Traveling along ...

Happy Saturday!  And for those who are getting a long weekend, YAH!!!  I surely needed one myself, as I have spent the last two weekends traveling back and forth to Virginia Tech (a 4+ hour drive one way) getting my son settled into his freshman year and the Corps of Cadets there.  I needed a weekend to rest up and hopefully get a few tasks done around the house.

And speaking of traveling, our Saturday Paper a la Mode Challenge over at The Outlawz this week is a travel theme.  Travel for me is usually related to business, and while fun, sometimes there aren't a lot of fabulous memories involved.  But a couple (actually 4) Christmases ago, the kids and I spent a week at Disney World.  But being the procrastinator that I am, I am WAYYYYY behind on getting things scrapped.  In fact, I rarely do any scrapbook pages anymore - I've get to get on top of that problem!

This is a layout of my beautiful daughter, Mommy's Princess!  I love all the pretty colors and flowers and bling too!  I have several 12x12 shadow box frames that I got at Target, and I put scrapbook pages in them to display around the house.  The pages look really nice and I get a lot of compliments on them, and they are always great conversation starters.  This one is going into one of the frames today!

Thanks for stopping by to visit!  Big hugs!

Spread Your Wings and Fly!

It's that time of year everybody!  Time for all the little kiddies, and the big kiddies too, to head out into the world of the classroom and spread their wings.  This week's Saturday Paper a la Mode Challenge over at The Outlawz is "Spread Your Wings and Fly" - make a project that reflects your interpretation of that theme.

My son Chris, who is the youngest of my two children, was delivered to Virginia Tech last Saturday to start his New Cadet Week in the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets.  A lot of people wonder what that is - it's basically like being at West Point or the Navy Academy, but doing it at a regular university.  New Cadet Week is a nice way of saying "Hell Week".  But I am just so proud of him - he's a tall, handsome, smart, athletic young man who is going to become a wonderful leader.  Tomorrow (Saturday, because I am writing this on Friday night) is a big military parade on campus to mark the end of New Cadet Week, so I am up and out early in the morning to go spend the weekend with him before he starts classes on Monday.  He is definitely spreading his wings and flying, and I know he will soar high, fast, and far!  Here are a couple of pictures that the photographers caught of him this week (they have professional photographers that follow them around all week documenting their activities).

This first one is on the obstacle course:

This one is watching a demonstration of something - he's the tall handsome one peeking from behind the guy on the left.

This is him in the dining facility - Virginia Tech's dining facilities are ranked #2 in the country - I'm sure everybody there gets the "freshman 15"!

Okay, now on to some crafty inspiration.  I have 3 different cards to share this week that include winged things:

Thanks for stopping by to visit.   Please keep Chris and me both in your prayers as he adapts to college and the Corps of Cadets, and I adapt to having my baby 4 hours away at college!  Hugs to you!

Staying Cool

Hi everybody!  I've been remiss the last couple of weeks with my postings.  But this week I'm doing this one ahead of time and scheduling it to post at midnight on Friday night - yah me!

Has it been hot where you are?  I guess if you're in South Africa, not so much - they actually got some snow this week!  But here in the States it's been crazy hot in most areas this summer.  We have had our share of extremely hot weather this summer here in southeastern Virginia, but thankfully not as bad as a lot of other areas.

Our challenge this week at The Outlawz Saturday Paper a la Mode Challenge is to create a project that reflects how you stay cool during the hot summer.  I guess I'm not planning to go dive into a bird bath anytime soon, but I just thought this digi, by A Day for Daisies, evokes cool and shady respite for the feathered friends.

Just a few more weeks and it will be my favorite time of year - fall!  But in the meantime, I will enjoy what's left of this beautiful summer, even if it is hot!

Love and hugs to you!  Thanks for stopping by!

Ack! Late posting!

Oh, if my life were only to slow down a bit - just enough so I can stop and smell the roses occasionally and also get my blog posts done on time!  I know you all know what I mean!

The Outlawz Saturday Paper a la Mode Challenge for this week is Christmas in July.  I was actually wondering where the Christmas in July tradition came from, so I looked it up on the internet - there really doesn't seem to be a single clear answer, but a lot of interesting ideas as to its origins.  Anyway, if you're like me, you need to start early on cards, decorations, and gifts for Christmas.  So what better way than to get started 5 months early?

I made a banner - I've done several similar ones over the years, and I used some of the leftover banner pieces to make a card.

Thanks for stopping by to visit!  Lots of hugs to you!

Blog Hop Winner(s)

Hi everybody!  Sorry I'm a little slow getting this posted, but I was away with my son for his college orientation this week.  He's attending Virginia Tech this fall, which is in a hilly part of the state, and I was so tired from all that walking around campus for two straight days.  Whew!  I am so out of shape!  But we had a nice time, and I am so excited to see him get out there and spread his wings!

We had so many entries for our blog hop to celebrate The Outlawz 2000 Member Party recently!  Wow!  It was a bit of a daunting task to figure out the winner.  I wrote down all the names of those who commented on the blog hop post, and also wrote down all those who joined as new members.  When I counted them all up, we had 180 "entries" for the prize.  Then I used random.org to pick a number from 1 to 180, and the winner was 125, which coincided with Shalana!  We already announced Shalana as the winner over on The Outlawz, but of course I wanted to make the announcement here as well.

Since we had so many entries, I wanted to give out a couple of small prize packages myself.  One will go to Shalana, in addition to the digis she won, so I need you to message me your mailing address over on The Outlawz.

The next two were also selected using random.org:
Patti J
V (I think this is for "Veronica")

If you three ladies can please message me your mailing address over on The Outlawz, I will get your prize in the mail to you.  I think you will really like what I pick out for you!

Thanks again to everyone who took the time to participate in the blog hop, and I really appreciate all your kind words and comments, and a special thanks to those who decided to follow my blog.  Many big hugs to each of you, and I hope you will visit again!

Loving Nature!

My very favorite thing!  Nature!  This week's Saturday Paper a la Mode Challenge over at The Outlawz is to make a project that focuses on nature, with no people.  Well, that's easy for me, because I really don't like people images on my cards - I prefer birds, animals, and flowers. 

I decided on this beautiful hummingbird from A Day for Daisies and tried to do a little rainbow-ish coloring with my Copics, then put it on a background from Webster's Pages, along with some old flowers from my stash and a gorgeous strip of gold lace that I got from somewhere that I can't remember.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you find time to put a little nature in your day!  Big hugs!

It's In the Bag

Who doesn't love a nice gift bag? I think gift bags are one of the best inventions ever. But they can be terribly expensive if you guy the pretty, pre-decorated ones. Why not make your own? Our challenge this week over at The Outlawz for the Saturday Paper a la Mode group is to make a birthday gift bag.

I used a little bag that I got when I purchased something in a store, and repurposed it to a cute little birthday bag. It had a design on the front and back, so I cut out large rectangles of the green paper to cover up the designs. then I added some trims and gems and a cute little birthday card that I made using a digi from A day for Daisies. Voila - now I've got a sweet little bag.

I wasn't thinking of my daughter at the time, but her birthday is this week. She will be a whopping 27 years old! Where did the time go??? She is afraid of clowns, so I made her this cute one with red hair (she says she wants a red-headed baby someday) and lots of yellow (her favorite color). She's already seen it and thinks it is awesomely cute, so one small step toward breaking her clown phobia.



Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you get inspired to make a gift bag of your own. Stop by the challenge and look at all the other inspiration!

Big hugs to you!