My Life: Uncensored

Page Shares

2010-10-17T13:24:00.005-04:00

**Sorry, I thought I set this to post on Friday but it appears I didn't hit the 'publish' button :-(**

I have managed to get *some* scrappin' done in the past 6 months. I'm still working on finishing RJ's baby album and I've been scrappin' a lot of 6x6, 8x8 and mini albums. Here are a couple of pages that I completed a while back, but hadn't shared here.

RJ and one of the little girls that he used to go to daycare with. She's such a lil cutie pie and she had the cutest lil crush on RJ! BTW- I love my lil handmade flower! I used this Hero Arts stamp and some punches to make it!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Green at Heart)
Embellishments: stash- button
Tools: Cricut Expression (Lyrical Letters & New Arrival); EK Success- circle scallop punches; Stickles; Hero Arts- flourish background cling stamp

You may remember these pictures from our trip to Orlando for the Cavs v/s Magic game. I still get a kick out of RJ's pics.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Marrakech)
Embellishments: Bazzill- Just the edge (stars); Basic Grey- journaling spot
Tools: Cricut Expression (Sports Mania & Plantin Schoolbook); EK Success- corner rounder

I want to try more techniques & use more of my supplies on my pages. I used my Cricut Expression and some Basic Grey paper that I've been hoarding on both of these layouts. I don't use my Expression as much as I'd like to, but I'm trying to pull it out more often. I've done pretty good about limiting my scrappin' purchases to the necessities. Now to completely contradict myself, I've joined 2 kit clubs recently...... Studio Calico and Scarlet Lime. I've always wanted to try a monthly kit and these 2 companies seemed to offer the best value and variety. I just received my 2nd kit from both companies and I am VERY happy thus far. They give you enough product to create several 12x12 pages, some cards and maybe even a mini album. My hope is to be able to share what I create with each month's kit on this blog. I won't promise that is how it'll go. We'll just play it by ear ;-)

That's all I have for today. I hope you all had a great weekend and are enjoying a wonderful Sunday!

KeeKee

Where have I been and what have I been up to?

2010-10-13T07:00:00.005-04:00

That's a good question, but a better one might be "What HAVEN'T I been up to?" Let's see.....work has been C.A.R.A.Z.E.E!!! That is putting it mildly. We've traveled some (not as much as we hoped), attended and hosted lots of parties, been audited 3 times for our small business (they are SERIOUS about fraud), RJ has joined a t-ball team and he's started pre-school! I cried more on his first day of school than I have in the 4 years he's been on this Earth! See, look at how cute my little man was on his first day:

I made sure not to cry in front of him, but once I walked out of that classroom IT.WAS.OVA :-( We couldn't find a pillowcase small enough for his nap pillow so I had to break out the sewing machine and make one. Here's the finished product:

I know it's not a garment of clothing, but it's something! As if starting "big kids school" wasn't enough growing up for me, we signed him up for t-ball. He loves it! The kids are all older and bigger than he is, but he doesn't let that bother him! Here he is at the first practice *my kid is the little one on the left* :

Here he is before and during his first game:

His team is 2-2 and he's learning a lot and playing great! Which reminds me......I don't know why a super smart board member (insert sarcastic smiley) scheduled an AWAY t-ball game on a Tuesday night at 7:00 in a location that is 30 miles away from our home field! We're just getting home and he has yet to get his bath. This has been a L-O-N-G night :-(

I have a few pages to share with you on Friday so until then......Have a great 'hump' day :-)

KeeKee

Mic check.......Is this thing on?

2010-10-11T07:00:00.003-04:00

Whew! There are some MAJOR cobwebs growing around here! How you been, how ya momma been? Sorry, you'll have to excuse my silliness. It's 2:30 in the morning as I type this and I'm a little delirious!

I've been super busy for the past few months (more on that later) with family, work and just being me . I wanted to drop-in to let you all know that I am still here and while I haven't posted ~~any~~ much in the last few months I am still getting my craft on ;-) I've scheduled a few posts for the next couple of weeks to catch you up on what's been going on with me.

Here's a pic of one of the projects that I'll be sharing with you in the coming weeks, enjoy!

*All About Me Mini Album*

KeeKee

TGF Battle of the Design Teams, Week 2

2010-04-03T20:39:00.006-04:00

I'm back again to post my card for this week's TGF Battle of the Design Teams. This week we were challenged to create an 'easel' card. I have NEVER made one of these before, but I found a tutorial on Splitcoast Stampers and it was pretty easy to follow. I used Kazan's sketch 49 at 2 Sketches 4 You to create my card. Here it is:

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: K&Co (Wild Raspberry)
Embellishments: Stickles; stash- ribbon
Tools: Martha Stewart- Doily Lace edge punch; The Greeting Farm- stamp (Lolli Anya); Papertrey Ink- stamp (Signature Greetings); Spellbinders Labels 3; Sizzix Big Kick; Copic Markers

Our team voted my card to be the 'official' entry for us this week. In order for us to move forward in the challenge we have to be in the top-half of votes received. So we need your votes to continue! Please visit The Greeting Farm's gallery and vote for the 'Team Moxie' entry. You will need to register, but it only takes a couple minutes. We'd really appreciate your help to get us thru to next week! Once you've registered, you can vote by leaving a comment on the 3 cards you like most. Our entry will be filed under 'Team Moxie' here: TGF Royal Battle Week 2

Thanks for stopping by :-)

TGF Battle of the Design Teams, Week 1

2010-04-03T20:23:00.004-04:00

Hello again! It's been over a week since I last posted so I thought I share some of what I've been working on. I'm currently participating in The Greeting Farm's challenge for their blog readers and fans. We were all put into teams and each week we are presented with a different challenge. The challenge for the first week was to create a 'retro' themed card using the colors in this image:

Here's what I came up with:

Supplies:
Cardstock: Paper Studio
Patterned Paper: Bo Bunny (Kitchen Spice)
Embellishments: Basic Grey- stickers; Martha Stewart- glitter; The Greeting Farm- stamp (80's Anya)
Tools: Spellbinders Labels 8; Sizzix Big Kick; Copic Markers

I just have no idea how to even begin creating something with a 'retro' theme, but hey I gave it a shot!

Thanks for stopping by :-)

On the go!

2010-03-23T20:42:00.005-04:00

Hello again! So I didn't get around to posting my layout for the scrap-a-long yesterday...my bad. I finally finished my taxes and was just too exhausted to put together a post :-( My plan last week was to use 2 sketches...yeah, that didn't happen! I used a PageMaps sketch for the layout and used up more of the Basic Grey paper that I had been hoarding. Here's the sketch:

Here's my layout:

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Lime Rickey)
Embellishments: Basic Grey- stickers (letter, border, chipboard arrow & bird); American Crafts- Thickers; Me & My Big Ideas- journaling spot
Tools: Fiskars- white gel pen

I wasn't completely happy with the layout at first. It felt like something was missing so I added the faux stitching. As for this week's sketch(es) for the scrap-a-long, I'm participating in the 'Battle of the Design Teams' challenge on The Greeting Farm blog so I'll be creating cards and maybe an altered project.

Thanks for stopping by :-)

How Delightful!

2010-03-15T21:23:00.003-04:00

Popping in again to post a quick card using some stamps I just order from a new company, Lawn Fawn. Since I needed to make something quick, I decided to use the current card sketch challenge on the Bo Bunny blog. Here's the sketch:

Here's my card:

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill & Recollections
Patterned Paper: Bo Bunny (Kitchen Spice)
Embellishments: Making Memories- buttons; American Crafts- embossing powder; Lawn Fawn- stamps; Stash- twine
Tools: Spellbinders- Deckled Rectangle dies; Versamark

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Scrap-a-long Week 3

2010-03-15T12:00:00.001-04:00

Hello again! I'm back with 2 more sketches (yep, I plan on doing 2 again!) for this week's scrap-a-long being hosted by Adrienne. I've decided to use single-page sketches from two different sites. The first is from a new blog that I found over the weekend, The Scrappiest Sketch blog. They have a TON of sketches to choose from. I've chosen sketch #55 for my 1st layout of the week:

The second sketch I plan to use is from Two Peas in a Bucket's weekly challenge:

I'm hoping to have the 1st sketch completed by Wednesday, but I *need* to get my taxes done this week. I've put them off long enough :-( My plan was to get them done on Saturday, but we took RJ to the UniverSoul Circus. After the circus, we made an impromptu visit to a local park where I spent almost 3 hours laughing at my husband's clumsiness. I think he fell AT LEAST 10 times while playing 'tag, your it' with the kids and our friends....FUN-TY! I snapped some pictures, but haven't downloaded them yet. I'll share those later.

I hope you're having a happy Monday. Thanks for stopping by :-)

Introducing...

2010-03-12T23:43:00.005-05:00

I *finally* finished the 2-page layout for RJ's first year album! I'm happy with the results, but even more happy that I was able to get it done this week! I owe it all to my scrappin' buddies. Me and a few of my friends went to an LSS for a Friday night crop. $5 for a night of "no frills" cropping....can't beat it! I think I did more talking than scrapping, but socializing is half the fun at crops ;-) So here's the sketch that I used from PageMaps:

Here's my take on the sketch:

Supplies:
Cardstock: Paper Studio & DCWV
Patterned Paper: Imaginisce (Baby Powder Boy)
Embellishments: American Crafts- Thickers, embossing powder & rubons; Papertrey Ink- stamps; Recollections- rhinestone; Bazzill- ribbon
Tools: Martha Stewart- double scallop edge punch ; EK Success- scalloped scallop edge punch; Spellbinders- Labels One & Labels Eight dies; Fiskars- craft knife; Cricut Expression (New Arrival); Versamark; Zig- pen

I will have another post later today to show my sketch for this week's entry for the scrap-a-long.

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Favorite Chore

2010-03-11T06:39:00.006-05:00

Hello again! I'm back with my second layout for Adrienne's Scrap-a-long! I decided to do a single page layout first. The double-page layout is giving me a few *fits*, but I'm hoping to have it done by the weekend. For this layout I used another sketch from the Got Sketch? blog and I incorporated a color challenge as well, colourQ challenge #23. Plus, I was able to use up some more paper that I've been hoarding! Here is the sketch I chose:

Here's the image from the color challenge:

Here's my layout:

Supplies:
Cardstock: Paper Studio
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey (Lime Rickey)
Embellishments: American Crafts Thickers & button; DMC- floss; Me & My Big Ideas- journaling spot

Tools: Martha Stewart- zigzag edge punch ; Bazzill- In Stitch'z templates

Thanks for stopping by :-)

We're having a baby boy!

2010-03-08T05:54:00.006-05:00

NO, NOT NOW....LOL!! We had our baby boy three and a half years ago. I'm referring to the title of my Scrap-a-long layout :-) I *almost* forgot to post this. That would've been a bad way to start off this venture :-( Anyway, here is my 1st page for RJ's first year baby book:

Supplies:

Cardstock: Paper Studio

Patterned Paper: Imaginisce (Baby Powder Boy)

Embellishments: Martha Stewart- small rhinestones; Recollections- large rhinestones & small brown pearls; American Crafts- buttons (blue & brown); Making Memories- letter stickers, flowers & buttons; Prima- flowers; DMC- floss; stash- twine

Tools: EK Success- curved edge punch; Martha Stewart- large double butterfly punch & 3-in-1 butterfly punch; Bazzill- In Stitch'z & Jewel templates; Copic Marker- E39

I had a lot of fun working on this page and RJ even got in on the fun. I found him taking a peek at the sonograms. Then we had a 20 minute discussion about babies, mommies and how babies live in a mommy's stomach for 9 months. I think I confused him even more O_o

I have a two-page layout planned for this week and will be back later to post the sketch!

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Scrap-a-long

2010-03-02T12:00:00.001-05:00

Hello again! I'm back for my 2nd post of the day....YEA ME! I wanted to share some information on a scrap-a-long that I'm participating in. I was invited by one of my favorite bloggers, Adrienne, to join in to get our mojo flowing. Since this is in line with one of my 2010 goals, I decided to join in :-)

Here's how it will work:

Each participant will post the sketch or sketches they plan to use each Monday on their blog.

Once your layout is finished, you will post it on your blog.

Adrienne will then link up each participant's layout to the master post for the week on her blog.

This is another way for me to be held accountable for sticking with my goals and to 'meet' new people. If you'd like to play along just leave a comment on Adrienne's post for this week. Make sure to include your blog address, if you have one.

I've also decided that I want to use this as a way to complete RJ's 1st year album (another one of my goals for 2010). I may not always complete a page for his book, but the majority of them will be for him. Here's the sketch I want to use for this week:

It's sketch 69 from Valerie Salmon's Got Sketch? blog. I love her sketches and this one is no exception. I hope you can join in on the scrap-a-long, I think it's going to be fun!

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Favorite Songs

2010-02-27T07:39:00.004-05:00

Hello again! I'm back to share the 2nd set of pages I created for my 'Book of Me' swap on the Two Peas in a Bucket message board. This set is titled 'Favorite Songs' and I had the hardest time finalizing the design. I didn't want to go overboard with images of music, so I tried to keep it simple. Here are my pages:

Supplies:

Cardstock: Bazzill, Recollections & DCWV

Patterned Paper: My Minds Eye (Ooh La La)

Embellishments: American Crafts-buttons; Stampendous- music note stamp; DMC- floss; stash- ribbon

Tools: EK Success- binder edge punch; Spellbinders Labels Four; Cricut Expression (Opposites Attract); Paper Studio- scallop circle punch

I found a paper flower tutorial on Dawn McVey's blog and thought it would make a nice finishing touch to my pages. I'm happy with them and I hope the ladies in my swap will like them!

I'm off to work now, but I'll be back a little later to share some information on a scrap-a-long that I'm participating in!

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Catching up and a layout

2010-02-23T06:07:00.005-05:00

Hello Again! I just realized that it's been a couple weeks since I've blogged, my bad :-)

Me and the family have been enjoying some sporting events as well. We attended Speedweeks in Daytona a couple of weeks ago and went to the Magic vs. Cavaliers game on Sunday. It was RJ's 1st live NBA game and he had a ball! We decided to go at the last minute and had to purchase tickets from a 3rd-party site (read: at 3 times the value), but it was worth it. Both of my guys decided to test their vertical jump limit at one of the vendors outside of the arena. I was shocked at the results! See for yourself:

*Mr. R has some hops! I didn't think he could still jump like did, LOL!*

* I was just happy that RJ decided to try it. Normally, he's really shy.*

He really wanted to see LeBron dunk, but that didn't happen....AT ALL :-( It was a good game and my team won, so that's all that counts :-)

I have been somewhat productive on the crafty-side of things. I've finished 4 layouts, completed Valentine's Day projects and I'm putting the last touches on my 'Favorite Songs' pages for my 'Book of Me' swap. I need to get those shipped by Thursday so I'm hoping to finish them up tonight. Here is a quick page that I completed:

I've really been trying to use up my stash and stop hoarding supplies that are "too pretty". I took some online stamping classes facilitated by Jennifer McGuire on the Two Peas in a Bucket website a while back. She introduced me to crackle paint and I went CA-RA-ZEE! I brought every color I could get my hands on, but have rarely used them. For this page, my goal was to use some crackle paint and Cosmo Cricket paper that I've been hoarding.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill & Paper Studio
Embellishments: American Crafts Thickers; Making Memories- journaling spot & chipboard; Ranger- distress ink & crackle paint; Colorbok metal studs
Tools: EK Success- curved edge punch

OK, off to work for me. I'll be back tomorrow to share another layout.

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Make a Wish - PTI Birthday Bash Card 4

2010-02-03T06:29:00.005-05:00

Hello again! I know that I *said* the last card was my final one, but I had 30 minutes this morning, so I made another card for day 2 of the Papertrey Ink 3rd Anniversary Celebration. The PTI stamp designers each created an image and you must use the image to create a birthday card. For my *final* card I used the image created by Beth Silaika. Here is my card:

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill, Paper Studio & Recollections
Embellishments: Beth Silaika (PTI)- sentiment; ribbon from stash
Tools: Spellbinders- Labels Four; Quickutz- large dots embossing folder; Copic markers

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Birthday Wishes #2- PTI Birthday Bash Card 3

2010-02-03T04:38:00.005-05:00

Hello again! I'm back with my final card for day 2 of the Papertrey Ink 3rd Anniversary Celebration. The PTI stamp designers each created an image and you must use the image to create a birthday card. For my 3rd card I used the image created by Heather Nichols and Mojo 124 sketch. Here is my card:

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill, Paper Studio & Recollections
Embellishments: Heather Nichols (PTI)- cupcake image; Papertrey Ink- sentiment (Giga Guidelines); Prima- Say it in Crystals jewel flourish; ribbon from stash
Tools: Spellbinders- Labels Nine; EK Success- Curved Edge punch; Quickutz- medium dots embossing folder

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Birthday Wishes- PTI Birthday Bash Card 2

2010-02-03T04:22:00.005-05:00

I'm back again with another card for day 2 of the Papertrey Ink 3rd Anniversary Celebration. The PTI stamp designers each created an image and you must use the image to create a birthday card. For my second card I used the image created by Alli Miles and Kazan's Sketch 45 at 2 Sketches 4 You. Here is my card:

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill, Paper Studio & Recollections
Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket- Earth Love
Embellishments: Alli Miles (PTI)- bear; Papertrey Ink- sentiment (Mega Mixed Greetings); Target- jewel; twine from stash
Tools: Spellbinders- Circle & Scallop Circle dies; Copic markers

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Happy Birthday 2 U!- PTI Birthday Bash Card 1

2010-02-03T04:04:00.008-05:00

I'm playing along with day 2 of the Papertrey Ink 3rd Anniversary Celebration. The PTI stamp designers each created an image and you must use the image to create a birthday card. For my first card I used the image created by Niki Estes, prompts for the Embellish Ribbon Color Challenge and the Card Patterns sketch 49. Here is my card:

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill & Recollections
Embellishments: Niki Estes (PTI)- sentiment; Hero Arts- stamp (Dots & Flowers); American Crafts Thickers; Darice- jewels; white embossing powder; ribbon from stash
Tools: Spellbinders- Labels Eight; EK Success- Circle & Scallop Circle punches

Thanks for stopping by :-)

3 TGF Cards

2010-02-01T01:00:00.006-05:00

Hello again! I’m back today to post the 3 cards I completed last week for the CHA Relay contest at The Greeting Farm. The premise of the contest was to use a free digi stamp to create a project, submit that project by the deadline on the following day and receive the next image in the contest. In the end, you would receive 5 free digi stamps plus a bonus if you completed all of the challenges for the 5 days. It was a lot a fun trying to hurry to get the cards completed and uploaded on time. I even took some Copics and a few printed images to work with me two days last week to get the coloring done on my lunch break. I was sad to see the contest end, but happy that it got me out of my comfort zone and got my creativity flowing! Here are my cards:

Supplies (Happy Birthday):
Cardstock: American Crafts
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey Lime Rickey
Embellishments: Recollections- pearl; The Greeting Farm- stamp (Mer Ian); American Crafts- rubon sentiment
Tools: Spellbinders- Circle and Labels Two dies; Quickutz- large dots embossing folder; Copic markers

Supplies (*untitled*, but doesn't she just scream 'Hey Sugah!'):
Cardstock: DCWV & Recollections
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey Eva
Embellishments: Spellbinders- Labels Nine; Prima flowers & jewels; DMC floss; Stickles; button from stash; The Greeting Farm- stamp (Charlotte)
Tools: EK Success Curved Edge punch; Copic markers

Supplies (baby card):
Cardstock: Bazzill & Paper Studio
Patterned Paper- Cosmo Cricket
Embellishments: Spellbinders Circle & Scallop Circle dies; The Greeting Farm- stamp (Toby Cub); Tea Dye Distress Ink
Tools: Copic markers

I've really been trying to use my Copic markers more, but I think I'd better take a class from a certified instructor if I want to learn to use them properly. I'll look into that this week ;-) Anyhoo, that's all I've got for today. I'm still working on the layout for my 'Favorite Song' page in the 'Book of Me' swap that I joined. Hopefully, I'll have progress to report on that front later this week!

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Embellish & 2S4Y

2010-01-30T21:04:00.006-05:00

Hello again! How are you? It's cold and wet here in North Florida, so it's been a lazy day for us. I was able to attend a crop at an LSS that I recently discovered. It was only for a few hours, but I got a lot done. One of the things I finished last night was a card for 2 challenges, Laura's sketch 44 at 2S4Y and the Embellish Ribbon Color Challenge. Here's the Embellish Magazine challenge image:

I love the colors from this challenge and I enjoy anything that requires adding a little ribbon. Here's my card:

Supplies:
Cardstock: DCWV
Embellishments: Recollections- pearl; The Greeting Farm- stamp (Charlotte); PTI- stamps (Guidelines II & Mega Mixed Messages); Stickles; Ribbon from stash
Tools: Cricut- Accent Essentials cartridge; Copic markers

Let me just say that I LOVE this Charlotte stamp! You will be seeing LOTS of her ;-) She's sassy & stylish.......gotta love it! I won her for participating in The Greeting Farm's CHA Relay contest. Sadly, the contest ended prematurely due to technical issues, but I did receive 4 free digi stamps for participating!

OK, that's it for tonight. I have a 3 year-old pulling on my arm. WHY he's still awake, I have no idea....

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Busy, Busy Bee!

2010-01-27T18:05:00.003-05:00

Hello again! How have you been? I've been VERY busy with work and with crafting. I took my first sewing class a couple Saturday's ago and I've participated in several papercrafting challenges and my first swap :-) I figured joining a swap would help get my scrappin' mojo flowing, so I joined a wonderful group over on Two Peas. The swap is for a 'Book of Me'. I hardly ever scrap about myself so this was PERFECT. The topics I chose were 'My Favorite Recipes' and 'My Favorite Song'. They are not due until March 1st, but I've already completed my recipe pages last week and I'm working on my song pages this week. Here are the recipe pages:

**each folder holds 2 recipe cards**

I had to create 6 identical pages. At first I was a little overwhelmed, but they came together rather easily after I finalized the layout.

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill & DCWV
Patterned Paper: Bo Bunny Kitchen Spice
Embellishments: Recollections- jewels; Paper Studio- flower clip; Prima & Bazzill- flowers; Ribbon from stash
Tools: EK Success- curved edge punch; Quickutz- dots embossing folder; Cricut- From My Kitchen cartridge

I will be back tomorrow with what I've done this week.

Thanks for stopping by :-)

My goals for 2010

2010-01-13T19:03:00.006-05:00

Hello there! How's your week going? Mine has been moving along pretty quickly. This is both a good thing and a bad thing. On one hand, the weekend is fast-approaching. On the other hand, I haven't had much 'me' time. Generally, Tuesday's are my days just for me. That didn't happen yesterday, but I did get to enjoy a nice dinner with my two guys and some good friends. Anyhoo, on to the reason for my post today.....my goals for 2010.

I didn't want to make resolutions because they are so easily dismissed or broken. So I decided to make goals! Just the word 'goals' makes me feel better about the whole process, LOL! This all started while I was reading a post on Ali Edwards' blog. Each year she chooses a word that she feels will make an impact on her life. This year I decided to join in. The word I chose was: CONSISTENCY.

I chose this word for a number of reasons, but the two most important are:

I have developed this problem of not following thru with projects (crafty and otherwise)---> I don't like this AT ALL
I believe that if I am consistent with my actions, my words and my thoughts it will restore some of the order that has been lacking in my life for the past year or so

To go along with my 'word of the year', I set goals for myself. Both personal and professional. Here are my list of goals for 2010 along with a little background information:

Travel more with my family- we actually started doing more of this towards the end of 2009 and will continue thru 2010
Have more 'date' nights with my husband- with help from my recent order from Boutique Patrice, we'll be working on that this weekend!
Take my son to the beach- I live too close (like 30 minutes away) to the ocean to not have taken him to the beach once in his 3 years on this Earth.....I know, I know :-(
Increase my performance evaluation from a 'Highly Achieves' to an 'Exceeds'- this one will be difficult with budget cuts looming
Find a more efficient way to complete all of my job duties- I get my job done, but some days I barely have enough time to eat lunch (today was a good example of that)!
Learn how to sew- I blame Adrienne for this one, she makes the cutest things and she's FUN-TY ;-) (I have paid for and will be attending my first class at Joann's on Saturday morning!)
Create a card or layout at least once a week- I'll be playing along with several year long challenges to help out with this one
Use up my stash- 'nuff said......
Finish RJ's 1st year album and at least start his 2nd year album- I have all of the supplies, but NOT.ONE.PAGE.DONE.YET!!!

I realize that by posting this list here it will act as source of accountability. I've put it out there. So either I'll be CONSISTENT with what I've said I want to do or I won't......POINT.BLANK.PERIOD.

Thanks for stopping by and letting me ramble :-)

Friendship Card Set

2010-01-10T14:30:00.006-05:00

Hi there! So, we're well within the 2nd week of 2010 and usually about this time everyone begins losing steam towards keeping their New Years resolutions/goals. I must say I'm doing pretty good right now (knock on wood). As I'm typing this, I realize I didn't post my goals for 2010. I'll try to get back later today to do that :-) It has been REALLY cold here in North Florida (9 consecutive days of below freezing weather)! That may seem warm for this time of year to some of you, but it has really gotten old with this Florida girl, LOL! I'm ready to put on my flip flops and bermuda shorts. My family actually received some light flurries in Central Florida this weekend. I'm trying to get them to send me photos.

Because of the cold weather I've been held-up inside with my two guys this weekend. Which means I had time to get some scrappin' and cardmaking done....WOOHOO!! During my daily blog surfing this week I came across Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #21. She always puts together amazing color combos, but I never get a chance to play (read: I'm always too intimidated to play along). Have you seen the submissions to her color challenges? They're ALWAYS amazing! With this color challenge she posted a video to encourage everyone to play along, so I did! To help me along I used the current Mojo Monday #120 sketch challenge. Here are the challenge images:

I needed a set of cards for a contest I hosted at work and this is what I came up with (click images for closer view):

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill, Paper Studio & Recollections
Stamps: Hero Arts- Friendship Messages (sentiments); Recollections (bear image)
Embellishments: Martha Stewart- coarse glitter; Ribbon from stash
Tools: Paper Studio- scalloped circle punch; EK Success- scalloped square punch; Martha Stewart- lace heart edger punch; Cuttlebug- D'vine Swirls embossing folder; Copic Markers- E37, E29, RV11 & E00

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill, Paper Studio & Recollections
Stamps: Hero Arts- Friendship Messages (sentiments); Recollections (bear image)
Embellishments: Martha Stewart- coarse glitter; Ribbon from stash
Tools: Paper Studio- scalloped circle punch; EK Success- diamond lace edge punch and scalloped square punch; Cuttlebug- D'vine Swirls embossing folder; Copic Markers- E37, E29, RV11 & BG13

Supplies:
Cardstock: Bazzill, Paper Studio & Recollections
Stamps: Hero Arts- Friendship Messages (sentiments); Recollections (bear image)
Embellishments: Martha Stewart- coarse glitter; Ribbon from stash
Tools: Paper Studio- scalloped circle punch; EK Success- embossed curve edge punch and scalloped square punch; Cuttlebug- Swiss Dots embossing folder; Copic Markers- E37, E29, RV11 & Y11

I will be pairing this card set with some goodies from Bath & Body Works and $30 in gift cards. Now I'm off to enjoy some white chili and watch a little football!

Thanks for stopping by :-)

First card of 2010

2010-01-03T19:37:00.006-05:00

In between the organization overhaul going on in our house right now I managed to complete my first card of 2010. I created this card for two current challenges, Embellish Magazine Color Challenge with Hearts and Caardvarks. Here are the challenge images:

Here is my card:

I took these shots with my new camera. They're not the best you'll see, but they work for me :-) I have decided to start embellishing the inside of my cards. They tend to be neglected, so for 2010 I'm gonna show 'em some love.

Supplies:

Patterned Paper: Making Memories Love Notes

Cardstock: Recollections & DCWV

Stamps: Hero Arts- Clear Design February

Embellishments: Recollections- black rhinestones

Tools: Spellbinders- Labels 1; Martha Stewart- Lace Heart edger & Scalloped Heart punches

While going through boxes, I found some items that I had completely forgotten about. Now I have all these ideas for Valentine's Day gifts bouncing around. I hope to be back soon with a post to show you what I've done.

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Life Gets in the Way....

2010-01-03T12:13:00.005-05:00

Hello again! How was your Christmas and New Year's celebrations? Mine were crazy, busy, exciting and worry-some (is that a word?). First, let me apologize for not updating my blog for so long. I had so many cards and other projects to share, but that went by the way-side after the morning of the 23rd. I received a TEXT (yes, please remember that part) from my youngest brother at 5:00 in the morning that my mom had been hospitalized on the MORNING OF THE 22ND. He said that she "wasn't doing too well" and that I needed to get there. Now I had a *few* reactions to this:

#1- OMG, please let her be OK and let me get there now
#2- Wait, did he say *reading text back s.l.o.w.l.y.* "she's been in there since yesterday morning..."???
#3- Why am I receiving a TEXT instead of a phone call
#4- Why didn't my step-dad call me?

So after I got over my initial ~~what.the.hell~~ calm reaction I notified my boss of what was going on, called RJ's daycare, packed our bags and loaded my truck with everyone's Christmas gifts. Long story short, my mom has recovered and is back to her usual self. Which includes riding her Harley and her Suzuki sportbike.....yea, she's more adventurous than I am! She did have to spend Christmas day in the hospital (which she was NOT happy about), but was released the next day. As for my brother and my step-dad, they are still on my 'list'!

Now, Christmas day was CA-RA-ZEE!! RJ was SO excited for Santa to come. I don't think he fell asleep until 12:00AM. ~~My Dad~~ Santa made sure to bring him the "big, big truck" that he kept asking for. Along with another gazillion gifts. Grandparents don't listen when you tell them not to over-do it....gotta love em. Santa also brought me what I really wanted and was *sure* I would not get:

My hubby got me a Nikon D3000!! I've wanted a dslr camera for a while now, but couldn't justify the cost. Especially since I'm just a crafty mom who wants to take better pictures of my family and my creations. I didn't even take it out of the box until 2 days ago! I snapped a few 'test' shots and I LOVE this camera :-) Of course, I'm using it in 'auto' mode but it is still amazing! Kinda makes me wonder why I didn't take the plunge sooner...

We are in the middle of de-cluttering and re-organizing our home and we started in the garage. I have snapped some 'before' pics and will share them at a later time with the 'after' pics. I also *stole* an hour from the project yesterday to work on a Valentine's Day card idea that's been bouncing around in my head. I'll share it once I'm done.....whenever that happens. For now, it's back to packing away Christmas decorations and clearing out the garage.

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Happy Monday

2009-12-21T11:12:00.005-05:00

Happy Monday morning all! This morning I woke up to a frigid 30 degrees outside...NOT FUN! Hey, I'm a Florida girl and we don't like anything below 60. I wanted to post pictures of some of what I've been working on the past few days. I needed to find gifts for some of my friends that I work with and found the perfect idea while browsing the blogs & message boards on Friday.....Post-it Note holders. I decided to also make matching notepads for each of them. Here's the final product:

Supplies:

Patterned Paper: K&Co Wild Raspberry

Cardstock: Recollections

Stamps: Hero Arts- Write Your Own and Just a Note

Embellishments: Prima- flowers

Tools: Cricut- Opposites Attract cartridge & Design Studio; Spellbinders- Labels 8; Martha Stewart- 3-in-1 butterfly punch; Fiskars- Scallop Sentiment border punch; EK Success- corner rounder; Ranger- distress ink; stash- grosgrain ribbon & buttons

Misc.- 5x7 acrylic picture frames, foam notepads & standard Post-It Note pads

I had everything I needed on-hand, with the exception of the frames & notepads. In all, it cost me $8 to put these together! I delivered them this morning and the recipients LOVED them :-) I'm off to the Post Office to ship some Christmas kits and my brother's Christmas gift. He lives in Las Vegas and won't be joining us for the holidays this year :-(

Have a great Monday and Thanks for stopping by!

Happy 50th Birthday Dad and the Countdown to Christmas

2009-12-19T08:10:00.005-05:00

*my grandfather (left) and my dad (right) walking me down the aisle*

So today is my Dad's 50th birthday! Of course I had to call and hassle him about it first thing this morning :-) We love to play jokes on each other and give each other the craziest cards for holidays & birthdays. I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do with his card this year.....any thoughts? It really needs to be special! I have his gag gift already. It involves Senior Bingo at the retirement community close to his home! I can't wait until he opens it. I just have to make sure I've secured my Christmas gift first :-)

So, are you all ready for the holiday? I am! I completed my shopping list weeks ago and last week I picked up all of my gift cards and a few extra gifts for those little (and big) people that I may have forgotten. I always pick up a few body creams and shower gels from Bath & Body Works and a few $5 kids toys just in case I overlooked someone. If I have any leftover I just save them for upcoming kids birthday parties or baby/bridal showers.

I don't have anything crafty to share this morning. I just wanted to post something since it's been so long. I'll be back later today to share what I've been working on along with the list of goodies I'll be including in my Christmas tins this year.

Thanks for stopping by :-)

'To-do' List & Holiday Tags

2009-12-08T11:35:00.005-05:00

Hi! It's Tuesday and I'm already looking forward to the weekend. How sad is that? I have a lot to get done this week. These are some of the things on my 'to do' list:

pickup Christmas gift cards for 6 people
pickup girls boots from Old Navy (they're on sale this week)
decide on & make a 'killer' appetizer for the office Christmas party contest on Friday
finish at least two (out of four) of the Christmas gift albums I'm making for RJ's grandparents....AUGH :-(
finish my Christmas cards and get them packaged for the post office
pickup Mr. R's BIG gift.....boys & their toys!
try to catchup on my 'December Daily' album (why did I start this again?)

Before I pass out from exhaustion I wanted to share some Christmas tags I made over the weekend. I'd never really made tags before but I have some special handmade gifts to pass out this year and the standard store-brought tag just isn't gonna cut it. Here are my first tags:

Supplies:

Paper: Recollections & Paper Studio
Stamps: Hero Arts- Sparkle Clear: Gift for You, Antique Flower Background and Flourish Background; Recollections- Santa
Embellishments: Making Memories- elastic cord; American Crafts- eyelet
Tools: Spellbinders- Labels 8 & large rectangle; Copic markers; Ranger- distress ink; Versamark; white embossing powder

Supplies:

Paper: Recollections & Paper Studio
Stamps: Hero Arts- Sparkle Clear: Gift for You & Dots and Flowers; Recollections- Reindeer
Embellishments: DMC- floss; Making Memories- eyelet
Tools: Spellbinders- Labels 1; Copic markers; Ranger- distress ink; Versamark; white embossing powder

Hopefully, I'll be able to cross some of my crafty 'to do' list off tonight and will have more to share. Thanks for stopping by :-)

Embellish Magazine & 2S4Y Challenges

2009-12-05T18:42:00.005-05:00

Hello again! I'm back with my second post of the day. My Gators aren't looking so good right now so I've walked away from the television for the time being :-( I had so much fun with the Embellish Leaves, Acorns & Pine Cone Color Challenge that I decided to make another entry this morning! If you missed my first entry, you can see it here. This time I decided to use Laura's Sketch 40, the current sketch challenge over at 2 Sketches for You. Here are the challenge images:

and here's my card:

Supplies:

Paper: Recollections & DCWV
Stamps: Hero Arts- A Million Thanks; PTI- In Bloom
Embellishments: Target- ribbon; Making Memories- eyelet; stash- twine

Tools: Spellbinders- Labels 3; Cricut Expression-Doodlecharms & Lyrical Letters; Fiskars- scallop border punch; Cuttlebug- Swiss Dot embossing folder; WRMK- Big Bite

I found the ribbon in my stash and fit the Embellish Magazine challenge perfectly! I picked it up at Target some time last year and had completely forgotten about it. I'm feeling pretty creative tonight so I'll be up working all night on my other projects. Maybe I should start scheduling some posts.......hmm

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Happy Saturday & a Couple of Challenges

2009-12-05T14:04:00.012-05:00

Happy Saturday!! I love the weekend because it means more crafting time for me and no work :-) This weekend I'm planning on being especially productive because my little guy is spending the weekend with his Godmother. Gotta love that. Plus it's SEC Championship weekend and I FULLY expect my Gators to put a beatdown on the Crimson Tide. Mister R is watching the game with some of his friends at the local barbershop.....don't ask, just go with it :-) The guys asked that I make them some of my double-baked, shrimp-stuffed potatoes so I'll be running off to the grocery store to pickup my supplies in a few. I'll try to remember to take a pic and post it later.

Before I go, let me share a card I finished this morning. I love participating in the various papercrafting challenges found on the web. I don't always have time to participate every week, but I do keep up with them and try to complete them when I have some free time. Over at the Embellish Magazine blog, they are challenging you to complete a project using a color combo & some seasonal items. To be really efficient and complete as many challenges as possible this weekend, I coupled the Embellish Leaves, Acorns & Pine Cones Color Challenge with the current sketch challenge at the CPS blog. Here are the challenge images:

and here is my card:

I didn't have any stamps that contained all of the seasonal images required for the Embellish Magazine challenge, so I decided to put my Cricut Expression to use! Here are the details:

Supplies:

Paper: Recollections & DCWV
Stamps: Hero Arts- A Million Thanks; PTI- Vintage Labels & In Bloom
Embellishments: stash- twine

Tools: Spellbinders- Labels 1; Cricut Expression-Doodlecharms & Lyrical Letters; Cuttlebug- embossing folders; EK Success- corner rounder

I'm working on other projects that I hope to complete today, so I may be back for a second post!

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Peace

2009-12-01T23:52:00.007-05:00

Happy Hump Day! How's your post-Thanksgiving week going thus far? I've been super busy with work and putting out Christmas decorations. Did you all join in on the Black Friday madness? I did! It's a tradition for me and my family. I usually have my list of must-gets and a map of the stores I want to visit laid out at least a week in advance. Typically I'm back home by 8:00AM or eating breakfast at the local Cracker Barrel. Here's the list of items I scored:

Three 600-t.c. sheet sets
32in LCD HDTV
4 Cricut cartridges
4 Wii games & 4 accessories
KitchenAid stand mixer
Pyrex 14pc. bake-n-store set
3 pairs of boots

I made it home by 10:30AM after starting my day at 3:00AM. Overall, this year's experience was a good one. All of the shoppers that I encountered were well-behaved and the retailers operated efficiently :-) Our tree is up & decorated. I've wrapped all but 6 gifts and I only have 4 more items to purchase! I should be done with my shopping this weekend.....YEA!!!

Shopping aside, I did manage to get a card completed last night for two challenges, Caardvarks Micro Color Challenge and Mojo Monday Sketch 115:

Supplies:

Paper: Recollections (white, pink & turquoise), Paper Studio (aqua) & My Minds Eye (stripe)

Embellishments: Studio G, Recollections & Hero Arts- stamps; Making Memories- eyelet; Stickles; Copic markers; stash- ribbon

Tools: Nestabilities- diecuts; Crop-a-dile Big Bite

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Christmas Kit Card Samples

2009-11-17T23:13:00.003-05:00

So I'm back for my second post of the night to show you four cards that I made in less than 1.5 hours!

With the exception of the card bases, I only used products available in one of my Christmas Kits. I still have over half of the patterned papers leftover and LOADS of embellishments! I will be back later in the week to post the rest of the cards and some packaging accents you can make with the contents of the kit. As an added bonus, I am including an extra $5 worth of products in the first 5 kits that are purchased! You still have time to pickup your kit and get started on your Christmas cards.

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Embellish Brads Color Challenge

2009-11-17T22:26:00.005-05:00

I couldn't resist playing along with the current challenge at Embellish Magazine. The challenge was to use red, green, yellow & blue and to include brads. Here is the challenge inspiration photo:

Here's my take on the challenge:

I used one of the sketches for Kristina Werner's 'A Year in Cards' class. I'm happy with the final result and it helped me to use up some of those old 3-d stickers I've had since I started papercrafting! I just added rhinestone brads to the presents to complete the color challenge.

Supplies:

Paper: Recollections (green) & Bazzill (white)

Embellishments: Sandylion- stickers; stash- rhinestone brads; Joann's- ribbon

Tools: EK Success- scallop circle punch; Fiskars- gel pen

Thanks for stopping by :-)

My new project......

2009-11-12T13:57:00.010-05:00

I was looking at all of my papercrafting supplies and thought "I REALLY should be doing something with all of this stuff!" With the encouragement of a good friend, what I decided to do was put together some Christmas-themed kits. I purchased a few packs of MME Christmas paper and began the process. I also picked up a few of the ever-popular 'Really Useful Boxes', pulled out my stamps & diecut machine and came up with this:

kit contents

close-ups of the contents

The kit contents are:

8- 6 x 6 Christmas patterned paper
4- 6" scalloped borders (not pictured)
6 brads- snowflake, rhinestone & silver round
9 flowers– 2 large, 3 medium and 4 small
2 clips
2 glitter chipboard flourishes
2 stamped artisan tags
2 velvet diecut ornaments
2 acrylic stars
10 rhinestones- 6 large clear, 4 small hot pink
8 small pearls- 4 ivory, 4 pink7 buttons
2 bookmark tags
8 artisan diecuts- 4 large, 4 medium
11 feet of ribbon & twine
4 hand-stamped gift tags
6 felt embellishments
3 large snowflake diecuts
4 small snowflake diecuts
1 sheet of hand-stamped sentiments & images
6 3-d embellishments- 4 stamped, 2 embossed
3.5” x 5” covered notebook
1.6 liter Really Useful Box (pink, teal, purple or clear)
Small plastic embellishment storage container

This kit is complete with items to create Christmas cards, gift tags, gift card holders & scrapbook pages. It is the perfect kit for a beginning paper crafter or for someone who’s been doing it for years. To pickup your kit, visit my Etsy shop here: Christmas Kit

I will be back tomorrow to post pictures of items that I've made with the kit.

Thanks for stopping by :-)

Yea me!

2009-11-03T19:33:00.004-05:00

It's been a while since I've posted, but I have some great news to share! I submitted a card into the Embellish the Cure Color Challenge with Bling for Embellish Magazine. Well, this morning I learned that my card was chosen as one of the 'What's Hot' top 6! You can checkout the other ladies that made the 'What's Hot' list here: What's Hot-Embellish the Cure Color Challenge. Here are close-ups of my card:

I rarely enter my projects into contests that are judged. Mostly I submit for challenges that have random-draw winners. So this is the 1st time I've placed for a challenge that was actually judged. To celebrate I treated myself to some new goodies from Michael's and plan on spending what's left of my night creating cards for some other challenges that I want to submit for.

Thanks for allowing me to brag on myself a little and sharing in my joy :-)

Catching up (pic heavy)

2009-05-31T06:55:00.007-04:00

So I've been up to my usual.......taking care of my 2 men, working hard, keeping up on the sports world and papercrafting. Speaking of sports, I am SO happy that the NFL season has started? Love me some football :-) We usually catch 3-4 home games for the hometown team, but this year we're gonna travel to Atlanta to catch the Falcons vs. Eagles game. That should be interesting.

We've also been doing some traveling at the end of this Summer. Mr. R and I, along with our good friends and business partners, went to Atlanta to celebrate our anniversary. We've been together for 12 years, married 6 and I still love him :-)). Here are some pics from the trip:

**at the Georgia Aquarium**

**at the Botanical Gardens**

**at the Botanical Gardens. Don't they look like triplets, lol**

After that, I went to Vegas with my mom and baby brother to visit my other brother. He moved out there in April and has been asking us to come visit ever since. This was my first trip to Vegas so my expectations were REALLY high. Um, I didn't realize it was so damn hot out there! OMG, I had to go clothes shopping immediately after we got off the plane! I packed some jeans and that was NOT gonna work! I'm used to heat by living in Florida, but er um this was some dry ass desert heat! Here are some pics from that trip:

**at the Eiffel Tower restaurant**

**the Hoover Dam Bypass Bridge over the Colorado River**

**on the observation deck overlooking the Hoover Dam & Colorado River**

I really enjoyed myself, but I couldn't cut loose like I wanted to with my mom there. I plan on going back with some girlfriends. Now that should be fun.

Last week was RJ's 3rd birthday! I can't believe my baby's already 3 :-( For his birthday, he kept telling us he wanted to "ride the train with Mickey Mouse!" So we took him to Disney last Saturday. He had a blast and we enjoyed watching him experience it all. It rained ALL DAY, but we still enjoyed ourselves. Here are some pics from our trip:

**my little man after he got his Mickey hat**

**Mr. R & RJ posing with Pooh & Tigger. That hat is NOT a good look for Mr. R, lol**

**The last pic of the day. My baby was T.I.R.E.D.**

I've also been getting some papercrafting done. I'll post more on that later. Sorry to be MIA for so long, I'll make up for it......what, I will!

WOW, has it really been 45 days? (pic heavy)

2009-04-28T11:38:00.005-04:00

I can't believe it's been that long since I posted! I've been up to the usual....working (both jobs), cooking, cleaning, scrapping, cardmaking and watching sports :-) I attended another online crop a few weeks ago over at Two Peas in a Bucket. It was fun and I got A LOT done! Here's what I accomplished during that weekend:

CARDS

products used were: Bazzill cardstock; K&Co Wild Saffron patterned paper; K&Co rubon; Studio G stamp; ribbon from stash

products used were: Bazzill cardstock; K&Co Wild Saffron patterned paper; Hero Arts stamp

products used were: Bazzill cardstock; K&Co Wild Saffron patterned paper & lady bug 3-D sticker; Making Memories metal sentiment; EK Success punches

products used were: Bazzill cardstock; K&Co Hannah patterned paper; Studio G stamp; EK Success & Martha Stewart punches

LAYOUTS

products used were: Bazzill & Paper Studio cardstock; Making Memories 5th Avenue Sophia patterned paper, letter stickers & diecut flowers; American Crafts journaling spot; Martha Stewart & Paper Studio punches; Darice bling ; ribbon from stash

Products used were: cs- Bazzill & Paper Studio cardstock; SEI Oasis patterned paper & fabric brad; Creative Cafe & Prima flowers; American Crafts & Making Memories letter stickers; Bazzill Stitch'z template

products used were: Bazzill & Paper Studio cardstock; Making Memories 5th Avenue Sophia patterned paper, clear shape & journaling spot; Fiskars punches; Darice bling ; Cricut Storybook title; ribbon from stash

products used were: Bazzill & Paper Studio cardstock; Making Memories Chelsea's Place patterned paper, chipboard title sticker, epoxy sticker, clear tag; Making Memories jewel brad; Cricut Storybook diecut flower; Daricebling flower

I also wanted to let those of you who are interested know about a some anniversary blog candy that is being given away at Passion for Crafts. Debbie has put together an AMAZING assortment of products for one LUCKY winner!

I'll be back later to post an update with details of the goings-on in my life for the past 45 days :-)

Random Photo

2009-03-14T11:44:00.001-04:00

Can somebody please tell me what the fascination is with wearing pants that have words written across your butt? Especially if your butt is not a size 6 or less? Really, when you're not a tiny person it looks like you have a billboard on your ass! This lady obviously didn't ask her friend 'does this make my butt look big?' before she left the house.....too bad :-(

quick post...........restaurant deal

2009-02-16T19:04:00.003-05:00

Someone posted a great deal on my fave message board that I thought I'd pass along for anybody who happens to stop by my blog. You can purchase $25 gift certificates to local restaurants for $3 at Restaurant.com. Just input your zip code and set your search parameters. Once you're done adding to your shopping cart, input the discount code: PREZ. This will take 70% off of your purchase. I'm not sure how long this discount code will last, so you may want to hurry. I've purchased $100 worth at $12 for a few restaurants that Mr. R and I have been wanting to try. Good luck!

Busy, busy bee!

2009-02-15T11:58:00.008-05:00

Well hello there *waves* Has everybody been as busy as I have in the last 2 weeks? I hope not! At work, our Pension Coordinator graduated from nursing school and has taken a position on a nursing unit in the hospital. Guess who got to take on 80% of her duties...........ME! As if I didn't already have enough on my plate! I don't think my boss took into consideration the amount of time it takes to deal with retirees, beneficiaries and employees with 401k questions/requests. For the first 2 days after I was given these new duties, I was interupted every 10 minutes to sign authorization forms or meet with a retiree who problems with their benefits. I formulated a system on day 3 and so far it's working out. Please believe I will be requesting a significant pay increase during my next eval. We eliminated a position that cost the department $45k, so I'm gonna need some of that to make it's way toward ya girl!

I have caught a few spare minutes here and there to get a little scrappin' done. I participated in an online crop over at Two Peas in a Bucket last Friday. It was my first time participating in an online crop, but it was fun! The offered hourly challenges/chats and gave away prizes for all four hours. I won the prize for completing this layout for the 9:00 challenge:

I also completed this layout for the 8:00 challenge:

Here is a layout that I completed last week using a Becky Fleck PageMap:

So how was your Valentine's Day? Mine started out a little so, but turned out to be pretty good. Mr. R was called away to the group home for a busted water heater and a possible pipe leak in the foundation......NOT GOOD! We didn't really get to see each other until after 5:00. He did call me earlier and led me to my hidden V-day gift! I had not mentioned it to him, but I'd been looking to purchase a new handbag. He knows that I love Coach, so I found this stuffed behind the sofa in our family room:

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my hubby? It's very rare for him to take time to plan a surprise so this makes his gift even more special because I knew he had to think about it. Usually, he gives me gift cards because I'm so picky that he likes for me to pick my own gifts.

We also made our way down to Daytona for NASCAR Speedweeks (pics to follow in a later post)! I love NASCAR and have been going to the track for the past four years to watch these crazy guys do even crazier things at 200 mph! At first, Mr. R thought I was crazy for wanting to watch guys drive around in circles for hours. That was until I got him to the track last year for his first race. Now he's hooked. We're hoping to be able to make it to Atlanta for a race this year also....we'll see how the finances shake out.

Have a good week.

weekday recap, a lil' football and a lil' card making

2009-02-01T11:27:00.012-05:00

So what did you do with yourself this weekend? I spent most of yesterday re-organizing the garage and purging (yet again!) some clothes and shoes. I'm trying really hard to only keep things that I use. I've found that my life is much less stressful when things are decluttered, organized and in their respective proper places.

Now today is somewhat different. I'm spending the better part of my morning completing work for Mr. R's business. Did I mention that we're small business owners? Probably not.....anyhoo. I have handled the admin/HR portion of the home healthcare business since it's establishment 1 and a half years ago. I try to support him as best I can and making sure all employment guidelines are being followed is my way of doing that. Of course this is free of charge (as best he can tell), but here lately it has begun to interfere with my day job.....you know, the one I actually earn a salary for doing. So, I've decided to set office hours for the homehealth business. This week was the trial run and everything went pretty well. Aside from one of the employees thinking it was okay to yell at me because her trifflin' tail submitted a direct deposit form for an account that her bank closed! In her words "I went in to close my savings and they closed both accounts." Now yall know that heifa knew that was a lie when it left her lips! So she got a "Mmm hmm. Well per the authorization form you signed, you will be responsible for the $35 rejection fee." That's when the yelling started and that's when I had to remind her that this is a business and her place of employment so she *might* wanna lower her tone! We'll see how my evening and weekend schedule works going forward. I'll keep you posted.

So, what am I doing with the rest of my day.......preparing for Super Bowl XLIII of course! We've invited over a few friends so I have plenty to keep me busy before the first guest arrives around 6:00. I'm not making the wide variety of food that I normally do. I have my eye on a dvd/navigation system for my truck and I was not about to drop $300 to feed this group! Here's what I have on the menu:

Wings (honey BBQ, mild buffalo & teriyaki)
Fried fish sandwiches
Spicy Spinach, Artichoke & Shrimp Dip
Seafood Pasta Salad
Fruit Salad
"No Yo Mama's Banana Pudding" (this is a Paula Deen recipe & it's the best I've ever had!)

I was also able to get a lil' card making done this week. Here are some Valentine's Day cards I was able to finish for my friends:

After today, it's back to the grind. I hope you all have a fun, productive and stress-free week :-)!

Scrappin' the time away

2009-01-18T09:11:00.017-05:00

Okay, so I didn't keep my 1 post/1 week resolution.....but, who's noticing anyway? Moving on......

Before my weekend crop, I hadn't enjoyed my hobby for at least 3 months. The holiday season was a very busy one for me with work and family, so I didn't have time or the motivation to set aside time to scrap. I'm participating in a few challenges over at Two Peas in a Bucket so I have plenty of inspiration to draw from. Here are some of the layouts I've completed:

My little cousin and her new hubby. There's nothing like young love.

RJ riding his favorite gift from Santa (aka, Granny) this year. This bike is all he talks about.

8 things that defined my 2008

I've really been enjoying my hobby more lately. I think it has something to do with my favorite Christmas present.....the Cricut Expression! I love this thing for it's versatility and it's no-fuss approach to diecutting. I've also been trying to use up some of my stash instead of hoarding all the cute stuff that finds it's way into my shopping cart. So far, it's been exciting to see the supplies actually get used for it's intended purpose.

That's all for now. Tomorrow we're heading to an out-of-the way seafood restaurant. I haven't been there in 6 years, but I distinctly remember it being some of the best food I've ever tasted. I'll post updates at a later time :-)

new year.....new rules......new me!

2009-01-07T11:17:00.014-05:00

I've decided to make a concerted effort to maintain my blog at least once a week.......HEY, baby steps first, LOL! Did you make any resolutions for 2009? I didn't make any official resolutions, but here are a few of the things that I want to accomplish this year:

Be more active (my ass is getting too big!)
Take at least 3 trips with Mr. R and RJ that require us to leave the Sunshine State
Obtain my PHR certification (more titles = more $$)
Have 1 weekend a month to myself.....no Mr. R and no RJ
Scrap at least 4 pages a month or a total of 48 for the year
Experiment more with my cooking (then refer back to the top of the list)
Develop and STICK TO a budget plan *THIS IS A BIGGIE*
Tell my extended family I love them more

To make sure that I'm starting the year off right, I attended an all-day crop at my favorite local scrapbook store (LSS) on Saturday, Scrap n' Stuff (http://scrapnstuff411.com/). I always have a good time there and I even manage to get some scrappin' done :-)! I'm also trying some new muffin recipes this weekend (look for updates with pics next week).

Updates on my projects:

The wedding is over and I thank God that it is!
The 2nd baby shower is over and the mommy-to-be had a blast

Here's a pic of my little man enjoying one of the waaay too many Christmas gifts his Granny got him! She never follows instructions, but then again what grandparent does? I have no idea where she found a Huffy bike small enough to fit him, but she did and he enjoys it just about everyday :-)!

Hello Again

2008-11-11T14:22:00.004-05:00

So, it's been a while since I blogged. I can give you a laundry list of reasons why I haven't, but in the end it all comes back to I just didn't have/make the time. There's been a lot going on with me so I won't try to fit it all into one post. First, I have not completed my re-organization project! Again, many (valid) excuses, but no time to get it done. I was able to manage going thru all of our closets and boxing up items that we haven't worn in a year. Needless to say, my clothes took up the majority of the boxes. I'm not sure where I'm gonna donate them, so I'm open for suggestions on that one. Now if I could just get the clothes that I decided to keep in some sort of order......priorities, priorities.

My big project at work (annual Open Enrollment) went off without any major glitches *saying one more prayer of thanks for dat one!). I know that some people were looking for me to fail, but sadly they GETS NUTTIN'! As always, situations arose that required on-the-spot resolution and I was up to the task :-)! It was enlightening to see this process from a perspective other than a typical employee or from an Associate role. I did A LOT of networking and *hopefully* made some beneficial contacts. You never know when you'll need those.

On the creative side, I finished the baby boy gift album for my friend. She still hasn't had the baby...poor thing! She really appreciated the hard work I put into it, she's a scrappin' sistah also. I'll have to edit and post the slideshow of the completed album later.

I've also taken on a few event coordinating jobs on the side! It started out as one wedding. Then it grew to two weddings, then I added two baby showers! In the end, I dropped one of the weddings because the bride was not showing very much interest for someone whose wedding was 3 months away! I'm done with one of the showers. The mom-to-be had a blast and her co-workers loved it. I'll post updates about all of the events at a later time.

So that's pretty much all I have going on right now. What's going on in your world?

Be honest, is it me?

2008-10-01T10:39:00.004-04:00

So my bff & I were to spend the day together at the spa for my birthday on Monday. She talked me into taking the day off to have a 'Girl's day out' to celebrate. Only that's not exactly how it happened. We were supposed to meet at my house at 9:00, she got there at 11:30! At this point I hadn't had breakfast and I was HON-GA-REE!! So we went to the restaurant she wanted to go to for lunch, no biggee (again, I was HUNGRY). As we're leaving the restaurant she called her boyfriend, who then asked her to bring him lunch. OK, not in the original plan but they're in that 'puppy love' stage and I wanna support my girl so I keep my mouf closed. Plus, he lives pretty close by so it'll just be a lil detour. While we wait on his order, she dropped me off at Michael's for a lil browsin' and maybe a lil shoppin'......COOL! 25 minutes later she pulls up and we're on our way to drop of ol' boy's food. She gets on the expressway heading south. We pass our workplace........

*thinking to self: AIGHT, WHERE ARE WE GOING?*

We keep riding and I'm still looking puzzled. Finally, I come to the conclusion that we're taking this to his workplace CLEAR on the other side of town. At this point it's 2:00 & I haven't had nary a toenail clipped nor a cuticle pushed back........RIGHT! So, we get there and she says "I'm gonna run up to his office, drop this off and come right back!" Famous last words! After 30 minutes of me sitting in the HOT ASS FLORIDA SUN with no a/c (did I forget to mention she took the keys) her and ol' boy come strollin' out hand-in-hand. At this point my attitude has gone from 'Woohoo girls day out' to 'This girl has lost her LAST good mind' and it's written ALL OVA my face! I was able to muster up a 'Hello, how are you?' which is a major accomplishment for me! As we're leaving, he hands her an envelope. I didn't ask what it was cuz #1- At this point I didn't give a flyin' fuk and #2- It wasn't my business. As we're getting back on the expressway (at 2:40) she asks me "Where's the nearest Compass Bank?" Aww hell naw! Nye I gotta ride with you to go make a deposit for ol' boy? I inform her that there's one that she can stop by on her way to take me home! We make the deposit and get to my house at about 3:30. I just wanted to go inside, calm down and take a nap. NOPE, she wanted to come inside to hangout before she went to class at 5:00. I was soooo pissed, all I kept thinking was "I took a day off from work to have lunch and run errands for my friend's man?" I could've saved my 8 hours of paid leave and taken my ass to work! Long story short, the day was a complete waste and I ended up thoroughly pissed off at my friend. So much so that it affected my attitude at work yesterday! I was short with everybody, including my bff. One of my co-workers put a "Don't start none, won't be none" sign on my door as a warning to all those who dared to enter! She knows me very well, so she didn't really say too much yesterday. I wasn't in the right state-of-mind to talk to her about it yesterday, but I plan on having that conversation today.

Now be honest, am I wrong for being pissed off? You can tell me if it's me, I can take it I'm a big girl ;-)

Happy birthday to me!!

2008-09-29T13:07:00.000-04:00

So today is my 29th birthday....YEAH!!! I took today off to chill & hang out with my best friend. So far we've had lunch & are headed to the spa for massages, facials, manis & pedis! I hardly ever get to treat myself (even on my birthday) so this is a welcomed treat :) I hope you all are enjoying your return to the grind, I'll be joining you tomorrow.......But until then, have a drink with/for me!

Organization: Part 1

2008-09-24T14:51:00.006-04:00

So, I mentioned that I wanted to get my house more organized and that I wanted to start with my shoes. Here are the details..... I'd like to do this in the small reach-in closet (9h x 2w x 3l) in our master bedroom. The only thing in this closet is a 'standard' Closetmaid clothes rack. It's not big enough to hold my clothes, so all I store in there now are my handbags and luggage. The other closet in our bedroom houses my husband's clothes and shoes so there's no room for my shoes (that's another post). I have about 100 pair of shoes & boots that I need to store. Here's a pic I took with my Centro (sorry, I deleted the pic on my point-n-shoot):

This is just some of the shoes. I kept finding more pairs after this. I love strappy stiletto heels and hardly ever wear tennis shoes. Some of the shoes that I rarely wear will be donated to Goodwill or a local church. So, does anyone have ANY suggestions? I'm desperate here, so any and all suggestions will be taken into consideration :-)

Bad Blogger, Bad bad blogger pic heavy

2008-09-21T18:53:00.015-04:00

OK, so I've been MIA for a while......sowwy. So let's catch-up :-) Monday was RJ's birthday! My baby is TWO YEARS OLD now, I can't believe it! We had his party in my hometown (which is 70 miles away) to appease the grandparents *smile* They complain constantly about having to travel to parties that we have or to see RJ. I'm sad to say that I didn't get very many pics of the party. I was too busy running around playing 'hostess' and playing on the kids' playground! My favorites of the few pics that I did take are here:

Here's a pic of my little man with cupcake all over his face & in his nose.

Here's a pic of RJ with his uncles and another of just his uncles. They REALLY think they're the shit & I need these lil' girls to stop making them think that......PLEASE!!

I'm still working on the baby boy album I mentioned before. Here's the progress I've made on that (still haven't figured out the scan-n-stitch feature):

The rest of my time has been consumed by work. I'm spear-heading our benefits open enrollment this year for the entire hospital & all of the clinics. That's about 3,500 employees and 50 vendors to be responsible for! I've enjoyed the added responsibility, but it has been a TON of work. I'll be glad when it's over!

This weekend was pretty easy-going. I've been sick with a sinus infection & was pretty much home-bound all weekend. I did make it out to Michael's to pickup a few items for a baby shower I'm planning. I'm also in the process of trying to get my house organized. First up is shoes & trust me, I need MAJOR help in that department! Watch for updates with pics this week.........

Later

Mojo's Rockin' & New Hire No-No's

2008-09-09T11:03:00.008-04:00

It is very rare for my mojo to be on-point for 3 of 4 days straight. So I figured I'd better take advantage while I could. I finished another 2-page layout for the baby boy book I'm working on. Here it is:

Did I mention how much I love to stitch on my layouts, LOL! My goal is to complete a 2-page layout each night until I've finished the 42 pages needed to complete the book. Lofty goal......I know but I'm sure I can get it done! *fingers crossed*

On the work-front, we had a new hire show up yesterday for orientation that shouldn't have been there. We tried reaching her numerous times the week before to clarify the situation.......to no avail! Of course, when we inform her that she cannot start because she failed to disclose a misdemeanor conviction on her criminal background she flipped out! She kept saying "Why would THIS keep me from getting a job? It says it's only a misdemeanor!" The associate explained that it wasn't the actual charge that prevented her from being hired, it was the fact that she falsified her application by not disclosing it. Then we get yelled at, cursed at and a lil' mean-muggin' for good measure....LOL! I tell ya there's nothing like the folx that come thru here.....NOTHING! Moral of the story: do not falsify your application and if you do, don't sho' out on the HR staff......this ensures any and all future apps will be brushed aside ;-)!

Weekend Recap Pic Heavy

2008-09-08T08:53:00.007-04:00

Whew! That about sums up my weekend! Friday was a crazy day and it all started with work. Have you ever had someone come to you in the 11th hour and ~~demand~~ request something that they need ASAP? My director did this to me on Friday. No big deal because he's a good guy and an even better boss. Another thing, why is it that this ALWAYS happens as you are about to leave for lunch or decide that you are leaving work early?Add in the commotion coming from the ~~daycare~~ lobby and it was a hectic day! Who brings FOUR children with them to apply for a job? It wouldn't have been so bad IF they were mannerable or quiet. These children were jumping from chair to chair and playing with the computer workstations! Of course, the applicant got a few 'side-eyes' and a little unsolicted, but very much needed advice about controlling her children. After work, I had to pack up my supplies for the all-day crop that I was attending on Saturday. I couldn't decide what I wanted to bring so I brought a lil' bit of everything.......sad shame :-(

One of my LSS usually has one of these crops at least once a month and I make every attempt to attend and show my support. My friends and I had a great time at the crop. We got a lot done (pictures to come)! I finished 7 pages of a baby boy album I'm working on (can you say PROGRESS). One of the ladies in my group was a newbie. I was LOL observing her reaction to some of the things you could do with paper, pictures and adhesive! I think we've converted another one, LOL! We played fun games and had excellent food and snacks! I won three 20% off 'everything within your reach' prizes and my table won the Scrappin' Squares game to earn 40% off any one item (which completely blew my budget)! Here are my 20% and 40% off purchases:

I love minibooks, they're my latest addiction. I've wanted more of the Bazzill In Stitch'z line since I purchased my 1st set of templates. I've also been stalking all the craft stores for the scalloped square punch, no one ever seems to have it in. I guess it was my lucky day because I found everything I wanted and I got it all on sale :-)! Here are the pages I completed for a 'baby boy' album I'm working on:

*sorry about the quality of the pics. I'm working on figuring out the scan & stitch technique*

Sunday was a cleaning and laundry day. Well, what I could manage in between watching NASCAR, NFL and the women's final at the US Open...LOL! Did I mention that I love sports? Of course, at this point I was missing my little man so I put down the remote long enough to scoop him up from Granny's. Now I have to "re-train" him to get rid of all the bad habits he picked up this weekend :-(! What is it about grandparents and their need to spoil and cater to everyone of their grandkid's needs? So, what did you do this weekend?

Who am I?

2008-08-31T15:09:00.005-04:00

I figured that I should do more of an introduction than I offered in my maiden post. My name is Kee Kee and I am 28 years old. I am a graduate of the University of Florida (Go GATORS!!!) with a bachelor's degree in Human Resources and a minor in Business Administration. I work as an HR professional in an urban healthcare facility. When I tell you that you will see and hear it all at SJ, I truly mean it. That place has yet to disappoint when I need an interesting 'people watching' session. I'm sure you'll hear little snippets of the goings-on at work because there's almost something crazy happening on a daily basis, LOL!

I met my husband (we'll call him 'Mister R') in 1997 during my freshman year. We've been together pretty much ever since then. We've been married for 5 years and have a soon-to-be two year old son, RJ. I've always had an interest in crafts and sports. I'm into crafts more so now that I'm older and have a family. I've been scrapbooking since 2003...yeah I got into it after I got married ;-)! I grew up in a family that lived by the D.I.Y. philosophy. My grandmother ("Bigma") was a big influence in my craftiness. She was an amazing seamstress and the ultimate domestic diva. She taught me everything I know about keeping up a home and family.

Now to the love of my life, my little RJ! He is the typical 23-month old boy. He loves to test boundaries and he tests them OFTEN! He's the funniest little person I know. He's loves being silly and saying funny things to make people laugh. He's also the sweetest little person I know. He always gives me kisses and he's always the first to ask "Momma, it hurt?" if he sees me coughing, crying or just perplexed. Stay tuned, there's lots more to come from RJ. Probably on a daily basis :-)

The first love of my life, Mister R! He's a good man. He's loving, supportive and loyal to all he holds dear. These first 5 years of marriage have been fun, sad, and crazy all in one. Somehow, we've managed to balance it and remain a team. In a lot of ways we are opposites. I'm bad with saving money and sticking to a budget.....he's great at that. He doesn't really think about the little details when it comes to everyday life....I'm all about the details. So, you get the point. Like a lot of husband's he sometimes leaves me thinking "Really, did you really just do/say that?" or "Surely Ashton Kutcher must be hiding behind a corner waiting to jump out and yell 'You've just got PUNK'D!' because there's no way this just happened!" He keeps me on my toes, LOL!

So that's me. I'm hoping to use this as an opportunity to share my experiences with others and meet exciting people that I otherwise wouldn't have.

Hope you're having a great Labor Day weekend! Later.

Intro

2008-08-29T11:24:00.001-04:00

Hello Blog World!

I'm new at this, so you'll have to bare with me :-)! I've been interested in starting a blog for a while now and decided to just 'bite the bullet' and do it. So you're probably wondering what you can expect from me. Well, you can definitely expect to hear about a lil' crafting, a lil' sports, a lil' work, lots of family and friends and a whole lotta randomness! This will be a journey for me and I hope to meet a lot of interesting people along the way!

Later ;-)

My Life: Uncensored

Page Shares

Where have I been and what have I been up to?

Mic check.......Is this thing on?

TGF Battle of the Design Teams, Week 2

TGF Battle of the Design Teams, Week 1

On the go!

How Delightful!

Scrap-a-long Week 3

Introducing...

Favorite Chore

We're having a baby boy!

Scrap-a-long

Favorite Songs

Catching up and a layout

Make a Wish - PTI Birthday Bash Card 4

Birthday Wishes #2- PTI Birthday Bash Card 3

Birthday Wishes- PTI Birthday Bash Card 2

Happy Birthday 2 U!- PTI Birthday Bash Card 1

3 TGF Cards

Embellish & 2S4Y

Busy, Busy Bee!

My goals for 2010

Friendship Card Set

First card of 2010

Life Gets in the Way....

Happy Monday

Happy 50th Birthday Dad and the Countdown to Christmas

'To-do' List & Holiday Tags

Embellish Magazine & 2S4Y Challenges

Happy Saturday & a Couple of Challenges

Peace

Christmas Kit Card Samples

Embellish Brads Color Challenge

My new project......

Yea me!

Catching up (pic heavy)

WOW, has it really been 45 days? (pic heavy)

Random Photo

quick post...........restaurant deal

Busy, busy bee!

weekday recap, a lil' football and a lil' card making

Scrappin' the time away

new year.....new rules......new me!

Hello Again

Be honest, is it me?

Happy birthday to me!!

Organization: Part 1

Bad Blogger, Bad bad blogger *pic heavy*

Mojo's Rockin' & New Hire No-No's

Weekend Recap *Pic Heavy*

Who am I?

Intro

Bad Blogger, Bad bad blogger pic heavy

Weekend Recap Pic Heavy