It's not raining today.

I love October weather when it isn't raining. Living north of Seattle, rain is a weekly event in October and November. So when it doesn't rain I totally take advantage of the gorgeous brisk days.

Last night we went to Noah's football game. They lost, but Noah got in a lot of game time and just hearing the announcer say his name a lot made me so proud. hehe He is growing up so fast, before I know it he will be graduating and going off to college or the military.

While it was hard for me to get in any decent photos last night as the team is always standing and in the way of the GOOD shots. Miguel's mom was there with his little sister whom I have been dying to get some photos of. I have been wanting to scrap some little girl layouts just for fun and well my mom still hasn't sent me any of my niece sooo a friends little girl is better then nothing. Here are a few shots I got of her.




I played in photo shop with the last one. I so can't wait till my photo shop CS3 gets here. It's gonna be so nice.

Ok so remember in my last post I said I was going to do a card a day for the entire month of October. Yup I got my card done for today. I am still playing with Making Memories Halloween paper as it's one of my favorite Halloween lines this year. Also using lace from The embellishment studios October Basic Kit. Totally awesome kits this month.

A couple more cards.

I am having so much fun making cards. Yes you heard me right. I always thought I wasn't a very good card maker. So this month my goal is to try to make 1 card a day. With it being October and it's my favorite holiday I figured it was the perfect time to try to perfect my card making skills. So I figured I would start with a few of my favorite embellishments, Chipboard, paint, ink, stamps and lace. Then take my favorite tools, Scissors and sander and go to town.

The cards below are ones I made yesterday for a few card challenges at Two Spotted Dogs. They have already started celebrating National card making day with lots of challenges and sponsoring a challenge at Cardvarks. So be sure to check them out when you can and who knows you may even win a fab prize.




Both Cards are made with Making Memories Halloween pattern paper and the bottom card also uses there diecut tags.

Cards, Cards and more Cards...

So those of you that know me, know I pretty much stay away from cards. Well my good friend Nathalia has lit a fire under my butt.. She says "anyone who can scrap, can make a card." Well I wanted to prove her wrong, but as it turns out I can make a card or two or maybe even three. lol

This month I am guest designing at Magistical Memories... OH how I love there chipboard. I must have it all. So when I got my package from them I couldn't believe all the stuff I got. I am truly in chipboard heaven. Chipboard is one of my favorite embellishments because it's a blank canvas. The possibilities are endless. Magistical Memories is getting ready to show off there next release so keep an eye out on there site for all there new chipboard and there are a few sneak peeks on there message board and in there gallery.

I am also designing at The Embellishment Studio again this month. The kits are totally rockin, plus there is an amazing contest going on over there this month with an awesome prize so be sure the check it out.

If your looking for an amazing kit be sure to check out 2 Spotted Dogs. Diane can truly put together a kit. They have a great message board and have some great challenges lined up for National card making day this weekend. So if you have time be sure to check them out.

Here are my cards that I have made the past 2 days. All the chipboard is from Magistical Memories, The lace's and stamps are from The Embellishment Studio and the paper, silk flowers and stickers in the top 2 cards are from 2 Spotted Dogs September Card kit.




Nathalia shared with me a card she made and I was immediately inspired to go into my scrap room and get dirty with my paints and made this Halloween card...


Nathalia does some amazing things and you can find some awesome tutorials and great inspiration from her blog (link is on my side bar.) Thanks Nathalia for always pushing me to the next level.

New sites...

With Scrappin Trends closing, I had to venture out and find a new place or a few new places to call home. Some new sites that I am loving are.

2 Spotted Dogs

Sugardumplin

Dixie Pieces

Totally love the amazing kits they are putting together. I have only ordered from 2 Spotted Dogs and can't wait till it gets here... I am waiting for October to get here to order the kits from the remaining 2.

If you get a min. stop on by and say hi.

If your here in Washington a little hint. Dixie Pieces has lots of gals from Washington on the site.

Rock On Shadowbox

Here is the full view of my project for the Typicalifragilistic blog... Be sure to check it out as all the projects and ideas are amazing....



I love all things Transparent and 3D. So why not mix them together to create a piece of art for your home?


I began by altering an old shadow box that I had picked up on clearance. I painted it black, then covered it with a coat of the new Tim Holtz crackle paint (due to be released later this month). Once dry, I daubed my favorite green paint on top resulting in a really cool crackle textured effect.
My ultimate goal was to maintain a transparent art piece so I decided to layer several images together. I began with a piece of Red Grid Hambly for the background of my shadow box. Then I cut out the heart with wings from the "Follow Your Muse" transparency (created by the fabu talented Marah Johnson)and centered it to the back of the grid transparency. The final step was layering the guitar image along with coordinating stickers from Marah Johnson's Rock Star line.


By layering several images onto the glass and transparency you will achieve a rockin' 3D project.

So Excited....

I was asked to be a part of a new blog called Typicalifragilistic!!! What an amazing group of talented artist... Yall are gonna love what all of us at Typicalifragilistic have in store for you... The blog just went live today so take a peek at what we started and look for another awesome project post tomorrow. Here is a little peek of my project going up tomorrow...

Oh if you like what you see... Don't forget to sign up to be notified when we update each and every day....

Here are a few layouts that I haven't yet uploaded....

The last one is a Digi layout that I did the other day.... It's simple but I love it.....

I'm Back.... Sorta..

Well the past month has flew by.... Before school started My 2 little ones and myself went on a road trip to California to visit hubby who is currently deployed there... We had a blast visiting hubby... It was the first time we ever went to visit hubby when he was deployed... We surprised the little guys with a trip to Lego Land... They had a blast and so did hubby and I... It was a great surprise besides all the traffic in LA...

It was a great trip... We got home with a couple days to spare before school started...

I can't wait to get all my pictures developed from both of our road trips and Lego land.. hehe

I however have been really sick... That has been the downfall to our last road trip.... I ended up catching a parasite that is native to the soil down in California where we were at. It has totally took a toll on me and well I hope I start to feel better soon.. Because to be honest with you I would never wish this on my worse enemy.... There is a small silver lining to being sick and not being able to keep anything down.... I have lost so much weight... I lost 12 lbs while in California.. Then since being sick I have lost an additional 22 lbs for a total of 36 lbs so far... So yeah it's great but dealing with what I have been dealing with I'm still not sure if it's worth it. lol

Some great news thought.... I have been asked to join a new blog with a great group of amazing artist's.. It is set to launch on the 15th so stay tuned for that news and link.... I will say if you like great tips and new techniques you are gonna LOVE all the stuff we have in store for you...

I am slowly working on my project and I'm keeping my fingers crossed I am able to get it done in time...

I hope everyone has been while in my month away from blogging and I can't wait to catch up on all of your blogs...

Hugs.

Keeping busy...

I have been keeping busy... Hubby is gone on Military travel and there is still 1 month to go till school starts here. So while the kids are outside enjoying summer. I have been busy in the scrap room. I did get my MMM done and shipped out by the deadline. I am just so proud that I got it done and have 5 amazing layouts to add to my album. In keeping busy this month I am guest designing for The embellishment studio. I am still working on a few more layouts, but here are a couple.

I'm not to biggest card maker, but I try one or two every now and again. lol Make sure you head over to The embellishment studio to check out more projects by Mandy Kay (the other Aug. guest designer) and myself.

Getting back on schedule....

Wow time really goes by fast when your busy and on vacation. We had a great time in Illinois visiting my parents, family and friends. The time went by so fast. I wish I was still there. CHA was a blast. It was fun to hang out with Camille and the girls from 2Daisies Designs (awesome booth and great products) also spent lots of time with Debbie and Marci.. You gals are awesome. We were at CHA from Thursday-Saturday... So much fun and Loved seeing everyone again and getting to chat with Marah and Cheryl is always a pleasure... Seeing Suzy West and her girls is always a treat they are always so sweet and full of energy. Hugs to everyone. I got to rest a little bit on Sunday before we headed out on the open road back to Washington. The kids were great so much better then I thought they would be on such a LONG road trip.. We got home and got to spend some time relaxing and doing laundry and getting hubby ready to leave again.. YUP he is away on Military travel for a few months. I totally miss him already and can't wait for him to get back home. I am counting down the days till school starts. Only 37 more days.. LOL I know it's still over a month but hey the time will be here before you know it and I will have the days to myself... I am soooooooooo looking forward to it.

So now I am getting myself back on schedule and getting my MMM entries finished up and ready to get copied etc. I can't wait to see who makes the MMM list this year. There is always an amazing talented group of winners... So good luck to all who are giving it a go this year. This year will be my first time entering. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed with the rest of you.

Hugs to all.

I love Music...

I so love music.... those that know me know how much I love my rockers.... So I have been dying to do a mini book on music for months now and when I got the mixed up chipboard book from Magistical Memories I just had to do it...... so 12 hours later.... lol here is my "I love Music" book....








Here is a complet product list....

Magistical Memories mixed up book, Winged hearts, cross my heart, funky flower and crown of hearts chipboard
Urban Lily, Creative Imaginations Caution girl and boy papers, Marah Johnson Love Struck Papers
Hambly Overlays and rub-ons
American Crafts Thickers
Heidi Swapp Alphas
Creative Imaginations epoxy stickers
Making Memories Paint (green, pink, black,White)
Pink Sugar Pop stamps (love struck)
Autumn Leaves Rhonna Heart stamps
Urban Lily Rub-ons
Sakura black glaze pen, white Signo pen and black Pilot permaball pen
Swarvoski bling (black and green)
Black and Maroon lace
white sharpie
Black ink

Thanks for looking....

Summer....

Well school is finally out here and the kids are just loving it. The weather has been amazing. We got a storm in yesterday and it actually had some thunder with it... It was nice... I love a good thunderstorm. We don't get many of them out here... Just rain. hehe So last night as everyone was sound asleep I scrapped, listened to the new Maroon 5 cd along with the rain and thunder. Here is one of my layouts....


I have been playing with lots of different papers from Rita Marie and Company.... If you haven't heard. Rita Marie and Company is having a Design Team Call. The owner is so very sweet and well that is always a plus. So if you haven't seen the call yet. It's on pub-calls and scrap scene. Check it out because it ends on July 3rd. Her Stamps are sooooooooo awesome.... I love em all...

Thanks for looking.

I'm in Rock Star Heaven.....

Every girl needs some amazing papers to go with her BAD BOY Rock Star Photos ......

Marah Johnson has done it again.... She is amazing and totally knows how to rock it and bring it EVERY TIME.... I truly adore her work and can't wait to see all the yummmmy stuff at CHA...

I will be there with my Rock Star bells on.. heheSpecial thanks to Marah for allowing me to post this on my blog.. hehe Hugs girl.

Chipboard....Ya just gotta love it and have it all...

Or at least I do.. hehe I have so much that well ya just need a special place to store it all.. Hubby purchased this cabinet for me... I was like hrmmmm well I know I can put my cropper hoppers in the bottom but what to do with the other drawers. So then he opens then and they have all these slots you can put together.... OH YEAH what an amazing place for my chipboard... hehe



OHhhhhhhhhhhhh this is like the drawer that is opened the most... Yes I totally love Magistical Memories chipboard and well I use that the most except for the alphas... They discontinued them so I horde them... So I am hoping that in the near future they will do them again. hehe All the flowers are mixed together. I love mixing and matching them.. There are also some HS ghost shapes and a few other alphas that I use a lot.


I won all these shapes from Deluxe Designs... I totally need to use them more often. I think I used up all the hearts and most of the stars. lol

I have 4 of these in total... They carry all my chipboard by letter and number.. I am in the process of altering them.. I will be sure to post pics of them when I'm done. They will match my desk that I'm altering..

So how do you store your chipboard and what is your favorite chipboard????

Thanks for looking.

Cards.....

So I am not the best card maker, but I will make a card from time to time.. hehe

Nathalia the enabler(be sure to check out her blog for some yummmy flower step by step instructions) told me to check out the Caardvarks blog.. so I did and well decided to do this week's challenge... hehe We had to use 3 different manufacturers papers on the front of our cards... so here is my card... Please don't laugh... hehe


I used American Crafts, Urban lily and Scenic Route... I really like the torn flowers...

Thanks so much for looking....

Color....

I totally love color and man the new Daisy D's Salt Water Taffy collection has it all..... Jennifer at Daisy D's sent some for the Scrappin Trends DT to play with... It is soooooooooooo fun to play with.. I totally love it and the colors are just amazing and totally make your entire layout POP..

Here is the layout that I created today...



See what I mean about the colors making the page pop... The entire collection can be found at Scrappin Trends

Here is a pages I did on Tuesday with the All American Crafts A La Mode and A La Cart papers and some Magistical Memories chipboard....



Thanks for looking... Have a great day.

What a great feeling..

OMG it feels awesome to have my scrap desk CLEAN... I am getting ready to start a new project so that is the papers and embellishments that I am going to be using. All the stuff along the back of my desk and side is always there. I have to have my favorite things at an arms reach. I am just loving the clean desk and scrap studio.... I am having a garage sale next week and went through all my stuff that I no longer need. It feels good to purge... So what does your scrap deck look like? (Lea, Susan, Jeanne, Tammy Kay, Cheryl, Angela, Michelle, Dena, Lani, Sara W, Camille, Nathalia, Jennie, Debbie V, Connie T, Lori R, and Marci?) I will be checking your blogs to see your scrap desk.. hehe

Sometimes ya just gotta do it...

When you see a totally kick ass digi kit you just gotta get it and play with it...

I will have to warn you first.. hehe I am not a digi scrapper.. I dabble a little bit. lol this being my 4th digi layout ever. If you know me you know I like to be grungy and when I seen this kit I couldn't help but download it... The best part is the kit is free. For now anyway.. It is called "Dirty Girl" and was designed by Sarah Barber. It has 12 pattern papers, 3 overlays and some more goodies... Check out her blog where you can find the link to download it... Sarah's Blog

Here is my layout... I hope ya like it. I added the scalloped edge with my graphire tablet and the journaling font is chiller..

Thanks for looking...

Accomplishments...

I am soooo proud of oldest son Noah(14). He has been doing Tae Kwon Do for a little over 5 years and On Friday he tested for his 2nd Degree Black Belt. He did an amazing job.. It was a very long test... 2 hours and 15 min. I swear it seemed longer. It is always so hard to get great photos in the dojo.., but I did manage to get a few... I hope you like them..

I thought this was a great kicking shot.



He had to break a total of 50 boards so here are some shots of that.





This is a flying side kick break and I just love the shot I got.



Here Noah had to break 3 boards at the same time.



thanks for looking

Beautiful Distraction...

I decided to do a canvas for each of my children to display in the living room...

I totally love the way this canvas of my daughter turned out....




I took some of my favorite pictures of her from the past year. I really think the canvas says a lot about her personality... She is quiet but isn't afraid to give anyone a piece of her mind. She is always happy go lucky and never tries to be something she isn't... She is simply herself. She is really coming out of her shell this year. Setting goals for the future and totally living each day to the fullest. Her laughter is infectious and will make anyone smile....

It's only 7pm here... Joshua(5) is sitting on the front porch waiting for the ice cream man to hit our street... I totally love it when you hear that jingle from the ice cream man... It has to be nice for the ice cream man to come around.. Although I am not a fan of his prices.. lol

Friday will be a big day for Noah(14) he is taking his 2nd degree black belt test in Tae Kwon Do. He has been in Tae Kwon Do for 5 years now and has accomplished so much in this sport. I am so grateful that he loves it as much as he does. He is so excited to take the test. My pocket book wasn't so thrilled.... $500 to take a test. ughhhhhhhhhhh but he loves it and has major goals set for himself and he is achieving them... You soooooooooo know I will be there with my camera... hehe If he passes... Next weekend he will get his new uniform, badges etc.

Scrapbooking.... yeah I totally love it.... I have decided that I want to be on a Manufacturer design team.... I really think I can bring a funky, grungy and cool vibe to a team... Now I just need a company to love my work and ask me to join them... LOL yeah that's the hard part.. hehe I know I do great work and put a lot of attention to detail along with lots of personality to my projects. You just never know what they are looking for... I just hope one day they are looking for the way I design, the way I create art. Keep your fingers crossed for me. hehe

Thanks for looking and reading.. hehe

New site... Check it out

Check out the amazing embellishment kits at The Embellishment Studio... It's a brand new site and looking for Guest Design Team members. Just click the cute little banner below... Talk about yummmy goodness...

Woohoooo I WON....

I just found out that I won the Marah Johnson Contest at Scrap Happy KT. I get to pick out a complete collection of Marah Johnson's.. yup yup you sooooooooooo know which one I want... I totally NEVER win anything like this.. So this feels awesome and to know that Marah Johnson picked my "Follow Your Muse" Canvas as the winner... Yes it has been a Marah Johnson week for me. hehe... First her blog and then finding out about this.... wooohoooooooooo It totally feels awesome to be recognized by someone you totally adore... Now I think I would just die if she ever asked me to join her design team... Oh yeah I can dream can't I.. hehe

Here is a photo of the Canvas again...

Today is my DAY.... woohooo

yup yup...

Ok so Monday I got a pm from Marah Johnson wanting to know if she can put some of my work on her blog... Oh heck yeah... If yall know me you know I totally Love Marah's style and just adore her. I could never say NO. So I e-mailed her the original images and today she put them up on her blog and said some awesome things about me and my work.... I am totally loving my day today...

Here is a link to her blog

http://marah_johnson.typepad.com/random/

Be sure to leave a comment so Marah knows you were there....

She is always checking people out so you never know when she may want to put up your stuff on her blog....

Here is a layout I did of Miranda's New hair do. hehe I finally let her cut her hair. lol




Thanks so much for looking and I hope all of you have a great day like I'm having today...

A simple day.

Yesterday Joshua and I decided to go out on a little adventure. lol

After getting lost we finally made it to the Jordan Bridge.. It's a suspension bridge that goes over the Snohomish river out here. I first need to say that I am scared of bridges.... I figured Joshua would walk out a bit and turn around so I can take a picture of him. Totally wrong. He got on the bridge and kept on walking. Totally ignoring me telling him to come back to me. LOL He isn't afraid of a thing. So brave. He gets to the middle of the bridge and turns around and says "well are ya coming or what"... UGH.. GULP.. I say a little prayer and start to walk on this bridge. So I make it across alive. lol WE then take the stairs down to the river. Joshua had the whole place to himself and had a blast...

Here are a few pictures from our day....


As you can see he loves to have his photo taken. LOL He is such a little ham. hehe Thanks for looking...

I totally love this... Check it out and get your own..

I seen this on Marah, Cheryl and Tammy's blog... It's pretty cool and tells ya a little bit about yourself. Be sure to check it out and do one for yourself...

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

Goodies Goodies and more Goodies....

I normally don't shop at Michael's and JoAnn's but well I needed a good shopping day... The metal wall shelf came with the 3 glass jars and was only $12.00 at M's so I actually got 2 of them. Tammy Kay had those big yummy buttons and brads on her blog and I just had to get me a few. lol Oh and those yummmmy flowers and some major cute ribbon spools at M's in the dollar spot except for the top 2. Those stamps are just the cutest aren't they. hehe See this is what happens when yall post your goodies on your blogs and well Now it's my turn to enable. lol