"Miss Lily"

This is an adorable picture of Lily with the two Disney autograph books I decorated for her to take on her first trip, back in April.

Lily and her mom, Pam, had a great time and she got many, many signatures! Pam has already finished Lily's autograph scrapbook, and it is fabulous!! Now she is working on the actual Disney trip, and the pages are turning out great, as well!

I am so glad that Pam and Lily experienced the magic of Disney, because I know that Alyssa and I will never forget it!

"Joy Layout"

This is 12x12 layout that I completed using wonderful papers and embellishments from the Hiliary collection by Making Memories. I mounted them on solid brown cardstock to tie it all together and loved the way it turned out!

I love the simplicity of this picture of Alyssa and I titled it "joy', because I wanted her to know that she brings joy into my life each and every day!

"My Girls"

I thought I'd share a picture of my two favorite girls. . .Alyssa and Ariel. I took this picture this morning before taking Alyssa to school.

Sorry I've not posted in forever! I've got a horrible case of tendonitis in my right elbow and it's hard to even move it around!

Thanks for being patient and bearing with me!!

"Backback Tag"

The inspiration and stamp set to make this cute girl's backpack tag came from Storage Units, Ink & More!

The stamp set is called A Touch of Class and comes with a variety of school accessories and titles to coordinate with this adorable girl. When I saw this example in their gallery, it was so cute, I knew I had to CASE it!

After stamping the images, I colored them with my Prismacolor pencils and blended with gamsol and a stump. I bought a package of Scotch self-laminating pouches at Wal-Mart to laminate the tag, and then used my Crop-A-Dile to add the book ring. Then, after adding some coordinating ribbons, I was finished.

"And The Winner Is. . ."

The lucky winner of my 50,ooo hits blog candy is Bella Rose Creations! I used random.org to choose the winner, and the winning number was comment #15.

Bella Rose Creations said...
Congratulations JoAnna!! What a wonderful achievement. I started stamping (still working on the scrapbooking) in 2005 when my daughter was born...it was my get out of the house free card!
August 19, 2008 4:57 PM

Thanks for all the sweet comments!! I look forward to much more scrapbooking and crafting! God Bless!

"Adorable Email"

I got this email from my gal pal, Randee, and thought it was so cute. I got her 'ok' before sharing it!

Look what followed this beagle home -- right through the doggie door -- in the Bittinger, MD area. The owner came home to find the visitor had made himself right at home. This hit the 6 o'clock news big time. Sure beat out the McCain/Obama political news for a change.

"WOW -- 50,000 Hits"

I can hardly believe I've already reached 50,000 hits!! The thanks goes to all of you! I love having my blog -- it's my fun, creative outlet. I have so appreciated all of the positive comments and feedback I have received over the past year! It has been so encouraging! Thanks, again!

It's blog candy time!!!

Of course, I had to come up with some goodies to give away! Everyone can play! Just leave a comment telling me when you started scrapbooking, stamping and/or crafting. I will announce the winner on Wednesday night at 10:00 pm central. I will use the random number generator to pick the winner!

Up for grabs:

*BoBunny My Word Family chipboard album

*Winter themed rubons

*'Lil Davis Huckleberry rickrack

*Karen Foster wintertime shirt labels

*KI Memories Icicles flower bubble frames

*Four(4) handmade Critters cards w/envies

*Stickles - gold

*Teal glittered blossom w/button center

*Two (2) Making Memories containers

*Mini tin of pixie Primas

I want to thank everyone, again, for stopping by, and hope you keep coming back! Take care and God bless!!

"Saturday's Fun"

Yesterday, Alyssa and I went to the monthly crop at the Vineyard and had a great day! I was able to visit with friends I have not gotten to see in awhile and get Alyssa's horse camp album completed. I've posted a variety of pictures from our fun day!!

I was so glad to see Pam, Kim and Casey! I've not gotten to scrap with them since we closed the store! I've really missed them! They are like family to us!! Casey is growing up! She's so pretty!! I've posted below the awesome teacher gift Kim made Saturday for Casey's teacher. You'll love it!! She did an great job on it!!

By, the way, Kim, we have all 'rubbed' our pages in honor of you!! heehee So glad I got to see you & Pam Saturday!!

Pretty maidens all in a row!! heehee We all do more talking than scrapbooking most of the time!! (Especially when we're all catching up!)

Here is Pam Carothers, Kim, Casey, Alyssa, Pam Foutch.

Jeanine is always busy on the neatest projects! She has the coolest ideas!

Thanks for all the 'free' inspiration!! heehee

Here's Pam and Alyssa

This is the awesome project that Kim and Casey worked on Saturday! It's for Casey's teacher! Didn't they do an outstanding job? We all loved it and had to take a photo of it!!

Ok, last, but not least, I actually got Alyssa's horse camp album finished. Here are a couple of the layouts I did Saturday:

"More Layouts"

Here are a couple more layouts that are both 12x12 and were done awhile back. I love it when Alyssa looks back in her albums and points out pages that she really likes. That's one reason I'm posting these particular ones.

First one:

Before any of you say anything - Yes, our dog has little birthday parties! This layout is of her first birthday. We had a cupcake; sang happy birthday to her; and, she got a dog treat!

Of course, I had to scrapbook it for Alyssa's album. It's apart of everything else that is insane that I do for this child! heehee






Second one:

I love the simplicity of this one. It was taken a couple of Easters ago after all the kids had gotten out of their church outfits at my Dad & stepmom's house. She was barefoot in the backyard, standing up by their 'rose circle', when I took the picture. I loved it and wanted the page to just reflect the love I have for her.

She's my girl!!

"Cowgirl Layout"

I have gotten very behind on my scrapbooking, but I am hoping to get some of my 'theme' albums finished up soon. Right now, Alyssa's soccer and horse camp albums are incomplete, so those are my current mission. Here is one of the layouts from the horse camp album. I like this style album, because the pages are 11 x 81/2. (Kinda makes you think out of the box.) I'm using alot of layering of cardstock and patterned paper, along with inking on the pages in this album, to give them a 'worn' feel. I loved the title I found to use. . ."Cowgirls are Forever".

"Thank You Card"

This card is not your typical thank you card, but I love this summer image from CTMH, and since the card is for my dad and step mom, the theme is great for them! They are all about the outside - the yard; the garden; and, the flowers!

I started with a blank white card; stamped "thank you" in the bottom corner; and then, layered chocolate, scalloped cardstock and solid mauve on top. Before adding my stamped image, I wrapped checked, grosgrain ribbon around the mauve cardstock and tied it off. I colored the image with my Prismacolor pencils and blended with gamsol and a stump.

"The Skinny"

I just finished decorating this 'skinny' notepad. It was so fun and easy!

I bought a pack of 3 note pads at Dollar Tree and took them to my local copy store and had them cut in-half. So, I ended up with 6 skinny notepads -- what a deal!

I used fun, patterned paper by Sassafras to cover the pad, then I adhered sheer ribbon around it, with a tie closure on the side. For the front, I added a stamped image from American Art Stamp. I colored it with my Prismacolor pencils, then blended with gamsol and a stump. At the top, I layered several flowers to finish it off! I really liked how it turned out!

The measurements to cover this size pad: Cut cardstock at 5.3" x 8.2" and score at 2.4" and 2.6".

Below, I've posted a smaller picture of the inside:

"Seeing Clearly Now"

My baby had to get glasses and, even though I'm a little bias, I think she's the cutest thing ever!!

I took Alyssa for her normal check-ups before starting school, and come to find out, she is 'moderately' near-sided. (I was so hoping she'd take after her Dad on this one, because, unfortunately, I'm blind as a bat without my glasses!!)

Anyway, the girls at Dr. Brewer's office help her pick out these 'cool' glasses. So, what do you think? Cute, or what?!?!

"Locker 101"

Here are a few of the things I decorated to get Alyssa's locker in top form for 6th grade!

*The magnetic purple holder was from Dollar Tree and I added a huge prima flower, then her initials with rub ons.

*The magnetic mirror in the frame also came from Dollar Tree. I, again, added primas, and glued plastic alphas to the top.

*She loved the wooden frog I got at Hobby Lobby, so, I glued a mini clothespin to the back, with magnet, so she can clip any messages to it!

*I had to frame a picture of her & best friend, Heather, for both, their lockers!

*And, of course, do you remember last year's chipboard "a", that I covered? Well, for now it's will serve another year! heehee

"Birthday Wishes"

I wanted to wish my bestest gal pal, Linda, a very Happy Birthday today!! Our birthdays are one (1) day apart, so we, for the past several years, celebrate together. This past Saturday, we treated ourselves to lunch together!

Happy Birthday, Linda! Best wishes, always!!

(p.s. Cake is a picture from http://www.charmcitycakes.com/)

"Whoo Hoo -- Another Award!"

I have been nominate again for a different award by one of my sweetest gal pals, Rochelle! This award is called the BFF Gold Card.





The rules are:
1. Use the twinks bank icon;
2. Only 5 people allowed to be nominated;
3. 4 of the 5 have to dedicated followers of your blog;
4. 1 is to be someone new or recently new to your blog and live in another part of the world;
5. You must link back to whomever gave you the award.

Here are the 5 people I want to nominate:
1. Jennifer at Blessed and Scrappin'
2. Lauri at Paperville
3. Michelle at Michelle's Tidbits
4. Lisa at Us 4 Vol Fans
5. Beth at BoScraps Creativity
Newcomer:
Tejal from India

Thanks, Rochelle, for this special award! You are so thoughtful and sweet!!

"It's Time for School Again!"

Well, here we go. . .another school year is upon us! Alyssa will be in the 6th grade this year. Half way through! Whew! Even though this summer has seemed pretty long, all of a sudden the first week of school is suddenly upon us and I hadn't gotten anything made for ofc. staff; principal; or, homeroom teacher for the first day. So, I thought I better get busy!

Well, this is officially the first, of many things, that will be made for the 2008-09 school year.

This is a combo of two different size 'note' pads that I covered with school-themed paper from Foof-a-la, and a RSVP pen. These were easy to cover and I just inked and sanded the edges for a worn look.

I'll tie this combo up for Alyssa to give to her homeroom teacher. (Since she doesn't know yet whether the teacher will be male or female, I'm glad the colors will work either way.)

p.s. Thanks, Rochelle, for sending me these great 'note' pads in my goodie box! You spoil me!!