Card 7 - U R Wonderful

Happy Saturday!

Well, Hope and I didn't get the chance to go to the pool yesterday since it didn't open until 4pm (all the lifeguards were still in school because of all the snow days this summer)  Crazy!

So she went to preschool/daycare and I cleaned the house and worked on purging some of my scrapbook supplies to give to a friend.

Anyway, here is today's card.

I love how all the bright colors just came together to make this such a cheery card.  All the paper, chipboard word and large grommet were from We R Memory Keepers.  The glitter letter stickers were from Memory Makers, and I added red tulle, a button and a gem.

I have 2 more cards to share from this group of scraps, so keep checking back.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Darla

Card 6 - Super Star

I really stretched my scraps from this paper line and created some fun cards.  This card I mixed in some Basic Grey (green background).  I also cut the chipboard sticker to fit onto a standard card size.

I also love to use BLING, so I just had to add a little to the card for that extra added touch.  As I finished up the card, it still "needed something".  So I used a fine tip black pen and drew a border around the outside of the card.  That one small simple detail really made the whole card come together.

I am so excited that this summer I am going to have Friday's off.  So Hope and I are going to be heading to the pool on those days.  I can't wait.  I think we are going to get a family pass, so we can go in the evenings  and weekends too if we want to.  I remember growing up (at least in Jr & Sr. HS) I practically lived at the pool, which is pretty amazing considering we lived in the country about 15 miles from the closest pool.  Before I could drive, my mom would take me to the pool, and once I could drive, I was there everyday.  There are a lot of songs I hear from the 80's that remind me of those days.  Ah, the memories...

So, here are to the memories I wish to create with Hope this summer!  Make a SPLASH!

Darla 

Card 5 - Happy Birthday die cut card

This card was really fun to make.  I used the Stampin Up scallop circle Sizzix die to cut the card.  Fold your paper in half and make sure a small portion at the fold is on the inside of the die cut shape.  When you put it through your die cut machine, you will have a card cut for you.

This was inspired by a card submitted by Kim Moreno (Many Thanks) submitted to Cards Magazine.

The papers are still scraps from the We R Memory Keepers line mentioned previously.  I also used a flower from Prima and the brad was from Spare Parts.  The ribbon was recycled from a Victoria Secret purchase.  I think I got the ribbon to go with a gift box for a gift card at Christmas time.  :)

Making a shaped card was easy and a lot of fun.  I have a few more to share with you in the future.  Stay tuned for more cards....

Darla

Card 4 - BFF

Here is the second card I created using the scraps from We R Memory Keepers.  For this card, I also included a left over chipboard sticker and one of the large grommets that matched the papers.

This card could be used for many different things, since I didn't add a sentiment inside the card.  So I could send this card for a birthday of one of my BFF's, or a thank you card, or maybe even just thinking of you kind of card.  I like to have lots of cards like that on hand, because you just never know when you might need a card like this to send to a friend that just needs a "pick me up".

I have one more fun card to share using the same paper line, so check back tomorrow!

Have a great day!

Darla

Card 3 - Happy Birthday

These were scraps I had left over from the We R Memory Keepers papers I used for a project I made at The Scrappy Gourmet.  I also mixed in some of the exclusive We R Memory Keepers line offered by Archivers, since most of the colors matched the other line by the same company.  I love the bright colors, and knew they would be perfect for birthday cards.  

This card was inspired by a card submitted by Kim Moreno to Cards Magazine.  At the retreat (where I made this card), I received some birthday stickers and they were a perfect match with these papers.

On a side note, when I look through my magazines, I mark them with a post-it note to be cut out when I get the chance.  Usually, about once a month, I go through the magazines and cut out the pages I have marked.  Sometimes I like the entire card/layout, and other times it may be how the title was done, or a certain border/embellishment that I like.  After I cut out the pages, I use a 3-hole punch and add them to a binder.  I have the binder separated out into different categories:  titles, embellishments, tags, cards, borders, photo frames, mini albums, sketches, etc.

I draw a lot of inspiration from my binders.  I like to plan out my scrapbook pages when I am feeling creative, but still use various ideas from the pages I cut from the magazines.  So if you don't know what to do with all those old magazines, start going through them to find ideas and only keep the parts that really inspire you.  After I cut out the pages, I pass them on to my friends at work (who also scrapbook), so they might find something that inspires them too!

Happy Creating!

Darla

Memorial Day

Today I want to thank all of those who are currently serving or have served our country to protect our freedom.  Thank you for your service.

Last fall I had the opportunity to go on a Freedom Flight, sponsored by by husband's employer, Hy-Vee Food Stores.  The Freedom Flight takes WW II veterans to see their war memorial in Washington D.C.  My uncle went on the same trip we volunteered to help with.  It was so moving to see how much the veterans enjoyed the trip.

Here are a few pictures from the trip.

Above, is my Uncle Dean.  He was a pilot in WW II.  He flew in multiple missions in Europe until the end of the war.

This was the WW II monument.

There are 4000 gold starts on the Freedom Wall, which commemorate the more than 400,000 Americans who gave their lives in WW II. 

The U. S Capital.

Washington Monument

We got to see the last changing of the guard for the day at Arlington National Cemetery.

I hope everyone has a safe Memorial Day!

Darla

Card 2- Celebrate

As promised, here is the second card using the My Minds Eye paper.  The green is Kaiser Craft paper.  I used the Stampin Up butterfly & top note Sizzix die cuts, and Kaiser Craft & Jenny Bowlin pearls/pins.

This was inspired by a card submitted by Lynnette Kauffman to Cards Magazine. 

Again, this was a super easy card to create.  If you didn't want the bulk of the stick pins for the butterfly antenae, you could just use ribbon (& tie knots in the ends, or just a pen to draw in the details).

OK, that is all I have for today.  Have a great day, and check back in tomorrow for some VERY colorful cards.  They were a lot of fun to create. 

Darla 

Card 1-Thanks a Bunch

Happy Saturday!

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I spent a weekend a scrapbook retreat in the WI, Dells.  I typically have several layouts and/or projects planned out to work on over the weekend to make the most of my time there.  Well, with our trip to Disney I just didn't have the time to get anything planned out.  So I decided that I was just going to take scrap paper and embellishments to make cards.  I had been saving lots of ideas I had liked from my favorite magazines and books, and couldn't wait to put my own touches on them.  I hope you enjoy them as I share them with you over the next month, so keep checking back.

If a card was inspired by a specific submission to a magazine, I will try and quote who it was and what magazine it was in.  I want to give credit, where credit is due.  :)

Here is the first card I am going to share with you.

The cardstock was My Minds Eye, butterfly was punched from Chatterbox with the Martha Stewart punch.    I tied yellow tulle around the card.  I used the Stampin Up curly label punch, and used a  Stampin Up chocolate rub on (cut into sections to fit the punch).  The flower was a free gift from Archivers.  I added pearls to the butterfly to give it a finished touch.  It is a simple, but very nice thank you card.

Check back tomorrow, as I will have another card using the same scrap paper.  

It felt really good to use up some of my scrap paper, and I can't wait to start making more cards with my scraps.  It really jump started my creativity and now I want to create the cards after I finish the layout (instead of just putting the scraps in a folder for later).  It only took me 10 years to start using those scraps (ok, I have purged my scraps since I started, but still...)

Have a good day!

Darla

Graduation Day!

Today, Hope graduated from Pre-school.  They were all so cute in the construction paper caps and ribbon tassels.  They each received a diploma and an award to describe their personality.  Hope was awarded the Pinkalicious award because she likes to dress in pink and also practically has the book memorized.  It is one of her favorites.  :

We are very proud of everything she has learned "academically" this past year.  We still have a few "social" and "behavioral" things to work on before Kindergarten starts in the fall.  Please pray with me that we get her ADHD under control and find the medication that works best for her.

After the ceremony, Hope and I headed to get haircuts.  She has developed a REALLY bad habit of eating her hair (which is causing other issues), so we decided to get her hair cut short.  I didn't know if I could go through with cutting it short, but I made it.  It actually is REALLY cute!  How could it not be on her.  :)

So obviously the graduation picture is the BEFORE picture.  And here is the AFTER picture.  She actually yelled across the play area for me to come over and take her picture.  She is such a ham!

Of course, since it was her special day she wanted to go to the Mall.  We played for about 15 minutes then went to see the new Shrek movie.  It was pretty cute and had a great message:  Shrek learned you don't know what you have until you lose it.  Even though life gets crazy sometimes, it is still a great life, and I love everything about my life right now!

And after the movie we had to do some shopping and ended up with "Goldie" a white and gold horse from Build A Bear.  Luckily, the golden wing assessories were 50% off.  :)  

We finished off our day of fun by getting pedicures.  Ok, I had a pedicure and she got gold (yes she chose gold to match her BAB horse) polish for her toes.  We had a lot of fun, and I look forward to many years of fun days together (this summer) and for many years to come.

On a side note, she was very upset that she actually has to go back to her pre-school this summer.  She is SO ready to start Kindergarten.  I am going to have Fridays off this summer, so I am hoping to get to the pool at least once a week and maybe some evenings this summer with Hope.  I hope that is enough to convince her to finish out the summer, which she doesn't have a choice anyway because I have to work sometime.  :)

Ok, I have jabbered on long enough tonight.  I am going to start editing my photos of the cards I completed in WI at my scrapbook retreat and start posting them this weekend.  Have a good night and safe travels this weekend!

Also, in case you want to see some photos from our Disney trip, please visit our Share Shutterfly website to see the photos.  It is posted as a Favorite Link.

Darla

Fun in WI Dells

Wow, I get back from vacation and turned right around and went to a scrapbook retreat in WI.  I really needed a vacation, after my vacation.  :)

Anyway, I didn't have any pages planned out to work on while I was at the retreat, so I decided to take my scrap paper and make some cards.  I got several done, and will be sharing them over the next month.  I hope to get pictures taken of them all this weekend, so stay tuned...

Have a great Memorial Day Weekend.

Darla

What a MAGIC time we had...

Well, the past week we have been having a magical time at disney.  We all had a great time!  I was surprised at the things that Hope enjoy (& didn't enjoy), but overall we had a great time.

I really expected Hope to really get into meeting all the characters, especially the princesses and Tinker, but she just got really shy and froze.  I think the only pictures we have are of her with her hands over her face.  :)  Oh well.  The second day, she wore her Tinkerbell dress and wanted to go back to visit  Tinkerbell, and she was much better the second time around.  Tinker was very excited to see her dressed up like her and we thought she was going to scare Hope with her excitement, but Hope just rolled with the punches and enjoyed the visit that time.

The first day we visited Magic Kingdom.  About half way through the day Hope decided she needed a stroller, so we had a stroller the rest of our visit.  :)  We stood in long lines for the Dumbo ride and the Aladin magic carpet ride and to see the Fairies and princesses, and Jasmine that day.

The second day we went to Epcot.  We walked through each area dedicated to a different country, and Hope enjoyed the Fairy Butterfly garden art project and the Princess Tiana Garden too.  Finally, she said she wanted to go back to Magic Kingdom the rest of the day.  We went to see Tinkerbell Fairies again (over 60 minute wait) and thought Tinkerbell was going to attack you because Hope was dressed up in her Tinkerbell dress.  :)

The third day we went to Animal Kingdom.  We did the safari first thing, and explored the rest of the park. Later we went back to the hotel and swam.  It was slightly chilly since the sun was starting to set, and I was the lucky one that got to go swimming with Hope.  :)  It wasn't too bad if you stayed in the water.  Later I got to go to the hot tub to warm up after Hope went back to the room with Grandma Deloris.

We are so glad that Grandma Deloris got to go to Disney with us.  It was the first time for all of us to visit Magic Kingdom.  Joe and I went to Hollywood Studios (which was MGM Studios 15 years ago) on our Honeymoon, but didn't visit any of the other parks.  I am so glad that mom could come along and experience the MAGIC too.  Thanks Mom for all your help.

The last day we went to Hollywood Studios.  We saw the Little Mermaid show, rode the Toy Story Midway Mania ride (which was a lot of fun) and went to the Fantasmic Show (or something like that), that showed images on water, fireworks, Mickey Mouse, and so much more.  It was pretty cool.

My favorite parts of our trip included seeing all the characters up close,  the fireworks at Magic Kingdom with Tinkerbell flying through the air, and the lighted parade at Magic Kingdom.

We had a great trip and I hope you enjoy the pictures (to be posted soon).

Garage Sale Bargain!

OK, I don't usually go to garage sales because I work FT.  Well, every Spring, my neighborhood has a garage sale the weekend before "junk" day (where you can put anything out on the curb to be taken to the dump).  Anyway, I found this cute little wooden table for Hope's dolls (or animals) to have a tea party.

Isn't it cute?

This was the only thing we purchased on our walk the other night, but I think it was money well spent (only $10).  I had actually been looking for something similar to this, and had wanted to get it for Christmas last year, but didn't find anything.  Well, now her dolls are all set!  :)

We have a very busy weekend (good friends visiting, dance recital, circus and hot tub parties), so I hope to catch up with everyone next week.  Have a good one!  And hopefully you are lucky enough to be celebrating National Scrapbooking Day by actually scrapbooking!  Enjoy & Happy Creating!

Darla

Aren't they Pretty!

Ok, these are the BEFORE pictures of our kitchen and bathroom.  

Say goodbye to the UGLY white counter tops with the bright BLUE beveled edges.

And the white counters in the bathroom too!

And say hello to beautiful new countertops!!!  Aren't they PRETTY!!!

I love them, and just keep feeling them like I can't believe we finally did it.

We have had them for a week now, it they are AWESOME!

We extended the island to make a bar area.  Hope has already eaten at the counter several times the past few days.

Obviously, we need to fix the wall behind the old mirror (and we are looking for a larger mirror too).  I can't wait to have it all put back together again.  I love how warm and rich the kitchen now feels.

We have a very busy weekend coming up, so may not hear from me in a while.  I know (BIG SURPRISE).  :)  Have a great weekend!

Darla

I am on a roll...

Hello again!  More layouts to share.  

Sun & Lots of Fun was my 2008 Summer overview layout.  I usually like to make a mini album of all our everyday summer activities, and then I make just one overview layout for Hope's main album.  The products I used include:  My Minds Eye papers, Pink Paislee chipboard letters, Prima flower, Making Memories glitter number stickers, Misc-buttons, gems and ribbon.

The Dr. George layout was all about Hope's surgery to remove her cyst (in 2008).  There is a hidden tag that pulls up behind the large George picture (I forgot to take a picture of the pull out tag).  It has a picture of Hope's neck where you can really see the cyst and journaling about how brave she was during her hospital stay.  Products used:  My Minds Eye and Stampin Up papers, Ms. Grossman stickers, Making Memories chipboard and letter stickers and Misc. buttons.

My little Lady Bug focuses on how facinated Hope was with a ladybug we found crawling inside the house.  My how times change.  Just this morning she was freaking out about a fly in the house.

Products used:  Reminisce and Cosmo Cricket papers, My Minds Eye Transparency, Jenni Bowlin letter stickers and Misc-title letters, brads, lady bug stickers and buttons.

Well, that is all for today.  Enjoy!

Boo!

Ok, I know I am a little off on my seasons, but I am trying to get caught up on Hope's pages.  I am nearly done with 2008.  Yeah!  So here is a Halloween layout.

Products used:  Cosmo Cricket papers, stickers, black chipboard, ribbon; Making Memories paper, Fancy Pants glitter transparency, Pink Paislee glitter letters and Little Yellow Bicycle felt words.

My journaling tells a story that happened during that Fall, instead of the traditional Halloween journaling.    I had a lot of things I could have journaled about, but Hope had turned on one of the overhead lights in our van and it sat on overnight.  So when we got up the next morning to go to preshool the van wouldn't start.  Hope said a ghost must have gotten into the van and turned it on because she didn't do it.  :)

We haven't had any more ghosts to turn on the lights, but we still can't figure out who used an ink pen and wrote "hope" on the ceiling fabric of the van.  There is also a large "H" on the back of the headrest.  Good thing we love her, because she is FULL of lots of ideas like that!

Til next time!

Darla

Grandma & Me

Here is one last Pink Paislee layout using the Amber Road line.  Hope loves her Grandma Deloris, and luckily I got this great picture of them together.

Products used:  Pink Paislee papers, Prima gems and flower, Jenni Bowlin stick pin, My Minds Eye rubon, Tim Holtz ticket and Misc-ribbon.

Have a good day!  Darla

Sweet Thing

Ok, here is another layout.  I used more the same products as in my Thankful layout, with the addition of Martha Stewart punch, Prima flowers and Making Memories letter stickers.

The title "sweet thing" is on one of the journaling cards (actually 2).  I cut the words off the card and joined the plain areas together so it was big enough to put my title.  

I typically order my pictures from Shutterfly, so the pictures on the strip were cut from the index print provided by Shutterfly.  I had so many pictures I wanted to use, but just couldn't justify making a lot of pages just to scrapbook them.  :)  So I used the index prints.

I also love the new Jenni Bowlin stick pins.  I have bought them in several colors and can't wait to find the perfect layout to use them on!

I hope you enjoyed this layout.  I still have more to come in the following days...Have a great day!

Darla

Dancing Queen

Hope had a dance performance this afternoon at the mall.  She did a great job, and loved all the attention she got from her Grandmas, Aunts and Cousins who came to watch her.  One more to go next weekend and we are done with dance for the year.  

This was her dance class.  They were all SO cute!

I am sure Dance layouts will follow (someday).  You know, I am only 2 years behind at this point.  :)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. 

New Layouts...

OK, I finally have a moment to post some layouts I completed quite some time ago.  These are photos from 2008, which were taken the day before Hope was to have surgery to remove a cyst in her neck.  Luckily the cyst had shrunk enough you couldn't see it anymore, but when we first discovered it it was the size of a dime.  Very scary, because of course we jumped to the worst conclusion.  Luckily it is something that is fairly common in kids her age.

I used Pink Paislee papers, Jenni Bowlin stick pins, Tim Holtz ticket, Prima gems, Heidi Swapp (clear heart) and misc. flowers, buttons and ribbon.

I will post more layouts in the coming days.  Have a good weekend!

Darla

More Elton John photos...

Ok, I finally got some of them resized so I wouldn't overload my post with large photos.  Here are some of my favorites from the concert.  I can't wait to scrapbook them.  I am also going to make a shadow box to hold my ticket, which will be added to our concert signs in the basement.

During the last three songs, the front 3 rows were allowed to go up to the stage.  I handed my camera to a guy and asked him to get me and Elton both in the picture.  Then I took one of him on his camera.  

Below is my ticket, which was signed by Elton John himself.  :)

This boy ended up on stage, and the body guy started to come over and Elton said it was ok.  Then he went and took his hand and brought him over to the piano where he let him sit down beside him while he finished the song.  The kid (Brody) knew all the words to the songs and was just singing along.  I took some pictures on the off chance I might be able to get them to his family.  Luckily, my sister Dawn was standing by his dad and I got his email before we left.

Today, we had new counter tops installed in our kitchen.  They look awesome.  I will post pictures of the before/after tomorrow (or this weekend).  I hope everyone has a good night!

Darla