It's December!

Yeah! It's December! And guess what? Baby, It's COLD outside!!!! Brrrrr. That's not always the case here in sunny Louisiana. When I got home from work, my daughter asked for a fire. Or wait - maybe it was me. Anyway - hubby said to wait until Friday when it REALLY gets cold. So.... to satisfy the urge, I pulled out my new Kenny Chesney's Christmas DVD. I wasn't sure if I'd like it, being that I accidentally picked up the DVD instead of the CD. BUT - the DVD came with snowy scenes and - you betcha- fireplace scenes. Can you say AWESOME! Oh, and I really liked the music. A different twist on Christmas, being that he's singing about the Caribbean and getting a tan on the title song. We danced around the Christmas tree and had a good little time celebrating the first day of December.

I don't have much to share, but I at least want to TRY to post something every day until Christmas... but I can't promise.

I made this card and gift box using Piggy Tales papers and Stamping Up! Christmas stamps.







So - this is my way of welcoming in most wonderful month of the year. Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Cards for the holiday

Cooler weather (finally), turkey and dressing, fall leaves... it's officially the start of the holiday season. I think we'll be putting our tree up tomorrow - for the first time EVER before Thanksgiving. Gasp! And I can't wait.

Here are a couple of fall and Thanksgiving cards I made with Dream Street Paper's "Sam" collection.








I hope each and every one of you have a blessed Thanksgiving week. Thanks for stopping by.

ET the movie flashback

Does this photo remind you of a scene in the movie E.T. the Extraterrestrial?



In case you missed it, there is a little dachshund hiding among the Littlest Pet Shop plus cow, penguin, pig, squirrel, and even a brown dachshund. Aha - you see her now, don't you. Her most favorite place to be (next to being outside of course) is right in the middle of a pile of warm laundry. I couldn't resist this pic.

Well, I actually took a break from life this weekend and played in my craft room! Nothing special - just having fun. Here are a few.




This card uses Sassafrass Paper and Jenni Bowlin alpha stickers.




I tend to hold onto papers I treasure, so I made myself cut into some of my not-so-new Webster's Pages paper. I just love this stuff! The rub on is from SEI.






Most of the papers in this kit are from one of the JulyCupCardsToGo kit that I had leftover (papers from Cosmo Cricket, Making Memories). The red flower die cut is from My Mind's Eye, the label is from Making Memories.

Well, time to pay the piper for all the playing I've done. My house is a wreck and I need to get things in order for next week's Thanksgiving dinner. I'm already in the mood to watch "Christmas Vacation" while I clean. Maybe tomorrow when I get home from work. Anyhooo.....Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!

One more for the week!

Okay - I have to keep up the momentum before Friday, huh? Here's a page I did using some of my high school reunion "girls nite out" photos. I TOLD you I have alot of reunion photos to scrap and I LOVE them all!







I used Piggy Tales "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" collection (paper, chipboard, epoxy).

Have a great weekend!!!

Just some recent concert photos...

It seems like I've been to more concerts in the past 2 years than in the previous 10!!! Probably because it's true. Have I been that deprived?? As posted a few posts back in September, me and my little girl went to see Taylor Swift. Just a few weeks after that, I was listening to one of my favorite radio stations and they were giving away Chicago Concert tickets (the old band Chicago - you know - the one that's been around since the 70's - (yes, before some of you were born). So.... I decided I'd try to win. On Monday, I totally missed the que to call. So Tuesday, which just happened to be my dear hubby's birthday, I heard the que and, yes - I WON! I phoned hubby and calmly mentioned "Hey, hubby. Chicago is playing in Shreveport..."...pause... "When?" he asks. "In two days", I replied... then I asked "Do you want to go hear them?"... he said "Sure" and that's when I said "Good, because I just won two free tickets!"

Now, let me say that I was soooo thankful for free tickets... even if they were in the back section of the venue... which was a large meeting room inside a casino. Even if you were against the farthest wall, it was better than being waaayyy in the back inside a huge arena. BUT, we stepped outside right when it started to place a "good-nite" call to the kids, and a man...let's call him a high-roller - said "Hey, you want our tickets? They are really good seats". Since he'd rather play in the casino instead of hear the band, we said SURE and off we went to the front section of seats. Here are a few of my pics.








Then just 3 weeks later, our local civic center had Miranda Lambert and Jack Ingram. Since I'm a-little-bit-country and a-little-bit-rock-n-roll, I jumped at the chance to support our local concerts (believe me, we don't get that many BIG names locally). Our seats were awesome - again!











Whew! Got all that posted. Now to kick back and welcome in November!!! Have a wonderful week!

And yet another Taylor Swift post...

Well, what can I say? It's another Taylor Swift post. This one is scrappy, tho, so you'll forgive me, huh?

My miss priss and I went to see Miss Swift in concert in September... just days before the famed incident with Kanye - yeah - you know the one. The one where we were watching her win an award. Where I told miss priss , Look..let's see if Taylor wins this award..... Oh GOODIE - she won. Let's watch her acceptance'.... then "Uh....oh, no... why did he take her mic? Oh! That wasn't nice...." and I guess me and alot of others were speechless after that. Including Taylor. Well, anyway - back to the CONCERT. I scrapped a couple of photos using Dream Street's "Merry & Bright" collection. Yes, a Christmas Collection, but hey - I think it worked. The chipboard alpha is from Dream Street, and the bird and branch is from Stampin Up! I covered all the chipboard with Doodlebug Bumblebee glitter.





So, now that I've done three blog updates in the past 7 days, I'm forgiven for not keeping it up for the past 2 months? Okay, Okay, I'll try. I'm sure I can dig up some NEW concert photos until I have more scrappy stuff. Have a wonderful and SAFE Halloween weekend. Don't eat too much candy, because, well - you know IT'S FOR THE KIDS!!!
(((insert evil scary dude laugh here..))))

Quick and Easy Halloween Gifts

It's not to late to make some Trick or Treat papercrafts gifts for your child's classmates or teachers. I found a pack of 10 pencils in the dollar section of target. The hardest task was sharpening the pencils! (Yes, I sharpened the pencils b/c the cheaper pencils are soooo hard to sharpen. I wanted the recipients to use them right away!) I used Dream Street papers "Superstition" papers and chipboard, some ribbon, jute and buttons along with a die cut scalloped (via the Cricut) and in no time I had two sweet gifts.





Have a wonderful Monday and check back soon!

Catch Up Time!!

I am here!
I am here!
I am here!

I've been sooo busy at my new job - and on top of that, it seems that EVERY single weekend we've had things scheduled. I am frantically trying to "clear" my weekends from now until next year, but so far I haven't been successful. I'm in between fall fest and family night at the racetrack and instead of (gasp) napping, I'm playing with paper and scissors. I'll update my newest page as soon as I scan it.

Meanwhile... here is what I did a few weeks ago using Dream Street papers.

The first one uses Dream Street's "Nature's Poetry" papers and coordinating chipboard.. a little bing and, of course, buttons!






And, I TOLD you that you'd be seeing alot of my reunion photos in scrapbook pages. I have soooo many. I can't NOT scrap them. This uses Dream Street's "Urban Ink" papers.





I'll have something new up again SOON! I promise. Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Pie and Taylor Swift

I'm on a quest to find the perfect chocolate cream pie recipe. One like my grandma made (I know, that's what everyone says, huh). So - that means I'll be baking several pies in the next few weeks.

Here is Pie Number One
Problem: took too long to cook in double boiler and therefore the chef (me) abandoned the boiling before it got thick.
Result - tastes great but runny. Hubby ate it all anyway. (gotta love a man that will cook whatever you consider less than par).


Here is Pipe Number Two
Problem: After researching and comparing recipes - I settled for one in Taste of the South magazine (plus it had a nice photo). Half way in the cooking process, I noticed it didn't call for eggs in the recipe. ALL the other similar ones did. What to do? Hmmm.... eggs or no eggs.... So, I added eggs as in the other recipes.
Result - success.


And then there's Taylor Swift. I took the little miss to her concert this week. Making a note to NOT ever get floor seats unless they are VIP seats right next to the stage. LOL. Why do people STAND during a concert when they are on the floor. NO one can see over your head unless you are 6 feet and 50 inches tall.

But..........wait. What is the commotion BEHIND us in the middle of the concert???
(don't read this if you are planning on going to a Fearless tour and you don't like spoilers)

It's TAYLOR!!


She came and got on a rotating stage about ten feet from us. I told my daughter not to move because we couldn't be in a better place. I was in photography la-la-land as well as being so happy I could actually SEE the show.











Great concert! Thanks for stopping by. I'm off to excercise after eating that piece of chocolate pie!!!

Faces I love - with Dream Street Urban Ink!

At 8am this morning, it was 58 degrees in Northeast Louisiana. That's almost a record for this time of year and WE LOVE IT!!! Wish we could have this type weather for a whole season!!! What a welcome change from the 100 degree heat we had just 2 weeks ago.

I have another page to share. I created this right after my high school reunion using Dream Street's new line "Urban Ink". It works perfectly with my reunion photos because our school colors are black and orange. The chipboard elements are also from Dream Street. I used a Becky Fleck sketch for this page.

Catching up in the scraproom

It's been an amazingly busy summer! I started looking for a job the week before school started. Well, woops - I got a call to work before the week was up! Better watch what you wish for. Luckily, I get a couple of days off during the week, so this week I played catch up on some paper crafting.

This is a page I made this week using My Mind's Eye's Laundry Line "Sundress". I just love the soft vintage design and the touch of glitter in some of the pages. I used the "Ashlyn's Alphabet" Cricut Cartridge for the title, butterfly and the scalloped shape behind the photo.

I cut the butterfly and title in cream cardstock, then used Tattered Angels' Glimmer Mist in Candy Apple Red on the shapes. It mimics the glitter n the papers.








Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by.

New Memories with Old Friends

I'm still enjoying the 'afterglow' of my high school reunion. I had some free time yesterday to pull out the NEW Dream Street Papers summer collection and created this page using the Sam paper line.

Believe it or not, my camera was off duty most of the reunion night. GASP! I know!!! I'm always running around events with the camera, but this night was was soaking it all in - without the camera. But there were cameras there. This is one of my favorite photos of the night - the old gang together again - minus a few people who had to leave early or were just not in sight when we did this. All the elements on this page are from the Sam collection.









Thanks for stopping by!