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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Saturday, January 31, 2009

CPS100

Well I did this card for Card Positioning Systems. I thought the sketch was fabulous and in my head the card looked great - not so great by the time it got on paper. Regardless I had fun and it knocked another challenge out - which is what I've been having the most fun doing lately!!

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Thanks for stopping by and happy scrappin' all!!!

Pollycraft & 2 Sketches 4 You

I worked on a card tonite and loved the sketch over at 2 Sketches 4 You so much that I just had to use it with the downloaded image from Pollycraft so I could play in the challenge this week which was to use ribbons and flowers. I don't own any Polly stamps/images so the one freebie they had to download was what I used. I really like what I am seeing with their stuff and glad I stumbled upon the site tonite while looking for a few more card challenge blogs!!! I sure hope I can get some images/stamps soon from them so I can play along in the coming weeks - not to mention the images are just darn cute!!!

Let me know what ya think - I kind of like this one a lot!!!

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Thanks for stopping by and happy scrappin'!!!

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Ecclectic Lurve Inspiration

I was blog hopping and look what I found at the Funky Fairy Inspirations Blog - how freaking yummy is this kit??? So, it's a blog candy and all I had to do was comment and then direct you, my sweet blogger friends over to the site for you chance to win as well!!! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!!! OK, not too many of you so I have a good chance to win but go look!!!!

Have a Whopper of a Birthday

Check out these adorable stamps I found this past weekend when I visited The Crafty Scrapper in Waxahachie, they are by Clear Art Stamps - aren't they adorable!!! You should take a look around at the other stamps they have as well - man I am in so much trouble AGAIN!!! Stamps are my weakness and I'm being very weak right now!!! LOL

Well here is the card I made using them. I did this card for two challenges - one at Cute Card Thursday where we had to create a scene and then the sketch over at Sketch Saturday. Make sure you stop by both blog challenge sites and jump in on the fun - tell them I sent ya if you do!!!

Here's my card:

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I'm really having fun with the blog challenge sites - I go each day and pull up the site according to what day they host the new challenges, put them in my journal and then work on them when I get time. If I miss a week it isn't a big deal, I just pick up when the new week starts. I am looking for a few more card challenge blogs so if you know of any leave me a note here, I managed to finish up all the challenges on the ones I know of already except one which I plan on working on here in a bit!!!!

Thanks for stoppin' by and Happy Scrappin'!!!!

White Wednesday

It isn't as white as some of you have experienced, but it is probably the best we North Texans will get. This beautiful layer of white ice is cause for concern because a.) it is ice and b.) we are not used to driving in it and SOMEONE regardless of the warnings WILL get out thinking they are superhuman and end up in an accident. I am fortunate that I talked my stubborn husband into staying at a hotel yesterday when he got off work - the 50 mile commute would have taken him 4 to 5 hours with the way traffic was backed up. It was a chore but I finally told him I'd rather have him alive today and out money for clothes and a hotel than dead tomorrow because of his persistence that he HAD to go to work everyday since it took so long to find a job with the economy in such poor shape. He stayed 5 miles from his job and said it took over 30 minutes for the car to heat up enough so he could get the ice off and it took him a good bit to get those 5 miles to work but, he is there and by the time he gets off work all of this is supposed to be cleared off!!!

Here is our view this morning from the front door:

our driveway

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Daisy, quite hesitant on whether she REALLY had to potty or not

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our front yard looking onto the road from our house that leads to the main road into town

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Very pretty to look at but def no fun - now if it were white, fluffy snow I'd be giddy and out playing in it but considering I have fallen INTO the house twice now (each picture taking trip - get it , trip) when coming back inside I pass on trying to play in it.

OK, off to fix something to eat since I slept in. I was up til 3 this morning chatting with my scrappy girls then I tossed and turned and ended up watching TV til 4:30 and finally fell asleep sometime after that for the kids to wake me up at 5:30 to tell me there was no school...................LOL!!! I need food and COFFEE!!!! Then, I'm gonna try to get some more scrappin' done!!!

Have a great and safe day!!! Happy Scrappin'!!!!

One Last.................

...............post and I'm off to bed. It is 2:53 am here and I have been chatting away with some of my best scrappy girlfriends and time got away from me!!! I should have been in bed hours ago!!!! Heck, 3 more hours and I would be up 24 straight!!!

So, one last card for tonite. I did this for a challenge at Papertake Weekly using the fabulous sketch they had!!!

Thanks for looking!!!

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Good night and happy scrappin'!!!!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Our Weather..........

..........is a little crazy!!! LOL I wished for snow and I get ice pellets - wanna see???


Our front porch – right outside the door:

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Daisy:

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The front yard and kids:

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I'm still up and working on some stuff so I might be posting more work but if not I'll def show ya some more tomorrow!!!

Thanks for stoppin' by and happy scrappin!

3 More Down

Yep, I managed 3 challenges with one card again - I'm getting bad at this but trying to get a lot done today!!!

So, this challenge incorporates the challenge at House Mouse, Sketch This and Caardvarks.

At House Mouse we had to use paper piercing so I pierced all along the edges of my image.

At Sketch This we had a sketch to work from - check out the site for the sketch.

At Caardvarks we had to see some spots.

Here's my card that covers these 3:

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

Penny Black, Daring Card Makers & ScrapStars!!!

OK, got another three challenges done!!! WOOHOO!!!!

This is for the Penny Black blog challenge. I love PB stamps but don't have a ton of them because they are hard to find locally. I am not an order stamps online kind of girl - I like to get the stamp in my hands and get a feel for it (there are a couple exceptions to this which are Bella stamps and PCS stamps.......lol). So, the few I have I really LOVE LOVE LOVE!!!! The challenge this week was "frame it" - in other words frame your image however you like just put a frame around it.

Since my frame was a heart it also doubles up over at Daring Card Makers, a new place I found this past week and am excited to play along at!!

And..................ScrapStars had a challenge to use a song title in your card!!! On of my favorite songs by Faith Hill is "I Love the Way You Love Me" and I used it here on this card!!!!

So, here goes:

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I so love this little guy with his heart balloons!!!!

Thanks again for stopping by and as always, Happy Scrappin'!!!!

Triple Threat

WOOHOO!!! I made a card that fills 3, yes THREE, challenges!!! Yay!!! I've become more of a multipurpose card maker lately by combining challenges from some of my favorite blogs because with school this term, I just don't have the time to do them all individually each week!!! So, each week I choose a couple challenges and combine them and then make single cards for the other challenges. Eventually I give each blog challenge a card of its own about once every 5 weeks!!! Works for me!!!

So, this week I chose three awesome blog challenges to combine - Basic Grey , Mojo Monday and Cardalicious .

My challenges were as follows:

Cardalicious

Journaling Tag - Chocolate: It's not just for breakfast.
Green - BG Color Me Silly PP
Orange - BG Color Me Silly PP

Basic Grey

Recipe

2 Patterned papers - 2 BG Color Me Silly PP's
1 Button - Center of the Flower
1 Ribbon and Bow - Striped Ribbon
3 Brads - Gem Brads bottom left corner

Mojo Monday

See the sketch over at the blog (not sure if I can post it here or not so to avoid any problems just click on Mojo Monday to see the sketch)!!!

And for my card:

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I also finished up my DT card and sent it off - it will be revealed on the 2nd so make sure you stop back by then to check it out!!!

I'm sure I'll be back later today with more work since it is icy and I have nowhere to go!!!

Thanks for stoppin' by and Happy Scrappin'!!!

I asked for snow..............

.................and I get freakin' ice!!!! GGGRRRR Doesn't the weatherman know the difference between the two??? ROFL So, it looks like we are gonna have some bad weather. We have already got a thin coating of ice popping up on stuff around here and the kids are home from school - darn my luck!!! ROFL

This past weekend we went to my Mom and Dad's to help with getting their TV's all ready for the new HD conversion - my Dad got the first box installed but was worried he wouldn't set it up right in the living room because of all the components and satellite and stuff so they called and asked if Rob would mind coming down to help him. It was a good weekend and was glad to spend time with them. Saturday night we went to my BFF from high school's parents house for her Mom's birthday party. I gave her the LO I made (see below) and they loved it - I was thrilled.

I took my A&P test yesterday and made a 95 - thank goodness as I was sweating that one!!! I don't know if my GPA will be a 4.0 this term - A&P is really kicking my booty!!! I am trying though and only 7 more weeks to go - 7 LONG, LONG WEEKS!!! I did start my research for my final though, I have to do an 8 to 10 page essay on a system of choice in the human body so I chose the Endocrine System - I figured there is lots going on in that system and I should have plenty of info to make my minimum requirements on length.

Scrap wise not much accomplished. I did finish up some recipe cards for a swap over at Just Scrappin' - I posted my cards for the girls to see and am anxiously awaiting the reveal of everyone else's - they'll prolly make me wait and torture me though!!!

Here are the cards I made, I used 3 different background papers for the base of the recipe card and a 4th where I stamped the sombrero on. I swear, everyone including my family thought I was nutts when I was looking for a chicken with a sombrero!!! I finally had to piece it but it turned out OK.

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I did add a little extra something to them after I took pics but it wasn't anything major.

I'm off now to shower and then get scrappin'. I've been working on a special card for my DT reveal on the 2nd in memory of Beverley Todd who passed away Christmas Eve. She was a fellow DT member and will be terribly missed in the scrappy world. So look for my card come the 2nd - I don't think you will be disappointed with this one at all, I've spent quite a bit of time working on the little details just for Beverley.

Thanks for stoppin' by and Happy Scrappin'!!!!

Friday, January 23, 2009

Slow Week

I had tons on my to do list and didn't get but one thing on the list finished!!! School this term is a bit tougher - I am actually having to study this go around and not knowing it all so trying to get a study routine down is kicking my butt.

Anywho, I made one card and one LO this week.

Here's the card:

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This LO is for my BFF from high school, Julie. She has been through some rough stuff in her life and I fully believe God will not give you more than you can handle and she is proof of it. I am so proud of her and happy for her right now as I truly believe she has finally found her soulmate!!! This is one of their engagement pics I snagged from her and turned BW so I could scrap it - I really love the pic and thought it needed a girly feel to it. Of course I turned it BW because they are wearing Longhorn jackets (Hook'em Horns)and the orange would have def clashed with the papers!!! I plan on doing another pic of theirs just looking for the perfect papers to use!!!

Here's the LO:

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So, what do you think????

Thanks for stopping by!!!

Happy Scrappin'!

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

My Creative Cafe

Oh man, have you seen the new Accu-Cut dies over at My Creative Cafe??? They are being released with CHA '09 in California and it is probably a good thing I am not there or I'd be walking out with them all!!! I am really loving the mini album dies not to mention the butterflies, buttons and flowers!!! I want them all and I don't even own an Accu-Cut system!!! Make sure you stop by and enter each blog post for a chance to win some yummy goodies being given away - but if you win and found the blog because of me share!!! LOL Seriously, share your fortune by posting back and letting me know!!!

Thanks for stopping by - there may be some creative goodies posted here later if my mojo volunteers to work today!!! Off to work on my school work then figure out what I'm fixing for dinner!!!

Happy Scrappin'!!!

Monday, January 19, 2009

Mice & Easy

I made this card for the open sketch challenge this week at Card Positioning Systems - I used sketch #93 - and the challenge at My Time to Craft to make it "Mice" and Easy.

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It was a simple and quick card to try and get my mojo going again this morning!!!

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Scrappin'!!!

Friday, January 16, 2009

Card Reveal

Yep, it is ALREADY that time again!!! Can you believe it? Feels like yesterday I posted my reveal for the 1st!!!

OK, enough of my chatter!!! Today is the Card DT reveal at Am I A Scrap Addict - Sketches!!! We had a fun sketch to work from this week and I had a blast using my new Snoopy stamp to make this!!!

Here is the sketch we worked from :

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And here is my card:

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So, what do you think??? I had a blast with this card and think it is one of my fav's as of late!!!

I found a new place to hang out!!! No, I don't usually board hop but some long lost friends are all hanging at The Shaker Box and I had to stop in for a visit!!! I def think this will be somewhere I make a regular appearance. It is really great to be back with some old scrappy friends, some that I haven't had any contact since all the drama last March. It seems that the old addage "what comes around goes around" has finally happened!!! It is a sad situation but more than deserved. I just hope that reality will be seen and help is sought out! Check out the blinkie for the site - how dang cute is this???

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This week has really flown by!!! Another week of classes and my first week of being home all alone during the day. I have gotten some stuff accomplished but not as much as I would have liked. I did get my guest DT kit for Keep In Touch and boy oh boy you are gonna love this stuff!!! If you are looking for the perfect kit make sure you check out Kelly's kits at Keep In Touch as they are always chocked FULL of papers, ribbons, bits and baubles that will make the perfect pages, cards or altered items!!! Wanna see a sneak peak of my kit??? OK ssshhhh as this is supposed to be a total surprise until February but I'm a bad bad girl and gotta give you a little peak!!!

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OK, so yeah I know that was just wrong of me but I just had to share SOMETHING!!! There is pink, red, black, chocolate, bits, baubles, ribbons, just TONS of stuff that I am working with!!! I can not wait to show you more in February!!!

Thanks for stoppin' by and happy scrappin'!!!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

All About Me

So I'm participating in an All About Me challenge that goes in 3 month segments. This was our first month and the challenge was to make a LO about your roles. In addition to the AAM challenges we have secret sisters to add to the spice of it. We filled out a short questionnaire and submitted it to the host then she assigned us a secret sister. Each month a theme is decided upon and we have to either purchase something that our SS can use on their LO that goes along with the theme and their questionnaire or make them something to use. My SS outdid herself - I mean, REALLY outdid herself. This LO hardly touches the stuff she sent me - Honestly, I could do another 2 layouts easy from the stuff and really wouldn't have to add anything extra to it!!! See, I told you she rocked it!!!

Without further delay, here is my LO - it is doing double duty for our sketch challenge too as I knew it would be great when I figured out the number of pictures I wanted to use:

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Other than this LO I managed to scrub our kitchen, finish laundry, take a test in school, talk to my Mom and cook dinner including homemade beer bread which was the hit of dinner - next to the smothered pork chops.......mmmmmmm!!!

Thanks for stoppin' by and happy scrappin'!!!

Monday, January 12, 2009

Herd the Moos

Well, I adore cows - anyone that knows me is fully aware of this!!! I've even done a page about being a "Cow-a-holic" in the past with a pic of me and all my cows (well some of them...LOL)!!! This evening I was browsing the card challenge sites and I ran across the weekly sketch challenge for Sketch Saturday and then got a look at the prize and there was absolutely no way I could pass up trying for this one!!! The prize is a Pink Gem Designs Cow stamp!!! OMG I must have this stamp (OK must is a strong word, I want this stamp)!!!!

So, I made this card based on the sketch:


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I got this image from a blogging friend who knew how much I loved cows so she sent me several images!!!

OK, out for now - the hubby is home and dinner is almost ready so time to eat and visit with the family!!! (ppsssstttt, it sure was nice and quiet today with NO ONE home!!! )

Happy Scrappin'!!!

Sunday, January 11, 2009

Well....................

..............it is Sunday night. The weekend is winding down and the kids are headed to bed for school tomorrow. I should have a nice, quiet house tomorrow with Rob gone for a good part of the day as well!!! I have a lot I want to get done tomorrow here in the house so I am hoping my back will hold up and let me get it all done!!!

Today I didn't get near as much accomplished as I had wanted scrappy wise. One card and one LO and that is it!!! I am not thrilled with the LO - I feel it needs a little something more but I just can't pinpoint what it needs. I am hoping to sleep on it and then wake up refreshed with the idea that will top it off perfectly!!! The card I did for the blog challenge at My Time to Craft's Food, Glorious Food challenge!!!

Here is a glance at what I did finish today:

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Thanks for stoppin' by - leave me a note if you have time!!!

Happy Scrappin'!!!

One Last Card For The Night

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Thanks for stoppin' by - it's 1:30 am and I'm headed to bed now!!!

Happy Scrappin'!!!!

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Catching Up

Well, I got some catching up to do!!! The past week has flown by with so much going on!!! Let's see, the kids went back to school from Christmas break - YAY!!!! I rushed my husband to the hospital with chest pains and numbness in the left arm, I returned to school, we went to a friends for a crop and we attended the Heirloom Rubber Stamp show!!!

This past Monday the kids returned to school after their extremely long Christmas break - it might have just been long to me though!!! LOL Everything is going well so far in school and the 6 weeks should be ending in a week or so then we'll get report cards. I'm not overly worried as they are both really good students for the most part.

Wednesday morning my darling hubby woke up (at 3 am mind you) with what he thought was heartburn. After hearing him scrounging through my scrap room I asked what was up and he was looking for the Tums. About half an hour later he was still miserable so I told him to try drinking milk as it sometimes helps me. By 4 am I woke back up (I kept dozing thinking it was just heartburn) and without my glasses could see a webpage pulled up with heart on it and so I began to freak. He said the pain was still there and now he had numbness in the left arm - oh boy!!! After about a half hour of griping at him I finally convinced him we needed to head to the hospital - silly man thought if he wasn't having ALL of the symptoms of a heart attach it was fine!!! GGGRRRR I was ready to whip him lemme tell ya and I might have if I hadn't been scared half to death!!! His blood pressure was through the roof - let's just say I'll refrain from sharing here as it would probably send yours through the roof!!! The docs ran EKG's and other tests and his heart is OK but they said it was def related to the high BP and his heart and changed up his meds to try and control it better. We were released about 9 am to come home and slept a good part of the day. Luckily it was nothing serious and I think it was really brought on by the fact we've not been able to find work since the first of September so hopefully it will subside with him starting work soon - hopefully!!!

I started back to school on Thursday. My classes seem to be OK but boy oh boy am I gonna struggle with Software Applications and not because of the subject but because I have a difficult time understanding the professor. Luckily each session is recorded and we can download them to catch anything we may have missed - she is really nice but with my southern dialect and being used to slower speech patterns I am finding it hard to keep up with what she is saying.

On Friday we went over to a sweet friend of mine's house to scrap with a group of ladies. We had 8 girls there in total and it was a great time. Cait and I really like getting out and chatting and cropping even though we don't accomplish a whole lot. I did finish 2 cards - my DT card and another that I started out for a challenge on a blog but it ended up looking nothing like it!!! LOL

Here is the card I can show you now:

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On Saturday Cait and I went to the Heirloom Rubber Stamp show in Grapevine. We had a nice time but were a little disappointed to be honest. The website showed a listing of a ton of vendors but in all there were only 27 present and 1 that I really wanted to check out wasn't there - that was a real bummer. We did find some stamps we'd been wanting for quite some time now and ironically enough they were from a local stamping store I found this past week!!! I got several Bella stamps and a set of My Favorite Things stamps along with some Whipper Snapper Designs stamps (3 of those I think). We spent a little more than we should have but things are looking up so I have faith it will work out - if not I guess I'll be selling some of my scrappy stuff to make up for what I spent........LOL

Here are a couple cards I have made this evening:


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This one is actually for the weekly sketch and 2 Sketches 4 You - sketch 17:

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I haven't completed many LO's lately - the only one I did get finished was a lift challenge at Scrap My Memories and it is about my obsession - Twilight!!! Hope you like:

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Oh, check out the moon tonite - I've been told by the hubby and son that it is the largest it will be all year long so naturally I had to grab the camera:

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I think it is a cool pic regardless!!!


Well, I think that is about it for now!!! Hopefully things will slow down a little and I'll blog more regularly again - I miss blogging!!! If I haven't blogged it means I probably haven't created because I love to post my work as soon as it is done!!! Don't forget to check back on the 16th for my card reveal from Am I A Scrap Addict - Sketches, I really love the sketch we worked from this go around and I am actually thrilled with the card I created!!!

Happy Scrappin' All!!!

Friday, January 2, 2009

Sketch Challenge and More........

A New Year, a new sketch at Just Scrappin' for the card section. If you'd like to join in on using this sketch please post your creation in the comment section here or come on over to JS and meet your new friends!!!

Here's the sketch I created for January:

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And here is the card I made from it:

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If you post your card creation in the forum at JS where my sketch is featured you will be entered into a random drawing for a scrappy prize at the end of the month. You have until 1/31/09, midnight, CST to get your card posted.

I did finish one other challenge today, so far, but it was a time consuming one!! I actually managed to combine 3 challenges from 3 different places in this one LO!!! So, here is the LO then I'll tell you about the challenges:

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Journaling:

My darling Rob………you are my heart, my soul, my life. I do believe I am the luckiest woman on this planet to be blessed with your love. Through all the trials and tribulations life throws at us, our love does not waiver. Even though our love is not new, it will last til the end of time.

The first challenge was over at Just Scrappin'. We had to create a layout with flowers on it but NOT any old flowers, hand made flowers!!

The second challenge was over at Dreamgirls and you had to create a LO that was completely black and white with the only touch of color being a hand made embellishment - my ribbon flowers - and the word new in the title or journaling.

The third challenge was over at Treasured Scrapbooking where we had to use a clock prominently on the layout and the word time in the title or journaling. If you notice the clock is set to 7:19 (well pretty close) - that is the official first date that Rob and I had.

I was pretty thrilled when I actually pulled this one off!!! As always, thanks for stopping by - leave me a comment and let me know what you like or dislike about my work or just to say hi!!!

Happy Scrappin'!!!

Do you know what time it is?????

..................mmmmhhhhhmmmmm it is that time again!!! I have said this before but I really do love the 1st/2nd and 15th/16th of each month!!! I am so inspired by all the ladies at Am I A Scrap Addict - Sketches and of course, these are the dates that the reveals are done!!!

This time around I had a really fun but challenging sketch to work with. After a couple cards I finally had the one I just really loved. Now I don't have these stamps - I so so so so want some though - but I used them from a bunch that a sweet friend sent me in exchange for some of my PCS images (I hope she has gotten them - haven't heard from her). I can not wait for things to get back to normal around here because I have to venture out and check out some other stamp companies that have really caught my eye as of late!!!

Enough yapping - here is my card for Am I A Scrap Addict - Sketches as well as the sketch we worked from!!!
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Now, for the rest of my New Year's work from the crop at Just Scrappin':


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Thanks for stoppin' by to check out my work!!!

Happy Scrappin'

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'!!!!