My Little Shoebox Sneaks/Dream Girls Challenge

I had the pleasure of creating a few projects for CHA using one of the new lines from My Little Shoebox! Who's There is so bright and cheery, the colors just scream happiness and the owls and birdies are super cute! When creating with these papers, my main objective was to showcase how versatile the line is. I created male and female layouts, one distressed, one white space and 2 layered LOs! Fun, fun, fun!! If you're heading to CHA, stop by the MLS booth to check out the goods!

This is a photo of my Xander @ 3 1/2 month- I love that big juicy smile!

My little chatterbox, Donovan! He talks so much, he even talks in his sleep!

This is my friend's Granddaughter celebrating her first birthday.

My mom- I love thispicture of her, she looks so happy!

A little gift card box

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DreamGirls new challenge is up!! For this challenge, I had to use the title I'm Not..., use products older that 6 months old and incorporate paper tearing somewhere on the LO.

I tore a hole in the middle of the page, inked it and then backed it with magic mesh. The chipboard letters in my title are old as dirt, I've had them for years and had forgotten how much I like them! Love using up old stash!

Thanks for taking a peek!

MY LITTLE SHOEBOX NEW RELEASES

Oh my goodness!!!! My Little Shoebox has 6 NEW releases coming out at CHA this month and they are unbelievably CUTE!!! Just see for yourself!! Each set contains a die cut paper and the papers are really sturdy--they're all cardstock quality!

And get this..Helen has named papers for each of her design team members!!!! I swear she is just the sweetest and I'm giddy with excitement...mine is in the Wonderful line...Wonderful-Tanisha...I think I like the sound of that!

So here they are...MLS's new releases: Enjoy Life, My Neighborhood, Turtles and Trees, Flawless, Wonderful. Who's There?

Thanks for taking a sneak peek!

Slip, Boom, Boom, Boom, OOOWWWWW!!

Yeah...that would be the sound of me falling down the steps just after midnight!!! Go ahead and laugh! It's funny now, but I am jacked up! Talk about getting caught off guard...I was heading up to bed about 12:20 am, right? I remembered that I wanted to take some allergy medicine 'cause I was sniffling and sneezing, so I go bouncing my butt downstairs and BAM, I landed square on my butt and at the bottom of the steps! I am too damn old to be falling down the steps, my body can't take all that man! I hit my left elbow and skinned it and hit the heel of my left foot so hard that I can't even put all of my weight on it. I tried icing it this afternoon, but it still hurts like heck! Leave it to me! HAHAHAHAHA!

Good thing I had called out since Xan was sick, 'cause I would not have been able to walk around on this foot all day. I hope it's better tomorrow!

While I was out with my little one, I managed to get some scrapping in.

I broke out some more of my stickers since it's the product spotlight over at scrap-diner.com.

Thepics are of me and my baby boy all snuggled up on his first snow day! I love that his jacket allowed me to chose one of my favorite color combinations. The frame around the b/w pic is actually a journaling spot sticker, but I made it a frame and I colored the making memories journaling spot to match the rest of the LO.

journaling: this icy, snowy day was perfect for snuggling close to you!

I just couldn't wait until I had the opportunity to scrap these photos! They really showcase how much Donovan loves his brother. He really does hug him like that every day...all up tight on his cheek like that, and he kisses him and tells him that he loves him all the time. It's so heart warming!

journaling: big hugs...really tight squeezes accompanied by the words "I love you Xan!" and lots of kisses. Donovan truly loves his little brother and he truly shows him every single day! Xan is crazyfor him, too!

My plan for this month is to purge and get rid of all of the unnecessary things that clutter my life. Today, it was scrap magazines! I've kept all of the ones I've ever received since I started subscribing back in 2005! Today I took out the ones from 2008 to keep and I'm tossing the rest. (To the recycling bin you go) Ahhhh, that feels good!

Thanks for checking out my place!

Blog Feature

Check it out y'all, I was featured here on Inspirational Blog!!! The blog was created to showcase creations from around the world and Helena chose my blog and a few of my creations to showcase today! This has most certainly made my day!



I was also named Freak Of The Week at scrapfreak.com! I guess the year is starting off GREAT on the scrap front!! YAY!

New 'Do Photoshoot

Just 1 day into the new year, I found myself sitting in my stylist's chair and telling her to cut my hair! It's a new year, so why not get a new 'do. I told her to keep as much length as she could and just cut it in layers and I actually like how it turned out.

This is a picture of my hair at its longest...

...and this is what it looks like now! I really like it, it still has a lot of body and I have the flexibility of curling it tight to give it an even shorter look.

Of course this called for an impromptu photo shoot! I didn't feel like dragging out the tripod, so I just stood in the bathroom mirror and snapped away!

Work it girl! LOL!

New Technique And LOs For The New Year

OK, so it's the new year and I plan to slow it down for 2009!!! Last year, I tried to do everything...I rushed around and rushed around and finally I have to say ENOUGH!!!! I am a natural busy body, but I am thoroughly exhausted! You want to know how I bought in the new year? I was fast asleep! I had no desire to stay up and watch the ball drop, I mean once you've seen it...you've seen it!

I played Uno and Chutes and Ladders with Donovan, watched a little of Dick Clark's Rocking New Year's Eve special, made myself an apple martini to toast in the New Year and then went to bed!

I hate making resolutions because eventually I end up breaking them. There are however a few changes that I need to make in my life. There are 2 major things at the top of my stress list, I need to either change them or get rid of them, not matter how difficult it may be. Of course this is easier said than done since it could change my life drastically.

I need to be proactive with finding a new job. April marks my 10th year at my job and I've hated it for quite some time now, so I need to get on the ball...seriously!! There's nothing worse than forcing myself to get up and go to work everyday, knowing how much I don't want to be there. I love the people that I work with, but I hate how redundant my job is and the fact that there is nowhere for me to go! I hate the feeling that my skills have been rendered obsolete. I don't know who'll be hiring in this economy, but I'm going to search nonetheless!

I need to get on the ball with losing weight, which means I need to "just say no to sweets"! I AM going to lose at least 25 lbs this year. My plan is to shed 35 lbs by my 35th birthday in August, but something is better than nothing. My girls from high school, my sister, and I have started a weight loss challenge. We're each putting $25 in the pot and the person who loses the highest percentage of weight between Jan 5th and June 5th (our next spa weekend) gets the money. Oh, it's on now...they've tapped into my competitive nature and I wanna win, if only for the bragging rights!

I also NEED to get my finances in order and stop spending so frivolously!! 'Nuff said! There are more changes, but these are the things that I MUST change, NOW!

Hope you had a great New Year!!!

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Now on to the scrappy stuff! Dream Girl's Challenge # 19 is up!! To begin our first challenge in 2009 we decided that it would be perfect to create a layout using the word "NEW" in the title or journaling.

Product twist: Layout must be Black and White

Technique twist: handmade embellishment being the only additional color.

Click here to see what the rest of the Divas created!

journaling: Xander's new to the whole snow thing, but 'm sure next year big brother Donovan will introduce him to snow angels and snowball fights.

The theme for this month at scrap-diner.com is "The Simple Things". In keeping with the theme, I created a quick and easy technique that will help you use up one of the SIMPLEST items in your stash...STICKERS!! All of those random alpha stickers that you've had since you started scrapping are going to find a home in your albums. When you complete this technique, you will have a faux embossed piece of cardstock that you can use on your layouts and projects.

Supplies:
1 sheet of cardstock
several different packages of old alphabet stickers
acrylic paint
sponge brush applicator
spray adhesive
scissors

TIP: Cardstock stickers work best with this technique. If using stickers with a slick surface, just lightly run a sanding block across them to scratch the surface. This will help absorb the paint.)

Before beginning, remove all of the alphabet sheets from the packaging so they are readily available to peel off when needed.

Lightly spray the piece of cardstock with adhesive, working in sections so the adhesive doesn't dry before you get the stickers down. (This step helps keep the stickers down so they don't peel up after you apply the paint.)

Randomly apply the alpha stickers to the entire surface of the cardstock. Allow some stickers to hang over the edge for visual interest. Trim overhang with scissors. In my example, I put my title letters together first and then randomly adhered the rest of the alpha to the cardstock.

Use the sponge applicator to apply paint to the entire surface. The lighter the paint, the more coats you will have to apply. Just be sure to allow each coat to dry before applying the next. I used 3 coats of white paint in my example.

here's a closer look:

Once the final coat is dry, use as you wish on any project! For my example, I used a piece of die cut cardstock to trace the shape I wanted, inked the edge and adhered to a sheet of patterned paper. I then traced my faux embossed title letters with a black pen so they stood out from the rest.

It doesn't get any simpler than this, right?! Have fun creating your own look!!

journaling: you can add, subtract, count to 101 (to 10 in Spanish) and understand negative numbers.

You can spell: go, stop, cow, pig, dog cat, exit, car, one, cake, fire truck, the, & red all by yourself

You've know your shapes forever including the complex ones like crescent, hexagon, and octagon

You're learning to tell digital time, read numbers, and prices correctly

You know lots of Spanish words

You question everything and have a memory like an elephant!

Stay smart baby, learn something new everyday!

Thanks for taking a look!

Recent Projects

Can I say that I just loooooove this picture of Xander?!! The title for this came to me as soon as I took one look at those big brown eyes!

Journaling: Dear Santa, I've been good...Honest!

I'm going to teach this altered frame at Scrapper's Cove January 18th. I love how quickly and easily this came together!

TFL!

Christmas Photos

'Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house, not a creature was stirring...except ME! As with every Christmas, I'm always the one up in the wee hours of the night sneaking presents under the tree, making sure everything is in the right place, finishing the baking, taking the photos, putting on the finishing touches and making sure Santa enjoys his cookies! This year, I wrapped 2 days before Christmas, instead of Christmas Eve and I cut down my baking tremendously so I was actually able to get into bed before 2 am, and it was the first CHristmas that I didn't make a big Christmas breakfast! Momma was TIRED!

This is the final look of the tree before the hoopla of Christmas morning.

Donovan forgot to leave Santa a cookie, so I took care of that and made sure to let him know that Santa enjoyed her....err his cookie very much!

Happy first Christmas to my little Santa baby! We were the first 2 up on Christmas. Donovan is not an early bird and not even the anticipation of new presents can get him up early. Thats just fine by me- it gives me a chance to catch some more Z's after staying up late. Troy felt crappy, so he was dragging his butt too.

Donovan took joy in giving Xander his first present to open (Baby Tad).

This is the way Xander chose to open his presents!

These two little boys are my greatest gifts and I thank God for them every single day!

Me at my family's day after Christmas celebration held at my sister's house

The boys with their Pop-Pop- he had shirts made for them to wear for Christmas. Donovan's shirt read "Pop-Pop's Monster", Xans' read "I'm the Boss" and Pop-Pop's had a pic of Xan and read "Pop-Pop says I'm the Boss!" Too cute!

TFL!

Merry Christmas...Happy Kwanzaa!!

I hope you all had a wonderfully joyous Christmas...I know we sure did!! As usual, we spent the morning at home watching the kids open Christmas presents; this year was Xander's first Christmas, so it was extra special for our family. For a little kid who's famous for ripping paper to shreds, he didn't do that to his presents....he was just happy tearing off a piece of wrapping paper and eating it! LOL! This was the first Christmas that I didn't make breakfast for my guys, I was so tired from all of the cookies that I made at the last minute, the last minute Christmas Eve shopping (mostly for myself) and the late night gift wrapping! Instead I sent Troy out for Dunkin' Donuts.

We travelled to Trenton to spend the rest of Christmas with Troy's family as we normally do. We had a beautiful buffet style dinner at my in law's that the whole family takes part in putting together. Renee (MIL) did the majority of the cooking since it was at her house. I made watermelon and apple martinis, which were very strong since I used schapps and flavored rum instead of the non alcoholic mixers! Can you say cotton mouth?...good grief, my mouth feels like a desert!

Today, the boys and I will travel to Deptford to spend the "day after Christmas" with my family. This is our made up holiday so we get to spend Christmas with everyone, but not feel the rush of having to go from house to house, especially since we are all so spread out over the state.

I'm running a little behind with preparations for my sister's house. I need to make the chicken parmesan and the cornbread...we usually do an Italian meal for our celebration, I mean one can only eat so much turkey and stuffing! We're also having green salad, vegetable ziti and lasagna....of course some desserts, including my cookie platter.

I'll post pictures from our celebrations later!

Today is also the first day of Kwanzaa!! Here's a LO I did a few days ago about the holiday.

based on this sketch by beggahuna

The title nguzo saba is Swahili for 7 Principles (1 for each day of Kwanzaa) **journaling taken from a Kwanzaa website**

Umoja (Unity) To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.

Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) To build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Nia (Purpose) To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Kuumba (Creativity) To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Imani (Faith) To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

The Kwanzaa diecut was originally 1 piece and blue. I inked it black and cut the 2 symbols off, the coated "kwanzaa" with glitter.

Here are two more Christmas cards I made using Tinsel Town.

Thanks for taking a peek...have a happy new year!!

Last Savvy N Sassy Ribbon Kit Projects

So this is my last month on savvynsassy's DT...huh, I'm sure gonna miss getting those awesome little ribbon cards in the mail each month! This month, I had the pleasure of working with the Snow Bunnies kit and I loved it! This kit works well with winter pages, summer pages, baby pages...etc!

I used the turquoise faux suede lace-up tape and the mini turquoise ric rac to spice up this summery LO of my cutie pie nephew.

I used the coral satin edge organza and Pink Paislee's Tinsel Town for this project. It's an altered toilet paper roll...I guess you can call it my "Bailout Christmas Present"! LOL! I created this as gift packaging for the refrigerator magnets I made.

If you're looking for a quick, easy, and cheap gift? Then these little fridge magnets are just the thing for you! (this was one of the challenges during the last crop at scrap-diner.com)

I made 50 of these for less than 5 bucks...can't beat that!

To create these, you will need the following supplies:

marble accents (the ones with the flat edge) on sale for 88 cents at AC Moore

E-6000 adhesive (used my 50% off coupon and got this for less than 2 bucks)

a 3/4" punch

3/4" magnets ( I used the 30" magnetic strip and just cut them down to size- 99 cents)

ETA: don't use the magnetic strip, the don't hold paper that well...just get the regular 3/4" magnets

patterned paper scraps.

1. Punch the circles from patterned paper.

2. Apply a drop of glue to the magnet. Put the paper circle on it and press down until completely covered.

3. Apply a drop of glue to the flat side of the marble and the press onto the paper circle until the glue reaches all the way to the edge.

4. Allow to dry completely overnight.

**NOTE: for the first few minutes after assembling, check to make sure that the magnet and marble haven't moved (some will slide to the side, just adjust and allow to dry).**