A Few of My Favorite Things

Up and Running

2011-07-09T20:12:00.000-07:00

All right folks, the new blog is up and running and ready for viewing! Be sure and stop by soon!

Thanks, see you soon!

JAG

Hello There

2011-07-06T17:20:00.000-07:00

Guess what?! I have been working up something new! I decided it was time for a new blog! See, I have this blog for all of my crafty stuff and hobbies, then we have a family blog where I blog about my most favorite things of all...my kids, my husband, and all our activites. I decided that I was getting bored of both blogs because neither were completely "me." I was tired of sharing only some of me on each blog, so it was time to combine.

So that is what I am working on. It really isn't much, but it is all of me in one place, and I am quite excited!

Once I finish working out the kinks, I will post the address.

Be back soon -

JAG

Simple and Sweet

2011-05-24T17:33:00.000-07:00

Hello there! How are you? I am...tired! :)
Grace and I spent most of the day at Joshua's school for field day. It was very fun! Tug of war, relays, a water slide, and lots and lots of time in the sun!
I really enjoyed seeing JBG with his school friends and it was nice to visit with some of their parents, as well as his teacher. He has had such a great teacher this year, I just couldn't be happier! It is hard to believe that the school year has just a couple of days left. I am glad, though, because that means we will be heading to Utah soon for my sister's wedding, and I am so excited for that I can hardly stand it! Aren't weddings so fun?!

Quick crafty share:
I have a couple of cards I made for our moms on Mother's Day. They were super simple, but I thought they turned out cute! I had premade card bases from CTMH, and all I did was paint around the edges, add a punched out butterfly (Martha Stewart), and stick on a few letters (SEI)! Simple and Sweet. :)

Well, that's about it for me right now. I hope you have a wonderful week and I will try to be back with something a little more exciting before I head out of town!

bye-
JAG

Artistic

2011-05-13T15:01:00.000-07:00

Hello and Happy Friday! How I love/live for the weekends! :)

Before I show you the latest layout I've made, I wanted to show off this beautiful piece of art by my Gracie girl. I bought an art easel from Ikea and we have been having lots of fun! This was her first masterpiece. It is our family. I love how we are under the rainbow - - seems so idyllic, doesn't it?! And look, she has been practicing writing her name, too! This girl is so smart it kinda scares me. ;) She has this thirst for learning new things, which I love and I want to follow her example! The other day we went to story time at the library and the for the craft the kids got to decorate sticker books. Grace couldn't just color and stick the stickers in...no, she had to write a whole book! All about flowers. What a fun girl!

This is a layout that I made for the Color challenge on the Get Picky Challenge blog. The challenge was just to use the colors yellow, blue, and white...not too hard since that is one of my favorite combos! I used some of my favorite bald baby pictures of Grace. Loved that bald head and blue eyes!

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!

JAG

An Oldie but a Goodie

2011-05-10T13:26:00.000-07:00

Hey, just a quick layout to share.
I was going through some pictures last night to get some ready to print and I found a couple of layouts that I made a while ago...like over a year ago...so I thought I would share! I love this one of Grace on Halloween 2009, it is still one of my favorites. I just love this picture of her!

For this layout I used papers from Pink Paislee, Prima flowers, CTMH alphabet rubons, and American Crafts Thickers. I also cut our the word "little" and the leaf vines on my cricut.

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So...I have been spending the last, umm, three months I think it has been, painting, reorganizing, and decorating my scrapbook room. I am very slow, but it is almost done!! I am very excited to have my own little peaceful space. I love the wall color, it is so relaxing to me. Sometimes when we get a little crazy around here I just sneak into my room for a few minutes and sit there and look at the walls! It calms me right down and I can get back to the craziness. :) I still have things to hang on the walls and a few boxes of things I am trying to decide what to do with, but once I sort through all that I will post some pictures.

Have a great day!
JAG

Bella Blvd. Giveaway!

2011-05-07T15:22:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all!
I was just taking a minute to surf a few blogs and I came across this awesome giveaway on the Bella Blvd blog! The winner gets the entire Sophisticates collection...Paper, chipboard, flowers and all! How awesome would it be to win that prize?! Check it out on their BLOG. Maybe one of us will be the lucky, lucky winner! :)

So how is your Saturday going? It is pretty quite and peaceful here right now....which is lovely.
Bryan and Grace fell asleep on the couch watching the OKC Thunder play the Memphis Grizzlies. I got a really cute picture of that! Joshua is playing with his cars and is completely in his own world. I love to listen to him play, it is so cute!

I hope you have a great weekend and that your Mother's Day is especially fabulous!

JAG

Hi!

2011-05-04T19:02:00.000-07:00

So I decided to be a good blogger and actually post something this week....haha!
Maybe someday I will be a good blogger, but I wouldn't hold your breath! :) Too many other things to do............
at least it seems like there are a lot of other things to do.
Do you ever have those days were you know you don't just sit around doing nothing all day, and yet at the end of the day it seems like you haven't accomplished anything? I've had a string of days like that lately. I love spending time reading books and playing games with the kiddos, but then sometimes at the end of the day when there is nothing obviously finished or improved I get frustrated and feel like I have been lazy. But then on the other hand, I really don't want to spend so much time cleaning, etc. that I miss the time with my kids and I KNOW that I am accomplishing things by spending time with them....in fact I am accomplishing the most important things. But still, sometimes it is hard at the end of the day when you don't see immediate results...and the laundry is still piled high!
My endless dilemma, it seems...probably the same dilemma most moms face! :)

Anyway, here is a layout that I created a while back. The pictures were taken by my father-in-law in 2009 for our Christmas card. I love these pictures!
For this layout I used the "For the Record" collection kit from Echo Park. I also attempted a little misting with the red ink....I think I need to practice that one some more!

I have also been venturing a bit further into the photography world lately....meaning I finally took took the D-90 off the automatic settings and learned to use it in manual mode!!! I know, it only took two years, right?! :) But I am loving the results and I feel like I am really creating good photos now, not just getting them by default because I have a good camera. My poor father-in-law had tried to explain it to me several times, but I wasn't getting how to use my camera to get the results I wanted. Then a couple weeks ago I found this digital book called "Say No To Auto!" by Kristen Duke. I bought it, downloaded it, printed it and within a half hour had the basics figured out - -amazing!

I wanted to learn how to use the manual settings because a girl in my ward, Jackie, had asked me to take some senior pictures for her. She has been very patient and endured nearly five hours total in front of my camera (I took nearly 1,000 pics), but we have got some photos that I am really pleased with....hopefully she is, too! :) She is a beautiful girl, so really, my job was easy!

Here are a few of my favorites:

***this last one is my favorite!!***

Well thanks for stopping by. Hopefully I will be back soon!

cross your fingers... :)

JAG

Happy Wednesday!

2011-04-13T19:32:00.000-07:00

Hi again! It's Wednesday, are you happy?! I am...it has been a bit of a long week already. Bittersweet moments have made for a happy and somewhat sad week, so I am grateful to be heading into the home stretch, so to speak! :) I just wanted to share this layout I made using last week's sketch from Pencil Lines blog. This was the first time I have used a sketch in a long time, and I love how it turned out! I used the Togetherness line from Cosmo Cricket for this layout, it is my favorite Cosmo line! Well I hope the rest of your week goes well.... here's hoping the weekend comes quickly! :) JAG

A whole lot of a good thing is a REALLY good thing!!

2011-04-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

So do you remember a while back when I mentioned that my mom and I went to the Cosmo Cricket office/store with the intention of buying some Cosmo Cricket goodness, and we ended up having a little "field trip" through the warehouse? Yeah. It was awesome. I have always been a big fan of their products, so ever since I heard they had opened a little store in their warehouse in Nibley, I have wanted to drop by. Mom and I had a spare hour one afternoon, so we stopped by and we were greeted by none other than Mr. Lindsay Moore. *If you read the Cosmo Blog, you know who he is. :) Funny, funny, funny man! Anyway, it turns out that he and my mom are members of the same stake, they have kids that go to school together, etc. So we had a good time chatting. Then he took us on a generous tour of the offices, and we came home with some fun things! (Shh...don't tell, but I even left with a couple of the oh-so-coveted Glubers!) It was very fun, and I have had a blast playing with all of my new Cosmo Cricket products! First up a few cards! Except for the brads and cardstock, everything I used for these is from Cosmo Cricket. I used the 6x6 pads from the three newest collections. I love how even their "themed" collections, like Salt Air (beachy/ocean theme) are so versatile and all their collections work so well together!

Supplies: Salt Air 6x6 pad, clear tiny type alphabet

Supplies: Upcycle 6x6 pad, Upcycle stickers Supplies: Upcycle 6x6 pad, yellow tiny type Alphabet

Supplies: Social Club 6x6 pad, Early bird stickers

I think this one below is my favorite :0)

Supplies: Social Club 6x6 pad, brown tiny type alphabet

And some layouts!

This first one uses the Salt Air collection, and the second uses Social Club.

Super fun stuff, don't you say?!

mmmmHUH!

Thanks for stopping by!

JAG

It's bedtime, but....

2011-03-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

...here I am! I figure now is as good a time as any to quickly update the blog, right? Who needs sleep!? I just wanted to share these cute portraits that my father-in-law took while the kids and I were in Utah. I thought they turned out quite cute! I love the one of the kids together. It is usually quite impossible to get a picture of both of them even looking at the camera, so I was very happy with this picture! I think I feel a scrapbook layout coming on! :)

Grace - 4 yrs. old

Joshua - 6 yrs. old

I think this one should be titled

"One Lucky Mom" :)

I just blogged about the trip and a bit more about the photo shoot on our Family Blog, so feel free to check it out if you want!

And I have a layout to share! I made this the other day using Crate Paper's new Emma's Shoppe line. The line is a little bit vintage and a whole lot of girly...a combo that I love! The color is way off in the pic, not sure what happened, but trust me...it's great stuff!

This picture is of Grace at 9 months old....seems like forever ago! Lately I find myself missing the days of little babies, and I usually find myself avoiding scrapbooking pictures like these. It is really hard to realize that my babies aren't babies anymore, and as of now, there are no more babies, which has been really unexpected. But I decided to be brave and scrap this picture anyway, and to my surprise it was quite therapeutic. So don't be surprised if you see more baby pictures in future layouts...I need all the cheap therapy I can get! :)

Have a peaceful night!

JAG

I'm back...and we survived!

2011-03-23T15:15:00.000-07:00

Well the kiddos and I are back from our road trip to Utah, and I shouldn't just say we survived....we THRIVED! :) The kids were AWESOME in the car, which was much appreciated by this mom! They hardly even whined or argued on the way up, and they kept it to a minimum on the way home. It is always harder on the way home since the excitement level is down considerably. :)

Anyway, we had a great time hanging out with family and doing our fair share of shopping. We also went to see the movie Tangled (so cute!), ate way too much ice cream, had a very fun photo shoot with Grandpa Guymon, and went on a private "field trip" to the Cosmo Cricket offices...very fun! I will have more details of those last two adventures coming up soon!

First I had to share this pic that Bryan and I took with the camera remote while we were on our Seventh Anniversary date! It was so fun. We went to this really cool art museum housed in an old Baptist Church and then out to dinner. Doesn't seem like it could really be 7 years already! Married life has been good to us!

This next picture is of the only creation I have to share as of now, but there are definitely more in the works...coming soon!

This is a headband I made for Grace to wear for the photo shoot with Grandpa. I was inspired by my ever-creative friend, Becky. Turned out cute, don't you think? Yeah....unfortunately it didn't fit her very well and kept sliding into her eyes, so we had to go with the old standby, a pink bow, instead. Hopefully she will grow into it before she grows out of her desire to be frilly and girly! (I hope that never happens...I love the girly princess stage we are in!)

Thanks for stopping by!

JAG

ROAD TRIP!!

2011-03-10T20:46:00.000-08:00

Guess where I am off to? UTAH!
Yep, the kids and I are taking off on a little Spring Break Road Trip...and we are leaving poor Bryan home to slave away at work. Should be interesting for all involved!
I am excited to see a lot of our extended family and to enjoy some time with them, even if it means leaving my 65-70 degree weather for a place that still has snow!
I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the driving goes well. We are following some friends from church, so I won't be completely alone on the road, but I will be the only adult in the car with the kiddos. We are armed with lots of books, music, and snacks! Now I just need to figure out how to get all of the snacks, books, crayons, etc. with in their arms reach!

WISH ME LUCK! :)
JAG

Happy Monday!

2011-03-07T14:58:00.000-08:00

How is your Monday? Is the week off to a good start? I hope so! We are having a good Monday here. Grace and I went to the library, ran some errands, did some puzzles, read a few books, and even managed to get in a bit of laundry and cleaning, which was sorely needed. :) I count that as a good Monday!

I just wanted to share this layout that I made the other night using Echo Park Paper Co.'s Little Boy line. Have you used their paper and stickers? I first bought one of their kits a couple of months ago, and this was the second one I bought.....love them! I am definitely an Echo Park fan!
The pictures are from a couple years ago when we were in Olympia, WA for a family reunion and we went to this fabulous farmers market. Grandpa spoiled the kiddos and bought them these HUGE cookies which they, of course, loved devouring! :)

Have a great day!
JAG

Hello Again.

2011-03-02T12:21:00.000-08:00

Just found a couple of projects I thought I would share before my girly-girl and I head out for a quick walk. It is a beautiful day around here today. The sun is almost tricking me into believing that spring is here!

First up is a layout of her third birthday...all girly and princessy and pink...just like her! I'm not very good at the whole "shabby chic" look, this is as close as I get! :) I still have to have my clean lines.

Looking at it now, I think it looks cuter in person. Oh well, I guess I need to find better lighting when I take pictures of my layouts!

I made a couple of these cute cards the other day with my Martha Stewart Butterfly punch and some scraps. I love how simple and yet cute it is! I was hoping to make a set of them for my sister for her birthday.....so far I have made two and her birthday was three weeks ago! I think I am off to a great start for her birthday next year, right!? :0) haha

Have a great day! I hope the sun is shining for you, too!
JAG

Recently....

2011-02-28T12:20:00.000-08:00

...life has just seemed crazy! Every week I think, "this week I'm not going to be crazy busy! I'm going to relax this week." Hahaha. Guess I better just get used to the busy!

Did I ever tell you what my wonderful husband gave me for my birthday?
Three fabulous things:
FIRST, and most exciting, was a visit from my MOM!!! I had no idea she was coming, and the evening before my birthday he just walked in from work like normal...except this time he had my mom with him! I screamed for a solid five minutes, I think! And she stayed for a WHOLE WEEK! Lots of shopping, visiting and fun!
SECOND, a 50 mm lens for our -okay, technically it's his- camera!!! Still trying to figure it out.
THIRD, a gallon of paint and a coupon for some painting helpers to help me paint my scrapbook room! (don't worry, I'm taking before and after pics.)
Isn't that fun!? I think it was the best birthday ever, especially because I got to spend it with my mom...that hasn't happened for several years! What a blessed girl I am to have a husband who is so very, very thoughtful.

Next up....
I had a quick photo shoot with this little girl the other day... had to try out that new lens, right? We spend quite a lot of one on one time together these days with Joshua in school, and it is special time, for sure. We had to take some pictures to document. :)

She's pretty darn cute....and she'll talk your ear off if you let her! Watch out! In fact, as I type this she is climbing all over my back chattering away about the show she just watched. :)

And finally, a card!

As I mentioned, we are painting the scrapbook room, so there isn't a whole lot of creating going on at the moment, but I did manage to get a few cards made before I had to disassemble my room. I used patterened paper, journaling sprouts, a canvas flower, Happy birthday stamp, and stickers from Jillibean Soup, as well as some random cardstock scraps, a red button and a bit of twine.

Hope your day is fabulous!

JAG

Just a little card...

2011-01-26T17:50:00.000-08:00

Hello again.

I just wanted to share this cute little card I made using papers and die cuts from the Alphabet Soup Boy line by My Mind's Eye. It is based on a sketch challenge they had on their blog a couple of weeks ago. Isn't that tiger die cut adorable? Oh, and the sentiment is a sticker from SRM...love their clear stickers for cute, quick cards. I would say that I need to buy myself some more, but I am on a self-imposed-scrapbook-supply-buying-freeze. :) We'll see how that goes, especially with all the new CHA releases coming up!! My goal is to make it throught March without buying anything new...wish me luck!

I've been reorganizing my scrapbook room, and it has been quite fun to dig through everything and find all the fun things I had forgotten I had! Of course I am a little disgusted at how much I have that goes unused...hence the buying freeze. :) I could probably make a hundred or so cards just from the scrap stash I have built up! YIKES! Time to get busy!

Not much else going on around here, just keeping busy with the normal school, work, church, life kind of stuff and trying not to get too sick. Seems like someone has been sick since November, but right now we all just have colds and I am praying that is it for a while! In the past we have been blessed with such good health that I guess I have been spoiled. I would maybe take one of my kiddos to the Dr. each year. Poor Joshua has been four times already this year, and Grace and I have each been once! So anyway, I'm hoping this is the end!

I'll try and be back with something a little more exciting soon!
Have a good night!
JAG

Yay! The first Layout of 2011 :)

2011-01-10T14:49:00.001-08:00

Well, seeing how it has been over two months since I even made a full 12x12 scrapbook layout, I am quite excited that the first layout of the new year has already been finished! Let's hope there are many more to come. :)

Supplies: Patterned Papers (Cosmo Cricket Mr. Campy and Togetherness) Cardstock (CTMH)Stickers (Border - Cosmo Cricket, letters - SEI and Doodlebug) Journaling Spot (Jillibean Soup) Stamps (Journaling Jots by CTMH) Brads (CTMH) Diecut (Apple from A Childs Year Cricut Cartridge - Provo Craft).

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I'm loving a new year. I feel a fresh start.
I'm choosing to be happier with where I am in life and what I am, and I'm choosing to be more hopeful. So much of life is about what we choose to see and do, isn't it?
I'm hoping to be more organized and, thus, productive. :)
I'm working to be more fit spiritually, and physically as well.
Hummm.....it's a lot, but I think it will be very worth it in the end. It all takes effort and time....and stamina, sitcking-to-it-ness. :) I think I've got it in me! Hooray for a new year!

JAG

My Top 10 Favorite Layouts of 2010!!

2011-01-01T18:15:00.000-08:00

I thought it might be fun to share some of my favorite layouts from this last year.

It's funny how at the beginning of the year there were lots to choose from, but ever since Joshua started school the layouts I've completed have been few and far between. Life is truly full of the best things right now, with family and faith being at the top of the list, but I do hope that I am able to find a little more time for scrapping in this new year than I have the last few months. I miss the time for me, honestly, and not having had much of it recently makes me realize that it is an important part of my life, too. So here is to a new year and to finding....no CREATING... balance in my life! ;)

And without further ado...my 10 favorite layouts of 2010 (in no particular order):

JAG

Dear Scrapbook Room,

2010-12-09T13:24:00.000-08:00

Oh how I miss you! You have been turned into a stash-anything-Christmas-or-Birthday-related MESS! I hope to unearth you soon! I have so many fun things that need me to play with them! :)

Love,

Yeah, it's been way too long! I would love to post some fun creation, but I have almost literally made nothing in over a month! I say almost because I have been doing a December Daily Album that is {mostly} up to date. Once it is {really} up to date I will share some pages with you! It has been a lot of fun, and definitely a tradition I want to keep doing from year to year.

Anyway, I'll be back soon...........

JAG

halloween pics

2010-11-01T20:04:00.000-07:00

BOO TO YOU! :)

Happy Halloween y'all!

Just had to share some cute pictures of my kiddos in their costumes,

ready for our trunk-or-treat Saturday night.

This year they chose Spiderman and a Fairy Princess.

Grace started out as a ballerina,

then moved to fairy,

but couldn't quite leave out the princess,

so we ended up combing them all!

Joshua wanted to be Spiderman from the very beginning.

I even offered to buy him the little fancier costume with the muscles,

but he wanted this one and nothing else.

Easy Peasy...all I had to do was sew a tutu,

and once the tulle and I fought it out,

it wasn't too bad! :)

I love seeing them all dressed up and excited for the holiday!

And I was glad we got some pictures before Grace biffed it while running across the yard and got dirt from her chin to her knees! :) There is always something!

Too Cute!

Hope you had a fun Halloween!

JAG

Sisters - this one is for you Maren! :)

2010-10-20T20:23:00.001-07:00

Hello there.

I should be getting to bed, but instead here I am, with a new layout to share with you! :)

There is a challenge going on at the American Crafts blog to create a girl themed layout with at least two AC products. Well, I have been wanting to do some layouts about my siblings, and since I have been blessed with three wonderful little sisters this was the perfect inspiration to get me started on those layouts.

I created this layout about middle younger sister, Maren.

She rocks. Really. I admire her a lot.

The pictures of her are from a little Senior Pics photo shoot we had. She was kind enough to be my photography guinea pig. :) It was fun because she is a lot more cooperative of a guinea pig than my children are!

Supplies:

Patterned papers (City Park by American Crafts), Card Stock (CTMH, Georgia Pacific, and Paper Studio), Alphabet Stickers (American Crafts), Badge (Flair by American Crafts), Pearls (CTMH), punches (Martha Stewart and Fiskars).

And a little close up of the journaling, just in case any of you are like me and like to know the story behind the pictures: :)

Well I think that is it! I am excited the weekend is almost here. It is going to be a busy one, but full of lots of fun things. We have a new couch being delivered (YAY!!), a football game, a soccer game, a birthday party, and a baptism to go to! It's going to be a good one!

JAG

A little pick-me-up :)

2010-10-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

Well it's been kinda "blaahhh" around here the last couple of days. Actually, I should rephrase that, I've been a little "blaaahh" around here. :) (Hence the lack of blogging) Everyone else seems fine like normal. I've been feeling very little motivation to do much beyond what absolutely has to be done, but I finally dug out the fall decorations and put them out, and I've given my blog a little face lift in hopes that it will inspire me to a little bit of a cheerier outlook - I think it is working! I love yellow, something about it makes me happy, so we are off to a good start I think! And when you add to that this above pictured Christmas layout that I LOVE, why I am think I am feeling down right cheery!

For this layout I used paper and stickers from Crate Paper's North Pole line. I also used letter stickers from American Crafts, My Mind's Eye, October Afternoon, and Jenni Bowlin. It's an alphabet schmorgasboard! :)

Does anybody else listen to Christmas music in October? I know some people have rules...no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving, etc... but I can't help myself. December is not enough time to enjoy to all the fabulous Christmas music I want to listen to! Besides, I am actually working on my Christmas cards (in hopes of avoiding the all-nighter that I have been known to pull on Dec 22nd!) so it gets me in the festive mood! :)

Oh, and I am working on a fun winter layout for a winter contest on the Cosmo Cricket blog, so you will have to check back soon!

Thanks for stopping by today!

JAG

A couple of new things

2010-09-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

Hi y'all.

I just had to show off this 'Welcome Baby' banner that I made for my friend's baby shower we had at my house the other day. I have been loving all the banners I have seen around so I had to try my hand at it.

I used the Cricut Calligraphy cartirdge on this to cut out the triangles, scalloped triangles, circles, and the little onesie.

I kept this one pretty simple because I didn't have a ton of time, but thought it turned out so cute, I may make a fall or halloween banner next!

And here are a few quick cards.

I've made several lately, but it still seems

I've hardly made a dent in my stack of scraps! :)

I love yellow and gray together....something about it just makes me happy!
I think I may give this one to JBG's teacher.
He is loving her and kindergarten, and I am so grateful for that!

So I finally broke down and ordered some new things from this last CHA. I was trying so hard to resist, but I just couldn't. And when my dear husband wanted to indulge me......
well, I couldn't say no, now could I? :)
A little Cosmo cricket, October Afternoon (I ordered their Seaside papers...think I'm going to
L-O-V-E these!!!), My Mind's Eye, and American Crafts.

Yea, that ought to hold me for a while! :)

JAG

Happy Wednesday!

2010-09-15T20:13:00.000-07:00

.... even if it is almost Thursday!

It's amazing how having just one child in school makes life seem so much crazier already!

I like all the new activities and things, but it does kind of cut the scrapping time short. :) We have also had Grandpa Guymon here for a couple of days, which has been lots of fun! Tonight we went out and took some awesome, very West Texas looking pictures in our brand spankin' new Harvesters gear.... I will definitely post the pictures when I get them! It's homecoming week here too, so I will hopefully have some fun 'Friday night lights' pics. I'm taking the big camera to the homecoming game this year, that way I can better capture the true essence of a West Texas Friday night high school football game. Pure craziness, really, but in a fun way! :)

Anyway, here is a layout that I made for the American Crafts Blog challenge this week. I haven't been able to participate in one for a while, but when I saw the challenge for this week I knew I wanted to give it a try. The challenge was to make a layout about yourself using two or more AC products. I rarely do layouts about myself, but I need to do them a lot more often, so this was fun. You can find all the details on the American Crafts Blog.

SUPPLIES: Patterned papers (Abode by American Crafts); Cardstock (Brown: American Crafts, Honey: CTMH, White); Journaling spots (Sprouts by Jillibean Soup); Alphas (Thickers by American Crafts); Glitter brads (American Crafts); black pen (CTMH); White paint (Delta); circle punches (Fiskars); corner punch.

And here are a few cards as well. I've been trying to shrink the massive stack of scraps that has accumulated on my scrapbook table. :) I can't ever seem to throw the paper away until it's down to the smallest scrap, unusable for anything else! All part of the obsession I guess!

This house warming card also uses the Abode collection from American Crafts. Aren't those little chipboard houses so cute?

And this one uses some American Crafts Dear Lizzy scraps, AC ribbon, one of those fabulous SRM stickers (really lovin' these for quick easy cards when I don't feel like pulling out the stamps!), and a few random buttons from the button jar.

until next time -

JAG

Have a Back to School Treat!

2010-08-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

Oops, I forgot to share these in my last post!

This is the special Back to School treat that Grace and I made for the first day of school.

We made one for everyone since it was kind of a big day for the whole family!

I got the idea for these from the Sept./Oct. issue of Scrapbooks, Etc. * EDIT- it is in the Creating Keepsakes Magazine!* It is just a piece of yellow cardstock scored every half inch and wrapped around a tube of mini M&M's. Then I stuck a kiss at the end and made a paper eraser for the other end (I had to hot glue that one on, I used glue dots on the rest). The original idea said to use Rolos, but apparently our Walmart doesn't sell those, so we used the M&M's.

Anyway, here is JBG with his special treat!

He really liked it!

Have a great weekend!

JAG

A week in the life of a blubbery mom :)

2010-08-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

So this week my oldest started kindergarten.

I never realized what a blubbery mom I am until now.

I feel like I have been crying since last Saturday. :)

At least on the first day of school I made it back to the car before I burst into tears.

I think that is progress!

Here he is, at his table, just coloring away, practically an old pro.

In front of the school:

In front of the house before we left:

He was so excited, and a little nervous, as he would say.

He started the morning out really excited, and the closer we got to the classroom the more you could see the nervousness on his face!

It was really hard to leave him, but some how Grace and I managed to move ourselves out of the school and to the car.

And now, it's just the norm.

Strange how quickly life can change and move forward isn't it?

And now for a quick layout:

For this layout I used October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket papers and some Prima flowers.

The pictures are of Grace the day before she turned three. She's beautiful.

See, I told you I'm a blubbery mom!

JAG

SRM Sketch challenge

2010-08-21T17:43:00.000-07:00

Hello again!

I hope y'all are having a great weekend. I have had a wonderful Saturday, much to the credit of my wonderful husband who did pretty much everything while I took some time to rejuvenate by going to the Lubbock LDS temple.

All in all, a fabulous day!

I wanted to end the week by sharing with you a card that I made for the sketch contest going on at SRM stickers blog.

Here is the sketch by Jenyfur:

SRM featured the new Cosmo Cricket papers with their own fun new stickers on their blog this week, so I thought I would play along and use some Cosmo Cricket papers as well!

For this card I used papers from the Girl Friday collection, it is one of my favorites from Cosmo Cricket. I used SRM's Happy Birthday Sentiment Stickers - aren't those clear stickers cool? My friend Becky is on their DT and gave me a few and I've had to buy a few more because they are so fun!

Happy weekend to you!
If you are like us it is the last one before school starts, so enjoy it! :)

JAG

American Crafts stuff

2010-08-19T11:28:00.000-07:00

Hey y'all!

We are back from SA (pictures/stories coming soon!) and things are starting to get back to normal - which I am SOOO grateful for!! - so I thought I would share with you the things I made for the American crafts DT call.

I love these projects, and that is why I like trying for these teams, sometimes it's fun to have a challenge and see what I can stretch myself to come up with!

I used a combination of AC Dear Lizzy, Abode, and Heat Wave on these projects, and everything you see is from American Crafts.

{this 'splish splash' layout is my personal favorite!}

So which one is your favorite? :)

Thanks for stopping by!

JAG

Off again!

2010-08-07T20:27:00.000-07:00

Howdy Y'all!

I'm taking a break from packing for Vacation #2 to share a quick layout with you.

But first I have to share this picture of me kayaking. I had never tried it before and while hanging out with family in Montana last week I got my chance!

It was awesome!

It was so relaxing, if we lived by a lake I just might be asking for a kayak for Christmas!

And my husband is probably glad we don't live by a lake! :)

Anyway, enough of the random and on to some scrapping. :)

Here is a layout I made of Grace exploring the beach for the first time. I love watching babies explore all of these new textures, grass, sand, mud, etc. for the first time, they never seem to know quite what to do!

For this layout I used paper and stickers from October Afternoon's Fly a Kite line. Isn't that a great collection of papers and things? I think it is adorable, and the colors are fabulous!

I also used some Thickers from American Crafts and some tiny type alphas from Cosmo Cricket....I'm basically addicted to those!

See you again soon!

JAG

I'm back....at least for now :)

2010-08-04T18:42:00.000-07:00

Well, we are back from summer vacation #1, just in time to to laundry, put together a primary activity, and pack up for summer vacation #2! FUN!

We had a great time seeing family and doing a little camping. It was beautiful, green, mountainous, and cool.

Coming home on a day when it was 101 degrees was...well, almost fun. :)

....................................................................

While visiting with my family we found a fabulous little photo spot.

Here are a couple of shots that I got of the kiddos:

And here is my sister, Alyssa, who just left on her mission in St. Louis for the LDS church today.

I sure am going to miss her...but I am also really proud of her!

She is going to be a wonderful missionary - she has such a strong testimony of the Savior and of the gospel!

She wanted a few pre-mission pictures before she left so we had a little photo shoot.

It was a lot of fun to take pictures of someone who sits still and cooperates! :)

Oh, and here is a picture of the quilts that I just finished for the kiddos beds. A couple of members of the fam wanted to see them, so here you go!

I got the idea from a Pottery Barn catalog. They look great from a distance, but don't look too closely....my quilt binding skills are severely lacking! :)

HAVE A GOOD ONE!

JAG

Farewell for now

2010-07-23T12:13:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm off on a little family vacation. Lots of time relaxing with family in what I hope will be a little cooler climate! :) And maybe even some shopping....scrapbook shopping and school shopping....because JBG's off to kindergarten in a month. Only one month left. My goal is to enjoy every minute...even the ones with screaming kids! :)

Sent in my application for the American Crafts Design Team. I'm sure my chances are about as big as my little toe, but I had a lot of fun creating for this call so either way it's all good. Of course to be on their team would be completely and totally awesome........ I'll keep my fingers crossed!

Have a great week!
JAG

Summer Lovin'

2010-07-19T20:24:00.000-07:00

What are you lovin' this summer?

We've been lovin' a lot of backyard swimming lately.

Joshua likes to turn the sprinkler on and break out the water balloons, too,

so we practically have water park going on in the backyard. :)

{Amazing the hours of fun you can buy for $25, isn't it?!}

Grace always says she wants to get in, but then she ends up sitting with me on the porch swing, just watching. I don't mind that too much, though. :) She is so cute!

And of course I had to share with you this layout that I made using the American Crafts "I Do" and "Botanique" lines. I love the color combination of I Do - lots of soft colors mixed with the charcoal gray - so pretty!

Supplies:

All patterned papers, embellishments, stickers and letters are from American Crafts.

Grey Cardstock around the outside boarder is from Prism, and the white lace is unknown.

See what I mean about the color combination? I think it is so relaxing.

So relaxing I think I just might go to sleep now. :)

GOOD NIGHT!

JAG

American Crafts+Stamping = Too Much FUN!

2010-07-08T18:12:00.000-07:00

Every week on the American Crafts Blog they have a fun challenge, and occasionally I get to play along. Well this week's challenge was to make a card or a layout that used at least 2 AC products and stamping. Well since these are two things that I love, I couldn't pass this one up!

You can find the challenge info here, but hurry! You only have until 12 pm tonight to enter.

But don't worry, there will be another fun challenge posted tomorrow - - that is what I love about their blog! Lots o' inspiration! :)

So anyway, here is my card...simple and sweet:

Sorry it's not the best pic - it's been a rainy, rainy day out there!

All of the stamps, patterned paper (Letterbox and Dear Lizzy), and ribbon are from American Crafts. The white CS is from Paper Studio, and the ink is Cocoa ink from Close To My Heart. Oh, and I used a pink Copic marker to color in the flowers.

Side note: I need to learn how to blend/use these markers better. Anyone know of anywhere I can find a tutorial or something? I was going to take a class at my Local Scrapbook Store, but they are closing next month....SO SAD!

Thanks for stopping by!

JAG

Just a quick layout

2010-07-06T19:22:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share this quick layout I made of little boy JBG on Halloween a couple of years ago. He was so excited to be BUZZ LIGHTYEAR!!

For this layout I used papers and die cuts from Crate Paper (aren't these aliens adorable!?), some SEI alphabet stickers, Cosmo Cricket mini alphas, and a Jillibean Soup journaling spot. Fun stuff! I loved how easily this layout went together!

I hope you are all having a good week....we are all having a little bit of a difficult time recovering from the holiday weekend, but at least the weekend was a good one! :)

JAG

A few new things and family time

2010-06-30T14:27:00.000-07:00

Howdy y'all!!

I hope you are having a fabulous week.

Here at the homestead we are trying to cope with being by ourselves after having these fun visitors for a few days:

This is my family! They ALL came to visit for four and a half fun filled days...it was a blast! My grandparents and my uncle, aunt, and cousins joined us for a few of the days as well, so we had quite the houseful! We loved it, though, and so far the after-family-let-down hasn't even been too bad! :)

Monday night before my parents and siblings headed out of town we set up the ol' tripod and attempted some family pictures since everyone was together. It is quite the feat to get that many people all looking at the camera and smiling, but we mostly managed to do it

{as long as you don't notice that Grace has her hand stuck in her belly button :)}. KIDS.....

I will be posting more on the FAMILY BLOG in the next couple of days as I get them edited, if you want to check them out.

And here are a few new things that I've worked up recently:

I love this layout of my chubby bald little girl! I used paper and stickers from the Fly a Kite line from October Afternoon (SO STINKIN" CUTE!) and some American Crafts Thickers, love those, of course.

And a couple of cute cards

to end the day:

Until next time....
JAG

For all girls who love PINK, look what I just found out...

2010-06-23T09:50:00.000-07:00

Today is .....

National Pink Day!!!

Have you ever heard of this? I hadn't, but I was just checking out the Paper Crafts blog and saw that it was National Pink Day! How fun! Now, I am not really a pink girl myself, but having a daughter who LOVES all things PINK has really opened my eyes to the world of PINK. I wish I had known about this sooner, we could have thrown an awesome PINK party!! Here's some information that I found online:

National Pink Day:
When : Always June 23rd
It's National Pink Day, a day where everything should be basking in pink splendor!
It's especially a day for the ladies, as pink is a girl's favorite color. Guys, you can participate in National Pink Day, too. Just get in touch with your feminine side, and display a dash of pink. Note: the girls will love you for it!

It's easy to enjoy and to participate in National Pink Day. Bring your pink elephant out of hiding. Wear pink, and show off everything you have that's pink, from clothing and shoes to other possessions. Be creative. Use food coloring to make pink meals. Pink frosting on a cake or cookies will be a big hit today.

Awesome. June 23, 2011 come to my house...we will have a PINKALICIOUS time! :)

Makin' Do

2010-06-21T20:46:00.000-07:00

First off, I had to start out with some of my favorite pictures from the last month!

This first one is of my parents and my kiddos.

The kids love when Grandma and Grandpa come to town,

and I love this picture that I captured!

My husband was put in the bishopric in our ward of the LDS church, so my parents come down for a very quick trip to spend the special weekend with us!

We are glad they are coming back this week or we wouldn't have been able to let them go again so soon! :)

Second, I was able to go to Utah for a couple of days for my sister's High School Graduation!

(Thanks to my wonderful husband Bryan and my fabulous friend Lisa for making that one possible!)

It was a lot of fun being there for Maren's special day and it was also my dad's first graduation ceremony as principal of the good ol' MCHS...the HS we've all gone to...so it was a special day all around!

I got some fun pictures of the Gradiator all dressed up.

(that's what I called her...kinda like the gladiator...off to conquer the world, you know....okay, I know, really corny...won't be quiting my day job!)

Isn't she cute!?

Exciting times!

On to a little scrappin' goodness......kind of.
See, when I went to that retreat last month, we got this awesome pack of papers, chipboard, rubons, etc. from My Mind's Eye.
Well, I love MME, but.....
I really didn't love this paper:

And of course, my pack had 3 sheets of it! Of all the luck....
so I was determined to use at least one at the retreat and make it look good.
Turns out I ended up using it on the very first layout I made that weekend! What do you think?:

I thought it turned out pretty cute.
Anyway, it was a fun challenge...to take something I really didn't like and to turn it into something I did like!

Oh, the pictures....
They are of my little G in her favorite shirt. She loves it and every time she wears it she will tell you what it says: "Little Princess with a BIG attitude!" And she says it in a voice that tells you what the shirt says is true!
You know what they say,
If the 'shirt' fits....
:) :) :)

Happy Monday!
JAG

Weekend Retreat+112 scrapbook lovin' women = Craziness!

2010-05-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of the crazy fun we had scrappin' a couple of weeks ago!

This is my friend Lisa and I scrapbooking the day away!

This is what we saw when we walked in! We couldn't believe all of the paper, stickers, and Cricut machines everywhere! Some of these ladies were up until 6:00 AM scrapbooking - can you believe it? I don't know how they do it for two and half days when they don't sleep!? The day and a half we stayed was enough for me, and I even slept. :)

And here are a couple of the layouts that I made that weekend. Pretty simple, but I liked them.

Oh and in case you were wondering, even at an all weekend retreat I am still painfully slow at scrapbooking! In all that time I finished a whopping 8 layouts! :) Lisa made 22......I guess somethings will never change!

Have a great day!

JAG

A few cards...and some very pink lip gloss :)

2010-05-16T15:19:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I hope Sunday is as beautiful where you are at as it is here! The sun is shining and it is so pretty outside! I think we may need to go sit on the swing on the back porch and just enjoy this beautiful day for a little while!

Well I survived my first weekend scrapbooking retreat last weekend. My friend, Lisa, and I walked in and our mouths dropped! I thought I was pretty crazy about scrapbooking, but apparently there are a lot of women out there who are more crazy about scrapbooking (or, at least collecting scrapping supplies!) than I am! HAHAHA!

Anyway, we really had a great time. I have pictures to show, but I haven't downloaded or edited them yet, so that will have to wait until next time.

Today I just had to share this picture of my daughter:

You like? She is totally a girly girl, pink through and through! She came out yesterday with pink lipgloss everywhere! She applies this stuff several times a day lately, and as you can see it is LOVELY! :)

and now I will get to find out if it comes out of blankets and shirts - fun for me!

And now for a few cards!

These first two thank you cards are for PaperCrafts Gallery Idol Competition. See, while I have very few scrapbooking goals besides, of course, to preserve all these fun memories we make each day, the one thing I would love is to see something I made in a magazine. Just one thing, and I would be happy. :) So I am "trying out" for this competition to get on PaperCrafts submission list...we'll see how it goes!

This first card uses the Juliette line by SEI - these papers are so pretty and elegant. I made the flower by drawing a five inch swirl on the back of the grey paper, cutting it out and scrunching it and wrapping it in a tighter swirl, adding glue as I went. Whalaa!

This next card uses papers from the Cherry Hill line by October afternoon - I love the colors in this line!

And this one is not for the competition, but is just a cute little card I made with some Dear Lizzy scraps and Rub-ons. Isn't that bicycle rub-on so CUTE!? Love it!
It just seemed to need to say Hello!

Thanks for stopping in, and check back soon for pictures of all of the crazy scrapbookin' ladies...oh, and a few of the pages I made once I recovered from my shock at all of the paper and cricut machine chaos!!

JAG

Happy Monday!

2010-05-03T09:04:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I hope you are having a happy Monday.

It's going to be a good week...I can feel it!

Last week was a little crummy...the kids and I all had this horrible cold and it left me feeling a little out of it all week, but I seem to be on the mend finally, so that is good.

AND.....

I get to go to my first scrapbooking retreat this weekend!

Nothing but scrapbooking from 12:00 on Friday until late Saturday!

I am very excited......

and a little nervous - I've never actually scrapbooked for that long at one time!

I'm pretty sure I can handle it, though, as long as the 200 pics I ordered from Shutterfly get here in time! I will keep my fingers crossed! :)

Here is a layout I created a couple of weeks ago. I love these pictures of my daughter when she was first starting to really smile. Those first smiles are so precious. Of course these pictures were taken over three years ago now, so they are all the more precious!

For this layout I used the new papers from the Freshprint Clothesline line from Little Yellow Bicycle, as well as some paper from SEI's Juliette line and a lot of different punches! Love my punches!

Hope your Monday is happy!

JAG

Dream BIG!!

2010-04-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

Wow - two posts in one day! - that is a record for me!! :)

I have so many fun new papers from My Mind's Eye that I couldn't resist doing their challenge this month. The challenge was to use the song "Dream Big" by Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand for inspiration, as well as use the provided sketch by Anam Stubbington and, of course, My Mind's Eye products. (You can find the details HERE.)

I LOVE this layout that I ended up with. I used the Jack and Jill and Little Boy Blue papers from the Quite Contrary line by MME. I kind of started with one idea and then added a few details at the last minute that created a different look, but I love it!

Supplies: Patterned Papers (My Mind's Eye), Chipboard letters (My Mind's Eye), Brads (Close to My Heart), Journaling spot (Jillibean Soup).

I hope y'all have a fabulous Friday tomorrow - YAY! - it's the end of the week! :)

JAG

A little 'Dear Lizzy' Fun

2010-04-22T10:37:00.000-07:00

I just finished my layout for this weeks American Crafts Challenge. The challenge was to create a layout or card using two or more products from their 'Dear Lizzy' line. You can find all the details of the challenge HERE if you would like to play along!

I was way excited for this challenge because I had some Dear Lizzy stuff sitting in my scrap room just begging me to use it, so I was more than happy for the opportunity to do just that! :)

I think it is kind of funny, though, that the Dear Lizzy papers are full of spring colors and fun spring icons, and yet I chose to scrap some of my favorite pictures from last fall. I guess it just shows how versatile this line is! :) For this layout I used several Dear Lizzy Papers as well as some of the Dear Lizzy MiniMarks rub-ons.

Supplies: Cardstock (White: Georgia-Pacific, Cocoa: Close to My Heart), Patterned Paper (Picking Pansies, friendly Fern, Dragonfly Dance, and Beehive Brunch from Dear Lizzy + American Crafts), Rubons (Dear Lizzy + American Crafts), Brown Alphabet Stickers (American Crafts), Chipboard Letters (Thickers by American Crafts), Scalloped Circle and Circle punches (Fiskars and EK Success), Brown Sharpie.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope your day is fabulous!

JAG

A little bit of scrappin' time!

2010-04-14T14:31:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed I took a little leave of absence....I went on a vacation!

YAY! It was fun. My cousin got married so the kiddos and I went and stayed with my parents for a couple of weeks to enjoy the wedding festivities, Easter, General Conference for our church, and lots of time with the grandparents and other extended family! We even survived the 18 hour car ride - thank goodness we had some friends along to keep us company (and keep us SANE)! We had a BLAST!

Speaking of having a blast - I had a blast putting this page together! :)

I caught these pics of the kids a couple of months ago and it really did melt my heart so I had to get this memory down on paper. I love when my kids take care of each other!

Supplies: Patterned Papers (Girl Friday collection from Cosmo Cricket), Cardstock (tan dots from ??, Colonial White from Close to My Heart), Flowers (Prima), Brad and button (SEI), mini alphabet stickers (Cosmo Cricket), Foam letters (American Crafts), Punches (Scallop circle and Apron lace border punch from Fiskars), Brown Sharpie.

Have a happy Wednesday! :)

MME challenge #9 - Blast from the Past!

2010-03-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

This is my layout for the #9 challenge on the My Mind's Eye Blog. The challenge was to create a layout with the theme "blast from the past" and to also use the provided sketch by Anam Stubbington. You can find all the particulars of the challenge HERE.

I had a lot of fun with this one!

Supplies: Cardstock (white: Georgia-Pacific), Patterned Papers (Quite Contrary, Oh La La - My Mind's Eye), Mini Alphabet Sticker (Making Memories), Brads (SEI), glitter (Close to my Heart), Cricut (Calligraphy and Accent Essentials - Provo Craft).

For this layout I used MME's new collection, Quite Contrary. I love all of the fun patterns and colors in this collection! I thought the flowers turned out pretty cool - I just punched different sized circles from the patterned paper, added glitter to some of them, and layered them. If you click on the picture it will bring up an enlarged version and you can see all the pretty sparkles. :)

The title of this layout is a line from one of my new favorite songs from Brad Paisley. It says "and I thought I loved you then." Have you heard that song? It's fabulous, and I think of my husband every time I hear it, so it was a good title for this page! The picture was taken of us when we had only been dating a couple of weeks.

Thanks for stopping by today!

JAG

A little Christmas anyone?

2010-03-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

Each year at Christmastime I keep all of the Christmas cards and letters that we get from our family and close friends. I have been wanting to scrapbook them somehow and keep them as a kind of journal of all that happened for our loved ones that year.

So the other day while the kids were watching a movie I finally decided to attack the huge pile of cards, letters and pictures and do something with them!

This is what I have come up with:

FRONT:

BACK:

It is a 12x12 pocket page. The front piece is 10x12 and then I glued the sides and bottom down to a 12x12 cardstock. The letters and cards go in the pocket, and all of the pictures make collages on the front and back. I filled in any black space with some simple embellishments. Since I make our Christmas cards each year - yes, all 65+ of them! - I glue that on the front page as well, along with our family picture for that year.
I now have done every year except for 2009, so I've almost got them done!
I think they are quite fun,
What do you think?

Flower Power

2010-03-10T19:14:00.000-08:00

Well my friend Becky said I would get addicted to making these paper flowers... it seems she was right. :)

Here are a few cards I have made recently with the flowers:

This first one is for this weeks American Crafts blog challenge. The challenge was simply to make a card using at least two AC products - easy enough!

I used papers from their Letterbox collection. This is such a pretty line of product!

Supplies: Patterned Paper: brown flourish/pink, yellow/blue, green - American Crafts Letterbox); Cardstock (White - Georgia-Pacific), Accents: (yellow button - SEI), Stamp (Sentiment - American Crafts Sentiment Stamp Set).

This next card I made using some of the scraps from a layout I made a couple of weeks ago.
I love that yellow butterfly paper from Basic Grey - isn't it so pretty?

Supplies: Patterned Paper (yellow butterfly, red floral, polka dot - Basic Grey, Ledger print - My Mind's Eye), Cardstock (pink - Bazzill, kraft - ?, Green - Paper Studio), Stamps: (frame - Prima, Sentiment - Close to My Heart), Accents (chipboard button - Close to my Heart).

Thanks for stopping by today!

Have a happy day!

JAG

A little American Crafts!

2010-03-04T12:03:00.000-08:00

So I have been a fan of American Crafts Thickers, stickers, and rub-ons for quite a while, but I have never owned any of their paper - can you believe it?! In all of that sea of patterned paper in my Scrapbook room, there was not one sheet of AC paper!

Well... I remedied that! :)

I love the fabulous inspiration on the AC blog, so I check it often and when they released all of their new lines, I new it was time to buy some AC paper.

Here is the first layout I created, and I quite like it!:

Supplies: All supplies from American Crafts (Abode Collection) except the white Cardstock and the chipboard heart (Close to My Heart). I also used the Cricut Accent Essentials Cartridge (Provo Craft).

For this layout I used the new Abode collection and some AC Thickers - I love the bright cheerful colors and the simple, fun patterns of this line! The colors were perfect to scrap my pictures from Valentine's Day, and since the AC blog is having a challenge to create a love themed page, it all worked out perfectly! :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

JAG

Happy Monday!

2010-03-01T08:47:00.000-08:00

Happy Monday it is indeed!

We had a great weekend.

We spent the weekend in the "big" city

going to some fabulous church meetings

and doing a little shopping - YAY!

And now it is a happy Monday because I even have a new layout to share with you!

Whoo hoo!

Here it is:

And a little close up shot of the flower and the journaling:

I just got my new Scrapbooks, Etc. Magazine the other day - I love when the new issues come, it is always a good day! :)
I particularly loved this month's magazine - so many great layouts, and an awesome article on making your own flowers.
I had to try it out right away, and I love the result!
What do you think?

Supplies: Patterned Paper: yellow, red, and polka dot (Basic Grey) Ledger (My Mind's Eye) pink gingham and blue hearts (Pink Paislee); Cardstock: Green scallop (Bazzill) Green (Close to My Heart); Tan brad; Heart Rub on (Close to my Heart); chipboard (Basic Grey) Cricut Accent Essentials (Provo Craft).

Thanks for stopping by, and have a happy Monday!
JAG

The source of my crafty genes....Altered Items by my Mother!

2010-02-21T18:50:00.000-08:00

My mom and I have this kind of reoccurring conversation about crafty abilities that we possess...or don't possess...depending on who you ask. :)

Mom claims she is very uncrafty and thinks I am so "skilled" at this crafty stuff. I would beg to differ on that charge, but I think my mom is very crafty! She oil paints, for goodness sake!

But now I have proof that she is crafty and can make fabulously cute paper crafting items!

Check it out!

Exhibit 1:

Exhibit 2:

My mom sent these to the kids for Valentine's Day - aren't they adorable!?
And she just gets all of these ideas out of her head! Amazing Woman!
And you should have seen what she sent them last year - CUTE little candy boxes made out of paper, complete with cut out cellophane windows that you could see the candy through.
And she always has these cute, incredibly cheesey, lovey dovey one liners on her gifts that only a grandma can get away with . If I said something like that to my kids I would probably get a "yuck, mom!" but when it comes from her, the kiddos just giggle!
LOVE it!

Love the Simple Things

2010-02-15T08:03:00.000-08:00

LOOK!!

I got some scrapping done! :)

This is my layout for the My Mind's Eye Challenge #8, using a sketch by Anam Stubbington that was posted on the MME blog. The challenge was to use the sketch and red or pink. I thought this sketch was so fun! I added two small pictures to the layout - I have a hard time scrapping just one picture unless it is a BIG picture.

Supplies: All of the papers, except the white Cardstock, are from My Mind's Eye. The cream paper that I used for the base is from the Penny Lane collection, the green floral is from an old MME Stack that I have, and the pink stripe is from the Oh La La collection. The rest is from one of their new Valentine's lines called Be Loved. I LOVE that collection - so many fun patterns!

The only things not from MME on this layout are the chipboard letters (Basic Grey) and the mini alphabets (Making Memories).

I got the idea for the title of this layout from one of my favorite songs by Jim Brickman called Simple Things. Have you heard that song? It is such a sweet song with a great message. The quote is a line from that song.

I hope you are having a fabulous Monday!

JAG

A Quick Layout

2010-02-13T13:59:00.000-08:00

So unfortunately I haven't seen a lot of scrapbook action around here recently. I'm itching to get something done and try out some new things I got for my birthday, but with family and church priorities I think it may still have to wait until tomorrow....or Monday....or.... hopefully no later than that!

Oh Well. :)

I do have this layout that I made several weeks ago that I never shared but wanted to because it was such a quick layout. It is very simple, but with these cute Cosmo Cricket Mr. Campy papers you just can't go wrong, no matter how simple the layout! I LOVE this line of paper!

Supplies: Patterned Papers: Plaid, wood grain, campers, and red dots (Mr. Campy line by Cosmo Cricket), grid paper (Scenic Route); Journaling Spot (Jillibean Soup); Alphabet stickers: green (SEI), mini (Making Memories); felt squirrel, black brad (Close To My Heart), corner punch.

Thanks for stopping by today,

and have a fabulous Valentine's Day!!

JAG

Just some cute kids I found :)

2010-02-11T21:08:00.000-08:00

I've just been playing with Photoshop the last couple of nights and thought I would share some cute pictures I have found.

We took these first two a couple of weeks ago, the day before Grace turned 3.

Yeah, getting the kids to sit still with heads up straight and smile all at the same time is pretty impossible. Good thing they look so cute anyway!

And then I was editing some of my favorite baby pictures of the two of them. For some reason Grace turning three really made me nostalgic for when my kids were little bitty.

Hard to resist a chubby baby, isn't it? :)

Weren't they adorable!?

Precious!

How lucky am I?

JAG

Just a few things I'm lovin' lately...

2010-02-03T19:15:00.000-08:00

Loving this...

Most afternoons the kids and I spend about 45 minutes cuddled on the couch with a stack of good books...Love it!

Definitely Loving this...

My Gracie girl - she's been especially cuddly and huggy lately, and trust me, you don't want to miss one of these hugs!!

And of course I'm loving some of this...

Spent some of my Christmas $$ on a few new supplies!
I bought the new Sweet Treats cartridge for my Cricut - it is full of cupcakes, fun sayings and other yummy birthday card trimmings!
I definitely recommend this one!
I think I will be getting a lot of use out of it!

And I couldn't resist a few of the new valentines things I found on Two Peas!
I love a good Valentine's day, so I'm getting in the mood! :)
This card uses the new valentine paper kit from K&Company and a stamp from Imaginisce. I love their little Snag 'em stamps - so cute and very affordable!

I hope you have a great day full of things you love!

JAG

My Mind's Eye Sketch Contest

2010-01-21T07:54:00.001-08:00

I know y'all are probably in shock at seeing me post again so soon, but try to come to long enough to check out this layout, OK? :)

This is for a sketch contest on the My Mind's Eye blog. I have been loving their blog since I found it, and it is definitely one that I frequent!

Anyway, they had this sketch posted that I thought was really fun, so I tried it out.

You had to use 80% My Minds Eye products, so all of the paper I used, except the white cardstock, is from MME. I had fun with this because I combined papers from four of their different lines, and yet they all look so good together!

These are my kiddos on Halloween this last year. Joshua wanted to be a knight and Grace wanted to be a princess - how perfect is that!?

Oh, and sorry the picture isn't fabulous - it's pretty foggy around here today and I had a hard time getting good light!

Supplies: Patterned Papers: Colorful Christmas (stripe, pink, and orange polka dot), Oh La La (Yellow polka dot and ledger), Boo to you (black), The merry Days of Christmas (blue) All from My Mind's Eye; Cardstock: Walmart; Buttons: blue and yellow from Creative Cafe, Pink from SEI; letters from American Crafts; Cricut Sweet Treats cartridge.

:) :) Thanks for checking out my blog again so soon! :) :)

A new layout

2010-01-20T16:37:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share another new layout with you.

We recently bought our first home, so this was a really fun layout to make!

My husband's dad took the picture of us when he was visiting at Thanksgiving.

I got the quote from a wall hanging that our realtor gave us when we moved in.

Wasn't that sweet of her?!

Supplies: patterned papers: White/green, stripe (SEI), red (CTMH); Cardstock: Cranberry, desert sand, white and black (CTMH), green dot (Bazzill); Journaling block sticker, and black Thickers (American Crafts), red trim (Basic Grey), alphabet stamps (CTMH), Cricut (Provo Craft, and notebook border punch.

This is what I love about scrapbooking! I love that I get the chance to be creative while at the same time preserving special memories like this one!

What a great hobby! :)

Thanks for stopping by today!

Love Birds

2010-01-14T18:13:00.001-08:00

This is a new layout I created the other night:

Supplies: Patterned paper: black (Fancy Pants), stripe and pink dot (Basic Grey); Die cut swirl, rhinestones, CS and rub-on birds (Close To My Heart), alphabet stickers (American Crafts).

My brother and his wife just celebrated their first anniversary a couple of weeks ago, so it was past time to get these pictures on a page!
This layout was supposed to take me 30 minutes - at least that was what I was hoping for. I was reading on the American Crafts blog about all these layouts they were making in 30 minutes and I thought "I can do that!"
Well guess what....
I can't.
My 30 minute layout took me an hour!
And that, my friends, is why I will never be "caught up" on my scrapbooking.
(That and the fact that I take like a million pictures each week!)

Thanks for stopping by!
JAG

The paper addiction hits again :)

2010-01-14T09:56:00.000-08:00

I made the mistake of checking out the Cosmo Cricket and the

My Mind's Eye blogs this morning.

YIKES!

My wallet is really not going to be happy with these two companies!

(It is a good thing I have a birthday coming up!)

I think I will just take one of everything, please! ;)

And I am saying this even after I just ordered some new paper yesterday.

YES, I am a paper addict - PLEASE HELP ME!!

Oh, and I have a couple new layouts to show you soon, so come on back!

Back in the swing of things!

2010-01-07T12:49:00.000-08:00

Hello Again!!

After two weeks of being out of town on two different vacations,

I am happy to be back to regular, everyday life!

Those vacations were a lot of fun, though -

it is always wonderful to see our extended family and our dear friends!

The other day it actually snowed here! YAY!!!!! And not just any snow, but the big soft pretty flakes that we used to see all the time in Utah. I was so happy! See, usually around here we get the small sleety flakes that just turn into ice on the driveway, so this was a very pleasant surprise!!

It, of course, melted by the next day, but we sure enjoyed seeing it come down!

Here are some pictures of the kids I took while they were out enjoying the snow.

'Tis the Season!!

2009-12-02T19:40:00.000-08:00

I love the Christmas excitment that seems to jump into the air after Thanksgiving!!

It is so fun to plan for that perfect gift, decorate the Christmas tree, and see the excitment and joy this season bring to so many people!

Yay for Christmas!!

I created this layout using some pictures my Father-in-law took of our family for our Christmas card a couple of years ago. I love the pictures of the kids - neither one of them is looking or smiling, or even sitting still, for that matter! But they are still adorable pictures that I love!

Supplies: Patterned papers: Jolly by Golly collection from Cosmo Cricket; Cardstock, alpha stamps, red ink, glitter rub-ons, wire and buttons: CTMH; Stickers: American Crafts; Brown ricrac: unknown.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today,

and I hope you enjoy the wonder of this season!!

JAG

It's going to be a SUPER Saturday!

2009-11-13T12:11:00.000-08:00

We have a fun activity coming up next week at our church, and I am the lucky one that has had the honor of planning it! ;) It really has been fun to put it all together, but it really has been a lot of work, too! It is a most-of-the-day thing. We call is a Super Saturday, and the theme I chose for this years activity is "Home can be a Heaven on Earth." I'm anxious to see how it all turns out! We are having some workshops and service opportunities in the morning, then a lunch and some time for crafting after lunch!

These are the crafts that I made that the ladies can sign up to make:

What do you think? I thought they turned out pretty cute!

We are also offering the pictures that are cut and mounted on MDF and covered with a glaze so they look like tiles, but I didn't make that sample.

So anyway, if you don't see me around here much the next week, you'll know why!

I've got A LOT to do! :)

JAG

Fun Blog Challenge at My Mind's Eye!!

2009-11-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

One of my all time FAVORITE scrapbooking manufacturers is My Mind's Eye. I have loved their stuff since I got back into scrapbooking about 6 years ago.

So I'm sure you can imagine my pure delight when I discovered that they have a blog (yea, I'm pretty slow, just figured that out!) AND they are having a sketch challenge AND the winner will get three complete lines of MME of their choice!!

Now I know I have never won anything scrapbook related and I know I am not likely to start now :) but you can bet I am giving it a try!

Wish me luck!

My not so baby girl :)

2009-11-08T20:03:00.000-08:00

I keep trying to tell my Gracie-girl that she is still my baby, but all I get is "mom, me 'BID' girl!" and she raises her hand as high up as she can reach! Why do they insist on getting big so quick?!

Here are a couple of layouts of her that I have completed recently:

Supplies: Patterned Papers, circle alphas (Jenni Bowlin), Cardstock, flower rub-on (CTMH), white foam alphas (American Crafts), chipboard flower (Paper Studio), journaling spot (Jillibean Soup).
Supplies: Patterned Papers (My Mind's Eye), Scalloped Cardstock (Bazzill), Green and white CS, big pink flowers, rub-on border, lace trim, line stamp and buttons (CTMH), small pink flowers (Prima), white and brown alphas (American Crafts), brad (Oriental Trading Co.), rub-on quote (Basic Grey).

I guess since Grace won't be my baby anymore, I will have to settle for these cute, wrinkly, brand new baby pictures! :)

Have a good one!
JAG

Happy News on the Homefront!

2009-11-05T14:57:00.000-08:00

My husband passed the Bar Exam!!

We're off to celebrate!

My Paper Addiction :)

2009-10-29T14:52:00.000-07:00

So I really think I may be addicted to paper.

The signs are everywhere....

I can't go to the scrapbook store, or any craft store for that matter,

without buying a few pieces.

I can often be heard oohing and aahhing over new paper lines I find online.

I have a stash of paper that is really too big for a couple of avid scrapbbokers.

And the main sign of my addiction is that inspite of all of these signs, I still ordered MORE last weekend and am expecting the UPS man to drop this paper set off at any minute:

It is the Grace Level II paper pack from Close to my Heart.

I'm pretty much in love with it, and we haven't even met yet!

Aren't the colors pretty?

Sad, I know.

And yet I'm still not about to give up my paper!

*SIGH*

Dear Fall....I love you!

2009-10-26T19:42:00.000-07:00

I really have come to LOVE the fall season. I think when I lived in Utah and the summers weren't quite so long and hot, I didn't full appreciate fall. But now that we live in Texas and the summers are definitely long and hot, I really enjoy fall!

I love the cool temperatures.

I love the colors. I am seeing so many colorful trees lately, and they are beautiful!

I love fall activities: apple picking, pumpkin picking, and other harvest activities.

Believe it or not, I have even enjoyed the high school football games!

In honor of this fabulous season, I have been doing a little fall scrapbooking and picture taking!

This is a really simple layout of some of the pictures I took on our trip to the pumpkin patch last year. It was the first time I had taken the kids to a real pumpkin patch, and it was so fun!

Supplies: Patterened Papers (Cosmo Cricket - Early Bird line), Journaling spots (Jillibean Soup),

Chipboard letters (American Crafts), alphabet stickers (Making Memories), button, waxy flax, felt flourish (CTMH).

Last Friday, Bryan and I took the kids to a small town about an hour from here that we were told is the place to go when the leaves change colors. Unfortunately we missed the best of the colors by about a week, we were told, but we still enjoyed some beautiful sights and an awesome walking bridge that was great for pictures!

HAPPY FALL Y'ALL!!!

:0) Janelle

Reliving the Memories

2009-10-21T19:16:00.000-07:00

I've actually been scrapbooking recent events lately, which is not something I do much of since I still haven't scrapbooked a lot of my kids baby pics! But I like to mix it up, and it has been fun to relive all of the fun things we did during our "Crazy Summer of 2009."

Yep, I've given it that title.

I felt a little like a chicken running around with it's head cut off,

but in the midst of all the craziness of going and coming we had a lot of fun!

This first layout is of my kids and all of their cousins and their grandparents at the family reunion we went to in Yellowstone. I absolutely LOVE these pictures!!

I love that in the family we have 12 grand kids ages 14 and under, with 9 of those 12 being under the age of 5!! You bet it is a wild, but FUN party!

I was hoping to get some great wildlife or

scenic shots while we were there, but these are way better and I think in fifty years they will mean a whole lot more! :)

Supplies: Patterned papers (Mr. Campy line by Cosmo Cricket), Brown paper, line stamps, black pen, ink and alphabet stamps (CTMH), red journaling spot (Jillibean soup), deer sticker (Karen Foster designs), brown letter stickers (doodlebug designs).

This next layout is pictures from our trip to Disneyland. While Bryan was studying for the Bar exam, the kids and I went to CA with my parents and siblings. We were able to go to Disneyland with all of my cousins that live in San Diego, and their kids. It was a TON of fun, even if my feet were killing me by the end of the day (we stayed for 15+ hours!)! I'm just so glad we all still make an effort to get together like this!

The title says "Every family tree has a few nuts....mine just happens to have a lot!"

SOOoo true with my family, and we know it, and we don't care!

That is what makes getting together fun, right?

Supplies: Cranberry CS, black PP, Green PP, black rub-ons (CTMH), Yellow PP (Crate Paper), Journaling Spots (Jillibean Soup), Alphabet stickers (American Crafts), Chipboard tree (Maya Road), buttons (Foof-a-la and Bazzil).

Oh, and you can click on the pictures to see them bigger if you want.
Thanks for stopping by my blog! :0)

Girly layout :)

2009-10-12T18:54:00.000-07:00

I had a lot of fun doing this layout because I find I don't scrapbook really girly layouts very often. It seems like normally I do layouts with pictures of my kids together so I stay away from the really pink and flowery things. But I really had fun gettin' girly on this one!

The patterned papers are from the Imaginisce baby powder line. It is older stuff, but I still love it!

Supplies: CS (CTMH); Patterned papers (Imaginisce); journal spot stamp, rub-ons, and flowers (CTMH); pink and blus letters (Making Memories); brown letters (American Crafts); Button (Creative Imaginations), pink brad and white metal flower (unknown).

:) Janelle :)

AWww...CUTE!

2009-10-07T08:49:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite layout I've made recently,

so I had to share it!

I love the simple, clean lines.

I love when my layouts turn out like this,

I just wish I could make it happen all the time,

not just on a good night! :)

Guess I'd better keep practising!

Supplies: yellow pp (ki memories Pet Shop collection), blue CS (SEI), brown pp (Crate Paper Orbit collection), red CS (CTMH), journaling spot (Jillibean soup), buttons (CTMH), thickers (American Crafts) Mini alphas, blue alphas (Making Memories), ribbon (Basic Grey).

In the Holiday Spirit :)

2009-10-01T13:54:00.000-07:00

We've had quite a few cool days around here lately,

which is pretty early for "cold" weather to be hitting Texas.

But I am certainly NOT complaining!

I LOVE it!!

And it has gotten me in the holiday spirit already!

We've been talking about Thanksgiving and Christmas plans,

pulling out the jackets and sweaters,

and I even listened to Christmas music while I was scrapbooking the other night!

So in honor of my festive mood :) I have created a couple pages of holiday memories from a few years back and thought I would share them with you!

This was my little boy's first Halloween! He was quite the adorable pumpkin!

These pictures were the results of our Christmas card photo shoot, using the tripod.
That is always an adventure!
I love the quote I used as the title. I think it is a great reminder all of the time,
but especially at Christmas.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Are you ready for a little Old School Scrapbooking?

2009-09-20T19:14:00.000-07:00

I hope so, 'cuz here it is!!

I started scrapbooking when I was 13 or 14. I was introduced to it by my friend and her mom....who are now my Sister-in-law and Mother-in-law. Funny how that all worked out. :)

Anyway, needless to say I have been doing this for a while and it is crazy to see how, not only my style, but also scrapbooking in general has evolved in the last 10+ years!

The coolest thing about it, though, is that while styles have changed drastically, I still enjoy looking through these books and relieving all the memories from years ago. My kids got quite the kick out of it too!

The only quiestion I have is why, WHY, did I cut nearly all of the pictures into stars, hearts, and circles?!? That was totally the "cool" thing to do back then - all the stores sold the shape templates and the photo pencils for tracing shapes onto your photos - but looking at them now it drives me a little crazy!

Oh well, on to the pictures.

Try not to laugh too hard, okay? :)

Hahahaha...that is quality stuff there!

Maybe it is a good thing my style has changed A LOT since the beginning! :)

Also, I've been on a bit of a card kick lately, so here are a couple I've made:

The first one is made with an old CTMH kit that I still love - an oldie but a goody in my book!

This next one uses some Making Memories paper and CTMH stamp set "Baby Miracles." I can't resist those cute, chubby, little babies!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!!

A little scrappin' time

2009-09-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

Remarkably, I've had quite a lot of time to scrapbook this week, which I am, of course, not complaining about! :)

Here are a couple of favorites:

This last one I did using the sketch by Becky Fleck of Page Maps for the Back Porch Memories Guest Design team call. I tried to enter it, but I couldn't get my picture to upload - BOO!
Better luck next month, I guess!

I also found my old scrapbooks when I was unpacking a box last week. That was sure fun! I started scrapbooking when I was 13 or 14, so I've been at it for a good long time now, and some of those early pages are pretty "cute"!! I took pictures of a few of my favorites so I will post them in the next couple of days. I'm sure you could all use a good laugh!

:0)
Janelle

Playing with Photoshop

2009-09-08T21:27:00.000-07:00

I finally found some instructions for using the filters on Photoshop, so I've been playing around.

I really like the "artistic" touch it adds to my pictures!

I'm sure there is room for improvement, but it is fun to play around with.

You know, just one more thing to keep me up late at night when I should be sleeping! ;)

My kids are getting too BIG!!

~Thanks for stopping by!~
Janelle

Back in the Saddle again!

2009-09-01T19:40:00.000-07:00

We are finally moved in, back from vacations, and settled enough that I could get a little scrapbooking done - YAY!!

Here are some of the layouts I've worked on.

Not the best pictures of them, but it was a cloudy day outside and I just wanted to get them taken.

This first one uses last week's sketch from 52 weeks 52 sketches. This was the first one I had been able to do in months!

This is Grace when she was a baby. Bryan used to call her our "Pink Baby"!
And this was just a quick fun one of the kids puddle jumping.
Every kid has to do that now and again, don't you think?!
I love how this layout turned out!

And this is a picture that my husband took of the kids and I the other night. Looks like we live quite the idyllic life these days, doesn't it? :) Just thought it was too cute not to share!

Have a good day! :)

What's new with you?

2009-07-18T19:24:00.000-07:00

Not much going on around here....

The kids and I have just traveled to San Diego, Utah, and Idaho in the last three weeks...

and Bryan and I bought our first house on Thursday...

and Bryan takes the Bar in a little over a week...

and my parents and sisters are in town to help out...

and we move in less than two weeks....

Nope, nothing much going on....

....at least not in the scrapbooking department. :) :)

Page Maps/My Little Shoebox Sketch Contest

2009-06-25T20:09:00.000-07:00

Hello!

This is the only layout I have completed lately. :)

We are moving in a few weeks and the time has come to pack up my

scrapbooking supplies for a little while, which is sad, but I am very excited to

unpack them into my scrapbooking room!!!

Anyway...

This layout was done for a contest that I found on the Page Maps blog. The person who wins gets free My Little Shoebox papers, chipboard, etc. Their stuff is super cute, so I thought I better try it out. Loved the sketch by Becky of Page Maps - it was a fun one!

I used some fun Cosmo Cricket papers that my friend Becky brought me - - isn't she so nice?! They were perfect! Thanks Becky! :) Also used some SEI buttons, CTMH brads, die cut from the New Arrival Cricut cartridge, and Senic Route graph patterned paper.

My sweet baby boy

2009-06-17T18:15:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a couple of layouts lately of my son when he was a baby......It's crazy how fast they grow up! I still like to sneak in on him and watch him while he is sleeping though! ;)

The first Layout was made with sketch #22 at 52 weeks. Still love her sketches, the summer schedule has made it hard to keep up with them every week!

This next one I made up using an older CTMH line. I got this one when I first became a consultant three years ago, but it is the only beach/swim themed paper I had around.

Didn't he have the greatest little swim body!

Have a good day! :)

June Cards

2009-06-07T19:54:00.000-07:00

These are the cards for my June Card workshop that I am holding this week. It will be my final card night before we move. I have been doing this for over two years now, and I will really miss some of the good friends I have made through these workshops.

Thanks to all of those who have come and

supported me over the last two years!!!

This month I used the new Animal Cookies paper from Close To My Heart. It was so fun to work with! I usually don't go for the brighter, primary colors, but I loved this paper! The patterned polka dots are so cute!

I also used the new stamp set "You're a hoot!" - the owls in this set are adorable!- as well as the Good times stamp set, Family Ties children Stamp set, and various alphabet stamps.

Thanks for stopping by! :)

A quick and easy layout

2009-06-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

I was on a mission to put a layout together super quick, which never happens for me!

This was what I came up with:

I thought it turned out cute, and it was a great way to get a page done in a hurry!

This is a card I made using an idea I found in Card Makers Magazine from a long time ago.

I liked the diagonal cut of the patterned paper...just something a little different than the norm!

A Few Favorites

2009-05-28T20:48:00.000-07:00

I have been working on a mega project the last few days (in the last week I made a 56 page scrapbook for a friend to give to her MIL!) so I haven't created anything new for myself recently, but I had these two favorites from a couple of months ago that I thought I would share now.

This layout uses a sketch from the 52 sketches blog.

It was the perfect sketch for this picture, and I love how it turned out!

Check out the title! :)

And this is my favorite card that I have made recently. I used the Key to my Heart kit from Close to my Heart (Jan. special). I wanted to make a big scalloped border but I don't have the right kind of circle cutter to do it, so I stamped the circle from another stamp set several times right next to each other and then cut them out and layered them under the patterned papers. Turned out cute, don't you think?

Thanks for Looking!

Here's one for the books...

2009-05-15T09:42:00.000-07:00

My wonderful husband

graduated from law school!!!

Talk about a proud wife moment!

He's my HERO!

May Card Workshop

2009-04-29T17:57:00.000-07:00

Just thought I would share the cards I made for my May card night that is coming up in a couple of weeks! I made them using the Stardust paper kit from CTMH (love these papers!), along with various CTMH stamps. There are three Father's Day cards and three birthday cards.

Thanks stopping by my blog! :)

A few new things....

2009-04-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Just thought I would share a few new layouts I have created as of late.

I finally got brave and scrapbooked the pictures of my pregnancy with Grace.

Definitely not my favorite pictures of myself :) but certainly worth preserving.

Is it just me, or does my backside get as big as my front side!?! Not fair!

This layout I created using sketch #15 at 52 sketches:
And this layout I did for a challenge at AC Bailey, although I realized after I did it that I hadn't even met the requirements of the challenge, so it didn't count! My brain has really been on the fritz this week! Oh well, I really like it and it is always good to get another layout done!

Have a good one!

Slow times - - -

2009-04-14T21:15:00.000-07:00

I don't know what the deal is lately, but my creative ideas have been on serious short supply! I haven't really had the drive to get anything done, so I have been grateful for the 52 sketches blog that has at least given me the motivation and inspiration to get a couple of layouts done!

Here is what I have done with sketches #13 and 14 by Julie:

Don't get too worried about my lack of creativity, though - I just bought a Cricut Expression Die Cutting machine off of eBay, so I feel an urge to create coming back! It is supposed to get here later this week, and I can't wait! :)

April's Cards

2009-04-08T17:07:00.000-07:00

These are the cards I came up with for this month's Card Night....which is tomorrow! Is it already that time again?! :) I was seriously struggling with the creativity this time around, so pulled out my latest issue of Paper Crafts Magazine. Here is what the two of us came up with! :)

I think this one is my favorite:
I love this stamp set with the little stick people - it's called Family Ties Children, from CTMH-they are sooo cute!

Thanks for stopping by!

A couple of new ones...

2009-04-01T21:18:00.000-07:00

This was my attempt of using the sketch #12 from 52 sketches 52 weeks, but it ended up looking nothing like the sketch, so I tried again!

These pictures are from our trip to the Albuquerque Zoo a couple of years ago.

The stickers are from Karen Foster Designs, aren't the adorable! I've been saving them for these pictures!

And here is the layout that actually looks like the sketch! The pictures are

from my brother and sister-in-law's wedding.

Thanks for Looking!

Time to relax!

2009-03-21T19:04:00.000-07:00

Spring Break!

After the first few days, I was afraid it was going to be more work than a normal week, but we have thoroughly enjoyed the end of our spring break and the last few days have, gratefully, been very relaxing! I was even able to get a few crafty projects done!

I held my monthly card night the Thursday before Spring Break began, and as always, it was a lot of fun! Card making is a blast, of course, but I think the best part is just getting to gab with all of the girls that come! :)

Here is what we made this time around, a variety of cards for several occasions:

This is a layout that I started quite awhile ago and just finished the other day. I used the Fancy Pants Splendid papers from the super sweet February kit I ordered from Designs and Such. There were so many fun things in that kit and I have had a good time playing with it!

These are pictures of my little boy's first ride on a train!

He was so thrilled, the smile didn't leave his face the whole time! I'm so glad to

finally get these pictures scrapped.

And this is a layout I made using sketch #9 from 52 sketches 52 weeks.

I used the Magic Moments paper pack from Close to My Heart. I have loved these papers because they are so versatile and I have been able to use them on so many different projects!

A few more layouts I've finished recently...

2009-03-03T19:51:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to share a few more scrapbook layouts I have completed recently!

This is the first layout I have done of just my hubby and me in a while - I love it!

We did the pictures at the mall last year on our anniversary!

We may be cheap, but aren't they cute?

These next two layouts use sketches from the 52 sketches 52 weeks website. I love Julie's sketches and have really had fun with them! This first one uses 2009 sketch #8:
And this one uses 2009 sketch #3:

This is just one I made up. I have really loved using grid patterns lately for my pictures - such a quick and easy way to fit a lot of pictures one one layout, which I am definitely all about!

I love this one of Joshua writing his first letter "J"! The fabulous boy papers are the new Stardust line from Close To My Heart. I have had a lot of fun playing with this paper set - great little boy patterns!- and I think we may use them for my card night this month.

This is a layout of Grace's first birthday.

I got the idea from an adorable layout I found a year or so ago

in Scrapbooks, Etc. magazine.

And I finally finished off the last of Grace's hospital pictures....I think!

Whew, I think that better be it for now! :)

My favorite recent layout...

2009-02-22T18:55:00.000-08:00

Here it is!

I have been wanting to scrapbook these pictures for a long time, and I love how they turned out! Joshua used to be so enthralled with the city buses, so one day we let him ride home from law school with his daddy - he was in HEAVEN! What a big boy!

Check out the road sticker. It is a Provo Crafts sticker that I have had in my stash FOREVER, like since I was 16 and started to drive, I think! Talk about using up your old stuff - and it still looks great!

Here are my cards from my February card night. I held two different sessions and had 10 people come, which was very fun. I'm really glad I've had the opportunity to do this each month!

I used the Emporium Creative Basics collection from Close to My Heart - I love the colors of these papers! All of the stamps are also from CTMH.

A few new things.....

2009-02-15T18:51:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of the layouts and cards I have created recently:

This first one uses some Basic Grey Christmas Paper - I am in love with their papers right now! I just bought some of their Urban Prairie line - LOVE IT!

Having recently celebrated Grace's birthday made me realize that I have never scrapped ANY of my kids birthday pictures - what a bad scrapbooking mommy I am! ;) So I decided to remedy that. Here are the pictures of JBG's first b-day. I was inspired by a layout my friend Becky Williams made a long while back for a challenge at AC Bailey.
Here is a card that I made using a sketch I found on a blog
that is no longer available, it seems. This is also more paper from Basic Grey (Sugared Line) - isn't it great?

Another card using a sketch from the same blog - I'm sad I can no longer find it!

And here is a layout I made up in my own head!
Now how creative is that! :0)

No Lion!

2009-01-26T11:50:00.000-08:00

I was just looking through some pics the other day and found this card I had made but never posted. Isn't he adorable! I think this is my favorite card I've ever made. I tried to submit it to a magazine, but it was a no go. Oh well, he still makes me smile!

New Things from Close To My Heart!

2009-01-26T11:39:00.001-08:00

WOW!! There are so many fun new things from Close to my Heart this month that I just had to share!! The new spring catalog came out this month and it is full of so many fun new things!

Here is the catalog:

The layout on the cover as well as these projects below are made using the new Emporium collection. I just ordered it for myself today and I can't wait for it to come - I love the colors and the prints and I really think this is going to be my favorite paper set from CTMH, EVER!

January had been National Papercrafting Month, and this is the special package called "Key to My Heart" that CTMH put together to celebrate! It can be ordered at full price ($49.95) or bought at a discount with a certain amount of money spent. Isn't it beautiful? It comes with 12 PP, 12 CS and an E sized stamp set! I have enjoyed using mine a lot.

Anyway, I just had to share.

I've decided I have a paper addiction. I love the patterns and colors and I think I could stare at these pictures for hours! ;)

It's GOOD to be back!!

2009-01-10T16:07:00.000-08:00

Aaahhh, it's been awhile!

I haven't created something for myself in such a long time! Christmas was super fun, and I even managed to get all of my projects done before Christmas Eve, which was a miracle for me. We had a great vacation, enjoyed time with family, and even got to play in the snow!

Anyway, it has been so good to be back and get back into the swing of things that I had to jump right into the scrapbooking world again, too. Here are my projects from the last few days:

No, I haven't abandoned my blog :)

2008-12-13T17:41:00.000-08:00

I really do remember I have a blog!

With Christmas coming, I have taken on way too many projects. Seems to be a yearly tradition lately! In the last three days, I have finished 75 Christmas cards, a wedding guest book for my little brother and his fiance, as well as putting on a calendar workshop, and I still have one more secret project to go...

Will I get it all done without going insane?

I guess you can be the judge!! ;)

Merry Christmas y'all!!

See you after the new year!

Go Check It Out!

2008-12-01T10:59:00.000-08:00

My good friend from high school, Blaire, has a blog called Elliette Baby where she show cases some of her very cool, handmade baby items. In addition, she has tutorials for how to do different crafty things. This week she asked me to do a tutorial for her on making Christmas cards. I made these circle Christmas cards that are also great as tags. I have a link to her blog on my sidebar, so go check it out!

Event Calendar

2008-11-23T21:15:00.000-08:00

This is the event calendar we will be making at my December card night - turned calendar workshop! The event calendars (and other products as well, actually) are from CTMH and you just add a topper for each month. I thought they might make fun Christmas gifts. Oh, and sorry, my super techno skills came into play again: the months are totally out of order, even though I had it all figured out so they would be perfectly in order! ;)

This is what each calendar page looks like,

just with the topper for that specific month on top. Then you just fill in the birthdays, anniversaries, etc., that you have each month and you can use it year after year! A great invention, I'm telling you.....

Christmas Gift Tags

2008-11-09T14:35:00.001-08:00

These are the 3x3 inch Christmas gift tags

that we will be making at my card night this week. Should be fun!!

Christmas ALREADY?!?

2008-11-06T17:55:00.000-08:00

I hope so!! Christmas can never come too soon, in my book!

These are the Christmas cards that I made for my church's Relief Society craft day that is this Saturday. I am making 36 kits for people to come put together. Hopefully they have fun!

A week of fun projects!

2008-10-19T20:01:00.001-07:00

Thanks to the kindness of my husband and children, I was able to get a lot of fun layouts done this week! Bryan took Saturday off an let me enjoy a nice relaxing day of doing whatever I wanted! Isn't he the greatest? Thanks, Love!

This first layout Joshua helped me do about him. He picked the papers, wrote his name, and answered the journaling prompts. I ordered them from Close to my Heart, and they are so fun! I love seeing his answers and opinions on these things, and I know they are something we will always treasure! Especially how when I asked him about people that are special to him, his friend Claire came first and foremost, before any of his family, including his Mommy!! What's that all about? :)

This one is about the fateful day when Grace fell at the playground and came up with a bump the size of a golf ball on her forehead. I was so worried that she might have a concussion or something, but she just cried for a while and then went right on being her running-every-where, climbing-everything self.
Just some pics from Halloween a few years ago, finally getting around to scrapbooking them. I had to try out my fun new alphabet stamps from Close to my Heart.
And I think this is my favorite of the bunch. How can you resist a chubby baby face?!?
This is a wood pumpkin that I bought at Hobby Lobby and decorated with some paint, paper, ribbon, and buttons. Kind of fun to try something outside the scrapbooking box once in awhile. :)

October Card Night

2008-10-06T20:50:00.001-07:00

Here are the cards for my October Card Night!

I used papers from a couple different CTMh paper packs to come up with a new color combo. I quite like 'em!

Lest you think I do nothing other than Scrapbook my life away . . . :)

2008-09-27T21:30:00.000-07:00

It occurred to me that you folks probably think I eat, sleep and live scrapbooking, but amazingly that is not true. :) Don't get me wrong, I do love it, especially for the release that it gives me from the everyday grind of things, but there are other "favorite things" in my life!

First, my family:

I love these silly kids and I especially love that I get to be with them everyday, all day, through the good days and the bad! Of course if you ask me how much I love it on a bad day . . . :)

And of course my awesome husband who is not in the picture because he is slaving away at law school and work so I can be at home.

I also really enjoy cooking - especially trying a new recipe, such as this roll recipe we made, and having it actually turn out!
I love learning and I love helping my children learn new things (I have been working on letters with Joshua). I love their natural curiosity about things - it is a great reminder to me to always find something exciting about the small things of each day!