May Challenges

Well girls, tomorrow is the first of May and, as promised, we are going to begin the challenge section of my blog. We will always have a Sketch Challenge (Your first one is pictured here) and I will usually throw in one or two more ideas to challenge you. When you have completed your challenges, take a picture and post a link to that picture in the comment section of this blog entry. I'll be looking at all of them (What a sneaky way for me to get new ideas and inspiration), and you will all be able to click on those links to look at everyone's entries as well. Be sure and get your entries posted to the blog by the last day of the month to be eligible for a prize. I am going to award the prizes by drawing a name from all of those who enter, so everyone has an equal chance to win. I am hoping to eventually get some of the prizes donated from stores or companies, so if any of you can help in that area I would greatly appreciate it. They don't have to be huge. I think it's just great fun to win, and free scrapping supplies are always welcome at my house!

In my scrapping of late, I've found myself on a bit of a stitching binge. So, as an additional challenge, I want to see you add some stitching to your pages.

Are you up for one more? How about felt? I love the dimension it adds to pages, so let's see what you can come up with by adding felt to your layouts. I have to cutest pictures of my grand daughter Matilda helping me plant strawberries last spring. I was just working on the layout earlier this evening and have added red felt strawberries. I'm really liking how it's turning out. I'll be finishing it first thing tomorrow. I'm also going to stitch the words "Berry Sweet" as a title. (I told you I was on a stitching kick).

I'm hoping a lot of you will give this a try and join me in these challenges. I think you will find that you enjoy it and that it helps spark your creativity. Well, enjoy National Scrapbook Day! I hope you all get to do something fun and that you end up having as good a time as I am.

Project 365 Day 12

This morning I was up bright and early (for me) and off to an appointment with my new pastor. He's the greatest guy. He spent two hours with me. I was amazed. After that I was off to Scrapper's Paradise to get an early start on my National Scrapbook Weekend Marathon. I chatted with some friends and played with my paper there until it was time to officially begin the weekend at 5:00 by attending the first day of their two day crop being held at St Stephen's Episcopal Church. It is a very nice room, we have plenty of space and it just felt so good to be there with so many friends. We were served a wonderful taco bar for dinner and afterward when the numbers were drawn for the first raffle, I was the first winner! My picture for the day is of me with my prize. Lucky girl! Then before the night was over, we were served warm, freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. YUM! I'll be back there tomorrow to scrap from morning till night and then will be moving myself to Dodson Elementary to attend the second day of the event being hosted by TMI. I love National Scrapbook Day---uh, Weekend!

Project 365 Day 11

Today I worked for a few hours at TMI. Lots of hub bub there in preparation for National Scrapbook Day. After work my friend Debbi joined me for a bit at the house where we were heavily into our planning for this big scrapping weekend. Hope you are all doing something fun. This is our holiday!

New Card Total

Thanks again to all of you who took part in our Cards For Troops Crop. I got a new total this morning from Vicki, and our box was filled with 357 cards for Operation Write Home by the time it was shipped off. Congratulations girls! You all deserve a big pat on the back and much appreciation. Here's a picture from their website. We helped! Yeah!

Project 365 Day 10

I held on of my Sketches classes in my home today. I had three ladies here and completely forgot to take a picture of them. Oh well---Instead I will share a picture of one of the layouts we did. These pictures were taken on the day my grand daughter turned one. I'm especially thrilled with this one because I like it AND I made it entirely from things I already had. I didn't have to purchase one thing! Not even a piece of paper! That like never happens! I'm thrilled!

SOB---SOB!

I just checked the Page Maps blog. The winner of the cardstock contest was chosen and it wasn't me. Dogone it! I thought my page was awfully cute! I'm showing you my page again along with the winner. Please say that you thought I was at least close! Oh well, they say two more contests are starting on Thursday. I'll just keep trying.

Project 365 Day 9

Auntie Em! Auntie Em! With the winds we've had last night and today, I fully expected to wake up in the beautiful land of OZ, but alas, I'm still right here in Reno. I got a call from Tracy this morning asking if I had power. I did and they didn't, so she and Matilda came over for the day. Tracy read a book and napped and Matilda was pretty quiet--didn't seem to want to play much. She did watch "Horton Hears a Who" which made her laugh and laugh. Something about it just gives her the giggles. The day was finished off scrapping with my buddies at Scrapper's Paradise. I wonder if they scrapbook in Oz? If not, maybe it's a good thing I'm still here.

Project 365 Day 8

I begin Week Two of my project with a warning. If the excitement of these bog entries is threatening to be too much for you, I must warn you that Monday's stand a strong chance of being especially dangerous. The excitement seems to be getting pretty out of hand on Monday's for me. Sometimes I don't leave my house or even check my mail---pathetic.

Well, I'm happy to report that I DID leave my house briefly today and I DID check my mail which provided my picture for today. My new driver's license came with a lovely picture made even more lovely by the fact that you are required to have your hair behind your ears for the photo. So there's your heads up---If you're heading down there to renew your license, be sure to style your hair attractively behind your ears beforehand. Actually, the photo is really not too awful when you consider the others I've had. Why is it that these photos are always so bad?

Okay, that's it for today. I know it's very interesting, but you'll just have to wait for tomorrow for my next entry.

Project 365 Day 7---Double Dip

Day seven---one week out of 52. Will I make it? We'll see.
No--today I did NOT go out for a double dip ice cream cone, but had a double dip of church. This morning I went to SCF, came home and worked on completing the 2nd layout for my upcoming Sketches Class, then at 6:30 I went to services at my new church, Branches. When I went for the first time last week, I could not bring myself to go downstairs and enjoy cookies with the congregation. I thoroughly enjoyed it though. I was already pretty certain I would like the pastor since I have done a Bible study with him before and have gone to him for some counseling. I was right. I got a lot from his message and really enjoyed their lively worship time. This week was even better. Great worship and passionate message. I did a bit better at fitting in this time too. I sat right in front and after service, Jim (the pastor) spoke to me and prayed with me. Then a very nice lady whose name I have already forgotten, sweet talked me into going downstairs for cookies and coffee. The information is on the picture I have added if any of you would like to come. It is a new church and is still very small, but boy is it on fire. Getting in now while there aren't so many people will hopefully allow me to be more involved and build some lasting relationships. Next week there is a potluck before the service and I am going to be brave and go. The initial of my last name singled me out for desserts or beverages. Whew! Good thing, since anyone who knows me knows I don't really cook much. I think I will use up some supplies I already have and make Rice Krispie Treats. Yumm! I can taste them already!

Cricut Cartridges

Hello Fellow Cricut Lovers--I have two cricut cartridges for sale and I wanted to give you girls first crack before listing them on Ebay. I have Doodletype and Mini Monograms and I'm going to sell them for $20 each--No sales tax--No shipping. They are both in their original boxes and are in perfect condition. Contact me if you are interested.

Project 365 Day 6

Okay, this catches me up. I think this is going to be a much more manageable project as blog entries instead of a real life scrapbook. I'm behind enough on those as it is! Today I went to some yard sales and found some wonderful treasures. One was great puzzle of the United States (Matilda is learning her states these days) which also shows all of the national parks which I knew Tracy would like. It even has a game on the back to test your knowledge of the national parks. Tracy can't wait until Matilda can become a Junior Ranger. We dumped it out and Matilda had it done in nothing flat. My little wild haired genius! To top the day off, she came home with me to work in the yard and tend our "garden." Together we pulled lots of weeds and mowed our little lawn and it's looking much better. It's about time we had some nice weather! I got a lot more done than I thought I would and now I'm going to close and curl up on the couch with a bite to eat and watch a movie. I've earned it. What a busy day!

Project 365 Day 5

Day 5 was the day of our Cards for Troops Crop. As I told you, we had a good turn out and a great time. I got the count from Vicki today and we completed a total of 209 cards to send off. Way to go girls! We had fun and helped out a worthy cause. We will definitely do it again! Here are some pictures to share. I wish I had taken one of the box of cards. It was stuffed full.
Peek-A-Boo was in attendance and as you can see, she was quite helpful.

Project 365 Day 4

Day 4---Bad news at the bank. Not good. Took care of it as well as I could, then worked a few hours at TMI. Any Thursday that I'm not teaching I have friends over to scrap at my house. Julie, Debbi, and Cheryl came over this week. Cheryl and I played with a fun new technique and made these great elements to go on the front of cards. I had been having trouble with my internet and wasn't able to get on line all week. Before leaving Julie helped me fix the problem and then downloaded a free virus checker onto my computer for me. What a good friend! They don't come any better!

Project 365 Day 3

On Day 3 I taught my daytime card class at Scrapper's Paradise. I nearly forgot I was supposed to teach it--Whew! Afterward, I worked on scrapping stuff with my friend Linda, and that evening she took me out to dinner at Red Lobster for my birthday---Yum! As you can see, it didn't take me long to mess up my project. I forgot to take a picture of any of it. Darn! Only three days in and I blow it! I'm saving myself by posting a shot of their logo that I stole from the internet. Is that cheating? Anyway, thanks so much Linda, for my dinner, the company, and the leftovers.

Project 365 Day 2

Tuesday Day 2--Pretty much wasted the first part of my day---AGAIN, then went to my regular 4:00 appointment, and on to Scrapper's Paradise to crop with friends. I do this every Tuesday that I'm not teaching. I arrived tonight to find that Julie and Debbi had beautiful flowers waiting for me for my birthday. Thanks guys!!

Project 365 Day 1

Hello All--As promised I am posting the pictures that I took to begin following my decent toward the dreaded 60. The first day of my journey begins on Monday April 19, when I turned 59---Ugh! As you'll see by my pictures, I did not make good use of the day. I spent it on the couch with my good friend Remote Control, watching TV and movies all day. Oh well---at least I didn't slit my wrists!

Project 365

On Sunday, the day before my birthday, I scrapbooked with friends---I know, what a surprise. Anyway, my friend Lorna is doing something called Project 365 where she takes a picture every single day for a year. I thought it sounded like a wonderful idea and decided to start one the next day on my birthday--a chronicle of the last year of my life lived in the not so glorious 50's (That's right, I turned 59 on Monday). Now tonight I was reading on Facebook that my friend Micaela has also taken up the challenge only instead of turning it into a scrapbook, she is doing it on her blog. I've now changed my mind and decided to do it that way. While I have taken pictures every day since Monday, I'm too tired to upload them onto my computer tonight to add them to my blog, so this is just your fair warning that there will soon be daily entries on my blog (most very boring I'm sure) as I journey through my last year before turning 60. I'll get started tomorrow by adding the entries needed to catch me up and then we'll see if I can actually keep it up. Thanks to both Lorna and Micaela for the great ideas and kudos to you Ki for that great looking dinner!

New Challenges

Okay girls--Here's something new and fun we're going to try. Many of us really enjoy the creative push we get from the challenges and sketches we receive from the PAWS group at TMI, so I am going to begin offering the same sort of thing to those of you who follow my blog. Beginning in May, I will post a sketch and a challenge here on the blog. For starters I will doing it once a month, but if you all find that you want more than that, you can let me know and we can add more. When you finish your pages, you will post a link to a picture of your creations in the comment section of that month's challenge on the blog and one lucky lady will win a prize. I'm not going to judge your pages--just pick a winner, so don't worry that you have to be the best. The whole idea is to give ourselves the encouragement and the creative boost we need to get those pages done! I hope you will all play along. I've had requests, so once we get started, I will also begin hosting some swaps as well. Let's have some fun!

Operation Write Home

Operation Write Home sends thousands of handcrafted greeting cards to our deployed troops for them to write home on. There isn't a card store for them where they are, so this great organization sends one to them. Here's your chance to join in.

We are having a free crop at TMI on Friday, April 23rd, to make cards to send off to our soldiers. From 6pm to 1am we will be scrapping away to get as many cards made as possible. We will even be serving free dinner! We will have donated supplies and kits and you can bring things of your own as well. A flyer with the information is attached. You can also find out more about the organization on their website at www.operationwritehome.org.

It's Free--It's Fun--It's For A Good Cause! Join us!

Call Treasured Memories at 323-3773 to sign up.

She LOVES her people food!

Okay ladies--Those of you who know and love my dog will get a good laugh out of this one. As most of you know, I was involved in the Garage Sale at TMI this weekend trying to unload some of my excess "baggage." Well, Peek-A-Boo was with me when I went to set up on Friday night and the doors were closed so I wasn't paying much attention to her. I could hear the little jingle of her tags, so I knew she was wandering around the general area--making herself at home, as usual. I was busy arranging my table when one of the other ladies asks me, "Did you put that bag on her head?" I assumed she had caught Peek-A-Boo scrounging some left over people food, so I go to take care of it and this is what I see.....

She had gotten into a garbage bag in the kitchen area and discovered that someone had left about a half of a taquito in their take out bag. She dove in after it, and while trying to get her nose in far enough to reach the taquito, she got the whole bag stuck on her nose. She wasn't making a sound and wasn't trying at all to get the bag off of her head, she was just strolling around the store enjoying the aroma I guess. I tried to get some good shots to share with you all, but once I came into the picture, she knew she was doing a no-no and tried her best to avoid me. It was pretty funny, so I just had to share with you all.

She's awfully cute, but has a real weakness for people food. What are ya gonna do?

Kits

Well girls, the Shenanigans kits are both gone, but I have been cleaning up some stuff around here and have come across yet another kit that is ready to sell. This was the October layout from last year's Calendar Class. I think it's lot s of fun and the authentic looking hay bales give it added dimension. I am offering this kit for sale for $12. It has everything you need to complete the layout including the patterns for the paper pieced crows and pumpkins. There is only one kit available. Contact me at snipnscrap@yahoo.com if you are interested.

Scrappin' Kitty

Oh my goodness! I'm not a cat person, but I know many of you are so I had to share this cute picture. Obviously, this little cat needed a little "Cat Nap" during her scrapping time and found the perfect place to do it.

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Hi Girls---Guess what I did last night! I scrapped with friends! What a surprise! Anyway, I created this layout as an entry to a sketch contest. I like how it turned out. I'm posting a picture of the sketch and my interpretation. Cross your fingers and wish me luck!

Here's a great little layout for any of you with a little cowboy or girl to scrap. I originally designed it as a one page layout for AKA Smiles, but here's your chance to have one. I have added a second page to the layout because I know we need both of those pages for our pictures---right? Anyway, I am selling the kits for $12 each and there are only a limited number available. Upon purchasing the kit, I will send you an email which includes instructions and some close up pictures. It is a layout that requires a bit of work, but I think the results are so worth it!
Contact me at snipnscrap@yahoo.com if you are interested in one.