Monday, Catch-up day!

It seemed like a very long week last week with 3 classes to get ready for and teach.  Glad this week will be a little less stressful, but hoping the blizzard predicted later on Thursday  goes north or south or AWAY!     Had 2 cricut expression 2 classes on Saturday.  Must say that the quality control on these machines is less than desirable.  I have never had any trouble with mine, but in every class, we spend more time troubleshooting problems on the students machines than we do using them and learning on them.  Saturday, we had one machine that we could never get to boot up and run and one , that when we started cutting with it  went nuts on us and cut everywhere.  Never figure that one out either.  There were tons of "glitches" along the way that also took time out of the classroom teaching time!  Frustrating for all of us!

Sunday I was lucky enough to get to watch my two little Grandsons--Nicholas and Aiden --for a few hours.   What a couple of cards--with or without a sugar high they are more than a bundle of energy!

Lots of time was spent eating snacks and just talking and acting silly.  These are pics of Aiden.

and Aiden with his bag of collected "rocks"!

and Nicholas--well on his way to a sugar "high"--think this was his second bowl of peppermint flavored marshmellows-------that followed the gummy fruit snacks---and was before the fresh baked cookies, a piece of ham, a bowl of chips--well you get the idea --oh, and a small cup of Grandpa's Pepsi!   No wonder, shortly after, the wild child came out in both of them and Ella (the lab), took her que and decided she had a very captive audience to throw her balls and chase her up and down the halls and and around and around the house!    Crazy, wild, loud couple of hours for sure.

So I survived  Last week and decided to have a lazy sort of "do what I want to" day!   Here's a bit of my project today--can you guess what it is?????? 

Well above, left is some wooden dowels I painted blue!  They will be cut into 3rds or 4ths and used on the project below right!

This is the "top" of my project with all it's prettiness and bling.   Hint:  It's a mother's day gift for my kids to make in my April Kids Class.      Want to see more?  

Since birdhouses are so popular this year--and my friend Maggie had made several of these little gems----aaaannnnnd I was having problems thinking of a cool craft idea for a Mother's day gift------I decided to "steal" (Thanks, Maggie) the birdhouse idea.  I was sure I could  develop a way to make them that was kid friendly for the most part and  I think I have it mostly figured out.

and what Mom wouldn't want a cheery little yellow Birdhouse to sit or hang in her home.  (Oh, it could be given to a Grandma, too)

I made 2, each a little different.  The fronts are made using the Tim Holtz  Artful Dwellings Die (Sizzix)  Those painted dowels---their the perches!  and the top has a row of bling along the roof line and a hanging ring with lots of pretty ribbons and netting  on it .

and of course, every present needs a special little bag  to give it in.  I will make each of my kids this special little tag, with a Taylored Expression "birdhouse" stamp, colored with copics.  I spent this afternoon stamping, embossing, coloring and cutting them out on my sizzix.  A little white bag and a piece of yellow netting tied through a couple of holes along the bags top and the present is complete!

  Sounds like I could have a few more home-bound crafting days this week (weather forced).  Hmmmm, wonder what my next project should be?    I have a few new pictures--so I may actually scrapbook some pages--or make more cards for the ARL--since I just got some more new animal stamps.

Hope you all have a crafty week, especially if you are weather forced home bound!

A Rainy Finish to a Beautiful Croppy Weekend!

This has been a week of "pulling odds and ends" together, ending with a wonderful 2 day  Crop and now a VERY Rainy drizzly day to just stay in and pull the last of those odds and ends together for good!  I finished up the recipe page in my friend's recipe book from GNO.  Just had to share my Mom's chocolate chip cookie recipe which has stood the test of time for sure, in this family!

I have had a lot of help this week (well, let's face it, I always do) from Ella and Lily.

Ella below, always makes it seem like I never, ever pay any attention to her----such a Drama Queen!

Lily, on the other hand, always has a smile on her face--she's been on the side of "no attention" in her previous life, so she is just happy to be hangin' out in my room with me!

After a week of pulling Kidz class kits together for my upcoming class tomorrow, I got to enjoy 2 days of cropping with my besties.  Below, RaNae and Betsy take a brief break to smile for the camera!

Over view of a cropping room full of serious croppers.  Really we bring so much stuff, we barely have room to work!

My area set up for cardmaking, below!

My bestest friend Janis---deep in thought and conversation!

I colored a lot of these little girls this weekend--another (you guessed it!) Phyllis Harris stamp from Unity Stamp Co. I just think she is so adorable and reminds me of several little girls in my life!

and these are the cards I made for "Project ARL", as I call it ---our GNO group is making some cards to donate to the ARL to sell in thier  store.  They get all the profits to benefit the animals.   A couple of weeks ago we made 50 Valentine cards to donate to a local organization that gives cards to our local troups!  Since I love making cards, but I am not good about sending  them out, this is a great way to continue my little hobby without having tons of cards I'll never use!

So today, I will add finishing touches to the cards and get them sealed up in protective coverings and   we'll see how it goes!

I spent half my morning giving 2 dogs their baths, which also means I have cleaned and chloroxed

the whole bathroom from top to bottom and half the rest of the house, too!  (Did I say I hate dog bath days?)--now back to my room--lots of unpacking to do and then a few hours of fun!  There is something to be said for a cold, rainy day in February--Have a Great Sunday, Everyone!

Pack up Thursday, Again! Yippee!

Well, as I pack up for another 2 day crop---I am posting pictures of a GNO crop we had last Sunday!  Our "Girl's Night Out" group have a crop all our own every 2-3 months--not sure if we Scrapbook as much as we eat some very good food from the potluck we have with it, but it's always a very fun time.

As you can see, my spot is a piled high mess of SBing necessities--I spent a day stamping and inking card fronts-keeping the baby wipes very handy for all those inky fingers and wiping off my stamps. 

You would think we were on a week's retreat, the way we pack up.  But I think we all brought a little bit less, just because it was just a "short" Sunday of  scrapbooking. 

and it's always fun to have a whole scrapbooking store at your fingertips!  Who could want for anything else? 

Diane is our "neatest" scrapbooker----she makes the rest of us look like the "hoarders" show! 

and here's our whole happy bunch!  It was a great day, girls--can't wait to do it again! 

Did I say let's do it again?   Well several of us in that picture will indeed be at it again tomorrow and Friday--same place--same fun!  MB is having one of their 2 day Crops--so the place will be buzzing.  I've said it before, if laughter is the best medicine, we should al live to a ripe old age!

Besides getting ready for my upcoming Kids class and my Expresion 2 classes, I did manage to fit a couple of cards into my agenda.  The one above is one I made for a friend who has spent a lot of time in the hospital the past few weeks.  It is made with my favorite Phyllis Harris stamps.  This week, I think I will concentrate of some animal centered cards to donate to the ARL's store .  They sell them and the profits go to the ARL--one of the major organizations I like to support .  Our GNO group plan on donating card's to their cause.   But that said, I got a couple more Phyllis Harris Stamps and one Angie Blom stamp this week that I want to work on ,too.  Should be able to acomplish both in 2 days of SBing,  but who knows!

and why is it, you have to grow fairly old to find out that Life really does begin when you experience all those wonderful things that you would never thought of trying when you were younger, because they were "outside" your comfort zone and you were afraid of what others might think!  Truly, once you decide your life is about you---you really start living.  So jump out of that comfort zone--no matter what your age  and start your real life!

Wow! It's Saturday Already!

It has been a very short week, but another weather induced productive SBing one!  You know, the kind I really love!  On Tuesday,  we had a staff crop at Memory Bound--always a laughing good time!    I spent it working on more stamping projects---so in love with my Phyllis  Harris stamps!

Then Wednesday was another "snow" day--so I concentrated on my March kidz class.  I found this

3-D banner idea on another blog--she had made a Valentine one--but I wanted a "spring" project, so I designed the one below  It is really very fun.  The banner is folded over, with the scalloped circle cut in the front panel.  The 2 panels are separated by double stacked pop dots to give that 3-D effect.

The letters Spring are then set in the openings on their own single pop dots.  All sorts of "spring-like" diecuts, buttons, and twine are added  and a little "doodle" stitching around the edges and netting to string it all together and this made up into a really cute little banner. 

Then on Thursday, I finished off some more bag toppers with this cute little birdie.  They are headed to a GNO crop all day tomorrow at MB.

I also got some new storage shelving delivered this week.  I ordered them from "Stamp and Store" and they are specifically designed to hold punches.  Since I did not have enough flat, locked punches to fill that unit, I put my archival ink pads in the upper half and I love it. 

But if for one minute, you think it is storing all my punches, think again.  I cleared out 2 small drawers (WooHoo, more storage space), but I still have 2 large drawers FULL of punches, edge punches, huge punches, lots more punches!

I then turned my attention to my hundreds of stamps and got them sorted a little better and put neatly on my shelf unit, clearing out another drawer and making it easier for me to find the stamp I want when I want it. 

My counter top is now much neater and I actually have some work space.  This is my stamping area.  I SB pages on the other end of my room on another table. 

So tomorrow, I'm off to another crop with my GNO friends--it will be another day of fun and laughter.  That's how it is in the Scrapbooking world.  with any luck in a day or 2 I will post some more of my accomplishments.   I have a couple of class projects to work into the mix, but I only work on Tuesday, so maybe I'll have time for them (if I don't play too much)---Oh, and did I mention next weekend---yup, 2 more days of cropping with my besties!

Have a great Superbowl Sunday every one--I may get home in time to watch part of it anyway.