An anniversary frame redo

Happy Rednesday!!!!

I found this frame at Goodwill a few months ago and just loved the design and look down to the littlest detail.  I didn't want to paint it or anything but wasn't sure what I was going to do with it until now that is.

Our 11 year wedding anniversary is coming up on September 9th and I wanted to have something else to display the love I have for this wonderful man.  He is my prince that every girl waits for and I was lucky to have him come into my life after a not so good first marriage.

These were our colors so wanted to do something along those lines.

I also did up a matching card and changed our invitation wording just a tad to reflect now :)  I'm one lucky woman and he is definitely a keeper.  He even does laundry and dishes and vacuums!!  How's that for lucky!!  :)

I'm hoping for a better day today.  So far this week has been nuts with things happening.  Last night at my granddaughters birthday party, a freak accident happened and I had to take my oldest daughter, her Mother to Urgent Care and she had to have 15 stitches put in her arm.  Even when our kids are grown, they still call for Mommy's don't they.  Thank goodness she is going to be OK.  Just will have a large scar.

Have a great day and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Card Making with Watercolors

Happy Tuesday!!

I'm still battling a sore back so I have been on the heating pad and muscle relaxers to try to snap it back in shape.   It is frustrating as I can't get much done but if there is a will, there is a way :)  So I have been using more watercolors and getting ready to make up some cards to have on hand for different occasions.

They look like they are a lot of work but they are very easy and pretty quick.  It makes me feel like I'm back in grade school again lol.

Here is one and I call her my little teenager.  I remember so vividly when my girls went through this stage :)  Aw... memories!!

Here is the other fun one.  A little younger and always having fun.  Yup, gave myself the giggles remember my girls.

Do you want to see what I did with my teenager?  lol  I haven't done a lot of card making so don't be too hard on me OK?  Here she is :)

Linky's I'm following today:



Have a fantastic day and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Journey Book

Happy Monday!!

I've been working on a "Journey" book for Carissa and documenting all of her special days for her preparation of her wedding.  I'm starting out with when they met, started dating, throughout their years of being together and into the engagement and wedding.  It will be a continuation for a few months but here is the box that it will go in.

I ended up incorporating their colors, found a free digi download that I thought was adoreable and colored it with water colors.  Now this is a new venture for me but it is turning out so cute and I love it.  You have to excuse the picture as it doesn't do it justice at all as the glimmer mist is still a little wet so it showed up in the picture.  Yup, Ms. Impatient again lol.

I will continue on with this as there is a lot of work to do so stay tuned for updates on it in the months to come.  I want to add a few more more embelishments on the box itself but don't know exactly what yet.  My creative juices are still flowing lol.

I also made one of my new cards from a stamp that I received as a gift and I had never made an easle card.  They are very easy and I think this turned out so cute :)  I love it.... now I have to figure out what I want to put inside it.  lol

Didn't get much crafting in this weekend as we were very busy with going to the Mariner's game and also wedding dress shopping.  Making good progress, she's got it narrowed down to 3 and we go back on Thursday to retry them on again.  It has to be perfect :)

Sites I'm following today:




Have a great day and happy crafting!!  Enjoy :)

xo ~ Laura

Cute Tags and I was a winner :)

Happy Sunday!!!

First off, I got up Saturday morning to check my blog and had a comment from Haley over at The Autocrathaley that I had won her 200 follower giveaway.  Take a look at this gorgeous necklace I won!!  I'm SO excited!!!  Thank you SO much Haley :)

I have been busy playing with my Cricut and learning some more in depth functions and decided to try my hand at making tags.  It takes some getting used to with the different papers and figuring out what settings work best but I think these turned out cute!!  Besides I had to do something as my back has been hurting so I can't life heavy things right now with my redo's.  Ho hmmmmm.

This one is my sweet little pink believe one.  I did my first more intricate cute with the Cricut on this one with thinner pink design paper and placed it over brown linen cardstock and embelished it with a few pink rhinestones and a silk flower.  Love it :)

This one is pretty neat as I took a sheet of music paper, ripped around the edges and distressed and the flower is something I made out of an old book page.  How cute it that!!  This is a little bigger tag that could be used for a photo on the back as it is a 4" one.

This little sweet one is a smaller 2" one and I did the same affect on the paper.  You just hand rip the page and distress and then I added a cute flower to bring it all together.  Cute cute!!

There are so many uses to do with these tags.  Put them in mini albums, in cards or

 in with a special little gift with some personal writing space on the back.  Love it!!!

We had a wonderful time at the ball park yesterday and the weather turned out to be perfect so we got to sit and enjoy the sunshine with not too hot weather.  High of about 72 with a slight breeze.  Perfect.  Here are a few shots that I took.  I won't bore you with all of them as there are quiet a few.  lol  I love to document memories :)

We were on the 3rd baseline in the 1st row right on the field.  It was awesome!!  My brother-in-law is the best for giving us these seats let me tell you :)

And of course you have to get a picture of the mascot!!  The "Moose" :)  Last time I saw him he ate some of my popcorn lol

This was our view, not bad huh!!!

Well it's off with some of the girls today as it is wedding dress shopping time!!  My daughter is so excited and has a few of her bridesmaids going also, the mother of the groom and her Dad so we've got a full house.  Have you ever stopped to think about the very special memories that you are making watching such milestones of your children???  I bet you anything that I will get tears in my eyes as she comes out modeling the dresses that she's chosen.  Sigh........

Giveaways I'm following today:

Jodi over at linkedinspirations

Clares eye candy over at the Distressed Miss

Have a great day and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Take me out to the ballgame....

Happy Saturday!!

It is going to be a very busy weekend for me that's for sure.  Today we are going to head to Seattle to the Mariner's baseball game :)  My brother-in-law has season tickets and gave us 4 so we are taking Carissa and her fiance to the game as they have been wanting to go for quiet some time.  It should be fun!!  Great seats too but I won't be able to enjoy a hotdog as I'm on a diet...darn it anyway :(  Oh well, I'll come out ahead right?  lol  Down 20 lbs so far and a few more to go... yay!!

So here are just a few random shots that I took of a few of my zoo, I mean animals lol  These are my 2 sables, Bandit and Taz.  My oldest who is 9 and my youngest who is 5.  They are quiet the characters that's for sure.

Then this is our little Bristol.  She is almost 11 and is really starting to look like a balding kitty in her old age.  You can't really tell it in this picture but her tail and back side are going bald.  She's just a sweetpea.

A few new items around the house I did to spruce it up.  Quick and easy stuff but I like it!!

This little can needed a little something on the bathroom counter so I just tied some fabric on it.  Now when Carissa comes over and spends the night occasionally, she has her toothbrush and paste waiting :)

I love my star and hook in the main bathroom.  Fits right in with the country rustic theme in there :)

A little reminder to relax and enjoy yourself.  See I even have my twigs and flowers on the shelf.  Enjoy the simple things around you at all times :)

I also decided to try a new recipe last night and it was fabulous!!  It is turkey chili.   It is really good. My hubby came home from work and let me say it was a good thing I put a small bowl aside for me for lunch today as he ate all of it. Here is the recipe if anyone wants to try it out. Quick and easy :)

2 T. Olive Oil

1 lb. Ground Turkey

1/2 t. Salt

3 large Garlic Cloves, chopped

1 large Onion, chopped

1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled Tomatoes

1/2 c. Tomatoe Paste

2 Medium Green Bell Peppers, cut into 1" pieces

2 Medium Red Bell Peppers, cut into 1" pieces

1 T. Sugar

2 1/2 t. Ground Chili Powder

1 1/2 t. Dried Oregano

1 1/4 Ground Cumin

1 (15 ounce) can each Pinto, Kidney, and Black Beans, drained and rinsed

In a large pot over medium-high heat, heat 1 T. olive oil.  Brown turkey, breaking up with a wooden spoon as meat cooks.  Season with salt.  Using a slotted spoon, remove turkey and reserve; discard any liquid.

Add remaining tablespoon oil to pot over medium heat.  Add garlic and onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Add tomatoes, tomatoe paste, peppers, sugar and spices, using wooden spoon to break up tomatoes.  Add reserved turkey and bring mixture to a boil.

Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.  Add beans, stirring gently and simmer 15 more minutes.

Enjoy!!

Oh wow!!  I just noticed I'm almost to 100 followers and you know what that means don't you???  Yup it will be time for another giveaway!!  Guess I better get crackin and get something ready huh :)  Well that's it for me.  I'm taking the day off of crafting today as we'll be out and about enjoying family time.  I hope that you have a wonderful day and happy crafting!

xo ~ Laura

Bridesmaids Totes

Happy Friday!

Well I think I have finally figured out how to do these totes.  I had to change things up a little as my vinyl wasn't wanting to stick to the fabric of the totes so I had to change over to fabric paint which is more work but oh well lol.  I still have to clean up the lines a little more and then it will be all done.

The first bridesmaids totes now done and finishing drying and am liking how they turned out.  They will all be the same with the exception of the flowers, or at least that is my plan but you never know about me.  I decided to go one step further and personalize them so they won't get them confused on the big day so made a little chipboard flower and put their names on it.  Yup, that should do it :)

I also found these rose petals on sale so decided I wanted to try to see what kind of flowers I could make with them and just started playing around and came up with this.  Not bad huh :)

Blogs I'm following today:






Have a great day and happy crafting!!

xo ~ Laura

Mini Albums

Happy Thursday!!!!

I have been a busy girl getting together the gifts for the girls and am little by little getting them done.  These are all going to be customized according to their hobbies that they love or the colors that they really really like.  Be forwarned, the glue isn't dried on these yet so you can see it through the ribbon on some.  Yes I'm impatient :)  lol

Here is what I've gotten done so far.  5 down, 2 more to go.

This one is for her best friend and Maid of Honor.  They were always hanging out and going everywhere together.  They met in 7th grade and still are very close even though they've graduated.  So can you say "girlfriend" theme for this one?  lol She now is living in California but she's right there getting so many things done and wanting Carissa's special day to be perfect.  She's like a daughter to me that's for sure.

This one is for her bridesmaid who loves anything country :)  I had found quiet a bit of embelishments for hers so far and it will be a fun one to finish out.

This one is for her bridesmaid which happens to be her sister.  She just loves pink and of course this one will be an easy one to embelish through out too.  I mean sisters and their bond they have, no problem :)

This bridesmaid is another Jr. High/HS friend who were the best of friends and  hung out a lot also.  A lot of bonfires and being out in the country.  She is the adventurous one who loves to try things at least once.  She's already been skydiving :) 

This bridesmaid is Brandon's sister and she is a junior in H.S. so she is into the girly items like the mall, movies and of course shopping. Can you figure out what the inside of this album will be having in it?  lol

It was fun getting their favorite colors and fun hobbies they like to do so I could personalize each one of them.  The other 2 that I will be finishing is for Brandon's Mom and Stepmom.  I am loving how they are turning out.  Carissa will be writing a special note to each of them on the inside so they can cherish this special event :)

Giveaways I'm entering for today:

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Linky Parties I'm doing today:




So have a wonderful day and happy crafting!

xo ~ Laura

Pretty Plate

Happy Wednesday!

I had bought this plate for 59 cents at Goodwill quiet awhile ago and finally decided to do something with it.  I was going to put vinyl on it but the texture is bumpy so didn't think that would work too well.  I think it is a beautiful plate and had a vision so I started thinking.

I am still playing with my Cricut and finding out different things you can do with it so I decided to use the pens to write something instead.  Once I got it on the paper, I trimmed the edges with decorative scissors and distressed the edges. I can't figure out why the font spaces some things the way it does but oh well.  I then weaved the ribbon and Tada!!  I love it!!

Not bad for under a buck huh :)

I also had found this at Goodwill and when I saw it I wanted to redo it for my Mom for her apartment as she has a tendency to scatter papers everywhere lol. 

So I chose one of her favorite colors which is purple and went to town.

This is one of the flowers I made out of card stock so it is a little extra special for her :)

Then I was able to play with my felt to make a flower out of it. I want to put it on one of the totes that I'm doing.  I decided to put a few feathers on it also to complete all the colors being used so here it is :)

Linky Parties I'm doing today:


 Giveaways I've entered today:Tracie over at Life and Times of a 12x12 Addict

Have a great day!!  Happy Crafting :)

xo ~ Laura