homeless

Well, my DT term at 2SCD has come to an end. The owner is going to hold off on doing kits and the message boards for a while. I really enjoyed my time there and was able to work with a couple of gorgeous kits, too!

Anyone know of a really great group that I should check out? I need a scrappy home!

Merry

Another creation for Kristin's Blog Challenge #4. This card did not start out as a Christmas card but it sort of turned itself into one! Even though the paper pad these pp came from is summery and bright, I thought the red and green looked gorgeous together. And the grey polka dots remind me of a cold, snowy day. I guess now I have a jump start on Christmas this year!!

The pp are from the October Afternoon paper pad I won a few weeks ago (Cherry Hill), the square journaling block is Maya Road (I added the red border), the green letter M is from The Paper Studio (at Hobby Lobby) and the buttons are Creative Cafe.

dog food cake

Emily is turning 7 this Sunday and wanted a "puppy party". So we bought puppy cups, plates, napkins, invites.. you get the idea. When I asked her what kind of cake she said she wanted a "dog food cake" for her party tomorrow. Here's what I made for her today - complete with dog food (aka cocoa puffs)!!

The cake itself is huge. 4 full layers in the blue part! She is a bit of a chocoholic and requested chocolate cake (to no surprise). This is a "triple chocolate fudge" cake mix with chocolate chips dumped in and chocolate frosting between the layers! I think she's going to like it??

Wannabe!

Did you see the call?? My heart is skipping a beat... I adore American Crafts! As you can tell by my many recent layouts that are flooded with their products! The DT Call is open until July 20th so I am off to create!

Zoo Love

This LO is done just for fun! Can you believe it? No challenges to link or anything! But I can link you to Becky Fleck's June PageMaps where i found the very inspiring and easy to use sketch for this fun LO flooded with color and product:

The bottom of the LO is actually black card stock but I cut it off a tiny bit when I snapped the pic (i was BLINDED by the sun - it is HOTTTT out today!). This LO is mostly American Crafts (heart pp, crown pp, green block pp) and Scenic Route (lucky, striped border, polka dot border, pink arrow, circles including the ones layered to make the flower, bubble border). But there is a little Making Memories (alphas spelling out "getting me some..."), Sass (zoo alphas) and the giraffe is Fancy Pants. I love it. So fun! And I like the journaling around the outside edge (got that idea from a book). Fun fun fun!

NYC Layout

Kristin is having ANOTHER Blog Challenge. Cuz she rocks like that! You can actually choose your challenge from (1) a LO sketch (2) a card sketch (3) a shopping list (4) an altered project. You can even do all 4 for FOUR entries! And she gives amazing RAKs! I did the LO sketch first (I hope to do all 4). You can see the sketch here. And here is my LO about NY. I was able to use SEVEN pictures! And my pp I bought for the trip - it looks like the subway map! I was also finally able to use some of that flair I have been hoarding!! LOL. The alphas are thickers and the red journaling block is cut from a piece of pp from Jenni Bowlin. TFL!

Father's Day 2009

We had a very nice Father's Day! The best part was having Jared home for a WHOLE day! In the morning we went to church at Aviator and then stayed afterwards for the "Dad Feast". Here's a pic of Jared and the girls after eating lunch:

And then the entertainment! They had a sumo wrestling tournament and to my surprise (and delight!) Jared signed up!!! Here he is in the Sumo costume:

I could just die laughing. How cute is he? And here he is in battle:

After church we spent the afternoon at home, including a nap and homework for me and NASCAR for him! That evening we went out to BBQ with his Dad, Mom, Brother, Sister and her hubby, and the four of us. Follow that up with Starbucks ice cream and carrot cake and I call it a good day!!

Jon and Kate Plus Eight

We have watched J&K+8 for... well, forever. It's Emily's all time favorite show. She'll pick the Gosselins over cartoons any day. It's surprising how much you come to actually care for people that you will never know. And their kids (shout out to Aiden and Hannah!) are SOOOOO adorable.

Tonight was the one hour "special". My heart is so sad. Not for them, necesarilly. But because of them. Even their actual divorce seemed staged and timed around the show. They filmed this particular episode well in advance (weeks? days? the promos started sometime last week...) but waited until the day that it aired to file papers to "dissolve their marriage"? Was it a coincidence or planned? So sad.

And the part that is even more disheartening to me is that throughout the seasons they have very openly talked about their Faith as Christians. So I find it discouraging that they would just "quit" their marriage. That they forgot that the God they know can easily heal their broken relationship if they would turn their "couch time" to Him rather than the cameras. It also makes me angry. Not totally sure why but I feel like they took on a responsibility as Believers when they taped themselves in Church. And they completely ignored that obligation to be representatives of their Faith. So did they just pretend to Believe so that their family appeared a certain way? Or have they really gotten that lost along the way? *sigh*

I know that my blog post won't make a difference in their lives but I am hoping that my prayers will. I believe very strongly that God has a specific path for them as parents and spouses and divorce is not it. As a Christian, I'm in it 'til the end. The way that He designed it. Not until things get hard, the cameras get too close, the lights too bright or the payouts too large. So, tonight I will be praying for these two people... lost out there in their own selves... in their media cocoon... and for their kids. That they will still see that God is there with them, even when it seems like their lives are out of control. He is, after all, their Father.

October Afternoon giveaway

hey! Great news: October Afternoon is giving away an 8x8 "Road Map" paper pads to two lucky blog readers. Head to their blog and follow the directions (it's easy, promise) and they will draw two winners next friday - hopefully you'll be one of 'em!! :o)

NYC Pics

My NYC pictures are finally uploaded, edit, adjusted, resized, named, tagged... blah. It took HOURS. But they are up and on Facebook. "Friend me" and take a looksie!

Here are a few of my faves (for those of you that don't facebook):

(I'm no dum dum, I took him gum, gum)

(waiting for the subway)

(rick-shaw ride through Central Park)

(having dinner in an outdoor cafe in Little Italy)

(outside of Carnegie Hall before Jon's concert)

BTW - I lost my contact on the second day and had to switch to glasses. Boo. I am waiting for my prescription to arrive from WA (via mail) so that I can order more. Lame. LOL

I found it!

Yay! I finally found my scrapping mojo! I think I must have left it in Washington a month ago!! But it's back... welcome home dear friend. *sigh*

Anyway, lol. I sat down tonight while DH was at work for a few hours and MADE myself scrap. First I went hunting for some inspiration and found it at PageMaps. I used one of Becky Fleck's amazing sketches from a June '09 Map and TONS of new product. Scenic Route, American Crafts, Fancy Pants, and Prima to name a few!

It's too late to take an actual photo tonight (my camera is a "no - go" when it gets dark) so I will take a proper picture tomorrow. But to wet your taste buds, here's the title:

(see... all blury. blech!)

On another scrappy note: my LO below (about my Aunt Betty) is now on display at my LSS. She was saying that she wanted to showcase some of that new Cosmo pp and I told her about my LO and she asked me to bring it in. It's like I'm famous or something. Well, not really. LOL!

Wanna see something random but fun?? On Sunday DH stopped at the Harley Davidson store (yeah, store. it is awe-some) to get my dad a Father's Day gift and boy oh boy did we find him an awesome one!! I also hadn't found him a Birthday gift from last month so I splurged and combined gifts on this:

And now for the RANDOM part. In the bathrooms, they have these:

Aren't these totally cool? I took a pic (obviously) but DH thought to try to open the drawers and ... yep... they still work. He said they were hallowed out to fit the plumbing and wouldn't hold much of anything. I asked him... well, could you store a tampon in there? he looked at me like I was a complete moron. LOL. But then he said yes!

Toot!

I am very proud that one of my LO's has been featured on the Scrapbook & Cards Today blog! Click on the pic to see the blog post featuring my "Big Kid Ride" LO:

Aunt Betty

Deb's May challenge at 2 Scrappy Chix Designs is to make a LO in under 30 minutes. I almost made it. I was somewhere around 35ish. But I am so happy with this LO that I can't stress over the time. I have NEVER completed a LO in less than an hour that I have actually liked! So, thanks for the inspiration Deb!! This was also the perfect chance to participate in the current at "Scrap Your Crap". The challenge was to use 3 or more packaged embelishments.... easy peasy (as they say!). Here it is:

Like the products? Here's the low down:

This LO uses LOTS of new product. The background paper (the dots/lines) are from Cosmo Cricket (Early Bird: Cherry Pie). The cherries are the back of the dotted paper!! The scallops around the picture of my beautiful Aunt Betty are a strip from more Cosmo Cricket (Early Bird: Borders). The "Faith" Bingo tag is Jenni Bowlin, as are the red chalkboard letters that spell "Betty". The red/white polka dot journaling tag is another Cosmo Cricket piece (Early Bird: Elements). The blue tab and red "memories" at the top left of the pic are October Afternoon (Cherry Hill: Cardstock Stickers). The "I love u" button is Making Memories (looking glass stickers). The ribbon is all from my big box o' ribbon. Here's a close up of most of the gorgeous scrappy treasures I used:

I left my heart in... NYC?

I am back from NYC and I am in love!!! That was the most amazing trip!! I took somewhere around 250 pictures in 5 days and we saw EVERYTHING!

Here's a quick rundown: Times Square, Central Park, Carnegie Hall (saw my BIL sing in Carnegie on Tuesday night), Rockafeller Center/plaza, Radio City Music Hall, all of the shows along/around Broadway, FAO Shwartz, Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty (my new BFF), Ellis Island, Ground Zero, rode the subway (a lot!), Rick Shaw ride around Central Park, Empire State Building, Chrystler Building, Serendipity's (and had the Frozzen Hot Chocolate... yum!), Dylan's Candy Bar, Museum of Natural History.... and I'm probably forgetting some things!!!

I came home exhausted and it's taken me a couple of days to get back on my feet. I still have no desire to tackle my pics but here's one I took from the "Top of the Rock" (The top of Rockafeller Center). Behind me is upper Manhattan and Central Park:

So my only question now is.... When we goin' back??

2S4Y Ultimate Card Showdown - week 1

2 Sketches 4 You is having their first annual Ultimate Card Showdown in honor of their one year anniversary. They have amazing prizes from generous sponsors. To enter, we had to make a card based on Laura's sketch. I used my new October Afternoon paper pad and stickers (Cherry Hill). I also used another of the clear "girl figures". This time I used a flower to give her butterfly wings. And don't you adore the giant ric-rac?? Here it is:

Wish me luck!!

Coming to an end...

My NYC vacation is coming to an end. The airport shuttle picks us up at 9:15am then back to Wichita I go. It has been AMAZING. Expect a suuuuper long blogpost with lots of pictures in the near future!!