Tuesday, December 31, 2013

A new beginning...again!!!

I wonder how many times you can decide that your next task or adventure is really your new beginning...hmmm. Well let's just say we all get one more chance and tonight I am getting mine started! 

I just joined the FREE Ultimate Blog Challenge & got 7 Ways to Get Your Blog in Motionhttp://bit.ly/blogchall #blogboost

For the month of January it is my goal to participate in the blog challenge over at http://ultimateblogchallenge.com

In order to participate you must post something on your blog everyday in the month of January. You must also post a link to facebook and twitter which I have to say I am excited about but also very nervous because I tried to challenge myself to do this on my own in the month of December and looking back I missed several days. OOpps guess it is best to not look back but only forward! You also comment on two other blogs that are participating in the challenge. I am really hoping to get more followers to my blog. 

To help me keep track of my posts I have set up a separate FiloFax (yes I am one of those nerds that loves the paper planners thanks to my big sister who pushed me into trying it). I have even started jotting down ideas for posts that I haven't even begin to write. I am sometimes a procrastinator but more on that later! 

Looking forward to this new challenge and adventure!!!! 

I would love for you to become a follower on my blog!!!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

11/22/63 by Stephen KIng Book Club #1

So my family book club has chosen 11/22/63 by Stephen King to be out first read in our new book club. At the time of the selection my mom was the experienced one when it comes to Stephen King books and let me just say that we should have heeded the warnings and went with a different author. At least we all agreed that our little book club will NEVER read another Stephen King book...or at least not for a very long time.
There are four of us in our book club, my mom is an avid reader and goes through something like 1,000 books a year, my sister and I have jumped on all the popular bandwagons and read the latest and greatest book that everyone is talking about, and my brother reads occasionally. So for a book club made up of family we have already started out with four completely different levels. We all have different likes when it comes to books, mom liking Si-Fi and my sister liking Trilogies while my brother seems to lean toward Biography books and me liking everything except Si-Fi.
To get ourselves started on one of the largest books I have ever read, we decided to break the book into the different parts. We were to have parts 1-2 read by December 8th. Well that didn't happen so we decided to meet last weekend and we were to also have part 3 read (we met but not everyone had the book read). This book has been a struggle for all of us!
 Why were are struggling??? The man uses too many words to explain the scene....it shouldn't take 4 pages to explain that the wind was blowing out of the north. At this point in the book he has taken us all over the place and there doesn't seem to be anything that is tying the characters together or the plot (if there is a plot at all).
 This is not a book I would recommend to anyone. I am halfway through the book and it has now become a chore to read and we are all feeling the same way.

You can see my mom's book review at the link here:
(This link will come available when the blog is completed)

Thursday, December 12, 2013

Can't seem to get my room clean...

For some reason when I am working in my scrapbook room...everything comes flying off the shelfs and lands right next to me. Am I the only one who tends to work with piles and piles of stuff around them? It is like my stuff gets lonely and needs to come sit with me like we were old friends.

Tuesday, December 10, 2013

DD#82 Rich Pink and Green Challenge

http://thedynamicduoschallenge.blogspot.com/2013/12/dd82-rich-pink-green.html

So it has been awhile since I have popped over to the Dynamic Duos Challenge site and since we are experiencing another snow day here in the Ozarks I thought I play along!

My entry is a paper wreath! The paper I used is from Stampin' Up!, but for the life of me I cannot remember the name of the paper pack that I purchased (which is frustrating because I want to get some more).

You will need:
12' foam wreath (I got mine at Michael's using 40% coupon so it was only a couple of dollars)
6 12 x 12 Double sided scrapbook pages cut in 1/2" stripes
Straight pens (about 180)
Cutter
Bone folder
Chocolate...lots of chocolate and maybe a few band-aides

How to assemble:
 1. Cut paper into 1/2" stripes
Note: It helps to keep your stripes in stacks so when you go to assemble you are not grabbing two of the same colors.
2. With your bone folder curl your paper (just like you curl a ribbon on a gift)
3. Begin pinning the paper to the wreath
4. Remember...there are no mistakes!

My finished wreath:

Thank you for stopping by and I would love for you to become a follower or at least leave me a comment!



Monday, December 9, 2013

MOJO Challenge #323

http://www.mojomonday.blogspot.com/2013/12/mojo-monday-323.html

So it is snowing once again here. The kids get another snow day tomorrow and so do I!!! Guess this is one of the perks of being a teacher! With that being said, my DH had to go out in the snow and knock off the gathered snow and ice from our Internet dish (one of the downfalls of living in the country). But what a sweet man he is for doing that for me all so I can post my entry to the MoJo challenge blog!

Today's sketch that they provided is:
I am still new to this whole blog challenge entry thing so I still haven't figured out how "out-of-the-box" I can go with my interpretation of the sketch. Besides I am kind of a rule follower kind of person so even if I was a super experienced blog challenger I would probably stick pretty close to the provided sketch!

Here is my interpretation of their sketch:

Materials Used:
Card base: 4 x 51/2 by The Paper Studio
Very Vanilla card stock by Stampin' Up! cut at 3 7/8 x 5 3/8
Raspberry Ripple card stock by Stampin' Up! cut at 3 x 5 1/4
Red/White Twine by American Craft
Patterned Paper cut using 2 1/2 Circle Punch by Stampin' Up!
Very Vanilla cut using 2 3/8 Scallop Punch by Stampin' Up!
Raspberry Ripple cut using 1 3/4 Scallop Punch by Stampin' Up!
Stickles: Burgundy and Platinum
Merry Christmas Sticker by The Paper Studio

Thanks for stopping by and always I would love for you to leave a comment and hopefully start following my blog!


Sunday, December 8, 2013

365 cards challenge Day 339 Tag You're It

Over at www.365cards.blogspot.com they have a challenge from Thursday December 5th to create a tag using nontraditional colors on your Christmas tags. I know I am a little behind on joining this challenge but this morning I sat down and decided to make some tags.
Last week my DH needed to go to Lowe's for something manly so I decided to hang out in the paint department. I am forever seeing where people take the paint sample cards and create all kinds of cute projects with them so I went to collecting come samples. I didn't get a lot because a part of me felt like I was being naughty by taking so many....shhh.
All of my tags were created using the paint samples that I collected! I also used some different wash tapes to decorate them up. The 'To' and 'From' words were stamped using Stampin' UP! Basic Black ink and the stamps were an alphabet I purchased from Michael's for $1!

Sorry about the picture quality, I have been having problems with my camera.

Thanks for stopping by and as always I would love for you to become a follower on my blog or at the very least leave me a comment. 

I am linking this to:
www.365cards.blogspot.com



So disappointed in myself...

So I was doing so well with posting everyday (okay so it was only a few days in a row but that was progress). And then we get a snow day here and I completely forget about posting. But in all fairness, I spent that time with my boys playing in the snow, making hot chocolate, and laughing!

Thursday, December 5, 2013

Tuesday Challenges that I have found!

Here is a small list of blog challenges that begin on Tuesdays:

www.twistedtuesdaychallenges.blogspot.com (They post a new challenge every other Tuesday)
www.clearitoutchallenge.blogspot.com (They post challenges on the 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month)
www.365cards.blogspot.com

Can't wait to head over to these sites and see what they have for us to play with!

The weather is going to be a little rough here (gotta love that Ozarks weather) so I am thinking that this weekend will be full of playing around on blog challenges! My DH and boys are planning on watching the big MIZZOU game on Saturday so that means I can hide in my scrapbooking room all day and PLAY!!!!

Thanks for stopping by and as always I would for you to become a follower to my little blog or at the very least leave a comment (those just make my day)!


Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Monday Challenges I have found

In my quest to start changing some things in my life, I have decided to start participating in some blog challenges. With that being said...there are a ton out there in the world wide web and it appears that there is something out there for everybody! Some challenges begin on Monday and end on Sunday, some are just once a month. Some blog challenges have tons of rules while are others have simple rules to follow. Some blogs just have the rule of "Just have fun" and allow you to create whatever project you feel like making such as cards, scrapbook pages, paper crafts, wood crafts...the possibilities are endless!
With that being said I have complied a small list of blog challenges that I would like to try in the month if December. Now I know that I will not be able to get to every single one this month but won't it be fun to try?

Monday Blog Challenges:

http://www.mojomonday.blogspot.com
www.craftypassionchallenge.blogspot.com
www.craftycardmakers.blogspot.com
www.365cards.blogspot.com
www.alwaysplayingwithpaper.com
www.thepinkelephantchallenge.blogspot.com

I would love to hear of different challenges that you have tried, just leave a comment below so that we can all join in and play!

Thanks for stopping by and as always I would love for you to follow my blog but the very least leave a comment below!


Tuesday, December 3, 2013

MOJO322 Challenge Contest

www.mojomonday.com
New challenge every Monday!!
So this weeks challenge over at www.mojomonday.com they are offering a prize for every 50 entries! I have participated in a few of their challenges but as my life changing goal I have put it in my FiloFax to  make this a regular site to party with!!! I am getting my mojo on!

Below is the sketch that they gave us to party with...how stinkin' cute is it! I have come to realize that I am a very simple card maker. I really do not like my cards to be busy, not sure if it is because I cannot justify the cost that goes into one card when you add all the bling and embellishments or if it is that I just do not like to make a busy looking card. 

This is my creation! 
Love the 3D look, I think it gives it a little something something!!!!




Materials used:
Card Base: Pre-made card set in Primary Colors by The Paper Studio 4 1/4 x 5 1/2
Ornament paper by The Paper Studio cut at 4 1/8 x 5 3/8 and 2 5/8 x 3
Old Olive paper by Stampin' Up cut at 3 1/2 x 4
Tempting Turquoise paper by Stampin' Up cut at 2 1/4 x 3
White Ribbon by The Paper Studio
Distressed paper using Old Olive ink by Stampin' Up
Whisper White card stock by Stampin' Up cut at 2 1/2 x 2 7/8
Teeny Tiny Wishes Stamp Set by Stampin' Up (Merry Christmas)
Stamped in Old Olive ink also by Stampin' Up!



The Prizes: We'll have one winner for every 50 entries, up to a max of SEVEN winners!!! Winners will receive the Verve Stamps set of their choice.
How to play: Just upload a creation using this week's sketch to your online blog or gallery. Then leave a direct  link to your project in the linky widget at the bottom of this post.  If you upload to online galleries, please also use tag/keyword MOJO322. Our challenge is open to everyone, Verve stamps are NOT required to participate, and you can enter as many times as you want.  As always, if you don't have a particular shape, feel free to substitute.

Thank you so much for stopping by and I would love for you to become a follower or at the least leave me a comment and tell me what you think!!!

Monday, December 2, 2013

Get Whale Soon

Get Whale Soon!
I used all Stampin' Up products to make this card and I think it turned out really cute. The water was made using a plastic baggie and dawn dish soap and a little bit of water. Not sure how well this card would travel through the mail but it would be a really great card to give to someone close.
Products used:
Whisper White card stock for card base
Midnight Muse paper and Ink Pad
Big Shot (Love it)
Ovals Collection Frames
Oh, Whale! Stamp Set
Whale Framelit
Dawn Dish Soap
Water
Baggie (snack size)
ATG Gun 
Hope you like the card, I got my inspiration from Dawn over at YouTube but for the life of me I can no longer find her page :(

Thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment (I love those)!

Sunday, December 1, 2013

I dare you....no I double dare you!

I cannot believe it is already December 1st. We have been on Thanksgiving break for 5 days now with one more to go and I have to say that it has been so relaxing. 
My mom, sister, brother and myself have been trying to get together at least every other Sunday for craft day. This has taken place at my house so far because everyone seems to laugh because they call my scrapbook room "The Store". 
We have made a paper wreath and last weekend we made or at least attempted to make Christmas cards. The girls have started using FiloFax Day Planners (I do not own the name brand FiloFax but it works just fine without the label). We discuss our schedules and decorate our planners. The four of us have also decided that we will start our own book club so we have began reading 11/22/63 by Stephen King. Our goal is to get through parts 1 and 2 by December 8th and we will meet at a coffee shop and discuss the book. I have to say that I finish both parts and I am dying to get to the next section. This is normally not a book I would have picked up but now that I am into it...WOW!
So with all of that happening I have also decided that I want to get going on my blog. I have had this blog for a few years and if you look around you can see that I have not been really good at posting to it.  I found a challenge blog called The Ultimate Challenge blog at www.ultimateblogchallenge.com and they have quarterly challenges to help get traffic to your blog. The next one is set to start in January!!
So I have decided to challenge myself to see how many posts I can do in December. The Ultimate Challenge blog wants you to post one post a day in January, which for some or maybe most bloggers that won't be too difficult but for me I am hoping that I can get at least one or two posts made each week for the month of December. (I even wrote this in my Day Planner!)
I will start out by entering in a few blog challenges and hope that I can go from 9 followers to 18 followers in the month of December.
Fingers crossed!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my crazy thoughts!

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Still trying to figure it out

I am still trying to figure this blog world out. There seems to be so many people that already have it figured out and I feel dumb that I can't get the cute things on my blog that others have. I am still trying to make sure I don't click on something and delete the whole account. Any advice would be much appreciated!

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

My Craziness!

I am amazed at how crazy my world can get. When my world gets crazy it seems as if the last thing I am able to do is sit down and post to this blog. I also find it difficult to take time out for myself and lock myself in my scrapbooking room and play. I have to wonder if I am the only one that this happens to. Are there others out there like me that seem to put their passions aside because of the craziness that is going on around them? Does that mean that I am not as dedicated to this craft as I would like to be since it is so easy for me to set aside? I have so many ideas in my head and I want so badly to get my pictures into albums and tell a story but the first sign of craziness what do I do....nothing.
I purchased (many months ago) the journal called This and That from Stampin' Up! and it has sat in a draw since the day I pulled it out of the box. Well a couple of weeks ago when I was having one of those crazy moments of craziness my husband grounded me to my scrapbook room. He told me to do something to get my mind off of things that are going on around me and to my surprise I took his advice! Talk about therapy!!!! I had the best time decorating this journal and finding pictures and journaling for my boys. Although I am not even close to being finished with it I am absolutely in love with the Smash book journals.
Front Cover
Stampin Up also sales a package of designer paper for the This and That journal book and I am pretty sure when I purchased this item that it must have been a bundle deal because I also had matching wash tape (which I had never used but have fallen in love with this product) along with some ribbon and buttons. I had also purchased some journaling tags from Michael's that go along with the Smash books they sale and was able to use some of the tags in this book.
Inside Cover and 1st page

I decorated the inside cover with the designer paper and also cut out the shapes from a 12 x 12 page that was nothing but hexagons. The picture is of my guys! This picture was taken while we were in Branson, MO for our oldest son's 15th birthday. He wanted to do ride gocarts and I snapped this picture as they were walking back to me. I used stamps from Stampin' Up to stamp the word Dream.
Pages 2 and 3
Page 2 of this book already had a pocket and the two envelopes in it. I am thinking I will make another envelope out of the designer paper and write a note to each one of the boys. There is a small envelope included and I thought about putting in coins from 2013.
(Do you see how messy of a crafter I am?)
Pages 3 & 4
 Pages 5 & 6
 Pages 7 & 8
 Pages 8 & 9
I have made one page layout for each one of the boys and then also one for brothers and then one for my husband. At this point I am gathering photos and trying to figure out what else to add to this absolutely amazing little book that I discovered!!!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

My baby boy!


Kyle age 10

Friday, June 21, 2013

MOJO298 challenge entry

So it has been awhile since I sat down and entered a challenge. I just love the MOJO Monday Challenge blog so that seems to be the one I go back to each time I get a wild hair and decide to enter a challenge. This weeks challenge sketch:

Their rules are pretty simple to follow and they do not require you to use a specific stamp. You are allowed to substitute embellishments which is a good thing because amazingly enough I did not have a star embellishment that I wanted to use on my card. 
(Please forgive me photography skills, I had to go to my front porch to snap the picture because my camera wasn't playing nice).
For this card I used all kinds of hodge lodge supplies out of my scrap box!!! Some of the paper is from Stampin' Up! and some is from Paper Studio. The embellishments are from a sticker pack by Paper Studio and I picked up the ribbon at Hobby Lobby years ago. The stamp "love" is my absolute favorite stamp in my collection (not sure why other than us stampers and scrapbookers tend to find one thing and fall in love with it). The stamp is from Stampin' Up's Best of Love stamp collection. The card was done in black and white so I decided to stamp the word Love in red just to add some flare to the card. The ink I used was from Stampin' Up also and it is called Real Red. 

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my card!!!




Monday, June 17, 2013

Graduation Present Idea

So this morning my DH dropped our first born son off at HIGH SCHOOL...I felt a sense of sorrow as I watched him walk out the door. He is now bigger than his dad, shaves, has opinions, likes girls, talks constantly about driving and how he doesn't have a social life because we keep his schedule too busy. The typical teenage craziness. He has grown into such a wonderful young man who has goals in life and one day he will make an amazing husband and father. With all that being said I was sitting around wondering how in the world I am going to survive his high school years because they just seem to go by so fast.
Since this is the summer of his freshman year I have decided that each month I am going to write him a letter and put it in an envelope with $20 and this will be his graduation present from his dad and I.
Chris age 14


Monday, January 21, 2013

DD#36 Challenge Entry

I feel like I am on a roll today, two challenge blog entries in one day! From my previous post most may have already read that for 2013, my goal is to put myself out there more. One way for me to do this is to start entering blog challenges. I stalk all of these blogs anyway so I am thinking I should come out of from behind the bushes and start playing.
This entry is for a really cool blog called www.thedynamicduoschallenge.blogspot.com. There is something about the ladies on this blog that seem to put me at ease with my creations. For this entry the only requirements were to use red and black on your creation. They don't even care if it isn't a card!! Mine is a card but they will let you enter whatever craft project you would like.
Thanks for stopping by, please leave a comment so I know you were here! Comments make my day!
Kim

MoJo Monday Challenge #277

So I decided that one way to get more traffic to my blog was to get off my hind quarters and start participating in some blog challenges!!! One of my new things for 2013 is was put myself out there a little more... sounds crazy but to be honest I am actually an extremely shy person that doesn't meet people well. One of the blogs that I have been following for some time now is www.mojomonday.blogspot.com, they offer a new sketch each week so today I decided that I am going to participate!!!

Here is the sketch for this week:
You can choose any color and you actually do not have to stick to exactly what the sketch looks like, although I am a rule follower so I guess I really didn't put myself out there too much as I chose to stick pretty close to this design. Here is mine:
I raided my scrapbox for the paper so this card was made from several different paper companies, the jewels were purchased from a local scrapbooking company called Scrapbook Generations and you can find them online at www.scrapbookgenerations.com. 
I used cuttlebug embossing folders called Give A Hoot!

Thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment, those just make my day!!!
Kim


Sunday, January 13, 2013

Wood Block Decor

Recently my DH and I went to Branson for one of our sons classmates birthday party. While we were there I went to a cute little craftmall (that was tucked away in the hills and I am sure I couldn't get there again). While inside the mall I noticed these cute little wood blocks with letters on them. I fell in love with many of them but then I turned them over and say the price, some were as much as $55.00. So I decided that I was going to come home and make my own.
My DH had some extra scrap lumber and he cut several blocks in various sizes:
As you can see from the picture he was able to cut many blocks! My next step was to paint them black. I chose black because that is what they used at the craftmall and it offers a really nice contrast to whatever paper you use. This process took a bit as it has to dry. I used the inexpensive paints from Michael's (you know the ones that you can get for 2/$1.00).
(You can see the paint bottle I used)
Once it was dry I selected random sized blocks, picked out my paper (I chose to use three different pattern papers), and then I used a solid color cardstock and my cricut to cut out the word 'Family'.
(As you can see I cut Family twice because the first time I messed up on the size)
Everything was glued down using MP, I chose to stand my blocks up on a shelf without attaching them to each other.
Here they are on my shelf (sorry for the glare the picture was taken using my phone)
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoy my project! 

Kim