Boy! Did I have fun this afternoon! We're sending a little Easter chocolate to our grandkids soon, so I decided to make them a card, too. As luck would have it, a pattern for this card came in to my email box just this morning. I couldn't wait to try making it.

Again, as luck would have it, we had some shopping to do at Wal-Mart where I found this great rick-rack. It was just perfect for this pattern. They had some in primary colors, too. I wanted to get that, but it's a bit pricey and decided not to get it -- at least not right now.

Another "plus" in making this card was that I could use up scraps that might otherwise just sit around and get old.

Here's a picture of the inside, too. I have tons of the acrylic peel-off stickers and finally found a cool use for these Easter ones. I just stuck them onto some white paper and used colored pencils to fill in the colors I wanted.

Now I'm anxious to send off the package and wish I could be there to watch when they open up the package and this card.

I've been scrapbooking like there was no tomorrow. Since the page shown in the last post, I've done twelve more pages. Some are pretty rudimentary and will not be shared here, but there are a few that I worked extra hard on and am very proud of.

This first pair is done on pre-cut templates that I bought at a craft show well over a year ago. I actually took the first 2 pics while the coach was still on the sales lot but after we bought it. Everything else was taken over the first few months we were traveling in it.

I had to figure out picture sizes and reprint just about every single one so they'd fit in their allotted spaces. That was part of the fun, though. So here's our motor home!


This next pair is of our grandkids in February of 2006. Sha'Micah was about three and a half months old. She was such a little sweetie. We SO enjoyed her.


I found the design for her page in a craft book I recently added to my collection. It was a lot of cutting and hoping and when it all fit together, I was VERY happy.

I couldn't do a page of Sha'Micah without doing a page of Chrislon, too. He's not quite five in these photos and WAY full of energy.


I had so many pictures and wanted to get as many on a page as I could. So I was very happy when I remembered the alphabet templates I have. I had to use my (mediocre) math skills to figure out how big to cut the colored squares. That hurt my brain! But the rest of it fell into place pretty well. At least I'm very happy with it. And that's what counts most I guess.

Ok, no big tips on how to do what. I'm just showing off here, both my grandkids and my scrapbooking ideas.

I know I haven't posted anything here in ages. It's not that I haven't been paper-crafting, but that I have worked on things like Christmas cards that couldn't be shared until after they were mailed.

I also completed the album of our 3-week trip to Europe in 2005. I'm a bit behind in my scrapping, wouldn't you agree?

But I did get a couple pages done at the last scrapbooking day we had here at Royal Highlands. This photo was taken in October of 2005 when the five of us siblings were together after our mother passed away. It's a silly picture and I don't even know for sure what the object is that we gave to him. But the photo is priceless in our expressions of totally having fun at Bob's expense.


Be sure to click on the picture to read some of what the background paper says about family. It's all SO true.

Anyway, once the holidays pass, I know I'll be paper crafting a lot more again. And that will mean a few more postings to this blog, I hope. Since I have nearly two years of pictures to get into albums, I think I'll have to go into overdrive if I ever want to get caught up.

My earlier withdrawals have been satisfied! I just finished my fifth scrapbook page since leaving home. It feels good to finish a page or two after so long a time off.

If you read my previous post, you know that I planned and sketched out a number of pages before leaving home. In fact, I wound up with 31! I was amazed at how many I did get organized. And once those are all finished, my European Vacation album will also be completed.

We seem to have free time here in North Carolina (see my travel blog for details). We're busy, but there are days that feel best just hanging around at home. So that's when I try to work in a little paper crafting. And that's been working out just fine.

I'll be making a couple cards in the near future and I just might post those pictures here. I guess that partly depends on how they turn out.

From time to time, I drag out my sewing machine and make something that isn't paper based. It's true that this doesn't happen with any great frequency, but when the need arises, I'll answer the call.

During our RV travels this summer, we will be stopping in Texas to see our grandkids. Chrislon is six (his birthday is today) and Sha'Micah is about 20 months at this posting. Anyway, grandparents can never come to visit without bringing something for the little ones, right? So I have made this teddy bear for Sha'Micah. (I had made one for her big brother when he was a toddler, too.) We'll have to pick up something for Chrislon while we're traveling.

I did all the sewing and stuffing, but I had a good friend paint the face onto the bear. She is quite a bit more artistic than I am and, besides, she has the paints and I don't.

We won't be in Texas till October, so this little bear will see a lot of the USA before she gets to meet her new owner. If only she could talk, right??

It's just under three weeks until we leave on our big summer trip in the motor home. The current plan for this trip has us away for 96 days. So I have to be organized in order to do any crafting over those three months.

Last year I took everything. Every tool, every piece of paper and every kind of supplies I have in my stash. Most of it hid under the bed (there's a good deal of space under there). The problem with that is that whenever I wanted to craft, it seemed that Julian had already gone to take a nap. His being ON the bed made it impossible for me to get UNDER it to get my stuff. So this year I'm getting more organized so I only take what I'll really use and be able to keep it somewhere NOT under the bed.

My best friend suggested that I spend my time before the trip planning out pages, not making them. That way I'd have the proper tools, papers and supplies set aside and not take anything that I wouldn't be using. This plan is working well. I have 14 or 15 pages planned out (so far) and I think I'll be able to fit it all into my one rolling craft case. Of course, the possibility exists that I will change the plan of a page and then not have the supplies I need, but I can live with that. I will return in October and those changes can be completed once home.

The reality of all this planning of pages, however, is that I'm not getting to do pages. So I have nothing new to post. I haven't created anything all month. I'm in withdrawal! So a couple days ago I sat down and made a card. But the ribbon I glued to it is already falling off. Aaaarrrrggghhhh!! So I went back to planning. I've since come up with a couple ideas of how to fix the card and will try to do that in the next few days. But the planning will continue until the last possible moment. If I don't finish them all on the trip, they will still be easy to do once home.

I seem to struggle with kids' cards. But with two grandchildren, I have to find ways to "git 'er done". I had printed the picture of the card below from Scrapbooks, Etc. online. I like the card, but didn't know who would get a similar card, nor when I might get around to making one ... if ever. I do that a lot; I've got tons of ideas clipped and filed in a binder.


Anyway, I was looking at the original when it occurred to me to make the flowers into balloons and then it would work for my grandson. He turns six in July, so I'm hoping he'll like the card. I guess if we put money inside, that would help, huh?


By the way, I used my Cricut machine to cut out the balloons. The words were printed directly onto the colored squares. I used embroidery floss to "tie" down the balloons.