Rush Job: Imperfection is Perfect!

Ü I can't stop giggling. This morning, my 4-year-old girl saw the framed page I posted yesterday. She asked me questions about her brother and the train set. But, it wasn't until we got into the truck to go to school, she asked me, "Mommy, where's my pictures?" I wasn't sure what she was talking about... "Like Braddah and the trains. Are you going to make for me, too?" I told her, "Of course!" ... "You're going to have it when I come home from school?!"

"Oh, babes! Rush job is gonna cost you extra!" Ü

I should have known better. When you have more than one child, everything has to be duplicated!

I made her this 12x12 Scrapbook Page using her favorite Stampin' Up! colors and her favorite stamp set. (Yes, I allow my daughter to craft with me! Ü) It's not embellished much, because I rushed it. I still intend on making one with a hula girl theme, so this page won't be in this frame for very long. She'll love it!

Tempting Turqoise Textured Cardstock, Melon Mambo, Pumpkin Pie, Whisper White, Cottage Garden Stamp Set, 5/8" Old Olive Grosgrain Ribbon, 1/4" Whisper White Grosgrain Ribbon, Hodgepodge Hardware- Very Vanilla, 1 3/8" Circle Punch, 1 3/4" Scallop Circle Punch

This is the same 12x12 picture frame from Ben Franklin Crafts, $7 each.

This was not my original layout. I dropped an open ink pad on the page, and I was forced to move things around to cover up the spill Ũ.

One of the greatest things about crafting is that imperfection is perfect. The little smudges of ink, differences in pressure, and uneven lines are all evidences of love's labor.

Chug-A-Chug-A ... Choo! Choo!

Man! I missed blogging this weekend. Friday was a State Holiday, and my parents were visiting from Honolulu, so I was unable to get any time in my stamp room. But I had a great time! I meant to raid my dad's camera for pics before he left tonight, but I totally forgot. I'll have him send me a CD.

We went to the Pana`ewa Rainforest Zoo & Gardens, Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, and spent an entire day at my grandma and brother's house. My kids had so much fun, and they (me, too!) are so exhausted. It was a wreck trying to get my daughter out of bed this morning. Ü

Today was a busy day also, but I completed my 12x12 Choo Choo Scrapbook Page. Click here to see my first layout. I kept the same layout, only added one more 3 1/8" square, and stamped another set of tracks with the Right on Track Stampin' Around. I decided not to journal on the page, because I wanted to frame this project.

I bought two of these white frames at Ben Franklin Crafts in Hilo for $7 each. I gave much thought to embellishing this frame, but I chose not to, because I plan to change the page as my son grows, and this page will end up in a scrapbook for safekeeping. Ü  I also have a lot more pictures of Isaiah and his train set, so I will make another page to go alongside this in the scrapbook.

Since I bought two of the 12x12 frames, it would only be fair that I use the other one to frame a page of Mariah. Right now she really enjoys hula, and I will build on that theme. I will need to take some pictures of her with her hula skirt.

It's so sad, I used to take so many pictures of my kids. Now, I rarely bring my camera along, and my Blackberry takes horrible pictures! I have thousands of pics on my computer, and I must only actually have a fifth of them printed... And those are still in the print envelopes. I gotta get back on it! Ü

Always & Forever

My husband and I have been together for 9 years today. Every year on this day, I go through our old photos. This year, I made an 8x10 to be framed and displayed in our home.

Love Letter DSP, Very Vanilla, Basic Black brads

We celebrate today, rather than our wedding date (Christmas Eve), because the change in our relationship from "just good friends" to something more was extra, extra special. I am truly grateful that I will have Always & Forever with my Best Friend.

Happy Anniversary, Michael!

co-QUI! co-QUI! co-QUI!

While the coqui frogs are singing of the great night they are having on this hot, humid, and sticky night, I am awake... and stamping, of course!

For those who don't know what coqui frogs are, they are cute (quarter-sized) tree frogs that feed off of insects. They sing their mating song at night, and on most nights I find it so soothing, it lulls me to sleep. On hot and wet nights, they are quite loud and very annoying. Because of the large population of coqui frogs on the Big Island (and their lullaby "co-QUI!"), there have been movements favoring the extermination of these critters. For more information, click here.

Back to business... I received the Choo Choo Stamp Set and Right on Track Stampin' Around in today's (or should I say, "yesterday's") order. When I first saw this combo, I had to have it! My son owns a train table set. The older he gets (he's 16-months-old now), the more destructive his play gets. I created this 12x12" Scrapbook Page, so I will take pictures of him playing with it before it is completely destroyed. And when he's a teenage boy, he will look at this scrapbook page and say, "Wow, Mom! . . .

12x12" Real Red Textured Cardstock, Whisper White, Basic Black, Real Red, Choo Choo Stamp Set, Right on Track Stampin' Around, 1/4" Whisper White Grosgrain Ribbon, Stampin' Dimensionals

I apologize, I haven't gotten around to taking pictures yet... will do this weekend. The focal pic will be 4x6" and the 3 squares, 3x3". I haven't yet adhered the photo frame pieces to the page. I may end up moving them around after I add my photos. I'm not really happy with the empty spaces, so I have to see what happens. I do have room for journaling, though.

It's hard to tell in the picture, but I really wanted the train to stand out, so I used Stampin' Dimensionals to give it some POP! I stamped each train piece in Basic Black, then again in Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, Old Olive, and Marina Mist on Whisper White cardstock. I cut them all out, omitting the wheels on the colored ones. I used Stampin' Dimensionals to prop up the colored pieces. I also stamped the smoke using Whisper White Craft Ink on Basic Black cardstock and adhered using Stampin' Dimensionals.

I promise I will update this post once I have my photos and journaling. Keep checking back for the final page result!