Now that the gifts have been opened!!

I can stop wondering what I got for Christmas! And let's just say that my hubby did a great job. I told him that I didn't want anything scrapbook related. Which was kinda hard for him because I have always wanted scrapbooking items so he really had to think outside the box.

And what he came up with is 2 awesome gifts that I have been wanting forever. I have wanted an Epson printer since forever for printing photos at home. I hated that our old printer could do everything under the sun but print a great photo. So now I can do that...and the second gift was Adobe photoshop elements 7....I have wanted Adobe forever. But I was so intimidated by all the things that you have to learn just for the downloads that I always talked myself out of getting it, but that won't be the case anymore. It is mine!! All mine... now only if I can get an new computer and wireless internet. I don't think I would ever leave my scrapbooking space...ok maybe I would. I haven't been down there in weeks.

But I did get down there before Christmas just so that I could make some cards...and here it is...

What's for dinner?

This is always a question at our house (and also on twopeas nsbr threads). I usually have planned what I am going to cook for a week or should I say what type of meat I am planning on using for the day. And today was that whole chicken that has been sitting in the refrigerator for a week. One of the best things about having such an awesome new refrigerator is that meat can't really go bad. I was just a little worried because it had been in there for a week and then I pulled it out...it was still partially frozen. So it had to sit in cold water for a little while.

I originally wanted to make chicken caesar wraps but remembered that I should not eat caesar dressing because it has raw egg in it! Darn pregnancy!! I luuuvvv caesar dressing. I think it will be ok to eat when I am closer to my due date (or that is what I am telling myself) l0l!

But the winning recipe was chicken chili. I have never made it before and it seems like something that would taste great. The only problem was that I had been grocery shopping already and I hadn't gotten white beans, mostly because I hate them, but also because I couldn't find canned ones anywhere. And it would take way to long to cook some. So I decided to use kidney beans and black beans instead. And here is the end result. I taste tested it and it is amazing. But what has happened during this pregnancy is that I can taste food while cooking but can't eat it when it's time for dinner. I just hope that my stomach will let me eat some of it when it's actually dinner time.

So what's for dinner at your house?? What new recipes are you trying out.

Also I have been searching for Christmas music that I can play for the kids while driving them to school. We usually listen to KTIS during the Christmas season but not that we are MP3 player users the kids want me to get music. So I have been looking high and low for some fun, energetic not so slow Christmas music.

Just a little updating...Some quick photos I forgot to add!

I am so excited because I just found another feature to add to the blog. And I can't wait to load it up with websites/blogs that I checkout frequently. I am falling in love with so many blogs, and yes it is an addiction! Truly it is. My little recipe box is filling to the brim with tons of recipes that I just gotta try out. Today while checking out flickr.com I found a scrapbooker that I thought had some awesome pics of food...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/taraanderson/

And I will be on the look out for other awesome food recipes. I am still putting together my seafood menu for Christmas. And I hope my van will be fixed (please Lord) before I miss the local sales on Lobster tails!

I volunteered at kidos school and because of that I got to get free pics of them. I was excited because I was able to get the photos on cd for 2 or the 3 kiddos. But I just had to show off LeiLani's pics...she was so cute on that day!! Although right at this moment she is yelling Mommie at the top of her lungs!

And just one other quick photo of LeiLani outside walking in for the first time in fall/winter. It snowed a few hours later so I was glad to get out when we did, especially because she cried because she had to walk in the snow. She didn't want it on her boots and she surely didn't like when I picked it up and tried to put it in her gloves. She wasn't happy at all. And one quick one from this last weekend. The kids were on their way outside to play in the snow with Dad. As I look at the photo I can really see how much LeiLani's hair has grown just in the last month.

So now family can see the most current pics of the kiddos. The school one will be coming in the mail within the week with Christmas cards.

Challenges...Free Gifts and Completed pages...

I am excited to be finishing an entire year of challenges on twopeasinabucket.com. I don't know if I will continue the challenges but they surely have been tons of fun. So if you want an end of the year push to get pages done here is the link to the challenge http://www.twopeasinabucket.com/mb.asp?cmd=display&thread_id=2700421

I have been looking up all kinds of recipes this week. We have decided after the great soul food Thanksgiving feast we had, that we aren't going to do a traditional Christmas dinner this year. Instead it will most likely be seafood/fish and pasta. I know it doesn't sound normal at all, but I can't wait! I have been looking for tons of recipes for lobster, and shrimp and debating on what I want to do. One of our favorite recipes is lobster pizza http://www.recipezaar.com/Lobster-Pizza-130845 but it won't make the cut for Christmas. I was thinking of making it an appetizer but hubby suggested just making it on Fridays as we normally do. But if you make the lobster pizza recipe, I suggest that you use plain butter and add fresh garlic to it...it tastes so good! I have never used the Land of Lakes roasted garlic spread!

But I have been looking forever for a lemon meringue pie that I would love. I think I am going to maybe stop the search for that and look for a square instead. I hope to find one that everyone in our family will love to eat. It is hard to have sweets when you have a couple of kiddos that have allergies to everything that goes into them. And although this is the case for lemon meringue pie/squares...Shoot I am prego and have been craving it!

Let's see what else is going on? Not a lot, my van didn't work this morning. I was so frustrated because I need to be able to get around and of course it had to die the one day that I had planned to go shopping for diapers and washing powder. I thought that was funny, so no laundry for me today!! LOL!!

We still don't have our tree up! We are so bad, company came over on Thanksgiving and so we didn't eat and then put up the tree as we usually do. So hopefully we will get it up real soon. Kentrel's birthday is this week and I don't want to have to do it this weekend before his party but that might be the only time we truly can get it done. I can't believe that we will have a 12yr old.

Oh my personal goal for this month is to complete all the pages of pics that I have developed for 2008...that is about 20 plus layouts....this normally wouldn't be that difficult of a goal, but considering the fact that I still have all day sickness, I am going to be amazed if I get into the basement to scrap. But I am going to try.

A good chef, a great cook or someone willing to learn more!

I often wonder what makes some people such great cooks. Is it because they have all the tools in their kitchens and the latest gadgets and gizmos. But what about people ( like me) who don't have all those things but people love their cooking. Would I truly be considered a chef if I had a cook off with one of those famous Food network chefs or would I be embarrassed and sent home? I don't think that I would win a competition but I know that I wouldn't be sent home, at least not on the first day...lol lol



I often think about new recipes and how I can make things better. Now my family loves almost everything that I put on their plates and even the little ones eat their veggies when I cook them . But I have been trying out tons of recipes from several sites that I love to read and look at...and I can say that these recipes have rocked our world. I thought that my little recipe box was full of awesome works that I had created. But nothing prepared me for what I found on these sites. Some were fancy and required things that I didn't have but I used things that I had (a trick I learned from my Grandma). I swear I never remember her using a rolling pin ever (but I can't make a pizza crust without one) ...but that didn't make her pie crusts any less delicious.



So I have decided that since I don't have a food processor, or a awesome mixer that can make cakes, and crusts and more I should still try making those recipes with what I have. Maybe stop buying premade doughs and use the knowledge of what I had growing up to make those things again. There is nothing wrong with using store bought items and I am not bashing them at all...in fact they have helped me make some awesome dishes...but my hubby told me the other day, after I mentioned I wanted to make a cake from scratch, that he missed all the from scratch stuff I used to make. He missed the cookies, the thin crust pizzas and all that so I decided that I am going to every once in awhile pull out the flour and butter and my hand held mixer and use them again.

I have used them recently but mostly for store bought cake,brownie and pizza crust mixes...so now I am going to try to get some new from scratch things and have the kiddos help me make them. I do miss cooking with them, and when school starts it always seems like the day is so short that we don't get to do all the fun things that we do in the summer. I haven't made cupcakes since September. And that is just not right! Especially since I have been craving cupcakes, and hate store bought ones. I just don't like store bought icing maybe that is why I don't like store bought cakes and such...well not all stores, Lunds/Byerlys has always been able to draw me in every once in awhile.



And I think I will start posting pics of my recipes and things I have tried although I hate my kitchen, and one day hope to win a million dollars just to have a "real" kitchen that I can use and be proud of. But the reason why I think I should do it is because I love my food creations. And I am happy to make things for my family and I look at some many awesome kitchens and think wow I bet they make awesome food in there...but no one seems to post the not so cute pics of their not so perfect kitchens. I wish I would have been wiser when selecting my house at 24 and knew that my kitchen would not be as satisfying although it was 3 times larger than our apartment's kitchen...oh if I would have known how quickly I would be unsatisfied with not having more counter space when it came to cooking and how my kitchen table would have to serve as a counter on most days...But oh well I won't complain too much. I just know now that once we sell this house and move on, the kitchen will be the first thing I consider in the new house, and bathrooms/bedroom ratio will come next! But that's off topic....

I think that what makes a person a great cook, is the ability to keep learning, keep trying new things and of course to experiment with everything that you can. No one taught me how to cook but I learned from doing! So now that I going to have 4 children sooner than later, I am going to start finding ways to stretch our dollars more and learn new recipes in the process.

So my challenge for bloggers is to try out a new recipe and post it and give a review of it. I am going to try to do this once a week. I love this idea! Let's get cooking!!

I need to get it together....

I have tons of things on my mind and tons of things that I want to do. All before....
my next baby's due date...Yes, I am pregnant! I am excited, scared, scared and a little more scared! I have been wondering why I have been so sick and my hubby said, you need to take a test. I laughed because how could that even be possible. Well it was...



So I want to get my house organized before I get put on bedrest and start shots and all that... And so I will be also organizing my scrap space too because I won't be able to be up and down the stairs to the basement in a few short months. But hopefully I can get tons of ideas for a new baby book.



Also I have some dies on sale now on ebay. I know that people were looking for them so I grabbed a couple extra ones while at the store and listed them. Here is a pic of the dies





...and I grabbed some of the stamps too but I am not listing those. I plan on giving them out during one of my monthly challenges on twopeasinabucket.com. Only because I really won't be participating in the challenges but instead hosting them. Well have a great weekend!!

Working again and it feels good!

I am excited because I have sold my mini album! I am planning on putting several other items on Ebay in the next few days. I have been really busy getting some ideas down and I have a wonderful idea for a year in review 9x9 calendar album (using the MM spiral albums) but it is going to be a long process. I am hoping that it will come together nicely, but it always seems to. I have been working on Christmas cards for an order that a customer sent me. And I was at my local scrapbook store looking for pp that would work wonderfully with the Vixen reindeer heads that I made, and while there I showed them to one of the ladies there...and of course she wanted some. And she suggested that I put those on ebay...so of course I thought about it and decided that maybe I should. And so I am...here are what they looked like.

They are made using bazzill cardstock, felt for the hats, stickles, googly eyes, and tiny tiny pom poms for the nose. And of course as with my other diecuts I like them to be sturdy so I put them on chipboard. It took me hours....to make these little buggers! But I really do love how they turned out...I might even do these for a little while. Or even on my own Christmas cards.

And also I made this great Thanksgiving page that I made too...love how I used patterened papers that I just got from the CKC-St.Paul. Speeking of that...oh well I won't talk about that whole experience. I just now know what it's like to volunteer ....so I won't have do that again. LOL! But here is the page

Be thankful everyday mini album....it's done!

The album that I have been working on for the last month is finally done. I really do love the finished project! I really do...

So here are just a few of the pics of the 20 completed pages. There are tons of patterned papers used, hidden journaling, pull out tags, stamped images, diecuts, glitter, embossed pages and more.... Oh and did I mention the tons of ribbons that I have on here...it is really a great album for displaying fall family photos. I can even see it being used with Thanksgiving decorations...

You can check out my auction of this item here http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230301996067&_trksid=p3907.m32&_trkparms=tab%3DSelling

And since I am doing my post this am...I just had to show the cards that I made also this weekend. They are cute...I had not used the penguin diecut for my own personal cards but I finally decided that instead of using it to make diecuts to sell; I could also use it to make some really cute cards...so here are those too!

Oh had to come here and add that I counted most of my stamps...and I couldn't believe that I have over 756 stamps and that doesn't included me counting invidual stamps in certain sets like AL calendar stamp, Monthly calendar stamps or even alphabet stamps...but I have a ton of them in my small space and it doesn't even seem like that many are in those 77 cd cases...but so far this move to putting in them in cd cases in themed sets was one of the best moves I have made in organizing my space. It has been over a year since I unmounted my wood stamps, went on the hunt for cd cases (including having my hubby bring some home from work) and I haven't once changed this around.

As fellow scrappers know organization is often a huge part of being a scrapbooker but this one storage method has eliminated the chaos that once was my stamp selection. So if you are looking for a better method and this option seems like it might work...I say go on and do it!! This helped me out alot...and now I stamp so much because it doesn't take forever to find a stamp like it had once before...

I need cards!!!

I am so going to be making cards for the next few weeks! I went to grab one for a birthday party for one of Vele's co-workers daughter and realized that we didn't really have a girl themed birthday card. I was so shocked because at one time I was overflowing with girl themed cards and there wasn't anyone to give them too...but since LeiLani's birth we have been to so many girl birthday parties and such... So I will be making cards like a mad woman when I get some free time.


But I did get an hour this past weekend to go to my craft space. It's so nice because I usually don't watch tv so while the kids are playing the game on the weekends and Vele is usually on the computer, I am with the kids in the basement and I am scrapbooking. I love that my space is in the family room because I am not away from them. And they can join in. But this weekend I made a few cards to have on hand for birthday parties...and here are the few cards I made using my Archiver's exclusive QK dies...it's amazing that when I first got these dies I thought that I would just sell them, but now I really like them! I can see using them on several types of pages and cards.

I used a bunch of different dies that I had and stamps. The little hat of the animals are an actual stamped image and then I cut it out and backed it with chipboard so that it was bold enough for the actual die. All the animals are backed with chipboard also. I used all products from my stash, nothing here is new!

I have been trying to get back into the swing of things and to be honest I have been more interested in making cards lately than making pages...I have made several the last couple of weeks and love how they turned out. I just keep forgetting to upload pics of them on here. I got so excited about several of them, that I forgot to even take a photo of them. Here are the 2 birthday cards that I did last weekend both are for my nephews...I just hope that I can remember to send them out to get there on their special days.

I love these little robot/space alien/space ships stickers (got them on clearance from Micheals). I also love this Catslife Press round Birthday stamp! It has been used more than a few times in several different ways for adult and child cards!

Let's see what else to share, oh...I have taken our end of the summer family photo. My Hubby found an awesome location for pics and we took a bunch of them. Even though we are in summer clothes I am hoping to use these on Christmas cards or maybe we will take another bunch there in fall-ish clothes...here is one of the pics that I took. I didn't even realize that LeiLani's shoe was in the front of us in the pic...

Well this is mostly all that I have been up to! Also I wanted to share that I have another set of ATC acrylic pages that should be listed soon on ebay. These are so cute. I am waiting for one one item before I can list the entire set but they are all fall related embossed pages. So be on the look out. I plan on having them on there before Saturday.

Also I have been getting emails about the stamps...they are gone. Sorry, I sold them!! I am going to edit the post for that day so that people know that they have sold. Well I hope that it will let me edit it. Last but certainly not least, I challenge all readers of this blog to make cards and actually send them to the people that they made the cards for. I am trying to do this myself because I want family and friends to know that I didn't forget about their birthdays or holidays. So show those special people in your life that you love them be sending/giving them cards!!

Not sure where to begin!!!

I have been trying my best to look past the things that are going on in my everyday life and move past these things and do the ATCs and get them out there...but I am not able to. Especially not now. I have been working on them since Wednesday, but I haven't been able to do much because of the news with my Dad.

I know that people have been waiting for them to get on ebay and I want to appologize because I honestly can't tell you when I will get them on there and at this point I can't even sit at my desk and work. I just got the worse news that I have ever been told...my Dad passed away this evening. I can't go into details mainly because I don't really remember everything, but there was a DNR and so he coded around 4:17 this evening...

I am angry, sad and confused but I am trying to do some of things that I feel like doing instead of things that I have to force myself to do. I feel numb...I just wanted this to turn out differently! But I understand that he is in a much better place and that he isn't feeling pain but that doesn't really make me feel better right now. I feel like being selfish and I want him to still be here. He is going to miss so much of my kids' lives. My nieces and nephews. I had my first real conversation with him in May and it was nice, but if I had known that it would be the last one, I would have said so much more. Like I wish we could know each other better...Maybe a few more I love you toos...I just don't know what to say. I feel like I didn't try hard enough when he reached out but I didn't hold a grudge either...I don't know...I just don't know

I just had to say that the ATCs will be on hold for a little while. Thanks for listening/reading...

Another ATC almost done...

I have been getting emails from several people on ebay and twopeasinabucket.com asking me about the next ATC... I had promised a sneak peek of the one that I am currently working on and so I have to make sure that everyone gets that sneak peek today...but before I do that I just wanted to say that there is a small delay in when it will be listed on ebay.

This delay is mainly because the ATC punch that I have is busted (seriously). I don't know why or how exactly but it had been punching the holes perfectly in the cards for the last two ATC holders that I decorated but this time the spring shifted and that was the end of that ATC hole punch. So my ATC holder is sitting on my desk half completed and waiting for the rest of the pages and I can't get the another hole punch until later this week because I had to call around and the closest scrapbook store that has one is a distance away...so I will be making that trip a little later this week...But until then I will show some of the work that I have completed so far.

And to let you know that this ATC holder will have acrylic pages that are embossed and some that have been stamped...I am so excited because I got some great new stamps and can't wait to show the acrylic pages that have been stamped...

Just a quick stop in...

I just needed to update really quickly....I have been so busy this weekend with the 4th of July celebrations that I really haven't had a chance to sneak in and share...

First of all I have sold more ATCs and I am planning (since they are so popular) to do some more themed ones once I get the actual ATCs back in stock. I have been designing several themed ones and also another version of the yearly one...

Also the Studio G stamps and the Pick of the Patch layout have now been added to ebay. I had two email requests and I haven't heard back from the 2 requesting people, so I have decided to put those items on ebay.

I am so excited, I finally go to scrapbook for my family' s wall calendar, I was supposed to be working on a calendar layout for July and August but my boys school pics were just calling me to do something with them...and since I hadn't gotten all of the pics in the mail, I decided that I would use the ones that I have to create a fun layout for September...lol can you imagine our wall calendar is all dated and we have tons of things filled in for this month...but no layout above the calendar...(I know I know bad scrapper) ;o)

So here is the finished product and I if you can't tell...I used lemonade bag mesh on this lo...I pride myself on acid-free but I had to do something with those tons of lemonade bags that I had left over this weekend...And I pulled out those old hidden dies too...I was determined not to touch my QK dies this week, so I used my Sizzix/Ellison ones....oh I still used my QK file diecut though.

And since I took tons of pictures and haven't edited any of them yet, I figured I would wait to upload them, but here is one of the kids on the 4th.... and some fireworks. We had a ball!! And even last night we were out at the park doing more fireworks!

Happy Birthday Hubby!!

What a wonderful day it was today...my hubby's birthday was today. It wasn't too hot (or cold) and it surely didn't rain like the forecast had predicted. So we barbecued and had tones of family fun. We didn't expect any guests, but my sister called early in the am and was yelling/singing happy b-day to DH,it was so funny so of course she stopped over to wish him happy birthday in person. I have a ton of cleaning to do, the kids had water balloons (to throw at DH) and so there are tons of little balloon pieces every where.

I just upload my latest things that I had created...here are the birthday cards I made. My sister almost saw her card although her birthday isn't until August...thank goodness she didn't come down into my space...

Reflection, insight and conclusions...all just from a walk!

Today truly was a beautiful day. It was filled with a walk with the kiddos and some pics of all of them together, popsicles and lemonade. I love summer because it's really the only time of year that you can get away with just going for a walk as an activity. It would have been awesome to go on a bike ride today but unfortunately we don't all have bikes anymore...2 were stolen and the baby trolley too. But it was nice to walk with them. Here are some photos of them. I love seeing LeiLani with the boys and how much she adores them. I know that they will have their ups and downs but if they stay friends; she will have some of the best friends a girl could dream of having...also some of the most protective too...



Yesterday I found out that I have a nephew that “we” didn’t know about...and he is the cutest little man… I am so excited! I have been stalking his mom because I really wanted to see him and although she just moved to Hastings I was willing to go out there to see him. And he is the chunkiest little man and he looks just like my brother…Just like him! He’s 10 months old and is a little brick (that commercial about diapers surely fits him! )But he is so cute…I took a ton of pictures that didn’t come out right for some reason…ok it was because I forgot to charge my camera batteries although I charged them last night, I left my camera on while uploading pictures to 2peas and lets just say I tried to charge them for 10mins and I only got one really great picture of him. I do plan on being around so there will be tons of pictures to come. He isn’t my first nephew I have another brother who has a handsome little son, a sister who has two handsome boys (that I haven't seen in ages because they are in Decatur too...and she neeever sends pictures) and of course my sis that has my nephew here too…but Marco is the first/only son to my brother Jimmy. And that is important to me…so here he is with his cousin…and she is older but you can't tell because she is so small ;o)




oh and I had to show one more pic of the family at the Mall of America Nickelodan (msp?) University...I think that they did a great job with the place. They revamped it and it looks so much better/brighter...and now there are tons more kid rides for both boys and even LeiLani had tons to choose from...it was so fun! Well here is that picture, don't ask me what LaTrele (ds#2) was looking at because I have no idea! LOL

More 2page layouts...and more to come!

I have been really busy this weekend making pre-made pages. I have had some great ideas come to mind, but what is really amazing is just how hard it is to create pre-made pages without pics to put on them. Especially if you don't know what themes you are making the pages...so after reworking the whole process and coming up with themes...I have some great finished layouts.

The first layout is Gone fishing. Love this layout because it reminded me that we need to go fishing. I love making masculine pages (have been doing it for so long that it comes naturally) and so I started with a bunch of those themes. Here is the finished layout. It has hand stitching, ribbons, fish embellishments, embossed letters, inked edges, twine, and burlap on the layout. So there is a lot of detail. Oh and I haven't listed the kit on ebay. I am going to sell them here and locally to see how well they do. And the price is $10 for the completed layout and $3.00 for shipping. Due to the bulk embellishments.

The second layout is The pick of the patch...love this one too. It has some fun embellishments too which are twine, pumpkin die cuts that I cut , leaves, metal charms, epoxy brads, ribbon, buttons, tags and chipboard letters.

And here is a close up of the title....

Wow it's almost been a month...

I can't believe that it's almost been a month since I posted anything to this site...so busy with school ending and so many birthdays to send cards for and so much more. But I have been busy and decided that I am going to try to sell more of my page kits here instead of on Ebay and at my local scrapbook store (lss) garage sell. I have always done really well through those two locations but this site is free and I can use paypal. So that both the buyer and myself have options for the sell.

So here is my first page kit to sell. I had 5 of these and sold 3 while attending a crop at a lss and then another one during my garage sale. So this is the final one... The price for the 2 page 12x12 lo is $7.00 plus $3 for shipping and handling. It will be one of the many that I create in the next couple of weeks and this one can be customized to your theme (title) once you have purchased it....

Also I have found the set of 12 Studio G monthly stamps that everyone has been searching for. It took awhile, but I have one set left...so the price of course will include the tax that I paid for them and shipping and handling and that price is $15. Please leave a comment if you are interested or email me at tracyross98@yahoo.com... Here are some pics of the stamps

And the blog question was do you sometimes feel like you get in over your head on some projects...and the answer would be surely I do. I have to say that there have been several times where I had some awesome plans about projects that I wanted to do but once I got started on the project I started adding things here and there and then a project that was only supposed to be 10 layouts turn into 20 or more. And it's the same when it comes to the money that is spent on the project as well. I love scrapbooking (as most people do that check out my site) so you can relate that it can easily go from a $10 project to $25 project in the blink of an eye. I really have been learning or trying to do better about time and budget when it comes to this and that is why I decided that if something costs me a little more to make, that maybe I should find an alternative way to sell it that doesn't cost me anything. But it's a learning process and I am trying to master it...Happy Blogging everyone!