Inspired by Angie

Okay so this Christmas card is the make and take for Keri's party tonight. I got the idea from my sister Angie's Christmas card last year. I LOVED it when I got it so I figured why not make something like it. So I changed the colors and a few things and this is how it turned out. I mean I could have just copied it since it was that cute but I wanted to at least make it my own...a little! :) Thanks for your inspiration Ang. You're the best!

Colors: Purely Pomegranate and Soft Sky. Letterpress alpha, snowflurries and season of joy* stamp sets. Pomegranate satin ribbon*
*in retired holiday mini catalog

Birthday Card!

I made some of these birthday cards for the RS. I wanted to play around with the positioning of the flowers a little more but sometimes you don't have time for second and third attempts! :) I like it though!

Colors: Certainly celery, Groovy guava and Apricot appeal. In the spotlight and Happy everything stamp sets. I used the slit punch to create the scallop edge.

Shower Favors

I made these to give to people for coming to a shower. They are way easy. You take a 3 x 4 piece of white cardstock and fold it in half. Stamp what you want on it, add any ribbon or scallop border and staple over a small cello bag. Fun huh! :)

Guys' Card!

Okay so this card was made by my sweet sister Angie. She is SO talented and the one who taught me to scrapbook! I have been missing my family lately and wanted to post her card! She does such a great job and I wanted everyone to see it! Isn't it awesome? Great card, Ang! I love and miss you!

Audrey's First Birthday!

So here are some pages I scrapped at retreat of Audrey's first Birthday. I used the party pieces simply scrappin kit that is retired. I love the scrappin kits. They make thing SO easy! Anway here it is!
P.S. Sorry the pictures look bad. I had to use the flash and that created a bad glare. Sorry!

I've been tagged!

Abbie tagged me so I am supposed to write 6 interesting things about myself. hmmm let's see if I can think of something:
1. I can put my fist in my mouth and turn my right arm all the way around. That's a little interesting right, or at least weird.
2. I was pathetically competitive when I was younger and didn't grow out of it until after high school. Like we're talking I would be out bowling with my boyfriend and if I wasn't doing well I would sit on the bench and just pout and sulk, making it miserable for everyone else. I was SO pathetic. I still love to compete but I have a handle on it now and am okay if I lose. Thank goodness I matured and grew out of that one; when I told Zeb that after we had been married a while he just laughed and looked at me like "You've got to be kidding...good thing I wasn't dating you at the time!"
3. I love being a mother more than anything! And yes, there are times I could be bald if I actually did pull my hair out when I am having one of "those days." But seriously being a mom and being home with my beautiful girls is so wonderful. They are so precious and I am so thankful.
4. I love to bowl. I have my own bowling ball and shoes. And although I was pathetic in high school I have gotten a little better. It's just so fun. A lot of people are thinking "white trash" and yes some alleys are a lilttle less than clean but I have such a good time. Zeb has stuff as well so it is fun to go together.
5. One of my most embarrassing moments happend when I was dating Zeb. We were engaged and I was working as a waitress at a mexican restaurant. I went to my table that had just been sat and it was a girl I knew from high school and her mom. We started chatting about the engagement and the time passing slowly. As we talked back and forth I said, "Yeah, let's just get it on!" As soon as it came out of my mouth I realized what I had said. I shouted "WITH....GET IT ON WITH." At that point there was no recovering so I spun around and high talied it to the kitchen with my face as red as the salsa. It was SO embarrassing!
6. I am extremely naive. Every once in a while when Zeb and I go to a movie (like once or twice a year) I'll laugh at something funny. Zeb will look over at me with a kind of shocked look on his face. He'll say, "Do you know what that means?" And I 'll say yeah and repeat whatever was said. Then he'll get the "Oh. Leah" look and say "No, it means........" Then I'll gasp and disgustingly say "how do you know that?" And every time he reminds me, "Leah, I worked construction growing up!" I am always shocked to know what something actually means and even more shocked to hear that Zeb knows it! I'll leave it at that since I don't want to write anything inappropriate...but I am definitely naive!
Well, that was kind of fun to think of things about me people might not know! Now the six people I am tagging are Summer Slade, Cindy Hansen, Emily Askeroth, Misty Pankratz, Janel Warner, and Lindsey Blackhurst. Can't wait to see what you all write and don't forget to tag 6 more! I love reading these and want to tag everyone!!!

Non Traditional Halloween Layout

I had some down time this afternoon since I am home with the girls..a throwing up child yet again. So anyway, I scrapped these pictures at retreat and took a sec to take pictures and post.




So when you have Dorothy, a fairy, and a pink pig how do you incorporate the black and orange of Halloween? I had to match the pictures so I have some of the most non traditional colors for my 2007 Halloween pages! I actually like them though and it was actually kind of fun to use pink, blue, and green for Halloween. A fun change!

Colors: Pretty in Pink, Brocade Blue, Old Olive and Whisper White. Stamps sets: Priceless, happy everything and headline alpha. Brocade blue wide grosgrain ribbon and photo corners punch. Ink: Brocade blue, old olive and versa mark. Non SU: paper flowers and rhinestone stickers.

Spring Retreat

Spring Retreat Details!
Lindsey posted this on her blog and I realized why go to all the trouble and write basically the same thing? So I copied and pasted Lindsey's. Thanks, Linz! :)
*Below is a letter written to our retreaters, it should have arrived in the mail yesterday for them!*

Howdy! We wanted to thank all of those that came to our Winter Wonderland Retreat! We had such a great time and are so glad you joined us.
After looking over the evaluations we wanted to tell you of some things we learned and are planning on changing. But first we would like to thank you for your patience since we are still learning what works and what doesn’t. It is an ongoing process! *grin*
There were several people that did not like the sleeping arrangements; therefore we have decided to change the location of retreat to a Resort on Lake Whitney. This resort is on the lakeside with cabins and houses that are great. Doing so will only increase the cost by 10 dollars per person.
Another thing many of you did not like was the food. We have made arrangements for Lindsey’s mom to cater our meals! She is an experienced (not to mention excellent) cook and will be providing a dinner the first night and a brunch and dinner on Saturday. We feel that doing the brunch will be better since breaking for meals seems to take a lot of time and we snack a lot anyway!
In hindsight, we regret that we did not provide a demonstration of each of the projects. We realize now that we should have done a demo at the beginning, which would have answered a lot of your questions from the start. In the future we will give demonstrations!
The focus of Spring Retreat will be scrapbooking since that is what most of you requested for next time. We also won’t be doing “projects”- we’ll be offering classes. Leah will be doing a mini album class (an album in a day) and some scrapbooking classes. Lindsey will be doing 2 classes as well: stamp-a-stack (making several cards in one setting) and stamping techniques. Each class will include step-by-step instructions, examples, will help you accomplish more in your free-time, and get more one-on-one. There will also be a package available with each of the classes where you will receive the supplies but be able to work on them at your own pace, without needing to attend the class. And for our novices, we will also do a basic stamp and scrap class together! It’s still early, so we may change our minds before we get there, but this is what we are thinking at the present!
Last but not least, we will need to know our numbers sooner for spring retreat in order to reserve our location, since we will most likely be reserving the entire resort! Keep in mind, we will need to know if you are coming and get the deposit sooner this time! The date we have picked is March 28th and 29th. Friday and Saturday will be $70 and Saturday only will be $35. This resort is so great and we just know that everyone will be so happy! Be on the lookout for e-mails & more blog notices!
Thanks again to all of who came to retreat and giving us suggestions so we can improve. Spring retreat will be even better!!! We are already so excited and can’t wait to know who will be joining us. Thank you again.

Sincerely,
Leah & Lindsey


Details in a nutshell:

New place: Lake Whitney, Texas (about the same distance as Latham Springs)
New food: Menu (as of now) Friday Dinner- Soup, Salad, Bread sticks/ Saturday Brunch- Quiche, Fruit, Rolls, Muffins/ Saturday Dinner- Papa Murphy's Pizza, salad
New price $70- includes lodging, meals, goodie bag, & all the fun extras we do because we love to stamp! Please note: this price is based on the assumption that you do not mind sharing a bed and/or room. If you would like your own bed/room- we will adjust the price.
New format: No do-as-you-want projects, all class-oriented projects. If you have requests other than the ones mentioned, please e-mail us.
Deposit required to reserve your spot, $35- either by paypal or in check form to me. Once we are full, we're full. We're at a max of 41 at this location.

We are SO excited to do retreat at this new location and have it feel more like a getaway! We hope you will join us for a weekend of scrappin' stampin, and a rockin' good time!

Create Break Tutorial

This cone is so easy to make!
1. Take an 8 x 8 circle and fold in half.
2. Adhere the inside and make sure it stays.
3. Take the two pointed ends and bring towards each other ( you are creating to cone part).
Overlap the ends to close the space.
4. Staple it together (on the upper half of the cone so you can hide it later)
5. Take about a foot of ribbon and tie a knot at the bottom of one side.
6. Staple the knot to the cone, make sure you cover up the staple you did first, with the ribbon.
7. Tie a knot at the other end and cut excess ribbon off the end. Make the handle as long or short as you want.
8. Make a little tag to hang from the side with cord or stick tag on the front of the cone.
This ia a really fun project that takes only a couple minutes. You can hang this on a tree, put a gift card inside, or candy...be creative!
I saw a cone llike this in a stampin up magazine and had to try it!

November Club Layouts

So here is a layout I did at retreat. This will be the layout for the November club at Jana's house. It is really simple and fun! Crop your pictures and go to town!! 12 x 12 kits are $4.
Sorry I couldn't get the color right. The lighting was horrible!!




I have also decided to let the club choose from the family layout as well. So many people liked this one at reatreat that I wanted to give my club the option to do it. Kits are $5! If you do both layouts the 2 will be $8. The party will be so fun this month, I am so excited for the holidays! Anyone is welcome to come to the party or order the layouts! :)

Baby shower card

Okay so it has been over a week since I posted last and here I was going to try and post more! Sorry. I guess that is part of being a mom of 3, you don't get to do other things when you want to do them! :)
So this card is for a sweet friend of mine, Cindy. We are throwing her a shower in a few weeks and I just finished making and cutting all the pieces for 40 of these bad boys! Now I just need to assemble. Where is all my adhesive when I need it? Well, I ran out!

Birthday Card!

So I can't believe my third little girl is 1 today! Where does the time go. She is such a sweetheart and we are so blessed to have her in our family. I just love her!!!
Happy Birthday Audrey!

Used: River rock, apricot appeal, and groovy guava. Big blooms, wonderful words, and big deal numbers stamp sets. Groovy guava double stitched and apricot 1/4 inch ribbon.

Googlie Eyes Halloween Card

This was a card I made for Emily's party last week. It is really easy. I have a REALLY hard time using bright colors (no surprise there) and thought I didn't like the card. After I stepped back a minute and talked to Linsdey (thanks for the therapy) I realized it IS a really cute card! Hope you like it!

Twilight Crazy

I took this quiz on Emily's blog and had to post my results!!! I really need to start a family blog!

Which Twilight novel character are you?

You're Esme Cullen - Your maternal instinct to take care of people and be kind draw people towards you. You're compassionate and loving, yet firm when you need to be. You appreciate hard work and value the beautiful results of your dedication to any project. Take this quiz! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

The quiz is really easy and fun!
Twilight is such a great book...you should totally read it!

Batteries Anyone?

Okay so I have a card to post but no batteries in my camera...so no pitcture! Bummer! I'll hopefully get batteries before too long! ;) Those come before milk and eggs right?
I am really excited about Emily's party tomorrow afternoon. It's going to be lots fo fun!

No Post Explanation

Okay so I haven't posted in a LONG time and figured no one really looked so it wouldn't matter. I don't mean that to sound like "pity me" or anything...I was just thinking that no one really had been commenting on my posts lately so people probably weren't looking, ya know? But my sweet sister Ang asked me today why I hadn't been posting and that she looks every day. I was like, "you look at my blog?" :) So since I know there are a few of you out there (my sweet upline Linsdey being on of my few commenors and cj!) I will start posting again! :) So thank you for looking and I'll post more often!

Snow Layout for Saturday's party!

The strip of river rock cardstock on the right page is for everyone at the party to make their own. They can put journaling, a subtitle, snowflakes, or more pictures! I am excited to see what everyone comes up with! For those of us that don't have snow (I fall into that category now) I thought a winter title would be just as cute. I LOVE the supersize snowflake stamp. It is so fun. I am also going to use an exacto blade to cut the inside of the big snowflake-to get the last of the vanilla! I'll have to post it when I get that done.

Retreat classes in a nut shell

Here are the classes I am offering!
Family/Fall Layout $5
Holiday Layout $5
Coasters (4) $6
Tile Magnets (4) $3
(8) $5
Holiday mini album $5
Everyday mini album $5
Tags (10) $1.50
Lindsey has her projects posted on her blog and they are darling! We are both so excited for retreat and the fun things that await!!!

Holiday Mini Album

I am so excited with how the mini albums turned out! What grandparent, friend, sister, aunt, uncle or parent wouldn't want this cute album with pictures of your loved ones? They are very easy to put together and fun too!
Class is $5 for one album.

Mini Album #2

This album is a great for any pictures! If you want this one to be more masculine there is an option to use so saffron instead of the pink. If you want to do that just specify when you sign up for the class! These albums are SO fun!

Quick Tags

Here are a few of the tags I came up with for retreat. Tags are a cute way to dress up your gift or goodies but quicker than a card. They will come with silver cord to tie them to your gift. Tags will be in sets of 10 for $1.50.

Holiday Layout Class

Here is the second layout I will be offering for the retreat classes. This class is $5 and will be on Saturday. Just let me know if you want one but can't make it and I will set a kit aside for you!

Make and Take

This is the make and take I will be doing for the demonstrator meeting at Lindsey's house tomorrow night. I used versa mark on the river rock and thought it turned out cool. I haven't used versa mark in a long time!
I want to do something with this stamp set for Emily's party next Saturday as well. I think it is such a cute set...I borrowed it from Linsdey! Maybe this will be yet another set that I need to get!

Colors: Really rust, Wild wasabi, river rock, very vanilla and versa mark. Wild wasabi double stitched ribbon and true friend stamp set.

Prices

Okay so I figured out the pricing for the classes so far and here they are:
Coasters- set of 4: $6 (with felt circles on the bottom corners)
Magnets -set of 4: $3 or set of 8: $5
Scrapbook Layout (fall, family or thanksgiving): $5
Let me know if you have any questions!

Friday's Scrapbook Class: Layout in 15 minutes or less!

Imagine some really cute pictures on here!!! :) There will be pictures across the green on both pages (3 pictures of 3 x 3 or 2 of 3 x 5) and a 4 x 6 picture on the 2 rust areas. We will also be putting more photo corners as you need them. This will be the layout offered at the friday class at retreat. I thought this would make a darling family, fall or thanksgiving layout! Cost for this kit will be $5 in 12 x 12. Let me know if you want an 8.5 x 11 and I will make a smaller kit for you. This layout is very quick and easy as the chipboard "f" or "t" will already be cut and ready to stick on. I made this layout to be put together in 15 minutes!!! Then you can add pictures when you get them developed or if you already have fall or family pictures you can add them after! Sign up now for this cute but quick layout!
If you can't make it to retreat on Friday let me know and I can make a kit and set it aside for you!

Magnets

Here are some examples of the tile magnets we will be making at retreat. They are 2 x 2 tiles and they will be offered in sets of 4. The possibilities are endless. You can make 4 of the same or 4 different, and make whatever you want! . They are super fast and very easy. They take a while to dry so it will be perfect for retreat. You can stamp the images (taking all of...oh 3 minutes) and get back to your scrapping while they dry!!! I have some halloween magnets on my fridge (my sister made them and that's where I got the idea) and I LOVE them. They actaully hold things under them!!! Very easy and a fun gift as well. Here are some other magnets that you can use for just about anything!

Winter Wonderland Retreat

Lindsey and I will be posting projects on our blog that will be offered in classes at retreat. If you are interested in any of the projects let us know and we'll be happy to add you to the class! There will be several classes you can join like tile coasters, scrapbook layouts, tags, bag toppers, containers and stuff, framed art, stamp-a-stack of Christmas cards, mini album gift and more. Cost for the classes will vary by class. Or for those of you that have enough going on already you can come and get caught up on your latest projects! Or if you are like me you just close the gap with getting caught up...I am never "caught up!" :) Retreat will be in cabins in Latham Springs (just outside West, Texas). It is $60 which includes your room and board, all meals, fun games, an awesome goody-bag, great company, a secret sister exchange, and some surprises! It is so much fun you won't want to miss it! Saturday only is $35 and includes everything but the room and board...you still get the great goody bag!
Dates to Remember:

Deadline to sign up for retreat is October 20th
when half of your money is due.

Deadline to sign up for classes is October 27th
when the rest of your money is due.

We will be placing a Stampin up order and are offering
a great discount to any of you going to retreat that want
to order before we go crazy with projects and fun! :)
Orders are due by the 27th.

Thanks for looking and we hope to see you at Retreat!

Tile Coasters for Retreat: Paisley set of 4

I LOVE the paisley stamp and think these turned out darling. I love the antique look that the tile gives the stamp. These pictures don't really capture how cute they really are! I guess you'll have to trust me! These coasters are so easy to make and are a fun and thoughtful gift. You are welcome to use different stamps if you want to change them up or personalize them.

Supersize Snowflake Set

I used stazon ink pads and clear embossing powder. There is a matte finish spray to make sure there is moisture resistance. The bottom of the coasters will have felt circles to prevent the coasters from scratching tables or surfaces. I think these turned out really cute and even like them with a little word or something in the blank corner.

A little change!

Okay so I redid the title on the cousins layout and added a few things cause everytime I scrolled past that layout it bothered me. I think I like it a lot better now!

Winter Kick

Okay so I am on a roll with winter pictures! I found these pictures in my box and thought it would be fun to scrap our first Christmas together. These pictures were the only ones taken so I wanted to make sure and get the page done. I can't believe that this December will be our 7 year anniversary. That is CRAZY! Time has flown by, especially these past 2 years, and I couldn't be happier. I am married to the best man! :)

Used: see layout below! plus red gingham ribbon and always artichoke!

Snow Layout

I love these pictures! It made me miss the snow but then when my sister-in-law told me it was 50 degrees in Utah I remembered how cold the snow is and then I was okay! I do miss my family but that is a given. Especially since we won't be going home for Christmas this year. I have never had a Christmas away from them so this will be a first.
I used the retired "All the Trimmings" scrappin kit. These kits are so FUN!

Colors used: Real Red, Night of Navy, Brocade Blue and Whisper White. Red grosgrain ribbon.