Sir Elton John...

Well, at the last minute, my sister Dawn decided to try and get us tickets for the Elton John concert last night.  She ended up getting 2nd row (just released) tickets, on the floor, center stage.  IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!

I have a lot of great pictures to post, but I need to resize them and no time to do it right now.  Hopefully tomorrow.  We had a great night!

Thanks Sir Elton John!

Darla

Kindergarten Experience

Hope visited her school (kind of) today and met the three Kindergarten teachers, one of which will be her teacher.  This past year they have been renovating the school she will go to, so she didn't actually get to see the school she will go to, but it was still good to meet some of her classmates and the teachers, etc.

She was so excited to show me the picture she made while spending time with the teachers and said they had a cookie too.  She asked when she got to go there all the time, and was also excited about the computers in the media room.

I also got to meet some of the other parents and chatted with them, and even found out some of them live right in my neighborhood.  It will be fun getting to know them better.

I can't believe my baby will be starting Kindergarten in the Fall!  She has grown up so fast.

On a scrappy note:

I finally got pictures taken of some recent layouts I completed.  NOW, I just need to find the time to post them on here.  Again, where does the time go!

Have a good night, and keep an eye out for my next posting!  You just never know when it will be!  Goodnight!

Darla

Coloring Eggs!

We had our family Easter celebration one week early!  The kids had fun coloring eggs.  They each got 6 eggs to dye, and when they were done they decided to dye them again by putting them back in the colors to make them darker.  Hope's hands were purple by the time she was done!

I hope everyone has a nice week leading up to Easter!

Darla

PANTHERS WIN!!!!!!!!

My UNI Panthers won their first round game tonight!!!!!!!  Woohoo!

Have a good night!

Darla

Three Years...

I can't believe it has been three years since we lost dad.  I know he is in a better place watching over all of us, but I still miss having him around. 

Mom, Debbie, Dee and Dawn I am thinking of all of you today!  Love all of you!

Darla

On a different tangent...GO UNI PANTHERS!  They are playing in the NCAA tournament tonight!

The snow is melting...

I am so glad to see signs of Spring!  There are only a few small areas of snow left in our yard and along the roads.  Hope and I even played outside today.  We made pictures with sidewalk chalk, and played hopscotch!  I hope you all enjoyed your weekend too.

Here are a few "snowy" layouts I did last weekend at a Retreat in Newton.  If you were there, it was great meeting all of you!  I can't wait for the next one.

I used the Fancy Pants "Frosted" papers.  I also used Martha Stewart micro beads on the snowflakes (thanks to Katie Watson for the inspiration).

I have a lot more layouts to share, so I will try and post them this week.  So check back. 

Darla

Oh the questions kids ask...

Tonight on the way home from preschool, Hope asked me...

Mom, did God create Fairies, like he did the animals and people?

At the time she was watching the Tinkerbell movie.  I couldn't help but giggle!

Last night, she also gave me an anatomy lesson.  She explained to me that boys go potty standing up and girls don't.  Then she optimistically said, maybe I will grow a "tail" (her description, which she came up with on her own).  Again, I giggled, and explained that only boys have "tails", etc.  hehehe!

Gotta love the questions kids ask!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday!  I started my day by going to work out.  On the front mirror was a cute little sign for me (& Amy) to celebrate our shared birthday.  The teacher tried to get our ages to do birthday push-up, but we managed to keep it a secret.  :)

My friends from work took me to lunch.  I chose Perkins, because I was hungry for PANCAKES!  They were good, but back on the diet tomorrow!!!!

Tonight, Joe made a nice salmon dinner and then I finally got to unwrap my gifts.  Hope and Joe had gone to Archivers and picked out something on their own.  I got a card scorer, which will be great since I have been making a lot more cards lately.  I also got a gift card to go back and buy more goodies!  YEAH!

This is a picture from my daughter's 5 year pictures.  I am working on a very cute project for The Scrappy Gourmet using these pictures!  I will share a sneak peek when I have more of it put together.  Until then....

I hope everyone is having a great February!  Have a Happy Valentine's Day!

Darla

I love to crop!

I had another chance to go scrapbooking with friends this weekend.  Here are the pages I completed.  Enjoy!

I hope everyone had a great weekend.  Until next time....

Darla

Happy New Year 2010

Here is a little something I created on New Year's Day! I used scraps I had left over from other projects. It is a small desktop calendar made from chipboard coasters. The calendar was something I bought from my local scrapbook store, but you could probably create one yourself on your computer. It is adhered at the top so each month can be torn off. At the end of the year, I plan to create (or buy) another calendar for 2011 and keep using it.

Here's to great things to come in 2010!

Darla

Sneak Peek

Here is a sneak peek of a new project HOT out of the oven for The Scrappy Gourmet.

Scrapbooking in Wisconsin Dells

These are the layouts I completed while I was scrapbooking with my friend Kristi in WI. We also visited the spa (it was fabulous), and had fun spending time together all weekend long with other fellow scrapbookers.

I had a lot of fun creating these pages, because I haven't taken the time to scrapbook my own pages (instead of designing for TSG). I have several TSG projects I am going to start working on now that I have these pages all completed. Until next time! Enjoy!

Darla

Butterfly cards

I know it is starting to feel like fall outside, but I had some left over paper from another project and I decided to make some cards. They have a SPRING feeling to them, so maybe I was wishing it was closer to the beginning of summer, rather than the end. Anyway, I am starting to look forward to cooler days and having some time to scrapbook while Joe and Hope watch football together. Yeah!

Anway, here are the cards I mentioned in my earlier post. I used some Stampin' Up rub-ons and punches, and the paper was all from Crate Paper. The Butterfly punch was Martha Stewart, and I think this is my new favorite punch.

Enjoy! Have a good night!

Darla

Technical Difficulties...

I am the September Featured Designer at The Scrappy Gourmet this month, but they are having technical problems with their website. They should have it up and running within the next few days. I already shared a few photos of the project, "Cherished Moments" in a previous post.

I also have some cards I worked on last week. I will post those as soon as I have the chance to get them photographed.

I also went to visit my sister Dee this weekend, and went shopping at The Scrappy Gourmet. I got lots of great stuff to work with, and can't wait to get started on several different projects.

What's Cooking????

Well, the only place I usually cook is in my scrappin kitchen, so go check out The Scrappy Gourmet to see what's cooking for September.

Keith Urban Video!

Here is a link to the Keith Urban video for, "Only You Can Love Me This Way". He shot the live concert footage in Des Moines, Iowa. I was at the concert, and it was awesome! He had to play the song twice to make sure they got enough footage for the video. That boy can play a guitar! Taylor Swift opened for him, and was awesome too! If you ever get a chance to see either of them, I HIGHLY recommend it. http://www.kjjy.com/goout.asp?u=http://www.keithurban.net/kutube.html?ma_id=&mc_id=316

Here are some pictures from concert! Enjoy!

The results are in!

I successfully completed the Farrell's Extreme Body Shaping 10 week class! I am please to say I improved in every area we were required to keep track of. I have a long ways to go to my ultimate goal, but I am well on my way to a healthier lifestyle.

My most impressive improvement was in the number of push-ups completed in one minute. On the initial testing, I only did 26. At the end of the 10 weeks, I completed 55! WOW! I also lost 3.25 inches in my waist.

I loved the class so much (after I got past the initial soreness), that I signed up for another year of classes.

I hope in the future I have more great results to share. Maybe now I can get back to scrapbooking again!

Newest Creation for The Scrappy Gourmet!

Cherish These Moments!

This is my latest project created for The Scrappy Gourmet, which will be the featured item in September. I am sharing just a few of the pages from inside the chipboard album. I used pregnancy photos of my niece, but this kit could also be used for wedding or any other "cherished memories" you want to scrapbook. Please look for this kit at http://www.thescrappygourmet.com/.

I created the entire album, gift bag, and two cards that all coordinate together.






This is the inside cover, and features my cute great-niece, Kendal.

I hope you like it! Have a good night!

Gift ideas!

The jar was purchased from Hobby Lobby. I added Fancy Pants rub-ons and accented with gems to jazz it up. These were gifts for my daughter's preschool teachers. Insde the jar is homemade "lotion potion", as Hope calls it.

Here is the recipe: 2 bottles of baby lotion, 2-8oz jars of Vitamin E cream, and one small jar of Vaseline. Combine all the ingredients, and use a mixer to make a nice smooth lotion consistency.

It is a great project to do with kids.


I used gift bags from the dollar store (gotta love that place)! I used scraps of Fancy Pants pattern paper, left over die cuts, gems flowers, etc. to jazz up the bags as well.

Overall, this was a very affordable gift, and would also make great gifts for grandma's, aunts, and friends! Enjoy!

Check out my new scrapping space!!!

I haven't done so good posting on my blog since I created it last fall, but I hope to do a little better. A lot of changes have gone on in my life! I got a new job with The Barrent Group as an Analyst and Marketing Assistant. I love it, because I get to do a mixture of analytical thinking and creative work too. It has helped me improve my technical knowledge. I am also in charge of keeping the website (http://www.barrentgroup.com/) up to date. It keeps me on my toes!

I have also been busy scrapbooking too, and I will try and share some of my projects from the past few months over the next few days/weeks as time allows.

Now for the best part! Joe got a really good deal on some office furniture, and I got it for my scrapbook room. It is awesome! I am still working on getting things organized, but am loving how things are working out. It is going to be so much more functional.