Just a walk in the park...

I love this picture, it looks like the Mr Goose is perplexed with his shadow...

Today was the first nice day in soooooooo long, so we headed out to the park to feed the ducks...I mean geese...it was so beautiul outside and so nice for all of us to finally get out and get some fresh air..

I almost forgot what the sun looked like...I hope that this means that spring is on it's way...I think I even noticed a few trees starting to bud...

I've been making tags today for the tag swap I'm doing at Fiskateers....wanna see...? ok I'll show ya...

on this one I used one of Christi's creative prompts...love that little birdie..

I also finished this recipe holder for a class at SBF on April 16th...

Participants will be able to pick out their own papers...

I'm closing the sign up for the ATC Swap tomorrow evening. We have 15 so far. Lesli at Dragonfly times if you're reading this, I've got you but I need your email address. Sign ups include everyone in my post from yesterday and we've added

Kelly and Rita..

Rita..sorry I don't have you linked need your blog addy....

and that's all I have for tonight...I'm on a creative roll right now and want to go with it I have a few other swaps to get done before I dive into my own....Thanks so much for stopping by, and I hope you have a great night!

There must be a sign...

Above my door, that only animals can read that says "All Furry Four Legged Creatures Welcome Here!" because look at this...

This came over yesterday while I was at work and the boys were playing outside with some of the neighbor kids...this wrapped my husband around her furry little paw in less than 30 seconds (although somehow this is all my fault even though I wasn't even here..huh?)...This ended up getting a bath from me at 9pm because I couldn't bear to stare at those eyes begging to be let in our home...This does not have a microchip...This was not reported missing in any of the local newspapers or Human Societies....This is something like sleeping with a toodler that drools a little more....This is the sweetest most docile well behaved probably pure bred black lab puppy you ever met in your life...This now has a name courtesy of Britain "Retro"..."Retro" needs a happy home....because I already have

this....

and let us not forget...

this one....I do not need 3 dogs...ok?

I loved my first day at SBF (my new 2nd job at The Scrapbook Factory) it's so fun...I so enjoyed helping customers pick things out and I don't know...for me there are no words..I know it sounds silly but it's like Utopia..it's not stressful when you're doing what you love...anyway here's a picture of Amy (this one is Amy Jo) she's the one who's been showing me the ropes

and here is a really bad picture of me trying to look studious...I just don't do studious...

I've completed my Deck of Me card for Week 11...prompt was "what is something you do for yourself everyday?" Mine is coffee time...that time in the morning when I'm the only one awake the house is quiet and I'm enjoying my morning coffee..photo on the front side is from Flickr.com

and I'm trying my hand at tags and joined a tag swap with some Fiskateers...so here's my first one

I know kind of simple...but it's my first one...oh and yeah, those are paint chips...love all the colors on these and guess what they're free! So I pick a few up now and then when I go to the store and have been trying to figure out what to do with them...so they landed on this tag...

I also did some page kits for the SBF...

With both jobs, a third dog, science fair crap, school crap, and spring break starting Wed...and the usual day to day house, work and kid stuff, I've been missing a lot of blog days lately...and projects...I have so many projects "in waiting"....but this is what I love to do and I don't want to make it a chore, so I'm taking it one day at a time and I will not stress myself out over not blogging every day...I say this because after missing a day or two here and there and looking at the huge mess in my craft area I found myself beating myself up about it...and I had to tell myself to get a grip and let it go....(which is a lot of talking to myself )

...(there is so much flying around in my head at any given time it gets pretty crowded in there)

I'd like to start an ATC Swap...who's up? The way it would work is this

after I get a count of how many sign up I'll let everyone know and you would make that many cards, every card should have your name on it and where your from, (blog/email is optional)

we'll set a deadline and you'll have all your cards to me by that date along with the extra postage (equal to the amount that it took to send your cards to me) I will then send you back one of each of everyone else's cards...I'm thinking having them all in to me by the end of April...sound fun?...I don't want this to be stressful, I want it to be fun...but if you sign up please make sure you can follow through...sound good? I've been wanting to play more with these and the Deck of Me has me loving this size...If you can't find blank ATC's use a deck of cards and alter them...or just cut heavy cardstock to 2 1/2 by 3 1/2...so leave a comment if you want to play and I'll send you and email.... can't wait to get going!

That's it for tonight...

Gratitudes:

1. dogs...even when everything else is going crazy they love you

2. being able to do something you love and get paid to

3. our trees are starting to bud...I do believe spring is around the corner

4. setting deadlines..it's what keeps me sane and on task

5. chili on a cold wet day

Thanks for stopping by!

just look at those dimples....

This is what happens when they conspire to lie to me about something and get caught...

Last night I rented a movie "Things we lost in the Fire" with Halle Berry ..I didn't end up watching it because Rob came home not feeling well, took a 3hour nap and woke up ready to light up the town at 10pm..I however wasn't ready for anything but sleep...so tonight Landon went to a birthday party and while we were having dinner I say "hey, let's watch that movie tonight since we didn't get to last night..." Britain and Rob exchange a look and then kind of together say" uh..yeah...we watched it already, don't worry, you wouldn't like it..." and right away I see dimples and my spidey senses are tingling..."how do you know I wouldn't like it?" I ask....Britain " ok well this is what it's about..." and proceeds to give a general synopsis of the plot....and then Rob adds in " yeah , it was really depressing and the ending really sucked" Britain "yeah.. "...I'm looking at them and I know..."You didn't watch it..." I say..." I can't believe you're sitting here lying to me..." Rob turns to Britain and goes "Man! we almost had her!" and they both start cracking up....then I get the whole story.... these two little crapheads went to Family Video while I was innocently sleeping not to get a movie, or a game... but to READ THE BOX of the movie I rented to see if they wanted to watch it or not...(Family Video is like a block away) and because we're there so much we're on a first name basis with all the staff and the whole time those two were there laughing and making fun of yours truly the manager, apparently on to them let them know how "wrong" they were....but I hear she got a pretty big kick out of it too....

We also have been hula hooping at WalMart....

I had my minibook class today...and I only had 2 students, but I had a really great time and I think they did to. I have my first offical day at work tomorrow at The Scrapbook Factory...I'm so excited....

I've got to get to bed so will have to catch up on everyone's lives tomorrow....

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Gratitude:

1. hula hooping at WM

2. starting work at SBF tomorrow...:-)

3. Meeting some interesting women today at my class...thanks ladies!

4. my crazy family

5.Britain got 2nd place at the Science Fair today...(this was the one for the city and surrounding areas...such a proud mama :-) )

Monkey Business and a Ricetta...

I made this mini clipboard today for The Scrapbook Factory...but thought I would also share it with you here...I am so in love with all this monkey stuff everywhere. I'm thinking this will be kitted and offered for sale at the store with the instructions if you're interested...If I bought some of these to kits to offer to you would any of you be interested? Just leave me a comment and let me know. The price I'm thinking would be $15 plus shipping (probably about 5$). The clipboard can either hang or is able to stand alone on any flat surface (there's a peg that attaches to the back). Finished it is 6x9 inches. Supplies Used: Daisy D's pattern paper Sock Monkey, Funky Monkey, Clipboard NicoleCrafts, Daisy D's Die Cuts, Color Box Ink.

Here is today's Ricetta I think we're on #6

and here is my layout based on the Ricetta...

This one is bazzill cardstock, Cosmo Cricket Halfway Cafe pattern paper, making memories letter stickers...

and now a little story for your reading pleasure...

On Monday I cooked dinner ( I know... but there's more) I made pork chops in mushroom gravy and they were really good but that's not really the story here. ..the story is that in the process of cooking (in true Amy fashion I used a pan that wasn't deep enough) the mushroom gravy spilled over which started a small fire in the bottom of the oven...ok for real...flames and everything...but you know...I do this once in a while, so I figured no big deal it will burn off...well it ended up making a huge mess (of course) so this morning I put the oven in it's self cleaning mode for about a minute and half before I thought better of my decision to try to take matters into my own hands and stopped the process calling Rob to "fix it"...he said he'd get to it later....ok..so meanwhile I had to make breakfast...popping in Landon't usual (tater tots) several minutes later the kitchen was filled with greyish black smoke, the smoke alarm is going off, and I pulled the tater tots out to find they were this greyish green color...huh?...so I have once again been banned from my kitchen, Mary Poppins ( my oven) has betrayed me...and a later conversation with my husband revealed that he apparently thinks I'm "like a superhero...gone very wrong..."ok thanks...

that's all for today...hope everyone had a nice night...looks like we're having takeout...

Everything's Coming up Roses!!

So several people asked me whether or not I was going to accept the job in Heaven (aka The Scrapbook Factory) and I have to say at this point how could I not...? right? but I'm going to go by there after work tomorrow and talk with Anne and see what's next....I'm so excited I could pee my pants!!

In other news...another super cool thing happened to me today...I am joining the team at OhScrap, on online magazine and blog soon to publish it's first issue...I don't know all the details of what you're going to be seeing in there yet and some stuff is still super secret..but I can promise it's going to be a lot of fun... I am going to be the Sketch Coordinator!! I am so excited that I already completed my first assignment! You can go subscribe here now....that would be now....and then come back and read about the rest of what's going on around here....

I actually started to blog last night, but blogger kept giving me error messages so I gave up...

While I've been missing the past couple days, I've actually gotten quite a bit done...

This is Landon helping me with my suitcase...I'm having a lot of fun with this medium or I should say we are...but I'm not showing you anymore of it until it's done...

I should have known when I almost set the kitchen on fire yesterday boiling water for tea that it probably wasn't the best day to start this project..(I sort of forgot about putting the water on and got in the shower)...I got one side done and all impressed with my cute self, turned it over to do the other side and proceeded to put the focal point of the project..the vintage "Once in Love with Amy" ad from a 1950's Life....UPSIDE DOWN...Mod Podge is not a very forgiving sealer so it's stuck that way...it's cute still...just upside down...so I'm not sure if I'm going to just cover over it or say the heck with it and leave it...probably the latter...

Here is my Deck of Me card for week 10..prompt was describe you Happy Place

The paper is Making Memories and the Dye Cuts are from Luxe Designs Color Me Cozy...I so love this line of paper...then I inked them with my CTMH inks

and here is a layout based on one of Christi's Creative Prompts...36 I think...

I used CTMH Cardstock, Making Memories letter stickers, Bazzill cardsock for the Photo matts, Scenic Route Charlotte pattern paper and Daisy D's Beacon Hill patter paper, the butterfly and journal tag are Fancy Pants....

I also did this one of Landon..

For this one I used Bazzill cardstock, Karen Foster pattern paper, We R memory Keepers patter paper and letter stickers, Making Memories pattern paper and journaling page, Fancy Pants ribbon and ribbon holder thingie.

I had Landon home with me today, he's had a really awful cold and has been pretty miserable...but of course with the amazing power of Tylenol Cold by 11 he was feeling fine and dandy and bouncing off the walls so we...well mostly he...I supervised made some chocolate chip cookies...

they turned out really good- so his new aspiration is to become a chef...let's hope he has a lot better luck in the kitchen than I do....I'm way too easily distracted...

That's all I've got for today...thanks so much for stopping by...

Gratitude:

1. Day off with Landon

2. Baking cookies with kid mentioned above

3. Not losing my patience with same earlier mentioned kid

4. getting some scrappy stuff done...

5. staying in my pj's until (blush) about 11...

oh my gosh, I almost forgot to mention...there's this new show on Fox called New Amsterdam...it's on tonight at 8 central...or it might be 9...anyway it's really good you've got to see it and if you missed the first two episodes you can watch them on Fox.com...I watch almost all my shows on the internet anymore...I can never seem to be in front of the tv at a specific time...ok well this post has probably broken records for longest ever..so I'm outta here..

love and kisses...

MWAH!

A Superfanteriferic Day!!!

I had such an awesome day today! ...Today was my first Official Fiskars Demo at The Scrapbook Facotory here in O'Fallon, IL....it was a huge success...I was there from about 1130-4...I got there a little early thinking I'd have time to set up before people started coming...I was wrong...people were lining up while I was trying to set up...it was crazy...it was awesome...it was a blast...I met so many cool people today and had so much fun teaching people how to use their tools....I loved hearing people say "oh my gosh I never knew that" and "thanks I really learned something new!" Anne (the manager) did such a great job of advertising...plus she put the Fiskars items on sale and made Paper Packs..WorldWin Cardstock in Fiskars orange and Beige to give away also...Did I already mention it was fun? I made about 50 RAK's to give away to everyone who participated in the make and take (it was a cute little Thank you Card) and I actually ran out!! and then if you can even believe this...They happen to have just gotten a part time opening and they offered me a JOB!!! It's like my dream job...!!! Which is why I am happy dancing all over the place like Tigger!!

So now...I am exhausted...my throat hurts and I think I might be losing my voice...but it's all good...I've got to go pick one of Britain's friends to spend the night and then at midnight...(because I'm the coolest mom ever...:-) ) I will be taking all of them to Gamestop to get SuperSmash Brothers Brawl....if you have a boy into video games then you're probably familiar with this phenomenon...

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Gratitude:

1. Fiskars Demo

2. getting offered a job at my LSS

3. Meeting so many cool fun people today

4. midnight game releases...(ok not...)

5. Orange

Sometimes...I just crack myself up....

I know a few people out there probably get a good laugh at how much I recycle/repurpose garbage....but I can't help myself...sometimes I look at something and see...possibility...and the best thing about possibility is that it's free!

So here we go...

I started out with the idea that I wanted to make a large tag...I never really make tags and made one at Fiskateer training and wanted to play with this shape, then I thought, I really wanted to sort of make a layout on a tag and then I thought, why not turn the tag into a frame for Rob's desk...ok so then my problem was, what am I going to hold it up with....hmmmm....a trip around my kitchen and I found extra drink lids from the movie refill cups..(you know the ones you take back and they refill for the bargain price of $2.50 as opposed to $6.95?) but they always give us new lids, so I ended up with some extra lids...so I painted the lid with acrylic paint, it took about 3 coats and when it dried I put 2 push pins behind where I wanted the tag to be and one in front and then slid the tag in....THEN ....totally by accident ...the thing that holds the straw is there perfectly aligned in the middle...so it became a pen holder....how stinkin' cute is that???

The title says "Just Us Guys" Hard to see because of the glare, unfortunately no matter where I take pictures today they're not coming out great due to the crappy, dark, icky, nasty, wet, icy weather outside....

I used Bazzill cardstock, Bo Bunny PP, my Fiskars corner squeeze punch (loving all these new styles) and some scrap ribbon....easy peasy...think of this as my make up project for Friday...but since it kind of all happened by accident I don't have the step by step photos that I usually do...

I also made the coolest summer mini album ever (well of stuff that I've done anyway, I can not in any way top Dianna) which I would love to post here so you could all ooh and ahh over it and tell me how clever I am...(maybe)...but I've submitted it for publication so I am really hoping it will get picked up...so if it doesn't I'll be posting it here a little later in the month....

I really need to do some updating here on my blog..I need to fix my blogroll and also I really want to change my banner, but it's giving me indigestion right now...

Have you seen the trailer for the new Indiana Jones movie out May 22???? OH MY GOSH I can't wait!! We are so excited...and it's so cool that Shai LeBeuff is in it because it makes the boys really excited to see it too...

Here's a layout I did today

yes I did a layout about standardized testing...this was based on a sketch I saw at Dragonfly Time

and I love Dragonfly's so I think that's a totally cool name...

I'm now going to take a minute to beg a little...

First...If you are in the St Louis area and are able to please come by The Scrapbook Factory on Saturday for a free make and take and Fiskars Project Demo...will be Fun! Come between 12 and 4...ok? just come....please...please...ok...

Also, while you're there, or not, or just call them and sign up for my "He Is" mini album class from 11-1 the following Sat March 15th.....It's just $25 and is so cute, you can see it here

And Finally...it's early but on April 25th the show Moonlight comes back to CBS for it's final 4 episodes and Season Finale...I really want this show to stay on - it is so good...and sexy...in a romantic vampire kind of way...you can watch the first part of the season on CBS.com and at amazon.com Unbox so that you can get all caught up with Mick and Beth...Mick is very yummy..Part of the reason I love it is because it's just so different from everything else out there on TV right now...so mark your calendars now so you don't forget...but don't worry I'll be here to remind you to please watch Moonlight...that's Moonlight on CBS, April 25th, 8pm Central...

ok enough begging....for now...

the last thing I have to show you is my card for The Deck of Me week 9...prompt this week was a revelation...my revelation is taking the time to show gratitude

I used the same paper for both sides don't know why it looks different....

Gratitude:

1. Being off today

2. Having crafty, scrappy fun

3. sleeping in till 8

4. we're going to watch Indiana Jones (one of them) tonight together...yay!

5. Having Brats for dinner....got to go make em'

Thanks for stopping by!

It's Ricetta Day!

I think I'm finally figuring out my Bamboo Pad, well maybe...it seems to have a pretty big learning curve...I think I'm going to need to take a class...Right now I'm too lazy to count, but I think this is Ricetta #4...if you use the Ricetta please link me up in the comments...

Here is my layout...

I did journal on the circle, and you can see it in person, don't know why it's so hard to see in the picture...

I also finished the mini album for the class I'm teaching on March 15th at The Scrapbook Factory

I have just discovered this is the best place to take photos in my house... here are a couple pics of the inside

I'd probably have a bit more to tell you today, but blogger has a scheduled outage in like 8 minutes...So more tomorrow!

Gratitude:

1. I have the best husband ever

2. Baked some Banana Bread today

3. Shared said banana bread with my neighbor and some friends (mini loaves)

4. Had such a nice visit with same neighbor, I have to check if it's ok with her but I'm going to link you guys up...she is super creative!

5. Boys got their report cards today and they BOTH got straight A's! We're so proud!

ok that's it, thanks so much for stopping by!!