STOP buggin me!

Today at work I was trying to proof a report that has to be done tomorrow (it will take me most of tomorrow to finish up too).  And from outside the back door (right by my desk) I can hear a cricket chirping ALL DAY LONG!  It was driving us all crazy and we had to get up and open the door to make it stop every so often.  At one point, I felt like the sound was just boring a hole in my brain!  :)

Anyway, not that I got that off my chest...

Here is the Easter layout I created, that was the source of all the scraps for my Moxie Fab World sketch card challenges.

Here are some detail shots of...the banner...

...the date...

...the journaling...

...and the title.

Well, that is it for tonight!  I have my Project 12 layout done for August already, so will share that next time.  Have a good night!

Darla

Miss Bossy!

Wow, I am not sure what got into Hope today, but since I picked her up and school she has been little miss bossy!

I had a quick meeting with her teacher just to make sure we are all on the same page with her behavior, learning, etc.  Everything went good and am hoping for a great year.

Then we came home, had a quick snack and off to gymnastics.  She had fun, but I think she had a little trouble listening in class today.  Anyway...

Now she is insisting I give her a sewing lesson, but it would be too short since it is almost bedtime.  So trying to hold her off until tomorrow.  Wish me luck on that!

Ok, here is the last card in the Moxie Fab World card sketch challenge.

This was using up more of my scraps from an Easter layout (check back next time for the actual layout since I haven't shared it yet).

Well, have a great night!

Darla

Ballerina Hope!

We found out last night that Hope will be playing a baby mouse in the Nutcracker this Christmas season.  She is pretty excited, although she was hoping to be an angel.  I have a feeling the characters at this age had a lot more to do with what costume they would fit into and less on their experience level.  :)

I was never in dance as a kid, so all this is kind of new to me.  Luckily I had nieces that were involved in dance so I have a small idea of the CRAZY yet to come.  It will be a good kind of crazy.

Speaking of dance, she had her first ballet class) at a new studio tonight.  I think she had a lot of fun, and the neighborhood girls are in the class as well.  I met some of the other mom's and we had fun talking about scrapbooking and even one mom had two adopted kids (from the same agency and around the same time we adopted Hope).  It is always fun meeting others that have adoption in common.  They have open adoptions too, so was fun to meet others with a similar experience.

Anyway, on to scrappy stuff...another card challenge at the Moxie Fab World, vertical card sketch challenge.  Check it out.  Here is the sketch...

I took an almost literal interpretation of the sketch.  As mentioned in my previous posts (for the other sketch challenges) I made a layout using the My Minds Eye-Fine and Dandy papers.  All my challenge cards were made from the scraps left over from that layout.  I used most of the chipboard banner sticker and had three pennant banners left, which worked perfectly for this sketch.  I added the gems and twine bows to jazz it up a little bit.

It was a super easy card to make since I had all coordinating products out already.

Well, that is it for tonight!  Off to start supper!

Darla

Sounds...

I love hearing sounds that make your heart happy...that make you smile...that you know you may not hear too many more times...

Yesterday seemed to be full of those kinds of sounds.  Last night, as we went to bed, our dog Reilly started his ritual too.  He goes up to the bedroom hours before we do, and then when we come to bed he comes out from under the bed, gets a LONG drink and finally wonders back into the bedroom and crawls back under the bed.  Last night the lights were off when he made his way back from getting his drink.  I heard him wonder around to Joe's side of the bed and slowly crawl under the bed.  This sound to me means that all is well.  This made me smile as I just felt warm and fuzzy knowing he was comfortably sleeping under the bed (sometimes snoring).  I hope we have many more years of hearing this sound that makes me smile. He is a great dog!

Well, I am going to keep it short today.  Here is another card for the Moxie Fab World square card sketch challenge...

I made the placement of my chipboard element/sentiment where the flower is in the sketch.  The tulle is where the sentiment is located in the sketch.

Everyone have a great night and a good start to your week!

Darla

Crafty day fun!

I was lucky enough to have the day off from work yesterday, so while Hope was in school I jumped into my scrapbook room head first and was in a creative frenzy.  I got one layout completed and 18 cards.  A few were for upcoming publication calls, some for some on-line challenges and others just for fun to use up  some of my scraps from the layout I created.

So the first challenge card I will share is from the Moxie Fab World blog-Shaped Sketch Challenge, based on this sketch...

Below is my card based on the sketch.

Well, it is early here, but I am VERY tired.  Hope tried out for the NutCracker ballet this morning.  This is the first time trying anything like this, so could be interesting.  All the girls that try out get a part and will be in one of the four performances.  Several of the other girls on the block also went down and will be in the show too.  I hope that we are in the same performance with at least one of them.

Then we went and watched the twins in a double header softball game this afternoon.  It was a beautiful day out, but we were all pretty tired after sitting outside most of the day in the sun.

So I think I am going to relax for a bit and hit the sack early.  Lots to get done tomorrow too...

Darla

Bueller...Bueller...Bueller...

Ok, I think I mentioned this a while back, but on our last day of our vacation in Chicago this summer, we were watching the movie Farris Bueller's Day Off.  Hope watched the whole movie with us and actually thought it was pretty good.  Of course, we did talk about how it wasn't right of him to skip school when he really wasn't sick, etc.

So since we saw the movie, when she doesn't answer me right away when I ask her a question I start saying Bueller...Bueller...Bueller in the Ben Stein drawling voice from the movie.  She thinks it is funny, so now she does it on purpose sometimes just to get me to say it.  That was the case yesterday when I picked her up from the after school program.  I asked how the first day of school was and all I got was silence.  I asked again and she finally said she wasn't going to tell me until I made her laugh, so then the Bueller's started coming.  Then she giggled and finally started to tell me about her day.

The kid is funny, what can I say.  Who knows how long this will continue.  :)

Went down to the corner to see her get off the bus, so I would know she got across the street safely.  She did just as she was supposed to do and waited for the driver to waive her across.  So I told her on Monday I will let her walk home on her own.  Nothing exciting reported so far, so we will see if she decides to remember anything later on.  :)

Well, here are a few more of the cards from my Authentique Paper scraps.  Enjoy!

I am off tomorrow and going to be doing some serious creating.  I had some VERY creative MOJO going on last night with lots of ideas I jotted down.  So starting tonight I am going to start to put those ideas into action.  Wish me luck on the continued MOJO for tonight and tomorrow!

Darla

The First Day of School-First Grade!

Hope had a great day today at school.  Although, I didn't make it to the end of the day without a phone call from her teacher.  I saw the number come up on my phone and new it was from her teacher.  You just never know what you are going to hear.  Luckily, it was typical Hope information.  :)

Her teacher called to let me know she had noticed that Hope had a hole in her pants and had suspected she had used her scissors to cut the hole.  I explained to her that it wasn't the first time this had happened and that maybe it would help if both of us reminded her that scissors were for cutting paper/crafts only and not on her clothes.  Good grief!

Other than that, her teacher said she had a GREAT day!  That is always good to hear.

So here are the pictures I took this morning...

She was very excited to see she had the same bus driver this year.  I was too.  He was really good last year and will keep her in line.  :)

She has already asked me if she can walk to the bus on her own tomorrow morning with the neighbor kids.  I will have to think about that one.  :)

When I picked her up at the after school program, we walked down to get a picture of her with her new locker.  As you can see she pretty much destroyed the pants...

...so my plan is to cut them off and make them shorts.  We will get a little more use out of them.  

Well, I mentioned yesterday that I created a layout using the new Authentique Paper line, which you can find here.

This is a layout using a new family photo of my niece's family.  Aren't they a beautiful family!

Here are a few detail shots of the layout...

The yellow area is actually a pocket, which holds the baby announcement for Kenton.  I wasn't sure if I would do a separate layout, but wanted to have a special place for it with this layout.  So I strategically placed my adhesive to create a pocket just big enough for the annoucement.

Well, that is all for today.  Of to figure out what to cook my hungry first grader for supper!  Have a good one!

Darla

In love with Gymnastics!

Hope started gymnastics tonight and had a BLAST!  I knew she would.  Joe was home with her today and she started going through her leotard selection process about three hours before class started.  I met them at the gym, but class had already started, so she finally noticed me looking through the window and was so excited to see me there.  She started waving and and went up and told her teacher I had made it.  It was pretty cute, but I had to hide behind the door so she would start paying attention again.  So I started peeking through the door window.  She did a really good job and had a lot of fun!  I think we are going to have a fun year of gymnastics!

Ok, folks, I have decided to jump into some scrapbook online challenges.  So here is my first go round...

On the Moxie Fab World blog, there is a weekly challenge called Tuesday Trigger.  The first one I am going to participate on is based on this photo.

There are so many beautiful elements and colors in this photo that can inspire so much inspiration.

I made a layout (will share that tomorrow) using the new Authentique Paper lines:  Blissful and Uncommon.  They actually blend together very nicely even though the papers are from different lines and are based on almost all the colors from the photo above.

So after I completed the layout I used the scraps to make several cards.  All of them have the colors inspired by the Tuesday Trigger photo above.  Love it!

These are a few of my favorites...

This card is not something I would normally consider a favorite.  I have troubles creating cards using bolder pattern papers.  So I kept the design simple and added an additional pop of the pink color to further compliment the yellow and greys in the paper.

If you are interested in throwing your projects into the challenge, check out the Moxie Fab World.

And check back over the next few days as I have several more cards and a layout to share with you using the same paper lines, colors and inspiration from the Tuesday Trigger photo.  Who knew you could get all that inspiration from just one photo.

Have a great night!

Darla

She has a locker!

Oh my!  We took Hope's school supplies in her first grade classroom and got to meet her teacher.  At first she was really shy, but once she started spotting some of her friends, she perked right up.  She even got to pick out her own locker for her stuff.  I didn't even think to take pictures.  I must be slipping.  We will get them eventually, so check back.

Hope was full of funny things tonight.  On the way to dinner, she says "Dad, we need to talk" all serious like.  She needed to tell him that I was the boss!  Yes!  It didn't last long when she started losing the battle of whether or not she was going to return to Best Buy with Joe to get the pillow pet she tried to talk him into earlier in the day.  Eventually he snuck off and she was satisfied by plastering her arm with temp. tattoos.  :)  We will have to scrub hard tomorrow night before the first day of school.

Then she said we needed to get the pink wafer cookies so she would have the same after school snack that she had last year.  So Joe was nice and stopped at Hy-Vee on his way home from Best Buy, probably so he can win the "boss" title tomorrow.  We will see how that goes.  :)

The other night before we headed up to bed, I caught Hope laying on her new art table watching a movie.  I guess it really is a multi-purpose table.

Anyway, not much else today, so will end with something scrappy to share.

This is a card that could be used for many occasions.  The sentiment was handwritten on a small tag and looks like a gift package.  Very easy to put together.

Well, that is it for tonight!  Have a great one!

Darla

A Day at the Lake!

Our friends invited us over for the day at their lake house.  It was a great day for it!

Joe and Steve took the jet skis out and later Joe came back to take me for a ride.

Hope decided she didn't want to take a ride.  She was too busy playing in the sand on their beach.

The other kids decided to go swimming, so Hope and I joined them out in the deeper water by their beach.

She was have fun jumping off the dock, but was too chicken to climb up the ladder because of spiders.  So I had to pull her up out of the water each time so she could jump right back in.

Later we took the pontoon boat out for a ride.  We stopped by the dam and jumped in for another swim.

Too bad the battery died on the boat when he turned the motor off.  So we had to flag down some other boaters to give us a tow back to the dock.

Hope and Ben took a couple of laps around the lake neighborhood in the golf cart.  I am pretty sure that Hope was giggling the entire time.

Her smile cracks me up right now with her two front teeth missing.  So stinkin cute!!!!

I don't think I have shared this card yet.  This is one that I entered in the State Fair.  It didn't win a ribbon, but I still like it.  :)

Well, Hope and I will be busy on some errands that I wasn't feeling up to on Friday.  She needs a haircut and a few new outfits to start the school year off right.  Then hopefully I will get some scrapbooking time in.  I did finish up a layout this morning before we left for the lake, while we were waiting for our new Direct TV to be installed.  I am excited that we got the DVR that you can pause in one room and start it in another room!  This is going to be awesome when some of my favorite shows come back on in the Fall (although they are getting few and far between after several of my favorites were canceled).

Well, that is all for tonight!  Hope you had a great day!

Darla

It was Smurf-a-tastic!

Hope and I went to see the Smurf movie today.  The Smurf's were my favorite cartoon when I was little, so I was excited to see the movie too.  It was very cute and there was plenty of adult humor too.

We also go Hope a new outfit for school.  It will probably be what she wears for her school picture, since it  has long sleeves it will probably be too warm to wear the first day of school.  So the search continues for a first day of school outfit.  I had to give up on the search because I wasn't feeling well...

...because I woke up covered head to toe in hives again.  Yesterday was the first day without the meds I started last week.  Well, obviously they didn't work and now the hives are worse than they were last week. I was miserable this morning with HUGE welts all over my body.  My hands were so swollen I could barely get my wedding ring off.  So off to the doctor we went again to try a longer dose of meds to see if we can get them under control.  He had some other ideas too if that doesn't work.  Keep your fingers crossed (again)!

So it is going to be a low key evening just laying around.  I did get a little snooze in, and not sure if the meds will make me sleepy or keep me awake.  So if I am up all night, I guess I will try and do some scrapbooking.

Well, here is one more card to share with you...

Here is hoping tomorrow is a better "feeling" day with less itching!

Darla

Hump Day!

We made through (most) of Wednesday!  Yeah.  Tomorrow is actually my Friday, so I need to get through one more long day and then my weekend can begin.

Hope is watching a video and they were singing "John Jacob Jinglehimerschmit"  His name is my name too...

Now I have this song stuck in my head and I bet you do too.  :)  Hehehehehe!

Nothing else too exciting to share today, so will just share a few more cards.

So how many times have you hummed the song so far?

Well, off to do something else for the evening!

Darla  

Perfect Day at the Fair!

I don't think I have ever gone to the Iowa State Fair and had such perfect weather.  It rained for a while this morning, so we didn't get there until around 11 am.  It wasn't crowded, it wasn't hot!  I couldn't believe it.  I hope I don't ever have to go back to the fair on a weekend again!  Maybe it was the weather.  No matter, this year was a great time at the Fair!  Here are some highlights of our day...

We got Hope the unlimited ride wristband, so we spent most of the first few hours riding.

She had fun, and we got our money's worth.

We also went down the big slide!  Also a tradition every year.  Hope and I screamed really loud!  :)

Here is Hope enjoying her ice cream (I got some homemade Peach ice cream - YUM!)  And showing off her tattoos!

Of course, this year celebrated the 100th year of the butter cow.  Every year, a cow (and other sculptures) are carved out of butter.

Another benefit of it not being busy...we actually went through the "little hands on the farm" exhibit.  The kids follow a path and get to pick veggies, etc.  

Ride tractors...

Milk a cow...

At the end you sell your goods at the farmer's market and get $1 to spend in the store for a small treat.  She chose a popsicle.

Also part of the 100 celebration of the butter cow, there were decorated cows all over the fair grounds.  This one is "dairy" potter.  :)  You know, like Harry Potter.  

Here are a few of Hope's favorites...

And as luck would have it...there was no line to see Clifford, so we walked right up and gave him a hug.  SWEET!

We finished the day off with riding the sky glider up the hill, checked out my scrapbook projects I entered (I got a few ribbons), looked at the sand sculptures...

...and the grand finale was to ride the Ye Old Mill.  This has been a ride my family has rode for many many years.  It isn't exciting, but a tradition none the less.  You float in a boat in the dark, and there are three openings with posters of years past.

We did go visit some of the animals too, where we saw a baby chick come out of its shell, baby sheep, goats, calves and pigs.  There were all very cute, but smelly too.  :)

Now it is time to go wash the smelly off of me too.

Goodnight!

Darla