Celebrate 9

I had the opportunity tonight to finish a spread I started a few weeks ago. I also finished two more spreads that I'll post in a couple of days. The pictures are from Reynna's 9th birthday party this past November. We had a lot of girls over for a pajama card-making party. Of course Christopher had to get involved, as well.

All paper came from CTMH's Just Chillin' paper packet. The 'Celebrate' came from my Cricut Stamped cartridge while the jumbled Nine on the right-hand corner came from my Graphically Speaking cartridge, which is hands down, the best Cricut cartridge ever. I was having some troubles embellishing my layout once I was done. I finally decided on some white photo anchors along with some ocean waxy flax.

I didn't end up doing any journaling or even putting a date or what the event was as I still have lots of pictures to scrap for this birthday event. My plan is to stay with the same color combo but use some different dp and take care of all the journaling on that layout. That will probably be the next layout I do. Maybe this weekend.

Well, we've made it to another Friday. This week has felt really weird for me since we were gone on Monday and Tuesday. Starting the work week on a Wednesday is definitely enough to throw off a person. I'm not complaining that it's Friday, mind you. Take care and thanks for stopping by.

Where's the art?

Okay, it's officially been a week since my last art post. Between studying and then leaving suddenly on the weekend for 4 days, there's been no time to craft. However, I am planning on crafting tomorrow night so look for something Friday.

Also, I have to brag about my hubby. He went out yesterday to do something at school after we got home from Idaho. He came home and surprised me with an apple and french silk pie from Village Inn along with a Hobbly Lobby gift card for my birthday. I told him he didn't need to do anything but he went ahead and did it anyway. I'm super excited about the gift card and can't wait for some good sales to use it. And that apple pie is to die for. Love you babe.

Well, I'm off to start dinner and then to study before Lost tonight. I want to watch American Idol as well but I probably should study. :(

Celebrating the life of Grandma Quinton

This past Thursday, we got a call that Devin's Grandma Quinton had taken a turn for the worse and that she wasn't expected to live much longer. She passed away peacefully in her home early Friday morning, surrounded by family. We left early Saturday morning to make the long trek to Idaho Falls to attend her funeral which was held yesterday.

It was a beautiful tribute to her life. I learned a lot of things that I didn't know about her. Devin did as well, I think. What a wonderful thing that the gospel is because many people knew in the chapel that it was just a temporary goodbye.

One of the things I learned is that she worked for years in an accountant's office and did bookkeeping and that personal income taxes for clients. It turns out that she loved doing taxes. I felt a special connection with her because of this. Not that I really do a lot of taxes but I am an accountant as well. Devin's other Grandma, who passed a few years ago, was also a bookkeeper and loved numbers. Devin thought it was very interesting that both of his Grandmas are in the profession that I love.

We decided to split up our trip on the way there so we stopped in Provo, Utah, on Saturday night and had dinner with my brother Steve that lives there. Where did we go? Only my most favorite restaurant ever, Los Hermanos. Noone can touch their Mexican food. I ate, ate, and ate. It was good to see Steve and catch up with him for awhile. Then we travelled up the valley to Sandy to stay with my Aunt Carla and Uncle Rolf for the night, who are two of the sweetest people I know. We arrived in Idaho early Sunday afternoon and enjoyed seeing some family that we don't get to often see.

All in all, the trip was a good one. We had mostly good roads and no car problems. I'm so happy to be back home now, though. There really is no place like home.

I'll leave with a big shout out to Devin's Grandma. We love you Grandma Quinton and will miss you but we know that your body has now been made whole and that you will continue doing your work on the other side.

In Election news....

Reynna ran for the student council representative for third grade from her class this past week. Originally, 12 people wanted to run. After learning that the council would meet once every two weeks during math time, Reynna's teacher informed the kids that they could only run for if they met some qualifications. They would have to have an 85% average in math and have demonstrated that they could take their math home and complete it in a timely manner.

Well, this narrowed the candidates down to 4. Now here's the thing. Reynna was the only girl. Reynna came home on Thursday and told me this. She was so excited because she had "secured" 14 of the 16 girls' votes. She explained to me that most of the girls would be voting for her and that all the boys' votes would have to be split between the 3 other boys running.

She came home yesterday announcing her victory. She's very excited and we're very proud.

More life delights

Today's card is one I made a couple of weeks ago when I had my Life Delights paper packet out from CTMH. While I love the paper, I'm not in love with my card. I do like the chipboard flower that I used but am not happy with the strips of cardstock on the card front. Oh well. It's a finished card. I haven't added a sentiment yet. I'll either forego it when I send the card out or add one on when I know what the occasion is for.

A fun giveaway with a twist

I saw this on Sparkle's blog earlier and decided that despite me failing my test (see post below) and having to really cut back on my paper crafting time, that I could still play along. "Rule" #3 does say it can be done this year. :) I mean, how could I possibly give up a chance to receive something handmade from Sparkle?

This was on Sparkle's blog...and I posted, so I gotta post this on here. :) Scroll down to see today's card.

The first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me. It will be my choice what I send to you. But...there is a catch...ready?

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2- What I create will be just for you.
3- It'll be done this year!
4- You have no clue what it's going to be. I have tons of ideas, but who knows what it will be? Not you, that's for sure!
5-The catch? Oh, the catch is that you must re post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog! (then come here and post, I WILL check your blog *wink*)

The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did will win a homemade gift by me! Oh, and be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

So....who will be the first 5 people?????

Sad, sad news

I finally found out my score today from the part of the CPA exam that I took over 6 weeks ago. I got a 74 and a 75 is needed for a passing score. Needless to say, I am devastated. What does this mean? It means that I will no longer be blogging on a daily basis. I will no longer be paper crafting nearly as much as I was. I think I will allow myself to make two cards per week or one layout. I'm just going to have to cut almost everything out of my life except for studying.

I've shed so many tears this morning that it's not funny. The rational side of my brain tells me that it's just a test. There's a lot worse things that could happen to me. But the emotional side of my brain, the one that gets the best of me, just wants to cry and curl up in the fetal position. And then there's the side that wants to hurt somebody from NASBA.

Anyway, I do have one more post scheduled and then it will be sparse posting from me. :(

Thanks for those that stop by and a bigger thanks for those that stop by and leave comments. I've truly enjoyed my regular blogging and hope to be back someday.

My card for Jen's sketch

Here is my take on Jen's sketch at I{heart2stamp}.

I used the same ribbon, stamp set and papers from my card a couple of days ago, CTMH's A friend is stamp set paired with pink carnation, dutch blue, and chocolate cardstock. I again colored the image with my blending brush and ink squeezed onto my ink pad lids. I've been having a lot of fun with this bouquet of flowers.

Forever & Always

This is my take on Karen's sweet Sunday sketch. The card base is 4x4. I used the Cloud 9 paper that I still have on my desk. The sentiment is from CTMH's Friendship stamp set. 3 twilight colored brads finished off the card in the top left corner.

I hope everyone has a great Monday and President's day. Devin and the kids have the day off but I'm off to work.

A Mojo Monday card on a Sunday

My second card for today is my take on this past week's Mojo Monday sketch. For some reason, the card, although relatively simple, took me a long time to pull together. I started out by choosing the ribbon I wanted to use and then matched my colors around the ribbon. I used my swirls embossing folder for the larger card front and the blue piece is embossed using the fabulous swiss dots folder.

The focal image and sentiment come from a stamp set called "A friend is" by CTMH. I colored in the image with my blending brush and some ink from my pad squeezed onto the lid. It's kind of hard to tell in the picture but I put some matching rhinestones in the center of the flowers for a bit of bling and pop.

A red and white Christmas

Today's card is for Sparkle's weekly Christmas card challenge. For this week, she challenged participants to only use red and white on the card. This turned out to be a bigger challenge for me than I originally planned on. Why is another question, however.

I decided to make a square card but made it only a 4x4 card. What a cute size. And it will still fit in a regular A2 envelope. I used my snowflakes embossing folder for the two pieces on the front of the card. My focal image is one I've shown before, a cute snowman from CTMH's Snow Friends stamp set. I colored the little guy's hat red and then added some prisma glitter to the top of it to give the card some bling. Some clear buttons finished off the card. The button on the bottom right of the card is a striped clear button that I put over top of some red cardstock.

Thanks for stopping by and take care.

Thanks for everything

First off, happy Valentine's Day to each one of you.

My card is actually just a card front today in the form of a circle. I tried to make a circle card with a small flap on top so that it would be more like a regular card but I couldn't get it to come out decent. So I gave up and just decided to use the front of the card. I'll write on the back.

Have a great day.

A floral card

Today's card is one I whipped up last night using a color challenge from the new Pink Elephant blog. Colors chosen were pink, black, and white. Doesn't get much better than that, now does it? I loved making this card. I used a cuttlebug embossing folder for the card front. I can't remember the name and am feeling too lazy to go down to my basement to check. The stamp set is from CTMH, Simple Blossoms, I believe, along with the buttons and ribbon.

So, we made it to Friday. It's been a long and trying week for me. Lots of stuff going on at home and I am swamped with work.

I've got some of my best girlfriends coming over to crop tonight. It's always a crap shoot if I get anything done. I honestly seem to work better when I'm by myself but how much fun is that? I'd rather have my friends come over and chat/catch up with them.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy your Friday.

Earth Laughs in Flowers

I made this card for a sketch challenge a couple of weeks ago but now I can't find whose sketch it was. I used CTMH's Groovy Blossoms paper packet along with a stamp set called Make My Day, I believe. Some square hollyhock buttons in the corner finished off the card.

I hope you all have a great Thursday.

Pink, black, grey and red

Today's card is one I made on my lunch hour yesterday. On Jen's blog, the TCP challenge she issued was to use red, pink, black, and grey on a card. I paired these colors with Amy's sketch challenge and this is what you have.

I use pink and black together a lot but I'm not sure that I've ever added red to the mix. I really like the color combo and how striking the red is paired with the pink. I can see myself reaching for these colors together again, real soon.

For you Friend

My second card is for two challenges. First, it's for the weekly CPS sketch challenge which can be seen here. Nicole from PaperTrey also issued a special challenge to make a card for your best friend.

I used some more of that Cloud 9 paper stack I have. The card base is 6x6 and I decided to round all corners. The sentiment is from CTMH's Say it in Style stamp set. The blue polka dot ribbon is from American Crafts while the cocoa ribbon is from CTMH. I love the look of the ribbons tied this way. For my heart, I cut it out on my cricut 5 or 6 times and glued them all together to give it some dimension.

I did get the seal of approval from my most harsh critic, that of my husband. He loved the colors in it and the design. He wasn't so fond of my card I posted earlier today. I guess you can't win them all. :)

Happy Anniversary

Today's card is for Karen's sweet Sunday sketch challenge. She's been creating some great sketches. I had a lot of fun with this sketch and was cruising along with my circle elements but then I was stumped for how I could finish off the card. Nothing looked right to me. In the end, I decided that some organdy ribbon with a touch of hollyhock ricrac ribbon could be added. I also used a size of card that I rarely do -- 5x7. All products are from CTMH.

Crimped hair making a comeback?

Reynna wanted her hair crimped this morning so we pulled out the crimper that Aunt Tyffanie got her for Christmas and went to town. Reminds me of the 80's, that's for sure. I think she looks rather cute. What do you think?

Just because

Today's card is one I did for Jen's weekly sketch at I{heart}2stamp. All products are from CTMH.

I'm not feeling well so a real quick post. Thanks for stopping by.

Celebrate

Today's card is for this past week's Mojo Monday weekly sketch. I have a good friend with a birthday coming up in a few weeks. When I saw the circle element on the sketch, I immediately thought of my Today's Date stamp set from CTMH. I used some more of the My Minds Eye paper that I used earlier this week. I wish the photo could show the glitter and texture of the paper. I can't wait to work with more of the papers from the stack.

A manly birthday card

This card is for Nicole's sketch challenge that she posted for another contest. I got to play connect the dots to reveal her sketch. A lot of fun. Click here to see all the ribbon you can win if you play along. The dp I used is from Cloud 9. I love it. I decided the paper could be suitably used for a more manly card. Stamps used include Happy Birthday and Sketchin's, both from CTMH.