Name That Stamp!

Since this week's challenge incorporated stamping, I thought it would only be fitting that the mini challenge should have something to do with it also! What you have to do: name the company who makes each stamp pictured below. Please only post once. The first person with the most correct answers wins! Now GO!! :)

It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This....

:) :) :) :) We have had an AWESOME week! Like I mentioned before, Miguel has a new schedule at work...9:00a.m.-6:00p.m. And with the exception of one day where I believe he got home around 7:30 (he was at his parent's house), he's been home in time for dinner and the sun is still OUT! lol It's just SO nice! We all get to eat together, we sit and watch tv or just talk or he plays games with the kids...he's helping me around the house with stuff I need like bathing Mikey. It has just been SOOO nice!! I really, really, REALLY hope and pray that the new people who have taken over his old "job" will hang in there and keep doing a great job so that Miguel gets to be home with us more. Really, I think that IF something were to happen where they weren't doing so great without him...I don't think he'd go back. Even he has said how much better it is for us all...for HIM...he gets more time to rest..it's just better all the way around! Anyway, on Saturday we had plans to take Lij to Sea World since the weekend before when he was at his dad's, we took Mikey. So we made plans to leave Mikey at home with my mom and to spend the day with Lij. Well, at the last minute Miguel decides that he is going to get us season passes to Fiesta Texas too!! YAY! I thanked him with a bunch of hugs and kisses ;) Lij was excited too although he's not much for getting on rides. Which is why we had gotten the Sea World ones to begin with. But I like getting on rides...not the REALLY scary ones, but I "will" get on some. And there are alot more kiddie rides for Mikey at FT too. Oh and that new Wiggles World which we went and checked out and just know that Mikey is going to LOVE it!! I cannot wait to take him and see the look on his face! I managed to get Lij to get on this ride with me...they're these big "pool balls" and they spin around and you can also make them spin more by turning this "wheel" inside. I thought it'd be okay since it didn't go UP which is something he just didn't want to do...lol...I was wrong! LOL You should have seen the look on his face. I was just praying he wasn't going to puke on me! He did NOT look like he was having fun at all!! It makes me feel kind of bad because he's so afraid of SO many things and I don't want him to miss out on having a good time. We also got on the Ferris Wheel and he looked SO nervous on there too! Poor thing! After a while though, I think he "loosened" up...when he saw we weren't going to plummet to the ground! We did a few more rides including a water ride where I got SOAKED!! So much for spending 30 minutes flat ironing my hair in the morning! It was SO hot though! We all dried off in NO time at all! We had a great time and afterwards we came home and showered and got ready for church. It was a good day :) On Sunday, for the first time in I can't even remember when...Miguel was actually home by TEN a.m. YES, TEN!! lol He goes in at 4:00 a.m. on Sundays and sometimes isn't home until like 5:00. We all got to eat breakfast together and we just hung out all day...we napped on and off on the couch...lol...Miguel played Xbox with the kids. In the evening, after dinner we headed over to Target and I found this really cool metal pail in the picnic section. It's meant for cutlery, but it was PERFECT for all my pens, tools and deco scissors! I forgot to say that Chon had come over on Friday and we hung out and we had also gone to Target and I bought this shoe organizer which was just PERFECT for putting all my diecuts, paper borders, stuff like that in. I purged and reorganized my sb area AGAIN...not quite done yet though. So I'll post some pics when I get everything in its place. Umm...I think that's about it. I woke up pretty early this morning and I've gotten quite a bit of my cleaning done...even got my ironing out of the way so maybe I won't be cleaning the WHOLE day and I can start my page for this week's challeng on our Blog Hop. Here's a few pics from Fiesta Texas :)

Hot Days of Summer Blog Hop Challenge #3

Wow! I can't believe we are already on the THIRD week of challenges! It's just been FLYING by! Everyone has done a great job and it's been so much fun doing the games and chatting with everyone :) Here's this week's challenge!


Sketch It, Stamp It
　
Almost every single time I scrap, my inspiration comes from a sketch or someone else's page composition. I love bookmarking pages I love, then using them later to take whatever bits and pieces caught my eye and make them my own. One of my favorite places to find inspiration is Pencil Lines. I love the way they have each design team members' interpretation below the sketch because sometimes the sketch itself won't inspire me, but one of the team's LOs might. This challenge will be fairly easy too and open to your own interpretation since there will be no restrictions as to colors, theme, products, ect. being used. The challenge: Use ANY Pencil Lines sketch as the guide for your page. You can flip it on its side, upside down...whatever...this is all about what appeals to you. You MUST state the sketch number you used in your product list when you upload your LO. The other requirement for this challenge....STAMPS. I know I have alot of them....ALOT....and although I've seen numerous people use them on their pages and love the effect, I never quite know how to incorporate them on my LO. So, it's time to dust off your acrylic or wooden stamps and use them on your page. You can make a background using them, stamp and cut out shapes/words, or stamp directly on your page....it's all up to you :)
The Rules:
1. You MUST use a Pencil Lines sketch as your inspiration. Don't forget to list the number of the sketch you used. Your LO must be NEW and not entered in any other challenge or contest. You have until Sunday night to upload your LO (one or two pager) to the sb.com gallery and link here in the comment section.
2. You MUST incorporate stamping on your page.

That's it...have fun and don't forget to look for this week's mini challenge!

Here's my take on the challenge. I used sketch #118 from Pencil Lines. This puts my LO count at 61.



Here's Chon's page:

It's like therapy...only better :)

LOL I've been trying to scrap more pages that have "meaning", that tell a "story". I love just putting a page together..."just because", as my creative outlet, but once in a while, I feel like there are certain stories that need to be told, certain things I want to remember and pass on.

When I saw my son's step mother post a page on sb.com with a picture of her and my son, I knew I wanted to scrap a page about that whole "relationship". I loved the way Lij looked in that pic and wanted it either way, but I also knew it would be a good pic to use on a page to put some feelings down on paper. She was kind enough to email me the pic and I printed it out myself. Everyone who knows me...well, who is close to me...knows the whole story behind this and how hard it has been for me...and Lij..and well, a lot of people involved. It doesn't have to be like this, but for whatever reason....it is what it is. It's still very hard for me when I know Lij is leaving to stay with his dad. I mean, I trust his dad...well, trying to trust him more. But her...I don't even know her..at all really. All I know of her is what I've heard from Lij or his dad and the little and I mean LITTLE amount of time I have personally communicated with her and that was NOT good! I know that things could be different. It would only make this a million times easier if things were different. Hopefully, in time, things will get better. Anyway....making this page was somewhat therapeutic....I got some feelings down on paper and I really like the way it turned out. This puts my LO count at 60 for the year! Wow! Only 40 to go and we are only halfway through the year!

This makes 59....

I'm at 59 LOs for this year...YAY!! The first one I did was for the second challenge of our Hot Days of Summer Blog Hop. Chon hosted this one and the challenge was to create a page using diecut papers...no 'square' pages. I love using shaped pages...I have alot of them!! I used some of my new MLS scalloped circle papers...I love the bright colors on those. Also used some of the MLS diecuts. And I cut the beautiful vines and flowers from a sheet of the MME Bloom & Grow collection. I really LOVE the way it turned out and it was all me...no lift :D The second is just a quick page I did using a LO from Chon's gallery. I think hers was a lift..not sure..and not sure from who. Used some of my MAMBI "A Kid Like Me" stuff. That's about it for today. Oh, Miguel has a new schedule. Since Monday, he has been going in at 9:00 a.m. and getting out at 6:00 p.m. None of this crazy 16+ hour days. He's not in charge of closing the warehouse anymore...strictly in office sales now. Even though it's only been two days, it is SO nice having him home while the sun is still out! We get to spend time together and Mikey gets to see him and play with him. It's great! Please pray that things keep going smoothly for the new people in charge of closing because I don't want him to go back to killing himself over that job. Our family is in desperate need of some TOGETHERness!! Good night :)

A Prayer

Miguel brought back this prayer with him from his weekend ACTS retreat and I just LOVED it! I want to share it with you all :)

My Lord God,
I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself and the fact that I think I am
following your will, does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this, you will lead me by the right road,
though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore, I will trust you always
though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone. Thomas Merton

Stop and Scrap...

Just a few things I got today from Stop and Scrap. Love buying from them. They have $5 flat rate shipping...can't beat that! Got some Pink Paislee alpha stickers...I can never have too many alphas! And some Jenni Bowlin. Also got this cool 8x8 MM pad. I don't have a Slice...just got it because it was 8x8 ledger paper...LOVE ledger paper! I was hoping to do some scrapping today, but didn't get to. Maybe this week. Night all :)

Don't Fight It....

It's pointless...to try to fight the urge to shop for scrappy goodies...I'm losing...badly! lol Chon and I had another one of our shopping days today, but I'm proud to say that I only spent $20. We both got this cool set of AL acrylic stamps at HL that were on clearance for $5 and change from $14.99. Then we went by M's, where all I got were three packages of stickers, two sets of notecards from the Dollar bins, and a set of 10 Craft Keepers that I got for $6.50 using a 50% off coupon Chon gave me...thanks :) I used those to put my scraps in. I had them in big Ziploc bags, but this is much neater.

After shopping, we came home and scrapped. Spent most of the time trying to print some pics out for Chon that I didn't even get to do because the computer was being FREAKY! I finally gave up and just worked on my page which was inspired by one of the Pencil Lines design team memebers, Tracie H. I really love the way it turned out! Love to use colors on a black background!

What else?? Miguel is on an ACTS retreat right now...won't be back until Sunday so we'll be spending the weekend at home. Chon took me to do our grocery shopping today so at least I got that out of the way. Hmm...what else? Not much else is going on. Oh yeah, I got some AWESOME stuff from Flowers To Flourishes. All this YUMMY Fancy Pants stuff for $20 including shipping! Felt, acrylic books and shapes, pins, buttons, rubons, and paper...oh my! lol Lots of stuff! Love it!

Okay, that's all for today..it's late and I am SLEEPY! Mikey took a late nap, but I'm putting him to bed in a bit anyway because I just can't hang anymore...night all!

Hot Days of Summer Blog Hop Mini Challenge - Guess What I Am

Okay ladies...here's a fun little game I came up with. The first person to correctly name all ten products will earn 20 extra points. If no one gets all the answers correct, the first person with the most correct answers wins! Please post your answers in the comment section of this post. Let's play! :)
UPDATED: Please try to be as specific as possible...such as brand name :)

Making Memories Chloe's Closet die cut paper

Chip Chatter Gellies
photo anchors
Sharpie markers
Magic Mesh
Prima flowers
Stickles
Heidi Swapp acrylic stamp
Coluzzle self healing mat
Cutterbees

Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy....

Remember those? From old Saturday Night Live? They were hilarious! I don't know why that seemed fitting for my title. I've been up for a few hours now. After Miguel left early this morning, I couldn't go back to sleep. So instead of just laying in bed wasting time, I decided to get up and get as much of my chores done as I could without making too much noise and waking Mikey. I might regret it later, but maybe then I can get Mikey to nap with me :)
I was just sitting here thinking when I realized how quiet it was and how I could hear my own thoughts and just "be". I'm almost always surrounded by noise...compliments of Mikey...lol...I think this is what I need...or need more of..."me time" minus all the noise and "Mommy can I have"s...I know that when he goes off to school, I will miss him like CRAZY, but maybe I will also regain some of my sanity! I've been doing alot of thinking lately...well, I'm ALWAYS thinking...that's one of my faults and I have this "nagging feeling" that some big changes are long overdue. Sitting here in the quiet...where I can actually form a thought or a complete sentence in my head...some things become very clear. I think I have lost myself...in being a mother and sitting on the sidelines...and I think it's time I bring myself back into the foreground. I need to put myself first because God knows if I don't, no one else will. Anywho....just had to ramble on for a bit and put this stuff down....back to your regularly scheduled program....