The best years of my life...

I think I've said it before, but I'm going to say it again anyways. God Bless friends! I think the past two years have been the best years of my life! When I first moved to Southern Cali with my family, I knew noone, and had no friends, I was lonely and depressed, and didn't know what to do with myself. A couple of years later, I have more friends than I can count! From my online weight loss support groups, to my online YAHOO scrapper buddies, to my stay at home mom group, I am sooo blessed! I love love love all of my friends and dont know what I would do without them!

Last night I went out with some of my stay at home mom friends. We call it "MNO" or mom's night out. We went to Applebees for dinner, and had a great time, and laughed our butts off! (if only it was that easy, right?)
Here are some pics from last night....=)
Tammy and Rebecca

Janae and Geena

Heidi and Sandy

Anna and I (notice I'm drinking WATER =)

all of us hot chix!

A fave layout

My greeeaaat scrapper friend Corinna, who went to Texas with me last December, is always sending my friends and I great scrap articles that she finds. A few days ago she sent me an article from a girl name SHIMELLE. It was about making faster pages that don't look all cluttered and keep the "white space" out of your layouts. I read the article, and this morning, while the babies were (and still are) sleeping, I created this page...

I used Teresa Collins's new paper "Damask", one of her new journalling cut outs, random ribbons, a clear button with paper under it, Daisy D's, CK' ok, and Basic grey rub ons, and some Bazzill (are you surprised?) paper as a matte behind my photos...that's it! It was a seriously FAST page, and it's really one of my faves! Thanks corinna for sending me that article!!

To view this article, click the link below. Thanks to you too, Shimelle!

http://www.iscrap.net/scrapbooking-articles.cfm/id/48

I'm on a roll this week!

One thing I LOVE about Bisous paper is that you can make your layouts so quickly, and they look amazing! I was doing childcare today, and during naptime, I completed 3 layouts! (dont worry honey, I also did the dishes! =)

All 3 layouts use bisous.biz paper...

This first one is from Jordyns first week at school. I used bazzill paper as my photo mattes, added the "hello my name is" rub on from Daisy D's, added a dcwv rub on on the arrow, and journalling...that's it!!!


I LOVE this Jacob layout. The only part that took any time at all was the hand stitching around the heart. I didn't use any templates for this, or for the stitching around the journalling box. Matte is once again bazzill, and the "grade" part of the title is 7 gypsies TISSUE paper, and the word "six" and the () are stickers. Easy peasy but cool, huh!


On this last layout I used some Heidi Grace plastic flowers and a heart at the bottom right of the picture. I didn't matte the picture, cause there was already a faux matte on the bisous paper. I added a button to the ribbon flower, and added rub ons in the journalling boxes...that's IT! EVerything else was already on the paper. Hmmnn...maybe I should become a spokesperson for Bisous, huh...seriously!!

Chocolate Pillows??

Ok I just have to tell this funny story...

last night I was getting ready to go to sleep, Jason turned off the lights, I lied down and all of a sudden I smelled chocolate. Not nasty chocolate, but the chocolate smell you get when you're about to take a bite out of some deliscious Rocky Road ice cream!

I sat up in bed, and said "did you just eat chocolate?" and Jason said "no!"
I laid back down, then turned to him...smelled it again, and said "you liar, I can smell it!"
"no, i didn't have any chocolate...i had a graham cracker an hour ago, but no chocolate i promise!"
sniff sniff
at this point i turned on the light, and glared at him. "where is the chocolate bar?" I started searching for wrappers, and couldn't find anything, and he was totally laughing at me and swearing that he didn't have ANY chocolate.
I turned the light back off, and laid back down....buried my head in my NEW memory foam pillow that I had bought that day, and smelled it again...strong yummy chocolate....was I going insane? Then i pulled back my pillow case, and smelled my new pillow.....the chocolate smell was coming from my pillow! OMG>....I was in love....haha
Not only did my pillow smell like ROcky road, but it was the most comfortable pillow I've ever slept on! And the dreams....oh the dreams....lol
tbcontinued...

My Beautiful mother

Last night I wanted to create a layout about my mom. We went on a mini vacation that I wrote about last September, and I've been wanting to make a layout from that vacation for a long time. Once again, I used the Bisous paper, and only needed to add some journalling, woven labels, a charm, and some Daisy D's roll on rubons.
I love the picture of my mom with her hands in the air. She loved being at the beach and relaxing, and we had the greatest time! If you click on the picture, you SHOULD be able to read the journalling.

Mom came over today, and we had lunch, then took the kids to the park, she helped me clean the house a bit, and then she took us out to dinner. When she got to my house today, I asked her if she was pregnant, because she was so beautiful, it was as if she was glowing! SHe just laughed at me and made a comment about immaculate conception. I told her I wanted to take a picture of her, because she was so pretty and looked sooo young! I can only dream of looking THIS good when I'm in my 60s!!

Texas scrap page

So yesterday I was sitting here looking at a picture of my "yahoo girls" and I in Texas for Dona's wedding. We found a scrap store, and when we got there, it was closed! (by 7 minutes) Ok, when you're a psycho scrapper, and you are in a different state, and you drive a half an hour to see a store that you are told is TOTALLY cool, and you get there and it's closed, you dont go home, do you? Hell no...
I swear, it was so funny! Have you SEEN the Mervyns commercial where the lady stands at the window and says "OPEN OPEN OPEN!" That was sooo us! We caused such a ruckus outside, that the owner finally came to the door and said "may I help you?" and we said "we came all the way from California and Illinois to see your store!"
So she was nice enough to let us in. She was a smart lady, cause she made over 400 bucks off of us! Anyways, we took a picture in the store with our bags, and so yesterday I wanted to make a layout with this particular picture. I texted my friends and asked them WHAT paper would go with the colors in the pic, and they all said basically the same exact thing. Red, black and white. DUH!
SO I couldn't think of any paper that would fit that, and I put the pic down, and went about my day.
Today, I got another wild hair up my behind, and while the babies were sleeping, I decided to clean up my scrap space. It was REALLY REALLY bad. I had several bags of "scrap stuff" that I had bought in the past month and not put away. SO I open up a bag, and OMG...staring back at me is the new Autumn Leaves page kit I bought at Walmart the other day. RED, Black, and cream! Not only is it the right colors, but the red paper is an EXACT match for the bags we are holding in the picture! I think I heard the heavens open up and angels singing "Hallelujah!" lol

Anyways....I was trying to make a long story short, and it became longer...I made the page...totally scraplifted the layout off the back of the Autumn Leaves page kit (hope that's ok!) and I love how it turned out! Now if you guys could JUST tell me how to take PICTURES of my layouts that are as good looking as the REAL thing, it would be greatly appreciated!!! Autumn Leaves, you ROCK!!!

I LOVE BISOUS!

I bet 99% of you have NO IDEA what or WHO Bisous is, huh!
It's a scrapbooking company in Canada (www.bisous.biz) that has the COOLEST PDQ (pretty darn quick) page kits ever! The pages are all double sided, but the papers are sooo cool, and you're supposed to be able to complete a whole album in an hour. Just add your photos and finishing touches, and you're DONE!

So I made this page today. I can't claim all of the awesomeness of it, because it IS a PDQ page, but I did add some pretty freakin cool touches to it, if I may say so myself! I did some hand stitching on it, thanks to the cool new Bazzill stitching templates, I added a rub on from K and company to the top, a sheet from my new noteworthy MM journalling book at the top, some buttons from sticko, and a few other embellishments. The photo mattes are MME paper.

what I love about the bisous pdq papers is the awesome colors and designs, and the fact that there are 4 different ways you can use each piece of paper....even upside down still works! So what do you think??

ps-if you click on the pic, you can see the details up close!

3 new layouts

I made 3 new layouts today. I can't claim them as 100% my own, because two of them are page kits from Freckle Friends (love them!) and the 2 page layout is scraplifted off of my friend Edie's layout that she just made for a class she's teaching at the LSS she works at.

this one is my fave!


For the 2 page layout, I used bazzill paper for my background, and Sassafrass Lass "what a hoot" paper. That's it, just paper..and a little chalk ink! what a hoot! (the pictures are from my time in texas with FLAT KLO)

Scrapbook Expo 2008 pics

Ok, Let me start by saying that this wasn't one of my favorite expos. I was lucky enough to see my best friend Edie, and my amazingly famous friend Klo, and I did buy some great stuff, and by the looks of it, a LOT of stuff...but compared to the expos I've been to in the past, the vendors weren't all that great, I'd have to say out of about 50+ vendors, I liked about 8 of them. 4 of them I love, and I go back and recognize and spend at their booths year after year. With that said, let's look at these goodies!

This first pic is of two page kits I bought at the Freckle Friends booth. I have to say, I LOVE LOVE LOVE this company. I think i'm going to join their monthly kit club, cause I've seen their kits firsthand, and they are amazing! They've got some great talents working for their team! The girls working the booth are both totally sweet, and great salespeople! I wanted to buy everything! They had a freakin awesome acrylic album that one of their workers made up on display, and I told them that if they made that album into a class I'd drive an hour and a half to TAKE that class! (get a bigger booth, you guys rock!)

Pic # 2 is of the SEI Dill Blossom page kit, and the Morning Meadows Page kit. I bought the Dill blossom page kit through the SEI booth. When I got home and opened it, i DROOLED, because the paper is soooo cool! The linen texture is awesome, and the colors are soooo calming! I bought the Morning meadows page kit from another booth, and got it for wayyy cheap! 10 bucks! I asked them why it was so cheap, and they said that SEI didn't sell as many as they'd hoped. I thought..oh great, it must suck! I was surprised when I got home and opened the package, and there was some reallllly cool paper tucked in there, as well as stickers, tags, and iron ons!

I bought some Daisy D's paper at one booth, and it rocks! The stickers are amazing as well! I bought the two Imaginisce paper packs through Embellish it!

This next pic is of the new Paper Loft paper packs. OMG...paper loft is by far one of my favorite booths! Their papers have the most amazing color combinations, and they're thick, quality cardstock is the best! I can't wait till the ontario expo to get all of the new accessories that go with these kits!

Some of my fabulous finds were at the We R memories keepers booth, where I got a 12x12 album for 10 bucks, and another booth in the other room where I got the best deal of the day! They had NEW chatterbox boxed kits!!! Both kits include a 12x12 cordouroy album, tons of paper, alpha stickers, and 3d embellishments! I got 2 boxed kits for 28 bucks!!! These Chatterbox kits sell for 54 dollars APIECE at Michaels!! woo hoo!

Some really cool random papers I got. A company called GCD had some amazing new papers that had that cool linen texture and great colors! They also had Pebbles Inc, and Adornit papers. I also bought some Crate paper from another booth, cause you can NEVER have enough of that!

Quick quotes booth is great, cause they always have "buy 25 sheets, get 25 sheets" paper. SO.,,I may have some dupes from last October, but for that price, who cares? It's all good quality thick cardstock, and it's doublesided!!

This next group of paper is soooo cool! 3 different types, Rhonna Ferrar, Jenni Bowlin, and Mod (autumn leaves) I love the scalloped and decorative edges! I'm going to do some crazy cool albums with these!

A new company called Timefliesdesign.com had some really cool new paper. I liked it because it was thick, textured, and VERY Cratepaperish! (that's a new word i just made up) anything that is "cratepaperish" is gonna be in my bag!

Ok, I spent the most money at the Embellish it! booth this year. I think I always do! Shelby, the owner, is soooo nice and friendly, and very willing to strike up a comfortable conversation. I bought a TON Of basic grey paper, including the newest lines that aren't even in the stores yet! This new paper soooo totally rocks!! I bought Sugared (love it) Sultry, (love it!), archaeic (love it!) some 2 scoops, some perifery, Infuse (love it!) and recess! I also bought the bazzill companion pack for the sugared...cause you can never have too much bazzill!

ok this next picture is of the bag I bought at one of the booths. Let me just tell you, these bags have been sold at the expos for the past 2 years or so...I've stared at them time and time again, wondering whether i should buy one or not. They were only 28 bucks, and it seems like EVERYONE at these freakin expos had one but me..seriously! so i finally gave in and bought one. LEt me just tell you...I jam packed this thing so full of paper, and it was still comfortable! The wide strap at the top with comfortable fabric really did the trick! This bag is made by K and company and is definitely worth the money!

I didn't buy many rub ons at the expo this year, because there really WEREN'T many! The ones they did have were very pricey, and i can't spend a lot on rub ons! I bought some daisy D's, because I LOVE them and they come off really easy, some Imaginsce ones because they matched my paper, and some basic grey ones, because basic grey rocks! Thanks Embellish it!

The Gluedots booth had a ton of new Maya road chipboard books. They were all different, but sooo totally cool, and wayyy cheap! The most expensive one was only about 5 bucks, and the other ones were 4, 3 and even 2 bucks! I can't wait to make cool things out of these and show you guys! I also got a MM noteworthy scalloped note pad that is totally cool, and bought my first acrylic album to try out...i'm so nervous!

ok, so I'm a stampaholic..but most of you know that! I am in LOVE with the GO Inque See D's stamps, and I swear, I now own a TON of them, so when they have their next contest, I'll be READY! lol
Several different booths were selling them, and all for different prices, but the little ones were only a buck!

This last pic is all my extras that you just cant live without. Buttons (they had the coolest colors. Only a buck a bag, and buy 5 get one free!
I also got some Chalk ink (black and brown of course) and some stickles (black and brown, do you see the pattern?) and Embellish it gave me some free brads (brown), and I got some stamps on clearance 50% off, so I got autumn leaves, etc

that is the extent of my shopping extravaganza....enjoy!
ps-can't wait till the October expo...better start saving up now! =)

OC scrapbook expo 2008

WOW...I have sooo many pics to show you from my day yesterday! wooo hooo!
First I have to go stare at it all for a while...then touch the paper...play with it...drool on it...roll around on it...and then...and only then..do you get to see all my good finds! I found some items that were a STEAL of a deal, and some items that i bought that I thought were highway robbery..but I was too darn tired to haggle like i'm in mexico this time, so I just paid the robbers...lol
to be continued....

Snow much fun!!!

It's been snowing since 7 this morning! woo hooo!
I know you midwest people are gonna see this and say "that's not snow!" but you Southern California people will be saying "hey, that's SNOW!" haha

This was about 2 hours ago...and it's still snowing outside! FUN FUN!

Happy Valentines Day!

Ok, so yesterday was almost 70 degrees. I wore flip flops, sunglasses, capris, and a t-shirt to take Jordyn to the bus stop. Tomorrow and this weekend are supposed to be beautiful and sunny and in the 70's....today...Valentines day....It's freakin snowing!!! Whats up with that???? I wore jeans, a large jacket, shoes, and a beanie to keep warm! Here is a pic Jacob took of us when we were leaving for the busstop!
Happy Valentines day everyone!

My sappy son

Oh the joys of having an 11 year old that's getting hormones...*sigh*

Jacob has a "girlfriend." Who am I kidding, Jacob ALWAYS has girlfriends. Please believe I don't for one second CONDONE that he has girlfriends at this early age...but....luckily, Jacob is BEYOND innocent, and he's brutally honest too, and tells me anything...and...he's a HORRIBLE liar...so I'm happy when he tells me he only holds her hand sometimes and has NOT kissed her..lol

Anyways, this morning he tells me that in his computer class they had to make Valentines cards. I was all prepared to receive my valentines card from my boy that loves his mommy so much, when he said "I was gonna make one for you, mom...but mothers day is coming up soon, so I made one for my girlfriend instead!"
"what????" "excuse me???" haha
ok, so I made him show it to me....well....that's not exactly how it went, i acctually wrestled it out of his hands, and then he threw it, and I threw him (lightly) and beat him to it (all in good fun, promise!)
so I read it and laughed..and almost cried, but I had to share it, cause he's too damn cute! He's also really getting good at the computer stuff! He knows more about Microsoft word than I do!

here's a picture of the front

and the inside...

and the back!

More Valentines cards!

As If I havn't already made enough....(I think I made more valentines cards than I did Christmas cards this year!)

In my stay at home mom group, we did a valentines card exchange, where we mail out cards to 5 friends. So here are 5 of the cards I made yesterday. (I really need to learn how to take pictures of my work that don't suck, because these photos don't do the cards justice at all!)
All of the cards are using Daisy D's, Chatterbox, and Basic Grey papers. The rub ons are DCWV