Mini Tear-Off Calendar

Here's a mini tear-off calendar that I made a couple of days ago, I think it turned out really cute! I used my new CTMH set Inspirations and stamped the quote and flowers. I cut and painted some chipboard, then added some paper that I found for $1 at J's in the clearance aisle(a pad of 18 sheets for $1?!! Lucky me!) Added some Glossy Accents, pop-dots, and ribbon. The calendar came from SCS, here's a link to it if you're intersted in making one of these. I think it's a cute idea to make and give to a friend as a way to say you're thinking of them!

A good kind of busy!

I have been busy, but it's been a good kind of busy! I hope the pictures speak for themselves!

The 1st Annual Bartuci Rocking Rib Fest, we had a family "RIB-OFF" and then played Rockband...what a blast! My family didn't win the title or trophey for best ribs, but then....my family wasn't counting votes! Hmmmmm, we all wondered why the judges' family won?!! LOL!

What a great trophy!
While the winning family was playing Rockbank, this is what we (the losers) did to the trophy!


A broken arm at the Rocking Rib Fest! He's on his 2nd cast, and will be recasted again later this week.


Homecoming, yes I agree will all of you, she is beautiful!


And lastly, here are a few of the swaps that I've been working on, some ITT's for CMB and some tags and cards for SP.

Awarded to....(who me?!!!)

Isn't this just the most adorable award?!! Christina sent it my way, and I have to say thank-you to her! She has a wonderful blog that's truely inspiring, AND she updates almost daily!

I have the opportunity to pass it on to 10 people, which is a hard thing to do because I love all my sissers and such...but there are a few who must have this! They are:

Vi
Karrilee
Amy
Michele
Pam
Vanessa
Kay
Margo
Deann
Alicia

Speed Scrap?!!

Speed? How can you call this a speed scrap when it actually took me almost 2 1/2 hours to finish it? There was no speed involved in this one!

We were supposed to complete 7 steps every 6-7 minutes, or something close to that. I hope I wrote these instructions down right, but you would never know for sure because I didn't follow them too closely!

1. Choose 3 pictures
2. Choose 3 papers of your choice
3. Use one as a background and cut the other two into strips
4. Center all three pictures in the middle of your page, angle if you need to
5. Place strips around the picture
6. Add a ribbon at the bottom, along with flowers and buttons
7. Title, journal, and add more embellishments if you want

This was a lot of fun, and thanks to Michele for taking the time to post the instructions. I'll definately be joining in again, and soon!

BTW, the LO is of my two favorite guys!

Over the past weekend...

Last weekend Vanessa, one of my sissers from SparkPeople came to the house and we went to the SB'ing Expo in St. Charles, it was a lot of fun! We checked out all the new and cool things from the vendors and went to a card making class. We finished the day by attending the evening crop. It was a lot of fun....even if we didn't win any of the raffle prizes or if Vanessa didn't get to eat at Portillos (there is always next year!) We met a new friend, Stacy...who's getting married on my anniversary, sending congrats her way! Here's a few pix from the day...


Here's one of the LO's I finished at the crop, personally, I think it turned out really cute! Last month we took the kids to the zoo and my dh sat down on a bench next to the baboon sign and I just had to take a pix! Then my youngest decided he needed to be in the picture too! LOL! Did anyone notice I should have turned the monkey upside down and had him swinging by his tail? I realized it much later too....like an hour ago! Still....it's cute!

Papa Bear

When thinking back I'm guessing it's been since the retreat in June since I actually scrapped a LO....so it was a real treat yesterday to do a page or two at the monthly crop I attend. It was nice being able to sit down and get a page completely finished, making it "done-done," what a great feeling!

We call my dh "Papa Bear" and when we found this resturant with his name sake, of course we had to go. If you're guessing the food was a tad bit "greazy".....you might be right...I probably wouldn't give the resturant 5 stars for it's food, but will for it's name!

Blog Candy

I was over at Popscicle Toes' blog today and came across her link for some blog candy, and WOWZA is it ever great! Hop on over to Where'd All My Money Go To? to take a look. I can guarantee it's a sweet offering!

Baby Girl Card

I joined a card swap club for 6 months over on the CMB, and this is one of the cards I made for my swap partner, she requested a couple of new baby cards this month, one each for a boy and a girl. I thought it would be easy and I'd crank them out in a short amount of time and be done with it, what was I drinking to think that?!! It took me forever, and I ripped apart more cardstock than I have in a very long time....it just wasn't working for me. DOH....I should have gone and looked at a few sketches or websites for inspiration.

I think I need to make a sign for my scrap area that says, "Don't be so stubborn, SEEK INSPIRATION!"