Dallas Superbowl

It is so exciting that the Packers won and are now going to Texas for Super Bowl!! We actually will be heading there too the day before the big game but have had this trip planned since fall to see my brother Tony who lives in Fort Worth. Not sure we are going to find tickets to the game or be able to afford them but might just do some tailgating if nuthing else.

2 years ago when we were there last I took these pictures of the new stadium that they were just finishing so it will be interesting to see it all completed now. It kinda reminded me of a giant spaceship that had just landed.

Enjoy!

Colorbok

Do you do Colorbok surveys like I do? They send out the neatest thank you gifts just for doing them via email. Sometimes it is paper packs and boy do they have some pretty ones but this last week it was a kit called friendly forest. It came complete with album, papers, embellishments, stickers and letters. I've had so much fun working with it and can't believe that I have finished 10 pages already. This really is a kit to buy if you want to complete an album without buying allot of extra's. Above is the pretty blue album that came with the kit.

I loved these papers with the unique frames and found just the right pictures to use. The only item not in the kit was the little saying about brothers & the Lion embellishment.

These next two pages.....

...everything was in the kit except for the jewels that I used on the eyes and in the tree. I also used my smooch to make a few things pop a little more.

This page I did add a few more things that I had in my scraproom.

On the picture mat I used Fiskars threading water border punch and ran a ribbon through it. I put gems in the flowers for some sparkle. I punched out the yellow hearts with my Fiskars scalloped heart punch & added one to the center of the big white flower. The other one was added to a foam white heart that has some extra bling hanging on it (an old earring) and then I used some crystal stickles to make the heart glitter! I really like the way it turned out.

So I just wanted to show how much you can get accomplished sometimes when you get a complete kit that has great papers & embellishments too! Thanks Colorbok!

Update on the house sale

Well it sure has been a whirlwind year that has gone by. Things change so much when selling a house. It was hard enough cleaning, packing things up and even showcasing the room in a different way..........like my scraproom. If you look below you can see pictures of my craft room and then I will show you how it looks now with a beautiful daybed in it. Bad part is that ALLOT of my scrap supplies got boxed up so I have slim pickings to craft with now.

Ok so when I look at it now.........it did look cluttered tho it was well organized!

So within the first few weeks we had an accepted offer for FULL price but then they backed out the very next day. I do think he had a job transfer to be a school district supervisor and found out too late that he had to live in the district. That was a big disappointment. The rest of the summer was full of showings and then lowering the price a few times.

In August we got an offer on our house so we started doing some serious house hunting because within weeks the gal buying our house had a buyer for hers. The first house we found was really neat, low taxes, great neighborhood, awesome yard but it was a quad level just like the one we are moving out of so after careful thought we walked away from that. It was looking pretty hopeless and then we found THE house. Best part it was vacant so we could start moving in right away. It had the most awesome craft room with all around the room countertop, shelves, drawers and even a sink. I couldn't wait to begin scrapping in it. So next came packing stuff up, changing utilities and getting home insurance to cover both places. The week in September when we were supposed to be moving our realtor told us their was a problem with the one buyer getting financing (not our buyer but her buyer).....so all week we held our breath and then it all fell through. It was really hard getting that phone call and then cancelling utilities, insurance and friends coming to help move.

So here we sit with lots of boxes still packed but we still have a buyer. She needs to sell her house and then it's off to find another house.......hopefully it won't happen until spring and the snow and cold weather goes away.

I have started scrapping again and have been making allot of cards this year. This week I made a gratitude journal. I found writing down one good thing each day kept me from dwelling on all the negative things going on in my family life. Here's a couple pictures of it.

Well that's it for now & Hopefully I will be back allot sooner then in the past!

Selling Our Home

It sure looks like I have been too busy for my blog and it sure is true. We put our house on the market a few weeks ago and if anyone has sold a home.....then you know how much work goes into getting it ready. I donated car loads to Goodwill while cleaning closets, drawers and just de-cluttering! Trying to keep my craft room clean and organized has been another challenge but I have been working on some projects which I hope to show you later this week.

We were lucky that the middle of March when Kevin had vacation, we had wonderful weather in the 60's. So we got all the yard raked and cleaned up from the dreary winter. Last week we actually had a few days near 80 so I have yellow daffodils blooming and purple crocus too! Hopefully after yesterday and todays rain, everything will be green as so much is already up in the flower beds. Pretty early for Wisconsin as we have had snow storms in April many times but what the heck I will take it! We even woke up one morning last week to find 2 ducks swimming(not the greatest picture as we haven't started up the pond yet) in our pond!

We get asked every day why we are selling our beautiful home. We moved here to Stevens Point about 8 years ago and have done so much inside and out. We have hand painted murals in the kitchen, bathroom and of course out by the indoor swimming pool. We were so lucky to find a budding artist at the University to do that all. Anyone following my blog have seen all the gorgeous pictures of my gardens with the small pond and waterfall............that I will really miss!We have put on a new roof, new garage doors and did just about everything I can think of too.....we are hoping our next home will have all that stuff done so all we will have to do is put our personal touch on it and start some new gardens.

The downsize of this house is that it is 3400 feet which is way too big for just 2 people (and allot to clean). We had hoped when moving up here that the kids would come up with their little ones to visit and take advantage of the pool but they have such busy lives and they are over 2 hours away so it is pretty rare that they get up here. It also is a quad level home which means there are always steps (8 to most levels) to go up and down. At first we thought this is a breeze after living in a loft above my business in downtown Watertown as that place must have had at least 25 steps going up from street level but as the years have gone by both Kevin & I are feeling it in our knees. That is the real reason why we are selling now. We are hoping someone will want to take advantage of the first time home buyers credit etc which does end at the end of this month. In this economy and our part of Wisconsin, this home is a "steal" going only for $179,000 and that includes a double lot with a sprinkler system too. If we were near Madison or Milwaukee...........a house this size with the pool and sauna would go for at least $250,000 but we are hoping to find another house that we can put our love into and also enjoy as much as we have this one. You can find the listing on Coldwellhomes.com and the i.d. # is SP26Z.

We will miss our neighborhood, it is awesome, and all our nice neighbors. We are hoping to find a nice ranch home out in the country with a little land and maybe if we are really lucky on some water so we can fish too! Not going to look too hard until we have some serious nibbles on this place. Never been good at the waiting game but some things just are out of my control.

My Valentine Project

Last month I got a wonderful gift in the mail from a secret sister for Christmas. It was a kit from Paisley and Polka Dots that was called You hold the ticket to my heart. I've seen their kits online and often drooled over them but never took that splurge to buy one for myself. Needless to say I was tickled pink and couldn't wait to start as it would be a present for my husband.

First of all the most amazing part is that this kit comes in separate plastic bags where every piece for that page is sorted and pre cut. The instructions were flawless and came with pictures that were numbered so you knew which piece to put on first etc. Talk about taking out the part we all dislike the most.........cutting........especially for these hearts that had scalloped edges. Oh my that would have been fun! Actually all I needed to complete this project was glue, stapler and some pop dots.

I started off by inking all the edges of all the pieces with a stain ( I used a walnut color). After letting that dry I started working on the title page. I'm not sure if I would have chosen all the different patterns of papers to use together but the end result was great. I loved the crocheted heart in the middle and using the stick pin too. I added the key with a tag gun.

The back of the title page ended up having room for a picture plus the Love notes place to write on. In between this page and the next there was a smaller chipboard heart and on one side you could list the 10 things I love most about you and journaling available on the other side too. I liked the way these smaller hearts were between the full page hearts......gave it some dimension.

Page 2 has the picture of Kevin golfing on it since that is his big love in life besides bowling. Again look at all the different patterns mixed together yet the overall effect works! The back of this page had room for 2 pics and I used our wedding pictures. The little white plastic heart with the ribbons threaded through it was just the right thing to finish this page.

Again there was a smaller heart with both sides open for journaling between these pages but I didn't take a picture of that. Page 4 had a picture of Kevin bike riding with our granddaughter Allayah (another love of our life). Great use of a tag and ribbons on this page.

Page 5 has a picture of Kevin doing some landscaping in our yard. I think when he first started doing it..........it was a job but as time went on and we developed more gardens it became more of a passion for him that he enjoyed. The stamps on this page were part of the rub-ons that came with the kit too!

Another smaller heart again between pages that weren't pictured here and then the final page has a picture of us on it with a Happy Valentine's day tag, be mine and SWAK rub on. I was totally impressed with this kit and this was the first one I had seen from them and probably one of the best gifts I had ever gotten from a secret sister. When I gave it to Kevin he was in awe ............he loved it and could see how much work went into it. I'm sure it is something he will treasure for years to come.

Vinyl Wall Art

A few weeks ago I went down to Watertown and spent a few days at my son's house hoping to have a little time with him since I hadn't seen him in almost 6 months. Well when I arrived Todd was busy cutting wood for his outdoor wood burner that heats his house (a necessary thing to do on a day off) so I spent the afternoon with his wife Justin doing some things around the house. Here's a picture of Justin filling the burner with wood. Amazing how much heat you can get out of these little things outside. Very popular especially if you live in the country and have access to wood on your land.

You know how we all have those little projects that we mean to get around to or ones that take 2 people to do. Well she had bought some of those vinyl wall sayings so we got busy working on putting them up. They were not as easy as they looked especially when trying to remove them from the backing. The hardest part though was once you got them up on the wall you then had to remove the other backing while making sure they stuck to the wall. This first one was the easiest and we did it in her kitchen area..........cute huh?

The bathroom turned out to be the hardest. Not sure if it was the texture of the wall, the paint used or the intricate pieces of these branches. But good thing we didn't start here or I would have quit. Their new bathroom is done all in black and white so these words above the bathtub really made a statement and looked so very nice! Imagine how pretty it will look when she has candles in those holders all lit up and she is sitting in her jacuzzi tub.

Unfortunately that evening Todd got a call from his boss and had another semi load to drive in the morning so we didn't get to spend much time together. The next morning he was off on the road by 6am so that morning Justin & I went to the Johnson Creek outlet mall and Berres Brothers coffee outlet. Before I headed back up north we stopped at her mom's and put up 2 more vinyl wall swags. They turned out awesome though it was hard job working above your head as your arms got so tired. Projects like these are best done with a friend or family!

Vinyl wall sayings are something you can make with your Cricut or you can now buy them just about anywhere at Micheals or even Kohl's. No limit to what you can create with your imagination!

Going back to school

I'm one of those people that love learning new things and actually enjoyed school. Today I just signed up for a 6 week class at the University of Stevens Point for digital photography. It's on Monday nights from 6:30 to 8pm which works out great since that is when my husband is bowling in mens league. Also I am quite fortunate to live only a mile or so from the campus.

I just got a new Nikon Coolpix camera (S570) right before Christmas. It has 12 megapixels, 5x zoom and what I really like is the 2.7 LCD screen. My last Nikon had a much smaller screen. It's a nice small size which is what I need as I love to carry it with me at all times either in my purse or pocket. My last Nikon took great pictures and I just passed it on to my brother in Texas who I'm sure will be taking lots of pictures during his travels.

As a scrapbooker I know how important good pictures are for my books and layouts. Hopefully this class will teach me some of the settings and tricks to taking the best pictures that I can. It doesn't start until March 1st but when it does I will be sure to share any neat things I learn.