Happy Birthday Kevin

After church (wow, what a service!) and a great lunch at Olive Garden (yum!), we headed home. Kevin was eager to take a lazy Sunday afternoon nap, but I asked him to go outside for a few pictures. His glasses have the Transition lenses so they immediately become dark, but he looks better with them than without them, so....I got this one. I guess dark glasses and all, it captures who he is day to day. After about SEVEN pictures, he was done. You know a scrapper has to take many to get one, right? LOL! Happy Birthday, hubby! He's 45...going on 12. hee hee
I told him his hair matched his shirt. It took him a minute and then we both laughed. LOL!

This is what arrived Thursday at our house. Meet Alice, Kevin's new girlfriend. LOL! She's an Allis Chalmers WD45, I think. (Lord knows if I run out to see, I'll just have eight paws following me so it's just easier to type my guess.) I just know it's orange, runs well and is a "therapy tractor" for him to tinker with. I have my scrapbooking, he now has his garage therapy. LOL! He used to have tractors, used to be in tractor pulling, etc. and always wanted another one. After a long thoughtful debate between the two of us...well, Alice is here. He got a good deal on a great tractor. Kinda funny that we live on a busy street in town and we have farm equipment in our garage. It's not even as big as my car so it fit in there beautifully. I would also love to fix up our breezeway to make a nice tool shop for him. Perhaps, someday.

This is Kevin with Mr. Williams. He is such a dear, dear man. He has several tractors and had this one for sale. We met a great, honest man during this whole tractor thing. Kevin has seen him pull his Minneapolis-Moline several times, but only made the connection of who he was when we saw "Skinny Mini" in his tractor building. He even delivered the tractor to us and was such a dear person to meet. The neat thing...he kind of reminded me of my maternal grandfather. I think it was the shape of his mouth and the way he said some things. I just kept secretly looking at him as I thought of my Gaggy (grandpa). OH, and Harold...see that hat Kevin has on? He loves that Synagro hat you gave him a while ago. He wears it to work a lot. :)

I'm off to do laundry and tackle the mess on my craft table...finally! :)

Best Wishes

I made this card last weekend for the wedding reception we attended. I kept it simple. You can see the shimmer I added on the second pic. Click either pic for a closer look.
Cardstocks: White Naturals, Baja Breeze, Sahara Sand
Inks: Baja Breeze, Sahara Sand
Stamps: Elegant Greetings from SU!, Guide Lines from Papertrey Ink
Accessories: ticket corner punch, Sakura stardust pen, self-stick bling, corner rounder
I looked through my gallery to see if there was anything I could share today. I've been under the weather all week and finally saw my doc yesterday. I've got acute gastroenteritis...aka flu bug. I've had the same stinkin' headache for three days with it and I'm so ready for that to be gone. I hope to get some energy back this weekend and clean up my craft table or start my Christmas cards. The house is lookin' like a tornado zone, too.

Thanks for stopping by!

Handsome Devils

Wednesday was haircut day for Riley and I took some pics of our handsome devils to show. They are just too funny! I'll be back as soon as I can with something crafty.
He often walks the "tight rope" or well, it's just the ledge to our front window. See those lovely chew marks in the wood? Rascals!

Now this one made Kevin and I say Awwwwwww. He is a cute little guy, huh? :) He's sportin' his cute scarf from Miss Betsy, the groomer. Gotta love his wet chin since he drank water right before this.

I wanted a pic of the two of them together. You can tell Riley was doing the "donnnnnnn't, Mom! I don't want to do this!" look. Notice Momma's hand trying to coax him into position. LOL!

Ok, so let's try on the loveseat. I said "Jack, Riley...look at Momma." and this is what I got. Are you sure these two aren't human children in a fur suit? They are ornery as kids!

After I left them alone and was on the computer, they both laid down. I loved this one of Jack all snuggled in the soft sheets of the spare bed with his bone by his side. You can see the light coming through the mini blind on his fur. He's just too sweet.

Ok, back soon with something crafty. Haven't felt the best this week so have been laying around. Yuck.

Happy Birthday Buttons

I made this card for Kevin's birthday this coming Sunday. I used White Naturals for the base, then a layer of Kraft. I did one row of paper piercing, sewed on clear buttons using Linen Thread and added the sentiment with Black Staz-On ink. The colored cardstock is five of the six new colors by Stampin' Up....from top to bottom....Soft Suede, Dusty Durango, Bermuda Bay, Crushed Curry and Rich Razzleberry. I left out Melon Mambo, which is a bright pink. LOL! (click pic for a closer look at the colors...you'll lick your screen I bet!) :)

Had a busy day, then a busy night. Whew! It's 9pm and I'm finally in my jammies! Kevin is off tomorrow and Riley gets a haircut. Other than that, not sure what mess I'll clean up around here on my half day off. :)

3 Amigos

I made this page about those three rascals you all know....Jack, Riley and Tucker. When Julie and Josh come to town, Tucker has so much fun here. It gets even wilder with three dogs here instead of the two wild ones we have. LOL!
The title and "3" border were cut out using the Cricut Graphically Speaking cartridge. The paw border was a laser die-cut in my stash. The kraft cardstock Top Note die-cut has inked edges and the only other things I added were some black alpha stickers, two black corners and a red paw sticker. (click picture to see details closer)

Connie, you should be proud. I even jjjjjjjjjjjjournaled! hee hee We always kid that journaling is a four-letter word. For me, journaling is usually brief on my pages, but I do know it is important. It's not like I don't have any journaling markers or anything....I just cringe to add my handwriting to a page. :)

Thanks for stopping by! I'll see what other projects I can round up and show you this week. That is if I can get the piles off my craft table so I have a space to stamp that is larger than 6"x6"....no joke! It's bad, people....reallllllll bad. *shakes head in disbelief of her own mess*

Sonshine

I am so grateful to God for His abundant blessings in my life. I made this page to honor Him and Him alone. He is the SON-shine in my life. :) Mom and I were riding back from Akron one evening and I captured this "ray of sunshine" shot through the car window. It was as if God was saying...."When this you see, remember me". I used two pieces of Bazzill Bling cardstock, one was cut in "rays" to mimic the rays of light. The edges of the rays were distressed using my Cutter Kit tool. I then added some clear alphabet letters, which have Stickles applied to the back. The letters were adhered using glue dots. I put a "sun" behind the "O" to emphasize the meaning behind my title. Lastly, I added a few clear buttons (that had Stickles on the back and were threaded with white embroidery floss), some Basic Gray ribbon and a photo mat using Basic Gray and Bordering Blue cardstocks.

Here is a wonderful song that just speaks to my heart about how wonderful Jesus is...Click HERE to listen. It's about 5-6 minutes long, but well worth the listen. :) Thanks for stopping by!

We Will "Moose" You

Yesterday was Sara's last day at our office. I made this "totally cracked me up" card to give her from everyone. We pass the card around, everyone signs it, then it goes to the recipient. I love that our office does that! OH and she is a huge moose fan, thus the play on words.
Our office manager printed off the color pic of the moose from the internet. I took that home and created what you see here. The main image is cut using the Top Note Bigz die from SU!. I inked the edges with Chesnut Roan chalk ink, then layered in onto Melon Mambo, Kraft and finally the Chocolate Chip base. The sentiment was added using Simple Alphabet from Papertrey Ink. Lastly, I made a tiny bow and adhered it with a glue dot. Too funny, huh!!!!!

Rhonda picked up a donut cake at Hawkins, which had the same sentiment on it. Sara just cracked up when she read it. We all piled into the break room, then Rhonda got her to come back there. Surprise!! Oh, but it didn't stop there. We all arranged to surprise her at lunch, too, and met Sara and her dad at Pizza Hut. We all chipped in and treated her to lunch. Her dad was such a good sport in keeping it all hush hush.

Sara and her donut cake. We truly will MOOSE her. :)

Today we're heading to another wedding reception. The couple was married in Florida on the beach and has returned home for the reception. The temps are cooler this weekend and I got to sleep in today! Ahhhhhhh.....bliss! I've got a couple more scrapbook pages I'll share soon. Thanks for stopping by!

Charles Lee 1989

My mom had this 8x10 of my nephew. Is he adorable or what? I can't believe he's 20 now! We picked out the patterned paper and felt stickers from Little Yellow Bicycle and I completed the layout. The polka dot theme was carried out to match the large dots on his outfit. The accents of orange, green and yellow made it all come together to not be too extremely "matchy matchy". I cropped the photo a bit, added the band of blue polka dot paper, some ric rac, buttons and animal stickers. Since the patterned paper had the blue accents, I added some more of the blue polka dot paper in the corners to frame the layout. I was really happy with how it turned out. Like I told my mom.....working with such a cute subject makes the page cute anyways! :)

I cut around the leaves on the patterned paper so I could tuck the picture underneath and still show the cute pattern of the paper. I added some tiny dots with my white gel pen, too. One last little detail of polka dots. I love details.

Thanks for stopping by! Everybody have a great weekend! I'll have more to share soon.

Terra's Shower

We pretended that the front office was having a staff meeting, but Terra had a clue something was up in the break room. She was still red in the face when we yelled surprise and so gracious about her shower gifts. :)

We all chipped in to get her bedding set. She was tickled to get it and said "I know what I'll be doing Saturday." She meant that she'd be washing the bedding and getting it set up in the crib.

Our nurse practitioner gave her a "homemade baby wipes" kit with a recipe to make more.

I told her we needed a belly picture. I think she looks fabulous for being 33 weeks along. You can't even tell she's pregnant from the back. She can't wear her rings anymore from swelling and says she tires out more easily. She is eager to meet her son soon!!!

Vickie made this blanket, which is so nice. I loved the scalloped edge and it even matches the nursery colors. Terra said she will keep it near the rocking chair and snuggle with Ryder.

The cake was certainly unique. We cracked up and said how it was one-of-a-kind and so perfect for Terra. She and Dave are outdoorsy and love to hunt, ride four-wheelers, camp, etc. Vickie made this four-wheeler cake and Kathy made the "camo" booties to go on the cake. Kinda funny, huh? Terra said she bets Ryder will be wearing lots of camo, too.

Vickie had an extra sugar bootie so she covered it with icing and brown sugar to make a ramp for the plastic four-wheeler. *giggle*

Of course, a party at our office is not complete unless there is a spread of food. We were all ready for naps after that delicious lunch and yummy cake! We managed to work the second half of the day though. Thanks for stopping by! Check back tomorrow to see another scrapbook page.

Up Up & Away!

This page is pretty simple. The patterned background made this one easy! I simply double-matted my photos, added some foam Thickers, added red dotted lines on each letter and put some rub-ons on two of the pictures. *click picture for a closer look if you wish*

Uh, yeah...so last night when I was typing the post about Ryder... somebody stole a sock from my laundry basket and look what happened. Now, I think the true thief is not shown in this picture. His name is Riley (aka sock thief #1), but Jack (aka sock thief #2) most likely helped create this hole with a series of tugs while the sock was in Riley's mouth. I know how these two thieves work as a team, you know. Ugh. Gosh...I loved this pair of socks. Oh well...it's just a pair of socks. I guess if I leave my sliding closet door open more than two inches, thieves will attack!!!! LOL! They both got scolded, then I ran to get my camera to capture the one thief on camera. I am a scrapper you know!!! You see any guilty dog in the background? He's quite handsome I must say. *giggle* OH, yeah..notice all the glorious dog slobber? Eww. They are kind of like toddlers....if they wander off for too long, you KNOW they are up to no good....as was proved in this case of missing sock #87. I would guess that's about how many times they have stolen socks around here. So glad the evidence wasn't eaten by ravenous little mouths! *giggle*

Welcome Ryder

We're having a surprise baby shower and lunch at work tomorrow for Terra. She is due in early October and is expecting a boy. They will name him Ryder David. I was in charge of making the card to go with her gift. We all chipped in and got her bedding set which is a safari theme. I thought these cute animals from the set Wild About You would be perfect. My mom gave me this cute pre-printed card and the colors matched SU! colors perfectly. I used Chocolate Chip, Bashful Blue and Old Olive. I took this picture close to 8pm so the colors are a bit off in the natural light. At least you get the idea. :) I had almost forgotten to post anything today as I've been busy running errands, doing laundry, cleaning and misc. around here. Whew...what a day!

Oh and here's a funny...Last night Riley decided to hang out on the armrest of the loveseat. You can even see his little drool mark on the armrest. I told Kevin to sneak in and get the camera. I was cracking up. The whole reason he was up there was because he and Jack got spooked from some fireworks sounds. No clue who was doing them, but the boys obviously hadn't gotten over the trauma of July 4th and were quite restless during it all. I guess Riley thought "higher ground" was safest. hee hee

Ah, so sleepy. I tell ya...these two characters sure keep us laughing. I could tell you a funny story every single day. I am just grateful I have a place to share them that might make someone smile when they read about it. Thanks for stopping by!

Giggle

I made this card for my co-worker whose last day is this Friday. She is leaving to work at another medical office and I'll sure miss our giggles together. She and I "get" each other's humor. I keep telling her...."Who will understand when I do or say such and such?" :(

Ink: Versamark Stamps: some clear ones in my stash, Punches: small star, 1/1/4" & 1 3/8" circle, Accessories: colored self-stick bling, white gel pen, Cardstock: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Kiwi Kiss, Rose Red, teal, Patterned paper: Basic Grey brand

Thanks for stopping by!

$2.42

Ladies and Gentlemen....I think I need a doctor right away. I must have a fever or something. I have just returned from cropping at Archivers and only spent a mere $2.42. NO, that is not a typo. Yes, I handed the cashier $2.42 and held my breath waiting for the ceiling to cave in (or the paper crafting police to handcuff me). There must be a mistake. I think I should have spent more, but nope....I didn't do it. I figured the cashier might wrinkle her nose at me and tell me I was no longer welcome to crop there. ha ha Nope, she just smiled when I told her my husband will think I have a fever when I tell him I spent so little. When I got home, I literally pulled out the receipt and he said "That's not bad." I was expecting a gushing reaction, but he said so little. ha ha Perhaps he was just in shock.


*giggle*

P.S. I'll have some pages to share this coming week since I was scrappin'! :)

Randomness

I don't have anything crafty to share so I'll just blab about randomness and count a few blessings.

Blessings this week:
swimming at the Y with mom
fresh haircut
sunshine/summer breeze
silly dogs running in the puddles out back
payday
clothes on the clothesline smelling fantabulous
renting new Cricut cartridges
cold popsicles
Kevin fixed the weed eater
hug from a dear patient at work
remembering God loves me despite my many flaws

Randomness this week:
I just read in today's paper that someone's infant daughter died last week. I recognized the last name and read on to discover it was the couple whose house we looked at when we were hunting for our first home over seven years ago. How sad. The mom is my age and I just can't imagine what they are going through right now.

My friend Connie earned several ribbons with her scrapbooking and card entries at the Richland County fair. How cool is that?!

I have a funky card on my craft table that I started making last night. However, I have to pack for Saturday's crop and may not have the card done in time to share by this weekend. I will get it done soon and share on here. It uses my new "guitar rocker dude" stamp.

Julie, Josh and Tucker the pup will be in town tomorrow night for Julie's alumni soccer game. Our family will be together and have pizza afterwards. I can't wait!

If I have an absence from my blog for a few days it's due to a busy schedule (and tired brain) and I will be posting some new creations/pictures soon. Check back and thanks for stopping by!

Rich Razzleberry

I took these pics today at my front window and although there is tons of natural light, the Rich Razzleberry cardstock looks a bit too dark here. At least you can see the card I made at Connie's workshop a few weeks ago. The base is Rich Razzleberry, one of the six new In Colors from Stampin' Up!. If you aren't familiar with In Colors, they are six limited edition colors and with each new catalog season, SU! retires the current six and introduces six new ones. Some seasons, I've wished I didn't have to say goodbye to my favs. I bet next July I'll feel the same way about this yummy color, too. The card front is made from a piece of patterned paper and a piece of printed transparency. The transparency is held on with two brads. Lastly, the sentiment and ribbon are added. With SU!'s transparencies, you can create gorgeous cards in no time. You get two 12x12 printed sheets in a pack. The coordinating patterned paper pack is double-sided, so you could get many different looks easily. And, yes, as I read this again I totally sound like an infomercial. LOL! Just keepin' you informed. LOL!

I also wanted to show you (as promised earlier) the templates that can be used to evenly space and place your eyelets or brads. The ones shown here are 6x6. I also have the round and scalloped square ones in 12x12. The round 12x12 one is what I used on the Inseparable page that was posted a bit ago. They can be purchased at Archivers or found online at www.thecraftersworkshop.com .

It's a balmy 91 degrees here today. We've got the air cranked and are indoors for the day. We ate at Panera Bread after church, took garage sale tables back, got a few groceries and I am doing one load of laundry. I have been fighting taking a nap since yesterday. I think I will give in today. I deserve it! :) Thanks for stopping by!

Whew...what a week!

Riley and his blankie! His expression reminds me of how I feel....whooped! Last week and this week have been busy. I kinda forgot what day it was. But, lo and behold....I am quite aware today is FRIDAY! Yee Haw! *does the happy dance* Whew! What a week! The garage sale is going on again at my parents' house. I added more household things and my sister added lots of stamp sets, etc. Whatever of mine doesn't sell is going to the local Pumphouse Ministries. Happy trails to my stuff! :) I can guarantee you I am all done with any "in the mood for garage sale" I might have had two weeks ago. I have earned over $500 though so it was TOTALLY worth all the hard work. So glad my parents let us use their nice garage. :)

Update on blog candy. I created a fun card kit using different items from my stash and sent them to Connie and Beth, the two who commented on my Inseparable post. One of my favorite things is to coordinate products that aren't of the same brand. There is a sense of accomplishment, I guess, in making it all come together. I guess that's one of the things I love about being creative....making it all go together. I used SU! cardstocks, Basic Grey patterned paper, SU! chipboard and misc. chipboard, white embroidery floss, white grosgrain ribbon and some fun shell buttons I just got. In this pic, the dark chocolate cardstock looks black and the scalloped chipboard looks red. I used craft ink in Rose Red to match the Rose Red cardstock. It's all much nicer in person.

This week has been a blur. I am working solo in medical records and yesterday literally kicked my butt. Today is more low-key and I am welcoming any down time I find. Between appointments, church, sorting goodies for the sale and a busy Wednesday afternoon....well, I am more than ready for the weekend. Wait....I still have get up at the crack tomorrow to work the sale. Ahhhhhhhhh.....I smell a nap for Sunday after church. *sniff sniff* hee hee

Have a good weekend. I'll eventually get crafty again. I still need to post the card we made at Connie's workshop. It's awesome. Until then....

Mom

I made a layout last weekend about Mother's Day. I used coordinating patterned papers, yummy ribbon, a few metal embellishments, some Stickles glitter, a transparency over the photo and Thickers for the title.

I cut some flowers from the patterned paper, adhered the cut out center on a dimensional and added some Stickles. The edges of the "crooked on purpose" paper strips were inked with chalk ink. I added a stamped saying that really tells the truth. *click any pic for a closer look*

Oh, scroll back up to the first picture above...check this out. My mom and I put one of each of our hands together to form a heart. I was able to write "I love you" in my own handwriting using a Slick Writer marker. They can be used on anything slick such a photo, plastic or transparencies. Lastly, I created a border using my brown journaling pen to create a frame around the edge of the layout.

I am so blessed to have a mom that loves me so much!

Celebrating Richard

My precious uncle Richard turned 50 years old yesterday. We all went to Perkins for dinner and Grandma had brought a cake from Hawkins....white cake with white icing...the best! Their cakes are unbeatable! Ahhhh...
He just smiled as we sang Happy Birthday to him. He got cards and some new clothes. Since he loves music so much, Grandma got a cake with musical notes.

Here he is with my mom and dad. He is my mom's brother. I love everyone's smiles here.

He was excited to get gift cards to Red Lobster and Jake's. Yum!

I had posted a page called Unconditional Love a few days back showing a layout of Richard and my Grandma. She lovingly takes care of his every need. You can see the love in his face as she helps cut up his salad at dinner. How precious. Richard is indeed a blessing to everyone! I can't wait to scrapbook a page about him.

Blog Candy Winner

Well, I decided to have WINNERS instead of one winner. There were only 2 people who commented on the "Inseparable" post regarding the number of brads used on the page. The correct answer is 51 and both Connie and Beth were correct. I will post a picture of the template I used to get them evenly spaced soon. I will be gathering some goodies and mailing a package to each of these ladies on Wednesday, which is my half day off. Thanks for stopping by and thanks to them for participating.

Happy Sunday! I'm up early, then we're heading to church, lunch at Olive Garden and then onto Joann's to check out the Cricut cartridge sale. :)