Update

I'm just taking a few minutes to post an update as to why I haven't updated my blog in a while. On Monday December 6 my DH was in a very serious car accident and I have basically been by his bedside at the hospital every since. This means no scrappin' for me in a while, even after he is released from the hospital it will be long recovery journey. I have cried and wondered why so much over the last two weeks but I'm still counting my blessings. I'm grateful to my heavenly father for not taking my DH away from me and our family. I'm thankful for family and friends that have prayed, visited, sent flowers, cards and have offered to help us. Please know that if I don't return calls promptly, remember a special day or engagement it is because I'm doing all I can to keep my family in tact during this junction in our life. I'm wishing you and yours a healthy and happy holiday as I've already received the best gift, my DH's survival.

Blog Candy Winner

Thank you to everyone for your kind comments during our recent blog hop. The winner of the Sistas Scrap Too Christmas and Countdowm to the New Year Blog Hop is Nedine aka Hi. Please email me your mailing information so I can get your package in the mail. Thanks again and stay tuned for the next blog hop.

Sistas Scrap Too Christmas & Countdown to the New Year Blog Hop

Christmas is coming and so is the New Year! To get you in the spirit of the season, the divas of SST have come together for a Christmas and Countdown to the New Year blog hop! There are 17 blogs in the hop, so make sure you use the links below this post to hop to all of the participating blogs. No worries if you miss one, you can always go back! These 17 divas have a lot in store for you. From exquisite creations to offers of blog candy, you will enjoy hopping your way to all of the blogs involved! Don't forget to leave some blog love for the creators -- they love getting feedback on their designs!




Christmas Gift Bags
I made these simple holiday gift bags using plain brown lunch bags. Inspiration for this project was found on www.okieladybugsscrapnmore.blogspot.com, she also included a video tutorial. I just used miscellaneous sheets of paper, paper scraps, along with other embellishments. Since I used pattern paper I decided not to use a lot of other embellishments. I did use ribbon, bling, buttons, stickles, floss and the cuttlebug on one of the bags along with punches for the handle holes. This is a quick and economical ways to personalize your gift bags not just for Christmas but anytime!



Gift Tag
My original intent was to make individual gift tags for the bags but I decided instead to just create one large holiday gift tag. I cut the tag using TBBM using the cricut and acetate (packaging from cricut cartridges). I colored the tag with alcohol ink and embellished it and added some ribbon.


Blog Candy
*Making Memories 81/2 x 11 Embellishment Paper Pack
*Making Memories 5 x 7 Mat Stack
*Making Memories Pastel Flowers
*Creative Café Card/Envelope Pack
*Tsukineko 4-Pack Versa Magic Dew Drop Chalk Ink
To be entered into the drawing for this candy all you need to do is leave a comment on this post by Sunday, December 5, 2010 at 11:59 PM est. The winner will be chosen randomly and will be posted and notified by noon on Monday, December 6, 2010

Thank you for participating in the Sistas Scrap Too first ever blog hop! Remember to visit all of the blogs and leave blog love -- you never know where you'll find candy!! Here is a linked list of all the participating blogs:

1. Treva's Craft Corner
2. Stampin' Dymonz Creative Space
3. Nubian Crafter NC
4. My {Life}, My {Blog}
5. Step Into Nita's World
6. Sweet Lil Scrapper
7. P-Kaysunshine Creations
8. Sharing My Stuff
9. Yaya Philly Craft World
10. Cassie's Crop Corner
11. M. M. DeZigns
12. Made By Dee
13. Riley's Custom Creations
14. It's A Family Affair!
15. Cuttin' Up
16. Stamping On The Road
17. In Shelly's World

Thanksgiving Bounty

This is a LO of a sampling of our Thanksgiving dinner, we had 13 family members in attendance and we had an abundance of food, fellowship and fun. My daughter had fun helping her grandmother prepare the family meal which will be scrapped separately. Shame on me because I didn't take alot of pictures of anything but the food!

Practice Makes Perfect

In case you hadn't heard, our daughter decided she wanted to be in the band this year. We're not totally convinced about her commitment to this new venture but we're supporting her. This is a LO of her practicing her clarinet one evening for her school's upcoming holiday concert.

Hello Cards

In an effort to continue to use my scraps I made these simple greeting cards yesterday morning! Don't be surprised when you receive one of them in the mail! I will be cranking out more of these this week as my schedule permits. I may even make some to give as holiday gifts.

Gratitude Tags

I am happy to say that I completed several LOs and cards over the Thanksgiving holiday! This is a LO that includes handwritten thankful messages from each family member on Thanksgiving Day. This will be the second page of our Thanksgiving dinner LO, I hope to finish the other page tonight.

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Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

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Image Coloring

I have been trying my hand at coloring (I'n not that good) but I am believing practice makes perfect. I'm posting a few of the cards that contain images that I colored for Friday Night chat challenges over at Scraps of Color. This is why I haven't been scrapbooking because I'm doing everything else! I don't have any fancy markers just color pencils.

Fruits of the Spirit - Week 2

Wow, I finished week #2 ATCs in a timely manner. I am still in awe since I'm so far behind in my scrappin' life otherwise. I'm hoping for peace and calm next week so that I can complete some outstanding LOs! This week I'm not planning to do too much outside of the ATCs and a few cards and maybe a few pages in my gratitude journal. Its really bothering me that I haven't finished my gratitude journal so I'm going to try to finish it by the end of this month!

Artist Trading Cards (ATC)

Do you recognize these words, any of them look familiar? Over at Scraps of Color we're doing a Fruits of the Spirit ATC challenge this month. This is a picture of my cards from last week, I am amazed that I even completed them all last week before the next set of words were posted! It is not a swap so I don't have to send them to anyone which means its a big deal for me to stay on task and complete them weekly! The chore for me is to fit everything into such a small space; now I have to come up with some type of notebook to display them in.

Card Swap

These beautiful thank you cards were made by other Scraps of Color members. This is the first time I participated in a card swap, not sure I'll do it again but it was a good experience and I received some really nice cards.

Very Virginia

This is a pictures of my daughter's 3-D Virginia Map that she had to do showing the five different regions. Materials used included "funny foam" for the regions, yarn for the mountains and floss to highlight the fall line. She used stars to label Virginia and the nation's Capital. We used the cricut for the title and the compass! Do they really expect kids to complete these projects by themselves and you're suppose to use materials that you have at home!

Gratitude Journal

I haven't had the opportunity to scrap much lately but I have done a few pages in my gratitude journal. This was a project that I started as part of a challenge over at Scraps of Color in June. I'm half way done so I'm sharing a few of my recently completed pages! I'm completing and sharing the pages in random order! These two LOs I scrapped being thankful for my laptop and my friends.

Wordle Art

Recently I was suppose to attend a crop with some of my scrappin' sistas and a few of us decided to design something to wear. We couldn't decide whether it would be a t-shirt or an apron so I opted to try both. I have yet to come up with a design for the apron that I like so for now I'm rockin' this t-shirt using Wordle to hightlight my papercrafting.

Family Photo

This past weekend my family was able to take pictures since my son was in town for a visit. More pictures to scrap! Don't be surprised when you see the same picture on your holiday card!

Fall Swap

I haven't really had the opportunity to get alot of scrappin' done but I did want to share some of what I have been doing. Over at Mocha Scrappers we did a fall swap and I received some really nice goodies from Keya in Winston Salem, NC. I received some paper, stamps, hand lotion, scrapbooking bling and some peanut M&Ms. She also sent me a beautiful handmade card and the items were wrapped in some creative packaging which was one of the suggested ideas! Thanks again Keya for my goodies.

National Card Making Day

The following cards were made today as part of my participation in National Card Making Day and an attempt to use my scraps! Christina over at Creations with Christina, hosted challenges and giveaways on her blog and I made some of my cards from her posted challenges. I completed cards for challenge numbers: 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7.

Money Holder

My MIL asked me to make a simple card so that she could give checks/money to all the graduates that sent her announcements this year. It took me forever to complete the task, I wonder if she'll still use them, if she's anything like me I say better late than never because you can always use money! The inside of the card says congratulations and I stamped the envelope with a fiskars stamp.

Encouragement Cards

I made these two simple cards for the weekend card challenge over at SOC. The challenge was to make a card to lift someone's spirt. I hadn't scrapped in sometime and I'm so looking forward to when I can scrap again regularly. I'm happy to say all paper used was from my scrap stash!

Scrapbook Blues

I've got the "Scrapbook Blues" so I haven't done too much crafting lately; so I haven't posted any projects. I'm trying so hard to get motivated but it hasn't worked. What have I done laterly, I went to the Creating Keepsakes Convention in Virginia Beach last month. I took two classes, shopped, completed some make and takes and the best thing was to meet some fellow scrappers from Scraps of Color (SOC). I completed my first Artist Trading Card (ATC) for a challenge over at SOC, maybe I'll post it! I've been working on some graduation cards for my MIL, it is taking me way too long to make them! I think I've just got too much going on and I can't concentrate on scrappin' right now! Maybe I'll just chill until I go to the Shades of Color Retreat next month, just use this down time to get prepared.

The Perrys

The picture used in the LO is of my DD, DH and myself taken at a family reunion in Chicago. I used this LO for a Technique Tuesday Challenge over at Scraps of Color, the challenge was to used pattern paper background. I used paper from a heirloom paper pack and a MS family punch and the cricut cartridge Don Juan for the title.

Daughter

I created this LO for a posted sketch challenge over on the cricut MB but I didn't use my cricut for any part of it. I used pictures taken of DD while we were in Chicago, she's wearing a hat that once belonged to her father. When he saw the pictures he wasn't happy that it was all pushed in!

Family Ties

This is the first LO that I created using pictures from a recent family reunion in Chicago last month. I also created this LO for a challenge posted over on the Cricut MB. I cut the butterfly using the wrap from a cricut cartridge and colored it with alcohol inks; this was my first time using alcohol inks. These pictures were taken for the Saturday evening banquet where the requested attire was African. I used pictures of my DD, DH and MIL.

Sisters Rule

I created this LO for one of the Technique Tuesday challenges over at Scraps of Color. I used a picture of me and my two sisters, I don't know the exact year but I do know that it was Christmas Day and we were at a family dinner! I love this picture of us especially since it is one of the few pictures I have of the three of us. I used misc pattern paper and some foam stickers from the $1 zone at Target. I picked the embellishment up from ACM a few months back.

Chicago Cows

We recently went to Chicago for a family reunion. I took pictures of these cows in the Midway Hotel Center where we had the reunion. We have had fish here in Richmond and mermaids in VA Beach.

Christmas in July

Over at Scraps of Color, the weekend card challenges for the month of July was to create various holiday cards. Card challenges included a blue Christmas card, a card with a Christmas tree (non-green), a card with no red or green and finally a Kwanzaa card. Don't be surprised if you receive one of these cards this holiday season!

Family Reunion

I created this LO using pictures from a recent family reunion for a posted challenge sketch over on the Cricut MB. I used the cricut for the circles and most everything else was scraps from some misc. paper packs and buttons.

Hattitude

DD recently went to the theatre to see the play CROWNS. It's a play about hats, DD was invited to the play by her aunt. They went to dinner and then to the play with a group from my SIL's church.

First T-Shirt

I made this t-shirt for my daughter to wear at one of our family reunions. Although it isn't personalized with the family name, it is uniquely hers with her name on the back! I'm so proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone! I used my cricut to cut the vinyl. A very special thank you to Nubian from the cricut board for her inspiration and assistance.

Gratitude Journal

Over at Scraps of Color during the month of June we had a Gratitude Journal challenge whereas we were to scrap and journal our gratitude. It was a great exercise as sometimes we take so much for granted. I have completed the entire 30 days of journaling but I still have to scrap my entries. I wanted to share this one which is about my oldest sister. I am grateful for her!

Training Day

I created to LO to document one of my daughter's recent aikido training seminars. We traveled to the Fredericksburg Dojo where she trained with other children and adults from various states. She even got to meet someone from Ethopia whose name shares the same meaning as hers. I submitted this layout for a Technique Tuesday challenge that included hidden journaling.

2 Good Men

This is a Father's Day LO of my father and husband. The pictures were taken in my parent's yard on Father's Day. I completed this LO as part of a cricut challenge over at Scraps of Color.

Twinkle Toes

I created this LO as part of a Technique Tuesday challenge over at Scraps of Color. It is a LO of our twin shoes aka happy feet. During a recent shopping trip DD and I came home with sketchers!

Father's Day Cards

I made these cards from my scraps, the scraps are taking over and I can't seem to use them fast enough!

MY WAY

I created this LO as part of a cricut board challenge; the LO is of my t-shirt and bib number from the Fisher Flamingo Festival last month. We (me & another parent) started our walk at the very end and we stayed the course and wind up passing some of the other walkers and crossing the finish line before them.

Hangin' in Urbanna

This is a LO that I completed to be included in my Scrappin' Sistas album. It is a LO of Rolanda, me, Sharon and Yvonne. Sharon and I met Rolanda and Yvonne for the first time as they were visiting Virginia from North Carolina. They were in Virginia to attend a RV rally. It was an afternoon of good fellowship and fun!

TIME

Time, where does it go? The pictures in this LO definitely shows signs of change and maturity! The first picture was taken in late 1998 and the other just last month in April. I completed this LO for a "Technique Tuesday" challenge over at Scraps of Color. I used sketch #28 over at Creative Genealogy Scrapbooking, I have used Rowena's sketches for several of my LOs.

Note Card

I created and posted this card as part of a cartridge exploration challenge over at Scraps of Color. It was a test of my patience as it was my first time cutting acetate and trying to get the multi-cut feature on the cricut set correctly! I didnt't own a cartridge with a vase so I used the fish bowl from EDPD. I like how it turned out and haven't decided who's going to be the lucky recipient of the card yet!

Glamour Girl

This is a LO of pictures taken in DC on Easter Sunday when we went to see the cherry blossoms. DD had fun posing for the pictures but didn't like all of the walking!

Wednesday Wanderings

Happy Cinco de Mayo and no I'm not Mexican nor am I doing anything special to celebrate. Happy Birthday Wendi, hope you have a beautiful and blessed day. I'm so glad that our paths crossed, its such a blessing when you get to meet another scrappin' sistah! I'm blogging today because I'm not in the best mood and I'm hoping this will help lift my spirits. This week is Teacher Appreciation Week so I've been creating small tokens for DD's teachers and at work we're celebrating "Week of the Nurse."

Sunday is Mother's Day and my plans aren't confirmed, I'm just not in a celebrating mood. I am thankful for my children and the blessing of motherhood. My son came to visit recently and he took his sister to take pictures so maybe I'll scrap those pictures this weekend.

Sisters

I completed this LO on NSD, I used a picture of me and my youngest sister. She probably won't be so happy that I posted it on my blog. I used flowers from a goodie bag that I received at our NSD crop, thanks Shalyn!

Mother's Day Card

I'm still trying to use my scraps, I made this card on NSD while at a crop. The fiber used for the dress was courtesy of Sharon and the dress idea/design provided by Shayla.

March Craft Madness

I created this LO and submitted it for a challenge over on Scraps of Color. I hadn't completed a two page LO in forever! It is a LO of the craft projects that DD completed during National Craft Month at Michaels. She painted on canvas, decorated eggs, painted on a t-shirt and made a ladybug flowerpot.

Forever Young

I've been trying to use my scraps to make cards and it just doesn't seem like the scrap paper is moving so I guess I need to step up my cardmaking game. I made these cards using a few cuts from the cricut Forever Young cartridge which is this week's posted challenge over at Platinum Scraps.

Award

This is the award that I received for posting my hello card on Cute and Some as part of their weekly project showcase. You should visit her blog, become a follower and you too will be inspired by her great work and while you're there participate in the showcase too!