Favorites @ Twelve Scrapbook Layout & Summer Card

This is just a quick post to show you a layout and card I made during the past week....

First up is the card I made to send to whoever won the scrapbooking prize package I was giving away on the forum where I'm participating in the layout-a-week challenge this year. Most of us volunteered to do a giveaway at least once during this 50 week challenge and this was my week. I tried doing a summer-related one for the most part and a lady in Michigan won. I made this summery card for her....

I used the clouds embossing folder from Darice, Fiskars boundary waters border punch, 3" circle punch, tiny alpha stamps from Studio G, and Tim Holtz Sizzix die for the word "summer". I think it turned out pretty cute. I'm not a big cardmaker, but it is fun to make a card every now and then.

And here is the layout I made on Saturday after a graduation party for the neighbor....

I used the Colorbok Confetti paper pad that I recently got on clearance at WalMart. I found the @ sign on the Graphically Speaking Cricut cartridge. I used a PL card from the Honey kit. Tiny alpha stamps by Studio G, the same butterfly/flower stickers that I have in this week's giveaway, my Bo Bunny curvy ruler, and I did some stitching. Various little stamps are from a couple different Heidi Swapp/Pink Paislee sets. I had B. write her favorites on the card after I did the stamping. And I used an old PageMaps sketch from July 2009 but changed a few things on it.

'til next time....

40 and Fabulous Birthday Card

Well my jury duty got rescheduled. again. I want it to be done and over with already. Anyway, the kids got another snow day yesterday and a two hour delay this morning thanks to Winter Storm Nika.   Our dogs refused to do their business outside yesterday morning because there's a layer of ice on top of the snow. So my husband had to dig out an area for them. It worked out having a snow day yesterday since we would have had to take B. out of school early for her doctor's appointment up in Pittsburgh with the hand specialist and she would have had to miss a 1/2 day of school. This way, it didn't count against her. Some of the roads were so-so by the time we left in the early afternoon. I'm glad her appointment wasn't in the morning, because that's when the roads were icy. B.'s finger is healing nicely, but it is still not completely healed though. They said it could take a few months but she doesn't need to see the doctor anymore unless there's a problem. So that's nice. We stopped and had dinner at Red Robin afterwards and finally used the gift card our nephew gave us for Christmas a couple of years ago. It was me and B.'s first time eating at a Red Robin. My husband had eaten at one years ago down in Louisville, KY and he said they were different when it came to ordering your food back then. They have an American flag up on the wall made entirely out of baseballs. I thought that was pretty cool...

I just finished making this card for my sister-in-law earlier this evening. We'll be giving it to her in a little while when we go up for birthday baklava cheesecake after we eat dinner here at home. I hope she likes it....

 The girl (cut at 4") and "fabulous" (cut at 3/4")  are from the Cricut Forever Young cartridge.  And "40" is from Lyrical Letters cut at 1-1/2",  patterned paper is DCWV. I got the tiny alpha stamp set & Jolee's half pearl at WalMart. 

Stay warm and I hope you all have a pleasant evening... 

A Bitterly Cold January

I just spent a lot of time typing a whole blog post and just when I was almost ready to post it. Poof! It disappeared. This happens to me all the time. It's very frustrating and it keeps me from wanting to blog as much as I used to. I think it's the laptop I'm on. I'll just be typing along and then in the middle of typing EVERYTHING just deletes to a blank page. So I will try one more time. Grrrr...

We had a nice Christmas and I participated in my very first Christmas card exchange online. It was supposed to be handmade cards but you could send store-bought ones instead if you chose to. I did handmade ones and enjoyed receiving all the different cards from all over during the holidays. Mind you now that I am not a big cardmaker. So coming up with a design that I could duplicate 30-some times took me awhile...

I was running out of room to display all the cards I was getting in the mail from this exchange, so I picked up this Martha Stewart card holder on clearance at Penney's....

It worked perfectly....

I also participated in an ornament exchange during the holidays. This is the one I sent....

And this is the one I received....

I also made a card for B.'s best friend for her birthday last month. She loves hedgehogs  and this one turned out super cute...

There hasn't been a full week of school since before Christmas break. It's been a frigidly cold winter with temps as low as -40 degrees below zero at times. School was cancelled again today and yesterday and now all the snow days have been used up. They get five "free" snow days and three Blizzard Bag days where they do their schoolwork on the computer for the State. All of those days have been used up and tomorrow will be #10 this year. Yep, they just cancelled school early this evening for tomorrow. Three days in a row just like the week of Jan.6th. It's been a bad winter so far. I guess the Farmer's Almanac was right when they said we would have a rough winter this year.

On Monday, January 13th, poor B. slammed her finger in a big heavy door at school on the HINGE side. The teachers keep their doors closed and she was trying to get in the door with her books and her big, heavy bell kit for band and her finger got caught in the door. I got a call from the school and I went to pick her up but didn't realize that her finger was broken. Just for peace of mind, I took her to the Med Express and they did an x-ray which showed that it is definitely broken and gave her a finger splint to wear which wasn't the greatest. No doctors in our area would even see her because it's her finger and the nearest finger/hand specialist is up in Pittsburgh. They told us we'd have to go to Children's Hospital so we were up there in the ER for three hours. They didn't do much besides confirm that it was broken and referred us to a hand specialist up there in Pittsburgh. In the meantime, I got B. a better finger splint with velcro straps on it for the first week until her doctor's appointment with the hand/finger specialist. The one from Med Express had no straps and it kept falling off and she had to keep adjusting it. We went to the hand specialist last week and B. had a custom hand splint made for her that she'll have to wear at least a couple more weeks along with gauze between her index and middle fingers and medical tape at the tips to help straighten out the broken finger. We are really hoping this works. She broke it just right past that first knuckle and it's a tad bit crooked now. :(

This is the third time B. has broken something on her left arm..... In 2nd grade she broke her left wrist when a girl pulled her down by her coat on the playground, then back in May she broke both bones in her lower left arm when she bounced out of one of those stupid blow-up water slides over at the neighbors a week after school let out for the summer. She spent six weeks in a full-arm cast and it took 12 weeks to completely heal. And now... her left index finger. Poor kid. :(

Our poor little dog hasn't been feeling well and has been sick with vomiting and diarrhea since Friday evening. I took him to the vet yesterday afternoon and he's on a couple different meds now. I hope he starts feeling better real soon and I wish I knew what it was that made him so sick. :(   I've been giving him boiled chicken and rice for his tummy. If he doesn't start doing better in the next day or two, we'll have to take him back to the vet. Hopefully he'll get better though. We were concerned that maybe it's the food he's been eating - Pedigree Small Breed because he started getting really sick not long after we opened this new bag. We started reading up online this evening about any complaints and the one recent one where someone's dog died ate food from the same dog food and the number on their bag was just one digit off from ours which is 343F1KKM04  (the one we read about online started with 342 but everything else was the same). We are not taking any chances and so we are done with Pedigree dog food. DH is out now buying new dog food in a different brand.

I am doing Project Life this year for the first time. I enjoy doing a Dec Daily so much, that I figure it would be cool to document the whole year like that. It's just a different way of scrapbooking that involves pocket pages. It will help me to document some of the everyday stuff that wouldn't make it into a scrapbook album otherwise. I'm not worried about taking pictures everyday though. I got this "honey" core kit during the holidays from my DH from a somewhat local craft store....

I am also participating in a 50 Week Layout Challenge. There's over 30 of us doing the challenge and we each put in $15 to participate. We have to post a layout every week until the end of the year and then there will be a drawing for all the money that was put in. It gives me an incentive to create at least one layout a week plus it keeps my scrappy mojo going throughout the year. Plus there will be drawings for prizes during some of the weeks throughout the year. I will be providing the prize during one of the weeks this summer. We are on Week 2 and it's been fun so far.

I also participated in my very first online crop ever this past week. I entered quite a few different challenges and made SIX layouts this past week, plus a card. That's really good for me considering I usually never scrapbook that much in a short period of time.....

This last one was for a challenge to scrapbook about a favorite "thing". It couldn't be a person or pet. I probably would have never thought to scrapbook about my phone if it weren't for this challenge. It ended up being a fun layout to create and I enjoyed the online crop and the camaderie amoungst the members on the forum.

Here's my journaling for my last layout:

For the longest time, I had a simple flip phone and thought there

was no need for all the features that a smartphone offers.  I mean,

who needs a camera on their phone?? My way of thinking changed

when my husband decided it was time to get me a nicer phone.
 It arrived on Sept. 12, 2012 and I have loved it ever since.

 It is with me wherever I go. I’m able to stay in touch with my family

through texting and pictures  throughout the day. I love getting

 pictures of my nephews and of other family members. I take it to the

 gym and use the music app for when I’m on the elliptical or other

cardio machines.  It has replaced my alarm clock. I use the calendar

 feature for reminders for appointments or things I need to do. It helps

me to pass the time at the doctor’s or while waiting for B. to get out

of school. That’s when I’ll often play Words With Friends with my 
husband or play Bejeweled Blitz or get on Pinterest or the internet to
read stuff. And one of the most used features of my iPhone is my camera. 
I use it all. the. time.  And I’m so glad that I’ve had it with me to take 
pictures that I otherwise would have missed out on. Needless to say, 
there’s no way I’d ever go back to a basic flip phone again. LOL!  

Journaling: Monday, January 27, 2014.

 Well this should bring my blog pretty much up-to-date.  Thanks for stopping by and try to keep warm. brrrrr!!!!

Hello June - Hello Summer - Take Two

Yeah I know that I've been neglecting my blog since the middle of April, but the thought of trying to get caught up kept making me put it off even longer. I just spent over two long hours typing out a blog post and uploading pictures, and then the whole entire thing just disappeared when I was proof-reading it. I am not happy to say the least. It was a rather lengthy post, but I don't feel like typing all that out again, so we'll see how it goes as I sit here and re-do the whole thing. Again. Grrr....

B. had her tonsil and adenoid surgery the end of April and all went well. She was out of school for two weeks and I didn't go hardly anywhere during that time because I wanted to be sure to watch her closely - just in case. It took her about a month to completely heal and now she's back to herself again and doing good.

I've been doing some scrapbooking this past month after being on a hiatus all year and even made a card....

The last day of school was on May 23rd this year and it's hard to believe B's been on summer vacation for 11 days already. We've been keeping plenty busy with a trip to the park so she can ride her new electric scooter that she got for Christmas, and we've gone swimming a couple times already. Last week was Memorial Day weekend and I planted a BUNCH of flowers after my husband re-mulched. It took about 2 yards of mulch to cover it all and we got it in bulk loaded on a trailer from a guy we know locally. Krogers has a little area set up out in their parking lot this year where they are selling flowers and other plants. They have a cash register out there too and I have to say that their prices on perennials are quite reasonable in comparison to other places. I bought a butterfly bush, carnation plant, princess lily and coreopsis. And the most I paid for any of them was $9. Not bad. It was 92 degrees and sweltering out during Memorial Day weekend, but I still enjoyed getting all those flowers planted. I enjoy planting and taking care of the flowers every summer. It's my thing. In addition to quite a few wave petunias, I also planted some geraniums, marigolds and zinnias this year. I bought a few hanging baskets with impatiens to hang out back under the deck where the patio is. And a few planters with flowers already in them.

My husband got a new Kubota tractor recently and he's happy as can be with it. It's 20 years newer than his first one and is actually the one he really wanted for a long time. This one has a front loader and he has been putting it to good use with all the yard work we've been doing lately. He dug us out a nice little area where we planted beefsteak tomatoes and four different kinds of bell peppers along the side of the house. We look forward to growing our own tomatoes and peppers this summer....

Yesterday, we took a daytrip out to the Laurel Highlands in Pennsylvania and went to see the Laurel Caverns. My husband had already been there years ago a couple of times but this was me and B's first time. We took the one hour guided tour and it was pretty interesting.....

The entrance to the cave...

This next picture is the Pillar of Hercules in Laurel Caverns - the roof is made of sandstone here, and the column is limestone, so erosion created a gap between the top of this column and the ceiling. This is also in the area of the caverns known as "The Maze"....

Pictured below is the scenery outside the caverns ... this is what they call "Five County View"...The entrance to Laurel Caverns, and therefore its Norman E. Cale Visitors’ Center sits atop Chestnut Ridge, the first ridge of the Allegheny Mountains that you come to when coming from the west.  Since there are no more ridges to the west, the Visitor Center’s 2,600 ft. elevation above sea level allows it an uninterrupted view to the horizon.  From its observation deck, on a clear day, can be seen the skyline of Pittsburgh, as well as the Pennsylvania counties of Westmoreland, Allegheny, Washington, Greene, and, of course, its home county of Fayette.   They have binoculars on the observation deck here where you can pay a quarter to get a better view.....

Afterwards, we stopped at Ohiopyle State Park and spent some time there walking along the trails and enjoying the beautiful view of the Youghiogheny River. It's a rapidly-flowing river and I've seen people white-water rafting on it years ago when we went there for the first time one fall. It's a nice area and they rent out kayaks and bicycles....

They have this nice walking bridge that was converted from an old railroad bridge from the 1800's. It's rather long and we walked across it to get to the hiking trails and the other side of the river...

View of the river from the middle of the bridge...

It turned out to be a really nice day and we got some great family pictures. On the way home, we got caught in a downpour and saw a double rainbow since the sun was still shining so brightly through all that rain.

Other than all that, we've been anticipating our older daughter, A's, wedding this coming fall. B. is excited that she gets to be a junior bridesmaid along with A's other five sisters who will also be junior bridemaids (ages 16, 14, 14, 12, 10 and 9 - including B.) plus seven more friend's of A's that are bridesmaids. B. is excited that she gets to meet A's other sisters, especially since a couple of them are close to or the same age as she is and hopes to make some new friends. A. is a part of three different families (a long-rather complicated story), so she has a HUGE family and lots of siblings - eight total - and so she is trying to include everyone. The groom's side will have seven of the groom's friends plus A's two brothers (ages 13 & 14). Her colors are light grey (mercury from David's Bridal) and yellow. The girls will wear grey dresses with yellow shoes and flowers. A. mentioned something about the junior bridesmaids each carrying a single sunflower. The wedding ceremony will be outdoors, so we are really hoping for nice weather and the reception will be indoors. So the wedding gives us something to look forward to. Hopefully, we'll have time to go to the beach or do some sight-seeing since she lives clear down in Charleston. I'll have to pull B. out of school so we can go to the wedding, so we'll see how it goes as far as time to do anything else. We haven't been on a "vacation" since the summer of 2008 when we went to Myrtle Beach and that was our one and only family vacation ever.

I also signed B. up for swimming lessons again this summer. They start ten days earlier this year than last year for some reason. I hope it warms up by then since it's only been in the 60's - low 70's these past several days or more. Basically, it's more of a refresher for B. and it gives us something to do for a couple of weeks. I highly doubt we'll be doing six weeks of swimming lessons like last summer.

Well that's all for now and I hope you all have a nice summer ahead. And I hope to be better about keeping up with my blog.

Until next time....