Goodbye 2010 Hello 2011

OMG I have not blogged in over two months!! Where have I been? Well I spent about SEVEN WEEKS with a headache!! It started with an optical migraine where I lost my vision for about an hour and things just went downhill from there. I've been to the Neurologist, Cardiologist, ENT...well you get the picture. Apparently I had/have Sinusitis and that may have been triggering the migraines. The Dr's don't really seem sure. Either way I'm happy to say I have not had a headache for 5 days. That really puts me in the mood to celebrate the coming year!!! I'm sorry I don't have any scrappy goodness, cards or homemade decorations this year.I thought I would just share some photo's from the last few months. I can't wait to dive back into some crafting!! I guess I'll start where I left off. Fall. Kelsey fought it tooth and nail. I finally had to hide all her shorts! Here she is with her first big project for school. It's an all about me board. As some of you might already know. Halloween? For me it's right up there with Christmas. Not having carved pumpkins and a house full of company? Well it would be like Santa not showing up! I managed to get my pumpkins carved and I won't lie. It took a whole lotta pills to them done! That and Kelsey's help. She is actually able to carve now. That makes me both happy and sad. She is growing way too fast! Wait until you see birthday pictures! Goodbye October, hello November and try as I might,I just couldn't stop her from turning TEN!! We celebrated with a Swim Party at the YMCA. Can you even recognize her? She is in the center..and no she is not standing on a box. I think she grew a foot in the last two months!! Christmas Eve at our house...all set for Santa to come! Ahhhh Santa made it...this little girl was pretty relieved. She was not the best behaved girl right before Christmas!!
Of course swimming did not wait on my headaches either. I missed a few swim meets and that made me pretty sad. I had not missed a meet since she started. She has qualified for Winter Jr. Olympics and Zones. I'm both proud and amazed by her. Here she is at her first swim meet as an Aqua Gem (that is the new team). I think it's safe to say she made a great first impression!I love that her new team mates are cheering her on. Cheering for her on the other end (while he is suppose to be timing!) in the orange shirt is my hubby. er

Soooo I say goodbye to 2010 and welcome a warm, happy and healthy 2011!!! I hope you all have a an amazing year!!

Thursday

WOW the Thursday Sketch is up over at the Pages In Time Blog and it is smokin hot!! Check it out.

Cards, Cards, Cards

So I am still on my orange and brown color kick and why not!? The color challenge I am hosting over at Pages In Time is running all month.
I am lovin these Pink Paislee goodies too!

CARD Challenge And A Sketch

Wow October already and time for another CARD CHALLENGE over at Pages In Time. Since it's officially FALL I thought this month it would be fun to make a card with some FALL COLORS. The colors I chose are BROWN and ORANGE. You can combine them with whatever other color you want as long as BROWN and ORANGE are prominent. I mixed mine up with a Summery blue~What can I say I am still mourning Summer!

You have until the end of the month to enter and as always the winner will get a RAK from my stash!

The PIT Sketch is also up over at the blog. I love the little spider!

The Color Room

The Color Room! Have you been there? Well if you haven't you should! I stumbled onto this site and now it's a new favorite!! They offer a weekly Sketch AND Color Palette!
Here is last weeks Color Palette Number 23.

Here is what I came up with. Although she looks way too old for her age, I love this photo of my daughter. It gives me a glimpse of what she will look like when she's grown up. Big sigh.



Here is this weeks Color Palette Number 24. I'm going to have to go through my paper and see what I can come up with for this one!

Thursday PIT Sketch

Here is the Pages In Time Thursday Sketch. I've already got my wheels turning on this one! Check it out.

Two Pages In One Weekend! WooHooo

Today is the last day to get your entries in for the Pages In Time Online Crop. So far it's been a great crop. I didn't get as many pages done but had fun anyway. I actually worked on cleaning my scrap space and before I even finished it...I messed it up making this!

My page covered THREE Challenges. That's right THREE. Many of the DT allowed combining the challenges. I did Maggie's It's All Relative Challenge, which was to scrap someone going back to school. Well easy enough aaayyyy....I just sent Kelsey back to school. My second challenge was Victoria's and I REALLY had fun with this!! Her challenge was to create a page using actual school supplies! Fun, fun. I used a pencil, paper, staples, an old dictionary page, cork and staples. My third challenge was Carla's Ribbon Challenge and that little purple ribbon finished the page. Speaking of purple??? Get a load of that purple on my page...I barely ever use purple!!


I continued my purple trend with another Ribbon Challenge. I'm not super happy with the photograph for this. It's so much softer and prettier in person, don't ya just hate when that happens!! Oh well I wanted to take a pic before the sun went down but it didn't really matter since it's gloomy. Anyway WootWoot!! Scrap on people!! I'll try again another day for a better pic. I also have a third page to share with you but I don't have that pic in photobucket yet. Will save that for another day since it's not a crop page anyway. I hope all that cropped with us had a good time!

ONLINE CROP STARTS NOW!

Ok Ladies the CROP starts now!! That's right Friday 6PM EST until Sunday September 12at midnight! The Pages In Time DT has been working hard on challenges and games so head on over and start cropping!

I have two challenges for you. My first challenge is a card challenge. Since it's back to school time I chose a PRIMARY COLOR, COLOR CHALLENGE. Make a card using all three primary colors, red, yellow and blue. I used this as my inspiration.

Here is the card I came up with. Post your card over at Pages In Time in the CARD CHALLENGE section and your name will entered to win a RAK from my stash.

For my page challenge I'd like to play teacher for a moment. Remember the first day of school when you were a kid? The teacher almost always had you write a story about what you did on summer vacation. For my challenge I'd like you to scrap your favorite summer moment. Mine was easy. My daughter and something to do with swimming. I used the PIT August Kit for this page. Those Crate Papers are just delicious!! Post your card in the SUMMER MEMORY CHALLENGE by midnight on Sunday for a chance to win another RAK from my stash.


Happy Cropping!!

Fifth Grade And Pages In Time Online Crop

Fifth Grade. I woke up Tuesday and realized just how big my daughter is getting. I must have been dreaming about the first day of Kindergarten.I woke up thinking she was five. Once I got awake the reality of nooooo she's not five, she's going into grade five....let's just say I had to hold back tears all morning. I'm simply going to post some pics. For those of you have been following my blog, you'll see what I mean about how grown up she looks!!!



and there she goes!! I was told to leave my camera at home cuz your not taking pictures of me at the bus stop!!! NOOOO SAY IT ISN'T SOOOOO!!!! Next year I bet I am not even ALLOWED to take pictures!! Can anyone tell me where this little girl went from last year? What a difference a year makes! Goodbye 4th grade, hello 5th. Ughhh.


On a scrappy note I just wanted to remind everyone that Pages In Time is having and online crop! It's starts tomorrow night. It's my first online crop as a DT member and I'm super excited. I have a card challenge, page challenge and I'll be hosting a game. Hope to see you there, oh and RAK's I'll be offering a RAK to the winner of each of my challenges and the game. Go to Pages In Time, from the home page go to groups~ Please join the Crop Group for details.

40 Favorite Things

40. Yes that's right, 40. I woke up this morning and no longer had thirty in my age. 40. Sigh. I know. It's just a number but really 40? I mean seriously. I'm not ready for 40. So to distract myself today I thought about 40 things I really like. I'm going to list them....no particular order. Just 40 things I thought about just to get me through the day.
1.My family~Of course...I love them more than they even know.
2.My friends~Ditto
3.Ulta~In fact I went there to day and bought some wrinkle cream. Figure since I'm 40 I better start thinking about that
4.Philosophy products~Amazing Grace, Pure Grace....any of the graces. giggle.
5.Lake George
6.Panera
7.Scrapbooking~Duh
8.Card making
9.Quilting~OK this I have never done before but I start on September 15th. Right now it's my favorite thing to daydream about.
10.Breyers Vanilla~Just plain all natural vanilla

11.Bakery Plus Cookies
12.Christmas
13.Vanilla Milkshakes
14.Making Cards
15.Watching my daughter swim
15.Jewelry
16.Reading
17.Shopping
18.Halloween~I make a big pot of Chili, hot spiced apple cider and about 20 family/friends. I'll be majorly sad when my daughter is too old/cool to trick or treat.

19.Disney
20.Shoes
21.Dawn Dolls
22.Summer BBQ's
23.Purses and bags~I love tote bags!
25.The way the air smells in fall
26.Cuddling
27.Laundry~I know it sounds sick but there is something about doing laundry that makes me feel good

28.Housewives of any county.....I watch them all. Not sure what it is about those crazy beochs but they are my guilty TV pleasure. lol
29.Being a wife
30. Being a mom
31.Thunder and lightening storms~as long as we are all indoors and safe!
32.4th of July~We have a big party every year. I get to see family and friends that I only get to see once or twice a year!
33.Hand lotion and chap stick/lip gloss~I am addicted to both.
34.My husbands cooking
35.Bath and Body works hand soap

36.Yobo~A local Japanese restaurant that has the best Tempura ever!
37.Surfing the net
38.Magazines~Mostly scrapbooking, cooking, beauty tips..
39.Music~I listen to just about anything!
40.My birthday~Even if it's my 40th!!
Soooo that is how I made it through the day. Day one of my 40th year! Not so bad after all.

September Card Challenge For A RAK~Pages In Time

Hello Ladies~Wow a new month already! Your challenge this month is to make a card WITHOUT patterned paper. That's right NO patterned paper!! Any of you that know me know that I loveeeee me some patterned paper. The more patterns the better so this was a BIG challenge for me!! Once I got going though I didn't want to stop. I have three examples for you this month. You have until the end of the month to enter this challenge and as always the winner will get a little RAK from my stash! Please post your entries here.

Pages In Time CREATE Blog Hop Winner

First I would like to thank everyone who participated in the BLOG HOP. It was my first ever and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! I didn't expect such a big response I truly appreciate all of the kind words!! Really, I am amazed at how many people participated. It kinda makes me sad that I only have one banner to give away!! Sooo without any further ado MARTICA you are the winner of my banner. Please email your snail mail and I'll get it out to you ASAP. My email addy is americangirl0419@hotmail.com
Thanks again to all that stopped in. I hope to "see" you all soon! Don't forget to check back for details on our September online crop!

Pages In Time CREATE Blog Hop

Hellllooooo Marie here....welcome to the first ever Pages In Time Blog Hop! You are at PIT stop number FIVE!! If you have made it this far you have already been to Barbara's Blog, Helene's Blog, Lacee's Blog and Victoria's Blog butttt don't stop now!! If you have been to those blogs you have already seen four fabulous banners. Everyone worked really hard to create them and I hope you are as excited as I am about the hop!
If this is your first stop, please remember to go back and start with Barbara. In order to win one of our banners or a prize you must leave a comment and become a follower of each of us. Each DT member is offering either a banner or a prize plus Pages In Time is offering a prize as well. Your prize from me will be my banner. The winner will be chosen randomly and announced Tuesday. There are NINE stops in all. You are more than half way there so don't stop now!! You will end your blog hop journey at the Pages In Time Forum.
I have posted the order of the hop below with links to each stop of the hop. CARLA is your next stop and wait until you see her banner! Thanks so much for stopping by. Happy Hopping!!



BLOG HOP ORDER

Barbara

Helene

Lacee

Victoria

Marie~You are here

Carla

Maggie

Karen

PIT





If you have enjoyed our hop, mark your calendars for our September 10th crop!! That's right Pages In Time is hosting an online crop!!

Please note I made a change to this post today (Sunday). I stated that the winner of my banner would be announced on Monday. It will be announced on Tuesday. Sorry for the incorrect date.

PIT Thursday Sketch And A Layout

The Thursday Sketch is up and as usual it's a beauty!! Since I've just recently signed up for my first ever quilting class, I especially love the stitching on this one.

Speaking Of Pages In Time. Don't forget our blog starts Saturday!! Here is a little sneak.

I also found another sketch site with some great sketches as well, Scrapbook Challenges. I really liked this sketch because it used multiple photo's. During the holidays my family went to a local house that decorates from top to bottom, inside and out!! I took skads of photos and was glad to finally scrap them!! The story behind it is actually quite sad. Christopher's Christmas Dream is in memory of the owners son.

Here is the Sketch if you are interested it is Sketch 213