Jon's Send Off Card

I just found out a couple days ago that my friend Jon is being deployed to Afghanistan. He has already served in Iraq for a year, but I guess his services are needed again. (he's a doc in the Army).

I can't go to his send off this weekend due to the birthday festivities, so I made this card to wish him well. I've know Jon since 2nd grade and his wife and I are great friends, althought I don't get to see them all that often. They have 3 boys, so you know she will be super busy. Please keep them all in your prayers.

Zander's Cowboy Invitation

Zander's birthday is coming up right after Natalie's so I am trying to get his invitations figured out now. This is my first prototype and I think it turned out okay. The part I like best about this card is that I can probably make all 12 of them in the same time it took me to make one of the castle invitations for Natalie's party. Any comments or suggestions?

Paper Chain: Countdown to Christmas

Do you remember making these in school? When we made them in grade school, we made long chains and hung them all over the class room. Every year since Natalie has been old enough to count, I have made one of these. This year however, I actually started it BEFORE December, so it's not as wimpy as in years past. Now that the kids are older, they are able to help assemble the chain. Won't be long until all the chains are cut off and Christmas will be here!

Assembling all the birthday invitations

As a creative person, I am always making a mess, much to my husband's dismay. I find it very difficult to keep my space clean and orderly all the time...especially this time of year. I guess sometimes being creative means making a terrible mess in order to produce great works of art. I am making 12 princess invitations (see prototype in previous post). As you can imagine my workspace is covered with glittery castles. Lots of fun...as always, I wish I had started sooner!

Like Mother, like Daughter

Natalie loves to make cards for people...kind of like someone else I know! Here is a card she made today for her cousin who turned 5. They both love Princess Ariel. Isn't it cute. All paper is Stampin' Up!

Natalie's Princess Party Invitation

This is how the invitation looks when it's closed.

This is how it looks when it's opened...before I've added the party details.

Here is a close-up, with the castle doors open to reveal the birthday girl's age!

One of my very favorite things to make are party invitations. This year my baby girl turns 6!!! Since the theme is Princesses, I thought a glittery castle would a fun way to announce the big day. This is just the prototype. The actual invites will also include the party details on the left inside flap as well as "Princess Natalie" in a scroll under the castle. I've had a vague idea of what I wanted this too look like for a long time, but I always have a bit of anxiety in starting into the actual design and development. Yesterday I worked on it on an off for a few hours while the kids were playing and after several revisions, I came up with this tri-fold card. She just loved it!!! Now I'm going to spend the next week cutting, folding, gluing and sprinkling with glitter to insure that these get mailed by Thanksgiving. I'm using the Disney Princess postage stamps of course. Wish me luck!
All paper is Stampin' Up! I used both Art glitter and Stampin' Up's Dazzling Diamonds. TFL

One of a kind art

You too can create works of art like this by going to http://www.jacksonpollock.org/
Just start moving your mouse around to create the design. If you want to change colors, click with the mouse. It's pretty fun...so I thought I would share.

So how much do you think I could get for this on ebay?...kidding!

Wedding Photo CD Tin

This is a CD tin that I made for all the photos (on CD) that I took when I shot my friend's wedding last Sunday. It was a Luau theme, so I thought this paper was perfect.

My Scrap Studio: Think Pink!

Look quickly,

Alyssa cleaned her craft area!

MY DESK: This is where I have my Mac set up and where I store a lot of my supplies. In my desk I have all my adhesives, glitter, embossing powders, tags, pastels, watercolors, paper punches, beads, brads, eyelets, metal embellishments, fibers etc. On the top of the desk, I have all my ink as well as blank notes to write in. In the Iris cart I have envelopes, misc rubber stamps and card samples. In the cabinet I have all my paper, pens, stampin around wheels, tins and other packaging items for embellishing.
MY WORK STATION: Here is where I get most of my work done. This is an old drafting table from the design school days. I bought the bar stool when I had my studio set up in our garage before the move. Under the desk is extra storage.
MY SCRAPBOOK STORAGE: As you can see I not only store scrapbooks, but also idea books, magazines, ribbon, prima flowers, scissors and anything else that looks cute on the shelf. On the top in the pink drawers I've stored some of my photos on CD.
Here is a close up of my shelf. It makes me happy to see all my things on display. I got the ribbon holders at Target a couple years ago and then they stopped carrying them. I'm so glad I got 4, cause they are all filled up.
Did I mention that I am addicted to all those cute embellishments. Part of the fun of scrapbooking is getting all the cute stuff. Anyone else out there want to start a "12x12" step program with me (Hello, my name is Alyssa and I am addicted to embellishments!) I have a storage binder filled to the gills with these also, but these are ones I plan to use right away. This way they are out where I can gain inspiration from them. When the time is right I will know exactly were they are. (Unless Hayden gets to them. He likes to pull them all off.)
GOT STAMPS?: Being a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for 8 years, I have acquired quite a nice collection of rubber stamps. I have lost track as to how many sets I have now, but there is always room for more, right?

Dad's Cancer memory box

This past summer (June) my dad went in for surgery to remove some cancer (he had prostate cancer). The surgery was a sucess. He just got checked the other day at the doctors and his levels are higher than expected, but we are trusting God that everything is okay. He will be checked again in three months.

This is a memory box I made for my dad a few months ago and finally gave it to him tonight, so now I can share it with you. It was really fun to make. I bought the box and the accordian album from Oriental Trading, the striped paper is from Disney and the embelishments on the lid are from Jolee's Botique. I cut out the letters by hand; traced them from a stencil first.

The Spongebob page is kind of an inside joke. In order to have the surgery in the first place, my dad had to fast for a couple days. Then after the surgery, he was ready to eat and all they would let him have was a little pink sponge on a stick dipped in water that he could suck the liquid from. So naturally Spongebob was a fitting name for him. (the yellow ribbons on the side have velcro on them to hold the accordian book closed.

The next picture shows all the cards and other momentos from the hospital that fit neatly in the bottom of the box when you lift out the book.

The following two pictures are some highlights of the inside of the book and the last photo is of the inside of the box lid; a description of prostate cancer.

On the back pages of the book (not shown) I printed out some well wishes and thoughts from friends and family that were posted on his CarePages (cancer blog). It was my complete adiction to reading my dad's blog that I decided I needed to get a blog (or two) of my own. And the rest is history. Thanks for looking!

My little Muffins

Here is my most recent creation. I scrap-lifted it from one of the talented girls at Two Peas. It sits on my kitchen counter and I just love looking at all the cute pictures, they are some of my all time favorites.