The Artistic Stamper

Click the photo above to check out The Artistic Stamper June Blog Candy Giveaway!

Make sure you scroll down her page to look at some of her projects. Her inking technique has such powerful results! I wish I could do that!!

Kodak ESP 9 All-in-One Printer Giveaway!

Check out iheartfaces by clicking here for an amazing giveaway - Anyone can enter to win the awesome $299 Kodak All-In-One-Printer!! Hurry! Ends today!!

Otherhood, LLC

Here is a great site for you to check out! They are having a Tourance Tote Bag giveaway that ends June 23, 2009, so be sure and hop on over there by clicking here.

I love these tote bags! I am so picky about the pocketbooks I use. They have to have zippers. They have to have pockets. They have to be the right size to fit all my stuff.... and these totes are all of that and so much more! Look at them. They are gorgeous!

Free Fridays!

Yesterday I started a list of blogs offering Blog Candy for you to check out. Today I'll continue that list as much as I can while also trying to post more crafts a little later on.

Please visit all of these sites and enter to win their Blog Candy. Not only is the chance to win fantastic, but each of these artists are so unique and their work is just so amazing! I know you will enjoy blog hopping as much as I have!!

Have a FUN Friday!

Stamps, Paper, Scissors, and Donkey Smiles!

Click the image above to go to Stamps, Paper, Scissors and Donkey Smiles and enter to win this blog candy! Look at all the new stamps! Oh my gosh! I'm drooling!!!!!

My Paper Adventures

I'm trying to help you all out by showing you where some great Blog Candy is... but more than that, these ladies have TALENT! Click on the picture above to go to My Paper Adventures Blog Candy page and enter to win!!

Happy Anniversary, Sue!

Happy Anniversary to Sue! No, not a blog anniversary, her 17th Wedding Anniversary! Click on the pic above to go to her site and enter for a chance to win this blog candy! Hurry!!

The Craft Table

Martine is celebrating becoming a Stampin' Up! demonstrator by giving away a lot of Blog Candy! Click here or the picture above to see how you can enter to win!

More & More Blog Candy!

You have got to check out this blog by Mel. Click the picture above or click here to be taken to her blog.

Make sure you scroll down to see older posts. All of her cards are so creative and beautiful! And they are each so different! I could spend hours on her blog!

Don't forget to enter for her blog candy drawing. Good luck!

More Blog Candy!!

Check out "Going Buggy" and the huge blog candy she's giving away! She has lots of links to other blogs that are also very creative and cool! Awesome! The picture is from her site!!

Kati & Ryan

Here is a scrapbook page I did today for another one of our daughters. This is Kati and her boyfriend, Ryan from November 2008. They are so cute together!! I used Fiskars Adhesive tabs, Glitter glue, and My Mind's Eye Everyday Tango paper. I used Cricut Cartridge Home Accents for the word LOVE. The top of the exclamation point (yellow triangle) was from the cut out from the "V". The circle was from my scrap paper from another Cricut cut. I love comments! Leave a link to your latest project so we can all hop over and check it out!!

Ultrasound Layout Page

We are so excited that we are becoming gradnparents for the first time! I took our oldest daughter, Keri, to her first OB appointment yesterday. They did an ultrasound of our precious little bundle of joy! So tiny!! Here is a scrapbook layout I did this morning. The letters were cut out at different sizes with Cricut Cartridge - Plantin Schoolbook. The grass was cut out using Cricut Cartridge Home Accents, and the flowers were cut out using Cricut Cartridge Walk In My Garden. I used DCWV Once Upon A Time for the lettering, flowers, and double matting for the picture. The background paper (love it!) is My Mind's Eye Everyday Tango... (I have gotten so much use out of this one HUGE paper stack!!) Pop dots to pop up the flowers, Fiskars adhesive tabs for the photo matting, and Zots small glue dots to adhere the lettering and grass at bottom. More projects to come a little later on... stay tuned... I have a lot of catching up to do!

1st Grandbaby Picture

I'm so sorry I've been so quiet these last few days. It's been wildly crazy at our house! I'm working on some crafts, so I'll try to get those uploaded today before we go out of town again.

Here's the 1st picture of our first Grandbaby!! I know you can't see much of anything. It's just the awesome thought that that is our grandbaby growing in there. Blows the mind.



I hope you all have been having a very good week. I can't wait to spend some time on line catching up on everyone's blog.

I love all the new friends I've made, links you leave in your comments, and finding someone new is following my blog.

Do something fun! And smile!!

Got Great News Today!

Today, Tom (my hubby) and I found out we are going to be grandparents! How exciting is that!! It's funny, because neither one of us feel old enough to be grandparents. We're still 17 in our minds. :)

I can't tell you how happy we are. We love our children... and now we'll have grandchildren to love to!

I hope everyone reading this gets some form of good news today too.

Tip Junkie!

Go check out Tip Junkie by clicking the image above or by clicking here!! Get some ideas, share some tips, and enjoy their grand giveaway! Wooo-Whoooo!!!!!

Dzyner's Blogoversary Candy Giveaway

Click here to visit Dzyner's blog and enter to win her blogoversary candy! She's a Stampin' Up! demonstrator, so be sure to stop by her etsy too! (I love Stampin' Up!) Have a fun day!

Happy Monday!

Our screened in porch is finished! How wonderful it is to sit outside and grill, read, talk, swing and NOT having to swat at flies and mosquitoes constantly!

I made a butterfly card this morning using some of our screen scraps. I cut out the butterflies using Cricut Cartridge Walk In My Garden (blackout feature). The card is very rough right now. It needs some more finishing touches, but I think you'll get the idea from the photo.


I also made a 4th of July card. I cut out 1 inch squares using Cricut Cartridge Plantin Schoolbook for the tablecloth. I cut out ovals with that cartridge too, then cut them in half for the watermelon. I just drew in the ants. The sky is plain so I'm still brainstorming how to make that look a little better.

Thanks for all the comments over the weekend! I have a lot of catching up to do with all you guys! Have a fun day!!

Doggie Umbrella Card

This card is so cute!

Check out this YouTube video to see how to make the cutest doggie and umbrella friendship card. Perfect for those days it's "raining cats and dogs". :)

Click here for the link to YouTub.

Click here for the link to her blog.

She used Cricut Cartridge Paper Pups. I don't have that one.... There are so many cartridges I want to get! I wish the prices would come down already. My coupons always say "not valid on Cricut products."

Have a Fun Friday!!

Porch Priming Done!

We got the porch all primed and ready for the paint! We'll do that tonight. It was so nice and cool yesterday evening when we were painting, and the breeze was just heavenly. I checked the outside thermometer and it registered at 80 degrees. That's a big difference from during the day when it was in the 90's!

Once again, the thunder boomed and a list mist fell enough to cover the ground, but really no rain. How disappointing. I love the sound of rain.

I'll post some crafts in a little while. Thanks for all the comments you leave! I love them! Don't forget to subscribe to my blog!

Simple Little Girl Card

It's that time of the evening... I hear the thunder near. Maybe it will actually rain this time instead of just threaten to?

Here is a simple little card I did this afternoon.

Folded, it's 4.5"wide x 4.25". I used colored card stock from Wal-Mart. The blue flower ribbon (love it!) is from Michael's. The little girl is from DJ Inkers Dazzle Daze. I colored her with Crayola markers, but used colored pencils for her hands and face.

I hope you enjoy it! Have a wonderful afternoon and evening.

Post a comment with what you are having for supper tonight. Maybe this will give us all ideas for next week. We are having grilled burgers, french fries, and baked beans. Yum Yum!!

Front Porch Screening

Living in our tiny little farm town comes with it's advantages such as EVERYTHING is within walking distance. Literally. Not to mention the quiet evenings, the train we love to hear passing by, neighbors walking down the sidewalks and riding their bikes...

It also comes with it's disadvantages like flies galore who adore all the manure on the farms so close by. It's been hard to sit out on our porch recently and read or cook on the grill without spending most of your time swatting at flies or trying to ignore them... which is impossible. I think we swatted at least 20 flies the other night and it didn't even put a dent in our misery.

Therefore, we decided it would be a fantastic idea to screen in our front porch. My husband, Tom, started the framing last night. He'll finish that tonight. Tomorrow we'll prime it. Friday we'll paint it. And Saturday up goes the screen! Yeah! I can't wait.

Here are some progress photos. Fun, fun, fun! Always an adventure of some kind at our house!!

Girls Just Know

Here's a scrapbook layout I did today. It was really fun. I didn't really pay attention to any rules like "don't mix striped paper with patterned bows"... Who needs rules for a whimsy page? LOL

I drew the girl and colored her with my finger using water color crayons. I hand wrote the "Girls Just Know" under the picture. The phrases at the bottom were typed on the computer and printed off. The background paper is DCWV - All Dressed Up.

In case you can't quite make out what the sayings are they are listed below:

• Girls know... How to keep a SECRET!
• Girls know...How to SHOP!
• Girls know that a BUBBLE BATH can cure almost any stressful day.
• Girls know what these words mean: MANI & PEDI
• Girls know that a good friend gives you a shoulder to cry on... but a BEST friend brings a shovel to help you bury the jerk who made you cry!

I had a couple more cut out and ready, but they wouldn't fit on the page the way I liked. They were:

• Yes, I'm going a date with him.... but it's not a "date" date.
• Honey! I'm going shopping with the girls, but don't worry, we're not going "shopping" shopping.

Have a fun day!

A Tidbit Truth

We all have those little things about us that make us different. Here's a "Tidbit Truth" you may not know about me....

I HATE YARD WORK!!

My Mama and my sister pick on me about not wanting to go outside and trim bushes, water plants, dig something up and move it over there, mix potting soil for new pot plants, etc. Seems like they get so much satisfaction about getting sweaty and dirty and hunching over or kneeling in the dirt. Yuck.

My Mama asked me why I didn't like yard work. I told her I hate getting dirty; hate dirt under my fingernails; don't like sitting or kneeling in dirt, and honestly don't know one little thing about plants, bushes, trees, or flowers. The most important thing I hate about yard work are the BUGS! Bugs, spiders, jumpy things, creepy crawling things all give me the willeys.

Mama thought it would be funny then to send me a gift. One of my daughters goes to visit my Mama, Daddy, Sister, Brother's family... they all live next door to each other on family land about 45 minutes from us... So every Thursday I take Kati to her Aunt Melody's and she stays there until Sunday night. She loves it!

So, about that gift from Mama... She thought it would be a real hoot to send me something home with Kati a couple Sundays ago. See picture below.


hahahaha Very funny. I'm sure they were all just a-snickering about it back home.

Actually, I did end up using them yesterday. My husband is screening in our front porch and our azalea's were creeping through the porch railing onto the porch. So after I removed all the porch vertical thingies (sorry, not a carpenter either), I used one of Tom's tools to chop off the limbs that had gone a little to far onto the porch so that he can get the screen up.


I'll post a little later about our front porch renovation.

I would love to hear a "Tidbit Truth" about you!! Please leave a comment and tell us something we don't know about you.

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

Birdie Card

-->Here is a birdie card I made this afternoon. Unfortunately, I'll be using it as a sympathy card.

I used Cricut Cartridge Indie Art, Opal glitter glue, blue and dark blue card stock from Wal-Mart, background paper from My Mind's Eye – Everyday Tango, Pop Dots, and Fiskar's adhesive tabs.

I distressed the edges of the card and birdie with very old ink. It is supposed to be brown, but it's so old, it's color is changing to a dingy red.

The birdie was cut once in "blackout" mode and again in regular mode with a lighter color. I used Pop Dots to adhere the top layer to the bottom layer. This gives it a cool dimensional look.

I love comments! Thank you to everyone who has left me such sweet comments in the past.

If you've never left one, please do so now and introduce yourself. I like making new friends. :) Include a link to your blog if you have one so we can pop over there and see what you are up to.

Or, if you have left me comments before, I'd love to hear from you again!

Don't forget to subscribe to my blog. Have a great Tuesday!!

Summertime Thunderstorms

-->

Good morning, friends!!

-->Am I the only one in the world who enjoys an afternoon summer thunderstorm? They usually don't last long. I love sitting out on our front porch watching a lightning storm, hearing the thunder, listening to the rain as it changes rhythm and intensity. And then as if it never happened, the sun comes streaming out again just as intense as before.

This morning I did a little more playing around with my DJ Inkers images and chalks. Finally I was able to go to the craft store yesterday and get some glitter glue in Opal. I used it on the little raindrops bouncing of Emily's umbrella. I love glitter glue!

I printed my image on white card stock. This is a larger card. It's a regular sized piece of 8.5” x 11” paper just scored and folded in half.

The image was created using 3 different DJ Inkers images from 3 different collections. That's one of the neat things about DJ Inkers art, you can mix and match and layer images. I love it!

Have a Tickle Tuesday... your mission for today (should you choose to accept it) is to go tickle someone and RUN!

Umbrella - DJ Inkers, Through the Year

Emily - DJ Inkers, Kid's Classics

Wagon - DJ Inkers, Jolly Holly Days

Lime & White card stock from Wal-Mart

Fiskars Adhesive Tabs

Pop Dots

Glitter Glue – Opal

Dashes, Dots & Checks Ribbon from Michael's

Patterned Designer Paper from My Mind's Eye – Everyday Tango

I used dry chalks from Stampin' Up!

Colored Pencils for the red hearts on the umbrella, Emily's nose & eyes

I traced the entire image with a black Ultra Fine Permanent Sharpie

May Your Day Be Filled With Smiles!

Smile!

This morning I made a card for my sister, Melody. She has been through a hard time, but has come out of it ready for the future. I'm very proud of her. I love her so much.

She has lived out of state for so many years. Now she's back in South Carolina and only 45 minutes away!! Yeah!!

Here's how I made the card:

I used Cricut cartridge Plantin Schoolbook for the circles. When cutting the sisters image, I used the circle on "center point". That worked out rather well.

The "Sisters" image is from DJ Inkers "Grins & Giggles". The saying is from DJ Inkers "Dazzle Daze". I absolutely LOVE DJ Inkers!!

Click here to go their website.

I'm so addicted to their art!! I have been for 12 years now!

I printed the image and the saying on regular typing paper. I used Stampin' Up! chalks to color both the image and the saying. The Sisters and saying were colored using a Q-tip with dry chalk. The sky and grass were colored with a wet Q-tip. This made the thin typing paper tear up a little giving the sky and grass and nice textured look. I also used the wet chalk to outline the white card which is DCWV textured cards.

Pop dots were used to adhere the Sisters circles onto the background. The paper is from My Mind's Eye, Everyday Tango designer paper pack.

Have a fun day... and don't forget to SMILE!!

Fun Weekend

Hi, friends! We have had a fun weekend! I hope all of you made time for some fun too.

Kati, one of my daughters, is a young professional photographer. She took several action shots of her boyfriend, Ryan, this weekend.

Ryan has a band, and I told him one of the pics Kati took would make a great album cover. :)

I'll post some crafts tomorrow! Sleep tight!

Stamping With Mo's Blogoversary!

Take a minute and go check out Mo's Blog by clicking here! She is having her blogoversary and someone will win the items shown above in the photo! It could be you!! Click here to check out her Etsy shop. She has great ideas!!

Anybody Want A Bigshot?

Head on over to Melissa's blog by clicking here and enter for your chance to win a Big Shot and other fun goodies! When she says she's got some Blog Candy to give away, she's not messing around! Good luck!!

Magic Band-Aid

Good morning, friends!


This morning I made a Get Well card using Cricut Cartridge - Indie Art, colorful cardstock from Wal-Mart, patterend & glittered cardstock from DCWV - Animal Crackers, yellow ribbon from Michael's, Zig 2-Way glue pen, Fiskar's adhesive tabs, and Pop Dots. I accented the cutout, card border, and word box with Stampin' Up! chalks.



I followed the card pattern from

"Cardz For U" blogspot.

Click here to see her instructional video.


I hand wrote the message, "Magic Band-Aid... Heals All Ouchies!" I could have printed something off the computer (but my printer is out of ink) or maybe stamped a message instead, but I was in the mood to write. :)

I hope you enjoy this idea. Have a GREAT day. And don't forget to have some FUN!

I love comments!! Don't forget to subscribe to my blog.

Flower Vase Layout

Hello all my Bloggster friends!

Today I started working on a flower vase. No challenge behind it or necessity, I just wanted to make some flowers.


I love making mini scrapbooks using envelopes. I usually glue the envelope shut, cut off a thin line so you can place something inside, and use a circle punch for easy access to the contents. Then I use my Crop-a-dile to punch holes on the sides and insert binder rings to hold the mini album together. These are really fun and easy to do!!

I began creating the flower vase with this in mind. Then I decided instead to incorporate it onto a scrapbook page.

I placed ribbon in the two hole punches where binder rings would normally have gone for a mini ablum.

Now I can add pictures to this page, maybe a little more embellishments, and use the envelope to place a journalling card.



I used Cricut Walk In My Garden for all the cut outs.

The vase was cut using DCWV Once Upon A Time paper. The flowers were cut with My Mind's Eye Everyday Tango. I used Pop Dots between the flower petal layers (both flower layers were cut with the shadow feature and adhered a little off center to each other). I used Zots (small) to adhere the buttons in the middle of the flowers.

I love comments! Don't forget to subscribe to my blog.

Have a Fun Friday!!

Flower Pot Card

I found a flowerpot card today while blog surfing. It's so pretty.

Click here to go to Sue's Cricut and Crafts Blog.

You won't be disappointed with this project. I may have to see if I can use that idea to come up with something of my own... hmmmmm

Thankful Thursday

Good morning! I am so thankful for all of you who stop by my blog! Please take a moment to leave a comment and sign my guestbook showing where you are on the world map.

This morning I made a ladybug card with my initial. I plan on giving it to my Mama. I left the card blank inside so she can use it (her initial is also "J").

I used the Cricut Cartridge - Walk in My Garden, Cricut Cartridge - Plantin Schoolbook, paper from Me & My Big Ideas Scrapbook Kit - Summer Girls, Colorwheel Paper Pack - Red, Black cardstock and White cardstock from Wal-Mart, and Colorbok Textured Card Stock - Pastel. The ribbon is Craft Essentials. I drew black dots around the white square with a Sharpie Ultra Fine Point Permanent Marker also from Wal-Mart.

If you've used Cricut Walk in my Garden to make a card similar to this, please leave a comment with a link to your finished card. We'd love to see it!

Have a fun day!

52Q Week 22 Creation

Here is my creation for the 52Q Week 22. The question was, "What direction are you going?"

I love to dream of the future and where our lives may be going. I'm always hopeful and optimistic. So I simply answered this question for me with "Dream".
I used My Mind's Eye Designer Paper from the Everyday Tango pack. The ice cream cone was cut using Cricut cartridge Indie Art on DCWV Animal crackers and Green Stack. I also used DCWV Happily Ever After paper for the cone. For the solid pink ice cream color, I used ColorBok Textured Card Stock Pastel stack and Pop Dots to pop up the cone from the background.

Please comment with a link to your creation this week. If you want to hear more about the 52Q (52 Questions - 1 each week this year), hop on over to Embers Blog by clicking here. She has a 52Q link to the right.

Do something FUN today! And then comment and tell us about it!!

Cricut Playing

Last night and this morning I have been playing with my new Cricut Expression! Oh so much fun!

Here are just a few pics... I have a lot to learn about paper layering, etc... but looking forward to growing more creative with my Cricut!!

For the "Family" card I used DCWV Textured cards, DCWV Happily Ever After Card Stock Stack; and Cricut Solutions Cartridge "Home Accents".

For the Butterfly card I used DCWV Textured cards, Designer paper from "My Mind's Eye" Every Day Tango selection; Pop Dots, and Cricut Cartridge "Walk in my Garden".

For the Honey Bee card I used DCWV Textured cards, Colorbok Deluxe Textured Cardsotck Pastel, Martha Stewart Fine Crystals for the bling, Pop Dots, and Cricut Cartridge "Walk in my Garden".

Cricut Arrival!

Oh My Gosh!! My Cricut Expression arrived today! I just ordered it Saturday night! WOW!!!! That's fast service!!!

I made a couple of round purses today and some ladybugs to attach to my computer side (I love ladybugs).

I'll post pics tomorrow!

Breaking Dawn

Finally! I've been on the waiting list for Stephenie Meyer's Breaking Dawn at the library and finally it's available!!! I just picked it up this afternoon. I may be quiet here at PauseDreamEnjoy for the next few hours... got to get my reading on!

Check out all the Cricket Blogs I'm following over to the right. These artists are so amazing!! WOW!!

Cricut Links

Okay, let me just say, WOW! Thanks, Lizzy, for introducing me to Craft-e Corner!!

Click here to go to Lizzy's blog.

Click here to go to Craft-e Corner.

I'm still discovering all Craft-e Corner has to offer, but so far I am very impressed with their Cricut Cartridge prices! And what I REALLY like is that you can click on "See More Details" under the price and get a very good idea on the images and features included in that cartridge. Love it, love it, love it!

Here are some other Cricut & Craft links you may enjoy:

Custom Crops
Cricut
AC Moore
Michael's
Joann's
Hobby Lobby

Have a fun day!!

California

Our son, who is in the Army, came to visit us for a few days. He has been stationed in Kentucky, but yesterday he left to head to his new base in California.

Wow. Can you imagine driving from South Carolina to California? Sounds like a fun adventure!

I think we may just have to drive out there this summer and visit him. I've never been there. The fartherest I've been from South Carolina was when we drove to Michigan.

James, our son, found out yesterday that he is getting deployed again in October of this year. He's already spent a tour in Iraq. I wonder if he'll be going there again?

52Q Week 22

Have you been over to Ember's blog lately? Her question for this week is

Which direction are you going?

Go check out her blog and see what she did for this week's 52Q. If you want to get caught up on each weeks' question so far this year, she has a link in the right column of her page that says 52Q... all the week's questions are listed there.

I'll post my creation later on this week. Post a link to your creation! And don't forget to subscribe to my blog and sign the guest book at the bottom.

Smile at someone... even if they are grumpy... just keep smiling until they smile back. :)

Summer Mini Album

Since I homeschool our youngest, special needs daughter, I decided to make a simple Summer Journal of our adventures.

I have not done the cover yet (will post it later), but I did go ahead and scarpbook a page for our mini journal with the tickets from the movie we saw last week.

I cut out an article about the movie we saw (Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian) from one of my FAVORITE magazines, "Woman's World", and put that on the outside of a covered envelope.

I used the same cardstock glittered paper from DCWV All Dressed Up to cover a flash card from a pack I bought at the Dollar Store. I then attached two ticket stubs from the movie. On the other side I wrote a short description of who went, the date, and Bonnie's favorite part of the movie. It's not fancy, but it documents one of our first summer outings.

I'm so excited that my Cricut Expression has been ordered. I'm honestly hesitating to do too much paper crafting before it gets here just because I'm looking foward to using it so so so much.

Please leave a comment and link to your craft photos and blog. Take a moment to sign my guestbook at the bottom of this page, and SUBSCRIBE to my blog!

Have a fun day!!!