I can finally show you...

The layout I completed for round 2 of SYTYCD!! I am so excited to have made it to round 3. This round is going to be an interesting one and I can't wait to get started on it! Thanks to everyone who took the time to look at all the layouts and vote!!

Please vote!!

Second round of SYTYCD is over and the voting has begun! The competition is fierce!! The work these girls have done is stunning to say the least!! Last round there were over 300 votes!! Check this out:


We need your votes!!! Come and help us decide who should move on to Round #3 of YMBD's "So You Think You Can Scrap" Contest! Click HERE to view the submissions and cast your vote!

Scrapping for less is still looking for followers, and she's got RAKs to give away!

Found another awesome blog with a wonderful tutorial on tying bows! Check it out here! Hope your having a great weekend!

Sickness!!

Ugh, what a yucky week. I have been battling a UTI for a week now. I hate it when that happens. I lose all my mojo! I want my mojo back!! I want to be healthy again!! (LOL, I tend to whine when I get sick!)

Anyway, hope you all had a great weekend and got the chance to participate in some of the crops going on! Nothing really to show off this week. But a couple things to share with you.

SYTYCD competition over at YMBD extended their deadline last week because of some server issues they were having. After Friday, you can go over and vote for your faves in round 2!!

Also, I found this wonderful lady over at YMBD who has a blog that is devoted to finding scrappy RAKs out in blog land! How fun!! Check it out here!! You know what they say, you can't win if you don't play..... the RAKs are given out by manufacturers as well as personal blogs. And also, she draws RAKs on her own blog when she gets a certain amount of followers of her blog, so sign up for that too!!

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!!

Okay, not the winner.....but I did make it past the first round of SYTYCD over at YMBD!!! For the second round challenge, create a layout based on the colors in your favorite ice cream! Favorite, I've got a ton!! But I've now figured out what ice cream and what colors I'm using, I've been spending the day planning my layout, and I'm ready to start tomorrow!! Don't forget to head on over this weekend for voting on the second round. There are sure to be some great layouts!!

Blog candy alert!!!!!

Emma over at Elf Creations is giving away some super Christmas candy, and I'm not talking candy canes!!! Get over there and check it out!!

Well I got 18 cards done this weekend!! Yay me!! I made this cute little card box and put all my cards in. Im going to throw some envelopes in and yes probably stamp them too, and send them to URI where my oldest is in her freshman year. She loves to get packages and now she will have a card for every occasion to mail off to someone when she needs to! I think next time I make one I'll use a thin cardboard instead of cardstock just to get it a little more stability.

Give away alert!!!

I have never laid my eyes on this wonderful blog before today, but Im so glad I found it!! The Secret is in the Sauce is giving away PSE 7!! Can you even believe. I have PSE 3!! I need an update!! Check it out if you would love to win this too!!

World Card Day 2008

Here's my cards so far today!!

Dedicated to my dad

Over at Guttergirlz they are having an awesome challenge. I knew as soon as I saw the challenge what I was going to do. But it was much more emotional to complete than I thought. One year ago next month my father was diagnosed with stomach cancer. I will never forget the day he told us. It was one of those days you never want to relive, but will never forget. The worse part was the next day we had to celebrate my cousin's marriage, and we had decided to keep it just to ourselves (my parents, sister and I) until after the party, so as not to ruin her day. Trying to by happy when all you want to say is stop all of this, my dad has cancer and right now that's all I care about!! The past year has been a difficult journey, and I think we've all seen that the cure can be as devastating as the disease itself. My dad had cycle after cycle of the strongest chemotherapy there is to try to shrink the tumor so that the doctors could try and save as much of his stomach as possible. We were so optimistic going into the surgery that the tumor had shrunk and that they would be successful in removing the cancer. After almost 8 hours of surgery, the doctor finally came to a point where he could step out of the surgery and let us know what was going on. The tumor was much bigger than they anticipated and they had to remove his whole stomach and make a new much smaller stomach out of part of his intestines. Heartbreaking news my mom, sister and I had to come to terms with before my dad come out of recovery and was brought to his room. But you know what, we walked in that room, and he was awake, waiting for us and had a smile on his face. He knew they took his stomach but I think he was just happy to be alive, and all he wanted at that point was his family.

So now he had a long recovery from this major surgery. He had so many complications and was losing weight so fast. The doctors finally decided they needed to put dad on a feeding tube that would be hooked up to his port for 12 hours a day. So my mom and my sister and I all learned how to connect and disconnect his feedings and if he went out at night he had to carry this back pack around with him. Eventually he gained the weight he needed and was able to come off it. My dad is only half the size today that he was 2 years ago and he still struggles with his weight on a daily basis. Unfortunately, even though the surgeon was confident he had removed all the cancer, he still had cancer cells that were even too small to be seen with a microscope. He then had to undergo radiation treatments, because the chemotherapy didn't work the first time around, so this was the only route left to take. Now a year later, the cancer may never be completely gone from his body and he will have to be checked every few months, but my dad is a survivor. He will never be able to go back to work again and do the things he was once able to do, but in my eyes my dad is stronger today than he was 20 years ago. I wish that I had that strength. I struggle with it everyday! It makes me so angry, how could God do this to my dad, what did he do to deserve this. I really wanted to rip that cancer out of my body and put it in mine!

So this layout is for my dad, and maybe a little bit of therapy for myself.

The song is "Bring on the Rain" by JoDee Messina, and here are the lyrics that I used on my layout:

Another day has almost come and gone

Cant imagine what else could wrong

Sometimes Id like to hide away somewhere and lock the door

A single battle lost but not the war (cause)

Its almost like the hard times circle round

A couple drops and they all start coming down

Yeah, I might feel defeated,

I might hang my head

might be barely breathing - but Im not dead

Thanks for letting me tell my story that's been trapped inside for a long time now!

Looky looky!!

I made 2 Christmas cards!! At this rate I'll have enough cards to send out by Christmas!!

I did some scrappin last night!

Look at me! I've already got one Christmas card done! I joined Christmas Cards All Year Long, and their very first sketch was put up yesterday!!

Then I started on the first challenge for the birthday bash over at Memories From The Attic which was to use eyelets on your layout. I don't use eyelets very much, but I'm just digging the look of this! I have a ton of shaped eyelets, so I took some flowers and butterflies and went to town. I filled in the frame with different colored small eyelets. What a transformation, it just makes the page!

And as chance would have it, challenge #33 over at Scrap Your Crap, is to use up all the eyelets!!! I'm so proud of myself for digging into those eyelets! I used 39 eyelets in all!

I just started a blog challenge over at Sassy Scrappers and my first challenge was to "go pink" in honor of October being Breast cancer awareness month. Now, anyone who knows me knows I love pink, so I already had quite a bit. But I changed all my text to pink. Pretty cool! I've also added a blinkie to my blog!

Well, time to go do some laundry. It's been piling up all week, and my hubby, who never mentions the laundry, mentioned he had no more work clothes to wear for the week. So guess I've gotta get that going today!

Have a great day! Oh, and I challenge anyone reading my blog to go pink too!! Leave me a comment telling me how your blog "went pink" and at the end of the month I'll pick one and send that person a little RAK!

Scrapping, it's a good thing!

Wow, if your bored in the month of October, you definitely want to be a scrapper! So many fun things going on. The first is Sassy Scrappers is having a Passionately Pink For the Cure Crop. Any of us who have been touched by cancer in any way know what a devastating disease it is. Sassy Scrappers will be teaming up with Scrapcity,and Wendy has set up a donation site at the Susan B. Komen foundation for any of us scrappers who wish to donate. So why not spend you weekend scrapping while helping to fight breast cancer!!

I have also taken the plunge and entered YMBD's SYTYCS contest!! There's a lot of stiff competition out there, but it looks like a lot of fun. You still have until October 3 to enter, so get over there! If your not a member of their board, when you sign up tell them I referred you, we both will be rewarded!!

Oh before I forget, they just started a monthly sketch contest. I managed to slide mine in right before the deadline. There is now a poll up for voting. The information is all here:

We need your votes!!! Come and help us decide the winner of YMBD's September Sketch Challenge! Click HERE to view the submissions and cast your vote!

Let see what else?? Oh, Pinky, who one day I aspire to scrap as wonderful as she does, is having a week long crop at Just Scrappin. I've only just recently joined this site, but these girls are a lot of fun, so happy and carefree! There is still plenty of time to get some challenges done!! And Pinky's prizes....well, if you have ever been on her blog, you know the fantastic RAKs she gives away!!

Memories from the Attic is also doing some celebrating this month too! They are have a 1 year birthday party! Jeri and her staff put on some awesome crops, so I'm definitely in on this one too!!

Scrapbook Heaven just finished up their Goodbye Summer Camp crop. Unfortunately, I got sick and wasn't able to complete all the challenges, but it was a lot of fun! Hey who doesn't want to earn a badge??? No winner announced yet, but my money is on a couple of my buddies and they know who they are! They are just wonderful women and great scrappers! Well, any of the girls on that board are great, they are very friendly andhelpful too!

Okay, take one big breath.....trying to think if Im forgetting anything???

You've got to check out this crop!!

Scrapbook Heaven is having a Goodbye Summer Camp Crop right now! Lots of fun and you can earn some very cool patches!! There's a week left and still plenty of time to get the challenges done, and they are some fun ones! Here's my layouts I have completed so far for the challenge!

If you decide to hop on over and check it out, let them know I sent ya!!

Sunday Extra!!

Wow, 2 entries in one day, can you even believe it??? Just wanted to let you know that Tina (Twinklescrapbooks)has an awesome RAK that she is giving away on her blog. You don't want to miss this!! Lots and lots of scrappy goodness! Go here and tell her that Tammyscraps sent you! You won't be disappointed!

Getting back in the swing of things!

Wow! Can it be I've been away that long??? September is here and it's time to get back into a routine! My oldest is off to college and my youngest is very excited to have made the cheerleading squad at school! And I am hoping to be a mad scrapper!! Lots of things to mention in this entry. Sassy Scrappers is having a Mother Goose Land crop going on September 12-14. You don't want to miss this, every challenge is based on a Mother Goose Rhyme. She'll be posting some early challenges Monday and then the real fun gets started on Friday. I've even got a couple fun challenges going, so don't miss out!

The Scrapperie has an awesome month long challenge going on too! Back to your scraps is a month-long challenge with different lists every week to get you to use your scraps. So far it's been a fun week!

Kristen over at Serendipity Scrapbooks is having Sketch-a-pa-looza Crop Fest September 19-21! If you love sketches, this will be the place to be! And Kristen always has the best blue light specials!!

This weekend I've been working on a special project for the September contest at Sassy Scrappers, but I did manage to get this layout done for Michelle's weekend crop and chat at Sassy!

What a hot weekend!

Yikes, it is hot, humid, hazy, muggy and just plain ole yucky here in Connecticut! I stayed in most of the weekend and scrapped!! I am so happy I was able to get all the sketches done from the sketch fest over at Scrapbook Heaven!! Some fabulous sketches!!

Now that I'm done with that, I'm not sure what to do next. I think I'm pretty much caught up on challenges on all the different sites I'm active on. I do have an order coming this week from the Scrapperie for the July kit. Can't wait to get my hands on that!!

This week we will preparing for my daughter to go to cheerleading camp up in Mass. She is so excited, but boy, what a list of stuff they need! They will be staying at the dorm rooms there and it will be her first experience being away from her family for any length of time.

Where did the weekend go??

I can't believe another weekend has flown by...where did it go?? We had a very exciting weekend. My husband coaches the 13 year old Babe Ruth all-star team here in town and they won the district championship!!! Now they are onto states next weekend! Congrats guys, you all did awesome! It was a very exciting game to watch.

One of the ladies over at Sassy Scrappers told me about a sketch online crop going on this weekend at Scrapbook Heaven. So you know where I went! I just love a sketch!! I did manage to get a few done this weekend.

Here's my lastest layout I did this weekend. I used a sketch from Scrapbook Heaven and did one of the monthly challenges over at Serendipity Scrapbooks. Everyday Kristin comes up with some awesome challenges. Some of them really require you to step out of the box!

Lots going on!

I've finally used up every piece of scrap I had from my July kit over at Sassy Scrappers!!LOL Now I can finally show everything I've done! These papers are wonderful!!

It's going to be another busy weekend of scrapping at my house!!

Michelle (Scrappyshel) is hosting the crop and chat this weekend over at Sassy Scrappers. Her challenge this weekend is 2 sketches she created that can be either cards or layouts. They are awesome. Check them out and check out the chat going on too! We'd love to see you there!! Always lots of fun!

There is also a Scrapfest going on at Scrapbook Heaven. I just joined so I don't know too much about them, but it sounds like it's going to be a blast, so Im looking forward to that!!

Oh and also, I've got a class up on the Sassy Scrappers blog, you gotta check that out!!

We've got fireworks here this Saturday, and that's always a lot of fun!

Enjoy your weekend!!

Blog Party!

The girls over at Serendipity Scraps have an awesome blog party going for the month of July. Next to scrapping, I love blog browsing!!! Should be an awesome time, you've got to check it out!! Maybe it will help me keep up with mine!!

Guess what???

Guess who's the guest designer over at Sassy Scrappers for the month of July??? Yep, they chose me this month! I'm so excited to be chosen, and I've already starting working with the kit this month. I can't show you anything yet, but one hint is it's a perfect kit for my kids pictures!

I was also asked to become a moderator over at Sassy which totally thrills me!! I mean, I spend so much time there anyways!! There is always something going on!! We had an awesome Red, White and Blue crop a couple weekends back that totally rocked, and August 1 through the 3rd is the tropical Luau crop, which is sure to be so much fun!!! Last month I started a monthly bingo and boy, we had a ton of winners for the first month, and Linda and Jill we're our big bingo winners!

The Scrapperie, which is quickly becoming one of my favorite scrappy sites, and Serendipity Scrapbooks had their crops this weekend, which meant I did a lot of scrapping!! I really wish I could have done ALL of them, but there is only so much time in a day!

Here's some of my work from the crops this weekend:

I've been such a bad blogger!

Wow, can't believe I haven't blogged in this long! Where does the time go??? Hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend! We got a ton of work done in the yard!

I just finished a layout for a challenge I did over at Scrapdragons . This was a fun challenge and I finally got to use my Teresa Collins paper that I got a few weeks ago! My husband got me a nice 12x12 printer for my birthday and I also got Photoshop so I've been spending a lot of time trying to learn the program! There is so much you can do with Photoshop, but I'm just trying to figure out all the layer stuff first!

Here's my layout for the latest Scrapdragon challenge:

Sassy Scrappers also had a Memorial Weekend crop going on and the challenge was to create a layout that memorializes someone. I chose my father-in-law:

Gone digi!

Great news!! I won the big contest Sassy Scrappers had in honor of their grand opening last month!! Im so excited!! But boy was it a lot of scrapping! Now that the contest is over I've slowed down a bit, kinda needed a break and my family glad to be seeing more of me too! So now that I haven't been hidden away in my scrap room I've been on the computer more, go figure! Now I have a new obsession....digit scrapping! I spend hours scouring freebies and downloading kits and elements and paper! I had no idea there was so much out there! I had gotten some scrapbook software for Christmas, so I've been scrapping like a fiend! And what's even better, my birthday is Monday, and my hubby has been researching 12x12 printers!! How cool is that! I love paper scrapping and will never give that up, but digi is a nice break, especially when your short of pictures to scrap, I always have a ton of pictures waiting to print, so it works! Next is to look into Photoshop, there seems to be so many things that you can do with it!

Here's some of my recent digi work:

Some new stuff!

It's the last day for Sassy Scrapper's month long grand opening contest so I've been scrapping like crazy this week trying to get all the challenges done. I've also been doing quite a bit of digi scrapping. I'm quickly becoming obsessed with it! I'm having a lot of fun!!

Thank you Dad

Dear Dad:

I just want to thank you for everything you have taught me over the years. When I was young I feared you, you seemed like such a powerful big man. Now, I'm in awe of you. You have such an amazing outlook on life. As a young husband and father, you worked hard to get where you are today. Thank you for always working 2 jobs until your heart attack, and giving me and Stacey everything we always wanted; a new car at 16, trips every summer!

Thank for you teaching me how important family is. You have always put us first and you have always been there for me when I needed you the most but was afraid to admit it. There have been many times in my life that I wouldn't have made it through if it weren't for you.

Most of all, thank you for your strength. After being diagnosed with stomach cancer last fall, you made a choice, a choice to live. You knew there were things left in life that you wanted to accomplish, places you wanted to go. In this last few months you have endured more than one person should. Three excruciating months of chemotherapy, a major operation in which they had to remove your whole stomach, spleen and part of your pancreas. You bounced back from that, and now you still face another 2 months of radiation. Most would have given up, but you just say "hey this is what I have to do, there's no other alternative for me".

Thank you dad for the amazing life that you have given me and thank you for being an amazing father. I love you.

What Im thinking about today

Well, Maureen over at Sassy Scrappers has challenged everyone to update their blogs. I'm so guilty of not updating!! So my thoughts today? I'm sitting at my desk working and wishing I was outside!! It is turning out to be another gorgeous day here in Connecticut! This weekend we weeded flower beds, laid mulch and fertilized the lawn. I'd really like to get out there after work today and work on some more flower beds! And Im thinking I really need to get out and take a picture of our Japanese Cherry tree that is starting to bloom this week and looks gorgeous!! Im thinking about the 3 on-line crops I would like to attend this weekend, and how I can convince my hubby to let me get some goodies for the weekend! I snuck to AC Moore yesterday for some glue dots and paper, but there's some stores online that have some gorgeous paper right now and I want some!!!

It was just me home last night so I was able to get some scrapping done! These are for challenges on Sassy Scrappers as well as Serendipity Scrapbooks:

A real quick one!

Here's a few things I've been working on this week! These were all made for the Sassy Scrappers Grand Opening Celebration crop challenges!

This layout was done with the new blog sketch site Sketchabilities . This was a super fun layout to do!

This card was done for the Cardvarks weekly challenge Flights of Fancy!

Another card made for a challenge over at Sassy Scrappers!

My how time flies!

Wow, I hadn't realized that I haven't blogged in 2 weeks! Been busy! We had a wonderful Easter with the whole family and took plenty of pictures! I've already started scrapping them which is a first for me!

I created this layout for Scrapping the music . The song this week was Kanye West "Stronger". I also based this layout on Triple the sketch blog. This was their very first sketch!! I think it's a great one because it's so versatile. I had struggled with this layout until I saw this sketch. I think this is going to be a great place to go for inspiration!!

In other news, I got selected as one of the 10 finalists for the Design Team at Sassy Scrappers!! I'm so excited!! I know Steph and Amy from other message boards and I just think they are great ladies, so was happy to see that they started this new board. There's a lot of nice girls over there and it's so much fun! A ton of challenges going on right now for their grand opening celebration all month long! And their giving away awesome prizes!

A few things I've been working on...

I picked up this wooden letter last summer at Target on clearance. [Some] assembly required is running an altered letter challenge, so I figured this was the perfect opportunity to get something done with this. I don't do a lot of altering, but it's a lot of fun when I do. I love these vintage papers from Websters Pages. Considering Im not much of an alter'er, I like the way it came out. I haven't decided whether I'll keep it my office or my scrap room.

This is a layout I completed this week with the latest sketch from Tamara on her blog . I think I've got just about all the Easter pictures for last year scrapped now!!



And this layout I finished up last night. I used Pencil lines new sketch this week to complete the challenge for Scrapping the music challenge of the week, which was Lenny Kravitz's song Fly Away. I immediately thought of Christmas Eve when my husband was giving our nephews airplane rides. I don't work with bright papers like this too often, but this pic was too fun not to use them!

I've got a baby shower next week for my cousin's daughter, so Im thinking about making a tag book or an exploding box for her. Stay tuned for that!

Have a great week! If your up for a crop this weekend, Scrapcity has Scrapfest going on starting Friday all through the week. I'll definitely be popping in as much as I can!

Happy Spring!!

Finally, some signs of spring starting to pop up in our yard!!

Busy busy busy!!

I've been getting so much done this week and having a blast over at 4SS this week. They have a week long crop going on and the challenges are awesome! Something for everyone. It's going on till Saturday so there is still time to get involved! Here's a couple things I've completed for their crop:

I'm so happy to finally be getting my Easter pics from last year scrapped!

I also just finished my layout for Scrapping the music's latest challenge. I got a chance to use my new Jenni Bowlin papers, Tangerine Dreams. All I can say is wow, these papers are absolutely beautiful!! I've actually ordered some more!! This layout is based on the Prince song "The most beautiful girl in the world".

The sketch is from a sketch challenge over at Sassy Scrappers.

The weather here is still cold!! We do have some signs of spring with the crocuses all popping up and the daffodils starting to break through the ground. Not soon enough though!! I'm ready for some warm weather!

Have a great week!!