Saturday, June 30, 2007

Drywall Dust Anyone?



Well, I've been vacuuming floors/walls of drywall dust for 6 hours today -- BLEK! I'm very tired & so ready for some veg-out time. DH just went to pick up some PIZZA (I'll run EXTRA hard on Monday!!) so that will taste so nummy as we seemed to skip lunch as we worked away at the house. We hope to tackle the garage tomorrow, get some primer up & get some GARAGE DOORS! How exciting will that be! :)

Here's a couple of cards I did a few nights ago. I pulled out an older set I had & played. Nice to do that sometimes without thinking about if it's retired or not. Just pure stampin' enjoyment! I used markers to color on the stamp, huffed & stamped ;). I still need some time to play with my new goodies. We'll be busy painting at the house this week, so maybe one evening this week I'll get to slip into my stampin' space & play :)!
-j.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Summertime!


Ok so the weather isn't indicating this.... but the kids being home is :) I thought this jammybella was the perfect way to *celebrate* summer.... hangin' out in your PJ's without the rush of school morning routine. NICE!
I used Pretty in Pink for a card base & stamped the Flannel background stamp in Very Vanilla Craft ink. I like to use the heat tool to heat set craft ink (you then avoid those annoying smears while you work!). I stamped Bella in Stazon on watercolor paper & used an aquapainter & wonder crayons from SU (I think it's still my favorite *paint* medium). I pulled out my tearing edge. As a demo, I didn't sell many of these. To be honest I almost WOULDN'T let my customer buy them - LOL. Huge waste of $35 to do something your hands could do for free -- tear paper! HOWEVER, I digress! When I want that EVEN tear, I pull out. Just in those anal moments when I like everything to be lined up. And.... this was one of those "moments". So I used chocolate chip cardstock and matted my bella on Almost Amethyst. A little ribbon, some oval punches.... voila!

The drywallers are DONE in our house -- WOOOHOOO!!! So after my run this morning I'm off to the house & clean, clean, clean. Get ready for those painters and start painting myself. Ahhhh... yesterday we picked out all our appliances -- still looks like it'll be the end of summer before in & not the end of next month like we were hoping. Guess the cabinet guys are busy -- hold ups are so frustrating when it has nothing to do with you. K -- off & running ;-)
-j.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Purse Gift Card



I love getting together & stamping with friends! You get to see projects that they've made and share ideas (and sip wonderful blends of coffee!!!!) This is a little gift card purse that I made over the weekend. Very fun & quite simple. You can make 3 of them using one piece of 12x12 -- how cool is that! It's using the Stampin' up! 5-in-1 envelope template. Here's another blog with a GREAT tutorial on making them. Check it out - http://stamptimesomewhere.typepad.co...ard_holde.html

LAST DAY OF SCHOOL.... the cherry on top is I get to go pick up DH at the airport... the sprinkles is that I get to go to a fabulous scrapbook store on the way home... yeah!! What a great day!!

enjoy yours! -j.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Grade Five is almost done.... really?


Well my first baby is almost done grade 5. I can hardly believe it. Skipping Grade 4 doesn't help & it makes me feel like she's growing up way too quickly. She's a wonderful student and moving from Grade 3 to Grade 5 seemed way too easy for her. She's so beautiful & so sweet & she's mine. How blessed am I!! :) This weekend was a stamping weekend and when the cards just weren't coming together for me (you know those NON-inspirational moments!!) I thought I'd pull out a photo I was saving to scrap of Megan. I slowly added flowers & bling, typed out some journalling about her at this stage in her life & I was really happy with how it all came out in the end. :) It's been a long time since I've scrapped something just for me & I've realized I need to do it more :)
-.j.

Monday, June 25, 2007

Almost done school....

Wow, almost a week since I've posted. Been crazy with everything wrapping up (and needing a function or party to apparently do so), so not too much else has been occurring. Only THREE MORE DAYS OF SCHOOL.... DReAmY!! No racing back & forth to/from school... can't wait! However, still a few more days to go here. hope to be stamping/scrapbooking today so I'll show you my results tomorrow (I hope). Off to get that Taco Soup in the crockpot ;-)
-j.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

We have REAL walls!!! :)

How can you tell DH is home :).... it's been days since I've posted! Not much stamping time as we enjoyed the weekend (he LOVED his scrapbook - yeah!!). A few house shots as we are *almost* done the drywall (middle of next week). It's very exciting to not be able to walk through the walls and get a real feel of the space. :)



Of course we're still not sure on a move in date. With hubby workin' in another PROVINCE it makes completing a little difficult. His sister is awesome at it all... me? not so much! :) The excavators are there today spreading all the dirt piles so that will look nice too and we'll get a real feel for the land size. We have just over 3 acres :) OK, back to cleaning -- BLEK! It's a stamping weekend coming up though (between two birthday parties, baseball games, a BBQ and a field trip -- oh and Daddy will be gone :(] Crazy life I tell ya! But hey -- WE HAVE REAL WALLS!!!
-j.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Project Completed!

Well after a late night last night, I *finally* got DH's scrapbook done for Father's Day (note to self: give myself more than five days next year!!) Here are the final few pages & the cover -- tried to dress it up a little bit, but couldn't bring myself to stamp on it after midnight last night. ;-)
Sorry the photos are a bit blurry. It was cloudy this morning so I didn't have great lighting. I printed off a bunch of little photos to create a little memories of the year LO.


The next spread is us -- it says... "Your my... happily ever after"

"the next adventure awaits us...."

Tried to dress the cover of the album a bit...


So now all that's left is the wrappin' ;-) Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
-j.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Sarah's Pages!

Sarah is our WILD, CRAZY girl -- :) Makes us smile & laugh every day!! So for her pages I need WILD (and her favorite color is ORANGE)and a little crazy ;) -- I think I achieved it - :-)
Page One --

Page Two -- she added her "signature" here with hugs & kisses.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

The Next Few Pages

OK - back to stampin'! :-) I also got a few goodies in the mail (the new VEGGIEBELLA!!! and a great flex ruler from BO-BUNNY.... oh and some Twinkling H2Os.... I'm a newbie so hopefully I'll get this project done & Play!!) I'm doing a little two-page spread for each munchkin where they can write a letter to daddy. Here are the two-page spreads for the older two. They are working on their letters tonight so I can scrap & finish those up tonight. I hope to get my youngest's pages done tonight too. DH arrives home Friday night (YAHOOOOO!!!) so I only have tonight & tomorrow night to GET 'ER DONE!!! :)
-.j.
Got a little *whimsy* here and stamped some circles in stazon right on the photo. I had sticker letters (hard to see I think) that spell out Live Laugh Love.

Her second page will hold her letter on the very vanilla cardstock. I added a little BLING to the center of the prima flowers {too fun}.

Here's my little boys first page.... he adores his daddy!!

Joshua's allllll boy so to have him sit & write a letter -- not gonna happen. So he sat & told me what he'd like his letter to say and I'll type it up with a funky font & print it on vellum & attach it to the top area of this page.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Chicken Taco Soup

Nothing to show you ... yet. Today was chores (and baking yummy, scrumptious cinnamon buns!!) & yesterday was T-Ball and baseball so no stamping time. HOWEVER, I'll be stampin' tonight! :) It was a full day and I must tell ya, I LOOOOOOVE my crock pot. NO, not your TYPICAL crock pot menu. For me, when I first thought crock pot -- images of mushy, overcooked food entered my mind -- blek! Naw, naw, naw.... not I. If I have to I'll cook the veggies at the last moment and throw 'em in. Not the point here, really. A sweet friend of mine has this AMAZING recipe that I threw in my crockpot this morning and the kids and I gobbled it up tonight. SO... for that day when you spend all day playing and you don't want to "cook"... pull out your crock pot and give this one a try -- Y-U-M-M-Y!!
Here's what you need:
2-3 chicken breasts, chopped up
1 can cream of chicken (I used mushroom) soup
3 cups of Chicken Broth
1 can of corn (I used a couple of corn on the cob leftovers ;-) )
1 Can of chili style tomatoes (run it through the blender & your kids will have NO IDEA!!!) LOL.
1/2 - 1 package of taco seasoning mix (we opted for 1/2... hubby would go for the whole thing!)
1 can of Black Beans
I throw it all in the crock pot (expect the cooked chicken). Put it on low for about 5 hours, then put the chicken in & cook for another 2. The house will smell amazing!! Dish it out and add a nice dollop of sour cream, some shredded cheddar cheese and some original flavor corn chips.
ENJOY!!! Let me know if you try it --
-j.

Monday, June 11, 2007

The project continues....

G'afternoon. Wewl, my cowld has got me {insert sneeze here} good. I've been moving pwetty slow these days. However, the stamping must continue *sniff, sniff*. I got a few more pages done :) Check 'em out....


Sunday, June 10, 2007

Father's Day Project #4

This week will be my week to get THIS YEARS project done. :) I've decided to do 6x6 pages & still not sure if I will just put binder rings in the holes or actually stick it in an album. Seeing as DH is working away, it might be easier for him to have it in an actual album. I thought I'd post the pages as I get them done. Fighting a *nasty* cold these past few days, so my creativity has been a little low, but hopefully I'll be able to get it done in time :) I have until Friday (then he's home!! yeah!!!!)
Here's the cover (my son {8yr old} actually took this photo!)

Page one is my note & I took the kids' school photos and punched their faces out for the side of the page.

Page 2 is a couple shots of our munchkins.

Page 3 is "the quiz". This was fun. I thought of 10 questions to ask the kids (everything from what's daddy's favorite food, to how do you know your daddy loves you..) and I called them into my stamping room one at a time to answer the questions. It was cute to hear all their little answers!!

I'll continue to post as I work my way through this project. I love these little projects. Quick! It's nice to have a project that you start & finish all in the same week. :)
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
-j.

Saturday, June 09, 2007

Father's Day Project #3

I found some old pictures when I was visiting last summer & so I pulled them out & had some copies made so I could make this mini album for my Dad for Father's Day. They were a bit blurry so I did try to ink edges and give it a bit of a "worn" look.
Here's the cover -- I tore chocolate chip cardstock & put it under some design paper.

I wanted to add a photo of his Dad who passed a number of years ago. I cut 1-1/2" squares for the background and inked all the edges in chocolate chip. Then I placed the photo directly onto that. I stamped with StazOn directly onto the photo and then added a couple of prima flowers. :)

For the page beside this I used my circle punch and cut a notch out of the top to house the circle stamp sentiment. I also inked up the edges with white stazon.

Here's the next set of "pages".

The final two pages are of then & now :)

Friday, June 08, 2007

Birthday Time.

Sorry it's blurry!! If only Santa could arrive a wee bit early this year & bring me that camera ;-)

My son has two birthday parties tomorrow, so I quickly got one of the two cards done up tonight. I haven't pulled out All Wrapped Up for quite awhile so it was fun to play with it again. Very quick card. Brocade Blue card stamped in Versamark with Flannel Background (love it!). Then I stamped the jar & lid on watercolor paper & used the watercolor crayons & aquapainter to paint them & cut them out. I'm not sure if you can tell, but the frog & lid have a stampin' dimensional around them to add some depth. I also ran a strip of really rust cardstock through the cuddlebug to give the card some more layers. The greeting was stamped with stazon on vellum.

It's for an 8-year old boy.... I know he truly won't care, but I just can't BUY a card ;-)

Happy weekend!!
-.j.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Father's Day Project #2

OK, a day late -- but here it is. This is the mini album I made for my sweetie last year. It's my favorite *type* of album [ok the only one I've tried to make - lol], but it's very simple & at crunch time, I need simple!! I used 12x12 if I have it (saves paper & less cuts) and cut in 1/2 to make a 6X6 "album". Once you've cut in half, score in half and then piece together like an accordion. The great thing about this is you can make it as big or as small as you'd like [or time permits!!]. I used cardboard to make the front & back cover SLIGHTLY larger and covered with designer paper & decorated. I actually TORE the photo on the front & sponged ink on the edges to add some texture. I was nervous tearing a photo, but it turned out ;-)
Front of Album....

Page One was my page... I got to say mushy stuff about how wonderful he is [and he really is wonderful!!] and found a few photos that showed his playfulness. He's just a big kid at heart. He's sledding down those hills just as excited as his kids! SO CUTE!!!

Page two was my oldest daughters. She was big enough to print herself so I had her write some reasons why she loves daddy! :) Precious.

Page three was my son's. Not quite big enough to print [nor much desire] so I typed while he spoke... still his own words though.

Last page was our "baby". I tried to soften it by using vellum (great way too to use a less that crisp photo!)

Back Cover. Again, I like to date it. Also note that if you want to TIE the book together you need to run the ribbon across the front cover BEFORE you adhere the front photo so that the ribbon lies underneath!


And there you have it. Our book from last year :) I just finished one I made for my dad with some old pictures of when I was a little girl that I will post tomorrow or Saturday. Need to finish it up and get the photos taken. What are you all working on for father's Day?????
-j.

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Father's day is coming!!

I find it humorous how when it's Mother's Day it is PLASTERED everywhere -- for some reason the world KNOWS that the male gender will not remember this special day. HOWEVER.... us females rock when it comes to Father's day! Don't we?! :) I thought I'd take the next couple of days to share some past father's day *albums* that I have done with the kids for Daddy to help spur you on to get creating. We may KNOW that the big day is coming.... but it doesn't mean we'll STAMP until the night before ;-).
Here's a quick project (no precutting) that uses ONE sheet of 12x12 cardstock.
1. Take your sheet of cardstock and score it in half at 6"
2. Now score the other "end" at 3", 6" and 9" so that you have 4 rectangles on the top and four rectangles on the bottom (clear as mud?!?!)
3. Fold it in half again & adhere the two ends together & you now have your booklet.
4. Accordion fold and cover/decorate as desired!
5. Ask me if you have any questions, I'm good at SHOWING... explaining?.... not so much!! LOL.

Here's the cover. I simply covered it will a piece of designer paper. Do ALL your decorating first (brads included!) before adhering it so you don't have brad tongs or eyelet backings on your next "page".

Here's the back of the mini album/booklet. I always like to date it somehow (then when we look back we'll know how old the kids are :) )

Here's a full view of the inside. Sorry, I think it's a little blurry (REALLY need to get that new camera!!). You may think that the tags will float around in there as the ends are the only places that there is adhesive, but they don't. Just be sure to cut your tags SMALLER than the opening so you're not fighting to get them in & out of the booklet. :)

Panel one.

Panel two & three. Here is used the circle & square punch 1/2 way to create pull tabs.

Panel four.
I dedicated a panel to each of us. One for me & one for each of the kids. Then I looked for a photo of them with their dad and let them write a little something on the back of each tag :) I know Daddy loves these, but honestly, so do I. They are such treasures. It's neat to know when hubby goes away, he looks for his little albums that I have made him to take with him :)
Happy creating. Get the kids involved too.... I'll post another sample from last year tomorrow.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Happy Monday!


Between the laundry & a sick little one I was able to finish a card I started last night. I love colorbook stamps -- those ones that you get to sit & color as if you were little again :) Yes it does take a bit more time than your quick ink-stamp-ink-stamp-done... but the creative part of me, enjoys (when I have the time) to sit and take that extra time. I also tried out the cool idea I read somewhere to create your own *photo corners*. I used barely banana and punched first with the 1/4" square punch, then lined up with the 3/4" square punch and with that little square, lined up my metal ruler corner to opposite corner & cut diagonally with my hobby blade. SWEEEET! So easy and it added the little *something* I thought was maybe missing. I also have a ton of background paper that I bought a long time ago (I let my kids play & use it) as it seems a bit too blah for me. HOWEVER.... I found this stripe paper that I liked (sort of) and took my chocolate chip ink pad & ran it down the sides to distress it a bit -- ahhh, much better :-) I also was able to cut open my new cuttlebug slider template & cut out the ribbon slider, stamp with riveting & using a brad, adhere a little prima flower in the center. I was pleased with how it turned out :)
happy Monday !