New Cut Outs and Craft Us Crazy Challenge

Hi All,

Happy Wednesday! I really enjoyed reading about everyone's favorite TV shows. I'll definitely have to check out some new ones! lol Thanks so much for the wonderful comments. They really make my day!

Just a quick post to let you know that I've added some new Cut Outs to the shops.














So what do you think? Aren't they just the cutest. I love the little girl cutting out her paper dolls and the little blue bunny is to die for! And check out that little girl bunny batter. Isn't she just the cutest! I love her pink uniform, the polka dotted belt and the flowers in her hat! :) They're listed in all three shops and you can find them by clicking here for web shop or Etsy store or the ebay store

I'm always looking for some new ideas for Cut Out themes. Is there something special you'd like to see? I'd love to hear from you. I've been contemplating some man card theme's what do you think?

Don't forget about the Craft Us Crazy challenge that starts tomorrow. Maybe you'll win the 5 Cut Outs! You can check it out by clicking here.


Have a great week, plumb full of smiles!
Peggy

Free Military Easter Image

Hi All,
Have you had a great week? It's been really busy here - lots and lots of stuff going on. My youngest is starting his journey to Afghanistan. Right now he's in pre-deployment mode. He's spending 3 weeks at Fort McCoy getting his soldiers ready to go. I'm really going to miss him when he ships out.

Have you watched that new series Coming Home on TLC? It's so nice that such special events are happening for the returning soldiers. Sunday night is definitely my TLC night between Coming Home and Army Wives, I'm glued to the tube! My other must sees are Good Wife, Parenthood, House and American Idol. What shows are your must sees?

Any way, back to Trev, he'll be leaving for Afghanistan before Easter. The holidays will seem a little less festive without him being here. :(

I know I have some military families that visit my blog, so I thought I'd share this image with you. Make sure you click on it before you save it.





Don't forget that starting on March 31, PLV is sponsoring a challenge over at Craft Us Crazy where you'll have a chance to win 5 Cut Outs. This is the first time PLV has sponsored this challenge site and I'm really excited about it. The DT's will be using some Easter Cut Out images, so if you need ideas be sure and check them out. The challenge runs for 2 weeks so you will have plenty of time to get your entry completed.

I hope you have a great week, plumb full of smiles!
Peggy

Happy St. Patty's Day and Free Vintage Image

Hi Everybody,
Happy Saint Patty's Day! Are you wearin' the green?
We attended the local St. Patty's Day Parade on Saturday. Jordan and Kaiden both wore their green. We made special tee-shirts for the day using some free clip art we found on the Internet. Jordan had a green pixie and Kaiden's was a cute puppy with a hat and bow tie. I think they turned out really cute and the kids seemed to really like them.

It is so easy to do this! If you haven't tried a project using the fabric transfers kits, you really should. It took longer to find and select the clip art than it did to make the tee-shirts. lol



Of course the parade had lots and lots of revelry going on, particularly around the taverns. I just couldn't figure it out, maybe it was the green beer! lol



The parade had several bag pipe bands/groups or whatever they're called. They were awesome and really brought the Irish spirit to the crowd.



The kids had a great time. They enjoyed all the entrants and collected lots of candy. It was so chilly that halfway through the parade we had to take a hot chocolate break and warm up.

Tonight we visited one of our local Irish Pubs and had some awesome corned beef and cabbage and wee bit of green beer, a nice finish to St. Patty's Day.

One of the things I love about my scrapbooks are the unusual cards that I run across. This is one of my favorites, I hope that it will be one of yours as well. As usual, make sure you click on it before you save it.



Have a great week, plumb full of smiles!
Peggy

Yellow Ribbon, New Easter Cut Outs, PLV Sponsorships

Hi Everyone!
I sure hope you're having a great week! Can you believe it? This weekend time changes... you know the ole spring forward fall back thingy. I know spring is coming but it sure doesn't feel that way around here.. cloudy and rainy seems to be the only path we're following. lol I have a lot to post today so I guess I should be moving along.

It's been a really busy week around here. This past weekend we were lucky enough to participate in a Yellow Ribbon Conference in Saint Louis Missouri. This particular conference was hosted by the United States Army Reserves. You see, my youngest is once again on track to spend a year in Afghanistan, he leaves next month. The last time he toured he was a Marine - woops.. isn't that once a Marine always a Marine! But anyhow, for this tour it's Army all the way.

The Yellow Ribbon event is somewhat new and I think it was instituted under President Obama.. but don't quote me on that cos I'm not sure. It is an event that is packed full of helpful information for the troops and their families. The sessions are geared more toward spouses and partners vs. moms and dads but we still gained a lot of information on some valuable resources. Hopefully, we'll never have to use them, but at least we know they are there and available to us if we need them.

They hosted us at the Sheraton in the West Port Plaza. We were lucky enough to get rooms in what they call the chalet. This suited us just perfectly because it has more of an old world feel vs the newer modern version. The hotel was packed full of huge furniture and lots and lots of marble. The food was okay nothing really to brag about but it was filling and there was plenty. All in all, it was a very nice weekend on the Army's dime.

I worry about the young Army families. How hard it must be! We saw several couples with really young children. I can't imagine having to spend that much time away. The good thing is that with all the technology, they'll be able to communicate regularly and at least talk over Skype where they can see other, but still it has to be extremely hard. I thank them for all their sacrifices and pray that they all return safely.

I'm pleased to announce that I've released some new Easter Cut Outs. I was hoping to have a CD all ready for you but other things got in the way - you know how that goes. lol But anyway, here's some of the best of the best of my new - I mean old - Easter cards. I hope you like them. They're available in all the shops and can be purchased from the web shop or Etsy store or the ebay store











Now, someone has shared a secret with me, but I'm terrible at keeping secrets! ;)
So I'll give you this big hint!!!!!! Make sure you visit DeeDee's Blog , she has a post coming up that I'm sure you'll want to see and join in the fun.

This month is a major sponsor month for PLV. Right now, there is a challenge going on over at PaperTake Weekly were PLV will giving out 5 Cut Outs to the winner. If you haven't joined in already make sure you visit and get your entry in soon. Who knows maybe you'll be lucky enough to pick those Cut Outs that you've been drooling over.

And starting on March 31, PLV is sponsoring a challenge over at Craft Us Crazy where you'll have another chance to win 5 Cut Outs. This is the first time PLV has sponsored this challenge site and I'm really excited about it. The DT's will be using some of the Easter Cut Out images so if you need ideas be sure and check them out. The challenge runs for 2 weeks so you will have plenty of time to get your entry completed. Don't worry, I'll remind you of this in a future post.

So now that your eyes are all worn out from reading.. lol I'd like to close with just a small note. I am so thankful for so very many things.... I've got great kids, that I'm very, very proud of, a super husband that puts up with all my s#&*@, a great sis that is my inspiration and a couple of bros that are always there for me, our troops who keep us safe and so so many blogging friends. I truly appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart!



Make sure you click on her before you save her.

I hope you have a great week, that's plumb full of smiles.
Peggy

Free Vintage Image and Finished Autograph Book

Hi Everyone,
I hope you're having a great week!

It's been pretty busy around here this week. I did manage to finish the memories side of Jordan's autograph book. It held up pretty good during its week in Disney. A couple of beads came loose and had to be replaced and a ribbon re-glued but other than that it was in pretty good shape considering a 6 year carried it around all week. lol

It seemed like it took me forever to finish the memories side. In fact, I just managed to finish it an hour before I was supposed to give it to her. I did quickly snap some pictures, but I didn't look at them until after I gave her the book. The pics turned out terrible! I must have had something set wrong on the camera - Murphy's law of course! :) But terrible or not I thought I'd share just a couple of the completed layouts.

The kids took a ton of pictures, so I had a great selection to pick from. I tried to select the pictures of the characters when they were signing or holding the autograph book. I'm told they held up the lines pretty good because the characters were having fun looking at the book. They even got a picture of Daisy kissing Donald's autograph page. I'm sure this made Jordan and Kaiden feel extra special but it probably didn't please the people waiting for their turn. lol







For the last page of the book, I wanted to create a little memories collage. I wanted it to show a lot of the different and funny things that they did. I used the little letter beads to spell out Memories, Thanks, and Mommy and Daddy. Jordan really liked this page and got a big kick out of looking at all the different pics. This is where I really wished the page was bigger, so that I could have included more pictures.



Here's a pic of the actual collage. See, it really is better than my pictures of the completed project. :) I love all the guys (Dad, Grandpa, Kaiden and Uncle Brian) wearing Jordan's tiara. What a special memory!



So, if I was going to make another one, what would I do differently? I think I'd make the pages a little bigger so there would be more room for the layouts on the autograph side and the picture side. And, I would change the folds between the pages, maybe making it a double fold. I still don't think I'd use the rings or the spirals because I still like the idea of the pages being side by side and back to back. But, a little extra width is needed on the folds especially for the pages that have embellies that are placed close to the fold edge - if that makes any sense.

Now I just have Kaiden's to finish but I have to wait for the arrival of a new supply of printer ink.

I debated for a while on what kind of image to share with you this week and as I was browsing my Miscellaneous folder I ran across this card. I'm kind of partial to poppies and I loved all the colors on it. It originally started with a "Friends with" sentiment but I think it would be really pretty framed. So I removed the sentiment so you could use it for whatever kind of project you'd like. Make sure you click on the image before you save it.




I hope you have a great week, plumb full of smiles!
Peggy