In the last twenty days I've...

...enjoying talking to/spending time with the teen.  He just got an Iphone from his father so I've heard a LOT of "C'mon Ma!"  in the last few weeks

(You KNOW I'm lovin' that!!!!)  

*been playing around with party decor 

My sister is getting married in October and we're celebrating my 40th in November.  I was soo excited when Ray told me that she wants a vintage feel for her reception decor!  Add to that the fact that our celebration colors are almost the same!  I'm decorating Mason jars for her party and with a few changes, I'll use them the next month...can you say WINNING???

*Speaking of winning...this sweetie peetie has given me this

If you've never met Cindy...go on over!  She is the CUTEST lil lady I've ever seen!!!  To answer the twelve questions:

Favorite color: Red
Favorite song: I love SOO many songs!  One of my faves right now is I Give Myself Away by William McDowell
Favorite dessert: Oreo cookies WITH Lay's Original chips!  Yep...TOGEEEEETHER!!!!
What wizzes you off at the moment?People who make promises which they don't keep!  Just tell me "I MAY be able to"  DON'T say you promise...TICKS ME OFF  
My favorite pet: Somebody else's
Black or white? Both,please!!!
Biggest fear: Not using up every ounce of my kreativity!
Best feature: My kreativity!
Everyday attitude: Don't ever look back and regret that you didn't live each day to the fullest
What is perfection? Good food and good times with good folks
Guilty pleasure? Pinterest, scrapbooking
When you're upset. . . it shows all over my face!

So, I have to give this award to six peeps who interest me and {{GASP}} they're not all scrapbookers!!!

Charity who has a beautiful blog design with beautiful pages displayed there!

Amy who works like a ROCKET LAUNCHER to churn out beautiful kreations!

kidtropolis.  They continuously inspire my desire to give my boys rooms like movie stars' kids!

Pinterest.  I'm continuously caught up and forget to feed my family inspired by this site!

Miche who amazes me EVERY.TIME. with the versatility of her art!

Milla and Kahli. I don't know these ladies...I just ran across  their blog yesterday.  But I love their blog design and the CONTENT...these ladies can wring a thrift store DRY!!!  Plus, I think they're beautiful (IDENTICAL TWINS!) and sweet as 7up cake!!!  I've been so inspired by their decorating already!I guess they ACTUALLY count as two people, bringing my count to 7!  Oh well...this IS my blog! 

If you can, check out these blogs and let me know if YOU think these ladies rock as much as I do!  And thanx for the award, Cinds...love you, lil lady!!!!

*I FINALLY finished stenciling the walls in our bedroom and bathroom.  The teen was soo amazed he asked me to do his walls too!  I'm not sure I like ANYBODY enough to do more stenciling right now!!!

*We've been celebrating a few birthdays.  My niece

turned 20 a few weeks ago and we celebrated my sister's 40th with a dinner last night.

*Of COURSE I've been kreating!!! You can GO HERE to see some of the projects I made with the August Kreatorville kit.  But I also made this page

for the vintage sketch challenge.  I love that I was able to incorporate one of the handmade titles 

from the July kit!  Remember you still have two days to crank out a page to participate in the challenge and be in the running for a scrapbook.com gift card!  C'MON...you can DO IT!!!

*I've had a few pages and cards showcased over at Platinum Scraps; my last page (as August Guest Designer) was revealed this past week at Color Combos Galore; I finished the two page spread 

 which will be featured in the September Page Maps newsletter.  I'm also preparing some pages because in October, I'll once again be MASTERFUL!!!!

Today I'll be twisting the teen's hair...his dreds have to be FRESH for school tomorrow (ahhh...the life of a high school football player!!!) Afterwards, I'll do a little cleaning before turning in early. After my sister gets married in October, she and her husband will stay with us for a week.  My goal for the next few weeks is to completely clean/decorate/organize before that time.  I have a party and the holidays to prepare for at the end of the year and I want that to be my sole focus...pray for me PLEASE!!!!

My teen is back...

...in the place to be!  We're off early in the morning to get a few more things for school (he'll be starting his sophomore year on the 15th).  And even though I COULD focus on some SERIOUS negativity right now (like blah blah BLAH...it's the same ole SAME OLE!!!)  I won't even go there.  Too many blessings right now to let the same foolishness stress me...ya feel me???  This first page was the first I completed as part of my guest designer stint at Color Combos Galore and was actually posted a few days ago

The combo this week really lent itself to a boy page.  And the inspiration picture just BEGGED me to scrap a beach picture!!!  This shot was taken on a beach in Biloxi (Mississippi...I just LOVE spelling that really quickly!!!)about three years ago.  Those stars?  The envelope that the stamps are in when you leave the post office!  You should REALLY go and visit the site!  There are some VERY talented kreators over there...check 'em out!!!

I have two new projects posted over at Platinum Scraps too:

This page was inspired by the sketch last week.  Even though I normally do 12x12's for my and my husband's scrapbooks...I love the idea of switching it up and having different sizes all thrown in there together!  And EVEN THOUGH my chin makes me look like Jay Leno's love child here, I love this picture SOO much because of my husband's amazing smile.  This was taken early on in our relationship when he was still trying to impress me. Now I just get the "men don't smile"  look most of the time!  I also took advantage of the card sketch this week to kreate a card 

for one of my classmates who just turned 40 a few weeks ago.  That piece of patterned paper is actually one of my all times faves from SEI...I may cry when I use the last sheet!  It has this AMAZING texture and beautiful shimmer to it...what were we talking about again?  Seriously...go check out the challenges at Platinum Scraps; they're sure to get your mojo rolling...get cha motor runnin'...head out on the highway...lookin' for adven...it's like 1:30 in the morning...I can be crazy if I want to!!!

My Chary threw down the gauntlet over at Kreatorville...she challenged us to scrap vintage pix this month.  I...ummm...stole borrowed a few from my mom...one when I was 1 1/2...one of me at seven and the third with my sisters (I was ten).  You have to go over to Kreatorville and check that one out...our expressions have always made me laugh!  If you decide to take Char's challenge and/or work with the sketch this month, there's a linky tool at the end of this post...share a peeky to your projects there and you could win a scrapbook.com gift card!!!

I was JUST telling Mahd that we would go to the thrift store tomorrow after we go to Wal-Mart.  When the baby boy and I stopped in last week, I was able to get a Dean Koontz hardcover that I never owned for $3.  I have a literary crush on him but most of my books were lost...so I'm LOVIN' being able to rebuild my collection with some $3 finds!  I also got a few baroque frames that I'll spray for the living room wall once we decide on the color.  The boys get soo excited about visiting thrift stores because they know they're about to score new books!  I have no problem checking out the books and home goods...it's the clothes that I just DON'T have the patience to go through!!!  I'm not a secondhand snob...I feel the same way in Dillard's...Macy's...I don't have the patience!  My Mom looks at me like I was switched at birth because I will online shop...just no in-store visits for me, thank you very much!  She can stay in one store for HOURS...who does that???  Well, when I visited the SEI blog a few minutes ago, guess what I found?  Sarah Larsen is guest blogging for them this week and she hasn't talked about paper crafting yet...just thrifting!!!  Click on the SEI link to see the cuteness her and her kids have scored from thrift and secondhand stores.  Will I woosah and check those racks tomo...umm...later today?  {{{I GUESS!!!!}}}

The big boy...

...is home!

(Don't you SEE how excited his brother is????)

The end of his summer visit with his B.F. (biological father) always signals the end of my leisure (HAAAAA!!!)time...it means it's time to get back to the bump and grind!  I'm up for the challenge AND excitement!  Because isn't THAT what high school's all about...working hard and playing harder???  I love high school football and pep rallies and DANCES...oh, I can't WAIT to see Mahd dressed up for his first dance and asking for a gazillion dollars to pay for five packs of pictures (because he HAS TO take a set by himself, one with his date, two with...you know, he HAS TO HAVE a MILLION wallets to trade with his friends!)  I'm STOKED!!!!

The August Kreatorville Kraft kit has been revealed!  I had SOO much fun getting messy this month...I LOVE splattered, creased and torn pages...they make me feel like I need to smoke a CIGARETTE after all that work!  I didn't wanna stop playing!  I kreated a couple of pages starring my baby brother.  This one

is called "Growning Skills" because I took these shots (PAT ON THE BACK!!!)  I try soo hard to improve my photographic skills that I get excited when I do well!  Everything on this page is included in the August kit!

I kreated another page this month to celebrate my husband.  Do you remember THIS day?  Well, I made this 

page to document it...and hopefully to soften my husband up enough where he won't be TOO ticked that I abandoned ship! ;P

Check the Kreatorville blog to see a few other projects Nat, Chary and I kreated this month!

do you know...

...what makes a birthday great? when it's celebrated for DAYS, not just one day! i got this in the mail:

my CHARYamore knew that (sadly!) i've never read the twilight series and i told her that i really want to before we see the movie so she sent me the first two books! plus, she made the tickets for the december kreatorville kraft kit and sent me a BUNCH of other die cuts and papers to play with! i'm sure you'll see tickets on my next 500 projects because that's how many she sent me! just kidding...it was only 300!!! don't forget to check out kreativity.kreatorvillekraft.com to see peeks from the december kit!
OH! i forgot to mention that i got an email from pam (essensevibez) this morning letting me know that i won kenner road kit from ali...it's beginning to look a lot like christmas in this joint!!!!