Inky Fingers

Long weekends are wonderful aren't they?! It was so nice having an extra day off work yesterday. I got all of the laundry done, straightened up the house a bit, grilled steaks for dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, and still had time to play with my scrap stash. Boy could I get used to that! Thankfully summer vacation is just around the corner :)

Anyway since I had the day off and wasn't rushed for time, I decided to pull out my distress inks and play around with them a bit. I have a handful of different colors of distress inks but I usually only use the brown ones and only for inking the edges of the papers. I have other colors that have been begging to be used :D


This is just a simple layout and I might go back and add a title to it but I had fun using distress inks to ink up the chipboard stem and flowers which were previously white. For the stem I used the color "Peeled Paint". The darker red flowers are a combination of the colors "Aged Mahogany" and "Tattered Rose", and the lighter pink flowers are the color "Worn Lipstick". I also used distress Stickles in the color "Worn Lipstick" in the centers of the yellow flowers.


While I ended up with inky fingers (I am too impatient about letting things dry before touching them!) I love the look of distress inks and I foresee a lot more embellishment inking in my future!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Memorial Day

This Memorial weekend I can't help but think about things that I'm thankful for and my friends are definitely high on the list!


I made this layout last night of me with two of my friends, Penny and Valorie. Those girls are such a positive influence on me at the office with all of their laughter and carrying on! They really have a way of lightening up a situation that's for sure!


(design inspired by one of my favorite scrappers Amanda Muirhead)

Thanks for stopping by!

Hooray for the Weekend!

Well the weekend has finally arrived, and it's a long one, too! So it's time for my weekly blog post :)

Here is my most recent layout:


This is a gift for my sister-in-law Lisa. Her dog Sidney passed away somewhat recently and she sent me these awesome photos and asked me to make her a keepsake layout with the title "being" to display in a frame.

I remember she said to me, "she has touched my heart and my soul" so I wanted to include that on the layout as a surprise for Lisa.

It was an honor to make this for her! Hope she likes what I came up with :)



I would also like to share with you a blog award that I received from a very talented scrapper friend, LG. It's the Friends Blog Award.


These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to five bloggers who must choose at least five more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award.

Thanks so much, LG!

I would love to give this blog award to these 10 blogging friends:

Alecia
Cristie
Jane
Janice
Krista
Liz
Nicole
Tammy
Yvonne
Zoe

There are so many more who also deserve the award!

To my 10 friends listed above, copy the award logo and use it in your own blog. Nominate 5 to 10 blogs that you feel show great attitude and gratitude. Link to your nominees within your blog post and comment on their blogs to let them know they've received the award. Link back to the person who gave you the award to show your appreciation.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

A Big Weekend at our House (and a Request)!

I did some scrapping this weekend that I'm excited about but I can't show you yet because they are gifts and I'm afraid the recipient might look at my blog! So I'll have to show you later this week :)

So instead I will share some news with you!

Yesterday was Dan's 40th birthday! As has been the case for the past 3 of his birthdays, he had to work the midnight shift so there really wasn't too much celebrating that could be done. I did however go to his office at midnight with a yummy DQ icecream cake and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Later that evening after he had gotten some sleep he and I made his latest favorite dinner, New York Strip Steaks with Brandied Mushroom sauce. YUM!

In other news, as many of you know Dan and I have been longing for children for quite some time. We have been under the care of a fertility specialist and have gone through quite an ordeal thus far in terms of various treatments and procedures. At this point it seems that our infertility is unexplained. Having exhausted all less involved treatments, we decided to move forward with In Vitro Fertilization.

Our IVF cycle actually began 3 weeks ago with oral medication, but today is a big milestone because now I start hormone injections. Lucky Dan gets to give me from 1 to 3 various hormone shots every day which from what I understand could quite possibly make me not the easiest person to be around as well as cause a rather sore behind. Not excited about that part of this! The egg retrieval will take place sometime during the second week of June, and if we end up with a viable embryo it will be transferred some days later.

In any case this is quite the adventure with all of the out-of-state traveling, the physical unpleasantries, the emotional ups and downs, and the expenses, so I humbly request that you please keep us in your thoughts in the hope that we are one of the lucky few that succeed with the IVF. Thanks so much :)

Masculine Layouts are Tough to Do!

I have such a hard time resisting flowers and bling even for a masculine layout so I had to sneak some in LOL!!



This is my sister-in-law Lisa's friend, Jimmy, with his dog, Junior. Lisa sent me this heartfelt photo months ago and asked me to make a layout that she can put into a frame and give to her friend as a gift. I finally completed this project for her... hope they like it! :)
(sketch by Liz Qualman)

Happy Mother's Day!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to wish a very happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there! I hope you will get to spend the day exactly how you'd like to!

I thought I'd share the card I made this year.


Hopefully this bright happy card will bring a smile to my Mom and Mother-in-law :)
(card design inspired by Jane Jones)

Back to Scrappin'!

Well I have finally beaten that nasty "lack of time-energy-creative mojo bug" that has been upon me for weeks and weeks! I did some scrappin' today! It was just one layout, but I am happy.


This is a photo of my super fun friends Penny and Valorie (in the center), our fabulous hairdresser Tanya (left) and me this past friday evening. We had so much fun at the beauty salon!


This layout is my entry for a "Lift the DT" challenge at My Creative Scrapbook. I chose to lift Liz Qualman's "My Own Happily Ever After". I really love these kinds of challenges!