Two Peas Tuesday v.12.28

paper whites

journaling: I was so excited to find these paper white narcissus bulbs at Bed, Bath and Beyond this year. when we lived in Birmingham, AL I found out that you could force these bulbs inside with small jars and rocks.  I picked up 12 bulbs and some flat glass marbles to use along with a porcelain container i already had on hand.  We planted these bulbs during the week of thanksgiving and the first flowers popped up the day after Christmas.  We have enjoyed watching the bulbs grow up so quickly and can’t wait to watch the rest bloom.

• Try Again [kit] by Lauren Reid
• Red Stitched Alpha by Betsy Tuma*recolored

making a list

I was lucky to get a chance to be a guest blogger over at the Two Peas in a Bucket Digi Blog this season.  You can see it here: 12 days of christmas guest blog.  The journaling on my layout is straight from the blog post:  I love Christmas, I love the music, the baking and the happy smiles and greetings.  I have a mental checklist for things I like to get done during the holiday season.  Every year I usually get the Christmas Tree up before Thanksgiving and start listening to Christmas even before Halloween.  I know, I know– I have issues. I also like to do my shopping early and online.  Since we home-school, our boys are always with me and it’s just easier to keep it a secret. And the fact I don’t have to fight for parking or stand in lines?! Well hey, that’s just another added bonus.  I create our Christmas card and send out quite a bit every year.  I also make photo calendars for a few friends.

I can remember my mom baking chocolate chip cookies to the tunes of the Carpenters Christmas album (vinyl!) and it makes me smile.  I do the same thing except my Carpenters are crooning from my iTunes and my cookies are sugar cookies and gingerbread.  I have also just started making Gingerbread houses in the past few years.  We go to Christmas Eve candle light service and get to open one present before bed.

• Merry Little Christmas – Collection by Dianne Rigdon
• Edward Alpha by Lauren Reid
• Old Stitchy Stamps by Lauren Reid

happy music

10 songs that make me happy:

1. lucky by Colbie Caillat & Jason Mraz
2. Halo/Walking on Sunshine by Glee Cast
3. Everything by Michael Buble
4. Sky by Joshua Radin & Ingrid Michaelson
5. Everybody by Ingrid Michaelson
6. Art by Tanya Davis
7. All Love by Ingrid Michaelson
8. Crush by David Archuletta
9. Hey Soul Sister by Glee Cast
10. Teenage Dream by Glee Cast

• Track of my Life [kit] by Lauren Reid

digital crop winner jennifer’s blizzard :)

for the last Digi Crop at Two Peas, one winner was chosen and some of the DT members scrapped her photos.  This was my layout for Jennifer, I left a space below for her journaling.

• The Bestiest [elements] by Lauren Reid
• Joy Page kit by Michelle Underwood
• Joy Solids paper pack by Michelle Underwood
• Two Peas Digi Crop Winner

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Club CK

my very first online scrappy community was at creatingkeepsakes.com .  It was there that I met and made friends with some of the friendliest scrappers around so when Club CK opened up shop it was a given that I’d set up an account there as well.  I am always honored when one of my projects is featured.  Last week I was thrilled to see my stargazer layout featured at Club CK.  :)

Club CK blog

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Peppermint Creative

Miss Mint has a super cute freebie up right now.  You have to go through the check out process but the kit is free. and cute. :)

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Creative Charms

I also had a tutorial up at Creative Charms with my 7 gypsies photo tray.  I am looking forward to working on Valentines Projects for next month’s blog post <3 and it seems they were in the same mood when putting together January’s kits.

January Kit of the Month – $14.99 (Regular $19.43)

My Heart’s Desire – 60 Pieces

• Red Fancy Polka Dot Brads and Ribbon – 5 Pieces
• Red Polka Dot Hearts – 4 Pieces
• Red Vintage Brads – 9 Pieces
• Pink Vintage Pearl Brads – 9 Pieces
• Pink Vintage Jewels – 12 Pieces
• Red & Clear Vintage Jewels – 12 Pieces
• Red Vintage Poppies – 8 Pieces
• 18” Red Vintage Velvet Ric Rac

January Deal of the Month – $6.99 (Regular $16.43)

Be Mine – 340 Pieces

• Assorted Felt Hearts – 4 Pieces
• Red Gem Garden – 12 Pieces
• Pink Gem Stickers – 76 Pieces
• Red Gem Stickers – 76 Pieces
• Pink Pearl Stickers – 76 Pieces
• Antique White Pearl Stickers – 76 Pieces
• Pink Beaded Heart – 2 Pieces
• Epoxy Sweet Tooth Stickers – 18 Pieces

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Design House Digital

I have a calendar tutorial up at Design House Digital and am putting the finishing touches on another hybrid blog post. Next week we’ll be celebrating the One year anniversary of DHD with Chats, Special Sales and blog posts. I hope to see you there!

Thanks for stopping by and for making it all the way through that long post!

Love Love and Blog you again real soon!

Joscie, rhymes with bossy! :)

There are so so many more goodies that I haven’t even gotten a chance to work with yet, but I wanted to share these two cards.

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I so love Jen Martakis’ April kit, especially the scratchy looking papers in yellow and gray. I used Laina’s Borderlines 5 to cut the bracket edge on Jen’s papers in my silhouette. Hybrids are so easy in 8.5×11, I printed my journaling right on my background paper.  The alphas are thickers, the corduroy brad is from stampin’ up!  and those little legos are stuck on with mini glue dots ;)

and in other exciting news, today my layout was featured over at the clubcreatingkeepsakes.com blog in the gallery :)

I picked up a few cute digital cutter files from Laina Lamb again this week, so I’ll be working with those…

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more exciting news: I’ve been invited to join the designhousedigital.com Hybrid Creative team.  I’ll be making a few hybrid projects a month and posting them over there and here.  I’m super excited to be working with those lovely creative peeps over there!  I’ll let you know when my first project(s) are up!

and a few last bits on the personal front.  I have been wanting to get my hair cut for quite a while now.  It’s been long and quite a hassle. I swear it would take me atleast 20 minutes to wash, condition and rinse all that hair. Not to mention all the hair I have to vacuum up around here.  I was also inspired by Megan to just get it done and donate it to Locks of Love.  You’ve probably heard of the organization, they accept donations of hair to make hair pieces for children who have lost their hair whether through alopecia or cancer or whatever situation.  I took the boys to the Navy Exchange to get their hair cut today and I thought I’d stop by and make an appointment to get my hair cut tomorrow while they are at school.  When I walked into the salon, they had an appointment, so i let the boys watch Veggie Tales Jonah on the touch while I got my hair cut.  Who knew I could take them with me?! Atleast now I know I’ll be able to get my hair cut during the summer (no school usually means no appointments for me).  So the girl that cut my hair was super super sweet and she measured the hair to make sure it was long enough… and it was. She cut off 12″ and then proceeded to give me a new look.

Thanks for stopping by! Come back again next time when I’ll have more scrap to share and some pictures from the preschool fieldtrip series ;)

Love Love and Blog You Later,

Joscie, rhymes with bossy

I have two tutorials up right now, the first is over at Peppermint Creative on Miss Mint’s Blog, a project seen in Simply Handmade last year:design your own reusable shopping bag.

I also have a Glimmery Card tutorial up at Tattered Angels’ Educator Blog: Recycled Security Envelope flower card.

More news from Tattered Angels, This month marks the launch of Tattered Angels “Glimmer of Hope” Philanthropic effort. Glimmer of Hope will feature causes that are dear to our staff, designers, educators and customers. Tattered Angels will take these causes into consideration for product development and philanthropic efforts.  Product released for such promotions will be available for limited release and portion of the proceeds will go towards research or non-profit organizations supporting this cause.  This month’s effort for Autism Awareness comes with the Special Edition Glimmer Mist: Piece of Heart is a limited edition color that sells for $5 and is only be available on the Tattered Angels site.

and one last nugget for Tattered Angels fans in Australia, or those who want to travel to Australia:

Now for some digi and hybrid goodies to share:

a layout of my mom and me at my cousin’s wedding a few weeks ago.  I love Michelle Underwood’s girly kits. makes me wish for a little girl to scrap….

It’s the little things page kit by Michelle Underwood

I took these pictures of Jordan as we waited to eat a birthday lunch.  Outside the restaurant, I asked him to smile and he just made funny faces. always a comedian. Shelley Castillo’s (soda pop) colors just make me happy and reminded me of my silly boy. Elements are gorgeous and from Michelle Underwood. background paper, kraft from Jen Martakis, with a white wash. ever fave, white curled frames by MaryAnn Wise

Some Fun by Shelley Castillo It’s the little things page kit by Michelle Underwood Basic Kraft by Jen Martakis Curled Photo Frames White by Mary Ann Wise

I absolutely love wilna’s coffee cup album, and you don’t even need a coffee cup, because a digital one is included. Its easy to put together and you can add as many or as few extra embellishments as you like. i’m sending this one with some easter pics to Troy :)

CoffeeCupAlbum: My Garden by Wilna Furstenberg

I fell instantly in love with Michelle Underwood’s stickers from the Best Days of our life… I recolored this little mushroom and used Kerry’s curly mats *love* to create this hybrid thank you card :)

Curvalicious Clipping Masks by Kerry Stewart, The best days of our life Extras , The best days of our life Page kit , The best days of our life Solids by Michelle Underwood

I have lots of scrap to get working on, and a little bit of news coming up that I’m excited to share with you soon. Thanks for stopping by, I appreciate it!
Love Love and Blog You Later,
Joscie, rhymes with bossy

A friend of mine sent me a message to let me know, One of my layouts is up for a vote over at Creating Keepsakes, if I get the most votes, then it will be published in the September 2010 issue of Creating Keepsakes.
Please go here and if you like my layout the best, (My little Friend by Joscelyne Cutchens) vote for me and vote often! We only have a few days of voting before we find out the results at the end of next week if we win!
This layout uses a template and papers and elements by Jen Martakis!
Thanks so much,
Joscie, rhymes with bossy!

Good Morning! Getting ready for the day, it’s going to be a great one~

and it surely was!  We woke up happy, got breakfast and got Jordan off to school with no problem.  When Jalen and I got home, he started on his book report and I fired up the Google Reader.  What should I see but this post on the Creating Keepsakes Blog. ***:) can you say excited?!  I am so thankful that Megan picked my Home Made Pies layout as her favorite layout of the year!

I also got working on the YUDU for the first time today.  I got ample warning that you must make sure the emulsion sheets are completely dry before continuing on in the process.  I ran it through the dry cycle 3 times and then followed up with my hairdryer.  I am pretty happy with how it turned out.  I printed a few different designs of LOVE and thanks cards.  I love the texture of the ink. love.  Things I didn’t love about the YUDU- the drying time was killing my patience.  The primary colors of ink that I got (UGH- what an ugly red, and I didn’t even try the blue or yellow)  Things I need before my next run: white ink, and maybe silver ink , Neutrals.  I’d also love an aqua colored ink as well- but I don’t like the colors they offer.  I need more transparencies, emulsion, blockout and I’d love another screen.

here are a few of my quick cards from today:

I printed a lot more than these in various colors.  I also screened cutchens.com on the backs of the cards. I love it!  I can’t wait to make more varieties!  the corduroy buttons/brads and cardstock are from stampin up and the flower is making memories.

now you may be thinking, couldn’t she just do that by printing with her printer? yes, I could. but I loved the texture of the ink. and I can’t wait to plan some tshirt and other fabric prints *i just picked up a bunch of tshirts from target!

Today was an early out day for Jordan at Preschool so I got the boys happy meals from McDonald’s.  I found it quite amusing that both boys can identify the golden arches, read the logo… but Jordan pointed out, “that guy looks weird” and I told him, his name is Ronald McDonald.  and he was like, “who?” and even Jalen didn’t know who Ronald McDonald was either.  Today’s picture of the day came after lunch when Jordan put on this hat, he said, ” I look like Bowser’s minion.” ha ha.

here’s who he was talking about:

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you’re having a great day!

Love Love and Blog you Later!

Joscie, rhymes with bossy!

Did you have a good Thanksgiving?  I did! I made my usual bunch of pies on the day before… I always make custard pie, chocolate cream pie and pumpkin pie.  But another thing that got me really excited? I got a few notes from my friends amy and kim that my home made pie layout was on the Creating Keepsakes Blog.  I know, I know, it’s silly the little things that get me excited. anyway. ;)

It’s been a busy winter season here in Hawaii, and by winter, I mean rainy.  This morning there was an accident on the freeway at the exit after the one I take to take Jordan to school.  What does that mean? my few mile, usually 30 minute commute was even longer.

**check a look (a phrase I made up one day):

when there is traffic waiting to get ON the freeway? not a good sign. (but check out the sun flare lovelyness) not bad for a cell phone pic. (totally stopped/so technically not driving and cell phone pic-ing, right?)

and while stopped in another location:

and when I got to the school, finally:

This morning I finished up my Calendar Project!!!! ***edited to add, it’s been requested for publication so I’m taking the pictures down! woo hoo! :)

I’ll be back with a tutorial later. ;)

I hope you’re all having a great December so far, thanks for stopping by!

Love Love, Joscie, rhymes with bossy!

This picture was taken earlier this week. This bowl is from a sally foster fundraiser last year or the year before, place mat from target.   I was just struck with how well they went together.  Probably why I was so drawn to the place mats in the first place, and I’ve only realized this now.  Jordan enjoying one of his favorite treats of all time. Scooby Doo Macaroni and Cheese. in all it’s orangey goodness.

The days have been passing me by.  This past week, Jordan’s preschool was closed for fall break.  So I have had him home with me while Jalen has had to continue on to school every day.  We had grand plans to go to Bishop Museum, the beach, the water park, the pool… and on Wednesday Jordan relapsed into that blasted fever/cough/sneezing thing again. I really, really am truly sick of sickness.  I know there are kids out there who are sicker, so I am still thankful that it is only a cold or whatever. but still. I hate it for the little one.

In news of Troy’s deployment, there is about two weeks left.  They are doing an exercise and going to pull into port I think one more time briefly before heading home.  It’s almost real. woo hoo!  These past few months have gone by pretty well. no crying spells from the boys, but sad comments of I miss when dad was here. I wish dad was home. and those types of heart wrenching comments.  I am also not looking forward to saying goodbye again in January when he leaves for a 6 month deployment.  I just think it may be harder on the boys knowing what’s coming up in an even longer version. anyway, I guess we will cross that bridge when we come to it.  Also, Troy got promoted on October 1st to CWO3.  The best part other than the raise? a new ID card. On the day I went for my current Military ID card photo, I got up and washed my then short hair and I think the power went out or something crazy like that because I did not have time to blow it dry. my hair looked crazy and the camera was mounted on the desk.  nothing like an under the chin black and white webcam looking picture to have to show to every one.  every time i go on the base, to check in at the doctors, pick up a prescription or go into a military store I have to whip out that little bit of ugliness everytime and I am excited to try my luck again for a better picture when Troy gets back. I’d show it to you, but thankfully there’s a law against copying it… and surely that applies to taking a picture or scanning it and showing it here, ha! I wonder if I can bring my own picture on a thumb drive? ha. as if.

Another lesson learned/taught this week.  I have come to accept that I have slight OCD tendencies and have passed these on to my precious boys. (haha) I am not a fan of messy food.  You know those pictures of babies with food all over their faces? I am completely grossed out and don’t think those are cute pictures.  When we eat, we all have napkins and wipe as necessary.  In fact, if my child does not have a napkin, he has been known to wipe said mess on shirt or shorts or whine, i need a naaakin!  One day this week, I made jordan a peanut butter and orange marmalade sandwich for lunch and set it on the table.  I called to him, your lunch is on the table.  I walked into my scraproom for something trivial and heard him in the bathroom and the water running. I thought to my self, self- good job, he is washing his hands without a reminder! yay! but then as I walk back into the kitchen, he says, “Mom, my camera had peanut butter on it” (because he brought his camera to the table, doesn’t everyone bring their camera to meals, ha) in his best problem solving voice, “but it’s okay, ’cause I washed it off”. What?!  Your little kid digital camera?! oh son. we don’t put our electronic toys in the water, but thank you for trying to clean it up right away.  Let me take a look.  so the LCD seemed to be out.  the camera still made the noises like it was still taking pictures, so i just set it aside to dry.  and Lo and Behold. 2 days later, it’s working again. yay for small miracles (see picture below). :)

Also this week. We were running into the Navy Commissary to pick up a few items and in the time it took us to get through there, it went from dark clouds to biblical downpour with no end in sight.  I waited a minute then decided we’d just have to make a run for it.  We were all very wet, especially me, since I had to stand outside the car and buckle Jordan into his car seat.  The boys absolutely loved it.  They have never played in the rain and so enjoyed it.  We dried off with the millions of napkins in the car and went straight home to hot showers and hot chocolate.

I was heading out yesterday to run to the bookstore to see if I could catch a glimpse of the November issue of Creating Keepsakes... and stopped at the mailbox on the way out to find it in my mailbox. You could knock me over with a feather- I have a whole page! check out page 85~ :)

Thanks to Keisha Campbell… I was checking her blog and saw the beautiful pages she created mixing and matching the letter stamps from studio calico and had to jump in. I was on the fence about the atc card stamp (soo awesome) and then had to jump in with the scripty stamps. so so cute. and while I was at it, i got the mini attacher. can I say, when they say mini, they really mean it?! it is so so cute. the staples are tiny. like duh, i know the name is mini, but really really. like half the size of regular staples. so cute.

So I hope to be on the blogging train much more regularly, really. I enjoy it and it is so cathartic, so thanks for stopping by!

Love Love and blog you later!

Joscie, rhymes with bossy

The latest ATC swap I participated in was under the theme of books. I went with the iBook theme:

**i had a shot that was not angled,  but I liked that Jordan is peeking in the back ground. ;)  The cardstock is Stampin’ Up! YoYo Yellow,  I used my handy dandy circle and rectangle punches in my abe lincoln book and created the ipod look. I rounded corners and added glaze with gold pearl ex. and memento ink in canteloupe.  do you see that frog holding my card? I got that in the mail from my pal Chrispea. what a sweetie. She also sent lots of goodies and sweet treats for my boys and I.

and seriously, how cute are those goody boxes! The boys were so excited to see their names on the labels :)  I told them aunty chris(pea) made them especially for them.

I so loved this little envelope of goodness. I mean really. the buttons and keys are so awesome. but even that envelope. sigh, it’s a sickness, this love I have for envelopes and paper. ha.  There were also scrappy goodies I can’t wait to use too. Thank you so much Chris! :)

I have also been loving the Japanese Washi tape you see everywhere.  I have seen these at happytape and digi versions from Danielle Thompson.  I have also seen some plain colors at a local store.  I had already started a collection of these and then saw these stripey and *sigh* graph paper tapes. had.to.buy. here.

Sometime in the last year, adobe offered up an upgrade to CS3 for 299. I really wanted to upgrade. really.  but I also was toying with the idea of getting a mac.  I did not want to buy some expensive software and then end up buying a computer that wouldn’t run it.  So I didn’t buy the upgrade. I was so sad because I didn’t even end up buying the mac.  Then last week I got an email from adobe offering a $299 upgrade to cs4. I jumped on that opportunity. I know I won’t be buying a new computer anytime soon, so I was so glad to have to opportunity come up again.  and then I also heard about crucial.com It is a site where you can go and plug in information about your computer and it will tell you how much RAM you can upgrade to and what type to buy. So happy. I ordered more RAM and my computer is humming along so well! I can now listed to iTunes while I use CS4 and blog and all of that and it doesn’t skip anymore. yay!  These pictures for the blog are the first items I have processed in CS4, nothing fancy, but I am so excited to get into it further. YAY! saying goodbye to these old sticks of 512MB ram.

Thanks for stopping by!  I have been so so busy around here, and I am glad I had some time today to update.  Check back next time and I’ll have stories about my van and other fascinations of our life, ha! Oh yes and two more things: I have a halloween layout in the last issue (October) of Memory Makers Magazine and a layout in the October issue of Creating Keepsakes (eeeeeeeeeee!) I haven’t seen the CK yet, no sightings in the store or mailbox just yet.

Love Love and Blog you Later!

Joscie, rhymes with bossy!

In real life news, yesterday I spent the afternoon with my girlfriend and her cute 3 year old son.  This picture is from the last time we got together in March, right before our vacation.  We’ve had dates for lunch and playtime with the two boys about once a month or so.  Yesterday we enjoyed lunch and the boys played legos and firetrucks.  As the afternoon passed along we came into my scrapbooking room to look at pictures on the computer and her son started complaining about being cold.  (we have central air, ceiling fans etc) I passed him a blanket, he snuggled with his mom and I asked Jordan to turn off the ceiling fan.  a few minutes later, he jerked and gasped and I thought he had seen something that startled him, so i looked to the top of my bookshelf to see if there was something scary up there and she jumps off the chair and says, he’s having a febrile (fever-induced) seizure!  so we carried him to the kitchen counter and stripped off his clothes and cooled him down and called 911.  The ambulance and fire department showed up a few minutes later.  Thankfully the seizure only lasted a few minutes, but it was very scary.  His lips started to turn blue and he was not breathing.  all the while Jordan watched, a little confused as what was happening.  all of this happened at 2:15pm. a few minutes before I usually leave to pick Jalen up from school.  I made a quick call to the school (and how is it that I didn’t have the school on speed dial?) and they said they’d put him in afterschool care.  Once my girlfriend and her son were in the ambulance, I got the carseat out of her car, put it in my van and went to pick up Jalen from school.  We all drove down to the hospital to wait for them to be released.  I mean really, when you ride the ambulance to the hospital, someone has to come and take you back home (or to your car) and if you have a child in a car seat, they need a car seat to bring the seat to the hospital… so many things to think about.  Thankfully and mercifully he is doing okay. He was cleared for meningitis, flu and other ailments.  They suspect some other cold like virus that is causing the fevers.  This was his 3rd febrile seizure and we’re just hoping he’ll outgrow it and not develop epilepsy.  Once Troy called me and found out we were on the way to the hospital, he met us down there and sat with the boys in the er waiting room while I sat with my friend and her son in the back.  Jordan was telling Troy, “he had a seizure, he had a seizure.  He rode in the ambulance!”  My girlfriend took the day off from work today and is on fever reducer medicine watch, alternating Tylenol and Motrin…. and so far he’s doing well today. Please do say a prayer that he feels better soon. thanks!

In other scrappy news, I got an email newsletter from twopeas the other day and was pleasantly surprised to see my photo of the big peach right there in the photo inspiration (chrispea had her puppy’s picture there in the past too!). it’s funny how the little things get me excited?! :)

Today Troy is riding his motorcycle is some military motorcycle safety awareness something or another rally. I’m just praying for his safety and the safety of all the other riders too.  This weekend is Memorial Day weekend. I’ll be playing along with the CardsforHeroes blog hop and I am very honored to be a part of this blog hop. There are over a hundred crafty bloggers sharing cards, stories and inspiration too. join us on Saturday, won’t you? I hear there are some cool prizes too!

Last, I’ve accumulated some really cute, cool supplies that I (surprisingly, okay maybe not) bought more than I needed, so I’m thinking about selling some supplies.  Maybe etsy, I’m not sure yet. I’ll let you know. :)

Be safe out there! Love Love,

Joscie, rhymes with bossy.

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Here is the layout, as seen in Creating Keepsakes, April 2009!

While we were in Alabama, my mother in law received her Simply Handmade April Issue! I was so excited to see it!

also while in Alabama, we visited a scrapbook store in Hoover called Scrap Etc. What an awesome store! I got to talk to a super sweet lady there (I forgot to ask her name!doh!) and I also picked up the May/June issue of Memory Makers Magazine!  I was so excited to see my first publications in MM in the reader’s gallery.  Two layouts of Jordan as a baby on pages 76 and 80. :)

In the March/April Issue of Scrapbook Dimensions I have 3 projects: My Lucky Charms-a st. paddy’s day layout, a Personalized Easter Basket and a Father’s day Brag Book.  These are available to subscribers only ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by, I appreciate all of you!

Love Love & Blog You Later,

Joscie, rhymes with bossy and happy to be back home!

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