I felt this picture was fitting to start off this entry. This was taken the evening we arrived in Kauai. It's the view we had the entire trip from our back patio of the condo we stayed in called the Cliffs in Princeville on the north Shore. We are so lucky to have been given a weeks stay here for our Christmas present last year from my husbands mom. She is so cute the way she wraps the leis up for us in a package and presents us with a week is Hawaii as her Christmas gift to us. She has been gracious enough to give us this gift for the last 3 times I have visited the beautiful island of Kauai and I truly appreciate the beauty of her gift.
We had quite a time getting to this beautiful view tho, we showed up an hour before our flight as we have times before only to be delayed with bag check outside the terminal. When we finally made our way up to the front of the long line they informed us that we had to have checked our bags 45 mins before our flight and since it was 40 mins before we were out of luck. Yep, you heard me right....5 mins short of the 45 mins time frame and they cut us off cold turkey. Now you can imagine the look on my face and the feeling in my stomach since the previous day I had driven my son and parents to the airport and seen them off a day earlier than us.
I went into complete panic mode. Here I am with a baby traveling and we missed our 7am flight to SF where we were to connect to a flight to Lihue. So I call Priceline via cellphone and they basically say "you're outta luck, non refundable or exchangeable tickets we can not help you BUT if United airlines wants to ok you to fly standby then it's entirely up to them...We get in an hour long line and finally make our way to the counter where a nice associate (let me just say I could NEVER do that job) basically tells us our next chance is a 4:45 flight out where she has 10 seats avail and if we want to spend and additional 300.00 (150.00 each) to hold them we can for sure get on the flight. We don't have 300.00 extra dollars right now so we basically have to wait and see....
Let me tell you, hanging out at LAX all morning with a 13 mos old is STRESSFUL! I totally called my friend Elise for moral support and to let out a few tears of frustration. Thank goodness for girlfriends! So we walked and walked in the stroller and watched some dvd's to keep our little one occupied. I am sure that the staff at the airport didn't appreciate the crushed goldfish on the carpet but whats a mom to do...
Then about 11am a very annoying family came walking up where we were hanging out and they had 4 teenagers all with attitudes and 3 adults and a baby a little older than Lily on a leash. I could never do that to my kid, I mean if I need a leash to keep an eye on my kid then I need to be a better parent. Just my opinion. So we strolling around the terminal and I go by one of the teens who talks to Lily and asks here where she's going. I tell her Hawaii, we had missed our flight and she replies so did we and we are flying standby on the 4:454 flight out. Ok...panic really sets in because remember how I mentioned there were only 10 seats and there are 8 of them...I take the initiative to walk across to the other terminal where a really nice gal is at the computer and I politely asked if could I ask a couple of questions about standby since I have never missed a flight in my life! She tells me she is headed to break but she'll be happy to help me out. All my years in banking customer service and me doing the same thing for my customers must have paid off that day is all I can say. She tells me how if they have mileage club rewards they will bump us from our seats for them. Now I am really panicked, so I tell her my story and about my parents already being there and I totally choke up. She is so sympathetic and understanding and I tell her how we could not pay the extra 300.00 to hold the seats and she says that's silly since they don't like to charge us if they don't have to. She then says she will take a look for me and we discover there are 17people waiting to fly standby for this 4:45 flight.
Ok NOW I am really panicked. She says well, why don't we get you out on the 1:30 to San Francisco and you can connect to the 4:45 to Lihue from San Francisco??? I tell her ok but what happens if we can't get on the flight to Lihue. She smiles and says don't worry give me a second to hide a few seats and you'll be just fine.
I can't believe it! She is talking while working but I am blown away that just like that, she has solved my problem and we are headed to KAUAI!!!!
So after finally getting to the island the real vacation began and we spent our days snorkling and laying on the beach. My parents we staying in Poipu and we were on the North Shore in Princeville. It was a little hard planning with 3 families but we made it work and had alot of fun. I mentioned to alot of my friends that we had planned to meet up with the photographer that took our wedding pictures, Ken Posney in the same spot we were married with my parents and the kids for a family session at sunset.This is the part of the trip I was looking forward to the most! From the first time I met Ken he just had this aura about him that was kind and so peaceful. He's just an amazing guy! Pls stop by his site and check out his work at www.kenposney.com/weddings.html His photos are truely breath taking and he captures images that are more beautiful than words can describe. I have spent alot of time since we met checking in on his site to see what he's been up to and how many new images he has for me to enjoy.
We had an amazing time with the shoot and I am sure we are going to love everything he captured. I know it seemed cheesy but Mat, Scott and I had matching Hawaiian outfits and we had the baby in a white Hawaiian dress. Us girls wore the Plumeria flower in our hair to capture the authentic Hawaiian vibe. I am so pleased Ken was able to meet with us and I look forward to many more years of family portraits taken by our friend.
So it's taken me all day just to get this much blogged and I am dead tired. I have to pick up my parents from the airport tmr at 5:30 so I will leave you with this image of my beautiful Hula Girl.

Finally!

Alright so I am debuting my new "DO" I could not handle my hair long any more. I took the baby and she sat so sweetly in my lap while the woman washed and then cut 6 inches off my hair! Gosh I am so lucky to have such a well behaved little girl. I love my new haircut and it's just in time for our vacation. I can not even tell you the lightness I feel with my hair. I was getting so tired of wearing my hair in a bun with a clip all day.I almost feel sexy again! hee hee So I bid you all and ALOHA! We are off to Hawaii and I will be back Sun the 31st and bloggin it up about my trip and the kids. Until then...SCRAP IT UP!!!!

I finally got bit by the Bella Bug!

My good friend Jenn from Cafe Mom has been kind enough to send me stamped Bellas from her private collection to play with and I have fallen hard. Here's a card I made for a challenge in a Bella group also on Cafe Mom.

So I took the plunge and visited the Stamping Bella Website http://www.stampingbella.com/ and placed muy first order. I had a small commission check from CTMH so what better way to spend it right? Can't wait to get my new stamps and create some amazing cards. In the mean time Jenn sent me more Bellas yesterday and can you say Bella Licious!!! Thanks Jenn, you're the best girlfriend!
Now to the good stuff. I spent the mroning scrapping this little layout for a challenge in So Cal Scrap. It's their weekend Online Crop and I am trying to participate as much as possible. This one is called Happiness and it's a submission to the Flower challenge which called for using 15 or more flowers on a layout. Hope you likey I sure do. Now off to clean the boys room and that will prob take up the rest of my afternoon.


A close up of the butterfly

Bling Bling just the right thing part Deux...lol

Wow, what a busy day. So I went to bed at 3AM!!!! Am I freakin crazy, I am so not 19 anymore when staying up late and then having to get up at 9am was a snap. We met my mother in law for a nice breakfast (her treat!)at Dinah's. Lily and I snacked up scrambled eggs and banana but pancakes and mommy had two cups of much needed coffee. We had a really nice time chatting it up with Mombo and playing with Lily. She is just growing so fast. I can hardly wait for my parents to get their hands on her next week when they come into town Weds. Every time I think about how much closer I am to hugging my mom and feeling her hug me back i tear up...like now :)
So we checked out a few apartments in El Segundo after breakfast and I had found an ad for something cheaper than what we are currently paying but...it was sooooo small. There was no dining room. You walked in the door and there was the kitchen, I mean right there! We could never fit our furniture in that place and with me being home all day I am sure the walls would close in on me. That's not even the worst part...there was NO PLACE TO SCRAP! Nothing, Nada, Not happening so I told my husband no way no day am I living there to save a buck. The main reason we are actively looking for a new apartment in El Segundo is to get Scott into the Jr. High. They have their own school district and one of the best and public so we are really hoping to find something that will fit us.
Finally came home about 2 p.m. and I kid you not I have been cleaning my entire scrap space from top to bottom. I am throwing stuff out that I don't use. Creating a donation pile of card stock I bought and was like "what was I thinking????" Do you have those moments when combing thru your stash? I am really picky about my embellies and bling and quality items now. I can't believe I even settled let alone spent my money on some of this stuff! It's pretty funny but coming along well. I organized all my letters and chipboard by color. I also organized my stickers and stick ease. It's been a work in progress but I can honestly say I'll be done by midnight. Maybe I'll post a pic when I am done...ha ha
So last but not least the layout I posted last night with the addition of the bling. If I have not said it enough, get yourself some Say It In Crystals Bling, it really does make a page don't ya think???

Bling Bling, it's just the right thing!

Wow, I can't believe that a week has gone by since I have posted anything! I have been pretty busy this week with my WAHMGrabGroup and other things. In my grab group I am hosting a Business Builder and my fellow shoppers are building their way to a CTMH shopping spree! Currently the build is at 64 bricks and that's a great amount to buy some awsome products from my site, especially the clearance sale! As a matter of fact the sale is going so well that they are adding items Aug 18th.
So my other favorite hangout when I am not scrapping it up at Bad Girls is So Cal Scrap www.socalscrap.com This weekend is their cyber crop and even tho we went to the Dodger game tonight I found a way to get at least one challenge completed. Here is the page when I first finished it

here is the sketch that we had to interpret


I am pretty beat so i will show you how the bling is just the thing tmr am :)
OH and this is a first time RAK for my site. Whoever wants to join the fun and complete the sketch too, post the link to your layout here and I will reward a random poster with a RAK! Let's see who really reads my blog :)

Inspiration from Defeat

It's amazing where we find our creative inspirations really. I have seen posts where layouts are inspired by a design in a shirt to advertisements in a magazine. For me tonight inspiration came in the form of deafeat. My favorite card group in Cafe Mom, Card Makin Mamas had a couple of challenges up this week I wanted to try... 1st up was the stamped image with white pigment ink and chalking technique that I just couldn't seem to make work for my images. I made 3 cards and this one made the cut but not really my best work in my opinion.

The second was a sketch challenge and I tryed my best but after 5 sheets of cardstock cut to try to copy this sketch I scrapped the whole idea. It just wasn't speaking to me.


So finally after I spent a few hours away from my scrap table and got miss Lily down after a fussy evening, these are what I came up with. I call them Inspiration from Defeat...

I got a cool award today!!

After the day I had, I soo needed a lift! I check my blog to find that Kristapista, a pal from Card Makin Mamas gave me a cute lil kudo!

It's pretty cool, I think. My day started out pretty grim but as the afternoon came around things cheered up. I have a few orders for some more Scraptastic Accordion Albums and I finished one for a friend and mailed it off today. Here's the cover.
I also want to give props to my pal Cass for finding the website that helps you bling up your blog. I saw she had recently made changes to her and followed the same link that's in the left hand corner of my blog and kicked it up a notch around here. I think it looks pretty darn sweet! Thanks Cass!
Now I have to figure out my 7 ladies
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What a day!

Well it started out terrible and ended on a high note! First off today was the kickoff of this month's Constant Campaign for Close To My Heart. Everyone was so excited to take advantage of the great deals on stamps and paper kits. I got up early to be ready when the launch happened at 7 a.m. and to place an order for my friend Janene who is out of town. It was just ridiculous. The website could not support the traffic and they were locking up and freezing, I mean it was a joke really. Then the phone started ringing with my customers frustrated and worried they would miss out on the stamp sets they had picked out weeks ahead of time. it was just a mess, then I get myself a cup of my good ol' morning Joe to calm my own frustrations and what happens next, yea my phone rings again and I go to pick it up and drop it right into my morning coffee...ARRRRGGGGG!!! Blackberry...toast! Yep it doesn't work at all! So I am hoping that drying it out in a bag of rice all night as suggested on a website for this issue will help cause I will be so dang bummed if my phone is done. It was a gift from a friend who upgraded to an Iphone and I appreciated her kindness more than you know (have you seen how much those phones cost!)
So after that morning I needed a walk and off Lily and I went to the post office to mail an Accordion Album I made for a customer. When I got back I had a couple emails from some City Mommies inquiring about my scrapbooks I make and it turns out I may have a couple orders! My friend also wrote me again asking for another handmade album for a new baby so the day was picking up. More later...

A couple of first's for me today!!

So my new obsession is looking at blogs, scrapbooking ones to be exact and then finding more cool blogs off of other blogs to look at. There is so much talent and beauty in all scrapbooking blogs I have seen so far. I find so much inspiration and creativity in their posts and gallerys of artwork. I recently discovered a blog off the Bad Girls Site called The Design Experiement, http://thedesignx.blogspot.com/ I loved the blog and the ladies contributing and the challenges they have posted so much that I decided to give this weeks challenge a whirl. No keep in mind I saw this posted last Sun night and saw that I had until 7 p.m. to post a link to my submission tonight. I planned to work on this right away, I even took the pics I had in mind that same day but then the weeke started and I had Scott's birthday and a project I am stuill working on for a client and then another friend emailed me about an Accordian Album she wanted for a little girls 1st birthday gift. I also had to get the card challenge designed and cut for my Scraptastic group as well as get the new challenges and page maps up. Oh and did I mention that I am also in a weight loss group and the owner PM's me to be a team leader. I have a serious problem with not being able to say NO.

Sooooo I finally found time to scrap this challenge today, before going to my first class at Sonja's Scrap Spot http://www.sonjasscrapbookspot.com/contents_spot.htm

We made these really great Explosions boxes, my first! If you live in LA, you've gotta check out her shop, it's super cool like her!

So I literally finish the layout right before I need to leave for the class at 3 and (remember I have to post by 7) and I am uploading the pics to my Photobucket account http://s224.photobucket.com/albums/dd279/shoegal90045/ and my computer truns off. EEEEEEEEEEEEEkkkkkk!!!! I was so mad! So I restart and get it going again and I have to re-type my journaling and what happens...yes you guessed it! It shuts down again! So I run out the door all flustered because after the class I have to come back home instead of heading straight to the gym like I had planned.

I finally got the darn thing uploaded and in time for the challenge! Hooooray! Oh and I also forgot to mention that while I was typing my journaling my printer ran out of black ink so I had to print it in brown which I think the black would have looked much better. Anyway, here it is!!

Wow Wow Wow!!!

So the August Kit REVEALS went up at 10 p.m. tonight on Bad Girls and all I can say is WOW! Wendy sure keeps the bling coming and my credit card just says CHA-Ching!! I love everything and wish I could have one of each! This month the budget is keeping me to only my sub. Oh well, I will sure look forward to seeing what the ladies come up with this kit...OMG I just realized I forgot to check out the designers gallery! I spent 2 hours just looking and looking at the kits LOL...

Here's a layout I did from a sketch challenge on another cool site I found called So Cal Scraps. It's a pic of my lily and my bff Roxy's daughter Hannah. So cute!

My take on the Apron Challenge for July

I know I talk about Bad Girls alot on my blog but I just love the kits and all the goodies Wendy finds for us to create with. I am learning so many great techniques from the designers and stretching myself farther than I thought I could artistically. I am seeing a shift in my normally "clean" scrapping to a more shabby chic-ish approach and I love it! I have always been a fan of inking and distressing paper but I never thought to roll it so I gave it a try in the Apron Challenge layout. I think it has just the right amount of embellies without going overboard. I'm especially proud of the leaves I made from ribbon for the flowers. When I got my add on kit called Pixie Playground the one thing that drew me in fast was the ribbon from Artsy-licious and the purple prima flowers. I couldn't wait to put them to use.

This month's challenge was "all about junking your page up as much as possible"

I was in such a scrapping mood I scrapped up 2 more pages with my July kit and the ideas just kept coming. The perfect photo's also help :) We had given a Lily a bath and a friend of mine had a phone conversation earlier that day about how much my daughter's hair has grown. I decided to mark the occasion and what better way then soaped up at bathtime!

And finally A Brother's Love was fun because I love the Say It In Crystals by Prima and as you can see they look great on a masculine layout as well. The photo frames that came with one of the add-on kits are fun and funky, I can't wait to use the angel wings for a layout with my Lily. I have an idea of her in this little ballet tutu I picked up for her but that's for later...

Bad Girls Birthday Scraplift Challenge!

Wow it was FINALLY my turn for the Bad Girls BirthdayScraplift Challenge!! I saw the post last night at 1 a.m. so I couldn't start til the morning but I dreamt about my layout last night...too funny.

I had so much fun with this challenge and the girls in the group are so so talented I was nervous about how my layout would look compared to theirs but I just decided to stay true to myself and my style of scrapping and have fun. I found the cherry paper first and loved the skull and cross bones in the cherries so the other ideas followed. I was up at 7a.m. working away, here it is!

The party is in full swing, where's your party hat?

WooHoo The Bad Girls Birthday bash is in full swing and time is tunning out for you to get here! I've got my party hat and dancin shoes on! There are such fun things happening in this group and you've got to come join us! This weekend is the Crop a Thon and I for one am planning on some serious scrapping. Plus! It's almost my turn to scraplift!!! I can wait. Here's a sneak peek of my special stash I set aside for this project except the giraffe stamp and litle one stamp. They

aren't bad enough for this layout! I know I will hardly be able to sleep tonight!

A Royal Success!!

We celebrated my daughter's 1st birthday toady with a little Princess Party at a park near our home. It was a small party with a few of our close friends and Lily's Nana Virginia and Aunt Melissa. We had a really great time but I missed my parents so much and wish they could have been there. We are all meeting in Hawaii for vacation in August and plan on celebrating as a family then but still it's harder when these family events come along and thoise you love most can't be there. I also wish my best friends Tami and Suzanne could have joined us as well. We had good food, sandwhiches prepared by Nana Virginia and cake from Angel Made Bakery. We gave Lily her own little cupcake and she went to town.

She had a purple butterfly ring that she licked the frosting off of first.

Then she really started to shovel the frosting in her mouth

She pretty much finished off the entire cupcake in minutes.

The kids played at the park and Lily walked all over in her walker and enjoyed watching the other kids. When it came time to open gifts, she really cleaned up with lots of toys and books and alot of Elmo themed stuff. It was a great day.

I Just Love this Dawn Gal...

Ok I am such a fan of this Stampin Up Rep. Bless her heart for creating these awsome tutorials that you can watch and teaching us all how to make amazing and funcards. This is a card I did for a fun swap called an envelope card. Check it out here and make your own!http://dawnsstampingthoughts.typepad.com/dawns_stamping_thoughts/2008/03/envelope-card-v.html

Here's one I did with a beach theme...

A peek inside

And...filled with some goodies for my swap partner

Grrr, I hate it when things just don't go my way!

I have no one to blame but myself really but I placed my order for supplies from CTMH for this Friday's layout workshop last Thursday and nothing has even shipped yet. Apparently with the Stampaganza promotion they were flooded with orders up until the last day of June and they just prcessed orders placed on the 30th today. Luckily the girls are understanding and willing to reschedule to next Friday eve. Still irritates me but I'll get over it.

On another note, an altered container I made may be published in an online craft mag. I will keep you all posted as I am uber excited! I also submitted my 2 Sweet page to Creating Keepsakes magazine for their cool technique editorial. I thought my glitter technique on the black and white photo to add a touch of color was pretty cutting edge.

S0 tonight I am working on a 12x12 layout for my friend Elise. I snapped a few pics of our kids playing together awhile back and since she's moving away soon I wanted to add a creation of mine to Sam's scrapbook. Man that kid is cute! I am so into scrapping girlie girl right now I am hitting a slight creative block with a more masculine page. He just turned 1 and thank goodness I crafted his birthday card(pictured below) some time ago. I'll post my layout later when I finish.
I don't know why but the last couple of days I just haven't felt like scrappin. Of course I am sure that feeling will change when I get my July bad girls Kit with all the fab goodies she's got in store for us this month.
I also saw some stinkin cute Making Memories stamps on Overstock.com I want. Right now shipping is only 2.95! So cool. They are these adoarble owls. I am really into the owl thing.

How do you scrap with an 11 mos old at your feet?

Oh that one's easy! Fill two containers with embellishments and just shake, shake, shake... I worked on the DDD in Bad Girls today and it really was a challenge. You had to use only one product once. This is what I came up with using Heidi Swapp flowers, prima flowers, making memories brad, doodlebug glitter words...you get the idea. Only problem was I am out of ink for my photo printer so I had to use a photo I had printed awhile ago. I like how it turned out. I like the black in the layout.

So this is good for the contest but to me it just looked unfinished and I would seriously go to bed tonight working in my head what else needed to be changed or added. Well I just couldn't do that! So here is Always my Baby revisted...

A new card technique I learned

I finally had the time to do the two weekly challenges in CMM's (card makin mamas) on CafeMom. The first was a pop up card that had to be a summer theme. I just got this stamp set as part of my free stamp from the Stampaganza promotion. I really like the way it turned out.

The second card was a sketch challenge also on CMM's. I decided to use my cuttlebug and colorbox ink to ink over the embossed images. I also used dimensional elements chipboard for the scalloped circles on the card and used brads to adhear the flowers to the chipboard.

Scrappy Saturday, my favorite day of the week!

I hope you all had a great 4th! The Smith family enjoyed the 2nd Annual Charbonnet-Love BBQ in Playa Del Rey. Alot changes in a year, I was still pregnant with Lily at last year's BBQ and anticipating her arrival. Here's a few shots of the fam and cute little Lily stealing the show...

Mommy and Me

Cutie Pie!

This Friday is my workshop and I have been designing this month's project, a two page layout with Blue Ribbon Paper. I scraplifted a layout idea from the cover of Scrapbooks Etc. one of my favorite magazines. Here's a sneak peek

Happy Independance Day!

Happy 4th to everyone. I hope you are all out enjoying your day with your families and BBQ'in!We are relaxing here at home before we head out to a BBQ with our good friends Will and Dominique. We'll be enjoying Will's expert BBQ'in and a great view of the fireworks show in Marina Del Rey. It's Lily's first 4th and of course mommy got her a cute outfit to wear. I even found a really cute pait of baby flip flops at Target, too cute! Now if she only would have smiled for mommy it would have been picture perfect. Her 1st birthday is fast approaching and she really is getting more independant. She likes to feed herself off our plates and snack her stars and wagon wheels. She has 7 teeth now and I think # 8 is coming since last night she kept us up from 2-4am. She wasn't cranky, she just wanted to play...

As for scrapping, I have been pretty busy this week. I got my add-on kit ordered from Bad Girls and can't wait to play with it. They usually ship between the 10th and 15th and since I already subscribe to the monthly kits, I am really going to have lots and lots of goodies to enjoy.

This week I completed a layout for June's Apron Challenge. Apron challenge? What's that? (you say) It's a great contest Wendy has in Bad Girls where the winner gets a Bad Girls Swarovski embellished Apron to scrap it up in. I would just DIE to get one :)

This layout is very personal to me because I became overweight at the age of 20 when I had a terrible relationship that was abusive mentally and physically. I never had a weight issue and before we met I weighed a healthy 135. I had so much self confidence at that age but I had just moved to the city with him where I had no friends or family. Unfortunately I learned alot of life lessons fast. After gaining weight from being unhappy and dealing with the stress of his abuse and cheating I finally broke free from him and moved on but the weight stayed with me. Over the years I have yo-yo'd with my weight and diets and never really had the courage or determination to conquer my biggest personal issue with my weight. With the love of my husband and his constant support and encouragement and help in facing my life issues head on and taking control, I had an Ah Ha moment so to speak at the end of May. I realized that the young girl I once was is no longer who I am today. I finally see that I am in control of me and no one else. I was ready to take Shemaine back from Dana (the ex) and be happy in everything I do. So I started walking and going to the gym, eating healthier and I joined a weight loss support group on my favorite mom site Cafe Mom. Well I've lost 16 pounds so far and for the first time in my life I see the goal I have for myself in front of me and know it's totally within my reach. I wanted to scrap this feeling and this time of self discovery and motivation as my submission to the challenge. So here it is...

A close up of the dragon fly I made from cut out images on cardstock

Here I used paint by Making Memories and painted on a paper towel and cut it 8x8 to use as cardstock. On the left side of the layout I painted a piece of paper towel and wrapped it around an acrylic block and stamped on the cardstock using the design of the paper towel. I also used the paint to ink the outter edges of the cardstock and the chipboard.

I am pleased with the funkyness of the layout and chose to black and white the photos for contrast. I had alot of fun with this.

Ohhhh I have never been more excited for a Monday!

So I was turned onto the Bad Girls site thru my friend Danielle and I am hooked! Tonight at 10 pm the new kits are revealed and the add-ons are avail for purchase!!!! I save my commissions from CTMH for this since last month they all sold out very quickly. Also tmr begins the 1 year birthday party. If you haven't already, check this site out and join in the fun. There are free classes and all kinds of great stuff happening here!

I have officially finished my chores and it's time to scrap! I have to admit I am a little bummed I lost the card challenge in CMM's. I really loved that card and hate to part with it but alas I know the winner will enjoy it as much as I would.

And on another note I am pleased to share that due to this month's Stampaganza my sales were over 2000.00!!!!! Yay for me!!!!!!!!! I am pleased to have so many great customers and friends with CTMH.

I finished my waterfall card for the card technique swap in Advanced swaps non-stop on Cafe Mom, my first ever of this technique and it turned out pretty good!

I also finished up my Just Enough Swap in the same group and chose the embellished paper

clip this time. I hadn't tryed these before but they seemed relatively easy which they were. The theme was 4th of July and this is what I came up with using our July word puzzle stamp and my Cricut.

Sooo beside the sugar coating I am wild about I stumbled upon these adorable and CHEAP acrylic stamps at Making Memories in Newbury Park. (GASP! Me buying stamps not by CTMH) The brand is imaginisce and they're called Snag' em Stamps. Because at 1.50 per stamp they probably fly off the shelves! You can check them out at www.imaginisce.com. I now own 4, a cute bird, and Easter stamp and the Penguin Dude and Dudette from the A Shore Thing Collection.

I used the Penguin Dude and some cardstock sent to me by a gal in CMM's to create this adorable card. I sure love that glue pen and Sugar Coating by Doodlebug Designs.

Have a scrappy day!