Grandma's Party

I finally finished my pages for Grandma's birthday album at the crop this weekend and ordered the prints from Persnickety. My friend Melissa is being featured in an article about creative things women do when they get together and needed some photos of us (which I'm stealing from her FB)! The theme of this crop was a pajama party - which made scrapping very comfy. We don't normally dress like this when we get together.

I've been working on this book all month using the February BOYC from Lily Pad and I've shared a few pages in past posts. Here are the rest. My fave is probably the page featuring Diane's jump into the pool.

I'm going to put all of the pages - and a copy of the page I made and framed for Grandma featuring lots of photos in the shape of an 80 - in an 8x8 SEI album and then I'll decorate the cover. I wasn't planning on doing a whole album, but I was inspired by the kit and there were just lots of great moments from the party I wanted to remember! It feels great getting another project done!

Rhyme & Reason

My good friend Kim Jensen had done it again! Check out here new kit, Rhyme and Reason, now at the Lily Pad. I love the colors in this kit. Sometimes, I get a kit and just want to look at it up close  - and that's what I did with that ribbon frame. 

Here are some pages I did with it!

 My nieces and nephew came over on Super Bowl Sunday before the game. While mom helped Derek defend the universe from Darth Penny, I helped Taylor and Kylie with their crafty projects. Tay worked on an American Girl mirror that I had gotten her for her bday and Kylie drew pictures and wrote a little story. So cute!!!! Credits: Kim Jensen's Rhyme and Reason and Pinned Purple Dates from Lily Pad; Kim's Chalked Alpha; Amy Martin's Tiny Alpha White from The Lily Pad; Heather Hess's The Dry Ribbon font from The Lily Pad

And I did a page about my nook because I love it! Credits:  Kim Jensen's Rhyme and Reason; Karah Fredricks' Heartbreaker; Heather Hess's The Dry Ribbon font; CD Mucksosky's Teeny Type Too - all  from The Lily Pad 

Scrapbook Roundup

I've been slacking on sharing my pages! I have been a scrapping fool this year!

 My nieces playing soccer! Credits: Misty Cato's Side by Side Soccer template from Sweet Shoppe; Michelle Godin's Varsity Chip alpha; Gina Miller's Soccer Buddy from Lily Pad; Kate Hadfield's Beautiful Game from Lily Pad; Various papers by Amy Wolff, Lauren Grier, Jennifer Barrette, Amanda Rockwell, Ashley Olson, Amy Martin, Aja Abney

 Some more pages from Grandma's Party. The little guys playing on the swings. My cousin's son Morgan is a year older than Derek - so that can give you an idea of how big my nephew is! Credits: Amy Wolff's Seasons of Love Papers, Skitchy Sketch Alpha 3; Kim Jensen's Bloomin Sweet; Jenna Desai's Scrap Essentials No. 4; Amber Clegg's Lovin' Life Trims all from the Lily Pad. Template from Studio Sahlin's blog.

 The kids spent most of the party in the pool. Credits: Amber Clegg's Glitter Sparkle Alpha and Lovin Life Trims from the Lily Pad; Gina Miller's Whimsy Love Papers and Flowers from the Lily Pad; Jenna Desai's Scrap Essentials No. 4 from the Lily Pad; Janet Phillips' 2 Page 2 Pack No. 6

 Here is Penny with her "DFF" Misty! Credits; Emily Merritt and Laura Banasaik's XOXO from Lily Pad; Amy Martin's January 2012 challenge template from Lily Pad

My pups love the pillows on our couches. Credits: Emily Merritt and Jacque Larsen's Pillow Pets from Lily pad; CD Muckosky's Splattered Alpha from Lily Pad 

 Here's another Penny page! Emily's kits lately are just so cute and make me want to scrap my pug! Credits: Emily Merritt's Unbearably Cute from Lily Pad; Micheline Martin's Don't Be Square alpha from Lily Pad; Amber Clegg's These Moments button stitches from Lily Pad

 I finally scrapped this photo from Becky's visit a few years ago! I chopped up the photo so that I don't look so short next to Krista! Credits: Amy Wolff's 11 a.m. papers and 11:30 elements, Autumn Artistry frames from The Lily Pad; Amber Clegg's Date Stamps from Lily Pad; Sugar Cookies for Kids 2011 template from Sweet Shope

And I scrapped some of my Instagram photos to test a template that my friend Holly made. I used Lauren Grier's Photo Op kit.

My super cool nails!

I love painting  my nails and after years of practice, I can paint them without getting polish all over myself. Seriously, that skill took me years! So no, I didn't learn how to make funky patterns. I bought some Jamberry Nail Wraps from my friend Holly, who is a consultant, and I love, love, love how easy it was to get this cool look.

All you need is a few nail tools and a blow dryer. It took me about a half hour. (I admit I used some of my scrapping tools - scissors and a Basic Grey file because they were already on the table!) Because I have little hands and short nails I cut the row of wraps in half - so I'll get even more use out of the sheets. The whole process took me about a half hour. I think I'm going to order some more very soon. There are some cool St. Patrick's Day designs calling my name!

Kim's new adventure!

One of my favorite scrapbooking designers and dearest friends, Kim Jensen, just started a guest gig at The Lily Pad! I am so excited for her! Her designs are just so awesome and unique. I know she painstakingly works on her elements to create elements like no one else in digiscrapping.

To get things started, Kim created these awesome sets as part of The Lily Pads BOYC kit. If you like Kim's designs, you can follow her on Facebook. See what I'm talking about!

In Stiches Alpha

Bloomin' Sweet

Here are my pages using this month's BOYC. I am going to use even more of it to work on an album about my Grandma's birthday party.

The two youngest family members at Grandma's party playing together. Credits: Amy Wolff's Seasons of Love Papers, Skitchy Sketch Alpha 3; Kim Jensen's Bloomin Sweet; Jenna Desai's Scrap Essentials No. 4; Amber Clegg's Lovin' Life Trims all from the Lily Pad. Template by from Studio Sahlin's blog.

Here's Grandma. Doesn't she look great! Emily Merritt's Lovey Dovey Papers and Templates; Kim Jensen's Bloomin Sweet flowers and In Stitches alpha from Lily Pad

The giraffes at Disney's Animal Kingdom.Credits: Emily Merritt's Lovey Dovey Papers; Jenna Desai's Lovely Alphas and Scrap Essentials No. 4; Micheleine Martin's alpha from the Lily Pad Designers' Hoppy Birthday collab all from Lily Pad

Furcation!

I'm on furlough this week and I really don't mind losing a week's pay! The time off is worth it! Plus, I'm saving a lot of money on gas and tolls to make it even better!

My week hasn't been very exciting. I took Penny to the vet and the groomer. I went to the doctor to see about getting rid of this stupid cold and ear infections. I've done lots of cooking, too.

So while I'm staying home and trying not to spend money, I'm trying to finish stuff up! I got through a pile of magazine, watched my Netflix movies, rooted through some old clothes, use stuff in the pantry.  And my big goal for the week is to work on my crafty projects!

I have already finished two big projects - my Comic Con and December Daily albums - and ordered prints from Persnicketty Prints. I'll just need to assemble them and hybrid them up a bit! I also really want to finish up some of my frame projects - they have been a work in progress for months now.

Here are the last few pages on the Artists Alley, Decor, Star Wars & Doctor Who stuff and cosplay.

This book

I really think that if I won big jackpot lottery, after buying myself a nice place to live and quitting my job, I would be perfectly happy to just sit around reading and crafting. I wish I had more time and energy to do just that. Is that sad?

I have the day off today and I haven't done much at all. I'm recovering from two nasty nights at work and a an equally nasty cold. And I have been listening to a book that I just can't "put down."

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green has me captivated. The only reason I am not listening to it right now is because Mom came home and my ears are bothering me too much to listen to it with my earbuds in. It's about a girl with cancer who meets a boy at a cancer support group and they obsess over a book about another girl with cancer and talk in a way that most teenagers don't. It's funny and sweet and sad. When I'm done with this, I am going to start over and then I'm going to look up John Green's other books.

Oh the places!

I really don't like traveling. I don't like flying or sleeping anywhere but my own bed.And I'm lucky to live so close to NYC, where there's so much to do and see. But once in awhile, I do like to get the heck out of Dodge, or Jersey, especially if there are friends involved. My friend Tania shared a list of her dream vacations so I'm going make a list too!

Here are places I want to go and things I want to see...

London: I really would love to live there for awhile, but I'd settle for some time to visit the city and an excursion to Liverpool. I think if you're reading this you know about my obession with all things British.

Ireland: I want to go see if it really is that green!

Cuba: I want to see the country where my father was born, maybe visit the places my family is from and see Havana. I really hope the ridiculous travel ban gets lifted.

California: There are so many things I want to do in California. I want to see the San Diego Zoo and wine country and the Golden Gate Bridge and the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson! I'd also love to go visit my friend Tania!

Disney Cruise: I've wanted to go on one since Mom and I saw a program about the cruise. It looks like so much fun! Mom's got a milestone birthday coming up and I think I'm going to save up for a trip with her.

Graceland: Randi and I have been talking about making this road trip for years.

Orlando: I want to go back to Disney World, but I also really want to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

Visiting friends: I have so many friends I'd love to visit! I want to hang out with my friend Melinda and her family in Colorado, go to a Disney park with my Amanda and Haley, party with Amy, Holly, Amanda and Carrie.

There are also a lot of U.S. cities I'd love to see, like New Orleans or Austin. Maybe some day I'll get there. In the meantime, I will keep playing the lottery and try to enjoy the super cool places around here and hope some of my friends will come visit me, too!

 

Boring!

With my crazy work hours and the cold weather creeping in, I have become so boring! I might get out to the movies with my sister on the weekend, but otherwise, I'm not doing much. But the upside to having no life lately is getting a lot of scrapping done!

 The girls and me on Christmas! I remembered to get in the picture for once! Credits: Emily Merritt's Light the Way from Lily Pad.

 A very doggie Christmas. Credits: Kitschy Christmas 2 by Rachel Young, Jacque Larsen and Christina Kirk from Lily Pad; Kim Jensen's Random Moment staple

 My 3 favorite kids hamming it up on Christmas. Credits: Credits: Kitschy Christmas 2 by Rachel Young, Jacque Larsen and Christina Kirk from Lily Pad

 Because I should be working on my December Daily album, I've been procrastinating by working on my Comic Con book! Here's a page featuring Katie Cook drawing my little portrait of Penny. Credits: From Zero to Hero by Lauren Grier and Jacque Laresen, Lauren Grier's For The Dreamers, Julie Billingsly's Color Spectrum Alpha, Kate Hadfield's Kindergarden Palooza paint brush

 Star Wars Crafts. Zero to Hero, Pamela Donnis' School Stuff, Tangie Baxter's Galaxy Far Away

 Some of the cool tees at NYCC. Zero to Hero and a Janet Phillips template.

 Some Disney World icons. Emily Merritt's Highlight of the Week template, Tiny Patterns papers and These Are the Days Date Cards from Lily Pads, Jacque Larsen's These Are The Days Word Art from Lily Pad, CD's Graffiti Spray Hippitty Hop Alphas from Lily Pad,  The Tattered Pear's This & That elements from Lily Pad

 I've also done some random number scrapping. Here's one of Kylie's first lost tooth. Credits: Amy Wolff's For the Boys papers from Lily Pad; Jenna Desai's Photo frames No. 5 and Scrap Essentials 2 from Lily Pad;  Karah Fredrick's Open Book word strips from Lily Pad

 Some flowers from my yard. Credits: Krystal Hartley's Pocketful of Sunshine

And some goals for 2011. Credits: Amy Wolff's Everyday Papers, Calendar Cards and Mega Labels from Lily Pad; Kate Hadfield's Snippets 2 Alpha from Lily Pad; Amber Clegg's These Moments elements from Lily Pad; The Tattered Pear's This & That Elements from Lily Pad