Artist in Training

Very rarely does C like to get her hands dirty. These pictures are when she was almost 2 I think. She loves the IDEA of playdoh, painting and coloring but NOT the mess. She is so prissy that way but this is the same girl that will go out and play for hours in the sand/mud/snow! Silly girl, she sure does have her quirks!

Tech Geek

C loves to talk on our phones will beg but as soon as you hand them over SILENCE! She will jabber away trying to get your attention but as soon as you hand it over there is NO getting her to talk. She has been this way since she was little. She loves gadgets, technology and buttons so grabbing my old and new phones to "talk" and play is a favorite past time of hers!

Family Star

For some reason I am going through a fussy cutting phase, which is HIGHLY unlike me as I am not a patient person but as you can see I took lots of time to fussy cut all the stars and pop dot some of them. I love these colors and the border that I created!

Do you want to see a Masterpiece?

I love this! I have been feeling cruddy lately (sickly and tired) and was napping. When I woke up Jon and Caitlyn had made this AWESOME card, she did almost all of it herself using my decorative scissors that I saved for her and her little sizzix sidekick. I LOVE IT! It truly made me smile and will reside on my desk front and center in a barn star photo clip forever!!!!

Purging paper, for sale

So I am going to be purging my paper this weekend. I will have at least one if not two more large flat rate boxes FULL of various brands to include: My Minds Eye, American Crafts, DCWV, Me and my big ideas, cardstock, K&Company and many more. It will be a huge surprise but if you like my style you will probably like the box. I will be selling them for 30.00 plus shipping (which used to be 13.95). First come first serve, pay pal only! Let me know!

2011 calendar

I have made two calendars this year thus far. This one is for someone special and I hope she likes it. I used the wonderful Cutting Cafe 2011 Calendar set. The other one was for me and I don't have pictures but it is the 8X8 DCWV Calendar kit. Super simple but I plan on taking pictures of C every day (same day) of the month so that I have a progression of the year. Does that make sense?

Happy New Year and my Goals

Please scroll down for my Frosted Designs challenge from today, use a quote, I like the page so I would love for you to see it!

Happy New Year all. I doubt I will make it to the ball dropping since it is only 830ish here and I am already dragging. I do believe I will be starting off the new year with a cold YUCK! Oh well at least that is all it is! So I am VERY good at making goals/resolutions but not so much on the following through. So this year I decided to set some manageable goals that will benefit my life.

So here we go, are you ready? What are your goals?

1. My little word for 2011 is going to be: ENJOY. I choose this word simply because that is what I want to do with my life, enjoy it, enjoy the young years with C even though they are trying some times. While enjoying my life, I will have (hopefully) less stress, less anger, less anxiety, and more fun and memories. I will be practicing enjoying my life to the fullest since we never know when it will be gone.

2. My first scrap related goal for 2011 is to stay out of the stores until at least March 1st. I would really like to dwindle down my stash, and make more pages so staying out with the exception of Valentine paper (how come I do not have a lot of red/pink at all?) and swap things NO STORES! I am even throwing away the printable ads, and deleting the online ones. I will be rewarding myself though as I scrap with 2.00 a layout, or 5.00 dollars for a double, 4.00 for a card(I don't like doing them!) and anywhere from 5-10 for an altered project depending on the difficulty. That money will go in a jar/account/whatnot and I will be able to spend it on March 2nd OR keep going and save it. I would love to have more in my personal savings so I bet that will be where it goes. I do have a top ten list but only if those items are on clearance or discounted more than 50%; but since they are all new I do not see this as an issue.

3. Get birthday cards out THE WEEK before the birthday, not the day before!

4. Lose 20 pounds before my 30th birthday in June, I would love to lose 50 or more but I am trying to be realistic. It is extremely hard for me to work out since C is so active and when she is napping or taking quiet time I am cleaning, sleeping, or trying to regain patience for the rest of the day. However I hate the way I look and feel so I will be moving more, and hopefully losing weight to make myself feel better.

5. Complete a year in review album utilizing calendar pages and month in review type layouts. I hope to write everything we do on the calendar then transfer them straight to 12X12 layout. Left side would be the calendar and the right side would be smaller pictures from that month, like a highlight page?

So that is it. Enjoy my life, less stress, save money, stay out of stores, birthday cards and year in review all while moving more and eating less.

How about you?

Frosted Designs USE A QUOTE

I am trying to scrap pictures of my tour in Iraq, this is the second in the series. The quotes that I used are found at the bottom of my journaling block : "Freedom is NOT free" and "A battle buddy-24/7-has your back" The pictures are from the first few weeks (top) and last few days (bottom) of my tour. My battle buddy is now Caitlyns "God Father" for lack of a better word, and is a part of my family now.We joke that I will never get rid of him but you know what (and if you tell him I will DENY it) I would not want to. Even though I was the "senior Officer" he really gave me confidence in leading troops I had never met or would meet again in Kuwait and his first destination when he was reassigned to my post was to find me. He never forgets ANY ONES birthdays in our family and jokes that he will marry my Mom. We come from different worlds but as we found out war makes those differences silly and inconsequential. Bonds formed during war, or during any service in the military, are strong, solid, and most of the time everlasting. We are so blessed to have "Uncle Mac" in our lives.

My top projects for 2010

Blogland is full of these type of posts right now so I thought I would join too. Here are my top projects of the year. I thought I could pick one per month but I think there are three months that have more than one. I love looking back and seeing how I changed and evolved in this wonderful craft. What was your favorite project from 2010?


January-I love the little blocks that I made simply because they did not cost me a thing and are so easy to personalize for my scrappy friends. I love love love the ribbon grass and button tree on the Little Soldier layout, I was so happy with this one!
February-I choose this layout simply because I ADORE the pictures and I loved the sketch that I used!
March-I do not paper piece much but I love how this one came out. I love all the white doodling and the title is so fitting!

April-This was my favorite since it was the most detailed and time consuming BUT it is also the creation that landed me an awesome DT spot at the awesome Scrapbookpal.com. Also the girl that I made this for LOVES it so that helps too!
May-May was a busy month as was June and July with all the traveling but I was super proud of myself for re creating this shirt for a fraction of the cost for my Dad, and he still wears it proudly so that made it my top pick for May.
June-I am so proud of this card. I am proud of all the details and the sentiment and so happy that I got out of the box and it was a HUGE success for using Mini Monsters. I adore this card!
July-This layout is framed and hanging in our hallway. I loved that I played with the colors in the photos and was able to achieve (or at least I think so) a vintage/grunge/shabby chic vibe.
August-I did not scrap much in August but I love the above layout with my wonderful niece and Caitlyn. They have such a special relationship even though they only see one another once or twice a year. She is a wonderful young lady and I am so excited for Caitlyn to know her.
September: I participated in the Learn Something New Everyday with shimelle.com and loved it. It was a challenge to scrap a page a day AND take pictures but I love that I have a snapshot of my life right at that moment, the above page is one of my favorites.
October: I was blessed to be a guest designer at ArtfulDelight and was so happy to work with her cute stamps, they were right up my alley. I LOVE these papers and that picture of C is perfect!

November: I could not choose one as I love both of these projects. I am partial to the button tree but all three are smile makers for me!
December: I did not do much scrapping for me this month at all, and what I did I cannot show you until January but I love this second try at digital stamps for Cutting Cafe. I love that EVERYTHING was from my stash and I love white pen so this was a great thing for me too. I am learning and I am glad that I have this opportunity.

So there you have it, my top picks for 2010. I am glad that there is a variety of projects and not all layouts. Did you like them all? Did your "fav" of mine not make it, let me know. I would love to see your favorite list too so link me up in the comments.

Have a very happy and SAFE New Year!

Gingerbread paper ornaments-Scrapbookpal.com

Happy almost New Years Eve. Here's to hoping that your holiday was filled with lots of love, laughter, memories and good will. I hope you are recovering now! This year I decided to start a tradition (or two) with Caitlyn. I purchased this white "fashion" tree at Hobby Lobby (50% off WOOHOOO) and we are going to decorate it for each holiday/season. I love the Gingerbread cart that the awesome Scrapbookpal.com sent me (did you know they have FREE shipping on orders over 25.00!?) to play with this month. Caitlyn and I set down and cut several of the candy and candy cane pieces to make some super simple ornaments for her new white tree.

Here is what you will need:
Expression
12X12 mats
Zig glue pen
White card stock
green and red patterned paper
crop a dile or other hole punch
ribbon
Gingerbread cart
chestnut roan ink
1. Using your cricut (either one) cut out two of each of the candy cane at 1.5 and one candy piece at 2 inches and two at 1.5 inches. Cut both layers using white card stock and patterned paper.
2. Adhere with Zig glue pen.
3. Ink all edges.
4. Punch holes in top/side with crop a dile.
5. String and tie ribbon to make loops.
6. Decorate and enjoy your tree!

You could go further and add more decorations, bling, layers etc but I wanted to keep them simple since they will be in a three year old's room! I can't wait to use my Cricut to make things for every holiday/season this coming year. Happy 2011!!!!