Birthday cards are always fun!

I am so excited to be able to have something to share honestly I was truly excited because I made cards for a co- worker and I didn't get the chance to take photos of them before I handed them off to her. I wish that I would have planned my time better but it's hard to do that when you get asked to do something at the last minute and then you still have your everyday life too.
So I made cards that I could get photos of so that blog wouldn't feel abandoned. I truly thought that I could sit down a couple of days and make a bunch of cards, but what I found out really quickly is that the girls have raided my supplies. And there are a lot of things that are now damaged. After the initial oh my goodness they broke that (which was my very last tape and runner dispenser and refill that I can't get anymore--sigh) and they left the top off that ink pad...and so on and so on I cleaned up my desk. And decided that I might need to move my scrapbooking space into a secluded area, maybe away from the main office where everyone can hang out, play computer games and do arts and crafts at their own desk, which somehow now has become code for my desk when I am not at home!

But back on task Tracy...I was able to get a couple of fun cards that I have been wanting to do for awhile. The images/stamps are ones that I got when they were brand new but I was never able to sit down and play with them. And birthday cards are always a reason to pull out something fun and new. This first card has an image that I wanted to use for Valentine's day (2010) and say that I'm sweet on you, but I have never gotten around to that but it did make an awsome wishing you...a sweet birthday card...

And this next card has a stamped image that I loved too. I actually got this stamped image from a friend how purchased the stamp set. I scanned it into my computer (after stamping it) and then enlarged and shrunk it until I found a size that seemed better for the front of my card. I love the stamp but the size wasn't perfect for this card front. But here is that card too...

I know I mentioned several stamps/images that I have, and there are about 15 more that I want to play with and have decided that I am going to try to make a birthday card of each of these images at least once a month for the next couple of months because I know am going to be home a lot more. Or at least that is what I am planning. I love the hand cut grass on this card. Mostly because I didn't think that it would turn out so nice and also because it didn't take nearly as long as I thought that it would. I initially thought I need to purchase a grass die or get a svg, but really how often would I really use a grass diecut? Maybe once or twice so it wasn't worth the expense. At least not right now. But I do have to find myself some really cute patterned papers with gray and bright cheerful colors. I really do. But I have many things to accomplish in a very short time.

June is almost over...

I was making a plan of all the things that I want to get done before the kids head back to school and things that I just really planned to complete before our 1 yr home anniversary and realized that June 28th is our one year anniversary and it is almost over. We have a builder one year walk threw so that they can repair on cracks, paint, tile etc. And honestly there is very little that they need to do. Because I didn't wait until the 1yr walk to let them know about any issues. I called and had the few things that I needed repaired done right away.

I can't believe that time has flown by so quickly for both the amount of time that we have lived in our house and also the fact that this year is half over.

So there will be some catching up on photo updates of each room in the house to come in the next few weeks. I have things that I am still working on (like painting). It never seems to end when it comes to remodeling but honestly I love that the issues are major ones at all.

And so while working on printing pictures the last couple of weeks I realized that all of 2011 and most of 2010 scrapbooking pages need to be done. And for anyone who lives in AZ, you know that this is our "winter". Which means most days you are inside because it's 100 degrees outside or more an then you go outside in the evening/night. Or you go out early in the morning. We seem to be doing a little of all of that. But the point is this is the perfect time to actually scrapbook. So that is my plan. Somehow I am going to fit scrapbooking into my few more weeks of summer and finish the house...wish me luck!

And last but not least here is 2011 Christmas layout...now my Christmas scrapbook is current. 

I finally finished....

My Christmas 2010 layout. I have had this sitting on my desk since the beginning of May and if I had taken a photo of it most of you would wonder why wasn't it finished by now? The problem that I had was that in my attempt to limit my Christmas pages to just one 2 page layout, I couldn't shorten the journaling to say what I wanted it to. Or at least I thought I couldn't so it sat on my desk for almost a month...and today I said no matter what I am going to get it typed and added to by blog. And so I did.

Here is the finished page. I don't know why my photos aren't as great as the used to be with my camera, but I just wanted to share that photo anyway.

And here is one for the family...the kids playing in the front yard (because the back yard still isn't finished).

 So since I am so against guns and I wanted the kids to have something to spray water and play with (since the pool isn't happening for awhile) I found these sprayers at the dollar tree. And they love them! In fact, once we had them playing outside in the front with them, other neighborhood kids came out to play with buckets and water hoses. It was one of those moments when you think back to your childhood and playing in the neighborhood with your friends. Honestly I hope that they have wonderful memories in this house, and in this neighborhood. I hope everyones summer is off to a great start.