It has been a bit of a dry crafting week. Aaaagain!

Oooh, oooh! Wait! We have been baking, can I count that towards being crafty?

J. found a new choco chip recipe for us to try last week. So we did. You know it took so much coercing, too.

They were really yummy except that the walnuts were a little old. Did you know walnuts can go stale? Yeah, that is the tip of the day. Probably ought to buy walnuts more than just once a year. So we are going to attempt the cookies again this week, sans nuts.

Tonight I made some blueberry crisp since two little girlies (who shall remain nameless) convinced me that we had to have two pounds of blueberries, and then said little girlies didn’t seemed to want to eat any blueberries. But bathed in a little sugar, oatmeal and butter, they are delicious! I forgot to take a photo, but I’m eating some now as I post…and trust me, it is good.

I know, I’m really grasping at straws here with the baking, and I did manage a few birthday cards, but I can’t show them yet since…well, they are still waiting to be stamped and sent out.

Which, by the way, today is my best friend Kimmer’s birthday today! (Um, hi Kimmer! It is your card that is still sitting on my desk…it is coming, sorry!)  Will you pop on over and give her a little birthday love, for me? Sending happy thoughts your way today, Kimmer. Four more years! Eeeeee!!!

And in return for doing that little favor – I promise to have some real crafting for next week!

k-thanks-buh-bye!

I had such good intentions this weekend, I even had a few hours off, but alas I was only able to complete one layout for our Crafty Tuesday. I have decided that I am going to try to tackle the “big events” of 2007 and 2008 (oh, and maybe a few from 2006, too) and get them done before summer is over. I’m talking Christmases, Birthdays, maybe some vacations.

I think this one falls into my “big event” criteria…a layout focused on Em’s year of preschool.

I wanted to make sure that I got her first “class photo” archived. (Obviously I blurred out the photo – it is actually a pretty good photo – but I don’t have everyone’s permission to post their photos.)

I was inspired by some school-type embellishments that I got recently. I love the notebook paper and I used one of the library cards and tucked it behind the photo with the names of the kids so we would remember who they were, looking back.

So that is all I have for the week. Do you have anything good? Leave a comment so we can come visit you, too.

Nope, don’t have anything to show this week. My week of vacationing put a damper on my crafting. However the past few days home I have been very productive, just not in a crafty way – more like “household productive” and purely out of necessity.

While we were away J. cleaned out his “corner” of the garage and we now have a very big load of stuff for the Veterans to pick up. So I have been cleaning out a few more closets to continue the paring down. Man, it sure does feel good to have almost all of our closets and cupboards organized. We’re very, very close.

And then yesterday the girls and I completed Operation Kitchen Extreme. It wasn’t pretty. We went through the entire fridge/freezer and each cupboard and purged, reorganized, and re-stocked. Maybe it will encourage me to actually cook some interesting meals for the next few weeks. I expect it will only last a few weeks, though, and then I’ll be back to “argh..what do we do for dinner?!”

This week I fully intend to blog about our vacation, print some new photos out (I have frames all over the house that need to be filled) and scrapbook. Emma has asked me for the past two days if we are going to scrapbook, and I keep telling her we will, so for sure I’ll have something for you all next week.

Click around and see what everyone else is up to!

I’m here…well, not HERE, I’m actually on vacation. But I have a few things held over from last week and thanks to the modern technology and wonder of the timestamp, I’ve posted this even though I haven’t looked at a computer in well over three days. (And, just hypothesizing here, but I’m thinking I’m having a very good time!)

So on to the cards that I made last week and are getting delivered this week. More of the cool envelopes that I learned to do a few weeks ago from Kim.

An anniversary card –

A birthday card for my niece –

A birthday card for a friend –

And another birthday card for my sister –

That’s what is doing over here, or was doing – what about you all?  Got some good stuff this week?

Ahem…yes, it is indeed Tuesday.

Sorry ’bout that. Of course I have nothing this week. Blame it on our nearly constant vacationing and the time it takes to unpack/repack for all of these jaunts.

But I know Stacy has some goodies to share. Maybe next week?

Taking a moment away from my crazy project (that is due today to the client…well, technically tomorrow, Wed., so really tonight, before I go to sleep – argh!) to show you what arrived on my doorstep for my birthday last week.

Ready for it?

My lovely friend Kim sent this to me…

Filled with this yumminess…

And I’ve only been able to steal a few minutes away to use it for two measly little Teacher Appreciation cards for Em’s teachers last week…

I am so dreaming of it and lusting after all the fun my new tote and I could be having.

Meanwhile it sits on my craft desk mocking me, willing me to come play.

Must…Return…To…Stupid…Work…Project.

The force is strong with this one. I have a feeling the cute little pink and brown tote may win this weekend. I hope it does, at least.

I also hope you all have some craftiness to share so I can sit whilst I’m brain dead tomorrow and enjoy a little blog surfing.

Check it – two weeks in a row that I have something for Crafty Tuesday! I’m psyched about these layouts, too. I really like them.

I was looking through Em’s baby scrapbook and one of the layouts I did for Em I called “A Year of Emma Grace” and I had scrapped a photo from each month of her first year. I liked ending the book like that, so I decided to do a similar one for Addie’s book.

This may be one of my favorite layouts of all time. I really love the paper (click it to see it up close) and of course it has some of my favorite baby Addie photos. So I’m very pleased with how that one turned out.

I also like the other one I did on Saturday night. The title reads “The Perfect Summer Day.” The photos are from one of our Sunday trips to the beach last summer. And now that it was almost 90 degrees here today, I’m hoping we get back to the beach…soon!

What sort of craftiness did you partake in this week?

I actually HAVE something today – I know you can hardly believe it. Behold, my craftiness for the week.

This week I made a few birthday cards for some friends, I can’t remember where I saw this idea of buttons for flowers, but It was a fun little task. (Vic and Aunt C. – you’ll have to let me know how they travel through the mail!) So the flowers are buttons, I drew the stems and leaves, and stamped the “wishes.”

AND…I also have two layouts that I got done while the kids were playing together last night. Sweet.

The first was inspired by this post from last year and is called First Born.

(click for big)

I’m still not completely happy with the title – that may get redone. I was going to do a paint/wash on some chipboard, but I didn’t have the right letters in the right size, and since I’m trying to use what I’ve got before splurging on any other scrappin’ goods…I didn’t get to complete my “vision” for this one.

The second one is pretty self-explanatory.

The tag on the left says “Sisters through thick and thin” and I finally got to use this velvet bric-brac ribbon that I’ve had for ages – it is the prettiest color green (doesn’t come through all that well in the photos, but it is pretty!) and was perfect between all of the photos.

It felt so good to get back to doing some creative things for a change. Now what do you have to show for the week?