Tonys car

Chaos and Life in General

Well I thought I was going to get back to a weekly blogging schedule back in June (over 6 months ago).  I should have know better!  At that time life was calming down & I thought I would have more time to get things accomplished.  Then I got yet another new job at Keiffer Auto Recyclers.  This job was a blessing.  Though I knew it was only temporary as I was learning to take over for their office manager when she went on Maternity leave.  I will say that even on the most stressful days that the office was the best atmosphere I have ever worked in.  The owner knows how to treat his employees & knows that if we aren't happy his paycheck is affected.  Well last Friday was my last day there & I am going to miss all the guys there. After 5 months of working there I was feeling part of the Keiffer Family.  So now I am faced with lots of free time as I start the job hunt all over again. 

My time with Keiffer is only part of the reason I didn't get back to blogging.  Life around here has been a little crazier than normal.  We had our usual summer craziness of 4-H projects & hogs.  Along with juggling work schedules as Jimmy's jeep blew the engine and 3 of us were sharing 1 car trying to make sure we all got to & from work was fun.  We survived & had finally got to the point where we had 3 running cars just as football season came around.  This helped cause Tony was able to take drive him & Dillon back & forth to practice.  Things were going smoothly.  The boys started school, Tony was enjoying his Senior year, even though he had gotten injured in practice & missed the first 3 football games of his Sr season.  Dillon was enjoying the fact that Mom's work was on the same route as the school so he got to sleep in daily and I would drop him off on my way to work.  Things were going great & looking up.

Then came fair week!  That one week every year when we meet ourselves coming & going.  It was good though cause Tony was released to play football and was dressing for the first time all season that Friday and since he had his own car he was able to take him & Dillon to football practice from the fairgrounds, and I didn't have to worry about working out the schedules.  We had a decent week at fair, the hogs didn't do as well as normal, and I managed to miss the entry deadline for all my fine arts projects.  But it we had a good week.  Friday night Tony dressed for the first time of his Sr season, but because he had been sitting out for 5 weeks the coach didn't play him but had him play the JV game the next morning as a warm up game.  Little did we know that would be the only game he dressed the whole season.

Then the world turned upside down!

I am back!!!!

Wow! It is hard to believe that it has been over 10 months since my last post.  A lot has been going on here at the Smith/Collins household.  Robbie & Dani got married on August 10.  Jimmy has finally got a running vehicle. Tony & Dillon have completed another year of high school.  I now have a Senior & Sophomore.  We survived football, wrestling & track season.  I got a new job working as a Cashier at Walmart, & survived working during the Christmas season.

Wrestling season of course is my favorite & Tony ended his season with a record of 19-16, he placed in all but 1 tournament he participated in.  Getting 3rd in the PAC Tournament, 5th at the Coshocton Classic, 6th at the Tuslaw Invitational even with having to forfeit 2 matches due to a concussion, and 5th in the Claymont D2 sectional tournament making him a district alternate.  Dillon finished 4-9 on the JV squad not bad for a kid who only wrestles so he can know how to counter his brothers moves.

Dillon decided to throw shot & discus during Track instead of playing baseball.  By the end of the season each throw was better than the last with his Personal record in discus being 74'9" & his Personal Record in Shot being 27'11".  Jimmy moved from crew member at Wendy's to shift supervisor.  He also was accepted into the Nursing program at Kent State Tusc this fall.  Robbie & Dani are both working at the local John Deere shop.  Dani is the parts girl & Robbie the mechanic. I am proud of all my boys & my daughter in love.

Now that I have caught you up on our lives, I invite you to join me on a little adventure in organization/cleaning.

II have Fibromyalgia, a condition that main symptoms are constant pain, depression & low energy.  I have been learning to deal with this life long condition since I was diagnosed in 2000.  I had been doing fairly well managing the condition up until 2009 when my stress level increased due to marital & financial problems.  This lead to me being depressed and with next to no energy to make it through a day.  It was at that time when the condition of my house started to decline.  It got bad as I was just surviving & pain was constantly preventing me from getting housework done.  It finally got to the point where it was so bad I didn't even know where to start on getting it back to looking like a livable home again.  Divorce, financial issues, severely stressful job situations and being unemployed didn't help my stress/pain levels at all.

Then in November I was hired on at Walmart and believe it or not since then my stress level has significantly lowered.  I still deal with constant pain, some days are better than others and still have days where getting out of bed is a big challenge.  The difference now is I am finally not feeling depressed and hopeless and I am trying to do something about getting my home back in order.  I know my house didn't get to be a disaster overnight, so it won't get cleaned & Organized overnight.  So I will be taking it slow, working on a room or 2 at a time until they are complete.  Doing more than on room allows me to focus on getting done chores that fit my pain & energy level for the day.

The organization and cleaning that needs done, does at times overwhelm me, but I when I am unable to physically able to clean I am now searching Pinterest for inspiration and ideas that work on an extremely small budget.   I have decided to start blogging my progress to help keep me motivated, share ideas & pins with others & to show my progress so on bad days I can see how far I have progressed.

Those of you who have checked out my blog for crafty inspiration don't worry I will still post my artwork & pictures of my scrapbook room also.

Thanks for reading Jenn.

Christmas in July Blog Hop

This week over at Inspired Stas we are showcasing our Christmas Stamps, in card sets.  If you have come here from Patty's Blog you are right on Track.

This week I used Blessed Little Christmas to create these two card sets.  The first in your traditional Red & Green, and the second in Blues.  My favorite combination is definitely the blue set.

Now hop right over to Chere's Blog to see what wonderful creations she has come up with.

If at anytime you get lost you can always go back to the beginning at Inspired Stamps Blog

Materials used: Blessed Little Christmas Stamp Set
CTMH materials used:
Red & Green set: White Daisy, New England Ivy cardstock, Mistletoe paper pack, black, ruby, and New England Ivy inks, Black Emborderey Floss, grey sparkles.
White Glitter paper by Coredinates.
Blue Set:  White Daisey, Sky,Pacifica, Outdoor Denim Cardstock. Black & Pacifica inks. Magnifique paper pack.
Irredescent ribbon from stash, White Glitter paper by Core-dinates.

June New Release - 2x2 Scripture Isaiah 41:10

It is New Release time over at Inspired Stamps Online Store.  Today the Inspired Stamps Desigfroeam is showcasing the New Releases that will be available for purchase on the Inspired Stamps store tomorrow at Noon.

My artwork today features the new 2x2 Scripture Isaiah 41:10.  I paired this with a sentiment from the Tags stamp set to create this Double side step Thinking of You card.

Materials used: Inspired Stamps 2x2 Scripture Isaiah 41:10, Tags 

Ctmh: LaBelleVie paper pack, Colonial White, Garden Green & Desert Sand Cardstock, Black & Grey Sparkles, Bitty Clear Sparkle, Black and Vineyard Berry Ink, Prisma Glitter and Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge.

Playtime

It has been awhile since I have posted something other than a design Team post. 

Things have been Crazy around here and even though I have gone to a couple of crops I haven't got much done.  Last crop I went to I only got 2 one page layouts done.  Of course I spent most of my time helping my 13 year old niece, Nadine  with her layouts. 

I decided today that I am going to try to start posting more again.  So keep your eyes out for more of my artwork. 

To start with here is a card Nadine and I made for her friends birthday.  Nadine wanted something different.  So we created this Double Side Step Card using the CTMH Dream Pop paper pack.  The K was cut out using the Art Philosophy Cricut cartridge, and the balloons and banner are cut using the Artiste Cricut cartridge.

materials used: Dream Pop Paper, White Daisy Cardstock, Art Philosophy cricut cartridge, Artiste cricut cartridge, white embroidery floss, black ink.

Summer Time!!!

My youngest son has one more day of school left, before his summer vacation officially starts.  For me this means I have one more day of peace and quiet before the boys are home for the summer and this Mom's peace and quiet is about to end, and it means that I am officially the mother of a Freshman and a Junior.

So in honor of summer break, I have create this Card using His Plans For You stamp set.  Jeremiah 29:11 is one of my all time favorite verses, and with my boys growing up and me moving closer to having them all graduated.  It reminds me that God knows the plans he has for each one of them.

HLO-Thankful Boy.

This week the Inspired Stamps DT was asked to use a His Little Ones stamp in our artwork.

I have used HLO-Thankful Boy to create this cute little tag/bookmark.  I paper pieced this little one, then paired him with the $3.99 Scripture Psalms 139:23 and the Sheet Music from the Backgrounds set. 

New Releases at Inspired Stamps Blog

It is New Release Time over at Inspired Stamps!  Tomorrow at noon, these two 2x2 stampsand the rest of the New Releases featured byby the Inspired Stamps Design Team on today's blog will go on sale at the Inspired Stamps Online Store.

My first card features the new 2x2 Stamp Psalms 139:23.  I love these little scripture stamps, they are the perfect size for a card.
Materials Used: Inspired Stamps Psalms 139:23 & Backgrounds
CTMH  Used: Pemeberly B&T, Black, White Daisy, and Olive Cardstock, Black, & Whisper Ink, Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge, Blue Button, Paper Flower.

My Last Card features the new 2x2 Stamp Ephesians 2:8.
Materials Used: Inspired Stamps Ephesians 2:8, Backgrounds & Flowers.
CTMH Used: La Belle Vie B&T, Colonial White, Black, Olive Cardstock, Ruby Alcohol Markers, Black & Desert Sand Ink, Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge
Black Buttons From JoAnn's

Flowers!!!

Materials Used: Inspired Stamps Flowers, and Label Maker Verses
CTMH: Outdoor Denim, White Daisy Cardstock.  Outdoor Denim, Pacifica, Sky and Crystal Blue Inks
Ribbon from Ofray.

Set of Birthday Cards

This week over at the Inspired Stamps Blog the design team has been asked to create a. Set of Birthday cards.

I used several Inspired Stamps to create the above cards. .   

On my first card I used my new favorite Inspired Stamp Set  Backgrounds, Along with the flowers from the Feel Better & Tags Stamp Sets To Create my Card.

For my next card I used Backgrounds, His Plans For You, and Tags Stamp Sets create this masculine card.

On my last card I used Backgrounds, Feel Better, & Tags Stamp Sets to create my card.

Mother's Day Card

This week over at Inspired Stamps the Design Team was asked to create a Mother's Day card. I used the new Background Stamps with Be Still Silhouettes and Label maker Alphabet to create my card.

April New Release At Inspired Stamps

It is time for another New Release over at Inspired Stamps.  The new stamps will be on sale in the online store Friday at noon.  This week the Design Team is Showcasing the New Releases. 

I am giving you a Sneak Peek of the new Background Stamps.  I absolutely love this set!! It has 4 different background textures, sheet music, bubble wrap, chicken wire, and netting.  For my projects I used the bubble wrap & sheet music.  I was planning on creating something with all 4 backgrounds but the easter holiday and a sick son interfered.  So keep an eye on my creations cause I will be using these backgrounds a lot.

For my first project I decided to show how the Background Stamps can be used on a scrapbook layout. If you see my scrapbooks you will see that I love to create my own B&T paper using stamps.  The New Background Stamps are perfect for this.  The above layout is for my son Tony's scrapbook, he turns 17 today.  He is my athlete and loves to wrestle.  For this layout I used the bubble wrap background stamp and inked it partially with Cranberry ink, the inked the other end with black ink (our school colors).  I then stamped it 4 times across my page to create my red & black corners. I love how Easily this layout came together, with the help of the background stamps.

  

For the above card I used the sheet music background.  As a child my mom have old sheet music stored in the piano bench and my sister and I would pull it out and sit at the piano and pretend to play.  It was brown with age, so with that in mind I decided to go for the same feel.  I stamped the background in Cocoa ink, then distressed it all over with Desert Sand ink, this really gave it the old sheet music feel. I finished my card with the 1Thes. 5:18 scriptyre from the new Labelmaker Verse set.

I hope you enjoyed your little sneak peek of the New Background Stamps from Inspired Stamps.  I am positive you will be seeing these backgrounds in my artwork quite often.

Materials used:  

Wrestling page: Inspired Stamps Background Stamp

CTMH: Cranberry and Black ink, Cranberry and White Daisy cardstock 

School paper was from a local scrapbook store.

Thank You Card: Inspired Stamps Background Stamps

CTMH: Cocoa & Desert Sand ink, Colonial White & Cocoa cardstock, Typeset B&T, Paper Floeers, Shimmer Brads and Chocolate Brad.

Thinking of you card set

 

Today the Design Team over at Inspired Stamps are showcasing Thinking of you card sets.For My cards I used the Tags  And Be still Silouttes To create the set of 8 cards.

Favorite Stamp to Color

This week for the Inspired Stamps Design Team we have been asked to show our favorite stamp to color.  Mine would definately have to be the His Little Ones stamps.  Coloring for me is something I don't do that often.  I actually stay away from it because I feel I am not that Good at it. I actually prefer paper piecing to coloring.  So when I saw this weeks assignment I groaned just a little.  For my card I stamped the HLO:Thankful Boy in Versa Mark and Black ink, then heat embossed it.  I did this to prevent my black from bleeding into my coloring when I used the waterbrush to blend my watercolor pencils.  To finish my card I used a scripture from the "His Plans for You" Stamp Set.



New Releases At Inspired Stamps

 

Today at Noon Inspired Stamps will have their New Releases in their online store. 

So Members of the Design Team have been asked to Feature some of the New Releases in their artwork.  All new release artwork can be found on the Inspired Stamps Blog. 

Today my Artwork features the "Names of Jesus" background stamp set.  I have used it as the background of my many projects today.  I had a lot of fun with this stamp set, for most of my cards I stamped on vellum, then heat embossed the whole sheet with either clear detail powder from CTMH, or Sparkle Powder by ala mode from JoAnn's.  I then adhered the vellum on cardstock and proceeded to tear around the edges until I acheived a size that would fit on my card base.  All cards are 5-1/2x4-1/4.  If you will notice the background of all my cards is pretty much the same, but I have acheived different looks with how I placed the sentiment and embellished the card.

 

 

 

 

For this card I used the Names of Jesus for the background on white cardstock, then I random stamped the big flower from the Flower set over it in Sunny Yellow, Holiday Red, and Star Spangled Blue. This is the only card that doesn't have the background stamped on vellum.

Materials Used: Inspired Stamps Names of Jesus, Flowers, Inspired Stampers Favorite Collection #2

CTMH: White Daisy and Holiday Red Cardstock, Slate, Sunny Yellow, Holiday Red, Star Spangled Blue and Black Ink. Black Sparkles

Black Background paper was from my scraps and I know I got it at JoAnn's

 

The rest of the cards were stamped on vellum then heat embossed, twice. I had a hard time getting good clear pictures because the embossing reflected the light. 

This card I after I torn around the edges I sponged the rough edges with Slate Ink. This one also uses a verse from the Inspired Stampers Favorite Colletion #2.  

 

Materials Used: Inspired Stamps Names of Jesus,  Inspired Stampers Favorite Colletion #2. 

CTMH: For Always B&T, Black and White Cardstock, Black & Slate Ink, Clear Detail embossing Powder, Black Sparkles

Vellum by The Paper Co

 

 

Close up of the embossed vellum with out a glare.

Scripture Card

This week on the Inspired Stamps blog the design team was asked to create a card using a scripture. 
I was feeling adventurous and stepped out of my box, and tried to create a little different card.  I used the Ephesians 5:20 verse from the Thankful Stampset to create this card.  I pulled out my vellum and inked it up with my red, purple and blue.  I then stamped my verse on the vellum.  Then I heat embossed the entire piece of vellum, using clear embossing powder.  I was going for a stained glass feel.  Once it was embossed I glued my vellum to a piece of white cardstock, and then tore both the vellum and cardstock to give it a distressed look.  I then used a rolled flower, ribbon and lace to finish my card.

Easter Sets

This week for our Inspired Stamps Design Team work we were asked to create a set of Easter cards.  To me Easter is pastel colors and flowers with the promise of Spring.  I now had my colors but next I needed the design.  I have been in a creative rut lately, so off to Pinterest I went to find my inspiration.  This helped and I created the above card set.  I used the big flower from the Flowers stamp set amd the Label Maker Alphabet Stamp set. 

I first cut my squares and placed glued them to a 3x3 square, then I stamped my flowers in Versa Mark ink and Heat embossed them with White embossing powder.  You can't tell from the picture but they are placed on a piece of white cardstock that is embossed using my cuttlebug.

Materials Used:  Inspired Stamps Flowers and Label Maker Alphabet
CTMH:  White Daisy, Baby Pink, Heavenly Blue, Kiwi, Sunkiss Cardstock, Black Ink
Other: Versa Mark Ink, White embossing powder.

Black & White Card

 

This week over at Inspired Stamps we were asked to create a Scripture focused card.  I created this simple Black and White Thank You Card using the $3.99 Single Scripture Stamp Ephesians 5:20.

 

Materials Used:  Inspired Stamps $3.99 Single Scripture Stamp Ephesians 5:20

CTMH: For Always B&T, Black Ink, Bitty Sparkles, White Daisy Cardstock

Flower from my stash

Happy Valentines Day

Hi All, I have finally found the energy to play with paper again, even if it is only a simple design.  This week the Design Team over at Inspired Stamps was asked to create a Love Themed Card.  I have used the Labelmaker Alphabet to create my conversation Hearts, on this card I made for my third son to give to his girlfriend.

Materials Used:  Inspired Stamps Labelmaker Alphabet

CTMH: That's Amore B&T, White Daisy, Blush and Baby Pink Cardstock, Ruby Ink, Silver Glitter Tape, Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge.

For those that are wondering I have been fighting the flu, upper respiratory infections and bronchitis at my house.  I had the flu, and bronchitis over New Year's along with my son Jimmy, then once we both started feeling better we both developed bronchitis and colds.  I have been coughing all year, and am praying it get better soon.  My papercrafting (and house) is suffering.  Not to mention that my creative juices are almost non-existent.  Well It is off to bed now the Nyquil I took is kicking in and I am falling asleep at my computer.