a house for bug and the pups...

so i spent all day in the truck driving around looking for houses. i started out headed to montgomery thinking that this one i found online was the one, and wow. so you know how every family has that one person that is kinda the odd ball, and every neighborhood has that one house that doesn't quite fit in... yeah, this was that house, but worse. i think that i just wanted so badly to find one in that area, and i was pretty set on this one being it, that i had it in my head it wasn't going to be anything less than i pictured.... when i turned on the road it was supposed to be the 4th house down, but i didn't even have to count. it was bad. i kept driving. it was really bad. on a lighter note, i didn't get home till midnight, but i drove all over town and made a list of a ton of houses that weren't listed online. there were a few that i loved. i'll be calling first thing in the morning, and since i drove around the area first, i know which ones i like and don't and what area i'd like to be in. bug was such a big girl, but she was so tired of that car seat. hopefully we won't have to drive around too much anymore to look. say a little prayer that one of the ones that i saw today works out. all of them had fences for the pups, so that shouldn't be an issue anymore. they'll be so happy to be able to come inside some again. and i'll be glad when we have time again to go outside to play with them instead of looking for houses all day. here's a little card in their honor...



before i go
becky has her second challenge up. love it, looks like lots of layers. so me. hopefully i'll have some time this week to play with this one. here's the sketch:

the BIG KICK is here!!!!

it was so worth the wait! my big kick arrived on tuesday and i've been playing so much i haven't had time to post anything. so here it is, the first card... ta da!!

i made it while i was unpacking all the cool little dies i got with it. i can't tell you how much paper i went through just trying them all out. i'm really loving the embossing plates. i need to go read some of the tutorials out there though... does the big kick take the cuttlebug embossing folders? i really like that you can ink right on those and emboss that way. i'll have to check that out. for now though, i just ran this sheet through with the embossing plate and lightly ran my ink pad over the top of the paper when it came out to make the flowers show up a bit more. all the little flowers are from a punch, and yes, I punched all of those out and glued them on one by one... and no, i won't do it again. the pea pod is inked with a color box fluid chalk ink pad in olive pastel. i love these chalk ink pads. they're perfect when you need just a shadow of color and they're in the cat eye shape so they're great for little spaces too. anyway, i love this little guy, makes me want to throw a baby shower. speaking of!! my cousin called today and guess who is expecting! yep, she's prego!! so that means she won't be going to afghanistan! and, this little guy might come in handy real soon :)

CHRISTmas in july!
i haven't had much scrappin mojo lately with this searching for a house thing, and scrappin out of my closet thing, so i was surfing around some of my favorite blogs last night and desided that maybe some of the challenges might help me get going. so i found a few i liked, and get this, i managed to combine three of them into one card! i love CHRISTmas time so this was a little pep me up project. the first challenge was from this weeks tcp's tuesday challenge hostess and it was to make a CHRISTmas card. the second challenge was the mojo monday week 48 sketch on julie's blog. the third challenge was from cathy stclair's paper garden. she posts a magazine clipping each week to use as inspiration for a card. this was this weeks clipping:

and here is my card!!

blog catch up...sort of

so tuesday was my birthday and guees what matt sent me??!!! now is when i'm supposed to tell you what it is, right? well, i don't know yet... one of the items was backordered so it messed up the shipping, but it's supposed to be here tomorrow!! i know it's from sizzix!!!! and i know that it was a "package". i'm not sure what package means, but it's going to be good!! do you know how hard it has been not to go to sizzix and browse around for their packages? anyway, hopefully it will be here tomorrow and i'll get some time to play with it. for now, here's a pic of my sweet hubby. thanks baby, i miss you! (this was at the bizzarre and this guy wanted $1000 for this rabbit!! can you believe that?)

i don't know why i didn't post this earlier, i think i was just so excited about getting another one of bug's pages done that i just put it right into the book. i can't believe she's ten months old now... and she's got a whopping five pages in her book! i'm determined to get her first year all scrapped by her birthday though. maybe getting my birthday present in the mail will get me going ;) anyway, this pic was one of the ones from the antique photo shoot we did when she turned nine months. (ok, so i can't get it to load right now, maybe my hint to go to bed. i'll load it tomorrow.)

and here's a bit of the bug helping mommy "clean up" her mat. it still didn't get put away...

Happy Birthday Julee!!

friday was julee's birthday and this is a card I made for her. i used one of julee's mojo monday sketches to make it. she has some some super great card sketches, check them out. everone who makes a b-day card gets entered into a drawing for a set of verve stamps! how cool is that? and how fun is that to log on and get to see tons of cards made just for you?!

gina k. stamp release party!

gina k. had her release party at scs tonight and there were some yummy stamps out there! i think i might *need* the new t-shirt set. super cute. you can see it and all of her other new stamps on her blog. be sure to check out her "flowers for daisy" set made in honor of her friend who is battling cancer. for ever set sold in the oline store, $4.00 will be donated to the american cancer society. how awesome is that?! this card is for the challenge card sketch #4 and for the tpc tuesday challenge. the gina k. winner gets their choice of yummy stamps!!!!

i *heart* pink john deere.

this stuff is so stinking cute. we're going to have bugs first b-day in pink john deere and i found this super cute party dress on e-bay. super sweet lady, too. i even ordered a dress for her to meet daddy in when he comes home. she custom made it for her. turned out adorable. you can check her out on ebay.
i'm still working on a design for her invitations, but i did manage to make a few thank you cards. scrapbook heaven had their sketchfest this weekend and this was from a card sketch.

becky has a blog!

holy moly! so stinking excited! i used to use becky's sketches in all of my beginner's classes - she would have a print out of her sketches for the month that you could download, and i'd put that in all of my student's kits. anyway, she has a stinking blog now! so cool. she's so funny too. i'm not one to laugh out loud at things on the tv, or things i read, just a little smile (sometimes), but holy cow, she's stinking funny. you should check her out here. AND... she's got a contest up already.... i never win these silly things, but they're so much fun. they wouldn't be much fun if you were just playing to win, right? anyway, i love this one so maybe i'll get a few pages caught up... here it is:

we fed the duck again yesterday and this time it ate the food out of my hand. bug was so excited. she was sitting on my knee and the duck ws almost close enough for us to touch, so i though i'd see if it would come closer. sure enough, it ate the food right out of my hand. it wouldn't let us pet it though, maybe next time. either way, she loves going out there and watching the duck, the turtles and all the little fishes come up to eat. she got to crawl in the grass for the first time too. it was a much more pleasant experience than her first one with sand. it was a little dry so it poked her and she didn't want to crawl much, but she sat there and pulled at it for a long time. once she's walking we'll have a lot more of these outside play times :)




have a great weekend!
p.s. scrapbook haven is having their scrapfest this weekend! go check it out, there are lots of great ones up already.

one more before bed.

i'm trying out this card making thing. i'm liking it too... i'm even liking the stamping thing.... i think i might need to get a part time job, there are some super cute stamps out there. i've never been big on stamping on my layouts, but these cards are way cute! i didn't use stamps on this, but it's a card i made. it was really simple, i made in in about 10 minutes (the letters took a few minutes). I've still got the bosskut. i've been looking at the cuddlebug though. i want something that embosses, and more than just a two inch square...any suggestions???

i submitted a magnet board today.

snr has a call for scrapped kitchen decor or anything scrapped that you use in your kitchen. so, i make these magnets boards, super fun by the way, and happen to have one in the kitchen holding recipes. so i took a pic and submitted it. we'll see what happens. would be way cool if it was published, or even just on the web site... anyway, you will definately hear about it if it is (fingers crossed). speaking of fingers crossed... bug has learned to wave and high five (compliments of her papa) and when she does, she crosses her pointer finger and middle finger. it's the funniest thing, i'll have to post a picture. here's the magnet board...

i scrapped again!

i got to scrap again today!! it hasn't been like this since before bug was born.... i could get used to getting to do this everyday. :) she's old enough now that she can sit next to me and play while i work on bits at a time. she has discovered ribbon though, and it tastes good :) she almost got the paint with this lo, but mommy is still a tad faster. here is todays lo. it was super fun - i don't know if i've ever scrapped without patterned paper before... i like it though, and i'm loving these new heidi swapp gel blossoms... super fun. thanks for stopping by!

my "ghost shapes" ...

i absolutely love Heidi Swapp's ghost shapes. there are so many cute things to do with them, but sometimes they just aren't big enough. so i got a little resourceful today. i needed some big "ghost shape" stars for this lo and had this plastic box that toys and things come in... so, i made my own! i just drew, cut and outlined the edges with some liquid pearls and wa laa! super cute! i think i would have stamped some fun designs on them had i been at home, but i didn't have any stayz on or stamps with me, so maybe next time. i saw this super cute gift box today with an acrylic tag on top stamped with birthday wishes...super cute too... i think i just might have to give my tag shaped whale of a punch a try on the rest of that plastic box. i'll post some pics if it works out.

a taste of the mickey mouse ears.

bug has always crawled over to papa's chair when we weren't looking and tried to climb up into it with him. sometimes he picks her up, sometimes we catch her before she gets there, and sometimes we let her pull herself up and just stand there. The times that he picks her up we have to quickly empty his pocket of his pens, take his glasses off, put his toothpick down and take his "mickey mouse ears" off. these mickey mouse ears, as mema calls them, are a must if you want to carry on a conversation while the tv is on. well, today papa didn't quite get them off in time and bug was determined to figure out what those funny looking things were. of course he didn't mind sharing, but she didn't like having them on as much as she liked pulling them off of papa.




these mini clipboards are super cute! i made this one for the hubby.

happy 4th!

happy, happy 4th!!! it's 2 am and the fireworks just stopped here. i love watching them though, so i don't mind. bug seemed to enjoy them tonight, too. the noises didn't seem to bother her. riva got a pic, will post it later.
i got a little scrap time in today!! three whole pages done! well, sort of. i forgot my white pen, so two of them still need journaling, but the 8x8 page is already in the book. I love that feeling... a few more to go and i'll send the album to matt. i told him i'd mail him pages of bug as i scrap them and he could just add them to her album as he got them. it's late and i'm super sleepy... hope everyone had a great, safe 4th!!!

306.

three hundred and six pictures to sort through form yesterdays shoot... they were all so cute too! we found the frames for mema's birthday and now i have to narrow down the pictures to 8. i've got it to 14, it's tough. on a lighter note, i found a new fun place with super cute stamps. their designers have some amazing work too. i've got to get some of those markers. fun stuff.
so i also realized how much i really like black and white pictures today. i've been editing the antique pics we shot and playing with the wedding pictures a little and ran across some folders of old pics. they weren't the best pics, but i played with them a little and love, love, love them in black and white.

i almost forgot.

the time really is going by fast, i can't believe it's already july. matt is going to get to come home for a two week r & r! we're so excited! he found out the dates a few weeks ago. so fun. speaking of fun, i shot my first wedding this weekend. they were a couple of my cousin's youth. super sweet couple.
it's been a crazy week, but i'm so grateful to be busy :)
squeezed in a few shots of the nephew too. doesn't stop for the camera much, but he's a heartbreaker.

9 month pictures.

i can't believe bug is already 9 months old. 9 months and 1 week to be exact. we had a fun day today. we hit up 2 scrapbooking stores, the mall and managed to dodge the rain. we took some super cute pics this evening, too. my aunt took us to her friends house to take some "antique" pictures for my grandmother's birthday. she wanted some pictures of the baby with an old dress and a bonnet. this friend had an antique baby carriage and antique gowns. the gowns were beautiful. handmade and each over a hundred years old. it was a bit odd being on the other side of the camera. i got to shoot for a little while though and got some precious pics while she was sleeping.