Mom & Me Get Together

The Girl Scout Troop put together a wonderful Mom & Me event.. The theme was Runway.. The girls were to do hair, make up and accessorize their mom and if time permitted we would do the same to the girls. As you walked in you picked up a card and then went to 3 tables.

The first table my girls took me to was the jewelry table, they gave me 3 necklaces and a ring

We then went to the hair table they put pink and green hair extensions in my hair (my hair is very short so they really could not do much to it)

Then we were off to the make up table.. caitlin picked a lipstick and put it on me, Amanda did my eyes.. My girls did really well considering how some of the other mothers looked..

All in all is was a great time, we walked the runway with music and cameras flashing..

The Mother that put it all together did an outstanding job, we had a great time..

Bug Lights

This is just a wrapper I created and printed up then added some tea-lightful lights

Altered Pens

Today I tried my hand at altering pens.. the first Pen all I did was take the patterned paper and slip it inside the pen container... The second pen I used o so tacky tape and patterned paper and micro beads.. again a gift...

Post it Note Holders

I made these postit note holders, laminated them added the post it notes and glued a business sized magent on the back.. they look lovely I think and I hope whomever receives them will love them.. Next I will be making some for the teachers as gifts..

Candle 2

This one is made for one of my scrappin sisters.. It reads: For my Sister in Scrapbooking Chirp On

Candle

Today, I did something so fun... I can not wait to make more and add them to my sales floor.. (not that I actually have a boutique or a booth for that matter).





I altered a candle... for a swap I am .. This is my first time doing this so bear with me, it is very simple in it's design.. Now that I know I can do this I am going to make several more personalized candles for Teachers gifts and such.. yeah!
(Next time I will take a picture before I wrap it up)
It says Surfs Up
Then has a picture of a surfer on a board

Bad Blogger

Oh what a bad blogger I am .. I haven't posted anything in a while.. Things have been a bit hectic for me with the end of the year activities, Girl Scouts and the just not wanting to do anything..

My gorgeous DH is deployed and I am missing him. So sad. I know it is his duty but the separation is hard on all of us. As it is with all military families.

I need to start working on cards and care packages to send to him and his buddies while they are deployed.. I need to make a list...

Birthday Circles Easy

Unknown Stamp: Celebrate

CTMH Black Ink Pad

Cardstock from LP leftover stash

colored stamp in with japanese stamp markers

1,2,3 a cute card ready 2 go

Quick,Simple & Colorful

For this card I am still using the black card base from provocraft. I cut a smaller than my card rectangle from DCWV Glitter Stack Added 3 colorful eyelets and to the eyelets I ran 3 different colors of coordinating ribbon adhere to card...voila..quick & easy

CTMH Stamp

This stamp is from the life delights CTMH stamp set.. Love it..

Stamped using a Cranberry inkpad on white cardstock and then added some stickles to parts of the flower, I used a CM corner rounder and rounded the corners

On a scrap paper I used another punch and punched out 2 photo corners on black cardstock and adhered the flower to the front of the card

I xyroned a white ribbon going down the side of the card and added a metal charm that said smile from making memories.. (Thanks NSSB Blane!)

Sophisticated Black & White

This Card I absolutely love. Another Autumn Leaves Stamp,. Flourishes


The black card stock is a linen cardstock that I absolutely love from creativexpress the white cardstock is also a linen cardstock from creativexpress, I believe it is a provo craft cs.

The ink is black from CTMH and then added some stickles midnight is the color I believe over parts of the flourishes.

Used a corner punch at the bottom of the card and add photo corners then adhered the front of the card. Stapled a black and a white ribbon to the right side.

Stamping

I have alot of stamps that I do not use so today I spent some time making cards...



Autumn Leaves stamp by Rhonna Farrer



This card is from my left over stash of Leaving Prints stash. (prescored card) DCWV Posies matstack torn and adhered to card. Flower colored in with japanese stamp markers (i believe that is also the name of the brand)

Bella Bella Bella

Well today I actually got some creating done.. I am soooo super excited.. I have had my Bella Stamps for bout a month and just decided to use them today... I love them.. Thank you Regina for introducing me to Bella Stamps via the Cricut message board....
I made 3 cards today..... yes 3.... wow I am impressed with myself.. I spent most of my time going through my CTMH kit and then had to clean enough space for me to work....
Anywho...later info about CTMH right now onto the Bellas! (sorry about the pic quality, haven't figured out the best way to take pics of cards..)

CreativeXpress

Well CreativeXpress is having an awesome deal today. For those of you with Cricuts you will love it for those that do not own a Cricut, well you surely are missing out...
$25.00 for selected carts.. TBBM, AK, Stamped,MM ... Some carts are priced at $39.98 like DC
or $49.98 like FF..... I purchased my Mom 2 carts for Mothers Day as she only has fonts who can pass up this outstanding deal if you do not have these carts?



***NOTE**
If you are a member of PC Crafter.com then log into your account and you will see a discount code for creative express.... for an additional percentage off... yes it does work on the already low prices...

The Catalog

Wow! You know after adding up the train fare, food and the fact that we have to purchase the catalogs that my DD is in she is really doing it for free. (Modeling) We buy at least 3 catalogs.. 1 to cut up and put in a portfolio, 1 to send to DH's family in Louisiana and 1 to send to my family in California... At 890 yen a pop (roughly $7.50 us per catalog)...

Well we purchased Shortcoco catalog today and she is indeed on the front cover as well as at least 5 other pages.. One of them (the first photo I missed because I did not know they would let me go in and watch) she looks so grown up... I will post pictures later of that page....

Happy Creating & Blogging

Envelope Album

My daughter Amanda is in the 4th grade and is 9 years old. She is a Junior in Girl Scouts.
A little over 3 weeks and her first year as a Junior Girl Scout will be over. As the leader came over to pick up her SAF kits for their camping trip she asked me if I would help them out with the albums they will be working on at the last meeting. Of course I said I could, why not I have a Bug, Cuttlebug, Sizzix all kinds of supplies and I was going to awe her with my Scrap Cage but couldn't find the key to open the door.. :<(

I asked her what type of album she wanted to do, square, rectangle (like they did last year) circle or something different like an envelope album.. she wanted to know what one was so I explained it as best as I could and told her that I would make one up for her so she could see what one was..

Off I go at 1030pm in my scrap cage to find some inspiration to try and put together an envelope album. Then I became side tracked with things I have packed up for my SS (I need to send that box)....

I did finish the album but without any fore thought it is really not a cohesive album.. ughgh..
so that is somewhat accomplished... then I decided I would try my tote ally tote? (is that what it is called?) it has been sitting empty since I purchased it in December (I believe).. So I put together things I would need like scissors, scrap pad paper, paper punches, glue sticks, glue dots, ink pads 3 stamp sets and some embellishments... Then I have my larger tote I will use for other things and probably a crate on wheels for the heavier things like cuttlebug and the sizzix..

My accomplishment today... a half complete envelope album and packed for the class that is at least 2 weeks away...HA!

What Can I Do?

What can I do? I have all of these great products and machines like the Cricut but I am addicted to the computer.. LOL When I am not here on the computer I am cleaning my house, what a vicious cycle.. The last time I went into my scrap area and actually created was maybe a week ago.. I was very pleased with that creation but I am currently at a stand still what to do what to do?

I should probably work on some cards... maybe I will go and do that now instead of blogging..
Happy creating all!

The Heat

I went into my Scrap Cage today and realized that this Summer is going to be tough. The area my scrap area is in might as well be in the attic in a house in Louisiana during the Summer.. (I know what that is like). I need to figure out a way to stay cool in there while working without having a fan blow everything everywhere or I will never be able to do anything until Summer is over.. Blahhh... so that is my little vent..

Deployments

Ughghgg... My tasks for the weekend are:
1. Learn to drive to Zama
2. Learn to drive to Yokosuka

I need to learn to drive to these places because soon my husband Fred will be deploying. Zama is one of the closest shopping areas and also the Girl Scout Store is there. These things are important to know and get to.
Why do I need to get to Yokosuka? Well the military facility I live on is fairly small and should my child break her arm or leg they do not have casting capabilities here, I will have to drive 2 hours to the nearest MTF. I know because the first year we were here my oldest Amanda had broken her arm and here they said it was not broken and gave her a sling to use.. (This was on a Sunday) The next day we get a call saying that her arm is indeed broken and we will need to go to Yokosuka to have it casted..

So this among other things are my obstacles for this deployment. The obvious being I am in a foreign Country with no family close by, without the ability to just drive and visit family, the language barrier and me being an inexperienced driver on the Japanese Highway.

I do drive don't get me wrong.. However I drive to relatively close places.. The Daeie, Bikkuri Donkey, Sushi go Round, and Yakiniku..... If this deployment holds true to form as all deployments do.. Something indeed will go wrong and it will cause a spiraling event of 3 somethings in total to go wrong.. The last time it was my Van broke down, My washer and because I wasn't the active Duty military person I could not change my phone/cable....

April Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Contest

Yes I know it is May already... But on the Cricut MB I entered my first ever 2 page 12x12 Layout in this Contest.. I was quite proud of my accomplishment. Although I am ages away from ever perfecting scrap booking and or one technique with scrap booking I enjoyed myself...



Did I win, no... is it necessary to win absolutely not.. By entering this Contest and completing the Layout I realized that I can scrapbook if I really wanted to...so all those pictures sitting in a picture bin can actually be put into albums telling a story...



Here is my LO, I titled it Spring Chicks and I plan on using it for Easter Pictures.. I am going to change the chicks on the page on the right I was using them for journaling. I think I will use eggs instead that flip open to reveal the journaling ....

Mothers Day Candy Box

My mother and I worked on this box via the internet due to the distance.. LOL

Well she made one and submitted it to the Chirp project submission.. We will see what happens..



It was made with the Cricut Tags Bags Boxes and More Cartridge and Good Ol' George

Paper is from DCWV Old World Stack.. I just love this cardstock it is heavy and has a nice feel to them as well as I love the Old World Stack



The Box is the Matchbox, The Tag is from TBBM, Prima Flower, Stickles for the center of the Flower

Kit Kat Snack Size candy bars... you can fir 2 rows of 3 candy bars in the matchbox cut at 5"

Lip Gloss

My oldest Daughter is a Junior Girl Scout. For one of her Badges she had to make her own lip gloss. We used 2 different recipes and they both came out wonderful...

Chocolate Lip Gloss
Ingredients:
Shortening (like Crisco)
Cocoa powder
Flavoring (like vanilla extract)
Clean container to pour the Lip gloss in

we did not do exact measurements as we did not have a recipe but just did a trial and error experiments..

1 Tbs shortening, place in glass bowl, put in microwave and heat for 30 seconds or longer until it begins to melt remove the bowl from the microwave and stir until it is melted into a liquid. Add about 1/2 tbs of cocoa powder (we used hot cocoa mix from the packet) and 2 drops of vanilla extract... mix until ingredients are dissolved and mixed well. Pour into container and let rest for a day on counter or for quick solution place in fridge for a couple of hours until it hardens.. Voila you are ready to glam it up with vanilla smelling homemade cocoa lip gloss... Adjust recipe to make as much or as little as you would like. This will fill 3 containers..

Pink Sugar Lip Gloss
Ingredients:
Vaseline (or off brand petroleum jelly)
Drink mix (like kool aid with sugar in it already, pixie stix)
Flavoring (like mint extract)
Clean container to pour the Lip gloss in

2 Tbsp Vaseline, place in glass bowl, put in microwave and heat for 30 seconds or longer until it begins to melt remove the bowl from the microwave and stir until it is melted into a liquid. Add about 1 tbsp of drink mix (we used pixie stix)mix well, add 2-4 drops of mint extract depending on how strong you want the mint flavor/smell... mix until ingredients are dissolved and mixed well. Pour into container and let rest for a day on counter or for quick solution place in fridge for a couple of hours until it hardens.. Voila you are ready to glam it up ... Adjust recipe to make as much or as little as you would like. This will fill 3 containers..

Magnets

After receiving some wonderful magnets that were home made from the Spring Chick swap
I decided to try my hand at creating some...

I took 3/4" round clear stones and 3/4" circle magnets, Jewel It and Jolees Boutique
flowers and voila magnets...

One of the magnets is actually stickles glitter glue, another a punch from patterned paper, and yet another was made from glitter hearts confetti pieces..

Altered Tin and Mini Album

I made this altered tin and mini album as a part of a swap that I am in.

Papers on the tin are from DCWV Glitter Stack, Prima Flowers. Papers are adhered to the tin using mod podge. The mini album I used many miscellaneous papers including washi paper.

I added some rub ons, by making memories The Clip is from SU Hodge Podge, Miscellaneous Ribbon, Blue Brad from an American Crafts kit, misc. eyelet.

The Metal embellishment on the top is from my NSSB Blane.. (Thanks)

My Daughter & her Job

My 7 year old daughter made it on the cover a Clothing Catalog this month.

Here in Japan blond hair blue eyed children are considered good luck. Many times as we are going through the Mall we will hear "Kawaii" pronounced Kauai meaning cute.. Women usually will rub the girls head for luck as we walk by we have even been approached by people to have their picture taken with my girls.



It is very different here then in the States. At 7:00 a.m if you are riding the train you will probably see young children in their school uniforms unescorted taking the train to school, some of the children look as young as 5. It is unbelievable...



Back to my youngest DD, she has been on numerous auditions and in March she was in a clothing catalog called Milk. In April she did a shoot for a catalog called Short Coco, all of the other children at the shoot were 4 years old and as tall as she is.



The Catalog is out and although I have yet to get a hold of one I did find the picture of the catty online and she is one of the girls out of 2 on the cover.. To her it does not matter she just likes to get her hair done and change into all of the dresses..

Welcome

Welcome to my side of The Big Comfy Couch..

Take a seat prop up your feet and grab a cup of joe so we can sit and chat a while... This is where I will share my failures and victories in paper crafting... Possibly even things about my family, I have 2 daughters, my husband and about being a Navy Wife..