Mission Accomplished: PMI Deletion

Woo-hoo- we've finally managed to have Private Mortgage Insurance taken off of our house note. If you don't know if you are paying this ridiculous fee, check your mortgage statement. You could be paying an extra $80 or more per month for absolutely no reason. It is sort of a pain to get this done and you have to pay for an appraisal of your house (even though you already know its value, of course). But, if you have 20% equity in your home, and you can prove it, there is no reason to pay this amount every month.

Now if you are wondering why I am writing about this on a blog about paper... Well... money is printed on paper isn't it? You remember-it's called cash. It's green. Sometimes you wish you had it to pay for that pack of gum instead of using your debit card again.

Summer paper bag mini scrapbook album

As summer draws to a close, it is time to scrapbook all of the pictures. I made this mini album using paper lunch sacks. Most of the stickers, chipboard pieces, rub-ons, ribbons, and embellishments are from the "juicy summer" collection by KI Memories. Paper is by DCWV, Best Occasions, and Making Memories. I also used crepe paper, brads, eyelets, and flowers.

This is for sale in my www.etsy.com shop. (9-2-11)

Watermelon Party

Inspiration for party ideas can come from anywhere. I think I saw a Betsey Johnson necklace with a big watermelon charm on it at Dillard's and it gave me this idea.

Or maybe it was the watermelon dress from Gymboree.

Once I decide on a theme, it is amazing how items seem to pop up everywhere that coordinate well. I found watermelon bubbles at Dollar Tree for the goodie bags and watermelon taffy at a candy shop. Cracker Barrel restaurant usually has watermelon candy sticks.

My mom made the goodie bags with a Happy Birthday punch and I cut out the ants on my Slice machine.

My mom also made the simple red cupcakes with seeds and green striped wrappers. We made the seeds by putting a dot of black icing and pulling out the tip with a toothpick. Simple!

   I couldn't resist ordering the watermelon gumballs from ebay to put in the bucket from Hobby Lobby. At the time, Target had the bins of Jelly Bellies where you could pay by the pound so I got a mini bucketful. I don't think they have that anymore. 

I cut out more ants to use as gift tags on the red paper which I drew seeds on with a sharpie.

The ants were cut out using my Slice machine to put in the pocket of the invitations and for the goodie bags. Scrapbooking paper from Martha Stewart and my Project Life album kit was used for the invitations as well as dotted grosgrain ribbon. I loved these invitations. Anything with a pocket!!