.

happy thursday.

wordless wednesday: pride

2012-01-11T08:51:00.000-05:00

{for more wordless wednesday photos, go here.}

s-crap card...

2012-01-09T11:07:00.000-05:00

right after christmas i started purging scraps...again. i spread them all out all over my workroom floor and separated them into categories and then made 16 cards and 6 notebooks from those scraps. i did have to cut some card bases but most of them were already cut. this is one of those cards.

i had the basic grey pp already cut and the doily was a halfed so i just put them together with some extras . no stamping involved.

i like it. it's my style.

well, try and have a nice monday. i am not feeling too motivated this am, cuz i slept like crap last night... walked the dogs. still debating what's for dinner. laundry is going. living room is picked up.

and i'm ready for a nap....

sketchathon lo's...

2012-01-05T13:02:00.000-05:00

so as you know, i was ready to do lots of sketches for the sketchathon over at scrapfriendzy....i got the card done and uploaded but when i went to upload the lo to the gallery it wouldn't load. scott thought it's cuz the boys were all on the network ( scott describes this as 3 fat men trying to get thru a door at once.) so i tried again the next day with no luck. then i posted and someone said maybe my file is too big. great. one more fricken step. so i try to resize...this would be another reason as to why i don't make a habit out of submitting, cuz they want a certain size file. the only way i know how to resize is to flip it from picasa to picnik. which i did and it took forever so i gave up. now i have done sketchathon for the last 2 years and have done the same thing with my lo's, so why can't get my lo's to upload this year? this has frustrated me to no end. so i quit. in fact i haven't scrapped anything since this lo all week.

but i did get 2 valentine's day cards done for the shelter. i don't remember this being a real big seller last year so i don't think i need to make too many. i might have some left over from last year.

and the lo is done with bits and pieces from studio calico kits. the photos are from quinn's 13 birthday. the title is the time he was born.

i hope you are having a fab week. the weekend is right around the corner.

thanks for stopping by.

wordless wednesday: starfish

2012-01-04T09:30:00.000-05:00

{for more wordless wednesday photos, click here.}

final shelter total...

2011-12-31T19:32:00.000-05:00

the final total for the shelter is $821.50. pretty dam cool! my goal for next year is $1000.

i wanted to thank the 2 ladies that help me out with my card basket. they call me when they have a special request or when my basket is empty. so i cased this idea from mish mash. i gave them this thank you card but i stuck a post-it inside with my note of thanks and told them to use the card.
(thanks for the idea, deb!)

then i made them each a notebook and added a big hershey bar.
cuz who doesn't love a hershey bar?

and wrapped it all up with some twine in a paper bag i snagged from
mish mash's etsy shop.

we are having a very low key new year's eve. we ordered chinese food and are just hanging out.

enjoy the rest of your 2011!

thanksgiving mini album...

2011-12-29T11:31:00.000-05:00

ok so i'm a little behind on this project, but i still got it done before the year ended. this is the mini-album i made with the polaroids we took at thanksgiving this year. this is the cover, i have no idea where i got the word family. so don't ask. the rest are sniplets of pti paper and bits of ribbon laying around. the album i do believe is from a studio calico kit. i painted it with mm scrapbook paint.

this is a view of the photos. i used a label maker for the words. very simple but i like it.

and on the backsides are the thankful notes that i make everyone write and a couple more photos.
another thing off my work table.

i have been working on cards for the shelter this week and i am going to take a few notebooks out to see how they do. for now i am going to sell them for $5. i know others sell them for more, but here's my thinking...if someone has a $10, then they will buy a notebook or maybe 2 or grab 2 cards instead. plus i don't want the people at the vet's office making crazy ass change for everyone. when i get the final total for the year i will post that.

i am trying to get caught up on all things crafty so that i may participate in the sketchathon over at scrapfriendzy. in case you don't know about this event, they post a new sketch every day in january. kind of like a white sale for all your photos still sitting in boxes. i love it and look forward to it each january. the girls over there are so nice and i get so much done. lately i seem to be all about purging and using my stuff, so come and join us and use your stuff too!!

tomorrow we are suppose to be taking gracie to the beach. that's all she asked for at christmas so i cannot let her down. hopefully the weather will cooperate.

have a super fabulous new year's day weekend and don't do anything i wouldn't do.

wordless wednesday: winterberries.

2011-12-28T10:15:00.000-05:00

{for more WW photos, click here.}

wishes...

2011-12-24T10:03:00.000-05:00

sending you wishes for a beautiful christmas and a very happy new year!

& family

finishing up...

2011-12-21T16:52:00.000-05:00

how is everyone doing with their "to do" list? i can officially say mine is done. i think this christmas i made more gifts than any other year.

this summer scott and i made apple butter so i decorated 6 jars and these are the last 3 that need to be handed out. i have a few old ppl neighbors that i talk to on a regular basis that these are going to and the other 3 went into gift bags with trivets and notebooks.

i made 6 more trivets for friends. i used the {ippity} set, simply home on all of these. i am thinking i am going to get to keep one of these for myself. i stamped these with stazon and then sprayed them with a matte spray.

i also made 6 more notebooks, this is the only one that is left in my house. that is one of my stained tags sewed on the front.

this set of boxed notecards is going to my neighbor. her fave color is "tiffany blue". i used pti hawaiian shores. i will show you the cards in a later post.

and lastly, i made 5 different kinds of cookies and handed out 4 cookie boxes to friends. the boys are enjoying taking these in their lunches this week.

this is my last post til after the holiday. scott and the boys will be home all next week. the retaining wall is going to be repaired and i am planning a beach trip for gracie and i.

have a happy holiday.

wordless wednesday: best friends

2011-12-21T09:36:00.000-05:00

for more wordless wednesday photos, go here.

thursday ramblings...

2011-12-15T09:33:00.000-05:00

so i went to the vet's office yesterday to check on the card basket for the shelter. it was still pretty full and they didn't have as much money as i had hoped for, but i am thankful for what i did get. as i was dropping it off at the shelter, i passed the animal control officer leaving. when i got inside, i seen a very skinny rottweiler pup. i had to hold back the tears. WTF, is wrong with ppl? that pup was in every one of my thoughts last night til i fell asleep and one of my first thoughts this morning. at least last night he had dinner and a warm place to sleep. that's why i do this. i donate all of my time and supplies to make sure that the shelter has what it needs to take care of animals that got into the wrong hands. i am already making plans to sell more this next year, to do a better job and to not whine about making cards for the shelter. cuz they need my help. that's what's important to me, not being published or getting on that special design team. i have decided to make notebooks to sell also next year. i think i can sell them for $5. do you think that is a good price or is it too high?

this is one of the cards that i dropped off yesterday. that paper is old anna griffin and that ribbon is from su. all stamps are pti. i could use that wreath stamp on everything and not get tired of it.

last week the retaining wall on one side of our house fell into the neighbor's yard so we are trying to find someone to fix this soon before our foundation is affected by this. just what i needed this close to christmas. of course the neighbors are unable to help us out with the cost. hell they didn't even tell us about it. i tell you i have the bestest neighbors ever. i wish i could move my house to a different location....maybe if i click my heels together 3 times....

after much consideration i have decided not to do project life this next year. the last few weeks i have just not been into it. i keep forgetting to take photos, like yesterday. so i think it best that i give up this project for now. maybe i will revisit this project at a later time, but for now i just don't have the energy to put into this. my hands will be full with just the shelter cards and scrapping our stuff. i have certainly missed scrapbooking here lately and am looking forward to getting back into it again after the first of the year.

is everyone ready for christmas? to be honest, i wish it was over with. i need to finish up some homemade gifts and bake some goodies, but i think that's all that is left on my list.

ok i am off to put white chicken chili in the crock pot for dinner. i got the recipe from a nebraska newspaper. my dad had just had his second stroke and it was the first time quinn met him. i was feeding my dad breakfast and reading him the paper when i found the recipe. he thought it sounded good. my dad loved chili. i find myself thinking about him alot lately and wishing he was still here...

have a super thursday and thanks for stopping by.

wordless wednesday: fly

2011-12-14T09:29:00.000-05:00

happy wednesday blogger peeps!

{check out more wordless wednesday photos here.}

stocking card...

2011-12-12T15:31:00.000-05:00

so how's it hangin' on this fine monday afternoon? i'm still feeling the effects of scott's work christmas party but i am feeling better by the hour. note to self: do not do that next year. lol

this is another card i took to the shelter last week. that is a stamp from karen lockhart. i am planning on running out to the vet's office some time this week. i am hoping this will be the last of the christmas cards that i will need to make.

i try to have my stuff out no later than the 15th of the month for mailing. all of my cards are postal as of today. i didn't have too many cards this year, my list keeps getting shorter and shorter each year.

now if we could just get the tree decorated...lol we are all just not into it this year. i have my little prim tree done but not the big one. hopefully tonight.

i spent the morning baking some cookies, apple muffins and a chocolate cake for tonight. making a turkey sausage pasta with our roasted tomatoes from the summer for dinner.

what's on your plate tonight?

crafting my ass off...

2011-12-08T10:32:00.000-05:00

so i thought i would show you where my week has gone, certainly not to lounging on the couch with my feet and a bowl of ice cream in my lap. how i wish. i have been crafting for "project graduation". apparently the senior class needs $30, 000 to put on an after grad party. i am assuming to keep the younguns from drinking, like i did. if i recall we had a whopper of a party at the reservoir. but anyway, they only have about $5000. so i took it upon myself to make 12 notebooks this week. i want you know that all the pattern paper was all from the scrap box. how i love to be able to use those scraps. even made some full size ones, i had never done those before.

and then the next day i made 20 coasters and 5 trivets.

then after all that was done, i went back to making cards for the shelter. i found this embossed piece in the card-guts box and it was promptly sent off to duty. that little checked ribbon from pti makes the best dam bows. i wish they had more than just the light blue and the black. i did put a whole spool of this into walnut ink and it turned out good. the stamps are from verve.

i still need to bake for the "project graduation" craft/bake sale. i am planning on pumpkin and cranberry bread baked in the mini bundt pan from pampered chef. put a little vanilla glaze over top and some cute christmas sprinkles and they will be done.

but in the midst of all this fabulous crafting, my house was has been very neglected, so today i need to clean my house.

thanks for stopping by to see me, i do appreciate it!!

sunday ramblings...

2011-12-04T14:57:00.000-05:00

happy sunday, blogger peeps!

scott and i slept in late and ate chinese leftovers while reading the sunday paper...i do love my sundays! i am still hanging out in flannel pj's and thinking about working on some more christmas cards for the shelter. i was forced to visit the vet's office yesterday, cuz gracie had another urinary infection, so i picked up money for the shelter, but i am not going to tell you how much it was....i'll tell you at the end of the year. which will be here before we know it.

i have spent most of this week taking down fall decorations and getting the christmas decorations up. all we have left to do is decorate the tree. which is planned for this afternoon. we are waiting on quinn to get back from a overnight birthday party.

this card was delivered to the vet's office yesterday. they were out of friend cards so i whipped up some of these x 4. about half of the christmas cards i took out there were gone so i am no where done with this endeavor. i did manage to keep out cards for my own use this time. they are also out of regular thank you cards, so i guess i should get some of those done too. i'm thinking i might need an employee, but unfortunately we are a non-profit organization so i can only afford quinn, but he's a dam fine stamper and he will work for cheap.

do you like my new blog banner? this is the wreath on my front door. stacy sent me that sign last year and she thought it would be cute for my front door beings how i hate christmas so much...lol so i added a burlap bow and some winterberries. i love it!

enjoy the rest of your sunday, scott is thinking a nap is in order...lol

wordless wednesday...

2011-11-30T09:02:00.000-05:00

{you can see more wordless wednesday posts here.}

monday...

2011-11-28T13:40:00.000-05:00

hard to believe that november will be over this week. seems like fall flew by. this week is "pack up fall decorations" week so that i can get out the christmas decorations this weekend. brock is already asking when the tree is going up, which is kind of funny considering he didn't even help with the tree last year. the ps3 was way more important...and quinn hasn't even said a word about the tree. we aren't spending a lot on gifts this year, everyone had one thing that they really wanted/needed so that's what we did.

so before i pack up the fall decorations, i thought i had better show you that "wood project" i made this year. i seen these pumpkins on this blog, creekside creations, and i loved them so i made my own version. i (with scott's help) painted them, sanded and then stained with walnut. we drilled holes in the top and used some twigs from our yard for the stems. i tore some fabric, twine and twisted some wire around the stem. i love how they turned out, i wish i would have used a different color of mustard, but i didn't feel like doing them again.

i am still cranking out christmas cards for me and the shelter. i am def getting burned out! i have stuck to no buying of new christmas crap for this endeavor. i have currently used up all of my su real red, pti scarlet jewel and all of my shiny silver brads. i am digging out papers i haven't seen in a while, like this pp from su. i have no idea how old it is, but river rock matches it, so that might help you to date it....lol the stamps are $1 ones from mike's. i just stamped them together. i added some raffia for something different.

so 17 years ago when we were at my grandparents house showing off our little brock creation, i noticed that my grandma's cactus was gorgeous-ly in bloom. giant salmon-color blooms all over it. i told her that mine didn't bloom. she told me to go home and move it to morning sun. i did and it started to bloom, then she passed away. every year my cactus blooms the week of thanksgiving which is the same week she passed away. we have since then nicknamed this plant grandma. it's the only plant that has consistently moved with us. just a subtle reminder that she is always with us.

i hope that your thanksgiving was full of good times and good food.

happy thanksgiving.

2011-11-23T20:23:00.000-05:00

For each new morning with its lights

For rest and shelter of the night

For health and food

For love and friends

For everything thy goodness sends

Ralph Waldo Emerson

happy thanksgiving to and your family from me and my family.

crap it's monday...

2011-11-21T14:22:00.000-05:00

i uploaded this pic early this morning as i was scarfing left over pumpkin pie pancakes from the weekend, but my day suddenly moved forward with stripping of my bed, cleaning the toilets, getting dinner out, de-hairing the couch, vacuuming....and here i am at 7 pm just getting back to you. dinner is done and dishes are cleaned up. just waiting for the water to heat back up so i can go soak my feet in the tub. then onto watching house at 9 pm. one of my fave shows! i am always amazed at how fast my days go.

this is another shelter card, i didn't keep any of this one for me. i wish i would have but i didn't. it came out of december daily scraps from last year. speaking of DD, are you planning on doing on this year? as of now, i have decided to skip this project this year. it just seemed to be a hassle for me in the long run. if my boys were smaller than it would be a great project. i am thinking i am going to add an insert to my PL and just put in some photos of christmas.

i wish i would have done something like the DD way back when...scott was deploying right after 9-11 and was going to be gone thru christmas that year til may the following year. because we were the only sub to be deployed that holiday some of us were interviewed by the local paper and the reporter asked my boys what they wanted to eat for christmas....brock said enchiladas and quinn said guacamole..and that was exactly what i made them that year for dinner. i mean how fricken cute is that one? brock was 7 years old and quinn was 3.

i was thinking about my final tally for the shelter today as i was cleaning away and i have decided to keep the final number a secret from you til the end of the year.

tomorrow is the boys last school day for the week til after the holiday. i am most excited to have several days off...and no i will not be participating in black friday craziness!!! my shopping is done...lololol i know you are jealous....

YAY, friday!!

2011-11-18T11:48:00.000-05:00

finally, it's friday. i am most ready to have some time off from the alarm clock.

i dropped off more cards this am to the vet's office + i took the christmas card basket. i made some really simple one layer christmas thank yous last night and some winter cards too. i picked up $72.00 today for the shelter. check out the new total --> in the sidebar. only $91.00 away from deb's prediction of $750.00. pretty dam cool! i am thinking of a $1000 goal for next year.

this is one of the cards i dropped off this am and i think it's already gone. one of the vet tech's had it in her hand as i went out the door. i have enough of that dp to make one more. pretty simple and it will def fly on one stamp. the tree is a die from pti and i just lightly sanded the edges. the dp is mme.

we had some good news come our way last night. one of the colleges brock applied for accepted him and offered him a scholarship of $12,000 per year. we are still waiting to hear back from the other colleges before we accept anything right now. but brock is most excited, this college was one of his faves!

tomorrow is quinn's first swim meet of the season and it's at our y, so the drive will be easy.

have a super weekend!

sending you warm thoughts...

2011-11-16T12:45:00.000-05:00

so how about a new card for this hump-day-wednesday? this is one of the many cards i've been cranking out for the shelter. pretty simple, but one of my faves.

supplies: pti scarlet jewel cs, kraft & sentiment
martha stewart snowflake punch
mme patttern paper
random silver embellie

i seem to have fallen behind on my 4 cards a day plan. i have had the mojo sucked out of me here lately due to the idiot i live next to. the town gave him permission to put a driveway thru their property pointing straight at ours for all their clients to exit their parking lot. this exit is right next to our driveway. so every car that enters his business will exit right next to mine. we tried to fight it, but money talks. so we've had 3 weeks of dump trucks, big loud machines going all day. the paving was finished yesterday so i am hoping to get back to my little life and making cards for the shelter.

thanks for stopping by. i do appreciate it!!

cas xmas card...

2011-11-07T12:04:00.000-05:00

here's the latest christmas card. i know it's very simple, but i thought the "bling-y" paper would make up for it...supplies: pti, spellbinders and making memories.

i didn't get any cards done this weekend. it took me the better part of saturday to clean up my table. i was down to about 8 inches of work space. then scott and brock left for CT to a college open house and then my neighbor and i decided to drink beer until midnight. i finished up my laundry on sunday and helped my beer-drinking friend to make her own stamped coasters...so no cards were made this weekend. and i'm okay with that cuz i am already tired of this project.

today i am baking cookies and pumpkin woopie pies and hoping for some christmas card making mojo.

thanks for stopping by.

card #3...

2011-11-04T16:05:00.000-04:00

today's card is brought to you by pti, cornish heritage farms, and creative imaginations. i actually made 6 of this card , which is a good thing cuz i gotta lot of old crows on my christmas list....that red DP was 12 x 12 so 6 cards only made sense so i didn't have more scraps to deal with.

i wish CHF wouldn't have went out of business cuz they had really great prim/country stamps.

i got to have lunch with a friend today which was a nice break from my very ordinary day. girl power is good for the soul.

enjoy the rest of your friday.

30 days of christmas cards...

2011-11-03T13:22:00.000-04:00

there is 2 words that make my skin crawl...."the holidays". i seriously can't believe that it's that time of year again. i delivered a butt ton of thanksgiving cards to the vet's office yesterday for the shelter and picked up $37, so i am on my way to clearing the $600 mark. hard to believe. i just might make the $750 that my friend, deb predicted. when she first said that, i thought she was smoking wacky weed, but i think she just might be on to something.

in order to have enough cards for the shelter and my own personal use, i have figured out that i must make 4 christmas cards a day for the month of november. 120 cards. i'm not by any means excited for this endeavor, but it must be done.

the first card was done on the 1st. i'm not planning on doing anything fancy or mind blowing. simple is the key. every card must fly with only 1 stamp.

this was my second card and it was made while i had a migraine. nothing fancy but still nice. i am also going to try to use as many scraps as possible.

all supplies are pti. i am hoping not to have to buy anything new for these cards. i want to use what i have here on hand. probably be totally out of cs by the last card, but i will be taking a break after this anyway so i will restock in the new year.

ok, i am off to make today's cards. thanks for stopping by.

apple pie, chit chat and a lo...

2011-10-26T15:13:00.000-04:00

at least once a day i upload some photo of a project and sit here staring at a blank post. i just have had nothing to share, or nothing i have felt like sharing. i'm in one of those moods here lately. i have just been so disgusted with humanity. the things that ppl do and say nowadays makes me sick. and i guess i just got lost somewhere in there. not that i am feeling much better but i am going to try and get something new posted today. (thank you tracey for inquiring about me, you are so sweet.)

after the dogs and i walked our daily 2 miles this morning, i made an apple pie, from scratch of course. there is nothing like crust made from scratch. one time i was doing a pampered chef show and was using the store bought crust and made a comment about scratch crust and i had a woman say, "i didn't know you could make pie crust." it's a dying art, i'm afraid just like most things good these days....there is something soothing about rolling out dough. takes me back to my grandmother's kitchen, where everything was good. what i wouldn't do to be there just one more time. in november she'll be gone 17 years. hard to believe. i miss her so much.

i've had shelter card burn out here the last few weeks so i took a break, only making cards i needed for my own use. i am working on a wood project now, but i did get 3 of these lo's done using this photo for me and the boy's albums. this is the last photo of my boys together for the first day of school. the end of an era. next fall, brock will be leaving for college. quinn will be a freshman.

all supplies are studio calico's elementary line.
one of my faves. i used a sketch from sketchy thursday

brock has gone to 2 college visits and we have 2 left to attend. so far he does have a favorite. i am starting my own hunt for a sugar daddy to pay for this journey. quinn ran his very first 5K last sunday with his best friend. they did very well, in fact sam won first place for his age group, quinn was not far behind him. next swimming season and indoor soccer...

thanks for stopping by, i will try to come back soon.

brock chit chat & pumpkin biotch...

2011-10-07T10:59:00.000-04:00

who's glad it's friday? i know i am. and it's a 3 day weekend. more time for me to sleep in!

so most of you know that our little brock is a senior this year. i don't think there is a conversation in our house lately that doesn't involve brock in some way. this week we have scheduled 4 college visits, picked up his senior pics and finished his info that will be printed in his senior yearbook. i really wish i would have crawled out of the coors can long enough to pay attention to my senior year, cuz i can't remember crap.

well whatever. now they have "ads for grads". you pay $25 to put in your own ad for your senior. the money goes to support graduation for brock's class. this is the photo that we chose to put in our little ad. brock is a foodie, always has been, so we had to use a photo of him and food.

and this is the front of brock's HS album. our photographer cropped this photo just for the cover. it turned out so good. i am very happy with all of his photos. hard to believe this will be the last year for his school album. i doubt there will be too much sharing from college...

and last but not least, the pumpkin biotch. i recently found a stash of stamped images that friends had sent me...i love this image! my friend angela sent me these ages ago and i am finally getting it colored and of course it went to sell for the shelter. the vet techs were making jokes about maybe this would be their costume this year. now that i would like to see!

did you notice the new total....$550.00! for real!! i am so excited!!

ok. i am out of here. the boys get out at noon today so my time is limited this am. thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!!

halloween cards...

2011-10-03T15:32:00.000-04:00

guess i missed world card making day. every day here lately is WCMD. i have been cranking out cards for the shelter for days now and i am burned out. all my card designs are starting to look alike. but here are 2 of the halloween ones i am taking to sell for the shelter this week.

the last money drop to the shelter put me over $500 for the year. pretty dam cool, if i do say so myself. i wish i could do more for them.

thanks for stopping by.

applesauce & blueberry plains...

2011-09-17T19:40:00.000-04:00

scott and i spent the afternoon canning applesauce and apple butter. we have decided to do another bushel next saturday. brock loves applesauce. he drinks it like juice. we seem to be getting the hang of canning. our first batch of tomato sauce was a hit, just a couple of things to change next year. i love to see all those jars lined up in my pantry.

here is a lo i did to apply for the basic grey dt. sadly,i did not get picked. this is a photo of quinn and the dogs walking along the blueberry plains in kennebunk. i love this field. it reminds me of home. there are wild blueberries that grow here and it's also a bird sanctuary, so the dogs are not allowed anywhere except on the paths and on a leash. but they still love to take a walk here once in a while. usually when i go to the vet's office i stop off here and give them a treat.

have a great weekend.

ruff day?

2011-09-09T15:51:00.000-04:00

well, i for one am glad that it's friday. we have lots of things on our "to do" list for the weekend. taking down the pool, moving plants, mowing...driving boys to places unknown to us yet...they like to spring their schedules on us. i think they are testing us.

so what's on your POD for the weekend? (that's navy-speak for "plan of the day"?)

see the new shelter total? i dropped off $72 today and filled up my basket and took an order. pretty dam cool, if you ask me.

this is one of the cards i took. i have had this stamp set for quite awhile but never inked it up. quinn has used it lots. he loves it. it's from taylored expressions. some of the money from this set was donated to homeless animals. so i was all over that purchase and they very cute images!

supplies:
cs, pti
pp, amuse
stamps, taylored expressions
ribbon, pti
spellbinders
white trash markers

i just want to take a minute to send out a thought to all those ppl dealing with the floods right now. this hit very close to us this week. stacy and her family had to evacuate their home because of the rising water. she was able to get to her sister's house safely with her family and stay overnight. stacy was allowed back to their house yesterday and had several feet of water in the basement. so glad they are safe and sound with little damage. mother nature is definitely giving everything she's got this year.

have a nice weekend.

sunflowers for a friend...

2011-09-07T13:38:00.000-04:00

just a quick post to give you something new to look at...i made this for a friend this weekend while making lots of cards for the shelter. i just got this new sunflower set from pti. love it. love that it was only $5 bucks.

supplies: all pti
except, raffia

well, tomorrow is the day. the day that both of my delightful children leave for their first day of school. i will not lie to you. i can hardly wait.

enjoy your week!

introducing leo...

2011-08-30T11:02:00.000-04:00

how cute is this little girl? this is my friend jen's daughter, abbey, with her new hamster, leo. i just love this photo of them together. it looked so good with this pyrus paper from basic grey that i just had to scrap it. some days i need a break from the boy-scrappin. lol thanks jen for sharing it with me! i enjoyed working on this.

supplies:

paper & alphas, basic grey pyrus
butterfly die, pti
heart punch, su
button & twine, pti
lace, making memories
brad, basic grey

i used this week's sketch from sketchy thursday. you know how i love their sketches!!

i am happy to report that we survived the wrath of irene. we had lots of wind and rain but no major damage and no power outages. i am sending thoughts to all those ppl out there that are struggling with irene's destruction.

have a great day!

get well wishes...

2011-08-24T14:41:00.000-04:00

earthquake yesterday, hurricane this weekend. it seems that mother nature has not forgotten about the east coast. hurricanes and earthquakes are not 2 things that i am very familiar with... tornadoes, mass quantities of grasshoppers, drought, dust/windstorms. these are things i know. so i will be hunkering down for the weekend and hoping for the electricity to stay on, cuz {to quote my friend carol}"i love electricity".

this is another card that i made to be sold for the shelter. i had forgotten that i had bought that stamp set from pti. i had gotten it especially for my shelter cards cuz it has great get well sentiments.

supplies:

stamp set, pti
cs, pti
pattern paper, k & co
lace, joann's
butterfly dies, martha stewart punch & pti die
big die, su
pearls, who knows

off to finish up some chores, take brock to soccer and run quinn's bff home. it never stops around here...

take care.

fall flags...

2011-08-22T15:14:00.000-04:00

check out the new shelter total!!
to say that i am overwhelmed with the new total is an understatement. when i started this, i was just hoping to break $500 by the year's end, but now...who knows where the total will be by the time the new year rings. i have got to start making xmas cards soon. wow, i am super excited to have been able to give them this much money. when i walked in, i told the girl i had money for her and she said, why? i think i get a new person every time i walk in there. so i explained how the money came to be, she couldn't believe that i did that for them. i love being able to help them out.

so this is one of the many cards i filled my basket up with today. i seen this flag post over on papercrafts connection and loved it so i had to make them. i am a house flag person. i have several and change them regularly. i'm still on the look out for one that pokes at my white trash neighbors. lol that is if any of them can fricken read. we know that they can't read the backs of condoms very well... lolololol

supplies:
all papertrey ink except for the toothpicks and the pearls

this past weekend i made my very first batch of roasted tomato soup and it was delicious!! quinn does not like tomato soup but he loved this. so we have decided to try our hand at canning our own tomato sauce for pasta. i always make my pasta sauce from scratch each time anyway so that's no big deal but to do the whole canning process scares me, a little. i went today and bought quart canning jars. i sure do have the tomatoes....

also made another batch of salsa, that never lasts long around here. those little orangey cherry tomatoes are so sweet. they are by far the bestest cherry tomatoes i've ever had!

ok off to take brock to soccer.

a simple one...

2011-08-20T18:00:00.000-04:00

happy saturday peeps! scott, quinn and i just come in from the pool. {brock is off doing soccer stuff this weekend} we picked and watered the garden and then took a dip. we picked tons more tomatoes and cukes today. just sitting here browsing some cookbooks for some new recipes to use up some tomatoes. we made salsa last week and i roasted some romas for home made pizza. but i still have many many more to eat. we have decided to add a couple more raised garden beds next year. quinn is wanting more carrot room and i am missing potatoes. there is nothing quite like freshly dug potatoes. if you have a recipe to use up some of my tomatoes, i would love to try it!!

i know this card is a little simple for me, but nothing i added to it seemed to work, so i just said it's enough. and i like it. i have been madly working on cards for the shelter all week long. my canvas bag is almost full. just a couple more manly birthday cards to finish. henry has his annual appointment at the vet's office monday morning so i will be delivering the cards then. i will be in need of a break from cards for a couple of weeks. lol i'll go back to scrapping...

supplies:
fine linen cs, pti
pattern paper, no idea, but it came from a studio calico kit
punched heart, echo park for the record
heart punch, su
sentiment, pti

have a super weekend! i'll be back soon, i have lots of shelter cards to share...

quinn's birthday...

2011-08-16T10:39:00.001-04:00

quinn turned 13 on august 3rd. hard to believe he's a teenager, not that he hasn't been acting like a teenager for a couple of years now with the help of his older brother, but now he's official. scott was gone but we had a nice little celebration for quinn with his best friend, sam. we had take-out pizza and tried a new ice cream cake recipe.
happy, happy birthday, quinn!

now...the reason why i am so late with quinn's birthday post is because i couldn't show you the card i made for him til after august 9th cuz it was cased from this magazine. i have one card in this magazine, my very first publication. i had tried to submit a couple other times but did not know how to resize my photos, but my friend carol, told me how to do it and i finally got one in. {thank you carol} when i got my copy of the magazine, i fell in love with that candle card on the front cover and so did quinn. so of course i had to make it for him with 13 candles. {that's the first thing he did was count the candles.} the original card was made by beth matson. here's a link for the papercrafts magazine.

to make the candles, i cut rectangles from the pattern paper with spellbinders and then i rolled them around a pencil. i used score tape to hold the candle shape and to adhere the twine for the wick. i used old basic grey, off beat paper cuz anyone who knows quinn, knows he's a little offbeat. lol

supplies:

kraft cs, pti
sentiment, pti
pattern paper, basic grey offbeat
random waxy twine

ok that's it for me today. i am busy making fall cards for the shelter and getting ready for school. brock's last high school soccer season starts today and quinn is going to try cross country this year. busy fall days are upon us...time to dig out the slow cooker!!

thanks for stopping by!

autumn splendor swap...

2011-08-11T16:39:00.000-04:00

this card is for a card swap over at SCS. been a long time since i did a swap, but my friend jen talked me into it. i signed up for the "autumn splendor" category. and right now i could definitely use some fall in my life. lol bring on everything pumpkin!!

supplies:
brown twine, martha stewart
everything else, papertrey ink

the boys and i went shopping today for the rest of their school supplies. i love buying school supplies. i swear i could just buy one of everything. i have been in love with office/school supplies for as long as i can remember. when i was growing up, i had a friend who loved these supplies too, so we would save up all our money and blow it on new supplies when we stayed at each other's house. my mother had a book store job that was attached to an office supply store. i loved to wander the aisles. probably why i love this hobby so very much.

thanks for stopping by and have a super weekend!

500th post!!

2011-08-08T14:04:00.000-04:00

holy smokes, batman! this post makes 500!

i seriously can't believe that i have posted 500 times!! but here i am and i have to admit, i have debated pushing the delete button at least once a month since that first post. usually those thoughts were the result from crabby-pms-ness. lol i started this blog for something to do. moving from navy wife to civilian wife was a tough transition for me and this blog helped to fill a void and it also gave me several new friends that i otherwise wouldn't have met. for that i am most grateful for!

so on my 500th post i decided to show you this lo i did last weekend of me and stacy. scott took this on her last morning at 5 am. she catches the train around 6 am to travel back to amish country. i think we look pretty dam good for 5 am. she better than me, she actually got up and put herself together. i just got up and put on a jacket over my pj's.

i broke into my daily junque kit from pink paislee and added a little bit of this and that from my stash.

supplies:
pattern paper, pink paislee daily junque and echo park for the record
doily, wilton
tissue paper, pink paislee
flowers, prima and one cut from tim holz tattered flowers die
brad, basic grey
kraft alpha, jillibean soup
#6 tag, pink paislee daily junque

thank you for your comments and your friendship!

back to school cards...

2011-08-04T14:58:00.003-04:00

i took out new cards to the vet's office today and picked up $105.50 for the shelter. i was so happy to drop off that much money!! but then while i was there, 2 ppl came in and surrendered their pets. i had to turn my head, cuz the tears were starting to roll. i couldn't do it. it would break my heart. one was the cutest pit bull puppy. the shelter person told me that they had just adopted this pup and were already returning her. ppl just don't get how much work a new pup is, but if you can make it thru the first 3 years, that dog will be amazing. if my pack wasn't totally balanced right now, i would have brought that damn dog home. ppl suck.

i added a new category, "school", to my basket. i had been working with simple stories elementary for the boys books and thought that a few school cards might sell. these are 3 of what i made. this collection has these elements in a 4x4 size and i knew that i wouldn't use all of them. i added some twine, couple of buttons and even one of my tags. what a cute card for a new teacher or your favorite kindergartner. anyway, i thought they were cute.

been a busy week around here. quinn turned 13 yesterday. he had his bff over for the night. i can't believe he is 13. i have been also trying to get stuff done for school and soccer. be here before we know it. 32 days, but who's counting...lol

sketchy thursday lo...

2011-08-02T15:30:00.000-04:00

i for one am most happy to see august on the calendar! i know some of you aren't....you summer ppl! but i love seeing the end to another hot summer and knowing that my boys will soon be back in school doing something productive.

speaking of productive...i have been scrapping all weekend long. i am on a quest to get a lo done every day til the boys return to school. here is one of them, using the current sketch for sketchy thursday. i love their sketches!

these are some random pics of quinn digging in the sand at wells beach last summer. he loves to dig in the sand, he does not get in the ocean water due to the shark sightings last year. i can't say that i blame him there!!

supplies:

pattern paper and rub ons, fancy pants summer soiree
button, pti orange zest

today i am working on cards for the shelter. i got a call yesterday from my fave vet tech. 2 kind ladies cleaned out my card basket for the shelter, so today i am on a mission to get cards done to refill my basket. i actually had several here in my stash, but i was short just few certain types.

i am off to make "get well" cards for the animals!
thanks for stopping by!!

almost friday...

2011-07-28T16:20:00.000-04:00

hey kids! i am so glad that it's friday tomorrow. i am ready to sleep in for a couple of days. my fatigue is kicking my ass right now! one of the downfalls when MS mixes with heat.

here is the card i made for a friend that recently found me via facebook. her hubs and mine were recruiters together and vicki and i hit it off right away. we met at my very first navy party. that was one wild night. i would like to go into details, but i don't remember much. {dam booze} but a few years later when we were visiting vicki and tim in pa, we were talking about that night and putting plants in the elevator. we were partners in crime but neither of us could remember the other being there til that night. we filled the elevator with plants from the hotel and pushed the button. lol

we lost touch after tim passed away, but she found me and we caught up on the phone. i sent her this card a few days later. it was very nice to talk to her. we have so many great memories together!

supplies:

stamps, su season of friendship
cardstock, pti kraft
pattern paper, pti library ledger

any fun plans for the weekend? scott and i are going to a picnic at one of his co worker's house. he looks like johnny fever from WKRP in cincinnati. remember that show? with loni anderson?
{i know, flashback}

have a fun weekend!!

monday chit-chat...

2011-07-25T16:43:00.000-04:00

i am so happy that our heatwave has finally broken here. i have the ac's off and the windows open. and tonight we have rain coming. all of our trees and bushes that line our property are turning wilty and yellow. our grass has already given up. so bring on the rain!!

this is the card i made for scott for our anniversary. just a simple card, but i liked it. i am still playing with echo park and the su heart punch...

supplies:
pattern paper, echo park "for the record"
kraft cs, pti
alpha stamps, studio calico
heart punch, su

here is the photo that quinn took of us on our anniversary. this is our front porch. i love our porch. i plan on doing a family photo here soon.

and lastly here is a photo of my herb chicken i have been making. i can't get enough.

chicken breasts
red wine vinegar
olive oil
mixture of herbs
garlic, minced
salt & pepper

we pound our chicken before we grill it so it cooks evenly. then place them in a bag with a couple of glugs of red wine vinegar and olive oil. i chopped up garlic, oregano, chives, tarragon, rosemary and thyme and added them to the bag. salt and pepper to taste. then scott grills them. delicious!

have a super week and thanks for stopping by!!

anniversary card for stacy...

2011-07-22T11:42:00.000-04:00

so is everyone enjoying their heatstroke, i mean summer? i didn't even walk this morning. and it takes a lot to keep me from walking. scott said it was 82' at 5 am when he left for work this morning. suppose to top 100 ' here today. i don't think i have to tell you that i am not going out today. this weather is fricken ridiculous! the dogs and i watered and came back in. the hell with this weather. you can't do anything without being miserable. bring on the fall weather!!

and you and i both know that even tho it's this hot, somewhere there is an idiot with their dog in their car and they are probably at walmart.

my bestie stacy and her other half celebrated their anniversary last week and here is the card i made for them. i broke into my new pad of "for the record" from echo park. not a big fan of EP, but i liked this paper for the vintage-y feel. the hearts were cut from a heart punch from su. love this punch. seen it on a blog and had to have it.

supplies:
kraft cardstock, pti
pattern paper, for the record echo park
stamp,$1 bin at mike's
heart punch, su

scott and i are also having a couple of anniversaries this weekend. on the 23rd, we will be married 19+1 years (the +1 is for the year we lived in sin) and my 10 year anniversary of my MS diagnosis. hard to believe it's been 20 years since scott and i met and even harder to believe that i have been living with MS for 10 years. time truly flies by. i'd like to take a minute and give that minister that told us we wouldn't make it the finger. wherever he may be.

have a super fabulous weekend and stay cool!!

belated birthday...

2011-07-18T20:15:00.001-04:00

so remember when i scrapped a photo of my "lost friend" a while back? well, this card is for her, cuz I FOUND HER!!! i am so excited and happy to have her back. i have never stopped thinking of her or looking for her. always expecting bad news if i ever did find her. but i ran across her son on facebook and sent him a message and i got her cell number in return. i talked to her for hours. i was in heaven. we picked up right where we left off. she's been thru hell and back. but now she is now living in a very small quiet town with a very nice man. she's happy and content. and that makes me very VERY happy.

her birthday was july 1st, so i wanted to send her a card with some updated photos of my family. she's not an internet kind of girl, so her coming here to see pics isn't going to happen.

supplies:

cardstock, papertrey ink
pattern paper, papertrey ink
doily, wilton
stamps, pti mat stack 3
butterfly die, papertrey ink
cork, karen foster

the same week i found this friend, another friend of mine, found me. i will show you that card when i know she has received it, cuz she is an internet kind of girl and has already been here.

stay cool!

my swimming stud...

2011-07-14T17:40:00.000-04:00

i finally had some time to sit down and scrap this week. scott took brock to boston to watch his favorite soccer team play in person. quinn and i stayed behind in our pj's and enjoyed some alone time. quinn and i coexist very well. he is low maintenance, but i am sure that will change as he puts on his teenage-hat. hard to believe he will be 13 here very soon. {note to self, make quinn a birthday card}

this photo was his individual photo from last winter's swim season. i am not happy with this photo AT ALL. the exposure is off and i hate that he was asked to put on his swim cap. it is pinching his eyes. but this is all i have so i scrapped it.

supplies:

cosmo cricut salt air
studio calico, alpha stamps
papertrey ink, vintage cream cs

i only bought this paper for that splishy-splashy paper that i used for the long strip. cosmo's stuff lately hasn't been turning me on. i am not into that cartoon-y crap. it was a stretch for me to use those stickers on this. i tried to peel them off but they were stuck...so i am stuck with them now.

this year i planted a whole bunch of herbs for us to enjoy throughout the summer. and these herbs are making me so happy!! i planted tarragon, rosemary, thyme, oregano, dill and chives. i also grow basil and parsley inside all year long. lately my favorite thing is to cut a bunch of different herbs and mix them in some olive oil and red wine vinegar with some chopped garlic, then throw in some chicken and grill. omg, it is so good!! but yesterday i ran across a recipe in my "everyday food" magazine for "compound butter". so i mixed some up.

2 sticks butter, softened

3 T chopped herbs

1 tsp salt

mix together and stick in the fridge.

tonight i am planning on trying it out on some fresh corn, but this weekend i am thinking of making a big pot of shrimp boil...this will be delicious on shrimp, red potatoes and more corn. and maybe tomorrow night on some french bread along side some pasta....

ok off to make our dinner. i'll be back soon, cuz i made 4 new cards yesterday too.

another summer shelter card...

2011-07-06T14:15:00.001-04:00

see my new blog header? i took it with my new camera. love, LOVE my new camera. it's a canon rebel. it takes the best photos!! i wish there was a big fat bee on that daisy. might have to stalk the bees and try to get a photo of one.

scott is off this week. they told him to use his leave or lose it. today he spent the morning bush-wacking our driveway. the bittersweet and shumack were taking over. as much as i love my bittersweet, i don't want to lose our privacy bushes. cuz i'm all about not seeing my "street-mates". this is my new name for my neighbors. i hate calling them this cuz i feel like the term neighbors is for ppl who are nice. so i decided on "street-mates". what do ya think?

this is another card i did for the shelter summer cards i recently dropped off. this stamp is my new fave for sure!! the flowers are stamped in pti orange zest to look like oriental poppies. i just took a black pen and dotted in the centers.

supplies:

cardstock, pti kraft and rustic vintage cream
stamp & sentiment, pti garden variety
heart punch, no idea
black gingham paper, amuse
top note die cut, su
pti ink, orange zest, ripe avocado, aqua mist,
su ink, going gray

for the inside, i did the same orange flowers stamped on white cotton paper.

have a nice afternoon, i am off to bathe the dogs.

project life...

2011-07-05T13:02:00.010-04:00

so i just got back from wally-world and there was a dog in a dk green car. hello. what is wrong with people?

DO NOT LEAVE YOUR DOG IN A HOT CAR!

i went in to the customer service to ask them to say something over the speaker and it went like this:

me: there is a dog in a car in the parking lot and it's been there for at least an hour.

customer service: {which is a total misuse of these 2 words} is the window cracked?

me: yes, but it's 83' out there...{that's all the further i got when she stuck her hand in my face}

customer service: there is nothing i can do and it will be fine.

me: then i will call the cops.

now the devil on my shoulder is telling me to grab the microphone and say hey will the dumb ass that left their very furry golden retriever in a dk green jeep in 83' weather that has plates that ironically say "best mom" please come to customer service for your beating.

but i refrained. we called the police and right when the cop showed up a man with a very full cart came out to the truck. i waited til i seen the dog's head pop up, but it took him awhile. he left b4 the cops got to him.

gracie loves to go in the car, but when i tell her "it's too hot for you", she knows these words and goes to lay down. gracie cannot handle heat at all.

I HATE STUPID PEOPLE!!

ok off my soap box for now, and onto my stuff you actually came here to see...these are a couple of things i put in our project life for may and june. i wanted to make sure a lo of our sweet mattie girl went in may's pages. i used the paper that came with the kit so it would match. it's an 8 x 8 lo and it fits fine in the binder.

on the back i listed the names of the ppl that sent us a sympathy card, {thank you carol, jen and dr o}. and i am going to stick those cards in there.

and this one i cased from ali edwards herself. she was taking photos of her garden with her polaroid-like camera but it's from fuji and sticking them into a baseball card protector. i am always taking pics of my garden during the summer. i love to see what is blooming from day to day, so i switched over to my polaroid, scott gave it to me for my birthday last year, and WA-LA, a photo page of our garden. this is going in the month of june. i wrote on the bottom of the pics with a sharpie. love how this turned out.

ok off to run brock out to play soccer with his home-ys. have a fab tuesday. thanks for stopping by!

happy 4th...

2011-07-04T12:06:00.000-04:00

wishing you all a fabulous 4th of july holiday!

grunge for today...

2011-06-27T10:02:00.000-04:00

just a quick post this monday morning to show you a grungy birthday card for my good friend, georgette! i had found several little snip-lets of the cosmo cricket circa 1934 on my table so i put them to work on this card.

the main image is stamped on that paper i found in my neighbor's garage. i hoard this stuff cuz when it's gone, it's gone. i scrunched and inked up everything. and even sewed a little too.

supplies:

cardstock, pure poppy: papertrey ink
stamps, papertrey ink: botanical silhouettes, garden variety
pattern paper, cosmo cricket: circa 1934
lace, making memories
button & twine, papertrey ink

here is the inside. i stuck in a piece of nice cotton paper for writing. stamped the exact same grass and flowers that are on the front along the bottom. that little tag is a quick kutz die cut from one of my baked tags. i stapled a piece of twine left from a previos project and topped it with a small prim punched heart. i have no idea where i found that punch.

ok, i am off to do some monday chores, so have a super week!!

happy summer...{insert raspberry here}

2011-06-23T13:56:00.003-04:00

ok all you sun-stroked-happy-for-sand-in-your-crack-peeps, i got another happy for-burnt-skin card for ya. even put a nice happy sentiment on it just for you. dropped off a couple of these babies today at the vet's office. i picked up $23.50 for the shelter and a special request from one of the vet techs for an anniversary card for her parents. should be interesting, cuz she wants purple and blue....and you all know that purple is one of my all time faves of the color palette. NOT!

check out the new total (sidebar) for money to the shelter. i am closing in on $250.00 and we are only 6 months into the year. i am beyond happy about the results. i should easily break $500 by the end of the year. i think the vet staff are my best customers. they told me today that the send out cards all the time just for the hell of it and that made me so happy. we all need to send out MORE cards to our friends and families. what the hell are you saving them for anyway?

supplies:

cardstock, papertrey ink

pattern paper, cosmo cricket

chair stamp, lockhart

alpha stamps, inkadinkado

twine, the twinery

markers, whitetrash

notice the pattern papers look like water and sand by the chair, pretty genius, i gotta say. yeah, i'm sure someone famous probably already did this, but i haven't and i'm not famous. i'm like the white trash of stamping.

it's cool and rainy here today and i couldn't be happier. i feel so good in this weather. i have no numbness on these cool days. so you guys can have your sun, but i'll take my clouds any day.

just a couple more things:

for a really good eye watering laugh go here and read. you will not be disappointed. and if you come across one of those chickens, send me one. i have my own plans for one.

and can you go here and vote for this photo? just click on the vote/share button. i ran across this blog via freekibble. ( you all are going her daily to help animals in shelters, right? now don't lie cuz my feedblitz down below tells me where you turkeys go after my blog.) this guy lost his son to cancer 7 years ago. devastated, he went and rescued a pit bull. him and his pit, spirit, live out of a motorcycle touring the US. this guy's photography is amazing. his dog rides in a side-car and wears goggles. so flippin cute. here is his blog, the oasis of my soul.

AND LASTLY,my friend, tracey from scrapfriendzy gave me an award. thanks tracey!

Here are the rules for this award:

1. Send a thank you to the person who nominated you and include their link. (see above)

2. Answer 7 random facts about yourself. (see below)

3. Pass the award on to at least 8 other awesome blog buddies. (see below)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i do not like summer.
i use to sell pampered chef.
this year is my 10 year MS anniversary.
a minister told scott and i that we wouldn't make it and refused to marry us, 19 years ago next month.
scott and i were married at the JP thanks to the idiot above.
my fave drink is jack and coke.
i hate ppl with no humor.

how's that for randomness? next time i should make my list after a jack and coke. don't worry i'm a happy and friendly drunk. just ask stacy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

8 friends:

ok, i have typed long enough. i need a nap. see ya.

chunky dunkin for the shelter...

2011-06-21T17:53:00.003-04:00

my mojo seems to be on vacation. might have something to do with the fact my 11 window craft room heats up like fricken mexico in the afternoon beacuse of all this sunshine. i hate sunshine, it's like crack to happy people.  you know the people who make mary poppins look like oscar the grouch. the people who make you ponder life without parole just so you don't have to hear them sing "good morning" to show tunes ever again. those kinds of people. they make my skin crawl and tomorrow my happy sunshine loving peeps, daylight starts ticking away.

TICK TOCK.

this thursday i have a vet appointment for the dogs. nothing wrong, just the annual stool-sample-probing appointment.  so i need to find my mojo and get some summer-like cards done to add to my basket. cuz happy summer people like happy summer cards.   this is the only one i did today that i liked enough to show you.  the other ones sucked, but they still might make it into the basket cuz not everyone has the same tastes. {anyway that's what scott tells me}

pp paper and cs: papertrey ink
stamps: lockhart
twine: the twinery

my boys are out of school as of today, they are going to be my full time slaves this summer.  i am now living with an 8th grader and a senior. heaven help me. i'm going to need more booze.....and maybe a cute lawn boy who doesn't speak english wearing a banana hammock....

mattie lo & garden...

2011-06-13T22:57:00.000-04:00

i did a lo of our mattie this past weekend. i even broke into a new paper pack i bought at convention, portrait by crate paper. the sketch is from scrap a little sketches, under the one photo section.

i am still missing mattie.

i went out today to walk my "dirt", as i call it, to see what was going on in our gardens. the peonies and clematis are blooming and the veggie garden is doing well, but it needs some weeding and it's time to put on the tomato cages.

thanks for stopping by.

happy after memorial day!

2011-05-31T16:38:00.000-04:00

the temp has been over 75' here all weekend so that officially makes it naked-white-trash time here in my little town. how i love seeing all the tattooed-skin walking down main street pushing their strollers with their pit bull next to them sporting the very bestest-biggest chain collar that walmart sells with a butt hanging off their lip. fyi i have nothing against pit bulls, i just have issues with stupid ppl owning them. my dad always said, "it's not the breed, it's the owner." and i thoroughly believe that!! in fact i hope to one day rescue one and turn it into a love-bug like the rest of my critters.

i hope everyone had a fabulous holiday. we didn't go anywhere, we just stayed here and worked in the yard. i have all my flowers planted, grass seed down, the front porch is all clean and ready to enjoy. we made a fire on sunday night and cooked hot dogs and smores. quinn drug out his tent so him and sadie could sleep out under the stars. it was a very good weekend.

so i made this card awhile ago for a freind. sorry i don't have anything new to show you. just haven't had the time to scrap here lately.

thank you to all of you who came by to pay your respects to our mattie girl. we made a nice grave out back with some day lillies and quinn put some red bricks around it. she will be missed!!

enjoy your day!

good bye my sweet friend...

2011-05-26T10:44:00.000-04:00

...as we got into the car this am, brock told me that after quinn went up to his room this morning, he opened up his blind and sat on his bed and stared at mattie's grave. it broke my heart. we are all very sad today to have lost another dear friend.

mattie came into our lives by way of a CT shelter in february of 2004 and she left peacefully yesterday. she will be greatly missed.

thank you for all your kind words on yesterday's post.

my other soccer stud...

2011-05-25T09:48:00.001-04:00

i went to step on the scale this morning and the batteries were dead...i'm thinking it was a sign....a sign to pull the covers over my head and stay in bed all friggin day. we have decided, after much thought and deliberation, to have our mattie put down. i have an appointment for this afternoon. she's old and has stopped using the litter boxes. i have tried everything, but i still feel like a failure. it's not like she has cancer, she's just old, cranky and arthritic. {kind of sounds like me these days} every morning i look for the pee spots and if there is none, i carry her to the litter box and close the door. i'm at a loss and don't know what else to do, so i'm thinking staying in bed would have been a good choice for today and possibly tomorrow too.

anyway i worked on this lo yesterday, these are action shots from quinn's last soccer season. this just might be the last time he does play soccer. he has decided to try cross country this fall instead. he does better by himself than on a team sport. plus the travel soccer guys were not very kind. they think they are god's gift to soccer and they are very critical of others who did not play on a travel soccer team. they did the same thing with brock, but quinn just didn't seem to deal with it very well. he's a hell of a runner so i think cross country just might be his sport. i guess time will tell. why are kids so mean these days? i'm just so sick of it!

i didn't use a sketch for this lo, i made it up as i went along. i cut all of the pics with spellbinders and just put them together til i liked them. took a picture of the arrangement {so i could put them together later the same way} and then worked on the background. i used my studio calico mister huey's spray that i got at convention and i LOVE it! it dries so fast!! i am def getting some more colors. i picked up atmosphere and calico cream at convention.  this was the first time studio calico was at convention, i hope they come back next year.

all the paper is from crate paper's school spirit collection.  i'm sad to say that i'm almost out of this line. i free-hand cut the clouds and did all the sewing on my finely tuned machine.

brock is in boston on his first college tour today, how exciting for him. my parents looked at me and said, we don't have money for college. get a job. and i did. 2 in fact.

ok, i am off to plant our garden plants this morning.

take care.

thank you...

2011-05-23T15:03:00.000-04:00

happy monday peeps! {if there is such a thing.} henry gave us a wake up call at 4:30 am and i have been up since then. so i am moving at a snail's pace today. but i did manage to get on the elliptical machine for 30 minutes.

this card is another one that i had made for the shelter. this is some older paper from k & company, but i still love it. the lace is from joann's and the stamps are from verve. thank you cards fly out the door at the shelter. i have to get the father's day cards over there this week.

ok, i am off to take a nap or something....

my soccer stud...

2011-05-17T10:37:00.001-04:00

look at me! 2 posts in 2 days!! yay me!!

i am trying to get back into scrapbooking these days. here lately all of my free time has been going towards making cards for the shelter. which is awesome, but not awesome for my albums. my photo stacks are growing by leaps and bounds.

so i print out the sketch every week from sketchy thursdays, but i rarely get to it. i really liked the sketch for this week and immediately thought of brock's soccer pics from last season. i always order a 5x7 of the boys sports pics for myself and then i take several action pics from the games. so what i had fit into this sketch really well. i had 12 more action shots left over and i put them into a 12x12 page with the 4x6 slots. i am going to stick it in between these pages in my album. i wish i hadn't done quinn's soccer pics cuz i love the way this turned out.

ok, i am off to ride the machine. it's punishment for my ice cream addiction.

have a super day, do something fun !!

our garden & a dog card...

2011-05-16T09:36:00.002-04:00

happy monday peeps! another rainy day here in maine. going to be wet all week here. i am so glad we don't have our garden in yet. cuz it would be floating by now. scott and quinn built some raised veg garden beds this weekend and we are moving our garden to the middle of the yard. i am hoping these 2 changes will make our veg garden more productive this summer. usually the boys pool would go into this area but they have decided not to put it up this year. they barely played in it last year, so i think this was a good decision. saves water and money in the long run. we moved my compost bin here too, it was in the shade and it hasn't been very productive. it needs more sun. scott is going to square off the area and put weed barrier under everything and then mulch around the beds to walk on. hopefully gracie will not dig in this area {she is a digger} and i am thinking the raised beds should keep the dogs from walking thru my garden...now if i could just do something about the soccer balls that seem to beat the crap out of my veggies.... do you plant a veg garden?

so here is a dog card for the shelter. i worked on father's day cards this past weekend for the shelter. did anyone notice that the money for the shelter is up over $200.00? i am very excited! i had coupons for kitten food last week so i grabbed some to drop off this week too. it's kitten season so if you could drop off some things to help out your shelter, they would be most grateful! anyone catch the story on the news regarding the detriot shelter? they were down to their last $43 and after their story aired they recieved $30,000 in donations. it made my heart smile. so please, think about donating to your local shelter.

thanks for stopping by!!

for the cat lovers...

2011-05-04T13:14:00.001-04:00

don't faint. i am actually going to post a new card today. i made this for the shelter. these stamps are from stampin up and the paper is max & whiskers from basic grey. these go pretty fast at the shelter for obvious reasons.

stacy has come and gone. she and her folks found themselves in a flash flood just blocks away from the train station so she missed her train and had to take a later one. but she finally made it here in one piece around 1 am.

we went to the ck convention on saturday to shop. it was ok, i guess. i managed to spend all of my money but it was nothing mind blowing. some things that i had been able to buy there in previous years was not brought to this one. they said they didn't have enough room to bring that item....hmmm, really? but you had the space to bring them last year and the year b4 that and...well, you get the point here. the booths were few and the merchandise was low. for example, i need another max & whiskers 6x6 pad but they didn't bring one. really? but i bought 6- 6 x6 pads from them last year. whatever. now i have to buy online and pay for shipping. there were lots of fill in the blanks scrapping booths which is not my style and laser cut thingys.

anyway, enough of my bitching. hope you are all enjoying your day. thanks for stopping by and making sure i haven't clicked the delete button. yet.

another grungy card...

2011-04-20T15:21:00.000-04:00

i made this last week for a dear friend who is having some personal problems. i just wanted to let her know that i was thinking of her. she is totally into the "grunge" of things, so i know that she will love this one. i made those rag blooms out of some scraps of fabric and the rest is made from bits and pieces left on my table from the last project.

supplies: su more mustard cs, cosmo cricket circa 1934 pp, rag blooms, one of my baked tags and a sniplet of b & w ribbon from pti. i typed the sentiment on with my manual typewriter.

as always thanks for stopping by!

grungy thank you...

2011-04-12T16:21:00.006-04:00

did anyone miss me? i know i didn't miss blogging. just not into it here lately. i start a post and then delete the whole damn thing. i feel like my cards are starting to look like alike, so i haven't felt like showing them to you.

but today i went totally grungy which is what i like. just a little grungy 4.5 x 4.5 card to say thank you to a very sweet friend. i wanted it to look like an old quilt. i sewed around each one of those squares too. had my machine tuned up and it runs fabulous!

supplies: su more mustard cs, cosmo cricket circa 1934 pp, pti true black cs, red poppy button and mixed messages sentiment, and a couple of spellbinders dies too.

the little tag is cut out of one of my baked tags but with a small quickutz tag die. quickutz are not very popular right now, but i still use mine. when i saw those new tiny tags from PTI, i remembered that i had several little tags, so i dug them out. that prim star is also a quickutz die. one of my faves!

well, scott is home and it's time for us to walk the dogs. we take a walk every night together.

thanks for stopping by!

H{ippity} hop. HOP...

2011-04-04T08:58:00.001-04:00

just a quick post for the {ippity} blog hop today. for a complete list of players, see the {ippity} blog.

these are very old photos of the boys. quinn was just 1 and brock was 4. these were taken while we were stationed in ballston spa, NY. we had this fabulous place called sunnyside gardens. brock's preschool class always had field trips there. i bought all my bedding plants and pumpkins at sunnyside. they had these boards with paintings on them with holes to put your face in. the boys loved these. they had a huge outdoor train for rides, hay rides in the fall and a huge toy train set up during the winter. it was a very special place. we loved it!

supplies: {ippity} fall for you stamps, bazzill rust and kraft cs, pti autumn abundance pp, mm black alphas. i paper pieced the pumpkins and the leaves.

have a great day, i am off to vacuum and clean the bathrooms.

thanks for stopping by!

a card & a WT story...

2011-04-02T14:08:00.001-04:00

happy saturday peeps! we had a april fool's day nor'easter yesterday. that's mainer talk for *blizzard*. speaking of mainers...i have a white-trash-neighbor story for you. i know you have all been missing my stories of neighborly trashiness...

so the teenage thug, who has been kicked out of school due to drugs, drives a green suburban. but this week he and his fellow thugs took off all the green-ness, the doors, hood, trunk, panels.. and replaced them with white pieces. which i will admit is pretty ingenious. the kid might actually have some talent with cars, but unfortunately he will use his powers for bad not good. anyway, the other day he was behind me coming out of the HS( he is the only thug with a car, so he has carpooling duties) and i got a good look at the front end. he put a grill off of a cadillac escalade on it. so it has a suburban body but the front end off of a cadillac escalade. just like the ones the rap-crappers drive. i couldn't believe it. i just witnessed the birth of the first white-trash cadillac SUV. i about died laughing. his girlfriend is pregnant, how cool will that thing look with a carseat going to pick up their free crap from the government. cuz you know they will be sucking off that hind tit for many years to come. OMG, i have got to move....

ok on to the card. when i was cleaning up my table last week, i found a whole bunch of snip-lets of goodness so i put together this card for my bestie, stacy. she'll be here soon to hang out and attend the scrapbooking convention and i cannot wait to see her!! supplies: pti kraft, red poppy, true black cs, amuse black gingham pp, cosmo cricket circa 1934 pp, twine, mm alphas, lockhart buttermilk hen stamp, basic grey basics pp.

have a super weekend!

best wishes...

2011-03-25T12:00:00.001-04:00

i am so happy it's friday and i am finally done cleaning my house. only took me a week to finish it all up. not too bad. didn't break any speed records but at my age, speed is not an issue. lol i remember back when scott was in the navy, i would clean the entire house the day before the boat arrived, bake, bathe the dog and be primped and on the pier at the arrival time with 2 smiling little boys. that would so not happen today. OMG. NO. FREAKIN. WAY.

so i made this card awhile ago for the shelter. i don't have much use for wedding cards, but they are selling like crazy at the vet's office.

supplies: pti stone & smokey shadow cs, pti heart prints & mega messages stamps, cosmo cricket everafter. i picked up that bling for a $1 at mike's. i am not personally drawn to these shiny things, but i know most other ppl are and i think it works really well on this card.

scott stayed home today and is back at work under my truck. the check engine light came back on this week. i think i am going to go sit at my table and work on a lo. don't remember the last time i scrapped something. i have lots of things to get done for georgette's shop too. she wants more coasters and some framed art for her opening in april.

so have a super weekend! do something fun or at least sleep in and make some pancakes for breakfast!

happy birthday brock...

2011-03-23T11:09:00.000-04:00

brock turns 17 today. omg where did the time go? i say this alot these days, cuz it just seems like time is flying by. i can't believe this time next year, he will be getting ready to graduate and be on his way to college.

so i just had to share this pic of brock eating his first birthday cake. he still eats this way...JJ! what a cutie-pie!

and here is the card i made just this morning. it's hot off the craft table! the last few years i have put a number on brock's cards so i did that again this year. i love the effect. even got one of my baked tags on this one.

supplies: basic grey basics & granola, jillibean soup journal circle, quickutz number dies, pti kraft, true black, rick rack die, library ledger pp, tim holz tiny staples.

here is the inside. just a strip of the BG granola and the sentiment and star came from pti around and about sentiments.

ok, kids i am off to clean. yes, i am still spring cleaning. i have washed all the curtains, wiped down all the woodwork, dusted everything...and i am so tired but my house smells so nice!! so today's mission is our bedroom. my diningroom is covered with air-drying curtains. scott said he would iron and hang them when he got home tonight...now that's what i call foreplay!

lol have a super fun day!

h{ippity} hop, HOP...

2011-03-21T09:59:00.002-04:00

first full day of spring here in maine today and we are expecting 2-5 inches of snow. i find it amusing. just a gentle reminder that just because the calendar says it's spring doesn't mean mother nature agrees...

had some time yesterday to whip up a card for the {ippity} blog hop today. for a complete list of participants, go here.

supplies: because of you and just wanted to say {ippity} stamps, su top note die and more mustard cs, pti pp, cs and rick rack die.

if you would like to get your own {ippity}stamps, see my friend, banu.

i am off to do some more spring cleaning. my goal today is the kitchen, the mudroom and the half bathroom. i'll be so glad when this project is done.

have a fabulous week!

8 spring cards for the animals...

2011-03-10T15:43:00.000-05:00

i just called my buddy at my vet's office and she told me that my basket of cards is very empty. so i guess i will be on card-making duty all weekend long for the shelter.

i whipped up these 8 cards using a dollar stamp i picked up at mike's. i for one am not ready for the warmer weather, but i know pretty much everyone else is out there and i think they could also be used for an easter greeting.

the dp is making memories, garden party with some pti ribbon and buttons thrown in here and there.

ok, off to make more cards to make for the animals...

thanks so much...

2011-03-09T09:30:00.000-05:00

here's another card for the shelter. all the supplies came out of the scrap box. i have an ever-overflowing scrap box these days. i need to finish up some more cards and get them out to the shelter this week. plus grab some heart worm for the dogs.

not much else going on around here. quinn's final meet was last saturday for YMCA Champs. it was a very long day, over 12 hours spent traveling, waiting and about 5 minutes actually spent swimming. but he had a great season.

lots of rain coming in for us the next couple of days. lots of melting going on for us right now. before i know it, i'll be bent over in the garden, giving my best side to the white trash neighbors...have a fabulous wednesday!

happy birthday shawn...

2011-03-02T09:54:00.001-05:00

i guess i must have needed a blogging break. i didn't realize that i had been gone for this long. i have been preoccupied with other things here lately. first, quinn and i got sick with some kind of respiratory flu crap, then the boys went on winter break. we had 3 major snow storms this past weekend and we killed the snowblower during the first one. which really sucks cuz we take care of a neighbor's driveway, so we've had lots of time shoveling. my "check engine" light is back on, water coming in the laundry room..... i could keep whining, but i'll stop.

my big project this past week has been making cards for submission. i have 9 in and maybe, just maybe, they might take one. keep your fingers crossed.

i made this card for stacy's sister. stacy didn't call up and ask for it, i told her i was making shawn a birthday card cuz i have CC material girl and no one to use it on. her sister, shawn, is an amazing seamstress. i have several things that she has made and i love them all. i wish i had her talent. so i made her this card so i could use that super cute sewing machine. tried to put as many other sewing things as possible, like the ribbon, the buttons and the safety pin. and i just have a thing for the doilies right now. i even sewed around the card, but i hope she doesn't look too closely at that, cuz i do not sew a straight line. i do drunk-sewing. good thing my style is primitive so it doesn't have to be perfect!!

anyway...i am off to shovel out the side door, furnace guy is coming and i don't want him tromping thru my house.

happy hump day!

hb2u...

2011-02-15T14:54:00.002-05:00

so i am sick again and miserable and brock started it. it's sneaking up on quinn today and scott is hiding from us all...lol had enough of this "coughing crap".

i wanted to share my happy news with you all....today i dropped off a bunch of new cards at the vet to sell for the shelter and picked up $77.50 to drop off at the shelter. how freakin cool is that? i was so excited to be able to drop off that much. and everyone there was so excited to see new cards. i think the staff buys the most. i need to make wedding and pet sympathy cards to drop off next. wedding season will be upon us soon. i spied in my scrap box some cosmo cricket everafter so i will use that for some wedding cards.

i am using up lots of scraps on cards for the shelter, including this one. the cosmo cricket pp, the pti red pp and the blue textured bazzil were all hanging out in the s-crap box... but not anymore. now they are a cute little boys birthday card x2. and check out the glittered thickers??? not something i would use on my stuff, so i used them on this. it totally works here and someone will love it.

anyway, i am off to help scott attach the faucets with the pipes underneath our new under-mounted sink, well ok, not technically "helping" but rather "stupid-vising". as my dad called it. but i'm so dam good at it....if only "holding a flashlight" was an actual profession, i'd be swimming in the moo-la!

get well soon, for the shelter...

2011-02-08T15:24:00.002-05:00

just a quick post today to give you something new to look at...this card uses a sketch from scrapfriendzy. this card is on it's way to the vet to sell for the shelter. i didn't have many "get well cards" in the basket i took out there, so i wanted to make some more to fill it up. tis the season to be sick.

supplies: stamp is by judith, pti cs, mm dp, mm lace, random prima and pearl. and just a little distress ink.

enjoy the rest of your day.

studio calico cards...

2011-02-03T11:37:00.000-05:00

happy thursday peeps! if i stand on my tippy toes and look over the snow bank, i can see the weekend from here. after i was done shoveling out this am, i had to take a photo and show you how much snow we have now. i can barely get the snow on top of the pile at this point. lol and they say another 4-8 inches on saturday. one of my neighbors said, "looks like an old fashioned winter." i like that. i can remember winters back when i was a kid and we had snow like this.

ok, on to the cards, which is why you stopped by...if you have ever gotten a kit from studio calico, these little cards probably look familiar. they throw these in with your order and usually have a coupon code on the back or a thank you. well, i keep them cuz i think they are too cute. so yesterday in between helping scott and just sitting on my ass i threw these together. they are both made with the studio calico cards and the rest of the supplies came out of the s-crap box. no new paper was cut to make these. which i love. having so many scraps really aggravates me.

the boys have a half day today, not sure why, but they do so i must go get them. have a fabulous day and thanks for stopping by to check on me.

brock's very cool art...

2011-02-02T12:12:00.001-05:00

now it's a well known fact in my house that brock is NOT the artsy-fartsy-crafty-one. but this artwork he did in art last year is fabulous!! he did such a great job on it. i had to have a pic of him with it to save, cuz i do not save big art work from the boys. if they want it...fine, but i don't have space to store them.

i used a sketch from scrpfriendzy for this. i wanted this lo to be graphic like his artwork. i did NOT distress this at all. i know. very hard for me to not do it, but i think it was the right choice. all the pp is basic grey white basics on white textured bazzill. the letters and journal box is also BG basics.

we are all home today enjoying another snow day. 10-16 inches expected. i have chicken chili in the crockpot for dinner.

scott is working on getting the second counter top off in preparation for the guys coming soon to make the template for our new quartz counter tops. so i just had to show [amy, angela and susan] the pink we found under the top layer of back splash. there is actually lots of pink in our house. karma.

happy groundhog day!

bd card for quinn's bff & the shelter...

2011-01-31T15:10:00.001-05:00

i can't believe it's monday again. i so wasn't ready for today. i didn't get much crafting done this weekend cuz we had so many other things going on, but i did manage to make this card for quinn's friend's birthday party. i love this paper from K & Co. and i knew it was perfect for sam. cuz quinn loves it and sam and quinn are like peas and carrots or 2 peas in a pod. they are very good friends. i don't know many kids that can talk for hours about legos...in 7th grade. but sam and quinn can. sam turned 13 on sunday and he had an ice skating party. quinn has never ice skated b4 but he loved it. i knew he would.

supplies: pti cs, star & tag die, button & ribbon, random rick rack, quickutz number dies, k & co pp, becky higgins journal card.

here's the inside. i always put a piece of white paper on dark cs. and then a strip of the reverse side of k & co paper, an pti ocean tides star. the stamp is from pti birthday basics.

and this one is the shelter version. i try to keep them not bulky, cuz i don't want to stress anyone out by having to use more postage.

well, i am off to get quinn and run to the store quick. we have another 15 inches of snow coming in over the next couple of days. it's alomost humorous now...the more ppl bitch about snow, the more we get. i love it, it reminds me of winters in colorado.

a card for the shelter...

2011-01-29T13:47:00.001-05:00

we have a very busy house today. scott is rewiring the kitchen outlets. quinn and his friend just left to go sledding. brock and his friend are putting their finishing touches on their futsol tournament t-shirts for tomorrow's showdown. [i am hoping they let me get a pic of them all in their shirts as a team. but that might embarrass brock...lol]  one of brock's friends this year is a foreign exchange from germany. i think he might want a keepsake photo. maybe that will help my case. and for me? several piles of laundry.

this card was made for one of the sketch challenges over at scrapfriendzy. on sundays the sketches are for cards.  when i took my basket to the vet to sell for the shelter, i realized i didn't have any congratulations cards so i made 2 of these for the shelter. from here on out, any card i make will be doubled, one for me-one for the shelter.

supplies:  all paper is pti, tim holz die, spellbinder die, mm lace, and just a little antique linen distress ink.

enjoy your weekend.

another winter card & a new recipe...

2011-01-27T21:03:00.002-05:00

ok, so i'm still making winter cards with my found memory box papers. i got this stamp last year in the dollar bin at mike's. one of my faves. and not much coloring needed. lol even used some glitter [angela] from martha stewart on the little snow piles.

supplies: memory box pp, g stamp, pti ribbon & cs, su colored cs, antique linen distress ink.

i know some of you think i am crazy to love winter....but i get it from one of my grandmothers. my dads mom. when it would start snowing, she would go out for a drive. for hours. they put a CB radio in her car so they could find her. she was not a hot weather person at all. i get that from her too. there's just something about winter. i love that it is so quiet when it's snowing. almost like the world has stopped for the flakes. soon enough it will be hot, hotter than hell. for all you hot weather lovers.

i made a new recipe tonight and it was yummy! so i thought i would share ith with you. it comes from family circle magazine.

Julie's Noodle Casserole

Ingredients:

1 bag wide egg noodles

1 pound lean ground beef

1 container (15 ounces) refrigerated marinara sauce (such as buitoni) * i made my own*

1 container (16 ounces) 2% cottage cheese

1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

2 cups shredded cheddar

1 large egg

3 scallions, chopped * i used a regular onion chopped*

salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 350°. Coat a deep 2-quart casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.

Bring a large pot of salted water to boiling. Add noodles and cook 5 minutes. Drain.

Crumble beef into empty pasta pot. Cook over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, until no longer pink. Drain off excess fat. Remove from heat and stir in marinara sauce.

In large bowl, combine noodles, cottage cheese, spinach, 3/4 cup of the cheddar cheese, egg, scallions, salt and pepper.

Transfer noodle mixture to prepared dish. Top with beef and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.

anyway, i am off to watch another grey's rerun. when do these ppl work? i want to know. bring on the ice cream.