I had to.

I accidentally deleted my other layout that I worked so hard on to look all cute and polka dotty. So, I did another one in honor of Twilight coming out. :) The background is from http://bloggerbackground.blogspot.com. Thanks!

Hello! Long Time No Blog

Hey! I'm a very bad blogger. :(

I've back in school again for the fall and I have pretty much been focusing on that. Exciting, though, because I'm finally in classrooms doing observation so I feel like I'm finally close to being the teacher I've always wanted to be!

I did get to do some scrapping with my mom in the last couple of weeks. OH-- and did I mention that we went on a cruise vacation?? Just the two of us! It was amaaaaazing. :)

Here are a few layouts I've done:

Short update. Buttons and Olympics.

Hello, all!

Not much to really say about scrapbooking. I finally hung up something I altered almost a year ago, and since I didn't have a blog back then, I thought I would share with you what I altered.



Basically, it was a hook with a metal square plate that had a spice sticker on it. I just peeled off the sticker, sanded it, painted it, and glued buttons to it. Simple, fun, cute.

Has anyone been watching the Olympics? How 'bout that Phelps kid, eh?

WT...H?

Backstory: My "headboard" to my bed is actually a bookshelf type thing. I have many paperback books on said bookshelf.

Story: This morning, when Josh came in to kiss me goodbye for work, I hear him say, "Did you do this?" and I'm groggily like, "Whaaa?" and he reaches into one of the pillowcases and pulls out a paperback book. I had stuffed paperback books into a pillowcase at some point during the night in my sleep. What's funny is, I VAGUELY remember it (although I thought I was dreaming when I did it). And it made sense at the time. Josh laughed and said, "Why did you do this?" And I just said, "I don't remember, but it made sense at the time!"

I'm such a weirdo!

If anyone is interested, the books were Sophie Kinsella's Can You Keep A Secret? and Undomestic Goddess.

PS -- Rofflez. Check this cat out.

A Little Bird Told Me...

Hey, check it out. Another update! Two in three days! Not bad. :) No comments on my last post, though. :( That's okay, I deserve it. I was MIA for a couple of months.

I just wanted to share an altered project I did several weeks ago. I bought an 8x8 purse box (not sure what it's really called) and decided to alter it! Actually, my sister, mom, and aunt bought one, too.

FIRST-- Before pics:
AFTER-- Here's mine:

Here's my sister's:

Click them to see them larger. We were pretty proud of them. We used a mixture of acrylic paints, inks, papers, stickers, felt, thickers.... it was fun. I still haven't used it for anything, though. It's just sitting in my house. haha oh well!

Thanks for stopping by, and come back soon to see some recent layouts I've done! :)

"Why So Serious?"

Hey, guys! Here's the obligatory apology-- sorry for not posting in a while! Life has been really hectic for me and I simply haven't made the time for scrapbooking or updating my blog.

I had so much fun at the Great American Scrapbook Convention! It was a lot of fun this year because my sister, Jennifer, came down to visit from Illinois and got to go to the convention with us! I took a lot of pictures at the convention last year, but not as many this year because I sort of had an idea of what I wanted and last year I was more awestruck of everything and so I was taking a picture at every corner!

Here's a fraction of what I bought at GASC. :)

Yes, I have a deep, dark love for THICKERS!!!

Oh, and as for the subject of this post-- it's from a recent movie I just saw that I can't stop talking about! The Dark Knight DEFINITELY lived up to its hype! If you haven't seen it already, I definitely recommend seeing it.


I have done a couple of things including a really cute altered project which I will share in the next few days, so come back!

Ok, so I know I've been bad!

But I will make up for it, I promise! :)

Bad, blogger, BAD!

This message is for the four visitors I get per week, including my mom:

I still heart scrapbooking. I still heart blogs. I still heart blogging.

BUT-- I'm up to my ears in school right now. Finals are this week. It's hard for me to scrap when I know I should be studying.

BUT--- After finals, and maybe a few days of celebration, I will resume my scrappy days and come back and blog my heart out about my "latest creations."

Thank you for checking in, and please come back in about a week and a half, unless you really just like to look at the cartoon giraffe in the corner. :)

Why did you smile today?

Things that made me smile today:

// One of my teacher's telling me that I was at the top of my class and he was impressed with my work and to "keep it up!"

// My other teacher going on a seriously funny 30 minute lecture about not walking in "dog sh##" so we don't get hookworms.

// My banker inadvertently sexually harassing me (on accident) by telling me that I'd make a good stripper (long story).

// My kickboxing class at LA Fitness and actually noticing that push-ups aren't as hard anymore! (yay!!)

// Buying matching planters for my patio for half-price at JoAnn.

// Buying my new Nikes for working out so my feet won't hurt anymore!

// Making my way around Grapevine without getting lost.

And continued... 4 layouts.

Alright, four more layouts to share with you guys. :) Click to enlarge and any comments are much appreciated. I'm starting to break out of my shell with my layouts. I tend to go simple, complex, simple, complex. Am I the only one that does that? I get exhausted from busy layouts and then do a simple one. Then by the time I'm done with the simple one, I'm ready to get out all my embellies and make another busy layout. Phew, exhausting, but fun!! :)

I was inspired to FINALLY use one of my many Hambly overlays that I've been hoarding for about a year, now! I saw this overlay used at mugsyboo.blogspot.com and it looked amazing so I made myself get it out and use it while the inspiration was still fresh. I really like the way it turned out and I'd love to thank Martha for that burst of inspiration! I will try and remember everything I used: Hambly overlay, Bazzill cardstock, Love Elsie ribbon, American Craft thickers, Bam Pop frame, Q & Co alphabet chipboard letters, Heidi Swapp ghost letters, stickles, chipboard buttons, and other random embellies/papers from previous kits (Poppy Ink, I think).



I was so happy that I used one of my old papers! I tend to only use my "newer" stuff. I was inspired by our clothes. Josh and I were wearing brown and blue and so I looked through my browns and blues and found this in the blues and thought it would be perfect. I also really wanted to use that Together rub-on by Daisy D's that I bought at The Crafty Scrapper (my local scrap shop). The two little birds represent Josh and I, of course, and those are Hambly rub-ons. The two gold butterflies came in a previous Poppy Ink kit. The buttons are random but mostly from kits or from Autumn Leaves. And I do believe this is the first time I used a corner adorner! I'm getting so bad about making only one picture layouts... haha, oh well!



I really wanted to use my new circle punch and my new Pop Culture paper that I bought at Target. I also bought some Autumn Leaves alphabet stamps at Target and this was my first time to use them. I also used some cute acorn stickers that I got in a previous Poppy Ink kit and a few sequins from a Scarlet Lime kit. Very simple layout that I was pretty pleased with. :)



This was the last layout that I did Sunday. I wanted to just randomly choose a picture and scrap it and I ended up choosing this one. This is Josh's mother and brother. We are at the Wax Museum. I thought something simple like this would look cute. I used Primas, an Autumn Leaves stamp, and cardstock. That's pretty much it!

2 Day Scrapathon

I had an amazing weekend at Mom's house. I will be there a lot here in the next couple of months because I have to get out of Josh's hair so he can study for his Series 7 test that he is taking at his work.

I did so many things at Mom's house!!

But, for now, here are only two of the things that I made. Both of these are for Josh. I made him a bookmark and a framed layout.

Organize, organize, organize!

I have collected/purchased/hoarded SO MANY cute organizational items in the last year... but have yet to execute them properly in my scrap room! I need motivation to get my booty in gear and start organizing and rearranging my room. I have a beautiful expedit bookshelf that takes up an entire wall and I have yet to take advantage of it with all my cute red baskets and such. Someone motivate me and light a fire under my butt!

Five more pages!

I was a scrapping machine this Easter! Josh was out of town visiting family in Louisiana and so I was all alone for five days! I would have gone, but my boss wouldn't give me off. :( BUT- it ended up being a great Easter after all. I spent all day long on Easter Sunday with my mom scrapping away. My dad played my Wii or watched movies on my Zune and my grandma did her thing resting in her room or watching us scrap. It was a wonderful day for me because I got FOUR PAGES done. Okay, that's a lot for me! I also have one more page to share that I actually did a couple of weeks ago, but never scanned/photographed it. If you want to see them bigger, just give them a clickaroo!

This one I did last Saturday. Peggy's birthday was March 13th and I spent the 15th at my mom's scrapping so I figured it was only natural to do Peggy's birthday layout! I actually really like the way this came out. I used so many different products! For some reason, it's always very easy for me to do a layout about Peggy. I get to use so much cute girly stuff.


This one ended up being, ehhh, OKAY. I think because I LOVED this photo so much and then I really wanted to use some new decorated chipboard that I bought. I think the main problem is the background paper. I'm usually pretty good at choosing eye-pleasing background paper, but not in this case. This should have been used as accent paper because I didn't notice it until it was too late, but the pattern on the paper is crooked. So the whole thing kind of looks lop-sided. I will probably use this layout for my vacation album and scrap the picture again for the album of just Josh and me.


This was a fun layout for me to do! First of all, it's all from my March Scarlet Lime kit. I love me some monthly kits! haha BUT, what I really like about this layout is that I actually did something on it for the first time ever. When I was at The Crafty Scrapper last weekend (my LSS), I saw a chipboard hanging album that had distressed edges on the photograph so I used my Making Memories block and scratched, scratched, scratched away at the edges of my picture. I actually like the way it turned out and will probably use this technique again!


This layout ended up being a pleasant surprise for me. I told myself that I was going to go through my stuff and choose something to use FIRST and THEN choose the photographs. I came across these My Mind's Eye frames that I have had for a while. Then I thought of these silly pictures I took of myself around my 25th birthday last year in the mirror. I printed three pictures on one 5x7 and cut them up to fit in the frames. Then I found this laser die cut that I bought at GASC last year and thought THIS WOULD BE PERFECT! Well, it ended up looking really cute, in my humble opinion! haha And this is one of the very few "me" pages I have done. And I just loved my different sized yellow buttons. My mom liked it so much that she ended up scraplifting me and she ended up with an awesome layout that she's going to frame and hang in her scrap room!


This was the last layout I did Sunday night. I used some paper that I bought at The Crafty scrapper, some journal die cuts that I got in a kit last month, and a rub-on that I got in another kit. The stars are PaperChase (the London paper company that only sells stuff in Borders) and the letters are Q & Company. Love those letters! I ended up using different colors for the R's because I didn't have enough R's in blue... but it ended up working with the page, I think.


Phew! That took me a long time to scan and photograph. Scanning stresses me out, so I think I'm going to stick with taking pictures of my layouts, even though it isn't quite as good of quality. Thanks for looking and any comments are very welcome. :)

Happy Easter! :)

My First Card

I never got around to scanning or taking a picture of my 2 layouts I did yesterday, but I did take a picture of the card that I made for Josh's mom! It is very, very simple. I used eight different stamps to make it and even used some scrap patterned paper. I was pretty proud. :) Click them to see them a little bit larger.

Met some CRAFTY SCRAPPERS!

I had so much fun today! All day I spent scrapping with my mom, my aunt, and my cousin. I got so much done! Okay, not that much, but a lot for me. :) One 12 x 12 layout, an 8.5 x 11 layout, and my very first card meant for Josh's mom. She needs a pick-me-up these days and I thought that a card would make her smile, if only for a minute. :)

I finally got to go to my favorite LSS tonight with my mom. We were very pumped. I warned mom that I already "knew" some girls from The Crafty Scrapper from the message boards, so hopefully they will recognize me so I don't have to be like a dork, "Uhh, hey I'm Amber, do you remember me??" But, I got called out as soon as I arrived by Sherri and was so glad to finally meet some people that I love to chat with online. Carolyn chit chatted with us and has definitely convinced me that crops at stores are not scary like I might fear. Maybe one of these days I will get to go and meet some more crafty scrappers. I missed Dee Dee and Brook and a few others, but I'm sure I will meet them one of these days. :) And, ladies, you are all more than welcome to "steal" any pictures I take! haha I was never mad that anyone took a picture of mine from GASC last year, I just sort of stopped posting everywhere for a while and when I came back there wasn't a message board there anymore.

I came home tonight around 1:30 and talked Josh's ear off about my day. "And I made this! And this! And this for your mom! Then me and Mom went to the scrap store in Waxahachie! And I met my message board buddies! And they recognized me! And I bought some scalloped paper and some Maya Ro-- well, nevermind. But I bought some cool stuff! And- And- And I can't wait to get my scrap room set up!" haha He gave me some "Aww, you're so creative!" and "Uh, huh.. uh, huh.." and some "Wow!" and some laughs and really humored me just the way he knows I like to be humored. haha He is such a sweetheart. He really loves to look at my "work." Which is great because I really love to share it with him. :)

Check back soon, I may update with my work that I did today! All 3 of them, lol. :) And also I took PLENTY of pictures of today, so I will definitely be sharing some of those. I had my camera with me in the scrap store and was a little tempted to take pictures of everyone because I'm kind of a camera-nerd like that, but I subsided. :)

MAN-- That was a lot of smiley faces in one post!

Seven Things About Me

I've been tagged by the lovely and talented Carolyn at The Crafty Scrapper. I have to list seven things about me. I won't tag anyone because the only four people (lol) that visit my site have already been tagged. haha Ok so here we go-- seven things about me!!

1) I am a bartender. I work at a Cajun chain in the Dallas area and I've worked there for 4 years now. Dream job? Not really. But! I'm very thankful for it. I got promoted to a bartender 3 years ago, which truly is a monetary promotion. This has enabled me to work less, make good money, and still have time for school. I really do feel very lucky to have my job. Guests are total pains, but I guess that's the general public for you! :) lol, just kidding.. sort of! On a serious note, there are many guests that come in just to see "us" or even ME and it brightens my day knowing that every day I work I make someone a little bit happier. And I don't just mean by giving them alcohol! :) Being a bartender is a very social job and 80% of it is talking to your guests. We cheer people up, listen to people's woes, and make general chit chat with people. OH-- and that picture is not how I NORMALLY dress for work, that was on Mardi Gras when we had to dress up! I'm on the bottom row, the red head.


2) I'm currently going to school to be a teacher. I've been going to college full time and part time on and off for EIGHT YEARS. I know, it's totally "Tommy Boy" of me. But much of my college was spent working FULL TIME. My grades suffered taking a full load and working full time and I had to work to pay for school so I went to school part time. Then when I went to a university in Louisiana, I did a lot of the typical college "partying" and of course wasn't the BEST student, not too bad, though! Did a lot of catching up when I moved back to Texas. Now, I'm lucky enough to only have to work 3 days a week, plus I get grants for my school. I am hoping to teach here in the DFW area in the next couple of years.

3) My little pride and joy is my dog, Peggy. I miss her so much! She has been staying at my mom's for nearly a year for various reasons, but I'm hoping to bring her back to mommy soon. Peggy is 4 years old (as of March 13, actually!) and she is a Pekingese. We bought her at a rescue shop in Six Flags mall when she was a puppy. She was born with a birth defect in her back right leg causing her to not be able to bend her knee. When she walked, she looked like she had a peg leg... so we named her Peggy! As she's gotten older, she's gotten better with it. But you should see her when she pees, her left leg squats and her right leg kicks forward. It looks like she's doing the splits. haha When she was 2 (right when she turned two), she had bad back problems. My mom was babysitting her one night, and she called me at work to tell me that Peggy wasn't moving her lower half of her body. After a long drawn out process of overnight stays at the emergency center, we found out that she had slipped a disc and steroids were not helping and her only option was to be put to sleep or have surgery. It was devastating because the surgery was MY only option in my heart, but it cost me over $3000. Luckily, I hadn't done my taxes the past three or four years and I just so happen to have gotten my checks in and it pretty much paid for the whole thing. God works in mysterious ways, doesn't He? After some months of TLC, Peggy got to her old self. We just have to be very careful when picking her up and she's not allowed to use stairs.

4) I LOVE LOVE LOVE to travel and go on vacation! I just started going on REAL REAL vacations in 2006. Josh and I took our first vacation together. We went on a cruise and had the time of our life! haha so cheesy, but so true! So we pretty much immediately started planning for another trip. We took a mini trip to San Antonio with Josh's son, which was great! Then, we went on another cruise a year later. Currently on my vacation calendar is a trip to Cancun with Josh and some of his friends in May. Then, in September, I'm taking Mom on her very first real vacation! We are going on a cruise and I am soooooooo excited about it! Since 2006, I can say that I've been to Mexico twice, Jamaica twice, and Grand Cayman twice. :) In the future, I would love to go to both coasts of the US (never been). Alaskan cruise, Mediterranean cruise, Hawaiian cruise... I want to do it all! I want to see the world! :)

5) I love giraffes. I have loved giraffes since junior high, I think, so about 12 years or so. My dad used to do wood work and was making coin banks out of small wooden animals and he had me choose an animal for him to make and I chose the giraffe and loved it so much! Ever since then, I've been casually collecting giraffe things.

6) I love me some electronic gadgets. :) I am such a Nintendo girl. I bought a Wii this Christmas and it has provided much entertainment for me and my family! I recently bought the new Super Mario Smash Brothers Brawl, but haven't had a chance to play it. My favorite things to play on it are the sports (bowling and golf) and Super Mario Galaxy. I can't wait for the Super Mario Kart to come out! I also recently bought an 80GB Microsoft Zune. What a cool little thing! I've been putting tons of music and even movies on there. I need something to distract me when I'm on that plane to Cancun in May! haha It's definitely a nifty gadget. One of my other favorite gadgets is my little HP photo printer that my boyfriend gave me about a year ago as a gift. A great scrapper tool for me. :)

7) I've been casually scrapping for a good ten or so years with my mom and other family members.. just more to have something to do when they scrap. BUT-- I've only been an avid scrapper with my own scrapping supplies for 1 year and 4 months. I remember this because I went to GASC (scrap convention) in 2006 with my mom and sister. This was in June and I thought it would be cool to do a very simple album of my first cruise that I was about to take that September. After I got home from the cruise and saw my pictures, I started to want to make the album, of course. It went from "simple" to "OHHH LOOK WHAT I CAN DO!" and in December, I told Josh: "That's it. I'm going to start scrapbooking. And not just every once in a while with mom. I mean REALLY scrapbooking. I'm buying a desk, I'm buying supplies, the whole SHABANG!" And so I did! :) Now I scrap with my mom all the time and it's probably my favorite part of my week when I get to go over there. It has definitely brought me closer with her and even a little closer to my scrapper sister who lives in Illinois. I think it's crazy that some people thing that if you don't have kids, what's the point of scrapping? I do it because it's fun and I love that I will have something to remember the big and small moments of my life and maybe even be able to share it with my FUTURE kids. I may not have kids now, but I still have stuff to scrap about. Me, my dog, Josh, my friends, my family, my vacations, my favorite color, WHATEVER I WANT. That's the beauty of it.

A Little Scrappin' Done...

I got to go to Mom's on Sunday and do some scrappin'! I decided to use some of my old stash that really isn't my style anymore. But, I had it, so I thought I would use it! They turned out okay, just WAY MORE SIMPLER than I'm used to! :) I also did landscape 11 x 8.5 for the first time. I wanted to put them with my other layouts in my American Crafts Modern Album, so I had to punch a hole for it to fit in the rings, but it turned out good! I don't know why it looks crooked on the scan, I must of pushed it around too much. It's not crooked in "real life."

I'm so excited about going to Mom's to scrap on Saturday. I got off of work and everything. My aunt, my cousin, and my cousin's friend will be there. And hopefully Mom and I will get to go shopping at The Crafty Scrapper later that night! :)

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February 29

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