veggie chips in my kitchen :)

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This was an attempt to make veggie chips at my house one Saturday afternoon.  I loved eating the fried zucchini and squash, but nothing came out quite like I wanted it too. Why am I posting this??  Well, honestly, I had so much fun this day trying these new ideas, and I really liked the pictures.  I hope you enjoy my silliness as well!

What defines you?

I have been wanting, for a long time now, to complete a "week in the life" album.  Seriously.  I really think 20 years down the line it would be really cool to show how life has changed for me and what things I still rely on and what I don't . . . I'm nostalgic what can I say?

But as I have been thinking more and more about it, I have had to ask myself who I am.  What defines me?  A recent facebook post by a friend on my page triggered this spark.  And to be honest, I can't remember what the post exactly it said, what it eluded to or what it even was about!  However, it still has made me think.  And I hope my post tonight makes you think. . . but first I'll attempt at answering who I am. . .

Today, at face value, I am a 32 year old married mother of two sons.  I am a teacher.  I am a signer. I am a singer. I am a scrapbooker. I am a Christian. But what defines me?

Melissa (proper noun): a moody girl who loves with all her heart and being, cares deeply and emphatically about those around her and gives abundantly of herself and her things.  She is talented at nothing, but her skills include but are not limited to:  signing ASL, sewing, scrapbooking, writing, vocal singing, story telling, acting, crafting, and teaching.  She makes people laugh, and is free to do so at the expense of herself.  At times, she morphs into the "soccer mom" persona and is all about running her two young sons around to different functions; at other times.  Sometimes, she's a country girl at heart, listening to country music, riding in jacked up trucks, helping with the tractor pull, showing and fixing up tractors and enjoying the simpler things in life. Sometimes, she's a city girl, enjoying the opera, musicals and shows, perusing the malls, and taking in a movie on the big screen.  Sometimes, she's the party girl, although rarely partaking of any intoxicating substances, she can dance till the sun rises, and do crazy things with the best of them.  Most times, she's the girl who enjoys home, the company of friends and family.  She teaches, and loves it.  She teaches students who are deaf and hard of hearing, and loves to analyze language and learning language, and the challenges to unlocking each and every student's true potential.  Melissa is a teacher who learns from her students and puts her learning into practice, she works diligently and puts on the air that she eats bon bons and drinks coffee all day.  She is also a student and working on her Master's Degree.  She's smart, but also stupid.  She can make the silliest oversights, comments and mistakes and then she admits them, and laughs at herself.  She's a mother of two young sons, who some would call both of them difficult.  She's an advocate for breast cancer awareness and autism.  She's a wife, who loves her husband and all he does.  She doesn't show him that enough.  She's a Christian, who believes that there will be signs from God on what directions in life you should go, if you just open your heart, mind and eyes to see them.  She's a believer that believes that sharing her believes on anything shouldn't feel like pressure to others.  She's open minded and doesn't think that any one's life is for her to judge.  If and when she does judge, reminds herself of that statement.  She's optimistic 99% of the time.  And although she doesn't often show it, she can be very deep.  Her life motto is, "I am who I am because of the expediences I have had in my life; good and bad, they've made me who I am today." 

As I look at the project ahead of me, I wonder if I will be successful at portraying these thoughts and feelings.  Now that you have read what defines me, what defines you?  I think it is a good question to ask yourself once in a while.  A professor of mine in college once told me that you need to yearly look at your teaching pedagogy and re-write it annually.  It is high time I did this for my life as well!  Hopefully, as I get my "week in the life" album started next week and going, I will post as I go and you will maybe see some of my defining moments more clearly!

A little storage situation solved!!

 I LOVE ACRYLIC STAMPS!!! I love to buy them here, there and everywhere!  But, to say the least, they were a pain in the bum to go through and keep organized.  SO, I thought to myself, I need to solve this problem!!!  Well, I got some free credit from my last Stampin' Up! show, and ordered the empty stamp cases for their clear mount stamps.  I didn't know how exactly to put them in there, but I solved that problem, too!

 Here are some of my favorite stamps.  I took them out of the big packaging and adhered the printed on plastic to the new stamp container.  So this stamp case now holds six of my stamps.  I kept the cover to the stamp and they stick inside on the stamp, even when the case is closed. 

So now, here is one of my two stamp drawers all organized.  These cases truly made life a little neater!  :)

I really love to have all of my things all neat and organized, so if you have a storage/organization problem or solution, please share - it will help all of us scrappers!

Enjoy!  :)

I'm off!

To Scrapbook that is!!  I'm headed with a couple of my besties to go to a condo for the weekend and scrap!  As I copy off of Ali Edwards, these three things are the new purchases I have made to make my weekend fun.  First, a storage unit for my ribbon.  It is from Michael's.  And unfortunately, I cannot find a picture of it anywhere online, so sad for you :(  It is made by Store in Style, and has 20 compartments for ribbon (if you buy extra dividers).  I am quite excited about it because, although earth friendly, I need more  space than the kids shoe boxes I have the ribbon stored in currently! 

Second:   Dymo Caption Maker.  I am quite excited about this one as well.  I have often wanted to add this piece of flair to my embellishment bag of tricks.  So now, I have this pretty cute little tool that came with three different font thingies (how do you like that for technical?) and I added the primary colors to my purchase so I have four colors to choose from!!  Now, let's see how many pages I have that can boast this product!!!



And finally: Creative Memories Cheerful Seasons Cricut Cartridge I am looking forward to using this wonderful cartridge for my Cricut.  This new cartridge offers some wonderful things to the line of designs I have.  I am so excited!!!  I purchased this through Kristen and her website is linked.  Since I was her "down line" when I was a Creative Memories Consultant, I stick with her still.  Her website does offer shopping and can be shipped right to you.  There are two cartridges that are Creative Memories exclusives, and this one was my favorite! 

So now, you'll have to wait until I post about the weekend!  Have a great weekend yourself!!

My other Goober

Meet Graham.                               A.k.a Graham Cracker.                            Since I give Gabe a lot of attention because of his autism and for other reasons in life, I thought I'd take a moment and introduce you to my other goober.   Graham turned three this summer and has really quite the personality.  Where Gabe tends to be, "enough already" with the camera, Graham screams cheese!!  He does naughty things just for attention, but truly is a sweet and wonderful little boy.  He also adores his brother.  Currently, when we talk of autism at our house, I'm almost certain that Graham doesn't really understand.  He finds his brother quite hysterical when Gabe is being silly when he is supposed to be serious.  Graham trails around Gabe, finding the same things interesting, trying to talk to him and truly annoying Gabe.  I take personal enjoyment out of that!  (just kidding!) 



Graham is constantly on the move.  Which is why, even with my new camera, this picture is out of focus!  I can't believe how much energy he expends when he bedazzles the hallways at school with his presence.  He walks no where, but does every movement possible!  He is smart, like his brother, but in many different ways.  Gabe and Graham are opposites, that compliment each other as much as possible.     

If you ask him his name, he will say, "Graham Cracker!"

The Face of Autism

This is the face of autism.  The off stare, the simulated smile, the disinterested look.  This is a face of Gabe.

I have thought of the two pictures here on this post many, many times. . . My oldest son Gabriel has been blessed with Autism.  Some of the doctors have said Aspergers, some have said, PDD-NOS.  Either way, it doesn't really matter.  What matters is that I love this child for everything that he is.  I see the parts of his autism and I see the parts of him that are without autism.  In my family, I try to view this as a blessing.  I frequently remind myself that without this disability, my son would not be who he is and there would be some other annoying thing that he does just the same as some of his autistic tendencies do. . . it's not the autism, it's life. 

We truly are blessed, because his case is very mild.  He talks, walks, interacts, is social, accepts physical touch happily, and is extremely smart.  There are many parents out there that have children with autism and cannot use the same words to describe their children.  We are blessed.  I cannot count how many times a day he makes me laugh by quoting some random phrase from a movie, commercial, TV show, radio moment, etc.  He is so passionate and imaginative, so creative and loving, so intelligent and silly.  He is also socially awkward, physically awkward, and a mess in the sensory area.  Each and every moment may bring a response that is expectable or a response you wonder what planet it came from, good or bad! 

I cannot begin to tell you how thankful I am for him.  Gabe is not only a son of mine, but also a teacher.  Everyday, I learn about him, and autism.  I can't fathom who I would be without all the knowledge I've gained by him having autism.  He is constantly challenging me to grow as a mom. 

People may look at Gabe sometimes and see the face of autism.  Underneath the autism, when he shines through and moves aside the disinterest, this is what I see. . . This is the silly face of Gabe, that so many people get to see so often. 

It's a guy thing - really

A new cricket cartridge = a page embellished in it's honor!!!

Here's the story, my Graham was playing at his Great-Aunt's house and came across a safety helmet.  I have a few electricians in the family, and a few engineers, and thought how cute it would be to make it a guy thing. . . and that it is!  The paper is from DCWV, a stack of course!  And the card stock is random things I have.  Truly from the scrap pile.  The ribbon is from Stampin' Up!, I love their ribbon!  The eyelets are from Oriental Trading (I know I have mentioned that I don't like the quality of their things - so please understand that I abhor their scrapbooking items' quality!!) and the vellum quote is from DCWV - "Quotes Stack," I have quite a few of the stacks so I don't honestly know which one it is from.  I use a lot from the home and family stack and of course the all about boys stack as well.  And here, my friends, is my favorite part!!  I got a new cricket cartridge (and I have loaned out my cartridges, so I don't know which one it is from, and it may even be one of the new ones a friend got - but it still rocks!!) and love this thing!!! 

 Feel free to comment and leave a note about which cartridge it is - if I figure it out, I will comment or add the info as it comes to me. 

Again, thanks for popping in and checking things out! 

Yep, yep - I got it!

Do you see this camera??  Well, I see "this" camera every day now.  In the happy home of my hands!  I purchased it on Labor Day at my local Best Buy.  It was not the one the salesman was hoping to sell me, since he and I had visited a few weeks ago as well; however, this one will fit my needs and had a wonderful package deal! 

My friends following this blog will know that I am a bit of a shopaholic and tend to spend money like it is water at times.  However, I have been saving for four months and have gotten the money to purchase the camera.  Here's the part that I had to break to my loving husband - I got the package deal which includes the extra lens, a high speed memory card, and an extra battery. . . oh, and throw in the Geek Squad protection plan to include yearly sensor cleanings and some firmware update stuff I don't know about.  And the protection plan also covers it for damages and accidents that happen, which, with me, could very well happen. 

Here are the first two pictures I took with my recent purchase: 

These are my loving children sitting in the parking lot of the Best Buy, while their obsessed mother opens the package of her camera and snaps pictures.  Obviously, Gabe, sports the uninterested look of, "really mom, pictures in the car again, don't you have enough?"  And Graham, since only being three is still happy to say, "Cheese!" 

I love my new Canon Rebel xT1i, and will be experimenting greatly over the next few months.  (And paying for all of the extras I added on! )

So, I've tried a little harder on the photos. . .

Well, I've done it - I've tried a little harder and have accomplished better photos for my blog.               Reasons will be posted later. . . . suspense!  :)      This picture is of an embellishment on a page I don't feel comfortable sharing. There are children in the pictures that I don't have parent permission to post.  Anyway, it was a birthday party and I just loved the idea of this "p" for party that I inked.  The letter is by Chip Chatter and the ribbon is from Close to My Heart.  I wrote the rest of the word party out in a Creative Memories silver ink.  Simplicity this is! 

So this is the page I will feature of my boys.  This was taken in October of 2009 and I adore these pictures. 

I do an album for each of the boys with the similar pictures, just featuring the one who's album it is.  This one is Gabe's album.  I just love fall and sunflowers and leaves changing, so this paper from  a DCWV stack - one of many I own.  There are no other embellishments on this page, other than the writing, which I adorned to compliment the existing design of the paper.  This was a SIMPLE layout that met the needs of the photos. 

A few more to add

Here are more Debbie Mum bases in the red shade.  These two have background paper from the stash I have and added CTMH inks and stamp to embellish it.  I loved using the ribbon on these cards.  I actually ran out of this ribbon!  I never would have thought I would run out of pink ribbon, having two boys means pink is almost never used - but here in cards, I use it a lot!!

As you may have seen before, I absolutely love this stamp.  I paired it with some scraps from Creative Memories.  The border is stitched on creatively and then the purple square has a stamp from Stampin' Up!  I love this stamp set as well.  This is absolutely so simple to make and was all done out of my scraps.  One thing to note here, I did not sew directly on the card.  I sewed the green background and the border strip together.  Traditional sewing may use pins, instead I used Creative Memories clips from my absolute favorite tool ever - the multipurpose tool.  Love it!  And have now found another purpose for it!! 

These two cards also use scraps from Creative Memories.  I find I have been using a lot of their old background paper since they have now moved to a true 12x12 format.  The dream with faith stamp was one I purchased at a garage sale as was the sending thoughts stamp.  I love adding just that little touch of flair to both of these cards.  The dream card includes sewing around the purple and included the designed paper.  The card on the right included mulberry paper (which I stamped on) and the punch from Stampin' Up! with ribbon.  It is so easy to embellish with that punch!

Just a little close up of the dream with faith. . . I'm a little saddened that it doesn't stand out more; however, the picture also does not do it justice.  It doesn't stand out as much as I'd like it to in person, but it does look pretty amazing.  Kinda' dreamy if I do say so myself!  hee hee he ha ha! 

Again, these cards used scraps from a Creative Memories paper set.  The circular embellishments are "cricutted" and were going to be tossed because I didn't like them on a layout for my album - but here they are saved. The top card features a best wishes sentiment and the other two have "for you" stamped on them.  I have sewn on the two upright cards down the left hand side of the paper, again, not the card base, just the paper.  Each of these feature brads, I used these out of stuff from oriental trading - I DO NOT RECOMMEND PURCHASING SCRAPBOOK SUPPLIES FROM THEM.  The eyelets that came with the brads in a package have the color come off when you set them.  I have tried every way possible and the set horribly as well.  I had also purchased some paper from the company (their brand) and it was so thin and gritty I really would have rather not used it. 

This is a picture of the embellishment I "saved." I used Martha Stewart's glitter glue stamp pad and a Close to My Heart Stamp to add the glitter on it.  The glitter is from Stampin' Up!  You can really tell that I don't have a loyalty to one company, yet have great friends who sell from each (and an addiction to Hobby Lobby, Jo Anne's and Michael's)!!  The only reason I am unhappy with glitter is that it falls off after you put it on.  For my albums, I add a layer of Super Seal - which I purchase at Pages in Time before it recently changed owners.  The Super Seal helps to hold the glitter on the page better. 

I hope you have enjoyed these cards - it has been a month since I have posted, so I thought I would throw these up.  Hopefully, I'll be able to post again before the month!  Feel free to comment as you wish!

Again, these are from the Debbie Mum pre-made cards I picked up from Jo Anne Fabrics.  Love that store, I do!  I hardly ever make two cards exactly alike, but this time I did.  I used things from the Milestones in Minutes from Creative Memories, they were originally designed to go with the larger albums with the slide in pockets.  They would make beautiful pages.  I bought them to use as embellishments on my pages and have used them, but rarely.  So, I decided to save them and put them on as card fronts.  It doesn't take much to embellish them now!

This one is from the baby kit from Creative Memories.  The stamp is Stampin' Up!  I used one of the clear mount stamps.  I really do like them!  I also used a sewing machine (a small crafts one) to define the reverse colored strip I put on.  This was the first time using the sewing machine.  A good friend gave it to me, thanks, Wendy!!  Also, the ink I used was a Colorbox Chalk ink that I got from a garage sale.  Love that ink.  It is a pigment ink, so if you need to emboss with it - you can!

The one below is also from the baby kit.  I actually liked this one so much, I made two.  That doesn't happen much at all!!!  But these cards are so simple!

Yes, I made two of these; however, they are similar but different.  I wanted to make a couple masculine cards.  These are pretty good.  I again used the CM backgrounds and paper.  The tan striped ribbon is from Jo Anne Fabric's clearance aisle.  One has mulberry paper from a mulberry mat stack.  If you ever have the opportunity to use this, I encourage you too.  It is an awesome paper, light weight, tearable, and just a beautiful piece to add to your projects.  I also love this stamp that I picked up at a garage sale.  It just speaks so much to the heart without saying too much. 

The last few in this group are just fun.  The top card, I again made two of!  Check me out!  It was just so simple.  I used scraps of ribbon beneath one of my favorite Stampin Up! Punches and made two of them!  The stamps on these cards are all from Stampin' Up! as are the punches. 

This little punch to the left and the stamp set are from the mini catalog from this past year from Stampin' Up!  Again, I love this punch, too.  I love do adorn my things with tags!

Hope you have enjoyed this group of cards!

:)

Simply Saved: Pinks, grays and black. . .

Recently I went to Jo Anne Fabrics and shopped their clearance to find this pre-folded box of cards by Debbie Mum.  They are textured card stock with color on the outside and white on the inside.  So they are my most recent project.  Every few days, hopefully, I will be posting these designs.  These were the first.  My inspiration:  Creative Memories Diva Stickers (a customer gift) from Kristen my former up line and Creative Memories Consultant.  My thinking was to make them simple and sweet.  I used old paper from when I got started scrapping almost 8 years ago.  So the background paper I have no idea what it is, but you could easily substitute it with something else.  The pink in these two shapes are also CM papers from a mat stack from when I was a consultant.  Sadly, I don't remember the name of that either - what help am I today?  :)  The stamps are from Stampin' Up! as well as the punches used.  On the card on the bottom right of the photo, I scalloped both layers of the card as well as the background paper.  You will see the ribbon pattern a lot throughout this set of cards.  I loved doing it!

If you look closely at this card, there are random stamps around the edges.  Hmmm,  I had to cover up some mistakes here, and this was the way to do it.  I accidentally laid my stamp down and a second print was made on the card front, so I continued it to make it look on purpose - what a deal!  Looks good!  The strip across here is a scrap from scalloping the previously mentioned card.  I saved two things on this card from the trash! 

The cards are really VERY simple!  The card on the left also had a save.  The punched image on the right of the card (with the ribbon attached to it) had a print of stamp on it as well, so I stamped repeatedly all over it to create the effect.  Up close and personal, I think the effect is quite nice.  The card also uses scraps from the 12 x 12 paper cut apart and I adhered them to the card in two strips put together looking like one.  These truly are simply saved. 

So, I go to one of my aunt's houses and she has this camera sitting on her table.  Oh, man!!!  My uncle said I could borrow it after my kids were out of the house, LOL!  Anyway, now, I am REALLY in the mood for a camera.  When I went to go and talk to the people at Best Buy and they mentioned a few things to consider when buying a camera.  First, the Canon dSLRs have a live feed through the digital screen in a certain setting of the camera - which is not listed in any of the reviews as I remember reading them.  Second, Best Buy does offer classes to learn how to better use your camera and all of its settings.  They can come to your home or you can set them up there at Best Buy (and both options are not that bad in price).  So, keep your fingers crossed that nothing comes up in the next four months that I have to spend any other money!!

A bit of Whimsy!

And now, for a bit of whimsy!  :)

I whipped these cards up in no time flat!  The bases that I've been using are pre-made (pre-scored with envelopes in the package), because I haven't quite adventured into making my bases when I can get them so cheap from Hobby Lobby!   This card features two punches from Stampin' Up.  I absolutely adore Stampin' Up's punches.  They're even better now that they are made in pocket size for storage, but I love them no matter what.  The "notebook" punch was used down the side of my coordinating green (from the scrap pile) and then the scallop was done to border the paper from a stack that came with an organizer from "the book man" at school.  I also used some chipboard that I got in a mega stack at Hobby Lobby in their line of products.  Of course, it was half off!  I also love to accent in ribbon - just a simple knot around the stem of this leave and done!

This card, I used paper from the same stack (Paper Block) and scalloped the edge at the bottom.  Again, a simple flair of chipboard accented with ribbon and DONE!  Since I don't get to do much boy stuff - it seems to be that my cards are becoming very girly - Likey likey!

The dragon fly card uses a technique I LOVE to do.  I scallop the card front and then scallop the paper I am going to put on the face and leave some room to see the base of the card.  That Stampin' Up! border scallop punch really got some action today!  Here again I used the chipboard from Hobby Lobby and the paper from the Paper Block stack I purchased.  Thanks for checking in to see what's new - be on the look out for the next scrapbook page to come!  :) Melissa

The Children's Muesum!!

I love to take the boys to the Indianapolis Children's Museum!!  It never fails that we learn something new, have an unbelievable adventure and are exhausted by the time we leave.  This layout features pictures that are actually taken at the end of our trip - so smiles are forced! The layout is so simple because I used things from Close to My Heart's Stardust Paper Pack.  The green background paper, card stock to mat the pictures and quote as well as the border sticker at the top, line sticker at the bottom and the Discover sticker.  I chose to "hang" the quote sticker by using Stampin' Up's Hemp twine and two brads.

 I adhered the twine in the middle of the quote with a glue dot (which I would not advise to do again) that is still sticky where the twine doesn't cover.  I learn something new with the things that don't quite work! 

These pictures are from the glass exhibit.  I continued using the Stardust package.  The border sticker and the star sticker in the center is from the package or the coordinating stickers that go with it.  Because the pictures were so busy, I didn't want to do too much, but yet wanted to keep the "theme" of my paper the same so the pages flowed together as you look through my album. 

The last page features pictures throughout the museum and again uses paper from the Stardust Package, just a different choice of paper than the green.  I again used the coordinating stickers to embellish the layout.  These pics are also matted in a card stock from the same package.  I love using packages from CTMH - they've got everything you need. 

Here is a close up of the stickers I layered on to my page.  These stickers are not as thick as chipboard; however, they are about as thick as some of the thin cardboard packaging you get with some products.  I'd like to think of these stickers as "thickers" because they're heavy duty.    I can't say it enough I love me some CTMH. 

First Day

As the start of school approaches, I thought it would be a good idea to share what I did with my oldest son for his first day of Kindergarten.    This paper is from the DCWV premium "Grade School stack."  I like to pick these up from Hobby Lobby or Jo Anne's when they are on sale.  Because my loving son has Aspergers, nothing can be too serious at our house.  He loves to play - so that is why we have quite a few silly shots of him.  Since they so encapsulate who he is, they're quite appropriate to document his life. 

I used some of my old Creative Memories star stickers from a random package as well as a school bus sticker.  Kindergarten was preprinted on the background paper above; however, I used letter stickers from the beach layout I did previously to title the page on the right.  I also used some of my old phrase stickers that I bought from Hobby Lobby a few years ago.  I'm trying to use up the old so I can buy new and tell you where I've gotten it at!  :)

This layout will go opposite the previous one.  The stickers are from the old School days package from Creative Memories.                                                I hope you have enjoyed my layouts.  Feel free to copy them, or deviate from them.  More soon!  :) Melissa

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Mommy Rhapsody http://vimeo.com/11621957 This video made my afternoon, I hope it will make yours!! Enjoy! :) About this video: "www.churchonthemove.com twitter.com/cotmtulsa Producer - Whitney George www.twitter.com/whitneygeorge Director - Chris Munch twitter.com/cmunch78 Written by - Chris Munch, Whitney George Angie Woods www.twitter.com/angiewittywoods Adam Bush www.twitter.com/ambushcreative Andrew Dale www.twitter.com/drewberdale Andy Chrisman www.twitter.com/andychrisman Track recorded at - www.creativeaudiolab.com Track produced by - Marcos Cruz & Andy Chrisman Performed by - Angie Woods, Tanya Baker, Cheryl Wood, Lucas Chrisman Lighting - Daniel Connell Production Manager - Andrew Stone"

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LOVE,

Cameras, Cameras, and more cameras

So, I'm looking into new cameras. . . It will be a while before I get one.  I want to go to the dSRL level.  It is a digital, but an entry level professional.  My bestie is looking at a Nikon D3000, and I am eyeing an Canon Rebel XS.  (Although, I REALLY want the T1i one or even the really the T2i, but come on now, those are a little on the pricey side for my fun times at home).  What are you shooting with?  What is your fav? 

A few of the most recent 10

These following pages are some recently done work.  I am only "a year behind" with my boys' albums.  I really take pride in that.  Sometimes, it is because it is the simple stuff I do, sometimes it is because I don't take pictures for a few months.           Sadly,  I have discovered though, that my camera is HORRIBLE for taking these kinds of pictures.  I am half way there now to a good camera; however, that means I still have a LOT of saving to do.   

This two page layout was "my creation," but probably scraplifted from somewhere, it's pretty traditional.  However, it uses my new stamp set from Close to My Heart! 

The little date marker there, yep - that's a good one!!

I used a kit from Hobby Lobby to complete this page.  The yellow card stock was supplemented from a pile of scraps.  The stamp in the top right corner on this page was one I picked up from Stampin' on State Street.  I drove by there last week, and I don't know if they're still open :(  I liked them for my little business.  Anyway.  This was just an easy done page, I do a lot of my own journal writing.  My mom passed away almost ten years ago, and I cherish what papers she wrote on (call me crazy, but I do), so I feel it is important that I write on my pages and journal. 

This paper was from Target's Dollar Spot last year.  I love shaped paper, but don't often use it in my layouts.  I used up some old stickers from when I first started scrapping to embellish and then just used the alphabet stickers from the Summer Fun Packet featured above from Hobby Lobby. 

To feature this picture, I matted it and then inked the edges with a Close to My Heart Ink called Star Spangled Blue.  I love to ink edges of things and purchased a small set of stipple brushes today from Michael's that I am sure to use.  I love inks!!!          

I hope you have enjoyed these samples of my recent work.  Feel free to leave comments.  Let me know what you think, what's missing, what I should add, or a product you're interested in seeing.