Do you know how long my blog list is getting? I spend way too much time enjoying other people's work! But...it's so much fun! I just love to get ideas from everyone else. Who knew when I started this how fun it would be? So, I must say thanks to Carla, Lori, and Jenn for encouraging me to start this amazing world of blogging. At my very first Stampin' Up workshop they told me I needed to start a blog. Thinking that I was not tech savvy enough, I brushed their suggestions off. But then I got home and checked it out...and, well, I guess the rest is history! Now you're stuck with me!
You know the best part about it? I think looking at other people's blogs is so encouraging, too. I get down on myself pretty easily and just the other day asked my sweet husband if he thought my cards and layouts were okay. Of course, he is very supportive and thinks that everything I do is wonderful, but I always see these amazing creations online and think...man I am way too simple. Nothing I do is ever really that neat. It's okay, but I guess all that matters is that I enjoy it. Mostly, I just want to share the love of our family and our love for God with our family and to be able to give glory to God through my scrapbooks and stampin' creations.
So, anyway, here I am thinking that my stuff is only so-so and lo, and behold, as I'm blog cruising, look what I find, but two different awards for MY blog! It completely blew me away! So, this is probably a bit wordy, but it is all to say thanks to Lori and Carla not just for the blog awards, but for getting me to start this amazing (and quite therapeutic!) journey into the blog world. I hope you enjoy some of my favorite blogs as much as I do! (I guess I can't just give the awards back, but I do love Lori's and Carla's blogs - check them out on the side!)
And now you get to see my not so tech savvy self! Here are the links to blogs I read EVERY day!
http://www.stamperdog.com/http://andreawalford.com/http://www.pattystamps.typepad.com/http://ustamp4fun.com/http://www.luvtostamp.blogspot.com/http://stampwithsharonrogers.typepad.com/http://elisabethstewart.typepad.com/bethinking/http://www.barbstamps.com/my_weblog/http://www.roamingstamper.com/http://www.makeeshabyl.com.au/Now, I realize that none of these bloggers have any idea who I am. I have learned about them through other peoples' blogs! But if any of you happen to stop through here, please feel free to pass these terrific awards on to 10 more bloggers that you enjoy! I am humbled by your work and in awe of your terrific creations that I find inspiration in everyday!
Just a few silly faces to remind us of how sweet Halleigh is and that she is growing up WAY too quickly!! My journaling is inside the scallop envelope that keeps popping open!
Using what I consider the quintessential TobyMac colors, I created a simple layout that shows us having a great time at one of his concerts last year. As Halleigh says each time we hear him, "Dat TobyMac?" 
Here are a few thank you cards that I made for some of our members of a music teachers group I am in, Kentucky Orff Schulwerk Association. They did such a great job, I just wanted to let them know how much I appreciated them!
And here is the second card - I made the butterfly using a technique I saw in CK Magazine - I tied thread around the body of the butterfly. But then, I added a layer of butterfly made out of acetate to really make the butterfly look like it was flying. This was the best picture I could get of it! I think trying to catch a picture of that was almost as bad as trying to get a picture of a real live butterfly! 
I found this blog called Stuck!
I used my Big Shot to create the swirls and the flowers on this side of the page. The rest of it was mostly just scraps!
Another view and the second page down below. The journaling block on the second page was actually from a notebook that had green and blue, so I just doodled over the blue with Chocolate Chip ink and added a few brown rub-ons to fit the page. The green is acually Kiwi Kiss, although it looks a little neon here! 
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I saw this sketch a little more than a week ago and had a few ideas spinning around in my head. I just kept letting them whirl around and finally went with just that idea. The pictures below were taken at the Louisville Zoo while we were on the train and the carousel, so I decided to let the pictures look like they were riding on the carousel. Going with that idea, I decided to use some coordinating buttons to create the top lines of the carousel and the animal die cuts as the "horses." Halleigh thought we needed a gorilla, but, oh well...
Hannah shows off her innovative idea - she used the scallop sqare and alternated the squares on her finished product. Neat idea, Hannah!
Sisters, Bree and Britani, have a great time together at all of the club meetings and classes they take!
Johnna also used the innovative scallop square punch idea and put her stamped image across both squares! Too cool! 
Kittra and Hannah are making their tealight candle covers. They are using the new embosslit, "Sweetest Stem."
Carla is playing with the new Big Shot while Britani and Vicky are working on their scrapbook pages.
Angel is making a Valentine for her sweetest! 
For the first time ever, I actually have all of the colors in Kristina Werner's color challenge! So I combined the colors with this sketch by Makeesha Byl of Australia to make birthday cards for my two sisters-in- law and my mother-in-law. 
The greatest thing about these cards is the reason that neither of the cards are exactly the same. They are completely made by using scraps out of my newly re-organized scrap pile. 
I finally participated in my first color challenge - Lori's Color Challenge #1 was a picture from one of my favorite children's stores - Pottery Barn Kids, so here goes my first attempt...
I think the page looks better when you see it side by side, then you can see how the flowers cascade across both pages. The pictures themselves are not necessarily significant - they just showed adorable little facial expressions on our baby's face. They inspired me to get a few of her cutest moments she has had lately down on a scrapbook page. I always mean to and then forget. 
Here is a thank you card I made for Halleigh to send to friends and family for her Christmas presents. I just used some leftover pieces of paper from some other projects to create the card. I used a hostess set from the new catalogue called "Goody Goody Gumdrops" to make the card. I was so proud of myself for using the masking technique to make it look like I had a cluster of gumdrops. Didn't it turn out cute?
Here is another 2-page layout I made using some of the new products getting ready to come out. I used a new series of Designer Paper called Rasberry Tart - it is definitely GROOVY! Very seventies! The new stamp set "Sweetest Stems" coordinates very nicely with it. I added a little glitter and a few eylets to my flowers to bling them up a bit. The final touch came from my new toy, an embosslit. I used the Sizzix Big Shot to run my scraps of paper through the machine and it embossed AND cut out the coordinating flower to add the finishing touches to my page. 
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