I've Been Tagged!

Deb at Sharing my Obesssion has tagged me to list seven random things about myself.

So here goes:

1. I am a 63 year old wife, mother, and grandmother.

2. After 43 years of marriage, I have finally given up trying to manage the clutter that my dear hubby generates. Just accept it and go on with life is my new motto.

3. I do administrative work in the mortgage/real estate department of a bank.

4. I am so looking forward to one day being able to retire. When that will be, who knows.

5. I would like to learn how to quilt.

6. I wish that there were enough hours in the day for me to accomplish everything that I would like to do. Or maybe I should say I wish I had the energy that I had 20 years ago so maybe I could get more done.

7. I love to read -- mysteries are my favorite.

Now for tagging...I'm supposed to tag seven of you bloggers. Tag -- you're it if you are reading this blog!!!

Luck, love and laughter,
Judy

Get Well Card

I made this card today for a dear family friend who fell last week and broke her pelvis. I must admit that I lifted the idea for this card from one that was done for a Bitten by the Bug challenge recently. The grasshopper is on my new Stretch Your Imagination cartridge that came Friday and the flowers are on my Plantin SchoolBook cartridge. The sentiment was done on the computer.

I've got a lot to learn about cutting shapes on the Cricut -- I'll be having lots of trial and error efforts. However, I am going to check with my LSS and see if they are going to be offering any classes on using the Cricut. Hopefully they will.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Monkey Card

I used a monkey stamp and the palm tree stamp from Autumn Leaves Mindy's Zoo collection on this card and colored with my Copics. Then I used a grass stamp that Robin gave me to finish it off. I think she is kinda cute.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Really Great Blog Candy Alert

You need to check out this neat blog candy at Starving Artists.

Tool Man

I'm still playing with my new Cricut. But I'm limited as to what I can do with only the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge that came with the Cricut to work with. Anyway I cut the lettering, stars and the tag for this layout on the Cricut. Matthew was probably about three years old in these pictures. His Pawpaw picked out this Fisher Price tool bench for him and he loved it.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Birthday Gift

Robin asked me to embroider two shirts for her mother-in-law who has a birthday this week. She asked that I embroidery "Gram" on one shirt - that's what Eileen's grandchildren call her. And she left the design for the second shirt up to me.


I embroidered "Gram" on the cream colored shirt that Robin purchased. I played with my Explorations Lettering software and came up with this design for the shirt.

The second shirt that she got is green. Eileen loves flowers -- she told me once that she would teach Addie how to plant flowers and I could teach her how to sew. And who doesn't love butterflies. So I selected one of my favorite designs from Designs by JuJu's Jacobean Flutters design set. I decided not to embellish the design with hot fix crystals -- that's not Eileen.

The colors are much richer than this pic shows. Let's face it, I am not the greatest photographer.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

2 of a Kind

I love this pic of Pawpaw and Jesse which was taken several years ago at one of Matthew's flag football games. I just loved watching the little guys play flag football but those days are long gone considering Matt is now 15 and going to be a sophmore in high school. Now it is high school football games!

For this layout I used solid color cardstock in brown, blue and beige and added a strip of grosgrain ribbon. I used my new Cricut to cut the lettering, flowers, and stars on a blue paper with a tone on tone stripe effect. I used a new corner punch on the matting that I got today at my LSS. They are having a 25% off sale on punches this weekend so naturally I had to stop and look when I went to the bank this morning (the store is only one block from the bank branch).

I already love using the Cricut. My DH got another buy on eBay today and got me the cartridge that I had first on my wish list -- Stretch Your Imagination. I selected it for my first cartridge to buy because it seems to have a wide variety on it.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Luck, love and laughter,
Judy

I Got a Cricut

My dear hubby decided that I should have a Cricut and went on the hunt for the best buy out there. You have to understand that he is an avid eBay shopper and loves the thrill of outbidding everyone at the last minute. Anyway he got me one on eBay and it was delivered today. Now I just have to get it all figured out but I plan on having lots of fun this weekend with it.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

P.S. He is now on the hunt for the cartridge that I said I wanted to get first.

Card Sketch #49

This is a card that I did using Sketches {by tamara} card sketch #49 which she posted today.

I did all stamping on this and have decided that I definitely need the two stamping classes that I have signed up for at my LLS. They are having a Beginning Stamping class and Stamping Techniques class at the end of the month. Robin tells me that the instructor is really good so I am really looking forward to both classes. This pic is not a very good one...I just couldn't get the true paper colors to show up.

Luck, love and laughter,
Judy

I've Been Tagged

Carol has tagged me with this list of questions. I haven't participated in these tags in the past but decided that I would play along with this one.

The "rules" of the game: Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

Ten Years Ago: The bank that I work for was selling it's large mortgage loan servicing portfolio and was in the process of downsizing it's mortgage operation to secondary market loan production only. Since I was Executive Secretary to the President of the mortgage operation, I was caught up in all the activity taking place to accomplish this.

Five things on todays to do list:
1. Go to work.
2. Finish designing embroidery designs for shirts for Robin to give her MIL for her birthday.
3. Try to get at least one shirt embroidered.
4. Be creative - make a card.
5. Clean bathrooms.

Snacks I enjoy: I'm a chocoholic so anything chocolate.

Things I would do if I were a millionaire: #1 on list would be RETIRE!! Then I would move to Benton to be closer to my daughters and grandchildren. Set up trust funds for my grandchildren.

Places I have lived: I have lived in Little Rock, AR all my life.

Now I have to tag some of you. I am tagging Robin, Kylie, Chrissy, Michelle, and Flossie.

Beach Boys Layout

I did this layout for the color combo challenge at Scrappin Mojo. The colors for the challenge are Blue, Green, Yellow and Brown. These pictures of my grandsons, Matthew and Jesse, were taken several years ago when all they wanted to wear was Hawiian shirts.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

A Creative Saturday

I decided that today was going to be a creative day for me. So I started the day off at my embroidery machine. I have had this tee shirt laid out for several days with the fabric for the applique and embroidery thread selected. I used an applique design from Designs by JuJu Funky Flowers Applique set and then finished it off with some hot fix crystals to give a little glitter to it.

There were card sketches that I wanted to try so I started making cards. This is a card that I made using Kazan Sketch 2 from 2 Sketches 4 You.

After I finished this card, I decided to make a card using Page Plans Sketch #8. Chris did an awesome job creating this sketch.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Check This Out

Carole (Paper Arts) has some awesome hand drawn clip art that she is giving away. She is one talented lady. To be entered in her drawing all you have to do is make a card with flowers and link it back to her blog. So Carole, here is my card.

Luck, love and laughter,
Judy

Sarabeth's 4th Birthday

Sarabeth was born Thanksgiving week so we always end our family Thanksgiving Day festivities with a birthday party for her. This layout is her birthday last Thanksgiving Day. I used Scrap City's June sketch challenge as my inspiration for the layout.

I finally got around to making me another Scrapbooking Diva tee shirt. I wanted something a little more colorful than the white one that I made...white shirts are just too hard to keep clean.

This shirt will become a regular part of my weekend wardrobe. If you are interested in getting a tee shirt, email me at designsbynanny@aol.com.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

It's A Guy Thing

As you can tell, my grandsons, Matt and Jesse, have loved hunting ever since they were little tykes and could hardly wait until they were old enough to go hunting with their Dad. Now that they are old enough they hunt every chance they get and have been known to put venison on the table.

One Halloween they dressed as hunters in their camo with hunter orange vests that I made them. They looked so cute in the outfits that Joy took them to have their picture made dressed as hunters.

I didn't have any hunting related stickers or stamps. I did find a sheet of Autumn/Thanksgiving stickers and decided that since deer season starts in the Fall here I would use them. Found the sayings in a pad of velum stickers that Robin gave me.

Card Sketch #47

Here are two cards that I made using Sketches! {by tamara}'s card sketch #47. I was so pleased with the first one that I did that I decided to do a second one in black and white.

The paper came from my stash -- not sure where I got it -- but I love the shades of pink. The sentiment was done on the computer. I am thrilled with the grosgrain ribbon embellishment -- this is the first time that I have attempted to use ribbon in this manner. I actually managed to get it tied!

This one didn't photograph that well. The card is much prettier in person than this photo shows. The ribbon is actually a beautiful white ribbon that I got at the LSS yard sale -- a whole roll for 10 cents!

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Sketch Layout #47

This is a layout that I did using Sketches! {by tamara}'s layout sketch #47. I used textured cardstock from an Imagine That pad of cardstock that Robin gave me and added Flower Frenzy self-adhesive felt flowers for the embellishments. The title and journaling was done on the computer and I tried inking the edges with tea dye distress ink.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

Happy Birthday Joy

Tomorrow is my daughter Joy's birthday. I just finished making her a tote bag for her birthday.

She told me she wanted a "Sports Mom" tote bag to carry her stuff in...With four kids playing various sports, she is always going to ball games. Football, basketball, baseball and soccer are represented on the bag.

So, happy birthday Joy -- enjoy your tote bag.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy

The One That DIDN'T Get Away

My sister-in-law Marilyn took her grandson, Jonah, and my grandson, Jesse, to the Game and Fish Commission fish hatchery in Lonoke this morning for a kids fishing derby. Her friend Steve "Wildman" Wilson with the Game and Fish Commission invited her to bring the boys. Just look at this catfish that Jesse caught. That is the "Wildman" holding Jesse's fish.

As you can see from this pic, Jesse had a very good fishing outing.

I congratulated him on the big fish that he caught and he smiled at me and very quietly said, "I got an 8 pound one and a 7 1/2 pound one."

Luck love and laughter,

Judy

The Boys

This is one of my favorite pictures of my grandsons. I took the picture on Thanksgiving Day in 2001 which is the first big family holiday that my son-in-law Danny and his son Drew were part of our family. Drew is in the red shirt, Matthew in the yellow shirt, and Jesse has on a green shirt.

I kept the layout simple using solid color paper. Then added some brads, felt flowers, and tied ribbon on a plastic coated paper clip. The title and journaling were done on the computer.

You need to check out Michelle's June blog candy at Faerie Dust Dreams. I am so excited....I won her May giveaway. I can hardly wait to get it. Michelle has asked us to tell what we have learned about ourselves as a blogger. I would have to say that since I started blogging in February I have learned that I have a multitude of friends in blogland to share my hobbies with, my thoughts, and my life. I feel very blessed.

Luck, love and laughter,

Judy