Happy for Spring!

My heart gets so much happier as the days get longer and everything around me starts to green up. I love looking forward to spending time outside with my family and taking pictures of how happy they are. It simply makes for happy times around here!

We were fortunate enough to be able to spend Easter at home this year. No traveling, and no place to be for the entire day! My BIL and mom came over to celebrate with us. It was really just simple fun! We enjoyed our brunch and then sent the guys outside to hide the eggs. We had teased the kids that we'd stayed up until "at least 5 in the morning" stuffing all the eggs for the hunt. It was really cute that they believed us, because "that's a whole buncha eggs!" Here are some happy shots of them with their prized eggs both during and after the hunt!

It was kind of hard to get the right light on them on the pics inside. I still need to mess around with that. I also got some really cute action shots of them running all around the yard that I need to do some Photoshopping to still. We put change in about a third of the eggs, but depending on how much cash we might have, we put a few dollar bills in some as well. It was so funny to watch J run around looking for the eggs he actually remembered finding dollars in last year. We were sure he was simply bypassing a bunch of the eggs to look for the "good" ones!

In other happy news, I found my very gorgeous Personal Scrapper kit on my porch earlier this week! That's something else that makes my heart happy! The month is beautiful Basic Grey papers...

 I love how Erica's stuck in the 6x6 papers the last few times as well! That totally helps me not worry about wasting an entire sheet -which I do WAY too often! Silly, I know! I can't wait to get into the stash and get going! I'm lovin' those Scenic Route chippy flowers. I've got a crop party coming up for my birthday with all my scrappy, crafty friends in the area! Can't wait to pack this up for it!

Speaking of Personal Scrapper, I was tagged by my scrappy friend Lisa for this blog chain. You probably know her- she designs for The Scrappiest! Love her stuff (although I question her taste in baseball teams, I do love her taste in names!)

I am suppose to list 10 things that make me happy:

1) Being with my family

2) Watching the sun set

3) Hanging out at the ballpark (particularly the one nick-named The Safe!)

4) Getting a pedicure

5) Date night!

6) Starbuck's hot chocolate (original!)

7) Seeing the light bulb go on in my kids when I'm teaching

8) Seeing I've made a difference in the lives of the kids I teach

9) Spending time just visiting with friends

10) Getting crafty



Now I am to list 5 pieces of trivia about me:

1) I was in every choir my high school had during the time I was there (except the men's quartet-obvious reason, of course!)

2) I have a secret desire to be a dancer for Janet Jackson (if she's not too old, neither am I!)

3) I seem to be drawn to boy bands - Beatles to Backstreet.

4) I met my dear, darling husband while working at Dairy Queen.

5) I severely swore against scrapbooking when I first saw it (don't really know why... silly girl!)

Thanks Lisa! That was fun!

Now I need to tag FIVE bloggers to continue to chain:

1) Audrey

2) Lisa M

3) Jewels

4) Chloe

5) Tina

~Til next time <3

New Beginnings Crop Coming!

March Dango Reveal

March is nearing an end and spring has definitely sprung in the great Northwest. Today is such a classic spring day here-- In the past 2 and 1/2 hours, the weather has changed from sun peeking through the clouds to rain showers and blustering wind. I know we need the rain. I can't wait for the grass to green up. The tulips and crocuses have popped up and are starting to bloom. Woodpeckers have been mistaking our house for their own as they do every spring. My favorite piece of spring though, our family finally has an entire week to enjoy one another's company! Very needed around this house! :)

With grading, reporting and conferences, I didn't get a chance to show the reveal for SCRaPDANGo here. The kits are already out, and you should head over to the SCRaPDANGo Store and see if there are any more left for sale. I had so much fun with this month's Spice kit! I <3 Jillibean Soup so very much! Her papers are so versitle! I was also sooooo excited to finally get my hands on some currogated alphas! Oh man! What fun!

Here's the amazing kit itself...

Without further ado, here are my March Dango creations!

I've been wanting to do something with this pic for some time now! Just love how it turned out. I also just added some Tim Holz Glossy Accents to the red Jenni Bowlin letters. Makes them pop a bit more than what you see here.

Signs of spring around our place! If you look closely, you'll see the woodpecker making a real home for himself!

This is my version of Lynn's sketch. I don't usually do much that is asymmetrical and initially struggled with this one. I decided to stay out of my box and go with the original sketch. This is now my FAVORITE LO of the entire kit!

Here are some fun cards. I stretched myself again and did a little paper piecing. I even dusted off the Cricut for that little birdy. (He's actually the shadow affect of the ducky character on the Doodlecharms cartridge!)

I free-handed this tree trunk. Again, not something I normally would have done! So proud of myself!

I had so much fun making cards with this kit! I'm going to have to make quite a few more!

Check back later this week to see the April Kit sneak peeks! They're gonna be awesome again!

~Til next time <3

A Couple of Projects for Mid-Week!

I am barely surviving the week... conferences are next week, which means I'm knee-deep (ok, eyeballs is more accurate) in grading and report cards! It will be well worth it though as spring break will FINALLY be here after that! Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it!

Thought I'd post a couple of things for you all to peek at while I'm avoiding my work taking a well-deserved break. The first is a LO I did for SCRaPDANGo's LO tag from last month. I was the first one up, so I had to wait soooo patiently for the game to finish! Man, that's really hard for me!

I love this LO so much! This was a pic I got of my darlings on Valentine's Day weekend. J was "piggybacking" Miss A all around, having a blast, of course! Most everything on this page is from my February Personal Scrapper kit. I did get to use my new Fancy Pants pins though! I'm having so much fun with those little guys! I also had some fun playing around in PSE for the photo itself. I wasn't really happy with the color of the pics to use with any of the paper I'd been wanting to get out, so I started playing with the hues. This way, the pic wasn't black and white, yet not really sepia either! I thought it was kind of a cool combination... :)

The next LO is one that I realized I had to take down quite awhile ago. This is my LO that was published in Scrapbook Trends this past January! I'm hoping to find a real frame to put the LO into somedeay, but  for now it is up in a cheap one in my scraproom!

Again, some of my very favorite papers! That pic is also one of my all-time faves! Can't believe how big my little guy is getting! He reminds me all the time that he's "almost a first grader!" Nah, he'll always be my little baby!

Well, enough for tonight. My break must be over by now! Thanks for stopping by!
~til next time <3

SCRaPDANGo Reveal!

It's kind of exciting around SCRaPDANGo right now! We have a new owner! She's not a new face at all! DT co-leader Heather has officially taken over the reins! We're super excited for her and glad that former owner and founder Carrie will still be around :)

Here are some of my creations with this month's kit!

Those pics of my little girly are so old now! It felt great to get some more of her stuff scrapped for her first year album. Maybe I'll be done with that one by the time she's four??!! I actually only have a few more left on the list that I need to take care of... we'll see!

I took another plunge with a DT call... not expecting anything from this one, but I just need to keep putting my hat into the ring... I'll find out who made it soon, so at least no major prolonged wait! It will just keep me learning more and more and practicing more and more! Someday... :)

~Til next time <3

Sassies Card Sketch for March!

I've had so many awesome visitors for the Sassy Lil' Sketches Blog Hop! If that's what you're here for, be sure to check the post below this one to keep hopping! Thanks so very much for all the love you've left me! It makes me feel kinda warm and fuzzy inside to have you say such nice things about my work! I'm so excited to be a part of this team!

With that said, here is Cherie's awesome sketch for us to create with...

Isn't that just perfect for a card? She makes it so easy for me to make cards!

And here's my take on it!

I made this card for a friend of my for her birthday! She's actually a leapyear birthday, but I always celebrate it with her in March! These are some cute Basic Gray papers and stickers I got when I was at CKC in the Latest and Greatest 2010 class. It was the first time in that one for me and I really enjoyed it! Great product is ALWAYS a bonus though! I also found that cute little stand at Target so I can better prop my stuff up with! Can't wait til the sun is shining full-time to get outside and take the pics!

Thanks again for stopping by!

~ til next time <3

Welcome to the Sassy Lil' Sketches Blog Hop!

Sassy Lil' Sketches would like to welcome you to our "Going Green" Blog Hop. We hope you will join us in doing the "Going Green" Challenge! Each of the Sassies has created a "Going Green" project to inspire you along the hop route. They are fabulous and we are excited to showcase their crafty talent!!!

We will be offering a random grand prize for one participant.

Here are the details of "Going Green" Challenge:
Create a project (card, layout, or altered) using the "Going Green" sketch below AND one of the following "Going Green" criteria:

1. "Go Green:" Do a project that is predominantly green in color.
2. "Reduce:" Reduce your stash by creating a project where all the product used are at least one year old (no new stuff).
3. "Reuse:" Do a project with left overs from a previous project.
4. "Recycle:" Do a project with an item that was used for something else first.



My layout uses papers from my monthly kit from SCRaPDANGo. This is the Sugar kit featuring Scribble Scrabble patterned papers and Buzz and Bloom embellishments. In trying to keep "green," I've also inked my white letters with chalk ink and used a piece of cardboard from an album I recently purchased.



Carly's blog - <<<<<----- YOU ARE HERE! Cathy's blog - <<<<<----- GO HERE NEXT!

Have fun and happy scrapping!

Happy Valentine's Day

Wow! I almost missed the fact that it is Sunday already! After my whirl-wind trip to the Rose City for CKC and a super-speedy work week, Sunday just snuck right up on me! This wouldn't be too much of a big deal except that it IS Valentine's Day AND, in my scrappy world, it IS my very first reveal at Scrappy Lil' Sketches! If you remember, I've been a little bit nervous about this as I am actually on their card team. I wanted to start off strong, so I got some gorgeous new paper at the convention. I'm not normally drawn to Basic Grey stuff like other paper lines, but this stuff is just beautiful! Maybe the bright colors are helping me make it through our dreary, wet, snowless winter or something. But whatever the case, this is what I needed!

Here is Cherie's great sketch- just perfect for me!


Here is my take on it! My sentiment stamp is from Technique Tuesday/Ali Edwards with Basic Grey papers.


Gotta love it! Well, I'm headed out in a bit for a "run" with a friend. She's more of a runner than I am (as I'm NOT really a runner!) If I'm not back in a week or so, well, I've died on a trail somewhere!

~Til next time <3

CKC, Here I Come!

I can hardly contain myself, I'm so excited! I am leaving tomorrow morning to head to the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Portland! I know I don't need to explain to all my scrappy friends how exciting this is, but WOWWY-WOW-WOW!! Seriously! This is totally my favorite time of year. Even though I've normally gone to the convention in Bellevue, I've been sucked in with friends to try Portland out this year. I think it's going to be a blast. I don't know if I'll have any scrappy sightings like I've had the last two times, but it's bound to be awesome! I'm staying with two friends from here, meeting up with 3 more friends from the SCRaPDANGo DT, plus hoping to see Erica from Personal Scrapper! I'll be taking scrappy classes and spending my hard-earned $$ on amazing scrap goodies! I'm bringing nearly nothing with me so I will have more space to bring stuff home with me! This is such a big deal for me that I'm actually flying- I HATE to fly!! It's well worth it though! Can't wait to share what I bring back!


~til next time <3

February Pagemaps!!

Ok, so I can finally reveal a little bit of scrappiness! Last month, the DT for SCRaPDaNGo was asked to do the pagemaps for February! This was such an amazing opportunity! If you are a major scrapper, you should definitely know Becky Fleck and her amazing work. She is the creator of Pagemaps-gorgeous sketches for gorgeous layouts! I've learned that she actually has maps for cards and all sorts of other scrappiness. What I think I love most about her sketches, is the detail that she puts into them. I love not having to think about where a patterned paper would go, or where an embellishment would look right. Becky includes it all! You REALLY need to head over to Pagemaps, follow the blog and subscribe to the newsletter!

Here's the sketch Becky chose for me to work with...



I loved it the second I saw it!

And here's my take on it...


All of this is really exciting, but I think my very favorite part is that I got the top spot on the newsletter! I never would have seen that coming in a million years! I was so worried about doing a good job for her! What an honor...

The other Dango gals had BEAUTIFUL work there as well! So inspiring! Be sure to head over there and see it all! If you've never been there, the newsletter gives a little bit of info with each of the layouts. Go to the blog and click on February Pagemaps to see the sketches with the LOs.

Better quit now while my head still fits out the door!
<3