Sketches and Birthday Wishes

Today is my friend Karen akaliz 's Birthday. Happy Birthday Liz!! She is one of the many amazing people that I have 'met' over at Studio Calico . Liz I hope that you had an AMAZING day!!

I wanted to give you all a little look into the creative process that goes on in my brain. Just about every project I create starts with a little sketch. As soon as an idea hits, I must write it down or the idea is lost forever! Old age, I guess. Hahaha. You can find my sketches everywhere. On my desk at work, little scraps in my purse, drawings in my car (yes sometimes the idea hits while I am driving-CRAZY I KNOW!!!) They do not always work out, but they do give me a starting point. Here are a few examples. This is the sketch idea I came up with for Liz's B-day card:

And here is the card:

Here is the sketch for Joann's card (prior post):

And here is the card:

Here is the sketch for my 'hip country chicks' LO (prior post):

And here is the LO:

Sketching really works for me, but I really just need to carry a sketch pad! Hey sometimes I even write them on napkins. What ever is the nearest thing that I can write on...hehehehe!!

Maybe this can work for you or do you sketch too? I know that I am not the only one!

***One more time...Happy Birthday Liz!!!!*****

Hip Country Chicks...Thanks STM!!!

Last week I won a small RAK just for signing up for the new message boards at Scrapping the Music . Actually for being the 33rd person to sign up. How COOL is that! If you have not checked out this unique site, you gotta!! This is the CUTE prize pack that arrived the other day. Some SEI Hippie Chick paper and embellies. LOVE it!

I thought it would go great with some pics of my friend Lisa and I, that I took at the Kenny Chesney concert last weekend. Did I mention that I saw Kenny? This was like, our 4th or 5th time seeing him. We can never get enough!!

So as I mentioned, we had a GREAT time! Here is a LO I created using my new goodies. I had so much FUN making this. Thanks to Scrapping the Music !!!

Here, I will leave you with a SWEET pic of Kenny. Isn't he Beautiful?!!! I think you can say that about a guy, right???

Anyways...SWEET Dreams!!!

Fabric Mini Book

I really have had a blast taking Janna's online class. I took away from it many great ideas and have been inspired by so many of my 'classmates'. This is my take on project #5-Fabric Mini Book:

I used 2 different denims as my base. On this page I used Zach's Life paper by "Little Yellow Bicycle":

On this page I used some new red newsprint paper from Prima, felt stars and a little bling:

This is some more 'Zach's Life' paper and felt stars:

LOVED these Prima newsprint flowers! Kinda COOL for boy pages:

I titled this mini book " Bryant Just being Bryant". I know it is on the last page, but somehow, it just fit:

I just used some CUTE-SILLY pics of Bryant and just went with it! I like how the edges of pages are frayed and raw. It gives it a COOL look. This wa s a FUN adventure with Janna and I look forward to next time. Thanks Janna , as always for your inspiration and creativity.

Happy Birthday Stacey!!!

I just want to send a Birthday 'shout out' to Stacey Panassidi ! I met her about a year and a half ago. She is very outgoing, creative and energetic (not necessarily in that order!) LOL!! She has been very inspiring and supportive of my scrapbooking work and I have always appreciated that! Thanks Stacey!!

Happy Birthday Stacey!!! I hope that you have a GREAT day!!!

Happy Birthday to Joanne

Today is Joanne's birthday and we are celebrating over at Studio Calico . Happy Birthday Joanne!! Everyone is making cards and posting them in the gallery. There are some really SWEET cards over there. So many talented ladies! This is my card. I had a great time making it. I just love, love, love the colors from my April Scarlet Lime kit. The flowers are an idea that I got from Janna's online class , project 6, 'Bloomin' Goodness'. So simple and so pretty! Cards are normally tough for me, so when the idea comes, I just go with it. I hope she likes it!!

***OMG-Did you see him tonight?! OMG!!! HOT-HOT-HOT!!***

He can sing to me anytime!!

Oh ya!!!!Mmmmmmmm!!!

15 Minutes...or so of Fame

My friend Debbie Hill sent me an e-mail at work today. She wanted to know if it was one of my layouts on the back page of the current Scrapbook etc. Magazine. I didn't know, but I was very intrigued. Very curious. I did not have the most recent issue (yet!) Since I was at work and I had already gone to lunch. I had to just wait. Wait until I was free from work to head to a store, any store, to go check it out. I first went to Walmart (they didn't have it), then I went to Michael's (they didn't even have the most recent issue.) I then went to Target (bingo!) Three times is a charm. I went immediately to the back page and there was a tiny picture of this layout:

Check it out:

I was so excited!! It was a little 'ad' for Mom and Dad LO's in their online gallery. ME!! My favorite magazine!! Debbie thought it was me and she was right. I didn't want to get my hopes up untill I saw it for myself. Tiny or not, it was in PRINT! WOW! Very EXCITING!!

I remember when I made this LO. It was a challenge on the Junkitz (my FAVORITE!) website. I LOVE me a good challenge. It was to take 5 or 6 sheets of coordinating paper, a few embellies and create a bunch of LO's. I chose Janna Wilson 's Delight*ful line. I LOVE all things Janna!! It seems like I made this LO so long ago, but it was only about a year ago. The LO lives! Plus, I LOVE this pic of me and my son. My hair was sooo long! Okay, I am rambling, but this is so COOL and EXCITING for me! Thanks Deb for the 'heads up'!!!

and the WINNERS are...

For the FABULOUS K & Co 'Urban Rhapsody' goodies, the winner is Gilda !!!

And for the COOL Teresa Collins (papers) mini album kit, the winner is Stacy !!!

Hey gals, e-mail me your addresses and I will mail out your goodies this week!! WOO HOO!!!Congrats ladies and thanks to ALL who left such GREAT comments!!!

HEY YOU!!

HEY YOU!!! Don't forget to enter the drawing by posting Here !!! You could win THIS!!

AND I thought that I would give away a second prize. Check this out! I put together a little kit with Teresa Collins Journal it papers, one of the new Cosmo Cricket blackboard chipboard mini albums, some Jenni Bowlin cardstock letters & felt buttons and a little Maya Road chipboard family. Of course, I thought these items went so GREAT together, that I had to buy them for myself too! LOL!!

Look what I have done with it so far:

So remember PLEASE only post Here !!! I will be picking 2 winners on Sunday night. Good Luck!!

It is beginning to look a lot like...Spring

Okay, so this is a glimpse of my office. So there are no windows. There is no door. It is not really an office, office. It is a cube and it is my cube. I have been really doing a lot lately to make it look more Springy, more girly, more of a happy space. Don't get me wrong, I do like my job. I know I spend a lot of my time here. I have been with this company for almost 15 years and just about 1/2 that time in my current position. I work for a medical company. I started at entry level in manufacturing and now I have an 'office job' working in Sales Administration. Even though there have been a lot of changes at work, I continue to enjoy what I do. We have sales reps all over the country and I have made some really good friends. Similar to the ones I have met online through the great hobby of scrapbooking. The cool part about work is, there is a lot of chatting with reps on the phone. Gee, good thing that I am not shy. So I get to know them. They get to know me. They are my co-workers (and friends) off site. There is always a connection and I love that!

Anyways, back to my (office) cube. It looked really pretty at Christmas time, but once that was over. it looked pretty gloomy. I had to spruce it up! I added some colorful flowers to match my baskets and put up my nice flowery picture frames. I even have sunflowers on the other side (out of the picture-this is just one view from my seat). Sunflowers are my favorite, but I am really digging the colorful gerber daisy's. I know there is a lot of orange, but if you knew me, really knew me, you would know that I am all about Tony Stewart. Yes, this gal LOVES Nascar and I am all about Tony! So there is a glimpse of my work space. Hope you liked the view. It is beginning to look a lot like Spring!!

3*5*7 Layouts

***Edited-Here is a peek at some of the goodies that you could win! The BEAUTIFUL 'Urban Rhapsody' by K & CO. I think I will be adding some more goodies as the week goes on. See the end of this post for details...and Good Luck!!***
This weekend I had the joy of scrapping!! I was on a roll! Thanks so much to Janna's online class . The 4th project in this class is called the 3*5*7 Layouts. It is a simple starting method/guideline that can become so much. I was able to whip out these COOL layouts in no time. I was also able to use lots of my FAVORITE products, old and new. I was so excited to use some of my new Kaiser paper I got from my friend Mia on this LO. My son, the 'Cool Dude'.

I also got these papers from Mia. Some PRETTY velvet and crinkly paper from K & Co.

Oh, I can't forget the AWESOME 'Extreme Boy' line by Teresa Collins. This went perfect with the pictures of my little tough guy. LOL!

I LOVE black & white. I thought I would try something different with these Luxe papers and assorted embelishments for our 'date' to see the Hannah Montana 3-D movie.

We are BIG TIME Nascar fans in this house. My little guy is all about Jeff Gordon. How CUTE are these pics? I also LOVE these papers by 'Little Yellow Bicycle' called "Zach's Life".

We color Easter eggs at Grammy and Grampy's every year. The pics are so colorful and went GREAT with my new Scarlet Lime kit. Look at these PRETTY Prima papers!

Okay, so it only took me a month to scrap my sons B-day this year. I still haven't scrapped my Christmas photos yet! HA! Again, loving the "Zach's Life" papers!

And last, but definately not least. My son built this "Tom Brady" snowman. I had the pic printed and set aside to scrap and my son decided to draw a pic of it himself. I think he did a GREAT job (if I do say so myself!) This created an even better idea for this LO!

Thanks Janna for sharing this method and inspiring us all!! I have been 'introduced' to some fabulous scrapping ladies out there and lovin' every minute of this adventure. TFL!! :-)

***PS-One BIG announcement. This is my 100th blog post. WOW! Unbelievable! In honor of this I am going to have a BIG RAK giveaway. All you have to do is post below and I will pick a name on Sunday night April 20th. Take a chance. I promise it will be worth it! Have a wonderful evening!!***

She's Crafty...

I have to say, that over the past few days, I have been very crafty. Look at these cute photo frames I created as part Janna Wilson s online classes. I made these! They look AWESOME on my newly painted /granite faux finish wall. AND speaking of that, we re-did our whole living room. We got a new black leather couch and loveseat, glass tables, throw rug, lamps and curtains. A whole new look and I LOVE it! I will try to ad pictures soon. For now you get a sneaky peeky of the paint, but the focus here are these photo projects. I barely had to spend any $$ (I got all 4 frames for $10.oo) all the other supplies were in my stash. Who knew? You really need to check out this class .

The 'So Mini Memories' is project #3. Project #4 is called 3*5*7 Layouts. I got to scrap with a couple of my friends last night. I also scrapped for quite a while today using Janna's method and I came up with some GREAT LO's (if I do say so myself! LOL!) There are many, so I will share them with you tomorrow. Have a great night. :-)

Here Comes the Sun..

Yesterday I pulled into the driveway and look what was waiting for me:

Oh more than a little sunshine! Smile! Look at all the pretty colors. It is starting to feel a lot like Spring now!

Today was a BEAUTIFUL, sunny, 70 degree day. I took a little ride on my lunch hour to just enjoy the day and I ended up here. Michael's is right around the corner. Very convenient and very enabling. LOL! Check out this beautiful cloud-free sky. What do you think Aleida??

Just 2 weeks ago, I took these pictures on my way into work. YUCK!!

YUCK!!

YUCK!! I hope today was a sign that these days are behind us!

Anyways, here is something that makes me smile. The new 'Dude' line by Prima is finally available. I have been anxiously awaiting for this. Isn't it COOL?!! I can't wait to get my hands on it and play!

Oh and one last thing...last but not least...David Cook is still on American Idol and that makes me smile. I guess I got a thing for hot young rockers. I just LOVE him!!!

Sweet Dreams!!

Heartfelt

I have been having the best time with Janna's class. Almost (I said almost) as good as taking a class with her in person. LOL!! Here are some pictures of my version of project #2. It is called "heart*felt photo garland".

Here are some close-ups:

It is all about my son, Bryant!

What a COOL dude!!

I also have been blessed with some 'Happy Mail' this week. I LOVE happy mail. I have made some of the greatest friends through the scrapbooking community and I feel so blessed to be a part of it. It really makes me so happy!!! These goodies came from Mia. Aren't they amazing?!!!

She had already sent me this for the Easter swap at Studio Calico . Look at all the AMAZING stuff she sent me!! All together 'WOW!' She added the extra 'Boy' items after. Look at those COOl boy papers. She got them from an Austalian company call Kaiser . A few companies are actually (finally!) coming out with some really cool boy lines. There are a few out there that I really LOVE. This is definately one of my new favorites!!

Guess what else I got? I got the 'Threading Water' punch by Fiskars from my SWEET friend Aleida . This punch is all the rage on the message boards at Studio Calico. Everybody wants one and now I have one! Thanks Aleida!!! I am so EXCITED!!!

I wanted to share one more thing. I LOVE class kits! Especially when they are from some of my favorite people. I aquired this mini school album from the AMAZING Debbie Hill . Isn't it cute!

If want a kit, you can get one here.

Still having fun! Glad it is the weekend! Happy crafting!!!!