A favorite - revisited!

Just came across this layout I did in 2008. (I've learned how to take better pictures of my layouts since then! Ha! Ha!) Anyway, this is one of my favorite pictures of Drew so I thought I would share this with you all again. Enjoy!

Most. Amazing. Birthday. Ever!

And technically it's not even my birthday until the 25th! Seriously, this has been the best weekend. I got to attend 3 mini classes at Inspired, Donna Downey's big creative weekend. And get this - it was right around the corner from me! Love that!

Anyway, I got to go shopping at the vendor fair and take 3 classes. All of which were so amazing! Someone asked "What was your favorite class?" and I really have a hard time answering that because they were all great in different ways. The first was on Thursday night with Stephanie Ackerman. It was a 5x7 bound chipboard book using Teresa Collins papers. So cute! We made paper roses for the cover. Loved it! She even had home-made chocolate chip cookies for everyone! They were delish! A few of the girls that sat at my table were a bit rowdy so it was tough to hear Stephanie but she included a CD with instructions. Smart! I can't wait to finish that book!

Then, on Friday night I met up with Pam and her sister Sandy and we took Margie Romney-Aslett 's mini book class. I was looking forward to meeting Margie the most and she didn't disappoint! She is so nice and funny and sassy! I wanted her class to last all night because she was so fun! Her paper line and embellishments are too cute and the project was great! It's made from a single file folder and tags. Lots of her great product included in the kit. And she showed us how to make super-cute flowers from tissue paper and even crepe paper! I can't wait to finish this project!

The last class was from the Glitz Design girls, Laura and Ginger - aka: the Glitz Girlz! This was one of the last classes of the night. It had been pushed back about 30 minutes because the dinner earlier in the evening ran long. Stacey Julian was the key-note speaker so everyone waited to start their classes until it was over. Anyway, when Pam, Sandy and I showed up (about 10:00pm) we were the only ones in the class! Everyone else came and got their kits and left. Most of them had been there all weekend and were exhausted. Finally 2 other ladies showed up so it was just 5 of us at a table with the Glitz Girlz having our own private class! It was awesome! The project was altering an old book using Glitz Design papers and embellishments. Again, lots of product and technique. About half way thru, Margie Romney-Aslett showed up and sat at the table with us and we chatted like old friends! At one point, Margie walked over to a box that was sitting on a back table. She asked if it was pack up and ready to be shipped home. The Glitz Girlz said no, that it was trash. I looked in it and it was full of old books and even some cool old tins! Margie gave them to me! Score!! Of course, I shared with Pam and Sandy and the other lady who was still there.

Stacey Julian took Stephanie's class with us! Such a surprise to get to meet her!

There was a raffle for 6 or 8 Prima camera bags that had been altered by some of the big names in papercrafting. I took pictures of just a few. The bag on the left was done by Tim Holtz; the bag on the right was done by Margie Romney-Aslett; the pink bag done by Heidi Swapp. All the bags were amazing and the money raised went to Hope For Haiti.
Such an amazing time, filled with so much creativity and fun and laughter. I think my head is going to expode from all the inspiration and ideas! I can't wait to share them all with you!

Create something today!

Baa Moo Farm!

Today I spent the day with the Gabe's first grade class at the Baa Moo Farm! In case you haven't been it's a wonderful farm near Statesville that has lots of things to see and do. The kids got to milk a cow, gather eggs, go on a wagon ride, and pet lots of animals. Here are a few pictures from our adventure!

There were lots of baby animals, including brand new kittens. All the kids loved the kittens! There was even a Peacock who displayed his feathers for us. Okay, maybe he was displaying them for the peahen who was in the pin with him.

When it was time to milk the cow, the lady helping told all the kids to sit a certain way on the stool and be prepared to jump up and run if the cow kicks. I think that talked several kids out of milking the cow! And she had to jerk several kids out of the way of the cow's back hoof. Anyway, Gabe wanted nothing to do with any of it. His teacher finally talked him into just sitting on the stool - and of course the cow kicked! The lady got him out of the way and I'm not even sure he knew what happened but he just wanted away from that cow.

Gabe didn't mind feeding the baby calves their bottle. They could be a little pushy but they were so cute.

Everyone had a wonderful time.

Thank you Baa Moo Farms!

Spring! Wait, no. SUMMER!

Somehow, I missed Spring. Or that one week of nice, comfortable temps was it. It's suddenly Summer! And it's only April 6th! What happened? Not that I'm complaining but the pollen is so bad because of the unusually wet winter and short spring.

Anyway, I just wanted to post a few pictures mostly for my family and friends who live outside of NC. You are missing some beautiful trees and flowers.

Busy, busy, busy!!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I've been busy teaching classes at my lss and with some up-coming stuff at church. But I did get to spend lots of time in my studio today (Easter Sunday!) and have made more cards from scraps. Hope you enjoy!!

I think this is my favorite. The background is white embossing over a very pale purple (looks blue for some reason). The white panel is from a class I taught months ago. The ribbon I've had for ages and the bird is from a new Tim Holtz die covered in paper that I've had forever. Just one of those times where everthing came together to make a lovely card. Oh, and the bling is just pearls colored with a Copic! Love it!

Once again, just bits and pieces I've had laying around. The flowers are punched from paper embossed with white Zing powder.

More bits and pieces....

what's left of the previous card's bits and pieces....

This is actually for last Sunday's OWH challenge. But again, just using stuff I have had for quite a while.

This one I actually did on St. Patrick's Day. I've never really done cards for St. Patrick's Day but I had these pieces of cardstock and they went really well with this bit of pp and once again, poof! Beautifuf card! Love using up my scraps!!

Now, go create something today!! And I challenge you to do it with nothing but SCRAPS!

Hoppy Easter!!!

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! And remember the Lord has risen!

Our Easter started off at 6:30am when the boys woke up and wanted to see what the Easter Bunny had brought them. I didn't get a picture of it this year but the boys each got a chocolate bunny, Drew got a Nerf football and Gabe got 2 Star Wars action figures. Both were very happy.

Then we were off to church. Jeff and the boys attended the service while I help set up for a special "children's church" program. When the kids came to us, they heard the story of "The Box", made tissue paper flowers for the cross and wrote in Thank You cards for our heroes serving overseas. It was lots of fun.

Then we came home, had lunch - then the EASTER EGG HUNT! The boys couldn't wait! Jeff went outside and hid 20 candy-filled eggs for each of them. Actually, two eggs contained $5 each and were labeled with their names. They had a blast running all over the front and back yard looking for the eggs.

We had perfect weather and the trees and flowers were absolutely beautiful. Later, Drew went to a friend's house for a sleepover and Gabe played outside. He has always loved to swing.

Hope your Easter was a blessing, too! 

April Fools!!

I really don't like April Fool's Day. Never have. I always fall for the joke. I have never been good at playing the jokes on someone else. But I have to tell you that Gabe got me today and it was really funny!

(Just some background for those of you without kids, if he gets a letter below a line on a weekly chart, he wasn't following directions, or something along those lines in class. "F" for not following directions; "H" for not having homework, etc. Conversely, if he gets all letters above the line, it's a good thing. Gabe has gotten a couple of letters below the line lately.)

As he hops in the car after school I ask him how his day was. He tells me (very serious-like) that he got a letter below the line today.  I said "Aww, Gabe. What happened?" and of course he yells "April Fools!" He was so proud of himself because he came up with that all on his own! He was so funny! He then got Jeff and Drew with that same joke.

Hope you had a wonderful April Fools Day!
Amy