Sing Us a Song, You're the Piano Man...

We had the most awesome weekend! For those that don't know, my sister is a lighting tech on the Billy Joel tour. She was going to get us tickets for the Anaheim show, but I couldn't get a babysitter. Saturday morning I got a text from her saying that she got four tickets so we could bring the boys too. How awesome is that?!?!

When we got there, she also got us backstage passes (no we didn't get to meet Billy, but we got an awesome tour). The boys favorite part was getting to see the piano underneath the stage. Austin now tells anyone who will listen about how the piano is on an elevator and it comes up through the floor. She even had these passes made up for the boys with their names on them. Everyone kept asking how little boys got backstage passes.

The show was fabulous--almost 2 1/2 hours long! Luckily my sis got earplugs for the boys because we were right up front and it was loud. Both boys enjoyed it, but Brendan was the most enthusiastic. Every time he hears Piano Man or We Didn't Start the Fire. He gets a big smile and says "Billy Joel is so fun". Mommy has to agree--I've always loved Billy Joel! I took a few pictures, but they're on a throw away camera, so I haven't gotten them developed yet. I'll share when I do.

Our weekend didn't end there, though. Even though that would have been more than enough excitement, we had promised to take Austin to Medeival Times as his birthday present. Well this was the last weekend of kids go free, so Sunday we headed over there. Mike complained about how much it cost us (about $140 when all was said and done), but it was a lot of fun. Other than the near emergency room visit of Brendan getting his leg stuck int he chair, the boys had fun. Mike and I did too. Probably not something we'll do again, at least not for a long while, but fun :)

Here's a few pics.

We were in the Yellow Knight's section. Don't you think he looks like Rachel's boyfriend Tag from Friends?

These two I paid (gasp!) $20 for, but they were so cute, I couldn't resist! The scans aren't the greatest since I can't get them out of the folder they put them in.

Technique: Faux Wood Grain

I posted this on the VC blog I'm a design team member for, but I thought some of you might benefit from it too. I love this technique: it's so fun and easy!

Supplies:

Toothbrush with straight bristles (you can trim them if need be)

Chocolate, Bamboo or Cocoa re-inker

Paper Plate

Bamboo cardstock

Black ink pen

Steps:

1) Cut a piece of bamboo cardstock (or any light color). I actually use a 12 x 12 or 8 1/2 x 11 and cut it up for multiple projects

2)Squeeze chocolate and/or bamboo re-inkers onto a flat surface (plate) and dip the toothbrush and swipe it across the paper. You may want to blot on side of the plate or a paper towel before swiping on paper, so you don't end up with a big blob.

3) I did all mine with just Chocolate. If you want more shading, you can add Bamboo as well. First swipe the dark color and add swipes of the light color.

I didn't have any pics of this step with browns, but here it is with Blush:

**at this point you have a fun background by itself--I like using this with tone on tone, as in the Easter card here

4) Using a ruler and a black marker, add 1" stripes and then randomly add a horizontal line. Add dots above and below the horizontal line.

Viola! You have faux wood. I love that this technique can be masculine or feminine depending on how you use it.

A couple more cards:

Challenges, Challenges

I finally had some time to play today, so I took up some of the challenges I've seen out there lately.

First, I had to play with my new Sweet N Sassy stamps--LOVE these penguins! I did this for Korin's February sketch challenge--a lot of layers, but I love the way it turned out. I used SEI papers with my penguins.

Then I did a card for Nona's Silhouette and pop of color challenge. I used my Bellas and Hollyhock for my color.

I then pulled out the the colors for Marjorie's challenge. This card is simple, but works for a masculine card--something I always have trouble with.

Last, I tried my hand at a couple of cards using Christine's sketch challenge. The first I used the same colors as Marjorie's since they were out. I used Rough and Tumble scraps and Stickease.

Then I needed a baby card, so I pulled out pastel colors for this one. I really like this sketch and will definitely put it in my favorites.

Feeling So loved!

Ok, first of all, yesterday I went to check my mail and boy was I surprised to find not one, but TWO handmade cards in my mailbox. Thank you to Sparkle and Marjorie for making my day. As the only person in my family that crafts, it just makes me so happy to be on the receiving end of a handcrafted beauty :)

Secondly, I have been tagged now three times with this tag, so I'd better post it--LOL! Actually, I am again, feeling loved to have received this:
It's called a "Blog Blessing". The idea behind this tag game is different from other tag games. Rather than look inwardly, we are to look outside ourselves and bless, praise and pray for three blog friends. By participating in this endeavour we not only make the recipient of the blessing feel valued and appreciated, but we are having some fun too. We’re going to see how far the bloggin’ blessings can travel around the world and how many people can be blessed! Recipients of a bloggin’ blessing may upload the above image to their sidebar if they choose to do so. In addition, be sure to go to the blog of those you are blessing and leave a comment on their blog to be sure they check yours!

Ok, since I was tagged by Sparkle, Marjorie and Kathi, three of my favorite bloggers, who all inspire me every day, I'll have to choose others: Definitely, Kristy, who not only posts such fabulous things on her own blog, but is always leaving wonderful, nice comments on mine. It always makes me smile when I see a comment from her. My second person will be my friend Sarah, who hasn't updated her blog much lately because she is superwoman. Seriously, she goes to school, works and is a wonderful mom to 3 kids. She is my hero :) For my third person, I'll tag Nona. She's new to blogging, but has been an artwork inspiration to me for a while now. You have to see her GORGEOUS wedding album on her blog--makes me want to re-do mine! There are so many blogs and peopls out there that inspire me--you can see that in my sidebar.

I also want to say a special thanks to all of you who stop by and especially those of you who leave comments. It really does mean a lot.

And while I'm feeling all mushy, have you heard this song? If you don't like country I apologize, but I heard this song today for the first time and it made me cry.

Back to Normal (I hope)

Well, we've just had two 3-day weekends in a row here, and I for one am ready to get back to a normal schedule. I love having my family home for three days, but everything gets all out of whack--KWIM? Plus we didn't even do anything Sunday or Monday--literally didn't even leave the house. I was going a little stir crazy last night, so I did run to Michaels and Staples, but that was it. I did enjoy being lazy and spending time together--I don't think the Wii ever got turned off though, so probably better we return to school and work--LOL!

On the bright side, I did have time to get my stamp of the month swap done. Here's my take on March's Stamp--Simple Beauty. I used my new Bind It All to make the holes to thread the ribbon through. It was a lot of work to make 12 of these, but I love the way they turned out. I used the Paper Garden papers and the colors are: Buttercup, Blush, Sweet Leaf and Petal.

Here's one of the layouts from the CTMH conference/regionals I went to a couple of weeks ago. I still haven't added pictures to the other layouts yet.

Great weekend!

I had a fabulous weekend, which still isn't over, since we're all home today too. Anyway, went to the Scrapbook Expo with my cousin, Cheri on Saturday--so much fun. At least until I got lost on the way home, but that's nothing new. We took some fantastic Rusty Pickle classes--three to be exact. The first was a "Smile" album. We were a tad disappointed that it was so girly--we thought it would be more neutral (we both only scrap our guys!), but it is so stinkin' cute, that I love it! Here's a few pics--I don't want to bore you with all the pages, but you get the idea.

Then we took the "Boy's Life" album class--perfect for my boys! Love the papers and colors!

The last class was huge! I didn't even come close to finishing it. It was a 12x12 calendar. Silly us, we thought album, totally missed the "calendar" part of the class description. However, we had lots of extra paper, so mine is becoming an album instead. I don't have any pics, because, like I said, I didn't even come close to finishing. We were about scrapped out in that class, so we left early to squeeze in more shopping!

I didn't spend TOO much money. We made a pact at the begininning of the day not to let each other buy paper, unless we could justify exactly how and when we were going to use it. Last year we both bought tons of paper that we still haven't used. Without buying paper, I found that there wasn't much I wanted. However, I did get a toy I'd been eyeing for a while--a Bind it All. I was going to wait and get it from Erin, but they were offering too great a deal to pass up. I didn't buy any chipboard/album-making materials, so I'll be ordering those soon. I want to make a scrapbook purse that I saw at Vegas Regionals. As soon as I find all the materials, I'll make one and post.

Overall, we had a great day, and I always enjoy spending time with my cousin--she and I always have fun together. I wish she wasn't two hours away so we could get together and scrap more. I'll leave you with one last image. I found these fabulou buttons at the Rusty Pickle booth. I loved the sayings and had to buy them!

My Real Soulmate!

I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful husband! He's my very own McDreamy! He's such a great husband and father! We don't make too big a deal about Valentine's Day, but here's my little ways of showing him I love him this year.

I made these from 8x8 acrylic that I had fun decorating. I saw them yesterday at the scrapbook store, and I knew I had to try it! He has cubicle walls that I figured these would be light enough to hang from, so I tried to make these less fru-fru than I would have if they were for me. I like the way they turned out, although I might have changed a couple things if I had them to do over again. Overall, not bad for my first try :)

Then, here's the card I made. I'm pretty sure I've made him a card with this saying before, but oh well. The man loves Starbucks, and I'm just not clever enough to come up with more coffee sayings--LOL!

I'm giving him a few other things too, but these are the handmade goodies.