Checklist needed

I ordered some more Rileys from the recent May 2012 release and blog hop.

Check out the 14 new Rileys of the May 2012 at http://www.rileyandcompanyonline.com/___new____may_2012_release_.

Then I learned I had won a stamp from one of the blogs on the hop.

Thanks to Joy at http://daiseyfreak.blogspot.com/.

I'm so excited!

I got the Parade stamp and have "I Love a Parade" stuck in my head.

Here's the lyrics. I know I have heard it on some show but I don't know what one.

I Love A Parade:

I love a parade,the tramping of feet,

I love every beat I hear of a drum.

I love a parade, when I hear a band

I just want to stand and cheer as they come.

That rat-a tat-tat, the blare of a horn.

That rat-a tat-tat, a bright uniform;

The sight of a drill will give me a thrill,

I thrill at the skill of everything military.

I love a parade, a handful of vets,

A line of cadets or any brigade,

For I love a parade.

Maybe I'll use the lyrics on the card I make when I get my stamp.

Today, I opened the Riley stamps I got in the mail from my order. The order came while I was at my sister's for the weekend. Fortunately, my hubby didn't open the package. :) Riley and Co. is very quick at getting your order to you. I love that!

Anyway, I start a list of the Riley stamps I have as I have almost ordered a couple of stamps I already had. I just made an Excel sheet with the stamp's name such as Princess Sophie and the type of stamp such as unmounted. I need to add a column for purchase date too. I want to store the Rileys in something different too. I have them here and there. I want to get a binder with baseball card sleeves so I can slide a stamp in place of a card. Some of the bigger ones won't fit in the sleeves but maybe they'll fit in a 4x6 refill page. But I need a checklist for all the Rileys so I can make a list and keep a wishlist going too.

There's a "nap" for that.

I couldn't resist this stamp the other night at Table 7 night. It is one of Art Impessions stamps (http://www.artimpressions.com) I purchased at Archiver's. I tried something new to me by fussy-cutting the stamped chair. I stamped and embossed the image on paper. Then I stamped the image on the green plaid scraps in my bag and cut out the recliner. I used some markers (Zig, and others in my crop bag) to color the rest of the image. The green plaid paper was double-sized so I flipped the paper to the other side and mounted the completed image on it. I used some green and white twine of my baker's twine stash on the mat. I stamped the sentiment and added it to the bottom of the mat. I need to add the finished design to a cardstock base.

I should be able to get the card to my dad before Father's Day.

The Bloghop OWH had on Memorial Day weekend

I was at my sister's for the Memorial Day weekend so I didn't complete the bloghop of 120+ blogs while I was there. It was a bit rude to be on my computer while everyone was chatting on the deck. :-) Plus I had to move the computer off the table so we could eat dinner. So now, I'm back home and I am spending this morning checking out the rest of blogs.

I loved how the bloghop used the 120+ sketches OWH has. I will have to use several of the sketches to get some cards made and to use up the scrap pile.The bloghop had sooooo many great cards of so many different styles, papers, sentiments and ideas. It was fun to check out all the card. Most bloggers kept their posts short but it still took a while to look and comment on the blogs of the hop. My brain is on overload with so many ideas to use, so many stamps on my new wish list, and so many papers to go in my stash.

So, I'm off to my room. I want to close up a box and get it sent to OWH today before I do any more cards. That's the Plan A for the morning. I loved the saying at Create with TLC the other day. "If Plan A fails, remember that there are 25 more letters."

Here's the link to go to OWH's sketches.

http://www.owhstarsandstamps.org/p/owh-sketch-collection.html

2 New Books

I love Amazon! I can look for new books and order them right away. Of course, I have to wait to the books to be published some times. I got these 2 books just today on my front step. : )

The books were much bigger than I thought they would be. I was expecting books of about 50-60 pages and they are both over 200 pages (Sketches is 288 pages and Cricut book is 210). I'm excited about both new books. I have been making lots of cards lately but I am tending to use the same design over and over. Hopefully, the Sketches book will help give me new ideas for new designs. The Cricut book looks like it is filled with lots of ideas too. I have an Expression and recently bought an Expression 2 and the book will help me learn more about the new machine. Each design has the elements in a chart so you cut by the recipe to get the size of the cuts right in the right colors. With school ending soon, I have my summer reading list ready with these 2 books.

A few cards in May

 
One of the guys at school is having twins so I made a card for the office group's gift. I printed the sentiment on my computer. The papers and the footprint ribbon are from Hobby Lobby and I think the papers were in a baby stack from DCWV. The stars are from a sticker set by Doodlebug Design.

One of the student teachers is having a baby but her student-teaching is done before she has the baby. So, I made this card for her early. Baby girl, elephant, and flowers stickers are from a sticker set by Doodlebug Design. The gingham paper is from the same DCWV stack I used for the boy papers above.

Another student teacher, who was student-teaching in 4th grade, was done this week and I gave him this one. The foil paper was difficult to photography so you get 2 views.  The inside sentiment was a sticker that said "Fulfill your Destiny", which was a sticker set by Creative Imaginations. He thought it was a fun card. 

A second student teacher will be done soon so I gave out everyone's cards the same day. Our school mascot is a rocket so I found this paper in a Boys will be Boys stack (from Hobby Lobby). I found the two yellows and the blue paper in my scraps pile. Gold stars were pop-dotted on the card and they were left over from last year's graduation cards. The "Reach for the Stars" quote is made by Inkadinkdo and I'm pretty sure it is from Hobby Lobby too. I used a Unity Stamp on the inside with the sentiment "follow your passion, let that be your destination", which really fit this student teacher as she was very passionate about teaching and had lots of ideas.

This rocket paper is a scrap from the pile as are most of the other papers too. The "Reach for the Stars" sticker was part of a graduation sticker set from last year. The inside sentiment was the same Inkadinkdo stamp as the above and I used a small Congrats stamp below the quote. This was for the third student teacher in the building. The 2 girls were student-teaching in the 3rd grade and they usually ate lunch when I did. I wish them the best of luck in their teaching careers. 

Scrapbook Mystery series

I finished this book last week. Joanna Campbell Slan's Kiki mysteries are fast paced and you-don't-want-to-put-them-down books. This one is the latest in the series, just recently published. The school where Kiki's daughter attends is having a special May Day dance/celebration when shooting occurs, causing panic with everyone. A major benefactor to the school is killed. 

Now, what does this have to do with scrapbooking?? Kiki scrapbooks, works in a scrapbook shop, actually a part owner (very minor owner), and makes elegant scrapbooks for clients. Kiki did a scrapbook for the school'scelebration. This mystery book is a lively one and contains scrapbook tips and ideas. You can also find the author on Facebook and her own blogs. She wrote a few book about journaling and storytelling for scrapbookers before becoming a mystery writer. Amazon.com has many of her books.

Album of Amanda's Bridal Shower at Table 7

Table 7 had a bridal shower at Archiver's for Amanda last month. I got photos from the others and made an  8x8" album for her.  I used lots of pinks, bling, and some images I had. The album is cute but I wanted to share just a few layouts with you. The first two pages are a double layout, using stamps from Art Impressions' Girlfriends. I love the girlfriends as Table 7 can identify with the girlfriends sets. On this layout, I used the crop queen, coloring it with colored pencils. We are so used to rushing to Table 7 after work on Fridays so we can chat, vent, eat, and, oh, crop! We do look a bit like the Crop Queen but she brings less stuff than we do. LOL. I used the Enjoy life from Stampin' Up, that I bought at an Expo, where a Stampin' Up lady was selling some of her stamp sets. Archiver's had a stamp "I Love Archiver's" for a while but I'm not sure they still do or not. I had the image so I popped it on the page. The second page has the girlfriends "Picture Perfect" set. I used my Copic Markers on this image and I liked how it came out. I'm getting better with the shading but still can't use the blending pen. I stamped the saying from the same set. It says "We may not have it all together, but together we have it all." That is true with Table 7. I did use the Girlfriend Blend set on another layout but no photo of that. Hopefully, I'll get the image on a card soon.

Amanda got a pineapple cutter and, of course, a pineapple. I was at Hobby Lobby later the next week and found the cute pineapple stamp in the clearance aisle. I used my Zig markers on the stamp to get the two colors on the image before stamping it. Fortunately, I found 2 stamps so I can give it to Amanda and still have one myself. :) I loved the paper (can't remember who makes it) and I had some ribbon that matched it perfectly. The ribbon has gold threads in it and jazzed up the layout nicely.

This last layout has hearts and cake stamps from a set Sister got at Michael's for 90 cents! The bridal set was regularly $9.99 so she found a real deal! Teresa made the beautiful towel cake. It has 6 washcloths, 6 hand towels and 5 bath towels in it. She had one more bath towel next to the cake as it didn't fit in the cake.  She topped it with a pair of wine glasses with a bridal veil and tux on them. Very cute!! She made 2 diaper cakes a few weeks ago that had Disney characters on them.

Cards I completed on National Scrapbook Day

I purchased the Windmill from Stamper's Best to use on my travel pages from my trip to

 the Netherlands. That was a great trip! I had extra which have been sitting on my table for awhile.

 I used papers from DCWV Heirloom stack.

I was working an a bridal shower album and had pinks and greens left over. The teddy bears are a Martha Stewart punch and the sayings "If I've learned anything in my 29 years, it's lie about your age" and "Happy Birthday" are from Art Impressions Girlfriends "Out to Lunch" set. I love the Girlfriends. I have slowly been getting the sets when I have a coupon at Archiver's. I have colored the girlfriends using Copic markers or colored pencils. I usually color while I watch TV with the hubby. He doesn't like me hiding in my scrapbook room all the time.

I had some chipboard pieces and some journal blocks on my scrapbook table but I'm not sure

 where I got them. I used Queen and Co. twine on the card.

The art is from a make and take from Archiver's a while back.

 I had a scrap of ribbon and a flower that just seemed to go with this art so 

I was finally able to make a card with it.

I loved this bear from Whipper Snapper Designs. I used my Copic markers on the image. I think he looks good but when I color the rest of the images, I'm using a bit lighter colors on him. 

I ordered some new colors from Oozak, where I get my Copic markers, 

but I haven't decided which ones to use yet.. 

I used a bit of Queen and Co. twine for the balloon string. 

The paper is from DCWV Celebration stack.

I made this card for a teacher who is retiring at school. They had a luncheon for him the day before

 Cinco de Mayo so I made a quick card for him. 

This paper was from We R Memory Keepers Fiesta stack.

 I thought I was giving a teacher some paper from the stack but wound up giving her the whole stack. 

It was a steal at TJ Maxx at $7.99. The only one too. 

I made a bunch of this cards earlier in the week. The teddy bear stamp is from a set I purchased while I was in Russia. I'm sure they are in the USA but I hadn't seen them before. The only English on the package says Mr. Painter. I got 2 different sets of teddy bears but both were Mr. Painter's. I found them in a small shop that sold several different craft items. Most of the scrapbook items were from US. The items all fit in one glass counter-high display case with a bit on the wall behind the case. They displayed the scrapbook paper in plastic sleeves with a book ring on the collection and you pulled what you wanted out of the sleeve. I Knew that I would not be able to bring paper back in my suitcase so I just bought the 2 stamp set and a smaller stamp from Milton & Co. from UK. It is a little bear pushing a wheelbarrow filled with flowers.

National Scrapbook Day , May 5,2012

National Scrapbook Day May 5, 2012 I cropped at Archiver's on Friday night. There were only 4 of us cropping at the store last night although they were expecting all spots would be filled on Sat.). We pushed 2 tables together so we could still chat as we worked on our projects on a half a table each. I shopped at Michael's and Archiver’s this morning, enjoying a Chipotle burrito lunch with hubby for Cinco de Mayo. In the afternoon, I cleaned up my scrapbook room and organized some new paper. I have ribbon to organize too and the craft table to find. I have several 8x8" pages (that I did Friday night) to put in an album for a gift, from the bridal shower we had at Achiver's 2 Fridays ago. Unhappily, the punch I received in the mail today was the wrong one and I had to chat with customer service about that problem. I'm completing last week's layout for my Project Life 365. I have this week's pictures uploaded and ordered for pick-up tomorrow so I can complete the week's layout on Sunday afternoon. Also tomorrow, I need to box a bunch of cards to send to OWH, a wreath to make for school with rockets and red, white and blue flowers, and find a new way to organize my stamp collection. Yep, it's been a good weekend. And yes, I still made dinner tonight and did a bunch of laundry. :) I did forget to watch the Kentucky Derby, though.