Bling it On

Remembering Grandma...

2012-01-27T14:32:00.000-06:00

This morning we lost Joe's grandma. She had been suffering from congestive heart failure for the past few months. We are all sad and will miss her spunky attitude. This was a picture of her at her 93rd birthday party in September. She was doing great!

She was an avid Chicago Bulls fan! Joe was lucky to find this blanket and trash can to give her. She loved it!

She was quite the character. I have a lot of great memories...

1. Like when you play cards you always sit with the bathtub. I know what you are thinking...huh? This is something she always swore by when we played cards. Whoever was sitting in the same direction as the bathtub in the house was who would win. When someone was on a hot streak, she would laugh and say, oh you must be sitting with the bathtub.

2. We both loved reading...especially Janet Evonavich books. She thought they were funny and the grandma in those books (in some ways) reminded me of her. :)

3. She loved to crochet blankets and loved to give them away. We have a lot of wonderful afghans in our home that will keep us warm for many years to come that will remind me of her every time I use one.

4. She always had a huge garden and each year she said she wasn't going to plant one next year and she just couldn't help it and would plant one anyway. She always competed with her grandkids' gardens to see who had the first ripe tomato.

There are so many more great memories that I will hold in my heart. She was a great lady and will be missed. Thanks grandma for all the great memories.

Darla

Snuggies!

2012-01-25T20:51:00.000-06:00

Ok, have you heard of these things. :)

Today, we were so cold that we started joking about getting snuggles with our company logo on it. Hehehehe! Ok, I guess you had to be there, but trust me it was pretty funny! Love the leopard print!. Jeff, if you are reading this, I want one like this! :)

Ok, while I am writing this blog post, I am also watching the new show Touch, with Keifer Southerland. WOW! I think I like it. I hope it lasts. I actually haven't started watching a new show in years because every time I find something I LOVE, they cancel it. This has potential...to be good. Check it out!

Have also been watching American Idol. What was up with Magic Cyclops tonight? How weird and of course he was from IOWA. Good grief!

Alright, here are a few more cards to share...

These are both simple cards made from scraps. The one below is only pattern paper, the flowers and the sentiment button in the middle. It was just a matter of how I cut the pattern paper. EASY!

Alright, I have had enough for tonight!

Have a good one!

Darla

Faker!

2012-01-20T14:53:00.000-06:00

Got a call from the school nurse today. Hope wasn't feeling very good and she actually believed her because she has never tried to go home except when she really was sick. I guess she fooled the school nurse pretty good because she was totally faking it! She may have had a stomach ache, but I don't think it was because she was sick.

When we were walking out of the school she told me she hadn't had lunch yet. So, when we got home I asked what she thought she wanted to eat and she asked for (clue #1) ravioli. Good grief! So I insisted on chicken noodle soup.

Then after the soup finally cooled down for her to eat, she decided she needed to do (clue #2) jumping jacks between each bite. :) Are you suspicious yet? I know I am.

And now she is (clue #3) upstairs playing in her playroom. I know I should probably be making her suffer and just lay on the couch, but it is Friday so we are just going with the flow.

The jury is still out, but I am pretty sure she just had gas and not the flu. :) Oh well. I got to come home and snuggle up under a blanket and get nice a snuggly warm for the night.

Now that I have warmed up, I am going to do some scrapbooking.

Today is my niece Jody's 30th Birthday! So in honor of that occasion, here are two birthday cards to share with you!

Well, here is to some happy scrapbooking!

Darla

BRRRRRRR!

2012-01-19T19:24:00.000-06:00

Ok, winter has finally arrived and it is cold. So, we decided to go sledding! I know, but my neighbor called to see if Hope wanted to go, so we drove down to the neighborhood sledding hill. There was just enough snow to make it slick going to down the hill and fairly easy to get back up.

Here is some of the gang...

Here is Hope making her way up the hill...

As we arrived at the hill, one of the neighbor kids (Bruce-he is the one in the black/yellow hat below) sat down on a sled and I asked him if he was ready to go down, then I game him a small push and down he went. When he got to the bottom he was crying because he was scared. Oh man, I felt really bad.

Then somehow Hope convinced him to get on the sled with her and off they went. This time he LOVED it. Way to go Hope!

And here is Anna and Hope on one of the last runs!

Of course, the VERY last run I put the camera away and jumped on the sled with Hope. We flew down the hill. Boy, it was quite the workout getting back up the hill.

There is more snow in the forecast tonight, so maybe we will go back to the sledding hill this weekend. Maybe it will be warmer.

So here are two more cards I made recently...

I had a mixture of rub ons to use for these cards, so my idea with this one is when one of your friends needs a lift, bring her ice cream! :)

...so the inside says "always share their ice cream!!!"

This is a simple card that used the pattern paper as the card design with simple additions to finish it off.

Well, that is it for tonight! Hopefully Hope comes home soon from the neighbors. She ended up having supper with them after they had hot cocoa.

Good night!

Darla

Adoption-isms

2012-01-17T20:38:00.000-06:00

Last night, Hope and I were on our way to dance class and she told me I was a lucky mom. I told her thanks and agreed that I was a lucky mom, since I was her mom. Then she starts mumbling about other things and says, but you aren't my birth mom. Anyway, she kept mumbling and thinking out loud and finally asked, "Mom, which side of the family is Jessica (Hope's birth mom) from, your side or dad's?" I kind of chuckled and explained that she was kind of a third side of the family. Then Hope decided that she was from her own side of the family. I love how she thinks these things out loud with me. I know she is understanding more about what it means to be adopted and I love that none of it has to be a mystery to her.

Well, the weather here has been cold and snowy today. It is supposed to warm up again tomorrow and then snowy and cold again. YUCK! So to warm things up I made some cards from a summer paper line I have had in my scrap stash for quite some time (a couple of years). :)

I have had this transparent title for a few years and finally decided this was the perfect card to use it on.

This is actually a birthday card (below)...the inside reads "we all scream HAPPY BIRTHDAY!"

Well, I am going to relax in my warm cozy bed and read a book. I am just not in the mood to scrapbook tonight! Bummer!

Goodnight! Tomorrow will be a better day!

Darla

Life is Good Today...

2012-01-15T18:02:00.000-06:00

We had a pretty good weekend around here. I got to do some scrapbooking, I finished the book I was reading, went shopping and got to sleep in. It doesn't get much better than that! I really needed a weekend like that. Thanks Hope and Joe for helping it happen!

I haven't taken pictures of all the cards I made this weekend, but will share them soon.

Here is the last layout that will be included in a kit available at The Scrappy Gourmet (soon)!

Most of the product on this layout is from Pink Paislee. The chipboard letters were left as is (they are from the Mistables line) and I wanted them to just pop off the page.

I ended up using a letter "P" for the "d" in today, but if you purchase the kit you will have enough upper case "D"'s to use it if you want. I had a different title planned for one of the other pages and had inked the letters, but just couldn't make it work like I wanted to (so I changed it). Now I have inked letters that might work on a different page some day. :)

My title came from the Zac Brown Band song by the same name. The pictures pretty much depicted the chorus of the song (with my own G rated version). :)

That was such an awesome day and I know with true winter weather expected in my neck of the woods I am going to be wishing I was there this week!

Well, not much else, so will catch you later this week!

Darla

Hey, it's THAT guy!

2012-01-12T21:56:00.000-06:00

If you don't live around my neck of the woods, this will mean very little to you...

We went out to eat last night to celebrate Annie and Ally's birthday last night. They wanted to go to O'hana's Steak House. The commercials on tv show the owner doing his cooking "moves" at the hibachi grill and everyone and then he is shown all around town with everyone saying, hey it's THAT guy!

Well, we actually had Cy (you know THAT guy) for our chef last night. He was awesome and the food was even better! YUM! And the leftovers tonight were even better.

The girls ordered Smurf drinks. Hope really enjoyed her drink and ended up with Annie's too! Good grief, that is a LOT of sugar to deal with. :)

A good time was had by all!

Now that we have finished up with the birthday parties for a while (well we still are trying to get together for all the Winter birthday's), now I can finally get back to scrapbooking. That is exactly what I did tonight and it felt great! I pulled out an old bag of scraps and just started making cards. The ideas just started flowing and then it is time to go to bed. So I thought I would jump on the old blog quick before I hit the sack. Anyway, I ended up making five cards and have a lot more coordinating scraps from this batch to use up. Hopefully I will get back to them this weekend! Keep your fingers crossed.

Here is another layout coming soon to The Scrappy Gourmet.

Oh I so wish I was at that beach RIGHT NOW! It was a near perfect day. I have always wanted to just go to the beach, get a chair and just lay there and read, relax, eat and drink. And that is exactly what I got to do that day. PERFECT! Well, until it started raining. Even after it started raining, I met a group of people having out under the tent and we had a few more drinks. Fun times!

Well, I better head up to bed. One more sleep til the weekend!

Goodnight!

Darla

Golden Birthday!

2012-01-08T22:20:00.000-06:00

Hope had a great golden birthday this weekend! Joe went to wake her up on Saturday morning and she was sound asleep. He whispered in her ear Happy Birthday and she jumped up immediately and screamed "It's my golden birthday". It was pretty funny.

For those of you that don't know what a golden birthday is, it is when you turn the same age as the date of your birthday. So Hope turned 7 on the 7th.

She had a pretty good day. We started the day by opening her presents from Grandma Karen. We were chatting with her on FaceTime at the same time so she could watch her. Technology is AWESOME!

Joe made us pancakes and then we let hope unwrap her gifts. She got a chalkboard for her American Girl doll, school toys.

Here is the birthday girl with her balloons. She could hardly wait for her guests to arrive.

Here she is blowing out her candles on her birthday brownie. That is what she wanted! :)

Then we went out to eat at Red Lobster where she dined on macaroni and cheese, biscuits and mashed potatoes. The rest of us had something more fitting from Red Lobster. :) It was good.

Today's funny came tonight when we were entering church. Joe and I were signed up for the new membership class to join the church. Hope was to go to the daycare area. The last time she went there was when I went to an adoption group meeting. She asked why she we hadn't gotten her baby sister yet? Huh? I laughed and had no idea what to tell her. I hope she doesn't get her hopes up too much. I guess we will just see what God has in store for us in that area of our lives.

Did you see the new Scrappy Gourmet blog? Check it out.

I also have a new kit available there for all your great Disney Memories. You can buy it here. Here is what it looks like. You can see detailed shots in my Gallery at The Scrappy Gourmet.

That is it for tonight!

Darla

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T20:07:00.000-06:00

Well, here we are on the last day of the year. I can't complain too much about 2011. The only thing I hope for in 2012 is to figure out how to get rid of my hives. Yes, I have still been getting them once in a while. It is quite the mystery as one day I have a lot of them and the next day I may only have one or two. So wish me luck later in January to get it all figured out. Otherwise, it was a pretty good year. I am SO thankful for all the wonderful blessings in my life.

Now onto Hope's funny of the day...

On the way home from Cedar Falls, we were trying to figure out what we were going to have for your stay at home dinner tonight. Joe asked Hope what she wanted for supper and she exclaimed "but I haven't even had breakfast yet"! Of course, Joe and I cracked up!

It was a pretty quiet day. Joe did a little work, Hope and I did some crafting/scrapbooking and then cleaned up. We played the board game Life---I WON!---It pays to go to college! Hehehehe!

Speaking of scrapbooking, here is one of the layouts I finished up today. These were some of the pictures from Cancun this fall.

Below is a close up shot of the lizards we would see just hanging out on the sidewalks.

Here is the title. All of the products were from Pink Paislee.

I had a few pesos I brought home, so I used them on my page.

I distressed all of the edges of the pages (except the background paper).

Everyone be safe and I hope to see you visiting again in 2012!

Darla

Christmas fun...

2011-12-28T20:50:00.000-06:00

We had a great Christmas at our house and also with my family. We will be spending some time with Joe's family this coming weekend too. Hope had fun with all of her gifts and has played/worn/watched everything she got. Between Joe and one of us has been off each day this week so she didn't have to go to the school program. It has been nice to just stay home and relax.

This is a nutcracker (actually the rat king) we gave to Hope. Joe found it and we put her Nutcracker picture in a frame and I hot glued it to the sword. She loved it and carried it around like a doll for several days.

This was her Christmas morning when she first walked in and saw the presents from Santa.

I look really scary here, but Santa brought me the Harry Potter lego castle.

Here is Hope with her nutcracker.

We got Joe a spatula with a hawk eye on it.

Hope and I had a lot of fun putting the Harry Potter lego castle together. Maybe I will get her into Harry Potter yet. She laughs when I tell her about all the characters and that she is a Muggle. :)

I am so thankful my entire family was able to get together this year.

Grandma Deloris made a wedding dress for Hope's American Girl Doll. Her dolls have worn it several times the past few days.

We got Kenton a Cyclone football jersey. It was only appropriate that Kirk was holding him when that gift was opened, since he is from Missouri. :)

This little cutie is Kendal and she loved her pillow pet from Dawn.

Annie and Ally peeking over the top of their large gift (it was a basketball hoop).

This is one of the more organized looks into our living room and all the Christmas fun!

Hope and I are off tomorrow, so I am hoping tomorrow I get to do some scrapbooking. I think I might have some mojo coming my way!

Well, that pretty much wraps things up for this year.

Here is a sneak peek of a project coming to The Scrappy Gourmet soon.

This is a FUN project full of magical memories.

Have a good night!

Darla

Christmas Eve...

2011-12-24T11:06:00.000-06:00

Wow! Can you believe it is Christmas Eve? This year has just flown by.

Here is where Elfie has been hiding since I last posted...inside the curio cabinet...

...up in the fan...

...on the fireplace mantel...

...and his final spot was in the nativity scene watching over baby Jesus.

This one took her a while to find this morning, but she finally spotted him. Tonight Elfie will fly away with Santa and return to the North Pole until next year. We will miss you Elfie. Thanks for all the fun!

Today we are going to make cookies for Santa, go to the afternoon church service and then wrap some presents. Nothing like waiting to the last minute to wrap some presents. :)

Here are the last three Christmas cards I made this past season.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

I will be back in a few days to share our Christmas morning memories.

Darla

Elfie continued...

2011-12-19T19:57:00.000-06:00

Elfie has really come up with some good hiding places this year. Here are a few more locations...

This is where we found him this morning.

This is one I missed in my last post because I had to take the picture on my phone instead of my regular. He actually snuck into Hope's room that night when he came back. Most of the time he stays on the main level of the house. He must have needed to keep a close eye on her that night for some reason.

Keeping it short tonight because it is bed time (for Hope and myself).

Here is a Christmas card for your scrappy inspiration.

Later!

Darla

Firetruck Santa

2011-12-18T17:34:00.000-06:00

It was an exciting and long morning (yesterday) waiting for Santa to arrive in our neighborhood on a firetruck. We had time to make a batch of chex mix...YUM!

Finally, I went to the mail box to drop one last Christmas card in the mail and I could hear the sirens in another close by neighborhood. So, while we waited the girls decided to play outside with sidewalk chalk and play golf. Crazy, since it is December.

Here is a picture of all the kids and Santa!

Then the girls spent the afternoon playing!

I woke up with a cold yesterday and just kind of bummed around. This morning after we got home from church, Hope brought me a piece of paper. She had made me a get well card. How cute it that! That one is a keeper for sure!

Well, here is the latest on Elfie...he got cozy in one of the stockings we have hanging around the house...

...and must have hitched a ride back on this reindeer this night...

...and in the lampshade last night.

Can you believe that Christmas is next week. I think we are done shopping, but now just need to wrap presents.

Well, off to rest my tired bones and watch the finale of Survivor! I really don't have a favorite I want to win, but still enjoy watching how it all plays out!

Til next time...

Darla

December-Project 12

2011-12-15T19:44:00.000-06:00

Before I share my December P12 layout, I have to share this picture Hope drew this weekend.

It is a picture of herself in her Santa dress. This is the frame we usually put the Santa visit picture in, but I didn't buy one this year and I haven't taken the time to print one out. Not sure I will, because I love the one in there already. :)

Now onto the layout. Yes, I actually used pictures from December, but they are from last year 2010.

Here is the sketch...

I loved this sketch and used the My Minds Eye Christmas Lost & Found papers.

Here is a close up of the left side of the layout. Instead of the title and embellishments, I opted to add three more smaller photos of events during last December.

Here is a close up of the right side of the layout. Now if you look closely, you will notice the die cut from My Minds Eye is spelled incorrectly. If you purchased the die cut sheet (it is a 12 x 12 sheet) you can send an email to their customer service (click HERE for link to their blog and further information) and they have offered to send a new (corrected) die cut. I plan to just pull off the one showing and add the new one to the layout when I get it.

Thanks for stopping by and have a good one!

Darla

Well...

2011-12-14T19:08:00.001-06:00

...the snow has melted, the Christmas cookies are gone and Hope danced her little heart out in The Nutcracker!

Wow! It has been a busy week!

On Friday, Joe's mom came to town (for the show) and we went to visit Santa (and got our nails done)! :)

This was the easiest visit to Santa EVER! We walked up to the gate and I couldn't figure out why there wasn't a LONG line. We just walked right in, sat on his lap, I took a picture and we were off to get our nails done! I did ask how much it was to have a 5x7 picture printed. $22. WOW! Now I remember why we don't usually go to that mall to visit Santa! You have to stand off to the side to take your photo, which isn't a big deal. The lady actually yelled at me because I wasn't in the right spot, but there was a stroller in the way so I couldn't stand where I was supposed too. So much for holiday cheer! Good thing I didn't have to stand in line or my holiday cheer would have been gone too! :)

Then Saturday was performance day. All the kids did a great job and Hope was such a good baby mouse! We giggled the few times she was on stage. When the baby mice run across the stage, she was the last one across and the line got held up behind the curtain. So hope was pushing the girl in front of her and then she decided to look back and got mesmerized by what was going on stage and just stood there for a few seconds. Then at the end of the show when all the cast comes out to bow, she was tickling to person next to her while they were walking out and was totally oblivious that she was on stage. Too funny.

Below is her birth mom doing her hair for the show. We are so thankful that she was able to come up for the show and to help us with Hope's hair. I know it looked way better than if I had done it.

Here is a picture of Hope in front of the tree with her mouse make-up on. She had a great time and is already looking forward to doing it again next year.

I think because she got flowers from everyone in the family. This is just a small sampling of the flowers she received.

Well, now I better bring you all up to date on Elfie's adventures...

We have found him here on the mirror in the hallway...

...and here in the village again (I tried to take a photo so you could see the glow of the village)...

...and in the kitchen window...

...and here on top of my scrapbook cabinet.

We also found him way up on the ledge in the living room, but I forgot to take a picture of him before he flew away that night. :)

Ok, if you made it this far then good for you! Here is a Christmas card for a little scrappy inspiration too!

Have a good night!

Darla

Snow much fun!

2011-12-08T21:27:00.000-06:00

It started snowing here this evening after Hope got home from school. I told her to go look out back to see if it was snowing and she said she could see sparkles, but didn't think it was snowing...until she stuck her foot out and started moving it around. She was pretty excited, so excited that she ran out without a coat and started playing. Then she finally got cold after a minute and decided to come in and get a coat, hat, gloves and boots on and went to work shoveling the deck.

For some reason she thought it needed to be done (even though there is hardly any snow). Might have something to do with trying to earn one of these...

We baked cookies tonight for this weekend. And yes, those are Christmas cookies with purply-pink frosting. It was the color Hope picked out/created. I just went with it. :) The next batch will have traditional colored frosting.

...Or maybe she was trying to give something good for Elfie to report to Santa tonight. Here is where we found him this morning (Day 8)...

These are the lego sets that Hope had been building and we ended up putting them on top of her art center for now instead of taking them apart.

Here is a Christmas card I made a while back. I have had these papers for years and finally go around to making a few cards, but have a lot more I can make too. Maybe next year.

Since the snow is glistening'...I will end with that tonight!

Have a good one and stay warm!

Darla

Elfie & Project 12-November sketch

2011-12-07T19:21:00.000-06:00

Elfie continued his adventures in our house...

He landed on the top of the painting. I think we found him there last year too (I guess he is running out of hiding places). :)

It has been really cold here the past few days so...I am thinking warm thoughts while posting my November sketch layout. I used this layout as a general summer layout of all the various activities we did this summer.

Here is the november sketch:

I loved this sketch from the moment I saw it and I actually followed it pretty closely. Here is my layout...

I don't usually use such bright colors, but this layout just called for something different. The papers and stickers were from Echo Park and I used just a few other odds and ends from my stash.

Here are some detailed shots...I added the year using small stickers on the side of the "summer days" title after I took the picture.

When I printed my photos, I used the print function on iPhoto. I grouped all the photos I wanted to use into one folder and highlighted all of them to be printed. Then I chose to print out an index sheet of all of the pictures (which gave me another option to choose the size of the photos). Once I decided on how many to print per page I just had to click ok and all the pictures printed. It was actually pretty easy to do on my Mac computer.

I also had a lot of pictures that I took on my phone, so the small size of picture was great to use since the pixel quality isn't always the best when using your phone to take pictures.

That is my November P12 layout. I already have my December layout completed too. I used pictures from last Christmas that I had not scrapbooked, which included all of our preparation for Christmas. So, it will be my first layout during P12 that I actually used pictures from the month of the sketch (even though they are from last year). :)

I love how the layout turned out, so I will be sharing it soon.

On to funny news...Hope has developed magical powers tonight. Somehow she is managing to make the lights on the tree go on and off when she touches the tree. It is pretty cute!

That is all for tonight! Have a good one!

Darla

Cutest Baby Mouse!

2011-12-06T21:16:00.000-06:00

Tonight was our last rehearsal before the BIG show on Saturday for The Nutcracker. Is this not the cutest baby mouse EVER!

I was one of the helpers putting on make-up and each person was in charge of a color. Once I got the hang of it, it wasn't too difficult.

Then after I was done with make-up I was free to go up in the balcony and take some group photos of the rehearsal.

She was having a lot of fun!

On to other news...

On day four Elfie was found still in our tree. Oooops! I guess he didn't have anything good to report to Santa that night! :)

On day five, we found Elfie here...

...among the Christmas village Joe and Hope had set up that night. Hope made Elfie a note to take with him back to the North Pole when he made his journey home.

On day six, we found him on top of the fridge.

Well, now that we are up to date on Elfie's adventures I can share a few more cards with you.

Have a great night!

Darla

Trimming the Tree 2011

2011-12-03T15:36:00.000-06:00

We finally got around to putting up the tree last night. Joe was working later and Hope just couldn't wait to start putting it up. She remembered from last year how to follow the directions for the different colors on each level of the tree branches. She pretty much put up the entire tree on her own with just a little help from me.

Joe finally got home and helped us put the lights on the tree while I fluffed out each branch.

Hope had specific places she wanted each of her favorite ornaments.

Below she is adding to the "candy section" on the tree, where she put all the candy themed ornaments. Funny kid!

Here she is showing off the candy section along with a few other favorites of hers. Some of the ornaments are bunched together, but that is just the way she/we wanted it. :)

And now on the the Elfie updates...

On day 2, we found Elfie here...

...and since we put the tree up last night, we found him on day 3...at the top of the Christmas tree.

As you can see, we have lots of Hope tree ornaments. I love finding them with Hope's name on them and usually add a few each year. :)

Well, I need to go get my baby mouse ready for dress rehearsal for the Nutcracker (the show is next Saturday). I can't wait.

Here is another Christmas card to share with you too...

This is almost identical to one I shared the other day except it has different colors. Super easy when you have the right pattern papers.

Have a great night!

Darla

Look who is BACK!

2011-12-01T16:59:00.001-06:00

Elfie has returned for the 2011 Christmas season! Yeah! Look where we found him when we got home from school!

We had been home for quite some time and I asked Hope if she knew who stopped by for a visit last night. She got a strange look on her face and then asked if it was Elfie. She started running around the house trying to find him and found him on the fireplace mantel perched on her school picture. She was SO EXCITED and started screaming and laughing.

Then she went to work making him the card she gave to him telling him how much she loves him.

Now she is making matching crowns for her and Elfie. Too cute (even though she is supposed to be doing math, writing or reading). Oh well, she is writing anyway. :)

We are going to decorate tomorrow night and it is snowing outside right now.

Since we are talking about Christmas, here is another card to share with you!

Stay warm and cozy tonight!

Come back to follow the adventures of Elfie-2011! Where will we find him next?

Darla

Have you ever...

2011-11-28T20:11:00.000-06:00

...considered canceling Christmas? Well the way Hope is acting tonight, she may get a BIG surprise Christmas morning. :) Ok, I could never do it, but really she is being a pill tonight. Ugh!!!!!

Here is that cute picture of Colin in his dapper little hat.

Isn't he the cutest! :)

Anyway, I am keeping it short tonight because I want to go finish the book I am reading...The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks. I love his books and so far I have enjoyed this one. I think I need to make a trip to half price books again soon to stock up on some Sandra Brown books and see if I can find any of the books by Gregory Maguire, who wrote the book Wicked. I guess there are a total of four books in the series.

Here are a few more Christmas cards to give you some holiday spirit!

Here's hoping we don't have to cancel Christmas! Good grief Charlie Brown!

Darla

Thankful...cont.

2011-11-24T20:37:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a great day visiting my mother-in-law and part of my husband's family. Both his brother and sister had to work, so on our way into town we stopped to visit his brother Rick and his sister Kristine got off work just before we left town. We also stopped quickly to visit Great-Grandma, but she wasn't feeling well today, so we didn't stay very long. Overall, it was a nice visit and it was good to see everyone (sorry Julie we didn't make it to your store to visit) no matter how long the visit.

Here is a cute picture of Colin. The battery on my camera died and I have an even cuter picture of him in his dapper hat. I will try to share it tomorrow. Aren't those the cutest eyes! The puppy is what we got him for his birthday. It plays music and he was dancing with it. It was fun seeing him start to take some of his first steps.

Hope was busy making cards for everyone during our visit and she had a lot of fun playing with Colin.

And I was thankful that I still have the touch. I rocked Colin to sleep. He was so good today.

I have so many things to be thankful for this past year.

Tomorrow Hope and I are going to see the new Muppet Movie. I can't wait. I loved watching The Muppet Show when I was Hope's age. I remember being sick one time and I slept through the show and when i woke up I was mad mom didn't wake me up. Funny how I remember that! We listened to the Muppet Channel on Sirius radio on the way home. My favorite song was "Rainbow Connection".

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Darla

Thankful!

2011-11-23T21:16:00.000-06:00

I am so very thankful for so many things in my life! My family, friends, job, church...I am so grateful each and every one of you are in my life and everything you do for me.

There are lots of little things I am thankful for in my life too...

Hope has been playing with my old legos again and we have spent lots of hours this week building. I still love building with legos. See that "vintage" castle. :) That was one of my favorite sets. You can also see the train tracks too. We keep forgetting to stop and get batteries so we can make the train run on the tracks. It is pretty cool.

Hope also has the Toy Story lego train too. Both trains are sitting on the table inside the tracks. Fun stuff! I just wish they made more "girl" friendly legos, like a partner brand like Barbie sets like they do for Star Wars, etc. :) That would be fun too.

Anyway, tonight Hope and I made oatmeal cookies. They turned out PERFECT and oh so yummy!

While we baked cookies, we listened to some of her favorite songs on my iPhone, which includes: Kung Fu Fighting, All I want to do (by Sugarland) and a few Taylor Swift songs.

I am thankful that Hope loves to sing. On veteran's day, her class learned the song "Grand Old Flag" and she has been singing it over and over again! Love it! I keep trying to get her to let me record it, but no luck so far.

Here is a quick card to share...

May you have visions on deals on Black Friday, but you won't see me out there! Too crazy for me! :)

Anyway, have a great Thanksgiving!

Darla

What's Up?

2011-11-22T16:35:00.000-06:00

Not much to report here. Just working, getting Hope to dance, scrapbooking, working out, getting Hope to gymnastics, Christmas shopping...you know the normal stuff. Have you started Christmas shopping? I have. :)

Since there isn't much going on, keeping it short and sweet! Here are two similar Christmas cards to get you in the mood. :) The papers were from Bo-Bunny (from a few years ago).

Well, have a merry evening. :)

Darla

Football!

2011-11-20T19:09:00.000-06:00

Oh my! I am not a huge fan of watching lots of football, but this weekend I did my share of following a few games. Friday night, the Cyclones upset the #2 team to shake up the BCS standings. That was an exciting ending! Then another exciting game with the Hawkeyes and my alma mater team at UNI also won and took a share of the conference title! Way to go Panthers!

Anyway, between all those games, a long dance rehearsal for the Nutcracker (for Hope) and just trying to rest up I am exhausted! So I am going to keep it short tonight (just like the work week)! Oh yeah!

Here are a few more baby cards I made using the Simple Stories baby line.

Have a great night and will be back soon!

Darla

Happy Birthday Colin!

2011-11-18T19:35:00.000-06:00

A year ago yesterday, my nephew Colin was born. He was almost 8 weeks early and was delivered early because his mom had developed eclampsia (had moved beyond pre-eclampsia). It was pretty serious for both of them. Here is a picture of him a few days after he was born, in the NICU.

This was one of then first times Kristine got to hold him.

Luckily I can report that both are healthy one year later. So I wanted to celebrate Colin's first birthday, which was actually yesterday!

Look at this big BOY!

Isn't he CUTE!!!!! I can't wait to see him next week and see all his new "tricks".

Speaking of babies...I have another gift album for a co-worker that had a beautiful baby girl on Wednesday. Welcome to the world Grace Mae. Isn't that name beautiful.

Sorry for the badly lit pictures, but I wanted to share this tonight and forgot to get pictures when it was still daylight out. Oh well, you get the idea.

I used the Simple Stories baby line.

This is the inside cover, where they can put a picture of the baby. The rest of the album is the Fancy Pants Brag book with pocket pages, photo sleeves and journal pages.

I used almost every little scrap I had to make this project. I made those papers go a LONG way for projects, layouts, cards, etc. Check back over the next few days to see more baby projects I made using these papers.

Well, that is it for now. Everyone enjoy your weekend.

Darla

Project 12-October Layout

2011-11-17T16:51:00.001-06:00

Today I am going to share my layout using the October 2011 Project 12 sketch.

It is titled Dancing Queen. These were pictures of Hope dancing with Just for Kix a few years ago. They had several performances throughout the year, which included during the half time show of the D-League pro-basketball team here in town and a dance at a local mall. Then at the end of the year they did one dance at a small recital. She had a lot of fun.

Here are some detail shots of the layout...

...and heer is the Project 12 sketch the layout was based on.

I didn't have much journaling, so I used that area for a larger title. The space looked kind of bare, so I ended up adding another photo under the title too. And to include the small details, I used small letter stickers right on the photos to describe where each performance was happening.

Everything on the layout was from My Minds Eye, with the exception of the letter stickers, which were from Pink Paislee.

Speaking of dance, we are getting into performance week with the Nutcracker. This coming weekend she has a long rehearsal. I am helping out at this rehearsal, so I am sure by the time Saturday is done I am going to be tired! :) It will all be worth it because I know she is having fun.

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

Darla

Wicked!

2011-11-16T17:08:00.000-06:00

This word holds many meanings for me this week!

The best of all, was I got to see the musical Wicked! It was SO AWESOME! I loved the story line and how everything connected with the movie the Wizard of Oz (which was one of my favorites growing up). I caught a lot of the clues throughout the show because I have seen it so many times. Loved it! If you have not seen it and have the chance to do so, I highly recommend it. We had great seats and the show was fantastic. Thanks Debbie for getting the tickets and maybe next time you will feel up to coming with us. :)

You and tequila make me crazy....this is a whole other story, but those of you that know it can smile and giggle along with me. :)

Sunday night was a big party hosted by our church. This was a silly picture I captured of Hope while we were waiting to get in.

This is an expression I have seen her make a lot lately and it always makes me laugh.

Then on Monday I stopped taking a few of my meds I have been on for hives and luckily the hives have not come back, but going off the meds is making me a little crazy (aka WICKED). I think I am finally coming through the fog. I am keeping my fingers crossed that once I am done with the steroids too that I will have no more hives.

I forgot to mention that I got several pages done at the church scrapbook event. I had a lot of fun and look forward to the next one. I will get photos taken one of these days and share them here. The layouts were for the P12 project for October and November.

Then this week has just been the normal busy activities of dance, gymnastics, work, etc. You know, normal life stuff. So I am finally getting back to blogging.

We had Hope's school conferences last night with her teacher. I am happy to report that she is progressing just fine in school. She is actually a part of the gifted program for reading and math and we got more information on what she has been doing. I knew she was reading really good, and she is actually reading at a third grade level (she is in first grade). Now we need to work on her comprehension skills to go along with the reading. I am glad that she enjoys reading so much since I love reading too.

Well, I guess that is about it for now. I will share another Christmas card.

Have a good night!

Darla

I get to Scrapbook!

2011-11-10T16:46:00.000-06:00

I am pretty excited about this weekend, which has officially started since I am off tomorrow. I am helping organize a scrapbooking event/crop at my church and it will be all day tomorrow and part of Saturday. I am looking forward to getting a little time with fellow scrapbookers to get some stuff done. I always have bigger hopes of getting more done than I actually get done, but it is still making progress.

Today's Hopism...when she got off the bus I noticed she had a completely different outfit on than what she went to school in. Normally this means she probably had an accident at school, but today she announced that she jumped off a mound of snow and ended up falling in a puddle. Then all the way down the sidewalk from the bus stop, she jumped on every last pile of snow left in the yards (which isn't much).

Well, now she is wanting to play some games on Barbie.com website, so my share of computer time is up.

So I will end with another card.

Have a good night!

Darla

Loves to read!

2011-11-08T20:21:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday, Hope was waiting for me to finish eating breakfast so we could play a game of UNO Attack. She patiently occupied herself by picking up a book! She loves to read and is devouring books like crazy.

She is anxiously awaiting her most recent Scholastics book order. She is getting some of the rainbow fairy books, two books about horses and a stationary set. She could only get the stationary set if she promised to write letters to Great Grandma Weber and some of our other family members that live further away. And she will be using them to write thank you notes this year for her Christmas and birthday gifts. That is a habit I want to try and teach her early.

Anyway, the weather has been dreary around here for the past few days with constant rain. I think it is supposed to turn to SNOW by morning. I would only be happy about this if I didn't have to get up and go to work tomorrow. YUCK!

Anyway, speaking of snow, here is another Christmas card...

...again, this was a very simple card to make because I used the pre made stickers and matching cardstock papers from BoBunny.

Well, I am off to organize my projects for a crop this weekend!

Have a good one!

Darla

Where is Tom Turkey?

2011-11-03T20:14:00.000-05:00

Hope was excited to show me her homework project yesterday. She brought home a blank picture of a turkey with instructions for us to make a disguise for him so he wouldn't end up on the Thanksgiving Day dinner table. Hope came up with her own suggestion of using fabric to make him a princess.

So before she got home from school, I looked through my scrapbook supplies and found a few things. She was ok with one of them, which was actually an old hair tie that had broken. She wanted purple fabric. Well, before I was a scrapbooker I was a quilter, so we went up and raided my old fabric stash.

Here she is cutting up pieces to add to her turkey disguise.

And here is the finished project (or it was at one time). I think she added more to it after I took this picture.

Now I know my fabric stash is going to get some use. Since she likes to use the sewing machine, I might let her just start sewing pieces together. This will probably be a good project to do over Christmas break.

Speaking of Christmas...here is another card to share.

Well, I am off to get another project off my list...ordering pictures from Shutterfly. It has been months, so it will be a pretty BIG order.

Darla

Christmas List!

2011-11-02T18:28:00.000-05:00

Well, we have started getting all the major store fliers with the big toy sections, etc. so Hope has started making her Christmas list. And since she has had a good week so far, tonight we made a stop into Toys R Us to look around. We also needed to get a birthday gift for a party this Friday, so we got something for that too.

Anyway, she didn't go as crazy as she did last year pointing to EVERYTHING, especially if it was pink. There are a few things that I am sure I will pick up and others that will probably slip my mind. :)

She seemed to like the Squinkees???? What are these things? Are they just little playsets, or are they just the dispensers? I guess I don't get them????

I was totally bummed that she didn't want any legos, although she did seem interested in the general pink box of legos. She said we would get legos because I want all the Harry Potter legos. I know, I am still a kid at heart and would have a BLAST putting all those sets together. Santa, if you are listening...

She is really into art right now, so I will probably be getting some various supplies for that kind of activity. She has her own art area and loves being in it all the time, so we go through a lot of paint, paper, etc.

Speaking of art and crafting...she has become interested in sewing lately and is always asking for a sewing lesson. So this weekend we got it out again and I let her sew on paper. After a while, she had the hang of using it all on her own, so I went to work on some other projects on the computer.

She cut up lots of different papers and got to work on a special project.

Once she had the letters on each page, she sewed them all together to spell her name. :)

Then she ended up making a LOT more words and put those all together to say..."I love you mom, love Hope". It was very long, so I took it to work and hung it up in my office area.

Well, it has rained all day here. YUCK!

So I am going to share a bright and cheery card to end things tonight!

This was another SUPER easy card I made with scraps.

Well, that is all for tonight! Stay warm and dry!

Darla

You ate what????

2011-11-01T20:43:00.001-05:00

Hope got home today and was all excited because she had a good day. As we went through our normal routine she told me she only ate the "booger" (this is what it sounded like). I was like, What? Then she further explained that at lunch she only ate the burger between the bun, but not the bun. I had to laugh because my mind went to how I spelled it. :) Although it wouldn't be the first time she did that either.

Anyway, she told me what she ate at lunch. Sang me some songs while she ate her snack, told me about her eye test and just jabbered away.

We decided to go see if we could find any Halloween costume bargains. Hope was wanting to find a Tangled/Repunzell costume or maybe Strawberry Shortcake. We didn't find either of those, but we did come home with a Jasmine costume.

Before we left the house, she picked up a Junie B. Jones book and started reading. While we were driving around, she was reading. She is just devouring books and I LOVE it. She earned her Book It Pizza Hut pizza for October. She is off to a good start for November. She had her 20 minutes in before we got home from gymnastics.

On my own front, I survived my first day back at FXB. And so far, I am not as sore as I thought I would be, but I can tell the difference. Tomorrow is kickboxing, so I am ready to get it on! I am trying to get back into the nutrition too. Wish me luck on that!

Alright, now it is time to share a little holiday inspiration. I hear we are possibly supposed to get snow tomorrow. Yuck, but we do live in Iowa so better embrace it! It is going to come no matter what.

This card was made from BoBunny scraps from a line several years ago. I made a single page layout earlier this year and then immediately used all the scraps to make me some easy mailing Christmas cards.

Well, that is all for tonight!

Have a good one!

Darla

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T21:36:00.001-05:00

I have more holiday photos to share with you tonight. We carved our pumpkin on Saturday night. Joe and Hope worked on the design and got to carving. When they got to the mouth we decided it should only have three teeth since Hope is missing that many teeth right now. She thought that was funny.

The next morning, she got a pen out of the drawer and drew hair on the pumpkin and gave it a birthmark on the back so it looked more like her. Too funny! Love it!

Around here, we have beggars night so we had our trick or treating night on Sunday. This year Hope went out with some of the girls from the neighborhood that ride the bus together. They all had a great time and we were done in record time, 45 minutes. Not because it was cold, but they all kept running the entire time door to door. It was crazy! They all got a ton of candy too! Great for bribery this week anyway.

I forgot to share a group photo of my co-workers. We had our Halloween party/costume contest last Friday. We had a lot of fun!

There were some really great costumes. The whoopee cushion had a fart sound on her phone. It cracked us up ALL DAY LONG! :) There was Lady Gaga, Hermione Granger, Raggedy Ann, some spooky witch and other characters. Then my little office area (aka the party room) did Studio 54 and dressed from the 70's. We had a disco/light ball, beads hanging around, and lots of groovy music!

I will leave you tonight with a photo i took of a cobweb in the corner of our garage. I kept watching it and one night the light was just sparkling off it. It just looked cool.

That web was there for over a month before I got this picture and just a few short days later the wind picked up and it got blown apart. I guess I was just supposed to take that photo that night. I thought it was pretty cool. I guess I already said that didn't I. :)

My lazy days are over. I finally broke down and signed back up for FXB. I had been gone for about 2 months since I hadn't been feeling good. Well, I feel a little better, but not great. I think if I got moving again, maybe it would help. So back to getting up EARLY to go workout so I can get home in time to get Hope on the bus and get myself to work. I'm tired just thinking about it already.

Well, I hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween. Can you believe it is November? Goodness, where did this year go?

Well, I made more Christmas cards a while back, so I will start sharing some of those with you over the next few weeks.

Darla

Spooky stuff!

2011-10-30T15:12:00.000-05:00

Well, we have been in full party mode this week with Halloween upon us. The week started off with Hope dressing up for gymnastics class on Tuesday (she wore a Barbie dress up outfit, since it was like a leotard and would allow her to still do the gymnastics). Then on Wednesday they had a Halloween party at the after care program, and she decided to wear a witch costume we had around the house.

Friday afternoon was the Fall party at her school. I went to help and take pictures. The kids played a game to see who could make the best mummy with toilet paper. They had a lot of fun with this game. :) Here is one of the mummies.

They also got to do a craft. They made a spider from a sucker.

This is the scarecrow they made earlier in the day. This is Hope's hanging up in the window of her classroom.

Then on Friday night, we had the all school Monster Mash party. It was a lot of fun, but I was tired by the time we got home! :)

Hope was Smurfette! We started putting blue make-up on her face for the party and then I noticed that it wasn't washing off my finger. It was still VERY blue. Then she had a tiny sore on her chin and it was burning, so she freaked out and wanted it all washed off. You could still see the blue tint on her face until today.

At the Monster Mash they had all kinds of crafts, pumpkin decorating, etc.

We ate pizza and bought a few treats at the bakesale.

Then it was off to DANCE! Her face looks funny in this picture, but it looks like she is striking an Elvis dance move. She was definitely gettin her groove on to the music! We saw lots of her little friends and they all danced and chatted together. So fun!

Tonight we have trick-or-treat night (we do it one night early), so I think we are heading out with some of the girls from the neighborhood.

Amongst all of that, there hasn't been much time for crafting, but did you see this...

Check out page 36 and you might find this...

The distressed look was a total accident only because I embossed on paper with a white core. I didn't sand it or anything. Funny how those things happen.

Anyway, that is it for today! Have a great one!

Darla

Lil Smarty!

2011-10-23T20:38:00.001-05:00

I took Hope and the twins to the zoo for Night Eyes. We had a lot of fun. There were a lot of comments about Hope's costume. She was Smurfette!

She kept getting upset when kids and adults would say "Hi Smurfette"! She would huff and say my name is Hope. :) Silly kid.

Anyway, to get back to the title of the post...On the way home Hope says-Mom, I am not feeling very smart right now. Me-why don't you feel smart right now? Hope-I think I need to eat some Smarties. She was trying everything she could think of to get one more piece of candy. I laughed and then said - NO! She had eaten half her candy before we got to the van.

The pictures are jumbled, but I am too tired to arrange them in the order we did them. You get what you get...

Anyway, here is Annie and Ally posing with a ghost.

Here are the three of them working their way through the maze.

On one of the paths we found a rainbow and Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Hope got really excited when we came around the corner and saw the rainbow.

On scarecrow lane the girls shook the hands of each one and said nice to meet you to each one.

As we were leaving they had some guys spinning plates. They would get them started and let the kids hold them. I love Hope's face in this picture. Priceless!

Here is all three of them with plates.

They had an area with inflatables and a playset. They all had fun jumping and playing, etc.

We also took a ride on the Haunted train around the zoo. It wasn't that spooky in the day time. :)

Since it was such a beautiful day, I will share a nice and bright card. This is one of Hope's favorite cards right now. She loves everything rainbow.

I made this card by putting strips of sticky tape on a scratch piece of paper. I took one tape at a time and covered it with micro beads until they were all covered. Then I just added the sentiment to a banner and drew an edge around the outside of the card.

Well, I am pretty tired, so calling it a night.

Hope you had a great weekend!

Darla

Everybody was...

2011-10-21T21:47:00.000-05:00

Kung Fu Fighting! Hope has been obsessed with this song lately. Her teacher was singing it the other day at recess and for some reason I was singing it at home too and she thought it was funny and wanted me to sing the whole song. Well, I didn't really know all the words, so I remembered I had it on my iPhone song list (don't laugh). :) So she played the song over and over and over and over...you get the picture.

The other day when she came home from school she was walking down the hall stripping her clothes off to change for dance class and she started shakin' her behind at me and singing "shake your booty, shake your booty yeah yeah"! I started laughing and said the words were actually shake our groove thing...although they do sound similar. The funny part was how she was shakin it and gettin' her groove on! She has some crazy dance moves.

Well we made it to the end of the week. I have a LOT of things I need to do tomorrow. I need to clean, plant spring bulbs (before it gets any colder/frost), pull up all the summer flowers, etc. Then we have dance rehearsal and Hope is off to spend the night with my sister. I have some friends from HS coming into town and we are going to go to a piano bar. Should be a lot of fun catching up with everyone. I haven't seen them in a long time. On Sunday I am going to take Hope and the twins to the Halloween event at the zoo. I think the weather is going to be nice so should be a good time.

Speaking of animals...here is a layout I created with pictures of the animals we see when we visit Grandma Karen. She loves putting out food for the squirrels and birds and we always seem to get some great photos of them.

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

Darla

Cheery card...

2011-10-20T21:40:00.000-05:00

...on a cold and blustery day. It was COLD this morning walking Hope to the bus. Oh my, I am SO not ready for winter, but I think it is going to come if I am ready or not. It is supposed to warm up again this weekend, so I might have one last chance to get my bulbs planted. Nothing like waiting til the last minute.

Hope has been on a silly streak lately and she will say things that just make me crack up. Usually I remember it and put it in my blog. Well, all the meds I am on right now for my hives must be fogging my brain because I can't remember any of them. BUMMER! Oh well.

We did get an email from her teacher the other day telling us about her "difficult" day. Just several minor things, but overall it wasn't a great day. We talked about it and the next day she had a much better day. I guess those kind of days are to be expected. I know I even have them every so often.

Well, I have a lot of misc. cards from various projects I have shared over the past few weeks and months that I need to share. So here are a two of them made from the Easter layout using MME scraps.

I thought these were bring and cheery for the long dreary day we had today (although the sun did come out later this afternoon).

Have a good night!

Darla

Friends...

2011-10-19T20:35:00.000-05:00

Hope and our neighbor are BFF's pretty much from the day they met when they moved in just over a year ago. I was so happy when they moved in too because I gained a friend too. I love their family.

Anyway, here is a layout of the girls from last fall during one of their many play dates.

It cracks me up that Hope is actually several months older than Anna, yet Anna is almost a head taller than her. They don't care! :)

I love hearing them play together laughing, roll playing with dolls, etc and yes they even have disagreements. Through it all they always end up BFF's!

Well, that is it for tonight!

Goodnight!

Darla

A horse of course!

2011-10-18T20:18:00.000-05:00

On the way home tonight from gymnastics Hop saw a horse out in the pasture. She said mom grandma Deloris should get a horse. I just laughed and told her she should ask her the next time she sees her. :). I am sure that will go over well. Hehehe!

Today started off crazy, had one tiny bout of good luck and took a huge plunge down hill from there. I am glad it is nearly over. I will try and be back tomorrow to share another project. My new meds for my hives are kicking in so off to go to sleep.

Goodnight!

Darla

Project 12-September layout

2011-10-17T17:07:00.000-05:00

I have had this layout done for quite some time, but just haven't taken the time to share it. So I guess today is the day!

Here is the sketch it was based on...

...and here is my layout.

These pictures were from our first ice skating experience. We had a lot of fun. I loved the colors of these papers from My Minds Eye and thought they were great to use with these photos.

Here are some detail shots of the layout...

I painted the snowflakes white and then sprinkled on glitter for some extra shimmer to the layout.

I found these ice skate stickers to use on this page, so I put them in the middle of all the snowflakes.

Yeah, another layout done that has been in the waiting for quite some time. I finally finished up all layouts I wanted to create for 2008 and 2009. I only have a few left for 2010. I have done a few layouts already for 2011. I like to jump all over and do what I am inspired to do. Sometimes it is a sketch that will work with a set of photos or maybe a new line of papers that works perfect for a set of photos that have been waiting for their turn to be scrapbooked (like these pictures). How about you?

Anyway, I need to get going to pick up Hope at dance class. Have a good night!

Darla

Hawkeye Fans!

2011-10-16T21:54:00.000-05:00

Well, I have been waiting until the right time to share this layout. Joe has "brainwashed" our daughter into being a Hawkeye fan. I have no problem rooting for the Hawks when they are not playing one of the other in state rival teams, but we are on opposing teams when the Hawks play my alma mater UNI or even the ISU Cyclones.

Well, the Hawks played a pretty good game last night, so I thought I would share this layout about Hope and Joe being Hawkeye fans.

I actually used a lot of the MME-Sunshine papers, the houndstooth, stripe and glittered circle punch. The chevron stripe is actually the back side of a Coordinations paper (the front was actually brown).

Yesterday we went to a local orchard/pumpkin patch. It was pretty chilly when we first arrived, but it warmed up as the day went on.

Our first activity was the jumping pillow. That definitely warmed me up. It is the coolest thing, it is like a trampoline and you jump on it.

Here is Hope in the kiddie hay maze.

I went down the big slide with the kids. I think I may have had the most fun! :)

Then we did the apple slingshot. See Hope's apple flying!

Here is Annie and Ally shooting their apples too.

Then we took a tractor ride out to the corn maze. This was our first year of trying it.

We were given a sheet to find certain items within the maze.

We found all of the items except the pig and we went through the maze twice. We have no clue where we missed the pig!

Then we grabbed a bite to eat and the kids took a swim i the corn pool.

They had a lot of fun jumping in over and over and burying each other in corn.

Then we checked out the animals...

...rang the bell at the school house...

...and Hope rode a tractor.

We had a great day. We finished off the day by picking out some pumpkins, honey crisp apples and an apple pie. YUM! It was good!

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

Darla

All bets are in...

2011-10-13T21:38:00.000-05:00

For those of you that placed a bet that more gems would be discovered in Hope's ear would have lost your bet (myself included). :). There were no more foreign bodies in her ear, but it was irritated by it being in there. So we got some drops for swimmers ear that should clear it up and got her flu shot taken care while we were there too.

Well, not much else going on, so I will share my last Halloween card. It was the easiest card of all to make.

Hopefully it didn't scare you too bad! :)

Well, I am off to bed.

Goodnight!

Darla

My ear hurts!

2011-10-12T21:31:00.001-05:00

Tonight while we were eating supper, Hope told me her ear hurt and then proceeded to tell me something was in there. At first she denied putting it in there. That something was a gem she had torn off her jeans today at school. Good grief! So I got my handy tweezers out and retrieved it out of her ear. A little bit later she said her ear still hurts. So I keep asking her if she put more than one gem in her ear and she said no. Finally after several more complaints about her ear I broke down and gave her some ibuprofen. I guess we will see how she is in the morning. I have a feeling we are headed to the doctor in the morning. Anyone want to bet we find more gems in her ear? I would not be surprised.

Here is another fun Halloween card I made a while back. These are from old Cosmo Cricket papers from several years ago. I still have a bunch left over, so I might end up making even more cards.

More fun news...I got an email to have another project published early next year. How fun!

This past weekend, Hope picked me some flowers to decorate our bathroom. How thoughtful!

Well, that is all for tonight! Have a good one.

Darla

Beautiful Fall!

2011-10-09T22:05:00.000-05:00

Wow, the weather we have been having has been fantastic! I think we are going to have a small dip in temps this week, but still very nice.

Hope and the neighbor girls played out back on Friday night. BFF's

This is our neighbor's tree. The sunset was so beautifully lighting the leaves in the tree.

This is our dog Reilly. He loves to peek in the neighbor's back fence looking for their dog Buddy.

He even sits there waiting to see Buddy. :)

After the girls went home, Hope decided to get on her glider. She had a goal...

She was trying to get high enough to see in another neighbor's yard. She finally met her goal. :)

Today, after church and lunch, the twins came over to play. It was so nice out they went out back to play in the leaves.

Well, now that we are into October, I have a few more Halloween cards to share over the next few days.

This was one of my favorite cards I made for Halloween. The spider is suspended in a punched out circle on the front of the card.

The spider web gem sticker is on the inside of the card.

I will try and get some projects photographed this week to start sharing with you later this week.

Hope you have a good one!

Darla

Oh bloody 'ell!

2011-10-07T18:47:00.001-05:00

This is a phrase that was said multiple times by someone I met in Cancun, so it became my catch phrase. In tonight's post, it has double meaning.

Before I start sharing a few pictures of my trip to Cancun, I have to share a few from last night. Hope lost another tooth, and it was a bloody mess this time. :) She had a loose tooth, but was opening a package of fruit snacks and it got caught on the loose tooth and got yanked out. She started screaming to get her a rag, etc......

So here is her new smile...

...so now she has lost the front two top teeth and the bottom two teeth (one has grown in already). So cute!

So, now onto Cancun...

Here I am with my toes in the ocean and sand.

Here is Dawn and I toasting to our trip.

Here we are in front of the Hard Rock Cafe sign.

My last day there, I went to the beach on my own. This was my view from my chair. Ahhhhh!

I had a cabana boy bringing me drinks, soaking up some sun, reading my book, etc. This was my perfect idea of a day of vacation!

The cabana guys also brought by menus and went to go get food for me. It was GOOD!

Then later in the day it started to cloud up and eventually started to rain. I headed up to hang out under the tent on the beach while I waited for Dawn to meet me for supper. She found me having drinks with some new friends in the tent area. It was pretty crazy.

They even put away the bar...there it goes!

Dawn and I took a few walks to the mall nearby. As we walked along, we kept seeing iguanas peeking out at us from under the sidewalk. One even came out to say hi! :)

Well, that is all for tonight! I will be back this weekend to share some scrapbooking projects. Have a good night!

Darla

You probably didn't know...

2011-10-04T20:58:00.001-05:00

...but I have been making posts from Cancun over the past week. I am heading home tomorrow. I finally got a long deserved day at the beach. My favorite kind, a lounge chair, a book and a cabana "guy" bringing me margaritas! My day ended kind of crazy. It started to get cloudy and I asked Mario if it was going to rain. Of course he said no. Well eventually it did start to rain and actually turned into a thunderstorm just like I was back home. Several of us took shelter under the tent on the beach. Ironically, one couple was also from Iowa. We sat there for a few hours while it rained and just had fun chatting with all the others.

Eventually my sister showed up and we left to go to dinner. It was a great way to end my time here.

And more good news...we got upgraded to first class on our flights home too. We love you Drew! I had never flown first class before, but it is pretty awesome!

Here are a few cards I made a while back.

Well, I need to go finish packing. I will share pictures of my trip with my sister when I get home! Audios from Cancun! Buenos noches.

Darla

Tea Party mini album

2011-10-02T21:43:00.002-05:00

I am so excited to share this little album with you. Hope's birthday is right after Christmas, and she had gotten an Amerucan Girl doll and a matching dress. So we decided to invite the neighborhood girlfriends and cousins over for a tea party, along with their dolls.

When Maya Road came out with the tea pot chipboard album I knew I was goingto use the pictures from her party. Here is what I created.

I tried a few different things on the chipboard and it turned out good. I first painted it pink. Then used a swirl background stamp over the pink paint. It wasn't really the look I was going for, so I painted it with crackle medium, let dry and then covered with cream paint. The pink and some of the brown stamped swirls still peaked through, but overall it had the antique china look to it I was hoping for.

Then, to add some pattern paper I used a scallop circle punch for each page and just added pictures and other embellishments.

Enjoy!

Happy World Card Making Day!

2011-10-01T22:20:00.002-05:00

I finally got around to making some cards today, but by the time they were done it was too dark to take photos of them. I will share them with you soon.

So instead,I will share a few cards I made a while back. These were made with scraps from an Easter layout. I also made some other cards for some recent challenges.

Anyway, here they are...

These were actually two of the easiest cards I have ever made. The design is entirely how the pattern paper was printed. It was all a matter of how I cut the paper to make the cards. I only added a few details and they were complete.

On the second card I didn't have a small musical note,and I wanted to give the notion the bird was singing the sentiment on the card, so I hand drew the musical notes.

Hope had her costume fitting for The Nutcracker ballet ad then later had a rehearsal. I think she is really enjoying it.

Well, not much else going on. Have a good night and I hope you had a chance to make a few cards today yourself!

Darla

Cold showers!

2011-09-30T19:27:00.000-05:00

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...

2011-09-28T21:37:00.000-05:00

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

Darla

First class!

2011-09-26T20:33:00.000-05:00

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!!!

2011-09-23T22:49:00.000-05:00

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...

2011-09-18T15:42:00.002-05:00

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!

2011-09-17T11:00:00.002-05:00

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!!!

2011-09-16T13:48:00.001-05:00

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...

2011-09-11T17:13:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-09-05T18:37:00.000-05:00

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

2011-09-04T22:40:00.001-05:00

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!

2011-09-03T23:10:00.000-05:00

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...

2011-09-02T20:05:00.001-05:00

...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?

2011-09-01T16:21:00.000-05:00

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

STOP buggin me!

2011-08-31T17:29:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-08-30T19:20:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-08-29T18:21:00.000-05:00

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...

2011-08-28T17:44:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-08-27T20:38:00.000-05:00

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...

2011-08-25T15:56:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-08-24T17:52:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-08-23T21:52:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-08-22T22:04:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-08-20T22:43:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-08-19T18:19:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-08-17T18:44:00.000-05:00

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!

2011-08-16T20:33:00.000-05:00

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

We are keeping Tootheetina busy this week!

2011-08-15T21:39:00.000-05:00

Well, tooth number three came out (with a slight struggle) this evening. She has been working on it for the past few days and this afternoon it was literally hanging by a string.

By the way, Tootheetina is the name of our assigned tooth fairy. :) You know, from the book Silverlicious. If you haven't read it, check it out!

Here is my front toothless child. She is showing off the tooth she just pulled out. Well, I hope all she wants for Christmas is her two front teeth. All I want is healthy straight two front teeth!

So, what does "your" tooth fairy do with the teeth?

Everyone is back to good health in the family, so off to the fair we go tomorrow.

Also, got Hope signed up for dance and gymnastics for this fall/winter. I think she will have a lot of fun!

I will close tonight with a few more cards. This was my favorite card i created from the bunch.

This was using the same color palate, but a more dramatic look by using black card stock and embossing it for texture. The flower was a new technique I learned at CHA and had been wanting to try it for quite some time. Now I know how to make them.

Well, I am off to bed.

Goodnight!

Darla

Feeling Queasy? What's that?

2011-08-14T20:40:00.000-05:00

Hope was up sick last night, so not much sleep was had at our house last night. Oh well, she woke up and was only sick once today, so definitely on the mend. Both Joe and I have felt queasy all day. I always feel that way. Sympathy illness, I hope. :)

Anyway, Hope was worried about me eating lunch when I got home this afternoon. I told her I was going to wait a bit because my stomach was feeling queasy. She asked me what that meant. So had to explain that my tummy was upset too, but I didn't really feel like I was going to get sick. So I had to eat something to prove to her I wasn't sick. So far so good. :)

So maybe we will still take the afternoon and go to the Fair. We will have to see how everyone is doing.

Joe decided to water the back yard yesterday. Had two cardinals that were enjoying a cool summer bath as the sprinkler would pass over the branches they were sitting on. Then they would shake their feathers and wait for the water to come back. This is the mama bird. You can see the drops of water on the tree branches.

I made a few cards for a recent call, but didn't hear anything on them, so will share them here.

These were both really simple cards, which are my favorite to make.

Well, that is all for tonight!

Have a good one, and keep your figures crossed for good health!

Darla

My first published project!!!

2011-08-13T18:56:00.000-05:00

Ok, I have had this idea book since I went to CHA, and am just now getting around to sharing it with you. Northridge publishing had lots of samples of their books and magazines currently available.

I knew I had my first mini album coming out soon. So I started flipping through the magazine, and THERE IT WAS! I was a little giddy seeing my work in an idea book.

Dawn, Kristi and I had a great time at the Jason Aldean concert. We were pretty far up, but found these great pictures on line.

The weather was great too. Had my first corn dog of the State Fair. Luckily I get to go back on Monday and will likely sample the mini donuts and probably some lemonade too. YUM!

Well, off to hang out for the night and enjoy more NICE weather. It is nearly perfect out.

Darla

Summer's End

2011-08-12T14:36:00.000-05:00

Well, summer is winding down for us. Today is Hope's last day in the summer program and then she starts school in just over a week. I can't believe she will be in first grade. Oh my! Seems like yesterday she was just in preschool.

So, here is a layout I created of her preschool graduation. The red background is from the Fancy Pants Beach Babe line. The rest is from the Simple Stories school line, which you can buy here.

Here are some detail shots of the title...

...and journaling.

Well, keeping it short today. Have a few more errands to run today and then head out to the Fair! I am going to have me a corn dog!

Darla

Tooth #2

2011-08-11T20:47:00.000-05:00

When I picked Hope up from the summer program this afternoon, she gave me a BIG grin. She had lost her 2nd tooth. She was very excited and they had it saved in a little baggie for her. This time we won't have to leave a note for the tooth fairy because her first tooth was lost out on the playground (in the snow) when it fell out. So tonight, the fairy will be flying in. Good thing she brushed her teeth this morning good to get all the sugar bugs out!

I have a feeling I am going to have a great Christmas photo this year. The tooth next to it is also really loose, so maybe all she will want for Christmas is her two front teeth. :)

Here is another layout I did a while ago. It is of her dance picture from a year ago.

It is a real simple layout. using MME paper and banner, a Prima flower, a chipboard crown from Maya Road and Glitter from Stampin Up.

Today was the first day of the State Fair! I have tickets to go to the Jason Aldean concert tomorrow night! Can't wait. It is sold out and going to be a great show. Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't storm and cancel the show. I have gone in the rain before, and they still play as long as there isn't lightening (it is an outdoor show). Here's to a good time with my sister and best friend!

Darla

Are you feeling dizzy?

2011-08-10T20:24:00.000-05:00

Hope was in rare form last night. Full of funny stuff!

It was such a beautiful night that we decided to sit out on the back deck and just enjoy it for a bit before bedtime. After a while, she grabbed my phone and started playing some of her games on there. Just before we went inside, she asked me "Are you feeling dizzy?". I wasn't really at the time since I was sitting down, so I said no. Then she said she was controlling the world with my phone. She pulled up a solar system app on my phone and had the world up on the screen. She was making it spin and spin and spin....you get the picture. Anyway, so I played along as we went inside and asked daddy if he was feeling dizzy. How about you? Feeling Dizzy? :)

Then after they had gone up to bed, I heard her come down again. So, she hollers at me, "mom, dad needs to talk to you?". About what? It was about something on Friday. As he was responding back to the person on FB Hope and I were having a talk. She was sitting on my lap and the topic of "boobies" came up. She started poking at mine and I asked her to stop and then said, "Did you know that someday you will have boobies too?". Not sure where that came from, but I guess I was getting at something there. It turned in a funny direction.

Hope responds with "I will?!?!?!?"
Hope: Do daddy's have boobies?

Here is where we started laughing.

So cleverly, I respond that boys have peck muscles instead of boobies. Then went on further to say the muscle is actually called a pectoral muscles and that girls have them too. They are just hidden under our "boobies".

Then we all got the giggles, and she thought all of that was just hilarious. Who knows why?

Sorry if this is TMI for anyone, but I thought it was funny enough to share here. :)

Ok, here is another layout I completed this weekend.

This was the Santa picture from 2009. The only way we could get Annie close to see Santa was if we all went up together, including Grandma Deloris. Then she decided he wasn't so scary (she is the one on the far right).

I also got 15 cards from the scraps. This was a Bo Bunny line from a few years ago and some Pink Paislee chipboard letter/shapes. Pretty easy to put together.

Well after a couple of games of War and SlapJack, it is time to get Hope to bed.

Have a good one. I will share the cards with you soon, so check back.

Darla

P.S. Happy Birthday to my sister Debbie!

Isn't she cute!

Hives!

2011-08-09T18:00:00.000-05:00

Oh, how I despise them. Sometimes I go years and sometimes just months between my chronic outbreaks. Well, I have had small ones here and there over the past few years, but this time they are getting out of control again. So had to break down and go get some stronger meds at the doctor. They always make me feel yucky, but will hopefully go away soon.

Hope asked yesterday how old I was. So I told her. She said, Oh good, then next time we go to Adventureland you will be able to ride then planes with me. Dad had told her there was a sign saying you had to be under 55 to ride the planes. I am guessing it meant 55 lbs and not by age. :) Anyway, she continued on and said that the boy she rode the planes with was now her boyfriend. I asked her if she asked what his name was. No, but I really liked him, so I think he is going to be my boyfriend now. Oh boy. I have a feeling 1st grade is going to be filled with lots of boyfriends. We will see. Stay tuned for further updates on this topic...

Anyway, I will share my Project 12 July sketch layout. Here is the sketch it is based on.

And here is my layout...

It is kind of hard to see, but around the outside edge I decided to sew an alternating straight and zig-zag stitch. I like how it added just a little more detail to the layout.

Of course, Hope was interested in what I was doing with my sewing machine. So after I was done, we did some more sewing on paper. She got to push the petal and choose what stitch it was going to be. Now she wants to get it out all the time.

And just for fun, here is a card to share with you too.

I punched a circle from paper and ran it through my Xyron sticker maker. I wasn't sure how to start the spiral, so I put a button in the middle and started wrapping around it, switching colors to get the variegated look of a lollipop. When I got to the outside, just trim off edge. Then carefully, peel off the button in the center and fill in with more baker's twine. You could buy sucker sticks or here I used stickers from Pink Paislee. The blue one was actually a 3-D sticker and I just peeled off the top layer to use on the card. The pink one I left 3-D.

Alright, that is all I have for tonight! Have a good one.

Darla