Gram and Opop

Hello!!

Today I have a layout for 

Sketchabilities.

Had fun with this sketch!!

My parents, dd's grandparents:

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

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

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

Autumn and Timmy

Hello!!

This week our little family spent a day

at Lake Michigan. We walked the pier and

along the beach. Picked up little shells

and pieces of driftwood!!

It was an AWESOME day!!

DH wrote our names in the sand and then

called me over to see, DD captured the

moment with a photo!! I think it's wonderful,

so I scrapped it!! Can you imagine?? *L*

I used this weeks sketch from

Sketches in Thyme.

Here's the lo:

BTW--Sketches in Thyme is hosting a DT call right now!!

So check them out and consider doing a lo!! 

Have fun and good luck!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

I hope that each of 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!!

1 card. 2 Layouts.

Hello!!

I'm here with some challenge entries!!

First is a card for Word Art Wednesday:

Layout # 1 for Creative Scrappers #228:

Layout # 2 for Sketches In Thyme #89:

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!!

Heritage Layouts

Hello again!!

I found this fabulous new paper stack

on the clearance rack and it totally

sparked the idea for a few heritage pages.

Here are two of them:

For Creative Scrappers:

My Great-Grandmother

For Sketches in Thyme:

My Great-Grandfather (he was a chef)
(he also owned a BEAUTIFUL set of Tiffany lamps)

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

Love to have visitors!

Hope each of you have a wonderful day!!

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!!

Sketch Challenge

This layout is for the sketch challenge at

My Creative Sketches.

I really like this design. I may use it again!!
The birdcage is from the fabulous Faye
at 3tailscrafts!! Thanks Faye!!

Thanks bunches for stopping by!

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

Be Still and Know....

That I am God. Psalms 46:10

This is the verse this week at

Word Art Wednesdays.

I will also enter this in the challenge at Card Patterns.

For the challenge at Sketches in Thyme:

This one is for Creative Scrappers.

Well, that's it for now!!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

I hope you have a wonderful, love

filled week!!

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

My Uncles!!

Happy Sunday!!

I hope that you are having a fantastic day!!

I'm here to share a layout of

the best uncles in the world;

my Uncle Ray and my Uncle Mark!!

They are both just full of it, so when I say this

saying, I knew it was way perfect for a layout of them!!

I will be entering it in the challenges at

Sketches in Thyme.

Thanks so much for stopping by!!

I hope that you have a wonderful,

love filled week!!

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

Weekend Layouts!!

Hello!! So glad to have you stop in to visit.

I spent most of my weekend

working on layout challenges.

First one:

Sketchablities. I loved the sketch they

have posted, although I didn't do it

near the justice it deserves!!
I used my cricut with the SCAL program to cut the doily
and the banners. I used a MS punch for the smaller
butterlies. I used the grand calibur to cut the large butterfly
and the other shapes on the lo!!

For My Creative Sketches:

And lastly, my least favorite!! *L*

I struggles with so much!! I think I worked

and re-worked it for a week!! ugh!!

It's for the past pagemaps challenge

over at scrapbook dot com, week 1.

That's it for now!!

Thanks again for stopping by!!

LOVE to have you visit!!

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

Celebrations!!

Easter. Grandfather's Birthday and Mother's Day

all in one post!!

EASTER

A Spoon Full of Sugar has a lovely sketch this week!!

The paper is MM.

The image is from it's a colorful world.

MOTHER'S DAY

Die Cut Dreams make it for Mother's Day.

Lollipop Crafts make it with lace.

Sugar Creek Hollow use handmade flowers.

On of my favorites:

Stamping Sisters In Christ-make your card about something

you treasure. Well...I do so treasure

being a mama. God was

so wonderful to bless me with my

beautiful, healthy little girl!!

And for using something I treasure,

I do so love the swirls of pearls.

I've just about used all my stash of them.

Defiantly need to find a good,

inexpensive supplier for these!!

I was going for Shabby Chic here.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Tuesday Morning Sketches

It's my grandfather's birthday on Saturday!!

I love him so much and miss being

able to see him!! We live 10 hours apart.

His health is failing and I worry so much about him!!

Please say a little prayer for him for his birthday!!

That's it for now!!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!

Thanks for visiting!! You make my day!!

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



As Promised

I'm so excited about this project!!

I saw this on Split Coast Stampers,

and knew I had to make it for DH's great niece!!

It was just so wonderful!!

It took some time to find all the elements to put it together,

but at last it's finished and I can share it with you!!

Ta-Da--------

Finding the perfect hanger was the hardest part of the puzzle.

Once I had that, I could start putting it together.

I had to break out the new hot glue gun I bought

months and months ago. I'm so scared of those things!!
I have been burnt one to many times with them.

But I did very well this time, didn't burn myself not once!!

I glued the lovely brown fringe to the back of the hanger.

On the front of the hanger I glued the wide soft cream lace.

On top of that I glued the beautiful pink roses.

I painted the wooden frames brown,

then brushed on the crackle stuff.

When that was dry, I add the pink paint and wa-la, crackle!!

Added pearl swirls, more roses and a metal bow to finish it off.

My sweet DH helped me add the hardware so it would hang.

We are very pleased with how it turned out!!

He thinks maybe his mother would like one!! :)

Thanks for stopping by!!

It was fun sharing a project with you instead of a card for a change!!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

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

Challenges

Challenges!! A rather new concept to me. Oh I've seen them all over, but really haven't done that many. That has changed a little. I think it started with the challenges I did for Scrap.Laugh.Love. and these tags. I decided to do a bunch of new and different things to make the tags. A personal challenge of sorts. I had an idea in my head about what they should look like when I was finished and started pulling out supplies.

I started with manila tags. Then I used my sizzix embosser and embossed them. Next I glimmer misted them. I started with candy apple, and then added some gold and some hula hoop green. I thought they looked ok. So then I went on line to find the images I wanted to use. Of course I visited the Graphics Fairy and also googled to come some of them. I also got a little help from a friend to find a couple specific images. I printed them and then embellished them a touch. Now I was ready to put them all together. I added a bit of cream colored lace, the image, some pearls and a flower. Added the ribbon to the top and wa-la....Tags!! It was a challenge for me to do so much to get them to look like I wanted them too, but I was truly happy with the result and will probably try it again!!

So....after challenging myself to make something new, I decided to do a couple challenges on some blogs I check into every so often. Give myself something new to do.

This card is for the challenge over at JUGS ( http://justusgirlschallenge.blogspot.com/ ) We are suppose to make a gate fold card. This one was fun!! You should check them out!! They have some cool stuff on their site!!

The front:

The inside:

This was a challenge. If you've been over to Scrap.Laugh.Love lately, you know they're currently running a Design Team Call. If you haven't been to visit them, be sure to check them out here: http://scraplovelaugh.blogspot.com/2010/10/new-idea-and-new-team.html and consider trying out for the DT. I'm not sure I'm applying yet....so many ladies who do such great work is intimidating!! But I decided to do the challenge involved with the DT call. You were suppose to make a LO, Card or tag using one of the following things: Yarn, Masking Tape, Old CD, Bubble Wrap or Cupcake Wrappers

So....I wanted to see how many of those things I could use to make a card. (You only have to use one of them for the DT challenge) So....I used an old CD for the base of the card, made a flower out of cupcake wrappers, and used yarn to make the center of the flower!! WOW!! I'm really stretching myself!! *LOL* But it was fun!!

Last but not least is another personal challenge: To make a LO of Gracelynn as great as the other one I did. I fell a little short with this one!! The pictures are just so awesome, but I don't think I did them justice. Oh well...It will do!!

And so that's it!!

Only 6 days until the Arts and Crafts Fair. Fingers crossed it's a great success!! I have faith!! I'll tell you how it went next Sunday!! Next Sunday is also the last Nascar Race. Who's gonna win?? I don't know!! Hoping for someone new this year!! None of the top 3 are on my 'good' list, but it will be nice to have it over!! Next year will be even better!! :)

Thanks to all that stop by!! Leave me a note if you have time!!
I hope each of you have a FABULOUS week!! Let it snow, let it snow!!

Until Next Time...........Tootles!!

Scrap. Laugh. Love

Hello!! This is my entry for the LO challange over at Scrap. Laugh. Love http://scraplovelaugh.blogspot.com/

I have to tell you, I am totally in love with this picture!! This is DH's great-niece. Yes, we are to young for great nieces, but they are so precious!! This is little Gracelynn. Since the picture is so sweet, I love how the LO turned out!!

There is still time for YOU to submit a LO over at SLL!! There is a great prize being given!! Be sure to head over there and check it out!!

Thanks for stopping by!!
Until Next Time....................Tootles!!

Scrapping and Creating!!

I know I say it all the time, but only because it's true...

I LOVE TO SCRAP!!

I have a wonderful new scrap subject!! A brand new great neice!! She looks so precious!! I can't wait to see her for myself. Until then, I have these great pictures to admire!! I've actually made 4 of these little accordian albums so far. One for Grandma, one for Great Aunt Lavine, and one for Great Grandma...plus this one. I just forgot to take pictures of all the other ones I've made, because I was in hurry to get them to them so they could show off the beautiful addition to our family!!

I still had more pictures of Nic's beautiful baby so, I decieded to be creative. I got a fab stationary box from Tammy Sue over at SB dot com, that had the BEST crackle paint on it!! So I was dying to try it!! I went to Michael's and picked up some Tim Holtz crackle paint, and a little oval wooden frame. . Tammy Sue has perfected the crackle, because mine looks nothing like hers!! *L* It didn't turn out quite the way I thought it should, but it is a very intresting effect!! You can't really see the cracks here because they are small!! I add lace, a few 'sticks' and a bird to finish it off.

This was made just for fun!! As you know I've been making these little roses. Well, I got a grand idea to put a lolly in the middle of the rose and put in a little arrangement. I thought it would be cute for a little fun gift or something. DD told me she wants to make one for one of her teachers for the end of the year!! That sounded cool!! So I see more of these in our future!!

Thank you so much Kima!!

I want everyone to see this awesome gift I got from my friend Kima!! Isn't it wonderful?? Thanks, darlin!! You all can check out Kima's new Etsy store here: www.Joakima.etsy.com

Time for a Give Away!!

Leave me a message under this post telling me what your latest project has been. Link to a picture of the item/project/LO/card, ect and I'll throw your name in the hat an extra time!! I will select a winner one week from today!!

Have fun!! Until next time....tootles!!

Gifts

A Gift for Granny

My Granny is celebrating her 75th birthday with a big party, thrown by my mother. Granny lives 600 miles away. We won't be able to go to her party, but I want to send her something. Bless her heart, she doesn't really need anything, and definatly has very little space in which to put anything else!! So, I thought I would make her something useful!! She likes to send cards and letters, so I made her a stationary box. I covered a sturdy chipboard box and decorated the top. I filled it with homemade cards. (some made by me some made by others I've swapped with.) I added an address book, (do you know it's nearly impossible to find these anymore??) and a nice pen to the box as well. I'm also going to add a book of stamps so she will be able to actually mail them!! I really hope she likes it!!

A Mini for Michelle


While shopping at Michael's a few weeks ago, I found this darling little Scottie dog chipboard album. My BFF LOVES Scottie dogs, so I picked one up for her. I just finished and have it ready to mail. It's quite simple but I think she will love it!!



I'm still doing swaps and posting things to my gallery at Scrapbooking dot com. You can look me (finallymama) up there anytime to see what I have been up to!!
Until next time...tootles!!