April and May

Did you ever get that feeling in life that no matter how hard you try to keep up, you end up so far behind you think you're first???

The month of April and May have flown by in a flash. I have had a ton of interesting life experiences, but you know, those life experiences sometimes turn out to be great material for. . . you guessed it. . . scrapbooking! Now if I can just find the time to throw it all together. :)

First of all, I have been really blessed by the best family-in-law ever. Rich has tons of family and they are all so fun, interesting, unique, loveable and great! I have grown really close especially to Richard's Grandma Bonnie. Unfortunately, Grandma Bonnie has had a pretty rough year so far. She spent six weeks in the hospital. She underwent surgery and some pretty extensive rehab and recovery. She finally got to come home around Easter, but then she took another turn for the worse - she aspirated and got some pneumonia. We were able to keep her at home like she wanted - and helped her to get better by giving IV antibiotics every day. Those times of nursing Grandma Bonnie back to health were full of ups and downs but I will never forget the times that I got to sit with Grandma while her IV's were infusing. She is quite the character and has a lot of stories to tell. She graduated from nursing school in the 1940's and has a ton of hospital and office experience. A few weeks ago, she shared this photo with me. I was able to borrow it, scan it, retouch it and give it some color. Imagine how wide Grandma Bonnie's eyes got when she got to see her photo again with her blue dress on. . . she sure does love blue. :)




Since it's halfway through May now, I thought this would be a good opportunity to post my April ETM Cards. For those of you new to my blog - ETM is Express the Moment - a fantastic little scrapbooking community/website/company that I just love. ETM has these kits that they mail out monthly. They have scrapbooking kits, and card kits. I really enjoy the card kits - they are only $15.00 a month and they come with SO MUCH STUFF you can't believe what you got for under $20! It is especially fun, because you never know what you are going to get in the kit. Kim and the gals always pick something great. And there is enough stuff in each months' kit to make PLENTY of cards and even more. To prove this point, I was going to try to see exactly how far I could stretch the card kit for April. I ended up with six cards and an entire 12x12 layout! I did end up giving away a few of the cards before I got photos. Dang, I have a bad habit of doing that. . . but here is some of what I got from the April Expressions Card Kit.

A few cards. . .









And here is that 12x12 layout - all I did was add the background paper, which did not
come with the kit. I love the font - which comes from the Cricut Storybook Cartridge - and the Tiger Lillies - these are Ridon's favorite flowers. Anybody that remembers Ridon knows just how colorful she really is - I think that this page does her justice. :)



And finally, I have been on the hunt for super cheap scrapbooking tips and pointers. In the midst of all of this months' activities, I was driving to Grandma Bonnie's house one day, and the TRANSMISSION fell RIGHT OUT OF MY CAR. Boo for car problems. At any rate, a new transmission is pretty expensive. (and getting worse every day. . ) I figure that I will have to cut my scrapbooking fund pretty short for the next little while in order to pay for my stupid, stupid, car. There is no glitter involved with a transmission, did you know? It sucks.

So here is my cheap deal for the day. . . Michael's has this bin of stamps for a dollar. I got this stamp of a chandalier for. . . you guessed it. . . a buck! Tiffani and I also made a trip recently to Artco up in Rexburg. Any of you locals who haven't been to Artco, SERIOUSLY NEED TO GO. All of their paper and envelopes are sold by the pound. I came away with this huge box of assorted blank cards, envelopes and cardstock for less than ten dollars. What a deal! I stamped the chandalier on to the black cardstock and layered it onto a white card. I colored a little using a glitter pen and added some bling. . . you can get bags and bags of colored rhinestones at the dollar store. . . On the inside I printed "Hang in there." I figure that these are the cheapest cards I have made in a while - they must be less than a dollar apiece for the supplies and check out how elegant and expensive looking??? Who knew!



That is all for now. I have made it a goal to try to keep up a little better - no matter what life is throwing my way. Scrapping and card making is truly my therapy. I can't do without it.

Card day is nearly upon us again - I hear that we will be meeting at Jan's house next Monday. Can't wait to see what I come home with this time. . .