Cards and things, and Happy New Year

WOW, I just have to say WOW. I cannot believe the wonderful cards I received in the mail this year! {And I sit here feeling guilty, because most of mine are still unfinished on my desk :( }

I actively participate in 4 message boards - I started with three, because I needed to have 3 boards to post to for the Clear Scraps DT, then found the fourth when they were doing an awesome sketch-challenge based crop.

I "met" Stacey online after CHA-W last year, when I linked to her blog for talking about Clear Scraps. She asked me to come over to All Moments Remembered for Scrap Chat Hour, and I have been there ever since. I was lucky enough to meet Stacey IRL last summer at CHA in Chicago. Now she has expanded to have a brick and mortar store, which I so wish I could visit, but fear of flying and an {icky} work schedule prevents it. Stacey and Heather got me started into kit clubs too, by putting together some fabulous monthly kits {which they have unfortunately had to discontinue due to manufacturer shipping problems}. Our latest obsession at AMR is ATCs.. and we have swaps going all the time about anything - pets, favorite drinks, technique, holiday, etc. I have so much fun designing these little cards.

Then I found Scrap Attack Scrapbooking - which is a challenge heavy board, with flowers {or charms} that you can earn for the things you create based on the challenges. It is a very fun place to be, even if I don't have many of the charms completed yet. But if I need inspiration, I can always come here, because the challenges are up forever. Lauri is super-awesome, and has just started a new monthly kit - which makes me very happy! {And CHECK OUT that January kit! OMG - I am IN LOVE! I wanted these papers every since I saw the release from Fancy pants - And Lauri adds the most wonderful metallic prism papers.. yummy!} She is in the process of starting a 2009 goals challenge - I'm hoping it will keep me on track to getting more things done for myself, and not just for the DT. {If you were wondering, my goal is 10 pages a month (120/year), 5 cards a month (60 cards), and 1-2 mini albums a month (12-24) - seems like a lot, but if I can stay on top of it, it should be just fine!}

The third board I joined was Savvy N Sassy - they have a ribbon kit club, which appeals to me because I am a bona fide Ribbon Junkie. Some of their kits are made to match paper lines {they had a Basic Grey Sugared-inspired kit that I REALLY wanted, but it was sold out ;( }Unfortunately, they are in Canada, which is a pain for shipping sometimes, but someday I'll have some of these kits. I have done a couple of smaller atc swaps here too.

The most recent board I joined is Serendipity Scrapbooks. {Love the name.. wanted to name the Shetland flock Serendipity, but it was already taken} I found Serendipity via someone at SNS, and joined when they were doing their sketch based online crop. Fabulous! I love using sketches.. especially if I am tired and don't want to try to think up a design on my own - it is so nice to have a starting point. SS also has daily challenges {which i did really well at for about 2 weeks} and a team challenge, which gives points for every thing you have created - whether for a Serendipity challenge or not {I even got points for the Christmas tree I altered for Abby!} The first time I played it, my partner and I won.. haven't done so well since then. I have a tons of cards I'm not going to get uploaded by tonight, so I don't think we will have done well this time around.. and my partner musy have been busy, because she has not been able to post much at all. I have not decided if I'm going to continue with it or not - though my goals for SAS are high enough, I may. {incidentally, the partners change every month, so you don't always play with the same person.}

This Christmas I received cards from friends at all four boards - and I must say - the talent on these four boards is simply amazing. I will treasure them, and learn from them, and scraplift them, and keep them in my little card box. Thank you to everyone who sent me a card.

Another challenge I am going to do this year is Ali's One Little Word challenge.. after making the post to Ali's blog this morning, I have decided my word will be CHANGE. There are going to be a lot of changes going on in my life - some of them good, some of them not. Some expected, some unanticipated. Some chosen, and some unavoidable. So it seems to be the right word to choose.

The third challenge I am going to work on is the 365 (a photo a day). Today is the last day to join, as it starts tomorrow. There is a Flickr group for support and posting HERE. While I don't know that i will be able to scrap everyday, I know I will be able to take pictures every day {because I do that already!} The challenge will be in getting the photos posted every day.

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year. Good luck with changing the things you want to change, and keeping the things you want to keep. I wish you the best for creativity and life, and hope you learn something new every day.

Merry Christmas

Look who I saw last night!!!

Merry Christmas everyone.

{Cool photo, huh? check out http://www.santasgoodlist.org/capture-the-magic}

Happy Christmas Eve

Have to say, mine hasn't been great so far (bad day at work, not quite ready for company tomorrow, and having major issues with DH at the moment.) but there have been a couple of things that I am very happy about, and a few things I am very thankful for.

Last week I sent packages out to a couple of friends - one was a secret santa package for Jingle, who I greatly admire, and who I know has a thing for cupcakes. So when I saw, in Hobby Lobby, before the names were chosen, a whole set of kitchen pieces that were cupcakes, I hoped I would get her name, because I wanted to send one to her. So I was really happy when I was given her name. Most of the pieces, unfortunate were not really practical to ship, but there was a little cupcake dish that would be perfect. The frosting comes off and the rest is a nice little dish to hold things. Then, of course things snowballed from there. She is going to post about it later, so when she does, I'll put the link here.

The second package was done kind of as a last minute thing, and was for Abby, who is somebody I like very much, and have gotten to know pretty well as a Late Nite Girl on AMR. {especially since we were doing a lot of trades on the PIF thread!} Anyway, Abby posted a layout she wanted to scraplift about a pink Christmas tree. And I thought, how cool would it be to send her one. {Do you know how hard it is to find a pink Christmas tree??} I looked everywhere. Found one at Hobby Lobby, but it was a goofy looking metal thing and I didn't want to send it. So I thought I could make one. Had an idea about making a feather tree from the paper mache trees I had bought {intended to be used for entries for the Pink Paislee Design Team search.. that never happened} - and was even in line with the feather boas and stuff, and I looked up and saw this really cute little silver tree. Yeah. Not pink. But ... I can paint it! yeah! so I got out of line, picked up the tree, walked to the back and threw the boas back on their hooks and went to the paint aisle. {Do you think they had metallic pink paint?} But i found something that would work, took it home, and about fumigated myself while painting it {I even did it outside... unfortunately, it was just windy enough that i STILL ended up with paint on my hands.} Then I had to wait til the odor was gone enough to seal it into a box. {Didn't want her to pass out when she opened it after all!} In the meantime, made a little star for it. Took forever to find a box it would fit in to ship - ended up taking one from a different Christmas tree. {eh, I've got totes LOL}. Put it in my car.. well between weather and work it took me 3 days to get both packages to the post office. Got them sent out finally - and I have been so worried it would not get there on time. Because to me.. if you are giving a Christmas tree as a Christmas present.. it really needs to be there BEFORE Christmas. When I checked the tracking number yesterday, there was still nothing updated. Luckily, it arrived today.. and HERE is Abby's post about that. So that made me pretty happy.

And the things I am thankful for?

I am thankful that my 8 year old DD still believes in Santa - and I am thankful that, even though 12 year old DS doesn't... he is willing to play along.
I am thankful to have a home - even if it is an old drafty one. {I'll be even more thankful when my brother fixes the back door and the electricity, so it is both a warmer and less expensive house, and I can move back into my scraproom}
I am thankful that my family is healthy.. there have been many friends with many health problems this year... luckily we are not included with that.
I am very thankful for my mom, without whom most of what I do would not be possible.

So if you're reading this, and I don't have a chance to post anything tomorrow.. I hope you will have a good Christmas. I'm not sure it'll happen here {with 12 people in my house, including DH}.

Have a good one.

blog candy

check out this YUMMY cosmo cricket giveaway!!

http://lifeaslou.blogsome.com/2008/12/20/christmas-mini-album-pages-6-7-plus-150-give-a-way/


And check out the pages to the mini album too :)

And the winner is.....

ROBINV!!!!!!!!!

Please email me your contact information (to scrappinjewlz@yahoo.com)

If I have not heard from you in a week's time, I will pick another person.

100th post RAK {updated}

Wow. 100 posts. I know that may not seem like a lot to some people (especially those that have been blogging longer than I have... or those that are good at posting every day!) but it is a big deal to me. When I started this blog, I never thought I would find enough things to babble about, even thought it was silly to start a blog at the time.

So I want to do a RAK, but one that's a little different {since I am also making an effort to destash my supplies}. I think of it as a Progressive RAK - for every commentor to this post, I will add one item to the RAK. (Duplicate comments will not earn extra items). Items will include rolls or pieces of ribbons, brads, eyelets, diecuts, duplicate stamps, stickers, things like that. Maybe paper, haven't decided yet, because that may make it harder to ship (lol). If there are a ton of posters I reserve the right to split it up and send out more than one. Most items will br brand new.. I am a pack rat that likes to buy things in multiples of two, and I can't resist a sale, but there is a limit to what I can actually use, so I thought I'd pass it on to someone else.

I'll start the box with a little cloth organizer (the mini ones) and a package of Basic Grey chipboard numbers. {I'll post a picture when I get home tonight}. It's a neat little tote, but something I just haven't used, and it doesn't fit on my desk anymore.


{ Wow - 42 responses already! I think I will leave this open until Sunday night, at midnight central time. Then I can get it all packaged on monday, and sent out on Tuesday. }

11 random things, Tim's tags, and cousins

Day 11.. sadness, because this will be the second to last tag that Tim shows us. But my goodness, what beautiful tags they are! I really love the color on this tag - the blues, silvers and greys are simply gorgeous. Make sure to check out his blog for the technique - the little charms are really cool!

My friend Cathy, who is on the Clear Scraps DT with me, also posted a challenge on her blog to post 11 random things (kind of a randome cool coincidence there)

So... here goes..

1. I was born in Honolulu Hawaii. Nope, I don't remember it, unfortunately. My parents were both in the Air Force, and we left when I was very young. Someday I'll go back there. But only if I have a lot of time, because I would have to go by boat.

2. I am terrified to fly. Yep. I know, it's silly. Supposedly more people die in car crashes every year.. but I figure if I'm in a car crash at least I have a CHANCE if surviving it. I was actually doing pretty good about getting over that until Sept 11th. That was it. I don't even want to go into the AIRPORT, let along ON THE PLANE. Puts a SERIOUS dent in my plans to go back to Ireland someday.

3. I almost got in trouble in London for taking a picture of the Crown Jewels. Ok, so how was I supposed to know I couldn't take a picture of it?? There were NO signs posted! Turned out really crummy, but I scrapped it anyway.

4. I met John Michael Montgomery after a concert in Kansas City. A friend and I waited by his tour bus for autographs after the concert (which was AWESOME). When I told him that my husband was in the Army and one of his favorite songs was Letters From Home, he actually thanked me and wanted me to thank my husband for his service to this country.

5. If I could, I'd drive pretty much anywhere for a JMC concert :) Love that man's voice. I can't wait until his new album comes out (March or April - hopefully by my birthday in March!). There are some cool songs coming out.. "Where I'm From", "Home" and my personal favorite "Barn Burner". Rockin' country music... now if only I could get a recording of a bedtime story ;)

6. I love my new camera. My mom gave it to me as an early Christmas present. It is a Canon EOS Rebel XS. Takes some awesome photos. The only thing I don't like about it is fixable - it doesn't zoom as much as I would like but I plan on getting a lens for that for my birthday.

7. I love Harry Potter. What can I say? Witches, wizards, magic... great stuff. I can't wait til the next movie comes out (again, in April! argh!). I just recently picked up two new Harry related books - Beedle the Bard, and a History of Harry, which includes a lot about JK Rowling's process in creating HP. Need to find time to sit down and read them.

8. I like to play Final Fantasy on the Playstation. My favorite is 7 (with Cloud, Tifi, and Barrett). The one I'm playing now is 10.. and it's pretty good too. I don't play often, but when I do, it's for several hours at a time!

9. My favorite drink in the wintertime is Oregon Chai latte. Yum! My son also likes it. He's so sweet, when he wants a cup, he always comes over and asks me if i want one too. {I canNOT believe he is almost taller than me! when did THAT happen?!}

10. I have a llama. His name is George. Actually we have 2.. the other one's name is Kirby. Kirby was named after the little orange fuzzy alien child in Chicken Little.

11. Some of my favorite songs are by Wierd Al Yankovic - specifically "Yoda" {which my kids also love}, "One More Minute" {which always makes me think of Apollo and Starbuck from the ORIGINAL Battlestar Galactica {where Starbuck is actually a GUY} in a doo-wop line - LOL not sure I want to explain that one }, and the Ebay Song {which makes me literally LOL}. If you stay on my blog long enough, and still listen to the music, you'll hear them all eventually.

Took this photo of the tree last night.. makes me laugh.. it is one of DS's TKD ornaments... and he looks like he is kicking the present!

This is my DS with his cousin. Aren't they cute??

Well, I sat here long enough working on this post and listening to JMC songs that Tim has posted his Day 12 tag. Even more sadness, now that it is over. But he uses some cool techniques on this tag too {building the clock, stamp masking}. I hope he does more of the monthly techniques this year. When he replied to the email i sent with my address, he said he hadn't decided what he was going to do with the blog next year. Whatever it is, I'm sure there will be some GREAT projects and products, and TONS of inspiration! Thanks Tim.

Tomorrow, I will be posting a RAK, in honor of my 100th blog post. Wow. I remember when I started this blog.. I thought I'd never have that many posts. Thanks to those that read it.

oh my gosh!

So I was checking out Tim's blog today for the latest tag {which is absolutely gorgeous!!}.. well at the end of each tutorial, he posts the winners for the RAKs from the previous day. And lo and behold, there I am! Wahoo! I'm SO excited about that! {and what a great day too.. I don't have any of those items, other than the blending tool, which if I get another one of those, that's ok! Tim had an awesome idea at CHA - he uses one tool per color - and keeps them on a whirly stamp holder, which I think is just fabulous!}


I haven't posted for the last couple of days, so here are the tags for the last few days.

Day 8 {metallic crackle paint! yummy!}

Day 9 {Love the painting and how the inked greenery resists the paints!}

Day 10 {there is so much i love about this tag! The crown, the embossing and perfect pearls on the reindeer, the alpha stamp, and the snap as the flower center - genius!}

Make sure to check out Tim's blog for all the instructions, as well as links to where you can find the products he used if you don't have them.

Another very exciting thing that happened today - since my son spent the night with his uncle and cousins, Mom, Rhi, and I went to town for Christmas shopping and a girls day out. While we were eating lunch, I asked Rhi if she wanted to get her ears pierced. We have been talking about it a lot since her 8th birthday, in October, and a few weeks ago, almost managed to get it done, but she chickened out at the last minute. Today she said she wanted to go, so off we went to the mall. Once we reached Clare's she started to change her mind again, but after looking around the store at the earrings, she decided to have it done. {Once she saw that there was a teddy bear to be held, she was fine with it} She chose the October birthstone posts, which are a pretty pink color, and did so well! With kids, they actually pierce both ears at the same time, which is awesome. {Otherwise there would be a lot of kids out there with only one earring!} And I was so proud of her - she didn't even cry. And by the time we got to the next store, she had already forgotten about them. So here are a couple of pics of her with her new earrings.

Oh my goodness!

Check out what Tim has done today with this tag! WOW!

I wish i had just a tiny bit of his creativity, I can't believe the stuff that he comes up with. The snow on this tag is FABULOUS - it looks just like real snow!

Here is yesterday's tag too..

a class/blog giveaway, and more tags

Check out this really cute mini album! This is the beginnings of a mini album blog class, done by Leah Killian. I think it is SO cute!

I missed posting Tim's tag from yesterday, so here it is, along with today's tag. Instructions for both are on his blog.

Blog award

Terri gave me this blog award, how cool is that??

The rules:

1. The winner may put the logo on their blog.

2. Then put a link to the person who sent you the award.

3. Nominate 5 blogs.

4. Provide links to those 5 blogs.

5. Then, leave a message for your nominees.

My 5 blog nominations are:

Irene
Nicole
Kelli
Jessica
Harley

Tim's Second tag, and some other stamps

Oh. My. Gosh.

I absolutely LOVE today's tag. The technique is AMAZING, and the tag is out of this world, simply gorgeous! I am going to have to get one of those splat mats he has, because I really like the alcohol ink technique he uses. And one of the speckling brushes, though I can use a toothbrush in the meantime.

Step by step instructions are HERE.

While checking out Stamper's Anonymous, where Tim's other stamps are, I found these other images that have scooted onto my MUST HAVE list. LOVE the quote. And considering some of the stuff going on in my NSBR life, it seems like a good motto to have.




Juniper branch

My favorite - the umbrella man. I have a tag from CHA that Tim made that has the umbrella man on it.

The Raven

There are more... if I could, I would have them all!

Can't wait to see what tomorrow's tag brings!

Reindeer Roundup and 12 Tags of Christmas

Today is the first day for the Reindeer Roundup Shop Hop.. had fun playing the Great Pumpkin one, so I'll probably do this one too.. if you want more information, click HERE.

Tim Holtz has decided to do his 12 Tags of Christmas again this year... this was one of my favorite scrappy things from last year, so I am very glad to see he is doing them again this year. He always has awesome, step-by-photo-step instructions for making the tags, and gives away several items each day. Check out todays tag :