Autism Awareness

The band, Five for Fighting, is generously donating $0.40 to Autism Speaks for *each time* the video is viewed. The funding goes toward research studies to help find a cure. When you have a moment, please visit the link below to watch the video and pass it along to your friends and family. They are aiming for 10,000 hits, but hopefully we can help them to surpass this goal. Note: Check out the number of views...almost 70,000!!! Second note:12/25/07 We're over 80,000 and still climbing...very cool!


To view the video, please click HERE

Frames are my new best friend!!

Here is a set of four frames I bought for dirt cheap to make into Christmas presents. This set is for my mom! Please let me know what you think...as I am uncertain of one of them, only because they use a different color scheme. I am thinking the one will go to the other set I need to make, but will be eager to hear what y'all think!!

Another Present

Here is the last present for my secret holiday friend at work. Tomorrow we reveal who we are!! She will get this, an empty scrapbook, and a coupon to craft with me (she wants to start being "crafty")and if I can bribe her the ever so talened Jennifer aka jkschumaker on SCS and my SU Demo, and my coworker and my stampin friend. I really hope Katie likes it!!

I still have so much to do to be ready for Christmas...is anyone else feeling overwhelmed???

Don't you hate it when...

you've got the scrapbooking mojo going strong and then you run out of adhesive? Grrr.

So, tomorrow I will be going to the store for some adhesive and...umm, there was something else I needed...really, making lists is such a good idea...ya just need to right it down when you think of it. Like right now I am thinking I need to go load my old vacuum cleaner in my car that I am donating for one of our families at work. Welcome to Keri's random thoughts...off to put a vacuum in my car!

Presents Galore

I started working on a scrapbook for my niece for Christmas...she is a horse lover, so I scrapped photos of her riding and doing her horse thing...the pics I took of the pages aren't too hot, as I had already put a couple of the pages in their page protectors.


























The next item I worked on was a cute lil frame for my Secret Holiday Friend at work. Hope she likes it!!

New Look

So, do you like it? I thought it was time for a lil change so here it is. I had big plans to be crafty yesterday, but Friday night on the way home I got struck by the sickies. I was achy, sore throat, fever, and just generally feeling yucky. My fever was even higher yesterday and I was just miserable. I spent the day sleeping and lying around. I feel better today, no fever, just a lil achy and the lingering sore throat, but I think it must have been a 24 hour bug, thank goodness!! Thanks for "listening" to me whine about yet another of my illnesses. I am going to treat myself to a Starbucks and then see what kind of crafting I can get done...my pics came in that I need for the mini-scrapbooks I am making for Christmas presents so that sounds like a good place to start. I will post something soon I hope!!

Big on Christmas

I am loving this stamp set from Stampin' Up!!! Here are the cards I have made today...only 2, one from this weekend. I got some cleaning done today, took a nap and relaxed. Didn't get as much done as I wanted to, but that's OK!!

Doing the happy dance!!!

Well, the bad news is that they city is covered with a layer of ice. The GOOD news is...no work tomorrow! I am so excited I can hardly stand it. So, I have plans to do some craftin' and cleanin' tomorrow!

So, I have a card to post, but the bed is calling my name...so I will make you wait til tomorrow...all like 5 of you faithful readers ;0 If I have left anyone out of the count, please stand up and be counted!!

Thank goodness Christmas only comes once a year...

cause I would weigh 1000 lbs. if it happened more than that. Today I made about 100 peanut butter balls. My fingers were cramping by the time I got done.

I was supposed to go to a friends tonight to stamp, but I am so exhausted I decided to veg. I thought I might get some cards made, but I did not.

So, here is a card I made the other night. Please tell me what you think because I cannot decide if I like it or not. The tree and sentiment is from the Believe set from Papertry Ink. I stamped it with the Tsukineko Glue Pad, then added green fun flock. I added some bling with some swarovski crystals. The ribbon is from the Theater ribbon from SU. I also used my new rectangle scalloped nestabilities dies...so lovin them!! I was trying a way out of my comfort zone color combo...so please let me know if I went too far out ;)

More Christmas Cards

I had a fairly productive weekend. Got errands run...and quite a few Christmas cards knocked out!! You should see my living room..it is a MESS!! I brought my stampin stuff upstairs to sit in front of the TV while creating...I seem to get more done that way!

So, about the cards...I was going for simple this year and I think I achieved that ;).
The last card is one of my faves. It is made with A Muse cardstock, SU trees, one penguin from a Denami Design penguin group (5 cuties in a row), the igloo is from Memory Box and the sentiment is from A Muse. My fave part is that I have learned how to do the "shadowing" thing underneath images so they don't look like they are floating on the paper. I love how this effect looks...makes it look so realistic. The card was done simply with black VersaMagik ink, but the lil penguin has a touch of red stickles on his bow tie and hat and some liquid applique on his hat. He looks adorable!!

Christmas Cards

I have been loving the Christmas cards using colors that aren't necessarily seen as typical Christmas colors. So tonight I used some of the patterned paper I picked up at my fave LSS, Stamper's Ink in Shawnee, Kansas!!

I used Versamark to stamp the tree (Stampin Up) and the cute polka dots (Great Impressions). The photo corners are punched with the Stampin Up punch. The sentiment (Hero Arts) is stamped in Timber Brown StazOn.

It isn't often that I finish a card and love it this much...but I love how this turned out...now to reproduce it!!

So many Christmas presents to make...

and this one is super easy and in my opinion TOTALLY cute!!! I got the idea of Ali Edward's blog ~ Ali is amazing!! (There is a link to her blog on the side bar!)

Anyways, it's a button tree. I bought two packs of buttons from Archiver's and mixed them together to make this. I used pearl topped pins (nope, that's not the "technical" name for them, lol) There are about 150 buttons and pins on this tiny lil tree. I was thinking about doing a three tree trio (say that three times fast), but will need a lot more buttons and a ton more pins, so I am going to reevaluate.

Now, what to do with the top of it...anyone have any brilliant ideas??

The last of the Kim Hughes place cards!

Here are the last pics of the name place cards I made for Turkey Day dinner. And a pic of them after Tori put our names on them...I think they turned out quite nicely, well, other than the fact that Tori left the c out of my mom, Nancy's name. We had quite a giggle over that!!

Oh, and today I about wet my pants when lil ole me got a comment from THE KIM HUGHES on my blog. Yes, she #1 looked at my blog...and #2 left a comment. I feel like I must be THE coolest person ever to have a comment from Kim!!

Another Card with Kim Hughes Stamps

Here is a card I made for my parent's for Thanksgiving...this bird and his sentiment are just too much!! I love them!! Hope you like them too!

Kim Hughes Collection from Cornish Heritage Farm

Oh my goodness, Kim Hughes makes the most adorable stamps. I am so in love with her Let's Get Stuffed set. I started making some place settings for Thanksgiving dinner at my mom's house. I need to make 4 more tomorrow night...but here's what I've got done so far...I will let my niece and nephew add the names!

Tagged

I was tagged by my friend Christi and am REQUIRED to answer the following questions :)


1. If you could have $100.00 worth of scrapbook paper or assorted embellishments, which would you choose? Umm, that's all I get, 100 bucks, I guess I would buy a bunch of the SU designer PP that is buy 3 get one free...more bang for my buck!
2. If you had to choose between using only stamps or ribbons, which would you choose? Stamps and ribbon, lol, I love them both, but seriously...stamps
3. If you knew how to do both awesome cards and layouts but could only do one for a whole year…which would you do? Awesome cards!!
4. Would you rather own a scrap book store or have your own scrapping room at home? Hmm, scrapping room at home
5. What is your CURRENT card making or scrapping style? Umm, I dunno...I like simple, cutesy stuff I guess and would like to work on a bit more elegant and less busy style, if that makes any sense!!

So, I am supposed to tag 5 more people, but since I doubt that 5 people who haven't already been tagged read my blog, I will skip that part, but feel free to play if you want to. Yes, I know, I will have bad luck for 14 years since I am not tagging anyone, lol!!

One Artist, One City, Nine Nights

I got to go to the Garth Brooks concert last Sunday as a birthday present from my friend Cala. I went with her and her husband, sister, and mom and dad. It was absolutely amazing. Garth is such an fantastic performer!! Thought I'd share pics of the awesome event. Doesn't it look like he's pointing right at me in the second one??? No chance of that...we were pretty high up just to the side of the stage, but the seats were still great!!

Gina K card

Gina K has some of the most adorable stamps! I love that she had created the Stamps for a Cause, very, very cool. I have an order of more Gina K stamps on the way...but here's one I made with the Love You To Pieces set!!

I am sooooooo sorry!

Sorry I have been MIA! And even sorrier that I promised my few loyal readers a card and didn't get one done. To make it up to you, I will give you two. But I need to be honest with you...none of the cards I am posting were made in the last two weeks like I have planned, but this weekend, stamping is ON!!! Starting with a Stampin' Up party Friday night and Christmas card making this weekend! So, on to the cards....

The Halloween card was made for a swap. I used the Cuttlebug to die cut the ghost and then sponged the edges, the spider and the BOO!. The house is stamped with black Staz On, then embossed, which never shows up too well in pics.

The next card I made because I had seen so many of the cute quilty looking cards. I have to say I am not so happy with how this turned out, but I am mostly having issues with the not precisely perfect size and placement of each of the squares! Please let me know what you think!

I'm back....

Well, my mind over matter attempt to not get sick didn't work. I ended up with bronchitis, a sinus infection and ear infections. I felt awful all last week. I am finally recovering, although my meds are reaking havoc on my sleep and stomach.

I found my Gamsol It was still in the bag I used to take stamping tools to a friends house! I have gotten some coloring done for what I think will be one of my Christmas cards. I will get it put together and get it posted here...my blog about stamping hasn't got much stampin stuff lately

I promise...I will post a creation this week!!

Quick Post

Hi all!! I had such great plans for getting some stamping done today, but my body thinks it should try and get sick. My head says NO THANK YOU :) So, I have taken it easy today, but did spend some time in my stampin' space cleaning a bit, trying to find my Gamsol, which seems to have disappeared, which I just don't understand considering it's a big ole' thing of it and should not be easy to misplace...grrr. Will try and get some stampin' done soon so I can post my JDRF Walk thank you cards and templates for my christmas cards!

If you know where my Gamsol went to, I apparently need all the help I can get, lol!! Have a great week!!

JDRF Walk Day

Introducing Sierra's Super Steppers!!!

Walk Day ended up not happening :( . A huge storm rolled in sometime after midnight Friday night and spend most of Saturday dropping tons of water in the KC metro. We were planning on trying to walk in the POURING rain, but when the lightning kicked in high gear we decided it wasn't such a good idea. My parents and I went to the walk site for me to drop off a couple of checks and pick up our t-shirts, and just walking to the tent and back to the car, my pants from right above my knees (where my raincoat stopped :)) were soaked through. We had a good family weekend despite the JDRF Walk rainout!!

WCMD

I had such a great day today! Ran some errands prepping for a sleepover tonight, then went to my friend Keri's and made cards. It was so much fun. We made 3 each of 4 different Christmas cards! I have never gone to one of these events and I really enjoyed myself. It's nice to be with other stampers, sharing ideas and creating together!! It's also nice to just copy someone elses ideas, lol!!

Tonight, my niece Sierra and nephew Luke came over to spend the night. We had a ton of fun. We made cupcakes, played outside with the water gun, made spooky foam haunted houses, watched some TV, played with their hoola hoop, colored, and giggled a lot!!

Hoping to get some more stamping done tomorrow!! Hope everyone had a great World Card Making Day!!!

JDRF Walk Update

Two weeks before walk day and I have successfully reached my goal!!! Now, if you go to my website, you will see that it shows me $200 away, but I have a check that I will turn in on walk day and in the week following, it will show up on there and you will get to see and hear the lil people clap!

The last donation to reach my goal came from an incredible girl I know and I am touched by each and every one of your donations, but this one made me cry even harder than the rest. In honor of her, I will post the Bible verse she referenced with her donation, Isaiah 40:31 "They that hope in the Lord will renew their strength, they will soar as with eagles' wings: They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint." She is a truly amazing girl and I am so thankful to know her and her amazing family!!

Now...just because I have reached my goal doesn't mean that if you want to donate that you can't. Every dollar counts...and how cool would it be to surpass my goal!! The link is listed on the left toolbar if you wanna help me surpass my goal!!

The last day of September 2007

A lovely end to a pretty lovely month. Today was a nice day, I slept in, ran to the grocery store for a couple of items, did a few things around the house, made a pumpkin shaped cookie cake, and dinner for my mom, dad, sister Kathy, her husband Sean, and my niece and nephew Sierra and Luke. Spaghetti for lil miss picky Sierra. Tacos (or burritos as Luke called them) for the rest of us. It was my mom's request, she likes my tacos, which seems kind of silly to me, as they are exactly what she made for us growing up, just with the addition of refried beans and sour cream as an option on them, and flour tortillas instead of corn. But they are easy to make, and if that's what my mom wants, that what she gets :) They were a remarkable hit which is nice!!

I bought orange, yellow, white and black frosting for the kiddos to frost their cookie cake with, which they enjoyed, and they both had black teeth and tongues from. Sierra's favorite part was going over to her dad and asking him for a kiss, at the time, he and my dad were watching the football game, so when she asked he wasn't looking at her, he leaned over to kiss her, and saw her mouth and he kind of jumped back, which Sierra thought was just hysterical.

I have these pretty flower shaped pillows on my couch which, umm, the Adam's family decided to wear as hats.

September's Almost Gone

Can you believe it's almost October...I am so excited to get my fall and Halloween decorations out!! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays!!

Today was another long day at work!! But it was another good day at work. Still so much to do. Today will be another packed day, but I will be leaving at a reasonable hour because my parents are coming tomorrow night!! They will stay with me Friday night, then we will go to soccer games and other niece/hephew events :)

Next week I will finally be able to get all of my staff together to give them their paint cans. Also included in the paint can will be this poem and the lil goodies (the lil goodies can be substituted for other items that would fit, I had to do this) it describes. Here is the poem!

Inside this little paint can
Is only a tiny treasure
Meant to give each of you
A little bit of pleasure
But most of all to say how much
I value what you do
And thank you for a team that is
A Director’s dream come true!

Chocolate Kahlua Candy
When the hand print turkeys from November have morphed into hand print reindeer for December, calm yourself before you say anything by taking a relaxing break with your nonalcoholic :( chocolate.

Groovy Eraser
Great for cleaning up your language when you’ve been a bit too frank on your classroom/home visit observations or monthly reports.

Pumpkin Lotion
After a long day of entering or checking child plus data, give yourself a soothing lift with this pumpkin concoction.

Smiley Guy
When data entry, ECI, NRS, outcomes and all the rest are getting you down, take this little guy out to remind yourself of what is really important, and keep the joy in your job! (Pounding him down on the table a few times is also a great stress reliever)

Ghirardelli Chocolate
As this fine quality chocolate melts in your mouth, take a moment to acknowledge your own loveliness and the quality work you do every day. You truly are the best!

Gold Coin
When the paycheck doesn’t quite add up to the amount of hours and dedication you put into your job, look at this coin and remember that to me, you are worth your weight in gold!!!

Tuesday September 25

A rainy Tuesday here in Kansas City!!! They weren't able to replace my windshield because of it, so we have rescheduled for Thursday. Yet another busy day at work, with too many meetings and not enough time to get things done at my desk. The best part of my day was the HUGE hug I got from a little boy in the hallway, one of those hugs where they wrap their whole little body around you and hold on for dear life. Made my day!! And the second best part was the baby who was pulling himself up to stand and sitting back down behind a shelf to play peek a boo with me...the grin and giggle he let out every time I said "peek-a-boo" was delightful!!!

Next Tuesday is our 5th Annual Golf Tournament to benefit our agency. I am especially excited because my mom and dad will be coming to play, and I haven't seen them in way too long! They haven't decided yet when they will get here.

Then in two weeks is the Juvenile Diabetes walk. My mom and dad, both sisters and their husbands, and my nieces (2) and nephews (2) will be here. If you are interested in supporting us, please see the link on the sidebar!! Any amount, small or large, is greatly appreciated!!! I am almost halfway to my goal...I can use any help you are willing to give!! :)

Monday September 24th

Today was a long day at work! Board of Director's meeting tonight, so I didn't get home until after 8. Makes for a bit of a difficult night to get home, get dinner and get some things accomplished, but I sure am trying!! Tomorrow is a jam packed day, including having a mobile unit coming out to my work to replace my windshield. Something gynormous flew at me and hit my windshield while driving on the highway to work a couple weeks ago. It scared the dickens out of me and left a circle of cracks about 1 inch across on my windshield.

This past week has been a week of being thankful for insurance. For my car, I will be paying the $250 deductible, which yes, sucks, but the cost of a windshield alone is more than that, so it's all good. And my health insurance has covered a shot to try and help my endometreosis. I got the billing for that...it would have cost me $1857.01, but I got it for the low low price of nothing right now, and maybe a $25 copay.

I need to head down and get some stamping stuff together to send off as a prezzies to some peeps. And a swap I need to put the finishing touches on so I can get that in the mail. So much to do, so little time!!

Sunday

I got a ton accomplished today. Errands run, house cleaned and these cute lil prezzies made for the staff I supervise.

Saturday's Musings

Today has been a good day! Slept in, though I didn't sleep too well, since I decided not to set my alarm and I kept waking up because I was afraid I would oversleep and miss my lunch date. I met a friend who I used to work with at one of my fave places, Andre's. They make the most luscious quiche, always have a nice side, today was tomato slices and green been salad, YUM, and then you get a dessert, which they are famous for. I had (go ahead and giggle at my phonetic spelling of this one) the matter horn, which I almost always have because it is so sinfully delicious. Linda, my friend, and I caught up and giggled about old stories that we love. Our friend Leann wasn't able to make it this time, so we will just have to go back soon.

I stopped by my fave LSS, Stamper's Ink, www.stampersink.net, to pick up the Trick or Treat pail topper by Stampendous. I am going to make several someones (who shall remain nameless in case they read this) a present for Halloween. I also got some great orange and black Stickles for my Halloween project.

I came home, vegged for a bit, then got some cleaning done. Mopped, dusted, tidied, made the bed, wiped down the fridge and did some decluttering. My allergies are not cooperating with my desire to clean, so I am taking a break. Need to get some of my crafting projects done, but the cleaning bug bit me.

I have to figure out something to make for dinner, and then let the crafting begin!!

It's Friday!!!

This week seemed very long, yet seemed to go by fast...does that make any sense?? Today was another good day at work. Lots accomplished, still so much to do. It's that time of year when licensing and accreditation reports are due, and while they're not hard, they are tedious and time consuming!

I have a list of stamping and cardmaking items that I want to try and get done this weekend. I am so excited... I went to this fabulous training last week in San Diego, and I got to talking about my cards, and the trainer has asked me to send her some cards...how cool is that!! I could start my own little business on the side!!

Here are a few more cards including another Bella I have made...hopefully this weekend you will actually get to see something I made recently!!!