They like me, they really like me :D

Isn't that sweet?!? My swirly sister Jan gave me this award. I'm thrilled but also a little shocked since I'm so bad at keeping this thing up. So I guess there are some rules I need to follow.

1. Give a list of ten things that make me happy.

2. A trivia of five things about me.

3. Share the award with only 5 people and ask them to do the same.

4. Link the blogs I choose and the blog of the ones who gave me the award.

So, here goes:

1. Ten things that make me happy: my family, my kids laughing, scrapping, my Mac, coca cola zero -- vanilla or cherry, good friends, a good sale, finding money in my purse or pocket that I forgot about, pedicures and sunshine.

2. Five things about me: I'm a self taught computer geek (but still have a lot to learn), I don't like my feet touched (unless it's for a pedicure but it's still hard), I was born legally blind, I don't like to swim and I love Red Robins honey mustard dressing.

3 . I am going to share this award with: Rose, Lisa, Bonnie, Angelica and Tammy.

4. Did that one already :D

Thanks again Jan - that was fun!



And lastly,

As usual

I have a lot to catch up on and of course I don't know where to start. Instead of going through all the junk I'll just get to the good stuff.

Here is what I have done since my last post:



Not a lot but that's ok. I've been messing with SVG's lately. They can get addicting. I'm also leaving for a Scrap retreat this coming Thursday so I'm really excited. I'm already all packed (scrappy stuff anyway). I knew I'd be busy this week so I wanted to get it done and out of the way. I'll be gone Thursday - Sunday. Let me tell you, I need the break. It will be so fun to hang out with my friends and just scrap. No worries about anything! Whoo hoo!

Ok back to the SVG's. I have not test cut a lot of these but they should work. I made them from free digital brushes for photoshop that I found on the web. If you have any problems - shoot me an email and I will see what I can do to fix it.

































































Well that's about it for now. Hope you enjoy the files. Let me know what you think of them and if you use them I'd sure like to see.

I give up!

I've tried and tried to be good and keep this thing updated and it never works. I've said it before and I'll say it again, my life just isn't that interesting. I think I may try to do short little posts and not worry about having pictures to put in it. I think that's what keeps me from posting - I feel like I need to have some kind of picture in my posts and something interesting to say. Maybe I can try to overcome that.

I'm not going to bore you with details and try to catch up again. Nothing exciting happened or I would have posted it -hahahaha. Seriously, just the normal every day stuff. Not much going on now either. Since the weather has been mild here lately and we haven't gotten any snow except the mountains, we went searching for some on Valentine's day. We found a little bit but there was really no where for the kids to play. Kind of sucked. It was a nice day though and I did get a few pictures.

Here is what I got from Pete for Valentines:


Purty isn't it? I was really shocked that he remembered at all. He had just come home the day before from California (his grandmother passed away - such a sweet lady - she will be missed) and I know his mind wasn't on Valentine's day but he fooled me.

I made Tyler's class some paper mailboxes and put little candies in them. I also decorated those $1 mailboxes from Target for his teachers again this year. They loved them.











I was pretty happy with the way they turned out too. Simple but cute.

And of course I did some scrapping. Here's what I've done lately:






































I'm really happy with the direction my scrapping is going in now. I've been wanting to do more and try more and I've been doing that lately. My tastes have changed a lot in what I buy now too. A lot of it has to do with the kit club I joined a while back - Swirlydoos. It is awesome! I'm loving everything from that club. I still enjoy Simply Obsessed although I must admit I don't hang out there much anymore. Not that I don't want to but there's just not enough time in the day. And I probably won't be renewing my subscription either, sad to say. I need to pick one club and I'm really liking Swirlydoos. Lately SO just hasn't had the papers that inspire me much anymore. They're great and Heather is awesome. It's just not the stuff I'd pick out myself anymore unfortunately. I will stay in touch with the girls - thanks to facebook and maybe at some time I'll go back.

Since I'm on the subject of scrapping (I know when am I not?) I get to go to another retreat this year! In April! Woot! Woot! Lori is putting on another Eat, Nap, Scrap retreat at Ft. Flagler and Sarah and I are going again. Last year was my first retreat ever and I loved it! Couldn't wait for her to have another one. So as soon as she sent out the email for the one in April, I marked my calendar, made arrangements with Pete and my mom and paid my fees. Did I mention I can't wait!! Should be a lot of fun.

Ok I'm going to end this now before I start rambling some more and it gets too long and you won't want to read it (see there I go rambling....). Hope you all have a wonderful weekend. And I'd say write again soon but ha - who am I kidding? We'll just have to see what happens.....

It's been a long time

Here I went and did it again. I let this thing go for too long and now I don't even know where to begin. Not a lot to catch up on though. Still deciding if that is a good or bad thing, hmmmm.... We had a nice Thanksgiving and I think the kids really enjoyed their Christmas. I won't bore you with pictures of all of it since there are a lot. If you'd like to see them just click on the 'My Photos' link over in the sidebar. They are all in my Picasa web albums.

I guess I just wanted to let everyone know that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth just haven't been logging onto facebook much or updating this blog obviously. Not sure why, just haven't had the desire to do so. I get so wrapped up in scrapbook sites that time flies and before I know it I don't have time to do anything else (computer related that is) with the exception of work. Ugh! That four letter word.

Anyway, the kids are doing great. I'm still fighting Kaylie with the potty training - well not fighting but she is so darn stubborn! I can't imagine where she gets it from either ;) One of these days we'll get it though. I'm so tired of the diaper thing already.

I'm still making SVG's but I didn't get anything ready to share this time. I so need to find a better way to organize these things. I have so many!! I also found a new program that looks to be a pretty good competitor to SCAL. It's called Make the Cut
and I have to say it is pretty awesome. Much more user friendly too. One thing I love about it too is that they have a gallery that you can link to right from the program where you can share and download svg's or mct files.

Alrighty time for some pictures. You didn't think I wouldn't post a few, did you?

I had so many favorites from the old time photos I had done of the kids that I got a bunch! Here are a couple of the ones I liked the most - and of course I had to scrap them!




And here is one I did of me and my brother (my first Christmas). I'm really happy with how it turned out even though the pictures aren't great (they were scanned from slides).
That's about it for now. I'd say with the new year and all I'd keep this up better but I know me ;) Maybe I'll surprise myself.

Have a wonderful new year!!

Lots of Stuff

To catch up on. I know I've really let this go again and I apologize. Between all that has been happening, feeling guilty for spending too much time on the computer (another post altogether) and sick kids, I've been a little busy. I did accomplish a lot in the mean time though.

Tyler got his school pictures back. They turned out cute but he did that funky smile again. He so tries not to squint with the flash (like his momma does ) so I end up with this smile:



















I still think it's an adorable picture but I'm a little biased though.

We did get to take our trip to the pumpkin patch but it was a bust. It didn't rain that day but it did the week before and the place was pretty flooded. I did get a few cute pictures. I love this one of the hayride:



















And here you can see how wet it really was:

All in all we had a pretty fun day and got some pretty good pumpkins.

And here is what we did with them:







































Then we celebrated Kaylie's birthday on the 30th instead of the 31st. I decided it would be wiser not to mix birthday cake and Halloween candy in one day. I think she had fun - she liked the cake anyway:


That's what I get for going next door to my mom's to wrap her gifts and leave Pete in charge of watching the kids!
Halloween was a lot of fun. We went to Cindy and Brent's for a BBQ and some trick or treating on base. The kids looked so cute and had a lot of fun. This was Tyler's first year of traditional trick or treating. We usually took the kids to the mall where they could trick or treat from store to store. It's a warm safe place and normally it's raining here on Halloween. We lucked out this year. We sure are going to miss The Deerings when they move to Guam next year.
I have some more pictures of the kids that I'm dying to post but I can't right now as they are going to be Christmas gifts for some of the family. Let's just say we did the Antiquities photo shoot and they turned out adorable!!

Ok now for the creations. I made these cute things for Tyler's class:

They went over really well. The kids loved them and I think the teacher loved them even more. I had fun making them too.

Here I did an 8x8 canvas of my Grandparents (my mom's mom and dad). It was the first time I've done one. It was fun. I have a 12 x 12 I want to do next.

And a layout I did a little while ago but hadn't posted here yet. I'm really happy with the way it turned out.


Here are some notebooks I altered for MOPS. We are putting together baskets for teen moms in our area. We will be putting words of wisdom and encouragement for them in them. I thought they looked kind of plain but everyone seemed to like how they turned out.
And now what a lot of you have really been waiting for. Yes, I did do some svg files. I have not cut these yet but they should work. Let me know if you have any problems with them. Click on the picture to download.


Enjoy! And I'll try not to be such a stranger!

I dropped the ball....

sorry about that. I've been doing so well keeping this updated and then boom - I dropped the ball. In my defense though, Pete has been gone the last 2 weeks and I had to be a 'single mom' for a bit. It wasn't too bad though but I did let some things go. I did get a lot of svg's made but I haven't cut any. I'll post a few of them at the end with a link. I'd post them all but there are just way too many so I'll give them away a little at a time. Besides, I need some way to get you all back here to read this

As I said, Pete had been gone for 2 weeks for work but he made it home safe and sound Friday night. And....drum roll please.....he passed his last test with a 95! Woot woot! So proud of him. On top of that, he doesn't have to go back anymore - yippee!!! He's all done and is now a Journeyman Signalman/Maintainer. So glad it's all over.

Unfortunately I haven't gotten any new layouts done but I am working on some cute treat cups I'm making for Tyler's class for Halloween. I should have them done soon so I will post a picture of them. I'm pretty happy with the way they are turning out. I've also started a layout with some pictures that Pete took of the kids today. They turned out adorable! It was a perfect day for some fall pictures with the exception of not too many leaves You can see the pictures he took by going here - the top 3 rows are the ones he took today.

Hoping to go to the pumpkin patch soon - love the photo ops there and taking the kids is a lot of fun.

I have an appt this weekend for the kids to have old time photos done. MOPS is doing a fund raiser with a photo place called Antiquities and this is what we will be doing. I'm excited. I missed it last year as I did not join MOPS until around December. Can't wait to see how they turn out.

We also have to squeeze Kaylie's birthday party in there somewhere. I'm debating on whether or not to do it on her actual birthday or not. I think if I wait and do it the same day it may be too much to have a party and then go trick or treating. So I'm thinking of doing it either the night before or the weekend before. We'll have to see how it works out.

I also wanted to take them to the Zoo Boo but it doesn't look like we will be able to fit that in too. Have to play it by ear. Lots going on this month!

Oh and I'm hoping to get family pictures done soon. NOT this month but hopefully next. We're going to try out JcPenney and see how they are. I really liked the ones we did last year at The Picture People. And I loved having them same day but JcPenney is closer and I've heard good things about them too so we'll see.

Alrighty I will quit rambling and get to what a lot of you came for

Here are the svg's for this post - and remember - I have not cut these so I'm not positive they will work but they should.
Click on the photo to download the file.....


Until next time - have a great week!

Layouts and leftovers

Ok not really leftovers but it was a catchy title don't ya think?

It's been a pretty busy week for me. I had to prepare for MOPS and get my responsibilities for that done. I had to work my 5 hours each day (which I still have time to make up - will do that after I post this) and had to gets things ready for Pete to leave today for his 2 weeks of school. Thank goodness this is his last session and won't have to go back anymore! Woot woot!

I'm kinda shocked that I got a layout done and some SVG files. I haven't been able to test cut them yet though. I will post them anyway with the disclaimer that there is the possibility they will not work and I'll have to fix them. They should work but I'm not making any promises.

Here is the layout I did. It is of my dad when he was around 12 (he's 78 now!) and his brother (who passed away in 2007). I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. And so proud of myself that I didn't use a sketch. Normally I can't scrap without at least starting with one but this one just kind of came together by itself.


And here are the SVG files that I have made.

Click on the picture to download the file. If you do happen to cut them please let me know if they work or not so I can fix them if I need to.

Have a great week!