Notice any blog changes?

I really wanted to make the blog a place my customers could go and find out information on upcoming events. Notice the tabs at the top! Yay!!!! Now you can click on the tabs and have information readily accessible.

Plus, all my internet friends can join in on the workshops that my local peeps and I do each month.

I will be adding more tabs, workshop projects, and updating the calendar over the next few weeks, so check them often. It is my goal that you can say "Hmmmm.... I wonder what I need to get for Angie's workshop next month and when is it?", hop on my blog and have the answers at your fingertips. How awesome is that!

Here is one of the pages for the Pemberly option in May.

On that note, the Mushrooms are popping up!

One of our favorite things about spring. Walking around the woods looking for the little sprouts of fungus.

They were very tasty on our burgers tonight. YUM!!!

Instagram inspired.......

What a horrible no good week!
This week that was just bad from the get go. We didn't have computers for the two days at work... What was supposed to be a smooth transition from one update to another, just plain wasn't. Which led to the rest of the week playing catch up. What a relief to walk out the door Friday evening.

If only I could play with paper as my "real" job instead of my "fun" job. As a wise Dr. I work with would say..... "If wishes were fishes, we would all have our poles in the water". Love it!

After all the frustrations of the day, the reports and files I needed to work on at home just weren't happening. Instead I pulled out my challenge folder and went to work with a little creative escape.

I am totally in love with the instagram photos that smart phones offer, really makes me want to update my android to a newer version. The instagram photos inspired the edge treatment on my creation today.

This page started with a sketch on the rock paper scrapbook blog. I recently stumbled upon her blog and am looking forward to more challenges Ashley has to offer. You can find her blog at www.rockpaperscrapbook.blogspot.com

Here's the sketch....

My Take...

Papers are from the CTMH victory line. I sponged ink around the edges to get the "instagram" effect around the page. Then stamped a border stamp from the Victory WOTG stamp set with White Daisy ink around the edges of the page.

Stamp sets used....
Vintage Type

Victory WOTG stamp set.....

Embellishments used........
Round Durable Studs and Foundry Number Plates

Now, off to do the paperwork and reports that need to be done for the "play" job.

Baseball Layout

With Tyler graduating in just over 2 years, I REALLY need to get to work on his school albums. When I found this sketch challenge on the get picky blog , I instantly thought "BASEBALL". Love when that happens :).

The original sketch......

My take.....

For the background I used a retired piece of pattern paper from the Sweetheart collection. I used a 5 x 7 photo collage, added a little fake stitching, and cricut letters from the Street Sign cartridge. A super easy and quick page.

Another one checked off the to - do list.

We have had a pretty mild weekend at the Highland house. Well, if you count 3 extra 12 year old girls here for the better part of the weekend mild. HA! Only 2 words to describe that situation..... Loud and Giggly! Which would be why Tyler quickly found a friend to spend the night with. As soon as he heard Emily was having 3 friends over, he was quick to act on getting away from the giggling girls. Can't say that I blame him :)

You can find the get picky blog at www.getpicky.blogspot.com . For some reason, I cannot seem to figure out how to put a darn link on here. If someone could tell me, I would surely appreciate it!

Blog Post Winner!!!

As promised, I had Emily pick a random number for the $31 in Free CTMH products. She chose #17. The 17th comment posted during February was......

OLENA on February 9th. Congratulations Olena, email me at angiehighland@gmail.com and let me know what you would like! You can browse the products online at www.angiehighland.ctmh.com

Here is another page I made during my scrappy weekend this past weekend. I used sketch #197 from The Creative Scrappers blog over on the left. This one also fits into the color challenge on the creating keepsakes site. The challenge was to use Red, White, and Brown. I would have never chose this color combination, but absolutely love the results!!!

I must say, I love the technology of phones nowadays. Silly me, I forgot my camera when we were visiting family over Christmas. This picture was taken with my phone. I think it turned out pretty good, especially since it was printed in 5 x 7.

These papers from the Pebbles Fresh Goods line are so addicting, I love the Kraft background. All of the other supplies are CTMH. The Heart and Label are the Irresistibles Persnickety Journaling Spots. They have the coolest resist on them. They start out white, sponge on some ink in whatever color you choose and the pattern shows through. FUN!! Here is a little picture of them before inking.

Sorry, the picture is a little wonky (is that a word?).

The only stamping on this one is the faux stitching with the Stitched Together stamp set (C1459). Much easier than pulling out a sewing machine.

Today is the beginning of spring break. Emily is already making plans for each day. I have a feeling the food bill will easily triple this week. She has 6 friends coming over tomorrow for a hiking adventure. Normally it is still quite cold during spring break here in Michigan. We are about 40 degrees above average this week. Crazy!!!

I had better run and start packing for tomorrows crop / workshop night at Scrapbook 101. Looking forward to catching up with everyone!

Finally a page

Thank you for being patient while I had to take a break from the blog. I haven't forgot about the blog candy for February and will be drawing a winner tomorrow. I am going to have Emily help me make the drawing slips and do the drawing. She likes to do the drawings for me and I am happy to have her help.

I finally was able to squeeze in a little scrappy time this past weekend. Of course, I printed off a slew of challenges to take with me and went to work. I did manage to make a dent in the pile, but have several more on my to do list for this weekend. Yay! It looks like I finally have a nice little pile of artwork to share with you over the next few days.

This page of sweet little Hazel was inspired by the Imaginisce sketch contest over on the page maps blog. If you have never checked out the page maps blog, it is surely worth your time. www.pagemaps.com is the place to go.

I used papers from the Close To My Heart Lucy line. Love the pinks and greens in this set. Perfect for girl or Easter pages.

The doily and border were cut with the AP cartridge then edged with a little stickle bling. The stamped doily image and the quote in the bottom right hand corner are from the Beautiful Friendship set (B1400).

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your evening :).

So Excited!

Only 146 days until the CTMH convention in Dallas! Aside from the nerves about being so far away from my family for 6 days, I am beyond thrilled! This is my first time attending and cannot wait to learn new things and meet new friends. I have never been to a big city like Dallas before. I am a one stop light town girl, so what an adventure this will be! It is a good thing I have my upline and good friend Shannon as a travel buddy.

Today the email came through telling us about the album contest. You know me, I can never turn down a challenge! As soon as I read what the theme is, I knew immediately what I was going to do. An event so near and dear to me, something I have wanted to scrap for several years, but have never known where to start. This is the perfect inspiration I needed to get the ball rolling. Suddenly I have a gazillion ideas! Crazy, how something you have struggled with for so long, suddenly makes sense.

Sorry I can't give you any more details until after Convention. Only about 5 months away :). Stay tuned....... LOL!

I'm Back!

Thank you for being patient while I was under the weather. The past few days have been very busy. It's no wonder the upper respiratory crud going around got the best of me. I won't bore you with to many details but here is what we have been up to.

Thursday 2/9... Massage after work, came home a walking zombie, went to bed.
Friday 2/10... Up at 3 am to prepare for the Rock The Block workshop at Scrapbook 101. Arrived back home at 2am.
Saturday 2/10... Up at 7, drove 2 1/2 hours to Cadillac during a snow storm for Ivy's birthday party. Mom had terrible asthma attack, so began the trek back home after just 1 hour and 15 minutes. Spent the evening hanging with the family around the house.
Sunday 2/12... Started sorting tax paperwork at 10am, stopped at 11pm.
Monday 2/13... Filed our taxes and a co-workers, went grocery shopping, spent more precious time with my hubby and kiddos while they kicked my butt playing Life.
Tuesday 2/14... Took a sick day with massive headache, exhaustion, and head congestion. Not the ideal way to spend Valentines day.

Wednesday 2/15.... I'm back!!! Yay! So happy to be feeling better and back to blogging. I truly missed my little posts each day and hope to jump right back in with the daily posts.

Here is the page I did tonight using the latest sketch from My Little Sketchbook for inspiration.

I used papers from the CTMH Footloose paper line. They scream beach and water! With spring around the corner, we are ready for some beach days. I thought they worked well for these adorable pictures of Elli in the bathtub. They will be here visiting in just a couple weeks! Whoop Whoop!

For this fun little Seahorse, I stamped him in Creme Brulee ink then sponged a little Lagoon and New England Ivy on the stamp to get the different colors. Very cool effect!

Uh Oh! Looks like I lost an asterisk somewhere. Murphy the wonder dog lays under my desk when I am working, he's likely wearing it.

One of the things I like most about white core paper is the sanding abilities. I wanted to be sure my little letters stood out, so I sanded a little area for them.

Stamp sets used.....

Chocolate Alphabet Large (E1010) for the "eek" in the title.

A Typeface (A1117) for "the grown ups are at it again". I love this little set for word blocks like on today's page. Draw a little frame around them for a little extra pizazz!

The stamp set that is exclusive to the Footloose WOTG kig (G1036).

I need to add the journaling, but haven't decided on what to say. Maybe tomorrow :).

Thanks for stopping by and being patient during my little blog vacation.