thankful

 : : : : : our cozy house : : : : :

: : : : : a reliable car : : : : :

: : : a good laugh : : :

: : : a good cry : : :
: : : happy songs : : :

: : : a phone call to my mom : : :

: : : my generous, understanding, & patient husband : : :

: : : my thoughtful, sensitive, creative Sarah : : :

: : : my stubborn, adventurous, animal lover Brittany : : :

: : : my big sis : : :

: : : our loyal dog, Timber : : :

cropping and a surprise :)

Met with some friends over the weekend at our monthly crop.  I am always ambitious about how much I want to accomplish.  However, I spend most of that time yapping so my productivity is always less than anticipated.  Oh well, it's all good.  I only get a little done, but I am enjoying myself. 
We went on a Starbucks run & I love the little slogan that Starbucks has right now:
Stories are gifts - SHARE
What could be more appropriate for a scrapbooker?  Love it!

I was looking through my memory card for some pictures to upload.  I found this cutie pie:

This is some of Cori's artwork.  She must have taken this picture when she was playing with my camera.  What a cute surprise!

in love with sizzix

My obsession with Sizzix began about 10 years ago when hubby saw one at a neighbor's & came home asking me if I wanted one of those Sizzix machines.  At that time they were the machines with the long handle that you press down, & if you had a large die, you had to carefully place 1/2 under the press, lower the handle to press, & then slide the other 1/2 over to finish pressing the rest of the die.  You also had to use the magnetic converter (sold separately) if you wanted to use Sizzlets or any of the embossing folders.  "Oh no" I told him.  After all, I had 2 LSSs nearby that I could use their machines & their dies - and I was always using their equipment, volunteering in the school & being a busy Girl Scout Leader.  Well, that Christmas I became the owner of my 1st Sizzix machine along with several cute dies. 

Since then hubby has also given me a Sidekick, a Big Kick and many more dies & accessories to play with.  Sizzix products have become quite sofisticated through the years, my current fave is the Tim Holtz Alterations line. 

Every fall Sizzix holds a warehouse sale & lucky me, they just happen to be about 20 minutes from my house - wahoo!  Soooooo, last Friday me & Erica drove over to Lake Forest to check it out. 

SCORE!!!!  I love love love this Doctor's Bag.  It is huge!!!  It is big enough to hold my Big Kick, as well as a boatload of dies.  I know, I already took it to a crop & it kept all my Sizzix stuff in one place & made it so easy to transport.  The best part is, I got this sooooo cheap!  :)

To go along with the bag, here are some of the dies & embossing folders I got at the warehouse sale.

So much fun to get a bargain on QUALITY products!!!  I never got on the Cricut bandwagon & I know there are a lot of other machines out there  -  But me, I'm a Sizzix Girl!!!

sharing a few pictures from my latest scrappy adventure

Wow, what a wonderful weekend with this fun group of ladies. 

Some new friends, some old friends, all of them so much fun!

Deanna has got to get the "cutest scrapper" award. 

This lady is so sweet & funny!    

Lisa made this cheesecake. 

Wow, cheesecake with a layer of apple pie as a topping - delish!!!!

Everyone loved the RAK Wendy made.  So creative! 

This is one of my favorite people! 
I almost made altered clipboards for everyone. 

So glad I didn't, Marjorie did a much better job. 

Lisa spoiled us with Starbucks gift cards. 
A yummy treat for everyone  :)

Beth, my sweet new friend.  She gave us adorable pasta angel ornaments, perfect for her personality.

Wow, Lynda really went all out! 
Everyone got one of these gorgeous bags. 

She made beautiful necklaces for everyone
& displayed them so creatively.

Goodies from Marie.  Yumm-O!!!!

Valorie working on a BIG project.

Erica getting punchy  :)

Cori teaching a beautiful technique - Isn't she cute!?!?

We all made RAKs for each other. 

I was so touched by all the

thought & effort that went into creating these.

Some things I will remember:

***watching 80's music videos***

***Cori & Lisa trying to prank me - haha***

***Deanna's tractor joke - heehee***

***staying up til 4am talking w/ Cori***

***fuzzy socks***

***getting to Starbucks at 7:01 - they closed at 7***

***sink trouble***

***Wendy's SUV - Scrapbooker's Utility Vehicle***

***Trash Can Casserole***

***Lynda teaching me how to use the timer on my camera***
***Mudslides***
***Erica's Christmas Trees***

***Cori getting pranked by Wendy***

***amazing RAKs***

***mastering the Gesso Technique***
***the group hug***



getting ready for a girls' weekend

I leave tomorrow for a weekend with 13 fabulous friends where we will create, laugh, learn from each other, stay up late, & maybe have time for a couple cocktails.  We have been planning this creative getaway for nearly a year & you would think I am packed & ready to go - ha!   There is so much on my To Do List today. 
One thing I can check off my list are the RAKs I made for each person.  I think they came out pretty cute.  I had fun creating these:

Then I put some little home-made surprises inside.  I hope my friends like.

. 

Ok, time to tackle the rest of that list.

creating with Stash To Treasure

So I signed up for this class with Stash To Treasure & am finished with the cover.  What I love about the Stash To Treasure concept is that if you love the project & want to make it exactly as the instructor has presented it, you can buy the kit with all the materials.  Or you can buy just the instructions & use supplies from your own stash.  Since I (like most scrapbookers) have an overabundance of supplies that desparetely need to be used, wanted to try to make a dent in my stash.

The instructions are presented in short video format & they are supplemented with written instructions & pictures.  It makes it so easy to go at your own pace.

So I got my cover done - yay me!  Since I did not have the album they were using in class, I thought this was the perfect excuse to do the altered book I've been wanting to do.  I got an old book from the used book store a while back.  It didn't really matter what the book was about, mostly I was looking for the right size.  I painted the outside of the cover with black acrylic paint.  I removed all the pages from the inside of the book

I added some tulle to the spine & then added this gorgeous charm that my friend, Tammy, made. 

Ta daa - cover is done.  Now onto the inside pages.

sharing my page swap project

Several months ago I participated in a page swap with 13 other artists.  The criteria was:  pages had to be 6x6 and use Stamper's Anonymous products.  The pages came from all over the map, including Florida, Missourri, Michigan, Indiana & even Dubai.  The pages were so artsy, lots of rich colors & trendy page elements.  After all the pages were received we also got a surprise gift in the mail, a set of personalized acrylic covers.  I added a little bit of decoration & bound it all together.  Here is my finished book.