ooops...just didn't post this

I just realized that I had not actually published any of the posts that I had drafted the last couple of weeks. Mostly because I was hoping to add photos and all that. But I am glad that I did journal the things that I have been doing and what my plans are for these next few weeks.

I have decided that I am going to document the house and all things house related that I am interested in. I went to both the Potato Barn and the Crowded House. I had been to the Potato Barn several times and I loved their tables but most of the ones that I wanted that could seat 10 were extremely long and even more heavy. But I loved several of them...but then I went to their sister store and took along the family. There was one table that just had caught my eye immediately but I had to walk the whole store to make sure that it was the one that I wanted for sure. And sure enough I am going to be having that beautiful table delivered to our new home. And since they have no way to store it for us until then I special ordered one and it should be in a month which would line up to when we are thinking that the house will be finished.

So here is a photo of the table that I have on order, and I love the color! I like the matching buffet but I am not going to get that because I really don't like the matchy matchy look. I am looking for something that is the color of the stain on top of the table. And I can't believe that the table is so heavy. We will be getting it delivered. I just don't know if it will be to our current rental or to the house.

And I have been checking out glass tiles for the back splash. I love several that I have seen and they have to be special ordered and won't be back in time for them to be installed by the builder but I am somewhat glad about that because we can save by doing them ourselves or even hiring someone to do them. My back splash is multi-colored small square glass tiles. Also the pillows on the chairs on top of the table are going to look great in the family room...just in a bigger size.

Well my shopping for the house is limited to the kitchen really right now because we are saving to get the other things that we want after we move in. Which is the best thing to do unless I find a sell that is just a deal that I can't pass up. I love the legs on that table!

And now for updated photos of the house. We have walls...or at least the beginnings of them. We were told once these were up and painted that things would move along much more faster because My sister came to visit and was here for a whole week. I really wish that she would have brought my nephew but she didn't. He will be coming to stay with us for the summer. I really think that he will love being here and since my sister is considering moving here it will be really nice.

Well onto scrappy news, I actually don't have much to share in that area. I have completed or almost completed 4 pages. I have to finish the journaling and get some great photos since it is now bright enough for photos. It rained yesterday and it was cooler than normal. For the first time since being here I saw snow onto of Superstition Mountains. And it was beautiful, and although I say it was cooler than normal it was still warm enough to go outside with a long sleeved shirt and jeans. I know that this isn't the normal for most people here but we are still loving the fact that it isn't that cold to us. I think it was like 40-50 degrees which is a lot different from the day before when it was 80 and today it is already in the 70s and it is almost 8am. It just reminds me that shortly it is will be really hot in just a few weeks.

Dust it off challenge for March

Just wanted to stop in and post my layout that I did for my design team project for scrap our stash. All the details can be found here http://scrapourstash.blogspot.com/2011/03/march-dust-it-off-challenge-by-tracy.html

This one was a happy layout for me because it captured us all together and it brought back funny memories. For instance this was first time that we had been to the park after the birth of our last child and I had just gotten out if the hospital the week before. And like a nut I had decided that I would go down the slide with my daughter, not even thinking about how sore I would be because of the c-section that I had. Well its funny now but it sure wasn't at the time. And even though the photo of my hubby looks like he's mad, the sun was in his eyes and I still love the photo. Well I am off to go and enjoy the sun today. I have to take the girls to the playground and maybe I can get some brainstorming done for next months design team challenge. Or at least that is what I am hoping. Smiles, Tracy

Good morning everyone. I wish that I could say that it looks like a beautiful one but is is all gloomy looking outside right now. It is 76 however and it is supposed to rain. Which is ok since it has been in the 80s since the middle of February.

I am so excited because I have tons of things to share. Well the first is that I completed some pages two weekends ago and I submitted 2 to a challenge so I can't show those but here is the one that I completed for Nya's 5th month.

I used all my stash for this layout. The title was cut using my old reliable Big Shot. I used Cuttlebug alphabets and this one was inspired about using something old that I haven't used in a while...that would be those MM tags. I have a ton of them, and MM epoxy bubbles too. I want to use those on a couple of projects soon I just don't know what yet. I also pulled out my Quickutz photo corner tab die. I had that forever and I never use it although originally I thought that I would love to use it. But I do love how this page turned out. And of course I did journaling about her 4-5th month on page two of this layout. I just can't share that one cause it has a lot of personal information.

And my second bit of news...we are finally moving forward in getting the house built. We originally had another builder, who pulled out on the project because there were issues with zoning and all that craziness. I don't know all the details but it was a mess. So we went to a different builder and signed on the dotted line. We are getting a house that is the perfect size for our family nothing huge, nothing too fancy other than it is going to new. Mostly because we are getting an affordable upgraded house. I love that. The house only has the framing done so far, the tiles are sitting on the roof and are scheduled to be put in soon. This week they are supposed to be doing the whole outside of the house and starting to get the walls up in the inside...I can't wait.

But here is a photo of our little house. It is 4 bedrooms and 3 full baths. A total of 2800 square feet. And a covered back porch with ceiling fan and misters. We went with misters because really unless you are cold blooded you can sit outside in AZ in the summer without misters...cause you would pass out! LOL

But this is it for right now. I don't know when exactly I will get to making pages because I am so excited about decorating and picking colors of stuff that I am going to be super busy with the house for a little while. I made a little well kinda little decorations and new house book log. I have plans to take photos of it and share. Until then stay warm and for those in warmer climates stay cool...I sure am trying to.

Sneak Peak...

Well I just wanted to come and say that I have been busy with layouts for dd#2's scrapbook and I truly do plan on working on these things more the next couple of weeks. But I am so excited because I am also working on the other kiddos scrapbooks too.

But so far so good. I have gotten 3layouts done. 2-two page layouts and 1-one page layout. I can't share everything but I do plan on sharing a couple of them in the next couple of days. But here is also a sneak peak of my design team layout that will be posting on scrapourstash.blogspot.com later this month...

Tomorrow is a really exciting day for me. I am heading off to school tomorrow to find out about a class that I want to take. I am excited because I can't wait to find out the information about the class.

Hi all...I am super busy trying to get a few things finished up around here for some design team submissions and also some of things that I need to check off my stash challenge to-do list. I am so glad that I shared my plans on my blog because I have gotten a couple of emails about the paint sample cards/chips...I have been thinking about it too. It wasn't something that I really thought out before I listed it on my challenge to use this month, but it was surely something that I had in my stash that has been sitting for awhile...so here is one way that I have used them since putting them on my list.... It was fun using my old Quickutz dies and cutting the letters, numbers and the rainbow dies. As you know from previously talking about this wall calendar (you can read the first post here were I turned a thrift store frame into a wall calendar http://scrapalongwithtracy.blogspot.com/2011/01/2011-framed-calendar.html ) All the letters and numbers were cut from paint sample chips/cards and they looked like letter stickers once they were cut out. I am not worried about acid-free because it is a wall hanging. I still have a couple other ways that I plan on using them.

I was also emailed and asked if I preferred cards or scrapbooking and I'd have to say that I love doing both. I like that I can sit down and make a couple of cards and put them in my stash and have one or two to send out too all in about 45minutes. But scrapbooking for me takes a little longer because I can have a layout all complete and then I think that it's missing something or needs something else. The only scrapbooking that I don't seem to redo once it's done is mini albums.

I was also asked what is my favorite mini album that I completed? And my favorite one would be my trip to AZ. It was so much fun but a close second would be one that I made for ebay and then the one that I designed to teach at my local scrapbooking store...

Here they are all listed below
1

2

3

I have done a lot of mini albums and some of them have never been posted on my blog, but these were my favorite because I was able to do whatever I wanted. Which allowed me to do the things that I like to do...which would be stamping, diecutting and a lot of journaling. And even pulling out paints and getting messy.

I was asked a couple more questions and what I have decided after emailing the posters, is that I will add these answers in the next couple of weeks because it requires me to do some digging and pull out some of my old scrapbooks. Well I am off to get the kids in the bed. Good night bloggers.

Hello everyone. I am stopping in to update you all with my to-do list for scrap our stash. This month the challenge was to dust off something that you haven't used or done and use it. Well for me there isn't many supplies that I haven't used from my stash because I have been crafting a lot more. But there is something that has surely been neglected from my to be done list...Nya's baby book. I don't know why I haven't completed it. It's not like it is a huge task because #1 I have all the photos printed and put into sheet protectors in her album (most of them already printed into the layout format that I plan to use no editing needed), #2 I have all the journaling that I want to include on each layout on post it notes and in a small notebook, #3 I have sketches also in the sheet protectors that I plan on using for each 2 pg spread...but for some reason the book isn't done. And so that is my challenge...to work on her album and get current or at least past her birth page.

And so I can't work on one child's album without thinking about the other ones' albums needing to be updated past 2008. So I plan on working on those as well the good part is that most of the photos have been printed too but they aren't all sorted into sheet protectors with the dates but I do have those in my small notebook too. Honestly these projects alone are truly enough to last the next couple of months but I plan on working on them as I go. I am no longer going to keep adding more photos and pages are getting done. And although I feel behind, I truly am current in the other kids books for the most part. I mean 2008 isn't that far back right lol lol!

Also for this months challenge there are tons of things that I have on my to do list that I want to try out. Last month it was making my own wobble thingies. And it was so fun! I didn't make a project with them, but instead made a bunch for the girls to use and play with and they honestly loved them. I got the idea from a youtube video and I have said before that I am all for not spending scrapbooking dollars on something that I can make or do myself. Oh here is that video if you are interested in checking it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2iJRgcEeKI

But corrugated alphas and accents have been on my to do list forever and I plan on making some of these this month. I have had my crimper in my stash for well over a year or two and I haven't made one crimped item with them at all.

And paint card chips have been in my stash for a while too. I collected them years ago when there was all these cards and layouts using them on pages but honestly never really wanted to use them for that exactly. I honestly like the bold colors and how bright they are without the shimmer or glitter on them so I planned on using them as tabs on pages. Which would be awesome or to make little word stickers with. Because they have writing on them, I am kinda limited to size that I can make something out of them with but I plan on doing something with them.

So for a recap this month I plan on

#1 Getting Nya's album current (at least to Christmas 2010)

#2 Getting the kids albums worked on too

#3 Making crimped accents/embellishments/alphas

#4 Using paint color chips/examples to create embellishments/accents....

Sounds like a busy month and it's only the 3rd lol!

Just wanted to stop in and share one of my design team submissions for this months challenge on scrapourstash.com. I forgot to upload this one also so I wanted to quickly come and show you all what I made for my Grandma Jessie.

Most people who have been followers know that my Grandma raised me and she often is the only Grandparent that my kiddos have contact with consistently. She calls them, sings to them on the phone, reads/tells stories to them both fairy tales and bible stories. She is often on the phone with them for hours at a time and since we moved to AZ which on the other side of the world from her (which she reminds me often) we try to send her special surprises.

So this Valentines day instead of a card and some candy, we all decided to write her a letter, and for those who couldn't write letters, we recorded what they had to say on cassette tape. The girls loved just being able to talk into the machine and hearing their voices. I decided to do a cassette tape because Grandma doesn't have a DVD player that plays recorded DVDs but I knew that she has a cassette recorder because she listens to sermons from church when she is unable to attend.

So here is just some of the care package that we made. The mini album has a coin envelope that I cut with my cricut using MTC in the size that is a little larger than a normal coin envelope but it fits perfectly into the book which fits inside of the mailbox.Each envelope has a photo of the kids and on the back, their current favorites. Grandma often asks me about what they like right now so that she can grab them stickers or talk to them about it so this was nice to include so that she could have a permanent place for that information.

So here is the actual gift

I had other photos but just realized that I don't have any way to upload them because they are on our old computer. We just got a new computer and put the other old one in storage with everything else that we recently packed for our move.

Family update...Nya is out of the hospital and back home. She is doing somewhat better, she still isn't eating but at least she able to drink and keep something down. Please call if you have any questions but I think Vele put this on facebook yesterday. I am not 100% sure cause I am now starting to have symptoms too.