VSBN is This Weekend!

The BIG Virtual Scrapbooking Night is this weekend. We'll have 12 scrapping challenges over the course of two days at splitcoaststampers.com. If you are a scrapper, please come join us. I've made samples for each of the challenges, and I've filled an entire album.

Saturday, August 4th starting at 10:00 am EST with the last challenge posted at 8:00 pm EST

Sunday, August 5th starting at noon EST with the last challenge posted at 10:00 pm EST

Now, these two pages are from our 4th of July celebration with out friends the Grochowskys. All the boys; Tim, Steve, Jake and Ben, had fun lighting the fireworks. Tim went down to SC and bought a few large fireworks. We had a ton of fun without spending lots of money. Karen manned the grill, as always. She made burgers and hotdogs and corn on the cob. Thankfully the weather was great and we spent all evening outside.

The challenge at the VSBN preview was to use chipboard, so all the letter "F's" are made from chipboard and covered with paper. Fourth, Fun, Food, Fireworks, Freedom.

A Book, A Frame, It's Both

One of the challenges in last weekend's VSBN was to take a hardcover book and alter it to a picture frame. This is the perfect project for me! I chose the book The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax by Dorothy Gilman because Tim and I enjoy listening to these books on audio. Come to think of it, it's about time for her to publish a new one. I used Basic Grey papers and ribbon and flower embellishments to match the decor of our living room. I can easily change photos to keep it interesting. The picture in there now is of Tim and I in front of the Harry Potter movie poster when we went to see the movie a couple of weeks ago. It is so perfect on the fireplace mantle.

Wet and Wild

Another challenge during this weekend's VSBN preview was to make a layout with hidden elements. I finally scrapped the pictures of Tarzan's bath. The title pulls out to show the journaling hidden away.

And just an update on Tim's big race on Sunday. Sixty-six miles long and 11,000 feet of climbing. he finished 355th of 450 racers. He did have a better time this year than the last time he raced it - and no black eye this time.

It's a Dora Fiesta

Over at splitcoaststampers.com we had our Virtual Scrapbooking Night preview party this past Sunday. Now I can start showing you some of the pages I've been creating for this event. On Sunday we had four different challenges. Each challenge hostess makes a sample page, and I as the event coordinator make samples of ALL of the challenges. The theme for the event is books, so all of the challenges have something to do with books. Needless to say, I've been scrapping my little heart out, and I can't wait to start showing these pages off.

Our first challenge (AUGVSBNA) was to make a page using purple in honor of the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich. So I made a layout for my niece Sarah's third birthday. She had a Dora party.

Off Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell

Tim is leaving today for the mountains. Tomorrow he is racing the Off Road Assault on Mt. Mitchell. He loves doing these extreme races. The last time he did this race was 3 years ago, and he fell halfway through the race. He finished the race and drove home with this lovely black eye.

While Tim is gone, I'll be reading our copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I'm still waiting for Mr. Brown to deliver. I wish he would hurry. I'll get it read before Tim gets home. Once Tim gets it read, we'll send it off to Dylan.

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be busy coordinating the preview event for SCS Virtual Scrapbooking Night. We'll have 4 great scrapbooking challenges. If you want to join us, the first challenge will be posted at 2:00 pm Eastern time, and you will have two hours to make you page to fit the challenge. It's lots of fun, and a good way to get lots of scrapbook pages completed.

If only Mr. Brown would get here...

Recipe for Today

I'm anxious to get home tonight so I can finish up the layout I have in progress. I was snipping pieces of pattern paper before I left for work this morning. Since I don't have any new stamping to show you until after VSBN, I thought I would share a recipe. Mom wanted me to e-mail this to her, so here it is Mom. My boss brought it as a salad to a work potluck. Tim took it to a bike social and they used it as a dip.

Penny's Salad
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can corn, drained
4 oz. Monterrey Jack cheese, cubed
1/2 cup salsa (add more if needed)
1/2 cup green onion
1/2 cup celery
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
garlic
cumin

Mix everything together. Serve chilled.

Harry Potter Mania

We went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix last night. Good movie. They got a few things wrong, but over all did a good job trying to condense such a large book into a mavie. Tim and I have a copy of the new book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, on order with amazon.com. It should come on Saturday while Tim is at work. We buy the book for Dylan, but he graciously lets us read it before we send in on to him.

Here's a silly little quiz for you to take if you are into the Harry Potter mania.

Find out your Harry Potter personality at LiquidGeneration!

Sunday Update

I don't have any new stamping work to show you. I'm busy working on sample pages for the upcoming Virtual Scrapbooking Night (Weekend) on Splitcoaststampers.com. After the big event is over, I'll have lots of pages to show.

This is a card I made awhile back. The base is certainly celery. The swirl is stamped in rose red on Sahara sand, and matted with rose read, all on a certainly celery base. Friend is also stamped in rose read on Sahara sand and matted on rose red and attached to some celery ribbon. I love the colors of this card.

Tomorrow night I am going to go to Inky Fingers, which is a local stampers group that meets down the block at the senior center. I think I want to work on the design for our Christmas cards this year.

Sweet Sixteen

We don't normally celebrate the cat's birthdays. But today is special, Fitzie is 16! And I needed an excuse to make a cake. Fitzie has always been my kitty. She and Tim just tolerate each other. I got Fitzie from our friends, the Fitzgeralds, before I moved from South Dakota to Kentucky. She was a great traveler on her first trip. She has since moved to NC, and then to TN, and then back to NC. She's lost lots of teeth, and doesn't jump as well as she used to, otherwise, she's healthy and will probably live a few more years. The birthday girl did lick up a few crumbs of the yummy chocolate cake I made, and I have some tuna for her later.

Preparing for the Virtual Scrapbooking Night

The last few weeks I have been making lots of cards. I'm trying to have a stack on hand. For the next month or more I won't have much card making time as I will be concentrating on scrapbooking. SplitcoastStampers (www.splitcoaststampers.com) is where I hang out online. Every 3 months or so, they have a huge scrapbooking night - which ends up being over 2 weekends. This quarter, I am the coordinator - or publisher. The theme is Curl up With a Good Book. We will be scrapping on July 22 and August 4th and 5th - so please come and join us. Since I am the coordinator I need to make sample pages for all the challenges. Which means I need to get scrapping.

So here is one of the cards I made for my stash. Several weeks ago the color challenge on SCS was to use cool Caribbean, marigold morning and pretty in pink. I cased my card from Emily, the color challenge hostess. The card base is cool Caribbean. The image is Petal Prints - stamped in apricot appeal and pretty in pink - stamped on whisper white and mounted on marigold morning. I used my Coluzzle to cut the circles. The pattern paper is from My Minds Eye. And the ribbon is pretty in pink. It's a simple card, but I love all the soft colors.

Weekend Catch Up

I mostly spent the weekend reading. I read Simply Magic a romance by Mary Balough. It's third in the series, and the other two also start with "Simply". The other book was also number three in a series. It was The Right Attitude to Rain by Alexander McCall Smith. He writes the No. 1 Ladies Detective series, which I don't like, but I am loving this Isabel Dalhousie series of books he has. They are totally different from No. 1 Ladies.



I want to show you what I made last week for my friend Judi's birthday. Her gift was wrapped in a kraft take out box that I stamped in red, pink and black. I also added buttons and ribbon. I also made her a mini album about friends. I used some SU designer paper to cover some chipboard coasters and lots of different embellishments and stamp sets.

Happy Birthday Judi

My dear friend and SU demo, Judi, has a birthday today! I worked on her present(s) this weekend, but I can't show everyone because she hasn't seen them yet. I told her I'm holding them hostage until I see the new SU catalog - I'm not really. I really excited to giver her her gifts, because I know she'll love them.

I'm Making a Trip to the Vet Today

Tarzan had a bath last night, poor guy. He is nice and sweet smelling and soft today. I'm off to the vet today to get some of the magical flea stuff. It's expensive, but it works so well. Just so everyone doesn't think we tortured the poor guy - he did get a little tuna when he was done.

Sunday is a Good Day for Creating

My online friend, Kimmie, issued another challenge this weekend. I did her long card challenge last week. And this week, she challenged us to create a card using pastels and black. I had the barely banana and creamy caramel out for a SCS color challenge, so I used those. The stamps I used are my first Studio G clear stamps that I found in the dollar bin at Micheal's this weekend. The flower is stamped in real red and the stem in sage shadow. The image is matted on black. The greeting is stamped in black and accented with a couple of black brads. You can't see in the photo, but I also stamped the flower in barely banana along the top of the card. The caramel strip is stamped with the SU crosshatch background. Kimmie is right - a little bit of black makes the whole card "pop".

I sent out some happy mail this week

I meant to post these cards earlier in the week. One of my sisters-in-law had some surgery this week, so my parents had two of their granddaughters for the week. I made the girls some cards so they would get some mail at Grandmas. The mail is so slow, I hope the cards got there before the girls left this weekend. The barely banana and lavender lace card was for Sydney and the pretty in pink and regal rose card was for Sarah. I used the SU set Wild About You.

The chicken card went to Mom and my recuperating SIL, Kirsten. I used the SU set Best of Cluck ( I love chickens) with a kraft base card and blush blossom, bashful blue, and certainly celery strips of card stock and a chocolate chip mat for the chicken image. The zig zag stitching is a stamp - I don't sew!

Relax and Enjoy Your Day

My online friend, Kimmie, posted a challenge to make a LONG card. I'd never made one that was long, so I decided to give it a try. I used a base of Barely Banana that is 8.5x8. I stamped the beach chair from shore thing after I colored it with markers to get the two tone, and matted it with Ballet Blue. The pattern paper is SU Sarah. I made a scallop border with a punch and some Certainly Celery paper. The greeting is from Riveting and says Enjoy Your Day. It is stamped in Ballet Blue on Barely Banana and punched out. And, as always, a little ribbon to finish it off. I mailed out a ton of cards yesterday, but didn't have a good place to send this one. The perfect occasion will come up soon I'm sure. I'll post the rest of the cards that got mailed out yesterday later in the week - I want to let the recipients get them before I post.

Wishing You Well

Miss Stanly County is in Raleigh this week for the Miss North Carolina Pageant. They have a couple of practice days and then several nights of competition. This is the first card I sent Sara. The card base is 4x4 Certainly celery with a Rose Red layer stamped with the Crosshatch background. The center of the flower is Wishing You Well from the Riveting stamp set. A little celery ribbon finishes it off. I thought it was a fresh, young card to send a young woman.

I made a bunch of cards this weekend, so I'll have lots to show you this week.

Happy Father's Day

For once I was on the ball and got my Father's Day cards made AND sent ahead of time. Tim still hasn't seen his, but I will post a photo anyway. I didn't get my Dad's gift sent. I made it several months ago - and forgot! It's been boxed up, and it got buried. It'll get shipped on Monday.

The card is made with an old SU stamp set called Espress Yourself, and the background stamp is Crosshatch. The coffee cups and beans are stamped in basic brown ink, and I colored the coffee cups with my markers. The card base is Old Olive and the layers are Certainly Celery and Elegant Eggplant. The design is from a SCS sketch challenge, and the colors I used are a SCS color challenge.

Tim was going to ride today, but we had a big storm over night - lightning thunder and hail. I laid in bed worrying about my new roof and my new car. But this morning, it looks like the tomato plants were the only things injured.

So happy Father's Day to my Dad, Dennis; my husband Tim who is a wonderful father to Dylan; and to my brothers Joe and Jim who are the best Dad's to Sarah and Sydney, and Hannah and Matthew.

It Was a Hot Weekend

It was in the low 90's all weekend, so I tried to stay cool inside. Tim went riding Sunday, so I had some time to make some cards - lots of birthdays this month. The hot weather made me think of orange and pink, so I used those two colors and a Bella image from my friend Kimmie for a couple cards. They look like summer to me - flowers and hot, bright colors.

I did venture out Sunday afternoon to attend the wardrobe showing of Miss Stanly County. She is a beautiful young lady. The Miss NC competition will be next week, so think good thoughts for Sara. Here she is in her interview suit (Jeff, her "paparazzi" took this photo).

It's Graduation Time

All the high schools are graduating today here in Stanly County. My friend Judi's youngest daughter, Sara, is graduating at 1:00 pm. I made this card for her. I used the Happy Harmony stamp set in her school colors - real red and bliss blue with whisper white. I used my real red and old olive markers for the flowers. The background was stamped in Versa Mark and I mixed clear embossing powder and dazzling diamonds and embossed - so the background is sparkly. I used my red marker to color the words from different phrase stamps. The words didn't come out perfectly since they are stamped over the embossing. I'm so happy with how it turned out.

Dylan has been out of school for over a week now. He is now a JUNIOR! And my two nieces, Sarah and Hannah will now be second graders. I guess since all the kids are out of school, it must be summer.