the most amazing charity CROP!

starts tomorrow!!
PLEASE come by and see what's happening.
Tell them I sent you.
If nothing else, PLEASE help out by making cards to send to the NICU. Details below.

visit CCaS

Card Details:
Along with raising funds for the NICU, we are going to be donating homemade cards for the nurses to give to the parents of the preemies in the NICU.

These cards will be used by the NICU nurses to provide the parents with a stamp their babies foot.

If you would like to make a card, (or ten ) please follow the attached details for consistency purposes.

Details of Cards
The cards should be at least 4x6 in size. You can provide cards with or without envelopes.The design of the card can be geared towards a boy, a girl, or it can be unisex.

The card should leave room for the babies name and the birthdate.

The inside should be either a light colour or white, or have a white insert page. This is where the footprint will go, along with the date.

Completed cards can be sent to:
Creative Crafts and Stickers
30 Alanadale Avenue
Markham, Ontario
L3P 1S3 Canada

I will be taking the cards to the hospital in Ottawa sometime in October. If cards arrive after I have already been to the hospital, I will continue to forward them on to the NICU nurses.

Thank you for all of your support.

Jen, Creative Crafts and Stickers owner

Donna Downey

Donna Downey will be chatting at Creating Pages tonight 9 pm EST.
Come chat with us and get to know her!!

Donna's blog

CP Croppin'!

Feels SO good to sit at a crop with friends after such a long and not-so-fun week. Come play and see!

Creating Pages

Fall into Scrappin' Cyber Crop!

Friday, Sept. 22 6pm-9pm

and

Saturday, Sept 23 6pm-9pm

AND I made my first {successful} blinkie for the crop!

Special thanks to Jennifer Halleck and Michelle Boeckermann who tried and tried to help me. Alas, there is no hope for help.

But I got it done!!

ps...thank you for all your well-wishes and prayers for my daughter, McKenna. She is home and mostly peaceful and getting back to her old self. Couldn't have done it without the support of friends like you.

design team!

Oh, c'mon - you know what this is about! I finally broke thru! My longest-lived and favorite little site has chosen me, of 3, for their new design team!! I couldn't be flying any higher right now! More on some amazing things happening over there soon ...

Also!
*Just got back from our quick trip to Georgia to see my brother and family, and my nephew's 6th birthday - you know, gotta create the memories to scrap...
*Matthew started preschool today...
*Went back to work today for the new year!

lil black horse & a cherry tree...

so an otherwise bleary, rainy, bad day turned out pretty ok! First I see "Olden Days" (the one with matthew's fishing gear) atop the How Much is Too Much blog - winner! That was a more-than-nice surprise, and much-needed. --- So Wendy Reed was heading up this challenge & we've been chatting via email; apparently she's really as sweet as her work. Thanks, Wendy!

...and THEN, I head over to TTT for a quick visit and see via the boards that "Basket" (the one where mckenna IS the laundry) was chosen by the dt in their September newsletter. Ain't they sweet? It's one page I loved everything about BUT the arrow and wasn't too sure of, but a lil validation once in a while isn't so bad!
BTW, as for the title of this post, it's just my favorite song at the moment - even tho it's a Big Black Horse...

a few more little flowers

it's my thing.
my newest thing.
flowers.
made from anything.
today: made from anchorz.
tomorrow: metal-rimmed tags. I'm on it.

a little more about mag called...

ScrapStreet...
had one chosen by them out of my gallery for their September mag {coming tomorrow}. What's more is I used a stamp and an ink pad given to me by my brother for my birthday last month. That's just plain cool.

a little lovin'

baby's got bling

just lovin' this LO of mine...that's all.
{can I say that? is this vain?}
who cares, she's a doll!

a little more cherryArte...cp's 8-weeker is over

CreatingPages.biz's 8 week contest is over... :( Had lots of fun and lots of challenge along the way! I'll link my 8 layouts and take a look at GoodBye Keuka - it's in cherryArte's gallery, too.

Lil' Spark challenge: use bling
Play Ball challenge: add dimension
RoadTrip! challenge: use We R Memory Keepers
Happy to Be challenge: use arrows
GoodBye Keuka challenge: quote <~~~at cherryArte.com
Ready to challenge: use American Crafts
safe challenge: art inspiration
June challenge: all about a month

what else am I up to this month? I submitted aHead of Fashion to OnePageAtaTime's fashion contest. Not gunning for that one, but I had the pics, so I finished the LO. I've also been completing an average of 2 pages a day bc of the GDT challenges at Creative Crafts and Stickers! 2 is a whole lot for me! Not gunning for that, either, but it's fun and you know how I love math! My Pages at CCaS

help make this crop not so little!

I was at Creative Crafts and Stickers today and saw this...let me ask you, what is your favorite message board doing these days?!

It is with great excitement that I announce that from Sept 27th to October 3rd, Creative Crafts and Stickers will be holding our first annual Charity Crop.

During this crop, a portion of all sales will be going to the Rich Little Special Care Nursery (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit - NICU) at the Civic Campus of the Ottawa Hospital (located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada).

As many of you know, in the past two years, my sister has had two premature babies, with the second one born this past May. I am so very impressed with the care and dedication that the Neonatal staff have shown for my sister, brother in law and her premature babies. Children are our future and getting a supportive and loving start is very important.

The intent of this crop is to give back to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and allow them to better support other families who need their services.This NICU Charity Crop will include challenges, online classes, games, prizes and a raffle of donated products. A portion of all sales will be donated to the NICU area, and all orders will receive a goodie bag filled with items from our sponsors. We are also asking that all participants create Congratulations cards for the nurses to give to the families with babies in the NICU. More details about the cards will follow.

In order to make this event a huge success and allow us to make the largest donation possible, we have asked for contributions from manufacturers in the scrapbooking and stamping world. The response has been fabulous!

Donations will become prizes, a part of the raffle and/or sponsor donations in the goodie bag.

To date, we have the following sponsors for the NICU Charity Crop:
3L
3M
7Gypsies
Adhesive Tech
Ampersand Art Supply
Atomic Cupcake
C-Line Products
Clearsnap
Craf-TDRG Publishing - Annie's Attic
Donna Downey
Everlasting Keepsakes
GelatinsGenerations
Karen Foster Designs
Keeping Memories Alive
May Arts
Me & My Big Ideas
Memory Makers Magazine
Michael Miller Memories
Natural Designs in Scrapbooking
PhotoMix
PiggyTales
Ranger Ink
Scrapbook and Cards Today
Scrapbook Eh Wholesale
Scrapbook Max
S unshine Designs/Nuggitz
Sweetwater
Time to Stamp
The Beary Patch
Treehouse Designs
We R Memory Keepers

I have also been asked to write an article for the December issue of Memory Makers to tell the story of my nieces and how it inspired me to hold this crop.I hope you all will join us for the crop and will consider making a donation to this great cause. I am hoping to go to hospital in the fall to present the cards and a cheque to the NICU staff.Together we can make a difference!
*** I will update the sponsor list above as I get more confirmations back.

Jen - Owner Creative Crafts and Stickers

click the link to go to the thread - I hope to see you ALL there!!
Creative Crafts and Stickers Charity Crop

a little dare for you...

and I hate to use the word "dare", since it's already out there, but this truly is a dare in a sense that it'll take guts to do this...
I got one of those forward emails from a friend today. Instead of forwarding it (I hardly ever do) I challenge you to do a LO about one, or all, of the following. Make sure you come back and show it to me =)

B - Babe
I - In
T - Total
C - Control of
H - Herself

B = Beautiful
I = Intelligent
T = Talented
C = Charming
H = Hell of a Woman

B = Beautiful
I = Individual
T = That
C = Can
H = Handle anything

the email:
BITCHOLOGY
When I stand up for myself and my beliefs, they call me a bitch.
When I stand up for those I love, they call me a bitch.
When I speak my mind, think my own thoughts or do things my own way, they call me a bitch.
Being a bitch means I won't compromise what's in my heart.
It means I live my life MY way.
It means I won't allow anyone to step on me.
When I refuse to tolerate injustice and speak against it, I am defined as a bitch.
The same thing happens when I take time for myself instead of being everyone's maid, or when I act a little selfish.
It means I have the courage and strength to allow myself to be who I truly am and won't become anyone else's idea of what they think I "should" be.
I am outspoken, opinionated and determined.
I want what I want and there is nothing wrong with that!
So try to stomp on me, try to douse my inner flame, try to squash every ounce of beauty I hold within me. You won't succeed. And if that makes me a bitch, so be it.
I embrace the title and am proud to bear it.

B - Babe
I - In
T - Total
C - Control of
H - Herself

B = Beautiful
I = Intelligent
T = Talented
C = Charming
H = Hell of a Woman

B = Beautiful
I = Individual
T = That
C = Can
H = Handle anything

a little croppin' this weekend!

I'll be over at TTT this weekend for a fun crop - I stayed up waaaaayy too late last night, and I'm sure tonight won't be any different! I hadn't been visiting lately and I received an email about the crop. I decide to go. I decide to chat. I decide to do a few challenges. I decide to stay up too late - and THANK GOODNESS I DID! You HAVE to go see the kits they just sneak peeked - I reserved a Rhapsody Kit, but I really was thinking about getting all 3! It's well worth the price, so go see!!!
Oh, and if you go? Tell them I sent you! Then we're both in for scrappy prizes!! See you there!

little signature

Found a little signature thing... other than the "little" thing (which I almost quit the other day). Decided that all of my layouts will have a title that goes like this: "SAFE (the one with Proverbs 29:25)".
Why? Why not. I'm thinking this might annoy people to no end, but it's for me and totally FRIENDS inspired.
BTW, "SAFE" is my week #7 entry at creatingpages.biz series contest. =)

going a little vertical!

Did my first vertical today, but you'll have to hop on over to CreatingPages.biz to see it, as it's in the 8 weeks series contest. I'm pretty proud of most of the work I've done this time (last time I didn't make it passed week 3 or 4...) Anyhoo...check me out: Ready to

Did I mention I also joined the Pageant at ScrapTastic and the Effers Dare Contest. Hey! I just found out that I'm way behind my scrappy goal for the year, apparently I was headed for last year's 1st goal and wasn't doing the right # per month, so I'm going to need all the challenge I can get~

The only thing I love more than scrapping the memories is making them.

a little bit of BINGO, a little bit of ScrapStreet

Okay, so I know the BINGO thing has been out a while, but last night I finally did one of my own! I had a blast doing it! Over at ScrapStreet, Spink challenged me to do a page about scrapbooking BINGO-style. Well, it took me 6 hours and 15 minutes but here's the finished product: Besides the fact that I'm (winner by default, y'all) getting some really cool prizes for this ("SEI memory album and new line paper samples, alterable purse, ellison t-shirt, and anything else i can fit in the box!"), doing this page was a whole other experience; I can't remember the last time I a) scrapped ABOUT myself, b) scrapped FOR myself, and c) looked at all - and I do mean ALL - my old layouts! And ya know what? I learned that I've been scrapbooking AC/LF a whole year less than I thought!
BTW, I was also a Saturday Night Scrap guest hostess there at ScrapStreet last night and put up a sketch challenge and a challenge called Opposites Attract - this fulfilled the Opposites challenge (Large dots, small flowers; paper salon vs. SEI; bunch of flowers vs. line of flowers.) Every Saturday we're there playing around and working for blinkies, which is one of the unique characteristics of ScrapStreet - hope to see you there!
A little note about ScrapStreet: I am just loving this place! You've heard by now of the amazing e-zine, but have you really looked through all the streets? Did you know that have both digi and paper KITS? (one of which I won and one of which I ordered!) Have you visited the message board? It's a board where people are there JUST having fun. I'd imagine it's hell on dial-up users, but the blinkies are a big, fun part of the game. It's not all about competitive scrapbooking and who has the most toots and the most design teams and publishings. Although there are some incredibly talented people there, mostly, it's just FUN. Light. Full of inspiration and fun. The challenges are one of a kind (just experienced my first ROAD TRIP - guess the url (location), complete the challenges and move on!) I didn't get far, but I had fun doing what I did. I tell ya, that place makes scrapbooking, particularly online scrapbooking just plain fun - did you forget it's supposed to be fun?
(for whatever reason I can't add any more images, but I have pics of the prize and the blinkie for the night...why does blogger do this to me?)

about that little hip thing...

We're all better! Some of you know that my now 4 1/2 month-old daughter, McKenna has been battling hip dysplasia, which we found out at 2 weeks old. She hasn't had any dislocation, and her case seemed minor at first, but it took two braces and about 3 months to get to where we are now; we just found out Wednesday: healed! Her 3rd sonogram reveals a wonderfully shaped and realigned left hip! We were supposed to have 10 weeks to wean off the brace when we got to this point, starting with taking it off 4 hours a day for 2 weeks, but we even get to START the wean with 8 hours a day! I can't tell you how much happier she was today, with her first 8-hour break. We finally have our baby back! It's just that... she's so mushy now, I almost don't remember how to hold her!!!
BTW, on a side note: I thought that being braced would hinder milestones, but we took it off of her Sunday, put her on her belly, and she flipped to her back like a pro! She was so proud of herself, it was amazing! Of course I have the pics to scrap...just haven't gotten there yet!

surprised myself a little today...

When asked "What is your profession" among other questions at the forum at From Here to Scrapternity, this was my answer:

What is your current profession? First and foremost, I'm a SAHM. And I love it. I found out only after I had Matthew that this is what I was built to do. I worried so much in and after college about what career I was meant for, but all that was answered with my kids. I much prefer sitting on the floor with them than anything else in this world - yes, even scrapbooking. They temporarily relieve the world of greed, competition, temptation and the other complex issues of the world outside. (And whenever you haven't heard from me in a while, don't doubt that I'm near the computer, just that the little ones are much more important.) There are some times, mostly the evenings, when all I do is sit and just look at my kids. Matthew is a treasure and so full of energy and personality, that he's enough comedy and entertainment for an entire auditorium. McKenna and I seem to have conversations just with our eyes and after Matthew goes to bed, we just sit and look at each other, sometimes for hours. There just is nothing like it.

What else have you done recently? Well, I'm also a gymnastics coach to about 45 little competitors. It's an amazing job. I get wonderfully overpaid to do something I completely love with people and staff I completely love. I have to work very little (3-5 days a week for 3-4 hours) and I have co-workers who are very understanding that my family comes first. I also choreograph floor and beam routines for our gym, as well as publish the team website; I'm also currently working on webpages for each gymnast. I've also become somewhat the secretary for our team - but this is all on MY time and on MY paycheck! Did I mention that we were State Champions this year? In two levels and one individual all-around, as well as several event champions? Just a little gymnastics toot!

What is your dream job, or what have you been thinking about pursuing?I think I'm doing it. I really do! I came out of college and worked in a preschool daycare. I don't care for the daycare, necessarily, but I definately see preschool teacher in my future, after my kids are well into school themselves. We have a remarkable 9 month Masters program nearby that will provide me with all credentials to teach. I've always known that kids would be involved with my career. And that's exactly what I've been doing :)

Quick Little Note...

Gosh, it's been so long that I've posted that my browser didn't even have Blogspot in its history... I'm just here quickly to let you know I've been choosing more of the sitting around on the floor with my kids than at the computer scrapping. I have TONS of ideas and lots of work to do, but it just seems a good time to spend with family. I have a few weeks left of work for the summer and then I hope to get more time to scrap - naptime is always a good time and that's when I've been working.
So, just in case you're getting a little worried, just look DOWN (on the floor) and you'll see me!

My Little Starz

Happy July!!
First of all, ScrapStreet released their July magazine and it is just amaZing, once again!! Here is that layout I've been dying to show!

One of the most fun parts about this page is that it is Junkitz Athletes - wish I could say that this is the reason for the "Z", but the reality is, I just didn't have any more "S"s!!

Go see the magazine here at ScrapStreet July and the fun All American page, too!

Other business... I received my WUBE stuff from the ScrappersAnonymous Father's Day contest and wowie, do I love this stuff!! The magnetic papers are really fun - but I didn't realized that regular 12x12s would come, too! WUBE seems just my style: distressed, bold and oversized. Can't wait to get started on the pages!

Hooray! Won a Little Contest!!

at Scrappers Anonymous! Won the May/June 06 Fathers/Sketch contest with 4 others and the prize is WUBE supplies!! How psyched am I!?! Can't wait to get them and feel them and create with them and - hold it!! I have to create a card!?!? Uh oh... (help!!)