Easter Eggstravaganza

Here are my first two Easter cards...just getting started. I bought this {My Minds Eye} Bloom & Grow Paper Kit that I thought would be perfect. Nice and springy, but without going into those cliche' 'Easter' colors of mint green and lilac...not that there's anythng wrong with that :) I was just looking for something different. This is also my first card using my very first A Muse stamps that arrived the other day...got this one on clearance!

Fourth of July

This is a layout I worked on at the Friday night scrap. I got it all set up the way I wanted it, then finished it off today with some Cricut lettering and the journaling block.

It seems awful 'symmetrical', but overall I really like the way it turned out. I tried out my new Marvy square punch, which made it very easy to use a lot of photos in just one layout. And, I think summer, and Fourth of July more specifically, just inherently offers a great color palette. I found that this {My Minds Eye} Confetti Parade Collection was exactly what I was looking for to complete this.

Portland Trip

Here are a coule layouts that I did at a scrap I went to in the fall. They sat around the scrap room through the holidays, waiting for the finishing touches and some journaling. Please excuse the photos, they are a bit muted, as I'm am just figuring out all the bells and whistles on my NEW camera that just arrived yesterday :)

This was a girls trip to Portland for Billie's birthday, and our second round of tatoos (excluding Kim of course!).

Goin' Scrappin'

Today is a scrapbookin' kind of day! First, Mom and I headed down to Hermiston to check out their two scrapbook stores...just to see if I could find any new treasures. I wandered, and touched, and felt my way all through the stores, while Mom humored me and tagged along. Now, I'm heading out to a night scrap at the fire station. Time to pack up the scrap room and head out. Hopefully there will be some posting tomorrow of at least a page or two!

Love You With A Cherry On Top

Yesterday was my niece Kendra's birthday, and this is the card I made to send her. I found both the cherry ribbon and stamp in the dollar bin at Michael's (my favorite place to hang out lately), so I knew I wanted to do something with a cherry. But, I searched through my inspiration photos and found one that did in fact inspire me...so I can't take all the credit for this. Check out Sharon Caudle's very cute version in her gallery on Hallmark Scrapbook:

http://www.hallmarkscrapbook.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=414&si=cherry

Pink and Green Birthday

One of the gals in my office was having a birthday, and I needed a quick card to give her. I put this one together before heading out the door to work on the morning of her birthday. I cheated a bit, using a note card, and just embellishing with paper, ribbon, flowers and buttons, and then stamped Happy Birthday on the inside.

I have been buying up all different sizes of note cards at Michaels in their dollar bin, mostly for the envelopes. Even without the note cards, you can't beat 8 colored envelopes for a buck! Then, the other day I struck pay dirt...they were on clearance, and were marked down to .50 each. This particular pack happened to be monogramed, but I just covered it up with my embellishments. I just might have to make some more of these to have on hand!

Love Never Fails...

I can't believe it has been over a month since my last post. Where in the world did it go? In the blink of an eye, nearly one quarter of the year has come and gone!

One of the gals that I work with, Darcie, is getting married in May. Two other gals in my office and I took her to lunch the other day as a sort of mini bridal shower. This was the card I whipped out the night before to give her. Not really a traditional bridal card as you might think, but I thought it was quite light and Springy.

Spring Tulips

This was the card I made for my mom's birthday. I can't take all the credit though. Mom loves tulips, so I had the basic idea in my head, then ran across a couple projects on the Cricut Messageboard. I kind of combined them both to get a similiar, but new look. Take a minute to look at their work too...

http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/tm.aspx?m=4014252&mpage=1&key=pot&#4014365

http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/tm.aspx?m=4007471&mpage=1&key=shape%2ccard&#4007471

Happy Birthday Mom!

Saturday was Mom's birthday. We all (Mom, Dad, Billie, Kim, Jodi, Shauna and me) had a great time celebrating with an early dinner at the Olive Garden, followed by a trip to the theater to see Slumdog Millionaire. We needed to see for ourselves what all the hype was about. We were so full from dinner that we didn't have room for the Mud Pie I made. So on Sunday, Billie, Mom and I watched Benjamin Button, then had our own Mini-Oscar party, including the very delicious Mud Pie.

Cards, Cards & More Cards

I made these two cards last night. I was inspired by Michelle Wooderson's (love her stuff!) Tart of hearts Valentine Card. You can check it out here...

http://michellewooderson.blogspot.com/2009/01/tart-of-hearts-valentine.html

Although I'm not sure mine are near as cute, I did like how they turned out. Thanks Michelle for the inspiration.

President's Day

Happy President's Day to all! If you are lucky enough - like me - to have a day off from work...enjoy the day, and tomorrow celebrate a 4-day work week! :) I will be taking this opportunity to spiff up the house a bit, take down the Valentines decorations and put out the St. Patrick's Day knick-knacks. Out with the red, in with the green! It's a bit exciting, because it means Spring is only around the corner.

New Layout

Here's a 2-page layout I finished at our last Croppin' at the Fire Station...it just needed the journaling added, which I just finished today. March '06...yes, I'm behind!!

Happy Valentines Day!

Here are a couple cards I tried to quickly put together today. Hours later I am finally done...good thing Valentines Day is all day long :)

I wish you all Hugs and Kisses on this Valentines Day!

xoxoxoxo

Another Batch of Cupcakes...

So, I had to make those annual Cherry Chip Valentine cupcakes to take to work...and give to a couple special folks! YUM-O! I think it might be time to step it up and start experimenting with some 'gourmet' or unusual cupcakes...maybe in exotic flavors or with fillings, etc.!

Thank God It's Saturday?

Whew...what a week! I spent the first few days this week in Longview/Kelso teaching a Homeland Security class. What a blast I had. My co-instructor was great fun, and I really enjoyed meeting and spending time with her, as well as the the rest of the cadre - including the 3 FDNY firefighters who were there to teach as well, one of which is featured in this Elmo book (how funny, huh?). I'm so glad I did it, and can't wait to do it again!