It's been so long........

Well, the past month has been very hectic. My husband came home from deployment, both of my childrens had birthdays, I am taking two classes this semester, and we are trying to readjust to having our whole family back together again. Wow! My husband went back to work this past week so we are starting to get back into our old routine. FINALLLY! I hadn't been doing much stamping either. But I have a swap that is due by the 1st of Nov. so I needed to get that finished. It was a great swap on SCS. It is called "where are you from". I am doing each of the catagories. Product, postcards and handmade cards. I thought it was going to be easy for me. It wasn't. It took me forever to find the product I wanted to send, I ended up putting 3 little things together, then the postcards, that wasn't so hard but then came the handmade cards. I went to my craft store on base (who normally has a ton of Germany stuff) and they were totally out of EVERYTHING Germany. WHAT? So they said they were getting a shipment in this week so I waited. They didn't get any Germany stuff in yet. So I decided I would just do the best I could with what I have......so here is the final product!

What I ended up doing was taking a picture I had recently taken in Trier and printed them out to use as the main piece. I then used my wonderful Cricut for the letters and lastly put at the bottom a description of the picture. I hope this is okay for everyone that was involved in the swap. I just didn't know what else to do!

Here is a picture of Jodus for his 4th birthday and Leila for her 1st birthday. I can't believe it. Where has a year gone!? Yes, Jodus had a sponge bob cake. I don't like sponge bob but he loves him! And Rodney picked out Leilas cake...whinney the pooh.

What a day!

Okay, I'm a bit frustrated right now. I have been messing around with this forever and I can't figure out how to put my flippin SU! catalog picture on my page and have it so if you click on it, it will take you to the SU! page. FRUSTRATING!!!! So here it is! If you would like to look at this catalog, click on the link, if you would like to own a catalog of your own or would like to purchase something from this catalog please just let me know! I would be more then happy to help you!

Today was a LONG day. I was running all over base and trying to prepare for my husbands homecoming next week! Yay! This time next week, I will surely not be blogging....my hubby will be home!

I did make a card yesterday for one of my SS on SCS and I really liked how it turned out so I will post it. It's a free standing pop up card and I got the tutorial off of SCS. I am doing both the DSS and the DDSS this round and can I just say.....I'm confused! I am trying really hard to get it all straight. I hope I don't post my thank you's in the wrong place! Man I hate pictures of cards. They just never do them justice! You can't even tell I have stickles on them. And that's my favorite part. I can't live without stickles now that I started to use them. I'm like obsessed!! YIKES!

Oh, and I just HAVE to share this with you all too! I ran out of my SU! envelopes and I had these extra envelopes sitting around. So.....I used them. They have Hallmark impressed on them so I got to use my lovely clear stamp from a stamp set my BFF sent me! Don't you just love it!!!! I thought it was kind of cute.....very fitting! Thanks so much for the stamp set Kelly. See, I'm using them!!!!

Monday

Well, as of today I have exactly 2 1/2 weeks until my husband comes home! I am starting to get excited about it. I have been trying not to think too much about it because then the days seem to go by so much slower but it's getting close enough now to start getting excited! Of course I had to do the usual "girly" things and get myself plus the kids "homecoming outfits" and then of course......the "bedroom outfits" and we are making daddy a banner to hang on the front door and I of course will need to do some cleaning and preparing!
In case you haven't noticed, I don't do much personal blogging on here because I normally do that on my myspace. So if you ever want to know more about "me" you can always look there. I think I have the link on the left hand side of my blog.
No pictures today. I haven't been very crafty lately but.....I did make a huge investment just last week and can't WAIT for it to come.....I broke down (after convincing my husband why I NEEDED to have them) and bought the copics. Yes, I bought them! I got sets A B and D. I skipped set C because it had a lot of black and grey in it and I don't think I will need that and if I do I can always order them later. I bought them from this site Manga University It is a drawing school that has a school store you can buy from. It was the best prices I could find.
So I hope you all are having a great start to your weeks. Enjoying the extra day off (if your lucky enough to get it). Hopefully I will have more to write later. I am sure I will be writing once I get my SU! kit in! I can't wait to get started with it and see my new stamps! Yippee!

I think I'm getting the hang of it!

So over the past few days I have gotten my pictures back out and started to do some scrapbooking. I try to do it when the kids are preoccupied or sleeping since we know how hard it can be with little hands in everything!

I think I'm getting back into the groove of it now. Scrapbooking is really quite different then card making. Would you agree? I never noticed it before but I think it is. I feel like to do a page I have to pull all my stuff out because I just don't know what I might want to use. I don't really have to do that for a card. I let the pictures show my what should be on the page. Then I change things and add things and take things away. Card making is much more simple for me.

The pages I have been working on are from 3 years ago. It was what I had started before we moved here so I figured I should finish them. Then I will TRY to get on track with Jodus and Leila. We will see. I do scrapbooking more for the joy of it then for the finished books. I think that's why I don't like premade layouts. I would rather the pages be done by me then by someone else.

So here are my pages from the past few days.

Saying goodbye to Cody on our last day with him at his basic training graduation.

Our trip to the Alamo which was okay! Rodney enjoyed it!

Spending some time at the pool and hot tub after the long days of Texas heat and Cody's graudation schedule

And since we couldn't go anywhere his last day we decided to stay on base and do some bowling!

I have to say I felt pretty bad for Cody having to be in his Blues the entire weekend. And to think my mom wanted to go to an amusement park! He would have died!

Frustrated

I have not done a single scrapbook page in almost 2 years. Yes, that's right.....2 years. Once I packed up all my things for our move to Germany, I unpacked them, set everything up and didn't do much of anything for a while. Moving here was a HUGE culture shock and getting used to things here took me a while. To top it all off, Rodney and I decided we were ready to have another baby....what were we thinking......so my pregnancy was HORRIBLE! I was sooooooooo sick the entire time so once again, my stuff just sat there being unloved! Well, Rodney left for Iraq 3 1/2 months ago and I finally decided I needed to get my things out and start using them more....kind to keep me busy. My BFF told me to join the DSS on Splitcoast and I did. It turned out great for me. It got me back into crafting again and I had a wonderful big and little sister. So I started to get really involved with SCS and am doing some swaps. I am all caught up so I figured, I really need to get back into scrapbooking.
OMG.......let's just say I feel it takes a different part of the brain to do scrapbooking verses, card making/crafting. My page turned out like crap! And it takes some concentration too and, well, when you have a 3 1/2 year old wanting to have his little nose in every single thing you are doing you tend to lose your concentration a bit. Plus I share my craft room with Jodus and Leila, it is there play room too so to get things out I had to "try" to step over mounds of toys. GRRRRRR! Let's just say from now on I am going to be scrapbooking after bedtime! I was so distracted and irritated that I just couldn't get it together. Plus I think you just need to be in the flow to scrapbook, or to craft or to stamp cards and seeing how I hadn't made a page in 2 years I totally was not in the flow!
Well, I just thought I would share my afternoon of fun times with you! Or....not so fun times!

Stamped Candles

Finally finished my candles for a swap I'm in. I think they came out pretty good. They were certainly a labor of love! Lot's of stamping, coloring, trimming tissue paper (not so easy), and melting....plus trying not to burn my fingers in the process!
I used Stamping Bella huggybella and saying "It's a friendship thing". The flowers are from an SU! set called Delight in Life. I colored them with SU! markers and then at the end....nothing is finished without a little bling...sparkle....or glitz....and my favorite to use is........STICKLES. So in a few spots I added some stickles. I hope the people that get these in the swap like them. I worked hard on them!

Here are a few pictures of the babies! Jodus having fun on his favorite ride at the park. Okay, I enjoy it too.......it's fun!!! It's fun to be a kid sometimes!!!!

And here is my precious baby girl! She fell asleep on the couch today while I was cleaning out the pantry. She has learned how to get up on the couch but hasn't figured out how to get back down. Poor baby!

The past few days..........

Well, I have been working on a few things. I just finished up my purse gift card holders for a swap on SCS. Now I have to do stamped candles. I'm not sure what I am going to do with the candles yet but I bought a few extras to try a few things first....practice candles!

I had not been feeling well the past few weeks and had been going through a few things but I'm thinking I'm doing better. But whenever I feel better I then start to wonder.....what's next.

I have also finally after 7 years given in and am going to be signing up to sell SU! I'm really excited about this. I don't know why I didn't do it years ago. I love SU!'s products and for the most part my stock of stamping and scrapping stuff is 90% SU! stuff. My husband on the other hand isn't quite as "excited" about me signing up......crafting just isn't his thing. I send him pictures of what I'm working on anyway....he tries to be supportive but I can see through it!!!

Speaking of my husband, we are at the one month mark! FINALLY! He does have a date but as with every deployment he has ever been on that date changes about a million times! I am just happy that the time is nearing! It will be good to have him home and have our family back together again!

So, a few pictures........

Of course now that I am finished with all six of them there are a few things I would have done differently! But this was my first time trying these with this pattern. I can live with it!

Me and the babies playing around in the backyard. Enjoying a nice German day. They are far and few in between so we try to take advantage of them when we can!

Card Swap

I just finished up a swap I was working on and I was pretty proud of the turnout of the cards so I thought I would share! Can you tell my love....okay.....obsession with Bellas? I just wish I was more creative with my coloring. I always thought I was a good colorer (bad English I know) but that is with crayons, I use markers mostly and I just don't do as well. And forget about pastels....I SUCK at using them! Maybe I will try colored pencils....that might work too! Anyway......

I did loveybella and a Stamping Bella saying "I just love you". I have been using that saying alot just in general so I thought I would use it for the card too! Nothing really special going on, just the Bella, my favorite stickles which you can never see with the damn camera a background stamp and some embellishements. I used, baubles (from Stamping Bella), brads, and eyelets. Just changed the positions of the images on the cards. I used the old "New In Colors" from SU!

My altered lunchbox!

I had recently done my very first altered anything and I loved it so much I wanted to do another one for myself. I have been storing my made cards in a zip lock baggie like I have been doing for the past 7 years now! So I thought it was time to make a nice box deserving of them for storage!!!!

Here is the top of my tin. I have the hardest time getting the paper on the top the right way due to the handles so I have decided to just paint the tops of my tins an I really like the look. So this is painted in a pink then I used one of my new favorite SU! stamp sets and stamped in brown on the top, added a stamped saying from my Bellas and of course had to use some stickles! And the ribbon, lots of browns, pinks and cream colors. Most of the ribbon I had just gotten in from a swap I had joined......that swap was worth joining!!!!

The front of my tin. Well, the paper is from one of my paper stacks. I love the wonderful colors (brown and pink are my "in" colors right now) and it had a little touch of glitter and some fairies on the paper.....perfect for me! I got to use my new cricut for the letters and the little flower looking shapes behind the letters. Of course some more stickles, a letter A for April of course and two pretty little prima flowers.

A close up view of the saying on the top. I just love Bellas!!!!!

And the dividers. I used one of my tag stamps from SU!, used a cream colored paper and of course used one of the stamps from my new favorite set, some stickles and used the saying again.

So anyway, I thought I would share this with you all because......I am very happy with the way it turned out. It's not perfect but it's handmade.....is it suppose to be????!!!!!

Best Friends........

There are so many things I would like to say about my best friend. But where would I begin.....we have a long 7 year or so history. Not all of it good but I think that is what makes a best friend an a friendship stronger. Having the rough times and getting through them and still being able to be friends. I can not even say how happy I am that she finally decided to get back in touch with me through myspace and from there it has been getting better and better.
So anyway, I got this package from her the other day. I loved everything soooooo much. All of my favorite things. I didn't post the cards but both Kelly and her daughters made me the cutest cards ever. I think I need to make a display area for all my favorite cards!!!!!
I took a few pictures of her great creations.......she has so little self-confidence when it comes to her ablities but I love these little handmade things she sent. By the way........I'm not opening the worms up!!!!! I love it just as it is.




Stickles.....I'm in love with them, use them on 90% of my projects. Bellas......I know I don't need to say how much I love bellas. A set of clear stamps...........too cute. A thing of brads..........I love embellishments. And some of the daubles from Bella!!!!! Can't wait to use them.

Thank you Kelly for you wonderful package, I loved everything more then you know. And the past few days havent' been so great so it was a great pick me up!!!!

I love you and I really hope we won't have to stay seperated!!!!! I'm lonely here in Germany all by myself! Nobody to stamp with, nobody to talk to daily, nobody to hang out with, nobody to play games with.....the list goes on.

I may have a project to show you all in a few days that I have been working on! Yay!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Well, well, well!!!! My birthday is next week and my husband is deployed to Iraq right now so I received his birthday gifts to me in the mail on Saturday. He was so excited about his gifts for me that he told me I couldn't open them until I was talking to him on the phone.

Can you guess what he got me.........................A CRICUT!!!!!

I hadn't even REALLY asked for one. I just mentioned it in conversation. And not only did he get me the machine but also 9 cartridges, the machine comes with 2. He was so very proud of himself and the good job he did picking out my gift this year.

I have used it today. I don't really know everything it can do so I was just testing it out a bit. I think I am going to LOVE it! He really did do a good job.

So in getting this new tool that I have to find a space for what did that entail..........reorganizing my room....again! I always have fun doing that! Now even more I am thinking about what storage I am going to get. I had to find a place that was close enough for a USB cable to reach the computer (I bought the design studio) and a place that was close to my desk. This is what I came up with!

My reorganized desk...all nice and clean

And my FAVORITE little jars. I love these things. I got them at Ikea and they have a lot of room in them, fit perfectly in the tray and you can see into them. I am one of those Out of sight Out of mind people so I like to have everything displayed but I want it to look nice when it's displayed. More husband returns!!!!!cute jars from Ikea when my

I hope that you all had a great 4th of July and the rest of your summer goes well! I will be sitting here stamping, writing, and keep up with my kids!!!!

Addicted to Bellas!

Myspace Layouts

So, I am doing a secret sister swap on SCS and I had received these images from her and I just thought they were so cute. Didn't know where they were from but then my BF sent me an email about Bellas. Well that was the beginning of the end!!! In the past month I have put in 3 orders to Stamping Bella! I love these images. They don't come with any backing so I had to buy the stuff that is on there site and mount them myself and now I can use them on acrylic blocks.

So last night my son was bugging me to stamp and I hadn't stamped my Bella images for a swap I am hosting so I figured we might as well get everything out! My son just got his own ink pads and a new set of stamps from SU!. So I ended up stamping 120 bella images and even though my hand was hurting I could have stamped another 120! I am such a girly girl and I love these stamps.

I have come up with a solution for now to store my Bellas. The baggies that they came in weren't big enough to hold them once I applied the backing so I found these big baggies at the craft store on base and O rings and put the little labels on the outsides of the baggies and put the bellas inside. They are all in one place and they are easy to access. Now I just have to get some hooks so I can hang them!

But.........my husband just told me yesterday that he wanted to buy us a whole new stamping/computer area! He said I needed more storage! You have to understand....deployments do things to people......my husband is in a VERY giving mood!!! So we will see when he comes home what I can figure out and buy. I would love more storage. I like to be able to see everything (for me out of site out of mind) is a big thing. So I would love to have something that I can display lots of stuff but still have it look nice and neat and organized! Cute little jars and baskets and cubbies....oh the possibilities!!!!!! Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful

FOURTH OF JULY! God bless you all!

Craft room

So I figured I would start with the basics.....the craft room.

As you can see from the pictures I share this room and it has many functions............it is my son's playroom, it is the computer room, it is my craft room, and it is also Leilas nap room (I took our the pack n play because I was vacumming). So I am a bit limited in the area I have and believe me, it has been hard to keep my son out of my stuff!!!!!! And I know my daughter is next!

The Germans don't believe in built in storage. So there are no closets in our house. We did get lucky and got a pantry which is VERY used! So I have to try to make due where I can with storage and become creative!!!

In this desk I have my paper in the top drawer and the bottom drawer is just odd and end things. In those two little holes I have my my Sizzix alphabet dies and some other odd things. And of course there is my son lounging on the floor!

Ahhhhh, here is where the magic happens!!! Not that magic.....my creative magic! For me, this is a mess and totally not as organized as I would like for it to be but I don't have a lot of room and space available. I am waiting for some more little containers to come in so I can store my brads. I just got a ton of new ones in the mail and don't have anywhere to store them. And.......I just ran out of room on that shelf for my stamp sets. NOW WHAT? I know what my husband would say....."stop buying them" and my response......."not a chance!"

The computer desk side! I use this area a lot especially lately. My college classes are all online so I sit at this desk for a long time some days. Also with my husband gone we have been able to sort of IM through e-mails so I take whatever chance I get to do that with him. Plus every so often he can go to the web cafe and we can use our web cames..........totally AWESOME!

Ahhhhhh, the playroom area! Do you think my son has enough crap? Oh and I forgot, I also share the room with Jodus' hampster....Wiggles! I do have the top shelf and the very top of the unit for my stuff. I love those containers. I got them at IKEA here in Germany! Love them!!!!

And one last photo! Just a closer look at the desk area. My mess right now! The top shelf is full of paints (just recently got into using paint on my stuff) stickles......my favorite glitter in the world! and a ton of embellishments along with some Sizzix dies and my can't live without Xyron!

I hope you enjoyed your tour through my crafting area! I love to look at what other people have done with there craft areas so I thought I would share mine too!

I'm back!

It's been like almost a year since I blogged on here. Wow! My BF started a blog on here the other day and I decided I should go ahead and update mine and maybe use it for crafting and stamping stuff. I do a blog on myspace also so keeping up with two along with two children may be hard but I will see!
I'm excited to be back. Later when I have some time I will do some uploading and I will also write more. I am still trying to figure out this site and how to "do" everything on here. I still can't get my colors right........that's bugging me! Yay, I'm back!

Where do I begin

I am not even sure why I am doing this. I love to read other peoples blogs and have always wanted to start my own blog if for no other reason then just to have something written out when memory fails me. But I'm not a very open person. Can I do this? Can I share with strangers and very close family and friends the real me, all of my life? I guess I could leave out what I wanted to leave out and only share the things I want to share right? I am going to give this a try and see how it works for me. Who knows, maybe we will all get a little enjoyment out of it. And of course it gives me one more good reason to take lots of pictures. I always get the feeling like people are saying "are you kidding me...the camera again"! I carry it with me always, you just never know when a photo op will come up!

So anyway, I hope that you come and read, get some incite into my daily world and don't take everything I say to heart. It's only MY opinion and thoughts which we all have the right to have!