Design Team Projects

Is the summer really almost over? Tomorrow is the first of September, which means school starts for Donovan in 8 more days. Once school starts, that's it! Next thing you know, we'll be celebrating Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas! OK, maybe I'm jumping the gun a little bit here, but I get excited over holidays. Although I'm not crazy for cold weather, it does mean more indoor time AKA more scrapping time! In the coming months, Ill be able to reveal a big scrappy secret that I've been dying to let you in on. *insert teasing grin*

In the mean time, I'm going to enjoy the last days of summer with my precious boys AKA my main scrap subjects! Speaking of my sweeties, the following layouts, created for gonescrapbooking/examiner, features none other than them!

I used a mix of Pink Paislee papers to create "100 Days Of School". Donovan was so excited about this milestone that he had no problem posing for me.

journaling: It was so cute watching you get excited about reaching the 100th day of school. Your teacher asked the students to bring in 100 of one item and something for the 100th day snack. You brought in 100 pennies and 100 pretzels for the snack mix. After school, you were happy to let me take your picture with that adorable hat you made. age 6 grade K

Supplies: patterned paper, die cut, sticker- Pink Paislee, chipboard alpha- Pink Paislee, American Crafts; brads- Doodlebug, Junkitz, Making Memories; ink- clearsnaps; ribbon- Bobbin Ribbon; pen- Sharpie; floss- Making Memories; buttons; Adhesive- Helmar Premium Craft Glue, Helmar Quick Fix Permanent Adhesive Runner


"Hug & Kiss" was also created for gonescrapbooking/examiner. I used Pink Paislee and Bo Bunny papers, along with flet embellies from Martha Stewart and Chatterbox to create this quick and easy page. The background was created by creating a mask with heart shaped doilies and Creative Imaginations Luminarte spritz (grapefruit).

supplies: patterned paper- Bo Bunny, Pink Paislee; felt accents- Martha Stewart, Chatterbox; cardstock- Bazzill; spritz- Creative Imaginations Luminarte; chipboard alpha- American Crafts; Adhesive- Helmar Premium Craft Glue, Helmar Quick Fix Permanent Adhesive Runner; pen- sharpie



These 2 cards were created for Helmar Adhesives and Purple Cows. I used the 12 pack designer click blades and the 2-1 combo trimmer to create lots of texture. Download full instructions for creating these cards here.


supplies: patterned paper, chipboard alpha- Anna Griffin; trimmer, designer click blades- Purple Cows; ribbon- American Crafts, AC Moore; stickers- Anna Griffin, Reminisce; rub-on- Melissa Frances; twine, thread, button, thread; Adhesives- Helmar Gemstone Glue; Helmar Premium Craft Glue; Helmar Quick-Fix Permanent Adhesive Runner; spritz- Creative Imaginations Luminarte

inside of the flower card

More Vacation Photos

While in St. Martin, I took a tour of both the Dutch and French sides of the island with a stop at a quaint little butterfly farm on the French side. I love butterflies and was so thrilled to have the opportunity to photograph so many different species of butterflies at one time.





One lucky little girl had a butterfly land on her finger and head.




I think this one is at the top of my favorites list!



I found the blue morpho butterfly to be the most difficult to capture




I love butterflies this much! OK, so it's not a real tattoo, just an airbrushed version...I guess you can say I'm test driving it and thinking of getting a smaller, more permanent version.


I'm also thinking of maybe, possibly going to The Butterfly Farm's website and ordering some butterfly plants for my yard. Ha! Who am I fooling, I'll probably kill it 'cause I do not have a green thumb at all...it was a nice thought, though!


Thanks for stopping by today! Have a great day!!

My Carnival Cruise (Photo Heavy)

I'm baaaaaaaaaaack!!!!

To say I had a great time on my vacation (a birthday present to myself) is indeed an understatement. I spent 8 glorious days aboard Carnival Victory with a few friends (we were actually a group of 6 within a group of 77). It was something that I desperately needed. It's amazing how rejuvenated I felt at the end of my trip. I think everyone needs a little getaway every now and again.

I missed my boys like crazy while I was gone as this was the longest I've ever been away from them; but I can't lie, not having to cook, change diapers, or here my name called 50 million times a day for 8 days was a nice break.

I laughed like crazy, awakened early, went to bed late, watched movies under the stars, zoomed down a giant water slide, danced in one too many line dances, including a really, really long conga line, and ate and drank a lot...and I loved every single second of it. This was my 5th cruise, my 3rd with Carnival. I've always had pretty good experiences with cruises, but there's just something about Carnival's party/dancing good time atmosphere that keeps me coming back! The service on board is unparalleled!!

Our group flew to Puerto Rico to board the ship. We visited: St. Thomas, Dominica, Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, and St. Martin/St. Maarten. I'm happy to say that I actually came back home with money in my pockets. I saw a T-shirt in one of the shops that read "same shit, different island" which got a little chuckle out of me because it pretty much summed up the shopping atmosphere. I did purchase some beverages that you have to be over 21 to drink, LOL, a couple of dresses for myself and some things for the boys, which they loved. I took just over 500 pictures, but by the time I deleted some, I'm down to about 395. I'm sharing a few here in this post.

St. Kitts


A sunset I captured after sailing away from St. Kitts


Leaving St. Maarten-- I toured both the French and Dutch sides of the island and visited a butterfly farm. I'll share butterfly pictures in another post.


Donna, Cherre, Champagne, and me in St. Lucia


I saw this beautiful rooster on my walk to the flea market in Castries, St. Lucia


A fisherie in Castrie, St. Lucia


One foggy morning on the way to St. Kitts

Fun Ship Freddy joined us for one of the deck parties

St. Kitts from the balcony of my cabin


Captain's Night

One of the many delicious meals that I ate


After 7 years, I decided to say the heck with the flaws, I'm wearing a 2 piece damn it!!

Dominica


Dominica from the Lido deck


A steel drum player-- his smile is infectious and he sort of looks like Steve Harvey


Our cruise ship taken from the tour we went on in St. Thomas


me in St. Thomas

Sunrise on the way to St. Thomas


As you can see, I had a wonderful time!! There was one incident that occurred on my way back home...I was going through security at the airport in PR and I realized that the main diamond from my engagement ring was gone. I was so upset because I had worn that ring just about everyday for nearly 11 years, but there was really nothing that I could do about it. It was a big deal, but not enough to put a damper on my trip. I can only hope that one day Troy takes it to the jeweler for repair.

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog today. I hope you've had as much fun looking at the pictures as I had taking them. I have more from the butterfly farm to share this weekend.

Procrastinator...

I should be packing right now, but as always, I'm procrastinating and putting it off until the last minute. I leave Sunday and still have lots to do! Well, at least I was able to use the time that I spent "not packing" to clean the kitchen and living room, do 2 loads of laundry, stop at the mall to buy some super cute shoes and make dinner.

I cannot wait to hop on that plane. I am going to miss my boys like CRAZY, but this will be my opportunity to unwind before the craziness of the school year is upon us.

I've been trying to make sure that the boys and I get in a lot of quality time together this summer. This past Tuesday, Donovan and I went to Dorney Park with his summer camp. We had so much fun in the water park, which is where we spent most of our time. My little wave jumper loves water! Can you tell?


I haven't created much over the past week or so...low mojo. When my creative juices aren't flowing, I turn to a sketch to get 'em going. I used one from Sketchy Thursdays and Basic Grey's Max and Whiskers to create this layout of my boys. I just love this line...the colors are great together!! Although it's a pet line, I knew I could use it for boy projects.

supplies: patterned paper- Basic Grey, cardstock- Bazzill; alpha- American Crafts; label- Dymo; gems- Kaiser Crafts, adhesive- Helmar Premium Craft Glue, Helmar Quick Fix Adhesive Runner, Helmar Zapdots

Here's a Get Well card I created a little while ago using Webster's Pages papers.

supplies: Patterned Paper Webster's Pages, cardstock- American Crafts; border punch- EK Success; scissors- provocraft; ribbon- Pink Paislee; pins- Maya Road; ink- Clearsnap; adhesive- Helmar Premium Craft Glue, Helmar Zapdots

Another quick card I created for my DT position at gonescrapbooking/examiner.com.

supplies: Patterned Paper- Bo Bunny; cardstock- American Crafts; ribbon- Offray; punches- Martha Stewart; ink- Clearsnap; pearls- Want 2 Scrap; button- Foofala

Thanks for stopping by the blog today! I hope you have a fabulous weekend!

The next time you hear from me, I'll be posting pictures from the cruise! Puerto Rico, here I come...granted I finish packing in time!! LOL!