Sweetie

I loved this baby outfit on both Audrey and Caitlyn. I didn't have the hair kerchief until Audrey, but the capris and little 'Sweetie' strawberry ruffle tank top I had gotten when Caitie was about this age.

Using a sheet of Bo Bunny and a sheet of Minds Eye that I got yesterday. The yellow paper is from the Lets Get Together paper pack. CTMH Chipboard, Minds Eye ribbon, craft rhinestones, and Sweet Thang stamps from CHF embellish the layout. I used another Page Maps sketch for this one too, from Oct '07.

Va Va Voom!

I love it when my girls play dress up. Audrey has always loved socks, especially ones that aren't hers, lol. I used some of the new Sultry Basic Grey papers that I got yesterday to make this layout. I wish one of our LSS had the whole set as these are the only 3 patterns anyone has here and this is one of the few sets that I've really liked. I'm hoping someone gets Sugared in soon, it's the one I really love!

Using a Sept '07 Page Maps sketch as a base I put this layout together in a couple of hours last night. The most time consuming parts were cutting out the CS to cover the chipboard and then typing up the journaling and getting it to fit. A little off topic, I'll be dropping to junior consultant status with CTMH since my new crafting budget has been very much reduced now that we have a car payment again. It was a nice year and a half while I had it. ^_~ I'll still be doing the CTMH color challenges for as long as I have their colors as I still love lots of their stuff. It's just that CTMH was the most expensive part of my previous budget even with the discount and it's less costly for me to just buy from our local scrapstores since they have coupons and are always doing specials.

Stacy and Jenn gave me this award. Thank you girls, I feel very honored! I'd like to give this award to Deb, she always makes such gorgeous cards, and Kristy and Jules, they both have such amazing scrap pages with trendy new products! Thanks ladies, you have been a constant inspiration!

Color Challenge #20 and Blog Candy Winner!!

These colors were just some that I was playing with on Scraptitude. I wanted something with Moonstruck since I never use it and it's actually a really pretty blue. Hydrangea and Watermelon just kind of popped in there and then I thought it needed something light so I picked up Heavenly Blue. I love how it works with some of the Whoopsidaisy papers too. To play use at least three of the colors ^_~ Send me a link and I'll add it to this post. Thanks for playing and have fun!!


Moonstruck
Watermelon
Hydrangea
Heavenly Blue


Stacy's Cute As A Button Layout
Sue's Beauty Flower Card
Sparkle's Summer Fun Riley Card
Jenn's Elegant Happiness Card
Jena's Sweet 'I love you the most' Layout


My Sample:


Using Whoopsidaisy papers and a Page Maps book layout. I wasn't too creative and just copied the sketch. Journaling reads 'Once there was a Princess... who had a lovely Crown. The bottom was too big for her, so she wore it Upside-Down!! Audrey you make such an adorable Princess!' Dotted pink ribbon and white foam letters not CTMH but everything else is. Playful Flourishes and Fairy Dust stamp sets used.

I have had such a fun time reading these birthday stories for the blog candy! Some of them had me laughing out loud ^_~ I had Caitie draw a name from Paul's cap. It was so silly because she wasn't sure what to do so Mich had to help her. If you look closely you can see in the background Audrey eating a muffin.... Caitie's muffin, lol!


And.... Leanne was the name she drew!! Congrats ^_~ Leanne, email me your addy and I'll get your goodies out to you! Here's what Leanne posted : 'Your pages are awesome! I love birthdays too. Mine is in April and sometimes it falls on Easter, which makes it extra special! I usually get to celebrate with all my family since we get together for church and dinner.' Thanks for sharing everyone!!

Birthday and Blog Candy!

Wow this week has just flown by! Last night I finally got to relax and sit down to create and I realized the last thing I made had been for the color challenge Sunday night! It's pretty unlike me to go the better part of the week without creating anything, but I suppose it happens especially since we've had a lot going on this month ^_~ I wanted to get these birthday pics scrapped since I had already picked out the paper for them so I worked on these last night.



This one was actually the second layout I made for Cait's b-day but it will be the first one when I put it in the album. Uses CTMH CS in heavenly blue and blush, Minds Eye papers and matching transparencies and CS embellishments, CTMH embellies and ribbon, Thickers foam letters/numbers, doodlebug blue flowers, and prima pink flowers. I picked a Dec 07 Page Maps layout that I had used once before. I love this design with the circles and vertical photos and it uses up a lot of pictures as well. I tend to take pictures in the masses, lol.



Here was the first layout I did: Caitie's cake. Uses a new May PageMaps layout. I altered the layout just a tiny bit to fit with the photos I had. I used the same products as the other layout with the exception that I used heidi swap flowers and another unknown brand (the light pink flowers) instead of the doodlebug flowers. And yes, Caitie is LICKING her cake in the far right/top photo! We made sure to give her that piece first, lol.



And the last birthday layout using a Sept 07 8 1/2 x 11 double page layout from PageMaps. I just stretched the layout and used the extra picture I had to make it fit to a 12x12 size :D Audrey was making the funniest faces! It was so nice to scrap these. I adored these papers when I first bought them back in March and have been wanting to scrap these photos for a while. They also went pretty quick! I had forgotten how fast scrappin' is when you don't stamp anything, lol.

I LOVE to take pictures on birthdays. I never get those perfect 'opening the gift' or 'blowing out the candles' pictures but I usually really like the ones I do get which seem a little more candid. My favorite thing is watching my kids eat the cake. Of course they are a lot better at it now, but on the 1st birthdays we let them have their very own mini cake and just dive into it. Caitlyn hardly got messy with hers, she kept patting it and looking at us like "What do I do with this thing?" Audrey however had REALLY gotten into her cake. She had it all over her legs and feet, arms and face, it was hilarious!



Now for the blog candy :D Just a fun little package with some dp, shimmer CS, ribbon, a few flowers, and some of sweet chibibolie images from my stampingbella stamps that I got for Mother's Day. Leave me a comment on this post with something about birthdays; a story, your favorite thing about them, etc. You have until Monday night. Tuesday morning I'll have Cait randomly pick out a name from the hat. Please leave me your name in the post so I can get ahold of the winner easier ^_~ Thanks!

Color Challenge #19

This color challenge was actually inspired by the Splash layout I did in the previous post. I had to tweak it a little since the colors weren't quite the same and we didn't have a green that really matched, but I like the way it came out. The colors are very summery and are a little more masculine. I know I usually tend to do girly colors ^_~

Ocean
Breeze
Honey
Goldrush

Sue's Sassy Emerson Quillin Card
Jenn's Relaxing Summer Card
Sparkle's Cute Domestic Hanna Card

My Sample:




These pictures are so funny. Caitlyn just cracks me up. She has always fought naps even as a baby. In fact she wouldn't nap unless you held her when she was an infant. Even though she's very stubborn (she gets it from both Paul and I, lol) the nap will occassionally win out ^_~. Uses the retired CTMH b&ts and a Jan '08 page maps layout. Foam letters for the title and velvet rickrak are various others, the rest is CTMH. To play use at least three of the colors and comment me with a link to your art so I can add it to this post ^_~ Thanks for playing and have fun!

EDIT: I keep forgetting to answer this question, lol. Mel asked what camera I use now for my pictures. I have a Fugi Finepix S700. It's a 7.1 mp with 10X opt zoom. I LOVE this camera and it came at a great price since I got it during Christmas. I wasn't sure if you meant photos of my kids or my art, Mel so I just answer both ^_~. I almost always use auto for taking pics of the kids. So far it's worked wonderfully! If I get in situations like when it's slightly overcast outside I set the flash to go off every time, the colors stay truer that way. For cards I make a backdrop with 2 sheets of white CS in my kitchen which has pretty good lighting. I use the super macro setting for those photos. For layouts I still use auto with the flash. I've been trying to experiment but so far that's worked the best. HTH!

My Big Huge Fat Long Post

And it's fitting since this is my 250th post! I'm going to start off with thank yous first. I want to thank all the gals that have emailed me and commented on my blog with support, it really helped to see that! I've barely been on the computer and the only two things I've done this week on it are speed check my emails and search for cars. Yes, I said cars and you'll find out why later on in the post. I want to give special thanks to Jenn, who sent me this RAK along with a touching heartfelt message in the card.

I want to also give another special thanks to Sparkle for sending me this other very sweet package! I got both these RAKs yesterday evening and it was so uplifting! Thank you so much ladies!!

Now I did a bit of crafting despite everything that has been happening, so I'll just go down the line starting with Tuesday night and post/journal what's been going on. I'm warning you now, just like the title says this is going to be a huge fat long post.

TUESDAY:

Caitie and I spent Tuesday night putting this little basket together. Remember last week when Caitie was sick? Well she missed that entire week of school, which just so happened to be teacher appreciation week. The PTA had come up with some fun easy ideas for us to show how much we and our kids appreciated the teachers and had the classes pass them out the week before so we had clues on what to do. Well, since she missed the Teacher appreciation week I still wanted to do something special. So Cait, Audrey and I went out shopping. The girls picked the flowers, Audrey tried to overload the cart with tons of pencils and pens, and overall they had a really fun time getting little things for Caitie's teacher and her two aides. Caitie colored in the owls and I put together the cards. Inside I wrote a note to the teacher and each aide then let Caitie draw a picture and sign her name. I also found out the next day when we delivered the basket that Caitie has progressed so much these past 5 months she's been in school that she doesn't have to go to summer school. I'm so proud of her!

WEDNESDAY:

Wednesday I was in a scrappin' mood. This was the first layout I did. I had actually bought two sheets of different paper to use specifically with these pics, but they didn't look quite right with the pictures. So I ended up doing this and love the results!! Usually I like lots of color on my layouts but every once in a while I get in the mood to do clean layouts like this with lots of white. This was a very fun layout to make and I didn't even use a sketch. Paper from CTMH, Prima and CTMH flowers, CTMH clear buttons and bigger brads, and ribbon from my stash.

This layout I just adore. Uses an April '08 Page Maps layout. I saw these papers at Pebbles the other day and picked them up having no idea what I would use them with since they seemed a little more boyish as far as the colors went, but I loved them anyway. I found these bath photos and thought they would be perfect since I'm always trying to find new ways to do bath photos because I have so many, lol.

THURSDAY:

This was the day when it began. The car had been getting fixed at one shop then was going to be taken to another shop for the body work. Well, it turns out the body work would cost more than the car was worth. So late that morning we found out our car was deemed as a 'total loss'. The payout though was more than we could ever get on a trade in so we thought that wouldn't be so bad. Until we tried looking for a loan. I won't go into the nitty gritty details but it wasn't looking good at all since our chapter 13 had discharged only last year Feb. not to mention we still hadn't received the car title after the discharge but that is a whole other story that I don't want to get into the details with either. We had been denied twice and were extremely worried we wouldn't be able to get a loan. Now our car was 12 years old so the payout wasn't much. But it would be enough to help with a down payment.... if we could get a loan. Anyway, all day Thursday we stressed and we prayed and we had Mich baby sit while we spent over 5 hours car and loan shopping. By the end of the day we still had nothing and were really worried. We spent a lot of time praying and talking to friend's and family for support and advice. Even after all that, once the girls were in bed I thought I need to just do something to take my mind off this. So I pulled out my new barbella and made this card for the bella #28 sketch and color challenges.

That helped lift my spirits for the short while I made it. Then it was back to worrying and Paul and I spent more time praying again.

FRIDAY:

We started the day with another prayer and had Mich come and baby sit again while we got a head start on car/loan shopping again and working things over with the insurance. Now why do I keep stressing that we prayed a lot? Well, it plays a huge part in my mind over what happened. All day yesterday I felt almost sick at every car lot we visited. The cars the dealers had us sit in I didn't feel right in and I had wondered if it was just because I was worried about having a car payment after almost 2 years of not having one. Well we got to the last dealer we were suggested to check out and I just felt better. We got out of the car and I didn't feel sick about anything there, I actually felt alright. The salesman was nice and compliant, nothing felt wrong about him and when we saw the car.... well I knew. I felt that calm sense of right and peace when you know you're making the right decision, when you know you're following the path God has planned out for you. Car shopping isn't probably something you think would strengthen your faith but you know what they say, God works in mysterious ways. I would never have thought that Mich's accident would have turned out to help us. I wouldn't have thought we could ever get a payment as low as we did with our credit and the newer car we picked, a 2006 Hyundai Sonata with only 25,000 miles. The car is perfect for our family really. It has the best of both what Paul and I wanted and it gets better gas mileage than our old car did! So we bought the car. And the best part was my stomach finally unwound as I felt God's hand helping us through our trial.

I made this card that night and was disappointed when Paul came in later and said the car smelt like cigarette smoke suddenly. The smell wasn't there when we test drove and there was none of that smell in the AC but after having it parked in the sun it was definitely there. Well sad to say I was sick all night with worry that we were going to have to take it back and try to find another car. I prayed, we prayed together, and throughout the night I would feel calm when I asked God to help comfort me and then after I would suddenly get worried again then would pray and the cycle would repeat itself. I didn't get much sleep. Anyway, when we took it back in the next morning they said they would clean it out with 'the bomb', lol. I won't go into all the details except that when our salesman told me this I instantly felt the weight lift off my shoulders and felt a 'see I told you it would be alright' feeling. Then to confirm that even, Chris called and had talked to Paul. His truck had been owned by a smoker too. I've been in his truck and haven't smelled any smoke. Mich's car also had been owned by a smoker too and her car doesn't smell either. It's hard to explain when I'm just explaining it, but I truly felt that it is true that 'with God all things are possible' and that He lifts our burdens. The saying 'If He brings you to it, He will bring your through it' is the best phrase I can think of to sum up what has been happening these past few weeks. Now we just have the insurance part to finish up, another stress, but I know things will work out. I know He has a plan for us.

SATURDAY:

Saturday after we took the car in we came home and Mich came over to hang out for a bit. The girls of course have been loving having their dear Aunt around so much. Later we took the girls to a different waterpark.

Audrey and Paul, it was a little windy but the heat more than made up for it.

Caitie finally holding still so I can take a quick close up pick of her. I used my 10X zoom a lot and got some really fun pics of them playing too. Then we went to Nana's right after the water park. It was so nice to just relax and chat there. We got home and it was the girls bedtime so we did a quick dinner then sent them off to sleep and Paul finally brought in the mail which was when I got the RAKs at the beginning of the post. I didn't make anything yet though, as I was too tuckered and totally ready for bed, lol. The heat here really gets to you! And well after two days and three nights of emotional distress I think I was just mentally pooped too. So that was my week. I'll probably be trying to get up some blog candy too since this was my 250th post. I keep telling myself I need to do that every once in a while for fun but keep forgetting, lol. Anyway, keep a lookout this next week for the blog candy and thanks again for all your support ladies, it went a long way to helping me feel cared for and more positive that things would turn out!

Color Challenge #18

And now for the Color Challenge. Like I said I did a lot between Sunday evening and tonight, but just haven't been home. We got back from the birthday party at 9:30, then settled the girls in for the night. It was 10 by the time I got to work on the challenge. I wanted to do a layout and was having a thing for Pink Carnation. So I flipped through the new photos I printed (yes I know I'm supposed to be working on my old ones, but the new ones are more fun!!) and found these. Audrey's PJs are the inspiration for this week's color challenge. They are hand me downs from Caitie and are some of my favorite PJs. To play use at least 3 of the colors and comment me with a link to your art so I can add your link to my post here ^_~.

Pink Carnation
Baby Pink
Key Lime
Kiwi

Sue's Cute Cottage Floral Card
Marcia's Lovely Flower Sentiment Card
Sparkle's Purrfect Kitty Card and Alpha Xi Delta Layout
Jenn's Sweet and Simple Thank You Card
Stacy's Adorable Baby Layout
Jena's Fun Sunshine Layout

My Sample:



The only place I used Kiwi was on the watermelons. I used a Dec '07 page maps layout to do this one and it was pretty rushed since I wanted to get the color challenge done and posted. Sweetness of Summer and Hodge Podge Alpha stamp sets used. The retired B&T and just regular CTMH CS for the papers. All the white accents and ribbon are CTMH. The foam letters, pink ribbon, and pink brads are various others. Thanks for stopping by and have fun with the challenge!

And yes things are going much better with the car now. Insurance is paying for however long we need the rental until the work is done on our car. As for my glasses, I went to see if they would let me buy the same frames and put my lenses in the new set since I had just gotten them in the fall and they did! In like 10 minutes too, lol. We've had a crazy day with me running errands and trying to shop with the girls and Paul trying to get everything settled with the mechanics and the insurance and then the birthday party, but it's been a good day ^_~. Thanks for all the support I've gotten in emails and comments while we've been dealing with these life hiccups. It's helped so much to keep me going and trying to look at the bright side!

I Spy

I loved the papers I got Sparkle so much I had to go back and get some for me too, lol. This layout is one of my favorites! I adore the colors, the layout design (from the new May Page Maps), the embellishments and these pics!! I actually had to hand stitch those circles. I used a metallic/glitter embroidery floss for the stitching, it's actually a floss I've had for years that I bought for a huge cross stitch project that came out rather gorgeous. It took me two pregnancies to finish it (for some reason I only felt like working on it when I was pregnant, lol) but I think it was well worth it. Anyway, papers are just from various companies, buttons are from doodlebug and CTMH, and the rest is from various others as well. I had intended to use these papers for summer pics, but saw these pictures and thought they just went too perfect to not use them!

Birthday Cards for Boys

Today we had a birthday party to go to and I hadn't made a card yet. It's for one of our friend's sons, and he is turning 10. Well, I made the first card, was quite happy with it then asked Paul if it seemed to kiddie for the birthday boy. He said, "Ummm..." So I started to make another one. He did say it was cute, but I think we both kind of thought it was a little too kiddie for a 10 year old. Maybe not, but I made another one anyway. The turtle one can go to one of his little brothers ^_~




This was the first one I made using the Tyson Turtle from CHF. The Owl stamps I have are also from Cornish Heritage Farms as well. In fact the party hat is from the Owl set. Uses the Good Times paper set and From Me to You stamp set for the sentiment.




And this was the one we ended up giving to the birthday boy. It's a bit simpler, but I think it worked better for him. Plus I was working like super speed to make this one since we were supposed to be leaving, lol.

Just Dandy

Sunday night I got to scrap a bit. Now, between my last post and tonight I've done quite a bit, but I've also been gone quite a bit as well so I'm going to be doing separate posts to split up the projects I did, lol. This was the first set I started last night.

Using my Reflections book. The left side is Main Frame - Details and the right is an altered version of Bottom Border - Title. For the Bottom Border layout I didn't even look at the cutting guide once I read the photo sizes. Instead I just used the sketch as a guide and cut the papers to fit my photos.

This set also used the Reflections, Title Topper - Subtle for the left page and Sidebar - Original for the right. Again I altered one of the pages to fit my photos, the Title Topper page. Papers used were from Paper Garden and the retired Cozy B&T. Twill ribbon and the blush dotted ribbon used in all four pages. I was keeping with a theme since these were all one set of photos. Everything but the yellow prima flowers is CTMH.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!!

I tried to go shopping for my Mom and MIL earlier this week for Mother's Day and just couldn't find anything that really popped out at me. Well Friday evening rolls around and suddenly I remember, hey! I've got a life delights showcase set still. Not only that but I had bought one of the 9x9 accordian albums when they were on that special $1 deal. So even though my mom's will be late (since I had to mail it out), I think it will be worth the wait. It's been 2 years since I've done any cute albums for anyone and both my mom and MIL have always loved the mini albums I've made before, so I printed out new pics from my digi camera to put these two together.

This one uses the Life Delights Showcase kit. It was the fastest one to put together since the layouts are all preprinted, all you do is add the stickease, photos, and accessories and viola!

I only had 4 sheets left of the More to Adore paper pack but had a bunch of stickease for the set that Sparkle had RAKed me with. It was perfect for this showcase. The stickease made finishing off this display album quick and easy, the longest part was cutting and gluing the layouts together. I basically followed the same design as the Life Delights showcase, subbing what papers I had to fit the layouts. Both of these came out so wonderful, I'm hoping they really enjoy them!

While I was starting to get together these albums Paul said we should make something for his Grandma. It's been just over a year since Grandpa passed away and she's been feeling down. The last time I had make them an album was right after Audrey had been born. I used twilight B&T and some floral tapestry B&T to supplement. Twilight ribbon rounds, some prima flowers, and CTMH embellies accent the album. The chipboard album itself is from Basic Grey. I wasn't thinking about having to cut out each page to cover the chipboard with and had almost gotten the scallop one. I am SO glad I ended up getting this bracket one instead, lol. So that's what I've been up to these last few days. I did break down and print 100 new pics of the 500+ that I had on my card so I'll be scrapping a few of those soon. Then I really need to get back to doing the 2006 seeing as it was my goal to get them all scrapped by the end of June and I still have more 2006 pics left than 2007 ones, lol.

And talk about a nutty way to start my mother's day. Audrey completely mutilated my glasses this morning (luckily I had one last pair of contacts that I hadn't opened yet), and Paul informed me last night that nothing had been fixed on the car yet and our rental was only covered until Sunday... so today basically. The reason : insurance never gave the okay to the mechanics to start working on it after they did the estimate. They never even got back to Paul after he left a message to see what's going on. Enterprise says it's alright though, that anything we end up having to pay to them because our car is still in the shop we can claim through our insurance to be reinbursed, that is if they don't just pick up the bill which they might do come Monday when we can get things straightened out. Paul's taking care of the whole thing to which I am SO thankful because I'd have a fit and not even know where to start. We still have to take the car to the body shop after the mechanics replace the radiator and fix whatever else there was so that means our car probably won't be ready until the end of next week, if there are no more hiccups. And Caitie has had hives since we got home from the movie yesterday. Paul's mom and sis were watching the girls and none of us have any idea what caused them. She hasn't had anything she's allergic to as far as I know and they are really only on her legs. Apparently they had gone down by the time we got home from the show, but she still had them this morning, so yeah my morning has been a bit crazy.

Then my mom called around eleven and we talked. I was so surprised because she usually treats me kind of indifferently, ever since I was a teen that's kind of the attitude I felt I got from her. I know she cares, but she's never really been there for me emotionally. When things go wrong it's usually a 'you made that choice' or 'I didn't agree and you did it anyway, so now look what happened' kind of thing. Well, this time.... she comforted me. She told me everything was going to be okay and things would work out. She reminded me to remember all I do have, my hubby, my girls, and how much they love me, how much she loves me. She actually talked to me and she's never really done that before. I was dumbstruck for a while to finally get that mothering from her that I missed. I've constantly envied Paul's sisters for all the support they get from his mom, and it helped so much with everything that has been happening that I suddenly had a mom of my own when I've felt for so many years that I really didn't and I just cried. I cried about everything that's going on, about finally getting that emotional support from my mom that I didn't have before and didn't realize I had needed so much, about all the stuff that's happened really. Anyway, there's my drama for the morning. I'm doing quite well now, nothing like a good cry, some check balancing, and major cleaning after all that to clear my head, lol. I know it's Mother's Day and I'm not supposed to do that stuff, but the crying helped in just letting out all that tension and doing a little math like that and working with my hands really helps me get over stuff. Well the math just because it gets my mind off stuff and my controlling nature is much more settled when I know exactly where we are at financially. Anyhoo, I'm totally just rambling now. I hope every has a wonderful Mother's Day whether you're a mom or not ^_~

Bella Color Challenge for Mom's Day

Sparkle picked Pink Carnation, Orchard Bouquet, and Pansy Purple for the bella color challenge this week in honor of her mom for Mother's Day. I've been trying to make my MIL a Mother's Day card for days now but just haven't had the right inspiration and these colors finally sparked my mojo. Paul's mom LOVES flowers. In fact her house is full of plants, so flowerbella is perfect for her. Aside from the fact that flowerbella totally reminds me of all the mother's days when she got me pretty potted flower plants for a few years before she realized I have a major black thumb, lol.

You are a Hoot

I'm supposed be trying to make one more Mother's Day card, but played with my U R A Hoot stamp set instead. It's already gotten a lot of use by my girls. They were so big into coloring these owls and the turtle yesterday. I think I must of stamped this poor little owl about a dozen times for them and then the 'baby' owl even more, lol. Uses a scrap of boomdiada paper. Leaves were from the Friendship Blessings stamp set. Anyway, it's been a busy day! It's a bit early for me to post since I'll be up a bit longer creating but I don't think I'll finish what I start after this tonight, so I decided to at least post this one now ^_~ Thank goodness tomorrow is Friday!

Hey There Cupcake

Thanks for all the support and online hugs!! I really needed them. We are doing alright now. Our insurance covers us to have a rental car and it's way nice! We got a little 2008 Kia Spectra. I'm not going to want our car back after they're finished fixing it, lol. So far everything's being covered by insurance, minus the deductable which my SIL is covering since it was her accident. She found out at the doctor yesterday that she slipped a disc a little in her neck, so she's on muscle relaxants and pain killers to see if it'll slip back into place (our insurance is covering that too thank goodness). She also says they gave her the biggest bottle of pain meds she's ever seen and she's feeling great, lol. So far everything is going alright with the repairs and insurance, which is a big relief. Today has been much better so far, now that we've gotten most all the calls made and things worked out. Plus the girls are over the worst of their colds. So on to what I've been making ^_~

I made both this layout and the next one last night. I pulled out my Cherish and wanted to do something a little different with this layout. It's Gallery Collection, a very linear design. I added some layers and tilted two of the photos to break up the boxy look of the layout. I also changed out the cutting diagram, choosing instead to put what papers I felt should go where. I also turned the left page to be like the one in the example in the book. Uses More to Adore papers and stickease, and also a little bit of the hollyhock boomdiada paper. Everything but the cupcake stamp is from CTMH. The cupcakes are from Eclectic Paperie, I forget the name of the set but it's by stampendous.

This one was made using a new May Page Maps layout from the site. Also using More to Adore papers and stickease, these pages flew by since they were so simple. I love how it shows off the pics and how Audrey's adorable cupcake jammies are shown off. These were my favorite jammies when she was one. Whenever they were clean, I had her wearing them. They were also ultra soft too. In fact the reason I bought the cupcake stamp set from Eclectic Paperie was because it reminded me so much of these jammies!

My Secret Sister also sent me the cutest images of a few Tilda and some similar genre images (sorry I don't know the names of all these!), along with a Riley image. I love them! Hopefully I'll get to play with them soon. I've been running errands all morning and still have lots to do. On a very happy note we get to go see Iron Man on Saturday and I'm sure by next week things will be back in perspective and won't feel as daunting anymore.