Travis' 17th Birthday

Well this is a few days late but HAPPY BIRTHDAY TRAVIS!! My oldest celebrated his 17th birthday on Sunday! First I have to say I can't believe I have a 17 year old!! We did a TWO day celebration for him this weekend...a family BBQ on Sunday and then he had a LAN party with his friends here on Monday night. The BBQ was SO much fun! The whole family here celebrating and having a great time!  

More good times!

AT the LAN party on Sunday, him & 11 of his friends were here with 2 TV's and all kinds of video game consoles...what was really strange was seeing all of them playing N64 and ATARI!! Really??? Atari??? They also had the Wii and the PS3 set up! 5 hours of playing video games and eating a bunch of junk food!! They had a blast!! :)

I am so proud of him and the man he is growing into! He truly makes me proud to call him my son! Love you Trav! :)

Until next time...
♥ Laura ♥

Wishing you a Bright & Happy Day!

Hello!! Wow!! 3 posts in 3 days??!!! Yay me!! :) :) Today is my day to post for Joy's Life DT! This week we are doing a Summer Color Inspiration using Orange, Yellow & Turquoise!  I chose to use "Wishing You a Bright & Happy Day" from Tag You're It 2....you can find all of Joy's AMAZING stamps HERE! 

I chose to do simple & clean this time and of course using the summer colors!

The background paper is some from my stash and I used some beaded embellishments from Hobby Lobby. I stamped the sentiment twice (once in turquoise & once in orange) then cut out the circle and pieced it with the other.

Here is a close-up of the stamp...

Be sure to check out Joy's Life DT blog for much more inspiration! 
Until next time... ♥ Laura ♥

Card Club

Well we actually survived this last weekend!! We had SO much going on but everything went off with out a hitch and all of our "events" were AMAZING!! Friday Mom & I went to a wedding for the Principal's daughter! It was gorgeous but OMG so HOT!! It was at 5:30 and it was an outdoor wedding! It was at least 100* out that day, but it was gorgeous! Then I had my Card Club on Saturday! This party is always fun with tons of laughs, food & wine!! Today I am going to show the cards we all made!

First we had a special guest designer (LOL!!) One of our own, Tammy! She actually bought all the new In Colors and received them before anyone else, so we decided to have her do a card featuring the new colors!

Next we did a tag showing a "Dryer Sheet Flower" These are so easy to make and I just LOVE them!! I showed this to Mom the day before and could tell she didn't like it but then when we actually made it...she loved it!! I used "Dye-lusions" to dye the flower and spritz the background!

And now for the final masterpiece!! :) We made "Magic Cards"!! These are so frickin' cool! We made these at work (Stamp Antonio Arts) and I just fell in love with them! We sell them at work as a kit so they were so much easier than cutting & scoring everything ourselves! I used an old Stampin Up stamp "Stipple Butterfly" and my new Pro Markers to color the butterfly.

We had such a great time and everyone did an amazing job on all the cards!

We also celebrated my oldest sons birthday this weekend! Travis turned 17 on Sunday! WOW!! I will do a post tomorrow about the TWO day event! And on Thursday I have a post for Joy's Life...then on Friday I want to share all the wonderful swap cards we did at our Card Club! So keep coming back to see more great stuff this week! I knew I would eventually get back into posting regularly and I appreciate each and everyone of you that keep coming back! :) :)

Until next time...
♥ Laura ♥

Have a Pasta-tively Great Day! :)

Happy Friday!! TGIF!! We have got a crazy busy weekend ahead of us and I am not ready for it! LOL!! BUT I am ready to show you my post for Joy's Life DT! :)

This week we are making tags! Gift tags, Big Tags, all kind of tags!! I made a large tag and on the back will add a gift card to Olive Garden! I didn't get a chance to get by there to get the gift card so we will use our imagination! :)

I used a large background stamp and then covered the tag with Tim Holtz new summer colors! I used Mowed Lawn (the green) and then spritzed on Crushed Grape Dylusions (I love this stuff!!) I also made a flower out of DRYER SHEETS! :) (Sprayed with the Dylusions) SO easy and SO pretty!! I used Lime Green Stickles on the flower and some lime green rhinestones for embellishments on the tag! I stamped Joy's stamp in brown and punched it out with an oval scallop punch! Then I wanted some matching ribbon for the top, and of course had nothing to match perfectly....so I made my own! Out of DRYER SHEETS! :) :)

Here is a close-up of the stamp...

 I had so much fun making this tag and playing with the background! I will be posting the winner of the blog hop in the next couple of days so if you didn't get a chance to hop yet, you still have some time on here! :)

Have a great weekend! Be sure to check out all of Joy's amazing products HERE!

Until next time... ♥ Laura ♥

Fun in the Sun Blog Hop!!

Welcome to Joy's Life DT Fun in the Sun Blog hop!! If you came from Joy's blog, you are going in the right direction! 


This blog hop we are featuring some cool summertime cards/projects using the new set Pun in the Sun from Joy's Life! This set is so cool! Absolutely perfect for all of your summertime projects! 

 And don't forget the super cool deal Joy has for you over at her blog!  


2 SET BUNDLEORDER Pun In the Sun and Yummy Punsand save 10% AND get FREE SHIPPING!!!! PRICE: $26.98 + FREE SHIPPING


Now for my project! I decided to do a super cute tag that can be used for a cool summertime gift! I can see making a basket with flip-flops, sunscreen, maybe a towel and other summer-y, beach-y themed items! 

I used "You are Flip Flopping Fabulous" from the new set! I just LOVE this saying!! I cut some flip-flops on my Cricut and dazzled them up with Stickles & some rhinestones! Then used some glittery polka dot paper I had, I used a border punch to add some details! Added some fun different color ribbons, stamped my sentiment and cut it out with my Nestabilities! 


Here is a close-up of the super cool stamp...

Hope you enjoyed my tag today! Now you need to go see the super talented Jennie to see what she created for the blog hop! Be sure and hop all the way through to see all the amazing projects the DT has come up with! 


But wait...there's more!! ***BLOG CANDY** How about everything you need to make this tag?? I will send one lucky winner all the items needed to make this tag! Just be a follower and leave me a comment with a way to get a hold of you! I will pick my winner on Monday the 17th! :) Good Luck!! 

Joy: www.joyslife.com/

Laura: www.laurascraftsandmore.com/ <---You are here!

Jennie: www.earthyscrap.blogspot.com/ <--Go here next!

Cyndy: www.arcyscraps.blogspot.com/

Megan: www.thoughtsoftraveling.blogspot.com/

Lori: www.got2bcrafting.blogspot.com/

Jeannie: www.polkacabana.wordpress.com/

Sarabeth: www.chroniclesofsarita.blogspot.com/

Stacey: www.staceyscreativecorner.blogspot.com/

Ashley: www.marklandandmain.blogspot.com/

Amy: www.redheadedcrafter.blogspot.com/

Maria: www.joyfulstamper.blogspot.com/

Nina: www.waffleflower.com/

Patty: www.craftykitten1.blogspot.com/

Until next time... ♥ Laura ♥

Wishing you a Banner Year!

Hello to all my crafty friends! Hope everyone is a having a terrific summer! I worked extra hours last week and am still trying to catch up on everything here at home & in my crafting! Slowly but surely it is happening...a little more slower than I want but....that is life!! Also this week has been the KLRN Auction, which completely takes control of our life!! LOL! You can read more about it HERE!


But anyway, this week for Joy's Life DT we are making birthday cards/projects! I chose to use "Wishing You a Banner Year" from the set You're so Punny! So of course I had to put a banner on my card!

I used some Bo Bunny paper that I found while shopping the other day (I LOVE this paper!! SO bright, colorful & cheerful!!) and my Stampin Up banner punch. The inside of the banner is the flip side of the background paper. Then I had some purple pom-pom ribbon that matched perfectly!! What a fun card this is!! :) I also rolled up the bottoms of the banner pieces for some dimension!


Here is a close-up of the stamp from Joy's Life...

Be sure and visit the DT blog often to see all the amazing projects from the rest of the DT! And now for some BIG news....


Joy has come out with a BRAND NEW set for summer!! It's called Summer Puns and is SO cool!! AND Yummy Puns is now BACK IN STOCK!!

This weekend the DT is participating in a FUN IN THE SUN blog hop to showcase some of these AMAZING stamps! I'm so excited to see what the rest fo the DT has come up with! :) And now for even BIGGER news!!


Joy is having a special right now on her new set, Summer Puns + Yummy Puns....ready for this...

2 SET BUNDLE

ORDER Pun In the Sun and Yummy Puns
and save 10% AND get FREE SHIPPING!!!! 

PRICE: $26.98 + FREE SHIPPING

CLICK HERE to get yours! 

So hurry and go get your special!! :) :) And be sure to come back this weekend for our blog hop!! 

Until next time...
♥ Laura ♥

Tie-m to Celebrate- Father's Day

WOW! I can't believe it has been so long since I last posted!! SO much has happened since the last time! The last day of school...I now have a freshman & a senior! Holy moly!! How did that happen??? Here are their 1st & last day photos from this year! I just love doing this every year & seeing the changes they have gone through!

And now for my post for Joy's life DT! This week we are celebrating Father's Day!! I chose to use "Tie-m to Celebrate" from the You're So Punny stamp set...Here is a close-up of the fabulous stamp ;)

And here is my card! I used some paper & stickers from Echo Park! The ties go so well with my sentiment! I always have a problem working on masculine cards but I think this works just fine! Not too much...just enough!

Click here to see this stamp and all the other AMAZING stamp sets & other products from Joy!

And now for a few pics from our recent trip to the coast! We haven't been on vacation for a couple of years...we usually only take small day trips due to Hubby's work schedule, but we decided now the kids are older and the time is flying by...they will only be willing and able to go on vacation with us due to college and then whatever they choose to do in life, so we are going to try and do more "real" vacations! :) So we started small so Hubby didn't feel the world was stopping since he wasn't at work! Lol!! The coast is only a couple of hours away, so we went for 3 days and had such a great time! Here are just a FEW pics...I realized when we got home I took 171 pics on my phone alone!! Not to mention my camera!! SO of course I won't bore you with ALL of them!! :) :)

This is my favorite "water" pic!

And here is Trevor & I on the jetties...excuse my thumb! LOL!

My favorite pic of just Trevor...

Here is Travis & I on the jetties...

And my favorite of just Travis...this is so him!! Just pondering life!

And here is Hubby doing what he loves...fishing! We all fished and caught lots of fish...not big enough to keep, but it was a blast!

I really hope to be posting regularly again! I miss posting and hearing from all my blogger friends! :) Thanks for sticking around! I appreciate all of you tremendously!! :) :)

Until next time...
♥ Laura ♥