Trying this thing called 'Scrapbooking' again!!

Helllloooooooo!! :)

Long time no blog talk!!

I had a bit of a scrap block for a few months....

since July to be exact!! I was beginning to think I 

wouldn't ever scrap again!!

I got rid of most of my stash and most of my supplies.

However, I decided to try again a couple nights ago and 

what do you, I did a page....that I liked!! Yeah!!

So I did a couple more. They are ok, not as nice as the first

one I did this time, but I'm just happy to be 

scrapping again!! 

I have to say that I did enjoy my time off

and exploring new things...like Zentangle!! Love it!! 

Also got to do a lot of crocheting and remembered how

much I really enjoy it!! 

Here are the layouts I did:

Thanks much for stopping by!!

I hope you have a wonderful, love filled week!!

Until next time...........................tootles!!

2013 Mission Trip

Hello!!

I'm here to share a layout

of my daughter's Mission Trip

with her class from school!
They went to Chicago for three days
to work in a preschool and youth center.

I will be entering the layout in 

the challenge at Scrap Your Story-journey.

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

I hope you have a wonderful, love filled week!!

Until next time...........................tootles!!

Play Ball!!

Hello!!

Time for a sketch from

Scrap Your Story!!

My DD is playing softball this year!!
She's having a  blast!!

This is her *playing* ball!! :)

Thanks so much for taking a look!!

Have a wonderful, love filled week!!

Until next time...................tootles!!

Yellow and Gray

Hello!!

Today I'm here to share a layout

for Sketches in Thyme,

sketch #110. I turned the sketch on it's side.

Thanks so much for taking a look!! 

Have a wonderful, love filled week!!

Until next time.................tootles!!

Luther

Hello!!

Back again this week with a layout for

Scrap Your Story!!

This week we were to use cork

some where on our lo!!

I used circles of cork and drew paw prints on them.

This is a lo of dd's puppy, Luther!!

Thanks for stopping by!! 

I hope you have a wonderful, love filled week!!

Until next time..........................tootles!!

Happy St. Patty's Day

Hello!! 

Hope you're having a wonderful, green day!! :)

I have 2 layouts to share for challenges!!

First is for Scrap Your Story:

Second is for Sketches In Thyme #105:

Thanks for stopping by!!

I hope you have a wonderful, love filled week!!

Until next time.......................tootles!!

Soap Clouds

Hello!!
This blog entry is different than the 

ones I usually post but, it is super fun!!

I'll start by saying, if you have kids,

you defiantly want to try this!! 

It is so fun and interesting!! 

(also entertaining)

I originally found this while browsing

through Pintrest. It lead me to this blog:

Our Best Bites

Please read it to get the full terms and

such about this project!! There is also

a recipe on there for ways to use

the soap after your down with it!!)
 I have taken the important pieces from 

the blog and am pasting them here:

"We call these “Soap Clouds.” Grab a bar of Ivory soap-yes, only Ivory! It’s cheap, but don’t worry, you can even use it as soap when we’re done here so we’re not being wasteful. Place a piece of waxed paper, parchment, plastic wrap, or paper towel in your microwave.  Start your microwave for a couple of minutes on high power. You don’t need to let it run that whole length of time, but you can just stop it when you need to. I don’t know how it does it- but it starts growing! Sometimes the “clouds” are seriously HUGE, and other times they are sort of wimpy. I’ve noticed generally, the fresher the soap (as in the more recent I have purchased it) the bigger the result. It looks like it should be foamy and wet, but it’s not. You can actually pick up the whole big chunk.  If you smash it, it will break into pieces and you’ll end up with soap dust everywhere, so be careful with little hands who like to smash things :)  It’s the weirdest looking thing. I love how it’s different every time."

This is my response to the experiment:

Oh my word!! THIS IS AWESOME and WAY COOL!!

Vashti and I just did it and it was amazing!! 

Although a whole bar of ivory expanded to much for 

our microwave, (which is large as it's over the stove),

 so we are cutting a bar into 6ths. 

We also added drops of food coloring to it 

before microwaving it!! (while cool, it tends to burn a bit) 

Plus we discovered that after it's done expanding 

you have to let it cook for about 15-20 seconds more 

or it will fall (deflate) when you take it out!! 

When we were finished playing with the soap,

Vashti did research on it to find out how

and why this happens. She found it

very interesting, and gave her some idea's

on other experiments she wants to try.

So as you can see, this could be more than

just fun, it can be educational as well!!

Here are our pictures of the soap we did:

1/6 of a bar of IVORY soap

Too cool, huh?? 

I hope you will give it a go with your kids!!

If you do, please let us know so we can 

check out your results. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Hope you enjoyed this post!!

Until next time...................tootles!!

Sketches in Thyme

Hello!!

Boy has it been a long time since I've been here!!

I have been scrapping, but all 

the challenges I've been doing have been

at sb dot come and I just post them to my gallery!!

Here's a lo I did based on a sketch over at 

Sketches In Thyme:

I'll also share some of my favorites that I've done

in November:

The journaling for this lo:

“When I say... "I am a Christian" I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin'."
I'm whispering "I was lost, now I'm found and forgiven."

When I say... "I am a Christian" I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble and need Christ to be my guide.

When I say... "I am a Christian" I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak and need His strength to carry on.

When I say. "I am a Christian" I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed and need God to clean my mess.

When I say... "I am a Christian" I'm not claiming to be perfect,
my flaws are far too visible But, God believes I am worth it.

When I say... "I am a Christian" I still feel the sting of pain.
I have my share of heartaches so I call upon His name.

When I say... "I am a Christian" I'm not holier than thou,
I'm just a simple sinner who received God's good grace, somehow.”  

~Maya Angelou

Thanks for still coming by from time to time!!

I hope that all of you had a lovely  Thanksgiving,

and that as you prepare for Christmas,

you remember the true meaning, and that

you share your love to everyone you meet!!

Until next time.....................tootles!!

A Pound Party??

Hello!!

Thanks for stopping by today!!

My beautiful daughter is a sophomore 

this year and as their first fundraiser,

they are having a Pound Party!!

I had no idea what a pound party was,

even after it was first explained to me

I didn't get. Then I actually got a flyer from

the teacher about it and it finally clicked.

The whole idea is to UNIQUELY wrap

a package that weighs at least 1 pound, 

and has a value of at least $3 dollars.

Then they are auctioned off, based on what 

they look like and without know what's inside.

Interesting.

Perfect for a paper crafter!! :)

So I came up with 2 packages that I think

are awesome. The first one:

 A close up of the front:

 Close up of the lid:

Inside is a biscuit mix and a jar of apple butter.

I made the pattern for this after seeing one 

similar but much, much smaller!! I made this from

chipboard and then covered it with the paper.

The second package is a lot more simple, 

but I think it's a cute idea:

I used flat marbles to make this weigh up some.

Inside is purse type things;

hand cream, mints, chap stick, hand sanitizer, ect.

I've had the pattern for this purse for years, 

sorry but I can't even remember from where. 

However, it was small. The whole thing would have

fit on an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet. I enlarged to a 12x12

sheet so it would be large enough to hold everything.

I'm very excited about these projects!!

I can't wait to see if they are popular for bids!!

*LOL* Fingers crossed!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

I hope that each of you have a wonderful,

love filled day!!

Until next time............................tootles!!

A Midnight Trip

Hello!!

We seem to have a little tradition 

where each year before school starts in the fall

we go on a midnight trip to eat out. This LO

is from last years adventure:

The Journaling:

To Dennys we did go

You know normal people are asleep at one o’clock in the morning…

but who said our family was normal.

This summer we just-so-happened to be awake 

at one a.m. when we decided to go to Dennys for pancakes. 

So we threw some clothes on hopped in the car and left. 

As if that wasn’t crazy enough, on our way there 

we got pulled over by some random cop. 

When he got to our window the first thing he asked was 

“Where are you going, a party, the casino?” 

Mom then responded in a classic slap-happy-high piched-yay 

voice “to Dennys for pancakes!!!”

 He then told her she had a headlight out,

 and in the same voice she responded

 “ Oh that dumb thing, will you just kick it for me?” 

His face turned pink with the controlled desire 

to laugh or the this is awkward look.  

I still think he should have made her do a sobriety test, 

now that would have been funny. 

However, he let us go with a simple warning. 

After that everything is pretty well normal, 

I mean for a one a.m. trip to Dennys.

      -Vashti Gregory    Summer 2011

This is from this years adventure:

The Journaling:

For the past couple of years,

It’s been tradition that before

school starts each fall,

my family and I go to 

a restaurant at midnight.

This year we went to Steak and Shake for french fries. 

This year wasn’t as slap-stick as last year, 

when we got pulled over by the police. L

Some traditions are strange, 

but we top them all!! 

The trip was fun and the food was good, 

but most importantly

I was with my family!! J

~Vashti Gregory    August 2012

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Until next time.................tootles!!

Little Mermaid

Hello everyone!!
I have a couple new layouts to share today.

First up is for Creative Scrappers #220:

The darling rocking horse is from Faye at 

3tailscrafts. I inked it and added stickles too it!!

Next is for the 1 photo Challenge

at sb dot com. 

When I took this photo of my daughter I just thought

it was a nice nature type shot. After it was 

printed it reminded me so much of the

statue in Copenhagen, Denmark called 

"The Little Mermaid."

(You can see more about the statue by clicking on the link above)

Here's a photo of the statue:

The photo of my daughter:

Here is the lo I did with the picture:

This is my 4th attempt at scrapping this photo!!
I thought it should be real nature-y. When that didn't

look right, I thought....summery?? But that still wasn't

right so I tried flowery. NOTHING looked right.

So since I still had the little mermaid statue in my mind,

and even though the photo is NOT an ocean scene, 

I went with it!! 

I can hardly believe that I LIKE it!! DH and DD liked it too!!
Finally!! I had succeeded!! 

Thanks so much for stopping by and having a peek!!

Really do enjoy your visits and your comments!!

I hope that you have a wonderful, love filled day!!

Until next time...................................tootles!!

I LOVE Sketches!!

Hello!!

I love sketches!! I love that they provide

an idea that I can spin off of!! 

Sometimes I get way off the sketch, 

and sometimes I stick to the sketch!!

I love this layout!! 

I wasn't sure about the sketch when I started,

but the more I worked it, the better 

I liked it!! I always like the look

of clusters of embellies on the LO,

but am not that great at making it look right.

I like the way it worked on this lo!!

The sketch is from Creative Scrappers #219.

For whatever reason, the crown is off color. 

It's actually the same color as the word princess,

I know because I inked them both...with the same ink!! *L*

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Until next time................tootles!!

WOW!! Post 300

WOW!! I can hardly believe that I have

posted to my blog 300 times!!

I have to admit I went back and looked

at a bunch of posts!! I'm surprised that

there are people who actually read this blog!!

THANK YOU!!

I know I haven't been posting very much,

but I just haven't been doing very many card

challenges as I was beginning to be overstocked with them!!

I have been doing layout challenges 

at sb dot com and having so much fun with it!!

However they get posted there in my gallery, 

so I haven't been posting them here.

Trying to decide if I should. 

At least for today, and in celebration of 

my 300th blog post, I think I'll share a few here!!

This first one was for 2 challenges:

My Creative Sketches 

Sb's monochromatic challenge-dust bowl 

These are a few other lo's I've done for challenges lately:

Thanks again for all the visits!!

Thanks for all the comments you've left!!

Thanks for being interested in my blog!!

I hope that each of you, have a 

wonderful, love filled week!!

Until next time..................tootles!!!

Sketches in Thyme

Hello!!

I received these WONDERFUL cogs

and gears this week from

Miss Pat at Gentlewoodfarms!!

I was so excited to get them and use them!!

This LO is of my daughter taking apart

an old broken dvd/vcr box.

She wondered how it worked so I 

told her to take it apart and find out!!

She's trying to decide what she wants to do in life.

What to take in collage and such, and she had 

thought maybe an engineer, but is re-thinking it 

and maybe interested in something more

like IT or something more mechanical. 

I think it's awesome. 

Since she took this apart, she has also

explored 2 old laptops, a tv and clock!!

This is the LO I did  to document

her discovery. I used a sketch from

Sketches in Thyme #85:

Thanks for looking!!

Until next time................tootles!!

Layouts

Hello!!

I have 2 layouts to share today!!

For Sketches in Thyme #80:

Vashti and Tweety

For Creative Scrappers #213:

Getting ready for braces

I do know that the s on braces came off!! I have since,

glued it back into place!! Sorry!! 

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

I hope that each of you have a

wonderful, love filled week!!

Until next time....................tootles!!

Chickens in the DR

Hello again!! 

Just taking a moment to brag on 

my daughter. She has such a big heart, 

and I wanted to share this story!!

This is the lo I did for the occasion:

The story behind the pix:

Vashti is just the sweetest thing!! After Christmas (2011) she decided that she want to send a goat and a dozen chickens to another country through Samaritans Purse. She was so excited!! She used all her January allowance and her Christmas money…$84 dollars.
Which got her thinking about whether or not she could do the same thing for CCS’s sister school in Santa Rosa, Dominican Republic. So, we had a talk with Mr. Krontz, who is in charge of the Sr. Missions trip to the DR to pitch her idea!! She thought we could get them a bunch of chickens!! He was thrilled. He told Vashti that if she could raise $100 he would match it, dollar for dollar!! I decided it was such a good cause, that I would match her dollar for dollar as well. She got right to work looking for ways to EARN the $100. She didn’t want to use gifts or her allowance. She wanted to work for the money. She picked dandelions for Opop at the rich price of .03 cents each. She ended up earning $27.51. So exciting!! Besides that, she cleaned my car, did some outside work for daddy, and helped Opop clean up his yard. She ended up with the whole $100 that she could truly say she earned!! Then to top it all off, daddy gave her $30 and Gram gave her $50!! This meant that when she was all done, she had $380 with which they could buy chickens. But she was so close to $400, she decided to throw in her May allowance to make it that even $400. Off the seniors went to Santa Rosa, with $400 dollars to buy chickens!! They were able to buy appox. 127 chickens, and food for 6 months!! It’s just so exciting!! Each family from the DR school will get 3 chickens. They were so tickled to be getting a means of having food. It’s just wonderful!! Vashti was thrilled to have been a blessing to the DR. Mr. Krontz had this picture made in appreciation of Vashti’s gift. On the back of the picture is the recite for the first 102 chickens!! In 3 years she will get to go to Santa Rosa to see the people and visit the chickens. She’s already starting to save for next years chickens!! God is so good!! May 2012

Thanks bunches for taking the time to read this!! 

There is always room for anyone who

would like to help send chicken to the 

Dominican Republic. If you would like to give

to this project, please feel free to email me!! 

Thanks!! Have a wonderful, love filled day!!

Sketch Challenge

Cutting this one pretty close. 

So I need to post quickly!!

Sketches in Thyme

Thanks so much for checking it out!!

Until next time..................tootles!!

Spring Break 2012

This year for spring break we wanted to

do something fun, special or exciting.

Not being able to travel far from home,

or staying away over night, presented a touch of an issue.

So we looked on line and saw that

the Henry Ford Museum was close enough

to fit all our needs!! Vashti was so excited!!
She had been there before with school,

but never really had enough time to see everything.

To top it all off, the Titanic Exhibit was going on.

I am all into the history and facts of Titanic.

(not James Cameron's movie!! Please!!)

So I was super excited too!!

We had such a nice time there.

Everything was interesting to see, but we all

loved the Titanic Exhibit the best!!

Before you go into the exhibit, they give you a card

with the name, and info of a passenger.

Vashti and I got ladies, Tim got a man.

(Go figure, huh??) 

Tim and I got people in first class,

Vashti got an 18 year old mother with a

10 month old baby, in third class.

 The picture and story of her person were

part of the exhibit. That was cool to us!!
At the end of the exhibit, is a wall with all the survivor's

and victims listed so that you can see if your

person lived or died. We all lived.

We were so fascinated by the people

we were on the ship, that we came home

and did all kinds of searches on them.

We found out so much info and pix of them,

that I knew I HAD to scrap them!!

I was so excited!!

Here are the lo's I did for each of us on our person

from the Titanic!!

First is Tim. His person was Edward Nelson Kimball.

He was in cabin D-19 and got off on lifeboat 5.

This was my person: Helen Churchill Hungerford.

She was a women's libber!! (I so am not!! *L*)

She got off on lifeboat 6.

Vashti's person: Leah Rosen Ake (and her son Phillip)

She was waiting to get on a lifeboat when someone

grabbed her baby and threw him into boat 11

as it was being lowered.

She had no idea what happened to him and wasn't

able to get on life boat 12. She got off on lifeboat 13.

The following day, she was on the deck of the ship that

rescued them and saw a lady with her baby.

The lady refused to give her the baby saying it was hers.

Leah had to appeal to the ships captain and give info about

his birthmark and circumcision in order to get him back.

(all this type of info is on the lo's)

I took the cards we were given and copied them onto cream

colored paper. Then I dropped tea on them to give them

the stains and let it dry.  I used TH's ink on the edges,

and then I sprayed it with water,

crinkled it all up and laid it flat to

dry. While it was wet I rubbed the edges to get the tears

and such on them. When they were dry I added

a little more ink to them. (I did the story spots the same way)

For the first two, I tried to embellish a bit

more since they were first class, a little less on the last one

since it was third class!!

I hope you enjoyed this little journey with me.

I hope that if you get the chance to

see the exhibit in your area, that you will!!
It was very interesting!!

I'm really blogging this for the record

of our trip and adventure!!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Until next time...............tootles!!

We have SNOW!!

I am so excited to finally say we

have some snow!!!!! WOO-HOO!!

It's beautiful, but already melting and making

the roads a slushy mess!! Ick!!

However, I'm in for the day so it

all works out!! *smile* I can't wait to get

to some scrapping while I look at the snow!!

Challenges:

Tuesday Morning Sketches-sketch.

Lollipop Crafts-open.

Paper Pretties Monday-spring.

Crafty Catz-something starting with a B. (blooms)

Sketches in Thyme-use any sketch.

I loved the sketch that DT member Jinny

used. It was a fun layout to do!! Plus I love

the result!! Thanks for sharing the sketch, Jinny!!

The corner and the side swirl chippie are both from

the fabulous Faye at 3tailscraft!! Thank you, Faye!!

Thanks so much for stopping in!!

I hope that whatever the weather is at you house,

you are enjoying it!!

Until next time.....................tootles!!

A Lift!!

So....here I am again with some challenge entries!!

This card is a total lift from

Becca at Amazing Paper Grace.

My card pales so much compared to hers!!

She does such beautiful work!! I love to visit her blog!!

I'm entering it in the challenge at

I Did It and Paper Sundaes

Here's my card:

This a  layout I did for the challenge at Get Picky.

Very nice sketch they have this time!!

Be sure to go check it out!!

Another LO of my DD at homecoming!!

I made the flowers with fiskars punches and

blue rain dots and a MS leaf punch.

The butterflies are also fiskars and MS punches.

Thanks bunches for stopping by!!

I love to have you visit!!

Until next time.................tootles!!