About Me

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DFW, Texas, United States
I'm the luckiest woman out there. I'm blessed to be married to my best friend. I have two amazing children, one son-in-law and the most adorable grandson ever with grandson number two due February 2013!!! My passion is people and preserving their memories for generations to come.
Questions, Comments or Concerns:

Email me at craf_t_scrapper@yahoo.com

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Sunday, August 31, 2008

MIA, Move and all that jazz!!!

OK, it's been a while I know!!! I'm a bad, bad, bad blogger at this point!!! LOL

So, I've had many emails from friends asking where the heck I am hiding out at and what all is going on with our move, jobs, scrapping and just life in general so, I'll make a quick rundown of things for those who wanna know and for the few stalkers I have just trying to keep tabs on me.

1. The most asked question I've had is how is the move going? Well, it's going. Living out of boxes right now while trying to get settled in. We have some serious remodeling going on right now. I have sheetrock, nails, broken glass (ouch), pvc pipe, wallpaper, tile and whole lots more that I'm maneuvering around on a regular basis. We are shooting for the biggest part of the remodeling to be done this weekend with just touch ups to finish up - again, this is completely tentative. By the time it is all done we will have a remodeled bathroom and a new scrappy nook for me. We already finished the biggest part of the kitchen and I now have new woodenesque floors - they are just so pretty!!!! This was a surprise from my Dad and darling hubby a few weeks ago when we were doing the back and forth thing from Austin working on getting the house ready to move back into. Cait and I had stayed in Austin a couple days to run the business and Rob and Dyl came up and my Dad met them up here and they ripped out the already half ripped up linoleum and replaced it with my now beautiful floors!!!!

2. How are you and where have you been? I'm amazingly great considering all we have going on!!! I'm relaxed and happy to be in MY home. With the exception of a few little things that aren't worth stressing anymore, we are so happy to be home. I'm really glad I finally talked Rob into this - you know, me being so in control of everything it took a lot of talking to convince him this was the right thing to do and the right place for us to be. There is a bit of sarcasm there - for those stalking me they'll know what I'm talking about, for those who know me and what has been going on in the last several months, heck years, they'll get it too, for those of you new to my blog please forgive me for being a tad snippy but I needed to let some know that I'm aware of them being so concerned with what is going on in my life that they have to stalk my blog and try to post really ugly, rude comments to me. Anywho, enough on that. The biggest obstacle we encountered was getting internet hooked up. I started working on it 3 weeks ago and had install set up but the morons with the original company jerked me around so much that I threw a fit then they decided they couldn't get a signal at our house and became real asses and refused to even try. I found a new company and amazingly they were out in 3 days, found a signal from the same tower the other company uses and had me installed - that was this past Friday.

3. How is your scrappy life? Dead............for now. Part of our remodeling is adding a scrappy nook so my scrappy supplies are still packed in boxes in our bedroom. I did finish my first DT assignment and it will be displayed on the 2nd. All of our card DT is featured right now on the site and she is posting bio's every week. I am to be featured on September 13th so keep an eye out for me!!!!

4. How are the kids? They are great. I took them school clothes shopping the Friday before school started (the 25th) and they got all decked out in some cool gear. They started on Monday and love it. It is so much different than Austin but they seemed to fit right in - so far!!! They decided to take honors classes and have been doing great with the exception of honors physics. They are both dropping back to regular physics as they don't have the math prep for honors physics and the teacher says he can't explain it to them or he'll get the entire class behind. The funny thing is that honors physics has requirements of algebra 1 and algebra 2 but as sophmores they haven't even taken algebra 2 - they put them into geometry for the sophmore year so I am not sure why they would even consider them ready for honors physics other than the fact that they were straight A student's in Austin and I guess they thought they could handle it. Dyl is taking his 2nd year of Spanish and it's kind of funny, he knows more than the 2nd year Spanish students here. At the end of last year he had said Spanish class was more of a joke because they didn't really learn much but I now see he learned more than he realized. Cait decided to take French, which is what I took in high school. She was going to take Spanish but after talking with the counselor and telling her that she didn't really want to take Spanish the counselor told her to take what she really wanted to take because the high school language classes were not set up to teach conversational Spanish. She's pretty happy with it - she chose the class name of Giselle and it is funny because that was my class name when I was in high school.

5. How's the job stuff going? Well, as of this past Thursday we are officially unemployed!!! Feels good to have that weight off our shoulders. The company we were working for was a great company so don't get me wrong, but little to our knowledge when we started working there over 4 years ago it is simply a flipping company. The owner purchases properties, brings the overall stats of the property up by increasing revenue and occupancy then he sells them. About 6 months after we had moved to Corpus Christi we found this out and well, have been in limbo ever since while he wheeled and dealed to acquire new properties to only sell them shortly after. This last move got us closer to family which thrilled us until he decided to sell the property shortly after owning it for a year. So, back into turmoil we went after thinking we had 10 years stability as he stated he had a 10 year note on this property so we were fine. Granted, we learned a lot about ourselves, the strength of our love and the commitment to ourselves that we have. We are at a place in our life now where nothing will ever come between us again and won't be able to make us doubt our love and desire to be together as a family - yeah, there have been those who have tried to pry us apart over the last almost 10 years but it hasn't worked and isn't going to so give up and just be happy for us for once!!!

6. How is school going? Besides being extremely complicated to attend class with no internet, it is going great!!! Right now I have a 95 average in both of my classes and am half way through my first term. I've taken one test in both classes so far and missed one question on both tests. I have a second test due this week and am figuring it is going to be a bit harder as it has to do more with medical laws and such but I will be fine I am sure. It's funny because I was without internet for an entire week (the first week we were here) and I would have to drive into town and sit outside the local hotel to get online to check my classes, respond to questions regarding my work and even try to attend class through a borrowed connection. It definitely makes me thankful for internet connection at the house now!!!

7. When will you be back around the message boards and challenge boards? Well, I hope this next week I'll be able to hop back in and get caught up with everyone. I have a couple projects I would like to get done this week scrappy wise but not sure it will happen. We are hoping my scrappy nook will be ready for me to start setting up in this week so I'll be spending time organizing and finishing up the purging I need to get done. I do have my 2nd DT assignment to get done in the next week or so and submitted to Deanne in time for the unveiling on the 16th but I'm not stressing it, I know EXACTLY what I am going to do and can get it done without my scrappy nook being set up so if all else fails I'll camp out at the kitchen table. Now I do have my monthly challenge to get done and ready to upload for tomorrow, ack, I think it is going to be late because there is no way I'll get it done in time. I am thinking I will just wait and use my DT assignment for it and post it on the 2nd once it has been revealed on the site.

OK, for now I gotta go. My darling hubby should be back from Lowes anytime now and we gotta get back to working in the bathroom. From here it should be pretty smooth sailing until he decided to bust out the last wall to complete my scrappy nook - that scares me a bit but it will all work out!!!

Thank you all for the emails of concern and well wishes, I've missed being around but will be back real soon!!! Happy scrappin'!!!!!

Monday, August 11, 2008

DT Has Been Announced



In my previous post I announced that I had made a DT and had to wait for the official announcement to be made, well..........................without further ad0 I'm thrilled and honored to announce that I have been chosen as one of the 17 Card DT members at Am I A Scrap Addict!!!!

The blog owner, Deanne, is a talented sketch artist who is also on sketch DT's for a couple sites (don't quote me on the number) along with running Sisterhood of Scrap with her two real sisters!!! In addition to being a crazy woman by having 17 card DT members she has 13 LO DT members!!! That is 30 girls in all!!! We rec'd our initial sketch to work on so it is ready for the unveiling of her new DT's work on the 1st of September and wow, did it make me put my thinking cap on!!! I am actually working on my 2nd card from the sketch because I can not decide if I like the 1st one or not.....LOL. I will send her both and let her decide!!!

If you get a chance stop by both sites. You will find cool and fun challenges along with great sketches being posted!!!

I did a little updating on my blog today. If you will notice on the sidebar that all the blinkies now correctly link to the sites they represent instead of my photobucket. I learned a long time ago how to do this, I forgot how to do this, to learn how to do it again and yes, forget again!!! So this time I posted it in the forums over at Just Scrappin' (go ahead, try it out by clicking on the JS blinkie) in hopes that when I need a refresher I won't have to look so hard!!!

Speaking of JS, have you came by lately???? We have lots of challenges going on right now for some yummy prizes donated by our sponsor Pink Cat Studio Stamps along with prizes that Cristal, the owner of the site, and a couple of our members have donated for challenges they have posted. What are you waiting for??? We have friends, fun and scrapping going on at all times of the day over there with NO DRAMA!!! Yeah, you read it right, we are drama free mama's (as my darling friend Cherrie would say) over there and we are darn PROUD of it!!!

I think I forgot to mention that I was featured on a blog a week or so ago as a Newly Discovered Blog. Stamping When I Can featured me, Cait and several of my other blogging buddies on the 3rd of August. I can tell you one thing, my blog traffic really picked up after she posted this!!!

As always, thanks for stopping by!!! I see my blog counter is moving up a little quicker these days so make sure you leave me a message letting me know you were here - I love seeing all the states and countries pop up!!!!

Happy Scrappin'!!!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

A Long Weekend

What a long weekend this was and it was not spend frolicking in the sun having fun!!! LOL

We traveled to the DFW area to check on our house that we have up there. We moved out about 4 1/2 years ago to relocate for work and well, it is time to go home we are thinking. We aren't overly thrilled with moving back to the area but it will be OK - mainly we don't like the family drama but we are going back with an open mind so hopefully all will be OK.

Anywho, the house. Yeah, we have some real lovely flipping neighbors let me tell you. They broke a window out of the front of the house, ripped the back door up so bad Rob had to secure it with metal straps because we knew at the time if we put a new door up they would just do it all over again. Honestly, and very surprisingly, the house isn't in that bad of shape. A little fix up here and there and it will be livable again and we can work on it over time to replace and repair things. Oh did I mention the fact that they stole the couch, love seat and entertainment center we left in the house???? And the neighbor lady had the nerve to say she has been "watching" the house for us. Yeah right, watching herself make claim of whatever she wanted from in there.

A little exciting news though, wanna hear it???? Well, I submitted for a DT in July and hadn't heard a thing. I honestly thought that I hadn't made it since it was the middle of August - helps to pay attention to the DT calls though.....LOL. I got an email on Saturday that I made it!!! I can't release the details quite yet because the announcement has not been made but I am on the card DT for a sketch site along with, get this, 16 other card girls and 13 LO girls!!! Yeah, you read that right - 30 DT members!!!! This is so super exciting as some of you recall the last DT I was on kind of fizzled out right after it started. I never even rec'd product or an assignment for the first round before ALL of us DT girls were not hearing from the owner and as of late, the site has totally disappeared. So I honestly wasn't thinking of submitting for a DT again much less ever make one!!!!

I will post more about my DT position and give you a link to the blog very soon!!! I have a super cute blinkie to sport too and will be linking the posts with the sketches here so you can all check it out if you like!!!

As for now, I am off to work on my first assignment which will post the 1st of September. I need to get it done now as we will be moving from the 22nd to the 24th and I won't have any time til after the 1st when I get my scrappy stuff unpacked!!! I'm also very exhausted from this weekend and I still have a paper to write for class!!! Ack, I need to get my bottom busy!!!

Happy Scrappin' everyone.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Life is Sweet

......................most of the time....LOL. We all have those days I know but yesterday was one that made me question my sanity for sure!!!

I did get good news, I won the card challenge at Just Scrappin' for the kit from Kelly's shop - I have to admit I am shocked. All the girls who entered really knocked this one out of the ballpark!!!

Here is the card I entered:



And here is the fabulous prize sponsored by Kelly's shop that I won:

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Thank you to Cristal at Just Scrappin' and Kelly at Keep In Touch - I can not wait to get my hands on this and play!!!!

I did manage to do a LO last night - I'm not happy with it because of the two smaller pictures but I will reprint them and change them out. I used some new stuff I found by K&Co that is based on fabrics by Amy Butler!!! My friend Ashley over at JS introduced me to Amy Butler fabrics and I'm so in love!!! When I saw scrappy goodness made with it there was no doubt I had to purchase it!!! I will update the picture when I change out the pics - it really sounded good in my head to do them like this but once I assembled it it wasn't so great but I was being lazy last night and didn't feel like reprinting at the time.

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As always, thanks for stopping by!!! Happy Scrappin'!!!!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Back Home

I'm back home - got here today!!!! Was happy to see my hubby and kiddos - and yes, my darling Daisy. I had to go potty when I got in and I didn't even have my pants down and she was trying to get in my lap while in the bathroom!!! I thinks she missed her Mommy!!!

So not everything went as planned this weekend on my trip. No internet other than dial up is available out where I have land. Not good. One of the requirements for me getting accepted back into college with one of the grants was that I would have high speed internet available to me throughout my classes. I know crap happens but with dial up there is no way I could interact with the real time classes I am taking. We explored satellite but you gotta hear this crap. Did you know that there is some Fair Trade Act or some crap like that which puts restrictions on the bandwidth you can use with the satellite service??? I honestly think it is some crap the satellite companies came up with and it is ridiculous so what do you do???

So now we have a new gameplan. Unless Rob gets an offer in another city for full time, year round work with the government we are just going to move back home to our house where it sits now. Sure the neighbors have broken out a window or two, stolen our couch and love seat from in there, broke open the back door where it is totally unusable and is now nailed shut but hey, it can't be all that bad right???? At least we'll be able to have internet, we can repair the house, put in a security system for darn sure and I'll be able to finish my college - only 18 mths to finish up my degree!!!

As for scrappy stuff - it is going to kill me but I have to pack up all my stuff for the move.....LOL. I have 2 1/2 weeks before the move so that means very little scrappy creating time for me which is going to kill me but with packing, purging and class two nights a week hopefully I will survive. Not to mention we will be going up for the next 2 weekends to clean out the house, bomb the house, repair windows/doors/flooring and such so that when we move in it is like a brand new house (well as close as it can be) and all I have to do is unpack. Me and the kids will be going up in 2 1/2 weeks and then Rob to follow in about 2 to 3 weeks after that when the property here in Austin is finalized. We promised the owner, who has offered us a little bonus, that we would stick it through to the closing so he didn't have to try to find someone to run the place.

I did get a couple other things done while at my Mom and Dad's this weekend. One is a LO for a challenge at Just Scrappin' and the other 2 things are mini composition books. I made one for my Mom to put her lists on and keep in her purse so when she gets to the store she doesn't forget what she needed - yeah, she is getting really forgetful right now and it worries me but that is another day's posting. The other mini comp book I made for my Dad's best friend Bill. He is 72 years old and still going strong. He has retired and taken up baking as a hobby. While I was up there he brought down two different batches of cookies for me - like I freaking need more sugar for my rear.....lol - anywho they were some of the best cookies I've had in a long time. So I made this comp book for him to list his supplies he needs when he goes to the grocery store - it is the perfect size for his pocket!!! I did tell him he was lucky that it didn't end up with flowers - seems I put flowers on every freaking thing anymore!!! LOL

Here is the LO:

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The picture is a little blurry it seems. My back was killing me tonite after helping Rob clean out some stuff from one of our storage sheds and I guess I was a little shaky.

Here are the comp books I made:


Mom's

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Bill's

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As always, thanks for stopping by. Make sure you leave me a comment and let me know you were here. I'd love to come check out your blogs as well - I love to be inspired by fellow crafters!!!

Happy Scrappin', over and out ya'll!!!!

Monday, August 4, 2008

Tales of the Travelin' Scrapper Part Deux

Well, still at my parents. Ended up having to deal with some stuff today that wasn't expected so I will be going home on Tuesday morning.

Last night I joined my friend Julie to watch her daughter in the marching band at the Ferris High School football field. They had a midnight pep rally - now tell me, what on earth prompted them to do a midnight pep rally on a Sunday night??? If you figure it out let me know - it was the 2nd annual one to boot.

Before heading out last night I finished up another card. This one is for the Pink Cat Studio DT challenge by Dawn and for a chance at the guest designer spot for September which will feature the Melissa's new Christmas Kitty - which I am so hopped up for Christmas that I need these stamps.....LOL.  Well, I don't really NEED them but I really WANT them...........LOL.

I used MM pp's, misc cardstock, tulle (for the fabric part of the challenge), PCS Kitty stamp, SU greeting stamp, MM flower/gem brad in the center of the greeting, ribbon from stash, gems from stash, copic markers to color in the image. 

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Sorry if the picture isn't the greatest.  I'm still struggling getting things loaded via dial up!!!

Thanks for stopping by as always and happy scrappin'!!!!

Over and out ya'll...................................

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Tales of the Travelin' Scrapper

Well, I am in Dallas this weekend and stuck with dial up internet. Oh man I sure wish the area my folks live in would come to modern times!!! I managed to get a couple things done, which in itself is amazing because I'm not a good traveling scrapper!!! I packed up 4 bags and brought with me for the 5 days I was gonna be here because I knew internet time would be limited and I'd need something to do.

Here is a card I got done:



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I also made two composition books - mini ones - but haven't gotten the pics uploaded, not sure I will even mess with it until I get back home. It took forever to upload those 3 pics and I reduced them in quality and size a bunch!!!

Anywho, thanks for looking and stopping by. Nothing exciting here except trying to sort out all this moving crap. I'll be back home this next week by Wednesday at the latest because I have class again so I'll upload pics of anything else I make while here then.

Happy Scrappin'

Over and out ya'll.....................

Followers

Just to cover all bases...................

I am not the best scrapper out there. I don't claim to be totally original, I lift from many places and in many forms from color combinations, to product usage, to technique and so forth. I try to be fair to all scrappers out there and mention them when I lift from them - now keep in mind, there are so many people out there scrapping, card making and altering items that naturally more than one person will have similar ideas. When I mention lifting, or casing as some call it, I mean when you intentionally take a design you see and duplicate it exactly or only change up the coloring........KWIM???

With that said..........

All content, including text, photographs, and concept design elements are © Karen Brooks unless otherwise noted. Content within this blog is shared for personal, non-commercial use and inspiration only and shall not be used for personal gain or entry into contests or for publication. That wouldn’t be very nice now would it???

Thanks and happy scrappin'!!!!