Drastic Change of Plans.......

Well, we learned yesterday, 6 weeks before the movers were due to pack up our household goods, that our Germany trip has been deferred to the Dec/Jan time-frame.

It came as such a shock to us!  We have been diligently getting ready for this move and now it was all for nothing.   Items/shelves have been taken off walls, walls have been repainted white, countless hours have been spent on the phone trying to schedule my vehicle to be shipped overseas, tears have been shed trying to find a way for my two Boston Terriers to get over there (which I found and almost put a deposit down for), passports have been bought ($500 I might add), and countless other preparations that are just too lengthy to list!   

I have to say I am a little dissappointed as our mind set for 2 months now has been that we're headed to Germany and I was really looking forward to traveling all over Europe. I mean how awesome of an experience would that of been for my children?!  Speaking of them...they definitely were disappointed of the news too as they had become used to the idea of Germany as well.   But....I do truly believe to my core that things happen for a reason so hopefully that reason will become apparent soon and everything will work out in our favor.

One bright side....I get to start creating again!...That is after I put my craft room back together!  I'm anxious to use some of SU's new products coming out soon! 

So long story short....as of right now our trip to Germany has been shifted and we won't be moving until Dec/Jan.   I'll keep you all notified though if that changes yet again!  LOL...I have a feeling with the way things are going it probably will!

Thanks for stopping by today!

{SMILES}

 

A few more creations.....

I have a few more creations to share that I've made this past winter/spring.  I'm so behind in sharing that some have some seasonal themes that are a bit out of date now!  LOL

...as more moving updates, .... we have our levy briefing last week.  It was over 2 hours long but it was informative and definitely made me realize, if I hadn't already, all the things we need to do to prepare!  EEEEEK!  Completely overwhelming! LOL  Just to give you some idea, we need to separate all of our household goods.   One pile for our unaccompanied baggage, which is basically I small shipment that will arrive quickly (about 3-4 weeks), one pile for stateside storage , which will be most of our electronics as nothing will work with the European outlets, and the other pile will be everything else, i.e. our furniture and the rest of our clothing.   I know in the end when the "move" is over we will be able to breathe and enjoy! 

Our passports came in the mail this past week...all but my son's.  I had to resubmit his birth certificate for him.  Just another "blip" in the preparations.   Today we have set up what should be our last appointment so we can officially apply for our official orders through the Army!  Yah!...Once we get the official orders we can start scheduling appointments for the moving company and book our flight tickets!  Once those 2 things are done I will definitely enjoy a sigh of relief!  We have about 9 weeks and counting!   My "to do" list is never ending!

Ok...so onto my creations.....

This card was made for Valentines today and uses a SU single stamp called Candy Conversations.

This next card was also made for Valentines day.  It uses an SU set called P.S. I love you.

I can't forget St. Patrick's Day.  This card also uses a single SU stamp.

Lastly I made this card using a set called  Road to Happiness....

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

{SMILES}




 

We're Moving to Germany....and a few creations to check out!

Good morning everyone!

 If you follow my FB Page than you know that soon we are doing a military move to Germany.  The news of this move has definitely rocked our world in many different ways!  We have so much to do to prepare for this ....it really is overwhelming but the pieces finally seem to be falling in to place, although slowly!  LOL 

We have about 10 weeks left until we leave so I haven't been creating all too much since I found out almost a month ago.   I have been finishing up some special orders though and have a few things to share that I have not yet posted on here.   If you do enjoy updates, I suggest you like my FB Page .  I will be posting periodically photos of our journey and of course new creations as I make them. It's definitely easier to update my FB page on the fly versus posting a blog entry.

Today I'm going to post a few photos of items I've been recently.  Some you may of already seen on my FB Page and a couple are new items.

This first card I'm sharing is a wedding themed pocket card I made for a past customer.  She wanted it to be personalized with the wedding couples initials and their wedding colors.

Stampin' Up CS was used throughout the card....I created paper flowers using nestabilities, everything has a nice subtle shimmer to it and of course lots of dimensional adhesive was used.

This next photos is of a composition notebook I altered using some DSP from a collection called Antique Chic.  The bird/branch silhouette is chipboard and covered in black ink and clear embossing powder.

This card is a remake of one I made quite a while ago.  I made this one up for one of my daughters friends birthdays.  The instructions were to use blue as that is her favorite color!  LOL

Lastly for today, I have one more altered notebook to share.  This one uses the DSP from my Antique Chic collection and chipboard image that are embossed with black.

 

 

Thank you so much for checking in today!  I'll try to keep this updated as much as possible but as I stated above I'll most likely keep my FB Page more up to date!

{SMILES}



   

Simple Patriotic Cards

Good morning everyone.....or whatever time of day it is where you are....

Today I'm sharing a set of 12 cards I made for a friend who's son has just left for Army basic training.  She wanted some simple patriotic cards appropriate to send him while he was away.  This is such an awesome idea and I was honored to make them up for her! 

I did a few unmistakeably masculine and a few with a couple of feminine touches to represent her without getting too frilly as to not embarrass him!  (we all know how our children can be)  LOL  I also kept the design clean and simple with not a lot of bulk to keep the price down.  Of course I still used plenty of dimensionals....I just kept the layers minimal. 

I hope they enjoy them!

 

The images on the cards above are from a CTMH set called Hero's Pride.

The image from the set below is from Stampers Best called Band of Brothers....

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

{SMILES}






 

Heart Shaped Valentines

This style of Valentines really takes me back to my school days when our teachers would let us make Valentines at our desk and of course what shape did we make...the heart!  I have to say...I think my artistic ability has developed a bit since my early days of school.  :P

These would not only make a cute traditional Valentine for your honey but they would also make a wonderful tag as I used plenty of ribbon so these could be tied around a bag, small package or a bottle of wine.   Also,....think other holidays like wedding or a birthday or even a just because occasion

I made these in 3 different colors....bold red, pink and a soft hot pink and each one features lacy taffeta ribbon, glittery swirls, embossed paper and mini rosettes.

The backs are a perfect spot to right your own sentiment if you so wish.

Thanks so much for stopping by today! 

{SMILES}



 

Valentine Mini's

I've made up a few  mini cards for this Valentine season all with the small size of  2 3/4 by 2 3/4.  That makes these perfect for children to handout in their classrooms or great to add to small gifts of candy to co-workers.

This first set is done all with cute animal images and an array of bright, cheerful colors.   Each animal is popped up as well as their scalloped circle they're resting on.

This next one was a customer request....it's a set of 15 Lady Bug valentines.  I poppedup the main body of the lady bug then instead of coloring in the circles of the body I punched out mini black dots and added those to the body.

Lastly, I made up some Twlight themed Valentines.  I love how these are unexpected and more geared towards the teenage or adult child at heart.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!  :)

{SMILES}






 

Scrapbook pages

I thought I'd share some more scrapbook pages I made using professionally taken photos of my oldest daughter Paietyn.

These photos were taken just a couple of weeks shy of her 2nd Birthday.  I was feeling nostalgic and did her hair up in a high bun like my Mom used to do mine.

I used SU cardstock and DSP for the page.  The large circle was created with my cricut, the cork #2 was cut out with a bigz die, the tag was created using a punch and the flower was created with my cricut as well.

These photos of her just 5 months later when she was about 2 1/2 years old.   I always loved the dress my girls up in Christmas dresses for the holidays!  

I used SU cardstock and Simple Stories DSP.  The rosettes were created by hand and the help of my SU scorer.  I added some ornate flourish dies that were cut from nestabilities at the top and bottom of each photo.

 

Thanks so much for joining me with the flash back to some 13 years ago!

 

 

{SMILES}

 

Fluttering Butterfly

 

When I saw this stamp in the new SU mini catalog I knew I had to own it!  I love how this butterfly image is so big and bold....it would be great in Scrapbook pages but today I used it on a card and I love how it turned out!   I was a little bummed though, as I used my last piece of vellum to make this card and I wanted to do this in various colors.  I guess I'll have to restock my vellum before I can make more!

This card measures a little larger than my typical cards ...measuring at 4 1/2 by 6 1/4.  (I bought the envelopes for this sized  card at my local Walmart.)

Pool party, basic grey and naturals white are the colors I used and I kept the design simple as the butterfly image doesn't need much to make a "wow" card.

The butterfly image is stamped on the card stock and then on a piece of vellum.  That was embossed with iridescent ice then cut out and adhered to the card.  I pinched the wings up so they would move when the card was handled.

The inside is finished off with the butterfly image and a birthday greeting.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

{SMILES}
 

Up, Up and Away!!!!

 

I thought this image was so cute and definitely fitting for my oldest daughter who just loves all Marvel superheros!  You probably thought I was going to say my son...but no it's my daughters who is into the superhero's!  LOL

This set is from Close to my heart called Super Powers.  I used a sketch to complete this card from  Deconstructed Sketches.  Here is a photo of the sketch I followed....

I used mostly SU papers and lots of dimensional adhesive.  The Super hero image is watercolored in and I added some grosgrain ribbon too.

The inside is finished off as well with a greeting from my SU set called Happiest Birthday Wishes

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

{SMILES}


 

Large Flower Scrapbook page

 

I have been seriously lacking in my scrapbooking.  Actually, that's probably the understatement of the century!  LOL   I started scrapbooking about 13 years ago and literally took about 9 years off of it!  ....It's not that I don't think about doing it often, it's just finding the time  to fit it in with all the activities I have going on! 

Well recently I found a local scrapbook store in Dover TN called Precious Scraps and they have a scrapbooking class once a month where we make 2 double page layouts.  I use it as my excuse to take some "me" time and create for myself and I have just fallen I love with the girls there as well!  The owner Beverly is such a delight !  I look forward to chatting with her each month plus I get to make some pages...bonus!  :)

Anyways....going there for the past few months has actually inspired me to make some pages on my own at home and this is one that I came up with.

 I found the sketch on pinterest and loosely follow it.  The papers are all from basic grey and SU.  The flower is die cut from SU dies.

Can you believe that tihs is my first daughter Paietyn at the age of 2 1/2 months old?!?!   Look at the hair she has!  I always got comments on her lush, thick mane!  LOL  She's 15 1/2 now and still has gorgeous hair although it has straightened.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!  

If you want to see samples of what I've been doing at Precious scraps I have a couple of the pages posted on my FB under the Scrapbook Album.

{SMILES}


 

Teachers Gifts

I had a request for a Teachers Christmas Card....she wanted it to be Christmas themed but still geared towards a teacher so this is what I came up with...

I used a punch to create the wreath then stamped some apples and added those with dimensional adhesive.

The papers are all from SU as well as the ribbon.

I also made my son's teachers some gifts.  He has 6 different teachers that give him extra help in various subjects so I made 6 sets of these in various colors.

Each post it note holder has the teachers initial on it with a matching pen to make a complete set.

Thanks so much for stopping by!  :)

{SMILES}