It's all about the details

NEW BLOG!!!

2012-01-10T09:31:00.000-05:00

I have Started a new blog with WordPress.com and will no longer be posting to this blog. It's not being deleted and there will be a link on my new blog to direct you back to this blog if you ever want to view anything on here.

In creating a new blog for 2012 I am hoping it will keep me on track and help me to blog more often. Thank you for following my blog and if you wish to continue following me on my new blog click here and you will be sent to my new wordpress blog, on the right hand column you can click follow me and enter your email address and you will be notified each time I have a new post. Or if you have Google Reader you can always add me to your blogs there :)
Thank you
Tina :)

Things you just can't throw away!!

2012-01-08T01:43:00.001-05:00

In cleaning & organizing the "Hall Closet" I went through all of Madison's Arts & Crafts supplies and came across all of her old coloring books,

in wanting to make more room and get rid of clutter that we just really don't need anymore I was wanting to throw some of them away. But before

I could put them in the trash pile I had to flip through each one of them and see if there was any pictures that she had colored that I wanted to rip out and put in the keep it pile.

I came across this one and just started laughing so hard until my side hurt...how cute is this...I can't possibly throw this away her reflection drawing is PRICELESS!!!

{my only regret is...I wish I had known her age when she did this picture}

I caught the Couponing Bug...but not too extreme!!

2012-01-05T22:06:00.001-05:00

I have started a new madness monster...

September 2011 I started couponing!! I have always used coupons here and there over the years but never knew that I could have one more title "a couponer" as it turns out it's more like a part time job. There is a whole madness to it!! I am no expert but let's just say since Sept 2011 'til now I have saved our family quite a bit of money on things that we use on a daily basis and have been able to start a mini stock pile for those things you just don't want to run out of.
I know LOTS of people have now seen the show Extreme Couponing on TLC but I am NO where close to being able to do it to that extreme...which is really impossible to do!

What I have learned about couponing in such a short time...

The main thing is to KNOW YOUR PRICES at the stores you shop
you will have to shop the on going deals (which means you may have to go to several stores in a week instead of shopping everything at one store in the same trip)
KNOW each stores coupon policy and check it regularly they do tend to change from time to time.
clip only the coupons you would use
don't be brand specific (try different brands you never know you might like it although...certain things may not qualify for this.
use coupon blogs that have already done the homework for you to find the local and latest deals.
keep up with the online coupon sites such as www.coupons.com {the early bird gets the worm on the new coupons}
Organize your coupons (3 ring binder method works for me)
Expired coupons can be sent overseas to military families, they don't have access to coupons like we do in the states and they are able to use them at the commissary for up to 6 months after they expire. So be kind and recycle your expired and unused coupons
DO NOT feel like you have to use every coupon before it expires you will spend lots more money if you do that...and the key here is to save money. You will not be able to get EVERY deal!!!
Only need to have a stock pile for a good month at a time because the same coupons usually come back around in the next 4-6 weeks. No need to do a crazy stock up for 6 months like who really can use 100 bottles of body wash at ONE time!!!
START SMALL...don't try to do a major transaction at first no need to stress yourself out!!
Get at least 3 Sunday papers so you will maximize your savings...ask neighbors or relatives if they use coupons from their papers you can always ask them for the coupon inserts the more coupons you can get without having to pay for them the better.

Now to share some of my first deals that got me hooked right away!!!

Target Transaction

Scrubbing Bubbles

reg. price $3.99 each

bought 2 = $7.98

used B1G1 manuf. coupon -$3.99

combined with store coupon for $1.00 off

so that brought my total down to $2.99

used my target debit (extra 5% off) -.15

Total paid $3.23 (plus tax)

YEAH!!!

CVS Transaction

#1 soft soap foam pump 2/$6
used 2 $1/1 coupons
Total $4.00
got $4.00 CVS Extra Care Bucks
-----------------------------------
#2 Jack Links Jerky 2/$7.00
bought 3 @$3.50 each =$10.50
Carmex $3.29 (with a $2.99 mail in rebate offer) used .50 coupon
Redeemed my $4.00 CVS bucks from Transaction #1
Total $6.56 after mail in rebate

Rite Aid Transaction

#1 Irish Spring & Soft Soap body wash sale 2.99 each

used 2/$1 coupons

Total = $3.98 (plus tax

got $4.00 up rewards

-------------------------------------------------

#2 Tide HE (48 loads) $8.97

used .50 coupon and redeemed $4.00 up rewards

Total $4.47

Happy New Year!!

2012-01-05T17:48:00.003-05:00

Please don't have a heart attack I blogged...it's really me!!!
Hello there Blogging world...I have missed you oh so much!! I tried to get caught back up and back to blogging in May 2011, but it just DID NOT happen :(

Life just got TOO busy. But it's a NEW Year and I have a list of resolutions and yep you guessed it Blogging is on my list. I will try to do a short recap of 2011 in an upcoming post, but if I dwell on trying to catch up too much I will not do very good at what is current now and then be more behind than ever.

My Resolutions for 2012

Start my daily 365 {366 Leap year}
Get back to blogging
Get back to scrapbooking
Check my Google Reader regularly
Coupon more efficiently
Stay organized!!!

As you can see by my list I am not asking for too much of myself now am I?

Getting back to blogging real soon!!

2011-05-06T02:04:00.001-04:00

Prom 2010

2010-05-16T12:32:00.001-04:00

The anticipation of getting ready for Prom had finally arrived. All the glitz and glamour…The Dress, Hair, Nails, Toes, Shoes, Jewelry, flowers and lets not forget the spray tan. Kaitlynn was breathtaking…she was just so beautiful and elegant down to the very last detail! All of her friends were so pretty.

2010-05-16T12:30:00.000-04:00

2010-05-16T12:28:00.000-04:00

2010-05-16T12:25:00.000-04:00

Gingerbread House

2009-12-04T23:38:00.000-05:00

Madison was soooo very excited to put a Gingerbread house together!!! She really wanted to do one last year but we never got a chance so I promised her this year we would defiantly make one. So a new tradition has been started in our family…the first Friday of December we have to put together a Gingerbread House.

STEP ONE: read directions

STEP TWO: prepare icing (more like edible glue)

STEP THREE: build walls

STEP FOUR: add roof and cover with icing (snow)

STEP FIVE: DECORATE, DECORATE, DECORATE!!!

Ring Dance photo shoot

2009-11-21T23:22:00.001-05:00

Ring Dance just crept right up on us so fast I can remember just two weeks ago Kaitlynn saying, “I can’t wait until Ring Dance” and here it is today. This year happens to be Kaitlynn’s Ring Dance for her junior year. Last year she went as Kurt’s date for his junior Ring Dance. Kaitlynn looked so pretty all dressed up, she looks way older than 16. She is just the most photogenic child ever, she always has been from day one!

This year it was all about Black and white and a silver tie. Kaitlynn & Kurt looked so nice together they just complimented each other with their attire. It was almost too scary looking at them all dressed up in black & white, I was thinking to myself as I was snapping pictures this could almost be a wedding photo shoot with her in a white dress.

I took a total of 74 pictures but here are a few of the really good ones

2009-11-21T23:17:00.000-05:00

2009-11-21T23:15:00.000-05:00

And just for giggles I was playing with my photo software and got a little crazy with this one, and did a mirror image. Just thought it looked pretty cool, I couldn’t even imagine twins… Yikes!!

customized lemon clock

2009-11-12T11:09:00.001-05:00

Well I have started a new home project….I am re~decorating my kitchen. Bye, Bye country apples and hello to a lighter and brighter a little bit more modernized lemons & limes kitchen. I have started taking down all my apple decor and buying new things here and there for my new kitchen. I wish I could get new cabinets, tile floor, tile back splash and chair rail. But for now a fresh coat of yellow paint, eggshell trim, new curtains, rugs and all new decor will have to do.

My new favorite place to shop for home decor is Ross, Marshalls & Pier 1 imports. My other FAVORITE place to check out is Etsy online. For one of a kind, unique, homemade items that you just can’t find in any department store. I have been spending a lot of time here lately online searching all kinds of lemons & limes decor. I just hit the jackpot!!! I was in search of a clock with lemons and did lots of google searches and there wasn’t a lot out there to choose from. Seems like the ones I would find that had lemons on it also had all other fruits too, and that was not what I was looking for.

Here is the dishes I found at Pier 1 imports aren’t they to die for!!! I just love them!!

I found a lady’s store on Etsy (makingtimetc) that makes clocks from plates so I thought what a neat idea, I sent her a message and asked her if she could customize a plate for me with the dishes I found at Pier 1 imports. She responded and said she would be happy to and she had a Pier 1 near her so she would go pick up the plate and make it for me. Within two days she bought the plate and made the clock and sent me a message showing me the pictures with the finished product. OMG!!!! Talk about awesome fast service and beautiful work…she is amazing!!! I would recommend you checking out her Etsy store and if you are in need of a clock she may have what your looking for or can customize one for you too :)

I can’t wait to get my walls painted so I can hang up my new clock…see it’s the little things that make me happy I am getting so excited over a clock!

And here is the finished product made by: makingtimetc on Etsy (click on the name for a direct link to her Etsy store)

Gratitude

2009-11-02T10:18:00.001-05:00

Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

We didn’t make it to the Pumpkin Patch this year until…one week before Halloween, but I am so glad we did finally got a chance to make it. We had plans to go in the middle of the month but we never made it then. I wanted to go to a different patch this year, than the one we had went to for the past 3 years. I did a little research online for pumpkin patches and what do you know there happen to be one fairly close to our house. It was a private patch way far out behind someone’s residence with over 100 acres, she grows them for local schools & farmer’s markets. The only thing was she planted it a little late this year so they weren’t ready until the weekend before Halloween. Of course I took lots of pictures…{142 pictures to be exact} I had to make sure I got the right shot!! I had to play with the lighting on my camera because it was overcast that day and some were with flash and some were without. I didn’t get all of the shots I had hoped for, but after going through them I am pretty happy with how they turned out. WARNING…this is a long post with lots of pictures…enjoy :)

this is the same picture turning it black & white but only leaving the orange

Picking out the perfect pumpkin together…{two totally different looks} I couldn’t make up my mind which one I liked better so I posted them both.

2009-11-02T08:55:00.000-05:00

Here are five different poses of the girls sitting on a pumpkin, I was just snapping away hoping to get ONE really good one. The picture makes it look easier than this shot really was to take…they kept pushing each other off the pumpkin and goofing off.pose #1 pose #2 pose #3 pose #4 pose #5

2009-11-02T08:50:00.000-05:00

2009-11-02T08:45:00.000-05:00

these two pictures are a slightly different pose, but if you look close you will notice the lighting on both of them…one has a warm glow and the other a cooler tone.

2009-11-02T08:40:00.000-05:00

Madison & Mommy I really liked this picture of the two of us together…although my other daughter was the photographer taking the picture and cut the top of my head off….still is a keeper!

the only pose that I noticed that I didn’t get was of just Kaitlynn & I, she was a good sport and participated in the pictures for a while then she was ready to go in her separate direction with her friend and get away from the camera for a while, so I never got that pose…I will just have to make up for that one next year I suppose.

2009-11-02T08:35:00.000-05:00

...Friends at the Pumpkin Patch… Kaitlynn & Sydni {Best Friends}

Madison & Sarah (Becky’s daughter) Isn’t this picture of them so sweet!!!

Madison & Jenna (Janice’s granddaughter) picking out a lumpy, bumpy pumpkin (they both wanted the same one!)

Madison with Sarah & Nathan (Becky’s kids)

Madison & Nathan

…and here they are goofing around for the camera :)

Becky & I

Janice, Becky & I

and lastly our pumpkins we picked to go home with us…plus we got three itty, bitty ones too. Madison brought one little one to her teacher and she is going to paint the other two.

…Still to come our pumpkin carving pictures!!!

She Devil

2009-10-30T10:59:00.001-04:00

Madison was all dressed up for school today in her Halloween costume. I just hope she can keep the wig on until the class party. I will be going to her class this afternoon to snap pictures, can’t wait to see all of the kids and teachers all dressed up. Her school really gets into Halloween each year the teachers costumes are so awesome and unique. This morning when I dropped off Madison the teacher that helps the kids out of the cars in the morning was dressed as a snack machine…too funny!

Halloween Juice

2009-10-28T13:28:00.001-04:00

Here it is after 1:00 p.m. and I have not ate lunch or done much housework done…YET….but look what I did get done…this was more fun than housework!! Madison has to bring in the drinks for her class on Friday for her Halloween party. I thought we would make it fun this year instead the plain Capri Sun that we originally planned to bring.

I created some spooky drink labels in photoshop for water bottles and printed them on Avery name badge sticky labels.
Then tied a ribbon to each bottle with a packet of fruit punch or lemonade. The Fruit punch will be the Vampire’s Delight and the lemonade will be for the Witch’s Brew.

When they put the drink mix in the water bottle and shake it up it will transform into their very own“Halloween Juice”.

Fall Leaves

2009-10-23T21:19:00.001-04:00

Fall…my favorite time of the year. This seems to be the week that the fall foliage is at it’s peak. It so amazing how it just happens so fast, one day its green then little by little you see some changes and then all of the sudden they are so vibrant. Today seemed to be that day so I had the girls go outside and I took some pictures. The leaves are falling so fast and it’s supposed to rain this weekend I am so glad I got them out there today before it’s too late.

2009-10-23T21:12:00.000-04:00

2009-10-23T21:09:00.000-04:00

Madison update…Flu bug is gone :)

2009-10-22T14:18:00.001-04:00

What a long week this has already been with Madison sick with the flu. It all started wee hours of the morning on….

{Friday} Madison waking up with fever of 101.7 and burning up. She had all the flu like symptoms: chills, fever, headache, lethargic. She stayed in bed all day between my bed and the couch depending on where I was in the house that’s where she wanted to be. She watched t.v. and had NO energy to do much of anything else. The only thing on the menu for her was Chicken Noodle soup for lunch and dinner. For the most part Motrin was helping with controlling the fever and help bringing it down.

{Saturday} pretty much the same thing woke up with fever of 102.9 at 6:00 a.m. Gave a dose of Motrin and she went on back to sleep and slept until noon. When she woke up her fever was down to 99.0 and it had fluctuated up and down until 5:30 pm where it spiked back up to 102. Gave another dose of Motrin (every 6-8 hours) and her fever has been down to almost normal now. I called the Doctor's office today and the Dr. on call called me back and we discussed what I should do, if I should take her to Patient's First or wait until Monday to get a Dr.'s appt. He told me that was totally up to me, but if she was diagnosed with the Flu there was really nothing that they could prescribe to her I would basically just be going for the diagnosis. Then he stated that what I was doing at home with the meds I was giving to her was the same thing that they would recommend me to do. I asked with all the symptoms she has does he think it is the flu or the swine flu? He stated that right now if your diagnosed with the flu--chances are it is the swine flu since the seasonal flu hasn’t even began yet. YIKES!! (He also mentioned that he had just seen 7 kids from our county with the flu that same day. I was totally unaware that they were open half day on Saturday or I would have taken her that morning) I then asked about Tamiflu and he said they don't usually prescribe that for the flu unless its a child under 3 or a diabetic child. But then he proceeded to tell me that if her temp sparked way up then best thing to do would to take her to the ER, since Patients First doesn't specialize in pediatrics. So I took the Dr's advice and we stayed home and maintained our round the clock temperature checks and timed dosage of medicine and more chicken noodle soup for lunch. That seemed to do the trick so far. At this point I do believe it is the Flu. Sometimes Dr. Mom knows best!

{Sunday} was almost like Saturday but fever seemed to be down a bit, it seemed to stay between 99.2 – 100.1 most all day. She did have a little bit more energy when the Motrin was kicked in . She played video games and was able to eat a little bit more than just soup. But at night fall here comes the fever!

{Monday} she had a low grade fever when she woke up so it was no school again. She didn’t sleep very well Sunday night she slept in until almost 10:30 a.m. which was what she needed rest, rest, rest! I Called and talked to the nurse at her Dr.’s office she said the waiting room was filled with sick kids and that as long as she didn’t have a very high temp and was staying hydrated, that the best thing to do may be to wait it out and that it could take up to 5-7 days to completely go away. Madison seemed to have a little bit more energy on Monday but still complained of a headache off and on throughout the day. Fever kicked back in at night and seemed to start coughing. This is where we added the cough medicine. (but unfortunately it didn’t seem to help much)

{Tuesday} since she had fever last night I had to keep her home again from school “24 hour rule” Tuesday was about the same as Monday, but this time she didn’t run a fever during the day at all, but now it was the complaint of a sore throat and the coughing was getting worse. She couldn’t even speak a sentence without going into a coughing spell. This was also the first day that she didn’t have much of an appetite all day long, but I kept pushing fluids so she never got dehydrated. Just as the evening was approaching here comes the fever, but it was only low grade not like the nights before.

{Wednesday} she woke up feeling better, NO fever, but still had not been 24 hours since her last fever so she had to stay home again. I was a worried about her cough and wanted to make sure it wasn’t bronchitis setting in where she would need an antibiotic to fight an infection instead it being all viral up until now. I called first thing to get a Dr.’s appt. we were able to make a 2:30 appt. She remained to stay Fever FREE all day and has her appetite back well she does now after she ate all of her McDonalds happy meal! Checked again right before bedtime and still NO fever…YEAH!

I am happy to report that her Dr. said she is on the downside of influenza and has NO infection, lungs sound good and no sound of wheezing. He prescribed some really good cough medicine with codeine and Guaffasin to help with the congestion. I have given her two doses once at 4:30 and again before bedtime that helped her sleep with NO cough all night long :)

{Thursday…today} NO fever when she woke up so made the “mommy call” again to go ahead and send her to school. But she had to follow these rules:

keep her talking to a minimum today (yeah right)
bring bottled water and keep at desk to stay hydrated during the day
NO running at recess (so she doesn’t get worked up to have a coughing spell)
make sure she washes her hands before lunch!!!!

So far so good…but I will bet money she has already broke rule #1 :) oh well just glad she’s better!!

Back to digi scrappin’

2009-10-21T17:25:00.001-04:00

It’s been a while since I had a chance to sit at the computer and design digitally, since it seems to take loads of my time when I create a layout. I don’t find myself doing it as much as I would love to. Over the past few days with Madison being home sick I have found some free time to sit down and play a little. I haven’t taken many fall pictures this year YET!!! but one day last week {before Madison became so sick} I managed to snap a few of Madison outside after she got off the bus from school in her favorite purple dress!!

School portrait

2009-10-17T20:36:00.001-04:00

Kaitlynn got her school portraits back yesterday and they turned out so good. Madison just took hers this past week so it will be another 2-3 weeks before she gets hers back. But one thing I noticed is that the shirt Kaitlynn is wearing is animal print {almost like giraffe with the brown} I did not remember her wearing that shirt for picture day since it was the second week of school when she had them taken. Last week I dressed Madison in her black shirt with zebra collar so they will both be in animal print this year for their school portraits. I didn’t even plan that one, but how cool is that!!!! :)

Sick day

2009-10-16T15:36:00.001-04:00

Woke up today to a sick little girl with a fever of 101.7, hope it’s not the flu. At least it’s Friday and we have the weekend to rest up. It’s supposed to be a wet, cold weekend anyways so not much plans in that weather. I know what’s on the menu tonight for dinner for her…………Chicken noodle soup!!

Homework already

2009-09-09T17:11:00.001-04:00

Talk about jumping right into it….the school system doesn’t waste any time at all, just the second day of school and already we have two subjects of homework for the 3rd grade. Well here we go for our after school schedule….snack, homework, playtime, dinner, bath, in bed by 9:00 p.m.

It was a much better day today much better day today...school bus was right on time with the correct bus route!!! Plus I was in good company with my bestie friend "Wati Jo" she stopped by and cooked us lunch, she made her famous malaysian fish & rice dish.....it was so yummy!! Call me crazy or what, but after she garnished the plate with cilantro it was too pretty not to snap a picture….LOL

more summer pictures

2009-09-09T10:40:00.001-04:00

Still catching up on summer beach beach pictures, just going through them and noticed I did not share a few of my favorites yet and I even managed to do a digital layout using some of them.

Will I ever be caught up?

2009-09-09T06:13:00.001-04:00

And the question that keeps weighing on my mind…will I ever be caught up on my blog, I am so behind. Maybe with the new school routine I can get up an hour earlier and sit at the computer with my coffee and have a moment to myself to get it caught up….Yeah right wishful thinking. I will try, no promises. I do have to back track to way back in May when Mom & Dad were here and we went to the Strawberry Patch on Mother’s Day, plus I never got a chance to add Kaitlynn’s dance recital pictures. So I will make sure to do that soon. I have a list somewhere buried on my computer desk of what I need to post and get caught up on to bring my blog current. Hope to clean off my desk today and find it. I need to take on some sort of organization task at my computer desk, its looking pretty scary!!! I am hoping to accomplish great things today.

First day of school

2009-09-09T06:01:00.001-04:00

Here we are again…another school year is starting all over. Madison starting 3rd grade and Kaitlynn in 11th, where did the summer go? Yesterday was not the most pleasant days - weather wise - it rained all night the night before and all into the morning. So it was a wet one for the start of the school day, which already puts you in a bad mood. I walked Madison up to her classroom and she was excited to see all of her friends again. I snapped a few pictures of her in her classroom and with her teacher.

Kaitlynn was up pretty early since the High School starts an hour before Elementary. She had arranged for her boyfriend {Kurt} to pick her up on the first day so she didn’t have to ride the bus, plus he took her home from school so she lucked out and didn’t have to ride the bus at all the first day. So needless to say I didn’t get a chance to snap any pictures of her. As soon as he picked her up she was out the door, plus it was raining pretty hard at that time so he waited in the truck for her. She will only have to ride the bus for 2 weeks at the most and then her car will be ready for her to start driving. So hopefully I will get to snap at least one picture of her during that time getting off the bus coming home one day…{I will have to sneak it, since she is not so eager to have me taking pictures of her coming off the bus at age 16…she says its embarrassing}

Then of course we cannot have the first day go by without some type of issues…we had bus issues in the afternoon with Madison’s bus. There was a new bus driver and she changed the bus route to fit her needs not the safety of the children. Madison has to get off in a certain direction for where her bus stop is located, due to the logging trucks that fly by so they can see the flashing bus lights from behind enough time to slow down...she came in the total opposite direction so the trucks would never see the bus stopped plus Madison had to get off on the other side of the road to where she has to cross over the highway, we had to have it changed several years ago for that reason. So instead of Madison being the 4th stop and off at 3:50 (school lets out at 3:30) she was the very last stop of the day and didn’t get off until 4:45. I was at the bus stop waiting for over an hour and called the school several times and they could not tell me why other than the busses left 15 minutes late on the first day. Plus I could NOT get through on the bus garage's line at all it stayed busy. So needless to say they will hear from me today!!

Well to end on a good note, Madison loves her teacher and she already stated she made some new friends in her class. Kaitlynn is happy that her boyfriend is in her first period and she seems to like most of her teachers. So now we just need to improve school lunches….LOL :)

much {overdue} scrappin’

2009-08-20T16:10:00.001-04:00

Well..even I can’t believe myself when I say I scrapbooked 8 double page layouts. While at Mom’s I managed to get some much overdue scrappin’ done. We managed to sneak in a little time to scrap one whole day just the two of us… now that’s what I call my kind of quality time! Then I had the opportunity to go to an all day crop at the store mom works at the Saturday before we had to leave. It was an all day crop until midnight, we got there around 10:00 am and stayed up until 11:00 pm. It was so nice to be surrounded by such a nice group of ladies and actually get some scrappin’ done. The crop was a beach theme crop so mom & I had to wear our straw hats that we found at the dollar store {perfect} and I love the hat…wish only I had it the day I was actually at the beach.

That night I completed 4 double page layouts. I have taken a few pictures of them to share with you. When I finish taking pictures of all of them I will share the rest on my blog. The pictures are not all that great cause I took them outside in direct sunlight for best lighting but some have a glare.

i love how this turned out I put down a picture of just the scenery of the beach then placed an acetate overlay on top of the picture then cut out a picture of Madison acting like she was surfing then added the surf board die cut and used pop dots.

more Family Beach photos

2009-08-19T13:26:00.001-04:00

A few days late…..but as promised here are some more pictures from our Family photo shoot on the beach while on vacation in Florida.

Back from vacation

2009-08-15T13:03:00.001-04:00

Well we have been back from vacation for almost a week now and I am just now sitting down to post to my blog…not enough hours in the day...I am so behind it will take days to get my blog caught up but I am going to try a little each day to get it caught up.

Florida was nice and hot, like always but there was a cool breeze most of the days so it didn’t make it too unbearable. The day we got back to Virginia it was actually hotter here; the thermometer in my jeep read 101 degrees on Tuesday. This vacation was all about quality time with my family. I didn’t plan on doing much else ~no theme parks, just hanging out in Vero. I would have liked to have seen some of my friends longer but the days went by so fast and before you knew it it was almost time to leave. Marty flew in the second week we were there and got to spend a little time with his friend that still lives in Vero. But most of the time we were at Mom’s. We managed to go to the beach during the day with the girls, go to the pool and take our family pictures on the Beach in the evening. Which was one of the things I had planned to get done this year. Mom and I was able to do a little scrapping the first week I was there and also got to attend an all day until midnight crop at the scrapbook store she works at. We had lots of fun that day together doing what we love to do and I got 4 double page layouts done.

Here’s one of my favorite shots I took of the girls on the beach

more photos from the beach will be posted soon!!!!

Shame, Shame, Shame on me :(

2009-07-23T16:15:00.001-04:00

Well I have been a bad, bad girl when it comes to my blog postings. I haven’t posted in 2 months now, I really have NO excuse for what happened to me other than……LIFE happened!

Here’s a run down of what has been going on in my life since I last blogged….

Mom, Dad & Brother left after visiting
end of the school year activities
Summer started… kids home driving me crazy!
My husband’s friend from Florida came and spend a few days with us
Painted 3 bedrooms and my bathroom. all trim, baseboards & walls
had to move all furniture out of all 3 bedrooms for new carpet to be installed that took longer than expected (carpet guys showed up at 8:30 am and finished at 7:00p.m. it made for a long, long day then we had to move all furniture back into all rooms and organize it all back together)
my niece came to visit us to stay 3 weeks with us this Summer
Had a yard sale at my friend Becky’s house in Richmond took 2 truck loads of things to her house just stuff I’ve had for years up in the attic and other things I could live without.
Kaitlynn took her driving test for her license (2 days in a row road coarse test) good news is she passed with a perfect score….bad news is watch out Kaitlynn will be on the road and I will soon have no fingernails left for worrying myself every time she gets behind the wheel…there goes our insurance rates!!

Now if that is not enough of things going on….. now I am in the middle of packing for my annual, summer vacation trip to Florida for two weeks. The girls and I are driving(Amber my niece is driving back with us this year) down and then Marty flies down a week later stays one week with us and drives back with us. We leave early Saturday morning and drive all day 12 hours straight to Mom & Dad’s. Hope to get some really nice beach pictures this year and scrapbook with my Mom.

I will get caught up on my posts with tons more pictures when I get back from vacation….but i do have one post to do about our trip to Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens from the other day…i got some awesome pictures of the butterflies. I did manage to also update my blog topper.

Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardens

2009-07-23T16:00:00.000-04:00

What a beautiful place this was to visit. I met up with Becky & her kids, Wati & her kids for a nice day at Lewis Ginter in Richmond. I had Madison & her friend Savanah with me. Kaitlynn & Amber was not with me this day, they are still at the beach/Nags Head through this week with a friend of hers. So it was jut all the little ones. We spent most of the day walking through the gardens and going into the Butterflies Live area taking pictures!!! Then we ended up at the Children’s Garden where they had fountains for the kids to run through.

I went crazy and took a massive amount of pictures I could never share them all on the blog so I created an album on my shutterfly share page incase you wanted to view them all on there. Beware there are 273 pictures to view….enjoy :)

2009-07-23T15:55:00.000-04:00

Teresa Collins class

2009-05-20T14:18:00.001-04:00

Another major highlight of Mom's visit this spring was our planned trip to Mooresville, N.C. to attend one of Teresa Collins scrapbooking classes. We had planned this trip about one month in advance before mom got here. Once I found out Teresa Collins was coming to Moorseville from reading her blog I got all the info about it and we planned to go.

Mooresville is about 4 hours away from my house. Janice & Wati met up at my house early in the morning after I got the girls off to school and we headed out around 10:00 a.m. We drove straight down I 85 then met up with Janice's sister, Eva at Concord Mills Mall at A.C. Moore. Had lunch at the mall, then followed Eva the back way from the mall into Mooresville so we could shop at the Scrap Shack Scrapbook store owned by Kelly Earnhardt (Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s sister). We shopped a little and then had to rush to Eva's daughter's house where we were staying overnight to change and make it to JR Motorsports by 7:00 p.m. where the class was being held in the conference room.

2009-05-20T14:00:00.000-04:00

Here we all are getting a lesson on how to use the zutter properly....I have had my zutter bind it all for quite sometime now and I can NOW honestly say I know how to use it like your supposed to. I learned a few new tricks about the zutter from Teresa.

2009-05-20T13:55:00.000-04:00

Lunch & Pretty Toes

2009-05-20T09:49:00.001-04:00

While in town (05/05/2009) Mom & I had to have a Pedicure....just had to! We met up with friends (Wati & Janice) for lunch at Sagebrush and then headed over to get our toes all pretty. We laughed, cracked jokes and snapped pictures the whole time, I think the lady that was giving us our pedicures thought we were crazy! We were in our own little world that day.

Bird Watching

2009-05-19T18:57:00.001-04:00

One of the things Mom & I enjoyed doing one afternoon while she was visiting was to watch the birds at the bird feeders. We have some of the most beautiful wild birds that come to our feeders in the spring they vary from yellow birds, blue birds, cardinals, doves, gray & black finches, robins & even big black crows. Not really sure what some of them are but they are so pretty. We have a little gray & black finch that makes a nest in our hanging green birdhouse every spring. I am not sure if it is the same bird that comes back every year, but for the past 5 years the same type of bird makes a nest in there. I watch him/her fly in and out bringing twigs and what ever they can find to make a nest. I have the feeders placed out by the edge of the woods out from my kitchen window so I can watch them while I do dishes. I think the yellow ones are American goldfinches but not for sure.

Madison's 8th Birthday party

2009-05-19T17:49:00.001-04:00

Story of our Indoor/Outdoor Party

Well it started out looking like it was going to be a nice day, weather wise and continued to look like the rain was going to pass over us. So we began the party outside as planned at 2:00 in the afternoon with hot dogs on the grill. Then the kids were ready to do their first activity. We could hear thunder in the distance, but it was sunny so we stayed hopeful it would pass by.

The thunder started getting closer so we decided to go ahead and gather around the cupcakes and sing Happy Birthday. We started serving cupcakes & ice cream to all the kids and right in the middle of them eating it started to sprinkle. It was a little sun shower just as sunny as can be. All the adults frantically took all the presents and the rest of the cupcakes inside so they wouldn't get wet. The kids finished their cupcakes in the rain...then it started to rain harder so we all bolted indoors to do the presents inside.

After all the drama of the rain was over and presents were opened it stopped raining. Everyone...even the cupcakes went back outside so the kids could have another cupcake. As they were eating, it started to rain again...so we all ran to the front porch, just as we got there it stopped raining and the sun popped back out and it was almost like it never rained at all....How CRAZY was that!

We dried off all the tables & chairs outside so we could set up for the girls to decorate their foam crowns. While the girls were doing that the boys played outside looking for caterpillars. By this time it was after 5:00 and was getting late, some of the girls had left. Then it was back inside for the night to start the sleep over. We painted fingernails, watched movies, popped popcorn and stayed up late!! What an eventful day we had, it sure was a birthday to remember :)

2009-05-19T17:35:00.000-04:00

Field Trip

2009-05-19T11:13:00.001-04:00

Madison had a field trip to Henricus Park with her 2nd grade class to learn about the Powhatan Indians the first week Mom was here. Mom & I both went on the field trip as chaperones, it had been a long time since mom had rode a school bus :) Madison got picked to be a helper to show the class how they paddled their canoes. I'm so glad the weather held up for us, there was talk of rain in the forecast but it ended up being an overcast day...not too hot & not too cold. It was a short field trip by the time we walked through the park with our guide, ate our picnic bagged lunch and went to the gift shop it was time to head back to school.

Madison's & her best friend Audra

Making cupcakes

2009-05-19T09:46:00.001-04:00

This year for Madison's Birthday we decided to make cupcakes instead of the same ole' traditional Birthday cake. I thought it would be more fun for Madison to bake & decorate them herself, she had fun making a big mess with all the food coloring & icing , but it was all worth it...plus the best part of it all was licking the bowl!!!!! When we got done the cupcakes looked like Easter eggs :)

Back from "Blogcation"

2009-05-18T09:29:00.001-04:00

Well it seems like it's been ages since I last blogged. I have SO MUCH to post about... so I will be posting like crazy over the next few days to catch up on the happenings from over the past three weeks. Picked up Mom from airport on Sunday night, April 26th and since then I feel like I have been on a constant roller coaster.

We crammed everything possible in those three weeks that we could.....except......what we really wanted to do was scrapbook. There was just NO time to scrapbook. We had thought that we would drag a small project out at night and work on it, but by then we were too exhausted we were ready for bed. We stayed on the go the entire time she was here.

All of us went to the Strawberry Patch on Mother's Day, the weather was so perfect. It was so nice to be with my Mom on Mother's Day, it had been 9 years since we had spent a Mother's Day together.

The first week was all about shopping, getting things ready for Madison's birthday party and sewing Madison's new curtains & my valances.
The second week we took a much needed planned girls overnight trip with some friends to Mooresville, N.C. to attend a Scrapbook class taught by Teresa Collins at JR Motorsports. We had a blast!!!!
The third week my Dad & Brother drove up from Florida to stay a week with us and to be here for Kailtynn's dance recital. It was on the go every night that week with dance rehearsals then the show on Friday and Saturday nights.

You would think 3 weeks would be a long time to visit, but it went by SO FAST, she left on Saturday and I miss her like crazy already. It's back to the normal routine today. I am trying hard to get into the groove of things, but it may take a few days for that. Got to pick up Madison today early from school for her first ever dental appointment, then to Wal-mart for groceries...see told ya back to the routine.

Happy Birthday Madison!!!

2009-04-23T18:47:00.001-04:00

Today is Madison's 8th Birthday and boy did I have a MAJOR SURPRISE for her when she came home from school toady!

I went yesterday and bought her all new bedroom furniture (post bed, computer desk & hutch, tall skinny dresser which the furniture store calls a lingerie dresser, and a regular dresser) I did all this yesterday and worked all night and all day today re-arranging and setting everything up with all new bedding. I had to tell a little white lie last night and told her I shampoo'ed her carpets and they were wet and she couldn't walk on them so she had to sleep in our bed last night. Then this morning I had all of her clothes in the living room for her to get dressed so she never went in her room. After she got all ready for school, I dropped her off and came back home and worked like a mad woman getting everything all set up. I had to force myself to stop and eat something at 2:30. I was working on an adrenaline high non-stop.

I had it all planned out for when she got home. After I picked her up from the bus stop I ran inside and told her I had to go potty really bad,which gave me enough time for Kaitlynn and I to get inside her room. Kaitlynn had my camera and I had the my old camera with video all ready. As soon as she walked in the house I called for her, once she finally found out where I was (in her room) she walked in. It was as if a celebrity walking into the paparazzi...we were snapping away and the video was rolling. (It's so funny when you watch the mini video clip all you see is flash, flash, flash, flash) She was so excited beyond belief!

She had NO clue it was a TOTAL surprise. She said this was the best Birthday EVER!!!

All that is left to do is to paint the walls PINK, sew the curtains from the extra set of sheets to match, wait on the canopy frame to come in and the new computer chair that matches the desk to come in (they had to be ordered)

Zoo trip during Spring Break

2009-04-20T23:55:00.001-04:00

Well it's back to school this week and on with getting back to the daily routine. I think we got ripped off...with the weather being so rainy for the first 3 days. We spent the first few days around the house not doing much of anything besides some much needed laundry. Then by the middle of the week we were ready to get out of the house. Kaitlynn had plans to go to the beach (OBX/Naggs head) with a friend Wednesday through Friday so that left just Madison & I. We managed to squeeze in a little Mommy & Me time on Wednesday I took Madison to see the new Hannah Montana Movie, it was really good even better than I had expected. It turned out to be a family movie for all ages, not just a chick-a-dee flick.

The weather finally started to get better by Friday, that figures, so we planned on a trip to the Zoo for Saturday. It was a bit crowded, but what a perfect day I think it got up to 80 degrees with a constant breeze so it just felt perfect. I snapped a total of 200 pictures at the zoo and guess what , not even ONE of me in it.....oh well next time. We are always AMAZED at the giraffes they are such magnificent animals, I think I could sit and watch them all day long. Madison & Kaitlynn got to pet and feed the giraffes and one of them got really up close and personal he licked both of them right across the face and neck....GROSS, but it was extremely funny and was the highlight of the day for them. Here are a few of the pics I took.

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I always take TONS more pictures of the giraffes they are my favorite zoo animal

2009-04-20T23:45:00.000-04:00

and a few more random pictures of the animals

This guy here was another one of my favorites (lemur), he was just posing for the camera big time!! ***The ring tailed lemur shown here below was Madison's favorite, she said he reminded her of King Julian on Madagascar***The baby camel was so cute***

Easter Snapshots

2009-04-16T00:31:00.001-04:00

Before we left to meet with the family at Uncle Richard's house I managed to get all of us out in the front yard and snap a few family pictures. I sure wish I had a tripod so I could have taken a few pictures with the four of us all together {that is on my wish list to get very soon} I will be posting more pictures later as I upload them of Madison coloring eggs and the Easter Egg Hunt, which was only for Madison. She is the only small child on my husband's side of the family so we had an egg hunt just for her. All 30 of the plastic eggs were filled with candy, jewelry and dollar bills!! I don't know what was more fun for Madison, finding the eggs or opening them all up and seeing what was inside. I am so very blessed to have such a wonderful family, we had a very nice Easter :)

2009-04-16T00:25:00.000-04:00

Jellybean Chicks

2009-04-10T10:15:00.001-04:00

I got this crafty idea from this website and decided that I was going to tackle these little chicks. I went shopping this week to gather all supplies and starting making them, they were really easy to make. Madison just thought it was the cutest thing, she brought one to her teacher today and we plan to give them out to all the ladies on Easter Sunday for our family gathering. Slight problem though...we got the really good sweet tart jelly beans and we kept eating the jelly beans while filling up the bags...oops :)

Hope everyone has a very HAPPY EASTER

Blog Giveaway Winner

2009-04-10T10:01:00.001-04:00

Congrats to Trudie L. she is the winner of my blog giveaway

your FREE stamp set will be on it's way to you on Monday!!

Thanks to all who entered.

Tina :)

Birthday Layout

2009-04-07T11:46:00.001-04:00

This 12 x 12 double page layout coordinates back to my latest Birthday album class. I used a few left over things from class and carried over the same colors and owl as I did in the Birthday album. I am awaiting Madison's 8th Birthday later this month and her party coming up on May 2nd so I can actually add my pictures to this layout. I plan to add maybe one larger picture & small ones to the left side and lots of small pictures to the right.

Mini Sheep box

2009-04-07T11:08:00.001-04:00

Amazing what you can do with dollar bin items at Michaels. I found the cutest farm animal mini boxes & mini note cards in the dollar bins and decided to make a mini accordion album out of the note cards and added pictures to each page to fit inside the mini box. I chose sheep but they also had horses, ducks, pigs, birds, & cows. You could combine all of the animals together and it would be perfect for small pictures of a trip to an animal farm, all in one mini box. ( The pictures I added was too perfect for this, last Fall when we visited the pumpkin patch they had sheep where you could pet them I snapped a bunch of pictures and printed those to fit on each page)

I have an Aunt, (Aunt Frances) who just absolutely goes crazy for sheep. So when my eye caught the sheep boxes I had to get it and come up with an idea for it to scrapbook it somehow and surprise her. It seems like now when I find anything with a sheep on it I think of her. After I made her one I loved how it turned out so much I went back and bought more sheep dollar bin items and made me one too!!! Michaels also had the ribbon, bar soap, mini tissue packs for your purse, cards, journals, etc...with the farm animals on it. I also bought one of each of those and bagged everything up so pretty in tissue paper and tied it with the sheep ribbon and sent my Aunt a little Easter Surprise. So instead of the Easter Bunny visiting her she will have a visit by the Easter Sheep.....LOL :)

Her package has now arrived to her doorstep so I can now share it here with you.

Planting Flowers

2009-04-06T07:37:00.001-04:00

What a gorgeous weekend we had here...the weather was so beautiful on Sunday, it got us all in the mood for planting flowers. We took a trip to Lowe's and bought lots of flowers and spent the day outside planting. Kaitlynn was in charge of planting the creeping phlox around the blooming pear trees and she also helped me plant flowers all beside the sidewalk. I still have more work to do today outside cleaning out leaves around the azalea's and trimming back some of the ground covering. Nothing like a little bit of yard work and gardening to remind me of how much I am out of shape, every muscle and bone I have aches this morning. Here's a few pics from yesterday, I have to take more of the overall view once I finish up today.

Blog Giveaway

2009-04-03T22:16:00.001-04:00

It's time for my first Blog Giveaway :)

One lucky person will win a Hampton Art Clear stamp set by Ellen Krans "Family" this set is so darling and much larger than I thought it was from the picture online. It measures 6x8 (retail value $12.99)

I need your help.....I am trying to build my customer database for my online store www.classdetails.com Word of mouth is the best form of advertisement and without having a storefront it is hard to attract new customers on large scale. I am wanting to extend savings to more customers by sending out email newsletters for my monthly specials. So you ask what's in it for me? Well the more people that order, the more savings I can offer!

All you have to do to enter for the drawing is...

Leave a comment on this post
Send me an email to TinkersP@live.com with 5 of your scrapbooking friends names & email addresses so I can add them to my store email database
Do steps 1 & 2 by Wednesday, April 8th midnight

{I will draw the big winner on April 9th ,winner will be announced on my blog}

Good Luck !

*****************************************************************************

**There will be a part 2 to this giveaway {for another giveaway} just in time for my upcoming May monthly special offer. Next month's special offer will be on Maya Road Products!!! {If two of your friends that you shared with me place an order for the May specials, you will receive an additional 10% off of your total purchase for your May order... that's a whopping 30% off}

So spread the word about Class Details' monthly specials to all your friends. Thanks so much for you help and your continued support.

Tina :)

{Busy month of April}

2009-04-03T01:15:00.001-04:00

April calendar and new background blog couture downloaded from House of 3. Click on the blinkie on the left side of my blog to visit House of 3 website, they have some really cool new downloads for spring!

Bit by the "creative" bug

2009-04-02T22:05:00.001-04:00

Okay I have been bit by the creative bug the past few days, I took a little time to actually scrapbook a layout and it's not digital! Now that my scrapbook table is back to a clean slate I have been in the mood to scrap. I just have two more commitments to finish up that I am working on for a few ladies then I will be able to squeeze more time to scrapbook my personal layouts again. I am looking forward to that!

Gotta use up some of my new supplies before they are considered "old" by the scrapbook media......lol I can't keep up, barely do we get a chance to purchase some of the brand new items from one CHA show then guess what.....here comes another CHA with more fresh new products. Will the madness ever end!!! But who am I foolin' I love it and I admit it, I am addicted!

It's a little hard to tell by these pictures but I was actually holding the camera up myself to snap these pictures (yes, my DSLR...and let me add that is not easy to do, it was very heavy with one hand) It took many shots to get a few good ones. I can't believe how PERFECT the pattern paper matches Madison's shirt, it was like it was made for it. And yes I am in love with all of the owls right now, seems like that is the latest craze!!!

Love these Maya Road layered chipboard trees, branches are inked up and top of tree is covered with pattern paper. The little owls are believe it or not puffy stickers by Sandylion at Michaels', had to have those!!

Added a little Crystal Effects to a printed die cut and to some die cut flowers to give them some dimension.

Signs of Spring

2009-04-02T07:44:00.001-04:00

Snapping some pictures around my yard yesterday. The grass is starting to turn so green and blooms are amazingly appearing overnight. These little things remind me how beautiful this time of year is. Can't wait until all the azalea's start to bloom they are white, pink & purple. I am hoping for nice weather this weekend to do a little "over needed" planting in my flower beds.

I have been "spring" cleaning in my scrap area so I am finding that my creativeness is coming back to me and I am wanting to scrapbook more lately. I have made a few new things I will share very soon, plus gathering all supplies for my next class all details will be posted about the class next week for sign-ups

Happy Spring :)

Handmade bookmarks

2009-03-30T10:42:00.001-04:00

I can now share these on my blog, I made these last month for my Aunt who lives in W.V. as a gift. She loves to read books and needed more bookmarks so I decided to surprise her and make her a few special ones with pictures. Now that her package has been sent and she has gotten them I can share them here.

The picture on this one is a picture I had from a few years ago of her and her husband when they came to visit me back in 2004

this picture has a little glare on it, since this one I laminated by hand with transparencies to protect the pictures on front and back.

Double sided sticky tape order

2009-03-29T13:06:00.001-04:00

Spring Savings!

www.classdetails.com (my online store)

Double sided sticky tape on a roll...1/4" wide with a whopping 21 yards on each roll

This sticky tape is just about as strong as the red tacky tape on a roll which you only get about 5 yards on a roll.

This tape is "the best" when it comes to adhering ribbon and covering chipboard albums

Order Details

$2.00 per roll

Sold in quantities of 10 ($20.00)

Order 30 or more and price will be $1.75 per roll

Place your order by Friday, April 10th

All orders will need to be pre-paid before I place the order!

Need to place order by email send order to TinkersP@live.com

I will send you a paypal invoice that will include shipping charges

Don't miss out on this order!!!!

I only order this tape twice a year in bulk the next order will not be until the Fall.....

stock up now and save!!!

All local orders will need to add 5% VA sales tax plus $3.00 shipping

Out of state orders there will be NO sales tax and I will need to calculate your shipping charges on your paypal invoice

Thanks,

Tina Powell :)

2nd Grade Play

2009-03-20T08:11:00.001-04:00

Madison's 2nd Grade Play,"How Does Your Garden Grow?" was Tuesday night. They all did such a great job. The play was so cute and the songs they sang were just too funny. It was all about Spring and gardening, so some of the kids costumes were cabbage, weeds, scarecrow, farmer, bunny & flowers. Madison was a Flower and had a small speaking part.

spreading a little green

2009-03-12T14:46:00.001-04:00

Well it's not quite St. Patrick's Day yet but I thought I would spread a little green around for good luck! Kaitlynn and her friend went to a high school baseball game this past weekend and they both had on green shirts so I thought how perfect for St. Patty's Day. Then Wati & I went out to lunch one day last week and we too both wore green shirts...and we didn't even plan it that way, it was too funny when we both showed up in green.

Photo book

2009-03-12T12:06:00.001-04:00

Fed Ex came today! I was so excited to get my package...I made a photo book of some of the snow pictures and had it printed through www.blurb.com Don't know if you have heard of this company but I love their site for photo book printing. In the past I have uploaded my pictures to other sites and made photo books, but I really like blurb. Here are some of the pros I found out about why I love this site.

One of the main reasons...once you download their photo book software you work right from that program on your computer and import your pictures from your computer.
You do not have to upload each and every photo one at a time to their site, it simply imports your pictures inside the downloaded program and you work on your book at your own pace.
Plus it auto saves each page as you go along so you don't have to worry about losing what you just did.
You can use any font loaded in your computer for your journaling inside and on the front, back covers & spine.
They have tons of templates to choose from and it super easy to drop your pictures right into the template. Then when your all done you upload the entire book to their site, it takes you right there to place an order.
Another really cool feature that this site has is for all us "bloggers" out there, you can turn your blog into a book!!! Really easy to do. I might try that too!!

This is a cool way to get lots of pictures in one book, since we take so many pictures through out the year it is nearly impossible to scrapbook them all it would cost you a fortune to print all of your pictures out. I love making mini scrapbook albums but as much as I love making them there are some pictures that you would simply not print for a mini album so this is a good way to get all your pictures in one place. Great idea for Year in Review book. Not to take the place of scrapbook pages but so you could have an overall picture book with all your pictures in one place.

The book below that I ordered is a 8 1/2 x 11 in size, Image wrap hard cover, 32 pages total. The cost was fairly reasonable and comparable with other photo book sites. I paid around $32.00 all together for the book plus shipping. I am very happy with the way it turned out and will be making more in the near future.

**Now that I have my first book in my hands and am very pleased with the way it turned out I am so ready to make my next book.

{Snow Day "Photo Shoot"}

2009-03-10T08:06:00.001-04:00

more snow pics

2009-03-10T07:18:00.001-04:00

As promised I do have more snow pictures to share with you, but just a little slow getting them posted. I did not get on the computer all weekend and wasn't feeling the greatest Sunday and Monday. I am trying to get back on track today with lots of things to do, I am up early with coffee in hand to start my day. Already got Kaitlynn off to school as she catches the bus at 6:30 Madison will be getting up at 7:30 to start her day and get ready for school. So I have a few minutes of silence to myself. I can't post them all because we took hundreds of pictures on the second day of the snow during our "Snow Photo Shoot" with Wati & the kids.

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2009-03-10T07:12:00.000-04:00

2009-03-10T07:00:00.000-04:00

Snow Days

2009-03-04T01:24:00.001-05:00

Wow what a nice surprise on Sunday....and in March of all times our biggest snow fall in a very long time. We measured right at 7" at my house. The girls were in aahhhh when they woke up on Monday morning and looked out the window to a blanket of snow everywhere. Then to find out there was NO school, what could be better than that? After we ate a late breakfast we got all bundled up and played in the snow for a few hours. We built a very small snowman, if there was ever an award for the smallest snowman I think it would go to us. LOL . Then we came back inside to thaw out a bit. I thought Madison would want to go back out and play again, but I was surprised when she said it was too cold and she didn't want to go back outside again. I was fine with that cause it was really cold out there and I had already took 131 pictures so I was fine with that.

Tuesday(today), NO school again! Time for more pictures I snapped a few of the girls outside, then Kaitlynn left and went sledding with friends. My friend {Wati and her kids} and Madison & I went out to lunch and came back to the house and guess what we did?????? Yep, more pictures, this time I was not the only one taking pictures so I was actually in a lot of the pictures. Wati set up her tripod and we had both the Nikon and Canon going, we had lots of fun on our Snow Day Photo Shoot. I haven't yet counted how many pics in all both of us took today but I know it was LOTS!!! I will share a few in this post and I am thinking about uploading them later online to one of my photo galleries and post a link so you can go view the rest later if you'd like...

Oh by the way.....NO School again tomorrow its 12 degrees out there right now and the roads are expected to still be icy in the morning so we get yet another SNOW DAY.

Facebook addiction

2009-02-27T22:06:00.001-05:00

Okay I admit it....I did not do a very good job on keeping up with my things to do list for this week.YIKES!!! But it's not all my fault, I partially blame my friend Becky.....lol She got me hooked on Facebook and once I got started I was hooked. Okay Becky I will let you slide this time...I can honestly say I did everything up until Wednesday on my to do list, I was doing so good right on schedule. Until....I discovered Facebook!!

I have been reconnecting with friends from High School and friends from my hometown. Wow to believe in just 2 years it will be 20 years since I graduated High School. That makes me feel older than I am. I have contacted lots of my friends and they are all doing so good and it was fun to see pictures of their kids and find out where they live. Seems like most of them moved away (like me) and are all spread out over the United States and some still live back home in Vero Beach. What a small world we really do live in.

If you haven't started a Facebook account and want to reunite with your old High School friends or just have anyone from your past you want to catch up on, you can go to www.facebook.com and sign up and look them up. WARNING!!!!!! IT IS ADDICTIVE AND DON'T EXPECT TO GET ANY HOUSEWORK DONE OR SCRAPBOOKING DONE FOR ATLEAST THE FIRST WEEK OR SO...ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

3 things that make me happy right now

2009-02-24T16:24:00.001-05:00

I think spring fever has started a bit early, I found myself starring at all of the Martha Stewart punches thinking Hmmm...which ones do I need...{want more like it}

I couldn't make up my mind cause I wanted so many of them but had to control myself and do a few at a time. At Michaels they are all now 25% off this week, which I know I could wait until they are not on sale and get them for 40% off but that would just mean many, many trips to Michaels to use coupon after coupon and who has time for that. So I broke down and got three of them!!!

I had to have the owl, he's too cute and I never paid attention to the box until I got home not only does he punch out, the punch embosses the eyes and tummy, so that's a bonus. Not sure why butterflies are now the latest craze but they seem to be everywhere now. They are also growing on me too so yep had to have those.

I have been a bad, bad blogger lately not posting much lately. I have made myself a "to do" list for this week, I thought if I post it here it would be official, right? and not just sitting on my sticky notepad. Maybe that would give me the determination to get it done!!

Monday...e-file taxes & pay bills online {check}
Tuesday...run errands & Grocery shopping {check}
...so far doing good!
Wednesday...clean house for sister in law coming over for dinner Lasagna, yummy!!
Thursday...do laundry along with washing my bed sheets and between loads clean off my scrapbooking table...get it back to a clean slate.
Friday...Scrapbook!!! If all goes well hopefully I will have time to do this one.

*******If I scrapbook I promise I will share what I made on my blog.... :)*********

Moto Moto

2009-02-20T17:53:00.001-05:00

Ever since Valentine's Day when Madison got the Madagascar 2 movie we have been singing the Moto Moto song "Big & Chunky" from the movie. Here is the video of the song...its too funny

Enjoy :)

New Stamps for sale

2009-02-18T17:47:00.001-05:00

I sent out an email today with a PDF file with all the pictures and prices of all the NEW clear stamp sets I am wanting to order. They are all brand new 2009 releases and will start shipping out March 22nd. I tried to find out how to insert the PDF file into my blog, but I couldn't figure it out so if you didn't get an email from me and are interested in ordering any of the stamp sets listed below you can email me at TinkersP@live.com I can email you the PDF file so you can view the pictures and prices of all the stamp sets.

Oh and the best news is...they are all 20% off retail prices if you order this month!!!!! :)

Be Mine....Valentine

2009-02-17T12:40:00.002-05:00

Okay, so it's a little late posting about Valentine's Day, but here it is anyways. I have had major issues with my computer lately. I had contracted a spyware problem when I downloaded some digital freebies and it really messed my computer up. After many days of downloading things to fix my computer and spyware destroy programs, I do believe it is all fixed for now. So I am a little behind and have some catching up to do in the blogging world.

Happy Valentine's Day

2009-02-17T11:50:00.000-05:00

captured snapshots

2009-02-01T16:25:00.002-05:00

Here is a digital layout I made today with a new digital kit "photogenic" that I downloaded from oscraps.com click here to view the kit...it is awesome!!!

My Mom the BIG Winner!!!! :)

2009-01-31T23:01:00.001-05:00

Okay how cool is this???? Mom & I had been visiting blogs here like crazy during and after CHA to see all of the new stuff coming out in Spring and we must have entered hundreds....of giveaways....well maybe not quite that many but we lost count after day two. No luck with any of them....Until...one of our last ones we had entered was for the DreamKuts machine on Teresa Collins blog never in a million years thinking either one of us would win..... My mom was one of the LUCKY winners, I am so happy and excited for her!!! She happened to be at a all day crop today when I found out and I had to call her on her cell and tell her the wonderful news. She was speechless, well after she screamed with excitement...We LOVE Teresa Collins!!!!

Here is the blog post where Teresa Collins posted about entering the giveaway. If you click on this link it will take you to all of the comments and you will see mine and my Moms comments.

Well I checked the Teresa Collins blog update tonight and guess what I saw?

Before I forget the WINNERS from the POST: PLEASE email me WHAT you won and your address. I get a lot of emails and need you to help me be organized. Ha!

The TWO DreamKut winners are:
1. Heather from the RED BEE class- (you did not put a last name) 1/25/09
2. Marty Kersey 1/23/09 posted at 9:48am

The TWO blue bind it alls go to-
1. Karen Tabor 1/23/09 10:09 am
2. Barbara from NC 1/29/09

Congrats GIRLS!!!!!

If you go here this will take you to teresacollinsdesigns website where she shows a video demo of the DreamKuts machine in action.

Feeling "Froggy"

2009-01-31T13:40:00.001-05:00

After Bubbles (Madison's goldfish) went to Fishy Heaven Madison was a little sad and wanted to get another goldfish until she got the idea to get frogs instead. Around Christmas time they had a booth in the center of the mall where they were selling African Dwarf frogs, she saw them and that is what she wanted to spend a little bit of her Christmas money on. She picked out the one she wanted with the hot pink rocks and on our way home we were picking out names for them. They come two in a tank, she thought of all kind of weird & unique names but after much consideration & thought she decided to name them "Jack & Jill". They are very low maintence since they only need to be fed twice a week and due to the bamboo and live rocks in the bottom & the snail inside their habitat, the tank only needs to be cleaned twice a year. She has been keeping up with the feeding schedule pretty good. They are the funniest things to watch. I captured the neatest picture the other morning on feeding day.

This one is my favorite....I love how her reflection is on both sides of the tank.

Valentine's inspiration

2009-01-31T13:16:00.001-05:00

With Valentine's Day approaching fast I have been seeing nothing but love cards, layouts & altered projects every where posted on blogs. I couldn't help to get get bit by the LOVE BUG too. I have been wanting to make some Valentine's cards myself, using my new CTMH owl stamp set, "Whoo loves you" and I have had a SU stamp set for quite a while now with a cute little tree with hearts "sheltering tree" so I decided to combine the two stamp sets to creative my Valentine's this year.

gather supplies first stamp all images

cut, "smut" (ink around edges), punch

assemble & add ribbon

more cutting & smutting

punch scallops, stamp, & assemble background for the card

complete assembling cards, punch holes inside scallops & smut all edges

add sentiment inside (optional)

make cute little box

Free Spirit

2009-01-31T12:53:00.001-05:00

One day this past week when Madison got home from school she just had too much energy to come inside and watch T.V. she wanted to run & twirl around in the front yard and enjoy some much needed fresh air. Lately it has been really cold & rainy here and not much fun to go outside, even recess at school has been a bit short. So I went and grabbed my camera and snapped away, it was a good thing cause you would never know it by these pictures but not 15 minutes after we came inside it clouded up even more and poured down raining.

more stamps from Art Warehouse

2009-01-26T14:16:00.001-05:00

Here are some more new stamps from Art Warehouse that I will be taking PRE-orders for in February on my website.....I will be posting images with prices on my website very soon. Remember for the month of February if you do the PRE-order via email they will be 20% off. After that I will still order them but the discount will be back to my everyday discount of 10% off.

these three sets shown above are the NEW "Get Rollin' stamp sets they are so cool because you can use them on the roller with the gripper strips to make backgrounds, or just use them by themselves on a clear block like normal.

here's a close up of one of the images

Making Memories giveaway

2009-01-26T11:47:00.002-05:00

I am keeping up with all the new items at CHA and have been blogging like crazy. Making Memories has a really nice give away (the new Just Chillin' collection) on their blog click here to see the slide show of the new product line they are giving away....all you got to do is make a comment on their blog post. Go check it out!! :) But hurry fast cause they're giveaways are fast...you have to almost have their blog open and minimized and keep checking back to see when the next giveaway is.

"Capture the little stuff" mini tag album

2009-01-25T11:46:00.001-05:00

Here is just a little chipboard tag album I created this week . I wanted to use some of my Heidi Swapp , Ali Edwards & Art Warehouse clear stamps. I've had this paper for sometime now wanting to make something with it and finally I got to it! I just love this color combo....saffron yellow, baby blue & cranberry red.

PS...Mom, don't worry you will have one for your Valentine surprise package, but I guess it won't be much of a surprise now!!!! LOL

New stamps for pre-order

2009-01-25T11:24:00.001-05:00

Just wanted to give you all a sneak peak of some of the new clear stamps that will be coming out from Creative Cafe and Art Warehouse. I will be having a Pre-Order SPECIAL on these stamps shown below on my store web site . Most likely I will be placing my PRE-Order sometime late February-early March, because they will start shipping out on March 23rd. If you are interested you can email me @ TinkersP@live.com and let me know which sets you are interested in and I will respond with pricing & discounts. At the end of February, before I place the order, I will send each of you a paypal email invoice which you can PREPAY right from that or for the local ladies you can just send payment through the mail. Remember all my PRE-Orders will be 20% off for that month only after that the discount will be back to 10% off.

new items coming from CHA

2009-01-21T07:01:00.001-05:00

Is everyone as anxious as I am about seeing all the new, fun, cool stuff that will be hitting the stores soon? If you are a Creative Cafe junkie (like I am) then you will defiantly want to check out the creative cafe blog for their new posts each day showing all their new items. I love all the new stamps coming out, plus the new owl accucut dies, they are so cute.

PS...The new stamps will be available for ordering soon, I can place my pre-order anytime and they will start shipping out March 23rd.....If your interested please let me know, cause I will be placing an order for my online store.

If you want to see more, more, more sneak peaks from CHA 09 click on this link here. But be sure to take a potty break and get a big cup of coffee, you will be a while.....Enjoy!!!

making your own snow globes

2009-01-18T10:27:00.001-05:00

Valentine Snow Globes by Lori Gentile

Lori Gentile created an awesome How to for this adorable Valentine's Day project!!

Supplies Needed:
Larger size baby food jars
Enamel paint
Foam brushes
Glitter (fine or light weight)
Glycerine (found in the cake decorating section or the drug store)
Ribbon and other Valentine's Day looking embellishments
Glue Dots
Self-Sealing Laminating sheets or Xyron machine
I found this fun article in a Martha Stewart Holiday Projects Idea book on making snow globes out of food jars. You can use any jar, baby food jars, olive jars, etc. I thought it would make an adorable gift for Valentine's day and being the scrapbooker that I am, I wanted to include photos inside the jars, instead of just plastic or ceramic pieces. This project is super easy to do. It's really fun and your recipient will LOVE them. This is a great craft to do with children, as well.
How to:
1. Remove the label from the jar.
2. Remove any food from the jar and wash. Soak the jar for a while in hot water to remove the label adhesive on the outside of the jar.
3. Paint the lid the color of your choice. Use an enamel paint to prevent chipping. Set it aside to dry. Mine took two coats.
4. Print a vertical photo that is between .25" - .5" less than the width of your lid. My photo was 1.5" x 2.25" for my baby food jar.
5. Make a duplicate photo that is exactly the same size (or use a different image, if you like) and adhere them back to back making one image.
6. Run the photo through the Xyron to laminate. If you don't have a Xyron you can use self-sealing laminating sheets found in any office supply section or store. If you use these sheets, you will want to cut two of the same size pieces that are around 1.5" larger than your photo all the way around. Remove the backing from one piece and place your photo in the center. Make sure to rub out any bubbles. Remove the backing from the second piece and place the adhesive side onto the adhesive side of your photo piece. Rub out any bubbles and run your nails along the edges of your photo to get a good seal. Cut the excess laminate from around your picture. Leave about a .25" of adhesive around the photo and be sure there is no air between the layers.
7. Fill the empty jar to the top with water.
8. Add in a pinch or two of glitter.
9. Add a tiny drop of glycerine to keep the glitter from falling too fast to the bottom. Too much glycerine will cause the glitter to stick to the bottom of the jar.
10. Turn your photo upside down and place it into the water.
11. Carefully tighten the lid onto the jar.
12. Turn it over and give it a shake. Isn't the float-y effect of the loose image (this is why you want an image on both sides, so it can turn around in the jar) with all the fun glitter snow super cool?
13. Place the jar on it's painted lid and decorate the outside at will. You can put things on the very top or anywhere you like. Just keep in mind you still need to see the image in the jar when you are done.
If you want to include other things inside the jar, use only plastic or ceramic pieces. Metal pieces will rust in the water. You will want to sand the inside of your lid and use an epoxy adhesive to glue down any plastic or ceramic objects. Some fun ideas are plastic hearts, plastic flowers, and white plastic trees. This can be a great homemade gift idea for a Teacher, Aunt, Grandmother, Father, etc., for the holiday. Enjoy!

{Sweet Sixteen}

2009-01-16T18:50:00.001-05:00

Happy Birthday Kaitlynn, Love Mom

When Kaitlynn got home from school today she had a cake that her friends bought for her. That was sweet of them to surprise her with a cake on her Birthday!!

a few digitals to share

2009-01-16T14:48:00.002-05:00

week 3/365

2009-01-16T12:16:00.002-05:00

Here is a picture of my week 3 page. Well technically the week isn't quite over but I already had the pictures for the week to finish the page. Any pictures I take on Saturday I will print and put into the 4x6 photo sleeve. New week starts on Sunday.

Birthday Shopping

2009-01-15T10:42:00.001-05:00

Yesterday I went out to shop for Kaitlynn's Birthday present. I wanted to give her a present to open, instead of just giving her money. Since I had a little idea of what she wanted and knew what she would spend her money on, I went ahead and got it for her. She had mentioned to me over the Christmas she had wanted a new Vera Bradley lunch bag and a new Vera Bradley zip around wallet. All the new colors & designs just came out 2 days ago so I got to look at all of the new patterns. They are all so pretty. I snapped some pictures inside the gift shop (Maggie's), they had everything displayed so nice. I was in Vera Bradley Heaven!!!

outside pictures

2009-01-14T22:43:00.001-05:00

Kaitlynn had her friend Alison come over today after school and I snapped some pictures of them, plus I handed the camera to Alison so she could get some pictures of me with the girls. Which doesn't happen too often, I had to take advantage of this moment...so glad I did.

Project 365

2009-01-13T23:00:00.002-05:00

By now I am sure you have heard about the new Project 365 by Becky Higgins, if not you can check out her blog here for more details. Plus if your a digi scrapper there are lots of digital sites out there that have element kits and PSD templates for you to download and use to take the Project 365 digital. That's exactly what I did!!!! I wanted to do this project, but missed out on the Becky Higgins version, I decided to do my own version. I downloaded a PSD layered template here at sweet shoppe designs and an element kit here at sugarplum paperie. There are also so many others from other digital sites I may download later to add on my pages as the year goes on.

All my pages I am creating digitally and printing them out myself in an 8x8 format, but leaving the white border around the edges so I can punch my holes to bind the book with rings. I am also using the Stampin' Up scalloped border punch for the bottom of all my pages. The covers are clear acrylic I cut to size myself. I will be adding flowers, metal embellishments, chipboard, rub-ons, ribbon, etc... to my printed digital pages to add a little bit of the hybrid side to it. I am going to try to keep it the same template all the way through the album, just may flip it her and there to change it up a little with the size of pictures, just to keep the main pages symmetrical. I will be adding mini insert 6x6 pages in protectors and 4x6 pictures in photo sleeves in between the main weekly pages that will have extra pictures or for extra journaling. Instead of trying to make sure I take a picture everyday I am going to do mine album with a weekly theme, so at the end of the year I will have 52 8x8 pages plus all the mini insert pages. Not quite sure how thick it will be when it's all done, but I will deal with that issue later. I may have to find some BIG binder rings, like 2" or so. This will definitely be a weekly challenge to keep up with, but I am up for it. I have taken a few pictures of what I have done so far....This week's page (week 3) is still in progress. I will post new pictures every week so you can see my progress.

If you are doing a 365 project, please leave a comment to this post with your blog link to share with others. Plus if you know of any other digital sites that have digital kits for the project 365 feel free to share them here too.

{showing the 4x6 picture sleeves}

one of my new favorite things

2009-01-13T20:57:00.001-05:00

Wouldn't you just know all the stores now have all of their Valentine's Day things already on the shelves....they pretty much did the day after Christmas....they don't waste NO time. Before you can get one holiday out of the way, they are waving the other one in your face. While in target the other day I spotted the most cutest coffee cup. I had to have it!! I also got the plate and kids tray, they were so cute with owls, birds, trees, turtles & hearts...it reminded me of scrapbook paper. I've been drinking my coffee almost everyday out of this cup, it makes me happy in the mornings :)