Betty Crocker and Noel

First up today is my card from last week's Cardalicious challenge. We had to make a Christmas card using an icon from Christmas (tree, wreath, angel, etc.). I used Rusty Pickle's Snowflakes & Mittens line on this card along with some yummy Martha Stewart glitter.

I've been a busy Christmas elf around my house this past week. I baked up a storm - ginger snaps, spritz cookies, cherry mash candy, fudge, peanut butter balls, peanut brittle, cinnamon-sugared pecans, butter crunch, M & M pretzels, anise candy, and peanut clusters. Whew! I think that's it and I also think I gained 10 pounds just looking at that list. Keep in mind, a lot of what I baked was double batches. I'm usually pretty self-disciplined but my hubby is not. I have to hide some of it from him or he'll sit and eat it all! :) I always take plates of goodies to work, to our neighbors and I'm the designated candy maker in my family so it all comes with us to our Christmas get togethers.

We're all ready for Christmas at our house. The cards and letters have been sent, everything's baked, presents are wrapped...we're good to go! I'm probably going to be pretty MIA the next couple weeks. I'll try to blog another time, but after Christmas at my parent's house, we're leaving for Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri for 4 nights. Our church has a regional conference there every year and we're really excited about going. The conference ends on New Year's Eve but then we're going to Glen's mom and dad's to spend 3-4 nights with them. They live in northern Arkansas so it's just another 4 hours down to them. I'm looking forward to the visit but I know I'll be ready to come home after a week away.

In case I don't get to blog again, have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! :)

Treasured Scrapbooking December Card Kit Reveal!

These are the 4 cards I created with the December card kit from Treasured Scrapbooking. The kit has beautiful patterned papers from My Mind's Eye and is packed with gorgeous embellishments! The card kit includes instructions to make all of the cards pictured here. For more ideas from the rest of the finalists, check out their blogs - Eva, Ashley, Renee.

I'll be back soon to share my card this week for Cardalicious and to share what I've been up to lately.

NEW lines from Upsy Daisy Designs!

Upsy Daisy Designs has 4 NEW lines available now that they will also be showcasing at Winter CHA. The new lines are called Unwritten, bebe, Circle of Friends and Man About Town. I love them all but my absolute favorite is Man About Town. The colors in this line are just gorgeous! Be looking for some new projects from me over the next month or so using the new lines.

I had quite a bit of luck with craigslist today. I sold 5 of my lots for just over $200. I was so excited!!! I've got one more huge patterned paper lot and a couple totes to sell.

Well, better get cracking today. I'm really hoping for some craft time tonight! :)

The Magic of Winter

Holy moly...it's cold outside! Hello, winter! I don't mind the cold and snow the month of December but after that I'm ready for spring. My office is frigid today. If I could type with gloves on, I would. I'm so cold! We were supposed to get this huge blizzard yesterday but it amounted to almost nothing. I worked from home anyway which was a good thing because I had to record some audio and listen to and analyze a very important Supreme Court case in Iowa. It was all very interesting, surprisingly! I had a minor accident with the stove last night and burned my fingertip quite badly. It's really numb today but at least it doesn't hurt. It was just one of those things that was so dumb - I turned the wrong burner on! Made me feel like an idiot! :) I've been continuing on with my productivity - sold some of my books, have some good bites on the stuff I put on craigslist and I actually sold a card on etsy! I'm not really ready to start advertising my store yet because I want to get more cards put on there but I'll be sure to post here when my store's ready to go.

Today's gift bag features the Snowflakes & Mittens line from Rusty Pickle. I used a mitten pattern I had in my stash that I came across quite a few years ago.

I also have some really good news to share today! I was selected as the card kit designer at Treasured Scrapbooking! I've been looking for an opportunity to design with a card kit and am so excited to create with Leslie's kits as they are jam packed! My first set of cards will debut on December 15th. I really loved working with this kit as it was full of beautiful colors and just the right amount of shabbiness! :)

Have a fabulous Wednesday! :)

Call me Mrs. Productive!

I have been so busy the last few days! I have done some major cleaning around my house, a little baking, and a lot of organizing. I posted 8 lots of scrapbooking supplies on craigslist, a bunch of books (scrapbooking and chick lit) and my Wishblade on Amazon and started working on opening an etsy shop. We are in major need of some $$$ to finance our adoption. I'll let you know when my etsy shop is up and running.

Today, I've posted a project using the Spirit line from Upsy Daisy Designs. I've had these wooden trees in my stash for a while so it was fun to finally use them!

Have a great day! :)

Christmas gift bag

I've been working on some Christmas projects lately so I wanted to share this gift bag with you that uses Rusty Pickle's Snowflakes & Mittens line. One of my favorite projects to make is gift bags - I love creating the fronts and something fun to hang on the handles. It's such a quick project yet looks like you spent a lot of time giving it a handmade touch.

While I've been crafting, I have been watching all my favorite Christmas movies - so far, I watched The Holiday, Rudolph (was on TV last night), and I'm on the 3rd Harry Potter movie. For some reason, the HP movies make me think of Christmas. I'm hoping we'll go see Four Christmases this weekend - it looks way funny!

Enjoy your day! :)

Lots going on!

Wowza! A lot has happened since I last blogged. It's been almost two weeks and I'm excited to share some new projects with you over the next few weeks. First off, I've been to see Twilight twice so far. I ended up dragging my hubby to a midnight showing. Despite all the teenage girls laughing at parts that weren't even funny, I really enjoyed it. We went to a better theatre that Sunday afternoon and the experience was 100% better. I LOVED the movie so much more the second time. I would like to go a couple more times. I got the funniest e-mail from my mom last night. I left my copy of Twilight at my parent's house after Thanksgiving so my little sister could get it and read it. I was beyond shocked when I got an e-mail from my mom that she was over half-way into it. I don't know when the last time was my mom read a book. I didn't get a love of books from either my mom or dad - that developed on my own. I called her right away and she said she really wants to go see the movie now. She was like "What a love story!" I about died laughing...the funniest thing about it was she was like "Well, I better get back to my reading..." She wanted to get off the phone with me! :)

Since I last left you, I got my house all decorated for Christmas. It was so nice to come home from my parent's over Thanksgiving and have that all done! I didn't put up everything I normally do but the tree's up and that's the most important part. Today, I was looking over my calendar for December and it's starting to fill up already with parties and other fun stuff. I always love this time of year but I'm always ready for it to be over by the time January rolls around. I missed out on the Black Friday festivities (it's my favorite holiday of the year) but I did a little shopping yesterday. We're really cutting back on the spending this year so it should be easier to find everything I want to get.

We did have some excitement on the adoption front. A birth mom wanted to meet with us but at the last second we decided not to meet with her. There were just some things about the situation that we were not comfortable with. It was a difficult decision but I think it was the best one. We have a lot of peace about it. We would still appreciate your prayers as we continue along this process. The holidays can be a difficult time for people who have experienced infertility and loss. My husband kept saying every year "Maybe we'll have a baby by this Christmas." As the Christmases passed without a baby, it became even harder to put on a happy face around the holidays. Last year, we didn't put up a tree or decorate at all. If you have a friend or family member who might be struggling this time of year (whether that person has experienced infertility or just loss in general), please go out of your way to let them know they are in your thoughts and prayers. It will mean a lot to them.

Well, that's enough from me today. I've been listening to Christmas music ALL DAY LONG! :)

Holiday Planning & Love the One You're With

Today, I want to share a little album I came up with to do my holiday planning. The best part about this album is that it's reusable from year to year (depending on wear and abuse, of course). I used two chipboard pages from a scalloped Rusty Pickle album and then the Hot Chocolate line from Upsy Daisy Designs. Other supplies include Tim Holtz grungeboard (the snowflakes), American Crafts ribbon and Martha Stewart glitter. I cut down scraps of cardstock (from my big adoption album project) to fit inside and them separated the sheets with patterned paper tabs. My categories are gifts, cards, baking and parties.

The other thing I wanted to share today is a book recommendation. I just finished the book "Love the One You're With" by Emily Giffin. Without giving too much away, the main character is happily married and really has an ideal life...until she runs into an old flame on the sidewalk. This relationship was built on passion but did not end well. A series of events unfold that bring the main character back in touch with this old flame. There was one particular passage in this book that rang so true with me...

"But maybe that's what it all comes down to. Love, not as a surge of passion, but as a choice to commit to something, someone, no matter what obstacles or temptations stand in the way. And maybe making that choice, again and again, day in and day out, year after year, says more about love than never having a choice to make at all."

My workplace is committed to keeping marriages and families together and we have a mentoring program available to help couples in crisis. Many marriages have been put back together through this program. I'm saddened by the fact that 50% of today's marriages will end in divorce. And to me, it all comes down to this passage I shared. It's such a beautiful thing to see couples who have been married 25+ years. That says something to me about commitment. More often than not these couples have seen their share of heartache, frustration and disappointment but they CHOSE to stay committed to each other.

I recently read through another book called Intimate Issues. It's basically a Christian perspective on sex in marriage. A recent survey of Christian married women showed that 90 percent of them have been attracted to another man at one point in their lives. When faced with temptation, what do you do about it? It can be so easy to put yourself in a situation that can destroy what you have. You know the saying "the grass looks greener on the other side?" Well, if you get to the other side, you might just discover it was pretty green where you already were!

That's enough deep thought for today...enjoy your Wednesday! :)

Cardalicious 6 & More

Hello, dear friends! :) Here's my card for this week's challenge at Cardalicious. We had to make a card using a minimum of 3 circles. I retook my photos of my card yesterday because I wasn't happy with the colors. Hopefully this is a better representation of the Spirit line from Upsy Daisy Designs.

I had quite a busy week complete with a stomach bug from Friday into Saturday. I spent some time resting so hopefully I'm good to go. It seems like a lot of flu/cold bugs are going around. I hate when people go to events and work when they're sick. It's okay to say no and it's okay to use your sick leave. You don't need to be a trooper when you're getting the rest of us sick! That's one of the things I miss working for the state - we got 18 days of sick leave a year! :)

Sunday was a massive day for my church - we had our annual Celebration Sunday event where we brought all the services together for one huge service. My hubby was up almost all night working on videos and powerpoints. He was there by 5:30 a.m. and I was there by 7:00 a.m. I was in charge of centerpieces and I'm so thankful for the crew of ladies I had to help me! We managed to get almost 100 centerpieces done in less than an hour. I also helped the kitchen folk during the brunch and helped restock the buffet tables. Needless to say, my feet hurt and I was so tired by the time we left at 1:00. We had over 800 people at this event. It was very moving worship music and I left feeling filled up!

Yesterday, I watched a very sweet baby boy for a friend all day. He's 3 months old (I think). It was good practice for me and I have a new appreciation for moms and multi-tasking! :) He was such a good baby and let me snuggle with him all day...so fun! I didn't get too much accomplished yesterday but spent some time with new friends and old friends at Starbucks last night. It was a good time!

I am BEYOND EXCITED to see Twilight this week! Holy cow! I've been waiting over a year to see this movie. I just know I'm going to be a blubbering (and probably drooling) mess the whole time I'm sitting there!

Well, that's all for today. I'll be back with another book recommendation. I've been reading some good stuff lately! :)

Sparkles and Provision

Yumm-o! I am a HUGE fan of glitter on my crafting projects. In fact, it's common around my house to find a sparkle or two on both Glen and me (which he absolutely hates!) HA! I just laugh at him when he starts ranting about my glitter use. He probably gets strange looks when he goes to work all sparkly! Using a lovely 40% off couple at Michael's, this gem was recently added to my scrap stash. The colors match my hoard of patterned papers quite well. I used two of the colors on my card below and can't wait to play with this some more.

My hubby and I have been working through a 2-week devotional from Stephen Curtis Chapman's adoption organization called Shaohannah's Hope. Last night's devotion was really good - all about obedience to God. There was one line in particular that rang true for me - "Where God guides, He always provides." How true is that???!!! If life worked out how we wanted it, Glen and I would already have two biological children. But for whatever reason, He has guided us along the path of adoption and at this point in my life I couldn't imagine NOT being on THIS path. Back when I started scrapbooking over 5 years ago, I never would have imagined God using that passion to make a profile about us for a birth mother to look through. And I know Glen never thought when he pursued a career in video production in college that he would be creating a video for our birth mother to watch. When I first found out we would have to do a scrapbook and video, I thought "Wow! God really has a sense of humor! This is what we DO!" And now as we're working through the financial burden of this adoption process, we're trusting that God is going to provide for us. And when all is said and done, we'll be able to say "Look at what God did!" How cool is that?!

Enjoy your day! :)

Cardalicious 5 & RAK Winner!

This week's challenge at Cardalicious is to create a card in a file folder style. I used a file folder from Rusty Pickle as my template. The patterned papers are Upsy Daisy Designs new Hot Chocolate line, chipboard is Tim Holtz, yummy glitter is Martha Stewart, rub-on from Crate Paper, ribbon from American Crafts and jewels from Yellow Bicycle.

I am feeling so much better today and finally got caught up on some housework. Saturday was a bad day...I didn't move from the couch very much. I was so congested and feverish. I ended up staying home from church yesterday but felt good enough to work in my scrap studio later in the afternoon. It really bothers me when people don't stay home when they're sick - it's no wonder that colds and the flu spread so easily this time of year. I'll keep my germs at home thank you very much! :)

Now for my Rusty Pickle RAK...

congrats to....

krazgrl

Please e-mail me (cornellgj@yahoo.com) your name and address and your RAK will be coming right from Rusty Pickle's headquarters!

Enjoy your day everyone! :)

Croak, sniffle...snow?

Yep, I'm siiiiiiiick (that's me whining). :) I started to get sick last Sunday with a sore throat that quickly moved to a cough. I thought I was starting to get better yesterday but I had a rough night and didn't sleep well. I'm pretty congested today and have a bad sinus headache. I hate this time of year. I'm all snuggled up in a blanket now and I just finished a hot cup of tea. I might take a little nap for a bit as I have zero energy at the moment.

It's been snowing all day here. I was out running a couple errands earlier as I'm trying to put together 100 centerpieces for our church's annual banquet next weekend. The wind has been blowing something fierce so although the snow isn't sticking it's still miserable outside.

The card above uses Upsy Daisy Design Vroom line. I'll keep my drawing for a Rusty Pickle RAK open for a couple more days...I'm feeling too sleepy to draw right now.

Enjoy your day and stay snuggly! :)

Merry & Bright!

Here's a new card I want to share that uses Upsy Daisy Designs new Hot Chocolate line. The colors in these papers are so vibrant and fun! I also used a sheet from a Making Memories notebook.

Thanks so much for all your well wishes on the adoption! We're so excited to see how this is going to play out. It's been a long time coming!

Let's see...what else is new? I have to say I want Daylight Savings Time to go away. I would gladly give back my extra hour of sleep for an extra hour of daylight. This dark at 5:00 stuff is for the birds. I get off work and want to go to sleep! It will only be 7:00 and it feels like it's 10:00. I've been pretty unproductive this past week. And to top it all off, they're talking snow or a rain/snow mix in Iowa tonight and tomorrow. I am so not ready for winter to be here! Although, I am very seriously contemplating putting up my Christmas tree this weekend. Last year we were grinches and didn't even put it up so I feel like getting a head start on the celebration this year. I think part of it is the holiday season is so busy that I would like to check at least one thing off my list!

Well, that's all for now! Have a fabulous day! :)

Cardalicious 4 & Awesome News!

Here's my card for the challenge at Cardalicious this week. We had to create a "give thanks" card. Be sure to stop by the site to see what the other designers created this week! I used some Melissa Frances papers I've been hoarding, a tag from 7gypsies, label stickers and chipboard circle from Scenic Route, and ribbon from Making Memories.



Here's my awesome news I've been itching to share...as of yesterday Glen and I are officially on the waiting list of families to adopt! Our adoption agency will start showing our family profile to birth moms which consists of our scrapbook, the video above and a one-page profile. Getting to this point has been quite the process...it took us a whole year! I feel like throwing a party so leave me a comment and I'll draw a random winner to receive a whole line of products from Rusty Pickle! You have until Friday to comment! :)

Edit...for some reason blogger is not showing comments on this post. If you click on the title on the top of this post, you should be able to comment. Thanks! :)

And two fun things today, don't forget to vote! It's such an important election! And the Twilight soundtrack was released today! Just a couple weeks to go until the movie!

Have a wonderful day! :)

Book recs

Have a couple more book recommendations for you to share today. I just finished The Hunger Games earlier this week. Stephenie Meyer recommended this book on her website and since I love all things to do with SM, I picked it up at the library. It was a phenomenal book and I can't wait to see what happens next. It's set up to be a trilogy.

I also picked up the newest book in the Blue Bloods series by Melissa De La Cruz. This is another vampire series. It's no Twilight but the latest book Revelations was REALLY good. I also love the story line as it's set up to be somewhat biblical.

If you're looking for something new to read - check these out...they're both young adult books.

I'll hopefully share that good news on Monday. I have a busy weekend ahead...my sister is hanging out with us this weekend and our cousins are coming to stay overnight Saturday.

Have a great weekend! :)

It's a party!

Here's a new card using Rusty Pickle's Candy Land line. I'm usually more of a muted color fan myself but the bright colors in this line just make me so happy! I love how versatile it is...there's crazy, fun doodling on one side and more traditional patterns on the reverse.

Gas did get cheaper! I paid $1.94 this morning...couldn't believe it! :)

I have some fun news to share on the adoption front but I have to hold off a bit until it's official! When it happens, I want to throw a party including one on my blog...maybe in the form of a RAK???!!! :)

Stay tuned...maybe Friday?!

Costume party!

I have several things I want to share today. First of all, I found a new author that I absolutely LOVE! You have to check out Elin Hilderbrand. She's written 6 novels and I've only read two of them but have the other 4 on hold at the library. Her stories connect to your emotions and they're full of twists and turns. The Blue Bistro made me cry and the story stuck with me days after I read it. I love when books do that!

Also, here are a couple cards using Rusty Pickle's Costume Party line...very fitting for the upcoming holiday! The little spiders are actually brads by Doodlebug. Aren't they darling? :)

I knew this was going to happen eventually but today as I drove to work I saw that gas is down to $1.99. I'm going to take a picture of that! We'll see if it gets any cheaper! :)

Well, I guess that's all for now. Enjoy your day! :)

Cozy, cozy home!

This week's challenge at Cardalicious is to create a shaped card - anything other than a square or rectangle. I've been experimenting a bit with shaped cards over the past few months. I know a circle isn't necessarily the most creative of shapes BUT I turned my card into a Christmas ornament. I punched a large circle from patterned paper and then punched a circle from the center of that. I cut a small rectangle shaped piece of patterned paper, rounded the corners and adhered that to the large circle. I LOVE these new Christmas-y patterned papers from Upsy Daisy Designs. This line is called Spirit and it's brand NEW!

It's barely 40 degrees here this morning. Yesterday was unbelievably windy and cold. I was so happy to just stay in my cozy house last night. After I watched a couple shows, I sipped on a glass of wine and read a book. I would have started a fire in the fireplace but it seems a bit early to be doing that - wouldn't you know it's supposed to warm up to 70 degrees by Thursday?! I ended up staying put this weekend. We went to go see The Duchess Saturday night. I love Kiera Knightley and I love historical films and this one certainly did not disappoint. I have a busy day ahead...need to hit the gym, run some errands, do the housewife thing...it's all good!

Have a fabulous Monday! :)

Good Saturday Morning!

Here's a new card I wanted to share using Upsy Daisy Designs Pretty Petals collection. This line has great colors in it for good luck or St. Patrick's Day cards.

It's looking like it's actually going to be a sunny day today! I can't believe it...the weather has been so dreary and gloomy this week that it's put me in quite a funk. It's also been cold which I'm just not ready for. The hubby and I had a date night last night. It was more of a night where we went out for a little bit and then spent the rest of the night in. We roamed Borders for a while (I love doing that) and then got some food to bring home while we watched a movie. I'm trying to decide what I want to do today. I have to go to a conference for a little while at church and then I might go to my mom and dad's overnight so I can go to a Halloween party with my sisters. I probably shouldn't go because $$$ are really tight and I have plenty to do around here but we'll see how the day goes. Since I've been in a funk I haven't done much around the house and since it's actually a nice day I might get some stuff done. I have an author/book recommendation to share but I'll save that for another post.

Enjoy your weekend! :)

Card-A-licious 2 & Fab 5

The 2nd challenge is up over at Cardalicious and this is my take using at least two journaling spots/cards/tags to create a birthday card. I used a couple past Scarlet Lime kits on this cards. The patterned papers are by Sassafras Lass and Scarlet Lime. Be sure to check out the blog for the rest of the design team's creations.

I was pleasantly surprised to have my Rock-a-bye Baby card chosen as part of the Fab 5 over at 2 Sketches 4 You last week. Thanks Kazan and Laura! :)

We enjoyed a great trip to Kansas City last weekend. We walked around the plaza Saturday afternoon and ate dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. I ended up with another migraine which wasn't fun but I felt better the next day. The game was really fun even if the Chiefs lost. Our seats were three rows from the very top of the stadium. I am deathly afraid of heights and it was straight down. I can't imagine being drunk (like many people were around us) and trying to walk up and down those steps. We saw one guy get arrested and his entire row kicked out of the game. It was pretty entertaining! :) We got home around 9:30 Sunday night.

Yesterday, I played catch up. It's amazing how being gone for just a little while will throw you off. I made a big pot of Meatball Noodle soup using yummy Reame's egg noodles and took that and some other food over to a friend of mine who just had a baby.

Well, I better get moving! Have a fabulous day! :)

Make a wish

It's the weekend! :) And to celebrate here's a new card featuring Upsy Daisy Designs Flutter line. I used a Maya Road chipboard cupcake and Basic Grey ribbon.

We're heading out of town tonight as my entire family is going to a Kansas City Chiefs football game. My sisters and I surprised my dad with tickets for his birthday back in August so we're making a family weekend of it. We're driving to my parents tonight, spending the night there and then heading to KC in the morning. We'll be back home late Sunday night.

Have a fabulous weekend! I'll be back Monday with my card for the 2nd challenge at Cardalicious! :)

Kazan Sketch 11

On this card, I worked with Kazan's sketch 11 over at 2 Sketches 4 You - love their sketches as I get a lot of inspiration from them! I used Rusty Pickle's White Chocolate Bunnies line on this baby boy card - love the versatility of the line! Other supplies are from Melissa Frances, We R Memory Keepers and Martha Stewart.

I'll post another card tomorrow and then we're off for the weekend!

Misc. stuff

I just finished the final book in the Gemma Doyle trilogy last night. I took my time with this series and read it over a couple weeks. The last book was really long. I was really upset at the ending. I don't want to give too much away but I felt let down that there wasn't what I wanted for a happy ending. Nevertheless, I would recommend these books wholeheartedly. The plot was set in the Victorian era and the characters were really easy to love. The books are young adult and somewhat science ficiton. If you're looking for something new to read, give them a try!

We've been busy working on more adoption stuff. Our video is almost done and I finished all the scrapbooks last night. I felt like my hand was going to fall off from handwriting letters to the birth parents! :) We still have the web profile and the one-page profile to go but the end is so close I can taste it. As soon as our video is good to go, I'll post the youtube video.

One year ago today, I started my gym membership at 7Flags. I've had ups and downs over that year but I'm proud to say I've lost 35 pounds and dropped 4 sizes! I never thought I would have made it to this point but I feel really good about myself now. I put on most of the weight from fertility treatments and my initial goal was to get to my wedding day weight. I've surpassed that goal now by about 15 pounds! I'm at the point now where I just want to maintain. I'm trying to watch what I eat but I won't deny myself anything. I just know I need to control how much I eat. I'm trying to hit the gym 3 times a week but I don't feel too guilty if I don't make it. Monday I felt pretty yucky so I stayed home and that's okay! I just can't stop going to the gym entirely.

Well, that's enough from me today. Stayed tuned for a new card tomorrow! :)

It's Halloween at Card-A-Licious!

The first challenge has been posted at the Cardalicious blog! For this week, make a Halloween card using a symbol of Halloween (witch, bat, pumpkin, spider, etc.) Link us up with your card in the comments section. The blog will be updated on Mondays with a new challenge. On my card, I used the brand new Costume Party line from Rusty Pickle. I love that polka-dot witch that I cut out from the patterned paper.

Have a great Tuesday! :)

Good Monday morning!

Here's a new card using the Tweet line from Upsy Daisy Designs. I love the pretty blues, greens and browns in this line...so soothing!

I can't believe it's Monday again...this weekend seemed to fly by! My hubby did good and took me out Friday night. We went to a great little dive, Felix & Oscar's. They have Italian food and really good Chicago deep-dish style pizza.

I had quite the experience shopping for dress pants on Friday. I swear I tried on every single pair of black pants at the mall. I just could not find something that was flattering and it was driving me nuts that you could see the pocket line through every single pair of pants. It was almost as though I was between sizes too - the smaller of the sizes I tried on seemed a tad too tight and the bigger of the sizes I could practically push off without unzipping. It was so frustrating! I finally went into a store I've never shopped at because it's a little too expensive for what I normally spend. I ended up finding two pairs of pants at Banana Republic. I almost cried I was so happy to find something that actually looked good! I may have had to pay more than I wanted but the fabric on them should hold up really well.

Saturday I did some cleaning, worked out at the gym and had a couple girls over for a craft night. I played with the Costume Party line from Rusty Pickle and I'll be sharing those projects soon! Sunday, we ended up not going to the pumpkin patch and worked on our adoption video instead. We're almost done with it! We also took a little nap...it was a pretty relaxing day!

Well, I better keep moving today. I've already baked a couple pans of bars this morning for small group tonight - Mounds bars and Salted Nut Roll bars...yum!

Have a great day! :)

Fall = Tea!

I drink a cup of coffee every morning but I also really love to drink tea. I mostly will have a cup of tea if I'm really cold or starting to get sick. There's a type of tea called Gypsy Cold Care that is fabulous if you feel I cold coming on. That being said I just altered this silver tea tin I picked up at Emma's Paperie using Rusty Pickle's French Market line. You'd think this was my favorite RP line or something??? The colors in it actually match my kitchen to a "T" and I also really love the colors for fall - they're just so rich! These tea tins would make great gifts as well!

I've got a slightly busy weekend ahead - not as bad as last weekend - thank goodness! The hubby is taking me out on an actual date tonight - it's been 3 months since we went out (our anniversary) so we are way overdue! I'm really looking forward to it. I need to run over to the mall today and take some clothes back. I've been on the hunt for dress pants for work/church and haven't quite found what I'm looking for. I wore long pants to work the whole week so I really need to find something asap. I'm planning on scrapping Saturday night as the hubby will be gone! On Sunday, I think we're going to a pumpkin patch after church to celebrate a friend's birthday!

Oh, and before I forget make sure to check out the new full-length version of the Twilight trailer in HD at twilightthemovie.com. I've already watched it about 10 times! :)

Enjoy your weekend! The good weather will be gone before you know it! :)

Acrylic card

I decided to try something new with the acrylic flower albums that Rusty Pickle has. Instead of using it as an album, I took one page and made a card with it. I love the look of layering part of the card of the acrylic page and then the rest of the card on the back page. I traced the flower shape onto cardstock and patterned paper for extra stability and then adhered the two together. The papers, etc. are all from the White Chocolate Bunnies line from Rusty Pickle. I love the colors and versatility of this line!

I had a really bad migraine yesterday so I ended up coming home early. I haven't had a bad headache like that for a while and I forgot how debilitating they can be. Advil just wasn't doing the trick. I slept it off and used a heating pad and that seemed to help. I feel pretty good this morning so hopefully it won't come back today. I've got a lot of work to do now that I missed a few hours yesterday.

Have a great day! :)

Oh. my. word.

These new pictures from the Twilight movie just give me goosebumps! I am beyond excited for this movie to come out November 21st! I need to start saving my money because I'll probably see it 5 times! If you haven't read the series yet, you've got about 6 weeks to do it! If you love a good romance, you'll love Twilight. I'm definitely an avid reader and it's by far the best romance I've ever read!