2011 Cherry on Top Award!

Thanks to my fellow blogging sister Sharon over at Diary of a Craft Room Transformation -I have been blessed to be the recipient of the Chery on Top Award! First off WOW I have readers? LOL! Seriously though, I am humbled and honored to have been chosen for this kind of an award. Through the all I want to do is quilt times, cook times and even through the skinny non creative times when all I've done is to babble on about life here in England, Sharon has been my personal cheer leader. Here is it is simply weeks before yet another major move and I feel my creativity surging back into my veins.

Now on with the instructions/rules for accepting the award:

1. Thank the person who gave it to you.
2. List 3 things you love about yourself.
3. Post a picture you love on your blog.
4. Pass the award on to 5 other bloggers.

Three things that 'I' love about myself...

1- I Have an Eye for Colors, Textures and Design. I can put together outfits, rooms, quilting fabrics or even various dishware patterns and have them working well together. I never thought of this as being a special talent. I never realized that it was something that "not everyone" can do sort of thing do until I got into college. I still shake my head from time to time thinking "Wow, I guess this thing I can do really is a gift".

2-I Can Cook. Not only can I simply "cook" but I can make gourmet meals and treats that my friends talk about for weeks after they've eaten something that I've made. It makes me so happy to be able to spoil my family and friends with food.

3-I'm Creative. I've almost always got some sort of creative endeavour going on be it paper crafting, quilting, sewing, needlework, planning a flower garden or redecorating a room. I find inspiration all around me, all I need to do is to open my eyes and my heart and let it (creativity and inspiration) sing to me.

I took this picture while in Venice in October 2009. IT was an amazing experience to be in a place that I had only dreamed of. I wish that I could post more pictures I love but the requirement said that I could only post one so this is it.

My list of 5 great blogs...

♥Kim at Kim's Scrappy Place. Kim always has something going on! I've known Kim for a few years now and she's really taken off with her scrapbooking and card making endeavours! She's a fellow military spouse who currently lives in Hawaii.

♥Judith at My Life and Creations. Judith is a VERY talented paper crafter living here in England! Go check her out, she's always got interesting things happening

♥Peggy at Stamping Ideas with Peg. Peggy is a stamping up consultant who goes above and beyond! Of all of the things I miss from South Dakota, it's Her enthusiasm for the paper crafting and life in general. Her smile and laughter is infectious! Fresh ideas abound at Peg's blog!

♥Sarah at Stetler Arts. If you're looking for fancy schmancy kind of art, Sarah's got inspiration galore! I love to look at her art work and it IS art work! Be warned...her stuff is addictive! She too is from the heart of the country!

♥Julia at Stampin Ground. This woman's site is the Holy Grail of inspiration! She too lives here in England and her stuff is just plain WONDERFUL! She goes on holiday (vacations) to places most wish we could go to if we had the time. She's super creative and best of all she's super fun and spunky! Check out her blog and you WILL be hooked!

I've been inspired

All it took was a trip to the theater district in London to set the tone for me to be inspired. With all of the other crazy stuff that seems to make up my life these days, I've been trying to relax my brain (so to speak) so I could draw upon my creative skills this weekend. It feels as if it's been forever since I've drawn up sketches for card designs (this was once something that came to me as naturally as breathing). Then I woke up, not from having some crazy dream about the move or retirement but with card ideas in my head- WOW! It's still there! I still have it! I had begun to wonder if it had left me. It was sleeping is all, just taking a nap. It might be stormy and pouring rain outside but inside of me it's all rainbows and blue skies with bluebirds singing and flowers blooming and bees humming...the way it's supposed to be!

Now to have some coffee and to relax on the couch with a sketch pad and draw to my hearts content.

"manly" thank you cards?

The thing I don't get is why my husband and son are having such a cow of a few little flowers on a thank you card. All I'm asking is to have a manly thank you card- says the husband, LOL! Manly? What's this "manly" thing? Does that mean less flowers? Or is it no flowers? I made the cards in shades of blue with little flowers, but apparently they guys want it with NO flowers :-( I'm a flower lover, I'm surrounded by them how can I not put flowers on anything? So all I did was to hunt up a thank you stamp and use the same design that I did for the graduation cards and turned those into thank you cards. There- are those manly enough? Yes they were- now for me to move on to something else...Men!

Greeting Cards

Alright I know that this is supposed to be my scrapbooking/paper crafting blog...so do I ever do paper crafts any more? Yes I do! Here are some examples...

Friendship cards-one can never have too many of these hanging around! I finally used up the rest of that striped Susan Branch paper that I've had in my stash for YEARS!!!!
Get Well - copied this card layout from an old card idea book. Please forgive me for not remembering which one it came from. This certainly is a cute get well card!

Congratulations- This little gem is my own design! I was getting frustrated at the poor selection of graduation cards at our BX- okay so it was more like our BX had NONE to speak of! So out of desperation I created this one! LOVE how handy my Quickutz dies are! The Graduation cap is a 2 piece die set, and now I can say that I finally got to use it!

Building Card Kits

Today I'm going to spend time in my scrapbook nook and build card kits for my up coming class AKA Paper crafting Night with our spouses group. I've got to come up with ideas that will be fun and entertaining and not frustrating and overwhelming. I'm going to put everyone on the same level and group them as beginners.

I decided to do 4 cards and a small box- how much would you pay for a class that made that many items? How much would you pay for a kit that all you had to do was to put it together and that the adhesive was included? There's no stamping involved in any of this, it's just a put together kit. I'm on a time crunch and will not be having an assistant to help me- not to mention that I could have as many as 20 people putting together cards. So stamping and punching out of items is not an option due to time constraints.

Now to have some more coffee and to look at what I'm going to have these ladies making in the realm of paper crafting :-) Will post pictures later after I come up with some ideas.

Send Handmade Cards

I've been making my own greeting cards since before my daughter Hannah was born. There's something so personal when you give a friend or a loved one a card that you've made yourself. It shows that you've taken the time to give them something extra special, that you've put a piece of yourself into it just for them.



I'm always thrilled when my friends give me cards that they've made. I know some of the best card makers around these parts! Peggy (you've seen her stuff on her blog) is an amazingly patient teacher! Her card ideas are stepping stones for us to leap off of...she's opened my eyes to so many wonderful ideas! Sarah is always willing to try something new and different she has the heart of a true artist. :-) Ellen and Donna, I've been so impressed with their and from the first day I met them! Their stuff is fantastic! Full of glitz, glamour and oh so very sophisticated- they've always got me ooh and aaahing over their work! So any time any of them gives me a card, first I put it on display for a while then I tuck it into a little album that I've made.



But I'm soon to get involved in something else...it's making Cards for Hero's. Please click on the link that's hidden in the name for more information. I plan on getting the spouses group together to make cards for this fantastic organization! IF you want to participate click on the link and they'll tell you how you can!

WARNING...this IS an Enabler Alert!

Have you seen this deal over at Provocraft? It's 2 Cricut cartridges PLUS a Cricut Jukebox and the pens for $99.99 plus shipping. It is quite the deal if I do say so myself! With that said, yes of course I ordered one! The question now is...are your ordering one?

Have you been to Peg's blog?

The one thing that keeps me feeling inspired is checking out new paper crafts at my friend Peggy's Blog. She's been having this fill in the space contest- long story short I won a $40 Stampin Up shopping spree with her! WoooHoo!!!

I want to thank Peggy for the awesome time I had with her and the wonderful ladies that make up our paper crafting group. Talk about having FUN! I've got to take pictures of what we made...talk about having unique and fun ways using those new Sizzix dies that are Stampin Up exclusives! I adore containers, and the little boxes and bags we've been making are just a hoot! I've decided that Hannah and I need to make one of those paper chest of drawers for her nightstand- it is just too darn sweet! Thanks Peg for the inspiration! Want to see the matchbox drawer...Click HERE

Our Paper Crafting Group

Here are some pictures I took when we were at Peggy's house for our paper crafting group...This is Peggy, she is the one who brings out all of the creativity in our group. She always has something new to show us! Please check out Peggy's blog as she always has something new to share with everyone in the world of paper crafting!

Here's Ellen, There's not a time when she doesn't have some great looking stamped project to show to us.
This is Sarah, our multimedia artist please check out her blog for links to her other sites - she's more than just a paper crafter!

The always bright and cheerful Donna, who brighten up any room she enters! Donna is super creative and a true delight to be around! Donna has brought show and tell items from when she attends other local paper crafting classes. All I have to say is Ooooh Pretty!

Here's one of our projects- we made these little boxes using one of those really big dies from Sizzix that's made especially for Stampin Up. From left to right

Red Flowered box- Sandie

Blue Box- Ellen

Pink Swirly- Donna

Cream and Blue- Sarah

We all put our own little spin/touches on the boxes we made. They all came out looking great! And I'll tell ya, I ended up ordering this jumbo sized die...I can't go to the UK without it! I see myself making a lot of these little boxes this Christmas!

We also made some note cards, it's just that I didn't take any pictures of mine...yet.

My paper crafty pals

Here we are...the 4 of us Sarah (in red), Donna (in purple) Ellen in the beige and Sandie (that's me in the striped sweater). we are in Peggy's basement making 20 birthday cards, oh the fun we had too!


Ellen (pictured here) is super talented. She pays great attention to detail and makes beautiful cards!

Here you see Peggy (she's wearing the blue denim vest). The creativity that this woman brings to crafting is ubelieveable!

here's Sarah, deep int crafty thought :-)

Donna is a blast! She makes me smile...ask her how she got that cat of hers, that story will have you on the floor laughing!

This inky hand belongs to Peggy. She got this way beause of me (sorry Peg). You see, I tweaked out a Stampin Up ink pad and I somehow managed to get it off of it's tracks and well Peggy became inky because of it.

This is Ellen, she is such a gem!

sites to check out

You've got to go over and check out Pegs Blog...TONS of great crafty stuff going on over there! The woman just had knee replacement surgery and is still a crafting maniac! She makes some of the BEST paper craft items around! Need some paper crafting ideas? Then go over and check out Peggy's blog- ideas are running loose all over the place (kind of like the cattle on her ranch Ü).

What do you think of my blog tog make over? Like it? Well you better get on over to Blog Tog Makeovers and get in the SALE! That's right Cindy is having a sale, get yourself in line to get a blog makeover!

Pegs Creative Cards

Have you been over to Peggy's Blog yet? Oh you are missing out on a great source of inspiration..hurry up and check out the cards she's got up there right now! I won't tell you how old she is (it's not polite to tell a ladies age) only that I aspire to be as creative as she is when I reach her age :-) It's seeing stuff like what she's got on her blog that inspires me to create! Thanks Peg for all of the wonderful paper crafting classes and for being such a wonderful friend!

Creating the ultimate Scrapbook Room- storage

Oh, is my scrapbook nook ever a mess! I've got "stuff" spread out across the my main work area and all over the smaller work area. It's obvious that I need to put my toys away after I'm done playing with them :-)

A place for everything and everything in it's place. That's where organization and storage come into play. You can't really become organized until you make a list of things you want to accomplish in your scrapbooking space. What all are you going to be "doing" in that space? It is just scrapbooking? Or is it more? If it's more than your room will have to accommodate more than one hobby. Not everyone has the same organizational needs, that's why I asked the question "what all are you going to be doing in your scrapbooking space? For me it's a bit of everything, the obvious is scrapbooking, there's card making and general paper crafting. As for my other hobbies; I store my needlework stuffs in the laundry room, my quilting & sewing stuffs have moved to the formal dining room (they are in plain view but hidden at the same time) and of course my cooking and baking are in the kitchen. But each area where my "crafting" takes place is organized, making it easy for me to find what I'm looking for at a moments glance.

P-Touch Label Maker- if you don't have one, get one! These are a MUST HAVE item in any household! I think that my husband and kids use it as much as I do!

Plastic Shoe Boxes- These are the back bone to organization! In my Scrapbook Nook I use them to contain my stamps, my collection of acrylic blocks, ink pads and embellishments. In my quilting corner I use them to contain my fat quarters, fat eighths, fabric scraps and patterns. They work for storing needlework projects and all kinds of embroidery flosses. Use that label maker to it's fullest potential and label that container!

Okay after all this talk on being organized, I better get down in my scrapbook nook and put my toys away!

Craft Group Fun!

Do you enjoying crafting of any type? If you do, I can highly recommend getting involved in a crafting group. Some groups have a "cost" associated with them- mine is run through my dear friend Peggy who is a Stampin Up consultant (who happens to have more "free time" to have classes since she retired from the school system). She searches the internet to bring us fun things to do with Stampin Up brand stamps and products. We all get excited about craft group and can hardly wait to see what she brings with her to show us at the next get together, Peggy makes crafting fun. Then again the women I craft with make it a total BLAST! Peggy, Ellen, Donna and Sarah are wonderfully talented ladies that have me laughing and continuously smiling for the 2 hours we are together each month- and with all that going on we actually get work done!

These are the latest fun things she's brought to us... This is what I call a "Pocket Book"- it's made from 1 sheet of double sided cardstock and you score, fold and cut at certain intervals. What a darling mini album this would make for your kids (okay, so it's a girl thing) to hold pictures of their friends- you know...those little school photo's that are always floating around the house. Or use as a graduation gift holder and put money and thoughtful words of encouragement for the future on every page. The ideas are endless!





The 4th of July card is too sweet! These are Pixie Stix (good luck finding them- Peggy bought them while on vacation). Using Blue and Red ink and a cute star set (which is about to be retired) we made this super cute card!


This is one of the monthly specials, LOVE this set and the note cards! Of course I bought it! Peggy had samples done up in several different colors, all of them were beautiful! I made mine a thank you card as I can never have enough of them!

Scrapbooking store in Roseville CA has closed its doors for good

It's official- Mad About Scrapbooks has closed it's doors for good. It breaks my heart to see that store go out of business after 9 years. I loved shopping in that store and it was such a treasure of wonderful displays and merchandise. I had always received excellent customer service while shopping there, and now it's no more :-(

I foresee a moving trend here in the US with a great majority of people being true to their word when it comes to cutting back on what they consider to be indulgence or splurge purchases. With gas prices already being over $4 a gallon in some parts of the country and they are fully expected to be at the $5 mark by the end of summer and we know what comes with that - higher food prices, higher clothing prices, higher everything prices. I see the nation in a whole tightening up it's purse strings and cutting out nonessential purchases, be it trips and vacations to little things like scrapbooking and other crafting supplies. Kids toys and clothes will be something that people won't be buying either. I foresee a trend, I think that a lot of folks will get into checking out thrift shops and garage sales before going to the department stores to make a purchases. I also see a lot of people start vegetable gardens and growing their own produce.

Scrapbooking store in Roseville CA closing it's doors...

As I get up this morning to check my e-mail (only 70 some odd e-mails) I saw an e-mail from one of my favorite Scrapbooking Stores in CA. The store is "Mad About Scrapbooks" and they used to be located in Citrus Heights not 3 miles from my parents home. I loved shopping in there as they had some of the latest ad greatest scrapbooking items...ones I was unable to find locally. It's hard in an economy where gas prices are soaring to over $4.00 a gallon (in parts of CA it's already over $4) and people are cutting back on what they consider to be luxury purchases, things like scrapbooking, rubber stamping and from home parties such as Longaberger, Stampin Up, Close to my Heart, Southern Living at Home and Pampered Chef to name a few.

So here's the e-mail...


Mad About Scrapbooks Celebrate the Everyday970 Sunrise Ave., Suite 135 Roseville, CA 95661916-787-1700916-787-1756http://www.MadAboutScrapbooks.com & www.CelebrateTheEveryday.invitations.cominfo@madaboutscrapbooks.com
Inventory Liquidation Sale 50% off on everything!
We’re so disappointed! We were sure that cutting back staff, expenses and moving back to a smaller location would give us the necessary edge to withstand the economic downturn. If only, diversifying our product lines to include invitations and stationary and advertising to new audiences would have been enough to make a difference. If only...Now, we find ourselves facing the fact that we must liquidate inventory. We know that we have given 110% and almost nine years to this business and we’re proud of the successes achieved over the years but we’re disappointed by having to liquidate inventory. We know that we are not alone, everyone of us has known the sadness that comes when disappointment cuts so close to our sweetest dreams that we find it difficult to sort through the swirling emotions. At times like this, we try to remember that disappointments are inevitable in life, but discouragement is a choice. We don’t have to be the victim of our feelings and hang on to the, “if only.” Jim and I still have hope and real joy knowing that God has a unique plan for our lives and that it hasn’t changed according to unexpected circumstances. God holds our future in His hands, and we will never lose by looking forward to what He has in store for us. For the next ten days, stop by the store to take advantage of our liquidation sale. Everything in the store is 50% off the original price. Lots of albums, adhesives, cardstock, papers and a whole lot more. May God bless you, Jim and Denise Miller

the OSC Scholarship Banquet

Today's quote has "me" written all over it! It's something that I believe in with my whole heart.

Last night's OSC Scholarship Banquet was small but nice (about 75 attendees). As it was also 2 of the local High Schools Scholarship and Awards nights. I really enjoyed our 3 speaks, Col. VanderHamm really hit home when he spoke of what the Officers Spouses Club is about and how we give to our local community. Kim Greenlee spoke so eloquently of how we (OSC) strive to make the world a better place through our community service. And Kristi Hullings brought it all home when she spoke of how we (OSC) made these scholarships possible by having an yearly auction- one where we brought in our community to help us not only through their generous donations buy also in purchasing many of our items at the auction. Last and certainly not least Kristi thanked everyone who worked on auction committee, had those who worked on the auction to stand up and be recognized. I wish that Cindy and Dannie could have been there because they were both spoke very highly of and it was said many times that we could not be giving away these funds without those two wonderful ladies (and their husbands) putting in countless hours into making our auction the huge success that it was. I actually had a family come over to me to shake my hand and to thank me personally for all of the work I have done through OSC, that was a very nice thing they did (and it made me feel special). Being on Auction and Scholarship committee is the best part of OSC, having a way to give to your community through such an organization make me feel good inside.

By the way, we were able to give out a little over $16,000 in scholarships to dependants of military members due funds raised at our OSC Auction Last November.

Laughter is the best medicine

When getting together with friends it's a MUST that you laugh at everything!

I shared my experience at the quilt shop with the ladies in my crafting group. I made them laugh, they made me laugh...it was a great time! Now I didn't get much done because I was running out of time- from the over time at the quilt shop and the fact that I had to also squeeze in some grocery shopping, but I did manage to take pictures of the pages I wanted to recreate. They're just quick and easy 6x6 pages done with Stampin Up kits to go into a quick little flip the page kind of book. Sometimes the best things ARE the simplest things.

We all had funny stories to share and Donna's story about the cat she gave her mother was THE funniest! I've come to truly admire the women that make up our crafting group. They're genuine true to life people, no falsities no trying to one up anyone...just honest to goodness ladies (in a true sense of the word) I've got the pleasure of calling... my friends.

Some projects I've been working on...

In case you think that I'm all talk and no action...here are some items I've been working on this week...


Here's what I made at my friend Peggy's Crop...these are for cards or coupon or whatever! It's made using double sided cardstock. They're so fun to make and it goes quickly too!

Here is step #2 of making my easy lattice quilt...step one is putting the block together.
Here is the Peter Rabbit quilt top in all it's glory. I just love how this turned out!
Now on to my Turquoise and Brown Batik fabric- here is the front and back side views of the individual squares that will make up the quilt.
Here are a couple of strips that will be sewn together...there are 40 squares that will be sewn to make the quilt top.
So that's just a sample of what I've been up to this week...I enjoy keeping busy!

Time spent with friends...

...is time well spent. I had THE BEST time yesterday with Peggy and the other ladies that make up our paper crafting group. I can honestly say that I don't remember a time in the past few months where I have laughed more than with this group of friends. Even though we razz one another it's never done in a mean way and we are always laughing if not at one another than at ourselves. Yesterday was so terribly funny...Sarah for the life of her could not get her folds scored correctly and me...oh my gosh, I'm such a gimp when it comes to the stamping wheel! Donna was having a rough time with the stamping wheel too- Peggy was laughing right along with us.





So let me share with you some of the items we've made...



What a great bunch of pocket cards! tuck in a check, some dollar bills or a gift card into any of these!


This one was especially fun since it requires to cut apart a paper lunch bag :-) I'm looking forward to spending National Scrapbooking day with Peggy and our group. She's also got a couple of workshops coming up...I can hardly wait to make that project...it's just too cool for words!