Howdy!

I have just a minute to stop in and post - and I thought that I'd share with you some scrap pages that I worked on.  I need to start doing another prom scrapbook for Danielle.  Finally I went to the store and printed out some to work with.  However it is just some of the over 300 that were taken.  Yes, 300+ pictures!  So here we go:

 Yup, where does the time go?  I so wish that I had that little girl back ~ and doing it all over again, well, that really was not a problem.  I was one of the lucky ones.  She never came home with purple hair (ok, I did once) and she was never in trouble (knock on wood that keeps up!!) so yes, I would do it all over again.  But it is also nice to see what a young lady she's grown into.

Ok, enough of the jibber jabber - I've got a few things to do.  But please make sure that you pop on over to my other blog Joani's Cards Made by Hand, Too! and see what a great special Stampin' Up! has going on right now. 

More crafty and creativeness later, promise!

Our Journey

I am slowly going thru all our pictures and scrapping them and these were taken back in 1997 (I think)... And I thought that I'd start a page with all scrapbooking on it just in case your not into that kind of thing. I'll keep the main page of my blog for 3D and card items.

These pictures were taken back in 1997 when we were still in CA and rented a convertible and drove the coast line on Highway 1 and then we drove up to Reno NV. We had a great time! The picture of Danielle asleep was taken in San Francisco. She was so pooped that night the poor thing fell asleep at the table in the resturant. She was looking at the page after I finished it and she said "I remember that trip. But I don't remember that" and she pointed to the picture of her sleeping. I told her "Duh, that's because you were sleeping"... Sometimes she's SO blonde...

The papers are from Bo Bunny and Kaiser craft. I used my friskars, Martha Stewart and Marvy punches on this page. The envie is from Stickapotamus and I used K&Co tags and Karen Foster & Heidi Grace rub ons. The ribbon was some that was given to me.

I hope to move all my scrapbooking to this page ~ it might take a while, but I'll get it done. It will be one of those projects on the "back burner".

Want some digi?

I've been working on other stuff too.  At night to take a break from coloring or cutting or assembly I've been working on some digi pages.  I can get away with it because I've got Danielle's laptop in the living room and all my digi stuff on my thumb drive... 

I have no idea why my camera is not working right - it works when it wants to...  But since they were the only pictures I had, I had to use them.  A couple of weeks ago we went to the tree lighting here in town.  We took Dixie with us.  We want to get her socialized so it was a great time!  The tree is always at the court house and here are the before and after pictures.  The picture of Ricky, Dixie and I is a little blurry - but like I said, it's the only pictures I have so I had to use them.  Besides it's in our memories too, right?

Here is a few pictures of us on Thanksgiving.  Silly pictures, but it's all about the memories.

And another with Dixie in the yard.  If anything I hope that me sharing the pages with you gives you some sort of inspiration ~ if not for a digi page then a card front.  I get inspiration from all the strangest things.

More to come later...

Happy Toasted Marshmellow Day!

I just had to show you these pictures. My daughter loves toasted marshmallows and smores. One evening we were thinking of them and we had BBQ'd earlier so the grill was still hot. Hubby threw a few more pieces of charcoal on the grill and we had toasted marshmallow's. Then one night Danielle wanted some, we were not going to fill the grill with charcoal so she could - so dear hubby (who's always thinking) went to the garage and got out his torch. It's intended purpose is for soldering things - well hubby brought it in and we took out our skewer's and had marshmallow's. Yup, that's my hubby. The Tim Allen of the south!
It's kinda off of the toasted marshmallows subject - but it's still about marshmallow's. My dear, dear hubby. I think that he is hilarious. He keeps me laughing all the time. You know they say that laughter is the best medicine, and I get plenty of it. They also say that the more you laugh the longer you live ~ if that's the case, I'm going to be well over 100!! Well he stuffed his mouth the other day and he was trying his best godfather impersonation. Take a peek.

I just wanted to give you all a laugh and I will be back later to post something creative! Have a great day!!

Off topic you might say

Ok, I know that this is a little off topic, but I had to show you.

These are just some of the pictures that Danielle had taken a week or so ago. Yup, senior portrait time. I can't believe it really. Remember when we were kids and had our pictures taken. They had that black velvet wrap or fuzzy pink throw around us? And the guys with the tuxedo jacket and tie. No more. I think it's kinda cool here you can have your picture taken doing whatever it is you love ~ and have that printed in the yearbook. It's really cool when you see them. The kids in their sports uniforms or on their horse. Some on their dirt bikes or whatever they are into. Yes, times have changed.

But I wanted to show you some of her pictures. Like I said these are just a few ~ but I love the whole rail road track theme. I think that they might even look pretty cool in black and white too.

I promise something crafty will be next ~ stay tuned.

Did you survive Green Eggs & Lephrachauns?

I hope that today finds you all well.

Hubby's still a little sick, but now I think that Mom's come down with it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't catch it. I'm the only one in the house without insurance! And no honey, just because I love you does not mean that we have to share EVERYTHING....

Let's see... I have something to show you. I'm still working on Easter cards. I love Easter, and the spring feeling that it brings. When Danielle was little I used to dress her up ~ hat, gloves and the whole ball of wax... I think that Easter is one of those holidays that Mom's secretly love because they can dress their little one's up in their finest and take pictures. I was lucky too. When Danielle was little she did not like dirt. Heck, we took her to the beach and she didn't like the sand. Same for the snow. She didn't like the things that 'felt' weird to her. When we went places she sat in my lap and did not get down to get dirty with the other kids. NOW, oh now I can't say that. Her idea of a great day would be to go muddin' or 4-wheelin' with her friends. Weird, weird, weird.... Good thing I've got all the pictures of when she was little....

While I'm on the subject of Easter, I thought that I'd show you a couple of pictures from the past since I'm reminiscing..... If you don't want to hear my family babble then scroll down for the cards....

This one was of Danielle and I at Easter in 1997. Back when she was not embarrassed of wearing the same thing as her Mom.

Then that same year-just after we went to have our pictures done. My Mom was President of the Ladies Auxiliary of the VFW and I was the secretary. A job that I proudly held for 3 1/2 years. I was hood-winked into being the Easter bunny that year for the kids. I really loved it, but I'll tell you it was HOT in that costume! I was so glad to peel it off when I was done! And of course if I had to wear the costume, Mom had to wear the ears Ü

Ok, enough of the past. On to the present. Oh-where was I? Yes, that's right. Easter cards....

I thought what about some giant eggs for Easter? So I stamped the eggs from the Spring Fling set in Positively Pink, Only Orange, Gable Green, Tempting Turquoise and Lovely Lilac. The bunny I stamped in Chocolate Chip from the Bunny Hugs set and colored him in with my pencils and gamsol. The base card is Pacific Point and layered it with Tangerine Tango. The grass I hand cut from a piece of Garden Green. For the sentiment I took that and stamped it in Only Orange on to a piece of Certainly Celery and layered it on to a piece of Pink Pirouette with a flag cut out of Pixie Pink. I used my nesties to cut those layers out.
The Lovely Lilac egg was covered with glitter so it would stand out a little more. I used a pop dot to adhere it to the front of the card. The sentiment on the inside is from D.O.T.S. and it is stamped in Only Orange. The dots on the inside and outside of the card are made with my old pens "DottaRiffic" that I've had for years. They have 2 ends and they make perfect dots.

That's all I have for today, is that enough? I'm going to work on more to show you tomorrow. I've got an eye doctor appointment today. Gotta check the peepers - it's been 5 years!!

Have a great day, and I'll be back tomorrow!
Hugs,

Joani

Did you make it thru the weekend?

I know that I barely did. As most of you know every weekend we go out to my SIL's house to help out. This weekend kinda kicked my rear! I'm not sure if I'm coming down with something or not. I've been sneezing an awful lot this past week and I've just not felt myself. What we normally do every weekend, this weekend just killed me. Yesterday I did not want to do anything, and sitting was worse. But I made it thru and here I am today.

And on another note, I'd appreciate some prayers for my BIL. When we went out to Kathy's this weekend she told us that my BIL Wayne, who is in California, had a heart attack. Wayne also has MS. I guess Saturday he had a heart attack and fell. They at first thought that he broke both his legs, but he didn't. But he does have a 90% blockage in the main artery of his heart. They are going to try to put a stint in, but from experience I'm not sure if I trust those. But please send some prayers up for him. As if he's not struggling enough with MS he now has to deal with this.

On a lighter note..... a very dear friend, whom I won't mention because she might be reading this is having a birthday soon. I had to use a new set that I got from The Angel Company called Little Cupcake R0238. I just love cupcakes!! Isn't it adorable?

Well anyway, on to the card.....

The base card is Pixie Pink. I layered it with Pink Passion, Pink Pirouette and DP from TAC's Catelynne collection (another of my FAVORITES!!). I stamped the image and colored it with pencils, gamsol and markers. I sponged some Pixie Pink ink around the layer before adhering it to the DP. I added a length of ribbon and a flower from Making Memories with a crystal brad. The saying at the bottom is from the cupcake set also that I stamped in Pixie Pink and layered on to scraps of all the papers used on the card and attached with pop dots. The tag at the top is also from the Catelynne collection.I jazzed up the inside with the same card stock and stamped some more images from the collection. I colored them with my markers and added stickles for some more pop! I hope that she likes it, I'm sure that she will.

That's all for me now. I hope that you all have a super great day!

Hugs,

Joani

A mish mash of everything....

Ok, for those of you who know me personally know that I am some what of a dork! First of all I wanted to give you a laugh for the day!

This past weekend I posted pictures of our snow that we received. Well a day after it stopped I thought that I'd shovel the driveway. Of course I got up that morning all ready to go and who would of known that by dinner time all the snow melted off the driveways, sidewalks and roads!! But at least it was a little bit of exersize.

One of my 'favorite' things to do is embarrass my DD. She is at that stage now that everything Mom does is embarrassing! And yes, I take this to the extreme at times. I tell her "this is my time. When you have children you can do the same to them". It does not help that my father was probably one of the biggest teases ever. I inherited my dorky-ness from him :)

I got sidetracked again - choo choo, my train de-railed. Anyway, I got up knowing that I wanted to shovel the snow and put on my layers. I've got long johns on, a sweatshirt, a jacket, 2 pairs of socks (that my hubby got me for Christmas in the hunting department.... mmmmm so warm) and the stupid hat. My DD's father sent her this hat the 1st year we moved away. Of course she would never wear it, hell-o! She might mess her hair up, not to mention that it is a stupid looking thing with the big ball on top. Yup, just up my alley. So I proceed out front *gasp! from my dear teenager* "You are NOT going outside looking like that" oh yes daughter dear, I am! So after a little bit she's got to come out and throw snowballs at me - And she wanted me to lift her out of the snow angel she made? HA!

Ok - enough of that stuff. I just had to show you how silly I really am! Yes, it is a family traight - and dear daughter you WILL once become your mother!!

Now on to biz-ness!
A little over a week ago my stampin' friend Betty came by and we were chatting away. I mentioned to her about a ribbon holder I saw A LONG time ago on line. I can't remember if it was on Scrapbook.com or SCS - but I had to have it! It was a big 4" or 5" PVC pipe that someone split down the middle and hung on the wall. Well I've been to Lowe's and the PVC pipe was a little costly and you could only buy it in an 8 foot length. You only need 1/2 of it because it is split down the middle, and what was I going to do with 16 feet of pipe? Ok, yes - I WISH I could fill that but I'd be in divorce court before you know it if I did :) Then Betty and her hubby went out to buy it! She split it with me and her hubby even made those cute little 1/2 circles out of wood for the ends so the ribbon would not fall out! It was so generous of them! So I got my DH to put them up the other day. Yes, I still have ribbon left to put in them, but it is not on spools - I need to find some empty spools or something to put the ribbon on. THANK YOU BETTY!!! Your the bomb ~ ka-boom!!

Now some of you might remember that I signed up to become a demo with theangelcompany™. Well, my kit came in and I've been fondling rubber ever since. As some of you know I had unmounted my SU! stamps a while back and posted it on my blog how I did it. I do not regret it one bit! I have so much more room! Well, TAC™ stamps are UM, and they do come in the clamshell cases like SU! however they do not have the indexing stickers like SU! does. Well, that's fine - really. But my Mom has a hard time telling what stamp is what just by looking at the rubber. So, I had to think of an idea to help her out too. I am not really one who likes the CD cases, or at least didn't. On a trip to Big Lots the other day I got a wild hair and decided to buck up and put on my big girl panties again and just be like Nike - and do it! I bought some CD cases and DVD cases. One of the reasons that I did not like putting my sets in CD cases was the bigger the set it does not all fit. Well I thought to put my bigger sets in the DVD cases. The ones I bought were the slimline and they did not fit the stamps. Then the light came on!!! I took my movies that I have not and switched them to the thin cases and used the old DVD cases my movies were in! And they fit the larger sets perfect!! I printed the name of the set and code number on to a piece of white paper with my printer and stamped the images on to that piece of paper for Mom and it looks great. I was even going to go as far as color all the images, but I might save that for a rainy day. Mom likes to look at the colored images (she loves House Mouse stamps because they are colored) but I was not that eager.

So what did I do? I made a card!!

I sent some TAC™ catty's out in the mail the other day and I wanted to make a card to go with it! I used the set "What's Moo?" from TAC™. I love love love this set!! And of course it was appropriate to use, what's moo? Me being a demo for TAC™!! So if you are reading this and I sent you a catty, this card is with it!!!

I used the What's Moo set from TAC™ and stamped the cow and colored her with pencils and gamsol. I have had this cow print paper from Darcies for a long long time and now was the time to use it!

The main base of this card is Certainly Celery. I stamped the "What's Moo?" and the "Howdy Ya'll" in Old Olive ink. I layered the cow print DP and the cow itself on Purely Pomegranate. Before I layered the cow image on to the card i used my black sparkle gel pen and drew the dashes and dots on the card then layered the image and I was done. There is also a cow set in the TAC™ spring mini that is adorable!!! If you'd like to take a look peek here.

Well, now that I have completed my "novel" I think I'm finished. It's time that I go do a bit of blog hopping of my own. Have a safe & scrappy day!!!