The day the laptop died

I had so many plans...so many dreams. Then my laptop died. We were gone over the weekend, so we have not been able to get it looked out. Keep your fingers crossed that we can at least retrieve some of the files I have on it. I do have access on my hubby's laptop and on my I-phone, so I will see what I can do about the many blog posts I had planned. :)

Post and Run!

Just a quick heads up to check out DCWV's blog! http://dcwvinc.blogspot.com/2010/10/say-what-giveaway-today.html They have a contest going on over there, but you can only enter through today!

Review for Clip It Up Swinging Wall Arm

Good sunshiny morning! I hope you are having a fantastic day! Yesterday I received my prize from Clip it up in the mail! I wasn't sure what to expect since I have never used their products before. When I opened the package I was pleased to see a very simple, sturdy organizational system. I asked my husband to put it up for me this morning before he went to work and he said no. Really. Brave man. He knows I do not like hanging/drilling/putting things up. Ever. I think he knew I was a bit peeved because he then offered to stop home at lunch and take care of it. Ummmm...nope. As soon as I took the kids to school, I searched the garage for his old drill (he takes his new one to work) and got to work. In about 2 minutes I had it up on the wall! (Of course I promptly sent him a picture of me next to it sticking my tongue out. Haha!)

It was super easy to install and the instructions/pictures on the back of the package were fantastic. I'm a visual person, so this was great! I love the little hanging clip. They make me happy with all of their organizing potential. And they are nice and shiny. Now came the hard part. What to put on them. I am excited about the fact that they are so simple that I can change out what I store on them as quick as a wink! I'm always changing things up, so that is a great feature for me. I have some alpha stickers that I always forget abou, so I gathered them up to hang. I don't think I will ever forget about them again! they look great and are so convenient now! See for yourself!

How nice it that? The only bad part is that it gave me a taste for all of their other organizational systems. I am seriously craving ALL of them now! Love it! Wish me luck trying to win their floor Clip It Up stand. Don't you think I deserve it?

Chicken Pot Pie and Warm Apple Crisp...

The wind is blowing...the leaves in our front tree are turing a beautiful shade of red and there is a chillin the air. This weather makes me want to COOK! Seriously! It was my hubby's birthday, so I got to work making all of his favorites this weekend: cinnamon rolls, stromboli, chicken pot pie, apple crisp...yummy!

My main goal over the next few days is to get the kids fall clothes out and put away their spring outfits. And I always make it too hard on myself. Although I wash all clothes before I put them in storage, it creeps me out to think of getting them out and not washing them again. So I am doing a massive amount of laundry. Blech. It will feel great when it is done.

In between loads, I am ignoring the rest of my house (hey, fall clothes washing is a huge undertaking on its own, right?) and sneaking some time to scrap.

Since today is Monday...it is MOJO MONDAY! Super cute sketch today!

I got out my lovely stack of scraps to find some paper that said Fall to me. I think most of them are MME. Stamps are from Ippity except for the sentiment which is CTMH. I did the coloring with Copics.

Off to check the laundry. And hopefully create some more. Maybe laundry day isn't so bad after all!

Pull up and chair and let's dish!

Oh, so much to share with you! Are you comfy? Do you need anything? Got your coffee? Okay, let's dish!

I accidently fell into a fantastic FREE (did you hear me?) online scrapbook magazine and it looks fantastic! Full ads (come on now, don't you get inspired by the ads, too?) http://www.scrapbookandcards.com/subscribe They also have an inspiring blog, too: http://www.scrapbookandcardstodaymag.typepad.com/ Now I can curl up with my laptop and flip through some inspiration! Love it!

As long as you are snuggled next to your computer, have you checked out Unity's new site? Oh me, oh my! It is a beautiful thing! Bigger photos of their awesome stamps! Wishlist opportunities! So much love went into this site! Check it out and then show Unity a little love by leaving them a message on facebook. http://www.unitystampco.com/

Now you know that I LOVE LOVE LOVE challenges. Seriously love them! I'm not a challenge snob. I will try anything, but I do have my go to sites. Today I was inspired by the sketch on Get Sketchy! Their samples were yummy, too! http://getsketchy.blogspot.com/

Here is their sketch:

Here is my take on it:

Paper/flowers: Making Memories Chloe's Closet

Stamp: American Crafts

Middle of flower: I-Top (Imaginisce)

Individual Bling: I-Rock (Imaginisce)

Other Bling: Zva Creative

My other card for the day is for my sweet hubby for his birthday! It is tomorrow! Can you tell I love birthdays?!!!!! LOL He keeps every card I make for him (I got him a wooden box for that very purpose), so I want them to be special.
Off to play some more...or maybe take a nap. Make a great day!

Signs of Fall

If I had to pick a favorite season, it would be fall. Not too hot. Not too cold. Brisk morning air and red leaves falling from our tree out front. And these:Ah, fuzzy socks, a comfortable hoodie sweater and a pink cup of coffee. Oh, how I adore you! I am all warm and toasty right now!

I am making a special gift for Collin and Isabel's main teachers, but thought I would make a little something for their Art, Gym, Music and Library teachers as well. They often get neglected around the holidays. I want to show them that they are loved, too. On a budget. LOL I had these great small orange lunch bags that I have been hanging onto for I don't know what. Add a cute bag topper and fill it with candy and we have some gifts! Yep. I am one of THOSE moms who like to do little gifts for each holiday. It is fun! And when I taught, it made the day a little brighter. So I do it. And they love it. Here are the bags the specials teachers will be getting (once they are filled). You will have to wait on the main teacher gifts. Bwahahaha!

Oh, and do you want to hear the coolest thing today? I have been politely and leagally "stalking" the Clip it up blog and facebook page and I won a prize!! Are you ready? I won this:

from Clip it Up! How awesome is this? You know how I am about organizing and have been eyeing some of the shiney silver things on their site (http://www.clipitup.com/). I am very excited! I see a few more things on their site that I just might have to have. And I have an Amazon gift card just waiting to be spent.

Hey, have you checked out the Paper Posies site yet? So many pretty things to see on there. And it only takes seconds to sign up! So what are you waiting for? I want to have a VERY long friend list on there. :) http://paperposies.com/index.htm

Off to play! See you soon!

Let me tell you about....

Let me tell you about a great company I have stumbled upon! I have seen/heard about their kits, but have not (for some unknown reason) checked out their site, yet. My bad. It is pretty inspirational! Oh, I suppose you want me to tell you WHAT site. Really. Stop pushing me! I'm talking about Paper Posies! You can check it out here: http://paperposies.ning.com/. I would HIGHLY recommend signing up, so you can check out their forums and online gallery. It really only takes a minute and you will have access to some great inspiration.

Let me also tell you about what I have been doing this week. I have posted pics of my room for you before, but have been busy re-organizing again. LOL It is my birthday week. It makes me happy. Enough said. :) I think I am close to how I want it. I think the only thing missing is a clip it up. And I am working on winning a floor model of that. Wish me luck! I would love to get the storage out from under my dest and sewing table.

I took lots of photos. 'Cuz I can. So get ready! Here is a view of each area of my room:

Here is my guest bed (also a nice place to read a scrapbook magazine or blog hop) and embellishement area!

This area is my desk and closet. I am lucky enough to have a 7 foot desk (thank, honey!) and a nice closet space (stores my scrap totes, stamps and magazines). Yep. That is a lot of videos that you see. LOL I keep the "mommy" movies in here since no one else ever watches them. What have I been watching this week? Pride and Prejudice, of course!

Have I mentioned lately how much I LOVE LOVE LOVE my slat walls? Sigh. I never thought I would own any. Never even crossed my mind. Now I don't know what I would do without them. And I think we spend $50 for the walls/trays and all!

Here are some closer pics of my desk area. I have everything in my room (ribbon/paper/flowers/buttons/ink) in color order. I love my rainbow!

In my closet, I recently bought a BUNCH of photo storage boxes to categorize my stamps in. It is working well for me so far. I may make a roledex so I know EVERY stamp in the boxes, though. :)
What I have mostly been doing this week is my embellishments. I got a new Jet Max Cube and it was just what I needed to be able to categorize my stash. Each drawer has its own purpose now and is labeled accordingly. :) Happy Sigh.

The top of the Jet Max makes a great surface for my paint, sewing machine (one of these days I will figure that thing out), cuttlebug and, uhem, M&M dispenser. What? You don't have chocolate in YOUR room? LOL I love the Ikea Kitchen rods/buckets for my ribbon, too. So pretty!

And did you spy this little guy?

Isn't he cute? I love little monsters. And owls. But no one has given me a cute stuffed owl yet. (tear) I will just have to settle for my monster.

Hope you MAKE a great day! My room is looking pretty good, so I can play in a bit. Don't forget to check out Paper Posies! You will not be sorry! Also, Unity is having their Thursday Blog Hop and it is full of Spooky inspiration!

Two more down!

I have slowed a bit with the Unity Challenges, but since I am just doing them for fun, I'm okay with it. LOL I do need to keep up with Pam, though, who is doing them with me. The next two I finished were Inked Edges and Tag.The stamps are all Unity...are you ready for this? Angela (owner and ANGEL of Unity asked on facebook if anyone could use some "imperfect" stamps for their work with kids. Well, since I do alot in my kid's school (including crafts) and also Billy and I work with teens/kids in church, I volunteered to take some off of her hands to use in those projects. And she sent me a massive bag of them! Seriously, they are the best stamps out there and she send me a bag! How generous is that? It makes it so much easier (on my and our bank accounts) when I don't have to pay out of pocket all of the time working with the kids. So thank you, Angela and Unity! Seriously, you are the best. My little brain is busy with project ideas for the kids, so thank you!
Yesterday was my birthday and I got spoiled! Wanna know what I got? Do you? Hmmmm??? LOL I got dozens of well wishes on Facebook (which was fun to see all day)....a gift card for dinner and babysitting (Sarah), some yummy chocolate chip cookies (Kasey), Summer Vacation Cricut Cart (Kim), $50 to Amazon (Dad/Meg/Rylie), Lyrical Letters Cart and hair cut gift certificate (Billy), chocolate (Isabel) and a necklace (Isabel). Plus phone calls and several renditions of the song "Happy Birthday". It was a fun day.

Off to play with my new stuff...or organize (I got a new Jet Max Cube as a happy birthday to me...LOL).

Make a great day!

And today's challenge is....

I am still plugging away at the Unity Challenges. You still have time to get in on them. If you have some Unity Stamps, you are elligible for some prizes. :) I'm just doing it for fun. Check it out at http://theunitystampco.blogspot.com/2010/10/world-card-making-day.html .

Here is the link to the 4th challenge: http://www.alteredambitions.blogspot.com/ I love, love, love this inspiration photo, but don't think I did it justice. I just couldn't get the worn look I was going for. But it is done. And I am moving on. (And seriously, I am getting tired of Blogger flipping my photos, but I can't figure out how to fix that.)

I did a layout yesterday, too. What do you think about that? LOL I seem to be on a roll! I try to keep if fair with the kids, so it was Collin's turn for a layout. I love these pictures of him trying to get a butterfly to land in his hand at the zoo. He was worried I would put flowers and "junk" on it and make it pretty. Never fear, little man. Mom can make a boy page. I was going for a field journal look. I have been stamping alot more lately (Which is good considering how many stamps I own. Seriously.) I totally forgot I still had this bug set from Close to My Heart. Made my day to find it again. I thought I had sold it. I'm glad I didn't.

Off to try the next challenge: stamping on fabric. Did you see that, Pam? I totally need some stick stock. But I don't have any. Boo.

Since I don't generally do fabric, I got out some twill ribbon and thought it would be great stamped with my banner stamp. Cutting it out was tricky, but I think it looks okay. Definitley out of my comfort zone. I'm glad I tried it and have some other ideas for it next time. Here is the blog with the challenge and a great example: http://pamelasworldofscrap.blogspot.com/

A creative breath of fresh air...

Some of you may not know that my mom had an unexplained reaction to knee surgery in August and went into a coma. Thankfully, she came out of it in a few days, but since then we have been dealing with a brain trauma. Basically she is like an Althsizmers patient, although she is improving daily and the Dr. sees reason to hope for an almost full recovery. It will just take time. Because of all this going on, we have been back and forth to the hospital/rehab facility for the last month and a half. It has taken its toll emotionally, physically and creatively for me. I had to take a break. But I am back. Finally. Mom is being cared for at home now and we had to take a break from the 2 1/2 hour each way visits for a few weeks. She will be okay and I don't feel like I need to focus solely on that anymore.

Yesterday I started the Unity Stamp challenges (running for the next two weeks), but my friend Jen put up a challenge on her blog, so I thought I would take a break and play with her for a while. http://myscrapcloset.blogspot.com/2010/09/butterfly-contest.html I have some digi images of Alice in Wonderland that I have never gotten around to using, so I wanted to give those a go. When I think of butterflies, I think of the bread and butterflies from the Disney version, so it seemed a perfect match to me. I went a little crazy with the cutting out of most of the elements...and then the bling, but I love how it came out. I wanted all of the elements to blend together so not one thing would just stand out. What do you think?

Friday I was able to finally do a layout. I have been unispired in that area lately, but remembered some pictures of my daughter when she went through a mustache phase. I paired the pics with my favorite particularly girly piece of paper as an interesting contrast. I love it and am ready to jump back into things again.

I'll be back later with some more cards and maybe a layout. It is a lazy, don't feel well sort of day today, so I am just taking it easy.

It's a cardapolooza!

Happy World Card Making Day!! If you forgot about it, it is still early. If you had no idea there was a World Card Making Day, well, I will forgive you this once, but will be checking on you next year. I have been busy, busy making Halloween cards for my local nieces and nephews and one very special friend. (Pam, I bet you thought I was going to slip up and post your card here...I guess I am smarter than you think.) It is nice to get out all of ONE type of supply and just get to work. Really narrows down the searching for that perfect "whatever" when I already have all of my Halloween supplies out.

Apparently Blogger is playing a Holloween trick on me by flipping my first card on it's side. Sorry about that, but it won't let me change it.

And now, onto the fun! Unity ( http://theunitystampco.blogspot.com/) has a great competition going on for the next two weeks in honor of World Cardmaking Day! Now, I only own one Unity stamp (not because I am not coveting many of them, but my scrapbook budget has been scarce lately), so I am not eligable to win, but I will be playing along to see how many challenges I can finish. So hop along with me for the next two weeks (or less, if I am snappy) and see how many YOU can finish. Even if you have to use other stamps, it will be fun and I would LOVE to see what you make!

Here is my very first card for the day based on the challenge here: http://thewillowgarden.blogspot.com/ based on paper piecing. I used a Hero Arts background stamp, made my own cloud background paper and the stamps from TPC's Woodland Whimsy Set.

Card #1:

Here is my second card. Check out the site http://lesleylangdoncreative.blogspot.com/ for the challenge on using shaker boxes. Warning: I STINK at shaker boxes. Really. The shaker part never works out the way I want it to. I glanced in my punch drawer as I was getting a card base for this and spied my I-Top punches. I always thought they looked like a sun, so that got me started on my card. I put glitter inside, but it seems to be sticking a bit. Oh, well. My sun looks shimmery, right? LOL The stamps are from Dear Lizzy and Dryer by American Crafts.

Card #2:

My third card is super easy. I love this Basic Grey paper, so I wanted the rest of the card to be simple. The colors reminded me of Christmas, so that is what I went with. :) Here is the link to the challenge: http://thestampingshopper.blogspot.com/ By the way, if you haven't gotten any of the Tiny Type letters by Cosmo Cricket, then you are missing out. I only have 2 packs, but they are very inexpensive and you get a lot of letter. Love them! Now I need all of the colors!

Card #3