I had thought about altering it with paper but didn't want to mess up the mirror so I just stamped it with my new Tim Holtz (SA) stamp!!! Wanted to maybe put this up in the bathroom....used the stamp with StazOn and just added the silver Andirondack ink...will use the vintage ephermera she sent me on a layout tomorrow when E and I get together to scrap. BTW, it looks cuter in person...

so Penci Petty...am off to check out that frame!

on their blog....Vintage Findings....HERE: Making Memories blog

Just show doodling on the page! I can't draw (trust me, even in elem school I never took art) so even something as easy as doodling is a challenge for me...but here is my take on the challenge!

All supplies with the exception of the light green cardstock and the dmc floss are American Crafts, buttons: cranberry elements, Prancer Thickers, stickers and the Slick Writers are all American Crafts too-quick drying....{my QVC purchase}

I had no idea the poll was up...my LSS Photoscraps is having their 1st Guest Designer position and of course I'm in need of a few hundred votes {HEHEHEHEE}....read & pass on to everybody and for the next 48 hours, VOTE FOR ME HERE @ PHOTOSCRAPS BLOG !

Here are the 2 layouts I did-


we had to use what was in the premade BG kit which was a tiny struggle for me since I could've added "tons" more junk to the pages...One layout each-Thing 1 and Thing 2 to show the versatilty of Basic Grey's Lemonade collection-you CAN use Pink on boy's pages!

is doing some fun things today on their blog to celebrate CHA! Head on over!

http://blog.makingmemories.com/

Below is an update from HLAA. PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LEGISLATIVE REPRESENTATIVES AND URGE THEM TO INCLUDE COVERAGE FOR HEARING SERVICES AND EQUIPMENT

More than 36 million Americans suffer from hearing loss. Only heart disease and diabetes impact more people. Hearing loss can occur at any time-Brandon is only one who has had the gift of hearing, then hearing loss, then the benefit of a cochlear implant- fortunately, ALL covered by insurance but for millions of others, the picture is quite different.

Health Care Reform
July 17, 2009
ACTION ALERT: Tell Congress to include Hearing Health Care in Health Care Reform!
Congress released two versions of the long awaited health care bills this week. In the U.S. House of Representatives, The Affordable Health Choices Act, H.R. 3200 was passed out of both the Ways and Means Committee and the House Education & Labor Committee. It has over 1,000 pages and “hearing” is mentioned once under Minimum Services to be covered:

Well baby and well child care and oral health, vision, and hearing services,
equipment, and supplies at least for children under 21 years of age.

HLAA has faxed letters to the chairmen of the Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, Education and Labor Committees applauding the inclusion of coverage for children but urging them to expand hearing coverage to all Americans.

The Senate bill released July 16 does not have a number and does not include any mention of coverage for hearing health care, hearing services or equipment. A second bill may well be released by the Senate sometime soon.

There is much work to be done on this issue. These bills are by no means the last word – there is still time for changes to be made. Now is the time to write or call or fax your own Congressional Representative and Senators, urging them to include coverage for hearing services and equipment for children at the very least and expanding to everyone at best. Let’s make sure we are not forgotten by Congress!

As of July 17, 2009 over 2,000 people have signed on to our letter to President Obama to make hearing health a priority. The timing of the release was good with Congress releasing the health care bills the same week. If you have not already signed the letter please do so by submitting the online form today.

How to send a letter to Congress:
Find your representative from the US House of Representatives by visiting the website (you can search by state or by the name of your representative)
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml

To find the email addresses of your US Senators,
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Send an email or fax, but be sure to make it formal, including the date, your name and address. Check the link to the letter Hearing Loss Association sent to the Chairman of the House Committee on Ways & Means. Add your personal story, but keep it short, and let Congress know you want hearing health care coverage!

Thank you for taking action!

***UPDATED 7/28/09**** I WON THIS !!!! YIPEE!!!!!

have loved gcd papers since I saw them years ago...they are having a blog hop this week-If you have never done a blog hop before... it's pretty simple. Just keep clicking on the linked name (in each DT's post) and at the very end... there will be a GIVE AWAY! Easy so ....

am so loving this line;

hope Tracy gets it in the store -I see lots of Brandon and maybe some Ken (finally) layouts....

man, this birdee is harder than I thought...finally blended the colors that I like but finding the cool "metal" hardware for her crown and for the hanging stuff is hard...may have to hit a flea market (I said MAY-they are just too overcrowded for me) but we'll see...





anyway, am trying this alternative crown (a/k/a a napkin ring)...whaddya think?? Would have to straighten it and mount it on something perhaps...maybe I need to go back to the orig pics for inspiration :)

Coordinates Collections-scrapbook a "friend" page....w/ 52Sketches sketch # 29....
have been looking at the Luxe box for a month now; needing to do some contemporary layouts so here's one...me & e, trying to figure out that teeny photo booth...it didn't even give you time to see where the camera was or give you time to strike a decent pose! But we had fun!

Bri's minibook...left parts unfinished for her to journal on plus I'm still rummaging through my stash for travel embells and little touches....

took me forever...loved the Little Yellow Bicycle Traveler line...bought the minibook and some of the embellishments and then broke it up to make 2 books-one for Thing1 and one for Thing 2.....plus it took me forever to get the pictures developed rather than print them myself...I must say Costco film developing does an amazing job but they really should lower the price of 4 x6 prings...13 cents...should be 9...but mayve they'll send me a coupon like they do AFTER you put an order in..last time I got a coupon for 60 free prints or so...

anyway...will postsome pics.

won this from PP at the Stampers Anonymous yahoo group!! But look at the HOW she sent it-







very creative and I LOVED it so much I had to take a pic! May have to dress up my own RAK's -made my day to get this packaged all creatively and just loved the vintage ephemera in it and this totally awesome TAG she made with SA stamps and perhaps some Tim Holtz goodies????...will try and do it justice tomorrow when I work on it!

but not really...I slacked off after February and just try and do the "month in review"...just some random stuff from last week/this week....
more garden goodies...





gorgeous purple roses from hubby...

and even though it's summer time, we are always working on fine and gross motor skills with Brandon and my little chef always wants to "cook" so I relunctantly (ya'll know I can cook but can't bake AT ALL) told him we'd bake cupcakes-little did I know I didn't have oil or eggs since I hadn't gone to the grocery store...what's a mom to do??? Ran over to my neighbor's house and bummed ingredients! Thanks Darryl! So, my future chef baked me some goodies cause he knows momma don't bake!
Lemon cupcakes with lemon frosting...yummy !!

I know, my old postal carrier used to get so mad at me for letting my box overflow-didn't he understand that junk mail and bills have the right to ferment in the box??? But, my new carrier is like "Whatev...if it's full, it's full..." I finally went and checked it a few days ago and my beautiful niece who understnds my Evil Queen combined with WonderWoman obsession sent me this baby:
**Isn't she the cutest??

still thinking about her "add ons" but painted her some more...

bad scan I know...happens when you finish layouts at night....

and contests.....w're only at the halfway point in July so check out the great challenges that Jamie and crew have come up with! Complete list here and I hope to post some of my challenges that I did as well sometime tomorrow...Have a great weekend!

Loved this sketch by Becky Fleck @ Page Maps blog


and even though it called for a smaller picture size, I knew I wanted to use this BIG picture that had been sitting in my folder all month, so, I took the plunge and kept going with my winter/Christmas in July blog theme...loved how this came out and not just because I LOVE this picture of Thing 1 & Thing 2 together!

Thanks for looking! Liked how the MM papers still kinda went with the road trip theme and cool colors for winter/snow...used some other winter embells from my stash and that cool thing at the top??? A recycled Christmas ornament!!

had to remove the playlist...it was getting on my nerves!

from the postal carrier who left this on the doorstep! Dirty minds get outta here...

Nope, new stamp from Stampers Anonymous from the Tim Holtz collectioN!

One is nearer God's Heart in a garden than anywhere else on Earth ~ Dorothy F. Gurney

Since I have a black thumb, I have to settle for growing herbs and tomatoes; everything else in the garden has died!
but these made for a tasty lunch yesterday..

YUMMO!!!

created for EsteeLynn's 3 x3 challenge at scrapbook.com....3 photos, 3 buttons and 3 patterned papers....still using the Basic Grey Lemonade collection since it was so versatile...need to do a page of the BOY child so you can tell me if the pink & green are unisex.

Love seeing new faces and being inspired by all the creativity that's out there and there are just so many sites, I'm not sure how people keep it all organized. BUT, I found these sites this week and added them to my favs:

Diana Albright *she's who I copied all these cool questions from, please go check out her answers and leave her some love-tell her Queen Kat sent ya! Love that she loves Gwen Stefani too !

Samantha

Juliana M.

Got this great post from Elizabeth at Cochear Implant Online:


Carlton Marshall was an officer in the Dallas Police Department when he was shot during a drug raid in October 2007. The shooting left him with life-changing injuries. After months in the hospital enduring severed spinal cord, meningitis, and a stroke, he uses a wheelchair to get around and received bilateral cochlear implants to help restore the his lost hearing. When this hero returned home, however, he was greeted with an inaccessible house in need of serious repairs. His colleagues in the police force nominated him for the popular TV show “Extreme Home Makeover” and Cheldan Homes, a building company from Fort Worth, TX, stepped in to help with the build, which began a few days ago on July 10, 2009.

While the house is being built this week, the date that the show will air on ABC has not yet been announced. I’m looking forward to watching the show and seeing how they make the house more accessible — both for mobility and hearing purposes. Stay tuned for updates as soon as the air date is announced! We know he won't have any trouble hearing Ty with or without the megaphone!

Also, Ty and the crew will start Season 7 on September 27th...Coming next season, Mary J. Blige and Xzibit are the first two stars to volunteer on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Capturing the momentum of the Obama administration's focus on volunteerism, EM:HE will show that community service is cool again with a new GET ON THE BUS campaign. Should be as inspiring as always.

then I'm off to bed!!! and btw, for those folks who asked if Lynne made the birthday card, nope, she bought it at Hallmark (Mahoghany line) BUT she coulda made it as good as she is...her scrapbooking has been put on hold for a wee bit....

21.BIGGEST LIE YOU HAVE EVER HEARD?: too many to even relay

22.MULTIPLE EARRINGS OR SINGLE HOLES?: 2 single holes in 1 ear

23.WHERE'S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE TO EAT WITH FRIENDS? Anyplace that has a bar and food...don't ever get to do it though; most of my friends have busier schedules than I do .

24.CAN YOU COOK?: Yes, why do think I need to lose weight?

25.WHAT CAR DO YOU DRIVE?: Saturn

27.LAST TIME YOU CRIED?: When John Mayer played guitar at MJ's memorial-he played so beautifully {Human Nature}

28.MOST DISLIKED FOODS?: baked beans, lima beans and I'm not fond of Indian curry

29.THING YOU LIKE MOST ABOUT YOURSELF?: I'm confident and can multi-task like no one's business

30.THING YOU DISLIKE MOST ABOUT YOURSELF?: IF you need something, I hate that I have really big feet and I dislkie the fact that I hate exercising.

31.ARBY'S OR BURGER KING?: neither-I'm a Chipotle person remember?

32.LONGEST SHIFT YOU HAVE WORKED AT A JOB?: 14-15 hours maybe

33.FAVORITE MOVIE?: Too many but top 3: Elf, Hotel Rwanda, Wedding Crashers

34.CAN YOU SING?: Heck no!!!

35.LAST CONCERT ATTENDED?: Hmmm....I may be wrong, but it may have been Common & Alicia Keys

36.LAST KISS?: 8pm-my son gave me more birthday kisses!

37.LAST MOVIE RENTED?: Doubt with Meryl Strepp

38.ONE THING YOU NEVER LEAVE THE HOUSE WITHOUT?: Big purse full of junk-may have to scrapbook that

39.FAVORITE VACATION SPOT?: anywhere that is all-inclusive with a beach & snorkeling!

40. FAVORITE WEBSITE(S)?:Etsy, Pencillines, Pioneer Woman, MSNBC, AG Bell website for D/HOH, Scrapbook.com, Care2

on the Johns Hopkins' newsletter ! All for a good cause and hopefully Susan will think that this was good enough to do again next year!

from my twin...

My birthday..our birthday-gotta say that since my twin sis DOES NOT blog...btw, I'm the cute little one in the pic :)

It's the BIG 44 and so on that note, I took a self pic (no dressup clothes since I worked out and have to run errands) and am glad that the Wii Active personal trainer kicked my royal ass today! It's just a regular day in the neighborhood and Brandon still has to get to therapy so...no party,no fanfare (translation: cheesecake, crabs, shrimp and gifts) from my royal subjects as in year's past..Need to shed pounds! And I need botox!...

I did get this wonderfully amazing card from {L}, can you tell she's a scrapbooker???

and the royal florist did come bearing these beauties from my bff {e}...she knows I ADORE flowers and surprised me with a delivery!!!


Enjoy the pics and rather than do a flashback to the year of our (I have a twin as you saw from the above pic) 1965, I decided to do a playlist JUST during this month (I'm not a fan of music on blogs since I'm always playing my own music loudly in the background-BUT since I'm the birthday girl...))

flashing back to my graduation year of 1983 hehehehe **I'm a MANIAC!

for the followers of Queen Kat in the land known as Katsville...these answers
are just for this point in time as I hit the big 4-4 {I'll say it separately (how is that spelled?} instead of the right way 44-YIKES!!!

1.EVER BEEN GIVEN AN ENGAGEMENT RING? Yes, once or was it twice, and what does that tell you about the fools I was dating??

2.LONGEST RELATIONSHIP? My current one with my honey Ken( we have been together for 16 yrs but only married for 12)

3.LAST GIFT YOU RECEIVED? hmm...a scrapbooking RAK from one of my fellow internet scrapbookers

4.EVER DROPPED A CELL PHONE? yes, tonsof times

5.WHEN'S THE LAST TIME YOU WORKED OUT? 2 days ago-Wii active-need to do it tonight b4 bed


6.THING(S) YOU SPEND A LOT OF MONEY ON?
electricity, groceries,scrapbooking supplies and coffee ...in that order.

7.LAST FOOD YOU ATE? Chicken & rice with an amazing salad.

8.FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX? Gorgeous sexy smile! (see Terrell Davis, George Clooney, Lamman Rucker and Jerry O'Oonnell if you don't believe me) I may be married but I can still look at a bit of eye candy sometimes...

9.ONE FAVORITE SONG? This week? MAXWELL's Bad Habits from the new CD

10.WHERE DO YOU LIVE? Maryland

11.HIGH SCHOOL YOU ATTENDED: 2 actually- started at Prince Georges High School in Virginia, then we moved {unfortunately} in my senior year and I finished {unfortunately-and I say that for all the silly mean girls who never spoke to me which would be almost all of them} at Monticello High School in Monticello,NY

12.CELL PHONE SERVICE PROVIDER: Verizon since my hubs works for them :)

13.FAVORITE MALL STORE: none- mall ain't my place ....IF I had money and I was skinny though, it'd be J. Crew

14.LONGEST JOB YOU HAD: Government, then left after 13 years-too much politics and no advancement if you didn't play politics

15.DO YOU OWN A PAIR OF DICE? hmm....maybe in the Cranium Kadoo game

16.DO YOU PRANK CALL PEOPLE?: Why? IT's juvenile and caller-ID works

17.LAST WEDDING YOU ATTENDED?: Kirk & Tiffany

18.FIRST FRIEND YOU'D CALL IF YOU WON THE LOTTERY?: hmmm...not sure I'd want to disclose that to anybody AT ALL....

19.LAST TIME YOU SAW YOUR BEST FRIEND?: has it been a week???

20.FAVORITE FAST FOOD RESTAURANT?: Chipotle!

Part II tomorrow!!!!

It’s called BASB, it’s actually an abbreviation for Bad Ass ScrapBooker. It was actually created by a group of women who were brought together by Aleida Franklin aka Ricanlaw. It was her vision to create a challenge blog and she pretty much reached out to each one of us, it is because of her we have been able to build such a friendship. Our goal……SIMPLE! to INSPIRE!!!

I did forget that, and it's so funny that the person who introduced me to Scrapping the Music was Aleida, she had sent me a PM after seeing one of my layouts and yes, she was an amazing lady and scrapbooker who is gone too soon...thanks Mye for the info from your blog...and I will repeat, I was just lookin', not stalking. :)

and that actually challenged me! And since they are on Challenge# 16, that tells you I am WAY SLOW and WAY BEHIND...got there quite by accident so without further ado, I hope you are already inspired by these chicks over at BASB (and no, I have no idea what that means, it's over my head but I'm sure "somebody" will send me a message!) and jump into their challenges (go here to BASB

oh yeah...I digress...the July Challenge # 16 is to scrapbook a friend who has come into your life because of scrapbooking...The award for this challenge goes to my favorite Italian chick, Anna! And I wasn't sure if Italians change the name on their word endings like we Latinos do (ie: amigo & amiga) AND since I had no more "a"s in that particular Thicker set, I left it at AMICO...Don't hate me for trying to be creative! I hope she likes the layout and hope she knows how much I value her friendship. Enjoy!

1 Page Sketch layout challenge at Coordinates Collections...was still in the Basic Grey mood....E was trying to convice BB to give up the tired, ratty, beatup bathrobe...she was not a happy camper..this was her face after I just got tired of trying to get it and I FINALLY decided to take the scissors to it....

new stamps...he'd pdg (Pretty damn good)....click the link Couldn't pick a fav and am hoping that Ted will be selling them at the Westminster Stamp show in September since I may go with Vicci!

must scrap....have some challenges to work on so....

Used the Basic Grey Lime Rickey for the mini-book too...as well as tons of scraps scraps and some Love Elsie and some cool Pebbles camping papers....