I'm back :)

I know it's been a while since my last post, but life always gets crazy here during soccer season. This year is even busier with both Victoria and Alex running track too. Couple that with working more hours, well you get the picture. I'm hoping things will start to slow at least a little. Anyway, here are the projects that I've been working on. I have a couple more to finish up for April. I'll post some pictures of the kids soon :)

Lots of Updates

It's been a long time since my last post. I am not so good at this working full time as it's taking away all my play time. Here are some pictures from the past month to catch you up on what been happening in our lives.



During February, Maddy & Mark attended the Father Daughter Dance at St. Mikes. This was the first year Maddie had Dad all to herself. Victoria had an indoor soccer game, so she didn't go this year.


Victoria's 7th grade Basketball team won 2nd place in tournament. They lost to the only team that beat them during the regular season in the league.

We brought home two new furry friends from the Humane Society. The little one, Peaches, had a rough start and had to spend some time at the vet, but is doing wonderful now. Sophie was scared at first, but she too has come out of her shell and is enjoying all the attention. Today I noticed they were sleeping together and cleaning each other, so I think they will be good friends too. Here is a picture of Peaches. Yes, she has a hard life here at the Shand home.

Here is a picture of Sophie. She is very well behaved, unlike her partner :)

Maddy's class performed Mass.

This past weekend was also the Boy Scout Pine Wood Derby. It was a long afternoon, 3 hours!! Alex was second in his den, so he will be moving on to the next level. I'm not sure who was happier, Alex or Mark, LOL!!

Today, I received the latest copy of Scrapbooking & Beyond. I was lucky enough to get a page published!!

Well, I think that is enough for now. I completed a couple of scrapbook pages, but I'll save those for the next post.

You are Loved & Missed!!!!

Here is my first layout as a tribute to Pumpkin. I wanted to capture the feelings of the kids before we bring home the new kitten & 2 year old cat we adopted today.

A Fond Farewell to Pumpkin

Last Sunday when we got home from Victoria's Basketball tournament, we noticed something was not right with Pumpkin our cat. She got up to go eat and could not walk properly. I carried her to her bowl, thinking something was wrong with her back legs. Unfortunately, that was not the problem. When she went to walk back to her bed, she pitched forward and landed on her face. Something was seriously wrong. We took her into the vet Sunday night. It was a very young vet and she was unsure what was wrong with Pumpkin, so she was going to give her steroids & pain medicine, in case she had swelling in the spine. Unfortunately, she was no better the next day and the diagnosis was a blood clot in her spine. She would never be able to walk again, so we had no choice but to put her to sleep. Alex, Maddy, Mark & I went to say our goodbyes....it was SO hard. It's amazing how much you take for granted that they will always be there to greet you. I know she lived a long life....but those 18 years were not enough :( So today, still with a heavy heart, I say goodbye to Pumpkin.

Cuttlebug Challenge Blog Be Inspired #19

Happy Wednesday Everyone!! It's that time again for the Cuttlebug Challenge blog Wednesday challenge. This week the challenge was to emboss acetate. Hmmm...this was very hard for me. I ended up keeping it very simple and just embossed a couple of ghost flowers from Heidi Swapp. It doesn't show up as well in the scan, but it really does add a lot of dimension to the flowers. Anyway...here is my card for the week :)



Make sure you check out what the rest of the Cuttlebug Challenge DT has been up to this week. Okay, now it's your turn. Make a card and add a embossed acetate element and upload to the site. Your card will be posted on the site, but you could also be the Cuttlebug Challenge winner of the week. Thanks for visiting & I hope your having a fabulous day!!!

Cuttlebug Challenge Blog Be Inspired #18

Good morning everyone :) If you've joined me from the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog...Welcome to my cyber home. This weeks challenge was to make a shaped embossed card. I chose to use some of the goodies I received in class at CHA from Imaginisce. Here is the card I came up with for the Cuttlebug Challenge....Don't you just love that little bird :)

Here are the products that I used for this card...
Cuttlebug Leafy Branch Embossing Folder & Small Circle Die (approximately 1 1/4 inch)
Papers, Stamp & rub-ons are all from the Imaginisce Twitterpated collection.
Font...Sizzix Wingo Zingo alphabet
Chalk Ink..Color Box Blush Rose, Ice Blue & Ice Jade

Following is a brief explanation of how I put this card together...it's actually really easy to do. First of all, I started with a white card base 5 1/2 inches square. I used a bowl to trace a circle, but leaving about 2 1/4 inches in tact at the top of the card. I then cut the same circle out of the dark peach cardstock and embossed it with the Cuttlebug Leafy Branch Embossing folder. The next step is to cut your circles, ink if desired and place them around the edge of your white card circle, overhanging by approximately 3/8 of an inch.

The next step is to cut a strip of patterned paper 5 1/2 inches long by 2 inches wide. Adhere to the embossed dark peach cardstock. Adhere this to the base card, trim the edges to match the curve of the card and ink edges, if desired. It should now look like this :)
Next, I applied the rub-ons over edges of the patterned paper. Punch a 2 ¾ inch circle from white cardstock and ink edges with Ice Blue chalk ink. Adhere to right side of card on the patterned paper. Punch a scallop out of patterned paper. Stamp the bird using Stazon Black Ink and fill in using colored pencils. Adhere to the white circle using the foam squares. Using the Wingo Zingo Sizzix alphabet, cut out title from black cardstock and adhere to card front.

Thanks everyone for taking a peek at my blog :) For more Fabulous cards...please stop by the other Cuttlebug Challenge DT Member blogs

Cuttlebug Be Inspired #17

Hey everyone, it is time again for another great challenge at the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog. This week we were challenged to create a Love Card or Project. Obviously, I choose project or in my case a layout. I used several wonderful products from Cuttlebug. The word "heart" in my title is my Favorite Alphabet I have ever owned....it's call Red Tag Sale and it is made by...yep you guessed it Cuttlebug. The heart dies are also Cuttlebug. The rest of my title I created using Sizzix Wingo Zingo. The embossed hearts and "my love" are from the sizzix Valentine collection. The picture is from my youngest daughter last year in dance. She decided to call it quits when my older daughter dropped out. Part of me wishes she would have continued as she danced really well for her age. Oh well, you can't really make them participate if they don't want too :) Thanks for stopping by and taking a look. Be sure and stop by the rest of the Design Teams blogs for some great inspiration. These ladies are Amazing I tell you :)

Great Deal at The Whole Kit N Kaboodle

For those of you who haven't heard of this site, it is a fantastic new kit club site. The layouts are AMAZING!! And....who doesn't want a chance for a great sale or free shipping!!! And if your like me you have a chance to get all your chalk ink at a discount!! The details are below...so what are you waiting for??? Just click here to start saving!!

3 Great Ways to Save!Do we have a fun sale for you! We just returned from the annual Craft & Hobby Association trade show in California – purchasing all of the latest and greatest products the scrapbooking industry has to offer. Andrea will be posting her thoughts on the trends and new products from the convention here on our messageboard beginning Friday, January 30. We challenge you to give us your input! The more you chat – the more you save! For every post you make on our messageboard (ANY post – not just your thoughts on CHA) between now and Wednesday, February 4 you will receive 5% off your entire purchase of pattern paper, chalk inks, albums, and Prism cardstock -- up to 30%! Make one post - save 5%... make two posts - save 10%... all the way up to making six post and saving 30%.

This is a great way to stock up on your basics! Get pattern paper as inexpensive as $.49 (over 40 designs to chose from!) – cardstock as low as $.38, chalk inks for $1.39, and albums for only $20.99!*Discount codes will be emailed on Thursday, February 5. Supplies are limited. Only one discount code can be used per order. Thirty percent on albums good for album only, not on COMPLETED albums.

If that’s not easy enough… we’re adding two more ways to save!
Make over 10 posts on our messageboard by Wednesday, February 4 and you will be entered in a drawing for a $25 gift card to be used on our shopping site! *The winner will be emailed the coupon code on Thursday, February 5. Only one discount code can be used per order. The $25 is good on product, not shipping.

Link The Whole Kit N Kaboodle to your blog by Wednesday, February 4 and you will be entered in a drawing for FREE shipping off your orders in February and March. *The winner will be emailed the coupon code on Thursday, February 5. Only one discount code can be used per order. Free shipping code can be used up to five times in February and March 2009.

Cuttlebug Challenge Sweet for my Sweet

Welcome to the second stop on the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog Luv bug weekend Sweet for my Sweet Challenge. I kept my project short & sweet,LOL, which means you could easily make these for your kids classrooms, teacher gifts, your own kids, etc.

Here is my project, complete with instructions, just in case you want to make one for your sweetheart :)



1. Take a piece of 5 ½ by 4 1/8 inch piece of pattern paper and fold in half. I used a piece of red with polka dots from Scrappin’ Sports & More new Game Day line.
2. Using the Valentine Sizzix folder, run one end and then the other through the Cuttlebug to emboss. Make sure that you can read the word Valentine from both sides.
3. Lightly sand the embossed design for more depth.
4. Using the 2-step heart #1 Cuttlebug Dies, cut the solid heart from red Prism cardstock and the outline heart from white Prism cardstock. Ink the outline heart with ColorBox warm red chalk ink from Clearsnap, Inc. Adhere to the upper right hand side of the tag.
5. Using the Alpha Typewriter Cuttlebug Dies, cut out the words BE MY using black Prism cardstock. Adhere just above the word Valentine, overlapping the hearts.
6. Using Glossy Accents by Ranger Inc., add 4 white rhinestones to the ends of each swirl.
7. Take a 4” by 5” clear bag to hold the candies, or in this case chocolate covered pretzels. I used a bag that was over some self-adhesive woven labels from Colorbox; it’s a great way to go green!
8. Using a strong tape adhesive, I used the permanent adhesive from Tombo, adhere the tag top to the bag of sweets.
Okay, now it's time for your next word for your quote....the word you need is "Cord". If you want to find the next word and see another great project, hop on over to Becky's Blog. If your having trouble putting the quote together, you can find a clue over at Meda's blog. Thanks for playing along.

Don't forget about the prizes....For gathering all the words for the quote in the blog Hop: Prize Package includes Marvy Uchida, PapersInkadinkado Stamp set and Uhu Glue sets. Be sure and check out the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog all weekend for fabulous projects and more prizes!!

Cuttlebug Challenge #15

This was my first week to participate in the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog as a DT member. We were given this wonderful Page Map card sketch by Becky Fleck. For this card I used the Cuttlebug circles, the Cuttlebug flower and the Harmony font dies. I also created a second card using the same wonderfule Becky Fleck sketch and some Scrappin' Sports & More papers along with the Red Tag Sale Cuttlebug Alphabet. TFL To see what the rest of the Amazing DT came up with, visit the Cuttlebug Challenge Blog.

My latest creations for SS&M

Here are a few more creations from the new releases of Scrappin' Sports & More. The game room line is definitely my favorite!!

One more layout using SS&M Sports on Fire

I finished up another layout yesterday using the back of the Sports on Fire Football paper. These were the first pictures I got of Alex being all padded up last year for football. Just more proof that he is growing up Way Too Fast!!!

Final Layouts of the Weekend

I finished up 2 more layouts this weekend using the new CHA Game Day releases from Scrappin' Sports & More. I'm telling you these dots are the BEST!!!

More CHA Releases

Here are a couple more layouts I did for the new Game Day line being released to CHA winter for Scrappin' Sports & More.

Annoucement!!

It was announced today that I am going to be a Design Team member on the Cuttlebug Challenge blog. I mean who doesn't like to work with Cuttlebug Products. My favorite has got to be the Red Tag Sale alphabet. I use this on nearly every layout I create these days. The Cuttlebug Challenge blog will have weekly challenges and some fun DT challenges, tutorials...with changes to win some prizes. So stop on by....what are you waiting for??

On another note...above are a couple of layouts I created with the new Game Day release from Scrappin' Sports & More. These papers are being released at CHA and shipping next month. Don't you love the dots??? Each page has a different color and the line mixes and matches perfectly. It also matches Prism cardstock. Woo Hoo....my favorite.