Life is a Beach... mini album

LOVEEEEE this kit from CUPCARDSTOGO. you can do sooo much with it. It has card sets in it but you know I am a mini album a holic. so, This is what I did (and yes I will be making cards as well because THERE IS SOOOO MUCH IN THIS KIT! it is packed so full of stuff! The embellies and the ribbon are sooo cute! The flocked sticker letters are so adorable. I love the papers they have this glitter back ground with the shells and starfish. just so cute. so easy to work with. SO easy to make a mini album. I am going to make some cards with this later but I wanted to show you the mini album I made with this last week.

We had a blast last night at unkit live. Sudie featured sonda and this kit. you can go to sondas site to see what sudie made with the kit. BEAUTIFUL! If you have not been to one of these unkit live shows. Yall are missing out on monday nights! we have soooo much fun and the after show is so much fun. I showed this little mini album. (with my flicted self) John moved my camera to the laptop in my altered state had drs appts yesterday so I fumbled through it. sorry bout that yall. but I did it wheeww. anyway on with the photos yayyyyy!!!!

so here it is:



This poem is by "Thena Smith". It was perfect for this album.

I took cardboard and stripped the top off, used colorbox ink to distress it. I took the word paper and used glimmer mist on it inked over it with colorbox ink chalks.
The journaling poem on this page says:


I stand in awe before you lord
as I watch my child at play
How precious is each action
And each word I hear her say
I know that as you
look down on us
We are all very small
Yet you know each tiny
grain of sand
and by name you know
us all!



I also made these little pullouts tags with my own little sentiments that I found online. (I LOVE these little quotes. I used lots of different glimmer mists on them and used the ribbons in the kit. I attached them with Tim Holtz tiny attacher)
To handle yourself use your head, To handle others use your heart.
the other one says:
As deep as the ocean as many stars up in the sky, You will always be the sparkle in your mommys eyes!



The next two pages. I took and distressed the back ground pages around the edges and inked with colorbox fluid ink chalks in dark brown. then the layerd sheet I used stickles then had to set aside. (It looks like waves so I thought it would be pretty to glam it up )
on the right I tore those into strips and inked all the edges. Took the starfish and pulled the inside out stickled it then put it back together after I used the colorbox chalks on the outside part. attached it with a colorful sparkly brad.




journaling reads:

Lord though my child
seems small to me
as she stands upon your shore
I know that were she
ten feet tall-
You could not love her more.






on the left hand page I distressed it a little on the back ground. I used the pretty ribbon on the top right. accented it with the buttons. cut circles out of the water paper down the side.
On the right used the water looking as the top back ground paper and the dot glitter paper as the bottom back ground paper (kinda reminded me of sand)

The journaling reads:
I cannot even fathom lord,
How great your love must be.
But, I know that it is greater still
than the vastness of the sea.


so I say a prayer of thanks
Dear lord of earth and sea
for all the loving care you give
to both my child and me.
~Thena Smith The wonder of it all

C.H.A. happy mail

OMGOSHHHH it has been like CHRISTMAS! I went to some online crop things and I won this prize pack well I THOUGHT all I won was that cool little purple scissor holder I HAD NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO IDEA I WAS GETTTING ALLL THISSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! AND ALL THOSE SAMPLES ALSO of how to make all that stufff!!!! OMGOSH.
I SQUEALED LITERALLY when I opened the box (ASK SUDIE!) OMGOSH!
I LOVE IT! LISA I COULD KISSS YOUR FACE! ( I will spare you though hehe )
OK I will J'LO this Scissor thing out and show you. AT the PJ PARTY NEXT WEEEK!

IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEEN to their live scrap shows YOU NEEED TO COME!!!! IT IS SOOO MUCH FUN! Thank you so much to all of you guys at Pajama Party Live and C&T publishing.
and Lisa Lou :)

The things you do for your kidlet....

SO Bella as you know was all not happy with her shoe situation. (they were tie ups I think was the most problem and she wanted "non tie ups" like she has had every other year. Mommy had been sick and daddy has been working and well just didn't find the ones she wanted. (not to suit her) was tryin to make do. You have to realise daddy it is just gonna get even more fun the older she gets!

Thank you lord for my sweet neighbor Diane. I called her asked her if she by any chance could take me to Kohls (they usually have the BEST shoe deals)
DIANNNE? HELP? PLEASE?
SHE WAS ON THAT LIKE ants at a picnic!
so off we went.
NOPE Kohls had everything BUT what we needed. I did get a baby gift though for my new baby cousin that should arrive any moment now,
while there. (that was fun! omgosh such cute stuff) it was right there by it luckily.
So, Target? How did I feel? I still was ok. Not too bad... yet. Went to target straight to that part. NOPE, everything but what she needed. Ok. left there. went to Payless. NOPE nothingggggg in her size. NOTHING.
Thank goodnesss they were having displays at the front of these places though.
SEARS? do they have shoes? I thought Sears just sold Appliances.
Havn't been in one in forever.
BUT, look what we found there.
THE CUTEST LITTLE SIZE 13 navy (NON TIE UPS as she called them)





I had just about given up... they were on the VERY BOTTOM and Diane Found them.
AUNT DIANE TO THE RESCUEEEEE! (and they were on saleeeeeeeeeee)

She had a really good first day. SHe loves her teacher. Has made a new friend. (Amelia) and came home all smiley. I got her a Hello Kitty Lap pad thinking it would encourage the home work. (she is a Hello Kitty lovin' Monster)

She already has projects due. I will have to sit on my hands not to help OMGOSH IT IS SOOO CUTE.



I love these little things. She is such a little project doer.
I love watching her mind turn. I see the little wheels turning she was so excited. SHe said "MOMMM GUESS WHAT I GET TO SCRAPPP BOOOK.. ok well sorrta... then she said OOOOH CAN I USEEEE YOUR CRICUTTTT?????????"

I told her I THINK she wants her to do it by hand but we will do some of it with the cricut. I will ask her teacher about that. Not sure on that one. (Bella knows how to work that thing let me tell ya!)


In other news. I GOT MY KIT FROM CUPCARDS TO GO YESTERDAY! OMGOSH this is the cutest little thing you ever seen in your life! It comes in this cute box and you can tell how much time she spendss putting all this together!!!!! everything is cut and so well put together just sooooooo cuteeeee. I just dont want to take it all apart to play with it. IT IS SOOOOOOO CUTEEEEEEEE!
Comes in a cute little box. BUT, I got stuff I need to make so ... I gotta dive on in hehehe.
I am exhausted beyond belief from yesterday and can't think of a spot that doesn't hurt. The stufff we do for our kids when we know we shouldn't! WHEN WE KNOW BETTER!
WHEN WE KNOW the next day we will be in pain.... THATS LOVE KIDDO... yeah thats sacrifice I sacrifice myself for you alot kiddo hehhee dont you forget it your mommy loves you!!! xoxoxo (or you would still be wearin them shoes!)

first day of Second grade

Hard to Believe she is going into second grade!!! But ya she is.. (gonna put a brick on here head) The shingles were gone enough they are just tiny dots on my neck barely pimple looking. We felt it safe for me to go this morning and take some photos! (YIPPPPEEEE!) It is soooo humid here my camera kept fogging up but I did manage to get some photos. I will share!
I did good No tears but when I got home and started putting them through photo shop...

ONE really got me. I have to admit my eyes really started to tear up. you will know the one when you see it oh gosh it just wrenched my heart and (made me forget what a little turkey rear she has been for the last week ughh! ok not forget but maybe just kinda unruffle a few of the feathers)

so here are some of the photos and I will share with the other moms



Daddy putting on her shoes... How sweet is this?




I take her picture every year in front of this wall. man she is growing...



my little messy child.... she is notttt happy about these shoes. (Mommy was sick... Daddy did the uniform shopping. sigh. IM GONNA FIX IT don't worry. I bribed her today to wear them haha. I told her Daddy did best her could do. We will FIX IT! so she is ok with it for today. (Im praying) bless her.



Bella sticking her tongue out at me saying she does not like her ugly shoes. sigh.



Bella does this thing with her eyebrows she raises them up and down. Here eyes go all crazy when she does it. It is really funny. makes me laugh really hard. anyway she was doing that in the back seat at me..




This picture made me choke! Thought I was over all the emotional back to school stuff. I was ready for her to go back geesh! That one above kinda got me! She is growing up ya know! ( I got over it quick..) Next....


Our traditional walk in with daddy...



Discussing her ugly shoes with Nautica. hahaha.


Bella and her bff Bailey



These three are just the cutest everrrr!


She missed her friends soooo much!

I think she is really happy to be back at school! Hope my Bella bug has a wonderful first day in Second Grade. Will miss her today a smidge (maybe) hehe. ok ok I WILL it is really quiet.
I promised her if the kitties do anything interesting I would let her know. I would feed them their snack and keep her updated.
she is toooo funny!

By the way UNKIT LIVE (Sudie TV) tonight is alllll about BACK TO SCHOOL! you do NOT want to miss this live scrap book show. GONNA BE SOOOOOOOOO MUCH FUN!!!! I will see you there!

I finally cut my bloomers!

I have been working on this layout on and off for a few days (and nights) now. My eyes were giving me fits trying to match the colors. (the blues were looking like greens to me and the oranges were looking like reds... ugh) dunno if it was the shingles were on a certain nerve or what... anyway. I went with my usual vintagey grungy look. I know that Dena and Brandin will be HAPPY TO KNOWWWW I FINALLY used those bloomer. I cut them... it hurt. Although, when I did it.. I REALLY DID IT. I glimmer misted and inked the fool out of them. haha. so there. (AND IT WAS FUNNNN)
I mixed 2 different glimmer mists in one of those little handy dandy mini misters (I had bought and not used yet) Bella thinks they are sooooo cute and made just for her mmhmmm along with everything else in my scrap room.

which brings me to the topic of this page I made for this challenge for The Color Room:
I LOVED these colors for this one!!!!

You may click on the photo to see it larger.

Tomorrowwwwwwwwwww, is the first day of school (cue music) I am clearing off my camera for lots of photos. Hoping that it goes well this year. Mrs. Brown has already told Bella she will come with to see her to her next class (I hope this helps the transition. I think that it won't be as bad as last year though. She knows this teacher. She didn't know Mrs. Brown. That upset her soooo bad. sigh. We are going to go a little early just to be on the safe side. I think my shingles are gone enough that I can go (unless she keeps calling "mama mama MAMAAAAAAA"like she is doing and driving me to the utmost edge of crazy like she has been for the last 72 hours) I am about HAPPY school is starting so I can get a DOSE OF QUIET.
Yall remind me of that when I get home and Im turning on stuff for noise, because.... it is just a little bit too quiet in here without my Bella bug. hahaha.
Hope you all have a nice week!

NOT the kinda mom/kid scrappin I was thinkin..

So Im all about scrappin with your kids and all, But there are some pages that I really want to do myself. (especially when they are for design team and promotion work) WITHOUT the input of LITTLE hands and not much help.
SPLAIN THAT to the kidlet. Doesn't always come across so well. She is of the thinking she is 25 years old and my scrapbook room is her play room to roam free. (cue music)
HEY I WOULD HAVE LOVED to have been able to play in my moms studio growing up but that was a HUGEEEEE no no. I wasn't even allowed to touch one paint brush or look at a bottle of paint. IF I so much as LOOKED at it My eyes would burn out my skull. This kid has no clue how lucky she is to have me for a mom! I let her play in so much of this stuff give her so much scrap stuff and let her create and play aimlessly on half of my 6 foot by 6 foot scrap island. ya how many kids get to do this?
She has her own area and a good many supplies.

I say all of that to say this. I have had my layout that I was working on set out on my scrap table (I had been down with shingles and had been working on it before it got really bad) well I guess the temptation was just too much? she couldn't help herself? She was just helping?
She glued parts of my title down. ughhhh I tried to pull it up but it ripped the cardstock. so I just tried to go with it best I could. ANYWAY. This page is kinda funky now. IM not real happy with it. I guess I will now always remember that though I will have to find some kinda better lock to put on my scrap room. sigh...



This is with the Petal Pushers kit for Scrapbook Obsessions. www.scrapbookobsessions.com

Techniques and not included in the kit:
I used the Tim Holtz texture fades the college/notebooks set I sprayed glimmer mist on it before I ran it through. Then I inked it to show the dimension I love the numbers on that (kinda goes with the text message of the layout I thought)
I used the graphically speaking cricut cartridge to cut the arrow and outlined it with a white pen. The brads that I had didn't match so I used pink stickles to make them all sparkly.
I used Plantin School Book font on the cricut to cut the title, and pink stickles to decorate the title. I accented the chipboard with Prima e pearl bling.
I used several different white pens trying to get one to work... long story but a great tip from my friend lynn (HI LYNN) was to put them in the fridge and let them chill and they would roll smoother after that. sure enough. it did work a lil better.

All edges were inked with colorbox fluid ink chalks

I made a flower out of the ribbon in the kit and used the flower as an accent piece on top. I pop dotted them with foam stickies to make them pop off the page.
I used pop dots on the large photo and on the arrow to make it stand up off the page also kinda makes it stand out more.

There are 7 buttons (representing she is 7 years old)

It is REALLLY cloudy so this photo didn't turn out so hot. gonna try it again in a bit.

sooo ya I know its like a new month and stuff...

I have been busyy busy with all kinda stuff and (I havent posted here) ONE blogger hates me. Two Bella is out of school and Three DENTAL SURGERY. This dental thing was supposed to be alot smoother and not near as bad as I thought, BUT my cheeze grin is lookin good I have to say. I just contracted a horrible case of shingles afterward. (they warned me this could happen) Ya its an M.S. thing. I am about over it now. I had alot more stuff go on than expected with the bone grafts ::shudder:: but its done now and my smile is great. The infection is out and I SHOULD be alot healthier for it.

Bella has had a kinda boring summer poor kid. I have had so much dental surgery she has not been able to go do so much. She has been nurse maid and a very good one at that. In between all this though we have done a goo deal of scrapping. We have been having fun with Unkit Live or as she calls it MISS SUDIE TV SHOW!
We have crafted and played. She is getting so big (tall) I want to put a brick on her head. She will start back to school soon and I think she is happy to she misses her friends.

Here are a couple pages I have done recent:
I LOVE LOVE Echo park. This is the "A Walk In The Park" Line of theirs. They are a new company. I love the colors they use so happy and bright!


and this is the Max and Whiskas by Basic Grey how cute is it? These are two of our kitties. (they are at the vet right now getting ughmm.. altered)



I have some more I am finishing up with this months UNKIT

also CUPCARDS TO GO is featured for the next one IT IS SOOO CUTE. (I AM STALKING WAITING ON IT TO GET HERE) BEACH THEME with the cutest embellies everrrr! You better hurry if you want one!!
Gonna make a mini album out of mine with those adorable photos of Bella bug at the beach. (you all know you have beach photos so this would be perfect for them) Or perfect for some adorable cards we all need to make!!

I am working on my kit (The last one sniff sniff) for Scrapbook Obsessions. yes we are all very sad. They are closing their doors after all this time.
SOOO if you want any of those kits you better get on over there and snatch em up.
I will have samples up in the next day.

I hope You all have a great day... take a few minutes to enjoy the little things. :)

Happy 4th Yall!

So Did Everyone Have a Happy 4th Of July? It was kinda a whirlwind. IT was fun! Tiring but was so great to see family. I miss them so much. We had just been up to Mississippi recently, and John is working 2 territories right now (the other guy is out of the country for 3 weeks)So he is on call and we couldn't make it up there again for the 4th with all extended family. SOoooo. Our immediate family just came on down here to us. (YAY!) Was exhausting but Soooo worth it! I really miss them and get home sick some times.
Feels good to see them.
I toook a lot of photos as you can imagine haha. Bella had a wonderful time with her cousins. She Pestered her cousin Bradlee.. He pestered her.. John Pestered him.
Everyone had a great time.









(Don't ya love her red boots? That is my child I tell ya!!)

SHe didn't care too much for the loud fire works. Her ears are so sensitive.




Bella's Bestie Eva Caroline (from across the street) We have known them since they both were toddlers. (Bella and Eva) she is a cutie. a best friend across the street? Is that not the coolest?

The next day Kasi and Jason Came down (the actual 4th) and we celebrated our nations birth with much food and festivities. (we like to eat can't you tell?)






He looks so sexy when he cooks! (or vacuums or does dishes.... I just love him hahaha)



Bella always has to stick her tongue out in photos... never fails I have a set of photos with her stickin out her tongue... little dickens.




must be genetic??



John surprised Bradlee by making his favorite STUFFING (Yes I KNOWWWW its July but we missed Thanksgiving with me having shingles and they were out of town) SO we had fried Turkey and Stuffing and a ton of FRESH LOCAL FARMERS MARKET GROWN VEGGIES YUMMM!! It was awesome (although I don't eat stuffing. I take their word on it.

Kasi and Jason Are they not the cutest ever?


Kasi threatening to beat him if he doesn't stop throwing pop rocks at her feet.








Bella liked these.. she thought they were pretty!

Later that night after everyone left, We did our traditional 4th of July fireworks with Eva caroline and family.







The ones that were loud...




Bella doesn't care too much for...



so hard to believe they are 7!!!! I hope everyone had a fabulous 4th of July! (remember what the reason of the Holiday is! NOT JUST A DAY OFF WORK!)
Remember our soldiers!
Remember the sacrifice!

another layout with MME Sophia from

I did another layout last night but it was really late and too dark to photograph it.
The colors were so bright and cheery I wanted you to see them for all they were.
I waited till the bright sunshine today so You could really get a good idea how pretty they were.

J.R. and Chantele at Scrapbook Obsessions Really put together a wonderful kit. The Making Memoriess Jewels in this kit are amazing and these ribbons are sooooo awesome! (LOVE THEM) You know I am all about the embellishments!
Everything is from the kit except the distresser I used and the inks I used on the edges of the flowers and on the edges of the letters.

Here are some close up shots so you can see the details.



I used 7 flowers and 7 jewels on this (so I could remember Bella is 7 in the photo) I do little things like this on my pages to help me remember without having to put Bella is 7 years old on every single page.



And another view of the entire layout.


This is such a versatile kit You can do a lot with! Hope you have fun creating with it!