April 1 MSW Layout Sketch Reveal

I could hardly WAIT to reveal this month's sketch!!! It's definitely one of my favorites by Lucy! I actually made a two-page layout about Steve and his sons just a little before we met over 20 years ago... Here's the left side...

Here's Lucy's sketch...

And here's my version of it...

Look for my next Just Imagine/Kreaxions blog post coming up on Monday as well!

Garrett's Smile

I just HAVE to share these pictures of little Garrett (who's already six months old)!!! He's so CUTE! Looks just like his big brother Noah and just like his mommy at the same age... Brett (Daddy) posted them on Facebook yesterday. I can't WAIT to scrap them!!!

Graphic 45 and Grandmom

Last week while my friends and I were scrapping at the store in Fort Pierce, I spied this AWESOME layout on display and immediately thought of these pictures of my parents and my Grandmother. The store didn't have the same paper line, but they did have something that would work. Yesterday I managed to somewhat lift the page I saw in the store (the one with the big circle) and create another page to go with it. Here's what I created...


In these pictures my Grandmother was 99 3/4 years young. She had just had gall bladder surgery and yet you'd never know it! She lived almost another two years and died at the ripe old age of 101 1/2! I hope I can live to be 100. Wouldn't that be COOL???!!! :)
Thanks for looking! Happy scrapping!

Scrappy Stuff

I thought I'd better post my creations from the weekend before I forgot. :) This working (even part time) has really cut into my time to scrap and get on the net! But I think it's gonna be a fun job when I get settled into a routine. Meanwhile, I'm exhausted! Not as young as I used to be! Hehe!
First is a LO that I did for Scrapbook Daisies' "Sketchy Thursdays". I LOVE this pic of my daughters friends as they got ready to leave for their prom night! This is done with Echo Park's "For the Record" line which is AWESOME!!!

Next is another Echo Park "For the Record" page I did. I used some fun Cosmo Cricket letters that I got at Big Lots for $3 and which matched PERFECTLY! The pic is of my brother and my daughter in 1994 standing in front of the truck my brother drove across country for the C. R. England company. It was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream for him!

Next is a page I just had fun with. I used two Kreaxions punches(#919 and #913) and the Cricut Storybook font to create this layout about a South Florida sunset. Scenes like this are a daily occurrence and I love them!

I made two other pages which I have to wait till April 1st to share for the MSW Sketch reveal so look for that one!
And last but not least I made this card with some CTMH stamps and ink and some Stickles.

I hope you've enjoyed looking at these creations! I sure had fun making them! :)
Happy Scrapping!

I Got a Job!!!

Yep! I am now officially employed part time for one of Steve's clients! She runs an upholstery and drapery work room and needed an assistant. So I'm trying to get her organized and help out with the phones and customers that drop in. It gets pretty crazy but it's fun and the time goes fast. I'm working 10-3 Monday thru Friday so I don't have as much time to play. And not having worked at all for 4 years and not having to be gone every day for 11 is really taking its toll! So until we get settled into the new routine it's gonna be crazy!

Plus my keyboard has suddenly gone wonky and only parts of it work! But I got a smart phone (Droid X) and once I figure out how to use it I'll be able to keep up with things better than I have been.

So until then I hope you'll forgive me not being around as much as normal. I have a couple of things I need to share when I finally get unpacked from my weekend at Bev's. Spent Friday night, all day Saturday, Saturday night and half of Sunday with my BFF Shelley and our friend Bev who's a snowbird from Canada. We went to this AWESOME store in Vero Beach and scrapped to our heart's content! The owner, Paula, was FABULOUS for holding the store open late Saturday night and opening an hour early on Sunday! Spent way too much and had LOTS of fun. :) Looking forward to going back soon and visiting them all!
Here's a picture of us all together... Left to right is Shelley, Bev, Me, Paula

Marvelous Monday at Kreaxions!!!

Today was my day to post at Just Imagine/Kreaxions. Check out all the different ways I used ONE 4-in-1 punch on just two cards at www.justimaginecrafts.typepad.com And be sure to check out all the other posts as well! There's a new one every day from one of the design team members!

Birthday Cards and Celebrations

I still don't have pics of Noah's birthday celebrations yet so he'll get his own post. :) I sure did miss being able to go up to Virginia for his birthday this year. Instead, my friend Karen and I conspired against her husband Scottie and had a small get-together for his 60th the day after his birthday. We managed to surprise him and had great fun last night! They brought along a friend of theirs and their big Harley Davidson motorcycles.
I made tomato sauce on Saturday from fresh tomatoes from our garden. Then I used some of that sauce to make my yummy homemade lasagna. It sat overnight and was SUPER yummy! After the lasagna was made I made Scottie's fav cake - yellow cake with chocolate icing. Thanks Duncan Hines for making it easy! Wish decorating were that easy! Cake Boss and Ace of Cakes have nothing to fear from me! I finally made the little "sign" with my Cricut and a Sharpie pen to make it look better! Thankfully it tasted better than it looked! LOL!

Then Sunday I spent cleaning house and recuperating from Saturday's full day in the kitchen. LOL! I also made a card for Karen to give Scottie (thanks to Bev Code for the image and my dear husband Steve for the Harley Birthday idea!). I also picked SOME of the tomatoes in the garden... This is the harvest just from Sunday morning!

Scottie was totally surprised by all the birthday celebrating and after picking the veggies and goodies fresh from the garden, we had homemade bread (from frozen dough so I kinda cheated) and salad and a bottle of wine along with the lasagna. MMMMMMMMM GOOD!!!

Here's the cards... On the banner card I used my Kreaxions circle cutter and the #905 punch along with my Cricut...


Finally it was time to bring out the cake and Scottie's fav ice cream - Blue Bell Dutch Chocolate. Steve brought it out all lit up and started singing "Harley Birthday to you!" Hehehe! It was awesome!


Here's Scottie on the left, Karen in the middle and friend Spot in their Harley leathers ready to ride home.

Scottie said he'd never forget this birthday! Awwwww!!! It made all the hard work and sore feet worth it! :) Happy 60th Birthday Scottie!

7 Years Ago Today...

... my beautiful grandson Noah was born. My daughter Michele was barely 29 weeks into her pregnancy and they had delayed the birth as long as they could. I flew from Fort Lauderdale to Norfolk, Virginia in record time (had 2 hours' notice to buy ticket, get packed and get on the plane!) and made it to the hospital 2 hours before he was born. I'd only had 45 minutes of sleep in 27 hours. But MAN was I happy! He was 3 lbs 1 ounce and considering everything he'd been through he was very healthy!

They put him in the NICU and about 2 hours later Daddy and I were finally able to go see him. Daddy was gracious enough to let me go in first and that meant I was the first one in the family to touch him. How SPECIAL!
The next day he was off the respirator and doing great. Then came the third day. One of the nurses noticed a problem and called the doctor who did an exam and took x-rays. Turned out that Noah had a 3" long obstruction in his large intestine that was the width of a quarter! Remember, he only weighs 3 lbs! They notified us immediately and two hours later they operated on him and removed the obstruction. The nurse saved his life!!! And so did God! You see if Noah hadn't been born when he was that obstruction would have killed him! He either would have died before he was born or right after if he had stayed the full 9 months. God is SOOOOOOOOO faithful!!!!! And I believe it was the prayers and thoughts of many, many, many friends around the world.
I belonged to a large Yahoo group of scrapbook teachers and another scrappy forum and two weeks before when Michele started having trouble, I'd posted and asked for prayers. We also got our friends and our church praying. After Noah was born and I finally was able to check my emails, I was shocked at how many people had responded!!! And every one of them wanted updates! People as close as the next town over and as far away as Japan, Malaysia and Australia! Man did my little guy need those prayers!
He got pneumonia a few days after the surgery and was very sick for a long time. But the doctors never really told us how sick he really was until after he started healing. Noah needed that positive energy!!! But finally on May 27th just days before his actual due date Noah got to come home! What a happy day that was! He had a tough time for awhile. And they told us he'd probably have some problems from being on the respirator so long.
But in September of that year, just 6 short months after he was born, the drs declared him totally and utterly normal in every respect! THANK YOU JESUS!!!!! The only way you'd know this little guy had any problems was to see the scar on his belly. We tell him that's his proof that God loves him and of his miraculous power. :) This is my grandson just a few days ago looking all manly and dapper. My how the time has flown!

So, today I wanna wish my Bubster a VERY happy birthday! I miss you SO much and wish I could be there with you today! Give your mommy a great big hug and your little brother Garrett one too and tell them I love them too. :) I hope you enjoy the presents we sent! May God continue to richly bless you and keep you safe! GIGI LOVES YOU NOAH! And Jesus loves you too!

Just Imagine/Kreaxions Reveal!

I'm SOOOOOOOO excited to reveal my first Just Imagine/Kreaxions post!!! You can find the punches, circle cutter and star template at their site - http://www.justimaginecrafts.com/. The 4-in-1 punches are SUPER AWESOME! Each punch comes with a set of 3 different "guides" to attach to the punch. Each "guide" gives you a different look and so you basically get four different punches for the price of one! How cool is that?! I love punches and I love the versatility the Just Imagine/Kreaxions punches give you!
Here’s a two page layout I created using the 4-in-1 Punch #919 and the Butterfly Punch #604. I’ll show you how to make the center strip that is the mat for my title.

Cut your piece of paper 1” bigger on all four sides than you want your finished piece to be. (It’s easiest with this punch to use thin paper.)
Prepare your punch with the “A” attachment guide.

Punch your first time with the right side of your paper lined up at the far right side of the guide.

Line up your paper with the decorated edge just outside the edge of the punch.

Punch like this around all four edges.

Once you’re finished punching, take your paper and place in your trimmer so that the blade will cut in the middle of the “flower”.

SLOWLY cut your paper. If you go too fast you’ll tear it! You’ll end up with this.

I “decorated” my punched piece by using a Colorbox Adapter tool that you place into ink and smudge and/or pounce onto your paper.

Then once I adhered my paper to the background, I went around the decorated edge with a pen.

The top border is punched with #919 and without a guide.


To decorate your punched butterflies, take a pen and try the following ideas...Outline the butterfly shape with lines or dots and leave the center plain. Outline the shape with lines and draw squiggly or straight lines on the body. Have FUN with your pen! This technique works on any punched shape! The beauty of it is that as long as you have paper, you can always punch another one!

I hope you've enjoyed this post! Be sure to share your creations on our Facebook page! Happy Punching!

Reveal is TOMORROW!!!

My very first Just Imagine/Kreaxions reveal will be tomorrow morning! I have tried something new with this post because I will be losing power for awhile tomorrow morning and I didn't want to wait... It's scheduled to go live here at 3:30 AM Pacific time which will be 6:30 AM Eastern (or my) time. If you can't see it here, go to the Just Imagine blog at http://justimaginecrafts.typepad.com/ and you can see it there. Meanwhile, here's a sneak peek at what you'll see tomorrow!!!

I used this border punch several ways and there will be complete instructions along with my reveal! Can't WAIT to share!!! Meanwhile, happy scrapping and happy punching!!!

Reveal and TOOT TOOT!!!!!

Today's the big day!!! First my TOOOOOOOOT!!! I have been accepted for the design team at Just Imagine/Kreaxions!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!! I will be posting on their blog every other Monday and will share when I begin. You can find their link in my sidebar but you can also copy and paste it from here - http://justimaginecrafts.typepad.com/just-imagine-crafts---kreaxions-punches/2011/03/announcing-the-new-just-imagine-design-team.html#comments I am SOOOOOOOOO EXCITED!!! They have the most amazing circle cutter I've ever used and they also have AWESOME punches including fabulous 4-in-1 punches! So be on the lookout for some fun things to do with punches!
And today's also the reveal day for the My Sketch World March 1st sketches. I had GREAT fun with this two page sketch!

And here's my version. It's my youngest brother with my new grandson Garrett...

I also had fun being creative with the March 1st card sketch -

I took the card and made an element for this page about Noah being Garrett's big brother... I've never done this before but I will most certainly do it again! Cards make GREAT layout elements!!! :)

I used the Just Imagine/Kreaxions star template and 4-in-1 Punch #919 to create the large element at the bottom right. It was so EASY and I LOVE the look! I also used #919 to create the border at the top of the page.
So like I said, it was a day with lots to share! Happy Scrapping and have an AWESOME day!!!