Memorial Day

Please take a moment to watch this video and pray for the families who have lost their loved ones in service to their country.

Love Beyond Measure

Good morning friends! We are on about day 3 of rain and headed into some more today. As long as it holds off for us on Monday I'll be happy!

Just wanted to share with you my swap card for stamp club. I saw the idea for the tape measured dad sentiment on Becky Roberts blog. Isn't it a great idea? It makes for a fun and easy Father's Day card for sure! The paper is from the Build A Bear patterned paper from SU!. Love that the paper doesn't have to be used just for BAB!

Not much to chat about today. I hope you are having a wonderful week though and that you will make today your best!

My Brother's Birthday

Morning all! I hope you had a wonderful weekend! Ours was pretty good here but yesterday was more exciting...Todd got the new flooring (same as my craft room) put down in the hallway to the kitchen/Kyler's room. My word it looks fabulous! I think this is the last of the work before our Memorial Day party/Jon's graduation festivities. I didn't work nearly as hard as Todd did so I know he's tired!

So, I needed to make a card for my brother's birthday. I remembered the old Chevy stamps I had gotten awhile back so I grabbed this one out. It isn't exactly what he would favor as far as cars go but I think he will like it anyway. How fun is that paper and those brads? They all fit so perfectly, huh? This is for CardPatterns: Sketch 65. You should go check it out as there is a wonderful prize for the person that wins the sketch challenge!

I haven't posted a How To Pray For Your Children in a couple of weeks so here you go!
1. Pray that they will know Christ as Savior early in life.
2. Pray that they will have a hatred for sin.
3. Pray that they will be caught when guilty.
4. Pray that they will be protected form the evil one in each area of their lives: Spiritual, Emotional, and Physical.
5. Pray that they will have a responsible attitude in all their inter-personal relationships.
6. Pray that they will respect authority over them.
7. Pray that they will desire the right kinds of friends and be protected from the wrong friends. (Proverbs 1:10-11) It seems so obvious that we want our children to not have friends that do drugs, drink, or have sex right? But what about the other side of that? We want our children to have friends that on purpose stay away from those things...turn their heads when something comes on television that isn't appropriate for them...not swear...I could add so many things to this list. The fact that our kids friends have more of an influence on our kids (at least in their pre-teen and teen years) then we do should take you to your knees in prayer about this often.
Well, ladies...I hope you have a wonderful Tuesday!

Fun Details

Woohoo...the weekend is here! Hope you have fun plans for the weekend. I have a couple of things that I would like to do for work and a couple of things for the craft room so overall it should be a great weekend!

I decided that I wanted to spiff up my storage unit a little bit so I bought some of EAD Designs re-positionable stickers and tahdah...a dressed up little unit!

It is kind of hard to see the stickers in the photo so go ahead and click on the photo to make it larger...that should help out.

Oh, and I also received my blog candy from EAD it is a piece of vinyl lettering that says "create". I'll be putting that up this weekend too!

Well, that's it for me today. Just a little post to say .

Have a wonderful Saturday everyone!

Happy Birthday Cake

Hello! Just a quick post to show you a card I made yesterday.

This is for a sketch challenge HERE and when I decided on the cake image I knew I had to use the paper that I did. In real life...it is a decadent looking card! I used a glaze pen on the chocolate part of the strawberry and the strawberry filling for the cake then used a glitter pen on the seed in the strawberry.

I'm sure this card will get used very soon! Have a wonderful Friday everyone!

The Simple Things

Good morning everyone! We have another day of on and off rain today. It is starting to get a bit old but like I said yesterday my flowers and the grass love it!

Today I thought I'd show you a really simple card that I made yesterday with some new stamps that I got from my friend Dani. Since the name of the set is The Simple Things I thought it would be appropriate to make a simple, clean card with it. I'm very pleased with how this came out. The colors don't look like they match in my photo but really...the flower and the solid color background paper match. For a little bit of interest I cut out some of the butterflies on the flower, glittered them up, and then popped them up on dimensionals. A simple thank you card that I'm sure will be used sooner rather than later.

I'm still loving my craft room! This week we start on pulling up the carpet and painting the walls in the hallways. We will then lay the same flooring in the hallways as we did in my craft room. It will eventually go throughout the entire house. We are thinking that we'll only get the hallway done before graduation but that works for me!

Well, that is it. I hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday! See ya soon!

Matchbook Favors

Morning everyone! It is a rainy one here but I'm okay with that as I know my flowers are loving it!

Today I get to show you some pretty and simple party favors that I made last Friday. Our local AWARE program had it's annual Breakfast in May and I offered to make little favors for everyone at the table I was sitting at but what really happened is that I gave mine and a friends to the two guest speakers. My friend, yeah, she told me I better make her another one...lol!

Anyway, these matchbook holders were made with a template that I got from Andrea Walford's blog. Be sure to download the template for making a matchbook the size you want. It is SO easy! I just used my Big Shot along with an embossing plate to emboss the paper, added some pink satin ribbon and that was it. Okay, it did take me a little while to get all the bows the way I wanted them but that's just 'cuz I'm picky about it.

I just looked outside and it isn't just drizzling rain it is really raining! It is a great day to be stamping! Hope you find time to do some stamping, too!

What's for Dinner Tonight?

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. I got tons done but still not enough...funny how that works sometimes, huh?

I don't know about you guys but I really like tuna noodle casserole...my family, not so much and for that reason I don't make it much. However, I don't like peas very much but my family does so maybe if I remind them that I'm eating peas they will at least try the casserole. Yeah, that is it! Well, at least I'm going to try that approach because I really am making this casserole tonight.

Tuna Noodle Casserole
POINTS® Value: 5
Servings: 8
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cooking Time: 50 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy

Forever a classic. Packed with vegetables and the fantastic nutty flavor of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

Ingredients
3 cup(s) fat-free skim milk
2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp dried dill weed
1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1/4 tsp table salt
20 oz frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
12 oz canned chunk white tuna in water, drained
8 oz uncooked whole-wheat pasta, spiral shape, cooked according to package instructions, drained
2 oz Parmesan cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about 1/2 cup)
Instructions

* Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.

* Whisk the milk and flour in a large saucepan over medium heat until simmering and thickened.

* Whisk in the mustard, Worcestershire, dill, pepper and salt. Then stir in the vegetables, tuna, noodles and cheese. Pour into a 2-quart round or oblong casserole.

* Bake until bubbling and lightly browned, about 40 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes at room temperature before serving.

Notes

* Don't use canned, grated Parmesan; it's mostly oil and chemical additives. Buy a small block of Parmigiano-Reggiano — stamped with its name on the rind — instead. This delicious cheese delivers much better flavor for your POINTS® values. Grate it with a microplane or the small holes of a box grater.

I hope you all have a wonderful start to your week today! I'll be back tomorrow with either a fun Father's Day card or with a Ghirardelli candy holder that I made..hmmm...which will it be?

Craft Room Reveal Day!

Morning friends! Well, today is the day! I have some photos of my crafting room! Woohoo! I have a couple of finishing things to do (I'm going to either make or have someone make for me curtains to cover from the bottom of the counter area to the floor to cover my little storage area). That and I have a couple of more decor elements and the magnetic whiteboard to put up. Overall...I'm finished! This room is exactly what I was hoping it would be and just such a wonderful place to be in that I don't like to leave. Thank you so much Todd for making my dream room come true!
Okay, above is what you'll see coming down the hall to the room. I'm calling it my cutting center and there is a better picture below.Above is what I call my ribbon wall and is the wall on the right hand side as you come in the room. The ribbon holders are from Clip it Up (but I paid much less than retail price for them) and my Nesties hang below the bottom holder. I won a wonderful piece of vinyl art from EAD Designs that says "create" and it will center over the top of the ribbon holders and punch rail on that wall. So excited to get it!
Again, above is the window area of my room. Yep, that is my new window covering, a top down, bottom up double cell blind and it is gorgeous! We got one for the living room too! I use the counter area under the window to place my Fiskars Cutter and Scoring board when I use it. Right now the swaps for stamp club are laid out so I can distribute them when the orders come in. Oh, see...the bouquet of flowers in the vase on the window sill? Well, that is the bouquet of flowers Todd had for me when we he proposed to me. Lily of the Valley are my absolutely most favorite flowers and we don't have them around here so he had a bouquet of silk LOTV along with lilacs made for me!Above is my main crafting area. You can see my computer with printer underneath the table...love that! What I didn't get in the picture, darn it, is my Mother's Day present. I'll have to take a photo of that later and show you! Underneath the table and to the left of the printer you'll see a tote with stuff on top. The tote has stamp sets in it and on top I keep my cutter, scor-pal, and a smaller tote with stuff that I use often when I craft..adhesive, stamp cleaner, glue dots, sponges...you get the idea. I like this because it is all together yet put away when I'm not using it.
Yep, that is my cutting center. You can see my punches, Nesties, Big Shot, and the supplies for the Big Shot are in the container on the storage unit...the plates are in the top drawer of the unit.
Something I'm excited about is my paper center. I have SU!, Gina K, and PaperTrey Ink paper within the magazine holders, about 4-5 different colors per magazine holder. I'm going to get some 8 1/2 x 11 cello bags to put my scraps eventually...when I can find them.
And finally...my other storage. The white paper holders are big enough for my 12x12 papers and they are organized by bright, light, earth, winter/Christmas, baby/misc. holiday, Valentine's/love, and I have a chipboard box as well. There are stamp sets on the top shelf, stamps, paper, re-inkers on the 2nd shelf, paper on the 3rd shelf, the 4th shelf is embellishments, and the bottom shelf is Dove Chocolate Discoveries stuff and that is also what is in the corner.

Well, I think that is it? Was it worth the wait? It was for me for sure! Please...give me your feedback, let me know what you think. Do you have anymore ideas for me? I'd love to hear them!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend everyone! "See" ya all soon!

Hope is Faith

Good morning everyone! Wow, I can hardly believe it is Wednesday already! Lots to accomplish this week yet but I think I'll concentrate on today before moving on.

Just a quick card to share with you today. I bought a couple of sets from one of my favorite online stamp stores and used the butterfly from one set for today's card. I also used some yummy patterned paper. The card layout is from the Sketch For You To Try from this last weekend. I think it will also work for THIS challenge. I don't know if this butterfly is actually considered an animal but we'll see what is said.

Sorry this photo isn't very good. I have so got to learn to take photos of my cards in the afternoon in my craft room as that is when I get a ton of sunlight. It is just hard to wait sometimes!

So, that's it everyone. I'm off to chat with Kyler while he eats his breakfast. Have a wonderful day!

Almost There!

Good morning all! I know you all want to see the craft room and I have to tell you that I'm almost ready to take photos and reveal the entire room to you. My new window covering will be installed on Friday afternoon so if I can get some good pictures on Friday night I'll show it all to you on Saturday if the photos don't come out well at night then I'll be taking pictures on Saturday during the day and I'll show them to you after that.

Anyway, today I'm showing you the custom vinyl lettering that I got for above the window in my room. I know I'm not supposed to link to a store that is a competitor to SU! but in this case I'm going to as SU! does not make custom pieces (like my blog name) and EAD Designs does. I just e-mailed Emily what it was that I wanted (the Design Center application wasn't working at that time) and within about 5 minutes she had some samples for me and within about a half hour I had paid for and was patiently (or not) waiting for my letting piece to arrive. It only took a couple of days for it to arrive, too! Even with a textured wall it was quite easy to apply and I think it just looks fabulous...would you agree? I love it! Oh, and please know that I could not get a good picture of the wall color. The green I have, while I didn't like it to begin with, is so pretty and clean!

So, this week is pretty busy. I have Bible study tonight, Jon's athlete of the quarter awards evening on Wednesday, Kyler's spring concert on Thursday night, the window coverings are being installed on Friday, the AWARE breakfast is Saturday, and Sunday is church and a VBS decorating party. Whew! I'm tired just thinking about it all! In between I'd love to get some crafting in so I hope to have some "stuff" to show you again soon!

Have a wonderful Tuesday everyone!

With a Cherry On Top

Happy Mother's Day to all my wonderful friends! I'm just thrilled because yesterday I got to stamp (kinda) in my new craft room! I love my room and yes photos are forth coming up I want to get one more thing up before I show you the room.

You all know that I can't tell you where I've gotten things that are non-SU! which makes me sad as this really was a wonderful kit of products that was put together. I can tell you that this layout is from Unscripted Sketches #54 and is a great sketch! I think I could find plenty of things to use that sketch for! On the inside of the card it says Sending you some cheer. Super cute! Oh, and I didn't use a single stamp on this card...fun, huh?

Well, I hope you have a wonderful Mother's Day...I plan on spending some quality time in my stamp room today!

Guest Artist - Cristina

I am making very good progress on getting into my craft room. I'm thinking that by next week I should be back in there and crafting...woohoo!

Today I get to share with you a super cute card (that I've always wanted to try and make) that my wonderful blogging friend, Christina, made for her friends baby shower. Isn't it just adorable? I'm not sure the actual template for this card but it looks so easy! Okay, here is what Cristina said about a template...

The dimensions are: 11 x 4 1/4 cardstock - fold in half. Mark 1 inch down from top of card on each side and cut a slit 1 inch into the center. Then cut at an angle to the corner of each side. Use circle punch to cut each leg hole and top of card.

For trim: punch a half circe on card stock. Use scallop punch to punch around it. Then trim to fit as needed.

Make sure you go and check out Cristina's card blog called Aunt Crissy's Cards right HERE. Cristina is truly a wonderful mom and wife. That girl also runs 1/2 marathons. I think that might qualify as a little crazy but I still think she is awesome!

So, would you like to be a guest artist here on my blog over the next week or so? Just leave me a comment or send me an e-mail and I'll get ya hooked up!

Have a wonderful day everyone!

Guest Artist - Gwen

Morning everyone! I trust your Monday went well. I'm making progress on my craft room but it is pretty overwhelmingly messy right now!

Today I'm featuring my blogging buddy, Gwen. I get to show you a wonderful vintage scrapbook page. Gwen used several items from the new Summer Mini catalog such as the new set called Elements of Style along with some of the wonderful Smooch spray that is offered in the mini. Head on over to Gwen's blog HERE to see more of her crafting. Her super cute new blog look is making me think I might want a new blog look....again.

And onto this week's How To Pray For Your Children:
1. Pray that they will know Christ as Savior early in life.
2. Pray that they will have a hatred for sin.
3. Pray that they will be caught when guilty.
4. Pray that they will be protected from the evil one in each area of their lives.
5. Pray that they will have a responsible attitude in all their inter-personal relations.
6. Pray that they will respect authority over them. Romans 13:1 Well, this one is hard. Why? Because we as adults have a hard time with respect for those with authority over us, so why would it not be difficult for children? Romans 13:1 says...Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. It is easy to think that this is just talking about government, right? With our children though this is referring to you as parents, teachers at school, church leaders, and frankly adults in general. You know when you read the phrase "teenagers now a days" and it isn't referring to something good? This is what this scripture is talking about. Our boys say yes, mom and yes, dad when in response to something we say to them or ask them to do. They are polite most of the time (at least they better be...lol) and we connect this behavior to the fact that God tells us to act this way by being respectful of our authorities as well. Have no doubt...we often fail and so will our kids. Thankfully that is what grace is for!

I hope you enjoyed Gwen's scrapbook page and that today's How To Pray For Your Children will encourage you in your prayer time!

What's for Dinner Tonight?

Good Monday morning everyone! Sorry I haven't been around recently but to be honest...I am in the purging/moving part of putting my craft room together and just don't have the space to craft right now. I am going to have some featured stampers coming up starting tomorrow so I hope you'll enjoy that. I should be back in a week or so though. The room itself is coming along beautifully. I love listening to KLOVE while doing just about anything so I know I'm going to have to find room for a radio or listen to it on the computer because I already miss it while putting the room together! I can't wait to get in there and create!

Melon and Cucumber Salad
side dishes

POINTS® Value: 1
Servings: 6
Preparation Time: 12 min
Cooking Time: 0 min
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Works with Simply Filling

This juicy, refreshing salad is a fabulous addition to any summer meal. Serve it as a side dish or a light dessert.

Ingredients
1 large honeydew melon, chopped (about 4 cups)
1 medium English cucumber, peeled, chopped (about 2 cups)
4 medium scallion(s), thinly sliced (about 1/2 cup)
2 Tbsp plain fat-free yogurt
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp spearmint, leaves, chopped
1 tsp table salt
Instructions

* Toss all ingredients together in a large serving bowl. Serve at once or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days. Yields about 1 cup per serving.

I hope you enjoy your Monday and have a great week, too!