Christmas Tags!!!!

Ok, for now I have done 3 Christmas Tags. :) Jeanie from MOMS, who is also a very good friend, decided to give me some product and told me to DESIGN! Yep, that was all I had to do was design using the product she gave me. :) I could, of course, use some of my goodies. :) I did on most of my projects, but tried to stay with product that just MOMS sells. BTW, she also gave me some 7gypsies goodness, but that will be in another post! ;)

This tag was beyond fun! :) Everytime I do a tag, I have to use my FAVORITE tools. If any of you truely know me...you know that is my non-stick craft mat and the foam ink applicators! I adore them! :) How I started the tag, though, was to use some self made Perfect Pearls Spray that Tim Holtz demo-ed a while back. The spray I used was made with Walnut Stain Distress Reinker and Gold Perfect Pearls. I sprayed the PP Spray on the craft mat and then put the tag in it. I thought that would be fun! ;) I waited for that to dry and then stamped the sweet Santa image using the stamp from Tim Holtz for Stamper's Anonymous - Just Believe with Jet Black Archival Ink from Ranger. Then, I inked the tag using Tim Holtz's Distress ink in Aged Mahogany, Pine Needles, and Brushed Courderoy. I thought it still needed something so I got out the STICKLES!!!!! I went around the decorative scrolling with Gold Ice Stickles. I finished up with the "Legend has it" Sticker from 7gypsies from my stash. :) But....I got the sticker sheet from MOMS. I used raffia instead of ribbon for the top.

I am really not sure why that picture is like that, but it's ok. :) I started this tag by painting the side with Tim Holtz Distress Crackle in Tarnished Brass (I am not sure if Jeanie sells this, but I know I got this from Michael's). I waited for it to dry (and crackle!!) and then I went over it with Distress Inks in Aged Mahogany, Pine Needles, and Brushed Courderoy. I then stamped the ATC card size stamp with the stars from Tim Holtz's for SA set-Eclectic Palette in Walnut Stain. I, then, stamped the stars from the SA Set-Psychedelic Grundge in Aged Mahogany and Pine Needles, just randomly. After all of that, I took a wet cloth (paper towel will work too) and just cleaned off where the crackle paint was. I alcohol inked some pine tree brads I have had for years with cranberry and lettuce alcohol ink and a piece of felt. {WARNING!!!!! You have to do this with your hands and not an applicator if you want it done and able to have the control to put the color where you want it. I am a control freak, so I did this by hand and there was some staining. ;) } I then out them on the tag. Then, I decided to get the Tim Holtz fragments out. These are a glass type of thing that add just the right dimension sometimes to what I am doing. I used Glossy Accents to stick them on. I decided that they really needed something so, I alcohol inked the fragmants in cranberry alcohol ink :) Finally, I did the age old trick of heating organdy ribbon from CTMH with my embossing gun for the top.

I started this one by using the Tim Holtz Paint Dabber in Gold and applied it to the Believe Stamp in the Stamper's Anonymous set- Just Believe. I, then, inked with the same inks I have used for all of these, Aged Mahogany, Pine Needles, and Brushed Courderoy. Then I used the Gold Paint Dabber again along the edges. :) So, fun! :) I then took a 12x12 piece of My Mind's Eye paper from their Merry Days of Christmas "Old St. Nick" paper. I used my 1" circle punch and punched out all the little Santa heads I thought I needed and then stuck them on randomly using pop-dots once in a while. Then, I used some Stickles in Ruby Slipper and Gold Ice and put squiggles and dots randomly on the tag. Finally, I used 2 ribbons to add some cuteness to the tag. :) I believe that they were from Michael's.

All three tags! I hope you enjoy! :) Are you ready for Christmas?! I'm NOT! ;)

Wow, AGAIN?!?!

Seriously---I need to get better at blogging! :) I really have so much to say and have so much I do and love to do, not just create. I really should be better at this; especially since I am such a talker in real life! :)

During October we had football! :) Jon was in tackle this year and it was his first year of it. He loves defense and he loved the game. Practices were a little gruelling...sometimes I think more for the parents than the boys. They had practice 3 times a week for 2 hours each night. By the end of the season, we were tired. I will share pics but haven't gotten them onto the computer yet....see how bad I am?! :P

I may give you all a BLOG OVERLOAD! I feel horrible, because just reading my comments again I realized I got a Blog Award from Suz Gray way back in the beginning of October, may be even September. I had all good intentions of doing what I needed to for the award, but I never got to it. I am horrible, but so appreciative Suz. Thanks so much and I appreciate that you thought I deserved any type of award.

Ok....get ready for some projects, layouts, a little bit of everything. I have missed blogging! :)

Blowin' Things Up!

I am so happy that I decided to do LOAD again this time! :) I may not have been able to keep up with the voraciousness that I had in May, but I am inspired and that makes it all worth it. :) On day 11 in May, I had over 15 layouts done...right now on LOAD Day 11..I have 4! ;)

A little back story to this layout of mine. :) On July 4th of this year, we finally decided to let Jon light off his OWN fireworks. If ANY of you truely know me then you know that this was one of the hardest things for me to do. Jon is my oldest, but it is still so hard for me to let go of him and let him grow the way he needs to. But, with a little of Garth's coaxing, I was ok with it. :)

One of the things that Jon HAD to do is blow up some of his "guys", you know...action figures. He had spent weeks picking out what he thought was the PERFECT combo of guys to BLOW UP.

In the end, he blew an arm off of one and burned another, but he got what he wanted out of it and loved the experience of it all. :)

The Layout

The little bit of journaling I did was on this star I cut from some MME paper.

I cut the "cool" from a DCWV "Boys" Transparancy booklet. I thought it was PERFECT!

Thanks for looking! :)

SOCCER SASH!!!!

Ok, it feels so nice to be able to blog about my scrapbooking! :) This layout took a while to do, but I loved the result. I was very depressed about the pics at first, but I looked at the story and the pics started to be more than just pics. I love Garth and Sasha's relationship....she is such a Daddy's Girl and Garth is TOTALLY wrapped around her little finger. :)

BTW, we call her "Sash" a lot! :) Sometimes it is to describe her personality for the day and sometimes we just love that it has even more attitude than Sasha. :) Either way, I thought "Sash" was the way to go for the title of the layout. :)

The Layout! :)

I wrote on some of the pics! :)

I just loved these butterflies from Micheal's! :)

I pop-dotted some of the soccer balls I put on here. I cut THOSE with my CRICUT!

I also pop-dotted the "s's" of the title. I loved the dimension it added! :)

Thanks for looking! :) Happy Scrapping! :)

Changes at 32 and an understanding of ME! :)

Something happened today while I was going through my blogs of the people I very much enjoy to read about. :) Some of them are local here in Great Falls and some, well most, are from everywhere. They are friendships I have made since August of last year and I can honestly say that I feel closer to a lot of them than I do other people I have known for years.

You would think I would have smartened up after a scrapbooking retreat I went to last year. But, no, I didn't until today. You see, I posted a long time ago on my old blog that I can't even find anymore that I KNEW who were friends to me. To me a friend is someone who has your back ALL THE TIME...not when it is convenient, makes them look good, or is the most popular choice. I am a person who has people's backs until I am simply shown I am not needed anymore or simply cast away.

Hmmm, that is a couple of words that makes me think...."CAST AWAY". It sounds like a very good term for how I have been feeling since last August. When life for me as far as friends go, took a somewhat funky turn. I met one of the most wonderful people (though we have sometimes disagreed) I know right now...she is ALL HEART and it is a PURE HEART. She had bought our local scrapbook store here and made it her own...she literally changed EVERYTHING. Some liked it, others...not so much. I remember being told by the past owner to go in and make her feel welcome and support her. I seemed to be the only one who did for a while. Yes, there were excuses like: "It's not the same", "there are too many changes", "it's no longer home" BLAH, BLAH, BLAH....E-X-C-U-S-E-S! There were also gossip, rumors, whatever.... going on to. Who knows who started it and who the heck cares anymore. All I know and remember is EVERYONE got hurt. Sides were taken, friendships were stressed, and now it seems unraveled. :(

I have been discouraged and saddened by this for a while now....until today. While I was reading the blogs of everyone I know.....yes, I have become a thing I have despised for a LONG time....a LURKER....it is even a CREEPY word for it. I decided....I am done. I was talking to Becky last night. Many of you know she is my BEST FRIEND and I always like what she has to say and I listen to her for a lot of reasons, the biggest one is because she is very calm when making decisions...where I am blunt and to the point. Anyways, she said that she was talking to an old friend and they were talking about some of the fun things about being in your 30s. One of them is that you really don't give a crap what people think anymore and you find out who your friends are. The other one entailed a 3 letter word that is adult, but THE fore-mentioned thought was what struck a cord with me. So, reading my blogs this morning, I realized that last year in August, sides were taken and lines were drawn on who would remain friends and who would fizzle. I loved everyone involved in this whole mess....well, except for the girl who attacked me. I didn't even know her except for from BUNKO and she expected me to defend her with something that I was told came from her mouth....see why gossip hurts so much? Anyways- as Christian as I am- most of you know I struggle with grace and forgiveness. I decided to forgive everyone involved....no body knew who did what...who was lying....what came from where. UGH...this list can go on forever. I remember Becky telling me to be careful and to really know how people are. I figured I knew these people longer than I knew her. How could I not know them?

Time went on and I started making awesome relationships through the store and started to realize my OLD friends were not anywhere to be seen most of the time. No phone calls, emails (unless they wanted to attack me on something, get some dirt, or thank me for something I did for them or said about their work or accomplishments...although I got a nice one from one that was sorry when the store had a fire and I lost the place I called home for a while), nothing. Even on the scrapbooking/papercrafting group I had been a part of for years was becoming less welcoming. I thought it was me and that I had done something. Then the web group decided it was time to call it quits because a lot of the people had been not active...some because of hurt feelings and other because of time. A lot of us tried to keep up with each other on FaceBook and others through personal emails. One even started a spin-off group that very few of us old members supported. I shake my head now because I knew in my heart this would happen, but I never realized how much real life could imitate a farm....you know, it is like a hen house. Most of these "hens" just decided to take their eggs and forget everything and everyone else.

While trying to contact a lot of them on Facebook....I saw another trend. I had them as friends, but they still cliqued together like school girls. I would comment on this one's new hair style, that one's neat pictures, whatever and I even tried to Facebook Friend a couple who ignored me...I just gave up. I thought we were all friends. It hurt to see them acknowledge each other and their faves when I had commented too. Then today....I got to see in pictures on one of my "friends" photo blogs that although last year they acted hurt and that everything had changed between them....nothing changed at all. They still hang and it's all good....I just am not longer going to waste my time on people who have only time for who and what they want. They comment where they want, they acknowledge where they want, they have get togethers that are exclusive, and expect no one to get hurt. Well, that is who got hurt....the person you treat as "no one".

So, I figured this. I know who has been acknowledging me, who treats me as a friend, who has been there, etc...if you are an adult and reading this....you get the gist. I realized...I have FaceBook Friends, who are not "friends" to me at all. They have been nothing more than acquaintances for a while now. So, I want to keep my life and everything in it to those who care...so I have decided to delete people who have turned into acquaintances.... I remember being so excited when I was able to be friends and keep up with so many of them on Facebook. They can see what I am up to on mutual friends' walls and stuff....but I am going with the fact that they will keep business as usual and not care. Which is fine, because after, mine and Becky's conversation last night....I don't care what people think anymore, I am tired of being the nice person, and I KNOW who my friends are.

For those of you who are my friends, you know...because we keep in touch a lot or comment each other's lives and what not. :)

Wow, this was very freeing.... I thought I would cry a lot more. :)

My Project, My Story (at least for now)

In August, I started a journal entry because of how lucky in life I feel right now. I really was feeling on top of the world on that day. :) I felt that God has blessed me with a great life, beautiful and healthy kids, a great hubby, and good health. I didn't think that this journal entry would have been as healing for me as it has been...you see, I am still writing it and we are in almost to October and I am still not done.

I started writing from a place in my heart that I thought was totally gone and forgotten. If any of you have known me for more than a few years, you know that I have not ALWAYS felt like the luckiest person ever. In fact, for a while, it seemed as though luck, was the last thing I ever had. So that is where my story picked up. I felt that I needed to tell THE WHOLE STORY from the point where I felt very unlucky to now. It just made sense! :)

So, while I won't get into my story on my blog...I did want to share what I did to the notebook I started writing it in. :) It is me, and it is so fitting for the book that is telling my story from 2004 until today! :)

I will say that on this journey and writing I have been getting healed in ways I never thought I could. Thank You, God! :)

What I used: A Mead Spiral Notebook, Daisy D's Patterned Paper, (I also used DCWV patterned paper on the back inner cover for a pocket and Bo Bunny Dotted Cardstock for the back cover), Heidi Swapp for Advantus Iron on Letters and Ghost Butterflies, Doodlebug Designs Bling, Tim Holtz/Ranger Alcohol inks (lights for Ghosts and darker colors for charms), Paint Dabber (Pearl), So Charmed charms, A Touch of Trim Pearl and pink ribbon.

HUGS, LOVE, KISSES Layout and what's been up! :)

I am still in desparate need of getting better at blogging. I really do a lot of different projects and I really would love to be sharing them all with you. So, without further adeiu, I would like to share a layout that I did for the Tattered Angels DT call. I didn't get on the team, but I have also decided that I really need to enjoy what I do again! :) I was trying out for so many design teams that I forgot to have fun and love what I am doing. :) When I would get rejected..I took it personal and thought it was because I wasn't good enough to get on. When in reality, I am just not what they are looking for. AND....I will not comform what I do to match what people think I should be making or designing. TAKE ME AS I AM------is my new motto! :) Not to worry though, fans of my famous, IT'S ALL GOOD, motto...I will still use that! :)

So, here is: HUGS, LOVE, KISSES!

What I used: Basic Grey Bittersweet 12x12 patterened paper, cardstock stickers and journaling tag. Tattered Angels Glimmer mists, Glimmer Chips, and Glimmer Glass. Bling from Michael's. Memento Marker Pens. Lace from Michael's $1 bin!

I will also be getting better at taking multiple pics of layouts that I have added dimension to. :) I wasn't able to with this layout, but it was also one of my first layouts like this that I have layered dimension on. :)