I think this quote sums it up best "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" Charles Dickens

2009 seemed to have it all. It was a tough time financially for many of us. In the scrapbooking industry we bid farewell to 2 magazines, Simple Scrapbooking and Memory Makers. In the entertainment industry we said goodbye to the King of Pop way too early. There are times in your life when things happen and you'll never forget where you were or what you were doing. The day Michael Jackson died will be one of those for me. I grew up to his music, learned Thriller in my best friends dance room and was excited when he announced his comeback tour.

2009 brought many exciting things to our family, dreams were realized and goals were met. We moved to El Segundo over the summer and got my son in a better school district, something that seemed unattainable with finances being so tight with me quitting my job to be a stay at home mom but we did it! I was able to travel with my children back east to Arkansas this summer and visit my parents home. It was a trip that made me nervous because I was traveling alone

My dream of designing for a scrapbooking manufacturer was realized in November this year and I'm proud to me a member of the 2009-2010 Imaginisce Design Team. I also started writing a scrapbooking column, designing for Jacksonbelle Embellishments and Paper Posies. I am so thankful for every opportunity that has come my way.

I've made lots of new crafty friends online, found a scrappy friend who lives near me, {yes I'm talking about you friend} and I got meet Angela and her Unity crew at winter CHA. I love the sisterhood of the scrapbooking community. I am in awe of all the talent I see daily on my favorite blogs and inspired to believe in my own talent. Thank you to everyone that stops by my blog and leaves comments. I really appreciate you taking time out of your day to visit my scrappy blog.

So here's to the best of 2009...

Best Anniversary gift...Colplay in concert at Irvine Meadows. Thanks again babe!

Best email I got this year...inviting me to join the team!

Best stamp set...Love is in the air by Unity Stamp Co.

Best road trip...ScrapExpo in Del Mar with my scrappy pal Heidi

Best scrapbooking tip I learned...using a nail file to trim paper on altered projects from the fabulous Kelly Goree!

Best out of town guest...a visit from my Dad. Thanks again for the fish and chips Daddy!

Best day of 2009...watching Scott ride off to his first day at El Segundo Middle School

Best photo I took with my Fuji Finepix... Lily on our front porch in a dress Uncle Lou sent her

Best card I made..I won 1st place on the Hero blog for this one


Best Halloween costume for under $10.00...Lily ladybug!

It's been a great year and 2010 is shaping up to be even better! Happy New Year to family, friends and you!!!

Paper Posies January 2010 kit reveal!

Today is reveal day and this month's Paper Posies kit is loaded with new Crate Paper, Basic Grey and Lily Bee designs! The mini project this month is an adorable Making Memories Tin Pill box.
This month we welcome a new guest designer, Crystal Brothers. Crystal rocked this kit with her beautiful creations and cards! We look forward to getting to know her in our Paper Posies Forum

Here's a look at this fabulous January kit!

Here's some artwork I created with this month's kit

This month's mini project

I made into a photo box for my Lily

My New Years resolution page, New Year New Me

Nap time with Lily

Happy Birthday with a chipboard heart I embellished with micro beads

and a thanks friend card
I can't wait to work on some other projects with this beautiful kit! Be sure and stop by the Design Team's gallery to see the girls projects here.
Thanks for stopping by!

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas

The Smith family

Underneath my Christmas tree

I found this ornament under the tree this morning with two of Princes plucked at their feet and their arms also missing, you ask how could this be? Seems Princess Lily has been at play under my tree today...

Oh yes, if you have a 2 year old you know what mischief they can get into especially when you add pretty shiney things at their reach and a tree full of ornaments is just too tempting for one busy toddler. I thought I had done a good job explaining that the ornaments are to look at and not to play with.
Obviously not well enough. Should make for a funny story someday when she's older tho. I'll do my best to glue them back together.
It's 2 days til Christmas and since I got sick Monday we didn't make it to the Grove as planned yesterday since I spent most of the day and evening sleeping. So this afternoon we're heading out early to finally see Santa. I hope Lily will sit on his lap {fingers crossed} so I can get some good pictures this year.
Have a great day!

Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Happy Tuesday, it's only 4 more days til Christmas! Wow, I hope you've gotten your shopping done cause you couldn't give me money to shop in any of the Los Angeles malls this week! Although we are heading out the to Grove to see Santa tonight Yikes! I wanted to go today since December 22nd is the day my hubby proposed to me at The Grove 3 years ago right here on this bridge.

Here's Mat & Lily last year on our visit to see Santa

What a romantic and sweet evening we had. The 22nd is also my birthday not December but March so I kinda feel like 22 is a lucky number for me. Plus it will be nice to see the snow there even if it is fake and who knows, even a celebrity spotting or two. I'll have my camera ready...

So this week at Jacksonbelle we decided to have an anything goes challenge. Create a card in any theme with any product from the Jacksonbelle store!

This is my favorite Christmas card I made this year. I used Kraft paper and yummy Eskimo Kisses paper from Basic grey, May Arts Ribbon and bling from the Zva crystal wheel!
We hope you'll join us for this week's challenge at Jacksonbelle and link up your creation to the Tuesday post here.
I'd also like to extend a warm welcome and Congratulations to our newest Jacksonbelle Rockstars! We are so thrilled to have these ladies designing with us!

Dawn Lusk

Julie Lacey

Heather Pulvirenti

Windy Robinson

Stehpanie Severin

Amy Tsuruta

Pam Varnell

I can't wait to see all their beautiful artwork in the coming weeks!

Now don't forget to stop by the rest of the team's blogs and a a couple of the new girls too and leave them some blog love!

Tobi Crawford ~ Tobi’s Place

Jimmi Mayo ~ Stamping & Shopping

Michelle Philippi ~ Inside My Own Private Idaho

Carly Robertson ~ Paper in Bloom

Lynda Benden: Stamp Act

Jill Dunn: Ink Genious

Lindsey Botkin: Embellished

Heather Lee-Reppen: The Best in Life

Stephanie Severin ~ Ingenious Inkling

Amy Tsuruta ~ Tsuruta Designs

Windy Robinson ~ Card and Page

**And lastly, we'll be saying goodbye to Jimmi {sniff sniff} but she'll be blazing a new trail of crafty creations for Splitcoast Stampers!! CONGRATULATIONS JIMMI!!! We're also sad to be saying goodbye to Michelle. Good luck girl and we wish you all the best!

Thanks for stopping by today, Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas!!

Oh not again...

It started last night with a scratchy throat and I just knew it. I woke up this morning feeling terrible. My head felt so stuffy and my ears were hurting. I can't believe I am sick again! I got up and apparently my daughter had opened the packages I had set under the tree last night after she went to bed. My hubby was clearly a little frustrated having to handle the kids while trying to watch football and deal with Lily and her early present opening. So I whipped up breakfast for my little one and a cup of coffee for myself and tried to hang in til nap time. Thank goodness for naps. My daughter must have not been feeling well either because she was pretty cranky all morning. When she went to sleep so did I. She slept about 3 hours which was good for me. I made dinner tonight for everyone and went back to sleep and woke up at 8:30. Sunday is pretty much over.
The worst part of getting sick was yesterday while I was out finishing some last minute shopping my new Slice came and my prize package from Pink Paislee!! I never even got near my scrap space. I spent most of the day sleeping, which is why this post is so late. Since I slept all day now I'm afraid I'll be up all night.
Hopefully tmr will be a better day, I'm behind with some projects I wanted to get done for Christmas and I'm running out of time. Can you believe that Friday is Christmas?
I'll have some fun stuff to share this week and the Get Sketchy prize this week is being sponsored by GCD! Make sure you check back Friday.
Hope you have a fantastic week leading up to Christmas!

Favorite color challenge at Get Sketchy

Hello friends and happy Friday! Hope you are getting all your holiday shopping done! There are 7 shopping days left! I purchased alot of my gifts online this year so I've been getting a whole lot of happy mail this week! Yesterday I got my daughter's Dora and Boots plush toys. Yes she is wild about Dora. It's funny how much Dora we got her.
This week's challenge at Get Sketchy is a color challenge. Create a card using your favorite color! I love purple so of course I made a monochromatic card! I used the bleach stamping technique I learned at SCS and some fabulous Unity stamps from the set Bevy of Butterflies.

You can win some amazing prizes at Get Sketchy this week! So grab your supplies and create with us! Link up your creation at Get Sketchy for your chance to win!

Happy Holidays!

Thanks so much for all your fabulous comments and support for Jacksonebelle's 12 days of Christmas celebration! We'd like to congratulate JENNIFER SCULL on winning our fabulous blog candy from owner Lindsey!

It's Jbelle Tuesday and this week we have a sketch challenge to help your craft those last minute Christmas cards. Jacksonbelle Embellishments has some great stocking stuffers in the store for you right now.
There are some adorable Rachelle Ann Miller stamps that are just to cute to describe so have a look here

Here's our sketch:


{I can't get the sketch to copy so I'll post it tmr am pacific time when it's up on the Jbelle blog}

And here's my holiday card


Supplies: Jolly by Goll Cosmo Cricket, Provo Craft embossing folder, Basic Grey button, Martha Stewart twine, Making Memories rub on, American Crafts ribbon, Heidi Swapp clear snowflake and globe embellie K&Co.

Now check out what the other Rockstars created with this sketch!

Tobi Crawford ~ Tobi’s Place

Stephanie Hargis ~ Steph’s Stampin’ Stuff

Jimmi Mayo ~ Stamping & Shopping

Bethany Paull ~ It’s Not All Black & White

Michelle Philippi ~ Inside My Own Private Idaho

Carly Robertson ~ Paper in Bloom

Lynda Benden: Stamp Act

Jill Dunn: Ink Genious

Lindsey Botkin: Embellished

Trudee Sauer: Follow Your Bliss

Heather Lee-Reppen: The Best in Life

Keri Lee Sereika: Pink Lemonade

ALL Inkadinkado stamps and stamp sets are on sale 75% off!!!! The sale applies to in stock stamps and stamp sets only! These stamps will not be restocked so be sure to shop early!!

On the 12th day of Christmas...

We have the Jacksonbelle 12th day of Christmas blog hop for you! I hope you are enjoying your visit to each of our Design Team members blogs today. This is the 12th and final day of our celebration. The design team created some fabulous eye candy for you today! I know everyone is super busy since there are officially 13 more shopping days til Christmas. Thanks to our fabulous Design Team for creating these special projects. The Jacksonbelle 12 Days of Christmas was tons of fun and we hope we inspired you to create something for that special someone on your Christmas list! Here's what I have for you...
You know I love to recycle...well I used the wrapping from this

to create this cute little treat bag for my son's teacher

Supplies: Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, May Arts ribbon, Martha Stewart punch and Prima Galaxy stars

This project took less than 10 mins from start to finish. You probably have these supplies in your stash. Just cut the wrapping from any embellishment at the top so the bottom stays sealed and create your own packaging for lots of things.
Looking for some great stocking stuffers?? Well Inkadinkado stamps are 75 % off in the store so hurry and grab yours and while you are there the yummy new collections from Basic Grey are being offered for pre-order. These lines will go fast to make sure you grab yours at Jacksonbelle Embellishments.
Now your next visit is to the super talented Lynda!!

Get Sketchy #18

Time for a new sketch at Get Sketchy! This week's fab sponsor is ....

Scor-it!

you could win a Scor-it Mini, Mini Tote Bag and an A-2 Envelope-it!

Here's today's sketch!

And here's my take

Supplies: Cosmo Jolly by Golly, GCD Studios sticker letters, Prima pearls


We'd love for you to create with us! Come on over and link up your take on this fab sketch at Get Sketchy. You have til Thursday at midnight and you could win this week's prize from Scor-It!

And check this out! I got an honorable mention this week at Hero Arts for my Christmas tag!

Thanks for stopping by today, this one's short because I have a living room full of holiday decorations. I'm surprising DH with decorating the house for the holidays when he comes home today. Then it's family date night and that means dinner out! Have a great weekend!

So close...

I finally had a chance to get out and go to Michaels tonight and I've been wanting this forever! It's 29.99. That mat not seem like a lot but I rarely spend that kind of money of one craft item unless it's some kind of tool.

And then I got my holiday issue of Martha Stewart Living and she gave me a fantastic holiday gift inside . A coupon for 50 percent off any of her products. I've been saving it for over a month now, see being a SAHM and the fact that we only have one working car, I just don't get out much.
So there I am in Michaels, glitter and coupon in hand ready waiting in a very long line. Why is it when I walked in the store there was no line but when I am ready to leave the line is super long? It's finally my turn to pay and the sweet girl rings me up and then says "her stuff is so expensive" I reply "yea" and hand her my FAB coupon and smile. She smiles and says "16.34 is your total. YES!
So I open my wallet to pay and this sick feeling comes over me. You know that moment where your heart skips a beat and you feel the wave of warmth spread over your cheeks.
Yea that feeling...there is a black spot in my wallet where my debit card should be. Panic, embarrassment and absolute defeat hits me like a ton of bricks.
I look up and say" my husband took my debit card out of my wallet" Yes he did and I remember at that very moment that I had walked in the bedroom to retrieve it from his wallet before I left the house and just like every mom I know was distracted by my daughter asking me "um bears mom" she wanted her bears out of her crib. Of course I got them for her and got her settled so she would not cry when I leave (she's doing the whole seperation thing right now) I of course then grabbed my jacket and left.
And to top it off I don't carry cash, I haven't for years. Bummer...I tell her "well I guess I'll have to come back" and she looks annoyed. You'd think one woman to another I'd get just a little understanding of my situation you know. I apologize for the trouble of course and ask for my FAB coupon back and walk out of the store. It's 8:35 and they close at 9 so I can't make it home and back before they close. Yes I will be going back tomorrow.

Merry Merry, Jacksonbelle Tuesday

Hello friends! It's Tuesday and this month at Jacksonbelle we're creating cards for the holidays with products you can buy in the Jacksonbelle Embellishments store. Don't forget to keep checking our blog each day to see our 12 days of Christmas ideas.

for my card today I wanted to create something a little different. I love the colors in Cosmo Cricket's Jolly By Golly Mini Deck so I paired these two patterns up with some Prima Galaxy Stars and some Prima flowers and Pears. I wanted to create a card that didn't look like a traditional holiday card. The sentiment is a Making Memories rub on.
Now check out what our other Design Team members have created for you today!

Tobi Crawford ~ Tobi’s Place

Stephanie Hargis ~ Steph’s Stampin’ Stuff

Jimmi Mayo ~ Stamping & Shopping

Bethany Paull ~ It’s Not All Black & White

Michelle Philippi ~ Inside My Own Private Idaho

Carly Robertson ~ Paper in Bloom

Shemaine Smith ~ Scraptastic

Lynda Benden: Stamp Act

Jill Dunn: Ink Genious

Lindsey Botkin: Embellished

Trudee Sauer: Follow Your Bliss

Heather Lee-Reppen: The Best in Life

Keri Lee Sereika: Pink Lemonade

Don't forget that Jacksonbelle is having a Design Team call open til December 20th! You can read all the deets here.

Thanks for stopping by!

Things are looking a little different around here

Hi friends! Happy Monday! Only 18 more shopping days til Christmas. I love the whole idea of dressing up your blog for the holidays but honestly my previous blog couture wasn't me. I can't really justify spending money on someone creating headers and backgrounds for my blog so I spent some time searching around for some free headers and found the one above that was the right fit for me. I'm so proud of myself for figuring out how to use Paint.net to personalize it for myself. Now my blog feels like I do "happy"
And since we're celebrating happy so is my scrappy pal Heidi Sonboul! She's got a fab giveaway on her blog Queen of Paper...

Yummy! Hurry over and get your chance to win this fabulous prize!

I'm working on some cards this evening, I didn't get much done today. The rainy weather kept the kids inside and they were full of energy.
Here's the bonus sketch at 2S4Y by Ashley Cannon Newell

Here's my take on her sketch. I was excited when I saw the sketch because I knew it would be perfect for my new I-top brad tool!

I used Polar Expressions by Imaginisce, American Crafts Thickers, and some yummy ribbon by Celebrate it.
Thanks for stopping by!

Old Country Christmas with Moxie Fab

Wanna win this??? Quick go here!! Hurry, ends at midnight tonight central standard time!!

Hello friends! I love Sundays...why you ask? Well it usually means that my husband is glued to his recliner the entire day in his Dolphins jersey shouting at the T.V...lol. And that means I can sneak off into my crafty nook and spend the day crafting whatever I so desire. Ahhh Sunday Football...love it!
So this morning I decided to try out the Moxie Fab Old Country Christmas challenge. Here's my entry

Supplies: Patterned paper and Let it Snow sticker K & Co.
Ribbon American Crafts
Bling Hero Arts

Next I think I'll take a look at the Inspired by Challenge. I'll be posting more artwork today so stay tuned. Today is going to be very crafty, I can feel it!


Here's another card with K & Co. patterned paper, some Melissa Frances chipboard and Martha Stewart bakers twine, Sakura white gel pen and a Basic Grey button.

2 Sketches 4 You and some Imaginisce Sweet Cheri

Hi friends! Hope you're all having a fantastic weekend so far! I had some time to scrap a bit and took on this week's challenge from 2 Sketches 4 You's sketch from the talented Laura!

And my card with Imaginisce's Sweet Cheri line

And another Sweet Cheri card with a Basic Grey chipboard frame

And a layout I also scrapped with this fun collection. I used a Thicker chipboard accent and turned it into a Lollipop with some tulle and Martha Stewart bakers twine. I used the same method to make the embellishment on my card above.

Here's a close-up

Thanks for stopping by my scrappy little blog today. I've got a giveaway on my Examiner page and I'm be choosing a winner Monday so I'll be accepting comments til midnight pacific time on Sunday.

Get Sketchy # 17

Hi friends! I can hardly believe it's been 17 fabulous weeks since Get Sketchy got started! Every sketch and sponsor has been amazing! I'm so thrilled that Bree picked me to be part of this amazing team of talented designers! We love to see what you create with us week after week so we hope you'll continue to play along!

This week's sponsor is Sassy Studio Designs

Our fabulous sponsor gave us some cute images to work with and have generously awarded this week' winner with fabulous prize of 4 free images from their collections!
So now that you know what you're playing for, let's GET SKETCHY!

Here's this week's sketch

And my take using My Mind's Eye Be Loved line. I think my two new favorite color combos are salmon and chocolate!

We hope you'll craft your take on this fantastic sketch and link up your card to Mr. Linky at Get Sketchy for a chance to win this week's awesome prize.

I'm dreaming of a White Christmas

Yes sadly we don't get a White Christmas in Southern California but when a girl can get Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby serenading her their version of White Christmas, well what else could this California girl need? So every year I look forward to December and Christmas because I know White Christmas will be playing on AMC. I actually start searching the Tivo Guide December 1st. Well this year it's showing on December 5th! Squeal!!! I've set my Tivo and our family tree trimming is not set for Saturday Dec. 5th as well. And my gift to you all my friends is a collection of all the songs from the movie White Christmas courtesy of Playlist. It's 29 minsutes long so feel free to click the mute button if you don't care to listen cause these songs are a bit cheesy I know. If you seen the haven't seen the movie and the message then set your Tivo too cause you'll fall in love with White Christmas too!

Happy hump day!

Happy hump day to all my hard working friends with jobs outside of the home! I have to admit now that I am a stay at home mom and scrapbooker extraordinaire, Mondays are just another day for me and hump day, well that's just a funny way of saying it's Wednesday over here.
Today I'm excited to share with you that I contributed to Page Maps this month! Page Maps is the fantastic sketch blog by Becky Fleck who has just joined the Scrapbook & Cards Today Team!! Here's the sketch I was given to work with.

And here's my layout with Pink Paislee Amber Road collection

I also have some news you might be interested in:

Jacksonbelle Embellishments Design Team Search

Jacksonbelle Embellishments (www.jacksonbelleembellishments.com) offers a wide variety of stamps, embellishments, paper, ribbon… basically everything you will need to create beautiful paper crafts! We are looking for 2 new design team members beginning NOW and ending December 20th at 12am EST.

Here are the design team requirements ~

1. Each month we will have pre-determined challenges which you will be asked to take part of each Tuesday. We also have a featured product every week that could feature YOU!
2. Each design team member will be asked to do ONE tutorial during their term. The tutorial can be a card, altered item, anything the member would be most comfortable profiling.
3. You must post in your gallery/blog at least 5 projects a month featuring Jbelle product. This can be combined with the Tuesday challenges.
4. You MUST love the products Jbelle sells!!! This will make designing so much easier and fun!

What you will receive ~

1. 25% off ALL purchases at Jacksonbelle Embellishments.
2. A one time $25 gift certificate to Jacksonbelle Embellishments.
3. Free product throughout your term.
4. A Monthly Store Credit.
5. You will be part of a really fun group of girls!!!

Term ~

1. Design team term ~ January 1^st 2010 to July. 1st 2010

Does all this sound good to you??? If so, THIS is what you need to do ~ email DIRECT links to your blog and/or gallery, three samples of your best work!!! The email address to send these links to is jacksonbelle.embellishments@gmail.com. The 2 chosen designers will be contacted BY December 22nd. The new design team will be announced before Christmas!!

And....

Our 12 days of Christmas is in full swing! Make sure you stop by the Jacksobelle blog to see what we are offering for Day#2

Jacksonbelle's 12 days of Christmas!

Hi friends! Happy Jbelle Tuesday and Welcome to our kickoff of the Jacksonbelle 12 days of Christmas. We've got some fun things in store for you over the next 12 days. Each of the Design Team members will be bringing you 12 days of holiday inspiration to jump start your holiday card making, gift packaging and much more!! Today we're kicking off the 1st day with holiday themed cards! Fun and easy cards made with products available in the fabulous Jacksonbelle Embellishments store! Here's my card

Supplies: Be Merry from My Mind's Eye, Prima pearl centers, Making Memories rub ons and misc ribbon.
Be sure and stop by the Jacksonbelle Embellishments blog to see what we have in store for you the next 12 days!
Now visit our Rockstar Design Team to see their holiday card creations!

Tobi Crawford ~ Tobi’s Place

Stephanie Hargis ~ Steph’s Stampin’ Stuff

Michelle Philippi ~ Inside My Own Private Idaho

Carly Robertson ~ Paper in Bloom

Lynda Benden: Stamp Act

Jimmi Mayo ~ Stamping & Shopping

Jill Dunn: Ink Genious

Lindsey Botkin: Embellished

Trudee Sauer: Follow Your Bliss

Heather Lee-Reppen: The Best in Life

Keri Lee Sereika: Pink Lemonade

And one more thing before you go!


I'm so excited to share with you two new collections released today from Imaginisce!

&

You can see both the Lucy Bird & Scooters Vacation collections by visiting the Imaginisce website.

Thanks for stopping by!