Day 31, Sunday, January 31

I made this card for my monthly MCPT Challenge. I started the February thread today....yippee, I am not late this time! This is a Changito Stamper monkey that I bought last year from Archiever's. I cuttlebugged the background with the Happy Birthday folder, cut the image & the purple paper with the deckle edge nesties. I doodled around the edges, added a ribbon and charm.

This is how the inside looks. I computer generated the words, cut them out with my deckle nesties and doodled around the edge. This card was for my scrappy friends! (be surprised when you get it!)

Day 30, Saturday, January 30

Celebrate Love was the title of this class that I took at Scrapadoodle, today! It was so much fun. I had the opportunity to take this class from Jillian McGriff, who is a very talented scrapbooker/artist. This was the first class she taught at Scrapadoodle...I can't wait for her next class. My love of scrapbooking (paper & glue & scissors), fabric (sticky backed canvas) & ribbon and painting and rolled it into one project. I learned how to use Claudine Hellmuth gel medium to transfer text from a page in a book to canvas (on the front), then we used the gel medium on the heart stamp and made a resist before we painted the bird on the front. I am not completely finished with the mini album, but I will get it done later this week or over the weekend and post the inside pictures. Most of the pages are done already, I just have to do some doodling, reprint a picture that was too big and add the text that goes on each page. This is my picture of the day for Saturday!

Day 29, Friday, January 29

I needed a quick picture of Giz for my mini album class that I am taking tomorrow. I have always had a hard time getting a good pic of him...always get red eye or yellow eye, anyway, I set the ISO to 3200 and layed down on the floor and called his name...he looked right at me! He is laying on his "blankie" in front of the heater in the family room. Love my little furbaby!

Day 28, Thursday, January 28

Here is my recipe card for the swap. I used Animal Kingdom to cut the chicken head. I sized it in Design Studio so it would fit on my available space. I covered his comb in red stickles and put some googly eyes on him...what chicken doesn't need googly eyes? The background is stamped with a "crackle" design and I stamped some chicken feet across the bottom of the recipe. And the recipe is pretty good and low fat, too!

Day 27, Wednesday, January 27

I WON! I WON! At least I think I did! I entered the drawing for a free Project Life Digital book from Becky Higgins and I see my name....I hope it's my name. I sent an email to the address listed...keeping my fingers crossed until I hear back from Becky! I have been playing with digital pictures for several years and am just beginning the digital scrapbooking...so we shall see how this goes!

Day 26, Tuesday, January 26

Here is my cricut expression, cutting some chicken heads from the Animal Kingdom cartridge. I really didn't want to buy a cricut because I enjoy cutting paper with scissors. But friends were encouraging me to buy one and try it. So I bought the smaller "Baby Bug" in June of 2007 and fell in love right away. Well, at Christmas 2008, Jim thought I should get the bigger cricut....so I took him up on the offer and have been using this machine almost every time I create something paper related. Thanks to those "friends" who were giving me the shove to buy it and thanks to Jim for believing that I could do more amazing things with the larger machine! (now we aren't going to talk about how many cartridges I have....are we?)

Day 25, Monday, January 25

I got my tickets for the camera classes that I am going to take. I hope to learn alot about the Rebel T1i...it has a lot of buttons and dials and numbers...oh my!

Day 24, Sunday, January 24

John and Stacie bought a new car this week. It is a Honda 2010 CR-V. She brought it over to show us how pretty it is!

Day 23, Saturday, January 23

We haven't cleaned out the filing cabinet for several years and it was full. So I have spent the last week shredding the papers that we no longer need to keep. There are 8 bags of garbage and we have already taken out about 6 or 8 more. How does the shredder make so much more paper waste....I don't know!

Day 22, Friday, January 22

The Zooperstars came to the hockey game tonight and performed during the intermission. The guy who is upside down is a shark, there is an iguana and a mule. They all have silly names. If you google Zooperstars, you can see all the different animals they have. The shark shot silly string at the fans and hit his head against the glass like he was trying to bite everyone. They were alot of fun to watch...wish they had come up into the crowd and stayed awhile.

Day 21, Thursday, January 21

This must be what Giz sees as he sits on my legs while I surf the internet at night while I watch TV! Jim bought me a "skin" for my laptop for Christmas....I love the green butterfly. I was worried about applying it, but it went on pretty easy.

Day 20, Wednesday, January 20

I have been watching the sun set in the park as I workout every night after school. It is so pretty through the trees, but I kept missing it because it would be set by the time I was finished at Parkside. I finally got done early enough to snap a couple of pictures. This one was my favorite.

Day 19, Tuesday, January 19

During the month of December, East Peoria celebrates the "Festival of Lights". This year was the 25th anniversary of the beginning of the parade. We stood on the curb during the very first parade and enjoyed the floats. They had lights on them, but were not constructed as they are today. Throughout the years, while Jim was working at the "banks", he spent many nights working on the lights of various floats. (There were even a few times when the kids went with him to help.) The last day to view the "Winter Wonderland" is New Year's Eve. For some reason, this lone float was left lit. It is sitting on the property that Caterpillar buildings once occupied. Since I got my new camera....I got a great picture, lit, through the fence, before they turned the lights off. For those of you who do not know...the floats are constructed on old car bodies, frames constructed around the car, lights wired to the frame and driven in the parade, then parked around town or in the Winter Wonderland in the park.

Day 18, Monday, January 18

No School, today. Monday January 18, is the day we observe Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, birthday.

Day 17, Sunday, January 17

So, this is my nephew Andy, brother to the cricket eating Peter! This was taken in Thailand...not sure where or WHY for that matter. Why do we have to have a tiger chained up (to what I don't know...it isn't in the picture and well, I can't just call him and ask him why the tiger is chained up and chained to what!??) out in a public area? Looks like there are others if you look really close. Another reason I don't need to go to Thailand. (Okay, just blew up the picture....and yes, there are at least 3 other tigers in this picture. Oh, Andy, do you want your Aunt Aprile to sleep at night?)

Day 16, Saturday, January 16

Another day at the hockey arena! Jim was sooooo happy when he got to his seat and I had gotten him some cotton candy! He is such a "sugar" baby. It wasn't 10 minutes later and the vendor came by with snowcones! Another one of his all time favorite treats....well, he has alot of favorite treats, but these two are his favorite sugar treats! (Just so you know....that grin is the "so I am the picture of the day, again" grin!

Day 15, Friday, January 15

Today, was Pat and Jill's last day in Thailand. They are coming home and Peter & Andy are going backpacking in Cambodia. This picture was taken on the beach. I guess they got massages for $6! I think I would be having a massage everyday, too! Be safe my nephews and have a great trip!

Day 14, Thursday, January 14

I have been snapping pictures of the snow around our neighborhood. This snowman was a rather large fella! I think it took a little muscle to get his head on top of his body. This snow was a light snow, but it packed really well.

Day 13, Wednesday, January 13

So this is my nephew, Peter. He is currently in Thailand with his brother, Andy, Mom & Dad. I guess he thought it would be a good idea to eat a cricket! What, a bug...not my nephew...but well yes, as you can see...he did in fact eat the cricket. He said it wasn't very filling though! Not Yummo!

Day 12, Tuesday, January 12

Cindy and Eric "got the call"! If you know hockey, you know what a call up is. Well, the Rivermen had a contest recently. All season ticket holders could enter for an all expense paid "call up" to see the St. Louis Blues play a game on January 12. Well Eric got picked, so he and Cindy went to St. Louis on the Rivermen Travel Bus with 14 other lucky fans. They sat in a suite box and had dinner. Before the game, they met several hockey players, getting autographs and pictures, too! Congratulations to Cindy and Eric for "getting the call up".

Day 11, Monday, January 11

I went to Nikki's tonight for a Stampin' Up class. We made this card and little milk carton. On the card we used the new tag punch and stamp set from the mini catalog...love that little bitty thing. There are so many different possiblities with this set! The birthday stamp is a Sale-a-bration set, I think. And just so you know, I am not a big fan of using felt on my cards. Some artists do a really nice job with it, but others it just looks cheap to me. But I just love this flower and leaf from the mini catalog. There is another flower in Rose Red in the package, too. The milk carton is a die for the Big Shot. We used the little tag punch and stamp set on this one, too. Don't you just love those little clips, too! I ordered the stamp set and tag punch (and a few other things) since my BFF, Cindy, gave me a gift certificate for Christmas...simply the best!

Day 10, Sunday, January 10

This isn't our house...just to let you know...it is in our neighborhood...but I loved all the little snowmen and look there is one big guy, too, but he isn't made outta snow! The sign (if you click on the pic it will enlarge) says "Protesting Global Warming".

MCPT January Card Challenge

I finished my MCPT Challenge card for January for the Cricut Message board that I have been hosting every month. I used a Fluffies stamp that I got last year when I went to Archiever's and the Changito monkey's flew into my basket! lol I used Stampin' Up paper, cuttlebugged the rose with the Harliqun folder, cuttlebugged the more mustard with the Swiss Dots, folder, cut the image with my circle and scalloped circle nestibilities, punched the chocolate with the threading water punch and added a little doodling and some rhinestones. This card is also for my local card swap (we were to use a K Werner, #51 color challenge... www.kwernerdesign.com ) and for the Mojo Monday challenge (www.mojomonday.blogspot.com).

Day 9, Saturday, January 9

Peoria Camera Shop called me yesterday and told me that my zoom lens was in for my new Canon Rebel T1i. Jim and I went to pick it up. I want to take some photography classes this spring. I don't know how to use the camera or this lens, but I sure am having fun learning all the buttons and dials! (and let me tell you ... there are a lot of both!)

Day 8, Friday, January 8

Today I took a picture of this sign at school. I thought it was funny...Faculty and staff are the only ones allowed in the snow drift! lol (if you click on the picture, it will make it bigger and you can read the sign...also, don't you think it is funny that the sign is right next to the air conditioner in that room and the snow is piled up almost to the window sill?)

Day 7, Thursday, January 7

Well, we got the snow and the snow day. Jim spent some time outside when he got home from work using the snow blower. It didn't take him very long at all. Thanks, Jim for always cleaning off the driveway and sidewalks for me!

Day 6, Wednesday, January 6

This is what our local radar looked like tonight. The light blue area is the snow storm that is coming to our area. It is supposed to start snowing around 7 p.m. We might get a snow day on Thursday!

Day 5, Tuesday, Janaury 5

Project Life arrived today. This is the kit Becky Higgins has developed for this year. I am excited to get the pages put together and begin my "Picture Of The Day" journey for 2010. I am sure my family will be moaning again...oh well!

Day 4, Monday, January 4

Yippee! I got the call from the Camera shop today. They got the Canon Rebel T1i's in. I have been waiting for about 4 weeks for this camera. I picked it up and scheduled my one hour one on one lesson for February 1 at 4:15....I can't wait. There are so many buttons and dials and doors, oh my! I have been saving my "petty cash" for this camera...and since there was a $200 rebate on the zoom lens...I was able to get it, thanks to a short term loan from Jim!

Day 3, Sunday, January 3

There has been alot of snow and rain the last few weeks. The icicles are forming on the gutters. You can see the layers that are melting and freezing again.

Day 2, Saturday, January 2

Today my parents flew back to Arizona after their visit through the holidays. Before Momaw left, she planted a lipstick kiss on Peyton...he couldn't wipe this one off!

Day 1, Friday, January 1, 2010

I am going to start Project 365 for 2010 today.



Happy New Year!!! Today, we started off the new year by going to the movies. We saw It's Complicated with Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. It was a funny movie...just the perfect way to start the new year...laughing out loud!

Day 365, Thursday, December 31

Our last picture for Project 365 2009...Here we are in our party hats! We went to the hockey game tonight and spent the rest of the evening at Cindy and Erics' eating, drinking and playing a game. The boys won, but it was close...really close! So Happy New Year to everyone...be safe!