What a great weekend!

Wow.  This has been a great weekend.  Saturday my youngest received his First Holy Communion.  What a wonderful day.  He has been so excited for the last month.  I think the whole day lived up to his expectations.  And did I mention that my parents arrived Friday?  Well, that was the best way to start a weekend if you ask me!  I just love having them here.  Thankfully they will be here for a whole month!

I thought I would share a little secret today.  Some of you may already know this and some of you may have this little secret too.  I cannot throw away my "small" scraps of paper when I make an album.  I have this amazing file for all my little pieces.  I save paper, ribbons, beads,....all sorts of stuff.  But, I do make things with them.  Really.  For the last 2 weeks I made cards.  Lots and lots of cards.  I participated in a market show all day Thursday and decided to make my primary product cards.  The show went well but I still have some cards left.  (I'm actually ok with having leftover cards because now I have cards for when I need them!)  I think it's a wonderful thing to reuse something on a card.  Below are 2 of my favorite ones from the show.

The top one was made with scraps from the "HOME" banner project.  I had leftover paper, ribbon, and the perfect stamp set for it.  It was so elegant looking.   The card was just too pretty to sell!  It ended up becoming a birthday card for one of my best friends.  She loved it.  Yeah!  The second card is leftovers from a mini album I made with Prima papers.  I added scraps of ribbon, lace, and burlap for dimension. A bit of distress ink and pearls and viola!  a pretty card.  I think I love the color combo and the difference between the lace and the burlap.

I hope this inspires you.  It amazes me that you can create something from scraps that would normally end up in the wastebin.  I did not cut a single piece of paper larger than 6 x 6 for this.  All the pieces were tiny bits as was the ribbons and lace.  Think out of the box ladies.

Have a great day and check back this week.  I took lots of pics at the market show so I have some great cards to post this week.

Where does the time go?

I logged in this morning and realized that my last post was well over a week ago.  Not good.  Where o' where did all my time go?  I try to post once a week or more.  Apologies to those who check in regularly.  I guess I will have to stop sitting on the couch eating bon bons!  (like that happens!!)

I have been crazy busy these last few weeks.  Just regular kid stuff (end of season track meets, special projects, soccer games) and a few projects now and again (new class projects and some other classes).  But this week will be by far the worst!  We have 2 BIG milestones in our house this week:  my daughter is being confirmed and my youngest receives his first Communion.  That means rehearsals, extra people here, and some serious organization for me!  Oh, and did I mention that my parents are coming?  They are!  For a whole month!  We are elated.  Can hardly wait to see them.  There was a point at the end of last week and over the weekend that I did not think they would come.  My dad had a significant health problem and it looked like I would be flying there to help.  But thankfully he is recovering very well and they will make their way to us this week.  Whew.  Thank you Lord!

A little about me (or really about mom and dad).....I am an only child.  My parents were those who should have been parents to dozens of children because I think they were fabulous as parents go.  But that was not to be.  They instead got to be a part of all my friends lives and make their mark as mentors and strong foundations for me and my friends.  My mom is from a large family and I knew I wanted lots of babies when I got married.  So having five beauties is wonderful for my parents.  All the play they want and then send 'em home!  Actually, I have to admit that there are some of the times with my children that if my parents had not been there I am not sure what I would have done.  Fast forward....they retired, they moved to their dreamland, and we get to see them a couple times a year.  We talk each and every day (thank you for unlimited long distance plans) and I still feel that they are a part of my life and my childrens.

Back to today.  I have a list for the day.  I am supposed to be in a show this week.  I had planned on basically selling my cards and the stash of minis I have on hand.  So, I have about 50 more cards to complete.  I think I can do it.  I have a mental game plan.  All depends on how things go today and if I can stay up til midnight!

I want to leave you with this pic:

This was the teaser from the sampler at Scrapp n' Savvy.  It is actually part of the desktop mini flip album for my May class.  It is done and I have to say I LOVE IT!  I played with some mixed media on the cover and added some fun elements inside.  I know that once it comes home I will add some cool flowers that I have here on the frame to make it a little more showy.  I will post full pics of it the second week in May.  For now, think butterflies, lots and lots of butterflies.

I'm off.....time to eject my little lovelies from their peaceful slumber.  Check back this week.  I have to take some photos of my cards and will post a few.

Spring into flowers

Good morning ladies!  I hope you had a wonderful and refreshing Easter weekend.  I know I did.  We spent the long weekend at the bayhouse and the weather was outstanding!  I only wish that the weather was like that all the time.  I can't recall spending that much time outside in a very long time.  And Easter.  Who doesn't like Easter?  I tried some pinterest inspired projects this time......I cooked my eggs in the oven instead of boiling them (I hate, hate the smell of boiling eggs) and then the little man and I dyed them using Kool-aide.  And the results?  Well, the kool aide was brilliant!  Definitely cheaper, smelled delicious, and the colors were wonderful.  Great fun.  The oven cooking....well, not so perfect.  I followed the instructions but when we cracked them they were soft.  Hubby loved them because they resembled poached eggs, which he loves.  I think next time I will tweak the time a bit.  I definitely will bake them again because there was zero smell!  Yeah!

And the best part of Easter for the kiddos?  The Egg Hunt!  They all love hunting for eggs and taking turns hiding them for each other.  With 4 teens in the house the egg hunt is a bit more involved.  Even the little man gets into really hiding the eggs so that the older ones cannot find them (like in the teapot which had boiling water or in the dog food bag).  The older ones go for a bit of drama and a huge "O" factor (like screwing a plastic egg to the beam under the house.  Really.  Don't know how he did it.  Or how the youngest daughter got it down!  And don't let me forget about the one in the crab trap...)  Let's just say I have some seriously creative egg hiders in my family.  Something to be very proud of I think!

As you know, when we go to the bayhouse I always have a difficult time deciding what to take.  This time I took nothing.  Zero.  Zip.  Nada.  Wow was that a long weekend.  I have lots of doodles though!  So my brain went into hyper drive with project ideas.  Maybe it was a good thing.  I actually wrote them down so I could remember them this time.  Have you ever had the best idea and then poof, gone...you forgot it?

So, back to the day.  My class project this month is called Spring into Flowers.  I made a snowflake box that contained gift cards for the Christmas party.  Everyone who sees it loves the window in the front so I made this little beauty as a look alike.

 Made with Miss Caroline papers, the box sits atop large pearls for feet.  It has a magnetic closure and a peek a boo window to let you see the treat inside.  The top is covered in handmade flowers.

 There is a tag book inside that has some interactive tags as well.

The front of the tag book.

The class is next Tuesday.  Call Scrapp n' Savvy for your spot today.

I wish you all scrap happiness today.  Blessings......