I did it again!

Yes, some of you may have noticed... I changed up my blog again. But just a little. I have really been wanting a 3 column blog so that some of my sidebar thingies would be higher up for you all to view. I know that if you are reading just one blog post, you may not see some of the widgets that are lower on the sidepanel. Well, now things are rearranged and you can see more! What do you all think? Better? Oh, and I added some blogs and changed my pic again. My SIL and I decided that this one is a bit better since it looks more like me ;) and I realized that it's facing "into" my blog now, and that's better! Ok, so on to some projects. This first card was made for a Twisted Thursday challenge, but I never uploaded it so I didn't enter it into the challenge. I like it anyway, and it's my first Christmas card of the year! Yea! I need to get these started NOW in order to have them all done in time for Christmas. Seriously. I have had this Bella image colored since LAST Christmas and finally put her on a card! I love this combo of colors and elements, and I think I may duplicate it! I can even change the sentiment and image and make it into a Valentine's card, or anniversary card... Hmmm, the possibilities! And here is yet another note holder I made (ignore the horrible lighting, this just would NOT photo properly!):

I don't have any post it notes that match this holder, that is why there aren't any on it yet. I used all TGF Sunny Glen papers, Stampin' Up retired (I think) ribbon and the digital image from TGF is colored with watercolor pencils and OMS. OH! Actually the polka dot and green hearts are Cosmo Cricket, sorry about that. Well, let me know what you think of the projects and my new (again) blog layout!

Until next post, be blessed!

It Exploded!!!

So, Tuesday night I won a bottle of wine at the ACES (Aviano Community Enlisted Spouses) meeting and last night I decided to open it and have a glass. Well, look what happened! It exploded! It sounded like a gun went off and glass and wine went EVERYWHERE!!! Luckily I didn't get cut, but there were little shards of the bottle all over the kitchen; not to mention wine sprayed all over the walls! I know I wasn't pressing down too hard so I think something happened during the bottling of the wine causing a weak spot in the bottle. I don't know, but it was crazy! Anyway, I needed to make some birthday cards for some ACES members, and here's my first one:

This one is for a lady who's birthday was last month. I paper pieced the hippo and the balloons and drew the strings for the balloons to be tied to the hippo's tail. Here's a pic to show you the dimension in my paper piecing:

Well, after I left the card on the desk for a little while, I went back and it didn't look done. Do you ever do that? Walk away from a project and come back later for a fresher perspective? I ended up making a frame by just drawing straight lines around the edge of the card:

I feel like it gives the card it's finishing touch.

Last Thursday I participated in my first Twisted Thursday Challenge and guess what? I won! Yeah, it was a random draw, but still!!! I participated again this week and here is the card I made:I admit it, it's not my best work. I'm not entirely happy with it, but this is as good as this card is going to get. I followed the sketch, only I turned it on its side. The Twist this week is to have some purple in the card, and purple is one of the hardest colors for the to incorporate. I actually made the hippo card AFTER this one, and that purple worked out just fine! Maybe my mojo was on a little break...

One more thing before I sign off, sheck out this BLOG CANDY at Michelle O's blog! OMWord I want it!!!

Well, that's all for now. The boys are officially on summer break, but the weather isn't cooperating so we've been in the house! I hope the summer weather shows itself soon.

Until next post, be blessed.

AH, Monday!

I'm so glad it's the last week of school! Andrew should be enjoying his "Field Day" at schooltoday, and then Thursday is their last day and a half day! We've already been in the mood for summertime activities and this weekend we went outside as much as possible (when the weather was cooperating). For your enjoyment, pics of my kiddos enjoying the outdoors: That was Ashton looking through a toy and being silly. He was enjoying the sidewalk chalks that my Mom sent to the kids. And here is Angel after playing with some PINK sidewalk chalk:

See all the chalk on the back of her dress and on her white tights? LOL! At least she had fun. Also, we were supposed to have the boys' final baseball games on Saturday, but the weather was too rainy, wet, and there was lightning, so all games were canceled. Instead, we just had Andrew's end-of-season party at the community center. Here he is getting his trophy:

He did so great this season and I can't wait to see him improve next year! Finally, I got to participate in the Twisted Thursday Challenge with Justine and the ladies from Shirley's 2 Girls. The challenge was to use the provided sketch (which I altered just a bit) and the twist was to use paper piecing! I paper pieced the dress and hat for Princess Winifred from the Doodlefactory stamps at Starving Artistamps. I've been wantig to participate in this challenge for weeks now and I finally did, and on time too!

Well, I hope you all enjoyed the pics of the kiddos and the card. I'll see you all in the comments section!

Until next post, be blessed.