Baby You're a Star!

A few months ago I was going through Scrapbook Trends Dec. 2008 magazine & saw this cool LO by Kandis Smith. I knew right away I would lift her LO...I just needed to find the right pics.

It took awhile but I found the pics that would work for me...in May!

Gianna's dance recital was perfect for this since I didn't get a lot of "great" shots. I figured if I printed them out 2x3 they would look good.

My next problem was finding the right paper to go with these pics. I went through my entire stash, collection by collection but could not find something that worked with the royal blue costumes!! I tried my LSS but she has strange hours & I kept missing her. I tried Michaels & found this blue star paper from MM that was eh, but I bought a sheet anyway. Finally I realized I had some KI Memories Lace that I was "saving" for the right occasion & it worked for me!!

Lace paper - KI Memories
Patterned paper - Making Memories
Letter Stickers - Doodlebug Designs
Chipboard letters - K & Company
Scalloped Border Punch - Stampin' Up
Ribbon - Michaels
Buttons - Misc

This card's got ZING!

Made this card awhile ago after I got my Zing! embossing powders. They are so much fun to play with! Got the butterfly idea from Nichol.

I first stamped the butterfly then embossed it with the lavender powder. After it set I inked it with Colorbox chalk inks for the darker inside & wiped off the excess. Nichol made a video explaining it all--she has some great videos!!

Sweet Little Leprechaun

OK it's not March. But I did start this in March! I actually finished it sometime in late April/May. Not sure why since I had already done this one & had all the papers cut out. Everything was ready to be stuck done except the journaling. That always slows me down! The title messed me up too since I kept changing that around....

The sketch is from Nichol Magouirk's 2Peas class Celebrate the Seasons . She does some awesome work & includes a how-to video which is great! Now I just need to catch up on April, May & June before July's class!!!

3 Wheeling

Awhile back I printed these pics to scrap but then I got sidetracked & didn't get around to them...until a few weeks ago. Gianna was 3 here & she has always been a mischievous type of kid. On this day she was riding her trike all over the backyard..literally all over!

The patio--ok.
The grass--alright.
The bushes--NO!
But it's hard to be mad at her..she's that cute!

Played around the pics for awhile, wanting to have them all 4x6 just to make it quicker without any cropping. Then I realized there was a lot of background in the pics that I didn't want & so I trimmed most of them down.

To do the journaling I folded a piece of cardstock in half & punched it out almost entirely leaving just the very edge connected making a card. Ran the top through the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder & wrote my journaling inside leaving the top a perfect spot for my title.

Used the Creative Imaginations line for this, which is so bright & happy! Love the colors--especially since the matched Gianna's dress!! LOL!

My Cousin Vinny

Not the movie, just my cousin. Mine happened to get married on Saturday!

It was a beautiful wedding. I think weddings are always more fun when it's your family there. This was no exception! Joe & IFirst dance...The centerpiece from our table. Took it from my seat..like how it came out.My sister's & me with the happy couple

Congrats again Vinnie & Jeannie!

You are my Sunshine....

We've had some cruddy weather around here lately. It hasn't felt like June at all!! It actually feels more like April with all the rain we've had!! If you're lucky, after the rain you might see a rainbow...but hey we're not that lucky...so I made my own rainbow!!

Got this idea from Jennifer McGuire's blog, you can see the original here.

Went through my paper scraps & punched a bunch of circles. A very simple LO, except that I cut all the letters with my Cricut since I couldn't find the right size letter stickers or rub-ons. Then I just added some buttons from my stash with some string just like Jennifer's. Love how it turned out!

Going to my cousin's wedding today. Hoping the rain from yesterday stays away & they have a beautiful day! Back later with that post....

Sugar Lips

Not sure when it happened but I call Gianna "Sugar Lips" all the time. If I ask her "Whose my Sugar Lips? She'll answer "I am!"...yeah she melts me! So it seemed appropriate to use her nickname for the title of this years Valentine LO!

Once again I used the same design from the last few LO's I've done (ver. 1 & ver. 2)that were lifted from Laura. What can I say?? If it ain't broke don't fix it!! That certainly applies to a good design...especially when single photo LO's freeze me completly!

And here are the last cards I made using these scraps.

Used a Martha Stewart heart punch on small bits of scraps & just lined the pieces up & added a button. Super simple!

It also ties in with the next LO I did...that has nothing to do with Valentine's Day!! The love fest is over....for now! Who knows maybe I'll attempt Halloween next! LOL!

Not so Spring Cleaning

Ever tell your kids to clean their rooms? Do you have to stay with them & direct them in how you want it cleaned?

Apparently I do.

I sent the girls to do this thankless chore while I did some other cleaning. I asked Marissa to go through some of her things & make a pile of things she didn't want anymore since her room was the worst. Gianna needed to clear the dolls off her floor.

After awhile I went to see the results....wonder what I found??

I found them playing.

Gianna was playing with her dolls that I had asked to be picked up.

And Marissa was playing with some things she found & had forgotton about...

She found this kooky knit hat & topped it with an old New Year's tiara, finishing off her ensemble with these lacy pink gloves.

Yeah, apparently I need to clean out their rooms more often...by myself....

Hey Cupcake

Finally up to Gianna's Valentine cards. Here she is in Pre-school...she's 3 here. Really like the colors of this a lot after using red on the past few LO's. I used the same design before on this LO & yes it's a lift from Laura...again!!

The papers are from Reminisce...again! I really stocked up on this collection though I don't have a lot of the pink.

Here are a few more cards.....in pink!

Sorry about the cruddy pic...couldn't get the lighting to co-operate.

Still have more of the Valentine LO's to come...like I said I was behind!

The Girl with the New Earrings

Today Marissa & I hit the mall. I had to get a few things & since Marissa's out of school she's my shopping buddy!!

However she's not totally into the whole "shopping" thing....yet.

She is 8 though so she's getting there. Of course halfway through my "must-shop" stores she's whining about it not being fun---SIGH!!

We were close to a "Claire's Boutique" & I thought she'd might like all the frilly girly stuff. We didn't need to go far before something caught her eye. Right at the entrance to the store she spots all these "dangly" earrings. She's been getting tired of her "everyday" earrings & wanted a change.

She'll be a natural shopper yet!!

We start showing each other some pretty dangling earrings & I tell her to pick something out. Well she is my daughter after all & can not make a decision. Before I knew it she had picked out 6 pkgs of earrings that multple earrings on each pkg!! I try to explain money to her & she starts playing "Let's make a deal". Trying to teach her a lesson I tell her I'll buy them if she pays me back with her own money when we get home. She agrees.

I didn't put much stock in her promise but she shocked me! Promptly when we got home, she disappears in her room & later brings me the exact amount of the bill. WOW!! Not only was I happy that she showed a little responsibility (not the word I'm looking for) but she was happy too!
Now I just need to teach her how to take the earrings in & out!

Love You

Back to the Valentine LO's!! Here's another one for Marissa, this time she's in 1st grade. Used the same design as this LO, which is a lift of Laura's.

Once again I used the Reminisce line....have I mentioned how I horde patterned paper?? I have a ton of this paper since I was using it for a project & thought I'd need more of it...but I was wrong....oops!!

And of course here's a card I made from scraps....

Need a Do-Over

Not feeling like doing much today.

After all the running around I did yesterday getting ready for Gianna's birthday {have I mentioned she's FIVE??}, I feel SO tired. Almost like I'm hungover, but SO not....hmmm...maybe that's not the right word....how about un-motivated??

Better.

There are lots of things on my "to-do" list that need to be crossed off actually.

Cleaning might be one of them....

I've noticed that the blog has been looking boring lately. It needs to be freshened up a bit.

I need to update my slideshow.
I'm working on it!

I would like to change the header too.
S-l-o-w-l-y working up to that one!

****This week Gianna will be out of school...finally! I could've taken her out when Marissa finished but I wanted her to celebrate her birthday with her friends. Not sure why since she invited them all to her party that she'll have soon (not that a lot of people have rsvp'd or anything!! hint!! hint!!) venting....

Back to the list -- With her out of school I plan on getting stuff off my to-do list. Maybe I'll even be blogging normally again! And posting things in real time instead of using the options to cheat the date on my posts!! LOL!!

That's my pledge!! Back later with some more scrappiness!

Pinky swear!

Five Year Old

Today my baby girl turned 5.

Five years old.

She's five.

I want to know what happened to the little baby I just brought home not that long ago....
Because now I have no babies at home anymore...sort of makes me sad.

Today I took cupcakes to her school so they could have a little party. They were so excited to celebrate her birthday...cause hey--there are CUPCAKES involved!!

Afterwards when everyone was wipe clean of frosting we took a group pic. Sort of sad since this will be her last week at this school. There are just 2 other kids from this class that will be in her school next year.

Then the kids went outside to work off some of the sugar. Gianna was playing frisbee with her friend & while waiting for her turn she was so "happy-go-lucky".I made her this cake. She wanted "Dora" & I talked her out of it...cause I'm mean like that! I mean have you tried making BLACK frosting?? Hard, unless you buy the premade tubes that are pricey & you'd need a lot!! Then there's the taste of black frosting...not so yummy according to my family. So we compromised with Tinkerbell.

Not my best cake, but I had to make this super fast thanks to a cake malfunction. **GASP** Joe even told me I cheated since I didn't pipe the frosting with the star tip like you're supposed to. Yes, he got the stink eye for that! When I showed him the destroyed cake he understood why I made it smooth instead--there would not have been enough time to frost since I had to re-bake the cake. Yes you read that correctly. Apparently if you're trying to save time by baking the cake the night before so you can frost it the next day at your leisure MAKE SURE YOU TAKE IT OUT OF THE PAN SO IT DOESN'T STICK!! Sorry I lost track there.....

Either way, Gianna loved her cake!! See how excited she is??She settled down a bit for this pic.
Her cousins were all over to help her celebrate...
Making a wish....
Opening her presents. She pulled out the hanger instead of the dress that was in the bag & was so excited about it not realizing it was just the hanger. It was hysterical!
She was even more excited about getting clothes for her Webkinz.

She has wanted "Cooking Mama" for her Nintendo DS for awhile, but Marissa already has it for her DS & they have to share, which doesn't happen as often as it should. When I saw this (for the Wii) I jumped on it! It's one of those perfect presents!
She had a great birthday & loved all her presents. And if you ask her how old she is she'll say...
"I'm little five."

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY GIANNA!!
Love you!!

Love

Taking a short break from the Valentine card LO's. Mainly because the pics aren't downloaded on this computer so I'm working with what I've got. LOL! This LO started out for a different pic but I ended up using this that was sitting on my desk. Go figure. ;)

This is our Mother's Day pic from this year. I noticed after I took the pic that I had written "2008" instead of "2009"...duh.

Everything but the cardstock & tags are Making Memories. I always loved the colors of this line but never got around to using it...no idea why. I have such a horde of pp that it's NOT funny!

Since it's been rainy & dreary here, now that the girls are pretty much out of school I'm hoping to use more of my stash & scrap more. I've got lots of ideas going around in my head of things I want to do. Some quick & easy & some more time consuming...let's hope the stash goes down a bit.....so I can buy more!! LOL! Keep your fingers crossed!

Dad's Day

Just want to say to my darling hubby how much I appreciate all he does for us on a daily basis. He goes above & beyond with everything!! He's a mush when it comes to his girls...

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

Forever Friends

More Valentine stuff to share! Really was on a roll with all these....though it's easy to do when you're lifting someone else's designs--THANK YOU LAURA!!!

(can't find the link to her LO that I lifted but knowing her & her talent it's probably out for publication!)

And here are a few cards I made with the scraps....

Still more to come! I'm spreading them out so I have stuff to blog about! LOL!!

Town Carnival

Tonight we took the girls to the carnival in town. Luckily for them it was "wristband night" & they got to "ride all the rides for one low price"!! {{insert eye roll here.}}

The first ride was the knock off "Dumbo" ride. We made Marissa go on it with her sister so she wouldn't be alone. Yes Marissa has reached the age that considers certain rides "lame".....

***sigh***

Next Marissa rode this swing ride but Gianna didn't make the height requirement.....so she hung out with Daddy....Trying for some artsy shots of the fun house that the girls went on....Another artsy shot of whatever they call this ride...something like "Spin till you hurl"...and no my girls didn't go on this.

See those blurs down at the bottom of the slide?? One of them is Marissa & the other is one of her friends from school we met there.
Marissa's friend has a younger sister Gianna's age & this made Gianna's day having someone her age there. Here are the girls all together riding the "teacups".....

Here the 4 of them rode the "golden bus"....

Gianna's cheesy but happy grin.... After the other girls left my girls rode the "Dragon coaster". They were excited to get the first seat....

We also did the other carnival things like "pop the balloon for a tiny little prize", which Gianna loved!! Or "shoot the ducks for a teeny little prize" which Marissa had to do.

Joe & I had fun too. We got some yummy zeppoles to eat!! My mom makes the best I've ever had but no fair is over till I've had zeppoles!! Fun was had by all!! LOL!!