scrapbooking, antique store finds, and a sweet gift.

Today when I got home I had a sweet gift from one of my blog friends Ann. I was super excited about everything, but even more so for the American Crafts flair! I've been wanting some flair from them for awhile, but since my local scrapbooking store doesn't carry it, I would have to order it online. Check out this sweet blog candy (and what a cute card):In honor of these cute little buttons, I decided to make a scrapbook around them. I started with a baseball card holder page. These are super cheap at Staples, and they give such an interesting design. It reminds me a lot of card making with all the different small sections.

These pictures aren't the best since they are in the holder, but hopefully you get the idea. Almost all of the paper is Cosmo Cricket, and the "extras" are American Crafts. I did add some crystal effects to the sun, but it's hard to see in the picture. In decorating news, a few weeks ago I read this post of Layla's blog over at The Lettered Cottage. She mentioned a great antique store in Madison, TN. Um, hello, how does a girl from Southern Alabama know about a store just outside of Nashville that I don't know about? So, after hearing about The Rare Bird, I had to go check it out. It's a top notch antique store. Seriously. Here are the two plates I got. (LOVE LOVE LOVE this first one):All together:I'm just going to keep adding to the collection.

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #13

Wow, I am so tired. I rarely talk about work here on my blog (which is weird because I really love where I work and the people I work with), but I work behind a desk! Today, part of our marketing department took a trip out to one of our Lifeway Christian Store to help with a remodel. It is a great learning experience, but my feet are now throbbing. I just can't do 11 hours on my feet anymore! So once I got home tonight, I was all about crafting without trying to leave my chair! :)

So tonight, I just decided to start coloring while I was talking to my friend Mary Anna. I didn't use any of the pieces I colored but it gave me a great idea for the Raspberry Suite Color Challenge. Here were the colors:
First of all, please excuse the sticker shine. It looks 100% clear in real life. I really love all the texture this has with the felt and dry embossing.
Here's what I used:

Stamps - Spring Solitude (SU)
Paper- Certainly Celery (SU), White (PTI), Berry (PTI)
Ink - White Craft
White felt and thread. So I didn't have any red thread, so I improvised. Any guesses on what I did to my white thread?


Yep, those Copic markers come in so handy. It dyed that section so fast.
I'm off to read Harry Potter! I'm trying to reread the 6th book before I see the movie on IMAX on Saturday!

just a quick card.

Wow, today has been crazy. Of course I should have been expecting that after taking Friday off and heading to the lake, but it was just insane. So after working out I just wanted to spend a few minutes on a quick card.

I needed a thank you card for the owners of the lake house we stayed at this weekend. I decided that my new Basic Grey June Bug paper would be perfect. Here's what I came up with:
Here's what I used:

Paper: White (PTI), June Bug (Basic Grey)
Chipboard: Thickers
Ink: Navy, pink stampin' up writer
Button: Pink (PTI)
Ribbon: White (PTI)

Do you remember my Hydrangea bush I bought earlier this year? It looked like this:
My dad told me they blooms would change color depending on the soil. And check it out:
They are so pink, but aren't they so gorgeous?

And lastly, I thought I'd post another picture from the lake house! I had so much fun with these girls!

we're back.

Well, we got back from a great weekend at the lake this weekend. It really was a fantastic time to relax. Here is my favorite picture from the trip:


Plus, when I got back I learned that this card had gotten the top 20 in KWerner's color challenge! Such an honor, and I certainly appreciate all of the congratulations for you all! I also had some time to make another scrapbook page:
I'm off to watch design star! :)

summer fun scrapbooking.

What do you get when you have new Basic Grey and new pictures fresh of the printer at Wolfe Camera? Yep, a scrapbook page. I was pretty inspired by Kwerner's page here.

I used all of my Basic Grey June Bug paper, which was the paper I wasn't sure if I liked in my video here. It was some of the first paper I used. Just something about having beach pictures worked for this page.
This really isn't my normal style. It's super centered for me. I usually work in thirds and set things off center, but I'm still pretty happy with it.
Chase and I are headed to the lake for a few days, but I'll be back Sunday! I hope you all have a great rest of the week and weekend!

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 12

Well, I'm officially in love with my latest PTI stamp set. In Bloom is just gorgeous. It's even better in person, and it stamps perfectly. I also broke down and finally purchased the vintage cream ink... why did I wait to so long! I decided to take my new goods and participate in Dawn's color challenge. Here are the colors (pretty hard):
Click here to see the other participates. And here is what I came up with:

Is it me, or is it just easier when you have new stuff? Here's what I used:

Stamps: In Bloom
Paper: Naturals Ivory, Hibiscus Burst, Certainly Celery, Burgundy
Ink: Vintage Cream, Hibiscus Burst
Buttons: Hibiscus Burst
I went to Wolfe Camera today, so I'm expecting there will be some scrapbooking featured on the ol' blog-o later this week!

a 12x12 page and weekend photography

***EDITED TO ADD**** Elise over at Mamacow Creations asked what was inside my grandmother's shed/garage/barn. Well, my grandfather, who passed away seven years ago, used this place to weld. The floor was dirt and it is partially exposed (see pictures below). Probably the coolest thing we found was the old wardrobe trunk thing that was still full of old clothes. And then we found a ton (and I mean a ton) of tools and metal scraps. Oh and lots of wasps. My mom and grandmother suffered stings.

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I decided I would make a 12x12 Chicago page for my new scrapbook. I know I have a whole scrapbook on Chicago, but I thought it would be fun to have it documented in this form as well, plus this paper and transparency worked perfectly.

It was hard to photography this, but basically I journaled on the transparency and built the page on the patterned paper. I also used paint on this project to create the navy circle. There were circles through out the pattern paper and it was a great way to create a focal point.

Here's the page with the transparency:
Here's the page beneath it:
Here's what I used:

Paper and Transparency: Ticket to Ride, Snapshot (Little Yellow Bicycle)
Subway Thickers
7 Gypsies Claim Check
Delta Ceramcoat Navy Blue

Yesterday Chase and I went to help my family clean out my grandmother's garage/shed/barn (I'm not exactly sure what it is). Throughout the day I found some opportunities to take some great pictures.
And I thought this tree (yes, it's a tree) was beautiful, and I was devastated to hear that it had to go. Apparently it will get so heavy that it will cause damage to the structure. The cray thing was the tree came off in one huge piece. It was like natures own curtain! I'm getting ready to watch Design Star tonight! I'm pretty excited. If your watching... I'd love to hear who your early favorites are!

Green!

I got this great new set from My Cute Stamps, and I really could not wait to break out this tree. I love it. It took me five minutes to make this because I knew exactly my plan.
It's so simple, but that tree is just so fun that you don't need anything else. Here's what I used:


Stamps: Go Green (My Cute Stamps)
Ink: VersaMagic Black
Paper: Kraft
Copic Markers and Twine

I'm off to bed so I can hit up some yard sales tomorrow morning at 7!

Kwerner Color Inspiration #56

Thanks everyone who took time to watch my first video! It was really nice to get some encouragement, and I might do some more in the future!

Tonight, I took some time to participate in Kwerner's color challenge. I was originally worried about so many colors, but when I pulled out the colors I loved them together. Now, that doesn't mean this card was fast, because it 100% was not. It took me forever, but I'm really pleased with the end result. Here's the colors (click on the image to see the other participates):
And here's what I came up with! It's a lot cuter in person because you don't get the glare off the sticker, but you get the idea!Stamps: Garden Galore (Inkadinkado)
Stickers: American Crafts
Paper: PTI White, Saffron, Celery, Ballet Blue, Red, Pumpkin
Ink: White
Ribbon: Celery
Well, I'm off to read. I finally finished A Glass Castle, and wow I'm still thinking about that book. It's amazing to learn about how different people live in this country. You can read about it here.

my first video... maybe you shouldn't watch.

So, tonight has been kind of crazy. My husband Chase suffers with migraines, and it is horrible for both of us. It obviously hurts him, but sometimes I think it has to hurt me just as bad to watch him be in such incredible pain. So, after tracking down some serious medicine he was finally able to sleep, but after the drama my creativity just wasn't there, so I decided to teach myself how to make a video. Now if Chase was up this video would be awesome, because he's good at that kind of stuff, but I'm a newbie.

Here's the warning. One, you should never watch yourself in a video. I could list a thousand things wrong. I can tell I'm kind of nervous because of the way I'm talking, and seriously is my accent always like that? You can totally tell I'm from Nashville. Oh and I'm so glad I'm getting a hair cut on Thursday... seriously.

This video is pretty simple, just some new products I purchased today that you will be seeing here on the ol' blogo. Oh and for all of you girls that do these on a regular basis... props to you. They are much more time consuming than I ever imagined.

courtney the critic.

Okay... I'm certainly not a movie critic, but I thought since my sweet husband and I have wore out the Red Box I'd share my humble opinion (plus I think this would be a fun scrapbook page). So here goes:

New in Town (Top Critics 13%) - My review, well it was horrible. This was one of those movies I rented while Chase was out of town. There was one, yes one funny moment. The only redeeming quality... Harry Connick. Don't waste your time. I completely agree with the critics, but I think they were to nice. I'll give it a 10%.

The Secret Life of Bees (Top Critics rating 68%) - Usually when movies make me cry I don't like them, but this is certainly the exception. First of all I just love Queen Latifah. I do, I just can't help it. Dakota Fanning continues to be my favorite teen actress. Be warned it is sad, but terrific. 75%

Benji (Top Critics rating 33%) - We rented this while my almost four year old nephew stayed the night. Now, I will say we haven't seen a good kids movie in awhile, and this one followed suit. Chase and I were out, and while that may be normal for some people I NEVER fall asleep during movies. However, I will give this movie some props because Brayden stayed awake the entire movie. 20%

Taken (Top Critics rating 42%) - I loved Taken. Normally this won't be a movie I wouldn't rent, but after hearing so many good things, Chase and I got it. I was on the edge of my seat the ENTIRE movie. I wouldn't say that the acting is great, but the action is. 55%

He's Just Not That Into You (Top Critics Rating 31%) - Don't tell my husband, but I have a crush on Justin Long. I've heard from some of my friends that didn't like this movie, but I liked it. It reminded me a lot of an American Love Actually (except I didn't like Love Actually). It just had some of my favorite actors in it, but I do have to share one of my favorite quotes from one of the critics:

"Then there's the matter of casting. Scarlett Johansson, Jennifer Connelly, Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Aniston, Ben Affleck. Right. You start lining up people like that you and you might want to think about changing the title to, "Just About Everyone's Into You." - Richard Roeper

So true. As realistic as some of these relationships are, I'm pretty sure none of these women had trouble getting a guy, just saying. 40%

Grand Torino (Top Critics rating 71%)- Again, another movie I never would have rented without some prompting. The language is pretty rough, but the acting and story line are fantistic. And Clint Eastwood's character has some of the best one-liners. He's character is completely cynical, but there is something extremely loveable about him. And the racial issues involved with this movie are extremely eye opening! 80%

Second Chance Harvey (Top Critics rating 71%) - Chase and I hated this movie. I don't know what's wrong with us, but we completely disagree with the critics. The only movies I disliked as much were New In Town and Benji. Oh and maybe Benjamin Button.

Bride Wars (Top Critics 7%)- Wow, these two girls, they just really don't make good friends. I can't imagine doing some of the things they did to one another in his movie. It was cute, but there just wasn't much to. You can judge this one by the cover. What you see is what you get. 30%

Marley and Me (Top Critics 50%)- I'm never getting a dog. It's official. I cried as much in this movie as I did when my childhood dog died. It was so sad. Plus, Chase always knows when I'm going to cry, so he always keeps himself from crying by laughing at my quivering chin. I will never watch this movie again, but it was worth it to watch once. 45%

Transformers II (Top Critics 18%)- This is the only movie we went to see in the theathers. Parts of it were pretty excied, but over all it was pretty crude. Chase and I always agreed that we could never tell who was winning the fights. It just looked like a bunch of jumble. I don't think I would see it again. 10%

So, I can't believe anyone would still be reading, but if you are, I hope you were able to add some movies to your must-see list. I'd love to hear what you have seen, so leave a comment. Has anyone seen The Proposal?

Hopefully the movie of the summer will come in two weeks with Harry Potter on IMAX. I can't wait!

a graduation card...sort of.

My sweet mom was kind enough to water our grass when we were in Florida a few weeks ago. When we got back I had a note on my desk requesting some graduation cards. Unfortunately, she won't be able to use these until next year, but I started working on some tonight.

When I sat down to get started, I realized I don't have any graduation stamps, so I had to improvise. Most of the kids that we attend graduation go to Wilson Central so they used their colors. Here's what I came up with:
Stamps: Damask, Life
Paper: Almost Navy, So Saffron
Ink: White Craft, Yellow Colorbox


And here's a funny story. So I get flowers from my mom pretty frequently. A few weeks ago a dug up some of her baby hydrangea bushes. I planted both. One is alive, but not growing that fast. The other that I planned took off. I was so excited. Then one day I really took a good luck at it, and I realized it's not a hydrangea bush. Somehow my mom had a tiny little Sunflower growing under her bush. No wonder it took off! It grows so fast. Here is now:

learning a new skill.

So tonight I decided I wanted to break out some of my copics. As much as I love to color, I just still feel like I can't master these things. I need a class! I took forever to color these flowers, but I'm really happy with the outcome. I used some clear cardstock and some white ink to make polka dot overlay. I used buttons on the very top layer to hide my glue dots I used to hold the clear cardstock to the white cardstock:
Here's what I used:
Stamps: Friends Til' The End, Polka Dot Basics
Ink: Black VersaMagic, White Craft
Ribbon: Papertrey Ink White Satin
Paper: White PTI, Pure Poppy, Lemon

In other news I gave my bed a little makeover. I went to Bed, Bath and Beyond and got duvet clips and bedskirt pins. For about five bucks, my duvet is now staying in the perfect place.
And the little pins are holding my bedskirt in the perfect place. I really didn't think it would make a huge difference but it did!
Plus, my sweet husband, took my favorite sheet set pillow case to camp with him, and well it was so gross when he got back. So I got these great costal sheets. I love how they peek out now:

a quick book.

Whew. I went straight outside today when I got home today. As much as I love my flowers it really is work. When I finally got done I realized I was covered in dirt. Granted, I decided it was my mission of the day to try to dig up some of the rocks in our yard! Does anyone else have a million rocks in their back yard?

I did take a moment to take some pictures of my growing plants:
And my mom gave these flowers. They are really dramatic and tall, but I've unfortunately already forgotten their name! Mom... little help here...After I finished my Chicago scrapbook I decided to tackle my other to-do project sitting on my work space. My sweet husband Chase was ordained last month, and it was truly a special moment for both of us. We do have video from the ceremony, but I really wanted something to remember the occasion by. Thankfully, I had kept all of the sweet cards and letters Chase received that day and made this little book:It's really nothing fancy, but it's a great way to organize and keep your cards, programs etc. I know this will be something he goes back and reads from time to time.

traveler's inspiraton challenge.

It has been raining here like crazy. It is great for our grass, but we didn't have any fireworks last night because of the rain/storms. It was a pretty big bummer. We are hoping they will shoot them tonight, but we'll see at 9 if that pans out.

So today, Chase and I finished a project and I participated in traveler's inspiration challenge. Check out the picture:
I had this butterfly left over from Dawn's challenge and it seemed to work well for this challenge.
I love all the colors. So fun! Here's what I used:

Stamps: Garden Galore (Inkadinkado)
Ink: Black Stazon
Paper: Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery, Whisper White, Raspberry Fizz, Taken with Teal

And here's what Chase and I worked on (we just did this in our master a few weeks ago here). Here is the before:
We simply cut the trim and applied it with glue. Make sure you get epoxy! It really will make a difference. We used some other kind of glue in the master and it took SO MUCH LONGER. And here is the finished look:
I also got this great fern and pot for our master bathroom. I'm crazy about the pot!

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #11

Happy 4th! Chase and I are taking it easy today. I was able to get everything cleaned yesterday so it's been a pretty relaxing day so far. I was able to do Dawn's challenge, and wow, it really was a challenge. I'm still not sure how I feel about this card, but I worked on it so long I have to post it.

Here's the colors:
Here's what I used:

Stamps: Friends 'Til the End (PTI), Garden Delight (Inkadinkado)
Paper: Basic Grey, Raspberry Fizz, Always Artichoke, Real Red
Ink: Black Stazon
Ribbon: True Black (PTI)
Buttons: Basic Grey