Happy Mail...

The mail box has been a hopping place at my house this past week. First... as my circle journal was complete, I needed to send it off. Look at this package!

You wouldn't guess, but it has happy mail in it! If you had X-ray vision, this is what you would see...

Then I received this in the mail! Yeah... a new alphabet!

I got it on e-bay for half of what it retails for! Double Yeah!!!!

And as my scrap area has gotten cleaned up (well... cleaner... I still have some purging to do... possible another RAK soon ;)

Anyway, as I had a winner for the RAK, I had to send all of her goodies out today! It is also Carmen Pauls Birthday today too! So she is double lucky!!!

Then when I got home, I found a package on my doorstep. It was from Creative Cafe. I had won one of the drawings for CHA! This was inside!

It's a kit to make this cute little binder! Wow! As Matteo is not in school yet, I think I am going to use it to make a grandparent book. I love the colors though! What fun!!!

I am so excited to get working on this!

So, that is what has been going on here. I am still keeping a look out form my circle journal to come too. When I do, I will give ya all some sneak peeks! Thanks for stopping by and having a peek!

RAK ....

Okay... So the winner of the first RAK is...

Carmen Pauls!!!

"Oooh, I want to enter! :) My desk looks even worse than that right now --
and I have an "at home weekend crop" (aka I am ignoring the house mess and
scrapping all day tomorrow) planned, so I guess my crop will have to start with
some clean-up. :)Carmen."

You win this...

And as I had so much stuff... The second winner....

Stacey...

"Hope your little one is doing better. I love the feeling I get after
organizing a space!"

You win this...

Congratulations!!!

Girls, just e-mail me @ tinytink76@yahoo.com with your mailing information so I can send it out. Thanks for playing along with me. This was really fun. I think I will have to do it more often.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day.

Is this really the same space???

So I have almost finished my organizing... I don't actually ever think I will be "finished" but for now I as so happy with this space. Can you believe that this is the same desk?

Isn't this amazing! You can see the entire desk top!!!

This is a new organizer that I purchased. Love it! I put my buttons in a clear container that I already had (Prima flowers came in it), then I purchased 2 metal buckets at Target for $1.00 each. They now hold new embellishments and rub-ons that I want to use. The metal basket came from World Market and it holds all my flock, glitter, some glazes, and a few liquid adhesives.

Inside the drawers, which are labeled... I have my inks, stickles, and adhesives. The slots hold large embellishments and my stamping blocks.

I hung that organizer on the wall... it has tons of alphabets and little embellies that easily get lost. There is a few of those $1.00 tins on top of it (I haven't filled them yet). Below in the hounds tooth bag is all my loose acrylic stamps... I love this bag. And the double metal bin on the desk holds my loose chipboard and regular use punches.

This is to the left... on the floor. This is my tote. The gap box is the perfect size for layouts in progress. The ribbon holder is so full that I needed the basket on the floor for overflow. That's okay, at least it is all in one spot! Those binders hold acrylic stamps... mostly Technique Tuesday, as they come pre-punched for binder storage. And as I use them a ton, they are easy to reach.

And to the right, a single bin for paper I want to use now. Simple and easy. I can go through it easily and purge when I need to.

For the scary part... under the desk...

Totally organized! The bin is full of all my cardstock. It will be organized by color but it is not right at this moment... Soon though. The binders are organized by occasion... holidays, special occasions, colors, and scraps.

Now for the RAK... here are some pictures of what you will be getting! I actually had so much stuff that I will be sending out 2 RAKS.... This is for the first person...

Aren't you excited? I am! I will draw Tuesday afternoon! I will also have pictures for the second person! Thanks for looking! have a great day!

Getting there...

So I am getting somewhere... but I still have a lot of work to do. I am find Soooooo much stuff I have never used, some I forgot I even had! It is amazing how much I actually do have! But soon, one of you will get to relish in my purging!!! I have actually been making 2 piles... one for a RAK and one for the donation box at my LSS... The donation box goes to foster kids, so they can make memory books. It's a good program, and some of the stuff is too old for the way "we" scrapbook now anyways, but they will love it.
So today, I have to take the pups to the groomers... boy do they need it! Then it's off the to water park, to visit and have a play date. Then it will be nap time, and I have to get my bag ready for a crop tonight. I will probably purge a little there too! This is going to be great, because I will be able to finish up some things that I have been working on! I love to finish things! So that's it for today!
Don't forget to post a comment on the blog below to be entered in the drawing for some RAK! I am thinking the drawing will be either Monday or Tuesday... so you still have time!

Friday...

So, it's Friday, and that typically means no work for 3 yes 3 days... But, as my little monkey was sick yesterday, I am going to have to work from home to catch up and work my allotted hours. :(

Oh well, I guess that I will do it when he is asleep or something... God knows that I would not get anything done if he was awake!

Not much else going on here... just giving the kiddo some medicine and trying to clean up... My scrap room is a mess... This is so embarrassing, but here you go... Look at this....

This is my desk... You know where you should have space to actually do something... I don't think you could even find a place to lay the paper!



This is where I have tried to become organized. I have a clip it up (which I love), some shelving, and some drawers, but it is all a mess!



To the left is a stack of my stamps, books of my stamps, some ribbon, a large bundle of card stock, and my revolution...



To the right, my beloved little puppies (Bella, Charlie, and Little Bit), a tote (full of crap), and my Studio Calico box... with 3 kits in it!



So you would think that I would have space to at least put my feet... Oh NO! This is under my desk! What a mess! Can you believe this?



So now that I am thoroughly embarrassed.... Let's see if I can clean it up a bit... I think it may be time for a RAK.... Yes, that is a good idea.

So, I am going to clean out this mess (it will probably take me a few days) but when I am done, I will post a picture of the items I will be giving away! So if you want to enter, leave me a comment, and I will pick someone randomly to will all the goodies that I have cleared out. I know it looks crazy, but I know there is some good stuff in there!

Thanks for stopping by...

Good News... Bad News...

Well let's start with the bad news. Matteo was up all night last night crying and needing Mommy. He had a fever (101.2) when I put him down... gave him some medicine... but no help! He was up every hour or two. At 5:30 his temperature was up to 102.8... So I called in and took him to the doctor. Of course, we waited for 50 minutes! Yes, 50! Let me tell you this is no fun with a sick baby! Not our normal pediatrician, she doesn't work on Thursdays! But she is absolutely the best... and I mean the BEST! I love her! Anyway... oh yes, he always gets sick on Wednesday Night! Turns out he has a raging ear infection! This is #3 for us... and his temperature is now 103.7! So Grandpa came over to watch him, while I went to go get his medicine. He is finally sleeping, so instead of sleeping myself, I am blogging!

The good news is I finally have pictures of my part of the circle journal that I am doing. I signed on with 7 other very talented girls at Studio Calico. This is my first one ever! (Typically don't do mini's... actually, I have never done one on my own!) I am very excited to send it off and see what will be coming my way. So... here are some pics of mine... if you don't want to see most of it... don't look... Spoiler Alert!

This is the cover... The theme of this journal is IF...

You really can't tell, but I love the way these letters turned out. They are naked chipboard monograms from Basic Grey. I painted them, added black glitter to them, and topped them off with Glossy Accents. They are so shiny and sparkly!

First page with a little introduction...

This would be the "Rules" Really they are just guidelines! Everyone has the power to do whatever they love.

This is where everyone in the circle will "sign in" and show off their beautiful face, so we all know what that "talent" looks like.

And this is my entry...

This is an up close of Daddy's side...

And one of mine!

Hope you like it! Can't wait to see what everyone else sends me! I do have a few other layouts that I have been working on, but I can't show them to you yet! I will keep you posted though.

Thanks for looking... have a great day!

Short and Sweet...

Man it seems like the last few days have flown by and we haven't even done anything exciting. I taught class on Monday, which as always, is so much fun! Although when I got home... at 9:30ish PM... My dear hubby had not put Matteo down for bed yet! Are you kidding me? They were up playing, waiting with the curtains drawn so he could run up to the window and say "hi" when I arrived. (That was pretty stinkin' cute though).
Today... went to work.... finished some paperwork... took my car to the shop (for the 3rd time for the same problem! Ughh) ... met some of my hubbies relatives.... and had to pick up the house for the cleaning lady! Pretty boring! Anyway... I am going to try really hard to finish up on some things that I am working on so I can post them tomorrow... probably on Thursday ;) But the longer I'm here the longer it will take, so thanks for stopping by and have a great night!

Busy day!!!

We had such a busy day yesterday... but boy did we have fun, so I wanted to fill you all in! I got up early... I was praying to sleep in but my little bit had to go potty, so up I was at 6:45am... on a Saturday! So, I thought I could catch up on some scrapbooking, cleaning the kitchen, do some laundry... you know all the Mom stuff before Matteo woke up... Oh no. He was up at 7:30! At least I got to make some coffee and load the dishwasher. No scrappin' for me though....

Oh, wait I did get to take a picture of my dahlias out front. They aren't as big as they were last year, and they are just starting to bloom, but they are so B.E.A. U-tiful. Here's a picture.

I love Yellow flowers... they just make me happy!

Anyway, then we headed down to the movie theater fountains. It is so great! There is this huge fountain that comes straight out of the water for the kids to play in. Matteo had such a blast. Here is a few pictures of him...

Liking it, but not too close!

Trying to stop the water!

Having a blast!

Laughing out loud!

Drying off! (for the 3rd time!)

During nap time, I took up Steph at Studio Calico to do a Challenge. I actually got it completed and had time to clean up my scrap area (just a little). The Challenge was to use only 5 items from one of the Studio Calico kits. Here's the results...

Products used:

1. Bazzill cardstock

2. October Afternoon double sided picnic basket paper

3. American Craft jounaling stickers

4. Ribbon

5. Thickers

Journaling reads: My sweet loving little boy. You may be just like Daddy, but those are Mommy's big blues!

I actually like this layout, and it's a single pager (now I have done 2 in a month... maybe something is catching on here :)

After nap, we went to the park with Cael and Capriel (Matteo's cousins) and had dinner which was followed up by frozen yogurt at our favorite yogurt shop, Honey Treat Yogurt. I didn't take any pictures of this because I just wanted to be able to enjoy it. Sometimes I feel like I am trying to get the perfect picture and I forget to enjoy the moment. So, tonight I took a break from the photo duty.

Needless to say, when we got home, Matteo went right down. No fussing at all! Ahhh.... the beauty of silence. I don't think I truly appreciated Silence until after I had a child... And now I am off to scrap... I still have to do that Challenge from Greta and I am feelin' the creative juices. I will let you know how it goes. Thanks for stopping by. Have a great night.

Shopping Spree...

Today Matteo and I went shopping... for him. I have realized that after having a baby... I will NEVER love shopping for myself again! Unless, of course it is for shoes and handbags! The best thing about them is they always fit. (I have a size 6 1/2 shoe, so there is always shoes available in my size too!) Anyway, we went to The Children's Place. They are having their MONSTER sale... plus an additional 50% off clearance. I also had an extra 15% off coupon. (online code: C28Q9ZAE1178) So, I got him 9 items (all shirts and shorts) for... drum roll please.... $31.80! I always do this for the next season. Then we went to Macy's and they had an additional 15% off their clearance of 40% off. (No coupon, you just have to use a Macy's card). We then picked up the rest of his summer clothes for next year for $67.40 (14 more pieces). Yeah!! I love a good deal! An entire summer wardrobe for less than $100.00. Now if I could just do this for myself... that would rock! Here is some pics of our good deals!!!





The only sad thing is that I have to wait until next year for him to be big enough to wear them!
Hope you can get some good deals for yourself... we all need a good deal right now!

I am trying to finish up my circle journal for the Studio Calico group that I joined. Hopefully, I will have it completed by tomorrow and I will be able to post some pics for you. Then I have to complete a challenge layout... from Greta! She is a little stinker... but I love her anyway! I'll post it when I finish.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great night.

Second time around...

Okay, I am going to try again... Yeah!!! It is working!!!
So, here is some cute pictures of Matteo and Daddy hanging out at the river.

Daddy thought it would be fun to freak Mommy out and take Matteo into the middle of the river. I know it doesn't look deep in these pictures, but it dropped off dramatically from about a foot to about 10 feet very quickly!

Ron said he was trying to teach Matteo how to "surf" the rocks in this picture. That rock was very unsteady and he was bouncing back and forth on it!

I had to beg for this shot! Daddy actually looking at the camera and smiling... on purpose! Matteo too, I think it may be a record!

And remember I mentioned how much we ate this weekend? Here is a cute one of Ron teaching Matteo how to use a fork.

Eating Smores!

And then playing with the roasting stick...

I think this might be one of my favorites... my boys and my pups! Love it!

So I also finished a few layouts, not from camping, but just a few layouts so I will leave you with a few pictures. These will be part of some that I will be doing for a class in August. They are some of my more simple layouts, but I love the colors and the balance of them.

I thought that the "parts" of this robotic theme would be too cute with naked pictures... carefully cropped ... hehe

I put the journaling in one of the gears. It reads: One day you'll hate that I took "naked" pics of you, but I couldn't help it! I love all of you. Your curly blonde hair, your non-existent eyebrows, your belly button, your chubby fingers & thighs... I love it all... every little inch!

This is one of him at Daddy's baseball games. He loved the bats. Picking them up, dragging them around, and putting them back. I think he could have done it for hours. I just loved the colors of these papers. Originally it was going to say "Super Star" bit I thought this title was better.

I loved the stickles... to add that bling (it's hard with boys) in the little holes of the title. I think it added texture to the layout.

Anyway, that's all for today. Thanks for looking. Let me know what you think!