Carrie's Corner

2009-07-20T21:50:00.001-05:00

I can't believe I did it!

2009-06-17T09:54:00.003-05:00

More importantly...no one else can believe it either! I have wanted a tattoo for the longest time, but anyone who knows me, knows what a big chicken I am. I recently reconnected with a dear friend who is a tattoo artist so I figured it was time to bite the bullet.Knowing that it was a friend doing it made it so much easier. Don't get me wrong, I was still scared to death but having a friend who I could laugh with and make fun of myself with and know I could trust really put my mind at ease. Thanks Mikey for not teasing me too much and for the wonderful tattoos can't wait to get more.....

2009-05-31T12:59:00.003-05:00

There is so much fun going on over at Scrapbooking and Crafting Friends! Here is the link to the site in case you have some extra time to come and check us out...http://scrapbookingcraftingfriends.ning.com/
These are two of my projects as a DT of traditional scrapping. The first one is for an anything goes open project and the second one is to do a "Water" themed layout.

My baby is growing up....

2009-05-27T08:40:00.012-05:00

Last night I was filled so many different emotions. I was sad, I was excited, I was happy but most of all I was proud! My baby is not a baby anymore...last night he graduated from 8th. grade and is on to high school this fall. I can't believe it, it seems like just yesterday I was changing his diapers and all's I had to worry about was making sure the binkie was always on hand. Each milestone he reaches gets harder and harder for me to hold back the tears...so here is to you my son....Congrats and I am so proud of you!!!!!!

2009-05-21T09:02:00.002-05:00

Remember that awesome new site I told you to check out...well look at this! How cool is that?!? I will be leading 2 different challenge groups as a traditional scrapper. Make sure you come and check it out it is free to join and will be lots of fun!

Come and join the fun!

2009-05-13T10:54:00.002-05:00

I am part of a new scrapbooking gathering place. You should all come and check it out. There are many friendly faces, many wonderful layouts for inspiration and weekly and daily challenges.
Come on, what are you waiting for...stop by and tell them that "Carrie sent ya!"
http://scrapbookingcraftingfriends.ning.com/

For sale....

2009-04-20T10:26:00.004-05:00

As much as I hate to have to do it, I must....
I must part with my Cricut Expression die cutting machine. I have had it for several months now and it has never been used. The Expression machine is the one that will cut a 12x12 sheet and up to a 12x24 sheet. I also have a pack of brand new never opened 12x12 mats. They come 2 in a pack. Along with that I have a brand new Cricut spatula, 3 packs of brand new replacement blades that come 2 in a pack so that is 6 more blades, a brand new pack of primary ink cartridges...yellow,red,green,orange,blue and the original font cartridge that came with the machine. The box for this is missing...my daughter fell on it and crushed it. Also, the mouse pad that came in the Design Studio software is missing. If anyone is interested just let me know and we can work something out.
Again what you will be getting:
Cricut Expression die cutting machine
Plantin SchoolBook font cartridge
Cricut Spatula tool
Cricut primary ink cartidge(5 pack)
3-Cricut replacement blades (2 pack) making that 6 blades total
Cricut Design Studio software
Cricut 12x12 cutting mat (2 in the pack)
Again, everthing is brand new and never been used.

The farmer in the Dells...

2009-03-23T09:16:00.030-05:00

Not exactly...but we were! There has been so much "crap" going on here lately we thought it would be nice to take a little break from everything that has been stressing us and so we packed up the kids and went to the Dells for the weekend. We had so much fun I wish it could have lasted a little longer! It has been a while since I have had any good photo ops, so bear with me....there are a lot...
When we first got there everyone was a bit wound up from the 4 hour drive so I was very surprised to get this great picture of the 4 kids actually sitting still.
I think Kyle took this picture of Alyson and me...not too bad for a 9 year old.
The boys just chillaxin!
Not that great, but here is one of me and Kelly...
Andrew being Andrew, I swear that cell phone is attached to his ear!

Poor Matthew! All that swimming and then dinner was just too much for him to handle!

Andrew sporting his new "cool" shades....

Alyson was not to keen on the water slides, she finally went down them about an hour before the pool was closing on our last night. She was so funny, she cried all the way down, pouted as she came out and then quietly asked me if she could do it again!

Matthew on the other hand, we needed to put a GPS unit on him! He was everywhere. We could not get him away from the slides.

Alyson coming down again....

And then trying to act like she isn't having any fun. It was funny because every picture of her going down this slide look the same...eyes closed, mouth scrunched and then a pout when she got out...heaven forbid she let anyone know she was having fun!

Andrew was a little harder to catch going down, the slides he was going down were a lot bigger and a lot faster, but I did manage to get him coming out of the tube...

See, what did I tell you...

It took a lot of begging to finally get Andrew to go down the smaller slide with Matthew but I think they both had a lot of fun....

I even got him to go down by himself so that I could get a better picture, he even had fun on the small slides even though he came down a lot harder because the water wasn't deep enough....

Kyle was the hardest to convince to go down, I did finally manage to get him to do it and lucky for me I got a good picture the first time down, because that was all he would do...

Wait! Did I say Kyle was the hardest to convince...I lied...I was the hardest to convince. Despite the fact that I am afraid of heights and never really cared for slides, I did promise my son I would go down the raft slide with him before we left and boy he held me to that. I screamed like a baby ALL the way down while Andrew laughed harder then I think I ever heard him laugh before. Everyone was laughing...the tubes are dark and hollow so the sound echoed throughout the whole place. In my defense, my son did tell a little white lie about the slide. He told me that because there was two of us on the raft it would go slower, well if I would have thought more about it...the more weight, the FASTER it would go! He told me "that was a scream I never heard come out of you before!" and just continued to laugh.

This pool was a little more mine and Kelly's speed...no slides, no tubes, no rafts and nobody else but us....

Oops, it did have though, buckets of water dumping on our heads!

Last but not least, just a couple of random pics I decided to throw in...

We had such a great time, I can't wait for our next adventure!

It's been a long time...

2009-02-19T09:04:00.006-06:00

since I had the time to do a layout, but I think the holiday hustle and bustle is finally come to an end. Now I just have to get through a bit more chaos...my anniversary, valentines day, Alyson's birthday, Andrew's birthday, and then my nephew's birthday...all in a one month time period. I did manage to get a couple layouts done in between all of this. The first one is a scraplift for a challenge at ACOT. We were to scraplift someone from the opposite gallery, me being a paer scrapper, I needed to lift a digital scrapper. I chose the wonderful Pegster. You can see her wonderful work a ACOT. The second one is of my daughter and my sister on New Years Eve.

8 years ago....

2009-02-17T09:37:00.003-06:00

at 4:35 a.m. my baby was born! I can't believe she is 8 years old already. Happy birthday baby, Mommy loves you!

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Sweet Blog Candy!

2009-02-12T08:36:00.002-06:00

Melissa from Creating from the Heart is offering up some SWEET blog candy! Here is what she has for one lucky winner...
~ DCWV 8x8 Sweet Stack Paper Pad
~ DCWV Sweet Vellum Quotes Stack
~ DCWV Sweet Candy Glitter Rub-Ons
~ Creative Imaginations Mini Cupcake Chipboard Book
~ Doodlebug Loopy Lou Alpha Stickers
~ a bottle of Doodlebug Cupcake Crushed Velvet Flock
~ a jar of Hottie Pink Shimmerz
~ and last but not least, 2 2oz. bottles of Glimmer Mist, Black Cherry and Pink Taffy!
Make sure you go and check out her blog...it has some pretty neat stuff....
http://keepsakesbymelissa.blogspot.com/

Happy Anniversary to me....

2009-02-10T09:35:00.002-06:00

Happy Anniversary to me! Today is year number 8 for me and my wonderful husband Just wanted to tell him that I love him and thanks for 8 wonderful years and I'm looking forward to many many more! I love you Rob!

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Not a baby anymore....

2009-02-10T07:45:00.002-06:00

I can't believe my baby boy isn't a baby any more! Last week we had orientation at the High School and now this week 8th. grade graduation pictures and to top that off, next month he will be 14 years old. He is growing up way too fast. He was not too happy that I made him sit for a few photos before he went to school, but you know me....any picture op and I am on it!

Did I hear "GIVEAWAY"

2009-01-28T15:01:00.002-06:00

Yes I did...over at Paper Trunk. They are giving away the entire NEW lines of Socialite and Maybe Baby. All you have to do is spread the word. Put it on your blog, or favorite message board and link it back to their site and your name is entered. How easy is that?!?!?
Go and check it out...
http://papertrunk.blogspot.com/2009/01/boss-is-away-at-cha.html

We're an American Band...

2009-01-28T10:22:00.004-06:00

Stamp Happy is having a sketch contest. I figured what the heck...the sketch which was provided by PageMaps was the perfect design for the pictures I had.

Finally!

2009-01-26T08:36:00.003-06:00

This weekend was just crazy! For some reason I decided to let the kids switch bedrooms. WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!? I really did not realize how much stuff they really had. It did feel good though to de-clutter the rooms and it felt even better bringing about 300 or more pounds of clothes and toys to the local donation center.
I did though manage to get a layout started before the room switch and I finally finished it this morning. I have not scrapped in a little over a month. I really needed something to get my mojo back and running so I took some help with this wonderful sketch provided by Pencil Lines. It is a really great place to check out if you are in a rut or even if you aren't. They have such wonderful sketches and they put them out every Sunday.

Hail to the "Queen"!

2009-01-20T20:16:00.006-06:00

How cute are these!! Queen & Co is going green. New products without the costly packaging so you get more awesome product for your money. go check out their blog to view the catalog. Also while you are there take the time to leave a comment and you might be one of the lucky winners to receive a sample of these cute little buckets!
http://queenandcompany.typepad.com/queen_co_indulge_your_cre/

Neat Magazine covers...

2009-01-17T16:06:00.002-06:00

Thought these were kinda neat....

Create Fake Magazine Covers with your own picture at MagMyPic.com

Fabby Blog Award...Part 2!

2009-01-13T11:33:00.004-06:00

I received another Fabby Blog award! When you get this award you are to list your 5 addictions and return the glory to 5 other Bloggers who you think have Fabby blogs. I was given this award the other day so I have already listed my 5 addictions so I will just give the honor to 5 other bloggers! Thanks Justine...go check out her blog... http://scrap-this-scrap-this.blogspot.com/ Now without further ado...the Fabby Blog award goes to....
Jules from...http://postingfromparadise.blogspot.com/
Janet from...http://postingfromparadise.blogspot.com/
Daisy from...http://scrappingday.blogspot.com/
Shannon from...http://wthshanns.blogspot.com/
Carolyn from...http://carolynlontin.blogspot.com/
Make sure you go and check out all of these Fabby Blogs!

I have a Fabby Blog!

2009-01-12T09:42:00.004-06:00

My friend Angela over at ACOT just sent me this award...it's the Fabby Blog Award! Thanks Angela! I guess I need to list 5 of my addictions and then hand out this award to 5 others whose blog I think is Fabby so here it goes....
5 Things I am addicted to....
1. Photography
2. Scrapbooking
3. Coffee, coffee, and more coffee
4. Sonic...YAY! We finally have one in Illinois!
5. My family
And I would like to give this award to...
Kelly...http://piecesofkelly.blogspot.com/
Theresa....http://chatty-scrapper.blogspot.com/
Justine....http://scrap-this-scrap-this.blogspot.com/
Jacque...http://jacque4u2c.blogspot.com/
Amy....http://aheadofmyability.blogspot.com/
Just wanted to add that you can check out Angela's Fabby Blog at...
http://angelaprieto-bluejeans7.blogspot.com/

Rock Band Mania!

2009-01-05T09:05:00.003-06:00

I hope everyone had a great and happy New Year! I had to work that night, but when I got home we got the party rockin! We had food, we had snacks, we had pop, we had Twisted Teas and we had Rock Band 2! It took me awhile to figure out how to play the guitar but I finally mastered easy. It got a little too easy so Andrew put me on medium and I still haven't figured out some of the notes. I can't for the life of me hit the red and blue together so he put me back on easy and changed it to break-neck speed. That is easy, but at the speed of medium to hard without the extra notes. It amazes me, these kids can't add multiple numbers in their heads but they can play nightmare songs on expert with the break-neck speed activated and score almost perfect?!?!? We had a blast, we were up until five o'clock in the morning playing this...can you say addicting! We could have played forever seeing as we have Rock Band 1 and 2, Rock Band Track 2 and Rock Band AC/DC for the 360...Guitar Hero Aerosmith for the Wii and Rock Band 2 for the PS3...take your pick, we are ready to ROCK!
Alyson rockin out on the guitar....Andrew having his turn on the guitar.... Even Rob played the guitar for a little while.... My nephew Matthew only wanted to play the drums, I guess it's a good way to bang on things and not get in trouble.... After Andrew quit hogging the guitar he played front man for a bit... Alyson still up and still rockin! I told you Andrew was hogging the guitar, my nephew Kyle playing the drums...

Over in the blink of an eye...

2008-12-28T11:16:00.002-06:00

I can't believe with all the preperations and hustle and bustle of everything Christmas is over so quickly. I was at the store yesterday and can you believe they have Valentines stuff out already and before you know it Easter stuff will be out! I don't know about you, but I am going to savor the season of Christmas for a little while longer....
I had to work on Christmas eve this year, kinda sucked. The poor kids had to wait until after nine to open presents. I literally got bombarded when I walked in the door and not because they were happy to see me, but because they could finally open presents! Oh well, at least I got to spend about an hour and a half with everyone.
Alyson was busy tracking Santa's progress on the internet(gee, how did we ever manage when we were kids...LOL) and finally went to bed when she saw that he was getting near Illinois. What a wonderful photo of my hubby don't you think? Heaven forbid I get a photo of his face, and well as far as Andrew goes...no pictures for him either! What a bunch of fuddy-duddies!

Tis the season...

2008-12-15T11:22:00.004-06:00

to be jolly! I know some of us are having a hard time doing that this year, but if we take the time to remember what Christmas is really all about and be thankful for what we do have, you should have no problem being jolly. Christmas to me is a time to celebrate my faith in God and to spend it with my family and friends, not to see who gets the biggest or best present, but to be thankful we have family and friends to give these presents to. So when I look at my family and know I get to spend this holiday season with them, I know I am blessed and have every reason to be jolly!

My half finished tree. I still need to put on the garland and tweek it up a bit, the kids decorated it all by themselves and for some reason they felt the need to put all the ornaments is one spot and in some spots more than one ornament. All in all, it is still pretty to me!
This is one of my favorite things on my tree, besides all the special ornaments, you know the ones, the construction paper ones with all the glitter and the kids pics on them, the ones they make in school. The tree topper has no special meaning but she is beautiful isn't she....

What better way to spend a cold windy Saturday than at the Harley shop visiting Santa and eating pizza? We met grandma and Kyle at the Crete Harley shop where Santa just so happened to be bike shopping. Alyson was glad that he took some time out to listen to her christmas list....

Forget me not....

2008-12-07T10:55:00.005-06:00

With the combination of the denial of my 40th. birthday and being sick I forgot to add a few layouts that I did. These are just a few random layouts I managed to get done...maybe I should be cleaning the house or getting some Christmas shopping done....?
This first one was for the CSI Crop that ACOT just had. It was to make a Christmas Thank You card....with bling. I found this cute little guy hidden in my stash, added some Ting a Ling glitter glue from Carolee's Creations and tada...a Christmas Thank you card with bling! This was a monthly challenge at ACOT. It was to let the music move you. The song was "You are my sunshine". We had to use any part of the song somewhere on our layout. I used the ever so popular title.....

This challenge that ACOT had should have been an easy challenge. Use the colors of summer...yellow and orange. They killed me at the CSI crop having to use yellow once...now I had to use it TWICE! Bring on the Bling! This is the monthly contest at ACOT. You still have to time to enter the contest doesn't end until the 14th. of this month. The winner recieves a $25.00 GC to ACOT and the runner up recieves a $10.00 GC. Go check it out.....hthttp://www.acherryontop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=201404 4 You can also check out all of the monthly challenges ACOT has by clicking this link...

http://www.acherryontop.com/article?a=5324

Monkey see, monkey do...

2008-12-04T11:03:00.008-06:00

Lately the only thing I have had on my mind is turning 40. Inside I am not dealing with it very well so my creative mind has not been really working so I had to use a little help to get the creative juices flowing. This first one is a layout using the wonderful sketch help from Pencil Lines. It kind of took a whole new look but the concept is there. Thanks Pencil Lines for the wonderful sketch.

This second one is a scraplift of a very talented lady over at A Cherry on Top. Thank you Tracy for the beautiful layout to copy! Your work is OUTSTANDING!!! Mine is the first layout titled "My Sweetie"

This is the wonderful layout from Tracy that I scraplifted... Thanks again for the wonderful inspiration for both of these!

The big 4-0 birthday RAK!

2008-11-25T09:31:00.003-06:00

One week from tomorrow I will be turning the big 4-0 and I am not liking it at all! I thought what better way to make myself feel better...a birthday RAK. It always makes me feel better when I am giving to others so that is what I am gonna do.
Use this sketch of mine to do a layout, you can do any size, you can flip it, heck, you can even use it for a card...just have fun with it. Post with a link to your creation and your name will be entered into a random drawing for a nice little RAK. If you have a blog, mention this on there and for everyone you steer in this direction you will get an extra entry. Just tell them to put in their post that you told them about this.
I will draw a name on December 3rd at midnight my time(central) so everyone have fun and can't wait to see your creations!

Oops, forgot a couple....

2008-11-18T17:20:00.005-06:00

Oops, I forgot a couple. This layout is a sketch from PageMaps. This sketch was really fun to work with.
This layout was for a challenge for the ACOT crop. It was to use a funny photo.

Let's go to the crop!

2008-11-18T08:28:00.005-06:00

A Cherry on top hosted an on-line crop this weekend. It was so much fun. Friday night I spent the night at Kelly's and we cropped until 3:00 in the morning and up again at 8:00! The morning was supposed to be promising, but...BOOM! down came a huge tree branch and out went the power. Just as I logged on and got my stuff all ready to go. So we ended up leaving Kelly's sooner than we thought and came over to my house. We cropped again until almost 2:00 in the morning and started again at around 9:00. We cropped again until just about 7:00 when Kelly and the boys went home I got so much done this weekend...well scrapbooking that is....from the Fast scraps that had us making cards to ornaments to all of the wonderful challenges. I just had to share with you all the stuff I created. These first 2 layouts I did just before the crop but, I wanted to share them too...

This layout was for a challenge to be a serial scrapper. You had to take one thing you used on this layout and use it on two other projects. I chose the flower with the jewel and created two cards with them also. This is one of my favorite pictures of Andrew and I am sure he is going to be mad, but for some reason, I can't get away from using pink on layouts I have been doing of him.
This layout was for a Challenge were we had to choose things to create a crime scene. These items were then assigned products that we had to use on our layouts.
This layout we had to do a Challenge of someone being "Caught in the act" What better picture than this! I think this is one of my most favorite photos. Rob captured Kelly trying to take his picture at the same time he was taking hers. This picture captures total honest emotion and pure total candidness. I just LOVE it!
This Challenge was the hardest one for me. We had to add the numbers of our age together and then match that number with the corresponding color and do a monocramatic layout. I got YELLOW. My least favorite color. I think maybe I have one other layout done in this color. I really didn't have much stuff to work with so this is what came of it...
This Challenge was to cover up the evidence. We had to alter our photo somehow, using photo shop or putting embellishments or the title on our photo. As long as something was on the photo.
All in all, it turned out to be a fun weekend. Got to spend it with my sis and I got quite a few layouts done. Thanks ACOT for everything you did for us this weekend!

On a roll?????

2008-11-04T10:36:00.005-06:00

I stayed the night at Kelly's Saturday for some long awaited scrapbooking time and...Yay!!! I got her to scrapbook!! Finally!! I only managed to get two layouts done, maybe if we would have devoted as much time to scrapping as we did snacking....
Well, I did get this one of all of us done. Can you believe this is probably the only picture of the six of us? What is even more unbelievable is that nobody is making a silly face! This is just a fun one of us girls and to quote the famous Jonathon Brandmeier.... This one I did a few days ago for a sketch contest over at A Cherry on Top. The sketch was provided by Jennifer...aka...sarawithers. If you get a chance go on over to ACOT and check out her gallery and maybe give this wonderful sketch a try while you are at it. The contest ends the 15th. of this month at Midnight.

I didn't think I would ever get any of the pictures from our Monster Truck adventure done but this sketch was perfect for these. Hopefully there will be more from that day because I got a ton of them!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T09:44:00.006-05:00

Last night was Halloween, probably one of my most favorite nights of the year. For some reason I just love Halloween! I think I even enjoy it more than the kids do. This year was no exception, the weather was almost perfect...darn near 70. Yes, you heard me, almost 70 on Halloween! Usually Halloween starts off with some fighting with the kids because they don't want to wear a coat OVER their costumes, and who would blame them, but as mean mommy I make them do it. After the fighting winds down, then comes the attitude because all the preperation of making the costume look "perfect" is covered by a coat. Well, none of that this year, nobody had to cop an attitude because coats were NOT needed! Alyson stayed true to her name and morphed into my little "Aly"Cat.You better not touch her candy or she will not be a happy cat!Andrew on the other hand, I did not get to see. He is too old to Trick or Treat with his "mommy". He went with a group of friends....girls included...now that is SCARY! It really hurt when we happen to run into him and he said hi to Rob and NOT me. Not only once, but twice. Talk about sticking the knife into my heart, but I had to put on my big girl panties and deal with it, I don't have to like it, but I do have to get used to it. The only picture I was able to get of him was when he got home and only in the house. I didn't even notice the spot we chose was pretty good and the sign on his door was pretty fitting to his costume....

Making the cut!

2008-10-29T07:57:00.004-05:00

This was a really hard thing for me to watch, let alone take a picture of. The lady on the phone must have thought I was crazy when I broke down crying trying to make the appointment. I actually had to call her back to schedule one. How silly! I knew it would grow back and I knew she was doing it for a great cause but a little part of me was sad. Looking back at older photos, I am really glad she cut it, now you can really see her beautiful face along with her inner beauty for the wonderful thing she has done.

So proud!

2008-10-22T10:29:00.003-05:00

I have had this sketch site in my favorites for a long time now and I never knew they had a challenge blog until just recently. The site is Page Maps by Becky Fleck. Every month she puts out some wonderful sketches so if you get a chance check it out. This challenge was for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The layout did not have to be about breast cancer nor did it have to be pink. Simply use this sketch for a layout about something that was meaningful to you. The "Think Pink" sketch contest is running through Monday, October 27, and the lucky winner will receive a beautiful Melissa Frances "Thankful" prize package! This baby is loaded with papers, stickers, die-cuts, stamps, rubs, ribbons and resin embies—awesome stuff to make a bunch of projects with. Here is the awesome sketch we had to play with....I chose to do a layout of the day Alyson cut her hair. A hair cut, no big deal I know, but this haircut was special. Alyson got it in her mind that she was gonna grow her hair and donate it to woman and children who have lost their hair due to cancer. She said she wanted a little girl to have her hair so that they could be happy like her. I was so proud of her. She is now letting it grow back so she can donate more. For such a little girl she sure has a big heart!

It's a special day!

2008-10-18T09:34:00.003-05:00

Just wanted to let everyone know that today this handsome guy turns 9!
Happy birthday to my newphew Kyle...we love you!
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"Saturday in the park"...

2008-10-16T08:59:00.024-05:00

I think it was the 4th. of July.....well not quite, but we did have a great time! Kelly and the kids stayed the night and we did not want to waste this beautiful weekend we were having so we decided to take the kids to the park and forest preserve.
Alyson might be following in her mommy's shoes, besides her interest in scrapbooking, she also is always wanting to take pictures. I gave in to her this time only because I don't really have any pictures of me and Kelly. Wow, I think she did a good job here, wouldn't you agree? Every time I take the kids here they feel the need to hang from this tree branch and Kyle was no exception, now all we need is one of Matthew hanging here. "You want me to hang where?" I guess this will have to do! The kids are always getting in trouble trying to play baseball in the front yard so this was the perfect place for them to play. Andrew was first at bat... with Matthew on the pitchers mound.... Next up to bat...Alyson...

Matthew got his turn at batting also...Then to wind things up Andrew was up again to end the inning! After a short game of baseball, we packed the kids up and headed to the park. Here Kelly and I joined in on the fun!

The kids had fun playing on the jungle gym....

Matthew even took the time to sit still long enough for me to snap his picture if you can believe that! If you found that hard to believe...check this out....Kyle-sitting still and better yet...NO silly face! Just a swingin! Everytime I see the kids on the swings this goofy song comes into my head. Alyson wanted to see how high she could go... while Kyle just sat back and enjoyed the ride. One last stop before we leave...everyone had to get their picture taken with the purple dino! Well, everyone except Andrew, he enjoyed the park from the same bench as me and Kelly!

Boo!

2008-10-15T10:56:00.003-05:00

Another week, another sketch. 2 Sketches 4 You has this awesome sketch for this week. The prize sponsor is ScrapAttack (another awesome place to check out). I have said again and again that I am not that great at making cards and now I have also figured out that I am not that great at taking pictures of them. They look okay in real life, but then when I get the picture uploaded they just look flat and lifeless. Is there a trick to getting good photos of your cards? Can someone please fill me in?!?!
Take a look at this awesome sketch...Here is my entry..

A trip to the city...

2008-10-13T08:14:00.011-05:00

I finally have weekends off so while the weather is still nice I am trying to squeeze in as much fun as I can. Today we decided to take a train ride into the city. The weather was absolutely perfect. Second week in October and in the 80's. Typical but not so typical for Chicago. The four of us packed up and headed for the train station where we met Kelly and her two.This was the first time riding the train for Alyson and the first time going to the city for her and Andrew. Once we got down there, the first "must stop" place was of course Garrett's Popcorn. You can not go into the city and not stop here. The popcorn is simply the best you can get. After we got our popcorn, we headed over to the "Bean".They have it situated just right and you can see most of the skyline this beautiful city has. This thing that they call the "Bean" is amazing! It has been here for several years and this is the first time I have seen it. It is the oddest thing but also so beautiful at the same time. Reflections everywhere and once you are under it this is the view from the top.

Taking a picture of yourself is hard enough and then add into the equation hundreds of people and one giant mirror. It was a little hard trying to locate us, but once I did, this was the best I could get. The kids had a blast playing with their reflections, it was almost like a human kalidescope. Totally not planned, but don't the three of us look so pretty in pink! Like I have said before, Alyson is a big ham so getting to see herself in this giant mirror like bean, she was in heaven!

Even though he would not admit it, I think Andrew had some fun too. I told you she enjoyed herself.... I think this is the only picture anyone has gotten of the 6 of us so I am sure I am going to be printing out lots of these...

Just the girls again...
See, I told you Andrew was having a good time, he actually felt a little left out here and decided he was gonna join us for this photo.
What would a family trip be without my "famous" close-up shots of us together....

Andrew tries to escape the clicking of my shutter, but I always find him!

What better way to end the trip to the city than a visit to Starbucks!

I think everyone enjoyed their trip, only next time we will make sure we have more time. We only had a couple of hours because Kyle had to be back for a baseball game. We are gonna try and get back next weekend for the Halloween spectacular they are having, but if not, stay tuned for our trip at Christmas time, it will be beautiful!

Card challenge at 2 Sketches 4 You..

2008-10-09T08:20:00.003-05:00

2 Sketches 4 You has a card challenge going every week. I thought I would try this challenge. They have wonderful sketches and this one is no exception.
Here is the sketch... Here is my view on the sketch.

A last look at summer...

2008-10-08T08:24:00.006-05:00

Well, it's official. Summer is actually gone. The last week has been so gloomy and dreary. The sun hasn't really been out for days (with the exception of Saturday...lucky us, we had the perfect day for our Monster truck rally) and we had to break out our jackets. Time to pack up and put away our summer clothes and find our hats and gloves before it gets too cold.
As I sat here yesterday listening to the rain that fell all day I decided to try and cheer myself up by looking back at the photos I took this summer of nature and it's beauty. One last look before we shut the windows and close out what nature has to offer.
Besides my family, flowers are my favorite thing to take pictures of. Aside from the beauty they have to offer, they are the only things I can take a picture of and be positive to get a good photo. After all they are the only thing that will look at the camera and not make a silly face or have their eyes closed!
This photo was actually taken last summer. This was a picture of my garden. My camera goes everywhere with me. Even when I just go for a walk with the kids. I like to think there might be something interesting that I might stumble upon. This one was in the front of our house. It bloomed with two simple flowers that were so pretty and appeared as if they were floating with their stalks weaving through the day lilies. We never planted it but I am glad it decided to make our yard it's home.
These were taken on our trip to Florida this summer. There were bushes and bushes of these everywhere.
This one is my favorite. I just love the simplicity of this. Simple yet beautiful! I have no clue what these are but they were all over Disney World. They were so interesting looking to me I just had to take a picture. Alyson planted a rose bush last year and this was the only rose she got out of it. Unfortunately this bush never got the chance to bloom again because we forgot to cover it for the winter so I am glad I took this picture last summer. Just some more random shots through my neighborhood...
I don't know what has happened out here in Illinois. I remember when I was a kid butterflies. Butterflies flying all over. Now for some reason you rarely see them... unless you are in Florida. We must have seen about ten different kinds of butterflies. One thing though, they are hard to get a shot of. I did manage to get this one though...
My neighbors must think I am crazy. Walking around the streets taking pictures of their flowers...little do they know how much they cheer me up to look at them when winter gets here. We went to the forest preserve down the street from us and I was surprised at some of the interesting things I was able to find there. I was trying to get a close up of this bug, not sure if it worked too well. These I think are weeds. Weeds they may be, but I still think they are pretty.I told you I found some interesting things. I have no clue what this is but it looks really neat. I should have gone back to see what came out of it.

This one too, I just thought the layering of these leaves was really neat. This one I know is not a flower, but this was the view we got as we arrived to Florida. I thought it was weird that was a rainbow in the sky...it was almost eight o'clock at night. What a perfect way to be welcomed!

A little "TOOT" for me!

2008-10-07T10:00:00.003-05:00

Remember this card.... Well I won the "Live or let die" card challenge over at CAARDVARKS! I was soooo shocked when I saw that I won. I won such an awesome prize that was donated to CAARDVARKS for this challenge by CropStop. Take a look at what I won.....a QuikCutz die cutting tool. I am so excited and can't wait for it to get here so I can play with it. Thanks again CAARDVARKS and to CropStop!

"It was a graveyard SMASH!"

2008-10-06T09:14:00.009-05:00

We all went to the Monster Truck Rally at The Joliet track the other day. We were surprised at how much fun we had! It was a great day for the seven of us. Alyson had so much fun and screamed and cheered so loud she actually, if you can believe this...just about has no voice left. If you ask me, I think she had the most fun out of all us. She is still talking about it today.
I know it is hard to see that Andrew had a good time, but he did. Poor Auntie Kelly just wanted her picture taken with him, but I guess he is "too cool" for that now.

Matthew is just as hard to get a picture of so when I saw Andrew carrying him I had to try and sneek a shot. I know I said Matthew was hard to get pictures of, but I guess when it is with mom it is okay!The kids got all kinds of goodies, including tattoos. Alyson had to show off her new look and boy did she wear it proudly. Kyle did too, except he had to be different.......

Can someone please tell me how you can go from this....

to this....at a MONSTER TRUCK RALLY!?!? Only Matthew could fall asleep with all this noise.

I have never been to one of these events nor had I ever seen them on tv. All I know is that Rob made sure to tell me to take pictures of the displays they had all over the track. This one inpaticular....

This is all that is left after you give these drivers free reign over the track...Who says girls can't drive trucks? Alyson thought it was "cool" that there was a girl racing these trucks. She cheered and cheered for Lil' Miss Dangerous.
This one was Auntie Kelly's favorite. She liked the color of the truck...(shhh, that is the same reason I liked the one I liked...gosh, we are such girls! LOL!) Here is another shot of Alyson's favorite...
The boys liked this one...
Here is my favorite, I told you I liked the color! I was surprised at how good my pictures turned out. I got some really great shots of these monsters spinning, destroying and jumping in mid air. I wanted to put up all of them, but then this would be a novel. Leave it to me to take 151 pictures...go figure!

All in all, we had a really fun time. The kids got to do something different, the weather was nice, we had a great bbq lunch and most importantly...we got to spend it together! The only thing missing is pictures of me, but then again I am used to it. You would think with 2 cameras, someone could have at least gotten one shot of me.

Kinda girlie...

2008-10-01T11:13:00.004-05:00

I figured it was only fair that if I was going to enter a "Dude" card I should also give a shot at a "Girlie" card. So here is another submission for the challenge over at CAARDVARKS. By the way, the challenge was to use die cuts on your card.

Dude!

2008-09-30T12:42:00.004-05:00

Here I go again trying to make cards...this is actually for the CAARDVARKS challenge. I have been slacking on these lately, but, better late than never!

Pink and Rock and Roll?

2008-09-29T07:53:00.004-05:00

Not exactly two words you usually think of together. I know this first one is an older photo of Andrew, but I just love how both of these show two completely different sides of him. He is at that age right now where he is trying to find out where he fits in...ya know, that perfect look for him. I think he is perfect the way he is but it sure is fun recording all of these fun memories until he figures it out!

A girl is to never give her age...

2008-09-23T14:46:00.002-05:00

so almost 40 could be anything! In fact, you are only as old as you feel, right?!?

I have been productive...

2008-09-21T09:57:00.004-05:00

Yeah I know, those of of you who know me are most likely thinking...How could this be, but ha ha, I have been somewhat busy scrapping. I think I finally figured it out, stop worrying so much about how others are gonna view your work, after all they are your memories and there is no right or wrong when it comes to your visions. I just love this layout of Alyson. I was able to capture her enjoying life and enjoying being a little girl. She was off in her own little world singing and dancing one night on the beach. Everyone was fishing and there was Alyson...Dancing with herself!
Here is one of Andrew. This was from the "secret" photo shoot we did in the backyard so that none of his friends would see his mom taking his picture. It was his first day of school as an eighth grader.
I love these photos of Alyson. They show how grown up she is getting but still shows the childhood innocence that she still has.

Candy girl...

2008-09-18T13:12:00.002-05:00

Typical Florida weather, major down pour of rain, out of nowhere. That is what happened about halfway through the day at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Just our luck we could only find shelter in a candy store. While we were in there Alyson got picked to go behind the candy counter where they make the candy and make her own. She thought that was the neatest thing!

Life's a beach...

2008-09-12T08:18:00.010-05:00

And I mean that very literally here in Florida! Every where you go, there is a beach of some sort. We had so much fun "beach hopping". It was so neat because each beach had a little something different to offer than other.

Florida also has it's share of interesting creatures and I so gave away my secret of being a tourist when I tried to get a picture of each and everyone I saw! For the Floridians these buggers are normal and an every day sighting, but to me a native Windy City girl I wanted to capture it all...

I could have been in alot of trouble if I had picked this guy up. At first I thought it was a sand dollar and was so excited because it was one of my goals to find one. Thank goodness I looked a little closer before reaching down to pick it up because this was a jellyfish. The waves were so big these guys just kept washing up on shore.

These guys are no stranger to the beach either. It was so neat to watch them fly around and then swoop in on their prey. I thought this site was really neat, they were all over the beaches. They are sea turtle nests. They mark them off with stakes and tape with a stake marked with all of the dates for them. Too bad we won't be there to see them hatch.

We also got to see a little glimpse of the manatee also known as the "gentle giant". We saw better views of them but for being so big they were really fast. We saw several of them and they were really playful. We were told they were so playful because it was mating season for them.

Walking through the shallows of the water you never know what you will find and leave it to Theresa to find anything and everything. This snail was really neat, it really was alot bigger in person. I could not get a picture of him totally out of his shell, every time I tried he would "spit" at us. The waves were so big this day everyone had fun "riding" the waves. Not me, I had fun taking pictures of them being taken out by the waves.

The wind was also a factor due to the recent hurricane activity Florida was having. Andrew decided to be funny and show just how windy it was...."Look Ma, no hands!" Alyson is like her mother, once she got a taste of the salt water in her mouth and the sting in her eyes, she was done with the water. She is much more content sitting on the beach making sand castles.
Andrew on the other hand, just loved being in the water and riding the waves. Here he is taking a little break from "hanging 10"

Back from a little R&R...

2008-09-11T09:23:00.007-05:00

Well, I think I am almost settled and back into the groove of reality again. Two wonderful weeks in sunny Florida makes you forget all about the hustle and bustle of everyday life. We had so much fun and got to do and see alot of wonderful things. Last year when we went it rained EVERY day for two weeks, this year it rained twice (no thanks to Hanah and Gustov those not so wonderful hurricanes) and it did not get below 90 degrees the whole time we were there. I have SOOOO many photos so I am gonna share them a little at a time...day by day...
These are when we went to John's Pass. It was this really neat boardwalk along the Gulf with such fun shops and views. The kids got to get their picture taken with "Captain Morgan". I am sure they do not know who he is but it made a cute picture! Just some silly pictures of us in the jaws of the megaldoon shark(I think that is how you spell it)
We were gonna eat at Bubba Gump's but alas, the prices were a little high. We did get to take some funny photos though...

Here we all are. These photos turned out really well which is surprising since it is really rare to get a photo of EVERYONE looking at the camera or without someone with their eyes closed, mouth open or silly grin. What is even more surprising is that we got lucky TWICE!

The end of summer...

2008-08-21T12:03:00.003-05:00

Not officially, but to my children it is. Today they started school. It really did seem soon since our summer was really strange this year. This school year is gonna start out weird for them. They will go to school for 2 days and then off to Florida we go! Every year I have to take pictures of the kids on their first day and every year the file for Alyson gets bigger and bigger. Like I said, she is a ham! When I saw this photo, it made me smile, but, it also made me sad...the picture is perfect but it also reminds me of how grown up she is getting. She just loves to get her picture taken so I guess it is a good thing that scrapbooking is my hobby!
My green thumb kinda wilted this year. Normally I take her pictures in front of the other tree in our yard where I plant all the pretty colorful flowers but this year I really wasn't in the mood to plant any so her "photo shoot" was in front of the wilted and out of bloom day lilies. We even tried a new spot on the front porch as she anxiously waited for the school bus.

This one on the other hand wasn't as anxious. He would not let me take his picture this morning so I had to take it when he came home. Not as easy as it sounds. He reluctantly "agreed" to let me take his picture, as long as I did it in the backyard where he made sure nobody would see him.Besides having to practically bribe him for the photos, I had to constantly remind him not to make goofy faces. I can't believe he is in 8th. grade already. Now I understand when people say that they feel old when they see a photo or hear someone else's age. Seeing this picture makes me feel real old. Old, but proud of what a handsome young "man" he is growing to be.
At this point I think I am getting all the pictures I can get out of him.

Challenge #2 winner...(insert drumroll here)

2008-08-19T10:02:00.006-05:00

We had another nice turn-out for this challenge. Thanks again to everyone who played. I am gonna take a break for a few weeks (we are headed out to Florida this weekend, hopefully Fay will allow us there). I will most likely put a new challenge up sometime in September so I hope you all will take me up on it. So know, back to the subject at hand... the winner for "Are you in shape" is.....
Favorite Grandma! Congrats to you and I loved your layout. You can pm me over at ScrapAttack with your addy and I will get your prize out to you. Here is her layout....

Over the river and through the woods...

2008-08-14T10:36:00.000-05:00

Well, not really, just kinda through the woods. We have a nice forest preserve just seconds from our house and would you believe, I have only been there twice so since Alyson had been bugging me to take her there that is where we went. At first the kids just wanted to "hang" around a bit and just relax and have some fun on the trees.

I guess all that "hanging" around makes you quite thirsty so they found a water well with some very cold water to wet their whistles.

You know me, I will take a picture of anything and everything so when I saw this bug I just had to snap a picture of it. I think it is a dragonfly of some sort. I have never seen one like this and was really amazed at how different it looked when I came home and uploaded these photos. I really thought I would be able to get more photos of interesting creatures, but for now I will have to settle for just this one.

Challenge #2...

2008-08-10T21:21:00.000-05:00

Here is what you guys have so far, and might I add, they are awesome!

My best friend...

2008-08-07T14:34:00.000-05:00

Not only is she my sister, she is my BEST FRIEND in the world. She has always been there for me when I needed her most and that has been alot over the years. She is the kind of person you want to have in your corner. I don't tell her enough so I thought I would do this layout and show her and tell her...I love you Kelly, my sister, my best friend!

Are you in shape?

2008-08-04T09:40:00.000-05:00

I had a wonderful response to my first challenge so lets do this again...
We all use shapes on our layouts and if you are like me, I tend to stick with a coordinating shape and stick with a theme. Lately I have been trying to mix it up a bit. So for this challenge I want you to use at least 3 different shapes on your layout. They can be any shape you want but use at least 3. In my example I used a heart, a star and circles. I will make another slide show of layouts as they come in and remember there will be a great prize for this challenge also. I will post that up later when the sun comes out and the rain goes away. Have fun and can't wait to see what you come up with this time! I forgot to give a deadline for this challenge. Please post a comment here with a link to your layout by August 18th. at midnight central time. And while I am at it here is the prize for this one...

And the winner is...

2008-08-03T08:43:00.000-05:00

First of all I wanted to say THANK YOU to all of those who took on this challenge.There were quite a few of you and all of the layouts were wonderful! I will have another challenge for you all posted tomorrow or later tonight and I hope everyone can play again, there is a great prize for that also. Anyways, back to the winner...I had my daughter pick a name from a hat and the name she picked was bgraceb. Congrats Brenda! Shoot me a pm with your addy and I will get your prize out to you. Here is a look at what Brenda did with this challenge.
Again, I want to thank you all for playing and good luck on the next challenge!

Here is what you got done...

2008-07-31T22:07:00.000-05:00

Way to go ladies! These layouts are awesome. You still have time to get yours done if you haven't done yours yet. Deadline is Friday, August 1st. at midnight central time. Thanks again to everyone who has played and good luck. Remember there will be a new challenge posted in a few days.

Ok ladies...Here is mine....

2008-07-28T12:05:00.001-05:00

Just to get you guys started...here is my sample for this challenge. I used the Peter Frampton album cover Fingerprints.
We got one entry so far, lets see more. I can't give away the prize if I don't get any entries. I will have some more challenges if this goes good. I have more donations from various places so come on help me make this work!

I got ya covered!

2008-07-24T16:20:00.000-05:00

With all the scrapbook inspiration and challenges out there I thought I would challenge you. As I have been looking around everywhere I see so many challenges about getting inspiration from songs or song lyrics so I thought hey what about using inspiration from the cover of the album or cd. You could use the design, the colors, the title or the whole concept. You will have until August 1st. to leave a comment on here with the location of your layout and if you can also include the album or cd you used...and guess what? Laurie, the owner of ScrapAttack Scrapbooking was nice and generous enough to donate a wonderful prize for this! How cool is that?!? So make sure you find the time to stop over at her site http://www.scrapattackscrapbooking.com/index.htm
and check things out, she has a wonderful shop, talented scrappers in the gallery, wonderful bi-weekly challenges and friendly scrappers!
I will pick a random winner from all of the entries out of a hat so good luck, can't wait to see what you all come up with and without further ado here is what Laurie has donated from her shop ScrapAttack Scrapbooking.....

America's next top model?

2008-07-23T11:25:00.001-05:00

Alyson has a top model barbie that she loves to play with. She is also a BIG ham! So while outside playing with her Barbie the other day she got the idea for her to be a top model. She made me take picture after picture. She even went as far as to change her outfit a few times. Needless to say I know have about 100 photos of her just waiting to be scrapped, now to find the time!

Forever my boy...

2008-07-22T09:49:00.000-05:00

Yes can you believe it, a wonderful photo of Andrew! Sadly I think that after thirteen years of a camera being in his face he has had enough. I hope it is just a phase he is going through, being a teenager now. (Ya know, it just aint "cool" to have your mom taking millions of pictures of you) If you look at my scrapbooks some would think that I didn't have a son....they are all mostly of Alyson now, but look, here is proof that I do have a wonderful and handsome son....

Surviving the storm...

2008-07-11T09:42:00.000-05:00

So far this summer we have been hit really bad with Mother Nature unleashing her fury on us and this storm was no exception. It was pretty weird. The skies were over-cast all day and then this strange cloud front came crashing in. It looked like a giant black wave. First it got hot, then it really cooled down. The winds picked up and then it started to rain. It did this for about an hour and then just completely came to an eerie calm.

Scraplifting Queen this week...

2008-07-08T09:13:00.000-05:00

I have been busy trying to get as many challenges done this month. So far, the only ones I have gotten to are the scraplifting ones. For those of you that don't know what scraplifting is let me tell you...scraplifting is when you take inspiration from one or all elements of someone else's layout.
These layouts were scraplifted from several very talented ladies over at ACOT. I had a hard time choosing which of their layouts to use but I finally narrowed them down.... Here is the link back to the original along with mine side by side..http://www.acherryontop.com/gallery_viewer/,,,a,343,,82944
Here is the link for this layout with the original and mine...http://www.acherryontop.com/gallery_viewer/,,,a,345,,82980
And the link for this one with the original and mine...http://www.acherryontop.com/gallery_viewer/,,,a,346,,83250

I just want to thank each of these ladies for the wonderful inspiration they each gave me for each of these layouts!

Celebrating the 4th.

2008-07-07T08:40:00.000-05:00

The 4th. fell on a Friday this year which was great, and with Mother Nature deciding to play nice this time well, it was the icing on the cake! The weather was PERFECT. Not too hot, and not too cold, sometimes even being a bit chilly. Usually it is soooo hot noboy can really enjoy the nice holiday.
We started out the day watching the annual Mokena 4th. of July parade. I didn't bring my camera(I know, me without my camera...unthinkable, but no, I really didn't bring it. I have enough pictures of the parade). After the streets cleared and we could get out of the neighborhood we headed out to Mom's for a wonderful bbq... I think this is the only picture of Dave I have in which he is not giving me a finger gesture or sleeping....
Here is another one who likes to give that wonderful finger gesture when someone tries to take his picture. You have to really sneak up on Rob to get a picture without him doing that so just about every picture I have of him is from the side....
The kids were having a great time playing ball until somehow the ball got stuck up in the tree. It was quite funny wathcing everyone throwing things up there to get it down. Before they got the ball down, they got another one stuck up there so they had to get two of them down!

Kyle is like the hardest kid to take pictures of. He is in that stage right now where EVERY picture you try to take, he makes a goofy face. Those of you who have kids know this stage that I am talking about! I was pleasently surprised when I actually captured this wonderful shot of him WITHOUT that goofy pose.
Alyson of course doing what she does best....eating! Another thing she is good at...posing for pictures...what a ham she is!
Trying to play bean bags with the sun in your eyes is no fun. Unfortunately, Andrew did not have sun glasses so he had to use mine... The tables were turned on me here, I guess they are tired of always turning around and having a camera in their face...
I have to laugh when I think of how we started playing bean bags. We thought we would save some money and make the game ourselves, so Tommy made the targets (of course, one for Dale Ernhart and the other for Kelly's driver Terry Labonte) and I got the job to make the bean bags. Well long story short, I filled the bags too full so the first toss....the bag exploded! So Kelly and I quickly look online and find a place that sells these games out of their house, drove there and purchased new bean bags. Trust me it was funny!

Just had to throw this one in because I thought it was really cute! The kids patiently waited for the show to start and with each "practice" boom got more and more silly...

Finally after about six "ha ha...we fooled ya's!" the show began. I really didn't get that many photos this year beacause when I am taking them, I really don't get to enjoy them they way they should be enjoyed.

It's been a long time...

2008-06-26T11:20:00.000-05:00

Boy it has been a little over a month since I have done an actual layout. I did this one for a challenge over at ACOT. The challenge was to partner up with another scrapper and use the same products. I was lucky enough to partner with a wonderful and talented scrapper Laura Fiore. We chose to use 2 patterned papers, chipboard, Thickers and at least 5 different ribbons.

This was a real challenge for me because I tend to stick with one patterned paper and the ribbon....well forget about that!

I also decided that I wanted to try my hand at another layout size. This one is an 11x8.5 this size was so fun to work with, maybe even a little easier than a 12x12.

She did it!

2008-06-25T08:30:00.000-05:00

Alyson has been growing her hair long so that she can donate it. Easier said than done. Sappy mommy that I am tried to make an appointment for her, but broke down crying. Why, it's only hair, it will grow back, it is HER hair and it is for a good cause. After days of finally convincing myself of these things, I toughened up and made the appointment. She was so excited and when they made that first cut, only a few tears were shed, by mommy, not Alsyon. She was so happy and squealed like it was Christmas and she just opened up that one gift she really wanted. And can you believe after seeing the excitement in her and how cute she looked, mommy actually wished that maybe it was a little shorter. So now we have 10 inches of my daughter's beautiful hair to be sent out so that someone who needs it will look just as beautiful. I am so proud of my baby girl!

My Father's day...

2008-06-24T08:27:00.000-05:00

I know I have been a little absent from here, things have been a little busy. My dad just came up from Florida and I got to spend some time with him. I didn't really realize how much I missed him until we were waiting for him to come and visit. Anyhow, He came over for Father's day and we did the bbq thing and I made him spaghetti with homemade spaghetti gravy. We had our usual luck and as soon as we got the food on the grill...the skies opened up and poured! This happens anytime we have a bbq, go figure! And can you believe with 3 people taking pictures we could not manage to get one half-way decent photo.The first picture is the best of the worst, and the second one, well, sorry sis, I had to crop you out of this one, it was the best one, but your eyes were closed. All in all we ended up having a great time!

Micro challenge at CAARDVARKS...

2008-06-17T09:31:00.000-05:00

I had to laugh when I saw the micro challenge at CAARDVARKS. I guess I am not alone when it comes to making a masculine or boy card. This challenge was to make a birthday card for a man or boy. I just posted a father's day card and commented on how hard it was for me to make a non girly card...ya know, one without pinks and flowers and ribbons and bows. I do think I did manage to get a half way decent card out of this challenge so thank you CAARDVARKS!

Getting ready...

2008-06-13T10:35:00.000-05:00

Today hasn't started all that well. I am not feeling that great, I have to work, I have to make spaghetti gravy and to top all of that off I have to clean the house. My dad is coming in from Florida and will be coming over on Sunday. Everyone that knows me, knows that I am a slob and a major procrastinator so this is the norm for me...putting everything off until the last minute possible. I have a few hours today and not really too much time tomorrow(I work that horrible shift 11-7).

Guess what? Yesterday I was a STAR! My father's day card was chosen at ScrapAttack making me Star of the Day. Can you believe that? One of my cards! I really haven't done too many layouts lately, still trying to get rid of some scraps, plus to be perfectly honest with you, I really don't have too many good pictures. I really didn't get that many(which is a surprise)with winter and all of this crappy weather we have been having. Plus, I want a new camera!

I really wont have time today to get any scrappy things done so I figured I would just put up a couple of my favorite pictures of the kids. Right now the only good photo I have of my son is his school picture. He is at the age now where I almost have to bribe him to let me take his picture. Alyson, on the other hand, is always doing something and saying "take my picture mommy".

Just wanted to add....My house smells like my grandma's house used to smell. All those yummy smells of the spaghetti gravy cooking! YUMMMM!!!

A challenge from A Cherry on Top...

2008-06-11T14:40:00.000-05:00

The first challenge that I chose to post here is one from ACOT. I chose this one because it is outside my comfort zone not only because it is to make a card, but because it is to make a masculine card. Normally I "make" cards and they are girly with lots of flowers so this one was not so easy. The actual challenge was to make a Father's Day card using a monogram. You can check it out along with the other monthly challenges the Creative Team has at http://www.acherryontop.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=190646

If you want to do this challenge, I would love to see your creation so feel free to post it here.

A real challenge...

2008-06-10T10:18:00.000-05:00

Alyson's card
My card

A good challenge in my definition is something that really makes you think outside your comfort zone. This card challenge at Caardvarks was just that! Really anything that has to do with cards is outside my comfort zone so please be kind! Alyson, my daughter has been trying to follow in her mommy's shoes and really wanted to get involved and do these challenges with me so we took her to Michael's last night and let her pick out some stuff to make her own card for this challenge. She had so much fun doing this and is so proud of her creation I just had to submit it to the challenge also.

At my scrapbook hangouts they all have bi-weekly, or monthly challenges so for each site I am going to pick the one that is most outside my comfort zone and post them here with my finished project. If you think any of them are something you would like to do, please feel free to do them and post a link I would love to see what you come up with. I will post later the other challenges that I am going to attempt.

Just wanted to add the card on the top is Alyson's who is 7 years old.

Mine is an invite, I ran out of ink in my printer so I could not print the info on the tag in the middle that does pull out.

Not so productive....

2008-06-06T09:54:00.000-05:00

I knew I was bad at making cards, but so bad that I sat there all afternoon trying to make one, only to come up with nothing but a big mess on my desk? I found a new site that focuses on cards with bi-weekly card challenges and I think this site is wonderful and will really help me out. This site is Caardvarks. The tag I posted earlier was for the last challenge they had. You should really check out this site. Some really talented card makers there! So here I sit trying to make a card worthy enough to put up on this site as to not embarass myself. So again, if you have the time go check it out.

I did manage to get outside for a bit yesterday, it was so hot! Funny to think a couple of weeks ago we were complaining about summer never getting here and then BAM! here comes summer. One of the crazy "perks" of living in Chicago, we go from one extreme to another in the blink of an eye. While I was outside I noticed that some of the plants that we planted had some blooms on them so I did get a picture of that. This plant is my daughter Alyson's Asiatic Lilies. She was so excited to see the flowers. She goes out every morning to check on all of them.

A new resolution...

2008-06-04T09:44:00.000-05:00

I suck at making cards, therefore I usually steer away from making them. Don't get me wrong, I have a whole box of them just sitting in a corner. All from challenges(thanks ACOT) that I am afraid to give out. I finally used a couple of them and I did find (even if they suck) people appreciate them so much more when you take the time to make them yourself. So with that said, I am making a new resolution...I am going to make cards with the scraps left over from my layouts! I am going to use every last scrap because that is another thing I have boxes and boxes of sitting in corners never getting used.

I recently made a card for my daughter's teacher for the end of the year and guess what, I actually LOVED how it turned out! I was so proud of this card so I thought I would share it here.

June tag for Caardvarks tag challenge

2008-06-03T18:06:00.000-05:00

This is my tag for the monthly tag challenge. I made the tag for June.

Thanks for looking!