A Better Way

I found a better way to deal with all those challenges/Swaps. This is so much better than bookmarking, printing all the pages, constantly creating and changing word documents, and losing due dates!

I got this flipable photo frame at the dollar store and altered it! I write down what the challenge/swap is, who/what it is for, the due date, and a brief description of what I am supposed to do!
I slide the 4x6 card into the little page protectors, in due date order.
Here is the back! It is REALLY cheap quality and the legs won't stay open. A little ribbon to hold it open and now it will sit on my desk in plain view where I won't lose the info or forget about it!
As I was finishing this up, yet another challenge was posted on AMR, so I just moved the cards around and the new one got added into the frame in order! I think this will work out for me really well. I can put the dates on a calendar on my computer, but don't always check it. I can put the dates into a little organizer (for your purse), but I won't look at it a lot either. This way, it is right in front of me, it looks pretty, and I don't anticipate losing it or forgetting about it! What prompted this? I forgot about a blog challenge that I was very excited to do. I was so bummed, I set out immediately to find something that works.

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The never ending list...

...Of challenges that is!

Ok, so this first one isn't a challenge, but it did challenge me! My Grandma's birthday is coming up, and my dad asked me to make her a card-that really means a lot to me. She is pretty much blind due to Macular Degeneration, so I made the card big (8.5x11, folded in half), used bright colors (she can still see those), and added as many different textures as I could so she can feel it. Not my best card, but it will serve it's purpose, I think.

This is for a challenge over at AMR, using green and red, but not Christmas related, then we can only use a title, ribbon, buttons and journaling. My title is the napkin in the photo, the pp is Basic Grey Infuse, the ribbon is misc, and the journal square is Jenni Bowlin.

This one is for Crop-A-Holics' first ever blog challenge. We were supposed to scraplift one of her layouts, this is the one I chose that she did! It was supposed to be for one of the AMR challenges last weekend for thier online crop, but it didn't work out-don't you just love how this one ended up? I sure did...

That is why I chose to scraplift that page!! I obviously figured out the strips of paper wrong, but I like it! I used Dreamstreet pp, Bazzill cs and flower, button, MM Noteworthy journaling card, and inked American Crafts Thickers.

This one is for The Story Matters. Here is what the challenge is..."What is home to you?? It is where you want? Our homes can be a hotel room when need be, or a McMansion... but what is at the heart of it all?? What do you have to say about where your home is? What is it's meaning? What is it missing? How is it "yours"... "

Since DH and I have been floating and struggling for years now, and this is the 5th-6th time we have had to move in with my parents, we don't really have a home. I see my home as wherever DH hangs his hat. Whether it be here at my parents' house, our own apartment, or a motel room, as long as I am with him, I am home.

I used Bazzill cs, Basic Grey Archaic pp, mostly Prima flowers, some unknown ribbon, inked American Crafts Thickers, TT stamps for the "is where", K&Co Blue Awning journaling card, large jewels, and SEI and MM brads. Remember all those color-themed photos I was posting for So, I Smile? I won the last day, and I got the prize for it today, isn't it an awesome RAK??? I got a Studio G stamp, some "acrylic" journal blocks, some felt flowers, and a variety of buttons. Thanks Detta!!
Lastly, I spent last night and today at tigardlilly's house cropping. She needed adhesive, so we went shopping. She did very well and stuck to adhesive, but I spent a little more than I should have; I have a disease-I feel the need to buy more stuff even though I have plenty. Everything was either on sale or on clearance except for the felt fusion, but I got it at the cheapest place in town to get it per yard! Everything at Jo's was 40% off-All Papercrafting Supplies!!! Those lace cardstocks were only $1.19 each!! The Zots, DCWV All Dress Up 8x8 pad, Alcohol blending solution and felt applicator (both for alcohol inks) were all 40% off too! The stamps and rhinestone shapes/words were on clearance at Mike's, as were those ugly coaster sets which I will cover with pp and turn into minibooks! All in all, I would say I found some great deals today!!!

Remember, those of you with Reader, I am linking to my comments in the post so you don't have to leave reader to post a comment!! Click here!

Challenges, Mail, Cards, RAKs

First, challenges.

You all know I have been struggling to keep up with them. I printed out this list last night of the challenges I want to do. They are in order of due date, and as you can tell, I already handwrote 2 more in! I can't seem to catch up. I will do it though.

Second, Mail.

I recieved this in the mail today, from Scrappy Girl. She had a mystery photo with a question that I answered correctly, and she sent me this! What a beautiful card. I have to say, she has beautiful handwriting people-I bet she is not embarrassed to journal on her pages! She sent me a bunch of stickers, which is good since as soon as I packed all mine up, I have needed them! lol Thanks Scrappy Girl!

Third, Cards.

I have been saying I need to get some cards done. Since I needed to make some anyway, I got some done for the challenge over at Use Your Stash (notice it is crossed off on my above list). We were supposed to use scraps from the layout we did with patterned paper, see that layout HERE.

I used Bazzill, unknown printed paper, Inkadinkadoo and Autumn Leaves stamps, dyed skittles, Prima flower, and SEI brads.Bazzill, same unknown pp, Technique Tuesday Stamps, BG fiber, Prima flowers, and MM brads.
Plain white cs, unknown pp, Bazzill, TT stamps, Stickles.

Fourth, RAK.

Where is the RAK you might ask? This post will make my 96th blog post. I am gearing up for a 100 Post RAK!! I am still brainstorming what to do, but keep your eyes and ears open, who knows what I will do! Comments never hurt, I love to see who is coming to my blog, and that is the only way I can tell!

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I have been tagged!!

Scrappy Girl tagged me, and this one is different!! There is only 1 rule, ONE WORD ANSWERS!!

1. Where is your cell phone? Disconnected
2. Where is your significant other? Bed
3. Your hair color? Brown
4. Your mother? Obsessive
5. Your father? Possesive
6. Your favorite thing? Stickles
7.Your dream last night? Unknown
8. Your dream/goal? Baby
9. The room you're in? Bedroom
10. Your hobby? Scrapbooking
11. Your fear? Spiders
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Alive
13. Where were you last night? Home
14.. What you're not? Boring
15. One of your wish list items? Cuttlebug
16. Where you grew up? Everywhere
17. The last thing you did? Eat
18. What are you wearing? Sundress
19. Your TV? Samsung
20. Your pet? Cats
21. Your computer? Outdated
22. Your mood? Anxious
23. Missing someone? Matt
24. Your car? Accord
25. Something you're not wearing? Bra
26. Favorite store? Costco
27. Your summer? Hot
28. Love someone? Husband
29. Your favorite color? Pink
30. When is the last time you laughed? Minutes
31. Last time you cried? Monday
32. Who you want to Tag? Tigardlilly

EDITED to say that tigardlilly did her tag, but didn't use one word answers! lol She is going to redo it and inform her tagged person about the rule!!! I gave her a hard time about it already, but she knows I am just teasing her, lol!

A New Look

I was so tired of the boring look of my blog, I decided to change it. Not being an expert or anything, I went to tigardlilly's house today and she helped me change the look and size of my blog. I gotta say, I love it! The size is a little bit off for my screen, but it is close enough. It used to only use about 1/2 of my available screen size. We downloaded a theme from Simply Fabulous Blogger Templates, tweaked it, personalized the premade header, and I now have a sweet looking blog! Of course, changing it meant losing my blog counter, so I will have to start all over, oh well! Let me know what you think!

For all you bloggers who look at my blog through Google Reader, you gotta go check it out! I am also trying to put a link to my comments in my post, so it will be easier to leave comments from GR, I know how lazy we get with it! lol

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AMR Crop Challenges are DONE!!!

All I can say is thank goodness the deadlines were extended on the AMR (All Moments Remembered) online crop challenges, I needed the extra time. I have sat in this chair all day Saturday, Sunday, and most of the day today!

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This was Sandy's 2nd challenge, make 4 cards-Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Winter. I have done all the challenges in order of post time, but I had to wait on this one, the 2nd challenge of the day, because I didn't have the right kind of stamps for any of these cards. I went to tigardlilly's today and borrowed a whole mess of stamps (thanks tigardlilly)! I used scraps whenever possible on all these cards too!

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This is the Halloween card. I used Bazzill cs, plain cs, buttons, ric rac ribbon, Autumn Leaves stamps, and gobs of stickles!

This is the Thanksgiving card. DCWV cs, plain cs, Autumn Leaves stamps, Copper Stickles, Spool-O-Ribbon, and rhinestones.
This is the Christmas card. I used Bazzill cs for the shapes, plain cs, Inkadinkadoo rubber stamp, Cricut to cut light bulbs, hand cut the tree, and used Holly Stickles to cover the tree. Oh yeah, don't forget my dyed skittles!
This is the Winter Card. I used DCWV cs, Technique Tuesday's No Two Alike stamps, 2 different colors of Distress Ink (note the shadow effect), Stickles, and a Signo Uniball white pen.
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This one was Chrispea's 11pm challenge, and was it ever a challenge!!! It was a Interpretive Design Challenge {color, pattern & texture}, meaning we take an interior design, and pull colors, patterns, textures from the ad and use those designs as inspiration for our layout! I found the IKEA catalog!! This was very difficult for me! I circled my design elements on my scan of the ad. I chose the wood grain floors and used a Hambly transparency; I chose the green plants and used green Bazzill cs; I chose the "e" on the wall and used black chipboard for my title; I chose the blue dots on the wall and used Technique Tuesday Technique Tiles, inked them, and laid them out to a similar design; I chose the computer screen and used a Making Memorys frame to simulate the squareness and metal-ish texture of the screen. I also used some acrylic flowers with added rhinestones just for a finishing effect..
On a more depressing note...My whole family is now out of work. As you know, DH and I had to move in with my parents because we couldn't make it on our own anymore. I have been working for my dad at the automotive shop he owned. He just owned the business, not the building. Well, over 3 years, he struggled with keeping up with the insane amount of the lease. Today, we were locked out of the building and the owner will not release any one's personal belongings! OK, I got a bit sidetracked with the details, but long story short, we now have absolutely no money coming in!! As if this wasn't enough, our duplex that we live in just got sold, but luckily the new owners want us to stay. Problem is, they increased the rent, and will probably make us start paying for water too! WHEN IT RAINS IT POURS!!!!! I have been "on the edge" all day, and I don't know how much more I can take. DH and I are applying for unemployment, and looking for other work. My parents are both in POOR health and have had no health coverage and paying out of pocket for doctor visits and meds-and can't work; DH and I have been without health coverage for over a year. I am a diabetic and have tons of other little medical problems that require constant care! How on earth can the 2 of us, with no college or decent job history (acquired skills, experience) support 4 adults, 3 with meds that cost over $1000 a month?!? Needless to say, scrapping has been a great distraction, but I am sure I am going to have another sleepless night, develop ulcers, and have at least one more panic attack! Don't even mention my severe depression and certain thoughts! Please pray for me and my family, and please do not take for granted the prosperity or comfortable living you may have.
OK, rant over, sorry about that, I just had to get it out.
Thanks for visiting me, I will be posting more scrappy stuff really soon, as I still haven't finished my other blog challenges (have I mentioned how much I have been enjoying them) and the cards I still want to do!

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The Last Of My Weekend Scrappin'

I have done so much this weekend, and I still have 2 AMR challenges I want to do, 2 more regular blog challenges (as of right now), the cards, and whatever else sounds fun.

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This first set of photos was for Scrappin{jewelz}'s 10pm challenge. We could either do a lo/card with acrylic shapes, OR an acrylic mini album. I have had this tag album for months now and have been so scared to try it, I am so glad I did!!! I used Luxe Designs paper, a silk flower, Stickles, buttons, ribbons, "skittles", paint, rhinestones, and AC Thickers.

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Next challenge I did was JFranks's 9pm challenge. We were supposed to find an older layout of ours, and copy the design, scraplift our own page. Most of my older pages are all packed up, and I only have photos of the last few months' layouts.
This is the new one I did today, all the paper is American Crafts Amplified, rubons are MM, chipboard letters are Thickers, and Felt Fusion. Photo was at CKC Seattle 2007. This one was done in March, so it should be old enough, lol!
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I can't say too much about it right now, but it looks like I may have more time on my hands in the near future, am looking forward to that! When I know for sure what is going on with my job, I will let you know. Until then, happy scrappin'!!

Are You Ready For Some Layouts???

...cue Monday Night Football music...

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I managed to get 5 challenge layouts done in 13 hours! I don't know if that is good or bad, lol!

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This one is done for Use Your Stash, use patterned paper, the more the better. I used some off-brand pp for the dots and strips, both sides of some Luxe paper. The title is a wood word that my mom bought for me at a garage sale that was covered in tacky gold glitter, I sanded it off and painted it green. Also used some flowers I got as a RAK the other day, some buttons, and a K&Co journal tag. This is my BFF Marla, we met in 1985 in the 5th grade. She is my bestest friend in the whole world (though I don't think I am her best friend, just a good friend). I love her tons, and she is married to a wonderful man, Jeremy!

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This layout serves 2 purposes, as I already intended on using Ephemera, or memorabilia this weekend for the Method Playground challenge, then Jessica wanted it on the 5pm challenge she was hosting on AMR. I hope the challenge powers that be will allow me to use this for both.

I used Bazzill cs, Dream Street printed paper, 7 Gypsies journal tag with MM flower brad, Bazzill Arrow covered in pp, and a brochure from the Sea Lion Caves, which I also cut out the map to use as well. Sorry about the blurry picture, it is dark in here and I took about 30 shots-this is the best one..

This was done for Sandy's 4pm AMR Challenge. The challenge was to use a large button, at least 2 smaller buttons, paper clip, journal between strips of paper, glitter covered chipboard shape/letter, torn paper, and ink.

I used We R Memory Keepers printed paper (Promenade), pearlescent and glitter cs, buttons, paper clip, giant Chip Chatter chipboard letter covered in Waterfall Stickles, and Color Box Chalk..

This one was for Jingle's 6 pm Challenge on AMR. We were supposed to use 2 double sided pp and use both sides of each, tilt the entire page design. At least a paragraph of journaling, and no embellishments except for the title.

I used Bazzill cs, Sassafras Lass pp, Jenni Bowlin letters and Target Dollar Spot chipboard letters. I covered girlie's name for safety.

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This one is Harley's 7 pm AMR Challenge. We were to use stitching and distress some paper. Sounds easy enough? Yeah right! This stitching took me over 3 hours! The cut picture was a happy accident. I was trimming to 4x4 when I realized I cropped off the wrong end of the photo! I start to panic and realize, oh yeah, I need to stitch anyway. So I cut up the photo into six 2x2 squared and stitched them together. The distressed paper is plain ole white card stock which I wadded up, flattened, and used Tim Holtz Distress Ink all over it, as well as the chipboard frame. I also used brads on that frame and American Crafts Thickers for the title.

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I am not even close to being done!! I still have 4 challenges to complete for AMR's crop, they aren't due till Monday evening, and 3 more blog challenges to do, AND gotta get a few cards made and in the mail!! Yikes, I will be very busy tomorrow, but you know I love it!! I am off to bed, it is almost 3 am, and I have been scrapping since noonish!

Another AWESOME Mail Day!!!

Today was a great day for me in the mail. I got the correct stamp set that I ordered from AMR, from Kelli...

Remember that patriotic challenge I did with the Stickled Flag? I won that challenge and got my RAK today from Jen. What a cute little RAK, thanks!
About a year ago, I signed up for a Bazzill Swatch Swap over at CK. 5 months after the due date, I finally received them back, what a surprise! I have been emailing her with no response. Turns out 5 people flaked so I have to get at least 85 more colors of Bazzill to complete it! I am terribly upset, but at least I got it.
I won the color photo challenge for yesterday! You can see Detta's comments about it HERE. What she said about me touched my heart and made me giddy with excitement! lol Thanks Detta!! I had a blast!
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This is the challenge I am doing for AMR tonight, I got the midnight slot, but that is only 9pm here! The requirements are, 3 different patterned papers from the same collection, coordinating cardstock, brads, flowers, ribbon, stitching, Stickles (duh, that is obvious), and ink. I like this one much better than the first one I did. I used BG Euphoria, Bazzill cs, MM frames, Prima flowers, brads, ribbon, Stickles, Bazzill In Stitches template for the stitching, and inked around the edges of the pp and the same ink for the stamp...Crop 'Til You Drop...One of Kelliannie's stamps. See them here.Here is the first challenge I did, it is nice, but I didn't think it was good enough!

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I am doing the AMR online crop today, so I gotta get going to and to scrappin!!