I'm having one of those days... you know the one where you are so proud of a project and think surely it will be good enough but it isn't. And you're left wondering why? Where did I go wrong? What didn't I do right? I know it's part of the creative process but it still stings. That's the kind of day today is for me...

Paper Posies Online Crop Day 2

Day 2 of the Paper Posies online crop and more fun and games are in store for you! Join us here

I hosted a mini album challenge yesterday that will run the next 4 weeks. Last night I revealed the cover and every Friday evening over the next 4 weeks I'll reveal 2 more pages so you can play along over the weekend and create your own book.

I've been wanting to create an album about me for my kids to have when they are older. I want them to be able to read and share it with their kids. I always loved listening to my grandmas stories of when she was a young girl and wish I had something she'd created to read and remember her by. Plus with some some recent losses in scrapbooking blog land it made me think that I really wanted to have something to leave behind for my kids to know that it wasn't just being their mom I enjoyed in my life and how thankful I am that I'm a part of their lives.

So onto my reveal...

Cover, lots of distressing

My handmade Posie flower

I used pop dots to raise it off the page

Finally here's a card challenge I posted in the online forum today. I used the sketch from Card Patterns this week and challenged the girls to make a layout or card with a handmade Posie on it using the sketch and a link to Card patterns to submit their card for this week's challenge over there as well.

Here's the Sketch

Sketch 16 at the Card Patterns blog

My take

So thanks for stopping by my blog and come on over and join us today for more games, fun and PRIZES!!!

http://www.paperposies.com/

Paper Posies Anniversary Crop!

Hey there friends!

Today at noon Pacific time we're kickin off the Paper Posies Weekend Crop and will conclude on Saturday, May 30st at 9pm PT.

Please make plans to attend and plan to have a TON OF FUN!! We have plenty of challenges, games, PRIZES and other fun things planned to last throughout the crop. You won't want to miss it!

If you're not a member of Paper Posies you can still enjoy all the fun! Click here to sign up for the forum!

Here's a list of what we have planned for you today

12 Noon Welcome to the Crop and sign in :)

Song challenge- layout MaryAnn

1:00 game time hosted by Michele

2:00 Border Punch Challenge- Sonda

3:00 game Paper Posies/Scrapbooking Bingo words called approx very hour

4:00 Card sketch challenge with a twist- Shemaine

5:00 game #2 game of 4's- MaryAnn

That should be enough to get you excited. I'll be posting more games and I'm also hosting special project tonight at 7pm Pacfic time.

Hope to see you there! http://www.paperposies.com/

New Challenge @ 2S4Y!!! Plus a Bonus Sketch this week!

I love the creative process, it's probably why I love papercrafting so much. I love that I go to sleep at night working an idea in my head and I wake up the next day excited to bring it to life.

Somedays my ideas don't turn out quite as I dreamed but other days like today they do.

For those of you that share this passion know that the best part of our process is when we take a step back and enjoy the finished project.

This week's sketch at 2Sketches4You is by the ever so talented Kazan.

I had so many ideas swimming in my head with this sketchI went to bed thinking about this sketch last night and here's what I came up with

I cut small circles and embossed the dots with my Cuttlebug. Then I used the a spellbinders circle die to cut the circle. The sentiment is Unity Stamp Co. And of course I am in love with this black gingham ribbon these days...

Now for the Bonus sketch brought to us this week by Angela

Cute huh!

And sticking with my black and yellow theme(well I actually had extra card stock from the previous card leftover) my take on the sketch. I also used stamped image by Unity Stamp Co.

So there you have it, my cards for this week's awesome challenges. Don't forget June 1st marks the start of the Ultimate Card Showdown @ 2S4Y!! Click here for the deets!

I've also brought my friend Ms. Reminder back to remind you that tomorrow is Hip Hop over at Unity Stamp Company. Games, Prizes, Chat and totally cool Challenges. What more could you ask for you say? Well how about amazing deals on gorgeous rubbah too! That's right and it all starts at 8am pacific time if you're on the West Coast like me. Start here @ Unity

Time for another fun challenge at Scrapping Out Loud

Happy Tuesday! It's always so hard to go back to work when you've just had a 3 day weekend. I hope you enjoyed this weekend BBQ'ing and spending time with family. We lazed around our home and the weather was perfect!



With Tuesday comes another challenge from Scrapping Out Loud and a chance for you to win a RAK of scrappy goodies! Here's this week's challenge:this week's challenge it's all about embellies! We want you to add them to your scrap pages in layers the more the merrier!!! Layer Layer Layer your embellies!!!

Here's my take:


Oh how I wish I could freeze time and my babies would stay young forever. I love this time with Lily, being able to cuddle with her and get those sweet little kisses! Scott will be 12 this summer and I know I'm going to wake up very soon and he'll be a teenager not wanting hugs and kisses from his over affectionate mom.
Can't wait to see what you do with this challenge. Link your a layouts to the new challenge post here

Don't forget the DT call!!! You've got til May 31st to apply! You'll love working with these fab ladies and enjoy the challenges! I sure have. Have a fantastic day and go craft something!

I've found my freedom...

...On Cherry Hill!

Oh how I love the new line by October Afternoon and Little Red Scrapbook's May kit is loaded with this new line!!! I've been creating with the May kit today and over at the October Afternoon's blog they've got a sketch challenge! And a Prize! So here's my cards

This is not one of the sketches just a card I created on my own

Sketch 3

Sketch 2

Sketch 1

I love the colors and the patterns, so fun!

So it's been a pretty crafty weekend. I slept in this morning {thanks babe} and then made tropical waffles for my family. They loved em! It's been great relaxing and just enjoying time together as a family. I hope that you to enjoyed your holiday weekend with those you love.

Thanks for stopping by!

Hope you're having a fantastic holiday weekend so far...

I've had a busy weekend so far. My friend Tami came to stay with me Friday evening after her interview and she was offered the job back here in Los Angeles. I can hardly believe that she's been living in Seattle for 3 years already. I met her when I was a single mom living in Glendale and just trying to raise my son. We had such good times together shopping, playing tennis and just hanging out. She is the sweetest girl I know, always there to help you out when you need it and a generous heart.

We had dinner out at PF Changs, yummy. Then we picked up The curious case of Benjamin Button and some ice cream. It was a fun evening and I'm thrilled she'll ba back in 3 weeks to look for an apartment in Santa Monica.

Saturday I woke up to miss Lily having a fever of 104.1 and she was quite cranky. She was shoving her thumb in the back of her gums and wincing when I went to get her out of her crib. Ahhh teething. I gave her some Motrin and inspected her gums to find she is cutting both of her back molars, OUCH! So I was on fever watch all day and then up from 1 til 3 am with her.



I've been really busy working on some layouts that I can't wait to show you but I've got to keep em under wraps til June :) I have some news too but i can't share that just yet either. I know..I'm sorry. {grin}


I did play along with the Got Sketch girls today using my May kit from Little Red Scrapbook. I had fun taking these pics of Lily and I. She's such a fun little girl and her personality is really starting to show in her giggles and smiles. Now if I can just get her to kick the finger sucking...


So that's it. I need to write another article for my column but I've been a bit overwhelmed with all that I've had on my plate.
Hope you have a great rest of your weekend whatever you do.

GCD Card Sketch challenge

There's a card sketch challenge posted at GCD! Who doesn't love a sketch challenge right? And up for grabs are 14 packs of glitter letter stickers WOOT WOOT!

Here's the Sketch

And since Father's Day is just around the corner I decided to make a Father's Day themed card.

Post a link to your card on the sketch thread here and the GCD Design team will be picking a winner.

Don't forget tmr is Hip Hop Thursday at Unity!!!! Start at the Unity Blog for all the deets here

Tuesday Scrapping Out Loud reveal!

Happy Tuesday! It's time for a new challenge at Scrapping Out Loud, are you ready?

This week's challenge is to Scrap your bad pics! - We all have those pics in our stash that came out bad but we just cannot bring ourselves to throw them away. Scrap a pic that is out of focus, or blurred, or just badly composed. (It will probably be the only pic you have from that occasion - although if you have another you can use it also.)

Since I print my own photos from home I don't save bad pics when I upload photos so for this challenge I chose pics from my class at Prima Studios that I changed to black and white cause I looked so terrible in them and they've sat in my stash for months. I had a great time at the class and meeting Adrienne was a blast.

Scrap those pics you hate and post a link in the comments on SOL and you could win this month's RAK!!!

Today I hosted a color challenge at Paper Posies Anniversary Party. We'll celebrating all month long so come visit us in the Anniversary Forum here The challenge was to use these colors to create a card or layout.

Here's my card.

I also got a chance to play along with the VSN challenges at Splitcoast this weekend. It was my 1st VSN and I won a stamp set from My Favorite things! SO Fun! Thanks Jimmi! Here's some cards I made for the challenges.

If you are wondering about the sentiment "thanks for your referral", my husband is in sales and his business partners refer clients to him. He asked me to create some thank you cards to give out to them. I'm such a good wife huh.

Thanks for stopping by and have a crafty day!

New Challenge @ 2S4Y!!!

Happy Monday out there, hope your Monday has started off well. The thing I love most about Mondays now is the new sketch challenge at 2 Sketches 4 You! What a way to start the week! So I'll get right to it this morning.

Here's this week's sketch by the very talented Laura


And here's my take using my May kit from Little Red Scrapbook



For my card I used the new Cherry Hill line from October Afternoon, Cherry Hill Wild Card, May Arts 7/8" Checked Ribbon - Black/Ivory and Creative Charms Hand knit cherry blossoms.

Hope you find time to play along too this week and they have a pretty cool announcement today on the blog here

Have a great Monday!

Scrappy Coaster Mini Album...finally!

So sorry for the late post, my husband and I went out to the early matinee this morning to see Star Trek. Loved it! For me Star Trek represents some great memories growing up with my Dad watching the episodes on t.v. with us. When the 1st Star Trek movie came out he was really excited to take us to see it.

Then when we got home this afternoon and sat down to write my post our Internet went out. Go figure...so finally here's my finished coaster mini album.

I decided to use pics from our family walks in the evening for the theme of my album. I want our kids to remember the fun times we have as a family.

Hope you had a great weekend and got to spend some fun times with those you love.

A fun Coaster Mini Album tutorial I hope you'll try yourself!

Happy Saturday friends!
I've had a busy day over at Paper Posies for the 4th Anniversary Party! There's lots of fun and games happening in the Anniversary Forum here

I wanted to share the Mini Coaster Album tutorial I posted for this month's Anniversary challenge using the May kit from Paper Posies. I love mini albums because they are quick projects that don't use alot of card stock and make fabulous gifts for friends and family!

Let's get started!

Some supplies you'll need: Coasters ( you can find them in the $1 bin at Target or the $ Store)

Pattern paper ( I used Crate Paper from PP May kit) Zip Dry glue, pencil, file, scissors, Crop a Dial or a hole punch and some ribbon or a ring or hemp to attach the album together.

Trace the coaster on your pattern paper and cut it out. I usually place mine on the top left corner to save paper.

Now you have your paper the shape of your coaster

Apply Zip Dry to coaster

Cover the coaster with the pattern paper and make sure it covers evenly and smooth it on with your hand

Next you'll need to trim the excess paper from the coaster using the file. These files usually come in distressing kits. A regular nail file works just as well. I learned this tip for trimming paper off of chipboard from Kelly Goree at Winter CHA. Hold the coaster in your hand and take the nail file in downward strokes going along the edge of the coaster to trim the paper off.

There won't be alot of excess paper since we traced the coaster on the cardstock.

Finally use your crop a dial or hole punch to make a hole for the ribbon or ring to attach your coasters into a mini album.

Repeat the steps for as many pages of this album you'd like and embellish! When you're done, tie your album together with ribbon or use a ring to hold the pages together.

I'll be back tmr to post my completed project. I hope you'll give this fun project a try.

Have a great night!

More artwork from May's Paper Posies kit

Here's a few more layouts I created using the May kit from Paper Posies We're still celebrating and I've got a card challenge running thru Monday so come on over and join the fun! You could win some great prizes and have fun playing along with the other challenges we have for you!

I really used this kit up and I'll be showing you another fun project I created from the kit soon. This week flew by! I was so sad to see Danny go last night. I really don't care for Adams antics o be honest and I might get some flack for saying so but we all have our favorite Idol and Danny was mine.

Don't forget the check out Unity's Hip Hop! Click here to visit the blog. Come join the Hip Hop chat fun and win some free stamps in the SCS Forum here.

Have a scrappy day!

2S4Y + Bonus Sketch and some fun times with my Dad

Happy Hump Day!!!I posted my second article today for the Examiner. This is really exciting! I want to thank everyone for their support and kind comments yesterday. It means alot!

If I could ask you to sign up for the email notification on my column, you'll get a message when a new post is added. Your visits to my page will make me a success and I greatly appreciate your time! Click the Examiner button I've added to my blog to visit my page and sign up now!

This week's sketch at 2 Sketches 4 You is by the talented Kazan. Her card was amazing and to be honest impossible for me to top. Here's mine

Next we had a bonus sketch by Lori

Here's my take using the new Early Bird line by Cosmo Cricket and stamped sentiment by Unity Stamp Company.

My dad was here Monday visiting just for one day and we had a blast! We took a walk down to the beach since living in Arkansas he doesn't see much of the beach anymore.

Dad and Scott, gosh my son is growing up way to fast

My handsome hubby and sweet daughter

This pic of Scott makes me laugh...

We had dinner here in Redondo Beach

Lily's 1st Fish and Chips, she's my little dipper!

What a great day we had as a family and as I watched my Dad drive off on his Harley Tuesday morning I cried like a little girl. My dad is the sweetest, most awesome Dad ever. I truly miss both my parents more than I can ever explain.

Thanks for taking to time to stop by my blog today. I hope you have a fantastic day!