Today is my oldest teen's 17th Birthday. Happy Birthday my sweet Amanda! Here are photos of when she 6 months old and today as she turned 17...

She enjoyed a fun dinner at the Cheesecake Factory with a few friends and Grandma and Grandpa. I can hardly believe she will soon be a high school senior. Where does the time go? And why does it have to move so quickly. Now I know why scrapbook!

Finally...

Such a long time since I last posted. This is a busy time of year for my family. We've had 2 school performances, a huge Social Studies project (Allie received "Honorable Mention" for her diorama!), Mandy has been sick but still sat for a 5-hour SAT test Saturday, and I've had 2 papers due for grad school.
I'm also honored to be on a committee that is planning a farewell part for two faculty members at my daughters' school who are leaving after 20+ years of service. The party is the day before Mother's Day, and we're expecting over 200 guests! On top of that we're in the midst of preparing for a huge remodeling project. Needless to say I've had little time to play with my craft supplies, which is why I am grateful for this April kit from Citrus Tree Studio featuring the 8x8 Making Memories Flutter collection. Here's the kit:

This is a beautifully coordinated line - all the papers work flawlessly together. I decided to use it to make a few quick cards...(poor lighting alert! - a few of these pics reflect the bad weather we've been having. Will retake when the sun decides to come out of hiding...)

The trim and stamps are from my stash but the kit comes with all sorts of pretty doo-dahs and coordinating alphas.

I also used the Painted Prairie April kit to make this quick layout:

Allie worked so hard on her Social Studies diorama. She put in over 20 hours of work and rarely did she ask for help. The finished project won an Honorable Mention at the Humanities Fair. So proud of her effort!

The layout below was actually completed a couple of years ago during a class, but I was excited to have the perfect alphas finally arrive in the Citrus Tree kit for the title - these are fromPrima - love how they accent the photos...I don't have journaling on the front of my layouts, it's usually on the back...don't know why, that's just the way it works out sometimes!

I'm a lucky mom - my two girls love to cook! I really adore Allie's apron...she looks so cute, and wears it all the time!

Thanks for visiting! I appreciate all your kind thoughts and comments. You lift me up and make my day. Hope you are all well. xoxo

Hey Guys,

It's been a busy week. My friend's mom passed away unexpectedly last weekend and I've been wanting to spend lots of girlfriend time with her. They were so close and if there is any beauty to be seen in this situation, it's her attempt to extend the bond they shared even after her mom's death. I'm also working on a term paper that's due tomorrow night; this ought to be interesting...I'm not quite suer how that's going to happen but - oh well...I guess I'll just go with the flow...Hope you're all doing well.

I'll leave you with a few things I've been dabbling with.

These layouts are from the February Citrus Tree Studio kit. Here's a photo of the kit:
and here's my 2 layouts. Very simple and clean...I'm starting to dig that style right now.

I know it's weird taking a picture of someone eating, but I couldn't resist this shot. My girls and I stopped by the tea room for a quick lunch. My 16 year-old ordered a wrap not realizing how big it was. When they put this big sandwich in front of her she wasn't sure if she should use a knife and fork or just cave in and eat it with her hands. In the end she ditched her utensils and even though she was starving, she refused to snarf it all down (which is what I would have done!). She was perfectly proper and very neat. Yep, that's my Mandy, always the lady regardless of the circumstances; one of the many things I love about her!

Title Alphas are from my stash.

Our Westie is a bit spoiled (but we love him anyway!)..he really knows how to ham it up when the girls give him even the slightest bit of attention.

and this will be a gift for my sweet friend who just lost her mom:
and lastly this is a decorated tin with a little mini inside to remind me of how beautiful nature is this time of year (I'm studying Wordsworth in school so I'm kinda on a nature kick right now). I'll post more pics when I've decorated the enclosed mini.
That's it for now. By the way, I want to thank you all for your sweet comments. I love hearing from you and I've enjoyed visiting your blogs as well. You guys are so creative and fun to visit. See you in a few days!

xoxo
Cris

PS. Prima is having a DT call...so all you Prima lovers out there...start your engines!

I had fun being a Bad Girl this weekend, and I didn't even get into trouble! Actually, I'm about as conservative as they come, but I played bad with Wendy Rago's Bad Girls Kit Club project. Wendy designed a gorgeous box and included a ton of cool techniques. While I didn't copy all of her techniques for m box below, I was happy with how mine turned out. The red flappy things you see are actually hanging off the edges so it may be hard for you to see that this is actually a square box, but it is! This is one of my favorite projects to date! I think I'll fill it with lots of fabric and crepe paper rosettes...or maybe with a bunch of pretty tags....or maybe...

Citrus Tree Studio

I've been a fan of Citrus Tree Studio kits for a few years. Cindy is the sweetest person and puts together really cute kits. I tend to love place a ton of embellishments on my projects, but these kits challenge me to make the most of my paper supply -- Here are 2 layouts I did with the January "Victorian Romance" kit featuring the gorgeous 7G Victoria line -- ooolala! This paper is soooooo yummy!

Not too crazy about this one but there's always that "one" project that gets your goat, ya know?

and here are some close-ups. I used the empty Prima package as a frame for my photo:

These little birdies were in the kit. I outlined them with Stickles and added some bling...

Here's the 2nd layout -- of course I had to add more bling...

The "flower" is actually trim from the add-on kit.

So my first attempt at doing layouts wasn't so bad. I need a little practice but I think can get used to this...lol

xoxo, Cris

Mojo Monday Week 110

Not much to post today. I've been so busy with the teens, schoolwork (I'm a part-time grad student) and volunteer commitments that I haven't had time to sit and play with all the goodies I've been accumulating. Ok, truth be told - I've also been spending a lot of my "free" time surfing the net when I probably should be digging into my stash, but hey...what's a girl to do when there's so much eye candy to take in? I frequently visit my friend Christine's lovely blog and have been reading about all the challenges and sketches she's having fun with, so of course I had to try one! I talked my BFF Joyce into joining me on a Mojo Monday attempt and this is what I came up with:




I used the entire contents of the Indigo Sunset kit from Citrus Tree Studio. Love that Kaisercraft Marrakech paper! I also started a mini album with the leftovers that I will hopefully have finished in a couple of days...at least that's the plan. Ok, that it for now (told you it wasn't much. LOL)...Hope you all are enjoying your weekend. I'm going to get back to my web surfing and pretend I'm interested in the football game my hubby is watching! Enjoy your Sunday:-)

GGS September Swap

I was so excited (and nervous) about participating in the GGS (Girls Gone Scrappy) monthly group for the first time that I was very late sending out my completed book to my trade partner...Big "faux paux" when you're the new kid on the block! But thank Goodness Hope was very patient and kind, and from what I hear, has received her book with no further delays. I'm posting a few pictures of the girlfriends-themed mini I made for her and a short video. Most of the materials used came from a kit I purchased from Blue Moon Scrapbooking (the Shining Madonna kit). I LOVE Scott and Lisa's kits! Thanks for visiting and hanging out with me for a bit today. Enjoy your weekend :-)

xoxo,