Need a Little Direction?!!

Guess what! My vacation is almost over!! We are finishing up our house hunting trip in Dallas and will be heading back tomorrow!! I love it down here and can't wait to make the move!! All I have to do is get my house in Indiana sold!! LOL!! Well, it's Friday so that means that there is a new challenge at Frosted Designs and I am the host!! Since I picked this challenge.... I expect all of you to play along with me!! The challenge this week is to use arrows on a LO, card or project!! I chose to use arrows in tems of driving directions and used some photos from our Road to Hana trip! Greg rented this Hummer for our week in Maui and we had so much fun with it!!

All of the papers and embellishments are from American Crafts - Travel pack. I love the bold colors and the fun icons they used for this line!! You will be seeing some more of this paper... I can't wait to do a LO with the rest of the kit!!

If you are visiting from the Frosted Designs blog... you may be looking for my side challenge.... so here it is!! I am going to give away the American Crafts Travel kit to the person who used the most arrows on their project that they link up at Frosted Designs! To be entered, you need to leave me a comment here telling me how many arrows you used!! And then, because I am feeling extra generous (it must be my 2 week vacation that is doing it!) I am going to randomly pick another person who leaves a comment here AND enters a project at Frosted Designs to recieve a different kit!! To be entered, you need to leave me a comment here telling me that you have linked up a project at Frosted Designs!!

Now... let me see what you can do with this challenge.... I want to be able to visit all of your blogs and see your amazing projects!! Thanks for stopping by!!

Barb  :)

Sledding in July?!!!

It's Thursday and that means that Kim has given us another fabulous sketch to work with at Sketches In Thyme!!

These are pictures of Lauren sledding down the hill in our yard. It was later in the afternoon so the pictures are a little dark! But we had so much fun!! The papers are from a Pebble kit - Snow Fun!!

Now that you have seen the sketch, be sure to give it a try!! We would love to see your take on it!! Thanks for stopping by!!!

Barb  :)

Legacy of Love

Boy do we have a challenge for you at Practical Scrappers this week!! We are asking you to use 7 different items on your card, layout, or project!!

These pictures are from my Grandma's 93rd birthday party. We gave her a tiara to wear and she was loving it!! The top photo is of my Grandma with me, my parents, sisters and brother! So... for the seven things....

1. Patterned Paper (American Crafts)

2. Thickers letter stickers

3. Butterfly

4. Prima flourish

5. Flowers (that I made all by myself!!)

6. Ribbon

7. Stick pin

Okay, I realize that I didn't count the cardstock but I decided that I didn't need to since that is a given on a LO!! heehee!!! It was amazing once I started working how quickly I was able to add 7 elements to my page!! Now, we would love to see what you can do!! Be sure to stop by the Practical Scrappers blog to see what the design team did and then link up a project of your own!! Have a great weekend!!

Barb  :)

Practical Scrappers sketch challenge!

It's Friday and I am halfway through my vacation! Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to stop by and visit my blog while I have been busy working on my tan!! I can't wait to get back and get caught up on all the things I have missed while I was gone!

We have a new sketch at Practical Scrappers! The sketch is from Lisa Hidy and was really fun to work with!! As you can see, I skipped the title (since this was another one for Myra's album) and added an extra photo!! Doesn't she have a beautiful family?!

We would love to see what you do with this sketch... and you could win a prize too!! Also be sure to stop over at Frosted Designs to find out more about the new challenge that was posted today!! I will be back Monday with a new Practical Scrappers challenge for you!!

A New Challenge at Sketches In Thyme!

Our lovely Maven leader Kim has done it again!! She found a fabulous sketch to challenge us with at Sketches in Thyme!! This is another LO from Myra's birthday album. These are photos of Myra with her parents and with her sisters! The papers, tag and butterfly are from K & Company and the flowers and flourishes are Prima.

Here is the sketch we started with!

Be sure to stop over at Sketches in Thyme to see what all the other Mavens did with this sketch!! Their talent always blows me away!! We would love to have you play along with us!! Thanks for stopping by and visiting!! When I return from vacation I will be by to catch up on all your blogs!!

Barb  :)

I made a card!!

Happy Monday everyone!! I hope you had a great weekend and are ready to jump into a new challenge!! This week at Practical Scrappers we are asking you to use something that you have had in your stash for more than a year! Seriously... that is not a problem here!! I really need to start working through all of my supplies to make room for new stuff!!  LOL!!

And believe it or not, I actually tried a card this week!! I am still pretty new at these but I think it turned out pretty cute!!

The papers and stickers are from American Crafts - Blue Skies.... I LOVE this line!! The "old" on this card is the ribbon!  I think the ribbon on the sun has been in my stash for about 5 years now!! It felt great using it up!! Now, let's get busy and use up some of those supplies! Be sure to link up your project at Practical Scrappers for your chance to win a prize!!

It's Friday and we have a new challenge for you!!!

Happy Friday everyone!! I am in a really good mood because this is the start of my 2 week vacation!! Yay!! I am so excited to have some down time... and I am going to put up the computer!! Yep, I said it!! I promised my husband I would behave and actually focus on the family on this family vacation!! I do have several posts ready for DT assignments that will be popping up for you while I am gone!!

Now.. on to the important stuff!! My challenge is for Frosted Designs! Our fabulous Erika is our host and her challenge for us this week is to use border punches!! Easy, easy, easy!! Now we want you all to play along!! Here is the LO I did!!

This is another one I had completed for Myra's party last weekend. I love this picture of her and her husband Scott. I kept it pretty simple so that the focus was on them... and she really liked the simplicity of this one!! I did make that fabulous satin flower though!! Isn't it pretty?!! The papers are K & Company and the border punch was Martha Stewart! Now, be sure to visit the Frosted Designs blog to see what all the other amazing, talented women created for you this week and then be sure to link up your own project!! Don't forget that the very generous Debbie is offering up some very yummy candy for the month of July!! You can't win if you don't play!!

Thanks for stopping by and visiting!! I really do appreciate all the kind people who take the time to comment!!

Fun in the Sun!

Our lovely Maven Kim has posted a new challenge for us over at Sketches In Thyme!! I love the sketches she finds!!

These are pictures from our trip to Maui back in 2009. The kids had so much fun and can't wait to go back!! The papers are from The Paper Studio. Don't you just love them?!

I hope you can find the time to join us... be sure to stop by the Sketches in Thyme blog to see what the design team did with this sketch!! AMAZING!! And check out the cool prize you could win by playing along...

Wouldn't you like to win that?!! Thanks for stopping by! I will be back tomorrow with a new Frosted Designs challenge for you!!

barb  :)

Party Decorations & a new Challenge!

Hello everyone!! I hope you enjoyed your weekend!!  Mine, as you will see was VERY busy!! I went camping for 3 days with my family and got back Friday... then I turned around Saturday and hosted a surprise party for one of my best friends! And believe it or not, even with 70 people at the party, no one spilled the beans and she was surprised!! If you know Myra, you would realize what a major feat that was!! In fact, here is a picture of the birthday girl when everyone yelled surpise!!

She is going to kill me when she sees this on here!! Oh well... Love you Myra!!  :)  So, since I was kind of pressed for time, I decided to combine her party decorations with our new challenge at Practical Scrappers!! This week the challenge is EMBOSSING!! You can heat emboss (like I did) or use your Cuttlebug or any other machine you have to emboss!! Easy Peasy!!

As you can see on my birthday banner (the entire banner is in the picture at the top of the post!) I heat embossed the brown triangles with a clear ink and clear embossing powder. I thought that the brown by itself was too plain, but using patterned paper would be too busy! Doesn't it add a nice elegant look to the banner?! I used my Gypsy to design the banner and the font is Gypsy Wanderings.

And these were the centerpieces on all the tables. Since Myra's husband specifically requested that I stay away for black and all the negatives to having 40 signs hanging everywhere, I decided on the subtle brown with the green, purple and blue. Which, btw, whe LOVED the color scheme!! Yay!!

 Here is a close up of the butterfly on the candle. It doesn't show up really well in the photo, but the wings were also embossed with the same thing I embossed the banner with!!  The butterfly is from the Indie Art cart.

And here is a LO I did for her album using the sketch from A Crafty Little Place! The sketch was fun to play with... go over and check it out... you have until the 14th to submit your LO! And while you are there, be sure to check out the fabulous sale they are having to get ready for CHA... you can find it by clicking HERE!!

Well.... I love to throw a party but I have to admit, I am glad to have this one behind me!! Now maybe I can take the next few days to stop by all the blogs I neglected all last week!! And then, I might actually get some time to get my scrapbooking done!! LOL!!

Be sure to stop over at the Practical Scrappers blog to see what fabulous things the design team came up with!! They really are amazing!! And while you are there, please take a minute to answer the poll you will find in the sidebar!! Thanks for stopping by and as always, thank you for the wonderful comments you leave for me!! I really do appreciate them!! Have a great week!!

Barb  :)

Peace!!

Happy Friday everyone!! You know what that means... a new challenge at Frosted Designs!! Are you ready for it?! The challenge this week is to use FELT on your card, layout or project!! Now with all the felt embellishments out there, this should be easy peasy!! To show you how easy, take a look at this LO!!

These pictures were taken on the 4th at the fireworks. Lauren and her friend Danielle made glasses from the glow bracelets!! They were seriously cracking everyone up with them!! When I found these felt stickers that coordinated perfectly with the paper I already had... I knew I had to get them and do this LO!!! (And they were on sale for $1!!! Can't beat that!! ) The paper is DCWV, and I used a white gel pen for the "stitches"!! I used mini-monograms for the circles!

Now.... it is your turn!! Go to Frosted Designs and link up your project!! You could win a fabulous prize that our very own Debbie is offering this month!! But you can't win if you don't play!!! Have a great weekend!!

Barb  :)

A layout for a friend & new Sketch at Sketches in Thyme!

Two posts in one day!! What is this world coming to?!  LOL!! If you would like to see my LO I did for the Sassy Little Lady blog, you will need to scroll down! But be ready.... there are LOTS of pictures!! So, I will keep this post short with just a few pictures!!

Meet Myra! She has actually been on my blog before... with my shoe LO!! Myra has a milestone birthday coming up.... the big 40!! Her husband is trying desperately to surprise her (so I hope she doesnt see this!!!) so we are going to have a party at my house for her. I was in charge of the decorations and I have had sooooo much fun with it!! I have made a banner and some table decorations which you will get to see on Monday. I decided to make some LOs using our color theme that we can put on small easels around the cake table and other places we need some decorations. When the party is over, I am going to put them into a photo album for her. So.... you will be seeing a lot of LOs in the next few weeks using the same colors!!! For this LO I wanted to include some pictures over the years!! Some of the pictures I have to work with are not of the best quality but I am going to do the best I can!!

This LO is for the new Sketches In Thyme sketch challenge!! The sketch comes from monma.blogspot.com. I have to be honest, the design team did some pretty incredible examples for you... be sure to head on over and check them out!! And even better, play along with us!!! Thanks for stopping by again today!! I am out of town a lot during this month so I will just go ahead and apologize now for not getting to all the blogs to visit.... I will try to catch up when I can!! Have a great day!!

Bloom

Good morning! I am the guest designer today over at She's a Sassy Lady! If you have not checked out her blog, please do so!! The one thing Sheila does well, and asks all of her guest designers to do, is to give very specific directions when posting. This has been a challenge for me, but this month, you will see that I have PLENTY of photos to explain my flower!! This is the same post that you will find on the Sassy blog:

Thank you Sheila for sharing your blog with me!! Recently, I was working on a LO of my daughter when she walked into the room. She was so impressed with the flower (remember - she is only 8! It doesn't take much!!) she immediately wanted to learn how to do it!! Well... that got me thinking... If she wanted to learn, maybe others did too! All of the papers are from American Crafts! I just love these papers!! So, let's start with the completed LO!

I don't mean to brag, but isn't she a cutie?!!  LOL!! Now, back to the flower! These are easy peasy to make!! This is what you are going to need:

I like to use 2 patterned papers and 1 solid. You only need one size circle punch to make the flower. The bigger the circle punch, the bigger the flower!

I like to use my punch upside down so I can see exactly where I am punching!

I punched out 3 circles from each pattern.

Next you need to fold in the two sides so they touch in the middle.

Do this with all six circles.

I then pick one pattern and cut on the fold half way up.

With the other pattern, I cut on the fold from the top, and go half way down. It's hard to tell in the picture!

Once I have made the cuts in all 6 circles, I lay them out in order, with the part of the circle I folded facing in.

Now it is easy to slide the ones that were cut from the bottom (green) into the ones that were cut from the top (stripes).

Continue until you have all 6 circles connected.

To hold it all together, I lift up a part of the overlapped circle and place a small drop of glue on the paper. (If you look really hard, you can see the glue on the flap that is lifted up!!)

Once they are all glued together, I add a button to the center using a glue dot. Now, once I layed this flower on my LO, it kind of got lost in the other patterns, so I had to come up with a way to seperate it from the other papers.

So... I cut out 6 circles from the solid cardstock using the same punch as the patterned papers.

I placed some adhesive on the back.....

and worked my way around the flower, letting a little of the red stick out behind each circle!

This is what the finished circle looks like!!

I also made a smaller flower out of circles. (I used a smaller punch to get these.) I cut out 5 patterned paper circles and one solid circle.

Then I just started laying them down in a circle, overlapping each circle as I went.

I added glue to the back of the solid circle and placed it on top... this is what holds the flower together. If you wanted to, you could glue each circle together as you put them together, but it really is not necessary!

Add a button with a glue dot and you are finished!!

And here it is again on the final LO! Thank you so much for taking the time to look through ALL of these pictures... I know there were quite a few! I would love to hear any comments that you have!!

barb  :)

A new award and blog candy!

Happy 4th of July everyone!! I am really hoping to get a little scrapping done today between company and parties, but in the mean time, I wanted to share these two things!

DEBBIE HAS CANDY!!  That's right!! The generous and fabulous Debbie is offering some wonderful candy to celebrate the 4th! All you have to do is become a follower of her blog and leave a comment!!  You can get there by clicking HERE!!! But hurry..... you only have a couple of days to be entered into the drawing!!!




And.... I am soooo lucky to have met so many wonderful people through my blogging! Everyone is so kind and supportive and I learn so much from each and every one of you every day!! I have been lucky enough to receive this fabulous award from TWO of my friends!!! Now that really makes me feel loved!!!! Let me teel you about them.....

First, my lovely bloggy friend Judy has been so kind to pass this lovely blogger award on to me!! If you have not had a chance to meet Judy yet, you need to go visit her and check out her blog! She is sooooo sweet and makes some of the best projects I have seen! AND she always shares her files and tips so that we can make the projects ourselves!! Not to mention she always gives things away!! Please go visit her and share some blog love with her!! You can get there by clicking HERE!!!  (She also has some great music on her blog!!)

AND I also received this award from my sweet, sweet friend Denise!!  Denise has an amazing amount of talent and is always so kind to visit my blog and share some nice words about my creations!! Her LOs and cards are so creative and fun!! I learn so much from her!! And right now.... Denise is giving away some blog candy!! Please stop by and visit her, follow her and leave her some kind comments!! You can get there by clicking HERE!!


So... here are the rules:
This award comes with a set of rules...


1) Thank the person who gave it to you 2) Tell seven things about yourself 3) Pass the award on to five bloggers whom you think are fantastic...
 
So.... 7 things about me....
1. I am a major beach bum!! Give me a beach and a good book and I am happy!!
2. I LOVE chocolate!! It is my favorite treat!!! Can't get enough of it!!
3. I love spending time with my amazing family!! I am so blessed to have 4 healthy children, a husband who adores me, and parents that are still very active in my life!! Not to mention my sisters who are my best friends!!
4. I like to mow my lawn! I know... sounds crazy!! But think about it... when I am on my mower, the kids can't ask me for anything, and I don't answer phone calls!! Pretty peaceful!!
5. I really, really hate the sight of blood! My son recently cut his hand at work and wanted to know if I wanted to see his cut.... NO!! I am such a baby!!
6. My friends call me Martha Stewart... I love to entertain and everything has to be in matching serving dishes that coordinate with the theme... and I love to decorate for parties!!
7. I am a bit of a dare devil... love to do things like zip lining and exploring!! A little adventure is always good!!
 
 
Now I would love to pass this on! I know the award says to pass it to 5 people but since I received it twice, I am going to pass it on to 10 people!!! I could easily give this to so many more people because I have made so many wonderful friends, but I am going to stick to 10... in no particular order!!
1. Leah - Beeing Creative and Feeling Cherry
2. Diana - All the Days of Our Lives
3. Pat - A Scrappin Nana
4. Joni - Love Life
5. Susan - Paper Daisy Dreams
6. Debbie - Love Life's Little Pleasures
7. Jocelyn - Simply Me
8. Aaron - Scrappin Lils Creative Side
9. Jane - Scossie Jane
10. Sheila - She's a Sassy Lady
 
Please stop by these ladies blogs and share some blog love with them!! They are all so wonderful and sweet!! And thank you ladies for always being so kind and supportive!! I love all the super sweet comments you leave me each day!!
 
Have a safe and happy 4th of July!!

Patriotic LO

IT"S FRIDAY!!!!!!! And it's the first week in July!!! That means that we have a new challenge at Frosted Designs AND we have a new prize package!!!!! This week we are challenging you to use Red, White & Blue and Stars & Stripes on your cards/layouts/projects!!!! Isn't that perfect for the upcoming July 4th holiday?!!! Here is my LO....

This handsome man is my nephew! He recently joined the Army and just finished his Basic Training!! I am sooooo proud of him! He is so dedicated and focused and is doing so well!!!  The words on the LO .... service, excellence, and integrity are the Core Values he was taught during basic. The dog tag says Honor.

I used a variety of papers on this one and I am soooo sorry but I didn't write them all down before cutting off the manufacturers! The stars and dog tag were cut using Stand and Salute and the circles were cut using mini monograms. I used my Cuttlebug to emboss the blue paper with stars. I even added a little glimmer mist to the background!!

Now do you want to see what you could win by playing along with us?!!!

Doesn't that look wonderful?!!! Our fabulous designer Debbie has donated this prize for us this month!! Now you need to head on over to Frosted Designs to link your project for a chance to win!! Make sure you become a follower too!!

There are a few other blogs that have a patriotic theme this week so I am going to enter this LO into these challenges:

Fantabulous Cricut

Wee Memories

Cuttlebug Spot

And... I have some good news!! My LO of my husbands birthday won at A Crafty Little Place!! (You can see that LO on my last post!)  They have a new scrapbook sketch up so go check it out and play along!!!

And if that isn't enough good news... check this out!! Our lovely Maven Kim is offering a super fabulous prize for this weeks challenge!! All you have to do is play along!! Head over to Sketches in Thyme to see this weeks sketch..... because you could win this!!!!!

Besides... you won't want to miss what all our super talented Mavens did with this weeks sketch!! There are some serious jaw dropping LOs!!!!!!

Thanks for stopping by my blog!!! Enjoy the long holiday weekend and be sure to thank the people who fight so hard for us everyday so we can live in a country with the freedoms we have!! We are so blessed!!
Barb  :)