So I Heard You Had a Check Up!

A few months back, we got the news that one of Daniel's co-workers and best friends was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma.  We knew he was sick, but it took the doctors a while to figure out what exactly it was.  He was Stage 3, and the prognosis was not looking well.  With this type of cancer, there is only a 5% survival rate.  It took him a while, but he decided to start chemo and do what the doctors wanted him to do.  A few weeks ago, during his check up, the doctors said a magical word to him...REMISSION!  So, the first project I did after surgery was to make Bob a card.

Front of Card:

 Inside of Card:

Cricut recently came out with this cartridge, Dr. Checkup.  I figured with all of Daniel's and my medical bliss, I would get some use out of it.  So, for the doctor and the 'check up' I used Dr. Checkup and for the background stamp shapes I used Elegant Edges (my go too right now it seems).  The paper line I used is Echo Parks Little Boy.  I have realized I have so many scraps, I am going to *try* to make more cards and use them up. 

Alcatraz

This is another layout from our 10 year anniversary trip to San Francisco's Pier 39 last year.  Daniel has, but I have never visited Alcatraz.  This is the closest I have been.  Maybe next time we go, I will be able to step foot in the "Rock".

I did this layout for a challenge at scrapbook.com.  It is for the September Scraplift the Person Before You challenge.  It is the first time I have done a banner like this and am fairly pleased with the outcome.  I hope to play with them some more so I can get a better feel for them.  The paper line I used is Echo Parks For the Record 2.  The Cricut cartridge, Elegant Edges, is the only one I used for the white background cut.  I have one more set of pictures to scrap for this day and I will be done....again, only a year later ;)

Birthday Bash #5

Yeah, I am a little behind, but what scrapper isn't?  I am really hoping I am not the only one in the "always catching up" boat :)  I am hoping in the next 6 weeks of being off of work, I am going to be able to get caught up more since I am limited on what I can do.  Today is the third day I have been able to sit at my scrap table.  I decided to work on some of my pictures of the Lil' Man.  Although  my camera batteries ran out fairly quickly, I was able to get a few shots of him with his presents at least. 

I tried to use up some of my older papers, partly because I have had them for what seems like ages, and partly because I realized I have absolutely NO birthday themed pattern paper.  If you have seen my box of papers, you will understand why I can't figure out why I don't have any!  I used a sketch from Scrapbook Generation in order to get this one together.  The pattern papers are from Crate Paper's Orbit collection and all the solids are Bazzill.  The cricut cartridges that I used are Plantin Schoolbook & Birthday Bash.  Now that I got Birthday #5 done, maybe I can have #6 done before he turns 7!

A few more old ones.......

Okay!  Back to sharing some of the LO's from the first part of the year :)

This go around I will start with So Beautiful....

Me and my Beautiful niece, Maddie.  She is growing up so dang quick.  This was Easter 2011.  I used my monthly kit from My Scrapbook Nook.  Love that kit club!  Anywho...I used Elegant Edges for the background cut and my Three Birds on Parade cart for the Chick Bunny.  This LO is based on a sketch by PageMaps.

Next, I will show you The Peanut Gallery.....

These are some more pics taken from my 30th birthday weekend.  Daniel and 2 of his favorite munchkins.  They were just sitting around, eating some peanuts, discussing the worlds issues.  The carts I used were MS All Occasions Cake, Nate's ABC's, Baby Steps & Three Birds on Parade.  The sketch is from Scrapbook Generation. 

Coming up third to bat is a LO that I have yet to title.... I can't seem to come up with anything creative for this one yet....

 These were the first fish Maddie ever caught.  She declared her self the Splitty Queen (for catch Split Tails) and the Bass Queen (for catching Big Mouth Bass....or in real terms a Large Mouth Bass).  Again I used a Scrapbook Generation sketch.  And I know it is horrible, but I can't, for the life of me, remember which cart I cut the fish off of!


And the last one I am going to share to get caught up is probably my all time favorite LO at this point that I have done........The Grumpy Crack!

My poor little man can't seem to keep his britches up, not matter what is done.  Since my dad also has this problem, and the kids call him Grumpy, we have renamed Plumbers Crack to Grumpy Crack.  Maddie had dropped the container of worms so Uncle Dano & Justin started to help her pick them up....I couldn't resist an picture of his cute little Grumpy Crack :)  I used Boys Will Be Boys & Plantin Schoolbook for the title work. 

Rock Star!

Another LO from my 30th birthday weekend.  I will have a full album by the end of this all :)  Justin found the hammer that daddy was using to drive the stakes for tent into the ground.  After looking for something to hit, Uncle Daniel suggested pounding rocks (yay, Thanks Uncle Dano!)  It kept him busy for quiet a while though :)

I used Robotz for the title & stars and Plantin Schoolbook for the circles.  This was done for yet another challenge over at scrapbook.com. 

Gumped!

For our 10th wedding anniversary in September of 2011, Daniel & I spent the day in San Francisco at Pier 39.  Niether of us had ever eaten at Bubba Gumps, so we decided that that would be were we had our anniversary lunch.  Of course, going there, you HAVE to take the picture with your feet in the Forrest Gump shoes!!!

I did this for a challenge over at scrapbook.com.  Slowly but surely I will be getting my 10th anniversary pictures all done :)  Thanks to challenges!

No Layouts since last year?!?! Oh My!!!

How can that be?  I may not have posted them, but I have done a few :)  By this time last year, I had almost 100 LO's completed for the year....this year I think I have 13!  What the heck?!  I better get on it!!!  I will share a few here and there so I dont overwhelm you all at once :)

First up.....Joy.

That pretty much sums up the evening we had.  This picture was taken Memorial Day weekend in 2011.  Lacy LOVES "Her Dan".  The rain had just ended and they were watching the fish.  The sketch I used is from PageMaps.  Plantin was the only cart I used on this one....for the circles above the pics.

Next Up....My Ouch Factor

 A few years back, I did a LO of Daniels Ouch Factor.  This one is mine.  These were taken before my first and second back surgeries & after my first surgery.  I used Nate's ABC's for the title font (Ouch)

Third Up to Bat...My Fishing Buddy

   
For my 30th birthday weekend, my family came down to the park were Daniel & I live during the week...or more so full time right now.  It was the first time they had been here and the kids had a blast.  They were more excited to be catching fish than anything.  This is Justin,
my adorably sweet nephew, who was glued to Daniel & I....he was so excited to be fishing the Delta. I used Type Candy Font, Nate's ABC's & Plantin Schoolbook for the circle & title work.

And lastly.....Release

The art of catching, is releasing when they arent big enough :)  Daniel wanted to really teach Justin the importance of following the rules of catch & release.  This one I used Type Candy Font for the title.

A little bit of a Baby Shower

Once again, it has been far too long!  A few months back I got a call for my bestie telling me she was preggers with baby #3.  A month or so later I got another call.....she was getting the Baby Girl she has always wanted.  When she first told me, one of the first things I said was "I call dibs on the baby shower!"  So, for the last 4 months, all the time I got for crafting was dedicated to the Hot Pink, Black, White & Zebra baby shower that was held today.  After looking for days on Pinterest (my new addiction) and in the galleries, magazines & blogs of all my favorite scrapping & crafting sites, I came up with a few decoration ideas.  I was lucky enough to already own the Cricut cart I was going to use for everything (Create a Critter) so I just had to buckle down for the paper, ribbon and adhesive.  Once everything came in that I HAD to have ;)  I got my E2 out and started cutting.  After a few long nights and busy weekends, this is what I came up with. 

The cartridges that I used were Create a Critter, Plantin Schoolbook, Baby Steps & Cherry Limeade.  I loved the end result as did the bestie :)  The shower was a blast and she got to take home all the zebra's she wanted (which was all of them)!  :)  Thanks for looking!

Pot's-O-Gold

It has been WAY to long!  I started working full time back in November (thank goodness) and have since gotten a new job closer to home...well to our weekday home.  I have been trying to figure out how to balance work, life and crafting and I think I may have it down....kind of.  I inherited the position of being the decorator at work and that doesn't hurt my feelings any.  The first holiday I got to make goodies for is St. Patricks Day.  I was at a loss at what to do so I visited Pinterest and got a few ideas to start me out.  After looking around for a bit and combining what was in my head, I came up with these.....

 They were a lot easier than I originally thought they would be.  I bought small flower pots at our local hardware store and some glossy black spray paint.  Even though I prepared the pots by sanding them and washing off the residual dirt, the spray paint just slid right off.  I ended up getting some regular black glossy paint and brushed it on and it worked much better.  In the meantime, I got out my handy dandy E2.  Might I add....I LOVE my Expression 2.  It definitely has a learning curve, but is OH SO WORTH it!  I used Create a Critter to create the rainbows and clouds.  At the end of the rainbow there was hearts but I cut those off since it didn't really suit the project at hand.  I used Bazzill smooth red cardstock, Bazzill "Orange Peel" texture yellow cardstock, and some left over blue cardstock that I have had for years and ran it through my Cuttlebug with the Swiss Dots folder to add some more texture.  I outlined the clouds with baby blue stickles to add a little bit of a kick to those.  They seemed a bit plain so I used my Designers Calender for the shamrocks.   Both the clouds and small shamrocks are attached with pop dots to give a little bit of dimension to the project.  To attach the rainbows to the pots, I glued a craft stick to the back of the rainbow with a glue stick then used my hot glue gun to stick it to the pot.  I did "paint" the craft sticks with a sharpies marker so that it didn't stick out like a sore thumb.  Lastly, which I am bummed I don't have a picture of it right now, I filled the Pots with butterscotch discs to add the touch of gold.  They turned out adorable....I made 10 total and so far they have been a hit with all of the customers!

Slowly but Surely, I am scrapping :)

Things sure got hectic for us over the past few months....but in a few weeks, I see a light at the end of the tunnel.  I have a few crafty projects in the pipeline that I will be able to share, but they will be keeping me busy for a little while.

For the time being, I have some layouts to share.  A local group of ladies has formed in my area.  Scrappin' Angels meet the second Saturday of every month at the local fabric store.  They are nice enough to allow us to use their classroom from 12 to 9 for a whole whopping $5!  9 hours of scrappy goodness with no dogs or hubby to ask where something is = heaven!

I was able to get 3 layouts done that day.  Not as many as I would like, but there was a whole lot of socializing going on :)

First to show you....The Cast.  You didn't think I wouldn't take full advantage of Daniel's cast for a scrappy opportunity, did you?  As upset as he was that his wrist ended up in a cast, I can honestly say he did a dang good job in our photo shoot :)  The recipe for this LO is as follows:

Pattern Paper: Echo Park Little Boy Collection, Cardstock: Bazzill Basic White, Sketch: Scrapbook Generation, Other supplies: Pop Dots, EK Success Bumpy Road Edger Punch, Dew Drop Ladybug Red ink, Simply Sweet Cricut Cartridge, Opposites Attract Cricut Cartridge

My next LO to share:

38 & 32....their waist size in pants!  When we were on the dock fishing, we were talking about how Daniel used to be a 29 waist and then a 32 waist for YEARS...that is, until he got married (guess I am a good cook, or he thought he was still playing basketball, baseball & football all year round).  Chad is newly engaged, so we will see how long the 32 waist lasts after the wedding!

Cardstock: Bazzill, Pattern Paper: Reel Me In, Other products: Cricut: Don Juan, Plantin Schoolbook

And the last LO from the Scrappin' Angels crop:

New Years Eve 2010....bringing in the New Year.  I had a mixture of pictures left over from my batch of this night's events.  I didn't think they all deserved their own page, so I found a sketch to utilize each photo.  I love how once it was done, I noticed each pic was of family.

Cardstock: Bazzill Kraft, Pattern Paper: Fancy Pants Designs It's the Little Things Collection, Other Products: Cricut Cartridges, Chery Limeade & Designer Calendar, Martha Stewart Scallop Dot punch

And my last LO to share for the day.  I did this one last night in about 40 minutes.  It is for the September Scraplift the Person Before challenge over at scrapbook.com.  The last day to post my entry was today and I didn't want to miss out so I threw it together last night.  

Oh how I love this lil' man.  He LOVES blocks, building things, tearing things apart.  When I asked him what he was doing, he said, "Oh, Ya know Auntie M, Just Blockin'."  How could I not think that is just so darn cute?!  

Cardstock: Bazzill, Pattern Paper: Echo Park Little Man collection, Other products: Pop Dots, EK Success Binding Edge punch, Tim Holtz Paper Distresser, Cuttlebug machine, Swiss Dots & Argyl Cuttlebug folders, Nate's ABC's Cricut cart.

That's it for show and tell today :)  Scrapping last night made me realize how much I really miss it.  Hopefully I will be able to get a few more LO's done in some down time between now and then :)  If not, the crafty projects I have in the works will soon be shared!

Have a wonderful day and thanks so much for looking!