A penny for your thoughts

Hi everyone, I have been an awful blogger and scrapper! This was the last layout I made waay back in Oct! (blush) I HATED this layout, it was for a contest where we were required to use the less is more concept! And we had to leave white space..... OMG! that is soo not in my thought process!!! lol:):):):) Anyhoo, one day I will revisit this page again and make it mine!!!!

Things have been crazy insane, we are in the process of remodeling, and re-doing my scrap room!!!! Wahooo I can hardly wait to get in there and create again!!! I have to say thank you to all of you for sharing your talent and inspiration! Even though I haven't had time to blog or scrap, every now and then I get to pop on and visit your fabulous blogs!!! I am constantly amazed and awestruck each time!!!

If only I could find my camera cord I could upload some construction photos.... (this layout pic was already on the desktop)I"m just gonna have to break down and buy a card reader! Anyway everyone take care and have a Merry Christmas!!!!! Hugs Jamie

A necessary break!

Whew! It's been a while!! I missed blogging and chatting, but I must admit that I went through blogging/scrapping burnout! Have any of you experienced this? This is my first blog ever, and my first venture into the scrapping cyber world. Instantly I became addicted to surfing and posting and finding new forums , making new friends, etc.., fun for a while, but then I noticed I was losing scrapping time! And I felt guilty if I didn't respond to every post right away, or if I didn't have something new to update! Then I joined my first big contest and the pressure was on! All of a sudden my passion wasn't fun anymore, I was following someone elses rules for what I needed to scrap and felt like I couldn't be myself! Maybe once I've been scrapping longer it will be easier to shift into other styles etc... So I just needed to take a break, find my center as they say:) My head is back to dreaming of scrapping now and hopefully I have learned a valuable lesson in time management! Anyway, I just wanted to vent and share. I have missed all of you and your fabulous blogs! Thank you for all of your comments and friendship!!!
Hugs, Jamie

Family

Yippee!! I made it through week 1 of Bad Girls Top Designer!!! So here is my class 2 LO.
We had to use a least 2 types of printed paper. As usual I went overboard:):):) But "to thine ownself be true" right? :):)This design has been in my dreams for awhile now and it feels so good to finaly have it on paper! I love quilting and wanted to encorporate it into my scrapping, so I made my own victorian crazy quilt! I sewed tiny pieces of paper and fabric together to make this mini quilt. What fun to not worry about 1/4 inch seams and precision cut pieces!! This was very liberating:) I used alcohol inks on transparency for the leaves, crackle paint, glossy accents, embossing, lots of stitching and distressing! The Prima peach and blue flower is from my dear friend Karen, aka Scrapoholiker! (Thank you Karen:)This photo was taken 6 years ago when we were a family of 3! It really was was perfect day! TFL:) take care!

My Son

Here is my latest LO of dear hubby and Evan! My little man was only 5 days new! This was created for the Bad Girls Top Designer competition class 1! We had to focus on layering and showcase at least two examples!! As usual, I couldn't stop adding stuff:):):) As for techniques used, I sewed the background paper to the hambly transparency, and sewed the photo down as well. I used crackle glossy accents on the hands stamp, (a tip I learned from my dear friend Karen)! Alcohol inks on the metal clocks, and lots of distressing! Of course, I had to sneak in some bling, and two tiny butterflys! Thanks for looking, ya'll have a great day!

I am published!

Yippee, http://www.scrapbooknewsandreview.com/ has accepted all 6 of my LO's!!!
I submitted these on a last minute whim, awhile ago, and had not heard anything. Then
yesterday I received the mail!! I was totally shocked! So if you have ever even thought about
submitting, just do it!!! You never know if and when!!:):) I'll try to post the cool logo, but I am not very computer savy and not having much luck! Have a great day and thanks for looking!

Awards for me!!!

I have received sweet awards from wonderfully talented artists! Thank you so much for thinking of me!!! I'm sorry it took so long for me to respond, things have been hectic around here!!
Please check out their lovely blogs! Karen, Vibeke, and Anne Kristine! To save time I will post my nominees here and you can do as you wish with the award! Enjoy it and or share it!!! Thank you all again for making my day!:):)

OK, I'm having techincal difficulties, I can't seem to post the cool picture!!!

I am featured on Inspirational!

Wow! What an honor!!! I am thrilled:):):)
Thanks for looking!

Lookout World Here I Come!

My latest LO is for the Scrappehuset challenge! The challenge was to create using things not made just for srapping! To use some unique items. My daughter Brenah is starting her first year of high school, and she inspired me to do this LO! I used cake paper, or paper doilies behind her picture! It's kind of hard to recognize here, because I inked it to death! But it's normally plain white and round! I also used leftover toile fabric scraps to create an extra layer of petals behind the metal, felt, paper flower! I added a glass heart charm from an old necklace of mine, a Norwegian coin, antique buttons, and vintace lace! As for the normal scrapping supplies, I used some of the new chipboard I purchased in Malaysia from Scrappingglitz.com! Crackle paint, prima flowers and lots more!!!! The Journaling reads: Dearest Brenah, This is one of my favorite pictures of you! We were at the park and you had this lovely smile on your face! Confident and ready to take on the world! Thanks for looking!

Breaking Dawn book release!

Just wanted to share this pic of me and my daughter Brenah, at the local bookstore release party! We both love to read and this series "Twilight" by Stephanie Meyer has been tons of fun! It's a great young adult story about love and friendship! (And vampires and werewolves!!) The party began at 10:00 pm and lasted until midnight, which is when they released the newest book!!! I hung out with my daughter and several hundred over zealous teenagers!!!! It was a costume party, hence Brenah's lovely scars! She went as the character Leah, who is a Native American Indian that was attacked by a werewolf! We played trivia, had our fortunes told, made a toilet paper wedding dress, and overall had a wonderful time!!! By the way, she won 1st place in the costume contest!!! Any other Twilight fans out there???? Thanks for looking!!!

Scrapping in Kuala Lumpur..

Yes, I had to try to and find a scrapping store here in KL! And I did!!! It's called http://www.scrappingglitz.com/ ! It is family owned and and run by the sweetest person! I called the number given on the site and spoke with Nadrah, she runs the store out of her home and was very happy to have us. She told me to get a taxi, head for the National Zoo and have the taxi driver call her on our mobile to get the rest of the directions! What a fun adventure we had all in the name of scrapping! We made it to her home in about 30 minutes. She offered us coffee and Jerry, (DH) played with her son while I shopped! She had a lovley selection of paper, chipboard and handcut paper flourishes!!! I got to see her lovely scraproom, she does beautiful work, by the way! What a nice treat to meet a fellow scrapper so far from home! Thank you Nadrah for having us! If you are ever in Houston, let me know!!!! Here is a pic from our vist! Check out her blog, she posted a pic of our vist too!

Malaysia Bound!!!

We're outta here!!!!! Wahooooo Malaysia here we come! Yes, I'm so looking forward to getting away! Except I'm still trying to figure out how to pack just the right amount of scrap supplies..
just in case....:):):) Dear hubby thinks I'm nuts, but hey, uninterrupted time to scrap is hard to come by! :):):) This will be the first time we leave the kiddos for more than one night! I'll miss them dearly, but still can't wait!:):):)
I will post pics when we get back! Take care, TFL!!!

Look Mom!

My newest LO! #2 in a series, I was lucky enough to get several good pics of Evan playing in the rain, so I thought why not do my first series??:):) I was excited to try sewing directly onto

transparency with metallic thread! I dreamed about doing that one night and couldn't get it out of my head! :):) I wanted the thread to appear like it is floating.... Anyway, this was fun, it was difficult trying to make myself STOP adding stuff!!! Does anyone else have this problem?:):) I used more of the lovely crackle paint, grungeboard, and fancy pants stamps. The fabric music notes was a piece left over from one of my quits. The felt butterflys and chandelier beads are Heidi Swapp. Thank you so much for looking!

I'm a Featured Guest Designer!!!!

Yippee!!!http://www.stamps-paper-scissors.com/ asked ME to share my LO Full of Wonder on their web page!!! I will be featured there and in their Newsletter!!! I can't believe it.... I am so very honored! Who knew??? Not me for sure! LOL!:):) Please go check out their site!!! TFL

My First ATC!!!

My dear friend Karen, (Scrapoholiker) who lives in Norway, started this Swap on her blog!

She showed her beautiful ATC,(artist trading card) on her blog and offered a swap! I saw hers

and was so inspired!!!Of course I had to play! The only rule is that they have to be 2.5 x 3.5 inches!!!!! Yep, that's teency weency!! What a fun challenge... So this is the ATC I made for Karen. I too would love to make more cards and swap! If you are interested please email me your address at jpyles2@hotmail.com! Thanks for looking!!! I will also post them here with a link to your blog!!!

Full of Wonder

Here is my newest LO of my son at 13 months. This was the first time we played in the rain!

He was so excited, and Full of Wonder!!!! I got so many good pics, I'll be scrapping this day again!

I have been wanting to use these Tim Holtz grungeboard hinges, and keyhole for some time now!

This seemed to be the right pic using the "door" to represent the world of wonder waiting for him.

I tried to use as much of my new stash as I could, and had to make myself quit adding too much! I'm always worried about that.....

Anyway the papers are a mix of Fancy Pants, Basic Grey, and mm. The REAL deal Tim Holtz crackle paint, (which I really like)! Prima, crystals, leaves, and flowers. I also used rub-ons for the first time, (I know, where have I been?) Well its one of those things that I have, just haven't

tried! They are too fun, would've been more fun if I could've found my snazzy new Basic Grey

rub-on tool that was like 7 bucks ,augh...... I think I spent 20 min searching for it "just because"

and ended up using the included popsicle stick! :):)(Which by the way worked great!:):)

The brown butterfly is embossed with my coolest new find, CHOCOLATE BLISS scented embossing powder!!! It really does smell like chocolate!!!

Maybe this has been around for awhile, but new to me. Oh, the variegated silk ribbon sew down is from the cutest hand-dyed company called Poplollies & Bellibones! TFL

And I have to add that my friend Scrapoholiker posted a wanna swap request to trade ATC's,(artists trading cards),(who wouldn't want to trade with her??!!:) So of course I happily wanted to play! So it's in the mail to her and I will post it once she receives it!!! If you haven't ever made one, I highly recomend it! The challenge of the size 2.5 x 3.5 is too fun!!!! Such great idea! TFL

Feeding my Addiction!!

More pics of my scrap goodies! I found a new scrap store about an hour away from my home and my sweet DH was up for a road trip! He patiently took care of our baby boy while I shopped and shopped and shopped!!!!! I found the real crackle paint from Tim Holtz, and the alcohol inks. They also had a large Prima selection..... I found the prima paintables, paper and overlay, some really cool flowers and leaves. The say it with crystals were so pretty it was hard to choose. And the Heidi Swapp flowers and chandelier beads jumped in my bag on the way out! Can't wait to have time to create!!!! TFL

New scrap stuff

Okay, I can't help it, this blogging is addictive. Here are my new goodies from Hobby Lobby, not too much, I restrained myself this time.... I was looking for crackle paint, I didn't realize it was regular acrylic paint, with another layer of crackle stuff, then another layer of acrylic paint??? This seems like alot of work, maybe I have the wrong stuff.....????
Anyway, the stamps are the exciting part, I can't wait to try them! TFL

Creativity happened!

Well this is what happens in my studio when the creative juices are flowing! My friend Karen aka http://www.scrapoholiker.com/ started this by posting a pic of her table, and I could soooo relate!

We tend to work in the same orderly fashion!Ha!Ha!LOL!!! Now I have to go and straighten up and reorganize til next time. TFL

Love & Laughter

This is my new favorite picture of my babies. They were having such a good time together just playing and laughing!!! I am so stuck on brown, I love, love, love it!!! Every time I try to start a new layout with other colors I am drawn back to BROWN!!!! Oh well, why fight it? It makes me happy, and doesn't hurt anyone, It's OK... Whew I gave myself permisson... Anyways, this was another fun time in the sewing/scrapping/hobby studio!!! As soon as a got my little man down to sleep I locked myself in.....and didn't come out until 2 a.m.....

I used my revolution die cutter for the letters, except for the grungeboard L that one I painted brown and then sugar glittered with brown and a little blue glitter. I did the same thing on the metal "priceless" embellie. The rhinestone brads were too silver so I painted the edges. I am pleased with how the silk ribbon laced around them came out. I painted the teal paper and even on the photo..,(very scary). The chipboard corner was plain cardboard that I painted and distressed and stamped. I made the silk ribbon rose and painted the bazzill paper flowers. The tiny pearls were fun to place on the stamped swirls, I like that effect! And last but not least the fabric swatch on the side is a favorite piece from my fabric stash . Along with it the velvet brown ribbon and the snazzy diamond buckle left over from when I made belts! TFL!

Beauty

My daughter after an emotional fencinng tournament! I love her true smile here, and especially what's behind it. I see the determination in her eyes, and her strength. In this layout I cut out the flowers in the vase from printed paper. Painted grungeboard swirls, and hambly transparency. The red rose I made from french wired ribbon that I bought at quilt festival years ago. The green leaves are fabric, I used a blanket stitch and sewed them to an off-white fabric then cut it all out. Since I don't have as much time to quilt, I'm trying to incorporate fabric and sewing into my layouts. Scrapbooking for me is wonderful, I can just jump right in and actually finish a project in a few days, whereas my quilts take months. One day when my little boy takes longer naps and does more independant play there will be more time for quilting..... My fabric keeps calling to me..... Anyway, tfl!

Bound by Love

This layout is a pic of my son 5 days new! He is laying on the quilt I made and also brought with us to the hospital for his birth. My hubby covered up with it on his tiny couch bed during our stay! I hate to say it, but I'm not too happy with this layout, I spent alot of time quilting the flowers, and by the time I put it all together I was so tired. I really rushed it, to me it needs MORE! I made the french wire ribbon flower and leaves, and stitched again around the edge. This is the first time I've used hidden journaling. I used fancy pants clear stamps for the corner detail on the note paper. Again soon I need to rework this one...

My Beautiful Girl

This is my very first layout that I really liked! I was in the zone having an awesome time! My daughter is now 14, so this pic was taken 10 yrs ago at her first communion and I have always wanted to do something with this pic. I was just discovering the whole distressed look. The flowers and stems are actually fabric that I cut out. The large B is grungeboard that I painted and glittered. I made the "girl" and "believe" embellies w/ stamps, cardboard, and glossy accents. The metallic green stitching on the outside edge is done by machine.