Choose us! :)

I've been busy organizing and editing photos tonight for our adoption scrapbook. These are just a few of them that I'm planning on using in the book. My good friend Stephanie helped us out by taking these photos a few weeks ago. I really feel like she was able to capture the essence of who we are as a couple and as individuals. It was my idea to take the photos in our yard - I really wanted to show that we are fun-loving people. Glen complied even though he was grumbling about it, but these photos turned out to be some of my fav's! :) We still have some more photos to take of us "doing" our hobbies and I also need to dig up some family photos. Other than all that, I'm ready to start putting it all together! It should be about 20 pages when I'm all done. I'm planning on sending a good chunk of photos to Sam's tonight and then I'll start on it all tomorrow. So....do you think we look like good parents????!!!! :) It's been pretty funny doing our photo shoots - we've had to stage a lot of photos. We took some with our friends at church and we told them all to act like they REALLY like us a lot - HA!

Anyway we've had a pretty good weekend. The weather has been beautiful! I've been out walking, reading and taking a few naps! I'm finally starting to feel better although I do have a cough. I was really craving some comfort food on Saturday so I made a huge pot of soup. It was a new recipe I tried for Cheeseburger soup and I LOVED it! I'll definitely be making it a lot this winter. We've been watching more Olympics of course and also watched the movie, 21 = good stuff! I also watched the movie The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (the first one). I really liked it...I've been reading the books and I would definitely recommend them. I'm waiting for the 3rd one to come in at the library so I read it and the 4th one. I would really like to see the second movie.

Well, I better keep moving tonight. Have a good one! :)

Summer Sickness

Well, I somehow managed to pick up a nasty bug this week. I managed to go to work okay but I haven't felt the best especially in the past two days. I have about the worst sore throat I've ever had and I ache all over. I hate being sick in the summer! I just hope I don't have strep throat. Yesterday was not fun at work! If you didn't know, I write and voice radio programs for a living. It's a little difficult to be on the radio when you can barely talk or swallow but I managed okay. I rested a lot yesterday when I got home and plan on doing the same today. I do have some things to do but I just feel like laying around reading or watching TV.

I've been glued to the TV watching the Olympics since they started last week. Michael Phelps is just incredible at swimming and I have always loved women's gymnastics. I can remember watching Kerri Strug in the 1996(?) Olympics when she had to stick her vault landing for the gold. Fun stuff! Also it's really exciting that Shawn Johnson is from right here in Des Moines, Iowa - LOVE watching her compete!

Also just wanted to share a fun little shabby winter card using mostly supplies from My Mind's Eye.

Have a great weekend if I don't check in sooner! :)

Hello again!

I know, I know...I've been a bad blogger! Life has been so busy lately! First of all, Breaking Dawn was absolutely wonderful! I ended up staying up until 5:30 in the morning reading it. I slept until 11 and then got up and finished the book. I was so overwhelmed by it that I've already read it again. I'm working on a review of it because I just need to get my thoughts about it on paper. There's been a lot of mixed reviews about the book. The people that hate the book have made me so angry and frustrated because they have been bashing parts of the book that I absolutely loved. Sigh. I love it when I find a book and characters that I can feel so passionately about. Anyway, as soon as I get the review done I'll be sure to post here.

My sister has been here helping us paint our house. I think we're just going to paint the south and east sides of the house. We've been working on the south side for the past week. It's been slow going. I haven't been doing much creating lately because I've been working on the house. We went to the Iowa State Fair yesterday - it was actually beautiful weather. Glen got free tickets and we went to a private Wynonna Judd concert for people from his workplace. She was actually really good and sang a couple songs from when she was singing with her mom. I danced to "Grandpa, Tell Me 'Bout the Good Old Days" with my grandpa at my wedding so it's a special song to me. I'm so glad I got to hear that one.

Anyway, I better get moving today. I have a mountain of laundry to attend to. The card above is just one for fun using Melissa Frances supplies I had from a past Jenni Bowlin kit.

Enjoy your day! :)

FINALLY, the big day is here!

AAAAHHHH! It's Breaking Dawn day!!!! I am beyond excited for tonight! I have never been the "groupie" type but I truly feel like a Twilight saga super fan after what I did last night to "prep." We went out to get some house paint so I ran to Borders and picked up their exclusive Twilight movie calendar - my favorite month is November! - and then ran to Hot Topic and got myself THIS.

And I'm totally wearing it tonight!!!!! So there! :) My poor hubby just rolls his eyes at me but I don't care. And if you're in Des Moines and want to hang out with me, I'll be at the Borders store on University for the midnight release party! And if you're not local, I might just be on yahoo messenger if you want to chat while you're reading tonight! I also decided to spin off my blog and post my reaction to Breaking Dawn here - Twilight Saga Thoughts. If you don't want to view any spoilers, don't visit until you finish the book!

So now I need to find a way to pass the time today - I really should go to the gym to work off some of this nervous energy! I'm also wanting to read the last few chapters of Eclipse. I could work in my scrap room and I have some books to take back to the library. I'm also hoping to tune into a Twilight Series Theories podcast live from NYC where Stephenie's first book signing is tonight. And I think I'm going to church for an event tonight before I head for Border's. I'm just hoping the day flies by!

Enjoy Breaking Dawn day! You KNOW I will! :)

HOT!

Kay, I forgot about this post yesterday so I'm obviously blogging on Thursday instead. It's going to be a scorcher in Iowa the next few days. We've been really lucky so far this summer as we usually have weather you can wear most of the time. Like the type where it's hard to breathe as soon as you go outside...yuck! I'll be staying inside as much as possible!

Still way too excited about Friday night. I'm the type of person that can't stand surprises and I'll do as much sleuthing as possible to ruin the surprise. I keep trying to avoid the spoilers online but it's like witnessing a wreck...I can't look away! Absolute confession time here...whenever I start reading a book, I read the first 3-4 chapters and then flip to the end to see what happens. Then I go back and read to the end. EVERY SINGLE TIME I read a book....not kidding! I'm just hoping I'm not the only person over the age of 20 at the midnight release party Friday or I will feel silly! :)

Here's another Upsy Daisy Designs project using the Cupcake line. I also used a dimensional sticker from K & Company (the cherries).

Have a great day! :)

Seriously. excited.

Here's a new Upsy Daisy Designs project for you using the Vroom line. Such a fun line for little guys!

I've been busy the last few days. I ended up going back home to see my grandma in the nursing home. She looked really good and seemed to be in good spirits. We'll be going back to see her on Sunday. Saturday, I went to Adventureland (the local theme park) with my mom and sisters. It was fun but I'm not a huge ride person so I only went on about 3 rides. I can't stand rides that spin in circles continuously - makes me sooooo sick! My favorite ride is definitely the Tilt-a-Whirl! We did a little shopping too. Sunday my in-laws came to our house so we have been busy entertaining them. They go back home tomorrow morning. I've been itching to get into my craft room but I haven't been able to do that yet with all our company around. I'm looking forward to some time to create on Friday.

I am seriously freaking out about Friday night when I FINALLY get to read Breaking Dawn. As in I can't even stand it and can't even think about anything else. I have never wanted the week to fly by more. It's been a while since I've pulled an all-nighter but I am way up for it. I've had Friday and Saturday blocked off on my calendar for MONTHS just so I can read this book. I'm already anticipating me crying through the book. CAN'T WAIT!

More to come later this week! :)

Last Paper Posies project and GREAT news!

Not only is this the last project I made with the July Paper Posies kit, but it is also my last project on the design team. I am still pretty bummed about my decision to leave the team but really needed the extra time to focus on adoption and other things I want to do. I was on the team for a year and half and had such a blast working for Anna! If you are ever looking for a great kit club to join, I would highly recommend Paper Posies. Anna's kits are packed with a wonderful mix of paper and embellishments! I made this frame as a bridal shower gift. I distressed the frame with my favorite crackle finish and the little house is from Maya Road.

Now, speaking of adoption....we FINALLY got our home study approval yesterday! It took almost a month since we had the home study because Glen's fingerprint check took forever coming back after he had to have them redone. I kept teasing him that there was something he wasn't telling me...that is if Glen was even his real name....HA! Anyway, the next step is for us to turn in our scrapbook and video. We still have some more photos we need to take because we have to show ourselves in action. Let's just say we've been staging a bunch of photo shoots. I have what I hope is a fabulous vision for the scrapbook so as soon as all the photos are taken, I'll get cracking!

It's a dreary, rainy day here and I need to get headed to work soon. There's a chance I'm headed to Exira this afternoon to see my grandma. Enjoy your day! :)

Caardvarks Challenge!

I've been a card-making, challenge machine lately and these two latest cards and sketches come from Caardvarks.

On the first card, I used a Scarlet Lime kit - patterned paper is WR Memory Keepers, Scarlet Lime custom flower, K & Company rub-ons, Carolee's alphabet stickers, Fiskar's threading water punch, and I also used the awesome orange sequined ribbon in the kit.

On the second card, I pulled out patterned paper by Graphic 45 (love that 20s girl look), Making Memories notebook, 7gypsies and Melissa Frances rubons, Heidi Swapp jewel, Doodlebug paper frill, May Arts ribbon.

As always, click on the images to see them larger. Thanks for looking! :)

Stuff

Have you tired Vitamin water yet? I've had a couple of the flavors and am drinking the multi-v (lemonade) one right now. It's pretty good stuff especially if you get bored drinking plain water. The commercials crack me up too!

As I said before, I've been dealing with some heavy stuff the past week. A high school classmate passed away so I went home for his funeral. We haven't been very close in the past few years but it was still REALLY tough because we grew up together. It was really hard seeing the big, tough guys in my class crying. Nevertheless, it was great to catch up with everyone - 19 of my classmates came back home for the funeral. Both of my grandmas have also been in the hospital. One grandma had really high blood pressure so they were concerned about a stroke. My other grandma broke her femur bone and had a biopsy done of a cancerous tumor in that same leg. Today, she's headed back home but for the nursing home (which is hopefully temporary). She's only 71 so it's been difficult to think of her going to the nursing home. She'll probably have the tumor removed in the next couple of weeks. I've just been feeling like this is enough already!

This week I'll be getting ready for a visit from my in-laws. They're traveling here from Arkansas on Thursday, staying one night and then going to a HS reunion before coming back here on Sunday. They will be staying a few nights. My mom, sisters and I have a girls' outing planned for Saturday and Sunday. We were originally going to Chicago but had to change our plans with everything that's come up this summer. I think the latest is we're going to Adventureland on Saturday (local theme park where we haven't gone for years) and then shopping on Sunday. It should be fun!

Oh, and the other big news is that Glen and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on Saturday! We ended up going to see The Dark Knight (awesome, by the way) and out for dinner at Old Chicago. We were so riled up by the movie that we came home and watched Batman Begins. :) Quick funny story - Saturday morning we were drinking coffee in the front porch. Glen goes into the kitchen and grabs a scissors and goes outside. I'm thinking - how sweet, he's going to cut me some flowers from the garden (we have tons of flowers). But, my darling hubby comes back inside with the top of a thistle instead. I looked and him and said "I thought you were going out to cut me some flowers" and he was like "Oh, I guess that would have been nice. I just didn't want this thistle to go to seed and spread around the yard." Yep, the romance is gone! HA! :)

A splash of red...

This card was inspired by Kazan's sketch 5 at 2 Sketches 4 You.

Patterned paper is Webster's Pages, BoBunny and MME, Heidi Swapp felt butterfly, Martha Stewart butterfly punch and ribbon, Making Memories brads, American Crafts rubons. I loved the bird image in the patterned paper and wanted to add a little splash of color to the card so I went with red.

Enjoy your Tuesday! Just 10 days to go until Breaking Dawn!!!! :)

Chicks rule!

I was inspired by a package of Kleenex at the grocery store and a sketch from Melissa Phillips for this card. Pattered paper and journaling card are October Afternoon, chipboard girl and ribbon from Maya Road, Bazzill cardstock, Rusty Pickle button, American Crafts rubons, MME transparency, twine.

I've been dealing with some heavy stuff in my life the past week and creating has been a lifesaver! Today, I took some more time to play with stuff in my stash. More to come soon! :)

A couple shabby cards...

I don't know when the last time was I just played with my supplies but the other night I was on a roll! I didn't create for any assignment or anything, but just for me. It was a great opportunity for me to use some supplies I've been hoarding.

The first card is based on Laura's sketch from 2 Sketches 4 You.
I deviated from the sketch a little bit, but I was pretty happy with how this turned out. Patterned paper and sticker are from Melissa Frances, Heidi Swapp snowflake, SEI ribbon, Bazzill and Rusty Pickle buttons, twine and machine stitching. I shabbied it up with some cream acrylic paint. The colors in the ribbon matched the patterned paper so well!

On the second card - Basic Grey patterned paper, Crafty Secrets fabric swatch, SEI ribbon, Jolee's snowflakes.

Thanks for looking!

More from Rusty Pickle...and RAK winner!!!!

Here are my projects I made for Rusty Pickle's booth at CHA. Everything is 100% Rusty Pickle minus some ink, paint and German glass glitter (which I think looks awesome with the colors of the White Christmas line). I've been steadily checking out the sneak peeks of what's all coming out at CHA and trying to keep my wish list to a minimum!!! I actually just got the last of what I wanted that came out for winter CHA and now I have to start my list all over again. I picked up some new papers from October Afternoon, Webster's Pages and KaiserCraft. If I wasn't such a paper hoarder, I might actually do some projects! :) Oh, and one of my favorite finds was yesterday...I've been wanting to get the threading water punch from Fiskar's and yesterday I scored at Michael's. I even used my 40% off coupon!

Now the news you have been waiting for....

tali212

AND

tami

please e-mail me (cornellgj@yahoo.com) your names and addresses so you can get a Rusty Pickle RAK! And, don't be discouraged if you didn't win because I send out a Rusty Pickle RAK monthly. Now that I've got your comments, I want to spread more Rusty Pickle LOVE! I also really appreciate your book recommendations!

2 Sketches 4 You - Sketch 4

I came across this awesome card sketch site while I was blog hopping last week and wanted to share my version of the latest sketch. Patterned paper is all Upsy Daisy Designs from the Flutter collection. I'll have more Upsy Daisy Designs and Rusty Pickle projects to share this week. And, don't forget to leave a comment on my blog anniversary post - I'll draw for the RAK on Tuesday! I've definitely enjoyed reading your book recommendations and have plenty more to add to my list! :)

More to come...

I'm working on some samples using the new Costume Party and White Christmas lines from Rusty Pickle...be sure to check back early next week to see these lines in action! Also, scroll down to my next post about my blog anniversary and leave a comment to be in the running for a Rusty Pickle RAK!!!!

Rusty Pickle Sneak Peeks!

Happy Blog Anniversary!!!!

Gearing up for a scrap weekend!!! I have quite a few projects I want to work on this weekend so I can devote the majority of my time later this month to working on my adoption scrapbook. I have a good friend coming by tonight to take some photos of Glen and me. I'm also having a few friends over Friday during the day to scrap with me for our monthly get together. It's so wonderful working part-time so I have that option especially during the busy summer months.

I can't believe CHA is next weekend! It was just one year ago that Glen and I were getting ready to head to Chicago so I could work the Upsy Daisy Designs booth and meet my new Rusty Pickle friends. I had a blast and really wish I could go this year...maybe next time. There's a chance I might be working on some samples for Rusty Pickle's booth. I can't wait to start sharing sneak peeks with you - the new lines are going to be fabulous!!! Plus we're coming out with new albums and embellishments and what's this I hear about diecut paper???!!!! Yep, stay tuned!

Here's a new Rusty Pickle project using the Snowflakes & Mittens line. I did a lot of machine stitching and distressing on this one plus used some vintage sheet music.

And perhaps my best news today is that it is my 1 year blog anniversary!!!! Yay! I know I have at least a few readers out there so thanks so much for reading my blog this past year! In honor of my 1 year anniversary, I would like to give away a RAK of a whole line of Rusty Pickle products. And since I've been a reading machine this summer, all you have to do is leave me a book recommendation in the comments section. I'll draw a winner for my RAK on Tuesday.

Seriously. Good Stuff.

I've just about finished reading my second Gemma Townley book and I must say I have found a new favorite author. Gemma is British and the dry humor in her books hits me just right. I have found myself laughing OUT LOUD when I'm reading her books if that tells you anything. While I've been browsing her titles on Amazon, I've come across a few other British authors I would like to try.

Another fantastic author I would recommend is Sarah Dessen. My favorite of her books I've read so far is Just Listen. Sarah is a wonderful young adult author and her books just get better and better. Very quick reads about coming of age type scenarios. I have three more of her books to read and then I've covered them all.

I have a list about a mile long of books I want to read this summer. I was buying books at Borders for a while. Then I was finishing a book every couple days so I decided it was too expensive to do that and headed to the library. I might have to buy a few books though because I really want to read everything I can by Gemma Townley and my library only has 3 of her books. Of course, the one book I've been looking forward to for a YEAR is coming out in just 23 days. Check out my new widget on my sidebar! :)

If you have any recommendations of good authors or books for me, please leave a comment!

Recovery time!

We had a great time at mom and dad's this weekend. I had a lot of fun catching up with my friends and family - saw some people I haven't seen in a very long time and some people I could have done without seeing. HA! :) Good times, though! I got a little pink at the parade on Friday. I went shopping with my little sis Saturday morning. We went to a craft shop and an antique store where I picked up some goodies for my house. Fun stuff! Also did some fishing Saturday afternoon - caught 4 fish! The guys went out on the boat so I had to do worm duty and take all the fish off the hooks. Love it! :) The street dance was fun that night - they played a lot of music that the only way you could dance to it was to bounce around. I became a master at the air guitar! :) It was nice to get back home again to a pile of laundry and lots of other obligations this week.

Here's my second layout with the July Paper Posies kit - some Disney pictures again. We ate and drank our way across Epcot! Click on the photo to see it larger.

Enjoy your Monday! :)

4th of July Eve!

We're leaving today to head to my parent's house for the weekend! I'm pretty pumped to see my family and friends as well as to spend some time fishing. I don't know if I'll get a chance to blog so thought I would post something today.

Here's another project from the July Paper Posies kit....love that little deer!

Have a great 4th! :)

July Paper Posies!

Hey there! Just wanted to share one of my layouts using the July Paper Posies kit. I think this is my all-time favorite kit - it's full of October Afternoon and Jenni Bowlin papers with plenty of fun embellishments. The bright colors were perfect for photos from our trip to Disney. I'll share some more projects over the next few days. You can click on the photo to see it enlarged. I actually did 2-page layouts with this kit - something I haven't done in a great while.

Enjoy your day! :)

I LOVE summer!

The weather today and all weekend has just been gorgeous! Perfect temps and sunny skies! I LOVE it! The 4th of July is right around the corner and I'm so looking forward to it as we're visiting my parents in Exira the whole weekend!

We had a fairly relaxing yet busy weekend. I didn't feel the best Saturday morning but after a nap I was good to go. I spent some time working on my July Paper Posies kit and got some Disney photos scrapped. I'll share my projects soon. I must say this was maybe one of my favorite Paper Posies kits EVER! I spent some time in Marshalltown Sunday for my cousin's 5th birthday party and then babysat my cousins on Monday. I got some reading done too.

Here's a new project to share using Rusty Pickle's White Chocolate Bunnies line - a gift bag for a baby girl. I also used some Tattered Angels chipboard shapes and Glimmer Mist on this one.

Have a great Tuesday! :)

Yay! It's over!

Here's a fun little shabby card using the White Chocolate Bunnies line from Rusty Pickle. Love me some pink and brown!

We got through our home study just fine! I'm so glad it's over. We absolutely crashed last night! We almost went out to eat but then decided to grab some Quiznos and a movie. We vegged in front of the TV and watched Jumper (and then went to bed early). We should know of our approval in a week or so. The next step is to be working on our scrapbook and video profile and applying for grants. So we still have a ton of work to do but at least this part is fun.

Well, I need to start getting ready for work. I took yesterday off so I'm going in today. I'm looking forward to some scrap time, a date night and a birthday party for my 5-year-old cousin this weekend.

Before I forget, make sure you head over to the Upsy Daisy Designs blog to throw your name in for some Sweet Slumber goodies in honor of Amber's new baby boy!

Have a great one! :)

Home Study TODAY!

Just a quick post this morning...our home study is today at 3:30. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers today! I'm off to do some last minute cleaning! I'll be back with more tomorrow!

Paper Crafts Gallery Idol!

I had a couple friends over Friday night and got some projects done! I decided to throw my hat in the ring for Paper Crafts Gallery Idol and since I can't post my cards here, I'll link you to them.

PC Gallery Idol Hey Girlfriend! card

PC Gallery Idol Friends Forever card

You could enter as many cards as you wanted to in the first round with the theme friendship. The top 20 will be announced a week from today. There's a ton of talent in the gallery but I decided to give it a shot. You never know, right? :)

And I wanted to share a new card made with Rusty Pickle's Pop Star line. I actually got out the watercolor pencils on this one!

I'm off to clean (which is all I do these days!)

Summer Reading!

Good Sunday morning to you! Another quick post from me today....what's up with that? :) Yesterday, we got the garage cleaned up and I did some work inside. Today, we're working on the basement and then my mom is coming this afternoon to help on the rest of the house. We're getting there slowly but surely. I'll be glad when Thursday is over with!

I added a new set of links to my sidebar last night while I was unwinding. Ever since I was a little girl, I would spend the summers reading a ton of books. My sisters would literally have to drag me outside to play because I was engrossed in American Girl and The Babysitters Club. In college, I didn't read as much because I was reading enough as it was for school. Since I had an English minor, I did get to read some really good books especially in my American women's lit class. So starting with The Host in May, I've been reading a lot again. I soak up books like a sponge. The links I've added are all books that I've already read. You should see my list of books that I want to read! :) And for some reason, I've been really drawn to young adult books lately. The ones I've read are extremely fun and witty reads. Of course all of my summer reading is passing the time until my most anticipated book of the summer comes out on August 2nd - Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. I have been waiting literally a YEAR for this book! I'm already planning on going to a midnight release party at either Border's or Barnes & Noble and then staying up ALL night to read it. Anyway, if you're looking for something to read check out my list!

And, here's a masculine birthday card using Rusty Pickle's Under the Stars line. The colors in this one are fabulous!

Fun Coffee Day!

It's a gorgeous Saturday morning and I'm about to head out and clean my garage. :( I'm finishing up fun coffee Saturday - Glen and I always get a cup of what we call "fun" coffee on Saturday mornings (like a latte).

Just wanted to share a couple new Rusty Pickle projects using the Chocolate Bunnies line. I love that it's the perfect colors for baby boy projects. I have had three good friends have boys in the last month so I was busy making boy stuff!

Enjoy your day!