Scrapper at Heart

Evan's Birthday Card

2011-01-20T11:53:00.000-08:00

Uuuggghhhh!!! It's snowing here again! And the boys have yet another snow day home from school. This uses up their last built-in snow day for the year...after this, they start tacking them on to the end of the year. :( I got my creativity flowing this morning while the snow was coming down. I have been so busy making invites and thank you's that I almost forgot about the most important card...Evan's birthday card. His birthday is tomorrow and he'll probably get the day off from school too seeing as the snow is REALLY coming down. I decided to stick with the Colts theme but didn't want his card to look like the invites or thank you's. So, this is what I came up with. I used 3 Birds on Parade for the little football playing birdie, Create a Critter for the horseshoes for his little helmet and jersey (I cut an extra wing a bit bigger and cut off the end to give his jersey a sleeve), and Celebrations for balloons and the number 7's. I inked all the edges, added some string to the balloons and tied them to the little birdie's tail! I looked online and found this awesome picture of a Colts rug that looks like the actual football field. I printed it off and used it for my background. I stamped a simple "Happy Birthday" on the inside. So, do you think he'll like it?? TFL

Birthday invites and thank you's

2011-01-18T08:27:00.000-08:00

Evan's birthday is coming up this Friday...he's going to be 7!!! We had his party this past Saturday at Metro Sports Center in Evansville. We had a blast! The kids got to run and play games for an hour and then sit and enjoy pizza and cake. We even played a game of dodgeball...parents vs. kids. That was fun but I'm still sore. LOL Evan wanted an Indianapolis Colts themed party. I was able to find plates and napkins and goodie bag items for the party but they had no invites or thank you's so I made my own.

Invites: I used my Cricut and Gypsy (of course). I used Sports Mania, George, Create a Critter, and Old West for these. I welded the football shape to a rectangle from George and cut that in white. I then cut the football using Sports Mania in brown and embossed with my Cuttlebug Tiny Bubbles folder to make it look like the texture of a real football. I then used Create a Critter for the horseshoe and stretched it a bit to resemble the real Colts logo and added the circles from George. I put that on the invite using pop-dots. I used Old West font for the PARTY title. It was the perfect Colts font. I stamped all the info on the inside.
Thank you's: I kept these a little more simple. I used Sports Mania and Create a Critter for these. I used Sports Mania for the football helmet and Create a Critter for the horseshoe and a white get pen for the dots on the horseshoe. I used my Cuttlebug Thanks folder for the background. Evan just wrote the last of his thank you's today while he's home sick from school. TFL

Oooh Fuuudge!

2010-12-24T10:11:00.000-08:00

DH LOVES A Christmas Story!! He has the entire movie memorized and can recite any line from it. It's really fun to watch the movie with him. I was running short on time to make him a Christmas card because Evan has been down and out with one of the worst cases of stomach flu that I've seen. He started getting sick on Monday night and is just now getting to where he can eat again. So, my first chance to sit down and make a card was last night. I had this envisioned in my head and was very happy with the end result! I used my Cricut and Gypsy for everything except for the icicles. I used an assortment of Paper Doll Dress Up and Everyday Paper Dolls for Ralphie, his glasses, and the bar of soap. I used Old West for the Red Ryder BB Gun and words. I used my Martha Stewart edge punch for the icicles. I love how it all came together and I hope he enjoys it. TFL Wishing all of my bloggin' buddies a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and Happy New Year!!!!

Mini album-Christmas present

2010-12-19T13:58:00.000-08:00

6 more days til Christmas! Boy, have we been busy this month. We had Space Derby with the Cub Scouts, Polar Express train ride in French Lick, IN, Rudolph's Land of Lights, roasting chestnuts at Santa's Candy Castle, and a night and breakfast filled with Santa visits. It's all been SO much fun. On top of being so busy with everything and making this mini album for the student teacher leaving Evan's class, I still managed time to get sick with a triple whammy...ear infection, sinus infection, and strep throat. I'm still working on getting my antibiotic finished.

Evan's teacher came to me and asked if there was something neat that we could give to the student teacher that just finished at semester break. I came up with this mini album that the whole class got to help out with.

Here's the cover. Font is from Printing Press cut at real dial size and the heart if from George. I bound the album with my Bind-It-All and tied ribbon on the o-wires.
The next 12 pages were art work and writings from the students. I printed the phrase on the pages and the kids completed them. This is Evan's page.

Here is the autograph page that I made using Learning Curve for the font and Locker Talk for the pencil.

Ms. Corne wanted a page that she could write a letter to Ms. Scott so I came up with this. All cuts except the zig-zag were from Locker Talk and the zig-zag was from Plantin Schoolbook.

Class list printed on a page with hopscotch cut from Locker Talk.

I have pictures from several activities that the class has done so far this year. This page is from their Field Trip to Cate's Farm in Henderson, KY. The Field Trip sign was cut from Locker Talk, the wooden sign from H2O, and the pumpkins from Happily Ever After.

Here are pictures from the kids' Thanksgiving Play and Feast. I used Create a Critter for the turkey and the title.
The class just made gingerbread houses last week and I got some pics of all of them. I used All Mixed Up for the title, Simply Charmed for the peppermint, and My Community for the gingerbread house.

This last page was finished after it was given to her. We had some ice this past week so we bumped up her going away party to Wednesday since we were pretty sure that school was going to be canceled on Thursday and it was. I went in and took the picture of the kids in their jammies on Friday and came home and printed it and took it back up to school for her to put in her book. I superimposed the picture of the kids on the page here so it's not straight. I have this awesome Polar Express paper that my mom got me from our Polar Express train ride so I scanned it in and shrunk it down to 8x8 for this page. I used Joys of the Season for the bell and Gypsy Wanderings for the title. Hope you have enjoyed this little album. Ms. Scott loved it.

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-13T14:15:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas from the Bockelmans! We had our family pictures taken a week ago Sunday at JCPenney. They did a wonderful job again this year. Here is our family picture. I just love how it turned out. I was able to get outfits that all the red matched on. LOL
Here's a picture of just Charlie and I. We haven't had our picture taken alone since I was pregnant with Max. The photographer talked us into it even though I didn't want to but I'm glad he did because I love it. I'm also excited to show off my new-do. I got it cut right after Thanksgiving. Got some length cut off and lots of layers put in along with some long side-swept bangs.

The boys together. I can't believe how big they're getting.

Max with husky.

Evan with his Christmas turtle.

Indiana Jones & Harry Potter

2010-11-23T08:08:00.000-08:00

I'm just plugging away at LOs here. It's felt SO nice to sit down and scrap. I've really missed it. These two LOs are from Halloween pictures from this year...can you believe it? I'm still way behind but I like doing up-to-date photos. LOL The boys picked awesome costumes this year. Max was Indiana Jones and Evan was Harry Potter. They both looked fabulous!

For Max's LO, I used background paper from the DCWV Once Upon a Time stack. It kinda looks like an old crumpled up piece of paper or treasure map...perfect for this page. I printed Max's pic in sepia tones to go with the overall LO. I used my Cricut for all the cuts. I used Printing 101 for the title. I looked online at the IJ logo and copied it by making each letter smaller and curving it a bit. I cut it in yellow cardstock and then chalked it in to fade from yellow to orange to red. I love how it turned out. I used Paper Doll Dress Up for the hat and October 31st for the giant spider. Max's costume had a huge spider printed on the back shoulder!For Evan's LO, I used the new line of Harry Potter paper by Creative Imaginations. The whole line is SO cool and I was lucky enough to grab up a bunch at an Archiver's in Louisville!! I printed Evan's pic in sepia tones too to go with the overall LO. I used Black Letter and Robotz for the title. Black Letter was almost a perfect match to the HP logo but I had to weld on some lightning bolt shapes from Robotz to the P and I had to create the H from scratch. The uppercase H on Black Letter was nothing like the HP H. I welded some I's together and a swirl from the cart and it made an almost perfect HP H. I used Camp out for Hedwig. I think she turned out pretty good. TFL

You Rock

2010-11-18T08:32:00.000-08:00

WOW!! My second post with a LO is as many days. I'm on a roll. I just wish that I could keep it up but I've got a very busy week next week with Thanksgiving and Evan has a Thanksgiving Play and a Feast at school next week. So, I'll be up at school plenty next week.

Here is Evan sporting a "new-do". LOL If anyone knows my boys, they know that are neat freaks when it comes to their hair. They like it combed over on the part, gelled, and hairsprayed so it looks good all day. They've ALWAYS been this way. So, I was totally shocked when Evan came downstairs on a Saturday morning with a spike!! He said that he asked Daddy to fix it that way. It was super cute and then he started to cop a "tude" to go with the spike! So, I had to grab my camera. This would never fly on a school morning but it was the day before Halloween...time to be fun. What makes the pictures even more funny is the fact that he's got his "tude" and he's holding Velvet Pup from Build-A-Bear!! LMBO

I used Indie Art for stars, guitar, and skull and crossbones. I used Happy Hauntings for the font. All the printed paper is from the DCWV Rockstar Stack. It was so totally perfect for this page. I distressed all the edges of my mats and pictures with my Tim Holtz distressing tool and inked them too. TFL

Zombie Farm

2010-11-17T10:33:00.000-08:00

I've been working on this LO off and on for 2 weeks (more off than on). Life has just gotten SO busy. I stay super busy with Cub Scouts and all that goes on with that. I really thought that it'd be no problem being a leader for Evan's Den and being an assistant to Charlie for Max's Den but it has proven to be quite the task with planning 2 meetings. Plus we just finished up selling popcorn with the Scouts where I served on the Popcorn Committee this year. We got the last of our popcorn delivered yesterday!! WOOHOO. The boys did wonderful this year. They sold together and sold $1,819! I'm very proud of them.

Anywho, back to the LO. We had taken the boys to this haunted house several years ago but we went to the no-scare version. It was still scary. I thought that they'd be up for the full scare version this year. I remember going to haunted houses when I was their age. So, we bribed them to actually go and they took it. This is our local haunted house right here in Newburgh. It's not too scary but it is to a kid. Max was OK with going but Evan was absolutely terrified. His face shows it in the pictures. The one of him crying hysterically is after we went through. They chased us out with a real circular saw and it freaked him out! I printed the pics in black and white to add the scare-factor! I used Cricut Happy Hauntings for every cut on here. I absolutely LOVE the font that's on this cart! I made a duplicate LO for Max so that's what took so long was cutting everything twice and piecing everything together. I also used my Martha Stewart Drippy Goo punch. I did my journaling the tombstones. TFL

Lincoln Campout

2010-10-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

This is my first LO post over on the new Cricut MB. It's nice to have a MB that moves fast again but I'm still trying to learn how to navigate my way through all the forums. I finished this LO a while back but couldn't get my scanner to work right. These pics are from a year ago from our first Cub Scout campout. We had a blast as you can tell by the pictures. I used the Campout cartridge for everything. Everything is inked and layered. Background paper is by Cloud 9 Design and it's part of their Happy Halloween Dustin T. Dust line. TFL

Cake Pops...I'm totally hooked!

2010-09-28T09:42:00.000-07:00

Ever since I first saw this blog by Bakerella, I was hooked on these little cake pops that she makes. They are just so stinkin' adorable!! I've wanted to make them for the longest time but kept putting it off. Well...she just came out with her first cookbook titled Cake Pops and I bought it at my local Barnes and Noble (got the last copy on the release day too). Her cake pops are adorable and her photography of them is even more fascinating. Everything is just perfect about them. I was just in awe as I sat flipping through the cookbook on that first day. I REALLY wanted to try to make these now. I was going to start with just the basic cake pop round shape and just coat them and see how they turned out. But, Evan celebrated Apple Week last week at school and they were allowed to bring in a homemade treat (this never happens at school). I was SO excited because I remembered seeing apple cake pops in the cookbook. I bought all of my items, having to substitute some items because I couldn't find the right sprinkles for the leaves but I was happy. I made 48 of these little pops. Evan had enough for his 1st grade class and we delivered some to each of the other 1st grade teachers as they were all celebrating Apple Week, the kindergarten teachers as they will always hold a special place in our hearts, Max's teacher and Max's teacher last year! They got RAVE reviews. Nobody wanted to eat them as they were too pretty they kept saying. They were quite delicious. To keep with the apple theme, I used a spice cake and substituted apple sauce for the oil in addition to making them look like apples. I have to say that these were pretty easy to make. They were time consuming but so worth it to see everyone's faces when we delivered them. Evan took them in to his class in this little basket that I lined with tissue paper. So, what do you think...good enough to eat?

More crafting!!

2010-09-02T07:07:00.000-07:00

I've been busy crafting but haven't gotten around to posting too much. One thing is I had to get a new camera over the summer and I still have a hard time getting my pics off of it and the other is I also got a new printer and it has messed up how I scan things in so I need DH to help me figure that one out so I'll get some LOs posted after I get it all worked out.

First off, I've got this mini clipboard that I altered. I've got 2 boys that are in school full day this year so they are both taking their lunch this year. We were doing really well and getting all of their non-refrigerated stuff packed the night before and having the other stuff ready in baggies in the fridge. Well, life is getting more hectic with Scouts starting up. DH came home from work one afternoon and designed these lunch order slips for them to fill out and then we'll "fill" their lunch orders. Actually we trade off days and each of the boys is responsible for getting out all the stuff for him and his brother. It's taught them a lot of responsibility. They LOVE the idea of filling out an actual order and then filling it. I decided that I didn't want these little papers all over the kitchen so I altered this clipboard for them to go on. I used Locker Talk and All Mixed Up. I covered it in Mod Podge to protect it too. I added some ribbons to the clip and tied a pencil to it too.

Next are some birthday cards that I've made. I used Elmo's Party for this first one. There is a gorgeous cake cut on there. I used my Gypsy and welded two cake cuts together to make a shape card. I didn't add the silly face that you can from the Elmo's Party cart though. I inked all the cuts and stamped Happy Birthday on the cake plate.

Next birthday card was made using Happily Ever After for Snow White and Elmo's Party for the cake. This is for a dear friend's birthday that is a Snow White fan just like me! ;)

The next two cards require some explaining. LOL My dad's birthday was a couple of weeks ago and the boys wanted me to make cards for him from them. They gave me "orders" as to what they wanted their cards to look like. My dad likes to feed the squirrels in their backyard so that is the basis for both cards. First is Evan's card. I used Create a Critter for the whole scene on the front and Cuttin' Up for the inside. Evan wanted a card that just said "SQUIRREL" but didn't want the actual animal on there. Evan really likes the Disney-Pixar movie UP. He likes to imitate the dog when he's talking and then all of sudden freezes and says "SQUIRREL". My dad thinks that is so funny so that is the story behind his card. Max's card is second. He actually wanted a squirrel on his and wanted him roasting an acorn over a campfire because we like to roast marshmallows with my parents. So, thus his card was born. It was all fairly easy to plan out on my G. I also used Create a Critter on his too. LOVE that cart!

Last, I've got a birthday card for my DH, Charlie. He turns 32 tomorrow!! Happy Birthday, honey! I just got the new Toy Story cart in the mail on Monday and I've been having the most fun playing with the cuts on it. I knew that I wanted to use it on his card because we all just love Toy Story. This card is 4x9.25. I used the Toy Story cart for the rocket and aliens, George for the claw, and Mickey font for the words. I had this vision in my head of cutting the aliens and making the scene in which the aliens are in the claw game and getting picked up. I'm so happy with how this card turned out!! I had to really enlarge the rocket to fit the whole height of the card so I could get an alien to fit inside. I also apart a clear envelope and used that for the front so it's shiny like you're looking inside the claw game. I welded together the letter I and 3 moon shapes from George for the claw and then just wedged the little alien in there like he had been chosen. Enjoy!

Some new cards

2010-08-24T06:26:00.000-07:00

Life has been VERY hectic lately. My boys went back to school and I thought that I'd have more time to scrap but that hasn't quite happened yet. I spend more time running errands, returning phone calls, volunteering at their school (which I love), picking up the house, and trying to keep everyone well. Evan and I were both sick last week. We both had to see the dr and get on antibiotics. Welcome to the start of school! LOL Then on Saturday, Evan had a really bad accident. He got knocked into our coffee table and almost completely cut off the top part of his ear...the little rounded part. It was horrible. We rushed him to the ER and they were able to stitch him up. It required 6 stitches. He gets them out on Friday...woohoo! The ear is looking better today. The swelling is finally going down and I'm seeing some better coloring in it. The ER dr was afraid that the blood supply wasn't going to be enough to keep that tissue alive but I have better hopes today. He's very eager to get the stitches out because he says that it grosses out the girls in his class. Evan's always got to please the little girls!! LOL

OK, on to some cards. These first two are ones that I made for my bestest friend when she had her new baby boy!!! I made the Welcome Little One for her and the Super Big Brother for each of her two boys. I used Create a Critter for the Welcome Little One card. I also used some Cuttlebug folders for embossing the backgroud. I also added some crushed velvet to the moon's hat. I used my Superman cart for the Super Big Brother card. I embossed the background with Cuttlebug's Diamond Plate folder.

This next card was made for the same bestest friend for letting us stay at her house while visiting. We had the best time and my boys loved spending time with her two boys. It was a great little trip. I used Just Because Cards for everything on this card.

This next card was made for my message board friends that had birthdays in August!! I had fun coming up with this card. I found the stamped saying in my stash first and went from there. I used From My Kitchen for the sweet little vintage phone. I used Nesties for the background shape. Here is the front...it says "Age is only a number"

Here's the inside...it says (Mine is Unlisted, Happy Birthday)
Thanks for taking a look at my creations. I've got more to post but need to get pics off of my camera and LOs scanned in. Be sure and check back!!

Vinyl project for the day

2010-07-19T13:12:00.000-07:00

I've been busy getting stuff ready around here for the start of school. Especially since school starts in 3 weeks and 2 days! Where has the summer gone. We've had an awesome summer and I'm not ready for it to end. Anywho, I already know that we're going to have a hectic year with both boys being in Scouts and in full day school too. So, I used my Gypsy, Cricut, and Wall Pops and designed headers for my big dry erase board that hangs in my kitchen. Now, I can keep everything for the boys written down so they can easily view stuff that they have going on and I can keep track of the family's doctor appointments and I've even got a section for Menu so I can plan our meals out for a whole week!! I used the new Varsity Letter for the titles and Designer's Calendar for the days of the week. Enjoy!!

Who needs a Cricut Cake machine?

2010-07-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

Not me. Charlie and I have found that we truly enjoy making the boys' birthday cakes and other cakes. They take a long time but it's something that enjoy doing together. We've even gotten the hang of using fondant and have a recipe to make our own...and it tastes GOOD! Here are some cakes that we've made this year.

This first one, Max had a big hand in making. This was for Cub Scouts for their annual Cake Bake. They auctioned off the cakes and the money went to Easter Seals. It was a fun night with so many fun cakes being auctioned. The boys could make a cake to fit a category in hopes of winning a medal. Max won for Best Scout Themed cake. He wanted to make a hat cake that looked like his Cub Scout Wolf hat. He helped with the baking of the cake, icing the cake, and even rolling out the fondant (which was hard work). Max's cake went for $110...to us. We had 4 other families bidding against us and Max REALLY wanted this cake to come back home with us so hung in there and won it back.

Here is Evan's birthday cake from January. He had a Candy Land themed birthday so Charlie and I recreated the Candy Land game board on a cake. There was SO much candy on this cake. All the kids at his party LOVED it.

And here is Max's birthday cake from June. He had a camouflage themed party so we decided to make a cake shaped like a tank. It turned out awesome. We used fondant on this one. I did use a bit of Cricut on this one. I cut the number eight out of paper and then hand cut the 8 out of fondant to put on the front of the cake.

Sweet as Pie

2010-06-23T19:48:00.000-07:00

Holy guacamole!!! I scrapped a LO two days in a row. I can't even remember the last time that that happened. LOL My boys' school raised money for Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) this spring. They sold paper tennis shoes in their classes and also took in donations. Evan ended up with the most donations out of the kindergarten class. They were going to take only the top student and let them throw a pie in the face of that teacher from that grade level but since the whole student body did very well (raising over $14,000) one teacher from each grade level took a pie in the face. Evan was the winner for kindergarten. This program was in the afternoon and Evan was a morning kindergartner so another teacher called to let me know like 20 minutes before the program and asked if I'd bring him back to the school. Evan got to throw a pie in the kindergarten teacher's aide's face. He had a blast and she said that she wouldn't have wanted anyone else to do it besides Evan. Her and Evan are best buddies!! Anywho, so that's the story behind the pics.

I used From My Kitchen for the refrigerator, stove, pot, canisters, pie, pot holders, and pie phrase. I used Create a Critter for the word SWEET, George for the cabinet doors, and Jasmine for AS. I cut the tile floor by hand. I used my art skills to draw it out, cut it out, and piece each individual tile together. I even hung the pot holders on little brads for the cabinet knobs. I also printed out some mini pics from the event and put them on the fridge like magnets. TFL

MIA.... but I'm back!

2010-06-22T13:07:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy couple of months as you can tell. My last post was over the boys' Spring Break back in March!!! I've been busy with the end of school in May, Scouting activities...always, and our vacation right after school ended. We went to Pennsylvania to Sesame Place. saw the Liberty Bell in Philly, saw the Crayola Factory and Museum, and did Hershey Park for 3 days. We were gone for a week and had a wonderful time. I'm trying to get back on a schedule around the house. The boys are doing school work each morning over summer break so they don't lose any skills. And I'm using that time to sit with them and design on my Gypsy. I designed this LO this morning and got it cut and pieced this afternoon while the boys cleaned up about a million Legos in their toyroom!

I had printed pics to make the boys' Christmas Eve LOs but ran across this year's Tootsie Roll pic and decided to do a LO of all 4 pics of Evan. My dad always gives Evan something Tootsie Roll for Christmas whether it be a giant Tootsie Roll in the top left-hand pic, a Tootsie Roll bank in the top right-hand pic or bottom left-hand pic, or a gigantic Tootsie Roll pillow in the bottom right-hand pic. Evan LOVES Tootsie Rolls and always asks for my dad for one when he comes over to visit and he always has a pocket full for both boys. It's their little thing. My favorite pic is of Evan in the top left-hand pic. This pic was taken in 2006 and he was not quite 3 years old. The look on his face was precious. DH always laughs when he looks at it because Evan was just so excited to get that super big Tootsie Roll. These pics are from Christmas 2006-2009.

I used Christmas Cheer for the holly and the Tootsie Roll base itself. It was a piece of candy and I used the hide contour feature and hid the little circles that were supposed to cut out of it. I cut it three times in each white, brown, and red and then cut the stripes and pieced it together. I used Base Camp for the letters. I decided to make my background paper look like a Tootsie Roll wrapper too since I couldn't think of a good background paper. TFL

Artist

2010-03-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

Evan as an artist...

Max as an artist...
Happy Thursday! It's my boys' Spring Break and I was happy for a rainy day so I could get these LOs finished. I've had them designed on my G for a couple of weeks because it's based on the SOUS sketch from 3/12 but I never got it cut before that week ended so here it finally is. I used Storybook for the background shape, Locker Talk for the paint brush and palette, Dreams Come True for the paint splats, and Printing Press for the title. I inked all my cuts in black ink. Those splats were very tricky to ink the edges but it turned out pretty good. Printed paper is from My Mind's Eye...Just Dreamy collection.

I got asked to be a Guest Designer!!!!!!!!

2010-03-19T02:00:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited and feel so honored. I was asked to be a Guest Designer for Stuck on U Sketches (SOUS). Here is the sketch that they emailed me.
And here is what I turned it into...(Max's LO)
And Evan's LO...

As soon as I opened the sketch, I knew exactly what I was going to do with it. That angled piece of torn paper on the sketch just said "staircase" to me and of course this is exactly how my living room looks and how we have our Christmas tree set up too. I designed and cut everything on this LO using my Gypsy and Cricut. Here is a list of what carts I used...

A Child's Year-Santa with boy
Christmas Solutions-Rocking horse, teddy bear, tree, and tree topper
Joys of the Season-Garland and ornaments
Sweethearts-Presents
George-Staircase, spindles, footboards, railing, and picture frames

The staircase was the trickiest to design but using George on every bit of it, I was able to do it. I welded a bunch of rectangles and squares together to create the base for the stairs. I cut footboards using George too. The spindles were created by welding a tall skinny rectangle with a long skinny oval and two smaller ovals. I was most proud of those. The railing is just a long rectangle. I created the frames using George as well. I just put a smaller square inside a larger one and cut it. I created my own faux wood finish by cutting everything in brown paper. I used my Zig .01 fine tip marker and just marked it up. Then I inked all the edges in black. The wood floor was assembled in strips and I added nail holes too. Everything was inked on this LO. I did heat embossing on the garland, ornaments, and tree topper. Here are some close-ups of the detailing.

Picture frame...

Wood floor...

Staircase...

And yes...call me crazy. I did make 2 LOs...one for each boys' album. So, I cut 2 of everything or in the case of the spindles...18 of them! Thank you to the SOUS DT for asking me to be a Guest Designer. I've had a blast.

Do I save PJ's???

2010-03-15T12:26:00.000-07:00

This is the phrase that I hear EVERY single morning from Evan. I tell him every morning that I only need his PJ's on Wednesdays and Sundays for laundry but some how he never remembers. He told me this morning that it'd be nice if he had a sign or something to remind him. Hmmm...I can do that!! So, I sat down with my Gypsy and designed a double-sided door hanger for his room. The only problem that I see with this is if I forget to change it on Tuesday and Saturday nights for the next mornings. Mental note to self...don't forget. LOL I used my Gypsy to design this and the Cricut to cut it. I used My Community of the door hanger, Cuttin Up for the words, Everyday Paper Dolls for the doll, jammies, towel, teddy bear, and laundry basket. I used a basket with a handle on it from the cart and made it wider than it was and added round cornered rectangles from George to the basket to make it look like a laundry basket. I just had to cut off the handle after I got it cut out. I inked all the cuts. Printed papers are by My Mind's Eye...Wild Asparagus Collection.

I'm so behind...

2010-03-13T17:38:00.001-08:00

in posting pics that I've decided since I have a nice quiet evening that I'm going to do it tonight. Some of these go back to February. I've included lots so make sure and scroll through them all. I've got scrappy, crafty, and just plain fun pics so....ENJOY!!

Here is a card that my DS, Evan, made for my mom for her birthday! He has these pigeon books and he wanted to try drawing the pigeon and the duck from the story. This is from The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog by Mo Willems. I think he did an amazing job considering that he's only 6. He's going to be my scrapping buddy!

Here are some Valentine Artist Trading Cards that I made and sent out. How perfect to have Twilight Valentine's?? I used a stamp set that Charlie bought me for my birthday and I thought the MS Drippy Goo punch was just too cool to add to the Edward side. These were double sided so no matter whether you are Team Edward or Team Jacob...I had ya covered!

Here is Evan's birthday cake!!! He had a Candy Land birthday party and Charlie and I made his cake. We spent 2 1/2 hours decorating this cake but it turned out just amazing! He LOVED it. We also had a life-size Candy Land game set up around the first level of our house. We had all these colored paper taped together to resemble the Candy Land game board and even had all the extra spaces on there too like Gloppy's Molasses Swamp. The kids at his party LOVED it.

Here's Max before his Seussical Musical performance for Young Author's Night. He looks like he's ready for Green Eggs and Ham. LOL His class did a wonderful job performing the songs.

SPRING?? It sure felt like it here last weekend...not so much today. It was wonderful out last weekend so we decided to get our trampoline back out. We don't have our screens in our windows yet so I snuck upstairs and opened Max's window and got these awesome shots of the boys jumping with Charlie. I got some great video too.

Pinewood Derby day!!! We had our Pinewood Derby this morning and these are the boys' cars and Charlie's too. LOL They had so much fun racing them. Max's car flew off the track twice so he didn't even get to finish a race and was bumped out. Evan got beat by a Tag-a-Long girl and Charlie got beat in the championship race so I guess he got 2nd. The boys each won a ribbon. Max's ribbon was for "Fastest Looking" car...I think because of the paper flames. Evan's ribbon was for "Best Tag-a-Long" car...say "CHEESE" Evan!! I painted Evan's car this week. The mouse looks a little "cheesy" but he won anyway!

So Happy 2gether-SOUS challenge

2010-03-04T10:31:00.000-08:00

Happy Thursday and Happy March! The sun is finally shining here today and our temp is in the mid 40s!!!!! Another busy week here and another late posting. Maybe I'll just plan on posting my challenge LOs on Thursdays and if I get them done sooner, then YAY!! I based this LO off of the SOUS challenge from Feb. 26. This LO is of my DS, Evan, and his turtles. He has this fascination with these large eyed turtles. They look so sad to me but he loves them. I got him the green one with the Santa hat at Holiday World this summer and he got the yellow and brown one for his birthday. He loves sleeping with them as you can see. We were tucking him in one night and he had both of them in his arms so I ran and got my camera and started snapping pics while he slept. Then as were getting ready to leave his room, he rolled over and you could see the face of the yellow and brown one peeking over his shoulder and the look on the turtles face is just priceless...it's like he's smiling because he has someone that loves him!!

I used my Cricut for this LO. I used Walk in My Garden for the turtle and I redid the eye on it to match his actual stuffed turtle. I used George for the hearts and Don Juan for the title. Everything was designed on my Gypsy. I used a Scalloped Circle Nestie for the circle pic. All paper is Basic Gray. TFL

American Pride-SOUS Challenge

2010-02-25T14:37:00.000-08:00

Happy Thursday! I'm again super late in doing last week's challenge...I mean another new one comes out tomorrow. It's been another roller coaster of a week here. Between still helping out my parents by being at their house while contractors were getting things repaired and feeling super crummy from a flare with my Rheumatoid Arthritis...I haven't had time or even felt like scrapping...which I hate because I love to scrap!! My dr is working on getting me on a new med and some pain meds too to help me get over this rough time. Anywho...I did manage to finally gte this LO done. I designed it last Friday when I saw the challenge but just got around to starting on it yesterday. This is the first LO that I've completed for Max's Cub Scout album! DH and I are Scout Leaders for Max's Den and we scheduled our Den to attend a Flag Education and Flag Folding ceremony at our local American Legion. This was a requirement for them to earn their Wolf Badge. We had a wonderful time and the boys all did so well. They each got to fold the flag and they learned what each fold meant. They also did an outdoor flag ceremony and got to raise and lower the flag. At the end of the evening, they were each presented with a certificate. I based this LO off of the Stuck On U Sketches (SOUS) sketch from 2/19/10. I used my Cricut for all the cuts. George for the circle and stars, Stand & Salute for the title and soldier, and Base Camp for the USA dog tag. I distressed everything and added a beaded chain to my dog tag. Printed papers are from an old DCWV Summer Stack. I blurred out the face on the other Scout in the picture with Max.

Home Sweet Home-SOUS challenge

2010-02-18T17:10:00.000-08:00

It's been a super hectic week here and I'm just now getting around to the SOUS challenge from Feb. 12. We spent last Friday night preparing for Evan's birthday party, which he FINALLY got to have...after rescheduling it twice because of stomach flu. Then his party was on Saturday and was just so much fun. He had a Candy Land theme and it was just the best. My parents had some water damage from a leaking ice maker hose and called DH to come help them tear up their brand new laminate floor that they had put in just 2 weeks ago. Then we got socked with yet another snow storm and the boys missed Monday and Tuesday from school and it was on a delay yesterday!! We are now out of snow days for the year. I've been helping out with being over at my parent's house while the construction guys are there repairing their kitchen while they are at work. I took this LO over with me today to get some work done. I worked pretty well considering all the hammering that was going on in the next room. OK, enough about my crazy week. On to the LO!!! I based this on the SOUS challenge from last Friday. I used my Cricut on all the cuts. The title is Storybook, gingerbread boy and girl are from Paper Doll Dress Up, and the gingerbread snowflake is from When It's Cold Outside. I inked the gingerbread boy and girl and added ribbons to them. I put my snowflake on a giant flower from Hobby Lobby and added a green bow and the little gingerbread house charm is from Oriental Trading and I attached it with a safety pin. I heat embossed the snowflake with white glitter. All paper is from last years Martha Stewart Christmas stack. The scan of the LO didn't turn out the best because of the thickness of the flower, snowflake, bow, and charm combo.

It's SUPER BOWL Sunday!!!

2010-02-07T07:38:00.000-08:00

Just want to give a shout out...GO COLTS!!!!! This is from an email that I got from my mom the other day.

Per the National Weather Service...Here's the latest satellite image taken of that gigantic storm heading SE toward Miami!!!

How cool is that??

A Dog and his Boy (SOUS)

2010-02-06T13:59:00.001-08:00

I played along with the SOUS challenge again from 2/5. I've been needing to scrap these pics and this sketch worked perfectly. We take our boys to Build A Bear every year for them to either build a new animal or buy new clothes for their old animals for their birthdays. Evan saw this adorable dog named Hearts Dalmatian. He's just the cutest thing and he goes perfectly with another heart doggie that he built 2 years ago...Puppy. She's a white dog with pink and red hearts all over her fur. I used my Cricut for all the cuts. The squares and hearts are from George, the dog is from Doodlecharms, and the title is from Opposites Attract upright feature. I cut a red heart to go over the dogs eye instead of the circle that is supposed to be there so he looks like Evan's dog. I also cut smaller hearts for the heart shaped spots that his dog has too. I also did some inking with black and white inks. Printed papers are from Creative Imaginations.

Calgon...take me away!!

2010-02-05T16:11:00.000-08:00

Do you all remember that commercial from the 80s?? Well, that's the way that I'm feeling today. Evan's birthday was on January 21st and he turned 6. We had his party scheduled for the 24th, but big brother Max ended up coming down with the stomach flu and we had to reschedule. We figured that if we rescheduled everything for 2 weeks later that it would have run its course through the family and everything would be fine. Well, guess who came down with the stomach flu today?? Evan!! He came home from school not feeling too well and had a tummy ache. Well, after we got home from picking up Max this afternoon, it REALLY hit. I'll spare the nasty details but he's definitely got the stomach bug. So, I again had to call everyone and reschedule his party. His friends' parents are going to think that I'm nuts!!

Lincoln Logs

2010-02-02T07:49:00.000-08:00

Max and Evan LOVE Lincoln Logs. They got these awesome sets from Pa and G-ma for Christmas. It's a Yukon Express set that builds 5 little cabins, a train track, and even has a train with figures. They each got a set so we've been having nothing but fun with them. I was going through my paper stash yesterday when I sat down to scrap these and was shocked when I had only bought 1 sheet of each of the patterned paper that I used. I ALWAYS buy 4 sheets of any paper that I buy. I don't know what could have come over me that would possess me to only buy 1 sheet!!! So, I had to use different papers on each boys' LOs...I don't like to do this but I had no other choice because the one set of paper I bought at an Archivers and the closest A's is almost 2 hours away. Oh well...I finally found 2 sets of patterned papers that worked for both and I'm very happy with both.

I used my Cricut for these pages. I used My World for the Cabin and Trees and Old West for the title. I'm totally loving the fonts on Old West!! Since the cabin didn't come in layers, I cut apart the logs and inked them individually and then re-assembled it. I did lots of inking on everything to bring out the rustic look of the papers. I used a new February sketch from Pagemaps.com.

Here's Max's LO. The papers are all by Cloud 9 Design...Great Outdoors collection. And yes, he was upside down in the bottom photo...he was acting silly.

And here's Evan's LO. The papers are all by Cosmo Cricket...Mr. Campy Happy Trails collection. And yes, Evan is rolling a boulder of snow down the railroad track to smash the oncoming train.

SOUS challenges

2010-01-31T15:55:00.000-08:00

I've been back in the mood to scrap again. I'm hoping that by following awesome sketches that I can get caught back up in no time!! This first one is from a SOUS challenge from January 29. I just had to scrap the Colts going to Super Bowl. It was such an exciting game and an awesome outcome! I used my Cricut for this LO. I used Sports Mania for the giant football and Old West for the title including the little horseshoes for the U's. I welded my title together on my Gypsy and cut it. I also used this amazing color accent print studio called Magic Splash. It's the best color accenting software that I've used. You can either have your pic in black and white and color in what you want or start in color and color in in black and white. I wanted to make my pics really pop on this LO so I chose to color accent certain things. On the first pic, I accented the Colts players and the endzone, second pic...the stadium lights with the final score, and third pic...the football with the Colts vs. the Saints on it. These pictures were all taken of our TV screen while the game was on.

For this LO, I followed the sketch from January 22 from SOUS. I used Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More for the background shapes, Doodlecharms for the dog face, A Child's Year for the dog bones, George for the circle, and Paper Pups for the title. Max had the stomach flu last weekend and he was trying to stay awake to watch the AFC Championship game between the Colts and the Jets but he kept falling asleep. His dog, Rootbeer, was dressed in his Colts gear too. Printed papers are from the DCWV Pet Stack.

Blog Award

2010-01-27T14:23:00.001-08:00

I just want to say how incredibly honored I am to receive a blog award!! This one came from the fabulously creative, Leah. She has an awesome blog and is always posting some of the most gorgeous stuff. She's also a design team member over at SOUS. They've got some amazing sketches so hop on over and check them out!! Thanks again, Leah...you rock!!

So, as part of this blog award, I'm supposed to list 10 things that "knock your socks off".

1. My Husband-who provides all the funding for my scrapping addiction and who never questions me.

2. My boys...Max and Evan-who provide all the super cute inspiration and smiles so I can "scrap it all"

3. My parents-for always being there.

4. Friends-Scrappin' friends are the best and MB buddies ROCK!

5. Cricut MB-I've met some of the best people over on the Cricut MB...and lifelong friends.

6. Cub Scouts-I learn something new every day from them.

7. Books-If it weren't for Twilight...I'd never have known that I was in love with a vampire ;)

8. Acapulco's-the best Mexican food around.

9. SWARMS-because they are just too much fun!!

10. Snow in the forecast-still makes me feel like a kid to see it and anticipate its arrival!!

I'd like to pass this award on to...

1. Candice-whom is the person that I've been friends with longest on the MB. And she opens up her own "bed and breakfast" when I come up for SWARMS!!!! She also got me started on this whole blogging thing and also she needs to update her own blog. ;)

2. Karen-whom I first met at a SWARM and became instant friends with.

3. Andrea-whom is new to the Cricut world but it totally rockin' with that bug!!

Once Upon a Time

2010-01-27T13:08:00.000-08:00

It feels like way too long since I scrapped a page. I finished my parent's Disney album and I was burnt out on scrapping after that marathon. They did love their album for Christmas though. Here is a LO that I just finished today. Max and I have been down with the stomach flu and it felt good to get back up to my scraproom and get a page done. This is my DS, Evan. Since he's a kindergartner, he gets to participate in his school's Birthday Book Club for the first time. We pay $15 and he gets to pick what type of book he would like and the PTO purchases it in his name and it goes in the library. It's a good way for the school to get new books and it's great because the kids have a lasting memory of the books that they helped buy for the school. Evan's book this year was Jack and the Beanstalk. It's a newer version and very fun to read. There is an ogre in it instead of the giant. I used this awesome sketch over on Stuck on U Sketches (SOUS). My friend, Leah, has been wanting me to try some of the stuff over there...thanks, Leah for pushing me! ;) I used my Cricut for this LO. I used My Community for Jack, the beanstalk, the giant, and the hen. I never thought I'd get to use these great cuts on this cartridge. I used George for the circle, Tags, Bags, Boxes, and More for the funky background shapes, From My Kitchen for the golden eggs, and Storybook for the title. I did lots of inking on everything to make it all pop. I heat embossed the eggs for that perfect "golden egg" look. Papers are all by My Mind's Eye...Tres Jolie collection.

Merry Christmas, Mom and Dad!!

2009-12-29T11:04:00.000-08:00

My parents surprised us and met us in the lobby of Pop Century when we went down to Disney back in June. They had told us that they were going to Las Vegas and they were leaving the day after we started our drive down to Disney. We had been in contact with them the whole time on our drive and she had even given us flight info for their "flights" to Vegas. Come to find out they flew down to Disney instead and were waiting in the hotel lobby when we walked in to check in. It was such a surprise and a relief because Max was SO sick on the drive down. We had had him to the dr before we left and he just thought it was a stomach bug but he got much worse when we got down there and we ended spending one entire evening in the ER. Come to find out Max had c. diff...a nasty bowel infection caused by an antibiotic that he had been on 2 weeks before. By time we got back to the resort that night, he was vomiting and passing nothing but blood. We got him on a right antibiotic and he made a remarkable turnaround. They got to share several days of our vacation with us before they had to fly back home. This was my parents first time to Disney and honestly I didn't think that we'd ever get them down there!

They kept telling me that they didn't need anything for Christmas this year but I knew just the perfect gift. My mom and dad both love the scrapbooks that I make the boys but my mom doesn't scrap. So, I pulled all the pics that I had taken and made this album for them. I started on it the day after Thanksgiving and worked like a mad woman to get it done. I finished it on December 23...just in time because we celebrate Christmas with them on Christmas Eve...talk about working under pressure. Oh, and I also made teacher gifts during that time of a total of 3 gift bags and 24 cards. It was a crazy crafting season for me. Some of these pages are not up to my usual standards but I tried with the short time frame that I had. My favorites are the Trash Can Band, Monorail, Pop Century. ENJOY!!!!

Christmas 2009

2009-12-08T16:33:00.000-08:00

Here are our Christmas pictures that we had taken last night at JCPenney. They turned out great. My favorite is this first one. The boys had so much fun laying on our backs for it. hehehe

Just 2 more cards!!

2009-09-18T14:18:00.000-07:00

Here are 2 birthday cards that I've made recently. I used the new Everyday Paper Dolls cricut card for this one. My DH turned 31 a couple of weeks ago and he loves to golf so I made this little golfer card for him. I chose to have the little paper doll with the screaming mouth so it looked like he was screaming FORE. I also cut the letters in different sizes so it looks like he's screaming it. I heat embossed his clubs with silver so they looked like metal and pieced the golf bag together and added the Purdue P so it matches his bag.

This one was made using the Hello Kitty Font Cricut Cart. I got it a few weeks ago and loved the Hello Kitty ballerina. I whipped up this card using her. I used my Cuttlebug and embossed the background using the Happy Birthday folder. I also used my Martha Stewart Lacy edge punch and some Primas and bling.

New cards using From My Kitchen!!

2009-09-18T14:09:00.000-07:00

This is such an awesome new Cricut cart! I was really wanting it just for use for LOs of when my two help me bake but after looking through my stamps, I found some awesome sentiments that paired nicely with cuts from the cartridge.

To Perk You Up...This sentiment is from a Stampendous set called From the Kitchen. I think it worked perfectly with the coffee pot. I used my Martha Stewart Loopy Punch on the background square and added some Primas and bling.

You Always Pop Up When I Need You...This sentiment came from a stamp by Great Impressions. I just love it. I cut the toaster and bread from the From My Kitchen cart and added some Primas and brads. I used my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder too. I just love the little plug trailing behind the toaster!! :)

A Bun in the Oven...The sentiment for this card is one of those cheapy $1 Studio G stamps from Michaels. I just love those little stamps. There are so many perfect little sentiments on them. The oven was cut using From My Kitchen and the bun is from the Paper Doll Dress Up cart. I paired it with some Primas and brads.

A bit behind in posting...

2009-09-18T13:58:00.001-07:00

I've been very busy with getting my boys started back to school. Evan is in kindergarten this year and Max is in 2nd grade. They are both doing VERY well and loving school!! I now have the mornings to myself since Evan is in kindergarten half day. I thought that I would have more time to scrap but that hasn't happened too much yet. These are some LOs that I've finished over the past couple of weeks but wanted to wait to post them together. I'm almost caught up with all of my Spring and Summer LOs, so I'll be starting on this years' Disney albums soon!!!

This one turned out to be my favorite!! Max celebrated his 7th Birthday on May 31. I didn't get too many good pics of him that day because he ended up getting really sick during his party. This was taken that morning before he started feeling bad. He was goofing off in this pic and I just love it! Since he turned 7, I decided to play off of the Lucky 7 theme that I saw on Indie Art. I used Indie Art for the word Lucky, the die, and the hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs on the cards. I used Blackletter for the 7's. I cut the cards by hand and used my corner rounder. DH thought that I should have just used real cards from a deck but that would be easy. It was more fun to cut all those tiny pieces and glue them onto my cards. LMBO I love how it turned out and even excited that the numbers on top of the die add up to 7!!!
Here is Evan's Easter LO. I used Mini Monograms for the scalloped circle, George for the circle and face for the bunny and flowers, Doodlecharms for the bunny head, and Storybook for the title. I wanted the bunny face to match the paper so I cut the pieces using George and put them on the Doodlecharms bunny face.
Here is Evan's Slippery When Wet LO. I used Going Places on this one along with George to cut the rounded squares for the sign.
Here is Evan blowing kisses and waving bye to Daddy's plane. He had to fly to Baltimore for work and this was his first time away from us so we all had a hard time with it. Max had to say bye to him at school that morning but Evan got to come to the airport and I caught him at the windows of the airport doing this. I used Spongebob, Mickey and Friends for the clouds, Life is a Beach for the title, and My World for the plane.

Here is Max coolin off in our pool. We had this metal frame pool that we bought at Target this year. It's 10' in diameter and 30" deep...just perfect for them to play in. DH didn't want it killing the grass so we put it on our patio and was able to put the boys' basketball goal nearby too. It was a fun summer. I just love these pics. The top left one, I think that they were trying their hand at synchronized swimming!! LOL I used Life is a Beach for the entire LO.
Here are my boys on the 4th of July. I used Stand and Salute on this page and added Stickles to the blue firework and embossing glitter to the red one and the title.
Another LO of Max cooling off at a Spray Park. They have so much fun at this place. It was a really hot day when we went and I even ended getting in for a while. It's just too fun! I used Graphically Speaking for the Water Works sign and water spicket and George for the big circle. I used Stickles on the drip of water and bubbles on the sign and Glossy Accents for the words.

Here is the last LO. It's of a Cinco de Mayo party that I threw for the boys back in May. Max's teacher last year had all these wonderful parties for the kids so I started having them at home for all the little holidays. The love it. Max even came home and taught Evan the Mexican Hat Dance. I used Graphically Speaking for the Cinco sign, Doodletype stencil font for the de Mayo, Paper Doll Dress Up spoon for the maracas, Plantin Schoolbook for the zig zag on the maracas, and DS and George for the cactus.

Birthday Book Club

2009-07-26T14:42:00.001-07:00

Here is my DS, Max with his Birthday Book Club book. They have this neat program at his school that if you donate money to the library, you get to pick a book that you want donated. Your name gets put on a sticker in the front of the book and you get a certificate saying that you donated a book. And when the book comes in, you get to be the first to check it out and they tie ribbons to it and they sing to you during library. Max enjoyed doing it last year in kindergarten so we did it again in 1st grade and then I'm sure we'll do it for Evan starting this year! It's a neat way for the school to get new books and it makes it memorable for the kids. OK, back to the LO...I used Paper Doll Dress Up for the Dinosaurs, Doodlecharms for the Cupcake, and Celebrations for the Streamers, Party Hat, and Balloons. I tied real string to the balloons and tied them to the dinosaurs tail. I chalked everything and edged everything with a fine black marker just to add a little "pop". TFL

There are birds...but no eggs

2009-07-14T17:48:00.000-07:00

Here is my DS, Max, checking on our baby birds. And on this special day, they had actually hatched. They were both so excited to actually see birds instead of eggs. I used Zooballoo for the branch and the bird nest and Storybook for the title. I inked all the edges, added Primas and bling to the branch and the corner of the pictures. I decided to journal on the nest instead of adding another journaling tag. Background paper is My Mind's Eye. TFL

Max and Pa

2009-07-13T17:24:00.001-07:00

When I first found this title in one of my books, I knew the perfect picture to put it with. Well, DH questioned it. He thinks that the title should have been paired with a picture of Max and Pa doing piggy-back rides. But I took it as, every kid wants a pony and why need a pony when you have such an awesome Pa! So here's my take on it. I used Zooballoo for the tree, Paper Doll Dress Up for the ponies, and Makin the Grade for the title. I cut the ponies each 2 times and layered them and also chalked and inked them. I also chalked and inked the entire tree. I used my Martha Stewart Icicle punch for the grass...I think once turned upside down that it made perfect grass! I also used my MS button and branch punch for the embellies on the picture. I used some Doodlebug rub-ons for my journalling square. TFL

VERY busy...

2009-07-06T07:32:00.000-07:00

trying to get caught up on my scrapping so I can start on this years' Disney albums!!! Here are several LOs that I have finished recently.

Here are Max and Evan on St. Patrick's Day. I cannot believe that I'm still scrapping pics from March...I'm NEVER this far behind. :( I'm trying my hardest to get caught up. I used the Paper Doll Dress Up Cricut cart for the shamrocks and the Opposites Attract Cricut cart for the title using the Upright and Opposite features. I bought the boys' shirts at Walmart and just had to get a picture of the back too.

And here my two having a blast in their battery powered Lightning McQueens. We bought these cars 3 years ago when we bought our new house and I've never scrapped pics of them playing in them. Since Cricut has come out with the Cars cart, there was no better time than now to scrap them. They were being very silly back in March playing with these so I got these awesome pics of them being loving brothers!! I used the Cricut Cars cart for Lightning McQueen and for the title too. I chalked the title to look like flames.

Here is my DS, Evan, with his very cool tattoo. DH gave him his first tattoo while I was gone at a Swarm back in April. And then he remembered to take these awesome pics because he knew that I'd want to scrap it. I again used the Cricut Cars cart and found the awesome title "Custom Body Art" on the cart and Ramone was just a perfect fit!! I chalked the flame on Ramone. Background paper is from the DCWV Rockstar Stack.

Here is my DS, Max, with his new glasses. He started to come home from school with headaches so it was time to get his eyes checked and sure enough he needed glasses to correct the astigmatism that he has in both eyes. I came up with the title and then remembered that there were Little Red Riding Hood cuts on the Cricut My Community cart. I added real ribbon to her braids and made the little wire-rimmed glasses for the wolf. I added Primas to her little basket. Background paper is from the DCWV Summer Stack from last year. TFL

Happy 4th of July...a little early

2009-06-27T17:28:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of 4th of July cards that I whipped up last night. DH has been working evenings so I put the boys to bed early and went to town stamping. My dear friend, Candice picked up these adorable stamps by Stampendous at Archiver's for me. They are called Patriotic Pair and are just too cute for words. I just love that they are little kids!! :) I used Nesties to cut out the rectangles and scalloped rectangles. I colored the images in with Copics and masked off my main image to add fireworks behind them. I used some bling in the middle of the fireworks and accented the card with some ribbon. The background paper is from my stash and is by Doodlebug. TFL

No More Training Wheels!

2009-06-27T17:25:00.000-07:00

Here's my newest LO of my DS, Max learning to ride his bike without training wheels. He picked up on it so fast once HE was ready to try. He's been zooming all over the place ever since. I used the Sesame Street Cricut cart for Elmo and Grover. Both were cut at 4 1/2". The bike was cut using the Going Places Cricut cart. It was cut at 4". I had the Sesame Street paper from my stash from when the boys were babies. That paper is at least 5 years old!!! I love hanging on to paper. TFL

My Baseball Players

2009-05-04T11:02:00.000-07:00

WOW!! It's been a while since I've posted. I've been super busy. I went to a Cricut Swarm in Indianapolis last weekend and I got 27 pages done. WOOHOO! I'll try to get those posted soon. I've also been busy being a Baseball Mom! The boys' season started on April 18 and it's been go...go...go ever since. We're trying to get the school year finished up, baseball under way, and planning yet another vacation to Disney World in June. We're just SO busy. But I wanted to get these pics posted of the boys. They are really enjoying playing t-ball and baseball. Evan is on a 5 year old t-ball team and Max is on a 6 year old machine pitch team. Both are doing AMAZING!! Enjoy!

Here are my two in their helmets that I decorated for them. I used Wall Pops and my Cricut machine to cut their names and put them on their batting helmets. Every other little boy has a navy blue helmet and I wanted to be able to spot my two on the field so their names are on the front and their numbers are on the back!

Here are Max and Evan before their first game. Aren't they adorable??

Evan celebrating after his first "home run". LOL He was the last batter so he got to run all the bases at once.

Evan hates being in the outfield. He gets bored!

Max is in his ready stance! Isn't that cute??

Max was playing catcher at his first game. He's so tiny to have on all that gear!

Run, Evan, run!!!

Max got the Game Ball and was the Player of the Game on April 25, 2009!! We're so proud of you!

Evan likes to wave to his fans when he crosses Home Plate. LOL He's such a ham!

Max crosses Home Plate on Saturday, May 2, 2009!! Go Team!

Oh Fudge!

2009-03-15T17:31:00.001-07:00

OK, so my "Herd it's your Birthday" card didn't get picked to be in the running for the next Stamping Idol being hosted by MFT. So, they said that us "losers" can still play along with the challenges each week and post to a special thread and you never know when maybe they'll pick a "wildcard" and give things a twist. So, while the top 10 are celebrating their victories with the challenge being a "celebration card of making it to the top 10", we losers are "celebrating not making it". Here's my take on it. It's my "Oh Fudge, I didn't make the top 10 to be the next Stamping Idol"...LOLOLOL I had a blast making this one. I used my MFT Here's the Scoop set and stamped the sundae and colored it with my Copics. I then used Glossy Accents for the Fudge and sprinkled red seed beads to resemble sprinkles. I inked the edges, did some Paper Pleating, and added some ribbon and some Primas. TFL

MFT Stamping Idol Audition

2009-03-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

MFT is holding auditions for the next Stamping Idol over on SCS. I have several sets of MFT's but just haven't had time to use but one set. So, this was a great opportunity to ink them up and see what I could do. I used the Punny Farm set. I started off by stamping my girl and then hand-drew my fence and even added the wood grain. I then masked off my fence and stamped the cow. I stamped an extra girl and cow and cut out the hat, buckets, and cow's face so that I could put those on pop-dots to add dimension. I colored the entire image with my Copics. I soaked a paper towel with my Copics and blotted it on for the sky and even added a little to the grassy area.

A Couple of LOs

2008-12-21T11:59:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of LOs that I made this week. The first is Gingerbread Boys. I snapped this adorable pic of Max and Evan in their gingerbread sweatshirts that their G-ma (my mom) made for them. I used Cricut StoryBook font for the title and added some little gingerbread boys using Paper Doll Dress Up. It was all welded together and cut using the Cricut Design Studio. The background paper is by Martha Stewart and the strip behind the picture was punched using Martha Stewart gingerbread edge punch.
This one is titled Claus and Co. I just loved this years' picture of the boys with Santa!! I used Cricut StoryBook font for the title and Paper Doll Dress Up for the sleigh, toy bags, and reindeer. I embossed the sleigh with the Cuttlebug D'vine Swirl folder and the strip behind the reindeer was embossed with the Cuttlebug Swiss Dots folder. I used lots of Stickles too. The printed paper is by Doodlebug.

Teacher's Gifts!

2008-12-21T11:51:00.000-08:00

Here are some gifts that I made for Max's teachers and for his teachers that he had last year. He just adores them so I made them each a little something. We delivered them on Thursday and they just LOVED them!! I used the Cricut Disney carts for those cards along with the tins and I used my JustRite Monogram Stamper for the monogram cards. The holder for the monogram cards was scraplifted from this blog. It's cute and very easy to make. Enjoy!!

Our Christmas Pics

2008-12-16T07:15:00.000-08:00

We had our Christmas Pics taken at JCPenney's this year and I thought I'd share. I just got them back last week. I think they turned out wonderful. I wished I had taken these this week or next because I've lost 12 pounds since Thanksgiving so I'm looking different!! :) Part due to better eating and part due to the stomach flu! Enjoy!!

My Candice Card...

2008-12-09T12:37:00.000-08:00

I'm calling this card my "Candice Card" named after my best friend Candice Lighty. You can view her blog here. I need a shirt that reads, " Everything that I know about stamping, I learned from Candice". So, I'm dedicating this card to her. It has stamping, paper piecing, hand drawing, layering, embossing, eyelets, and ribbon!!! I just adore her stuff and I want to stamp just like her when I grow up!! :) Anyways, she got me an awesome gift certificate to My Favorite Things stamps for my birthday so this is one of the sets that I got with it. It's called Merry Christmas? I paper pieced the wall and chair on the stamped image and colored the rest in with my Copics. I hand drew the wood floor. I embossed the background with my Snowflakes Cuttlebug embossing folder and added some snowflake brads and some ribbon. I hope that I did Candice proud!! ;)

HO HO HO

2008-12-09T12:33:00.000-08:00

Here is another one of my Christmas cards that I made. I only made 2 of these because this image takes a long time to color in. Santa is a 4x4 inch image from Whipper Snapper stamps. Isn't he just adorable holding those two cute penguins? I colored him in with Copics and used my new Snowflake Spellbinders die. I added some bling to the snowflake too. I used my Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder. There isn't a whole lot of extra space on this card once you get that huge image on there but I'm very happy with this card. :)

I feel SO incredibly honored!!!

2008-11-26T12:10:00.000-08:00

I received not only my first but my second blog award today!!!! I feel SO honored! Candice is a wonderful friend, scrapper, stamper...you name it...she's just wonderul. She awarded these to me today. The first is the Kreativ Blogger award!! I think her blog is pretty awesome. Be sure and check it out!! Candice's Blog

The second is this award. Here is the translation for this award - "Translating the words on the above award from Portuguese to English: "This blog award invests and believes in proximity - (creating friendships)!" [meaning, that blogging makes us 'close' -being close through proxy]. These are the other words to be included with the award:These blogs are exceedingly charming. These bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbon of these awards are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these bloggers!" I copied the meaning from Candice's blog. Thank you again, Candice for these awards...talk about making my day!!!

Mommy to be

2008-11-26T12:02:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time since I've used my Cricut for cards but I got it going today!! Here are two Mommy to be cards. I have a dear friend from college that is expecting her first baby in June and the other card is an order that I got from one of DH's co-workers. I used New Arrival for the Mommy, George for the circles, and Mini Monograms for the Scalloped Circle. I added Prima Flowers and bling to the centers and her little purse. Printed paper is from the DCWV Baby Boy Nursery Stack. The sentiment is from the Studio G $1 stamps.

It's Christmas in the Bockelman household!!

2008-11-20T08:16:00.000-08:00

Charlie has to work the Friday after and entire weekend after Thanksgiving so we decided to go ahead and get our Christmas stuff out. We still have to decorate outside but boy it's been cold. Brrrr... Anyways here are some pics of our living room all decorated.

Our tree...

My Stuffed Animals...

More Decorations...
The stockings were hung...

Christmas pictures...

My trolls...
Even the fish tank had to be decorated...

I've been busy...

2008-11-20T07:53:00.000-08:00

not at posting but at at making cards and everything else!! I got together with a friend last week and stamped and colored while our kiddos played. We all had a great time. Here is my first card from an image that I colored at Amy's house. He's a Whipper Snapper stamp...isn't he just the cutest with his little stick horse?? I hand-drew the wood floor after my dear friend, Candice, taught me how to do it. I colored him using Copics and the ovals were cut using Nestie ovals. The background candycane stripe is from the new Martha Stewart Christmas paper stack found at Walmart. My dear friend, Suzanne from Texas, sent me this stack for my birthday!!

Here is an anniversary card that I got an order for. It was for a 63rd wedding anniversary...so I knew that it needed to be EXTRA special! I chose an all white theme and LOVE how it turned out. I used my Cricut for this card. I used Happily Ever After for the silhouette of Cinderella and her Prince and George for the heart. I layered it all on and used pop dots for the heart and Cinderella and the Prince. I used a Studio G clear stamp for the sentiment. Inside the card, I printed out the words to "their song". I also added some bling to the front and inside too.

DH is a pharmacist at Walmart and they were having an open house to recruit new pharmacists so the pharmacy techs have been working their tails off cleaning the pharmacy top to bottom..removing ALL the bottles from the shelves and everything. It looked amazing in there when they were all done. But one in particular went above and beyond by taking the horse by the reins and made a list of what needed to be done and made sure that everyone did their part and got that place in tip-top shape!! Charlie had asked if I would make a card for her and for the rest of the staff so I whipped up these cards. The stamp is Domestic Goddess Hanna from hannastamps.com. My best friend, Candice, had stamped these images for me a long time ago. See, we used to swap stamped images in hopes of spending less on stamps...that worked for about 2 months. LOL Anyways, I colored her using Copics and cut her out using Nesties. Background paper is by MME.

Mona Lisa as seen by Max

2008-11-11T10:10:00.000-08:00

My son, Max, who's 6 years old and in the first grade brought home this wonderful coloring of Mona Lisa. I think that he did a wonderful job coloring this picture and it's truly a work of art!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2008-11-10T11:17:00.001-08:00

At least in my dining room for now! My mom created this AMAZINGLY BEAUTIFUL flower arrangement for me. I bought the ceramic boots at Target and some of the picks at Michaels. I gave it all to her and told her to have fun with it and she threw in some stuff of her own and voila...a masterpiece!!! She's so amazing at flower arrangements...I on the other hand cannot arrange anything except paper stuff. LOL This is going to go in my cubby above our fireplace for Christmas. Thanks, Mom!! :)

Hope your BDay is delish-Hanna Stamps Challenge

2008-11-07T12:23:00.000-08:00

Here is my take on the Hanna Stamps (HSNRC1) challenge over at SplitCoast Stampers. I used Baking Riley and colored him in with my Copics. I used the new DCWV Sweet Stack. I've only been able to find the 6x6 stack at Ms but would LOVE to find the 12x12 of this paper as it is totally adorable!! The sentiment is from Stampendous Merry Muffins set that was an exclusive set to eclecticpaperie.com. Thanks for looking!! :)

I'm Stuffed!!!

2008-11-06T18:22:00.000-08:00

YAY!!! I can't believe that I was able to get my first picture uploaded!! Here is my card for today. It's the I'm Stuffed turkey from Whipper Snappers. I stamped him with Momento ink in Rich Cocoa. I colored him with Copics and punched the border with the Martha Stewart Checkerboard punch. Flowers are from Hobby Lobby. Thanks for looking!! :)

FINALLY a blog to call my own!!!

2008-11-06T14:26:00.000-08:00

Hello all and thank you for visiting my blog. I'm very excited to get one going. I've got lots to share but bear with me while I figure out how the whole blogging world works. Be sure and check back soon for pics of my cards and layouts. :)