A Little More Stamping?

When I was at Archiver's scrapbooking last Sunday, they had a cute little make and take.
Here is a little card we made...

It's kind of hard to see in the photo, but the trick or treat stamped image is embossed. All raised and shiny :) I have to admit, I am not a big stamper. Never have been. And when I started doing the make and take, I wasn't expecting to take anything away from it.
I was wrong!
A lot of people complain about the staff at Archiver's, but this girl knew her stuff!
And she didn't try to push a lot of product on me.
I ended up buying this...

Clear embossing powder because she showed me how I could use color stamp pads with it and not have to buy a zillion different colors of powder.
Plus, I went home with this...

ink pad like the one we used on the card. It works well with the types of markers that I have had here for ages from Stamping Up. The colors won't bleed. So considering that I am challenging myself to use the stamps in my stash more, I think these purchases will make it a little more fun.
I know I had fun with the Make and Take. :)

And I also know a few of my blog friends like Tracy  and Mary Pat work great with stamps and color the images so well!
How about you? Are you a stamper? Do you like to use stamps on your projects?

Over at Craft Your Nest Today!

It's Wednesday and I have a post and layout on the Craft Your Nest blog today.
Here are two peeks at the layout I am sharing...

Yes, it's the layout in progress that I shared with you on Monday. It's finished and there is a possible stamp RAK up for grabs if you join in my challenge.
Come on by to see the post Here!

Happy Monday!

Had a great weekend!
Mike and I were able to go out to dinner Friday night while the kids were with my parents.
On Saturday, we had brunch with extended family. My brother and his wife were in town, so it was great spending time with them. A little too short, but great! Plus, my parents, my sister and a few nieces and nephews :) We were a large crowd of fourteen at Ihop!

And then I was able to head to Archiver's on Sunday with my friend Mary to scrapbook. This is what I worked on and didn't quite finish. It's for my stamp challenge over at Craft Your Nest. 
And it was great to finally meet Cassie from Paper Issues. She was in town for the weekend and came by to visit with us for a bit. :)

Today I am hoping to finish up my layout and get a few photos in between finally cleaning out Evan's closet! It really needs a good organizing. It is one of two closets in this house that have become a storage area for everything but the kitchen sink!
I also have two posts going up on the Paper Issues blog today. One this morning and another this afternoon both featuring projects linked up to our current Twine issue. Neither project is mine, but I wanted to showcase a couple of projects that I thought were pretty fabulous by two other scrapbookers. :)

Have a great day!

The Downtown Library

Is today really Friday the 13th? Yikes! I'll just try not to think about it.

I have actually had this layout finished for at least a week or two.
It's based on a Juliana Michaels sketch...

from over at The Paper Bakery.
I used a combination of the August main kit and their Project Life type kit.

Journaling:
The library has always been one of my favorite places to go, and now it is a favorite place for you, too, Erin.
I remember spending so many Saturdays at the local library with my dad. Those are memories I treasure. And I love bringing you and Evan to the library to create our own memories.
We are so lucky to have several great libraries close to us.
Recently, you and I went downtown to the newly remodeled Central Library. It is a gorgeous building. And they did such a great job of maintaining the older part of the building while adding on a fresh modern section.
It is such a great mix of old and new.
I could get lost in there for hours!
And on this particular Saturday, we did, Erin.
Your favorite place to hang out is the Children's section with it's bright colorful decorations, play areas, computers, and comfortable places to relax and read books.
I have to admit that I loved it as well!
I don't think I could ever get tired of visiting our libraries.

Thanks for stopping by today.
Have a great weekend!

September 11, 2013

It's hard to believe it's been twelve years since that day on September 11, 2001.
I don't think any of us will ever forget where we were when it happened.
Or how we found out what was going on.
I know I won't.

I mentioned in another post that we spent a week in Washington, DC at the beginning of August.
When we made it down to the mall area, this sight greeted us.

The Washington monument covered in scaffolding. Only due to earthquake damage though which is bad enough.
And then we went to see my favorite...Lincoln's Memorial.

More scaffolding. Really?! Some woman had thrown green paint on it. Ugh. But then I think, it could have been worse.
So I focused on the positive. I haven't been to DC in twenty years. I visited in the summer of 1993 with my family and a few friends. And one of my favorite memories from the trip is the night we went down to see the monuments after dark. Pretty late actually. I think it was after 10pm for sure. So the crowds were much lighter and it was so peaceful.

Mike and I decided to give it a try even though Evan and Erin are so much younger and typically are in bed before 9. :)
And it was just how I remembered.

 There is just something so peaceful about being there at night.

Words cannot capture just how it made me feel to be standing there once again enjoying the evening  breeze blowing through the memorial just as I remembered it.

Then there is the beautiful glow of the Washington monument despite the scaffolding.

And my favorite.
We had visited during the day. But it is so much more magnificent at night. During the day as you walk up, you really can't see Lincoln until you get inside. But at night...

he is waiting like an old friend welcoming you home. And silly as it seems, I had tears in my eyes as Evan and I walked up toward him sitting there so majestically.

No, there is nothing like visiting the mall in Washington, D.C. at night. :)

Paper Issues and The Twinery Blog Hop!

The new issue is up on the Paper Issues blog today and I am on the blog hop with a few other design team members. You should have arrived from Lisa's blog. But if this is your first stop and you want to start at the beginning, you need to go Here!
The Twinery and Paper Issues are coming together to bring you the

"X" Marks the Spot challenge

This is my take on the challenge.  I needed to do a two page layout instead of my usual one because I wanted to fit several photos of my son's art work. I scanned his drawings and then saved them as photos. I was impressed with how well they turned out. I can still see all of the fabulous little details in his drawings!

I used twine x's on two of my buttons. And then I decided to add a bit of twine for some borders as well. I know this image is small, but I wanted you to be able to see how the page worked as a whole.

Here are two photos of each individual side...

 

Side one and...

 side two.

So if you have any projects or would like to create any projects using twine or "x's", be sure to link up at Paper Issues. 

We have a great sample pack of twine from the Twinery for our giveaway worth $30!

All the details on how to link up and enter are on the Paper Issues blog Here!

In addition, The Twinery is having their own challenge on their blog with a giveaway of six large spools of twine worth $84 dollars! You can see all the details from their challenge Here!

Next up on the blog hop is Martha! :)

Crafting Ireland Magazine, Issue 19...

is online and you can find it Here!

I have a Halloween layout and a small tutorial inside on page 47. :)

I had so much fun putting this one together. Well, until I made a major goof up...

I messed up the handwritten journaling on the original so badly, that I needed to take it apart and redo the whole thing! I was so frustrated at first, but it turned out ok in the end :)

And let's just say, both my assignments for Crafting Ireland had mistakes this month. I will share the second one and that goof up when it is featured on their blog sometime before the next issue.

But these days, I am a roll with the punches kind of girl. And for that one, I definitely rolled with the punches :)

And looking to the right, you will notice that I did add two blog rolls back in which I am always adding people to. I had to do it! :)

"My Blog Friends" list is some of the great people I have met through blogging. I love how we talk through blogging and email and inspire each other. 

Then my "People I Know" list is literally people I know in real life or have met through scrapbooking on message boards, private groups or design team work. 

I still like Bloglovin' for the manufacturer and other scrapbook and inspiration blogs. It actually works very well for those blogs because I don't tend to comment there.

I hope you have a great weekend. 

My husband and I are going to a fun music festival where we will get to see a few bands including Alabama Shakes and The National. The kids will be hanging out here with either their Mimi or our neighbors.

Looking forward to some "date" time with Mike!

Hello Card

Can you believe it is September already?!! It just blows my mind that summer is officially over in my mind and we are heading into fall.
Anyway, three posts ago (Here), I shared a layout I created using the sketch from the new issue at Paper Issues.
Once I finished my layout, I decided to take some of the scraps and create a card based on the sketch as well.

Here is the sketch again...

and here is my card. Once again, I was inspired to use circles, a title over the circles and then a star. Keeping it simple.

There is still time to give the sketch a try. The Simple Scrapper prizes are still available along with a $20 gift certificate to the Paper Issues store. but to win the prizes you don't even need to try the sketch. Just follow the directions on how to enter on this post Here! If you do try the sketch and link up, you get a bonus five entries though.

Also, since it is Wednesday, I am up on the Craft Your Nest blog with a little challenge. Come on by and check it out Here if you are up for a small stamping challenge.

I should be back on Friday with a layout.
See you then!