some scrappy projects

I have been creating a bit off an on. Here's what I have been up to. :) The calendar project is my first "assignment" as a CT member for Heart in Hand Scraps. The original class is by the amazingly talented Linda Albrecht and can be purchased and downloaded here. The instructions are clear and easy to follow and you can adapt to what you have on hand as I did. Why take a class at a scrappy store using what they supply, when you can take a class in the comfort of your own home, whenever you want to and with whatever you like? This was so fun to make and I am going to make several more. While you are there, be sure to take a look at the other fun classes by all the other crazy talented designers. :)

The pretty orange-ish layout was created for this weeks Weekly Design Team Inspiration over at CMK. This weeks inspiration is to highlight key words in your journaling by using a different color, font, boxing those words in, etc...
I did some simple journaling using some die cuts and I placed them so that even without the "filler" journaling, the message would still be clear. It didn't turn out as journal-y as I had hoped, but I was sick and just getting it done was an accomplishment. lol!
If you look closely at the "got leaves" layout, you'll see Skylar's head poking out from the leaf pile. heehee. They had a lot of fun in that huge pile!

The card is a Di Hickman Card Sketch December #1.

I finished my Christmas shopping for the kiddos last night. What a relief! Now I can focus on everything else, like maybe getting some Christmas cards out.
Happy Wednesday!
Rae

Huge announcments for CMK today!!!

If you haven't read all the big announcements over at CMK today, you've gotta head over and check things out!
First, Rebecca is stepping down as the owner of CMK to pursue bigger and better things! yay! I am sad to see her step down as the owner, but the fabulous Lisa Tilmon has purchased CMK and has a lot of exciting things planned for 2008. You can read about this exciting change here.
Secondly, the best news of the day is this! Congrats Rebecca and Holly!!! I have no doubt this is going to be amazing and smashing and I can't wait to see what has been going on behind the scenes for such a long time! These two are super talented and smart and will take Pink Paislee to the top!
The third big announcement of the day on CMK is that there is a DT call! Ladies, this is an amazing site to design for and I am really looking forward to seeing what Lisa is going to bring to CMK. If you have been on the fence about joining this community, now is the time to go for it! It's my "home" on the net and I am sure you'll see why I love it so. And I am thrilled to say that the fabulous Tina as well as myself have been asked to stay on and assist with the DT/kit aspects at CMK. Yahoo! I am eager to work with Lisa, and although it's sad that our current team term is coming to end, I am looking forward to seeing who the new team members will be. Change is always hard but we've had an amazing year and I have made some great friends. I am blessed to have had the opportunity to work with these amazing women and get to know more about them throughout the year. They are crazy talented and each one is near and dear to my heart.
That's all I have to say today. So many big things happening over at CMK and I hope to see you there!
Happy Monday!
Rae

the best of intentions...

I had the best of intentions to update this thing at least every other day. I sat down Monday and then got sidetracked, the same thing on Tuesday and yesterday I just wasn't in the mood. So today I will update the week thus far.

My surgery is going to be on Dec. 20th at 2:30PM. Just two weeks from now I will have a huge gash from the inside of my ankle up to my lower calf. I am not so much worried about the surgery as I am the recovery time and this is starting to hit me. I am not patient and I am going to have sutures in for 13 days which means no weight on my foot period. I am a pretty tough person, but I just have to say that I am pretty stressed out right now and I have been crying off and on throughout the past few days. I think a lot of it is relief that this really could be the answer and all the pain and mental and physical affects of this *should* be corrected and I will be "myself" again soon. And then there is the recovery. It's going to be a long road and it's still going to be weeks before I am walking and bearing weight again and I am just so tired already. At least for the past few weeks I have been able to put some weight on my foot using the crutches for the main support, but it's been a nice break for my upper body. Not to mention the possible effects of the surgery which I just pray don't happen. The unknowns are what scare me the most.
We've had some issues with Nathan that add to my stress and between everything I have hardly been able to sleep. I just can't shake this cold and it's just getting worse. My nose is congested and every now and then it runs like crazy which sucks, I have been sneezing non-stop and my throat is screaming. (Karma for making that card for Rachel I am sure... lol!). I am chilled and exhausted, but I just can't sleep more than a few hours at a time. I am drinking some extra wine tonight in hopes that it will be just enough to knock me out. After Grey's of course. ;)

OK, on a positive note... Monday was a nasty rainy and windy day, however there was no snow on the ground and I was able to get out for the first time in a week by myself so I went for it! I took some things back to get refunds/exchanges and then finished all the kids stocking stuffers. I hobbled around Target for over an hour with one crutch using the side of the cart in place of the other crutch. Not an easy task in the least, and it was exhausting. My ankle was screaming afterwards, but it was well worth it because it is the first time since August that I have gone to a store and shopped ALL BY MYSELF. I felt accomplished and like I have finally not been a burden upon everyone else. I did get several odd looks, but then again most people aren't breathing heavy and wincing with each step while hogging an aisle because they need to use the cart to get around. I must admit there were a few times I just thought "this is crazy, I should just leave and come back later with some help". I then wanted a Teryaki Rice Bowl for lunch and I had about 20 minutes to kill before they opened so I went to Toys R Us which is across the street to check out the games. I have been wanting the Pink Boutique Monopoly edition since I first saw it there and I decided that I was going to splurge. Surprisingly it was on sale for $20.99 so I picked it up along with a cute Littlest Pet Shop Guess Who? game for Ashlyn that was also on sale. I am so glad I decided to stop by!
I then went to lunch and let me just tell you that a wonderful man really surprised me by getting up from his lunch just to open the door for me. I had no idea that he had done that until after I had ordered and I was waiting for my food and I saw him eating. A sudden warmth spread over me and my faith in kindness returned. He even got up as I was leaving to open the door as I left and offered to help me to my car which I declined, but it was so very sweet of him and I will never forget his kind act. In all the time I have been on crutches, I can count the times that others have offered to help me; less than 10. Now how freaking sad is that? I have gone up to doors and there have been people who just couldn't wait the extra few seconds to hold the door open for me even though they looked at me (or maybe it was through me), and even times when people have been standing right beside the door on their phones and then look at me and not even make a move to help. Some doors are really heavy and a huge challenge to open while balancing on one foot and trying to maneuver the crutches. I try to find the good in people, but lately it's been challenging. However all it takes is one stranger to remind me that there are good people out there.

After I ate lunch on Monday I turned the Christmas music up and wrapped all the rest of the gifts and sorted all the kids' stocking stuffers into individual bags so it's easier for Kenny to fill them. I am going to miss doing all of this myself, but this Christmas is going to be out of my hands and into the hands of everyone else. I will be a director and not a doer which is so hard for me. lol!

Tuesday I had the urge to tackle Skye and Ashlyn's disaster zone and spent several hours going through their closet and drawers and Ashlyn's Littlest Pet Shop toys. I spent almost 2 hours just separating all the LPS stuff into bins and baggies so it would be easier for her to find and clean up. I was amazed at all that she has, but then again it's about the only things she has toy wise. At least she plays with them everyday and they are just too darn cute! I got rid of a huge box of clothes that they aren't wearing and now they can actually hang thier clothes up without having to cram them in their closet. I even convinced Ashlyn to get rid of 10 more stuffed animals. I also spent the day doing laundry. I swear laundry just magically appears from nowhere at times.

Yesterday I volunteered to work the Book Fair at Ashlyn's school for 4 hours. it was fun, but I was tuckered out when I got home. LOL! Classroom after classroom of kids sure can take a lot out of one. Again, another moment when I have the utmost respect for teachers. :) AND I was able to walk out of there with only $37 worth of books, I think this is a record for me. I usually drop at least $100 at these things because I just love to buy books. I was proud of my restraint, but it was hard. Before the classes arrived I had about 30 minutes to gather books that I was interested in and I had quite a stack, but at each between class break I would put one or more away and soon I was just down to 3 books for Ashlyns' teacher, one for me, one for Skye and 2 for Ashlyn that I wasn't going to let go. Not bad. However tomorrow is the last day and I may go back for a few more. haha!

I have been scrapping a bit. I have so many ideas, but no energy. Here are two layouts I created this weekend. I hope to have another one tomorrow.

Oh, one more thing... Holly, the owner of Pink.Sugar.Pop. is closing out the stamps. She's moving onto bigger and better things. So, if you are looking for some PSP stamps, this is the last time to get them. Everything in the store is 25% off and going fast! You can check them out here.
I am sad to see PSP go, but I have no doubt Holly's next venture is going to be amazing!

Take care!
Rae

A pic of Charlie and scrappy stuff

I managed to get a cute picture of Charlie this morning. Check out the size of those paws! He's going to be gigantic! Eek! Angel, our lab, is still a bit skittish and afraid of him except when they go outside. Angel sure loves having him to play with. The cats are freaked out, and surprising Jake who is the king of the cats is the most afraid. He won't even come in the house on his own, he'd rather mill around under my car in the front yard and wait to be brought in by anyone willing to get him. Molly is the only one who could really care less. She hisses when Charlie gets too close, but other than that she just goes on about her own way. The other 3 cats just freeze up and stare and get all puffy. It's pretty funny, but I am sure in time they'll get used to him.

And now some scrappy stuff.
the "got snot?" card is for my friend Rachel who has been suffering from a runny nose for a long time now. I felt a bit devilish and decided to make a card for her. ;) I hope it cheers her up!

the ur so sweet card is based on a card sketch over at Di Hickman's blog (scroll down to the Nov. card #4). I used a Pink.Sugar.Pop. stamp, glitter and celaphane to cover it.

The layout is one I started 2 weeks ago, but just needed to add the finishing touches. I rarely leave a layout for more than a day and it was driving me nuts not having it finished.

It was much warmer today, about 34' most of the day, even though with the wind chill it felt like it was in the teens. It was crazy windy and it snowed huge flakes sideways almost all day, but nothing stuck because it was above freezing. Bummer. We would have had at least 6"+ out of this one if it would have come a bit earlier. Oh well, at least the roads won't be a wicked mess (other than the slush) and I will be able to take Kara to her Dr. appt. on Tuesday morning. Saves Kenny a trip. I will also be able to run errands and hopefully finish up Christmas shopping.

The kids went out sledding at the park and they had a good time. It was warm enough for them to stay out for a few hours, but that also meant that the snow just turned to a slushy mess so they came home a bit let down. Hopefully we'll get a lot of snow next weekend and Kenny can take the kids to the park we went sledding at last Winter.
I stayed inside and scrapped today. I managed to create 2 layouts and I have started on a 3rd. I am having mojo problems though, so I will work on it tomorrow.
Good night!

Such an awesome day!

Today was full of so many wonderful things!!! These days don't come along all that often, and when they do it makes them twice as great!

First of all I was asked to be a Creative Team member over at Heart In Hand Scraps! I am beyond thrilled to be working with the uber talented instructors and the other 3 CT members! Yay!!! I am a huge fan of Tammy's work as well as the instructors, they have amazing talent and I just hope some of it rubs off on me!

Secondly, today was a fabulous mail day! I got two scrappy packages from 2peas that I just ordered on Wed. I have never had such quick turnaround from them. I hope this is the way it will be from now on because sometimes they are the only site that carry a lot of everything I want and I have not ordered often from them.
AND I received a wonderful card and generous gc from a friend (my dh works with her dh) who I had let go through all of my huge scrappy boxes of stuff I purged earlier in the year. She wrote me the nicest letter and even included several photos of layouts she had completed using the items I gave her. Now that feels great! It's so nice to see that someone appreciated it and has been able to use things and truly enjoy them. That's what it's all about. :)

It snowed almost all day! I love the snow! It's so pretty.

Lastly, I caved into getting the kids (including Kenny ;)) a puppy we saw at the pet store last weekend. He's a Great Dane mix (mostly Great Dane, he's huge!) and is about 3 months old. Kenny and the kids feel in love with him, but we didn't want to get a puppy just because the pressure from the kids. On a whim my dh stopped by the pet store on our way home from running errands and the puppy was still there, so with a lot of pleading from my dh I agreed. *sigh* I am so not a dog person, however the kids are and it's such a simple thing to make them happy which makes me happy. Fair enough. ;)
We named him Charlie and we were able to sneak him in the house without the kids seeing and Kenny took him into the bedroom while I asked the kids to unload the car. When they were all done, they came to our bedroom door and this is when they first saw him. Ashlyn started crying and almost dropped the bag of fish she was holding (hers had died so we got her a replacement along with 2 more), Skye started screaming and then Ashlyn did, too. I thought I was never going to be able to hear again. lol! Kara was jumping up and down like crazy with tears streaming down her face and Nathan had a grin from ear to ear. Meghan was at work, but she started crying when she came home and saw him. The reaction was priceless and well worth it to see the joy upon their faces.
Angel was very afraid of him at first, but once they were both outside, they hit it off and ran around in the snow playing with each other. It was so cute! Angel seems happy to have a playmate, even if it's just outside for now. She's still skittish in the house, but I am sure in time they will be best buddies.
I'll post some pics later. I need to try to get a good one. He's going to be a big dog. His mom was a monster and his paws are huge! Oh boy, what did I just agree to?!

Happy Saturday! :)