SCORE!!!! And Cosmo Cricket Layout

First off, I hit a jackpot of a garage sale. I got Maddy 6 pair of pants (mostly jeans), 8 tops, 1 pair of brand new winter boots, 3 shoes (one brand new), 2 pairs o f pj's, 1 pair of tights, 1 pair of mittens and a hat for $20! Oh, and that included a super cute and nice OSU Nike jog suit for my brother's little one. Although I may just try to squeeze the little Miss in! Yep, I LOVE my garage sales! Best way to cloth your child on a budget!

Well, this layout worked for two different challenges. One here and one here. Both challenge required to use mostly Cosmo Cricket. One required stitching. The other required to scrap your scrapbook addiction, use three pieces of patterned paper, a punch and the negative of that punch.
I used the corner rounder punch. The red shapes hold the negative of the punches. I then drew little stitches in as I was too lazy to actually hand stitch all of those. Oh, and before I forget, I got the shape idea off of a template from Ideas for Scrapbookers!

Here is a close up. I matted the patterned paper to give it a little oomph.

I am addicted to Cosmo Cricket! They are such an incredibly company! LOVE LOVE LOVE their products. And on top of that you don't get more fun than Lindsay and Julie (and Eric and the other behind the scenes I haven't met too, I'm sure you all are a hoot). If you haven't checked out their blog you should.

I have been spending more time in the car and/or truck since we moved. I love it when Chris drives and I can interact with the kids more.

Maddy often wants to hold her stuffed animal or baby doll while she has her bottle or bowl of snacks.

And Peyton...well the poor kid gets car sick. So he does all he can to not puke! lol...

Another 4th of July Layout for Creative Cuts & More

I have another 4th of July layout to share today.

I used a page from the Mix & Match Album Set and the Scallop Rectangle Frame.

I saw this neat faux sewing idea from Sarah. You poke holes like you would stitch then draw lines in between them.

Here I used a acetate star (I think it was Heidi Swapp, but not sure) and painted the edges. I used Doodlebug papers, stickers and alphas. The foam alphas I picked up at the dollar spot at Target a long time ago!

The Little Miss has taken my scrapbook tote as hers. It is now used to haul her baby doll around. Peyton now uses it for his cars too!

She looks so sweet, huh? Well, she has a curious/mischievous streak to her....this is proof...
Yep, that would be my laptop keyboard!

Creative Cuts and More 4th of July Layout

Yes, I know, I am just now getting to my 4th of July pictures from last year! Eek! I didn't have but a couple scraps of 4th of July paper, so I decided to just use red, white and blue cardstock.
I used the Scallop Circle, rhinestones,Filigree rectangle and a page from the Mix & Match album. The sticker and jellishment are from Doodlebug.

I used the rhinestones in place of brads on the sticker and in the center of the jellishment.

I love the little rhinestones in the scalloped edge!

Creative Cuts & More has some great products and ideas for babies and weddings. Need some baby inspiration, whether it be a shower, gift or decor? Check out this and this link. Need wedding shower, gift, decor or favor ideas? Check here, here and here.

I've gotten a couple cute photos of the little miss! Isn't she stinkin' cute? No bias on my part right? ;-)

Yeah, I am horrible at doing her hair. She pulls out whatever I do and doesn't stay still long enough for me to do it so I have to do it on the go. I have found one piggy tale o n top is way easier than two, so thats what she gets. It seems to fit her personality though and keep her hair out of her eyes.

Cosmo Cricket Frame & Layout

Tammy over at Citrus Tree Studio challenged us to alter something. I have been wanting to alter a frame like this for a while now and finally got around to doing it. I am thinking about making them for a Christmas Bazaar, but not sure yet.
The top three photo spots spin around. I used one side to decorate and one side left for a photo.

Of course I used my FAVORITE Cosmo Cricket products (minus the chipboard flowers and buttons)!

Here is a layout I created using one of Jana Eubanks sketches. I'm not overly happy with it, but here it is anyway.

This is about my mixed emotions of our house selling. It was a hard decision, but really the best decision for us. It was kinda bitter-sweet. Looking at the house now, I don't really miss the house, but I really miss the backyard and acreage.

Paper Poppy Kit Co. July Circle Challenge Layout

I received a FABULOUS kit in the mail last week. It was the June kit from Paper Poppy Kit Co. Wow....pictures on line do not to it justice. I got so much product and the papers...oh the papers and ribbon and buttons and chipboard....oh man...I'm LOVING it!

They also have a challenge going on right now to use circles. Well, I've fallen in love with these circle flowers. Here is my layout:
I couldn't seem to get a good picture, no matter where I took the picture the lighting just wasn't' right.

Since I'm always short on scrapbooking time I was also able to use this layout for a sketch challenge over at Citrus Tree Studio!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Cards

My fabulous Sister-in-law mentioned that the flower shop she bought the flowers for her wedding from sold handmade cards. She also mentioned that the owner was looking for someone local, as the current card maker is from another state. I took a handful of cards I had made to see if she was interested in selling them and she was! I wanted to make a few more and here is what I've come up with:

I was given this butterfly a long time ago. I wish I knew what brand of die cut it was, I'd love to buy the die!

This fabulous flower was made by a very talented fellow scrapper Pam.

Have I mentioned I am not a card maker? I really struggle with them. But I'm working on it!

So my little miss has grown quite the obsession with her stuffed animals. Yes, they must accompany her to her crib (nap and night night time) and often in the truck.
I wish the picture above would have been clearer. This is her process and it cracks me up. She drags a blanket to the middle of the floor, grabs a stuffed animal and plops (when I say plop, I mean plop..lol...) down on the blanket. I'm not sure why this is, but she really likes to sit on blankets and pillows.
She is opinionated about the stuffed animal, but luckily we have a handful that she likes!

Fun Challenge Layout

Suzanne had a fun challenge over at this site. She sent out goodies to the top five posters on the site and challenge everyone to create a layout only using what was in that box.
I just love how roly poly the little miss is....I could just squeeze the tar out of her! :-) I know some day she will kill me for these pictures...but thats okay cause they are darn cute! I blurred out parts for obvious reasons of sick sick people!

I painted some paper red and punch some butterflies out using a Martha Stewart punch. The red flower was a large chipboard one that was part of a mini album, taken apart. I painted it red then used Tim Holtz Distress Ink pad and stamped the dots on their (paint and stamp were part of the goodies!).

The twine was in the kit also and I put some glue on a piece of paper and started coiling the twine. Once it dried I painted it red and trimmed the extra paper of. Made for a fun flower center!

Thanks for stopping by!

Our Landscaping Project

We were able to do quite a bit of landscaping this weekend. I love to see before and after photos, so I thought I'd share them with you!

Here is our house when we bought it...
Here is is after Chris killed all the weeds and plowed it.

And here it is after we were able to build up a flower bed, lay bark dust and plant some trees and flowers.
I came up with the idea to get these pavers or whatever they are called and build a raised flower bed.
I just LOVE how it came out. Today we went and bought some really cool flowers for it. I can't wait til next year when they fill out some more and bloom!

This is one of my favorite plants that we planted near the tree in the island.

This is one that I planted in the raised flower bed.

Thanks for stopping by!

Layout and Card

One of my on-line friends, Suzanne, started up a new site called Paper Whores. As you can tell from the site name, ya gotta have a sense of humor! This site is so much fun, always makes me laugh! Check it out! We have a lot of fun. So Suzanne put up a challenge called 'Suzanne Says'. She gave us a list of supplies then daily steps to create a layout! Here is what I ended up with.
I wasn't sure what to title these pictures. They were so cute, and I wanted to scrap them but nothing jumped out at me. So I titled it 'Remember This, I Am Crazy About You'. I left a spot to journal a little bit to Maddy.

I wanted to make a card for the wedding gift I made for my Brother-in-law and Sister-in-laws wedding that was last weekend. I'm ticked cause I forgot to get a picture of it. Anyhow....here is the card.

I made the flower by folding circles (a tutorial I found a long time ago and can't remember where, but its been all over the blog now) and an SRM sticker.

Thanks for stopping by!

Creative Cuts and More Christmas In July blog Hop

Welcome to the Creative Cuts And More (CC&M) blog hop!

Wasn't Noelle's project great? If you came here via Google Reader or some other way, make sure to start at the beginning, Die Cut Diva. You don't want to miss out on any fabulous inspiration.

I love to make as many gifts as I can. Often I come say, 'what in the world am I going to make them?' I think I came up with a great solution to that problem this year. A long time ago I came across this neat idea somewhere out there in the blogosphere. It has stuck with me and when I saw Terry's fabulous Milk Carton die cuts, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. This is what I made:
I made a little box and adhered a back into it and cut out a hole for a handle. I then used Killer Red Tacky Tape to adhere the milk cartons together. I don't have access to any Christmas type decor yet, so the space between the cartons is empty. I had hoped to find a cute little treasure to put in there. I picked up some jute, rope, whatever you want to call it at a garage sale a few weekends ago and have been itching to use it! It worked perfect to tie the snowflake to the handle and to tie the cartons shut.

This is the Snowflake #04 in a metallic cardstock! I glued some rhinestones on to give it a little flair! I used My Minds Eye Paper that had glitter and shimmer to it so the metallic die cuts and rhinestones were a perfect match!

Now hop on over to Carla's blog!

Want to win fabulous Card Kit from Creative Cuts and More? Make sure to hop along to all the blogs and leave comments. More info can be found on Die Cut Diva . Also, below is a 20% off coupon that is good through July 18th!

If, for any reason, a link is broken, go back to Die Cut Diva where a full list of participants can be found!

Helen just posted a new sketch on Scrap A Little (Sketch #28). I couldn't wait to use it! Creative Cuts and More is celebrating Christmas in July this month and I wanted to create a layout using some of their dies.

This is what I came up with! Pardon the wrinkled cardstock. The kiddos thought they needed to help me out on this layout! :-D Also, its not crooked, I just have horrible photography skills. :-(I've been wanting to try something a tad different and the red piece of cardstock was a piece from CC&M's Mix & Match Mini Album. It makes the perfect matting and layering piece!
This flower was VERY fun to make. I took a scallop circle frame and covered it with Rangers Crackle Medium and sprinkled it with Doodlebug Sugar Coating Glitter in white. I then took 2 Tacky Tape Flowers and sprinkled with the glitter also. I put one flower on red cardstock and one on white. and trimmed around them leaving some of the cardstock showing.

Other products used: My Minds Eye Paper, KI Memories Sticker, Doodlebug Alpha Stickers, Making Memories Brad, Jenni Bowlin Label Sticker and unknown twin/jute and brad.

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Paper Poppy Kit Co. July Sketch Challenge

Frances Sylvia created a great sketch from Paper Poppy Kit Co. this month. I was able to score a few minutes here and there to complete the layout.

Apparently I need more than a few minutes here and there. IRL, that black cardstock is a deep deep brown! Yeppers, thanks to bad lighting I didn't notice til I sat down today and had the majority of it done. I think new lighting is quickly making its way to the top of my 'need' list! Looking at it now there is lots of little tweeking I would do. Thats what I get for adhering as I go I guess!

We have had some nice days recently. Since we have new sod, I don't want to pull out the bigger pools...okay, at the date these were taken I was too lazy to pull out their bigger pool. But I remembered I had Peytons baby blow up bath and thought it would be perfect. The neighbors just so happened to be having a get together the first time I pulled it out and thought it quite humorous to see a 4 year old in this little bath! :-D I later pulled out his slip n slide which he has been loving.

Thanks for stopping by! If I disappear for a few days its because my BIL is getting married this weekend and I'll be busy with all the chaos that surrounds weddings!

Super Simple Layout

I have a bunch of fair pictures, too many for one page as I had printed them all off as 4x6's, so I decided to do a two-pager. I wish I had a good printer and could print photos off smaller as I wanted. I had seen a layout quite a while ago, but don't remember by who. Truth be told...there are a handful of layouts out there that look like this!

Sorry for the bad pictures. The papers and chipboard flowers are from Cosmo Cricket.

Like I said, super quick and simple!

Our 4th of July

This is a picture heavy post, just as a warning!

I started off my 4th of July going to a book sale at the library! I just LOVE those things! Nothing like walking out with 2 books for and 4 for the kiddos for $3! I went home and we got the kids ready, loaded them up and headed for the park.
Getting both kiddos looking at me was a joke....

They had two big bouncy houses and Peyton had a blast!

One had these horses, a rock wall and a big slide!

They had a bunch of little games set up for the kids. Maddy thought the ducks were pretty fun! I actually did her hair ! Are you proud of me? I am! haha!

They also had games for the adults. Chris participated in the bouncy horse game! He is pretty impressed with himself in how high he was bouncing! lol....They had to bounce backwards at one point and Chris got bucked off! Lol...

We headed home in the afternoon so we could start the bbq. We had ribs and man, did Chris ever do a fantastic job on them! Maddy went down for a nap right before we ate (6:30) and didn't wake up til 7am the next morning! Chris and I tried to wake her up so she could see fireworks...but it was a no-go!

Pop-its...anyone else have fond memories of these? The fireworks stand gal talked Chris into a box of them (that would be 20 packages!). Peyton had a blast (no pun intended). Even Chris and I had fun with them.

Yep, I was the target at one point! lol...

Some friends stopped by and they had some sparklers and fireworks. We put the patio chairs on the sidewalk and lit off all the fireworks. They finished just in time for the city fireworks which we were able to view from our front yard! Yep, it was a great day!