I {Heart} Bear

I have a special fondness for this picture. The little girl is my youngest child and every night after all the kids were in bed, she would quietly get out of bed and lie on the floor in between her bedroom and the hallway. She and Bear would then sleep there until her Dad and I would go to bed. She loved Bear with every fiber of her being. He went almost everywhere with us( though he had to stay in the car because he was too big for her to carry).

When I look at this picture I see her as she used to be..and I miss this little girl. I love the young girl that she is now...but I really miss my baby.

Anyhow, I used a sketch from SketchThis. You can find them at http://janellerichmond.typepad.com/sketchthis/

The paper is from a DCWV paper pack ( Old World ). I used the Ranger Crackle paints on the ( random) chipboard letters.

Word Bloom Book

I made this last night for my sister and her daughter. Seems like I make/do a lot of stuff for them...but it's such fun! The cardstock is SU the flowers are Prima ( with bling brads in the center) , the polka dot paper is...well, I can't remember ( sorry )! I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. The album itself is made out of cardstock..but it's like those chipboard bloom albums that you can find at lss. Here's the online tutorial if you're interested:

http://www.craftbits.com/viewProject.do?projectID=2088

Valentine Embellished Paper Clips

The other day I signed up to do Embellished paper clips for an online Valentines Swap.

These are what I came up with. I wasn't sure if I wanted to do cute or romantic...I ended up with cute. The stamps are new from the Sizzix people ( I just thought they were Uber cute) and are going to make awesome little Valentines for my Kiddo's to take to school this year. The white cardstock is just basic Michael's brand, the red and pink are from www.papertreyink.com

I HEART their cardstock. Next to SU it's the best I've come across for thickness and quality. The colors are Poppy, and Sweet Blush. The ribbon came from Michael's ( clearance $1.99). It's all held together with photo splits and Zots.

For Kalea

These Layouts are for my niece Kalea. They are both from Cath at little book of sketches ( I think...I'll have to double check the first one). You can find her here: http://www.littlebookofsketchs.blogspot.com/

I am hoping to get them framed and sent out to her very soon. I have to say..the second one is my favorite. The top one seems a bit busy to me...and oh my gosh, it took so long to finish. I would definitely call that one a labor of love!

Corner Bookmarks

I made these corner bookmarks for a tutorial ( for an online group I'm in). These are corner bookmarks made out of a used envelope no less! Here's where I got the idea:

http://www.paperblessings.blogspot.com/

I can't believe how simple they were to make. You should really check them out. Oh yeah, so which one do you want Sarah? :O)

Animals On Parade

I was informed by my sister that I needed to post something..cause she needed to have something new to read. So this is for her...here you go Sare. I finally finished Kalea's Animals On Parade! These are little photo holders that I purchased in Michael's for $1 each. I did have to buy the paint because I don't typically use these colors. I can't believe how long it took me to get them all painted! It's all in the details...and there are a lot of small details that needed to be taken care of...then once I had them all painted..I had to go over the lines with a small tipped marker. Anyhow, I'm happier with the way they turned out than I expected to be. I hope that Kalea and Sarah like them.

Update On The Scooby Cat

The vet called and left a voice mail. I am ecstatic to report that the blood work came back and everything is okay. He was a little dehydrated, but that isn't unusual..due to his accident. She and the internist looked at the X-Rays together and decided that the displacement of his organs was more than likely due to the fact that he's a chubby kitty. The only thing I can say about that is "thank you, God!"

I am of coarse, delighted and relieved to know that he's going to be okay. though he hasn't really been eating..I had to put the anti-arthritis medicine on his food . He doesn't like it. The vet said not to worry..cats like the liver flavor. Apparently, she doesn't know my cat.

Birthday Cards For the Brother In Laws

I made these 2 cards last night for my bils. My brother in law JR had a birthday in December ( ok, so I'm a skosh late) and my brother in law Josh has a birthday coming up in a couple of weeks...So one card is late and one will be early ( or on time..) which in theory should even things up a bit, right? JR's card went in the mail this morning with a gift card from Starbucks. Josh's card might go out next week with a Barnes and Noble gift card. He doesn't do Starbucks. That's just not natural! Anyhow, I used the Mike stamp set from Hanna Stamps. Cardstock and all printed paper is SU...Brads are SU as well. The image is colored with copic markers..except for the shirt which is SU paper.

Altered Tin For My Buddy

Yesterday we had a nice visit with my niece. When she comes over I like to have a project for us to do. I chose to alter tins. This seemed like a fun thing to do. Though,my daughter linsea Altered her star box ( I didn't have enough of the tins..). The picture on the top is Taryn's tin ( it has the "t" on it. The rest are pictures of the tin I made). The paper I chose is from "My Minds Eye" the "wild asparagus collection.I used a dark red Velvet ribbon in the middle..and the K is decorated with red micro beads. The flowers are prima and they have little pink dew drops in the center. I decided after I finished the tin to give it to my best buddy...though it was close ( I almost kept it for myself)...It's a good thing that our name(s) are Katherine/Kathryn..both spelled with a K! :) Anyhow, she deserves it...for being such a good friend, for the craft she had ready to go on New Years Eve...and just because. KUDOS to you Kathryn! Hope you like your tin...

Our Trip To The Vet

Today we had to take our cat Scooby to the vet. I made the appointment on Wednesday because he was acting off. An emergency visit would have cost $90 plus whatever else needed to be done. As he wasn't throwing up, sneezing or coughing, we opted to make the appointment, while keeping an eye on him to see if he worsened. As Wednesday wore on, he actually came out of the bedroom and cuddled with my husband. The around 9 pm something happened and he freaked out, jumping off the chair and landing funny. That's when we realised that he had hurt his leg somehow during the previous night ( or early morning ).

He didn't get any worse. And the appointment went fairly well. He's a geriatric case..so he had blood work done, and some X-Rays. They discovered that he does have a mild case of arthritis, and maybe some stomach sensitivity. Which means we're going to have to change his food...which is going to be easier said than done. He likes his meow mix..apparently, scientists have done studies on this..and the shaped food is highly addictive to cats. While taking the X-Rays there was something about his stomach that concerned her just a little bit. When he was placed on his back..most of his organs were on one side. The Dr. said that normally they would be more evenly spread out. They shifted him around..then placed him on his back again..with a better result. However, all the organs aren't as evenly spread out as she'd like them to be. She won't know anything more until the internist comes in to look at the X-Rays. She said it could be that way because his fat is pressing the organs in one direction. Hopefully, this is the case. We were told not to worry about it too much..because there's nothing that can be done until the internist looks at the X-Rays. Like I'm not going to worry about my cat. How can I not worry? He's a part of my family. So, as this weekend rolls slowly along, I will trust that my cat will be fine. Surely, I won't have to lose another pet.

Snow Day Layout

This LO is based on a sketch from pencillines. The sketch was posted in Scrap Happy ( an online group)..and as I am part of the admin team I feel that it is my responsibility to participate often...even if the sketch is way out of my comfort zone ( as this one was). I am uncomfortable cutting my pictures this small. So many things can go wrong...Anyhow, dispite my feelings ( and the fact that it took me hours to finish), it turned out pretty well. Though looking at it now, I think that I should have used the moss green as the background cardstock color instead of the blue. I used the green to mount the pictures in. I should have reversed the the colors. Mounting the pictures in blue and using the green as the solid. The printed paper is double sided cardstock by Three Bugs In A Rug, cards stock is SU Bordering Blue and Moss Greeen, letters were cut out using my Cricut ( cart. Plantin Schoolbook) then they were colored with my copic markers in dk.blue and then stickled with the diamond glitter. There are blue and green buttons on the tree and some mini snow flakes and mittens as well.

Tasty LO

I want to thank Julie for letting help with the weekly sketches in Scrap Happy ( an online group on Cafe Mom). I get to pick a sketch every Wednesday. Yesterday was my first day on the job so to speak. I chose a sketch from www.pagemaps.com in the half map section. I really liked the way this particular sketch looked. I am hoping to find a frame for it now that it's finished. I think the most difficult part for me was the layering of the flowers. I suck at it. I've seen flowers layered in many layouts and I love the look. Who knew I was going to have such a hard time with it? I don't know that I'm completely satisfied with the LO..I might add some white polka dots to the dark brown flowers. You'd think by now I would have learned to leave well enough alone...

Tilda Hanging Around

After a really frustrating evening last night I decided I needed some craft therapy. I didn't really feel like doing a LO, as sometimes they take a long time to finish..and it really irritates me to leave something incomplete. It took me a while to find my acrylic block, but when I did I stamped another Tilda image from Magnolia Stamps. Here's the card I made with the image. I much happier with the end result of this one!

Happy Birthday To The Katheryns!

Well, this is the second time I've made this post. I must say that I'm getting tired of this. :) Anyhow, I when I checked my PO Box this morning this is what I found. I was super excited! I found them on line at www.ohmycrafts.com ( I love this store). They were on sale for $9.99 ( normal price is $29.99). What a deal! I bought 2...1 set for me and one set for my best buddy. Anyhow, I lied. It isn't either one of our birthdays...hers is in 5 weeks and mine is roughly 7 weeks..But seeing as I already told her what I got her I figured that I might as well post it. Her they are Kathryn. Happy Birthday. Thanks for being such a wonderful friend. It has been such a blessing knowing you.

First Tilda Card

This is my very first Tilda Card. My husband got me 6 Magnolia Stamps for Christmas. I am really embarrassed to admit that I thought I had to mount these on wood ( like with SU). Then I was reading up on it and found out that you can take the plastic off the back and stick it on acrylic blocks! How could I not know this? More importantly, I missed 2 weeks of playing with my stamps! The images were colored with the Copic markers that I got for Christmas. Patterned paper is from my scrap bin, card stock is SU.

Mini Album For MIL

This is a part of the mini tag album that I made for my MIL'S birthday. It is very nearly done..I need to make some tags to do the journaling and then it'll be done and I'll send it out. I think I'm procrastinating because I really like it. I cut out the tag using my Cricut Expression with the Plantin Schoolbook cart. I love the roly poly feature!

First Lay Out of 2009

This is my first LO of 2009. The top page is based on a sketch from Page Maps. Page 2 is my own creation. I used my cricut to cut out the letters. On the letters on page 1 I used a white pen to high light the letters. The second page I used stickles on the letters to make little dots. The cardstock is from Bazzill. The printed paper is from SU ( from the winter collection in the mini catalog). I used chipboard snowflakes ( from SU) and painted them blue. Then I used snowflake glitter by Martha Stewart. The buttons were clear buttons from SU,then covered with SU printed paper.

First Project of 2009

For New Year's Eve we headed to visit my Best Buddy Kathryn. This has turned into a tradition ( of sorts ) for us. Even though we only live 3 hours apart, we are lucky if we see each other once a year...so I really look forward to our time together. This year when we got to her house I found that she had a little project for us to do. These really cute magnetic memo boards. You can see the cute little magnets that we made to go with it. I am totally bummed that I don't have a picture of the one she made for her sister. But, unfortunately, I left my camera at home ( GASP). I didn't even realize that I had left it behind until we were 45 minutes away from home. Well past the point of no return. Well...maybe next time. I think I'll have to think of a really cute project for next year.

Trying This Again

While Trying to be different and try something new I managed to totally mess up my blog. Needless to say this was exceptionally irritating to me. I'm not a computer guru. I hate it when something should be simple..but end up being an exercise in frustration. So is my life. So in order to preserve my sanity I decided to delete the first blog and begin again. Here's hoping that this time I don't lose my mind. I did say that I would be making a lot of mistakes. I just didn't realize it would be so soon. So...Onward and Upward.