Getting ready to cruise...

Well, we are down to the wire-we've got to finish packing today as we are leaving tonight! We are so excited, we can hardly stand it (we go through this every time we go on vacation).

Here is a layout that I use to put on our door of our stateroom. I saw some other people do that one year and decided that we also needed to do it.
I also put a little note pad up on the door so people can leave us a message if they wish. We are going with friends of ours (Hi Jerry and LuAnn) and it's nice to be able to leave each other little messages if we want. The ship is only so big, but you'd be surprised how big when you are trying to find someone.

These little conveniences for us have also turned out to be business promotors for me in the past (hey, that's always a good thing). I have had scrapbookers leave me messages about the layout wondering about the products used, etc. I leave a message for them in return and leave a business card out for them to take. How cool is that?

Happy Scrappin' everyone,

Parent's Night

Sorry ladies, there's not been much going on around here lately (at least not creatively). I have been extremely busy, just not in the crafty way. We are getting ready to leave the country on a cruise for a week, so I've been getting everything ready for our daughter while we are away (no she is not coming with this time). This will be the 4th trip I've taken in so many months-I love it! This time I am even taking my husband with me :)

Hopefully y'all get some scrappin' done while I am gone, as I know I won't be doing it. As much as I love it, I also love the sunshine and beaches!

Last night we were at the school all evening. First we ate a wonderful meal provided by the Spanish Club. They are earning money for a trip to Costa Rica. We try to help out where we can. Then it was up to the boys basketball game. Rhonda is a cheerleader and I had to work in the concession stand last night. I was able to take a little break from the concession stand as it was Parent's Night last night, too. We stayed till the end of the game and then headed to the Commons for cinnamon rolls. They always have the best cinnamon rolls for the parents on Parent's Night. Gotta love that!Until later,

Valentine Candy Box

Alright, I told you yesterday that I would show you the Valentine candy box that I altered for my daughter...well, here it is.It was so easy to do, I just used scraps of paper from the More To Adore paper pack and randomly adhered them to the box. Then I used the Simple Stitches stamp set to make it look like I sewed the pieces together. Simple.

OK, I've got to go get ready for club today.
Happy Scrappin'

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Wow, lots going on here...first off, I said I would draw a winner's name out for the "You Know You're a Scrapbooker When..." Contest at 10:00 today for some blog candy...well, the winner is Barb L. Normally I would be telling you to send me your snail mail address, but I happen to know yours :) I will get your prize in the mail to you this week! Congratulations!

Next on the list, yesterday was sooo much fun! I met with "the girls" from work for lunch (since it was a mandatory day off for everyone. Leslie, thank you so much for having us in your home for the day. It was a blast! Here are the lovely ladies (minus a couple that had to leave early to go pick up their kiddo's from school). I would love to really embarrass a couple of these girls and put their photos on here...but I won't do that. Connie is always a card and came up with a really fun outfit. She came as the man and the woman-half red dress with lace and the other half as a suit. What a character! Then there was Barb all done up in the Red Hat garb, fuzzy red flip flop slippers and all! I know she would love to embarrass her girls by going out in public like that, too! It is so fun that we can be silly and have fun together. We all thought we should start our own Red Hat Society group and go out and have fun.What a great group of Valentine Sweethearts we were (well, I didn't wear red (I know, I was a loser) but I was headed to do a CTMH party for a new downline of mine (welcome Jolene!) That was also a good time. Here is the layout those ladies got to make last night. I think we all had a good time, too!This layout uses the That's Amore paper pack and some fun embellishments and techniques (such as the edge anchors holding the twill ribbon on the page, stamping on that twill ribbon, and popping the images up with some 3D foam squares).My Rhonda is gone all day today for the Regional Wrestling tournament, but after she gets home and opens the candy I got her, I will take a picture and show you how I altered the candy box for her. That will probably be tomorrow.

Until then, Happy Scrappin'

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting

Do you ever get a craving for something and just are not satisfied until you get it? That was me with Gingerbread cake. Don't ask me why I was craving it so bad, but something made me make these. They are sooo yummy! Here's the recipe for you to try:

5 Tbsp butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 1/4 cups flour
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup hot milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners (or grease them...yeah, right, like I'd ever do that-paper liners are soooo much easier :)

Cream butter with sugar. Add the molasses and the eggs (I know the recipe calls for an egg and an egg yolk, but I just used 2 eggs-worked great!)

Sift together flour, cocoa, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda in the hot milk. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in the hot milk mixture. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared tin.

Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until slightly springy to the touch. Allow to cool a few minutes in the pan and remove to a rack to cool.

Frosting:
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
4 Tbsp. milk

Cream the butter and cream cheese together. Add the powdered sugar and milk. Beat until creamy. When cupcakes are cool, frost and serve. Now, I have to say that I did not measure ingredients for the frosting. I just go with it until it is the consistency that I like-you may have to work with that part.

These were so yummy! Enjoy!

You know you're a scrapbooker when...

Holy cow! We have water standing everywhere! It has been raining most of the night. I woke up wondering if they would have school today because of the ice, but that is not the case as it is 37 degrees. It is mostly just water standing all over. This is bad...the water has no place to run off to-the culverts and such are all frozen yet. This is going to get worse when it gets cold again as it's all going to freeze and then we are going to be one huge skating rink. What a mess!

How passionate about this scrapbooking hobby are you? Check your answers with this fun, little quiz. You know you're a scrapbooker when...

* You usually have a camera on you

* You wonder if you'll ever get caught up

* You have tools your husband doesn't know how to use

* Your house is a mess because you've been scrapbooking all day

* You check online galleries and blogs more often than you check the news

* You save the ribbon off your Valentine chocolates to use on your pages and cards

* You change your child's outfit to match the paper you just bought...so you'll have the perfect photo to go with the paper

* You know that "Scrapbookers don't lie. We embellish!"

Yep, I am definitely a scrapbooker...and proud of it!

How about a little blog candy? Either leave a comment here or send me an email to tell me how you know you are a scrapbooker. I will randomly draw a winner's name at 10:00 Saturday morning-Valentine's Day-and send the winner some goodies! Good Luck everyone!

Happy Scrappin'

Pretzel Dip

Aren't you the lucky ones...two posts in one day LOL! You owe your thanks to Steph!

We just got home from my sister's house from the birthday party. What a good time we had. I had brought a couple of goodies with to munch on (not that I had to because Tracey had plenty there, but you know how it is). One of the things I brought was pretzels and dip. Now mind you, I love this dip, even though I do not like mustard or horseradish. Steph really liked the dip, too, and wanted the recipe. Do you think I could remember what was in it? Of course not! That's why I am putting it out here. Steph, this one's for you...

1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup Miracle Whip
1/2 cup yellow mustard
1/2 pkg. dry ranch dip mix
2 Tbsp. horseradish
1/8 cup minced onion
2 Tbs.p sugar

Mix all together and serve.

When I make this, I only use about half of the horseradish, but that is entirely up to you how you do that-depends on how strong you like it.

My thanks go out to my friend Lynn, as she's the one that gave me the recipe!

Happy Dippin'

Science 9 layout

I have been busy scrapping again the last couple of days (it's been very easy to stay downstairs scrapping a lot as Dale has been on a trip to New Jersey this last week). I got my swap pages all done and in the mail to our swap coordinator. I had to use the Stardust paper pack for mine. I think they turned out really well. I will have to show it to you again when I get my copy back and put some pictures on the page. I am also working smarter, not harder and this will probably be my club pages for this month.Then, our challenge this week was to use 5 patterned papers on one layout. They could be very small pieces, but non the less, you had to use 5. That really was a challenge, but I managed to do it. I actually even used SIX on one page! Take a look. I copied this idea right out of our Idea Book and Catalog-like I said, work smarter, not harder. I mostly used the Game On paper pack, but also a tiny little bit of black patterned paper from our retired Giggles and Grins paper pack.
I also used the Confidential Stamp Set-I love that clipboard! I used 3D foam squared to pop it up to make it look more realistic. Add in some hidden journaling, and my page was complete. I also used the Coffee Stain stamp set on my journaling-I thought it made it look pretty realistic. I just love how it turned out!
I can't wait to find out what the next challenge is going to be-I think I'm up for it!

Since Dale was now home from his trip to New Jersey, we decided to go to a movie last night. He's been wanting to see Gran Torino. I really didn't think it looked all that good, but said I'd go with him anyway (you know-time together). Well, I was pleasantly surprised-the movie was pretty good. Kind of slow moving for a while, but the story line was fantastic. The only bad part about it was the popcorn at the theater. I'm one of those people that HAS to have popcorn at the movies. This was the worst movie popcorn I've ever had! I should have complained about it, but I didn't-I guess I really didn't 'need' it anyway.

Anyway, it's off to my niece's birthday party today. She will be 8 on Wednesday. Today is also her Mom's birthday (my sister). Happy Birthday, Tracey! I won't tell everyone how old you are :)

Happy Scrappin' everyone,

A whole lotta scrappin...

I was so busy yesterday. I got a ton of layouts done. Most of the layouts I did I have had laying around here. They are swap pages that I have received. How easy was it to just add photos?? I love that. I got so much accomplished in one day. Here are just some of the layouts I did...
Also, this was a layout done by my friend, Holly, in our "scrap someone else's photos" swap. I love what she did with my pictures!
In that same swap, Anna made these pages for my bunny pictures. Didn't she do a great job?These are some older layouts that I had done, but wasn't sure if I had shown them to you or not. I love the fact that we have top loading page protectors, it makes it so easy to scrap out of order and re-arrange them. How awesome is that?
I showed you these layouts before, but here they are with pictures on them.

I have an Expo to do today, so I don't think I'll get any of my own scrapping done today, but that's ok. It's fun to introduce new people to this fun hobby :)

Happy Scrappin'

Cookie Sheet Memo Board

I just wanted to share with you a little project I made out of a cookie sheet. I actually made quite a few of these as they were my roomie gifts when we went to our Close To My Heart Regional Celebration in San Antonio back in November and I also made one for my Secret Sister. I knew I couldn't post a picture of them back then as my recipients may have seen them here, but then I completely forgot to show it to you. Sorry.These are so easy to do. I had to punch a couple of holes in the end of my cookie sheet with my Crop-o-dile so I could hang it up with ribbon. Then I just adhered paper (mine is from the Perfect Day paper pack), ribbon and some stamped up letters. The magnets can be purchased at Wal-Mart or anyplace. I used liquid glass to adhere the metal tokens to the magnet, and viola-done!

Enjoy and Happy Scrappin'

The last of my Secret Sister gifts

Here is the last of my Secret Sister gifts. I am a little bummed that our time is up with that. I just love to send and receive gifts. I found out who she was...THANK YOU Jody S. I really loved all my gifts!

The first couple in this package were little albums made out of name badge holders. Isn't that clever? I will have to make some of these up using scraps from different paper packs.Next up is a matchbook style album. Another creative idea for me.
Now this one, if you go to my website, you can learn to make this one for yourself. Look under the MyCTMH TV link for the directions. It is made using our card kits. I have looked at the instructions for this one, but haven't made one of these albums yet, so this is just perfect!Thank you again, Jody, for all the wonderful gifts you have sent me. I can't wait until next year when we can do this again!! It is so fun to receive little surprises in the mail-they usually seemed to come at just the right times!

Happy Scrappin'

A couple of layouts for you

Did everyone watch the Super Bowl? I was really cheering for the Cardinals, thought they didn't have a chance after the first 3 quarters of the game, and then came the last quarter. I thought they could pull it off. Oh well, it didn't happen that way. At least I didn't have any money bet on the game or anything-not like it really makes a difference in my life, just that it was fun.

Here are a couple of layouts for you to see. The first is another layout using our Emporium paper pack. I think that's about it for me with that paper for a while, as much as I love it. I really did mean to put Grandma Great rather than Great Grandma as that is what my sister's girls have called her forever. My family also started calling her that, too. The name has stuck. She is really a great lady and I hope that I take after her in my life.This layout is actually a challenge page for me. Our group of gals in the 7 week challenge had to do a 'cardstock only' layout. Well, here is what I came up with. I found some old photos to use (see how far behind I am with my scrapping??) My plan is to go downstairs again today to scrap some more, so hopefully I'll have some more pictures for you for tomorrow.

Until then, Happy Scrappin'

February CTMH special-Good Times

Can you believe it, February is here already and with that starts a new campaign from Close To My Heart. With every $25 purchase in My Acrylix Stamps, you can get one of these fabulous stamp sets for FREE! This is all in honor of the 25th Anniversary of CTMH and Jeanette Lynton is giving us the presents! This is a fabulous offer that I will be taking up myself! It is only available until the end of the month, so hurry and get your orders in to take advantage of it. You can view my website here to see more or to place your order.It was a busy day here yesterday-I had a houseful of busy scrappers. It was great. I will post pictures a little later of some of the layouts I created.

Enjoy the Super Bowl today (go Cards)!