When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on

It seems like so often lately that I have been OVERWHELMED by life.  So much, that I have wanted to get back into my sweats mid-day, lie in bed and suck my thumb.  But alas, I am a woman with too much integrity to let that happen (3 times out of 4) so I get my big girl panties on and trudge through.  Maybe it is part of maturing or being a mother and not wanting to let my kids down.  I don't know.  Either way, God gives me enough strength to get through each day, one step at a time (even if these are small baby steps done in sweats, and sucking my thumb) Ha! 

So, I will carry a "to-do" list, a cell phone with good friends #'s on speed dial, the good book and some tylenol with me all the time as I get through this chapter in my story.  And I am okay with that. 

St. Pattys' Day

So, I am totally motivated to make something super fun for St. Patty's Day with the kids.  Good thing I just got a SLOUGH of Michael's coupons in my e-mail this morning!
Here are my ideas:
-Rainbow cupcakes
-"pot of gold" with candy inside and a rainbow handle made from pipe cleaners
-shamrock paintings

Should be TONS of fun  :)

Up to zero

Today, I feel like it might take a miracle to get me up to zero.  It has been a rough and stressful week.  The good news is, that it is half way over.  With good friends, good food, great family, decent wine and a little sunshine everything will be just fine.  I know it.  This definitely keeps me going:

Cute cousins!

MORE MORE MORE Sneak Peeks! CHA Winter is going to R-O-C-K!

I have been receiving new updates every day, and I am so excited to share these with you.......some of our favorite brands are coming out with some AMAZING, and I mean AMAZING new stuff.  I think that I better get a second job in order to keep up with all this!!!!!

Here are some more peeks I have seen in the last few days:


Tattered Angels Spring 2011 Mist Colors
Jenni Bowlin Stamps and Paper
Jillibean Soup 6x6 pads
Jillibean Soup Shapes, Picks and Blossoms
Bella Blvd Full Reveal of Family Dynamix and Mr. Boy
Bo Bunny Blast Off, Double Dot Designs, and Vicki B
Cosmo Cricket Glubers
Crate Paper's Neighborhood Collection
Samantha Walker's Heidi collection and Koeshi Collection
Glitz Design Full Love Games Reveal, Full Laced with Grace Reveal, and Full Afternoon Muse Reveal
Seven Gypsies New Trays
The Girls' Paperie - Kitch and Jubilee
Fancy Pants - Beach Bum
Basic Grey's Sweet Threads and Life of the Party
Prima - Sweet Fairy and Masks and the Madeline Collection
Imaginisce new i-bond and i-rock additions and Berrylicious, Little Cutie and Happy Camper
Little Yellow Bicycle FULL REVEALS of Babysaurus, Twig and Elizabeth Park
Making Memories - Dilly Dally and Tie the Knot
Pretty Little Studio - Valentine's Collections
Sassafras Lass - Ellie's Tale, Sweetly Smitten and Starters
Hambly Screen Prints Paper, Washi tape, Portrait Gallery and Rub-ons
American Crafts Trimmers, Punches and more!
Tim Holtz - Ranger/Coredinations, Ideaology, and Sizzix Alterations

Can you believe all of this new great stuff!  This is in addition to my previous post wihich is LOADED with more previews.  I am in serious LOVE and serious trouble.  Have fun window shopping and contest entering!

Hugs,

Nicole

CHA 2011 Sneak Peeks!

This is going to be an AMAZING season.  I have been looking around at all the cute paper and kits coming out for CHA Winter 2011, and it is SO exciting!!!!!

Here are a the names and previews I have found:

7 Gypsies - Lille
American Crafts - Confetti, Hello Sunshine
Basic Grey- Hopscotch
Bella Blvd- Family Dynamix, Mr. Boy
Cosmo Cricket - Salt Air, Upcycle and Social Club
Crate Paper - Cute as a Button, Toy Box, Emma's Shoppe
Creative Imaginations - Splish Splash , Forest Critters and Tea Time, Magic Attractions
Fancy Pants - Beach Babe
GCD Studios- Fun House, Great Outdoors, Soul Food, Antiquities and Sping in Bloom ( 5 more to come!)
Glitz Design- Afternoon Muse, Graced with Lace, Love Games
Graphic 45- Curtain Call, Le Cirque
Jenni Bowlin - Be our Guest 
Imaginisce - Animal Crackers
Jillibean Soup - Spotted Owl, Dutch Mustard, Blossom Soup, Chilled Strawberry Soup & Stamps, Stickers & Sprouts 
Lily Bee - Picket Fence, This & That,  Happily Lost
Little Yellow Bicycle- Elizabeth Park, Twig (More to come!)
Echo Park- Springtime, For The Record and Summer Days
My Little Shoe Box - Home Tweet Home, Farmer's Market, Oasis
My Minds Eye- Good Day Sunshine, Stella and Rose, Lush 2
Nikki Sivils- It's Raining, It's Pouring,  Max and Mollie, Summer, Beatrice, It's Your Day, We are Family
Pink Paislee- Butterfly Garden, Soiree, Daily Junque, Hometown Summer *Hometown Summer - Sneak 2 *Soiree Sneak 2, *Butterfly Garden Sneak 2, *Daily Junque Sneak 2
Prima - Mistables
Samantha Walker - Blossom, Enchanted Garden, Kokeshi
Sassafras Lass - Paper Crush
SEI - A Fair Day,  Couture, Sunny Day, Corrine, I'm an Athlete, White Elegance
Studio Calico- State Fair, Countryside
The Girls' Paperie - Vintage Whimsy
Webster's - Spring Market, Yacht Club, Country Estate, Ladies and Gents, Trendsetter Pins & Silhouettes,Whimsies and Sparklers
Bo Bunny- Timepiece, Gabrielle, Ad Lib
Hero Arts - Full Catalog

I am still waiting *patiently* to see stuff from October Afternoon, Pebbles, Inc., We R Memory Keepers, and Jenni Bowlin!!!

Prima Color Palette

Isn't it GORGEOUS!  Can't wait to see what Comes out at Winter CHA  :)

Prima Pretty Color Palette

Click the link to enter their Giveaway!

-Nicole

Unity and Echo Park Challenge

Hi All! WHEW.....what a day so far.......I just spent an hour and a half at the Department of Motor Vehicles, and still left without my new tags  :(  Well, at least I had my scrappy stuff to come home to!  This is my most recent creation for the Unity Stamp Company Co-branding challenge.  I used their Echo Park stamps and came out with this:

PINWHEELS and a CARD!!!!

 Fun, Huh???????

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Echo Park and LOVE LOVE LOVE Unity!

Fly Away!

So, this card is a little bit inspired by some striped gloves that I saw on Moxie Fab World.  It is also made using two of my new favorite products (co-branded!) Echo Park and Unity Stamps.  There is always so many cute ideas for little girls out there, that it was almost a relief to see these cute boy products.....anyway.....here is my card   :)  Happy Flying!

December Tag Swap

LOVE making tags for the swap  KinderstampO does each month.  For December, our tags had to have a touch of pink.  I LOVE pink, so I decided to use Echo Park's Everybody Loves Christmas line for the tags.  Here are a few I put together.....

Note Card Gift Sets

 Just in time for Christmas, I was able to get these cards together for teachers and daycare people.   I made a set of four for each with a Birthday card, a Thank You card, a Get Well Card and a Congratulations card.  It took me a little over an hour and my son even made one for his auntie Allie's birthday!!

(card made by AJ, 7yrs old)

Time for Halloween

I love this season.  The kids get so excited.........pumpkins and candy galore.  I made the mistake of getting Leah's costume out early, and now she is BEGGING to wear it all the time!  I came across this cute paper pumpkin project from a fellow member of Cropchocolate.com.  They are so adorable, I am going to have to make some!

Here are the directions:

Paper Pumpkins

Submitted by: Scrapbook.com

Article Courtesy Scrapjazz.com: by Kayla Richards Filip

Add a touch of the autumn spirit to your home with this easy, quick, and festive paper pumpkin. All you need is a sheet of paper, a couple basic supplies, and ten minutes to create this cute decoration. Follow the steps below to create your very own!
Supplies:

• 1 sheet 12” x 12” orange patterned paper
• bits of green scrap patterned paper
• Tim Holtz Distressing ink
• 1 brown button
• 2 brads
• 2” twig piece
• glue stick
• Glue Dots

Instructions:

1. Start by taking your 12” x 12” piece of orange paper and trimming it into 12 pieces. Each piece will measure 1” x 12”.
   
   
   
2. Next, fold each 1” x 12” piece of paper in half lengthwise. The pieces will now each measure 1” x 6”.  Glue the back together so they do not come apart. Trim any excess bits of the background side you can still see. Optional: For a rustic look, add distressing ink to all edges of your paper pieces.
3. Now, stack all 12 pieces on top of one another. Use a brad to poke through all of the pieces, about a ½” from the top. On the bottom of the pile, flatten the bottom part of the brad to secure.
   
   
   
4. Now, fan out the pieces as shown in the photo.
5. Then, take one of the pieces and place the second brad through the unsecured end. Then, take each additional piece and secure with the brad. You will now have a sphere, or pumpkin shape.
6. Now it is time to embellish your pumpkin. Use your scraps of green patterned paper to create two leaf shapes. Use Glue Dots to secure your leaves to the pumpkin.
7. Then, add a twig to your pumpkin. Mine is a real twig found outside. You can also use kraft cardstock; simply cut a thin strip and roll it into the shape of a twig. Secure with a Glue Dot.
8. Finally, add a cute button to your pumpkin for a little detail.

Super cute!  I am more into the fun loving light hearted Halloween decor, so this works perfectly.

Beautiful Bella

MORE BELLA GIVEAWAYS!

Every day this week they have a guest designer and a chance to win!

This was yesterday's post, and there is a new one today:

This week we are bringing you some *awesome* inspiration from the super talented girls on the Scrapbook & Cards Today design team. Each day we'll introduce you to someone new, and share their work using Bella's newest collections that are NOW SHIPPING! Oh-wait, there's more! Each day we'll be giving away one of our new collections to a lucky reader! Scrapbook & Cards Today is one of my favorite magazines! I love that you can download all the issues right from the site and the blog is super inspirational too!

Go to their blog for your inspiration and a chance to win!
http://bellablvd.typepad.com/bella_blvd/

Peachy Cheap

This is the greatest find of the day!  Peachycheap.com is a "scrapbook deal of the day" site with wonderfule products.  Today they have Prima flowers and buttons:

www.peachycheap.com

I also added their badge to my blog so you can click it every day to see their new deals.  SO COOL!

Tag Swap Part Deux

I FINISHED!!!  The second set of tags for my swap are DONE!   Here are the tags.  I used Cosmo Cricket papers for the tags on the left and my Making Memories Slice for the cutouts.  I use We R Memory Keepers papers for the tags on the right.  YAY!  I made on extra of each to keep for my Hawaiian album I am working on right now.  So excited to see what everyone else will do for this month's Destination Tag Swap with KinderStampO.

Elle's Studio Journaling Class

Another cool day at  Elle's studio.....they are still doing a "Journaling in your own words" workshop that has a different designer each day with a new take and technique for journaling.  There are also awesome giveaways here.  Enter by August 28th!!

Sponsors Include:
Apron Strings
Grove's
Northridge Publishing
Scrapbook Circle
Helmar
Scrapscription
3Scrappy Boys
http://ellesstudio.blogspot.com/2010/08/journaling-in-your-own-words-sponsor.html

Tag Swap

This is my first tag swap and I am SO excited!!!! I finished a set of five and I think I am going to try another set....we'll see. Here is a peek of what I did.

Big Picture Scrapbooking

Hey Everyone!

There are three days left of the BIG IDEA FESTIVAL at Big Picture Scrapbooking. You can sign up and look at the past week's archives, and the next few daysof projects. There are some amazing designers and great ideas. Best of all it is TOTALLY FREE! They also have some great sponsors with AMAZING giveaways with a chance to win each day. Some sponsors include:

The Girl's Paperie

Cosmo Cricket

Bella Blvd

Doodlebug

American Crafts

Crate Paper

Nikki Sivils

Pink Paislee

Jenni Bowlin

Unity Stamp

And MORE!!!!

Sign Up Today!

http://www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com/summerfun10.php

Back to Basics Blogging

Here we go again. I am going to try this blogging thing one more time......