Shhhhh...

Hello all my bloggy friends! Here's another card I made today. This one is using ICSketches #23.

I decided to try and use up that 12x12 sheet I started cutting for the other card I posted today. The card is from DCWV Animal Crackers. I used the Cricut Cartridge Plantin Schoolbook to cut this card. The blue flower paper is from a Sizzix Little Sizzles stack called Rainbow.

Hope you are having a fun and inspiring day. For everyone out there in bloggy land who lands on this site.... just remember to pause, dream, and enjoy this day! I'm saying a prayer for you! I'm praying that good things happen for you today. That surprises and bonuses come your way. That any stress you are feeling is relieved.

I'll be sitting on the porch at 5:00pm with my cherry Kool-Aid in hand. Join me across the miles on your porches or front yards. Cheers! Here's to you!

Thanks for all your nice comments. They make my day!

I Can Hardly Wait!

This little girl is so cute! I just smile every time I see her!

I found a new blog called Flourishes. Cool site.

This cute little darnlin' is my submission for this week's Timeless Tuesday Challenge.

Their challenge this week was to make your card square. Sounds easy enough.

I used Cricut Cartridge Walk in My Garden for the square cut card. Cricut Cartridge Plantin Schoolbook for the tags on the right (love these!).

DCWV paper Animals Crackers for the background. DCWV Pocket Full of Posies Matstack for the tags and layered saying.

Stampin' Up Rose Red for the sponged edges.

I colored the image with my Crayola Crayons and outlined her with my Crayola Markers.

More cards to be posted a little later! Have a Great day!!

739 Photo For Today

This is our little town. They have flags on all the poles. Love it!

Today in Review

Be sure and scroll down to see other posts from today featuring these items.

739 Day 4

Here is my photo for the day. This is at Finley Park. My daughter, Kati, took the picture my daughter, Keri. Love that waterfall! They had a good time doing their photo shoot.

Times Fun When You're Having Flies!

Here is my submission for Triple The Sketch #63.

I used Stampin' Up's "Time's Fun When You're Having Flies" stamp (retired).


I colored it with Caryola markers & crayons.



The bracket was printed with Cricut Cartridge Plantin Schoolbook.



Card base is DCWV Textured Cards. Accent paper is from Nana's
Nursery Baby Girl.

Kraft cardstock from Stampin' Up.

Sorry the close up of the frog is sort of blurry... took pic with my iPhone. :)

Whimsy Color Challenge

Isn't crafting so much fun?! Here is a card I did for the Whimsy Color Challenge this week. All they asked was that we use Red, Orange, and Yellow. Pretty cool color combo! I did some Google searching late last week for FREE color book images. When searching for fairies ( I love fairies ), I found this guard guy. LOL I love him! He'll probably end up on a lot of my projects. The card base is DCWV Textured cards. Bow from Martha Stewart. Tags and paper from stash. The tags say: Magical, Escape, Summer I've posted some other cards lately. Scroll down to see. And as always, I love your comments! Thanks!

Let It Be

Here is my submission for

Cardz For U Friday Sketch Challenge #2.

This was really fun to do.

The image is printed from the computer. I just Googled "color book images girl" and found this one. Isn't she cute?

She is colored with my Crayola markers.

The "Let it Be" is a clear stamp I purchased at Walmart. I'm sorry, I have no idea what the company name is who made it.

The flowers were cut with my Cricut cartridge: Walk in My Garden. I crinkled up the flowers then unfolded them. I also inked them with Stampin' Up's Tempting Turquoise around the edges of the petals very lightly to soften them up a bit although you really can't tell that from this photo.

I used Stampin' Up's Rose Red for the sentiment.

Paper, ribbon, and buttons from my stash.

Hope you guys are having a great day!!!!! I think I'll go make some Cherry Kool-Aid and sit on the porch for a while this afternoon.

I Was Using That!

Don't you just love this image? It's another free download from Dustin Pike.

I used DCWV Animal Crackers and colored the image with Crayola markers and crayons.

So fun!

I typed up what I wanted the card to say, "Hey! Hey! Hey! I was using THAT!" in PrintMaster, and printed it onto gold cardstock.

Hope everyone is having a GREAT Sunday!

739 Day 3:

Here's my photo for the day in my part of the world.

Okay, so I love trees. However, I couldn't tell you the names of any of them. I just enjoy looking at them. But I've never seen a tree that looks like it's growing pea pods. What in the world is that? hahahahaha

Don't forget to leave a comment with a link to your photo today!

Monkey Business

Hello all my Bloggy Friends!

Here's a silly little card. The picture is a free download from Dustin Pike, paper is DCWV Animal Crackers, and I colored it with my Crayola Markers. The edge and background of the image is sponged with Stampin' Up's Glorious Green ink pad. Oh, and I almost forgot, the card is DCWV Textured Cards, brown.

Don't forget to comment with a link to a photo taken from your world today. I can't wait to see what your corner of the world looks like!

More posts to come later. (I did lots of coloring in bed last night. )

Smoochie!
Janis

7:39 Photo Challenge Day 2

Thank you to everyone who is participating in the 7:39 Photo Challenge. Please note that you can take a picture at any time during the day and as many days as you'd like until next weekend. At that time I'll send all the photos off to Shutterfly to have them printed. You do not have to participate everyday. So please, if you haven't commented yet with a link to your daily photo, it's never too late! Do it now!! The main reason for this is just to have fun and see what your part of the world is like. If you are participating and you blog, PLEASE spread the word on your blog!! Thanks again for all the entries. Here's my entry for today! See you guys tomorrow! Hopefully I'll have time to create my card following Cardz For U's Friday Sketch #2. Check out her blog!  P.S. You guys ROCK!!

Best Buds

-->Here is my card for the day. Very simple and easy to do.

I used my NEW paper from Walmart from Best Occasions. This paper has soft and bold prints plus the solid sheets that coordinate have a different hue on the flip side. Beautiful paper.

The image is from DJ Inkers Doodlers called Bear Buds. I colored it with Stampin' Up chalks.

Ribbon and buttons from my stash. The card is from DCWV Textured card pack.

I know this is a very simple card, but I have to tell you that I am so pleased with the results. Just goes to show I guess I don't have to have every little gadget, gizmo, and trinket out there. (All though I refuse to delete anything off my wish list - afterall, it is a WISH list. LOL)

I hope all of you have a blessed and fun weekend. I would love for you to comment with a link to your simple card creations. Inspire us!

Smoochie!
Janis

7:39 Photo Challenge

(7:39 PM June 26, 2009 from my front porch in South Carolina)

I love photography. I would love to see random photos from your part of the world too! I used to collect postcards from places we've visited or places my friends have visited, but that slacked off when we quit going out and about so much. So, here's a PHOTO CHALLENGE for you. I hope everyone will participate in it! UPDATE!!! (It doesn't really matter what time you take the picture. The point is so we can see what's going on in your neck of the woods, or hills, or city... you get the point. At 7:39 AM or PM for the next 7 days, please take a random photo of your world. It can be of you or of a bowl of strawberries you are eating, or the shadows the sunshine is casting on your front porch, or the traffic you are in... whatever! Just something from your world. You don't have to take a picture everyday, but feel free to contribute as often as you'd like. Leave a comment posting a link to your photo and what part of the world the picture was taken in. Next weekend, I'm going to send all the pics off to Shutterfly to have them printed. When I get them back, I'll make a scrapbook page of all my bloggy friends all over the world tagged with your name and your place in our world under the photo. Of course, everyone participating can also get the pics printed and make a scrapbook page too! I'd love to see what everyone comes up with! Be creative!! Take a shot no one else but you would think of. I'm so excited and CAN'T WAIT to see your photos! SMILE! 7:39 AM or PM...... This ought to be really, really fun!!

Dear So and So

Kat at 3 Bedroom Bungalow is hosting a "Dear So and So" linkage. Here is your chance to participate. All you have to do is write those things you want to say, or only think of saying after the fact right here. Come on... try some therapy. Don't carry around your bucket of anger, instead write that letter on your blog and let it out. =================== Dear next customer in line at the grocery, Would you please back up! Just because she is finished scanning and bagging my groceries, doesn't mean you can stand right beside me as I attempt to run my card through the little machine. Maybe I want to keep my pin a secret. Why are you standing so close to me? She won't get to you any faster if you stand this close. Please back up. You're in my bubble. Claustrophobic, Janis ================== Dear little unborn grandbaby of mine, I love you. You are going to be so beautiful, I just know it. You are a precious gift, and we are so very glad to be blessed with you! All my love, Your grandmama =================== Dear Driver who doesn't understand city driving, Why did you stop in the middle of the road to talk to a pedestrian walking down the sidewalk? Was it really that important for you to stop traffic? Do you realize you almost cause an accident? Do you care? I think not. Driver's Manual enclosed, Peeved ====================== Dear all my Bloggy friends, I love all your comments! Thank you so much for all the nice things you say. You brighten my day! Blessings and Hugs, Janis

Smile

Very simple card I did this morning. "Smile" cut from Cricut Cartridge Walk in My Garden. I used white cardstock for the background and sponged blue, green, pink, lilac with Stampin' Up ink pads. Ribbon is from Michael's. It's not fancy, elaborate or detailed. But probably will make the person getting it in the mail smile... even if for a moment.

How Do You Keep Boredom at Bay?

What do you do when you're bored and you don't want to be? So many ideas rattling through this brain of mine! Here are some things my crazy self would do, will do, has done, will do again... 1) Count how many times the teenager in the room says "Like" 2) Grab a magazine laying around you are ready to toss and start ripping out the pages. No really. This is a great stress reliever. :) 3) Find a blank piece of paper and start writing a letter to your children, husband, parents, or whoever you choose. Write them a letter as if you will never see them again. Tell them all the things they mean to you. Describe why you're glad they are in your life. Fold the letter and stick it in their babybook, your wedding album, with your important papers, etc. One day, it will be found. And it will be very much appreciated! 4) Write a poem... in your head. Don't write any of it down until you've finished. You'll really have to concentrate to remember each line this way. And yes, this poem HAS to rhyme. 5) Use the alphabet!! a) name an animal for every letter b) name a food for every letter c) name a movie you've seen for every letter d) name a place you've been for every letter e) pick a girl name for every letter f) pick a boy name for every letter (Yes, I've done all these and more during the night when sleep flees me.) What else? Comment with some of your own ideas! Want to play along with Prompts? 

Let's Fold It Challenge

I used Ribbon from Michael's; Paper from My Mind's Eye: Everyday Tango; paper from DCWV: Animal Crackers; the ovals were cut from Cricut Cartridge: Plantin Schoolbook.

It's Thursday! My favorite day of the week! I hope everyone is having a sunshiny day!!

I just sprayed my favorite perfume (Ralph Lauren's ROMANCE) all around my desk in our home office.

Ohhhh it smells good in here! I sprayed the air vent too, so when the air kicks on I get a fresh burst of ROMANCE. hahahaha

Hey, nothing wrong with creating an environment you enjoy being in! Right? Try it. You may like it. :)

Judging A Book Soley On It's Cover

I picked this book from the library yesterday based SOLELY ON IT'S COVER. I know, they say to never do that, but really, do they expect anyone to listen to that? Click here to check out the "Find Your Next Book Here" challenge. How fun! The book is titled, "The Lover's Path". It's an illustrated novel by Kris Waldherr. This book is so elegant. The cover art is stunning, the pages are gold leaf and shiny, the pages themselves are very thick, there is even more stunning art inside the book, and several pages have fold out pages. It reminds me of why I used to love pop-up books so much as a kid. I'll be the first to admit, I'm still a kid at heart! Just looking at the cover, I thought the book would be richly written about love and loss. After reading it, I can tell you that the book did not disappoint. Written in a style that just grabbed my attention and pulled me in, I was entranced as though the book was a letter written personally to me. I would love to own this book.

Whimsy Challenge

I usually steer clear of challenges just because I don't have all the goodies I see so many crafters using. But I stumbled upon this Whimsy Challenge and thought, what the heck!

Here is my contribution to the challenge.


Basically they are asking for you to use

"2 different patterned papers (or create your own papers with different techniques), 1 ribbon, and 3 embellishments such as brads, buttons, or flowers."

Hop on over there and see what the Designer's came up with. So adorable! Today I'm adding cute animal stamps to my growing wish list. :)

Don't forget to scroll down and check out the other 2 post I added today. One post is some samples of my scrapbook pages, and the other is our family's June 2009 newsletter layout.

Thanks for all your comments! If you are participating in the Whimsy Challenge (or any other challenges out there), please comment with a link to your creation!

Scrapbook Pages

Good morning my bloggy friends!! This morning I have tons of errands to run and a quick trip out of town to take one of my girls to stay with her cousin for the rest of the week and next week. (They will have tons of fun shopping, boy talking, swimming, movies, etc.) Before I left, I thought I'd show you a sample of some of my simple, simple scrapbook pages. These pages were made in 2007, so these aren't exactly current pics, but I thought you may enjoy some of them. Thank you to everyone who leaves me such nice comments!! They really make me smile and brighten my day!! I would love it if you would leave a comment with a link to some of your scrapbook pages. I'm always looking for ideas. Enjoy!! This is our youngest daughter, Bonnie. Our sweet little BonBon. The flower was punched using black cardstock and a circle punch for the center. The petals were punched with light blue cardstock using an oval punch. The edges of the petals were sponged with ink from Stampin' Up. I don't know if you can read this, but the picture is set to the shape of the letter "L". The circles have writing in them that say things like, "Life's Little Lessons". This is our middle daughter, Kati, with her dad, my husband, Tom. He is teaching her how to change a tire. Something every girl should know right? (Um.... I don't have a clue how to do it!) This is our sweet little BonBon. Poor darling! On our week long trip to Disney in 2000, she tripped and feel at the entrance gate busting her little forhead right open. A trip to the emergency room and lots of stitches later, she was worn out. This is our special needs daughter. It was very, very heartbreaking for me to see her in so much pain and knowing she didn't understand what was going on around her. You can believe she gots lots of cuddles and special treats. Disney even gave us free passes, free ice cream, and some other goodies seeing how we missed that day at the park. Fortunately, we were with my husband's brother and his family, so our other kids were able to stay and enjoy the day at the park with them. We love to camp! Here is Bonnie at one of our many, many camping trips. This partricular trip was to Yogi In The Smokies. If you love to camp and have young ones, you must stay here! They always have family and kids activities. And every evening around 6pm or so, there is a hayride with Yogi, BooBoo, and the girl bear (can't remember her name). Bonnie was fascinated with these characters. Her eyes were so big like she was awe struck by a cartoon coming to life. The yellow strip is actually a pull tab. When you pull it, there is a "waterfall" of flipped images on each square. Very fun! Here are all of our girls. Each picture was taken in a different year. I'm not one of those scrapbookers who get hung up on doing everything in order. I mix and match everything. Trying to go by rules just stresses me out. Scrapbooking is supposed to be fun and creative, not stressful. And the goal is to document, right? The pigtail girl is Kati with her cousin Mollie in the bacground. The beautiful girl in the pic beside her is our oldest daughter, Keri, who is now expecting! And of course our little BonBon at the bottom wearing the helmet. Tom used to do lots of car racing, and this was taken at one of his events. The frog was printed on the computer on green cardstock and cut out with scissors. The dragon flies and clouds were die cuts using Sizzix. The top picture here is from our Hook annual BBQ. Our family lives on old farming land. There are 9 houses around 2 ponds. Everyone gets their tractors (riding lawn mowers), paints and decorates them in a certain them, and we all ride them to the BBQ. After we eat there are tons of games for the kids and the men with their tractors... tractor pull, tractor race, balloon toss, etc. Tons of fun every year! The middle pic is me and Kati when my hair was short. (I'll never do that again!) Keri is at the bottom. This was one of her Senior pics. This is our oldest child, James. He is in the Army. He has already served in the War in Iraq. He is now stationed at Fort Irwin in California and loving it there! Unfortuntealy, he probably won't be there long. It is rumored that he will be going back to the war in Iraq in a few months. The "Our Soldier" was cut with Sizzix die cut letters "Shadow letters". I LOVE THESE DIE CUT LETTERS! Here is Tom and our girls again. Tom with Keri at the top. The bottom is Kati, Bonnie and Keri. I absolutely love these pictures!! Our daughter, Kati, is an art major in college now majoring in photography. But she also does drawings and paintings. She painted the bottom picture of her and her two sisters. I'll see if I can find it and post it here. Her work is amazing! The "Our Girls" was cut with Sizzix die cut letters "Shadow letters". I LOVE THESE DIE CUT LETTERS! Here is a picture of Kati and the self portrait painting she did of it beside it. Isn't she awesome?! Here is our deceased family member, Draco. He was such a love! We still miss him so much!! The tombstone was made with DJ Inkers and printed from the computer. This is Kati and her best friends a few summers ago. Sweet, sweet girls. All different shapes, colors, and personalities. What a very loving, fun group! The hanging sign was made with DJ Inkers and printed from the computer. This is Keri's graduation page. She let Bonnie wear her cap for the picture. We are so proud of her. I have another page next to it that contains a book of all her senior photos. What a gorgeous girl she is! The School's Out was printed from the computer. Okay, so finally I'm actually in the scarpbook! LOL Seems like I take all the pictures instead of being in them. Which is really okay with me, but one day our children or grandchildren may be curious as to what I looked like way back when. I'm in the top photo with Keri and Tom. The bottom photo shows Keri with her grandma (Tom's mama). (Oh, and yes, I'm the shortest one in the family.) Our son James at his graduation. Yes, they graduated the same year, but at 2 different schools. Long story, but basically we moved during their Senior year and Keri moved with us, while James decided to stay and finish school where he was. Anyway, that's James and his grandma at the bottom. We thought about it later and noticed that their grandma wore the school colors to each graduation... and she didn't even know she was doing it! LOL Okay, so that was a lot, but I hope you enjoyed seeing some of my very simple pages. I have some beach pages I'd love to post later. If I have time this afternoon and aren't dead from all my driving and running, I'll do it then. Love your comments! Have a great day! Don't forget to leave a link to some of your pages for us to see!!

Walk In My Garden Flower Pot Card

Inspired by "Thoughts of a Cardmaking Scrapbooker" on her post today, I created this card. Click here to go to her blog.

The flower pot and flowers were cut from Cricut Cartridge Walk In My Garden. The leaves and grass was cut from Cricut Cartridge Home Accents.

The flower pot paper was from my favorite stack, My Mind's Eye Everyday Tango.

The flowers were cut from pages in an old book. Our local library puts out free books (shelves and shelves of them) almost every week. They are usually very old, but not always. I chose some political books I knew I'd never read, and had no problem tearing the pages out and putting it in my Cricut Expression. :)


The grass and leaves were cut from paper in my scrap bin.

The buttons are very old and I don't have the container they came in anymore. Sorry I don't know the name of those. I used twine to "sew" the "x" in the buttons, and a glue dot to keep the twine flush with the button on the reverse side.

The little yellow butterfly is Mrs. Grossman's stickers.

I sponged the edges of everything with Stampin' Up! Close to Cocoa ink. I took Michele's advise and bent the blades of grass and flower petals a little to give them dimension.

I love the Cricut Walk In My Garden Cartridge!!!!

As always, I enjoy all your comments. Don't forget to leave a link to your blog. Click on the "Follow" button to stay up to date with what's going on here at "Pause Dream Enjoy" blogspot.

Have a GREAT day.... don't forget to laugh out loud! It does a body good. :)

Exploding Box Mini Album

A while back, I made some Exploding Box Mini Albums. They are really, really fun to make and thought I share them with you today.

I made the larger size box starting out with a piece of cardstock 12 x 12. Below are the measurements I used:

Lid: 8"x 8" and scored at 2" on each side.
Box and pages: 11 5/8" square and scored at 3 7/8" all the way around.
11 1/4" square and scored at 3 3/4" all the way around.
10 7/8" square and scored at 3 5/8" all the way around.
10 1/2" square and scored at 3 1/2" all the way around.

I rounded the edges and used Tacky Glue on the lid to adhere to corners.

Simply cut away the outside 4 corners of the paper to end up with a piece of paper that looks like a cross (+). Then fold each flap in toward the center.

For complete instructions, you can watch this YouTube video and see step by step how to make this Explosion Box.


Now it's your turn! Make an Exploding Box Album, stick some pictures in there, do some journaling and then post a link to a picture of your creation!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all the dads!

To my father....and Happy Father's Day to my WONDERFUL husband, Tom!

I love you Daddy!

I love you, Tom!

Compnay Family Outing

We had so much fun today at my husband's company family outing!

There was Bingo with prizes (Bonnie won a HUGE basket full of toys and animals); miniature ponies, turkeys, parrots, ostriches; swimming; face painting; DJ; so much food!!!!! Oh! And mechanical Bull Riding!! What a hoot to watch that!


It was so hot! The temp was supposed to be in the 90's with a heat index at 110. I forgot to check what the temp actually ended up being, but it was HOT! Thank goodness they had a large shelter with picnic tables and fans blowing.


The picture above was a very large obstacle course. The co-workers decided to race each other through that. Now that was funny!


Here is just a few of the prizes they had for the BINGO!


Yep, that's my man! Riding that bull!! I was standing beside the guy handling the controls and kept whispering, "faster, faster". hahahahahaha Tom did really good, but he got flung off that wild ride after awhile.

I hope everyone else had a GREAT, fun day! I'll post some crafts tomorrow! Sleep tight!