Inked Inspirations

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Inked Inspirations

OK, so I am FINALLY getting to loading up the nameplates for the school!!  I stamped/embossed their names on each one.  I just have to get to the school to get them laminated now. 

I am also going to show you the tags that I made for their Halloween bags.  I wish I could say that this was my idea, but in fact, I got the idea from Chin' n Scratch Live.  Hers looks 10x better, but these bags are going to be given to a group of 4th graders and I know that they will be going into the trash, so I didn't want to spend too much money on them, but still wanted them to look really cute.  So, this is what I came up with! :)  I used my Sports Mania cart to cut the grass in black and that is what made the hair.  The eyes and eyelids were 1/2 inch circles.  The eyelids were cut in half.  The eyes were 1/2 inch ovals.  I stamped Happy Halloween on the back of each tag.  The tag was cut from the Christmas Cheer cart, but there are tons of carts that have tags on them.

The last couple of things were just thrown together, but I like them.  One, we just had a baby a few months ago, so what am I going to do with all those formula cans??!!  So, I covered them!  We have 6 groups in each class, and they need a basket of sort to sit on their desk with their glue, crayons, tape, pens, etc.  So, in come the formula cans LOL

Lastly, I saw on Kristina Werner's site that she had the idea of creating a notebook.  I took the coordinating paper to the nameplates and the cans and made mini notebooks.  I took white copy paper, cut it down to 3 inches and then put patterened 3 inch paper on top of it.  I used staple bars and their stapler to bind them together.  Then I just added their names to the outside.  I think it will make a good addition to their goody bags.

OK, have a workshop to go to...which I will now be late for:)

So far Behind!

I am so far behind in everything...blogging, scrapbooking, journaling, etc...I don't think I will ever be able to get fully caught up to what is going on in my life!  As you can tell, it has been a month sinceI have blogged last...so sad!  Alot has happened - ok, so not a whole bunch LOL  AJ is really smiling alot and is now starting to get to the "I am interested in toys and anything that moves" stage.  Now is when it really starts heading towards fun times.  He still doesn't like to be in the car seat, which is the hardest thing when we are a family that GOES all of the time.  We still don't know if Brayden is going to get into school or not..waiting to hear on that, but it may be another 2 weeks before we find anything out.  We aren't counting on it, so we are really trying to not get his hopes up for it.  He really wants to go so bad!

On a scrap note - I am really having to do a lot of my work for the school year from home.  Our school is getting a new ventilation system in and there is like no ceiling in our building, which looks so crazy when you walk through it! So, due to this, they have cut off of the air and there is no privacy to really work in our rooms.  So, now we are on deadline of less than 1 month before open house and nobody has been allowed to go back and get stuff together for the school year.  As a teacher, I can tell you this takes SO much time...and we don't get any of it! 

So, to prepare, I thought, why not use my cricut??!!  And I did!  I made their beginning of the year goody bags using Create A Critter apple on the front and made it a topper like I saw Robyn on MPS do.  It is so cute!  I also made their nameplates for their desks using stamps and embossing them - I am really loving VersaMark ink and embossing items.  I also saw Kristina Werner's blog where she made notebooks for her niece I believe.  So, I did, too!  I used the staple bars to hold the paper together. They were so easy to do and took a little to no materials.  I just used a gel pen to write their names on the front. Lastly, and my favorite, we decorate our doors with the kids names.  This year, I am decorating mine with the CAC theme - the door will say Mrs. Socia's Critters.  I have used the CAC cartridge for all of this.  I made the large sun and every student has their own animal from the cart.  The animals all have some form and color of stickles on them to bling it out some LOL.  They are all on 4" or 5" circles - except the alligator, which is huge and had to be on an 8" circle.  On each circle, I wrote the students names in a black marker or a silver gel pen.  I will post pics of the door once I am able to get back to the classroom to actually put it all up.  I will put the notebooks and nameplates up on Friday.

 I totally love all of the cute projects that I will be able to do this year.  I was so motivated that I have already created their tags for their Halloween and Christmas gifts using my cricut.  I will post those as we get closer to the season.  I have just really loved YouTube in finding all of these great blogs and ideas.  I didn't realize there was such an intense scrappin internet world out there! Now, I can't seem to get away from it! :)

Just another day in...Arkansas

Well, summer is in full swing and it is HOT!  I really hate that we can't take the boys out to get more sun or playing time, but it is too dang hot!!  We are running up past 90 degrees everyday.  We did get a little rain the other day which allowed a cool breeze, but that just didn't last long enough. 

Quick story on Brayden - he apparently wrote on furniture for the first time the other day.  He felt the need to write "No Coy on 3 pieces of furniture.  When I questioned him about it, he said it was to make sure Coy knew which pieces of toys he could play with and what he could not!!  It is only funny because it all came off.  If it hadn't...big troubles!! LOL

OK, well I have been a My Pink Stamper fan, but I have to say that I have found a new addiction LOL.  Kristina Werner has some really good card ideas.  She has tons of videos, just like MPS.  When I had my 2nd son, I didn't have anything to do on those late night feedings, which lasted 45 minutes - 1 hour.  So, I started searching the internet and youtube and found MPS.  I have since watched all her videos and I still need something to watch!  Granted the feedings are much quicker now, but there are still many times when it takes a long time to get him asleep.  So, be sure to check them out!

Got a little time today to create a couple of cards, thanks to Anthony watching the boys, so I will post them later on. 

Summer Time Schedule

The summer is just getting started, but I can already feel how short and busy it is going to be!  We have been out of school for about a month now and I am already so tired of going, going, going!  And the month is almost up...

I have included a new card that I made this weekend.  I really like it, yes, it is plain, but it was super easy, and for me, that is what I need.

Recent Layouts/Cards

I have posted a few examples of some layouts I have finally had time to do from our Christmas this past year.  I also attached a couple of Thank you cards that I did for our new sons gifts! Enjoy!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49860481@N05/sets/72157624254094846/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49860481@N05/sets/72157624254244874/

New Cart

I got the new Create a Critter cartridge today and I am so excited!!  I wanted to make a Father's Day card using it, but after thinking it all over and going through my scraps, my card won't even be from this cart! :(  I am going to have to get it completed before noon tomorrow so that it can be submitted on the MPS website.  I will post a pic once it is completed. 

Thank you Cards

Here are some examples of my latest Thank you cards for my recent baby gifts!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49860481@N05/show/

Thank you cards

brayden aj pj 034
Originally uploaded by LV1980

Day 1

OK, so I am new to the whole blog thing!! I am not sure how I want to go about this blog - I don't know if I want it to be just about me, or my family, or my interests. I guess I will just wing it. I started all this after having my 2nd son. I realized there isn't a whole lot to do in the wee hours of the morning with a newborn - however, if you have a laptop, you can do a lot of web surfing while holding a bottle in bed:) That is where I stumbled upon Mypinkstamper.com Oh my!! That site is addicting - my husband said there was some hero worship going on cause I am watching her vids all of the time! Her site led me to so many more sites that are just the greatest things ever - so many ideas and projects.



One of the highlights of MPS's page was her The Pink Loser and her progress on her journey. This really motivated me. I participated in weight watchers for the first time in

2003. During the next 3 years, I lost and kept off 32 pounds. That is a lot of weight for a woman of 5'4. After I had my first son, I gained 30 of those pounds back and I never lost them. When I became pregnant with my 2nd son, I gained more weight, which I still haven't lost all of. At this point, I am 46 pounds from being my prekids weight. This is really heartbreaking and difficult for me to live through. Because of this and through Robyn's motivation, I am getting back on the train!! I have started back on Weight Watchers and am getting back into exercise mode. I know that summer is already upon us and it is too late to look good in that bathing suit, but my goal is to lose all of the weight before this upcoming Christmas. I know from past experience that I CAN DO IT! I have to work hard and I can achieve this goal. I want to look good and feel good not only for myself, but for my family. I hate having any pictures of myself and have very few. I am always the one behind the camera, when I really would like to have some pics of the kids that actually include me instead of just the kids and their dad.



I am also becoming more scrap/card oriented. My husband bought me a Cricut Expression for Christmas and transformed our den into a Craft Room. I love it and he is awesome for doing this for me. So, within the first 2 months of this year I scrapped more pages than I did ALL of last year! I am very behind, but having all of my resources together really enables me to work quickly and efficiently. When I had my 2nd son and got hooked on MPS, I really started looking in to cards. I wanted thank you cards and announcements that were different, yet darling. I have a lot of cards that are very simple and not challenging - I am scared of failure :) I will post some later and show you my first attempts. I have begun using my Cricut for the cards and have since purchased a Cuttlebug to help with the cards. I just love it! I am not the most creative thing, but I love getting ideas from the internet and other blogs for inspiration - just call me a Blog Stalker!!



In order to achieve my goals of weight loss, I need to go and get a few miles in - I will continue this later tomorrow!