Are you feeling the Srapblock LOVE yet?

I so am!
ScrapScene gave us a little write-up, thanks Angie!!!

The Method Playground's newest challenge on Monday will be featuring these BIG pieces of glorious rubber and also have the amazing Kim Hughes as the guest designer! Gotta come play to be considered for the rak!

Also, the FABULOUS Lisa Strahl has the coolest YouTude demo on how to start using your Scrapblocks





And here is a little pic of a project that Lisa made with the Perfect Plaid stamp:



How adorable is that box?

Anyway, I am going to go use those big bad boys for some more fun projects!
B-

More Scrapblock goodness to share!

So I needed to make a few Graduation invites for the family to come celebrate with us...
How perfect is that writing paper scrapblock for this project? I embossed it in red on smooth white Prism and trimmed to fit the card front after embossing in white with the small dot backgrounder (his school colors of course!). Of course Kim's owls were perfect for this! Had to make quite a few of these, and get them off in the mail, no small task with how hectic life is for us right now.
So how incredibly cool are these BIG pieces of red rubber?
They are so fun and make me so happy!
B-

Scrappity Scrapblock Goodness

Okay, so sorry way behind schedule today. It was just one of those mornings that gets you running behind on all day, kwim? This sketch was a stretch for me...
not so good at the big circle projects, more of a big square kinda girl (there is a joke in there somewhere I think)

But I love how this layout turned out. I used the plaid Scrapblock the raspberry prism and embossed it in a creamy white, then used the small dot Scrapblock on the bckground piece of My Mind's Eye. Making Memories ledger paper and Webster's Pages for the patterned circles with the vintage ledger Scrapblock used on the green My Mind's Eye for the journaling bit. A little sewing, some Prima flowers and brads and it is good to go!
I also want to wish Miss Mary Kay a happy birthday! She is a wonderful friend and an exceptional person!

More Scrapblock goodness to come, and don't forget they release on Tuesday June 3rd!
B-

Scrapblock Love!

You know how a couple of posts ago I had exciting news that I couldn't wait to share, but was giving a hint at? (It wasn't glittery ink, but that was a fun guess Karen!)
It was all about the Scrapblocks!!
Perfectly sized, fantastic quality and gorgeous patterns, that is what I am talking about!! I have been making projects like a crazy lady with these, they are so addicting!
I have nicknamed this project my HeartFelt bookmark! The kids think that it is so cute, they all want one to help them keep their place in their summer reading!
So here is how you do it:
Stamp your felt with the 6 x 6 houndstooth Scrapblock with Staz-on Ink. Fold in half with the stamp side to the inside and draw (or trace) two hearts, one larger and one a little smaller.
Cut out with pinking shears and stitch 2/3 of the way closed. Stuff and finish stitching it closed. Cut 12" piece of ribbon and find two buttons that you like and stitch the ribbon and button on at one time. DONE!

I love little projects like this, they remind my peeps that I love them and they let me feel like I got something done, LOL!
So summer reading...
Got any suggestions?
We are huge Harry Potter Fans, and with that option now gone, we need ideas!
A few of us have gotten into the Twilight series, but that doesn't cover all of the bases. The Potter series came at a very magic time in our family's development when their imaginations were all very large and ready for grand adventures. We could share these books between everyone and talk about them for hours on end. I might not be able to recapture that...
sigh.
Anyway, there will be many trips to the library and bookstore in our future, so I will be making more bookmarks with love!
B-

CHF Challenge Chicks go altered

Here is the before, a hanging hook that I had found at Jo-Ann's for 50% off!And Here it is after, I used the houndstooth SCRAPBLOCK (what is the Scrapblock you ask? more to come on that!) and used embossing powder to give it texture. Used the Kim Hughes "Landing Pad" set and my embossing pens to draw the doodled frames and the words. This is a fun way to remind my kids to hang up a backpack or jacket!
Sooooooo onto the Scrapblocks...
What is 6 inches by 6 inches of the highest quality made in the U.S.A. red rubber?
The amazing Lisa Strahl had a dream that there is more fantastic to be had in a surface area than what the backgrounders could provide, so she set about working to figure it out. And the fruits of her labors? Scrapblocks!
The official release date is June 3rd, so watch the galleries and blogs of the CHF design team for amazing ideas of how to play with these incredible stamps, they will blow your mind!
So the challenge chicks that are playing with today's altered challenge:
Lisa Silver
Lori
Julie
Sherrie
Julia
Kim
Dawn
Lesley
Kristine
Michele
Lisa Strahl
Kim

Links to the left!!!

Very fun!
B-

Little blog siesta, sorry!

A bit of a hectic week, and loads of cool stuff going on with us!
Tyler of course is thrilled about having just a couple of weeks to finish all of his big presenatations for his program were this week. He looks like a huge laod has been lifted off of his shoulders and he isn't as grumpy as he has been. Good stuff!
Laurel just has a few more large tests and papers and she will be ready for the summer break!
Chloe is almost done, a few bigger projects some tests and she will be singing halleluyah!
And Carter is in skate mode, he probably has stuff he is supposed to be doing, but when asked he tells us it is all good...
Lots of exciting things happening for us at Cornish Heritage Farms, I can't wait to share what the next product release is, it is seriously killing me to keep it to myself!!!!
The card I am sharing has a little bit of a hint on it, notice anything?
What are your plans for the long weekend? I am going to be in the scrap room amking a mess! Sounds fun right?!!!
B-

Method Playground #19

Yesterday the new Method Playground challenge went up!
I love this picture of Nikolay, he looks so happy and comfortable! The paper the picture is matted on is from Core'dinations and the patterned paper is from Fancy Pants and has been embossed on using the small dot backgrounder from Cornish Heritage Farms and Ranger distress embossing powder in gold. The challenge is to use tearing on your layout. So of course Core'dinations came to mind, the cardstock has great colors and when you tear it the inside is a different color than the outside, so fun! Core'dinations is sponsoring the RAK for this challenge, so be sure to play if you have time!!!
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CHF Challenge Chicks

The challenge this week is to use transparent material to make a project!
I had a hard time getting a picture of this, so if I can get a better one soon I am going to change this one out.
The card is made from the clear sheets from CHF, the patterned paper is from Making Memories, the pink mini pompons are from Jo-ann's and the FAB stamp is from the latest Rummage Bin release!
There is a challenge thread at CHF for those who want to play!
The other girls that are playing:

-Julia
-Dawn
-Lisa
-Kristine
-Sherrie
-Alli
-Kim
-Lori
-Michele
-Becky
-Val
-Mona
-Julie
-Lesley

They are all linked on the left of my blog, so please go check them out!
Have fun playing along and happy Monday!
B-

Big happy family!

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago when the weather was a little cooler, but it is the perfect representation of what today was.
The kids and dogs have been hanging out doing a whole lot of nothing and just enjoying the slow pace. Novak returned home earlier in the morning yesterday from his overnight stay at the Vet's for his little adjustment. He was so happy to see us and even happier to get home! He and Nikolay really missed each other, and even though Niko had loads of extra play time with everyone, it just isn't quite the same as having his brother literally nipping on his heels, LOL!
We have watched the Pirates of the Caribbean shows and Dave and Carter made huge YUMMY pretzels (you should try them with cranberry horseradish sauce, mmmmmmmmmm)
Tomorrow is a CHF Challege Chick Monday and it is a cool one, I decided I had to find time to play!
I had a GREAT time with Kim yesterday! We spent a few of our hours together with Emilie Ahern at her last local crop before she moves across the country to Delaware (where?) and had a really fun visit, I even got a few things done ;)
I feel so blessed to have Kim as a friend, she is FUN, SMART, GENEROUS and UBER TALENTED, she keeps me in my place!
So that is about that!
A really wonderful weekend!
B-

Thomas Kinkade

Today was the release of the latest Thomas Kinkade image called "Hometown Pride" It is so beautiful, and is perfect for this time of year as we are celebrating and remembering the patriots who fought for our freedoms.
The design team at CHF has really done an inspiring presentation of the stamp and shown how versatile and interesting it can be!
On a different note, my little Novak went in for his "boy bit" procedure and Nikolay is missing him greatly (well, we all are!) He weighed in at 60 pounds today at 7 months old. He looks so skinny, but apparently there is a little more to him than I had thought possible!
We had a very exciting and busy week at CHF preparing for all of our stuff we are involved in. It is hectic now, I can hardly wait to see what it will be like when we get to really rolling!
Wheeeeeeeee!
I got some happy mail today that I am looking forward to playing with this weekend! I get to go to Kim's house tomorrow for the day and we have a crop to go to and loads to catch up on, going to be great! I am ready and so need it!
The kids are so ready for school to let out for the summer, only 2.5 weeks to go, YIKES!
Me, not so much...
LOL!
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Sketch Challenge

Julia created a wonderful sketch for today's challenge!

Here is my take on the sketch!
Use the sketch and post your links at Cornish Heritage Farms gallery!
Follow the links to see what the other girls that are playing did!
Julia
Kristine
Lesley
Alli
Kim
Have fun creating!
B-

It Just Takes a Minute

Claudine does a great job of describing the impact of this bill, please visit her blog, and then please go to this link and use a minute of your time to protect your images and artwork!
What is most disturbing to me as a mother, a blogger and an artist is that anything that I share online that I don't register becomes an "Orphan" and is open to use by onyone who likes the image and wants to use it for any purpose that they see fit.
YIKES!
I have a lot of images out there, and I don't know how it would be possible to register them, and then guard them against the fraudulent use by copyright infringers. The scope of abuse is mind boggling to me.
Take a minute to be heard!
B-

Happiness is having a Landing Pad

Stamp set!

Kim has two new sets out, and they are darling! The Landing Pad and Making the Grade are what they are called, and they compliment so many other stamps, serious must haves!
You should see all of the wonderful goodness that the CHF design team has created with these sets, so inspiring! Also Mona Lisa Moments has some must haves as well with Lisa's new releases of sentiments, gorgeous and so very usable on everything!
Mother's day was good here.
I have a camera coming, details to follow!
(nothing to do with the holiday, just a long time of saving, shopping and deciding!)
Very excited about that!
B-

Happy Mother's Day!

I hope it was a wonderful day for all moms involved!
B-

Paper Crafts goodies

It is out, my very first assignment with Paper Crafts is in this months mag!
When darling Celeste (who has some gorgeous freebies on her blog right now, btw!) was absolutely on overload over the holidays last year, she asked me if she could refer me to Paper Crafts as someone who would have time to work on a project. I was beyond flattered. Celeste is a rock star in my world and for her to feel comfortable enought to endorse me like that was absolutely mind boggling! Of course I said yes, I could never say no to Celeste, and even if I was a little harried that time of year, it was a wonderful opportunity to work with that amazing team.
So here is where the bummer of my computer crash comes in...
I had pictures of the project that I could share now, but I can't because they were on my computer. I backed up as much stuff as I could until my external hard drive was going to explode. So please run out and buy the June issue and let me know what you think!
In other goings on today, it is my sister Roxanne's birthday! I joined her and a friend Julie with our mom for lunch and the movie "Made of Honor". Lunch was good, the movie was okay and spending time with Rox was fantastic!
Mother's day is tomorrow, and I am hoping to at least get a breakfast made for me by my kids, LOL!
I will let you know how that goes later. Hope all of my mother buddies have a wonderful day tomorrow and that you get taken care of as well!
B-

What a week!

And it is only Wednesday!
Monday, our desktop computer went down hard, I think the crash might have been heard from miles around.
This derailed me quite effectively, and after saving as much information as we could onto the external drive, we had to scrub the whole system and start over. Ugly.
I had some very important documents lost, but not everything, and I feel lucky. It could have been much worse.
On a sweeter note, we accompanied Tyler to an awards banquet yesterday, it celebrated the achievements of the students throughout the year. The end of his High School career is just around the corner, and he is excited and I am melancholy! I am very proud of him, I am just not quite ready for him to be this grown up yet.
In a few weeks it is his Senior banquet and then a couple of weeks after that we will watch him walk, not as a toddler for the first time, but as an adult with many life achievements, and loads more to come after.
sigh.
So we are doing a lot May activities, today we will get to see Carter's sixth grade band concert, very cool!
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Tomorrow today...

Tomorrow is going to be a full day, and I am not sure that I will be able to get this posted, so I thought that I would share it now!
The Method Playground challenge #18 is going to be using a transparency on your project. There are all kinds of ways to create your own and use the store bought transparencies, just do it is the mantra for this challenge. Make it as simple or as complex as you would like, they are very versatile, add a great texture and loads of visual interest.
Have fun!
B-

What a day!

Yesterday was National Scrapbook Day...

The day that smart women made up so that they could shamelessly share their passion for all things crafty, enjoy each other's company and get messy! This is a layout I made to celebrate this wonderful un-Hallmark event! Over at Cornish Heritage Farms we had our very first NSD, and this was the sketch that Lesley had created specifically for the exciting event. Good stuff!

I got to spend the day with Kim just shopping and taking it easy, my husband is a saint!

I also wanted to share this layout, it is done with Teresa's Bella Girl line, I love to document the everyday things, and I love to find unexpected ways to do that! This paper is a little prissy, so making a layout about going to camp with it was fun, and I felt like it helped to tell a little bit of the story for me without a big blob of journaling.

After I got home in the early evening from dropping Kim at home, Dave and I took the kids to see the movie "Ironman". It is such a must do, it is fun, has great music and was really well done! It wasn't long enough, and that is said from the perspective of being absolutely exhausted, and having a bladder full of 44 ounces of Mountain Dew! It was about 2 hours long, and the time just flew by, can't wait for the sequels, and Robert Downey Jr. was GREAT! It is a must do for everybody!

Anyhoooooo...
There you have it!
B-