Cold showers!

Have you ever had to take a cold shower? Hate it when I have to do that. Luckily today, the HOT water was flowing again! Tha made me a happy camper.

Anyway, just keeping it short. I have a few more cards to share from the 13 I did for a Tuesday Trigger a while back. I actually made vintage styled cards.

Have a good one!

Darla

Just cards...

Too tired to even talk about my day! Enjoy the cards! Goodnight!

Darla

First class!

Have you ever been upgraded to first class. As luck would have, my sister just bought a car from the guy at the ticket counter and he upgraded us on both our flights today! I enjoyed the complimentary wine on our second flight.

Keeping it short since we were up really early to travel. Will share more about it later.

Here are two cards I made a while back and just getting around to sharing them. Enjoy!

Have a good night!

Darla

So Busy!!!

Oh my goodness!  Life got the best of me this week, but I am happy to report that I met all my deadlines at work in time to take the day off today to go on Hope's field trip.  We went to a local park to learn about spiders and nature in general.  It was a lot of fun.  We went on a spider web hunt to look for different kinds of webs, a scavenger hunt and saw lots of great sites, had lunch, played on the playground and found bug, etc in nets and looked at them up close before setting them all free again.

I am SO tired, but it was a lot of fun.

I haven't shared anything in a while,  and I have completed a lot of projects lately.  Keep checking back as I will be sharing quick things over the next few weeks (more busy schedules to come until Christmas).  :)

This is a card we gave to Joe's mom for Grandparent's Day.  We were up spending the day with his family for Great Grandma's 93rd Birthday.

This next card is probably the dorkiest card I have ever created.  I was looking through my card sentiment stickers and saw this sentiment.  I immediately thought of the smiley face shirt in yellow that says Have a Nice Day, you know like on the movie Forrest Gump.  The back ground paper was using the painting made by Hope.  This card will eventually find the perfect recipient.  :)

Well, I have had a long day and think I am going to head off to bed.  Goodnight!

On the agenda for tomorrow:  haircut and pedicure!  Can't wait!

Darla

Birthmarks...

Yesterday Hope had a very intriguing question concerning the birthmark on her back.  She asked what color of brown it was.  I said it was brown/skin color.  She said is all of my skin going to turn brown?  I said no, just your birthmark is that color.  Then the best question of all...Mom, do I have a birthmark because I have a birth mom?

I loved how she made the association of the two things.  Of course I told her that just because she also has a birth mom isn't the reason she has a birthmark.

Today at church, the heart of the sermon today was about making special memories with your family.  So, after we ate lunch Hope and I made some cookies and now we are just hanging out.

The weather is turning cooler, so not much else going on around here.  I am looking forward to the trips we will make to the pumpkin patches and apple orchards.  YUM!  We always have a lot of fun.

Here are a few more cards I created with Hope's painting (see this post for more details)...

I actually figured out how to get the desktop icons back (yeah me!) thanks to Google.  So here is Hope's art that I used to create these cards and the ones I shared in the post linked above.

Hope and I are going to jam out to some Taylor Swift and do some crafting.  Have a good one!

Darla

Three Amigos!

Friday nights tend to be the night that my sister and I get together and have dinner.  Typically, Joe works late and she is usually too tired to cook so we end up calling each other to find out where we want to meet for dinner with the kids.  Well, last night was no different.  We had mexican food and then went to Nobbies to look at Halloween costume ideas.

Well, we ended up buying costumes for all the kids (before they were picked over).  They all got what they wanted.  Hope is going to be Smurfette, Ally is going to be a witch and Annie is going to be a Pirate.  They are all going to look awesome!

I didn't get any pictures of them in their costumes, but we did have a lot of fun looking around at the other halloween props.

I like BIG butts.... and I cannot lie....

Ok, we thought these were HILARIOUS!!!!!  They are actually pillows on one side and a BUTT on the other.  We tried to get all three girls to hold them up, but failed!  :)  They were too embarrassed.

And here are the original three amigos!  They were hilarious trying on these sombreros!  Hope was jumping around like a maniac, so I am surprised that I have a photo where she is not blurry!  :) Ole!

I am so glad that I have one sister that lives close enough to do spontaneous things like this.  I love it when we all get together and do fun things together.  I guess I am getting sentimental and need a weekend with my sisters.  If you are reading this SISTERS, let's plan a weekend to get together soon.  I miss you guys! 

Ok, in the spirit of Halloween, I do have a few Halloween cards that I made a while back and haven't shared yet!  These were all using scraps from my most recent Halloween page layouts and Halloween 2009 mini album (published in Create-Mini Albums) that was recently published by Scrapbook Trends.  Check it out!

This card the sentiment is actually on the inside of the card.  This image is the front...

...and this is the inside of the card.

Hope you are having a great weekend.  I am heading to work soon, and hope to do some scrapbooking later!  Keep your fingers crossed that it happens!  Have a good one!

Darla

Inspiration!!!

A few weeks ago, I got the email from PaperCrafts magazine on their most recent publication call.  I looked at all the categories and had no ideas, so for the moment decided I probably wouldn't create anything to submit.

Well, later that evening, Hope was painting at her table and I was scrapbooking.  She said "Mom, look at my painting" and in an instant I had a great idea.  One of the publication categories was "A Spectrum of Color", so her rainbow spectrum she had painted was the perfect inspiration.

After I put her to bed, I came back down and scanned in her painting. I would provide a picture of the scan, but due to technical difficulties (meaning my husband lost all of the files that were stored on the desktop) I am unable to download it to my blog at the moment.

I printed off the picture and started coming up with card ideas.  It was so exciting.  The next night Hope asked me why I had a copy of her picture on my scrapbook desk.  I told her I was going to make cards with it and she was so excited to know that I loved her painting that much.

Luckily, my cards were in a different folder, so I am going to share a few of them now.

The first card shows only a small area of the painting, but this was my favorite card I created.  Very clean and simple, which is typically my style.

The second card i wanted it to look like a window and you were looking out and seeing these beautiful spectrum of colors like a sunset or rainbow.

I have a few others I will keep sharing, so check back.  I am entering these into Amber's Reject Blog Hop. Hope you enjoyed my rejects today.  I know I had fun creating them and hopefully it will inspire you to look at your children's art work in a whole new light!

Darla

Remember...

I have seen a lot of posts on Facebook and other articles this week about September 11th, 2001.  It is a day that changed so many lives.  God bless all those that lost their lives, the loved one's they left behind and all those that helped in so many different ways that day and the days that followed.

Our church service today was very powerful as well.  I am so glad I was able to go to church today.

Hope started Sunday School today and will be in the same class as another one of her friends from school, so that will be fun for them.

It seems like we have been SUPER busy!  Meetings, church meetings, ballet meetings, just lots of meetings...

So not much scrapbooking going on, but I will share more of the cards I made a few weeks ago when I did have some free time.  These are two more cards (of the 13 I made) that were inspired by the Tuesday Trigger photo on the Moxie Fab World.

Everyone have a great night!

Darla

The windows are wide OPEN!

Oh, I love this cooler weather.  The neighborhood kids were all a buzz today riding bikes, making beautiful chalk artwork on our driveway, etc.

We stayed home today and just enjoyed the day doing "stuff".  Nice and relaxing, which is the way I like it.

Keeping it short tonight, but will share a few more cards...

I think these were two of my favorites.  Simple, with elegant details.

Enjoy the weather and have a good one!

Darla

Soul Surfer

I hardly ever sit down and watch a movie.  Usually, I watch/listen to older movies while I scrapbook sometimes, but most of the time I just can't get through a movie without some kind of interruption (AKA Hope).  :)  At church a few weeks ago, the minister showed a few clips from the movie Soul Surfer and it looked really good.  So I recorded from PPV and we took the time tonight to sit down and watch it.  Of course there were a few "interruptions", but luckily we could just pause the movie and get right back to it when we got settled in again.  Hope didn't see the beginning, but had lots of questions about Bethany's missing arm.  I am sure she will have more questions as she thinks about the movie and it's message.  If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it.  Great message!

Bethany answers a question from a reporter of if she could go back and decide not to go surfing that day, would she?  There are many days in my past that were difficult to get through, but if those moments hadn't happened I wouldn't be the person I am today or have the family I have today.  All those things happened for a reason and I just had to wait (or am still waiting) to understand why.  I am so blessed!

Today was a quiet day.  We went to church and then Joe went to the Hy-Vee triathlon to watch the competition.  Hope and I stayed home since I had a splitting headache.  Eventually, we went and got a few mums to plant in the pots out front and back and that was about as productive as I got.  Now the windows are open and I am loving the cool weather.  I am actually ready for fall and all the fun stuff that comes with it.  If only it would stay that way for longer and have a shorter (much shorter) winter.

Well, I will close things out with a few more of those cards inspired by the Tuesday Trigger photo.

I got my glue gun out and tried my hand at making some homemade flowers.  The teal flower was just flat ribbon.  I started in the middle and then just kept loosely twisting the ribbon until it had covered the entire circle punch.  then I just added the flower gem in the center.  I didn't add a sentiment to this card yet because I wasn't sure what I wanted to use.  Really it looks nice just the way it is and could be used for any kind of occasion.

The flower below was made from several layers of tulle.  I started with a small circle punch and started the tulle in the center.  Again, I just kept twisting it around until the entire circle punch was covered.  I seemed really thin to me, so then I added more glue on the top and kept circling the tulle over it until I was happy with how it looked.  And I finished it off with the gem flower in the center.

I think I am going to have to try my hand more often at making my own flowers.  It was a lot of fun.

Well, everyone out there have a safe Labor Day holiday.  I am going to enjoy my day off and maybe do some scrapbooking!  

Darla

One lousy point!

Oh, it was painful not being able to watch the UNI vs ISU game tonight, since it wasn't on tv, so I had to settle for watching gameplay on ESPN website.  It lists each play as it happens, so you have to use your imagination of what is happening.  :)  Anyway, it was even more painful waiting for the last tick of the clock to find out that my Panthers lost by ONE LOUSY POINT!  What a bummer!  Oh well!

Joe had a ticket to the game, so Hope and I were hanging out at home today.  The neighbor girl came over late this morning and was here most of the day.  They didn't even make it up to the play room.  They played some computer games, printed off some worksheets and did LOTS of art.  This gave me some time to do some scrapbooking off and on, between lunch and fixing snacks.  :)

I finished my September P12 layout, which I will share in a few weeks.  :)

I also started a mini-album, but it needed lots of drying time in between various applications of paint, stamping and crackle paint.  I will share when I get it done.

Ok, enough with the teasing of various projects I can't show you...

Here are a few more cards that were inspired by the Tuesday Trigger photo in my last post.  Enjoy!

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

Darla

A picture for...

...Mr.  Custer.  You might ask who is Mr. Custer.  That is Hope's bus driver.  He is the same one as last year and the kids really like him.  He is super nice and takes great care of the kids.  I noticed he had a welcome back poster taped to the ceiling in the bus when Hope got on the first day.  So last Friday, when the neighborhood kids got off the bus, they decided they wanted to make a picture for Mr. Custer.

So they ended up at our place and each of the three girls drew a part of the picture, and were so excited to give it to Mr. Custer on Monday morning.  Here is Hope holding the picture.  They drew a castle with a drawbridge, king & queen and princess, prince and royal dog.  :)

Here is Anna and Hope holding the picture just before the bus arrived.

Tonight when they got off the bus, they had this great idea to have a party at Elle's house.  They gathered all kinds of snacks to share, etc. and we all walked over to Elle's house.  Well, I guess they forgot to tell Elle they were having a party at her house.  :)  I had a feeling her mom didn't know anything about it and they had other plans going on tonight, so the party moved back over to our street.  I love that the weather is still nice and the kids just go back and forth between the houses.  I love our neighborhood!

So, since Hope was playing, that gave me a chance to create something for this weeks Tuesday Trigger over on the Moxie Fab World blog.  I dug DEEP into the paper archives.  The papers I used were from Daisy D's and I know I have had it at least 5 years or more.  :)  I had three sheets of paper and managed to stretch that into 13 cards.  WOW!  All inspired by this Tuesday Trigger photo...

There were so many things that inspired me in this photo.  I love the weathered wood/distressed/vintage look of the headboard and the banner.  I also had some flower ribbon I bought this winter similar to the pillow on the right.  So I just started pulling out product and got to creating.

Here are two cards..

The first one I focused on the love banner in the photo and the vintage overall feel.  I have never really tried to create vintage cards and it was kind of fun once I got the hang of it.  The collage type paper made it easier, so I just had to cut my paper to cover the entire card base.

Here is the second card...

This one pulled more from the pillow on the right.  This is the ribbon I mentioned.  It is really wide and I cut out all the flowers together as one unit.  Other than that, just tied tulle around the card and added a sentiment sticker.

Well, I am going to call it a night.  Keep checking back for more cards based on the Tuesday Trigger photo above.  Like I mentioned, I ended up with 13 total cards.  :)

Have a good night!

Darla

What is your ratio?

I was at the grocery store this afternoon and noticed the display for the candy corn and peanuts.  So of course I had to pick up this yummy fall snack to have around the house.  One of the many things I love about fall.  Wishing the temps would cool down just a bit and seem a little like fall.  It is REALLY hot here today and it is hard to believe it is September 1st.  Crazy.

Anyway, as I was eating my snack I noticed I like to make sure I have the perfect ratio of peanut to candy corn, which is two peanuts to one candy corn.  MMMMM Good!  So what is your peanut to candy corn ratio?????  :)  Leave me a comment and let me know.  Am I the only one????

And since it is September, that means it is time to share my August Project 12 layout.

Here is the sketch...

And here is my layout...

I used papers from one of my favorite companies, My Minds Eye with a few other things thrown in here and there to finish off the layout.

Well, I am off to see what I can find for supper, unless I decide to just eat peanuts and candy corn.  Supper of champions!

Darla