My Creative Scrapbook July 2012 Contest

I love all of their sketches and most of the time I do them. Once in awhile I get lucky, and the timing works out so that I can join the contest! The paper is Sassafras Lass.

roses, roses, roses

 Yes I do love them. It gets too hot for them here in the summer, but thank goodness Prima made ones his year that look like they came straight out of the garden. I also love this Bazzill Vintage Marktplace paper, especially the one with the chevron design. I cut out a big piece of the chevron to give my photos a place to "rest". This was actually made for the sketch contest at My Creative Scrapbook, but I thought I had deleted my photos then later realized that I didn't. Duh!!! Oh well, what matters in the end is that I have completed one more page.  

it seems so long ago...

That I took these pictures of my mom at the fair- even though the winter is kind of mild this year, I just can't seem to relate to those warm dry October days when our fair is rockin and rollin. I was kind of leery about this Jenni Bowlin paper- its super cool and super vintage, I wouldn't have been able to handle it usually but the photos worked out. Sometimes I need to just get over trying to match my photos with the papers. I need to just roll with it...if you love the paper design, just take it and work it.
Before long, we'll be back at the Fair...

the Cookies are coming!

Its the middle of winter here in Central California, but it is busy as ever. The girl scout annual cookie sale just adds to the busy-ness of everything. I love it because it gives me more photo-ops!
I finally had a chance to use some awesome MLS paper from the "Audrey" line- a cool spring line with bright colors in spired by none other than the great Audrey Hepburn! I also used some Imaginesce "roly rosies" already cut and ready to go!

fun day!

Lauren had such a great birthday- in all of the craziness of her party I managed to capture this photo which I really think says it all! I espcially like the contrast against the MME kraft funday papers. What a great line! The bright red Petaloo flowers really pop too. I love it! Happy Birthday, sweetie!

no rain, never any snow

When I was a little girl growing up in the rainy cold Willamette Valley of Central Oregon I used to dream of moving back to Central California where there were palm trees and yummy oranges. I know that rain is good, but I am not a fan of it. Once we have had a good rainstorm to wash things down, I am ready to move on. As for snow, that is a total "no way" because it scares me. Rewind back to those Oregon days: my born and raised Californian mother was not a good driver in the snow (no matter what she claims). I remember so many spin-outs in that 1963 Buick Electra convertible- we ended up in a few ditches. There were no cell phones in those days, we had to wait it out until a kindly person came along and pulled us out. I am intrigued about a button in my 2011 Highlander that says "SNOW" on it. IF there was snow in the mountains right now I would be tempted to drive up there and push that button to see if it would make hanging out in the snow tolerable to me.
Thank goodness for the extreme house at the end of Christmas Tree Lane with its fake snow machine. For the last two years I have relied on it to get some sort of snow-related pics so that I can get a chance to work with beautiful papers like this BoBunny "Snowfall" line. It was really gorgeous and so easy to work with. The layered chipboard snowflakes were really over the top. I used the whole pack for this layout. It almost made me wish I had more snow pics (NOT!!!)

beautiful Huntington Beach!

I love the beach- especially the SoCal ones. We had a chance to get away for a little bit during spring break. It was a little cool there, but it was awesome because the beach was pretty much ours and it was still warm enough to hang out, read a book, play in the sand- Steve and Lauren actually did some body surfing. I will remember the days spent here until we can make our way back- hopefully soon!

Happy National Scrapbooking Day!

April blog hop at Scrapbook Daisies!

Welcome to the next stop on the Scrapbook Daisies April blog hop :)

(If you happened to have arrived here first, please consider starting at the beginning of the hop at the Scrapbook Daisies blog (xinsert link) so that you don't miss out on any of the fun.)

I got to work with the gorgeous "Mabel" kit this month. The papers and embellishments included in the kit are absolutely beautiful.

Hopefully you've noticed the fun "scraplift" activity that the design team took part in this month... I was so thrilled to have the opportunity to "lift" my fellow dt member and friend, Kris Berc. When I found out that I got to lift her, I immediately knew I wanted to lift my favorite layout of hers, "Dream".


Did you enjoy seeing the design team's "lifts"?
Ready to get YOUR scrap on?
Want a chance at a prize?

You're invited to create a lifted project of your own!
Here are the deets:

* Choose one of the Scrapbook Daisies design team members that participated in this hop and lift one of her projects. It can be any of her projects that you find on her blog or in her Scrapbook Daisies gallery.
* Upload your completed lift to the Scrapbook Daisies Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=58322850850 and include a pic or link to the person or project that you lifted (if you do not use Facebook, you can link your lift to the blog hop post on the Scrapbook Daisies blog http://scrapbookdaisies.blogspot.com/.
* Deadline is Sunday, April 24th at midnight your time.

Your next stop on the hop is... KRIS! http://stashofprettypaper.blogspot.com/

Cali girls went to Ohio

The cousins just left for Ohio for good. These are native Cali girls, and I know how they feel. My own Cali girl is never going to leave, and I know this is a very bittersweet thing to have her cousins leave. She doesn't really know where Ohio is, but she knows its not local.

I am wishing the very best for our Cali girls. We will miss them very much. I remember when I was a little girl and had to change homes, change my friends, everything. Its made me remember a lot of little things from more than 30 years ago that I thought I had forgotten. They will be fine becuse they have a mom and dad who love them very much.
And I am sure we'll see you soon!

Scrapbook Daisies March Blog Hop

Welcome to the next stop on the Scrapbook Daisies Blog Hop!! If you have arrived here first, then please start in the beginning at the Scrapbook Daisies Home blog and do the hop in order...you will be glad you did!. http://scrapbookdaisies.blogspot.com/

Scrapbook Daisies has the most amazing kits...full of beauties! There's always something fun going on!

Here's my Trivia Question: What is the Daisies Motto? (hint: it is on the logo banner)


Don't forget to comment and become a follower of all the blog posts in the hop this month. Also...Scrapbook Daisies is on FACEBOOK!!! Take a minute to head over there and become a follower and leave a note on the wall!

Then you have one last step: email Misty at mistyw@nctv.com with your answers to the "Trivia Questions" that you found at each blog, putting Scrapbook Daisies Hop in the Subject line. You will then be entered to win 1 of the great kits Scrapbook Daisies has to offer!
Here is a list of all of the participating blogs:

Seppa - http://guiseppagubler.blogspot.com/
Kris - http://stashofprettypaper.blogspot.com/
Michelle - http://www.momma-paparazzi.blogspot.com/
Taj - http://artistheimitationoflife.blogspot.com/
Tanya - http://scraplikecrazee.blogspot.com/
Mary Ann - http://www.maryannjenkins.com/
Misty - http://mommyof5kidz.blogspot.com/
Martha - http://itsallaboutthememories.blogspot.com/

Your next stop will be: http://www.maryannjenkins.com/

In case you get lost, you can find a complete list of participating blogs here...
http://scrapbookdaisies.blogspot.com/

Happy Hopping!!!

me & Darlene

Have you ever had a friend who is just as crazee as you are? Well here's Darlene and me at the Girl Scout World Thinking Day.We are both equally insane. I am sort of thinking that this photo could make a cool scrapbook page one day. There are also some really great photos of us(pretend)eating paper mache shish kebabs at our booth (Cyprus) I wonder if Simply Scrapbooks would like these weird pictures on their walls LOL. Our booth won, by the way. Our troop 989 is a very talented group of girlies, and so is their leader! Congrats to all of them.

Can't wait for the Mad Hatter Crop! I love you, Simply Scrapbooks!

March Blog Hop at Scrapbook Daisies

Scrapbook Daisies March Blog Hop (March 11th - 13th)

When: Friday, March 11 - Sunday, March 13, 2011

Note: Get ready! Scrapbook Daisies is hosting another super fun weekend of blog hopping filled with inspiration and prizes! You'll start at the Scrapbook Daisies company blog and from there you'll be directed to visit the blogs of each of the design team daisies. As you hop along, you'll find lots and lots of inspiration as the designers reveal their March creations. Be sure to become a follower and leave a comment on each blog because a prize winner will be drawn from the comments! Each blog will also have bits of information about Scrapbook Daisies for you to gather which you can then submit at the end for a chance at another prize! And, you never know... some of the design team daisies may have their own prizes to give away on their blogs! Full details for the hop will be provided at scrapbookdaisies.blogspot.com on Friday, March 11. See you there!

Link: http://scrapbookdaisies.blogspot.com

Scrapbook Daisies "Tickled Pink" Feb kit!

I loved the MME "Fine and Dandy" papers that came with the kit this month!

Green, brown, and light blue color challenge at Scrapbook Daisies

The only boy I have living here is my husband, so its a fun time when I get to do "boy scrapping". Of course you can use these colors for scrapping girls too but it is fun to get to change it up once in awhile.

There are lots of great challenges this month at Scrapbook Daisies! Check this out:

"Crop Your Heart Out" @ Scrapbook Daisies

Come over and join us in our "Crop Your Heart Out" Valentine's Day Crop!
There will be challenges and games...as well as prizes...and lots and lots of fun!

Where? www.scrapbookdaisies.net

When? February 11-13 (all submissions due by Monday the 14th)

How? Just come on over and become a member of our message board and you can play along!

Who? YOU!!! and all your scrappy friends!

The Design Team is hard at work coming up with fun and inspirational ideas for this week-end long crop.
It is sure to bring a smile to your face, love into your heart, and kick your mojo into full speed!
For full details, come on over the the Scrapbook Daisies message board @ www.scrapbookdaisies.net .
You can also participate in the regular monthly challenges for some "pre-crop" inspo!
We hope to see you there!!!!

Bring on the color...

When it gets really REALLY gray here in the central Valley I am always reminded of the gray day that my daughter was born on eight years ago. Nothing was easy about that day- there was a few problems but oh what a miracle she was then and still very much is today (as we spend the majority of the evening dealing with issues related to the fact that she left her homework folder on the schoolbus this afternoon)But hey I said miracle, not PERFECT miracle!

use that stash!

I have a lot of scrapbook supplies, I am not ashamed to admit it! I gave up feeling guilty about this a long time ago, because I only buy what I love. If I loved it in 2006, I still love it today, and that is what happened with this layout. I paired up some old Cherry Arte chipboard flowers with new Basic Grey papers for this beach layout. It was inspired totally by a recent Julie Bonner sketch.

Take my challenge at Scrapbook Daisies and use up that stash! It is still going on until Sept 30!!! You can check me out here:
http://www.scrapbookdaisies.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=84&t=5789

those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Summer is pretty much over but its not too late for my Aug 15th quote challenge at http://www.scrapbookdeals4u.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=84&t=5673

If you are done with summer and want to check out the weekly challnges at Cramfest 2010- you can "crack the books" with us at scrapbookdeals4u.com for more awesome scrapbook giveaways! See you there!

organization is a beautiful thing...

I cleaned out my scraproom. Finally. It wasn't like I threw away a lot of stuff from there. Mostly I changed how things were arranged- I worked really hard to make it a useable space. I just need to be able to get home from work, do what I need to do to keep the house going, then sit down in the scrapspace and have fun!

Take for instance...half used packages of Thickers. OK, those take up a lot of room. Sure, they can be altered, or combined with other Thickers for a funky look. But if they have been sitting around for three years then it was Bub-bye!

Quick kutz 2x2's. Gathering dust. I am way more in love with my sizzix steel rule dies that take up five times more space because they cut chipboard and felt! So Bub-bye little quickutz (my sister in law wants you)

Chipboard nightmares. Oh I cannot resist a pack of raw chipboard, especially the Basic Grey shapes and letters. I was using smaller sterlite bins and it just wasn't working out. So I bought one large bin that fit the same space as the two smaller and it was WAY better. I pulled the chipboard that I adore and set it right next to me. Yes! I want to USE product not wonder where I put it. Bub-bye to containers that are too small! You are worse than no container at all!

Weird ribbon. My ez-pull bag did not work because I overstuffed it (I guess)and there was a weird huge tangle in that bag that scared me.I wouldn't touch it. This summer I bought two cute wire dress forms (a small one from Target, a larger one from the Beverly's store in Bakersfield) and started hanging the best ribbons on those. The weird tangle I put in a drawer that I cleared out especially for that purpose. At least I don't have to look at that tangle on a daily basis. I haven't yet decided what to do with that tangle just yet. I have already started using the ribbons more often that are on the dressforms. So Bub-bye EZ pull bag!

Weird glitter bottle and Stickle storage. I had my MS glitter bottles in a basket that was way to small. I got rid of some 7gypsies punches that were taking up practically a whole drawer and moved glitter plus the glue and sealer in all together. yay! Stickles got one of the sterile bins that was too small for the chipboard. Bub-bye ugly too-small basket. You won't be missed!

Punch confusion. I put them in sterlite bins by brand. Because that's how I was trying to find them before, but they were spread everywhere. Then to my joy I realized that I had more Martha Stewart punch-around-the pages than I thought, so they got their own space. And there were some punches that were just not useful anymore. Bub-bye, punches that need a new owner!

I made this layout with paper I bought because I loved and then forgot about. I really am happy with it. I doubt I will stop buying what I love, but what I did learn was that I need to be more disciplined about cleaning and purging or else my scrap refuge will become a scrap nightmare!

Alter something!!!

Come on over to scrapbookdeals4u.com and check out my challenge! You can alter anything you like! I had a great time making this jewelry box with the Echo Park paper from the Sweet Summertime kit.