About Me

My photo
Carlisle, Pennsylvania
I am a stay at home mom..now that is! February 19th, 2007 I was involved in a car accident while on vacation in Florida. I awoke in ICU to find out that my only two children Annemarie age 3 and Michael age 5 did not make it. Scrapbooking became such a big part of my life. It helped fill a void that I desperately needed to fill. Our therapist suggested that I take up scrapbooking as a way to memorialize my children, little did she know! So I took that and ran with it.I became obsessed with scrapping and took over the second largest room in my house. Because of my injuries I couldn't go out and get a job, I just scrapped!I printed out 2,000 photos and my journey began. I have made albums for family members and layouts to decorate my craft room. We thought we were done having kids but who expected this tragedy??? I just gave birth in June 2009 to two beautiful baby girls Mia Anne and Gianna Marie named after their brother and sister.I swore that I would keep up with their albums so I won't become overwhelmed so we will see how that works out! My profile picture is the last family picture that was taken of all of us.

Monday, May 31, 2010

PK Glitz Ink - Sketch Time!



Talk about getting down to the wire!! Geez! I used the basis of the sketch contest going on over at PK Glitz for my layout. They have a great prize to win. I don't have any of their products but I would love to try them out so I hope I win..giggles... Sorry that the pictures are crummy butI just stink at taking them!

The challenge over at The Pink Elephant was to do a summer themed page so I picked a fun picture of my friends daughter playing in the sprinkler/hose. I added some texture for the challenge over at Delightful Sketches by using MS glitter, sewing, and using Ultra thick embossing powder of the water drops and on the hose. The ribbon also has some texture to it as well as the 3D sticker.

I left some areas on the right side of the page for her to journal on. Of to eat some lunch...I'm starving and it's not even 11:00am yet! Guess that is what happens when you are up at the crack of dawn!

Friday, May 28, 2010

Practical Scrappers - Using up some ol' Felt




The challenge this week over at Practical Scrappers is to use some felt, fabric or tulle. My fellow DT members have done a fabulous job as always so make sure you stop on by their blogs to check them all out. I choose to use some Martha Stewart Snowflake felt that I bought on clearance a couple of years ago but never used.

The pictures I choose were of my son playing in only like 2 inches of snow but he thought it was the best! Sadly about 3 weeks later he had passed away so I am glad that he got a little taste of snow!

I used up some letters from Paper Studio which I ran thru my Xyron and topped them off with some coordinating paper. I reran the letter "O" thru the Xyron again and covered it in Martha Stewart Tinsel Glitter.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Peachy Keen Recipe Card Challenge


I know my brain is fried but geezzzzz! This was suppossed to be posted yesterday but when I scheduled it I put the wrong date in..SORRY! So I am reposting it today!

Hello Everyone! As I have mentioned before I am a proud member of the DT over at
Peachy Keen Stamps. This is only my second challenge and I am already having a blast!! This week our challenge was to do a recipe card and it was hard for me because I had to try to find a recipe that would be small enough to fit on a card. When I tell you that you need to try this recipe YOU NEED TO TRY THIS RECIPE!!! Everyone I make it for demands the recipe. It is very good and very easy to make. On the ingredient list it doesn't show Cool Whip but you will see it listed in the directions so make sure you buy it if you plan on making it.

I used a piece of 6X6 cardstock for my recipe card. I stamped the background with
PK-101 Medium Polka Dot Print on the green cardstock.

For the faces on the strawberries I used PK-532 Simple Sallies stamp set. One of my very first PK stamp sets was PK-539 Funshine Faces - Sour which I used for the Lemon. For the bowl I cut it out on my Cricut and then embossed it with my "Morrocan Screen" Cuttlebug folder. I used some ice cream cut for the cool whip from my cricut and accented it with Stickles. Don't those Oreos look good enough to eat!! LOL!!

I was planning on making a little 6X6 album with any/all recipe cards that I make since everyone is always asking me how I made this or that. I figured when I was done I would have a nice little gift to give to somebody. This was going to be my first recipe card for the album but the idiot I am had it on my desktop and spilled icetea all over it!!!! Thank goodness I took the picture first!

Come on over and play along with us this week over at Peachy Keen Stamps. There is some great prizes and I look forward to seeing some amazing recipes!!!

Sunday, May 23, 2010

All Dressed Up



I am currently doing an album for my friend who is paying me to scrapbook her family. This will become part of a 2page layout eventually but there was just one picture of her daughter all dressed up and I wanted to showcase it. I wanted to have a string of pearls coming out of the shoe but as I ws trying to do it, the string broke and pearls went everywhere!!! So I switched to these adorable adhesive pearls from CTMH.

I cut the shoe out in 3 layers. One was the base and then I cut out two top layers. I used the same DP for the first two layers but I left the base DP alone and inked up the second layer for a darker shade. Then I had this beautiful vellum with swirls and flowers on it and cut that out to go over the darker shade. I had the flower left over from a different project so I figured what the heck and stuck it on. I used chipboard letters from Paper Studio and ran them thru my Xyron. I covered the letters in DP that will be used on the opposite page.
Sorry about the pictures but they were taken late at night.

I followed the sketch over at Priscilla Styles. I added the shoe for the challenge over at Frosted Designs, pearls for the challenge at Pixie Dust Studio. I used flower DP which You can't really see for the matting and a flower to the shoe for the challenge at Papertake Weekly. Over at Cuttlebug Challenge blogspot they asked us to make it personal with a picture. I also used my swiss dot embossing folder on the blue matting which I realize now that you can't see!!!!!!!

Saturday, May 22, 2010

So this is my birthday so far......




Just another day right? Today is my birthday and so far I have received several dirty diapers, a couple of bites on my shoulder as well as an early AM wake up call from my little girlie goos. Guess they were just impatient to wish my Happy Birthday. I will probably eat left overs all day and the only way I would get a birthday cake is if I made myself one...geez haven't had one of those in about 5-6 years!! Sadly I will probably spend the day by myself with my little ladies doing chores or food shopping since hubby is working.





But I did get something to brighten my day. Early this morning my doorbell rang and it was the two young boys who live behind me standing there each with handmade cards for me. I just started to tear up because that is what it's all about. Those things are what I treasure the most..handmade items!

Anyways I figured I would spend what time I had doing something I enjoy...crafting...maybe I will be humming in the back...Happy Birthday to me...LOL!

Here is a layout I made of my friends daughter. I am working on the second half of it as we speak. I used Locker Talk and Winter Wonderland Cricut Cartridges as well as the MS Lattice Edge punch. Awhile back I picked up the Big Bite and never used it. I actually broke that out and used it on the large eyelets.

I designed this layout around the following challenges:

A Crafty Little Place Sketch challenge

The Playdate Cafe Color challenge
A Spoon Full of Sugar Cute & Girly challenge
The Pink ElephantScrapbook challenge

Well I am off to heat up some leftover beef enchiladas for breakfast...yummy...why be healthy on your birthday????

Friday, May 21, 2010

Birthday invites for the girls


Okay I know I call myself Last Minute Lisa but this is ridiculous. I purchased a set of cards on clearance that came with ribbon and everything all I had to do with print on them and WAAAHHLLLAAAA I was done. Actually they are considered wedding programs but heck they would work right? Well I decided to finally sit down today and get them printed out for my girls birthday party which is in a couple of weeks. Now I realized why "programs" are different than cards even though they look the same!!!!!!aaarrrggghhh they don't come with any envelopes!! The programs were an odd size so it wasn't like I could add something out of my stash. My original plan was to get these in the mail today. I sat around trying to come up with a card that I would be able to mass produce with ease and not waste alot of paper, glue etc.

SO what did I do??? I turned to my ever so trusty Peachy Keen stamps and came up with a card. My girls are having a watermelon themed birthday party. It sounds unusual but I got the cutest Watermelon outfits from Gymboree and based the party around that!! Crazy I know...

I used standard white cards from Recollections that CAME with envelopes. I printed out the most recent picture of my girls (came off my cell phone)on cardstock. It's not the greatest picture and defintely wouldn't be my first choice but I had about 2 hours to make about 25 invites. Sounds like alot of time but when you have to hand stamp, color, cut and glue each one ...geez you just don't know how much time it actually takes.

I used my PK-276 Flower Center stamp set to randomly stamp the circles in red and green. I love this stamp set because I use it for soooo many other things and not just for the center of flowers. Very versatile. I pretty much made my own DP right on the cardstock...no gluing needed! Then I PK-239 Faceless Fruit Stamp set to stamp the watermelon. I cut it out after coloring it with Copics. I used my White gelly roll pen to add a splash of color to the eyes and some dashes around the outter edge. This is another indispensable item I own!! I got this directly from Peachy Keen's website and it was only like $1.69. I highly suggest getting several of these.

On the inside I have all of the birthday information printed out on colored cardstock and cut out with my Nesties. Simple but cute for the time I had to knock them all out. Hope everyone would like them..sometimes I wonder why I just don't go out and buy a pack for like $3 or $4 dollars but then I remember how special my children are.......it's all worth it!!! Just wish I had taken more time to plan them.

I entered this into these challenges:

Stamp Something "2 of these challenge" I used two different sized stamps in two different colors. Heck I even added 2 baby girls :)

By the Cute and Girly Celebration challenge
A spoon Full of Sugar Cute & Girly
C.R.A.F.T. birthday/celebration challenge

Using your patterened paper - Practical Scrappers






I finally got some pictures printed out of my twin girls that are now almost one year old. YIKES!! This is the first layout that I have ever done for them. I tried to use paper that matched the clothing. I was excited because it was from a paper pack that I haven't used yet. This was literally a lazy day. We just decided to take the girls outside and sit in the grass. THAT"S it! I gotta tell you, I haven't done that for ages and it was sooooo relaxing.

The challenge this week over at Practical Scrappers is to use patterned paper. I used some DP from K&Co and found some matching 3D stickers/embellies to go with it. The picture isn't the greatest but I am trying to get better at that.

Hope that you come and join us over at Practical Scrappers. We love to help you get thru your stash and actually use it!

Thursday, May 20, 2010

On my way to Germany...I wish!








We are traveling to Germany this week with the Sisterhood! Last time we traveled to Scotland and this time we are on our way to Germany. I was honestly stumped with the Germany challenge. Even though my husband is half German I don't know much about the heritage or culture. I was the one that went to Octoberfest and had wine!!!! I was so excited when I looked thru and found some beer stickers that actually had GERMAN LAGER on it. So I came up with this quick card using the German colors along with the stickers.

So if you want to get away for awhile...even if it is just for a couple of minutes, come on over to the Sisterhood Of Crafters and share your German inspired creation with us.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

SEND CARDS TO SAM CAMPAIGN!!!



I am reposting this as I saw it on Pixie Dust Studio's website. It is a wonderful campaign to join. For a child so young to be fighting a battle this harsh is just heartbreaking. We can help put a smile on this little boys face by sending him cards daily. My next challenge cards will be made for Sam. I hope and ask that you will repost this on your blog. If not, please simply put a card in the mail to this young boy. Read below the story as it was posted on Pixie Dust Studio's blog.


Send them to Sam is a card campaign.

I am challenging all you talented ladies to help little Sam fight Cancer. Sam is a wonderful and strong 5 year old boy. His battle with Cancer is just beginning. He was diagnosed with Stage 3 Lymphoma this week. He has a very tough fight ahead of him. I would love everyone to join me in helping Sam fight this and WIN! Sam will be in the hospital for many months. I am starting a campaign to fill his days with tons of cards from all over the globe. What fun for Sam to know that people from all sides of the Earth are supporting and thinking about him. I am going to give him a map book and a ton of stickers. He will put a sticker on each location that his cards come from. How awesome would it be to cover the whole Earth with stickers from people supporting Super Sam. This will be a great adventure for Sam to watch the LOVE and SUPPORT from every corner of the globe. Lets each set a personal goal of one card a month, one card a week, or one card a day.
Keep them coming so he never stops looking forward to the next card delivery.

Ladies with a humble heart, I ask for your support in this Send Them to Super Sam campaign. I will provide updates from time to time to let you all know how Super Sam is winning his battle over Cancer. When he is victorious over Cancer we can all celebrate together in honor of the wonderful and brave Super Sam! I welcome anyone and everyone to join Pixie Dust Studio in the Send Them to Sam Card Campaign! Please take this blog blinkie and post it and link it back to the Pixie Dust Studio Super Sam link. Help pass this Campaign message along..lets spread the word, lets share the news. Cards are needed to help a little boy and his battle with Cancer!


Please send Cards and well wishes to....

Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center

1719 E 19th Ave

Denver CO 80218

ATTENTION: Samual Humphries

It would also be great fun to include the Super Sam image on the inside, back or envelope or mention SUPER SAM ...that way Sam will know that he is a Superhero and he can win this fight!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Home is where the heart is!



A friend of mine just bought her first home so I wanted to make her a card. She was very excited that it was brick so I knew I had to do a brick house. I stamped the house out and cut out all the different layers and mounted it with pop dots for dimension.

Supplies used:

Close to my Heart Emporium paper for the clouds
Close to my Heart Around the Block stamp set
Stampin up! Ink
Copic Markers
Prismacolor pencils
MS glitter for the windows

Challenges I submitted this card to:

Your Next Stamp - Cut it out & pop it up
Simon Says - Sketch
Pixie Dust - Cut it

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Around the World with Create a Critter


Today I started like 10 projects and didn't finish one. I literally would get halfway thru a project and get an idea for another one and drop what I was doing. I couldn't focus AT ALL!!! By the end of the day I was determined to come up with something to show for the time I spent in my craft room.

I just love the Create a Critter cartridge for my Cricut. When I saw the "AROUND THE WORLD" challenge over at Crafty Creations I figured it was a perfect opportunity to use the cute little Panda on the cartridge. I combined it with the challenge over at Paperplay which was to use the color brown along with some other color(s)and the challenge at
Cricut Cardz was to use 3 circles and any cut from a Cricut Cartridge. I also entered this into the Creatalicious Orient themed challenge.

Friday, May 14, 2010

"Punch-It Out" Friday



Good morning! Over at Practical Scrappers the challenge this week is to use punches. One lucky winner will get 3 images from Wink Wink Ink!!

I gotta say that I just love this blog!! It actually helps me use my stuff. Now I know that sounds silly. My husband said to me "but you already use your stuff". It's not the same. I have so much stuff that I forgot I even have or would not normally go to on an everyday basis. I am now trying to use paper that I normally wouldn't as well as tools and embellishments.

I made this card for my friends first Mother's Day. She has waited almost 40 years to become a Mother so I wanted to make her something special. I decided to use paper that is a bit out of my comfort zone. I used the lattice punch for the border across the card. I used a scallop circle punch for the flower and the MS branch punch for the leaves.

Supplies:

Stamps ~ Stampin up! & Inkadinkado
Paper ~ K by Marcella
Punches ~ Martha Stewart branch punch and lattice punch
Unknow scallop punch
Mounting dots

Thursday, May 13, 2010

FRIED???? Need a good laugh???


Boy am I getting bad at posting these things! I thought I had this posted and I guess I didn't!!! Maybe I should send this card to myself!!!!!!! LOL~!

The challenge this week over at THE SISTERHOOD of CRAFTERS is to make a funny card or something that would just simply make you laugh! My sisters did just that with their creations. I don't know about you all but I could always use a good laugh!!! Especially when I read that laughing burns calories..heck for the first time in my life I wish I was a hyhenia!

I have a friend who is going thru some rough times and she said that her brain was just fried. She has a wonderful sense of humor. The first thing that came to mind was an egg for some reason. I hope this will put a smile on her face :)

Supplies:

Cricut "Just Because" Cartridge for the egg
Mounting Dots to give the egg some dimension
Recollections paper
Peachy Keen PK-490 Everyday Character Faces
Making Memories Rub-On letters

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Quick scrap card made during nap time


I made this quick scrap card while the girls were napping. This is one of those cards that you think you can crank out real quick and easy but hit nothing but obstacles. I was going to stamp the eye but embossed it before I could an then I got ink all over my bird so I had to ink it up. But since nap time just ended I just went with it.

I made this for the Townscrapper's Pink & Purple challenge,
the ABC "U is for Unused challenge and the Creatalicious "Wings & Flower" challenge (wings for the bird and flowers on the paper).

WOW...Some more good News for me!!



Maybe I should play lotto! I am not used to having good things happen to me since I have some pretty crummy luck. But this weekend I was asked to be on the DT over at
Peachy Keen Stamps!!!!! I was so excited and honored of course I said yes!! I have been using these stamps for years. I started out with just the faces and have grown into all of the others she has to offer. When I stamp on textured paper the image comes out soooo clear like I printed it on the paper. The quality is 100% there and how can you not love the adorable images??? These have become my favorite stamps to use and I use them daily.

I had only a couple of hours to get my submission in for this week and I was told not to worry about it that I could start next week but I wanted to get it done. I spent most of that time working on another card that well let's just say it didn't come out right so I switched. The challenge this week was to follow a sketch.


I recently purchased the Once Upon A Princess Cricut Cartridge since I have twin girls and figured it would definitely come in handy. When I found out that Peachy Keen was coming out with faces for these little darlings I was ecstatic!!! The faces are kinda ugly that come on the cartridge which is why I didn't buy them it at first. I used some scraps from Basic Grey, Martha Stewart glitter on the wings, stickers from K & Co., rhinestones from Recollections, Prima flowers and of course my
PK-640 Princess Face Assortment stamp set. Again I didn't have much time at all to come up with this card but I think she came out cute!


The challenges run every two weeks so there is plenty of time to come join along. The prize this week is the huge stamp set that I used on my card PK-640. It consists of 27 different stamps. Hope to see you there!!

Sunday, May 9, 2010

Wishing I could get a hug from my angels on mother's day



Today is Mother's Day. I am happy but sad at the same time. I realize how strong I can be when I thought it was impossible. I realize how weak I can be at the same time. One moment I can be smiling and happy but the next crying my eyes out. I am angry one moment and extremely grateful the next. I was dealt a horrible hand in life but I am learning how to play the cards I was dealt. I am grateful today for my twin girls. They truly are the air I breath and what keeps me going. I am so happy that they are in my life but it is bittersweet. I wish, I wish with all my might that I could get a hug from Mikey & Annie tonight...

I miss you my sweetpeas! It's not the same without you.........

My favorite color & gem!!! Emerald!


I had this post scheduled and for some reason it didn't post. I am guessing it had to do with the person behind the keyboard but oh well.

I came up with this quick card for the challenge over at The Sisterhood of Crafters. The challenge this week is to use the color Emerald green on a card for a wedding, anniversary or a Congratulations card. I of course didn't realize that I didn't take a picture of the inside showing the sentiment that fit this challenge. After I took the picture I saw that some of the flowers were covered up so I moved the big pink flower over to the right to show the flowers underneath.
The challenge this week is being sponsored by
DigiSparkle. The winner will get a voucher to her store which will give one lucky person about 10 digi's!!! How awesome is that!!! So stop on by and play this week and get your chance to win this great prize. Remember you have to be in it to win it!

Friday, May 7, 2010

Exciting news!!!!


I am so excited!!! I am now a proud member of the
Practical Scrappers design team!!! I wasn't even going to try out of the DT because the very first challenge week I had a prior commitment but I figured what the heck. Much to my surprise I got the position but then worry set in. I was volunteering that week and I didn't want my first project to be a poor example of my work. The week this layout was due I volunteered over 80 hours but somehow I fit this in between cooking, volunteering and oh yes sleep!! But I just told myself I will do a better job next time!

I am just so excited because I LOVE Practical Scrappers. I played along with their challenges whenever I could because they made me use my stash/hoard. It makes me happy when I do that :)..giggles! This week the challenge is to use stickers. I don't know about you all but I have tons but somehow I never get to use them!! For this project I used these huge monogram letters I had by Making Memories. But the stinky thing about it was the package only came with one of each letter so every phrase I wanted to do I couldn't. I finally came up with the word creations on the bottom and started to lay out the letters only to realize that they didn't fit...arrrgghhh!! The piece of paper I used is exactly the way I found it in my scrap pile. I didn't have to cut it down or anything and decided to work with the angle cut that was already there. I am doing a scrapbook for my neighbor's son who creates all of these cool things for with his Legos. This will be the opening page to the book.

Come on down and try your hand at the challenge this week and have some fun!!!