Up early this morning

My insomnia has been getting the better of me lately, but I was finally able to get some sleep last night. The problem is that I was so exhausted that I went to bed before 8 p.m. and was back up for the day before 5 a.m. Needless to say I have had time to catch up on making cards for Operation Write Home as well as some other challenges.

There is a Midweek Throwdown Challenge at OWH: "Our challenge this week is to make Anniversary or Love themed cards for our Hero’s to send home to their loved ones!   You can make them masculine or feminine themed or you can make some of each!"

Challenge Masters Color Challenge: "Use black, orange, white/cream, and 1 additional color on your project this month. And there's 1 more twist you cannot scrap Halloween or Fall layouts with this color combination." 

AIFactory's Embossing Challenge: AIF#51

"Penny's Challenges #40".
A sweet pair of birds thinking about each other

Until next time.....

A Busy Fall Day

Today we had a family day and attended a quilt show. The weather was wonderful. The quilts were fabulous. Now I wish I had a better sewing machine for myself. It was very inspiring.

This greeting made with Smilebox

Moving to a new phase?

How cool is this!! Recently my hubby and I started a weight loss program on Sparkpeople.com. So far things are going great. I lost 7 pounds the first week which is probably the most weight I have ever lost at one time in my LIFE!! I am really excited about the program. The website is easy to use. The suggested foods are made from ingredients that everyone has in their pantries already. We are cutting out refined sugars. We are participating in Meatless Mondays. We are slowly adding regular exercise into our lives.  I am just loving this program!

Another aspect of the program is the wonderful motivational tools they provide for you. There are recipes, articles, polls, trivia contests and health challenges to help you on your way to a better lifestyle. The people I have encountered are all very motivated and excited to be there. There are even virtual goodies that look great, even though they have no taste, LOL!! One of the tools is a personal Sparkpeople page with a blog that we can use for triumphs and tribulations. Today was my first time adding an entry to mine. Low and behold, I am so excited that I can link it to this site!!!

Moving to a new phase?

I have also added a new project to my list of fun things that I will be posting here. I LOVE to make greeting cards, but don't really send many out to folks for one reason or another. I was introduced to Operation Write Home which is an organization that pledges to "support our nation's armed forces by sending blank handmade greeting cards to write home on, as well as cards of gratitude to encourage them." I am so excited to be helping out with this cause. I have many scraps of materials around the house that I have used to make scrapbook layouts and other cards that I probably won't use again for myself. This is a great way to utilize those supplies and help our armed forces overseas to keep in touch with their families at the same time. It also gives me a way to continue to do my favorite hobby without overloading my craft room with stacks and stacks of unused cards!!

For more information on this worthy cause, log onto their website at operationwritehome.org.

Until next time...

It's Sunday - New Week, New Blog, New Ideas!!

Okay, I have been making some big changes on this blog. The name changed, the design changed, and hopefully the followers will be able to find me again, LOL!! 

Sunday is here and one of my favorite days, if I am not scheduled to work that is. Generally, my hubby makes me breakfast on Sunday.  In the evening, I usually make a big dinner which includes a big dessert for after dinner. We watch movies. I scrap or make cards. We have Xbox competitions, Avatar Golf being one of our favorites. We relax and hang out at the house with no pressure to complete anything at all. 

Otherwise, we take a day trip to nowhere in particular. We did just that recently. We visited the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. The outdoor scenery was beautiful as was the indoor decor. I can't believe a family lived in this huge mansion and grounds. We hope to return to the estate some time around the holidays to see it decorated for Christmas. Until then, I will just have to settle for the photos we took this go around.

Now, what to do today.....

FOOTBALL HAS RETURNED!!

I am not a "boys of summer" kind of girl. I was raised in a football household. I am the type of girl who sits in front of the television on Saturday nights cheering or jeering my favorite football team. My DD has often come in and told me that I am not at the game and that the coach and players cannot hear my advice during the plays. But I don't care. I have fun anyway. When I was younger I loved living in the town where the team played, going to the tailgate parties and the pep rallies. Now I am older and have moved states away from my favorite team. But WAHOO! Look out DD!! Football is back for 2010 and I am ready!!! Kick off is minutes away! GEAUX LSU TIGERS!!

It's September ALREADY!!!????

I can't believe that I am sitting here on the brink of the end of the month. August of 2010 will go down in the record books as the busiest month we have had since we moved to South Carolina.  It all started at the end of July with the first set of visitors. Since then we have traveled to the GA/FL state line to drop off and pick up my DD on her way to South Florida. We had two more sets of visitors during the month and we took a mini vacation to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC. On top of that, my job has started to give me more hours with the coming of the holiday season (yes, I am talking about Christmas here on the last day of August). AND school started for my DD who is a high school senior this year with all the fun perks that comes with that event; school supply shopping, open house, registration meetings, etc.... I am exhausted!!

This month, I was so excited to see the challenges that Ch{all}enge Masters posted. There were many more card challenges, which are always my favorite things to create. The examples from the website divas were truly inspiring for me. I printed guidelines out early in the month and held on to them intending to run into my craft room on the spur of the moment to sneak in a project or two between visitors and activities. Needless to say I barely scratched the surface on the crafts I wanted to complete.

I will share a few that did manage to be completed.

This challenge was to make a kitchen bookmark for your favorite recipe book. It was rather challenging for me because I did not get the measurements quite right the first time and had to make a second one. (OCD!!)

Here is a  ribbon challenge to use ribbon in a way other than as a border on the page or to make a flower.

I was on a roll with this set of colors this month. There actually is another project I completed to go along with this one that cannot be released at this time. I am using it for a contest. This project was to create your own background paper using a stamped image.

Project Scrapbook

This last project was by far my favorite one to make this month. We are doing a series of projects based on the Project Runway show. We have been given very little direction so far. This is week 1, the party supply project. Our challenge was to use party supplies to create a layout. The more supplies you used, the more points you received.  I used the gift bag pictured in the top photo to create a 12 X 12 layout and used only party supplies and photos to embellish it. We have 5 more weeks of interesting challenges for this project and I can only imagine what the design diva has in store for us. (I am thinking newspaper next!!)

As the end of August is rapidly approaching, I am looking forward to September and the challenges it will bring to me. DH and I have some more traveling adventures planned. There are projects to create, books to read, movies to see and people to visit. In the words of The Happenings, "See you in September".

Ch{all}enge Masters Layout Tag

I signed up to participate in the layout tag Ch{all}enge Masters held in June. Who knew it would last until almost the end of July. It is really cool to see where the layout started, how all the participants affected it and then how it turned out in the end. The funniest part is that about half way through the challenge, the layouts started to look more like the original, even though it had changed and no one but the second person had seen the original layout. By the end, it was a totally different looking product.

Here is my contribution:

To see how it all began and how it all ended,

http://www.challengemastersonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=482

While you are there, sign up for the next layout tag. Deadline for signup is this Friday, July 30,2010.

See ya there!!

Summer Camp for Scrappers

I have been a mad woman today trying to get some scrapping done. I entered myself in the CK Summer Camp 2010 series and forgot that it was this past week. So I logged on today to see if some of the activities were still active. I got lucky! While the camp ran until Friday, they happily gave us the weekend to earn some merit badges for our signatures if we had lost track of time. So after a trip to World Market for wine for later in the week, I hit the activities running.

First I earned the Fire Safety Badge for making an embossed card or layout.

Then I earned the Orienteering Badge for looking through the website and familiarizing myself with my surroundings.

Then I earned the Photography Badge for my photo of nature

By the way, I will be scrapping this photo in the future.

I just love it!!

I have about 2 1/2 hours left to earn more merit badges, but I am losing my gumption at this point. So I think I will be happy with the badges I have earned and the camp blinkie I get to add to my blog. Next summer I will have to add it to my calendar so I don't forget.

Blow Out Your Candles......WAIT!

Yes, it is 8 months after the event, but I am finally getting around to scrapping DD's 17th birthday. These shots were the best I could do. It seems that teenage girls love to have their photos taken by themselves, holding the camera at arms length and taking multiple shots to get just the right one. However, when her friends are present this is not the case. I squeezed in a couple of shots. However, we had candle/camera failure. After two attempts, she just posed near the cake. The layout however is priceless with the look of horror and the laughing photo.  Bless her little heart.

Those Lazy Hazy Crazy Dayz of Summer

After living in this home for over a year and a half, I have decided to try to make a creative wall display for our guest room/scrap room. Currently there is nothing on the largest wall in the room over the bed. And it is the focal point as you walk into the room. But nothing has struck my fancy that I would enjoy seeing there every day. I have an ornamental sunflower on our front porch that I have often thought I should move into the guest room, but I like it so much on the porch. So here is my alternative:

Challenge Masters is having a "contest" of sorts with a new leg of the challenge each week in July. The parameters for this week were to make a mosaic out of a photo, then add patterned paper, journaling, a title, embellies, and masking. I love the results and will be searching for a frame for it today when I go to work to get it up on the wall before our guests arrive next week.

My Michael Day

I had a busy day on Saturday, July 10, 2010. I spent the morning working at my job at Michael's Arts and Crafts putting out beads. I am not a jewelry maker. And the fun I encountered unwrapping individual strands of beads and decorative glass and charms will not win me over to the hobby anytime soon. But there were quite a few beading elements that would look great on a layout. So maybe it was worth it.........

After my shift ended, I hightailed it back home to shower and have dinner with my DD, named Michael, in case I had not mentioned it before. He cooked me dinner! He even went as far as to cook me my own dinner because he wanted spaghetti and I can't eat tomato sauce. He is such a sweety ((batting eyes lovingly)).

Then DD and I took off to attend the Michael Buble' concert at the Time Warner Arena in Charlotte, NC. The venue is really cool. I had not been there before. The building itself is such a photo op, both inside and out. It is located across the street from the train station downtown, which is a cool looking building too. I have got to get down there to take some photos one afternoon. Anyway, I digress.....

The concert started on time,which is always a plus. But it would not have matter cause I was on the edge of my seat ready to sing along as soon as we got there. Naturally 7 opened the show. We saw them the last time we attended a Buble' concert in 2008. They are great. They perform without musical accompaniment. They are by no means a regular A Cappella group. Look them up on line. They are very talented.

After a short while, actually an hour, but time was flowing fast for me, it was time for the big show!! The big orchestral sound of "Cry Me A River" started from behind the curtain. It was such a big opener. The concert went on with a mix of the older hits and all the new songs from the current release "Crazy Love" for about an hour and a half with one encore. Buble' was funny and charismatic. His singing was top notch, even performing part of the last song without a microphone to the crowd of 12,000. It was a great show.

My favorite part of the show was a surprise stroll he took through the audience with Naturally 7 to a platform riser in the middle of the floor. And I must admit, I was a total nerd about it. He was now going to be closer to our seats, which were excellent to begin with. As he moved through the audience, I spun around and told my DD "He's right there!! He's in the audience!!" not once, but twice!! And it's not like my DD did not notice himself since he was sitting right next to me and stands about 12 inches taller than me, but I did it again!! NERD!!!!! Anyway here is part of the video I taped from the center stage in my excitement. The shot is cool looking since they turned the house lights up when the audience sang their part.

(After hours of attempting to upload this video, I give up. Please enjoy this instead.)

I took about 100 photos, but I will be tossing about 85 of them as my camera has such a pause when adjusting to flashing lights and a moving subject. But some of the good ones will surely make it into a layout in the near future.

Well, I'm off to another day of work. Hope we did not get in any more beads...............

Ode to a paper cutter

Recently, I accepted the challenge to answer this question, 

"What is the one tool you own, that you must have to be able to scrapbook?"

 The result:

The journaling says:

Thank you cutter, so much,
For being here today.
So please get nice and comfy,
'Cause there's something I want to say.

Now I'm a crafty scrapper,
Yes, it is really true.
But I know I couldn't have done it,
Without the likes of you.

The paper you have measured,
The lines that you have scored,
You make all of my layouts
Straighter than before.

You make my projects so wonderful,
I say it 'cause it's true.
Don't know where I'd be
Without a cutter just like you.

Happy 4th To All!!

This evening I am working and unsure if I will be back on here anytime soon. But I wanted to be sure to pass along a Happy Fourth to everyone. Please stay safe and drive carefully if you are traveling.


My latest from Ch{all}enge Masters:

By the way: Hooray for ME!! I am Master of the Month on the site this month!!

And yes, it is Harry Potter fabric I pinned the tag to in this photo. I'm anxiously awaiting the new release!!