A little Layout....

Because this past weekend was a "panty waste" weekend (thanks Cely for my new favorite phrase of the week), I didn't spend a ton of time in my studio - instead my hubby and I and a few of our friends enjoyed the sunshine and tye dyed a BUNCH of clothing (looks like a tshirt booth at A Grateful Dead concert our backyard with all the tye dye).

However, I have another layout I did for my dad's album to share with you.

Yep, that's my mom and dad on their wedding day. 

Thanks for stoppin' by today!

If you're looking for the Shelly's Images Birthday Blog Hop - Click Here

If you're looking for the Bugaboo Blog Hop - Click Here

Hugs & Happy Days!

A little Rain must fall…

And isn’t that how it feels when something you rely on decides it’s had enough??

So, our trusty Olympus camera FINALLY called it quits this past Friday.  GRR!  Of course, holding photos hostage that I was trying to upload.  Double GRRRR!

So, hubs and I spent part of Saturday checking out what will soon be our new arrival…..It’ll be a perfect fit into our family.  We’re pretty excited about it.  A little bigger than our previous camera, but LOVE all the features & options and PANARAMIC ability!!  Especially with our upcoming vacation!

Isn’t it cute?  =)

Only downfall?  We weren’t able to bring it home with us – Expected arrival date is Monday!

Next downfall?  Without a camera, it makes it a bit difficult to photograph or share what I’ve been working on!

DOH!  Luckily, there are a FEW things I was able to upload before the hostage situation began!  =)

I’ve been working on a photo album for my dad’s BBQ Celebration next month (I can’t remember if I’ve told you that or not).

So, here’s a layout I put together for the album =)

This is from a trip we took with my mom and dad, my cousin Eric and his friend John to Mexico a few years ago (this is where Glen and I went swimming with the dolphins).

Kind of fun, huh?  I had so much fun crinkling and inking this layout

So, that’s what I’ve got for ya today.

However, be sure to check out The Bug Blog and see today’s new STELLA collection from Bugaboo Stamps.

Here’s a little sneek peek – see what the team did with this super snarky Stella!

Hugs & Happy Days!

First Layout in WAY TOO LONG!!

Boy oh boy, it's been some time since I've actually done a layout.  QUITE different from making cards I tell ya!

With my dad's BBQ Celebration of Life in July, of course, I wanted to get together a scrapbook album of some of our fond moments with my dad.

This was one!

Growing up our family was a U of M rooting family.  My grandfather worked for the U of M, in College I worked for the U of M Athletic Department.  And Funny, My hubby was a HUGE U of M fan too.

In our adult life, we continue to bleed Maize and Blue.  :)

Last February, when my dad was in the hospital the first of many times, a few of the U of M athletes came around the Veterans Hospital and took the time to talk with them.  Of course, being a scrapbooker, my camera is ALWAYS with me.  So, this is how we came to get this photo of my two favorite men - My dad and My Hubby with Zoltan Mesko (now a Punter for the NE Pats) and Patrick Omameh - Offensive Rt. Guard.

It took me nearly the entire day to get this done, but I'm pleased with how it turned out. 

I've gotten Three pages done so far for the album - I never realized just how hard it was going to be to do these. 

Photo - Dad & Glen w/U of M Football Players - Feb 2010

Papers - Miscellaneous from my stash - Tryin' to USE what I've got in that Stash!!

ESPECIALLY LOVE the U of M Block M paper

Extra STUFF - Big Brads I heat embossed with colored embossing power to match the layout (they were BROWN to begin with - look pretty cool, huh?

Alpha stickers

Digi Tags with Block M on them, MS Border Punch, Die Cut football from Football textured paper

Thanks so much for stoppin by and takin' a view of what's goin' on in my little creative world today!

The sunshine is FINALLY here (at least for a day or two), so as you can imagine, we're getting as much stuff done as we can at the farm the last few days.

Stay tuned for a few photos of our progress tomorrow (the rain is back tomorrow).  Garden Tillin & Plantin' and tree house tearin' down.  It's gonna smell like a locker room in our house this weekend (and probably at mom's too with all the Icy Hot we're using for sore muscles.  LOL

Hugs & Happy Days!

Don't Feed The Animals!

Whew, boy, it's been AWHILE since I've had the concentration to sit down and COMPLETE a layout.  This month at Scrap-Friendzy we've had a Scraplift "This" or "That" challenge going on.

Today is my Scrap "THIS" day.

I've had these cute zoo photos from a trip my nephew and his new baby sister took this past summer sitting on my desk since the summer (yah, I know - SSSSSLLLLLLOOOOOOOWWWWW Scrapper).

Inspiration - yep, the super cute pics of my niece and nephew enjoying the zoo was the inspiration for today!  Oh and the super cute little wood Lion, oh and the fabulous K & Company Wild Thing papers.

 

Turned out pretty cute, huh?

If you're looking for some scrappy inspiration - stop over and join us at Scrap-Friendzy for a little "This" or "That".  You won't be sorry!

OBG ROCKSTAR!!

Another thinkin' outside the box day for me.  I'm not sure about you, but I always use my digi-images for cards and totally FORGET about using them for scrapbook layouts! DOH - Insert blonde joke here :)

And with us having a "Scrappy Sketch Month" over at Scrap-Friendzy, this was a great time to do some more layouts (can't seem to concentrate enough to do layouts lately).

Bugaboo has some super cute images that work PERFECTLY for scrapbook pages. I showed you one last month you can see here using the cutie Dinos on a page for my nephew.  Today, I have another page for my nephew's album and yep, you guessed it, I used another of Jodie's super cute images.  This little Rocker Dude was a freebie in August and worked out just great for this fun "ROCKSTAR" layout.

Photo - Super Cutie Patootie "ROCKSTAR" Nephew Colin and his Groupie Auntie Min! :)

Image - Bugaboo "Skelekinz - SKELB you rock my world "

Sketch by - ME

Paper - MME: The Spiders Web; Bazzill Dotted Paper; Paper Studio holographic purple; Kraft and Red cardstock, Core Couture Black Sparkle
Cricut - Title cut with Cuttin' Up Cartoon and Cartoon Shadow
Cuttlebug - Bats/Spider Die

Coloring - Copics

Extra STUFF - Tim Holtz' Tickets, Dimensionals, Color Box Silver Ink, Drywall Tape, Staples, Plastic Like String, Scull & Cross Bones Ribbon and Button from stash

Neat new product I used - I was wandering up and down the aisles at Michaels a few weeks ago and ran across an aisle that had colored plastic like 'string'.  I think it is used to make braclets, I'm not exactly sure, but I thought it could be kind of cool on cards & layouts.  It's a little stretchy and comes in lots of colors and even better yet - it's CHEAP!!  Like 99 cents for more feet than I'll ever use!
Challenges this layout is entered into -
IDIC/Robyns Fetish - Anything Goes
Creative Card Crew - Punches
Stamping Vacation - NO! NO! (Starts with "S")
Stamp Something - October Digi

Be sure to pop over to Catch The Bug Blog and see what awesome Oldie But Goodie projects were created!

And don't forget, tomorrow is a Freebie Friday!  Tomorrow's release is just WAY too cute to NOT add to your collection.  Yep, it's another one that's on my MUST HAVE list!
Thanks so much for stoppin by today - so glad to have you!  I hope you enjoyed your visit. :)

Happy Hauntin' n' Craftin' Too!

Inspiration with a little ABC Challenge

Have I told you lately how much I enjoy the Anything But a Card Mondays at Bugaboo??

I love using Jodie's super cute images for cards and things other than card, but today I was really inspired to use her cute little dino's on a layout for my nephew's scrapbook.

Last year for Halloween he was a Purple Dino (he loves purple and loves dinos - so it was fitting).  Because his dad was in Japan for work the month of October last year, Uncle Glen and I got to participate in the Halloween festivities - which involved us getting some photos with the super cute Purple Dinosaur Birthday boy!
We took several photos, but this one was one of my favorite photos - for some reason Colin loves "UP CLOSE" photos and his "UP CLOSE" photos always make me laugh.  I have several from when he was super little and this is just another one in a string of "UP CLOSE" photos we've taken.  Silly Boy!

Seems his cute little sister is following in her big brothers "UP CLOSE" footsteps! LOL

Images - Bugaboo "Dinos - Dino sit and Dino stand"

Paper - Paper Studios: Dinosaurs printed paper; Cardstock and Coredinations papers; Kraft Paper

Technique - Making your own paper by stamping and Paper Piecing for Dinos

Coloring - Copics
Cricut - Alphalicious for page title

Extra STUFF - Corner Rounder, Studio G and Hero Arts Stamps, Doodling, Googley Eyes, Pre-cut Borders (Bazzill and Doodle Bug), Color Box Inks - Chestnut Roan, French Blue and Tangerine, Purple Brads and Dimensionals

Nice to at least get ONE page for his album done in less than a year (yep, by a hair, I know :)

Believe it or not this layout was also created as part of my Scrap-U Economics Class too!  What's more economical than USING what you already have to create a project?!  :)

A Little Extra Credit...

Scrap-U over at Scrap-Friendzy officially kicked off this past Wednesday and we're having an awesome time with Main courses, Extra Credit and After School Activities (and so awesome tutorials too!!)  If you haven't signed up for your classes yet, you can still join us!!

And today you can even join us for a little EXTRA Credit!!!  Who doesn't love EXTRA CREDIT.  Today's extra credit involves "LUNCH".  Now THAT'S my kind of EXTRA CREDIT!!! :)

Check out the challenge over at Scrap-Friendzy.  In the meantime though I'll share with you my Extra Credit Lunch project!  :)

As you know we've been CANNING like crazy, so it seemed fitting that the LUNCH layout involved our weekends of Canning.

Layout - "CANNING"

Papers - TPC Studios "So Delish" printed papers, Coredinations Green and Red, Bazzill Blue, Beige and Yellow, Kraft, White and Gold textured left over scraps

Tools - Cricut - From My Kitchen (Canning Jars and Pot); MTC to create Canned Title; i-Rock and Pearls; EK Success and Fiskars Punches

Extra STUFF - Making Memories Journaling block, Stickles, Tulle - Red and Green), Dimensionals

Thanks so much for popping by today.  Hopefully you'll join us over at Scrap-Friendzy for Scrap-U.  It's the friendliest place on earth - you won't be sorry you joined in with the Girlz over there!!

Fruits & Veggies at Camp-Friendzy!

Camp is still going on at Scrap-Friendzy.  We're down to our last challenge this week to see who the last camper standing is.  What amazing projects these ladies have created!!

While everyone is working on the big challenge, we have a few smaller ones that we throw at everyone and well, today was my day to add a BONUS Challenge into the mix.  And guess what?!  It involves some of my favorite things right now - Home Grown Fruits & Veggies!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Watermelon this time of the year (kind of like I won't eat fresh apples any time other than Fall - yah, weird I know).  So, with today's challenge, everyone has been challenged to do a layout inspired from their favorite fruits & veggies. . . . .

Here is my sweet layout of my adorable niece for her album - can you guess what my fruit or veggie is?

If you guessed WATERMELON, you're RIGHT ON TARGET!! :)

Page Title - "I THINK...Therefore I Am!"

Photo - My adorable niece

Papers - Prima

Flower - Prima

Extra STUFF - Chipboard swirls, Tim Holtz Crackle Paint, Pool & Lettuce Paint, Ribbon & Tulle from my stash, Thickers & MM letters for title, Nesties for the frame.

Be sure to pop over to Scrap-Friendzy and join us for some super fun challenges. 

While Camp is just about over, you won't believe what AWESOME things we have up our sleeve for September!!!!

Camp-Friendzy Mess Hall Duty Challenge

Happy Monday and welcome to this week's Camp-Friendzy Challenge.

This week's Challenge is a Mess Hall Duty Challenge - Take your TRASH & turn it into a TREASURED layout!

So, this is my TRASH to TREASURE layout - my sweet nephew with his new baby sister.

Can you guess what I went dumpster diving and used on my layout??

Papers - All papers are from my stash - Navy Blue Bazzill, Red & Purple CS, Kraft, Recollections Doodle - White Equillibrium & Scrappin' Sports & more - Wonderful1/Dots

Technique - Paper Piecing, Dryer Sheet Flower and Doodling

Cricut - Title using All Mixed Up and Alphalicious

Extra STUFF - EK Success Paper Punch, Stamp - Studio G Bird; Fabric Covered brads, Precious Stamp - Studio G, Sticky Square Letters - K& Company, Dry Wall Tape, Ric Rack, Clear Plastic Frame, Tattered Angels - Antique Brass Mist and a Googley Eye

So, do you think you know what I pulled out of the trash?

A Wheat Thins Box (we eat a box a weekend at our house).  I used this box to stamp the bird on (the backside) as well as mat the large photo on.

Prima Flower Center Packaging (The green printed material that has the date on it)

A Cream Cheese Package for the Bar Code near "PRECIOUS"

USED Dryer Sheets - to make the flower

So that was the project for this weekend!!

If you're looking for some inspiration, you won't be sorry, joining us over at Scrap-Friendzy for Camp.  While you're too late to compete in the Last Camper Standing contest, there are still lots of RAK and great prizes to be won.  So, get on your hiking boots and hike on over and join us!

"Twist & Sketch" Crop at Scrap-Friendzy

I don't know about you, but every time I see "Twist & Sketch", I immediately start humming the song "Twist & Shout" - must have been all those years of listening to oldies on the radio with my dad.  :)

Today is day two of a week long Crop over at Scrap-Friendzy.  If you need a little motivation, or a way to kick-start your mojo, or heck, if all that's working fine and you just want to join us for a little fun, Scrap-Friendzy's "Twist & Sketch" Crop is the place to be!!

Each day two sketches will be posted and with each sketch there is a TWIST - hence the "Twist & Shout, er Sketch".  We've got great prizes and great girlfriendz to chat it up with. 

Sketch #3 is my sketch today - You'll have to visit us at Scrap-Friendzy to check out the sketch, but here's my take on it.  Can you guess what the TWIST is??

This sweet little red-head is my cousin Teri's baby girl.  She just turned one in March.  Isn't she just the sweetest?  I love when she sends photos, because I get to scrap them and send them back to her.  This one is no different.  Her birthday is coming up on Friday and this is part of a little birthday gift for her!  (Hopefully she's not reading this BEFORE her birthday - if so, SURPRISE!  lol).

Supplies:

Patterned Paper - Autumn Leaves

Paper - Kraft; Black, Lime Gree & Purple Coredinations stock

Cricut - Leafy Flourishes, PP box & Title

Jenny Bowlin - Grow Bingo Card

Making Memories - Journling spot

Prima Flowers

Miscellaneous Yellow Butterfly Felt Ribbon, Purple Tulle, Purple Bling Dots, White Doilie from Michaels Cake Aisle (amazing what you can find to use for scrapbooking), multiple punches -MS, EK Success & Fiskars, Black & White Doodling

Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by today! 

Hopefully Twist & Shout won't be stuck in your head for too long today!  lol

Be sure to stop by Scrap-Friendzy and join in the fun - we're happy to have you. AND the sketches & twists can be incorporated into CARDS too if you're one of my card-makin' friends!

Off to my folks today to do some work - what a perfect day - 74* and Sunny! 

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Technique Tuesday #5 At Scrap-Friendzy.com!

So, today is my Technique Tuesday over at Scrap-Friendzy.  The Girlz have been posting all kinds of great challenges all month - fun Motivation on Monday, Techniques on Tuesday, We've got Wacky Wednesdays, Tutorial Thursdays and of course Foto Fridays!!  If you haven't had a chance to check it out, it's certainly a must visit! 

Here's one of my projects for Technique Tuesday - my sweet new niece in the "My First Valentine's Day" outfit we picked up for her before she arrived (hat included).  And look at those sweet piggies?!

Any idea what the technique is??

Papers - Bazzill and smooth cardstock, can't remember who makes the heart paper that you can barely see

Flowers - Primas

Embossing - Sizzix Embossing flower folder and Heidi Swapp Hearts & Dots stamps (embossed with Zing powder)

Miscellaneous - I heart U stamp - Daisy Bucket, Punches - Fiskars Apron punch and EK Success Scallop punch (LOVE THIS ONE!), Thickers "LOVE"

Thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope you're having a fabulous week!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Mystery Solved

Thank you all so much for 'playing' along!!

You girls rock with titles - I love them all!  I can't wait to get into my studio and get a page made for this.

Okay, so the wait is over. . . . . the package was from

My Dad and Mom. 

(Whew, glad we didn't have to search for my lost marbles again this week!)  :)

My mom heard about it on the radio and thought it would be fun to send us one - I tell you my folks are just amazing even with everything that's going on. 

This is my mom's way of "Getting 'even' with us" (in a good way) and a thank you to my wonderful hubby for letting me be a great daughter and terrible wife the last month or so while my dad has been in and out of the hospital.

The Coney Dogs were AWESOME - the house reaked of onions and chili, but man were they good! 

We didn't eat all 12, so we've got some additional coney dogs for a rainy day!

Yes, that makes my hubby a VERY happy Man!!!

For all of you who played along, thank you for humoring me :)

The winner of the contest (chosen by random thank goodness b/c the page titles are all so awesome)!

JENNY

Congrats Girl - I've got your addy so I'll get your goodies into the mail next week.

Thanks again to everyone for 'playing' along. 

TGIF!  Hope your weekend is full of creativity!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

A Coney Island Mystery......

Yesterday afternoon I got a call from my hubby that we had a 'BOX' on the front porch and he was perplexed and confused. It was a box of 'Perishable Hot Dogs' and 'Dry Ice' and 'Leave on Porch'.

I mention this because he was reading what was on the outside of the brown box it was shipped in........

Because it wasn't anything I'd ordered (that usually involves paper, stamps and other studio yumminess) and because the outside of the box was addressed correctly and when I say correctly, I mean that Glen's name was spelled right with one n and mine was spelled right with an i instead of a y (Mindi).

So now, we're both perplexed and of course, because I couldn't wait the 2 hours until I got home from work,  I told him to open the box and see what was inside - yep, curiosity abuses the cat in our house!

Turns out there was a letter from American Coney Island - a Coney hot spot in Detroit, telling us about the history behind the restaurant that opened in 1917.  Okay, so we're both thinking - is this some sort of marketing promotion? Yep, Great Marketing minds think alike in our house.....since there wasn't a card anywhere to be found.

Then I wondered if my nephew had been selling Coney kits as part of his fund raiser recently and I'd ordered one and forgot I ordered it - so of course I had to check with Amy and Susan to make sure I hadn't lost my marbles (lost marbles are a regular occurring thing in our house, it's usually mine that have gone missing.....).

For those of you that know my husband - and those of you who don't - HOT DOGS/CHILI DOGS are one of this man's most favorite foods in the entire world. That is an item that is a MUST GET every time we go to a baseball game (right after the bag of peanuts he shares with my dad). His mom joked when we met, were dating and got married she was so glad he'd met me because she was afraid he would eat hot dogs the rest of his life (if only she'd known that I coudln't boil water before I met my husband - we all laugh about that now!!!).

Still, we were both perplexed - no note, just the letter from American Coney Island.

Well, when I got home from work, we continued to open the box further - there MUST be a note somewhere!!!  We found the dogs and the container of chili boxed in the 'American Coney Island' kit box with dry ice, a fresh onion, a bag of buns and a hat. And you better believe we BOTH had to have a photo taken in the hat - what's that they say about things happening in life - "If it ain't in the scrapbook, it didn't happen!"

So, after STILL not finding a card, we finally called the American Coney Island headquarters inquiring - I say we, but Glen called (I read the phone number to him and he dialed & talked) trying to find out the WHO because we were obviously and totally confused.

They informed us that someone did in fact send it to us, but would have to look into WHO sent it. Of course, we couldn't enjoy these Coney Dogs until we knew who sent them......They said they'd let us know before the day was out. So like 15 minutes later we get a call that the card is tucked in the hat..........

Drumroll please.........

HA HA, you didn't think I was going to give you a quick end to the story, did you??  Especially since we spent ALL AFTERNOON yesterday trying to figure out where these things came from........

I'm not going to tell you today - instead, I'm going to have a little "Coney Contest".  Because this will end up on a scrapbook page in our album, leave me a comment with

WHO you think sent them and a title for the scrapbook page. 

I'll reveal WHO sent the package this Friday.  For everyone who participates, I'll put your name in a drawing and pick one lucky winner to receive some yummy scrappy goodness and maybe if you ask real nice, my hubby will share one of the Coney Dogs with you too!

How's that for a Coney, I mean, Corney Contest?

:)

Happy Craftin'!

Min

More Fabulous Inspiration.....

at Scrap-Friendzy this month.  What a marvelous month so far - all the Girlz on the Design Team have some great scrappy ideas, techniques, motivation and tutorials! 

I had Technique Tuesday this week - and the technique was FIBER (no, not THAT kind of fiber ;) , you know fiber - ribbon, raffia, tulle, fabric, yarn, string, floss, tulle, all those wonderful little additions we can add to our pages.  I love fibers - on top of scrapbooking & cardmaking, my mom and I both knit, so needless to say we have a TON of left over fibers!!

This is the page I did for my new niece's album over the weekend (I still have to get that fabulous photo to put on the page, but things have been a bit crazy this week).  Lots of fun fibers - yarn, ribbon, tulle & floss!  Everything used was from my stash!! 

Papers are Basic Grey & Bazzill (I've had these forever and this was a perfect project to use them on!!)

Cricut - Plantin Schoolbook, Ashlyn's Alphabet & Calligraphy

Fiskar Punch

Buttons, ribbon, yarn, Tulle, pearl string, flat back pearls and sticker letters in "Girl" all from my stash

Here's a bit of a close up so you can see the flowers that were hand made with yarn (fun fur in the knitting world) and ribbon. The flower on the right is made from ribbon and even has some tulle on it.

I absolutely love how girly this turned out.  Heck, we could even hang it in Natalie's room - these colors are the colors of her room.

I almost forgot to tell you too - join us over at Scrap-Friendzy, complete this Technique Tuesday project or use this technique on any of the challenges for this week by the end of February, and you'll be put in a drawing for a RAK!    Go quickly - this month is a short month and you only have 9 more days!!

Happy Friday!!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Love & Smooches!

Happy 1/2 way to Friday!  I didn't get to post my projects showcasing the February kit yesterday, but wanted to share just how cute they all turned out.  My favorite until I get my new little nieces photo on the layout, is this adorable little 'purse'.  Our niece is she's scheduled to arrive Saturday or Sunday (induction is on Saturday am).  We're all doing the Pink Baby Girl Dance!!

Imagine black & white photo on 5x7 mat of sweet, cuddly, squishy, adorable newborn niece

Adorable, huh?  If you're intrested in this super cute kit, check out Scrap-Friendzy and get your scrappy yumminess before they're gone!!  You can check out a slide show of the fabby stuff the design team put together too!

I wanted to say another quick thank you to everyone who has commented and offered support and prayers.  You don't know how grateful we are for those things.  Unfortunately we didn't get any additional news at today's appointment - dad needs to have a PET scan next, which is scheduled for the 18th and then another consult on the 24th.  We just continue to pray - God has a plan.

Hope you're having a fabulous day - and able to get some crafty stuff done.  I'm off to work on some little tags for the chocolate pretzel my nephew will give to family and friends once his baby sister is born.  We'll be painting more on Saturday when he comes to stay with us on Saturday.

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Sneaky Peeky

What a fabulous kit Amy has put together over at Scrap-Friendzy for February - Absolutely Lovin' it! 

I thought I'd share a few of the sneaky peeks of the projects that I created this weekend.  This kit goes on sale tomorrow and is $28 + $7 for shipping.  For the amazing papers, embellies and YUMMY stuff you get in this kit, it's a steal!  Don't miss out getting your hands on this gorgeous kit!  The Girlz will all be sharing their projects tomorrow, so be sure to stop by and check out the great projects!

And on top of the kit reveal & sale tomorrow, the new design team will also be announced..... so be sure to check in and see who the new Girlfriendz design team will include.

Thanks so much for stopping by tonight.  I hope you had a lovely weekend. 

Off to figure out what we're going to have for dinner.

Happy Craftin'!

Min

A Perfect Day

Today was a busy and cold day.  I had a class that I'd planned to teach at the scrapbook store today.  We were surprised to get a call from Amy & Andy this morning that the baby might be on the way.  We're Colin's 'handlers' when his momma and daddy go to have baby sister.  So, off we went to pick up Colin and wait for baby labor news.  We had so much fun - we painted some chocolate molds, played hide & seek, made some neat Cuttlebug cards Colin style, and even had Mickey D's for lunch. 

Turns out it was a false alarm, no baby sister yet.  We're VERY excited for her to arrive - she is definitely waiting for Aunt Susan and Uncle Kris to get home from vacation. 

So, this weekend (Tomorrow actually) wraps up the month of January - Sketch A-Thon at Scrap-Friendzy.  We've had an amazing month - Everyone has been SO productive - the gallery is bursting at the seams with amazing layouts and cards.

Today was the last of the sketches I was posting - today the sketch we used was one that I created - a little quickie, but I love the way the layout turned out.  We've had this great sunset photo printed out and in my studio since before Christmas.  Today was the perfect day to scrap it (it only made it up to 20* today - it was downright bone chilling cold this morning.  Even our 'kids' (2 cats) thought it was cold - which is why they ended up in bed with us this morning.

Anyway, enough blah blah blah from me.  Here's a little Aruban warmth - my hubby took this photo on our last evening in Aruba in 2008 when we went to celebrate our 5th Wedding Anniversary. 

Makes you want to get your toes in the sand and feel the salty air on your face, don't it??

This was definitely one of our PERFECT DAYS!

Paper - Cardstock - Coredinations.  Paradise & Sunset Cruise 'cards' from paper from my stash, striped paper - Daisy Bucket, tan cardstock from my stash

Cricut - Life's a Beach - Sanddollars & Title

Cuttlebug - Bamboo & D'vine Swirl embossing folders

Miscellaneous - Starfish, Fish & Shell Brads from my stash, Scrap Swirl font - computer generated for Journaling

I hope this warms you up a bit - it sure does me thinking about the 10 days we spent in Aruba. 

I hope you're having a productive weekend!  Hoping to have a few more projects to share with you tomorrow.  I'm working on a fabulous kit that Scrap-Friendzy is offering beginning on Monday.  Be sure to stop by and check out some of the sneaky picks!  What a lovely kit!

I also want to say thank you to everyone for your prayers for my dad.  We continue to pray - his appointment with the oncologist is scheduled for Wednesday morning.  Hopefully at that time we'll get a bit more infomation and a plan of action.  I think once we have something like that, we'll all feel a bit better.  So thank you all again - prayers are a powerful thing and for those, we are so thankful.

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Cutie Kid Talk!

Wow, what a week.  Been kind of one of those crazy ones.  Yesterday my hubby and I spent the day taking down all our Christmas decorations (yep, we still had ALL our Christmas stuff up - and heck, we were even turning on the tree and Christmas village every night to enjoy).  It never seems like there's enough time to enjoy Christmas decorations.  So after yesterday, the house is put back together, everything looks naked.  :o(

This morning, I was up at 6:45.  Hoping to go back to sleep for a little bit, but no such luck.  So, I spent the morning working on this little beauty.  For some reason we're in the football mode right now - must be something to do with all the football playoffs.

My nephew Colin always gives us a ton of things to grin about.  The think I love about little kids, is that when they're learing to talk, they always say things so cute.  We're Michigan fans, and Colin's momma Amy is a Michigan State Spartan Grad......maybe you can see where this is going......one college football Saturday the Raz family was over and Uncle Glen thought I'd be fun to see if Colin could say "Go Blue".  After a little practice, we got "DOH BOO".  Hence this layout.

The layout sketch was from Pagemaps.  You can check out the sketch over at Scrap-Friendzy in the Sketch A-Thon forum.  All supplies are from my scrappy stash - I'm trying to use as much of what I have up so I have a reason to splurge after the Winter CHA - have you seen some of the fabulous stuff they're coming out with?!  Can't WAIT!!

Hope you're having a great Scrappy Saturday.

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Good Friend Challenge Week of October 19

Whew, kind of a stinky productivity week for me last week.  Not sure how that all happened.........Those kind of weeks make me crazy!

So how did you do this week??

I finished a few things on my to do list - So, this week will be a week of playing catch up -

I finished 2 Scrap-Friendzy Challenges, including a layout!  This layout if for Tammi's Blog Hop #1 Challenge - It was to use 3 patterned papers, some bling and something old.  Papers, Check, Bling, Check, Something Old, Check!  It was so great to get back to doing layouts.  This one was a great way to get back at it. 

This is my nephew Colin.  How darn cute is he?!

Birthday cards!  I had a few I finished - one was the cute Dino-Four card I posted here.  Haven't photographed the rest of them yet, so I'll show you them later in the week. (I'm trying to get ahead of the game for November.....).

Turkey Day Dinner Invites  These are back on my to do list for this week.  I have an idea, but no progress has been made yet........I do have the paper though and that's 1/2 the battle, isn't it? :)

Work on Santa Album Design for December LSS Class - Album is designed

Gift albums  Nope, no progress here either - DOH!

Idea for Halloween Costume - I have an idea, now I just need to figure out how to execute it!
Back on the list for this week -

Scrap-Friendzy Challenges - There are so many awesome challenges the girlz have posted that I want to get to this week.  If you haven't stopped by and check out the Blog Hop or regular weekly challenges, please do, you'll be inspired, promise!

Birthday Cards - just a few more and I'll be ahead of schedule!!

Turkey Day Invites

Tinker with Albums

Slippers - KEEP knittin' em!  (I've finished 8 pair now, 14 more to go)

Tinker with Colin's Birthday extras - cake topper & goodie bags

Enjoy the Zoo Boo with Colin, Amy & Sue this weekend!!

I hope you have a fabulous week - we're supposed to get another blast of 'kind of summer like' weather this week - mid-60's, so we'll be enjoying every last little bit of sunshine we can!!

Happy Craftin'!

Min

Sweet Baby

It seems like it's been FOREVER since I've done a layout.  I'm not quite sure why - I have a crazy amount of photos and memories to be scrapped (don't we all).  I think it's been more of a case of missing mojo.  DOH!  I hate when that happens.
You can click the photos for larger images. :)

In anycase, today I decided when I walked by our fridge and saw this super cute photo of my cousin's baby, I was going to do a layout.  And a layout I did!  How absolutely adorable did this turn out?

Printed papers & Embellies - (Bird, Flowers, Journal Tag, Frame) - Garden Roses Digi-paper pack from Lettering Delights (I sized everything and then printed it out on cardstock & scrapped the 'ole school way :)

Paper - Core-dinations - Black, green, white & pink

Cricut - Accent Essentials (scallop), Home Decor (scallop), Lyrical Letters (title), Mini Monograms (scallop circle)

Cuttlebug - Script Texture Embossing folder

Miscellaneous - Lots of fussy cutting, Pearls, Pop-dots, Brown Paint, Baby rub-on, border punch

Don't miss your chance until midnight tonight to enter to win my Blog Candy!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Happy Craftin'!

Min