Autumn is Here! Blog Hop

Welcome to the August Back to School hop hosted by Kathryn. If you did not start at the beginning, I suggest you start over there at her blog.... http://www.creationswithkathryn.com/

This is stop # 10! So glad you joined us. I couldn't figure out what I wanted to do for this blog but when my chidren came home for the first day of school and just threw their bags on the floor, a light bulb went off! We now have a foyer that we can finally have our own BACKPACK STATION!

As you can see, there are three crates and since I have 3 kids this is perfect for putting bags in.  I need to find another crate seeing as how my nephew always comes over :) So his bag is on the floor next to it.  As soon as they walk in, they take their folders out, place them in the bin on the left so that I (the mom) can ck them after dinner. If they have homework, then I'll know soon enough if they didn't do it. I also have my daughter place her shoes in her bin. She's notorious for loosing them.

I found these amazing magazine holders from a dr office at a thrift store this past weekend.  Immediately I thought, BOOKS! I had planned to put this in the boys room but then didn't have a good solution for our library books. This is perfect because it's like having a library shelf at home. I'll go to the library when they are at school and find a few new books, then when they get home, there's something cool that they didn't pick out themselves.  They also place their school library books here too. Don't know how many times we've lost those!

This sign was made using my cricut and the colorbok line from walmart. I took a 4 photo frame (held 4-4x6's) and altered it :)  I painted the outside brown and added all the insides.  I used the Storybook font for all of it.  I'm not a huge fan of these colors but the more I look at it, they grow on me.

I found this great little "school" note on Pinterest a few weeks ago and LOVED the idea.  Don't know how many times I've had to frantically run around the house to find a piece of paper to write the school teacher a note real quick. These were pre designed at 8.5x5.5 size and were color.  To save a little $ I resized them to 4.5x5.5.  Then I added my name and contact info at the bottom before printing so I didn't ahve to write that over and over again.  This form covers everything from absences/tardies, to pick up/leave early details, to $ enclosed and to what it goes to. Then there is a small "other" section. First day of school was hectic enough, but I still had to write out 3 notes to say which bus they needed to ride..... used to take me 10 min to write 3 notes, this took me less than a min for all three kids!!! Def recommend this printable.

These are my altered mini notebooks from the Dollar Store. I added some cardstock, patterned paper from scraps, and names and *walla*, instantly personalized book journals.  When someone gets a new book from the library or school, I have them write down the name of the book and I write the title. This away when I look on the floor and see "Dora" books thrown about and not where they go, I know whos' responsible for it. ALSO, my kids take the AR test at school, sometimes they forget the # or the title before they get to school. Now the older ones can take their ittle notebook that has all the details written down and there is no more forgetting!

Next you are heading to.... Leah at http://leahscarddesigns.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by!

Kathryn
http://www.creationswithkathryn.com/
Janice
http://www.cricutconfessions.com/
Lissa
http://somanycrafts.wordpress.com/
Yolanda
http://www.craftyscentiments.blogspot.com/
Nicolette
http://www.beyondscrapin.blogspot.com/
Denise K.
http://deesdesignsfrommyheart.blogspot.com/
Michelle
http://peanutbutterandjellydesigns.blogspot.com/
Denise P.L.
http://vindeeloosthisnthat.blogspot.com/
Tina B
http://ollieanddextersmommy.blogspot.com/
Krista - YOU ARE HERE!
is http://scrapaleupagus.blogspot.com/
Leah - GO NEXT!http://leahscarddesigns.blogspot.com/
Monica
http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/
Shannon
http://purplelionpaper.com/blog
Sigrid
http://lovescrapreflect.blogspot.com/
Jessica
http://thatzuneek.blogspot.com/

Make Your Own Holiday Blog Hop

Welcome to the Make Your Own Holiday Blog Hop! So excited!!!!

You should have arrived here from Patti at Short ‘N Scrappy at http://www.shortnscrappy.com/
. If you just stumbled across the hop, and you’d like to start at the beginning, hop over to Karelj’s blog at www.kareljcreations.com to start at the beginning. After my stop, you should head over to Kay Craig at 100 Things at http://kopperhead100.blogspot.com

Karelj is offering an over-all blog candy for those who are hopping along with us. She thought it would be fun to have some holiday-themed candy for this hop--but, of course, made-up holiday items were hard to come by! She decided to do a whole bunch of *regular* holiday themed stamps for you to enjoy. From Fiskars, there is an assorted holiday set; there's an alphabet from All Night Media, a set of 100 plus clear stamps and a storage case from Family Memories, and 5 sets of clear stamps from various dollar bins in big box stores. How to win them? Follow along the blog trail, leaving a comment on each and every blog. On Monday, Karelj will ask her buddy Randy (random.org) to select a blog number (from the list), a day (Saturday is one, Sunday is two), and a comment number from that blog. Please make sure you have left a reliable way to contact you (email is best, in the safe format of **** at **** dot com ) so you can be notified by her personally. If you don't, she’ll have to select another winner

1. Karelj at One By One The Flamingos Are Stealing My Sanity at http://www.kareljcreations.com

2. Janice at Cricut Confessions at http://www.cricutconfessions.com/

3. Summer and Jennifer at The Cricut Diaries at http://www.cricutdiaries.com/

4. Denine at Pumpkin and Spice at http://pumpkinspiceblog.blogspot.com/

5. Colleen at Col’s Creative Corner at http://www.scrappycol.blogspot.com

6. Mistyrose at Sweet Magnolia Rose at http://sweetmagnoliarose.blogspot.com

7. Ellen at Card Monkey at www.cardmonkey-business.blogspot.com

8. Rachel at Suburban Crafter http://www.rachelstampshappy.blogspot.com/

9. Monica at Scraps 2 Treasure at http://scraps2treasure.blogspot.com/

10. Jen at Young’s Scrapping at www.youngsscrapping.blogspot.com

11. Becka at Creations With Becka at www.creationswithbecka.blogspot.com

12. Jamie at Glitter, Paper, Stamps, Oh My! at http://www.jamieisacraftymomma.blogspot.com/

13. Michelle at Peanut Butter and jelly Designs at http://peanutbutterandjellydesigns.blogspot.com

14. Celeste at Touched By A Butterfly at http://touchedbyabutterfly.blogspot.com/

15. Leah at Leah’s Card Designs at http://leahscarddesigns.blogspot.com

16. Calie at Calie’s Creative Corner at www.Caliescreativecorner.blogspot.com

17. Audrey at It’s A Beautiful Life at www.audreyscardsbydesign.blogspot.com

18. Bonnie at A Scrap Above at http://ascrapabove.blogspot.com

19. Diane at Crafting This Moment at http://www.craftingthismoment.blogspot.com

20. Nicolette at Beyond Scrapping at www.beyondscrapin.blogspot.com

21. Gina at Gina Thornton Stamping at http://ginathorntonstamping.blogspot.com

22. Kathryn at Creations With Kathryn at http://www.creationswithkathryn.com/

23. Yolie at Just Yolie, Just Create at http://justyolie.com

24. Patti at Short ‘N Scrappy at http://www.shortnscrappy.com/

25. Krista Orr at Scrapaleupagus at http://www.scrapaleupagus.blogspot.com/

26. Kay Craig at 100 Things at http://kopperhead100.blogspot.com

27. Jane Hollon at Sneezy’s Ramblings at http://sneezy1956.blogspot.com

My holiday is Favorite Things! I got the idea while watching Oprah's Favorite Things one year and ding went a light bulb. I wanted to do something with all my closest friends and came up with the idea of a Favorite Things Party.

Every year I invite my closest friends and we gather at my house. Everyone brings something that is their FAVORITE THING. Whether it be a candle, stationary, toe socks, fingernail polish, etc. They bring one for everyone. During the party we share why its our favorite thing and have a ton of stuff to take home at the end of the party! Everyone looks forward to it every year.

This year I've decided to do something a little different. We're doing our favorite things in the kitchen. They are all bringing their favorite dish to share with everyone AND an item to use in the kitchen. Here is the invite that I'm sending out. I can't wait to get together with all my gals.

Cricky Across the 50 Winner

Random.org has picked a winner and it is....... Theresa!!! Congrats!

Theresa said...
What a wonderful post..Texas looks amazing. I love the card,
and have been wanting to try copics so badly.
Thanks for being part of the
hop!

February 11, 2011 6:25 PM

Thanks for playing with me this weekend! Be sure to ck out my future posts and if you're interested, I'm hosting a Blog Hop myself. Email me at scrappinkrista@yahoo.com if you wanna join us :)

Cricut Storage

Still Hoping Across the 50 I see..... Well, good! I have an awesome project I just couldn't wait to show you gals!

I absolutely LOVE this new storage container I just bought for my Cricut Carts. In keeping with some of our favorite projects, I saw this idea and added my own touch to it. I bought these amazing VHS containers that hold 20 VHS tapes at a thrift store for $2! I immediately knew I wanted to make file folders to make it easier for me to find my carts. I have 52 carts and sometimes it can get tough to find specific ones. I saw the idea for the file folders and "ding" went the lightbulb. This was perfect size, and since I bought 2 I can always expand in the future. Right now it houses my carts as well. Which is perfect.

I took a permanent marker and wrote on the tops what each cart was, then quickly whipped up this little plastic canvas divider. It keeps all the carts from moving around and falling over. The pink container I bought at Walmart for $2 as well. It will hold 50 carts (more if you don't use the divider). I cut the file folders out of "From My Kitchen" cartridge. I used Q,W, & E. Then I took small round letter stickers and adhered one to each. Easy! This took me less than an hour to complete. Eventually I want to make a cut from each cart and add it to the appropriate file folder to decorate them.
This is a really easy project that took me less than a few hours to complete and makes finding my carts much easier! I can't wait to go to my next big crop and show it off!

You should have come here from
Shannon Lefew of My Scrappy Creations at http://shannonleffew.blogspot.com/
After you leave here you should head on over to
Kathy of Creative Cutter at
http://www.creativecutter.org
Be sure to leave me a comment at my candy post for a chance to win some copics this weekend. You can find it here

These have got to be my most favorite card set that I've made. I couldn't tell you the materials I used, but I can kinda guess which carts I used. I absolutely love this set and can't seem to part with it no matter how many times I've tried to talk myself into giving it away.

Hello Cupcake - Home Decor, Alphalicious

Cherry On Top - I can't seem to find this cut, but I know its a cricut cart

Yummy - Indie Art

One in a Melon - Doodlecharms

Sweet - Graphically Speaking

Feel free to lift all you want :)

You should have come here from
Shannon Lefew of My Scrappy Creations at http://shannonleffew.blogspot.com/

After you leave here you should head on over to
Kathy of Creative Cutter at

http://www.creativecutter.org

Be sure to leave me a comment at my candy post for a chance to win some copics this weekend. You can find it here.

Texas Is My Home

I am a Texan and Proud to be! I was born and raised here. I actually live in the TX Panhandle. Only left a handfull of times. But Texas is a really neat place to live. We have all kinds of climates here from tropical down by the gulf, wooded areas near dallas and lousianna border to dry up here in the panhandle and everything in between. We are the second largest state in the US after Alaska and the second most populated state after California. Main industries here are petrolium, cattle, farming, and oil in the gulf. The state bird is the Mocking Bird which is weird because we don't have many of them around here. There are more found in Oklahoma than here, LOL.

I live in Amarillo, TX. We are known as the Helium Capital of the world. It is very flat here. As you can see in the picture below, you can see for MILES! This picture is of Cadillac Ranch. It's located just outside of town. There is a man here named Stanley Marsh and does the weirdest things around town, including putting random signs in peoples yards. We have one in our yard that says "Ready, Set, Go!" They are EVERYWHERE! He also put in this cadillac ranch and has a boulder pool table on his property made of boulders and tree logs for pool cues. These are REAL cadillacs stuck in the ground and people can go out there and climb on them and write all over them.

We also are home to the second largest canyon in the US. This is located about 15 min outside of Amarillo. It's really neat to see all the different layers of history out there. There have been dinosoar bones found, there is still an old home dwelling that was dugout the side of a hill for people to look at, and every summer they put on a play called TEXAS that tells the history of the area. It's really neat!

The place I really want to visit is Greece. My husband and I are really into Greek mythology and would just die to get to spend a week in Greece. We're trying to plan for a trip for our 15th anniversary. I love the cultures there and the area is just BEAUTIFUL! I'm not sure I'd come home if we made it there, LOL. But this is def somewhere I want to go. The first thing I would do is spend one hour just sitting on the rocks taking it all in. The second? Swimming! Then check out the temples and eat some of the greek foods from there.

A close second is Rome. Just like greek mythology, we are also into the roman history. Not the myth's but the gladiator's and the origins of christianity, etc. I would love to walk the streets and just breathe in all that history.

Just a reminder, I am giving away blog candy for this blog hop! So hop on over to my main post here and leave me a comment. Be sure to also be a follower :)

Cricky Across the 50 Blog Hop!

Hey all! Welcome to the Cricky Across the 50 Blog Hop! I am typing to you now with a kitty laying across both my arms looking at the keyboard wondering why I'm not petting him instead of pounding the keys. Well for once, the blog is much more important than kitty rub down time. You should have come here from

Shannon Lefew of My Scrappy Creations at http://shannonleffew.blogspot.com/After you leave here you should head on over to

Kathy of Creative Cutter at http://www.creativecutter.org/

I'm super excited about this blog hop! It's the largest I've ever been in or even seen online! And there are so many amazing prizes to be won! Not to mention my own blog candy!!!! I know, you're totally excited too right? Without further ado, dah da da daaaaah -

Set of Copic Markers

Which will include

B93, B95, YR14, YR18, Y15, and Y17!

I'll post a pic soon. If you are the winner and you already have these, I'll have a list of backup colors just incase for you to choose from. These are my absolutely most used markers. The blues are awesome for making blue jeans. The yellows and oranges are what I use to make my red and yellow hair as seen in my first post today. Yes you read it right, I'm posting many throughout today and tomorrow and sunday! As I said, I'll post a pic of the markers very soon.

To win this awesome blog candy, all you have to do is become a follower and add your comment to THIS post! I will be making lots of posts this weekend so make sure to leave your comment on how to contact you HERE!

My absolute favoritest project that I've made lately is this card.

I used the markers listed above for the hair. This image is a free digi stamp at www.cuddlybuddly.com They have some of the cutest stamps I've ever seen. I also stitched the sides with red embroidery ribbon. I don't do this often but felt this was the perfect image for some hand stitching.

As I said, more projects to come soon!

Here is the line up for this weekend....

BEGIN: Getting Cricky With K Andrew

http://www.kandrewdesigns.blogspot.com/

ALABAMA

Tanya of Scrappy Scavenger

http://www.scrappyscavenger.blogspot.com/

ARIZONA

Renee Kowalchik of KoolChik Crafts

http://koolchikcrafts.blogspot.com/

ARKANSAS

Teela Young of Coffee24Tea

http://coffee24tea.blogspot.com/

CALIFORNIA

Jess Marin of My Scrap Diary

http://www.myscrapdiary-jess.blogspot.com/

Nicolette Simpson of Beyond Scrapin

http://www.beyondscrapin.blogspot.com/

COLORADO

Jennifer Anderson of Scrappin Lil Turtle

http://creativearmywife.blogspot.com/

Amy Courchaine of Scrapbooking, Card Making, and Living with Fibro

http://lv2scrapandfibrofacts.blogspot.com/

DELEWARE

Meagan Jarjabka of Beyond Paper Designs

http://beyondpaperdesigns.blogspot.com

Peggy Brustman of CeltikGirlCreations

http://celtikgirlcreations.blogspot.com/

FLORIDA

Stephanie Hedderick of Always Crafting

http://www.alwayscrafting.com

GEORGIA

Brenda Haskin of Simply Bren is Having too much fun

http://simplybrenhavingfun.blogspot.com/

ILLINOIS

Lori Brown of Saving My…

http://savingmine.blogspot.com

INDIANA

Angela Urell of Creative Crafting

http://creativecraftin.blogspot.com

LOUISIANA

Darlene Saucier of Simple Southern Blessings

www.talesoftayandbay.blogspot.com

MAINE

Karen Madden of Lilac and Lupines

http://lilacsandlupines.blogspot.com

MARYLAND

Karen Turner of Midlife Mysteries & Masterpieces

http://www.midlifemysteries.com/

MASSACHUSSETTS

Andrea Fogleman of Scraplity

www.scrapality.com

MINNESOTA

Krystal Gibson of Krystal’s Kreativity

http://www.krystalskreativity.blogspot.com

Jenny Johnson of Paper Crafting Crazy Me

www.papercraftingcrazyme.blogspot.com

MISSOURI

Kathy Northup of I Love My Crazy Life

http://ilovemycrazylife.blogspot.com

MONTANA

Kathy Floen of The Beautiful Life

http://kathy-thebeautifullife.blogspot.com

NEBRASKA

Gloria Sleeper of Oma’s Crafts

www.omascrafts.blogspot.com

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Kristal of Getting Cricky

www.kandrewdesigns.blogspot.com

NEW MEXICO

Brynn Thornburgh of Flair and Frills

www.flairandfrillscreativity.blogspot.com

NEW YORK

Erin Span of I am SpantastiKreations

http://www.spantastikreations.blogspot.com/

NORTH CAROLINA

Amy Westray of redwolfSCRAPS

www.redwolfscraps.com

OHIO

Patricia Logan of MDN Creates

www.triciatreasure.blogspot.com

Joe, Carol, Joe, and Betty of CreateNCraft at

www.createNcraft.com

OREGON

Rebecca Maddux of Crafting with Becka

www.creationswithbecka.blogspot.com

PENNSYLVANIA

Midori Vasquez of Scraps for Me

http://www.scrapsforme.blogspot.com/

RHODE ISLAND

Karel Jennings of One by One the Flamingos are Stealing my Sanity

http://karelj.blogspot.com

SOUTH DAKOTA

Brenda Burffrau of Creativity is a State of Mind

http://createbyburffrau.blogspot.com

TENNESSEE

Shannon Lefew of My Scrappy Creations

http://shannonleffew.blogspot.com

TEXAS

Kista Orr of Scrapaleupagus at

http://scrapaleupagus.blogspot.com

UTAH

Kathy of Creative Cutter at

www.creativecutter.org

VIRGINIA

Chris Hanselmaan of Chris' Crafty Creations from the Corner

http://scrappinchris.blogspot.com/

WASHINGTON

Mariam Satchell of Purple Lily Studio

http://mariamsatchell.blogspot.com

WISCONSIN

Janice Wilson of Stamping with Janice

www.stampingwithjanice.blogspot.com

WYOMING

Jamie Larsen of Baby Jayden’s Mommy

http://babyjaydensmommy.blogspot.com/

Lindsay Loo of Lindsay Loo Designs

http://www.lindsayloodesignz.blogspot.com/

END: Getting Cricky with K Andrew

www.kandrewdesigns.blogspot.com

1st Ever Blog Hop

Hey all, I've decided to host my first blog hop. I participated in my first one a few months ago and loved it so much. I would like to up my follower count and meet some new friends. And what better way to do this than to host my own blog hop? If you are interested, please email me at scrappinkrista@yahoo.com and let me know what your web addy is so I can add you to the list. I don't think it will be a long one, probably will keep it to the first 11 (12 including me) that message me.

The theme...stamping! You can use any stamp (digi, acrylic, rubber, etc.) however you must be able to identify what it is (ie, house-mouse, paper studio) or where we can get it ourselves. Everything else is fair game.

The dates will be Fri. March 4th - Sun March 6th. I will have some major blog candy posted that friday morning that participants will have a chance to win. I hope you all will join me :)

- Krista

My Favorite Places....Hop

Okay, since I didn't get any responses to my Impromptu Blog Hop.... I am taking it a different direction. I'm listing my Daily Top 10 Favorite Places to visit on the net for scrapbooking. These are great places to get inspiration, find a new challenge, and meet new scrappers. So, without further ado......

1. My Pink Stamper at http://www.readysetstamp.com/
2. The Outlawz at http://outlawzchallenges.ning.com/
3. Everyday Cricut at http://www.cricutholiday.com/
4. Courtney Lane at http://www.courtney-lane.blogspot.com/
5. Free Digital Stamps at http://freedigitalstamps.blogspot.com/
6. Nanne's Creations at http://nannes-creations.blogspot.com/
7. Cricut at http://www.cricut.com
8. American Crafts at http://americancrafts.typepad.com/studio/

And a few of my favorite sketch sites
1. Pencil Lines at http://www.pencillines.com/
2. Pagemaps at http://www.pagemaps.com

So hop along with me and post a comment here with your blog and favorite place to visit. I'd love to see what you make today :)

Impromptu Blog Hop

OMG, it's a saturday and I have NOTHING planned! And bygolly I want to scrapbook! So, I'm hosting an impromptu blog hop this morning. It's for one day only (unless you want to carry it until tomorrow, which is completely fine and completely up to you). I am not giving out blog candy or anything, and whether or not you want to will be up to you entirely. This is more about scrapbooking for me and inviting friends to join in....not about winning blog candy. If you are interested in playing, please be ready to post a project (can be ANYTHING) at 8 a.m. Central time, that's in less than an hour. Email me at scrappinkrista@yahoo.com with your email and your blog address so I can add you to the list. I'll post the list here at 8 a.m. so we can hop all day. Hope you'll join in :)