They toss em - I keep em and you'll soon see why!

Everyone gives me such a hard time about saving my scraps but I don't care b/c look at these cute little cards I made from planner scraps. A few of us took a class at the now closed LSS making a really cute planner notebook in these colors. I of course save my scraps in case I want to add more to my planner and more importantly to make some cards if I can. This is what I came up with....




There was actually a third similar to the one on the left but it went to my grandmother in her stash...

Card Swappin Time

In a few card swaps this month both using my new favorite thing over there on the right - Sheet Load!! I can't remember which month this SL is from though :( The cards are for Karen's CTMH group. The paper is Sweetwater - I think the fresh line and the stamp is from one of those clear sets Michael's sells.



The January swap for the Scrap On yahoo group is Valentine's but the catch was no red or pink. Well, I had the plan to use a cute color combo with orange, purple, something like that but I ran across this paper from kit I bought years ago as well as some random paper I bought and couldn't resist. I used the January Sheet Load for this swap and I was really pleased with how it came out. I was in my scraps looking for more gray or silver paper when I ran across a whole bunch more of the silver & black as well as some other paper that coordinated so I went on and made as many cards as I could. I think I ended up with 25? I took pics of all the different variations and I'm not telling you girls who read my blog which one is the swap card...you'll just have to wait and see when it gets to your mailbox. Ha!!

A little somethin somethin...

I finally worked on my magnet board some more over the holiday and I'm still not quite finished but here's some progress. I bought some magnet strips and punched holes with a regular office style 2 hole punch. I tried a hand held punch but it wasn't quite big enough. The magnet strips already had adhesive on one side, so I punched more holes out of scraps in the lighter shade of paper, stuck them on and viola - the perfect surface on which to write. Then I got really brave and started drawing pictures for the holidays, martini glass for NYE, heart for valentines, etc. I have more to draw and then I need to coat them in crystal lacquer for that extra umph. Still need to borrow a crop-a-dile to punch holes down the side for ribbon. Oh and instead of having all the months up top on a slider, I stuck the left over magnets from my hole punching on the tags & can just toss it on there....the extras store on the back. Genius!!

How sweet it is!

A New Year and a new plan. A plan of organization I was able to start before the 1st and I really pray I can continue. Last night I got all the cards finished for my grandmother's stash. She was in major need of birthday cards so I have been making a ton of those lately. I didn't take photos of all hers but I have similar ones at home that I plan to post. I also completed the last few pages in her book that my mom was unable to finish before they had to leave to come here for Thanksgiving. I feel bad I'm just now mailing her Christmas gifts but in all fairness we weren't sure if she was coming down here or not and with all the holiday happenings I can't do it all!

Over the weekend I managed to finally get all my kits into my new scrap area. I need a few more of those 12 x 12 holders. It's so hard to sort everything. Not all my embellishments fit in my scrap rack, ribbon is everywhere, I have kits with embellishments, paper I've put together with CS, lines of paper with no CS, card kits, paper I want to make cards out of, kit scraps to use on cards, LO scraps to use when I journal. It's a mess...how do you organize all that??? I think the key is to get as much as I can made into kits - I seem to work better that way. I really need some of those nice paper holders though. The 2 gal ziplocs are almost too big. I guess I'm frustrated that I buy all this cute stuff and I never seem to use it. So that's my answer....make kits. Then I think having all this "stuff" really isn't doing me any good. I almost want to get to a point that I buy only for what I need....but I'm not really sure how I'd get to that point. That would mean I'd need to completely stop buying and use what I have....I've really tried to do that but not completely. I still buy here and there but I have gotten better. At least I like to think so :)

Was I born wth a lost animal beacon...

that activated when we bought our home??? I counted up 12 animals since we bought our house four years ago. And that's only the ones I could catch. I'm sure that number would double had I got my hands on those little buggers! Friday night on my way home I picked up a beautiful husky. She had tags (I hollered as I hung up on my husband while he hollered no!!!) and oddly enough when I stopped in the median to get the number off her tag, a lady pulled up next to me that had seen a sign posted by her owner's that had been there for three months. Apparently the dog gets out all the time which irritated me to no end but I offered my chicken wire suggestion...what else can you do? Sunday, I noticed my husband had Chorniy outside with him. Next thing I know, he's inside and I don't know where she is....I see a doggie behind through the window in our neighbor's drive. Turns out it wasn't Chorniy....it was this sweet thing:



She is the sweetest thing! Duncan walked her around the hood and of course no one claimed or recognized her. I took her to a local vet Wednesday to see if she had a chip...no luck there either. I took some photos over the holiday and made some signs to post. I secretly hope she has no home but with two large dogs already I know better. I can't begin to explain what a doll she is...she's taken to sleeping in our bed (which we have NEVER let any of our dogs do so that tells you a lot there) and she groans....for a long time....many times during the night. I'm not talking the normal stretch I gotta make some noise groan. It's a long drawn out, from the gut, I could not be any more comfortable groan. In the mornings, the alarm scares here LOL...so she snuggles up to me and I love on her...she cries, whimpers, moans and groans like she's never even had any attention paid to her at all. The thought breaks my heart....and Chorniy...she acts as though the puppy was her Christmas present. She dotes on her and plays with her non stop. What ever are we to do?