30 Cards for $30 - Assembly Instructions

Whew! It's good to be back online. I've lots to tell, but most importantly, need to post the directions on how to assemble the cards in my 30 Cards for $30 workshop. For those of you who need to assemble, best of luck. I hope you enjoy them!

Some words of note:
1. I've tried to list helpful hints in assembling the cards - use them or don't; just things I've discovered in putting them together.

2. Some pieces are slightly altered; I've tried to note that on the descriptions.

3. You should be able to click on the picture and a new window with a larger view should open so you can read the directions attached to each picture.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Caught by the 'BUG

You read correctly. I've been caught by a bug - the cuttlebug that is. I'm not one for jumping on big ticket scrapbooking items. In fact, I consider myself pretty cheap and rarely give into spending a lot of money at one time on something. But, I just couldn't resist this one. I gave in and bought one and some dies and embossing folders.

See, this nifty little machine will work with any dies (like sizzix or quick cuts), and not that I have any of those, but I might find a good deal!

Anyway, here's my first project using my cuttlebug. The entire cupcake is free hand. I used my cutter and scoring blade to make the lines in the cupcake wrapper and then sent the "frosting" through the cuttlebug in the swirl embossing folder. Then I used glitter on the swirls to make it stand out a little more.

The stamp set is from Close to My Heart; it's called Card Sentiments.

Fall Friend Tree

Each day, I try to come up with some "activity" for my kids to do. It varies from playdoh to watercolors to puzzles. One afternoon, I had (what I thought) a great idea for an activity. I don't remember what it was, but when my son asked me, he curled up his nose and said, "I don't like that activity!"

Not to be so easily put off by my son, I searched the internet for preschool activities. One of the sites suggested making a tree with blessings. While I'm all for that, I tweaked it some and turned it into a "FALL FRIEND TREE" - a tree that shows us just how many friends we have not only in our hometown, but all over the country...even the world.

At one of our recent playdates, we put our plan into action. Since our fall tree was bare, we decided to start adding fall leaves to fill it out. We traced the hands - both adults and children - of those in attendance, wrote the name of the owner and added them to the tree.

The kids were so excited to see the leaves (hands) up on the tree and started asking when, where and how we'd "grow" more leaves for our tree. Well, again, not to be outdone by my son - who is afraid we've grown all we can - I decided to take the challenge to the net.

We have friends and family all over and we'd love to add your leaf (hand) to our tree. If you want to participate, please trace your hand, write your name and where you hail from, and send it to my kids. We'd love to fill out the tree...make it so full that it looks more like a tree in the spring rather than the fall. If you don't have our address, please comment or contact and I'll get the information to you. (I'm not foolish enough to just put our home address on the net...I know what kind of scaries are out there!).

I hope you will consider participating. What a great lesson in kindness as well as geography for the kids - and showing my son that I CAN make things happen.

Egg in a Basket, Egg in a Hole...whatever you wanna call it!

This week, thanks to Ree on ThePioneerWoman.com, I discovered my favorite new lunch time favorite for my kiddos. She makes these EASY all-in-one egg and bread meals for the Marlboro Man (which if you're not familiar with Ree, you're not in the know!).

They're sooooo easy! Ree has step-by-step instructions on her site, but you're only getting the halfway pic and the end product pic from me!

Start with a slice of bread. Butter it. Then, using a biscuit cutter or a small round glass, cut a hole in the center of the bread. Place the bread butter-side down on a hot griddle. Crack an egg and deposit the insides right in the middle of that hole. It looks like this: (See the little circle I cut out? I toasted it too and tossed it on the kids' plates and they loved having a round piece of toast!)

Let it cook a while, then flip it. It will look like this:

I cooked the kids' until the yolk was completely solid, but mine I left runny. Oh my...LOVE to have a runny egg and dip my toast in it. This way it's all-in-one!

This was quick and my son even asked for seconds. I'm telling ya...you can't go wrong!

Oh, and BTW - Ree's pictures are MUCH nicer and prettier than mine. But, hey, you're following this blog so (to quote my 5-year-old son), "Ya get whatcha get and ya don't throw a fit!"

Why I am the Domestic Homefront Coordinator

The reason I can claim to be the Domestic Homefront Coordinator is because of these two. My oldest, Zeke, proudly displays his "C" items during the week he was learning the letter C in school. Princess Kaydawn is always dancing and prancing about. Because my husband works so hard, I'm able to stay home and raise my children. Aren't they beautiful?

CTMH's Treasure Life

I couldn't resist showing off this card. I made it for a swap using Close to My Heart's September Stamp of the Month, Treasure Life. The technique is called retriform. My inspiration came from Debra Langdon; thanks, D!

30 Cards for $30

Four years ago, I started a workshop called 35 Cards for $35. It was a tremendous hit and I've done it time and time again, both as a workshop and parties. This year is no different and I've already done this year's samples.

I used Close to My Heart's Evensong paper pack and Magical Christmas and Vintage Christmas sets. Of all the workshops I've done, this is by far my favorite!

If you're interested in coming to this workshop, it will be on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 11 am at Scrapbook Frenzy. Pre-payment and registration is required by Nov. 2. I do all the cutting for you...all you do is stamp and assemble!

It's been that long?

Oh my goodness! I know I'm bad about blogging, but I didn't realize that it was December since my last post! Holy cow!

I guess my only excuse is that I did try and have had very little luck getting things on my blog. Also, it's been one heck of a spring and summer. I never thought I'd be glad (and I'm still sad for different reasons) that school arrived so we had a semblance of normalacy around here!

Our summer was - once again - jam packed with activities and events. We began with a tornado on Memorial Day Weekend that led to even more remodeling. It was supposed to be a summer without the house torn up, but it wasn't.

We packed in two VBS in one week, followed up with Kiddie College, went right into a trip for me and the kids to Manitou Springs, and then ended with a couples trip to Kansas City with our friends, Chris and Brandy.

We began July with a bang...fireworks, of course! When the 4th rolls around, I have 3 kids, not 2, shooting them off. It's always a "blast" to see the kids light and then run. After the 4th I threw myself into painting the upstairs (where the tornado damage was). It took 52 hours, but I was able to get it all painted (and the garage too!) before Aug. 1. We headed to Plattsmouth to visit Ron's mom, went to my sister's to help her paint, and bid farewell to our good friend Allen as he started a new job in Wichita.

The first week of August brought our family vacation to South Dakota. What a trip we had. We hit almost every tourist attraction there was in the Black Hills and still had a blast.

Upon our return, we purchased our second rental and I began my daycare for Joel and Hannah. It was a blur, but we managed to squeeze in playdates (especially with the Beckers), swimming, t-ball, music lessons, and spending time outside.

Hopefully the fall will lend me more opportunity to post to my blog. But for now, here's a parting photo.