You Know You're Children are Getting Old When....

It's another beautiful day in the neighborhood friends. I thought I'd share a couple more photos and some teenager bits that I realized this past weekend. If you have teenagers in your nest, have you seen this to?.....ENJOY!!!!!

the above photo was taken at Kait's party with some of her friends...this year she invited a boy from school (apparently they like each other)...and the other boy is one of her friends BF...well any way onto what I seen during this day....it started off great...the kids were having fun....then it was time to eat...well can I say this group, not a one of them, had anything to eat. They would not eat in front of each other. Not only that, they didn't go swimming either. Now, at past birthday parties, that is the first thing the kids always did. Got suits on and jumped in the pool. But not this year. No one hit the pool until after the boys left......lol...look how they celebrated...

now look at how much fun they are having....lol....I remember those days of playing chicken in the pool... They had a blast into the night......we lit the torches and they all enjoyed a night swim followed by hide and seek in the dark.....oh and yes, they all came in as soon as the boys had left to get some food...lol...you should have seen it...they were all to funny....like busy little ants looking for food....lol....they were all crackin me up... if there is one little tidbit I could share, it would have to be--make sure you have an outlet for each guest that stays for a sleep over....I learned the hard way...every single girl brought their chargers for their phones and ipods...we were running around looking for open outlets.... after all it is a play toy kind of world!!!! LOL!!! Well bloggers, I hope you have a sunny day...hope to see you soon!!! Hugs from a sunny Charm City...

Hello There...

Happy Monday my bloggin friends. It's been awhile since my last post. So much has been going on here on the home front that has been keeping me away from here. First we welcomed into this world, a new member of our family--Ryleigh Ann---7/8...9lbs 9ozs...Mommie and baby are doing great...I have a photo of her down below taken this past weekend......Enjoy!!!!

Ryleigh Ann at hospital...look how pudgy her cheeks are...she just makes ya want to kiss her all over...lol... and here is lil Miss Kait...we just celebrated her 13th birthday this past weekend...it was so nice to be able to sit with family and friends....I never knew it would have been like pulling teeth to get a fondant cake made for me. I tell ya, I am seriously thinking about going into the fondant cake business....at least here in our area, no one truly could make me a zebra stripped 3 tier fondant cake....I was simply astonished...I know fondant takes a little more time to make, but it was the zibra stripes and hot pink I was asking that couldn't get done....go figure---right....a friend of my DD's mentioned that Mike's had these fondant sheets and one was zibra...so I bought some of these and added it to the side of the cake myself...I ended up having a one tier plain white fondant cake with 36 hot pink cupcakes....I added a black platter with a hot pink boa and some of that silver shredded packing stuff to give it a little more glitz....lol....over all, the kids liked it...

lookie...she's simply just adorable....

here's little man using all of that energy he has bottled up...lol...

here he is taking a break...lol...ya right...can ya tell he was playing hard at MeMe's house...

I just thought I'd share some of my flowers on the patio that I am so proud of myself... I simply can't grown anything...I plant-- then it dies...but this year I voved to make sure I spent the time that is needed to take care of them...and this is what I got....

I tried to create a little privacy wall here....

this past summer has been one of work work and then some more work....I started with redoing our master closet and added the closet organizer....then went onto the yard and dug and moved plants till I couldn't dig anymore...then moved back inside to move our now teenager into a bigger bedroom (which was our storage room)..so needless to say, there was so much work just in clearing it out...then I tore up the carpet and those damn fricken carpet strips...I hate those things...lol...I tell ya, I appreciate carpet layers even more now...I painted and then layed tile in her bedroom...I know tile--right...we had carpet ordered but she wanted tile...and it really does look good...then I added insult to injury I moved 3 yards of mulch (hubby helped alittle)...I do have a week now that I'm seriously thinking about just doing a hole lot of nothing...but relaxing and curbing it pool side...school starts in a week and at the same time our DD is coming in from out of town with our three other little GB's to visit for a week....so next week will be a hopping one...but an enjoyable one...I sooooo can't wait to have all of my babies and their babies in one room....it's been a few years...just thinking about it brings sunshine to my soul....SMILE....

Well peeps...I hope I haven't bored you...I just wanted to pop in here and say hi to all of my friends...I have really missed everyone over the summer..I hope yours has gone as planned and that you were all able to enjoy family and friends as well....I'm hoping to join in on a couple of challenges this week and do some visiting....I really miss my playroom...lol.....Have a sunny day...and always remember to smile---it makes your heart happy.....Hugs from Charm City..

2S4Y--Kazon #32--Grandma's Secret Cookie Recipe

Happy Saturday everyone. Here's a card I made this week for Kazon's sketch over at 2S4Y. I had alot of fun making this card. I thought this would be a fun way to send Grandma's secret cookie recipe to our DD that lives in Michigan. I used one of those coin envies that you get from the stationary shop. The stitching around the edges didn't turn out so good, but I kind of like it. It reminds me of it being aged by the stitching falling out. Thanks for a great sketch to play with Kazon.

I made a double sided pocket to go inside the envie to hold the ingredients on one side and the how to on the other side.

I have to show you these really (I think) cool photos that I made using a couple programs. Next week is DD's birthday. We decided to get her her own digi camera. This morning I opened the box and some software came in it. I wanted to load everything so when she got her camera she would be ready to go. Well, there was this really cool program called Morpheus on it. So I started playing around with an old photo just to see what it would do. I just love it. I am invisioning myself using this program alot to distort photos...lol...the first photo I made using the program. The other photos I used Paint Shop Pro on top of the first photo using different effects that come with the program. I have been up since about 2am this morning and this is what I have been playing with. ...lol...click here and you can download a free trial version of this software. Just a little tidbit, I did notice that it took the photo and did an automatic sizing. I had to go into the timeline drop down menu at the top and changed it to the biggest size available to be able to print a nice size photo. You can save to avi files, animation or just a plain jpeg. There are other ones there to, but these were the one's that I was interested in. So if you try this software out, I'd love to see what you make with it. It's really alot of fun to play with.

above photo is the original

above photo is how I distorted it using the Morpheus program

the above photo I used pencil in the effects menu using Paint Shop Pro. I also added starbursts and sunlight to the second layer before changing it to pencil...

above photo I used topography in the effects menu using Paint Shop Pro

Thanks for stopping in this morning and I hope you all ahve a lovely weekend. Hugs from a very muggy Charm City

Happy Birthday America--and A Pink Elephant Challenge

Woohoo...don't you just love a birthday party.... I do... Our DD is having a party at her house today...I think we are going to stay home tonight and not do fireworks. I did however buy some for our little one, but she's staying over at her sisters house. So maybe we will do those next weekend and I'll let her have some friends over and do some swimming and roast marshmellows. Sounds like a plan---Stan...lol...that has been in my head for weeks now...I don't know what the song is, but it kind of goes like, take a little plan Stan don't need to rush no, hell, I don't remember the words... drop off the key Lee and set yourself Free...lol...I think I had heard that on the radio one morning and can't seem to get it out of my head....anyone know the title/words?

On a lighter note, The Pink Elephant is having another challenge. I soo love their challenges. Even though I have only done one and now this is my second, I really enjoy their blog and challenges. This weeks challenge is to use your Favorite Color Combo ...how awesom is that. No sketch, so anything goes, just using your favorite colors. Here's what I came up with. I thought with the 4th coming up this week that I would make a July 4th BBQ invite card. I got out and dusted off my Sizzix red and yellow dies and even used 2 $1.00 stamps that I picked up at AC Moore for this card.

Just a super dupper easy card. I also used my Cuttle Bug and embossed the background of the card and the stars. I have always loved these color combos together. As red is my fav. color and the earth tones reminds me of the beach with black making everything pop off of the page. I even made a layout with the same colors. I had these on my bench so I thought I would take these photos that I just took earlier this week and use them.

The pictures in the photos below I took in our backyard. I did a make shift photo studio with white sheets, our wooden picnic table and our little ones sheer canopy that hangs from the ceiling over top of the bed , strung up from the tree...lol...nothing better than natual lighting...then I did a 4th of July set with our little one and the baby.

(I used 2 clear stamps from KI Memories to make the borders)

these are of our eldest daughter and her little man.. Our first of MANY to come photo shoots. ...heehee...he is so going to hate to come to MeMe's house..

I have to laugh when I look at this photo of him above. If looks could kill...

I tell ya, in the one below, he has such a great set of lungs. He just loves to take a bath, but when we put him in the pool, he didn't want anything to do with it.

Well that's all I have for today. Remember to be safe, have a great time and use tons of sun screen. It's going to be a scorcher today here in Charm City....Hugs....

Welcome Little One

I know, it's been almost a month since my last post. But things have been on the fast track lately. On May 3, 2009 we welcomed baby Landen into our family. He is such a little cutie. Our daughter had a hard time with delivery so they ended up doing an emergency c-section. Baby and Mommy are doing great and are adjusting to a routine. Here's a photo of him just hours after he was born....isn't he just darling....

here's the proud Daddy...look at the little hat that he put on him. It's a Ravens beenie hat. Although he knows the Steelers are the best, he's already getting a leg up on me with this little Ravens one...haahaa...that's ok, I"ve got some Steelers attire coming for our little one here...I soo can't wait...

I took this photo on Mother's Day...He slept through our whole visit that day with the exception of getting fed and changed....

I just had to post these photos. It's the soon to be Daddy (at the time) and his little niece. It's the new craze on waiting for baby....lol...not to mention the Nintendo Ds' and the ipods that everyone brought up to the hospital. I was so glad that we were the only one's in the waiting room. It's like the waiting room was our newest home for the day. We went in at around 6 am and she had the baby at 9 pm that night. So it was such a long day. But I have to say, the girls did really great for being so young. They were just as excited as all of us adults were.

Well that's it for now. I have some cards I"ll post soon...but I hope to get back into the swing of things here shortly. Oh, I almost forgot. Saturday was our rubber stamp convention down at the beach. We spent the day down there. But you will never believe who I ran into at our favorite hangout party club. Cindy Williams. From Laverne and Shirly. She is just soo dang cute. I have a photo and I'll post it the next time. She looks marvelous...simply marvelous...

Hugs from a chilly Charm City

Just a Quick Update

Our DD has been going back and forth to the hospital yesterday and today thinking she's going to be having the baby. She's not due until the 12th of May. They have sent her home 3 times. I feel really bad for her as she's in so much pain from the contractions. I hope that she either has the baby or that the pain will subside just so she can feel better.

On a lighter note, we just had her baby shower this past Sunday. It was really nice.

Here's a few photos of the shower I'd like to share... here's the soon to be new parents

look at this cake that one of the ladies made. She even used one of my circles that I used for the baby invitations....

here's a centerpiece I made for the tables. I made six of them total. I also made 18 roses made out of baby wash clothes.

The cards posted below are some that Ih ave made over the past few weeks.

this is my very first Magnolia stamped card. Not the best, but it's my first...

I made this using the Dreams come True Cricut cartridge...

here's a card I made playing around with T!M Holtz products...

Thanks for hanging out with me..I hope to have some good news soon on a new bouncing baby boy....

Hugs from a very sweeeet Charm City

Happy Halloween

Well it's finally here and gone. We just turned off our lights abit ago. It was so sweat to see all of the little ones in their costumes again. With some of them being really creative. I love it. And just think, I was thinking about not handing out candy this year. What was I thinking. Thanks to DH and our little one for basically pushing me to do it, I thank them for it. Thanks guys. You are the best!!!!!

Here's a photo of our little one and her friends. Everyone meets back here at our house and we get photos...lol....like they really think they will get away from that, fat chance...and here's a photo of our pumpkin that we carved out today. You can click on the photos to make them bigger if you would like to.

Here's some cards and a tag with Tim Holt as inspiration. I really love his work and products.

Here's a little bag I made for a challenge over at Hallmark Scrapbook on the message board. If you haven't checked us out, pop on over and play along. The challenges are such a fun way to play with your Cricut machine. Or even just to hang out with us.

Well I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween. We are off to the beach again. It's my father in laws 70th birthday.

Hugs from a very worn out Crabbie

Hello Blogland

Happy Monday everyone....long time since my last post...things here this past month has been really crazy busy..I cleaned out the spare bedroom...and let me tell you, that was quite a job...not to mention we left and went on vacation...and my BIL and girlfriend got married while we were there...it was such a gorgeous day....I'll post some photos on the next post...but the rest of the week wasn't so good while we were there....maybe next year we can have some good weather.... Here's a project that I made for the ladybug's blog...you can go HERE and see the tutorial...not to mention all of the other tutorials from the awesom ladybugs.... this is a little spells book I made out of chipboard...it was for a challenge over on Hallmark Scrapbook's message board...come on over and play along with all of the challenges with us...we would love to see you... this was for another challenge at Hallmark Scrapbook...I made this bag into a gel window with a stamped scene...and I used the Design Studio to cut the globe out of the center. yet another challenge over on the message board...we were asked to use the cornucopia from the Paper dolls cart...I made it into a fall plaque that I sent to someone...I hope she likes it... I have seen these little frankie bags all over the net and wanted to make one using the Cricut...I used the grass border from the paper dolls cart for the hair.... these are some stamped cards...still trying to play around with stamps and coloring.... I made this one for my BIL that just got married... here's some photos from this past Saturday at the pumpkin patch...the one on the scale is the smallest pumpkin that we had...this was our first visit here to and we loved it....think we will be going back again... I took this photo of the girls before they went into the corn maze...it was 2 1/2 acres of corn that they made into a maze...DH and I opted not to join them and just hung out and looked aroundthe farm.... this is an awesom gift that was waiting for me in my mail when we got back from vacation...a friend over at Hallmark Scrapbook made this for me...isn't is just wonderful...it goes in my kitchen so well....Thanks so much Carole...you are just the sweetest.... Thanks everyone....just a little update of what's been going on this past month... Hugs from a very sunny Charm City