Cards As Promised...

Good Morning! Well the kids are off to school, so I have a few hours until I have to pick up Lily. As promised yesterday, I have a few cards I would like to share with you today.

First up is a card I made for my niece Allison, she turned ONE on Friday.

Supply List: Card base: Yours Truly by Archivers; Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Sweet Threads Collection); Rub-Ons: Pebbles Inc.; Punch: Fiskars; Gems: Mark Richards; Adhesive: Glue Dots, Pop Dots by EK Success; Sketch: Allison Davis for Sketch Support

The next card is an Anniversary Card. I hand cut the pear out of patterned paper from the Kioshi Collection by Basic Grey...

Supply List: Card Base: Diecuts with a View; Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Kioshi Collection); Gems: Mark Richards; Border Punch: EK Success; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L; Sketch: Allison Davis for Sketch Support

Next up is a birthday card I made my nephew Grant, his birthday was last month, but I'm just getting around to blogging it now. :-)

Supply List: Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: American Crafts (Junior Collection); Punches: Marvy Uchida (circles and scalloped circle), Fiskars (Cupcake); Gems: Unknown; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L, Pop Dots by EK Success; Sketch: Allison Davis for Sketch Support

And finally the Lunchbox Love Notes that I made the kids last week. Last weeks theme was fruit. I used the same pear for these cards as I did the Anniversary Card above. I couldn't help it, I thought they were so cute. This weeks theme is going to be animals. I'll post this weeks cards on Friday.

Supply List: Cardstock: Bazzill; Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Oliver & Kioshi Collections); Gems: Mark Richards; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L, Pop Dots by EK Success

Anyway, that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by!!!

First Day of School

So, last week was the start of school. This post is jam packed with photos from both Braiden and Lily's first days. First up is Braiden... he started kindergarten on Wednesday, September 7th. I was pretty much a nervous wreck to leave him there the first day. I've been at home with him ever since he was born and although I thought I was ready for him to start, it turns out that I really wasn't. Everything went really well for him. I'll be dropping him off at school in the morning, but he rides the bus home after school. He was a little scared of this. He said he cried a little getting on the school bus because he missed his Mom and Dad, how sweet. Our neighbor boys were there and helped him feel better, which I'm so thankful for. He said, "School was a lot of fun, but tiring."



OK, next up is Lily. She started Pre-K on Friday, September 9th. She was so excited to go. Her best friend Ava is in her class again this year, so she couldn't wait to see her again. She attends school for 2 1/2 hours on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays. Lily just absolutely loves school and I'm so glad she does. I think she just really loves learning new things. She is starting to read already, at 4 years old, and I couldn't be more proud of her. It's really hard to believe that both of my children will be in Elementary School next year. It will definitely be a huge change for me.

  



















I'll be posting some cards I made tomorrow. Thanks for looking!

Lunchbox Love Notes

With school quickly approaching, I thought I would share the "Lunchbox Love Notes" with you that I've been making the kids. This summer I hung little buckets (from the Target dollar section) on the kids' bedroom doors and put the love notes in the buckets at night. But with Braiden off to kindergarten next week, I'll probably put his in his lunchbox instead. Here are the latest notes I made them...

Supply List: Patterned Paper, Element Stickers: Basic Grey (Max & Whiskers Collection); Border Punch: Fiskars; Rhinestones: Mark Richards; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L

I usually make the cards similar, but slightly different, although sometimes they are the same. I make the cards 3x3, so it's nice to use up some of those extra scraps. The kids are so excited to wake up in the morning to get them. They've even started requesting them, they call it their mail. Braiden will say, "Mommy, can you make me some mail in the morning?" How can I resist that? So as soon as they go to bed, I go down to my desk and make them some "mail". I'm so glad the kids enjoy getting these little cards, as I'm sure someday they will be too embarrassed to get these love notes from me.

Thanks for looking! 

Play Ball

Good Morning! Just a quick post today, I wanted to share a layout that I've been working on for this new website I came across, it's called Sketchy Thursdays. Every Thursday they post a new sketch challenge to try. This is the layout I created based on their 8.25 Sketch Challenge...

Supply List: Patterned Paper, Letter Stickers: Basic Grey; Gems: Mark Richards (pink), Kaiser Crafts (yellow); Butterfly Punch: Martha Stewart Crafts; Circle Punch and Triangle Banner Punch (for sun): Marvy Uchida; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L; Sketch: Heidi Myers for Sketchy Thursdays

To see the sketch I used, click here. Thanks for looking!

In Loving Memory...

I've been debating if I should write this post or not, so I decided to go ahead and do it. The reason for my absence in blogging lately is because two weeks ago, Friday, August 12, 2011, I lost my sweet Grandma. So this post is in loving memory of her, Verneda Marie Hackler. She was the best Grandma anyone could ever hope for. I never heard her raise her voice to anyone, for any reason and she always had a smile on her face. She was a wonderful cook, I remember how much I loved her turkey-a-la-king with homemade biscuits. And as good as I think she was a cook, in my eyes she was an even better baker. Her cookie jar was never empty. It was always filled with chocolate chip or molasses cookies. But cookies were not her only baked specialty, she also made the best donuts, jelly rolls and toffee bars too. I also remember her candy jar sitting right in the middle of the dining room table (which I am lucky enough to have in my house now). She filled it with all kinds of hard candies like butterscotch and peppermints, but my favorite were the hard strawberry candies with the juicy filling in the middle. Grandma also kept the downstairs refrigerator full of Shasta Pop. As a child, I was always scared to go down to the basement alone, so I would run downstairs, grab a Black Cherry Shasta and quickly run right back up. And her garden, she had a huge garden in the front of the house where she planted fruits, veggies and flowers. She did a lot of canning and made the best pickles I have ever tasted. I haven't had another that even comes close to hers. I have so many fond memories of holidays at her house, like all of us cousins crowded around the dining room table to color Easter Eggs, the Easter Egg hunts outside, Christmas in the basement and getting the LifeSaver candy book and a crisp $2 bill in a white envelope with a hand written message by Grandma on the front for Christmas. She was a Mother to 7 Children (two of which died as infants), a Grandmother to 15 Grandchildren, a Great-Grandmother to 16 Great-Grandchildren and a wonderful sister, aunt, and friend to so many.

Here is a picture I took of her back in July playing one of her favorite card games, Crazy Eights.

    In Loving Memory...

Verneda Marie Hackler

October 15, 1933-August 12, 2011

She meant so much to so many people and I am so lucky to have had her as my Grandma!
Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

Lily's First Field Trip

Good Morning! What a yucky rainy day. Hopefully when it stops raining it won't be as humid as it has been. I wanted to share a layout that I've been working on. It's been almost done for a while, I just needed to get 2 sheets of patterned paper to finish it. (I hate when that happens.) I used the same sketch as the previous layouts. Here it is again.

One-Page Sketch #11 by Allison Davis for Sketch Support

I stretched the sketch into a two-page layout. I used a layout by Allison Davis as a reference. You can see her version by clicking here. (Her layout is towards the bottom of the post.) And here's my layout...

Supply List: Patterned Paper, Element Stickers: Basic Grey (Sweet Threads Collection); Butterfly punch: Martha Stewart; Border Punch: Fiskars; Chipboard Letters, Foam Glitter Letters (pink): American Crafts; Foam Glitter Letters (blue): Creative Imaginations; Gems: Mark Richards, K & Company; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L, Pop Dots by EK Success; Sketch: By Allison Davis for Sketch Support

And here's a detailed look at the element stickers I layered with pop dots. And of course I had to use my go to butterfly punch from Martha Stewart Crafts. I seem to use it on all of Lily's layouts.

I really like how this one turned out. I have to do a layout for Braiden now, as he was on the same field trip. I just need to find the right patterned paper to use on his layout. When I get that one done, I'll post it. Thanks for stopping and taking a look!

A Productive Day

Today has been a very productive day for me. This morning I finished mowing the backyard while the kids played outside in the sandbox. And this afternoon while doing laundry, I finished two layouts. Pretty good, huh? 

I used this sketch for both layouts...

One-Page Sketch #11 by Allison Davis for Sketch Support 

Here is the first layout, the pictures are from a few years ago when Lily was playing outside.

Supply List: Patterned Paper, Element Stickers, Letter Stickers (yellow): Basic Grey (Origins Collection); Pearl: Little Yellow Bicycle; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L, Pop Dots by EK Success;  Border Punch: EK Success; Chipboard Letters: American Crafts; Sketch: One-Page Sketch #11 by Allison Davis for Sketch Support

 Here's a detailed view of the element stickers I layered with pop dots.

The next layout is also for Lily's book. Last year we went to the Minnesota Zoo to see the Baby Farm Animals exhibit. We were able to pet and feed the goats. The kids loved it. Sorry for the crocked picture, I can't seem to take a straight picture these days.

Supply List: Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Sweet Threads Collection); Chipboard Letters: American Crafts; Punches: Martha Stewart (butterfly), Marvy Uchida (banner); Gems: Mark Richards; Embroidery Floss: We R Memory Keepers; Adhesive: Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L, Glue Dots; Sketch: One-Page Sketch #11 by Allison Davis for Sketch Support

And a detailed view of the banner. I used the Marvy Uchida banner punch to make this banner.

 

Thanks for taking the time to look.