Scrap With Tessa

Canyon's First Day

2011-08-30T09:02:00.004-06:00

Today was Canyon's first day of first grade. His allergies were so bad this morning that all of the pictures but this one his eyes were almost closed.

This is the first time he will be in school all day. I know it's pathetic, but I miss the little guy already. Its weird that he won't be here all day. The 2 1/2 hours of Kindergarten seemed like a break, 6 1/2 seems like f-o-r-e-v-e-r.

I have big plans on what I will get done during these long days, but we will see what happens :p

Wish I could go hang out at the scrapbook store with my buddies :(

First day of High School

2011-08-29T09:40:00.004-06:00

Whoa! I have a kid in High School! Where did the time go? She can't believe that she STILL has to have first day of school pictures taken.

After a summer full of activities I am looking forward of not having to drive kids around between the hours of 8:30 and 2:30 every day! I also will not miss driving to and from the high school 4+ times a day, although I am sure I will be doing it again next summer. I don't expect to see much of Marissa this school year at all. With all the sports and activities she is involved in sometimes I am suprised the kid finds time to sleep.

Canyon's first day is tomorrow. I still get one day to cuddle with my little guy before he is off to Big Kid School.

12 days of Christmas

2010-12-08T15:53:00.004-07:00

Love this!! Make sure you listen all the way thru. My favorite part is about 2 minutes in.

Santa

2010-12-02T10:19:00.004-07:00

I used the My Mind's Eye Holly Jolly line for this layout. It was inspired by the layout of the same name by Amber Packer on the My Mind's Eye design team.

I actually added a couple rows of red stitching along the edge of that notebook punch after I took the picture. I didn't want to retake pictures, so just imagine it there. :)

In the original picture Ivy was wearing bright orange and Canyon blue. I changed the color of their clothes in Photoshop, as I am looking at it I wish I had muted down that snowy background behind Santa's head.

For some reason I didn't get the chipboard for this line, so I had to make do. I used lots of Glossy accents and glitter. The candy canes are cut from one of the pieces of paper, then pop-dotted, glossified and glittered.

I love the little tickets from the die-cut sheet. I wish I had a whole roll of these.

I added some glossy to the Holly and the leaves also.

If you like this line, you could win it! The Playground is doing a raffle with proceeds benefiting the Cornerstone Rescue Mission. Check it out HERE.

Expedition Everest

2010-11-16T09:59:00.003-07:00

Expedition Everest is one of Marissa's favorite rides in the parks. Unfortunately, it is also one of the longest lines in the parks and one of the only rides Canyon isn't tall enough to go on.

I love this Pink Paislee line. So much color!

The layout and prayer flag (canvas banner) idea came from Susan Stringfellow, my scrapbooking idol!

Prayer Flags can be found strung all over this part of Animal Kingdom and on the mountain itself. They are inspired by Himalayan prayer flags that are said to send thought and prayers to the wind.

I cut rectangles out of pattered paper, inked the edges of them, then I used just a tiny bit of adhesive in the middle and stuck them on canvas. I cut out around them larger than I would need and frayed the ends, leaving more canvas on top to make room for the holes. Then I used the sewing machine and stitched around the edges. I used some paper to block of the canvas and stamped them using just the edges of some of my stamps. (Thinking back, I should have done this before I stitched them to the canvas!) I punched holes in the tops, strung them using some hemp and pop dotted them off the page.

These are some of the fast pass tickets from Expedition Everest. I found them in my bin of Disney memorabilia. They are actually from a different trip than the pictures. The date on them is December 2006 the pictures are from November 2009, but oh well, they worked!

Sorry the picture is blurry, but it is COLD outside and I really don't want to go out and take a new picture.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my blog!

Canyon's First Flight

2010-10-28T09:31:00.003-06:00

This is another photo that I have been waiting to scrap until I found just the right layout and papers. I took a lot of inspiration from this one by Susan Stringfellow.

There is some serious shadow going on in that title, sorry about that.

I love the writing on the ticket behind the title. I just wish I had come up with it!

I actually found his ticket from that flight, can you believe it? Sometimes being a pack rat pays off! I just had to get one of the envelopes from the mini album on this page.

Awww, doesn't he look sweet?

Kendra's sewing machine did this amazing stitch. I love it!

Cherish these moments - Sylvan Lake

2010-10-19T12:43:00.004-06:00

This is one of the layouts I finished at the retreat I went to over 10-10-10. This is an older Crate paper line that I have had sitting around for awhile. I love these pictures of my kids at Sylvan.

I used Kendra's amazing sewing machine for all the stitching. Wow! I have some serious sewing machine envy going on.

Thanks for looking!

Popsicle Pirate

2010-10-11T11:22:00.003-06:00

Another layout from last weekends retreat. I didn't like this layout at all while I was creating it. As soon as I started adding embellishments it all started to come together and I like how it turned out.

How cute is the little easel that I picked up at Ikea for 99 cents?! I propped it up on my deck railing (ahh, I love my new deck) for the picture.

I got quite a bit done (for me) at the scrapbook retreat I went to this weekend, so I have more layouts to share later on this week.

Thanks for stopping by.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-08T07:29:00.002-06:00

About a month ago I got an email from Jami Peterson, the editor in chief at Scrapbooking.com Magazine. She had come across one of my layouts on Two Peas and asked if I would like to submit it for publication. Of course I would!
Here is a link to the layout and article. Pumpkin Patch

Rough and Tough

2010-10-05T09:44:00.003-06:00

I went to a retreat this weekend and finally got some scrapping done!

This is the Bella Blvd Man of the House line. So cute! I also threw on some stickers from a sticker sheet that was given to me in my retreat pack, thanks Lynn!

Here is a close up so you can see the sneer that Canyon was giving me.

I am happy to be scrapping again, although we still have lots of house projects to get done in the next month, including a new roof! I signed up for another retreat next weekend and am planning on another the beginning of November, hopefully they will keep me going.

I have also just started teaching scrapbooking classes at Michaels in Rapid City. If you are interested, shoot me an email and I will get you the info. tesslor@aol.com

Hello Mr. Turtle

2010-09-04T10:37:00.002-06:00

For this layout I used the Bella Blvd Fall Day collection. Love all these papers. Most of the accents are from a K and Co line called Actopus to Zelephant.

Canyon is and always has been a climber. He loved all the animal statues all over Busch Gardens, and he especially loved that he could climb all over them without getting in trouble.

I finally used some of these leaf pins that I have been coveting.

Gosh, I miss that curly hair. It was so cute, especially in the Florida humidity.

Everything Is Satisfactual

2010-09-02T10:13:00.002-06:00

This layout is a scraplift of the talented Susan Stringfellow. I love her stuff! I even used the same papers! Splash Mountain is one of our favorite rides at Disney. The middle pic is all 4 of us on the raft on our last trip in November. The bottom picture is Marissa and JT on the drop from her first trip in March of 2003.

I got a raindrop on it when I was taking a picture, darn, I hope it dries.

I just had to use the bluebird on the page also. He's in the song, you know....

Mr. Bluebirds on my shoulder
It's the truth,
It's actual,
Everything is Satisfactual.
Zip-a-dee-doh-hda, Zip-a-dee-a,
Wonderful feeling,
Wonderful day.

This is Brer Fox, Brer Rabbit and Brer Bear from the story and the ride.

Susan had a great idea on taking the font for the word "satisfactual" from the sign at the end of the ride. I loved it and copied her idea.

I also took the autographs of the Characters and shrunk them down and printed them on this log I cut with my Cricut. I was hoping that it would look like they were carved into the log.

More to come....

Water bottle hickeys and toilet paper rolls.

2010-08-31T21:48:00.002-06:00

I honestly can't leave this kid alone for 5 seconds! Yesterday he somehow managed to get enough suction on a water bottle on his bottom lip to give himself a hickey. This picture is from day 2 of the water bottle hickey. Hopefully it fades before he has to go back to school on Friday. I've never even heard of this happening, but you can see it on his face, plain as day just below his bottom lip. Perfectly round.

I also noticed this morning that every roll of toilet paper in my house is missing the cardboard tube in the center. (I will spare you the picture of a toilet paper roll) We keep the extra toilet paper in Canyon's bathroom. He has a big empty cupboard under his sink. The carboard tubes are gone out of those as well. E.V.E.R.Y. O.N.E.

I have no idea what he has done with these tubes. I can't find them and he isn't talking.

Oh, a boy is a joy!

First day of school

2010-08-31T08:53:00.005-06:00

I can't believe how much Marissa has changed in the last year. I desperately miss the sweet little girl that she used to be but I am enjoying watching her blossom into a beautiful teenager.

My little buddy is a kindergartner this year. No tears from Mom this year, he actually had a longer school day last year when he was in preschool. Next year, when he goes all day I will definitely be bringing Kleenex when I take him to school on the first day.

I am taking a Pink Paislee class in a couple weeks at Archiver's in Minneapolis. I bought this specific shirt to match the layout that we will be doing in the class. I actually got to the store, and then remembered that I wanted it to match. Luckily Kendra has the internet on her cell phone and could send me a picture of the layout!!

Typical Canyon style.

Out For Publication

2010-08-26T10:58:00.003-06:00

Maybe its good for me to take a scrapbooking hiatus! I get to use an "Out for publication" banner for the first time ever!

Here is a link to the original post . I will post a link to the pub as soon as it is up!

If this is going to be a regular occurrence for me, maybe I will have to scrap an "out for publication" banner of my very own! :P

Toot!

2010-08-16T09:18:00.001-06:00

Check out who won the sketch challenge over at the Paper Poppy blog. http://paperpoppykitco.blogspot.com/2010/07/i-have-couple-of-winners.html

Yea me!

Now, off to build some railings :P

What I've been up to

2010-08-02T16:34:00.003-06:00

I haven't been scrapbooking lately, I haven't been anything lately, except working on this deck!

When we bought this house we loved that it had all these wonderful decks. We knew the decks weren't in the best shape, but we would soon find out, under all that snow, they were actually in terrible shape.

The house actually has over 2600 sq feet of deck, we could never afford to pay someone to replace them. Last summer we began the adventure on our own. We were only about 400 square feet into the project before we ran out of motivation, so this summer we decided to hit it hard. We actually have about 1700 square feet finished except for railings, light poles and stain. Woo Hoo! Maybe someday soon I will actually have a life again, although I won't have any money to live it. (haha)

This is standing out the deck door looking down. Please ignore all the junk, and those unbelievably ugly valances that I pulled out of my grate room and just threw out there.
If you were to turn to the right instead you would find the miles of unfinished deck, so we won't go that way!
If you goes left it goes around a corner...
to this. JT is quite proud of those stairs, as he should be, they look beautiful, still missing bottom step.

This is the second level of deck, you can see a little step up in the picture. If you were to go to your right you would see another set of stairs to the upper level. It isn't done, so no picture.

To the left is this shed and a little walkway of deck to another deck that is 23x14. I should have gone over there and taken a picture as there is a huge pine tree growing thru the center that we framed around, I guess I was being lazy.

And here is my beautiful railing that we put together last night. I just love it! The tall pole will have a light on it when it is finished. We have lights every couple of 8 ft sections.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out the pictures of our summer project. Hopefully before to long we will be done!!

Mike Wiezowski

2010-07-13T16:52:00.006-06:00

Can you believe it? I posted!

I haven't been scrapping much lately at all. I've been cleaning and cleaning out! The clutter in my house has been threatening to smother me and I had to get rid of it. I am still working on it. My closet is next. I still have clothes from high school in there! There is no way that I will ever get back into them, I don't know why I have waited so long!

I used a sketch for this layout. This one is from Paper Poppy Kit Co.

I used one of my all-time favorite lines, October Afternoon Night Light. The stickers are EK.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Father's Day!

2010-06-20T09:13:00.002-06:00

My kids wanted to make Father's Day cards yesterday, so I let them loose on my scraps and my cricut. Here is what they came up with.

Marissa

Canyon

inside of card

Aren't they sweet?!

Happy Father's Day!!

School

2010-06-10T09:34:00.003-06:00

I am missing school already.
I couldn't wait for summer, I was actually counting down. Thinking about lazy days with my kids at home, running thru the sprinkler and trips to the pool made me smile.
Canyon has been out of school for a couple weeks, Marissa 3 days and they are driving me crazy! Fight, fight fight, that and making huge messes is all that goes on around here! What day exactly does school start again??

Who would have thought that these 2 lines of paper would work together? Not me, not until I saw it done over on The Scrapbook Diaries.

Thanks for stopping by!

Iron Mountain Road

2010-06-08T10:53:00.004-06:00

This layout is a scraplift. I posted it because 1. I haven't been posting much lately and 2. I wanted to show off this Cricut cartridge that I am really loving.

The font and the blue flourish on the right are from the new Wall Decor and more cart. I didn't think I needed this cart, I have no intention of doing any wall decor, then I saw the font. I love the R!
Memorial Day weekend we took the kids up to Keystone and did the touristy thing. I didn't know that JT had never been thru the pigtails by Mt. Rushmore, so we did that and stopped several times along the way for the kids to climb on the rocks. The kids loved the pigtail tunnels and seeing Mt. Rushmore thru them. Funny, how I take it for granted having done it a million times and never would have thought they would enjoy it. How sad is it that we live a half an hour from Mt Rushmore, and Canyons knowledge about it came from Phineas and Ferb?!

Back to shuttling kids around. I am going to work on getting some original layouts done this week. Nothing is as satisfying as creating one of my own, it just takes so much longer and works my brain so much more. You know how it is, sometimes life just gets in the way.

A little more Disney

2010-06-02T11:48:00.007-06:00

Kendra, do you know how much money I would save if I didn't answer the phone whenever you called?!

I am loving these page kits from tammi i

I added letter stickers to all them for my titles, and a Mickey head to each one, but other than that pretty much everything came in the kits.

Princess Jasmine & Aladdin

2010-05-26T08:04:00.003-06:00

It has been quite a while since I posted. Sorry about that. I haven't been feeling very creative and I have been doing lots of page kits. That is, until I saw these butterflies. As soon as I saw them I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them...Princess Jasmine. When I started sifting through my hoards of pictures, the only one I had of Marissa as Jasmine wouldn't work. I didn't want to abandon the idea though, and I came across this one of Canyon.

Now, the question of the day.... Is this layout way to girly to have my boy's picture on it? I haven't glued anything down yet, so it can still be redone.

I asked JT what he thought. He said that it is pretty girly, but it would be one of his favorites later because Jasmine is HOT! Sheesh, Men!

So, if I have any readers left after my posting absence, what do you think?

nah nah nah nah nah Batman!

2010-05-16T09:12:00.004-06:00

Yeah, I know it is actually do do do not nah nah nah, but it looked sillier when I typed it!

Here is my first Cricut Cake. Not spectacular, but Canyon loved it and it was fun!
Kendra helped, thank goodness! I think I would have had a dirt cake if she hadn't stacked them for me!

Goofy kid!

I'm going to need a vacation from this vacation

2010-05-12T08:27:00.002-06:00

This picture was taken in Universal Studios, Florida. They have all these cool little word balloons around that you can stand under and take pictures.

This was only day 2 of 17 days in Florida with a 2 year old. If only we knew how true that word balloon saying would end up being!

Mother's Day

2010-05-10T08:48:00.003-06:00

I had to demo the Cricut Cake yesterday, on Mother's Day. I whined about it all morning. Not necessarily just because it was Mother's Day, mostly because I am just whiny.

When I came home, look what I found......
Aren't they cute all dressed alike?

JT cooked for me. Flowers and candles on the table. Clean house. Kids already had baths for the night. How could I possibly ask for more?

Canyon was my waiter. He asked me "Can I get you anything else?" about 50 times. He has been dying to wear this tie since I found it in his closet 3 months ago.

I had a great Mother's Day. I hope you did too!

Test Track - Speed, I am speed

2010-05-08T08:56:00.005-06:00

I was finally in a scrappy mood last night! I have found that if my house isn't clean (at least where I can see from my scrap table) there is no way that I can sit down at my table and scrap. I tried a couple times yesterday, but I would look around and just get aggravated. After I cleaned everything, I was able to sit down and finish up this layout I started at Michelle Chikos' retreat almost a month ago.

I found these papers on one of my Minneapolis shopping trips. They are Reminisce. When I pulled them out at the retreat I heard a collective gasp, then what are you going to do with those papers? I can admit, when I held them up they kinda hurt your eyes. :) But I think they definitely came together well for this type of layout.

I still need to add journaling. I think I will put it on this side above the pic of JT and the kids in front of the Test Track building.

The cute little cones are from the Disney Cars Cricut cartridge. Thanks Angie for letting me borrow it!

In the Test Track photo, I photo shopped two kids out of the pic. They were on the left hand side, playing on that slope right behind Marissa. It doesn't look too bad. You can definitely see the variation in the color of the slope where I took them out, I didn't do a great job on matching the colors, but it was alot to remove from a picture.

This is one of the Test Track pics that we got on our Photopass. I love that they let you include these ride pics. I hope that eventually you can add all the ride pics to your Photopass.

Not surprisingly, Test Track was one of Canyon's absolute favorite rides. We must have gone on it at least a dozen times. A few times without even getting off the ride. Unfortunately, this was the only picture of us when we were in the car by ourselves. We knew where the photo was shot and put our arms up in the air. Evidently, Canyon missed the memo!

Thanks for looking!

Teacher appreciation

2010-05-05T18:52:00.002-06:00

I made these little M&M flowers for Canyon's teachers for Teacher Appreciation week. Thanks for the idea Cathy!

I used up some flowers I have had for a long time. Now I am wishing that I would have handmade the flowers. Oh well, I handmade 26 birthday invitations yesterday and last night, I deserve a break!

Baby Cards

2010-05-04T09:56:00.003-06:00

When I went to the Windy City Scrapbooking store in Chicago I got a free pack of paper with purchase. It looked like everyone got different packs. I got this older foof-a-lah baby paper and die cuts.
Later that night there was a small crop, since I didn't bring any supplies with me I brought out this paper pack and started making cards with it. I finished them up when I got home.

The only products I used besides the papers in the kit were some ink, letter stamps and ribbons.

Monsters, The Usual Suspects

2010-04-29T11:31:00.004-06:00

My life has been so hectic the last couple weeks with the Provo Craft job, I haven't had much time to think about anything else.

This is a layout I did at Michelle Chikos' retreat a couple weeks ago, right before all that began. My little guy found his flip flop out on the deck with a bite taken out of it. What the journaling doesn't tell you is that before I suggested a raccoon did it, I accused him of biting a chunk out of his own flip flop. I know it sounds crazy, but it wouldn't have been the first time he took a big bite out of something that was inedible!

I used several different paper lines for this layout. The background paper is a "B" side of the Robot line from My Mind's Eye. The white with the swirly edge, the monster line up, and the banners are Sassafrass. The blue dot border, the rainbow border and the journaling tear out are Fancy Pants Rusted Sun, and the letter stickers are Pink Paislee. I love how they all came together.

Thanks for looking!

Back to real life

2010-04-28T10:26:00.003-06:00

I had a great time in Chicago, but meeting so many wonderful ladies was the best part.

I can't remember everyone's names (I believe there were over 200 of us), but I made some great friends while I was there. In this picture starting in the middle of the back row in the white is Leslie, Stacy (in cricut green), and Kendra (in white), bottom right is me. I had so much fun with these girls and I am sure that we will stay in contact, and hopefully get together once in a while!

Over 30 of us rented a super-stretch Hummer limo and took it to Windy City Scrapbooking downtown Chicago. What a trip, what a store!

I can't wait to get my Cake machine, hopefully today or tomorrow. Check back for more pics!

Bet your bottom dollar you'll lose your blues in Chicago

2010-04-21T09:57:00.003-06:00

Sing it Frankie. Love that Sinatra song.

I am so excited, I just landed a part time position as a Cricut demonstrator. I get to fly to Chicago this weekend for training!

I am also more than a little nervous. I've never been on a plane by myself, heck, I've never been in a cab by myself.
One time when we were in Vegas I decided to take a cab to the outlet mall by myself. I went outside the hotel and stood where you wait for them to hail you a cab. As I was standing there my imagination began to run wild. I started thinking about getting in a cab with a psycho where the doors would lock and he would take me somewhere remote and keep me tied up in his basement. I knew I was being ridiculous, but I just kept thinking that if the cab started taking me somewhere else I would never even realize it until it was too late. As all these thoughts were swirling in my head I realized the cab stand guy had been asking me "Where to ma'am", for who knows how long. I panicked, said I changed my mind and went back into the hotel.

My 5 year old is a little upset and a little excited too. He doesn't like either myself or my husband to be away. But, since JT is in Vegas this week he knows he gets to sleep with Mommy, then I will be gone this weekend, so he knows daddy will let him stay up really late watching cool animal or dinosaur shows on TV.

Les Chefs de France

2010-04-19T10:47:00.004-06:00

This weekend was a retreat weekend. Good food, good friends, good fun, and not so much scrapbooking. I only got 5 layouts done! This one is my favorite from this weekend.

I actually picked up the Ratatouille stickers before we went to Disney last year. I had a plan for a France layout, so I had to make sure I got the pictures. We passed the France Pavillion numerous times, but I kept saying I have plenty of time to get the picture. On our last day in Epcot I panicked a little because I hadn't taken the picture yet. So, we high-tailed it to France so I could take these terrible, dark pictures!

I used Little Yellow Bicycle papers and embellishments on this layout. The Ratatouille stickers are EK, the flower is Prima and the leaves are Making Memories. The leaves had a yellow tint to them. I misted them with Smooch Spray to take out some of the yellow.

I used my cricut to cut this title, Wildcard cartridge welded with my Gypsy.

The writing on the two papers lined up perfectly after I cut out my shape. I love it!

I thought I would tuck our receipt in here just for fun. Since I keep everything I come across when we go to Disney I should probably use it somewhere!

Disney Acrylic

2010-04-15T09:46:00.005-06:00

I made this acrylic of our recent Disney trip for my mother. It was purchased as a kit.
I am so glad someone finally made mouse head shaped acrylic albums. The last one I made I had to attach 3 circles together to get the shape. See it here.

The idea for the glitter swirls on the front page came with the kit. It looks gorgeous, but the glitter comes off on my hands every time I touch it!

My Woody's Roundup layout and my Gettin' Goofy layout made it into the top ten today on Two Peas! It is so nice to know that other people like your creations as much as you do!

Thanks for looking

Once Upon A Toy

2010-04-13T08:58:00.002-06:00

This photo was taken outside the Once Upon A Toy store in Downtown Disney. Papers are Scenic Route Garden Grove.

Wish upon a star

2010-04-08T09:12:00.005-06:00

Here is the layout with the star, ala Jana Eubank. Where does she come up with this stuff?

I think it is just gorgeous, but boy was it a pain! I thought I would try it with bling (next time I'm using brads). I rolled up a glue dot and stuck it just above each bling for the floss to stick to.

Have a great day!

Woody's Roundup

2010-04-07T10:08:00.005-06:00

I know that I said that next I would post my layout with the bling star, but I just had to slide this one in. I worked on this layout on Monday and I am so incredibly pleased with how it turned out. It is just like it looked in my head!

I used some of the new pattered Coordinations from The Playground. As soon as I saw it I thought "Sheriff Woody". The red is October Afternoon Farm Fresh. The blue paper is some from a spiral bound pad that I bought in Disney World.

Look at Canyon in the cute little sheriff get up stickers.

My title is from the picture shown above. I printed it out large on cardstock then cut it out. I am very happy with the rope effect from the twine.

The yellow is the Disney line from Queen & Co. and the stickers are some EK that I had on hand and a small one from October Afternoon Farm Fresh.

I couldn't be happier with the way the twine worked when I stuck it around the page. I used glue dot minis and kind of rolled them up then secured the twine to the page with them here and there. I wanted it to stick up some and look like it was just laying on the page, so I didn't attach it in very many places, just enough to give it some guidance.

I just got home from the Dentist. I had to have a root canal on one of my molars. It was resisting the Novocaine a little and they had to use lots extra. I have never been so numb. Even my ear is numb and up into my hairline a little on that side! I think I am going to go lay around and feel sorry for myself, both for the root canal and what it cost!! Holy cow!

Hopefully I will get that bling star layout posted tomorrow.

Gettin' Goofy

2010-04-04T10:59:00.006-06:00

More of the new Disney Queen and Company line. I love all the embellishments with this line. The big flowers are my favorites!

I masked off part of the Gettin' Goofy felt and sprayed it with some red Smooch spray then I added some yellow stickles to it.

I have been collecting all these blingy rhinestones for years, but I never really used a whole lot of them until now. I have been blinging everything. Wait until you see the blingy star on my next layout!

I had a couple chunks of this paper that had red connected circles on it, I can't remember the manufacturer. I flipped it over and sprayed more red smooch on the back.

I used this sketch by Jana Eubank for this layout. I can't believe how talented she is. She can create those gorgeous layouts and come up with these incredible sketches, it's hardly fair!

Thanks for looking.

Happy Easter

Fixin' my bike

2010-03-31T09:51:00.003-06:00

I have had this My Mind's Eye robot paper sitting on my table for a couple weeks now. I decided that I really wanted to use it, so I searched for what seems like days for pictures to go with it!
The pictures that I took this morning were looking a little wimpy, so I upped the contrast. Looking at them now, I may have gone a little too far.

I had these little screw brads in my stash. I know that it is nuts and bolts not nuts and screws, but I thought they looked cute.

I have a Tomorrowland layout planned with these papers too, hopefully I will get a chance to work on it this afternoon. My house is a mess. My kitchen table (and floor) are covered with scrapbook stuff, but I'm getting lots done!

Pixar Place - Sketchy Thursdays

2010-03-28T17:55:00.007-06:00

This is a layout of Canyon getting an autograph from a Green Army Man in Disneyworld. Since I printed his autograph on a sticker and put it on the page I didn't want to title the layout Green Army Man, so I called it Pixar Place. Pixar Place is where you can find the new Toy Store Midway Mania ride in Disneyworld.

I used the new Sassafrass Apple Jack for this layout. I also mixed in a little of the Monster line. Love that 25 cent border. I sprayed the cardstock with green Smooch. The alpha are Pink Paislee and the Disney stickers are EK.

This layout is based on a sketch from Sketchy Thursdays, you can see it at the bottom of this post, or click the link.

You are sooo cute

2010-03-27T09:12:00.004-06:00

I did this layout for a contest on the Pagemaps blog. The sketch and the prize are shown below. I love Pagemaps, it is so nice to be able to sit down and whip up a layout and not have to think so hard about the design and the balance. Wish me luck!I decided to rotate the layout. It fit my picture better and I liked the idea of the notebook edge being on the left hand side :)
I used the new My Mind's Eye line, Quite Contrary. The paper I used the notebook punch on is My Mind's Eye Round and Round.

Check out my new Cosmo coordinations. Cathy special ordered it for me. I love it. I thought I would try sanding only part of the sheet. I like how it turned out. The letter stickers are also new Cosmo, I thought they matched perfectly.

I am not typically a bird person, but I really like this long legged bird. Those long, long legs remind me of Marissa, so I had to put him on my page.

The brown flower chain is a new punch. I love how it punched out on both sides and makes a chain, It took the place of ribbon on this layout.

The flowers are the new dyeable, inkable etc. from Petaloo. I was going to ink them the Salmon color in the layout, but I decided I to just leave them white. Of course I had to break out the stickles for this layout. Polka dot umbrellas and colorful rain drops must have stickles!

I have gotten so many layouts done in the last couple days. Stay tuned!

Rainforest Cafe

2010-03-24T13:22:00.003-06:00

Here is another Disney layout that I did at the Chamberlain retreat. This layout is a scraplift of this one. This is the October Afternoon Road Map again.

I love how these little people turned out!! The people are a Maya Road chipboard key chain. I covered them with some scraps of red from the Scooter's Vacation line by Imaginisce. The hats, bow, camera and autograph book are all from different Disney sticker packs.

I wrote a little note to Marissa in the autograph book about how excited she was getting autographs from the characters.

Thanks for looking, more Disney to come!

Mousin' Around

2010-03-19T10:00:00.004-06:00

I am really working towards getting my Disney album done. Lately I have gotten quite a few Disney layouts completed. Here is another one. This picture was taken outside the Sci-Fi Dine in Theater Restaurant in Disney's Hollywood Studios. I still need to add a little journaling, but I am not quite sure where I am going to put it yet.

The paper line is October Afternoon Road Map. I scraplifted the layout idea from here. It was so unique with the circle roads that I just had to make it my own. I didn't change a whole lot, just Disneyfied it.

Garden Grill

2010-03-16T11:59:00.006-06:00

Another great October Afternoon line. This is Farm Fresh and it is new at The Playground!
It worked perfectly for these pics I had of my kids at The Garden Grill at Epcot. The brown paper in the background is a picture of the menu from The Garden Grill. It worked so well, I am going to have to remember to take pictures of menus from now on. I already get alot of those "what is that weird lady taking a picture of?" looks, so I am sure one more won't hurt!

Canyon didn't give a hoot about Mickey Mouse. He wasn't scared, just didn't think he was a big deal. Mickey tried to engage him, Canyon kind of snubbed him, then he put up his arms, shook his head and walked away.

I love how this basket turned out. I looked up basket on my Gypsy, after discovering I owned none of the cartridges with baskets on them I decided to make one by hand.
Maybe I was a basket weaver in my former life...I'm sure my husband would agree.

Wasn't sure it was ok to have cute little animals on a page about a restaurant, so I figured if the cow was announcing that it was a grill then it would be ok! I like how he has big round eyes and looks kinda surprised while he is saying it.

I think the cute little rub-ons on the bottom make the page.

Thanks for looking! I have lots more Disney to come.

Live- Enjoy the Journey- Universal Studios

2010-03-12T11:39:00.004-07:00

I had fun creating this layout. There corrugated cardboard tested my "just so" style of scrapbooking, and using all those buttons just about killed me (I'm a hoarder).
I love how it came out though. It is, of course, a scraplift. Here is the original by Jen Jockish.
I really wish I could let you think I came up with all these fantastic layout ideas on my own. (darn my conscience)

Everything I used on this layout came from The Playground. She is selling these fabulous rolls of the corrugated cardboard, as well as some 12x12 sheets of it. The paper line is the bran-spankin' new Cosmo Cricket Joyride. I had her special order me a collection kit. I saw that she got 1 or 2 extra and put them out for sale. It is a great, great line.

Smile

2010-03-08T11:13:00.004-07:00

We had a great scrapping retreat in Chamberlain this weekend. Lots of fun. I wish I would have remembered to take my camera, there were some great moments I would have liked to get a picture of. The Scrappin' Ladies retreats are always tons of fun. If you are local you really should check them out.

This is a layout from this weekend. The paper is the new My Mind's Eye line, Quite Contrary. Great paper, love the patterns. My Mind's Eye is one of my favorite paper lines. I love the weight of it and the texture.

There are lots of ticket embellishments in the new line. So cute!

This layout is a scraplift of this one by Julie Bonner.
I loved the layout so much, I considered using the same papers and copying it exactly!!

Almost everything I did this weekend was a scraplift, I seem to have gotten myself into a rut.

More to come...

Where Dreams Come True

2010-03-03T11:20:00.002-07:00

Another Disney layout! Hooray! I am 1/4000th closer to being done with my Disney photos! ;)
This layout looks alot like my previous layout. I did that on purpose, not to be the 2nd page of a two page layout, but just to slide into my album next to it. I seldom do two page layouts, but I would like my album to flow nicely.

This is Scooter's Vacation again, along with B-sides of some 3 Bugs papers that I picked up at The Playground. There is my star punch again! I also used the little star punch outs all over the left side of the page. (Those were fun getting into my Xyron) I am loving the banner stickers from Jenni Bowlin, I am noticing them on layouts all over the place lately. I used my Smooch Spritz again, added some stitching and "one done".

I originally had some starburst stickers around this picture. It didn't look quite right. I like the stitched ones much better. So simple, large impact.

I used a white gel pen to jazz up these Cricut cut letters a little bit. The little round stickers are Jenni Bowlin also. They come on the same sheet as the banners.

Magic Memories

2010-02-28T10:14:00.005-07:00

Another day....another scraplift.
I seem to have misplaced all my original ideas ;)

Here is the original by the incredibly talented Lisa Day.

Sorry about the picture, it is foggy here. I know, I can't blame the crooked on foggy, but it's cold too and I was outside....with no shoes...

Scooter's Vacation again. Great line! This paper is going a long way. I only bought 4 sheets of it, I did 2 layouts and I have 2 sheets left!

The Smooch Spritz is still cooperating with me. I love this stuff. I need a little control when I am misting or spritzing something and the Smooch gives it to me.

Did you see my star punch again? It's my favorite (obviously). I lined it with some of the stripe paper so that it would stand out.

The stitching got away from me on the ears. I wish you could see the circle for the head that I covered up....perfectly round (hehe).

Thank you Lisa for the brilliant layout idea!

I am supposed to be packing my stuff for a retreat weekend coming up, but whenever I start packing I get the urge to scrap. Unfortunately I never really get anything packed until the last minute. I am going to try today, maybe I will come up with a layout that isn't a scraplift?!

Thanks for looking!

Paradise Found

2010-02-26T10:42:00.002-07:00

For this layout I used some of the new Scooter's Vacation line from Imaginisce. The Playground is carrying this super cute line. The blue on the layout is from My Mind's Eye. It is a B-side from the Stomp line.

This layout is a major scraplift. Here is the original . I just couldn't help myself.

These gorgeous pictures were taken by my friend Katy on our vacation last year in Cozumel.

On a separate note, can you believe how gorgeous it is outside? I have never been so ready for spring!

Shine

2010-02-16T13:35:00.004-07:00

My Mind's Eye Challenge #8

The Challenge: Use this sketch designed by Anam Stubbington and pink OR red (or both). You can change it, use it as-is, flip it, whatever you'd like as long as we can still recognize the sketch.

Here is my entry into the layout challenge.
I am pleased with how it turned out. I used all My Mind's Eye papers. Close to My Heart and Cat's Eye inks, a Maya Road chipboard heart, a Martha Stewart punch, some Stickles and some Shimmerz.

Thanks for stopping by, wish me luck!

Valentines

2010-02-14T09:10:00.003-07:00

Marissa and I made these valentines last night. I started with the macaroni and cheese one, then she copied my pattern and made the other 3. The mac and cheese uses 3 bugs papers the others are older American Crafts. You can find the cute little valentines to print out on http://www.peptogirl.com.

The lighting was so off in my house I had to take them outside on my patio table. I couldn't get a big chunk of ice to break off :)

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Valentines Day!

Whispering Canyon Cafe

2010-01-31T10:47:00.003-07:00

I know it is nothing spectacular, but it is done. I am so far behind on my Disney scrapbooking I should probably just give up, and wait for the next trip. I am an admitted Disney fanatic and I want these layouts to be perfect, so instead of fretting over them not being perfect I just don't work on them! I need to get over it! I think this layout is a step in the right direction.

Papers and embellishments are Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg, rub ons are MMBI.
Check out the journaling at the bottom. Loving my new wide format printer. I actually printed on the layout after it was finished and all glued down! I hardly ever journal, so maybe this will be a new thing for me too! (doubt it)

Journaling says:

...to Whispering Canyon Cafe we go. Well, over Bay Lake and thru the woods anyway. This was the first time that we had been to the Wilderness Lodge. It is beautiful.

The kids loved the cafe. Our waitress was wonderfully rude. She threw our napkins at us, hollered at us, called us names, it was great. She also scolded JT for drinking some of Canyon's shake. He started pushing his shake over by JT when she walked by, then finally just told her that JT was drinking it. She yelled across the restaurant, "See this guy over here? He keeps drinking his kids shake!" Canyon loved every second. Then she brought JT out a giant jar of coke and told him since he was so thirsty he could drink that. Between all of us, we almost finished the coke. When the waitress noticed she announced to the rest of the diners that he finished his coke and if anyone sees him running toward a bathroom to get out of his way! Whispering Canyon Cafe is sure to be a regular stop for the Iszlers when we are in Disney World.

Always Blowing Kisses

2010-01-26T17:29:00.000-07:00

I must have totally lucked out with that first layout scanning and stitching, I couldn't get this one to do it either. I keep getting a line on his face. Oh well, I guess my dream of not having to take pictures of layouts is over. There is no way I am buying a 12x12 scanner, I can't imagine where I would put it. I just got a wide format printer for Christmas and the thing is ginormous! I swear, it's almost as big as my 5 year old.

Have you noticed that most of my recent layouts are using pictures from this same photoshoot? Sorry about that. I paid a small fortune for this set of pictures, then I went ahead and bought the CD also, so I NEED to use them. When I went into the studio I complained that last time I didn't get hardly any poses, so they took as many as the photosession would allow. I don't remember exactly how many that was, but I believe it was like 54 or something. I had to reach a certain (large) dollar amount to get the CD really cheap, so I basically got 2 5x7s of every pose, and what I didn't get is on the CD. Lots of pics to scrap! In this pic he was blowing a kiss. I know, its hard to tell because the photographer missed the kiss and his hand is way at the bottom, but that is what he was doing.

This layout is a scraplift of an Elizabeth Kartchner layout from Creating Keepsakes, September 2008 called This Little Piggy. I lifted the diamond idea and the placement of them from her. The Cosmo Cricket Earth Love is an awesome paper. Cosmo is one of my very favorite lines. Cathy at The Playground special ordered this collection pack for me. If you find something you love give her a call, alot of times she can get it.

The Canyon Show

2010-01-23T14:35:00.001-07:00

After all my talk yesterday about how easy it is to stitch a scan and how I was never going to photograph another layout....here is one that I had to photograph. I couldn't get the stitch to work on this one. I think I was just scanning it crooked, but I tried it twice and couldn't get it to work. Maybe it is the pile of papers and junk on top of my scanner :)

This is a layout I have been meaning to do for a while now, I just couldn't figure out the details. I really need to write down all my layout ideas in one place. I have purchased numerous journals and notebooks over the years with this exact intention, but I just never followed thru with it. I know that I am forgetting tons of stuff that I wanted to scrap.

I had a hard time deciding on the paper for this layout, then finally settled on the Sassafrass Monstrosity. I think it worked out perfectly. I used my Gypsy to search for a TV I could cut out with my Cricut. I found one of the Mickey and Friends cartridge. It was nice to be able to use that search feature, I wouldn't have thought to look for a TV on that particular cartridge.

We were supposed to go to Sioux Falls for a basketball tournament this weekend, but it was cancelled. Based on the fact that I shouldn't be home, I intend to scrap all weekend. So keep checking back, hopefully I will get more done.

I blinked

2010-01-22T09:34:00.001-07:00

The weather obviously knows that I did a layout yesterday. It is foggy and gloomy outside, definitely not taking pictures of layouts weather. I outsmarted it! I figured out how to use the stitch feature on my scanner.
For those of you who don't know what that is, you can scan pieces of a layout or a photo or even several photos in a panorama and "stitch" them together to make one. For example: I have a 8 1/2 x 11 scanner and this is a 12 x12 layout. I scanned the layout 4 times with a rotation each time, then stitched them together. Amazing! I might never photograph a layout again!

I still had the Bella Blvd Super Stud sitting on my table from the card that I made the other day. I haven't been scrapping much since the holidays (but that hasn't stopped me from buying stuff). So I decided to sit down and do a layout and use up the Bella so I wouldn't have to store it. I used white cardstock sprayed with Smooch and the Super Stud for my papers. I punched the edge of the star papers with the Martha Stewart star punch (I think Cathy has one left), then I edged them in blue so they would stand out on the white cardstock. The letters are Thickers that I hacked up a little bit and the green felt stars are Kaiser. The pictures are professionals, but that top smaller one I printed on my new printer. It looks perfect, couldn't be happier with the printer. (Yes, I have a photo release).

Thanks for stopping by and reading my babble.

You make my heart go....

2010-01-20T11:39:00.001-07:00

A little card Canyon and I made this morning. (He sprayed the Smooch and picked out the robots)
For some reason my camera REALLY picked up the detail and shadowing on the textured cardstock!?
We used Bella Blvd Super Stud, some of the Bella camping line and a little bit of MME Stomp.
I am lovin' my new star punch, thanks Cathy!

Cosmo's new line & a contest!!

2010-01-14T09:15:00.000-07:00

Hello all my Rapid City friends.

Cosmo just unveiled their new line for CHA in January. Hop over to their blog and take a look!

http://www.cosmocricket.typepad.com/

While you are there enter the contest! Tell them all about The Playground and why its everyones favorite store, then hop over to Cathy's blog and tell her what you like from the Cosmo lines, I'm going to go with EVERYTHING!

Maybe someone can win the whole collection for themselves and a set for the store!!
Wouldn't it be great to see this prize go to someone who works so hard for us?!

You are my Tweethearts

2010-01-12T11:51:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I have done any actual scrapbooking, I wasn't entirely sure that I would remember how. Lately I have been looking at the mess, and the expense and the time scrapbooking takes and wondering if comparing all that to how many layouts I actually get done is worth it. It turns out I just needed to sit down and do it. It is so worth it! Creating something out of pretty papers and adhesive, I love it! Sometimes I get so wrapped up in how I haven't gotten anything done I forget how wonderful the creative process is.

My Tweethearts, using Bo Bunny Love Bandit from The Playground.

Nook Blog Hop

2010-01-09T11:34:00.000-07:00

Currently there is a blog hop going on from the My Scrapbook Nook.
Lots of beautiful, beautiful layout ideas from some super talented ladies. And prizes...did I mention prizes?
You can start here Life as Lou, or click the button on my sidebar to get to Leah Killian's blog.

Christmas CrAZy

2009-12-23T10:24:00.001-07:00

Wow! It has been crazy around here. I am a procrastinator, and once again I procrastinated too long. It is the day before Christmas Eve and I still have tons of shopping to do! Christmas Eve is at my house and I haven't even planned what we are going to eat, let alone got anything else ready!
Canyon is so excited! I love it! He seems to be the perfect age and is enjoying everything Christmas. The Christmas movies enchant him, he is walking around the house singing Christmas songs, so cute!!
Yesterday Marissa was "watching" Canyon while I went Christmas shopping. She called me all in a panic. She was on the computer and Canyon removed the tags from about 15 gifts, stuck new tags on them and wrote his name on them. I had to unwrap some of them to figure out who they belonged to. I guess we need to have a little conversation about the joy of giving!!

I leave you with a photo of Marissa and Spiderman decorating our Gingerbread house this year.
Merry Christmas!!

We Whisk You A Merry Kiss*mas

2009-12-17T11:13:00.001-07:00

I made 6 of these for my kids teachers last night.
The original idea came from this one on Two Peas. I wish I could figure out how to get my pictures to come out that great!

I added a peanut butter cookie mix to mine. The mix is inside the little holder and I just stuck the end of the whisk in the pocket.

Let it snow Gypsy card

2009-12-15T17:24:00.000-07:00

My first Gypsy creation!

I made this cute little card on my Gypsy. Here's how; First I chose a blank card base from the Wild Card cart, then I added a square with rounded corners from Accent Essentials. I squished the square into a rectangle with the same proportions as the front of the card. I got the little snowman off the Snow Friends cart. I made him just the right size to squeeze into the rectangle with just his foot and the top of his head touching. I then welded them together. I took that group and welded it to the card base. Walla! Snowman Card.
I cut the snowman again in white to go over the top, then I glitter embossed him.
Let it snow came from the Winter Woodland Cart. I cut it out of glitter cardstock, then used a Liquid Applique pen on him. I sprinkled a little glitter on it and puffed it up with my heat gun to make it look like snow.
The snowflake on the inside of the card is from the Its Cold Outside mini cart. I used a bunch of stickles on it.
There are also gliter snowflakes embossed all around the outside of the card.

Glistening Greeting Cards

2009-12-08T16:32:00.000-07:00

Oooh it is so cold here today! Low single digits all day!
And it is a little slippery. I am always extra concerned about slippery, I live near the top of a very long steep hill. I took Canyon to preschool around noon. As I was slowly creeping down the hill a man waved me to the side. He told me to go very slow because there was an accident just around the next corner. Sure enough, there it was, a truck had slid off the road, took out a power pole and hit a house. Wow! When I got further down the street light was out. I though uh oh! No power! I didn't head home until about 3:30 this afternoon, we have power, but it had been out. Now I can't get the stupid volume on the speaker system to work. Sheesh! JT is gone, and I am going to be stuck at home with the kids all night and tomorrow with no TV!
I know, I know, the poor guy in the truck, and me whining about TV!

I guess we will have a craft night. I need to work on my December Daily and the kids are always happy to cut and glue for a little while. Well, at least Canyon is.

Back to the Glistening Greeting Cards...Here are some cards I made with the Cricut Winter Woodland cartridge. Lovin' it!

I glitter embossed the heck out of them!
On this one I completely embossed the dear, and there are snowflakes all around on the red that are embossed.
Thanks Cathy and Lori for loaning me some glitter embossing after mine went down the toilet!

This one has lots of glitter embossing too. How cute are those mittens?

I have one more glittery card to post. I didn't get a picture taken of it today so I will post it later on.

Let It Snow

2009-12-06T22:56:00.000-07:00

Canyon and I made these cute snowflakes the other day. We used my new cricut cartridge, Let It Snow. It makes these 3-dimensional snowflakes. Neat.

Anyway, Canyon had fun and I got my December Daily picture. I decided to do the December Daily at the last minute and I am struggling with it. I can't decide if I want all the pictures to be Holiday related, or not. We don't do something holiday everyday!

Canyon glitter embossed the snowflakes, he loved it. This was after he flushed the first container of glitter embossing down the toilet.
I gave him a toothbrush and a bowl of soapy water and had him scrub some of the baseboards in the kitchen. I think that was well worth $6!

Hanging from my dining room chandelier.

Please ignore the mess, and those unbelievably ugly curtains that I have been meaning to replace for years!

I have been working on some cards with the new Bo-Bunny line and my Cricut. I will get them posted soon.

Advent Calendar

2009-12-01T10:05:00.001-07:00

Finally, something scrappy!!

I saw one of these advent calendars on Two Peas and I just had to try to make one.
I made it entirely from my stash, the only things I bought for this project were the muffin tin and some magnet.
My mom bought Canyon a Lego advent calendar when we were in Disney World, Marissa wanted a charm bracelet instead. Even though it was her choice, I knew she would wish she had an advent calendar every day when Canyon was opening his, so I had to make her one.
Now I just have to fill it. The milk chocolate coins fit perfectly inside. I think I might stash some dollars in there too.

Disney Pics

2009-11-21T12:45:00.001-07:00

I am still exhausted from our trip. I just can't seem to get enough sleep. People don't get jet lag when there is only a 2 hour difference do they? :)
Anyway, I have big plans to do something crafty today. It's been awhile.

Here are a few Disney pics from this trip.

This one is from our Disney Visa rewards photo shoot. Nice to know I get something for the thousands in interest I have paid to them!

I always said that someday he would move mountains, but planets?

Canyon's battle with Darth Vader.

Mom and Marissa at Toy Story Mania.

This is such a cool ride. It is all 3D. There is a gun attached to your car, it has a string with a ball attached to it. When you pull it, it shoots various virtual items at a 3D screen. I was bound and determined to beat JT, who is nothing short of a master video game guy. I actually got a blister from the gun, and never did beat JT!

10 Days

2009-11-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

We are home from 10 days in Disney.

Here is a list of some of the things I have not had to do for 10 days

1. Wait in line at the school to drop off/pick up kids.
2. Taxi any kids to any practices!
3. Grocery Shop
4. Think about what I was going to make for dinner
5. Make dinner/lunch/breakfast/snacks.
6. Wash the dishes
7. Make the bed
8. Do the laundry (I did it once in Disney, but it hardly counts. I was able to use 5 washers at the same time, then 5 dryers.
9. Pay bills
10. Help kids with homework
11. Clean my house
12. Run errands

I'm sure I could think of lots more too add to this list, but now I am at home and must do some of them.

My husband says that Disney doesn't count as a vacation because it isn't relaxing. Obviously he doesn't do any of the above.

Disney Shirts

2009-11-06T16:47:00.000-07:00

Does posting twice in one day make up for not posting for a couple weeks?

I had so much fun making Disney shirts for my kids. I got a little carried away and didn't stop until I used the entire pack of transfers.

How cool is this with the Star Wars characters inside the text.

The back was my own idea. My husband couldn't believe I came up with this on my own.

Donald is his favorite. Sorry it is blurry.

I told him I was going to make him a "Jedi Canyon" shirt, he said "No, Darth Canyon!"

She just loves having her picture taken!

These next 2 I did for my nieces B-day party. She loves Twilight. I did Marissa and Lacey in two different graphics.

Most of these designs came from the talented "disigners" on The Dis Boards. They made them for me free of charge, if you can believe that! I just downloaded them, printed on a iron-on sheet and stuck them on! Check out their other "disigns". They are amazing!

Grandma's shirt

2009-11-06T10:18:00.000-07:00

Hey Everybody! Yes, I'm still here.

I know I haven't been updating my blog like I should. Sorry about that. I haven't really done anything scrappy either. A few small projects here and there, but nothing really worth posting.

I did want to post this picture of the shirt I made for my mom.

We are heading to Disney later this month, and I decided to make shirts for everyone. I will post more of them later. I tried to take pictures of them this morning, but I think I need shots of the kids modelling them! :)

Top Ten

2009-10-18T14:30:00.000-06:00

Woo hoo! My Pumpkin Patch layout is currently in the top ten votes on Two Peas In a Bucket!
It's cool that someone other than me thinks it is a good layout! :)

BEWARE

2009-10-15T10:58:00.001-06:00

Finally, some sunshine. It still isn't a whole lot of sunshine, but I was able to take a halfway decent picture. Whatever happend to fall?

Canyon got some vampire teeth from a candy treat at Walgreens last week. He thinks they are just the coolest thing. I got these pics of him demonstrating how scary he can look. I have one additional picture that I didn't use with a really scary face. I might do another layout with just that pic, not sure yet.

This is some more of the Pink Paislee Twilight line. Great paper, so much fun to use.

I love the tree. I'm not so fond of the gravestones below the tree, so I just cut them off.

I cut the tree out of the white line paper, moved the paper over, then stuck the tree back down to cover up part of the hole I made.

I also used some Tim Holz Rock Candy Stickles on the tree. Cool stuff.

The little trees and bats on the orange paper are from the matching stamp set. I just inked the stamp with a marker, that way I could leave off the headstones and the border that I didn't like. I also used the Rock Candy on these trees.

The green photo mats were cut from the original center of the scalloped paper. With Canyon's blue shirt I thought that too much green would clash, so I cut out the center, replaced it with some of the white line paper and used the green for mats.

The Beware die cut also has Rock Candy Stickles on it.

Thanks for stopping by. I still have a sick kid, maybe I will get something else done today.

Today at our house

2009-10-14T10:19:00.000-06:00

I actually finished a layout yesterday. It has been to dreary to get a good picture. Hopefully the sun will come out so I can take a picture and post it.
I had tons of relatives in town this weekend. I only saw a few of them and only for a few minutes. Marissa was sick. She had a fever, cough and very sore throat. Good thing it was a long weekend. She went to school today, (yes it has been more than 24 hours since she had a fever). She absolutely had to go to volleyball practice today or she would have to miss her game tomorrow. Makes me laugh how important sports are to her. She doesn't get that from me.

This morning, Canyon is sick. Another day at home for me. I don't know if they have h1 or something else. I kinda hope it is h1N1 so I don't have to worry about them getting it when we are on vacation.

I am getting a lot of stuff done around the house since I am stuck at home. I cleaned out the laundry room and JT's closet. I acquired a huge stack of clothes to take to the mission. We keep so much crap! I have to make myself get rid of stuff, and this isn't even my stuff. My closets are another story entirely. JT made the comment that I needed to get rid of some of my shoes that I never wear. Poor guy got a PMS earful about how even though I don't wear them all the time I still need them!

Hopefully no one else gets sick and the sun comes out!

Cricut Jukebox for sale!!

2009-10-08T17:19:00.000-06:00

Anyone local to Rapid City looking for a Cricut Jukebox. I will sell mine for $30. It is new, hasn't even been taken out of the box. Send me an email tesslor@aol.com, or you can probably find me at Altered Art & Scrap Playground in the early afternoons during the week. :)

Discover the Great Outdoors

2009-10-06T10:06:00.000-06:00

Wow! It's been over a week since I posted anything. I was doing so well.
I am in the midst of planning a Disney World vacation and honestly, I can't think of much else. I know it is pathetic. My husband told me so for the 100th time last night when I was rearranging out dining reservations yet again. Then he told me again this morning when I asked him to trace our route from one plane to the next at the Denver airport to make sure we could make our connection with only a 40 minute layover (the flight he was on this morning is the same time as our outgoing flight next month). Then, he told me again when I called him at 8:05 because he didn't call me and that is when our connection would be leaving. And, once again when I freaked out because he was just getting off the first plane because it had been delayed for de-icing. So go ahead, tell me....

So... this is still one of the layouts I did at the Scrappin' ladies retreat. I will, eventually, scrap again! :)
I love this picture of Canyon at the lake, and I love the Cosmo Mr. Campy line.
Sorry some of the pics are blurry, I was trying to keep my page out of the snow! Yes, snow!

i love your face

2009-09-28T08:01:00.001-06:00

This is the absolute cutest line. Monsters!

To get Canyon to "play nice" for the camera we always have to have a couple of silly shots thrown in as well. He is such a silly boy.

Paper whimsie cards. So, so cute!

This is 1/2 of a stamp from the Daisy Bucket monster line. I also bought all the papers and stamps from the Halloween Monsters line at the Playground last week. hmmmm maybe I have a problem..

Monster line up... haha.

Fearless

2009-09-24T09:11:00.001-06:00

This picture was taken at the Mall of America this summer. The rest of us love roller coasters so I was really hoping Canyon would too. This is the roller coaster that goes all around the MOA amusement park. It isn't intense, but it is not a little kiddie coaster either.

I used my Cricut to cut out the title. I cut out Fearless from the graphically speaking cartridge twice, once blue, once orange. Then I stitched on the orange and popped it up over the blue. After that I inked the whole thing with some orange Cat's Eye and brushed some paint over the top. I love my Cricut. I never could have done a title like this without it. Graphically speaking is probably my favorite cartridge. I love all the cool sayings and graphic elements in it. I can't wait to get a Gypsy!

Be sure to check out the latest Cricut Promotion, The Great Gypsy Escape! Purchase one of 4 new Cricut catridges for a chance to win a new Gyspy (handheld design studio for Cricut), $2,000 travel vouchers and even a $30,000 trip to one of 5 fabulous locations!

This arrow is also from the Graphically Speaking cart. I just cut off the end and added some paint.

The ticket diecuts from My Mind's Eye are the greatest. I should have bought tons of them I could add a ticket to almost anything!

Pumpkin Patch

2009-09-23T09:50:00.002-06:00

Pink Paislee does it again. I adore this line! It doesn't hurt that it is called Twilight!

This layout is a scraplift of this one. I just couldn't help myself. I thought her idea would work just as well with the Twilight line. Typically when I scraplift something the finished product comes out looking completely different than the original. I guess you could call it an inspiration layout instead of a scraplifted layout in most cases. My Pumpkin Patch layout looks alot like Daniela's layout. She did such a beautiful job it was hard to change much.

I can't remember the name of the pumpkin patch, which is what I was going to write on the journaling block on the top of the layout. I wonder if it is open yet this year...

These are the coolest letters ever created. Cathy has them in stock at The Playground in sparkly black and sparkly green, but you better get there before I do. I might buy them all!

love that bat rubon.

Whatever Loser

2009-09-21T17:54:00.001-06:00

I got 5 layouts done this weekend at the Scrappin Ladies retreat. It is pretty obvious I go to socialize. Anyway, I am going to post them one at a time so I don't have to feel bad if I don't get anything else done this week ;)

Sorry about the picture quality, but it is cloudy and drizzly here today.
The great diecut paper behind the circle came from The Playground. It works perfectly with this layout. The pinkish flowers are also cut from it.

This layout was done from a sketch. You can find it here. If you like working from a sketch, So Sketchy has tons and tons of sketches to choose from each month and you could win a great prize.

I am digging the Queen & Co felt. The swirls were a long strip that I cut up.
I purchased these clay buttons from http://www.tessann.etsy.com/. They are so much fun.

About A Boy

2009-09-15T19:30:00.001-06:00

This layout was done for The Playground with the new My Mind's Eye Round & Round line.

Super cute stuff! All the die-cuts make me drool.

These last couple My Mind's Eye layouts have just begged me to stitch on them, and I happily obliged.

How cute are these little Hot Wheel tires? Mine were brads that I had on hand, but I ended up cutting off the brad end. Next time Canyon pulls some wheels off his cars I will just have to hold on to them. My husband will just roll his eyes and shake his head ;)

Cute little bike.

My little guy. Isn't he just the cutest?

If you are local, we'll all be at the Scrappin Ladies Retreat at the Ramkota this weekend. Cathy from The Playground has some great new papers and embellies that she will be bringing out at the retreat. Great vendors, great shopping. Trust me, some of the new lines are going to sell out before the weekend is over.

You could win a Cricut Cartridge

2009-09-14T22:04:00.000-06:00

To celebrate their 100th Cricut cartridge, Winter Woodland, Cricut is giving away 100 cartridges (20 per week). All you have to do is leave a comment in the Cricut forum on this thread
http://www.cricut.com/shopping/ProductDetails.aspx?id=361&s=1&sc=2
I just checked out the Winter Woodland cartridge earlier today. It is definately a must have!

Here is a link to the forum
http://www.cricut.com/messageboard/tm.aspx?m=5248058

Grateful

2009-09-13T11:25:00.001-06:00

I created this layout for a contest on the PageMaps Blog. The contest was to create a layout based on the sketch below. The prize is the Studio Callico Cotillion kit shown below that. Wish me luck!This picture is from this summer at Lake Mille Lacs. I am so Grateful, Thankful, & Blessed to have such a beautiful and healthy family.

This is the new Amber Road line from Pink Paislee. Isn't it gorgeous?

I stitched all over this layout. I didn't have any thread the color that I wanted, so I used some ivory. I then used an eyeshadow applicator and inked my thread using Close to My Heart Cranberry Ink.

The stamps are from the same line. They are stamped in Close to My Heart ink New England Ivy and clear embossed.

The bling is Zva Creative. This was the first time I tried this type of bling. I really like them.

I hand cut the flowering tree from a sheet of patterned paper, then I cut some additional flowers and popped them up over the top to add some dimension.

Thanks for stopping by!

Travel Cozumel

2009-09-10T21:26:00.001-06:00

This is a Bo Bunny Travel album I made for some friends who took us to Cozumel with them in January. I used Cosmo Snorket papers and embellishments for the most part and some epoxy stickers from my stash.

Dos Amigos

2009-09-08T10:37:00.001-06:00

I love this picture. It has been sitting on my table just waiting to be scrapped. I had a hard time finding the right paper for a Disneyworld Mexico layout. I saw this Sassafrass in my stash when I was digging for something else and it called out to me. The paper is sewing and patterns, but it looked like Mexico to me. :) I had to dig out all those paper whimsies that I have been stock piling too. Love them. The red paper is just regular cardstock that I punched with my crop-o-dile. (My hand still kinds hurts) I have a Basic Grey Doilie that has a similar pattern on it, I just used it for a guide, made it smaller, and red.

I also finished a BoBunny Travel album this weekend as a gift to some friends who took us to Cozumel with them. I wanted to get their permission before I posted pictures of them on the internet, so hopefully I will have that album up later today or tomorrow.

Happy 88th Gramps and a skyfort (finally)

2009-09-07T17:23:00.001-06:00

It was Grandpa Joe's 88th birthday last week. Here are a couple pictures from his party.

Sorry about the sun glare. I really didn't want to ask everyone to move because I was getting glare, especially since my uncle with his sooper dooper la de da SLR wasn't getting any.

Here's one without glare, but it doesn't have all the kids in it either.

Happy Birthday Gramps!! We love you!!

Here is a pic of Grandpa's card that Marissa made.

Finally....done. Canyon's sky fort. What a pain. We actually had to rent a bobcat and buy a truck load of dirt to raise up the back part of the backyard.

When I was a kid the swingset we had raised up out of the ground every time you swung on it. The school merry-go-round was also mounted on concrete. How times change!!

Sorry this post is so picture-heavy, but Canyon is sitting right here making sure I put all his pictures in.

Want to win some copics?

2009-09-06T09:06:00.000-06:00

Leah Killian the amazingly talented design team leader for The Scrapbook Nook is giving some away on her blog.

All you have to do ig go here and leave her a comment.

I have been wanting to start my Copic collection for quite some time now. I even considered not posting this giveaway on my blog so that I would have a better chance at them myself! :)

Where the Wild Things Are

2009-09-02T09:48:00.001-06:00

They are at the Minnesota Children's Museum.
What an awesome place for kids. I so wish we had something like this.

This particular room was set up like a forest. The floor was the forest floor, and there were trees everywhere for hiding and playing in. A great little stream was in the corner. The stream had play fish, frogs and tadpoles among others all for water play. In the same room upstairs were cranks. You could move the clouds around. If you got them set up the right way the room would get darker and it would thunder and lightning. So cool!! And this was just one room!

Don't you just love Cosmo? One of my favs. This layout is all Cosmo Mr. Campy.

1st day

2009-09-01T14:58:00.001-06:00

It's the first day of school here. Marissa is a 7th grader and Canyon is in preschool 5 half days a week. What a little ham!

Marissa is getting so tall. She actually passed me up this summer just barely, I'm gonna have to start wearing tall shoes:)

Full of Wonder

2009-08-30T14:09:00.001-06:00

I used my Close to My Heart stamps again. I love them.

Backpack Tag

2009-08-26T18:17:00.000-06:00

Canyon's preschool asked for the kids to bring plain backpacks to school. They didn't want anything with a character on it especially. Well, of course, he wanted a character. I talked him into a plain one and told him I would put a picture of him on it. I sorta did that.

This was so much fun to make. I used some of my Cosmo Lil' Man scraps. Love the line.

The blue dots are where I blocked out his last name. I wasn't sure this was necessary, but I guess you can never be too careful.

"this way for more trouble" was printed on the bottom of the paper in this line to tell you to flip it over. These little sayings are so cute.

I took it to Office Depot and got it laminated. Here it is on his backpack.

The tag was so thick that the laminate wouldn't seal close to the edge, so I tried sewing it so that it would be at least somewhat waterproof.

What Is That???

2009-08-25T11:58:00.001-06:00

"What is that? What is that?" I find myself asking my son this question over and over again in an attempt to keep myself from chewing him out. It is a rhetorical question, I know exactly what "that" is. It is my Cricut spatula in the sand box.

Honestly, the places I find this thing. Canyon rarely touches any of my scrapping supplies, but he just cannot keep his hands off my spatula.
I'm pretty sure at this point I could write a short story entitled "The Adventures of Spatula". It has been a diving board for little army dudes, a sword for alien invaders, a spoon (yes it has been used in cereal), some kind of race car forklift and numerous others that I can't even remember right now.
So, what is the lure of the spatula? It just seems to call to him. I can never find it, he always knows right where it is.
It is bent, and dented (from army guy feet, I'm sure), but the thing still works great.

I thought about buying myself a new one, and letting him have my old one. But, I know if I gave him one he would probably never pick it up again.

Watch Out!

2009-08-22T09:54:00.000-06:00

I adore this paper line. This is the new Abbey Road Stomp from My Mind's Eye. Cathy got in the whole line at The Playground. Isn't the Pterodactyl up in the corner the cutest thing? (yes, I had to look up how to spell Pterodactyl)

The pic is Marissa at Dino-Land in Disney's Animal Kingdom. I sure do miss those pigtails.

I used photoshop and removed a cast member cleaning up the park from the background. I am quite proud of myself for pulling it off!

Haunted House

2009-08-19T13:24:00.000-06:00

This is this years Halloween line from My Minds Eye. It is new at The Playground this week.
I live by the rule "you can never have too many Halloween decorations", so I decided to make this cute little haunted house with it.
Please ignore all the junk in the yard, we are redoing our deck. Sorry the last pictures are blurry, it started to sprinkle on me and I panicked!

*updated to add some clearer pictures and to show the stickles!

He called you spud

2009-08-18T11:24:00.000-06:00

This layout is from Michelle Chikos' Close to My Heart club from last night. Most of it was taken right from her sample. I brought it home, found the picture I wanted and added just a few things.
This club is awesome. If you are local and interested in attending shoot me an email or leave me a comment and I will get you contact info for Michelle.
Believe it or not, this was my first time embossing. I have all the stuff (surprise), I just never felt a need for it before. In this case I couldn't find the jewel flourishes I wanted, so I made some. Its pretty neat! :)

This is my dad and my daughter on the day she was born. We lost him just a year and a half later, oh how I wish she could have known him or could remember him.
I have very few photos of my dad and Marissa, thanks so much Michelle for helping me get this one scrapped.

Your goal the sky, your aim the stars

2009-08-15T14:57:00.000-06:00

Little boy
Climb high,
climb far,
your goal the sky,
your aim the stars.

I took this picture this summer at Lake Mille Lacs in Northern Minnesota.

I used a new set of Close to My Heart stamps all over the background. The clouds, waves, grass and trees. Love this set. The clouds on the dark blue turned out better than I could have hoped.

I used black Kaisercraft pearls and some white paper for his eyes. I think he may need a mouth.

I added a little snake. Here are the pics with him. Isn't he cute? More Kaiser pearl eyes.

Great-Grandma

2009-08-07T16:58:00.000-06:00

When we went to Minneapolis this summer we stopped in Albert Lea on our way home to see JT's Grandma. I got a pretty good picture of JT and the kids with her. Great-Grandma turned 102 on August 3rd. Happy Birthday Grandma!

Paper: Basic Grey Lemonade

Buttons: Jenni Bowlin

Flowers: Prima

Chipboard: Maya Road

Thanks for stopping by

Epcot Mexico

2009-08-05T11:35:00.001-06:00

Ahhh.... Another Disney layout done. Maybe, just maybe, I will get a Disney album done in this lifetime.
This one isn't my usual style, all I wanted to do was copy this one by Susan Stringfellow. I had to go completely the other direction so I wouldn't be tempted... hehe...

Since I am only 4 trips (or maybe its 5) behind on my Disney scrapping, I decided to combine all those trips into one album. It is just to overwhelming to think of breaking them up. So, I wil title my album Iszler family Disney World vacations with the dates, or something along those lines. I might try to pull some of the romanticy ones into my wedding/honeymoon album, or maybe I will have them copied for that album. I don't know. Indecisive.

Anyway, here is the Mexico Pavillion page. I love the Mexico Pavillion! The restraunt is one of my favorites, and the nice relaxing boat ride is fantastic (when you aren't trying to keep a 2 year old from falling in the water).

I used up some of my old supplies on this page. The background is an old, old, Karen Foster paper. The Epcot sticker and the Mexican flag Mickey are from a paper pack I purchased at Disney World in 2005. I don't really like these stickers, but I bought em and I'm gonna use em!

Oh Boy! It feels good to get another Disney layout done!!

Remember...

2009-08-02T17:47:00.001-06:00

I actually did a layout with a picture of me. This is me at Caribbean Beach Resort. I had the picture sitting on my kitchen table the other day when my mother was here. She picked it up and asked why I had a picture of Alissia (my sister) at the beach. My sister and I have totally different coloring, one of the main reasons few people get us mixed up. Before this trip, I went and had a spray on tan applied. It is the darkest I have ever been. I thought it was hilarious that my mother thought I was my sister just based on my skin color.

I used the Making Memories Passport line. The gold paint is done with a sea sponge. The ribbon is Prima and Fancy Pants, I also used lots of Stickles and a Tim Holz ticket.

The title is a line from an Aerosmith song, one of my favs.

*oops, forgot the Mickey. Here are some more pics where I added him.

Big Boy School

2009-07-29T11:49:00.001-06:00

I made this die cut letter sheet with my Cricut the other day. I couldn't wait to use it. It is absolutely perfect for preschool pictures. The die cut sheet isn't attached to the background paper, I just took the picture that way to show the detail.

I used the Bo Bunny It's My Party line for this layout. I had to be careful not to use anything that said birthday on it. I think it turned out pretty cute. I also have just a little bit of Bo Bunny Grease Monkey included. The cut out sheet and the paper behind are both Bo Bunny dot.

We had a tree stump removal man come this morning and grind away 4 tree stumps from trees we cut down in our back yard. Now I get to go clean up the wood chips and start landscaping for Canyon's sky fort. Yard work is never ending!

Welcome to the Caribbean

2009-07-25T15:30:00.001-06:00

This is a layout of The Caribbean Beach Resort in Disney World. The paper is Making Memories, the embellishments are Prima and Making Memories. The letters are from the dollar spot at Target. I cut the pink paper to look like a postage stamp and used alot of white paint. I got the title idea from Susan Stringfellow. Thanks Susan. If you haven't been to her blog, check it out. So much Disney goodness!

I did this layout 2 different ways. Originally I was going to have a very muted look and try to make the pictures really show. I whitewashed the horizontal strip of paper to fit in with my whitewash theme. Then, I decided to use red letters and added the red flowers. Now I am not sure if I should use the whitewash stips or let the color show.
I think the pictures show up better in the layout with the whitewash, but it kind of looks off balance, so I thought I would post both until I decide. ;)

BoBunny

2009-07-24T13:34:00.000-06:00

Here are some of my favorite BoBunny layouts and a new card. I have been thinking about trying for the BoBunny design team. I know it's a long shot, but it BoBunny is one of my absolute favorites and I think these layouts are among my best and they were so much fun.

This is BoBunny Alissa. For the card I cut out the flower from the cut-outs sheet. Then I punched holes and cut out the slits around the petals. I painted the back of this piece white so that it would look better on the inside. I cut the black flower for the backing from another sheet from the Alissa line and painted the back of that white also. The back and front are sewn together down the side to form the card. I also added some pink stitching around the middle of the flower and to attach the rounded rectangle to the card. The thank you sentiment is also a cutout. I love making these distressed flowers. I inked them up black after I scrunched them up. The brad is painted black and has glossy accents on it.

This is my sister's daughter Ivy. Isn't she cute. This is also BoBunny Alissa.

Canyon at bring your parents to preschool day. One of my fav layouts and one of my favorite lines, Grease Monkey. White paint is my new best friend.

My little guy enjoying the park on a fall day. I love these swirls from the U Bug Me line. I just cut them out and manipulated them over each other until I liked what I saw.