A Quick Update and Inspiration from a Child

It's been such a long time since I've blogged . . . Summer has just been so busy.

So here's my news: I'm officially on the School of Scrap DT!
I'm so excited to be on the faculty there with such amazingly talented women! I just got a DT package the other day filled with Club Scrap goodness and some other yummy stuff from some more sponsors. I'm going to be a busy girl! In addition to playing with lots of fun product, I also get to teach a class. My assignment for Music class this month is to create a summer LO using a summer song as the title. I hope you'll check it out and play along.

Speaking of packages, I also got another fabulous package from Frances Meyer last week too! This time it was lots of yummy art products and textured cardstock. I am having so much fun playing with all my new goodies and working on plenty of submissions.

I'm not the only one having a good time playing in my studio. My kids were in here last week playing with stickers and J came up with this gem - The Great Crayon War.


He insisted I post it online so I told him I'd put it on my blog. I think it is so cute and creative.That got me thinking about how talented and creative he is. Of course he think's he is not . . . wonder where he got that from? J is such a perfectionist and his own worst critic, just like his mother. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. I have to post another of his creations too.


This painting is framed and sitting on an easel in my studio. This is the most amazing painting I have ever seen by J! When he brought it home from school last Spring, I flipped out and was gushing all over it. I told R, the only thing I wanted for Mother's Day this year was to have it framed so I could hang it in my studio. Yes, I know it's my kid's painting and maybe I'm a little biased, but I was so impressed with his creativity. The kid's only 8 years old and I think he did a fantastic job. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but he did a cool resist technique to give the dragon scales texture. I must use his painting as inspiration.

Stepping down off my soapbox now . . .

Before I go, I do want to say that my dad is recovering quite well from open heart surgery a few weeks ago. I don't think the doctors could have done a better job. And for that I am glad.

I've got a secret!

Shhhh . . . I can't spill the beans just yet, but it's something good! I'm just about bursting at the seams with excitement! I'll fill you in very soon . . .

Club Scrap

Last month I was the Guest Designer over at the School of Scrap and one of their sponsors was Club Scrap. That meant that I got a lot of fun papers to play with! Here are the projects I did with the Club Scrap papers:







And by the way . . . I was asked to be a Guest Designer for July as well at the School of Scrap! This month I'm in the Music classroom. Come check out my assignment! And that means more products to create projects with. . . I'll post them soon.

Week 5 and Tie One On

I can hardly believe Week 5 of the Big Kahuna contest is here and gone. Anyway here is my layout. The challenge was to create a layout with a self-portrait, a note to myself, and sewing.


I also created this layout for my GDT spot at the School of Scrap using the yummy ribbons from the Tie One On Ribbon Club. Here are some cards I created for TOO also.

A day of fun

I'm so glad we live so close to an amusement park. Granted it's not as big as Cedar Point or Six Flags, but it's a decent size and a fun time nonetheless. R took the night before last off so we could use the discount tickets J got at school and go to the local amusement park yesterday. Here are the highlights:

Big Kahuna Week 4

Here's my layout for week 4 of the contest. For this challenge, we were to create a 2 page layout using at least 5 photos, inking, stamping, a hand written/drawn title, staples, tag(s), and include a quote or title drawn from the Creative Scrap Shack’s Clam Chowder. Here's what I came up with.



I'm not crazy about my handwritten title, but I finished it literally in the last few minutes before the deadline. I think I could have done the title a little bit better if I had allowed myself more time, but overall I'm pretty happy with my layout.

YESSSSS!!!!!

I made the Frances Meyer DT!!! I cannot even begin to say how excited I am! I got a peek at the other members submissions and all I can say is that I'm in the company of some amazingly talented women! I am so excited for the upcoming year of working on the FM DT. Soon I'll be getting some packages of product and I just can't wait to start playing! I'm still in disbelief.

Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans . . .

Ok, I've had an insane couple of weeks. All last week I was busy with my Frances Meyer submissions for their DT. I spent almost a week on the altered project alone, I really wanted to make something to wow the judges. I must say I am really happy with the result!
More on this in a later post . . . ;)

Then on Monday I find out my dad had a heart attack. My dad had a heart attack. I've said these words several times this week and they just kind of hang there in the air. They just don't make sense to me. It's all a bit surreal. He's ok, I mean in the sense that he's alive, but it's a heart attack, so it's very, very serious. I drove down with my husband and kids to visit him at the hospital and he seems to be doing well, like himself only really tired. I guess the gravity of the situation really set in when we spoke to the doctor and he recommended open heart surgery. Very scary, but I know it will be ok. It has to be. I won't go into detail here. I don't feel much like talking about it now or writing it all out for the world to see. All I will say now is that I put my trust in the hands of God and those of the surgeons.

And now I am sick. I was fine yesterday until evening and now I am just sick with a miserable cold. I hate being sick. I hope I start feeling better really soon, because I really have a lot of work to do.

To top it all off, today 2yo B swallowed a penny. I wasn't completely sure, I heard him coughing and gagging a bit. I asked him if he put annything in his mouth and he told me he put a coin in his tummy and pointed to another penny on the ground, wet with saliva. I knew "coin in my tummy" probably meant he swallowed it and I figured it would probably be ok and just pass, but I called poison control to be sure. They recommended taking him to the ER to get xrays just to make sure it wasn't lodged somewhere. We were there a miserable 2 hours (miserable because I'm sick and 2 hrs is a long time for a 2yo to behave! under normal circumstances I think I would have been a tad more patient!) Yep, according to the xray, he swallowed a penny! The dr says it's in a good spot that he should pass it in a day or two.


Meanwhile I'm having fun working on my contest LOs for the Big Kahuna contest and my LOs for my guest design gig at the School of Scrap. I will post these when I finish!

Photo of the week

Here it is, one of my favorite photos this week. I was playing a little in macro mode, shooting pics of J, B, and the cat, and I came up with this one of B. I thought it was pretty cute!

Big Kahuna Week 2

Here is my page for Week 2 of the Big Kahuna contest. The challenge was to create a page using ONLY 1 sheet of cardstock, 2 sheets of patterned paper, rub-ons, and ric-rac. It was a tough challenge, but I'm pretty pleased with the result.