Picture Frenzy

Well, here I sit, uploading pictures to Costco. Leif and Eliana are sick and sleeping, so I have the house in silence to myself. And you know, as I browse Picasa and upload, I am realizing just how long it has been since I've printed pictures and just how many I have to print! I finally found where I need to start if I want to get caught up on the printing... May 2008! I've printed a few pictures in between there (Eliana's 2-year photos, Halloween, the Christmas wallets we sent out with our cards...), but not much. We are heading into Fall again, which means we will (hopefully) be taking a camping trip or two in Yellowstone, and a drive up the Beartooth Pass to see the colors change in a week or two. That means more pictures. We still need to take Eliana's 3 year pictures, too. All in all, I suppose it's good (even though it's expensive to do in one shot like this!) that I'm printing all of last year's pictures now. That way I'm caught up and I can just focus on scrapbooking them.

Speaking of scrapbooking, perhaps that's what I should be doing while this batch uploads and the house is quiet....

Two Peas in a Pod

And now for some older pictures! These were taken back when Ellie was about 8 months old and just getting to know her friend Corinne. They were like two peas in a pod and had a great time together!

I had a lot of fun layering things for the title on this one!

Wonderful

I love this picture of Eliana with my dad. It was taken while we were in TX last month and I just think it is so sweet. I used some Karen Russell Narratives rub-ons that I've been hoarding on this layout and I LOVE them! Here's a closeup...

Robert Love

Pictures from April of Eliana and my brother. She loves her Uncle Robert!

Not Making A Splash

While we were in Kansas we took Eliana to a splash park one afternoon. She was very excited about it. She ran around with other kids and had a great time. Until, that is, it was time to actually get into the splash part of the splash park. She'd have nothing to do with it. She just stood behind the bench and watched all the kids having fun without her.

I had fun with these papers, which surprised me. I actually cut things out, which is not something I usually do. but I like the splashes here and had fun. Woohoo!

20,000!

WHOA! I've passed the 20,000 visitor mark on this blog, so I think that calls for a giveaway! I have just the thing, too.... been saving it up for an occasion like this! I'd post pictures, but I'm too lazy to get out of bed and go take pictures. You'll just have to trust me on this one. =D

So... the giveaway is a cute little red and white polka dot mini lunchbox filled with goodies, like acrylic stamps, embellishments, and more! =D All you have to do is leave me a little hello in the comments on this post to be entered! My birthday is coming up next month (a big one, too... the big 3-0!), so how 'bout I celebrate by drawing a winner on September 1st? (No the 1st isn't my birthday, but waiting until the 21st just seems too long.)

Sound good?

Crafting again...

Well, my craft room isn't completely put back together, but I have been doing a smidge of crafting again. I cleared out a bunch of stuff, marked almost all of it $0.25 or $0.50 and had a garage sale. I came away with $111.75, which is not bad for stuff I wasn't going to use anyway!

While my mom was here she confirmed that I really DO need to scrapbook. Not for the sake of recording history or remembering things, but for my own sanity. I NEED to scrapbook. It is my outlet. That also means I'm trying to make it a priority, even if that means a layout or two a couple times a week. I was going for a month or more without crafting, and it was dragging me down in every area! So... I have things to show you! As usual, I pulled out a Sweet Pea Scraps kit (SPS, who, btw, are no longer!! I'm sad, but I'll be even sadder in a year when I've used up my backlog of kits since I haven't been crafting this year!) and I'll give you my creations in bits and pieces. It's easier to blog that way... ;)

This is a picture from when we were in Kansas last month. Yes, I am actually scrapbooking CURRENT pictures! It's crazy! I guess that's what happens when I go and print recent pictures.... Here's a closeup of the detail...

Another A.C.Bailey Layout...

The Littlest Cowgirl

A layout from this summer that I never shared! I love this picture of Ellie (from a couple years ago)... Used some A.C. Bailey goodies here...

Pictures? Really?

The last time I printed pictures was... 

...um...

... Ellie's 2nd birthday. That was a year ago. Oops. 

That's not good for a scrapbooker, methinks.

So.... I'm uploading and printing pictures at Costco! I'm not printing a year's worth, but I am trying to get as many uploaded as I can so I'll have new pictures to scrap! Mom and I have been working on the craft room and it's coming along nicely. I got my Mary Kay office moved out of the craft room, so now I have that table for just my machines! I'm purging a LOT of stuff, which means I'll be having a garage sale soon! Lots of good stuff, but if I don't love it or use it (or don't have a project I'm planning on using it on in the near future) it's going. So... if you live in the area, stay tuned! I'll be getting rid of some stuff at the end of this month!

Cleaning and Purging

As I'm cleaning my craft room (with my mom =D Thanks, Mom!) I'm discovering a few things....

Like this:

Goodies I bought at Kristii's Open House back in... May? April? It was the same day I made this:

*sigh* I am finding all sorts of goodies that I've purchased and not played with or started and not finished. I am also finding things that I've collected and, let's face it, will never use.

So I'm cleaning and purging. Everything needs to have a home. There are some things that need new homes in other people's homes. Like decorative scissors. Do I really need all the ones I never use? I used them once upon a time, but now I don't. So maybe I'll keep my favorite couple pairs, grab a pair or two for Ellie to play with, and get rid of the rest. Do I reallly need the Fastenater I never use? What about the QuicKutz that I had before I had my CuttleBug? I haven't used the QK in over a year. That ought to be the definition of when to get rid of things. I have stencils I haven't used in a very long time. And I'm sure there are other things I haven't even unearthed yet. So... cleaning and purging. My next question is... freecycle or garage sale? I have to do something with all the stuff I'm removing from my craft room...

See this?

Yes, this is a mini album. A newly created mini album. A mini album newly created by ME! =D Not as part of a class or workshop or crop, but created down in my craft room, just for fun. I CRAFTED! I put it together after the A.C. Bailey party on Thursday night. I was so happy crafting away that I didn't even notice it was 2:00 in the morning. Oops! But it was well worth it (I say as I'm running on 2 hours of sleep...) and here is the album in its entirety...

Craft Room Wishlist

As my craft room is an utter disaster right now, I've been thinking about what I want to do to make it better, more usable. I have a table that's been in the garage, waiting for me to take it to the craft room, but I'm not sure where it will go or what it will be used for. So I need to figure that out.

BUT... one thing I do know is that I want a table in my craft room where all my little machines (Cricut, Cuttlebug, Xyron, Sewing) are all set up so I can use them when I want to. I tend not to use them because it's too much of a hassle to pull them out for one little thing. But I WOULD use them if they were already set up. So I need to make that happen. I should also re-evaluate the tools I have and whether I want to keep them, and where.

My dream is to have a craft space that is usable for the stage I'm at in life right now. I don't get down there for monster crafting sessions any longer. Most of the time I have just 30 minutes here or 30 minutes there to craft, and I need to make sure my room is set up for that sort of use. So #1 on my wishlist is a place for all my machines to be set up, ready to use at a moment's notice.

A.C. Bailey Party

See these people? They were at my house last night. CRAFTING.

Yes, It's true.

This beautiful A.C. Bailey Consultant came to my house....

... and taught us this make-n-take!

Cute, huh? She gave some of us renewed interested in our Cricut machines, and it was really fun just to get together and scrap with friends again! I do believe Craft Night will make a comeback. At least I hope it does! =D

In the meantime, I am enjoying all sorts of goodies from the party. I am especially enjoying this pile of goodies, since it was FREE! =D Yay for hostessing parties!

New Goodies

So while I was in Washington last month playing with Tam, I got to go to Treasury of Memories, her LSS. It is the coolest LSS I've been in yet, and I wish I lived closer to it! But I don't, so I'll settle for bringing pieces of it home to MT. ;D Here's what came home with me...

There was Hambly 50% off. Who could resist?

There was Theresa Collins galore!

There was a die cut machine and colored chipboard...

And scads of cute paper that will soon become a couple mini albums!!

Now I haven't really gotten to play with any of the new goodies yet, but there's a crop on Friday night I'll be attending, so maybe I'll have something to show over the weekend!!

SLIDE

A series of pictures of Ellie going down one of the slides at the school near our house. I still need to do the journaling, and the pictures are old (from last winter, I believe), but it's a nice simple layout. The journaling page and ticket are from Tam, and the rest (minus the title letters, which were from my stash) are Sweet Pea Scraps.

TODAY including all the memories, all the love, all the good stuff

The overlay title is by Karen Russell, donated to my layout by Tam. =D Thanks, Tam!! The journaling paper is also compliments of Tam. =D The prima swirls are from my stash, but the rest is Sweet Pea Scraps again!

Memorial Day Scrapbooking!

We got to spend Memorial Day with our friends Dave and Tam in Washington. We used to see them pretty much every Memorial Day and Labor Day, but this visit was special because we hadn't seen them in 3 years! Not since I was pregnant with Eliana. So it was exciting to see them again, have them meet Eliana, and meet their two precious kiddos, too! To top it all off, I got to scrap with Tam, which is always fun! I got 4 layouts done while I was there, and got in a trip to Treasury of Memories, which is the most amazing scrapbooking store I've been in yet! It was fabulous.

So... once again I'll spread out the scrap love so you have more than one post to look at this week. =D To begin with, we'll start with something completely unrelated to Memorial Day...

Not the greatest Halloween pictures ever, but my daughter's first "real" trick or treating none-the-less, so I had to document them. And I'm pretty happy with the layout! Sweet Pea Scraps kit, of course, with the addition of some Prima tape (across the bottom) and a die cut paper tape across the top, and a cute little ticket (from Tam) along the side. Oh, and I used a new edge punch along the bottom, though it's hard to see in this picture. I like it!

Lollipop Tutorial

While I was in TX I picked up a couple of hard candy molds from Hobby Lobby. Robert and I had a grand time making candies and lollipops, so I figured I'd give you a smidge of a tutorial, complete with pictures! =D Use your favorite candy recipe... Here is a decent recipe if you don't already have a favorite of your own.

Love Birds

Another picture taken on Ellie's 2 year photo shoot. Instead of being of Ellie, though, this one is of my parents. I love it! It's so fun to capture and record their playfulness, to show how much they love eachother! The layout itself is a scraplift from the SPS DT, but I like how it turned out!