Shout Out (Really Loud)

We all have blogs that we love. That we follow daily. Some of them make us smile, or laugh out loud, some of them make us cry or wow us with their unbelievable artwork. Many of the authors we don't even know in person but they affect us. They change our daily routine's by adding a morning laugh on sometimes the worst of mornings, or end our crappy days at work with a smile on our faces. They don't interfere in our lives, but add to them in a positive way. We connect with these people because we can relate to them, or learn from them. What they are talking about is current and relevant to us and they make us feel like we are not the "only ones" out there going through that. They create with heart, pour their hearts out in the darkest of hours, and spin a story with such beauty and talent it makes us crave more. And we come back for more. Often. Today I want to give a shout out to one of my favorites. I've been following this blog for awhile and have probably read every post because she writes so beautifully and creatively. She makes me laugh so hard that sometimes Mike walks in wondering what is so funny. She makes me cry because she has a way with words that most only dream about. She makes me smile, she makes me think, and she makes me come back EVERYDAY! Go visit her at http://badmommymoments.wordpress.com She will remain on my sidebar for future links.

New Layout, Old Photo.

I am defiantly not a chronological order type of scrapbooker, I'm more of a random scrap what fits my mood kinda girl. So tonight I did just that. I scrapped something different. Childhood pictures. Not my kids either. Me. I don't recall many things from childhood, and often mix memories up a little. Just ask my sister, she's the queen of remembering details. Even the tiniest tinyest ones. She remembers everything. lol. Well this I do remember mostly because a lot of the time I was alone. The journalling reads...

For a memory to stand out for me, especially a childhood memory it usually has to be really really good, or really bad. I don't often recall the details or how I felt but for whatever reason I remember the mornings I spent on the balcony of our farm house. It came off the second floor of the house with views of our garden and huge weeping willow tree in the front, and big orange barns on one side with wandering land on the other. Maybe I remember because I frequented it every morning, whether to eat my breakfast, play, look at the birds and other animals, or simply to wait out the time until Jen and Kurt got back from school. They may not have been extremely fascinating but they are mine and they have helped shape me into the morning ritual seeking person I am today.

A Group of Talented Ladies.

These are the lovely cards that I received from my swap with fellow CTMH consultants on Saturday. This group of ladies have some major talent going on don't ya think? Not only as far as paper crafting goes but in the kitchen apparently as well! Hehe. The food was sooooo good! I can't even tell you what I liked the best it was ALL so good!

This card was made by the very modest Wendy. She used the Cupcake Sprinkles stamp set. She embossed the bottom part of the cupcake and used GLITTER on the icing part, and adorned with a little bling for the cherry. Super sweet!


This card was made by Kelly. She was so sweet bringing all of her swap cards to us in the afternoon along with a little treat, since she couldn't make it :(. Her card base was made using our old bragging tags. She used the February SOTM(stamp of the month) Easter Eggs, the Just Blooms paper flowers in Autumn Leaves, some vineyard berry grosgrain ribbon which she sewed a piece of thread though to give the gathered effect. Love that!



This card was made by fellow blogger Marie France. To view her work go to http://www.mfkupo.blogspot.com She has some great ideas! She used the You Rock ss. She embossed the guitar and popdotted it. I love how she took a very masculine pp(IMOO) and made it girly with the hollyhock pink! She ROCKS!!! LOL!



This next card was made by the very funny Ginger. She has some wonderful ideas on "new stamp sets" :O. She used the March SOTM, Butterfly Wings. She stamped the cs behind the image and then popdotted only the body of the butterfly to that image, folding the wings up to give a 3D effect. She also added some bling to the wings.


The next card was made by my fabulous up line and friend Joy, who formally introduced me to CTMH about 3 years ago. This is a swinger card, using a pendulum method.(So cool) Those little hearts swing back and forth! She used the Love Language ss, and the That's Amore pp which I love! Beautiful card! I love the pin! ;) Yes we already know I love those!!!!


The incredible Connie made the next card, paper piecing the Happy Endings stamped images together. Adding some tiny bling to her tiara. She also has an awesome technique for stamping on ribbon(the white one says happy birthday like the bottom of the card). Use hairspray on your ribbon, letting it dry first, then stamp your image to prevent smudging. Genius!!!



And last but not least the extremely talented Florence. Her card features the Dream Wishes ss. With the Emporium pp. she popdotted the little r to add dimension. But she wasn't done here! She made us all these fab little chap stick holders that said sealed with a kiss, and when you open them they say I'm stuck on you! What great little gifts. Hostess gifts, party favors you name it. Then she made these little water bottle snack holders. You hang it over your water bottle, add a single drink mix packet and a small snack to the pouch. Another great little gift for say workshops! LOVE THEM ALL!





My card is featured in the post below.
So as you can see I am lucky to be surrounded by incredibly talented, super supportive, circle of fellow consultants and friends. We don't all always see each other often but when we do you know that there will be lots of laughs and great work shared by all! I'm so looking forward to our next "crop day" and Calgary!!!!

Embossed Bird Day Card

Some of the Consultants from our area try to get together once per catalogue to have crop day and a potluck lunch. We also do a card swap using new product. This is the card I made. I used the new Bird Basics and the Intrinsic backgrounds Stamp sets. I embossed the background paper in white. It's hard to see in the picture but the card folds where the two different patterns meet. Hopefully after tomorrow's crop I will have something new to post.

A "Love" Layout

In honor of the great "V-day" I thought I would do a layout with one of our wedding photos. It was supposed to be a black and white photo, but I guess I didn't have a 5x7 one like I thought I did. I used the silhouette paper, lace, some great velvet ribbon I found, black velvet chipboard letters, black bling, and some great embellishments in pewter tones. I'm still playing with the (Our) in it, I moved it just a touch so it lines up better with the (Love). I'm just too lazy right now to re-take the photo and re size it etc, but you get the point.

here are a couple close-ups of the embellishments

Another mini accordion album.

This is another mini accordion album, very similar to the last one. I used Goodtimes paper pack from CTMH. I made this one for my sister to put some pictures of my sweet nephew in it.

The front

The back

Last time I didn't take pictures of it flat so all the pages could be seen well.

Valentine's in the classroom.

So every year we do it. We go out and search for the perfect Valentine's day cards for the kids classmates. They have to have two different kinds, some for boy's and some for girls of course. You know you can't give Hannah Montana ones to boys right? Well this year we just simply ran out of time, or I forgot. haha. Well Drake is to old and way to cool for them now, and we decided that we would make homemade ones for Cassidy's classmates. I don't know why I've never done this before. She was a big help, cutting all the hearts out, inking all the edges, signing them all! This is what 24 3x3 valentine's look like! Really simple because they are for kids who will probably throw them away in a week, or their parents will ;)

The ones for the girls said best friends, and the ones for the boys said celebrate because they are still gross!

When we were 4 layout.

I guess after my little vent I should add a layout. These pictures were taken four years ago, right before I found out we were pregnant with #3. I really love these pics, because it's not always easy to get a nice family shot.

Using KRAFT paper.

Sometimes I look at what I make and shake my head. Laugh. Cry. Other times I over think it. Then every once in a while it just comes together. Like today, with this page. Maybe it is because I picked everything out last night in order to prepare for today's crop. Maybe it was not being at home and working from my messy desk, and being interrupted several times to do something for one of my "subjects". Or maybe the creative juices were flowing just right for me today. I really do like this page a lot. The focus is on that sweet little face sitting on the chair. I also ventured into the "Kraft Paper" world and I love it. Hummmmm, I'll be using this as a background again.

I used Crate Paper's Baby Bee collection.

I had a scrapbooking weekend.

I apparently got a lot of scrap booking done this weekend. Yesterday I made these two layouts along with a couple of others. I used more of the Confetti papers and embellishments. I really am enjoying these bright, fun papers. I used Imagine for these two layouts.

This is the left side.

This is the right side.

Then there is the Skater boy pages. I like how this one turned out.