I did it!!

I'm so exicted. I started to scrap my wedding this evening. I hadn't planned on starting my wedding album, but I was participating in an on-line crop over on the CKMB, and one gal posted a scraplift challenge. The scraplift called for some black and whites, and what better subject to do in black and white than a wedding?

My wedding took place in the Spring, and I thought this color combination was fun and funky. I envision my wedding album as an eclectic mix of designs and colors, not neccessarily a compilation of one line of patterned paper or one specific theme or color.

Now that I've broken through, I feel like I can continue on without having to scrutinize all the pages and make them look "perfect." If I think that way, I'll never get it done!

A mini book for my hubby & other goodies

I was supposed to have had this little project finished in time to give it to Travis on Christmas day, but alas, I got sidetracked and didn't complete it. I was able to finish it up last night, staying up until 2:30 am to complete it! Now that's dedication :)

I used plastic ID tags that you can buy at any local office store or big super store. The rub-ons are mostly Basic Grey, and I also whipped out the DaisyD tape runners as well. Now I have to make one for myself!

Travis and I went to see "National Treasure - Book of Secrets" today. It was actually pretty good! I was absolutely floored that there were only about ten other people in the theater with us. I seriously hate going to the movies because we had a very bad experience one time during "The Bourne Identity." I swore I'd never go back to the theater, but Travis really likes to watch movies on the big screen, so I gave in, and I'm glad I did!

We also headed up to one of the major towns to do a little shopping. I scored some very nice slippers by Acorn at The Sportsman Warehouse. They're fully insulated with 100% naturally warm goose down. They're SO TOASTY, and trust me, I need warm slippers! My feet get very cold. I especially like how they wrap around my ankle. Check them out:

We also headed over to my local scrap store, The Scrapbook Zone. Travis is such a great shopping companion! Look at what he found for me while we were browsing the store:

These fun hippo stickers are by Jolee's Boutique. There are many more animals in this collection, but seeing as how hippos are my thing, this pack came home with me. I also scored on the coolest naked book by Creative Imaginations called the "Brook Peek-oh-book." It has some great top and side pull outs.

I told Travis I needed this book for my on-line crop tomorrow night. He just smiled, picked it up, and put it in my hands. He's such an enabler!!

Also, I want to tell you about my blogger friend, Stacey. She had a grand re-opening of her on-line scrap store, All Moments Remembered, today. She unveiled a new website along with a fun new message board!! You should check it out when you have a chance. She's got some fun stuff in her store, and the message board is already booming with activity and ideas.

That's about all I have to report today. I hope all of you had a great day!!

Just for you, mom and dad

Merry Christmas! I wish we could be down there celebrating with all of you. I love you very much and miss you tons! Thanks for all the fun stuff, especially my new paper trimmer :) Here's a slide show of our morning. Enjoy!!

Merry Christmas!

It's starting to look a lot like Christmas over here! From my family to yours, have a fun and safe holiday. Remember the reason for the season, and be giving and thankful. I will be back to my normal blogging routine in a couple of days. Until then, have a very Merry Christmas!!

A different kind of tagging game

I was recently tagged by my blogging buddy, Kelli. This particular tag isn't your ordinary seven-random-facts game. Here are the rules:

1. Mention the person who tagged you and create a link back to them.
2. Copy-paste the traits for all the twelve months (you can see all the months here).
3. Pick your month of birth.
4. Highlight the traits that apply to you.
5. Tag 12 people and let them know by visiting their blogs and leaving a comment for them (no tagging on my part this time since everyone I blog with has been recently tagged).
6. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve done it!

MARCH: Attractive personality. Sexy. Affectionate. Shy and reserved. Secretive. Naturally honest, generous and sympathetic. Loves peace and serenity. Sensitive to others. Loves to serve others. Easily angered. Trustworthy. Appreciative and returns kindness. Observant and assesses others. Revengeful. Loves to dream and fantasize. Loves traveling. Loves attention. Hasty decisions in choosing partners. Loves home decors. Musically talented. Loves special things. Moody.

Attractive personality - I would like to think I have a fun personality!

Sexy - Well, you'll have to ask my hubby that question :)

Affectionate - Definitely! I snuggle with my hubby everyday. I give him a kiss when he walks through the door after a long day at work. I cuddle with my critters.

Shy and reserved - Not really! I can be shy and quiet when I first meet people, but once I'm comfortable, I'm fairly talkative.

Secretive - I do value my privacy, but for the most part, I'm an open person.

Naturally honest, generous and sympathetic - Very true! I'm a very honest person. I give freely of my time to others, and I try to understand other's plights.

Loves peace and serenity - I think this statement is the most true of all.

Loves to serve others - I do like to help people in any way that I can. Travis and I are always making donations to charities for animals and children. We do what we can!

Easily angered - I'm trying to be more relaxed as I get older :)

Trustworthy - Definitely! I'll take your secret to my grave, and you can always count on me!

Appreciative and returns kindness - Absolutely. I completely believe in the Pay It Forward concept.

Observant and assesses others - Being a birder, I must be observant. I always have my eyes and ears peeled. I'm not quite sure what it means to "assess others," but if it means that I get to know people for who they truly are, then I'm guilty.

Revengeful - No. What's the point? I believe in karma, and if you do something bad, then I truly believe it will come back to haunt you ten fold. If not to you, then to your family or your friends.

Loves to dream and fantasize - Who doesn't love to dream? Life would be awfully boring if we didn't do a little fantasizing every now and then.

Loves traveling - I wish I could say this is true, but with so many critters to take care of, I hardly ever go anywhere. Maybe someday I will get to travel.

Loves attention - I do love attention, but I'm not one to be the center of attention.

Hasty decisions in choosing partners - Again, not true. I had one boyfriend before Travis, and that was an over three year relationship.

Loves home decors - True story! If my house was bigger, I'd be decorating it like a mad woman. I love watching HGTV and TLC home-shows.

Musically talented - Not even close to truthful!

Loves special things - Well, who doesn't love something special? I have many wonderful gifts that I will always treasure.

Moody - Another question for my hubby! I have my good days and bad days, just like everyone. I try my best not to be a moody person.

If you want to play along, please let me know by leaving a comment. I'd love to get to know all of you a little better.

Happy Sunday!

Stickle Love and Hippo Fun!

I made this card last night using my new My Favorite Things stamp set, "Baby It's Cold Outside." I really like how it turned out! I lifted this idea from one of my favorite stamping blogs maintained by Kendra Giles. She's such an inspiration! I used my Prismacolor pencils to color in the image, and then used my Odorless Mineral Spirit and blending stump to shade the image. I then used Frosted Lace Stickles for the snowman, Diamond Stickles for the snow, and Waterfall Stickles for the hat.


I need to make a few more Christmas cards tonight, but seeing as how I'm exhausted from today's activities, we'll have to see if I get them done!

Why am I so exhausted you ask? First off, I taught a polymer clay class today. We made this fun heart amulet:

After class, I braved Costco and then the mall. Costco wasn't too bad. I couldn't find parking initially, but finally found a spot out in the boonies. No biggie since I don't mind walking. Costco itself was CRAZY busy. I only need a couple of items, so I was in and out quickly despite the long lines. Then I remembered that I had not one, but TWO $10-off coupons for JCPenny that expire on Christmas Eve. Since I knew there was no way I was venturing out after today, I figured I'd go ahead and go to the mall. I found a parking spot quickly, and then found some killer deals at Penny's! I have been wanting some new pj's, and I found one pair on sale for $15 minus the $10 off coupon. I only paid $5 for this t-shirt and pant set!! Then, I found an Eeyore long-sleeved t-shirt and pant set marked down from $40 to $16 minus the other $10 off coupon. I only paid $6 for this set!! Now that's what a I call a deal.

After Penny's I decided to walk the mall. I was able to get my watch battery replaced and while I waited, I went into the Hallmark store. I didn't expect to find anything, but then my eye caught this little bundle of happiness:

Is he just the cutest thing ever?? He's a "Webkinz" toy, and apparently I'm supposed to go to the website and adopt this particular little guy using the secret code that's inside his sealed tag. I guess there's a whole play world of Webkinz. I even got a free set of trading cards with my purchase! I thought it was pretty funny. Hey, I'm just a hippo collector :) They make me happy!

Do you collect anything? What's that one thing that you just can't pass up when you find it? Inquiring minds want to know!!

Good food, fun shopping, and GREAT friends!

Yesterday I met up with a fellow CKMBer, Noel (aka, NoelJoy) and her two adorable girls. We had been planning this get together for a while now, and the day finally came to go have a little fun! We met up at Red Robin for some yummy lunch before hitting the stamp and scrap stores. Although I had already met Noel at CKC Seattle, I hadn't met her girls. They were an absolute delight to talk with. They made me the cutest pictures, which now hang proudly on my refrigerator door. Thanks, girls!

Noel also made me a beautiful Christmas ornament. I fear it's a bit large for my tiny tree, so it's going on the wall of cards!

After lunch, we headed over to a stamp store called Impress. WOW is all I have to say. I've been in my fair share of stamp stores, but this one blew my mind. It was really large and had such a variety of products to choose from. It was eye candy at it's best! We browsed around, ooing and awwing over all the stamps and cards they had. The girls and I even had some fun in the store!

After shopping around and spending far too much money, we headed over to the PaperZone which is conviniently located right next door. We picked up a few last minute odds and ends before heading outside to snap some pictures!

If you can believe it, Emma, Noel's youngest, took this photo of us. Way to go, Emma! A little photographer in the making :)

Ready to see all the fun stuff I go?! I decided that this trip is Travis' Christmas present to me :) First of all, Noel was able to grab some of the infamous GRUNGEBOARD for me!! Woo-hoo!! I haven't had much time to play with it, but I did take a sheet out of the package, and I like the way it felt. I'm definitely inspired!

At Impress, I grabbed myself some yummy wood-mounted stamps, a bottle of Stickles, a BG 6x6 Mellow paper pad, the COOLEST paper punch ever, some buttons, and some notecards. I'm sure I'm missing something here, but you can take a look for yourself!

I can't wait until I have a little free time to spend creating some fun stuff! I'm still working on a few last minute Christmas projects and filling a small jewelry order, so I'll be busy until the end of the week.

Have an awesome Thursday, everyone!!

I'm in love

Need I say more?

These cute stamp images are from Hambo Stamps. I think I need all of them, but seeing as how I plopped down a small fortune at Impress Stamps today, I think they'll have to wait for now. I will post all of my stamping goodies tomorrow, so stay tuned!

A new LO to share!

I have been so busy these past few months preparing for my carft show that I didn't have any time to scrap. Shameful, I know! In order to get myself going again, I participated in a challenge issued by Erin Lincoln on the CKMB. The challege is to scrap lift a CK holiday page. I decided to lift a Becky Higgin's sketch from the December 2006 CK magazine:


Here's my take on the page:

I apologize for the bad pictures. I wish I had a portable photo studio so that I never have to worry about whether it's sunny outside or not (today would be an "or not" sort of day). Anyway, the LO is about Travis and my first Christmas together as a married couple. We gave each other the most exciting gifts!

Today, I'm not so patiently waiting for the UPS man to deliver my Purple Cows 2-in-1 paper trimmer! It's my Christmas present from my mom and dad, and I'm so super excited! I just checked the UPS website, and it says my package is "out for delivery" as of 5:17 am today. I wish UPS was just a little faster. It seems that everything in my town is slow. My mail man might as well be walking backwards (it's almost 2:30 pm and my mail is not here), and the UPS and FedEx drivers seem to dilly-dally. I'm not just saying this because I'm waiting for a package. I'm saying this because it's totally true! I'll try to be a little more patient :)

In just a few minutes I'll start baking some chocolate oat bars that I got off of Becky Higgin's website. They look so good that I just have to try them! Tonight is Travis' turn to make dinner, and Monday's are always taco night for us. I don't know how or when this got started, but we've been having taco Monday for a while now, and Travis has become quite the taco making expert!

Hopefully my paper trimmer will come soon. I'll post some pictures when I get it! Have a great Monday, everyone!

The funniest card I've ever received!

I didn't have the best day Saturday. For some reason, everything kept annoying me, and poor Travis didn't know what was wrong. We braved Super Wal*Mart to go grocery shopping b/c we really, really needed to fill up our bare fridge and cupboards! What on earth were we thinking? Apparently, I wanted to commit retail suicide! Without going into excrutiating detail, suffice it to say that our Wal*Mart trip was a lesson in patience and holding my tongue!

Needless to say, I wasn't in the best of moods when we got home. Travis grabbed the mail, and told me I had a few cards. I instantly felt better! I opened up one particular envelope to find this seriously amusing card inside:


It's a characteriture drawing done by my friend, Christina, who lives in Arizona. That's me holding up a piece of smelly paper, and I'm saying "Y'know - I think you guys have lost your knack for distressing paper!" I'm surrounded by quite a few of my critters - Sedona, three of my ferrets, my cockatiel (he lives with my parents), and my beareded dragon. Is this the cutest card ever?! It put such a smile on my face that I forgot all my Wal*Mart woes. I hung it up with great delight in my entry way on my recently converted "Christmas Card Wall." Seeing all those cards when I walk through the door makes me so happy!



Today, Sunday, was yet another gloomy and rainy day here. I haven't seen the sun in a week, and I've come to realize that I'm one of those types of people who really, really needs to see the sun on a constant basis. What else do you expect from a girl who grew up in Southern California and just moved here from Las Vegas?? I miss the sun, and according to the weather-folk, it's not about to make an appearance anytime soon.

So, with that lovely prospect ahead of me, I have resolved to scrap, scrap, and scrap some more! Today, I finished a two page LO of Travis and my first Christmas together. Yup...I'm just a little behind, but that's okay. I'll post it tomorrow when I can take a descent picture.

Until then...have a scrappy day!

A couple of cards & other random things

In my last post, I mentioned that I had made some Christmas cards for a troop of Marines over in Iraq. I tried to make them a bit more masculine than my other cards, but Travis assured me they would appreciate pink cards if that's what I decided to do!


I also threw in some snowman cards. I thought they turned out nicely! Some of my friends will be receiving this card in the mail soon :)

On a completely unrelated note, I had tea with one of the gals I met at the craft fair a few weeks ago. I had so much fun! She lives right on the water, so I got to do a little bird watching while sipping on my peppermint/cinammon tea (it was so good!). We spent the entire afternoon talking and sharing our scrapbooks.

When I got home, I was greeted by another awesome mail stack! I received some more beautiful hand made cards along with a lovely ornament from Gladys and a RAK from Detta. Check out all this fun stuff:

I really like the gorgeous flowers she put in the package. My mind is already filled with ideas on how to use them. Thank you, Detta!!

I would like to do a little scrapping tonight, but for whatever reason, I'm very sleepy right now. Maybe that means I'll fall asleep quickly tonight! One can dream...

Have a great weekend everyone!!

Seven more random facts about little 'ol me

My friend, Joscie, recently tagged me, so here it goes:

1. I just finished making a batch of Christmas cards to send out to a squad of Marines stationed in the Gulf. This project was near and dear to my heart since Travis did a tour over there as well. I encourage all of you to send some cards, if not holiday ones, then simple "Thank You" cards throughout the new year. Our service men and women need our continued support!!
2. I am thoroughly obesessed with buying beads. I purchase them from all over the place - the net, my FOUR local beading stores (one of which I teach at), JoAnn's, Michael's, gem shows...I love my beads!
3. I haven't made a scrap page in about two months. It's so sad! I've been making so many Christmas cards lately that I just haven't had time. Plus, I was preparing for the craft fair during the months of September, October, and November. It's time to get back into the groove (and post some completed projects here)!!
4. I loved calculus in college. I had the most awesome professor. She was so great, that I took a whole year of calculus and loved every minute of it. (Yup, got an "A" each semester!)
5. I simply cannot stand a mess. My house is always clean and organized, and it must be that way when I head out the door. With 8 animals in here, I must keep in clean and tidy. I'm even obsessive about my scrap space. It's always nice and clean, even when I'm being crafty! When I finish one project, I clean up, and then go onto the next one. It's just who I am!!
6. I have very, very dry hands right now. They're so dry, that my thumbs cracked. Every night, I rub corn huskers lotion on them and dip them into my parafin wax machine. It feels so good! When they're done soaking, they're nice and soft and ready to create!
7. I had a high school sweet heart from my sophomore year in hs all the way through my first year in college. We were great friends all through my freshman year in hs, and it just turned into something more one day. I was lucky enough to go to all of my school functions and proms with him. Then, one day quite by accident, I met Travis, and the rest they say is history!

There you have it! If you want to play along, then TAG...You're IT!!

I'm sorry, my total is what?

I decided that today was the day that I was going to get all of my Christmas presents and recent RAKs out in the mail. I knew it was going to be a pricey little trip to the post office, but I was prepared to spend at least forty to forty-five bucks on postage.

After all, look at all those packages I needed to mail out! One package went out of country, and two went overseas. Plus, I had at least thirty Christmas cards to go out as well (I've already mailed off about twenty). Luckily, the line wasn't long at all, so I filled out the necessary customs form while I waited. Then, it was my turn. The line now was out the door! I could see everyone's faces drop as they watched me haul all those packages to the counter. The young man helping me was actually very sweet! He weighed the packages and told me the price all while I was frantically putting postage on each of the cards. After the last package was weighed, he looked at me and said, "That will be $55.27." "I'm sorry, my total is what?" I said, a little bit taken aback. He repeated the amount, and slightly stunned, I reluctantly handed him my debit card.

Now I know that for some, this amount may be but a drop in the bucket, but for a household full of critters, one of which needs to go to the vet for cancer treatment, and just one income, dropping $55 on postage is a big deal. All of my gifts are handmade this year, so I saved on purchasing expensive department store items. I suppose I should be grateful postage wasn't more!

Please tell me I'm not alone! What is the most you've ever spent in postage?

I am one LUCKY girl!

Wow! Today has been such a great day for me. I have so many wonderful friends, and I am so thankful for all of them. Where do I start?

First, I am very excited to announce that I am in the Creating Keepsakes Reader Spotlight! You can read all about it here.

Next, my AWESOME friend, Liz, created the beautiful banner you now see at the top of my blog. Look at the owl she put up there for me! I couldn't be happier. Thank you, Liz!

Also, I had the most amazing mail day. My mail man greeted me with this mail load:



I was so excited when I saw all those packages! I was waiting for some stamps that I ordered from My Favorite Things. They came, and I was so happy with them! There's a few stamps that look just like a Great Dane and remind me of Sedona. I knew I had to have them!

The next package I opened was from Rachel. She sent me the most awesome RAK - just because! How sweet is that? She even made that adorable "Let It Snow" card you see. Thanks, Rachel!!

As if all these goodies weren't enough, I received my package from my Creating Keepsakes Secret Santa, Cortney. WOW! She went all out. First, check out this amazing t-shirt she made me! It has a hippo fairy on it as well as my Creating Keepsakes message board name:

She carried the hippo theme onto the card as well.

Then came all these exciting goodies which included some purse cards, elastic ribbon, punctuation stencil, and chipboard! Oh, and don't forget the M&Ms of which I've already eaten about half! There goes my diet...


Thank you, Cortney!!

I am so grateful to have such wonderful people in my life who care about me. I am truly one lucky girl!!