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....