WooHoo 2nd post today! isn't this fun!! Here's this week's challenge sketch by Laura at 2 Sketches 4 You I love the way she draws her sketches!

Here's my take

I used paper, rub on and brad by K & Company, ribbon by Basic Basic, my Cricut Home Accents cartridge, Martha Stewart Border Punch and Prima flowers.

Here's a bonus sketch by Ewonne Ek that I am currently working on

Here's my take on the sketch, I made this card for my friend Julie Adler's birthday. We're getting together tonight at Pink Taco in Century City to celebrate!! Woot Woot Mommy's nite out!

For this card I used Prima & My Minds Eye patterned paper. I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the My Minds Eye paper. The flower screen is from K & Company. Sentiment is by Hero Arts and I used a Martha Stewart butterfly punch, gottta love those 40 percent off coupons at Michaels! I also sprayed Glimmer Mist over the Sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by again, have a great day!

Reveal Tuesday

It's reveal Tuesday at Scrapping Out Loud and this week's challenge is really fun! This week we want you to get out those rulers and get measuring, because we want to see you use the grid technique to create a LO! Here's my take on this challenge. I divided my page in 4 large squares...

I can't seem to get Lily to pose for me these days. Getting a shot of her looking at the camera is near impossible which makes for a frusterated scrapbooker mommmy! Oh well, I decided to document it for when she enters her Diva phase all bets will surely be off and I'll be getting lots of shots!

It's hot hot hot in So Cal today and with no A/C the kids and I are running around in summer clothes.

What happened to April Showers bring May flowers?

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Happy Mail from Hero!

Ohhh what a day! I've scrapped 2 layouts so far and I was working on the third when there was a knock at the door. I wasn't expecting anyone so I was curious of course and waiting on my doorstep was a box from Hero Arts! I was so excited to open my box of goodies for winning the Blinkie contest during the Blogaversary I wanted to share how generous they were!

Thanks Hero Arts!

Sunday Blues...

Janene's Sponge technique challenge at Splitcoast Stampers
Stamp: Unity Stamp Co, Bling: Petaloo, Ribbon: American Crafts

It's a funny feeling of regret that comes every Sunday afternoon. I know tomorrow is the start of a new week and also so many possibilities but I can't help getting this feeling on Sundays. Maybe it's because Mat will begin yet another stressful week at work at his job and not be home with me all day. Or Maybe it's because I'll kiss my son goodbye and watch him ride off to school on his bike from our garage and then I am really alone. I really think I get the blues on Sunday because on the weekends I am surrounded by my family and their love and when Monday morning comes it's just me and the babies after all the Monday morning hustle and bustle. Maybe that's why I threw myself into my scrap booking after making the decision to stay home with my daughter and be here for my son everyday. I thought it would be so great, no more angry customers at the bank yelling at me and no more hour long drives downtown in bumper to bumper traffic to my office. I had no idea how lonely I would really be. Now it sounds absolutely absurd to say that because I am not alone. I have the babies to watch after all day but I am alone.
It's a strange transition from working mom to well at home working mom. Mine has been full of joy being here to see my daughter's milestones and enjoying those little moments I missed with Scott but it's also been a sorrow because over the months I've really lost my identity. I've lost the will to curl my hair and wear makeup. I've lost the excitement of getting dressed everyday and I've completely lost my figure. This is the hardest thing for me to admit. I'm am completely not my former self.


Now believe me when I say that I LOVE the mother I have grown into thru this experience but I don't recognize the woman I am now when I look in the mirror.


This morning I went to take off my wedding ring and I could not get it off my finger. It was a little loose when my husband placed it on my finger and said "I do" it was a wake up call for me although in recent weeks I've had MANY.


So this is my way of laying it all out here. Sorry for a non crafty post but today is a good day because I am looking at my life very clearly and owning up to it.


Now I just need to find the courage to change it.

Hip Hop Hangover Friday!

HEY IT'S FRIDAY...YEAH!!!! Whew this week flew by for me! Hip Hop was another great Thursday full of inspiration and chatty fun. I {heart} those chatty peeps over on the Splitcoast forum! Stop by the Unity blog today for Unity goodness and Angela's generous offer of 15 percent off your order when you use the code MOTHER! Get that Plant a Tree stamp, you won't be disappointed!

Here's my challenge cards from yesterday, Hole-Y Unity challenge using paper piercing on your card

And the Give Unity a Bow challenge

As soon as I saw that owl ribbon at Michaels I had to have it!

I'm really excited! Tonight I'm taking a mini book class at Scrapbook Oasis called Random Thoughts with Laura from A Kiss on the Chic. This is a picture of the kit and her book she created for tonights class. It's amazing! She has an amazing kit club full of shabby chic scrappy goodness!!!

The weekend will be a relaxing one as we don't have plans since the big MMA Fights are on Saturday and my husband is a fan. I am really hoping Mauricio "Shogun" Rua defeats Chuck Liddel. We met Shogun one evening with his brother at In and Out over here by LAX. He was so nice and was happy to pose for a pic with my DH who was like a kid seeing Santa Claus...LOL

And finally today here is my card for 2 Sketches 4 You

I used Hero Arts Stamps for this one this week.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

Hip Hop! It's Thursday! Um yea I'm a little late...

Ok so I forgot to post this earlier but better late than never and Angela has some amazing deals over at Unity on some awesome Rubbah! Be sure to check out the new release Plant a Tree for Earth Day. I really {heart} this stamp. I think cause it was from Laura is what makes it the most special.


Now before I post anything else stop reading this and RUN over to Simply Handmade's blog to enter to win a Die Cutting Machine! You can get the deets here but you only have a day and a quarter left to enter!!! So go here NOW!

The weather was so beautiful here today so I took the kiddies out to play. Here they are having fun!

See you tmr with all my Unity and SCS Creations!

Unity Addicts challenge and more...

Woot Woot it's Wednesday! I am meeting my friends at Corner Bakery in the valley tonight to send our dear friend Jenn off to Chicago. Her DH has accepted a job there and she's excited to hopefully get back to teaching and being closer to family.

Today the Unity Addicts challenge was to create a card without a sentiment on the front. Here's mine...

And this week's Technique challenge at Splitcoast was to stamp on metal. I used a soda can that I stamped these Unity flowers and heat embossed with Stayz On ink and then cut out. It was super fun!

And this card was for last week's color challenge. Carole sent me some of these Unity rainbow

stamped images. So cute!

I also wanted to show a few more projects I designed with this month's kit at Paper Posies.

A sweet layout using Cosmo Cricket of my daughter wearing the hat my mom knitted for her.

Nan, me and Dawn at Scrapbook Royalties Royal Slumber Crop enjoying our sweets that Dawn made. They are awesome cookies!

And finally a quick card with ribbon, brads and Prima flowers.

Hello Tuesday! New reveals @ Scrapping Out Loud!

Hi there crafters! It's reveal day at Scrapping Out Loud and time for a new challenge. Are you ready? This one's pretty fun! This weeks challenge is to scrap a pg. using paint somewhere/anywhere on your pg. Get out those paints and get creative ...if you have used paint before, try using it in a new way.


Here's what I came up with

I used supplies from my Paper Posies April kit along with supplies from my Little Red Scrapbook kit. I belong to both kit clubs because they have amazing kits at an amazing value! I'm still offering to pay the shipping on your first month's kit at Paper Posies if you are the first person to email me and then have Michelle confirmed you signed up. You can still get April's kit which is adorable!

Make sure you stop by Scrapping Out Loud to see what the other DT members created for this week's challenge. I can't wait to see what you come up with for this challenge. Leave a comment on the blog with a link to your layout. This month RAK is all about Sassafras goodness and every week you participate you get an entry to win!

Hope you had a Happy Easter, a chocolate lover's favorite day!

Mmmm, did you get your chocolate fix today? I sure did! Happy Easter to you all. I hope you had a fabulous day filled with family and fun. The Easter Bunny delivered wonderful baskets to our home filled with goodies that made Scott and Lily smile.

Here's a few pics of my sweet loves...

Miss Lily in her Purple fairy dress up clothes

Scott and cousin Gavin

Lily reading her new book from the E.B.

Scott showing off his chocolate bunny :)

We had a great time on Easter as a family. It was fun watching the kids run around and hunt for eggs at my MIL's.

Thanks as always for stopping by, I just wanted to share that I am so honored to have won Card of the Week over at 2 Sketches 4 You for last week's sketch. I can still hardly believe it! The ladies that play along every week are seriously talented! I loved the GCD papers that I found at Michaels. I knew they were going to be perfect for cards! Have a great day and be sure to check back tmr for my take on Scrapping Out Loud's new challenge for the week!

Hip Hop Hangover crafty things..

Happy Friday Peeps! A very "Hoppy" Easter to you all!! Every year my husband's mom gets up at 5:30 and hides eggs for the kids and adults. It's a fabulous hunt all over outside her house. It's always fun to see who finds their Bonus bunnies 1st. Of course we're all looking forward to the hunt on Sunday.

I've got 2 days left to whip up some Easter cards, I've only made one for my mom and dad which I had to mail the other day so it would get to them in Arkansas in time for Easter. Whatever your family does to celebrate I hope you enjoy the day!

Before I post my cards for the Hip Hop I have a special wish for a special friend who had to have some dental surgery. I hope you are doing well and not having too much pain. Hopefully some special wishes from your favorite kitty will help!

Get well soon Danielle!

This weeks challenges at Unity were super fun! First up is my card for Unity Going Green challenge, I used my new stamp that I came home to find on my doorstep from last week's hop. I won this beautiful stamp for participating in the Blog Hop and lovely Laura drew my name! I love it!! For this card I stamped the You are my Sunshine sentiment on the Martha Stewart twill and used Stickles on the tree.

Next is my card for the Unity Anytime challenge. I used card stock from Coredinations and embossed it with my Cuttlebug and then sanded to bring out the color in the core. The stamp is a Unity circle stamp with the owl journaling stamp over the circle and then I used Stickles.

Be sure to stop by the Unity blog to check out the specials for this week! Angela has some amazing new products!

Have a great Friday and thanks for stopping by!

2 Sketches 4 You Challenge and more

Hey there, hope your week is going great so far! The rain clouds are rolling in here this morning but the crisp sea air is blowing and the sun is still shining. Lily and I just came home from a walk and breathing that air is so refreshing, I'm ready to scrap again today but first I am off to take a trip to my friend Sonja's Scrap Spot to pick up my glimmer mist I ordered.

Yesterday I worked on a couple challenges and first up is the 2 Sketches 4 You Challenge. Here's Laura's Sketch




And here's my interpretation of the sketch using GCD paper




Here's another card using the same GCD paper I made for Mother's day, {no Mom this isn't your card!}


Next I have a couple of entries for this week's Hero Arts beyond paper challenge



I used Tim Holtz crackle paint on the bird and then stamped on the image


For this card I used a chipboard tag and inked it with Tim Holtz distress inks then used white ink and embossed the image.



Tomorrow is Hip Hop at Unity Stamp Co. wonder what Angela is cooking up for us this week!

It's Tuesday!!! New Challenge at Scrapping Out Loud

It's time for a new challenge at Scrapping Out Loud. This week's challenge is to scrap a page using at least 3 different patterned papers. Here's my page for this week.

I used the Sassafras line and some new letters from American Crafts and chipboard from Cosmo Cricket.

Come on by and play along with this week's challenge for a chance at our monthly RAK.

Have a super Tuesday!

Some more challenges

I recently found another sketch blog I like called Card Positioning Systems. They have a fantastic DT with lots of inspiration not to mention great sketches!

This morning I finished my challenge for CPS 110. I loved this sketch! SO whimsical and so many possibilities. I am sure I'll be making some more cards for this one. Here's the sketch

Here's my entry for CPS110

I flipped the sketch and cut a window to stamp the birdcage image inside and used a Cuttlebug die to emboss the patterned paper to add texture.

Supplies:

Hero Arts card stock

DCWV patterned paper

Hero Arts stamp

Hero Arts bling

Prima flowers

CTMH metal rimmed tag

CTMH sentiment stamp

Craft n Craftin overlay

Cuttlebug embossing folder

Here's another take using some more Hero Arts stamps amd Maya Road velvet flowers and Prima leaves.

Another take without the whimsical vines but ribbon instead.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you're having a great Monday and feelin scrappy!

Sunday Scrapping

Happy Sunday what ever you are doing this afternoon!

I found some time this afternoon to do this week's challenge for Method Playground. I picked up this scalloped cardstock at Michaels last week. It's so awesome they are getting big name brand scrappy stuff and overylays and die cut cardstocks. I must have been in there over an hour looking at all the wonderful new items although I think I'm in there an hour every trip.

So the challenge is : Use a monochromatic color scheme on your page...

Here's my take

Now that I finished this challenge, I have major scrappy mojo! Gotaa scrap some more. See you tomorrow

2 Sketches Challenge

I found the 2 Sketches 4 You blog and I was able to play along about a month ago and life has just gotten SO busy that I always kept missing the deadlines. So tonight I set out to scrap a little and have fun with Kazan's sketchthis week! The Design Teams takes were fabulous as always.

And here's my take, I had fun with this one!

Supplies:

Sassafras Lasspattern cardstock

Craft n Craftin overlay

Studio G stamp from the $ bin at Michaels

Prima flower

Dress it Up! blingy flower

CTMH bigger brads

Martha Stewert doily lace scallop punch

I also wanted to try the Bonus Sketch by Berdien Weideveld

here's my take on this one with the same paper line and cupcake stamps

Thanks as always for stopping by!

Hip Hop Hangover and TGIF!!!

Good morning Hip Hoppers! Yesterday's baby themed Hip Hop was tons of fun! It was sweet to see everyone's avitar baby pics. I'll share my favorite baby pic of my sweet Lily today. This was taken when she was 4 days old. So beautiful!

Here are my cards for the Unity challenges. First is the 3+3=Unity. The challenge was to create a card using no more than 3 colors & 3 layers. I love how this card turned out.

Next is the Unity, Yeah Baby Challenge. Create a baby card using Unity. Well this little guy is the only baby stamp I have from Unity. I used a MS punch, bling from Hero Arts and some cute little button brads.

Skip on over to Unity today to check out Angela's awesome deals and take advatage of her generous offer of FREE SHIPPING thru Sunday!

So it's TGIF!!!! Next week is Sping Break and my son is out of school. He'll be spending tonight thru Weds with his dad and then he'll be home thru Easter with us.

I won't be babysitting since the parents I sit for are teachers YAY! So I'll have LOTS of scrappy time!

Have a great weekend whatever you do!