All that I am or hope to be, I owe my mother.

That's the quote I used for my latest scrapbook page. It's my Mother's Day present to my Mom - hope you like it Mom. The picture was taken in April 2006 when my parents were down for a visit. I took Mom to one of my favorite events - the Friends of the Pfieffer University Library Author Luncheon. The speaker was Ann B. Ross, author of the Miss Julia books.

This is my first real attempt at making a 12x12 scrapbook page. I really enjoyed the larger, square format, and I will definitely be making more pages this size. Last week, SBTC65 challenge, on splitcoast, was to make a page about Mom. I started the page by CASEing a layout on the Autumn Leaves Look blog. The turquoise and pattern paper are from My Minds Eye, and the chipboard monogram is Lil Davis. I used the CC114 colors of rose red, apricot appeal, tempting turquoise and green galore. The stamp sets I used were Big Pieces and Little pieces. There's also a dab of ribbon - can't do a page without ribbon, and some metal edge tags.

Mother's Day Cards

I wanted to share the Mother's Day cards I made this year. I couldn't share before because my Mom reads my blog - hi Mom. I'll admit I CASED from someone on splitcoststampers.com. Since the card is very plain, I had Tim bring me home some nice, heavy white card stock. I stamped a small square with sage shadow and the retired paisley print background stamp. The leaves are white embossed on vellum. Inside I stamped Happy Mother's Day in sage shadow. I thought it was a simple, but elegant card.

Happy Mother's Day

Tim made us a nice breakfast today. And this afternoon he is meeting some bike people to look over local trail opportunities. I'm going to try and do some scrapping. This morning I made q quick little card. I need to send a thank you RAK to a great stamping friend. I found the sketch on Beate's blog, and that is what I used as my starting point. I had some sei pattern paper out on the table from a previous project, so I grabbed a scrap of that. The I chose one of the darling Bella images that my great stamping friend sent me. I used SU certainly celery solid cardstock, a prima flower, and a colored brad. The pattern paper came with some matching embellishments, so I grabbed a tab to use as an accent. I colored the image with my SU watercolor crayons and a blender pen. Hope you enjoy this card. And if you are a mother - Happy Mother's Day.

What year do you belong to?

I found this neat quiz on my friend Sally's blog. Had to try it for myself.

You Belong in 1987

Wild, over the top, and just a little bit cheesy. You're colorful at night - and successful during the day.

What Year Do You Belong In?

Another Layout from our Trip to the Beach

"Fly" is photos of the day we spent at the Wright Brother Memorial in Kitty Hawk. I was glad it was February, because the place has no trees ans must be miserable in the hot, humid summer with hundreds of other people. But, we had a beautiful day. We even had a picnic lunch on the grounds. I've tried to use the same colors and stamps for all of the three layouts I've made of our trip. I think I still want to make one more layout of some general photos of the trip.

I've Been Tagged

Several of my Splitcoast Stampers friends (Donna and Darcy) have tagged me. I'm supposed to share 7 things about myself.

1. I've lived in lots of states: Minnesota, North Dakota, Utah, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Kansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina.
2. I met my wonderful husband in a bar in Kentucky, and we've been married 13 years.
3. I am the step-mother to a wonderful 15-year old boy, Dylan, who lives in Kentucky.
4. I have two younger brothers who married wonderful women, and finally gave me the sisters I've always been wanting.
5. As a young child, every time I would visit the library, I would save my bookmarks so that someday when I was a librarian I could give them to my patrons.
6. I hate doing housework.
7. My undergraduate degree is in Biology and my Masters degree is in Library Science.

Now, I think I'm supposed to tag 7 more people to play this little blog game. But everyone I know that has a blog has been tagged, so the fun will have to stop here. I hope you enjoyed learning these 7 things about me.

A Busy Weekend

It's been a fun and busy weekend. Saturday was National Scrapbook Day. My friend Judi and I used the library meeting room and spent the day scrapping. The weather was chilly and rainy, so it was a great day to be inside scrapping. I didn't get much done, but I enjoyed myself. I did finish up a layout that I had started last week for the SCS virtual scrapbook night. I also did a layout of Ben's birthday this past February. We always go bowling, and have fun. This year I found some fabulous Basic Grey paper that had bowling pins in it. I have enough paper leftover for the next bowling birthday party. The big excitement Saturday night was the fireworks for the closing of the Albemarle 150th birthday celebrations. We stood out on our sidewalk in the rain and watched a great fireworks show.

Today is a gorgeous breezy day. It's too wet for Tim to go riding. This morning we took our new car to Lowe's and got it dirty when we filled it with plants and stuff for a garden. We planted 3 varieties of tomato and 3 different kinds of peppers and a watermelon and a cucumber. I also got a few herbs - basil, rosemary, thyme and oregano. After we got everything planted, Tim vacuumed out the car - so it's clean again.

Tim did get the bike rack on the new car Friday night. We had to buy a new bike holder that goes on the rack that came with the car. Unfortunately, the car is too tall for me to put a bike on (because I'm sure it's not because I'm too short). We bought the bike rack at a new local sporting goods store. They only had one in stock, so we'll have to go back for another one later.

A Librarian in Need of a Bookmark

Tuesdays are my late day at work. So, this morning, I had some time, and I did a little scrapping and a little reading. I started The Art of Mending by Elizabeth Berg for my library book club this month. I was packing up my stuff to go to work when I realized that I didn't have a bookmark - the horrors! I was walking by my craft table (aka the dinning room table) and I just grabbed a scrap of pretty paper. I immediately realized how silly that was. I had a table full of paper and supplies, so I made my self this pretty bookmark. I really need to make myself more bookmarks. It was a joy to see everytime I opened my book today. It was a quick reading book - I finished it this evening.

A Scrapping Opportunity

This is Tarzan, all vegged out on the couch. This just cries out to be scrapped. I took a couple of pictures and will get them printed out. Check back to see what I can come up with for this adorable fat guy.

And I still have possum pages to scrap, and the new roof. I did get a page done on my old truck, but nothing for the new car yet. I should have taken a picture of the back end filled with my scrapbook supplies yesterday (there was even room left for my friends stuff too).

A Shiney New Car

After three years, we've replaced our truck - a 1986 Ford F250 with extended cab. We both loved our truck, but it just wasn't practical for our life - it barely fit in our driveway. Tim's friends called it the BAT - Big Ass Truck. And he got lots of teasing about destroying the ozone layer. But, it was paid for and depandable. It's been a long time since we've had a car payment - this will be a big adjustment for us. But, we were ready. Our new baby is a 2005 Subaru Forrester. Green exterior and tan leather interior. And it has cup holders. And a CD player. All the luxuries of life that were missing in the old truck. Today, I am going to an all day scrapbooking event. The first test of our new car - how much scrapbooking stuff can it hold?

Friends, Hobbies and Books

On Saturday, my friend Judi and I are going to an all day scrapbooking event. AND this is the weekend of the Virtual Scrapbooking event on SplitcoastStampers. If you're interested in the virtual crop, check here: http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=93 I am hostessing a challenge at 10:00 am Central time on Sunday, and you're welcome to join me. It's wonderful to be able to do one of my favorite hobbies with such good friends - both in person and online.

It just so happens that recently I've read several good books about friendships and hobbies and crafts. The first one was Prints Charming by Rebeca Seitz. It's a wonderful story about friends and scrapbooking! I was super lucky to get an advance copy to read. Then I read The Quilter's Homecoming by Jennifer Chiaverini. This is another book in the Elm Creek Quilters novels. All of her novels are about friendship and quilting. I am currently reading The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs, about - you guessed it - friendships and knitting. Haven't finished the book yet, but so far it is a good one.

Pretty Cards for Sad Occassions

Last week I had to make several sympathy cards. I really need a better sympathy saying for the insides of the cards. I've been trying to use more of the pretty pattern papers I have on my cards. So for these sympathy cards, I started with the pretty blue and brown paper. I've been wanting to make a scallop border, so I tried it in the chocolate chip, and thought it looked good. I added my image and some ribbon. Pretty, but somber.

I've Got Bellas!

Thanks to my wonderful friend, Kimmie, from Canada who sent me some stamped bella images. I'll never be able to make a bella card as beautiful as Kimmie. This is the one I worked on today. A bella stamp, Basic Grey paper and a Prima flower, put them all together for one pretty card. Kimmie sent me several more, can't wait to play with them too :)

Look who's back!

Don't know if this is the same cute little guy or a different one. He's behind the washer again. But I've laid a trail of cat food out the door. He's found the food and eats a little and goes back behind the washer and then comes back for more food. He'll eventually find his way outside - I hope. The cats are much more interested in him today than they were yesterday.

Our New Roof

The roofers started work on Monday, which was a terribly windy day. And they finished up on Wednesday. They were gone when I got home from work. We were expecting some rain Thursday, but only got sprinkles - we were so disapointed that it didn't rain harder. It's Spring in NC, so I'm sure we'll have lots more opportunities for rain :)

Company for Breakfast

The cats had company over for breakfast this morning. Last night, Tim and I woke up about 3:00. I got up and noticed the cats water bowl was dirty, so I gave them fresh water. And then I heard a noise. Of course, Tim didn't hear the noise. My best description was that it sounded like something was under the house. One of the crawl space doors had gotten open one day this week, so it was possible something had gotten under the house. We went back to sleep. This morning as I was sitting on the couch I heard somebody chewing on something. I could see Riley, our normal chewing culprit, so got up to look. It was a furry little thing in the cat bowl having breakfast. Tarzan just was sitting there looking at it. I made a few little yelps which woke Tim up and he came tearing out of the bedroom, which scared the critter, who then ran behind the washer. I decided it was much too big to be a mouse and too big and furry to be a rat - it was a baby possum! Thankfully, our washer and dryer sit on an old enclosed porch. We were able to close the doors into the kitchen and halway and open the door to the outside. Our visitor let himself out.

And, no, I didn't get a picutre.

A Rainy Sunday

It's a rainy day today, so no race for Tim. We are busy doing laundry and other house chores (Tim's scooping the cat box at the moment). I did make a quick card this morning. Yesterday, we both had to work. Tim came home with a couple of envelopes that he made me while he was working. Isn't he great? He made me envelopes :) One of the envelopes is made from some pearlized celery colored card stock. I just had to make a card to go with it. Now that I've played a bit, I have to go to the grocery store.

Just Chicken In

I've finished up my swap scrapbook pages, but I can't show them yet :) So I decided to make up a little something to post today. Since it's Easter, I thought I'd use my chicken set. I looked through the SCS gallery to get some ideas. I've been wanting to try to make a scallop with my half circle punch, so this was the perfect card to try it on. Hope you enjoy this pretty card.

Got My Hair Cut

It's summer so I went short. Just hope I can fix it as nicely as Shanon did this evening. I just love Shanon - she does the best job cutting my hair for me.

A Few Books and a Note on Scrapping

I've been doing a bit of reading lately - nothing super spectacular. I finished Anne Tyler's Digging to America. She's a very dependable author. This one probably had the most positive ending of any of her novels that I've read. It brought up some great issues of what makes us Americans. I also read Family Tree by Barbara Delinsky. I picked this one up because the main character knits. This was the first time I had read a book by this author and it was okay. Probably the best book I've read recently is A Mobile Library Mystery: The Case of the Missing Books by Ian Sanson. I picked it up because even thought I don't read a lot of mysteries, this one's about a bookmobile librarian. It's not heavy on the mystery, but it's very humorous. But, it's quirky British humor. So I don't feel like I can recommend this book to many people because I don't know that anyone else will think it's as funny as I did.

I haven't done much scrap booking this week. I'm working on a layout for a page swap that I'm in. I have all the pieces cut out for the 6 sets of these that I have to do. This weekend my top priority will be getting everything assembled and figure out how to do the title so that they can all go in the mail on Monday. I'll be pretty involved with scrap booking at the end of the month, so I need to be spending my time doing page prep work.