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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Monday, November 30, 2009

Disappearing Act

Yes, I did master the disappearing act for the last couple weeks! It is amazing how time flies! A lot has gone on including me working 2 jobs for a short period of time and now I am down to one job again for a short period of time but working double hours because of the holidays. I was supposed to start with a company this week but things got put on hold - it's government so contracts and stuff weren't in order to start us as planned.

I've missed a couple weeks of scrapping which hasn't made me happy but with the holidays, working and school I had to give somewhere and unfortunately my scrappy work was the only area I could afford to cut back on but...........I am hoping to be back full force now and I have some cute stuff planned for the next few weeks with the holidays in mind!!!

This week at The Cuttlebug Spot we are kicking off the holidays with the theme "Winter Wonderland." I couldn't resist my Pink Cat Studio stamp w/Lily and the Snowman - I've used this image over and over for holiday cards the last two years! I paired Lily with these adorable papers from My Mind's Eye and the sketch from Friday Sketchers.

So, here's my card:


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That is all I have today - I am heading to my recliner for some rest and relaxation and quality time tonite. I do work tomorrow but hope to have some free time tomorrow evening or Tuesday morning since I don't work til Tuesday afternoon!

As always, thanks for stoppin' by and happy scrappin'!!!!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Gobble Gobble!!

The holidays are closing in really quick and I haven't even started thinking about what we'll do!!! Thanksgiving will be spent with some new friends here in Albuquerque as both Rob and my family will not be able to come out and we won't be able to go home. I am getting excited though!!

This week at The Cuttlebug Spot we are celebrating Thanksgiving by including those adorable little turkeys on our projects - plus we will be off next week for the holiday! This week I am happy to report my card was finished and ready to go in plenty of time - I'm still feeling horrible about missing out last week. My cute little turkey is boycotting Thanksgiving by wanting us to eat anything (preferably one of those cute little piggies by the looks of his sign) but him!!! I found this the perfect opportunity to use my googlie eyes again - we all know how much I adore putting googlie eyes on everything I can!!! I used the Diamond Plate (one of my favs I do believe) and Argyle plate to emboss the designer papers behind the little guy and my DP's are from the DCWV Indian Summer Fallstack that I got on clearance at Jo's for $3!!!! I love a great bargain! I also used the sketch over at The Pixie Cottage this week as inspiration and kept it really simple - you gotta check out the prize this week, so totally adorable!!! I hope you like my little guy as much as I do!

My card - front:

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inside:

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and Copics used:

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That is all for today (actually Sunday when I'm scheduling this....LOL) as I have school work to get done and I must clean up my disaster area from the last couple weeks of non-stop holiday crafting!!

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

Friday, November 13, 2009

A Few Recent Things

With all that has been going on I haven't gotten much done for challenges but I have been busy preparing for my show tomorrow. Here are just a few things I've done - I am hoping (if I remember) to take a picture as I get set up for my first show in New Mexico - I can't wait to see the turn out!!!

Holiday Planners - I made some regular size ones and then some mini ones:

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(this is the mini one, only made 2 and they were exactly the same)

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Some mini cards - these come in a set of 6 and there are a few other versions but didn't feel like taking them all out of the bags tonite as I packed things:

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Another 5 card, regular size set:

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And all the holiday cards in my recent posts are going as well.


Now for my earrings - I didn't get as many pair made as I wanted (and this isn't all of them but again, I got lazy and didn't feel like taking them all out to photograph) but I took 2 nights off this week as I was just flat out exhausted. Tomorrow after the show I am coming home and taking a long nap!!!

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I love this pair - I swear if they don't sell I'm putting them on as I drive off!! LOL

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And this pair, my attempt was to create the image of an angel - I think it worked??

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OK, I think that is all for tonite to show ya!! I am off to pick up Cait from work in a few minutes, stop by WalMart and get the cat some food, I swear you think she is starving even though she has been eating the dogs food all day, pick up litter cuz she just flat out stinks (ugh), business card holders and a small something or another to put the mini cards in so they don't have to dig for them.

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

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Merry & Bright w/Your Next Stamp Company

Hi all! It has been an extremely hectic and stressful week since my last post. I feel absolutely horrible that I missed my card for this week at The Cuttlebug Spot but there were a few pressing things that just made it necessary - I'll recap it at the end of my post as I want to get to my project for this week at Charisma!!!!

Vee has challenged us to "Merry & Bright" and we are generously being sponsored by Your Next Stamp. We got a few free digi images to play with this week from Your Next Stamp and they are just flippin' adorable! Both the snowman and the sentiment are from Your Next Stamp - how awesome huh? The only bummer is my printer went kaput a few weeks ago so I had to save them to a zip drive and hop over to Staples and have them printed. The cardstock was much thinner than I typically use so when I tried to color in a couple of the other images I ruined them and the poor little snowman was the only one to survive!

My project this week is not the typical card. I tried last year to make a purse planner/notepad but as I typically do, I made it more difficult than it should be and gave up. I was perusing over at Suzanne Dean's blog recently and she had just what I was wanting to make done!!! I was so tickled that I had to just make myself one and I thought the images from Your Next Stamp fit perfect for what I was looking for!!

Anywho, enough flapping my yap, here is my project for "Merry & Bright":

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And the inside w/pocket:

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So, a recap:

Cait has been having serious headaches and dizzy spells for a while. We had hoped it was just anemia because she only eats a poptart for breakfast/lunch and then whatever I fix for dinner. I just figured she wasn't getting the right things to eat - you know how teenagers are right? Well, all the blood work came back showing that she is not anemic nor is she hypoglycemic which was our second guess. Basically the blood work shows everything is fine so our next step is an MRI of the brain to look for lesions - ugh, this has had me a tad upset and preoccupied.

Then, my Mom let me know that she has a kidney that has collapsed (but the other looks fine) and they found a spot on her bladder. They have decided not to put her through any surgeries quite yet. They are gonna monitor both the kidney and the spot on her bladder for a few months then decide what to do if the spot grows.

Me, I go to the doctor on Wednesday (writing this on Tuesday night...lol) to see if he is going to officially diagnose me with Fibromyalgia. My family doctor said he is pretty sure that is what is causing the additional pain for me on top of the degenerative disc disease.

Still no idea on what has been causing the chest pains with the hubby. The cardiologist is focusing on his cholesterol because all other tests come out just fine.

So, as you see I've been a little preoccupied.

As always, thanks for stopping by and happy scrappin'!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Oh Goodness it is Thursday!!

Oh my! I knew what day of the week it was yesterday (my day off) and I knew I needed to get my Thursday post scheduled but did I do it? Heck no!!!

So, it is Thursday and with every Thursday it is Charisma Cardz reveal day. This week Leanne was our hostess with the mostest and she provided us with the cah-yutest sketch evah to work with! I totally dug this sketch so much that I have it planned to use on a dozen or more cards for the holiday season!!!

Anywho, enough of my yapping here is my card and if you wanna see that yummy sketch hop on over to Charisma and play along with us!!!

My card:

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and Copics used:

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The image stamp is of course a Bella girl but the sentiment came with a quote pack by Amuse that I bought in April or May right before we moved and the local stamp store in Fort Worth was closing - they are the same quotes that I used on Merry Chris-moose cards the other day!!!

Now for some more cards just for fun - this is another set of 5 I have completed for the show on the 14th - I'm getting the sets done a few at a time but def not as many as I wanted done by now............ugh, laziness!!! LOL Anywho, Cait and I have been using and showing a few cards lately using stamps by The Cats Pajamas and this set is another example - I have 5 sets of the TCP stamps and they are spread across my table getting well used for the holiday season as they are just so darn cute and easy to use!!!

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

Monday, November 2, 2009

So Thankful at The Cuttlebug Spot

Hi all!!! This week at The Cuttlebug Spot we are giving thanks with our projects. I kicked around this one for a few days trying to come up with something catchy and cute - yeah, well I ended up with just another card. Some days the mojo is flowing, others it isn't. I had my card ALMOST finished when my daughter asked what I had used the CB on!! DOH!! I had to restructure the card and include something from the CB which is embossing on the flower and I used my Nestabilities to cut out the scalloped shapes to make the flower. Some days I am so scatterbrained I know!!! I think I have a lot on my mind awaiting the doctor appointment on the 11th so I will blame all of my forgetfulness lately on that!!!

So, on to my card:

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And Copics used (you can see from this pic that I changed the mat for the image too - I loved that mat but didn't do my measurements quite right as it was too big for the card when I went to assemble......ugh):

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I hope you are all having a wonderful day and I wish you a happy week! We are closing in on the holidays and being so far from home is getting to me. I miss my friends and family - I love Albuquerque don't get me wrong but with no one here to hang out with at all, no decent scrappy stores and still trying to recover from our being out of work for almost a year and then the move it is pretty depressing at times. Sorry, I try to keep the negative and not so fun stuff from the blog but as I am typing this on Sunday evening (love auto post) I am experiencing a mix of emotions and sometimes it is best to just get them out!!!

Stay tuned for more work this week (hopefully) and my Charisma reveal come Thursday!!!

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'!!!!