Sneak PEEK For Girls Gone Crafty!

Got an event coming up the second week of July and would love to see you all there! You can click on my Upcoming events for details. This is just a little peek at the class I will be teaching. It's an altered item but I will NOT tell you what. You have to attend to find out! Leave a comment if you are attending this event or you think you know what the altered item is. The person who guesses correctly will receive a really cool scrap goodie! Good Luck!

PS- If you were with me when I made this..... DON'T even think about it! SSShhhhh! You can leave a comment for a chance but don't tell the item!

Summer is Officially Here!

Days filled with lazy mornings snuggling and late breakfasts,wearing bathing suits all day, and getting all sweaty playing outside. Nights filled with catching fireflies and the sweet scent of Gardenias, cookouts with friends, and watching movies in the dark with yummy popcorn. Oh, I love this season! What about you?

The photo is of my girls after they picked a couple of bouquets of Gardenias for me. They love the soft sweet blooms as much as I do!

Everybody LOVES a Giveaway!

HEY Girls! Check this out! My sassy girlfriend Margie is having a giveaway on her blog. She's got a ton of exciting stuff going on in the very near future and she wants to share the L<3ve! Hey YOU! Go take a peek here!
LOVE,
AB

A PRECIOUS MIRACLE!

Say "HELLO" to my new niece............

Lucy Jean Adams

Born 5/22/09 @ 9:54 AM

6lbs. 12oz.18.25 inches

Red Hair!!

She is truly a miracle. Born to my sister and her husband who were not supposed to be able to get pregnant. God is so good. She is absolutely beautiful and I am in LOVE!

Congratulations Ross and Rebecca.

Simmons' Houshold Quirky Quote of the DAY!!

Adeline- pondering Summer activities, "Mom, we should set up a buffet on the side of the road, it would make more money than a lemonade stand!" (Me,"I thought that was a Ryan's?!?!?)

Lillian- said in a VERY serious voice, "Mama, I don't need to tie my (halter) dress too tight around my neck cause it may make a cut and my HEAD would fall off!"

A FUN Reminder!

This is a project for a class I taught in LA. I wanted my girls to know what my husband and I looked like right before we married and before our "FAMILY" began. I got a 12 x 12 piece of Plexiglas cut at Home Depot and drilled holes in the top for ribbons. I applied a Tim Holtz mask to the back and spray painted with a textured spray paint. I removed the mask after drying, added a little spray adhesive to the negative and applied glass glitter. After that, flipped it over and began the embellishing! Vintage laces, stamping on muslin and the Fleur De Lis (THANKS VERA!) A little cork, stickers, Jenni Bowlin, and Webster's Pages. Completion! Try it! This project is SUPER fun and makes a great gift. ENJOY.....


I am adding a new feature to my blog. Just for my sad memories sake and for your entertainment!
The Simmon's Houshold Quote of the Day!

Mom used the line "Eat your supper, there are starving people in_______." So the 7yo says,"Yeah, that's why we do fundraisers, for people who live in poverty." Then the 5yo chimes in with, " That's why we steal from the rich and give to the poor. That's what Jesus did!" Where did we go wrong?? Around Robin Hood????

Would YOU PLEASE lOOk at ThiS!?*#

EXCITEMENT is very close to describing what I was feeling today when I discovered that this layout I posted yesterday was chosen for THE CATWALK here http://www.scrapinstyletv.com/portfolio/catwalk.php This is such an honor! I have not posted anything on this site in quite a while. Well, now I am hooked. They are boosting my confidence and that means I LOVE them! Thanks for looking!

Recap of Scrap Etc. Weekend

Gretchen Mcelveen. Memory Makers Master. I have gotten to go to a couple of events with Gretchen and have enjoyed getting to know her. Such an awesome scrapper and how come she has so many awesomely gorgeous men in her life??? And NO, my lions mane did not smother her. I moved away quickly so it did not overpower her.

Melodee Langworthy. Melissa looks scared to death. Could be the stress caused by the very detailed mini album we completed in Melodee's class. Awesome little book. Learned lots of new things to do with stamps. She was "ROCKIN" that tan too! I would know nothing about that. Melodee accidentally had to ride the Marta train with us. I feel that she was regretting that for days!

This is Elizabeth Kartchner! I love her style! Funky and free. We had a great time getting to know her and she has even commented on my little blog! I believe she used the words "SUPER TALENTED" in the same sentence with my name!!! "FREAKED OUT" oh yes I did! And yes, her body is half the size of mine. I was scared my fat arm was gonna crush her when we hugged up for this pic.!

This SASSY girl is Margie Romney-Aslett. This lady is SUPER fun and an unstoppable ball of laughs and good times. I so enjoyed talking with her and becoming "BOSOM" buddies;)! I look forward to all of the exciting things she has got brewing on the horizon. She has two girls that are night and day like mine.

Jessica Sprague. I will have to say I was not very excited about taking Jessica's class. It involved homework and Photoshop. Two things that I have never been fond of. I came away from the weekend totally impressed by this lady and her talents and heart. She had such encouraging words for me. Also, such a desire to teach and share her love for scrapbooking. She totally confirmed my belief in why I scrapbook. It's not just a hobby, it's so much more. I was completely in tears after she spoke at the party.

This is the Oh SO talented and SWEET Jenni Bowlin. She is very down to earth and loves what she does. I love to use her products! I get to hang with her again soon!

Finally, These are "THE GROUPIES". We had so much fun! Ate GREAT food, got beads for our PANDORA bracelets to remember our weekend, and discussed MANY broad topics! I am glad Lisa(crazy nut) got to come in from Connecticut. I look forward to seeing her again in June. Maybe we can go soon to see her for a "GIRLS" weekend in NYC! I am also glad my BFFS got to come too. Isn't it amazing how that all worked out in the end?!?!? I love you girls and can't wait to get together at the end of this month. The only thing that could have made it any better is if Beth and Stace could have been there. We will be hangin' out in the "woods" soon enough!

Lucy and Brittney and all of the Scrap Etc. crew did such an awesome job on this event. But then again, I haven't been to one yet that wasn't fabulous! I can't wait to see what they have coming up. So much fun stuff! Thanks ladies for your attention to detail and for such devotion to an awesome cause. Brittney, I admire your determination and spirit. At some point in every one of our lives we will call on one form of cancer foundation or another. I thank you for your generosity.

Until next time.....

It's My Honor!

Being a MOTHER is my greatest honor! GOD has SO Blessed me with two beautiful girls. I see so many qualities in them that remind me of Andy or myself. Yes that is good AND bad! It is just amazing to me how GOD takes the love of a man and a woman and uses it to create a LIFE! A life that becomes an individual with its own thoughts, feelings, personality, and so much more! There is no greater gift! Even though it is very overwhelming at times, it goes SO fast! We roughly have 18 years to keep them in our nest. To nurture them, teach them, protect them. Even now, my babies are five and seven and they don't fit on my lap like they used to. They ask me to hold them, but it only lasts a short time and then it gets uncomfortable for both of us. To think that it only gets harder to hold them that way makes me absolutely weep.


To know the JOY of loving my babies is something I cannot explain to anyone. You only know it once you have a child yourself. That overwhelming need to protect them. Make them know they are LOVED. Teaching them about God's love for them.


So, it is on this, Mother's Day, I am reminded again of one of the reasons for my existence! MOTHERHOOD! I will strive everyday to find JOY in being "MAMA". I urge you to do the same. Remember the day you held that bundle in your arms for the first time, smelled that baby breath, kissed those soft petal pink lips. Even with the everyday challenges they are my GREATEST GIFT! Thank you GOD for entrusting me with these two precious lives. I will L<3VE them, and protect them with every ounce of my being!

Mother's Day Mishaps

I teach private ArT Lessons in my home to two precious girls once a week. This week we made Mother's Day Cards. Adeline made one for each of her grandmothers because she said she had done enough for me! Sharing the love, that's nice. Anyway, she got excited and wrote on the front... To: Adeline, From: Adeline. OOPS! So this is how she fixed it.

Yes, I really paid GOOD $ for these!

Yes, I bought these for my girls. It was one of their happies in their bag I got on the way back from Atlanta. They love these crazy fake nails! They particularly love typing on the computer or talking on the cell phone with them on, I guess they think that makes them look older.

My question is.... Why do they make the toenails as long as the fingernails?? It's just gross, but they love it! I can only stand stepping on them so many times before they disappear one by one.

My girls are SO girly and easy to please. A set of fake nails and a lip gloss and they are SUPER happy! I hope they stay that way!

Scrapfest Class Project

This is one of the classes I taught for Scrapfest. It was super fun and also gave me a chance to reflect on the WHY I scrap. This is a little tiered hanger that I put on my bathroom mirror so that I see it every morning when I am getting ready. I liked this project so much, I did a different one for all 4 bathrooms in my house. All variations on the same theme. MY BLESSINGS.

The WHY!- I do it as a CREATIVE outlet. I do it to document everyday events that I want to look back and remember. I do it so my girls will say,"MAMA, what in the world was I doing in that picture??" For an opportunity to share our history with them. I do it to teach my girls how to be creative, artistic, thoughtful. I do it to leave a LEGACY. So many reasons. Recently I have had some things going on in my life and have heard someone say that I am letting scrapping take the place of my PRIORITIES. I really had to question that. I have come to KNOW that that remark was made out of jealousy and ignorance. Scrapbooking is something I NEVER thought I would do. I was asked to join groups several times and declined, the thought of gluing little pics. to construction paper made me gag. Then I did a little research... From there a whole new world opened. Scrapbooking has saved my sanity. I live in a VERY small town and have had nothing in common with anybody here. For five years I did nothing to stimulate my creativity. Through Scrapping I have made lifelong friends, built my self-esteem, challenged the limits of my creativity, and brought an art into my home that my kids are loving to do WITH me! I am teaching them how to document their thoughts and teaching them to say exactly what they were feeling about a moment, and they are able to see and read MY thoughts.

The Result!- The scrapper world has been such an awesome place to meet people and get to know why others enjoy this art. To share laughs and tears, to support a cause. This weekend Jessica Sprague said to do what you do with intention. Don't let anything get in your way. I am there. I am so thankful for this weekend. I knew GOD was going to use it to reveal something important to me and of course, he did. Thanks ladies for all of your hard work and attention to detail! It was a BLAST!

Recent Projects and Layouts!

This Layout was a challenge for me literally. My friend Maureen is a phenominal scrapper and she and I have VERY different styles. At Scrapfest we decided to challenge each other to do a layout in the "style" opposite our own. It was great fun and very liberating to do a layout in under an hour! I used the packaging from some Prima flowers( CUTE birdies), and stickled those, a Jenni Bowlin journaling tag, my Prima flower, Heidi Swapp Quote, and a playing card from my junk stash. TOO FUN!

This layout was REALLY fun! I think it was fun because of all of the bright products I used. Sassafras, Love Elsie, Jenni Bowlin (the little tissue paper flower was one I did on my own, but this weekend Jenni showed me how to make HER version!) and several other pieces and parts from my stash. I loved stamping summer words in the crossword puzzle background.

Detail of BERRY SWEET!

Here are a few of my latest layouts and one of the projects I taught at Scrapfest. As you may have noticed(oops) I am not a great blogger. BUT, the joy of this crazy blogger world is that I can add stuff whenever I get ready! This weekend was amazing and I really want to get some goodies up from Atlanta, hopefully I will be a little quicker with those since they involve some of the BEST scrappers in the industry and some of my best friends! Coming soon...