Where does the time go?

I just came across this layout that I did a while ago. These photos were taken on Halloween in 2001. Look how little Jordan and Ryan were! It's hard to believe that they are 12 and almost-14 now.

On a side note, this layout is also my one little "toot". It was featured on the Simple Scrapbooks blog, back when there was a Simple Scrapbooks blog. I still check out the Simple Gals on their own blogs but it's just not the same, you know? Angie still cracks me up-she is a hoot. Check out her blog HERE.

Just a random post-missing those cute little Halloween costumes and angelic faces...

Miss You Mini Card

I'm still playing around with my entry for the "manly card" challenge over on the Hero Arts blog. It also occurred to me that I should include links for some of the blogs and sites that I talk about. The Hero Arts blog is one of my favorites-you can visit it HERE. New posts from the designers each day, tons of ideas, and weekly contests. Need I say more?

Today I'm sharing a mini card I made for this challenge. It's pretty versatile-could be for a man, woman or child. I'm actually going to send it to the students in my practicum classroom. It's been less than a month since my semester ended, but I really do miss them already. Can't wait to have a classroom of my own soon!

For this card, I used a wood-grain stamp from the Hero Arts Artistic Windows set, a little owl from their Ink 'n Stamp Birds and Branches set, and the "miss you" sentiment from Lily Pad Greetings. Yes, more owls. The Green Stack from DCWV goes perfectly with all of my new owl stamps, too.

Give a hoot...

for owls, that is. My daughter thinks I'm absolutely nuts and teases me endlessly about my "freaky forest creatures." I'm not the only one, though-have you noticed that there are tons of cute little critter stamps and other supplies out there?

I picked up this Big Owl from Hero Arts a few months ago, but have been a little intimidated to use it. It is ONE BIG OWL. I also picked up the new Ink 'n Stamp-Birds and Branches set from Hero Arts just last week. This set has some super-tiny owls in it. So I combined the two for this "Thinking of You" card. Not sure yet if I will enter it in this week's "manly" challenge on the Hero Arts blog-not sure if it's submission quality or not. I think I'll play around some more this week before I decide.

Off to my son's baseball practice now, but I'll be back tomorrow to share some more cards.

Friendly Forest

No posts for a couple of days because we've been away on our first camping trip of the season. Now we're back, with a few more pictures to scrap. My son caught a 13" bass and my daughter caught three smaller bass! So exciting-I've never been fishing. I'm so glad they get to have this experience.

Going through my stash, I found some adorable papers and chipboard accents that I picked up awhile back. They are from the Friendly Forest line by Colorbok. Can't wait to print some photos and scrap a bit, but until then I though I'd share a card that I made from one of the die-cut papers from this line. Super easy-the birds and flowers look hand-stamped, but are really pinted on the paper. I just did some cutting, layering and stickling for this cute card. The only stamping was the "happy birthday" from Imaginisce. Also had to try out this cute border punch from Martha Stewart.

Still unpacking from the camping trip, but I hope to be able to play with my new stamps tonight and share some goodies tomorrow.

Going Green

Last year, one of our family's resolutions was to start recycling. A year and a half later, we're still at it, hoping to make a difference.

I was inspired by a challenge over on the Hero Arts blog to make a card using some recycled materials. Since I save everything I had quite a stash of recyclable supplies from which I could choose. I decided on a bag from my local stamp store that looked like it had pink vines stamped on it. It was the perfect companion for my new Sassafras Lass paper and Hero Arts stamps. I also trimmed a strip from the bag for my sentiment. I left the jagged edge from the top of the bag to add a little texture.

I loved the finished card so much that I couldn't wait to try another card using a different patterned bag. That meant a trip to the stamp store-such a hardship! I ended up with a new stamp set and a totally different patterned bag-aqua and black. Can't wait to use it!