Anything But a Card Challenges-Lucky Number 13!

Hello and welcome to my little ol' blog!  Today begins the second week of Challenge number 13 at Anything But a Card and I have to admit that I couldn't wait to work on my project for this one!  Since it is our 13th challenge, we are asking you to use 13 as your inspiration.  It can be lucky, unlucky, superstitions, or anything using 13.  I, of course, took the lucky approach since 13 is my favorite number!

I wanted to create a scrapbook page showing why I love the number 13, but two of the pictures I wanted to use were already scrapbooked and one was in a frame.  So I scanned the pages and picture into my computer and created a digital  scrapbook page using MDS 2.

While I love the hands on approach to traditional scrapbooking, it is so convenient to use MDS, especially when you don't have the actual photo to place on a page!  Plus, it is a lot easier to try out different ideas and layouts when you can delete anything that doesn't quite work! Initially, I used the photos as squares, but I decided I liked the circles better. Try undoing that with an actual photo...

And yes, that baby faced boy is my wonderful DH and that skinny chick next to him is me (amazing what 2 kids, almost 19 years, and less exercise does to a body...).  The middle photo is a picture of the house number on the porch of our first home, and the last pic is my 'not so tiny now' DD1.

I hope you enjoyed my Lucky scrapbook page!  As this is posting, my girls and I are preparing to head back home from a weekend retreat in Gatlinburg.  Thank goodness for post scheduling!!  Have a fantastic week and no matter what format or medium you prefer, happy crafting!!

Page Recipe: Cardstock-Love Letter patterns 10 & 11 DSP, very vanilla, Stamps-Schoolbook Serif Numbers, Embellishments-Taffeta Trimmings ripple & short bow in basic black, Font-Lobster Two

Flashback Friday-Another Simple Page

Hello and welcome to my little ol' spot in Blogland!  I have another really basic scrapbook page to share today and quite a funny little story to go along with it!  If you saw Wednesday's post, this paper is from the very same pack and again, I liked the pattern so well, I didn't want to cover it up!

I promised a funny little anecdote, so here we go...

Every year, my Mom, both of my sisters, my two girls, and I go to a local arts and crafts festival that is held in a nearby town.  There are several buildings around the town that house the various booths and we visit all of them!! We always have a wonderful time, and while for the most part we stay together, we often drift to different areas based on our own personal tastes and interests.  When we finish with a building, we always show off our purchases before moving on to the next building.  I had bought the cutest bracelet at one of the booths.  It's the kind that has some magnetic beads, but I bought it more for the cosmetic beauty than the health benefits.  As I pulled my bracelet from my bag, my oldest sister started laughing and then produced her exact duplicate bracelet that she purchased.  We could not believe that out of all of the bracelets in that booth that we chose the same design.  As soon as my middle sister heard our laughter, she had to come over and see what was so funny.  So we showed her our bracelets.  Her mouth dropped open and she muttered "UhUh...this is too weird..." and pulled out her MATCHING bracelet!  All three of us had bought the EXACT SAME BRACELET!  Mom just smiled and commented that it just goes to show how similar we are.  I like to think that it must be a sister thing...connected even when we're apart...

I hope you enjoyed my story and my super easy page!  Have a fabulous weekend and happy crafting!

Page Recipe: DP from stash, basic black cardstock (cut w/ cricut), Stamp Set-Just Journaling, Ink-river rock, black journaling marker

Scrapbook Wednesday- Super Simple

Hello! I'm so glad you came to visit today!  I would love to say that I spent all day working on this page that I'm sharing today, but the truth is, this was super simple and oh so easy! Now I'm not going to lie and say that I felt terrible about taking the easy way out.  Sometimes a paper and pictures work so well together that you just don't feel the need to do much more. Not to mention that when you have as many pictures waiting to be scrapbooked as I do, sometimes you just cheat a little!

Many, many moons ago, I bought this paper pack that I just loved and couldn't live without, and then I promptly placed it on a shelf and let it gather dust-sigh... I know...  But, the good news is that I rediscovered it and found a very pretty patterned page that would work perfectly with some pictures I was working on at the time.  All I had to do for this page was mount the photos on some pink paper from the same pack, layered some retired felt flowers, attached them with some brads, and then added some alpha stickers from my stash. Oops! I almost forgot, I also stamped some journaling lines in the center... Whew!  All of that work wore me out! hee! hee!

I actually debated posting this page, but then I thought about all of those people who wonder how I find time to do all of this crafty stuff.  This just proves that you don't need a lot of time to preserve your family's memories.  And besides, my albums are so full of lumpy, bumpy pages that a few flat ones are required to keep the binding from busting!

Well, that's all for me today!  I am knee deep in moving boxes for work and am itching to get my fingers inky again! Have a wonderful day and happy crafting!

Page Recipe: DP from stash, Ink-river rock, black journaling marker, Stamp Set-Just Journaling, Accessories-alpha stickers from stash, felt flowers (ret), brights brads

Anything But a Card Challenge 12- My little Moon Pie...

Hello and thanks so much for visiting my blog!  Today, I am sharing my design team project for challenge #12 at Anything But a Card Challenges, Share the Love.  I had some fun scrapbook page layouts in my head that I wanted to make for this challenge, but once again, life and reality got in the way of my crafting time.  So instead, I am sharing the treat wrappers that my DD and I designed for her class at school.  My girls have been making their own Valentines since they were in Kindergarten, usually using stickers and glitter glue.  As they became older, they wanted a more 'mature' version (apparently candy is mature after age 8!), and we started making Valentines that doubled as treat holders.  

We were having a hard time coming up with an idea this year.  We walked the candy aisle at Wal-Mart trying to come up with a cute pun for the treats, but nothing seemed quite right.  My favorite was the bag of Smarties and the quote "If you're a smartie, you won't break my heartie!".  It received the eye roll that I was expecting and we starting laughing loud enough that people began to look to see what was so humorous in the candy section.  Before we headed back home for the day, we stopped by Rural King (a countrified version of a retail store) to buy dog food.  We saw a display of Moon Pies and inspiration hit! "I'm over the moon for you!"  This received approval from both girls, so we bought mini moon pies for her class of 32.  Then we went home and designed the tag using MDS 2.  If you ever need to make multiples of something, this is the most wonderful way to do it.  We designed a tag using the program and then saved it as a jpeg.  I opened it in my photo printing program and set it to print wallet size photos-9 tags per sheet!  Here is a picture of the tag from the MDS 2 program...

 We cut out the tags, mounted them on a square of black cardstock, and then mounted that on the wrapper made from white cardstock.

 and here is a picture of the opened wrapper, complete with a chocolate Moon Pie...

My daughter will be writing her name on the top inside flap before delivering these to her classmates.  As we were putting these together, I kept thinking about Big Bang Theory and that maybe even cynical and overly critical, Sheldon would approve of this choice...after all, his Memaw does call him 'Moon Pie'...

I hope you enjoyed our little Valentine's treat idea and maybe it will inspire you to make something 'punny' too!

Project Recipe: MDS 2, Whisper White and Basic Black cardstock, sticky strip(holding Moon Pie to cardstock)

MDS 2 supplies-background is Love Letter pattern 9 DSP, cloud stamps from On the Go(one is mirror imaged) colored whisper white,1 1/4" circle punch filled with barely banana, medium heart punch filled with Love Letter pattern 6 DSP  I drop shadowed all of the elements to give dimension and used a text box over the circle punch for the sentiment (sorry don't remember the font...)

Flashback Friday- Happy birthday to...oops!

Hi! Yes, it's me! I know, you thought someone hacked my blog since I haven't posted 3 times in one week for so long!!  It's amazing what I can get done when everyone else in the house is busy!  

Today's page is a flashback in almost every sense of the word; the only fairly new items on this are the black and white cardstock!  Everything else is either stash or retired SU.  Also, I have to give you the background story for this page so my title makes sense.  One of my nephews has a birthday at the end of October.  From the time he was a little guy, he always had these creepy crawly cakes. Well, this was his 16th birthday, so Grandma added a car to the worms and bugs crawling on his cake.  As we were preparing to take a picture of him with the cake, the cake began to slide and half of it broke off and promptly fell on the floor!! OOPS!!  We all had a good laugh and managed to salvage the half that didn't hit the floor.  I am sure he will forever remember this birthday cake!

Now, on to the flashback goodies... Even the pictures are over 3 years old!!  While the leaves could have been new, they were actually extras from a different page I made a while back, so that makes them 'stash' in my book. I also used some really ancient stickers and a retired corduroy button.  Oh, how I wish that was new...mine are almost gone...sniff! sniff!  I know it's a little silly, but I always feel like I'm accomplishing something when I use up my older supplies.  Plus, it makes room for new goodies, and who doesn't love that?!

Well, that's it for me today! I have a very busy weekend planned.  The child care center where I teach is moving to a new facility and I'm going to spend my weekend cleaning my new room and packing up some of the supplies from my current room.  I'm excited to have a new space, but I really hate packing!! Wish me luck!  Hope your weekend is full of much more crafty goodness than mine!

Page Recipe: Cardstock-basic black, whisper white, real red, daffodil delight, Autumn Traditions DSP (ret), orange (stash), Ink-river rock, chocolate chip, black journaling marker, Stamp Set-Just Journaling, Accessories-woodgrain embossing folder, autumn accents die, pumpkin pie corduroy button (ret), linen thread, stickers and cardstock sentiment (stash)

Scrapbook Wednesday-Too Cute to Spook

Well, hello! I am so glad you stopped in to visit today!  While the rest of my family was glued to the TV on Sunday, I was busy working on scrapbook pages.  I would tune in to watch the commercials and then went back to work when the game started again.  I have to say the power outage was a little interesting though!

My page for today, I am sad to say holds pictures from over 3 years ago... It's always a little bittersweet doing these pages and seeing how little my girls were only a few short years ago!  I did have a little bit of fun with this page.  Now on the surface this doesn't really look like anything too exciting or taxing...

 But take a look at this little beauty...

I finally used my Michael's gift card from my birthday and one of the things that I bought was some Tim Holtz distress crackle paint.  I started with a little cardstock Halloween image from my stash and painted a thin layer over it.  When it dried, I wasn't quite happy with the effect, so I painted another layer on top of it.  When that was dried, I sponged a little crumb cake ink over the image and then put some 'green glue' (the glue in the green bottle...) around the edges.  Then I pulled out my silver glass glitter that I had yet to use (GASP!) and rolled the edges of the image in the glitter.  I really like the way this turned out.  It was a lot of fun trying something new and I also squeezed in a trip down memory lane, as well!  There's also quite a bit of 'stash' on this which always makes me happy!

I hope you enjoyed my little experiment and that you find some time this week to do a little experimenting of your own!

Page Recipe:Cardstock-basic black, orange (stash), Autumn Traditions DSP (ret), Ink-crumb cake, black Stamp'n Mark journaling marker, Accessories-hemp twine (ret), cardstock images from stash, crackle paint, silver glass glitter

Anything But a Card Challenge #12- Share the Love

Hello! Well, I guess all of my fellow Americans know what today is right? It's Scrapbook Sunday!! You know, the night when everyone else in the family gathers in front of the tv, and you enjoy the peace and quiet as you craft your little heart away.  Oh, and I hear there's some sort of big sporting event being played tonight too...

Today is also the first week of Challenge #12 at Anything But a Card.  And what a 'love'ly challenge it is too!!

"Hello everyone!  Today we begin a new challenge perfect for the season: Share the Love- anything related to hearts, Valentines, love sick, love struck, love stinks, red, cupid, honeymoon, wedding, get the idea?  So this is a nice broad category that should generate lots of fantastic entries!  Be sure to link yours up below!  Just remember that we allow any craft project except cards!"

Now, before I show you my project for today, I want to clarify that this is NOT my design team project!  It is a card that I made that just so happens to tie in well with 'share the love' so I thought I would give you a little something to look at while I'm telling you about our challenge.

If you saw my post on Friday, you already know about the card I made for sweet little Grayson!  Today, I am sharing the card I made for Grayson's big brother, Aydan.  If you are looking for a very good reason to make a few little guy cards, be sure to check out my link.

I went with the Dinoroar stamp set again, but changed up the layout of the card.  I really hope both boys enjoy their cards and that maybe it will bring a little love and happiness to their lives.

Well, as I mentioned at the top of my post, I have been scrapbooking my little heart out and will have several pages to show you very soon! Have a marvelous week and happy crafting!

Card Recipe:  Cardstock-watercolor paper, river rock, always artichoke, basic black, whisper white, Ink-stazon black, always artichoke, crumb cake, river rock, chocolate chip, Stamp Sets-Dinoroar, Just Believe, Accessories-always artichoke denim ribbon (ret), word window punch, modern label punch, 1" circle punch, Houndstooth embossing folder, blender pen

I Dig You! Sending some Happy Mail!!

Recently, my blogging friend Sherry had posted a card she made for a special project.  After checking it out, I had to join in.  Here are the details of this very special card making event...

Grayson is sweet little 2 year old boy who has cancer.  He is getting ready to begin chemotherapy and the very kind ladies at Neat and Tangled have set up a card drive to help keep his spirits up.  If you click on the link, it will give more details about Grayson and also tell you where to send the cards.  Grayson also has a 4 year old brother named Aydan who also enjoys happy mail so we are welcome to make two cards if we like!  The drive will continue until February 28th, so there is plenty of time to make a special card, or two for these very special guys.

At my 'pay the bills' job, I work with many 2 1/2 to 5 year old boys, so I knew right away that I would be pulling out the Dinoroar stamp set for at least one of the cards!  What little guy doesn't like dinosaurs?!

I would love to take credit for the fun layout of this card, but I saw this at Amanda's blog almost a year ago (thank you pintrest for keeping it for me!) and knew I wanted to use it for a birthday card.  Just so happens that it also makes a nice 'happy mail' card too!

We had another snow day today and even with laundry, feeding farm animals, and shopping, I managed to squeeze in some time for card making.  Just think what I could do if I was home all of the time... Boggles the mind!  Have a fabulous weekend and happy crafting!

Card Recipe: Cardstock-always artichoke, basic black, watercolor paper, Ink-stazon black, always artichoke, river rock, old olive, crumb cake, Stamp Set- Dinoroar, Accessories-blender pen